COme forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solo­mon (said King Solomon in his song chap: 3.11.) The daugh­ters of Zion are the children and people of the Church: and unto you (Beloved) who are such, give me leave to say, Come and behold King Solomon. I might bespeake you as one of our Savi­our's disciples did him Mark, 13.1. to behold the goodly buildings of the Tem­ple which King Solomon founded: that, if you please you may behold in the chap. next but one before this; but let me be­speake you to behold and looke over the excellent prayer which he made at the Dedication of that Temple, set down at large in this chap. and of which this my Text is part. King Solomon was a Prea­cher, so he saith himselfe: I the Preacher was King over Israel in Jerusalem. Eccles. 1.12. That King over Israel in Ierusa­lem [Page 2] was a Preacher. We have reason to love and like Preaching the better for his sake. But I must tell you that the house which he built in Ierusalem, was not to be called the house of Preaching, but the house of prayer.Math. 12.41. It is written my house shall be called the house of prayer (said a greater then Solomon of it. Math. 21.13.) and so Solomon made it; He as it were seasoned it with prayer: and we may observe in this his prayer, how of­ten he speaketh of prayer and supplication to be made in that house.V. 30.33. &c. They were the words of S. Paul. 1. Tim. 2.1. I exhort that first of all supplications, prayers, in­tercessions be made for all men. First of all, [...], before any thing else, in the very first place; which Solomon did in this place; and that for all men, as there should bee occasion, and when they should be in any adversity and affliction. When there should be in the land Famine, occasioned by Blasting, Mil-dew, Locust, and Caterpiller, spoyling and devouring the graine and grasse, and fruits of the ground; or by Enemies besieging the peo­ple in the land of their cities. When (I say) there should be Famine, and Warre [Page 3] in the land, and that which is now in this land, Pestilence, Plague, and sicknesse. Now, blessed be God for it, we may make an If of it, and say, Jf there be in the land fa­mine, if there be blasting, mil-dew &c. and if there be Enemies besieging &c. for this our lād is pestred with none of these. But we cannot fitly say, Jf there be Pesti­lence, Plague, and sicknesse: for we know and heare how it is in divers places of the land. And in this place, this city, we know whatThe spotted fea­ver, the forerunner of a farre greater mortality this yeere. sicknes hath been this yeare, and is still, and taketh many of our good friends away. God Almighty who hath sent these, send them away againe in his good time!

And therefore now let me wave those o [...]er, viz. Famine, Blasting &c. there being no occasion of complaining of them; whereupon I may forbeare speaking of them. Only we have reason to pray, that there may be no occasion of complaining of any of them hereafter, as there is now of that other, the Pesti­lence: by reason of which this text of mine is very seasonable; I pray God make my sermon upon it as profitable!

Which Text, you see, is very large, [Page 4] and of which you perceive, that much might being made: and therefore you must give me leave with that Abbre­viator of the Roman History,Rufus [...]e [...]us. mo­rem sequi calculonum, qui ingentes sum­mas aeris brevioribus exprimunt: to doe as accountants use to doe, who make a few counters stand for great summes of coyne. In my present handling this Text, I shall pick out only a few things to pitch upon. And they are these.

First, I shall speak of that which occasio­ned the choice of it; Pestilence in the land.

Secondly, of that which hath occasio­ned the Pestilence to be in the land: which I gather from the words, the Plague of a mans owne heart. The Plague of the hearts of men, I shall shew to bee the cause of the Plague in the land.

Thirdly, I shall shew what course is to be taken, when there is in the land Pesti­lence, Plague &c. and that is twofold.

First, that every man ought to study to know the Plague of his owne heart. And next, that Gods people are to make prayer and supplication unto him in his house, and there to spread forth their hands.

This is all that I shall doe. And this while I shall doe briefly, and very plain­ly, I humbly crave Gods gracious assis­tance &c.

