LONDONS WONDER.

Being a most true and posi­tive relation of the taking and killing of a great Whale neer to Green­wich; the said Whale being fifty eight foot in length, twelve foot high, fourteen foot broad, and two foot between the Eyes.

At whose death was used Harping-Irons, Spits, Swords, Guns, Bills, Axes, and Hatchets, and all kind of sharp Instruments to kill her: and at last two Anchors being struck fast into her body, she could not remoove them, but the blood gusht out of her Body, as the water does out of a Pump.

The report of which Whale hath caused many hundred of people both by land and water to go and see her; the said Whale being slaine hard by Greenwich upon the third day of Iune this present yere 1658. which is largely exprest in this following discourse.

⟨June⟩ LONDON, Printed for Francis Grove neere the Sarazens head on Snow-hill. 1658. ⟨June 6.⟩

The Preface.

IN the most sacred and holy Word of God, (which is written for our instruction; in which (by the merits of Jesus Christ) depends our salvation, by reading, hearing, and preaching) And in this holy Scripture, the perfect Creation of the World is set down, in the true and largest mannner; as you may read, in the first Chapter of Genesis, pen'd by the faithfull hand of Moses, who was in the place of a King, Priest, and Prophet, to the Children of Israel. In which Chapter, by reading or hea­ring, you shall find proved positively, how the Omnipotent God, great JEHO­VAH, the Lord of lords, and King of kings, whose power has no end, whose glory is unspeakable, whose mercy is infinite, whose goodnesse cannot be numbered, nor his blessings parallel'd: [Page] He who rideth on the skies, and makes the earth his footstool; that is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. It was this good God, that first fram'd this Universe; It was the Lords work, and the Lords will, that created this world: It was the glorious almighty power of Heaven, that first founded this fabrick; it was God that made of nothing, some­thing; and it was the Lord that made the Sun to govern the day, and the Moon to govern the night; it was the Lord of Hosts that made the great Whales, and all the fishes swimming in the waters; and it was the great God of our salvation, that made every living creature. And was it not the Lords ex­cellent power, to make man according to his own Image, pure, just, and holy; yea, in the State of all blessed felicity. But how soon, through transgression, did man remove himself from that hap­py paradice, that heavenly mansion, that portion of joy, which he so soon spent, like the prodigall son: read the 15 Chapter of St. Lukes Gospell.

[Page] The fall of Adam has been our ru­ine, for we by his sins, as heirs from his loines, are all dead in sins and trespas­ses. Neverthelesse, we are all made whole by the second Adam; For as the Serpent was lift up in the Wildernesse, so must the Son of man be lift up, that whosoever be­lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The 3d. Chapter of St. Johns Gospell, and the 14 and 15 ver­ses. This place of holy Scripture does manifestly prove, by the mouth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved. But on the contrary, those that deny Christ, and have crucified our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, will deny them before his Father which is in heaven.

It is through unbelief, that we have such strange apparitions in the aire, where has been the appearance of four Suns altogether, the Moon has been seen as red as blood, strange kinde of hail and rain, great winds and earth-quakes, most horrible and terrible thunder in the midst of winter, to the great frights [Page] and terrour of many thousands of peo­ple; great inundations of water, destroy­ing hay, corn and cattle, besides men, women, and children: great and un­heard of tempests at Sea, splitting the Vessells against the shore, and driving others upon the sands, where many a Marriner has been cast away through distresse, and many a widow made con­trary to expectation. Within this few years, great fires (by negligence, or some ill casualty) has hapned in many places of this Common-wealth, and especially in the Metrapolitan City of London, turning many stately buildings into dust, and burying the living with the dead, by meanes of the pondeous weight of timber and goods that lay up­on them. All these examples are sent as messengers of God, to forewarn us, and fore-arm us, against the dreadfull day of the Lord: For saith the Lord, Be­hold, I come, I bring my judgments with me.

A Briefe Relation of a Great Whale that was Kill'd neere Green-wich.

UPon the third of June this pre­sent year 1658. a huge whale came swimming up the Thames and was first seen by a boy at black-Wall being of a mighty bulke and bigness, which something frighted the boy to see such a Monstrous fish: the boy pre­sently revealed it to some Water-men thereabouts, who instantly got Harping-irons: Spits, Hatchets, Bills and Axes, & fell a striking the Whale as far as they durst venter. The Water-men stripping off their Doublets and Breeches, and went only in their Shirts and Drawers to be light and nimble at their worke; [Page] and to escape the danger of drowning in case the Whale had over-turn'd them, they struck the Harping-irons all at one time into her body, but she quick­ly remov'd them out again.

