soone therfore appease his anger by revenging my selfe upon my selfe for the sinnes which I have committed against his glorious name And if I cannot be revenged enough I will cry for anger even for anger that I cannot punish my selfe enough for displeasing him who thus honoureth my roofe When the Israelites were to eate the Paschall lanb Ex 12.7 they were commanded to take of the blood thereof and to strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper doore-post of the houses wherein they did eate it vers 13 And the blood saith the Lord shall be to you for a token upon the houses where yee are and when I see the blood I will passe over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt O here is comfort now in the midst of affliction here is joy in the depth of sorrow See there there is that token there is the blood on the doore or at least the representation of it for the red Crosse is there It is to mee for a token or a memoriall of the blood of that innocent Lamb without spot that was slaine that was crucified on the Crosse for the sinnes of the elect Now Lord doe what thou pleasest spare or strike it shall be all one to mee so long as thou givest mee a firme assurance that hee hath suffered for mee I vallew not my flesh I care not for this lumpe of walking dust let it be blowne away let this muddewall be throwne downe it is noe matter I am content so long as I am sure that the anger of my God will be appeased by the blood of my Redeemer and that so soone as my soule shall be freed from the prison of my flesh I shall for ever sit on the right hand of my Iesus Sure I am that allthough my house be shut up because of the infection yet my Christ will cleanse my soule with his blood Therfore World farewell shut up whom thou pleasest Thy companie is not so good nor thy courtesie so greate as to command my joy Allthough my house here be shut up yet hee which is faithfull hath promised that the gates of that new Ierusalem Reu 21 25. which is above shall not be shut at all by day and that there shall be noe night there O let mee begge of my Lord my Land-Lord yea my guest my friend my brother my father that seeing I am a woman a fearefull woman wonderfully afraid especially of a serpent c 20.2 or a dragon hee will be pleased to lay hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devill and Satan vers 3. and bind him and cast him into the bottomlesse pit and shut him up and set a seale upon him that hee may deceave mee noe more O how contentedly then shall I mourne How joyfully shall I grieve for all the offences that ever I committed Well now my God is pleased to speake to my conscience away will I goe in private all alone and cry in a corner I will weepe by my selfe away I will goe and separate my selfe from my familie yea even from him who is my head and my Lord that I may the more freely weepe This I will doe and this I may doe for when Ierusalem had her great mourning not onely every familie mourned apart Zech 12.12 but even their wives allso mourned apart So will I I will mourne apart too But because I must not offer to offer unto my God such a present as a litle poore botle of teares Ps 56.8 and say nothing to him when I render it humbly therfore upon my knees will I fall and thus will I say unto him The Prayer GLorious and ever-living Lord God Ps 75.5 who doest suffer the wicked to live in prosperitie to be in noe trouble like other men nor to be plagued like other men but hast tould us that whomsoever thou lovest thou doest chasten Heb 12 6. and scourgest every child whom thou receavest vouchsafe I beseech thee to sanctifie this affliction which thou hast layed at this time upon mee and mine 1. King 17.18 Thou art come ô my God to call my sinnes to remembrance ô let mee not frustrate thine intent not repell the motions of thy blessed Spirit My selfe and my familie are now shut up from the lewde temptations of the seducing world Lord make mee at this time to looke into my selfe into mine owne wicked and sinfull heart which hath beene so long shu◠up even from mine owne selfe from mine understanding and my knowledge This o Lord is thy time to speake let it I beseech thee be my time to heare My house is become a house of thy correction and my selfe familie are the offenders whom thou art pleased to chastise Ier 10.24 Ps 88.7 Lord correct us but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring us to nothing Thy wrath at this time lyeth hard upon us and thou afflictest us with all thy waves Thou hast put our acquaintance farre from us vers 8. thou hast made us to be an abomination unto them wee are shut up and cannot come forth Ps 38.11 Our lovers and our friends stand aloofe from us and our neighbours stand afarre off Ps 88.9 By reason of this affliction mine eye mourneth Lord I call dayly upon thee Ps 69.15 Ps 73.14 Ps 69.3 and stretch out mine hands unto thee O let not the water-flood over-flow us neither let the deepe swallow us up and let not the pit shut her mouth upon us All the day long are wee plagued and chastened every day I am wearie of crying Ps 69.3 my throate is drie my sight even faileth for wayting so long upon thee my God Ps 78.39 Ps 91.3 O consider thy distressed servants that wee are but flesh that wee are even a wind that passeth away and cometh not againe Deliver us o Lord from the snare of the fowler from the noisome Pestilence Either send unto us or else be thou thy selfe unto us a staffe as well as a rodde Ps 23.4 Ps 91.5 a supporter as well as a correctour that so wee may not be afraid for the terrour by night vers 6. nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the Pestilenee that walketh in darkenesse nor for the destruction that wasteth at moone-day Prepare us o Lord for those heavenly mansions where thy Sonne sitteth at thy right hand making intercession for us Heare him pleading for our remission and inter-ceding for our pardon Out of his wounds have issued that pretious balsamome which is able to cure the sinnes of the whole world In him be pleased to be reconciled unto us since our times are in thine hands Ps 31.15 Lord either spare us for thine honour or else receave us to thy mercy Let the health of our bodies make us mindfull to labour for the health of our soules and
and my petitions to God must be likewise upon conditions when I begge of him but temporall blessings His blessings descend not unlesse they be called downe by my religious obedience nor may I pray for the blessings which concerne this life but with this condition If they may stand with his pleasure In his power it is to graunt the suite which so earnestly I make I wish it may be his pleasure to fullfill my desires Barren Sarai was promised a sonne and Isaak was borne Gen. 21 2.3 Lu 1.7 vers 57 Gen. 29 31. c 30.22 vers 23 Though Zacharias and Elizabeth were stricken in yeeres and Elizabeth was barren yet they were blessed with Iohn the Baptist. Though Leah was hated by reason of her barrennesse yet wee reade that the Lord did open her wombe God remembred Rachel and hearkened unto her and opened her wombe and shee conceaved and bare a sonne and sayd God hath taken away my reproach The wife of Manoah the Danite was barren Iud. 13.2 vers 3. vers 14 yet the Angel of the Lord appeared unto her and sayd unto her Behold now thou art barren and bearest not but thou shalt conceave and beare a sonne And the woman bare a sonne called his name Samson and the child grew and the Lord blessed him 1. Sam. 1.10 Barren Hannah was in bitternesse of soule for want of a child when Peninnah her fruitfull rivall provoked her sore to make her fret vers 6. vers 20 because the Lord had shut up her wombe and shee had a sonne whom shee named Samuel Thus may God if hee please looke upon my reproach and send mee a child which I may dedicate to his service I will therfore follow the stepps of Hannah the devout vers 15 I will weepe with her and I will fast with her and with her will I powre out my soule before the Lord. Who knoweth but my teares may prevayle through the merits of my Redeemer and my sobbs and sighes may draw downe a blessing Ps 30.8 On my knees therfore will I goe unto the Lord and gett mee unto my Lord right humbly I will weepe and pray and mourne and pray and sigh and pray and praying I will say The Prayer HEeavenly King father of mercies Ps 72.5 thou who tookest mee out of my mother's wombe but hast denyed unto mee the fruit of mine vouchsafe to looke upon the reproach of thy servant I know that my sinnes doe stoppe the current of thy mercies but it is thine honour that thou art a forgiver of offences Forgive my sinnes the cause of thy curse and heale the barrennesse of thy despised hand-mayd 1. Sam. 1.11 O Lord of hosts if thou wilt indeede looke upon the affliction of thine hand-mayd and remember mee and not forget thine hand-mayd but wilt give unto thine hand-mayd a man-child then I will give him unto thee all the dayes of his life Thou knowest that I am a woman of a sorrowfull spirit and out of the aboundance of my complaint vers 16 and griefe doe I pray unto thee Send mee I beseech thee a Samuël even such a child as I have asked of thee if it may stand with the pleasure of thee my Lord and King that may bring honour unto thee and comfort unto thy petitioner I shall never bee satisfied untill thou hearest my supplications Pro. 30 15. Either graunt my desires or arme mee with patience that in all things I may serve thee with quietnesse Mat 4.28 and content The earth thou hast made to bring forth fruit of her selfe and it is as easie for thee to blesse mee with increase But if thou hast otherwise determined in thy secret will howsoever graunt that I may never conceave wickednesse in my heart Act 5.4 to whom thou denyest the conception of a child Iam. 1.15 Let not lust conceave in mee lest it bring forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bring forth death Say unto my heart as effectually as once thou didst unto the fig-tree Mat 21 19. Gal 5.22 vers 23 Heb. 12 11. let noe such fruit grow on thee hence forth for ever but let mee allways produce the fruits of the spirit against which thine Apostle assureth mee that there is noe law Let this thy chastening yeeld unto mee the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse since I am exercised therein so shall I willingly submit to thy pleasure and beseech thee to graunt mee comfort and joy in that blessed sonne of a happie woman even Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen THE TWELFTH SUBjECT Teares of a child-bearing woman 1 At the time when she beginneth to fall in travell 2 After her deliverie I st Her teares when she beginneth to fall in travell The Soliloquie consisting of three parts viz 1 The cause of the sorrow and the confidence of the sorrowing 2 The greatenesse of the pangs hazards and feares of a travelling woman 3 Consolation and comfort for a woman in the bitternesse of her travell The first part of the Soliloquie treating of the cause of the sorrow and the confidence of the sorrowing 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 the will I pray VVHen David confessed his actuall crimes hee forgot not the guilt of originall corruption therfore he professed saying Behold I was shapen in iniquitie vers 5. and in sinne did my mother conceave mee By the corruption of nature even Saint Paul himselfe was not without sinne that dwelled in him That which is borne of the flesh is flesh Rom 7 17. Io. 3.6 as my Saviour himselfe did tell Nicoden us and this flesh concludeth us all to be carnall Rom 7 14. and sold under sinne This originall stayne is the ground of all our actuall impieties justly therfore is the birth of a child accompanied with the torments and sorrowes of the mother left women should forget the tast of the apple I will greatly multiply thy sorrow Gen 3.16 and thy conception sayd the Lord unto Eve in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children O this heavie chastisement doth now approach to make mee sensible of my sinfull beginning As I caused the teares to flow from the eyes of my groaning mother so now even in mine eyes doe they likewise arise through the pangs which doe seize on mee by reason of my babe Lord what a trembling possesseth every joynt of mee and when I hope for ease by changing my seate or lying on my Couch or attempting to walke even in every place doeth the sharpnesse of the paine increase its strength and though I multiply my cryes yet mine anguish ceaseth not O what miserable perplexities are wee weake and sinfull women involved in Wee who can worst endure are most afflicted and allthough our tempers and constitutions conclude us weaker by farre then our husbands
cleere though man should judg thee Under this thy heavie wrath wee groane ô Lord wee cry wee howle for sicknesse increaseth death approacheth yea such a sicknesse and such a death as maketh us feare both our selves and our neighbours because wee have not feared thee the Lord of hosts Thou seest ô Lord our afflictions even that our houses are made our prisons and our sores our companions Our streetes are turned into pastures our townes into wildernesses and for our backwardnesse in our devotions our very doores instruct us to addresse our selves unto thee and to beseech thee Lord to have mercy upon us Our dayes are consumed in sorrowes and languishing and our nights in weeping and mourning Thou woundest us and wee cry thou smitest us and wee roare thou plaguest us and wee are troubled wee are dismayed Our Golgothaes are surfeited with the dead and our habitations infected with the living Wee flye from place to place from countrie to countrie yet wee flie not from thy presence wee avoyd not thy judgments What shall wee doe What shall wee doe Is there noe balme Ier 8.22 ô Lord in Gilead Is there noe physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of thy people recovered Thy sonne thy mercifull sonne thy sweete sonne Iesus was sent to bind up the broken hearted Is 61.1 vers 2. and to open the prisons to them that were bound and to comfort them that mourne and hee was not backward in the performance of this for which hee was sent Mat 4.23 c. 15.30 for hee healed all manner of sicknesse and all manner of diseases among the people At thy feete therfore ô Iesus thou best physitian wee cast our selves downe A multitude wee are that lye at thy feere Cure us ô Christ heale us ô Iesus as thou didest the multitude Lu 6.19 Mat 14 14. A whole multitude once did seeke to touch thee for there went vertue out of thee and thou healedst them all Thou wert moved with compassion and didst heale their sick Many didst thou cure of their infirmities and plagues Luc 7.21 Is 59.1 Behould thy hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither is thine eare heavy that thou canst not heare The number of petitioners cannot deterre thee Mat. 3.10 the multitude of suitors cannot molest thee for thou hast healed many therfore with the multitude in the gospel wee presse upon thee that wee may but touch thee for thou hast vertue in thee thou hast power to heale O Lord heare ô Lord forgive ô Lord heale us of our grievous wounds In the depth of thy furie when thou didst resolve to be revenged of a rebellious people it was yet thy promise that thou wouldest leave a few from the sword Eze 12 16. and from the famine and from the Pestilence that they might declare all their abominations among the people where they should come that they might know that thou art the Lord. Vs thou hast plagued us thou hast punished so sorely so grievously that but few of us are left yet ô Lord now at last looke in mercy upon us ô Lord let this remnant findthy compassion O cure us O heale us ô helpe us for thy mercie 's sake When thou wert angrie with Egypt Is 19.22 thou didst threaten to smite it but even at that very instant thou didst likewise promise to heale it and that they should returne unto thee their Lord and that thou wouldest be intreated of them Ier 33.6 Thou didst proclaine unto Iudah that thou wouldest bring it health and cure and wouldest cure them and reveale unto them aboundance of peace and trueth Thou didst promise unto Zion that thou wouldest restore health unto her c 30.17 and heale her of her wounds because shee was called an out-cast by the people saying This is Zion whom noe man seeketh after These were thy promises even in the midst of thy threatnings and wilt thou be worse unto us then thou wert unto Egypt or Iudah or Zion True it is that thou expectest our conversion Ioel. 2.12 thou commandest us to turne unto thee with all our hearts and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning To thee therfore ô God though formerly wee have not yet now doe wee turne Wee turne unto thee both our weeping eyes and our dejected countenances and our wringing hands and our bended knees and our mournefull voyces and our groaning hearts Mercifull God behould our teares and view our countenances and looke upon our hands and strengthen our knees and hearken to our voyees and comfort our hearts The Priests ô Lord vers 17 even thine owne Ministers doe weepe betweene the porch and the altar and they say Spare thy people ô Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Ezra 10.1 Our Ezra's pray and confesse and weepe and cast themselves downe before thine house and the people assemble themselves unto them both our men and our women and our children for wee all weepe very sore Num 2.56 Wee weepe as the Israëlites did before the doore of the tabernacle of the congregation when twentie and fowre thousand of them dyed of the Pestilence Thus wee mourne thus wee weepe our eyes our hearts our very soules doe weepe ô let us tast of thy love let us feele thy compassion Make us to boast of thy praise as thy servant David did Ps 30.2 when hee cryed unto thee and thou didst heale him Thou hast beene wrath with us as thou wert with the Iewes for their coveteousnesse Is 57.17 and thou hast smitten us thou hast bid thy selfe and hast been angry yet wee have gone on frowardly in the wayes of our hearts But ô our God doe thou make us as penitent as those lewes and then say unto us as thou didst unto thy Iudah vers 18 I have seene thy wayes and I will heale thee I will leade thee allso and restore comforts unto thee and to thy mourners Alas wee mourne and yet wee are punished wee grieve and yet wee are plagued and all because our iniquities doe testifie against us Ier. 14.7 but for thy name's sake ô Lord be pleased to spare us vers 8. O the hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land and as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarrie but a night vers 9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied as a mighty man that cannot save Thou ô Lord art still in the midst of us and wee are called by thy name therfore wee pray thee 1. King 8.37 vers 38 leave us not O here is a Pestilence in our land and wee make our prayers and supplications vers 39 and streetch forth our hands to ward thine house Heare therfore in heaven thy dwelling place vers 40 and forgive that wee may feare thee and walke in thy wayes all the dayes of our lives Or if
Ierusalem and to set a marke upon the fore-heads of the men that sighed and that cryed for all the abominations that were done in the midst thereof A marke I have too yea more then one and one and one though not in my fore head and they are set on as if they proceeded from the inke of the writer but woe is mee I have either not cryed at all or not enough either for mine owne sinnes or for the abominations of Ierusalem how then can I hope to escape the destruction And yet hee that spared them if hee please can spare mee likewise for his hand is not shortned Is 59.1 that it cannot save neither is his eare heavie that hee cannot heare 2. King 20.1 When Hezekiah was commanded to set his house in order and it was tould him that hee should die and not live vers 2. hee turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore vers 3. vers 5. and presently Isaiah was sent unto him to tell him Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayer I have seeno thy teares behould I will heale thee and I will adde unto thy dayes fifteene yeeres vers 6. Hee may be pleased to say unto mee too as hee did unto Hezekiah for I allso weepe yea I weepe very sore and I allso pray yea I pray heartily Ps 22.19 and say Be not thou farre from mee ô Lord ô my strength hast thee to helpe mee But Hezekiah was more righteous then I am 2. King 20.3 for hee walked before the Lord in trueth and with a perfect heart and did that which was good in his sight Rom. 7 18. Num 12.13 whereas in mee dwelleth noe good thing But Miriam was a woman as I am yea and sinfull and yet when shee was Leprous Moses cryed unto the Lord for her and sayd Heale her now ô God I besiech thee and shee was shut out from the campe but seaven dayes vers 15 and was healed O but shee had a Moses to pray for her whereas I alas have none I have noe such Moses to pray for mee But what shall I therfore remaine quite destitute of all hopes Shall I despaire of the goodnesse and the tender mercies of the most high Noe I may not I must not for that would but increase my sinne adde to my torments The woman in the Gospel who for twelve yeeres space had an issue of blood Mar 5.25 and had suffered many things of many physitians and had spent all that shee had and was nothing bettered vers 26 vers 27 but rather grew worse shee onely came behind my Iesus vers 29 and touched his garment and straight way the fountaine of her blood was dryed up and shee felt in her body that shee was healed of that plague vers 33 VVith that fearing and trembling woman therfore will I in like manner fall downe before him and tell him all the trueth I will confesse unto him all my sinnes or at least so many as possibly I can call to my remembrance Who knoweth but that hee may say unto mee as hee did unto her vers 34 Daughter thy faith hath made thee whole goe in peace and be whole of thy plague I am resolved to take noe repulse The whole multitude even the multitude of my sinnes shall not hinder mee though they rebuke mee that I should hould my peace but with the blind man in the Gospel I will cry so much the more Lu 18.39 Iesus thou sonne of David have mercy on mee Or if that prayer be too short while hee shall prolong my time I will compose and settle my selfe to a larger forme earnestly fervently zealously I will pray unto him and say The Prayer O Eternall and most mercifull Lord God whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne and yet thou vouchsafest to looke with thine eye of providence even upon the meanest of the children of men Lu 1.48 Ps 38.9 reguard I besiech thee the low estate of thine afflicted hand-mayd Thou knowest all my desires and my groaning is not hid from thee To thee the pollutions of my poore soule are more naked and open then these spotts in my flesh are obvious to my sight The fowlenesse of my corruptions have conspired with the infectious ayre to cause these staines in my skinn and by them I am commanded to prepare for my dissolution Lord if thou hast decreed by these meanes to free mee from this world of paine and miserie be pleased to translate mee from hence to the joy of thee my Lord and Master Mat. 25 23. Give mee ô my father a sight of mine imperfections make mee loath them and tremble at them more then I doe at these messengers of death Weane mee from the love of sinne by the consideration both of thy displeasure mine owne mortalitie These spotts appeare like so many eyes which seeme to stare mee in the face and would affright mee with horrour and all because I had not allways a consideration that thine eyes in every place doe behould the evill Prov. 15.3 and the good Blessed God give mee a sight of my corruptions and a detestation of them Ps 51.9 and then turne thou thy face away from my sinnes and blot out all mine iniquities Speake peace and health unto my wounded soule which every minuit expecteth thy coming Lord thou art a God who canst not abide to behould unrighteousnesse looke not therfore with thy wrathfull eye upon mee who am all sinne and pollution but upon thy Sonne and his sufferings Or if thou canst not choose but looke upon mee first cloath mee with the righteousnesse of that immaculate Lamb so shalt thou see mee with love and delight I shall behould thee with unspeakeable joy Prepare mee o my God that I may be a fit guest to be called and invited to the supper of the Lamb. Reu 19.9 Seale unto my soule the remission of mine offences and then make mee willingly to resigne up my body to thine owne disposing Yet thou mayest speake the word if so thou pleasest and thy servant may be healed Mat. 8.8 Luc. 17 15. There was a Leper in the Gospel who fell downe at thy feete ô Iesus giving thee thunks vers 16 and with a lowde voyce glorifying thy name because thou hadst healed him It is as easie for thee to restore mee in like manner Hos 5 13. as thou didst that Leper When Ephraim saw his sicknesse and went to the Assyrian Iudah saw his wound and sent to King Iareb there was found noe healing nor curing of the wounds but those that come unto thee shall find that thou art both able willing to heale all those that are broken in heart Ps 147 3. and to give medicine to heale their sicknesse for unto Israël thou diddest proclayme thy selfe The Lord that
