LONDON'S LAMENTATION for her Sins: AND Complaint to the LORD Her GOD.  
Out of which may be picked a Prayer for Private Families, for the time of this fearful INFECTION.  
And may serve for a Help to Holiness and Humiliation for such as keep the Fast in Private: Together with a Sovereign Receipt against the PLAGVE.  
By W. C. Pastor at White chapel.  IER. 47. 6, 7. 
O thou Sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself unto thy scabbard, rest and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge? etc.  
LONDON, Printed for G. Fayerbeard at the North side of the Royal Exchange. 1625.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, THE Lord Mayor of London, the Right Worshipful the Sheriffs and Aldermen, and the rest of the Godly Citizens and Officeers, who have either stayed in their Places and Duties during this Visitation: or sent their large and comfortable Benevolence for the Poor. The Blessings of this and a better Life.  
RIGHT HONOURABLE:  
IT was the Ordinance and Appointment of GOD'S own Wisdom in the Law, that all his Sacrifices and burnt Offerings should be seasoned with Salt, the Fire importing Zeal, by which every Sacrifice must be offered, and the Salt signifying Discretion with which it must be seasoned: If it wanted either of these; it could not be accepted. Now, as this literal Fire and Salt belonged to the jews, so the Spiritual is both commended and commanded to us, that live under the sweet yoke of the Gospel even to the World's end: Namely, that all our Sacrifices & Service, if we mean to have them acceptable to God, or available to ourselves, must not only be offered with the Fire of holy Zeal; but tempered with holy Wisdom, and seasoned with the Salt of due Discretion; therefore saith▪ Christ even in his Gospel, 
Mark. 9 49  Every one shall be salted with Fire, and every Sacrifice shall be seasoned with Salt: Whereunto Saint Paul alluding exhorts 
Rom. 12. 2.  all Christians to see that Their Service and Sacrifice, be not only holy and lively, but also reasonable.  
Hence it is Right Honourable, and Worshipful, that as our gracious King, out of his Humility and holy Zeal, commanded public Fasting & Prayer, for the diverting of this public judgement: So now, out of holy and deep discretion hath suspended for a time those public meetings within the City: Out of no dislike of Fasting and Prayer, nor any weariness of those holy Exercises, as some Malignant Spirits maliciously traduce Him. But out of conscience to his God & care of his Subject's lives: wisely considering (& in our knowledge most truly) that seeing the sick & sore (do what we Ministers could to the contrary) mingled themselves confusedly, with the sound (by which means its more than manifest, many thousands have perished in this City and Suburbs.) It therefore lay upon him as Supreme Magistrate and God's Lieutenant to look to the lives as well as to the Souls of all his people, and to take order, that the Fasts ordained for the bettering of the Soul, should not so be used, as to tend to the destruction of the body. Leaving us therefore in this distressed City, the Lords Day or Sunday for our souls, which being of Divine Institution, can admit no Dispensation by humane power, and still commending and commanding us that Day to fast & pray in private, and all the Kingdom else to do it in public for us: And for the saving of our lives, and to avoid the tempting and provoking of God. Hath wisely forbidden all other public meetings of dangerous concourse in places Infected, till order can be taken (which is no easy thing to do) to keep the sound and sick asunder.  
Now as all those that be well are notwithstanding to repair to the Church, to be partakers of the public Prayers & the holy service appointed for that day, so, for a help, of Humiliation and holy Devotion to them that stay at home, whereof also many thousand Families especially in our Suburbs are not able to buy the Book, I have therefore been persuaded to make public this Meditation, Confession, and Prayer, which in these days of public Calamity, I walking hourly through the valley of the shadow of Death, (burying forty, fifty, sometime sixty a day, and in the Totall, more than two thousand already) I poured out in the presence of my God: First, in private for myself, afterwards for the use of those many thousand sick souls that are or have been in my great poor Parish: And lastly, that hereby I might offer some Sacrifice and special piece of Service in way of holy thankfulness to the Lord our God, who hath hitherto pleased to preserve me, and my Brethren the Pastors of this City by his own hand and power, beyond all humane help and hope; walking continually, even in the midst of the fiery flames always in danger, and never in more peril then in the Pulpit: wherein the Lord hath been so marvelous, & so magnified, his love and power upon us, as if he should now take us away, yet hath he so delivered us, in discharging our duties, and by his holy Angels kept us, thus being in our way, till he hath literally made good that promise in the Psalm, yea, and much more: for alas we have not only seen a thousand fall at one side of us, and ten thousand at another, but (alas, alas, that our sins should so provoke our God) even more than ten thousand on the one, and more than twenty thousand on the other. Which mighty work of God, if we should sit still and swallow and superficially pass over, and not commend it, to our Brethren in the Country, whose turns must follow God knows how soon, as sure as God hath begun with us; and if we did not preserve the memory of it, and represent it to Posterity, for their instruction, and that the Generations yet unborn may praise the Lord; all holy men would accuse us, God's Church would censure us, our own Consciences would condemn us, and God himself take vengeance of us, as most unthankful Caitiffs, even Monsters of Mankind, & unworthy to breath upon the Earth.  
Being therefore in some sort touched with the sense of this hand of our God, both of his hand of justice and of Mercy, and being everymoment put in mind of our mortality, either by the sound in our ears, or sights in our eyes; can we but be moved (unless we were senseless Stocks & Stoics) to take into our serious and continual Consideration, the now most lamentable Case, of this late so flourishing a City, and of this whole Kingdom into which this wildfire of God's wrath begins so fast to fly, and can we but lay to heart so great a sorrow? Or dare we for our souls but deal truly with our God, in seeking sincerely and carefully searching out the true cause in ourselves, in our people, and in the whole Kingdom that should thus provoke the Lord against us? Certainly some heavy judgement must fall upon us if we do not, and will follow them whoever they be that double and dissemble with their God in this case.  
