brought on us seaven times more plagues then formerly Hee seeth that wee feare not this glorious name The Lord our God therfore hath hee sent us greate plagues of long continuance and sore sicknesse of long continuance Thus I sitt and muse and consider of the sicknesse I heare the bells tolling even those bells which were wont to invite us to the temple that wee might know our sinnes at the mouth of the preacher and pray for remission of our sinnes by the helpe of the preacher the very selfe-same bells serve now to tell mee that one man lyeth languishing and desireth my prayers another man is departed and wanteth nothing but a funerall a third man is to be buried but a neighbourly and friendly companie is wanting Every stroake of a bell mee think's hitteth mee at the heart and biddeth mee to prepare for my last fare-well Every toul awakeneth my conscience and biddeth mee remember what my sinnes have merited Thus mine eares receave a sound and thus my trembling heart feeleth a throb a heating a panting for my particular sinnes which have beene some cause of this generall sicknesse Moses went unto the Lord 3. Ex 32.31 and sayd Oh this people have sinned a greate sinne and have made them Gods of gold But what followed The Lord plagued the people vers 35 because they worshipped the Calse which Aaron had made There was the sinne there was the punishment But was that plague the same as this which now doeth rave and rage amongst us Surely our sinnes are the same as were theirs for wee digge the entrailes of our mother earth and like the Augures the Sooth-sayers though they sayd noe sooth noe trueth at all wee conjecture wee divine by those entrailes yea and wee decree him who is rich to be a good man a fufficient man an honest man and what not Wee vallew the man for the gold wee worship him for it wee honour him for it And is not this to sinne with the Israëlites Wee doe very litle differ from those idolaters even nothing at all They made them Gods of gold and wee make gold our God Iustly therfore are wee thus punished by the true God because wee honour that which is noe God The Israelites had this very kind and sort of plague such a very pestilence as ours and for just such a sinne as this of ours Though Moses prayed for them yea though hee desired to be blotted out of the booke of God vers 32 rather then they should not be forgiven yet God decreed saying vers 33 Whosoëver hath sinned against mee him will I blott out of my booke Whosoëver hath sinned against him If hee should deale so with us who should people the land Who should inhabit our dwellings Who should enjoy our treasures Hee hath begun blotting indeede allready His inke is found in the blacknesse of every blaine in the blewnesse of every token in the rednesse of every crossed doore But will this blotting allwayes continue Will hee not stay his hand Will his wrath burne like fire for ever Ps 141.7 Our bones lye scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth vers 8. But mine eyes are unto thee ô God the Lord in thee is my trust Either blott not at all or onely blott out our offences Hide thy face from our sinns and blott out all our iniquities Say unto every one of us as thou diddest unto Iacob by the mouth of thy Prophet I Is 43.25 even I am hee that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne name's sake and will not remember thy sinnes The Fourth part of the Soliloquie consisting of Severall examples of dreadfull Pestilences LOrd what a hideous dinne is this in mine eares There was a groane able to have shaken even the earth it selfe had it beene imprisoned in the deepest bowells thereof What another Hearke There 's weeping too Oh this is the sad and wearisome life of us poore sinners who are caged and miewed up in our infected citties and townes and villages The diseased groane through the extreamitie of their paines and for want of comforts both of body and soule The sound are weeping for the miseries of the sick and long for the deliverance even of their whole familes from the burden of the flesh Some habitations are made both hospitalls and charnell houses where many a one lyeth sick and for want of helpe they sicken without hope they dye without comfort and they consume without interment Sometimes againe the mother who dandled her infant in her clasping armes is enforced in those armes to carrie it to the grave Sometimes the husband who deerely affected the wife of his bosome is enforced to make her the burden of his shoulders and to beare her dead corps to the devouring earth for want of friends neighbours to ease him of the burden Yea sometimes the children are enforced to assist their father in the cariage of their mother to her longest home O horrour horrour horrour Can pittie find noe enterance at the hearts of strangers Can compassionfind noe harbour in the bowells of neighbours Will none performe this act of pietie to key-cold woman to the carkeise of a woman but onely her husband the husband of her affection and her children the labour and the fruit of her wombe O how divers in the world would stand amazed at the sight hardly determine whether the dropps which fall from the faces of the bearers be the sweate of their browes or the teares of their eyes Oh what adreadfull time is this Did ever any age produce a paralell to this severe contagion Was it ever knowne that a Pestilence was so generall and so malignant Did ever any people drinke so deepe of the cup of sorrow astonishment Eze 23 33. vers 4. and desolation as wee doe Was ever Samaria or Aholah or Aholibah or Babylon