preserve the health and cleanse the bloud And how they will both soule and body make More fit and ready for to undertake Pious and holy works but when men will Their extreame raging fleshly lusts fulfill And take no care whither their souls shall goe Needs must their pastimes end in endlesse woe Others there are vainer then these by ods The vanity and folly of idolaters And such are they that bow to senselesse gods To graven images of wood or brasse To carved stones to pictures wrought in glasse O foolish folke is this the sum and scope Of your religion confidence and hope Out of the a Scriptures were you ever taught Deut. 6.13 14. Deut. 8 1. Exod 20 5 â—l 96 5 6 7 8 9. To serve and worship what your hands have wrought So void of humane reason can you be As to conceive a senselesse stone or tree Subject to rottennesse should be a God When underfoot the same is daily trod Where is your warrant then faith is not sound Which is not built upon a steady ground You say you have it from your honest Friars Beleeve them not they have been alwaies liars What are their legends but a masse of lies Cobwebs for to intangle butterflies You may have many gods and many gawds You must use beads and so you may your bawds You may use murther theft yea and what not Sith all shall be forgiven and forgot If to your ghostly b father you confesse How where when and with whom you did transgresse Is this Religion true How can it be Falshood and truth could never yet agree Your ground is false you much mistake the marke Greaâ— is their fault who keep you in the darke The word of God the only ground of faith The perfect rule of true Religion faith Thou shaâ—t not kill Exod 20 4. attempt how dare you then To murther Kings you bloudy minded men Out of the Scriptures can you bring good reasons To justifie rebellions murthers treasons What rule or warrant have you there to pray To stocks and stones does not the a Scripture say Exod 2â— 1 Luke 5 21. 3 Kings 8.39 40. God is the Lord thy God and him alone Thou shalt adore no Saint no b stocke or stone Esay 19 20. Ps 50 15 76 11. Iude 24 25. 1 Sam. 25 34. Esay 64 6. In c merits why doe you such trust repose How oft he does offend his God who knowes Be not deluded by your silly Friars Let God be true d and let your Priests be liars Rom 83.4 And some bewitched with a hellish pride The yoake of government will cast aside And for this cause in part I feare the hand Of great Jehovah is upon our land Object But some may say it is not without cause As snares and scourges some inflict our lawes And it is time to stir for if these might But have their wills where should we seek for right Answ Unto the Lord of hosts who only can Asswage the rage and raging might of man For we are told in holy Writ Psal 103.6 Heb. 10.34 that when We seeke to vindicate our selves e we then Dishonour and affront the Lord therefore When tyrants rage let 's God for aid implore The misbehaviour and incivill cariage of women Yet I have one thing more to doe that 's this To shew wherein some women do amisse A taske too hard for me who only have So small an insight let the wife and grave Then speake in their behalfe as they have found them For open hear-say I am loath to wound them Much I have read and much I have been told But what I 've seen to speake I may be bold Women are rebells yet I meane not all But such as love to scold to fight and brawle Such as do strive the scepter for to sway Such as would have their husbands to obey But are these matrons monsters I thinke rather A brood of hell the Divell is their father I speake not this so much in their disgrace For I my selfe perhaps if in their place Should faulty be herein as for to shame Men that have been and are herein too blame For did not men on women so much doat They would not be so oft cast over boat For if they get a man upon the hip O they will goe neare to get the master-ship Men must doe this or that or they will brawle Men must be rul'd and they must governe all Men must as slaves be subject to their wives Or they will make them weary of their lives I would men wiser were for in conclusion This great disorder will bring great confusion Man ought to love the woman to obey Ephes 5 22. 