And if any that be abroad and yet unvisited, think I deal too far and too freely in this Confession. I ask no more but to forbear his judgement, till they be under the hand of God, as we have been now three months and more, and then they will judge I am too short: The while God in mercy pardon that, and wherein I may be thought to go too far, I shall easily answer it to God or Gods Anointed: & shall sigh & sob in secret to consider the wrath & woes that wait for those wicked ones, who as they deeply have had their hand in pulling down this Plague, so carelessly seek to pass it over, and look not after the God that hath smitten them, and the whole Land for their sakes, and will if they turn not betimes, smite them down to Hell: What stony hearted Stoic can he be who sees more than forty thousand Christians, many as good, and some better than Himself laid in the dust, in little more than twice forty days, and is not humbled under the Hand that did it, and sensible of the Sin that did procure it? Can he be a good Servant of God or Subject to his Sovereign, that besides ten thousand aged, weak, and poor, shall see an Army of ten thousand more, brave, lusty, and serviceable young men, and ten thousand more comely and marriageable young women, and ten thousand more young Infants, whose proof and hope had been still before them, already taken out of one Corner of this Kingdom, and sits not down in dust and ashes mourning to that God that took them, for that King that lost them, with that Land that wants them. For that Sin that plucked them from us? I dare pronounce upon him from God whoever he be that can or dare thus slightly and slily pass by the works of God, and laughs in his sleeve at such a judgement as this, is marked up by God for some greater vengeance as sure as the fourteenth of Ezekiel is God's true Word. For if he that mourns for sin be the man that is Marked by God for blessing and deliverance, what's he that makes a sport of sin; and lays from his heart the judgements thereby procured, but one that's sealed up for confusion and destruction: O therefore that my heart were a Fountain, and my eyes Rivers of tears, that I might worthily bewail the sins of our Nation together with mine own, and weep for the slain of the Daughter of my people: So cried the holy Prophet of the abundance of his holy Zeal; and so I am sure in their several measures do all the Ministers and men of God amongst us, that have but tasted of the same spirit, mourning for the desolations of this City; and more for the Contagion that causeth it, and most of all, for the sins that procured them both: And who would not care to sacrifice themselves what way the Lord should please, so the wrath of God might be pacified towards this Church and Nation, and those plagues removed which are the cause of this Plague: And till these be removed, we shall find the Prophets tell us true, that either this Plague shall still stay & creep like a Canker over our whole body, or else only make make way to some more fearful that shall follow after it.  
That this may be prevented, he cannot be a Christian that will not both cry to God, and confess to him the public, and private, and personal sins that be the cause thereof. And as all that are enabled and taught by the holy Spirit of God; to pour out their souls in humble Prayer, and hearty Confession, will in holy obedience to the holy Prophet's 
Hos. 14. 2.  counsel; Take unto themselves words, and return unto the Lord: So for those that cannot open their mouths as they desire, and yet have hearts that groan after God, and souls that seek the Lord. For their assistance only have I been persuaded to publish this, which now I leave to them, and them and it together, with ourselves to the merciful acceptation and gracious blessing of our Good God: who grant us all in these days of danger (when sometimes almost a thousand a day are picked up, and plucked away before our faces) So to live and so to dye, as when we die we may be sure to live for ever. And so to part with one another here, as we may be sure to meet in Heaven: And here so to confess our sins, as at the last Day Christ may confess us to be his own. And so to pray here as we may praise God eternally in Heaven.   

LONDON'S LAMENTABLE COMPLAINT to her GOD. Containing, A Prayer for the time of Infection: afore confession of SIN. A Meditation upon the causes and remedy of this Plague: A Thanksgiving for God's mercy even in this Cross.  
Most high and holy jehovah thou being of beings, who gives life and being to every Creature, give leave unto us, the most unworthy oves of all thy Children, to come before thee, and present our petitions at the Throne of Grace; We durst not rush so rudely into thy holy presence, mighty Lord God, nor beg so boldly so great a savour, were it not that thou hast graciously vouthsafed, not only to call and invite us, but even 
Matth. 11. Psal. 50.  command us to come unto thee, and call upon thee in the day of our affliction, and hast moreover mercifullypromised, that thou wilt hear us and deliver us, that we may glorify thy great Name: In this confidence we take comfort, to come to thee O Lord, in this day of our trouble, and common calamity of our Church and Kingdom. And first we do all, in the name one of another, and we for our parts, every one of us for himself, humbly and freely cousesse, we have all had our hands in this blood, and each one borne apart, in pulling down these heavy plagues upon this City and our Nation: O Lord we do none of us excuse ourselves, but we do every one of us accuse, and arraigue ourselves at the bar of thy justice, and we do all pronounce ourselves guilty in thy sight: Nor are we only tainted with Original sin in our natures, but Lord our lives are stained, with all actual pollutions, in our thoughts, words, and deeds, by sins of Commission and Omission, by sins not only of Ignorance, but even of negligence carelessness and presumption: Miserable sinners that we are, we have not only committed soul and fearful things, abominable to thy pure and holy Majesty, dishonourable to thy holy Religion, offensive to thy holy Law, and therefore just provocations of thy Wrath: but alas, we have sometime totally omitted, and at the best always failed in all the good and holy duties required at our hands: We have not been humbled for thy judgements, nor thankful for thy mercies, as we ought to have been, therefore thy mercies being abused, have heretofore made way for thy judgements, but we wicked wretches have been bettered by neither of both. Thou hast written 
Hos. 8. 12.  to us the great things of thy Law, but we have not regarded them, Thou hast revealed to us thy blessed Gospel, but we have not believed it; Thou hast honoured us with thy love, but we have not walked worthy of it: Thou hast afforded us blessed means and many opportunities to do good, and by well doing to come nearer unto thee, but we have, either so neglected them, or abused them, as thereby we have done much evil instead of good: Thou hast also given us time to turns & repent, but we have turned it the wrong way, & misspent it in vanities: Thou hast she wed us the way, and offered us the means to know and fear thee, but we have wilfully wandered in our own ways, and have not cared to come near thee, and have put thy fear far from us, Such sinful Caittfs are we O Lord, as the means of thy honour, we have turned to thy dishonour, our own helps into hindrances, our Comforts into Crosses, and our Crosses into Curses, thy Mercies into judgements, and thy Uisitations into vengeance: And the gracious blessings that were given us, as helps to bring us nearer thee; We have perverted, to drive us further from thee: Thy heavenly word, and holy Sacraments, which thou hast graciously given us, (more than to many other Nations) to be the means of our Conversion, and Salvation, we have profaned and perverted, to our hardening in sin, and agravating our condemnation.  