or Ierusalem Ier 25.20 was ever the king of the land of the Philistines or Askelon or Azzah or Ekron vers 21 or Ashdod was ever Edom or Moab or Ammon or Tyrus or Zidon vers 22 was ever Dedan or Tema vers 23 or any other place so drunke with the cup of furie from the Lords hands as wee are Hos 4.18 Our drinke was formerly sowre with our whoredomes with our abominations now therfore wee have waters of gall to drinke Ier 8.14 c 23.15 c 25.15 Eze 39 17. vers 18 vers 19 Lam 1.12 wee are fed with wormewood and our cup is a cup of furie of trembling and of astonishment O the plague the plague it is that eateth our flesh and drinketh our blood it eateth the flesh of the mighty and drinketh the blood of Princes it drinketh even untill it is drunken with our blood Was there ever any sorrow like unto our sorrow where with the Lord doeth afflict us in this day of his fierce wrath But why doe I thus cry out Why
him who is emnipotent Hee did worke many wonders by his Apostles Act 19 11. even upon the living and speciall miracles by the hand of Saint Paul vers 12 so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkercheifs or aprons the diseases departed from them the evill spirits went out of them And hee who wrought cure of the people without meanes can give such a blessing to the meanes that I may thereby be restored againe many diseases my Redeemer himselfe did cure while hee was upon earth It is true that hee is now not here in the flesh hee is ascended into heaven But what of that Though his humanitie be there yet his divinitie is every where I will therfore submit to his pleasure and I will hope for my health While hee was upon earth hee delighted in cures and his mercie remaineth still the same readily will I therfore submit to his pleasure Mar. 2.3 Once was a man so weake with the palsie that hee was borne by fower vers 4. and when by reason of the preasse they could not come neere the doores of the house where my Saviour was they un-covered the roofe and let him downe in his bed When Iesus saw their faith vers 5. hee said unto the sick of the palsie Sonne thy sinnes be forgiven thee Mat 8.14 When Peter's wive's mother was sick of a feaver vers 15 my Saviour did but onely touch her hand and the feaver left her and shee arose and ministred unto them c. 4.24 The people brought unto him all sick folke that were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those that were possessed with devills and those that were lunatick and those that had the palsy and hee healed them It is hee alone that can heale and therfore to him alone will I pray that I may be healed Were my disease as ould as my body my body as ancient as time it selfe yet hee that can remit my sinnes can restore my health But my disease is not so ancient and therfore the cure doeth not seeme to be so hard Suppose that I have languished a moneth a quarter a whole yeare What if three What if sixe What if a dozen yeares It exceedeth not either his power Mat. 9.20 or skill to make mee whole Hee cured a woman who for twelve yeares together had beene diseased of an issue of blood in her body Mar 5.26 Shee poore woman had suffered many things of many physitians and had spent al that shee had and yet was nothing bettered but rather grew worse Thus despairing of any helpe from man shee addressed herselfe to him who is both God and man To him that cure was so easie that shee did but onely touch the hemme of his garment strait way the fountaine of her blood was dryed up vers 29 and shee felt in her body that shee was healed of that plague There was a miracle indeede that with the touch of a garment the disease should be cured If such power did lye in the hemne of his garment what vertue must I needes believe did lie in his body But what comfort can I receave from this which I reade when I know that that body is ascended into heaven Fond woman as I am why doe I thus waver Though his flesh be from mee yet his spirit is with mee Yea and his flesh and his blood is offered still unto Christians upon earth Hee giveth not onely his garment to touch but allso his flesh and that not to touch onely but even to eate to seede upon in the blessed sacrament That woman was cured by the touch of his garment and shall not I hope for his mercy who feede upon his flesh and blood in the Eucharist Yes yes I must I will believe that hee for his owne sake will remitt my sinnes and that if it may advantage the glory of his name hee â—an and may recover my health Yet all this while I thinke but of a disease of twelve yeares standing What if I had beene sick for eighteene yeares together Might I therfore despaire of his power Noe noe I might not I durst not Lu 13.11 Doe not I reade of a woman who had a spirit of insirmitie eighteene yeares and was bowed together and could in noe wise lift up herselfe A disease shee had which in effect was not alltogether unlike unto mine for I stoope too and am allmost bowed together through the weakenesse and infirmitie of my body and cannot lift up my selfe but am enforced to require the aide of my friends and attendance to raise mee and to support mee Yet I reade that when Iesus saw her vers 12 hee called her unto him and said unto her Woman thou art loosed from thine infirmitie vers 13 And hee layd his hands on her and immediately shee was made straite and glorified God It may be his pleasure to speake such comfort allso unto mee for I have not beene sick so many yeares as was shee and I seeke my Saviour which shee did not allthough I must acknowledge it is his grace which worketh in mee this my