Jehosaphat too much failed herein he heard the Prophet say that Ahab should fall at Ramoth Gilead and yet he would accompany him thither it had almost cost him his life yet hath God his wayes and means to deliver the righteous in the forementioned cases and all other cases whatsoever As 1. By visible preservations of them from external judgements as Ebed-melech was preserved 2. By taking them from the evil to come This was before exemplified in good Josiah 3. By ordering the judgement so as it proves a means to them to honour God the more and to do more good to such as are better prepared to accept the good which they do Thus was Ezekiel carried away to Babel in the first Captivity that he might prophesie in Babylon to the Jews there who were counted good Figgs in comparison of the Jews that were at Jerusalem who were as evil Figgs 4. By making the judgement a means of their peace honour and eternal prosperity in this world Thus the captivity of Daniel and his three companions and of Esther and Mordecai was a means of higher honour and greater advancement than they could in all probable conjectures have attained unto in their own land They were also thereby special Instruments of doing much good to the Church and their names by that means are more honourable to this day in the Church of God 5. By taking them by an external judgement from earth to heaven where they live being dead yea by making the judgement a means to free them from eternal damnation of such as by some extraordinary judgement dyed for 't is said of them many sleep the Apostle saith When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Blessed be that sword though it be the sword of a mortal enemy that openeth a passage in the body for the soul to enter into heaven And blessed be that sickness though it be the Plague that thrusteth the soul out of the bodies prison to celestial glory and eternal life and they may say we had perished if we had not perished Be not affrighted O ye righteous ones be not affrighted over-much at the judgements though they be terrible judgements which fall out in the world though by reason of the multitudes of wicked ones among whom ye live in this world ye be every one forced to complain and cry Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar and to wish and say O that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people yet can the Lord single you out and when he comes to sweep with the beesome of destruction set you aside and as a few precious Jewels in the midst of a great heap of rubbish sift them out and preserve them safe to himself when the rubbish is cast away It is said of Christ that he will thorowly purge his floor and gather his wheat into his garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire Men when they fan their corn cannot do it so thorowly clean but that some chaffe or tares will remain with the wheat and some wheat be cast out with the chaffe witness the offal that remains after the best fanning that men can make but God's fanning is a thorow fanning not a grain not a Saint shall be over-slipt This is indeed most properly meant of the last fanning of the world at the day of Judgement yet in the mean time doth the Lord take notice of every one of his to provide for them and in the most common and general judgements doth that which in his wisdome he seeth to be fit for them When Elijah thought he had been left alone in Israel God knew many more yea he could tell the just number of them Thou mayest therefore O faithful one say of the Lord He is my refuge and fortress my God in him will I trust Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the Fowler and from the noysome pestilence c. In the midst of Judgements pronounced against sinners that are obstinate God doth reserve and proclaim Mercy unto sinners that are penitent When a consumption is decreed yet a remnant is reserved to return Isa 10.22 23. The Lord will keep his Vineyard when he will burn up the Thorns and the Bryers together Isa 27.3 4. When a day of fierce anger is determined the meek of the earth are called upon to seek the Lord Zeph. 2.3 When the Lord is coming out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity he calls upon his people to hide themselves in their chambers until the indignation be over-past Isa 26.20 21. the Angel which was sent to destroy Sodom had withall a Commission to deliver Lot Gen. 19.15 God made full provision for those who mourned for publick abominations before he gave order to destroy the rest Ezek. 9.4 6. men in their wrath will many times rather strike a friend than spare a foe but God's proceedings are without disorder he will rather spare his foes than strike his servants as he shewed himself willing to have done in the case of Sodom Gen. 18.26 Moses stood in the gap and diverted judgements from Israel Psal 106.23 Yea God seeks for such Ezek. 22.30 and complains when they cannot be found Ezek. 13.15 And if he deliver others for them certainly he will not destroy them for others However it go with the world and with wicked men it shall go well with the righteous there shall be a sanctuary for them when others stumble and they shall pass through the fire when others shall be consumed by it Psal 3.10 11. Isa 8.14 15 16. Zech. 13.8 9. Reasons hereof are God's Justice He will not