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
keepe it if not to increase it but as touching my time away I let it passe I give it away I lavish it away whereas noe coveteousnesse is eyther commendable or so much as lawfull but onely the coveting of our most pretious time I commonly accuse nature or rather the God of nature for allowing mee such a short time upon earth and yet certainly I speake not as I meane I doe not account it short for I throw it away I cast it away yea I contemne it as if it were base and not worth the owning Yea more I even wish it away for sometimes I wish for the expiring of a lease sometimes for the death of a friend after whose decease I shall possesse such or such a revennue whereas the shortest of these times may be many yeeres and yet I consider not that every moment shorten's my life Thus the time it selfe is become a burden to mee for I wish to hasten it and yet I consider not that the fruition of my desires would make mee in debt to yeares a thing which I dread much more then I pretend to feare the losse of my time It is the custome of our sexe to desire to live yet not to live without our youthfull desires Ould age wee conceave may be accounted venerable but youthfull yeeres wee onely delight in thus wee contemne that which is honourable and pride our selves in that which is sinfull Wee hasten in our wishes the fleeting time but wee desire to retard the chillowed and furrowed effects thereof Wee wish too early for the time not expired and then wee wish too late for what cannot be recalled My time 〈◊〉 longest is but short very short if compared with gray-headed eternitie so was the Proâ—het's allso even the Prophet David's Ps 89.47 which made him cry out Remember how short my time 〈◊〉 wherfore hast thou made all men in vaine â—aint Paul acknowledgeth likewise the shortnesse of our age speaking thus 1. Cor 7.29 This I say brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none c And yet as short as it is I endeavour to make 〈◊〉 shorter for to speake truely the time â—yeth not away from mee but I drive it away Religious exercises make mee deeme it long and tedious but sports and delights seeme to â—end it a wing or to ympe a feather I vallew it therfore according to my imployment esteeme it onely according to my affaires If I therfore seriously consider of it I shall â—ind it flying from those that are sportfull but walking leasurely from those who either are â—mployed in matters of religion or groane under the burden of any heavy affliction Thus farre opinion either lends it wings or pulls the quills But if with a more judicious eye I prye into my life the time of my life I shall find that a greate part thereof is lost in doeing evill the most of it in doeing nothing but I feare that I may truely say all of it in doeing what I ought not And yet for all this I cry out upon my time upon my lost time but allways I conceale to my selfe the follies where in I lost this time All this I confesse why then doe I not well imploy the litle of this litle time that so when I dye I may out-live even time it selfe I am not of their opinions who attribute wisedome unto time because it discover's teache's alter's all things This is not an act of time but in time our judgments come to maturitie and in time the decayes of nature are discovered As litle allso doe I concurre with them who account it foolish because say they it is the master of oblivion for in time all things are forgotten I attribute not either wisedome or follie to the mensuration of our lives but those I deeme either wise or foolish who well or ill dispose of their time I will endeavour for so much wisedome as to imploy my dayes in religious wisedome and I will not I neede not goe farther to seeke for the foolish and unwise then to my selfe when I vainly mis-spend the jewell of a minuit Every day I will account as lost wherein I have not beene carefull to performe my duty and every such day I will endeavour to redeeme by a sorrowfull night If a haire doeth happen to fall from my head it is beyond my art to fasten it where it grew and yet I doe not use to thinke that the minuit which is past is more certainly irrevocable I can speake my words againe and againe but I cannot live over my howers againe and againe And yet for â—l this I take delight in those shadowes of â—nity but consider not that such delight is â—rrow I labour with industrie and wearinesse â—r things that are transitorie and yet I loose them before I am aware They are not gotten without dropps of sweate and they depart not from mee without dropps of teares All that time is but losse and spent in griefe which is not layed out for the purchase of eternitie All my time is un-profitably spent if it be not sâ—ent in the service of my God With him all times are