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<DATE>2014-10-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
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*Correct excusable and inexcusable errors x*If appropriate, check for yoghs. x*If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs x*If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems. x*If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like. x*Correct illegibles from proofsheet x*Check illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs
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<P><GAP DESC="foreign"> PEACE-OFFERINGS AND <HI>LAMENTATIONS:</HI> BEING The Tears of a Compunctionated and Compa&s;&s;ionate &s;pirit, &s;hed over the Pale and Con&s;umptive Face of Heart-&s;ick ENGLAND, i&s;&s;uing as from the bleeding Heart of a Son over his langui&s;hing Mother.</P>
<P>EXPREST In an Antidote again&s;t Her pre&s;ent PLAGUE, in an ALEXIPHARMACUM again&s;t Her too too Epidemical Pe&s;tilence.</P>
<P><HI>WRITTEN,</HI> Intentionally only, by way of Letter to his Friend; but, though as a ru&s;h Candle, unbu&s;hel'd at la&s;t, as its Contents required. <HI>Patria partem, partem parentes, partem amici vendicant.</HI></P>
<P><HI>By</HI> C. N. <HI>a Fool for Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<Q><P><BIBL><HI>Jer. 4.11.</HI></BIBL> Oh my bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my heart: de&s;truction upon de&s;truction is cryed.</P>
<P><BIBL><HI>Jer. 9.21.</HI></BIBL> For Death is come up into our windows.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for the Author, M.DC.LXVI.</P>
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<HEAD>PEACE-OFFERINGS AND <HI>LAMENTATIONS:</HI> BEING The Tears of a Compunctionated and Compa&s;&s;ionate &s;pirit, &s;hed over the Pale and Con&s;umptive Face of Heart-&s;ick ENGLAND, i&s;&s;uing as from the bleeding Heart of a Son over his langui&s;hing Mother.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">EXPREST <HI>In a LETTER to a Friend.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Dear Friend,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IF a Friend be born for Adver&s;ity, being brought forth into the World of Friend&s;hip, on purpo&s;e to live, and breath like him|&s;elf in that Winter-&s;ea&s;on, when others dye [and either are not, or el&s;e are un&s;avoury] like to gaudy Flowers with the Summer of Pro&s;perity; what may you promi&s;e your &s;elf from me, who avow my &s;elf &s;o perfectly your Friend in this day of Publick and Common Calamity! If Friend&s;hip be but as it were in its Mino|rity and Pupilage, whil'&s;t at Nur&s;e in a pro&s;perous day, then may it
<PB N="4" REF="3">rea&s;onably be expected, to exert &s;ome manly and virile expre&s;&s;ions of its full Age, Growth and Strength, in the darke&s;t of adver&s;e Nights. It is but little that I am capable of, but my Love is not little [nor the le&s;s for wanting due expre&s;&s;ive Capacities] having hardly any other Spheres to move in, &s;ave tho&s;e of Prayer, and Ex|hortation; and there only through the reflection of the healing beams of the Sun of Righteou&s;ne&s;s. Marvel not then, if my Love in the Lord, like fire oven'd up in a narrow room, break out in the more flaming fervours of an enkindled zealou&s;ne&s;s, &s;et on fire from Heaven.</P>
<P>Chri&s;ten this Paper then by the Name [to which I hope its Na|ture will an&s;wer] of an <HI>Antidote against the pre&s;ent Plague,</HI> it being an <HI>Alexipharmacum</HI> again&s;t this Epidemical Pe&s;tilence, which marches like an armed Man, trampling upon, and trium|phing in the Spoils of Thou&s;ands, Week after Week, as if it made Mu&s;ick to it &s;elf of the Groans of ga&s;ping Men and Women, whil'&s;t their Heart-&s;trings crack, and bur&s;t, with the touches of its dreadful hand!</P>
<P>But wo is me, that the High way of my Di&s;cour&s;e &s;ies through <HI>Golgotha!</HI> what &s;hould I be, but <HI>Jeremiah</HI> rediviv'd, with mine <HI>head re&s;olved into a Fountain, and mine eyes turned into rivers of tears, gu&s;hing out the imbittering &s;orrows of my Soul as through Flood-gates, never to be &s;hut, till the &s;laying of the Daughter of our People is over!</HI></P>
<P>Horror &s;eizeth me, and Trembling po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth me, as if I was plunged in a Gulph dugg in <HI>Aceldama,</HI> bank't with <HI>Magormizabib.</HI> Could&s;t thou be more a&s;toni&s;h't, oh my Soul, or more painfully in Travel, if my Pen was carved of a Bone, &s;natch't out of the Grave, and dipt in Blood, ink-horn'd in an humane Skull!</P>
<P>Let me &s;hew you, if I can for my heart, or if your eyes drop not out with weeping, to behold what the Plague is, then the Cau&s;es, then the Cure thereof, as al&s;o a Pre&s;ervative there a|gain&s;t, till the day of Healing &s;hall break and dawn upon us.</P>
<P>If you would view this <HI>Leviathan,</HI> I cannot impaper you &s;o lively a &s;hadow of this Death, as you may &s;ee in a few Nights walks, after tho&s;e heaps of Ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ka&s;&s;es carried to their Pits, who&s;e unpompous Funerals are &s;adly Solemnizated with the Sighs and
<PB N="5" REF="3">Groans of tho&s;e few left at home alive, as if it were but to dye at the next A&s;&s;ault of the Generali&s;&s;imo of the King of Terrors; but where all be &s;wept away, how &s;ad is that &s;ilence! that is a clo&s;e mourning indeed.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not define it; yet give me leave to &s;hew you its Nature in its Name, which is not mi&s;call'd, either in its common Name <HI>Plague,</HI> nor yet in its proper Name <HI>Pe&s;tilence;</HI> out of the one, and the other, whereof we may &s;pell in&s;truction.</P>
<P>The Hebrew for Plague is <GAP DESC="foreign"> which properly &s;ignifies a &s;troke, or a &s;courging. <GAP DESC="foreign"> is a general word, and &s;ignifies any hea|vy &s;troke of God. <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Percu&s;&s;it ad mortem.</HI> It is a &s;troke unto Death: And the Greek word Tran&s;lated &s;peaks the &s;ame Engli&s;h. <GAP DESC="foreign">, a &s;tripe or wound, <HI>a</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Percutio,</HI> to &s;trike, whence <HI>Plaga,</HI> and thence our Engli&s;h Plague. Every Plague is not the Pe&s;tilence, but every Pe&s;tilence is a Plague, and may be &s;o called; not only becau&s;e it is a &s;troke, or wound, but with an Em|pha&s;is it may be &s;o phra&s;ed, as if no &s;troke were &s;o much a &s;troke as the Plague, as we call it the Sickne&s;s; as if other Di&s;ea&s;es were a kind of Health, compared thereto, and that alone the Sickne&s;s. So then a P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ague is a &s;troke from Heaven, which renders the blow more deadly, it being the lifting up, and letting down of an Almighty hand again&s;t a People. Let me al&s;o Engli&s;h the Hebrew for Pe&s;ti|lence, <GAP DESC="foreign"> (1) A Pe&s;t, killing Men, or pre&s;ent De&s;truction, or Death. The Caldee, and Septuagint, without more ado, call it Death, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and Thou&s;ands in <HI>England</HI> have had rea|&s;on to call it by that dreadful name, as if the Prophet were hereby to be expounded, &s;aving, <HI>Jer.</HI> 9 21. <HI>Death is come up into our windows.</HI> Some derive it from a word that &s;ignifies Order, becau&s;e the Pe&s;ti|lence keeps Order &s;ometimes, &s;paring none in its way, becau&s;e Rich, or Poor; but as it keeps Order in one &s;en&s;e, it breaks Order in many more. Others derive it from a word that &s;ignifies to de&s;art, becau&s;e va&s;t and populous Cities are made De&s;arts thereby; in <HI>Piel</HI> it &s;ignifies to overturn too properly, <HI>Multi Pe&s;te evertuntur;</HI> Trade, Life and all being overturned with the &s;troke of this hand. I find it enquir'd and left unre&s;olved with an <HI>incertum e&s;t,</HI> why the &s;ame letters in Hebrew, which &s;ignifie a word, <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifie al&s;o the Pe|&s;tilence,