1. Pet. 3.1 Man may command she should entreat and pray Man is as head the woman as the heart The head we grant to be the upper part Where is thy wit O head where are thy brains That as thy head thy heart thus rules and reignes Where is thy courage thou faint-hearted snaile That thou pluck'st in thy horns if heart but raile Abuse of mercy Some rather wormes then men conceited elves In hope of a mercy oft delude themselves It matters not say they what Prophets say We hope to morrow will be as to day Amos 6.3.4 The Lord is just yet mercifull and b good And one that takes no pleasure in our bloud Will he that made us damne us Surely no Wisd 11.24.25 He made us that he might us show O brutish man will not you understand Till you stand under his revenging hand Will you not feare untill you feel his rod Why doe you thinke so slenderly of God Be well advis'd Eccl. 12.13 Psal 50.22 Esay 27.21 and for a truth this know That God is sure although to anger slow And that abuse of mercy will augment Thy everlasting paines and punishment I cannot but much wonder for to see How some will stand upon their pedigree And to their predecessors worth lay claime When by foule vices they disgrace the same The charge of many soules some rashly take And after little or no conscience make How they are fed Slothfulnesse in Clergimen so they but feed the purse They care not though their flock grow worse worse They feast and powre downe wine in silver bowles And in the meane time starve the peoples soules Some thinke it once a month they can prepare Themselves to preach that it is very faire I wonder how this blockishnesse should be In such as should foresee see oversee It is against Religion sense and reason That such as should preach in and out of season Should thinke a Sermon once a quarter well When as a each day they teach the way to hell We oft Gods holy name and day prophane By idle words and works and pastime vaine In seaven daies the Lord requres but one We by our deeds replie he shall have none Our hearts are so bewitcht with gaine and
LOrd thou art good as well as great and this Happy commixture is the ground of blisse What comfort would it be to us if thou O great Jehovah shouldst the heavens bow And come in majestie alas thy might Without thy goodnesse would but us affright If thou wer't only good and hadst not might When we were wrong'd where should we go for right If thou hadst onely might and wer 't not good Thy very name would frighten flesh and bloud But blessed be thy name O Lord of hosts Thy goodnesse is declar'd through all our coasts Yea we thy greatnesse and thy goodnesse find In Church and State in body soule and mind But we the greater oft the worser grow In doing ill we oft our greatnesse show Lord rather make us good then great what will Greatnesse availe us if our waies be ill Greatnesse without goodnesse Lord we know Will but procure our greater overthrow Therefore great God thy goodnesse we entreat To make us good how ere thou make us great If thou wilt grace us gratious God with might Give us grace with it for to use it right Amen Of the wisedome of God Meditati 2 THy wisedome is O Lord past finding out What man thinkes strange with ease thou bringst about But we are fooles and neither understand The words nor workes of thy almighty hand O blessed God we humbly thee desire Into our hearts true wisedome to inspire Make us to know thee and our selves aright Then shall our waies be pleasing in thy sight Amen Of the holinesse of God Meditati 3 LOrd thou art pure and holy we implore Thy holinesse to clense us more and more Each good and perfect gift must come from thee Lord make us such as thou wouldst have us be Amen Of the justice and wrath of God Meditati 4 WHat man Lord can abide thy wrath and ire Which being kindled burns as hot as fire O make us fearfull to offend thy Law Lest we before thee be as hay or straw Before a furnace grant that we may praise Thy holy name and serve thee all our daies Amen Of the truth of God Meditati 5 LOrd thou art true in all thy words and waies Justice and equity thy Scepter swayes We should be like thee but alas we finde Our hearts too much to fraud and guile inclin'd Lord breathe thy Spirit of truth into our hearts And write thy Laws within our inward parts Then shall our hearts be upright towards thee And eke our lives from foule offences free Amen Of the mercy of God Meditati 6 LOrd thou art mercifull as well as just Or else what would become of sinfull dust We should be like thee but our hearts are evill In cruelty we imitate the divell Lord make us kinde and pitifull that so In time of need thou maist us mercy show Amen Of the love and kindnesse of God Meditati 7 LOrd thou art kinde thy love endures for aye Upon good grounds we can with reverence say Thou seemest for to doat on man for when He went astray thou broughtst him home agen When he had from thy holy Precepts swerv'd And thereby thy displeasure had deserv'd The penalty of death then