A SERMON OF Public Thanksgiving for the wonderful mitigation of the late Mortality; Preached before his Ma.tie; upon his gracious command, at his Court of Whitehall, Jan. 29. 1625.  
AND Upon the same command Published By Jos. Hall Deane of Worcester.  
LONDON, Printed by M. Flesher for Nath. Butter. 1626.   
Psal. 68 vers. 19, 20. 
Blessed be the Lord, who loadeth us daily with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.  
He that is our God, is the God of salvation, and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.  
YEa, blessed be the Lord, who hath added this unto the load of his other mercies to his unworthy servant, that the same tongue, which was called, not long since, to chatter out our public mournings, in the solemn Fast of this place, is now employed in a song of praise; and the same hand, which was here lifted up for supplication, is now lift up in thanksgiving; Ye that then accompanied me with your tears and sighs, accompany me now, I beseech you, (in this happy change of note, and time) with your joyful smiles, and acclamations to the God that hath wrought it.  
It is not more natural for the sun, when it looks upon a moist, and well fermented earth, to cause vapours to ascend thence, them it is for greatness, & goodness, when they both meet together upon an honest hart, to draw up holy desires of gratulation. The worth of the agent doth it not alone, without a fit disposition in the subject; Let the Sun cast his strongest beams upon a flint, a pumice, he fetches out no steam: Even so the greatness & goodness of the Almighty, beating upon a dry & hard hart, prevails nothing: Here all three are happily met: In God, infinite greatness, infinite goodness; such greatness, that he is attended with thousand thousands of Angels; (a guard fit for the King of heaven) such goodness, that he receives gifts even for the rebellious: In David, a gracious heart, that in a sweet sense of the great goodness of his God, breathes out this divine Epiphonema, Blessed be the Lord, who loadeth us daily with benefits, even the God of our salvation, etc.  
Wherein me thinks, the sweet singer of Israel seems to raise his note to the emulation of the quire of heaven, in the melody of their Alleluiahs'; yea, let me say, now that he sings above in that blessed consort of glorious spirits, his ditty cannot be better than this, that he sung here upon earth, and wherein we are about to bear our parts at this time: Prepare, I beseech you, both your ears for David's song, and your hearts and tongues for your own. And first in this Angelical strain, your thoughts cannot but observe, without me, the Descant, and the Ground; The descant of Gratulation, Blessed be the Lord; wherein is both applause and excitation; an applause given to God's goodness, and an excitation of others to give that applause. The ground is a threefold respect. Of what God is in himself, God and Lord. Of what God is, and doth to us, which loadeth us daily with benefits. Of what he is both in himself, and to us; The God of our salvation; which last, (like to some rich stone) is set off with a dark foil, To God the Lord belong the issues from death. So in the first, for his own sake; in the second, for our sakes, in the third for his own, and ours; as God, as Lord, as a Benefactor, as a Saviour, and deliverer, Blessed be the Lord.  
It is not hard to observe that David's Alleluiahs are more than his Hosannaes'; his thanks more than his suits. Oft-times doth he praise God when he begs nothing: Seldom ever doth he beg that favour, for which he doth not raise up his soul to an anticipation of thanks; neither is this any other than the universal under-song of all his heavenly ditties, Blessed be the Lord; Praised (as our former translation hath it) is too low; Honour is more than praise; blessing is more than honour; neither is it for nothing, that from this word (Barac) to bless, is derived Berec, the knee which is bowed in blessing; and the crier before joseph, proclaimed Abrech, calling for the honour of the knee from all beholders. Gen. 41.43. Every sleight trivial acknowledgement of worth is a praise; Blessing is in a higher strain of gratitude, that caries the whole sway of the hart with it, in a kind of divine rapture: praise is in matter of compliment, blessing, of devotion.  
The Apostles rule is that the less is blessed of the greater, Abraham of the King of Salem; the Prophet's charge is, that the greater should be blessed of the less; yea the greatest of the least, God of man: This agrees well; Blessing is an act that will bear reciprocation; God blesseth man, & man blesseth God; God blesseth man imparatively, man blesseth God optatively; God blesseth man in the acts of mercy; Man blesseth God in the notions, in the expressions of thanks. God blesses man when he makes him good and happy; man blesseth God when he confesseth how good, how gracious how glorious he is: So as the blessing is wholly taken up in agnition, in celebration; in the one we acknowledge the bounty of God to us; in the other we magnify him, vocally, really, for that bounty.  
