Zion's sad Tears FOR Ninevehs Just Fears OR Hours of Mourning FOR Yeers of Sinning Being Some few directed OBSERVATIONS OF Divine Mercy Sinful Returns With an humble Offering towards Regulation of Land and Maritime affairs By an humble Seeker of Truth and Peace Fools because of their transgressions because of their iniquities are afflicted their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw neer unto the gates of death Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses He sent his Word and healed them c. Psal 107.17 18 19 20. Then said I Wo is me for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts Isai 6. Read the whole for the holy seed shall be the substance thereof To sigh and mourn for what we cannot do Is to come short yet we must do it too Printed at London 1653. To the great God of wisdome and sole Essence of Power O Thou holy one of Israel and preserver of men I the worst of thy creatures all sullied with the dirt and blood of my own and the sins and Transgressions of my poor Family do here offer up to thee the sacrifice of thy beloved Son and dejection of my sinful heart begging of thee humbly but earnestly not to marke strictly what is done amiss being of purer eyes but on the former being an Oblation sufficient for the sins of the whole world O great God of wisdome and Lord of Hosts renew thy holy Spirit in me purifie me throughout and as thou hast preserved me to this teach me not onely to glorifie thy Sacred Name but also as thou hast at first faint desire upon occasion taught my hands to War and fingers to Fight so now teach my heart to indite a good matter and make my Pen the Pen of a ready Writer and whereas formerly a Petitioner to earthly gods whose breath is in their nostrils so now to thee onely that it may turne thine eyes from my sin to thy own righteousness O thou that art my onely true beloved now in the Cloud proclaim thy holy Name as in former dayes The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin O reserve yet a good proportion of mercy for thy Israel why should they be destroyed by worse then themselves make them all O God seek and finde thy Kingdome and then administer to them all good things Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Thus begging of thee to hasten all that is convenient to thy poor afflicted people and thy most unworthy servant I desire to render to thy blessed Name but what is most due all honour praise glory Power and Dominion now and ever To the Right Honorable O. Cromwel Esq General of all the Land-Forces under the pay of the Parl. in England Scotland and Ireland Member of the same Parl. and Councel of Sate Sir YOu may justly challenge that impudence which from Raggs presented a great person with a Cup of cold water when the Conquer or without peradventure could have commanded choyce Liquors yet that escaped not unrewarded though another with a higher Present from a more gallant hand through a covetous end did Truly Sir I can onely say I am yet a living Monument of mercy having sometime been a small Atome of a Soldier under your happy conduct and considering our enemies pressure now at our Walles to be great as once at Haddington before that approaching glorious Deliverance and Victory I should be ingrateful to God as sometimes I am my Country and your Honour if I should not bewail the present conditon of affairs and cast my small Mite into the Publick Treasury towards support of a Christian interest though shaken and never more threatned Would my tears prevail I should desire to weep to death that so a day of Jubilee might cover the face of this place of my Nativitie now neer her extremitie wherein her Faith Patience and Meekness will not onely be tryed but must be extended The God of glory give the blessing Indeed Sir your known greatness and worth must give me leave though a low simple despised fellow to be plain with you for albeit a Raven bring you bread and flesh in the morning of this accomplished New-year and water from the Brook despise it not your former favours to me when clouded in carnality have induced me to this weak Oblation I must acknowledge it with thanks to our Creator the love of his dearly beloved Son and sacred Spirit resting in his Saints but withal confess as I have said in my heart that as he was just by afflicting me by so bad as my self though externally my Superiors so likewise in admitting some to be punish'd by worse then themselves and to shake their body Politick who first touched my Oeconomick yet since it was to call forth my slender Candle before hidden under a Bushel though lighted at a Divine Torch and the Talent which before lay buried in a dirty Napkin I cannot deny my Country-men a sight of those thoughts which may trouble us all if I am a Shimei be you a David Sir I here bring you a Brat called forth with Lazarus I hope from the grave of corruption and lay it at your feet because I am not so able as you to prefer or maintain it you may do well to take the grave cloaths off lest it stink too much and dress it in the attire you most desire to see it though it cannot prattle yet to call you Excellent or your Excellency at every word yet in time it may be blest and have occasion so to do Truly Sir I am heartily sorry I have no better New-years-gift for you that have deserved it but you if you come to me must be content with what I have not what I would have I hope the Lord of Hosts will