These O Lord are the common and general sins of our times, of Us, our City, and our Nation, which as an universal deluge running over our Land, we also have been carried away by the violence of these sinful streams: besides the personal sins prevailing in this age, as bane swearing, inordinate drink, supper fluous feastings profuseness in gaming, vanity and pride in apparel, oppressions and frauds in bargaining, profaning thy Sabbaths, neglect of thy poor members, contempt of thy Word, and holy Ministers, formality in Religion, dulness in devotion, coldness in charity; In all which O Lord and every one of them, we are not able to excuse, much less exempt ourselves, besides also the public sins of our State, in letting our Laws be laid a sleep against Idolatry & Superstition, whereby much Popish impiety hath not only been practised in private, but so publicly professed, that even the Remish Dagon did stand in defiance with thy holy Ark, whereby thy Religion hath been vilified, thy Ordinances despised, thy great Name dishonoured, and thy Sauctuarie trodden under foot: Nor was this the sin alone of some set over us, who by their places, ought rather to have defended thy truth and maintained the Integrity thereof with their lives and blood, & yet either wickedly, or weakly have given way to these enormities, whereby Poperte and Idolatry, were in a sort invited and prepared for, before they came; But in this sin, like the sin 
1. Kings 14. 16.  of jeroboam, all our Israel hath sinned against the Lord of Hosts, for alas we have all either had our hands, or held our tongues, and not been zealous in the cause of thee our God And when for this our profaneness and presumptions against thee, Thou hast declared thyself angry against us, both at home, and abroad, we have been so far from fearing thee, and seeking thy face, in Prayer, & Fasting, and holy humiliation in true contrition, and hearty repentance: As chose when other Nations were sighing, and sorrowing for our sin and security, we were lulled asleep, and cried peace, peace, when there was none: And when other Churches were fasting and praying, we alas were masking, feasting and playing: And when as thy Gospel had glutted us, so as holy Lectures, begun to be now held, like meat out of season, and preaching in some places to be put down, pet even then O Lord, were the theatres magnified, and enlarged, where Satan is served and sin secretly instilled, if not openly professed. Thus hast thou O mighty God been little better than forgotten among us these many years: And thus hath thy glorious Name been dishonoured, thy precious Religion billified, thy gracious Ordinances despised, thy fearful judgements neglected, thy bounteous Mercies abused, thy holy Counsels contemned, thy fatherly warnings not regarded, and thy sacred Word in thew, and ceremony advanced, but indeed and truth trodden under foot. It is true O Lord, we thought and spoke otherwise of ourselves while our plenty pleased us, our prosperity bewitched us, and worldly carnalities blinded us: Then we seemed to ourselves to be a glorious Nation, a beautiful Church and outwardly appeared to be a people that did 
Es●y. job.  righteousness, and forsook not the Ordinances of their God; But now that affliction hath made us wiser, and thy corrections have opened our eyes, now we see what we are, and are ashamed of ourselves: Now we cast the dust of contempt upon our own heads, we go out of ourselves, and we cry to thee in the hearing of thy holy Angels, & all thy holy Churches upon earth, we are unclean, we are unclean; and like unclean 
Le●  and loathsome Lepers deserve to be cut off from the blessed body of thy Church, May even to been rooted out of the Land of the Living, as being the Nation, next unto the jews, who having been honoured, and blessed by thee, above all the World, have most dishonoured thee of all other, playing with thy Mercies, dallying with thy judgements, and profaning all thy holy things, not considering we are no better than the fly playing with the candle, we in our sins being flax and stubble, and thou our God in thy fury a consuming fire. Therefore it 
Heb.  is O Lord, that now thy mercies are gone aside, and given place unto thy justice, and thy justice provoked hath kindled thy wrath and the fire of thy wrath being now broke out in the most fearful Pestilence this Nation ever saw: Now our beauty is turned into Ashes, our Melody into Mourning, our Songs into howl, our glory into confusion of face, our triumphs into tears, and our flourishing City into a Wilderness, there being now at our doors nothing but death, destruction, and desolation, nothing but misery and mourning, crying and confusion in our streets; This is our present estate O Lord, and it is thy doing, and herein only are we happy that we see thy hand, and know, and believe it to been thy doing: And we all confess O Lord, righteous art 
Psal. 119.  thou in all thy ways, and most just are all thy judgements: For seeing we all offended thee, therefore now thou makest us one offend another; And because we feared not thee, thou hast now justly made us afraid one of another. And because we wickedly and carelessly misspent our time, now thou hast made us weary of our time, and brought to pass that which thou didst threaten, that in the morning we wish it were evening, and in 
Deu. 18. 67.  the evening that the morning would appear and as though we were either weary of our time, or afraid of the air, we breath in we vainly wish, the long desired Summer, would now fly fast away, and turn us over, to the cold and careful Winter: And because we poisoned all things by our sins now thou justly makest us fear poison, in our very meat, drink, and apparel: Nay but for thy special mercy, we are not safe in our Pues, & Pulpits in our Church: And because we delighted not to come to thy house, now thou makest us glad to fly from our own houses. And because we cared not to come to thy house for the food of our souls, thou hast justly brought it to this, that we know not whither to go, nor to what house safely to send for the food of our bodies: & because we have wickedly set our hearts, upon the miserable Mammon of this World, thou hast now in justice made a great number at their wits and, not knowing what to do with it, where to hide it, with whom to leave it, nor whom to trust with it, neither can they carry it with them, nor dare they tarry with it themselves, and because they would lend nothing in Charity, they have now none left, to lend unto at all: And now they that love it best, (by thy wonderful judgement) are afraid to touch it, lest that which formerly poisoned their souls, should now infect their bodies; O Lord how wonderful are thy works, and how just are all thy judgements.  
And now, O Lord, that we see our case, and are sensible of thy hand that is upon us, what shall we say, what shall we think might been the cause of this so fearful a Plague? and that so merciful and pitiful a Father, is now become so severe and angry a judge? Shall we be so Foolish as to think it comes because our King is not Crowned, as though former experience hath not proclaimed the contrary? Or so Profane as to ascribe it to the Summer, and Season of the year, as though thou wert not God as 
1. Ki. 20. 18  well of the Winter as the Summer? Or so Proud as to think that because we have hitherto held up thy Religion, better than some other Nations, and have in some measure maintained the Preaching of thy Word, and have been a Sanctuary and Refuge, For some distressed Christians of other Countries, we may therefore with the Hypocritical jews trust unto our external Prefession, and cry, The Temple of the 
jer.  Lord, The Temple of the Lord, as though thou hadst need of any Nation to keep up the credit of thy cause? Or so Presumptuous, as to think that because thou hast taken us to be thy Church, and some of thy Children are amongst us, thou canst not therefore be angry with us? Or because we have done some good, we may be therefore the bolder in evil? Or because there be some holy Lots amongst us, therefore our Sodom cannot be consumed? O, Lord, all these be the broken staffs of Egypt, these cannot comfort us in this our Calamity. These will not uphold us in this day of our distress, and this hour of temptation, that thou hast brought upon us: No, Lord, all these and all other like to these, are either lies or vanities: And thy holy Prophet hath told us, and we 
jonas 2.  believe it, that those who trust to lying vanities forsake their own mercies. Therefore, O Lord, we renounce; for those our Idle and Idol conceits have spoken vanity, our Deviners have seen a lie, and have told false Dreams, O, Lord, they comfort us in vain: For chose thy Word hath taught us, thy Spirit informs us, and now our own Consciences tell us, that our own ways and doings have procured this upon us, and none but ourselves, and nothing but our sins have pulled down this Plague, and that we have forsaken thee the Lord our God, who didst lead us the right way, but with thy people Israel, we have committed two evils, we have forsaken thee, the Fountains of Living Waters, and have hues ourselves broken Cisterns that can hold no water. Thus have we requited thee the Lord our God, being a foolish people and unkind, therefore now our own wickedness both correct us, and our back-slidings do reprove us, and have made us know, and see, and feel; how evil and bitter a thing it is that we have forsaken thee the Lord our God, and that thy fear was not in us.  