seeking of him yea and I begge the cure whereas shee was asked if shee would be cured Why then should I not hope that hee will lay his hands upon mee and make mee straite and restore mee whole as hee did that woman that I may glorifie him for it But suppose that my disease had continued above twentie yeares suppose above thirtie should the long continuance make mee determine the cure impossible Nothing lesse for I reade that a certaine man was at the poole of Bethesda Io. 5.5 who had an infirmitie thirtie and eight yeares vers 6. and when my Iesus sam him lye there and knew that hee had beene now a long time in that case hee said unto him Wilt thou be whole vers 7. The impotent man answered him Sir I have noe man when the water is troubled to put mee into the poole but while I am coming another steppeth downe before mee vers 8. vers 9. Iesus saith unto him Rise take up thy bed and walke and immediately the man was made whole and tooke up his bed and walked Loe here is some comfort still thirtie and eight yeares continuance was nothing to Christ Hee who is eternall seeth all things at once and doeth all things without difficultie Surely that man was intended for a patterne of patience and that I might learne contentedly to suffer what my God shall lay upon mee Hee despaired not of health though his disease was inveterate but hee lay â—… the poole and expected still the hand of mercy â—o lift him into the water nothing doubting â—f the cure if hee could in due time but get â—…to the poole Nor may I despaire of what â—y God can doe but I must continue in my â—pplications enduring mine affliction with â—tience and referring all to his holy pleasure 〈◊〉 must
provoked him to wrath But what though in Eden hee was not heard but â—n the coole of the day Gen 18.1 I am sure that hee appeared to Abraham in the heate of the day aâ—â—hee sate in the tent doore in the plaines of Mamâ—re And so hee doeth to mee now too inwardly by his Spirit if I find his grace working in my soule a desire of his glorie I will therfore besiech him now while hee is with mee Ps 42.8 Ps 22.2 to command his loving kindnesse in this day time to visit mee that so I may not justly complaine with David O my God I cry in the day time and thou hearest not but rather that I may heare a Phinehas saying unto mee as once hee did to the children of Reuben Gad and Manasseh This day wee perceave Ios 22.31 that the Lord is among us Alasse poore Iacob how did hee endure the sweate and the burning of this time of the day Gen 31.40 In the day the drought consumed him and the frost in the night and his sleepe departed from him Assuredly in those fourteene yeeres which hee spent in the service of Laban for his two wives and in those sixe yeeres which hee served for the flocks and the cattell hee could not choose but loose a whole river of sweate that dropped from his face Lord how should every droppe of sweate that fall's from my browes put mee in mind of the fall of Adam which produced this punishment Gen 3.19 Yea how should my teares too out-vye my sweate when I consider the number of my fowle transgressions They oh they have so increased within mee that they enforce the sweate to fly to my face and in this heate of the day to tell mee of a punishment in the flames of the damned But there was once a day of deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage Ex 13.3 and Moses commanded the people saying Remember this day And what day of my life hath not beene to mee a day of deliverance So many diseases and accidents assayle the body so many discontents the mind so many casualties and chances the estate yea and which is worst of all so many sinnes the soule that if I should attempt but once to number them I could not easily determine where to beginne Lord make mee this day remember thy deliverances in a gratefull manner and magnifie thee for thy mercies There will bee a day too a day of death but when it shall come God onely knoweth This for ought I know may prove the day Ould Ifaak tould his sonne Esau saying Gen 27.2 Behould now I am ould I know not the day of my death Neither indeede doe I know mine What know I to the contrarie but that anone at the table I may entertaine my death in a dish or a cup Lord make mee allways provided for thee and then at all times thou art well-come to mee But how shall I be sure to have my petition graunted and that God will afford mee such mercy as to save mee I reade of a day that was threatned to the Iewes even when the Chaldaeans should become their conquerours This the Lord fore-tould unto them when hee sayd Ioel 2.1 Blow yee the trumpet in Sion and sound an all-arme in my holy mountaine Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand A day of darknesse vers 2. and of gloominesse a day of clowdes and of thick darknesse as the morning spread upon the mountaines Their death was to approach by the sword of their enemies and their miseries to increase by the furie of their tormentours My death may be neerer hastening unto mee then was the destruction of the Iewes at the time of the prophesie and in what manner it shall come I cannot assure my selfe God is not confined to time or meanes otherwise then hee hath decreed himselfe This very day may happen to be mine and another day may be appointed for another Yea and my day too may prove a day of horrour for wicked I am and I reade what is spoken by the mouth of Iob Iob 21.30 The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath I poore I am one of the wicked and have deserved the greatest severest judgments from the