Queen Mary if She follows Christ her Pattern In the first place her Dominion will be great within bearing Rule over her own Will Ways and Works Words and Thoughts not giving her self the least Liberty to any thing that shall bring the least Dishonour to the holy Name of the LORD In the next place She shall have the Wisdom of GOD to Govern her People beginning first at the Court Ruling in the Fear of GOD keeping all in Subjection by her pious Life and heavenly Instructions encouraging Vertue and suppressing all Vice and great Necessity there is for the Reformation to begin there For by lamentable Experience we have seen that as it hath been at the Court so it hath been for the most part throughout the Nation Therefore O Noble Princes for the Glory of GOD and the Everlasting welfare of thy Immortal Soul and the Good of all these Nations be not negligent in this great Work and this know O Queen there is more required of you that is of KINGS QUEENS and POTENTATES of the Earth than of others for you stand in the place of GOD to the People Therefore the blood of all must lie at your Doors if you do not quit your selves by your saithfulness to GOD and Man for saith Wisdom Mighty Men shall be mightily punished Therefore Hear O ye Kings and Queens and Judges of the Earth Give Ear ye that Rule the Multitudes and Glory in the multitude of People for the Rule is given you of the LORD and Power from the Most High which will try your Works and search out your Inventions for if you that are Officers of His Kingdom judge not right and keep not His Commandments to walk after the will of GOD horribly and suddenly will He appear unto you and give you the reward of your Works for He that is LORD over all will spare no Mans Person neither shall He stand in awe of any Mans Greatness For He will take His Jealousy for his Armour and shall Arm the Creatures to be revenged of his Enemies as might be seen in that astonishing amazing great and wonderful never to be forgotten Thunders which were lately in these parts of the World and those horrible Earthquakes beyond the Seas for as by the greatness of His Eternal Power He made all things and upholds all things by the same so by the Word of his Power can He consume us all and turn all things into nothing and yet in this Work will He put on Righteousness for a Breast-plate and take true Judgment instead of an Helmet He will take Holiness for an invincible Shield He will sharpen his fierce Wrath for a Sword and and his Angels who are his Ministring Spirits in Flames of Fire shall sight with him against the unwise Therefore be wise O ye KINGS and understand learn ye Judges of the Earth serve the LORD in fear and rejoyce in trembling kiss the Son least he be angry and you perish in your ways for when His wrath shall suddenly burn O then blessed for ever will they be that put their whole trust in Him and that the latter may be your Portion is the desire of my Soul to GOD for you all Your faithful Friend and the LORD's Servant Joan Whitrowe AND further to the Queen my desire to GOD for her is That GOD would give her another Heart a heart to walk in all the ways of the LORD and that the LORD would pour out his Holy Spirit upon her as He did upon all His Anointed Ones and that she may be an Instrument in His Hand to convert many to Righteousness then shall the Prophesy of Daniel be fulfilled on her which saith Those that convert many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever more And O that GOD would touch the Hearts of them that follow the Queen as He touched the heart of those that followed Saul after he was Anointed King over Israel and that the Spirit of the LORD would come upon the King and Queen and all that belongs to them as it came upon David after the LORD had Anointed him in the midst of his Brethren that by the Power of his Holy Spirit they may follow the LORD fully as Joshua and Caleb did that they may be possessors of the good and holy Land of everlasting Peace and Rest for evermore This is the Land that flows with Milk and Honey but not a Land for outward pleasures but the inward ravishments of the Soul which is the reward of the faithful who follow their LORD through the strait and narrow Way which is the way to Eternal Rest as their LORD said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leads to life and few there be that finds it Ah! but broad is the Way and wide is the Gate that leads to destruction and many there be that goes therein Indeed to Flesh and Blood the Way to Life and Glory seems strait and narrow at the first entrance until the Soul is accustomed to bear the Yoke but afterwards it is Eternally true as Christ said My Yoke is easy and my Burthen light Yea for ever I am a Witness That in all His Ways are Pleasantness and in all His Paths are Peace And this I declare in the Power and Spirit of the LORD there is no Tongue can speak Heart conceive nor Pen can write the sweet Reposes and Heavenly Enjoyments in the Ravishments of His Love which that Soul is a possessor of that keeps upon its Watch-Tower whose Meditation is in the Law of the LORD Day and Night it enjoys Heaven whilst it is on Earth Well might David say A day in Thy Courts O LORD is more than a Thousand elsewhere I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of the LORD than to dwell in the Tents of the wicked and to this Wisdom answers saying Blessed are those that heareth me watching daily at my Gates and giving attendance at the Posts of my Doors for he that findeth me findeth life and obtaineth favour of the LORD And the Apostle Paul in a holy Extasy cries out O the height and depth of the love of GOD neither can it enter into the Heart of man the things that GOD hath prepared for them that love Him No certainly not the men of this World who have their Portions in this Life which David desired to be delivered from But it entred into the Heart of Mary when she sat so attentively at Jesus Feet to hear the precious Words that dropt from His Gracious Lips where she received the sweet in-comes of His Eternal Love whilest the Martha's of this World are hurried incumbred and distracted in their covetous earthly Spirit caring how to add House to House Land to Land and one Thousand to another and the other sort how to consume what they have upon their lusts in vain wicked recreations and both these dispossesses the LORD of Life of his Right and robs him of his Glory And Farther I am to
