LONDON'S REMEMBRANCER: FOR THE STAYING OF THE CONTAGIOUS SICKNESS OF THE PLAGVE: By David's Memorial. AS IT WAS FOLLOWED in a Sermon Preached in Christs-Church in LONDON, the 22. of januarie. 1626. Upon occasion of the public Thanksgiving, enjoined by his Majesty's Proclamation. By SAMSON PRICE, Doctor of Divinity, one of his Majesties Chapleins' in Ordinary. PSAL. 63.6.7. When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches, because thou hast been my help: therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. AT LONDON: Printed by Edward Allde, for Thomas Harper. 1626. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS COVENTRYE, KNIGHT, LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND. Right Honourable, IT is the great work of God, to reclaim from their offences, those whom he loveth, by corrections: To this end as he bestoweth favours upon some in anger, as he did Quails upon the Israelites: so striketh he others in mercy, that they may be zealous, and repent. The late Pestilence amongst us of this City, Re, 3.19. and the other infected parts of the Kingdom, bringing wonderful Plagues, and sore sicknesses: came rushing with such violence, De. 28.27.58.59. because we did not serve the Lord our God with joyfulness, having abundance of all things; and because we did not fear this glorious name, The Lord: yet mercy showed itself stronger than judgement, 2. Sa. 24 16. and upon our weak and unworthy humiliation, the destroying Angel hath in a great measure stayed his hand: Beauty therefore being given unto us for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, & the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, Js. 61.3. The Lord is to be praised. To this end hath our Royal zealous anointed Sovereign, sent forth a solemn command: This, to fasten as a memorandum in the ears and hearts of those committed to my poor charge, I endeavoured, By King David's memorial, of what God had done for him. A subject fit for an Angel from heaven to comment upon. A THANKSGIVING: All the works of the Lord praise him: Angels, Heavens, Sun, Moon, Stars, showers, dew, wind, Winter, Summer: Wells, Whales, Fowls, Beasts: All holy and humble men of heart desire to remember the Lord. This is here pressed, wherein my only aim was to speak what was plain, profitable, necessary to the glory of God, and good of the people. This Mite I now offer to the Treasury (Talents I have none) Knowing that in a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not, 2. Cor. 8.2. Whatsoever it is, I am emboldened, by your late Noble encouragements, to present it to your Honour's acceptation, protection, perusal. It is the joy of many, that God hath given you a large, just, and faithful heart: a desire rather to be an umpire of equity, Amb. de Theodosio Aequitatis judex nonpaenae arbiter. Ps. 82.1. than a Decreer of severity; and as God hath exalted you, so you remember by your resolute, yet meek carriage, that God standeth in the Congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the Gods. I shall still rest a continual Petitioner to the throne of grace, that in these slippery times, all the foundations of the earth being out of course, you may be kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation. New Rents 1626. Febru. 10. Your Honours in all duty to be commanded, SAMSON PRICE. Lord jesus begin and end. LONDON'S REMEMBRANCER BY DAVID'S MEMORIAL. PSAL. 42.4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. IT was the confident profession of royal David, when some did strive with him, fight against him, and persecute him: Ps. 34.19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of all. 1 Sa. 21.1. Euseb. Bas. The whole Psalm was composed when he came to Achimelech the Priest, craving bread and arms: A Psalm written (saith Cassiodor) for the times of Christians; A Psalm which Athanasius persuaded Marcellinus to sing upon any deliverance: As David's afflictions were great; so were his deliverances; consider him a caula ad aulam, from the Sheepcoate to the Sceptre; Ps. 78.71. being sent to follow the Ewes great with young, either by his Father's neglect, or his brother's envious conspiracy, and plotting against him: the day consuming him with heat, and the night with frosts; in danger of Lions & Bears; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. God's hand shook his house from the foundation. Bas. 1. Sa. 21.13. Ps. 62.1, his Father in law unkind, Michal his wife froward; having breaches in his family by his Thamar, Ammon, Absalon; bruises by the pestilence, brunts by wars, which made him water his couch with his tears, and would have made him mad indeed, as he but feigned when he was before Achish, had not the Lord delivered him: But his soul truly waited upon God, because his salvation came from him. A text urged by St. Austin against the Donatists: prescribed by Basil as an Antidote, 3. Co. lit. Potil. c. 18. to every Christian against corrupt passions, Bas. hom. that the soul be not made a slave to lewd affections. Every creature is to obey the Creator, and may be enforced; but a voluntary subjection is expected of the reasonable soul of man, that our will follow Gods will, that we desire nothing contrary to his will, that we incline our hearts to his pleasure. For we are the creatures, he is the Creator; we but clay, he the Potter; wee captives, he the commander; we servants, he the Master; we Scholars, je. 2.20. he the Tutor; and none but the son of Belial, that cannot endure the Lord, will seek to break his bands: the life of Christ was a life of subjection; to his Parents, to Magistrates, to the Law, to the Baptism of john; yea, he who was Lord and Master, washed his Apostles feet, not only because the devil had supplanted Adam in his feet: Am. l. 1. de Sac. c. 1. Gre. 18. Mor. c. 19 Js. 52.7. or because they were to be his feet to carry him through the world, and as beautiful feet upon the mountains to publish peace, and bring good tidings of good, publishing salvation; but to give them an example of humility; Jo. 13.14. that seeing he washed their feet, they ought also to wash one another's feet. He who was God and man, was subject, that man might learn to submit himself wholly to God. Anima is quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a breathing: and the tongue of the soul is the Zeal of devotion: Bar. se. 45. in c. Ps. 25.1. our devout Kingly Prophet in all humble submission cried out: Unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. Happy is he only who can say it with the heart of David; Greg. in Ps. ult. poenit. sin doth not overburthen him; worldly delight draweth him not back from the service of God; pleasure boweth him not down; covetousness doth not make him stoop; opulency doth not puff him up; ambition doth not carry him away. His soul made her boast in the Lord; because confirmed, strengthened, Ps. 34.2. and able to endure so wonderfully from his power, M. Ro● 1. singular. c. 13. by which he was whatsoever he was. He prayed that God would say unto his soul, I am thy salvation: Ps. 35.3. For God's word is his Act, and his dixit a fiat: His soul followed hard after God, because his right hand did uphold him: Ps. 63.8. He followed not the allurements of the world, which by vices draw men from the love of God. Hil. His soul kept God's testimonies; Never did Burgensis so justly entitle his book Scrutinium scripturarum, Ps. 119.129. as David might his meditations Scrutinium praeceptorum. Ps. 130.6. His soul waited for the Lord, more than they that wait for the morning: He that hopeth must hope to the end. Aug. He prayed that his soul might not be gathered with sinners; Ps. 26.9. that his soul which was his darling, might be rescued from destruction and the Lions. Ps. 35.17. This, hath breath breathed into it by the spirit of God, and therefore is ever ready to breathe out sighs, groans, supplications, thanksgiving unto God upon the remembrance of his works, his mercies, his judgements, his providence, his deliverances as here. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. When word came to the King of Niniveh, that God had thundered out a judgement against that City, by the voice of jonah, Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be overthrown: Jon. 3.4. He caused it to be proclaimed: Let neither man nor beast taste any thing: Let them cry mightily unto God; Let them turn every one from his evil way: and God saw their works, and God repent of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not. That King was as all great ones should be, carbo & lampas, a coal burning to himself, Gr. in Ez. ho. 1 a lamp shining to other men. As he for Niniveh: so our gracious King CHARLES, seeing the Lord angry with our City and Kingdom, and sending out a Preacher unto us of the strongest lines to terrify us; by a Pestilence; sent forth a solemn Edict for a public Fast through the whole Kingdom: We have seen a blessed effect: and therefore now our gracious Sovereign with zealous David, willing to have a Memorial kept of that late, sudden, miraculous stopping of the vyals of God's wrath amongst us and others, in staying of the Plague; is this day with his Nobles and Courtiers, assembled to give public thanks in the Congregation; and hath commanded a general & public Thanksgiving to God throughout this whole Realm, for so great and gracious a deliverance, Procla. ja. 22. acknowledging that they are not worthy of future favours, who are not truly thankful for benefits already received: To this end we are met. A King hath commanded us; and a Prophet is his leader. We have had sad times, as our David in this Psalm: V. 1. As the Hart hath panted after the water brooks, 3. so hath our soul panted after God: Tears have been our meat: the multitudes with whom we used to go to the house of God and keep holy day, have been taken away: 4.5, our souls have been cast down; we have been disquieted; V. 7. Deep hath called upon deep; Waves and billows have gone over us: God seemed to forget us, 9 and therefore have we mourned. Yet again, we are come to appear before God, and therefore let us praise him, 11 who is the health of our countenance, and our God; Let us remember what is past: as David; When I remember, etc. My Text showeth us the two hands of God; the one with a wound, the other with a plaster: the one casting down, the other raising up: the one killing, the other making alive; Both pile up a Beacon to call us together, to see what God hath done for us, and what we are bound to do unto God: teaching us, that though our miseries, troubles, fears, infirmities, Plagues, be as the host of the Aramites, 2. King. 6.14. a great host, yet more are with us then against us. Doth God send a sore? he sends a salve also: sorrow for a night? joy in the morning: sobs and lamentations sometimes? but songs & congratulations afterward: we see it in this Psalm, in this Memorial: When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. The sum of which words is David's Memorial, of God's mercies, favours, deliverances: you may call it, The oblation of the soul: or hope for the Saints: or a form of thanksgiving: or the refuge of the afflicted: or the safety of God's children: or London's remembrancer by David's Memorial: showing us mercy in the midst of judgement, by our deliverance from the late great Plague. Wherein observe 1. A divine Art of memory: When I remember these things, 2. A zealous Act of piety: I pour out my soul in me. In the 1. See his commemoration. 2. His devotion. When I remember these things. The whole verse is dark, as reverend Calvin observeth, by reason of the variety of times. It is diversely rendered: by Aug. haec meditatus sum, I have meditated upon these things: By St. Amb. Psalter, Haec memoratus sum, I have remembered, rehearsed, spoken of these things: Simmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: observing, or registering, and recalling in my mind. Campensis interprets it of God's providence showed, and his promises made for the deliverance of the Fathers before David: Folengius of God's promises to all his servants: Valentia of his promise concerning the coming of the Messiah. But others, Euth, Niceph. Hesych. Euseb. Bas. Theo. Amb. Aug. Ruff. Cassiod. that David was recounting with himself what troubles he was in, when his enemies reproached him in his miseries, as if God had forsaken him, forgotten to be gracious to him; and in his adversity, Psal. 35.15. the abjects gathered themselves together against him to tear him. He remembreth that God had brought him out of the horrible pit, Psa. 40.2. of the miry clay, & set a new song in his mouth. Memory is taken either for an intellectual habit left by some act, Gab. Biel. d. 27 q. 2. act. 1. l. 1. or for some thing that sticks to the soul, comprehending things past, making an Act of them: It is a resuming of any thing apprehended in the sense or understanding. Ar. de man. Sense is for things present; Hope, for things to come; Memory, for things past: Memory, is the lieger book of the brain; the janus that hath an eye behind; the storehouse of the mind: but there is a threefold memory. Beneficiorum, This is to be retained in us, Exemplorum, This is to be exhibited by us. Iniuriarum, This is to be relinquished from us. There must be a remembrance of God's blessings and benefits: therefore saith the Lord to the Church by Isai: Put me in remembrance; Let us plead together: 43.26. Remember what I have done for thee in creation, redemption, preservation. The best Art of memory is to be humbled at God's threatenings, and comforted at his promises: for exceeding griefs or exceeding joys leave great impressions in us. But this memory is hindered by worldly prosperity: as the chief Butler forgot joseph, Goe 40.23. Musculus. a right temporising Courtier, who partly for fear to move the King, partly addicted to his own profit, and serve his own turn, would make no mention of joseph: So the children of Israel called jesurun, waxed fat and kicked, and then forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his▪ salvation. David remembered God on his bed, and in the night watches; Ps. 63.6. whiles others slept and snorted in their sins. There is a remembrance of examples: Moses was a merciful man, which found favour in the sight of all flesh, beloved of God and men; His memorial is blessed. There is a remembrance of injuries, Ecc. 45.1. whereas the best remedy of an injury is forgetting. Sen. And at Athens it was enacted a decree oblivionis iniuriarum, Plut. praec. Reip. Jer. of forgetting of injuries, for when Thrasibulus had freed the City of thirty Tyrants, and restored it to peace, he made a Law, that none should remember any injuries past, which the Athenians call the Law of oblivion: Gutter. de Treio in Euang. l. 3. ex Sueton. and this we read of the Emperor Augustus, who though of a most tenacious and retentive memory: Iniurias tamen cum primis oblivisceretur, could yet forget wrongs as soon as they were offered: To this end is that remembrance: thou shalt not avenge, Le. 19.18. nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people: that, Ecc. 28.6. remember thy end, and let enmity pass: that as when Bees fight, the casting of a little dust upon them endeth their strife: Pli. l. 11. c. 17. so the remembrance of our end by common mortality in pestilence or otherwise, still tolling for the last gasp, should ring out the death of malice, & bury all wrongs in the grave of oblivion, never to rise up again: But I must not forget the remembrance of God, the remembrance of us here. Ps. 98.3. je. 15.15. He remembreth his mercy and truth towards Israel: He remembreth us, and visiteth us, and revengeth us of our persecutors: Ps. 111.4. he taketh us not away in his long suffering. He being gracious and full of compassion, hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. Therefore he commanded that a golden pot of Manna should be kept to remember what bread the children of Israel had in the wilderness: Ex. 16.32. Lu. 22.19. The Sacrament of the Lords supper is a remembrance of the death & passion of our blessed Saviour. All the feasts enjoined Israel, required of them a memorial of God's benefits done unto them. Le. 24.7. The twelve Cakes on the pure table before the Lord, were for a memorial. 