hand of the revenger O if this day should prove so terrible insteede of pampering my body with delightfull foode I might cry out with the Prophet Cursed be the day wherein I was borne Ior 20.14 let not the day wherein my mother bare mee be blessed But I have a better confidence in the mercies of my Redeemer Yet I cannot hope for mercy from him if I doe not expresse some mercy to my selfe The chiefest act of mercy to my selfe consisteth in a serious afflicting and tormenting of my selfe for my sinnes which would ruine mee With my teares I must therfore wash away my sinnes I must purge them with my teares I must cure the sinnes of mine eyes with the teares of mine eyes And yet since my teares are not free from pollution even those must be purified and made effectuall by the blood of the Lamb. The stomack is commonly prepared for meate by the blood of the grape Therfore before I will goe to my foode I will prepare my selfe with a glasse of wine but that wine shall be high and excellent it shall be the wine of Angells It shall have the savour of life in it it shall have the race of mercy in it the sweetenesse of reconciliation the heate of grace This wine shall be my teares a leane sower eager wine of it selfe but it shall be sugered by the hand of my Redeemer it shall be deepe drawne and well dashed with the blood of the innocent This is such as the Angells delight in This wine shall prove an excellent restorative it shall be even like blood yea it shall be blood it selfe even the blood of my drooping my wounded and my deiected soule This will exceede all the Frontiniak or the Greeke or the Palerma wines for the grapes thereof doe not grow upon the smooth and twisting branches of common vines but they grow like the rose upon a thornie bough and yeeld whole clusters of joy and content This wine hath such an in-bred vertue in it that it giveth courage to the drinker and that good effect I seriously hope it shall worke in mee For I must fight though I am but a woman I must fight and warre and combate with mine enemies with my corruptions Ios 10.13 I trust that hee who made the Sun stand still in the middest of heaven that it hasted not to goe downe about a whole day when the five Kings fought against Gibeon and all this onely at the prayer of Ioshua even hee will assist mee in this holy warre that I may destroy the Kings the greatest the
for your sinnes vers 29 And yee shall eate the flesh of your sonnes and the flesh of your daughters shall yee eate This was threatned and this was inflicted the sad storie whereof is obvious to every willing eye according as it is recorded in sacred Writt 2. King 6.25 A greate famine there was in Samaria and behould they besieged it untill an Asse's head was sould for fourescore pieces of silver and a fourth part of a Kabbe of dove's dung for five pieces of silver vers 26 And as the King of Israel was passing by upon the wall there cryed a woman unto him saying Helpe my Lord vers 27 ô King And hee said If the Lord doe not helpe thee whence shall I helpe thee Out of the barne floore or out of the wine-presse And the King said unto her vers 28 what ayleth thee And shee answered This woman said unto mee Give thy sonne that wee may eate him to day and wee will eate my sonne to morrow vers 29 So wee boyled my sonne and did eate him And I said unto her on the next day Give thy sonne that wee may eate him shee hath hidden him O what a famine was this which instructed nature to become unnaturall The lives of the mothers were preserved onely by the deaths of their issue The children in recompence for the milke they had sucked were enforced to pay the tribute of their blood Those bellies which harboured the children unborne were made the tombes of the murdered children They which were a burden once to the parent were now the nourishers The famine did make the innocent guilty to prevent the hands of crueller executioners the mothers did friendly betray them to their murder They expresse their love in preserving them from starving and so at once were mercifull to the babes in borrowing their lives and carefull for themselves to prevent their destruction Lord what a horrid act was this when the child which was tenderly beloved of the parents was greedily chewed in the teeth of the mother Our off-spring are bound by the commandement of God to render us honour but yet not thus â—o dye for our lives yet these innocents were obedient before they knew it and became the preservers of them that had nourished them In the place where first they receaved life they preserved life by the deaths of themselves Thus did their mothers most truely set them at their hearts but more in affection to themselves then their issue The children dyed that they might not dye they were murdered that they might not be starved They were dandled to their destruction by the hands of their parents and yet the act did appeare rather care then cruelty Lam 4.10 The hands of the pittifull women saith the Prophet have sodden their owne children they were their meate in the destruction of the daughter of my people Yet their flesh was not sensible of the fiercnesse of the fire nor did they feele the teeth of their greedie parents The bellies of the unnaturall became their graves and yet if there the dead had receaved their rest then their inhumanitie might have seemed to be pitie Those who once required the assistance of a mid-wife were a second time delivered of their deceased burdens But was there noe Prophet among them left to intreate Was there none to intercede to the All mighty for