<PB N="6" REF="4">which made me, under correction, to conjecture this for a Rea&s;on, becau&s;e the Plague is the Voice of God when angry; and comes and goes at his word; he &s;peaks but the word, and as Light|ning the unquiver'd Arrow flies to its &s;laughter; and at his word, it returns to its Quiver again. In the Greek, Famines and Pe&s;tilen|ces, <GAP DESC="foreign">, come from the &s;ame Root, and bear the &s;ame fruit in all Languages (1) Death, rooting out the Sons of men from the Land of the Living; and in <HI>Matthew,</HI> as well as in one of the Poets, they are joined together, like Twins going hand in hand to kill and de&s;troy. Sometimes I find the Plague in Scripture march|ing alone, and &s;ometimes with its Fellow-Commi&s;&s;ioners, the Sword and Famine on either hand, to ruinate and not to &s;pare. And &s;ometimes the Plague or Pe&s;tilence be mark't with blacker Cha|racters, and written with more great and capital Letters, then at other &s;ome times it is found; &s;o it is called a very great Plague, <HI>Num.</HI> 11. and wonderful Plagues, <HI>Deut.</HI> 28. a noy&s;om Pe&s;tilence, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 91. or <GAP DESC="foreign"> a <HI>Pe&s;te contritionum.</HI> It is aggravated &s;ome|times by &s;even times more Plagues, <HI>Levit.</HI> 26. and &s;ometimes it is threatned without number, by <HI>All my Plagues,</HI> Exod. 9. &s;ometimes it is &s;hewn with &s;pecial tokens on its bo&s;om, being called Pe&s;tilence after the manner of <HI>Egypt,</HI> Amos 4.10. But the &s;malle&s;t Charact|ers thereof do decipher Sin, and imprint Sorrow where they come. Under which &s;troke of our provoked Father, let us all write with pe|nitential tears on the doors of our hearts, &s;hut up again&s;t &s;in, and open'd with &s;trong cryes, and fervent &s;upplications, <HI>Lord have mercy upon us.</HI></P>
<P>Have you not by this time &s;een enough [if the Lord plea&s;ed] yea too much, what the Plague is? Is it not high time to find the &s;pring of this overflowing &s;courge, if it may po&s;&s;ibly be, to &s;top it up?</P>
<P>And who will not conclude, that it is not more &s;ure that there is a Plague in <HI>England,</HI> then that <HI>England</HI>'s Sin hath infected Her with the Pe&s;tilence? Thy Sickne&s;s, O <HI>England,</HI> is bred out of thy own Corruption, thou ha&s;t caught the Plague of thy &s;elf. That is, the Plague of our Hou&s;es, came from the Plague of our hearts. What|ever hand fir&s;t brought it, Gods hand &s;ent it; and our &s;ins have &s;ent for it, crying aloud in the ears of his Jealou&s;ie, till his Di&s;|plea&s;ure
<PB N="7" REF="4" MS="y">awaken'd in Judgment, and found us out, and &s;in lying at our doors.</P>
<P>And you may read the Commonne&s;s of Sin, in the Common|ne&s;s of the Calamity; and that Sin &s;pread Generally, in that the Sickne&s;s &s;preads Epidemically. More indeed have fallen into Sin, than have fallen by the Plague; let us yet living, lay to heart that &s;aying of our Lord, <HI>Luke</HI> 13.4, 5. on tho&s;e Eight per&s;ons upon whom the Tower of <HI>Silo</HI> fell, and &s;lew them, <HI>Think ye that they were &s;inners above all men that dwelt in</HI> Jeru&s;alem? <HI>I tell ye Nay; but except ye repent, ye &s;hall all likewi&s;e peri&s;h.</HI> Thou ha&s;t not hid thy Sin, O <HI>England,</HI> neither doth God hide his Judgments. Thou ha&s;t &s;inned openly, and God rebukes thee openly; he &s;trikes thee not in &s;ecret; thou may'&s;t run and read, or rather lie down and feel his Di&s;plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>I do not undertake here to determine for what &s;ins we thus &s;mart, I much rather wi&s;h, that every one would &s;earch his own heart, and try his own wayes, and finding the &s;ins of his Soul, cry out, <HI>Hinc illae Lachrymae,</HI> I have found thee, O mine Enemy, in mine own bo&s;om; and &s;o turn again unto the Lord before it be too late, be|fore &s;entence pa&s;s again&s;t us from Heaven irrever&s;ibly. God he be&s;t knows, and I pray God &s;hew every one his &s;in, whatever it be, <HI>that he may &s;in no more, le&s;t a wor&s;e thing come unto him.</HI></P>
<P>Yet I cannot but remember, having &s;o lately read the Cau&s;es of great Plagues of Old, if in Scripture they be rightly Recorded, and if that Record from Heaven be true, which &s;ome perhaps who may have the heart, yet have not the face to que&s;tion.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> The fir&s;t that comes into remembrance, is that of the <HI>Aegyptians,</HI> again&s;t whom God fought with an Ho&s;t of Plagues, marching under Ten Colours. They were overcrept with Froggs, like to be eat up with Lice, &s;warming with Flies, rotting with the Murrain, ulcering with Boyles and Blain<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">, plagued with the Pe&s;ti|lence, Death &s;howr'd upon them with Hall mingled with Fire, they were ready to be &s;wallowed up with Locu&s;ts, Darkne&s;s as the &s;hades of Death, midnighted them, they were &s;lain in their Fir&s;t-born; and all upon this nice Controver&s;ie (if <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> be but a credible Author) whether poor <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;hould go free, and wor|&s;hip God, as he had appointed them, or no: and though their Jea|lou&s;ie
<PB N="8" REF="5">(that <HI>I&s;rael</HI>-bane) &s;candal'd them again&s;t them, as again&s;t a People who, they &s;aid, <HI>would join with their Enemies,</HI> mi&s;calling them an <HI>idle People:</HI> Yet God at la&s;t, after an hot Di&s;pute, con|cluded again&s;t the <HI>Aegyptians,</HI> and had his will of them, and wrought <HI>I&s;raels</HI> deliverance from their imbondaging Yoke out of the fire, or rather out of the water. And there was no end of their Plagues, till Gods people were &s;et free; when that was promi&s;ed to be done at any time, God made a Ce&s;&s;ation; but upon the renewing of their Affliction, God renewed their Plagues.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> I find the Plague bred at another time by an evil Re|port brought upon the good Land, <HI>Numb.</HI> 14.37. <HI>Tho&s;e who brought it up, dyed of the Plague before the Lord.</HI> God will not bear it, that men &s;hould di&s;parage a Land which he had recommended; and di&s;courage his Peoples entrance into <HI>Canaan,</HI> when he had &s;o freely given, and faithfully &s;etled it on them by promi&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> I find the Plague the i&s;&s;ue of Fornication both Corporal and Spiritual, begot by unlawful Contracts of Women and Idols. It is the Bratt of Whoredoms, legitimated &s;o far by the Ju&s;tice of God, as to eat up and devour Adulterers. <HI>Numb.</HI> 31.16. <HI>When they committed folly with &s;trange Women, and then with their gods in the matter of</HI> Peor, <HI>there was a Plague among&s;t the Congre|gation of the Lord.</HI> 2 Chron. 21. <HI>Jeroboam made high places in the Mountains of Judah, and cau&s;ed the Inhabitants of Jeru&s;alem to commit fornication, and compel'd Judah. Behold with a great Plague will the Lord &s;mite the people,</HI> ver. 14. &s;o &s;aith that woful Commination, bound with the Oath of God him&s;elf, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 33. <HI>Ye lift up your hands towards Idols, and &s;hed blood, and &s;tand upon your Sword, and defile every one his Neighbours wife; as I live, &s;aith the Lord, they &s;hall fall by the Sword; and they that be in the Forts and Caves, &s;hall dye of the Pe&s;tilence.</HI> Which invi&s;ible Enemy, not to be &s;een till felt, can &s;ack Ca&s;tles, &s;cale Walls, force Guards, and &s;light the &s;tronge&s;t holds in the World.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> I find all Sin indi&s;criminatedly the &s;eminary of Plagues; Read and tremble, <HI>Jer.</HI> 21.9, 12. The be&s;t way to keep whole, is faithfully to endeavour to keep the whole Law of God; the breach of any of Gods Laws contumaciou&s;ly per&s;i&s;ted in, may make a breach for the Plague to come in at, to quarter with a people, till it
