Vmbra viri facies haec, est Surgentis in altum  
Effigiem melius pagina culta dabit,  
Ingentes animae superant virtutibus  
Artem Vostermanne tuam, vel, Titiane tuam.    portrait of Richard Kirby (?)   

PILLULAE PESTILENTIALES: OR A SPIRITUAL RECEIPT for Cure of The Plague.  
Delivered in a Sermon Preached in St. Paul's Church LONDON, in the midst of our late Sore VISITATION.  
By Rich. Kingston M. A. and Preacher at St. James Clerken-well.  Numb. 16.46. There is wrath gone out from the Lord, and the Plague is begun. Numb. 16.48. And Aaron stood between the Living and the Dead, and the Plague was stayed. 
LONDON, Printed by W. G. for Edw. Brewster at the Crane in St. Paul's Churchyard 1665.   

To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN KEELING Knight and Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of ENGLAND.  
Right Honourable,  
WHen I lift mine Eyes from the low and humble valley of my obscure fortunes, to that bright shining and Eminent hill of Honour, on which the Favour of His Majesty, the Nobleness of Birth, and your many Excellent Virtues have seated you; I cannot but lay a sharp and rigorous Censure upon my own Presumption, that I, so much a stranger to your Lordship, should thus boldly adventure to press into your presence, and to crave your Honourable Patronage of so mean a Work; but when your Honour is pleased to consider that Divine Truth's are Subject's worthy of acceptation, though presented in an Earthen Vessel; and David's comfort (in rescuing his Wives, and recovering the spoils from the Amalekites) was no whit the smaller, although a young man of Egypt made way for the discovery. I hope to obtain (what I humbly beg) your Honour's Pardon.  
My Lord, this Sermon was Composed and Preached in the very height of our late dreadful Visitation, when Thousands died on our right hand, and Ten Thousand on our left; at which time my employment by day was visiting the Sick, and by night burying the Dead; having no time allowed for study but what I extracted from my natural rest which may make this Tract more guilty of failings than at another time; my humble request therefore to your Lordship is, that you would be pleased to lay the finger of a charitable construction upon the Scar of my imperfection, and favourably accept this first fruit of my labours. So in all humility imploring the God of Majesty and Mercy to Sanctify your Heart, Rectify your Hand, Justify your Soul, and lastly Crown your Head with eternal Glory; I take the honour to Subscribe myself,  
Your Lordship's daily Orator Rich. Kingston.   

To the Right Worshipful Joseph Ayloff and George Walsh Esquires, two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex. And to the Worshipful Henry Dacres and William Cole Esquires; as also to his much respected friend Mr. Henry Knight, R. K. wisheth the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth.  
Right Worshipful,  
TUtelar Angels are a controverted Theme amongst Schoolmen, but the favourable influence of a just defence from your Worships, hath been an unquestionable matter of my experience: which transcendent favours, if buried in Oblivion, would be an high impeachment of veracity; and not to acknowledge them, having this occasion, could plead for no distance, from downright sordidness and plain Ingratitude.  
The Work is too small, and the Author too mean to equalise your worth, or merit your Patronage; only 'tis the height of my Ambition to let the world know that your favours (which as far excel my deserts as my power to retaliate) have not been bestowed on an ungrateful Servant. I am not ignorant, that cunning Bezaliahs and Aholiahs may carve and polish the Temple, yet I am glad that I can but lay one little stone: though men of brighter Souls bring their Gold and Jewels to it, yet I hope God will accept of my young Pigeons and Turtle Doves. I may say with St. Peter, Silver and Gold have I none, but what I have I give you; in all humility beseeching you to consider my years, which are but few, and the time I had, which was but short, and my many other sad occasions, wherewith in the mean time I was interrupted; and then accept of this for trial, as if it were the extract of some purer and better wit. The Lord prosper your days, direct your hearts, and bless all your undertake, to the glory of his Name, and your own eternal felicity: So ever Prayeth  
Your Worships in all Duty and Service Rich. Kingston.   

To the Churchwardens of the Parish of St. James Clerken-Well for the time being, and to the rest of the Officers and Inhabitants of the same Parish: R. K. Wisheth health and happiness in this life, and Eternal blessedness in that to come.  
Loving Friends,  
IT pleased the wise Disposer of all things, to cast my lot among you in one of the most dreadful Visitations that ever England knew, when the black Horse of the Pestilence, with Pale Death on his back, pranced our Streets at Noon day, and Midnight; at which dreadful (and never to be forgotten) time our sense of Seeing was well-nigh glutted with beholding the sight of our Diseased and Deceased Friends, enough to have extinguished the optic faculty.  
No Papers then over our Doors were set  
With Chambers ready furnished to be Let;  
But a sad Lord have mercy upon us, and  
A Bloody Cross, as fatal marks did stand  
Presaging th' noisome Pestilence within,  
Was come to take revenge of us for Sin.  
And as our Eyes might well be dimmed so might our Ears be deafed with the doleful cries of the Poor, for Food to keep them from Starving; of the Sick, for Physic to keep them from Dying; and of them that were Marked, for Spiritual helps to preserve them from Perishing.  
We well might hear of Death there was such plenty,  
One Bell at once, was fain to Ring for twenty:  
No Clocks were heard to strike upon their Bells,  
'Cause nothing Rung, but Death-lamenting knells.  
Which dreadful noises so terrified some, and affrighted all, that men knew not what course to steer to preserve themselves from this wounding shaft.  
Some by their fear to go to Church deburred,  
Anon are carried Dead into the Yard:  
And Churches new with too much Burial fed,  
Feared they should have no meeting but of Dead▪  
This Poisoned Arrow of the Pestilence (especially when it was first foot among us) wounded so suddenly and sharply, that we could scarce be resolved whether 'twas Sickness or Death itself that assaulted us; for many lying down to repose in the Evening, made their sleep true kin to Death, by dying before the Morning.  
— Ah who would then defer  
A preparation for this messenger!  
But not to detain you longer with a large Epistle to a little Book, be pleased to accept thereof as a Testimony of my sincere love to you, which shall always be accompanied with my hearty Prayers for you, that our merciful God would be pleased to withdraw his Sin-revenging Scourge, which is still amongst us, and charge his Angels to guard your persons from future dangers; and give you his holy Spirit to guide your Souls in the Path of Holiness here, and bring you to the Palace of Happiness hereafter.  
So prayeth The earnest desirer of your Souls welfare Rich. Kingston. From my Study at St. James Clerkenwell. Octob. the 18. 1665.   

PILLULAE PESTILENTIALES.  2 Chron. cap. 7. v. 13, 14. 
— If I send Pestilence among my people.  
If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their Sin, and will heal their Land.  
GOD, that from all Eternity was happy in himself, created the World and Man the most glorious part of it, not out of necessity, but a diffusive Goodness, by which he would have some Beings represent his Supremacy, and receive the Style of the Sons of the most High. Other Artificers either out of Ambition or Profit, transmit to the World their Skill and Knowledge, only He (induced by a charity proportionable to his own Nature) resolved to bring light out of darkness, and constitute a Lieutenant upon Earth that should largely speak the grandeur of his Maker. Thus Adam sprung bright and glorious out of the Chaos, imbued with those perfections which We (his posterity) since his transgression can never hope for. His Patrimony was large, and he might have left it to his Heirs, who now by sad experience find, that he not only became bankrupt himself, but entailed his misery upon them. He came into the World its Lord and Master, and left his children Peasants and Vassals; and the truth is, with so much unhappy fertility they have improved his Crime, that being but one at first, the Eating the forbidden Fruit, it's now become infinite, and able to puzzle the Arithmetic of Angels. Upon this score one might justly wonder that God should say, IF I send the Pestilence amongst my People. If is a Word of Uncertainty, and argues an irresolution: One would rather have expected the Lord should have sworn by himself, that since this Darling, this Partaker of his divine Excellencies, will ever be abasing them, and choose rather the Livery of the Devil, than that beautiful Vest of Innocence, with which he came clothed into Paradise, that therefore he would send his Plenipotentiary the Plague, and without compassion cut off his Favourite. But by this doubtful way of Expression, we are taught how unwilling he is to give his justice a full draught, which he will and must do where Impenitency stops the Progress of his Mercy. The Heathen could say, 
Val. Max.  Lento gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira, tarditatemque supplicii gravitate compensat. We shall find this Truth clear, if we consider the Series of his proceed against Sin. Adam no sooner sins, but is whipped out of Eden. Cain kills his brother, and becomes a Fugitive. Sodom grows luxurious and burns with un-natural Lusts, and fire descends from heaven to extinguish those hellish flames. Jerusalem, a City graced with more privileges than any in the World, as being the place in which God would have his name in a more particular manner called upon; the Seat of the Temple, and the Metropolis of that Nation which he owned above all others; Jerusalem, I say, that heard the Prophets, yea Christ himself preach, and saw his Miracles, is now, for her Sins nothing but a heap of Rubbish; and as Adrichomius observes, One may seek Jerusalem in Jerusalem and not find her. The Eastern Church, whose couragrous Martyrs, whose General Counsels, whose Prelates (those burning and shining lights) are so highly celebrated, is now for her Arrian Heresy and other Sins with which she abounded, enslaved under the Turkish Yoke, and hourly tormented with the Impieties of the Impostor Mahomet. Neither can We of the Latin-Church here in Europe, say our Sins have been hid, and Divine Justice as it were asleep during their Committing. In what a field of Miseries hath the whole Germane Empire been this last Century? Nay, if we have a mind to look nigher home, what a calamitous Scene can Great Britain and Ireland show you for twenty years, where fullness of Bread and a long Peace, begot stiff Necks and obdurate hearts; and these pulled down the former, and this present destruction: so that We may well conclude, that there is no Nation or Country so graced with privileges, so crowned with blessings, and so beloved by God, but Sin will beget a deadly quarrel between them, and cause the Subversion of the most flourishing States and Empires. Let the Epicure ascribe the alterations unto Fortune; the Stoic to Fate; Plato and Pythagoras, with the learned Statesman Bodin, to Number; Aristotle to a Symmetry or Disproportion; Copernicus to the Motion of the Centre; and Cardane, with the Generality of Astrologers, to the Malignant Influence of the Errattick Stars. We that have been otherwise built up in the most Holy Faith, are taught by the Divine Oracles that Sin only causes this Controversy between God and Man, and therefore whilst they (like Ixion in the Fable) embrace only a Cloud of palbable darkness instead of the Juno of bright and clear Truth, let us, since we know the True cause of God's wrath, endeavour to avoid it by newness of life, which is holiness in the Inward Man. And indeed it is but fit if we will offend, that God should right himself.  