And now, O Lord, that we see our case, and see also the cause of it, now what shall we do for remedy, where shall we seek relief, whither shall we go, to whom shall we fly, but even from thee unto thee, even from thy deserved anger, to thy undeserved mercy? For destruction is from ourselves, but Salvation is of thee, O Lord, and thou art he that canst both wound and heal, both kill and make alive: None but thou couldst have laid this upon us, none but thou canst remove it from us: To thee therefore do we lift up our eyes, O thou that dwellest in the Heavens, and do beseech thee help us in this distress, for vain is the help of Man, and though our sins plead against us, and make thee for a time keep back thy comfort from us, pet our eyes 
Psal. 123. 2.  shall wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us: For whatever we 
Mal. 3. 6.  be, thou art the Lord that changest not, for else thy Children should be all consumed: We therefore take comfort, and say one to 
Hos. 6. 1, 2.  another. Come let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn us, he will heal us: He hath smitten, and he will bind us up, after two days he will revive us, in the third day he will rause us up, and we shall live in 
Psal. 22. 4.  his sight. For art not thou he in whom our Fathers trusted and were delivered? Art not thou the God that brought thy people through the raging Sea, and through the barren Wilderness into the Land of Peace and Plenty? Art not thou he that saved thy Servants in the fiery Oven, in the Lion's den, & in the Whale's belly? And is there not 
Psal. 130. 4  mercy with thee, else there should not be left a man on the earth to fear thee? And is not 
Psal. 100 4  that mercy of thine everlasting, & endures to all Generations? And though we be cast into the last ends of the World, and may fears that the Storehouse of thy mercies is exhaust and spent, yet hast not thou taught us 
Psal. 136.  twenty times in one Psalm, that thy mercy endures for ever? And in that mercy, hast thou not made a covenant of Peace, Parson, and Reconciliation with the Sons of men? And hast thou not sealed that Covenant, and made it firm in the blood of thy blessed Son? And hast thou not proclaimed thyself to be the God that keeps Covenant and Mercy to thousand Generations? Seeing then thou hast vouchsafed to take us and make us thy people, and to receive us into thy holy Covenant, and hast pleased to place thy holy Tabernacle among us, and honoured us with thy holy Word and Sacraments, and hast among us hundreds and thousands whom thou hast separated from the sinful mass of Mankind, and sanctified, and sealed for thyself, so as they run not riot with the wicked World, but wait on thee in the holy ways of thine Ordinances, judgements, and Mercies, and lay to heart thy words and warnings, and mourn in Zion for the affliction of joseph, and for their own, and the sins of others, and for the iniquities of the Time: Therefore our Faith bids us believe, and the truth and certainty of thy Covenants causeth us to hope, that thou wilt chastise us to our correction, but not plague us to destruction: And in this confidence we come unto thee, thou Father of Mercies, and are bold to beseech thee to call to mind thy Covenant, whereby thou hast bound thyself, to be our God, and to take us to be thy People, and never to forsake us (although by our sins we have forsaken thee) as long as by Faith we cleave unto thee, and in Repentance and Humility do seek thy face: And in the virtue and merit of that blessed blood of thy holy Son, which he hath shed for us, and all Beléevers, we take boldness to ourselves, to challenge at thy hands the performance of those sweet promises, thou hast made unto us, and sealed in his blood shedding.  
And first we beg at the hands of thy holy Majesty (even rather than our lines, or beliverances from this dreadful Plague) peace and pardon to our poor Souls, and assurance of thy love in Christ, for our eternal happiness: and then we beseech thee not so much to deliver our bodies from this Plague, as to save our souls from sin which is the Plague of all Plagues, and the true cause of this Plague, therefore we cry and pray with thy holy Prophet, Lord have mercy upon us, and heal our souls, which have sinned against thee. Then we beseech thee, thou God of compassions, look in mercy upon this Land, make us not like Sodom, Gomorrha, as we have deserved, we confess we are under thy Hand, and all the World could not have laid this on us, but only thou, O Lord, And it was time for thee O Lord, to lay to thy hand, for we had almost made void thy Law: Thou hast therefore justly taken us under thy hand, and because thy gentle warnings were despised, thy holy Counsels contemned, thy judgements neglected, and thy Mercies abused, thou hast therefore justly given way to thy wrath, and let lose thy heavy judgements upon our Land: Yet this is our comfort, and Man, nor Devil can take it from us, that we are in thy hand, O Lord, and with thee is mercy. And as we bless thy Name, that thou hast not given us over into the cruel hands of merciless men, the wicked bloody Papists, so in this, our souls take comfort, that we are under the hand of our heavenly Father, whose mercies are great: And in the multitude of those thy mercies, we look up to thee, O Lord, and beseech thee, be merciful to this Land. Thou art our Father, and we have foully offended, therefore thou must needs correct us, or else thou lovedst us not, & punish us also, or else thou wert not just: Correct therefore Lord, and spare not, but yet in thy judgement, not in thy fury, lest we be all consumed. And forasmuch, as corrections are to work our not only Humiliation, but Reformation also, we beg not the removing of thy judgement, till it hath wrought thy work, and not only brought us down under thy hand, but even purged our hearts, and renewed the face of our Church & Commonwealth. And seeing till then, O Lord, we neither may expect, nor dare desire thou shouldst remove it, we beseech thee to prepare us all to be both willing and ready to meet thee our God, and now to be content, thou glorify thyself in us, and upon us by Life or Death, so thou save our Souls: But when it hath done thy work, and finished that for which thou didst send it upon us, then, O Lord, in mercy remove it from us: And prevent the other grievous plagues that must needs follow upon, and after this.  
And howsoever thy just and long forborn Decree is now gone out against us, so as yet our cries and tears move thee not, Nay, the Prayers of our Prophets prevail not with thee, Insomuch as those Noabs, 
Ezek. 14.  daniel's and jobs, that are among us, are only able to deliver themselves (and scarce that, O Lord, so great is the Contagion of our sins) yet we beseech thee give us leave to take comfort, in believing thine own Word, and trusting to that which no mortal Creature, no Humane Assurance, but thine own holy Self hast told and 
Hab. 3. 2.  taught us: Even that in Wrath thou rememberest Mercy, and that thou keepest not anger for ever, but that thy mercies endure for ever. And that thou hast not only betrothed us unto thyself in faithfulness 
Hose 2. 19 ●●.  and truth, but even married thyself to us, and though we wickedly, in our spiritual Idolatries, and other sinful courses, cut off ourselves from thee, and whorishly given ourselves to others: yet most mercifully hast thou called upon us, to return again to thee, and thou wilt receive us: But miserable Caitiffs that we are, we cannot turn to thee, we could of ourselves fall away from thee, but of ourselves, we cannot return home unto thee: Cause us therefore to return, O Lord, and seeing thou so lovest us, as thou wilt not leave us, we beseech thee also lose us not, nor suffer us good Lord to lose ourselves, but renew our hearts towards thee, and cause us to cry and mourn after thee, and say with Ephraim, turn thou us and we shall be turned, convert us, and we shall be converted, thou art the Lord our God: And bring us back again, O Lord, the right and holy way: First, make our faces ashamed of our back-slidings, and our Souls more grieved for the same, then for the Plague that is upon us: Then make us seek thee sincerely, and not slavishly, and out of Love more than Fear, and make us turn unfeignedly and with the whole heart: And let us not come, with sorrow only in our hearts, but holy words also in our mouths, and take unto ourselves the words that thou hast taught us, 
Hos. 14. 2. ●  and say unto thee, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips.  
