THE BLACKE ROD AND THE VVHITE ROD. Iustice and Mercie Striking and Sparing LONDON PSAL. 91. Surely hee will deliver thee from the snare of the Hunter And from the noisome Pestilence Hee will couer thee vnder his wings and thou shalt be sure vnder his Feathers Thou shalt not bee afraid of the Pestilence that walketh in the Darke nor of the Plague that Destroyeth at Noone-day Pugna suum Finem cum jacet Hostis habet LONDON Printed by B.A. and T.F. for IOHN COVVPER 1630. THE BLACKE AND WHITE ROD. THis World is a Royall Exchange where all sorts of Men are Merchants Kings hold Commerce with Kings and their Voyages are vpon high Negotiations As the deare buying of anothers Country with their owne Subiects Bloud The Purchasing of new Crownes and new Scepters not satisfied with the old And as Kings so Princes Dukes Earles Lords Clergy-men Iudges Souldiers haue their Trading in particular Marchandizes and walke euery day for that purpose vpon this Old Royall Exchange They talke in seuerall Languages And like the murmuring fall of Waters in the Hum of seuerall businesses insomuch that the place seemes Babell a Confusion of tongues The best yet most incertaine Commodity which all these Merchants striue for is Life if Health begot into the bargaine He is a Made man into whose hands it comes Yet when these two inestimable Treasures are shipped in one Bottome together There are Winds and Waues and Woes which still fill the Sayles and hang vpon the Tacklings What 's the end of this Voyage Currit Mercator ad Indos To heape vp Gold The Merchants Name i' th Indies is inroll'd Nay though he casts a Girdle about the World yet Anchor he must in one Harbour or another to come to shore and Proclaime his Lading on this Ryalta this Burse or this Royall Exchange And when the Exchange-Bell rings his passing-Bell tolles That 's the warning-Peece to tell him hee must goe off he must for that time talke there no more of his Transitorie Commodities the Exchange of this world with him is then done and Home does he hasten to dine with Wormes This Earthly spacious Building in which we Dwell as Tenants onely for life is likewise a glorious Theater full of admirable Conueyances and Curiosities The Frame or Module of it is round with a Siluer mouing Roofe call'd the Heauens to couer it by day and a Golden Canopy of Starres to Curtaine about it by Night In stead of Arras and Tapestrie which commonly doe now and euer haue adorned the old Amphitheaters this is richly hung round about with the Element of Ayre The beauties of the Earth are the Stage Furnished bounteously and set forth in all Brauery with Woods full of Trees Gardens full of Flowers Orchards full of Fruit Fields full of standing Corne like so many Speares ready for a Battaile Mountaines high in Pride Valleys sweet in Pleasure Our Mothers Wombe is the Tyring-house where we make vs ready And our Cradle the Musicke-Roome for there we are sweetly strung with Innocence Nothing then puts vs out of tune but a peale of crying And what 's that Onely a little Note a little too high which being mended the Melodie is Heauenly for there is no Concord without Discord Vpon this goodly Stage all sorts of People Men Women and Children are Actors Some play Emperours some Kings some Beggars some Wise-men some Fooles The hardest part to play is a good Man and 't is rare to see a long part giuen him to study On this stage are presented Tragedies and Comedies The terriblest Tragedie is that of the Soule fighting to get off well from the Body The best and most pleasing Comedie is that of a white Conscience and the Peace of Mind Some haue Plaudits Showts and Acclamations and those are such who haue play'd good parts and play'd them Brauely-well Some goe hissed off the Stage And that is for want of being perfect in those good parts which are put into them Some play very long Parts and they are old Men some haue done in the midst of the Play And they are young Men some being but in a Scaene before they speake are out and lost And they are Children Euery Actor hath his Entrance euery one his Exit As one comes out another goes off and sometimes meeting on the Stage together they leaue the Stage together But in the Conclusion He that can get Angels to sit in the Galleries of Heauen and clap his action with theyr Immortall hands he is the onely Roscius of the time and one of the best Actors that euer stept on stage The sum