[o] decembris. . an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament for the better observation of the monethly fast england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) [o] decembris. . an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament for the better observation of the monethly fast england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed for edward husbands, printer to the honourable house of commons, london : . order to print signed: hen. elsynge cler. parl. d. com. bracketed "o" in title is in superscript. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- civil war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no ⁰ decembris. . an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament for the better observation of the monethly fast. england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion o decembris . . an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament for the better observation of the monethly fast . the lords and commons in parliament assembled , taking notice of the great neglect and prophanation of the monethly fast , in diverse places of this kingdome , do for prevention thereof in time to come , order and ordaine , and be it ordained by the said lords and commons , that all justices of the peace , mayors , bayliffes , constables , and other officers and ministers whatsoever in their respective places shall put in execution all orders , and ordinances of parliament heretofore made for the due observation of the said monethly fast , and are hereby authorized and required to use and exercise the same power , and to inflict penalties upon the offenders therein in such manner and form as is limited and appointed by any statute law , order , or ordinance whatsoever now in force for the sanctification of the lords day , or against the prophanation thereof : and for the better incouragement of all such persons as have or shall testifie their good affections to the state by their readinesse in observing and putting in execution of this and other the ordinances of this parliament , and for prevention of causelesse and contentious suits against them ; it is further ordained by the said lords and commons that if any action , bill , plaint , or suite upon the case , trespasse , battery , or false imprisonment now be or hereafter shall be brought , for or concerning any matter , cause , or thing done , or to be done hereafter by any person or persons whatsoever , by vertue of any ordinance of parliamhnt or by any person or persons in their ayde and assistance or by their commandment , according to any such ordinance of parliament , the said action , bill , plaint , or suite shall be layed within the county where the trespasse or fact was or shall be done , and committed and not elsewhere ; and that it shall be lawfull to and for all and every person , and persons aforesaid to plead thereunto the general issue that he or they are not guilty , and for their justification to give in evidence to the jury which shal try the same , any ordinance , or ordinance of parliament which they or any of them shal produce , by vertue whereof the fact complained of was done or committed . and that if upon the tryal of any such action , bil , plaint , or suit the plaitiffe or plaintiffs therein shal not prove to the jury which shal try the same , that the trespass , batterv , imprisonment , or other fact or cause of his , her , or their said action , bil , plaint , or suit was or were , had , made , committed , or done , within the county wherein such action , bil , plaint , or suit , is or shal be layed , that then in every such case the jury which shal try the same , shal find the defendant or defendants in every such action , bil , plaint , or suit not guilty without having regard or respect to any evidence given by the plaintiff or plaintiffs therein touching the trespass , battery , imprisonment , or other cause for which the same action , bil , plaint , or suit , is or shal be brought : and if the verdit shal pass with the defendant or defendants in any such action , bil , plaint , or suit , or the plaintiff or plaintiffs therein become non-suits or suffer any discountenance thereof , that in every such case the justices , or justice , or such other judge , before whom the said matter shal be tryed , shal by force , and vertue of this ordinance allow unto the defendant , or defendants , his , or their double costs , which he or they shal have susteined by reason of their wrongful vexation in defence of the said action , or suit , for which the said defendant or defendants shal have remedy as in other cases , where costs , by the laws of the realm are given to the defendants . die mercurii o decembr . . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that the ordinance for the better observation of the fast day be forthwith printed , and that the knights and burgesses , members of this house , do take care of the sending down convenient numbers of the said ordinances unto the several counties and places for which they serve . hen. elsynge cler. parl. d. com. london , printed for edward husbands , printer to the honourable house of commons . . instructions to be observed touching the collection appointed by the declaration of his highness and the council hereunto annexed inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) instructions to be observed touching the collection appointed by the declaration of his highness and the council hereunto annexed inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) cromwell, oliver, - . england and wales. council of state. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by henry hills and john field, printer to his highness, london : mdclv. [i.e. ] reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . christian giving -- early works to . a (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no instructions to be observed touching the collection appointed by the declaration of his highness and the council hereunto annexed, inviting england and wales. lord protector a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the commonwealth flag ( - ) instructions to be observed touching the collection appointed by the declaration of his highness and the council hereunto annexed , inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation . i. that the ministers and church-wardens of the respective cities , towns , parishes , and other congregations , as well within the privileged places , as without , by themselves , or with such others whose hearts the lord shall ingage in so charitable and pious a work , do the next lords day after the publication of this declaration , go from house to house within such city , town or parish , and ask and receive what each house-keeper and others will freely give , and in the presence of the party giving , set down his or her name , with the sum by him or her given , fairly written in a schedule to be by them annexed to this declaration , and the total sum thereof to endorse upon the said declaration , subscribed by the said minister , church-wardens , and others , who shall assist in the said collection ; that all the moneys so collected , together with the said schedule , and declaration so indorsed , be returned and paid by the said minister and church-wardens , within four daies then next following , unto the maior , or other head officer of such city or town , or to the next justice of the peace to the parish where such collection shall be made , who is hereby impowred and required to receive the same , and to give his acquittance to such person so paying the same , and within twenty daies after , or sooner , if it may be , to return the sum and sums so received , unto christopher pack , the present lord maior of the city of london , and sir thomas vyner knight alderman of the said city , or either of them , who are hereby appointed treasurers for receiving the whole sum which shall be gathered upon this collection , whose acquittance shall be a sufficient discharge fur such sum so paid in . and that the said minister and church-wardens do within six daies after such collection certify unto henry scobell esq clerk of the council , the sum so collected , in such city , town or parish , to the end an exact accompt may be taken thereof . ii. that sir gilbert gerard , baronet , sir john trevor , knight , edward cresset , esquire , mr. philip nye , mr. edmund calamy , mr. joseph caryl , mr. william kiffen , mr. william jenkins , and mr. thomas harrison , or any five or more of them , be , and are hereby appointed a committee to have the care of this business , that the sums so collected be paid into the said treasurers , and to consider of the best waies and means how the same may be disposed of , for the relief of the said poor protestants , and to give an accompt thereof to the council , to the end the charity afotesaid may be speedily and effectually imployed to the best advantage of the said poor protestants , and according to the intention of the givers . london , printed by henry hills and john field , printers to his highness , mdclv . agape, or, the feast of love a sermon at the oxford-shire feast, kept on thursday nov. , at drapers-hall in london : preached at st. michael's church in cornhill / by francis gregory ... gregory, francis, ?- . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing g estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) agape, or, the feast of love a sermon at the oxford-shire feast, kept on thursday nov. , at drapers-hall in london : preached at st. michael's church in cornhill / by francis gregory ... gregory, francis, ?- . [ ], p. printed by j. macock for richard royston ..., london : . title transliterated from greek. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. marginal notes. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- sermons. sermons, english -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ΑΓΑΠΗ , or the feast of love , a sermon at the oxford-shire feast , kept on thursday nov. . . at drapers-hall in london . preached at s t michael's church in cornhill . by francis gregory , d. d. rector of hambleton in the county of bucks . and chaplain in ordinary to his sacred majesty . london , printed by j. macock , for richard royston , bookseller to his sacred majesty , . imprimatur , antonius saunders . ex aedibus lambeth , decemb. , . to my dear country-men , and worthy citizens of london ; richard wise . peter nash . richard bourne . john sea. thomas whiteing . charles pinfold . robert biggs . george clisby . abraham story . william whitehill . robert applegate . william goodwin . benjamin barnes . stewards of the oxford-shire feast . gentlemen , having so far condescended to your first desires , as to compose and preach this sermon , i thought fit to gratifie your second request in printing it too . the penning of this discourse ( such as it is ) was the work of several days ; the preaching of this sermon cost me a journey of several miles , but the printing thereof will stand me in no more than an easie compliance with your desires : wherefore since you are pleased to esteem your selves somewhat gratified by my readiness to do the harder part of this service , i thought it imprudence to disoblige any person amongst you , by refusing to do that other part , which will be done with so much facility . but the truth is , i have another design , and that a charitable one too , in the publication of this discourse : i need not tell you , that many of our countrymen , who are persons of fair estates , and in a capacity of being more bountiful to the poor , than most of us who met together , were detained from our feast by the importunity of their other affairs . the absence of such persons , as it rendred our meeting the less conspicuous , so did it make our collection the less magnificent . peradventure the putting of this discourse into these men's hands , may at once open their hearts and purses too ; and excite their charity to such a degree , that they may contribute towards our poor somewhat more in private , than they would have done in publick . for although publick acts of charity , especially if considerable and great , do become exemplary ; yet through that hypocrisie , which lieth deep in the heart of man , they are attended with this great inconvenience , that they alone are exposed to the danger of ostentation , which every good man fears , lest it corrupt the beauty , and alter the nature of his charity , and render it a sacrifice rather to himself than to his maker . however , if you please to convey one of these discourses into the hands of such gentlemen , who had an invitation to our feast , and would have come but could not : the very title page at first view will mind them of their country and duty too . and probably they will not think their charity so far excused by their absence from our feast , as to contribute nothing to the poor man's bason , nor pay some few mites at least for the laying of their trenchers . and although such a presenting of small books to persons of quality , hath ever been esteemed a kind of begging ; yet 't is the most gentile and ingenuous way of doing so , and if it be but tolerable in any other case , 't is highly commendable in this . remember who they are for whom we begg ; the poor orphan , who perhaps , if we do it not for him now , must beg for himself for ever . and if there be any imputation and dishonour in this begging of ours , being only designed to prevent that of other persons , and perhaps whole families too , let it all be charged , and rest upon your friend and servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , francis gregory . jude . these are spots in your feasts of charity — the persons censured in the text were the gnosticks ; those cursed disciples , and viperous brood of that early and infamous heretick carpocrates ; a man , saith tertullian , that was , paritèr magus , paritèr fornicarius , both a conjurer and a fornicator ; he had not so much brains as to set off and credit his heresie with so much as a disguise and pretence of sanctimony . eusebius stiles him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the father of the gnosticks ; and irenaeus tells us , that his children were very like him . so heterodox and erroneous in their opinions , so vicious and vile in their practices , that their converse was a great disparagement to every christian , that was regular in his life , and sound in his faith. such monsters of men they were , that even the spirit of god himself , though he be like a dove that hath no gall , doth notwithstanding fix upon them several brands of dishonour : by the guidance of this blessed spirit , st. peter calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , blemishes ; and st. jude in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , spots ; what 's that ? christianismi dedecora , saith grotius , the common reproaches of the christian faith , which had now gained much credit in the world. and as their society was such a disparagement to the servants of christ at all times and in all places ; so more especially in their publick meetings and solemn assemblies ; and particularly , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in their feasts of charity , where they fed like beasts , and talked like pagans . concerning which feasts of charity , three things may be considered , . their antiquity . . the circumstances of their celebration . . their design and end. . consider we the antiquity of these feasts , and that must needs be great : blastaris stiles them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an old vsage ; and zonaras tells us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the christians kept up these feasts from an ancient custom : they are mentioned by st. austine , in agapibus nostris , &c. they are mentioned by st. chrysostom , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. they spread a common table , &c. so that father , and long before him tertullian , coena nostra vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , our supper is called a feast of love. but to prove the great antiquity of these christian feasts , we need not humane testimonies , because we have divine ones : we find them mentioned by st. paul , who reproves their abuse in that early church of corinth ; but , had we no more , the text is a sufficient proof that these christian feasts were celebrated even in our apostles time , and so may justly pretend to great antiquity . . consider we the circumstances of their celebration ; and they are three , . the time when , . the place where , . the manner how . . consider we the time of their celebration — and as to this , that account , which pliny gave the emperour trajan , doth afford us some general information , soliti sunt stato die convenire , &c. the christians are wont to meet and feast on a certain set and appointed day ; st. chrysostom confirms it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. they spread their table upon solemn and wonted dayes ; such dayes , in which the eucharist was celebrated ; so grotius , ea convivia claudi solebant sacramento dominicae passionis , &c. these feasts of love were wont to conclude and end with another more sacred feast , that of the sacrament . thus probably might it be at first ; but because several disorders did afterwards happen , which st. paul complains of in the church of corinth ; such disorders , as did render the guilty persons unfit for the holy communion ; it was decreed in process of time , that the communion should be received fasting , and these feasts of charity adjourned till the sacrament was over : so st. chrysostom tell us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all the congregation , which received the sacrament , did afterwards go and eat together . and so constant was this custom for several ages , that justellus makes this feast of charity an appendix , or part of the eucharist ; for so he tells us , caenae dominicae tres olim erant partes ; the lords supper did of old consist of three parts ; . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the breaking of bread ; . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the cup of blessing : and then . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the feast of charity . . consider we the place of their celebration : i remember that pliny , in his forenamed account to the roman emperour , tells him thus , quibus peractis , morem sibi discedendi fuisse , rurfúsque coeundi ad capiendum cibum ; when the whole service of god was over , the christians were wont to part asunder , and within a short space they met together again to eat ; but in what place they met , he doth not there inform us . but that these feasts of charity were of old celebrated in the church , may well be guessed from that expression of st. paul , what , have ye not houses to eat and drink in ? or despise ye the church of god ? there were some amongst them so disorderly at this feast , that although it were called a feast of charity , yet since it was no better managed , he sharply reproves them for keeping it in the house of god. and that they kept it there indeed , we have not only a probable conjecture from this text , but the express testimony of creditable authours ; epulas in ecclefia faciebant , saith st. hierom , they made a banquet in the church : so much is intimated by the canons of several councils , which afterwards forbad this practice ; so did the council of laodicea , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. and so the sixth general council , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 't is not fit , nor shall it hereafter be lawfull to celebrate these feasts of charity in the house of god , as if that were a place but common . certainly these canons , which do expresly forbid this feasting in the church , do necessarily suppose it ; because these laws were established , not to prevent an inconvenience , that hereafter might be , but to remove a profanation , which already was . . consider we the manner of their celebration ; and that comprehends in it these three particulars : . the nature and kind of their provision ; and that was but ordinary , not delicate in its quality , nor over-much in its quantity . so have some observed from that of the evangelist , they continuing daily in the temple , and breaking bread ; which expression some understand of the sacrament , but others of this feast of charity , which is here stiled , a breaking of bread ; to intimate , as oecumenius words it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or , as st. chrysostom phraseth it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the frugality of their meal , and the means of their provision . but whether this text doth prove it such or not , the testimony of several authors doth ; tertullian calls these feasts , coenulas nostras , our mean or little suppers ; so mean , that he stiles them again , frugalitatis exempla , examples of frugality . cappellus calls them , coenas frugales & parcissimas ; thrifty and slender suppers ; and calvin testifieth for them thus , erat illic summa frugalitas & moderatio ; there was used the greatest frugality and moderation that could be . and what were the usual messes at these feasts ? balsamon tells us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a little bread and fruits ; to which st. austin adds yet another dish , pauperibus etiam carnes erogantur ; there was some flesh also provided for the poor . . their temperance and sobriety in the use of meats and drinks ; and perhaps it might be their piety and prudence to provide for themselves such fare , as was but mean and course , with this very design , that no man amongst them might have so much as a temptation to the least excess . but whatever their provision was , 't is sure , there was but here and there an untoward person , that did abuse it ; 't is not probable , that any man in his wits , that was just now preparing for , or newly returned from the holy sacrament would so quickly forget himself and his vowes , as that he should immediately degenerate from a serious christian into a luxurious and wanton epicure . no , st. chrysostom and oecumenius give us this testimony of them , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they eat , but did not gluttonize : editur quantum esurientes capiunt ; bibitur quantum pudicis utile , saith tertullian ; they eat no more than hunger required ; and they drunk no more than chastity would well permit . but , . the nature of their discourse and table-talk ; and what that was tertullian tells us , ita fabulantur , ut qui sciant dominum audire , &c. their language was such , as became those persons , who believed that god did hear them ; as their teeth were sparing , so were their tongues chaste too : nihil vilitatis , nihil immodestiae , not an immodest word , not one wanton syllable ; no drolling at sacred things , or holy persons : no , that 's the dirty language of this age , wherein some beastly persons , who invite us to their tables , do entertain their guests with such unsavoury discourse , as doth not onely grate and foul the ear , but even turn the stomach too . . consider we the design and end of their celebration ; and what that was , we may see distinctly in these three particulars : . the first and principal design of these feasts in the text , was the glory of god , that bountifull god , who furnished their table for them . 't is st. paul's command , whether ye eat or drink , do all to the glory of god : the primitive christians did so ; thus the evangelist , they continuing in the temple , breaking bread , and praising god , &c. thus it continued in tertullian's time , who tells us , non priùs discumbitur , quàm oratio ad deum praegustetur ; we sit not down , till first we have prayed : and when their meal was over , oratio convivium dirimit , saith the same tertullian , they prayed again , and so departed ; a practice , which condemns the atheists of these times , who fall to their meat , as the hog doth to his acorns , without the least respect to the kind oak from which they fall . . the second design of these feasts was to beget , betwixt christian and christian , a mutual correspondence , acquaintance and friendship , where as yet it was not ; and to confirm and increase it , where it already was . the very name of these feasts imports as much , coena nostra de nomine rationem sui ostendit , saith tertullian , our suppers give an account of their institution by their name , and that 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , feasts of love ; accordingly st. austin renders the text thus , these are spots , in dilectionibus vestris , in your loves ; intimating that the end of these feasts was , as blastaris words it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to knit christians in love ; upon which score balsamon calleth these suppers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fraternities or brotherhoods ; and cappellus stiles them , mutuae charitatis contesserationes , the cements of mutual kindness ; as if their design of eating had been , not onely to incorporate their food into their bodies , but to assimilate and translate themselves into one anothers souls too . . the design of these feasts was to extend and express their love towards such christians as were indigent and poor ; the former being an act of common friendship , but this of proper charity . the provision of these feasts , whatever it were , was prepared by the rich men's purses ; who did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith balsamon ; from their mercy and compassion to the poor : so speaks tertullian , inopes refrigerio isto juvamus , our feast doth refresh the indigent : nor did they suffer their poor brethren to stand as beggars at the door , but they freely admitted them to their table ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith zonaras ; the poor were not then esteemed as intruders , but invited as proper guests . and hence st. chrysostom calls their board , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a common table ; and this supper , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a common banquet ; and so pliny , cibum promiscuum , promiscuous food ; both poor and rich being intermingled at the same table , and feeding on the self-same dishes too . the historical account of these feasts in the text being thus dispatcht , the practical part , which is of present concern to this assembly , doth now succeed . that there is a feast this day intended , i need not tell you ; only my request is , that the feast of this time may prove like the feast in this text ; an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a feast of charity indeed . and that it may be really such , we are obliged to imitate the laudable example of the primitive christians , and to do at our feast , at least in some proportion , what they did at theirs . and here give me leave to recommend to your practice these three particulars : . let us , in this intended feast of ours , imitate , i will not say , the frugality , but the sobriety and temperance of theirs . true it is , we are not obliged to feed upon a little bread or fruits , as they did ; for , whether the coursness of their provision did arise from necessity and want of better , or else from their own election and choice , we cannot tell ; but this we know , so bountiful is our god , that he did never restrain either them or us from the sober use of his choisest creatures . but although our indulgent father do give us that liberty , which our elder brethren did either want , or would not use , as to the quality of our food ; yet we have no permission to be gluttons or drunkards more than they. we may sometimes , upon good occasions , please our palates , and gratifie our tast ; god is pleased now and then to allow us , not only the bare nourishment , but even the pleasure of his creatures ; but withall , we must never indulge our flesh so far , nor pamper it so high , as to render that the governess of our spirit , which should and must be under its command . st. hierom saith well in this case , that whosoever eats too little , civem enecat , he starves a dear citizen , ( i. e. ) his own body ; but whosoever eats and drinks too much , hostem nutrit , he nourisheth an enemy ; the only enemy , which christ would not have us feed , ( i. e. ) our sinful flesh . there are indeed , in this debauched age of ours , a generation of men , that feed high , and drink deep , and that , as may well be guessed , with a design to nourish , not themselves , but their vices ; their end is to excite and quicken their lusts , and make themselves the more gigantick , sturdy and able sinners : the full table is only designed to prepare them the better for the adulterous bed. poor silly men ! who deserve our just indignation , yet need our compassions too ; men , who with their own teeth dig themselves a way , not only to the grave , but hell ; for , whereas other sinners do eat and drink damnation to themselves at god's table , these men do it at their own . and should there be any such persons found in this assembly , i must say as our apostle doth , these are spots in your feasts of charity . spots indeed , that deserve to be quite wiped off with shame , scorn , and just abhorrence ; persons , that deserve to be excluded from all converse with men , and numbred amongst those silly beasts , who do best love , and most devour that very food , which fats them soonest , and prepares them quickest for the slaughter . . let us , in this intended feast of ours , imitate the primitive christians in those feasts of theirs , as to the innocence of our discourse and table-talk . what our elder brethren did in this matter , we have already seen , and what st. paul commands in this case , we cannot well be ignorant , let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , putrid , rotten language . pray , tell me , what should any thing , that is corrupt and rotten , do at a feast ? linnen , that 's nasty ; trenchers , that are foul ; a dish , that 's dirty ; and meat , that stinks , no man would away with : but alas , what 's all this to the guest of an unclean and wanton tongue ? there is no man's breath , that stinks like his : what tertullian told the drunken pagans , may we tell the scurrilous christian , ructibus vestris aer acescit ; he poisons the air wherein he breaths , and taints the room wherein he stands : so noysom is the stench of unsavoury discourses , that the grecians were wont , as athenaeus observes , in the close of their suppers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith homer ; to perfume and burn the tongues of their sacrifices , thereby to expiate the extravagancies of their own . and to prevent , not only the scurrility , but even the impertinency of table-talk . some pagans , whom plutarch mentioneth , intending a solemn invitation , gave their friends a whole years warning , that so the guests might provide themselves with matter for good discourse , as well as the entertainer prepare his feast . and if the poor heathens were thus solicitous and jealous of their language , methinks the christian stands more obliged to be considerate and chaste in his. . let us , in this intended feast of ours , imitate the primitive christians in those feasts of theirs , as to their design and end ; and that 's double . . let our feast be , as theirs was , a feast of mutual love , amity and friendship . 't is st. peter's command , love as brethren ; the relation is ours , and consequently the duty is so too . we are brethren by common blood , as men ; by our common nation , as english-men ; and by our common religion , as christians : but if these general considerations are not enough to oblige and endear us to one another , there is yet a more particular relation that should engage us ; we are brethren as born in one and the same shire ; for , patria est communis parens , saith the roman oratour , our country is our common mother ; and that country is oxford too ; for although we were not all born within that cities walls , yet we were within its precincts and neighbourhood . and shall any person , that ever breathed within or near to oxford air , prove unfriendly and unkind ? the university is usually stiled , alma mater , the benign , courteous , and indulgent mother ; so loving and tender-hearted , that methinks her example should reach , not her proper children only , but even the remotest of her neighbours too : she doth not allow the least disputes , except it be those friendly ones within her schools ; she clothes all her sons , and many of her citizens too , with the gown , that emblem of peace ; her pulpits preach this lesson ; and that blessed bible , which she bears in her scutcheon , doth require us to be kind and friendly ; not to bite like dogs and serpents , not to push and gore like furious bulls ; but to bear one anothers burdens , like that kinder oxe , from whose courtesie , i had almost said , from whose humanity , our mother did at first receive , and still retains her name . . let our feast be as theirs was , a feast of charity to the poor . what the primitive christians did , grotius tells us , divites & pauperes pari victu utebantur ; there was the same provision made for the poor as for the rich. but that 's not all ; as we should admit the meanest of our country-men that are present this day , to our table , so let us feed some absent ones at their own ; let us relieve the one from our trenchers , and the other from our purses ; and indeed amongst those many dishes , that are provided for our selves , methinks there should be at least one bason for the poor ; that so such as are at a distance from us , may feed upon our bounty , though they do not taste our feast . and here three things must be shewed ; . what must be the just measure of our charity ? . who must be the objects of our charity ? . what are the motives to it ? . what must be the just measure of our charity ? what must we give , and how much ? we answer , there is no certain rule to be prescribed to every particular person in this case ; but in general , we must proportion our charity by this double measure : . the first measure of our charity must be our own ability ; true it is , we should all be as generous and noble as they , whom st. paul doth thus commend ; they were willing beyond their power . our soul should be larger than our purse , our charity should be bigger than our alms ; our will should be above our ability , but our deed according to it : so 't is required , let every one lay by in store , as god hath prospered him , &c. such was the practice of the primitive christians . the disciples determined to send relief unto the brethren : but how much was given by this and that particular person ? the text saith , every man according to his ability : and thus it was in tertullians time , vnusquisque stipem apponit , si modò possit , &c. every man gave more or less , as he was able . and the truth is , whosoever giveth less , than he is very well able , is uncharitable to his neighbour ; and whosoever giveth more is uncharitable to himself and his. . the second measure of our charity must be our brothers want : by this rule did the saints of old proportion their charity too ; distribution was made unto every man according as he had need . and here we should consider , not only the degree of our neighbours want , but its occasion too : if a man's poverty do arise from his idleness , debauchery , and vicious courses , though our charity must not let him starve in hopes of his reformation ; yet our prudence , to make him exemplary , may justly let him smart and pinch ; but where a man's wants are sore , and occasioned either by the greatness of his charge , or any sad accidents that were inevitable ; the expressions of our charity , and the measure of his relief must be proportionable to his need . but why should i mention any rules for the just proportions of charity in this assembly ? 