And that our Prapers be not bull, let us, whet and sharpen them by Fatting; nor let us bring thee Bare words, but let our humiliation be accompanied with works of Mercy, Piety, Pity, and Compassion: And that the Humiliation of us bathe Prince and People, may be both more acceptable to them and available to us, stir up the holy heart of our holy Phineas, thy Servant and our Sovereign, that he may stand up in the Zeal of his God, and execute thy just judgement upon the Zimryes, and Cozbyes, that be amongst us, even the great sins, and bold Sinners of this Nation, that then, as thy Word hath told us, thy Plague may be stayed. To which end also make our Mosesses, to stand in the Gap, and our Aaron's, with the sweet Incense of their holy Prapers, to stand betwixt the living and the dead, and stir up our Priests, the Ministers of the Lord, to weep for us before thy Altar, and let them cry and say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not over thine Heritage to reproach: Let not the Papists and schismatics insult over us; Let them not say at their Idolatrous Meetings, nor profane Conventicles, Where is now their God? for thou art our God, and thou art in Heaven, and thou dost what thou pleasest, and all thy ways are right, and the Just walk in them, but Transgressor's shall fall therein: Let them know, O Lord, that thou being our Father, and we having justly provoked thee, thou wilt take thy Children in hand, and that they ought not to have rejoiced over us, in the day of our destruction: O suffer them not good Lord, to make thy correction, their advantage: O let them not lay their hands upon our substance, in this Day of our Calamity, suffer them not to stand in the cross-ways, to cut off those whom thou shalt spare, and make a prey of those that shall remain: We shall ever acknowledge, how great soever this Plague be, yet thy mercies are greater, in that thou tookest us into thine own hand to correct us, and gave us not over into the hands, of these men the jesuited Papists, whose mercies are cruel, and their cruelties insatiable: Therefore good Lord, when thou hast removed thy hand, let us not fall into their hand, but save us for thyself, and let us live to call upon thy Name, and let us desire rather now to dye under the hand of thee our Father, and in thy fear and love, then to live to heap sin upon sin, and to be reserved for further vengeance, or to be exposed to the cruel Papists the wicked Enemies of Religion. O look upon us in mercy Lord, who lie down in the dust of Desolation, and are covered with confusion of our faces, O look down upon us, who look up unto thee, and who desire to rend our hearts though not our garments, and to turn to thee the Lord our God, O look upon this desolate, and distressed City, who now may cry to all her stately Sisters the Cities of Europe, and to all her beautiful Daughters, the Cities of England, and with ashes now upon her head, instead of her stately & costly Crown 
Psal. 46.  calls upon them all and saith, Come and behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the midst of my most wealthy and populous streets, learn by me, 
Esay.  and seek the Lord while he may be found, left he pull down your Pride: And rejoice not over me, O thou mine Enemy, thou Daughter of Babylon, lest the Lord turn his wrath from me to thee, and hasten the vengeance, so long ago deserved by thee, and pronounced upon thee; trust thou in thy Horses and in thy Chariots, thy Idols and thy Idol Superstitions, We will remember 
Prou.  the Lord our God, For thy Name, O Lord, is a strong tower, and the righteous flying unto it, are always helped: Thou hast spoken it Lord, and we believe it, and in that belief are we bold to press unto thee, nay, to press thee with performance of thy promise. Therefore, O thou that art the 
Psal.  helper of the friendless, help us in this City, who are forsaken by so many friends, and left destitute by them, that should have stood to us in this day of our desolation, but hast 
Psal.  not thou told us, that if our Fathers and Mothers should forsake us, yet thou Lord wilt take us up: Thou therefore who seest our friends fail us and our acquaintance to stand afar off, stand thou so much the nearer us, O Lord our God: And now that humane helps fall short, Help thou us O 
Psal.  God of our Salvation for the glory of thy Name: O thou in whom the Fatherless finds mercy, in thee let the comfortless findcomfort, In thee let this desolate City find consolation.  
Look mercifully upon us who come unto thee, with tears in our eyes, sorrow in our souls, Lamentations in our mouths, heaviness in our hearts, works of mercy in our hands, and humiliation of the whole man: And thou that losest not a tear, forgettest not one desire, but hearest every greane, and counts the very sighs and sobs of all thy Saints, give us comfort, and fill our hearts with hops, that this humiliation of our King and his people shall not be fruitless, but after it is not barely performed but accomplished, and perfected, as thou appointest it shall then prevail with thee our God, not only to make an end of our miseries, but to remember and renew thy Cavenant with us, and to bring us and this City, and our whole Land, both Court and Kingdom nearer unto thee, and having in this fire of affliction consumed our corruption, and purged away our dross both in Church and Commonwealth, wilt make us come out new creatures, both high and low, both public and private persons, pure as Silver, and as Gold most precious before thee: And wilt hereby work out that inward Renovation, and that outward Reformation, in our Church and State, in our Court and Kingdom, and all that see it 
Psal. Psal.  shall say; This hath God done, for they shall shall perceive it is thy work: Then we that did sow in tears, shall reap in joy: Then the long night of our sorrow being ended, the long desired morning of our joys shall shine forth: The voice of the Turtle shall be 
Esay.  heard in our Land, Blessed shall then they all be that come to us in the Name of the Lord: And beautiful the feet of those, that bring us the glad tidings of the Gospel, whose faces formerly have been contemned, Old things shall then be done away, and all things shall be made new. Truth shall flourish, and Heresy find no footing, justice shall reign, Oppression shall be oppressed: The hand of Bribery shall be broken: The arm of injustice cut off, and the Mouth of Iniquity shall be stopped: Then shall our Sons grow as plants, and our Daughters be like polished precious ftones, Our Garners shall be full, and our Cattle shall increase, we shall fear no breaking of Enemies to invade us, nor hear any news or noises to affright us, no cries, nor clamours, nor complainings in our streets; Our poor shall eat and be satisfied, and our rich shall rejoice in the blessings of their God: Our Priests shall be clothed with Salvation, and Zion's Saints shall sing aloud for joy: Our Princes shall be wiser, and our judges better instructed, and instead of serving themselves and the time, will then learn to serve the Lord with 
Psal. 2.  fear, and rejoice to him with reverence. Then shall our King and Queen joy in thy 
Psal. 21.  strength, O Lord, and exceedingly rejoice in thy salvation: Then all our friends shall rejoice with us, and all our enemies be covered with confusion, and the World shall say, Blessed are the people that be in such a case, 
Psal. 144  yea a thousand times blessed the people, that have such a Lord for their God, who hath purged them, from their old pollution, and purified them for himself, that now he may dwell among them for evermore.  