didst thou give Thy Son to suffer death that he might live O that our hearts could understand aright The greatnesse of this love that so we might With body soule and minde strive to adore Thy holy name both now and evermore Amen Short Meditations and Ejaculations upon the Lords Prayer Medita ∣ tion 1 LOrd we are sinfull in our purest works Much pride hypocrisie and evill lurks We cannot hallow thee it is our shame That we may in us Hallowed be thy name Amen Medita ∣ tion 2 I cannot but my misery condole My heart my minde my body and my soul Have been slaves to the world the flesh and divell Nimble and prompt to run into all evill But in thy service lame dead deafe and dumb My soule release Lord Let thy Kingdome come Amen Medita ∣ tion 3 A constant pure and cheerfull sacrifice We know Lord is wel-pleasing in thine eyes Quicken our hearts that are of life bereaven And let thy will be done here as in heaven Amen Medita ∣ tion 4 Thou art Our Father where then should we go But unto thee for what we want below All creatures by thy providence are fed Give us good God this day our daily bread Amen Medita ∣ tion 5 Lord thou art full of kindnesse and of pity Loath to destroy the meanest Towne or City If they repent O helpe us to confesse And leave our sins forgive our wickednesse Remit our faults unlose our chaines and fetters Forgive our debts as we forgive our debters Amen Medita ∣ tion 6 Lord thou art full of Majesty and might Able to put our greatest foes to flight Subdue those lusts that tend to reprobation And let us not be led into temptation Amen Medita ∣ tion 7 Thou art the God of Hosts the King of Kings And hast command within thee of all things Let not the world the flesh nor yet the divell Reigne over us Deliver us from evill Amen A few short Meditations or Eiaculations upon the ten Commâ—ndements Mediti ∣ tation 1 THou art the Lord our God the God of all Our souls and bodies thou hast brought from thral Grant we in word and deed may all agree To have no other God but only thee Amen 2. Precept Mediti ∣ tation 2 Thy goodnesse largely Lord hath been exprest To us and ours when we have been distrest Yet we like fooles have aid and succour sought From Idols vaine which our own hands have wrought Open our eyes O blessed God that we May leave our folly and returne to thee Amen 3. Precept Mediti ∣ tation 3 Most blessed God thy sacred will and minde Fully set forâ—h in sacred Writ we finde Thou wouldst noâ— have us take thy name in vaine We of our selves cannot O Lord refraine O give us grace thy name for to adore In word and deed both now and evermore And if we call thee witnesse for to beare Lord make us carefull that the truth we sweare Amen 4. Precept Mediti ∣ tation 4 Because that we are ready to forget To keep the day which thou apart hast set For thy owne selfe and service we may finde A memorandum to put us in minde Yet we must needs confesse unto our shame We are too prone to violate the same Incline our hearts to keep this Law that so We may escape thy wrath and endlesse woe And in thy holy place may ever sing Sweet songs of praise to thee our worthy King Amen 5. Precept Mediti ∣ tation 5 Lord thou wouldst have us honour and obey Our Parents Pastors and such as beare sway O grant we may withhold no honour due That happy dayes for ever may ensue Amen 6. Precept Mediti ∣ tation 6 Life is thy only gift therefore ought we To have our hearts and hands from murther free Keep us from bloudshed
Lord are not grievous Psal 119.40 and that his commandements are not burthensome for frst The regenerate are partakers of the divine nature of Christ whereby they are inabled to doe and suffer all things Credenti omnia sunt possibilia Iohn 1.5 all things are posible to them that beleeve Secondly they have spirits well qualified humble and meek minds loving and tractable dispositions towards Christ and love takes away difficulty leve fit quod bene fertur onus love makes a heavie burthen light Thirdly they have Christ the head of all the faithfull as fellow-members to sympathize with them in their sufferings solamen miseris socios hâ—buisse doloris they have the God of hosts within them the hosts of the Lord without them the God of hosts and all the hosts of God for them if men dare offend God will and can defend What need Mattheus care if an angry Peter cut off his eare if Christ be by to cure it againe What need Iob feare the roaving Sabbeans and robbing Chaldeans if Gods protection uphold him What need Lot feare to bee carried away captive if Abraham follow to redeem him What need a Christian feare to sustaine trouble