Western Forces to pray for your Militia that the God of Abraham would be a sunne and a shield to all your Catechised Souldiery for such was Abrahams that you have or shall send down but especially as a Publike and some-what Representative Minister I shall continually cry to heaven for your good successe in the all-in-all of Reformation Zech. 8.7 8 and that the Lord of hosts will save his people from the East Country and from the West Country and will bring them that they may dwell in the midst of our Jerusalem that they may be his people and hee their God in truth and in righteousnesse And let the Lord Heb. 6. â—0 which is not unrighteous never forget your worke and labour of love which yee have shewed towards his Name in that yee have minstred to the Saints and doe minister And we desire that every one of you doe shew the same diligence Verse 11. to the full assurance of our hope unto the end This is the prayer of Your Honours humble and reall Servant John Bond. Savoy Jan. 20. 1644. To all well-affected tender-hearted Christians inhabiting the famous City of London and within the Line of Communication Duely Honoured and Beloved I Have read that there growes a a Caussin Hieroglyph lib. 10. Parab 4. tree not far from Malaca whose rootes doe spread diversly abroad those of them which do run towards the East are wholsome and medicinall yea they are an antidote against poisons but such as doe spread themselves towards the West are venemous and deadly such a tree as this it hath pleased the Lord now to plant in this land and me thinks it growes upon the border betwixt the old kingdomes of the East and West Saxons that is in the most Easterly edge of Hampshire for all the Counties beyond that place Westward are over-spread with sad roots of bitterness bringing forth nothing but gall worm wood wheras the other Counties of the land on this side Eastward are safe and medicinall and these contrary dispensations of providence as they doe call upon you Amos 4.7 the children of the East to blesse that Lord which causeth it to raine mercie or judgements upon one Country and not upon another so doe they enforce and encourage us Westerne exiles to implore some healing for our Country from those wings of yours under whose feathers many of our pilgrims have already found a covering In hope and pursuance of that healing was I emboldned to offer unto you a mid-wifes place in the birth of this Treatise and that you may adventure to read it over I shall promise you that this Westerne historie is not like your creatures of a day at Westminster 't is not like your every dayes Mercurian dew of News which is dayly exhaled and evaporated that is growne stale and doubtfull by that time the sun ariseth in ' its strength but in many of these sad passages I doe but testifie what I have seen in others I have considered that Fame in these dayes hath lost her credit and therefore accordingly I have not trusted her without sufficient sureties So that the sad history of this book is but too true though I confesse not full enough Once I had thought to have added marginall instances but did forbeare partly because I conceived them not the most fit company for a sermon and partly because I found them too many and copious for a margin Pauper is est numerare pecus As for the divine matter of these sermons they do Apologize Confesse Petition Direct for the good of your most afflicted brethren By the first I hope they will undeceive such as shall read impartially and as for others which will a Non amo te Sabidi nee possum dicere quare c. not beleeve any good reports of the West because they will not I shall only answer them that they will mis-judge because they will By the second third and fourth which are the discoveries of the great evils of those most lamentable Counties c. we do call for pitie from all brethren and friends but especially from this great Citie which the Lord hath hitherto made a publike fountain of help and the very poole of Bethesda to all impotent parts and almost people of the land John 5.7 but the West hath layen longest in the porch wanting a hand to put it into the waters Surely there was a time when those five Counties did by their b Devon Kersies c Wilts Corne d Somerset Cattle e Dorset Sheep and f Cornwall Tinne afford in good measure both b clothing c bread and d flesh yea e dishes and all to this great City and such a time againe may returne but at present those Shires and the well-affected of them would faine borrow a bucket or two of help from your ocean to set their pumps a going I meane to put them into an able posture for the defence of themselves I remember 't is recorded that the g Keker in praesat ad Geegraph Queen of Castillia did sel her jewels to furnish Columbus for his discovering voyage to the West-Indies when hee had shewed his Maps though the English Courtiers saith mine Author did deride his profers and thereby the new world of America was found and gained to the Spanish Crowne Surely there is great adventure now to be made for reducing of the little Kingdome of West-England and the Londoners hitherto have been the greatest adventurers for this cause Oh read over my Maps and doe like your selves But besides that great occasion there is also another petty adventure for the West at this time required it is that you would h Eccles 11.1 cast your bread upon the waters for the present support of many Westerne exiled Pilgrims which have not onely long since laid out and left the bulke of their estates for the testimony of Iesus but have lately spent the last meal of their barrell the utmost oyle of their Cruse in these parts and now so it is that dig they cannot and to beg they are ashamed yea and almost to receive Ye shall therefore doe well if like the i 2 Tim. 1.16 17. house of Onesiphorus Ye seeke them out very diligently and find them Brethren though my selfe and some others have our k Prov. 30 8. Agurs commons our l Exod. 16.16 Omer-full for our day yet give me leave and the more freely to tell you that the Lord hath set this great City to be his Steward and Almoner for the distressed brethren and I must adde he hath given you three for one for all your free disbursements for his sake First he hath given you that ability and substance which you have laid out for 't is e Pro. 10.4.22 the blessing of God with the hand of the diligent that maketh rich f 1 Sam. 25.11 My bread and my water and my flesh was the language of Naball Next
