unto Hezekiah to comfort him in his sicknesse and who administred unto him help both for soule and body so be thou mercifull unto me a sinner and at the hour of distresse and danger send unto mee thy servant spirituall comforts to assist my feeble soule towards thee and good Lord let the lengthening of my dayes here upon earth and my health be sanctified unto me that thereby I may be strengthened to serve thee better and more carefully for thy goodnes and mercy and let me know and continually consider that the eternall life hereafter is the only true happinesse and let me so run my course here O Lord that at last I may attaine and come to that safe haven of felicity the only hope of my soules health and the hope of all them that put their trust in thee O Lord thou seest and knowest the great we aknesse and frailty of flesh and blood and that without thy continuall help we cannot stand but stil are subject to stumblings and falls by the traps of the old serpent and watchfull enemy when it shall please thee O Lord to hear my prayer and to deliver me thy servant from all those dangers and evils as thou didst Hezekiah and the which I have so humbly desired of thee Let me not fall I doe most humbly beseech thee into that great impiety and danger to forget thy mercies to grow proud and confident of my selfe and of my wealth and power and to expose my vanity to the Babilonian messengers and intelligencers the enemies of my soule But let me alwayes be watchfull over my selfe to avoid the danger of all wicked suggestions and still to humble my selfe before thee and truly to know and seriously consider that all things upon earth beauty wealth or whatsoever else that is most pleasing to our fond and unbridled fancy are as but dung even glistring and fading vanities and so shall they servant O Lord by avoiding these vanities continue in thy favour and befreed from the bondage and yoake of Babilon and all the just punishments of sin and be safe within the walls of Jerusalem and worship thee in thy holy Temple for ever MEDITATIONS Vpon the taking of Zedekiah and the captivity of the children of Israel O Lord when we are captived unto sin and drunk in our iniquities how blind doe we run head-strong to destruction neither Zedekiah nor his Princes would follow the counsels of the Prophet Jeremiah for the king was besotted and the Princes were infatuated in their understandings so destruction came upon them O Lord make my soule to know the great danger of sin and what effect it works where presumption fears no danger and hardnesse of heart shuts the gates of mercy Therefore O Lord remove from me thy servant this hardnesse of heart and presumptuous sining against the least I run by my corruption into this dangerous way of blindnesse and wilfulnesse to perdition make me capable and willing to receive good counsell and to obey the instructions and directions of my spirituall guides and not to follow my own dark obstinate mind and opinion that will lead me by a back way and a bad way towards Jericho where my spirituall enemy will entrap overthrow and triumph over me then shall I be captive to a mercilesse enemy and never see again the beauty of Jerusalem but live in chaines and Babilonish blindnesse with Zedekiah But open thou mine eyes O Lord that I may see the mysteries of thy lawes and obey them then shall I behold the beauty of thy holinesse for ever THE WICKEDNESSE Of the sonnes of Eli and the taking of the Ark of the Lord by the Philistines THE sins of the sons of Eli was very great before the Lord for by their bad carriage men abhorred the offering of the Lord and they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation Eli then being old and hearing all that his sonnes had done in Israel with too much mildnesse he said unto them why doe you such things I hear of your evill dealings by all the people it is no good report I hear of you my sonnes ye make the Lords people to transgresse but they hearkened not to the voice of their father and there came a man of God unto Eli and told him of all the mereies that God had done unto his house to sacrifice and wear an Ephod before him telling him of his too much adhering to his sonnes and threatned the judgement of God upon his house and that Hophni and Phineas his two sonnes should dye both in one day and that God would raise up another faithfull Priest to sacrifice before him and that the remainder of Elies house should come and crouch to him for a morsell of bread and shall say put me I pray thee into one of the Priests offices that I may eat a piece of bread And the Lord said to Samuel the Prophet I will doe a thing in Israel at which both the eares of every one that heareth it shall tingle for what I shall doe against Eli when I begin I will also make an end for his iniquity which he knoweth because his sonnes were wicked and he restreined them not Samuel feared to shew Eli that vision but Eli called Samuel and said my sonne what is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee I pray thee hide it not from me and Samuel told him every whit hiding nothing from him Now the Israelites went out against the Philistines to battell and pitched by Eben-ezer and the Philistines met them and they joyned in battell and Israel was smitten and 4000 of them was slain And the Elders of Israel coming into the Camp they said let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when it cometh among us it may save us out of the hands of our enemies so the people sent to Shiloh to bring from thence the Ark of the Lord of hosts which dwelleth between the Cherubins and the two sonnes of Eli Hophni and Phineas were there with the Ark of God and when it was brought unto the Camp all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang againe When the Philistines heard thereof and that the Ark was come into the Camp they were afraid saying God is come into the Camp of Israel and woe unto us who shall deliver us from this mighty God this is the God that smote the Aegyptians with all the plagues but they neverthelesse encouraged one another to quit themselves like men that they might not be servants to the Hebrewes and after fighting with Israel they overthrew them and they fled every man to his own tent and there fell of Israel that day thirty thousand and the Ark of God was taken and the two sonnes of Eli Hophni and Phineas were slain and there ran a man of Benjamin out of the Army and came to Shilo the same day with his
