REader, what ever thou art, rich or poore,
Rowse up thy selfe, for death stands at the dore;
If God sayes strike, he must & wil come in
For death we know is the reward of sinne.
His very breath is so infectious growne,
He poysons every one he breathes upon;
He is the rich mans terrour, makes him flye,
And beare away his bagges, as loath to dye.
What shall the poore doe that behind do stay?
Death makes them rich by taking them away.
But what shall poore men do, then that doe live,
Tis surely fit the rich should comfort give,
And weekely meanes unto them still afford▪
Oh such rich men shall be rich in the Lord!
Death startles all, but more the guilt of sinne,
Which sinfull man long time hath lived in,
Doth make them fearefull of that punishment.
Due unto sinne, for time that's evill spent.
Oh why was this not thought on long agoe!
When God expected our repentance so?
When sixe yeares since, a little Plague God sent,
He shoke his rod to move us to repent:
Not long before that time, a dearth of corne
Was sent to us to see if we would turne:
And the last Summer none deny it can,
The beasts did suffer for the sinne of man:
Grasse was so short and small, that it was told,
Hey for foure pound a load was daily sold.
These judgements God hath sent even to cite us
Unto repentance, and from sinne to fright us.
Oh stubborne England! childish and unwise,
So heavy laden with iniquities:
Returne, returne, unto thy loving Father,
Returne I say, and so much the rather,
Because his Sonne thy Saviour pleads thy cause,
Though thou hast broken all his holy lawes:
Say to thy selfe, my sinnes are cause of all
Gods judgements that upon this land doth fall,
And sin's the cause that each one doth complain
They have too much, sometimes too little raine:
Say to thy selfe, this Plague may be removed,
If I repent, as plainly may be proved
By Niniveh, that Citie great and large,
For God hath given to his Angels charge,
To strike and to forbeare as he sees fit;
If it be so, then learne thou so much wit,
To use thy best endeavour to prevent
A plague, which thou mayst doe if thou repent.
Let all infe [...]d houses be thy Text,
And make [...]is use, that thine may be the next.
The red crosse still is us'd, as it hath bin,
To shew they Christians are that are within.
And Lord have mercy on us on the dore,
Puts thee in minde to pray for them therefore.
The watchman that attends the house of sorrow,
He may attend upon thy house to morrow.
Oh where's the vows we to our God have made!
When death & sicknesse came with axe & spade,
And hurld our brethren up in heaps a pace,
Even forty thousand in a little space:
And now againe he doth with us begin,
T' increase the Plague, as we increase in sinne:
Each spectacle of death and funerall,
Puts thee and I in minde we must dye all.
A Prayer fit to be used in this time of sicknesse and mortality.
O Lord God, strong and mighty, great and fearefull, which dwellest in the heavens, and workest great wonders; we thy miserable children here on earth, doe most humbly beseech thee to be mercifull unto us, to pardon our offences, and forgive us all our sinnes: O Lord enter not into judgement with thy servants, for if thou doe, there shall no flesh be saved in thy sight: we confesse and acknowledge O Lord, that it is our sinnes which have moved thee to wrath, and to shew such fearefull tokens of thy displeasure towards us in these our dayes; first by locking up the heavens that no raine should fall to succour the earth, neverthelesse upon our repentance and humility, it hath pleased thee of thy fatherly goodnesse to send downe some sweet comfortable showers of thy mercy upon the earth. O Lord increase our thankfulnesse, and give us grace to amend our lives, that thou maist turne from us all those judgements which we most righteously have deserved; thou hast sent thy messengers of mercy, thy Ministers of thy holy Word to allure us by faire meanes to repentance, thou hast sent Monsters from the Sea, and cast them up upon our English shore, fearefull and strange to behold, to cry out against us; nay, thou hast suffered the tempter, that old enemy of mans salvation, to worke upon the weakenesse of some of our poore brethren, to assume unto themselves the names of Prophets, to prophecie evill against this nation; but thou hast disclosed the subtilty of the Serpent unto us, that as he was a lyer from the beginning, so thou hast proved his Prophets to be false Prophets, by sending downe these sweet and comfortable showers of raine upon the earth, giving us to understand, that Prophecying is ceast, and that no man is worthy to know the secrets of thy will. Neverthelesse though we are not Prophets, nor Prophets children, yet wee cannot but expect utter desolation and destruction without speedy repentance: Give us, O give us repentant hearts, that we may be truely humbled at the sight of our sinnes, and walke in newnesse of life all the dayes of our life: wee bese [...]ch thee good Father to turne in mercy to us, and remove from us this Sicknesse lately begun among us: LORD command the destroying Angell to hold his hand, that our brethren which are fled from us for the preservation of their lives, may returne againe with ioy, that we with them may praise and glorifie thy name, now and for evermore, Amen.
Written by [...]. C.