<PB N="9" REF="5">give them no quarter; which the Lord acquaints us with without a Parable, <HI>Deut.</HI> 28.58, 59. <HI>If thou wilt not ob&s;erve to do all the words of this Luw,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>then the Lord will make thy Plagues wonderful, and the Plagues of thy &s;eed, and of long continuance.</HI> Behold, upon the reckoning afore&s;aid, here is Judgment entailed, and Sick|ne&s;s made hereditary. <HI>Deut.</HI> 28.14, 15, 21. <HI>Thou &s;halt not go a&s;ide from the words which I command thee, to the right hand, or to the left; if thou wilt not hearken to the voyce of the Lord thy God, to do all his Commandments, the Lord will make the Pe&s;tilence to cleave to thee, till he have con&s;umed thee:</HI> And believe me, it will be hard &s;haking it off, when God makes it cleave on; and it falls off very &s;adly, when nothing will uncleave it but the du&s;t of the grave; it is a woful falling off, when there is nothing left to fall on: That killing word threatens them more formidably, than the blaze of a Comet, <HI>Till I con&s;ume thee.</HI> And who will retain the name of Chri&s;tian, and not confe&s;s that he owes as compleat an obedience to the Law under the Mini&s;try of Chri&s;t now, as they did, or could do to that of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> then? And if any man &s;hall &s;hew him&s;elf &s;o much a Son of Folly, and a Father of Dreams, as to flatter him&s;elf with a vain conceit, that he may make bold with Je&s;us, becau&s;e he is &s;o merciful an High Prie&s;t, and thence pre&s;ume to &s;tumble, or trip on the left hand of Prophanation, or on the right hand of Super|&s;tition, let him &s;ufficiently be corrected by the 10th of the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> ver. 28, 29. <HI>He that de&s;pi&s;ed Mo&s;es his Law, dyed without mercy; of how much &s;orer puni&s;hment &s;hall he be thought worthy of, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?</HI> &amp;c. Which, how well can a man do more, than by de&s;pi&s;ing his Law, as was &s;aid before of <HI>Mo&s;es?</HI> or which is wor&s;e, if wor&s;e can be, by de&s;pi&s;ing and tramp|ling upon the Law-giver, as if he was either unwi&s;e, unfaithful, or unauthoriz'd in his own hou&s;e (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> confe&s;&s;edly was not) and &s;o mu&s;t be &s;upply'd by others, though compar'd to him, the Wi&s;e|mans wi&s;dom is conceited folly; his Fidelity, better nam'd Infi|delity; and his Fatherhood, but as an Infant of ye&s;terday.</P>
<P>To pa&s;s by the re&s;t, I &s;hall conclude, that <HI>Lots</HI> wife &s;tands not a plainer nor a firmer pillar to warn Po&s;terity by, than doth this Truth in Sacred Writ, <HI>That incorrigiblene&s;s in &s;in will make the Plague incorrigible, that is, incurable.</HI> If men de&s;pi&s;e Gods wayes of heal|ing,
<PB N="10" REF="6">God will mock at theirs, and laugh all their Antidotes to &s;corn Heark how God thunders from Heaven, how his Anger burns, how his Fury &s;mokes, in <HI>Jer.</HI> 29.19, 20. <HI>I will per&s;ecute them with Fa|mine, Sword and Pe&s;tilence, becau&s;e they have not hearkned to the words I &s;ent them by my &s;ervants the Prophets,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>But they would not.</HI> Jer. 14.10, 12. <HI>They have loved to wander, and have not refrained their feet; when they fa&s;t, I will not hear; but will con&s;ume them by the Famine, Sword and Pe&s;tilence.</HI> If men will not refrain their feet from the evil of &s;in, God will not refrain his hand from the evil of puni&s;hment, <HI>Lev.</HI> 26.21, 23, 28. God will walk as contrarily to men, as they can walk to him; and more, if they will not do Gods Will, they &s;hall not have their own; to the froward, he will &s;hew him&s;elf froward; and to the impenitent, he will not repent of his fury; <HI>but hath in &s;tore &s;even Plagues more, and puni&s;hments &s;even times more.</HI> He will make the &s;tout heart of man ake or break, and will make men weary of their &s;ins, or of their plagues and puni&s;hments. Who can overlook that remark|able place, the fifth <HI>Chapter</HI> of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> from the 8th <HI>ver&s;e,</HI> to the 26th, where this Truth &s;treams in a full Current there is Wo enough poured out (if the Flood-gates of Heaven can let out enough, thrown open by a mighty incens't hand) upon tho&s;e who call evil good, and good evil; who be&s;mear the face of Holine&s;s with re|proach, and paint that of Prophanation, if not with fair, yet with pa&s;&s;able Colours; putting bitter for &s;weet, and &s;weet for bitter; mi&s;writing Gall on Ve&s;&s;els of Honey, and Honey on Bladders of Gall; calling Tra&s;h and Trumpery Bread, and Bread Husks; cal|ling the &s;nuffs of grea&s;ie Lamps light, and the &s;hinings of the Sun|beams darkne&s;s; as if a man could not be too bad, if he be not good; nor ea&s;ily an offender of men, who will break but enough of the Laws of God; and <HI>who take away the righteou&s;ne&s;s of the righteous from him,</HI> which they can never do before the Lord, though they may do it before men; it may be &s;natch't away in the rewards thereof in this World, but their works will follow them in that which is to come, and they &s;hall be rewarded accordingly. Ju&s;t thus was our Lord and Ma&s;ter &s;erved; <HI>Barrabas</HI> was relea&s;ed, and Je&s;us, that ju&s;t and good, and ble&s;&s;ed one was condemned. All his good Deeds, all his Righteou&s;ne&s;s kept him not from being num|bred
<PB N="11" REF="6">among&s;t Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors. <HI>Daniels</HI> unblameablene&s;s &s;erved not his turn, his Righteou&s;ne&s;s was &s;o took away, that he was condemn|ed as a Criminal, though no fault could be found in him, &s;ave in the matter of his God. For which wilful mi&s;take, you may behold in the afore&s;aid place, how Judgment triumphs, and Vengeance marches with brandi&s;ht Sword, and di&s;play'd Colours, threatning out the&s;e words, <HI>For all this, his Anger is not turned away, but his Hand is &s;tretched out still.</HI> If men have not done, neither will God have done; if they will have the other Cup of Sin, they mu&s;t have the other Cup of Sorrow, though the dreggs come in it.</P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee what Cockatrice Egge bred this fiery Serpent of old, that &s;o much &s;tung <HI>I&s;rael</HI> to death time after time; and may therewithall remember that the&s;e things were written for our Learning.</P>
<P>Methinks by this time you impatiently call for a Cure, be|ing pained, if not fainting at delay, whil'&s;t <HI>England</HI> like <HI>Rachel,</HI> lies weeping for &s;o many of her Children, and <HI>will not be comforted, becau&s;e they are not.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall not multiply Remedies, le&s;t you lo&s;e the Remedy in the Crowd, and refu&s;e all, not knowing which to choo&s;e; and in &s;earch of the be&s;t, fix on none. And &s;ince <HI>fru&s;tra fit per plura, quod fieri potest per pauciora;</HI> One <HI>Catholicon,</HI> pre&s;cribed by the great Phy&s;itian, and Healing by the experience of all Ages, may &s;atisfie without Exception or Perturbation. Thy None-&s;uch then, O <HI>England,</HI> thine All heal that can never fail thee, except thou fail thy &s;elf therein, is in one word</P>
<Q>REPENTANCE.</Q>
<P><HI>Will it go down heartily? Will you take it or no? for your Lives &s;ake refu&s;e not &s;o whol&s;om a Remedy.</HI></P>
<P>But that thou may'&s;t not be deceived <HI>[Thou dear Land of my Nativity]</HI> and that thou plea&s;e not thy &s;elf with fair Pre&s;cripti|ons, on foul and inoperative Liquors (except to Intoxication) let a Son of bowels, though abject, a&s;&s;ure thee with tears in his eyes,
<PB N="12" REF="7">and with an heart bleeding with thee, and for thee, that the <HI>Elixar</HI> I &s;peak of, is to be had nowhere but from the Laboratory of Hea|ven. It will never be found among&s;t the &s;ubtle medlies, and pre|&s;umptuous mixtures, and deadly, though enriching experiments of what&s;oever Mountebanks, though gilded with the mo&s;t flattering Titles and Pretentions that ever the Serpent u&s;ed him&s;elf, or com|municated to his Pen&s;ioners, as the Ma&s;ter-piece of Jugglei&s;m. So &s;aid <HI>Ephraim, Turn thou me, and I &s;hall be turned;</HI> &s;o &s;aid the Spou&s;e, <HI>Draw me, and I will run after thee;</HI> and &s;o &s;aid God him|&s;elf, <HI>I will take away the heart of &s;tone, and give thee an heart of fle&s;h:</HI> From who&s;e hand the Acts of the Apo&s;tles receive their Coronation, imbelli&s;h't with this Jewel, enrich't with this Grant <HI>of Repentance unto Life,</HI> Chap. 11.18. who as the Apo&s;tle tells us, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.25. gives <HI>Repentance.</HI> Give, O Father of Mercies, this one ble&s;&s;ing of Repentance unto <HI>England;</HI> and in that Box of pre|cious Oyntment thou pre&s;ente&s;t us our healing, and our &s;o|veraign Cure.</P>