must some-times rest What though I am an exul a stranger a sojourner here as all my fathers were I must have a lodging I must have a chamber I must have a roome and in that roome and in that chamber I may I must have some rest Yea and I must have some delight in it too and that not onâ—e alone but continually for so I am commanded by the Apostle Phil 4.4 who saith Rejoyce in the Lord allways and againe I say rejoyce Diverse indeede for diverse causes have wept but they have not allways wept Gen 27.38 Esau lifted up his voyce and wept but it was for the losse of his father's blessing The Elders of Ephesus wept Act 20 38. 2. Chr 35 25. yea they all wept sore but it was sorrowing most of all for the words that Paul had spoken unto them that they should see his face noe more A mourning I reade of that was in Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo when Ieremiah lamented and all the singing men and the singing women spake of their King in their lamentations and made them an ordinance in Israel That was for Iosiah who was slaine by the armie of Pharaoh Necho in the valley of Megiddo In Ramah was a voyce heard Ier 31.15 lamentation and bitter weeping Rachel weeping for her children because they were not This mee thinks come's home close neere to mee This was for the captivitie of Iudah and Benjamin or it was for the infants slaine by that bloody that presecuting Herod Here are children lamented so farre the cause of the weeping complyeth with mine But neither is my child slaine by a murderer nor yet is hee lead into captivity Noe Eph 4.8 hee who did leade captivitie captive hath freed my sonne from the fetters Rom 8 21. from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of â—he sonnes of God My child was not slaine as were all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof Mat 2.16 from two yeares ould and under Noe Hee who was slaine for him hath saved him Hee who hath swallowed up death in victory Is 25.8 Hos 13 14. hath ransomed him from the power of the grave and redeemed him from death Lord though I am a weake though a sinfull woman make mee for ever to praise thee for this thy goodnesse Ps 107 8. and to declare the wonders that thou hast done both for mee and mine When the woman of Samaria came to draw water at Iacob's well my bountifull Iesus freely gave her to drike of the living water Io 4.14 which became in her a well of water springing up into ever-lasting life I am such a woman as shee was mine eyes have resembled the mouth of Iacob's well and though the well be deepe even deepe as my heart yet some-thing I have had to draw the water with My child mine infant hath drawne and drawne untill I am even allmost drawne drie And in this agonie and in this distresse my Christ hath come to cleanse my well to sanctifie my teares and to ease mee of my griefe 1. King 3.26 My bowells indeede did yearne upon my child as that woman 's did whose issue should have beene divided for the satisfaction of the harlot My child is divided though hers were spared The better part of him the soule is gone it is gone to God for his it is it is his owne share nothing but the earth of him remaineth with mee But I will I must be thankfull and though I find a reluctance in my chillowed heart yet the Prophet forbiddeth weeping for the dead Ier 22.10 and bemoaning of them Let mee begge for patience for submission for content and say The Prayer BLessed Lord God Ps 68.20 unto whom belong the issues from death vouchsafe to heare the cry of thy mourning hand-mayd Thou wert pleased once to blesse mee with increase and to make mee a joyfull mother of my now dead infant But oh that that very child which was framed and fashioned by thee is now come unto thee The first that sinned was a woman tempted by the Serpent Gen. 3.13 and that Serpent in his temptation stung so deepe that it hath reached now even to the fruit of my wombe for the sinnes of my selfe Yet Lord looke downe in mercy upon mee though a sinfull woman though the most unworthy of my sexe Mat. 15.28 even farre inferiour to that woman of Canaan for herfaith was greate but I alas have noe faith at all or but a weake one or but a dead one otherwise the promises of my Redeemer would controul my passion and the assurance of his mercies would dry up my teares Thou ô Lord hast freed mine infant from the burden of the flesh yet I goe heavily for it as if it were lost in my despaire Thou hast crowned it with immortalitie and yet my passion declareth that I mourne as if it were lost Ps 38.9 O Lord God thou knowest all my desires and my groaning is not hid from thee Thou seest how my teares doe flow through mine infirmitie thou hearest my sighs which arise from my dis-content I confesse it I am sorrowfull for it I am ashamed of it Act. 7.60 Lord lay not this sinne to my charge Thou hast taken nothing but thine owne O be pleased so to make mee thine owne by grace and then shall I be assured in thine owne due time to be receaved into glory Allay the heate of my passion by the pleasant gales of thy refreshing Spirit Graunt that my teares may be kept for my sinnes my sad laments for my deplorable condition through my many offences My heart is heavy for the losse of my child ô Lord lighten it ô Lord ease and comfort it with thy heavenly grace Ps 94.19 In the multitude of sorrowes which I have in my heart let thy comforts ô Lord refresh my soule My child thou knowest was deare unto mee because it was thy pleasure to lend him unto mee Hee was and hee is deere unto thee and thou hast expressed thy love in delivering him fron the evill 1. Thes 1.10 2. Tim 2.11 from the wrath to come Hee is deal in Christ Lord let mee be dead with Christ that I may allso live with Christ My child is dead because hee was sinfull but his uttermost farthing was discharged by Christ O thou who art rich in mercy Eph 2.4 for the greate love wherewith thou hast loved man-kind graunt that I may not dye in sinne but to it that so I may be quickened together with thy Sonne Make mee to yeeld my selfe unto thee Rom 6 13. as those that are alive from the dead and my members as instruments of righteousnesse unto thee my God Forgive my excesse of love to him that is gone my excesse of teares and sighs that have beene caused by his departure my want of patience and submission to thy holy pleasure and
and rent my heart and amend my life Ioël 2.13 and faithfully rely upon the passion of my Redeemer I may then assure my selfe that hee will correct mee with judgment Ier 10 24. and not in his anger I know that dye I must but in him I earnestly desire to dye When I was in health I thought not of mortalitie and therfore now I am in sicknesse I can skarce so much as hope for immortalitie But I will beseech him to spare mee a litle that I may repent Ps 39.13 before I goe hence and be noe more seene I faine would live not that I might adde to my sinnes but that I might be sorrie for my sinnes I would faine continue here a litle longer that so I might make my peace the surer Long I have continued in wickednesse ô my God spare mee a litle time to spend in contrition If I may enjoy my life but for a litle longer space I will resolve by the grace of my God to dedicate it wholly to the service of him and that I may in some measure make up my repentance before my departure I will beseech him if it may stand with his immutable decree to lend mee a litle more time wherein by his grace I may labour my reconciliation with him My time of death indeede seemeth to draw nigh and yet I doe not consider or at least I have not considered that all this time which I have lived I have beene truely dead Surely thus I have beene for so saith King Solomon Prov. 21.16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remaine in the congregation of the dead Thus have I beene dead even in trespasses and sinnes justly therfore now my life doeth hasten away Eph 2.1 and my death approacheth I am now layed upon my bed of sorrow Not as the un-chast Amnon was 2. Sam. 13.5 who lingered after an un-cleane enjoying of his sister Tamar onely counterfeiting a sicknesse Nor like the coveteous Ahab 1. King 21.4 who vexed himselfe because Naboth had denyed to sell him his vine-yard 2. Sam. 4.7 Nor like Ishbosheth ready to be slaine by a Rechab and a Baanah unlesse my sinnes and my sicknesse the effect of my sinnes be that Rechab and that Baanah But languishing I lye allmost despairing of recoverie by reason of the weakenesse of my neere consumed body and spirits through the sharpnesse of my disease Is 14.11 My pompe is even brought downe to the grave and the noise of my violls the worme is spread under mee and the wormes are ready to cover mee But let mee say with holy Iob Iob 10 20. Are not my dayes few Cease then ô my God and let mee alone that I may take comfort a litle vers 21 Before I goe whence I shall not returne even to the land of darknesse and the shadow of death A land of darknesse vers 22 as darknesse it selfe and the shadow of death without any order and where the light is as darknesse There is noe worke nor device Eccl. 9.10 Ps 6.5 knowledg nor wisedome in the grave whither I am goeing In death there is noe remembrance of thee ô my God in the grave who shall give thee thank 's Ps 115.17 Is 38.18 The dead praise not thee ô Lord neither any that goe downeinto silence The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy trueth vers 19 The living onely the living hee shall praise thee the father to the children shall make knowne thy trueth Thou thy selfe hast professed that thou art not a God of the dead Matt 22.32 Ps 88.10 vers 11 but of the living wilt thou then shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praife thee Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave Or thy faithfullnesse in destruction vers 12 Shall thy wonders be knowne in the darke And thy righteousnesse in the land of forgetfullnesse Consider then Ps 13.3 Ps 69.15 and heare mee ô Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleepe not in death Let not the water-flood over-flow mee neither let the deepe swallow mee up and let not the pit shut her mouth upon mee Heare mee ô Lord vers 16 for thy loving kindnesse is good turne unto mee according to the multitude of thy tender mercies 1. Sam 2.6 Thou art hee who doest both kill and make alive who bringest downe to the grave 2. King 4.20 bringest up againe When the Shunamite's child had sate on his mother's knees untill noone vers 21 it then departed but shee went up and layed him on the bed of the man of God vers 32 and shut the doore upon him and went out And when Elisha was come into the house behold the child was dead and laid upon his bed vers 33 hee went in therfore and shut the doore upon them twaine and prayed unto thee my greate and powerfull God vers 35 And the child neezed seaven times and the child opened his eyes Mat 9.18 When the ruler of the Synagogue worshipped my Saviour and sayd My daughter is even now dead but come and lay thine hand upon her and shee shall live vers 25 Then hee went in and tooke her by the hand and the mayd arose O my God to thee I submit my selfe doe with mee as thou pleasest In thy power it is to spare mee for a while It will not be harder for thee to restore mee to health then it was to restore the dead unto life Faine I would live longer that I may repent more Lord if it be thy pleasure adde yet some more dayes unto my life restore mee to health and make mee praise thee for thy mercies Longer I would not live unlesse thou shalt be pleased with my life to renew mine obedience and yet dye I would not unlesse thou shalt first be pleased to give mee a sense of my sinnes and a sorrow upon that sense and a comfortable and contenting joy upon that sorrow Thou art the potter and I am the clay allready thou hast made mee and it is now in thy power either to breake mee into sheards or to preserve mee whole I who have cryed so much in the extreamitie of mine anguish doe now beseech thee with my teares to spare mee Mat. 8.8 O speake the word onely and thy servant shall be healed But yet howsoëver I submit to thine owne good pleasure Lord if it may be thy will let the skill of my Phisitians and the power of my medicines and whatsoëver shall be administred unto mee take a blessing from thee if thou shalt restore mee againe to thee and to thy service will I devote my life My time shall be thine my dayes thine my thoughts my words and mine actions thine So shall thy mercy be magnified and thy praise I will be for ever singing and will
destruction nor the threatned fall nor thy resisting us nor Sodom's ruine Lord forgive this iniquity amongst us and give us now such humble hearts Ps 75.6 that wee may noe more set our hornes on high nor speake with stiffe necks for why Thou ô God art the judg vers 8. thou puttest downe one and settest up another Wee are taught ô thou just God of truth Prov. 11.1 that a false ballance is abhomination unto thee but a just weight is thy delight and wee know that thou didst question by thy Prophet saying Mic 6.11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bagg of deceitfull weights vers 10 Are there not in Ierusalem and Samaria the treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked and the skant measure which is aboâ—minable Yea and wee know that thou doâ—… stricktly forbid Deut 25.14 vers 13 vers 15 saying Thou shalt not have iâ— thine house diverse measures a greate and 〈◊〉 small thou shalt not have in thy bagge diversâ— weights a greate and a small but thou shalâ— have a perfect and just weight a perfect and just measure shalt thou have that thy dayes may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And yet for all this the same complaint may be made against many of us Ier 6.13 which was against Iudah wee are given to coveteousnesse and wee dealt falsly Iustly therfore ô most righteous judg thou mayst question us as thou didst the Iewes and say c 7.9 vers 10 will yee steale murder commâ— adulterie and sweare falsly and come and stand before mee in my house which is called by my name and say wee are delivered 〈◊〉 doe all these abominations O thou that art the easer of the oppressed thou God of compassionate bowells to thee are allso knowne both the deceaver and the oppressour walking hand in hand among us Surely thou hast seene it Ps 10.15 for thou behouldest ungodlinesse and wrong therfore thou callest Amos. 8.4 vers 5 saying Heare this ô yee that swallow up the needy even to make the poore of the land to faile saying when will the Sabbath be gone that wee may set forth wheate making the Ephah small and the Shekel greate and falsifying the ballance by deceit vers 6. that wee may buy the poore for silver and the needy for a paire of shooes Yea ô thou that makest inquisition for blood and forgettest not the complaint of the poore to thee wee must confesse that with the deceitfull is joyned allso among us even the bloody murderer allthough wee are well assured that the blood-thirstie and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his dayes Ps 55.25 Yea Lord thou God of justice thou mayest allso complaine of us as thou didst of the Iewes Is 59.4 and say that few or none among us calleth for justice or pleadeth for truth wee trust in vanity and speake lyes wee conceave mischiefe and bring forth iniquity Hos 4.2 By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adulterie the people breake out and blood toucheth blood Therfore doth our land mourne vers 3. and every one that dwelleth therein doth languish Thus ô thus wickedly thus contemptuously Iud 10 15. thus outragiously yea and many more and worse though closer wayes have wee sinned o Lord doe thou unto us whatsoever in thy mercy seemeth good unto thee For these Ier. 50.4 and for all other our private and publike our secret and our open our particular and our generall crimes I besiech thee o father of mercies to graunt that I and all the people of the land may goe weeping as once did the children of Israel and of Iudah Lord be reconciled unto us in the blood of that Lamb of thine who taketh away the sinns of the world Cause us all now in this time of our visitation to learne vers 5. and aske the way to Sion with our faces thitherward saying Come let us joyne our selves unto the Lord in a perpetuall covenant that shall not be broken Amos. 7.2 Dan. 9.19 Ioel. 2.21 vers 26 O Lord God forgive us I beseech thee by whom Shall Iacob arise For hee is small O Lord heare ô Lord forgive o Lord hearken and doe it so shall wee be sure that thou wilt doe greate things Cause us once againe to eate in plenty be satisfied praise thy name o Lord our God when thou hast dealt thus wonderously with us and wee shall never be ashamed Ier. 29.11 O let thy thoughts be thoughts of peace towards us and not of evill Wee should o my God 1. Pet. 3 8. wee should have loved one another as brethren and should have beene pittyfull and courteous but to our shame I must acknowledg with a sad and a broken heart that wee have beene more ready to bite and devoure one another Gal. 5.15 and therfore now are wee justly consumed one of another It is most just with thee o thou sin-revenging God thus to visit our offences with the rod Ps 89.32 our sinns with scourges Vnnaturall have beene our crimes therfore unnaturall are likewise our punishments Ps 37.15 for our swords doe goe thorow our owne hearts and wee our selves are become the destroyers of our selves O eternall mercy O eternall goodnesse be thou gratiously pleased I beseech thee to give us a true sight sense and feeling of these and all other our faylings and back-slidings give us hearty remorse contrition and sorrow for them all together with a stedfast resolution of new obedience yea and so strengthen us in these our pious resolutions and so enable us to the performance of the same yea so sanctifie us throughout that our whole spirits and soules bodies may be kept blamelesse unto the comeing of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Thou hast threatned that If a man will not turne Ps 7.13 thou will whet thy sword this long time thou hast bent thy bowe thou hast prepared for us vers 14 and brought among us the instruments of death and hast ordained thine arrowes against thy persecuters Yet Lord thou art yesterday and to day and the same for ever The same father of mercies and God of all consolation Remember therfore I beseech thee how gratious thou wert to the people of Iudah to whom thou sentest thy Prophet to speake Ier. 26.3 If so be they would hearken and turne every man from his evill way that thou mightest repent thee of the evill which thou didst purpose to doe unto them because of the evill of their doeings O Lord doe thou rent our hearts in thy mercy and make us turne from our evill wayes that thou mayst repent thee of the evill of our punishments Make us turne unto thee with 〈◊〉 our hearts Ioel 2.12 with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Ex 32.12 and then turne thou from thy
is short If I could possibly be as ould if I could live as long as from time to time from the beginning of time to the end of time frō the creation of the world to the dissolution of the world yet all this time would not be long yea it would be nothing in comparison of eternitie It would not be the hundred thousand thousand thousand thousandth part so much as one graine of sand is to the whole earth to the whole world and all therein conteined allthough the world should be a million of millions of thousands of millions of times greater then it is or could be accounted by Arithmetick Well then I can have but my life in earthly things and perhaps not that neither in those things which I desire they will not be mine for ever noe for they shall not endure for ever but that which is eternall shall be for ever and ever world without end I meane not this world without end for this shall have an end but I meane that other world that better world the world to come eternall in the heavens Sinfull I was even before I was before I was in the world for I had the staine of originall corruption even in my mother's belly and then I was not or not in this world for so our common speech goe's yea so our Saviour him selfe doeth say allso A woman Io 16.21 when shee is in her travaile hath sorrow because her howre is come but as soone as she is delivered of the child shee remembreth noe more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the world Our yeeres are constantly reckoned not from our conceptions for then wee were imperfect noe nor from the time of life from the time wee were first quick when our soules were at once both created and infused into us and yet then wee were guiltie of originall pollution but as if wee were not worthy to be sayd to be untill wee may beginne to be more sinfull our age is onely reckoned from our first societie with sinners The simple world account's that wee have beene but just so long as wee have beene companions together in the view of men so if men were to number my transgressions and had both power and skill to summe them up they would begin but at my birth onely at that time when they began to corrupt mee but God will beginne at my beginning at the first time that I receaved a soule and from that very instant shall my soule be accountable for all my sinns But if hee be so strickt as to beginne with my originall uncleanesse when I knew it not oh what will hee say to mine actuall abominations which I both did and doe know So many actuall sinns I have committed that I cannot number them so greate and grievous actuall sinnes that I cannot estimate them All my former time hath indeede beene wholly mine none of it was God's But what good have I done to or for my selfe in all this time Iust none at all nay on the contrarie infinite hurt infinite injurie for I have not onely dishonoured my God and offended my neighbour but allso I have every moment made my selfe more lyable to eternall damnation But shall I have my time and shall not God have his too Yes yes hee hath all this while had his time Rom 2 4. his time of patience and forbearance and long-suffering dayly expecting my repentance and conversion But this was rather my time then his for it was for my good in that hee spared mee And shall not hee yet have his time Some other time Yes hee will have it Hee will have a time of visiting the proude for so hee threatned Babylon by the mouth of his Prophet saying Ier 50.31 Behould I am against thee ô thou most proude saith the Lord God of hostes for thy day is come the time that I will visite thee I have beene proude with Babylon justly therfore may I expect that God should visit mee as hee visited Babylon Hee will have a time of vengeance C 51.6 for so saith the Prophet too Flee out of the middest of Babylon and deliver every man his soule◠be not cutt off in her iniquity for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance hee will render unto her a recompense I have lived all this while in Babylon and I have sinned with Babylon and justly therfore might I be destroyed with Babylon But the goodnesse of my God hath hitherto spared mee his kindnesse is greater then I can meritt or requite or vallew for though hee had his time of vengeance against Babylon yet his time of mercie continueth to mee in calling mee to flee from out of the middest of her Hee did call before but I heard not before for though the sillie birds and the fowles doe know their times and seasons yet I knew not my time when God called for my conversion C 8.7 The Storke in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but I poore I simple I did not know the judgments of the Lord. Hee will allso have a time of calling every one to an account for their sinnes and that time hee may take when soëver hee pleaseth yea and so hee doeth too for every day some or other doe appeare at his tribunall This time hee might have taken against mee allso all this while while I have lived in my sinnes for I did not watch Mar 13 33. and pray though I knew not when the time would be After judgment hee will have a time of execution too but hee deferr's hee delay 's both judgment execution This was well knowne even unto those two possessed with Devills Mat. 8 28. in the countrie of the Gergesenes which met my Redeemer as they were coming out of the tombes exceeding fierce so that noe man might passe by that way for they cryed out saying vers 29 What have wee to doe with thee Iesus thou sonne of God Art thou come hither to torment us before the time O let the time of vengeance put mee in mind of my sinnes and what I have deserved justly by them Mat 13 25. Yet lest Sathan should sowe tares among my wheate lest hee should tempt mee to despaire when I prepare to repent let mee as well consider that God hath a time of love too as hatred of mercy as of fury Thus the Apostle telleth mee Gal 4.4 When the fullnesse of time was come God sent forth his sonne made of a woman vers 5. made under the law To redeeme them that were under the law that wee might receave the adoption of sonnes O what a blessed time of love was this when his owne sonne his onely sonne his sonne of his bosome was sent to redeeme such wicked and ungodly wretches as I poore creature am Ierusalem found a time of love too of infinite love when
pearle shall be made to forgett it's vallew rather then I will prize it above my charitie Even these very jewells shall be sould and consumed rather then I will valew my pride above my bountie They shall be parcelled out in severall summs and the naked shall weare them in their needefull apparell Or if these pearles being sould dispersed to the poore will not discover enough of my Christian compassion from mine eyes shall droppe such a plentifull store that my heart shall be free in it's liberall bountie and manifest thereby my tender affection There is a pearle which my Saviour mentions exceeding Mat 13 45. vers 46 all the treasures of the earth For that pearle will I learne to play the marchant and sell both this and all that I have for the purchase of that I neede not feare the want of ornaments if I part from these to be partaker of that for that pearle is a citty Reu 21 10. and that citty is great and holy even the holy Ierusalem whose light is like a Iasper stone vers 11 cleere as Chrystall vers 18 The bulding of the wall thereof is of Iasper the citty pure gold like unto cleere glasse the foundations of the wall are garnished with all māner of pretious stones vers 19 even with a Iasper a Saphir a Calcedony vers 21 an Emerald a Sardonix a Sardius a Chrisolite a Berill a Topaz a Chrysophrasus a Iacinct vers 21 and an Amethist the twelve gates are twelve pearles every severallgate a pearle and the very streete of the citty is pure gold as it were transparent glasse O who would not leave this drossie perishing gold for that which is so pure and shall last for ever Who would not forsake these mock and triviall jemmes for those most precious and unvalluable jewells Long since did my Saviour tell his disciples that it is easier for a camel to goe thorow the eye of a needle Mat 19 24. then for the rtch to enter into the Kingdome of God What then shall I doe who am borne downe from that Kingdome by the weight of my riches and kept out from the doore by the bundles the greatenesse of the baggs which I would carie When the ruler professed that hee had kept all the commandements of God from his youth Luc 18 21. vers 22 yet lacked hee one thing Hee was to sell all that hee had and give to the poore and then it was promised hee should have treasure in heaven But when hee heard this vers 23 hee was very sorrowfull for hee was very rich For my part I must confesse that I have beene farre more carefull to keepe my treasure then the commandement of God Yet if I had done it even from my youth as the ruler boasted howsoever my plenty would informe mee of my want One thing yet the ruler wanted and that one thing still I stand in neede of I want the diminishing of this earthly trash I must sell all that I have and give to the poore O I feare that this command will bee very sad and sorrowfull to mee too because I am very rich The more I possesse the more sorrow will arise when I shall part from my possessions But thus I must doe if I expect what I desire All must goe for the purchase of that pearle The poore must have baggs to receave my riches and then my store shall be treasured in heaven Yet am I not bound so to give to the poore as thereby to be one of the number of them Charitie unbounded becometh prodigalitie Those that are liberall must disperse with freedome but not with excesse Hee that command's mee to releive the poore command's mee not to give 'till I am poore If once I be reduced to such a penurie I shall be quite deprived of the power to be liberall What therfore is mine I will not impropriate and keepe onely to my selfe but first having furnished my selfe for necessitie I will preferre the wants of my brethren before my convenience or my delight I will not deny my felse the use of the creatures in a lawfull manner nor yet will I proudly satisfie my curiositie leave the indigent out of my thoughts I will labour to make these earthly riches serviceable to the donour even the God of heaven and that I may the better effect my desires I will humble my selfe on my knees at his foote-stoole and besiech him to bow downe his eare to my petitions while I pray unto him and say The Prayer HEavenly father Lord of plenty thou who hast created the world by thy power and continuest thy love in thy providence and protection to thee doe I render thanks for my plenty and to thee doe I offer the service of my store What I have is thine Ps 24.1 for the earth is thine and all that therein is the compasse of the world and they that dwell therein It is thou onely that givest a blessing to the fruit of the land Deut 7 13. to the corne to the wine and to the oyle to the increase of the Kine and of the flocks of the sheepe It is thou onely that commandest thy blessing in the store-houses c 28.8 and in all that thy servants doe set their hands unto Lord make mee one of thy faithfull servants that what thou hast sent mee may be a restimonie of thy love and not of thy hatred ◠Tim. 6.17 Make mee all ways magnifie thee in my time of plenty and not be high-minded nor trust in these uncertaine riches but in thee the living God who givest mee richly all things to enjoy O suffer mee not so to treasure up the deceitfull riches of this sinfull world Luc. 12 25. as thereby forgetting to be rich towards thee but as from thy bounty I receave these temporall blessings so in thy mercy make mee abound in grace 2. Cor 9.8 that allways having all sufficiency in all things I may abound to every good worke vers 11 and be enriched in every thing to all bountifullnesse that through mee it may cause thanksgiving unto thee my Lord and my God In this my prosperity give mee humility and prepare mee for adversitie if it shall please thee at any time to send it unto mee Give mee a sense of the afflictions of many of thy saints and distressed servants enlarge my heart that I may be ready and forward to contribute to their necessities Make mee shew mercy with cheerefullnesse Rom. 12.8 and possesse with thankfullnesse what thou sendest unto mee that I may neither forget thee in thy members nor deny thee to be the giver Let mee never stop mine eares at the cryes of the distressed who begge for reliefe in the name of thy selfe Thou ô Christ 2. Cor 8.9 who wert rich didst for my sake become poore that so through thy poverty thou mightest make mee rich Lord make mee as willing to bee