Oh see then what high account God makes of the affections and actions of his poor, silly, earth-creeping creatures; that he gives us in them power to bless himself, & takes it as an honour to be blessed of us: David wonders that God should so vouchsafe to bless man, how much more must we needs wonder at the mercy of God that will vouchsafe to be blessed by man, a worm, an atom, a nothing? Yet, both S. james tells us that with the tongue we bless God; & the Psalmist calls for it here, as a service of dear acceptation; Blessed be the Lord; Even we men live not (Chameleon-like) with the air of thanks; nor feed ere the fatter with praises, how much less our maker? O God, we know well that whatsoever men or Angels do, or do not, thou canst not but be infinitely blessed in thyself; before ever any creature was, thou didst equally enjoy thy blessed self, from all eternity; What can this worthless loose film of flesh either add to, or detract from thine infiniteness? Yet, thou that humblest thyself to behold the things that are done in heaven, & earth, humblest thyself also, to accept the weak breath of our praises, that are sent up to thee from earth to heaven. How should this encourage the vows, the endeavours of our hearty thankfulness, to see them graciously taken? Would men take up with good words, with good desires, & quit our bonds for thanks, who would be a debtor? With the God of mercy this cheap payment is currant; if he then will honour us so far as to be blessed of us, Oh let us honour him so far as to bless him; Quare verbis parcan? gratuita sunt: Why do we spare thanks that cost us nothing, as that wise Heathen; O give unto the Lord, ye mighty, give unto the Lord the praises due to his name, offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving: and still let the foot of our song, be, Blessed be the Lord.  
This for the descant of gratulation; the ground follows; His own sake hath reason to be first; God will be blessed both as jah, and Adonai; the one the style of his Essence, the other of his Sovereignty. Even the most accursed Deist would confess, that as a pure, simple, infinite, absolute being, God is to be blessed; for if being be good, & these two be convertible, nature must needs teach him, that an absolute & infinite being must needs be absolutely and infinitely good: but what do I blur the glory of this day with mention of those monsters, whose Idol is nature, whose religion is secondary atheism, whose true region is the lowest hell; these damned Ethnics cannot, will not conceive of God, as he is, because they impiously sever his essence from his inward relations; We Chrstians can never be so heavenly affected to God, as we ought, till we can rise to this pitch of piety, to bless God for what he is in himself, without the external beneficial relations to the creature; Else our respects reflect too much homeward, and we do but look through God, at ourselves.  
Neither is it for us only to bless him as an absolute God, but as a Sovereign Lord too; whose power hath no more limit than his essence; the great moderator of heaven and earth, giving laws to his creature, overruling all things, marshalling all events, crushing his enemies, maintaining his Church, adored by Angels, trembled at by devils; Behold here a Lord worthy to be blessed. We honour, as we ought, your conspicuous greatness, o ye eminent Potentates of the earth; but alas, what is this to the great Lord of heaven? When we look up thither, we must crave leave to pity the breath of your nostrils, the rust of your coronets, the dust of your graves, the sting of your felicities, and (if ye take not good heed) the blots of your memories: As ye hold all in fee from this great Lord, so let it be no disparagement to you, to do your lowliest homage to his footstool; homage, I mean, in action; give me the real benediction; I am sure that is the best; they bless God that praise him, they bless him more, and praise him best, that obey him. There are that crouch to you great ones, who yet hate you: Oh let us take heed of offering these hollow observances to the searcher of hearts, if we love not our own confusion. They that proclaimed Christ at jerusalem, had not only Hosanna in their mouths, but palms in their hands too; so must we have: Let me say then, If the hand bless not the Lord, the tongue is an hypocrite. Away with the waste compliments of our vain formalities; Let our loud actions drown the language of our words, in blessing the name of the Lord.  
