father of Discontent One of the greatest miseries of the damned shall be discontent No thing so much prouoketh God to iudgement as discontent Hee destroyed the children of Israell whiles the meate was in their mouthes in the Wildernes for murmurring or being discontent their discontent was sayd to afflict him Many a time and oft haue they afflicted mee euen from my youth vp saith Dauid in Gods person speaking of their repining at the waters of strife Therefore whosoeuer is discontent with any crosse or calamity the Lord layeth vppon him aflicteth God and must looke for speedy confusion Nothing in this life reuengeth he so much as it Hence it is so many stabbe hang and drowne themselues and thereby endaunger their owne soules beyond mercy It is the grieuousest sentence God can pronounce against man as to be his own Executioner whereby it appeareth that Discontent is the grieuousest sinne that man can commit When did you euer heare of any but the discontented man that offered violence to himselfe What is the sinne against the holy Ghost which Augustine concludeth to be nothing but Desperatio morientis to giue vp a mans soule in despaire but a special branch of discontent Wherefote did our Saniour thunder forth such a terrible woe against the causers of offence or discontent but that it was the most heynous scourge-procuring transgression of all others Ionas the Lords annointed Prophet for he was discontent and grudged when he should haue beene sent vnto Niniui had a torment like hel for the time inflicted vpon him In the Whales belly full of horror dispaire stinch and darknes three dayes and three nights he was shut Hardly can God abstaine from throwing any man downe into Hell that is vpbraidingly discontent As the merry man of all other best thriueth in that he goes about so the discontented man of all other is most fore-spoken and vnluckie in his enterprises Few discontented men shall you obserue that giue vp the ghost in their beds There is a Discontent cōtrary to Pride which is most pleasing to God which is when a man grieues is discōtent because he cannot chuse but sin rebel against God Also when he is wearied and discontent with the vanities of the world So was the Preacher when he cried Vanity of vanities all thing is vanitie There is a tollerable Discontent likewise which Dauid and Iob had when they complained that the Tabernacles of Robbers did prosper and they were in safety that prouokt God But so little of this true discontent is there in London that almost there is no content in it but in robbing and prouoking God Sin is no sin saith an auncient Father except it be voluntary and we take a content in committing it Who is there that oppresseth committeth adultery is prodigall sweareth or forsweareth but taketh a content in committing it There we place content where we should take vp discontent and there are wee discontent were wee should repose our whole gladnes and felicity We are discontent if wee heare our sinnes ript vp sharply We are discontent if we be detained in the seruice of God but half an houre extraordinary We are discontent if we be constrained to giue to the poore Euery man here in London is discontent with the state wherein he liues Euery one seeketh to vndermine another No two of one trade but as they are of one trade enuy one another Not two conioined in one office but ouerthwart emulate one another and one of them vndoes what the other hath done The Court is the true kingdom of discontent There Pride raigning most Discontent cannot chuse but be a hanger on No conspiracie or warre ciuil or outward but first springeth from discontent What makes a number of our wanton wiues in London conspire the deaths of their old doting husbands but the discontent of a death-cold bed Discontent makes Hereticks Discontent is the cause of al the Traytors beyond Sea Discontent caused Ierusalems house to be left desolate vnto her Discontent O London will be thy destitution if thou takest not the better heede The fift Sonne of Pride is Contention which beeing the youngest sonne hee hath is harder to be yoked or kept in then any of the other fowre It is euer in Armes neuer out of brabblements Look what Ambition Vaine-glory Atheism Discontent shal consult or deuise it enacteth and goes thorow with It is the Lawyers liuing the Hereticks food the Swizers house and Land No Crowne but he challengeth a share in No Church but he will be of On words amphibologies equiuocations quiddities and quantities he stands He hunteth not after truth but strife He coueteth not so much to ouer-come as contend These two little words Ex and Per as Cornelius Agrippa hath obserued held the Greeke Latine Churches play many yeeres together they litigiously debating whether the holy Ghost proceeded of the Father and the Sonne or not of the Son but of the Father by the Sonne So this word Nisi in this sentence Nisi manducaueritis carnem set all the Counsaile of Basil in an vprore This word Donec as Ioseph non agnouit vxorem suam donec Ioseph knew not his wife vntill caused the Antidicomariatans and Eludians to denie the perpetuall virginity of the Virgine Mary With a thousand such errors Contention raiseth his Kingdome Our Diuines in these dayes though they yet retaine many contentions of the olde Churches haue found out certaine new ones of their owne They contend about standing and sitting about forms and substances about prescription and confusion of prayers They argue An ater sit contrarius albo whether it bee better to weare a white Surplesse or a black gowne in ministring the Sacraments Which is like the conflict in Rome betwixt the Augustine Fryers and the vulgar Chanons whether Augustine did weare a blacke Weede vpon a white Coate or a white Weede vpon a black Coate Like the Geometritians they square about points and lines and the vtter shew of things As this point is too-long this point is too-short this figure is too-much affected this line runnes not smooth this syllogisme limpeth As Preachers they labour not to speake properly but intricately In stead of Bread they giue the children of their Ministery stones to throw at one another and in stead of Fish Serpents to sting one another In the 13. of Mathew the Sower that went foorth to sow scattered some seede by the high-way side which the Foules of the ayre peckt vp not vnlike to them whose Hawkes and Field-sports peck vp all the seeds of Christianity that should be sowne in their hearts and a million of others whose eyes the Foules of the valley pecke out before the seede of saluation can haue any rooting in their soules Other seede the Sower scattered amongst stones and the Sunn e arising it withered for want of earth resembling these stony streetes of London where nothing will spring vp but oppression auarice and infidelitie Other seede he disperst amongst
