the wine and the other accustomed entertainments are given at each wee goe to the church for the consummation of each onely here is the difference that at the one wee rejoyce but at the other wee mourne Every guest that is willing to comply with the preâ—ent occasion must as well be sad at this as â—e merrie at the other Weepe wee may and weepe wee must especially my selfe who have â—ost my selfe But yet let mee take heede that I offend not in my teares lest that which is my duety be turned into a crime I must especially take heede that I erre not in the cause of these laments for if I griere at the happinesse of him that is departed I discover an envie rather then affection If I grieve for the losse which my selfe sustaineth I must take heede that I wrong not my confidence in God I may not offend in the number of my teares for if I weepe too much I may forfeit my hope or at least I may occasion those that behould mee to thinke that I doubt of the salvation of the dead Weepe I may and weepe I must but for feare lest I offend in these my teares in my earnest prayers I will begge that they may be sanctified To my God will I goe for his direction and assistance and in this storme of my teares I will shelter my selfe under his protection and humbly will I tender my petitions and say The Prayer O All-mighty and ever-living Lord God thou who knowest whereof wee are made Ps 103.14 and who remembrest that wee are but dust give mee grace I besiech thee to be thankfull unto thee for all thy mercies more particularly both for thy deliverance of my husband from the miseries of this life and for affording mee the meanes in peace to bring him to his longest home Lord so arme mee with patience in this time of affliction that I may not offend thee in my want or excesse of mourning Gen 3.19 Dust wee are and to dust wee shall returne From the earth wee came and to the earth wee must goe This way which thy servant must now be disposed of is the way wherein thou wilt one day leade mee allso to my rest O prepare mee for the time of my greate account Eccl 12 7. that so when my dust shall returne to the earth as it was my spirit may returne unto thee who didst give it Let his spectacle of mortality live in my memorie that so when I consider that the time will come that as naked as I came out of my mother's wombe Iob 1.21 so naked shall I thither returne againe I may wholly endeavour and seeke to be clothed with the righteousnesse of thy Sonne Rom 6 4. With him thou hast beene gratiously pleased that by baptisme I should be buried into death graunt allso good God that like as hee was raised up from the dead by the glory of thee the eternall Father even so I allso may walke in newnesse of life Make mee ever thinke upon death which will seize on mee judgment which will examine mee and hell which would devoure mee that heaven may receave mee Let this lifelesse carkeise put mee in mind of the malice of sinne which is the cause of death and of that sentence which immediatly followeth this death Thou seest ô Lord how unwilling I am to part from this frozen and earthie lumpe Thou knowest how deepe the departure of my joy doeth pierce and wound mine afflicted heart O be thou my comforter in this greatest sorrow Ps 119.96 that seeing now I see that all things doe certainly come to an end I may wholly endeavour to please thee alone who shalt never have end Is 50.3 O thou who cloathest the heavens with blacknesse and hast cloathed mee at this time who am but earth ashes with these mourning weedes graunt that by these I may be instructed to shunne the fraile and fading vanities of the earth and strive for that Kingdome which shall endure for ever Be pleased to speake peace to my troubled mind that so though nature hath power to enforce mee to weepe yet grace may prevaile to moderate my mourning Ps 106 9. Ps 104.9 O thou who diddest once rebuke the red sea that thy servants might passe through them as on drie land thou who hast set a bound to the seas that they may not passe over nor turne againe to cover the earth be pleased so to rebuke the waters of mine affliction and put such a bound to these my teares that they may not drowne this earth of my feeble body but may give place to confidence and comfort in thy mercy Ps 114.3 Iordane did yeeld to thy command was driven back so drive thou back the flood of my teares that they swell not above the bankes of moderation and hope Let the grave of the deceased put mee in mind of the tombe of my blessed Redeemer that so when I am bowed downe with sorrow at the buriall of this earth I may be raised with joy for the benefits of the resurrection of my Saviour Christ Hee hath plucked out the sting which sinne had formerly given unto death 1. Cor. 15.56 vers 57 ô let mee ever be thankfull unto thee my God who givest us victorie through Iesus Christ. Give mee an assured beliefe of the generall resurrection that when I grieve at the placing of this flesh in the grave I may rejoyce in the certaintie of his rising againe Ps 25.17 Though the troubles of my heart be now enlarged yet bring thou mee out of all my feares Ps 94.19 In the midst of the sorrowes which I have in my heart let thy comforts ô God refresh my soule Lord make mee dye to sinne and live by grace that when I shall put off this tabernacle of flesh I may dwell with thee in those eternall mansions of perfect happinesse through Iesus Christ my Lord and onely Saviour Amen subject 21 THE TWENTIE-FIRST SUBjECT Teares of a woman in the state of widow-hood The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words ô Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray BEcause Ierusalem had forsaken the Lord was was gone backward Ier 15.6 vers 8. Therfore sayd my God their widowes are increased to mee above the sand of the seas vers 6. Hee who was wearie of repenting was not wearie of destroying and yet the judgments which fell upon the Iewes were easier to the stronger then to the weaker sexe The males had a period set to their earthly troubles when the sword devoured them but the poore females were left alive destitute both of the comfort and societie of their husbands Death is a judgment mixed often with mercy because it finisheth our earthly sufferances whereas a life that is lead in continued sorrowes is so much the more burdensome
bee none to deliver us O thou who didst suffer thy selfe to be wounded for our transgressions be pleased to cure the wounds and maladies both of the soule and body of thy distressed servant Thou knowest Lord that the feeble soule cannot praise thee with cheerefullnesse nor serve thee with alacritie The sicknesse of the body disturbeth the soule and maketh it un-apt to serve thee with readinesse O say of his disease that It is enough and remove from him speedily this heavy visitation Thine hand ô Lord is layed upon him and the stroake is so heavy that it woundeth us both Mercifull God let the sinnes of both of us be blotted out of thy remembrance like a clowde Is 44.22 and be appeased with us through the merits of thy Sonne Mar 2.17 The whole have noe neede of thee the physitian but wee that are sick O be thou the Physitian to cure our soules and then in thy good time restore thy diseased servant to his former health But if thou hast sent him this sicknesse as a messenger of death ô give him patience to beare and willingnesse to suffer whatsoever thou sendest Ranke him not in the number of those rich and wicked Eccl. 5.17 who have much sorrow and wrath in their sicknesse but ease his sorrow and appease thy wrath Make him willing to submit to thy will and pleasure that so whether hee liveth Rom. 14.8 hee may live unto thee or whether hee dyeth hee may dye unto thee yea whether hee liveth or dyeth that hee may be thine Luc. 18 13. Lord be likewise mercifull to mee a sinner Thou knowest how deepely this affliction woundeth mee To him thou gavest mee whom now thou visitest that so hee might be both my head and my directour and thou knowest my weakenesse and my frailties that I cannot understand I cannot walke in thy wayes without a counseller I cannot apprehend what I reade Act. 8.31 except some man should guide mee O be thou pleased therfore to spare his life whom I am commanded to learne of at home 1. Cor. 14.35 for if thou callest him to the joy of thine heavenly Kingdome let it be thy goodnesse to moderate my sorrow upon earth If thou takest him from my societie let mee not be left alone but send mee the comforter even thy holy Spirit to be my Protectour and my guide unto death Ps 48.14 Release him of his torments whom thou visitest with this sicknesse and ease thou my sorrowes which arise from his paines Give the comforts of thy Spirit both to him and mee that when this painfull life shall have an end wee may be found of thee in peace 2. Pet. 3.14 Is 9.6 through the merits and mercies of the Prince of peace even Iesus Christ my Lord and onely Saviour Amen THE NINETEENTH SUBJECT Teares of a woman lamenting the death of her beloved husband The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray WHen Mary came where Iesus was Io. 11.32 and saw him shee fell downe at his feete saying unto him Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother had not dyed Shee wept indeede yet it was but for a brother and the Iewes allso wept vers 33. yet it was but for a common friend but what was all that to the death of a husband O my husband my husband That very name of husband mee think's would flatter mee with comfort as if I might imagine that hee could heare mee But oh hee is dead hee is dead hee cannot heare mee hee cannot behould mee hee cannot answer mee his eares are locked up his eyes are closed his mouth is sealed his soule is gone O what shall I doe for my head my guide my heart my husband Were my Saviour upon earth againe I could send one to him as Mary did vers 3. who should say Lord behould hee whom thou lovest is dead Dead say I O dead dead hee is gone hee is departed and can never be re-called But why Why can hee not be called back againe Did not my Iesus cause Lazarus to arise when hee had beene fower dayes dead vers 44 vers 39 Yes hee did but what then I neither love my Saviour so well as Mary did nor I feare doeth hee love mee so well as hee did Mary or if both were so yet since miracles are ceased I cannot so much as hope that hee will call back the spirit of my Lord my husband Oh could hee be wooed by the teares of a sinfull woman never did any mourne so much as I would But nothing will perswade I seeke but the disturbance of him whom I mourne for if I desire to call him from his eternall rest Yet I hope that it is noe sinne to grieve that hee is gone I lament not his happinesse but mine owne losse vers 35 My Iesus himselfe did weepe for Lazarus in testimonie of his affection for so sayd the Iewes vers 36 Behould how hee loved him And was my love to my husband so litle or so cold that I should forget to testifie it in a sorrowfull teare O I cannot forbeare the remembrance of him Is 1.2 Lam 1.12 who was deerer unto mee then life it selfe Heare ô heavens and give eare ô earth Was it nothing to you all yee that were by him when yee saw him breathing out his soule and forsaking the world O behould and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto mee wherewith the Lord hath afflicted mee in this day of his anger Tell mee not how Iacob lamented the supposed death of his sonne Ioseph Hee was misse-taken in the cause but I see and feele the chillowed clay of mine indulgent husband Iacob mourned onely for a sonne but I for an husband Iacob had more many more I had but one 2. Sam 1.26 and the love of this one to mee did passe the love of women Yet though Ioseph was alive and though hee was the youngest save one of twelve sonnes Gent 37.34 Iacob his father rent his cloathes and put sackcloth upon his loynes and mourned for him many dayes c 23.2 Tell mee not how Abraham bewayled the death of Sarah his wife who dyed in Kiriath arba in the land of Canaan Hee was a man so neither his passion nor his losse could paralell mine Hee had more-wives but I had not more husbands And yet though Abraham lost but onely a wife I reade that hee came to mourne and to weepe for her Tell mee not of Abijah the sonne of a King how hee dyed and was lamented Could a Prince be as neere and deare to the people as a loving husband to the wife of his bofome Yet though neither mariage nor blood could pleade for a teare I find that all Israël mourned for him