't is observed to the just honour of the citizens of london , that whatever good works they do , they do them nobly . if a citizen found a school , probably he makes it like a college : if a citizen builds an alms-house , he doth it with such magnificence , as if it were designed rather for a prince than beggars : if the city build a church , with what splendour 't is done , these very walls , and this very pulpit would speak aloud , even without a preacher . methinks the old churches of london , lately burnt , and newly restored , are like some antient plate , melted down indeed , but so artificially made up again , and so neatly burnish'd , that they are become more glorious through the fire , and do only shine the brighter : so that whatever the city might lose by the late conflagration , the church , through their magnificence , hath proved a gainer . wherefore , if any man demand what should be the rule and standard of your present bounty , we answer , let it be your selves : what st. paul once blamed in other men , will be no fault in you , measuring themselves by themselves , &c. do but you this day consult your selves , your own bowels , your own estates , your own wonted generosity ; do but give like citizens of london , and then , with a due respect to the difference of your estates , give meanly if you can : but , . who must be the objects of our charity ? give we must , but to whom ? doubtless we must not exclude from our charity any soul , that doth either deserve or need it ; but since our ability cannot reach to all the world , we may pick and chuse for our selves some such objects , on whom our charity will be best bestowed . and who were the special objects of the christians charity in their ancient feasts , tertullian tells us , pueris & puellis re & parentibus destitutis , &c. boys , girls , poor orpans , that had neither estates nor friends . and here , though i would by no means limit your charity to such or such , yet i would particularly recommend two sorts of children to your consideration . . such poor children deserve to be recommended to your charity , as proper objects indeed , who are like to make good men and good scholars too . should we but enquire from the publick schools of our own county , or from the colleges and halls in our own university , we should quickly hear of such and such lads of slender fortunes , but vertuous inclinations and rich endowments ; industrious youths , that would be at work , but have no tools ; children , that would be scholars , but cannot , for want of a tutour to instruct , books to read , and perhaps bread to live . doubtless , there is scarce any greater object of charity than such a child as this ; a child , that 's pregnant and promising ; to train up such a child as this in a course of religion and learning is such a service to god and his church , that 't is scarce within the reach of any private man's charity to do a greater . for , tell me , who knoweth what a rare man such a poor child may prove hereafter ? were it fit , it were but easie , to name some persons , that have been choice instruments of honour to god , and service to our church , who in their minority lived on alms. and if our bounty this day shall be placed on some such lucky object , who can tell , but we may train up a person of that worth and excellence , for whom the whole nation may be obliged to bless both god and us ? perhaps a few books , now bestowed on such a child , may render him hereafter a walking library ; a little money , given him now , may make him rich hereafter ; our cap may be changed one day into a mitre ; our cloth may be turned into sattin , and our linnen may become lawn-sleeves . and methinks there is no sort of men more obliged to this kind of charity than we ; doubtless , we are more concerned to endeavour the promotion of learning than other men ; this is the great profession of that famous university , which is the glory of that county , whereunto we owe our birth . for , whereas other counties glory in such and such commodities and manufactures , 't is ours that glorieth in liberal arts and nobler sciences . 't is the glory of some counties , that they can furnish the chimnies of this vast city with constant fire , 't is the glory of other counties , that they can furnish your river and cisterns with constant water ; 't is the glory of some shires , that they furnish your shambles with meat , and your shops with cloth ; well , and what 's the glory of our shire ? hath oxford nothing to oblige london with ? yes , 't is our counties happiness and honour , that it can furnish your inns of court with learned lawyers to secure your estates , your city with learned physicians to preserve your lives ; and , above all , your pulpits with learned preachers to save your souls : and if so , what man amongst us , that hath any value for himself or his native soil , will not contribute something towards the advancement of that learning , wherein the honour of his country , and the safety of his own estate , life and religion are so much concerned ? . such poor children deserve to be recommended to your charity this day , as are like to make vertuous men , and good citizens too ; if you train up some eminent scholar , you will do an honour to the place of your birth ; and if you breed up some eminent citizen , you will much oblige the place of your habitation . past all peradventure , there 's many a child to be found , whose natural genius doth lead him rather to the shop than to the study ; their parts do very well dispose them for mechanical trades , but not at all for nobler arts ; your scarlet gown may become that back , on which our black one would be ridiculous . 't is certain , that many a child may make a golden lord mayor , who would have made but a leaden bishop . and is it not a thousand pities to see such poor children stand at the door and beg , who might have done so bravely within the shop ? were it not pity to see such persons in rags and tatters , who , with a little help , might have worn a chain of gold ? were it not pity to see such become the nations shame and burden , who , with a little encouragement , might have done a great deal towards its support and credit ? to prevent such a spectacle as this , give me leave this day , in their stead , to become the beggar , though i would not be the receiver of your charity , yet for once give me leave to ask it . doubtless , amongst the many poor children of our county , 't is easie to pick out some that are promising and hopefull , lads of plodding heads and active hands ; lads , that might do far better in the shop , than at the plow . to place out such lads as these , to find them work and wages ; an honest employment , a religious master , and a fitting maintenance , is that great act of charity , which i would beg this day . and for your encouragement in this particular , do but remember , what brave citizens have already been made even of alms-boys ; to name persons is needless , and would be unhandsom too . only consider , what hath been the happy issue of other mens charity may as well be the blessed event of yours ; who knoweth , but some poor apprentice , trained up by the bounty of this day , and fed by your feast of charity , may prove a man of those parts , that signal prudence , estate and honour , as to become the governour of this great metropolis ? who can tell , but a lord mayor of london may for once be made even at drapers-hall ? there by your private purses now , and elsewhere by common votes hereafter ? but notwithstanding all this , lest any man's charity should yet prove more cold , than the very dish , that should receive it , give me leave to propound some proper considerations , that may revive , warm , and make it fresh ; and that 's the business of our third and last particular : . consider we what great inducements man hath to be charitable ; give we must , and that considerably too , but what 's our incouragement ? surely , the greatest that can be ; see what it is in four particulars : . the commands of god do oblige us ; commands , that are express , frequent and urgent too ; so the evangelist , be ye mercifull as your heavenly father is mercifull ; and so again , give to him that asketh ; and yet again , charge them that are rich in this world , that they be rich in good works , &c. we cannot be uncharitable to man , but we must be disobedient to god too . . the example of christ doth much oblige us : learn of me , saith our blessed saviour ; but what must we learn ? certainly , amongst other lessons this of charity is one ; so reasons great st. paul , who presseth the corinthians to acts of mercy by this very motive , ye know the grace of our lord jesus christ , who , though he were rich , yet for your sakes he became poor , &c. so charitable was the son of god , as for our sakes to give himself ; and shall not we so far tread in his steps , as for his sake to give a trifle ? but , . the great uncertainty of all humane affairs , the mutability of this world , and our own concerns therein , doth much oblige us ; so various are the providences of god , and so changeable is the condition of man , that he , who is now in a fair capacity to extend his charity unto others , may , in some short space , come to want and beg it for himself . 't is very possible , that a dishonest or careless servant , a thief , or a fire by night , a storm , a rock , or a pirate by sea , a crack and flaw in a title , such or such a sad accident , which easily and frequently happens , may utterly undoe us . and if in such a case we should think our selves fit objects of other men's charity , 't is but reasonable that we should now esteem that poor neighbour , who is in a like condition , to be a meet object for our own : so argueth the great apostle , remember them which suffer adversity ; but what 's his motive ? as being your selves also in the body . the text imports , that so long as we are in this uncertain world , we are exposed to the self same dangers , losses and calamities with other men ; and consequently we stand obliged to extend mercy whilst we are able , as well as to expect it , when we are ruined . . those great rewards , which do attend our charity , do much oblige us . that there is a reward for the charitable person , our blessed saviour doth thus secure him , thy father himself shall reward thee ; the very lowest expressions of charity god will not suffer to be unrewarded , whosoever shall give to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only , he shall in no wise lose his reward : 't is sure , a reward there is , but what an one is it ? is it such an one as will reimburse , recompense , and make us amends for what we part with ? yea , the rewards of our charity are of two sorts , temporal and eternal : what are these temporal rewards , we may see distinctly in four particulars ; . the rewards of our charity are such as concern the safety and welfare of our persons : what is the charitable man's privilege in this respect , the psalmist tells us , the lord will deliver him in time of trouble : the lord will preserve him and keep him alive : the lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing , &c. the text imports , that the welfare of our persons is much concerned in the right ordering of our purses ; the way to secure our health , and sweeten our sickness , is to fee , not so much the physician , as the poor . . the rewards of our charity are such as concern our common credit and reputation in the world : for although our blessed saviour forbids us to make our own honour and applause the design of our charity , yet the issue and event thereof it will be . solomon tells us , the memory of the just shall be blessed : this just man is the man of mercy , the same man that david speaks of , he hath dispersed , he hath given to the poor : what then ? his righteousness endures for ever , his horn shall be exalted with honour : the best way to eternize our memories is to be exemplary in doing good ; do good , and dwell for evermore . 't is charity that embalms a man's name , and keeps it fresh and sweet for ever ; there 's no tomb like an alms-house , no monument like an hospital , no marble like the poor man's box. . the rewards of our charity are such as concern our present interest and estates even in this world : 't is one of solomon's seeming paradoxes , there is that scattereth , and yet increaseth : but who is this lucky man ? the next verse tells us , the liberal soul shall be made fat , and he that watereth shall be watered again . a little water poured into a pump , fetcheth more ; and a little money put into the poor man's purse , doth often bring much greater summs into our own . there is no man so good an husband even for this world , as the man of mercy ; nor doth any person prove so sure a gainer , as he that gives ; see that command and promise of christ ; give , and it shall be given unto you ; but how much , and in what quantity ? good measure , pressed down , shaken together , and running over . money rightly bestowed is not lost , but rather lent out to use ; 't is like seed , scattered indeed here and there , but yet it groweth and multiplies even to admiration . st. paul tells us , he that sows bountifully , shall reap bountifully : indeed , a common sower may possibly over-seed his ground , and by a lavish hand spoil his crop ; but in our case there is no danger ; the more seed we can spare and sow , the richer harvest shall we reap . . the rewards of our charity are such as concern our posterity too : thus the psalmist , he is ever mercifull and lendeth ; there 's the property of a charitable man ; but what 's his reward ? his seed is blessed : and thus some expound that forenamed expression of solomon , the memory of the just shall be blessed : the memory ! what 's that ? the child , the son that bears his fathers name , and keeps it up and alive in the world ; this son shall be blessed , this child shall be so far from being injured by his fathers charity , that it shall rather tend to his great advantage . and surely this consideration doth totally remove that vain pretence and scruple of men , who are afraid to do any considerable acts of charity , lest thereby they impoverish their families , and leave their children beggars : but . there are such rewards of our charity , as concern another world ; our saviour tells us , blessed are the mercifull : he doth not mean in this life only , but in the next . 't is in order to this , that he thus commands us , make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness , that they may receive you into everlasting habitations : and upon the same score he tells us , he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet , shall receive a prophets reward : but what 's that ? certainly , 't is a reward in heaven . and that we may not doubt the certainty of these great rewards , and so our charity grow chill : solomon tells us what security we have , and who it is that stands engaged ; he that hath pity on the poor lends to the lord , and that which he hath given will he repay : that we may be encouraged to supply the poor mans wants , god himself hath drawn a bond , and offers himself to be the poor mans surety , and the rich man's debtor . and can our charity expect any greater encouragement than this ? it 's true , when such or such a man would borrow , perhaps we suspect his honesty , perhaps we suspect his ability , perhaps we are jealous of his security , and that makes us loth to lend ; but doth the case stand so with god ? when god would be our debtor , do we think , that he will not be our pay-master too ? is not he to be trusted , that is faithfull , just and true ? is not he to be credited for a few pence or shillings , who is lord of all that heaven and earth are worth ? 't is for securitie's sake , that our blessed saviour doth thus command us , lay up for your selves treasures in heaven : the text imports , that money given the poor is not idlely spent , but secured in the treasury of god , and exchequer of heaven : and although the most just and best natured earthly prince may sometimes be constrained by a necessity of state , and against his own inclinations , to shut up his exchequer ; yet can we imagine that the great god of heaven will ever put a stop to his treasury , and the bankers and creditors there ruined too ? &c. we think great summs sure enough in the chamber of london , and dare we not venture some small matter in the star-chamber of heaven ? doubtless our principal will be safe , and our interest both sure and great ; if there be a reward for the most inconsiderable alms , even a cup of cold water , o what reward will there be for higher acts of charity ! our saviour tells us , i was an hungred , and ye gave me meat , thirsty , and ye gave me drink , &c. well , and what then ? what 's the reward of this ? a great one sure ! come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdom , &c. dear lord ! here 's principal and interest indeed ! a little meat given , and a kingdom received ! a little drink lent , and a crown repaid ! a little cloth bestowed , and a throne returned ! yea , here 's the fruit of charity ; what the poor borroweth , god payeth over and over ; well may tertullian tells us , lucrum est pietatis nomine facere sumptum ; to give thus and thus to pious uses is to gain ; to give so and so to the poor , is to become a sacred usurer ; because whatever man thus gives , god refunds , yea , god repayeth for every penny a pound , and for every mite a talent : and if so , if our feast this day shall prove like the feasts in my text , a feast of mutual love amongst our selves , and a feast of charity to such as deserve and want it ; we shall find a friend in heaven , that will do more than pay our reckoning . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e tertul. de anima , c. . eus . hist . . iren. adv . haer. l. . c. . pet. . . grot. in pet. . blast . synt. p. . concil . gang. aug. adv . faust . l. . c. . chry. cor. . hom. . p. . tert. apol. c. . plin lib. . epist . chrysost . cor. . hom. . p. . grot. pet. . . chrysost . . cor. . hom. . p. . justel in cod. can. eccl. v. p. . plin. l. . ep. . . cor. . . hieron . cor. . conc. laod. can. . conc. trid. can. . acts . . oecum . in loc . chrys . in . loc . tert. apol. c. . cappel . in cor. . calv. cor. . bals . conc. gang. c. . aug. cont . faustum l. . c. . chrysost . & oecum . in act. . , . tert. apol. c. . tertul. ib. cor. . . acts . , . tert. apol. c. . tertul. ubi supra . blast . synt. p. . bals . synt. conc. gan. can. . cap. cor. . bals . synt. conc. gan. c. . tert. apol. c. . zon. conc. laod. can. . chry. cor. . hom. . plin. epist . ad trajanum . ephes . . . tert. apol. c. . pet. . . grot. pet. . . cor. . . cor. . . acts . . tert. apol. c. . act. . . cor. . . tert. apol. c. . luk . . . tim. . . mat. . . cor. . . heb. . . mat. . . mat. . . psal . . ● , . prov. . . psal . . . psal . . . prov. . . luk. . . psal . . prov. . . mat. . . luk. . mat. . . prov. . . mat. . . mat. . . tert. apol. cap. . by the lord protector. a declaration of his highness, setting apart tuesday the . of this present may for a publique day of thanksgiving, for the peace concluded between this commonwealth, and that of the united provinces, and for the late seasonable rain. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) by the lord protector. a declaration of his highness, setting apart tuesday the . of this present may for a publique day of thanksgiving, for the peace concluded between this commonwealth, and that of the united provinces, and for the late seasonable rain. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) cromwell, oliver, - . england and wales. council of state. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by william du-gard and henry hills, printers to his highness the lord protector, london : . reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no by the lord protector. a declaration of his highness, setting apart tuesday the . of this present may for a publique day of thanksgiving, england and wales. lord protector a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the commonwealth flag ( - ) by the lord protector . a declaration of his highness , setting apart tuesday the . of this present may for a publique day of thanksgiving , for the peace concluded between this commonwealth , and that of the united provinces , and for the late seasonable rain . that this hath been a nation of blessings in the midst whereof so many wonders have been brought forth by the out-stretched arm of the almighty , even to astonishment , and wonder , who can deny ? ask we the nations of this matter and they will testify , and indeed the dispensations of the lord have been as if he had said , england thou art my first-born , my delight amongst the nations , under the whole heavens the lord hath not dealt so with any of the people round about us . the lord having added another link to this golden chain of his loving kindness by giving us a peace with our neighbours the united provinces , ( whereby he hath not only stopped a great issue of blood , but we trust also given us hearts to unite our bloud and strength for the mutual defence of each other ) cals for great return of thanks for the same . it is therefore thought fit to set apart tuesday , being the . of this present may , as a day for praise , and for the thankful acknowledgement of this blessing of peace , which we hope hath in the womb of it many other blessings . and let us not forget our other mercies , was not the earth lately so unusually parcht up , that it threatned famin , and did cause the beast of the field to mourn for want of food , and water to sustain it ? and hath not the lord so watered the earth that he hath turned those fears into the expectation of the greatest plenty that ever was seen by any now living in this nation ? consider we also the way whereby the lord imparted this mercy to us , did any amongst us , foreknow it was coming , was it not by stirring up our hearts to seek the same by prayer , and that immediately before the lord vouchsafed us this mercy ? and doth not this bespeak ? . that the manner of conveying this mercy is the best part of the mercy . . that the lord has not cast us off , that his spirit yet strives with us , that he hath a people of his love amongst us , and loves the nation so far as to provoke it to be in love with calling upon the name of the lord for better things than corn and wine . . that he knows best how and when to answer the expectation of the husbandman , and when to hear , even the mourning of the brute beast , who will yet much more hear the desires of them that fear him , and that in the fittest season . . that the heavens having thus declared the glory of god , and the earth answering thereunto in its fruitfulness , why should not we be melted and softned , humbling our selves under these marvellous kindnesses , and abounding unto all fruitfulness in every good word and work of love ; and if every place hath been made partaker of his showres , why should not we ( laying aside our differences ) be inlarged also each to other ? . that seeing the lord hath been thus universal in this mercy , why should we not universally turn from the national evils and vain practices which yet are too superstitiously and customarily exercised amongst us , which we need not repeat here , because they are too well known , and we trust will be remembred by those godly ministers who shall be called to preach unto the people upon this occasion ? conclude we with the words of david , psalm . v. v. then they are glad , because they be quiet , so he bringeth them unto their desired haven . v. o that men would praise the lord for his goodness , and for his wonderfull works to the children of men . v. let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people , and praise him in the assembly of the elders . v. he turneth rivers into a wilderness , and the water-springs into dry ground . v. a fruitfull land into barrenness , for the wickedness of them that dwell in it . v. he turneth the wilderness into a standing water , and dry ground into water-springs . v. and there he maketh the hungry to dwell , that they may prepare a city for habitation . v. and sow the fields , and plant vineyards , which may yield fruits of increase . v. he blesseth them also , so that they are multiplied greatly , and suffereth not their cattel to decrease . o that men would praise the lord for his goodness , and for his wonderfull works to the children of men . given at white-hall this th . of may . . london , printed by william du-gard and henry hills , printers to his highness the lord protector , . causes of a publike fast and humiliation appointed by the commission of the general assembly to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk upon the third sabbath of september, in this yeer . church of scotland. general assembly. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing c a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) causes of a publike fast and humiliation appointed by the commission of the general assembly to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk upon the third sabbath of september, in this yeer . church of scotland. general assembly. broadside. by evan tyler, printed at edinburgh : . caption title. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland. fasts and feasts -- scotland. a r (wing c a). civilwar no causes of a publike fast and humiliation appointed by the commission of the general assembly to be kept in all the congregations of this kir church of scotland. general assembly d the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the d category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion causes of a publike fast and humiliation , appointed by the commission of the generall assembly , to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk upon the third sabbath of september , in this yeer . i. notwithstanding of our profession in the last article of our solemne league and covenant , yet to this day the son of god is not honoured amongst us in the excellencie of his person , nor imployed in the vertue of his offices ; but the unsearchable riches of christ and the inestimable treasure of the gospell are neglected and despised as things of no value . ii. we doe not tremble under the threatnings of the law , verified upon us in many sad and fore judgements , nor doe we follow the direction thereof as a rule of our obedience , but the whole land almost and many in our armies still lie in a deep security , and live under grosse prophanity and hardnesse of heart . iii. we have reason to mourn for the issue of that horrid rebellion , as a testimony of the continued indignation of the most high against our backslidings and provocations . iiii. the lamentable condition of our brethren in ireland , almost brought unto fainting , and neere to be swallowed up by the power and cruelty of the rebells there , together with the danger that we are threatned with from them , and the afflicted estate of those parts of this kingdome which yet lie under the feet of the enemies . v. seeing the lord hath been pleased to stain the pride of all our glory , by blasting all our 〈◊〉 confidence and making the emptinesse of means to appear , we would seriously intreat him that he would make himself glorious in the midst of is , by the manifestation of his free grace and wonted favour , in pardoning our sins , reclaiming us from our backslidings , and healing our land for his own name sake . vi . that the lord would often the kings heart , and give unto him the spirit of humiliation that he may mourn for his iniquity , and that the spirit of wisdom and understanding may be given to him , and all these that are imployed in the publike affairs in both kingdoms , that all their councells and actions may be means for the advancement of the kingdom of the son of god , promoving the work of uniformity , holding fast the league betwixt the ntions , and for procuring a firm and well-grounded peace in all the three kingdomes . vii . that the spirit of faithfulnesse , unity , and zeal , may be poured upon all the ministers of the land , that in integrity and love they may bear burden one with another , for seeking the honour of jesus christ and the edifying of his body the clurch . viii . that the lord wo 〈…〉 crowne the year with his goodnesse in granting a fair and fruitfull harve●● . printed at edinburgh by ev●n tyler , printer to the kings most excellent vajestie . . an act of the commons of england assembled in parliament, for the keeping a day of humiliation upon thursday the day of april, . england and wales. parliament. house of commons. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act of the commons of england assembled in parliament, for the keeping a day of humiliation upon thursday the day of april, . england and wales. parliament. house of commons. sheet ([ ] p.) printed for edward husband, printer to the honourable house of commons, london : march . . [i.e. ] order to print dated: die sabbathi, martii, . signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliament. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act of the commons of england assembled in parliament, for the keeping a day of humiliation upon thursday the day of april, . england and wales. parliament. c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an act of the commons of england assembled in parliament , for the keeping a day of humiliation upon thursday the day of april , . vvhereas this nation hath long laboured under many miseries and iudgements , as a just fruit of our multiplyed transgressions , and amongst other sins , more especially for our unthankfulness and unfruitfulness under unparalleld mercies and deliverances , and for our unbelief , to the dishonor of our mighty , wise , and good god , who hath through a wilderness of temptations brought us even to the entrance of a canaan , and to the hope of a blessed reformation ; as also for our uncharitablenes and want of a good affection to the publique , and of love one to another , the very fountain of our late civil wars and desolations : and whereas we have learn'd from the word of god , and the example of his people in all ages , and our own experience , that the humbling of our souls for sin , and the seeking the favor of god in the mediation of our lord and savior iesus christ by prayer and fasting , hath been , through his grace and acceptance , effectual both for the preventing & removal of the greatest iudgements , and also for procuring the choycest mercies : the commons of england assembled in parliament , having through the wonderful goodness and assistance of god , restored this nation ( as far as in them lieth , and the present interruptions will yet admit ) to their just liberties , and laid foundations for the well government thereof in the way of a commonwealth , do enact and ordain , and be it enacted and ordained by this present parliament , and by authority thereof , that thursday the day of april , . shall be observed and kept in all parishes and other places in england and wales , a solemn day of fasting , prayer , and humiliation , for the aforementioned sins , and all other the abominations whereof this nation is guilty ; and for the imploring of the lord our god , ( who is holiness , love , and wisdom , and the father of spirits ) to give unto this people the spirit of reformation , faith , vnderstanding , and vnion , that so our sins , the cause of our sufferings , may be forgiven , and this commonwealth may be setled in a lasting peace and happiness : and be it further enacted and ordained , that all ministers , and other people within england and wales , do with all possible care & pious diligence , solemnly observe the same accordingly , under the penalties contained in any order or ordinance of parliament heretofore made , concerning the due observation of the lords-day , or days of publique humiliation . die sabbathi , martii , . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published ; and that the members of this house be required to take care to disperse the same in the several counties . hen : scobell , cleric . parliament ▪ . london , printed for edward husband , printer to the honorable house of commons , march . . by the king a proclamation for a publike, generall, and solemne fast. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king a proclamation for a publike, generall, and solemne fast. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) charles i, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.). by bonham norton and iohn bill, printers to the kings most excellent maiestie, printed at london : anno dom. m. dc. xxv [ ] arms with "c r" at top. "giuen at the court at white-hall, the third day of iuly, in the first yeere of his maiesties reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of england. fasts and feasts -- great britain. plague -- england -- london -- early works to . great britain -- history -- charles i, - . broadsides -- london (england) -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cr diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms ❧ by the king. ¶ a proclamation for a publike , generall , and solemne fast. the kings most excellent maiestie , vpon the humble petition of the lords spirituall and temporall , and commons in the present parliament assembled , taking into his princely consideration the many important causes , and extraordinary occasions calling vpon him , and his people for a ioynt and generall humiliation of all estates of his kingdome , before almighty god in prayer and fasting , aswell for auerting this heauy uisitation of plague and pestilence , already begun , and dangerously dispersed in many parts of this kingdome , as also for drawing downe his blessing vpon his maiesty and his people , and armies both by sea and land , hath therefore ( according to the royall and laudable example of other godly kings ) by the aduice and assistance of his prelates and bishops , caused an order or direction for publique prayer and fasting , to be conceiued and published in print , in a booke for this speciall purpose , to be generally obserued and solemnized , in humble hope and confidence , that when both prince and people together through the whole land , shal ioyne in one common , & solemne deuotion , of sending vp their faithfull and repentant prayers to almighty god at one instant of time , the same shall bee more auaileable to obtaine that mercie , helpe and comfort from him , which in the present important occasions this church and common-wealth doe stand in neede of . his maiestie doeth therefore by this present proclamation straitly charge and command , that a generall , publike , and solemne fast be kept and holden , as well by abstinence from food , as by publike prayers , preaching , and hearing of the word of god , and other sacred duties , according to the direction of the said booke , in all collegiate and parish-churches and chappels within this kingdome of england , and dominion of wales , vpon wednesday , the twentieth day of this instant moneth of iuly , and from thencefoorth continued vpon the wednesday of euery weeke following , by the reuerend , religious , and deuout assembly of the whole congregation of such of the inhabitants in each seuerall place , as are free and safe from danger of infection , and may in euery family be conueniently spared ; willing and requiring , aswell all archbishops , and bishops , in their seuerall prouinces , and diocesses , and all parsons , uicars and curats , within their seuerall parishes and charges , as also all maiors , sheriffes , iustices of peace , and other officers in their seuerall places , limits , and iurisdictions , respectiuely to take especiall care , that this his maiesties royall commandement be duly executed and obserued : and that they themselues be lights of good example to the rest ; and that all others in manner aforesaid , doe diligently and deuoutlyfollow and performe the same , as they tender their duties to almighty god , and to their prince and countrey , and will answere for their prophane , or contemptuous neglect hereof at their vttermost perils . giuen at the court at white-hall , the third day of iuly , in the first yeere of his maiesties reigne of great britaine , france and ireland . god saue the king. ¶ printed at london by bonham norton and iohn bill , printers to the kings most excellent maiestie . m. dc . xxv . an act for setting apart vvednesday the thirteenth day of october, , for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act for setting apart vvednesday the thirteenth day of october, , for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field, printer to the parliament of england, london : . order to print dated: wednesday the first of september, . signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. with parliamentary seal at head of text. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . anglo-dutch war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act for setting apart vvednesday the thirteenth day of october, , for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the commonwealth flag ( - ) an act for setting apart vvednesday the thirteenth day of october , , for a day of publique fasting and humiliation . whereas the most wise god , whose iudgements are unsearchable and ways past finding out , hath by his over-ruling providence made a breach upon that amity ( which the parliament hath in all sincerity endeavored to conserve ) between this commonwealth & the vnited provinces ; the parliament of england well knowing it to be their duty , in all the turns of providence to acknowledge god , and to seek unto him to direct their paths ; and also considering the word of truth doth teach , that sin onely doth separate between god and a people , have thought fit to admonish and stir up the people of this nation to confess their sins unto the lord , and to seek his face , that he would be pleased to grant unto us repentance and pardon through the blood of his dear son iesus christ who is our peace , and by the blood of his cross reconciles all things in heaven and earth : and humbly to beseech him to direct and bless the councels and actions of the parliament , to the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people of this commonwealth ; and more particularly ▪ that he will be pleased to shew them the way how the saving truth of the gospel may be best advanced and propagated , and whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine & the power of godliness suppressed : and likewise , that he would vouchsafe his presence with , and blessing upon the forces and navy of this commonwealth , and out of all the troubles wherewith he is pleased to exercise us , to bring forth a righteous and lasting peace to his people to his own glory : and to the end the people of this nation may have an opportunity for this purpose , be it enacted by this present parliament , and the authority thereof , that wednesday the thirteenth day of october , . be set apart to be observed as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation in all cities , towns and places within england , wales , and the town of berwick upon tweed ; and that the ministers of the respective parishes & places aforesaid , upon the lords day next preceding the day so to be observed , do give notice hereof , that the people may the better attend the exercises of that day . and for the more full observation thereof , the parliament doth forbid the holding or using of any fairs , markets , and servile works of mens ordinary callings on the day thus set apart : and all majors , sheriffs , iustices of peace , constables and other officers , are hereby enjoyned to take special care for the observation of the said day accordingly . wednesday the first of september , . ordered by the parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti . london , printed by john field , printer to the parliament of england . . proclamation for a solemn national monthly fast scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) proclamation for a solemn national monthly fast scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william and mary) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson ..., edinburgh : anno dom. . caption title. initial letter. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion letterhead with royal emblems a proclamation , for a solemn national monthly fast . william and mary , by the grace of god , king and queen of great-britain , france and ireland , defenders of the faith ; to our lyon king at arms , and his brethren heraulds , macers of our privy council , pursevants , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greeting : forasmuch , as several synods , and others of this church , have applyed to the lords of our privy council , that they would interpose their authority , for indicting and keeping a solemn national fast and humiliation , in all the kirks and meeting-houses of this our antient kingdom , to implore the blessing of the lord upon us in our counsels and undertakings , in defense of the true reformed religion , and of these lands , and relief of the oppressed abroad ; and especially , that god would countenance us in the present war , preserving our royal person , and giving success to our arms by sea and land , and preserve and establish the protestant religion at home and abroad . therefore we , with advice of the lords of our privy council , do hereby command and enjoyn , that the said solemn fast and humiliation , for the ends above set down , be religiously observed by all persons within this kingdom , both in churches and meeting-houses , upon the twenty fifth day of may next , being the last wednesday of that month , and thereafter monthly , upon the last wednesday of each month untill the last wednesday of september next inclusive : and ordains all ministers , either in kirks or meeting-houses , to read these presents publickly from the pulpit , a sunday or two before the first day appointed for keeping the said fast and humiliation , and upon a sunday before each last wednesday , during the space foresaid . and to the effect that this so necessary and religious a duty , may be publickly performed ; and punctually observed , and our pleasure in the premisses known : our will is , and we charge you straitly and command , that incontinent , these our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and remanent mercat-crosses of the head-burghs of the several shires and stewartries within this kingdom , and in our name and authority , make publication of the premisses , that none may pretend ignorance . and we ordain our sollicitor to dispatch copies hereof , to the sheriffs of the several shires and stewarts of the stewartries , and , their deputes or clerks , to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of the head-burghs , upon receipt thereof , and immediatly sent to the several ministers , both in kirks and meeting-houses , to the effect they may read , and intimat the same from their pulpits , and may seriously exhort all persons to a sincere and devote observance thereof , as they will be answerable at their peril . and ordains these presents to be printed , and published in manner foresaid . given under our signet at edinburgh , the twenty first day of april . and of our reign , the fourth year , . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . in supplimentum signeti . da , moncreif , cls. sti. concilli . god save king william and queen mary . edinburgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , printer to their most excellent majesties , anne dom : . an admonition concerning a publick fast the just causes we have for it, from the full growth of sin, and the near approaches of god's judgments : and the manner of performance to obtain the desired effects thereof, which ought to be other than our common forms, and with stricter acts of moritication than is usual amongst us : with an abstract of mr. chillingworth's judgement of the state of religion in this nation in his time : and of a letter from the hague concerning two sermons preached there in the french church at which were present divers of the english nobility. stephens, edward, d. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an admonition concerning a publick fast the just causes we have for it, from the full growth of sin, and the near approaches of god's judgments : and the manner of performance to obtain the desired effects thereof, which ought to be other than our common forms, and with stricter acts of moritication than is usual amongst us : with an abstract of mr. chillingworth's judgement of the state of religion in this nation in his time : and of a letter from the hague concerning two sermons preached there in the french church at which were present divers of the english nobility. stephens, edward, d. . chillingworth, william, - . [ ], p. [s.n.], london : . attributed to edward stephens who is known as socrates christianus. cf. nuc pre- . reproduction of original in bristol public library, bristol, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasting -- early works to . judgment day -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . god -- love -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an admonition concerning a publick fast . the just causes we have for it , from the full growth of sin , and the near approaches of god's judgments ; and the manner of performance , to obtain the desired effects thereof ; which ought to be other than our common forms ; and with stricter acts of mortification than is usual amongst us . with an abstract of mr. chillingworth's judgment of the state of religion in this na●●on in his time . and of a letter from the hague concerning two sermons preached there in the fr●nch church , at which were present divers of the english nobility . london , printed in the year m dc xci . to the queen . madam , since the authority of your majesty hath appeared so particularly in a most necessary appointment of a publick fast and humiliation to be observed in most devout and solemn manner for supplicating almighty god for pardon of our sins , and imploring his blessing , &c. not once , but every month during the war. it may be presumed , that what is sincerely endeavoured , that so necessary and pious a command may happily obtain its desired effects , cannot fail of a favourable and benign construction with a person of so much piety and sense of religion : though to those naturals or animals , in whom the god of this world hath blinded their minds , it cannot but seem foolishness and canting , as must all truth to those , who are both ignorant and yet conceited : and though to such as are big with the wisdom of the world ( which is foolishness with god ) ●ome things in it may seem rude and presumptuous : for true piety could bear even the railing of a shimei in a time of humiliation ; and christian wisdom can easily discern and distinguish between height of fidelity and affection in the plain words of truth and soberness , and that malice and falsehood , which are always ingredients of railing and presumption . even civil prudence , considering the irreparable mischiefs , which are daily wrought in the courts and councils of princes by treacherous flattery , will not only permit and allow , but favour and encourage serious liberty and freedom of speech upon just and necessary occasion in persons of unspotted and undoubted fidelity and affection : but christian wisdom much more ; and especially in times of account , which call for humiliation , repentance , reformation , and judging our selves ; and for publick humiliation , and particular confession of publick and known sins and offences , with their circumstances of aggravation , and carefull search to discover them . which is the only way to lay a sure foundation , and to be raised up by the mighty hand of god. wherefore , madam , presuming that i write to a person more illustrious by such great virtues , than any fading , earthly honour or majesty can make you , besides what i have said in common to all , i shall out of fidelity and great affection humbly represent to your royal consideration some few things more particularly relating to your self . i will not here recount the great things which god hath done for the gradual raising of your glory , nor tell you that the eyes of all the world are upon you , and what great things they hope and expect from you : but this i may say in the name of god , that his eyes are upon you ; the eyes of the lord , ( which ) run to and fro throughout the whole earth , to shew himself strong in the behalf of them , whose heart is perfect towards him : ( chron. . . ) that to whom much is given of them , much shall be required ; and , that if you justly expect from your fellow creatures , whom you imploy , fidelity , zeal , and activity , proportionable to the favours you confer , and the trusts you repose in them ; much more are you obliged to perform all these to the soveraign lord of all in the full improvement of all t●ose greater talents of honour , authority and other advantages , which he hath conferred upon you , for his honour and service ; and with so much the more vigor and resolution , by how much the greater are the difficulties which occur . the highest pitch of all is the least sacrifice that you can offer to him. and therefore i will not , i may not tell you , that the leisure , as well as the calm of peace , will be necessary for this : or , that your resolving on it inwardly before god , will be accepted by him , though you defer the actual performance till that leisure and calm , which you may never see , nor are ever like to see , while difficult duties are declined , neglected or deferred . for this would be to deceive you after the manner of the false prophets of old ? and to expose you and your affairs to the treacheries and abuses of dissolute and depraved men , who be always truer to their vices than to their masters . but on the contrary , this i may be bold to affirm , that when by actual discountenancing and disgracing of vice , and encouraging of virtue by distinguishing marks of your favour ; and by a visible beginning of reforming your court and your people , and particularly that body , which of all others should need it least , it is once understood that you are setled in those noble purposes , this will make the execution of them easie to you , and detect the falsity of such dilatory doctrines : and would have done so sooner if more faithfull advice had not been withstood by such as perverted the right ways of the lord , and mis-led those they should have directed therein . for god hath wrought in the midst of us a mighty deliverance ; and was ready to perfect and stablish that which he hath wrought for us . but it is now apparent that something there is , which doth stop that course of blessings that , seems i cannot now say , but once did seem , ready to flow in upon us . and we have now another count to cast up . we may and ought to recount the mercies and favours of god to us : but we have now , also an account of his judgments and frowns to reflect upon : and this should lead us back to enter into another account , viz. of our sins and provocations . for that course of blessings , which for some time was only stopp'd , was afterwards turned to a course of crosses and disappointments , or of a mixture of mercy and judgment , and is now at last turning , it may be feared , to severe judgment , confusion , and destruction , unless very speedily prevented , by strict and impartial inquiry into the causes , by truly noble and heroick resolutions thereupon , and by a vigilant and vigorous execution . for the king himself , if i , and many others , be not mistaken , hath already suffer'd some diminution in some essentials of his majesty , honour , and most prevalent powers and is in danger to fall lower , from being a glorious instrument of god for good and happiness to this and many other nations , into the deplorable and despicable condition of being an occasion of confusion and misery : only there seems a door of hope still open for him , upon one consideration , if the opportunity be not neglected ; of which more presently : but first i think fit to say something briefly concerning the present state of things in the world , and what may be expected from it . in matters of prudence , none but weak and dull , or depraved souls will expect mathematical demonstrations and sensible evidences , for all their actions : god by his providence hath purposely so ordered the course of things , that his rational creatures , mankind , should be often necessitated to a close application of their minds , and a kind of spiritual discerning , in the management of their own affairs . this faculty , as may be perceived by experience , if well disposed , and carefully observed , extends much farther in many-things than men are able easily to demonstrate to others , and yet even in those often discerns very right . but such indications may sometimes be observed from a concurrence of various circumstances as are sufficient principles of a moral demonstration . my pre-apprehensions of our own occurrences have hitherto proved true in the event ; and i have now some indications to help me . it is very apparent that there have been very few princes or great men in the world for some years , or rather ages , who have manifested in their course of life any great and just apprehension of the business of man upon earth , much less of the proper business of princes , and persons under their circumstances ; but have generally both by their example and their management , been more subservient to the kingdom of darkness , than to the kingdom of light ; and their courts , armies , navies , and all their great meetings , generally little other than seminaries and nurseries of pride , ambition , covetousness , injustice , oppression , luxury , impiety , prophaneness , and all manner of vice and wickedness ; where souls in great numbers have been trained up and habituated to all the diabolical qualities of that dismal crew : and so deceived and abused have they been by false prophets and other instruments of that kingdom , appearing great in the world in pomp and grandure , magnifick names and titles , the superficial ornaments of literature and wisdom of the world , ( all directly contrary to the simplicity of the gospel ) that they have believed it must be so , and cannot be otherwise ; we must not expect armies of saints ; and so have plainly given over all care of reformation of those things , as impracticable , platonick or phanatick-phansies . it is likewise apparent that the people in all places , even where hath been , or still is the greatest profession of religion , ( both laity and clergy ) are most grievously degenerated and corrupted ; a great part with the most gross vices , and scandalous sins ; others of more consideration and sense of reputation , some with atheism and infidelity ; others with formality or superstition ; some with hypocrisie and faction ; and most of the very best with over-valuation of the things of the world , and with pride of some worldly advantage , of birth , of estate , favour with great men , wit , learning , apparel , attendance , or some such hobby-horse or other , over-looking divers necessary christian virtues , and even to despise and be ashamed of christ himself in his members , if appearing in the genuine form of their master ; so that a genuine compleat christian is rare to be found in the world , especially among those who have the greatest share of it : and the sins both of princes and of people seem to have over-grown all the methods of the divine providence for their amendment . and it is also apparent that such are the posture and motions of humane affairs at this time in europe , as are plain indications that almighty god by his providence is producing some great alteration in this part of the world very suddenly . and what this is like to be is well and carefully to be considered . nor is it any presumption to do this soberly ; but so far from that , that to discern the signs of the times is a plain and necessary duty ; the neglect or non-observance whereof is condemned in the jews in the like case , by our saviour , and before by the prophets . the present posture of affairs is a state of war , which is one of god's judgments , for the punishment of princes and nations , and such as the present sinfull state both of princes and people hath justly deserved , and we may therefore reasonably conclude hath provoked . this war is between two great parties , the french and turk on the one side , and the emperor and the confederates on the other : and most princes and states are concerned in it . and if we consider the motions of this war , it was begun by the french king in secret confederacy with the turk and the late kings of england , without any colour of justice , merely to gratifie a proud , haughty , insolent , luciserian , domineering humour , and carried on with barbarous cruelty , even upon his own subjects , and devastation abroad . but the divine providence at last interposed , and put a hook in his nostrils , deprived him of the assistance of both his confedarates , and turned the strength of one of them against him ; and thereby gave an offer of mercy , and a fair opportunity to the confederates to have been the instruments of his judgments against that wicked insolent invader , had they wisely improved that divine favour , for the service of god and the reformation and good of the people . but they have all been insensible of , and unhappily neglected their duty ; and have likewise in a great measure lost that fair opportunity put into their hands ; so that the favour of the divine providence seems in some sort to have forsaken them , and gon over to their enemies for the punishment of this and all their former sins and miscarriages , and unprofitableness for his service . and indeed whether we consider the provocations of god's judgments by this neglect under such circumstances , or the present state of affairs ( which i cannot here particularly observe ) both present us with too just reasons for some apprehensions , that that cruel and barbarous tyrant may now be made the terrible instrument of the divine vengeance , for purging these countries of that wickedness , which they would not reform ; and for casting out such unprofitable servants ; unless it be prevented immediately by some extraordinary and vigorous means of reformation . for , as all the judgments of god are for punishment of sin , and reformation of manners ; so the common sinfull state of all nations in these parts , and the general commotions of all , are a plain indication of some great judgment coming upon all , who do not prevent it by speedy repentance , and some notable reformation . and because the judgments of god are frequently executed not onely upon persons , but in a special manner also upon such things , as have been much abused to his dishonor or disservice , the great work , which all these commotions overruled by the holy providence of god tend to , may in all probability be , not onely the punishment of the persons of all degrees , but the putting down or abolishing of all that rule , authority and power in the world , which hath been so abused , unprofitable and disserviceable to their great and proper master , to make way for that glorious kingdom and blessed theocracy , which shall never be destroyed . this was begun , and should have been done by the confederates against that insolent tyrant and common oppressor , had they well considered their business and subjected their power to their sovereign , and used their authority in subservience to this great work , first by reformation of themselves and of the people subjected to them . but they not considering , but neglecting this principal part , the present posture of things seems to theraten , that they may be first suppressed and the sins and wickedness of themselves and their people punished , by him , and himself at last for all his insolence and wickedness by some extraordinary judgment . yet possibly there is not any of them all , but if they shall in time open their eyes , and without any sinister designs to set up themselves , apply their power sincerely and by direct and proper means to promote the service of god in this great work , they may be received and well rewarded , both with honour here , and happiness hereafter . of all the confederates , none hath been more highly favoured by an extraordinary providence than king william ; but in my apprehension , none hath more failed than he , considering his circumstances , in the duty incumbent upon him ; nor is any in greater danger both in that respect , and in respect of the present state of his affairs , which i take to be in all respects the consequence of that . onely there seems to be yet , as i said , a door of mercy and favour open for him , in as much as it is now apparent , that it was not wholly his fault , but partly his unhappiness , in that he had no better guides to direct and admonish him ; and if he yet be carefull and resolute to doe what he ought , though now more difficult , and therefore to be performed with so much the greater resolution , possibly he may recover in a great measure his former prosperous condition ; though i doubt that he may suffer such loss , as may be just matter for a longer sorrow and repentance ; and that he that hath troubled both him and us shall bear his judgment , whoever he be , unless he prevent it by some proper and eminent works of repentance . many things more i had to have said : but this first work is of so great importance , that unless it be instantly and effectually provided for , it will be in vain to think of farther applications . nay our very fasting and humiliation , and all the prayers in the world , will avail nothing , unless the troublers of israel be brought forth , and the accursed thing be removed . if this were once well resolved upon and concluded , it would not be hard to detect greater troublers of our israel , than those who are now in danger of their lives ; and soon to put things into such a posture of security , as the king need not fear confusions in his absence , which otherwise may be feared . yet one thing there is most peculiar to your self that however ought not to be omitted upon this oceasion ; and that is the manifest judgments of god upon your own royal family , and upon so near a relation as a father ; and judgments both spiritual , of strong delusions ; and temporal , of just and deserved exclusion from the government of these nations . the due consideration whereof will easily discover several obligations upon you . . the consideration of such unhappiness of so near a relation ( which is matter not onely of particular humiliation , but of continual grief and mourning ) requires great seriousness in all your behaviour , and circumspection lest prosperity make you forget it , and thereby offend god , and so bring evil upon your self . . the consideration of the provoking causes requires , first , your humiliation under them , and that you be content and willing , and desirous that they may be plainly and fully detected : first , that you may avoid them , and all participation in them , lest you be overtaken and involved in the judgments of god upon them : but , secondly and principally , for the glory of god , and manifestation of the righteousness of his judgments : for should you offer to hinder this , as it would tend to the scandal of his righteous judgments , so it would certainly provoke him to detect all some other way to your greater shame and confusion , and bring the same judgments upon your self . secondly , it requires your utmost care and circumspection all your life long to avoid them , that you abhor them , come not near them , lest they lay hold on you : for of all they are the most dangerous for you , by reason of the participation in so great a store of guilt , and the warning given you by such judgements , and the special temptations you are like to meet with . there is an iniquity in that family , which might be traced a great way back into scotland ; but king james i , came into england by the favour of providence , in a state of mercy . and therefore we need look no farther back for this purpose . by and under the same favour have all his successors come to the throne , and your self in particular : but they all forseited it , and that you may not , is this plain advice written . his great sins , which have most ensnared his posterity were , . great injustice , and a very wicked design by a mystery of iniquity to subvert a noble constitution of government , which god had intrusted him with , and he had sworn to mainian ; and , . abuse and prophanation of religion to serve his unrighteous design . to give a particular account of each of these would be too long for this place . but there are two effects thereof which have ever since been very pernicious to his posterity and to the kingdom , and at the present are the greatest occasions of trouble and danger to your government , above all other . the one is , false notions concerning the constitution of this government , prerogative , and the rights of the people , which cost your grandfather his head , and your father his crown , and at present mislead many worthy and honest persons , to be your adversaries , who would otherwise have been your loyal and faithfull subjects ; and would be much more mischievous to you , if you should by that faction , flattery , or any temptation be once possessed with them . they are in their original , a mystery of iniquity , a wicked imposture , and such as the vengeance of the righteous god has pursued , and still will , till they be eradicated ; and it concerns you much to be very carefull to avoid them , and that the occasions and stumbling-stones be removed by some deliberate acts of king and parliament , and of a convocation : for they will otherwise prove a root of bitterness to the whole race of the authour . your government is just and rightfull , let but the execution of it be so too , and god's blessing will be upon it . the