vpshot and cloze of all is this That as many Men as that walke on that Royall Exchange and seeme rich doe often breake and are lay'd in Prison So in this World when we appeare neuer so strong in Body neuer so stirring in minde yet if health turnes Banquerupt once and that the Sergeant with the Blacke Rod Sicknesse Arrests vs if eyther Casualties by Sea or Land if losses vexations misfortunes or miseries breake our hearts whether then are we carried To our euerlasting Prison the Graue And so when in this Magnificent Theater we haue Ietted long on the Stage And borne our Heads high yet our Parts being done we are inforced to put off our gay borrowed garments and wrapping our selues in poore winding-Sheets Hasten to our owne homes and still that 's the Graue The Graue then is the Rendez-vouz where we all meet The Market-place where the Drum of Death beates to haue vs come together The Towne-Hall where all our brablings are ended The Castle to appeare at which at the Assizes the Body is bound ouer and there it is Cast In the Feild of dead mens Sculs and fleshlesse bones must the great Army of all Mankind muster on Mount Caluary CHRIST lost his life And in Dust and Ashes must we leaue Ours We need not read any Bookes to proue this Euery man holds a Pen in his hand to write a story of it To passe ouer the Volumes of the Graue filled by Adam and his Children in the first World And clasping-vp those likewise which haue beene euer since after the Deluge in this second World Let vs cast our Eyes onely at that Blacke Rod and that white Rod which from time to time haue first smitten and then spared This Kingdome of Great Britaine In the Raignes of William the Conquerour Rufus and Hen 1. his Brother Death walked vp and downe this Land in strange shapes Men Women and Children fell by the Pestilence So great were the numbers of those who dyed that the numbers of the liuing could harldy bury them Cattell were stricken in the Feild Birds drop'd from the Ayre Fishes perish'd in the Waters Famine followed Tillage went to Ruine so that the Earth which wont to feed others had in the end no meate for her selfe Then for foure Kings together little mention is made of any deuouring mortality of people by the Pestilence yet were there blazing
Starres Earthquakes Stormes of Hayle which kill'd Cattell and beat downe Corne with the Apparition of Spirits in the Ayre in the likenesse of strange vgly Fowle flying with fire in theyr Beakes and doing much mischiefe to Houses But presently after in the Raigne of Hen 3. the Kingdome in generall was torne in pieces by two Dragons Dearth or want of victuals and an exceeding great sweeping Plague So Edward the second saw the fall of his people and the famishing of his Countrey by the two fore-named Tyrants So Edw. 3. in his long Raigne of fiftie yeeres lamented the losse of his then warlike Nation so struck downe by a Pestilent Contagion that many who had heâ—lâ—h in the morning lay in their Graues at night Forty Bodies at one time crowding in those cold Beds together for want of more and better roome Thirteene yeares after Death spread his Cullors againe and then in that dismall Battell Henry Duke of Lancaster his Dutchesse and the Earle of Warwicke fell vnder the cruell Conquerours hands Besides in one yeare in a plot of ground being at that time in Compasse thirteene Acres then called Spittle-Croft or the Charter-house founded by Gualter Manny Knight of the Garter who there lyes Intoomb'd were buried 50000. Persons besides those who tooke vp their euerlasting lodgings in other places In this yeare the Blacke Rod smarted deeply The Sword of Diuine Iustice had a sharpe terrible edge and where it hit it strucke home Few of the then following Kings but had their Subjects snatched from them by these hot and speeding calamities We will now omitting all the rest looke onely at these two great Plagues indeed fresh too fresh in our memories the first beginning when Q. Elizabeth left vs and that K. Iames tooke vs to be his people The second when K. Iames tooke his way to Heauen and left both all his Kingdomes and their mighty Nations to his Royall Sonne our most gracious Soueraigne King Charles whose yeares the great Arithmetician of Heauen multiply and blesse the numbers till they bee all golden ones But let vs now draw our Arrowes to the Marke we ayme at Those two last Visitations this Hydra-Sicknesse with so many