set it forth from day to day Ps 96.2 part 2 The Second part of the Soliloquie wherein is set forth the certaintie of Death A Braham is dead the Prophets are dead and my Saviour Christ sayd Io 8.52 If a man keepe my sayings hee shall never tast of death At this the Iewes were very much stumbled and mee think 's they had some collour for their contention about it For if Abraham were dead Rom. 4 11. Iam 2.23 Gen 22 18. Lu 1.70 who was the father of the faithfull who was the friend of God hee in whose seede all the nations of the earth were promised a blessing because hee obeyed the voyce of the Lord And if the Prophets were allso dead those holy Prophets which have beene since the world began and by whom the Lord did reveale his pleasure unto the people If all these were dead well might the Iewes wonder when our Saviour said If a man keepe my saying hee shall never tast of death Well indeede they might wonder for ignorance is the cause of all our merveiles Did wee but know a certaine reason for every event wee should never wonder at that which happeneth but wee should magnifie the first greatest cause which is God The Iewes wondered because they were ignorant and supposed that our Saviour had spoken of a temporall death whereas hee meant that which is eternall True it is that the temporall death is an effect and fruit of the first sinne but eternall death is the punishment of impenitencie and infidelitie for those who both can and truely doe repent neither can nor shall be lyable to an eternall death Nay dye they cannot in any kind for this which wee call a death shall be to them but a deliverance and that death which is a perpetuall living death in the land of darknesse they shall be certainly freed from by the blood of the Sonne of God Yet this passage this sweete change in the godly and allso this gate which openeth to the ungodly the way to eternall woe the Scripture doeth commonly tearme a death this death cannot possibly be avoyded by the children of Adam Heb. 9.27 for it is appointed unto men once to dye 'T is true 't is true indeede I am ready to find it verefied in my selfe for the harbingers of this death have taken up my body where it intendeth to lodg The weakenesse of my limbs and the faintnesse of my spirits and the shortnesse of my breath and the lownesse of my voyce and the palenesse of my cheekes and the hollownesse of mine eyes all these doe but assure mee of the approaches of this death But is there noe resistance Is there noe reversing of the decree Noe repealing of the statute Alas noe none at all This body which hath beene pampered with the delicacie of meates must now be slaughtered and make a feast for the wormes These bones which have layen upon the beds of ease must become as tables for the loathsome vermine And this skinne this prowde skinne which hath stollen so much time to imploy in the suppling and colouring and smoothing and covering of it must serve like a cloath spread on these tables whereon must be presented this collation for the wormes Short is my life fleeting are my dayes and my winged minuits fly with such speede that I caâ— hardly count them so fast as they consume Wheâ— I enjoyed the most sound and beloved health even then the shortnesse of my life was discovered in my breath for I was intrusted onely with a litle ayer which neither was in my power long to keepe nor long without it could I possiblie continue I was so false in my promises which I made unto my God that hee would not trust mee long with the keepng but of a litle of that element I have allways lâ—ved at the brinke of death and yet never seriously enough thought of that which now is ready to approach I never thought indeede of the hower of my death by a due preparation to entertaine it when it should come Nay I fondly imagined that it must of necessitie keepe the roade of diseases sicknesse whereas it might have hastened by wayes un-expected When I was healthfull I grew so proude that I imagined certainly it either could not or durst not assayle my body and yet when I was afflicted with the smallest paine then againe I was so cowardly dejected that I was afraid it hastened by each part and member When I smarted I was taken off from my pride but the cure of that sinne was an immoderate and a slavish feare But now I am well assured that neither strength nor youth nor beauty nor physick nor any thing else can secure our bodies from returning to the earth True it is that the dead know not any thing Eccl 6.5 neither have they any more a reward for the memorie of them is forgotten but the living know that they shall dye c 8.8 There is noe man that hath power over the spirit to reteine the spirit neither hath hee power in the day of death Wherfore then have 〈◊〉 so long lived in ignorance or forgetfullnesse of mine end If I had remembred it I would have fitted and prepared mine accounts against the time it should come If I had knowne it I would have laboured to have made the judge my friend But ô I forgot it for I increased my sinnes and thought not of the debt I was ignorant too and knew not the terribloesse of the Iudg. Now mee think's these cold and clammie sweats doe chiefely arise from my chiding conscience and from the convulsions which there I suffer through the guilt of my sinnes I never was so carelesse or ignorant of death as I now am certaine of it yet afraid to dye Eccl 12.7 Iob. 30.23 Now I am sensible that my dust shall returne to the earth as it was I know that the Lord will bring mee to death to the house appointed for all the living Die say I Yes But must I dye Yes But when That I know not many dayes or howers I cannot expect to live who am allready pined into the leanenesse of an Anatomie But where must I dye That I know not neither even in this bed it is most likely where I now lye languishing in the torments of my disease But how or by what meanes must I dye Nor can I tell that allthough this sicknesse seemeth to be dispatched hither for this very purpose But if it be so sure that dye I must is it likewise as sure to what place I shall goe O this question is the common troubler of the dying There are but two havens where soules can arrive the one is the holy land the new Ierusalem the haven of eternall happinesse the other is a land too but it is a land of darknesse a land of smoakes and stinkes a place of eternall horrour To the former the godly are wafted by a convoy of
description of the manner of the sease p. 575 2 The cause of the Malady p. 581 3 The hope of recovery p. 592 The Prayer p. 605 25 Teares of a Mother on her deathbed blessing her children The Soliloquie Consisting of two parts viz 1 Her preparation to blesse them p. 609 2 The blessing it selfe ending in a Prayer p. 616 26 Teares of a dying Woman wherein is set downe her Religious exercises 1 a Soliloquie in which is set forth 1 a desire of life p. 627 2 Certainty of death p. 637 2 A godly preparation against the minuit of death p. 644 3 A Prayer of the Sicke p. 654 4 The Consolation of the godly in the hower of death p. 658 5 The Resignation of the foule into the hands of God p. 664 27 Teares in the distressed time of Civill Warrs The Soliloquie Containing a Patheticall grievous Lamentation for the present distractions both in our Church and Commonwealth by reason of these cruell most bloody warrs p. 669 The First prayer wherein is set downe 1. Gods Iustice in punishing his owne people in former times 2 His Iustice also in the present punishing us for our offences 3 An earnest supplication for our repentance and his forgivenesse p. 701 The second Prayer consisting of 1 A dolefull complaint of our grievous Calamities 2 An humble desire of the Remission of our sins 3 A fervent supplicatioÌ„ for righteousnesse peace p. 713 The third Prayer wherein the Lord is humbly implored that our bloody battels may bee turned into a spirituall war fare p. 722 FINIS THE FIRST SVBJECT Teares of godly sorrow or Devout Melancholy wherein a flexible disposition apt to weepe imployeth those Teares in a sorrow for sin The sanctified Ejaculation to precede each severall meditation and prayer Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray THE MEDITATION WHy art thou so full of heavinesse Ps 42.6 o my soule and why art thou so disquieted within mee What nothing but teares Nothing â—ut sighs and throbs of â trembling soule Griefe without cause is madnesse and without moderation it is hopelesse I must â—herfore looke into the cause and hope it is Religion that raiseth this tempest But let mee not erre in my judgment Is my sin the cause of my sorrow Or doe not I rather adde to my sinne by the pretence of my ground That teare of a faithfull soule which floweth from the conscience of evill purifieth the conscience and freeth from punishment If the weight of my transgressions depresseth my soule the comforts of the Crucified shall restore me to ioy Oh the first cause of my blubbered eye was that which made our parents strive to hide them selves from the sight of our Creatour Gen 3.8 Since that very offence it hath beene a sin not to weepe and yet too much weeping may be turned into sin Teares are the effect of sin and teares may be the actours of sin Thus even our best actions have their pollutions our griefe for our offences may as well displease as pacifie the offended Deitie But surely I grieve for mine iniquities which have incensed my Creatour I sorrow because I can expresse noe more sorrow for my faults Thus farre my passion then is religion Ps 56.8 Lu 7.38 my God shall put these teares into his bottell Thus Mary Maydalene stood at the feete of my Saviour behind him weeping washing his feete with her teares and wiping them with the haires of her head My sin is the ground of my shame and my shame enforceth mee to come behind that Iesus Ier 9 1 whom Mary thus embalmed O that my head were waters mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might thus weepe day and night for the offences which I have committed But doe not I slaunder my teares Am I not mis-taken in the cause God forbid Noe cause can be so great as the greatnesse of my sinns and yet even these may multiply when I most lament them O my God accept of the teares which I shed for my sinns sanctifie my sorrowes that they turne not into offences Yet I find in the Scripture other causes of laments 2. King 20.5 Ier 9.17 Thus the All-mighty not onely heard the prayers of Hezekiah but saw his teares too when hee pleaded for life The Iewes were commanded to call for the mourning women to make hast and take up a wayling for them that their eyes might runne downe with teares their eyelids gush out with water because the voyce of wayling was heard out of Zion the destruction of the lewes was hard at hand Thus the Prophets eyes did faile with teares Lam 2.11 his bowells were troubled his liver was powred upon the earth for tâe destruction of Ierusalem This griefe arose from the sense of their sorrow That the most high was prouoked by the sin of the prople What the Iewes deserâ—ed may be my râ—ward and what Ierusalem expected may be my heavy doome for the fame God is offended with mee and my sinns have merited the height of his vengeance Yet the more I sin the more hee spare's expecting some measure of my sorrow for my boundlesse offences O let my teares be his by a gracious acceptance as my sin is made his by his fathers imputation for hee alone who wept in the garden can pleade my attonement and by the power of his passion restore mee to comfort Incredulity in part did trouble the man in the Gospel Mar 9.14 whose sonne was Possessed with a devill both deafe and dumb yet hee cryed out and said with teares Lord I believe help my un-beliefe Deafnesse I find doeth hang in mine eare too even in the house of my God for when mine attention is required to the words which distil from the mouth of the preacher even then the poison of the serpent makes mee imitate the adder refusing to heare the voyce of the charmer Ps 58.4 5. When I should counsaile my brethren when I should publish the trueth when I should confesse my sinns woe is mee the string of my tongue is knitt Iam. 3.5 the dores of my lipps are sealed up and though mine unruly litle member is active in the language of all impiety yet it is stricken dumb with silence when it should publish mine enormities Whence growe's this dumbnesse whence this deafnesse Lord shouldest thou be so deafe to my cries or dumb to my heart I should never hope for the mercies of my Redeemer But some faith thou hast given mee in the merits of his passion doe thou increase it The seede is thine the planting is thine Lord let it flourish that the advantage may be mine Mar 13 32. It is as yet the least of all seedes let it grow into a tree that the birds the birds of Paradise may nest in the