other is , the overspreading of prophaneness and formality , which all governours are obliged to use their utmost care and endeavours to reform , but you doubly , that you may also discharge your self of the guilt of your ancestors ; i might say trebly , viz. also out of gratitude for the special mercies and favours you have received . nay it is your special business , as much to suppress that , as to cast out popery , without which you cannot prosper . that god will bless your majesty , and that you may be faithfull to him , and to the trust reposed in you , and may flourish in all grace and virtue and prosperity , is the hearty prayer of , your loyal and faithfull subject , an admonition concerning a publick fast , to implore the mercy and favour of god for the averting of his judgments , and the recovering of his blessing . because i have heard that we are like to have a proclamation for a publick fast ; or however , because i am certain we have great need to have one , at least for the use of those who desire to be found mourners in secret for the abominations that be done in the land ; i have thought fit , as an act of duty to god , and charity to my country , to publish this brief admonition concerning the present just causes we have for it , and that manner of performance of it , which must be observed if we expect any good effect thereof . i did formerly , upon occasion of the fast , jun. . . publish a paper of humiliation , of which one of the scoffers of the latter times , at a coffee-house scoffingly said , he supposed that would do more service than men in ireland . but how long did we afterwards see more than men lie near the enemy there , and do nothing at all ! not dare to attack them , though one would think encouraged enough with so great and easie success then so lately in england ! but of the invisible powers , which attend and interpose in the affairs of men , such bruitish animals have little sense or apprehension . and therefore it is not unlikely that this may meet with the like entertainment : but i am perswaded that they shall proceed no further , and that their impiety will very shortly meet with a due correction , if not before by the hand of governors , by the hand of providence and the sword of an enemy in the midst of them . and therefore , leaving them to their own severe mistress , to proceed , there are two great causes to provoke us to an extraordinary humiliation at this time . . the fulness and ripeness of sin. . the near approaches of a terrible judgment . concerning the former to say nothing of other evidences of its maturity , this one i think is sufficient , when it is become past remedy by humane means , it must needs be ripe for the judgments of god. and then certainly is it past all humane means , when it hath either so infected the governors and ministers that they will not , or is become so prevalent that they cannot or dare not correct it , or punish it as it ought . and this is plainly our case . rarely hath any prince been more plainly admonished of a special duty , and of the dangerous consequence of the neglect of it than king william hath been , and in due time : and as rarely any more plainly admonished of his fault when committed , and of the mischiefs thereby incurred , than he bath been again and again . never was parliament more plainly admonished of a foul fault in the beginning of so great a work , than our convention was of that-in their order for the thanksgiving , ( which hath proved a root of bitterness ever since ) but so senseless in such matters is this generation grown , that i doubt we have some doctors , who do not understand it to this day . nor ever were parliaments more provoked to their duty by plain-dealing than ours have been again and again . lastly , never were bishops more honestly and plainly told of their duty , nor more justly and homely reproved for their most shameful neglect , than ours have been . but alas ! here 's the root of all our evil. their unfaithfulness to god , whose special service was their proper business ; unfaithfulness to kings , whom they have magnified above measure , and more slattered for their own advantage , than faithfully admonished for the service of god , and been more forward to conspire with to subvert the rights of their country , than to admonish them of their duty both to god and man , to be protectors of the right of the meanest subject . their neglect of their episcopal authority for reproof and correction of the scandalous sins , especially of great men , against the laws of god ; and on the contrary , abuse of it for punishment of sober and conscientious people with the utmost severity for any breach of their own canons , or laws made for their advantage ; hath been the greatest inlet of all our mischief , of the bruitish and carnal sins of the nation : and again , their earnest and endless pursuit of preferments , and mis-imployment of what they get , hath been the great incentive to those animal sins of covetousness and ambition , which have betrayed the nation , and been the immediate means to bring the judgments of god so near to us , as they are at this time . nor is this all : but besides their unprositableness in that great place and advantage , which they had to have done good in the parliament , they have not only heretofore been the principal obstructors of many good things , which have been proposed and begun in the house of commons , but have of late laid aside a bill for the necessary reformation of manners , and preventing the approaching judgments of god , which was drawn at the request of some of them , without offering any other in the place of it . and besides , some of them have not only in private obstructed the good effect of those faithful admonitions , which have been given to the king , by misrepresenting the person to him who sent them , as if the truth and weight of the admonitions had not been the only thing to be regarded , whoever was the instrument ; but have at last even from the pulpit , in the face of the world , encouraged the king to security in neglect of that great duty , which had been so earnestly pressed in those admonitions for his own good ; and done it in such a manner , as never any of the false prophets of old , ( except only their pretence of special revelation or the great enemy of mankind could have done more subtily and plausibly : which though of sad consideration in other respects , yet may give the more hope of the kings case , that there is in it so much the less of fault as there is more of unhappiness , in that he hath been so unfaithfully dealt with by those about him . and if with this we take . into the consideration the bishops excuse , why they did not offer the bill in the house of lords , viz. lest a thing of that nature should be ridicaled and contemned , and religion with it . i suppose no serious man but will acknowledge all this to be sufficient evidence of the prevalence and full maturity of sin and wickedness in this nation . and now concerning the near approaches of god's judgments upon the nation . every affliction or calamity upon a person or nation is not presently to be reputed a judgment or punishment of sin. some may be for the glory of god , and some for exercise of his creatures . but when we see notorious and provoking sins followed with proportionable calamities and afflictions , then we may safely conclude them judgments ; especially when we see afflictions after afflictions , or interchanges of afflictions and mercies , and the afflictions more and more increasing , but the provocations no whit abated , but either still increasing , or men more and more hardned in them , and insensible of god's judgments , that is a dangerous sign that some terrible judgment is not far off . but when in such case a particular calamity is as visible as a cloud in the air , and as likely to fall upon a nation , as such a cloud to break into a storm , ( as when you see jerusalem encompassed with armies ) then the approaches of that judgment are very near . and whether this be not the case of this nation at this time , deserves our very serious consideration speedily . of the ripeness and maturity of the sins of the nation i have given sufficient evidence before : it remains thereof only to consider what prospect there is of any particular calamity visible , which may probably or possibly be approaching this nation . and if we look back for most part of these thirty years last past , there has been a storm in brewing , often ready to break out very terribly both upon these and some neighbour nations ; but it hath pleased god that it hath as often blown over , and served only for so many warnings . and it was within these three years that we were in very great danger , we and our neighbours too ; and it pleased god to give us as great , and a very extraordinary deliverance . but how little good effect it hath had upon us , may be understood by what is said already ; to which i will add only this , that as we prophaned our thanksgiving for our deliverance with a frothy complement to the instrument , so do we now make a sport and a trade of the approaches of god's judgments ; a matter that hath more of sin and provocation in it , than this sensual generation is apprehensive of and a very ill sign of a dangerous condition . certainly god , after so great a manifestation of his providence in our deliverance , expected other and more substantial returns than such a formality ; and when we notwithstanding neglected our duty , he was graciously pleased the first year to correct our neglect only with a suspension of his blessing ; all things were at a stand with us , nothing prosper'd or succeeded : but when we still continued our neglect , he proceeded one degree further , to a smarter chastisement by a shameful bafflle of our fleet at sea , through the unfaithfulness or fearfulness ( so suitable a punishment ) of some employed in that service ; to say nothing of other misfortunes elsewhere . and now we are come to the third year without any amendment , and with a bolder and brisker attempt of a powerful and active adversary , very early , and with good success , in the view , in a manner , of the king himself ; and perhaps not without some error committed through fearfulness , if not unfaithfulness in some of his council of war. and if we well consider how powerful , active and forward our adversary is , how distracted our allies are abroad , how divided we our selves are at home ; how unfaithfully , or unwisely , or unsuccessfully our affairs are managed both at home and abroad , we have reason to fear the approaches of a very terrible judgment very near . and if things be well examined , we may apprehend not only a proportionable but a suitable judgment in all , unfaithfulness , fearfulness of god's enemies , and adhering to dilatory wicked councils , punished with like unfaithfulness , fearfulness of our enemies , and like dilatory counsels in those we employ . and for the nearness of the approaches of judgments , at the very instant , while i am writing this , are we alarm'd with a terrible beginning of a fire breaking out in the royal palace at whitehal . certainly , we have great reason to believe that the accomplishment of bishop usher's prediction is very near , and that we may soon be taught what monsieur st. jean's thunder under ground did import , by a sudden resurrection and eruption of the plots , which the unsaithfulness and deceitfulness of some have so politickly buried , if not prevented by a very speedy alteration of our ordering of things so as may be both more for the honour and service of god , that we may recover his favour and blessing , and better for the security of the nation , which his favour and blessing alone can help and lead us to . for the recovery of which , ( which is my next business ) we must . first consider the majesty of god , with whom we have to do , in respect of which the greatest majesty upon earth is ten thousand times less than the faintest shadow we can behold , and the greatest monarch but a butterfly ; nay , less than the meanest and most despicable animal . he is a god of infinite mercy indeed , but withal of absolute justice and holiness , and very terrible in his judgments against obstinate and incorrigible sinners . . we must next consider the sinful state and condition of the nation ; the universality of it , having overspread all orders , our kings , our nobles , our priests and our prophets , and all ranks and degrees of our people . the growth and long continuance of it , and the impudence and obstinacy of it , out-facing all humane authority , and standing out without remorse against the various repeated divine methods , both of judgments and mercies , to bring us to repentance and reformation : and the great danger , it is now again fallen into by reason of our unprofitableness upon so late and great a mercy and deliverance as our last was . . and when with such considerations we are affected with such a sense of our condition as is meet , and a sincere internal contrition , we must speedily apply our selves to give glory to god , by serious and solemn external actions of humiliation ; appointing of days for the purpose , afflicting our souls in strict fasting and mortification , confessing the sins of the nation , of our kings , and our priests , and our prophets , and all sorts amongst us , plainly and truly with great seriousness and sense of the evil of them , and the justice of all the judgments we either feel or fear , with humble and earnest supplications and deprecations . but this , if it be done to purpose , had need be done in another manner than is usual in the forms of the church of england , and with more strictness in the acts of mortification than is usual amongst u. when publick sins and manifest judgments require publick humiliation , then to neglect it is a great aggravation of the sin and provocation of judgment : to appoint a day , and not to observe it with the greatest seriousness , solemnity and strictness , is to lose our labour , prophane a sacred duty , and add a greater aggravation and provocation . . but if all thus far be performed never so well and exactly , yet there remains one thing more , which if neglected , will certainly not only frustrate the effect of all the rest , but convert it to the highest aggravation and provocation . and that is the removal of the accursed thing , whatever it be , and reformation of what is amiss , instantly , if it be such as may be done instantly . however , to set about it , and do what may be done toward it ; instantly , and then pursue it with great resolution and constancy till it be throughly accomplished ; banish all false prophets , who have deceived us into neglect and procrastination of so important and necessary a duty , and thereby brought us into so much mischief and danger ; and make examples of notorious scandalous persons ; and by doing all that can be for the present , declare both to god and man a firm resolution to go thorough with it , by the blessing of god , whatever difficulties occur in the way . no difficulties or dangers must stop or stay us : it is for our life and there is no greater danger than in the neglect or delay of so indispensable a duty . we must remember in this case , as well as in many others , that warning of our saviour , he who will lose his life , ( or what else is most valuable ) for my sake , shall save it : but he who will save it ( thinks to secure it by neglect or transgression of his duty or respect to me ) shall lose it , and certainly find himself mightily mistaken in his policy . nor must we rest in an ordinary performance of this part of our duty : for the judgments which threaten both the king and the nation at this time , if i mistake not , are very great , and require the zeal of phinehas to avert them , and pacifie the wrath of god. and here i must take notice of a matter , which deserves to be well consider'd , though i doubt few ever think of it , and that is of giving glory to god in respect of his former judgments , and doing what is necessary for cleansing of the nation from the guilt and pollution of the former sins , of which it is not yet purged as it ought to be . we have these thirty years past rather politickly than religiously kept every year the th of january , as the day of the martyrdom of king charles the first : but it ought to be consider'd , whether ever we have taken care to give god the glory of his judgments in that very thing . it was an extraordinary thing for a king to have his head cut off , at his own door , by his own subjects . but however , if we have had more regard to the dead king than to the living god , and to his hand and judgments in it , that will prove such a piece of hypocrisie , as may concern the church of england to look to it in time , lest god by his judgments set it out to their shame or confusion . and for the late k. james , if we can satisfie our selves with our acquests , and take no care to manifest to the world the justice of our own proceedings in the late revolution , certainly we ought in gratitude to god to have given him the glory of his justice as well as his mercy in it , by publick examination and justice upon some of the notorious criminals . and i doubt not but the judgments of god will reach those prophane politicians , who have studiously smothered and covered such works of secrecy and darkness , as ought for the glory of god to have been set in the light , as well as obstructed justice upon more apparent criminals . and besides , this is a thing that does so greatly concern the king in respect of his duty to god , that as it is a shame to all his bishops and doctors and chaplains about him , if they have been all so unskilful in their own profession , or so unfaithful to him , as that none of them hath admonished him , and endeavoured to make him sensible of the importance of it ; so i doubt it will be imputed to the filling up of the measure . but whatever be done by the church and the state for the preventing of any publick judgment or common calamity , there is that which may be done by private and particular persons , which may both help towards that , and may procure safety and exemption to themselves out of it : which i shall comprize in the following particulars . the first is , to try and examin their own ways , and turn to the lord by repentance and effectual reformation of whatever is amiss , and be sure to cast out every root of bitterness ; leave no matter for the fire of god's judgments to take hold of . if we will escape eternal judgments , we must beware of such deadly sins as procure them . and if we desire to escape temporal punishments , we must be careful , and vigilant , and circumspect to avoid and cleanse our selves from every sin. for every sin shall receive a just recompense of reward , and the sinner shall suffer loss , though he himself may be saved , so as by fire . there is a chastning of the lord , by weakness , and sickness , and death , even of those who shall not be condemned with the world ; and for that purpose that they may not ; which as we would avoid , we must carefully avoid all sin ; or , if we fall into any , be careful speedily to cleanse our selves from it ; which is not to be done without trouble . we must judge our selves , if we will not be judged of the lord. we must afflict our souls . for though it be the blood of christ and the spirit of god only which can perfect our cleansing , yet is there something to be done by us in the use of means , and cooperation with the grace of god : as . serious consideration both of the majesty , holiness and justice of god , and of the evil of sin. . serious use of the means of humiliation , and of the external expressions of it for the more solemn acknowledgment of the sin , and the glory of god , in the sight of men and angels . . resolution and actual reformation , so as to abolish the sin , as much as may be , by restitution , reparation , satisfaction , and practice of contrary vertues . . application to god by supplication and faith in our great propitiation , with acts of mercy and charity to others . th●●● and such as these we must do through the grace of god for our cleansing . the next is to take great care to be of the number of those whom the good archbishop usher hath told us , god will hide in the hollow of his hand , and under the shadow of his wings : and to that end often peruse and ruminate upon that excellent prophesie , and like excellent description of sanctification printed with it ; and study , and strive , and pray earnestly , and above all things , to have that holy work wrought , and indelibly imprinted in their hearts ; and to give it growth by continual exercise and labour of love for the honour of god and good of his creatures , till that noble generous christian property , of exerting our faculties for the common good , make us almost forget our selves , and carry us beyond all private respect : which yet is no more than we see imprinted in the nature of a poor animal ; a fearful hen , which will fly at a kite and a mastiff for the safety of her chickens , from which she would otherwise fly as fast to save her self . what brutes are we , who will not out of our selves for the god of our lives , and the centre of our happiness ! the third is , to look out into the world ; behold and consider well the deplorable state and condition of this nation ; and indeed , of all the reformed churches , by reason of the full growth of sin amongst them , and the terrible judgments of god , which threaten them , and seem so near approaching after so extraordinary a mercy lately afforded them , and a day of salvation , which they seem to have neglected , without any sense of the duties , which such a divine favour and opportunity required ; that so they may become mourners in secret , as well for the indignities offered to god and our saviour , and the abuse of a most holy and excellent religion , as for the calamities , which we have great reason to fear are coming upon them , for just punishment of all that wickedness , which no means could prevail with them to reform ; and may be the better fitted to perform their part in a publick humiliation . the fourth and last is to do what they can for the reformation of others , and thereby for the averting or mitigating of the judgments of god. the zeal of one phinehas turned away the wrath of god from the children of israel , that he did not destroy them . and besides it was imputed to him for righteousness ; and he obtained thereby a blessing upon himself and his posterity , numb ●●● , . psal. . . and many such , tho private persons , 〈◊〉 even of the lower ranks of men , might do much good to the nation ; and especially to themselves , and their own families . this may , and must be done by these means . . by well ordering their own families , if they have any ; and that . by daily prayers in their families ; for which purpose there are many good books to be had , to help them who need . . by religious observance of the lord's day , taking care that all of their family frequent and reverently attend to the publick worship of god , and employ the rest of the day in reading , and other religious employment . . by instructing , admonishing , reproving , and correcting such as may need or give occasion for it ; and discharging from their service and employment such as are incorrigibe . of which more presently . . by admonishing and reproving their familiar friends and relations , and such at they converse with , as occasion may serve or require ; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour that thou bear not sin for him , lev. . . and using their best endeavours , that the obstinate , who will not be reformed by such means , may be punished and corrected by the magistrates and governors . wherein if they may seem to lose their labour through the unrighteousness of those in authority , yet their labour will not be in vain in the lord : and besides , if they be constant and unmoveable in the work of the lord , they will animate one another ; and the importunity of many will by degrees , by god's blessing , prevail against the unrighteousness of such judges . this is a duty of greater weight and obligation than most men are sensible of : and the neglect of it hath given great occasion to the growth of sin and wickedness amongst us to that maturity and fulness it is come to , and to the present unhappiness of the nation : and therefore now under our circumstances is it so much the more to be put in execution with zeal and vigour against all ( tho they be as thy right hand , or thy right eye ) by whom the offence cometh , they must not be spared ; thine eye shall not pity them , neither shalt thou spare them , neither shalt thou conceal them ; so shalt thou put the evil way from the midst of thee ; however from thy self , and deliver thine own soul , if it cannot longer be kept off from the nation . but could such a spirit of zeal be raised , but in the despised people , it would be no little ground of hope still . and why should it not ? we see it in some particulars upon occcasion ; and may see it in more , if they be but rightly informed . there is not less reason for it against debauchery than against popery ; it is not less injurious to our religion , nor less dangerous to our nation ; nay , it is believed by many men of learning and knowledge of affairs , that it is one of the bastard brats of popery , and the most pernicious of all , produced by their councils , and faustred by their agents , that they might unman us , and expose us to the wrath of god , and the fury of our enemies . all therefore who have any zeal or indignation against popery , ought to turn it mightily against this . first , to resent the abuse put upon them by the midianites , and their own folly and madness so easily to be led into the snare , as at the same time that they are so warm against the papists , to be through want of consideration , their very instruments to promote their designs for the destruction of this nation ; and at the same time that they profess so much zeal for the protestant religion , to offer greater indignities to it , than any adversary possibly can : and upon such considerations bethinking themselves well , first deliberately and resolutely with indignatión and zeal breaking through those enchantments , and mending their own manners ; in the next place give their zeal as full vent against debauchery as they would against popery ; and against all such infatuated and inchanted tools of theirs , all debauched people , wherever they meet with them in their debaucheries , as they would do against any priests or jesuites , who could never hurt us , were we not first weakned and exposed by our sins and wickedness . consider how they would take it , if a man to their face should reproach their father , or their mother , their near relation or intimate friend , their great benefactor , or their master , lord , or prince , or declare himself ill affected to their country ; and know , that , if they have any thing of manhood or generosity in them , the indignities done to god , the supreme monarch of the world , and , the father , lord , and great benefactor to us all , and to our most holy and excellent religion , the only compleat means of all happiness both here and hereafter , are provocations ten thousand times greater and more reasonable to exert it to the utmost , and to treat all prophane and wicked people accordingly ; that so that impudent prophaneness and leudness , which at present fills all places , should not dare henceforward to appear abroad , or in our streets . this might , for ought i know , were it well considered and encouraged , save the nation . . by a general ( tho implicit ) reproof of the corrupt manners of the age , and a kind of bearing witness against them , declaring a disallowance and abhorrence of them , that is , by avoiding and abstaining from all communication either with the scandalous persons , or with the corrupt manners thereof . that we should avoid all conversation with evil and scandalous persons there are divers considerable reasons : because . it may be a temptation to us to corrupt our manners in divers respects . . it may give advantage to the evil powers , which reside and rule in them , to hurt us . for there is a secret spiritual impression of good or evil in company , such as it is , which few men observe , or are sensible of , . it may be scandalous to us , if it be intimate or familiar , which is a thing we ought carefully to avoid . . our holy religion and profession may be affronted by them in our presence , of which we ought also to avoid all occasions . . we ought to express and manifest our resentment and indignation against their wicked and scandalous actions and practices , for the honour of our religion , and to shame them into repentance and reformation : but familiar conversation with such is an implicit deserting of our profession , disowning of christ , and prostituting our religion in an unworthy compliance , and a means to make them secure in their evil courses . for these and the like reasons we ought at all times to avoid them , unless when we have any hope or design of doing good to them , but more especially under such circumstances , lest we be partakers in their sin , or tainted by them ; lest we be partakers in their punishment , and suffer with them ; and that we may assert and vindicate the honour of our religion , and shame them into repentancc and reformation . by this means may the meanest person many times have opportunity to give a tacit reproof , and such as by the blessing of god may prove very effectual , to the greatest . and every one ought to do it as they have occasion , without regard to their own worldly interest or benefit to be had by them , or to the worldly dignity of the person , without respect of persons . for to neglect it for private interest , is to prostitute religion , and apply to the devils instruments , instead of dependance upon god for supplies , ( if we really need them ) and his blessing . and to do otherwise out of respect to any such person , be his degree what it will , is to prefer a wicked creature before our creator and redeemer , to prefer external temporal honour , before real , intrinsick , and eternal , and to shew more respect to the enemies of god , who dishonour him , and despise his laws , than to god himself upon whom we depend . both which , whatever men think of them , are more wicked and prophane than i can here set out as they deserve , and are ready means to provoke god , whose cause is thereby deserted , to desert them who do so , and leave them to have their part with such company , with insidels and unbelievers . it is so in the meanest christian , and therefore let those of higher degree look to it , how they will answer the transgression of this duty to god , when they are called to account for it , which may be sooner than they expect . it is that which every one ought with great care to observe , who desires to be found faithful to god , and to be preserved in the common calamity by his special favour . the meanest servants ought to avoid such masters and families ; and if by mistake they fall into them , to manifest their dissatisfaction , get leave to be gone ; and if that cannot be had , to fly with moses into the wilderness , rather than abide with such wicked egyptians : every tradesman to despise their custom , and every artist , mechanick and labourer their service or employment , and all to avoid so much as to salute them , or shew them any respect , which would be to be partaker of their evil deeds : be they who they will , who have so little discretion , or command of themselves , as to contemn and affront even the laws , government and religion of the nation , and all the sober people of it , they ought to be slighted and despised by the-very footmen , carmen , and all sorts of people ; and if they offer to draw their sword , or injure any , to be trod in the dirt , as the pests of the nation , and instruments of all our unhappiness ; only magistrates , and men in authority , which is god's ordinance , must not be affronted , but left to the judgments of god , if those who have power over them will not regard it . and for the manners of the age , besides those gross and scandalous sins , there are divers others , which must be avoided and reformed , and cleansed , if we would endeavour to purpose to escape the fire of god's judgments . such are . all secret sins , secret and mean in their commitment , and concealed from the view of men. god will certainly find these out , and manifest his all-seeing providence in the severe punishment of them , if not prevented by a timely and thorough repentance and reformation . . such as in their own nature are not apparent and distinguishable enough to be corrected by humane laws , censure or cognizance ; which are many and various : as , abuse of aliments in indulgence to the appetite , wherein a great part of the people of this plentiful nation are guilty of excess to their own hurt , but especially those bruitish epicures , who glory in their shame , and turning their paunches into dunghils by a modish foolish term , of eating well , would recommend a beastly ravenous action : ease and luxury , sports , and idle and unprofitable employments , loss of time , and divers great advantages , without benefit to others , or to themselves : abuse of the talents of estates and wealth , which ought to be employed for the honor and service of god , and the good of men , to vain-glory and ostentation in apparel , buildings , furniture , attendants , and such like pomps and vanities , which the ancient christians solemnly renounced at their baptism , and as carefully avoided ever after ; and , ( which doubles the sin ) even to emulations beyond proportion , which draw many other mischiefs after them , to themselves , their families , and many other , by the means next to be mentioned : covetousness , and ambition , and insatiable greediness and pursuit of things of the world , and the cursed fruits