<P>But yet le&s;t Deceit &s;hould lurk under Generals, and that thou may'&s;t particularly know the balm of <HI>Gilead,</HI> you may be en&s;ur'd that you are right,</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> If your Repentance be true and legitimate, not &s;purious and adulterate. Counterfeit Antidotes may delude the Patient, a|bu&s;e his hopes, trifle away a critical hour, leave Nature to faint in an unrelieved langui&s;hment, and perhaps may &s;et the few drops of the remaining Oyl in the Lamp of life, all into their la&s;t blaze, but mi|ni&s;ter nothing to recovery but an helple&s;s de&s;peration. So, &s;ure I am, counterfeit Repentance helps not, heals not, profits not, un|le&s;s delu&s;orily, and in a Dream, Calenturing only the heads of men, and &s;o ingulphing them in the Sea, in&s;tead of walking them in green and plea&s;ant Fields. It catches men out of the bottomle&s;s Pit with as hopele&s;s Threads as tho&s;e of a Spiders Webb, &s;orry &s;upports upon which to hang the weight of Eternity, and of immortal Souls. It lavi&s;heth away the mo&s;t improveable Trea&s;ures of an hour of grace, leaving &s;in in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion after all its Lea&s;es of Ejection, on which condition none are refu&s;ed the broad or privy Seal of Hell by the Prince of Darkne&s;s. It highly provokes God to Jealou&s;ie, who will not be mock't above all things, nor let any Coyn pa&s;s for cur|rent
<PB N="13" REF="7">with him, which is not impre&s;t with his own Royal &s;tamp and image. A forgery in the conveyances of an eternal E&s;tate, plea|&s;es no one &s;o much as the Devil, who knows that the cheated Fool is thereby made &s;even times the Child of wrath more than before; and that the Hou&s;e thus &s;wept, is only made the more ready to en|tertain him, with &s;even more unclean &s;pirits with him therein, to keep the Revels of Hell within the more &s;ecurely and un&s;u&s;pected|ly, under the well-painted Signs of Repentance hung fairly in &s;ight without.</P>
<P>And true Repentance may undeceivingly and unmi&s;carryingly be judged of, by its having more or le&s;s of the heart of man there|in; if all ones heart be in it, it is then good, and cannot be counterfeit. If none of ones heart be therein, it is then good for ju&s;t nothing; as un&s;avoury Salt, it will not &s;o much as enrich the Dunghil. Let then my heart on thy behalf (dear <HI>England</HI>) eccho to that voyce of Heaven, Oh that there were &s;uch an heart in thee!</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Thy Repentance is warrantable, if it be compleat and full, as it is pre&s;cribed in the Di&s;pen&s;atory of Heaven, the Scrip|tures of Truth; compounded at lea&s;t of humiliation of &s;pirit, and of reformation of life, and that in the &s;implicity of thy heart, or el&s;e its, deficiency reprobates it; and all this elaborated with the &s;pirit of prayer, and of &s;upplication, <HI>Jer.</HI> 31.18, 19, 20. <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 1.15, 16, 17, 18, 19. <HI>Dan.</HI> 9. from the 5th <HI>ver&s;e</HI> to the 21. Where the infection is deep, the application mu&s;t be &s;o &s;overaign, as to cha&s;e it out of tho&s;e deeps, and to eradicate and extirpate it, or el&s;e it will in one place or other ob&s;tinately maintain &s;ome of its &s;trong holds again&s;t the life of man. Sin invenoms the very heart, and if Repentance reach not thither, it doth nothing; the Fountain mu&s;t be clean&s;ed, or el&s;e the &s;treams be tinctured all in vain. It is equally lo&s;t labour to wa&s;h the Blackamoor, as only to wa&s;h the mouth, or face, and wipe the lips; make clean work as you go, le&s;t the fire catch hold on the remains of the &s;tubble, and prove too hot for you. Sin is &s;trangely di&s;&s;eminate; no little Nettle &s;priggs, nor Rootlets of Thorns will &s;pring &s;o fa&s;t, nor &s;pread &s;o far as Sin; no Leven will ferment &s;o &s;oon, nor incorporate into the whole lump like Sin; it mu&s;t therefore be pluckt all up, le&s;t what is left &s;ting,
<PB N="14" REF="8">and pierce thy Soul to death; and purged all out, le&s;t the little be|hind be too much to leven, and &s;owre the whole. You mu&s;t put off the old man, or you are a dead man; without Reformation, you mi&s;call any thing you call Repentance. To &s;in anew, is to abett old &s;ins, not to repent of them; if it do repent of any thing, it is only of Repentance; it is not much in a fit to make a vomi|ting up of &s;in, and with the Dog, to lick up the &s;ame Vomit again when the qualm is over. If &s;in live, you will dye. If &s;in be your Soveraign, you are no Subject of Repentance. Without a new life, there is no amendment; all is rather wor&s;e and wor&s;e. And your Repentance, as it mu&s;t be very general, &s;o it mu&s;t be very particular, of all &s;in, and of every &s;in; becau&s;e every &s;in is &s;o venemous, that it may prove deadly in the extreame&s;t corner of thy heart. He is far from whole, who hath but one or two wounds in twenty cured; and they it may be but &s;uperficially, and meerly skin'd over neither. Death can find its way in at one breach, and take its fill of &s;poils. He is little the better for his Medicine, who&s;e pain is only cha&s;ed from the feet to the hands, from the hands to the head, whence it may &s;hoot as deadly Arrows, and it may be more point-black to the heart than before; it is little the near that the pain is on foot, &s;o long as it keeps &s;o &s;ure-footing in the man. The leaving of one &s;in, and taking of another, is but leaving one to keep the re&s;t the clo&s;er; and tho&s;e retained, may be as near a way to Hell as the other; and may &s;ufficiently arm vengeance again&s;t a man both in this world, and in that which is to come. To reform one day, and &s;in another, is to be well only, as &s;ome &s;eem to be in Feavers, till the return of the next Fit, and then they be as bad, or wor&s;e than before. Repent of all &s;in, and then it is &s;in you repent of; if all &s;in be for&s;aken, then thou may'&s;t be &s;ure that Chri&s;t hath, or el&s;e will make thee whole.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> It ought to be univer&s;al. National Sins, call for Na|tional Repentance; Epidemical Di&s;tempers, call for proportio|nable Remedies. When the whole Hou&s;e is on fire, it is a poor low a&s;&s;i&s;tance to quench only a Thre&s;hold. When the whole man is &s;ick, it is a faint, lifele&s;s application to cure only a joint or two. Some Di&s;tempers are too far di&s;&s;eminated to be cured by Topicks; where all have &s;inned, all mu&s;t repent that mean to be &s;aved. The
<PB N="15" REF="8">pentance of a few, though it may do much in the ca&s;e of the Peni|tents own Soul, yet it may &s;ignifie but an <HI>omicron</HI> to a Nation laden with iniquity. Thus whole <HI>Nineveh</HI> being in the black Bill, fir&s;t by the &s;pots of their own &s;in, and then by the tokens of Gods wrath mark't unto death, they generally drunk of this Antidote; the Cup of Repentance went round, and &s;o they drunk their own health; though it were bitter to the fle&s;h, they &s;tood not upon that in ca&s;e of life and death, <HI>Jonas</HI> 3. from the fifth to the end. <HI>Let every one turn from the evil of his way, and from the vio|lence that is in his hand,</HI> &s;aith the King of <HI>Niniveh,</HI> &s;itting under a Canopy of Sackcloth pouder'd with A&s;hes. Let all tho&s;e who hate to be reformed, and will not repent, &s;aying to the Lord, <HI>De|part from us, we de&s;ire not the knowledge of thy Law;</HI> oh let them have a care that the Ulcers of their hearts do not gangreen, and that the Lord be not awakened to cut them off, as he doth Thou&s;ands week after week.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> It &s;hould be timely: Why comes the Doctor, when the poor Patient is dead? What need of water, when the hou&s;e is in A&s;hes? how heartle&s;s are tho&s;e hands who are building their Wall, when the Sea hath already broken in, and is much likelier to &s;weep them away at their work, than they are to check its fury, and foaming rage? <HI>Principiis obsta,</HI> was &s;ea&s;onable coun&s;el. Preven|tatives, and Pre&s;ervatives, is wi&s;e mans Phy&s;ick. Delay is mo&s;t dangerous, poor Forty dayes thereof had given <HI>Nineveh</HI> up a prey to utter de&s;truction. As Nature is &s;ometimes &s;o far &s;pent that there is no room for Remedy, &s;o Grace is &s;ometimes &s;o ill treated, that the Sun of that day &s;ets, and then poor Souls have mi&s;erably benighted them&s;elves. In &s;uch a black and dark hour, our Lord could tell <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> in tears, <HI>O Jeru&s;alem, Jeru&s;alem, how often would I have gathered thee,</HI> &amp;c? <HI>but thou woulde&s;t not; but now</HI> (oh now, this &s;ad and woful, and too too late now) <HI>behold your hou&s;e is left unto you de&s;olate. They &s;hall &s;eek me early, &s;aith the Lord, and &s;hall not find me; I will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear comes;</HI> Prov. 1. There is a Day, an Eve|ning, a Sun-&s;et rather, when <HI>Noah, Daniel</HI> and <HI>Job,</HI> can deliver neither Son nor Daughter, &s;ave their own Souls. Learn (O Soul) of the Stork, and of the Swallow, thy time of returning, whil'&s;t