Heads The Plague Why carryes it the Name of Plague Plaga signifies a stripe and this Sicknesse comes with a blow or stripe giuen by the hand of Gods Angell when as he did to Dauid he sends him to strike a people for their sins Our sinnes therefore were and are the Whirlewinds breaking open Iehouahs Armory and forcing him the better to keepe vs from further Rebellion to shoot his fiery and consuming indignation against vs. He hath seuerall sorts of weapons seuerall Punishments for seuerall Offences When Q. Elizabeth departed and went on her Progresse to Heauen what a Traine followed her How many thousands of Coffins wayted on her Herse 'T is fit at the Deaths of great Princes that there should be a great number of Mourners And so at the comming in of new Kings there is a kind of State to be obserued that multitudes of the old Subiects who haue done seruice to their Country before should giue way to others to step into their places At the Arriuall therefore of King Iames vpon this his Crowne-Land God beate a Path narrow at first though it stretched wider to lead vs by the hand as it were to this Funerall Ceremony of dying Subiects We were at the Coronation of our new King King Iames not a new Nation but the selfe-same stiffe-necked people we were before As mighty in our sinnes as in our Multitudes Roome therefore must be made for our sins were so Ruâ—â—ianly and such roaring Boyes they did nothing but iustle one another for the wall to try which sinne should haue the vpper hand The Thunderer looking downe vpon this was loath to shoot his Arrowes feathered with Lightning and headed with Vengeance vtterly to confound the Mis-dooer No Pitty stood in his eyes and Compassion lean'd vpon his Bosome So that spying two Rods lying before him A White one and a Blacke the Blacke he threw by till he should haue time by compulsion to vse it And then taking vp the white Rod he lay'd it gently vpon the head onely of one who forthwith dyed of the Plague And this was on the thirteenth of Ianuary in the yeare 1602. Now almost twenty eight yeares agoe There dyed then but one of the Plague O sparing Mercy From such a huge Tree as London is so laden with all sorts of Fruit but one Apple to drop to the ground No more to be shaken downe But one windfall A Mountainous Quarry of stony hearts to haue but one poore pibble digg'd away In the next weeke that yeere soft Mercy forgot the white Rod too and strucke None None at all Not One In the Weeke after foure felt the smart Then 1. againe Then none againe then 3. then none then 3. then 2. then 3. then 2. then 6. then 4. then 4. and then 8. So that in 15. Weekes which by this time reached to the end of Aprill there dyed of the Plague but 39. This was the Rod of Mercy the white Rod the Fatherly Correction It goes on a little quicker for then the Number swelling vp and increasing by Tens amounted in Iune 23. day to 72. the highest So there dyed in these other 9. weekes the full number of 297. It increased then to hundreds weekely so that in Iuly there dyed 917. in one weeke here The white Rod no amendment in our liues being seene was for a time layd by and the blacke officer of Death comming abroad thousands were stricken downe euery weeke So that from Iuly 28. to October 13. being 12. weekes were buried twenty fiue thousand sixe hundred and sixe Here the Diuine Iustice sate in her full Throne roab'd in Scarlet with a face threatning Terrors But Mercy then step'd in and held hands with Iustice so that a Retreat was sounded The terrible Execution was not so hotly pursued The Pestilentiall Enemy retyr'd a little and fell backe yet so that from October the 20. to Decemb. the 1. being seauen weekes there dyed 600. and odde 500. and odde 400.200.100 and odde still euery weeke And then abated againe to tens as at first it did rise by tens the greatest number of the Dead in December 22. being onely 74. So that in all these maine Battels Seidges Sallyes Batteries and skyrmishes Continuing for a whole yeare together in and about London then the most desolate of Cities there dyed of all Diseases 38244. Out of which number the Plague challenged 30578. for her share yet the yeare immediately following Giue thankes ô noble Troynouant giue thankes thou then didst freely walke vp and downe in health when all thy Neighbours and Friends when all the Shires in England were mortally beleaguer'd by the same furious Enemy Now as when Q. Elizabeth resigned her Crowne and Scepter to King Iames and that he fate in the Throne all these changes were visibly