did not give light to the companie which were in the ship with Saint Paul in the tempest when hee was bound towards Rome for they Act 27 29. fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks cast fowre ankers out of the sterne and wished for the day True it is that every one in a storme will wish for Christ this morning starre and ready they are to take their astro-labe that so they may observe the height and the distance of him but yet are they apt to leave him in the tempest and to trust to their owne cables and ankers which they cast out at the sternes of their ship never considering the depth of the seas the fowlenesse of the anchorrage Every Christian even the most skillfull mariner is apt to runne a shore upon the world or to fall upon the leadges and rocks of trouble and temptation but who ancoor's his hopes in Christ Who fasteneth the flooke of his anchor in the wounds of the Crucified Lord give mee such a faith in thee that I may not believe in thee waveringly or hope in thee weakely or wish for thee faintly but that I may at all times and upon all occasions put my whole trust and confidence in thee Ps 42.1 and say with David As the Hart panteth after the water-brookes so panteth my soule after thee ô God Surely that morning starre did not give light to churlish Nabal 1. Sam. 25.37 when in the morning after the wine was gone out of him and his wife tould him all that was done his heart dyed within him and hee became as a stone Alasse every Nabel every worldling can be jocound and pleasant while they surfeit upon the vaine pleasures of this transitorie world they can be merrie and drunken very drunken with the be-witching cup and all the while they are such sonnes of Belial vers 17 that a man cannot speake to them But if once either by povertie sicknesse or any other calamitie they are awaked and their Abigails their consciences tell them that the most mighty hath girded his sword upon his thigh Ps 45.3 with glorie and majestie and is resolved to destroy them then like unto Nabal even their very hearts dye within them and are even as stones for want of the comfort and light of his morning starre These are they who in the morning say Deut 28.67 would God it were evening and at even they say Would God it were morning for the feare of their hearts wherewith they feare and for the sight of their eyes which then they see Iob 24.17 for the morning is to them even as the â—shadow of death if one know them they are in the terrours of the shadow of death Therfore will I besiech that bright morning starre Amos. 5.8 that hee will arise in my heart that I may seeke him that maketh the seaven starres and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day darke with night the Lord is his name This is the time Iud 16.2 when the Philistines thought to have killed Samson after they had compassed him in and layd waite for him all night in the gate of the citty of Gaza and were silent all the night Lord if at any time I sleepe if I sleepe in my sinnes which doe thou ever prevent as thou doest forbid it how contented is Satan to let mee rest How silent hee is and will not disturbe mee But hee sitteth in the gate and watcheth and if at any time I be awaked by my God how doe's hee labour to destroy mee presently with suggestions to despaire or presumption This is the time when Moses was commanded by God to cary the two new tables of stone up to the Mount Ex 34.2 for God sayd unto him Be readie in the morning and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai and present thy selfe there to mee in the top of the mount Why may not this in some kind seeme to be spoken by God to mee too For I have one table at least and I feare that it is stone too but it is in his power to make it the fleshly table of my heart 2. Cor. 3.3 O that hee would call mee O that hee would draw mee up unto him to the top of the mount Hos 11.4 with the bands of love and that hee would doe it now this morning like as twice in one morning hee putt Moses in mind of the two tables O that hee would write his law in this table of my heart even with his owne finger that I might not sinne against him This is the time when the Angells hastened Lot to goe out of Sodome Gen. 19 15. It was when the morning arose that they said unto him Arise take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here lest thou he consumed in the iniquitie of the citty The blacknesse of the crimes of those lustfull citisens eclypsed the Sunne yet lest they should hope that their impieties could dazell the eyes of the all-seeing God they had a light from heaven to discover his wrath The sinnes of the people were retrograde to nature and their just punishment proceeded therfore from causes not rendered by the practise of nature The light body of the consuming fire was seene to descend and the sulphurious flames which might have beene conceaved to arise from the troubled bowells of the earth or from the land of darknesse descended in a stormie gust from heaven A mixed fire and stinke conlumed the transgressours yet was not the choaking smell of the burning sulphur so offensive and loathsome as the stench of their wickednesse Thus the fire of their uncleanesse was revenged by the fire of tormenting brimstone and just it was that the messengers of vengeance should discharge their office whom the lewde people would not receave without a lustfull attempt of their fowle desires Their punishment for their crimes began even in their offences for it was noe small severitie to suffer them to continue in their violation of nature Yet here it stayed not for they lost their sight because they saw not their faults and at even they wearied themselves to find the dore of that righteous man vers 11 being stricken with blindnesse by those ministers of revenge vers 23 This darke evening was yet but a presage of a gloomie morning for the vengence fell when the Sun arose and those horrid flashes of a blew and dazeling light served onely to lend them a sight of their scorched neighbours and so to increase and heighten their torments Assuredly if I well consider it I am not unlike to that Lot who was saved for with the Sodomites I live I am neighboured by the wicked O but am I just with Lot and with him 2. Pet. 2 7. am I vexed with their uncleane their filthie conversation O that I might so resemble Lot that I could avoyde the corruption of those whose society
And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod hee smote the rock twice and the water came out aboundantly and the congregation dranke and their beastes allso Well might this rod flouriâ—h with blossomes c 17.8 which had power to command water out of the rocks Thus was Israël watered by miracle and the thirst of the people was slacked by the waters which issued even from the stones But Moses is dead and the rod is not heard of the rock I find not Ps 18.2 Ps 23.2 yet will I not despaire The Lord shall be my rock and hee shall leade mee to waters of comfort When Samson had slaine a thousand Philistines with the jaw-bone of an asse Iud. 15.18 hee was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast given this greate deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I dye for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised vers 19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw and there came water thereout and when hee had drunke his spirit came againe Mat. 19 26. and hee revived Thus with God are all things possible Since then I know it exceedeth not his power to helpe mee in this miserie I will certainly relie upon the hope of his goodnesse When Mesha rebelled Iehoram with Iehoshaphat and the King of Edom fetched a compasse of seaven dayes journie and there was noe water for the hoast 2. King 3.9 vers 15 and for the cattell that followed them Then Elisha said Bring mee a minstrell And it came to passe when the minstrell played that the hand of the Lord came upon him And hee said vers 16 Thus saith the Lord Make this valley full of ditches for thus saith the Lord vers 17 Yee shall not see wind neither shall yee see raine yet that valley shall be filled with water that yee may drinke both yee and your cattell and your beastes vers 18 And this is but a litle thing in the sight of the Lord hee will deliver the Moabites allso into your hand vers 20 And it came to passe in the morning when the meate-offering was offered that behold there came water by the way of Edom and the countrie was filled with water Lord I am one of the valleys I am the lowest the meanest the worst of thy people ô send thy waters into the lowest valley that I may rejoyce in thy mercy and praise thee for thy liberality But while I complaine of the drought of my body mee think's I forget that spirituall thirst which should make mee blessed Those my Redeemer pronunceth blessed Mat 5.6 who doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be filled If I have not a thirst more spirituall then corporall I may justly suspect my selfe to be of the number of those Wicked ones of whom the Prophet speaketh saying Thus saith the Lord God Is 65.13 Behold my servants shall eate but yee shall be hungrie behold my servants shall drinke but yee shall be thirstie behold my servants shall rejoyce but yee shall be ashamed My Saviour tould the woman of Samaria at Iacobs well Io 4.13 vers 14 saying Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst againe But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life Here is noe Iacobs well to coole my tongue Ps 36.9 but the well of life is present and open True it is that this well is deepe and I have nothing to draw I have noe goodnesse to merit it and scarce have I a heart to desire it yet Lord such as I am I come unto thee My selfe I renounce I fly to the worthinesse of Christ my Redeemer For his sake ô my God give mee that water that I thirst not againe For that water doe I long more theÌ„ for the rivers of waters which incompasse the earth 2. King 5.12 Neither Abanah nor Pharpar the rivers of Damascus noe nor Iordane it selfe is comparable unto this Thou ô Christ art this well Io 6.35 thou art this water Thou hast promised that hee which cometh to thee shall never hunger hee which believeth in thee shall never thirst For thee Ps 42.1 ô Saviour I thirst for thy salvation I cry and intreate As the Hart panteth for the water brookes so panteth my soule after thee ô God vers 2. My soule thirsteth for God for the living God When shall I come appeare before God O God my soule thirsteth for thee Ps 63.1 my flesh longeth for thee in a drie and thirstie land where noe water is Noe more will I mind this body of earth or howsoëver not so wholly bend my thoughts upon the quenching the thirst of this parched clay This will I referre to the disposall of my God pray for comfort but onely conditionally If hee shall account it fitt for mee to die by this present thirst that my moisture shall be turned into the drought of summer Ps 32.4 I shall willingly submitt Howsoëver since his will is yet kept secret from mee I will pray for that which may yeeld mee comfort but onely conditionally if it may stand with his liking But as touching my poore dry thirstie soule I will pray directly peremptorily and absolutely besieching him to refresh it with the deaw of his grace Hee promised by his Prophet Is 35.7 that The parched ground should become a poole the thirstie land springs of waters I am that parched ground my languishing soule is that thirstie land Lord send mee that poole and those springs of waters By the same Prophet againe hee promised to his Church and said I will powre water upon him that is thirstie and floods upon the drie ground c 44.3 I will powre my spirit upon thy seede and my blessing upon thy off-spring This is his promise indeede but may I be so bould as to put him in mind of it Yes yes doe so ô my soule Hee loveth it hee delighteth in it Bashfullnesse in these cases is but dull stupiditie seeing thou hast authoritie to speake with confidence Wee must come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb 4.16 that wee may obtaine mercy and find grace to help in time of neede I will not leave him therfore I will not forsake him I will hang upon him I will follow him for those onely speede who are earnest in their suites Hee keepeth us off onely to heighten our desires not to deny our requests Hee seemeth to be angry when wee beginne to petition but wee misse-take the cause Hee 's displeased because wee came noe sooner or because wee come on noe faster Whatsoever hee hath promised hee will undoubtedly make good if wee are not wearie and slack in solliciting It is his delight to see us earnest and our reward