— Nec enim Lex aequior ulla est,  
Quam necis Artifices Arte perire sua.  
We have Sinned, and God justly strikes our heads with giddiness, draws paleness on our faces, and dies our Skins with purple. The Prophet Amos saith, 
C. 4. v. 10.  God sent the Pestilence among the Israelites after the manner of Egypt, and he hath now sent the Plague amongst the English after the manner of Israel. Israel's Calamity in the time of King David, is England's Case in the Reign of King Charles.  
— Facta est narratio de te  
Anglia mutato nomine cum numero.  
Change but the Names of the Country with the Circuit, together with the time that Plague lasted, and the number of peo- it consumed in that space, and we are parallel; Repentance was their only Balsam, and it must be ours, for as the great Bishop of Hippo says, 
St. August.  Mutet vitam qui vult accipere vitam. We must by resolution of better obedience, blunt the Edge of that Sword that causes so great a Mortality amongst us.  
And thus I come to the words of my Text, If I send the Pestilence amongst my people. In which Words we have a Gracious promise of God unto his Church, or a direct Answer to Solomon's Prayer which he made at the finishing of the Temple, assuring Penitent Souls, that if they turn from the Evil of their ways, he will turn from the Evil of his wrath, and free them from destruction; I will hear from heaven and forgive their Sins. Where we may observe four particulars;  
First, a Disease, the Pestilence; si miserò Pestilentiam in Populum meum.  
Secondly, The Cause of the Disease, Sin; employed in these words, and turn from their wicked ways.  
Thirdly, The Medicine to be used, which is Compounded of three Ingredients.  

1. Humility.  
2. Prayer.  
3. Repentance.   
Fourthly, The Physician prescribing this Medicine, God. I will hear from heaven, etc.  
I begin with the Disease, of which I need say but little, since it speaks so much for it self. But something I must say, lest I seem to pass that over that passeth by few in a house or City where it comes. The word is sometimes rendered Pestilence, and sometimes Plague; from the Latin word Plaga, which signifies a Stroke: but by reason of the Straightness of our English Tongue, they are promiscuously taken. The Plague in other Languages extends further, and notes any extraordinary Stroke that comes from God; the Prophets under that Word contain these four, Famine, Pestilence, Wild Beasts, and the Sword; which per eminentiam, are called the four plagues of God. 'Tis true, God creates every thing, both light and darkness, 
Isa 45.7.  good and evil, as the Prophet speaks; but because Strokes, if they be private, particular, or ordinary, have no great operation on us; we observe their second, and not their first causes, and so we neither reverence God's Justice, nor discern his hand, nor fear his power: Upon this Score, when men's sins cry aloud, and (piercing the Heavens) mount to the very throne of God; it is fit likewise that God's loud Justice should pierce the heavens, 
Heb. 1.21.  descend upon man, and like the voice of Sinai, make poor mortals quake and fear. The plague is a Struck able to extort from any man the confession of Pharaoh's Enchanters, 
Ex. 8.19.  This is the Finger of God; It's an Arrow of his own shooting, 
2 Sam. 24.15.  and may better be called Morbus Sacer, than the Falling Sickness. And therefore in our Language we style the Pestilence the Visitation of God, and the Tokens thereof God's Marks, and upon our Doors writ LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US: By which we clearly confess, whilst the Angel executeth divine wrath, we all stand at God's Mercy.  
And thus I come from the Disease itself to the Cause of it, which is God's anger, inflamed by Sin. I know there are some, that following the Sentiments of Physicians, will needs ascribe it to the Infection of the Air, to gross and unwholesome Diet, or to the predominancy of corrupt humours: But Physicians may be excused if they say something when they see an Angel. As I will not deny but in all Diseases there may be something of natural, so I may likewise affirm, there is in this something divine and above nature.  
1. For the natural part.  
First, The Infected Air may contribute very much, and therefore we read that by casting the Ashes of the Furnace towards heaven, 
Ex. 9.8.  the Air became Infected, and the plague of Botches and Blains spread itself over Egypt.  
Secondly, Corrupt humours may do the like, for to them doth King David ascribe the cause of his Malady, when he complains that his Moisture in him was corrupt, 
Psal. 32.4.  dried up and turned into the drought of Summer.  
Thirdly, The contagion coming from the Sick. Thus we see by the Jewish Law, the Leprous person for fear of Infecting others was commanded to cry aloud , 
Leu. 13.45, 46, 52.  ; by which he gave the Sound warning they should not approach nigh for fear of Contagion. He was besides to have his dwelling alone; and the garments he wore, were to be washed, and if the plague was spread in them, the Priest was to burn them. Yea, the very house walls in which the Leper dwelled were to be scraped, and in some cases the house itself to be pulled down.  
The Learned Fernelius more judiciously confesses this Disease hath a hidden beginning, some secret principle that occultly wounds; and we may assure ourselves, that though things ab extrâ contribute to its progression, yet the real cause is the latent Corruption within us.  

Sir Tho. More Epigr.  Nugamur mortemque procul, procul, esse putamus,  
At mediis latet haec abdita visceribus.  
But let us come to the supernatural Cause of this Disease, and that will not require a Physician so much as a Divine: And I suppose many of them think it a difficult point, that they go into the Country to study it, and by their absence expound S. Paul's words thus, We preach not ourselves, i. e. our Curates (or who else will) preach for us. But to the supernatural Cause, the Scripture observes it as a crime in King Asa, that in the time of his Sickness he looked more after the Physician than after God. He did not consider the Infirmity of his Soul was to be healed as well as that of his body, and therefore looked for natural remedies only. But if we would avoid his fault, we must acknowledge the hand of God in this Sickness, and something above nature. For if we observe the way of inflicting it, we shall find it oftentimes done by Spirits: Thus we see an Angel, a destroying Angel in the plague of Egypt, Exod. 12.13. Another in the plague that destroyed the host of the Assyrians under Senacherib: We find a third in the plague at Jerusalem under King David, and St. John in the Revelations brings in a fourth pouring his Vial upon Earth, 
Rev. 16.2.  and there fell a noisome plague upon Man and Beast. So that God is the great Agent in this Calamity. But how? Not willingly, his anger must first be enkindled by our Sin; for as the Psalmist saith, 
Psal. 106.  They provoked him to anger with their Inventions, and then the plague broke in amongst them. Thus Deut. 28.21. God says, Because of the wickedness of thy doing, whereby thou hast forsaken me, the Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee. And Hosea cries, 
Hos. 14.6.  O Israel return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine Iniquity! The perdidit te in the Prophet doth not proceed from neighbours become Enemies, or from the Locust, Caterpillar, Mildews, and such other things, as cause Famine and Pestilence; but from the corruption and Sin hatched in these Israelites; and therefore in the second verse he counsels them as the only way to recover their former happiness, to Take with them words and turn to the Lord, and say unto him, take away all Iniquity, and receive us graciously. So that sin which is the plague of the Soul, begets the Plague of the Body. This viperous Mother brings forth a child so like itself, that it's hard to know the one for the other. I shall show you in a few particulars their Similitude and Agreement.  
First, They are alike in Nature: The Corporeal Pestilence aims not at the more ignoble parts of the body, but at the very Source of Life, the vital Spirits, and by its contagious quality oppresses them: The like doth Sin by its secret Malignancy to the Soul. It blinds the understanding, corrupts the Will, and so poisons all our Intellectual faculties that we cannot see the light of Faith, or ardently love God, or do any other Act that may speak us living Christians, and in a State of Grace.  