Hear us G God of Mercy for thy Name sake, But Lord we beseech thee begin with the better part first, even the spiritual sores of our Souls and of our Land, remove those Plagues first which hath pulled down this Plague, therefore begin we beseech thee at the right end, and make us not healthful and found in body, and leave us sick in soul, and miserable in our spiritual state; Turue us therefore O God of our salvation cause thy loving countenance to shine upon us, and we shall been safe: Bring us again into thy Temples with joy, and into thy Courts with praifs, satisfy us early with thy Mercies, and comfort us according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us: Now let thy work appear unto thy Servants, and thy gloeie unto their Children: Then we will give into thy house with true Burnt offerings, and with théerefulnesse of heart will pay thee our vows, which our lips have uttered, and our mouths have spoken in the days of our affliction. And we that been thy People and sheep of thy Pasture will give thee thanks for ever, and shows forth thy Praises unto the Generations that shall follow after us, unto the World's end.  
And this our poor Prayer which here we have presented, and this▪ our weak thanksgiving which we have here rendered to thy holy Majesty, we humbly beg may been accepted, not for ourselves alone, but for thy whole Church, even the blessed body of thy dear Son. Nor for our friends alone, but even our enemies, for whom we implore rather thy Mercy to cowert them, than thy justice to corfound them, yet if they will not be reclaimed, restrain their rage, good Lord, and frustrate all their fury, make the malice of Man turn to thy praise, and if our Prayers can do them no good, at least, let their causeless Curses and cursed Plots do us no hurt: Stand by all the Armies and Forces of thy Church both by Sea and Land, and by all them that stand up for thy holy Cause, especially that chief Champion of thy Church, thy devoted Servant our Sovereign Lord, rouse up his Royal heart, inflame him more and more with zeal and love to thee, that thy Church may find him and thy foes may feel him to be the Great Defender of thy Christian Faith, and the Man of Men whom thou hast marked for thyself, even a second Cyrus raised up anointed 
Esay: 44. ●  and sanctified by thyself to perform all thy pleasure, and to execute thy great and glorious Designs, not only for the building up of our jerusalem, in the Reformation and Restoration of our Church, but to subdue the Nations before thee, and to weaken and lose the Loins of such Kings as will not open their hearts to thee. The promise thou didst please to make to Cyrus, who knew thee not, make good we beseech thee much more to Him who knows thee, and fears thee, and submits his soul unto thee, and casts his Crown down at thy feet: That is, Make him thy great Shepherd, hold up his Right hand, subdue thine enemies before 
Esay. 45. 1▪ 2, 3, 4.  him, open to him all doors of difficulties break in pieces the gates of Brass, and cut in sunder the bars of Iron, and go before him when he goes to make the crooked places of the World straight. To which end give him good Lord beside all thy other blessings, the Treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that even thereby also he may know that thou the Lord who hast called him and set him on work, art able to payhis Armies, & provide for him; do this O Lord for jacob thy Servant's sake and Israel thine Elect. Bless the Queen. Thou that hast made her His, make her also Thine, that so she may be a help to him, a blessing to us a comfort to the distressed Churches of France and a joy to the Christian World: Bless therefore good Lord, and make powerful all means of her Conversion public and private, and for the settling of her soul in thy holy Truth, and in the ways of righteousness: And besides the Prayers of us, and thy whole Church over the World, daily made for Her, we beseech thee graciously to regard the serious supplications which we are sure his Majesty daily pours out before thee, for her happy and speedy Connersion▪ 
Esay,  that so she may been a Pursing Mother as he is a nursing Father to thy Church Shine from Heaven with the beams of Love and Mercy upon those glorious Servants of thine, the King and Queen of Bohemia, and their Royal Branches, and as thou haft honoured them not only to believe in thee, but to suffer for thee, so give them in thy good time; a blessed Issue of all their unjust sufferings, and in the mean time arm them with Faith and Patience to wait on thee. Look down in Mercy, and bless with thy special blessing the High Court of Parliament, be with them at their Meetings, Consultations and Conclusions, set thy fear before their eyes, and let thy glory be their greatest Aim, knit the hearts of Prince and People one to another, and all to thee; Confound all private Plots any way tending to the hindrance of the comfortable continuance of that blessed Meeting, till they have first discovered, and then found means to cure the Corruptions, Plagues, and great diseases of this Church and State. Bless this whole Land, make his Majesty's Council faithful to thee, lest otherwise they prove false to him, Purge the Tribe of Levi, that their lips may preserve pure knowledge, and their lives may express the Life of true Religion. Refine our Nobility, from the fill thy dregs of Popery, and all ignoble bafenesse, Cleanse the hearts and hands of our judges and Magistrates, and purify our People in this furnace of Affliction, and humble us all from the King unto the Captive, that so we may been a People prepared for the Lord. And look down in Mercy as thou art a God of Mercy upon those many hundreds, nay yet, alas, alas, thousands of our dear brethren in this Land, and especially in this City, who still lie groaning under the burden of thy Wrath, & the Sword 
2. Sam. 24. Lu. 13. 1. 2.  of thy destroying Angel: Alas O Lord these Sheep, what have they done? Or are we better than our Brethren? Or are these thousands that fall before our faces any greater sinners than the rest? Or rather have not we sinned more than they, and yet they are smitten, rather than we? O how wonderful 
Rom. 9  are thy works, how unsearchable are thy judgements, and thy ways past finding out. Again, how infinite and unmeasurable are thy Mercies to all them that fear thee, and seek thy Face? Therefore we beseech thee 
Psa. 79. 11.  let the sorrowful sighing of these thy Prisoners come before thee, and according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to dye. At least, we beseech thee as thou emptiest the Earth, fill the Heavens, and whom thou takest from us, Lord take unto thyself and fill thy heavenly Mansions with their Souls, whose bodies have left so many houses desolate in our streets. And for so many of us whom thou pleasest to preserve, Lord, Let us not live, but to honour thee; therefore mark us with 
Ezek. 9  thy holy stamp, and seal us for thyself; that when the Angel of justice sees us sorrowing for our sins, and for the iniquity of the time, and mourning for the Miseries and sighing for the sufferings of thy Saints, and laying to our hearts the affliction of joseph, he may then not only pass by us, but even in the midst of this common calamity leave us some badge of thy blessing, & some better Testimony of thy Love, in the holy use of this thy judgement, than the more secure times of our lives past have formerly afforded us.  
Thus Lord, have we poured out our souls into the bosom of thy Mercy: Thou art he that hears the Prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come, and if all flesh may come shall not then thy Children be bold to press unto thee? And seeing we have poured out our hearts to thee, O pour not out the Uialls of thy Wrath upon us, but pour down upon us the new of thy favour, the showers of sweet Compassion.  