<PB N="16" REF="9">mercy and thy mi&s;ery be in their &s;pring; le&s;t if the Tide of mercy ebbe away from thee, the floods of Ju&s;tice overflow thee. Send, O Lord, &s;uch ready Mini&s;ters, as ha&s;tned lingring <HI>Lot</HI> out of <HI>Sodom,</HI> to &s;peed &s;inners out of the wayes of &s;in and death, into the paths of repentance and life. How &s;ad is it with a poor Wretch, who&s;e pain forceth him to cry out, <HI>Good Doctor, will nothing help me, no|thing ea&s;e me? I would gladly drink away my pain in the bit|terest potion; I would endure Bleeding, Blistering, Cupping, any thing in exchange of my pain;</HI> and after all, meets but this drop of cold comfort, <HI>It is too late now to &s;ave my own life, I cannot &s;ave yours; you &s;hould have &s;ent before, Death will <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ow be your Phy&s;itian, and your Phy&s;ick too.</HI> But how infinitely more &s;ad is it, when Chri&s;t with all his bowels, and notwith&s;tanding all his blood, and all his skill and ability to &s;ave, and all his fulne&s;s of grace, &s;hall give over a &s;inner, or a <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> as lo&s;t and gone, for having lo&s;t their &s;ea&s;on, their day of grace.</P>
<P><HI>Fifthly,</HI> Let Repentance be continual, at lea&s;t till there is no more to be repented of. A meer fit of Repentance will go over with as vain a deliverance, as one or two untimely, and fruitle&s;s pangs of a Woman. Relap&s;es are dangerous: To &s;in again as &s;oon as ever the Rod is gone, is to &s;end for it again with a witne&s;s; he that is weary of Repentance, will repent that wearine&s;s. He that tireth in well-doing, however he begun, is like to make a bad end. It is in vain to fa&s;t from &s;in one day, to take your fill of it another; it can be to no good purpo&s;e to vomit up a little &s;in, when &s;mitten on the brea&s;t from Heaven with judgment, only to make more way to drink in iniquity, as the Oxe drinks in water, and perhaps more greedily (for the Oxe, and the A&s;s too, know when they have enough) when the &s;troke and pain be over. How black are tho&s;e bright-like hours, which are but lightnings before death; where death doth but &s;port a little with life before he prey thereon? how blacker are tho&s;e beginnings of Repentance that end in &s;inning, I &s;hould &s;ay in dying, which are but leapings up from Hell to &s;ound the depth of the bottomle&s;s Pit? Proceed then from good to better, till thou bee&s;t with Chri&s;t, which is be&s;t of all; le&s;t if thou growe&s;t evil again, thy latter end be wor&s;e than thy be|ginning.</P>
<PB N="17" REF="9">
<P>And if this Antidote (1) &s;uch a Repentance, &s;o true, &s;o com|pleat, &s;o univer&s;al, &s;o timely, &s;o progre&s;&s;ive, do not, if taken aright by Gods grace, cure thee, O <HI>England,</HI> I dare be &s;ick, and dye for thee, and receive all thy Arrows, till there be no place left whereon to wound me; till death be even glutted with devouring me; and I indulge my per&s;wa&s;ion this confidence, be|ing nouri&s;ht by con&s;iderations which will bear it up, and bear it out; and tho&s;e from Meditations of
<LIST>
<ITEM>God the
<LIST>
<ITEM>Father.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Son.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Spirit.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Penitents.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Repentance.</ITEM>
</LIST> The honour of God is his Crown Jewel, the tendere&s;t apple of his Eye; and Penitents are made very con&s;cious thereof, de&s;iring not that the mo&s;t High &s;hould give his glory to another, adoring his grace for refu&s;ing to take it in their confu&s;ion, and choo&s;ing to re|ceive it in their conver&s;ion; wherefore hearing his voyce, they lay it to heart, and give glory to his Name, crying Holy, Holy, Ho|ly, both to Father, Son and Spirit.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> They glorifie God the Father, which was the work of his &s;inle&s;s Son when in the World; and that,</P>
<P N="1">1. In his Soveraignty, to which they bring their Tribute, and pay their Homage, as mo&s;t due, weeping out in confe&s;&s;ive Tears, that he wounds, and that he alone can heal; he kills, and none but he can make alive; and for their lives they dare not go to any other, and not to him; finding that though their de&s;truction be of them&s;elves, yet their &s;alvation is on|ly of the Lord, to whom they come, pro&s;trating their faces on the ground, and in the du&s;t, knowing, that if he &s;peaks the word, it is done, they &s;hall be made whole. If he but command deliverance, it will run, ha&s;ten, and &s;tand fa&s;t and &s;ure, If mercy but &s;ay I will (O <HI>England</HI>) be thou whole, all is well.</P>
<PB N="18" REF="10">
<P N="2">2. Penitents hearts &s;et too their hands in &s;ub&s;cription to the Ju&s;tice and Righteou&s;ne&s;s of God, who will be ju&s;tified when he judgeth; wherefore they &s;weetly weep out in con&s;ort to the voyce of the Rod, <HI>We have &s;inned, what &s;hall we do unto thee, O thou pre&s;erver of men!</HI> It is a Soveraignty appendant to the Crown of a Father to give tho&s;e refractory Children correction, who rebelled again&s;t in&s;truction; they confe&s;s upon their knees, that their Fa|thers wi&s;dom conducts, and his bo&s;om (out of which he &s;natcheth his roddy hand) moderates, and that his bowels mitigate every blow, and therefore it is that every Twig is not turned into a Scor|pion; and that the Scourge &s;tings not them to death at every blow, whil'&s;t he deals with them not after their &s;ins, nor rewards them af|ter their iniquities.</P>
<P>We are as Clay (cry out the cleavings of their hearts under the coaning furrows of the Rod) marr'd in the hands of the Pot|ter, who might as well have da&s;h't us in pieces, and thrown us to the Dunghil, as have new moulded us in judgment, to fit us for our Ma&s;ters u&s;e in mercy. To this tune weep't out <HI>David</HI> his pe|nitential &s;trains, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 5.1. <HI>Again&s;t thee, thee only have I &s;inned, &amp;c.</HI> Though he &s;inned again&s;t <HI>&V;riah,</HI> and his wife (as the Pro|phet caught him in his confe&s;&s;ion again&s;t him&s;elf, in that he was the man that took away the poor mans Ewe lamb) yet it being Gods Commandment he broke, his Law he violated, he forgot all o|thers, to remember that he had &s;inned again&s;t the Lord. It is the penitent heart, who in his Lamentations of a &s;inner, &s;ayes plain|lie&s;t, and &s;ighs &s;weetlie&s;t, <HI>Holy and true art thou O Lord, ju&s;t and righteous are all thy works, and equal are all thy wayes:</HI> Whil'&s;t the murmuring Impenitent mutters out, <HI>What have I done? Why doth he find fault?</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Penitent Souls magnifie, by hoping in Gods mercy, crying out in the &s;ame breath, <HI>To us belongs confu&s;ion, but to thee be|longs mercy;</HI> wherefore though he killeth them, yet they dare not but to tru&s;t in him, plowing up the fallow ground of their hearts, to &s;owe the precious &s;eed of their tears in hope, rending their hearts, that grace may mend them with new ones, turning to the Lord, becau&s;e he is gracious, there being mercy with him that he may be feared; &s;aying with the Prophet, <HI>Who knows, but God may
<PB N="19" REF="10">be entreated, and return, and repent, and leave a ble&s;&s;ing behind him?</HI> Joel 2.13, 14. As if they could tell that God would turn from his fierce anger that they peri&s;h not, becau&s;e no body can tell nothing to the contrary in the pre&s;ence of grace, the heights, and breadths, and depths, and lengths whereof, quicken their hope a|gain&s;t hope, as <HI>Sarahs</HI> heart was impregnated with hope when her womb was dead.</P>