Neither must we bless God as a sovereign Lord only, but (which is yet a more feeling relation) as a munificent Benefactor, Who loadeth us daily with benefits. Such is man's self-love, that no inward worth can so attract his praises, as outward beneficence; Whiles thou makest much of thyself, every one shall speak well of thee, how much more whiles thou makest much of them? Here God hath met with us also. Not to perplex you with scanning the variety of senses, wherewith I have observed this Psalm above all other of David's, to abound; see here, I beseech you, a fourfold gradation of divine bounty. First, here are benefits; the word is not expressed in the original, but necessarily employed in the sense; for there are but three loads whereof man is capable from God, favours, precepts, punishments; the other two are out of the road of gratulation; when we might therefore have expected judgements, behold Benefits: And those secondly, not sparingly handfulld out to us, but dealt to us by the whole load; loadeth with benefits. Whom, thirdly, doth he load, but us? Not worthy and well deserving subjects, but us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rebels: And lastly, this he doth, not at one dole & no more, (as even churls rare feasts use to be plentiful,) but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 successively, unweariedly, perpetually. One favour were too much, here are benefits; a sprinkling were too much, here is a load; once were too oft, here is daily largition. Cast your eyes therefore, a little upon this threefold exaggeration of beneficence, the measure, a load of benefits; the subject, unworthy us; the time, daily: Who daily loadeth us with benefits.  
Where shall we begin to survey this vast load of mercies? were it no more, but that he hath given us a world to live in, a life to enjoy, air to breathe in, earth to tread on, fire to warm us, water to cool and cleanse us, clothes to cover us, food to nourish us, sleep to refresh us, houses to shelter us, variety of creatures to serve and delight us; here were a just load: But now, if we yet add to these, civility of breeding, dearness of friends, competency of estate, degrees of honour, honesty or dignity of vocation, favour of Princes, success in employments, domestic comforts, outward peace, good reputation, preservation from dangers, rescue from evils, the load is well mended: If yet, ye shall come closer, and add, due proportion of body, integrity of parts, perfection of senses, strength of nature, mediocrity of health, sufficiency of appetite, vigour of digestion, wholesome temper of seasons, freedom from cares, this course must needs heighten it yet more; If still, ye shall add to these, the order, and powers, and exercise of our inward faculties, enriched with wisdom, art, learning, experience, expressed by a not-unhandsome elocution: and shall, now, lay all these together, that concern estate, body, mind; how can the axletree of the soul but crack under the load of these favours? But, if from what God hath done for us as men, we look to what he hath done for us, as Christians; that he hath embraced us with an everlasting love, that he hath moulded us anew, enliued us by his Spirit, fed us by his word and Sacraments, clothed us with his merits, bought us with his blood, becoming vile to make us glorious, a curse to invest us with blessedness; in a word, that he hath given himself to us, his Son for us: Oh the height, & depth, and breadth of the rich mercies of our God; Oh the boundless, to pless, bottomless load of divine benefits, whose immensity reaches from the centre of this earth, to the unlimited extent of the very empyreal heavens. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men.  
These mercies are great in themselves, our unworthiness doth greaten them more: To do good to the well deserving were but retribution; He ladeth us, who are no less rebellious to him, than he is beneficial to us. Our strait and shallow bounty picks out the worthiest, and most capable subject; The greatest gift that ever God gave, he gives us, whiles we are enemies. It was our Saviour's charge to his Disciples, Interrogate quis dignus; Ask who is worthy, that is, (as Hierom interprets it) of the honour to receive such guests; Should God stand upon those terms with us, what should become of us? See, and wonder, and be ashamed o ye Christian hearers; God loads us, and we load him; God loads us with benefits, we load him with our sins. Behold, I am pressed under you, saith God, as a cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves, Amos. 2.13. He should go away laden with our thanks, with the presents of our duty, and we shamefully clog him with our continual provocations: Can there be here any danger of selfe-sacrificing with Sejanus, and not rather the just danger of our shame and confusion in ourselves? How can we but hate this unkind, and unjust, unanswerableness; Yet herein shall we make an advantage of our foulest sins, that they give so much more lustre to the glorious mercies of our God, who ouercoms our evil with good, and loads even, Vs.  
The overlong interruption of favours loseth their thanks; and the best benefits languish in too much disuse. Our God takes order for that, by a perpetuation of beneficence; He ladeth us daily; Every day, every minute renews his favours upon us; Semper largitor, semper donator, as Hierom. To speak strictly, there is no time present; nothing is present but an instant, and that, can no more be called time, than a prick can be called a line; yet, how swift soever the wings of time are, they cannot cut one instant, but they must carry with them a successive renovation of God's gracious kindness to us.  