Hear us thou blessed Father, plead for us thou blessed Son, help our infirmities thou blessed Spirit of Grace, and make thou Intercession for us, with those holy groans 
Rom. 8.  that cannot by us be expressed: Hear us and answer us thou glorious Trinity in holy Unity, not for any Merits of ours, for we lay our hands upon our mouths, nay, we abhor ourselves in dust and ashes, but 
job 42. 6▪  only for the precious bloodshedding, and all sufffcient Satisfaction of jesus Christ, the Surety and Saviour of our Souls, the Mediator of our Peace, and the Eternal High Priest of the New Testament. In whose blessed Name and holy words, we shut up this our weak Prayer, offer this our poor Sacrifice, and tender this pitiful complaint of our poor souls unto the hands of thy heavenly Majesty, as he hath taught us, and left us in his holy Gospel the Charter of our Peace: Our Father, etc.   

A SOVEREIGN MEDICINE FOR and against the Plague: Being an ancient and approved Antidote, and the sure and infallible way how to escape the Plague, or at least the Plague of the Plague.  
TAke thy Heart (for there begins the Plague) and every morning, wash it, in the tears of true repentance and hearty sorrow for thy sins: But that it may be throughly washed, see first thou stretch it upon the tenters, or rather set it upon the rack, of a strict Examination, that so it may pour itself out, and make a free and full Confession: Then mollify it in the precious Oil, and bathe it in the blood of jesus Christ the true Balm of Gilead, by a true and lively Faith. Being thus cleansed, then strengthen it by cordial comforts confected of nothing else, but the pure and sweet promises of the Gospel: And this Confection is only to be made; by the skilful hand of the holy Physician and Spiritual Apothecary, the Minister of God, whom thou shalt always find at the sign of the Bible, or the Holy Lamb, and there thou art sure of true and wholesome Simples; But take heed of them at the Crosskeys, or the Sign of Agnus Dei, for though the Shops be gorgeous, and all things gloriously painted, thou art sure to be cozened with counterfeit Drugs, and with the corrupt Balsam of Egypt, in stead of the true Balm of Gilead.  
Thy Heart thus rectified, let it then command thy tongue and lips, to acknowledge that thou for thy part by thy sins of Commission and Omission hast had thy hand, and borne thy part in pulling down, this Pestilence and all other plagues of God: Let it then command itself to promise and vow, that if thou for thy part, may by the power and mercy of God be preserved, thou wilt perform some special service to him, his Church or Children, more than before: And let it command the said tongue and lips to utter and publish the same promise, the better to bind itself to obedience. Let it then command the eyes, to turn away from beholding, and the ears from harkening after vanity, and yield themselves, the instruments of holy Observation, to mark and consider the works of the Lord; It must then command the hands, to keep themselves free from corruption, and that they be painfully, and faithfully employed in the honest labour of thy lawful Calling, and thy feet to walk in those ways, and tread only in those steps, which God hath appointed thee.  
This done, then take for thy Breakfast, in the Name of the Lord, a Chapter of the blessed Bible, and so set thyself unto thy work, and faithful labour of thy lawful Calling. Then after thy days labour done, bodily refection, take for thy Spiritual Dinner and Supper thy heartful of holy Observations of those mighty Works of God, both of his justice and Mercy towards thyself and others: which all that day long, either thine eyes have seen, or thine ears have heard of. Then the day being done, see that thou and thine for your Banquet, or rear Supper, do close up your stomaches, with those true Sweetmeats, certain selected Chapters of the blessed Bible: Then after a holy Commemoration, of what every one hath heard or seen, or observed that day touching the wondrous Works of God, and application of the same one to another: and each one to himself, Let then the Heart command the Tongue with comfort and boldness, to recommend the souls and bodies of Thee and Thine into the blessed tuition, powerful protection and safe keeping of the Keeper of Israel.  
But forget not no thing as thou wouldst have all this profitable, and to do thee any good, namely, to learn (which thou mayst do, of that excellent Apothecary 
Heb. 11. 38.  Saint Paul) what it is to live the life of faith, when natural reason and humane helps not only fail thee, but haply are all against thee: This Faith I tell thee aforehand is not easily found, but I deal truly with thee who had it, and can teach thee how to get it, for though himself cannot give it thee, yet he will both direct and lead thee, and bring thee acquainted with that holy Spirit, who gave it him, and will not deny it thee if thy Tongue do beg it, and thy Soul seek it: Never so little of this Faith is precious, therefore so thou get it and have it right, care not for the quantity; for it is a holy Elixir, a true Quintessence which will presently and perpetually multiply, beyond ordinary belief, to the infinite enriching of the Soul that enjoys it.  
But this Faith hath one strange property, that although it will be content to be gathered up by grains of young and weak Christians, and treasured up by dams and ounces of such as be rich and strong men in Christ, yet can it not abide to be measured or mixed with Scruples: For these Scruples are of a contrary nature to true Faith: but otherwise, be it more, be it less, so it be true, its perfect, and thou shalt find thyself happy if thou have it: for the least quantity of this Faith will afford thee every Morning and Evening a proportion of that true Treacle, or Methrydate, which yet was never made at Venice (except closely in some corners) by reason of that great juggler the Pope, who conveys in corrupt Drugs and false Ingredients: This Methrydate is made of more strange Simples, then be the blood of Scorpions, or the flesh of Vipers: For it is and must be confected of the flesh and body, and blood of a Man, but such a Man as the World never had a Second, for he must be the child of Adam, and yet the Son of no Man, and a true Man, and yet no Man to be his Father: Now his blood taken from him while he is alive, and yet so taken from him as he must needs dye, is of that Sovereign excellency, and that infinite virtue and Merit, as the Quintessence that may be extracted out of it, (which only this forenamed Faith can do,) Is that Superexcellent, nay, Supercelestial Methry date of that high infallible, and invaluable virtue, as the Soul that out tastes of it Morning and Evening, did never perish, nor shall to the World's end. Therefore, I say again, as thou wouldst have this Medicine work, and become powerful for thy preservation, forget not to take a taste of this continually, the first thing in the Morning, and the last at Night.  
Then lie thee down in Peace, and securely take thy rest, for thou art free from the fear of all that are able to hurt thee. But be sure, for a sign whereby to know this Physic works well, that instantly when thou wakest thy heart, do forthwith fix itself on God, and upon him bestow thy first thoughts: And so when thy body hath received so much sleep and rest as may make it serviceable for the Soul, than up with it in the Name of the Lord, that so both Body and Soul may set themselves to serve their God: Then taking this Medicine, and following all the former directions, thou mayst safely enter upon thy business, and adventure upon the dangers of that day both thou & thine. Provided first, that you always intermix (as occasion is) together with the duties of your Calling, such works of Piety towards God, justice and Equity towards Man, Mercy and Charity towards the Poor, as the Divine Providence shall lay before thee, or cast in thy way: For take it for a Rule, that these four must always go together, and God himself hath so joined them all together, as cursed be the Man that puts them asunder, for he carries such a heart about him, as this Physic can never do him good: But where these four are conscionably conjoined, this Physic never failed to work his work: but where any of the four is wanting, and totally neglected, there the other three will do no good, but chose, if they cannot get the company of their companion, they mourn and pine away, and in a short time will be gone, and stay no longer there, where they cannot be complete.  