<P N="4">4. Penitent Souls &s;ub&s;cribe to the Truth of God (at lea&s;t in hope) impre&s;&s;ing and warranting tho&s;e, and &s;uch like words of Truth. <HI>Return unto me, and I will return unto you,</HI> Mal. 3.7. <HI>Draw nigh unto me, and I will draw nigh unto you,</HI> James 4. When they &s;et forward to meet the Lord enthron'd on his Mercy|&s;eat, ki&s;&s;ing his Scepter engraven all with promi&s;es; beginning al&s;o to believe, that Cur&s;es again&s;t &s;inners be not gone out of Gods mouth in vain, and that in the end they will not prove Rat|tles for fools to &s;port with, who make a mock of &s;in, keeping that May-game all the year long. They begin to know that &s;in will be the ruine of the impenitent, and that the Soul that &s;ins without re|pentance &s;hall dye, becau&s;e the mouth of Truth him&s;elf hath &s;po|ken it. Believing the truth of the deadly Threats, and dreadful Cominations (as al&s;o of the rich and precious promi&s;es) they &s;tart up to outrun them by Repentance, flying into the arms of mercy, unto the brea&s;ts of love, which milk them&s;elves out through the bleedings of Je&s;us, and &s;o they fall down at the foot&s;tool of grace, till life, and love from the Father of bowels take them up, and &s;et them down Sons among the heirs of grace through Je|&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="5">5. They begin to e&s;pie a beauty in Holine&s;s, and a loath|&s;omne&s;s and lepro&s;ie in &s;in, which was once vailed to them by the deceitfulne&s;s of &s;in, and through the blindne&s;s of their own hearts curtain'd by the wilie crafts of Satan. Their beloved &s;ins are ha|ted, their Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es are ma&s;tered, their right hands are cutting off, as &s;ini&s;ter and left ones; their right eyes are plucking out, which look to Hell-ward, that they may clearly di&s;cern the narrow way, that leads to Heaven. They begin to be &s;ick at heart, to &s;ee them|&s;elves in the mirror of the Law, adorning them&s;elves after the dre&s;s of the Go&s;pel, wa&s;hing, that they may be clean through the
<PB N="20" REF="11">blood of the New Te&s;tament, re&s;olving to be holy, becau&s;e their Father is holy; and not to live, except he through his Son live in them; and never to love them&s;elves, till the new man be formed in them, after the image of him that created them.</P>
<P>Whence may I not conclude, That he that in Ju&s;tice wounds them who di&s;honour him, will in mercy heal tho&s;e who give glory to his Name; which he hath cau&s;ed to be remembred for ever, by what in all Ages he hath done, and given, and forgiven for the &s;ake thereof? wherefore the Father will thus honour Penitents, who honour him world without end.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> In and with the Father poor Penitents honour the Son al&s;o, and that in a
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nece&s;&s;ity</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sutablene&s;s</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sufficiency</ITEM>
</LIST> of and in him.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is the &s;ick, broken-wounded, dead in their own &s;ight (as are true Penitents) who find a nece&s;&s;ity of Chri&s;t, who fear, and feel that the pur&s;uers of blood will overtake them, and de&s;troy them, unle&s;s &s;anctuary'd in him, who alone is able to &s;ave; it is they alone who cry out heartily, <HI>What &s;hall we do to be &s;aved?</HI> finding all condemnation in them&s;elves, <HI>though none to them that are in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> Who dare call nothing balm, but what is in this <HI>Gilead</HI> of God; knowing neither help nor hope, except the good Samaritan undertake them; that they are lo&s;t to Eternity if he find them not, and mu&s;t damn and peri&s;h except he &s;eek and &s;ave them.</P>
<P N="2">2. Penitent Souls find a &s;utablene&s;s in Chri&s;t, as if he had been filled and &s;ealed, and &s;ent on purpo&s;e for them, poor, weary, and heavy laden hearts; if their wants had been to have &s;poken, if their wounds might have gaped out, if their weakne&s;&s;es and wea|ri&s;omne&s;&s;es might have cryed, they would have beg'd in blood for ju&s;t &s;uch a Chri&s;t, for the very Je&s;us our Lord, had they but
<PB N="21" REF="11">dur&s;t, or could it have entred into a created heart to have imagi|ned what none but the heart and hand of God could find, and bring out. <HI>This is he;</HI> weep out their bleeding hearts, he, or no body, whom we de&s;ire to love and &s;erve, or dare to tru&s;t.</P>
<P>This is <HI>Emanuel,</HI> &s;o infinitely God, &s;o unque&s;tionably Man, who is our Mediator, and our Peace; there is not, there cannot be, we want not, we de&s;ire not &s;uch another; this alone is he, &s;o willing, &s;o good, &s;o gracious, &s;o full, &s;o fellow-feeling, &s;o dead, &s;o alive, &s;o ri&s;en, &s;o interceding, &s;o powerful, &s;o peace|able with God and Men, that out of choice, as well as out of nece&s;&s;ity, we acknowledge him our King, Prie&s;t, and Prophet; Gods Chri&s;t, and our Je&s;us; finding all within him, what need they &s;eek any thing without him? which makes them &s;ing betwixt weeping and &s;miling (with tears re&s;embling the &s;howres of Sun|&s;hine) <HI>Open ye gates, &s;tand open ye everla&s;ting doors, that the King of Glory may come in.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Penitent Souls adore his Sufficiency; when Faith once be|gins to &s;ee what the Scripture &s;hews, beholding the Son of man walking as the Tree of Life, crying out, His grace mu&s;t needs be &s;ufficient for any of the Sons of men, that is &s;ufficient for us the very chiefe&s;t of &s;inners. Who need fear Cure, that but come to him, that behold what he hath done for our Souls? where the Leopards are clean&s;ed, the Deaf are made to hear, the Blind to &s;ee, the Lame to walk, the Dumb to &s;peak, the Dead to live, and whence he hath ca&s;t out &s;o many Devils; who can bring him a harder Cure? a wor&s;e or more dangerous work and Cure, than he hath found in our hearts? and yet his grace is experiencedly &s;uf|ficient for us: And thus penitent Souls honouring the Son, he will honour them; and that by pre&s;enting them to the Father to heal and cure.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> Penitent Souls glorifie the Spirit, in his patient wait|ing for his &s;o powerful &s;triving, and unan&s;werable pleading with them for his &s;o &s;ea&s;onable remembrances, &s;unnie illuminations, heavenly teachings, divine quicknings and enlivenings of them,
<PB N="22" REF="12">for any ki&s;&s;es breathed in Prayer and Supplication on them, ble&s;|&s;ing him for convincing, and more for converting grace; for cutting off the overflowing Scourge of the Plague from their Hou&s;es, by &s;topping the &s;pring there of in their hearts: And who can behold poor Penitents thus glorifying the God of all Grace; and not conclude, that the Grace and Peace of God is and will be with them. And thus God him&s;elf takes part with my confidence, or rather is the whole thereof, who is on the &s;ide of this Truth, That true Repentance will be an effectual Antidote again&s;t thy Plague (O <HI>England</HI>) never to be repent|ed of.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Con&s;ider Penitents them&s;elves; if your &s;atisfaction want yet any grains, and have not full weight made to it, by what went before. For they do not only take part with God, being on his good Spirits &s;ide, again&s;t them&s;elves, &s;ubmitting, and yield|ing unto, and being crucified with Chri&s;t; being willing to be no|thing, to be any thing, that God may be all; judging with God, and for God again&s;t them&s;elves; and that both in his Word, and in his Works. For let God judge the wor&s;t again&s;t &s;in that may be, they judge &s;o too, not caring what becomes of &s;in, if it be once out of their hearts; let &s;in dye for them, &s;o they may live; long|ing for nothing more, than to &s;ee its death at the feet of Je&s;us, that &s;in may live no more in them to kill and de&s;troy them, but that Chri&s;t may live in them to &s;ave and keep them alive; what God writes in his Law again&s;t them, poor &s;elf-condemned Penitents &s;ub&s;cribe unto, acknowledging the black Characters &s;et on their hearts, and black Lines drawn over their heads to be right and &s;trait, being ca&s;t by Law, and &s;entenc't as Malefactors, as Sinners, as worthy of Death; they confe&s;s the whole Bill when drawn up again&s;t them, own the Indictment, and plead guilty; and in the Court of their own Con&s;ciences pronounce them&s;elves dead men, flying, and crying to Chri&s;t to blot out the Hand-writing again&s;t them, to &s;atisfie the Law, to rever&s;e the Sentence, to forgive the whole debt, to ju&s;tifie them freely by his Grace, at who&s;e mercy they lie for life or death. And al&s;o when the works of God in his Judgments carve guilt upon them in black and blew &s;trokes, execu|ting
