shame which is apparell or in the multitude of men after him for so met vvicked Esau his Brother Iacob but in working miracles aboue the imagination of man and in preaching the Gospell with power and authority VVhereby after hee had throughly confirmed himselfe to be the owner of the Vineyards true Sonne and that these ill Hus-bandmen the Iewes should haue no credible or truth-like exception left them that they tooke him for a counterfeit or colourable practiser he went into their chiefe assemblies and there to the High-priests Heads of their Sinagogues freely deliuered his message declared from whence he came gently expostulated their ill dealing desired them to haue care of themselues told them the danger of their obstinacy and wooed them with many faire promises to repent and be conuerted All this preuailed not they set him at nought as they reiected his Fathers other Seruants the Prophets Wherefore his last refuge was to deale plainly with them and explaine to the full what plagues and warres were entring in at their gates for their disloyaltie and doggednesse In the 11. of Mathew he pronounceth grieuous woes to Corazin and Bethsaidâ—… in diuerse other places he intermixeth curses with blessings tempers Oyle with Vineger teares with threates denounceth sighing and in his sighes wel-neere swoundeth euen as a Father constrained to giue sentence on his owne Sonne In the 13. of Luke hee telleth how often he had beene an intercessor for the repriue of their punishment The Husband-man which is my Father sayth he hath come many yeeres together to a Figge-tree in his Vineyard to demaund fruite of it and found none What hath hindered him from cutting it downe but I who haue tooke vpon me to be the dresser of the Vineyard and desired him to spare it this yeere and that yeere and I would prune it dung it and digge round about it and then if it brought not forth fruit let him deale with it as he pleased Almost this 30. yeere haue I prun'd it dung'd it digd round about it that is reproued preached exhorted with all the wooing words I could endeuouring to mollify melt and pierce your hearts yet all will not serue my prayers and my paines in stead of bringing foorth repentance in you bring forth repentance in my selfe As I sayd before no remedy or signe of any breath of hope was left in their Common-wealths sinne-surfetted body but the malady of their incredulity ouer-maistred heauenly phisick To desperate diseases must desperate Medicines be applide When neither the white-flagge or the Red which Tamburlaine aduaunced at the siedge of any Citty would be accepted of the black-flag was set vp which signified there was no mercy to be looked for and that the misery marching towards them was so great that their enemy himselfe which was to execute it mournd for it Christ hauing offered the Iewes the white-flag of forgiuenes and remission and the red-flag of shedding his blood for them when these two might not take effect nor work any yeelding remorse in them the black-flagge of confusion and desolation was to succeede for the obiect of their obduration This black-flagge is waued or displayed in the 23. of Mathew where directing his speech to his Disciples and the multitude against the Scribes Pharisies that were the Princes of the people he first vrgeth the infamous disagreement of their liues and their doctrines which that it should breed no scandalous back-slyding in the harts of his Hearers he inserteth this caution Do as they say not as they doe And to like effect saith S. Augustine Sermo Dei proferat eum peccator proferat eum iustus sermo Dei est inculpabilis est The Word of God be it preacht by Hypocrite or Saint is the Word of God and not to be despised or disanuld Next this hee pronounceth eight terrible woes against them for their eight-folde hypocrisie and blindnesse Besides other fearefull comminations wherein he threatens that all the righteous blood which was shedde from the time of Abel the righteous vnto the blood of Zaccharias the Sonne of Barrachias that was slaine betwixt the Temple and the Altar should come vpon them should call and exclaime on their soules for vengeance slaine the skie with cloddred exhalations interrupt the Sunne in his course and make it sticke fast in the congealed mudde of gorie Clowdes yea dimme and ouer-cast God sitting in his Throne till he had tooke some astonishing satisfaction for it Then on the sodaine starting backe as ouer-examining the words he had sayd and condemning himselfe in his thought for being so bitter he presently vveepeth and excuseth it in these tearmes that it was not his fault but theirs O Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent vnto thee That is which are guilty of all the accusations my Father in this time would not in