Secondly, They are alike in their Infection; The reason why we shut people up that are Infected, and avoid their Company, is, because they easily communicate their Disease, to those that are in health; it is so with sin, it insensibly creeps upon us. The often seeing wicked men repeat their crimes, first takes from us the hatred we should bear them, and afterward by undiscerned progressions so far work on us, that we begin to love and commit the same. The Historian observes, That Augustus soon perceived the Inclination of his two Daughters by the Company they kept: The one affected none but the grave Senators and worthy personages of Rome; and the Other none but the lose and debauched Gallants. We cannot touch pitch but we must be defiled; and we cannot converse with wicked men, but we shall be tainted with their Impurities.  
Thirdly, They are alike diffusive. Thucydides in his Description of the Plague of Athens, tells us it began in Africa; marched from Aethiopia into Egypt, and so took its course for Athens, which was a vast progress. And hath not Sin done the like? Hath not the Sin of Adam in Paradise spread itself over the whole World, and so seized upon the mass of Mankind, that we must all confess we are , and there is none of us righteous, no not one.  
Fourthly, They are both terrible. What a dismal sight is it to see an Army enter by force into a pleasant City, and there in a moment by the licentious fury of the Soldiers, view those streets floating with the blood of the Inhabitants, which in time of Peace used to be strewed with flowers? Yet when heat of blood is over, some mercy is usually hoped for, and many times obtained. But the Plague, like another Attila, the Scourge of God, sweeps all before it, and seldom gives Quarter. Sin does the like, yea, in a more terrible manner, for it erects its Trophies upon the ruin of Souls: The destruction of the body is but a momentary pain, but that of the Soul is commensurate to the duration of it, which is to all Eternity. How much reason have we therefore to pray to be delivered from this Executioner, that like another Nero loves to perpetuate misery, and strikes a wretch, ut sentiat se mori.  
Fifthly, They are alike in their Symptoms. When a man gins to feel some distemper in his head, stomach, belly, or other parts, though we apprehend some danger, yet we think him not past the benefit of Physic, and a possibility of Recovery; but if once his body begin to be purpled, and the plague spots discover their dismal hue, we then quit all hopes, and think nothing less than a miracle can recover him: Sin also hath her spots, and they are as ill boding to the Soul as the other to the body; 
V 23.  and therefore St. Judas in his General Epistle styles wicked men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spots in their feasts of Charity.  
Lastly, They are both of a quick dispatch. Other Diseases seem to give us some warning that we may set our house in order, and by repentance blot out the Score of our sins prodigality; but the pestilential sword, like the Italian Stiletto, carries death upon the point, and at its first entrance, summons the wounded to his Funeral; so that we may now sing in a mournful Dirge 
Our pleasures cease, our joys are flying,  
Death is alive, but Life is dying.  Hence it is that Galen calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of its Mortal quality; and Hypocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of its spreading nature. This deadly disease, we see, lays heaps upon heaps, and if the Almighty power puts not a stop to its violent proceed, it will in a short time scarce leave living enough to bury the dead. Where God gives it a Commission it runs like fire in a Corn field. That passage in Samuel is very remarkable, 
2 Sam. 24.15.  where it is said, So the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel from the Morning even to the time appointed. Some think this appointed time was six hours, and of this opinion is St. 
* Super Psal. 37.  Ambrose; 
* quaest. 37  Theodoret, and the Jewish Historian Josephus: Others think this appointed time was until night, and that at the beginning of the Evening Sacrifice it ceased, which St. Hierome follows: 
V Casp. Sanctium in●l.  Others (with Tostatus Abulensis) think it lasted three days. However all agree that it was but a short space, in which this Tragedy was acted, although the quamdiù is not certain. Upon this account the Septuagint reads the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, If I send Death amongst my people; to signify, other diseases by Medical herbs and the skill of Physicians may be Cured, but this is an infallible Executioner, as sure as death itself. And doth not Sin do the same with the Soul? 
Gen. 2.17.  In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die; not a year after, but in the very day thou breakest my Commandment thy sin will prove deadly. So Annanias and Sapphyra no sooner lied to the holy Ghost, but at St. Peter's Examination their Consciences became their condemning Jury, and their Sentence a sudden Death.  
We have now seen their agreement: I shall only say there is this happy dissimilitude, that whereas the Cure of the Bodily plague is uncertain, that of the Soul plague is infallible, if we fly to Christ with a due sense of our misery, and seek from his Merits that Alexipharmacon, that is, an Antidote against the greatest Crimes.  
But I shall desist from speaking any longer indefinitely of Sin, and come to those particular ones that in so high a degree have drawn this plague upon us.  
First then, The sin that leads the van is our Sabbath-breaking. How loud doth this cry in the Ears of God A sin more frequent, impudent, and unpunished, than in those late black days when the greatest were justified by a Law. This blessed day is now as much mangled and broken as once the Lord of it was: And as the Poet, deriding the immoderate dress of a wanton Girl, told her that she was minima pars sui; so is this day so divided, that it is now become the least part of itself, and you may seek for a Sabbath in a Sabbath and not find it. And whereas it ought to be the greatest Festival and holy Rest, now other days are more innocent than this. Those we spend upon our Callings, and this (the more is our shame) on our sins. In the Primitive times sanctifying the Lord's Day was an eminent Character that Christians lived in the purity of their profession. When the Question was asked, Servasti Dominicam? The Answer returned was, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum; I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. How are we fallen from our first love? by profaning the Sabbath either through Schismatical Petulancy, or Idleness and Security, snorting on a Bed, or walking in the fields, forgetting that he which on this day gathered sticks was paid home with stones. Considering therefore the judgement of God that hangs over our head for this particular sin, it is Christian Prudence to pray, Lord have Mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law.  
Secondly, Another Sin that pulls down God's vengeance on us, is that of Pride. Boetius says excellently well, Cum omnia vitia fugiant à Deo, sola Superbia se Deo opponit; When all Vices fly from God, Pride alone opposes itself too God. In other vices men seek some imaginary good, but in this they endeavour to dethrone God: it is an opposition to his very Being, as he is Alpha and Omega the first Efficient and last End; no wonder therefore if he blasts the persons and designs of those that harbour this Monster, which beginning first in heaven will never forget its old Attempt. And therefore St. Prosper in his Excellent Epistle to the Noble Virgin Demetrias, says finely, Cum aliae cupiditates ea tantum bona quibus adversantur imminuant; haec dum omnia ad se trahit, simul universa corrumpit; That whereas other Lust's waste only that Good and Virtue to which they are contrary, Pride whilst it arrogates all to itself, corrupts all at once. God therefore scatters the Proud, he maketh them like Smoak (to speak with the Psalmist) which perisheth in ascending, and vanisheth in dilating of itself. I shall not need to tell you how he hath punished it in Wicked men, as in Nabuchadnezzar, Herod, and Antiochus; for he will not allow it in his own people. And therefore if Corah, Dathan, and Abiram will be holier than Moses and Aaron, and tempt the Jewish Congregation to a Contempt of their Superiors, he will presently open the Earth, and bury them alive. They were ante Sepulti, quam Mortui, as the African Father (Optatus) speaks. If David out of pride will number the People, (and sure it was so, for the Text saith, 
1 Chr. 21.14.  his heart was lift up to number the People) God will send his Plague and sweep away seventy thousand of them.  
3. A third sin is that Cursed one of Swearing so much in Practice. Because of Oaths (saith the Prophet) the Land Mourneth: 
Jer. 3.10.  And how can we but expect that God will send the lightning of his judgements from heaven, when we do so thunder out Oaths on Earth. This is a Reigning Sin, not only amongst the Basest, but those that would be thought the Ornaments of the Age, as if Gentility consisted in belching out blasphemy.  
If the King be spoken against, it is high treason, and deservedly punished with Death; if a Noble man be traduced or slandered, it is punishable by the Statute of Scandalum Magnatum; yea, a private man in cases of Obloquy hath his remedy by Action: only the name of God, though dear to him, is not so tenderly regarded, but is most grievously rend and torn by this common and Soul-ruining Sin of Swearing. But let me advise the black mouthed Swearer, to have a care of swearing in jest (as men are apt to pretend) lest he go to Hell in earnest; for every Oath he swears, gives his Soul a wound, and that wound will be vocal enough to pierce heaven, and call for vengeance on the Swearer. Have not many of us uncharitably and blasphemously wished, that the Plague of God would light upon our Brethren? How justly now hath it overtaken us. Curses and Execrations have proceeded from us like Arrows shot against heaven, and now they are returned back upon our own heads.  
