but here is worse farre worse here is the Pestilence that walketh in darknesse Ps 91.6 and the destruction that wasteth at noone-day Here are houses not inhabited streetes not trampled churches not frequented sick not visited hungrie not fed dores not opened bells not ceased and graves not satisfied Is 24.10 Prov◠30.15 Every house is shut up that noe man may come in The horse-leech hath here her two daughters crying give give Here are three things not satisfied yea fowre things that say not It is enough The hungrie cry give and the thirstie cry give and the sick cry give and the grave cryeth give The hungrie pine and therfore cry the thirstie skorch and therfore cry the sick want helpe and therfore cry but ô the grave is dayly fed and yet it is dayly hungrie The mouth thereof is opened and it devoureth men and yet for all that it still cryeth for our returne to the dust as wee were Eccl 12.7 The mountaines the greate persons escape not the habitations of men are like the wildernesses for beastes because the inhabitants are burnt up with the fiery Pestilence Therfore with the Prophet for the mountaines will I take up a weeping Ier 9.10 and wayling and for the habitations of the wildernesse a lamentation because they are burnt up that none can passe thorow them neither can men heare the voyce of the cattell example 4 The house of Israël was commanded to seeke the Lord Amos. 5.4 vers 5. but they on the contrarie are sayd to have sought Bethel and to have entered into Gilgal and to have passed to Beersheba vers 16 Therfore the Lord the Lord of hosts the Lord said thus Wayling shall be in all streetes and they shall say in all high wayes Alas Alas and they shall call the husband-man to mourning and such as are skillfull of lamentation to wayling vers 17 and in all vine-yards shall be wayling for I will passe thorow thee saith the Lord. Here is againe a clowde of sorrowes a thick mist of groanes vers 18 for the day of the Lord is darkenesse and not light This clowde overcasteth us too this mist choaketh us this darkenesse blindeth us Here is wayling in our streetes to dimme our eyes here is the husband-man mourning to stifle us with sorrow and here is the mourning of the vineyards Ps 104.15 to clowde our soules Our hearts which should have beene gladded with the fruite of the vine are squeezed and pressed like the bunches of grapes Our bellies which should have beene filled with the fruits of the earth doe cry in their emptinesse and wayle with the husband-man One woe courteth another one curse saluteth another Our sicknesse is greate and yet our famine too is greate not that the earth hath forgotten to be fertile but by reason that men are afraid to furnish us Pestilence consumeth and hunger cryeth thus the visited dye they know not of what for sicknesse calleth and hunger calleth and want calleth and sorrow calleth all of them joyne in their hideous concord in their horrid discord and call for our ruine and yell for our destruction That heart which bleedeth not for such un-utterable sorrow must needes be stone or steele nay worse for stones will weepe to complaine with the clowdes and steele will droppe in a time of stormes Heart if thou art a woman's breake if thou art a Christian's lament if thou art mine bemoane the afflictions which dwell among my friends Ioel 2.6 and the blacknesse which the faces of my neighbours have gathered Ps 35.13 I will with David put on sack-cloth now though for my very enemies which are sick and humble my soule with fasting and I will goe heavily vers 14 as one that mourneth for his mother With the Prophet Isaiah Is 16.9 I will bewaile with the weeping of Iazer the vine of Shibmah I will water thee with my teares ô Heshbon and Elealeh Or with Ieremiah Let mine eyes runne downe with teares night and day and let them not cease Ier 14.17 for the virgin-daughter of this people is broken with a greate breach with a very grievous blow example 5 The Prophet Ezekiel telleth the Israëlites that The time is come Eze 7.12 the day draweth neere let not the buyer rejoyce nor the seller mourne for wrath is come upon all the multitude thereof vers 27 The King shall mourne and the Prince shall be cloathed with desolation and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled O Israel how greate were thy pangs when thus thou wert visited O how deepe are our groanes too in this day of our visitation The Israelites are dead their torments are forgotten but wee live wee live dying wee live to suffer wee live to dye To dye sayd I O that death were sweete indeede if it would come with a wish if it would hastē it's approach it were sweeter then the hony Ps 19.10 the honiecombe What was formerly our dread is now our desire What wee posted from wee would now hasten unto could but Death yet grow so pittiefull so mercifull as to heare our desires But wee cannot either dye when wee would or how wee would Wee may not chuse either the time or the manner of our death See See how it stare's us in the face and looke's upon us in every passengar that crawleth by our doores in every coffin that is caried by our windowes Dye wee must but of what disease By what meanes If of age 't is wellcome if of a consumption 't is kind But what if of the Plague What if of the Pestilence Woe unto us there is our feare thence is our trembling If that arrow be shot at us wee shall have noe preacher to pray by us or to administer ghostly consolation unto us noe friend to visit us yea and it may be neither physick to helpe us nor meate to strengthen us noe nor servant to attend us Wee may call but none will dare approach to answer us wee may weepe but none will dare come to comfort us This this day is come upon us The buyer rejoyceth not fearing lest with his bargaine hee purchase a disease The seller mourneth not hoping that though hee loose by his bargaine yet his monie will furnish him with things for necessitie Thus the wrath of God is come upon us wee are cleathed with desolation This I feele and yet I feele it not I heare of it but it cometh not yet upon mee it walketh by my doores it beckeneth to mee in the streetes it knocketh at my habitation and yet for all this blessed be my God it is not yet entered But who knoweth how soone that affrighting disease may force open my doore or creepe in at my window or peepe in at a key hole or slinke in at a crevise The disease is generall but my sorrowes shall be therfore as generall All others shall not weepe and my selfe alone rejoyce
have mercy upon us Ps 30.11 Ps 65.2 Ps 69.34 â—ord be thou our helper O thou that hearest â—rayer thou that hearest the poore and despisest â—ot the prisoners cause thou us to fast and â—ay and reade and weepe and repent as thou â—equirest Is 58.8 that our light may breake forth as the â—orning our health may spring forth speedily â—o our righteousnesse shall goe forth before us â—he glory of thee our Lord shall be our reward Mat 2.18 Oh how dolefull is this voyce which is heard in â—ur Rama this lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children â—nd will not be comforted because they are not Al-mighty God everlasting father Is 9.6 prince of â—eace thou who didst comfort thy disciples that in thee they might have peace Io. 16.33 Gen 8.11 because in the world they should have tribulation be pleased I beseech thee in mercy to send thy dove with the olive leafe of peace into this our distressed Kingdome When thy servant Solomon dedicated his temple to thy holy worship he prayed unto thee and sayd 1 King 8.33 When thy people Israel shall be smitten downe before the enemie because they have sinned against thee and shall turne againe to thee and confesse thy name and pray vers 34 and make supplication unto thee Then heare thou in heaven and forgive the sinne of thy people Israel and bring them againe to the land which thou gavest to their fathers Heavenly father wâ— are smitten downe before our enemies anâ— that because wee have sinned against thee but by thy grace wee turne againe to the and confesse thy name and pray and makâ— our supplications to thee in thy templesâ— Heare thou us in heaven and forgive thâ— sinns of thy distressed and back-sliding Israel compose our grievous divisions and destructions Mercifull father bow downe thine eare to mee the worst of all this thine Israel who in the name of our whole nation doe here beseech thee to be pacified with this broken Kingdome smitten downe with its owne bloody and sharpest sword Make us all 〈◊〉 turne againe unto thee and pray and maâ—… our supplications unto thee more frequentâ— and more fervently then formerly wee haâ—… done that thou mayst heare us and he alt our land O thou sword of the Lord hoâ— long will it be ere thou be quiet Ier 47.6 Put up thy sell into thy skabbard rest and be still O God of peace ô Prince of peace thou and thoâ— onely it is who makest warrs to cease in all the world Ps 46.9 when so thou pleasest who breakest the bowe and knappest the speare iâ— sunder and burnest the chariots in the fire O give thou unto us thy wounded people such rest on every side 1. King 5.4 c 8.57 that wee may have neither adversarie nor evill occurrent Doe thou o Lord our God be with us as thou wert with our fathers doe not leave us nor forâ—ke us Make us incline our hearts to thee vers 58 â—d walke in thy wayes and keepe thy comâ—andements and thy statutes and thy judgâ—ents which thou commandedst our fathers Thou o God art the God of peace thou Rom 15.33 〈◊〉 Christ art the Prince of peace thou o heaâ—enly and blessed Spirit art the Dove of â—eace o thou united Trinitie give peace in his our land that wee may lie downe Lev 26 6. and â—one may make us afraid O let not the â—word any longer goe through our land but doe â—hou walke among us and be our God vers 12 and let â—s be thy people Give peace in our time 〈◊〉 Lord let the righteous flourish Ps 72.7 yea and â—boundance of peace so long as the moone endureth Give the King thy judgments vers 1. 〈◊〉 God and thy righteousnesse unto the Kings Sonnes Let the mountaines bring forth peace vers 3. and the litle hills righteousnesse unto thy people O King of Kings and Lord of Lords doe thou in mercy direct and continue our Soveraigne Lord the King in the truth and purity of our religion without inclining either to the right hand or to the left Make him allways a Royall protectour a zealous professour and a constant practiser of the same Blesse him o thou God of blessings in his Royall Person blesse him in his Consort blesse him in his Issue blesse him in his Counsellers and blesse him in all his People even froÌ„ Dan to Beersheba Be propitious ô thou wonderfull Counsellâ— in an especiall and peculiar manner unto thâ— head and members of our high and most honâ—…rable Parliament Doe thou knitt and unâ— them doe thou guide and direct them in aâ— their counsells and consultations that they maâ— unanimously joyntly conclude upon such who some lawes as may tend to the suppression oâ— wickednesse and vice and the maintenance of thy true religion and vertue rooting up all atheisne and profanenesse all herefie and superstition all schisme and faction that both church and common wealth may be religiously and firmely knitted and tyed together in the unitie of the spirit Ps 85.11 by the bond of peace Let thy truth o Goâ— of truth flourish out of the earth and righteounesse looke downe from heaven Doe thou Loâ— shew thy loving kindnesse unto thy people vers 12 〈◊〉 let our land give it's increase Let thy peopâ—… dwell in peaceable habitations Isa 32.18 and in suâ— dwellings and in quiet resting places Cauâ—… thou us to beate our swords into ploâ— shares c 2.4 and our speares into pruning-hookesâ— and suffer us not to learne such civill warâ— any more c 11.5 Let righteousnesse be the girdâ— of our loynes and faithfulnesse the girdle of our reines vers 6. Let the wolfe allso dwell with tâ— lamb and the leopard lie downe with the kiâ— and the calfe and the young lyon and the fatling together and let a litle child leadâ— them vers 8. Let a sucking child play on the hole of â—he aspe and a weaned child put his hand on the â—ockatrice denne Breake thou the bowe Hos 2.18 and the sword and the battell out of the earth and make us to lie downe safely vers 19 Betroth us unto thee for ever in righteousnesse and in judgment and in loving kindnesse and in mercies O let us sit downe every one under our vines Mic 4.4 and under our fig trees let there be none en make us afraid Glory be to thee ô God in the highest Luc 2.14 Io 14.27 1. Sam. 25.6 2. Thes 3.16 Rom 5.1 Eph. 2.14 and on earth peace and good will towards men Suffer not ô eternall peace the hearts of us to be troubled neither let us be afraid Peace be both to us and peace be to our houses and peace be to all that wee have and that in and through him who is the Lord of peace Iustifie us all by faith that wee may have peace with thee
advantage to the tempter in my sufferings Open the eyes and the charitable hands of those that should see and know mine adversitie and so enlarge their hearts that they may administer comfort and reliefe to mee in the middest of my necessities Ps 147 9. Dan. 1.15 O thou that feedest even the young Ravens which call upon thee thou that didst blesse the pulse to thy servant Daniel be pleased to fill my hungry soule with the blessings of thy bounty Graunt that whatsoever I suffer in my body my soule may thereby draw neerer unto thee In the miserie of hunger doe thou satisfie mee with thy grace in my scorching thirst doe thou cause mee with joy to draw water out of the wells of salvation Is 12.3 in the pinching cold doe thou warme my devotion and in my poorest and meanest habit doe thou cloath my soule with the righteousnesse of my Redeemer O suffer mee not to offend thee in my greatest want but make mee relie and depend upon thee Teach mee by this chastisement the vanity of the world and weane mee from the fond delights thereof Prov. 10.22 It is thy blessing onely that maketh rich and thou addest noe sorrow with it send mee that blessing to ease mee of my sorrowes Mat. 6.33 It is thy promise that if first I sieke thy Kingdome the righteousnesse thereof then all other things shall be added unto mee Make mee thus to sieke what thou commandest and then give unto mee that which thou promisest Ps 119.91 All things in their order doe service unto thee Lord make them in some measure serviceable unto mee that I may the better be enabled to be serviceable unto thee O thou my Iesus who didst hunger Mat. 4.2 Io. 19.28 and thirst looke mercifully upon thy servant in this state of miserie and so carie mee through the stormes of this troublesome life that in the end I may arive at the faire haven of eternall peace and rest through thine owne meritts and passion ô Iesus Christ my Lord and onely Saviour Amen soliloquy 2 THE SECOND SOLILOQUIE Treating of hunger both corporall and spirituall THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray WHen Sion bewayled her pittyfull estate shee cryed out in her miserie Lam. 4.9 and said They that be slaine with the sword are better then they that are slaine with hunger for these pine onely stricken thorow for want of the fruits of the field Surely this affliction was most dreadfull in the sufferance which soundeth so heavily in the sad complaint Hunger hath beene allways acknowledged violent eveÌ„ of force to breake thorow walls of stone The cry for bread bread bread strike's such compassion in the eares of the auditors that the hardest heart would melt at the voyce Hee that taught us to pray for our dayly bread Mat. 6.11 knew the necessiâ—ie of our dayly foode But I poore I doe begge and pray and cry for bread for dayly bread and yet I find neither supply nor hope Had I the imployment righteousnesse of Moses Deut 9 18. I might fall downe before the Lord for fortie dayes and fortie nights as hee did and in all that time neither eate bread nor drinke water Yea and if once would not serve the turne I could returne againe to my former abstinence Had I authoritie from heaven as Elijah had I could eate and drinke 1. King 19.8 and goe in the strength of that meate fortie dayes and fortie nights too Could I encounter the tempter as once my Saviour did in the wildernesse Mat 4.2 I might likewise fast both fortie dayes and fortie nights But miracles are ceased I cannot therfore hope for so long an abstinence nor know I where to satisfie my hunger I dayly want that I may dayly pray and in this want I feele a necessitie of depending on my God O what shall I doe Where shall I sieke To whom shall I complaine My spirits are fainting my heart is even ready to dye within mee 1. Sam 25.37 and my feeble knees are un-able to beare the weight of my body I am ready to perish for want of foode and yet mee think's I am somewhat un-willing to disclose my wants or else I am afraid my suite will be denyed When David pursued the Amalekites after the spoyling of Ziklag 1. Sam. 30.11 his souldiers found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread and hee did eate and they made him drinke water vers 12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figges and two clusters of raisins and when hee had eaten his spirit came againe to him for hee had eaten noe bread nor drunke any water three dayes and three nights As that Eunuch was so mee think's am I. I am feeble and faint and my spirit is gone I know not what to doe for something to refresh mee O had I but such bread and such drinke how thankfully should I take what diverse doe scorne Labour I would to procure my sustenance but I cannot worke because I have not to eate Eze 4.16 Walke I would industriously in my calling but the staffe of bread is taken from mee and without a staffe I cannot walke My wants I know and complaine of them but where shall I find a charitable person who will satisfie my appetite But why doe I make these sad laments and condole my poverty as if noe people ever had suffered the like In former times whole nations and countries have beene pined with such miserie as now I endure Famine is a punishment which cometh from God doeth not allways derive it's cause from things that are naturall 2. King 25.3 At the siege of Ierusalem on the nineth day of the fourth moneth the famine so prevayled within the citty that there was noe bread for the people of the land Lam 1.19 My Priests say's â—hee in her greate complaint and mine Elders gave up the ghost in the citty while they sought their meate to relieve their soules Severall famines have beene often threatned as severely many times have beene brought to passe Among other curses wherewith the Israëlites were menaced upon their disobedience this was not the least of them which was tould them by the mouth of Moses when hee said Thou shalt eate the fruit of thine owne body the flesh of thy sonnes and of thy daughters Deu 28 53. which the Lord thy God hath given thee in the siege and in the straitnesse where with thine enemies shall distresse thee And againe the Lord himselfe did speake unto them and say If yee will not hearken unto mee Lev 26 27. vers 28 but walke contrarie unto mee Then I will walke allso contrarie unto you in furie and I even I will chastife you seaven times