Lu 15.14 vers 16 I am brought into want and faine would fill my belly even with the huskes that swine doe eate but noe man giveth them unto mee vers 17. Though I know that many hired servants have bread enough and to spare and yet I am ready to perish with hunger Though thus I know my miserie yet I skarce remember the cause But I will begg of my heavenly father vers 17 that I may come unto my selfe and then that my selfe may come unto him I know that hee is angry and his wrath is terrible but if I absent my selfe his displeasure will increase The longer I strive to keepe out of his sight the more will be his severitie and the more grievous my punishment vers 18 I will therfore arise and goe to my father and say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven vers 19 and before thee and am noe more worthy to be called thy child make mee as one of thy hired servants Iob 42.6 Ps 102.9 Ps 80.5 I will abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes As David did so will I I will eate ashes as it were bread and I will have plenteousnesse of teares to drinke I will mourne for my sinnes which have caused this judgment and with my teares in mine eyes compunction in my heart and humilitie in my soule I will fall on my knees before his footestoole and pray unto him and say The Prayer ALl-mighty and all-sufficient Lord God who by thy power diddest lay the foundations of the world and by thy providence doest guide protect the things therein conteined be pleased to looke upon the sorrowes and sufferances of thy distressed servant Thou knowest my wants before I aske and seest how low I am brought with hunger The inferiour creatures thou fillest with plenty but mee thou sufferest to pine with famine Shall not the cryes of the hungrie pierce thine eares Shall the soule of the emptie be despised by it's maker Heare Lord Ps 30.10 and have mercy ô be thou my helper Thou knowest how I groane under the burden of this affliction and wilt thou allways know it and never remove it where are thy mercies which thou shewedst to thine Israelites Where is they goodnesse which was manifested to he widdow of Sarepta Thou canst not decrease in thy mercies nor forget thy compassion The stomack crye's and the belly cryes and a poore languishing soule cryes unto thee ô Lord in the depth of distresse O my father shut not up thy mercifull eares to my prayers but heare mee in heaven and succour mee with thy reliefe Thy store will not be lessened nor thy treasure diminished by sparing to mee a morsell of bread Lord if it may stand with thy good will preserve mee from death and deliver mee from this famine or else arme mee with patience that I may under-goe thy chastisement with comfort and content O thou Saviour of the world to whom the cursed Iewes gave gall to eate Ps 69.21 and when thou wert thirstie even vineger to drinke doe thou ease my griefe and hearken to my complaint Thou in thy humanitie diddest seele the wants of these out-ward things and knowest what griefe and anguish I suffer To Samaria thou sentest plenty beyond expectation 2. King 7.18 in the space of a night Thou art neither confined to time nor tyed to the meanes thou canst send mee comfort even above my hopes Lord either send mee plenty or blesse my want that so I may willingly submitt to thy pleasure and patiently suffer what thou hast decreed Though my body languish for want of sustenance yet fill thou my soule with the riches of thy goodnesse Amos. 8.11 2. Chr. 15.3 O let mee never be cursed with a famine of thy word Let mee never be as once the Israëlites were without thee the true God without a teaching Priest and without law Howsoëver thou disposest of the outward man let not my soule want it's spirituall nourishment whereby it should be fed to a life immortall It was thy meate ô Christ Io 4.34 to doe the will of him that sent thee and to finish his worke Graunt ô Iesus that I may follow thy stepps and make it my foode and my delight to fullfill thy commandements Let mee not labour here for the meate that perisheth c. 6.27 so much as for that meate which endureth to everlasting life My body is thine dispose of it as thou pleasest My soule is thine preserve it in holinesse Lord be gratious to mee thy child Gen. 43 29. and comfort mee now in this greate extreamitie that so I may neither offend thee in my sufferance nor despaire of thy providence but that wholly relying upon thy gratious goodnesse I may suffer with thankfullnesse whatsoëver thou pleasest and then that my sufferances may end in happinesse Heare mee blessed God and help mee for the worthinesse of thy Sonne in whose name words I farther call upon thee saying Mat. 6.9.10.11.12.13 Our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdome come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our dayly bread and forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us and leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evill for thine is the Kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen THE THIRD SOLILOQUIE Treating of thirst both bodily and ghostly THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray THe Prophet bewayling the distressed estate of afflicted Sion complainth thus Lam. 4.4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roofe of his mouth for thirst the young children aske bread and noe man breaketh it unto them They that did feede delicately are desolate in the streetes vers 5. they that were brought up in scarlet embrace the dunghills Grievous was that miserie the infants endured who neither knew how to complaine nor where to be satisfied Their tongues which in time might relate the storie were scorched with the drought and heate of thrist Those litle members which as yet were not un ruely found a punishment as if they had offended The mothers lamenting the torments of the young ones offered them drinke from the fountaines of their eyes but so un-able was that offering to please the innocents that their thirst increased by that which should quench it Surely the miserie was greate which the babes could not utter since mine is so severe that I thinke it ineffable The more I complaine the more thirstie I am for the motion of the tongue increaseth the drought Iam. 3.6 The tongne that is un-ruely is set on fire of hell but mine is silent and yet it scorcheth That litle moisture which is left in my mouth is growne so glutenous
to day are and to morrow are cast into the oven extend thy mercy to thy distressed servant O my God thou seest the nakednesse which I suffer and thou feelest the cold which my body endures for of thee ô Christ I am a part of thy mysticall body I am a member These meane and ragged coverings doe speake at once both my wants and my desires What shall I doe ô father Shall I noe longer believe thy providence Or shall I despaire of thy power O I dare not doe either for I know that thou canst and wilt relieve mee when thou in thy wisedome shalt see it requisite Blessed Lord subdue my heart as thou hast humbled my body and forgive the sinnes of pride and discontent which harbour therein Many of thy Saints have wanted the things of the outward man yet hast thou enriched their soules with the graces of thy Spirit I know Lord that thou delightest not in the ornaments of the body Thou canst give what thou wilt and withhold what thou pleasest Lu 16.22 Distressed Lazarus who for a while did lye at the gate of gorgeous Dives was caried by Angells into Abraham's bosome Enable mee with patience to suffer my wants and willingly to submitt to thy heavenly pleasure Ps 104 1. O thou that art cloathed with Majestie and honour vouchsafe to cover my naked soule Through the merits of thy Christ let it be presented to thee both cleane and unspotted Make mee to labour the purifying thereof with a flood of my teares Io. 11.33 and accept of my groanes through the righteousnesse of him who groaned in spirit when hee beheld the teares of lamenting Marie Holy father adorne thou my inward man with righteousnesse and holinesse that it may be acceptable unto thee when it shall come to thy tribunall Nothing can hide it from thy wrath ô father but the garment of the righteousnesse of Christ my brother Wrappe mee ô Iesus in that sacred mantle that I may be hid from the wrath of the reveng-full judg Is 50 3 O thou that cloathest the heavens with blacknesse and makest sack-cloth their covering doe thou apparell my soule with the blacknesse of sorrow and the sackcloth of mourning for my crying offences And so accept of my contrition that I may hereafter appeare in a long white robe with thy holy Saints Reu 7.9 and be admitted a member of thy church tryumphant there to reigne with thee world without end through Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 8 THE EIGHTH SUBJECT A Virgin 's teares The Soliloquie Treating of the virginitie both of the body and the soule 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 THe un-maried woman saith the faithfull Apostle careth for the things of the Lord 1. Cor. 7.25 vers 34 that shee may be holy both in body and spirit Such a one am I unmaried I am but am I such a one allso in my care Doe I care for the things of the Lord that I may be holy both in body and spirit This is a question not easily resolved it is a duety not ordinarily performed The externall forme doeth commonly borrow the howers of virgins the dresses and the ornaments of the fading body imploy our minuits and our care is generally more for the day of our mariage then the time of our account Seldome doe wee vallew religion above our dresses or the service of God above the ornaments of our selves But neither is the beauty of the countenance prevalent with the All-mighty nor the neatenesse of attire vallewed in his eyes Hee love's not that care which ariseth from pride but that which discovereth a zeale for his honour The most admired beauty shall be shriveled in the flames of eternall horrour unlesse the soule be more comely by farre then the countenance The exactest features of the outward man doe illest suite with a lascivious tongue or an immodest thought Devoutest virgins are allways fairest and borrow so much of the flowers of the spring as to weare a maidens blush in the seate of beauty My God hath given mee the honour of virginitie and expecteth to be honoured both in it and by it If my soule be as un-spotted as my body is un-defiled I may hope for a seate with the tryumphant virgins Reu 14.1 With the Lamb saith Saint Iohn were a hundred fortie and foure thousand having his fathers name written in their fore-heads vers 4. These are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever hee goeth That Lamb is Christ those hundred fortie and foure thousand virgins are the elect his name in their foreheads is their adoption by grace they follow the Lamb in the puritie of their soules and in their chast spirituall virginitie they are preserved from the pollutions and uncleanesse of the seducing tempter With these virgins I desire to sing my part for my sexe cannot hinder the hope of immortalitie With those saints which defiled not themselves with women shall accord those women not defiled with men It was an honour to our sexe and my present condition that my Saviour was borne of the virgin Mary But I must know that virginitie consisteth not so much in the chastitie of the body as the puritie of the soule Even those that are maried may have virgin soules and wee that are virgins may be spirituall adulteresses 1. Thes 4.4 Shee that preserve's her vessell in holinesse performeth a duety required by our maker but unlesse to this be added the chastitie of the soule both body and soule may suffer eternally The purest virgin is the loyallest wife for though wee never were engaged by mariage to a man yet all of us ought to be maried to Christ 2. Cor 11.2 Saint Paul saith that hee had espoused the Corinthians to one husband that hee might present them as a chast virgin unto Christ This husband is mine for to him am I espoused to him am I wedded But am I a loyall wife to this indulgent husband Doe I love him Doe I honour him Doe I obey him Have I beene allways true and faithfull unto him If every sinne be a spirituall adulterie if every transgression be a dishonour unto him ô then my conscience will write mee guilty O my sweete husband ô my Iesus what shall I say or pleade for my selfe I have forsaken my redeemer to sinne with the tempter I have declined my husband to committ un-cleanesse with that ugly serpent for hee enticed and I consented Lev 20.10 By the ould law an adulteresse was to suffer death That law doeth still remaine in force for death eternall is decreed as a punishment for those that dishonour my patient husband O what then shall I doe when hee shall question my disloyaltie
6.1 Col. 3.20 for this is right They must obey their parents in all things much more therfore in the choyce of those whom wedlock must conjoyne for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. It is in the fathers power to give his virgin in mariage 1 Cor. 7.38 and the Apostle saith that hee which doth so doeth well allthough hee which giveth her not in mariage is said to doe better The heate of desire doth often darken the eye of reason and make's us more apt to study our present content then wisely to prevent an ensueing danger Therfore must parents have power to dispose of those who for want of advice may wedde their destruction This counsell and direction taketh not off from the freedome of consent but rather sett's them at liberty who for want of discretion had not power to consent Nature is easily led amisse and unadvised youth besides other inconveniencies may fall upon the shelves of neerenesse of blood unlesse they have some to advise and direct them Those that choose without reason and marrie without advice doe but climb up a steepe and loftie rock to throw themselves downe a mighty precipice Lev. 18 Though the Leviticall law hath forbidden diverse to agree in wedlock yet often wee see that men are apt either directly to oppose that law or at least to affect most deerely those whom even nature it selfe forbiddeth wedlock allthough not directly mentioned in the law But the sager parent will easily conclude that those whom the law forbiddeth not expressely to joyne in wedlock implicitely it prohibiteth if the propinquitie of blood be equall to those whom it denyeth mariage The safest way is to avoyd such contracts as are not in words permitted by the All-mighty That mariage must needes be full of discontent which is not directly grounded on a positive law Hee who first did institute mariage did afterwards bound and limitt the institution If the spring be troubled the water of necessitie must become impure If wee doe not beginne our wedlock according to rule wee cannot expect that content which our hearts desire Those who beginne with a breach of the law can hardly live according to law Lord how many sinns and infirmities doe attend us mortalls Wee are apt to fall when wee want a guide and yet wee are unwilling to be guided by our directours The way to heaven is full of difficulties yet God hath provided us meanes to overcome them To prevent the ruine and destruction of the Kind Gen 1.28 1 Cor. 7.2 vers 5. hee instituted mariage that wee might be fruitfull and multiplie To avoide uncleanesse every man is allowed to have his owne wife and every woman her owne husband that Satan tempt them not for their incontinency To prevent a scarcitie of godly saints Eph. 6.4 hee allowed wedlock and commanded parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Thus our good God is pleased to give us the blessing of increase that thereby wee may adde to the number of Saints Hee giveth us a being by his power a well-being by his providence yea a christian and comfortable being by his goodnesse if wee obey his commands forget not his statutes O what a happinesse doth that mariage produce which is both begunne and continued in God! It putteth us in mind of that happie accord which was betweene Adam and Eve in innotency and when wee remember it wee strive to imitate it In our choyce wee magnifie God when wee honour our parents In our consent wee glorifie God for the use of our reason In the freedome of our consent wee are taught to be sensible how sinne had enslaved us and yet how wee are freed by the mercies of our Redeemer Thus when wee addresse our selves to God in all things and both choose consent and wedd according to his appointment our lives are full of comfort and content Those who are thus united together are carefull to live in righteousnesse towards God and in amitie and chast sobrietie among themselves In afflictions they are each a comforter to the other in prosperitie they share their plenty and increase in their issue they magnifie God for his blessings and both of them strive to make those pledges of love which resemble them selves to be more like unto God their father in heaven Eph. 5.23 As the husband is made the head of his wife so hee strives to protect her and indulgently cherisheth the flesh of his flesh Hee instructeth her in righteousnesse Gen. 2.23 1 Pet. 3.3.7 and according to knowledg hee dwelleth with her giving honour unto her as to the weaker vessell Againe as Eve was not made of the head but the rib so the good wife doeth not seeke to rule vers 5.6 Eph. 5.22 vers 33. 1 Cor. 14.35 but be governed and being thus in subjection to her owne husband shee obeyeth her Lord as Sarah did Abraham Shee willingly submitteth herselfe to her husband as unto the Lord. Him shee reverenceth him shee obeyeth and quietly and meekely asketh him at home what shee desireth to learne These ô these are the sweete contents which crowne the maried c. 7.39 if they marrie in the Lord. T is true that many times these dueties are neglected through the want of religion Gen. 3.1 and the scrpent come's often betweene the husband and wife as at first hee did betweene Adam Eve That sinne which expelled him out of heaven hee laboureth to kindle in our secret hearts and then the wind of the apple doe's blow the coales From hence ariseth the smoake of dâ—scontent from hence doeth issue the contention of her which the wise man resembleth to a continuall dropping in a very rainy day Prov. 27.15 Mar. 10.9 But those whom God hath joyned together nothing should seperate Nothing indeede should and nothing doth seperate them for 't is onely sinne which causeth dissention and that sinne is onely a privation of goodnesse Had not sinne beene acted even in that very garden where mariage was instituted that sacred yoake had never beene burdensome O that our God would be pleased to make us againe so like unto himselfe that our love might be tyed up in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 Wee who by nature are fuller of imperfections then those that are our Lords should then be freed from the blame of disquietnesse God hath so honoured our sexe that hee hath called his Church by the name of a woman and not onely so but allso of a wife for so the Angell said to Saint Iohn Come hither Rev. 21.9 I will shew thee the Bride the Lamb's wife Of that woman of that wife of my God must I learne the duetie which I owe to my husband Eph. 5.22 To him must I submitt my selfe as unto the Lord because the husband is the head of the wife ver 23. eveu as Christ is the head of the church Him I must love to him I
must be subject in every thing Tit. 2.4 Eph. 5.24 1 Cor 7.34 Eph. 5.33 1 Pet. 3.6 1 Cor. 14.35 c. 7.10 Tit. 2.5 Col. 3.18 1 Pet. 3.1 I must care how to please him I must reverence him I must obey him as Sara obeyed Abraham calling him Lord I must be instructed by him I must not depart from him but must be discreete chast a keeper at home good obedient unto him that the word of God be not blasphemed To hin indeede I must submitt my selfe as unto the Lord but this submission must not be servile for it must be onely so as it is fitt in the Lord. Him I must love for hee is my selfe To him I must be subject as the inferiour parts are unto the head I must care how to please him both for the performance of my duety and for the quietnesse and content which will ensue upon it I must reverence him for hee is my superiour I must obey him for hee is my Lord I must be instructed by him for hee is my teacher I must not depart from him 1 Cor. 7.4 because the power which formerly I had over my selfe is resigned up to his will and pleasure I must be discreete because I am a wife chast because I must be a loyall wife a keeper at home because a house-wife good and obedient that the word of God be not blasphemed Submission is required joyned with love to avoyd anger and contention Prov. 21.19 for Solomon hath decreed that It it better to dwell in the wildernesse then with a contentious and an angrie woman Subjection and reverenceare arguments of a meeke 1 Pet 3.4 Prov. 9.13 and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price for a clamorous woman is styled foolish Obedience is due to those that are our instructers seeing therfore our sexe is guiltie of ignorance 1 Tim. 2.11 wee are commanded to learne in silence with all subjection for if wee are wise in our owne conceits Prov. 26.12 the wise man saith there is more hope of a foole then of such Discretion is allso required in our sexe for long agoe did Solomon say c. 11.22 As a jewell of gold in a swine's snowt so is a faire woman which is without discretion Certainly those who submitt to their husbands who love them are subject to them carefull to please them reverence them obey them are willing to be instructed by them depart not from them and are truely discreete conscience will preserve them chast civilitie will keepe them at home and religion will make them good Ps 119.5 O that our wayes were made so direct that wee might keepe these statutes When I consider of this bond which unite's mee to my husband how can I choose but blesse my God for his ordinance When I looke upon the pledges of our mutuall love those children which God doeth send for our comfort how can I choose but magnifie his blessing Though many are the infirmities of a woman many dueties belong to a wife many cares and pangs belong to a mother yet our infirmities are aften redressed by mariage our dueties are our delight being guided and comforted by our carefull Lords and our cares and pangs are richly rewarded in our obedient children O how gracious is our God unto us who governeth us by those who are made our selves and to increase our love and obedience to our husbands giveth us the lively resemblance of both in our tender off-spring These children whom I would have obedient unto mee doe put mee in mind of that obedience which I owe to my husband and much more of that which all of us owe to our bountifull God That sacred tye of holy wedlock putteth mee in mind of the infinite love of Christ to his church Hee hath blessed mee with the first and shall I not labour to be a worthy and a thankfull partaker of his love in the last The first I enjoy though I deserve it not the last I am offered yet zealously and religiously enough I embrace it not If I neglect my love and duety to my husband I cannot expect the love of Christ Alasse by sexe I am fraile and not willing to obey by paines I am froward and not fitt for advice by sinne I am haughtie and not apt for submission Nature enclineth us to love but unlesse that love be regulated by religion it often either is sullied with impuritie or clegenerateth into hatred O what shall I provide to answer my God when hee shall stricktly examine mee concerning my duety first to himselfe next to him whom hee hath made my Lord and lastly to them who are my tender and parcelled selfe Certainly obedient enough I cannot be to God dutifull enough I can scarcely be to my husband loving and carefull enough I can hardly be of my children All of us faile in some thing or other and I feare that I am the weakest of all Every sinne displeaseth my God o what shall I doe to appease his wrath Wherewithall shall I come before the Lord Mic. 6.6 and bow myselfe before the high God Shall I come before him with Burnt offerings with calves of a yeere old vers 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rammes or with ten thousand rivers of oyle Shall I give my first-borne for my transgressions Ps 51.16 vers 17 the fruite of my body for the sinne of my soule Alasse hee desireth not sacrifice hee delighteth not in burnt offering The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart hee will not despise To my Lord therfore will I hasten whom I have offended to my God will I addresse my selfe whom I have displeased by my manifold neglects and insteede of rivers of oyle I will swimme unto him in rivers of my teares My heart I will teach to groane so lowde that it shall be heard to heaven Each teare which I shed shall proceede from a heart so humbly sorrowfull that they shall seeme to have the faces of Angells in reflexion and I will pray that those teares may be accepted by the Angel of the covenant Mal 3.1 If through my indiscretion contentions have arisen betweene my head and the members I will meekely justifie the words of the King Solomon and not onely resemble but have even the same to which hee compareth mee Pro 27.15 I will have a continuall dropping in a very rainie day Mine eyes shall droppe and my heart shall droppe and from them both shall issue as it were water and blood that with my teares I may wash the sacrifice of my God and my heart may be made an accepted offering Mat 7.25 Yet shall not the raine descend onely and the floods come but the winds allso shall blow From mine eyes shall the raine descend and the floods of my teares shall come and then from my heart the winds shall blow From my heart I will