lay our heads when we rise It makes vs ready waytes when we goe forth followes vs all day and is more seruile more fawning more flattering then a slaue And neuer goes in mourning till he sees vs going to our Graues The Soule is the Mistresse the Body the Chamber-maid that rules that Mistresse if the Soule sayes I will rise and doe good to day O sayes the Chambermaid you are young enough lye longer take your ease be merry and care for nothing Twenty yeeres hence you may doe these pious deeds and by this wicked Councell of the Mayd the Mistresse pulls backe her hand Thus from time to time we deferre doing well and thus from houre to houre we headlong run vpon our owne miseries This being perceiued by him whose eye measures all mens Actions Now againe this yeare hath he opened his Quiuer and is still shooting the blacke and dismall Arrowes of the Pestilence both at Country and City In many places of the Country these darts of Contagion sticke vp to the very feathers some harts haue beene strucke quite through here in the City yet nothing to that Army which fell in the last Plague This began in March last and then from the eleuenth day of March to the eighteenth it rise to foure The totall of all that dyed that weeke being 153. And of the Christenings 187. So that 34. came into the World more then went out of it Then the Sicknesse fell and at the beginning of Aprill was but one againe Another Weeke dyed 2. then 7. then 3. the highest it hath since mounted to in any one Weeke and that was now in August being 75. So that in 8. of the greatest Weekes of sicknesse this Summer omitting the rest there haue dyed of all Diseases within London being 97. Parishes within the Walles and the nine out-Parishes and the Pest-house 1593. Of the Plague in those 8. Weekes 165. to which adde 54. of the sicknesse last Weeke and 67. this Bartholmew weeke it maketh 286. Of Children in that short time 402. of Consumptions some 300. And to repaire these losses and ruines amongst vs obserue the numbers of Children christened which in those few weeks amount to 1434. out of which deduct 402. buried there remaines 1032. aliue Then take that Number from the former 1594. of all diseases there haue for these 8. Weekes but 561. departed out of the World more than are come into it Westminster being not reckoned in this Accompt The Burials there being very few Neither is the greatest number of dead Bodies formerly set downe so terrible as so to hurt spartle and afflict so mighty and populous a City as we see it does but that Country Townes round about are infected and for that cause onely are Faires and Concurses of People forbidden for feare the Contagion by Throngs meeting together mingled with some infected Persons should increase In the former passages of this yeares sicknesse Note the great Mercy of God extended to Infants in calling such a number of them to Heauen because he would haue that place glorified with some white pure and vnspotted Soules snatched from the Societie of the wicked Oh happy Fathers and Mothers that are sure you haue so many Saints entertained aboue before they could haue time to offend their Maker You weepe for them when you follow them to their Graues but you should rather call it a Tryumph for they then are going to a Coelestiall Coronation If you but looke vpon your Childrens cloathes you call them to mind and then beat your breasts and teare your hayre but remember they are cloathed in the roabes of immortality When you but talke of your little darlings you tell how beautifull they were how well-fauoured how forward but now where they are all the beauty of the world is vglinesse to that sweetnesse which they possesse They haue faces and formes Angelicall and are Play-fellowes and Companions with none but blessed Creatures Be glad therefore that they are ridde from the miseries of the World that Time neuer layd foule hands on them they are free from want hunger thirst diseases cold heat weeping and wayling and all other Calamities which euen rocke vs in our Cradles they are well and happy we left behind them miserable As therefore here you are counselled to beare the absence of your little-ones with patience so comfort you others with this that both their Children and yours are gone to that high