dyed shee vers 19 poore soule being greate with child when the storie of these sad accidents was related unto her bowed her selfe and fell in travaile for her paines came upon her yea at length when shee was delivered of her Ichabod vers 21 she gave up the ghost Thus the Priests fell by the sword Ps 78.64 and noe widow was left to make lamentation True it is that my affliction is greate in the death of my husband yea so greate that herewith the slanderous enemie of the Psalmist was severely cursed Ps 109.9 Let his children be fatherlesse and his wife a widow yet is it farre better to see him goe downe to the grave in peace then that hee should have lingered in continuall miserie Ier 22.12 Shallum the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah was caried captive by an enemie into another land and dyed there which the Prophet confidering speaketh and saith vers 10 Weepe not for the dead neither bemoane him but weepe for him that goëth away for hee shall returne noe more nor see his native countrie This might have beene the portion allso of my beloved but since it was not though my losse be greate yet must not my sorrow be too greate Immoderate griefe for those that are dead was the practise of heathens it becometh not the children of God The Israelites were forbidden it even by God himselfe who saith unto them Lev 19 28. Deut 14.1 Yee shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead nor print any markes upon you I am the Lord. And againe Yee are the children of the Lord your God yee shall not cut your selves nor make any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead The Gentiles indeede at the death of friends were so trans-ported with sorrow that they cut themselves Ier 16.6 made themselves bald in the greatnesse of their lamentations They carved their flesh and marked themselves for idolatrie yea they allso cut their skinnes when a friend deceased and the wounds they filled up with either Stibium or inke or what colour they pleased which remained in the flesh when the skinne was growne over In all their sorrowes such kinds of inscisions were ordinarie testimonies of the griefe of their hearts Ier 41.5 Thus the fowre score men that came from Shechem from Shiloh and from Samariah had their beards shaven and their clothes rent and they had cut themselves and had offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the house of the Lord. Thus when the Priests of Baall did call on the name of their Idoll 1. King 18.28 they cryed alowd and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancers 'till the blood gushed out upon them Yet though it was the practise of the Gentiles it may not be of Christians nor might it be of the Israëlites they therfore punished it with many stripes And just it was that when their violent hands had un-naturally beene stained with the blood of their owne bodies the hand of justice should draw blood in the punishment of such a cruell offence The Iewes might not cut themselves at the death of a friend noe though of a father because they were not fatherlesse while the Lord was their God The infidells indeede had noe share in the most high and therfore were fatherlesse when their sires deceased but it was not so with Israel nor is it so with mee I have a father which is in heaven Mat 6.9 to whom my husband is gone before mee I have a husband too which is in heaven even the same who was a husband to Iudah and Israël I have a head too which is in heaven Ier 31.32 even my Saviour Christ Eph 5.23 who is the head of the Church I have a brother too which is in heaven even my elder brother Iesus Christ Why then should I grieve that my husband is dead since hee is but gone to the place where my treasure is layed up Mat. 6.20 and where my immortall father and head and brother have crowned him with immortalitie My God hath taken him that I may know where to find him Whilest hee continued upon earth his imployments did often deprive mee of his societie but now is hee seated in a place of rest to which when I come wee shall never be seperated Whilest hee was here my affection unto him indeede was greate and that was my duety but yet I feare that I offended in the excesse Had I not loved him too much I should not be immoderate in my sorrow but even by these teares I am taught the sinfullnesse of my passion For this sinne therfore will I strive to weepe even for the trespasse of my weeping I should never have beene so offensively sensible of this my losse nor so vaine in my laments if I had allways remembred that hee was created mortall and had therfore trusted in him who is immortall If I doe love my God more then I did my husband I shall find both comfort and content in his mercy Lord how fraile and weake am I that I cannot discharge the debt of nature but I must bring in question the power of grace I cannot grieve for the death of my departed husband without discovering some diffidence some distrust in my God But I will pray unto the Lord to for give the excesse of my love to my deceased husband the excesse of my teares for the death of my husband and to convert these teares into dropps of sorrow for my hainous offences To him will I hasten to him will I speedily addresse my selfe and mournfully will I cry and begge and pray and say The Prayer FAther of mercies and God of all consolation Ioa 11.25 vers 26 thou who art the resurrection and the life in whom whosoëver believeth shall live though hee were dead and in whom whosoëver liveth and believeth shall not die eternally send downe thy grace into my sinfull soule that I may magnifie thy name for delivering thy servant from the miseries of this life and for inthroning him in the celestiall â—erusalem where I doubt not but hee reigneth Thou knewest his sufferances and the sharpenesse of his sicknesse in mercy didst release him of his miserie to crowne him with glory Thy favours were infinite in his spirituall comforts when his body languished through the extreamitie of his disease By thy scourge thou taughtest him how thou abhorrest sinne yet I doubt not but thou hast freed him from the torments of hell through the sufferances of thy Sonne For thy goodnesse to him thy name be glorified and I humbly besiech thee to extend thy mercy likewise unto her who honoureth thee for it Thou knowest Lord the distresse of my soule for want of him whom thou hast taken from mee Thou seest mine affliction and thou numberest my teares O be gratious unto mee thine unworthy servant and send mee comfort in the midst of these sorrows Give mee grace
be as constant in my prayers as the man â—as constant in his attendance at the poole At â—y gate ô Christ I must I doe continually â—e Thy blood ô Iesus is the onely Bethesda â—r my distressed soule Lord leade mee into â—…at poole of blood by the hand of faith and then I shall not distrust the effect of that â—ver O cleanse my soule and then I shall willingly submit to thy pleasure for my body But still ô still my paines increase and my flesh consume's I pray and I begge and I beseech and yet I find noe ease noe reliefe The continuance of my sicknesse doe's but â—each mee the ignorance of the Physitians or â—he deadnesse of the druggs and potions I am dyeted and I am physicked and my body is become the very shop of an Apothecarie and yet I find noe ease noe comfort 'T is true that thirtie and eight yeares continuance of a maladie hindered not Christ from curing with a word But if it had remained longer could hee have done the like Yes surely why not Hee himselfe could as well have dooâ— that as have given power to his Apostles tâ— restore the Criple who had beene fortie yeaâ—… lame This was done by Peter and Iohn for the man that was above fortie yeares ould Act 14 22. c 3.2 and had beene lame from his mother's wombe even on him was shewed this miracle of healing I may hope for some favour too from the hands of my God for though to mee it might appeare allmost a miracle that I should recore yet with God it is as easily effected by a word as was the greate creation of heaven and earth I will therfore submit to his pleasure and 〈◊〉 upon his goodnesse Hee is a God of mercy an tender compassion hee is the greate Physitia both of soule and body hee hath allways delighted in acts of charitie It was his promise upon some conditions to heale a whoâ—… land 2. Chr 7.14 for his owne words are If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seeke my face and turnâ— from their wicked wayes then will I heare from heaven and will forgive their sinne and wiâ—… heale their land I am one of the people ô Christ that is called by thy name for a Christian I am though a sinfull and a feeble Christian and thou hast humbled mee with this thy visitation and grace thou hast given mee I blesse the for it to humble my selfe in the consideration of mine iniquities and to pray and to seâ—… thy face Lord perfect thy good workes and make mee turne from mine iniquities and then heare mee from heaven and forgive my sinne and if it may stand with thy eternall decree heale thy servant Hee hath likewise shewed his mercy even in healing of waters 2. King 2.21 for his Prophet Elisha went forth to the spring of un-wholesome waters and cast salt in there and said Thus saith the Lord I have healed these waters there shall not â—e from thence any more death or barren land So the waters were healed vers 22 according to the saying of Elisha the Prophet Lord I have waters too that require thy helpe for they are un-wholesome they are sinfull I weepe and I lament my teares runne downe on my cheekes Lam. 1.2 and all either with extreamitie of anguish or feare of death or despaire of thy power to restore mee to health few of them are for my sinnes few of them for my transgressions But some hope I have that thou wilt likewise heale these waters for allready thou hast cast some salt into them I find by my tast that they are brackish that they are brinish Lord let mee be noe longer a barren land but make mee fruitfull in good works Col 1.10 Ps 1.3 that I may be like unto a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruite in due season and then though this leafe for a time may faile though the flower of my body may be cropped or mowed for the harvest yet I know that my Redeemer will not cast it into the fire but will make it spring up hereafter in eternall glory Hee hath allso healed the persons of diverse of his people Ps 107.20 for so saith the Psalmist Hee sent his word and healed them delivered them froÌ„ their destructions Is 19.22 So Isaiah prophesieth concerning Egypt saying The Lord shall smite Egypt hee shall smite and heale it and they shall returne even to the Lord and hee shall be intreated of them and shall heale them O what comfortable words were these to Egypt Hee may if hee please cheere mee up allso with the like for hee hath allready smitten mee and in his loving kindnesse hee hath so sanctified this affliction that by it hee hath made mee to returne unto him O Lord now if it be thy pleasure be thou intreated of mee heale mee This God is the same God who speaketh by the mouth of Moses and saith See now that I Deut 32.39 even I am hee and there is noe God with mee I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand This is the same Lord whom Hannah did magnifie in her thankfull Song and said The Lord killeth and maketh alive hee bringeth downe to the grave 1. Sam. 2.6 and bringeth up This is the same God of whom Iob his servant professeth and boasteth saying Hee maketh sore Iob. 5.18 and bindeth up hee woundeth and his hands make whole This is the same Lord VVhom David commandeth his soule to magnifie and saith Ps 103 1. vers 2. Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within mee blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord ô my soule and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseafes vers 3. and who redeemeth thy life from destruction vers 4. this God is the same God who alone hath power over soule body can if hee pleaseth preserve them both Hee it is whose mercies were promised to his Church when by his Prophet hee said The light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne Is 30.26 and the light of the Sunne shall bee seaven fold as the light of seaven dayes in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroake of their wound Hee it is who giveth such Euangelicall promises to penitent Iudah and saith I have seene his wayes and will heale him c 57.18 I will leade him allso and restore comforts to him and to his mourners I create the fruite of the lipps peace peace to him that is farre off vers 19 and to him that is neere saith the Lord and I will heale him This is hee who inviteth Israel to come unto him and saith Returne yee back-sliding Children and I will heale your backsliding