thousand pounds together in a hutch will not part with a penny fares miserably dies suddainly and leaues those the fruites of niggardize to them that neuer thank him He that bestoweth any thing on a Colledge or Hospital to the worlds end shal haue his name remembred in daily thanksgiuing to God for him otherwise he perrisheth as the Pellitory on the wall or the weede on the house top that groweth only to wither Of all his wealth no good man reaping any benefit none but Canckers prisons and bard Chestes liue to report he was rich Those great bard Chestes hee carryes on his backe to Heauen gates and none so burdened is permitted to enter There is no Male of any kinde hath apparance of breasts but man and hee hauing them giues no sucke with them at all Such dry-nurses are our English Cormogeons they haue breasts but giue no suck with them They haue treasure innumerable but do no good with it All the Abbey-lands that were the abstracts from impertinent almes now scarce affoord a meales meate of almes A penny bestowed on the poore is abridged out of house-keeping All must bee for their children that spend more then all More prosperous children should they haue were they more open handed The Plague of God threatens to shorten both them and their children because they shorten their hands from the poore To no cause referre I this present mortality but to couetise Let couetise be enlarged out of durance the infected ayre will vncongeale and the wombes of the contagious Clowdes will bee clensed Pray and distribute you gorbellied Mammonists without prayer and distribution or almost thinking of God haue you congested those refulgent masses of substance With the destribution of them if you looke for saluation your soules must you ransome from Belial And fortunate are you if with long intercessions and prayers you may get your ransome accepted of Nothing of all your drosse going downe into the earth shall you take with you you shall cary no more hence Nisi parua quod vrna capit but a Coffyn and a winding-sheete They haue slept their sleepe saith Dauid and all the men of riches haue found none of their treasure in their owne handes after their sleepe was ended Poore men to you I speake for ritch men haue their Country Granges to flye to from contagion humble your soules with fasting and prayer Elias and Moyses by their fasting and prayer were filled with the familiarity of God Entreate the Lord that he would passe ouer your houses as in Egypt hee past ouer the houses of the Israelites first-borne Beseech him with the Gergazens into whose Heardes of Swine the deuills were sent to depart with his heauy iudgements out of your quarters Though he seemeth a little to sleepe as when hee was on the Sea with his Disciples and the tempest arose yet if you awake him with your out crying prayers as the Apostles did saying Lord saue vs. Lord saue vs or wee perrish hee will commaund the windes and the Sea controule the contagion the sicknes and make a calme ensue heale euery disease and languor amongst you In the day of my trouble saith the forenamed propheticall King I sought vnto the Lord my sore ran ceased not in the night my soule refused comfort I did thinke vpon God and was troubled I prayed and my spirit was full of anguish Let vs seeke vnto the Lord in like sorte let our soules refuse comfort let vs thinke vpon him be troubled let vs pray and fil our spirits full of anguish til such time as he turneth our affliction from vs. If wee be not thus troubled if our spirits bee not possessed with anguish but we make a sport and flea-biting of his fearefull visitation and thinke without our prayers the season of the yeere will cease it hee will send a rougher stringed scourge amongst vs a desolation that shall furrow deeper in our sides and roote out the memoriall of vs. If saith the Apostle to the Hebrues they escaped not which refused him that spake on earth much more shall they not escape that turne away from him that speaketh to them from heauen Now it is that God speaketh to vs from heauen now if we turne away from him or will not turne to him there shall not one of vs escape In the time of Gregory Nasianzene if wee may credite Ecclesiasticall records there sprung vp the direfullest mortality in Rome that man-kinde hath beene acquainted with scarce able were the liuing to bury the dead and not so much but their streets were digged vp for graues Which this holy Father with no little cōmiserate hart-bleeding beholding commanded all the Clergie for he was at that time their chiefe Bishop to assemble in praier supplications and deale forcingly beseeching with God to intermit his fury and forgiue them For all this not any whit is abated hee tooke no pitty on them There-with that reuerend Pastor entranced to hell in his thoughts for the distresse of his people caused al the Citizens young and old to be called foorth their houses and attende him in a howling procession Vp and downe the streetes from one end of the Citty to the other hee led them and Preachers as Captains ouer multitudes were set to direct and encourage them in their Inuocations and Orizons Foure daies together in this feruent exercise he detained them In those places where the mortality raged most a stande would hee make halfe a day and with reiterated solicitings and prostrate voyce-crazing vehemencie breake ope a broade clowde-dispersing passage to the throne of mercy The foure dayes concluded and that with their bellowing clamors and breast-embolning sighes they had enforced a sufficient breache in the Firmament there appeared a bright sunne-arraied Angell standing with a reaking bloody sword in his hand in the chiefe gate of their Citty which they comming neere in all their sights on his arme hee wiped and put vp and in that very instant throughout the Citty the plague ceased Some peraduenture may take exceptions against the certainty hereof but if we will authorize any thing in the Romaine or Ecclesiasticall histories we must ascribe truth as well vnto this I would see him that could giue me any other reason but this of the building of the yet extant gate and Castle of S. Angelos on both which the Angell with his sworde drawne is artificially engrauen True or not true the example can doe no harme Wee will not be too hasty to imitate it In stead of humbling our selues after this manner and wearying God with our cryes and lamentations wee fall a drinking and bousing making iestes of his frowning castigation As Babes smyle and laugh in their sleepe so wee surprised with a lethargy of sinne do nothing but laugh and iest in the midst of our sleepie security Wee scoffe and are iocund when the sworde is ready to goe through vs. On our wine-benches we bidde a Fico for tenne