Creation of Heaven and Earth and the life of ADAM IN the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth the Earth being a meere Chaos without forme and darkenesse was upon the deepe and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters And God commanded there should bee light and separated the light from darknesse which was day and night Then God commanded a Firmament which was made and called it Heaven After by his power hee made â—he herbs and trees to bud and beare fruit Then hee commanded to be made the two great Lights in the Firmament the Sunne and the Moone and it was so and there was Morning and Evening After God caused the waters to bring forth abundance of Creatures of all kinds with feathered Fowles Moreover he made the Earth to bring forth Creatures of his kind After these great workes God created Man even according to his owne Image to rule over the Earth and all these Creatures This wonderfull worke by Gods power was done in sixe dayes and God rested the seventh day and sanctified it The Lord made this Man of the dust of the ground and breathed in him life and then was he a living soule Then the Lord planting a Garden in Eden put therein the man whom he had thus created that place being planted with all sorts of trees of pleasure and for meat the tree of Life and the tree of Knowledge of good and evill being in the midst of that Garden And out of Eden went a river to water the Garden Then was the man put into the Garden by God to dresse and keep it giving him leave to eate of every tree only forbad him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge the which if he did he should die the death Then the Lord for his comfort formed of the Earth the Beasts of the field and the Fowles of Heaven and brought them to the man who named them But besides for Adam he created one of greater comfort and helpe for the Lord causing a heavy sleepe to fall upon him took out of his side one of his Ribs of which hee made Woman and brought her to Adam who called her Woman And they were both naked but were not ashamed Now in this Garden was a Serpent who was more crafty then any beast of the field who said to the Woman hath god said that yee shall not eate of every tree of the Garden Yes said the Woman of every tree but that in the middest of the Garden God hath commanded we should not touch it lest we dye Then the Serpent said to the Woman ye shall not die at all but God doth know that when you shall eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and yee shall be as Gods to know both good and evill So the Woman seeing the tree was good to eate pleasant to the eye and a tree to get knowledg took of the fruit thereof and gave likewise to her Husband then both their eyes were opened and finding themselves naked they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves breeches After this in the coole of the day hearing of the voyce of God they hidde themselves amongst the trees from his presence but the Lord called the man who answered I heard thy voyce in the Garden and was affraid being naked Then the Lord said unto him hast thou eaten of the tree I forbad thee And the man said the woman thou gavest me she gave it me and I did eate thereof Then said the Lord to the woman why hast thou done this who answered the Serpent did beguile me and I did eate And then the Lord said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art accursed above all Cattell upon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all thy dayes I will also put enmity betweene thy seede and her seede shee shall break thine head and thou shalt bruise his heel And to the woman he said he would encrease her sorrows and that in sorrow should she bring â—orth her children and be subject to her Husband And to Adam for his disobedience he cursed the earth for his sake that thorns and thistles should it bring forth and that in sorrow hee should eate his meat all the dayes of his life and in the sweate of his face hee should eate his bread till he returned to the earth from wheÌ„ce hee was taken and as hee came from dust thither he should returne and Adam called his Wife Hevah The Lord made them coates of skins and cloathed them then the Lord sent him forth from the Garden of Eden least hee should eaâ—e likewise of the tree fo Life sending him to till the earth from wheÌ„ce he was taken And being so cast out at the East side of the Garden of Eden hee set the Cherubims with the blade of a sword to keepe them from the tree of Life After this Adam knew Hevah his Wife who conceived bare Cain who became a tiller of the ground and againe shee brought forth Abel who was after a keeper of sheep After this when hee was one hundred and thirty years old he begat another child calling him Seth and hee lived after that eight hundred yeares and begat sonnes and daughters So al the dayes of Adam were nine hundred and thirty yeares and then he dyed Meditations prayers upon the Creation and life of Adam O Thou incomprehensible God who wast from all beginning even before the Creation of this Heaven and this Earth and who for all Eternity wilt continue after the dissolution of this thy great workmanship the