Some stabb'd spits into her, and the Master of the haye that lives at the three Flower-deluces in Greenwich, shot a brace of bullets into her; and al­though the bloud spouted out of her body, as if some had pompt her, they were half affraid that she would get from them; the vehemency of her Wounds made her disgorge the water out of her mouth in a bundance, that the people there present were amazed to see it, and although the tide was very strong and the wind against her, she hauld the boats at her pleasure, for they stuck Ankers into her body with spits & irons; and she removed them as fast as they struck her, till at last a Fisher-man threw a little Anker, which got into one of her nostrills, and stuck so fast that she could not remove it, and whilst she was in this extasie and danger of [Page] death she would sometimes bounce a­bove the water as high as a house, and down she would sinck into the Thames again, then up again leaping and tossing her body above the water, sometimes eight or nine foot high; all this while the Sea-men, Water-men, and Ship Car­penters waited their opportunities to strike the harping irons into her, which upon all occasions they did with much vigellency, care and industry; and by wounding of the Whale so often, and so much, the water that the place contai­ned thereabouts, for at least twenty yards round, was like a pond of bloud, and those that were neer her, and at her execution were besmeared with blond as if they had been in a slaughter house, there was such running and ri­ding with the people both to see and hear of the destroying of this Whale, as is almost increadible; divers of the Gen­try and worthy Cittizens went thither in their Coaches, and abundance from Westminister, London, and the burrow of South-wark repair'd both by Land [Page] and Water to see this Fish of Wonder, and the Water-men and others made a prise of her; for, they took two-pence a piece of all the spectatours, so it prov'd a gallant day of Jubillie to the Water-men, which is according to the old say­ing that it is an ill wind that blows no body profit, at last two Ankers belong­ing, to the fishers, was struck fast into the body of the VVhale, which was the cause of her death; and when the people perceiv'd that her breath was departed, they unanimously (with a great shout leap'd upon the back of the VVhale, and fell to cutting of her up with axes, hat­chets, bills, and other sharp instruments for the same purpose, and it is to be no­ted that a little before her death she gave most grievious, deadly, doleful and heavy groans, that by the report of the people that both saw and heard it, they never heard of the like before. It had Crab-lice sticking upon the body of it, that were as big as a spider, then as they were a deviding the body into severall peeces by chopping of it with [Page] hatchets and the like they made mer­chandise of it.

Some bought peeces as big as a mans middle, and some took lesser peeces to shew to their neighbors, friends and ac­quaintance, that what is reported con­cerning this hugeous whaile, is an abso­lute truth; and as a monument of Re­membrance, they do both safely and securely lock it up, esteeming more rarely of it, then a dish of Anchovis, Sal­mon, or Lobsters, that is a present for a Lady, for although a whale be not good to eate, it is novelty, and very strange and much more stranger to be catcht in the River of Thames so neere to London bridge. The Cronicles do specify, that se­verall great fishes, have come at some remarkable times at the distance of ma­ny yeares, to the wonder and admirati­on of many people then living, which strange concourse of nature with those great fishes, have bin as a signe of some dangers approaching, but this was one speciall favour of providence, that al­though at the killing of this whale there [Page] was abundance of men women and chil­dren, and some of them at sometimes were very neer her, and yet none of them had so much hurt done them as the fillip of a finger. The company that was her Executioners, and at her death did measure her, and found the vast length of the whale to be full eight and fifty foot, and she was compleat 12 foot high, she was 14 foot in bredth, and two foot long between the eyes; she had very large nostrills, and a hugeous wide mouth, and in one of her nostrills an an­ker being cast, was one of the mane cau­ses of her death, she stared with her eyes most strangely, and was at least six hours a killing, out at last the whale was made there prise, and the water men gaind the conquest.

But certainly I cannot conceive to the contrary, but that this whale (com­ing thus contrary to custom) is some signe or token of heavens displeasure, for it is the judgment of the men of art, that strange things produecs strange affects now whether we gave credit to there [Page] sayings or no, we must and oughtt to be­lieve the scripture which is spoken by the mouth of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as you shall find it written in St. Mathew gospell the 24th Chapter read the whole chapter, which manifest­ly declaires the times and seasons as we live in, for we have had wars and ru­mours of wars signes and apparistions in the aire, and sure enough that the day of the Lord is at hand, therefore whilst it is to day let us harken to the will of God, and let every Christian that takes up the name of a Christian, by true Christiany, to prove himselfe to be a Christian both by his faith and good works, for saith the Apostle St. James in his Epistle, that faith without works is dead, and so is works without faith, Read the second chapter of James, then since it is so that we live in such times of danger let us be lovers of one another? and repent from the bottom of our hearts that God may divert his judgments from us, and repent him of the evill as he hath threatened a­gainst us, let us be as tender of one ano­thers [Page] souls, as we are of the apple of our eye, let us lock them up in the love of Christ, that we may be made pertakers of his heavenly Kingdome to be sea­ted on the throne of grace, and Crowned with the Em­periall Crowne of Glory.

FINIS.

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