It was the prediction of our blessed Saviour Mat. 24.7. there shall be Pesti­lence in divers places. [...] many times and fits of Pestilence, many visitations by it. And that prediction we know and see to be fulfilled. And here my observation is this, that when there are Pestilences in divers places, the Lord is angry with those places. In the Revelation of S. Iohn chap. 16.1.2. we read of the vials of the wrath of God, one of which being by an Angel powred upon the earth, there fell a noysome and greivous sore upon men, and the noysome Pestilence. Vers. 3. (As it is cal­led Ps. 91.) This plague and grievous sicknesse (as we call it in our prayer) I may say is powred out of one of the vi­als of the wrath of God, by that destroy­ing Angel of whom we read 2. Sam. 24.Vers. 16. This the Lord himselfe calleth one of his foure sore judgements Ezek. 14.21. a sore one indeed it may well be called, a noy­some and grievous sore falling by it upon men (according to those words in the [Page 6] Revelation.) But to make what I said, and that my observation more manifest. The words of my text are, If there be in the land Pestilence. And the words of the Lord in the afore mentioned chapt. of Ezek. vers. 19. are, Jf J send a Pestilence into a land, and powre out my fury upon it. So that when the Lord sendeth a Pesti­lence into a land, he then powreth out his fury upon it. The wrath of the Lord & the Pestilence, his anger & fury, & that di­sease going and being put together in the same Prophet chap. 7.14.15. and Ierem. 21.5.6. But you shall have further proofe from examples. In the 11. of Nu. 33. it is said, that the wrath of the Lord was kind­led against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. And chap. 16. 46. the words of Moyses are, there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the Plague is begun. Again the Psalmist spea­king of those Israelites, saith thus, They provoked the Lord to anger with their own inventions, & the Plague was great among them. Ps. 106.29. Once more: 2. Sam. 14.1. it is said, that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and then, vers. 15. that the Lord sent a Pestilence upon [Page 7] Jsrael. Hence you see that still the Lord was angry when the Pestilence was sent abroad; and that this sicknesse hath beene a heavy consequent of his heavy wrath and anger. And withall from the last ci­ted place that it is of his sending, The Lord sent a Pestlence upon Israel. Even as before I told you the words of the Lord in Ezekiel, If J send a pestilence into a land, and I have sent among you the Pestilence (saith he, Amos 4.10.) In Psal. 105.16. it is said, that he called for a Dearth up­on the land: and in like manner I may say, that he calleth for [...] in septuag. for the Lord sent a pestilence 2. Sam. 24.15. Vers. 9. a Death upon a land, and sendeth it, biddeth it goe, and it goeth, come and it commeth, doe this, and it doth it (as the Centurion said of himselfe and his souldiours, Math. 8.) The stormy wind fulfilleth his word, Ps. 148.8. and so doth the stormy winde (as I may call it) of sicknesse and death; which as it were bloweth us away, it ful­filleth his word, his will and pleasure. Before him went the Pestilence (said the Prophet Habakuk. chapt. 3.5.) it was ready at hand, when he would be pleas'd to call for it. And as it went before him, so it never went abroad but from him: [Page 8] making use of Labans words Gen. 24.50. I may say, that this thing proceedeth from the Lord. In the first of Samuel chap. 6.9. the Philistines being plagued with Emrods, the Priests and the diviners tal­ked of a Chance that might happen unto them; Jf (said they) the Arke of God go­eth not such a way, then we shall know, that it is not his hand that smote us, it was a Chance that happened to us. But we be­ing now plagued must know that it is not a chance that hath happened unto us, but that it is his hand that hath smitten us.Vers. 19. As the Magicians of Egypt Exod. 8. said of the dust turned to lice, This is the finger of God: So may we say of the pesti­lence, that this is the hand of God: and that we may perceive by the words of God himselfe thus threatning Pharaoh, now I will stretch out mine hand▪ that I may smite thee and thy people with Pesti­lence Exod. 9.15. And we know how David accounted of it when he made choice of it, saying, Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord. 2. Sam. 24.14. Answe­rably in the last Proclamation for the Fast, it is acknowledged & pronounced to be the immediat hād of God. Yea, it is a sword [Page 9] in that hand, the sword of the Lord, the Pestilence, is the language 1. Chron. 21.12. where is the same storie with▪ that 2. Sam. 24. Which sword (to use the words of David. 2. Sam. 11.25. de­voureth one as well as another, as well rich as poore, young as old, where it lighteth and hitteth; and of which wee may say, as the same David did of the sword of Saul, that from the blood of the slain it returneth not empty. Chap. 1.22. If I whet my glittering sword, my sword shall devour flesh (saith the Lord, in the Song dictated unto Moses, Deut. 41.42.) Oh! what a world of flesh hath this sword devoured?1. Sam. 15.33. How many Women (as Samuel said unto Agag) hath this sword made childlesse? In the holy storie what doe we read of? fourteen thousand and seven hundred Numb. 16.49. but there is a greater number in the same book, viz. twenty and foure thousand Chap. 1. Cor. 10.8. 