sorrow need sicknesse or any other adversity since Christ the Son of God will make his yoake easie and God our tender Father will in his due time both ease release us Yea God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost are ever ready to apply their helping hands and wee commonly say multorum manibus grande levatur onus many hands make light worke Yet in the holy Scriptures we finde that many godly and Religious men through the imbecility of the flesh the extremity of paine and strong assaults of the Divell thereupon have been for a time so possessed with a spirit of heavinesse thâ—t they have appeared to themselves and others for a time as men utterly lost and forsaken and by this means have beene made unfit to serve God and scandalized their Religion to prevent this and such like evills which might hence arise I have in this small Treatise proposed to your serious consideration First the brevity of affliction or difference between the Crosse and the Crowne Secondly the benefit that comes to the soule by affliction Thirdly what Christ hath suffered for us Fourthly the ends why God afflicts his people Fifthly the author of affliction And these five thoughts as Davids five smooth stones being rightly placed in the sling of the heart and levelled by the steady hand of faith will be sufficiently able to beat down the great Goliah of our soules despaire first consider the difference between the Crosse and the Crowne the brevity of suffering the perpetuity of reigning afflictions are but for a short time during the time of this present life I count Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 12. saith the Apostle c. Therefore the time of affliction is sometime termed a day of triall sometimes a night of sorrow Heavinesse may endure for a night saith the Psalmist but joy comes in the morning sometimes to an houre of watching as Christ said to his three Disciples Matth 26.40 Can you not watch with me one houre Besides this the burthen of afflictions 2. Tim. 2 12. 2 Cor. 1.2 3 4 5. hath consolations qualifying As the sufferings of Christ doe abound so his consolations much more Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake Let Stephen have his eyes in prayer to see the heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he shall nor be moved with the stones which the Jewes violently throw at him Let Moses see him which is invisible and he shall not feare Pharaoh but rejoyce rather to suffer with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Let Paul and Silas consider for whose sake they are imprisoned and they will sing and rejoyce in the midst of their sufferings Secondly the power of the oppressor is limited his daies are numbred I have said you are Gods but ye shall dye like men the rod of the wicked shall not alwaies rest on the backe of the godly God will either cut off the oppressor in his fury or take the oppressed to his mercy Statutum est omnibus semel mori It is appointed for all men once to dye Quicquid generatur corrumpitur omne ortum interit Here is our comfort then if we dye we shall live like Angells if we live we shall see our enemies dye like men post hac veâ—it judicium and then commeth judgement Christ our blessed Saviour God and Man will one day come to exercise a judiciall course against them otherwise God should be unjust in rewarding and the godly of all men most miserable Secondly Rom. 5.4 Luke 24 26. Rom. 8.17 Acts 14.21 Heb. 12.6 7. consider the benefit that comes by affliction Via crucis est via lucis the crosse is the high way to the Crowne we must goe through Rethshemesh to Betheden through many tribulations into the Kingdome of heaven Affliction to the soule is as physicke to the body more wholesome then toothsome for although simply in it selfe it be not good yet being prescribed directed and ordered by the wise hand of God it oftentimes proves very usefull and advantagious to the soul David speakes upon his owne experience Psal 119.71 that it was good for him and Paul affirmes the same There is no affliction for the present joyous but it brings forth the quiet fruits of righteousnesse Adam in the garden of pleasure was overcome by the Serpent when Iob upon the dunghill of misery was more then a conquerer Affliction makes men mourne for their sins beati sunt qui lâ—gent Blessed are they which mourn Affliction makes men humble and humility makes the soule happy Deus resistit superbis dat gratiam hâ—nilibus God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble Afflictions make men meek beati sunt mites Blessed are the meek Psal 3.25 for