CHRISTS TEARES OVER IERVSALEM Whereunto is annexed a comparatiue admonition to LONDON A IOVE MVSA By Tho. Nash. LONDON Printed for Thomas Thorp 1613. TO THE MOST HONORED AND VERTVOVS beautified Lady the Lady Elizabeth Carey EXcellent accomplisht Courtglorifying Lady giue mee leaue with the sportiue Sea Porposes preludiatly to play a litle before the storm of my Teares to make my prayer ere I proceed to my sacrifice Loe for an oblation to the rich burnisht shrine of your vertue a handful of Ierusalems mūmaniz'd earth in a few sheets of waste paper enwrapped I here humiliate offer vp at your feete More embellished should my present be were my abilitie more aboundant Your illustrate Ladiship ere this I am perswaded hath beheld a bad florish with a Text pen all my performance herein is no better I doubt you will condemne it for worse Wit hath his dregges as well as wine Diuinitie his drosse Expect some Tares in the Treatise of Teares Farre vnable are my dimme Ospray eyes to looke cleerely against the sunne of Gods truth An easie matter is it for any man to cut me like a Diamond with mine owne dust A young imperfect practitioner am I in Christs schoole Christ accepteth the will for the deede VVeake are my deedes great is my will O that our deedes onely should bee seene and our will die inuisible Long hath my intended will renowned Madam been addressed to adore you But words to that my resolued will were negligent seruants My woe-infirmed wit conspired against me with my fortune My impotent care-crazed stile cast off his light wings and betook him to wodden stilts All agilitie it forgot and graueld it selfe in grosse braind formalitie Now a little is it reuiued but not so reuiued that it hath vtterly shooke off his danke vpper mourning garment VVere it effectually recured in my soule-infused lines I would shewe that I perfectly liued and in them your praises should liue whereas now onely amongst the dead I liue in them and they dead all those that looke vpon them That which my Teare-stubbed pen in this Theologicall subiect hath attempted is no more but the course-spun webbe of discontent a quintessence of holy complaint extracted out of my true cause of condolement Peruse it iudiciall Madam and something in it shall you finde that may pierce The world hath crowned you for Religion pietie bountihood modestie and sobrietie rare induments in these retchlesse daies of securitie Diuers wel-deseruing Poets haue consecrated their endeuours to your praise Fames eldest fauorite Maister Spencer in all his writings hie prizeth you To the eternizing of the heroycall family of the Careys my choisest studies haue I tasked Then you that high allied house hath not a more deere adopted ornament To the supportiue perpetuating of your canonized reputation wholly this book haue I destined Vouch safe it benigne hospitalitie in your Closet with slight enteruiew at idle houres and more polished labours of mine ere long shall salute you Some complete history I will shortly goe through with wherein your perfections shall bee the chiefe argument To none of all those maiesticall wit fore-stalling worthies of your sexe my selfe doe I apply but you alone The cunning courtship of faire words can neuer ouer-worke mee to cast away honor on anie I hate those female braggarts that contend to haue all the Muses begge at their dores and with Doues delight euermore to look themselues in the glasse of vaine-glorie yet by their sides weare continually Barbary purses which neuer ope to any but pedanticall Parasites Diuine Ladie you I must and will memorize more especially for you recompence learning extraordinarily Pardon my presumption lend patience to my prolixitie and if anie thing in all please think it was compiled to please you This I auouch no line of it was laide downe without awfull looking backe to your frowne To write in Diuinitie I would not haue aduentured if ought else might haue consorted vvith the regenerate grauitie of your iudgement Your thoughts are all holy holy is your life in your heart liues no delight but of Heauen Farre be it I shold proffer to vnhallow them with any profane papers of mine The care I haue to worke your holy content I hope God hath ordained to call mee home sooner vnto him Varro saith the Philosophers held two hundred and eight opinions of felicitie two hundred and eight felicities to me shall it bee if I haue framed anie one line to your liking Most resplendent Ladie encourage me fauour mee countenance me in this and some-thing ere long I will aspire to beyond the common mediocritie Your admired Ladiships most deuoted Tho. Nash. To the Reader NIL nisi flere libet Gentles here is no ioifull subiect towards if you will weepe so it is I haue nothing to spend on you but passion A hundred vnfortunate farewels to fantasticall Satirisme In those vaines here-to-fore haue I mispent my spirit and prodigally conspir'd against good houres Nothing is there now so much in my vowes as to be at peace with al men and make submissiue amends where I haue most displeased As the Title of this Booke is Christs Teares so be this Epistle the Teares of my penne Many things haue I vainly set forth whereof now it repenteth me S. Augustine writ a whole booke of his Retractations Nothing so much doe I retract as that wherein-soeuer I haue scandaliz'd the meanest Into some spleanatiue vaines of wantonnesse heretofore haue I foolishly relapsed to supply my priuate wants of them no lesse doe I desire to be absolued then the rest and to God and man doe I promise an vnfained conuersion To a little more wit haue my increasing yeeres reclaimed mee then I had before Those that haue beene peruerted by any of my workes let them reade this and it shall thrice more benefit them The Autumne I imitate in sheading my leaues with the trees and so doth the Peacock shead his taile Buy who list contemne who list I leaue euery Reader his free liberty If the best sort of men I content I am satisfiedly succes-full Farewell all those that wish me well others wish I more wit to Tho. Nash. CHRISTS TEARES OVER IERVSALEM SInce these bee the dayes of dolor and heauinesse wherein as holy Dauid sayth The Lord is knowne by executing iudgement and the axe of his anger is put to the roote of the Tree and his Fan is in his hand to purge his Floore I suppose it shall not bee amiss to write something of mourning for London to harken counsaile of her great Grand-mother Ierusalem Omnipotent Sauiour it is thy Teares I intend to write of those affectionate Teares which in the 23. and 24. of Mathew thou weptst ouer Ierusalem and her Temple Be present with me I beseech thee personating the passion of thy loue O dew thy spirit plentiful into my inke and let some part of thy diuine dreariment liue againe in mine eyes Teach me how to weepe as thou wepst