This Sun of his doth not rise once in an age, or once in a year, but every minute since it was created, riseth to some parts of the earth, and every day to us; Neither doth he once hurl down upon our heads some violent drops, in a storm, but he plies us with the sweet showers of the former, and the latter rain; Wherein the mercy of God condescends to our impotency, who are ready to perish under uncomfortable intermissions. Non mihi sufficit? saith that father; it is not enough that he hath given me once, if he give me not always; To day's ague makes us forget yesterday health; Former meals do not relieve our present hunger. This cottage of ours ruins strait, if it be not new daubed every day; new repaired: The liberal care of our God therefore tiles over one benefit with another, that it may not rain thorough. And if he be so unwearied in his favours, why are we weary of our thanks? Our bonds are renewed every day to our God; Why not our payments? Not once in a year, or moon, or week, but every day once (without fail) were the legal sacrifices reiterated; and that, of all those creatures which were necessary for sustentation; a Lamb, flower, wine, oil, that is, meat, bread, drink, sauce; Why? but that in all these we should still daily reacknowledge our new obligations to the giver? Yea, ex plenitudine, & lachrymis, as it is in the original, Exod. 22.29. of our plenty & tears, that is, (as Caietan) of a dear, or cheap year must we return; More, or less may not miss our thanks; We need daily, we beg daily, (Give us this day) we receive daily, why do we not daily retribute to our God, and act, as some read it, Blessed be the Lord daily, who loadeth us with his benefits.  
It is time now to turn your eyes to that mixed respect, that reacheth both to God, and us; Ye have seen him a benefactor, see him a Saviour, and Deliverer; The God of our salvation; The vulgars' salutaria, following the Septuagint, differs from our [Salvation] but as the means from the end. With the Hebrews, Salvation is a wide word, comprising all the favours of God, that may tend to preservation; and therefore the Psalmist, elsewhere, extends this act both to man, and beast; and as if he would comment upon himself, expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save, by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prosper, Psal. 118.25. It is so dear a title of God, that the Prophet cannot have enough of it; the interposition of a Selah cannot bar the redoubling of it in my Text.  
Every deliverance, every preservation fathers itself upon God, yet, as the soul is the most precious thing in the world, and life is the most precious thing that belongs to the soul, and eternal life is the best of lives, and the danger and loss of this life is the fearfullest and most horrible, chiefly is this greatest salvation here meant; wherein God intends most to bless, and be blessed.  
Of this Salvation is he the God, by preordination, by purchase, by gift. By preordination; in that he hath decreed it to us, from eternity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.30. By purchase, in that he hath bought it for us, and us to it, by the price of his blood, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 6. the last. By gift, in that he hath feoft us in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The gift of God is eternal life, Rom. 6.23. Since therefore, he decreed it, he bought it, he bestows it, justly is he the God of our salvation: Who can, who dares arrogate to himself any partnership in this great work? What power can dispose of the souls final condition, but the same that made it? Who can give eternity, but he that only hath it? What but an infinite merit can purchase an infinite glory? Cursed be that spirit that will offer to share with his maker. Down with your Crowns, o ye glorious Elders, at the foot of him that sits on the Throne, with a, Non nobis Domine, Not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the praise. Away with the proud encroachment of the merits of the best Saints, of papal largesses: Only our God, is the God of our salvation.  
How happy are we the while? All actions are according to the force of the agent; Weak causes produce feeble effects, contingent, casual; necessary, certain; Our salvation therefore, being the work of an infinitely powerful cause, cannot be disappointed; Lo the beauty of Salomon's, Al-chum; who hath resisted his will? When we look to our own fleshy hands here is nothing but discouragement; when we look to our spiritual enemies, here is nothing but terror; but when we cast up our eyes to the mighty God, here is nothing but confidence, nothing but comfort; Comfort ye, comfort ye therefore, O ye feeble souls, and send your bold defiances to the prince of darkness; heaven is high and hard to reach, hell is steep and slippery, our flesh is earthy and impotent, Satan strong and rancorous, sin subtle, the world alluring, all these, yet, God is the God of our Salvation; Let those infernal Lions roar, and ramp upon us; let the gates of hell do their worst; Let the world be a cheater, our flesh a traitor, the devil a tyrant, Faithful is he that hath promised, who will also do it, God is the God of our Salvation.  
