for one week to the last day Also there was a short seeming reviving in the field but it proved but as a draught of cold water to a man in a fever which did increase the after-fit So that generally ever since that last blow and at this present the state of the West hath been and is after this manner Note this present state of the West First in Cornwall which is a tract of land in length 60. miles in breadth 40. containing 23. market-townes and parishes 161. there is not left us one yard of ground wheron a known parliamentary friend can set his foot In Devon which is a tract of land in length 54. miles in breadth 55. containing 40. market-townes and parishes 394. onely one poor single Plymouh is left us which standeth like a kid amidst a wildernesse full of wolves for the whole Country beyond it Westward to the lands-end being above 50. miles and the Country upon this side of it Eastward being full as many is wholly possessed by the enemy the constant Town standing alone Hosea 4.16 amidst them all as a lambe in a large place In Somerset which is a tract of land in length 55. miles in breadth 40. miles containing 29. Market-Townes and Parishes 385. there is left but one poore single Taunton that standeth like the burning bush amidst a Country full of firie flaming swords In Wilts a tract of land in length 39. miles in breadth 29. containing 21. Market Towns and Parishes 304. there remaineth escaped out of the common wrack one only Malmesbury as I conceive Finally Dorset which is a tract of land in length 44. miles in breadth 24. containing 18. Market-Townes and Parishes 248. hath in it the most remainders of all the five Counties and in it there are foure Maritime Townes under the power and obedience of King and Parliament The totall in short is this that seven Townes are yet left us in five Counties of which foure are scituate in one County and the other three in foure Counties more This is the longitude or the length of Westerne miseries 3. The profundity Would we know the profundity or depth of our afflictions Do but remember what hath been said already doe but seriously call to mind all the forementioned methods of misery as plundring of temporalls by cruell strangers and unnaturall neighbours both Caldeans and Sabeans by sword and fire then the corporall smitings in liberties livelihoods lives by slavery enforcements or pressings imprisonments deaths and lastly spirituall tortures by the losse the corrupting and poisoning of ordinances as fasting and the Ministery of the word by inforcing of perjury and so murthering both soule and body together c. And this very recapitulation will sufficiently shew the depth and profundity of our afflictions and this Map ought we to carry in our hearts We must pity our Countrymen with our mouthes too that is 2. Ore in short by speaking for them by speaking to them by speaking of them as often and as opportunely as we may speake for them especially to the Lord in prayer Open thy window daily towards the West as Daniel did yea plead with the Lord for those parts as Abraham did plead for the Cities of the plaine because he had a Cousin Lot and his family there inhabiting Gen. 18. tell the Lord that there is many a thousand righteous to be found there besides those that are banished thence and aske him with teares Whether he will destroy the righteous with the wicked yea give him no rest untill thou bring downe his pardoning mercies from fifty to ten as Abraham did Besides speak to men also as Nehemiah did to his King and Master plead for the place of thy fathers Sepulcher that lieth waste but especially for the Sanctuary of the Lord which is desolate speake as Hester did to her Soveraigne and husband though with the hazzard of her life and say Hest 7.3 4. Let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request for we are sold to be destroyed to be slaine and to perish This is to speake for them Next speake we to them if possibly we may by mouth at least by letters and messages You know how sweet how comfortable a messenger is that cometh with glad tidings from farre As cold water to a thirsty soule Irov 25.25 so is good newes from a farre Country We read to our great benefit what large letters some of the Apostles by inspiration did write to the absent scattered Churches and Saints in their dayes Thus Paul did send forth no lesse then thirteen Epistles besides that to the Hebrewes some to severall Churches both in Europe and Asia Others to severall persons as to Timothy Titus Philemon Thus Iames indited an Epistle consisting of divers seasonable instructions and consolations to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad and Peter writeth a first and second Epistle generall to the strangers that were scattered through five distinct Kingdomes and Provinces somewhat answerable to our five Westerne Shires or Counties Thus briefly Iohn the beloved disciple hath by the spirit left upon record both his generall and particular Letters which are inscribed to persons of severall