world which thou hast created O Lord I that am thy Creature and composed of this Earth by reason of sinne and ingratitude doe finde my selfe most deformed and ful of darknesse even as that Chaos the world it was before thou O Lord diddest looke upon it and give it light Now my God being in this depraved condition and sitting in this darknesse In thy mercy looke thou upon me enlighten my soule and create a new heart in me and let thy blessed Spirit move upon the waters and troublesome waves of my vast unbridled concupiscence vaine affections whose floods are uncessant in this deepe and darkesome Sea which is so full of danger to my distressed soule O thou fructifier of the Earth which by thy wonderful and unsearchable power and comfort to mankinde created the trees and herbs and by making them to bud and bring forth both blossomb and fruit in their due time Looke mercifully O Lord upon this lump of earth I am composed of and so refresh mee with the dew of thy grace as that timely me from this thy Plant growing from this earth there may spring out the tender buds of contrition the blossome of Charity and the fruit of good workes and piety And let the holy Sun-beames of thy goodnesse which thou hast set in the Firmament of thy mercy preserve me from the bitter cold and frosts of Afflictions the mildewes and
tooke Joshua and set him before Eleazar the Priest and the congregation and he laid his hands upon him and gave him a charge as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses After this the children of Israel warred against the Midianites and they slew the King of Midian and burnt their cities and their goodly castles and there Balaam was slaine they divided the spoyle of the Countrey And Moses growing old he called Joshuah unto him before the people giving him good counsell and bidding him to be valiant and encouraged the people and setteth forth a song of Gods mercies and vengeance After which the Lord spake unto Moses saying Get thee up into this mountain Abarim unto mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab that is over against Jericho and behold the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession and dye in the mount whither thou goest up and be gathered unto thy people as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor and was gathered unto his people because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wildernesse of Zin because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel yet thou shalt see the land but thou shalt not goe thither and after Moses had blessed the twelve Tribes of Israel he went up from the plaines of Moab unto the mountaine of Nebo and the Lord shewed him the land of promise which was promised to Abraham Isaac and Jacob so Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and he buryed him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day he was 120. yeares old when he died his eye was not dim nor his naturall force abated and the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plaines of Moab thirty dayes and there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face In all the signes and wonders which the Lord sent him to doe in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh to all his servants and to all his land and in all that mighty hand and in all that great terrour which Moses shewed in the sight of Israel MEDITATIONS Upon some parts of the History of Moses O Lord direct my meditations and assist me humbly and truely to contemplate this thy great work of the deliverance of thy children of Israel out of Egypt by Moses after they had sojourned there foure hundred and thirty yeares after which time according to thy promise thou diddest deliver them and brought them to the land of promise This great deliverance O Lord is the true type of a great mercy that did follow which was by our Moses Jesus Christ who redeemed and brought us that were Gentiles and under the bondage and slavery of sinne to serve and follow him out of the darknesse wherein we were inthraled being far worse then the Egyptian yoke O Lord my God let it enter into my heart most humbly and seriously to consider of this inestimable mercy of my redemption and of thy wonderfull and unvaluable goodnesse towards me a sinner by sending into this Egypt of the world such a guide such a deliverer and such a Redeemer as all the Angels and powers in heaven doe adore even thy onely Sonne Let me be astonished O Lord with wonder at this thy so great mercy and be confounded in my selfe for offending thee so glorious and so gracious a God And let my sinfull soule be converted unto thee to serve thee with all humblenesse of heart O Lord how sutable in mischiefe were Pharaoh and Herod by giving way to Ambition and Jealousie and the reignes to commit cruelty to an unlimited height for the murdering of innocent Infants Pharaohs ambition was to destroy the Hebrew children amongst whom was Moses which thou O God preservedst to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt and Herods designe to destroy the children in Jury amongst whom was that immaculate Lambe Christ Jesus even to destroy him who delivered the Gentiles and was after crucified to deliver and redeeme both Jew and Gentile O Lord how wonderfull are thy workes and all thy goodnesse for flesh and blood could not prevaile against thy providence for the cruelty of Pharaoh could not prevent thy goodnesse for thou diddest multiply and blesse thy children of Israel and preservedst Moses in a poore basket of bulrushes to doe thy great worke to deliver thy people out of the thraldome of Egypt And O wonder of wonders and mercy of mercies out of the manger at Bethlehem came our blessed Saviour who redeemed the world and how wonderfully O Lord hast thou preserved thy Church for whom he died and multiplied thy