punish the righteous with the wicked he will have it appear that there is a difference between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Gen. 8.23 Mal. 3.18 Gods love unto his people hee hath Book of remembrance written before him for them that fear him and think upon his Name And they shall bee mine saith the Lord of Hosts In that day when I make up my Jewells and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him Mal. 3.16 17. Here is a climax and gradation of Arguments drawn from love in a great fire and devouring trouble such as is threatned Chap. 4.1 Property alone is a ground of care a man would willingly save and secure that which is his own and of any use unto him But if you add to this preciousness that Increaseth the care A man will make a hard shift to deliver a rich Cabinet of Jewels though all his ordinary goods and utensils should perish but of all Jewels those that come out of the body are more precious than those that onely adorn it who would not rather snatch his Childe than either his Kasket or his purse out of the flame Relation workes not
cometh out of the Oven which afterward shall bee burnt or buried in the earth or the leaves of Scabious or Sorrel rosted or two or three Lilly roots Rosted under embers beaten and applyed Quest Is it lawful to depart from our own place and habitation in time of Plague Ans Provided a man be not tyed by the Relation of a Husband to a Wife a Father to his Children a Master to his Family a Governour and Over-seer of good Order in the place he lives in and bee otherwise free hee may fly For 1 THe departure of some may bee a means in an Infectious aire to keep the Infection from violence much fuel where fire is kindled increaseth the fervour and violence of the fire multitudes of people to an Infected place are as fuel to the fire of Pestilence 2 Such by escaping provide for their own safety without prejudice to others for what prejudice can it be that such as are not by any particular Bond tyed to them that tarry to leave those that are Infected 3 The departure of some may make much to the benefit and advantage of such as tarry for they have the better opportunity of sending succour to them this was one Reason why the people would not have David go into the field that hee might succour them out of the City 4 It is permitted to such in time of Persecution to fly yea and in time of War why not in time of Plague the Plague is an immediate stroke of God whereby such as he hath appointed to death are stricken Answ I grant it to bee an extraordinary disease but not immediate The kinde of the disease and the effects thereof on mans body do shew that it is no more immediate than many other diseases if because such as are appointed to death are strucken with it means of escaping it might not bee used no means for avoiding any Judgement might bee used For the Infection of it let experience determine that case Object 2. Is it a fruit of faithlesseness to shun the Plague Answ No more then to shun other dangers men may indeed upon distrust fly but that shews the frailty of the person not the unlawfulnesse of the action Object 3. If some fly all may fly and so the sick left without succour Answ 1. Some are more bound to venture the hazard than others as Magistrates for keeping good orders Ministers for feeding the soul near of kindred for looking to their bodies such as are under command as Children and Servants 2 Others are not so subject to Infection as Aged 3 Others are not of such use but may better bee spared as the poorer and meaner sort A discourse of fleeing or stay in the time of Pestilence whether lawful for Ministers or People By Bishop Hall HOw many hath a seduced conscience led untimely to the Grave I speak of this sad occasion of Pestilence The Angel of God follows you and you doubt whether you shall fly if a Lyon out of the Forrest should pursue you you would make no question yet could hee do it unsent what is the difference Both instruments of Divine Revenge both threaten death one by spilling the blood the other by Infecting it who knows whether hee hath not appointed your Zoan out of the lists of this destruction you say it is Gods visitation What evil is not If war have wasted the confines of your Countrey you save your throats by flight why are you more favourable to Gods immediate Sword of Pestilence every Leprosie by Gods Law requires a separation yet no mortal sickness when you see a noted Leper proclaim his uncleanness in the street will you embrace him for his sake that hath stricken him or avoid him for his sake that hath forbidden you If you honour his Rod much more will you regard his Precept if you mislike not the affliction because hee sends it then love the life which you have of his sending Fear the Judgement which he will send if you love it not hee that bids us fly when wee are persecuted hath neither excepted Angel nor Man Whether soever I fear our guiltinesse if wilfully wee fly not But whither shall wee fly from God say you where shall hee not both finde and lead us whither shall not our destiny follow us Vain men wee may run from our home not from our graves Death is subtil our time is set wee cannot God will not alter it alass how wise wee are to wrong our selves because death will over take us shall we run and meet him because