alike because hee is eternall without either beginning or ending Neither past â—or present nor future can make any alteration with him because hee seeth at once ever did and ever will see all things whatsoëver which have beene are and shall be But it is not so with mee for to mee my time is measured out and delivered by instants That which was before mee was not mine and yet I reape some benefit from it because the labours and observations of former ages occurrences are left to our times to instruct as in wisedome That time which shall be when I shall be layed low in the dust shall â—ot be mine for by reason of my sinne my life shall not continue My time then is onely for a bare terme of life and how long or â—ow short this life shall continue I know not for every moment draweth mee neerer and neerer to the period thereof I reckon my present age by the yeares that are past as if those yeares were still mine owne which are escaped from mee I reckon some times before the time determine that mine age shall be so much increased when such or such a moneth shall governe in the Kalender as if I were sure of that time which I yet have not whereas if I should live as long as I desire or reckon and make account to live I should heartily wish that mine account were ended that my reckoning were discharged Short indeede my time is not onely in it selfe or considered with eternitie but allso compared with his who is the tempter for hee was a Devill before ever was created or made either man or woman and hee shall be a Devill when none shall be loft to be allured by him Hee hath had his time to tempt
the sinnes of us thy people cause thee to stoppe thine eares at our prayers 2. Chr 30.18 O heare thou our Hezekiah's praying for us who have not cleansed our selves Stay the plague from us thine Israel as thou didst from thy people Ps 106 30. Num. 16.46 when thy servant Phinehas executed judgment Cause our Aarons to take their Censers and to put fire in them from off the altar and to put on incense O let them come quickly to our congregations and make an attonement for us vers 48 Let them stand betweene the dead and the living and let the plague be stayed 2. Sam. 24.16 Thine Angel stretcheth forth his hand upon our Ierusalem to destroy it O doe thou as in the time of King David Repent thee of the evill and say unto the destroying Angell It is enough stay now thine hand Heare mee ô Lord for the distressed people and heare them for mee and heare thy Christ for us all that to him and thee and thy blessed Spirit wee may render as is most due all praise and glory and thanks-giving and obedience from this time forth for ever-more Amen THE FOURTEENTH SUBjECT Teares of her whose house is shut up for the Pestilence The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words ô Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray WHat Shut up Why so Must mine house be a prison and my selfe both the jayler and the prisoner too This is a punishment added unto God's to be thus shut up from the societie of men Is this a visitation thus to forbid our visitants Was I wont to be such a gadder abroade that I must now be kept at home under lock and key Lord how suddenly am I transported with passion even beyond the bounds of reason and religion O here is the messenger of death come into mine house and now I must be thankfull to authoritie for commanding mee to retire my selfe to my private and pensive accounts who knoweth yet but that both my selfe and my familie may live for all our inclosing It may so please my God that by my being secluded from the multitude I may shunne the infection of the multitude and so what I conceaved an iniurie may end in a blessing I may perhaps say and say truely when I am awaked fully out of my passion Gen 28.16 as Iacob did when hee awoke out of his sleepe Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not My God is come indeede Lu 7.6 allthough I am not worthy that hee should enter under my roofe O hee is come but hee is come in wrath and sheweth mee the tokens of his anger but I will submit to his pleasure and say unto him in the language of the blessed Virgin Lu 1.38 Behould the hand-mayd of the Lord be it unto mee according to thy will Who knoweth but that insteed of killing hee may come to raise mee a Lazarus Io 11.43.44 if occasion serveth as once hee did for Martha and Marie Peradventure hee may come in judgment to others and yet to mee in mercy Howsoever I will hope that I am one of those who are spoken unto from the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Come my people Is 26.20 enter thou into thy chambers shut thy doores about thee hide thyselfe as it were for a litle moment untill the indignation be over past Since then my Lord is come to be my guest my house shall be emptie swept and