in that the Lord himselfe is against him and doth overthrow compasse refuse cross strip Job 19. v. 6 7 8 9 10 11. and oppose him and at last letteth loose a proper word for our case and time his troupes to encampe round about his tabernacle Secondly hee complaines Second that Civill and externall helpers doe forsake him All relations did shrinke at once brethren are removed Vers 13 14. and friends estranged Kins-folk faile and familiar friends have forsaken him His owne familie doe alienate and accompt him as a stranger Vers 15.16.17.18 Prov. 18.24 more particularly his servants his wife his children are deafe dumbe and disdainfull Yet you will say there is a bosome friend that sticks closer then a brother But his inward friends or the men of his secrets they abhorred him yet the spirit of a man will support his infirmities Yea but Vers 19 Third Thirdly his very naturall and corporall abilities doe faile him too his bones clave to the skin and to his flesh and hee is escaped only with the skin of his teeth Vers 20. That is he hath nothing left but his lipps to moane and complaine withall and therefore suffer him to make use of these in this doubled out-crie and lamentation Have pitie upon me have pitie upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me The Text in ' its Easterne consideration with particular respect to Iob himselfe Division may fitly be called The plundred mans out-crie But in ' its Westerne reading with reference to us and our Countrie let it be intituled The petition of the West In which observe First the Petitioner that is in the letter Iob once the richest now the poorest still the holiest man in the East But in the antitype our desolate Countrie Me. Secondly the Petitioned they are Iobs three friends of whom mention was made before Now when Iobs three friends heard of all this evill which was come upon him Iob â—â— they came every one from his owne place Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuite and Zophar the Naamathite for they had made an appointment together to come to mourne with him and to comfort him Yee my friends Thirdly the Prayer of the Petition and thorow it I must lead you a little further into two particulars therin contained which are First the matter prayed for that is Compassion sympathie Have pitie Secondly the forme of the prayer it is sharpned and quickned both with an Interjection which shewes that his tongue was too narrow for his heart O and with a double repetition of the act and of the object Of the act Pitie Pitie Of the object Me Me. The act is doubled to shew that he had need of double pitie The object to shew that he had double need of that compassion Fourthly and finally the ground of the whole Petition in the last clause for the hand of God hath touched me where note The author or inflicter God which shewes his sorrow to be divine and from above and not so much a punishment for sin as an affliction and triall but withall unavoydable Then the instrument if I may so call it his hand which signifieth the weight one of his fingers being more heavie then the whole loynes of the greatest of men especially when that hand doth touch him that is touch him home and to the quick for so you may here understand that expression The more full explanation of all these termes may bee given anon when I shall againe fetch them about in my application For present only thus much As I was loath to set a whole loafe before you and therfore have thus divided the Text so I am as unwilling to crumble out all these particulars into severall Doctrines which were the way * Non plura faciunt sed minutiora Quintil. not to make more matter of this verse but lesse I shall therefore take this one Observation from the whole That Doct. The deepe aflictions of friends doe call for double compassion This Observation is the expresse image of the Text. Only there may lie one objection against the latitude of my inference which is this Object Iobs case and crie in the Text were but particular and personall this conclusion in the Doctrine seemes to be generall and indefinite and it is against the lawes of Logick to draw so broad an inference from so narrow premisses Answ I shall therefore endeavour to bring a whole cloud of other witnesses to make out this truth that so if it be denied as an enthimem yet it shall be proved and granted by an induction Let us therefore looke abroad into other scriptures after two other kinds of proofes viz First divine precepts from God Demonstrations by Secondly humane presidents from the Saints both these doe strengthen my assertion First Divine precepts Divine precepts This booke of Job seemes to have recorded this same text more then once To him that is afflicted or to him that melteth pitie should be shewed from his friends The former part of the verse seemeth to be the ground of the latter Iob 6.14 namely because he is afflicted therefore his friends should pitie him And the neglecter of this dutie is charged with no lesse then want of the feare of God in the close of the verse but hee forsaketh the feare of the Lord. Hee i.e. the man which omitteth this friendly