thereof , frauds , cheats , exactions , extortions , oppressions , breach of trust , faction and treacheries against king and country , for pensions from foreign princes , and preferments at home . . such as are covered , and palliated , and patronized by modes , fashions , customs of the world , and pretence of necessity for the management and promotion of trade , whereof divers are mentioned already in general , and need not be repeated . these , though spread over this nation , ( to say nothing of other protestant countries ) are most rife and notorious in this great city , which give great cause to fear some special judgment upon it . and though i have always been a friend to it , yet i think my self obliged to bear my testimony against the iniquity thereof in one notorious part , and that is abuse of apprentices after great sums of mony received with them . i my self have had no less than four sons , as soberly educated and as well esteemed as most , before they came to be apprentices , and who behaved themselves afterward without any great extravagancies , placed here to suitable trades , with no little pains and charge , yet after all ruined and undone by the iniquity and wickedness of their masters and their partners . but i have seen the judgments of god upon two of them already ; and to him i have committed my cause with the other two . this i write upon my own sad experience , and could say as much of my own knowledge in the case of some others . of which i have written heretofore in a paper , entituled , relief of apprentices , and mention it now as a common cause worthy of consideration , amongst others , of the magistrates for averting the judgments of god from the city . and while i write this of a case wherein i my self have been so much concerned , i cannot but be sensible of the case of some others which i often see and hear of , and in faithfulness to god and to the state , and charity to the poor people , take notice of it upon this occasion : and that is the pressing of men , and sending them out of the realm , to sea , or beyond sea , by force and violence against their wills. i cannot find , or learn upon enquiry , that there is any law or statute , since those made in the reign of king charles i. are expired , for the pressing of mariners and sailers , much less of land-men , and if there be not , i am sure it is contrary to a principal fundamental right of the people , whose goods , much less their persons or liberty , cannot be touched but by order of law and their own consent in parliament ; and would frustrate the principal design and reason of the habeas corpus act , and render it ridiculous and contemptible in cases of greatest exigence , and most needing its relief . the rights of the poor , ought to be preserved inviolable , as well as of the greatest : and they who can be content to see their own rights violated in the meanest of their countrimen , while their own persons and estates are untouched , do not deserve to have them preserved ; and may expect that they or their posterity may , by the just judgment of god , be deprived of them . nor can i see any reason , why the poor of the land , who enjoy so little of it , should be frighted from their employments , and forced from their families , friends , and the trades and labours to which they have been used , to hazard their limbs and their lives against their own wills , to defend and maintain the superfluities and grandeur of the rich ? or how the death of such in the service being forced against their will , tho by law , unless they first forfeit their right by their own ill behaviour , can be excused from murder in the sight of god ? nor lastly , how we can expect that either such should do any great service , or that the blessing of god should be with us in the use of such unreasonable means . if we enquire into the methods of our ancestors in such case , we shall find them more just and reasonable , more prudent and honourable , and more prosperous and successful , when men of honour and interest covenanted with the king to bring in their several numbers , raised them among their tenants and neighbours , and led them themselves ; so that there was a mutual love and confidence between the leaders and soldiers . but this mode of pressing , if i be not much mistaken , is a novel invention , a base project of the authors of ship-mony , put on now , even while a parliament is in being , to the prejudice of the king , as well as of the nation , to furnish such officers with prest involuntary soldiers , who have little interest of themselves to raise volunteers , and whom few are willing to serve under . and since it is done while a parliament is in being , which could have given authority for it ; it may justly be looked upon as no ordinary abuse to the king himself , but as one of the treacherous policies of some evil persons to prejudice his government and cause ; make his government offensive and suspected by the people , and his cause seem absurd , while his authority is abused to violate the rights of the people , which he came to preserve , and in a fundamental point , and contrary to his coronation oath ; and thereby to justifie or excuse the miscarriages of his predecessor : for all this it plainly and directly tends to . it is true , there is a necessity that men must be had : but necessity will not excuse injustice to the poor , with so great violation of common right , and when without either it may be supplied . let not such be excluded from the service , who are able and willing to serve in their own persons , and have interest and reputation to bring in seamen and soldier let the salaries , pay and profits of great officers , especially who sit at home , and are out of danger , be reduced to moderation , and those who venture all , have a proportionable encouragement , both by good pay while in service , and of good provision in case they be disabled , and we shall want no men , nor need any pressing : and let but good discipline be exercised , as it ought to be , in respect of the manners of officers as well as of soldiers and seamen , and we shall not want god's blessing . but to leave these things to the consideration of the parliament and of the city , of the evil manners before mentioned , those which are secret sins , only by secrecy in the commitment , and as they are concealed from men , but otherwise are well enough known to all to be sins , though they have not so much of scandal as those which are openly committed ; yet may they have other aggravations , which may equal that , and require no less severity of judging our selves , if we would not be judged of god. as to the rest , which either in their own nature are not so palpable , or easily discernible from what is lawful ; or by common opinion and usage of the world are reputed lawful and harmless , nay commendable ; and some perhaps excused and patronized in opposition to popery , it is to be considered , . that some are condemned as wholly unlawful , not only by the judgment and practice of all the ancient christians for many ages , and comprehended in that ancient solemn renunciation required of all admitted into the society of christians by baptism , viz. of the devil and his works , the world and the pomps , glory and vanity thereof , and the flesh and its lusts and desires ; but also by the express doctrin of the holy scripture , both under such general comprehensive names , as the flesh , gal. . . lusts of the flesh , gal. . : pet. . : john . . the old man , eph. . . the natural man , i cor. . . desires of the flesh , eph. . . works of the flesh , gal. . . provision for the flesh , rom. . . minding the flesh , and the things of the flesh , rom. . , , : gal. . . walking after the flesh , cor. . : pet. . . minding earthly things , phil. . : col. . , : james . . being of the world , john . : . , . love of the world , john . : . . ja. . . lusts of the world , tit. . . wisdom of the world , cor. . . the course of the world , eph. . . conformity to the world , rom. . . inordinate affection , and evil concupiscence , &c. with weighty admonitions of their provoking the wrath of god , and excluding from the kingdom of god , &c. and by more particular characters , directions and injunctions , as against covetousness , which is again and again called idolatry , and such as both brings down the wrath of god , and excludes from heaven ( which should make people more cautious against it than usually they are ) and divers branches of it , as defrauding , exacting , oppressing , &c. against pride , vain-glory , boasting , ostentation , pride of apparel , particularly that of women , ( in whom it is more pardonable than in men ) prohibited in very express terms by the two chief apostles severally , tim. . . and pet. . . and yet so agreeably , as declares it to be a resolved point and positive injunction , which yet we see frustrated in our times by some , just as the pharisees did by the law in our saviours time ; and against others , some of them noted before , but all too many to be here more particularly noted . . that there are others , which being lawful , or more excusable at other times , are apt to be the less taken notice of , yet are not only unlawful and inexcusable at such a time as this , but greatly offensive and abominable to god , and highly provoking , as impious and prophane , under such circumstances , as may be perceived by the great indignation expressed in the prophet isa. . . against such upon like occasion , as iniquity , which should not be expiated till they should die for it . and indeed , as it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living god ; so there can hardly be a greater provocation , than such behaviour as dectares or implies a contempt or neglect , carelesness or unconcernedness at the approaches or appearance of the judgments of god against a nation , by any particular person . it is very like and the ready way to fix the decree against such a person to be certainly involved in it . now therefore to prevent , and avert the judgments of god from themselves , and , as much as in them lieth , from the nation ; all who in order thereunto desire indeed to have no fellowship with any such evil manners , customs or fashions , and to keep themselves unspotted of the world , must apply themselves seriously to such further means as these , viz. . to abstain and withdraw themselves , as much as their circumstances will permit , from all unnecessary diversions , business and imployment in and about the matters , and conversation with the men , of the world ; and retiring , apply themselves to prayer , reading , meditation and watching ; and frequent the publick worship of god with all reverence as often as opportunity may be had . . to abstain from all acquest of the things of the world in any unfitting manner or unreasonable measure , both which are very common ; but be content with just , and honest , and reasonable gains , according to the real worth , not appearance of things , reasonable rents as times will bear , and moderate fees , according to the real merit of labour , skill , and time , without occasioning more expence than needs ; and likewise , to pay to the full value of commodities , and desert of labour , skill and time : nay , to abstain from all pursuit of some , of preferments , not only after the greedy and ambitious manner , and by the indirect means , which are usual ; but from all , considering more the account , which must be given , and the incumbrance , than the profit and honour ; unless out of charity to men , and love to our country , to prevent the intrusion of evil men for their own advantage , and to the disservice of king and country ; which is now so common as may justifie that which otherwise would be inexcusable . out of which case , for a man to be well qualified and ready to serve his country when he is called to it , is sufficient . and lastly , to abstain not only from pursuit , but from acceptance of others , of insignificant ( as our later reigns have made them ) and burdensom titles of honour . which men of true vertue and wisdom will at no time seek ; especially when by the prodigality of princes they are thrown , and by the vices of nobility trodden in the dirt , and made rather badges of flattery , servility , treachery , vanity and degeneracy , than ensigns of vertue , and of merit by noble and generous service and atchievements , the only substantial grounds of honour : and men of great piety will not easily accept at such a time as this . besides , i am perswaded never any man was made better by them , nor many who were not made some way worse ; and that the whole nation at this time is much the worse , almost undone , and in great danger of ruin and confusion by some aspiring ambitious persons , if they be not speedily taken down : but sure i am they are unsuitable for times of fasting and humiliation , when they who have them , ought in a sort to depose and lay 'em aside during such circumstances . and since now a publick fast and humiliation is appointed by the queen to be observed monthly , in most devout and solemn manner , it is but fit and necessary that the house of lords be admonished of a great disrespect both to god and to the king upon the like occasion the last year ; ( though touched before in the reflections upon the then late action at sea , where the unhappy state of our clergy and church was more fully discoursed , and therefore is spared here : ) for i believe it may concern them not only to have more regard to the eyes of men that are upon them , for their own honour and reputation , but to the all-seeing eye of him , who hath said , them who honour me , i will honour ; but they who despise me shall be lightly esteemed , lest if through their fault ( amongst the rest ) the sun and the moon be darkned , the stars also fall from heaven ; and lest he again shake heaven and earth as he hath formerly done , or more severely . . to abstain from the use of unnecessary things of the world , as , pleasures , vain delights , plays , pomp , state , grandeur and finery , &c. which are at such a time part of that iniquity , against which we see so much divine indignation expressed in the prophet . and here i must not , i ought not to forbear to take notice of that undecent attire of our women upon their heads , at any time unbefitting women professing godliness , but at such a time as this , when god by his providence calls for baldness and sackcloth , and when they should put their mouths in the dust , to set up their crests in that manner , cannot but be displeasing and abominable in the sight of god and the good angels , as it is in the sight of many of his faithful servants upon earth . and therefore i cannot but think it great pity , that a lady of sincere piety and vertue , as i hope and believe , should be betray'd , through the unskilfulness in divine matters of those about her , or their unfaithfulness to her , to prostitute majesty to such a compliance with a vain generation , who should rather have given the law to them , and maintaining her ground on the part of virtue and gravity , which is essential to majesty , by the authority of so great an example have given a tacit reproof and correction to their vanity , and taught them more consideration and regard to their own country , than to do such honour to a foreign enemy , as to glory in a voluntary imitating of their example , even in levity and vanity , as if they would lick up their spittle ; an unlucky presage , that we shall at last be delivered , by the just judgments of god , for correction of our error , to an involuntary subjection to their will and power , whose vain humours we are so apt to follow , if we speedily mend not our manners . nor may i here pass by in silence another such unhappy miscarriage or two : as the celebrating , or rather profaning , of an anniversary solemnity , at a time which at once called for both serious thansgiving to god , and serious humiliation under his mighty hand , with a light and frothy play ; and sullying an illustrious consultation about matters of great seriousness and importance , when the eyes of all the world were upon them , with unchristian excessive drinking . these we may understand by what hath been said already , to be displeasing to god , and by the dishonor , which soon after befell them , who had first so dishonored themselves , viz that it was permitted as a just judgment from him . and these , as they are greater faults in divinity , than the generality of our divines can believe ; for they contract a communication with the common guilt both of the nation at present , and of the preceding kings and their reigns , to say nothing of other circumstances ; so are they greater faults in civil prudence , than our ordinary statesmen and polititians are sensible of ; for they tend greatly to weaken and abate a mans interest in the opinion and esteem of people , making them doubtful both of his sincerity in religion , and of his prudence and magnanimity , who will be prevailed on to be a spectator or actor in either . it is not insolence or ill will , but very faithfulness and great good will , which hath induced me to to write this : and such a disposition of soul toward the majesty of heaven , and sense of things , as the present circumstances require , will make them be well taken from what ever hand they come , with so much integrity and affection . and therefore now to return . . to abstain from the use even of the necessary things of the world , as much as nature and decency will permit , and particularly from the delights and satiety of natural aliments ; not only from the quality of costly and delicious meats and drinks , but from such a quantity of those which are plain and simple , as perhaps the appetite might crave . this is the only way to avoid , that intemperance , which is not easie to be discern'd by others , but is very common , and very much impairs the health , and shortens the lives of many people of this nation , of all degrees , especially of such as are not much imploy'd in hard labour ; is of great benefit for health , and of great advantage for such retirements as i have mentioned ; and is very proper and suitable for such occasions . and to this i might with like reason add and recommend an abridgment of sleep , and use of watching , which a spare diet would render very easie , and conducing to health . . in all conversation with others , to be very serious and grave ; and by much affability , sweetness , and good admonitions , be always endeavouring to do good to all ; never speak of religion to recommend themselves , nor forbear through shame , or for fear of disparagement by it , a common , base and most dangerous fault ; and be always ready to relieve and defend the needy and oppressed , and to right the injured , as far as means , ability , or interest will extend ; only with this caution , that it be done so as may not too much interrupt or disturb the retirement before mentioned , and the proper imployments thereof . as this method will redeem much time for retirements , so the retrenching so much expence , may both countervail the time substracted from business ; and help to supply what is imployed in works of charity ; in all which , regard must be had to peoples different circumstances . and they who shall seriously enter upon it , and with care , diligence and constancy , keep to it , i doubt not but will find light in obscurity , comfort in affliction , confidence and protection in danger , great serenity and satisfaction in this life , and eternal happiness in a better . which , next to the service of our great lord , and the preservation of the nation , is the only design of this discourse . and for the same purpose , i shall here subjoin the following abstracts , viz. . an abstract of mr. chillingworth 's judgment of the state of religion in this nation , in his time , which is much more decayed since . let us examine our ways , and consider impartially , what the religion of most men is ? we are baptized in our infancy , that is , as i conceive , dedicated and devoted to god's service , by our parents and the church , as young samuel was by his mother anna , and there we take a solemn vow , to forsake the devil and all his works , the vain pomp and glory of the world , with all the covetous desires of it ; to forsake also all the carnal desires of the flesh , and not to follow nor be led by them . this vow we take when we be children , and understand it not : and , how many are there , who know , and consider , and regard what they have vowed , when they are become men , almost as little as they did being children . consider the lives , and publick actions of most men of all conditions , in court , city , and country , and then deny it , if you can , that those three things which we have renounced in our baptism ; the profits , honours , and pleasures of the world , are not the very gods which divide the world amongst them ; are not served more devoutly , confided in more heartily , loved more affectionately , than the father , son , and holy ghost , in whose name we are baptized ? deny , if you can , the daily and constant imployment of all men , to be either a violent prosecution of the vain pomp and glory of the world , or of the power , riches , and contemptible profits of it , or of the momentary or unsatisfying pleasures of the flesh , or else of the more diabolical humours of pride , malice , revenge , and such like . &c. when we are come to years capable of instruction , many , which is lamentable to consider , are so little regarded by themselves or others , that they continue little better than pagans , in a common-wealth of christians , and know little more of god , or of christ , than if they had been bred in the indies . a lamentable case , and which will one day lie heavy upon their account , which might have amended it and did not . but many , i confess , are taught to act over this play of religion , and learned to say , our father which art in heaven ; and , i believe in god the father almighty : but , where are the men that live so , as if they did believe in earnest , that god is their almighty father ? where are they that fear him , and trust him , and depend upon him only , for their whole happiness , and love him , and obey him , as in reason we ought to do to an almighty father ? who , if he be our father , and we be indeed his children , will do for us all the good he can ; and if he be almighty , can do for us all the good he will ; and yet , how few are there , who love him with half that affection as children usually do their parents , or believe him with half that simplicity , or serve him with half that diligence ? and then for the lords prayer , the plain truth is , we lie unto god for the most part clean through it , and for want of desiring indeed , what in word we pray for , tell him to his face as many false tales as we make petitions . for who shews by his endeavours , that he desires heartily that god's name should be hallowed ; that is , holily and religiously worshipped and adored by all men ? that his kingdom should be advanced and inlarged ? that his blessed will should be universally obeyed ? who shews by his forsaking sin that he desires so much as he should do the forgiveness of it ? nay , who doth not revenge , upon all occasions , the affronts , contempts , and injuries put upon him , and so upon the matter curse himself , as often as he says , forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us ? how few depend upon god only for their daily bread , viz. the good things of this life , as upon the only giver of them , so as neither to get nor keep any of them , by any means which they know or fear to be offensive unto god ? how few desire in earnest to avoid temptation ? nay , who almost is there , that takes not the devil's office out of his hand , and is not himself a tempter both to himself and others ? lastly , who almost is there that desires heartily and above all things so much as the thing deserves , to be delivered from the greatest evil ; sin i mean , and the anger of god ? &c. and this were ill enough , were it in private , but we abuse god almighty also with our publick and solemn formalities , we make the church a stage whereon to act our parts , and play our pageants ; there we make a profession every day of confessing our sins with humble , lowly , and obedient hearts , and yet when we have talked after this manner , twenty , thirty , forty years together , our hearts for the most part continue proud , as impenitent , as disobedient , as they were at the beginning . we make great protestations , when we assemble and meet together to render thanks to god almighty , for the benefits received at his hands ; and if this were to be performed with words , with hosanna's , and hallelujahs , and gloria patri's , and psalms , and hymns , and such like outward matters , peradventure we should do it very sufficiently : but in the mean time with our lives and actions , we provoke the almighty , and that to his face , with all variety of grievous and bitter provocations ; we do daily and hourly such things as we know , and he hath assured us , to be odious unto him ; and contrary to his nature ; as any thing in the world is to the nature of any man in the world ; and all this upon poor , trifling , trivial , no temptations : &c. our tongues ingeminate , and cry aloud hosanna , hosanna , but the louder voice of our lives and actions is , crucifie him , crucifie him . &c. if i should reckon up unto you , how many direct lies every wicked man tells to god almighty , as often as he says amen , to this form of godliness , which our church hath prescribed ; if i should present unto you all our acting of piety , and playing of humiliation , and personating of devotion in the psalms , the litanies , the collects , and generally in the whole service , i should be infinite , &c. we profess , and indeed generally , because it is not safe to do otherwise , that we believe the scripture to be true , and that it contains the plain and only way to infinite and eternal happiness : but if we did generally believe what we do profess , if this were the language of our hearts as well as our tongues , how comes it to pass that the study of it is so generally neglected ? &c. seeing therefore most of us are so strangely careless , so grosly negligent of it , is there not great reason to fear , that though we have professors and protestors in abundance ; yet the faithful , the truly and sincerely faithful , are , in a manner , failed from the children of men ? what bút this can be the cause that men are so commonly ignorant of so many articles , and particular mandates of it , which yet are as manifest in it , as if they were written with the beams of the sun ? for example ; how few of our ladies and gentlewomen , do or will understand , that a voluptuous life , is damnable and prohibited to them ? yet st. paul faith so very plainly , she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth . &c. how few of the gallants of our time , do or will understand , that it is not lawful for them to be as expensive and costly in apparel , as their means , or perhaps , their credit will extend unto ? which is to sacrifice unto vanity , that , which by the law of christ , is due unto charity ; and yet the same st. paul forbids plainly this excess even to women , — also let women , ( he would have said it much rather to the men ) array themselves in comely apparel , with shamefac'dness and modesty , not with embroidered hair , or gold , or pearls , or costly apparel ; and to make our ignorance the more inexcusable , the very same rule is delivered by st. peter also epist. . . how few rich men are or will be persuaded , that the law of christ permits them not to heap up riches for ever , nor perpetually to add house to house , and land to land , though by lawful means , but requires of them thus much charity at least , that even while they are providing for their wives and children , they should , out of the increase wherewith god blesseth their industry , allot the poor a just and free proportion ? and when they have provided for them in a convenient manner , ( such as they themselves shall judg sufficient-and convenient in others ) that then they should give over making purchase after purchase , but , with the surplusage of their revenue beyond their expence , procure , as much as lies in them , that no christian remain miserably poor , &c. where almost are the men that are or will be persuaded , the gospel of christ requires of men humility , like to that of little children , and that under the highest pain of damnation ? &c. would it not be strange news to a great many , that not only adultery and fornication , but even uncleanness and lasciviousness ; not only idolatry and witchcraft , but hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , and contentions ; not only murthers , but envying ; not drunkenness only , but revelling , are things prohibited to christians , and such as if we forsake them not , we cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven ? &c. if i should tell you , that all bitterness and evil speaking ( nay , such is the modesty and gravity which christianity requires of us ) foolish talk and jesting , are things not allowed to christians , would not many cry out , these are hard and strange sayings , who can hear them ? &c. to come a little nearer to the business of our times , — they that maintain the king 's righteous cause with the hazard of their lives and fortunes , but by their oaths and curses , by their drunkenness and debauchery , by their irreligion and prophaneness , fight more powerfully against their party , than by all other means they do or can fight for it ; are not , i fear , very well acquainted with any part of the bible : but that strict caution which properly concerns themselves in the book of leviticus , i much doubt they have scarce ever heard of it , when thou goest to war with thine enemies , then take heed there be no wicked thing in thee ; not only no wickedness in the cause thou maintainest , nor no wickedness in the means by which thou maintainest it ; but no personal impieties in the persons that maintain it , &c. i cannot but fear , that the goodness of our cause may sink under the burden of our sins : and that god in his justice , because we will not suffer his judgments to atchieve their prime scope and intention , which is our amendment and reformation , may either deliver us up to the blind zeal and fury of our enemies ; or else , which i rather fear , make us instruments of his justice each against other , and of our own just and deserved confusion . . an extract of a letter from the hague . concerning two sermons preached there in the french - church , / mar. / . i was yesterday in the french church , where i heard two very good sermons , and such as would have given you great satisfaction ; one was upon jonah . . but jonah was gon down into the sides of the ship , and he lay , and was fast asleep . the scope of what was said was to shew , that the church was in as great a storm as ever she had been , and that greater security was never seen amongst professors of religion , than was to be found at this day , which threatned greater desolation than our fathers had ever been witnesses to . the other was preached by monsieur arnold , who is the chief commander of the waldenses , as well as their minister . there was a great auditory , and , amongst others , the bishop of london , earl of nottingham , earl of monmouth and mr. wharton : his text was , cor. . . from thence he took occasion to tell us , that we were not to expect fine language from him , it being that which god seldom made use of for gaining the ends of the gospel ; that he was to discourse to us of plain truths , not valuing what should be our censures of him , if he might approve himself to his god ; that we were not to think , that he was afraid before such an appearance of persons of all ranks , to reprove what was amiss ; for if the king himself were present , though he would give him that respect that was due to his character , yet he would speak the truth , as became a faithfull servant of christ : he did with great modesty , without mentioning of particulars , shew in general how by a few hundreds of the waldenses , god had scattered thousands of proud enemies ; and from thence took occasion to exhort us , above all things , to make it our business to have god on our side , because it was through his chusing of them , that the foolish and weak things were able to confound the wise and strong , and withall did shew us , that we were not like persons chosen of god to confound the designs and strength of our enemies , while irreligion , vanity and debauchery did so much abound amongst us , and did particularly insist upon the vain attire of women ; and then , with great seriousness , did exhort us to amend our ways and doings ; assuring us ( without taking upon him , as he said , to be a prophet ) of victory over our enemies if we did sincerely set about a reformation . these things i thought would give you some satisfaction , as they did not a little to me , which hath made me the more particular in my relation . i forgot to tell you that all heard him with great attention , and particularly those of our countrey , i mean britain ; and i did observe that 〈…〉 could not withhold from tears . . an abstract of archbishop usher 's prediction , concerning a great persecution to come upon the protestant church , to one who supposed it might have been over in his life time . all you have yet seen hath been but the beginning of sorrows , to what is yet to come upon the protestant churches of christ ; who will e're long fall under a sharper persecution than ever yet has been upon them . and therefore look ye be not found in the outward court , but a worshipper in the temple before the altar . for christ will measure all those who profess his name , and call themselves his people ; and the outward worshippers he will leave out to be trodden down by the gentiles . the outward court is the formal christian , whose religion lies in performing the outside duties of christianity , without having an inward life , and power of faith and love uniting them to christ. and these god will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the gentiles . but the worshippers within the temple and before the altar , are those who do indeed worship god in spirit and in truth , whose souls are made his temples , and he is honoured and adored in the most inward thoughts of their hearts ; and they sacrifice their lusts and vile affections , yea , and their own wills to him . and these god will hide in the hollow of his hand , and under the shadow of his wings . and this shall be one great difference between this last and all the other preceding persecutions : for in the former , the most eminent and spiritual ministers and christians did generally suffer most , and were most violently fallen upon ; but in this last persecution , these shall be preserved by god as a seed to partake of that glory , which shall immediately follow and come upon the church , as soon as this storm shall be over : for as it shall be the sharpest , so it shall be the shortest persecution of them all ; and shall only take away the gross hypocrites and formal professors ; but the true spiritual believers shall be preserved till the calamity be overpassed . to this i think very pertinent that other excellent passage of his concerning sanctification , in these words . we do not well understand what sanctification and the new creature are . it is no less than for a man to be brought to an intire resignation of his will to the will of god ; and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love , as a whole burnt-offering to christ. and how little are many of those , who profess christianity , experimentally acquainted with this work on their souls ! finis . causes of a publike fast, and solemne humiliation to be kept throughout the church of scotland upon the last sabbath of this instant month of july, being the . day thereof . church of scotland. general assembly. