And Upon That Rock Was Jacob Sleeping When He Saw The Angels Go Up
And Down By A Ladder, And
He said, VERE LOCUS ISTE SANCTUS EST, ET
EGO IGNORABAM; that is to say, 'Forsooth this place is holy, and
I
wist it nought.' And there an angel held Jacob still, and turned
his name, and clept him Israel. And in that same place David saw
the angel that smote the folk with a sword, and put it up bloody in
the sheath. And in that same rock was Saint Simeon when he
received our Lord into the temple. And in this rock he set him
when the Jews would have stoned him; and a star came down and gave
him light. And upon that rock preached our Lord often-time to the
people. And out that said temple our Lord drove out the buyers and
the sellers. And upon that rock our Lord set him when the Jews
would have stoned him; and the rock clave in two, and in that
cleaving was our Lord hid, and there came down a star and gave
light and served him with clarity. And upon that rock sat our
Lady, and learned her psalter. And there our Lord forgave the
woman her sins, that was found in avowtry. And there was our Lord
circumcised. And there the angels shewed tidings to Zacharias of
the birth of Saint Baptist his son. And there offered first
Melchisadech bread and wine to our Lord, in token of the sacrament
that was to come. And there fell David praying to our Lord and to
the angel that smote the people, that he would have mercy on him
and on the people: and our Lord heard his prayer, and therefore
would he make the temple in that place, but our Lord forbade him by
an angel; for he had done treason when he let slay Uriah the worthy
knight, for to have Bathsheba his wife. And therefore, all the
purveyance that he had ordained to make the temple with he took it
Solomon his son, and he made it. And he prayed our Lord, that all
those that prayed to him in that place with good heart - that he
would hear their prayer and grant it them if they asked it
rightfully: and our Lord granted it him, and therefore Solomon
clept that temple the Temple of Counsel and of Help of God.
And without the gate of that temple is an altar where Jews were in
wont to offer doves and turtles. And between the temple and that
altar was Zacharias slain. And upon the pinnacle of that temple
was our Lord brought for to be tempted of the enemy, the fiend.
And on the height of that pinnacle the Jews set Saint James, and
cast him down to the earth, that first was Bishop of Jerusalem.
And at the entry of that temple, toward the west, is the gate that
is clept PORTA SPECIOSA. And nigh beside that temple, upon the
right side, is a church, covered with lead, that is clept Solomon's
School.
And from that temple towards the south, right nigh, is the temple
of Solomon, that is right fair and well polished. And in that
temple dwell the Knights of the Temple that were wont to be clept
Templars; and that was the foundation of their order, so that there
dwelled knights and in TEMPLO DOMINI canons regulars.
From that temple toward the east, a six score paces, in the corner
of the city, is the bath of our Lord; and in that bath was wont to
come water from Paradise, and yet it droppeth. And there beside is
our Lady's bed. And fast by is the temple of Saint Simeon, and
without the cloister of the temple, toward the north, is a full
fair church of Saint Anne, our Lady's mother; and there was our
Lady conceived; and before that church is a great tree that began
to grow the same night. And under that church, in going down by
twenty-two degrees, lieth Joachim, our Lady's father, in a fair
tomb of stone; and there beside lay some-time Saint Anne, his wife;
but Saint Helen let translate her to Constantinople. And in that
church is a well, in manner of a cistern, that is clept PROBATICA
PISCINA, that hath five entries. Into that well angels were wont
to come from heaven and bathe them within. And what man, that
first bathed him after the moving of the water, was made whole of
what manner of sickness that he had. And there our Lord healed a
man of the palsy that lay thirty-eight year, and our Lord said to
him, TOLLE GRABATUM TUUM ET AMBULA, that is to say, 'Take thy bed
and go.' And there beside was Pilate's house.
And fast by is King Herod's house, that let slay the innocents.
This Herod was over-much cursed and cruel. For first he let slay
his wife that he loved right well; and for the passing love that he
had to her when he saw her dead, he fell in a rage and out of his
wit a great while; and sithen he came again to his wit. And after
he let slay his two sons that he had of that wife. And after that
he let slay another of his wives, and a son that he had with her.
And after that he let slay his own mother; and he would have slain
his brother also, but he died suddenly. And after that he did all
the harm that he could or might. And after he fell into sickness;
and when he felt that he should die, he sent after his sister and
after all the lords of his land; and when they were come he let
command them to prison. And then he said to his sister, he wist
well that men of the country would make no sorrow for his death;
and therefore he made his sister swear that she should let smite
off all the heads of the lords when he were dead; and then should
all the land make sorrow for his death, and else, nought; and thus
he made his testament.
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