1. Chr. 16.4. David appointed the Levites to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Ez. 6.9. They that escaped of the sword when they were scattered, were to remember him among the Nations. Ex. 28.12. The two stones upon the shoulder of the Ephod, were for a memorial unto Aaron. La. 3.20. jeremy remembering his afflictions, misery, and wormwood and Gall, his soul was humbled, yet he hoped. jonas remembered the Lord, and his soul fainted, when no doubtful earthly natural help, could release him: when his father, mother, friend, Jo. 2.7. land, sea, his soul, all had forsaken him: yet the Lord took him up, and gave him better hope. Is. 63.7. Isai made mention of the loving kindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, his great goodness, and multitude of loving kindnesses. Never did David more truly remember jerusalem: If I forget thee O jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Ps. 137.5.6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; a greater torment he wished not to his enemy in the Poet: On. iulbin. Nec possis captas inde referre manus. Sic fit in exitium lingua proterua tuum. God hath plagues in store for them that forget him: They shall be delivered into the hands of their enemies, 1. Sam. 12.9. as the Israelites forgetting the Lord, were sold into the hands of Sisera, they whither in their greenness before any other herb, job. 8.13. their hope being cut of: They forget God, Psal. 44.21. and stretch out their hands to a strange God, and then God searcheth this out: Psal. 50.22. they shall have their sins set in order before them, and be torn in pieces, and none shall deliver them: they have forgotten God, and trusted in falsehood, jer. 13.26. therefore their skirts shall be discovered upon their face, that their shame may appear: Though then thou forget to take bread for a journey, Mat. 16.5. as the Disciples did: or forget thy friend in thy mind, Ecc. 37.6. and be unmindful of him in thy riches: Remember the Lord. Thy brethren may be put far from thee, thine acquaintance estranged, thy kinsfolk may fail, and thy familiar friends forget thee; job. 19.14. thy Lovers may forget thee and not seek thee, there may be none to plead thy cause: jer. 30.13. but the Lord remembreth us: provoke him not therefore; forget not the everlasting God that brought you up; Baruc. 9.8. grieve not jerusalem that nursed you. There are some things that especially affect the memory, and we shall find all singular in God. Assidnum, Mirum, Cognatum, Dulce, Decorum. Hugo in Psal. 105.22. Triste, Nowm, Munus, Amor, Aetas, Spes, Timor, Auctor. Are we mindful of things frequent and usual: In God we live, Act. 17.28. move, and have our being. Of things wonderful? His Name is wonderful; Isa. 9.6. The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father. Ib. 16. Of things near us or persons allied? We are all his offspring. Psal. 34.8. Of pleasant things: O taste and see how the Lord is good! Psal. 45.2. Do we remember Fair, Beautiful, Goodly things? He is fairer than the children of men. Lam. 1.12. sad and sorrowful things? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like that of the Son of God. jer. 31.22. Gifts? There is a Newyears gift: The Lord hath created a New thing in the earth: A woman shall compass a man. joh. 3.16. Love? God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Eph. 5.1. 1. Pet. 2.2. Carry we in memory our age? we are his dear children; as new borne babes. Phil. 3.21. Any thing we hope for? No hope to that for the Saviour, who shall change our vile bodies. Eccl. 1.8. Any thing we fear? There is one wise and greatly to be feared, the Lord sitting upon his throne. jam. 1.17. Our Benefactors? Every good and perfect gift is from the Father of lights. King David had infirmities and did bear them, but this was his supporter: Ps. 77.10.11 I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the Lord: Surely, I will remember thy wonders of old. Wonderful are the works of Nature: but more wonderful are the works of grace in our justification. A wonder it was that the dead was raised: Hil. 2. de Trinit. but a greater wonder that a poor fisherman whose hands were practised in his old torn nets, and feet in the slime and mud of the sea, should have the power on a sudden of converting souls. A wonder that's above all wonders, that the Creator should become a creature; Ruffin. with his blood restore the lost sheep from death to life; Lu. 1.74. yet thus He hath remembered his holy Covenant to deliver us from our Enemies. Can a woman forget her sucking child, Isa. 49.15. that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? they may: yet God will not forget us. He remembreth us, that we may remember him. This made those who received blessings unexpected from God, to keep some special memorial; as Leah conceiving and bearing a son, she called his name Reuben, for she said, The Lord hath looked upon my affliction, Gen. 29 32. now therefore my husband will love me. She bore another son and called him Simeon, Vers. 33. Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, He hath given me this son also. Hence the name of Immanuel God with us, Isay the help of the Lord, Gabriel the strength of God, Gamaliel the Reward of God: Philo. jeremy the high of the Lord; joseph the increase of the Lord, Israel prevailing in the Lord, Theodorus the gift of God, Nathaniel the gift of God, Matthew God's gift, Lazarus the help of the God, Raphael the physic of God, Samuel placed of God, Theophylus a lover of God, Tobias the Lord is good, Zachary the memory of the Lord. Therefore Hagar having an Angel to come to her by the Well, to tell her of Ishmael whom she should bring forth, the name of the Well was after Beer-lahai-Roy. Gen. 16.14. The Well of him that liveth and seeth me. By living, understanding herself, that lived after this glorious sight. By seeing, God who seeth our afflictions. Gen. 21.14. Thus Abraham called the place of Isaac's deliverance jehovah-ijreh, The Lord will see or provide, which some take to be a prophecy of the Temple which should afterward be built at jerusalem, Chald. Par. where the Lord would manifest and show himself. Calu. Others collect hence an argument of our confidence: all other means failing; to cast our care upon God, as Abraham did, who had another sacrifice provided in stead of his son, which he thought not upon. Thus jacob having visions of comfort rose in the morning, and set up the stone that he had used as a pillow, for a pillar, calling the place Bethel, the house of God; Gen. 28.19. Aug. l. 16. ciu. 38. a pillar not for adoration but commemoration, yet that anointed pillar was a figure of Christ, who is so called of his anointing. As now, he testified his thankfulness for the vision of the ladder, so afterwards having wrestled with an Angel, he called a place Peniel, The Face of God. For, Gen. 32.30. saith he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved▪ that his posterity might remember the place and vision: he spoke with him praesens praesentem, he talked with God present, Mercer. as Moses with whom God did speak mouth to mouth, and apparently, not in dark speeches. Num. 12.8. Thus he being delivered from Esau, erected an Altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel, Gen 33.20. God the God of Israel; erecting as it were a Chapel unto