Gods decree is sure shall wee bee desperate shall wee presume because God changeth not Why do not we try every knife and cord since our time is neither capable of prevention nor delay our end is set not without our means in matter of danger where the end is not known the means must bee suspected in matter of hope where the end is not known means must bee used Use then freely the means of your flight suspect the danger of your stay and since there is no particular necessity of your presence know that God bids you depart and live You urge the instance of your Minister how unequally there is not more lawfulness in your flight then sin in ours you are your own wee our peoples you are charged with a body which you may not willingly lose nor hazard by staying wee with all their souls which to hazard by absence is to lose our own wee must love our lives but not when they are Rivals with our souls or with others How much better is it to bee dead then negligent then faithlesse If some bodies be contagiously sick shall all souls bee wilfully neglected there can bee no time wherein good counsel can bee so seasonable so needful every threatning finds impression where the minde is prepared by sensible Judgements When will the Iron hearts of men bow if not when they are heat in the flame of Gods affliction now then to run away from a necessary and publick good to avoid a doubtful and private evil is to run into a worse evil then wee would avoid he that will thus run from Ninive to Tarshish shall finde a tempest and a Whale in his way not that I dare be an authour to any of the private visitation of Infected beds I dare not without better warrant no whoever said wee were bound to close up the dying eyes of every departing Christian and upon what-ever conditions to hear their last groans if we had a word I would not dilate of the success then that there were cowardliness which now is wisdome is it no service that wee publickly teach and exhort that we privately prepare men for death and arm them against it that our comfortable Letters and Messages stir up their fainting hearts that our loud voices pierce their ears afar unlesse wee feel their pulses and lean upon their Pillows and whisper in their ears Daniel is in the Lyons den is it nothing that Darius
a mortal enemy offering with sudden violence to extinguish them His subtle entrance slie cruelty and swift destroying the unfaithfulness of his Crisis and the other Prognostick signes with the vehemency grievousness and ill behaviour of his symptoms do all declare by manifest proofs his venemous quality For in this disease the Urine and sweat have a loathsome and abominable savour the breath stinks and is noisom ill colour'd spots pustles blisters swellings and ulcers full of filthy matter arise in the outward parts of the body such as no superfluity or sharpness of humours nor any putrefaction of matter without a venemous quality joyned with it can possibly produce Now though this Disease may be acknowledged by the Learned to be venemous yet some ignorant persons may say it is not infectious To satisfie such I define Infection or Contagion to be that which infecteth another with his own quality by touching it whether the Medium of the touch be corporeal spiritual or an airy breath Of this kinde there are divers Diseases that are infectious though not so deadly as the Plague As the Itch and scabbiness Warts Measels Small-pox and that which is venereal too called Morbus Gallicus these by rubbing and corporeal touches do infect Also sore eyes do by their spirituous beams infect others eyes and the Ptisick or putrified Lungs do by their corrupt breath infect others that are sound But the Plague infects by all these wayes and such sick bodies infect the outward Air and that Air again infects other bodies for there is a seminary tincture full of a venemous quality that being very thin and spirituous mixeth it self with the Air and piercing the Pores of the body entreth with the same Air and mixeth it self with the humours spirits of the same body also For proof of this experience giveth us to understand that Garments Coffers nay walls of Chambers will a long time retain any strong scent wherewith they have been fumed Now the scent is meerly a quality and his substance is the Air which is also the vehiculum wherein it is seated and conveyed So doth the Pestilent infection take hold though not sensibly for the strongest poysons have little taste or smell yet certainly as experience testifieth for garments and houshold-stuff have been infected and have infected others As Fracastinus tells of a furr'd Gown that was the death of twenty five men in Verona when that City was visited who one after another wore it thinking still they had aired it sufficiently And if Alexander Benedictus may be believed feather-beds will keep the Contagion seven years Other experiences we have also of living Poultry which being applied to the sores were taken away dead though no ways crushed or hurt in the least But say some Then why is not one infected as well as another I have eaten in the same dish drank in the same cup and have lain in the same beds with infected persons and then too whilst their sores were running yet never had the Plague in my life By way of answer there may be two special causes for this The