Londons Lamentation for Her Sins, Title page – Dedication
LONDONS LAMENTATION for her Sinnes: AND Complaint to the LORD Her GOD.
Out of which may bee pickt a Prayer for Priuate Families, for the time of this fearefull INFECTION.
And may ſerue for a Helpe to Holineſſe and Humiliation for ſuch as keepe the Faſt in Priuate: Together with a Souereigne Receipt againſt the PLAGVE.
By W. C. Paſtor at White chappell.
IER. 47. 6, 7.
O thou Sword of the Lord, how long will it bee ere thou be quiet? Put vp thy ſelfe vntounto thy ſcabberd, reſt and be ſtill. How can it be quiet, ſeeing the Lord hath giuen it a charge? &c.
LONDON, Printed for G. Fayerbeard at the North ſide of the Royall Exchange. 1625.
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE, THE Lord Maior of London, the Right Worſhipfull the Sheriffes and Aldermen, and the reſt of the Godly Citizens and Offiers, who hauehave eyther ſtayed in their Places and Duties during this Viſitation: or ſent their large and comfortable Beneuolence for the Poore. The Bleſſings of this and a better Life.
RIGHT HONORABLE:
IT was the Ordinance and Appointment of GODS owne Wiſdome in the Law, that all his Sacrifices and burnt Offrings ſhould be ſeaſoned with Salt, the Fire importing Zeale, by which eueryevery Sacrifice muſt be offered, and the Salt ſignifying Diſcretion with which it muſt be ſeaſoned: If it wanted eyther of theſe; it could not bee accepted. Now, as this literall Fire and Salt belonged to the Iewes, ſo the Spirituall is both commended and commanded to vsus, that liue vnderunder the ſweet yoke of the Goſpell euen to the Worlds end: Namely, that all our Sacrifices & Seruice, if we mean to hauehave them acceptable to God, or auaileable to our ſelues, muſt not onelyonly bee offered with the Fire of holy Zeale; but tempered with holy Wiſdome, and ſeaſoned with the Salt of due Diſcretion; therefore ſayth▪ Chriſt euen in his Goſpell,Mark. 9. 49 EueryEvery one ſhall bee ſalted with Fire, and eueryevery Sacrifice ſhall bee ſeaſoned with Salt: Whereunto Saint Paul alluding exhortsRom. 12. 2. all Chriſtians to ſee that Their Seruice and Sacrifice, bee not only holy and liuely, but alſo reaſonable.
Hence it is Right Honourable, and Worſhipfull, that as our gracious King, out of his Humilitie and holy Zeale, commanded publike Faſting & Prayer, for the diuerting of this publike Iudgement: So now, out of holy and deepe diſcretion hath ſuſpended for a time thoſe publike meetings within the Citie: Out of no diſlike of Faſting and Prayer, nor any wearineſſe of thoſe holy Exerciſes, as ſome Malignant Spirits malitiouſly traduce Him. But out of conſcience to his God & care of his Subiects liues: wiſely conſidering (& in our knowledge moſt truely) that ſeeing the ſick & ſore (do what we Miniſters could to the contrary) mingled themſelues confuſedly, with the ſound (by which meanes its more then manifeſt, many thouſands hauehave periſhed in this Citie and Suburbs.) It therefore lay vponupon him as Supreme Magiſtrate and Gods Lieutenant to looke to the liues as well as to the Soules of all his people, and to take order, that the Faſts ordained for the bettering of the Soule, ſhould not ſo be vſed, as to tend to the deſtruction of the body. Leauing vsus therefore in this diſtreſſed Citie, the Lords Day or Sunday for our ſoules, which being of Diuine Inſtitution, can admit no Diſpenſation by humane power, and ſtill commending and commanding vsus that Day to faſt & pray in priuate, and all the Kingdome elſe to doe it in publike for vsus: And for the ſauing of our liues, and to auoyd the tempting and prouoking of God. Hath wiſely forbidden all other publike meetings of dangerous concourſe in places Infected, till order can be taken (which is no eaſie thing to doe) to keepe the ſound and ſicke aſunder.