Fourthly, I must name that of uncharitableness to one another, upon occasions that should rather administer grounds of Repentance then of Malice. The Apostle tells us Charity covers a multitude of Sins, but we (as if we were true Children of Noah) delight in our Relations Nakedness. What heart-burnings are between us upon small differences of Judgement? The Turk cannot hate a Christian with a more Vatinian hatred than we persecute one another, though baptised into the same Faith, and equally professors of the same Gospel. Is not the Plague come upon us, that our Lord foretold, that Father should be against Son, and Son against Father? will an Independent endure a Presbyterian, or the Anabaptist and Fifth Monarchist one of the Episcopal persuasion? No, no, we have known to our grief what blood hath been shed upon this account, and that their mutual animosities have boiled to as great a height as those at present between Turk and Persian. Constantine the Great, when he summoned the first General Council at Nice, to extinguish the Arrian Heresy, concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ with his Father, caused all the private Contentions and Strifes that were inflamed amongst the Bishops themselves to be drawn up into a Compendium of Articles, before they should deliberate about that grand Affair, which being done, he sealed them up with his own Royal Signet, and kept them in his bosom for a while as a Secret; afterward in his Speech, exhorting them to unity of Spirit, and a serious discussion of those things that concerned the Cause of Christ, he burned all those envious Libels together, 
Car. in Nice. Conc. Appar. pag. 45. in 16.  Ne innotesceret ulli odium & sugillatio Sacerdotum, as Caranza informs me. Let us that serve at the Altar, imitate this Pious Prince, and if there be any unchristian, uncharitable fends amongst us, bury them in Eternal Oblivion, left they hinder us in the prosecution of the Cause of God, and not only prove our shame, but a stumbling block of Offence to the Enemies of the Faith. Our Lord and Saviour at his departure left us this New Commandment, that we should love one another, but we have so affronted this Injunction, that it is no marvel if he says he is come not to send Peace but a Sword; a Sword that shall draw out our vitals, and render us the victims of his fury.  
Fifthly, That Rebellious murmuring humour with which we have outraged Prince and Priest. The Sacred Scripture never gives us an Account of Murmurers, but it tells us likewise their Punishment; Pharaoh murmured at the Israelites, and God entombed him and his host in the Red Sea. Joseph's Brethren murmured at him, and their reward was vassalage, they became his Servants. Saul murmured at David's ten thousands, and God left him to be his own Executioner. Judas murmured at the Box of Oil that was poured on his Master's head, and what was his reward? he hanged himself. And is not this our Case? When King Charles the first lived, (though we may say of him as Homer said of Greece, that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pap and Dug of the Earth, He the Cream and Excellentest of Princes) how did our ungodly and malicious humours load him with all those Obloquys and Reproaches which St. Paul would not have fling even at Nero himself. And what I pray was the Issue of this? These discontented murmur begot a Rebellion, and that Rebellion, though it occasioned the Ruin of the most blessed Prince, yet by God's just judgement disgorged its Venom upon our own heads: from being free Subjects to a King of a Glorious Race, it made us vassals to one of low degree, and took from us the felicity they enjoy, whose King is the Son of Nobles; The same we may affirm of the Church of England: When was it so flourishing as in the aforenamed Prince's Time? Yet either our discontentedness at his Fatherly Indulgence to it, or our Avaricious designs to engross its Patrimony, brought us to that Insolence, that we must needs make her the Young Whore of Babylon; and under pretence of correcting her Errors, not only commit the greatest Sacrileges and Rapes upon her, but fling down all her Fences, that the Wild Boar of Schism and Heresy might root her up. And God knows at this very day, the dismal Effects of murmuring are too too visible, although our now Gracious Prince, endeavours to his utmost the extinguishing these unhappy differences, that like so many Phaeton's if not stopped in their Motion will burn both Church and State.  
An hour is too short a time to discourse of the Sins that swarm in this Land. What Mercy do we show to our Poor? doth not the Extortioner take damnable Interest, and the Oppressor use violence? Do they not eat like a canker into the Reversions of the Poor? The Italians proverbially say of the Viceroys of Naples and Milan, that the one fleeces and the other fleas the Subject. I am afraid we have too many amongst us that put this in practice, and make it their only study to be Ingenious in oppressing and ruining their poor neighbours.  
What temperance do we practise in the use of the creatures? How many are there that study to be nothing more than accurate Gluttons? They cannot dine or sup except they rob the Air of its rarest fowl, and the Rivers and Seas of its most exquisite Fish; and yet will scarce afford the Poor, those living Temples of the Holy Ghost, a Morsel of Bread to keep them from Starving; they can swallow down whole flagons of the richest Wines, and yet have scarce a thimble full of cold water for their thirsty neighbour. And indeed, if ever drunkenness had an impunity, it is in these days; although it be a most detestable Sin, and so prolifical that it begets a thousand others, yet it is now so much in vogue, that I am afraid reeling in the Streets will be al'a mode, and this Vice which metamorphoseth a Man into a Beast, rather be the Subject of Mirth than detestation. But let these bon-companions know there was a curse long ago pronounced against those that are strong to drink, and that God is now putting it in Execution. Since with their Teeth they will be digging their own graves, and pour down into their Throats like sluices, floods of Liquor to drown their Souls, it is but Just the Pestilence should save them a labour and give them a quick dispatch.  
And as with Excess in Eating and Drinking we have provoked God; so likewise in our Apparel and . The Garments which God made our first Parents, were to hid their shame, but ours are so fantastically shaped, that instead of covering they discover it. In a word, There is nothing We have endeavoured so much as the advancement of the Kingdom of Satan. Our Eyes have wholly been employed upon lustful Objects, and lewd Women: Infelicissimae publicarum libidinum victimae, those unhappy Sacrifices of common Lust, as Tertullian speaks, more grateful to us than virtuous Company: The debauchery of  Songs and villainous discourse, have been more acceptable to our Ears than a good Sermon, or wholesome admonitions. Our Smell hath been caressed with effeminate perfumes; Our Taste with luxurious Viands and Sauces, made to heighten an Appetite beyond the Necessity of Nature. And lastly, Our Touch hath been tainted with Lasciviousness. With so little care have we guarded these Cinque-ports of our Soul, yea rather left them as so many open avenues free for Sin to enter: That it is no wonder if death tread upon the Heels of Sin, and snatches us away in the flagrant fact.  
Object. But you will say, Since God is all goodness, and cannot be the Author of Evil, how comes it to pass that he so severely punisheth Sin, and sends such plagues amongst men for it.  
Answ. To this I answer with the Learned Bishop of Marseilles Salvianus in his 8 Book de Providentia, where he saith, A Deo quippe punimus sed ipsi facimus. Cui dubium est quin ipsi nos nostris criminibus puniamus; vim Deo facimus iniquitatibus nostris, & ipsi in nos Iram Dei armamus. God indeed punisheth us, but we cause, and after a sort force him to do it. God inflicteth stripes, but we deserve them. God striketh, but we provoke. God poureth out the Vials of his wrath, but we fill them up to the brim, by our overflowing Iniquities. If we have any thing that is good in us it is from God; but in a true sense we make him just even by our Injustice; for if we were not unjust in Sinning, he could not be just in punishing; neither would he desire any way to exalt his glory by the ruin of his Creature. 
Mic. 7.18.  Mercy is his delight, and goodness is his Nature. He therefore never sendeth Evil upon us, before we have it in us; he never fills a Cup of Red wine before the measure of our Crimson sin is full. Let us therefore lay the blame upon ourselves, and with mournful Jerusalem say, The Lord is righteous, but we have rebelled against him: Let us in flying to his Mercy, yet still adore his justice; and let the consideration of his unwillingness to punish us, so work upon us, that hereafter we may not force him to it. For he is slow to anger and of great Compassion.  
And thus from the Disease we pass to the Remedy, which consists of three Ingredients; 

1. Humility.  
2. Prayer.  
3. Repentance.    
If my People that are called by my name, do humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear, etc.  
1. If my People humble themselves. It seems God will have humility be the first Ingredient in this Plague-Antidote. Lofty Spirits are like wheels, 
St. Basil. in Ascet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4.  in St. Basil's phrase, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They move not to any Spiritual height, but run a vain Circle and endless round. They are so far from attaining any good end, that they embar all the passages to it. The old Marquis of Worcester being asked in Queen Elizabeth's Time, how he continued Favourite to three Princes of such different humours? Answered, He was made of a Willow not of an Oak, and had learned the Art of Submission. But proud men make it their business to withstand Thunderbolts, and had rather perish than not attempt. Had they fully known what the meaning of that passage is, God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble, they would easily have understood, that the only way to avoid the fury of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, is to lay prostrate before him; not to contend, but yield the buckler to him, that never kills persons disarmed of their Sins, and humbly begging quarter. The Royal Prophet saith, A broken heart and a contrite Spirit, oh God thou wilt not despise. The Ninivites found the Truth of this upon the pronouncing of that fatal Sentence against them, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed. What? did they fortify their City? did they frame of their old men a Council of War, and of their youth raise a puissant Army? did they send for the help of their Allies, and provide for a long Siege? No, they understood a better method of disarming divine wrath, they clothed themselves with Sackcloth and sat in Ashes; they humbled themselves before the Lord, and by this holy policy brought the Lord to repent of the Evil he intended against them. Here it is worth observing, that humble Submission, is more prevalent with God, than our fellow Creature. Niniveh humbles itself, and God reputes of the designed ruin: But Jonah grows angry, and thinks he doth well to be so. This humility must not be like that which the Prophet complains of, a holding down our head like a hulrush: We must have a deep sense of our unworthiness, that has caused this fire to go out against us, and having truly considered the greatness of that Majesty we have offended, cry out in confusion of face, that we are but dust, and cannot endure everlasting burn.  