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c b thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) causes of a publike fast, and solemne humiliation to be kept throughout the church of scotland upon the last sabbath of this instant month of july, being the . day thereof . church of scotland. general assembly. ker, a. sheet ([ ] p.) by evan tyler, printer to the kings most excellent maiestie, printed at edinburgh : . signed at end: a. ker. annotation on thomason copy: "aug: st". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng church of scotland -- history -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . public worship -- scotland -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no causes of a publike fast, and solemne humiliation to be kept throughout the church of scotland upon the last sabbath of this instant month o church of scotland. general assembly. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion causes of a publike fast , and solemne humiliation to be kept throughout the church of scotland upon the last sabbath of this instant month of july , being the . day thereof . that notwithstanding of our solemne ingagement , in the covenant , our obligations from great and singular mercies , and our many warnings from judgments of all sorts ; yet not only doe we come farre short of that sobriety , righteousnesse and holinesse that becometh the gospell of jesus christ , but ungodlinesse and worldly lusts abound every where throughout the land , unto the grieving of the lords spirit , and provoking the eyes of his glory to make him increase his plagues upon us , and to punish us seaven times more , because we continue to walke contrary unto him . secondly , that the lords hand is still stretch'd out against us , in the judgment of the pestilence , which spreadeth not only in severall places of the country , but continueth and increaseth in many of the most eminent cities in the kingdome . thirdly , the great dangers that threaten religion , and the worke of reformation , in these kingdomes from the number , policy and power of the sectaries in england , which are like not only to interrupt the progresse of uniformity , and the establishing of the ordinances of god in their bewty and perfection , but to overturne the foundation already layd , and all that hath beene built thereupon , with the expences of much bloud and paines . first , and therefore we are earnestly to pray the lord that the solemne league and covenant may bee kept fast and inviolable , notwithstanding of all the purpofes and endeavours of open enemies and secret underminers to the contrary . secondly , we are to entreate the lord on the behalfe of the kings majesty , that he may be reconciled to god , and that he may be now furnished with wisdom and councell from above , that hee bee not involved in new snares , to the endangering of himselfe and these kingdomes , but that his heart may encline to such resolution , as will contribute for setling of religion and righteousnesse . thirdly , we are also to entreat the lord on the behalfe of the parliament of england of the synod of divines , and of all such in that land as doe unfainedly minde the work of god , that they may not be discouraged or swarve in the day of temptation , but that each of them in their stations , and according to their places and callings may bee furnished with light and strength from heaven for doing of their duty with faithfulnesse and zeale . fourthly , we are to supplicate for direction to our committee of estates , that they may discerne the times , and know what is fitting to be done , for securing our selves and incouraging our brethren . fifthly , we are to pray for a spirit of light and of law unto our assembly , that they may be instrumentall in preserving the truth , and advancing holinesse amongst our selves , and for carrying on the work of god amongst our neighbours . finally , that the lord would power out upon all sorts of persons in these kingdomes a spirit of grace and supplication , that it may repent us of all our iniquities , and that we may be reconciled to the lord ; that so all the threatens of his wrath may bee removed from amongst us , and he may blesse us with the sweet fruits of truth and peace . a. ker . printed at edinburgh by evan tyler , printer to the kings most excellent maiestie . by the king. a proclamation for a solemne fast on wednesday the fifth of february next, upon occasion of the present treaty for peace. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) by the king. a proclamation for a solemne fast on wednesday the fifth of february next, upon occasion of the present treaty for peace. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) charles i, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.) by leonard lichfield, printer to the vniversity, printed at oxford : . [i.e. ] dated at end: oxford, this day of january, in the twentieth yeare of our raigne. . with engraving of royal seal at head of document. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- civil war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no by the king. a proclamation for a solemne fast on wednesday the fifth of february next, upon occasion of the present treaty for peace. england and wales. sovereign a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms by the king . ¶ a proclamation for a solemne fast on wednesday the fifth of februarynext , upon occasion of the present treaty for peace . where as almighty god in his iustice to punish the common and crying sinnes of the land , hath sent a civill sword throughout all our dominions , which hath miserably wasted and threatens a speedy and utter desolation to the same . and now in the height of these calamities , a treaty is assented to , to beginne at vxbridge on thursday the thirtieth day of this instant january , touching the composing and ending of those unhappy differences and distractions , about which so much blood hath been already spilt , which treatie , may by the blessing of god ( who is the disposer of all mens hearts and of all events ) be a meanes to produce a peace . and whereas it is the duty , and hath been the practice of christians under affliction , to set apart some time for publique and solemne humiliation and prayer , for removing of gods judgements , and particularly for a blessing and good successe to the meanes conducing to their deliverance . we doe therefore by this our proclamation appoynt and straitly charge and command , that on wednesday being the fifth of february next ensuing , a solemne fast be kept in all places within our dominions , whether the notice of this our proclamation shall or may come before that time , that both prince and people may then joyne together in a true humiliation and devout and earnest prayers to god , that he would be pleased so to blesse and prosper this intended treaty , that it may produce a happy peace in all our dominions , such as may be for his honour and the good of his church , and of us and all our subjects . and we doe hereby charge and require all our subjects , of what degree or condition soever they be , which shall have notice of this our proclamation , that they doe religiously prepare and apply themselves to a due observation of the same , by fasting , humiliation , and prayer on that day , and in hearing of gods word , as they will answer to god their neglect of this christian duty , and as they will answer to us the neglect of this our just and necessary command . and for the better and more orderly observation of this fast , we doe hereby appoint , that the forme of prayer and service of god set forth in the booke heretofore published for the monthly fast , with such alterations and additions as shall be prepared and fitted for this present purpose , and published in print before the said day , shall be used in all churches and chappells where this fast shall be kept . given at our court at oxford , this day of january , in the twentieth yeare of our raigne . . god save the king . printed at oxford , by leonard lichfield , printer to the university . . a declaration of the parliament of the commonwealth of england for a time of publique thanksgiving, upon the five and twentieth of this instant august, for the great victory lately vouchsafed to their fleet at sea. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) a declaration of the parliament of the commonwealth of england for a time of publique thanksgiving, upon the five and twentieth of this instant august, for the great victory lately vouchsafed to their fleet at sea. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field, printer to the parliament of england, london : . order to print dated: friday the twelfth of august, . signed: hen: scobell, clerk of the parliament. annotation on thomason copy: "august ye :". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng anglo-dutch war, - -- naval operations -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . great britain -- history, naval -- th century -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no a declaration of the parliament of the commonwealth of england, for a time of publique thanksgiving, upon the five and twentieth of this ins england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the commonwealth flag ( - ) a declaration of the parliament of the commonwealth of england , for a time of publique thanksgiving , upon the five and twentieth of this instant august , for the great victory lately vouchsafed to their fleet at sea . it having pleased the lord , after those many signal tokens of his presence with his people in this nation , in the several straights and changes , through which he hath by a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm led them hitherto , yet again to manifest his wonted power and goodness to them in that late and great success of our fleet at sea , when it pleased the lord at the end of july last , so to bless the forces of this commonwealth engaged by the dutch ( who by advantages not a few , to humane appearances , were likely to have prevailed ) as that after a most sharp and doubtful encounter , he crowned us with victory , and made our enemies to feel the stroak of his righteous hand against them , who have abundantly manifested it to be in their intentions to have made us ( wearied by a long intesttine war ) a spoil to their avarice and ambition , by their first unjust invasion of us , and their earnest prosecuting since of a war against us , notwithstanding all the endeavors used on our part to compose so sad , and to us so unwelcome a breach between the two nations : we being desirous to be deeply sensible hereof before the lord , and bearing also in minde what cause we have at all times to make mention of his name in this nation , with all humble and thankful acknowledgements , but especially when he hath thus seasonably made bare his holy arm in this late mercy , before the eyes of all the nations round about us , have thought it requisite at a particular time , and in an especial maner to acknowledge the hand and goodness of our god to us in this great work which he hath wrought for us ; and we have therefore set apart thursday the five and twentieth of this present august , for the end aforesaid . and in regard the mercy is general , and we hope will be of great advantage to this whole commonwealth , and to all that fear god in it ; we do earnestly desire them to contribute their help in this great work of thankfulness to the lord , and to suffer us to call upon them , to sing together with us unto the lord a new song , he hath dealt bountifully with us , for his mercy endureth for ever ; and that as the lord shall move and direct them , they would seriously set themselves in his presence and praise him , together with us , that so we may all with one heart and voice , offer up a free sacrifice of prayer and of praise , and all of us endeavor in our several stations , to improve so great a deliverance to the alone glory of our great god , and the good of his people throughout the world . friday the twelfth of august , . ordered by the parliament , that this declaration be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , clerk of the parliament , london , printed by john field , printer to the parliament of england . . by the king. a proclamation for a generall fast thorowout [sic] this realme of england proclamations. - - england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing c ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king. a proclamation for a generall fast thorowout [sic] this realme of england proclamations. - - england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles i) sheet ([ ] p.) by robert barker, printer to the kings most excellent majestie: and by the assignes of john bill, imprinted at london : [i.e. ] dated at end: given at the court at vvhitehall the eighth day of january, in the seventeenth yeer of his majesties reign ... . arms ; steele notation: consideration and so. the dates are given according to lady day dating. reproduction of original in the victoria and albert museum, forster collection, london, england. eng fasting -- law and legislation -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- law and legislation -- england -- early works to . a r (wing c ). civilwar no by the king. a proclamation for a generall fast thorowout [sic] this realme of england. england and wales. sovereign a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms ❧ by the king . ❧ a proclamation for a generall fast thorowout this realm of england . his majestie taking into his princely and pious consideration the lamentable and distressed estate of his good subjects in his majesties kingdom of ireland , and conceiving it to be a just and great occasion calling upon him , and his people of this his kingdom of england for a generall humiliation of all estates of this kingdom before almighty god , in prayer and fasting , for drawing down his mercy and blessing upon that kingdom : his majestie doth therefore by this his proclamation straitly charge and command , that a generall , publike , and solemn fast be kept , and holden , as well by abstinence from food , as by publike prayers , preaching , and hearing of the word of god , and other sacred duties , in all cathedrall , collegiate , and parish churches and chappels within this his majesties kingdom of england , and dominion of wales ( his majesties cities of london and westminster onely excepted , where it hath already been observed ) on the twentieth day of this present moneth of ianuarie . and his majestie doth further by this his proclamation straitly charge and command , that a generall , publike , and solemn fast be kept and holden , as well by abstinence from food , as by publike prayers , preaching , and hearing of the word of god , and other sacred duties , in all cathedrall , collegiate , and parish churches and chappels within this kingdom of england and dominion of wales ( without any exception ) on the last wednesday of the moneth of february next following the date hereof , and from thenceforth to continue on the last wednesday of every moneth during the troubles in the said kingdom of ireland . all which his majestie doth expresly charge and command shall be reverently and devoutly performed by all his loving subjects , as they tender the favour of almighty god , and would avoid his just indignation against this land , and upon pain of such punishments as his majestie can justly inflict upon all such as shall contemn or neglect so religious a work . given at the court at vvhitehall the eighth day of january , in the seventeenth yeer of his majesties reign of great britain , france , and ireland . ❧ god save the king . ¶ imprinted at london by robert barker , printer to the kings most excellent majestie : and by the assignes of john bill . . thursday the thirteenth of august, . at the council at vvhite-hall. his highness the lord protector and his privy council, taking notice of the hand of god, which at this time is gone out against this nation, in the present visitation by sickness that is much spread over the land, ... england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e d thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) thursday the thirteenth of august, . at the council at vvhite-hall. his highness the lord protector and his privy council, taking notice of the hand of god, which at this time is gone out against this nation, in the present visitation by sickness that is much spread over the land, ... england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by henry hills and john field, printers to his highness the lord protector, london : . title from caption and first lines of text. signed: hen: scobell, clerk of the council. friday, august, appointed a day of humiliation for london, &c. in view of the present sickness. -- cf. steele. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng plague -- england -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no thursday the thirteenth of august, . at the council at vvhite-hall. his highness the lord protector and his privy council, taking notice england and wales. lord protector a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms thursday the thirteenth of august , . at the council at white-hall . his highness the lord protector and his privy council , taking notice of the hand of god , which at this time is gone out against this nation , in the present visitation by sickness that is much spread over the land , which calls upon the people of this nation to humble themselves in a solemn maner before the lord , and to seek his face in reference thereunto ; his highness and the council have thought fit to set apart to morrow seven-night being friday , the one and twentieth day of this moneth , for a day of solemn fasting and humiliation for the ends aforesaid , to be observed within the cities of london and westminster , and the late lines of communication , and weekly bills of mortality , and all other places in this nation to which notice hereof shall come ; not doubting but the people of god in other parts of the nation also will be forward in their particular congregations to a duty so necessary at this time . hen : scobell , clerk of the council . london : printed by henry hills and john field , printers to his highness the lord protector . . a proclamation, for a national fast. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, for a national fast. scotland. privy council. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, printer to the king's most excellent majesty, edinburgh : anno domini . caption title. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh the tenth day of may one thousand six hundred ninety and eight years, and of our reign the tenth year. signed: gilb eliot, cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proclamation for a national fast . william by the grace of god , king of great britain , france and ireland defender of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally , specially constitute greeting : forasmuchas the holy and righteous dispensations of the almighty god , in sending so cold and unkindly a season and seed time , after two years scarcity and dearth ; as also the great death of cattle through most part of the kingdom , and growing dearth and famine threatned , do all express his high displeasure against this land , and provoke him to multiply and inflict these and heavier judgements as the just deservings and effects of the sins abounding in this nation , and of the great security and impenitency under them , and therefore do certainly call aloud for our own and our peoples deep humiliation , under the mighty hand of god , and our most earnest and solemn application , by fasting and prayer for his gracious pardon , and removing and averting the foresaids judgements , and turning us sincerely to the lord . upon which considerations , the provincial synod of lothian and tweddale with a commity of the commission from the general assembly , have likewise addressed the lords of our privy council , that a day of humiliation may be appointed and keeped for these causes , and others mentioned in their said address , throughout the whole kingdom : therefore , we with the advice of the lords of our privy council , command and appoint a day of humiliation , fasting and prayer , to be keeped and observed within the bounds of the provincial synod of lothian and tweddale , upon tuesday the seventeenth day of this current moneth of may , and upon the twenty fifth day of the said moneth for the rest of the kingdom upon this side of the river of tay , and throughout the rest of the whole kingdom , upon the first day of june nixt to come : upon which days respective , we and our people are to be deeply humbled before god , for the manifold sins and provocations , that so openly abound in the land , and in which men still continue secure and hardned , notwithstanding of god's great mercy and deliverance wrought for us , and of frequent confessions and former fasts , which yet have produced no amendement or reformation , and therefore to deprecat his deserved wrath , and to implore his mercy and grace , and that the lord may turn unto us ; and turn us and our people to him , and avert the judgement hanging over us , and other evils wherewith we are so eminently threatned , and send kindly weather to cherish the fruits of the earth for food to man and beast : which respective days of solemn humiliation and prayer above appointed ; we with advice foresaid require and command , to be most religiously and seriously observed by all our people by publick prayer , preaching and all other acts of deep humiliation and devotion , suitable to the foresaids causes and occasions . our will is herefore and we charge you strictly and command , that incontinent thir our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat cross of edinburgh , and to the remanent mercat-crosses of the head burghs of the several shires and steuartries within this kingdom , and there in our name and authority make publication hereof , that none pretend ignorance ; and we ordain our solicitor to dispatch copies hereof to the shireffs of the several shires , and stewarts of stewartries and their deputs or clerks , to be by them published at the mercat crosses of their head burghs upon receipt thereof and immediatly sent to the several ministers , to the effect the same may be intimat and read in their several paroches-churches , upon the lords day immediatly preceeding the respective days above-appointed . and ordains thir presents to be printed . and allowes the causes of this fast given in to the lords of our privy council , by the provincial synod of lothian and tweddale , to be also printed and transmitted herewith . given under our signet at edinburgh the tenth day of may one thousand six hundred ninety and eight years , and of our reign the tenth year . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . gilb eliot , cls. sti. concilii . god save the king . edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to the king 's most excellent majesty , anno domini . the religion of a physician, or, divine meditations upon the grand and lesser festivals, commanded to be observed in the church of england by act of parliament by edmund gayton ... gayton, edmund, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing g estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the religion of a physician, or, divine meditations upon the grand and lesser festivals, commanded to be observed in the church of england by act of parliament by edmund gayton ... gayton, edmund, - . [ ], p. printed by j.g. for the author, london : . pages - in verse. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of england. church calendar -- meditations. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - rina kor sampled and proofread - rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the religion of a physician : or , divine meditations upon the grand and lesser festivals , commanded to be observed in the church of england by act of parliament . by edmund gayton , batchelor of physick , and captain lieutenant of foot to his illustrious highness iames duke of york . whom god preserve . london : printed by i. g. for the author . . perlegi hunc librum , cui titulus [ divine meditations upon the great and lesser festivals , &c. ] in quo nihil reperio sacris literis contrarium ; ideoque imprimatur . guil. brabourn , s. t. d. reverendiss . in christo patri ac d. d. archiep. cant. sacellan . domestic . to his royall and illustrious highnesse , james , duke of york . may it please your highness , to admit a centurion of yours into your presence , without his sword by his side , of which he is most joyfully disarmed by this blessed change of peace ; which he hopes no threats of murmuring malecontents will be ever able to interrupt . it is long since i waited upon your highnesse after the surrender of oxford , unto the town of uxbridge , where i took my leave of as much happiness as could be left . your royall father of ever blessed memory , was then alive , a confessor royal , and soon after martyr , for the protestant religion , the priviledge of parliaments , the liberty of the subject , and the lawes of the land. all which no man ever defended so unto blood as himself , nor indeed could any man : for he was butteressed up by especial grace , high undestanding , the pen of a ready writer and invincible patience . not long after his bloody exit off the stage of this world , with the general plaudit of good men and angels , your highnesse made an happy escape from st. iames's , where you now are at more liberty ( god be thanked ) then before . i have lov'd the play of hide and seek ever since , and with just regard honour those gentlemen , who from the royall bo-peep were grand instruments to metamorphize the pyrocles of their land into a philoclea . who would not take this history for a romance , were it not that the truth thereof is undeniable ? how did the red rose blush , adorn'd in a silk gown and sattin petticoat ? with what art and cover of handkerchiefs or gloves did you imitate virgin smiles , even to the beguiling those who knew of your disguise ? the pilot and master of the ship never carried such a noble fraight , which was his barques protection and tutelary power : not a tar-paulin but would have throwne his cap at you , while the enamour'd winds followed your ship with all speed , more to salute the royal passenger , then to forward the sailes . credentne posteri ? posterity will stagger in belief of the future annals , and credulity it self will stand awhile dubious , when it shall be wrote , that two such high descended brothers , should be preserved , the one in standing , the other in swimming oak . properly from hence shall our ships be called the walls of this nation , which kept safe such a royal depositum and charge . sacra iovi quercus . the oak is a tree dedicate to iupiter , and no doubt it was never more divine then in those two services . the oak , as it is in it selfe free from thunder-stroaks , so it prov'd to all in its protection , and loyally secured your royal persons from the roarings and thunderings of our late bull-rampant , who rag'd like hercules furens in his poisoned shirt at your highness his escape , and never recovered his spirits after his majesty's deliverance from him and his blood-hounds . for though he died not presently upon the effugium , yet , as queen mary said of the losse of callice , you might find the sad impressions of that miscarriage imprinted in her heart . let a new dodona's grove be revived upon this royal tree , which crushed the spreading growth of that luxuriant bramble , which had like to have overspred all the lesser trees of the forest , which hath over-topped the neighbour vine , and the remoter olive , and brought the willow to a just subjection . sacred be that oak , whereby we shrubs of the myrtle and the lawrel grove doe shoot up again , more then cropt and brouz'd by the vermine of those dayes . for all that while your captain was in a brown study in the city , and at many a dangerous forrage in the countrey . in which solitudes these ensuing meditations were wrote , and did visit some friends abroad , when the author durst not . now as gentlemen who keep hounds , send a couple to some friend , and a couple to another , until there be a free time for game : so i ( the liberty of studies being restor'd in caesar onely ) have called home these dispersed poems , and brought them to hunt in a narrow compasse . i am sure they do not run counter , nor are at a fault , but all follow upon the right scent , and open in good musick , and go along in harmony ( pardon the metaphor ) with the uniforme pack . i humbly present these fancies ( royal sir ) to your highness protection , which is a goord too good for their shelter ; yet the amplitude of your extended favour may shroud at once a captain , a physitian , and a small poet. in all or any of which capacities , it is my desire to be ever esteemed ( though at a most mannerly distance ) sir , your royall highness his most obedient captain and servant , edm. gayton . to the favourable reader . quod feliciter vortat academici , &c. that it may prove happy to my mother the church , and our civil father the king , and his ward or pupil ( for that is all the wards is left him ) the common-wealth . i have wrote these sollowing meditations in a time , when it was not a sin , but punishment to observe them . i remember very well , that those two famous prelates of our church , the bishop of london-derry , and the eminent scholar dr. gunning , with many others , were questioned for celebrating the nativity of our saviour , when the third of september was kept most religiously for the routing of a king. but , crescit sub pondere virtus . the dog barks , but the moon goes on : 't is not the threats of men , nor their unjust oppressions must scare us from doing our duty . i have heard a learned prelate say , that nemo , moritur in officio , a vicechancelour hath not leisure to be sick : and it hath obtained this faith de facto , that even those spirituall aduenturers i before named , have triumphed over their persecutions , and they live in honour and high esteem , when the remora's and sword-fish of those dayes , the thorns and briars of their sides are crackling , as under a pot , in their abhorr'd non-conformity . if ever there may be a boast of visibility , or of infalibility of a single church , then modestly we of our church may lay some small claim to it ; which from the scoffs of our neighbours , and the deplored opinion of most of her own spurious children is raised ( deo gratias ) like job from the dunghil , more nich , more honoured , more conspicuous then ever : so that i may say of my restored mother and king , as it was said of marius returning from the lake of minturnum , where he was forced to skulk from the proscriptions of scylla , catenae , fuga , exilium honorificaverunt dignitatem , that is , their exilements , imprisonments , scornes , miseries , did imblazon their dignities , and set a varnish upon that gold , which the evil tongues of those and these dayes had laboured to rust , and with calumnies canker-eat and deface ; victrix causa malis placuit , sed victa gatono , i loved the church when she was unlovely , when she was blackest then was she comely . a dis-figured parthenia is the lov'd mistress of a constant argalus . bright cynthia with all he spots is amiable , and our ladies in smaller volumes imitate the pale lady of the skies . in my mother the church her spots are not black foyles but red , the red-letter daies being the ornament of her year : her festivals ( my present subject ) so many pillars as in solomon 's porch , the beautie and flourish of the building . i do acknowledge that learneder pens have laboured in this argument , and i come forth burthened with their just fames , and must needs incur the censure of an impertinent and superfluous scribler . scribendi cacoethes is a disease incurable , for which there is no dose in our pharmacopaea . i can make no other apologie then this , that , nil est dictum , quod non est dictum prius : the mode perchance , the fashion may be new , but the ground-work is old . if i prove scinctillula de scinctilla , a sparkle of a spark is honour enough . longè sequor & vestigia semper adoro . the many little starrs in the firmament make a very rare via lactea , which the greater luminaries do neither envie nor obscure : let my vantage candle i pray be taken into the pound , to make weight at least , while your christmass tapers carry the glory of the day . these apologetick complements premised , i proceed to prove the antiquity and legality of these festivals , wherein also i am prevented by the learned dr. gunning , after whom to glean is too much honour for me , unworthy to carry his books . and first of the antiquity of easter , what can be more reverend for its age , more holy for its subject ? it was instituted by the apostles themselves , kept by them , and is indeed the leading sabbath , or rather holiday of the year ; dies dominicus non sabbatum creationis , the lords day , a commemoration of the resurrection of our saviour , which was the complement and perfection of the redemption of the world. this is the lords day , in which his arm brought mighty things to passe . and for the antiquity of lent , it is deriv'd by dr. gunning very far , to whose more authentick authority i refer you . according to helvicus and the cronologer upon him , we finde it instituted by that good prince sigisbert , amongst us english-men ( having first restored christian religion ) in the year of our lord , . but at rome it obtained sooner observance in telesphorus his episcopacy of that see : for then the name of pope was not appropriate to the bishop of rome onely , but was shared among the rest of his brethren ; but in phocas the emperour's dayes boniface the third usurped the title of universal bishop , and did affix the name of papa to the roman see onely , though s. gregory before him plainly said , that whoever did assume that title , was the fore-runner of antichrist : what need the geneva glosse ? is not s. gregory enough to state the question ? and in lent was instituted at rome , the forementioned telesphorus , being pontifex maximus : but as for the business it self , the antiquity makes no great matter , no more then our long contentions for the superiority of oxford and cambridge , though in this present parliament my mother hath got the right-hand side ; and to shew my thankfulness for that vote , i shall tell the noble suffragators of a piece of petrarch ( a poet too , yet of good authority ) wherein speaking of the ancientness of the disputative , ergo — he saith , vetustum illud ergo hoc oxoniense , illud parisciense . which doth intimate , that cambridge had no name then , or no ergo , or ergo fallor ; let these universities be for ever styled ( as my father ben calls them most politickly in his dedication before volpone ) most equal sisters . it is not the oldness of any thing , unless it be also very good , makes it praiseworthy ; stand in the old way , that was the first covenant of the decalogue , was a holy precept ; but fight for the good old cause , which was a covenant for mischief and treason , was an abominable invitation , and a call to rebellion . curse ye meroz was a very good commination against those backward israelites , which kept their tents , and would not rise with the lord against the mighty : but to your tents , o israel , and the new curse you meroz of our times was the decoy to sedition , tumults and war , and a spur to england to ruine themselves , to cut off the best king that ever christianity knew . the iewes at this day attribute their long abandoning and dispersion to their rebellion against the house of judah ; shall a iew repent of that sin of witchcraft , and shall the godly party wipe their mouths like the harlot , and say it is a sweet thing , and persist in impenitency , and provide for future risings ? pudet haec approbria vobis , et dici potuisse & non potuisse refelli . countreymen , i am ashamed of your obstinacy , and beseech you to undeceive your selves . these meditations , if read with impartial eys , will befriend you into the true way , that way which your king upon his theatre of martyrdom told you , you had forsaken . remember the words of your dying father , of a true jonathan , though not the son of rhacab , but a sober prince , a chaste prince , a pious prince , and for his sake , who prayed for your pardon , who purchased your act of indempnity with his own blood of his mercifull son ; for his son's sake , for his christ's sake , yet in this your day leave off murmuring , repining , speaking evil of dignities , and every high thought of heart , and come with old barsillai , you and your sons and families , bring the king to jerusalem , settle him in his royal city with joy , and make one festival more then i write of , make one iubilee to the universal rejoycing of this yet distracted nation . at this repentance heaven will dance , the angels will be pleasant , and your own hearts wil be enlarged with everlasting comforts . which is the hearty vote of a true son of the church of england , and a religious physician . that word makes me reflect upon my selfe , and commands me to shew some reason why i intitle this book the religion of a physician , since that hath been used by doctor brown , an able artist in that faculty : to whom , for that and his vulgar errors , the world stands still engaged and obliged . i do not do it for this end and purpose , that either in physick , wherein he was admirable , or in theologie , wherein he was curious , i should match my selfe with him , or labour to out-vie him . a poore dwarf upon that giant 's shoulders dares not undervalue his supporters , or stalk proudly and forget the stilts and props are under him . this frontispiece humbly shewes , that the author did not totally in these late years either neglect his body or his soul ; ut sit mens sana in corpore sano , ought to be the care of every man , much more of a christian. 't is true , that sir jeffrey chaucer had but an ill opinon of my faculty , when he saith of a doctor of physick , his meat was good and digestible , but not a word he had o'th'bible . to wipe off that stain and aspersion from our botanick tribe , i wrote these meditations , to shew the world , that it is possible for a physician of the lower form to be theologue , at leastwise to seem to seem to be one : s. luke was a physician , an apostle and evangelist ; and we own one of the best stories in the world , the acts of the apostles , and the compleatest gospel : so s. paul esteems it to that physician . 't is certain , according to practice , our art doth not so much intend the amendment of the soul as the body , especially ▪ if doctor butler be judge , whose advice to a salacious patient a little intrencht against the seventh commandement : but yet that cure might have been wrought without infringement of the precept , if the party would have pleased to have taken a wife ; and then hippocrates and s. paul might have been reconciled with a circumfer sororē conjugem , and without goclenius the cure had been effected : but to say precisely and peremptorily , that the physician hath nothing to do in respect of the soul , is more then can be justified : for the physick of the body is but a preparative for the bettering of the soul , which is highly eased and fitted for divine contemplation , by emptying a plethorick cask : how sprightful is the whole man after the succesful workings of a vomit , moderat phlebotomy , or a dose of pills , or a purge ? 't is true , we may be canes ad vomitum , and sues in coeno volutantes , but no man sanae mentis will dedignifie his body after a noble wash , but will rather look out clean places , good aire , good companie , and endeavour to keep his house neat and gent after its happy evacuations : but if he does contrary , and take . unclean spirits into him after defecation , let him look to it , lest his latter end be not worse then his beginning , and so let him be condemned to the physician , who shall lose his honour by him , plagued by incurable diseases , and onely fitted by long , and tedious , and unprofitable physick for a journey into the conutrey , and so to the sexton . a physician therefore and a divine you see are not inconsistent , the late times made many preachers physicians , and these soveraign dayes have made many a physician preachers : cum fortuna volet fies de rhetore consul , cum volet haec eadē fies de consule rhetor. you know not what a causer of metamorphoses and changes one oliver may prove ; and one good augustus may prove as successfull ( and god grant it ) to the repeopling the houses of the prophets , and rebuilding the universities and churches , as ever that usurper was fruitfull to their ruine . the restored revenue of the church invites and excites to the study of divinity ; without which endowments and encouragements arts would be chill'd , and learning frost-bit , and look like the year in october , all snow , barren and uncomely . many able physicians , my very good friends , are already reverend divines , and fit for prebendaries , deaneries and bishopricks ; the urinall is cast quite away , & thomas of watering is in the place of it . the round cap is turned square , and i commend the dance of so rare changes , which can make of a galen and hippocrates , van helmont and paracelsus , dr. prideaux's , hooker's , dr. andrew's and bishop laud's . proceed in that , or any faculty , so your degrees and honours prove worthily taken ; ad gloriam d. o. m. honorem regis c. . & beneficium reipubl . & studii : or as it is more solemnly spoken at the creation of a doctor or master of art , ad honorem d. nostri jesu christi , ad profectum matris ecclesiae & studii , &c. these may very well become the breast-plates of every orthodox divine . and now i crave pardon for this tedious and over-long epistle , and give you a welcome entrance into our manual of divine meditations , which i hope you will favour ably accept , especially from one who doth constantly employ his time on some scholastick work or other , whereby he may , at leastwise in wish , appear to be , gentlemen , your most humble and obsequious servant , e. g. divine meditations upon the grand and lesser festivals , &c. upon the nativity of our saviour . give place all birth-dayes unto this : and oh ! that i could write as * he of pollio , or of marcellus fate , that kings and queens unto this babe might come a gossipping : they are too mean to stand for this high child , who th' † increment of god is indeed styl'd . angels are harbingers , wonders precede , a barren womb must teem , before a creed for a virgin-mother ; first then a iohn of a dry elizabeth ; mary anon conceives , brings forth , and all without a man , the womb conceives more then her small braines can : when angels sound it , there 's no place for doubt , to question it , will strike a prophet mute : old * zacharie , how faithless hadst thou stood , had not the angel gabriel thought it good to tell thee of thy cousins woundrous birth ; mary , the blessing and the gaze o' th' earth . such salutation never princess saw , never embassador of so much joy , and yet this glorious legate is not sent to th' court , or to the jewish parliament , ( the sanedrim ) nor the sharp synagogue , ( who read according to the a seaventy's vogue ) but to some simple shepherds this news flies , who are acquainted with the work o' th' skies , by their nocturnal offices , and see , as if some starres had shot , the angels ply about the sheep-folds , and then make them glad , with newes of a lamb born , more then they had . whose should it be ? where yean'd ? in this cold night , ( the hope o' th' flock ! ) alas , will be kill'd out-right . be unamuz'd , sweet innocents , your crook and kalendar will both be now mistook . no iacobs staffe can reach the height of this starre , and yet this from iacob did arise . the holy lamb , which 'mongst the beasts doth lie , was slain ; before his birth , design'd to die , so that the martyrdome of saints e're since , have their nativities been styl'd from thence . but listen , shepherds , and your pipes lay by , attend to th' quire , and musick from on high. th' imaginary motions of the spheres , did never strike such sounds in any ears ; the voyces most harmonious , persons rare , a royal ditty of caelestial aire ; a singing army , without drumms , or fife , the lords artillery ( but not for strife . ) what a blest anthem chaunts this heavenly host ? these souldiers were inspir'd by th' holy ghost ; as by the joyfull matter you may guess , glory to god , good will to men , t' earth peace . when such a song shall ever more be heard ? or when such choristers ? 't is to be fear'd the saints are black , and of another tone , hatred to men , war and destruction upon the sons o' th' earth ; and yet they cry , all 's done to the glory of god on high. away then sheepherds , to the humble place , and kiss his feet , view your sweet saviours face . what glory shines about the babe ? the hay and straw all on a fire , make no such day . the beasts affrighted with such flames , here gaze , and run about the infant as it blaze . what need we care where us our mothers lay ? a manger is gods a incunabula . mary incircled with a glorious light , is in a cloud her self , her thoughts in night : deliver'd of a son , but not of doubt , b her heart was joy'd , but yet was pierc'd throughout . certain 't is hers , uncertain how 't is hers , shee does believe , 'fore reason faith preferrs : the births of all men do depend upon their mothers , here the mother trusts the son , whose incarnation to himself was known , and mary mothers it , father there 's none . upon s. stephen the proto-martyr . how shall i write thy legend ? who am all extremely bad , as bad as a either saul . what though i threw no stones , as saul ? i had a hand in thy lords lords death , and that 's as bad . the sins preceding , present , and to come , are all upon account , the cursed summe and hand-writing against us , which stood good , untill christ had expung'd it with his blood. the jewes cry'd crucifie , their voice prevailes , but every sin of mine was goad and nailes . mount calvary the stage , the world the cause , and he condemn'd for our not keeping lawes ; and every one that does profess that name , hath for his badge , death , poverty and shame , while devout stephen preaches him , and spake a poniard-sermon b made the heart to ake ( like the smart penn'd philippicks c word and blow , th' eternal life and death of cicero . ) what is contriv'd ? his fate , a sermon ( friend ) of truth doth th' utterer to th' scaffold send . but what should anger them ? stephen you know was no apostle , that 's no bishop , no , he was a fervent deacon , had he been o' th' higher form , he 'd been the man of sin : no order scapes their malice , no degree exempts the clergie from their tyranny . if he speak truth , and boldly reprehend , bishop , or deacon , it shall be his end . 't is not thy miracles , or wisdome , saint , though it convince them , shall obtain a grant ; they are o'recome , convicted , guilt proves rage , not onely then , but now , in this our age. look what a crew and crowd of enemies are rais'd against apparent verities , which libertines convene , they will dispute , and sense and wonders shan't a man confute ; just like the enemies to david's throne , a line of wicked combination , edom and ishm'el , moab , hagarens , gebal and ammon , tyre and philistines , conspire 'gainst iudah all ; so here a nest of sectaries oppose the truth profest , and all in vain : then to the old designe , make a malignant of the best divine , blasphemer , innovator , one that doth act against god in words , and the state both . this will prevaile , if that the people cry iustice aloud , good stephen thou must die . thus do false cryers up o' th' temple , kill the truest props , and churches pillars still . upon s. john evangelist and apostle . belov'd disciple , pillow'd on the breast of christ ( which was a favour 'bove the rest ) from whence thou suck'dst sublime divinity , and soarst aloft , with eagles piercing eye , into the mysteries of faith : to thee we owe the profound arguments , whereby the ebionites , and arrian hereticks , socinians , and their late invented tricks , are all confounded , and whosoe're do fight against christs incarnation , or his right in the blest trinity , th' ( c ) eternal word ( as in a scabbard is inclos'd a sword ) couch'd in the flesh , shewn thorow that shadowing veyle , and 'bove the hood the glory did prevail . it was not possible to shrowd him so , but by his works his father he must know ; he prov'd his father by his wondrous deeds , than those his acts , there need no other creeds . believe me for my works ( they 'r his own words ) these speak me god , these speak me onely lord. to make men eyes and legs were blind and lame , it is as to create the very same , to raise the dead to life , redeem , restore , to raise himself from death , what would you more ? more if he would have done , his own self saith , could not ( if what he did would not ) gain faith. the reason of this unbelief ? 't is this ; men hated light for its discoveries . mischiefs in lanthorns lodge , in mists and c clouds , and flie whatsoe're their dark designs inshrowds . deluding oracles are dumb , when truth doth speak , the divel himself hath ne'r a mouth : when that the word essential is in place , darkness and light can't joyn malice and grace ; forc'd and extort confessions may come from devils themselves ( who would , like men , be dumb ; ) but when th' effective word exerts its pow'rs , both devils and men must then be confessors ; but in his umbrage of divinity , these combin'd parties dare affront him high , call him a vvine-bibber , companion with publicans and sinners , any one , harlots , samaritans , he made no choice , rather with poor , then pharisees rejoyce . christ was no seperatist , onely from sin , he liv'd up love , and preach'd communion in . so did his lov'd apostle , whose works show the fountain whence those streames of love did flow : how sweet his a trias of epistles run , and to his last he sang as he begun , b love one another , when his aged eyes by guides came to his pulpit-offices . love one another , his last text , so prove your selves to be of god , to be in love . so ended this saints life , for he alone escap'd the cross , the fire , the sword , the stone of all the twelve , yet was the caldron heat . and the amanded fires did streight retreat , and could not hurt his sacred person , for long life was promis'd by his saviour , not a no death , as was mistook , so he in patmos was an exile ; then did die : vvhere lies the body of this sacred man , banish't to th' isle by proud c domitian . upon the death of the innocents . loe , here a company of sucking saints ( suffring before the knowledge of their wants ) their saviours proxies , vicar-sacrifice , whilst he by angels guide to aegypt flies . aegypt , the succour now of israel , which did to its own cost them once expell . away false gods , and garden deities , no superstition neer this cradle lies . the land is goshen all , and light by thee , and cursed cham a greater child doth see then moses , or that fam'd a interpreter , made the chief ruler from a prisonar : not so in israel , where the cruel b king slayes without mercy , every sucking thing ; nor spares his own young infants , but lets rage arm it self keen 'gainst that innocent age , as if the land were all one leprosie , and infant-blood prescrib'd the remedy . o horrid sight ! see troopers on their speares , carrying like spoyles , babes had not seen two years ! snatc'd from their mothers breasts , and sprawling , yet take the speares point instead of sucking teat . was ever such a monster ? to enjoyn murder on babes , and mercy unto swine ? what will not superstition spare , or kill ? a sucking child must dye , and a c hog swill . brave mighty men of war ! stout curasiers ! how well your victory in story heares ? your countrey 's parricides , for pay do this ; were ever such bloody mercenaries ? usurping herod , a false king , half jew , can make you murder the right king , the true . you are the instruments of all this evil , and for your pay do serve this bloody devil . take heed , deceived souldiers , or your pay will be a little higher in one day : pay-day will come for this , nor will 't be good to plead you had commission to shed blood . saint iohn the baptist gives you other sense ; you must not do to any one offence : how can we fight then ? you will streight reply , souldiers of fortune serve for salery . examine not the justice , nor the grounds o' th' quarrel , made to give and receive wounds . 't is argu'd well , and you may justly fight , and in some cases question not the right , where lawfull power doth muster you ; yet then they are two things , to fight , and murder men . iust war is lawfull , but in your coole blood to kill a child commanded , think y' it 's good ? remember that brave slave , and gallant man , redeem'd from th' oare by dioclesian ; when that the subtil emperour did ask , what desp'rate service , or what rugged task he 'd undergo , to gain his liberty ? bid him propose unto extremity ; courted the worst of dangers , any dress of death made not his valour spiritless : but when the business was to act a rape , upon a a virgin of angelick shape ; do 't thy self , tyrant , said the moral slave , return me to the moans , or to my grave ; i will not taint my soul with such a crime , to gain the glory of thy diadem . take heed then , at no generals command act what with honest justice will not stand : murder no innocents , enjoyn who will , say like the slave , do you , sir , such things kill . christians are such in god almighty's eyes , be tender then of such a sacrifice : for as that b rachel wept for children there , so the church-rachel c wailes hers every where . on the circumcision . the eighth day ceremony calls , a rite of long observance , a covenant plight 'twixt god and abraham , when his faith gain'd that promis'd blessing that this day 's obtain'd ; and circumcision was the seal , whereby that grant was past to his posterity ; and not to his alone , but the whole earth was to be blest i' th' product of that birth . here it is tender'd , in the temple done , legall throughout , as 't were 'twixt sun and sun. and now the covenant-maker doth submit to his own law , which is fulfill'd in it : a passion but continued his whole life , how will he end that enters on the a knife ? here the first stroke , the last upon the crosse , thy agony then both a greater loss of blood : enter'd in discipline severe , this knife is but praeludium to thy spear : here suffering under law , and there against , lamb-like from sheering thou to th' shambles went'st : thy fore-skin now is clipt , but the next dart will pierce thee ( man of sorrow ) to the heart ; and yet nor speares , nor whips , nor nailes , nor thorns , are so tormenting as unworthy scorns . thus in the rigour of exacting law , blood from thy infant-flesh the priest doth draw ; blood from thy side doth after spring , that we might from sanguineous rites be ever free . water suffices to the same intents , and bread and wine more kinder elements ; our sacramentall dues are easie , mild , which will not hurt i' th' duty the least child : take then them not in opere , in fact , but let us doe what those sweet rites exact : be circumciz'd in heart , our will 's the knife , whetted by grace , the mulct is a new life . besprinkled facesintimate cleans'd hearts , and bread and wine faith unto blood converts . easie conversion ! who can less require ? but he that dy'd , that it should be no higher . the torment of redemption , that was his , ours are the fruits of that hard purchas'd bliss : no longer , jew , gash thy unmeriting skin , the wounds that are expected are within . a sad and contrite spirit , teares and sighs , such sacrifices will ascend on high , gratefull and pleasing : christian , be thou sure to wash too , after lavor and the ewre : it is not often dipping is requir'd ; wash oft , as naaman did , and yet be mir'd ; unless repentance cleanse the hands and heart , and a good life , by hysops purging art , render thee born a new ; thou' rt still a jew ; all a●ana , nay iordan will not do . signe , are but outward covenants , and take place , if they be seconded with inward grace . his circumcision and my baptism's naught , unless we 'r wash'd and circumciz'd in thought . upon the epiphany . though in a manger laid portentous ! then heavens did declare for thee , and wisest men ; a proper star ( pracursor of thy birth ) blazons thy lineage to the duller earth ; concentrick to thy self thy star doth move , onely to th' cradle of the god of love. astrologers , be your conjectures thus ? we will allow your art judicious : but if like balaam ( as too like , i fear , for gain you 'l cant ) then asse-rebuke beware . if your stars tell what after shall arise , and point out christ again , you may be wise : have you not found it in some obscure skie ? which makes this noyse for a fifth monarchy , that all the kings o' th' earth are troubled more about this news , then herod was before . take heed of such predictions , but chief , when you see men in arms for that belief : whom broughton hath made mad , and ready stand . to take commissions , give no command : all listed officer in martial equipage , onely want the generall . how bloody was his first approach ? what drumming and trumpets shall we have at his next coming ? then infants went to wrack , now men must fall ; for saints must rule , and they 'r a portion small : few are that number , but a little flock , what hecatombs of goats must to the block , that these belov'd sheep may have their full , and plump their bare-bone sides with sinners wooll ? but not so hasty , friends , before that day most horrid signes the heavens will display : the sun ( body of light ) must darkned be , no borrowed beames the moon shall clarifie : when her light-fountain's out , heav'n-quakes shall turn stars from their orbs , which then shall downward burn , and the vast frame of that convex , and round above our heads , shall crumble to the ground , the ground to nothing , as at first , then see if that the lightnings volatility you can discern , and tell us where it goes , your observations we will not oppose : but you and i , alas , ( all but a few ) who shall pass death by a translation new ; shall , like ezekiel's vision , dry bones lie , look to be raised from mortality : but then how naked shall we be , how far from any thoughts of an unnatural war ? that we shall mountains wish , and highest hills to cover us , for acting here such ills. for as at herod's inquisition and bloody quest , away fled mary's son : and as when peter drew th' revengefull sword , no countenance was given by his lord , but a v ae gladio , and a certain doom pronounc'd upon blood-drawing men to come : so will his second coming be , to right the suff'ring christian , punish them that fight ; that ( will he , will he ) will not be controul'd , but say , his kingdome shall in this world hold , these men are star-gazers led out o' th' way , with whom false ignes fatui do play , and run them into pit-falls ; but beware , come regulate your motions by this star. this star , the gentils conduct let it be , the badge and order of christianity : this star our phosphorus , which did fore-run the rising of th' eternal righteous son , vvhich doth enlighten that which rules the day , and clears all heathen ignorance away : let stars the vvise men lead , and vvise men fooles ; let shepherds teach their sheep , pastors the schooles ; so that this stars renown'd epiphany , an universal guide to christ may be , upon the conversion of s. paul. is saul among th' apostles ? what , that saul , who men and women to the judge did hale ? who held the cloaths of those accursed ones , did devout stephen unto death with stones ? 't is strange , but it is he : stephen , no doubt , thy dying words this wonder brought about . when at thy vision of the a trinity thou pray'dst , that charge might not against him lie : how potent are the words of martyr'd saints , vvho from the scaffold can obtain such grants , vvhich shall convert their enemies ! such words , like those of thy late crucified lord's , are of a vast effect : father forgive , ( they know not what their malice doth contrive ) did intimate , that providence ore-rules all humane projects , bad men are the tooles , vvhereby it works , unseen , the greatest good ; vvho'd think a salve should rise from shedding blood ? vvhat iudas , pilat , jewes , act 'gainst thy son , proves their own guilts , the worlds redemption . thus the salvation of mankind was struck ( as light once out of darkness , chaos-muck ) from flints and stony hearts , and blest events may issue yet from bloody presidents . vvho could imagine a blood-thirsty saul should mount a pulpit , and turn preaching paul ? but many are not call'd , like saul , few are , vve must not then presume , or mischiefs dare , upon some singular examples ; saul and one thief are precedents , that is all : b two that no man despaire , and yet but two , that no man should presume like acts to do : then view this form , champion of the devil , commission'd from the synagogue for evil : the high priests letters in his pockets are ; and what these vvarrants for ? such speciall care , hast , secrecy and guards ; alas , to seize poore people at their holy services . now to damascus , full of bitter spleen , ( his sword then his enraged heart less keen ) he and his troopers march ; poor upper roomes , look to your selves and votaries , saul comes ; but his design is frustrate , for a light this fury and his firebrands doth benight : see the struck man , whose eyes did sparkle now vvith rage , hath ne'r an eye his way to shew : the horseman is dismounted , hurl'd to th' ground , and his horse-party all in a sad sound . how weak is humane force , when heav'n will fight ! one angel puts an assyrian host to flight : a word or two's an army of such force , enough to scatter a good troop of horse . trust not in wrong and robbery , trust not in horse , nor guns , nor iron chariot : look upon pharaoh and his vanquish'd host , by weakest means a heap of waters lost : look upon furious saul , who did rejoyce , his work so nigh confounded with a voice . look on belshazzar , fortunes tennis-ball , dis-emperor'd by a writing on a wall . thus is this heros in an instant quell'd , the billow-brook , with so much malice swell'd , tame as his persecuted souls , he 's led to ananias for new eyes to 's head : it is in vain to kick against such pricks , vvhich wound the striker , hurt the person kicks : new light with his new eyes appeares , the man is chang'd a very perfect christian , a souldier for the cross , to which he stood stout to the last , and with his life made good : read his engagements , what set battels he in person pass'd , and got the victory : how many dangers both of sea and land , tempests and starvings , frosts and iron bands , torments , imprisonments , scourges , stocks and stones , vvhat had he not of persecutions ? at lystra some , at ephesus come see his prize with beasts , oh inhumanity ! in chains led through ierusalem , and beat ; his death so long'd for , some forswore their meat , they 'l fast for ever , but his blood they 'l have ; religious murderers ! what food they crave ? but that all mischief might be heap'd on thee , nero , thou prince of vast impiety ; paul is reserv'd for rome , there is the stage , vvhere this most active saint shall feel the rage of that fierce lion , who had burnt his rome , and quench'd the flame with christian martyrdome : he playes and sings away their lives , what other usage from one the murderer of 's mother ? peter and paul in one day felt his rage , two saints not parallel'd in any age . saint peter crucify'd with reverst head , a bashfull martyr in that honour'd bed. saint paul indulg'd , as learned seneca , bled by high courtesie his life away : so , because he a roman was by birth , the ax dispatch'd his headed corps to th' earth . upon the purification of the blessed virgin. the first and onely birth of the chast womb , is by a long us'd rite to th' temple come , a holy offering to his a father : he was offer'd thus from all eternity . the priest for ever , the melchisedeck , both priest and sacrifice without a speak : now in the temple , on the cross anon , offer'd , but not in shew , as abrahams son : who by a bleating proxie dy'd , this lamb dies pers'nally , relieved by no ramme . in this all sacrifices , bulls and goats , ( whose impure blood , and insufficient throats had neither worth , nor vertue ) ceas'd ; the creature was then redeem'd by th' death of the creator . the type unto the antitype gives place , this onely is the holocaust of grace . but what ! had mary's virgin-womb just cause to give submission to these womens lawes ? who had lucina's help , or rather none , ( the holy ghost being present cause alone , both of conception and delivery , mary was laid without their midwifery ) no need of them , of this same rite no need , for defaecation after produc'd seed of a piamen ; but as her great heire endur'd the knife when eight dayes ended were ; then took baptismall washing , when from above father in voice was witness , spirit in dove : so all these ceremonies were undergone , not for necessity , or good thereon unto his sacred person , but to shew what we , not he , unto the law did owe : he was the sampler of obedience , a scandall made , but never gave offence to any order , or professions : thus in 's flesh he pleas'd the jew , in water us. so mary mirrour of her sex appeares to th' priest , and th' common thanksgiving heares , veyl'd as the jewish custome was ; this done , she doth present