he had iust occasion to stab or murder to keepe his hand in vre Hee held it as lawfull for him since all labouring in a mans vocation is but getting to get wealth as well with his sword by the High way side as the Laborer with his Spade or Mattocke when all are but yron besides as there is none hath any wealth which he getteth not from another so deem'd he it as free for him as another to get from other men concluding as there no better tittle to a Kingdome then conquest so there is no better claime vnto wealth then by the conquest of a strong hand to compasse it Adultery Fornication Drunkennesse no sin but he would defend and offend in For the multitude of these and other his abhominations banisht he was and longer in Ierusalem might he not roust wherefore no possibility had hee to preuent beggery or redeeme his estate but by proclaiming in all places where he came the trade he profest The Tenure of his Proclamation was this That if there were any that had dudgen-old coughing miserly Fathers they could not endure If there were any that had repining victual-scanting Maisters tyrrannizing neuer-the-lesse for their work If there were any that were Creditor-craz'd and dead and buried in debt and knew not which way to rise out of it let them repaire to him and till Doomes-day they should haue a protection Yea if there were euer a good fellow that lou'd a Harlot as his life would haue Letters-patents to take purses had a desire to kill and not be hang'd would sweare and forsweare for single-money and had not so much as a crum of conscience to put in his pottage let him or them what ere resort vnder his standard and their humors should be maintained Twenty thousand of these dreggy lees of Libertines hiu'd vnto him in a moment whom he cleped the Flower of Chiluary for they feared no man cared neither for God nor the Diuell With them he burnt the greene Corne in the fields pluckt downe Barnes and Store-houses stubd vp Orchards and Vine-yards and made desolate hauocke where euer he came To Ierusalem after much slaughter and spoyle with this his Out-law Army he reacht there enter-leagued himselfe with Eleazar and Iehochanan The first thing after their ioyning they did was the displacing of the Sanhadrtn which were the Iudges and three-score and tenne Elders and sharing the gouernèment equally amongst them Then the Sacrifice they silenced put the High-priest to death and conuerted the Temple to an Armory Long could they not agree but as Empery admitteth no mate-ship so did they enuy one another made heads against one another mutually skirmisht with one another Their enemies were without but within lurkt the plague that went through stitch Twenty thousand in one day the internal ciuil sword eate vp The Edomites let in by Iehochanan of the welthiest Cittizens slew eight thousand and fiue hundred in one night Heere begins the desolation Christ prophecied within and without vengeance bestirreth her within it raged most for within sinne raigned most Let mee suddainely waxe old and woe-wrinkle my cheekes before their time by describing the deplored effectes of their sinnes within First for the desolation of their ceremoniall Religion some-thing I haue said already but the summe of all was this that if any Priest approcht neere the Altar the bloud of him and his offering was blended together The reuerent Ephods were made the slaughter-mens Aprons many venerable Leuites they bound to the Altar by the haire of their beardes The Vessels of the house of the Lord they put to vile vses Not any consectated thing but they arrested and made booty of Yong children whom their mothers led in their hands along with them to the Temple to offer inhumaine to be told they tooke and mercilesse cast into the sacrificatory flame and on the same Altar after they were consumed most sacriligiously rauisht their Mothers Some men whom they could not otherwise draw into their danger they would inuite to treaty in the Temple saying There is the Tabernacle of the Lord there is the Arke of his presence there if we shold draw our blades it were abhomination vn-remissible Why distrust you vs suppose you vs to be without GOD carry wee not the couenant of our Father Abraham in our loines as well as you By him that oweth this Temple wee sweare and all mysticall riches thereof you shall depart thence vnmolested Who so on their oaths or their words affianst them were sure to wash the pauement with the best iuice of their breasts Not onely those that came to offer but those that but offred to kneele in the Temple they ran through The Marble flore of it they made so slippery with their vnrespited and not so much as Saboth-ceased bloud-shed and bowel-clinging fat of them that were slaine that a man might better swimme then walke on it The place without the Citty where they carried their dung and buried the entrailes of Beasts halfe so pestilently stunck not as that stuncke with dung-hils of dead-bodies The entry of the Court of the Lord was changed to a standing Lake of bloud The siluer gates of the Temple no more were gates for deuoute worshippers to enter in at but slimy flood-gates for thicke iellied gore to sluce out by Who hath seene a Vaulte vnder a Church full of dust-died sculs and rusty dead-mens bones might after that grosse streame of gore a little was turn'd aside and the bloud dryed vp rightly allude the Temple thereunto for now it was no more a prayer-prospering House but a pudly Vault of dead-mens bones and cast out bodies kneaded to durt Her Alablaster wals were all furred fome-painted with the bespraying of mens braines dung out against them Her high roofe was mingle-colourd with mounting drops of bloud that seâ—…'d by soaking into it to seeke for passage to heauen The siedge growing hot the seditious hearts somewhat quailed and then they made shew as they would correct themselues as they would renounce their tumultuous tyranies And whereas lately before they had depriued the High-priest both of life and office now dissemblingly remorsed they would needs in all hast in his roome set vp another and by lots he should be chosen The lot fell vpon a Plow-man or Carter one Pani the sonne of Peniel and hee not-with-standing his ignorant basenesse and base rudenesse as in a mockery was instal'd in that dignity It is not my intent to runne a right out-race through all the accidents of their reprobation onely that which I lay downe is to shew how vnfallibly Christs words were fulfilled as touching their tenne times merrited desolation Iudge all those that haue sence of misery ere they haue occasion to vse it in discerning their own miseries whether this were not desolation or no. The Lord at one time visited their Citty with those foure capitall plagues Fire Famine Pestilence and the Sword First for fire thus he visited it There were