How much more than in these outward temporal occasions, when we have to do with an arm of flesh? Do the enemies of the Church rage and snuff, and breathe nothing but threats, & death? Make sure of our God, he shall be sure to make them lick our dust. Great Benhadad of the Syrians shall come with his hempen collar, to the King of Israel; The very winds and waves shall undertake those Mahometan, or Marran powers that shall rise up against the inheritance of the God of Salvation;  
Salvation is rateable according to the danger from which we are delivered; since death therefore is the utmost of all terribles, needs must it be the highest improvement of Salvation, that to our God belong the issues from death: Death hath here a double latitude, of kind of extent; the kind is either temporal, or eternal; the extent reaches not only to the last complete act of dissolution, but to all the passages that lead towards it. Thus, the issues from death belong to our God, whether by way of preservation, or by way of rescue: How gladly do I meet in my text with the dear and sweet name of our jesus, who conquered death by dying, and triumphed over hell by suffering, and carries the keys both of death, and hell. Reuel. 1.18. He is the God, the Author and Finisher of our Salvation, to whom belong the issues from death.  
Look first at the temporary, he keeps it from us, he fetches us from it;  
It is true, there is a Statutum est, upon it, die we must; Death knocks equally at the hatch of a Cottage, and gate of a Palace; but our times are in God's hand; the Lord of life hath set us our period; Whose omnipotence so contrives all events, that neither enemy, nor casualty, nor disease can prevent his hour, Were Death suffered to run loose and wild, what boot were it to live? now it is tetherd up short by that almighty hand, what can we fear? If envy repine, and villainy plot against sacred Sovereignty, God hath well proved upon all the Poisons, and Pistols, and Poniards, and Gun-powders of the two late memorable Successions, that to him alone belong the issues from death.  
Go on then blessed Sovereign, go on courageously in the ways of your God, the invisible guard of heaven shall secure your Royal head, the God of our Salvation shall make you a third glorious instance to all posterities, that unto him belong the issues from death.  
Thus, God keeps death from us; it is more comfort yet, that he fetches us from it. Even the best head must at last lie down in the dust and sleep in death. Oh vain cracks of valour; thou brag'st thyself able to kill a man; a worm hath done it, a fly hath done it. Every thing can find the way down unto death, none but the omnipotent can find the way up out of it; He finds, he makes these issues for all his; As it was with our head, so it is with the members.  
Death might seize, it cannot hold: Gustavit, non deglutivit, It may nibble at us, it shall not devour us. Behold the only Sovereign Antidote against the sorrows, the frights of death. Who can fear to lay himself down, and take a nap in the bed of death, when his heart is assured, that he shall awake glorious in the morning of his resurrection; Certainly, it is only our infidelity that makes death fearful; Rejoice not over me, O my last enemy, though I fall, I shall rise again: O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory.  
Cast yet one glance of your eyes upon the second, and eternal death; the issues where from belong to our God; not by way of rescue, as in the former, but of preservation: (Exinferno nulla redemtio) is as true, as if it were Canonical; Father Abraham tells the damned glutton in the parable, there is (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) a great gulf, that bars all return. These black gates of hell are barred without, by the irreversible decree of the Almighty:  
Those bold Fabulists, therefore, whose impious legends have devised Traian fetched thence by the prayers of Gregory, and Falcon●lla by T●claes; suspending the final sentence upon a (secundum praesentem iniustitiam) take a course to cast themselves into that pit, whence they have presumptuously feigned the deliverance of others.  
The reseve is not more hopeless, than the prevention is comfortable; There is none of us but is naturally walking down to these chambers of death; Every sin is a pace thitherwards; only the gracious hand of our GOD stays us; In ourselves, in our sins we are already no better than brands of that hell; Blessed be the God of our salvation, that hath found happy issues from this death: What issues? Even those bloody issues that were made in the hands, and feet, and side of our blessed Saviour; that invaluablie precious blood of the Son of God is that, whereby we are redeemed, whereby we are justified, whereby we are saved. Oh that our souls might have had leisure to dwell awhile upon the meditation of those dreadful torments we are freed from, of that infinite goodness that hath freed us, of that happy exchange of a glorious condition to which we are freed. But the public occasion of this day calls off my speech, and invites me to the celebration of the sensible mercy of God, in our late temporal deliverance.  