first and principal cause is the protection of the Almighty which preserves some as miraculously as his justice strikes others dreadfully Thus through his mercy he often preserves those that with faithful and conscionable care do their duties like Christians about the sick being warrantably called thereunto and not thrusting themselves either presumptuously or rashly into the business without a just and reason-rendring cause for God hath given his Angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways such as may be esteemed lawful In the next place every pestilential Contagion is not of the same nature nor hath equal conformity with every constitution Age or manner of live for some Contagion is apt only to infect the sanguine complexion some the cholerick some the phlegmatick only some children some youths some those of ripe age some antient people and where the seminary tincture hath no analogie there will be none or very little infection And first those are most apt to be infected that have thin bodies and large open Pores and whose hearts are so hot that they need much attraction of Air to cool them also they whose veins and vessels are full of gross humours the venemous matter being thick and therefore unapt to breath through the Pores their putrefaction is increased by the inward heat and so driven to malignity and thence on-ward to a pestilent quality Hence those bodies that are moist and full of phlegmatick humours whose veins are straight and therefore apter to intercept then entertain those well-concocted juices that would make the purest blood and the thickness of whose skin denyeth the transpiration of excrements these are easily polluted and infected And such are women especially women with child for their bodies are full of excrementitious humours and much heat withal which is as oyl and flame put together Also Virgins that are ripe for marriage are apt to receive infection and being stricken seldom or never escape without great means Quia spirituosum semen in motu eum sit facile succenditur vel quia intus detentum facile corrumpitur in veneni perniciem abit Their blood being hot and their seed retain'd for want of copulation the one will soon be inflam'd the other corrupted from thence infection Also young children in regard of their soft tender and moist bodies and likewise because as their meats are moister so they feed with more appetite then judgement Likewise the more pure and delicate complexions whose blood is finer and thinner then others is so much the more apt to receive mutation and the Contagion insinuates it self with more facility into all the humours but first and most easily into blood choler next more slowly into phlegm but very seldom into melancholy Those that are very costive and have not a frequent propensity to make water for the noisom vapours that are by these excrements engendred make the body apt to infection Those that fast too long their bodies being empty receive more Air in then they let out and their spirits being weakened for want of due nourishment they have less strength to resist the Contagion On the other side gluttons and drunkards let them argue what they will for the filling of the veins as they use to say to keep out the evil Air can never be free from crudities and distempered blood which easily takes infection as Hippocrates testifies Corpora impura quo magis aluntur eo magis laeduntur impure bodies the more they are nourished the more they are endangered Poor people by reason of their great want living sluttishly and feeding nastily and unwholesomly on any food they can with least cost purchase have corrupted bodies and of all others are therefore most subject to this Sickness At this present most of those houses which are infected are the habitations of poverty in some obscure close place in the Suburbs as towards St. Giles's
coming and going now red now pale so that all the humours appear to be enflamed especially choler and the spirits hurried this way and that way sometimes thrust outward and presently haled in again by which violent motions an unnatural heat in the spirits and corruption in the humours are ingendered Hereupon many times follow burning Feavers Palsies violent Bleedings loss of Speech and sometimes Death it self Nerva the Emperor being highly displeased with one Regulus fell into such fury against him that he was stricken therewith into a Feaver whereof he died within a few dayes after Wenceslaus King of Bohemia in a rage conceived against his Cup-bearer would needs kill him presently with his own hand but his indeavour was his own deaths-man striking him with a Palsey that shook him shortly after into ashes Valentinianus the Emperor in a fierce fury would needs destroy the whole Country of Sarmatia but his unruly rage brake a vein within and his own life-blood ended his bloody design Fear likewise gathers the heat and spirits to the heart and dissolves the brain making the moisture thereof shed and slide down into the external parts causing a chilness and shaking over all the body and falling upon the gullet makes one to swallow when they should speak It abuses the fancy and sences brings a Lethargy upon the organs of motion and condemns the heart to deadly sufferings As Cassander the son of Antipater upon the sight of Alexander the Great 