<PB N="25" REF="12">di&s;plea&s;ure, they judge them&s;elves guilty too, not knowing how to judge otherwi&s;e till a pardon help them, and &s;ome act of grace deliver them, knowing that mercy is the only alay in Divine Judgment, whil'&s;t &s;in is burnt up, and the &s;inner &s;aved. But over and above all this, Penitents are not the men Indignation looks for, whom wrathful Judgments enquire after; but they be other men, better men, new men: And God will not &s;trike the men he loves, in&s;tead of tho&s;e he hates (and he gives no chance-blows, and in that &s;en&s;e hits none again&s;t his will) nor can he be ever angry with tho&s;e with whom his Soul is well-plea&s;ed. God was wroth, and is &s;till with the Idolatrous, Di&s;obedient, Rebellious, Covenant-breakers, Proud, Lyars, Covetous, Hypocritical, Uncharitable, Wrathful, Revengeful, Unclean, Drunken, Swearing, Sabbath-breaking, and profane men, &amp;c. But the true Penitents are men fearing God, humbling them&s;elves, meek, merciful, cea&s;ing to do evil, learning to do well, and God will have mercy upon them. <HI>Such were &s;ome of you, but ye are wa&s;hed,</HI> &amp;c. If the <HI>Plague</HI> was &s;ent among&s;t us to condemn Sin, and to awaken us to Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s, then to the truly Penitent the work and errand of the <HI>Plague</HI> is done before it come to them; and in mercy it may be di&s;charged from any further attendance upon them, or troubling of them; and that Me&s;&s;enger of Heavens black Rod, may make this true Return of the Writt into the highe&s;t Court, concerning eve|ry one in particular which he received to Arre&s;t, and Attach &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;inner, he being now truly penitent, that the man there &s;pecified, <HI>Non e&s;t inventus;</HI> the Penitent is no &s;uch manner of man, who can truly &s;ay, <HI>Ego non &s;um ego;</HI> and &s;o in&s;tead of an Arre&s;t, he may deliver him his <HI>Quietus e&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, To leave doubt no doubting, and to demon&s;trate my confidence nothing vain, let but the Repentance mentioned be con&s;idered, and who then with both hands will not write <HI>Antidote</HI> thereon, and &s;o laying it to his heart, cry out, <HI>O thou healing Po|tion, why took I thee no &s;ooner!</HI></P>
<P>However try, O <HI>England,</HI> try the vertue of true Repentance; to be &s;ure it cannot hurt thee, but by Gods grace it may heal thee, not only of this <HI>Plague,</HI> but of more deadly and eternal ones, which will further appear in the con&s;ideration,</P>
<PB N="24" REF="13">
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Of its Spring. Tho&s;e healing waters i&s;&s;ue from the touches of Gods own Spirit upon rocky hearts. When God &s;mote <HI>Ephraims</HI> heart, then <HI>Ephraim</HI> &s;mote upon his Thigh; when God touches the &s;tone, then the &s;tone rends and breaks; when God layes Sin, and Law, and Judgments to heart, then poor Penitents lay them to heart, and God will be highly plea&s;ed, when men bring him in Sacrifice, the fir&s;t-fruits of his own Spirit; <HI>who knowing the very mind of his Spirit,</HI> Rom. 8.27. will by no means overlook the works of his own Spirit, when wrought after his own mind. He will well plea&s;e him&s;elf with the operations of his own right hand. He beheld the i&s;&s;ues of the fir&s;t Creation, and behold they were all good, and well-liking; and he will not ca&s;t a more unfa|vourable eye upon tho&s;e of the new and &s;econd Creation. Did he ever de&s;pi&s;e a broken and a contrite &s;pirit, &s;ince there was &s;uch a Sacrifice to offer to him in the World? which the Prophet, as knowing his mind, &s;ayes plainly, <HI>O Lord, thou wilt not de&s;pi&s;e.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> To en&s;ure it a Peace-offering, Penitents have an Al|tar whereon to &s;anctifie that Sacrifice. <HI>Aaron took a Cen&s;er, and put fire therein, and incen&s;e thereon, to make an atonement for the people when Gods wrath was gone out, and when the Plague was be|gun. And he &s;tood between the living and the dead, and &s;o the Plague was &s;tayed,</HI> Numb. 16.46, 48. <HI>And David built an Al|tar, and offered Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and &s;o the Plague was &s;tayed,</HI> 2 Sam. 24.25. <HI>And the Lord he was graciou&s;ly en|treated.</HI> We have a better Altar built by <HI>Davids</HI> God, an Altar, who was <HI>Davids,</HI> and is our Lord, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 3.10. upon which a bro|ken heart is full of &s;avour, of a &s;weet &s;mell in the No&s;trils of the mo&s;t High. Thus perfume thy &s;elf, O <HI>England,</HI> there offer up the &s;acrifice of a contrite &s;pirit, and thy Plague will cea&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> The faithful promi&s;e of him who cannot lye, which is Yea and Amen, doth warrant my confidence of the acceptation of true Repentance, which the Lord, if he receive it not for its worth, yet he will reward it becau&s;e of his word, who never yet broke his word, or forgot his promi&s;e. Try, and tru&s;t him (O <HI>England</HI>) upon his word; Ki&s;s the Sun in that glorious ray of light and love.
<PB N="25" REF="13">2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 7.14. <HI>If my people which are called by my name, &s;hall humble them&s;elves, and pray and &s;eek my face, and turn from their wicked wayes, then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their &s;ins, and heal their Land.</HI> So, <HI>Jer.</HI> 18.7, 8. <HI>At what in&s;tant I &s;hall &s;peak concerning a Nation, and concerning a Kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to de&s;troy. If that Nation again&s;t whom I have pronounc't, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them.</HI></P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> All experience is on the &s;ide of this Truth, and pro|claims Repentance &s;overaignly Antidotical. Was ever Repen|tance hid from Gods eyes in de&s;troying, till it was hid from a peo|ples eyes in &s;inning? Did ever any not find a place for &s;alvation, who found a place for Repentance? Did ever <HI>I&s;rael</HI> repent tru|ly, and yet in vain? When Chri&s;t threatned his Church at <HI>Ephe|&s;us,</HI> Rev. 2. to come quickly, and remove their Candle&s;tick, he barracado'd them with a double brea&s;t-work again&s;t the a&s;&s;aults and on &s;ets of his threatned Judgments, in the ingemination of this ble&s;&s;ed Provi&s;o, <HI>Except ye repent, Except ye repent;</HI> &s;o for our en|couragement and example it is &s;aid of <HI>Nineveh,</HI> Jonah 3.10. <HI>God &s;aw their works, and they turned from their evil wayes; and God repented of the evil that he &s;aid he would do unto them, and he did it not.</HI></P>
<P>Methinks, by this time, you will not &s;ay that this is but one Doctors opinion, but rather confe&s;s it worth the taking. But with|all, you perhaps may he&s;itate about the getting of it down, becau&s;e &s;o many are concerned of &s;o differing complexions, palates and humors in the taking thereof; and therefore may demand, if &s;ome di&s;gu&s;t it, and &s;ome &s;pill it as water on the ground, whil'&s;t others kick and &s;pit at it, yet what &s;hall they do who like it &s;o well, as to cry and call for more thereof? what hope is there for &s;uch who thus hunger after righteou&s;ne&s;s? what hope is there for &s;uch in an evil day? or what can they do?</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> I heartily recommend to all &s;uch, the &s;pirit, principle, and practice of <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> lively breathing, and patterning us in his 24th <HI>Chapter, ver.</HI> 15. <HI>If it &s;eem evil unto you to &s;erve the Lord,