And that we may the better do thus, let us first consider the Justness of the Act. If we have offended a temporal Prince, we spare no labour, leave no stone unturned to find out this Courtier, that Favourite, yea at the very expense of our Estates to mediate with him our reconciliation; when many times it is to no purpose: And shall we be less sedulous in appeasing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, by a due acknowledging our own vileness and the enormity of our Actions that have provoked his just displeasure? Had he demanded the fruit of our body, our Estates, or our Lives, by way of Expiation, and after all this left us in an uncertainty, whether he would pardon, whether he would heal us or no, the Case had been hard; but when he that is Truth itself assures us our humble Submission shall make amends, surely we must be the most wretched people in the World if we want a heart and a knee to appease his fury.  
Secondly, It is the most advantageous Act to ourselves; and this will appear three ways.  
First, It prevents Substraction of Grace, and falling into grievous Sins. Without this gracious frame of Spirit even the greatest Saints have fallen into horrid sins: We may observe this in St. Peter himself, in a vain glorious humour he began to tell Christ, Master though all the world forsake thee, I will not; yet when his Lord and Master was seized by the Jews, upon the accusation of a silly Damsel, he was the first that not only denied his Master, but forswear him too: Had he been as low and humble in his own Conceit when the Maid said unto him, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee, 
Mat. 26.69.  as he was immediately after his denial, when he went out and wept bitterly, his Lord would not have suffered him so foully to fall; And therefore his fellow Apostle St. Paul tells us of a Thorn in his flesh, or a buffetting Satan to keep him humble and in a due sense of his nothingness, lest (says he) I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of Revelations. 
Sup. Cant. Serm. 52.  St. Bernard observes, that sometimes grace is substracted, not for Pride which already is, but which would be, if it were not substracted. Here St. Augustine in his Book de Civitate Dei; 
C. 14. c. 13  Audio dicere superbis utile esse cadere in aliquod apertum manifestumque peccatum unde sibi displiceant qui jam sibi placendo ceciderunt, i. e. I dare boldly affirm, That it is requisite for the Proud to fall into some open and heinous Sin, that so at last they may fall out of Conceit with themselves, that fell by standing in their own Conceit. It is humility than that shuts up all the passages to Sin, and is as St. Bazil speaks, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Magazine of Virtues.  
Secondly, It is the characteristical note of our Christianity, it is a virtue peculiar to it. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly, is a Doctrine which Christ first taught, and Doctor humilitatis in St. Augustin's opinion is his proper Style; His whole Life and Actions were the great Examples of it. Humility is a piece of that Celestial Philosophy the Gentiles never knew, it is much above their Ethics; for though amongst them a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Moderation to know and keep our measures, be commended for virtue, yet that this should be performed in humble dependence on God, by Grace derived from him in our Redeemer, was above their Learning: And therefore Clemens of Alexandria said well, That Natural men may do the same good that a good Christian, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. i e. But not from the same cause, nor with the same Intention, for they make not God in Christ either their beginning or end. So that the acting Virtues in a supernatural power, and referring them primarily, to his honour in Christ (which is the Quintessence of humility) is above the reach of Philosophical Speculation.  
Thirdly, It is the readiest way to saving knowledge. The humble thou wilt teach thy way, says the royal Prophet. Proud persons will never make good Scholars in Christ's School; he will never put the new wine of his Grace into their old musty bottles; the reason is, they are so full with their own airy Conceptions, with the bubbles of their own blowing, that there is no room for solid and real Truths, with which the Holy Ghost ever fills humble Souls. On the contrary, the humble person that considers the vileness of his natural condition, and how poor and naked he is, places all his hopes of strength and knowledge only in God, and by that resignation of himself, eafiler receives those divine examinations of Truth, that can make him wise to Salvation: The great end of Christianity (to use the Words of Hierocles concerning the Pythagorean discipline) is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · That we may be made all wing for the pursuit of Divine things; but Pride puts weights of Lead upon the Soul, that She cannot soar into the Region of Divine Truth; and so muffles her with self-conceit, that like hooded Hawks if she could fly, yet she would want an eye to pursue her game. Let us therefore, if we would be taught by this great Schoolmaster, approach him with all humility, and he will not only teach us those things which are of Eternal Import, but cure the Wounds which Sin hath made in our Souls, in our Bodies, in the Church, in the State. And so I come to the second Ingredient, which is Prayer. If my People pray, and seek my face, etc.  
First then, Being to speak of Prayer, it will not be amiss to inquire in the first place, what Prayer is? 
L. 3. de Fide c. 4.  St. John Damascen answers the Question, and says, It is the Elevation of the mind to God. And St. Austin, 
In Ps. 85.  Your Prayer is a speaking to God. When you read, God speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to God; therefore Prayer is the Souls Colloquy and conversation with God. So that when we pray, we Elevate our spirit to God, and familiarly (yet with all reverence) communicate our Condition unto him with a greater confidence than any Child can do to his Mother: To him we unbowel our selves, and lay before him what is most dear unto us, and what most oppresses us in our Spiritual combats; our failings and our desires, the temporal blessings we would have, and the Evils we would eschew, as one friend doth to another in whom he most confides. And this is that which the Divine Writ terms a pouring forth the heart like water before the Lord; the Text doth not say like Oil, some of which will ever be sticking to the vessel that contained it; but like Water, to signify, That all our thoughts, our whole heart, must go out of it self and ascend to God. And truly (if ever) now we have need to make this self-examination; for, when our Souls have (as it were) quitted their Mansion, and traveled to the throne of Grace to beg Mercy, and a ceasing of Judgements, we may be confident, Plagues will be crippled, and not suffered to infect our clayie tenements in our spiritual absence: For the truth of this we have our Lord and Saviour's own Word, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you; ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. So powerful is fervent prayer with God, that it binds his hands, and (to speak with reverence, as it were) fetters the Omnipotent one. We see it likewise in the case of the Israelites, Moses was gone up to the Mount to receive the Law, and his stay being longer than the people's expectation, they gather themselves together, and will needs have Aaron make them new Gods; He, out of their golden Earring, to gratify their importunity, made them a Calf. This accursed piece of Idolatry, God (resolving to punish) says unto Moses, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, etc. whilst thou prayest thou bindest me; do not thus manacle me, let my hands be at liberty, that I may cut off this stiff necked generation. Suitably to this, Salvianus commenting upon Psal. 33.18. Oculi Domini super justos, & Aures ejus in preces eorum; says, when the Scripture affirms the Ears of the Lord to be always on the prayers of the just; not only his readiness to hear, but a kind of Obedience in God is pointed at, as if God were so ready to hear the prayers of his faithful ones, that he seems willing, not only to hear, but to Obey; not only to grant what they desire, but ready to perform what they command. Thus, though the Sun comes forth like a Giant and rejoices to run his race, yet He, and his fellow Luminary the Moon, the bright Mistress of the night, by the force of Prayer, are arrested and made to stand still till Joshuah and the Israelites had avenged themselves upon their Enemies, Josh. 10.12. Yea, at the prayer of Hezekiah, attended with the Divine Rhetoric of Tears, the same Sun must recoil back. It might have been enough for Hezekiah's faith, to believe the words of Isaiah without any Sign: But God, to let us see how much he was pleased with the King's earnest Address, stops the very course of Nature, and by no less than a miracle declares, That he had heard and accepted the voice of those Royal Tears; for behold, I will bring again the Shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the Sundial of Ahaz ten degrees backward. Isa. 38.8. And as Prayer hath a power to invert the Course of Nature, so likewise can it make Nature act contrary to its own self. For fire which naturally tower's upward, at the Prayer of Elijah descended downward, and consumed a Captain and fifty men, 2 Kings 1.12. Neither is Prayer the weapon with which we only wound our Enemies, but it is (to speak with St. Ambrose) telum quo vulneramus Cor Dei, a weapon with which God himself is wounded, as the Spouse in the Canticles speaks, Charitate vulneror; no other Artillery but this can batter the Citadel of the great King. This is a Truth so evident, that the dim light of Nature taught the very Heathens it, and therefore (as Clemens Alexandrinus tells us) they called their God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
In Protr.  from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as if one should say, a God who delighteth in the humble Prayers of hearty Petitioners. So that we may well say with Luther, Oratio hominis res est potentissima; It overth owes Armies, turns the course of Nature, obtains the greatest blessings, averts the greatest Evils, and even conquers God himself. Let us therefore offer this incense offering, this Spirituale thymiama. 
