Obfervations &c. 277 



built over the Street , partly maketh the Partition with the 

 contiguous Terraces , being frequently fo low that one may 

 calily climb over It. The other^ or the Parapet Wall^ iis we r,^ p^,^-,,^ 

 may call It, hangeth immediately over the Court, being always ^''^• 

 Breafthigh, andaniwereth to the πρ^ό {YuXg.Lorica,) which we 

 render the Battlements in the H. Scriptures '. Inftead of this 

 Parapet Wall, fome Terraces are guarded, in the fame manner 

 the Galleries are, with Balluftrades only or Latticed- Work : 

 in which Fafliion probably, as the Name feems to import, was 

 the [nr^t',] Net or Lattice, as we render it , that ^haziah 

 {-L Kings I. 1.) might be careleily leaning over, when he fell 

 down from thence into the Court. For upon thefe Terraces, 

 feveral Offices of the Family are performed ; fuch as the drying 

 of Linnen ; preparing of Figs and Raifnis ; where likewife they 

 enjoy the cool refrelhing Breezes of the Evening'; converfe 

 with one another and offer up their Devotions \ When one 

 of thefe Cities is built upon a Plat of level Ground, we can 

 pafs from one End of It to another, along the Tops of the 

 Houfes, without coming down into the Street. 



Such is the Manner and Contrivance in general of the Eaftern ^' ^" ^"ί'' < 

 Houfes. And if it may be prefumed that our Saviour, at the'^^i''^'""•^ '^ 

 healing of the Taralytic ^ was preaching in an Houfe of this 

 Fafliion, we may, by attending only to the Strutlure of It, 

 give no fmall Light to oneCircumftance of thatHiftory, which 

 hath lately given great Offence to fome Perfons. For a mono- 

 other pretended Difficulties and Abfurdities relating to this 

 Fad, it hath been urged \ that " as the uncovering or hreak- 

 " ing up of the Roof, Mar. 1. 4. or the letting a Terfon down 

 '' through it, Luk. 5•. 1 9. fuppofes the breaking up of Tiles, Spars, 

 '' Rafters ^'c. fo it was well," (as the Author goes on in his 

 ludicrous Manner,) "\i Jejus and his Difciples efcaped with 

 " only a broken Pate, by the falling of the Tiles, and if the 

 " reft were not fmothered with Duft." But that nothing of 



Ί When thou bmldefl a new Houfe, then thou /lialt make a Battlement ['"ΐρΐ^Ώ] for thy Roof, 

 that thou In'mg not blood upon thine Houfe, if any Man fall from thence. Dcut. 22. 8. Γΐρ>' indr 

 npyO, quod kcnndarn Rabbi David in libro Radicum, erat iidificium quod faciebant in 

 circuitu tcdi (i. partis iuperioris domus quae erat plana) ne quis inde caderet : & erat alti- 

 tudinis decern Ο'Παϊ? (i. palmarum) qus eft menfura quatuor digitonun luper fc pofitoriini 

 vcl amplius. v.Pagn.Le^^. 2 Jnd it came to pafs in an evening Tide,thatDavid rofe from off hisBed, 

 and vualked upon the Roof of the Kings Houfe. 2 Sam. xi. 2. So theyfprcad Abfolom a Tmt upon 

 the Top of the Houfe. V. xvi. 22. Samuel communed with Saul upon the Top of the Houfe. 

 I Sam. ix. 25•. Samuel called S.uU to the Top of the Houfe. V. 2(5. 3 They th.it ιΐ'οφιρ the 

 Hofl of Heaven upon the Houfe Top. Zeph. i. j. Peter went tip upon the Houfe Top to pray 

 Acts 10. 9. 4 Vid. Wftf^ew's 4 Difc. p. j/, 



Aaaa this 