my whole life but to be freed from these calamities which beginne to fall on mee Ps 55.4 My heart is sore pained within mee and the terrours of death are fallen upon mee Fearefullnesse and trembling are come upon mee vers 5. and horrour hath allmost over whelmed mee I cannot forget how the wife of Phinehas the sonne of Eli being neere to be delivered 1. Sam 4. 19. when shee heard the sad tidings that the Arke of God was taken and that her husband and her father in law were dead shee bowed herselfe and travelled for her paines came upon her shee travelled was delivered and dyed I cannot forget how Rachel journeying from Bethel Gen 35 16. when there was but a litle way to come to Ephrath travelled and had hard labour And though when shee had hard labour the Mid wife sayd unto her vers 17 Feare not thou shalt have this sonne allso vers 18 and shee had her sonne and called him Ben-oni the soone of her sorrow but his father called him Benjamin the sonne of his right hand yet shee dyed The remembrance of these that dyed in child-birth increaseth my feares and addeth to mine affliction I am so dismayed betweene the pangs which I suffer and the suspition of death which possesseth my soule that I am I know not how divided and forlorne One while I resolve to submit to my God another while I suspect that I shall not possiblie endure the severity of my tortures My teares are many my pangs increase and double and treble themselves upon mee One O is not enough to cry but as if my short life were onely to be inployed in accents of sorrow I leng then my exclamations and I cry oooooo c as if my paine waxe the lesser when I make my complaints either lowder or longer Sometimes my pangs are so thick and so violent that I have not time to feare and sometimes againe my feare is so greate that I have not leasure to mind the pangs I endure The body suffers and the mind labour's and all is in a kind of distruction and confusion Sometimes I feare that I am yeelding up the ghost and then a pull a tugge a throw command's â—nee to forget my feare and sett my selfe to endure Sometimes I feare least my child should not come right or not be rightly shaped or not be perfectly limbed and then a throw againe maketh mee lay aside my feares In the depth of my sufferances I am all most bereft of my senses with the violence of the paine and at times of intermission I am halfe distracted with these doubts and feares Act 3.2 Sometimes I thinke of the man that was lame from his mother's wombe and was faint to be caried whom they layd dayly at the gate of the temple which was called Beautifull to aske almes of them that entered into the temple and then I am jealous that either my child may be a creeple or else a beggar At other times I thinke of the man at Lystra c 14.8 impotent in his feete who was likewise a creeple from his mother's wombe and never had walked and presently I feare that mine may be so too Againe sometimes my anxious thoughts fixe upon the man who was blind from his birth Io 9.1 Mat 12 22. Mar 7.32 sometimes on him who was blind and dumb sometimes on him who was deafe and had an impediment in his speech and then I suspect that mine infant may be so too But why ô why doe I harbour such thoughts or utter such cryes of distrust Why doe I embrace such suspitions and feares of the death of my selfe or of impotency of my child If I despaire of ease I forget my comforter If I submit not to his pleasure I deny him to be my God If I repine at my sufferances I adde unto the cause and so I multiply mine iniquities I cannot deny that my God is omniscient I may not deny that my God is omnipotent I would not deny that my God is compassionate Since then I doe know that hee knoweth my miseries and that hee hath power to release mee whensoëver hee pleaseth it is my duety to hope in his mercy and tender compassion If I feare my death I condemne my life and publish to the world my neglect of preparation If I have not layed up in store against the hower of my departure especially seeing I doe know that many have dyed in the extreamitie of their throwes it will plainly appeare that I either cared not for heaven or dreaded not hell If I fear too much that my child may fayle in a due proportion or too vainely distrust that it may come imperfect I dishonour my God who shaped it in my wombe It is not of mine owne fashioning Ps 139.14 it wa fearefully and wonderfully made by my maker I must therfore content my selfe with what hee hath allotted mee If the shape be perfect the greater must be my thankes if it prove imperfect the greater must be my patience in all I must be sure to give glory unto God My service to him hath beene weake imperfect hee may justly therfore shape my child according to my service If so hee should doe I cannot resist it I must not repine at it I will resolve therfore by the assistance of his grace that allthough my cryes may be lowd yet they shall not be sinfull they may expresse my sufferance but not any impatience I will feare to dye when I thinke onely of my desert but I will desire to dye when I faithfully rely upon the merits of my Redeemer and desire that this mortall may put on immortality 1. Cor. 15.54 I know that some children have beene borne imperfect but what I my selfe doe not fashion I will never repine at Had I made it my selfe it would have beene monstrously deformed for my very best and most accurate actions are full of imperfections If therfore it shall have too much or too litle yet it will be too much for mee to sinne by murmuring Lord arme mee with patience to suffer what thou pleasest with faith and hope to goe when thou callest and with joy and thanks to receave what thou givest part 3 The third part of the Soliloquie administring Consolation and comfort to a woman in the bitternesse of her travell THe blessed Apostle comforting the Corinthians speaketh to the soules of all the elect 1. Cor. 10.13 when hee saith There hath noe temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation allsu make a way to escape that yee may be able to beare it O gracious promise O heavenly mercy Bee just ô my God in the performance bee speedie in my deliverance I faint I dye How long Lord how long shall I cry These afflictions seeme to exceede the power of a mortall woman
greater them all these the feare of displeasing my gratious protectour bring mee back againe and keepe mee at home I would not be un-charitable but I must not be desperate Well then I am resolved what I will doe I will with Solomon goe to the houses of mourning the houses of the visited yet not in body but in mind and in purse I will pittie them and I will send reliefe unto them I dare not goe in person but I will goe in affection and for my neighbours groaning under the evill of punishment and for my selfe burdened with the evill of sinne I will feede upon my teares day and night I must grieve for my selfe in particular and yet I must not be so unkindly coveteous as to keepe my teares onely for my selfe In publike calamities those who shed noe teares may be justly suspected to have noe bowells I find my selfe not un-apt to weepe for I am prompted to that by the weakenesse of my disposition And yet I suspect my selfe I am jealous of my selfe that my teares doe rather flow from my feare of infection then from a fellow-feeling of the miseries which the infected suffer To heighten therfore my mourning and to justifie it by my compassion I will propose to my selfe the examples of others such as I find recorded in the word of my God example 1 When the destruction of the Iewes was neere at hand the Lord called upon them by the mouth of his Prophet saying Consider yee Ier 9.17 and call for the mourning women that they may come and send for cunning women that they may come And let them make hast vers 18 and take up a wayling for us that our eyes may runne downe with teares and our eye-lids gush out with waters vers 19 for a voyce of wayling is heard out of Zion How are wee spoyled c. The women were commanded to heare the word of the Lord vers 20 and their eares to receave the word of his mouth they were to teach their daughters wayling and every one her neighbour lamentation vers 21 For death was come up into their windowes and entered into their pallaces to cutt off the children from without and the young men from their streetes vers 22 Even the carkeises of men did fall as dung upon the field and as the handfull after the harvest-man and none did gather them The case is now with us as it was then with the Iewes Alasse how are wee spoyled too How is death come up into our windowes by the infectious aire How doe our children dye and our young men fall Our children which know not the cause and our young men that trusted in the strength of their youth O how doe the carkeises of men fall as dung upon the open field as the hand-full after the harvest man and yet there are none to gather them up They perish without because either there is not roome enough left with in doores for them or not people alive to attend them in their sicknesse or not people of strength enough to un-lock the doores or not meanes for their sustenance if they enter in Thus necessitie driveth them into the fields and there mortalitie seizeth upon them where noe person is found to burie their bodies noe bearers to carie them to the surfeited earth noe friends to bewayle the losse of their lives and noe Christians to cover them from their gazing spectatours the verie fowles of the aire and the beastes of the field What heart would not breake what eye would not weepe what soule would not lament for this sad visitation Lam 1.16 For these things with Ieremiah will I weepe mine eye mine eye shall runne downe with water because the comforter which should relieve our soules is farre from us example 2 The Lord hath throwne downe Ierusalem saith the Prophet and hath not pittied Lam 2.17 and hee hath caused their enemie to rejoyce over them hee hath sett up the horne of their adversarie vers 18 Their heart cryed unto the Lord O wall of the daughter of Zion let teares runne downe like a river day and night give thy selfe noe rest let not the apples of thine eyes cease Arise vers 19 cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches powre out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord lift up thy hands towards him for the life of thy young children that faint in the topp of every streate vers 1. Even thus hath the Lord covered us allso with a clowde in his anger as then hee did the daughter of Zion and cast downe from heaven unto the earth the beautie of our Israël and remembred not his foote stoole in the day of his anger An enemie destroyeth and rejoyceth over us but such an enemie it is as neither can heare nor will spare The verie aire which was created to coole the flames of our scorching hearts is so poisoned with the infection that the more wee make of it the lesse wee our selves are made by it the closer wee seate it even to and in our hearts the neerer doth the infection approach our spirits The corrupted aire shall be therfore cleansed by the thick groanes that shall flye from my heavy heart and be purified with the thunder of my lowdest cryes With Moab in the prophesie Is 15.2 vers 3. I will howle over Nebo and over Medeba In the streetes let every one gird himselfe with sack-cloth on all their heads let there be baldnesse on the toppes of our houses and in our streetes let every one howle â—er 48.4 weeping aboundantly for wee are destroyed for our litle ones have caused a cry to be heard Oh our sucklings that cry for milke from the breast suck in destruction when they expect their nourishment For these things with Ierusalem I will weepe sore in the night in this night of a generall affliction Lam 1.2 my teares shall be on my cheekes because among all our lovers there is none to comfort us example 3 At the finall desolation of the house of Israël Eze 7.16 the Prophet tould them that They that fled away of them should escape and should be on the mountaines like Doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquitie All hands should be feeble vers 17 and all knees should be weake as water vers 18 They should allso gird themselves with sack-cloth and horrour should cover them and shame should be upon all their faces and baldnesse upon their heads Lord what a time of mourning should here be What a time of horrour Destruction is threatned and whom destruction missed mourning should over-take feeblenesse should follow weakenesse should pursue horrour should cover Oh that verie time is come now upon us that prophesie is fullfilled in our Israel Here is noe sword to slay us noe fierie engines of a hellish invention to murder us noe men to take us captives