In Matth.  Carthusian (to its honour) observes, That the Style of Incense is attributed to no other Theological virtue, so truly as to Prayer. Nulla justitia thymiamati comparatur nisi sola Oratio; for as Incense fired in the Censor mounts in perfumed Curls, and casts a grateful odour about the Altar; so our Prayers proceeding from hearts fired with holy Zeal, ascend to the throne of God, and make a sweet smell in his nostrils: But to speak more particularly, since prayer is of such a power;  
First, Let us pray, that we may show our selves Christians. Tertullian calls Christians, the Candidates of the Celestial Kingdom: He alludes to the custom of those Roman Senators that stood for the Consulship, who ever visited such as had any votes in their Election, and by fair entreaties endeavoured to win them to their Side. The same we do by Prayer, we acknowledge the Supremacy that Christ hath over us, and that all our felicity depends upon his only Vote. Now as among the Gentiles some were called Platonists, others Aristotelians, and from the Masters, they acknowledged their Instructors; so by practising this excellentest of virtues, we justly wear the name of him that taught it us.  
Secondly, Let us pray, That we may not only show ourselves Christians, but good and pious Christians. How many are there in the World that pass from month to month, yea, from year to year that scarce ever pray! as if there were neither a God to reward, nor a Devil to be his Executioner; and yet, if you tell them they are not Christians, they will esteem you the most injurious persons in the world. But we must not be content with the bare name of Christianity, and think it is enough that our Parents brought us to the Font, and that there we received our Christian Livery: We must come up to the life of christianity, which is Prayer; it is that in the Soul which Springs are in Clocks and Watches, if they be broke, the motion of all the Wheels ceases; and if we devote not our selves to prayer, all our Theological virtues are idle, and as it were pinioned in us; and therefore St. chrysostom says excellently, 
Tom. 1. de fide.  as, when a Queen enters a city, not only a great Retinue, but an amass of Wealth comes along with her; so likewise, when the Soul is inflamed with a love of prayer, all other virtues crowd and throng in upon her: Of Men it makes us the Temples of Christ. Now as gold and precious stones, and the richest Marbles constitute the Palaces of Princes; so Prayer builds up these Temples of the Son of God, that he may dwell in our hearts as in a Sanctum Sanctorum, the noblest Seat of his Residence. That we may therefore pray aright and like good christians, that God may cease the plague and heal our wounds, I shall show you what qualifications are necessary.  
First then, Our Prayer must be an earnest fervent Prayer, it is St. James his character, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much; indeed, it peirceth heaven, and is Clavis Coeli as St. Bernard speaks, the Key that unlocks the Treasuries of heaven, that it may shower down its blessings upon us. We may learn the Nature of this effectual Prayer from the Royal Prophet, when he says, 
Ps. 141.2.  Dirigatur Oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo: Let my prayer be set before thee as Incense; in which words, he briefly comprehends all the requisites of a fervent prayer by comparing it to Incense.  
First, In the Incense was Frankincense, Onyx, Galbanum, Oil of Cinnamond, or Myrrh and Mastic; so our Prayer, if it be effectually fervent, must be mingled with Faith, Humility, Charity, Confidence in God, and Patience; these, as lesser Stars, must wait upon this Queen and Mother of virtues, this Breviary of the Gospel.  
Secondly, This Incense was appropriated to the Temples, and lodged in the Holy of Holies; so likewise the Soul of Man is the Temple and House of God, as St. Paul speaks, 
1 Cor. 3.16.  Know ye not that ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost? we therefore must burn this Incense of Prayer in the inward'st and purest part of this Temple.  
Thirdly, This Incense was to be offered by none but the High Priest; so likewise all our prayers must be offered up by our High Priest Christ Jesus, if we hope they shall prevail; for upon this account the Church teaches us to conclude all our prayers with this clause, Through jesus Christ our Lord.  
Fourthly, This Incense was to be fired, before its grateful perfume could be scented: If the High Priest fling never so many handfuls of it on dead coals there came forth no odour; so our Prayers are altogether frigid and no way pleasing until kindled by the flames of the Spirit: where heat and fervour is wanting in him that prays, the very Soul of prayer is absent.  
Fifthly, (says David) Dirigatur Oratio mea, etc. let it mount, let it tend towards thee; he that will pray fervently and effectually, must have a good end, a sincere intention, and a constant attention; he must not pray like Pharisees to be seen of men, that he may purchase the Repute of Religious and holy; he must make God and his interest his ultimate end; and therefore our Lord the Great Master of Prayer, says, When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in Secret: By which he would teach us rather to acquit our selves to God than Man, God only being able to reward our Integrity with better blessings than vulgar applause can afford.  
Secondly, But in the second place, as our Prayer must be earnest and fervent, so it must be without ceasing: If we would have a Truce with God's judgements, it is an argument of an evil heart to proportion our Prayers to the increase or decrease of Judgements; for though the rule in Philosophy be, That Oratio is quantitas discreta, yet in Divinity it is most certain, That Oratio ought to be quantitas continua, according to the Apostle's Maxim, Pray continually; and indeed now, 
1 Eph. 5.17.  if ever, we had need to be constant in Prayer, when thousands dye in a week, and every parish, yea every street is the fatal Theatre of so many sad Tragedies. Is not this a time of trouble, when the rich and abler sort are fled, citè, longè, tardè, and the poorer through necessity are obliged to tarry, notwithstanding infinite dangers surround them, their Servants, and their poor children! Is it not a time of trouble, when Tradesmen become poor, and poverty enforces beggary, and that unhappy profession cannot keep them from Starving! Is it not a time of trouble, when trade in general is so Dead that the Sexton and the Grave-maker have the most Employment in the parish! Surely this is a time of trouble, and this time is our time. O therefore! let us take up holy David's Resolution, and give neither sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our Eyelids, till the Lintels of our dore-posts are anointed with the blood of sprinkling, that the destroying Angel may pass over our habitations. Ask (and give not over) till you find, seek (and leave not) till you find, knock (and cease not) till a door of Salvation be opened unto you.  
3. But thirdly, We must lift up pure hearts and holy hands unto God in Prayer. It is the work of the Seraphims to be continually crying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth, to express the ardent affection in them, and the ready adoration of the Holiness so repeated by them, it being that noble attribute that indeed is only proper to God. Now if we would take a part in this Seraphic Consort, we must endeavour to have holiness and purity in our hearts and hands, and then our addresses will be musical in God's Ears. To this purpose the Schoolman Victorinus observes, That a reasonable Soul is the chief and principal glass wherein to see God: 
Ric. Victor. lib. de Patriar.  This the Israel of God must continually hold, wipe, look on; hold, lest falling down it sink to the Earth in love; wipe, lest it be sullied with the dust of vain thoughts; look on, that it divert not the eye and intention to vain studies. Can we hope that that Man's prayer should be acceptable to God, whose heart in stead of being lifted up to the throne of Grace, is sunk into the Earth by the love of Terrene pleasures? No, we must have hearts purified with the fire of Divine love, and hands washed in innocency before we can be acceptable. Under the Law the  offerings were to be flayed, and cut in pieces, and their Legs and Inwards were to be washed: Upon which Saint Cyril of Alexandria says, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The flaying off the Skin was a riddle of naked discovery, 
Hom. Pasc. 22. p. 240.  for nothing at all in us is hid or veiled from the Divine and pure eyes of God. We must not be content with the superficies and outside of a good life, but we must flay our Sacrifices and look to the Integrity of our inwards; we must as it were cut ourselves in pieces by a strict examination of the particular actions of our whole life; whatever belongs to us, our desires, our thoughts, all must be purified, if we would have our Sacrifice Grateful. How many are there in the World that make long prayers, yet devour Widows houses? How many that have nothing in their mouths but Gospel light, and the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ, yet, do but flay them, and you shall find them full of Avarice, Pride, Faction, and the greatest uncharitableness. Godfrey of Bulloine being asked by the Ambassador of a Sarazen Prince how he had his hands, tam doctas ad praeliandum, so able to fight? returned this answer, Quia manus semper habui puras ab impuris contractibus peccati; Because I never defiled my hands with any notorious Sin. Our Prayers will never be prevalent with God until we first combat and foil our own Sins. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Plato defines Purity a Separation of the worse from the better. We must in a good sense be Separatists, and come out of Babylon, before we can be fit company for the Lamb; and when we have once done this, we may confidently hope a relaxation of our miseries, and that God will hear from heaven, forgive our Sins, and heal our Land.  