servants through the persecutions of this world As it was thy great mercy and blessing O Lord to preserve Noah and his family in that great Arke whereby mankind was preserved upon earth So it was thy mercy to preserve thy servant Moses in that little arke amongst the watery flags of danger to preserve and bring thy children of Israel descended from Noah out of Egypt to the land of promise from which stock so preserved came my Saviour Jesus Christ as these have beene thy mercies O God to preserve thy people of Israel by thy Prophet Moses the type of Christ and to redeeme the world by thy Sonne my Saviour Jesus So O Lord many have beene thy mercies unto me a sinner by thy manifold mercies and deliverances even since my infancie hitherto both by sea and land Good Lord in thy mercy take from over me this thick and mysty cloud of stupidity that so much darkens my understanding that I may discerne these thy mercies and feare love and serve thee with all the faculties of soule and body and good Lord grant that I may love my kinred and neighbours as Moses did love his Nation the Hebrews with kindnesse and affability to all men as he used to the daughters of Jethro Let the soule of thy servant know that in the places of peace quietnesse and retirednesse from the eye of this world so full of vanity and pleasures there art thou to be found for in the desart behinde the mountain and neare Horeb thou wast with Moses O Lord bring my soule from these worldly cares afflictions and temptations amongst which I live and lead me with thy saving grace toward thy holy mountaine with contemplations of holinesse and penitency for my sins and there let me rest in thee and be freed from the thorny and scorching passages of this world As thou O God didst wonderfully appeare unto Moses in the Bush by a flame of fire which did not burne nor consume it so I doe most humbly beseech thee enter into the heart of thy servant and enflame it with holy love and zeale towards thee and enlighten it O Lord that
should not for ever most thankfully acknowledg thy many mercies deliverances unto me not only in my temporall preservations blessings but thou hast brought me into the field of thy plentifull goodness to the bottles of comfort and the sheaves of thy strength and saving grace shewing me all thy blessings to strengthen my confidence in thee and bought mee at a dearer rate then Boaz paid for Ruth Boaz comming into thâ— field amongst the reapers said to them the Lord be with you they answering the Lord blesse thee Admirable and exemplary was the goodnesse and plainenesse of the hearts of our Ancestors whose blessings was one upon another by such their good meanings the blessings of God being upon them What blessings froÌ„ time to time did God give unto the blessings which Abraham Isaac and Jacob gave to their children and people Lamentable is the condition we are grown unto in this our iron ungodly age whiles this blessing is accouÌ„ted superstition and common courtesie being even departed from amongst us Our very children having left off thet common duty and civility which formerly they used even with their milke learning to be surly sawcy and disobedient O Lord deliver mee from this bad custome that tends to such ungodliness from spirituall pride â—nd an over-weening opinion and conceit of my owne judgement But give me grace to follow the good and plaine paths of my fore-fathers in such things as concerns my obedience unto thee and my duty to my Parents Superiours with christian courtesie to be friendly humble and charitable to all men for thou promisest thy blessing and exaltation to the humble but confusion will fall upon the proud whom thou O Lord dost resist The love of Ruth to Naomi was great the comfort she received from her did exceed with her integrity in the doing of it being so sincere by leaving her countrey her parents and her deceased Husbands house And therefore as Boaz by his blessing prayer for her said the Lord recompence thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust So God the rewarder of the righteous and mercifull seeing her humility and goodness did hear the prayers of this righteous man by shewing such great mercie unto hâ—r the which did after follow even in a plentifull manner indeed for though by her first husband she had no Issue yet by Boaz she had Obed from whom descended the wel-spring of our happinesse and salvation Oh thy goodness O Lord whose bounds are without limit and whose workes and wayes are unsearchable thy rewards are the fulnes of happines thy mercie extends from generation to generation to such as love and fear thee Therefore O Lord mortifie all vaine wicked affections which are so inbred in mee by thy grace cast them out and place in stead thereof the strength of a lively faith and the fulnesse of love and charity that thereby I may forsake my selfe and all things that are dear and near unto mee and follow the good steps of the godly as Ruth did Naomi So that at last I may arrive to the happinesse and rest within the limits of thy true Church that pillar of truth and safety and there with an humble heart to serve thee as Ruth did by comming into Judah that once limited place of thy worship O â—he good plainness harmless simplicity of that golden age of the world when bread and water was their common viands parched corn the masters food as it was with Boaz an eminent man in his age for such was his fare and entertainment to a stranger when he reached some to Ruth yet then did God blesse them with comfort health and length of dayes O Lord deliver mee from the pampering of this my corrupt flesh with the voluptuous sensuality of these licentious times the bane of the soule by such luxury and the shortning of our dayes by such surfeits But give me such moderation as I may rather fast then feast and by