soule is made all flesh is wholly employde in impouerishing and debilitating the flesh Quidam dixit olim diues eram dudum sed tria me fecerunt nudū alea vina venus tribus his factus sum egenus There was a man sayd late he was in rich estate but 3. things haue vndone him froward Dice Wine and Women only from these three things all his confusion springs The third deriuatiue of Delicacy is sloath of which I will say a word or two and so shake hands with all the Sonnes and Daughters of Pride Security the last deuident of Delicacy it includeth in it for Security is nothing but the effect of sloth therfore will I handle both vnder one It is a sinne which is good for nothing but to be Dame Lecheries Keeper when she lyes in He or she that is possessed with sloth is slow in good workes slowe in comming to Sermons slowe in looking after thrift slowe in resisting temptations slowe in defending any good cause And of these fore-slowers it is sayd Those that be neither hot nor cold I will spue them out of my mouth Reu. the 3. There is a certaine kind of good sloth as to be slowe to anger slowe to iudgement slowe to reuenge But there is a sloth vnto iudgement which is also an il sloth As when a poore mans cause hangs so long in Court ere it can be decided that through the Iudges sloth he is vndone with following of it There is a sloth also in punishing sin as when Magistrates will haue their eyes put out with gifts and will not see it but wink at it till they be broad waked with the general cry of the Common-wealth There is a sloth of Souldioury as of those that come from the warres and wil not fall to any thing afterward but cosen begge and robbe There is a sloth of the Ministry as of those that after they be Beneficed will neuer preach Doth the wild Asse bray saith Iob when he hath grasse or loweth the Oxe when he hath fodder No more do a great sort of our Diuines after they haue liuing They haue learned to spare their tongue against they are to plead for greater preferment So haue a number of Lawyers learned to spare their eares against golden Aduocates come to plead to them They cannot heare except their eares bee rubd with the oyle of Angels they must haue a spur to prick on an old dogg a few Spurrials to remedy deafnes Others there are though not of the same order that can neuer heare but when they are flattered and they cry continually to their Preachers Loquere nobis placentia Loquere nobis placentia Speak to vs nothing but pleasing things and euen as Archabius the Trumpeter had more giuen him to cease them to sound the noise that he made was so harsh so will they giue them more to cease then to sound to corupt them then to make them sound feed their sores then to launch them The noise of iudgement which they pronounce soundeth too harsh in their eares They must haue Orpheus melodie whom the Ciconian women tore in peeces because with his musicke he corrupted and effeminated their men Guide saith There are certaine diuels that can abide no musick these are contrary diuels for they delight in nothing but the musick of flattery Mouing words please them but they heare them but as passiō in a play which maketh them rauishtly melancholly and nere renteth the heart The delicacy both of men women in London will enforce the Lord to turne all their plenty to scarcity their tunes of wantonnesse to the alarums of warre and to leaue their house desolate vnto them How the Lord hath begunne to leaue our house desolate vnto vs let vs enter into the consideration therof with our selues At this instant is a generall plague disperst throughout our Land No voice is heard in our streets but that of Ieremy Call for the mourning women that they may come and take vp a lamentation for vs for death is come into our windowes and entred into our Palaces God hath striken vs but we haue not sorrowed of his heauiest correction we make a iest We are not moued with that which he hath sent to amaze vs As it is in Ezechiel They wil not heare thee for they will not heare mei So they wil not nor cannot heare God in his visitation which haue refused to heare him in his Preachers For your contempt and neglect of hearing Gods Preachers euen as S. Iohn Baptist said There was one come into the world more mighty then he that carried his fan in his hand So say I there is one come into the world more mighty then the word preached which is the Lord in this present visitation He carrieth his fanne in his hand to purge his Floore All the chaffe of carnall Gospellers that are blowne from him with euery wind of vanity or adu◅sity he shall purge from amongst you A time of springing and growing haue we had now is our mercifull Father come to demaund fruite of vs. The fruite of faith the fruit of good workes the fruite of patience and long suffering If he find no fruit on vs he wil say to vs as hee sayd to the Figge-tree on which he found nothing but leaues Neuer fruite grow on thee henceforward And incontinent it withered and incontinent Death shall seaze on vs. From the mouth of the Lord I speak it Except in time you conuert and bring forth the fruites of good life the Kingdome of God shall be taken from you and giuen to a Nation bringing forth worthy fruits thereof With the two blinde men that sat by the High-way side when Christ came from Iericho we haue cried a long time Lord haue mercy vpon vs Lord haue mercy vpon vs O Son of Dauid haue mercy vpon vs and loe our eyes haue beene opened the light of the Gospell hath appeared vnto vs But like those blind-men after our eyes were opened after the light of the Gospel hath appeared vnto vs we haue refused to follow Christ. You Vsurers and Engrossers of Corne by your hoording vp of gold and graine till it is mould rusty Moath-eaten and almost infects the ayre with the stinch you haue taught God to hoord vp your iniquities and transgressions till mouldinesse putrifaction and mustinesse enforceth him to open them and being opened they so poison the ayre with their ill sauour that from them proceedeth this perilsome contagion The Land is full of adulteries for this cause the Land mourneth The Land is full of Extortions full of proud men full of hypocrites full of murderers This is the cause why the Sword deuoureth abroad and the Pestilence at home Wicked deedes haue preuailed against vs. How long saith Ieremy shall the Land mourne and the hearbes of euery field wither for the wickednesse of the Inhabitants that dwell therein Our Land mournes for the sicknesse the