they shal inherit the earth Dirigit mansuetes injudicio docebit mites in vias suas Affliction makes men hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Beati qui â—surium Blessed are they which hunger c. Affliction doth purge and purifie the soule beati mundo corde Blessed are the pure in heart c. Heb. 12.1 2 4. Thirdly Inspice vulnera pendentis Christi sanguinem morientis pretium redimentis cicatrices resurgentis capâ—t habet inclinatum ad osculandum cor aptum ad diligendum brachia extenta ad amplexandum totum denique corpus expositum ad redimendum Aug. de pas Christi Consider what Christ hath done and suffered for thee Multa dixit mira fecit durapassus est verba durlora verbera how he was incarned and assumeth the nature not of pure and immortall Angels but of sinfull mortall men how he came from Galilee to Nazaret from a Region to a hamlet from
mute He does not stand the matter to dispute He entertaines no malice in his brest But meekly dies with Consummâ—tum est In times of trouble then the Godly may Ponder these things well in their minds and say Unto their stubborne hearts why are you sad Why do we fret and fume as men halfe mad Didst thou sweet Jesu with such meeknesse beare The heavie weight of sinne for us who were Thy deadly foes didst thou not shun nor scorne O mighty King to be so meanely borne O blessed God Heb. 7.17 wert thou content to take On thee our humane shape and for a our sake Become a servant who art Lord of all Wouldst thou come from thy throne unto a stall To be so meanly lodg'd as in a manger To be scarce entertained as a stranger Wouldst thou oh great Law-giver subject be Unto the censure of the Law that we Might be set free didst thou oh Lord I say For us poore slaves so great a ransome pay Wouldst thou oh blessed God become accurst For such as were of all thy creaturrs worst Wouldst thou oh supreame Judge so farre submit As to be judg'd of men didst thou acquit Those that condemned thee yea didst thou pray To God for their b forgivenesse who did lay Their bloody hands on thee and shall not we In all estates and times contented be Didst thou such drops of blood and water sweat To cleanse our soules from sinnes so soule and great Wouldst thou be taken when thou mightst have fled That we to hell might not be captive led Wouldst thou by sinfull men be bound that so The twisted cords of sinnes thou mightst undoe Didst thou in meeknesse blessed Lord permit Those sinfull-shamelesse wretches for to spit Disgracefully upon thy blessed face To cleanse our faces from sinnes soule disgrace Wouldst thou be hoodwink'd with a vaile that wee Thy lovely face and countenance might see Wouldst thou be buffetted and beat with staves From strokes of hellish fiends to free such slaves Mat. 26 6â— Couldst thou sweet Lord of life contented be To suffer death for such as hated thee Hast thou done this all this and that for such As rebels were and now shall we thinke much To beare thy crosse who understand and know How thou such love didst manifest and show Freely and fully when we were both slaves To sin and sathan helfire and our graves Surely sweet Jesus did we understand This love of thine aright it would command Our stubborne wills and stony hearts constraine Before all things thee to affect againe And surely did we love a thee as we ought Our hearts to such a temper would be brought That at thy hand we should not so repine But chearfully submit our wills to thine Then God of love we humbly thee desire With this thy love our hearts so set on fire That in these evill daies we may submit To beare what punishment thou shalt thinke fit To lay upon us give us faith to stay Our selves upon thy promises alway The fift thought 1 Pet. 1.6.7 Prov. 17 3. Eceles 2. leg cap. â—ot Psal 119.176 VVE ought to count all trialls as the rod And favour of an over-loving God Who still corrects us when we goe b astray And erre like lost sheepe in an unknowne way Yet so corrects that he his c love might show And that the world may plainly see and know That he will not spare sin though in the best Of his deare Saints and servants truly blest That he from sin their hearts might purifie And prove their faith love zeale and constancie 1 Pet. 1.6 7. A tree well-rooted in the ground stands fast And is not shaken downe with every blast Silver and gold the furnace can endure The drosse consumes the gold remains more pure So by these trialls some are a purer made When others like to drosse consume and fade Who in the time of peace will make such show Of zeale and godlinesse that none can know Or judge by outward works but