sanctifie your heart to the advancement of his glory and defence of his Saints else Sir what shall be done to those late-rais'd Princes who continue to walk without light in these dayes in the steps of their Predecessors surely so much War as attended the gate of them must attend theirs yet is there an appointed time for Nimrod's ruine or safety I hope it was in your heart to build the Temple well it 's enough you shall live to see the materials brought together that shall do the work The Lord God of mercy incline the Pillars and Members to seek his Face whilest it may be found and the Evil day crush us not altogether be confident in your Maker and he may yet do much by you The God of wisdom and innocency inrich your heart therewith from his Fountain that the Nations about you may have occasion to bless God for and with you So prayes heartily him that is Decemb 20. 1652. A poor
wish not ruine or that it spoyl not you because you manage it no better either take your hearts and hands to you to maintain Publick interest or draw aside take Physick a while and admit others that you dare trust as Deputies with that or part of that high trust in you commit your selves to the preserver of men and let nothing be wanting in by through or from you that may manifest your selves to be Patres Patriae advancers of the Kingdom of Christ and the prosperities of his Saints Which that you may do shall be the prayer of the Author to the chief Author of mercy To my honest Fellow-Commoners TRuly Sirs I have nothing worthy to be called a present for you in this day of your great Tryal but if you will accept it I render you the sorrowful countenance of a dejected heart wishing it might sigh and mourn it self away for your deliverance which sure will approach every night hath its morning and that its perfect day When God hath afforded you mercies greater then ever putting your Trustees in fair wayes of establishing your long-desired Rights have you been truly thankful or have not your fresh sinnes still called and renewed more judgements Seriously I now fear your case yet the Lord will if you trust him not suffer poor souls for ever to groan under the Altar of mercy but give them a glorious issue of their desires Patiently wait stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Man can do no more then God permits nor can Pharaoh with all his Chariots pass the Red Sea but ye may escape if ye steer affairs by Divine direction Well this is further to try your spirits if not humble and lay them in the dust If ye are perfect Christians ye cannot refuse your Masters Cross But say you We expected our Freedomes and external Priviledges to be setled long since I bewail your want I desire to mourn with you When God had even planted you in peace and had pruned you what fruit brought you forth were you not so bad as my self a barren Fig-tree which justly deserv'd this curse upon all our hopes or indeed brought ye not forth wilde grapes which occasioned God to pluck down your walles and leave you a prey to the Bears and Wolves of the Forrest but those of you that are in Christ shall be in safety if Warre and pestilence cover the Land he will watch tenderly over his and preserve them from all dangers Gog and Magog must fall Truth onely stand Oh Friends be ye just and upright then shall your path be as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day and be ye not as the wicked which walk in darkness who know not whereat they stumble I shall desire you to offer up your hearts in sighs and groanes to the God of mercy for an happy restitution of your Christian Priviledges now sinking by reason of those corruptions Observe Divine Providence let nothing be wanting towards support of the Church yet Militant for your sakes I mean those that shall go forth for you for those must bring in Materials to build the true Temple as David did To all present Powers WHat God or man by him shall dictate observe and follow lest God finde you so disobedient as your Predecessors and accordingly afflict though he may love you For God was once in the still voyce I wish the same may modelize you as it will and manifest more to you then the poor Author I desire to be spent for you and my poor Country I mean spiritually that ye may also taste and receive more excellent things excellency waits at your gates To the Mariners and Sea-Commanders HAth God brought you to this for punishment or mercy judge ye Oh what Blaspheming and Retrogade spirits have ye been Oh Friends judge your selves in time lest ye be now adjudged to torments Shall I deal plainly with you Ye are the Vessels of Wrath which the Omnipotent hath appointed to scourge so bad as your selves though more numerous some of you must fall for the rest by a Rod of your own gleaning yet it shall preserve you though ye cannot but by faith espie the hand that moves it Oh in time with me bewail the Face of affairs and Divine judgements which your treacherous sinnes to God and man hath call'd upon our own heads Pray why was not victory pursued when your Enemy fled before you Was it to betray your Country or enlarge their fears sorrowes and exhaust their declining Sweat and Treasure Well for this I tell you though the Lord of Hosts in whose Almighty presence we are alwaies will notwithstanding though for your sins punishing you let you by another hand more then yours see deliverance Then trust God and his pure Spirit in