office Next to shew how received and common a truth this is the spirit of God speaking by the wisest of Kings doth turne it into a common proverbe setting it downe among the rest A friend that is as a friend loveth or ought to love at all times and a brother whether naturall Pro. 17.17 civill or spirituall is borne for adversitie So then compassion in distresse is a principall both act and duty of friendship Nay the wise man hath a second proverbe to the same purpose A man that hath friends especially if distressed must shew himselfe friendly Prov. 18.24 chiefly in compassion and there is a friend that sticketh closer then a brother But this is specially a Gospell-precept heare the Doctor of the Gentiles Rom. 12.10 be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love or in the love of brethren But this inward impression must have its outward expression too distributing to the necessities of the Saints Vers 13. that is making things common both good and evill wants and fulnes Vers 15. Then it followes reioyce with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe that is hold a Christian sympathy with your brethren on both hands in prosperity with them that rejoyce and in adversitie with them that weepe Also see in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Let brotherly love continue Heb. 13.1 2 3 Be not forgetfull to entertain strangers Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body It seemes
laid against us Object 1 The Westerne folke will some say are an unworthie people Answ Beware of drawing sinfull inferences from sorrowfull premisses by concluding that such a man or people are wicked because they are wretched sinners because sufferers This was the false sophistry of Iobs three friends for which the Lord doth as it were enjoyne them penance Iob. 42.7 8. and amerceth them in the end of that book Nay this was the barbarous Malta-logick of those Islanders amongst whom St. Paul was cast ashoare at Mâ—lita And when the Barbarians saw the venemous beast hang on his hand Acts 28.4 they said among themselves No doubt this man is a murtherer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet vengance suffereth not to live But when he shook off the beast into the fire Vers 5. they did as easily change their opinions to the other extreame and indeed none are more light and lavish in applauding then those which are most rash and severe in censuring But this fault I find may overtake the disciples themselves â—â—h 9. â— 2. When they saw a man that was blind from his birth they asked Iesus Master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind Christs answer telleth us that the Lord hath many other principall ends and causes for afflicting his people besides their sins as there his end was that the works of the Lord should be made manifest Vers 3. so in Iobs case he meant to set up a paterne of patience and of the reward thereof And in that of Paul he intended to honour the person and ministery of his servant in the eyes and hearts of the Barbarians Object 2 But the Objector chargeth againe telling us that Cowardise and Covetousnesse lost the West Answ I might first answer generally in the words of an * Iraset qâ—an donaâ—e vilius conslat Mart. acute Heathen that it is more cheape and easie to fall out with the distressed then to relieve their distresses But I will speake particularly to the severall charges of Cowardise and Covetousnes First to that of Cowardise I could returne many answers viz. 1. To the Charge of Cowardise 1. Who is he I pray you that is the God of the spirits of all flesh whose prerogative it is especially in war-like actions both to heighten the spirits of the faint and to flatten the courage of the mighty And when did the Lord so evidently and ordinarily exercise this his spirituall prerogative as in the present warres of his people in this Land Doubtlesse brethren it is not all Cowardise and treachery which we doe commonly call so in these times though I confesse there hath been too much of both sorts almost continually amongst us and I could wish that the extraordinary finger of God in this spirituall particular might be more observed and acknowledged 2. Secondly remember that those Westerne combustions did begin with the present generall and publike warres So that it was then the very Tyrocinium of all our Souldiery the first and suddaine shooting of Guns in earnest at which it is common even for valiant men a while to winke at the firing and to startle at the report of an Ordnance these and such-like allayes might be given But 3. Thirdly I doe answer by denying that charge of Cowardise upon that * At Minedip Hills in Sommerset about 30000. Commons appeared at once for the Parliament in the beginning against the Generallny of their Gentry In Devon at 2. several times at least 10000. each time all completely armed and paid by the same County And great forwardnes in the rest of the Counties Cornwall it selfe not excepted Country as unjust and for proof of that deniall could easily bring forth a whole cloud of publike and reall witnesses as the numerous frequent free appearances of great armies of common people upon slender summons or rather upon bare leave to appeare their willing tedious attendances at their own charges and begging permission to fall on c. And all this amidst often and heavy discouragements Some Counties going on against the streame of those which should have been their Leaders but did destroy the way of their Pathes Others had such Leaders as as would have caused them to erre Isai 9.16 yea as would have guided them as that Prophet led the blind-fold Syrians into Samaria instead of Dotham yet still the poore willing Commons leaving both the Kings high-way and their Malignant Gentry continued appearing