pitty lay against thee yea feared to be cruel in once suspecting of thee though now they are proued How often would I have gathered thy Children together as the Henne gathereth her Chickins together vnder her wings and ye would not How often would I haue reuokt reduced and brought you into the right way But you would not Therefore your habitation shall be left deso So that in these words most euidently you see he cleereth himselfe and leaueth them vnexcusable The more to penetrate and inforce let vs suppose Christ in a continued Oration thus pleading with them IErusalem the Daughter of my people I am sore vexed and compassionate for thee Ierusalem the midst of the earth the mother of vs all in the midst of whom I haue wrought my saluation Ierusalem that for all the good seede I haue sowne in thee affordest nothing but stones to throw at my Prophets thou that slayest whom I send to saue thee and imprisonest any man that wisheth thy peace thy sinnes are so great that when I looke on thee mine eyes can scarce perswade me that thou standest but that thou art sunck downe like Sodome and entombed in Ashes like Gomorra O let me pitty thee for I loue thee impatiently A thousand shapes of thy confusion muster before mine eyes the paines on the crosse I am to sustaine cannot bee so great paines vnto mee as to think on the ruine and massacre that is already trauailing towards thee Famine the Sworde and the Pestilence haue all three sworne and conspired against thee Thou one poore citty by these three vnreleming enemies shalt be ouercome Ehu quantus equis quantus viris adest sudor Alas what huge sweat and toyle is at hande for Horse and Man Heere do I weepe in vaine for no man regardeth me no man wayleth with me Heere doe I prophecie that my weeping in vayne shall bee the cause of a hundred thousand Fathers and Mothers weeping in vaine O that I did weepe in vaine that your defilements pollutions gaue mee no true cause of deplorement Often wisht I that I might haue sayd to mine eyes
they rid Miriam a Matron of great port and of high lynage discended hauing her receipt of digestion almost closed vp with fasting after she had sustained her life a large space by scraping in chaffe and muck-hils for beasts dung and that meanes forsaking her she had no other refuge of fosterment she was constrained for her liues supportance hauing but one onely sonne to kill him and roast him Mothers of London each one of you to your selues doe but imagine that you were Miriam with what heart suppose you could ye go about the cooquery of your owne children Not hate but hunger taught Miriam to forget mother-hood To this purport conceit her discoursing with herselfe It is better to make a Sepulchre for him in mine owne body then leaue him to be lickt vp by ouer-goers feete in the streete The wrath of GOD is kindled in euery corner of the Citty Famine hath sworne to leaue no breathing thing in her Wals without the Wals the Sword more vsurpeth then Famine Our enemies are mercilesse for we haue no eies to see our owne misery Not they alone besiedge vs but our sinnes also Fire and Famine afflict vs. We haue where-with-all to feed Fire and Famine but not where-with to feede our selues and our children My sonne my sonne I cannot relieue thee I haue Gold and Siluer to giue thee but not a pairing of any repast to preserue thee My son my son why should I not kill famine by killing thee ere Famine in excruciating thee kill mee O my deere Babe had I in euery limbe of mee a seuerall life so many liues as I haue limbes to Death would I resigne to saue thine one life Saue thee I may not though I should giue my soule for thee The greatest debt I haue bound thee to mee with is by bearing thee in my wombe I le binde thee to mee againe in my womb I le beare thee againe and there bury thee ere Famine shall confound thee I will vnswathe thy breast with my sharpe knife and breake ope the bone-walled prison where thy poore heart is lockt vp to be pined Those Chaines and Manacles of corruptiue bowels where-with thy soule is now fetterd will I free it from I will lend Death a false key to enter into the closet of thy breast Euen as amongst the Indians there is a certaine people that when any of their Kins-folkes are sicke saue charges of Physicke and rather resolue vnnaturally to eate them vp then day-diuersifying Agues or bloudboyling surfets should fit meale feede on them so do I resolue rather to eate thee vp my sonne and feed on thy flesh royally then inward emperishing Famine should too vntimely inage thee Would God as the men of Ephraim were not able distinctly to pronounce Shibboleth so I could not distinctly pronoune this sweet name of My sonne it is too sweet a name to come in slaughters mouth Though Dauid sung of mercy and iudgement