which in this health of my soul I may the better serve thee here that thereby hereafter I may attaine unto that happinesse where the length of dayes both for soule and bodie is life everlasting O Lord make me studious to requite courtesies zealous to ballance the workes of charity piety as Naomi her zeal was for Ruth by wishing her to Boaz and give prosperity to all my good intentions with the blessing ef a thankfull heart for the successe of thy mecies unto me Grant O God that I may be faithfull and firm in my promise as Boaz was to Ruth true to my friend as he was to his kinsman and discreet in my actions as be was in his performance before the Elders Gods divine providence did mightily appeare by the marriage of these two righteous Boaz Ruth as his blessings upon them after made it manifest O happy Bethlehem to which place Ruth the mirrour of love and pitty with so much difficulty came unto led thither by the light of divine power and following the good steps of Naomi who there was made happy in her sonne Obed. O happy Bethlehem to which place that ever blessed virgin Mary came that most resplendent Vessell of blisse and happiness being led thither by the light of the holy Ghost and then comming upon devotions towards Jerusalem O thou blessed Bethlehem consecrated to our happiness for there was born a Saviour Ruth was happy in her son Obed but this Mary blessed amongst women by her sonne redemption and salvation came into us O Lord my God let the star of thy brightness appear unto me that with them lowly Shepheards I may come to this sacred Bethlehem and there find out that lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world more happy were them Kings who came to see thy holy face in the manger at Bethlehem by their humiliations and offerings this blessed sight of thee then in all their glistering loyalties vain-glory of this world Let me O Lord partake with these Kings in their devotions humiliations thou King of heaven Indue lead me with the starre of thy grace that I may come unto thee with the presents of perfect humility patience and perseverance in the pursuit of such things as shall be pleasing unto thee So after thine enlightning here by this light of thy holy countenance and favour unto me grant that at last I may attaine unto that everlasting light in heaven where from the manger and thy crucifying for our sinnes thou art exalted into glory everlasting THE HISTORY OF Hezekiah and the destruction of Ierusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the reigne of Zedekiah IT came to passe in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah that Senacherib King of Assyria came into Judah and tooke all the strong holds and he sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto Hezekiah with a great Army then came forth unto him from the
was lest I dye there then the King commanded he should be committed into another prison and that he should have given him daily a piece of bread out of the Bakers street whiles the bread lasted but still the Prophet persisted and told them Thus saith the Lord This city shall surely be given into the hand of the King of Babylons army therefore the Princes were incensed against him and said unto the King We beseech thee let this man be put to death for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of warre and all the people in this city in speaking thus unto them And the King said He is in your hands doe with him what you please and they tooke Jeremiah and cast him in a dungeon and they let him downe by a rope and in the dungeon was no water but myre that he sunke in and some men complained of this cruelty done to Jeremiah unto the King who commanded thirty men to goe and take up Jeremiah out of the dungeon and they tooke old rags and cast them downe into the dungeon the which Jeremiah put under his arme pits and so they drew him up and Zedekiah the King sent for Jeremiah and said unto him I will aske thee a thing hide nothing from me and Jeremiah said unto the King If I declare it unto thee wilt thou not put me to death and if I give thee counsell wilt thou hearken to mee so the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah saying as the Lord liveth that made us this soule I will not put thee to death nor give thee into the hands of these men that seek thy life Then he said unto the king thus saith the Lord God of hosts the God of Israel if thou wilt goe forth to the Princes of the king of Babylon then thy soule shall live and this city shall not be burnt with fire and thou and thy house shall live But if thou wilt not goe forth unto them then shall this city be given to the Chaldeans and they shall burn it and thou shalt not escape out of their hands and the king said unto Jeremiah I am afraid of the Jewes that are fallen to the Chaldeans least they deliver me to their hands and they mock me But the Prophet said they shall not deliver thee obey I beseech thee the voice of the Lord so shall it bee well with thee But if thou refuse to goe forth this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah let no man know of these words and thou shalt not die the which he did so Jeremiah after abode in the Court of the prison untill the day that Ierusalem was taken And it came to passe on the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Iudah Nebuchadnezzer king of Babilon and his army came before Ierusalem and besieged it and in the eleventh yeare of Zedekiah the city was taken and all the Princes of the king of Babilon entered the city at which time Zedekiah and all his men of warre fled out of the city by night by the way of the kings gardens but the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plaines of Iericho and took him brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babilon who gave judgement upon him and