waiting marching and fighting though in many places like sheep without a shepheard untill it hath pleased the Lord out of his secret Counsell and for our sins to give us up as a prey to the will of our enemies 2. To the Charge of Covetousnesse Secondly for answer to the charge of Covetousnesse aske of others and they shall tell you Aske the publike and private Treasurers for Ireland-subscriptions both gifts and adventures for the Parliament Propositions and for our own particular Westerne warres and fortifications all these will abundantly certifie you But as that proportionist did draw the whole stature of Hercules by the print of his foot so I could give you out of one of those five Shires best knowne to my selfe a guesse of the cordiall munificence of the whole 150000â— out of Devon Exon. Beside their sufferings If many scores of thousands have been laid out by one single County then admire the vast expences of all the five But it is still objected Object 3 Your enemies were few and contemptible at the first Alas Answ so were the enemies of the whole Kingdome at the beginning perchance fewer then ours remember the little cloud at Nottingham and by that you may see Secondly that the race is not to the swift Eccles 9.11 nor the battell to the strong but time and change happeneth to them all saith the wise Preacher especially thirdly when the Lord of Hosts createth trouble to a sinfull people and giveth commission to his revenging sword to passe through a Land beleeve it then they are not all your strength and counsell power and policy that can sheath up or keep off such an enemy But why did you lose so vast Object 4 so rich so populous a Country so easily Answ I answer First 1. doubtlesse the meritorious causes were our sins and the safest construction and best application that we Westerne exiles can make of our sufferings will be to take up that of lamenting Jeremiah Lament 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain It is a mercy that we are men and not beasts that we are alive this day and not fallen among the slaine a man for the punishment of his sinnes that is the Lord hath done us no wrong we doe suffer justly yea mercifully for our trespasses Let us search and try our waies and turne again to the Lord That is selfe examination and selfe-reformation Verse 40. are our most proper and profitable
as to flutter or to peep openly but is forced to sit downe in silence 2 Sam 3 15 16. as Phaltiel the sonne of Laish was hush'd when Abner the Commander carried away his wife before his eyes Another Place Person or Town-ship peradventure have stood too Townishly upon their Priviledges and Liberties bearing themselves too high because of Friends Charters and Worship and therefore it may be the Lord hath proportionably set a Leopard to watch over them 〈◊〉 5 6. and their Cities so that every one that goeth out thence is in danger to be torne in pieces that is their Patron is a Miscreant one that delights in bloud and rapine Or to make but one Supposition more You know Brethren that sinfull strangenesse and neglect of Christian communion hath been too great a fault amongst Westerne Professors And now behold how proportionably doth the Lord punish us for this sinne by forcing us thus together as a Shepherd doth fetch in his stragling sheep with his dog hee causeth him to bite one and to lugge another untill hee hath brought them into a close and compact body together Some of us heretofore were scarcely well acquainted with our nextneighbour-professors and therefore wee are now made nextneighbours to our Brethren of other Shires And behold this one Church doth containe at once the Exiled fragments of five spacious Counties which are forced by one common calamity to bee weeping Pew-neighbours this day But now if after all this constrained acquaintance and forced communion wee shall still retaine and cherish our old sinne of unchristian distance then beleeve it Brethren beleeve it the Lord will make us friends and familiars at dearer rates and by some sharper meanes Perhaps bee will imprison us next in the same Gaole yea fetter and manacle us together with the same Irons remember my words and so try whether or no one Dungeon one Chaine or one Fire as it was in Queene Maries dayes will make us to associate and grow acquainted â—â—is and Moâ—uâ—ieâ—â—s for so I have read Doctor Ridley a Conformist and Master Hooper a Non-Conformist both Bishops were reconciled by Martyrdome Thus you see that this help of finding sinnes by their Proportions with their punishments is a quick and searching receipt I should bee very loath to give gall and worm-wood to any place or person that is upon the Crosse but I should bee as loath on the other side to neglect the giving of a wholesome though bitter potion of cleansing physicke now that our soules are prepared and opened by afflictions And this is the reason why I have gone so deep with these Probes And now to close up let mee beseech and charge you and my selfe to make use of all these helps and hints in secret betwixt God and our consciences The Lord hath given us leasure more than enough to study our Country and to read over our by-past dayes and actions hee hath also added the provocatives of banishment and distresse Afflictions must be Instructions Times of afflictions are times of instructions let it bee our care to make them such unto our selves And to help us therein let us know that Affliction doth further Instruction two wayes First a remembrancer of sinne that was before forgotten Gen. 41 1â— This wee see in Josephs brethren when hee had put them all together into ward three dayes in Egypt They said one to another Verse 21. Wee are verily guilty concerning our brother in that wee saw the anguish of his soule when hee besought us and wee