together yet cannot I sing of cruelty and compassion together remember I am a Mother and play the murdresse both at once O therefore in my words do I striue to be tyrannous that I may be the better able to enact with my hands Sildome or neuer is there any that doth ill but speakes ill first The tongue is the encouraging Captaine that with danger-glorifying perswasion animates all the other corporeall parts to be ventrous Hee is the Iudge that doomes and determines the rest of our faculties powers are but the secular executioners of his sentence Be prest mine hands as Iaile-garding officers to see executed whatsoeuer your superior tongue-slaying Iudge shall decree Embrawne your soft-skin'd enclosure with Adamantine dust that it may draw nothing but steele vnto it Arme your selues against my son not as my son but my bed-intercepting Bastard begotten of some strumpet My heart shall receiue an iniunction imaginarily to disinherite him No relenting thought of mine shall retaine you with repentant affectionate humors I will bloud-shot mine eies that all may seeme sanguine they looke on Some dead man that is already slaine I le anatomize embowell the more to flesh my fiagers in butchering Ratifide it is bad-fated Saturnine boy that thou must be Anthropophagiz'd by thine owne mother Thou wert once the chiefe pillar of my posterity and the whole reliance of my name Well I hoped thou shouldst haue reuiued and new grafted thy fathers fame I expected Ierusalem should haue had a strong prop of thee And if at any time it were war-threatned thy right arme should haue re-tranquiliz'd and reioyc't it that the yong-men in their merry-running Madrigals and sportiue Base-bidding Roundelayes for thee should haue honoured mee That the Virgins on their loud tinternelling Timbrils and Ballad-singing daunces should haue descanted on my praises Mine age of thee expected all life-expedient necessaries My sight put not on yeares-dimnesse so soone as it would haue done onely trusting thou shouldst seale it vp when Death had dusked it My beauty-creasing cares and frowne-imitating wrinkles were wholy buried in the monumentall graue which I misdeeming deemed thy sword might dig me All these my airy-bodied expectations Famine hath dispersed I must enter thee thou canst not entombe me Thy little soule to Heauen must be sent to intelligence the calamity of Ierusalem God will haue pitty of thee and perhaps pitty Ierusalem for thee He surely will melt in remorse and wither vp the hand of his wrath when in his eares it shall be clamoured how the desolation he hath laid on Ierusalem hath compelled a tender-starued mother to kill and eate her onely sonne And yet his owne onely Childe Christ Iesus as deere to him as thou to me my sonne hee sent into the world to be crucified O sorrow conceiuing Mothers looke to haue all your children crucified to haue none of them remitted since our Husbands haue bene so hardy to lay harmfull hands on the Lord of Life Can GOD be more griefe-yeelding with the losse and life-famishing of our innocent children then hee was at the giuing vp of his owne onely Son That one deadly deed hath obdurated him and made him a hard God to all Mothers Famine the Lord hath sent thee to heape a second curse vpon Mothers Neuer shall it be said thou tookst from me my Sonne his Fathers Faulchion shall send him to sleepe with his Fathers Neither shall his death be recorded as my crime in Heauens Iudgement-booke when I but onely rid him that is as good as dead already out of the tedious paine of dying I haue no meate my son to bring thee vp with I haue no eares to giue idle passage to the plaints of thy pyning The enemies without and within shall diuide thy blouds-guilt betwixt them Amongst the rablement shalt thou not miscarry I le beare thee in my bosome to Paradice Thy tombe shall be my stomack with thy flesh will I feast mee This shall be all the childs tribute I will require of thee for the sixe yeares life
No certainer coniecture is there of the ruine of any kingdome then their reuolting from God Certaine coniectures haue wee had that wee are reuolted from God and that our ruine is not farre of In diuers places of our Land it hath rained blood the ground hath been remoued and horrible deformed births conceiued Did the Romans take it for an ill signe when their Capitoll was strooken with lightning how much more ought London to take it for an ill signe when her chiefe steeple is stroken with lightning They with thunder from an enterprise were disanimated wee nothing are amated The blazing starre the Earth-quake the dearth and famine some fewe yeeres since may nothing afright vs. Let vs looke for the sword next to remembrance and warne vs. As there is a time of peace so is there a time of warre No prosperity lasteth