them c 2.20 Shall the women eate their fruit and children of a spanne long The head of an asse was the ransome af a child and the dung of the doves a repreever af the infants But when the heads of the beasts had beene devoured by the people the very women themselves were transformed in to beasts Yea that cruelty which the beastes would have stood amazed at the greedie starvelings blushed not to practise O mee think's the remembrance of the doves should have heightened their affection and not the dung of the doves have ushered in their murders This was a famine wich I tremble to remember and it grieveth mee to thinke that my sexe was so cowardly Had the ould and the young expired together I should have thought the women indulgent mothers This famine was worse then that which Rabshakeh threatned to Ierusalem for hee menaced but the feeding on the dung of themselves but here was served in the very fruit of their loynes Yet that other was terrible too even in the threat when railing Rabshakeh said unto Eliakim Shebna and Ioah 2 King 18.27 Hath my master sent mee to thy master and to thee to speake these words Hath hee not sent mee to the men that sit on the wall that they may eate their owne dung and drinke their owne pisse These these were famines which are more dreadfull in their relationâ— then mine is in the sufferance yet seing they were universall they were the easier to be borne Miserie hath some comfort if it be â—ot singuler The sufferance is easier when â—…ce it grow'es generall If the whole world â—ere reduced to the same distresse as now â— suffer I should ease my complaint by the sufferance of others But is not this an argument of uncharitable wickednesse when 〈◊〉 grieve not so much at my particular durance as I repine because the penurie is not univerfall While others have I may hope for reliefe but if the famine were generall I could not expect it This is the wickednesse of most which sulfer that they vailew their miseries more by comparison then justice and deeme themselves the more unhappy because every one else is not so low as they I must therfore take heede that I neither offend in my sufferance nor repine because I am singular If I take this hunger as a chastisement from God I may hope to be relieved in his owne good time Let mee enquire into the cause of this my visitation and so I may be instructed how to demeane my selfe In the depth of this affliction I cannot choose but behould an angrie Lord. Hee ô hee is offended who said in the Psalmes Every beast of the forrest is mine Ps 50.10 vers 11 vers 12 and the cattell upoÌ„ a thousand hills I know all the fowles of the mountaines and the wild beastes of the field are mine The world is mine and the fullnesse thereof Hee hath enough I see to give though hee deemeth mee not worthie enough to receave I am afraid that I formerly thanked him not for what I had and therfore now hee decreeth that I shall wish to have It hath beene commonly his custome thus to punish those that offended To disobedient Israel hee threatned this and allso the sword Deut. 28.48 by the mouth of Moses saying Thou shalt serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakednesse in want of all things Againe of impenitent Israel hee saith by his Prophet Is 9.20 Hee shall snatch on the right hand and be hungrie and hee shall
soone therfore appease his anger by revenging my selfe upon my selfe for the sinnes which I have committed against his glorious name And if I cannot be revenged enough I will cry for anger even for anger that I cannot punish my selfe enough for displeasing him who thus honoureth my roofe When the Israelites were to eate the Paschall lanb Ex 12.7 they were commanded to take of the blood thereof and to strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper doore-post of the houses wherein they did eate it vers 13 And the blood saith the Lord shall be to you for a token upon the houses where yee are and when I see the blood I will passe over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt O here is comfort now in the midst of affliction here is joy in the depth of sorrow See there there is that token there is the blood on the doore or at least the representation of it for the red Crosse is there It is to mee for a token or a memoriall of the blood of that innocent Lamb without spot that was slaine that was crucified on the Crosse for the sinnes of the elect Now Lord doe what thou pleasest spare or strike it shall be all one to mee so long as thou givest mee a firme assurance that hee hath suffered for mee I vallew not my flesh I care not for this lumpe of walking dust let it be blowne away let this muddewall be throwne downe it is noe matter I am content so long as I am sure that the anger of my God will be appeased by the blood of my Redeemer and that so soone as my soule shall be freed from the prison of my flesh I shall for ever sit on the right hand of my Iesus Sure I am that allthough my house be shut up because of the infection yet my Christ will cleanse my soule with his blood Therfore World farewell shut up whom thou pleasest Thy companie is not so good nor thy courtesie so greate as to command my joy Allthough my house here be shut up yet hee which is faithfull hath promised that the gates of that new Ierusalem Reu 21 25. which is above shall not be shut at all by day and that there shall be noe night there O let mee begge of my Lord my Land-Lord yea my guest my friend my brother my father that seeing I am a woman a fearefull woman wonderfully afraid especially of a serpent c 20.2 or a