Now as all thoſe that be well are notwithſtanding to repaire to the Church, to be partakers of the publike Prayers & the holy ſeruice appointed for that day, ſo, for a helpe, of Humiliation and holy Deuotion to them that ſtay at home, whereof alſo many thouſand Families eſpecially in our Suburbs are not able to buy the Booke, I hauehave therefore beene perſwaded to make publike this Meditation, Confeſſion, and Prayer, which in theſe dayes of publike Calamitie, I walking hourely through the valley of the ſhadow of Death, (burying forty, fifty, ſometime ſixty a day, and in the Totall, more then two thouſand alreadie) I poured out in the preſence of my God: Firſt, in priuate for my ſelfe, afterwards for the vſe of thoſe many thouſand ſicke ſoules that are or hauehave beene in my great poore Pariſh: And laſtly, that hereby I might offer ſome Sacrifice and ſpeciall piece of Seruice in way of holy thankfulneſſe to the Lord our God, who hath hitherto pleaſed to preſerue me, and my Brethren the Paſtors of this Citie by his owne hand and power, beyond all humane helpe and hope; walking continually, euen in the midſt of the fiery flames alwayes in danger, and neuer in more perill then in the Pulpit: wherein the Lord hath beene ſo marueilous, & ſo magnified, his louelove and power vponupon vsus, as if he ſhould now take vsus away, yet hath hee ſo deliuered vsus, in diſcharging our duties, and by his holy Angels kept vsus, thus being in our way, till hee hath literally made good that promiſe in the Pſalme, yea, and much more: for alas wee hauehave not only ſeene a thouſand fall at one ſide of vsus, and ten thouſand at another, but (alas, alas, that our ſinnes ſhould ſo prouoke our God) euen more then ten thouſand on the one, and more then twenty thouſand on the other. Which mighty work of God, if wee ſhould ſit ſtill and ſwallow and ſuperficially paſſe ouer, and not commend it, to our Brethren in the Countrey, whoſe turnes muſt follow God knowes how ſoone, as ſure as God hath begunne with vsus; and if we did not preſerue the memory of it, and repreſent it to Poſterity, for their inſtruction, and that the Generations yet vnborne may prayſe the Lord; all holy men would accuſe vsus, Gods Church would cenſure vsus, our own Conſciences would condemne vsus, and God himſelfe take vengeance of vsus, as moſt vnthankfull Caitiffes, euen Monſters of Mankind, & vnworthy to breath vponupon the Earth.
Being therefore in ſome ſort touched with the ſenſe of this hand of our God, both of his hand of Iuſtice and of Mercy, and being euerymoment put in mind of our mortality, eyther by the ſound in our eares, or ſights in our eyes; can we but be moued (vnleſſe we were ſenſeleſſe Stocks & Stoicks) to take into our ſerious and continuall Conſideration, the now moſt lamentable Caſe, of this late ſo floriſhing a Citie, and of this whole Kingdome into which this wild-fire of Gods wrath begins ſo faſt to flie, and can wee but lay to heart ſo great a ſorrow? Or dare wee for our ſoules but deale truly with our God, in ſeeking ſincerely and carefully ſearching out the true cauſe in our ſelues, in our people, and in the whole Kingdome that ſhould thus prouoke the Lord againſt vsus? Certainly ſome heauy judgement muſt fall vponupon vsus if we doe not, and will follow them whoeuer they bee that double and diſſemble with their God in this caſe.