caused his sonnes to be slaine before his face and all the Nobles of Judah and he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chaines to carry him to Babilon and they burnt Ierusalem and brake down the walls thereof and carried captive to Babilon all the remainder of the people that were within the city but left the poorer sort that had nothing and gave them vineyards and fields and the king of Babilon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to take him and doe him no harm but use him with all kindnesse so they took Jeremiah out of the Court of the prison and sent him home so he dwelt among the people MEDITATIONS upon the History of king Hezekiah EVerlasting God whilst we live here in this earthly Jerusalem nothing is to be expected but continuall conflicts in our spirituall warfare between the world the flesh and the spirit how bitterly O Lord and vehemently doth the enemy of my soule like Rabshekah suggest into me distrusts and feares to make mee doubtfull of thy promises and providence endeavouring to weaken my faith and confidence in thee by putting great feares doubts and troubles to my inward and fraile senses In this affliction and trouble to my soule O Lord I beseech thee from time to time to give me grace with good Hezekiah to come unto thee with my heart rent and continually to implore thy blessed help and assistance and that I may obtain the like mercy that he did receive from thee and let not that hellish blasphemer prevail over me but put thou a hook in his nose a bridle in his lips and send a blast upon him that he may be driven away and have no more power to disturb and oppres my weak feeble soul by his threatnings and suggestions and good Lord in all thy conflicts batteries and oppressions that hereafter I may meet withall by this my spirituall and dangerous enemy to my soule give me grace most humbly to come unto thee my hope and helper and to thy house where thou dwellest between the Cherubins and there as Hezekiah in his trouble and distresse did spread out the letter of Zenacherib before thee and humbled himselfe before thee with much sorrow so good Lord in all my troubles grant that I may spread before thee with true and perfect humility of heart the troubles and afflictions of my soule and then O Lord heare me and in pitty look upon my danger and deliver me from the power of the Zenacherib of this world and his instruments the disturbers of my pilgrimage to my heavenly happinesse and the quiet of a good conscience in this Jerusalem strengthen O Lord my outward walls of flesh and blood enable me with obedience and patience quietly to beare the reproaches and threatnings of this my spirituall enemy which in a kind of proportion the Children of Israel did endure upon the walls of Ierusalem deliver me from the danger of their deadly arrows O Lord and grant they may not entrench about my soule to endanger it And O Lord as for thy servant Davids sake thou diddest look favourably upon Jerusalem so I doe most humbly beseech thee for thy son Jesus Christ his sake to be mercifull unto me to defend and keep me thy servant that putteth his trust in thee from the danger of al my spiritual enemies whensoever it shall please thee to visit me by the bed of sicknesse be thou then mercyfull unto me a sinner O Lord and with Hezekiah let me turn unto thee with true and perfect contrition of heart and grant that then I may receive mercy and comfort from thee thou God of mercy and compassion and as thou sent'st thy Prophet Isaiah
their captivities and the sacrifices there was more acceptable to thee then the Adorations that were at Bethel framed by Ieroboam that made Israel to sinne by a worship of his own invention for vain glory the true type of heresie and innovations By this O Lord let thy servant to see that there was alwayes a knowne and certain way of worship and a visible Church to thy children of Israel even in the middle of the red Sea and Jordan of danger and drowning being pursued by the Egypt of this world and still from time to time this people of thine and in thy Church there were guides and governours for them to follow to preserve them from by-paths and in the right rule of thy Church and saving truth which Church and worship was hid from the Gentiles for their great abominations and by thy secret judgements yet out of thy great and wonderfull mercy to mankind according to thy promise and prophesies a Messias did come to redeeme the Gentiles and to bring them unto thee and that great mercy of his Redemption which wonderfull mercy was by my blessed Redeemer and Saviour Iesus Christ the long hoped for Messias descended from the roote of Jesse the great deliverer of the Gentiles from the thraldome and bondage of sinne whom no creature could redeeme but that immaculate lamb the sonne of God descended from that blessed root of whom all the Prophets have so much prophesied and above all the Prophet Esaiah of the calling of the Gentiles and the great visibility of the Church that should be at his coming for all the world to see and follow and by which they should learn to leave all blind corners and crooked by-paths of ignorance and wilfulnesse and all good and humble soules thither to repaire both Jewes and Gentiles even to this Church placed upon an open mountain that every one might see the light thereof thither repaire for the comfort and care of their soules for there are the true Physitians and the wholesome balsames to cure the festred sores of sin and there is safety for the humble of heart and there is ever light prepared for them Thus with humility of heart ascend up into that mountain of the Lord and Thus O Lord by thy incomprehensible mercy thou hast given us a way to follow confirmed to us and the truth thereof by the great example of thy servants in the primitive Church the