25.9. and that (as S. Paul saith) in one day. But we heare of a farre greater summe yet; even seventy thousand men, and that in three dayes space (some have thought lesse then one day) 2. Sam. 24.15. All these in all, a hundred and eight thousand, [Page 10] and seven hundred, among the Lords peo­ple Israel, as they are called in the Text. In the Histories of other nations we find most strange reports. To tell you some of them,Pet. Fore­stus. de fe­br. pesti­lent. and concerning some great ci­ties. As Ʋenice, in which in one plague time (as a learned Physitian hath repor­ted) died sexaginta medici, no fewer then threescore Physitians, who were not able to doe themselves any good. And Constantinople, in which the Plague hath been very frequent, and is said to have taken away a matter of two hundred thousand in a yeere.Henr. Blount. in his voyage into the Levant. pag. 44. But the greatest Plague that I ever heard of from one place, was that at Grand-Cairo in Egypt, in which not many yeeres since (as a late worthy Travailer who was told it there, hath told us) were swept away in one yeere eighteen hūdred thousand & odde. And here I think upon that which is re­ported of that mighty Persian Emperour Xerxes, Herodot. lib. 7. who having gathered together as huge an army as (I think) ever before any had done, and having gotten to be se­venteen hundred thousand strong, view­ing upon a time all that company, being together, broke forth into teares upon [Page 11] this consideration; that within the space of one hundred yeeres not one man of so many hundred thousand would be left alive,Epist. lib. 3. ep. 7. and (as Pliny saith) quòd tot milli­bu [...] tam brevis immineret occasus, so great a number should last so litle a time. Vpon the consideration of those eighteene hun­dred thousād (one hundred thousād more then in that army) I cannot but say this; Good Lord! that in so short a space, not of one hundred, but of one yeere, not one man of so many hundred thousand should be left alive; and that so great a number in so litle time should be cut of. To leave other countries, and to come home, to our own land, I cannot but here speake of that most heavy and extreame plague in the twenty third yeere of King Ed­ward the third AN. DOM. 1349. of which I may say as it is said of the hayle in Aegypt, Exod. 9.24. that it was very grievous, such as there was none like it in all this land, since it became a Nation. When (as the words of our Historian are) vix vivi potuerunt mortuos sepelire, Tho: Wa [...] ­singham. there were hardly enow left alive to bu­ry the dead: and the opinon of many was, quòd vix decima pars hominum fuis­set [Page 12] relitcta ad vitam, that scarce a tenth, one in ten of people was left alive. Iudge of it, by what I shall tell you out of our writers frō but two or three places. And first of all our greatest city (then not neere so great as now) London; Stow. in which the Churches and Church-yards being so filled that they could receaue no more, a new burying place (there where now the great hospitall is) was purchased and hallowed,The Char­ter-house. and therein more then fifty thousand persons laid and interred in the afore-named yeere. In which in another city, viz. Norwich, in the space of sixe moneths, even frō Ianuary the first, to the first of Iuly, the relation is, that there died fifty sven thousand a hundred & four per­sons, besidesIn qui­busdam Re­ligiosorum domibus, de viginti vix supere­rant tan­tum duo. Walsing. vid. Stow. in Annal. religious persons. And hav­ing told this of Norwich, let me tell this too of one Town in Norfolke, Yarmouth, in which is but one Church, & yet at that time (as a Table hanging in that Church hath witnessed) seven thousand fifty and two were there taken away. But to come to later times, and fresher memory: let me speake of London againe, and to say nothing of the present condition of it, of which we have weekely notice, give [Page 13] me leave only to reflect upon that dis­mall time there about an eleven yeares since, in which above twenty thousand Families got them gone, escaping for their lives, (as the Angell said unto Lot, Vers. 17. Gen. 19.) and (as it is said of the Levite, Vers. 8. Iudg. 17.) departing to sojourne where they could find a place. And yet notwithstanding so many leaving that place, died of the Plague foure thousand foure hundred threescore and three in one week. I here think of the words of Samson, when he slew so many at one time, Iudg. 15.16. heaps upon heaps! At that time there were heaps of Carcasses one lying upon ano­ther, like dead bones in a Charnel-house, and in that valley whither Ezekiel was carryed, chap. 37.1. Thus (beloved) you see how the Pestilence, although it walk­eth in darknes, yet it destroyeth in the noon-day, and then maketh thousands, and ten thousands to fall, Ps. 91.6.7. It walketh in darknesse invisibly, we cannot see the comming of it: like the Prince of dark­nesse,Vers. 7. Iob. 1. it walketh up and downe in the earth, from Citie to Citie, from place to place. It walketh (I say) yea more, it flyeth, it being the arrow that [Page 14] flyeth by day, as well as that walketh in darknesse, Ps. 91.5. And that flying Rowle, which the Prophet Zacharie saw, chap. 5.1. and of which vers. 3. thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I will bring it forth, and it shall enter into the house of the thiefe, and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my name, and it shall remaine in the mid'st of his house, and shall consume it. Many have been the houses, and house­holds, which this sicknesse, being once in the mid'st of them, hath consumed. In the 12. chap. of Exodus v. 30. we read, that in that great slaughter, of the first borne in Egypt, there was not a house where there was not one dead. But we have heard of diverse houses infected, in which have been all dead, not one left a­live. As the Egyptians at that time said, we be all dead, Vers. 33. so haue had many in many houses cause to say: for as the Lord threat­ned by his Prophet Amos thus, chap. 6.9. It shall come to passe if there remaine ten men in one house, that they shall dye; so may I apply, and say, it hath come to passe, if there remained ten in one house, that they have all died. O the heavy hand! O the cruell sword of God Almighty, [Page 15] and of his destroying Angell! O the dead­ly Arrowes of his quiver, the poyson where­of drinketh up the spirits of men (to speak with Iob, chap. 6.4.) Well might Moses say,V. 7.9. Ps. 90. We consume away in thy dis­pleasure, and when thou art angry all our dayes are gone: and fitly may we say Thou in thine indignation hast striken us with grievous sicknesse, and by and by, In the Psalme in the booke for the fast. we have fallen, as leaves beaten down with a vehe­ment wind.