would not heare therefore is this distresse come upon us Observe there how the proportion of their punishment did bring their sinne to remembrance Their fault was unbrotherly cruell dealing with Joseph in selling him into Egypt and this they doe now call to mind by that harsh usage and imprisonment which themselves have met withall in the same Egypt Thus Affliction is a tell-troth a remembrancer of sinne Next it is also an humbler for sinne that had not been duly felt before This wee see in Manasseh's case who in the day of his prosperity puffed at God and his Prophets 2 Châ—on 33.11 Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the hoste of the King of Assyria which tooke Manasseh among the thornes and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon This was the way to take and tame such a wilde Asse of the wildernesse First the Lord drives him to the hedge and makes him hide his head in a bush among the thornes next hee doth fetter and as it were crosse-fetter him and so carryes him to the Pound he bound him with chaines and carried him to Babylon This round usage breaks his spirit and makes him fall to begging of mercy And when hee was in affliction hee besought the Lord his God Verse 12. and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers Let us in like manner accept of and apply the punishment of our iniquities and with Daniel in his exilement Dan. 9.20 thus confesse our owne sinne and the sinne of our people presenting our supplication before the Lord our God for the holy Mountaine of our God So much be spoken concerning the cause or matter of our Lamentation for our Country namely the evils of sinne which are found there And in this generall I have beene the more large because the mourning for sinne is the most spirituall and ingenuous of all sorrowes and because this is that onely right way that our selves and our little ones must tread if wee meane to returne and see our native Country againe Secondly 2. Mourn for the sufferings of the West Let us also lament and mourne over the Countries of our Nativity because of their Penall evills that is the evills of suffering which are the effects and punishments of those sinnes The former consideration ought to move every Christian to pity the West because of their sinnes but this argument should prevaile with every one that hath the bowels of humanity to weep over them even because of their sufferings If there bee any quarter of this Land that may at present be properly called The Job-like part of great Britaine then certainly the West hath great right to that Epithite How great a right I shall shew and prove in an ensuing Parallel In which wee will endeavour to set the afflicted man Job of the East and the afflicted Job-like Country of the West over against each other 1 Sam. 20.41 that so like David and Jonathan they may strive together in weeping untill wee shall see which exceedeth The miseries of both those Jobs that Man and this Country have beene some-what Methodicall A Parallel betwixt the miseries of Job and the West viz. The same Satan and his like Instruments have kept well-nigh the same order in laying on torments upon them both The generall parts of their miseries may bee these two First the Vnde the top station or pinacle from
scituate in a barren desolate moore or wildernesse the place is as farre from all fertilitie as commerce no harvest no trading are there to be found but the prison it selfe seemes to be banished and imprisoned In short the whole soyle of that moor is like the banished * stoicks Corsica yeelding nor bread nor water no nor fire enough saith he for a funerall In this prison diverse debtors â—â—ve been starved and some were said to eate their owne flesh even in those times of peace and plenty Guesse yee then what cries and yells for bread and water there are now to be heard amongst the many scores which at present are shut up in that straight prison Yea the passengers doe heare the cries ere they see the prison For a close to this point of Imprisonments take but this one word It is a like difficult thing to find amongst our enemies in the West a wicked man in their prisons or a godly man out of them 3. Deaths Lastly if we look to varieties of Deaths and Banishments there is stabbing shooting hanging both by order and at pleasure besides other multitudes of Saints doe die daily by wandring up and downe in dons and caves and holes of the earth yea some with their families have inhabited the woods and clefts of the rocks nay the tops of the ragged rocks Sometimes leading their hungry little ones in their hands and anon carrying them along in their armes to goe and make their bed in the dust and to seek their bread out of desolate places Math. 2.18 all destitute afflicted tormented There you might see in the streets a Rachel a mother weeping for her slaine children Gen. 21.15 16. and will not be comforted because they are not Here in a wood sits another Hagar-like with a dry bottle and a fainting sonne and she lifts up her voice and weeps Not farre off in an house you may discover a third like her of Zarephath â— Kin. 17.12 dressing and baking up the last meale of the Barrell with the utmost oyle of the Cruse that she and her family may eate it and die Yea it hath beene a lot which Ladies of honourable Families have not escaped viz. after they have bin deprived of their houses by fire of their goods by plundring of their lands by Sequestration of their Sons under yeares by imprisonment at last to escape to the next Garrison on foot almost bare-footed in borrowed shooes leaving their wearing Garments in the hands of the Enemy But what doe I multiply instances seeing the bare History of Westerne sufferings of this kind would seeme but meere Poetry to the multitude 3. The Afflicting of