it doe tingle yea and mee think's not onely mine eares tingle but even my heart allso tingleth and trembleth at the same Well though that stone be there yet the inscision shall be made and howsoever I will desire that a paine I may endure If yet I am not sensible enough when the inscision is made I hope I shall have time enough to smart before the eskar be off Lord I desire that I may be sensible of the wounds of this land and that the blood which is shed in these violent times may be washed away by the teares of mee and other penitent sinners Or if blood requireth blood Lord let the wine and oyle of the best Samaritane let the blood of my mercifull Redeemer prevaile for pardon for the blood which is shed in these un-naturall warrs and let it stoppe the fountaine the current the issue thereof If my poore countrie was formerly troubled with a plurisie I am sure that now it useth the harsh meanes of phlebotomie for it is let blood in every part in the head the armes the leggs the feete yea and even in the very heart And yet for all this are there not some among us upon whose hearts the stupifying infernall stone is layd who are like unto Moab Ier. 48.11 who have beene at case from their youth and have setled upon their lees and have not beene emptyed from vessell to vessell nor have gone into captivitie and therfore their tast remaineth in them neither is their sent changed Are there not those among us that put farre away the evill day Amos. 6.3 vers 4. and cause the seate of violence to come neere That lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eate the lambs out of the flock the calves out of the midst of the stall vers 5. That chaunt to the sound of the violl and invent to themselves instruments of musick vers 6. That drinke wine in bowles and annoint themselves with the chiese ointments but are not grieved for the afflictions of Ioseph Ierusalem was then surest of her destruction when she laughed and rejoyced in her surfeits and riotts my compassionate Iesus at the same time foreseeing her ruine mourned and wept over her Oh Luc. 19 41. mee thinks when I lay my hand upon my heart when I touch my heart I find it a stringed instrument and when I stoppe upon the fretts the lesson that it playeth is nothing but Lachrymae Yet I feare I weepe not so much as I should and I feare too that every one doth not weepe so much as I doe I feare there are still those among us Isa 49.26 who dilight to be fed with their owne flesh and to be drunke with their owne blood as with sweete wine What shall I say of such or how shall I pleade for them Have these workers of wickednesse noe knowledg Ps 14.4 who eate up the people as they eate bread and call not upon the Lord 2. Sam. 2.26 Lord shall their sword devoure for ever Know wee not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end How long shall it be then ere the people be bid returne from following their brethren The Lord hath said by the mouth of his servant David that he will abhorre the bloody Ps 5.6 Ps 55.23 and deceitfull man yea he saith that bloody and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their dayes Ps 68.30 Ps 51.14 Ps 46.9 and that hee will skatter the people that delight in warre Deliver 〈◊〉 from blood-guilinesse ô God thou God of 〈◊〉 salvation O that my God would make these warrs to cease O that he would breake the bowes and cut the speares in sunder and burâ—… the chariots in the fire This I am sure heâ— and hee alone can doe Hee and hee onely is our refuge and strength vers 1. and a very present heâ—e in trouble This therfore that hee may doe I will imitate the Prophet Daniel and I will speake Dan. 9.20 and pray and confesse mine owne sinnt and the sinns of this people and present my supplication before the Lord my God and thus I will say The First Prayer wherein is set downe 1 Gods Iustice in punishing his owne people in former times 2 His Iustice allso in the present punishing us for our offences 3 An earnest supplication for our repentance and his forgivenesse O Righteous father thou who art righteous in all thy wayes Ps 145.17 and holy in all thy workes I thine unworthy creature in the very griefe of my heart and with a sad and bleeding soule cannot choose but sit downe and weepe Ps 13â— 1. vers 8. in the consideration of our poore Sion wasted with miseries Yet great and grievous though our afflictions are and the increase and growth which they may yet arise higher unto is all-together as unknowne to us as when the period and end of them shall be howsoever I must confesse thee to be a righteous God strong and patient And seeing all things are naked and open unto thee with whom wee have to doe I cannot choose but acknowledg here upon my bended knees before thine all-seeing majesty that the sinns oh the grievous the scandalous the out-ragious sinns of this nation have cryed for this vengeance Ps 51.4 that thou mayst be justifyed when thou speakest and be cleere now thou judgest I confesse ô Lord out of a sense of mine owne transgressions and consideration of the crimes of this people Is 59.12 that our transgressions are multiplyed before thee and our sinns testifie against us for our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities I desire of thee Lord that wee may know them When thine owne deare people of Israel would not be reformed by terrour Lev. 26 16. vers 17 and consumption and the burning ague by their enemies eating that which they had sowed and reigning over them by their fleeing when none did pursue them by making their heaven iron their earth as brasse vers 18 by suffering them to spend their strength in vaine vers 19 and causing their land not to yeeld her increase nâ— the trees their fruite vers 22 by the wild beasts robbing them of their children by destroying their cattell and making them few in number and their high wayes desolate then didst thou threaten them vers 23 saying If yee will yet walke contrarie to mee then will I walke contrarie to you vers 24 vers 25 and will punish you yet seaven times for your sinns I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrell of my covenant when yee are gathered together within your citties I will send the Pestilence among you Deut. 28.15 yee shall be delivered into the hand of the enemie Againe thou didst allso threaten them saying If thou wilt not hearken to the voyce of the Lord thy God to observe to doe all his
was as mine owne soule the sad losse of whom still doeth and still will sitt cold heavy upon my wounded heart Some comfort indeede I have in that sweete odour he left behind him from whence every Christian may receave an Aromatick perfume of learned profit and content yea even those who too unkindly were the cause of putting salt water upon that sweete waxe whereby the Tapour was extinguished To these losses afflictions I might adde many many more beside my present condition among strangers and forrainers and my continuall heart-quakes at the strickt menaces of the ruine and Desolation of my poore bleeding gasping countrie Yet while there is life there is hope even that hee who hath made our land to tremble Ps 60.2 and hath broaken it will in his owne due time heale the breaches thereof for it shaketh In this Manuall thou shalt find noe Author quoted but the Best of all and noe language but English The whole booke is in thy mother tongue and all the proofes excepting a very few are Scripture Luc 23 â—8 The weeping daughters of Ierusalem love best to be comforted in the language of Canaan Is 19.18 Here I â—ould an Ewer nay a Fountaine of â—ater to those that neede it for the reâ—eshing of their soules yet I hinder â—…ne from turning their owne Cocks â—…d letting them runne If any conâ—emne the worke as needlesse in these rightest times for so they are â—ought to be set formes of prayers beâ—…g by many dashed quite out of counâ—mance let them know that these are â—…t intended for them but for those â—ho doe neede and will use them I â—nfine not any to these Formes nor â—e I deny them to any who shall wilâ—ngly accept them In them thou hast â—e helpeâ— â—f many choice places of â—cripture 〈◊〉 for thy severall occasiâ—…s which â—eradventure otherwise would not be so ready at hand when â—ou shouldest stand in neede of them Whatsoever throughout the whole â—ooke thou findest good know that 〈◊〉 is Gods now made thine as well as mine blesse him for it What thou â—ndest here amisse except the faults of the presse I confesse it mine yet â—either wittingly nor willingly is it mine howsoever charge it to mine account Doe thou friendly reckon with mee and I will thankfully satisfie thee and be sure to remember that as it is thy duety to be thankfull for the best so thou oughtest to be charitable in thy censure of the rest Consider what I say 2. Tim. 2.7 and the Lord give thee understanding in all things Thy servant in him Phil 2.7 who tooke upon him the forme of a servant for us IOHN FEATLEY From my house in Flushing April 17. 1646. A Table of the particular contents THe First subject Teares of Godly sorrow or devout Melancholy wherein a flexible disposition apt to weepe employeth those Teares in a Sorrow for sin The Soliloquie p. 1 The Prayer p. 7 Teares from the Heart The Soliloquie confistnig of 3 parts viz 1 The wickednesse of a corrupted heart p. 11 2 Alamentation for the losse of an honest heart p. 23 3 Griefe for an old and sinfull heart and an earnest desire of a righteous new one p. 35 The Prayer p. 45 Teares of Time The Soliloquie consisting of 3 parts viz 1 A Revieuw of the time past p. 48 2 A Consideration of the time present p. 64 3 A Resolution for the time to come p. 75 The Prayer p. 83 Teares in the night The Soliloquie Devided into 3 parts fitted for the time 1 Immediately before going to bed p. 85 Evening Prayer p. 98 2 Of lying downe in the bed p. 100 3 Of awaking in the night p. 111 Teares in the Day Devided into 3 parts and fitted for the time 1 Of awakng early in the morning p. 123 2 Of beeing newly risen p 136 The morning Prayer p. 146 3 Of preparing to goe to dinner p. 149 Teares of Compassion in time of prosperity The Soliloquie treating of earthly riches and the rewarâ— of Charity p. 161 The Prayer p. 18â— 7 Teares in time of adversity in 4 Soliloquies treating of 1 A decayed estate or plenty turned into poverty p. 18â— 2 The prayer p. 204. 2. Hunger both corporall spâ—rituall p. 208 The prayer p. 23â— 3 Thirst both bodily and ghostly p. 23â— The Prayer p. 24â— 4 Nakednesse both of the Outward and Inwarâ— man p. 249 The Prayer p. 260 8 A Virgin 's Teares The Soliloquie p. 26â— The Prayer p. 27â— 9 Teares of a Married woman Soliloquie treating of thâ— dutyes of a wife to her husband p. 275 the prayer p. 29â— 10 Teares of an Aged woman p. 293 The prayer p. 307 11 Teares of a Barren woman p. 311 The prayer p. 321 12 Teares of a Childbearing woman 1 At the time when thee beginneth to fall in travell 2 After her delivery The soliloquie consisting of 3 parts 1 The Cause of the forrow and the confidence of thâ— sorrowing p. 324 2 The greatenesse of the pangs hazards and feares of a Travelling woman p. 332 3 Consolation and comfort for a woman in the bitternesse of her Travell p. 340 The prayer p. 343 2 Teares of a woman after her delivery from the paines of childbearing p. 346 The Prayer p. 351 13 Teares in time of Pestilence The Soliloquy consesting of 6 severall parts treating of 1 Mourning by example in a publick calamity p. 354 2 Severall causes of gods visitations p. 368 3 Sin especially the cause of the pestilence p. 381 4 Severall examples of dreadfull Pestilences p. 388 5 Gods threatning before his visitation p. 395 6 The duty of a Christian decreeing to whome and for whome wee ought to pray in time of Pestilence p. 403 The Prayer p. 413 â—4 Teares of her whose house is shutt up for the Pestilence The Soliloquy p. 420 The Prayer p. 431 â—5 Teares of her who is visited with the Pestilence beeing 1 Either wounded with a Sore p. 437 2 Or marked with the tokens p. 445 The prayer p. 455 â—6 Teares of a Mother for the sicknesse of her child the Soliloquie p. 461 The Prayer p. 469 â—7 Teares of a Mother for the death of her child The Soliloquie p. 473 The Prayer p. 480 â—8 Teares of a Wife for the sicknesse of her husband The Soliloquie p. 484 The Prayer p. 492 â—9 Teares of a woman lamenting the death of her beloved husband the Soliloquie p. 495 the prayer p. 506 â—0 A woman's Teares at the Funerall of her husband the Soliloquie p. 510 The Prayer p. 528 â—1 Teares of a woman in the state of Widdow-hood the Soliloquie p. 531 The Prayer p. 543 â—2 Teares of an Orphan at the death of her father The Soliloquie p. 545 The Prayer p. 561 â—3 Teares for the death of a beloved Freind or Brother The Soliloquie p. 563 the Prayer p. 573 â—4 Teares in a Cousumption or any languishing sicknesse the Soliloquie consisting of 3 parts 1 a complaint and
in the land of darknesse and yet 't is possible for mee to avoide that fire and brimstone and live eternally in the heavens Surely if the choyce be in my power I am a thousand times worse then the maddest woman that ever was bereft of her senses if I choose not heaven much rather then hell for in heaven is an eternall life but in hell an eternall death In the one shall be noe end of living in the other shall be noe end of dying T is concluded then if my choyce be free I lay hands upon heaven that shall be mine And who can blame mee The choyce I am sure is good but yet there remaine's more then the bare saying I choose heaven for my lott Yes surely there 's more then this or else it had beene impossible that ever any should have beene damned if the fruition of happinesse should immediately have ensued upon the election by word or speech alone What then is next required to my choyce My Saviour tell 's mee Mat 7.21 Not every one that saith unto mee Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but hee that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven Doe his will What 's that What is his will Surely the Prophet tell 's mee when hee say's and advise's Is 55.6 Seeke the Lord while hee may be found call upon him while hee is neere Seeke him Why Hee 's in heaven While hee may be found Why When cannot hee be found who is every where and for ever and ever True it is that hee is allways to be found but onely of them that seeke him and those that seeke must seeke as they ought or else they shall not find him whom they would Hee is allways to be found but is hee allways to be found of mee This question is to the purpose indeede for what is it to mee if all the world besides should find him What content could I receive in that ioy which others would have in the fruition of him if I find him not Certainly noe pleasure could redound to mee if I should have though the whole land of darkuesse to my selfe and noe body else alotted to share with mee Alasse alasse God is not all ways to be found because hee is not allways sought The defect is in our selves and not in him for those that will find him must seeke him hee 's very well worth the looking for Where now have I beene all this while or where hath Hee beene ever since I was borne that I have triseled out so much time and yet have not found him Oh though I sought him not yet hee found mee though I knew him not yet hee knew mee though I minded him not ye hee watched over mee Hee sought mee hee call'd mee hee wooed mee to come to him and when I still denyed hee offered mee pretious things pretious indeede if I would but come to him and yet I would not but back againe like a child I still ranne to my nurse I hid my selfe from him and with my nurse I sported and played But why would not Nature my fond nurse suffer mee to goe to him Oh because shee knew that if once I should goe home to my heavenly father hee would weane mee presently and never suffer my nurse to foole mee any more Moreover shee thought that hee would use mee hardly and chide mee and scourge mee and that shee could not endure it went against her disposition Lord now thou hast opened mine eyes that I might seeke thee now I doe seeke thee doe thou reveale thy selfe unto mee be ever with mee be thou ever mine Make mee to see what I was with shame and horrour and now to be what I should be even a sighing sobbing sorrowfull convert Make mee see what I was say I Indeede what was I not that was not good that was wicked and corrupt I cannot remember that in all my life I ever did any one thing which might truely and justly be called good Ay mee All my time past was given for nothing I have quite lost it How sayd I For nothing It were well indeede for mee if it were so well I pray God it may be so But there is an old score a great one too for which I must call my selfe to an account or else I am sure that the All mighty will Better it will be for mee that I doe it then hee and yet I cannot doe it without him Lord graunt that I may now spend my time well even in the recounting how ill I formerly consumed it and in repenting of that ill At my birth I surely began well for I was ignorant of evill I was innocent and yet now I better bethinke my selfe of it I did not I was not so ignorant or not so innocent for I was both conceaved in sin and borne in sin too Ps 51.5 I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceave mee Yet I was a kind of prophetesse at my birth for I came werping into the world so doe all questionlesse the first cry was caused by sinne foreseeing as it were the sinne I should committ and grieving in a sort for the sinne which I inherited But did I beginne so well and proceede so ill Was I a young saint and am I an ould sinner Was I borne a prophetesse and have I lived a transgressour Yes I have oh I have I grew in wickednesse as I grew in yeeres When I was a child I lived in ignorance 1. Cor 13.11 I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child yet when I grew past that child-hood I did not put away childâ—sh things Act 17 30. I lived indeede in ignorance and yet the time of that ignorance God winked at but now hee command's mee to repent Foolish I was Ps 73.22 ignorant even as a beast before him for I looked onely after things temporall and never thought upon those that are eternall and yet if I consider wel of it there neither is nor can be any due comparison betweene them for there hould's noe proportion there is noe analogie or resemblance held betweene things finite and things infinite I may observe some difference betweene them if I doe but consider how Eagerly I long for things temporall and how I love them before I obtaine them but when for a moment I have enioyed them their vallew is forgotten for I am surfeited I am cloyed with them and all this because they have nor power nor goodnesse enough to bound and limit my desires But things eternall though here they are more coldly desired yet they shall be beloved and enioyed with true content and continuall reioycing hereafter Peraduenture those things which I seeke for here I obtaine not or if I gaine them and should possesse them all my life time yet they would not continue they would remaine but a short space with mee because I shall not continue my life