But it is now high time to strike upon another string, and to come unto what I proposed in the second place, viz. The cause of the Pestilence in the land, which I said, is the Plague of the hearts of men &c.

The Marriners in Ionah, in that migh­ty tempest desired to know for whose cause that evill was upon them, chap. 1.7. being perswaded, although being heathens, that there was a cause for it extraordina­ry. And (Beloved) when such an evill as this, malum poenae, an evill of punish­ment is upon us, it is good and fit to search, that we may know for whose, and what cause it is. S. Paul 1. Ep. 11 30. told the Corinthians, that among thē many [Page 16] were weake, and sickly, and that many slept, and dyed. But there is a [...] a cause for it; for this cause (saith he) namely, for their evill carryage, and condition when they came to the Lords Supper. When the Sonne of the Widdow of Zaraphath was dead, what were her words unto the Prophet? O thou man of God! art thou come to call my sinne to remembrance, and to slay my sonne? 1. King. 17.18. Shee tooke her sinne to be the cause of the death of her Sonne; and I may truely pro­nounce that which she spake of, to be the cause of the death, and slaughter of so ma­ny sonnes of men. I may use the words of Solomon, and most fitly say of the Har­lot Sinne, that she hath cast downe many wounded, yea many strong men have beene slaine by her. Prov. 7.26. It is worth the observing, what you may find, 1. King. 16. concerning that wicked king Zimri, who burnt a house over him selfe with fire and dyed: But what was the cause of such his death? It is plainly said there, that he dyed for his sinnes which he sinned, &c. ver. 18.19. In the pot of sinne there is death. Thou with rebukes doest chasten man for sinne, 2. King. 4.40. and makest his beauty to consume a­way, [Page 17] &c. (said David unto the Lord, Ps. 39.12. And I will make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sinnes, (said the Lord, Micah. 6.13.) As the Lord answered David, when he en­quired concerning the three yeares fa­mine; It is for Saul, and for his bloody house. 2. Sam. 21.1: So if any enquire con­cerning this, and other yeares sicknesse, and mortality, and what may be the true cause of it, it may be answered in like manner: It is for sinne, and for its bloody house: which bloody house, is that which my text speaketh of, a mans owne heart, in which a mans spirituall part lyeth, and in which the Plague of sinne hath its seat and residence. Of which part we may say most truely, what Tertullus did of S. Paul most maliciously, that we have found it to be [...], a Plague: Act. 24.5. And as S. Peter did of Simon Magus, chap. 8.23. that we perceive it to be in the gall of bitternesse, and in the bond of iniquity. What bitter waters issue from this foun­taine, how much iniquity, and how many Plagues are in this part, the heart of man, our Saviour hath told us at large, whose words are, out of the heart of men, proceed [Page 18] evill thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murthers, thefts, covetousnesse, wicked­nesse, deceipt, lasciviousnesse, an evill eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishnesse, all which evill things (saith he) defile and infect a man, Mark. 7.21.22.23. This is that in­ward part, of which, speaking to the Pha­rises, he saith, that it is full of ravening and wickednesse, Luk. 11.39. The heart of the sonnes of men is full of evill, and madnesse is in their heart, 1. King. 4.29. (saith he who had so large a heart. Eccl. 9.3.) And how can it chuse; when Satan many times filleth it, (as S. Peter said to Ananias Act. 5.3.) this be­ing the house, out of which the uncleane spirit came, and said he would returne in­to againe, entring in, and dwelling there, (according to our Saviours words, Mat. 12.) Satan thus filling it,V. 44 45. and that un­cleane spirit dwelling in this house, it becommeth like the gyant Augaeus his stable, full of unsavoury matter, and as S. Iames saith of the tongue, chapt. 3.8. an evill, full of deadly poyson. Of the deadly poyson and venome of sinne, which in­fecteth a man, yea undoeth him; and by reason of which many a man may cry out with the Prophet Jsai. ch. 6.5. & say, [Page 19] Wo is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of uncleane lips, and J dwell in the middest of a people of uncleane lips! Sinne is the Plague of the heart, and the cause of the plague in the land. Men have had this plague in their hearts, the plague of pride and haughtinesse: the plague of envie and malice: the plague of covetousnesse, and inordinate desires: the plague of cruelty, of hypocrisie, and the like: They haue had it in their mouthes,Luk. 6.45. speaking of the abun­dance of the heart, wishing a plague and pestilence, one upon another; and now it is come home unto them, they have it in their houses. I told you before the word of Tertullus the Oratour, calling S. Paul [...], a plague: and I remember the words of that pander Sannio in the Comedie, saying of himselfe,Terent in Adelph. ego sum pe­stis, I am one that am a plague; and I may say that men have been [...], plagues in­fecting one another, with the plague, and contagion of sinne; and now they are [...], plagues to one another, in infect­ing one another with the disease, and Contagiō of the plague. Men have sate in cathedra Pestilentiae, in the chaire of Pesti­lence, according to the phrase in the vul­gar [Page 20] Translation, Psal. 1.1. And now they sit, in domo Pestilentiae, in a Pest-house. Men have kept ill company, and there­fore they are now kept from company: Men have not feared God, and therefore God hath made men to feare men. Men have been sick of sinne,Ephes. 2.1. and dead in it, and therefore are so many now sick, and dead of this sicknesse. Our sinnes which the Prophet Jsai. ch. 1.6. calleth putrifying sores, have caused so many putrifying sores to break out. Our sinnes as red as scarlet, (according to the words of the same Prophet,Vers. 18. in the same chapt.) have made the red, and scarlet spots so com­mon. Our proud flesh hath caused the Lord to use this sicknes as a corrosiue, to eat it away, and to make it eate, [...], as doth a canker, or gangreene, (to use S. Pauls words in another case, 2. Tim. 2.V. 17. Rom. 13.12. Psal. 88.5.) Our works of darknesse have brought among us the pestilence that wal­keth in darknesse, and which sendeth so many to the place of darknesse. Our sinnes haue increased, and therefore hath this disease increased. Heare, and think upon the words of the Lord unto Israel, Ierem. 30. J haue wounded thee with the wound [Page 21] of an enemie, with the chastisement of a cruell one; for the multitude of thine ini­quity: because thy sinnes were increased. v. 15. What shall I say? As David saith, Ps. 107.34. A fruitfull land the Lord maketh barren, for the wickednes of them that dwell therein: So may I say, a full Land, a full City, he maketh empty, for the wicknednesse of them that dwell therein. Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it wast, and turneth it upside-downe, and scattereth abroad the in­habitants thereof. &c. and why? because they have transgressed the lawes &c. Isai. 24.1.5. To be briefe; as the Lord saith concerning Ierusalem, Ezek. 14.22. Ye shall know that I have not done without cause, all that I have done in it: So must we know and be assured, that what he hath now done unto us, and in this Land, he hath not done without good cause: with which cause it is time to have done, and I have. Only as Quintilian having told of his many losses, saith thus;Institut. l. 6. in Pro­aem. Non sum am­bitiosus in malis, nec augere lacrymarūcau­sas volo, uti nam (que) esset ratio minuendi! So let me say, I take no pleasure here in ag­gravating this cause, or in making things [Page 22] more or worse, I wish rather there were cause for the contrary. The time passeth, and I now passe to the third thing, which I said I would shew, viz. what course is to be taken when there is in the land Pe­stilence, Plague, &c. which I shall doe as briefly as I may.