acquaint the King and Queen That the late Brewers-Tax falls heavy upon the Poor the general Discourse is the Rich will be richer but the poor Brewers will not be able to hold it and for the poorer sort of the People if they can get Bread for themselves and their Children so but for Drink they say they must drink Water if the Parliament had been pleased to have laid it upon the Rich of all sorts and upon the Drunkards the Feasters the Swearers Gamesters the Whoremongers the proud Persons that goes in Rich and Gorgious Attire but above all that Monstrous Babylonish Dress of the Head the abomination of the Christians which if the King and Queen will not bring down GOD will by his righteous Judgments and those cursed Play-houses and every one that goes to them and the scant Measures with the false Weights which Robs the Poor of their Right If it please the Parliament for the future That these Taxes may be laid upon all these as heavy as Lead and this will be for the Glory of GOD the Good of Souls and the Renown of the Kingdom For these were the crying Sins of the Jews in their Day which brought that heavy Destruction upon them Pride and fulness of Bread The Daughters of Zion are haughty saith the Prophet Isaiah 3. They go with their out-stretched-Necks and their wanton Eyes and then naming their abominable Attire as may be read at large But those were the Rich that are guilty of these abominations For they Ground the Face of the Poor and kept scant Measures and false Weights and sold the needy for shooes And thus far I have cleared my Conscience to GOD and my Neighbour in making the King and Queen acquainted with these things And I humbly desire That the King and Queen may do the same by using all means possible to rectify these things First in their own Examples then by Proclamation and Penalties And I pray GOD the King and Queen may not be slack in this their Work for the LORD For it is written Cursed is he that doth the Work of the LORD negligently and that it may be done in the LORD's time for delays are dangerous As Christ said unto the Jews You neglect the Weighty Matters of the Law which should have been done first and not have left the other undone and the Prophet Haggai saith Thus speaketh the LORD the LORD of Hosts saying this People say the time is not yet come that the LORD's House should be builded Then came the Word of the LORD by the Ministry of the Prophet Haggai saying Is it time for your selves to dwell in your Ceiled-Houses and this House lye waste Therefore thus saith the LORD of Hosts consider your own ways in your Hearts ye have sown much and brought in little ye looked for much but it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the LORD of Hosts because of mine House that lies waste and ye run every Man into his own House O King and Queen is not this the present State of the Nation I beseech you consider My great Concern for the King and Queen is That they may not slip their Time or the opportunity GOD hath put into their hands for man hath but a Day or Hour given Him to do his work herein and if he doth it not in that time his Power is gone Therefore it is that the LORD calls so upon Mankind saying Whilest it is to day harden not your Hearts as they did in the Provocation when they tempted and proved Me and saw My Works For altho' they saw His wonderful Works yet they believed Him not but disobeyed His righteous Laws therefore they never saw the good Land We see what a dangerous thing Unbelief is but David believed in GOD I believed saith he therefore have I spoken and then presently he longs to be upon returns saying What shall I render to the LORD for all His Mercies and for all His Goodness I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon His Holy Name I will set no wicked thing before mine Eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me I will walk within my House with a perfect heart Psal 101. and so he goes on to the end of the Psal which may be worth the King and Queens reading And then after these Engagements with many more he promises to pay his Vows to the LORD in the presence of all O that this Holy Spirit of Life and Love that was in David who loved the LORD dearly might Rule and Reign and have the Dominion over all in the King and Queen and all that belongs to them For why else am I thus concerned that never was concerned with any King Queen or Prince further than in the general to all of that which my Eyes hath seen come to pass and now with you in particular of that which is to come And that the Fame of your righteous Acts may Sound to the furthermost parts of the Earth to alarm the Nations to come up to the Mountain of the LORD of Hosts to learn His Ways and to walk in the Paths of the GOD of Jacob that as the Name of Christians hath been a stink a proverb a by word of reproach among the Turks saying to English-men Do you think I am a Christian to falsify my word So now by your holy Lives and worthy VVorks that Name may be a good Savour that the Nations on your behalf may have cause to Praise Magnify Worship and Adore the Most High and Everlasting GOD for evermore Amen Which is the earnest Desire of her who doth humbly Prostrate her self at the Feet of Christ on the King and Queens behalf Your humble Hand-maid Joan Whitrowe Putney-Park the 14th of Decem. 1690.