couch with my teares Every night shall be a night of sorrow a night of weeping for my sinns Ps 30.5 that so my God may send mee joy in the morning Apt I am to distrust my God to fixe my thoughts upon carking and caring for the things of to morrow Nor am I single in the offence too many are apt to sacrifice to their owne shallow titular wisedome choosing rather to depend upon their owne discretion then to rely upon the providence of the greate disposer Eccl 8.16 Such there are indeede that neither day nor night doe see sleepe with their eyes and like the wife in the Proverbs their candle goeth not out by night Prov 31.18 But I must remember the command of my Redeemer and Take noe thought for the morrow Mat 6.34 for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it selfe Sufficient unto the day is the evill thereof And as I may not distrust the providence of my God so neither will I nor may I boast of to morow Prov 27.1 for I know not what a day or a night may bring forth But I will besiech my God to give mee content with what soëver hee shall send Mercy I will beg for howsoëver hee shall dispose of meé and comfortable sleepe if hee spare mee life I will besiech him that if through a disturbed fant'sie I be molested with dreames even in those dreames hee will be pleased to open mine eares Iob 33.16 and seale mine instruction If the master and builder of this house of clay the greate Creatour of heaven and earth shall come and this night shall call mee to judgment Ps 139.13 Graunt ô my God ô thou who diddest forme mee and fashion mee in the wombe of my mother that I may watch in thee for the comeing of thy selfe whether it shall be at mid-night or at the cock-crowing or in the morning Mat. 13.35 that though thou comest suddenly yet thou find mee not sleeping And now I am lyeing downe let mee not be afraid Prov 3.24 yea make mee lye downe and my sleepe to be sweete unto mee Thus will I close mine eyes with sorrowfull teares and thus will I rely upon the protection of my God part 3 The third part Of the soliloquie To be used at the time of awaking in the night O What a trouble is this to one desirous to sleepe Thus to tosse and tumble this way and that way Thus to long to sleepe and not be able to sleepe I am sure that I did sleepe but I am not sure when I shall sleepe againe Lord how silent is the night How quiet are all things but my disturbed selfe How slowly doth the clock number the howres It strike's one two c and yet I sleepe not It was the complaint of holy Iob unto the Lord saying Iob 7.13 Vers 14. When I say my bed shall comfort mee my couch shall ease my complaint Then thou sharest mee with dreames and terrifiest mee through visions Mee think's I could partly be contented to be troubled as Iob was with dreames and visions so that I might be sure to have the benefit of the sleepe Every thing that move's but gently possesseth mee with feares The watch-man of the night which awaked the Apostle out of the sleepe of securitie disturb's mee with chaunting out the disisions of the night But is there noe way to be sure either to sleepe sweetely or to awake contentedly Is 57.21 There is noe sleepe noe rest noe peace saith my God to the wicked If I am wicked I cannot sleepe or if I doe it is rather a cessation from labour then a contented repose for the awaking conscience disturbes the fantsie with hideous apparitions Let mee a litle enter into my selfe consider whether I was prepared for sleepe before I applyed my selfe unto it Did I enter into my bed with divine meditations and make up the account of my former life before I drew the curtaines of mine eyes Certainly my God awake's mee that I may either repent of some sinne which I have formerly forgotten or praise him for some mercy for which I was not thankfull If thus while I awake my thoughts be divine whensoever I sleepe my rest shall be comfortable I will therfore take up the confidence of David who said that his soule should be satisfied as with marrow Ps 63.5 and fatnesse and his mouth should praise the Lord with joyfull lipps when hee remembred God upon his bed Vers 6. and meditated on him in the night watches I must even doe as David did if I hope for the blessing which David had Yea and so I will with the assistance of him Eccl. 5.12 who causeth the sleepe of the laborious to be sweete The Prophet mee thinks seemeth to challenge the Allmighty when hee saith Thou hast proved mine heart Ps 17.3 and visited mee in the night thou hast tryed mee and shalt find nothing in mee nothing evill nothing amisse Lord though I cannot acquitt my selfe in the words of that Prophet yet I will resolve with that Prophet I am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not offend Surely that blessed Psalmist had often discourse and conference with his God in the times of the night and doubtlesse hee was then most free for the service of his maker when most hee was freed from the affaires of his subjects O how comfortably hee does cheere up himselfe when hee saith I have remembred thy name Ps 119.55 ô Lord in the night and have kept thy law Yet this was not the practise of David onely Noe I find that it is a blessing which God in mercy hath sent to others allso of his servants Is 26.1 The Prophet Isaiah telleth Iudah of a day that should come when this song should be sung in their land wee have a strong citty vers 9. salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarkes c. With my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within mee will I seeke thee early O what a blessed time was this to Iudah O how sweete is the remembrance of God in the night It is sweete indeede to remember him in the night to sieke him in the night but then 't is doubtlesse full of horrour to sieke and not to find him And yet thus God threatneth Israël and Ephraim and Iudah the Priests and the people Hos 5.6 and the Princes that They should goe to sieke the Lord but they should not find him because hee would with-draw himfelfe from them And the Church complaineth that Cant 3.1 By night on her bed shee sought him whom her soule loueth shee sought him but shee found him not Alasse how came it to passe that her beloved would not be found Surely hee was not talking allthough thus Elyah mocked the Priests of Baal 1. King 18.27 concerning their dumb and stupid idoll nor pursueing nor in a journie nor
in the Lord Is 29.19 and the poore among men shall rejoyce in the holy one of Israel But this promise belongeth onely to the godly If my God will but vouchsafe to sanctifie my povertie I shall be richer then those who have the world at command Iam 2.5 for hee hath chosen the poore of this world rich in faith and heires of the Kingdome which hee hath promised to them that love him If I can be sure of heaven I shall never care for the treasures of the earth Make mee thy child ô God by grace then I shall willingly passe through povertie to unspeakeable glory The world may scorne mee but it shall not ruine mee Povertie is contemptible but it may end in riches True it is that now I am fallen into this decay I must expect the frownes and scorne of the people But what of that Earthly honour is but the fondnesse of opinion and the credit of the world is as falsely grounded as suddainly lost The sporting winds that tosse the ships upon the swelling ocean doe often convert their passe-time into furie and sinke at once both the ship and the adventurer The idolatrous Mammonist that worship 's his coyne is sometimes bereft of his speechlesse idoll by the fellonious robber Stormes or waters or time and age can cause our proudest structures to fal upon their knees and when that is gone which purchased our credit our contempt is as greate as once was our honour The world doe's reverence none but those who are accounted rich It is just in our times as it was in the dayes when the Apostle lived Iam 2.2 If there come into an assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparell and there come in allso a poore man in vile raiment vers 3. They have respect to him that weareth the gay cloathing and say unto him Sit thou here in a good place And say to the other Stand thou here or sit under his footestoole But for this Saint Iames say's They are partiall in them selves and are become judges of evill thoughts vers 4. If I derive my honour from the God of honour I shall never vallew how low the world esteeme's mee The Elme and the Ash are as apt for service as the Cedar and the Cypresse The coursest cloath afford's more warmth then the taffaties and sattaines Those bodies that glitter in gold tissue shall appeare as naked at the greate tribunall as the poorest beggar The humble and meeke have more content in the meanest cottage then the prowde and ambitious in the towring edifices The coursest bread with the blessing of God can nourish the body as well as the whitest and purest manchet Suppose I should be driven to begge my foode would not that which I sued for as well satisfie my hunger as if it had beene bought and procured by my coyne If yet I should aske and be denyed when the violence of hunger command's mee to petition howsoever I have thus much to quiet my mind that the more I pine the more neere I draw to the place of delight for when I am out of the world I shall inherit a kingdome What difference is there betweene guift and price It alters not the thing but onely varie's the manner of our getting the thing If I beg for necessaries they are as apt for use as those that I can buy Againe I begge but of those to whom they are lent If I speede in my suite my thanks must be first directed to God by whose bountie I receave and next unto man for fullfilling his duety If I am denyed what I aske I must know that the hand of providence is in that denyall for though the devill may worke in him that refuseth yet God doeth speake to mee in the repulse Hunger and thirst and cold and nakednesse all are but tryalls of my patience and hasteners of my deliverance If creditours should deprive mee of my beloved liberty I should but be eased from wandering abroad in the wearisome world The iron gates have not strength and power to shutt out my God Hee spake to Ieremiah Ier 39.15 Act 5.19 Prov 22.27 and comforted the Apostles when they were locked up in the prisons If those people to whom I am indebted should be so mercilesse as to take away the very bed from under mee when I have nothing to pay peradventure I might sleepe as well upon the earth that beares mee as those that lye on their beds of downe The Patriarch Iacob had but the ground for his couch Gen 28 11. and the stones for his pillow when in his sweetest sleepe hee was promised by God the land where hee lay vers 13 Yet peradventure I may be eased of this miserie too if I addresse my complaint to the defender of the poore 2. King 4.1 When the widdow of the prophet cryed to Elisha and sayd Thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did feare the Lord and the creditour is come to take my two sonnes unto him to be bondmen vers 6. vers 7. even then Elisha multiplyed her oyle and with that shee satisfied her hungrie creditour Poverty hath beene frequently the object of pittie yea and sometimes allso the ground of plenty When Ierusalem was taken by Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babylon Ier 39.10 Nebuzaradan the Captaine of the guard left the poore of the people which had nothing in the land of Iudak and to them hee gave both vine-yards and fields God hath ever beene a protectour of the poore that were faithfull and relieved their indigencie Rom. 15.26 when they trusted in him It pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia sayth Saint Paul to make a certaine contribution for the poore saints at Ierusalem Hee tooke away my riches that I might depend upon him and that finding the uncertainty of earth I might rely upon heaven Mat 6.25 Hee command's mee to take noe thought for my life what I shall eate or what I shall drinke nor yet for my body what I shall put on vers 30 The life is more them meate and the body then raiment Surely if hee cloathe's the grasse of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven much more am I certaine that hee will cloath his servants From him proceedeth every good guift Iam 1.17 Hee will either send mee what I desire or else hee will cause mee not to desire what hee resolve's not to send mee Whatsoever hee giveth hee intendeth it for his honour If I may honour him by hunger or thirst or whatsoëver sufferance his is the glory mine shall be the reward Those are not rich whom the world so esteemeth Content is certainly the best riches and that is onely proper to the godly Reu 3.17 Laodicea said I am rich and increased with goods and have neede of nothing but alasse shee was miserable and wretched and poore and blind
eate on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied they shall eate every man the flesh of his owne armes Touching Ierusalem hee said by his Prophet Ezekiel Eze 4.10 Thy meate which thou shalt eate shall be by weight twentie shekels a day from time to time shalt thou eate it vers 11 Thou shalt drinke allso water by measure the sixth part of an Hin from time to time shalt thou drinke vers 12 And thou shalt eate it as barley cakes and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man vers 13 in their sight And the Lord said unto him Even thus shall the children of Israel eate their defiled bread among the Gentiles whither I will drive them Among other curses which Israël should endure for rebellion and disobedience the fore-runner of famine was not the least Deut 28.39 Thou shalt plant vine yards and dresse them but shalt neither drinke of the wine nor gather of the grapes for the wormes shall eate them Among other punishments sent upon idolaters the Prophet terrifieth them with this above all When they shall be hungrie Is 8.21 they shall frett themselves and curse their King and their God and looke up-wards Here was allmost all the miserie that man could suffer the wickednesse that hee could act in this present world Hunger was sent as a punishment for idolatrie and rebellion blasphemie and impenitency were the effects of the punishment Hunger produceth rebellion they curse their King rebellion blasphemie they curse their God and blasphemie both impudence and impenitencie they looke up-wards towards heaven as if they were not ashamed The curse which should happen to the enemies of Sion was accounted greate because they should be resembled to people that are hungrie c 29.8 As when a hungrie man dreameth and behould hee eateth but hee awaketh and his soule is empty or as when a thirstie man dreameth and behold hee drinketh but hee awaketh and behould hee is faint and his soule hath appetite So shall the multitude of the nations bee that fight against mount Sion But what is the cause why the anger of the most high is commonly discovered in the curse of famine What moveth the Lord to punish his creatures with this pining destruction Whence ariseth his wrath that his vengeance is so terrible Alasse alasse I neede not wonder that his furie is so fierce if I doe but remember how justly hee punisheth Hee smiteth not before wee offend hee punisheth not before wee transgresse When our sinnes are so impudent as to provoke his displeasure how can hee choose but awake Ps 78.65 as one out of sleepe like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine For iniquitie onely doeth hee visitt hee visiteth our offences with the rodde Ps 89.32 and our sinne with scourges For this did hee give Israël cleanesse of teeth Amos. 4.6 in all their citties and want of bread in all their places yet they returned not unto the Lord. 2. Sam 21.1 For Saul and for his bloodie issue because hee slew the Gibeonites therfore there was a famine in the dayes of David three yeeres yeere after yeere and it ceased by the execution of seaven of Saul's sonnes Is 5.13 Therfore saith God my people