Job in his Soule The third and highest degree or common place of the enemies cruelty upon Job was afflicting of him in his soule with spirituall scourges and scorpions by temptations false accusations and desertions This was indeed like the breaking of the bones and chopping of them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Cauldron Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life so said Satan when he compared Jobs goods with his body but Christianity will tell us life for life and all that a man is will he give for his soule And againe Prov 18.14 the spirit of man will support his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can beare In the last place therefore the enemy doth set upon his soule by a strong temptation from the wife of his bosom Then said his wife unto him Iob 2.9 Wilt thou still retaine thine integrity Curse God and die In which words there is a scornefull exprobration and a wicked direction the exprobration in these words Dost thou still retaine thine integrity As if shee had said what art thou so senselesse so sottish as still to goe on in this course What have all thy prayers fastings and sacrifices profited thee Where are the â—arnings what is the advantage of thine holinesse and singularity And yet dost thou still retaine thine integrity Away with these emptie shewes and fruitless devotions delude thy selfe no longer with dreaming of help and happinesse from thy Jehovah but seeing there is no hope of thy deliverance by his blessing dispatch thy selfe with a curse Curse God and die These bolts came from his wife next what sharpe and keen charges doth he receive from his mistaking friends Who by their false accusations and conclusions against him did endeavour to dispute him out of his innocency Thus Eliphaz begins to charge him Remember I pray thee who ever perished Iob 4.7 being innocent or where were the righteous cut off Then Bildad doth second him Doth God pervert judgement Iob 8.3 or doth the Almighty pervert justice And lastly Iob 11.2 3. Zophar the Naamathite is in the same straine Should a man full of talke be justified should thy lips make men hold their peace These are the darts of his friends But finally the Lord himselfe doth strike him thorow with spirituall agonies and desertions of which he complaineth in these words The arrowes of the Almighty are within me Iob 6.4 the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God doe set themselves in array against me The Caldeans and Sabeans the losses of his goods and children together with the ulcers of his body the cruell mistakes of his friends and the malignancy of his wife were all as nothing to this spirituall battell-array Parallels In my Westerne parallel to this affliction I must double my Lamentations Alas alas poore native Country This last degree of Jobs misery is the highest and heaviest of all so is it that wherein thou canst most aptly and fully compare with this thy pattern For Did Satan turne the mouth of Jobs owne Ordnance upon himselfe 1. Friends and kinsfolks treacherous Gen 10.25 making his friends to become miserable comforters Did also the wife of his bosome turne Malignant Surely these our dayes are as the dayes of Peleg in whose time the earth was divided they are the very times of division which were fore-told by our Saviour when he sayes There shall be five in one house divided three against two Luke 12.51 52.53 compared with Matth. 10.34 35 36. and two against three it is like that the three were Malignants the father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother the mother in law against her daughter in law and the daughter in law against her mother in law Loe there are the five Stella ad loc if you take the same woman to be both the mother to her son and the mother in law to his wife But though a shower of stormy divisions hath over-spread the whole Land in generall Luke 12.54 yet you see this cloud arising especially in the West there is the father divided against the son that is many an old wicked
ambitious Machivillian Saul is there to be found hating his sweet and faithfull son Ionathan for cleaving to the just and holy cause of David 1 Sam 20.30 31. the men after Gods owne heart yea he is enkindled against him railing at him and calling him perverse Rebell a remarkeable Title and telling him that he will confound himselfe and the whole family by taking this side c. This is the father against the son 2 Sam. 15 16 17 Chapters Next there is also the son against the father that is many a bushie bloody ambitious Absalom is there to be found which doth not stick to murther his owne brethren to plunder and defile his fathers house and to drive him if he be a man after Gods own heart weeping and bare-foot both from his owne habitations Filius ante diem c. and from the publike ordinances and all this to get the inheritance unto himselfe before the time this is the son against the father As for mothers and daughters c. There you might see in every County many an unnaturall massacring Athaliah 2 King 11.1 that doth not sticke to swim to her own ends through a stream of guiltlesse bloud 2 Chron. 22.10 And many an hollow complementall Orpah which doth kisse and weepe over the cause of God and those which doe travaile for it Ruth 1.14 but takes leave of them both at last But what do I straighten my selfe with instances There are and have beene revolts treacheries and false charges practised discovered and laid on in those parts by all sorts of friends and relations In Families there are Nabal-like husbands 1 Sam. 25.17 that doe hold under their wise and holy Abigails so that they cannot speake unto them for this Cause And contrariwise 2 Sam. 6.16 20. there are some Michal-like Wives too that scoffe at their Davids for their zeale in this Service Amongst Brethren Gen. 4.8 there is many a Cain rising up against his righteous brother and slaying him because his owne workes are evill and his brothers good Yea amongst Twinns there are Esaus Gen. 32.6 that doe arme themselves against their brethren and their families because God is with them Amongst Professors and professed friends there is many an Edomitish Doeg 1 Sam. 22.9 10. 