dragon hee will be pleased to lay hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devill and Satan vers 3. and bind him and cast him into the bottomlesse pit and shut him up and set a seale upon him that hee may deceave mee noe more O how contentedly then shall I mourne How joyfully shall I grieve for all the offences that ever I committed Well now my God is pleased to speake to my conscience away will I goe in private all alone and cry in a corner I will weepe by my selfe away I will goe and separate my selfe from my familie yea even from him who is my head and my Lord that I may the more freely weepe This I will doe and this I may doe for when Ierusalem had her great mourning not onely every familie mourned apart Zech 12.12 but even their wives allso mourned apart So will I I will mourne apart too But because I must not offer to offer unto my God such a present as a litle poore botle of teares Ps 56.8 and say nothing to him when I render it humbly therfore upon my knees will I fall and thus will I say unto him The Prayer GLorious and ever-living Lord God Ps 75.5 who doest suffer the wicked to live in prosperitie to be in noe trouble like other men nor to be plagued like other men but hast tould us that whomsoever thou lovest thou doest chasten Heb 12 6. and scourgest every child whom thou receavest vouchsafe I beseech thee to sanctifie this affliction which thou hast layed at this time upon mee and mine 1. King 17.18 Thou art come ô my God to call my sinnes to remembrance ô let mee not frustrate thine intent not repell the motions of thy blessed Spirit My selfe and my familie are now shut up from the lewde temptations of the seducing world Lord make mee at this time to looke into my selfe into mine owne wicked and sinfull heart which hath beene so long shu◠up even from mine owne selfe from mine understanding and my knowledge This o Lord is thy time to speake let it I beseech thee be my time to heare My house is become a house of thy correction and my selfe familie are the offenders whom thou art pleased to chastise Ier 10.24 Ps 88.7 Lord correct us but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring us to nothing Thy wrath at this time lyeth hard upon us and thou afflictest us with all thy waves Thou hast put our acquaintance farre from us vers 8. thou hast made us to be an abomination unto them wee are shut up and cannot come forth Ps 38.11 Our lovers and our friends stand aloofe from us and our neighbours stand afarre off Ps 88.9 By reason of this affliction mine eye mourneth Lord I call dayly upon thee Ps 69.15 Ps 73.14 Ps 69.3 and stretch out mine hands unto thee O let not the water-flood over-flow us neither let the deepe swallow us up and let not the pit shut her mouth upon us All the day long are wee plagued and chastened every day I am wearie of crying Ps 69.3 my throate is drie my sight even faileth for wayting so long upon thee my God Ps 78.39 Ps 91.3 O consider thy distressed servants that wee are but flesh that wee are even a wind that passeth away and cometh not againe Deliver us o Lord from the snare of the fowler from the noisome Pestilence Either send unto us or else be thou thy selfe unto us a staffe as well as a rodde Ps 23.4 Ps 91.5 a supporter as well as a correctour that so wee may not be afraid for the terrour by night vers 6. nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the Pestilenee that walketh in darkenesse nor for the destruction that wasteth at moone-day Prepare us o Lord for those heavenly mansions where thy Sonne sitteth at thy right hand making intercession for us Heare him pleading for our remission and inter-ceding for our pardon Out of his wounds have issued that pretious balsamome which is able to cure the sinnes of the whole world In him be pleased to be reconciled unto us since our times are in thine hands Ps 31.15 Lord either spare us for thine honour or else receave us to thy mercy Let the health of our bodies make us mindfull to labour for the health of our soules and
man of God had dis-obeyed his command the ould Prophet tould him saying Thy carkeise shall not come into the sepulcher of thy fathers 1. King 13.22 This curse was accounted as full of dread as any that was sent upon the sonnes of men When the young man the Prophet annointed Iehu King over Israë 2. King 9.7 hee tould him that hee should smite the house of Ahab his master and that the doggs should eate Iezebel in the portion of Iezreel vers 10 vers 7. and there should be none to bury her that the Lord might avenge the blood of his servants the Prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Iezebel VVhat Iehu was commanded hee did faithfully execute for when hee had caused the eunuches to throw that painted adulteresse out of the window from whence shee looked vers 3. some of her blood was sprinkeled both on the wall and on the horses and hee trod her under foote Afterward when hee had eate and dranke hee sayd vers 34. Gâ—e see now this cursed woman and bury her for shee is a King's daughter vers 35 And they went to bury her vers 37 but they found noe more of her then the skull and the feete the palmes of her hands sothat they could not say This is lezebel Ier. 22.17 Because the eyes of Iehojakim and his heart were not but for his coveteousnesse and for to shed innocent blood and for oppression for violence to doe it vers 18 therfore thus sayd the Lord concerning Iehojakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah vers 19 Hee shall be buried with the buriall of an Asse drawne and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem The Lord threatned the Princes of Iudah c. 34.19 and the Princes of Ierusalem and the Eunuches and the Priests all the people of the land which passed betweene the parts of the calfe vers 20 saying I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them that seeke their life and their dead bodies shall be for meate unto the fowles of heaven and to the beasts of the earth But on the contrarie Ahijah the Prophet telleth the wife of ieroboam concerning her sick sonne Abijah 1. King 24.12 vers 13 saying Arise get thee to thine house and when thy feete enter into the citty the child shall dye But all Israël shall mourne for him and bury him for hee onely of Ieroboam shall come to thegrave because in him there is found some good thinge towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam Againe wheÌ„ Huldah the Prophetesse did for etell the destruction of Ierusalem but a respite thereof in the time of Iosiah she tould him 2. King 22.20 saying Behould saith the Lord I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace Thus hath it often discovered the wrath of the All-mighty when the earkeises of the dead have beene denyed their funeralls and on the contrarie it hath sometimes manifested his love when they have peaceably beene brought to their longest home Buriall is the last of dueties which wee owe unto our friends to which both religion and nature and civilitie doe prompt us for ward When Isaak being ould and full of dayes Gen 35 29. did give up the ghost and dyed and was gathered unto his people his two sonnes Esau and Iacob buried him When Iohn the Baptist was beheaded in the prison Mat 14 12. his disciples came and tooke up the body and buried it The disciple that was willing to follow my Redeemer yet accounted it his duety to attend on the funerall of his deceased father and therfore desired saying c 8.21 Lord suffer mee first to goe and bury my father True it is that his request was denyed not as if Christ dis-liked his pietie but to teach him that nothing should hinder him from religion This was as greate an excuse as most that could have beene pleaded and yet even this had not force enough to prevayle for his departure Our father in heaven must be preferred in our service before the fathers of our flesh Againe it may be conceaved that the parent of the disciple dyed in un-beliefe it was therfore more proper that infidells should bury him who were dead to religion then that a disciple of Christ should mixe with the un-faithfull Howsoëver hee was not checked for desiring leave to bury his father but hee was commanded rather to follow his Master Even the glutton in the Gospel had so much favour as to be brought to his grave so saith the text The rich man allso dyed Lu. 16.22 Iob. 21.30 vers 32 vers 33 and was buried Though the wicked saith Iob is reserved to the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath yet shall hee be brought to the grave and shall remaine in the tombe The clods of the valley shall be sweete unto him and every man shall draw after him as there are innumerable before him Ps 49.14 Though death as the Psalmist speaketh doeth feede on the wicked and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beawty shall consume from their dwellings yet in the grave shall it consume them and in the grave like sheepe shall they lye Thus the Prophet foretelling the buriall of my Redeemer Is 53.9 sayd Hee made his grave with the wicked the rich in his death It is then the duety of the living to provide even for the dead that they may be buried in peace But is it a matter of any moment in what place wee lay the bodies of our deceased friends Is it not all one whether in the fields or whether in our Golgotha's Noe doubtlesse for even the lawes of our land are so justly severe against idolaters that wee suffer not the convicted to be buried in our ground which is dedicated to this use Neither may they be permitted to mixe with our dead who have desperately become the murderers of themselves but they lye in the roades where a stake is set up to give notice to passengers that they unnaturally hastened their owne departure It is a matter of some moment to us who are living that wee lay our deceased friends in a place convenient for allthough it exteÌ„deth not to their knowledg yet it redoundeth to their honour When Iudas had given back the thirtie pieces of silver the price of him that was vallewed Mat 27 9. to the chiefe Priests that hired him they tooke counsell together and seing it was not fitt to mixe that money with the rest of their treasure because it was the price of blood vers 7. they bought the potter's field with it vers 6. to burie strangers vers 7. Thus they who would readily give a reward to a traitour were not so readie to be