No certainer coniecture is there of the ruine of any kingdome then their reuolting from God Certaine coniectures haue wee had that wee are reuolted from God and that our ruine is not farre of In diuers places of our Land it hath rained blood the ground hath been remoued and horrible deformed births conceiued Did the Romans take it for an ill signe when their Capitoll was strooken with lightning how much more ought London to take it for an ill signe when her chiefe steeple is stroken with lightning They with thunder from an enterprise were disanimated wee nothing are amated The blazing starre the Earth-quake the dearth and famine some fewe yeeres since may nothing afright vs. Let vs looke for the sword next to remembrance and warne vs. As there is a time of peace so is there a time of warre No prosperity lasteth alwaies The Lord by a solemne oath bound himselfe to the Iewes yet when they were obliuious of him it pleased him to forget the couenant he made with their forefathers and left their Citty desolate vnto them Shall he not then we starting from him to whom by no bond he is tide leaue our house desolate vnto vs Shal we receiue of God a long time all good and shall we not looke in the end to receiue of him some ill O yee disobedient children returne and the Lord shall heale your infirmities Lie downe in your confusion and couer your faces with shame From your youth to this day haue you sinned and not obeyed the voyce of the Lord your God Now in the age of your obstinacy and vngratefull abandonments repent and be conuerted With one vnited intercessionment thus reconcile your selues vnto him O Lord our refuge from one generation to another whither from thy sight shall wee goe or whether but to thee shall we flie from thee Iust is thy wrath it sendeth no man to hell vniustly Rebuke vs not in thine anger neither chastise vs in thy displeasure We haue sinned we confesse and for our sinnes thou hast plagued vs with the sorrows of death thou hast compast vs and thy snares haue ouertooke vs out of Natures hand hast thou wrested the sword of Fate and now slayest euery one in thy way Ah thou preseruer of men why hast thou set vs vp as a mark against thee Why wilt thou breake a leafe driuen to and fro with the winde and pursue the dry stubble Returne shew thy self meruailous vpon vs. None haue we like Moses to stand betwixt life and death for vs. None to offer himselfe to die for the people that the Plague may cease O deere Lord for Ierusalem didst thou die yet couldst not driue backe the plagues destinate to Ierusalem No image or likenes of thy Ierusalem on earth is there left but London Spare London for London is like the Citty that thou louedst Rage not so far against Ierusalem as not onely to desolate her but to wreak thy selfe on her likenesse also all the honor of thy miracles thou loosest which thou hast shewed so many sundry times in rescuing vs with a strong hand from our enemies if now thou becommest our enemie Let not vvorldlings iudge thee inconstant or vndeliberate in thy choise in so soon reiecting the Nation thou hast chosen In thee we hope beyond hope We haue no reason to pray to thee to spare vs and yet haue wee no reason to spare from prayer since thou hast wild vs. Thy will be done which willeth not the death of any sinner Death let it kill sinne in vs and reserue vs to praise thee Though thou kilst vs we wil praise thee but more praise shalt thou reape by preseruing then killing since it is the only praise to preserue where thou maist kill With the Leaper wee cry out O Lord if thou wilt thou canst make vs cleane Wee claime thy promise That those which mourne shall be comforted Comfort vs Lord wee mourne our bread is mingled with ashes and our drinke with teares With so many Funeralls are we oppressed that we haue no leasure to weepe for our sinnes for howling for our Sonnes and daughters O heare the voice of our howling withdraw thy hand from vs and we will draw neere vnto thee Come Lord Iesu come for as thou art Iesus thou art pitiful Challenge some part of our sin-procured scourge to thy Crosse. Let it not bee sayd That thou but halfe satisfiedst for sinne Wee belieue thee to bee an absolute satisfier for sinne As we belieue so for thy merits sake wee beseech thee let it happen vnto vs. Thus ought euery Christian in London from the highest to the lowest to pray From Gods iustice wee must appeale to his mercy As the French King Frauncis the first a woman kneeling to him for iustice sayd vnto her Stand vp woman for iustice I owe thee if thou begst any thing beg for mercy So if we begge of God for any thing let vs begge for mercy for iustice he owes vs. Mercy mercy O graunt vs heauenly Father for thy mercy Luctus monument a manebunt FINIS Psal. 9. 16 Mat. 3. Ierem. 1. Phil. 4. Nâ—…d 10. August tom â—…0 hom 5. Tob. 4. 10. Ierem. 9. This vvas long after Christs teares ouer Ierusalem Herodot Gen. 19. Psal. 65. Dan. 12. ch 3. â—…5 * A Ballaâ—… French iâ—… song thaâ—… sang danâ—… Math. 27. 25. King 19. 22. 1. Cor. 3. 1. Tim. 6. Math. 17 Iere. 22 Math. 21. Rom 3. Math. 27. Ambro de offici Math 25. Psal. 112. Luk. 21. Gen. 4. Iob. 15. Exod. 23. Ierom on the 23. of Mathew Aug. lib 3. de lib. arbit Iob. 28. Diagoras primus De. 〈◊〉 â—…gans a Disallowed by Atheists Psal. 148. Amos. 1. Prou. 21 Ierom. ad Eustoch Esay 21. Prou. 29 1. Cor. 6 Acts 15 Ephes. 5 Ierom super Aâ—…os Iob. 6 Esay 30 Guide in musics Ierem. 9 Ierem. 5 Ezech. 3 Mat. 21. 19 Mat. 20. 19 Ierem. 23. Esay 24 Ierem. 12 Ierem. 21 Ierem. 19 Dan 2. 23 Psa. 76. Math. 8. Psalm 75 Plalm 77. Heb. 12 â—…eb 12 5. Ieb 5 17. He. 12 8 〈◊〉