In the beginning of my last part I told you of the marriners in Ionah, how they desired to know for whose cause that evill which they suffered was upon them: Let me now tell you other words of theirs unto Ionah, ver. 11. What shall we doe that the sea may be calme unto us? In like man­ner it concerneth us to talke of, and to take a course, to advise what is best to be done, and to doe our best, that the sea (as I may say) of this sicknesse may be calme, the storme of it be blown away, and a se­renitie ensue. And here let me turne you to an excellent place, then which, none sitteth our turnes better; you have it La­mentations, chap, 3. v. 39.40.41. Where­fore (saith the Prophet) doth a living man complaine, a man for the punishment of his sinnes? Let us search and try our wayes: Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God, in the heavens. Living men whē [Page 23] they are punished, are apt to complaine,Iob. 1.22. and murmure, yea, to charg God foolishly, and with Jonah, to be angry, ch. 4.9. even unto death: but wherefore (saith Ieremie) doth a man so? he doth but suffer justly, it is but the punishment of his sinnes. But to com­plaine and murmure is not the way, and course to be taken; to doe so, will doe no good, but hurt: the best thing we can doe, is to search and try our wayes: to lift up our heart, with our hands, unto God in the heavens. Which words you perceive how well they doe answer those in my Text, and that which at the first I told you from them, when I observed the course, &c. which, I told you is twofold.