2.16 Dan 3.29 lying in a manger King Nebuchad nezzar made a decree that every people nation and language which spake any thing amisse against the God of Shadrach Meshech and Abednigo should be cut in pieces and their houses should be made Iakes So the Geneva translation but now wee have all pretending to be worshippers of that God yea even those who esteeme our Churches noe better then what those Blasphemers houses were to be turned into yea and in good earnest such Ioel. 2.20 such places of stench and filthinesse they account fitt and good enough to offer their incense in to the God of heaven But doe they not thinke that their stinke doth come up and their ill savour come up unto the great God and that he will say unto them Is 1.13 your incense is an abomination unto mee Idolatrie hath in ancient times foolishly set forth our Churches with Pageantrie and gawdie trickings of superstition in our later times wee dreaded the courtings and the slow-paced but cunning and subtle insinuations of the prowd whore of Babylon and now mee think's wee have a strang kind of alteration Mat 12 25. for here is not onely a Kingdome ô woe is the time divided against it felfe but allso Satan in some places seeming to cast out Satan profanenesse to cast out superstition 1. Chr. 2.7 Nay every troubler of our Israel every Schismatick every Sectarist every Vpstart as well as ould Heretick comes in among us as did the wise men Ex 7.11 the sorcerers the magicians of Egypt before Pharaoh and casteth downe every man his rod and they become serpents Gen. 3.15 But o when will the seede of the woman bruise nay breake these serpents heads When will that Angel which hath the key of the bottomlesse pit come downe from heaven with a great chaine in his hand Reu 20 1. vers 2. vers 3. and lay hold on the Dragon that old serpent and all the young ones made of the magicians rod's and bind them and cast them into the bottomlesse pit and shut them up and set a seâ— upon them that they deceave the nations nâ— more Heb 9.10 Is not this time hoped to be the times Reformation Why then doe Iacob and Esaâ— still strugle in the wombe of our Rebeckah Gen. 25 22. Ex. 14.24 vers 25 Iud. 5.28 Isa 5.28 What troubleth our host and taketh off our charet wheeles that they drive so heavily Why tarry the wheeles of the charet Why are not the wheeles like the whirlewind Shall the children come to the birth and shall there not be strength to bring forth Shall the seamlesse coate of Christ be allways thus torne in pieces Shall the souldiers still teare it Shall they still cast lots what every man should take c 37.5 Ioa. 19.23 Mar. 15.24 Ioa 19.34 Ps 74.10 Yea and not content with tearing his coate shall the souldier with a speare pierce his very side allsâ— O God how long shall the adversarie reproach Shall the enemies blaspheme thy name for ever Time was when Micah had an house of godâ— and made an Eâ—hod and Teraphim and consecrated one of his Sons who became his Priest but in those dayes saith the text there was noe King in Israel Iud 17 5. vers 6. but every man did that which was right in his owne eyes Wee cannot truely say wee have noe King but too truely wee may see that allmost every man striveth to doe that which is right in his owne eyes Alas Num 24.23 Is 1.25 vers 27 Who shall live when God doth this When will the Lord turne his hand upon us and purely purge away our drosse and take away all our tinne When shall Zion be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousnesse 2. Sam 15.31 Isa 1.5 vers 6. When shall the counsell of Achitophel be turned into foolishnesse The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint From the sole of the foote even to the head there is noe soundnesse but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores that are neither closed nor bound up nor mollified with ointment Eze 11 2. 2. King 11.17 O that the men that devise mischiefe and give wicked counsell might once come to an end Lord how wee long for a Iehojada to make a covenant betweene the Lord and the King and the people that wee should be the Lords people betweene the King allso and the people vers 18 and that all the people of our land would goe into the house of Baal and breake it downe breake his altars and his images in pieces thorowly and that he would take the rulers over hundreds vers 19 vers 20 and the captaines and the guard and the people of the land and all of them bring the King to his house and set him upon the throne of the Kings that all the people of the land may rejoyce and the City may be in quiet The Lord once did how the hearts of all the men of Iudah even as the heart of one man 2. Sam. 19.14 vers 15 so that they sent this word to the King Returne thou and all thy servants So the King returned and came to Iordan and Iudah came to Gilgal to meete the King to conduct the King O that our dayes of mourning were turned into a day of rejoycing and showting Ezra 4.10 that wee might offer sacrifices of sweete savours for it unto the God heaven But such a day of rejoycing wâ— cannot expect nor hope for untill our Goâ— shall be pleased to make us more sensiblâ— first of our sinns and then of our present an emergent calamities Alas Alas wee pretenâ— to be sorrie for our sinns and wee pray foâ— peace and yet full litle doe wee remembeâ— that there is noe peace saith the Lord Is 48.22 unto the wicked It would prove indeed a most inralluable blessing 2. King 20.19 if wee could see peace and truth in our dayes and wee are assured the to the counsellers of peace there is joy Prov. 12.20 But what hopes can wee have of peace while our â—…quities separate betweene us and our God If. 59.2 and our sinns hide his face froÌ„ us that hee will nâ— heare vers 3. Our hands are defiled with blood our fingers with iniquity Our lips speake lies our tongues mutter perversnesse vers 4. who calleâ—… for justice And who pleadeth for truth Wee trust in vanity and speake lies wee conceave mischiefe and bring forth iniquity Wee hatch cockatrice eggs vers 5. and weave the spiders webbs hee that eateth of the eggs dyeth and that which is crushed breaketh forth into a viper vers 6. vers 7. Our workes are workes of iniquity and the act of violence is in our hands Our feete runne to evill and wee make hast to shed innocent blood our thoughts are thoughts of iniquity wasting and desolation are in out paths