ranks and sexes even as high as the Elect Lady and her children and as low as his host Gaius By all which Epistles and written messages they being dead doe yet speake unto us this duty of preaching unto our absent brethren as often as conveniently wee may by Epistles and Letters Lastly and at least let us speake of them wheresoever we come let us performe that cheap duty for them which those captives in Babylon doe promise to their desolate Sion in the Psalmist Psal 137. â— If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth if I preferre not Ierusalem above my chiefe joy When the City of Glocester was in distresse it is said that some of her friends here in London did usually stand at the doors of both Houses of Parliament crying modestly to the Members as they passed in and out Remember Glocester oh remember poor Glocester and it pleased God that at that time poore Glocester was remembred and relieved Oh how many Glocester Cities and Glocester-Shires are there now perishing yea halfe perished in the Western Counties Let us therefore uncessantly scatter our cryes up and downe in all places to all persons where there is any possibility of succour and say Remember the West Oh remember the unparalleld sufferings of the West So much concerning verball or vocall compassion which is to pity them with our mouthes Let us pity our Westerne Country-men in deed and action 3. Opere this is the best proofe and perfection of both the former branches of compassion as Saint James appositely telleth us If a brother or a sister saith hee bee naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them Depart in peace be you warmed and filled
them This cruell Decree is most severely executed in the West Secondly Hearing of the word preached As for that onely ordinary soule-saving Ordinance of Preaching and other publike Exercises of the Congregations those in the West are made to be as a bait and a traine to conshiracy and perjury for the common practice of the Enemy in those parts is this Upon the Lords day when there is a full Congregation met together to seeke the publike food of their soules they being stript and plundered of all their outward and bodily comforts then the Civill and Military Magistrates and Commanders doe usually send their severe Warrants and Orders requiring that first the Church-doores bee shut up 4. Horrid Oaths enforced and strictly guarded by armed Souldiers onely the women and children are first let goe then the cruell Officers are sent in to the people with a new Oath which is exactly in all points contrary to our Covenant and to that solemne Protestation which all those poore soules have taken already in that place And here the trembling wretched creatures are put to this miserable dilemma or choyce either to take that perjurious Oath and so to sweare that they will fight against their Religion Parliament Lawes and Liberties to their utmost or else to receive a brace of bullets from that Carbine or Pistoll which is there presented to their brests Brethren what think you of such a choyce as this Doe not those men make the place of Gods publike worship which themselves doe seeme so much to reverence to become such another Shambles as Jehu made in the house of Baal you know the History King Jehu by a stratagem 2 Kin. 10.25 pretending a great sacrifice did draw the Priests of Baal into Baals house and having gotten them together did cause them to be there sacrificed to their god so turning the place of their worship into a slaughter-house Such another butchering place of soules doe these men make of their Churches Or is not this act of theirs like that of a bloody Italian of which I have heard An Italian studying an high degree of revenge against one that had offended him did resolve upon this cruell stratagem himselfe being armed way-laid his unarmed enemy in a solitary place where hee was to passe and rising against him at an advantage doth put him to this choyce Either saith hee doe thou presently curse God and abjure and blaspheme Jesus Christ in these and these words high enough you may be sure or else thou shalt dye immediatly by this sword withall offering the point thereof unto his brest The poore defendant thus helplesse and fearing the face of sudden death doth choose wretched creature the farre worset part namely to blaspheme his God and forsweare his Saviour which hee had no sooner done but the witty bloudy assaylant doth immediatly thrust him through with these words Now will I kill soule and body together Doth not the fore-mentioned act of the cruell Enemy in the West come up full to this barbarisme Is it not a killing of soule and body together when they doe first enforce men for feare of present death to forswear themselves and to abjure their God and Gospel and then by vertue of that perjurious Oath doe immediatly require and carry them away to the warres where they are cut off in the midst of that perjury whilst they are fighting against God and their owne consciences And yet such is the terrour