his Saints leave Oaths and wickedness that ye may be converted and live and indeed be Instruments yet of as much glory and Conquests as the God of Forces hath made some of his Children by Land that you or yours may see Peace established in Righteousness and so Posterity have occasion to bless God for you though wicked Instruments of his glory for now the ungodly will punish the wicked O let the Spirit of Christ reign in and over you that it may not onely deliver you and us in the evil day but confirm you to the enjoyment of the great glory shall be discovered and made manifest in though out of the flesh then be ye conformable to the dictates of the same walk humbly in his sight that ye may be bold as Lions in your Enemies and they be crush'd before that greater invisible Power in or with you which I most heartily wish To all people of and in God I Suppose our Bears must not onely destroy those without but rob them of their Whelps if they make haste and by or before the beginning of March next resolutely and unanimously attempt and persevere in it then trust God with the issue two or three bouts will do the work if you and they desire the Lord of Hosts to do it for us to further which I wish a new Covenant written in every ones heart and spirit to seek Truth and Peace and pursue it immediately after the deliverance and in the height of our Conquest that mercy may be minded and so burning Coals heaped on the heads of the Enemies and I wish the rigid Presbyters and Anabaptists ruine not themselves Also a Publick Treasurie to be erected for every one worth above 200 l. de claro to advance a twentieth part of substance towards the propagation of this great work to be repay'd immediately after victory if our State can bear it with interest at 8 per cent with the voluntary contribution of others in that nature towards support of affairs and of the Widow Fatherless and Orphans that must happen Also the Soldier and Mariner when duly paid will be humbler and bettter servants As to suppression of Tories Moss-Troopers and Vagabounds in Armes which must increase in Ireland and Scotland That in the first place a Marshall-General and strict Advocate with Force may continually convenient rest in a place allowed be allotted to Quarter on their Landlords or Grandees and setting forth a Proclamation for every one of those Wolves to come in by a due season immediately else hang up every one at the next Tree they shall meet in Armes and all suspected disaffected disarmed As for the Navy honest Commanders of the Army joyn'd with the Naval to qualifie the Spirit will crush the Enemy Had not Sol afflicted Merc'ry in Cancer Crabs to Rams had never found an answer Soli Deo Gloria FINIS Coronat Opus Let Bears decay Wolves fall and Lions stand First gone others wasting lost and last command When heaven once shall unfold this Mysterie Heavens in earth receive a Jubilee Wake not my Love when now wishes slumber Crush your Enemy though exceeds number The Author hath been too busie for you Yet his pointed work he must doe Let Babylon fall that truth may flourish Then Peace Joy all blessings shall you nourish
Fellow-labourer a dead Dogg Sir enquire not after the Author of this but that of us both To the Reader of what sort soever PEradventure you as others may stile me mad or otherwise as some in other cases have in respect of the main disproportion of several things in this parcel but I shall not say you are so if censorious If I am mad 't is for your cause if sober 't is to God I shall not invite you much to look on the Infant for its names or Fathers sake but if you like it or it you 't is yours not mine I begg no customers or company now being indeed never less alone then when alone If you find the Child in the rushes and preserve it in time it may produce better things however my travel in its birth shall not be lost for I have gain'd what I in part desired to see The God of Power sanctifie it and then it shall be blest if not kist by you The piece is not a nine days wonder but some few void hours in that time the matter I commit to you not the form for hast maks waste and prevented me in puting things in order though my end was good and my judgment I hope with my God this is onely truly for an humbled people I have no hard words or Aenigma's to Christen it with but what I have you are welcome to if you be a Christian 't is well enough it may receive the attendance of some vacant minutes if it make you weep to see it do so I cannot help it rock it perchance it may gain sleep though the poor father little if you shall curiously search his Name you may finde it Homo then seek no farther unless you bring tears to attend his Funeral who had rather for you die then read your Elegie To deal plainly with you I am here call'd forth to shew you part of what I have but it being ill Cook'd and dish'd with as bad sauce if you can receive and digest it I am like to shew you more however give me no occasion to answer for it lest you make me stark mad and then deprived of my sences not be able An Infant Idiot or Lunatick all which I am is as I take it excusable by the Law of the Land Sed si pereo pereo greater Pillars wil be shaken when mine are so yet this is my comfort Cedars fall when Mushrooms will spring One secret I must tel thee that Part of my right hand till I extended it in writing was shrunk up and then again I found its use yet not able to write