First, that every man ought to study to know the Plague of his owne heart.

And next, that Gods people are to make prayers, and supplications unto him, in his house, & there to spread forth their hands.

Of which, one after the other, let me speak. And here let me come in againe with the words of the Prophet Jeremie, let us search and try our wayes: search for the Plague of our own hearts, that we may know it, as David said he did, Ps. 77.6. I (saith he) commune with my owne heart, [Page 24] & my spirit made diligent search; & as that woman did, Luk. 15.8. who swept the house, & sought diligently for her lost piece. Ʋenena non desunt sed torpent, (saith Se­neca) poyson doth sometimes lie still, and as it were asleep: and the plague, we know in some houses lurketh, and lyeth dormant a great while before it breaketh out, and is plainly knowne: and so doth the plague of sinne in the heart of man; which heart (saith the Lord Ierem, 17.9.) is deceitfull above all things, and desperat­ly wicked, who can know it? what man can know the heart of another man? and one man is loath that another should know the deceitfulnes, and desperate wicked­nesse of his heart. Even as wee have knowne some who have knowne the plague to have been in their houses, and yet would not be knowne of it, would not acknowledge it till needs they must, being not able to smother it any longer. In like manner there are many who know a plague to be in their owne heart but they will not acknowledge it, like Gehazi, 2. King. 5, 25. and like Ananias, and Saphira, Act. 5.8. they cover their transgressions as Adam by hyding their iniquity in their bosome, to speak with [Page 25] Iob. ch. 31.33. even as it is said of an a­dulterous woman, Prov. 30, 20. that shee eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickednesse. I said before what the Lord said concerning the de­ceitfulnesse and wickednesse of the heart Who can know it? but I may here say, who will know it? I meane that of his owne heart: that of another mans heart many are most willing to know, and with Mo­mus in Lucian they would faine have a window made that they might see and know it: But the deceitfulnesse, and de­sperate wickednesse, the Plague of his owne heart (I say) who will know it? Men might know it, if they did but take the care and course to know it; that that David did, whose words you heard be­fore I commune with mine owne heart, and my spirit made diligent search. Or if they would doe as Seneca said he did,De Ira l. 3. cap. 36. whose words are; quotidiè apud me causam dico, totū diem mecū scrutor, facta ac dicta mea remetior, nihil mihi ipse abscondo, nihil transeo. Every day I have a pleading with my selfe: when the day is passed, I exa­min my selfe how I have passed it away; I repeat with my selfe all that I have [Page 26] said and done, I conceale nothing from my selfe, I leave nothing unthought of: and such a course he that is a good and wise man indeed useth to take, as the Poet saith in his Character of such a one Iudex ipse sui totum se explorat ad unguē. Virgil He Iudgeth, and searcheth, and sifteth himselfe throughly and perfectly. But a­las! as the Prophet Hosea saith of Ephraim Ch. 7.9. gray haires are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not: and as it is said of the Church of Laodicea Revel. 3.17. that shee knew not that shee was wretch­ed, and miserable, and poore, and blind, and naked: So may it be said of many that they will not know, will not be sensible of how it is with them, and of what is within them, the Plague of their owne hearts; Suis quis (que) malis blanditur: men are apt to sooth themselves in their evill waies: even as David speaketh of the un­godly that he flattereth himselfe in his own eyes. Ps. 36.2. even as did that Church of Laodicea, of which I told you even now, who when she was in that taking as you heard, yet said, that she was rich, and had need of nothing. It is a most true say­ing of Seneca, Epist. 116. Plerique student magis ex­cusare [Page 27] vitia quam excutere: it is the stu­dy of too many rather to excuse, then to give over their vices: and it was the complaint of the Poet.