God, calling the Altar God, the sign by the thing signified; so the bread in the Eucharist is called, the Body of Christ: so Moses built an Altar, and called it jehovah Nissi, The Lord my banner: Exod. 17.15. and David here hath his Memorial, When I remember. Which is the shame of many in these days, Use 1. and reproveth their dulness who are like those Citizens against whom when a great King came and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: a poor wise man by his wisdom delivered that City, yet no man remembered that poor man. Eccl. 9.14.15 They are like joash the King, who remembered not the kindness which jehoiada did to him, 2. Chr. 24.22 but slew his son Zechariah the Priest: Isa. 17.11. like Syria that forgetting the God of salvation, had a harvest of desperate sorrow; like Babylon, saying, I shall be a Lady for ever, not laying the word to her hart, neither remembering her latter end, and therefore in a moment, Isa. 47.9. had loss of children and widowhood to come upon her in her perfection; they drink and forget the law, Pro. 31.5. and pervert the judgement of any of the afflicted: Do not we forget the things which our eyes have seen? Do they not depart from our hearts? Deut. 4.9. Do we teach them our sons? Is. 57.1. The Righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. We remember the least wrong of another to us, and forget the greatest of our sins against God. We write injuries in Marble, but benefits in the sand. We forget our Founders, Patrons, Benefactors. We remember not the hand, nor the day when we were delivered from the enemy, from the land of Egypt, De. 6.12. the house of bondage, the doctrine of Rome: the Spanish Invasion: we forget the toss of the Palatinate, Bohemia, and those sweet Royal Princes living amongst Strangers. Goe 41.51. Every one may be called Manasseh. Forgetting. This was the sin of Israel, now of England. We are like the strange woman that forgot the covenant of her God. pr. 2.17. It is storied, that in a great battle, Vincentius in speculo. histor. many being slain, and the bodies unburied, there followed a great Plague; and this so infected men, that they forgot their father's names, their children's, their own names: I am sure our forgetfulness of God, and our Idolatry, brought the last Plague among us. There was a Plague in this Island upon an Eclipse of the Sun, Anno Dom. 644. when the shaving of the Clergy, C●●tur. 7. c. 13 Latin, Service, Invocations of Saints, were added (with other Idolatrous corruptions) to the Church: whereupon the death of the Emperor Constance followed. Since the building of London. Have not we made an Idol of this City, which hath stood 2733. years, and being infected with the number of our people David's sin: boasted of the multitude of heads, riches, buildings: that this was the Imperial City of the Kingdom, Chamber of the King, Re. 3.17. that with Laodicea we were rich, increased with goods, and had need of nothing: that with Tytus our City hath been replenished, the harvest of the time her revenue, a joyous City: her Merchant's Princes, Is. 23.8. her Traffic the Honourable of the earth. Have not Parents gloried in the number of their children, and set too much their hearts upon them? Have we not ascribed our peace to the strength of our arm, and not to him, who teacheth as he did David, Ps. 144.1. our hands to war, and our fingers to fight? For this we had a Plague, and as a Pestilence followed Idolatry, so often a war followeth. They chose new Gods, there was war in the gates: As war followeth; jud. 5.8. so famine: When the land sinneth, I will break the staff of bread, and will send famine upon it, Ez. 14.13. and cut off man and beast from it. Such is that threat: If ye will not be reform, Le. 26.25. I will send the Pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of your enemy. A consumption, a fever, an extreme burning; the sword, hunger, thirst, nakedness, want of all things: All these things for forgetting the Lord. De. 28.22.48. Yet: How many do lightly esteem this great token of God's wrath, The Plague which made David pray? Remove thy stroke away from me, Ps. 39.10. I am consumed by the blow of thine hand: Ps. 38.1.2. O Lord thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, when he had the Plague. It made Ezechias complain, that as a Lion, so the Lord did break his bones; Is. 38.14. that like a Crane or a Swallow, so did he chatter; mourn as a Dove: that his eye did fail with looking upward; jun. annot. in 2. Re. 20. For morbi natura indomita erat a medijs naturalibus, and therefore God challengeth the cure of it to himself. 2. Ki. 20.5. I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, Behold I will heal thee. Hezekiah was sick to the death, Dr. Prideaux in a learned Sermon on it before King JAMES. 2. Chr. 32.24. and prayed to the Lord: Isai prayed, the Priests prayed, the Courtiers, the people; yet he must pray himself: then God spoke and gave most comfortable signs of his favours: So hath he miraculously, suddenly, most graciously, stopped the current of his fury amongst us. He hath not dealt so with others. How fearful was that Plague, in Phrygia, evag. l. 2. c. 6. Galatia, Capadocia, Cilicia, when no one remedy could be found for any infected? That among the Vandals, when according to the Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Cent. 5. c. 3. after a famine the pestilence was so great, that the living could not bury the dead, and the high ways were full of carcases: That under justinian, Procop. l. 11. de bello Perfico. when in Constantinople, and near there about, there died at least five thousand, and sometimes ten thousand in one day. Euagr. l. 4 c. 28 That mentioned by Euagrius, which ran over the whole world, when men might have complained, Hor. l. 1. Od. 2. Macies & nova febrium terris in cubuit cohors. It continued 52. years: he lost his wife, many of his children, the greatest part of his kindred: whomsoever it took, it dispatched out of the way. It exceeded all diseases that ever were before. How fearful was that Plague in Alexandria described by Eusebius? Euseb. l. 7 c. 21 Now all is replenished with lamentations. Every man howleth through the City: There is no house where a dead carcase is not found. That in Rome, when, saith Chronicon Fuldense, Anno 1213. scarce the tenth man remained alive; nay, but ten men in all were preserved, saith Chronicon Isenacense. I lead you too far. To keep in our own Kingdom and near home. Sa. Dan. Anno 1348. In the Reign of Edw. 3. there was a Plague in this Kingdom that took away more than the half of men, and in one year of this, in the Charter house were buried above fifty thousand: and it dispeopled almost utterly a great Town, Cambd. Barksh. Wallingford in Barkshiere, bringing 12. Churches to 2. See how much more sparing the Lord hath been of us: your memory may be fresh, in recalling to mind that Plague, in the beginning of the Reign of Royal King JAMES, from the 23. of December, Anno 1602. Anno 1602. to the 23. of Decem. Anno 1623. wherein there died thirty thousand five hundreth, seventy eight; and this to be stayed, that the next year there died in London & the Liberties; but four thousand, two hundreth, sixty three of all diseases: And in this late Visitation, God so manifested his mercy, The red Cross. that from the 25. of August it decreased, from 3344. to 2550. and then to 1672. and then to 1551. and then to 852. and then to 538. And this last week but to three; and Lord let thine Angel not strike any one more among us with the Plague. Use 2. Let this remembrance ever be written on the doors of our hearts: Is. 47.9. Say not as Babylon, I shall be a Lady for ever. David foresaw a curse upon it for that pride of heart. Ps. 137.9. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth the little ones against the stones: It was fulfilled, the enemy came, Virg. En. 2. Natum ante ora patris, patrem obtruncavit ad arras. Let not the Merchant burden his memory only with his Creditors, nor the Lawyer with his Clients, nor the Landlord with his Rents, nor the Husbandman with his cattle, nor the Captain with his Soldiers, nor the Physician with his Patients: but let all keep a Register of this black Plague in red letters, in the Ephemerideses of their memory, and the staying of it. It was not the season and coldness of the weather that stopped it. De rebus Moscovieicis fol. 11. Possevinus writes, that when he was Ambassador for the Pope in Moscovia, the Plague which had scarce ever been heard of before in that Country (ob intensissima frigora) by reason of extreme cold, yet killed then many thousands. It was not a Popish Prayer to Saint Roche. Dr. Rain. de Idol. l. 1. c. 6. s. 7. Tu qui Deo es tam charus, Et in luce valde clarus, Sana tuos famulos, Et a peste nos defend. God alone is our defence; forget him not. Ps. 9.17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the Nations that forget God Study not for a vainglorious commemoration of thy good works after thy death. Set God as a seal upon thine heart, Ca: 8.6. as a seal upon thine arm. He is as a bundle of Myrrh unto us, let him lie all night betwixt our breasts; never breath but remember him; Ca: 1.13. at morning, noon, and night: at thy lying down, and rising up: staying at home, or going a journey. Naz. Or. 1. de Theol. This Remembrance shall put us in mind of our Profession and heavenly Country. It shall shut the door to all unclean actions. It shall comfort us when we are alone: Let him be the α and ο of our remembrance. When the jews were building in jerusalem, the Nations whom Noble Asnappar brought and set in the Cities of Samaria, wrote to Artaxerxes, telling him; If this City be builded, then will not the jews pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the Kings: Ezra 4.12.14. Because we have maintenance from the King's palace; it was not meet for us to fee the King's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the King. The greatest dishonour to God is to forget him: and would we but Remember what he hath done for us, we would not so suffer his Word to be despised, Ministers wronged, his holy day to be profaned; and other sins to outbrave Authority, which in time will pull another plague down. It was a grave conclusion of the Senators of Troy, concerning Helena, Homer. Iliad. the world's wonder for beauty and excellent parts; That though she were such a one and unmatchable, yet Rid her hence, say they, rather than to us and our posterity; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: She should abide here for a snare and destruction. The counsel was wise, but Indulgence refusing it: it brought forth twenty four books of Iliads, & an Iliad of miseries. The Philosopher elegantly applieth it to any vice, Ar. Eth. 1. c. 9 seem it never so delightful. O that we would banish from us the vice of our Kingdom, Forgetfulness of God. O that we would Remember that from him, we have whatsoever good thing we have, and deliverance from all evil. He giveth his Angel's charge of us, Ps. 91.11. to keep us in all our ways: which charge is not only begun to be executed in Baptism, Or to: 5. in Mat. primas. Heb. c. 1. as some would have it, or when there is the use of Reason manifested, but in the birth, yea in the conception. Sure it is, they watch over us, and yet all see it not; and when they see it, it is by the effect of their Ministry: Mr. Greenham in grave couns. For though their Ministry be certain, yet the Manifestation of it is extraordinary. He by the heavens giveth unto us Influences, lest we languish with famine. He feedeth us with the fruits of the earth. He blessed our Land by the government of famous Queen Elizabeth, who with so long, so great wisdom and felicity governed her Kingdoms, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praef: ad lect, as the like hath not been read or heard of (said Learned King JAMES when he reigned in Scotland) either in our time, or since the days of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Quodl. l 1. Lopez was set on to poison her by Holt the jesuit: so was Squire by Walpoole the jesuit; Parry was authorized by the Pope to murder her, Stow: commended by him for intending it, absolved from all his sins for pursuing it, and assured of merit for performing it. Card: come: his letters. And when armed for the point, was confronted by her, amated with her presence, and prevented by him that keepeth Israel and never sleepeth. The same Right hand of the Lord, delivered King james himself, of blessed and worthy memory, from the blow by the POWDER-PLOT, a designment like those which He spoke of, Liu: Dec. 1. l. 2. Plus samae apud posteros quam fidei habiturae, which are and shall be rather memorable for the singularity, then credible for the horror. A deliverance of our whole State, and while we have pens to write, tongues to speak, a generation living, or a posterity succeeding, we will report it, and repeat it to God with David's Memorandum; Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of jerusalem, who said, Raze it, raze it, Ps. 137.7. even to the foundation thereof. EDOM signifieth Red, and he was so called, because he desired and longed for the red pottage of jacob. Do not they thirst after our blood? Goe 25.30. A generation spoken of by Obadiah: Obad. 1. concerning Edom. An Ambassador is sent: By Isai, Is. 34.6. a sword is made fat with the blood of Lambs, and a great slaughter in the Land of Idumaea. By Amos, Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Edom and for four, Am. 1.11. I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and kept his wrath for ever. je. 49.10. By jeremy, I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself; his seed is spoilt, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. By Ezekiel, Ez. 25.14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger, & according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. Mal. 1.4. By Malachy: whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished; but we will return and build the desolate places: Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down, and they shall call them, the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever: and King David zealously would have set upon it, Who will lead me into Edom? wilt not thou O God? wilt not thou O God go forth with our Hosts? Ps. 108.11. Let Genebrard interpret it of the Church oppressed by the Turks; It shall be the endeavour of Religious Kings against Rome: there the Edomites, Goe 25.25. Esavites, Idumeans lurk. Esau came out of the womb Red, betokening his bloody disposition; and all over hairy which was extraordinary; for children usually are borne only with hair on the head, eyelids and eyebrows, and afterward it groweth on other parts; and such hairy conceptions are not without much grief & trouble, causing loathsomeness in the stomach, Perer. Goe 25.7. heartburning and such like. Esau was a cunning Hunter. Esau had three names, Esau of Gnaschah to make, which is passively to be taken, coming forth with hair as a perfect man: not actively, as though he should be prompt in his business. It applieth itself, to the Romanists, whose bloody, rough, turbulent, equivocating dispositions are most apparent: Hungry Hunters after the true Church of God. Remember those children of Edom; and remember that God, who hitherto hath preserved us. Let us say, He is our refuge, and our fortress, our God; in him will we trust. He delivereth thee from the snare of the Fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. Ps. 91.3. It is a warrant for God's care, providence, help, R. Salo. l. 3. c. 52. dubiorum. protection, in any thing that may fall out to the body by natural causes, wicked men, or our own corruptions. Let us ever