Wherein let me first bless the God of our salvation, that hath put it into the heart of his chosen servant, to set up an Altar in this sacred threshing floor, and to offer up this day's sacrifice to his name, for the stay of our late mortal contagion. How well it becomes our Gideon, to be personally exemplary, as in the beating of this Earthen pitcher, in the first public act of humiliation, so, in the lighting of this Torch of public joy, and sounding the Trumpet of a thankful iubilation, and how well will it become us to follow so pious, so gracious an example. Come therefore, all ye that fear the Lord, and let us recount what he hath done for our souls. Come, let us bless the Lord, the God of our salvation, that loadeth us daily with benefits; the God to whom belong the issues of death: Let us bless him in his infinite essence, and power, bless him in his unbounded and just Sovereignty, bless him in his marvellous beneficence, large, continual, undeserved, bless him in his preservations, bless him in his deliverances: We may but touch at the two last.  
How is our Earth ready to sink under the load of his mercies? What nation under heaven hath not envied, and wondered at our blessings? I do not carry back your eyes to the ancient favours of our God; to the memorable frustrations of foreign Invasions, to the miraculous discoveries of Treasons, to the successful maintenance of oppressed neighbourhood; That one mercy I may not forget; that in the shutting up of blessed Queen ELIZABETH, the Pope and the then-King of Spain were casting Lots for the Crown, and palpably plotting for their severally-designed successors, as appears in the public Posthume Letters of Cardinal D' Ossat, a witness beyond exception, Three several Briefs were addressed hither by that inclement shaveling of Rome for the defeating of the Title and succession of our late Sovereign, of dear and blessed memory, and his Royal issue; Yet in spite of Rome and hell, God brought him in, and set him peaceably upon this just throne of his forefathers; and may He perpetuate it to the fruit of those loins, till world and time shallbe no more, AMEN.  
If I must follow the times, let me rather balk that hellish Sulpher-mine, than not search it, and yet, who can look at that, any otherwise then the jews do at the Rainbow, with horror and astonishment? What do I tell you of our long Peace, our full plenty, our wholesome Laws, our easeful Government, with a world of of these common favours; it is for poor men to reckon. Those two late blessings (if no more) were worthy of immortal memory, The Prince out of Spain, Religion out of the dust; For the one; what a winter was there in all good hearts, when our Sun was gone so far Southward? How cheerful a Spring in his return? For the other, who saw not how Religion began (during those purposely protracted Treaties) to droop and languish, her friends to sigh, her enemies to insult, daring to brave us with challenges, to threaten our ruin; The Lord looked down from heaven, and visited this poor Vine of his, and hath shaken off these Caterpillars from her then-wasting leaves; Now we live, and it flourisheth.  
These would have been great favours of God, even to the best nation, but more to us: Who have answered mercies with rebellions. O God, if proud disguises, if gluttonous pamper, if drunken healths, if wanton dalliances, if bloody oaths, if merciless oppressions may earn blessings from thee, too many of us have supererogated; Woe is me, these are the measures thou hast had from too many hands; That thou shouldst therefore enlarge thy bounty to an unworthy, unkind, disobedient generation, it is more than we can wonder at, and we could almost be ready to say with Peter, Lord depart from us, for we are sinful men.  