's Statue was stricken with such a terror that he could hardly make his legs leave trembling so much as to carry him out of the place This Fear hath in it a very strange operation having bereav'd several of their senses on others diseases as a Feaver c. which Feaver hath afterwards turn'd into the Plague so that this Fear though it doth not arise from danger of infection yet it will draw it on how much more then doth the fear of the same cause work it Instead of bringing Examples for the proof hereof I shall only give you a Reason for it Fear of all Passions is the most pestilently pernicious for it enforceth the vital spirits to retire inward to the heart by which retiring they leave the outward parts infirm as appears by the paleness and trembling of one in great fear So that the Walls being forsaken which are continually besieged by the outward air in comes the Enemy boldly the best spirits that should expel them having cowardly sounded a retreat In which withdrawing they draw in with them such evil vapours as hang about the outward Pores even as the Sun draws towards it the vapours of the Earth And hence it is that fear brings infection sooner then any other occasion This therefore and all other passions by a wise watching over our selves be beaten off whensoever they but offer to set upon us But these are diseases of the soul whose Physicians are Divines They must purge out the love of this world and the distrust of Gods providence minister the Cordials of Faith Hope Patience and Contentedness and ordain the strict Diet of holy Exercises We that are Physicians to the Body are but Chyrurgions to the Soul we can but talk of Topical Remedies Thus have I run through the first part of my Method which is the way of Preservation now shall I discourse on the second part which is as followeth The Manner Signs and Symptoms of such that are infected by the Plague IT s usuall manner is at the first infection to strike at the heart which is apparent by the sinking and languishing of the vital faculties the whole strength of the body is likewise suddenly turned into weakness the vital spirits being greatly oppressed and discouraged whereas the animal faculty commonly remains for a while in good plight and perfect in the use of Sense Understanding Judgement Memory and Motion The Natural faculty also is not so presently hurt but there is concoction and all other functions performed by the Liver Stomack Guts Reins Bladder and other parts as nature requires though indeed in a little time the venom being very strong these and the brain are also overcome as appears by the symptoms that follow as Lethargies Frenzies Vomitings Fluxes c. Take notice therefore that as soon as the venemous matter strikes to the heart the Contagion hath now found out the Prince of the vital parts who if he want armour of proof to resist either of natural strength or forged out by Arts Cyclops the Physician is presently taken Prisoner by his venemous enemy who soon after takes possession of the arteries and veins In this conflict the Pulse which useth to be the truest intelligences of the heart 's well or ill fare becomes now languishing little frequent and unequal Languishing by reason that native heat lessens and a heat contrary to nature increaseth little because oppressed frequent from natures strife unequal partly from the Fever and partly from the malignant vapour that besiegeth the heart Concerning the Pulse thus writes Rodericus à Castro concerning the Plague that was at Hambrough Manus duns Medico porrigunt Pulsum quodam modo retrahuntur cum tremore quod à veneno sit cor ipsum pungente signum mihi diutina experientia indubitatum est ut eo solo saepissime pestilentem affectum cognoverim That he observed the sick stretching out their hands to the Physician to feel their Pulse they would after a certain manner pull them back again with trembling which might be from the venom pricking the very heart which was an undoubted signe he saith by daily experience by which alone he oftentimes knew a person infected pestilentially From this ground did I finde another that never failed me If in reaching out the hand the former signe appeared not then if I suspected it to be the Plague I would touch the Pulse something hard and if it were the Plague the hand would not fail to tremble and twitch back The reason is the stopping of the course of the pulse drives the venom something back to the heart by which is caused a kind of sudden Passion The next signe is the enemies Ensigne hung out at the windows the eyes I mean for then they will be various in turning and sometimes fiery shining the looks sad and the face changing colour which shew that the radical humours begin to vaste and the spirits to wax dry and enflamed Then followeth lightness or giddiness of the head drowth and bitter taste in the mouth which proceed from the superfluity of choler aggravated by the mixture of the venemous vapours vomiting likewise of vicious matter being according to the redency of any of the humours of flegme sometimes waterish of choler sometimes yellow or greenish of melancholy leaden or blackish But this is from the virulency of the venom vexing the veins and fibres in the coat of the stomack not from any strength of nature to expel the poyson as it appeareth in that no ease but