remember this: Remember not piles of buildings, pictures, paintings, flowers, and other toys which cannot help, but take that fourfold remembrance. Memento peccati ut doleas. Memento mortis ut desinas. Memento divinae justitiae ut timeas. Memento misericordiae ne desperes. Sin, Death, judgement, Mercy. I pour out my soul in me. Scounda pars. It was a comfort that God had delivered him, Vatablus. Gen. Note. and therefore his soul is (as it were) melted into joy, that he was delivered. God was pacified. He was very glad, his wits were dispersed, and as it were ravished. Thom. Calu. janfe Genebrard. Pintus. He was enlarged, and scarce can contain himself, sorrow being driven away: As sorrow saith, H. de vict. keepeth in the soul, so joy poureth it out. Therefore (saith David) Trust in him at all times, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Ps. 62.8. The soul is the whole inward man, wherewith this mass of clay is quickened and governed, having several names according to her several offices in the body. Quickening the body it is called the soul: Aug. de Ecles. dogmatibus c. 34. having an appetite to any thing, it is called the will: for knowledge, the mind: for recordation, memory: for judging and discerning reason: for giving breath spirit: for apprehending outwardly, sense. The soul is the life of the body, Bar. sc. 3. ex minor. God is the life of the soul, and as the body is dead, when not vegetated by the five senses of the body; so the soul is dead, that is not truly humbled to God. But God is good to an humble soul; Id. see, 68 in ca he meeteth it, embraceth it, and God over all, blessed for ever, marrieth it. An humble soul hath two wings, Fear, & Hope; Fear in judgement, Id. in sent. Hope in mercy: so David in his soul poured out in him. He confessed, Thy judgements are good: To the wicked, crosses are curses; Ps. 119.39. but to the godly, corrections only of a Father, not to destroy, but to try and purge: and as the Rod maketh, the Scholar learn: so knowledge by affliction is beaten into us, by poverty, sickness, and the like: And as a woman that hath fore travail, when she is delivered, rejoiceth that a man-child is brought into the world: so the servants of God are in sorrow, till by troubles they are made the children of God. Through the Sea and wilderness, we must pass, if we would go to Canaan. 2. Sa. 14.14. Herein God is our guide; he can make us as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, and expecteth the pouring out of our souls in us. There is a bad effusion, when men no faster receive the word, but they pour it out again, as he that earneth wages, Agg. 1.6. & putteth it into a bag with holes, the brand of Reuben: unstable as water: Goe 49.4. But there is a good effusion of the soul, by confession, prayer, devotion, humility, and tears. To this end is the beating of the breast, Cyr. Lu. 18.13. as we see in the Publican. This was the custom of Hilarion, to beat his breast in prayer, Hier. in viia. as if he desired with his hands to take revenge upon his sad thoughts: and surely in the godly, obtritio cordis, Aug. in Ps. 31. tuntio pectoris, the smiting of the breast, is the stamping, beating down, and bruising of the heart. This hath often tears, as in Hannah who was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, 1. Sa. 1.10. Luctu anima pascitur, cum ad superna gaudia flendo sublevatur. Gr. 5 Mor. 7. and wept sore: which is the food of the soul, and which feasted Christ more than all the provision of Mary Magdalen beside: while we eat the bread of sorrow, drinking the wine of compunction, we hunger and thirst after heavenly things, and shall be comforted. This is the constant alimony of the righteous, at dinner and supper, in life and death, in prosperity & adversity. The Proverb is true, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Boni autem valde flebiles viri. Job. 33.20. In this case was job, when his life abhorred bread, job 16.13. and his soul dainty meat: When he complained that his gall was poured out on the ground. Ps 6.3. Thus David when his soul was sore vexed, and he cried, Thou O Lord how long? Ps. 13.2. When his expectation was not satisfied: How long shall I take counsel in my soul. Ps. 142.2. When he poured out his complaint before God, and showed before him his trouble: but now he is delivered, and his soul is poured out in thanksgiving. Use 1. How justly may this condemn many, who are so foolish and slow of heart, that they never stir up their souls to the service of God, but suffer the body like a thief to rob it: The body is deified, but the soul pined and famished: no bread of life is sought to strengthen her: no Gospel of peace to comfort her: no devotion to cherish her. Some sell their souls: as covetous & usurious Monsters, who for wealth will commit any ravine, robbery, theft, perjury, false merchandise, simony. There is not a more wicked thing then a covetous man, Ecc. 10.9. for such an one setteth his own soul to sale. Some cast away their souls, as the envious and furious, for nothing. The covetous man hath wealth: The Epicure, pleasure: The ambitious proud upstart, honour: The Glutton, meat and drink: but the envious man consumes himself in pining, being a thorne-hedge covered with nettles. Some lay their souls to pawn to Satan, that they may swim in the world prosperously and wantonly, running on in sin so long, being deaf to God, caring neither for words nor judgements, so soaked in sin, that they cannot redeem these pawns, because they can not repent. Yet God crieth by his Prophets: je. 44.4. Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate: but if we incline not our ear to turn from our wickedness, his fury must be poured forth, to cut off man and woman, child and suckling, and leave none to remain. We may forget: but God remembreth us, our Fathers, our Kings, our Princes, and the people of the Land; and woe unto their soul, who declare their sin as Sodom, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Which may teach us to remember the Lord, Is. 3.9. Use. in pouring out our souls in all devout and humble acknowledgement of his mercies, Zac. 11.8. lest our souls abhorring him, his soul loathe us. Lor. in Ps. 17.9 It is reported, that at a Sermon of Vincentius Ferr: one was so moved in spirit, that his face shined on the sudden very glorious. O that when we hear the great works of the Lord, we would stir up the graces of God within us, that the Spirit of God might not be quenched in us. Nothing is more precious, than the soul within us, which made David pray: Mine eyes are unto thee, Ps. 141.8. O God the Lord, In thee is my trust. Leave not my soul destitute. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, Ps. 17.13. cast him down: Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. Ps. 25.20. O keep my soul, and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee. In a well disposed Christian, the body is servant, the soul is Mistress, but in an infected person the body is predominant: Take heed of this Plague: The body is but the weight and burden of the soul: Se Ep. 101. while this oppresseth, the soul is in prison. Heb. 12.5. Forget not the exhortation which speaketh to you as children. Herald 13.2. Forget not to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares. Os. 4.6. If we reject knowledge, and forget the Law of our God, he will also forget our children: O be not as jerusalem, having her filthiness in her skirts; she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully, she had no comforter, La. 1.9. the enemy magnified himself. Before we be driven to remember the Lord in far countries: Zac. 10.9. Let us set our heart and our soul to seek the Lord: If we return to the Lord with all our heart, & with all our soul, and pray, 1 Ch. 22.19. our supplications shall be heard, 2. Ch. 6.39. our cause maintained, and we shall be