send out sight of sorrow 1. King 19.11 and the Lord shall be in the wind And with that wind shall be an earth-quake my enlivened earth shall quake with feare of the judgments of my God so the Lord shall be likewise in the earth-quake And with that earth-quake shall be fire vers 12 even the fire of love and zeale together so the Lord shall be in that fire And with that fire shall be a still small voyce and unto the Lord shall that voyce be directed for to him will I looke and pray and say The Prayer All-mighty Lord ever-lasting father who hast beene pleased to vouch safe mee the blessings of this life and to give mee my desires both in a husband and children be pleased to give mee a thankfull heart for these thy mercies It is thy goodnesse and not my merit that I have receaved from thee these blessings of thy bountie Iustly ô most justly mightest thou at once deprive mee of these comforts because I have neglected my obedience to the one and my care of the other Humbly ô my God and with a bleeding heart I confesse my faylings and am sorrie for mine offences Lord be gracious to mee thy servant It is thy hand alone which hath preserved mee from the foule offences which many commit for without thy protection by nature I am noe better then that strange woman Pro 2.17 who forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her God By nature I am carnally worse by farre then were Aholah and Aholibah spiritually who committed whoredomes in their youth Eze 23 3. Lord make mee ever acknowledg this thy protection and testifie my thankfullnesse in my industrious care to performe my dutyes Be thou stil the protectour and the gracious defender both of mee and mine Blesse him whom thou hast sett over mee and graunt that hee may dwell with mee according to knowledg 1. Pet. 3.7 that so wee being heires together of the grace of life our prayers may not be hindered As thou hast made mee a fruitfull vine by the walls of his house so make mee endeavour to be fruitfull in good workes Ps 128.3 Col 1.10 Ps 128 3. Ps 52.8 Prov. 19.14 c 5.18 Ps 141.3 Prov. 11.16 c 12.4 c 14.1 c 31.10 vers 30 and increase to be fruitfull in good Workes and increase in the knowledg of thee my God Let those Olive branches about my table be every one of them like a greene Olive in the house of thee ô my God and trust in thy mercy for ever and ever Make mee to my husband a prudent wife as sent from thee that hee may rejoyce with mee the wife of his youth To this purpose set â watch ô Lord before my mouth and keepe the doore of my lippes Make mee a gracious woman retaining honour that I may be a crowne to my husband a wise woman labouring to build up my house and familie and a vertuous woman fearing thee Heare mee ô my God and graunt mee my petitions for the worthinesse of him who is an indulgent husband to his Spouse the Church even Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 10 THE TENTH SUBJECT Teares of an Aged woman The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray THe dayes of our age are three-score yeeres and ten Ps 90.10 saith David and if by reason of strength they be foure-score yeeres yet is their strength labour and sorrow for it is soone cut off and wee flee away Lord how true diddest thou speake by the mouth of that Prophet True I find it who have now accomplished the number of so many yeeres My strength is labour not because of any paines which I take but onely by reason of the paines which I suffer Age hath beene allwayes freed from worke because it suffereth more in a languishing weakenesse then the young and lustie doe in their travells Num 8 24. From twentie and five yeeres old and upward the Levites were required to wayte upon the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation vers 25 And from the age of fiftie yeeres they were to cease wayting upon the service thereof and to serve noe more God will have the best of our time yea all for his service But alasse the custome is too common among us to serve our selves at least untill fiftie and it may be then or not so soone wee thinke upon God But why should wee not rather render the yeeres of our strength to the God of our strength Ps 43.2 The fault which I complaine of is too frequent among others but can I excuse my selfe from the guilt thereof I now beginne to thinke upon the service of my God when through age I am noe more able to serve my selfe Every thing disturbeth and tormenteth my aged limbes even my very apparell becometh a burden O why doe people so fondly desire to live to be aged Have the gray haires delight or the parched and dryed body any pleasure Alasse noe I find it hath not This this is the time which the Preacher speaketh of Eccl 12.2 Now the Sunne and the light and the moone and the starres are darkened and the clowdes returne after the raine The beautie of the countenance which shined like the Sunne the skiecolloured eyes the apples of those eyes which sparkeled like the Starres are growen dimme and obscure The eye-lidds are filled with waters like a swollen cloude labouring in the deliverie of it's mournefull burden Pleasures and delights and joyes and merriments have now with-drawne the lustre of their glory and paines and dolours and griefes and sadnesse have benighted my feeble and crazie body Now the keepers of the house tremble vers 3. and the strong men bowe themselves and the grinders cease because they are few and those that looke out of the windowes be darkened My knees which were the supporters of this walking dust begin to creeckle and tremble under their oppressing burden Mine armes and hands have forgotten their stedfastnesse and quake and faint in the execution of their just commands The teeth which prepared the meate for the stomack are fled away from their narrow chambers and left the open doores the hollow gummes in trust to mock my desires Those eyes which once could dazell the spectatours sate proudly in their thrones darting their rayes upon their desired objects have now the curtaines of age drawne over their flames and the vayle of antiquitie eclipseth their glory Now the doores are shut in the streetes vers 4. and the sound of the grinding is lowe and here is rising up at the voyce of the bird and the daughters of musick are brought low My feete are afflicted with lamenesse that they cannot any longer carie mee into the streetes The sound of the grinding
my whole life but to be freed from these calamities which beginne to fall on mee Ps 55.4 My heart is sore pained within mee and the terrours of death are fallen upon mee Fearefullnesse and trembling are come upon mee vers 5. and horrour hath allmost over whelmed mee I cannot forget how the wife of Phinehas the sonne of Eli being neere to be delivered 1. Sam 4. 19. when shee heard the sad tidings that the Arke of God was taken and that her husband and her father in law were dead shee bowed herselfe and travelled for her paines came upon her shee travelled was delivered and dyed I cannot forget how Rachel journeying from Bethel Gen 35 16. when there was but a litle way to come to Ephrath travelled and had hard labour And though when shee had hard labour the Mid wife sayd unto her vers 17 Feare not thou shalt have this sonne allso vers 18 and shee had her sonne and called him Ben-oni the soone of her sorrow but his father called him Benjamin the sonne of his right hand yet shee dyed The remembrance of these that dyed in child-birth increaseth my feares and addeth to mine affliction I am so dismayed betweene the pangs which I suffer and the suspition of death which possesseth my soule that I am I know not how divided and forlorne One while I resolve to submit to my God another while I suspect that I shall not possiblie endure the severity of my tortures My teares are many my pangs increase and double and treble themselves upon mee One O is not enough to cry but as if my short life were onely to be inployed in accents of sorrow I leng then my exclamations and I cry oooooo c as if my paine waxe the lesser when I make my complaints either lowder or longer Sometimes my pangs are so thick and so violent that I have not time to feare and sometimes againe my feare is so greate that I have not leasure to mind the pangs I endure The body suffers and the mind labour's and all is in a kind of distruction and confusion Sometimes I feare that I am yeelding up the ghost and then a pull a tugge a throw command's â—nee to forget my feare and sett my selfe to endure Sometimes I feare least my child should not come right or not be rightly shaped or not be perfectly limbed and then a throw againe maketh mee lay aside my feares In the depth of my sufferances I am all most bereft of my senses with the violence of the paine and at times of intermission I am halfe distracted with these doubts and feares Act 3.2 Sometimes I thinke of the man that was lame from his mother's wombe and was faint to be caried whom they layd dayly at the gate of the temple which was called Beautifull to aske almes of them that entered into the temple and then I am jealous that either my child may be a creeple or else a beggar At other times I thinke of the man at Lystra c 14.8 impotent in his feete who was likewise a creeple from his mother's wombe and never had walked and presently I feare that mine may be so too Againe sometimes my anxious thoughts fixe upon the man who was blind from his birth Io 9.1 Mat 12 22. Mar 7.32 sometimes on him who was blind and dumb sometimes on him who was deafe and had an impediment in his speech and then I suspect that mine infant may be so too But why ô why doe I harbour such thoughts or utter such cryes of distrust Why doe I embrace such suspitions and feares of the death of my selfe or of impotency of my child If I despaire of ease I forget my comforter If I submit not to his pleasure I deny him to be my God If I repine at my sufferances I adde unto the cause and so I multiply mine iniquities I cannot deny that my God is omniscient I may not deny that my God is omnipotent I would not deny that my God is compassionate Since then I doe know that hee knoweth my miseries and that hee hath power to release mee whensoëver hee pleaseth it is my duety to hope in his mercy and tender compassion If I feare my death I condemne my life and publish to the world my neglect of preparation If I have not layed up in store against the hower of my departure especially seeing I doe know that many have dyed in the extreamitie of their throwes it will plainly appeare that I either cared not for heaven or dreaded not hell If I fear too much that my child may fayle in a due proportion or too vainely distrust that it may come imperfect I dishonour my God who shaped it in my wombe It is not of mine owne fashioning Ps 139.14 it wa fearefully and wonderfully made by my maker I must therfore content my selfe with what hee hath allotted mee If the shape be perfect the greater must be my thankes if it prove imperfect the greater must be my patience in all I must be sure to give glory unto God My service to him hath beene weake imperfect hee may justly therfore shape my child according to my service If so hee should doe I cannot resist it I must not repine at it I will resolve therfore by the assistance of his grace that allthough my cryes may be lowd yet they shall not be sinfull they may expresse my sufferance but not any impatience I will feare to dye when I thinke onely of my desert but I will desire to dye when I faithfully rely upon the merits of my Redeemer and desire that this mortall may put on immortality 1. Cor. 15.54 I know that some children have beene borne imperfect but what I my selfe doe not fashion I will never repine at Had I made it my selfe it would have beene monstrously deformed for my very best and most accurate actions are full of imperfections If therfore it shall have too much or too litle yet it will be too much for mee to sinne by murmuring Lord arme mee with patience to suffer what thou pleasest with faith and hope to goe when thou callest and with joy and thanks to receave what thou givest part 3 The third part of the Soliloquie administring Consolation and comfort to a woman in the bitternesse of her travell THe blessed Apostle comforting the Corinthians speaketh to the soules of all the elect 1. Cor. 10.13 when hee saith There hath noe temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation allsu make a way to escape that yee may be able to beare it O gracious promise O heavenly mercy Bee just ô my God in the performance bee speedie in my deliverance I faint I dye How long Lord how long shall I cry These afflictions seeme to exceede the power of a mortall woman
healeth Ex 15.26 Psl 6.2 Have mercy therfore upon mee ô Lord for I am weake ô Lord heale mee for my bones are vexed Ps 41.3 Ier 17.14 Strengthen mee now upon my bed of languishing make thou all my bed in my sicknesse Heale mee o Lord and I shall be healed save mee and I shall be saved for thou art my praise c 30.12 O let not my bruise be incurable though my wound be grievous Let mee have one to pleade my cause vers 13 even that Holy One thine onely begotten Sonne that hee may bind mee up and give mee healing medicines Thou art hee who didst promise Iacob to correct him in measure vers 11 though not to leave him altogether unpunished Thou rebukest mee for my sinne Ps 39.11 and makest my beauty to consume away like as it were a moath fretting a garment These Markes in my flesh doe cause a trembling even in my spirit Rev 13.17 Ps 86.16 Lord graunt that upon my soule be not found the marke of the beast but the marke of thy sonne that hee may owne mee for his O turne thou unto mee and have mercy upon mee give thy strength unto thy servant and save thy distressed hand-mayd Shew now some good token for good vers 17 that it may appeare unto the world that thou Lord doest helpe mee and comfort mee But if in thy secret purpose thou hast decreed at this time to gather mee unto my fathers make mee with joy comfort to render mine account unto thee the Lord of heaven earth Looke not upon the sinnes and offences of my misse-led life but rather looke upon my Redeemer's death Is 53.5 who was wounded for my transgressions bruised for mine iniquites the chastisement of my peace was layed upon him by his stripes therfore let mee be healed In the midst of the streete of thy throne ô God Reu 22.2 of either side of the river of life there is a tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations O my God let mee but come to tast of those fruits let mee but be shaded under the leaves of that tree of life Ps 41.4 Ps 103 1. Be mercifull unto mee heale my soule for I have sinned against thee Then shall my soule blesse thee O my Lord and all that is within mee shall praise thy holy name who forgivest all mine iniquities vers 3. and canst heale my diseases Into thine hands I commend my spirit Ps 31.5 for thou hast redeemed mee ô Lord thou God of trueth The Spirit and the bride say Come Reu 22.17 therfore let mee who now heare it say Come Let mee heare thy voyce ô God Gen 3.8 in the coole of the day not in the heate of thy displeasure And thou ô my Iesus who for such sinners wert made a sacrifice on the altar of the crosse how downe thine eare as thou didst upon the tree and heare and fullfill the desires of thy wounded supplicant Come ô Iesus and embrace mee in thine armes hide mee in thy wounded side from the wrath of thy father In thee alone doe I trust to thee alone doe I flee succour mee helpe mee save mee O Christ The world I leave to thee I come At the doore of thy mercy doe I knock I call I cry Lord protect mee Iesus comfort mee Strengthen my faith and confirme my hope As my earthly body draweth neerer to the earth so doe thou draw my soule up neerer unto thee who art the father of spirits Heb 12 9. O God make speede to save mee O Lord make hast to helpe mee Finish soone these dayes of sinne and then let mee enter into thy celestiall paradice and that for his sake in whom alone thou art well pleased even Iesus Christ my onely Mediatour and Redeemer Amen subject 16 THE SIXTEENTH SUBjECT Teares of a Mother for the sicknesse of her child 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 IT shall come to passe saith Moses to the house of Israel if thou wilt not hearken to the voyce of the Lord thy God Deut 28.15 to observe to doe all his commandements and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee vers 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the citty and cursed shalt thou be in the field Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store vers 17 yea Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body c. vers 18 What all these curses from heaven for the sins of poore distressed mortalls O what a multitude of evills doe our sinnes deserve What punishment doeth not iniquitie cry for It cryeth for the curse of the citty the decay of trading the curse of the field whole rivers of blood in furious battailes the curse of the basket and the store the dearth of provisions Yet all these are but outward punishments and reflect onely upon the baser the worse part of our selves the body but Cursed shall be the fruit of the body oh this biteth like a Serpent stingeth like a Cockatrice Prov 23.32 The fruit of my body Is afflicted with sicknesse but is the sinne of the parent the cause of his affliction Yes yes my conscience acknowledgeth the guilt let my tongue be as ready to confesse it and my heart to repent of it But how standeth this with the justice of the Creatour Gen 18.25 Shall not the judg of all the earth doe right The Prophet Ezekiel telleth mee from God that The sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father Eze 18 20. Mich 7 6. Ier 9.20 neither shall the father beare the iniquity of the sonne but the soule that sinneth it shall dye Else the daughter might rise up against her mother as saith the Prophet and the women by reason of the vengeance due for their sinnes might teach their daughters wayling c 31.29 Rom 3 4. if the sowre grapes which the parents have eaten should set their childrens teeth on edge But let God be true and every man a lyar that hee may be justified in his sayings and may over-come when hee is judged Hee it is who hath threatned to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him The sinne is mine Ex 20.5 but the punishment is mine infant's againe the sinne is mine infant's and the punishment is mine And yet farther The sinne is of and from both and the punishment is inflicted upon both His sufferance is my sorrow and his paines my distresse Lord what a due reward of sinne is punishment My child as yet it may be knoweth not sinne and yet is hee punished
I climb up into a tree for it Yea I doe climb and into a tree too O it is the tree of mine owne pride and vanitie which beareth leaves goodly broade shadowing leaves but it beareth noe fruit at all nothing but keyes and those keyes are fitted onely for the wide gate that leadeth to destruction Mat. 7.13 they will never un-lock the gates of heaven This child is young hee is a babe a babe in age a babe in growth I am a babe not in age not in growth but such a one as the Corinthians were to whom the Apostle wrote 1. Cor. 3.1 and sayd that hee could not speake unto them as unto spirituall but as unto carnall even as unto babes in Christ My child is young and tender and simple apt to be led with trifles to stragle abroad with children to be caried any whither at the pleasure of her to whose charge hee is left I am a child too a verier child then mine owne apt to be tossed to and fro Eph. 4.14 and caried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wayt to deceave And now what shall I doe I am the verier child of the two the most sinfull of the two and yet my child is afflicted with sicknesse and to mee noe other punishment is at present alotted but the griefe which I have for the sicknesse of my child Hee still cryeth still must I therfore cry Hee groaneth and I must allso groane Yea I doe groane I groane in spirit that my Iesus may cure the diseases of my soule I groane too for my child my prettie sweete babe that my Iesus may howsoever cure the infirmities of his soule and if hee so pleaseth recover allso the health of his body This must be the way to him I must thus goe Io. 14.6 Ps 30.8 for hee himselfe hath styled himselfe the way I will therfore cry unto the Lord and get mee unto my Lord right humbly I will goe to the gate of the physitian the gate of mercy and there I will knock and call and cry for entrance I will fall upon my knees and wring my hands and smite my breast Is 38.14 and weepe and mourne like a Crane and chatter like a Swallow even untill mine eyes faile with looking upward and thus will I say unto him The Prayer GReate God whose power is irresistable and whose pleasure is the rule of thy servant's obedience bow downe thine eare to my sad intreaties Thou hast stricken mee with sorrow who have not mourned for the cause and by the sicknesse of mine infant thou hast taught mee the frailtie of our mortall bodyes I see that all flesh is as grasse 1. Pet. 1.24 and the glory thereof but as the flowre of the field Mine impenitent heart I must confesse deserveth thy justice and my sinfull life this punishment of my tender infant But thou ô Lord art mercifull though I am sinfull and art apt to forgive those that truely repent O my God I desire to be sorrowfull for mine offences and earnestly I besiech thee to give mee true contrition for all my sinnes Iob. 7.20 O thou preserver of men remitt both my sinnes and the punishment which is justly due unto mee for them that I may rejoyce in thy mercy and magnifie thee for thy goodnesse Looke gratiously upon this child who feeleth the scourge though gently of thy justice due both for his and for my transgressions O let not thy wrathfull displeasure continue upon him nor my greater crimes cause an addition unto his torments Thy servant David confessed his sinnes and submitted to thy rod but yet hee cryed concerning his people 2. Sam. 24.19 and sayd These sheepe what have they done I dare not justifie this thy patient but I must needes acknowledg that for mine iniquities as well as for his thou thus doest wound him But ô thou who didst once command Mat. 19 14. that litle children should be brought unto thee didst prefer them for patternes both of innocency and humilitie shew now thy power in the weakenesse of this child Enable him with patience to endure thy visitation and direct mee to the meanes which may conduce to his recoverie if thou in thy secret decree hast so determined it Ps 6.2 Have mercy upon him ô Lord for hee is weake ô Lord heale him and free him from his sufferings Thou art hee that tookest him out of my wombe Ps 22.9 Ps 9.13 Ps 41.2 and canst as easily if thou pleasest lift him up now from the gates of death Preserve him ô God if it may be thy heavenly pleasure and keepe him alive that hee may be blessed upon earth ô heale his soule and raise him up againe Give a blessing to the meanes which shall be used for his recovery Ps 119 91. Ps 56.8 that all things in their order may be knowne to serve thee O let the teares of mee thine afflicted supplicant be put into thy botle and let the cryes of mee thy mournefull hand-mayd who beg for this infant be heard in the eares of thee the Lord of hosts Thou thy selfe didst weepe ô Christ Io. 11.35 for the death of Lazarus take compassion therfore on the weeping mother of this diseased child O let not my teares be shed in vaine but mercifully free this infant from his anguish and sufferings Yet howsoëver thou hast decreed righteous father not my will Mat 26.39 Ier 10.24 but thy will be done Onely let mee besiech thee to visit him in mercy and not in thy fury lest he be consumed and brought to nought Make him able to beare what thou determinest to send and in thy good time raise him out of this miserie Lord give mee allso a willing submission to thy holy pleasure that so I may neither discover too much fondnesse of affection to this my beloved issue when I see him subject to frailtie and mortalitie nor too immoderately grieve if thou receavest him to thy selfe Forgive whatsoëver is amisse in him and let his soule de deare and pretious in thy sight O Let thy mercy pleade against thy severitie let thy gratious promises be had in thy remembrance and let thy Christ be heard in his intercession both for mee and mine To thy will ô Lord make mee readily submitt to thy holy pleasure make mee willingly yeeld Thine is this infant Ps 39.13 and thou lentest him mee ô spare him a litle that hee may recover his strength before hee goe hence and be noe more seene To thy pleasure ô heavenly father I willingly refer him besieching thee to send him thy grace while hee shall remaine upon earth and after that receave him into glory for the worthinesse of thine onely begotten Sonne Iesus Christ our onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 17 THE SEAVENTEENTH SUBjECT Teares of a Mother for the death of her child The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5.