And so I come to the third Ingredient in the Text, Repentance: If my people humble themselves, and pray, and turn from their evil ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their Sin, and will heal their Land. In the Pythian and Olympic Games, the Contenders for honour and renown had their way chalked out with two white Lists, out of which they were not to sally; so it was with Adam in Paradise, his via morum was railed in with Innocence, aswell as his via pedum adorned with Flowers and other delightful Objects; but he having leaped over the pale, by eating the forbidden fruit, took upon him the Trade of wand'ring into by-paths, and his children (like so many Gypsies) have ever since exercised the same Profession. I have heard of some that they have been so much in love with the wand'ring humour, that though they have been heirs to good fortunes, yet they have consorted themselves with the begging Crew, only to have the Liberty of roving up and down: And thus it is with man generally as to his Spiritual condition; though God hath elevated us to the dignity of Sons-ship, and Christ accepted the Title of our elder Brother, yet we have strayed away from his blessed Company, and that heavenly inheritance he purchased for us with his blood: We have taken more delight in the meanders of Sin and folly, that can afford us nothing of solid worth, than in those durable and eternal riches of Grace and Holiness. Upon this score it is that the Text saith, If my people turn from their evil ways, (which implies they were out of the way of God, and altogether journeying the Mazes of Idolatry and Sin) that God would heal and redress the miseries that for such deviations were come upon them. But because I will speak more distinctly of Repentance, I shall consider it in its three parts; 

1. Compunction: or Contrition for Sin.  
2. Confession of Sin.  
3. Conversion from Sin to God.    
First, Compunction or Contrition: And now how happy should I be, if my discourse to you at this time could have the same operation on your hearts that St. Peter's Sermon had upon his Auditors, as St. Luke describes it in the second of the Acts and the 37. vers. where it is said, Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Men and Brethren what shall we do? A true and holy Sorrow, like so many Needles, pierced them through; as Eupolis recounts of Pericles' Oration to the People of Athens; 
Cicero de Clar. Orat.  In animis auditorum aculeos reliquit, it left stings in his Auditors minds. Now that we may a little consider the phrase, we must make a difference between spiritus compunctionis, and compunctio spiritus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit of Compunction, which St. Paul complains of in the unbelieving 
Rom. 11.8.  believing Jews, and Compunction of Spirit or of the heart, mentioned in this place of the Acts, St. Paul says, God hath given them a Spirit of Slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day; as if he would say, they are possessed with a Spirit of stupidity and obstinacy in Sin, that slash and wound them never so, yet they will not be sensible; but this compunction or pricking of the heart, which St. Peter's Auditors endured, was a godly Sorrow for their Sins, and sight of their miserable Condition. Now Lorinus affords us a ternary of reasons why godly Sorrow for Sin is called compunction of the heart. 
Act. C. 2.   

1. Quia vel aperitur Cordis apostema.  
2. Vel quia vulneratur Cor amore Dei.  
3. Vel quia daemon dolore & invidia sauciatur.   
Either because the corruption of the heart is discovered, as an Aposteme or Ulcer is opened by the prick of a Lance.  
Or because the heart is wounded with the love of God, as the Spouse in the Canticles cries out, I am sick of Love.  
Or because thereby the Devil is wounded with Indignation and Envy, as knowing the ruin of his Interest and Kingdom must needs be caused, when Sinners return to God, the Centre of their happiness, from which they recoiled. But if any one ask me the reason why they were thus pricked, thus wounded at the heart, the 23. & 24. Verses of the second of the Acts will tell us, him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. It was high time for the Jews to be touched to the quick that had put to death the Lord of Life, their Messiah, and Saviour of the World. And truly, if we reflect aright upon our selves, we shall find it high time for us to be thus wounded, if we consider that the Jews did but once crucify him; but We, by the committal of fresh sins and Impieties, crucify him every day, and grieve his holy Spirit. It is therefore infinitely necessary we should have this due sense, this holy wounding of heart, if we expect God should repent of the evil done unto us and heal our Land.  
2. The second branch of Repentance is Confession.  
As we must be sorrowful for sin, so we must make a true confession of sin: Now in confession we must observe these Rules;  
First, Our confession must be humble and self-accusing, Non vis ut ille damnet? Tu damna. Vis ut ille ignoscat? Tu agnosce. Wouldst thou not that God should Condemn thee? condemn thyself. Say with the Publican, Lord have mercy upon me a sinner. Wouldst thou have God pardon? Do thou cry guilty. We must not imitate our Grandfather Adam, that cried, The Woman thou gavest me presented me the fruit, and I did eat. We must take the sins we have committed upon our selves; it being altogether unjust we should file that Evil on another's score of which we have been the Authors. How many are there in these days that when they are accused of any Uncleanness, lay the fault upon Nature, as St. Austin complains, many in his time did, and consequently accuse God himself. We ought rather, with the Prophet David, to cry out, Lord, it is I that have done this Great Wickedness; and, with Jeremiah, confess our ways and our Evil do have brought all these miseries upon us.  
Secondly, We must not put our sins to the Devil's Account. He may tempt us, but he cannot force us to sin. The Devil might have offered Eve a thousand of those beautiful Apples without prevailing, had she not been as willing to taste that forbidden fruit as he ready to persuade her it was good. If he could force us to sin, we might justly lay the fault at his door, and make the very necessity of sinning our Apology. But the Apostle St. James bids us resist the Devil and he will fly from us: to teach us we have a power to combat, and through Grace baffle his pernicious temptations.  
Thirdly, Neither must we make God the Author of our sins: He is a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and what blasphemy would it be in us when we have committed sins (that even some natural men would abhor) to father them upon God, the source of all purity and goodness. The Psalmist steers another course, when he says, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; 
Psal. 32.  He doth not say he will accuse God as the author of his Lust to the Wife of Vriah, or of his Pride in numbering the people; no, but I will confess to him against myself, he is righteous, and I have done wickedly. God cannot be tempted to evil, neither tempts he any man, it is a principle of corruption within us, that brings forth this viperous brood, and we must wholly acknowledge God righteous when he punisheth for Sin.  
Fourthly, Our Confession must be Integra & perfecta. There are many that will be ready to acknowledge those Sins which they see the best of Men are obnoxious to; but their Dallilahs, their darling Sins, like the true name of Rome, they keep concealed. But this is not the Confession that will do our work; a lame half-confession is no more acceptable to God, than if we should offer him half our heart, when he requires the whole; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; which he can never truly be said to do that leaves some Sins unconfessed, and as it were hid in the inward recesses of his Soul; because God being a professed enemy to every Sin, such a concealment is a taking part with that which he most hates.  
Thirdly, The third part of Repentance is Conversion: Now there is a twofold Conversion.  
1. A Turning and total Conversion of a Sinner from Sin to God, and in this Signification is comprehended the whole work of Grace, Psal. 51.14. And Sinners shall be converted unto thee; this is passive Conversion, wherein God is the Chief Agent, but our selves by our natural power work nothing, unless it be to hinder the work of Grace.  
2. There is a turning from some particular Sin or Sins, whereby we have offended God or Man; Luke 22.32. When thou art converted; and Jer. 31.18. Convert thou me and I shall be converted: This is an active Conversion performed by men, who being already renewed by Grace, do work together with this Grace. Now this conversion is a turning of the heart unto God, whereby we contract a perfect aversion to those things which we formerly delighted in, and have such an alteration in our will and affections, that we desire nothing, and affect nothing but what we find agreeable to his blessed will. It is not a turning of the Brain, an alteration of this or that opinion; that is Vertigo Capitis, not Conversio Cordis: but it is a mere alteration and turning of 〈…〉 of our hearts. So that the perfection of this conversion consists in the turning of the whole heart. This true turning is a thing no way pleasing to the Devil. If he could, he would not have us turn at all, he sow's pillows under our Elbows, and persuades us we are in a blessed condition: but if we will needs turn, he will persuade us to Turn any whether, rather than unto God. If he cannot effect this, yet his Artifice and cunning is to make us leave our hearts behind. Now if that will not do, but we will Turn with our heart in Cord, yet he labours all he can it may not be in toto: he would have us have some private ends, some Lusts to gratify; he would have our affections broken, and not entirely subservient to the Divine Will. But (Beloved) if we would remove these judgements that lie heavy upon us, we must not divide our hearts between God and the Devil, but must turn to God with our whole hearts for he is the great Physician that only can heal our diseased Souls.  
And thus I come to the fourth and last Branch of the Text, the Physician prescribing the Medicine, GOD; in these words, I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their Sin, and will heal their Land. St. chrysostom tells us, that Christ the second person of the Trinity, (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) by his death became Physician of the Dead; in his very humility and state of Exinanition he baffled Sin, and Death, and the Balsam of his Blood shed upon the Cross, closed up the Serpentine wound received in Paradise. If this be true of Christ (as without doubt it is) whilst he was in the form of a Servant, we ought not to question the performance of the promise made us in my Text by the whole Trinity. I will hear from heaven, etc. I, God the Father, I, God the Son, I, God the Holy Ghost; I one, yet three, at whose presence the Angels veil their faces, by whose only Fiat the Chaos was un-masked, and to whose bounty all the several species of creatures own their Being: I will hear from heaven; forgive, and heal your Land. Other Physicians, either out of hope of gain, or to buoy up their credits and repute in the World, promise those cures which they can never perform: But here is one whose Word is his Deed, that Archetypal verity, who having the Issues of Life and Death in his hand, when he promises Life cannot be guilty of a Lie, and when he threatens death upon impenitency will surely inflict it. So then, here is a Conjunction of the whole Trinity in the Cure promised, the perfection of which will appear in three particulars.  