garnished that noe thing may offend him nothing may displease him and thus will I emptie it thus will I sweepe it thus will I garnish it Fare-well vaine world thou that hast deluded mee with thy follies and cozened mee with thy false and braided wares Come not neere mee my doores are shut and none such as thou shall enter here Fare-well false friends who onely gaze upon the rising Sunne Yee who were my companions in folly and enticers to fond and idle sports fare-well fare-well noe more shall yee enter with your bewitching charmes Sports pass-passe-times games merrie meetings gossipings fare yee all well come noe more to my doores for if yee doe come yee shall knock and knock and knock againe all in vaine for even to this purpose allso are they now made fast And now mine Eyes the lustre of my countenance yee windowes of folly take yee your leave of your vaine objects for I have a taske to set you that yee never yet were acquainted with First I will preferre you to attend upon my heart and whatever sighes sobbes my poore heart shall send forth it shall be your duety to entertaine them by the way and enforce them to accept of the companie of your teares Yee shall weepe 'till yee are wearie and then shall yee reade when indeede yee are wearie of poring upon divine pages for your re-creation yee shall weepe againe that by that meanes yee may be fitted to reade againe Next If at any time I give you leave to consult with the sister of mortalitie as some times I fhall be necessitated to afford you a time of intermission by the persuasions of nature be sure that yee stay not too long from your imployments for my hast is greate my businesse is of consequence wee have onely a litle work to doe for the King of eternitie and then wee shall be at ease And yee mine Eares that have so often hearkened to the Syren songs of the vaine world now bid yee adieu to your musicall harmonies and ravishing concords for I must lock yee up for a season and hereafter yee shall heare a melodie beyond the tuning of the spheares for the Quire of heaven shall ravish you with their Halelujah's These Hands that so proudly hid themselves under the skinne of the kidde and blushed when they were beheld by any lesse then an idolater shall now entwine each other in a mutuall concord and then revenging the quarrell of their sinnes upon my trecherous heart they shall smite it and thumpe it and beate it untill they have mollified it untill they have beaten that stone into flesh and that flesh into water and forced that water into teares for the sinnes of my whole selfe Next my Tongue mine un-toward un-ruely wanton tongue my false pick-thanke tell-tale tongue that couldest never find the way to tell the trueth or not willingly or not with delight thou for thy idle thy prophane thy wicked speeches shalt send out nothing but cryes and yells and hideous dinus and horrid screeches for thine offences and if at any time I fhall by thine obsequious service be contented to trust thee with an articulate prayer be sure that thou first take direction from my heart Chanter in french signifieth to sing Ps 141 3. and then chant it out so lowde but forget not discretion that it may be heard up as high as
Ier 3.22 And this is hee to whom Israel replyeth and saith vers 23 Behold wee come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Truely in vaine is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountaines truely the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel This is hee who promiseth unto Zion c 30.17 saying I will restore health unto thee and I will heale thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an out-cast saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after This is the same Lord to whom the people of Israel addressed themselves Hos 6.1 when they said Come let us returne unto the Lord for hee hath torne and hee will heale us hee hath smitten and hee will bind us up Since then my God hath cured both lands and waters and bodies and soules Since hee woundeth and hee healeth none can deliver out of his hand Since hee bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up Since hee woundeth and his hands make whole Since it is hee onely who forgiveth all our iniquities healeth all our diseases and saveth our lives from destruction Since it is hee that bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroake of their wound Since it was hee that promised to penitent Iudah that hee would restore comforts to him and to his mourners Since it is hee alone who is the salvation of Israël Since it is hee that promised unto Zion to restore health unto her and to heale her of her wounds I will resolve therfore with the people of Israel to returne unto him for hee hath torne mee and hee alone can heale mee hee hath smitten mee and hee alone