Starre-Chamber Office where their names are entred into the Booke of Life Now albeit in so many set Battailes of the Pestilence in yeares before and in the light skyrmislies of this Summer so many haue falne Yet blessed be Heauen wee are a populous Nation still we haue Peace and Plenty and all Blessings that Heauen and Earth can bestow vpon a people sing therefore Hymnes vnto the Almighty IEHOVAH send vp Sacrifices of Feare Loue and Obedience to him Cry to him as DAVID did when he numbred his people and euery one say I haue sinned exceedingly in that I haue done therefore now LORD I beseech thee take away the Trespasse of thy Seruant for I haue done very foolishly And then though there dye of the people from Dan euen to Beer-sheba seauenty thousand men in three dayes yet when the Angell is stretching out his hand vpon Ierusalem to Destroy it The LORD will repent him of the Euill and say to the Angell that destroyeth the people It is sufficient Hold now thine hand And then the blacke Warder shall be throwne downe to part Death and our Kingdome from falling into so terrible a Combat But art thou in feare of an Arrest now that Writs are gone out from the Kings-Bench Office of Heauen to Attach seuerall Mens Bodies Art thou in doubt to be laid vp In danger to be imprisoned in thy Graue Hath sicknesse knock'd at thy doore Does she sit on thy Beds side Hath Infection blowne vpon thee with her Contagious noysome and stinking breath Hath the Pestilence Now in this present drooping and sick-wing'd season Printed her nayles within thy Flesh and hast thou tokens sent thee to come away Fall on thy knees Call for Mercy to helpe thee Cry out vpon thy sinnes send for thy Heauenly Physitian to minister good things to thy Soule settle thy minde in peace shake off the world looke vp at Heauen Thither is thy Iourney prepare for no voyage else Art thou all-spotted ouer They are GODS rich Ermines to Inroabe thee like a King and to set a Crowne of Glory on thy Head Art thou mark'd with Tokens and hast thou thy Memory Make vse of that Memory and seeing those Markes are so set vp That thine eye may shoote at them and hit them now draw the last Arrow home and winne the game of thy euerlasting Saluation Remember why those Tokens are sent To make all the hast thou canst to set forward for away thou must Hug them therefore as thy Louer Kisse and bid them welcome thâ—nke that sweet Token-sender for his guift and hauing nothing which thou canst call thine to send backe to him leaue thy Body with some Friend in Trust and bid thy Soule goe cheerfully on her journey Cheerfully indeed and with all Alacrity for now thou art trauailing into a farre Country where all thy Friends are There thou shalt meet with thy old Parents thy old Father and Mother ADAM and EVE There shalt thou see that great Nauigator of the World NOAH who in one ship carried all the people in the world then liuing There wilt thou find ABRAHAM and his Sonne ISAAC Old IACOB and his twelue Sonnes the Patriarches MOSES and AARON will there receiue thee into GODS Sanctum Sanctorum In that glorious Pallace shalt thou behold all the Kings of ISRAEL all the Tribes of IVDA all the ancient Prophets all the Apostles all the Saints and glorious Army of Martyrs with branches of Palme-trees in their Hands and golden Starres sticking on their fore-heads Nay there thou shalt see thy Redeemer sitting at the right hand of this Father There face to face shalt thou see GOD himselfe attended on by Angels Archangels Principalities and Powers Cherubins and Seraphins And who would not reioyce to be setting forward on this blessed Iourney to the end he may at length come to be a fellow-Citizen in the Heauenly HIERVSALEM All the Kingdomes on the Earth are not worth the Seeling of that glorious Chamber of Presence which is in this Court This is a Kingdome where there are no changes of Kings No alterations of State No losse of Peeres No Warres No Reuenges No Citizens flying for feare of Infection None dying of Them that stay No Women-keepers to rob you of your Goods nor to hasten you to your End In this Coelestiall Kingdome there is true Majestie True Glory True Honour True Beauty True Peace True Liberty True Health There is all Life All Happinesse All Immortality To this-Kingdome the King of Heauen and Earth call vs when it is his Pleasure FINIS * From December 23. Anno 1602. to December 21. Anno 1603. 2. Sam. â—4