1 Sam. 23.12 that ensnareth the Lords Ministers yea some Keilites whole Parishes that have betrayed their Protectors Amongst Servants and Clients many a Ziba delating his absent innocent Master 2 Sam. 16.2 3 to get his lands Many a * Sir Curson as I remember Speeds Chron. H 7. Popilius Fabricius in Histor Cicer. Mat. 26.14 2 Sam. 4.7 8. that begs a Commission to cut off the head of that Cicero which defended him yea many a Judas that selleth his Lord for silver pieces Amongst Commanders and Counsellors there hath been many a Baanah and Rechab that sold their Lords head for preferment Many a subtil Renegado that did not stick to wound himselfe like Synon that he might thereby betray others or to bee a proscribed and proclaimed Rebell amongst other men like that Knight in King Henry the seventh's time that so hee might bee admitted freely to their Councell and thereby give intelligence to the Enemy Brethren I remember that the * Hor. Apol. Niliac in Hieroglyph lib. 1. numb 66 Nichol Caussino Interprete Egyptians in their Hieroglyphicks did signifie the West by a Crocodile which is a beast that doth ensnare and so kill Passengers by his teares And I am perswaded that our West hath been the greatest Country of adventitious and some home-bred Crocodiles in the whole Kingdome So much concerning the mischiefes that did come from pretended friends who were parallel to Jobs Wife and his three miserable Comforters But Did that Wife and those Friends of Job taunt and upbraid him with heart-piercing language 2. Enemies Blasphemous Did they tempt and cut him with blasphemies Herein the poore Westerne suffering Saints can also compare For I am perswaded upon too good grounds that the blasphemous insolencies even of Pharaoh Sennacherib Rabshakeh and that Apostate Julian himselfe have been matched and equalled by the Enemies in those parts Pharaoh you know did say I know not the Lord neither will I obey his voyce to let Israel goe Sennacherib and Rabshakeh said Let not Hezekiah deceive you Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee c. and Julian was wont when he buffeted and tormented the Christians scoffingly to apply some Text of Scripture unto them as bidding them to turne the other cheeke also c. Surely many of our eares eyes and skins have heard seene and felt horresco referrens even as horrid things as these We have heard as a godly * Mr. H. P. Minister now with God said with tears as hee marched out of Exon both all the Attributes and all the Ordinances of God blasphemed over and over in one day and that not by two or three but by their whole Armies Insomuch that my selfe have wondred to heare so much Scripture and Divinity from the mouthes of divers of the illiterate ignorant and fottish common Souldiers as they have belched out in taunting blasphemies as Where are now your long sanctified prayers by the Spirit What is become of your holy Humiliations and Supplications c. But especially mee thought they did still fly in the face of our God scoffing abundantly more at him than at any yea all his servants besides as Where is your God now O yee Hypocrites Where is your holy Cause your Cause and all your hopes Now you shall see God will come downe from heaven yes by-and-by you shall see it No no farewell heaven heaven is gone your God is asleep c. Oh I am loath to beleeve mine owne eares or though I must doe it yet I am afraid to repeat with my mouth the studied blasphemies of that one day Brethren Mat. 27.26 27 28 30 c. you may looke over the harmony of the Evangelists and especially Saint Matthew and when you doe there read how the Souldiers did take Jesus when hee was to bee crucified into the common Hall gathered unto him the whole Band stripped him put on him a scarlet robe and a crowne of thornes upon his head and a reed in his hand then bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying Haile King of the Jewes then spit upon him blind-folded him and smote him on the head Mat. 26.67 68. saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who smote thee and when hee was upon the Crosse how they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall parted his garments also how they that passed by reviled him wagging their heads saying Thou savedst others thy selfe thou canst not save Thou that destroyest the Temple if thou be the Sonne of God come down See if Elias will come and take him down c. I say it sadly when you doe read over this Chaine of amazing
others Vers 31 32. are there to be found both at home and abroad which when they have looked upon us doe passe-by on the other side yea and some distressed persons have tryed it that there is more compassion to be found from some Samaritans strangers and non-professors then from many of those Beleeve it brethren those heathenish sinnes which St. Rom 1.