Agent in the Worlds redemption Holy Crosse Adams of spring onely holines I grieue that vpon thee I can spend none of my God-head as wel as my Humanity to glorify the more this great exploit For the desolating and disinheriting of hell haue I that reserued none but the God of heauen may leade captiuity captiue and returne Conquerour from that dungeonly Kingdome Strange it is ó Ierusalem that I should be able to conquer and forrage hell and yet cannot conquer or bring vnder thee to my obedience To speake troth as in my lips is no guile thou art not worthy to bee conquéred or haue the host of thine affections subdued by me that hast admitted of a baser conquerour which is the diuell after whom I can succeede with no honour The Romaines not I shall conquer thee and leaue thy house desolate vnto thee who being Heathens and not knowing God are a degree of indignity inferiour to the diuell for he knowes God and with feare and trembling acknowledgeth him Wouldst thou with feare and trembling haue fled to mee for refuge against the diuell and the Romanes when I would haue gathered thee both the Diuell and the Romanes at one instant had bene subdued to thine hand But vnder my standard thou wouldst not thou scornedst to gather thee therefore shall thy house be left desolate vnto thee therefore shall Gods house bee left desolate vnto thee Maiesticall Temple on whose Pinacle once I was tempted thou and I one after another must perish for no fault of our owne but for the sinnes of this people No profite but disprofite shall the scattered ashes of thy obsequies bring vnto them nor shall they like the ashes of me the true Phoenix liue againe neuer shall thy body like mine be raised againe Raced and defaced shalt thou be as thou hadst neuer bene Haply Caues for wilde-beasts many yeares together thou maist affoord but the Lord of Hostes shall abandon thee the King of Israel shall abiure thee By Herod a man of bloud thou wert last builded and in bloud shalt thou be buried O let mee embrace thee while thou yet standest and I am not translated hereafter perhaps nere may I haue the opportunity to embrace thee This present houre that is granted I will put out to Vsury On thy Alablaster out-side with scalding sighes and dimming kisses a greater dew will I raise then lies vpon sweaty Marble a little before raine Me thinkes these stones looke shining and smyling vpon mee Ierusalem frownes like a Shee-beare seeking her whelpes These stones start not out of their assigned places but still retaine their imposed first proportion from me her foundation long agoe hath Ierusalem started out of those limits and bounds I assigned her hath she started her order she hath broken my building she hath subuerted no forme or face of my workemanship is visible in her But yet were nothing but her face and out-side deformed it were some-what her in-side is worst of all her Heart her Lungs her Liuer her Gall alare carioniz'd and contaminated with surfeits of selfe-will Her owne heart she eateth and disgesteth into the draught with riot and excesse Poore Temple long mightst thou stand and not haue a stone of thee disquieted till the Iudgement day if those to whom thou belongest were not ten-times branded in the fore-head for Reprobates not with the marke of the Lambe but the Lyon who roring seeketh whom he may deuoure Distressefully am I diuided from thee my soule when it shall be diuided from mee will not endrench mee in so much dolour as thou doost The zeale of thee distraughteth me and some essentiall part of my life seemeth to forsake me and droppe from mee when I thinke of thy diuastation Nothing so much doth macerate and mad mee as that all the sky-perfuming prayers and profuse sacrificatory expences of ful-hand oblationers should not haue force to vphold thee Desolation for no debt of sin shalt thou extend on this Temple that thou hast to extend against it extend against me for it is my Fathers habitation It will but augment his indignation against this Citty and do thee no good to driue him out of house and home and reserue him no sanctified mansion vpon earth Let there bee one peculiar Treasury of supplications and vowes vndestroyed and vnpillaged O Father bee this House more high-pryzed to thee then Paradice More worship and adoration hast thou had in it then in Paradice There thou setst a fiery-armed Gardant to repulse insolent inuaders set some garisonment before the gate of thy Tabernacle to oppugne the dispossessors of thy Diety thou canst not heare me I pray for them whose sinnes sue against me Thou hast decreed in thy secret iudgement There house shall bee left desolate vnto them Thou hast decreed I shall be left desolate on the Crosse and cry Eloi Eloi lamasabachthani vnayded or vnregarded Willing am I to execute thy will onely let me not in vaine giue vp the Ghost but some soules of this Panther-spotted Ierusalem may bee extraught to ioy with me O that mine armes were wide enough to engraspe the wals of Ierusalem about that in mine amorous enfoldment vnawares I might whyrle her to Heauen with me Why should I not driue all Israel before mee to the great felicity as a Sheepeheard before him driueth his flocke to the fat Pastures I shall neuer driue you before me you will driue me before you with murder and violence to immortality your selues not one foote follow after Pol me occidistis amici you whom I thought to bind to me as friends haue foe-like betraied me Because I am humble I may not please you Because I am Christ the iust therfore you will designe me to the Crosse vniustly Est mihi supplicij causa fuisse pium Wold God there were no other exclamatory crime then this to bee obiected againe thee Yet haue I suffred of thee nothing but feare More then feare am I within these few daies to entertaine at thy hands Slay me thou shalt because I haue vouchsafed to liue with thee and doome me an vnworthy end in leiu of my deere loue Tu mihi criminis author no imputation of scandale shall I haue but the heauy burthen of thy abuses Thou shall be my vninocence and whole summe of delinquishment thy right hand of my death shall be arraigned Hoc prohibete nefas scelerique resistite vestro Not the prophane idolatry of the Gentles in my sides shall delue so deepe as thy stiffe-necked transgressions Lesse do I deplore my death then thy life and a thousand times haue I wisht and desired that thou hadst onely occasion to repent my death and not thine own other misdeeds Repent yet I will repent me of the pronouncement against thee Should I not so haue pronounst and denunciated against thee thy bloud would haue bene required at my hands Therefore is my people led captiue saith the Lord by Esay because they know mee not Your pretence