that they are Such as Gods holy will and word preferre Before all worldly profits yea before Their lives and liberties their pompe and store Although they reigne on earth as petty kings Fully possessed with all outward things They go to church twice on the Sabbath day As if they went to heare what God would say They heare they read they fast and daily pray And where their tythes are due they duly pay Out of their plenty great excesse and store They give unto the needy and the poore Yea in their lives such fruits they will expresse Of truth integrity and godlinesse That all the world would judge them pure in heart And such as would from Gods lawes never start Yet when the time of triall draweth nigh And God begins his Saints to prove and trie They are so danted 1 Kings 18.21 that they do not know Which way to take what in this case to doe For want of faith on Gods word to relie Meekenesse to waite and servent zeale to flie To him for aide who never failes the just Or such deceive as in his mercy trust They fall away from God and godlinesse And scoffe at what they did before professe They are not semper idem for their minds Are found to varie ofter then the winds And such as these would sooner shed their bloods If there were cause for saving of their goods Then for the Gospel such will lose their lives Undo themselves their children friends and wives Rather then want their wills or put up wrongs When in Gods cause they want both hearts and tongues Simile As when much water falls and westwinds blow Luke 8 13. And flouds come in so fast to overflow The wonted bounds or limits know we shall Whether our houses will stand firme or fall In times of triall some are constant found Others like seed cast into stony ground Wanting both root and moisture faith to lay Fast hold on God and meeknesse for to stay The leasure of the Lord cannot abide The scorching heat wherewith the just is tride The empty vessell makes the greatest sound Those that seeme best the worst are often found The fairest birds may have the foulest feet Mars for a time great Iove may friendly greet And promise weather faire and happy gales And make the Navigator hoist up sailes Yet in this case he dares not be too bold Because he feares it is too calme to hold For if Saturnus crosse him in his way He comes forth as a Lion for his prey Thus did the Lord proove in the wildernesse The Israelites whereby they did expresse What was in each mans heart for we may find How some adored Idols some repin'd At Gods just dealing how some were content Meekely to beare his plague and punishment How some grew worse and worse and did commit Offences fetched from th' infernall pit Thus God the faith of Abraham did try Gen. 22 1. Heb. 11 17 To manifest unto the world thereby
pleasure Prophanation of the Sabbath day That in seven yeares we scarce can be at leasure To serve the Lord nay I may boldly say In seaventy yeares some scarce give God a day Some had much rather labour drinke or play Then go to church to heare to read and pray Some will be looking to their shops and trades Some walking in the fields with pretty maids Some in a taverne baudihouse or worse Some waiting in by-places for a purse Some in the streets some sitting at their doores Some in a pockie-alehouse with their whores For pleasure some who little conscience make Journeies on purpose on this day will take Yea some bold vassalls of this hellish breed Will say the better day the better deed O foolish man how darst thou thus prophane That day which God did purposely ordaine For his owne use and service dost thou thinke Because the Lord seemes for a while to winke At this and such foule sins that therefore he Unto a reckning will not b summon thee Thy selfe delude not with such vaine conceits God is most just in promises and threats Thou and the remnant of this hellish crew Shall to your torments one day find it true Some scoffe at good men and slight true devotion As if it were a hindrance to promotion Scoffing at religion If in a towne there shall be found a man Strict in his life he 's tearm'd a puritan If he so loath his sinnes as to inforce Himselfe unto a more religious course Then most men will or do he shall be blam'd Hated of most contemn'd revil'd misnam'd Object But you may say some are more nice then wise There is a sect too a pure in their owne eies Answ It may be so well grant this to be true Yet dare you then condemne all for a few Because some overshoot the marke shall we Shoot halfe the way because that from a tree Some evill and superfluous branches shoote Shall we in anger cut it up