and Mighty above all transitory Things The Queen being of His Spirit will be the same She 'll scorn the Pomps and Pleasures of a poor dirty perishing World She 'll place her Delights upon more high and excellent things than the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World wherein the worst of Heathens takes delight but for the best of them they mind more Divine and Heavenly things As Socrates that Divine Philosopher Fine and rich Cloaths saith he are only fit for Commedians and being demanded from what things Men and Women ought to refrain From Pleasures said he temperate Persons become the most Excellent they eat that which neither hurts the Body nor Mind and that which is easy to be got The only and best way saith he to Worship GOD is to mind and obey whatsoever He Commands that the Souls of Men and Women may pertake of the Divine Nature that GOD is seen of the Vertuous Mind that by waiting upon Him they are United unto Him in an accessible place of Purity and Happiness GOD hath asserted them always to be near unto Him These are they that were worthy of the Name of Christians because they imitate Him in their Lives who were Plain Humble and Self-denying like Christ their LORD who said Learn of me Learn of me saith he that was GOD over all Blessed for ever yet humbled himself to the Death yea the Death of the Cross before whom let all Kings Queens and Potentates of the Earth lick the Dust before Him who is LORD and Governor of all things from whom the greatest Monarch in the Earth hath his Breath and He can take it away at his pleasure therefore who shall not sear Him the Everlasting before whom all Nations are as a drop of a Bucket Yea let the Heavens and Earth tremble before Him who shall lay all Flesh in the Dust and then Where shall its Glory be Therefore O Queen live for ever in this plain innocent and humble Life of Jesus who made Himself of no reputation and said He to his Disciples when they were striving for the Mastership one over the other The Gentiles which bear Rule exercise Lordship one over the other but with you it must not be so but he that is chiefest among you let him be Servant to all And this did He in Practice as well as Doctrine when He washed His Disciples feet and so left them and all His followers an Example to follow His Steps He did not say follow this Man or that Man no nor the footsteps of the Flock no for He knew that all Men might Err therefore he charged and commanded saying Learn of me for I am meek and lowly and you shall find rest for your Souls Oh! the Treasure of Treasures the Pearl of great Price that whosoever hath it will Sell all for it all their perishing Glories with all their fading Delights and count it all but dung and dross for the Excellency of this Life in Christ Therefore hear O Princesses and give Ear ye Ladies of the perishing Honours of this World Did Christ Jesus the LORD and only Saviour the Immaculate Lamb of GOD that takes away the Sins of the World Consecrate a Way for you through His Agonies of Sorrows and Griefs bitter Death and bloody Passion for you to live a Life of Vanities and Pleasures the Pomps and Pride of Life the Lust of the Flesh and the Lust of the Eye Was all his strong Cries Groans Sighs and Sobs Watchings and Fastings cruel Mockings and Scourgings exposing Himself to all the Malice that Men or Devils could Invent Was all these Miseries to End here Or was this to be the End of all to fasten you to your cursed Plays with your whole Life of sinful Pleasures Ye careless Daughters ye Women that are at Ease be astonished pluck off your Gorgious Attire put on Sackcloth and cover your Heads with Ashes and sit on the Ground and from thence take up a deep and heavy Lamentation for the miseries that are coming upon you when your Songs shall be turned into Howlings your Joys into Heaviness and bitter Lamentations which shall be the Reward of all your vain and wicked Pastimes that hath been spent in vain and wicked Recreations of which precious time the least moment thereof upon a dying Bed is more than the Gold of Ophir Then shall you call said the LORD but I will not answer You shall seek Me early but you shall not find Me. And why Because you hated Knowledge and did not chuse the Fear of the LORD You would have none of my Counsel but despised all my Corrections therefore shall you Eat of the Fruit of your own ways and be filled with your own Devices For Ease slayeth the foolish and the Prosperity of Fools destroyeth them but they that obey Me saith the LORD shall dwell safely and be quiet from the fear of Evil Prov. 1. Chap. Therefore consider these things all you that forget GOD least I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you saith the LORD But O Queen live for ever The way for the Queen to obtain this Everlasting and Eternal Life is to watch against the Evil of her own Heart for so the LORD commands saying Watch Watch Watch which He fulfill'd before He gave it out to others when He was led into the Wilderness and there thrice tempted as the Apostle said He was in all things tempted as we are yet without sin that He might be able to succour us that are tempted For this know O Queen it is no sin to be tempted but the sin is to yield to the temptation as saith the Prophet When sinners inticeth thee consent not thou unto them therefore the LORD commanded to make the Defence strong double your VVatch yea treble your VVatch and saith the Prophet A threefold Cord cannot easily be broken O how good is the LORD to give us these Heavenly Precepts and not only so but to be our Strength in weakness Thou hast covered our Heads in the Day of Battle when the Enemy hath come in like a Flood Thou hast lifted up Thy Standard against him Glory he unto Thee for ever Thus hath the LORD stood by them that fear him in all Ages to be their Preserver from the Snares and Temptations of the Devil but then they must be found in His VVay otherwise He is not engaged to preserve them The VVay of Christ is His daily CROSS You cannot be my Disciples siath He Except you deny your selves and take up My Cross and follow Me VVhether must we follow Him Through all the Travels of his Soul as Isaiah the Prophet prophesied of him saying He shall see of the Travel of his Soul His righteous Soul shall be satisfied and in vain is all your Preaching Hearing Praying and Praising out of his Holy Pure and Incorruptible Life And further of his Life you may read in Isaiah's Prophesy of Him how He was a Man of Sorrows and was well