him yea and on mee allso that I may not be drowned in the flouds of sorrow Mat. 8.14 vers 15 When Iesus came into Peter's house hee saw his wive's mother laid and sick of a feaver And hee did but touch her hand and the feaver left her and shee arose and ministred unto them My Iesus doeth still reteine both his mercy and his power Though his body be absent yet his spirit is present Hee can if hee please reach downe from heaven Deut 4 34. for hee hath a mighty hand and a stretched-out arme O that hee would but touch his patient that so his disease might leave him and that hee might arise and serre the Lord The Prophet David did highly extoll the goodnesse of the Lord when hee acknowledged saying Ps 30.3 O Lord thou hast brought up my soule from the grave thou hast kept mee alive that I should not goe downe to the pitt Doe thou the same ô my God for thine afflicted servant My Redeemer was pleased to tell the Pharisees that the husband and the wife are noe more twaine but one flesh and therfore hee concluded saying What God hath joyned together let not man put asunder Mat â—9 6. My husband and my selfe are joyned together by the sacred institution of holy wedlock which maketh us one for wee have but one God one body one mind one affection wherfore then should any thing attempt to seperate us Yet wee may be Seperated and if this divorce be not wrought by man it infringeth not the law of God Sicknesse may make yea and at this time it doeth make an un-wellcome seperation yet though wee are seperated wee are not divided But I must find out more in this seperation then barely the sicknesse I must looke up unto him who sent this sicknesse and that is God Hee may seperate us indeede whensoever hee pleaseth Hee may send his executioner that pale and grimme death with his sharpest Sickle and give him power to reape downe either one or both of us That is the effect of sinne and I cannot deny but I have deserved to be deprived of my husband because I have many wayes offended him who sent him unto mee In the time of his health did I expect his sicknesse Did I provide for this evill day Nay did I not rather pride my selfe as Babylon did Reu 18 7. and say in mine heart I sit as a Queene and am noe widow and shall see noe sorrow Certainly his sicknesse is allso sent as a scourge unto mee for being flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone I cannot choose but be sensible of the anguish which hee suffer's Yet allthough it is just with God to deprive mee of my husband because of my rebellions I have hope in his mercy if I can but confesse my wickednesses Ps 38.18 Eze. 34 16. and be sorrie for my sinnes Hee promised once by the mouth of his Prophet saying I will seeke that which was lost and bring againe that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken will strengthen that which was sick O my God make good this promise now to thy languishing servant Hee is one of thy flock hee is one of thy weake and tender Lambs True it is that hee was lost when hee went astray after his owne inventions but now as thou hast found him in this thy visitation so let him find thee in the gentlnesse of his correction Seeke him ô my God who was lost bring him againe unto thee who was driven from thee by the suggestions of the tempter bind him up for hee is broken Ps 41.3 and strengthen him now upon the bed of languishing make thou all his bed in this his sicknesse Moses did assure the children of Israel that If they would hearken to the judgments of God Deut. 7 12. vers 15 and keepe and doe them Then the Lord would take away from them all sicknesse and would put none of the evill diseases of Egypt upon them O my Lord be pleased to make thy feeble servant willing to hearken to thy judgments and ready to keepe them and then in thy good time release him from his sicknesse Againe the Lord at another time did comfort his people Ex. 23.25 and sayd unto them Yee shall serve the Lord your God and I will take sicknesse away from the midst of thee O that my God would be pleased to draw this languishing patient to his holy service and accept of that service and then free him from this sicknesse Hee who hath woundded him even the same can cure him and hee expecteth noe reward onely hee requireth the heart But alas the very heart of my husband is tormented with sicknesse hee is sick at the heart and the Lord doeth say Mal. 1.8 If yee offer the lame and the sick is it not evill But what then shall hee doe Hee can offer noe other then what hee hath Let it be thy goodnesse ô God to ture him of his lamenesse to ease him of his sicknesse and then accept of the whole man for hee is wholly thine Hee who so friendly speaketh to the house of Israël and justifieth himselfe unto them saying O my people what have I done unto thee Mich. 6.3 and wherein have I wearied thee Even the same God notwithstanding threatneth the wicked that hee will make them sick in smiting vers 13 them My poore husband now is sensible of his wrath because hee had formerly refused his mercy Even hee and my selfe have beene apt to forget our good God when hee did not weary us and therfore now hee doeth make us sick in this smiting us Yet there is hope for even the same God is ours who was the God of Daniel and that Prophet saith Dan 8.27 I Daniel fainted and was sick certaine dayes afterward I rose up and did the King's businesse My poore husband fainteth too oh hee is sick too but I will pray unto my God to raise him up againe that so hee may doe the King's businesse even the businesse of him who is King of Kings Reu 17.14 and Lord of Lords For this I will besiech him and I will begge of him that in the bowells of his compassion hee will open his eares to the cry of his hand-mayd whilest I powre out my prayer and supplication unto him and say The Prayer INcomprehensible God whose workes are deepe and whose wayes are past finding out who smitest in thy wrath and yet in thy wrath remembrest mercy Hab. 3.2 be pleased to stretch forth thine hand and visit in mercy thine afflicted patient Thou art the good Samaritane from whom alone wee can expect the oyle of gladnesse Lu 10.33 Ps 45.7 and the wine of consolation O remember not the iniquities either of my sick Lord or my sinfull selfe for wee know that in thy justice thou mayst teare us in pieces Ps 50.22 Is 53.5 when there can
to submit with cheerefullnesse to this thy chastisement and to repent mee of my sinnes which brought this affliction Were it not just for mee to make my complaint in the bitternesse of my sorrowes thou wouldest not have commanded Zion to lament like a virgin girded with sack-cloth for the husband of her youth Thou Lam 1.8 ô Lord doest behould my sorrow and the griefe of my heart because thou hast taken from mee the desire of mine eyes Eze 24 16. and the joy of my heart Be pleased ô my God so to open the eyes of my soule and understanding that I may see as cleerely the cause of thy stroake as I am sensible of the losse of him that was my guide Though hee was sent to be the head of my body yet thou ô God didst offer thy selfe to be the husband of my soule but to my shame I must confesse that I followed the stepps of Samaria Eze 16 45. of Sodome and of Ierusalem and loathed thee my Lord and my husband justly therfore mightest thou say of mee as thou once didst speake of the church of the Iewes Hos 2.2 Shee is not my wife neither am I her husband But ô thou father of mercies for give my back-slidings and adde not affliction to affliction lest I faint under thy rod. Is 47.9 Spirituall widow-hood was a curse which once thou didst threaten unto Babylon ô let it not fall upon mee Allthough thou hast taken him that was my husband yet be pleased to betroth mee to thy selfe for ever Hos 2.19 Say unto mee Ruchama thou hast obtained mercy vers 16 vers 19 and let mee answer thee Baali and Ishi my Lord and my husband Betroath mee unto thee in righteousnesse and in judgment and in loving-kindnesse vers 20 and in mercyes and in faithfullnesse and make mee know thee to be my Lord. 2. Cor 11.2 Send a Paul to espouse mee to one husband that so I may be presented as a chast virgin unto Christ. Give mee grace to doe as once thou commandedst the widowes of Edom Ier 49.11 1. Tim 5.5 even to trust in thee Though now I am desolate yet make mee for ever to trust in thee my God and continue in supplications and prayers night and day Thus let my sorrow be sanctified and my trust and confidence reposed in thee that so I may serve thee with cheerefullnesse endure thy visitation with patience and in the end that I may goe to that place where I trust thou hast crowned my husband and where my Saviour is certainly gone before even to the Kingdome of happinesse and that through the merits and intercession of the same Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 20 THE TWENTIETH SUBJECT A woman's teares at the funer all of her husband 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 WHen Sarah dyed in Kiriath-Arba Abraham stood up from before his deceased wife Gen 23 3. and spake unto the sonnes of Heth vers 4. saying I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give mee a possession and a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my fight Though hee so tenderly affected her whilest shee was living yet hee would not looke to long on her when shee was dead It is a duety as full of humanitie to interre with decency the bodies of the dead as it is of religion to love the persone when they are alive Yet vaine is man in this affection if hee fixeth his love onely on the beautie of the body This flesh which is so tender this skinne which I strive to preserve both smooth and white must one day be a banquet for the loathed wormes Noe greater priviledg belongeth to mee then did to my hushand for the time will come when I shall follow him to the earth Had I loved onely his outward forme my love should now either quite be forgotten or else I should fondly defire to deny it interment but it was his body enlivened with a rich and excellent soule which drew mine affection and commanded my desires Had that soule and body continued their societie I had beene freed from my laments but they have bid fare-well 'till the generall resurrection and hence am I enforced to utter my complaints I weepe for my losse because wee are divorced but ô what conflicts then can I imagine that hee had wheÌ„ hee was not onely to part from his indeared wife but likewise his soule was to leave this chillowed â—earth Oh for him for him for my losse of him doe I pay the tribute of these watering eyes Yet these teares must not flow in too greate aboundance lest by them I should seeme to envy his happinesse Even when his body shall be layed to sleepe in the grave if I mourne too much it will be justly suspected that too much I loved the worst of my husband His soule which was his best is now in perfection and may not be lamented his body which is the worse and grosser part of him is now to be committed to the earth whence it came Thither it must goe to that place I must commend it otherwise my former love may be turned into loathing and that which I esteemed when it was alive I shall be forced to abhorre if I keepe it from the grave O it grieveth mee each minuit that I thinke of my deerest it troubleth and perplexeth mee with disturbed thoughts when I consider how servently I loved him yet cannot enliven him But these are onely the fond conceptions of an erring phantisie and tell mee that I loved him more then I should or else now I would not grieve so much as I doe If my love to God be so greate as I pretend I shall thankfully acknowledg his love to the departed O let it never be said that my love was idolatrie in affecting him too much who is but dust and ashes But why sit I museing in these pensive thoughts when I should rather prepare for the buriall of the dead Have I taken a course for the place of his rest where his cold body may be layed to sleepe This is a duety which every age hath beene carefull to performe It was a greater argument of Iehojakim's furie against Vryah the Prophet Ier. 26.23 that hee cast his dead body into the graves of the common people then that hee slew him with the sword It hath allso beene a testimonie of God's revenge when hee suffered not the dead to have a decent interment Eccl 6.3 If a man beget an hundred children saith the Preacher and live many yeeres so that the dayes of his yeeres be many and his soule be not filled with good and allso that hee have noe buriall I say that an untimely birth is better then hee VVhen the
mind Though I have lost my husband yet still I have my God Hee is and will be mine so long as I remaine and continue his What though I misse my head my deceased Lord my dead husband in every place What though hee sitteth not with mee at the table and therfore I sigh What though I find a misse of him in my sole and single life and therfore I grieve What though I want him to instruct mee in the wayes of goodnesse and to provide for the affaires allso concerning this life and therfore mourne I may be pensive in the remembrance of him whom I loved and I may lament the losse of my instructer and my comforter but if I grieve too much I shall but discover that there was folly in my love and that there is dispaire in my teares Hee was not mine but God's and with him hee liveth It must be my comfort that hee lived so well while hee was upon earth that I may hope assuredly that hee 's a saint in heaven and it must be my confidence that hee is onely gone a litle before to that place of happinesse whither I shall follow him Hee who lent mee him can furnish mee with another or else give mee content with this single life Hee was not my choyce but God's If I ponder upon my losse with sorrow and griefe I must yet thinke upon his advantage with joy and content I will therfore reverence his memorie without too many sobbs and I will be thankfull to my God because hee once did lend mee so good a directour I will by his blessing live a widow with content and quietnesse untill hee shall be pleased either to call mee againe to the state of wedlock or else free mee from this sinfull and troublsome world If I marrie noe more the greater command shall I reteine of my selfe I am now at libertie to employ my time in religious dueties whereas if I were wedded to an un-godly man even my religion it selfe without the mercy of my God might receave some prejudice But if the Lord shall be pleased to bring mee againe into obedience to another I will besiech him so to direct mee in my choyce that I may marry in the Lord. I will not rashly attempt so weighty a matter but with my prayers and teares I will begge of the Lord to guide and direct mee Thus that I may live in the love of my God and that hee may allways overshadow mee with his blessings Ier. 31.32 and be a husband unto mee as hee promised to be unto Iudah and Israël I will humble my selfe at his foote-stoole and pray unto him and say The Prayer BLessed God thou who once didst promise to the barren church of the Gentiles that thou wouldest be unto her both a Redeemer and a husband Is 54.5 be pleased to looke upon the low estate of a pensive widow Thou knowest how irksome and full of forrowes this solitarie life is thou viewest my sad and dis-consolate condition O be thou unto mee both a husband and a comforter that in the multitude of my sorrowes which I have in my heart thy comforts ô Lord Ps 94.19 may refresh my soule It is thy promise that Prov. 15.25 though thou wilt destroy the house of the proude yet thou wilt establish the border of the widow Though the wicked doe noe good to the widow Iob. 24.21 yea though they stay the widow and murder the fatherlesse Ps 94.6 Ps 68.5 yet thou thy selfe hast promised that thou wilt be a father to the fatherlesse and defend the cause of the widow even thou ô God who dwellest in thine holy habitations Iob. 22.9 O send not then a poore and distressed widow away emptie but be pleased to be my Gâ—… my guide and my counsellour Make mee 〈◊〉 honour thee in all my wayes to rely upon thee iâ— all my sorrowes to sue unto thee in all mâ— wants Eph. 4.24 Ps 89.22 and firmely to be wedded unto thee 〈◊〉 righteousnesse and true holinesse Let not thâ— oppressour exact upon mee nor the Sonne 〈◊〉 wickednesse doe mee harme but doe thoâ— allways preserve mee under the shadow of thy wings Be thou my directour in all my wayes that whether I shall continue in this stated of widow-hood or be ordered by thee to change my condition and be joyned againe in holy wedlock I may sue for thy counsell and be seconded with thy blessing But so long as I shall leade this single life let mee remaine contented Lu. 2.37 and make mee like Anna the Prophetesse not departing from thy temple but serving thee my God with fasting and prayer night and day Be thou unto mee in a more excellent manner then was Iob unto the widowes causing my heart to sing for joy Iob. 29.13 that so though mine afflictions are many and my desolate condition be full of perturbations and anxious thoughts yet I may so cleave unto thee that I may have comfort in thee whilest I live upon earth and be hereafter admitted into the societie of thy saints and Angells there to reigne with thee world without end through Iesus Christ my onely Lord and Saviour Amen subject 22 THE TWENTIE-SECOND SUBjECT Teares of an Orphane at the death of her father The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray AMong other abominations which Ierusalem was guiltie of it was not the least that In her had they set light by father and mother Eze. 22 7. But could there live such people as neglect their parents Could nature become so silent in children that they should forget the honour due to progeâ—itours Surely if even affection inhabited the breast of a Christian it needes must dwell in the heart of a child and point to the fathers that did beget him Alas I feele a desire of expressing such an affection which I would be as readie to manifest in reall expression but ay mee the object of 〈◊〉 love and my duety is snatched from mee Oâ— hee that begat mee is dead hee that tooke caâ— to breede mee hee that supplyed my wants bâ— that instructed mee in religion hee that defenâ—… mee from injuries hee whose labour indstrie was chiefely imployed for the good of mee his boloved child Prov. 4 3. I was oh I may say I was my father's child tender and onely beloved of my mother But now where ô where is that man of affection Where is that father who so earnestly loved mee who so deerely affectâ— mee Sick hee was dead hee is But was my duety to him correspondent any way to his care of mee Did I endeavour to requite his love by my service Gen 48 1. obedience Did I visit him in his sicknesse as Ioseph did his dying father When one could him saying Behold thy father iâ— sick hee
ceremeniall law yea a Priest himselfe was allowed these acts so naturall and pious Though touching the Nazarites the command was strickt which the Lord delivered unto Moses Num. 6 1. vers 2. saying Say unto the children of Israel when either man or woman shall seperate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to seperate themselves unto the Lord vers 6. all the dayes that hee seperateth himselfe unto the Lord hee shall come at noe dead body vers 7. hee shall not make himselfe un-cleane for his father or for his mother for his brother or for his sister when they dye because the consecration of his God is upon his head Yet whereas the law said Eze 44 25. The Priests shall come at noe dead person to defile themselves it ran with this exception But for father or for mother or for sonne or for daughter for brother or for sister that hath had noe husband they may defile themselves And againe concerning the common people the law provideth saying Num 19.16 Whosoever toucheth one that is slaine with the sword in the open fields or a dead bodie or a bone of a man or a grave shall be uncleane but the time of his un-cleanesse was to continue but seaven dayes That law hath now noe power to oblige us who are under the Gospel I may touch my dead parent and embrace him yea and kisse him at least in my thoughts when I cannot come to his body And so I will and if there remaine any un-cleanesse in my cogitations I will purifie I will wash it away with the bath of my teares Allthough my sorrowes cannot call him from the grave yet they have power both to discover mine affection and to satisfie my desires Heb 11 35. In ancient times women had their dead raised to life againe This indeede is too much for mee to expect yet it will not be too much for mee to mourne with those women who were afterward thus comforted But then I must be just in my mourning As my love may lawfully be shewed in my teares so must my religion be manifested in my moderation It was a curse upon the Iewes which the Prophet pronounced when hee said Men shall not teare themselves for them in mourning Ier. 16.7 to comfort them for the dead neither shall men give them the cupp of consolation to drinke for their father or for their mother I must not exceede the bounds of modestie in my cryes lamentations but I must drinke rather of the cupp of consolation and hearken to the advice and counsell of my comforters Nature indeede may be seene in a teare and heard in a sigh but if those teares be too many or those sighes too frequent or too lowde my very sorrowes may be sinfull for my want of patience Hee for whom I grieve is better then my selfe and his condition is full of joy and delight why then should I mourne too excessively as if hee were lost why should I grieve too immoderately as if I despaired of a father Hee is gone to a place where hee is freed from sorrowes and can dye noe more onely I am on earth in a valley of teares but I shall have a time to dye too and be gathered unto him In heaven saith Saint Iohn there shall be noe more death Reu. 21.4 neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine for the former things are passed away My Redeemer saith that they which shall be accounted worthy to obtaine that world Luc. 20 35. the resurrection from the dead neither marrie nor are given in mariage neither can they dye any more vers 36 for they are equall unto the Angells and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection VVhy then should I lament for him who needeth not my sorrowes and my teares are but a fruitlesse disturbance of my selfe If I am troubled at the losse of a friend so deare I must rather labour to be beloved of my God who is so good I shall one day learne with holy Iob Iob. 17 14. to say to corruption Thou art my father and to the worme Thou art my mother and my sister There is yet something earthly therfore which I shall acknowledge a parent but I must take heede that nothing upon earth doeth make mee an idolater The house of Israel was once so sottish as to say to a stock Ier 2.27 Thou art my father to a stone Thou hast brought mee forth This were a stupid madnesse in mee if I should so dis-honour the memorie of my father as to make the timber succeede him in my reverence But more impious it would prove if I should reject my heavenly father and insteed of him I should honour as Israel did a stock or a stone The greater that my losse is in my deceased parent the more must be my obedience to the father of lights Iam. 1.17 Heb. 12 9. Hee who is and must be the father of my spirit did lend unto mee for a time the father of my flesh Hee hath allso taken from mee my naturall parent that my thoughts may be ever fixed upon him with whom hee dwelleth If my trust be in God my comforts will abound my sorrowes will decrease If my name be written among the righteous my share shall be equall to theirs in the protection of my God Hee hath ever beene mercifull to them that were fatherlesse so that they relyed on his providence and served him with faithfullnesse Ps 27.10 Ps 68.5 When my father and my mother forsake mee saith the Psalmist then the Lord will take mee up a father of the fatherlesse is God in his holy habitation O that I might have the honour to be his child that so I might justly call him father O that I could truely say unto him Thou art my father my God Ps 89.26 Is 63.16 Ier. 3.19 2. Cor. 6.18 and the rock of my salvation O that I could faithfully say Thou ô Lord art my father my Redeemer thy name is from ever-lasting O that I could call him my father and not turne away from him His mercies are greate his promises are full of comfort I will be a father unto you and yee shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord All-mighty O what shall I doe that I may be sure to be adopted into the number of his children Alas as I am I have but litle hope of it for hee is pure but I am un-cleane but I will wash my selfe with my teares of repentance and beseech his Sonne to cleanse mee with his blood Hee is righteous but I am sinfull but I will confesse my wickednesse Ps 38.18 and be sorrie for my sinnes and then I am sure hee will aboundantly pardon Lord though I have beene thine enemie thou canst make mee thy friend though I have hated thee thou canst incline mee to love thee though I have beene rebellious thou