of present imminent death the King of feares that divers godly persons through infirmity have entangled themselves verbally with that bloudy combination but after the taking thereof some of them have been distracted with the terrours of their clamorous consciences others have lost their comfort and activity the very wheeles of their soules and doe lock up themselves in darknesse Brethren there are divers Hospitals in this City for such souldiers as have been wounded and maimed in these warres where there is provision of food physicke and Chirurgeons made for their bodies and doubtlesse that worke is an act of much equity prudence and mercy But alas alas how many Savoys and Bartholomews I mean Hospitals and Spittles shall wee need for wounded consciences and maimed soules in the West Surely I am perswaded that if ever the Lord doth turne our captivity and brings us backe into those parts wee shall meet with spirituall wounds ulcers and broken bones of all sorts and degrees there wee shall have one crying out like hopelesse Spiia I have denyed God before men and now am I sure to be denyed of him before his Angels in heaven the wound of mine Apostacy is incurable Another roaring out because of his perjury and saying Which side soever is in the right I am certainly a forsworne man because I have taken Oaths that were directly contrary and therefore I am marked out like Cain with a trembling conscience I have sold Christ and his Cause like Judas for gaine and safety and this my sin was committed both with knowledge and against it yea I have sinned presumptuously and then the Scripture is cleare in my sentence For if wee sinne wilfully Heb. 10.26 27. after that wee have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne but a certaine fearfull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devoure the adversaries And perhaps a third man that was once a Professor Acts and Monuments but last an eminent Actor for the Enemy will like that Judge Hales if I mistake not lay violent hands upon his owne body and become Executioner to himselfe by drowning burning or hanging Yea some cryes and carriages of this kind have been uttered and acted in those parts already And they are but according to the desires of some of the Enemies who are said to have wished Oh that they could but kill the soule of a Round-head This was the last and highest of Jobs three kinds of Affliction namely the plundering of him in Spirituals And thus have I done with my Parallels And now if all these considerations both of Westerne sins and sufferings doe not lie heavie enough upon our hearts to breake them before the Lord this day then I have yet one talent of Lead more which I would cast in and it may also be digged out of my Text Some especiall unhappinesses of the West as in even out of this last clause and close thereof For the hand of God hath touched me That is the Lords speciall peculiar immediate afflicting hand was upon him and against him my meaning is Brethren to commend unto you with reference to those words this consideration namely that the especiall immediate and me thinkes extraordinary hand of God is against the poor West above other parts and quarters of the kingdome I know that every Country and person is apt by nature to thinke ' its owne burthen to be the heaviest but therefore I shall spread my reasons and arguments before you
which was called the plucking and eating the flesh from the bones not onely his children which were flesh of his flesh even seven sons and three daughters were smitten dead in one place at a blow amidst their feasting and his wife is turned against him but his owne body skin and flesh are lamentably afflicted and mangled Satan obtaineth a second commission by which he hath power to lay any torment upon him on this side death and he follows it to the purpose So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord. Iob 2.7 The time is not long you see betwixt his commission and the execution thereof and smote Iob that is both suddainly and vehemently with sore boyles from the sole of his foot unto his crowne Note there in the kind they were boyles Intensively they were sore or the worst sort of tormenting boyles and extensively they were from the sole of his foot unto his crowne that is he was all over-run with the worst kind of boyles Verse 8. It is added And he took him a potsheard to scrape himselfe withall and he sate downe among the ashes Mr. Caryl ad loc There are saith one divers aggravations of his affliction in that verse as first if wee consider the Chirurgion he could get it seems none to dresse him nor wife nor servants nor friends would meddle with him but himselfe is faine to be his owne Chirurgion he took him Secondly observe the toole or dressing instrument which he doth use it was a sheard as wee call it either because he was loath to touch his loathsome flesh with his hand or because his boyles did so over-spread his hands to the very nailes that it was a paine to him to touch himselfe he tooke