over again what I writ or indeed remember it in former things of late The fruit of my gleanings I wish you and to see better things from you contribute your talent with mine now in time now in time of necessity it can do no hurt but may enlarge my thoughts expecting it and your bringing in what you have to the Publick praying for the prosperity of all the friends of Zion I remain Yours in all due respects A Servant of Truth and Peace To Nineveh and its People O Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh the former three most resplendent places in the Nations about us and this in particular though I have been a Beggar for you What more could the Lord have done by and for you then what was done What unthankful returns hath he received from you ye had need of 3000 Ionahs so many Trumpets and as many years to awaken and call you to true repentance Did Divine mercy raise you to the Empire over your sisters to repay your heavenly Father in the imperfect Coyn of your own base ingratitude or walk after the carnal lusts of your own hearts Could you be apt to Signe such Oaths Protestations and Covenants of mens inventions and never seriously make one in your own hearts with the giver of all good things to live soberly and uprightly in this present life to his glory and your own comfort as also the mutual defence and preservation of each other therein But every one of your hands is full of oppression and violence and for your wicked desperate Oaths crucifying again the Lord of life the Land now mourns and trembles before the presence of the Lord. Must the God of Power deliver into your hands your betters even the declared Kings and Princes of the earth and can you continue still walking in their impious steps Must you return as Doggs to the vomit or a blind people to the Onions and Garlick of Egypt Surely the Lord may yet reserve mercy for you if you can but by Faith eye the Arme which hath not long since rendred it self bare for your preservation and now contends with a flaming sword against you not onely so but threatning a Mortality within your own Walls and Pavilions O heavenly Father if it be thy will let every individual Member of the people here and abroad lay these things seriously to heart and let the crucified Image of thy Son be fixed in and upon every soul and spirit that shall read or hear these Funeral-Elegies though clothed in raggs preserve thy choyce ones as the Apple of thine Eye let them not alwayes be dying Sacrifices for worse then themselves restrain the fury and madness O Father of spirits of the Wolves and Bears of the Forrest which now thou hast called forth and spare thy poor people when thou shalt deal with them And all this for thy dearly beloved Sons sake To the rigid Presbyters and rude Pulpit-knockers of these times KNow ye not that holiest David and wisest Salomon had their crimes yet both reproved repented and found mercy Where is Pharaoh your Covenanted Idol become Is he not seeking all ways and means to destroy your hopes and lay them in the dust Must you Idolize the sons of men and even betray all Governments that put you not in the room of Christ himself Nor know ye that for the transgressions of a Land many are the Princes thereof Why cannot ye submit to that Power the Lord hath appointed and vail your Plumes in the time of sudden Calamity and indeed joyn heart and hand with despised little ones to seek your Maker in humility and love O condescend in time lest else your untempered Morter suddenly make our Walls fall about our ears let your moderation be known to all men and be you Serpent-like wise but Dove-like innocent not Wolves in Sheeps clothing to fleece the Flock and feed the belly-gods but study the peace of the Government and people if you can do no more letting alone the Civil Magistrate to punish Turbulencies and Seditions Indeed you should more observe and proclaim the holy Name of the ever-living God his dearly beloved Son and sacred Spirit more and more nay deny your selves if true Disciples take up his Cross and follow him wheresoever he shall call you or into what condition soever But 't is to be feared you more serve the god of the world not
ones for ever and will even for ever and ever preserve But in thy heart Covenant with God or at least wish an happyer Restauration to our Rights and Priviledges now then by blood at Sea and that from thy soul which if thou heartily pursue the God of glory may Crown it with a blessing and return the benefit into thy bosome Remember that the greatest of Power was the Lamb of Peace so well as Lyon of the Tribe of Judah but the still commands all Powers To the Members of Parliament and State O The wisdome of the World Oh that wisdome I will overturn overturn overturn saith the Lord not in hast though provoked I hope for Thou Lord art gratious full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy and doing good It hath not been hid from your eyes that the Lord hath overturned your Predecessors twice which without peradventure acted or at least sought better things Then what shall the Lord in the great day of his controversie do unto you I would know which of you hath most in Bank now in the enemies power or if you could find no other ways to spend the sinews of the people and Army then in a Maritime War delayed when victory was promised answer'd neither friend or enemy but the devouring Sea like to be the better for it Hath