be as constant in my prayers as the man â—as constant in his attendance at the poole At â—y gate ô Christ I must I doe continually â—e Thy blood ô Iesus is the onely Bethesda â—r my distressed soule Lord leade mee into â—…at poole of blood by the hand of faith and then I shall not distrust the effect of that â—ver O cleanse my soule and then I shall willingly submit to thy pleasure for my body But still ô still my paines increase and my flesh consume's I pray and I begge and I beseech and yet I find noe ease noe reliefe The continuance of my sicknesse doe's but â—each mee the ignorance of the Physitians or â—he deadnesse of the druggs and potions I am dyeted and I am physicked and my body is become the very shop of an Apothecarie and yet I find noe ease noe comfort 'T is true that thirtie and eight yeares continuance of a maladie hindered not Christ from curing with a word But if it had remained longer could hee have done the like Yes surely why not Hee himselfe could as well have dooâ— that as have given power to his Apostles tâ— restore the Criple who had beene fortie yeaâ—… lame This was done by Peter and Iohn for the man that was above fortie yeares ould Act 14 22. c 3.2 and had beene lame from his mother's wombe even on him was shewed this miracle of healing I may hope for some favour too from the hands of my God for though to mee it might appeare allmost a miracle that I should recore yet with God it is as easily effected by a word as was the greate creation of heaven and earth I will therfore submit to his pleasure and 〈◊〉 upon his goodnesse Hee is a God of mercy an tender compassion hee is the greate Physitia both of soule and body hee hath allways delighted in acts of charitie It was his promise upon some conditions to heale a whoâ—… land 2. Chr 7.14 for his owne words are If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seeke my face and turnâ— from their wicked wayes then will I heare from heaven and will forgive their sinne and wiâ—… heale their land I am one of the people ô Christ that is called by thy name for a Christian I am though a sinfull and a feeble Christian and thou hast humbled mee with this thy visitation and grace thou hast given mee I blesse the for it to humble my selfe in the consideration of mine iniquities and to pray and to seâ—… thy face Lord perfect thy good workes and make mee turne from mine iniquities and then heare mee from heaven and forgive my sinne and if it may stand with thy eternall decree heale thy servant Hee hath likewise shewed his mercy even in healing of waters 2. King 2.21 for his Prophet Elisha went forth to the spring of un-wholesome waters and cast salt in there and said Thus saith the Lord I have healed these waters there shall not â—e from thence any more death or barren land So the waters were healed vers 22 according to the saying of Elisha the Prophet Lord I have waters too that require thy helpe for they are un-wholesome they are sinfull I weepe and I lament my teares runne downe on my cheekes Lam. 1.2 and all either with extreamitie of anguish or feare of death or despaire of thy power to restore mee to health few of them are for my sinnes few of them for my transgressions But some hope I have that thou wilt likewise heale these waters for allready thou hast cast some salt into them I find by my tast that they are brackish that they are brinish Lord let mee be noe longer a barren land but make mee fruitfull in good works Col 1.10 Ps 1.3 that I may be like unto a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruite in due season and then though this leafe for a time may faile though the flower of my body may be cropped or mowed for the harvest yet I know that my Redeemer will not cast it into the fire but will make it spring up hereafter in eternall glory Hee hath allso healed the persons of diverse of his people Ps 107.20 for so saith the Psalmist Hee sent his word and healed them delivered them froÌ„ their destructions Is 19.22 So Isaiah prophesieth concerning Egypt saying The Lord shall smite Egypt hee shall smite and heale it and they shall returne even to the Lord and hee shall be intreated of them and shall heale them O what comfortable words were these to Egypt Hee may if hee please cheere mee up allso with the like for hee hath allready smitten mee and in his loving kindnesse hee hath so sanctified this affliction that by it hee hath made mee to returne unto him O Lord now if it be thy pleasure be thou intreated of mee heale mee This God is the same God who speaketh by the mouth of Moses and saith See now that I Deut 32.39 even I am hee and there is noe God with mee I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand This is the same Lord whom Hannah did magnifie in her thankfull Song and said The Lord killeth and maketh alive hee bringeth downe to the grave 1. Sam. 2.6 and bringeth up This is the same God of whom Iob his servant professeth and boasteth saying Hee maketh sore Iob. 5.18 and bindeth up hee woundeth and his hands make whole This is the same Lord VVhom David commandeth his soule to magnifie and saith Ps 103 1. vers 2. Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within mee blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord ô my soule and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseafes vers 3. and who redeemeth thy life from destruction vers 4. this God is the same God who alone hath power over soule body can if hee pleaseth preserve them both Hee it is whose mercies were promised to his Church when by his Prophet hee said The light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne Is 30.26 and the light of the Sunne shall bee seaven fold as the light of seaven dayes in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroake of their wound Hee it is who giveth such Euangelicall promises to penitent Iudah and saith I have seene his wayes and will heale him c 57.18 I will leade him allso and restore comforts to him and to his mourners I create the fruite of the lipps peace peace to him that is farre off vers 19 and to him that is neere saith the Lord and I will heale him This is hee who inviteth Israel to come unto him and saith Returne yee back-sliding Children and I will heale your backsliding
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
meete thee my God and my mercifull Redeemer O God comfort mee O Christ strengthen mee O Iesus save mee Prepare mee for the happie hower of my deliverance from this world and then bring mee out of this valley of teares to those waters of comfort where I may sing tryumphantly to the honour of thy name through Iesus Christ my Lord and my Redeemer Amen subject 25 THE TWENTIE-FIFTH SUBjECT Teares of a mother on her death-bed blessing her children The Soliloquie Consisting of two parts viz 1 Her preparation to blesse them 2 The blessing it selfe ending in a prayer part 1 The First part of the Soliloquie being her preparation to blesse them 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 CHildren are an heritage of the Lord saith the Psalmist Ps 127.3 and the fruit of the wombe is his reward True indeede they come from the Lord and happy are they if they returne unto him Gracious hath my God beene to mee in the loane of my issue but unlesse hee shall be pleased to adde grace unto nature his blessing will be fearfully converted into a curse Weakenesse possesseth my body faintnesse my spirits 2. Tim. 4.6 and the time of my departure is neere at hand Goe I must yea and I am willing and joyfull to meete my God but oh the thought of my children disturbeth my mind and the consideration of what may become of them filleth my dying heart with cares and anxjeties If they live not in the feare of him who lent them unto mee my poore issue may become the fewell of hell What shall I doe If I should live I would take such care by the blessing of my God as that I might be a meanes to nurture them up in the feare of the most high but if I am taken away from them who can tell what their education may prove Strangers may governe them and such people for ought I know may undertake their tuition as may neglect the care of religious instructions and suffer them to runne head-long to the gulfe of perdition O what a curse would it prove beyond expression if that part of my selfe which is divided into litle ones if those which cost mee so many pangs and throwes should be disobedient to my God and so be sentenced to the flames of eternall horrour Alas I can doe noe more then what the Lord will permit mee While I am here I am bound both by nature and grace to endeavour my utmost for their holy advantage but when I shall be dissolved lye in the cold clods of my mother earth then can noe more care be expected from mee Ah my poore infants litle doe they thinke how they will misse their mother and wish mee alive againe as if they envyed my happinesse Hither and thither they may be tossed and tumbled and which is worst of all they may be brought up in ignorance or in lewdnesse and sensualitie Mee think's I see the frownes of a stepmother and the knitted browes menacing nothing but crueltie and tyrannie and then mee think's they weepe in one corner and lament in another bemoane their hard happ in the losse of my selfe Their hungrie bellies may be pinched with famine their bodies with cold and their backs with stripes when I shall not either heare or see or know it my head being layed in the low and silent grave Helpe they may call for when none will have the pittie to render them helpe So they may want and cry and be beaten and cry and be turned out of doores and cry when yet neither mercy will heare nor charitie hearken to the complaints of the motherlesse But why doe I spend so many of these swift minuits of my short continuance in such pensive melancholick and distrustfull thoughts and feares of what may happen True it is that these and others yea and worse inconveniences may happen to their bodies and yet they may prove the children of the Most high That ô that is all that I aime at for though I would not willingly have them suffer in their bodies yet I would not for a thousand worlds that they should suffer in their soules Hunger and thirst and stripes and nakednesse may be endured and in time either age or wealth or friends may free them from these out-ward sufferances but ignorance and ungodlinesse without the infinite mercies and goodnesse of my Redeemer will be punished with torments that shall never have end O what shall I doe then for my poore distressed children Grieve I doe but I feare that I offend in it mourne I doe but I doubt it is more then indeede I ought God is not weake or ignorant or impotent Hee hath beene a father to mee from the time of my conception and shall I yet distrust in his providence and protection of my children This were either to suspect his power or to deny his mercie I know it is his desire that they should be heires of salvation and I know that hee can effect whatsoever hee desireth To him therfore I will leave them to his care and tuition I will referre my tender and beloved plants And that hee may the more willingly become their guardiaen when I shall leave them while I live I will beseech him with abundance of my teares to admitt them his servants The wife of Zebideus made a bolder request to my gracious Redeemer Mat 20.21 for shee be sought him that those her two sonnes might sit the one on his right hand and the other on his left in his Kingdome vers 22 Shee poore woman as Christ replyed did not know what shee asked Shee knew not that the Kingdome of Christ was celestiall but dreamed of an earthly diademe and glory Her request was therfore the fuller both of boldnesse and ambition whom noe place would serve for those her children but what was highest and next to supreamest majestie Yet mee thinks I cannot much blame her for her love to them whom so dearely shee had bought There is noe earthly love to be compared to the love of a woman nor is any womans love to be compared to the love of a mother Surely David did not know how strong this passion of love is in the weaker vessells when hee said The love of Ionathan to him was wonderfull 2. Sam. 1.26 passing the love of women Wee mothers are like unto the charet of King Solomon whereof though the pillars were of silver Cant 3 10. and the bottome of gold and the covering of purple yet the midst thereof was paved with love for the daughters of Ierusalem Is 49.15 Can a woman saith God forget her sucking child that shee should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe 'T is very rare indeede and yet it is possible for hee himselfe doeth say that they may forget Yet
blesse you if yee be righteous vers 28 Ps 5.12 Ps 115.13 2. Tim 4.6 and â—ith favour hee will compasse you as with a shield Hee will blesse them that feare him both small and greate And now my children I have not much more to say to you for the time of my departure is at hand If yee doe heartily love your God I know that yee will affectionately love each other yee will be observant to your guardians and instructours yee will be courteous unto all Be not dismayed at any crosse or affliction at any losse or povertie which may fall upon you Mat 6.33 Deut 28.8 Ex 23.25 but seeke yee first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and then all other things shall be added unto you Then the Lord shall command the blessing upon you both in your store-houses in all that yee set your hands unto Hee shall blesse your bread and your water Deutâ— 28.3 and take away sicknesse from the midst of you Blessed shall yee be in the citty and blessed shall yee be in the field vers 4. Blessed shaâ— be the fruits of your bodies and the fruit of your grounds and the fruits of your cattell and the increase of your kine and the flocks of your sheepe vers 5. Blessed shall be your basket vers 6. and your store Blessed shall yee be when yee come in and blessed shall yee beâ— when yee goe forth c. 7.13 The Lord will love youâ— and will blesse you and multiplie you buâ— will allso blesse the fruit of the wombe unto you and the fruit of your land and your corne and your wine and your oyle and the increase of your kine and the flocks of your sheepe in the places where yee shall live c. 28.12 Hee will open unto you his good treasure the heaven to give the raine unto your land in his season and to blesse all the worke of your hands Gen. 49.25 and yee shall lend unto many and yee shall not borrow Hee shall helpe you and blesse you with the blessings of heaven above blessings of the deepe that lyeth under and blessings of the breasts of the wombe And that hee may thus blesse you the same Lord direct your hearts preserve you in his blessing All that I can doe now is to pray for you and my weakenesse will hardly permit mee to doe that yet so long as I can speake I trust I shall pray and in my petitions remember both my selfe and you While I am yet alive it is my duety to pray for you and it is your duety allso to pray for mee The Lord graunt that wee may all doe what hee requireth at 〈◊〉 hands Doe not yee grieve too much that I am so neere my rest for it is the decree of â—…y God and the longing expectation of my â—earied selfe The Lord give you patience to â—ndure this affliction and the Lord give mee â—atience and perseverance unto the end Now I goe the way of all the earth 1. King 2.2 Keepe yee the Charge of the Lord your God to walke in his wayes to keepe his statutes vers 3. and his commandements and his judgments and his â—estimonies as it is written in the Scriptures that yee may prosper in all that yee doe and whithersoëver yee turne your hands The Lord give you the blessing of Iudah Deut. 33.7 and â—eare your voyces and let your hands be sufficient for you and let him be an helper to you from your enemies and the Lord give you the blessing of Benjamin vers 12 The Lord cover you all the day long and dwell betweene your shoulders And the Lord give you the blessing of Ioseph vers 13 Blessed of the Lord be your land for the pretious things of heaven for the deaw and for the deepe that coucheth beneath vers 14 and for the pretious fruits brought forth by the Sunne vers 16 and for the pretious things put forth by the Moone and for the pretious things of the earth and fullnesse thereof and for the good will of him that dwelt in the hush The eternall God be your resuge vers 27 and underneath you the everlasting armes 2. Sam. 7.26 And now ô Lord God let it please thee to blesse the house of thy servant Vers 29 and with thy blessing letâ— familie of thy servant be blessed for ever Deut. 26.15 ps 67.1 Lâ—… downe from thine holy habitation from heare and blesse them O my God he mercifull uâ— them and blesse them and cause thy face to 〈◊〉 upon them And now with Iacob I have made an 〈◊〉 of commanding you Gen. 49.33 and ready I am to gathâ—… up my feete into the bed and to yeeld up the 〈◊〉 and to be gathered unto my fathers Onâ—… come yee neere my deere ones that I 〈◊〉 kisse you and that my cold and clammy haâ—… may be layed upon your heads that I may once more blesse you and dye Fare-well my prettie ones farewell the children of my deare affection 2. Cor. 13.11 I must leave you and I hope I shall leave my God with you who will be unto you a father of mercies and 〈◊〉 God of all consolation Once more fare-well 1. Pet. 3 8. 2. Tim. 4.23 Love as brethren and the God of love and peace be with you The Lord Iesus Christ be with your spirits Grace be with you all Amen subject 26 THE TWENTIE-SIXTH SUBjECT Teares of a dying woman wherein is set downe her religious exercises 1 A Soliloquie in which is set forth 1 A desire of life 2 The certaintie of death 2 A godly preparation against the minuit of death 3 A prayer of the sick 4 The consolation of the godly in the hower of death 5 The resignation of the soule into the hands of God exercise 1 â—he Soliloquie wherein is set forth part 1 1. A desire of life THE EjACULATION â—sal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray VVHen Ahazia had fallen downe through a lattesse in his upper chamber 2. King 1.2 that was in Samaria and was sick of 〈◊〉 fall hee sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron whether hee should recover of that dangerous sicknesse Every one desireth a fore-knowledg of events that they might prevent those dangers which otherwise might ensue Herein mee thinks wee endeavour a kind of imitation of our maker labouring unjustly for his attribute of prae-science But if wee desire what hee forbiddeth wee seeke but our destruction in the pursuit of our desires Of some things hee often permitteth us a fore-knowledg and somethings againe hee hideth from us that so both by ouâ— knowledg wee may conjecture at what a blessing wee should have enjoyed had not Adam transgressed and allso that by our ignorance wee may
learne to depend upon God Some things wee thinke wee can certainly foresee consulting with reason about those causes and effects which are meerely naturall but yet wee often faile in our expectations either through the defect of reason or the indisposition and weakenesse of the second causes or else yea and most chiefely by the order of the Most High Yet some are so fond as to magnifie their reason and thereupon ground a necessitie of events not well considering that Allthough this reason obligeth men yet it tyeth not him who is farre above both reason and nature Some againe in their curiositie prying too neerely into things to come borrow their assistance from the Prince of the ayer accounting their knowledg an excellency not tyed to the lawes of religion Thus did that wicked King Ahazia but contrarie to his expectation hee receaved an answer from a Prophet of the Lord vers 6. for Elijah said unto him Thus saith the Lord Therfore thou shalt not come downe from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely dye O what a dreadfull sentence was this Especially to him who sought to the Devill that lyer for his knowledg but receaved such an answer from God who could not deceave Thus am I gone up to my bed too as was that bruised King I am tormented with sicknesse and I languish in a disease O what shall I doe Faine mee thinks I would be certified how long I have to live faine I would live Ps 39.4 and yet I am not certaine of life I am not readie for death and yet I am heartily afraid that I shall find this death too readie for mee But why should I not dye Am I not disturbed with heates and colds with weakenesse and feeblenesse Am I not in a world that giveth noe content That can neither bound my desires nor yet afford what I seeke While I am here I am subject to miseries every moment When I shall be gone this faintnesse and weakenesse these troubles and perturbations shall forsake my weake and infirme body But what then When my body shall sleepe in the silent grave shall it continue there for ever Or shall the soule have a decay and yeald to corruption together with my body of clay and earth Noe noe nothing lesse The body shall indeede lye downe in the dust but yet it shall one day be summoned to rise againe but the soule is eternall it shall continue for ever For ever it shall rest in continuall peace or for ever it shall be tormented in ever-lasting flames Noe merveile then ô my sorrowfull soule that thou art unwilling to leave this tabernacle of flesh since thou knowest not whither thou shalt flye at thy departure But why should not I as well hope for felicitie as dread those torments when my life shall end Doe I aske Why The reason is too plaine What good can I expect from the hands of him whom I have never loved whom I have never obeyed Those whom hee crowneth with heavenly blisse are they who sought for it in a miserable life But I have so lived upon earth as if earth should continue and I have made choyce of this world for the seate of my happinesse But now alas to my woe I find that earth can neither afford any true content nor yet a continuance of that which I accounted good What now shall I doe O whither shall I betake my selfe that I may be partaker of those joyes which are the inheritance of the godly Num. 23.10 Faine I would dye the death of the righteous and I wish that my last end might be like unto his But is this a desire easie to be graunted Alas had I lived the life of the righteous I might then have beene sure I should have dyed the death of them But that ô that is it which pricketh mee at the heart I have lived in sensualitie and this evill day hath beene out of my remembrance so that I cannot comfort my selfe with the smallest hope of what I so eagerly covet But what then Is there noe remedie at all but that I must have the bitter portion with the damned in hell God forbid Hee who hath forborne mee so long when I went on in my wickednesse may yet if hee please afford mee his mercy It is not above his power nor will it eclipse his glory It was once his free promise to a thiefe even dying upon the crosse Lu 23.43 2. Cor. 1.20 This day shalt thou be with mee in paradise His promises allso are sure they are in him yea and in him Amen I doubt not therfore but his mercy was as greate as his word was sure Thus hee saved one which forbiddeth mee despairing yet it was but one which forbiddeth mee presuming But surely it can be noe presumption to build upon his goodnesse Hee delighteth not in the death of a sinner What good can the condemning of mee doe either to him or his creatures True it is that his justice maybe magnified by it but yet it will adde noe glory to his mercy Againe there are but a few in heaven to sing forth his praises but infinite millions in hell and destruction dishonour him in their blasphemies In heaven mee think's there is one too few untill I shall come thither to adde to the number In hell mee think's there would be one too many if I should be throwne into that gulfe of perdition O my God since thou hast vouchsafed mee the knowledg of a heaven yea and of thee the Lord of heaven and earth allthough my knowledg be imperfect thou art offended yet for the merits of thy Sonne be pleased to make mee a cittizen of heaven Rev 21 27. It is most true that there shall in noe wise enter into that place any thing that defileth neither whatsoëver worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they onely which are written in the Lamb's booke of life Upon these termes my hopes indeede doe languish and grow more faint then my feeble body But who is that which condemneth the wicked Is it not hee who likewise calleth the wicked and inviteth them to mercy Is it not hee who telleth mee by his Prophet and saith it himselfe Eze 18 21. If the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that hee hath committed and keepe all my statutes Vers 22 doe that which is lawfull and right hee shall surely live hee shall not dye All his transgressions that hee hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him vers 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye Saith the Lord God and not that hee should returne from his wayes and live O who is more wicked then I Who more sinfull then I My life hath beene nothing but a continued rebellion and my time hath beene wasted in nothing but disobedience Yet while I have life I have hope If I can but know mine iniquities and get a sorrowfull spirit for them