Ioel. 1.9 The meate-offering and the drinke-offering the participation of the holy Communion through feare is cut off from the house of the Lord the Priests the Lord's Ministers doe mourne Hos 4.3 The land mourneth and every one that dwelleth therein languisheth with the beastes of the field and with the fowles of the heavens Therfore with Ezâ—… I will goe into the chamber Ezr 10 6. and when I am come thither I will eate noe bread nor drinke water for I will mourne because of the transgressions of us all Or with Nehemiah I will sitt downe and weepe Neh 1.4 and mourne certaine dayes and fast and pray before the God of heaven example 6 The Lord God of hosts did threaten to touch the land of Israel Amos. 9.5 and it should melt and all that dwelled therein should mourne and it should rise up wholly like a flood and be drowned as by the flood of Egypt Thus hath hee threatned us allso and hath hee not brought it to passe See Ps 97.5 See how the land melteth yea melteth like waxe at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of the whole earth Needes must the land the hearts of the inhabitants of the land melt at his presence seeing the Apostle styleth him a consuming fire Heb 12 29. O how all doe mourne that dwell in the land The parents lament the sicknesse of the child the wife of the husband the servant of the mistresse all mourne all lament It may now be truely sayd that the whole land is drowned for what eye is not dimmed with teares What house is not filled with teares What streete is not washed with teares If he saltnesse of water will cause a barrennesse of the earth what fruite can possible our land produce which is thus moistened thus watered with the brine of our teares And yet mee think's the earth appeareth as greedie as ever for it speedily devoureth whatsoever is sprinkeled on it by the sorrowes of the inhabitants The infected cry and the languishing cry and shall not my teares much rather trickle downe my cheekes allthough my doore is not yet converted into pasture nor my walkes overgrowne with the springing grasse O yes much much rather yea and with the more courage will I weepe by how much the more I retaine my strength to weepe I heare Ier 4.31 mee thinke's the voyces of the visited as of a woman in travell and their anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child bewayling themselves and spreading their hands and each of them saying woe is mee now for my soule is wearied because of this murdering sicknesse Is 22.4 Therefore will I take up the resolution of the Prophet Isaiah and whosoever shall come to divert my teares to them I will say Looke away from mee I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort mee Or with Ieremiah my soule shall weepe in secret places Ier 13.17 for their paines and mine eye shall weepe sore and runne downe with teares because the Lord's flock is thus destroyed The Second part of the Soliloquie treating of Severall causes of God's visitations I Mourne and I mourne and all out of a sense of the generall sufferance I mourne and I mourne by president But doe I find the cause of our distresses The ground of our sicknesses Pestilence is not the onely arrow that is shot from the All-mighty when his revenge is stirred up and yet every punishment is termed a stroake a stripe a plague When the Lord intended the spoyle of the Egyptians by the children of Israel that which in others would have beene deemed theft or at the least a cozenage was in the Israelites but justice and done in obedience to him who is Lord of all Ex. 12.36 when they spoyled the Egyptians of their jewells which yet they but borrowed vers 35 And yet this to the lenders is termed a plague for the Lord said unto Moses Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh c. 11.1 and upon Egypt afterwards hee will let you goe hence When the firstborne of Egypt were decreed to be slaine for the stubbornesse of the King the execution of that decree was styled a plague for God tould the Israelites by his servant Moses c. 12.13 saying The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where yee are and when I see the blood I will passe over you and the plague shall not bee upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt When the children of Israel had longed after the flesh-pots of Egypt and cryed and murmured against Moses and Aaron saying c. 16.3 Would to God wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when wee sate by the flesh-pots and when wee did eate bread to the full for yee have brought us forth into this wildernesse to kill this whole assembly with hunger then I find the Lord was intreated for flesh but that flesh proved the destruction of the people and that destruction is called a plague For Num. 11.33 while the Quailes were yet betweene their teeth saith the text yere the flesh was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very greate plague Consumption is allso sayd to be a plague for so saith the Prophet Zech. 14.12 This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Ierusalem Their flesh shall confume away while they stand upon their feete and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth Thus every judgment is truely a plague and from God it cometh and upon men weake men mortall men and women it cometh but it is for their sinnes it is for their transgressions Every one groane 's under the affliction but few for the cause Wee are angrie with the rodde and wee are angrie with the Correctour and yet wee quarrell not with our selves for meriting such yea more yea greater yea more tormenting more continueing punishments I will therfore looke into the sacred page yet once againe I will looke into the roll of that booke Eze 2.9 and with Ezekiel I will spread it before mee and find written therein the Lamentations vers 10 and mournings and woes I will find the punishments and I will find out the offences too I will mourne with them with us with every one that is visited with them for our selves I will prye into the causes of our maladies seing I know that God will not be angry without a cause Ps 89.30 Wee doe first forsake his lawes and walke not in his judgments wee first prophane his statutes vers 31 and breake his commandements vers 32 before hee visiteth our transgression with the rodde and our iniquity with stripes example 1 Wherfore did the Prophet Ieremiah cry
hungrie cry when they buy of the rich and are cozened by the rich when they suffer in the cozenage and suffer likewise in the publike in the generall punishment for the cozenage For this our land mourneth for this our people are visited our houses are shut up our streetes are not frequented ouâ— markets not filled and yet the hungry lament and the thirstie doe mourne The poore can neither buy for their money not be imployed in their willing labours to earne them money Is 59.11 nor live without money Wee roare all like Beares and mourne sore like Doves Wee looke for judgment but there is none for salvatien but it is farre from us Therfore with the oppressed I will cry and with the visited allso I will cry I will cry with the oppressed for right and I will cry with â—…e visited for health How long Lord â—ow long wilt thou punish us c. 44.22 O remove â—…ur sinnes like a cloude blott out as a thick cloude our transgressions and as a cloude our sinnes returne unto us for thou hast redeemed us part 3 The Third part of the Soliloquie shewing that Sinne especially is the cause of the Pestilence THe diseased ignorant of the kind of their maladies cause the Phisitian 〈◊〉 consult with their pulses to examine their â—rine and by symptomes to find out the â—ause of their disturbance So should the sick soule allso or else the ignorance of the sinne may hinder the cure Generall complaints have beene made by men groaning under the burdens of severall visitations but doeth the Pestilance come by the same rules and arise from the same causes Surfeits and Consumptions and Feavers and Palsies and Plurisies and other such sicknesses may have their causes in nature and their remedies oftentimes by physick but neither is the cause of the Pestilence so cleere in nature nor is the cure thereof so easie by physick Or if it be yet is this disease more infectious more mortall and therfore more dreadfull then any of the rest It shall therfore be my first care to find out the cause in my soule before I looke upon the effects thereof in the bodies of sinfull mortalls I will examine our times by those of our ancestours and see whether this generall contagion doeth not rather proceede from the mallice of the soule then from the aire dyet or whatsoever else the Phisitians conjecture at The men which Moses had sent to spie out the land of Canaan returned 1. Num 14.36 and made all the congregation to murmur against Moses by bringing up a slaunder upon that land of promise those very men that did bring up that evill report upon the land vers 37 dyed of the plague before the Lord. What Of the plague Of the Pestilence There were but ten of those spies and those ten onely dyed Wee have the Pestilence too but it contenteth not it selfe with ten ten and ten and ten but hundreds dye hundreds are visited thousands complaine every one feareth But was their disease the same as ours Was not theirs an inflammation of their tongues and wormes issueing out of them as a just recompenseâ— because with their tongues they had lyed Or was it not some other extraordinarie plague from the hand of God Or was it not that Pestilence which was threatned when the Lord said unto Moses vers 11 How long will this people provoke mee and how long will it be ere they believe mee for all the signes which I have shewed among them vers 12 I will smite them with the Pestilence and disinherit them and will make of thee a greater nation mightier then they Whatsoever their disease was though I cannot determine it yet will I consider the cause thereof The cause was a sinne a grievous sinne a lye and the effect of this was a sinne a grievous sinne it was murmuring O thus have wee allso added sinnes unto sinnes Wee allso lye wee lye grievously desperately impudently Like unto Iob's friends wee are forgers of lyes Iob. 13.4 Ps 40.4 Ps 58.3 Ps 62.4 Eze. 24 12. Hos 10 13. wee turne aside to lyes wee goe astray so soone as wee be borne and speake lyes wee delight in lyes and wee have wearied our selves with lyes justly therfore now doe wee eate the fruit of lyes And yet not contented with this wee murmur too Against our superiours wee murmur for not governing us according to our licentious and sinfull desires against the rich wee murmur because wee floate not in their plentie yea even against God himselfe wee murmur because hee graunteth not our sinfull desires Thus in every thought and in every word wee either find a sinne or make a sinne For this our lying for this our murmuring wee are now visited wee are now stricken wee are as those spies were destroyed of the destroyer 1. Cor. 10.10 The rebellious Israëlites were threatned by Moses that Every sicknesse 2. Deut. 28.61 every plague which was not written in the booke of the law them should the Lord bring upon them untill they were destroyed vers 62 And they should be left few in number whereas they were as the starres of heaven for multitude These were the menaces these were the threats to the children of Israël but among all these sicknesses where is that which reigneth among us Hath God prepared a new punishment for us such as the Israëlites never suffered nor the law ever mentioned nor skill ever cured Doubtlesse thus God could afflict us but hee chuseth rather to punish us as hee did others that so wee might find out the cause as others have done Hee was pleased to tell the Israëlites the cause of their plague which hee would send upon them vers 62 even Because they would not obey the voyce of the Lord their God Iust thus hee punisheth us as hee punished them even untill wee are allmost quite destroyd and hee telleth us our sinne our offence too by his word by his ministers by our owne consciences even that wee refuse to obey the voyce of the Lord. Iust therfore most just it is that seeing wee have wee doe wee will thus sinne even thus yea thus severely likewise wee should be punished Yea wee deserve it in a farre greater manner in a sarre greater measure Hee who threatned those that would walke contrarie unto him and would not hearken unto him Lev 26 21. that hee would bring seaven times more plagues upon them according to their sinnes Hee who by Moses threatned them that If they would not observe to doe all the words of that law which are written in that booke Deut 28.58 that they might feare this glorious name The Lord thy God vers 59 Then the Lord should make their plagues wonderfull and the plagues of their seede even greate plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance The selfe-same God hath found us walking contrarie unto him and therfore hath