1. God will cure us corporally. When he sent his beloved Son to preach the Gospel of Eternal Life, many heard him, but were little moved with the Excellency of his Embassy; but when he came to those sensitive and ocular demonstrations of his power, the healing of the Sick, and feeding the Multitude by miracle, many than were induced to believe in him: S. Matthew tells us, that he healed all that were Sick. At his word the Blind found eyes, the lame fling away their Crutches, the Paralytic and such as were troubled with an effusion of Blood, found that virtue proceeding from him which effected their cure. If the touch of his garment were so balsamical, that of his voice had a greater power; for Lazarus though rotting four days in his grave, at Christ's first call quitted his cold Mansion, and conquered Death surrendered his Prisoner, at the Command of this great Prince. The Platonist say, Lumen est Vmbra Dei, Light is but the shadow of God; and I may very well affirm, that the Learned'st Physicians are but shadows of this Sun of righteousness, when he appears with healing in his wings. Have we the plague spots upon us? If God will be our Physician their very redness shall serve for a blush to confess their impotency when he bids them vanish. Does a Fever burn us, or a Dropsy drown us? One word of his mouth will prove a Julip to cool our veins, and a Sluice to let out that Lake of humours which would engulph us. If we be once penitentially qualified, He will hear us, He will heal us. Let us therefore look upon this Visitation with a Spiritual eye; Let us, that God yet spares, learn to be better, lest those Princes of Peru in America (mere Heathens) at the day of Judgement, rise up against us, who accounted Sickness, Nuncios coeli quibus se ad Deos acciri dicebant, God's Messengers by which he would draw them to himself, (as Nierembergius reports) He brings us into the School of Affliction, 
Hist. Nat.  that we might learn Wisdom. And as he will heal us, so he will the diseases in the creatures that contribute to the maintenance of our Lives. Is the Air infected? He will purge it. Is the fruit blasted? He will stop Mildews, and what ever hinders a plentiful Vegitation. Doth the Murrain consume Cattle? That shall likewise cease. In a word, whatever impleads our temporal enjoyments, upon our Repentance, like Dust, shall be driven away before the Wind.  
2. God will cure us Spiritully. The wounds of the Soul are infinitely more considerable than those of the Body, and therefore David, who (as St. Chrysostom speaks, was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, One that lived as strictly in his Kingly Palace, as in a Cloister) cries out, 
Ps. 41.4.  Heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee. And indeed, he had great reason to do so, for he that had victoriously encountered the Lion, the Bear, Goliath and an host of Men, was now broken by a feminine temptation, and become guilty of those Soul-wounding Sins, Adultery and Murder. Now as David made his Address to God, the only Soul-Physician, so let us, for he can certainly restore and heal.  
This Soul-cure he will perform.  
First, By healing our irregular affections, which can by no less powerful means be effected, than the communication of his Grace. For if Adam in Paradise, richly furnished with supernatural gifts, continued but a poor while in that purity and excellent condition; how much less can nature, wounded with Sin, without the assistance of supernatural endowments, recover her former purity? I shall not deny, but a vigorous reason may help a man to acquire those virtuous habits which may cause a promptitude in the affections to virtuous actions, yet those Acts of virtue will be so poor and imperfect, that they can never bring him to eternal felicity. Actions that spring from Grace, do as far excel those that are the Issue of Nature (though never so morallized) as fruits that are ripened in the woods and fields by the beams of the Sun, do those that are brought forth by artificial fires. Grace changes the affections powerfully, and renders them as it were new affections, according to St. Paul, If a Man be in Christ he is a new creature. Not that our affections in this life are totally healed by grace, there will be lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit, in the most gracious persons; but those Insurrections and Tumults are rather suffered by God as a Trial, than a destruction to his children. Inordinate affections shall be so healed in this life, that they shall lose their Empire, though not their Being; when they begin to rebel, Grace will be able to subdue and triumph over them.  
Secondly, By healing our Understanding. At first, when man enjoyed his Integrity, the Understanding did naturally apprehend truth with the greatest facility; and as when our eye looks upon some curious piece of Painting, Sculpture, or any other beautiful object, it is highly pleased; so the Understanding, when it looked upon Truth, received great Satisfaction, and the more sublime and excellent the Truths were, the nobler caresses she found in the contemplation of them. But now alas! a dismal chaos hath invelop'd the Understanding, yea that Science, that was so brisk and sparkling in our first Parents (and should have been the inheritance of all their posterity) is utterly lost. Our ignorance is such, that we are not able to judge of supernatural Truths, and therefore God will cure this defect in us by Divine Illumination. He will set up in our Souls the bright Tapers of his grace, whereby the fogs and mists of Infidelity shall be dispelled, and such a certainty wrought in us, as is essential to true Faith.  
Thirdly, By healing our Wills. The Phylosopher's Maxim is here true, Corruptio Optimi est pessima: The Will being the supreme faculty of the Soul, had once a natural power to love God, but being now wounded by Sin, the wounds in it are of a deadlier nature than those of the other faculties. Thus Sins of Malice are deeper wounds than those of Infirmity or Ignorance, and therefore one excellently said, That nothing fried so much in Hell as the perverse wills of Men. God will heal this wounded part also by his supernatural Grace; for Grace hath fire for the Will, as well as light for the Understanding. His Grace shall so inflame our Wills, that whereas we formerly affected nothing more than the Transitory and earthly fruitions of this life, Riches, Honours, and Pleasures; now we shall love nothing, desire nothing so much as God in Christ, and with St. Paul, account all things but dross and dung in comparison of them.  
Fourthly, By healing our consciences. I will hear and forgive, etc. In Scripture-Language healing of Sin and forgiving of Sin, are aequipollent terms. So Jer. 3.22. Return ye back-sliding children, and I will heal your back slidings. Now God, when he says in my Text, I will forgive, speaks to the conscience a healing word. Grace may heal the spots and slain of Sin, but it cannot heal the guilt. It is forgiveness of Sin, must take away the guilt of Sin, and then the Obligation to punishment ceases. Those fears, which (like so many furies) continually tormented us, shall lose their sting, and be turned into gladness, when he says, I will forgive. It is the saying of wise K. Solomon, That the Spirit of a Man may bear his Infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? which words, though in the garb of a Question, yet are to be filled in the number of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (to use the Philosopher's phrase) questions which have the energy of affirmative and negative propositions; so that the Sense is, No man can bear a wounded Spirit. And indeed, if we consider the unspeakable tortures that they suffer, whose conscience is troubled and tempestuous, we must needs acknowledge it an insupportable burden. What great comfort then have we in this promise, that God will forgive? that is, not only efface and blot out the stain, but pardon the guilt of Sin, which so often anticipates Doomsday, and begets a Hell on Earth.  
3. But thirdly and lastly, God will heal us Politically. When Sin hath so highly distempered a Nation, that it is come to the very brink of destruction, than God many times comes with healing in his wings, he will make Good that of his Prophet, 
Jer. 30.17  They that spoil thee, shall be a spoil, for I will restore health unto thee, and heal thee of thy wounds; he that could make the Assyrians levelly their Swords at one another's Breasts, can make us Englishmen (that have been too much in this Case Assyrians) sheathe our Swords and run into mutual embraces. He said, By me Kings Reign, and it is as true, by me Kings fall. When he hath a mind to punish a Nation for Sin, he many times takes away excellent Princes, as he did Josiah and glorious CHARLES the First. And when he intends to heal a Nation, he makes those animosities that begot the first troubles, the ground of the ensuing Peace. For though the Devil's Maxim be, Divide & impera, yet God can make use of it to serve his most holy intentions. In the Building of Babel he made confusion of Languages the ruin of the work; and in the Restauration of King CHARLES the Second, he made those of different opinions and judgements in Religion, draw in the same Yoke, and as subservient Instruments, cause that Serenity which we now enjoy. I do not speak this, as if we were now as well disciplined in the School of Christ as we should be: For the truth is, whatever secular happiness we enjoy, yet if we do but reflect on the malicious designs that are managed at present by those that profess Christ, and the peaceable temper which he commanded all good Christians to use, when he said, My Peace I leave with you; we shall find the Kingdom is very sick, and stands in need of this Physician; who can with one word of his Mouth rebuke the madness of the people; who can teach Prince, Nobility, Clergy, and Commons, their true Interest, who can make the most inveterat hatreds end in a vigorous friendship; and who out of the leaves of that Tree of Life, that hath twelve manner of fruits, can make a Balsam for the healing of the Nations. Upon our Repentance he hath promised our Cure, and he both can and will be as good as his Word.  
To sum up all: Let every one of us here present clap his hand upon his heart, and not only cry, I have sinned: But by a serious amendment of Life, and humble walking before him, endeavour as much as we can to be capable of his healing Influence; for he that hath promised is God, all knowledge that cannot err, and God all truth that cannot Lie, and we ought to believe him, when he says, If my People which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their Sins, and will heal their Land.  
FINIS.