alwaies The Lord by a solemne oath bound himselfe to the Iewes yet when they were obliuious of him it pleased him to forget the couenant he made with their forefathers and left their Citty desolate vnto them Shall he not then we starting from him to whom by no bond he is tide leaue our house desolate vnto vs Shal we receiue of God a long time all good and shall we not looke in the end to receiue of him some ill O yee disobedient children returne and the Lord shall heale your infirmities Lie downe in your confusion and couer your faces with shame From your youth to this day haue you sinned and not obeyed the voyce of the Lord your God Now in the age of your obstinacy and vngratefull abandonments repent and be conuerted With one vnited intercessionment thus reconcile your selues vnto him O Lord our refuge from one generation to another whither from thy sight shall wee goe or whether but to thee shall we flie from thee Iust is thy wrath it sendeth no man to hell vniustly Rebuke vs not in thine anger neither chastise vs in thy displeasure We haue sinned we confesse and for our sinnes thou hast plagued vs with the sorrows of death thou hast compast vs and thy snares haue ouertooke vs out of Natures hand hast thou wrested the sword of Fate and now slayest euery one in thy way Ah thou preseruer of men why hast thou set vs vp as a mark against thee Why wilt thou breake a leafe driuen to and fro with the winde and pursue the dry stubble Returne shew thy self meruailous vpon vs. None haue we like Moses to stand betwixt life and death for vs. None to offer himselfe to die for the people that the Plague may cease O deere Lord for Ierusalem didst thou die yet couldst not driue backe the plagues destinate to Ierusalem No image or likenes of thy Ierusalem on earth is there left but London Spare London for London is like the Citty that thou louedst Rage not so far against Ierusalem as not onely to desolate her but to wreak thy selfe on her likenesse also all the honor of thy miracles thou loosest which thou hast shewed so many sundry times in rescuing vs with a strong hand from our enemies if now thou becommest our enemie Let not vvorldlings iudge thee inconstant or vndeliberate in thy choise in so soon reiecting the Nation thou hast chosen In thee we hope beyond hope We haue no reason to pray to thee to spare vs and yet haue wee no reason to spare from prayer since thou hast wild vs. Thy will be done which willeth not the death of any sinner Death let it kill sinne in vs and reserue vs to praise thee Though thou kilst vs we wil praise thee but more praise shalt thou reape by preseruing then killing since it is the only praise to preserue where thou maist kill With the Leaper wee cry out O Lord if thou wilt thou canst make vs cleane Wee claime thy promise That those which mourne shall be comforted Comfort vs Lord wee mourne our bread is mingled with ashes and our drinke with teares With so many Funeralls are we oppressed that we haue no leasure to weepe for our sinnes for howling for our Sonnes and daughters O heare the voice of our howling withdraw thy hand from vs and we will draw neere vnto thee Come Lord Iesu come for as thou art Iesus thou art pitiful Challenge some part of our sin-procured scourge to thy Crosse. Let it not bee sayd That thou but halfe satisfiedst for sinne Wee belieue thee to bee an absolute satisfier for sinne As we belieue so for thy merits sake wee beseech thee let it happen vnto vs. Thus ought euery Christian in London from the highest to the lowest to pray From Gods iustice wee must appeale to his mercy As the French King Frauncis the first a woman kneeling to him for iustice sayd vnto her Stand vp woman for iustice I owe thee if thou begst any thing beg for mercy So if we begge of God for any thing let vs begge for mercy for iustice he owes vs. Mercy mercy O graunt vs heauenly Father for thy mercy Luctus monument a manebunt FINIS Psal. 9. 16 Mat. 3. Ierem. 1. Phil. 4. Nâ—…d 10. August tom â—…0 hom 5. Tob. 4. 10. Ierem. 9. This vvas long after Christs teares ouer Ierusalem Herodot Gen. 19. Psal. 65. Dan. 12. ch 3. â—…5 * A Ballaâ—… French iâ—… song thaâ—… sang danâ—… Math. 27. 25. King 19. 22. 1. Cor. 3. 1. Tim. 6. Math. 17 Iere. 22 Math. 21. Rom 3. Math. 27. Ambro de offici Math 25. Psal. 112. Luk. 21. Gen. 4. Iob. 15. Exod. 23. Ierom on the 23. of Mathew Aug. lib 3. de lib. arbit Iob. 28. Diagoras primus De. 〈◊〉 â—…gans a Disallowed by Atheists Psal. 148. Amos. 1. Prou. 21 Ierom. ad Eustoch Esay 21. Prou. 29 1. Cor. 6 Acts 15 Ephes. 5 Ierom super Aâ—…os Iob. 6 Esay 30 Guide in musics Ierem. 9 Ierem. 5 Ezech. 3 Mat. 21. 19 Mat. 20. 19 Ierem. 23. Esay 24 Ierem. 12 Ierem. 21 Ierem. 19 Dan 2. 23 Psa. 76. Math. 8. Psalm 75 Plalm 77. Heb. 12 â—…eb 12 5. Ieb 5 17. He. 12 8 〈◊〉