No man goeth downe into himselfe, no man soundeth the bottome of himselfe; even as the Prophet Ieremy, speaking of the wickednesse of the people, complai­ned and said, that he hearkned, but no man repented him of his wickednesse, saying, what have I done? Chap. 8.6. But enough of this, I will not inlarge upon these complaints. Having told you the com­plaint of one Poet, let me now tell you the counsel and advise of another—teipsū

Shake thy selfe, search thy selfe whether or no nature, or evill custome hath sowen into thee any vices. Shake thy self: doe as they doe who hav [...] to doe with cloths and stuffe in infected houses, who shake, and move, and stirre them, to get out of them the infection: or, as was injoyned to be done in a leprous house, which was to be scraped within round about, Levit. 14. [Page 28] 41. Search thy self I say. Let us search our wayes (once again to tell you the advise of the Prophet.) In the times of plague, we know there are searchers who have experience, and can judge of the disease: Let us (Beloved) be our own searchers, searchers of our selves, such a one as David was, who said (as I said once and againe before) my spirit made diligent search; & search he made about his heart, communing (as his words are) with his owne heart: by doing which he came to know the plague of his owne heart, saying, Ps. 51.3. I acknowledge my faults, and my sinne is ever before me, praying in that Psalme thus, Create in me a clean heart O God, V. 10. He knew his heart had been foule, and had need of clensing, and therefore prayed for it, Purge me with hysope, and J shal be clean, wash me &c. wash me through­ly from mine iniquity, V. 7. 2. Ps. 19.12. and cleanse me from my sinne. O cleanse thou me from my secret faults. But to make short: Let my exhor­tation be that of the Prophet Jsai. ch. 1. [...]6. Wash yee, make you clean, put away the evill of your doings, and that of S. Iames ch. 4.8. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded [Page 29] and to make use of the words, Ezek. 20.43. Let us remember our wayes, and all our doings, wherein we have been defiled, and lothe our selves in our owne sight, for all our evils that we have committed!

There is one thinge more you know which I must needs say somthing of, but now can say but litle, which is concer­ning prayer and supplication to be made by Gods people. &c.