And if any that be abroad and yet vnviſited, thinke I deale too farre and too freely in this Confeſſion. I aske no more but to forbeare his judgment, til they be vnderunder the hand of God, as we hauehave bin now three moneths and more, and then they will iudge I am too ſhort: The while God in mercy pardon that, and wherin I may be thought to go too far, I ſhall eaſily anſwere it to God or Gods Anointed: & ſhal ſigh & ſob in ſecret to conſider the wrath & woes that wait for thoſe wicked ones, who as they deeply hauehave had their hand in pulling downe this Plague, ſo careleſſely ſeeke to paſſe it ouer, and looke not after the God that hath ſmitten them, and the whole Land for their ſakes, and will if they turne not betimes, ſmite them downe to Hell: What ſtony hearted Stoicke can he be who ſees more then forty thouſand Chriſtians, many as good, and ſome better then Himſelfe laid in the duſt, in little more then twice forty dayes, and is not humbled vnderunder the Hand that did it, and ſenſible of the Sin that did procure it? Can hee bee a good Seruant of God or Subiect to his Souereigne, that beſides ten thouſand aged, weake, and poore, ſhall ſee an Army of ten thouſand more, braue, luſtie, and ſeruiceable young men, and tenne thouſand more comely and mariageble young women, and ten thouſand more young Infants, whoſe proofe and hope had beene ſtill before them, already taken out of one Corner of this Kingdome, and ſits not downe in duſt and aſhes mourning to that God that tooke them, for that King that loſt them, with that Land that wants them. For that Sinne that pluckt them from vsus? I dare pronounce vponupon him from God whoeuer hee bee that can or dare thus ſleightly and ſliely paſſe by the workes of God, and laughes in his ſleeue at ſuch a judgement as this, is markt vp by God for ſome greater vengeance as ſure as the fourteenth of Ezekiel is Gods true Word. For if hee that mournes for ſinne be the man that is Markt by God for bleſſing and deliuerance, whats hee that makes a ſport of ſinne; and layes from his heart the Iudgements thereby procured, but one thats ſealed vp for confuſion and deſtruction: O therefore that my heart were a Fountaine, and my eyes Riuers of teares, that I might worthily bewaile the ſinnes of our Nation together with mine owne, and weepe for the ſlaine of the Daughter of my people: So cried the holy Prophet of the abundance of his holy Zeale; and ſo I am ſure in their ſeuerall meaſures doe all the Miniſters and men of God amongſt vsus, that hauehave but taſted of the ſame ſpirit, mourning for the deſolations of this Citie; and more for the Contagion that cauſeth it, and moſt of all, for the ſinnes that procured them both: And who would not care to ſacrifice themſelues what way the Lord ſhould pleaſe, ſo the wrath of God might bee pacified towardes this Church and Nation, and thoſe plagues remooued which are the cauſe of this Plague: And till theſe be remooued, we ſhall find the Prophets tell vsus true, that eyther this Plague ſhall ſtil ſtay & creep like a Canker ouer our whole body, or elſe only make make way to ſome more fearefull that ſhall follow after it.
That this may be preuented, he cannot be a Chriſtian that will not both cry to God, and confeſſe to him the publike, and priuate, and perſonall ſinnes that be the cauſe thereof. And as all that are enabled and taught by the holy Spirit of God; to poure out their ſoules in humble Prayer, and hearty Confeſſion, will in holy obedience to the holy ProphetsHoſ. 14. 2. counſell; Take vntounto themſelues words, and returne vntounto the Lord: So for thoſe that cannot open their mouthes as they deſire, and yet hauehave hearts that groane after God, and ſoules that ſeeke the Lord. For their aſſiſtance only hauehave I beene perſwaded to publiſh this, which now I leaue to them, and them and it together, with our ſelues to the mercifull acceptation and gracious bleſſing of our Good God: who grant vsus all in theſe dayes of danger (when ſomtimes almoſt a thouſand a day are pickt vp, and pluckt away before our faces) So to liue and ſo to dye, as when we dye we may be ſure to liue for euer. And ſo to part with one another here, as we may be ſure to meet in Heauen: And here ſo to confeſſe our ſinnes, as at the laſt Day Chriſt may confeſſe vsus to be his owne. And ſo to pray here as we may prayſe God eternally in Heauen.