Apostles Martyrs Confessors and Virgins and other thy Saints by their great sufferings and persecutions in the spirituall progresse of this world before the Ark thy Church could come to rest from that deluge and troublesome waters of afflictions In all their sufferings and persecutions following the Example of their Pilot and Redeemer being humble and meek and obedient to their temporall Lords and giving unto Caesar that was Caesars onely their faith and a good conscience they preserved unspotted before thee O Lord desiring rather to submit their lives then hold up their hands and prayed for their persecutors rather then they would shed the blood of any man that had the least stamp of Gods Image upon him Let me not therefore O Lord spurne against authority nor laugh at devotion as Michall that proud Dame did scoffe at David for dancing before the Ark nor think it superstition to follow thy holy Ark seven times about Jericho if it be commanded by Scripture or men of divine authority have so determined for there is a blessing goes along with this Ark of thy Covenant and happines is a reward to the humble and devout soule that attendeth without reluctation upon thy ordinances and the discipliue of thee O God whiles this Ark of truth stood with Dagon that Idoll fell down and was brossen for truth and falshood cannot stand together let the soule of thy fervant know this O Lord and let mee not think to serve thee but with a single sincere and an humble heart and not to mix it with my own foolish fancy but to serve thee by that rule as thou hast appointed and good Lord let the Dagon of sinfulnesse that is raised up in my corrupt heart fall downe and be broken in peices and place in steed thereof thy holy Covenant and truth Lord cleanse and purge me and make me worthy to receive the Arke of thy Covenant thy saving truth and holy spirit that by my corruptions and wickednesse of life it may not he with mee as it was with them of Ashdod and Ekron whiles the Arke was amongst them to bring punishments and plagues upon me for my iniquity and prophanesse and inordination But sanctifie my soule O Lord and give the blessing unto me that thou diddest give unto Abinadab and Obed-Edom with whom the Ark did rest and make me a happy vessell to receive thy holy spirit and then will all things be happinesses and blessings unto me both in this life and in the life to come O Lord though Eli and his sonnes did unrighteously before thee to the bad example of the Israelites yet let not the bad example that I may see by some bad members in thy Church make me to stumble in my way but still to follow the Ark of thy Covenant and mourn after it as the children of Israel did mourn and rejoyce in the prosperity of thy Church when there shall be any joyfull remembrance of any kinde of mercy or deliverance O Lord bring me thy servant into the sanctuary of thy saving grace and thy holy Ark the Church in safety unto the city of David in despight of all mocking Michals that all the world may praise thee for all thy mercies as David did magnifie thy mercy in the presence of all the congregation with a kind of spirituall joy beyond the limits of all humane conceit or the capacity of a proud Naturalist and place it there O Lord in the Tabernacle of peace and quietnesse that all the world may see thy mercy and know the way to their salvation leaving all blind by-paths and distracted wayes that tend and bend to destruction For thou O Lord hast shewed us a way and left us unexcusable if wee follow it not without unsound and deceitfull reasoning and our destruction is of our selves But let all praise and glory be given to thee O Lord for thy goodnesse and truth Thou O Lord art the way the truth and the life Lord lead us all by that way which thou hast shewn unto that truth which hath promised that life then shall all doubtfull errors be removed from our soules and we shall live in that Ark where is the light and glory of thy presence for ever FINIS Gen. 1. Gen. 2. Gen. 3. Joh. 1. 1. 10. 11. 14. Gen. 4. Heb. 12. 24. Gen. 5. Gen. 6. 6. Gen. 7. Vers. 8. Gen. 11. Gen. 13. Gen. 14. Gen. 15. Gen. 16. Gen. 17. Gen. 18. Gen. 20. Gen. 21. Gen. 22. Gen. 23. Gen. 24. Gen. 25. Gen. 24. Gen. â—â— Gen. 27. Gen. â—8 â— Gen. 28. 〈◊〉 31. Gen. 43. Gen. 35. Gen. 37. Gen. 40. Gen. 41. Gen. 4â— Gen. 43. Gen. 44. Gen. 46. Gen. 47. Gen. 48. Gen. 49. Exod. 1. Exod. 2. Exod. 3. Exod. 4. Exod. 6. Exod. 8. Exod. 9. Exod. 10. Exod. 12. Exod. 14. Exod. 15. Exod. 18. Exod. 19. Exod. 20. Exod. 24. Exod. 32. 33. 34. 35. 40. Levit. 8. 10. Numb 1. 10. 11. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Num. 17. 18. 20. 21. 21. â—â— 25. 27. Deut. 31. 32. 34. Josh. 1. 6. 7. Josh. 8. Josh. 9. Josh. 10. Josh. 11. Josh. 13. Josh. 15. Josh. 22. Josh. 23. Josh. 24. Judg. 4. Judg. 5. Ruth 3. Ruth 4. Isa. 36. Isa. 37. Jer. 37. Isa. 38. Isa. 39. Isa. 37. Jer. 38. 17. 1 Sam. 2. 12. 2. Sam. 6.
THE PEDIGREE AND PERIGRINATION of ISRAEL Being an abridgement of the Histories of The creation of Adam Cain Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob. Joseph Joshuah Deborah Ruth Hezekiah Zedekiah And the taking of the Arke With Meditations and Prayers upon each HISTORIE By John Jackson of Kilingraves in Com. Ebor. Gentleman I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my Fathers were Psal. 39. 14. LONDON Printed by M. Simmons for John Wilcox and are to be sold at the signe of the Crown in Duck-lane 1649. 