can bind mee up To him to him will I humbly sue for the cure of my wounded and distressed soule and to him will I willingly submitt my weake and feeble body I will powre out my soule unto him I will send up my supplications unto him and will pray and say The Prayer GReate Creatour full of compassion who both sendest sicknesse and restorest health be thou graciously pleased I most humbly beseech thee to turne thy wrath from thy distressed servant Thy hand ô Lord is heavie upon mee in this languishing consumption and the sting of my transgressions pierceth mee with sharpe and grievous torments Yet I must confesse ô my God that my sufferances doe not any wayes equall mine offences nor can the paines which I endure satisfie thee mine offended Lord for the least of my transgressions O my sinnes are upon mee Eze 33.10 and I pine away in the punishment for them how then shall I live My body languisheth my flesh consumeth Ps 22.15 Ps 39.11 Iob 33 19. vers 20 and now am I very neere drawne unto the dust of death Thou with thy rebukes doest correct mee for mine iniquities thou makest my beautie to consume away like a moath I am chastened with paine upon my bed and the multitude of my bones with strong paine so that my life abhorreth bread and my soule the daintie meate that is to be desired vers 21 My flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seene and my bones that were not seene vers 22 stick out My soule draweth neere unto the grave and my life to the destroyers But yet I know that with thee ô God is compassion Mat 9.12 and tender mercies The whole have noe neede of the Physitian but such as I who am sick and in miserie O that it might be sayd of mee as it was by Mary concerning her brother Lazarus Io 11.3 even that Shee whom thou lovest is sick O my God make mee thy friend in heart and soule and graunt that I may expresse it in my dutifull obedience to all thy commandements and then be thou my friend in thy succour and reliefe Ps 41.1 vers 2. Deliver mee now in this time of trouble preserve mee and If it may be thy good pleasure keepe mee alive make mee blessed upon the earth and deliver mee not over into the hands of death vers 3. Lord strengthen mee upon this my bed of languishing make thou turne thou all my bed in my sicknesse Thou hast chastened mee sore Ps 118.18 Ps 116.8 vers 9. Ps 143.6 ô give mee not over unto death but deliver my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feete from falling that I may walke before thee in the land of the living Vnto thee ô my God doe I stretch forth my hands my soule thirsteth for thee as a thirstie land vers 7. Heare mee speedily ô Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from mee for I am become like unto them that goe downe into the pit Thou hast promised by thine Apostle Iam 5.15 that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and that thou wilt raise him up Lord I pray unto thee strengthen thou my faith I am sick Lord raise thou mee up and make good unto mee that thy promise by thy holy Apostle Heale mee ô Lord Ier 17.14 and I shall be healed save mee and I shall be saved for thou art my praise O Lord I call upon thee Ps 141.1 hast thee unto mee consider my voyce now I cry unto thee and restore mee to health But howsoever if thou hast otherwise determined of mee ô my Iesus cleanse thou mee by thy blood and cure my soule by the merits of thy passion My sinnes I must confesse are the cause of my sicknesse but doe thou ô God Ps 44.22 blott out as a thick clowde my transgressions as a clowde my sinnes returne unto mee for thou hast redeemed mee O give mee patience in this time of adversitie give mee comfort in the examples of thy mercy and give mee assurance of thy love in the sanctifying of this sicknesse unto mee As my body doeth dayly draw neerer to the earth so make my soule allso dayly draw neerer unto heaven If it may be thy pleasure to restore mee to health againe ô let it be thy mercy allso to renew mine obedience But if thou art resolved by this disease to free mee from the labours of this wearisome world and to bring mee downe to my grave for thy Christs sake o my mercifull and indulgent father bring thou my soule into thy celestiall paradise O graunt that my sinnes may consume farre faster then doeth my flesh and as thou takest away the strength of my body so be pleased to adde unto the strength of my faith I am thine ô Saviour and cost thee deere even the very blood that issued from thy crucified body be thou allso mine ô Iesus both now and for ever Abate the temptations â—… Satan and arme mee with strength to resist his suggestions Ravish my soule with the love of thy selfe that so I may with willingnesse forsake the vanities of this world with readinesse lay downe this tabernacle of flesh and with comfort that my soule may