by th'root There ever was is and for time to come In church and common weale there will be some Of this and other sects yet we are sure That towards God we cannot be too pure Where shall our wicked b Michols then appeare Who never would Christs wedding garment weare How can or dare they looke him in the face Whom in his Saints they sought thus to disgrace The throne of God is pure needs must it then A torment be to all ungodly men Object But some may say they onely make a c show What 's in their hearts the Lord above doth know Answ T is true God only knowes how dare you then Presume to judge you sinfull sonnes of men Answer But grant there should be such shall we therefore Because they play the cheater play the whore Shall we Religion and our God forsake Because some men no better conscience make Because that some doe from their first love fall Shall we condemne and rashly censure all We should be like to God our heav'nly Father Who out of love and tendernesse had rather Spare many that are a faulty many waies Then one condemne which his decree obeyes Because the Doctor followes not the way Which he prescribes for others shall we say That physicke is not good or that because Some Lawyers are corrupt thinke ill of Lawes Because some hel-hounds in excesse will drinke Shall we the worse of Gods good creatures thinke Because like beasts some make themselves with wine Shall we despise the sweetnesse of the vine Because b through folly some will goe astray Shall we the fault upon Religion lay Indeed this is the folly of our times The father of a many wicked crimes For were not godlinesse so out of daâ—e We should not prize vice at so high a rate But some perhaps may say it matters not What bablers say a fooles bolt is soon shot Soone shot say ye I could speake more at large But loath I am to give the other charge For feare my Canons should recoile or hurt Your sense of hearing at her loud report But upon this we will not long dispute But rather to the throne of grace make sute That such disorders as have brought disgrace Upon our Church and Common-weales sweet face May be reform'd and that each man and woman Unto more holy lives themselves may summon And not so ready be to lay the fault On other men when they themselves do halt For this I say and dare affirme the same Though great ones for the most part beare the blame As they are rods and scourges in Gods hand It is our sins for which he plagues our land For had our hearts been pious towards God And loyall to the King had that been trod Under our feet that rules both heart and head No such disorders could have ever bred In Church and Common-weal well since we know Our sicknesse and our cure to God let 's goe With humble hearts and crave his helpe and aid Who of a Chaos earth and heaven made Yea let us goe and that without delay Unto his throne and in this manner pray Thou great Jehovah that dost all things frame And by thy providence dost rule the same Create in us new hearts new thoughts and waies And bring in order these disorder'd daies With griefe of heart we cannot Lord but speak We are in ev'ry part both sicke and weak And whither should we goe but unto thee Hosea 6.1 2 3. Deut. 32.39 1 Kings 2.6 7 8 9. Who hast a salve for every malady Lord heare and heale us for thy mercy sake For unto thee alone our moane we make Lord give us grace to loath and leave our errors Left in thy wrath thou multiply our terrors God as a loving father hath we know Anno 1588. Gi'vn warnings to us many yeares agoe We fairely warned were in a eightie eight When we were brought in t ' such a narrow strait That had not Gods right hand found out a way For us to scape we had without delay And mercy been destroy'd since this his hand Hath mightily upheld our sinfull land For had not God of his preventing grace And goodnesse toward us our stock and race That hellish plot of Gowries brought to light That feasting day had wrought a dolesome night Anno 1605. Another warning we may well remember Was given to us the fift day of November When those blood-thirsty Papists did conspire The house of Parliament to set on fire And that at such a time in such an houre As they without all mercy might devoure The royall King and Nobles of the land To give themselves a soveraigne command And to effect this hellish plot great care And paines they tooke the great ones did not spare Purses nor persons but as slaves fast bound To doe the divell service they were found To worke at under-rates to take what pay Might follow this most execrable way The pit was dig'd and we brought to the brim Ready to fall