Provided also that Man, nor God do ever find thee out of thy way, but always either walking faithfully in thy lawful calling, or else doing some good in the performance of some of the foresaid duties of Piety, justice, or Mercy: For these be the ways of a Christian, and he that is found out of all these is utterly out of his way, and consequently out of that protection which God hath granted to them that wait on him, which runs in these words, That He hath given his Angels charge over 
Psal. 91. 11.  them, to keep them in all their ways, etc. And the power of this Protection no Creature can infringe. So as by virtue thereof, the Servants of God have walked in safety in the midst of such dangers as hath been an amazement to the World, and a wonder to themselves: And for the want of this, many thousands have miscarried, not only of God's Enemies, who walk in wrong and wicked ways, but even such of his friends and followers, who being misled by the World or their own Presumptions, took to themselves the boldness to step aside, out of their own ways, and so have shifted themselves out of that shelter or safety, which otherwise they might have challenged as their own.  
And lastly, Provided that in all times of danger thou take heed of tempting God, for otherwise thou mayst justly provoke him to deny his blessing to this Medicine, without which, as Sovereign and powerful as it is, it can do no good. Now if thou wilt avoid this fearful and dangerous Sin of tempting GOD, thou must take heed:  
First, of putting thyself into any needless danger: And it is then needless, when without necessary cause or lawful calling, either for gain or pleasure, or any private respect thou puts thyself into places, or among persons infected.  
Secondly, thou must also at thy utmost peril, carefully use all good helps of Nature and Art, which Gods good Providence affords thee, whether they be commended unto thee by the Learned Physician, or approved by true and real experience, and whether they be means Preseruative, Curative, or Restorative.  
Thirdly, thou must be wary of all wilful distemper, and be diligent in keeping a careful and orderly diet, not only for moderation and sobriety, in respect of the quantity both of meat, and drink especially, but also for Wisdom in the choice of the quality and condition of that little thou feedest upon.  
And lastly, abhor more than Poison or the Plague itself these wicked Opinions, and all that hold them.  
First, that the Pestilence is not infectious in itself, and of it own nature, but so immediately, and only the hand of God, as none become infected, but only by his stroke.  
Secondly, that every man's days are so numbered, as do or not do what he will, he cannot live longer, nor die sooner than his day and hour appointed.  
Thirdly, that therefore all careful avoiding of persons or places infected, and diligent using of means appointed for prescruation are needless and to no purpose.  
The foulness and falseness of all these three appears:  

Levit. 13. etc.  First, in that the Leper must be shut up, and all men avoid him, yea, though 
●. Kings. 15.  he were a King, which being nothing so deadly as is the Pestilence, (seeing some lived with it many years) It is manifest it was so commanded, only in respect of the Contagion.  

job 2.  Secondly, that jobs Friends being loving, wise, and Religious, and coming to comfort him, having the Pestilence, Leprosy, or some such contagious sickness, stood afar off, and refused to come near him.  

Esay 38. 5▪  Thirdly, Hezekiah having (that which never man had else) a Lease of his life for fifteen years, from him that was able to make it good, yet used all ordinary means and humane helps, for preserving his health, and prolonging his life.  

Acts 27.  Fourthly, Saint Paul having an express grant from God, of the lives of every one in the Ship with him: yet the next day, when the Mariners, who are the means under God to command and rule, and save a Ship, would have craftily conveyed themselves out, to have saved their own lives, leaving Paul and the rest to be saved by that promise and power of God: Saint Paul plainly told 
Verse 31.  the Captain, If these men go out of the Ship we cannot be saved. For howsoever that condition of using means was not expressed, yet he knew it to be employed, which was all one. Lastly, our Lord jesus himself, whose Deity could deliver 
Mar. 39 10 & 4. 1, 2.  him from all danger, yet to teach us to be careful in use of all good means, and to let us see how made these men be, when such as had Plagues pressed too near upon him, called for a little Ship to wait upon him, because (saith the Text) of the multitude, lest they should throng him. Yet he that refused the throng, refused not his duty, he that fled from the danger, fled not from his calling, but preached God's Word unto them, himself in the Ship, and the people on the shore.  
The last wicked opinion to be avoided, is, that none who love, fear and serve God, and believe in him can dye of the Plague, and all that do, do want Faith: The wickedness of which Doctrine appears in this, that diverse of the dearest of God's Saints have tasted, nay drunk as deeply the Cup of all external Crosses, and bodily afflictions whatsoever, as any Vnbeleevers or Enemies of God have done. Again, in that many of God's Children, who in common Calamities turn to the Lord in Faith and true Repentance, howsoever thereby they saved their Souls, yet for their bodily lives were swept away with the rest, by the general judgement: As a great number of them that perished in the Flood, and diverse of those that die by the hand of justice, and all Histories and Ages afford frequent examples.  
And lastly, if thou wouldst take heed of tempting God, stand in thy station, make Conscience to do thy duty, Fly not with jonah from the presence of 
jonah. 1.  the Lord, for he can follow thee, and find thee where ever thou art, and reach thee afar off as well as at home, and make jonah feel him (being fled from his duty) even when he thought himself most safe, and slept securely: Thou therefore that mayst boldly beg God's blessing in thy place and duty, how darest thou tempt and try the power of God, by flying from it. Use this Medicine and observe these Rules, and as sure as God is true and just, thou mayst boldly believe the Plague shall either not touch thee, or not hurt thee; but in stead of a Plague shall be a Blessing to thee: And whereas many of GOD'S good Children have taken and died of this Infection, as it is manifest on the one side they wanted not Grace, nor Faith for Salvation, so it is as clear on the other; that thev some way failed in the use of this Medicine either, in not belceving what in this case ought to be believed, or in not doing something to be done for their deliverance in this danger: In all which Cases, the Rule of Christ is certain: according to thy faith, and consequently thy obedience, which always waits on true Faith, So be it unto thee.  
This Medicine is so ancient and so approved, that since the World began it was never found to fail in one particular, saving only such as either seem to use it but did not, or using it in part; yet failed in some particulars which in the use of Medicines may not be allowed. And by the virtue of this Medicine alone, many about this City have been preserved to this day, whose Callings and Duties inevitably bound them within the reach of such dangers, from which all the humane helps in the World could not have delivered them: And still if they fail not in Faith, nor discharge of their Duties: God who is the Author of this Medicine will not fail in performance of his promise.  
FINIS.