I climb up into a tree for it Yea I doe climb and into a tree too O it is the tree of mine owne pride and vanitie which beareth leaves goodly broade shadowing leaves but it beareth noe fruit at all nothing but keyes and those keyes are fitted onely for the wide gate that leadeth to destruction Mat. 7.13 they will never un-lock the gates of heaven This child is young hee is a babe a babe in age a babe in growth I am a babe not in age not in growth but such a one as the Corinthians were to whom the Apostle wrote 1. Cor. 3.1 and sayd that hee could not speake unto them as unto spirituall but as unto carnall even as unto babes in Christ My child is young and tender and simple apt to be led with trifles to stragle abroad with children to be caried any whither at the pleasure of her to whose charge hee is left I am a child too a verier child then mine owne apt to be tossed to and fro Eph. 4.14 and caried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wayt to deceave And now what shall I doe I am the verier child of the two the most sinfull of the two and yet my child is afflicted with sicknesse and to mee noe other punishment is at present alotted but the griefe which I have for the sicknesse of my child Hee still cryeth still must I therfore cry Hee groaneth and I must allso groane Yea I doe groane I groane in spirit that my Iesus may cure the diseases of my soule I groane too for my child my prettie sweete babe that my Iesus may howsoever cure the infirmities of his soule and if hee so pleaseth recover allso the health of his body This must be the way to him I must thus goe Io. 14.6 Ps 30.8 for hee himselfe hath styled himselfe the way I will therfore cry unto the Lord and get mee unto my Lord right humbly I will goe to the gate of the physitian the gate of mercy and there I will knock and call and cry for entrance I will fall upon my knees and wring my hands and smite my breast Is 38.14 and weepe and mourne like a Crane and chatter like a Swallow even untill mine eyes faile with looking upward and thus will I say unto him The Prayer GReate God whose power is irresistable and whose pleasure is the rule of thy servant's obedience bow downe thine eare to my sad intreaties Thou hast stricken mee with sorrow who have not mourned for the cause and by the sicknesse of mine infant thou hast taught mee the frailtie of our mortall bodyes I see that all flesh is as grasse 1. Pet. 1.24 and the glory thereof but as the flowre of the field Mine impenitent heart I must confesse deserveth thy justice and my sinfull life this punishment of my tender infant But thou ô Lord art mercifull though I am sinfull and art apt to forgive those that truely repent O my God I desire to be sorrowfull for mine offences and earnestly I besiech thee to give mee true contrition for all my sinnes Iob. 7.20 O thou preserver of men remitt both my sinnes and the punishment which is justly due unto mee for them that I may rejoyce in thy mercy and magnifie thee for thy goodnesse Looke gratiously upon this child who feeleth the scourge though gently of thy justice due both for his and for my transgressions O let not thy wrathfull displeasure continue upon him nor my greater crimes cause an addition unto his torments Thy servant David confessed his sinnes and submitted to thy rod but yet hee cryed concerning his people 2. Sam. 24.19 and sayd These sheepe what have they done I dare not justifie this thy patient but I must needes acknowledg that for mine iniquities as well as for his thou thus doest wound him But ô thou who didst once command Mat. 19 14. that litle children should be brought unto thee didst prefer them for patternes both of innocency and humilitie shew now thy power in the weakenesse of this child Enable him with patience to endure thy visitation and direct mee to the meanes which may conduce to his recoverie if thou in thy secret decree hast so determined it Ps 6.2 Have mercy upon him ô Lord for hee is weake ô Lord heale him and free him from his sufferings Thou art hee that tookest him out of my wombe Ps 22.9 Ps 9.13 Ps 41.2 and canst as easily if thou pleasest lift him up now from the gates of death Preserve him ô God if it may be thy heavenly pleasure and keepe him alive that hee may be blessed upon earth ô heale his soule and raise him up againe Give a blessing to the meanes which shall be used for his recovery Ps 119 91. Ps 56.8 that all things in their order may be knowne to serve thee O let the teares of mee thine afflicted supplicant be put into thy botle and let the cryes of mee thy mournefull hand-mayd who beg for this infant be heard in the eares of thee the Lord of hosts Thou thy selfe didst weepe ô Christ Io. 11.35 for the death of Lazarus take compassion therfore on the weeping mother of this diseased child O let not my teares be shed in vaine but mercifully free this infant from his anguish and sufferings Yet howsoëver thou hast decreed righteous father not my will Mat 26.39 Ier 10.24 but thy will be done Onely let mee besiech thee to visit him in mercy and not in thy fury lest he be consumed and brought to nought Make him able to beare what thou determinest to send and in thy good time raise him out of this miserie Lord give mee allso a willing submission to thy holy pleasure that so I may neither discover too much fondnesse of affection to this my beloved issue when I see him subject to frailtie and mortalitie nor too immoderately grieve if thou receavest him to thy selfe Forgive whatsoëver is amisse in him and let his soule de deare and pretious in thy sight O Let thy mercy pleade against thy severitie let thy gratious promises be had in thy remembrance and let thy Christ be heard in his intercession both for mee and mine To thy will ô Lord make mee readily submitt to thy holy pleasure make mee willingly yeeld Thine is this infant Ps 39.13 and thou lentest him mee ô spare him a litle that hee may recover his strength before hee goe hence and be noe more seene To thy pleasure ô heavenly father I willingly refer him besieching thee to send him thy grace while hee shall remaine upon earth and after that receave him into glory for the worthinesse of thine onely begotten Sonne Iesus Christ our onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 17 THE SEAVENTEENTH SUBjECT Teares of a Mother for the death of her child The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5.
pronounced against them who take away the right from the poore of the people of the Lord that widowes may be their prey and that they may robbe the fatherlesse Yea and from God himselfe by the mouth of King Solomon the advice is given Remove not the ould land-marke Prov. 23.10 and enter not into the fields of the fatherlesse By the Allmighty to the fatherlesse friends are raised thus was Iob Iob. 29.12 I delivered the poore saith hee that cryed and the fatherlesse and him that had none to helpe him c 31.17 And againe hee saith If I have eaten my morsell alone and the fatherlesse hath not eaten thereof vers 22 then let mine arme fall from the showlder-blade and mine arme be broken from the bone Thus if I am God's then God will be mine If in my wants I misse my father my God will relieve mee if in my troubles I want my father my God will deliver mee What could my earthly parent have added to my content which my heavenly parent cannot much more supply If therfore I grieve too much for the death of him I forget my God who liveth for ever If too much I complaine of his absence who delighted in mee I manifest my rebellion against him who should be my delight Mat. 6.9 Hee taught mee to pray and when I pray hee taught mee to say Our father which art in heaven On him therfore will I depend who is the father of all that believe in him Rom. 4.11 To him in my wants will I addresse my selfe who is the giver of all Iam. 1.17 Upon him will I call and to him will I cry and say The Prayer ALl-mighty God heavenly father who art a Lord of comfort Rom. 15.5 and a God of consolation looke downe upon a sinfull and distressed orphane bereft of the joy and helpe of an earthly parent Thou ô Lord didst send mee unto him that thy Kingdome might be increased and thou hast taken him from mee that my faith and patience might be fully tryed I was apt to forget thee while hee was living looking upon him as the donour of blessings and neglecting thee from whom they proceeded I relyed too much on the arme of flesh 2 Chr. 32.8 and trusted too fondly in the power of man but now thou hast humbled mee by his mortalitie and taught mee wholly to rely and depend upon thee Mine owne unworthinesse of so loving a father made thee to take him away from mine eyes My dis-obedience to his commands and my neglect of honouring him according to thy lawes have provoked thee to anger and to deprive mee of his comfort Lord forgive my manifold offences since I find that all flesh is but as grasse 1. Pet. 1 24. Iam. 4.14 and that the life of man is but as a vapour which van sheth away make mee allways to apply my service wholly unto thee who livest forever Remember thy promises which thou hast made unto the fatherlesse and that I may be capable of those thy promises give mee grace to become thy child by obedience Thou ô Lord art my father to whom belongeth honour Mal. 1.6 thou art my master and requirest mee to feare thee Lord make mee feare to offend thee who art a righteous judge and make mee love and honour thee who art a gracious father Be with mee in all the wayes wherein I shall walke in this mortall life Lu 1.79 guiding my feete into the way of peace Comfort mee in my sorrowes support mee in my miseries provide for mee in my wants and in all places and at all times be thou my father Ps 62.6 Ps 82.3 my rock and my strong salvation Doe thou defend the poore and fatherlesse doe justice to the afflicted and needie Supply all my wants and conferre upon mee all necessarie blessings O be reconciled unto mee in the blood of thy sonne that I may here depend upon thy fatherly protection hereafter be receaved into thy celestiall Kingdome there to reigne with thee world without end through Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 23 THE TWENTIE-THIRD SUBJECT Teares for the death of a beloved brother And may likewise serve at the decease of any other faithfull friend The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words ô Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray A Friend saith King Solomon loveth at all times Prov. 17.17 and a brother is borne for adversitie Friendship which is begotten by the outward forme or any other sinister and by respect liveth noe longer then that ground of affection but nature is stronger then our election can bee and religion obligeth farre more then both O how greate then is my losse of my dearest brother in whom both excellency of feature neerenesse of blood and a gracious conversation conspired together to render him matchlesse To mee hee was a friend but now to the grave what losse can be greater then the losse of a friend To mee hee was a brother but now to the wormes and what losse can be more deplorable then the losse of a brother But to mee hee was yet more hee was a friend in his love and courtesies a brother by his blood yea and an instructer a teacher of religion and goodnesse and yet nor love nor blood nor religion could preserve him mine O what sorrowes doe accompanie all thing transitorie His love could not dye but his body could and so I am deprived of the societie of my brother because my brother was subject to corruption But is this the adversitie for which hee was borne according to King Solomon Did the wise man intend that a brother is borne to bring adversitie Or rather to comfort us in the time of adversitie Had hee beene a cause of my least disturbance while hee was living hee would have eased my griefe by grieving himselfe Hee would have comforted mee in the time of trouble had hee lived to see my grievous mourning But now alas I am left to lament alone and so much the more for the want of his comfort I now must grieve for him who was my joy and my laments and my griefes increase the higher because for his sake they arise who cannot allay them Had wee lived in hatred his death peradventure might have beene my comfort Had wee loved but sleightly a teare or two I might have thought enough to pay at his funerall But our love was firme it was strong yea strong as death Cant. 8.6 and who then can blame mee if my sorrowes in some measure keepe pace with my love O what tye can be so greate as that of affection What love so greate as of a brother and sister And yet so vaine is man so fraile are mortalls that either our affection or our persons must have a divorce Had my deceased brother