a potsheard Thirdly the lodging or pallet he had to rest upon in this noisome grievous condition he maketh his bed in the dust And that either Electivè by choice in token of his abasement or necessariò out of meer necessitie being enforced thus to doe by his povertie or loathsomnesse Thus every circumstance and interpretation doth proclaime his extreame affliction Parallels in For a Westerne parallel to all this map or rather Anatomie of miseries I will gather but some particulars of the corporall and naturall sufferings and torments of our Country and Country-men in those things which doe afflict their Liberties Livelihood Lives The West is now generally become a kind of Turkey to speak vulgarly to all that are Christians indeed 1. Slaveries the Ports that are in the enemies hand are as so many Algiers and Sallies to all true protestant English Passengers for not onely their goods but their persons are there taken captives and set at ransome The In-land places are like the maine of Barbarie for the poor Country-men Yeomandry and Artificers are taken prisoners from their fields and shops at the pleasure of the nefarious and necessitous souldiers and are driven by them as their Captives into the next garrison Whence they are sold out againe at such prices and ransoms as their Patrons are pleased to set upon them Others at the Tyrants pleasure are pressed for their service and of these some are againe ransomed at the will of the petty Officers others not able to buy their lives are forced along to the assault or battaile being coupled and bound together with cords or match like dogs for the game or rather like oxen for the plough or which is worse but more proper like sheep for the slaughter if they doe attempt an escape from this death and are taken they are sure of another at the next tree by hanging their cords being removed from their armes to their necks If they goe forward to the battaile or assault they are forced on upon the Cannon like the Turkish Asapi in the front the horsmen like their Ianisaries following them closely in the reare with drawne swords and pistols cock't to prick them forward or to shoot them thorow so that all the libertie that is now left them is onely to choose from which party and in which part they will receive their death whether from the adverse party in their breasts or from their owne side in their backs Meane while the poor creatures as amazed betwixt this choice of deaths may well take up that Lamentation of the Ancient Britains our Ancestors in the downfall of Britaine when thus they write * Aetio 111 Cos. Gemitus Britanorum Repellunt Barbar ad mare repellit mare ad Barbaros Inter haec duo genera funerum aut jugulamâ—â— aut mergimur Camden 〈◊〉 Gildâ— To Aetius the Roman Consul the grâ—anes of Britains The Barbarians drive us back to the sea the sea againe putteth us back upon the Barbarians Thus between two kinds of death either our throats be cut or wee are drowned So much concerning slavery As for the cruell imprisonments that are exercised in the West it doth strike a kind of horrour into mine heart to recount them If you look to the loathsomnesse of prisons I must tell you there are such in the West as may compare with Ieremiahs dungeon into which they let him downe with cords and in the dungeon there was no water but myre so that Ieremiah sunke in the myre If you look to straightnesse and severity there is not onely the common prison but the prison of Peter as I may call it where he stept betweene two souldiers bound with two chaines 2. Imprisonments Iere. 33.6 Acts. 5.18 Acts. 12.6 Acts. 16 2â— Verse 23 24. and the keepers before the doore keept the prison Nay farther yet there is the usage of Paul and Silas even the renting of their clothes and command to beate them And when many stripes have been laid upon them a charge is given to the Iaylours to keepe them safely and thereupon they are thrust into the inner prison and their feete made fast in the stockes Where somtimes they doe receive death at their nostrils by noysome stenches and pestilent infections sometimes at their eyes which doe affect their hearts at the sight of their languishing fellow-members round about them sometimes at their cares by the blasphemous taunts and direfull threatnings and censures from the enemie but chiefly at their mouthes by cleannesse of teeth by want of physicke food and moisture for the supply of which when money hath been openly sent unto them it was seized when secretly yet it is soon exhausted by the great and high prices that small and low refreshments are set at and not onely some visiters have been denyed to speak with their languishing dying fettered husbands Nonpanis non baustus aqua non ultimus ignis Hiâ—sola haec duo sunt exul exilium Vide Senecdib de consol ad Helv. in principio children brethren but others have been imprisoned for relieving of prisoners Let me present you but with one modell of the Westerne Prisons it shall be that of Lidford which is a little straight stonie tower