are gone into captivitie because they have noe knowledg and their honourable men are famished and their multitude dryed up with thirst This is the punishment for sinne and yet upon repentance the Lord is as willing to remove it from us as when wee offended hee was just in sending it His promises were gratious to the Gentiles which should be fullfilled by Christ as his Prophet relateth them Is 49.10 They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heate nor Sun smite them for hee that hath mercy on them shall leade them even by the springs of water hee shall guide them Yet let mee not too much forget my selfe Though this famine be one of the weapons with which the Lord doeth commonly fight and wound his enemies I must not therfore conclude that they all are forsaken and hated who endure this affliction I must not conclude that Because with this hee punisheth his enemies therfore with this hee correcteth not his saints This were but to frame an argument to urge mee to despaire and to judge my selfe with greater severitie then the Lord himselfe I hope will judge mee Every scourge which hee taketh in his hand may be for chastisement to the godly as well as a judgment to the wicked Though this must bring mee to a sight of my sinnes yet it may not enforce mee to a distrust of his mercies Though sometimes the godly dye under an affliction yet they know that they shall live by the merits of Christ Wee have noe more freedome from punishments here then the worst of reprobates Yea our portion is greater and bitterer here then theirs 1. Cor. 11.32 but wee are chastened of the Lord that wee might not be condemned with the world There is a greater deale of difference betweene corrections judgments The beloved child may be wounded as deepe yea deeper then an enemie but the deeper his Wound the surer is his cure To the godly they are afflictions to the reprobate torments to the godly chastisements upon the reprobate revenge At the famine in Samaria 1. King 18.5 good Obadiah went into the land unto all fountaines of water and unto all brookes to sieke for grasse that hee might save the horses and mules alive When the Prophet Ieremiah was cast into the dungeon Ier 38.9 hee was like to dy for hunger in the place for there was noe bread in the citty 1. Cor. 4.11 The holy Apostles did both hunger and thirst and were naked and buffeted and had noe certaine dwelling place They were in wearinesse 2. Cor. 11.27 and painefullnesse in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold Act 10 9. and nakednesse When Saint Peter went up upon the house to pray the vision appeared to him while hee was hungry vers 10 Saint Paul professed that hee had learned both how to be abased Phil. 4.12 and how to abound Every where in all things hee was instructed both to be full and to be hungrie both to abound and to suffer neede Gen. 12 10. When a famine was in the land where Abraham dwelt hee was enforced to goe downe into Egypt to sojourne there for the famine was grievous in the land Many saints and servants of God have drunke very deepe of this cup of afliction Why should I then be too much dejected and complaine so of want as if God had forgotten mee How know I to the contrarie but it may be his pleasure even by this affliction to bring mee to humilitie and so unto glory It is my part to thanke him for his visitation and not to repine at his correction Plenty is commonly the ground
of forgetfullnesse I should never have knowne the benefit of fullnesse if I had not learned it by an empty bellie I will therfore begge of him a blessing to this crosse that the more I want of out-ward blessings the more eagerly I may sieke for inward content I will resolve Hab. 3.17 with the Prophet that Allthough the figg-tree shall not blossome neither fruit be in the vines though the labour of the Olive shall faile and the fields shall yeeld mee noe meate though the flocks shall be cutt off from the foald vers 18 there shall be noe heard in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Rom. 8 35. Neither tribulation nor distresse nor persecution cutt nor famine nor nakednesse nor sword shall ever seperate mee from the love of Christ I know that hee which can send provisions without content can likewise feede mee when I least expect it Hag. 1.6 Yee have sowed much saith the Prophet and bring in litle yee eate but yee have not enough yee drinke but yee are not filled with drinke yee cloath you but there is none warme and hee that earneth wages earneth wages to putt in a bagge with holes The curse is as greate to eate without satisfaction as to want what wee desire I know that God oftentimes hath sent a famine that so his people might the more depend upon him So hath his goodnesse many times appeared Gen 42 5. when men had least expectation of supplies True it is that when the famine was sore in the land of Canaan the Sonnes of Israel bought corne in Egypt Men have ever vallewed their bellies above their estates In the Egyptian famine Ioseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh the King c 47.20 for the Egyptians sould every man his field because the famine prevailed over them so the land became Pharaoh's When Esau was faint comeing out of the field and Iacob refused him a messe of pottage under the price of his birth-right c 25.32 vers 33 hee said Behold I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birth right doe to mee So hee sould his birth-right unto Iacob The Prophet lamenting the people of Ierusalem Lam 1.11 say's All her people sigh they seeke bread they have given their pleasant things for meate to relieve the soule All these have beene furnished by ordinarie meanes but I allso reade that God hath provided when men could least expect 1. King 17.10 vers 12 or helpe When the widdow of Zarephath had nothing left but a poore handfull of meale in a barrell and a litle oyle in a cruse and went out to gather two sticks that shee might goe in and dresse it for her and her sonne that they might eate it and dye even then shee receaved comfort from the Prophet Elijah vers 16 for her harrell of meale wasted not neither did the cruse of oyle faile as the Lord had spoken by the mouth of the Prophet When the selfesame Prophet by the command of God dwelt by the brooke Cherith that is before Iordan even before the increase of the meale vers 5. and the oyle was miraculously effected in a wonderfull manner hee was fed by the Ravens vers 6. for they brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and hee dranke of the brooke Againe when the same Elijah fled to Beersheba upon the threats of Iezebel c 19.4 hee went a daye 's journie into the wildernesse and came and sate under a Iuniper tree and hee requested for himselfe that hee might dye and said It is enough now ô Lord take away my life for I am not better then my fathers vers 5. Yet as hee lay and slept under the Iuniper tree behold there an Angel touched him and said unto him Arise vers 6. and eate And when hee looked and behold there was a cake baked on the coales and a cruse of water at his head hee did eate and drinke and layd him downe againe vers 7. And the Angel of the Lord came againe the second time and touched him and said Arise and eate vers 8. And bee arose againe the second time and did eate and went in the strength of the meate fourtie dayes Gen 21 14. When Abraham rose up early in the morning and tooke bread and a botle of water and gave it unto Hagar putting it on her shoulder and the child Ismaël and sent her away and shee departed and wandered in the wildernesse of Beersheba after a while the water was spent in the botle vers 15 and shee poore soule vers 16 cast the child under one of the shrubbs And shee went and sate her downe over against him a good way off as it were a bow shoote for shee said Let mee not see the death of the child And shee sate over against him vers 17 and lift up her voyce and wept Yet even then God heard the voyce of the lad and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her What ayleth thee Hagar Feare not for God hath heard the voyce of the lad where hee is Arise vers 18. lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand vers 19 for I will make of him a greate nation And God opened her eyes and shee saw a well of water and shee went and filled the botle with water and gave the lad drinke Thus my God if hee please can doe for mee too for I cry and I weepe with distressed Hagar not for drinke Ps 145 19. but bread Who knoweth but the Lord may heare my cry and may helpe mee The birds that nest in the Cedars of Lebanon the goates on the hills and the conies in the rocks the beastes of the forrests and the roaring Lyons the creeping things in the greate and wide sea and the Leviathan which is made to play in the waters Ps 104 27. These all wayte upon him Iob. 38.41 Ps 145.15 that hee may give them their meate in due season Hee provideth for the Raven his foode when his young ones cry unto God they wander for lack of meate The eyes of all wayte upon him and hee giveth them their meate in due season vers 16 Hee openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Why then should I vexe and torment my selfe in this time of want as if either the Lord were ignorant of my calamitie or else were unable or unwilling to helpe mee I resolve with my selfe that though the conflict bee greate betweene my selfe and my appetite though my stomack cry and my belly complaine though leanenesse possesseth my cheekes and palenesse setteth up it's rest in my countenance though feeblnesse stealeth upon my joynts and faintnesse on my spirits yet will I not leave my confidence in my God I shall not the sooner
that it bindeth my tongue to an un-willing silence My body burneth Ps 69.3 Ps 137 6. my throate is dryed my tongue cleaveth to the roofe of my mouth ô I burne I frie and know not where to be releived Did the drunkards who are mighty to powre in wine Is 5.22 and those who are men of strength to mingle strong drinke but know the miserie which I endure they would spare from their excesse as much as would comfort mee For their owne sakes they would spare the abuse of that creature for want whereof I now complaine Hab 2.15 The Prophet pronounceth a woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drinke that putteth his bottell to him maketh him drunken allso that hee may looke on his nakednesse But I doe cry woe unto my selfe because I have noe neighbour to give mee drinke Here is none that putteth his bottell to my mouth It is not the gust of the wine nor the strength of the drinke nor the pleasantnesse of the liquour that I doe covet The limpid water would be better then wine yea the springs or the fountaines would make mee rejoyce But where ô where are those pleasant potions Where are those snakie rivers which curle and wind themselves in their sporting wreaths Alasse alasse I aske noe more then what beggars disdaine and yet my desires are not fullfilled Mine eyes doe lament the greatnesse of my sinnes and my charitable teares doe wooe mee to give them rest in my mouth as if repentance in this had taught them mercy But when I thankfully accept their friendly courtesie insteed of comforters they become my tormentours These brackish rivelets may refresh my soule but they can never cure the thirst of my body Mee think's they are some-what like the wife of Heber who entertained Sisera in a friendly manner as hee did imagine for shee covered him in her tent Iud 4.18 vers 19 and when hee said unto her Give mee I pray thee a litle water to drinke for I am thirstie Shee opened a bottell of milke and gave him drinke and covered him But when hee committed his wearied limbes to a sweete repose vers 21 shee tooke a naile of the tent and tooke a hammer in her hand and went softly to him and smote the naile into his temples fastened it into the ground and hee dyed Thus my teares doe offer mee reliefe and like unto Iaël they offer mee milke instead of water but with their saltnesse they increase my drought and fasten mee to the ground in my burning flames Yet Ps 42.5 why art thou so cast downe ô my soule and why art thou so disquieted within mee Hope thou in thy God vers 7. for I will yet praise him who shall be the helpe of my countenance and my God Ps 43.5 All his waves and stormes doe goe over mee and yet I cry for water in the middest of the waves I cry and by my cryes I increase my miserie yet cry I must I am enforced to it by my fires by my drought and yet hope I will too even in my God will I hope for I am invited unto it by his mercy Hee promised to his servants by the mouth of his Prophet saying Is 41.17 When the poore and needie sieke water and there is none their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will heare them I the God of Israël will not forsake them I will open rivers in high places and fountaines in the middest of the valleys vers 18 I will make the wildernesse a poole of water the drie land springs of waters Now ô my God is the time that I looke for the fullfilling of this promise for water I sieke but none I find I am poore needie my very tongue faileth for thirst and upon thee therfore doe I call I am sure that my God cannot promise more then hee can nor will hee promise more then hee will performe Time was when the Israëlites pitching in Rephidim Ex 17.1 vers 2. there was noe water for the people to drinke Wherfore the people did chide with Moses and said Give us water that wee may drinke And Moses said unto them Why chide yee with mee Wherfore doe yee tempt the Lord vers 3. And the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against Moses and said Wherfore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children vers 5. and our cattell with thirst And the Lord said unto Moses Goe on before the people and take with thee of the Elders of Israël and thy rod wherwith thou smotest the river take in thine hand and goe Behould I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb vers 6. and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drinke And Moses did so in the sight of the children of Israël Thus I thirst as did the Israëlites but I will not murmure as did the Israëlites because the God of Israël is my God I may not displease him with repining at my sufferings lest with his rod hee smite mee as did Moses the stone All that I can hope for must come by my prayers and my patience through the merits of my saviour It is not Meribah or Massah my temptation vers 7. or my chiding that will prevaile for my comfort Hee may give mee water and then punish mee with fire O what doe those damned soules in the infernall flames suffer Lu 16.24 where Dives begged of Abraham to have mercy on him and to send Lazarus that hee might dippe though but the tippe of his finger in water and coole his tongue because hee was tormented in the flames If I compare my sufferings with my desert I shall the easier endure this gentle fire This cannot be comparable to the fire of hell and that I have deserved yet suffer but this The mercifull Lord so sanctify this sufferance that the fire which I merit may be extinguished by my teares assisted with the blood of the Lamb un-spotted and then I shall rejoyce in this chastisement At Kadesh once in the wildernesse of Zin there was noe water for the congregation Num 20.2 vers 7. vers 8. and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Take the rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother and speake yee unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth it's water and thou shalt bring forth water to them out of the rock so thou shalt give the congregation and their beastes drinke vers 9. vers 10 And Moses tooke the rod from before the Lord as hee commanded him And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock and hee said unto them Heare now yee rebells must wee fetch you water out of the rock vers 11
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