downe Sharon was like a wildernesse and Bashan and Carmel did shake off their fruits But what was the reason of all these judgments of all this languishing sent upon the creatures I neede not goe farre to seeke the cause the Prophet will soone determine it for hee complaineth of the people that By swearing and lying Hos 4.2 and killing and stealing and committing adulterie they brake forth and blood touched blood These were their sinnes but what was the effect The selfe same Prophet immediately after threatneth them with it saying vers 3. Therfore shall the land mourne and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of heaven Here was the earth and the world the citties and the fields and the vines and the plants and the lands and the corne and the oyle and the figtrees and all languishing grievously languishing and the cause thereof was the people's sinne But yet mee think's this cannot much concerne mee Shall I for a smootie eare of corne or two or for the drying of the branch of a vine or a figtree presently conclude that the withering of them can paralell my consumption Yes doubtlesse I must if I looke into the cause The trees and the other of the smaller plants could never either be guiltie of an offence or be sensible of a punishment but the men the men they were the offenders and for their transgressions their mother earth had her second curse I cannot pleade mine owne innocency or pretend that I am free from the guilt of enormities Noe noe I cannot I may therfore conceave my selfe one of the trees which I find so cursed for my branches mine armes my leggs my thighs doe pine away my fruits my workes and my labours are now decayed and what can I say or pleade for my selfe I am one of those trees which the Apostle speaketh of whose fruite withereth Iud. 12 without fruit twice dead and now am I ready to be plucked up by the rootes Yet for all this my stubborne heart mee think's stand 's out and would faine perswade mee that the curse of the trees resemble's not my disease But I hope that I shall came this heart of mine and put it to silence when I shall search more narrowly in to the sacred booke Wherfore did the Prophet say that hee heard from the Lord God of hosts a Consumption Is 28.22 determined even upon the whole earth VVas it not because the people sayd vers 15 They had made a covenant with death and with hell they were at agreement when the overflowing scourge should passe thorow it should not come nigh them for they had made lyes their refuge and under falsehood they had hid themselves Doeth not the Lord by the mouth of Moses threaten the people saying If yee will not hearken unto mee Lev 26 14. vers 16 and will not doe these commandements I will allso doe this unto you I will even appoint over you terrour Consumption and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart Doeth hee not againe menace them and say Deut 28. The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and a feaver and with an inflammation and with an extreame burning Doeth not the Prophet tell the people saying Is 10.22 vers 23. The Consumption decreed shall over-flow in righteousnesse for the Lord God of hosts shall make a Consumption even determined in the midst of all the land O my conscience my conscience thou art now at a standâ— O my heart my hardest heart thou art now struck dead Loe here 's my very disease my Consumption and is here not my sinne too Have I never made a covenant with death or beene at agreement with hell Have I never made lyes my refuge or hid my selfe under false-hood Have I not refused to hearken to my God and to doe his commandements O how faine would I have attributed my disease to fecond causes and rather have thanked the Physitian then the Divine for telling mee the ground But now I am at a stand and must needs confesse in the midst of my torments that I find in them the displeasure of my maker I cannot urge one act of goodnesse that ever I did to pleade my pardon for the least for the smallest sinne which I have committed Alas I find my destinie in the booke of Psalmes where the Prophet telleth mee that The wicked shall perish Ps 37.20 and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fatt of lambs they shall Consume into smoake shall they Consume away O were I but worthy to be ranked in the forme with Aoraham I might as well as hee be styled The friend of God Iam 2.23 But my conscience telleth mee that though God be my friend in his goodnesse and longsuffering yet never was I hitherto a friend of his Such a friend to him indeede I am as hee was whom in his meekenesse hee called a friend Mat 22 12. hee who shifted in for a dinner among the guests that were invited But what became of him Alas when hee was found not having on a wedding garment vers 11 vers 13 the Lord then said unto his servants Bind him hand and foote and take him away and cast him into outward darknesse there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth O this dreadfull sentence have I deserved besides this consumption which I now groane under and all because I am an enemie of the Lord's This shall be the plague saith the Prophet wherewith the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Ierusalem Zech 14.12 Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feete and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth Ierusalem is the vision of peace Gal 4.26 But I have allways warred against it The Church upon earth hath found mee an adversarie and that Ierusalem which is above hath found mee an enemie This is my fault and justly therfore doe I feele this punishment For this offence my flesh consumeth away while I stand on my feete mine eyes are mistied and over-cast with dimnesse and my tongue is so feeble that I can skarce complaine I may now cry out as Hezekiah did and say Mine age is departed Is 38.12 and is removed from mee as a sheep-heard's tent I have cutt off like a weaver my life hee will cutt mee off with pining sicknesse from day even to night wilt thou make an end of mee But let mee not forget the sinne of Hezekiah His heart was lifted up 2. Châ—… 32.25 therfore there was wrath upon him and upon Iudah and upon Hierusalem Let mee not forget mine owne sinne My heart hath beene lifted up too I have beene proude yea I have swelled with scorne and contempt O that with Hezekiah too vers 26 I could humble my selfe for the pride of my
the rivers are full of us Good God what a menace was this which went out against Egypt What water the land with blood Yes with blood And good reason for that countrie which had beene so fertile through the overflowings of Nilus was now growne more glutted with skarlet sinns then their river was pregnant reemed with misse shâ—ppen monsters Thus Goâ— can doe and thus God will doe when hiâ— patience is over-pressed with the infinite in crease of insufferable crimes And thus o thus he now doe's to my poore nativeâ— bleeding countrie This this land which waâ— like the land of Egypt Gen. 13 10. Lam. 1.1 Ier. 5.9 vers 10 even as the garden of thâ— Lord which was great among nations and Princesse among Provinces is now Made an astonishment and an hissing and a desolation The voyce of mirth and the voyce of gladnesse and the voyce of the Bride-groome and the voyce of the Bride and the sound of the mill-stones and the light of the candle are taken from us and this whole land by degrees become's a desolation vers 11 Lam. 1.4 and an astonishment Her priests sigh her virgins are afflicted and she is in bitternesse Lord what a strange and sad alteration is here in every corner of the Kingdome in all estates and conditions of the people Our cities are become prisoners even to their owne fortifications and seeme to be coffind in the walls of their strength The grave and ancient inhabitants of them who had out-lived their sweat and labour are now enforced to become young apprentices to their allmost forgotten crafts and finding their stiffe stickie fingers unapt to purchase bread for their bellies they moisten their shrivell'd cheekes with those few teares their age can allow them The cornets and the sack-buts are turned into trumpets and fifes our feasts are turned into mourning Amos. 8.10 and all our songs into lamentation and sack-cloth is brought upon all loines and baldnesse upon every head and our mourning is as for an onely sonne and the end of our mirth is this our bitter day Our dances are changed into marches our banquets into famine our gownes and liveries into garments made of the skinns of Elkes and Buffeloes and the suites of gold and Tissue into glittering armour The hatts composed of the sofe wooll of the Beaver are turned into helmets beavers of hard and heavy mettall the lofty proud structures into poore and narrow hutts and tents and the pride of the cup-board and the glory of the fingers into salarie for souldiers and the price of blood Ioel. 3.9 Warre is proclaimed in our gates it is prepared our mighty men are awaked all the men of warre draw neere and come up vers 10 Our plough-shares are beaten into swords and our pruning hookes into speares Our citizens hands forget the cunning of their trades and occupations Ps 144.1 by teaching their hands to warre and their fingers to fight Our penns are turned into pikes our maces into swords our walking staves into halbeards and partizans and leading staves and our voyces of harmonie and musick into showtes and horrid cries of formidable armies The bells which merrily rang the peales and the changes either roare out our destructions in engines of warre by a strange metamorphosis or if they continue in their ould condition they skarce know any other tone then knells for the slaine the death of whom causeth the wringing of hands among orphanes widdowes Our Beth-els are turned into Beth-avens so that now wee skarce dare to seeke Bethel Amos. 5.5 or enter into Gilgal or passe unto Beersheba Our Daniels Dan. 6.16 vers 18 oh our Daniels are cast into the denns of Lyons and yet few of us doe passe the night in fasting nor doe we send away the instruments of musick from before us nor doth our sleepe goe from us O that wee would yet once tremble and feare before the God of Daniel vers 26 who is the living God and stedfast for ever and his Kingdome that which shall not be destroyed for his dominion shall be even to the end vers 27 He delivereth and rescueth and hee worketh signes and wonders in heaven in earth Sad was the time with Ieremiah the Prophet Ier 37.12 when he went out of Ierusalem to goe into the land of Benjamin to separate himselfe thence in the midst of the people For vers 13 when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captaine of the ward was there whose name was Irijah vers 14 and he tooke Ieremiah the Prophet saying Thou fallest away to the Caldeans but Ieremiah said It is false I fall not away to the Caldeans but he hearkened not unto him So Irijah tooke Ieremiah and brought him to the Princes vers 15 wherfore the Princes were wroth with Ieremiah and smote him and put him in prison in the house of Ionathan the Scribe for they had made that a prison Bad Eze 2.6 o full bad are our times too for our Ezekiels live among briars and thornes and dwell among scorpions Heb 11 36. The Prophets of the Lord have their trialls of cruell mockings yea of bonds and imprisonment They are stoned they are tempted vers 37 they are slaine with the sword they wander about in sheepe-skinns and goate-skinns being destitute afflicted and tormented vers 38 of whom the world is not worthy They wander in deserts and in mountaines and in denns and caves of the earth This thou hast seene ô Lord Ps 35.22 vers 23 keepe not silence ô Lord be not thou farr from them Stirre up thyselfe and awake to their judgment and to their cause o our God and our Lord. The time is allready come that judgment hath begun at the house of God 1. Pet. 4.17 and if it first begin at them what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel Wee see not our signes there is skarce any Prophet more and who is there among us that knoweth how long Ps 74.9 Wee have unsettled people among us who are apt to say to the Seers see not to the Prophets Is 30.10 Prophesie not unto us right things speake unto us smooth things Prophesie deceits Get yee out of the way turne aside out of the path vers 11 cause the holy one of Israel to cease from before us The Prophet Ieremiah complained that in his time a wonderfull and horrible thing was committed in the land Ier 5.30 vers 31 the Prophets prophesied lies and the people loved to have it so and what saith hee shall wee doe in the end thereof c 14.13 Againe he cries out Ah Lord God behold the Prophets say unto them Yee shall not see the sword neither shall yee have famine but I will give you assured peace in this place vers 14 The Prophets Prophesie lies in thy name whereas thou sentest them not neither hast thou