order unto him and in obedience to his commands I will love my neighbour as my selfe I will love him with the same affection as my selfe For his sake for whom I love my selfe even for God's For the same reason as my selfe even for grace conferred in this life present and for a certaine hope of eternall glory in the life to come In the same order as my selfe which shall be above the world but inferiour to my God Vpon the same ground as myselfe even because of the image of God imprinted in him and because hee is capable of immortall happinesse lastly as long as myselfe even from the beginning unto the end untill this fraile flesh shall be forsaken by my pensive my sad and sorrowfull soule And that my brethren my neighbours may be the better assured of my love which cannot be firme unlesse I accord with them in the same beliefe Heb 4.14 and that it may be knowne that through the grace of my God I hold fast the profession of my faith wherein I have lived even the same which was taught by my Saviour and his Apostles according to the trueth and puritie of the same without leaning either to prophanesse atheisme superstition or any other errour or heresie and to the intent that they may joyne with mee in thanksgiving to my God for preserving mee in the same and in prayer unto God that I may continue in the same both to the end in the end I will therfore cheerefully faithfully and confidently rehearse the articles of my beliefe and say I beleeve in God the Father Allmighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Iesus Christ his onely Sonne our Lord which was conceived by the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried hee descended into hell the third day hee rose againe from the dead hee ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father All-mighty from thence hee shall come to judg the quick and the dead I beleeve in the holy Ghost the holy Catholike Church the Communion of Saints the forgivenesse of sinnes the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Thus I believe Lord helpe my un-beliefe Mar. 9.24 Eph. 4.14 and graunt that I may not be tossed to and fro and caried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lie in wayt to deceave vers 15 but that speaking and believing this trueth in love I may grow up unto him in all things which is the head even Christ my Redeemer And that I may thus repent mee of my sinnes and continue in love and persevere in the faith and submit to his good pleasure I will with a bended heart and a sorrowfull spirit and weeping eyes pray unto him and say exercise 3 3. The Prayer of the sick FAther of mercies Lord of life thou God which art a refuge in the time of trouble Ps 6.2 have mercy upon mee Ps 143.4 for I am weake and my heart with in mee is desolate A sinner I am I must confesse it not deserving thy mercy a fowle a grievous sinner I am who have disobeyed thy statutes and broken all thy commandements and never have I set my selfe in any good way to seeke my peace and reconciliation with thee My conscience check's mee and my sinnes testifie against mee and mine adversarie the devill strjveth to pluck from mee my considence in thee O Lord be thou my protectour and my gracious father Be reconciled unto mee in Iesus Christ in whom alone thou art well pleased Io 16.23 and in whose name whatsoëver I shall aske of thee I am sure thou wilt give it unto mee Heavenly Father doe thou assist mee doe thou comfort mee in these my trpâ—… and afflictions Ps 60.11 o be thou my helpe in trouble for vaine is the helpe of man To thee I cry to thee I come with a panting heart with a sorrowfull soule with an humble spirit I have sinned ô I have sinned and done amisse and my portion might be justly therfore in the land of darknesse there to be tormented with the devill and his angells forever But ô thou who hast promised to heale all those that are broken in heart Ps 147 3. and to bind up their wounds be reconciled unto mee in the wounds of my Redeemer Speake peace unto my conscience in this agony Ps 143.6 in this sorrowfull and deepe sighing for my skarlet sinnes To thee Ps 143.6 and to thee alone I stretch forth my hands to thee my soule gaspeth as a thirstie land vers 7. Heare mee ô Lord that soone for my spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from mee lest I be like unto them that goe downe to destruction O let not these teares be refused nor these groanes be sighed and sobbed in vaine but by the power of his passion out of whose pretious side did issue both water and blood be thou reconciled unto mee the unworthiest of thy creatures Though my soule be deepely stained with the pollutions of my transgressions yet his blood hath power to make it white as snow On that remission of sinnes by his torments and sufferings doe I wholly rely My selfe I abhorre Iob 42.6 and repent in dust and ashes my workes I disclaine for I know their unworthinesse on thee alone ô my Iesus I wholly depend and by thee alone I hope for remission Be thou my Iesus be thou my Saviour Cure mee by thy wounds heale mee by thy stripes ease mee by thy torments comfort mee by thine agonie refresh my fainting soule by thy bluodie sweat revive mee by thy death and ô Sonne of God and Saviour of the world present mee to thy father in the robe of thy righteousnesse Ps 94.13 Give mee patience in this time of adversitie that I may quietly and contentedly submit to thy good pleasure rely upon thy mercy be thankfull for thy chastisement and in all things so looke up unto thee in this time of my sicknesse that I may hereafter be raised to glory by the power of thy resurrection This sicknesse for ought I know may be unto death but in thee I trust it shall be a passage unto life If thou hast passed the sentence of the first death upon mee decreeing to execute it by this my sicknesse to lay mee in the dust by this present visitation howsoever be pleased ô my father for the worthinesse of thy sonne to free met from the horrour of the second death Let mee be found of thee in peace 2. Pet 3 14. Hab 3.2 Is 9.13 Iob. 3.25 Mich 6 13. 1. Pet 4 19. Ps 119.175 that it may clearely appeare to mee that thou art a God of trueth and in the midst of judgment remembrest mercy Vnto thee I turne for thou hast smitten mee and the thing that I so greatly feared is fallen upon mee My body thou
makest sick in smiting by reason of my sinnes yet in considence and full assurance of thy mercy I commit the keeping of my soule unto thee as unto a faithfull Creatour O let that live and it shall praise thee for in thee doe I trust let mee not be confounded neither let mee despaire of the greatnesse of thy mercies Ps 23.4 And though now I walke in the shadow of death yet I know that it is in thy power to restore mee to health Lord if it may stand with thy secret will be pleased to recover mee that I may glorifie thy goodnesse in thy worke of power Blesse all the lawfull meanes that shall be used for that purpose Give skill to the Physitians vertue to the medicines strength to my spirits and health to my body Let mee recover my strength that I may imploy it in thy service and restore mee to health that I may be more active in mine obedience to all thy commandements But if otherwise thou hast determined and resolvest at this time to make mee as water spilt upon the ground 2. Sam. 14.14 graunt mee a willing and ready submission to thy decree Either abate the torments of mine afflicted body or increase my patience that I may not offend thee in my sufferings Make mee to magnifie thee whether by life or by death and graunt mee so safe a passage and conduct in the armes of thy mercy that I may be conveyed safely into Abraham's bosome Graunt this ô father for the love and merits of thy Sonne Iesus Christ my onely intercessour and redeemer in whose name words I farther call upon thee saying Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evill for thine is the Kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen exercise 4 4. The consolation of the godly in the hower of death VVHerfore is light given to him that is in miserie saith holy Iob and life unto the bitter in soule Iob. 3.20 vers 21 Which long for death but it cometh not and digge for it more then for hid treasures vers 22 Which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave This was the complaint of a faithfull man and may now be the lamentation of a sorrowfull woman I have grieved and I have mourned for my sinnes and my good God I blesse him for it is gratiously pleased in the bowells of his mercy and compassion to give mee an assurance of happinesse by the merits of my Iesus But when comest thou ô my sweete my longed for my desired Saviour Thou knowest my paines which draw from mee many sinsull thoughts and un-fitting cryes Thou takest notice of the cunning suggestions of my greatest adversarie and his busie allurements to rob mee of my hope Thou seest how sometimes hee would leade mee into carnall securitie and sometimes into a beliefe that my verie vicet are vertues or not seene by Thee or not to be punished by thee and sometimes againe hee striveth to hurrie mee into the verie gulfe of despaire But I know and am assured that through the merits of my Redeemer the gates of hell shall not be able to prevaile against mee Mat. 16 18. Io 13.1 Prov. 12.28 for whom thou lovest thou wilt love unto the end I know that in the way of righteousnesse there is life and in the path-way thereof there is noe death Hence away therfore yee fowle fiends and rebellious tempters What doe yee here fawning and grinning hoping to betray a penitent soule These teares which I shed for the wounds that I made in the body of my Saviour by my piercing sinns are too pretious a water for you to hath in too choyce a wine for you to tast of here are noe hopes for the enemies of mine indulgent Iesus Though my groanes alas cannot be free from the pollution of sinne yet they shall not advantage you in what yee desire Ps 119.115 Away from mee yee wicked ones I will keepe the commandements of my God Thinke not to affright mee with my approaching death Phil. 1.23 for I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Death I feare thee not come come and trye thy power but know that thy countenance which is so terrible to reprobates is the producer of joy comfort to my wearied heart Thou poore feeble despised nothing what power or strength is left thee to boast of Grave why gapest thou why standest thou so open as if thou didst hope to tryumph Hos 13 14. and conquer mee My Christ did threaten to be thy plagues ô death my Iesus did resolve to be thy destruction ô grave and that repentance should be hid from his eyes Is 25.8 1 Cor 15.54 Hee promised to swallow up death in victorie and to wipe away teares from off all faces This hee did promise and this hee hath performed for by his blessed Apostle I am well assured that death it selfe is swallowed up in victorie Now I dare challenge you ô yee impotent and powerlesse adversaries I dare scorne vers 55 and contemne you O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie Thy sting ô death was pullud out by him who is the Lord of life The strength of thy sting was that law which was fullfilled by my mercifull Iesus Hos 13 14. Ps 49.15 Rom 14.9 Hee hee hath ransomed mee from the power of the grave hath redeemed mee from death Hee hath redeemed my soule from the power of hell for hee shall receave mee To this end hee dyed and rose againe re-vived that hee might be Lord both of the dead and of the living Ps 68.20 Ps 48.14 Rom 14 7. vers 8. Hee that is my God is the God of salvation unto whom belong the issues from death This God is my God for ever and ever hee shall be my guide even unto death I live not to my selfe nor doe I dye unto my selfe for whether I live I live unto the Lord whether I dye I dye unto the Lord whether I live therfore Phil 1.20 or dye I am the Lord 's Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death for to mee to live is Christ vers 21 Heb. 12 18. vers 22 vers 23 vers 24 and to dye is gaine I come not to the mount that might not be touched nor to blacknesse and darknesse and tempest but I come unto mount Sion to the generall assemblie and â—rch of the first-borne which are written in heaven and to God the judg of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediatour of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that
speaketh better things then that of Abel Rev. 2.10 1. Cor 3.21 vers 22 vers 23 I know that if I am faithfull unto death hee will give unto mee a crowne of life I know that all things are ours so long as wee are his whether the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are ours and wee are Christ's Christ is God's Why the doe I crie out upon my paines Is any paine which I can suffer either so much as I deserve by offending my Iesus or comparable to his torments which hee suffered for mee Flesh thou hast disturbed mee all my life with thy sweete and sugered baites hast allured mee to sinne but I will drowne thee therfore in my teares Thou art allready drawen low by my sicknesse and yet because this punishment is not enough thou who wert kept from staines with curious though simple art shalt now be tumbled into the dirt from whence thou camest For the beds of downe on which thou hast stretched thy selfe thou shalt lye downe in the hard and stonie earth for the greate and spatious chamber◠which thou didst pride thy selfe in thou shalt be confined to the skantnesse narrownesse of a coffin for the curious hangings which adorned thy roomes were the costly adventures and labours of forreiners thou shalt be closely wrapped bound in thy grave-clothes and for the gallant societie which thou so cheerefully delightedst in thou shalt have the companie of nothing but wormes yea and such wormes too as thou didst loath in thy seeming prosperitie shall be at once both thine associates thy greedie devourers World thou art an imposter hast treacherously deluded mee with hopes of vanitie but now I find that thy braverie is but follie thy riches but fumes smoakes that vanish thy friendship but hatred thy pride but madnesse thy beautie but uglinesse and all thy temtations are but leaders to destruction I hate thee therfore thou vaine world and leave thee behind mee as contemning the societie of trifles so un worthy and though for a time thou mayst foole the un wise and bewitch them with the false glasses of thy seeming glory yet know thou that the time shall come when thou shalt consume in thy flames and shalt burne in a heape at the day of revenge And as for you ô yee black and uglie slaves of perdition yee hellish-criew of infernall fiends goe seeke some other to delude with your suggestions in mee yee have neither share nor hope for neither should your torments be lessened if yee could seduce mee nor shall nor can your madnesse prevaile against thy redeemed soule to increase the number of your schreeches and howlings And now ô my Iesus come come away for I am thine and thou art mine Why stayest thou so long Why delayest thou the time The longer I live I doe but the more offend thee and the more I offend thee the more doe my sorrowes burden mee for these mine offences O would it not be more for thy glory to free mee from corruption that I might sing praises to thy name without any feare of displeasing thee How long Lord how long wilt thou keepe mee from thy tryumphant quire Ps 42.2 My soule is a thirst for thee my heart panteth after thee ô when shall I come and appeare in thy presence ô my God O how truely and eagerly doe I long for death that I may live with thee who art the truth and the life Io 14.6 I know that one day dye I must but my death shall be nothing but a passage unto life for though in Adam all dye yet in thee ô Christ 1. Cor. 15.22 shall all be made a live I cry Lord I cry to thee I cry because thee I have offended to thee onely I cry because thou onely doest heare and wilt helpe to thee onely I cry because thou onely hast redeemed mee to thee ô to thee I cry to hasten to come with speede O God make speede to save mee O Lord make hast to helpe mee Dan. 9.19 Rom 7 24. Ps 22.17 O Lord heare ô Lord forgive ô Lord deliver mee from the body of this death These pale cheekes and these hollow eyes and these staring bones and this sbrivell'd skinne are now mee think's adorned with beautie because they bring mee the glad tidings of the approaches of my Redeemer This bed is hard to what I shall find in the grave these sheetes are course and un-easie to that which I shall be wound in Come ô Christ ô stay noe longer I feare thou art angrie with mee or else ere now I should have seene thy face but if thou art angry Ps 30.5 I am well assured that thy wrath endureth but the twinkling of an eye and in thy presence is life My spirit cryes come and my wearied soule cryes come and my weake limbs cry come Come therfore ô my Redeemer Come Lord Iesus Come quickly exercise 5 5. The resignation of the Soule into the hands of God THe Prophet Ieremiah admonished the house of Israel saying Give glory to the Lord your God before hee cause darknesse and before your feete stumble upon the darke mountaines and while yee looke for light and hee turne it into the shadow of death and make it grosse darknesse That glory I have given and now I doe render to the Lord my God so farre as hee in his goodnesse is pleased to enable mee And now that time is come that happy moment O Well-come blessed hower so long expected so long desired How rebellious hath beene my flesh that it held put so long and now hides it selfe under my dryed skinne and shrink's it selfe up as unwilling to yeeld Away proud dust thou canst have noe hope of a freedome from putrefaction allthough the time shall come when the Lord will glorifie thee That time I know will come indeede yea I know it assuredly Ps 56.9 Iob. 19.25 vers 26 for the Lord is on my side I know that my Redeemer liveth and that hee shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body vers 27 yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not other though my reines be consumed within mee I have though weakely and imperfectly endeavoured to glorifie my God before this hower approached both in the confesion to him of my grievous sinnes ah those uglie sinnes which I still grieve for am sorry for them and yet not without a certaine confidence and assurance of his mercy Lord I thanke thee for this happy hower Now I find that though the wicked is driven away in his wickednesse Pro 14 32. yet I am filled with hope in my death Wicked alas I was and woe is mee wicked I am if considered in my felfe but in thee ô Iesus I am holy in thy righteousnesse I am righteous therfore