They are the words of S. Iames, in his last chap. 14. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the Church, and let thē pray over him. Is any infectious & contagious sicknes among us? Let me say too, let the Elders of the Church, the Mi­nisters, be called unto, and upon, and they must pray for the people: according to the advise, Ioel. 2.16.17. (being part of the Epistle for the Fast-day.) Gather the people, assemble the Elders, let the Priests, the Ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch, and the Altar, and let them say; Spare thy people O Lord &c. and as Pha­raoh called for Moses, and Aaron, who were Priests, (for Moses and Aaron a­mong his Priests, Ps. 99.6. and said intreat the Lord your God that he may take away [Page 30] from me this death, Exod. 10.16.17: So it is the part and duty of the Priests, and Ministers especially, to intreat the Lord God, that he would take away from the people this death and Plague; and this they must doe, according to my Text, in his house, his holy places, and Temples. As David said,Ps. 68.33. Ps. 42.8. that he went with the multitude into the house of God, so the Priest and multitude of people, who are safe and free, must goe together into the house of God, and there make prayer and supplication unto him; they must, as the same David said, that he, and the people would doe, Ps. 132.7. goe in­to his Tabernacle, and fall low on their knees before his footstoole, and withall (according to my Text) spread forth their hands there, and as the same David ex­horted, Ps. 134 2. lift up their hands in the Sanctuary: their hands, as Davids were,V. 6. Ps. 26. being washed in Innocency, before they with him goe to the Lords Altar, and with those hands the heart being lifted up, according to the words formerly cited, Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens, and thus with David, Ps. 5. comming into [Page 31] Gods house upon the multitude of his mercies, & in his feare worshiping towards his holy Temple, both Priest & people may say with him, Ps. 48.8. We wait for thy loving kindnesse (O God) in the mid'st of thy Temple: and they may hope and be confident, that although (as David saith, Ps. 11.4.) the Lords seat is in heaven, yet with all (as it is there) the Lord is in his holy Temple, that this Lord will (as the same David was assured he would his, Ps. 18.6.) heare their voyce out of his ho­ly Temple, and that their complaint shall come before him, and shall enter even into his eares, and that (according unto the prayer of Solomon, Davids sonne in my Text) he will heare in heaven his dwel­ling place, and forgive. And as there must be publique prayer in Gods house, so ought there to be private in our owne, and in our private roomes, according to our Saviours advise, Mat. 6.6. Enter into thy chamber, and when thou hast shut thy doore, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and according to the example of Daniel, who in his chamber, kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed. Dan. 6.10. Both publique and private prayer are [Page 32] now injoyned by our Soveraigne, and I trust it will prove a soveraigne remedie for the occasion. Let me be bold and say, making use of our Saviours words, Mat. 17.21. This kind, this kind of sicknesse will not goe out of this land, but by prayer and fasting. We know what hath been the effect of prayer and supplication, and that at such a time as this. The Lord threatned to smite his people with the Pestilence, Moses besought him to pardon their iniquity, and the Lord presently said, V. 12.19.20, J bave pardoned according to thy word. Numb. 14. The Lord did smite them with the Pestilence, but when Phineas stood up and prayed, the plague ceased. (As we use to read it, Ps. 106.30. In that great Plague, in the time of King David, David and the Elders of Israel fell upon their faces, and prayed for the people, and called upon the Lord, and the Lord commanded the Angell, and he put up his sword againe into the sheath thereof, (as wee may read 1 Chron. V. 16.17.26.27. 2. King. 20.7. 21.) Once more, King Hezekiah was sicke (as it is thought▪ and is probable) of the plague, and sicke to the death, and he prayed unto the Lord, and hee spake unto him, and hee [Page 33] gave him a signe (as it is 2. Chron. 32.24. And as we see hence what hath been the effect of prayer at such a time as this, so we are told what it shall be, and that by the Lord himselfe, and that too, answe­ring this very petition of Solomon, which is my text: unto which you will finde the Lords gracious answer, in the last mentio­ned booke 2. Chron. 7. The Lord appea­red, and said to Solomon, J have heard thy prayer, and if I send Pestilence among my people, if my people which is called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seeke my face and turne from their wicked waeyes; then I will heare from hea­ven, and will forgive their sinne, and will heale their land, v. 12.13.14 & from this Lord, his Prophet Ioel hath assured us that upon the humiliation of the people, upon the teares and Prayer of the priests, the Lord will be jealous for his land, and pity his people, chap. 2 17.18. and the prayer of faith of Gods faithfull people shall save the sicke, and the Lord shall raise him up &c. (saith S. Iames chapt. 5.15.) and therefore (as he saith vers. 13.) Is any a­mong you afflicted? Let him pray. And let me say for those among us that are affli­cted, [Page 34] let us pray; for it may be the case is so with some of them that they cannot pray for thēselves. Pray for one another, that yee may bee healed. (Saith the same Apostle in the same chapt. vers. 16.) It is the best office that one Christian can doe for another, which S. Paul most fre­quently and earnestly desired might bee done for him; and at the hands of those unto whom he wrot, begg'd for nothing more earnestly then for that, as doe shew those words of his unto the Romās, Now I beseech you brethren, for the Lord Iesus Christs sake, and for the love of the spirit, that yee strive together with me in your prayers to God for me! chapt. 15.30. And therefore, as he said unto the Hebrewes, chap. 13, 19. I beseech you to doe this: so let me beseech that this may bee done, frequently, faithfully, humbly, heartily. Pray for thy selfe out of great necessity; For others out of Christian charity. Pray that thou maist truly know the Plague of thine owne heart: that God would cease it, in thy heart: and that he would cease and stop it in the land. Vse the prayer of the prophet Habbakuk, in that chapt. where he speaketh of the Pestilence, ch. [Page 35] 3.2. O Lord in wrarth remember mercy! V. 5. that of the prophet Isai, chapt. 64.9. Be not wrath very sore, O Lord, neither re­member iniquity for ever! behold, see, wee beseech thee, we are all thy people! That of the prophet Daniel, chapt. 9.19. O Lord heare, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and doe not deferre for thine owne sake, O God! Or that of Solomon in my text, Heare thou in heaven thy dwelling place and for­give! pray, that God would heare in H [...] ­ven, his dwelling place, the prayers her [...] made upon Earth, his footstoole: and that he would heare in heaven the prayers made in heaven for us upon the earth, [...] Iesus Christ our Mediatour, who ever liveth to make intercession for us; By th [...] blessed Saints, out of the altitude of their charity, the Church triumphant for the Church militant; By the soules under the Altar, who cry, and say, how long O Lord holy and true, O thou that hearest the pray­ers unto thee shall all flesh come. Ps. [...] Now un­to him that heareth the prayers, God the Father; to Iesus Christ, God the Sonne, who prayeth for us; and to God the holy Ghost, be all Honour, &c.