of vnknowledge orignorance is already counterpleaded you shall not say Woe bee to mee that I neuer tasted the milke of vnderstanding but with Iob banne the time that euer you suckt the breasts At my breasts Ierusalem hast thou not suckt but bit off my breasts when thou stonedst the Prophets O Ierusalem Ierusalem that stonest my Prophets and killest them I sent vnto thee How often would I haue gathered thy children together as a Henne gathereth her Chickins vnder her wings but thou wouldst not Therefore shall thy House bee left desolate vnto thee Heere ebbe the spring-tide of my Teares Eyes from this present prepare your selues to bee recluses I came not to shed Teares but Bloud for Ierusalem Bloud for Ierusalem will I shed to attone for her shedding of innocent bloud So that let her yet turne vnto mee her attonement is made I will corroborate my Crosse Giant-like to vnder-beare the Atlas burthen of her insolences With my Nazarite tresses to my Crosse will I bind her crossing frowardnesse and contaminations Not a nayle that takes hold of me but I will expresly enioyne it to take hold of her deflectings and errours Death as euer thou hopest at my hands to haue thy Commission enlarged when thou killest mee kill her iniquities also let thy deepe entring Dart obliuionize their memories Of man as of me thou killest but the body onely kill the body and the soule both of her vnbounded sinnegluttony I will pay thee largely for thy paines Whereas before thou neuer tookst any but the subiects prisoners now thou shalt haue the King himselfe surrendred to thy cruelty Thou shalt enrich thy stile with this title I Emperour Death the Lord of all flesh the killer of the King of all Kings c. Deale well by Ierusalem how euer thou dealst with me Let not her Soule be left desolate though her Citty bee left desolate vnto her Euen the High-priestes that shall binde mine hands and adiudge my body to be scourged deale mercifully with cut them not off suddenly but giue them a space of repentance Let them bee crowned with eternity though they crowne me with Thornes their crowning mee with thornes I take for no trespasse for they cannot pricke me so ill with those bryars as they haue prouokt mee with their sinnes Nor shall the Gall and Vinegar they giue me to drinke bee so bitter vnto mee as their blasphemies Forgiue them Lord they forget what they doe Further I may not proceede except I should detract from my Passion to adde to my Teares Hee that can weepe with more soule-martyrdome then I let him take vpon him to wash in my steed the earths Ethiopian face Euery vaine of me let it burst to feede the Lake of Gehenna before Gehenna gather springs from the heart of Ierusalem Not the least hayre of my body but may it be as a pegge in a vessell to broch bloud with plucking out so in the droppings of that bloud Ierusalem will bathe her selfe O Ierusalem Ierusalem that stonest my Prophets and killest them I sent vnto thee ten thousand times adiew I would neuer haue bid thee adiew or beene diuorced from thee but that thou thy selfe hast diuorced thy selfe Heauen no heauen hast thou made vnto me by endlesse performing thy obits If my crimson Teares on the Crosse may more preuaile with thee so it is or else in vaine I discended or else to thy paine I discended Discende into the closet of thine owne conscience and enquire how oft I haue come thither and cald vpon thee to gather thee Examine thy heart thy reynes if I haue not secretly communed with thee by night to conuert and be turned vnto me Thou neuer with drewst thy selfe and wert solitary but my Spirit was reprouing and disputing with thee At length shall I obtaine of thee to remember and gather thy selfe Though thou wilt not in respect of me whom thou shouldst respect yet in respect of thine owne benefite remember and gather thy selfe enter into meditation of thy lamentable estate But heare thy Physition though thou intendest not to be ruled by him Vnderstand the nature of thy disease which is the first steppe to recouery Relieue my languor by being lesse retchles of thy inuisible aspiring infirmity Glance but halfe a kind looke at me though thou canst not resolue to loue me by halfe a looke my loue may steale into thine eies vnlookt for Thy sight is no way mispent or impayred by casting away one askance-regard on any The Sunne shineth as well on the good as the bad God from on high beholdeth all the workers of iniquity aswell as the vpright of heart It behoueth thee to try all spirits let my Spirit be one of those all which thou bringest to the Touch-stone I do not will thee without tryall on my bare report to be directed by it but when thou hast tride it sifted it to the vttermost then as it approues it selfe to entertaine it Vpon vn-certaine experiments hauing the least protence of gaine in thē men will hazard and venture many thousands try once an experiment to gaine heauen with venture or hazard but a few indifferent good thoughts of mee I say I am thy Messias and am come to gather thee condemne me not rashly but awaite see the end of my gathering whereto it sorts Search the Scriptures the Prophets whether I be a lyer and impostor or no. I would giue thee leaue to hate me so thy hate would make thee industrious sedulous to hearken out enquire whence I am Were I notorious guilty and vn-examined vnheard you should sentence me you should giue to me amongst men an opinion of innocence being not guilty you make your iudgements guilty of knowing I am not guilty in proceeding against mee without circumstance or proofe I speake all this while to the wind or as a disconsolate prisoner that complaineth himselfe to the stone-wals God is mooued and mollified though hee be neuer so incensed with often and vn-slacked intercessions Gold which is the Soueraigne of mettals bends soonest onely Iron the peasant of all is most inflexible Ierusalem with nothing is mooued therefore must her Tabernacle be remooued therefore must her House bee left desolate vnto her Often importunatly violently eagerly haue I intercessioned vnto her to gather herselfe vnto mee I haue kneel'd wept bitterly lift vp mine hands hung vpon her and vowed neuer to let her go till shee consented to retire herselfe into my tuition answer'd pleasingly to my petition Neuer did the Widdow in my Parrable so follow and tyre the wicked Iudge with fury-haunting instancy as I haue done her No where could she rest but I haue alarumd in her eares her pride murder and hypocrisie and with dismall crying and vociferatiue inculcating vnto her drawne my throat so hic into the roofe of my mouth that it hath quite swallow'd vp and ensheath'd my tongue and threatend to turne my mouth out of his office I haue crackt mine