was as mine owne soule the sad losse of whom still doeth and still will sitt cold heavy upon my wounded heart Some comfort indeede I have in that sweete odour he left behind him from whence every Christian may receave an Aromatick perfume of learned profit and content yea even those who too unkindly were the cause of putting salt water upon that sweete waxe whereby the Tapour was extinguished To these losses afflictions I might adde many many more beside my present condition among strangers and forrainers and my continuall heart-quakes at the strickt menaces of the ruine and Desolation of my poore bleeding gasping countrie Yet while there is life there is hope even that hee who hath made our land to tremble Ps 60.2 and hath broaken it will in his owne due time heale the breaches thereof for it shaketh In this Manuall thou shalt find noe Author quoted but the Best of all and noe language but English The whole booke is in thy mother tongue and all the proofes excepting a very few are Scripture Luc 23 â—8 The weeping daughters of Ierusalem love best to be comforted in the language of Canaan Is 19.18 Here I â—ould an Ewer nay a Fountaine of â—ater to those that neede it for the reâ—eshing of their soules yet I hinder â—…ne from turning their owne Cocks â—…d letting them runne If any conâ—emne the worke as needlesse in these rightest times for so they are â—ought to be set formes of prayers beâ—…g by many dashed quite out of counâ—mance let them know that these are â—…t intended for them but for those â—ho doe neede and will use them I â—nfine not any to these Formes nor â—e I deny them to any who shall wilâ—ngly accept them In them thou hast â—e helpeâ— â—f many choice places of â—cripture 〈◊〉 for thy severall occasiâ—…s which â—eradventure otherwise would not be so ready at hand when â—ou shouldest stand in neede of them Whatsoever throughout the whole â—ooke thou findest good know that 〈◊〉 is Gods now made thine as well as mine blesse him for it What thou â—ndest here amisse except the faults of the presse I confesse it mine yet â—either wittingly nor willingly is it mine howsoever charge it to mine account Doe thou friendly reckon with mee and I will thankfully satisfie thee and be sure to remember that as it is thy duety to be thankfull for the best so thou oughtest to be charitable in thy censure of the rest Consider what I say 2. Tim. 2.7 and the Lord give thee understanding in all things Thy servant in him Phil 2.7 who tooke upon him the forme of a servant for us IOHN FEATLEY From my house in Flushing April 17. 1646. A Table of the particular contents THe First subject Teares of Godly sorrow or devout Melancholy wherein a flexible disposition apt to weepe employeth those Teares in a Sorrow for sin The Soliloquie p. 1 The Prayer p. 7 Teares from the Heart The Soliloquie confistnig of 3 parts viz 1 The wickednesse of a corrupted heart p. 11 2 Alamentation for the losse of an honest heart p. 23 3 Griefe for an old and sinfull heart and an earnest desire of a righteous new one p. 35 The Prayer p. 45 Teares of Time The Soliloquie consisting of 3 parts viz 1 A Revieuw of the time past p. 48 2 A Consideration of the time present p. 64 3 A Resolution for the time to come p. 75 The Prayer p. 83 Teares in the night The Soliloquie Devided into 3 parts fitted for the time 1 Immediately before going to bed p. 85 Evening Prayer p. 98 2 Of lying downe in the bed p. 100 3 Of awaking in the night p. 111 Teares in the Day Devided into 3 parts and fitted for the time 1 Of awakng early in the morning p. 123 2 Of beeing newly risen p 136 The morning Prayer p. 146 3 Of preparing to goe to dinner p. 149 Teares of Compassion in time of prosperity The Soliloquie treating of earthly riches and the rewarâ— of Charity p. 161 The Prayer p. 18â— 7 Teares in time of adversity in 4 Soliloquies treating of 1 A decayed estate or plenty turned into poverty p. 18â— 2 The prayer p. 204. 2. Hunger both corporall spâ—rituall p. 208 The prayer p. 23â— 3 Thirst both bodily and ghostly p. 23â— The Prayer p. 24â— 4 Nakednesse both of the Outward and Inwarâ— man p. 249 The Prayer p. 260 8 A Virgin 's Teares The Soliloquie p. 26â— The Prayer p. 27â— 9 Teares of a Married woman Soliloquie treating of thâ— dutyes of a wife to her husband p. 275 the prayer p. 29â— 10 Teares of an Aged woman p. 293 The prayer p. 307 11 Teares of a Barren woman p. 311 The prayer p. 321 12 Teares of a Childbearing woman 1 At the time when thee beginneth to fall in travell 2 After her delivery The soliloquie consisting of 3 parts 1 The Cause of the forrow and the confidence of thâ— sorrowing p. 324 2 The greatenesse of the pangs hazards and feares of a Travelling woman p. 332 3 Consolation and comfort for a woman in the bitternesse of her Travell p. 340 The prayer p. 343 2 Teares of a woman after her delivery from the paines of childbearing p. 346 The Prayer p. 351 13 Teares in time of Pestilence The Soliloquy consesting of 6 severall parts treating of 1 Mourning by example in a publick calamity p. 354 2 Severall causes of gods visitations p. 368 3 Sin especially the cause of the pestilence p. 381 4 Severall examples of dreadfull Pestilences p. 388 5 Gods threatning before his visitation p. 395 6 The duty of a Christian decreeing to whome and for whome wee ought to pray in time of Pestilence p. 403 The Prayer p. 413 â—4 Teares of her whose house is shutt up for the Pestilence The Soliloquy p. 420 The Prayer p. 431 â—5 Teares of her who is visited with the Pestilence beeing 1 Either wounded with a Sore p. 437 2 Or marked with the tokens p. 445 The prayer p. 455 â—6 Teares of a Mother for the sicknesse of her child the Soliloquie p. 461 The Prayer p. 469 â—7 Teares of a Mother for the death of her child The Soliloquie p. 473 The Prayer p. 480 â—8 Teares of a Wife for the sicknesse of her husband The Soliloquie p. 484 The Prayer p. 492 â—9 Teares of a woman lamenting the death of her beloved husband the Soliloquie p. 495 the prayer p. 506 â—0 A woman's Teares at the Funerall of her husband the Soliloquie p. 510 The Prayer p. 528 â—1 Teares of a woman in the state of Widdow-hood the Soliloquie p. 531 The Prayer p. 543 â—2 Teares of an Orphan at the death of her father The Soliloquie p. 545 The Prayer p. 561 â—3 Teares for the death of a beloved Freind or Brother The Soliloquie p. 563 the Prayer p. 573 â—4 Teares in a Cousumption or any languishing sicknesse the Soliloquie consisting of 3 parts 1 a complaint and
shall be greater if wee continue in our industrie This is my way and thus I will follow him Hee who sate upon the throne Reu 21 6. and said It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end even the same Lord said I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountaine of the water of life freely Hee inviteth mee by his Prophet and speaketh to mee among the rest when hee saith Is 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath noe money come and buy and eate yea come and buy wine and milke without money Reu 22 17. without price The Spirit and the Bride saith Saint Iohn say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is a thirst Come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely I am thirstie hee hath promised therfore to mee the fountaines of the water of life I am thirstie and yet I am poore and have not wherewith to buy what I neede My deedes are wicked and of noe validitie my words are idle and deserve noe good my thoughts are sinfull cannot merit What then Shall I starve for want because I have not price to give Noe noe mee it is hee calleth unto that I may buy without money mee hee meaneth to make partaker of his promise I will buy what I want but I can give nothing but teares or at most which indeede is the best even the blood of him who was slaine for my peace But why doe I call that blood mine owne May I safely doe it Yes it was his but it is mine Because hee needed not that price as a ransome for himselfe hee gave it to mee and all the faithfull to purchase our redemption This ô father I offer unto thee upon my knees I tender it with a lowly heart and a bleeding soule and a submissive speech praying unto thee and saying The Prayer GRacious father Ps 123.1 Mat 5.45 thou that dwellest in the heavens and from heaven doest send the raine both on the just and the unjust take pitty and compassion on the meanest of thy servants who cryeth unto thee out of the depth of miserie O my God thou seest how I am dryed up with thirst and am wearie of my life for want of thy comforts I know that thou hast power to breake a clowd and canst command it to water my parched body Thou canst give mee drinke out of the windowes of heaven Gen 7.11 or canst cause the earth to answer my desires Ps 6 1. Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger neither chasten mee in thy heavy displeasure I must confesse that I have worthily deserved thy severest punishments and most justly therfore doe I feele the heate of thine anger in my burning thirst Ps 79.5 But Lord shall thy displeasure burne like fire for ever Shall it never be allayed with the shewers of my teares or with that which infinitely exceede's them both in vallew and power even the dropps of blood which fell from my Redeemer O thou who with a stroake of a rod diddest make the relenting rocks to relieve the thirstie doe thou be pleased to pittie the complaint of a fainting sinner Coole my body which burneth with heate and refresh mee now in this extreamest anguish if it may stand with thy gracious will and pleasure If thou seest it fitting that my life should be prolonged afford mee the meanes for the preservation thereof On thee alone doe I depend and to thee alone doe I addresse my supplication To thee I referre the disposing of this parched and dryed earth humbly besieching thee to bend my will to submit unto thine O let mee never utter any words of despaire or discontent but in all my groanes let mee acknowledg thy justice Holy Father be pleased to fixe my thoughts upon my inward man that my care may be greater for the spirit them the flesh I want that spirituall desire which thou requirest I thirst for that thirst My soule is drie for want of thy grace and so seered is my conscience that I know not my miseries Lord open mine eyes that I may see my wants that so my thirst may be turned into a thirst for thy mercy Thou ô God art rich but I am poore thou art filled with blessings but I am not yet so much as sensible of my want of them O give mee both a sight of my povertie and a desire of thy grace and then graunt unto thy servant according to my desires I thirst Lord I thirst after thee the well-spring yea the ocean of mercy O send mee but a drop of thy heavenly ocean that it may increase in mee a desire of enjoying thy selfe Ps 36.8 Give mee to drinke of thy pleasures as of a river that so I may referre my body to thy holy will willingly yeeld this dust to thy disposall Gen 3.19 This dust shall returne to the dust whence it came but ô let my soule be vallewed so deare in thy sight that it may here have a tast of thy bottomelesse bountie hereafter be admitted to the paradise of thee my God Reu 2.7 Heare mee ô father and graunt my requests Zech 13.1 for the worthinesse of him who opened unto mee a fountaine for sin even Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen soliloquy 4 THE FOURTH SOLILOQUIE Treating of Nakednesse both of the out-ward and in-ward man THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray WHen Noah was over-come with the wine which hee had dranke sleeping hee lay un-covered in his tent Gen 9.21 vers 22 Accursed Ham saw the nakednesse of his father and tould his brethren but Shem and Iaphet tooke a garment vers 23 and laid it on both their shoulders and went back-ward and covered the nakednesse of their father and their faces were back-ward and they saw not their father's nakednesse All these were the sonnes of one and the selfe-same father but they differed in conditions as if they had not beene hrothers One was so unnaturall that hee seemed to boast in the folly of his parent and when wine had disturbed the braine of his father and the heate of the drinke had layed him naked the wicked sonne as rejoycing at his weakenesse tould his brethren the effect of the drunkennesse But the other two blushing at the effect as well as the cause modestly hid what ought to be concealed Such a Ham have I it is my poverty Onely in this it differeth from the sonne of Naoh that it first inebriateth mee and then uncovereth mee I am so intoxicated with want that it bereave's mee of my senses and being thus poore it leave 's mee naked O where shall I find a Shem or a Iaphet to cover my nakednesse I