God even delivered into your servants hands the Enemies of the three Nations to be thus requited in stead of seeking the face of his Divine Majesty with unfeigned prayers and praises doing good to the whole work of his hands and as a Deliverer of our Rights and Priviledges from the incursion and subjugation of Tyrants Are not we even we that God hath made Moses-like to stand in the gap in the terrible day when the deluge of your Enemies approach'd your neerest confines very sad now Well what reward A new War and bad involvement in fresh Seas of sorrow Nay before the matter as is supposed was fully stated or materially ripe for action and other creatures that never appeared in the late-got victories or in the least contributed thereto must first be preferred and promoted in the fruits of our bloody and dirty travels for your safeties and our own even as Mercenaries or worst of men sleighted I must acknowledge 't is just with God the searcher of hears and tryer of the reins to cast sometimes the Rod into the fire which proves dry stiff or barren yet will he keep mercy for those of them that will yet look from vain humane Powers and to his Face alone for comfort and deliverance How seasonable would one years ease be to a declining people even almost exhausted already whose languishing Priviledges have commanded my watchful eye and weaker Pen to this sacrifice of some retired houres Enquire not after my name in the flesh to persecute it lest your own hearts meet with enough within to judge your selves not that I sear any other then my God my Deliverer and Preserver and that Angel he hath appointed to attend me and minister unto me Oh friends I 'll call you good Masters when you by your Christian sweet and good disposures shall find true Religion and pursue it in relieving the Widow the Fatherless and Orphans and easing the heavy-laden of their burthens You may say The time is now past But O Sirs let every one of you enter into the privatest Closets of your hearts and with tears bewail those glorious opportunities God hath put into your hands though rejected and neglected and then draw a new Covenant with the great God of Power who deposeth and setteth up Princes at pleasure now most cordially and really to seek chiefly his glory and the advantage of the Common-wealth and the mutual preservation defence and comfort of all his people in general especially those under your charge if God may deliver you and them and do you your selves first sign it with your hearts and hands then distribute it among the people also unto a common Treasury to be appointed do you your selves advance what liberal summes you can possibly spare to perfect or accommodate this great work that others may follow your example and if you can lend any of your persons to the work do And here if I may produce two or three considerations from a piece intituled Sir Walter Rawleigh's Maximes of Sate I shall Sometimes the Romanes for Publick good without respect of wealth fetch'd some of their Senators from the Plough and some from the School Such would now be visible in the rooms of Achans Achitophels and miscarrying Iscariots if any such there be In another place thus as touching a Political Prince David being a most worthy and excellent Prince for Wisdom Valour Religion and Justice and so highly deserving of the Common-wealth yet grown into age grow withal into contempt and had many both of his Nobles and common people that fell from him first with Absalom then with Adonijah who affected the Kingdome and rebelled against him for remedy whereof he stirred up himself to Publick actions which might shew his vigour and sufficiency to manage the affairs of his Kingdom After the victory of Absalom he forced himself to forbear mourning and shewed himself to his discontented Army when all were like to fall from him He also sent kind messengers to Je. rusalem and other principal places and men of Judea putting them in minde of their allyance with him with these words That they were of his own flesh and blood with protestation to provide for them with the like kindness and affection of theirs to wards him He assembled a Parliament of his whole Realm c. He shewed bounty and magnificence in congesting matter for building of the Temple as Gold Silver c. He reviv'd Church-government and set it in right order He ordained Salomon his Successor By these and such like other means he retained his Majesty and Authority in his old age and then dyed in peace I leave the application to the most Pious and Politick of you with this caveat that when you use Policy you never tender it more then as a handmaid to true Piety which then will make it more warrantable and abide the test of fire it self O hear what Moses speaks Thus saith the Lord I have surely seen the affliction of my people and I have heard their cry by reason of their Task-Masters for I know their sorrowes Thus you may see God will take special care of his low despised ones and observe what Paul sayes O I could wish you noble Senators to be so as the wise Bereans who studied the Scriptures for glorious ends that I might joyn with him to you thus Though I am absent in the Flesh yet am I present with you in the Spirit But thus as to highest glory and lowest good Come come learn to be perfect Christians so well as Morally honest deny your selves take up the Cross now near you and follow him Clouds gathered menace Rain I