Yet, the wise justice of the Almighty meant not to cockney us up with mere dainties, with a loose indulgence, but hath thought fit to temper our sweets with tartness, and to strick our backs, whiles he strokes our heads, Ecce in pace amaritudo amarissima, the comfort of our peace, was allayed with the bitterness of death: He saw that in this common Plethorie it was fit for us to bleed; he saw us Eels that would not be caught, but when the waters were troubled; He therefore sent his destroying Angel abroad; who laid about him on all sides; What slaughter, what lamentation, what horror was there in the streets of our mother City? More than twenty thousand families run from their houses, as if those had been on fire over their heads; and seek shelter in Zoar, and the mountains. Some of them are overtaken by the pursuer, and drop down in the way, and lie there as woeful spectacles of mortality, till necessity, and not charity, could find them a grave: Others pass on, and for friends find strangers: Danger made men wisely, and unwillingly unhospitall; The Cousin, the Brother forgets his own blood; & the Father looks shiely upò his own child, and welcomes him with frowns, if not with repulses▪ There were that repaid their grudged harbour with infection; and those that sped best▪ what with care for their abandoned houses, & estate; what with grief for the misery of their forsaken neighbours what with the rage of those Epidemial diseases, which they found abroad, (as it is well observed by one, that in a contagious time all sicknesses have some tincture of Pestilence) wore out their days in the deepest sorrow and heaviness: there leave we them & return to the miserable Metropolis of this kingdom, which they left. Who can express the doleful condition of that time and place. The arms of London are the Red Cross, and the Sword; what house almost wanted these? here was the Red-crosse upon the door, the Sword of God's judgement within doors, and the Motto was, Lord have mercy upon us,  
What could we hear but alarms of death, what could we see but Trophies of death? Here was nothing but groaning, and crying, and dying and burying: Carts were the Beeres, wide pits were the graves, men's clothes were their coffins, and the very Exequys of friends were murderous. The carcases of the dead might say, with the sons of the Prophets; Behold the place where we lie is too straight for us; new dormitories are bought for the dead, & furnished; neither might the corpses be allowed to lie single in their earthen beds, but are pyled up like faggots in a stack, for the society of their future resurrection. No man survived, but he might say with the Psalmist, that thousands fell at his side & 10000 at his right hand; And if we take all together, (the mother & the daughters) surely the number was not much short of David's, though his time were shorter. It is not without reason, that from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Plague, is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a desert; Certainly the plague turns the most populous City into a desert. Oh the woeful desolation of this place, it was almost come to Herba tegit Troiam; And if some infrequent passenger crossed our streets, it was not without his medicated Posy at his nose, and his Zedoary or Angelica in his mouth: Every room seemed a Pest-house, every scent mortal; here should he meet one pale ghost muffled up under the throat; another dragging his legs after him for the tumour of his groin; another be-spotted with the tokens of instant death: here might he hear one shrieking out in a frantic distraction, there, another breathing out his soul in his last groans: What should I say more? This glorious chamber of the Kingdom seemed no other than a dreadful dungeon to her own, a very Golgotha to all beholders; and this proud Queen of our British Cities sat in the dust of her compassion; howling in the rags of her sackcloth; not mourning more than mourned for, pitied no less than forsaken; When the GOD of our salvation looked down upon her deep afflictions and miraculously approved unto us, that unto him belong the issues from death.  
It was he that put it into the heart of his Gracious servant to command a Ninive-like humiliation, what pithy, what passionate prayers were enjoined to his disconsolate Church? With what holy eagerness did we devour those fasts? How well were we pleased of the austerity of that pious penitence?  
What loud cries did beat on all sides at the gates of heaven, and with what inexpectable, unconceivable mercy were they answered? How suddenly were those many thousands brought down to one poor unity; not a number? Other evils were wont to come on horseback, to go away on foot; this mortality did not post but fly away, Me thought like unto the great y●e, it sunk at once; Only so many are stricken as may hold us awful, and so few as may leave us thankful;  
Oh, how soon is our fasting and mourning turned into laughter and joy? how boldly do we now throng into this house of God, and fearelesly mix our breaths in a common devotion? This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes; Oh thou that hearest the prayer, to thee shall all flesh come; And let all flesh come to thee with the voice of Praise and Thanksgiving.  
It might have been just with thee O God, to have swept us away in the common destruction; what are we better than our brethren? thou hast let us live that we may praise thee. It might have been just with thee to have enlarged the commission of thy kill Angel, & to have rooted out this sinful people from under heaven; But in the midst of judgement thou hast remembered mercy: Our sins have not made thee forget to be gracious, nor have shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure; Thou hast wounded us, and thou hast healed us again, thou hast delivered us, and been merciful to our sins for thy name's sake.  
Oh that we could duly praise thy name in the great Congregation, Oh that our tongues, our hearts, our lives might bless and glorify thee, that so thou mayst take pleasure to perfect this great work of our full deliverance, and to make this Nation a dear example of thy mercy, of peace, victory, prosperity to all the world.  
In the mean time, let us call all our fellow-creatures to help us bear a part in the Praise of our God; Let the heavens, the stars, the winds, the waters, the dews, the frosts, the nights, the days; Let the Earth and Sea, the mountains, wells, trees, fishes, fowls, beasts; Let men, let Saints, let Angels bless the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever; blessed, blessed for ever be the Lord who loadeth us daily with benefits; even the God of our salvation, to whom belong the issues from death: Oh blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things; And blessed be his glorious name for ever, and ever; and let all the earth be filled with his glory. AMEN. Amen.  
FINIS.