fierce wrath and repent of this evill against thy people Is 1.26 Turne thine hand upon us and purely purge a way our drosse and take away all our tinne vers 26 Restore our Iudges as at the first and our counsellers as at the beginning and call our land the land of righteousnesse vers 27 the faithfull land Let our Zion be redeemed with judgment and our converts with righteousnesse Ps 86.17 Shew some good token upon us for good that they which hate us may see it be ashamed because thou Lord helpest and comfortest us Heare ô my God in the bowells of thy compassions close and bind up our wounds for his sake who was wounded for our transgressions pardon us for his sake who is our onely reconciliation and let the cryes which our finns have sent up to heaven for vengeance be ceased and quieted by the blessed pleading of our onely Mediatour betweene thee and us even the beloved Sonne of thy bosome Iesus Christ our onely Lord and Saviour Amen The Second Prayer consisting of 1 A dolefull complaint of our grievous calamities 2 An humble desire of the remission of our sinns 3 A fervent supplication for righteousnesse and peace GReate and glorious Lord God who art the Lord of hosts 1. Sam. 17.45 Exod 15.3 and God of the armies of Israel ô thou who hast styled thy selfe a man of warre whose name is the Lord Looke downe I beseech thee upon the distressed anguish consuming sorrowes of this thy people in our land of blood Thou seest Lord thou seest the afflictions of Ioseph the calamities of thy people how our blood is shed like water on every side of our Kingdome how our bones lye scattered before the pit like as when one breaketh and heweth wood upon the earth How long Lord how long just and holy shall the prayers and the teares and the cries and the supplications of thy saints and servants ascend up unto heaven and yet thou seeme unto us as a deafe man which heareth not and as a man which is dumb Ps 38.13 that openeth not his mouth Is there noe balme in Gilead Is there noe physitian there Why then is nâ—… the health of the daughter of thy people recovered Ier O the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in the time of trouble why should thou be as a stranger in our land and as way-faring man that turneth a side to tarrâ— but a night Psal Thou hast moved our land and divided it ô heale the sores thereof for it shaketh O let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the multitude of thy mercies preserve thou those that are appointed to death Arise ô Lord from thy resting place thou and the arke of thy strength Arise and have mercy upon our Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon her yea the time is come for why Thâ— servants thinke upon her stones and it greiveth us to see how shee lyeth downe in the dust O now at last be thou favourable and gracious to our Sion and build thou the walls of our Ierusalem Send peace within our walls and plenteousnesse within our pallaces For our brethrens and companions sake I wish this prosperitie yea because of the many houses of the faithfull who put their trust in thee our Lord our God I pray for this good Exod. 3 7. Thou o Lord hast surely seene the afflictions of this thy people and hast heard our cries by reason of the sword for thou knowest our sorrowes vers 8. O come thou downe to deliver us as once thou didst thy people of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians Thou seest how the sword is drawne in an unnatuâ—…ll manner brother against brother neighâ—our against neighbour house against house â—ather against Sonne and Sonne against Father all having weapons of warre which â—re like to destroy the nation all clothing â—hemselves in garments rolled in blood Isa 9.5 Thou seest how many amongst us thirst for blood how whole rivers thereof runne in our fields and in our streetes yet it is not in the power or pollicie of man to stoppe the current It is now o Lord with us as it was once with idolatrous Israel when Moses commanded them saying Exod. 32.27 Put every man his sword by his side and goe in and out and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour Psal Thy holy temples are defiled and without thy preventing mercy our Ierusalem may be made an heape of stones Heresie and Schisme oppose the cleere light of thy glorious gospel Ps 137.7 and like the children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem they say even of truth it selfe downe with it downe with it even to the ground Many of our citties and townes doe now sitt solitarie Lam. 1 1. c 2.11 that were full of people and are become as widdowes The children and sucklings swoone in our streetes the widows make their lamentations over the gasping bodies of their wounded husbands the young ones cry for bread but some of them find neither fathers to give it theÌ„ nor mothers to compassionate them Is 33.8 The high wayes lye wast 〈◊〉 way-faring man ceaseth the line of confusâ—… is stretched out upon the land c. 34.11 the stones of eâ—…ptinesse vers 13 Thornes come up in our pallaces netâ— and brambles in our streetes and houses aâ— become habitations of dragons c. 8.21 and courts fâ— owles Some wicked ones among us that aâ— hungry Lam. 2.9 fret themselves and curse our Kinâ— and our god and looke upward The law iâ— noe more vers 10 the Prophets allso find noe visâ—… from thee the Lord. The elders sit upon the ground and keepe silence they have cast up dâ—…t upon their heads they have girded themselves with sack-cloth the virgins hâ—… downe their heads to the ground It is not noâ— as it was in the dayes of ould Luc. 7.25 when men clothâ— in soft raiment and they which were gorgeousâ— apparelled and lived delicately were in King courts Is 1.7 Our countrie is desolate our citties aâ— burnt with fire and our land is desolate as orâ— throwne by strangers Lam 5.1 Remember ô Lord who is come upon thy people consider and behold on reproach vers 2. Some of our inheritances are turned to strangers and our houses to aliants Many among us are orphans and fatherlesse vers 3. and many that were wives are become widowes Many doe get their bread with the perill of their lives vers 9. Ps 142.7 vers 6. Ps 94.19 because of the sword that maketh our land a wildernesse O Lord doe thou consider our complaint for wee are brought very low Thou ô Lord art our hope and our portion in the multitude of sorrowes which wee have in our â—…rts let thy comforts ô my God refresh our â—…les Heare ô Lord and
deepe sleepe fell upon Adam in which of a rib that was taken from his side was made a woman the wife of his bosome Thus was mariage instituted at first in paradise and though after the woman was framed by the Creatour c 2.31 it is not directly sayd shee was very good yet seing it was verified of Adam it was true of Eve both of them yet remaining innocent O blessed was that time when the husband and wife were so truely one 2. King 19.22 that they were free from offending the holy one But they stood not long in this their integritie for they conspiring together in the first offence layed the foundation of discord and division From hence doe flow the disturbances of mariage c 3.24 and since Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise neither is virginitie allways contented neither is wedlock free from disquietnesse Ps 78.58 vers 59 vers 63 When the Lord. was moved to jealousie by the idolatrous Israelites hee greately abhorred them in so much as hee caused the fire to consume their young men and their maidens were not given to mariage Well might the Psalmist say hee was wrath when the maidens were deprived of their â—uptiall honours Yet had the virgins knowne the cares of wedlock peradventure their curse might have beene deemed a blessing Wee who are taken from the wings of our parents fieke for our content in the bosomes of our husbands yet lest wee should idolatrously dote on them that are our heads even thence many times doe flow our disturbances whence wee expect our happinesse But why alasse doe arise those stormes of discontent Mariage should unite the hearts and affections Eph 5.31 and those who thereby are made one flesh should likewise be one in the bond of love Discords and divisions are the cankers of a mitie Ionah 4.7 and like unto the worme in the gourd of Ionas bring confusion where they are nourished Saint Iohn determine's that God is love 1 Io 4.8 wheresoëver therfore wee find not love wee may justly conclude there is not God Yet many times doe I heare the clamours of prople for many men and their wives are more subject to complaine then to conceale the frowardnesse of their violent passions But am not I one of those whose indisposition to obedience or want of discretion sieketh to violate the lawes of mariage All such divisions are both irreligious and sieke to destroy the very rules of nature By mariage two are united into one but by discords one is divided into two Where wedlock tyeth not two in one there is noe obedience to him who is three in one If therfore I enioy not that happie concord I must search into the cause which produceth such discord Assuredly that wedlock which at first was instituted by the All mighty and seconded by the blessing of increase and multiplying Genâ— 1.28 cannot be accompanied with schismes and contentions without a greate offence to him that ordained it Chrest my Reedemer did honour it with his presence and to shew how much hee delighted in this sacred union hee began his miracles at a wedding in Galilee Io 2.1 vers 7.8 But if mariage be so ancient as to fetch its beginning from man in innocency if it be so religious as to be honoured thus by my Lord and Saviour why then is it so peremptorily concluded by the Apostle that It is good for a man not to touch a woman 1 Cor 7.1 Are women so odious in the eyes of Saint Paul that hee should account it not good for a man to touch his helper his rib himselfe What should the Apostle meane in this position when as God himselfe determined Gen 2.18 and said It is not good that the man should be alone Can the scripture conteine a manifest contradiction or doeth St. Paul decree directly against God Noe noe let mee search more narrowly into those sacred texts and I shall find that my God doeth speake of that good which concerneth propagation without which the whole race of humanitie would soone be extinct but by his Apostle hee speaketh of a good which opposeth not honestie but which is joyned with profit hee decree's not that t is sinfull but onely inconvenient Moreover hee speakes not of all in generall but onely of those who are endued from above with the guift of continencie afterwards therfore hee thus concludeth 1 Cor 7.28 saying But if thou marry thou hast not sinned and if a virgin marry shee hath not sinned neverthelesse such shall have trouble in the flesh Thus may mariage indeede be troublesome but it is not dishonest it may be inconvenient but it is not unlawfull In it selfe considered it hath authoritie from God yet upon some considerations or private respects to some indeede it may prove unlawfull Whatsoëver is concluded without the free consent of both the parties is not regulated according unto law Neither feares nor menates nor delusions nor compulsions noe nor want of yeeres or judgment can be legally present at the tying of this knott The consent must be mutuall and proceede from a sound a free and un-corrupted judgment When the servant of Abraham treated of a mariage betweene Isaak and Rebeckah her brother and her mother concluded not hastily but said Wee will call the damsell and enquire at her mouth Gen 24.57 vers 58 And they called Rebeckah and said unto her Wilt thou goe with this man And shee said I will goe Thus must a mutuall and free consent without the disturbance of the reason by either excesse of wine or dâ—stracted thoughts or feares and terrours or cozening and delusive promises be present at the making of this holy contract The consent indeede must be free without compulsion but not without advice and direction The will of a child especially in this must submitt to the wisedome and the counsell of parents for seeing that children are reckoned among the goods and possessions of parents even reason decreeth that their Lords should dispose of them When Abraham dispatched his servant to sieke a wife for Isaak hee made him sweare by the Lord Gen. 24.3 the God of heaven and the God of earth that hee would not take a wife unto his sonne of the daughters of the Caaannites c. 28.1 When Isaak called Iacob and blessed him hee charged him and said unto him Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan Thus the law of the parents was a rule for the children and they durst not marie where they were forbidden In a letter which the Prophet sent unto the people whom Nebuchad-nezzar had caried captive to Babylon Ier. 29.6 hee not onely wrote unto them saying Take yee wives and begett sonnes and daughters but hee allso ordered them to take wives for their sonnes and to give their daughters to husbands Thus must children especially in the serious weighty affaire of mariage obey their parents in the Lord Eph.
bee none to deliver us O thou who didst suffer thy selfe to be wounded for our transgressions be pleased to cure the wounds and maladies both of the soule and body of thy distressed servant Thou knowest Lord that the feeble soule cannot praise thee with cheerefullnesse nor serve thee with alacritie The sicknesse of the body disturbeth the soule and maketh it un-apt to serve thee with readinesse O say of his disease that It is enough and remove from him speedily this heavy visitation Thine hand ô Lord is layed upon him and the stroake is so heavy that it woundeth us both Mercifull God let the sinnes of both of us be blotted out of thy remembrance like a clowde Is 44.22 and be appeased with us through the merits of thy Sonne Mar 2.17 The whole have noe neede of thee the physitian but wee that are sick O be thou the Physitian to cure our soules and then in thy good time restore thy diseased servant to his former health But if thou hast sent him this sicknesse as a messenger of death ô give him patience to beare and willingnesse to suffer whatsoever thou sendest Ranke him not in the number of those rich and wicked Eccl. 5.17 who have much sorrow and wrath in their sicknesse but ease his sorrow and appease thy wrath Make him willing to submit to thy will and pleasure that so whether hee liveth Rom. 14.8 hee may live unto thee or whether hee dyeth hee may dye unto thee yea whether hee liveth or dyeth that hee may be thine Luc. 18 13. Lord be likewise mercifull to mee a sinner Thou knowest how deepely this affliction woundeth mee To him thou gavest mee whom now thou visitest that so hee might be both my head and my directour and thou knowest my weakenesse and my frailties that I cannot understand I cannot walke in thy wayes without a counseller I cannot apprehend what I reade Act. 8.31 except some man should guide mee O be thou pleased therfore to spare his life whom I am commanded to learne of at home 1. Cor. 14.35 for if thou callest him to the joy of thine heavenly Kingdome let it be thy goodnesse to moderate my sorrow upon earth If thou takest him from my societie let mee not be left alone but send mee the comforter even thy holy Spirit to be my Protectour and my guide unto death Ps 48.14 Release him of his torments whom thou visitest with this sicknesse and ease thou my sorrowes which arise from his paines Give the comforts of thy Spirit both to him and mee that when this painfull life shall have an end wee may be found of thee in peace 2. Pet. 3.14 Is 9.6 through the merits and mercies of the Prince of peace even Iesus Christ my Lord and onely Saviour Amen THE NINETEENTH SUBJECT Teares of a woman lamenting the death of her beloved husband The Soliloquie THE EjACULATION Psal 5. vers 1. Give eare to my words o Lord consider my meditation vers 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry my king and my God for unto thee will I pray WHen Mary came where Iesus was Io. 11.32 and saw him shee fell downe at his feete saying unto him Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother had not dyed Shee wept indeede yet it was but for a brother and the Iewes allso wept vers 33. yet it was but for a common friend but what was all that to the death of a husband O my husband my husband That very name of husband mee think's would flatter mee with comfort as if I might imagine that hee could heare mee But oh hee is dead hee is dead hee cannot heare mee hee cannot behould mee hee cannot answer mee his eares are locked up his eyes are closed his mouth is sealed his soule is gone O what shall I doe for my head my guide my heart my husband Were my Saviour upon earth againe I could send one to him as Mary did vers 3. who should say Lord behould hee whom thou lovest is dead Dead say I O dead dead hee is gone hee is departed and can never be re-called But why Why can hee not be called back againe Did not my Iesus cause Lazarus to arise when hee had beene fower dayes dead vers 44 vers 39 Yes hee did but what then I neither love my Saviour so well as Mary did nor I feare doeth hee love mee so well as hee did Mary or if both were so yet since miracles are ceased I cannot so much as hope that hee will call back the spirit of my Lord my husband Oh could hee be wooed by the teares of a sinfull woman never did any mourne so much as I would But nothing will perswade I seeke but the disturbance of him whom I mourne for if I desire to call him from his eternall rest Yet I hope that it is noe sinne to grieve that hee is gone I lament not his happinesse but mine owne losse vers 35 My Iesus himselfe did weepe for Lazarus in testimonie of his affection for so sayd the Iewes vers 36 Behould how hee loved him And was my love to my husband so litle or so cold that I should forget to testifie it in a sorrowfull teare O I cannot forbeare the remembrance of him Is 1.2 Lam 1.12 who was deerer unto mee then life it selfe Heare ô heavens and give eare ô earth Was it nothing to you all yee that were by him when yee saw him breathing out his soule and forsaking the world O behould and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto mee wherewith the Lord hath afflicted mee in this day of his anger Tell mee not how Iacob lamented the supposed death of his sonne Ioseph Hee was misse-taken in the cause but I see and feele the chillowed clay of mine indulgent husband Iacob mourned onely for a sonne but I for an husband Iacob had more many more I had but one 2. Sam 1.26 and the love of this one to mee did passe the love of women Yet though Ioseph was alive and though hee was the youngest save one of twelve sonnes Gent 37.34 Iacob his father rent his cloathes and put sackcloth upon his loynes and mourned for him many dayes c 23.2 Tell mee not how Abraham bewayled the death of Sarah his wife who dyed in Kiriath arba in the land of Canaan Hee was a man so neither his passion nor his losse could paralell mine Hee had more-wives but I had not more husbands And yet though Abraham lost but onely a wife I reade that hee came to mourne and to weepe for her Tell mee not of Abijah the sonne of a King how hee dyed and was lamented Could a Prince be as neere and deare to the people as a loving husband to the wife of his bofome Yet though neither mariage nor blood could pleade for a teare I find that all Israël mourned for him
canst make mee thy child O be pleased to hearken to the intercession of mine advocate pleading for mee to the intercession of thy Christ who was obedient to thee to the intercession of my Iesus who was crucified for mee In him be reconciled unto mee for I am well assured that like as a father pittieth his children Ps 103 13. so thou Lord doest pittie them that feare thee This ô this is the way where in I must walke Thus yea onely thus shall I have a father both dead and alive Hee who is dead shall not b◠immoderately bewayled because hee that is ever living shall wipe the teares from mine eyes Mine exchange shall be full of advantage For him who was willing to helpe mee yet was not able for him who loved mee but imperfectly and left mee irresistably I shall have a father whose will cannot be opposed whose power noe creature is able to resist whose love is in perfection and who is not subject either to change Dan 7.9 Ps 90.2 Ps 22.9 or dye Hee is the ancient of dayes hee is God from ever-lasting and world without end If I could say with David Thou didst make mee hope when I was upon my mother's breast as well as I can say with him Thou art hee that tooke mee out of my mother's wombe vers 10 if I could say that thou art my God from my mother's belly as well as I can say that I was cast upon thee from the wombe if I could say that I had allways served thee then should my praise be of thee continually Ps 71.6 and then should I be safe under the shadow of thy wings Hos 14 3. Ashur shall not save us saith Israel wee will not ride upon horses neither will wee say any more to the worke of our hands Yee are our God's for in thee ô God the fatherlesse findeth mercy In God doe the fatherlesse find mercy Ps 35.14 Why then doe I how downe my selfe thus heavily mourning for my father whereas I am assured if I serve and obey the righteous Lord that when my father and my mother forsake mee Ps 27.10 then the Lord will take mee up Hee that is dead was but the weake though the loving instrument to bring mee to life but hee that is living yea and liveth for ever and ever is the God both of power and mercy hee therfore for ever shall be my father Mal 2.10 Have wee not all one father Saith the Prophet Hath not one God created us Yes yes hee is a father to all by creation but hee will not be a father to all by regeneration Lu 12.32 His flock is but litle his children are not many I will therfore strive to be one of the smallest number for those alone shall inherit salvation His mercies were ever greate to the godly his compassions never failed the fatherlesse if they honoured him When David was promised that hee should have a Sonne even then the Lord did allso promise to be a father unto him 1. Ch◠17.13 I will be his father saith the Lord and hee shall be my Sonne I will not take my mercy away from him as I tooke it from him that was before thee But what shall I doe to gaine his protection How shall I perswade him to call mee his child If I love the memorie of my father more then I love him then I cannot possibly be worthy of him for so saith my Saviour Mat 10 37. Hee that loveth father or mother more then mee is not worthy of mee I will therfore strive to honour my God with the strength of my love in heart and in soule and that I may the better doe it I will imitate my dead father in all that was just and righteous in him but whereinsoever hee failed I will decline his stepps 1 King 22.52 Ahaziah was plagued because hee did evill in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and of his mother 2. Chr 22.3 Hee walked in the way of the house of Ahab for his mother was his counseller to doe wickedly It is not the losse of a parent which can prevaile for a blessing upon the child unlesse in the stead of him that was earthly hee be made a father who is Lord of heaven Hee looketh not on our afflictions with the eye of compassion unlesse wee looke up to him with the eye of faith and devotion Our miseries are but judgments unlesse wee amend and doe but prophesie unto us a destruction at hand When Ieroboam was fatherlesse hee was called to the congregation 1. King 12.20 c 11.26 and they made him King over Israel but hee whose hand at first was lifted against the Crowne and not content with that did afterwards put it forth against the man of God c 13.4 had it justly dryed up so that hee could not pull it in againe unto him Thus the losse of an earthly father could not protect a wicked orphane c 14.9 but hee who did evill above all that were before him and had gone and made other Gods and molten images to provoke the Lord to anger and had cast the Lord behind his back even upon his house was evill to be brought vers 10 The Lord will cutt off saith the text from Ieroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will take away the remnant of the house of Ieroboam as a man taketh away dung 'till it be all gone But on the contrarie I find that unto the godly a father of the fatherless Ps 68.5 and a judge of the widowes is God in his holy habitation 1. King 7.13 vers 14 Hiram the Sonne of a widow of the tribe of Naptali whose father was a man of Tyre the same was filled with wisedome and understanding and cunning to worke all workes in brasse and was therfore sent for by King Solomon to build his house Gen 25 11. Est 2.7 After the death of Abraham it is said that the Lord blessed his Sonne Isaak After the death of Esther's father Mordecai the Iewe tooke her shee being his uncle's daughter for shee had neither father nor mother Hee tooke her for his owne daughter and afterward the Lord so blessed the orphane that shee came to sit upon the royall throne c 7.3 vers 17 Ps 10.14 and to be the preserver of her nation Thus the poore who commit themselves to God doe find assuredly that hee is a helper of the fatherlesse Hee executeth their judgment so saith Moses Deut 10.18 The Lord doeth execute the judgment of the fatherlesse By Moses allso hee forbiddeth the people saying Yee shall not afflict any widow Ex 22.22 or fatherlesse child Iob accuseth his pretended friends of an high offence when hee chargeth them Iob. 6.27 Is 10.2 saying Yee over-whelme the fatherlesse By the Prophet Isaiah a woe is