〈◊〉 meaning of the Frontispiece AS the glorious Sunne did enlighten the earth at the Creation and comforted the creatures so it represents to us â—ur darke and blind condition untill that Son of Righteousnesse did shine upon us whereby we are enlightned and comforted The next is the desolate condition of our first Parents after their fall sitting under that they did we now hope in which is by the pillar of perfect faith placed upon the rock of a sure confidence under the safe shade of that vine the Church pointing up to their hope The Rain-how puts us in mind of the deluge in the time of Noah of Gods mercie if we repent and amend as likewise of the 2d judgment to come by fire That of Moses and Aaron represents Gods commands Israels obedience to them in their perigrination â—or us to imitate by our duties to our Governours and Superiours appointed over us The Arke Altar and the Cheruhims in the Sanctum Sanctorum shewes how wee should worship towards the Holy of Holies in heaven the end of our hope The Dove descending as it did shew unto Noah the ceasing of the waters whereby hee and them in the Arke were comforted So it may signifie unto us the comfort of the holy Ghost and the ceasing of Gods wrath and the safety of them within the Arke of his Church that exprest in the clouds as a cloud of witnesses may confirm us of that happinesse which the Saints possesse and which they shall enjoy 〈◊〉 thus bâ—lieve obey and serve this Creator of Heaven 〈◊〉 Earth Just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Revel 15. 〈◊〉 Thou Leadest thy People like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aron Ps 77. 20. The Law was geven by Moses but grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. Joh. 1. 17. 1649. 〈…〉 Author inveÌ„t W. M. Sculpsit To the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty beyond TRENT my deare and Native Countrey The Author doth principally present these his Endeavours I Am bold to present you with these following Histories and Meditations the which if 〈◊〉 your liesure you will please to peruse though they be plaine yet I doubt not but they will administer you some comfort in regard they are eâ—tracted out of some choise places of holy Scripture which is the fountaine whence our chiefest consolations flowe and never any age did stand in more need of spirituall comforts then wee doe in these 〈◊〉 times of ours which occasioned me to the composing of them and I am in hope that they will 〈◊〉 equally profitable as they are seasonable I shall desirâ— your favourable construction for some errours in thâ— Presse or what failing may be in my selfe 〈◊〉 composure So wishing you as much happy solace in the perusing as it pleased God to afford mee in 〈◊〉 penning of them I rest From my chamber in Holborn 28. Septemb. Your most affectionate Countreyman and servant JOHN JACKSON To the Reader Christian Reader THis short abridgement being drawne our of some part of the Histories of the old Testament yet following the very plain phrase of the holy Scripture I do recommend unto thee it being so portable to carry about thee and so profitable to read being the circumstances of such matter as behoves thee to know and practise to comfort and encourage thee in this thy pilgrimage to parallel all thy sufferings in these sad and bad times by the examples of these Kings Priests Prophets which were holier better then thy self thereby to teach thee with the like resolution perseverance to follow theâ—â— stâ—ps and them in all their good examples of piety patience and devotion as likewise to obey thy Governours and superiours appointed by God over thee It will be likewise usefull foâ— thee in thy private closet for thy contemplations in the fields for thy children to read at home to perfect them in the knowledge of the wonderfull works of God that in their innocency youth they may be engrafted in this so necessary knowledge learning betimes to practise the piety of these holy men to strengthen them in grace and a happy course in this their spirituall warfare towards their hoped for happinesse Now 〈◊〉 the severall meditations and prayers following each History if they fall short of thy 〈…〉 of phrase or length of lineâ— or 〈◊〉 of zeale I shall desire God to enlarge thine heart unto more perfection in thy self and to stir up happy and learned men that may enlarge this so necessary work tending to devotion so requisite for this age so full of spirituall pride the which hath so much enfatuated our understandings and brought us to so dangerous a distemper and God divert from us that heavy judgement which is the attendant unto this burning feaver of pride and self-conceit and insensible frenzie which cannot be cured but by him that raised the dead to life And that God of power mercy give us all that perfect humility which is so pleasing unto him and the only safe and sure rule which will bring us to all other vertues and to that right and plaine way that will lead us to perfect happinesse in heaven the resting place of the humble and meek in heart So desiâ—ing God to direct thee in the reading and all of us to practise what we read I commit thee to Gods mercifull guidance and protection J. J. To his much respected Friend Mr. Iohn Iackeson SIR I Have perused with much comfort the Manuscript you sent mee and whereas you desire my opinion of it truly Sir I must tell you without complement that it is a very useful pious piece of devotion Doubtlesse you were truly inspired when you were compiling the work and your soule had taken a high fight towards her Creator insomuch that one may finde that you felt the joyes of heaven while you were thus meditating upon them This part of the Christian Common-wealth will be much obliged to you for such materiall notions and strains of piety For my particular I must confesse they affâ—rded me much solace in this my sad condition for they raised my spirits to a great height of comfort and I am confident they will worke the same effect in any soul that is susceptible of spirituall impression So with my very kinde respects to my deare friend your kinsman Major John Jackson I rest From the Fleet this 11. of September Yours most affectionately to dispose of JAMES HOWEL THE