forgiven. Remember this late mercy in the midst of judgement; Extol the admirable lenity of the Lord towards us, who hath gleaned but some, when all feared to be cut down. Anno 1587. The years are not many since the Lord with a famine did shake many parts of this Land; a terrible sword, which made julius Caesar in all his wars, to conquer more by famine, than the sword. It made Lysimachus in Thracia to yield himself captive to Domitian the Emperor; it brought up that bloody Law amongst the Soldiers of Cambyses, marching toward the Aethiopians, that the Tenth among themselves should be killed in the Army, to assuage hunger: It made the Roman Mothers eat their own children: Eus. Jose. The Athenians vexed by Sylla, to eat the green grass of the fields, and moss of the walls: Q. Curt. Alexander to eat his Camels, Elephants, and other beasts, that carried luggage for the wars: the Hymmi to eat their Dogs: It made Abraham fly from Canaan to Egypt; Isaac to Abimelech King of the Philistines; and all the sons of jacob to go to Pharaoh King of Egypt: God like the Physician maketh us fast, to recover health: Upon Famine, have we been so humbled as we should have been? Anno 1588. etc. The years are not many therefore, since the the Lord threatened us with another sword; that of a Barbarous Nation to devour us; how soon was it forgotten: This year therefore the Lord seeing us wantonly secure, and sleeping, and snorting in our sins, drew another sword against many parts of the Land, Psa. 91.3. by a Plague: This is the snare of the Hunter, it catcheth suddenly; some walking, some feeding, some sporting, some waking, Ps. 91.5. Metonimia, ab Effectu. some sleeping: It is the terror by night, breeding many terrors and fears in the night; the night being a solitary time, and solitariness increaseth fears; the night being a time of Incendiaries and Robbers, Euthym. which set upon men unawares; Rickel. Eugub. Geneb. R. Kim. a time of fear, in regard of the weakness of the Imagination, or of terrible dreams, or sudden affrights: a time terrible to travellers, where the least noise amateth them. Silius Jtal. Per noctem metantur agros, sonus omnis, & aura Exterrent, pennaque levi commota volucris. v. 5. Chald. It is the arrow that flieth by day: Sagitta Angeli mortis quam emittit interdiu, the arrow of the Angel of the Lord sent forth in the day, coming swiftly, striking suddenly, wounding deadly: It is the Lion, v. 13. Pli. 8.15 Adder, Dragon: No beast for strength comparable to the Lion; so no disease so deadly as the Plague: such as the Asp biteth, are smitten with a numbness throughout all parts, and there followeth coldness, gasping, heaviness in the head, sometimes heat and burning in the body: Are not such Symptoms in the Plague: A Dragon tearing in pieces with all violence, sparing none; which moved Reverend Beza being sick of the Plague at Lausanna, not to suffer Calvin & Viret, B. depeste. those zealous Lights to come to him when they offered it freely, lest they should be infected, because he preferred the benefit of God's Church, before his own particular comforts. The Plague is God's hand, jad jehovah, 2. Sa. 24.14. because the might and power of God is more manifested in this then in other punishments. O let not this hand be out of our sight, but as that hand that wrote at Balshazars' feast; Da. 5. and thereupon his countenance was changed, his thoughts troubled him, the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another: so let the remembrance of this great late Plague humble us, and make us mourn; but upon the deliverance, Let us pour out souls in us, and let us rejoice. It was a sanctified remedy, Greenh. grave Couns. p. 23. which reverend M. Greenham used, being often in his public Ministry and private conference, troubled with a sudden failing in his memory: so as by no means he could recover himself in those things he purposed to speak. He would presently groan in his heart, and humble his soul under the holy hand of God. O let us with groans lament our dull forgetfulness of the great works of God. Socrates complained, that after the use of letters, the Art of memory decayed; for the care which before was had in heart and memory, afterward was put in books; and that which was committed to the mind, was after put in trust in writing. Zac. 5.4. O let that flying roll of God's judgement, which lately hath gone over the face of the whole earth, and cut off so many, and entered into houses, and remained in the midst of them, and consumed the houses, with the timber and the stones, ever be in our memory. Sen. Books not used gather dust, and memory not employed, will be dull and heavy. Satan desireth to deal with us, as Heringius did with Bamba his predecessor, a King of the Goths; who gave him a draught of drink, whereby he lost his memory. Let us often meditate upon the works of God, Reade and Pray. To read and not to meditate, is unfruitful. To meditate and not to read, is dangerous for errors. To read and meditate without prayer, is hurtful. Let us not be as Ephraim, Os. 11.4. who knew not that God healed them. He it is that hath drawn us with cords of a man, with bands of love: He hath taken off the yoke on our jaws: He hath laid meat unto us: He turneth away his anger, is as due unto us: Os. 14.5.6.7. He maketh Israel grow as the Lily: cast forth roots as Lebanon: his branches to spread: his beauty to be as the Olive tree, revive as the corn, and grow as the Vine. All the wonders he doth, are to confirm our hope, raise up our faith, and nourish our love to him. To remember him, Bar. se. 4. de asc. is like the delight which the Apostles had at the transfiguration of Christ. It is sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb. Ecc. 49.1. It is sweeter than the remembrance of josias, which was like the composition of the perfume made by the Art of the Apothecary: sweet as music at a Banquet of wine. If we have a mind to remember God, comfort will be near in the mouth and in the heart. Nothing is more ready than this remembrance. It is an easy medicine, a speedy cure, a precious cordial. It removeth sadness, heaviness, melancholy, and bringeth with it joy in the holy Ghost. Nu. 10.10. Let us then in the day of our gladness offer sacrifices for a memorial before our God. In the way of God's judgements, let us wait for him: Let the desire of our soul be to his name, and to the remembrance of him: Is. 26.8. Let us look into the perfect law of liberty, and continue therein, not being forgetful hearers, but doers of the work, that we may be blessed in our deeds. And this is the work of the day, of our whole lives, to pour out our souls in us. 2. Ch. 15.12. O let us then enter into a covenant, to seek the Lord God of our Fathers, with all our heart, and with all our soul. Then he will set his Tabernacle among us, his soul shall not abhor us, he will be our God. Le. 26.11. Then being instructed, his soul shall not depart from us: we shall not be left desolate. je. 6.8. His soul shall delight in us: Js. 42.1. To this end are his mercies offered, and his deliverances continued. How miraculously hath he of late delivered many of us, Application. as he did the three children in the fiery furnace: when some were constrained to fly from this mountain of Moriah, Munster. to the little hill of Hermon, as David, where they could not look out, but messages of Death, and the increase of the Plague in black bills, was brought unto them: when in this City the doleful Bell ringing out, there was wring of hands, & shrieking in the most places: there for a Father, here for a Mother: there for a Husband, here for a Wife: there for a Master, here for a Servant: there for a Mistress, here for an Handmaid: there for Children, here for Kindred. We expected triumphs for the Coronation, and alas! in stead of these, had Funerals of dead men, who being weary of the earth, went to triumph in heaven: But behold, men cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses; He made the storm a calm, Ps. 107.29. and the waters were still. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered from the East, v. 23.4. from the West, from the North, from the South, when they wandered. Hath the Lord removed his anger? Let us remove that which was, and is the cause of his anger. The Plague of the body being ceased, let not SIN the plague of the soul, continue. Sweep your houses from swearing; avoid the company of the ungodly; get the inward mark of God's Spirit, by making your Election sure: Let yourselves blood, of envy, hatred, malice, covetousness, and all uncharitableness. Beware of dogs: Infidels, as Christ calleth the Gentiles in his speech to the woman which was a Syrophenician by Nation. Mar. 7.26. Ath. or de Idolis. Lact. l. 2. di. Inst. It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. Beasts without reason, forsaking the Creator to worship the creature. Ignorance of the true God, and blindness of heart, were in the Gentiles the Nurses of Infidelity, and brochers of Idolatry. These make men run headlong, like the swine of the Gergesits, into the main Ocean of all uncleanness, and filthiness of fornication. Beware of contemners of the Gospel, called dogs by Christ: Mat. 7.6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, such as will fully resist the truth, and bark at the Ministers of the word: Beware of schismatics, who though they be not altogether so dangerous as the Bloodhounds of Babylon, yet are they very troublesome, tearing the Church, and running themselves, & drawing others from the Church, Ansel. and so from Christ: Never go abroad, but with the Pomander of faith, full of the sweet spices of good works. God hath been mindful of us, Ps. 115.12. and can increase you more and more, you and your children: The dead praise him not, but the living must bless him: O therefore that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, Ps. 107.8. and for his wonderful works to the children of men. An Eucharistical song, ever to be repeated for any blessing, as Bernard presseth it, speaking of the custody of Angels: Bar. se. 12. in Ps. ●0. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for David repeats it, v. 15.21.31. v. 32. Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people: Not because, as Hugo: Princes, Hugo. Bas. Theod. forget to exalt God, but magnify themselves: but that all must exalt him, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, Princes and Subjects: And exalt him with a song in the Churches. Amongst other songs, take that especially, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of Gods, Ps. 136.1. for his mercy endureth for ever. v. 2.3. O give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his mercy endureth for ever. Cassiodorus. A Psalm, which being sung at the consecration of the Temple, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering, 2. Cb. 7.1.3. and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. A Psalm which jehoshaphat appointed singers among the Inhabitants of judah and jerusalem, in the wilderness of TEKOA to sing, 2. Cb. 20.22.23. and then the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammor, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against judah, and they were smitten. Let us not uncharitably censure those that are gone down into silence, by the arrow of the Plague. Thuanus. Learned Gesner died of the Plague; a little before his death calling for some of his papers in his Study, giving a charge, that the world should not be deprived of them: He that wrote of Stones, Gardens, Libraries, Measures, four footed beasts, Birds, Fishes, of Herbs, chirurgery, Measures, Medicines. Francis junius, the glory of Leyden, Reverend Bezaes' family had the Plague four times. Arg in Ps. 91. the oracle of textual and School Divinity; rich in Languages, subtle in distinguishing, in argument invincible, died of the Plague: A fixed star in the firmament of that Church; a hammer of Heretics, Champion of the truth, the honour of the Schools. I could name some of your own religious Divines in this City, who died of the Plague, for whom the Congregation may mourn, and would God the loss could be as easily supplied, as lamented. Resolute Camillus, died of the Plague, having saved his unthankful Country from the Veians, Au. 3. ciu c. 17. and after from the Galls. job had the Plague, when he had vl●us ex caliditate, that Botch which proceeded from that burning heat in his body; R. Mordechai. and as it is probable, beneath the reins, betwixt the thigh, and the belly, or bowels, which is the flank or grain; into which place, the confluence of vicious corrupt and malignant humours commonly betake themselves, Gnlen. 1. c. Particula. 6. de oculis. as being one of Nature's Emunctories, and a part prepared for evacuation of Impostumation, by reason of the tenderness and rarity of the skin, and other passages: All his body over was almost a plague. Chrys. Let us above all sores, fl●● the plague of sin: It is in vain to purge our houses, cleanse our streets, perfume our apparel, unless we beware of the Infections of the soul. We have lived to meet again our friends; O let us not by our corruptions make them Gods enemies. We have vowed to be new creatures, in Christ jesus, when we were under the rod; Remember that, Aegrotus surgit, sed pia vota valent. Take this Antidote against poison; JUSTICE will strike us with greater Plagues, being delivered from the former, if we mock it with broken devotion. O let our thankful hearts testify our contrite spirits. Let the house of judah the Royal COURT remember this deliverance, and acknowledge that God can break those who will not bow. Let them banish those Moths and Mice, of Flatterers, Tincae & Sorices Palatij. Epicures, doubling professors, bad counsellors, who climb high to fall foul; and let not that old writing under the picture of Ignatius Loyola be forgotten, D Hall. Dec. 5. Ep. ●. Cavete vobis Principes, Be wise O ye Princes. Ps. 115.10. Let Moses and Aaron, Prince and Priest, remember that the Lord is their help and guide: and as the Priest hath been zealous to pray: Spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, from Plague and Pestilence; so now let them sing, Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will toward man. Let Samuel among the Prophets, and the young children of the Prophets remember this deliverance; Their buildings have been stately, Revenues large, Students many; but they have been scared, feared, driven thence, yet now the voice of joy and health is in their dwellings, OXFORD hath been visited, and CAMBRIDGE threatened. Let us of this City especially remember this: Great deliverances should have great remembrances. Now again, Ps. 122.3. your jerusalem is as a City compact again: Now are the Tribes come up again. Now again, here are the Thrones of judgement, the Thrones of the house of David; Upon which, Lord let there be ever men of courage, fearing thee, dealing truly, hating covetousness, that they may appear confidently before the great Parliament of heaven. Let us all take up that of our Prophet: Ps. 28.6. Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of our supplications. The Lord is our strength, and our shield, our heart trusted in him, and we are helped; therefore our heart greatly rejoiceth, and with our song will we praise him. The Lord is our strength, and the saving strength of his Anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them, lift them up for ever: that so being comforted after our affliction, raised up after our detection, and clothed with immortality after this mortality, we may hereafter with the Angels round about his Throne worship him, saying Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God, for ever and ever, AMEN. FINIS.