<PB N="28" REF="14">choo&s;e you,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>but as for me, I and my hou&s;e will &s;erve the Lord.</HI> Let <HI>Lot</HI> be righteous, though <HI>Sodom</HI> blow the Coals, and kindle the flames of his anger, who is a con&s;uming fire. Let <HI>Noah</HI> every way preach Righteou&s;ne&s;s, though the Sun of Righteou&s;ne&s;s ex|hale from the helli&s;h foggs of the old Worlds &s;ins, from their &s;inks and lakes, and puddles of pollution, enough to pour down a deluge of wrathful de&s;truction upon them, and to open the Trea&s;ures of the deeps that the flood may &s;pring in upon them, and God will <HI>Zoar</HI> and Inark them through the tenderne&s;s of his loving-kind|ne&s;&s;es, and the carefulne&s;s of his all-waking Providences.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Let them have a lively fellow&s;hip with that fatherly and &s;oul-like &s;pirit of good <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> who&s;e &s;oul wept in &s;ecret places for their pride (which &s;top't their ears by &s;hutting the doors of their hearts) who&s;e eyes wept &s;ore, and run down with tears, <HI>Jer.</HI> 13.18. Have you not &s;een the delirious &s;inging of dying men, tune the hearts of their friends to lamentation, and turn their eyes to bitter weeping? Tho&s;e who are well, being pained &s;o much the more, becau&s;e the &s;ick &s;eem to feel &s;o little, or none at all (Death in their in&s;en&s;iblene&s;s making triumph on the &s;eizure of their &s;en|&s;es, and &s;hewing the &s;poils thereof) let then the in&s;en&s;iblene&s;s of others under their &s;in-bred &s;ickne&s;s, fill you with the greater &s;en&s;e thereof; and let their rejoycing in evil, make you &s;orry at your very hearts, and being made Prie&s;ts to God, <HI>Rev.</HI> 1.6. by the great high Prie&s;t, get between the Porch, and the Altar, and weep out, <HI>Spare this people, O Lord,</HI> &amp;c. and be&s;ides the dutiful yearnings of your bowels over the afflicted, how can you forget that by &s;pecial order from Heaven, they were all mark't for pre&s;ervation, <HI>who did &s;igh and cry for the abominations that were done in the Land!</HI> Ezek. 9.4.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> Let &s;uch well weigh in their hearts, that when Gods burning anger blazed highe&s;t, and &s;corch't hotte&s;t; and when his compa&s;&s;ionate &s;paring, and forgivene&s;s reach't lowe&s;t; yet then he refu&s;ed not to his holy, humble, faithful, obedient, and dutiful ones, their own Souls for a prey; though <HI>Noah, Job,</HI> and <HI>Daniel</HI> were in it, they &s;hould deliver neither Sons nor Daughters, &s;ave
<PB N="29" REF="14">their own &s;ouls, <HI>Numb.</HI> 14. The con&s;cience of which with humble confidence, put that que&s;tion into father <HI>Abrahams</HI> mouth, <HI>Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?</HI> which he in part (and God in the whole) put as it were out of que&s;tion, &s;ay|ing, <HI>That be far from thee, to &s;lay the righteous with the wicked,</HI> Gen. 18. when, be&s;ides them&s;elves, Ten righteous per&s;ons might have &s;aved <HI>Sodom</HI> from its &s;ulphurous conflagration. Some may fall in the Wilderne&s;s, that all may be warned, and none &s;ecure; others, like Doves before a &s;torm may ha&s;ten home, love &s;natching them away from the evil to come; but God will &s;pare his rem|nant; and though he bring them through the fire, he will al&s;o bring them out of the fire for his glory.</P>
<P><HI>Fourthly,</HI> Let all &s;uch, amid&s;t the Infection on earth, air their Souls well in Heaven; and let their &s;olitude ha&s;ten their dwelling in the &s;ecret of the mo&s;t High, making by faith God their Friend, and Chri&s;t their next Neighbour (having their Conver&s;ation in Heaven in and with him) and the Spirit their Comforter, and their Coun&s;ellor; the clo&s;er they be &s;hut up, let them open the doors of their hearts &s;o much the wider for the King of glory, who having taken our &s;ins, &s;ears not catching, will not refrain vi&s;iting our dwellings, but the rather come, and &s;up the oftner with us, be|cau&s;e of any other Infection. Let all &s;uch refrain evil company, le&s;t &s;in prove catching, the Mother-plague of all: And let them keep a good dyet, never going out fa&s;ting, but feed upon Chri&s;t in his promi&s;es next their hearts, and all day long; which faith can well dige&s;t, and love can make thereof the riche&s;t of Fea&s;ts; and let them alwayes be abounding in the work of the Lord, being rich in good works, that when, and how, and where&s;oever the Lord come, they being found well-doing, may be found of him in peace Let them drive a quick Trade with Heaven, that their inward man may grow rich and pro&s;per; and when there is none but Chri&s;t, he will be enough, he will be all things, and turn a dying Chamber in|to a Bridal Chamber for their Souls; and by his love make him&s;elf dearer to them than life, in that when all for&s;ake, and are depart|ing, he will never leave nor for&s;ake them, but out-&s;tay &s;orrow, &s;ickne&s;s, pain and death, and all with their Souls.</P>
<PB N="28" REF="15">
<P><HI>Fifthly,</HI> Let &s;uch get the blood of the Pa&s;&s;eover on their hearts, as of old it was on the hou&s;es of <HI>I&s;rael: When I &s;ee the blood, &s;aith the Lord, I will pa&s;s over you, and the Plague &s;hall not come nigh you to de&s;troy you,</HI> Exod. 12.13. Make Chri&s;t your Pa&s;&s;eover whom God hath made &s;o; and by fre&s;h acts of faith be&s;prinkle not only the Po&s;ts of your hearts doors, but your &s;elves all over with his blood; and let it be to God for a token that you are of another nature, heart, &s;pirit, and way from them, who will go on by &s;in to provoke the Holy One of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> how can the de&s;troying Angel &s;trike through that blood? what weapon hath he that can look it in the face with defiance? If he do &s;mite at you, he dares not, for fear of your Father, &s;trike, or touch your Souls; at mo&s;t, and wor&s;t, he can but reach, and give one half of you the blow, and that by far the lea&s;t half too; your immortal part is invulne|rable, and out of danger.</P>
<P>To conclude at la&s;t, let not &s;uch lo&s;e the Royalty of the pro|mi&s;e for want of faith and holine&s;s. Unbelief &s;tops the mouth of the promi&s;e, or rather the ear of the heart, and unholine&s;s turns the voyce and &s;ound thereof quite another way, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 91. <HI>He that dwells in the &s;ecret of the mo&s;t High, &s;hall abide under the &s;hadow of the Almighty. He &s;hall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings &s;halt thou tru&s;t; his Truth &s;hall be thy Buckler and Shield; thou &s;halt not be afraid for the Pe&s;tilence, neither &s;hall the Plague come nigh thy dwelling.</HI> Mal. 3. <HI>And I will &s;pare them, &s;aith the Lord, as a man &s;pares his own &s;on that &s;erves him.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;o (my dear Friend) not knowing which I have mo&s;t out-run, your patience, or my own purpo&s;e, in this &s;o long-winded a Di&s;cour&s;e, my tedious Line once at la&s;t, is drawing to a full point; though you &s;ee in&s;tead of receiving a Letter, you will find your &s;elf in my Book.</P>
<P>I &s;hall pray out the re&s;t, begging with all my heart that the Sun him&s;elf would plea&s;e to light you to this &s;hadow, and brood your Soul under the Almighties feathers, till fledg'd with grace, it may mount up with more and better than Eagles, or Angels wings to its re&s;t, in the bo&s;om of eternal love; and hide you, and yours
<PB N="29" REF="15">all over, under this buckler and &s;hield, for an everla&s;ting defence, that &s;o walled about with Heaven, you may &s;ay to Fear, Dan|ger, Plague, Pe&s;tilence, yea, to Death it &s;elf, though dre&s;t up with Terrors, and armed with Horrors, Where are now your Teeth, Stings and Talons? what can po&s;&s;ibly be your piteous and &s;orry victory? &s;ince by faith trampling on the head of the great red Dragon, and triumphing over the gates of Hell and Death in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, I am more than a Conqueror through him who hath loved me; And that no fatherly heart may be &s;o tenderly willing, no hand &s;o dextrous and ready to &s;pare a &s;erving Son (who cannot well be &s;pared) as the Lord may be to &s;pare you and yours, through our Saviour and Redeemer, <HI>Amen, Amen;</HI> and &s;o I re&s;t,</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>Sept. 3.</DATE> <HI>When the &s;lain of the Lord in one week, like</HI> 7 <HI>thou&s;and Arguments, wrested this out of my hand.</HI></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your Loving Friend, <HI>C. N.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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