thee untill hee have consumed thee from offe the land whither thou goest to possesse it Yea yet once againe The Lord said unto Moses Num 14.11 How long will this people provoke mee And how long will it be ere they beleive mee for all the signes that I have shewed among them vers 12 I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them and will make of thee a mightier nation then they O the fathomlesse treasure of the bountie of my God! Rom 2 4. O the riches of his goodnesse and patience and long suffering leading us to repentance What were the Israëlites that hee should not plague them Why not presently The wages is due so soone as the service is done and the punishment is as due so soone as the offence is committed and yet allthough God be forward in the former hee is slow to the latter allthough hee delight in the former yet is hee hardly drawne to the latter Mee think's when I consider the Israëlites I wonder at their rebellions and yet mee think's when I consider our selves I wonder much more Is 5.1 What could have beene done more to this vine-yard of God that hee hath not done unto us vers 2. Hee hath senced us and gathered out the stones from us and planted us with the choycest vine and built a tower in the midst of us and allso made a wine-presse in this his vineyard and yet for all this when hee looked that wee should bring forth grapes behould wild grapes Oh how my heart panteth within mee and my whole selfe is in a trembling feare when I consider his mercies and our rebellions Dan 5.5 O mee think's I see a hand-writing against us allmost upon every doore every inhabitant written as it were with the fingers of a man's hand as once Beâ—shazzar saw upon the plaister of the wall which maketh my countenance change vers 6. and my thoughts be troubled so that the joynts of my loynes be loosed and my knees smite one against another and I cry for mercy for I have offended and I knock for compassion for I have transgressed God did threaten Israel with a pestilence when they should be gathered together in their citties with a Pestilence that should consume them from off the land with a Pestilence that should dis-inherit them and all this to avenge the quarrell of his covenant because they still provoked him because they would not believe him for all the signes that hee had shewed among them But where in had Israel offended In what manner In what measure which this land hath not exceeded And yet ô how unwillingly doth the All-mighty punish us O how slowly O how gently Matt 11.12 The kingdome of heaven suffereth violence saith my Iesus Violence indeede by our daring sinnes for wee draw the revenger's sword for him wee bend his bowe for him Ps 7.12 and make it ready wee allso prepare for him the instruments of death vers 13 Ps 64.3 because wee whett our tongues like swords and bend our bowes to shoote our arrowes even bitter words vers 4. that wee may shoote in secret at the perfect suddenly doe wee shoote at him feare not And what now can wee expect but judgments seeing that wee will not offer the just and rightfull violence to the Kingdome of heaven even the violence of our prayers the violence of our teares the violence of sobbs and sighs and groanes in our spirituall combats and conflicts What can wee expect but vengeance And what doe wee meete with but destruction Hee hath threatned and threatned againe and againe and yet wee have resisted and resisted againe and againe too Is 5.7 When hee looked for righteousnesse behould oppression justly therfore now wee looke for mercy behould a cry A cry in the beds of the languishing a cry in the chambers of the infected and pined prisoners a cry of the healthfull for feare of infection a cry of parents for their tender children a cry of children for their dying parents Brother cryeth for brother sister for sister all cry for helpe Ps 102 1. all cry for mercy O Lord heare our prayers and let our cryes come unto thee The Sixth part of the Soliloquie treating of the duety of a Christian decreeing both to whom and for whom wee ought to pray in the time of Pestilence I Weepe and weepe and sigh and sigh and pray and pray but why doe I thus weepe and sigh and pray If for my selfe it is a debt which is challenged even by nature it selfe so that I may have any hope by these meanes either to prevent or to cure the sicknesse If for others it is charitie it is a religious duety Thus wee are commanded by the Apostle Beare yee one anothers burdens Gal. 6.2 and so fullfill the law of Christ And againe by the same Apostle I am commanded to weepe with them that weepe Rom. 12.15 But must my teares be generall Must my prayers be universall For all For the wicked as well as the godly There was a time when the Prophet Ieremiah might not pray for Iudah The Lord said unto him Pray not for this people for their good Ier. 14.11 vers 12 When they fast I will not heare their cry and when they offer burnt-offerings and oblations I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the Pestilence There was a time too when the Lord said concerning the sonnes c. 16.3 and concerning the daughters that were borne among the Iewes concerning their mothers that bare them and concerning their fathers that begat them vers 4. They shall dye of grievous deaths they shall not be lamented neither shall they be buried but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth and they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine and their carkeises shall be meate for the fowle of heaven and for the beasts of the earth vers 5. For thus saith the Lord Enter not into the house of mourning neither goe to lament nor bemoane them for I have taken away my peace from this people saith the Lord even loving kindnesse and mercies vers 6. Both the great and the small shall dye in this land they shall not be buried neither shall men lament for them nor cutt themselves nor make themselves bald for them And there was a time allso when the eyes of Iehojakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah c 22.17 and his heart were not but for coveteousnesse and for to shed innocent blood and for oppression and for violence to doe it vers 18 Therfore thus sayd the Lord concerning him They shall not lament for him saying Ah my brother or Ah sister they shall not lament for him saying Ah Lord or Ah his glory vers 19 Hee shall be buried with the buriall of an Asse drawne and cast out beyond the
acknowledg this 1. Sam 4.5 when the Arke of the covenant of the Lord came into the campe and all Israël showted with a great showte so that the earth rang againe They then beganne to be afraid for they said God is come into the campe vers 7. And they said Woe unto us for there hath not beene such a thing heretofore vers 8. Woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of their mighty Gods These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the willdernesse Thus even by the testimonie of the uncircumcised my God is determined to be the sin-revenging God who punisheth offenders with these plagues and Pestilences But shall I onely depend upon their testimonies who knew not God for my assurance that this vengeance cometh from God Noe I will looke a litle farther and find David the good Prophet acknowledging it in his Psalmes Ps 78.50 and saying Hee made a way to his anger hee spared not their soule from death but gave their life over to the Pestilence This the patient Iob confessed Iob. 5.17 saying Behould happy is the man whom God correcteth therfore despise not thou the chastening of the Allmighty For hee maketh sore vers 18 and bindeth up hee woundeth and his hands make whole This the holy Prophet Hosea proclaimed Hos 6.1 and said Come and let us returne unto the Lord for hee hath torne and hee will heale us hee hath smitten and hee will bind us up This was the song of devout Hannah 1. Sam. 2.6 The Lord killeth and maketh alive hee bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up Deut 32.39 Yea and this God himselfe doeth publish to the whole world and saith See now that I even I am hee and there is noe God with mee I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale neither is there any that can deliver out of mine hand It is cleere then it is most apparent that in this generall sicknesse I must of necessitie acknowledg the finger of God There was once a time when hee himselfe proclaimed saying Is 65.1 I am sought of them that asked not for mee I am found of them that fought mee not I said Behould mee vers 2. behould mee unto a nation that was not called by my name I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people And surely that time is now come againe for wee sought him not and yet wee have found him in this day of our visitation vers 4. even in this dreadfull sicknesse Hee hath spread out his hands all the day long unto us a rebellious people but wee would not hearken unto him justly therfore doe wee remaine among the graves and hence it is that our hands are held up unto him But alas so weake are our devotions so feeble are wee in our Petitions so unconstant so wavering are wee in our faith that our hands are heavier then our hearts Ex 17.12 Wee must be faint to have an Aaron and a Hur to stay them up or else wee are ready to let them downe if they fall the greate Amalekites both our sinnes Gods revēge will prevaile against us Hee cryeth out unto us Behould mee Behould mee woe is unto us wee doe behould him in his severe and consuming wrath But ô that wee might behould him in the cleere and most lovely glory of his mercy O that hee might now be sought of us though formerly wee have not asked for him Hee once did promise that a time should be when the children of Israel should come Ier 50.4 they and the children of Indah together goeing and weeping they should goe and seeke the Lord their God Surely that time is now come to us his Israël for now wee goe and weepe as wee goe as did David for Absalom 2. Sam 18.33 Gen 43.30 Ps 126.6 Wee weepe as wed goe up to our chambers With Ioseph wee seeke where to weepe and wee enter into our chambers and weepe there With the Church in the Psalmes wee goe forth and weepe With the Israelites wee weepe before the doore of the tabernacle of the congregation Num 25.6 2. Sam. 15.30 With David and the people that were with him wee weepe as wee goe up to the citty Yea with Ishmaël wee weepe all along as wee goe And as wee weepe so I hope wee shall seeke too Ier 41.6 even seeke the Lord and his strength yea seeke his face evermore This is the way for pardon Ps 105.4 and this is the meanes for health for so God promised King Solomon saying If I shut up heaven that there be noe raine 2. Chr 7.13 or if I command the Locusts to devours the land or if I send a Pestilence among my people If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves vers 14 and pray and seeke my face and turne from their wicked wayes then will I heare from heaven and will forgive their sinne and will heale their land Lord this Pestilence thou hast sent among us among us Christians that are called by thy name Ios 24.15 Let others doe what they will as for mee and my house wee will serve thee ô my Lord. Doe thou make mee to turne from my wicked wayes that thou mayst heare from heaven and forgive my sinnes and heale this land for I will seeke thy face I will bumble my selfe I will pray unto thee and say The Prayer OMnipotent Lord thou sinne-revenging God who for disobedience diddest threaten thine owne people of Israel to smite them in the knees Deut 28.35 and in the legges with a sore botch that could not be healed from the sole of the foote unto the topp of the head vers 27 to smite them with the botch of Egypt whereof they could not be healed Thou who by the mouth of thine onely sonne didst fore-tell to the Iewes that nation should rise against nation Mat 24 7. Kingdome against Kingdome and that there should be famines and Pestilences in diverse places be pleased ô thou greate offended Lord in the bowells of thy compassion to let thine anger cease Ps 85.4 and to bow downe thine eare to thy sorrowfull hand-mayd O my God thou seest how I groane under the burden of thy wrathfull indignation bemoaning the generall sufferances for our more generall sinnes Our sinnes our sinnes doe farre exceede the transgressions of Israel yea they are greater then those of the Iewes against the true Messias for thine owne Apostle beareth them witnesse 1. Cor 2.8 that Had they knowne it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory but wee alas both have knowne and doe know him and yet wee crucify to our selves the sonne of thee our God afresh Heb 6.6 and dayly put him to an open shame For these our offences thou hast begunne thy revenge yea and most justly too for thou art
cleere though man should judg thee Under this thy heavie wrath wee groane ô Lord wee cry wee howle for sicknesse increaseth death approacheth yea such a sicknesse and such a death as maketh us feare both our selves and our neighbours because wee have not feared thee the Lord of hosts Thou seest ô Lord our afflictions even that our houses are made our prisons and our sores our companions Our streetes are turned into pastures our townes into wildernesses and for our backwardnesse in our devotions our very doores instruct us to addresse our selves unto thee and to beseech thee Lord to have mercy upon us Our dayes are consumed in sorrowes and languishing and our nights in weeping and mourning Thou woundest us and wee cry thou smitest us and wee roare thou plaguest us and wee are troubled wee are dismayed Our Golgothaes are surfeited with the dead and our habitations infected with the living Wee flye from place to place from countrie to countrie yet wee flie not from thy presence wee avoyd not thy judgments What shall wee doe What shall wee doe Is there noe balme Ier 8.22 ô Lord in Gilead Is there noe physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of thy people recovered Thy sonne thy mercifull sonne thy sweete sonne Iesus was sent to bind up the broken hearted Is 61.1 vers 2. and to open the prisons to them that were bound and to comfort them that mourne and hee was not backward in the performance of this for which hee was sent Mat 4.23 c. 15.30 for hee healed all manner of sicknesse and all manner of diseases among the people At thy feete therfore ô Iesus thou best physitian wee cast our selves downe A multitude wee are that lye at thy feere Cure us ô Christ heale us ô Iesus as thou didest the multitude Lu 6.19 Mat 14 14. A whole multitude once did seeke to touch thee for there went vertue out of thee and thou healedst them all Thou wert moved with compassion and didst heale their sick Many didst thou cure of their infirmities and plagues Luc 7.21 Is 59.1 Behould thy hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither is thine eare heavy that thou canst not heare The number of petitioners cannot deterre thee Mat. 3.10 the multitude of suitors cannot molest thee for thou hast healed many therfore with the multitude in the gospel wee presse upon thee that wee may but touch thee for thou hast vertue in thee thou hast power to heale O Lord heare ô Lord forgive ô Lord heale us of our grievous wounds In the depth of thy furie when thou didst resolve to be revenged of a rebellious people it was yet thy promise that thou wouldest leave a few from the sword Eze 12 16. and from the famine and from the Pestilence that they might declare all their abominations among the people where they should come that they might know that thou art the Lord. Vs thou hast plagued us thou hast punished so sorely so grievously that but few of us are left yet ô Lord now at last looke in mercy upon us ô Lord let this remnant findthy compassion O cure us O heale us ô helpe us for thy mercie 's sake When thou wert angrie with Egypt Is 19.22 thou didst threaten to smite it but even at that very instant thou didst likewise promise to heale it and that they should returne unto thee their Lord and that thou wouldest be intreated of them Ier 33.6 Thou didst proclaine unto Iudah that thou wouldest bring it health and cure and wouldest cure them and reveale unto them aboundance of peace and trueth Thou didst promise unto Zion that thou wouldest restore health unto her c 30.17 and heale her of her wounds because shee was called an out-cast by the people saying This is Zion whom noe man seeketh after These were thy promises even in the midst of thy threatnings and wilt thou be worse unto us then thou wert unto Egypt or Iudah or Zion True it is that thou expectest our conversion Ioel. 2.12 thou commandest us to turne unto thee with all our hearts and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning To thee therfore ô God though formerly wee have not yet now doe wee turne Wee turne unto thee both our weeping eyes and our dejected countenances and our wringing hands and our bended knees and our mournefull voyces and our groaning hearts Mercifull God behould our teares and view our countenances and looke upon our hands and strengthen our knees and hearken to our voyees and comfort our hearts The Priests ô Lord vers 17 even thine owne Ministers doe weepe betweene the porch and the altar and they say Spare thy people ô Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Ezra 10.1 Our Ezra's pray and confesse and weepe and cast themselves downe before thine house and the people assemble themselves unto them both our men and our women and our children for wee all weepe very sore Num 2.56 Wee weepe as the Israëlites did before the doore of the tabernacle of the congregation when twentie and fowre thousand of them dyed of the Pestilence Thus wee mourne thus wee weepe our eyes our hearts our very soules doe weepe ô let us tast of thy love let us feele thy compassion Make us to boast of thy praise as thy servant David did Ps 30.2 when hee cryed unto thee and thou didst heale him Thou hast beene wrath with us as thou wert with the Iewes for their coveteousnesse Is 57.17 and thou hast smitten us thou hast bid thy selfe and hast been angry yet wee have gone on frowardly in the wayes of our hearts But ô our God doe thou make us as penitent as those lewes and then say unto us as thou didst unto thy Iudah vers 18 I have seene thy wayes and I will heale thee I will leade thee allso and restore comforts unto thee and to thy mourners Alas wee mourne and yet wee are punished wee grieve and yet wee are plagued and all because our iniquities doe testifie against us Ier. 14.7 but for thy name's sake ô Lord be pleased to spare us vers 8. O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land and as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarrie but a night vers 9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save Thou ô Lord art still in the midst of us and wee are called by thy name therfore wee pray thee 1. King 8.37 vers 38 leave us not O here is a Pestilence in our land and wee make our prayers and supplications vers 39 and streetch forth our hands to ward thine house Heare therfore in heaven thy dwelling place vers 40 and forgive that wee may feare thee and walke in thy wayes all the dayes of our lives Or if