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24.12 Paul calleth want of naturall affection and unmercifulnesse and those worst of times in which our Saviour saith the love of many shall waxe cold are fallen upon our present generation Yea so it is that by how-much the more the objects of pity and compassion are increased and doe abound by so-much the lesse is pity exercised by so-much the more doth it decrease But because generalities doe neither convince the minde nor pierce the heart I shall therefore endeavour to divide this reproofe and levell it more particularly at severall sorts of offenders First I shall but mention all cursing and cursed Edomits who instead of pitying 1. Edomitish Enemies doe rejoyce over the afflictions of their brethren Such Edomâ—ts I meane who in the day of Ierusalem cryed Psal 17.7 Obâ—d v. 11. Râ—â—â—e it rase it even to the foundation thereof Who stood on the other side in the day that the strangers carried away captive his brothers forces Ver. 11. and forreiners entred into his gates But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother saith Obadiaâ— on the day that he became a stranger neither shouldest thou have rejoyced over the Children of Iudah in the day of their destruction neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distresse As often as I read over that shortest Prophet me thinks I see again before mine eyes the sad march of Gods people out of the Cities of Bristoll and Exon and the march of our late army of Martyrs out of Lestithell in Cornwall about August or September last but many of those Edomitish enemies which then looked on rejoyced and spake proudly being since out off have already answered for that fact before the great tribunall and as for others which did it through ignorance I shall pray the Father of mercies to give them repentance and to forgive them onely let me tell them for present 〈…〉 that this sinne is more base then envie it selfe and doth argue that men have put off both christianity and humanity I shall therefore exhort them to read over both the threatning prayer and the thundring prophecie of the Psalme and Chapter fore-mentioned beseeching the Father of spirits to set them home upon their consciences But there are other two sorts of offenders remaining to whom I did especially intend this reproofe and those are such friends and children of the West as doe want the bowels of brotherly compassion Secondly then to such friends when I say friends I take the word in as great a latitude 2. Jobs like Friends as it hath in the Text even for all such as ought to be friends to the West that is all true English protestant hearts though borne or living Northward Southward Eastward sure I am that we are all members of the same British body 1 Cor 12.21 12. neither can the Easterne head or the Northerne or Southerne armes say to the Westerne feet call us so we have no need of you Then give me leave O yee fellow members to reason with you a little concerning the sufferings of the West I doubt not but you doe all know that England hath a West but have you ever seriously considred the vast extent and the deep extremities of those Counties which we call Westerne Have you ever been hitherto convinced that there is now no sorrow in the whole land like unto their sorrow Lamenâ— 1 1â— wherewith the Lord hath afflicted them in the day of his fierce anger And doe you withall beleeve that those people have been some of the first and deepest in suffering but are some of the last and least in all revivings I have read of a people which every morning doe worship the rising sun towards the East but at evening they doe dayly curse the setting sun towards the West There is an allusion to that custome too generally practised in this land some mens hearts and hopes are touched from the North as a Needle with a loadstone and they will stand and expect redemption no way but Northward towards our justly honoured and succesfull brethren Oh but take heed of leaning with a full weight upon a walking staffe though never so handsome and usefull Mr. Marshal at Mr. Pines Funerall Others doe lift up their eyes wholly to this City of refuge this great Easterne mountaine from whence alone they conceive cometh their help But alas all this while the backs of all these are generally turned upon the deserted South-west yea and too many are apt almost to curse that Country of the setting of the sun as the most unhappy and unworthy part of the kingdome Zech 8. â— and for the truth of this I doe appeale to the memories and consciences of many present Let us come neerer Brethren have not the straights of other lesser parties pettie Towns and meer Parishes of the Kingdome affected the hearts and filled the mouths of many in this place with much sympathie and loud complaints in their behalfe when at the same time potent armies spatious Countries and very considerable places in the West have fought and cryed and sunck without any great pitie noise or notice in these parts Nay have not some of your selves observed that the distresses of some garrison'd houses in the name of Castles beleagured have been strongly ecchoed by many both to the Lord in prayers and to the high Court of Parliament in petitions whilest some Westerne Cities and City-like Townes have for a long time together stretched out their hands and lifted up their voices for helpe but all in vaine Here thou poore Exon labouring under a well-nigh foure moneths tedious siege mightest seasonably aske how many notes or bills were that while publikely put up for thee in the congregations in this place I have heard of one young man that put up some two or three And thou faithfull Plymouth together with thy cordiall and considerable Sisters and Neighbours Dartmouth Barnstable Lyme Taunton c. mightest second this complaint with an outcry Alas poore helplesse and almost hopelesse West And art thou alone as one borne out of due time Art thou the only speckled bird the mountains of Gilboa when other parts have the seasonable comfortable dewes of help and pitie Brethren pardon my just filiall affections I shall endeavour to walke evenly in my complaint betwixt impiety to my Countrie and partialitie towards the truth The sins of young Cham and old Ely are both alike abhominable in my account and in this temper let us argue the matter yet a litle further in answering the charges