the throne of my God Be sure thou doest it for I will have a watch over my mouth and at the doores of my lipps that I may be certaine thou offend nor As for the rest of my selfe since I cannot stay now to give every part a charge in particular I shall command them onely to attend the pleasure of my royall guest Onely my thoughts I must commit to the tuition of my heart allthough it formerly hath beene false unto mee and desirous I am that they may be pressed pressed downe with greate and heavie burdens But I charge thee ô my Heart if ever thou hopest to be mine owne deere Heart that thou suffer not an imagination not a thought to come neere thee but what shall be commended unto thee by religion and what thou shalt dispatch to thy Maker And now I am prepared for thee Wellcome ô my God If my roomes are not cleane enough for thee I must intreate from thee both direction and assistance to cleanse then If any dust of wickednesse hath flowne about in the sweeping of them I will now give my mind to wash my chambers with the teares of mine eyes and that I know thou delightest in O thrice well-come blessed God Wellcome ô well-come my deerest Redeemer O how truely did the Kingly preacher affirme that Eccl 7.2 It is better to goe to the house of mourning then to goe to the house of feasting for that is the end of all and the living will lay it to heart My house is shut up indeede it is shut up for the infection for feare of the infection for feare lest others should infect my familie or for feare lest my familie should be insectious to others But what of all that I am not the first that ever was shut up I am not the onely one that ever was shut up Lev 13 4. vers 5. The Leper in the law was to be shut up seaven dayes and at the seaven dayes end when the Priest looked on him if the plague in his sight were at a stay and spreaded not in the skinne hee was to shut him up yet seaven dayes more This shutting up was rather for his cure then intended for his hurt Gen 7.16 Noah was sayd to be shut up in the Arke but it was for his preservation and so may I be likewise Ieremiah was shut up too Ier. 32.2 yea in a prison allthough his jayle was the house of the King and yet even at that time hee was visited by the best by one better then the King even by God himselfe for hee often spake to him in the time that hee was shut up c 33.1 Thus am I shut up even in a prison made of my dwelling I hope that my God will speake comfortably unto mee I will hope that hee hath shut mee up as a jewell in a cabinet in his care in his tender compassion If so I am sure that noe evill shall come in unto mee for hee is holy hee is true hee is powerfull who hath mee in keeping Reu 3.7 Hee hath the key of David hee openeth and noe man shutteth and hee shutteth and noe man openeth True it is that sometimes hee shutteth out as when hee shutteth out from his eares the prayers of his people Thus the faithfull complaine by the mouth of the Prophet Lam 3 8. When I cry and showte hee shutteth out my prayers Sometimes hee shutteth up and that in judgment too as Hee shutteth up the eyes of idolaters Is 44.18 that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot understand And sometimes man shutteth too even when hee is forsaken of God for so saith the wise King A violent man shutteth his eyes to devise froward things Prov 16.30 And againe God is sayd sometimes in judgment to shut up even heaven it selfe as in a time of drought Therfore Moses adviseth the Israëlites saying Deut 11.16 Take heede to your selves that your heart be not deceaved and yee turne aside and serve other Gods and worship them vers 17 And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you and hee shut up the heaven that there be noe raine and that the land yeeld not her fruit and lest yee perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you But sure I am that allthough hee should shut mee up in judgment yet hee whose compassions faile not Lam 3.22 Hab 3.2 vers 5. in the midst of judgment will remember mercy I know that in former times hee hath beene angry and then before him went a Pestilence and burning coales went forth at his feete I know that once when the people of Israel had offended then the sword was without Eze 7.15 and the Pestilence and the famine within hee that was in the field was threatned that hee should die with the sword and hee that was in the citty famine and Pestilence should devoure him I know that Elijah Prophesied against Iehoram in writing saying 2. Chr 21.12 Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast not walked in the wayes of Iehoshaphat thy father nor in the wayes of Asa King of Iudah vers 14 Behould with a greate plague will the Lord smite thy people and thy children and thy wives and all thy goods vers 15 And thou shalt have greate sicknesse by disease of thy bowells untill thy bowells fall out by reason of the sicknesse day by day Iob 11.10 And I know allso that if hee cut off and shut up or gather together none can hinder him But what then What though hee hath shut mee up Shall I therfore rage and rave like one distracted c. 30.29 vers 30 What though I am a sister to Dragons and a companion to Owles VVhat though my skinne should be black upon mee and my bones be burnt up with heate c. 3.3 Should I therfore cry Let the day perish wherein I was borne and the night in which it was sayd There is a child conceaved O noe I will rather resolve with afflicted Iob Though hee slay mee yet will I trust in him c. 13.15 Why should I offer to be dismayed That God which dwelleth in the heavens hath taken up my house and is come to sojourne with mee upon earth I will speake in the phrase of a King But will God indeede dwell on the earth 1. King 8.27 Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot conteine thee how much lesse this house of mine which thou now doest visit O what a happinesse it is to have God for our visitant Though hee cometh in wrath yet is hee well-come O let mee have my God any way rather then not have him at all If hee should not sometimes be angry with mee I should suspect that hee loved mee not but if for ever hee should be angry with mee I should feele that hee loved mee not Hee is never angry with mee but when I am not angry with my selfe I will
commanded them nor spoken to them they Prophesie unto the people a false vision and divination and a thing of nought and the deceipt of their heart And is it not as bad in these times as it was in those Nay doe not they now professe prophesying which are noe Prophets Amos. 7.14 neither sonns of Prophets but heard-men and gatherers of Sycomore fruits and yet will not believe but that God saith unto them vers 15 Goe Prophesie unto my people Israel Surely if such be crept in among us through the windowes and so stopp our light Zech 13.4 the day will come when they shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath Prophesied and shall noe longer weare a rough garment to deceave and each of them shall say I am noe Prophet vers 5. I am an husband-man for man taught mee to keepe cattell from my youth Nay is not he now the Prophet of this people in many places Mic. 2.11 who walketh in the spirit of falshood and lyeth saying I will Prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drinke Ah are not the doores of many of out temples shut up and diverse of our lamps put out 2. Chrâ— 29.7 noe incense burnt or burnt offerings offered in the holy places unto the God of Israel as they were wont to be Doe not some of the lowest of the people pretend to be priests of the high places 1. King 13.33 Nay doe not many fowle people cunning fishers in our troubled waters rob even God himselfe in tithes and offerings For these ô for these things Mal. 3.8 Hab 2.11 the very stones doe cry out of the walls and the beames out of the timber doe answer them Hos 4.1 O most justly therfore hath the Lord his controversie with the inhabitants of this land and it is to be feared that noe truth nor mercy nor knowledg of God will be left therein Is it not now among us in many places vers 9. come to that ould proverb Like people liek Priests 1. Cor 12.8 Have wee not those who thinke that to one of them is given even by the spirit of God the word of wisdome vers 10 1. Io 4.1 Eph. 2.2 1. Io 4.6 1. Sam. 16.14 1. King 22.22 Is 19.14 to another Prophesie to another discerning of spirits and to another interpretation of tongues Whereas if they would trie the spirits peradventure they should find that these are not of God but that many false Prophets are gone out into the world Alasse such a spirit is the same and noe other then the same spirit that ow worketh in the children of disobedience It is the spirit of errour an evill spirit a lying spirit a perverse spirit a spirit of a deepe sleepe c. 29.10 Zech 13.2 1. Cor 2.12 Reu. 18 2. Eze 13 3. Is 11.2 Col 2.23 Iam. 3.15 vers 17 Rom 2 20. Luc 11 52. 1. Cor. 8.1 an uncleane spirit thâ— spirit of the world a fowle spirit then owne spirit rather then the spirit of wisdome and understanding of counsell and might of knowledg and of the feare of the Lord They have indeede a shew of wisdome but I feare this wisdome discendeth not from above but is earthly sensuall and devillish The wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intrâ—ted full of mercy good fruits without partiality withouthypocrisie They pretend to knowledg but is it not the forme onely if knowledg and of the truth in the law Haâ—t they not all this while beene kept out and entred not for want of the true key of knowledg Or if they doe know what they ought doth not this knowledg pusse them up Hee knoweth most and best who knoweth him selfe most and that hee is the worst They say Iam. 2.14 vers 20 they have faith but what doth it profit though a man say he hath faith and have not works Can faith save him Faith without works is dead I pray God that all of us may fight the good fight of faith 1. Tim. 6.12 1. Thes 5.8 Gal. 5.6 Lam. 1.2 putting on the breast-plate of faith and love even of that faith which worketh by love O mercifull God how doth thy poore spouse weepe sore in the night and her teares hang on her cheekes and that because among all her lovers she hath few or none to comfort her Her friends have dealt trecherously with her and are become her enemies Mee think's our two indulgent Nurses who should have beene preserved chast whose breasts have beene full of sweere and wholsome milke 1. Pet. 2.2 and who were wont to feede us with the sincere milke of the word the Presse and the Pulpit are clad like mourners and that because they are forced and ravished by so many profane penns and tongues O how are the black penns of our railing Scripturients borrowed from the wings of the simplest fowle which hisses at them for their madnesse surfeited with their excessive drinking of gall and vineger and how from their nibbs their noses doe dropp the very loathsome purgations of their Masters contaminated braines They gape as if they would devoure him whom they point at They scratch him they blott and blurre his good repute yea they have teeth too and with those teeth they bite so malliciously so venemously that often times the wounds doe fester and grow incurable Wee are now certainly in the Autumne of the world and assured thereof by the dayly falling into our hands of the lye-blowne fruit and leaves of these saplesse trunks these un-pruined trees The small coyne which formerly wee caried about us for the reliefe of the poore is now frequently bestowed upon the falshood of the times Vntruthes are pressed into the world the mother suffers but a minuits paine and so soone as she is delivered the daughter runn's abroad before shee is so much as wrapped in swadling clothes That heavie curse is fallen upon us 2. Thes 2.11 that God hath sent us strong delusions that wee allso believe lyes Not is the Pulpit freer then the Presse O my soule longeth Ps 84.2 vers 3. yea even fainteth too for the courts of the Lord and that because the Sparrow hath found an house and the Swallow a nest for berselfe where she may lay her young even thine Altars ô Lord of hosts my King and my God vers 4. and yet I cannot be so blessed as to dwell in thine house Alasse alasse in too many places of this land the shcreech owle lodgeth there Is 34.14 vers 11 the cormorant the Bitterne possesse it the Owle allso and the Raven dwell in it wild beasts of the desert lodg there c. 13.21 it is full of dolefull creatures and the rough Satyrs dance there Nay more there are those now among us who turne the Temples into stables and Orateries into oasteries and thinke to find Christ as the shepheards did Lu
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
commandements and his statutes vers 25 the Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies thou shalt goe out one way against them and flee seaven wayes before them and thy carkeise shall be meate unto all fowles of the aire and unto the beasts of the earth vers 26 and noe man shall fray them away Iud. 2.13 Thus when Israel forsooke thee their Lord and served Baalim and Ashahroth vers 14 then thine anger was hot against them and thou didst deliver them into the hands of spoilers that spoyled them and didst sell them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies c. 3.7 Thus againe when they did evill in thy sight and forgat thee their Lord and their God and served Baalim and the groves then thine anger was hot against Israel vers 8. and thou didst sell them into the hands of Chusan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia and they served him eight yeeres vers 9. But yet when they cryed unto thee thou didst raise up a deliverer to them who delivered them Thus allso when they did evill in thy sight c. 6.1 thou didst deliver them into the hands of Midian seaven yeeres And thus at another time when they did evill againe in thy sight and served Baalim and Ashtaroth c. 10.6 and forsooke thee and served thee not vers 7. then thine anger was hot against them and thou didst sell them into the hands of the Philistines into the hands of the children of Ammon c 13.1 Yea and thus when they allso did likewise evill in thy sight thou didst deliver them into the hands of the Philistines fortie yeeres If then Lord thou sparedst not thine owne deere people when they thus sinned Ps 106.29 and provoked thee to wrath through their owne inventions how can wee the most abhominable of all thy creatures have the least hope of the cessation of thy judgments who still doe multiply and increase our unsufferable abhominations Neither terrour nor consumption nor any other of thy corrections formerly sent us have prevailed with us to search and try our wayes and to turne unto thee our dreadfull Lord. Iustly therfore doest thou walke contrarie unto us and causest the sword to avenge the quarrell of thy covenant Wee are smitten before our enemies yea even such enemieâ— who have beene and should have continued our friends for religion countrie neigbourhood affinitie and consanguinitie had tyed us together with the bonds of love But now alasse wee goe out one way against them and flee seaven wayes before them Wee have in many places had those among us who served Baalim and Ashtaroth and the groves and wee have had those too who allthough they have professed with Naaman that they would offer neither burnt offerings 2. King 5.17 nor sacrifice unto other Gods but onely unto thee the true Lord yet with Naaman allso they have bowed in the house of Rimmon vers 8. Iustly therfore ô most justly is thine anger hot against us and wee are delivered into the hands of spoylers Confesse wee must ô God that wee are a sinfull nation Is 1.4 a people laden with iniquity a seede of evill doers children that are corrupters wee have forsaken thee our Lord wee have provoked thee the Holy-one to anger wee have gone away backward vers 5. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint vers 6. from the sole of the foote even to the head there is noe soundnesse but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores they have not beene closed neither bound up neither mollified with oyntment Wee have indeede with our tongues called thee our father and our master yet thou mayst justly question us as thou didst the Israelites by the mouth of thy holy Prophet If I be a father Mal 1.6 where is mine honour And if I be a master where is my feare Ah Lord wee must confesse that wee are all as an uncleane thing Is 64.6 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy raggs wee all doe fade as a leafe our iniquities as the wind doe take us away vers 7. There is none among us that calleth upon thy name as he ought to doe that stirreth up himselfe to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities vers 8. But now ô Lord thou art our father wee are the clay and thou our potter and wee all are the worke of thine hand vers 9. Be not wroth very sore ô Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behould see I beseech thee wee are all thy people True it is c 28.3 ô eternall Purity that thoâ— didst threaten by thy Prophet that the drunkards of Ephraim should be trodden under feete and by thy servant Solomon thou hast warned us Prov. 23.20 vers 21 saying Be not amongst wine bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh for the drunkarâ— and the glutton shall come to povertie and drowzinesse shall cloath them with raggs And yet as if thy words were not true or thy judgments not to be feared and trembled at thâ—… is among us a roote that beareth gall and wormewood Deut. 29 18. to adde drunkennesse to thirst Wee hart Vriah's 1. Sam. 11.13 1. King 16.9 1. Sam. 25.36 made drunke and wee have Elah's Nabals drinking themselves drunke and making Kingly feasts where the end of their mirth is drunkennesse Seeing therfore theâ— is this guilt among us how can wee expect other but that thou shouldest tread downe to people in thine anger Is 63.6 and make them drunke is thy furie and bring downe our strength to the earth It was thy judgment upon Moab the he should be made drunken and should wallâ—… in his vomit be in derision Ier. 48.26 Is 51.17 Wee ô Lord are now made drunke with the cup of thy furie and drinke the dreggs of the cup of trembling and wring them out and that because of the cupps of drunkennesse and madnesse which have over flowed in our land Ier. 10.24 But ô heavenly father correct us but with judgment and not in thine anger lest thou bring us to nothing Luc 21 34. Make every one of us of this nation Take heede lest at any time our hearts be over-charged with surfeiting drunkennesse and cares of this life so that day the day of judgment come upon us unawares By King Solomon ô thou glorious Essence Frov 16.18 thou hast tould us that pride goeth before destruction an haughty spirit before a fall and the Apostle telleth us Iam. 4.6 Eze 16 49. that thou resistest the proude but givest grace to the humble and the Prophet telleth that pride was one of the iniquities of Sodome as well as fullnesse of bread and aboundance of idlenesse Yet ô Lord God all-mighty in our pride wee have neither remembred the
destruction nor the threatned fall nor thy resisting us nor Sodom's ruine Lord forgive this iniquity amongst us and give us now such humble hearts Ps 75.6 that wee may noe more set our hornes on high nor speake with stiffe necks for why Thou ô God art the judg vers 8. thou puttest downe one and settest up another Wee are taught ô thou just God of truth Prov. 11.1 that a false ballance is abhomination unto thee but a just weight is thy delight and wee know that thou didst question by thy Prophet saying Mic 6.11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bagg of deceitfull weights vers 10 Are there not in Ierusalem and Samaria the treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked and the skant measure which is aboâ—minable Yea and wee know that thou doâ—… stricktly forbid Deut 25.14 vers 13 vers 15 saying Thou shalt not have iâ— thine house diverse measures a greate and 〈◊〉 small thou shalt not have in thy bagge diversâ— weights a greate and a small but thou shalâ— have a perfect and just weight a perfect and just measure shalt thou have that thy dayes may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And yet for all this the same complaint may be made against many of us Ier 6.13 which was against Iudah wee are given to coveteousnesse and wee dealt falsly Iustly therfore ô most righteous judg thou mayst question us as thou didst the Iewes and say c 7.9 vers 10 will yee steale murder commâ— adulterie and sweare falsly and come and stand before mee in my house which is called by my name and say wee are delivered 〈◊〉 doe all these abominations O thou that art the easer of the oppressed thou God of compassionate bowells to thee are allso knowne both the deceaver and the oppressour walking hand in hand among us Surely thou hast seene it Ps 10.15 for thou behouldest ungodlinesse and wrong therfore thou callest Amos. 8.4 vers 5 saying Heare this ô yee that swallow up the needy even to make the poore of the land to faile saying when will the Sabbath be gone that wee may set forth wheate making the Ephah small and the Shekel greate and falsifying the ballance by deceit vers 6. that wee may buy the poore for silver and the needy for a paire of shooes Yea ô thou that makest inquisition for blood and forgettest not the complaint of the poore to thee wee must confesse that with the deceitfull is joyned allso among us even the bloody murderer allthough wee are well assured that the blood-thirstie and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his dayes Ps 55.25 Yea Lord thou God of justice thou mayest allso complaine of us as thou didst of the Iewes Is 59.4 and say that few or none among us calleth for justice or pleadeth for truth wee trust in vanity and speake lyes wee conceave mischiefe and bring forth iniquity Hos 4.2 By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adulterie the people breake out and blood toucheth blood Therfore doth our land mourne vers 3. and every one that dwelleth therein doth languish Thus ô thus wickedly thus contemptuously Iud 10 15. thus outragiously yea and many more and worse though closer wayes have wee sinned o Lord doe thou unto us whatsoever in thy mercy seemeth good unto thee For these Ier. 50.4 and for all other our private and publike our secret and our open our particular and our generall crimes I besiech thee o father of mercies to graunt that I and all the people of the land may goe weeping as once did the children of Israel and of Iudah Lord be reconciled unto us in the blood of that Lamb of thine who taketh away the sinns of the world Cause us all now in this time of our visitation to learne vers 5. and aske the way to Sion with our faces thitherward saying Come let us joyne our selves unto the Lord in a perpetuall covenant that shall not be broken Amos. 7.2 Dan. 9.19 Ioel. 2.21 vers 26 O Lord God forgive us I beseech thee by whom Shall Iacob arise For hee is small O Lord heare ô Lord forgive o Lord hearken and doe it so shall wee be sure that thou wilt doe greate things Cause us once againe to eate in plenty be satisfied praise thy name o Lord our God when thou hast dealt thus wonderously with us and wee shall never be ashamed Ier. 29.11 O let thy thoughts be thoughts of peace towards us and not of evill Wee should o my God 1. Pet. 3 8. wee should have loved one another as brethren and should have beene pittyfull and courteous but to our shame I must acknowledg with a sad and a broken heart that wee have beene more ready to bite and devoure one another Gal. 5.15 and therfore now are wee justly consumed one of another It is most just with thee o thou sin-revenging God thus to visit our offences with the rod Ps 89.32 our sinns with scourges Vnnaturall have beene our crimes therfore unnaturall are likewise our punishments Ps 37.15 for our swords doe goe thorow our owne hearts and wee our selves are become the destroyers of our selves O eternall mercy O eternall goodnesse be thou gratiously pleased I beseech thee to give us a true sight sense and feeling of these and all other our faylings and back-slidings give us hearty remorse contrition and sorrow for them all together with a stedfast resolution of new obedience yea and so strengthen us in these our pious resolutions and so enable us to the performance of the same yea so sanctifie us throughout that our whole spirits and soules bodies may be kept blamelesse unto the comeing of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Thou hast threatned that If a man will not turne Ps 7.13 thou will whet thy sword this long time thou hast bent thy bowe thou hast prepared for us vers 14 and brought among us the instruments of death and hast ordained thine arrowes against thy persecuters Yet Lord thou art yesterday and to day and the same for ever The same father of mercies and God of all consolation Remember therfore I beseech thee how gratious thou wert to the people of Iudah to whom thou sentest thy Prophet to speake Ier. 26.3 If so be they would hearken and turne every man from his evill way that thou mightest repent thee of the evill which thou didst purpose to doe unto them because of the evill of their doeings O Lord doe thou rent our hearts in thy mercy and make us turne from our evill wayes that thou mayst repent thee of the evill of our punishments Make us turne unto thee with 〈◊〉 our hearts Ioel 2.12 with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Ex 32.12 and then turne thou from thy
fierce wrath and repent of this evill against thy people Is 1.26 Turne thine hand upon us and purely purge a way our drosse and take away all our tinne vers 26 Restore our Iudges as at the first and our counsellers as at the beginning and call our land the land of righteousnesse vers 27 the faithfull land Let our Zion be redeemed with judgment and our converts with righteousnesse Ps 86.17 Shew some good token upon us for good that they which hate us may see it be ashamed because thou Lord helpest and comfortest us Heare ô my God in the bowells of thy compassions close and bind up our wounds for his sake who was wounded for our transgressions pardon us for his sake who is our onely reconciliation and let the cryes which our finns have sent up to heaven for vengeance be ceased and quieted by the blessed pleading of our onely Mediatour betweene thee and us even the beloved Sonne of thy bosome Iesus Christ our onely Lord and Saviour Amen The Second Prayer consisting of 1 A dolefull complaint of our grievous calamities 2 An humble desire of the remission of our sinns 3 A fervent supplication for righteousnesse and peace GReate and glorious Lord God who art the Lord of hosts 1. Sam. 17.45 Exod 15.3 and God of the armies of Israel ô thou who hast styled thy selfe a man of warre whose name is the Lord Looke downe I beseech thee upon the distressed anguish consuming sorrowes of this thy people in our land of blood Thou seest Lord thou seest the afflictions of Ioseph the calamities of thy people how our blood is shed like water on every side of our Kingdome how our bones lye scattered before the pit like as when one breaketh and heweth wood upon the earth How long Lord how long just and holy shall the prayers and the teares and the cries and the supplications of thy saints and servants ascend up unto heaven and yet thou seeme unto us as a deafe man which heareth not and as a man which is dumb Ps 38.13 that openeth not his mouth Is there noe balme in Gilead Is there noe physitian there Why then is nâ—… the health of the daughter of thy people recovered Ier O the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in the time of trouble why should thou be as a stranger in our land and as way-faring man that turneth a side to tarrâ— but a night Psal Thou hast moved our land and divided it ô heale the sores thereof for it shaketh O let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the multitude of thy mercies preserve thou those that are appointed to death Arise ô Lord from thy resting place thou and the arke of thy strength Arise and have mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon her yea the time is come for why Thâ— servants thinke upon her stones and it greiveth us to see how shee lyeth downe in the dust O now at last be thou favourable and gracious to our Sion and build thou the walls of our Ierusalem Send peace within our walls and plenteousnesse within our pallaces For our brethrens and companions sake I wish this prosperitie yea because of the many houses of the faithfull who put their trust in thee our Lord our God I pray for this good Exod. 3 7. Thou o Lord hast surely seene the afflictions of this thy people and hast heard our cries by reason of the sword for thou knowest our sorrowes vers 8. O come thou downe to deliver us as once thou didst thy people of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians Thou seest how the sword is drawne in an unnatuâ—…ll manner brother against brother neighâ—our against neighbour house against house â—ather against Sonne and Sonne against Father all having weapons of warre which â—re like to destroy the nation all clothing â—hemselves in garments rolled in blood Isa 9.5 Thou seest how many amongst us thirst for blood how whole rivers thereof runne in our fields and in our streetes yet it is not in the power or pollicie of man to stoppe the current It is now o Lord with us as it was once with idolatrous Israel when Moses commanded them saying Exod. 32.27 Put every man his sword by his side and goe in and out and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour Psal Thy holy temples are defiled and without thy preventing mercy our Ierusalem may be made an heape of stones Heresie and Schisme oppose the cleere light of thy glorious gospel Ps 137.7 and like the children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem they say even of truth it selfe downe with it downe with it even to the ground Many of our citties and townes doe now sitt solitarie Lam. 1 1. c 2.11 that were full of people and are become as widdowes The children and sucklings swoone in our streetes the widows make their lamentations over the gasping bodies of their wounded husbands the young ones cry for bread but some of them find neither fathers to give it theÌ„ nor mothers to compassionate them Is 33.8 The high wayes lye wast 〈◊〉 way-faring man ceaseth the line of confusâ—… is stretched out upon the land c. 34.11 the stones of eâ—…ptinesse vers 13 Thornes come up in our pallaces netâ— and brambles in our streetes and houses aâ— become habitations of dragons c. 8.21 and courts fâ— owles Some wicked ones among us that aâ— hungry Lam. 2.9 fret themselves and curse our Kinâ— and our god and looke upward The law iâ— noe more vers 10 the Prophets allso find noe visâ—… from thee the Lord. The elders sit upon the ground and keepe silence they have cast up dâ—…t upon their heads they have girded themselves with sack-cloth the virgins hâ—… downe their heads to the ground It is not noâ— as it was in the dayes of ould Luc. 7.25 when men clothâ— in soft raiment and they which were gorgeousâ— apparelled and lived delicately were in King courts Is 1.7 Our countrie is desolate our citties aâ— burnt with fire and our land is desolate as orâ— throwne by strangers Lam 5.1 Remember ô Lord who is come upon thy people consider and behold on reproach vers 2. Some of our inheritances are turned to strangers and our houses to aliants Many among us are orphans and fatherlesse vers 3. and many that were wives are become widowes Many doe get their bread with the perill of their lives vers 9. Ps 142.7 vers 6. Ps 94.19 because of the sword that maketh our land a wildernesse O Lord doe thou consider our complaint for wee are brought very low Thou ô Lord art our hope and our portion in the multitude of sorrowes which wee have in our â—…rts let thy comforts ô my God refresh our â—…les Heare ô Lord and