her dove and pigeon , the poor childs commutation , and ne're that superstition thought , which they did there . then with a lowly duty to the place , she had retir'd , but simeon , full of grace , and full of prophecy , takes up the child in 's arms ( as much as his old arms could weild ) then sings a a swan-like note , " lord , let me die , " dissolve me in this instant , lord , whil'st i " have my salvation in my arms , the light " which doth dispell the gentiles long dark night , " the glory of thy people israel " is in my feeble arms now visible . so ended this old custome , and the priest , the antheme sung , dissolv'd , and was with christ. a hymne of the resurrection . i. arise , arise , dead soul , arise , alas ! i cannot ope ' my eyes . the heavy lethargy of sin hangs on my faculties within . ii. arise , arise , thy saviour's rose , sin , death , and hell are conquer'd foes ; why do'st thou yield to enemies , whose stings are lost ? arise , arise . iii. then lend thy hand , thou blest first-fruit of those who sleep i' th' land o' th' mute : say thou , come forth ; and quickned thus , my soul shall rise like lazarus . iv. all cords of vanity i 'le break , propt up by thee ; their tyes are weak : like unshorn sampson i 'le make way through every sin , and dalilah . v. but if thou do thy grace substract , alas , i can no noble act , unless it be to pull on me my ruine and mortality . vi. yet from those ruines and grave-stones by thee shall rise my naked bones ; and from their charnel-houses all come forth , new clad , at thy last call , vii . those heaps of skulls with hollow eyes , unhair'd , un-flesh'd , shall clothed rise : dead tongues shall sing , their song shall be , my lord is rose , wee 'l follow thee . hymnus ascensionis . i. the lord 's ascended , see the fiends , and their captiv'd black prince doth cleare the aire ; a cloud of all his martyr'd friends receive him , while th' amused world doth stare . ii. gone in a cloud , but in a glory returns , with all his shining heavenly host , in such a pomp , this worlds vain-glory united ne're could make , could never boast . iii. gaze not apostles , gaze no more , but lift your hearts up after , not your eyes ; he is not gone , but on this score , to make good all his royall promises . iv. as they continued all devout , praying and fasting , and with one accord , ( three things pretended by our rout , which never yet accorded , but i' th' sword. ) v. at the good time of pentecost , the very time we now call whitsontide , in fiery-tongues the holy-ghost on them descended , on his church abide . vi. no more descents , no other light , unless by him who can himself disguise into an angel for deceit , as at this day 's apparent to our eyes . upon the pentecost . i. o holy spirit ! help me to indite , no pen can of thee , unless by thee , write : inspir'd by thee , rude fishermen speak high , meaner proportions , lower gifts ask i. ii. not such a bright irradiation , as was t'enlighten every nation : when the whole world was dumb , and deaf , and blind , it was high time that fiery tongues then shin'd . iii. the lisping of those tongues is speech enough , we well may see by that light 's twinkling snuff : for with their persons that exceeding light ( except some glimmerings ) is extinguisht quite . iv. those , twelve inspir'd , illustrious heads were all thy churches rulers apostolicall ; and their successors are the envy'd starrs , at which both heresie and scisme make warrs . v. to out that light derivative from them , how fierce these men blew off ierusalem ; and when the jew could not extinguish it , he gave the light to subtil mahomet : vi. who blew that light into a two-fold flame , and dimmed christ's , and blew up his own name ; so that his taper is of double twist , a mahomet extoll'd , a deprest christ. vii . yet still the light doth shine , do what you can , either by talmud , or by alcoran . others ( i shame to name it ) have this light , but in dark lanthorns keep it from our sight . viii . or , as when whirlwinds raise the numerous dust , the interposed atomes 'twixt us thrust ; and the bright beames of the eclipsed sun darkned by magnify'd tradition . ix . but ' ware of little bellowes , these at last ▪ have , with some help , made a most dang'rous blast : sectarian puffers joyn'd to th' jesuit , have e'n blown out our once apostolick light. x. come then , and re-instate thy candlestick , come holy ghost , thy church is more then sick ; dead as to sight ; re-quicken her again , and make apostacy's invasions vain . xi . let ignes fatui to their fens return , let nothing but the lamp o' th' temple burn , and let the church-moths , that in numbers flie about the light , be sing'd , and after die . upon the festival of the blessed trinity , falling upon may . . welcome thou double jubilee ; such things are dark , the mysteries of god and kings : uncomprehended that , and this unseen , yet we believe they are , shall be , have been . enthroned elders fall , and worship thee , most sacred and eternall trinity : but our exalted elders pull down kings , and do themselves create omnipotent things : yet we , who love th' old revelation , do as those beasts ( which did surround the throne , not ruine it ) cry a perpetuall song to god , and for the king : o lord , how long ? tri-unity and uni-trinity shall stand , and a perpetuall basis be : not so of kings , whose delegated crowns are in subjection to the doners frowns . by me kings reigne , is gods commission , and he pulls down , and setteth up alone : yet do the heathen rage , and do strange things , disturb the offices and rights of kings , murder their persons , and the heire throw out , ( kings are no better then their lord , no doubt ; ) yet shall the anthem still the beast become , these christs both are , and were , and are to come . is there an evil ( that of punishment , or vengeance ) on a cursed nation sent , and is it not from him who raiseth seas , and can as soon the peoples rage appease ? boast not thy self , thou high babelick-man , the lord hath hooks for thee ( leviathan ; ) and though thou swell in thy conceited height , with asies thou must forrage this same night : nor with a multitude go on , the cause is not by number good , but by the lawes : the earth the lowest of the people will open , and rise 'gainst such as their kings kill . what is it for a season , a short day , a vapouring massinello for to play ? murder and plunder , burn and spoile , and then ▪ be made a laughing-stock of god and men ? much better they ( who not being given to change , nor state , nor their religion ) never range from the old way , in which they firmly stood , ( these sixteen hundred yeares accounted good ) that touch not aarons censers , nor provoke the earth it self with sacrllege to choak : that dare not rob nor god , nor man , but give god what is gods , and wish the king long live : that will not fast mans blood away , nor eat a widowes house , nor god's , for pure manchet : that to their minds perpetually call saphira's and her ananias fall . think upon that , and dathan , and abiram , and wave the masters of blew adoniram ; that think of sampson , and that tragick house , which ruin'd all that there kept rendezvous ; suspecting every houre the like mishaps may fall on them , or else high thunder-claps : move not the father , 't is the lord of hosts , come kiss the son , grieve not the holy ghost . thus if we do , we keep a jubilee , in honour of the blessed trinity . upon s. andrews day . brother of peter in thy double trade , a fisher first , then fisher of men made . how virtuall was thy call ? how high thy rise ? what nets will serve to make a soul a prize ? long time and hearing now is requisite , 't is not a cast , and draw ; one fishing-night , and so to market : baits and many hooks the pulpit anglers use , that 's many books . thy master was a walking library , ( himself apollo , all divinity . ) that mount-spoke sermon , full of doctrines choice , not read from charge , but utter'd by that voice , ( had a weight and destiny ) was the best lecture ; the holy spirit was thy notes collector : so fishermen instructed , so made fit , needed nor rational , nor other writ for a direction safe ; when he that sent impower'd , and made thorow sufficient . he was the onely tryer , tryes the reines and heart , whose feat craz'd covetous man profanes vvith simple and ridiculous quaere's , such vvhich are but snares , and a time-serving couch . thus they run crab-like , counter , backward all to th' erudition apostolicall : vvhich made them orators , and men of parts , but these renounce , as profanation , arts ; as if the practice must be retrogade , and andrew forc'd to turn to his first trade , ( from whence he once was call'd ) to catch by th' net , and paul must leave the learn'd gamaliel's feet , and mount a tent , and work divinity , not through his own , but through his needles eye : the cast was from the nets ( i take it ; ) these are both for barkin church and barkin seas . there is no need the spirit should divert from men well qualified , and of desert , into a coblers stall , since learning is the gift of god , an influence of his. fooles are uncapable of earthly rights , and under guardian for their want of wits : how comes it , that the best inheritance is manag'd , that o' th' soul , by ignorance ? as if the blind should lead men in the way , and seers into ditches , or astray . unlike saint andrew in this call , let 's see vvhether his followers in ought else you be . upon the call streight andrew left his nets , the world , and profits are a bar , and lets in christian progresse : tell me ( covetous priest ) do'st thou alike , who seizest all with christ , and more then is thine own , another's bread ? you follow true , as those sometimes were fed by gainfull miracles ; 't is the good loaves and fish , that makes so many preaching droves . or can you follow in saint andrew's way , and preach the vvord in barren scythia ? a vvhere were no livings , nor fat benefice , ( the lures and baits of your known avarice . ) new england left , america forsook , there 's better fishing in old england's brook. this fetch'd home peters , hugh did understand the call of bishops , dean and chapters land. or can you in achaia , with our saint , endure the prison , whips , and extreme want ? and for converting a proconsuls wife , b ( not as your hugh did ) render up your life on a slope cross , the studied cruelty of fierce egaeas , pain to magnify ? vvhen any priest , badg'd by saint andrew's crosse , shall be of life , or state , at either losse ; this on his tomb an epitaph be set , the fish not caught , he threw away the net. upon saint thomas day . thomas , apostle of a dissident , peter after apostacy is sent ; distrust is a high crime , denial worse , yet worst of all did a he who had the purse . despaire doth barricado heavens gate , such to themselves are their own early fate . few are reduc'd , who , for the love of gold , to part with a good conscience make bold to entertain another god , ( no less then so is that grand sin of covetousness ) is to shake hands with christ ; mammon and he cannot go sharers in a soveraignty . apostacy from fear , ( as peter's was ) distrust upon a resonable cause , as was saint thomas his , may mercy finde , which is bloc'd up in an impenitent minde . for to despaire , and think our sins above him that is infinite in grace and love , shuts out our generall pardon ; and lost hopes end in self-murders , poysons , or in ropes . thomas through humane frailty did diffide ; the stoutest souldier in the battel try'd , is fearfull 'fore engagement ; but at sound o' th' trump his spirits rise , fear falls to th' ground . great promisers do soon and oft' nest fail , when fear and trembling may the fort assail . salvation is so wrought , for no man knowes whether his feet may fail him as he goes : commanders that are sure of victories , for fear o' th' worst do not neglect supplies . reserves in christian warfare is good art , and to secure the reer a souldiers part . great heed take thou that standest , for a fall may fatall prove , when fear will catch at all . fear hath a fastness still , some certain hold , which those refuse that have been over-bold : to rest unsatisfy'd is no such taunt , as to deny after a glorious vaunt . come see then , thomas , see the print o' th' nailes , see his pierc'd side ; this evidence prevailes : the evidence of things seen will once suffice , more happy they believe above their eyes . let us no obloquies upon him cast , in christ's acception all the errour 's past : no more look on him in his failings , there he will ( but like thy self ) a man appeare : nor are saints weaknesses examples set for men to follow , and destruction get by precedent ; but cautions they are , church-marks and buoyes , of which we must beware . see our apostle , how in india another piece of valour he doth play : see him converting parthians and medes , brachmans , hircanians , opposing seeds of curs'd idolatry in persian land , where the suns idol at his sole command fell to the ground in cinders , while the sun , regardless of the business , westward run . come see him for this fact bound ( as those three , who did defie the like idolatry ) and thrown into a fiery fornace , but the noble sun those kitchin-flames out put with its exceeding beams , and rescued this saint , though t'himself design'd a sacrifice : what stars and elements refuse to do , men dare attempt , for an accursed crew of infidels with speares and cymitars a run upon the saint , once rescu'd by the sun. so dy'd our fam'd apostle ; calvin hence began his legend , not from 's diffidence . upon saint matthias day . train'd up with the apostles from saint iohn the baptist's doctrines , thou at length art one , one of an hundred , one of that resort , vvho after christ's ascent made holy court ; a consistory of votaries , still staying for the descent o' th' holy ghost in praying : initiate first in iohns repentance ; then consorting still with apostollick men , it was capacity enough : they erre , vvho think one may shoot up a presbyter , ( as slips and grafts are wont , whose secret growth , not their own selves , nor yet the gard'ner know'th ; ) unlearn'd , undisciplin'd , from shop , or stall , and start to callings apostolicall . fishers indeed were call'd ( the meanest trade ) but did not teach , till they were able made . a god-taught for many yeares , yet then not fit , untill inspir'd by tongues , their open'd wit. call'd to their memories those doctrines , which their master taught in parabolick speech . then , so enlightned , gifted by the god of vvisdome , who on their obtuse braines rode , ( as at the first creation formes were struck out of opacous chaos , and that muck. ) vvhat could they not unfold ? what mysteries of deepest knowledge could not these twelve keys unlock , which could heaven-doores or shut , or loose ? so with new gifts their old names they did lose . but now a cobler ( in existency ) and not translated to divinity , nor able to translate , 'cause of a trade mean as was peter's , will a priest be made , and venture at a pulpit ( very blew ) not from saint peters chaire , but from saint hugh . preparatory knowledge was requir'd , ev'n in those twelve , which after were inspir'd ; vvhen first sent forth with neither scrip nor shooes , they did but onely carry the good newes of a redeemer come , and blesse the place vvith peace , not yet accomplisht with full grace . time did produce that consummation , and in the interim this great thing done ; a new apostle chosen , a iudas seat vvas this day fill'd , the number made compleat ; not all alike in order , then no need of this high day's solemnizating deed : one from inferiour order is promoted , and to succeed by holy lot is voted : if equall , all th' election had been vain , seventy as good as twelve ; no chorah's train are amongst these , nor no church-leveller , no self-exalting filthy presbyter : and yet the congregation is all holy , but priests and deacons under these rule solely . the forms of iew-church-government remaine , the offices , not names , they doe retain . then welcome to thy high investiture , sacred matthias , may thy rites endure : may a succession of such pastors be for ever in thy churches hierarchie : and though the apostles names ceas'd with their gifts , ( for time and custome names of orders shifts , and changeth as it pleaseth ) yet their pow'r of order-giving lasteth to this houre , corrective , and directive right , and all the ordinary power 's episcopall : making of presbyters by laying hands , is the continu'd practice of all lands : unless since calvin did get up and ride , and set on bishops his foul foot of pride : e're since rebellion in the minor flocks hath sprung , and one hath caused many a knocks ! yet the abused world doth plainly see , there is no peace but in this prelacy . geneva's platformes , and new fangled stuffe will end in its long beard and little ruffe ; whil'st the apostolick successors shall ( as did their predecessors ) martyrs fall . and like b matthias , pastor of the jews , be ruin'd by false men , hir'd to accuse and sweare that blasphemy , which all accord a truth , that christ was son o' th' living lord. upon the annunciation of the blessed virgin. now israel's bereft of a both her kings , and an usurper hath command of things : the promis'd shilo comes , the sceptre rent from iudah , then is iudah's lion sent . it is a good exchange , i' th' vacancy of a good king to have a deity . when humane helps and god's known deputies are snatch'd away , himself is our supplies : he does resume his sceptres lent , but then woe to persidious and rebellious men . 't is not the breaking seals , or batt'ring crowns subdues the donor , he 's above the lowns , and lets them act a while to their own wills , that they may see from whence spring all their ills : injustice , murder , liberty , ( that word , and pure religion , that can draw the sword upon their right protectors ) suffer'd are to shew the mischief of religious war. when did a pious rebel e're come off but with his own disgrace , and peoples scoff ? these soveraigns hail's and ave's now set by , let us with angels mary gratify : though this great salutation , so divine , is not allow'd so much as in a sign : the day indeed , as it referres to rent , is not put down by mayor nor parliament . let 's keep it as we may , for mary's son this day proclaim'd , was the redemption , the apolutr●sis , the generall pay , which solv'd the world of a smart reck'ning day . surety and payment too is this day's boon security and satisfaction : for surety's ( as in lawes municipall are in chief , debtors , and oblig'd for all ) bound for what they ne're drank ( as we use say ) and yet the judge enforceth them to pay : our summs of sin were high , and not to be discharg'd but by a surety that was free . god did engage in 's person to defray , what all the world could not conjunctim pay , obedience for us , which we could not do , and death too , that we might not undergo : the merit of his person was above our debt , he supererogates in love . then for his sake no single person hate , who beares christ's name ( as you have done of late ; ) nor suffer the memoriall of her day by beardless ministers be swept away , who in a senseless zeale , some years since , run down both our lady's day and her great son ; and got a name unto his action due , by common council , being styl'd a a jew . on saint marks day . first bishop , mark of alexandria , and patriarch of that ancient see ; this day is dedicate unto thy memory , which doth confirm the sacred hierarchy ; an argument invincible , from whom and antioch we derive , and not from rome . yet when the latian empire ( after a ten bloody phlebotomies of martyr'd men ) began to nauseate blood , and being fill'd with such sad sights , did honour what they kill'd : and the spread eagle to the cross gave way ; ( the ensign which an angel did display to fighting constantine ) the emperour being then the sole most christian governour , and rome the mistress of the world ; that see , above the rest , had the precedencie . not so from the beginning : 't was but meet the seat o' th' empire , and the churches seat , or chaire apostolick , should be together , the sacred power of calling synods thither , over its subject priests , for unity , and order made the roman chiefest see : thither appeales of grieved churches came , and thence the fountain of that bishops fame : for bodies oecumenicall without a head would be , but monstrous without doubt : read the degrees and ranks the structure made , by b which church-government in saint paul is laid ; apostles some , evangelists , some pastors , some preachers , sub , & supra , all not masters ; that had confusion been , 't was fit the best of bodies should with the best form be blest . a christ is the head , by joynts and sinews all compacted are those parts synodicall : no linsey-woolsy fabrick , checquer'd fry , half church , half lay , a chess-board frippery of calvin's foisting lately in the lag of time , and good for nothing but the b bag : but since his petty pawns have had their play , they dare give c check to kings , and take away bishops and nobles , sceptre and the mitre are all thrown down by this upstart presbyter . let all true christians ( as the d collect ) pray , which was appointed for this great saints day , that our confirmed souls and setled mind be not like wether-cocks , with every wind . and puff of doctrine carried into sin , nor yield to a new whim of discipline : but let us stand , as in a souldiers station , fix'd to the old way , once fix'd in this nation ; fearing the fearfull vengeance that doth range , and will arrest those that are given to change . on philip and james , called minor , son of alpheus . james , bishop of the jewes for thirty yeares , sate in that first of councils , of a twelve peers , who all were equal rulers , yet the chaire was iames's , sure he sate the president there . all was then done in order'd decency , nor did the spirit of presbytery then rise against their fathers , and 't was long before b aerianisme grew strong ; which was rebellion against bishops , and aerius a heretick condemn'd does stand upon record , and that great councils edge was sharpned 'gainst that sin as sacrilege : so nam'd they his design of c levelling a bishop with a priest , subject and king : converted jewes oby'd their bishops , shall the english onely make their funerall ? and bury them alive ? first damn their votes , then take their purses , rob them of their coats ? a piece of basenesse acted in our dayes , becoming none but curs'd apostata's , ( such as was iulian ) whom the son of god struck with an arrow , as i' th' camp he rode . but let saint d iames himself our pattern be , and in affliction 's schoole rejoyce , as he . what do we learn ? d' you ask the best lecture ? patience most harsh , affliction 's sweet corrector . to him that can endure and bear his crosse , his very enemies are at a losse , their malice frustrate ; martyr , 't is all one , if thou canst bear thy crosse , as if thou'dst none : the patient man feels not his injury , the torment 's his that thus doth punish thee . then let the pharisees , and envious sect , and alwayes vexing who would them detect ; surprize thee from the pulpit , where thou taught'st doctrines they like not , yet such as thou ought'st ; and raise this aged preacher from his a cell unto the temple's highest b pinacle ; thence throw him down , and then ( most courteous ones ) raise him a c sepulchre of those same stones with which you beat his braines out , for with you 't is use , to keep the tombs of those you slew . what sayes our saint to this ? blessed am i vvho can endure , d my crown of life is nigh . thus in ierusalem they 'r made away , small difference 'twixt it and scythia ; vvhere philip after taught samaritans , converted eunuch and magitians . e simon , whose name a brand perpetual stands on those who buy the laying on of hands , after so many wonders in all fights , at last extirpated the ebionites : twenty yeares preacht this holy man , and gain'd all scythia , with idolatry profan'd , then in hieropolis his stage of fate is rais'd ; true doctrine preach'd procureth hate . he that did doubt christs deity as much as thomas did his flesh untill the touch ; he that with thomas ( sirnam'd didymus ) of christs eternall birth was f dubious , dyes in defence , and justifies the son to be god's onely generation from all eternity : the cross his banner , g and crucify'd after his lord 's own manner . thus holy men and tyrants have like fate , and few of these go down to the dead's state vvith dry and bloodless death , but still they are sable , their rubrick in the kalendar . saint barnabas day . this is the saint which antioch doth claim , not tutelary genius , 't is his fame to be chief founder of the christian faith by paul , and him built up unto that heighth . thence first disciples were call'd christian , ( vvould it had held till now as it began ) for since men would of cephas be , and some of paul ; what rents are wrought in christendome ? had the first heads , and leaders of late sects reflected on those self-denying texts of paul and good apollos , we had ne're seen such divisions , nor such massacre of christian blood . now hussites , zuinglians , thraskites , smectymnuans , names enough to fill a basket ; vvith hugonots , twissits and calvinists , spirituall captaines of spirituall lists , alarum all the world , which stands in awe of new wat tylers , leyden , and iack straw . did these men die for us ? o base reproach ! and well retorted by old antioch ! run back religion , to thy ancient head , and shame to see thy self thus ravished , turn'd prostitute to every holy rout , that in a change shall saint-like cast about : repaire to thy first standard , that 's the cross , thy armes are not for victory , but losse ; successe no signe of thy right cause , no plea or flourish for a visibility . nor dar'st thou cast on providence , thy deeds , vvhereby christianity it self now bleeds ; prayers and teares were thy artillery ; ( men are unweapon'd when they come to die . ) such was the martyrs armours , patience , prayers for enemies , life without offence . what poor , or no resistance could these make ? yet these so violent , that heav'n they take ; their a kingdomes and their saviours are alike , not of this world , for all the world not strike ; not to get all the world hazard a b soul , which by th' adventure must with devils howl : nor ( when a c god-like act was done , that all the city would have sacrific'd to paul and barnabas ) would they allow their votes , or be canoniz'd by such popular throats . how different those and our new pastors wayes their half-ey'd sons can guesse , like barnabas . they part from paul ( indeed ) and doctrines broach which paul ne're own'd , nor he of antioch . a commemoration of saint john the baptist. welcome thou martyr-saint , i 'le sing thy fate , thy birth , thy life ; to thee i dedicate these studies , for to thee my colledge owes its name , and on this day thy legend shewes . all of thee is miraculous , thy death , thy life , thy birth , and motions before breath : child of a barren womb , must needs fore-run a wonder , and fore-tell a virgins son : a leaping prophet in thy parents womb , thy self an infant didst thy sire undumb . so powerfull was the name of iohn , but wrote , it made a prophet of a mute : thus got , and thus produc'd , what vvonders will succeed ? the first of hermits , this in hairy weed , lives in a wildernesse to unbeast men , out-does a lessian diet ; the rule then vvas not in weight , but temperance ; which shewes that abstinence all physick-rules out-goes . locusts and honey of the unhiv'd bee preserves , and meat drest in a hollow tree . the current runs him sober drink , i fain vvould know , whether the german , or the dane , or the out-toping britain , drinks such healths , even now , in their reformed common-wealths . mark how ierusalem runs forth to see this prodigie of new sobriety ! vvhich noah ( though i' th' flood preserv'd ) did lose , and moses bred o' th' waters , did not choose : but as at first creation , on the waves the plastick spirit mov'd , so here it saves . vvhat cannot water do ? weaknesse is lost , vvhen that the inmate is the holy ghost . vvater inflames , inspires , blowes up , warms grace , and washes souls , but us'd to clense the face . besprinkled with such holy water , jew , thou art re-born , and circumcis'd anew . the sacerdotal knife cuts not the evil , these drops drive out the vvorld , the flesh , the devil . how highly ought this sacrament be priz'd ; be then baptiz'd , but be not re-baptiz'd ! iohn was no anabaptist ; people came but once to th' font , and christ did just the same . a seven-times washing was for naaman , one dipping will suffice a christian : preparatory graces bring in god , he fits a lodging for his own abode ; first iohn , and then a iesus ; penance hath the happinesse to usher saving faith. safe in thy desart , hadst thou there remain'd , prophet , thy vertues to the court 's proclaim'd , where thy rough doctrines , thy destructions are , so did our court dispatch a long-liv'd parr . his by a change of diet , no excesse kill'd thee , the court was a fine wildernesse : herod the beast o' th' forest , whet his sword , and did behead our prophet for a word , for a non licet to his lawlesse lust , first to the prison , then the axe thou must . methinks in these our later dayes i see ( great saint ) thy now re-acted tragedie ; onely our age out-strips that horrid thing , and does behead not onely priest , but king. thou that but once , and that i' th' womb , didst dance , ( for joy thy saviour to thee did advance ) art at a dancing ladies loose request , depriv'd of life , but by it higher blest : so that thy triple baptisme standeth good , by vvater first , next spirit , then by blood. on the feast of saint peter . what honour ( great apostle ) is not due to thy renown'd confession ? first you ( i am no thover ) started that great word which made that article , lord from the lord , and god of very god : no flesh can tell ( unlesse inspir'd ) whence that great issue fell . th' eternal generation was too high for mortal reach , and is a mysterie reveal'd , not understood , the motions know of divine actions in thick darknesse go , or cloth'd in light that 's inaccessible ( hid by their brightness , angels cannot tell , though they desire to peep into it ) and shall our unequal souls hope t' understand ? not peter , while he spake , did comprehend himself ; if so , he 'd not deny'd it 'fore his end . yet worthily thy name was chang'd , a stone , a rock sirnam'd for this confession , and upon it , not thee , the churches faith is laid , may i believe , as peter saith . i do believe by the same grace , not boast my self , but give the praise to th' holy ghost . peter did so , the honest fisherman nere dreamt of what the petropolitan and denizens of rome have since contriv'd , nor would have worn three coronets had he liv'd : the chaire infallible , perchance that he might well have wish'd before's apostacie . how weak was the man peter , for to lay a basis on , should last untill this day ? when that a wave , and something weaker too , a pitifull wench made him his faith forego . but weakness is made strong , when teares precede , and high repentance wash'd away that deed . i don't upbraid thy known apostacy , but balance it with their new primacy , vvhich roman catholicks , kinde souls , bestow on thee , insensible of things below . vve all allow thee the first confessour , vvhere iames was president in chaire and pow'r . vve all confesse thee prais'd by christ , when one vvas more belov'd , the eagle-ey'd saint iohn . vve ne're deny to thee the keyes of heaven ; but of those keyes there were , beside , eleven : vve all applaud thy heaven-dropt sheet , whereby the faith broke forth into community . vve all confesse thee apostle of the iewes , ( though now the roman thee their primate choose . ) unkind repulse ! when paul to th' romans wrote alone , and to their faith such honour got . vve allow thee bishop of christs flock , twelve equall pastors , a most royall stock . feed then , successive angels , that 's your care , feed the poor lambs , they 'r wolves that do them tear . the legend of saint james , called major , one of the sons of zebedee , and apostle of spaine . art thou red letter'd ? yes ; the almanack preserves thee ; though the holy-day we lack , vve keep the a fair : 't had been good policy , if that the church ( could it these times foresee ) had made the twelve apostles marts , then they might all , whereas now some , have a saints day . dame zebedee , so full of zeal , ne're thought his honour should to so low ebb be brought : the right hand and the left was her bold boon , and that in heaven her sons , both iames and iohn , might be advanc'd ; how would the woman pout , if she had known on earth they were put out , and that he is deny'd the pay by some , of honour to his glorious martyrdome . herod thy person murder'd , holy saint , our mighty men of vvar thy day : why mayn't we hope to see , as in those dayes befell our herods , as that b herod , fall as well . it was not long before revenge did seize that deify'd orator , struck in a trice . pimme had not all the worms , it once may please vengeance to smite ( not only conscience ) but their apostate body's with close lice , who onely spoyle and murder solemnize : but these and herod differ in some things , herod kills prophets , these both them and kings . herod imprisons for popular applause , how many have been coop'd upon that cause ? but by a finer word ; imprisoning securing's call'd , robbing is sequestring : but herod speeches it , and gives no praise to god ; o but these do in our good dayes : there 's not a murder , not a plund'ring , but they do the pulpits with thanksgivings glut . had you now liv'd ( you sons , sirnam'd , of thunder ) then fire from heaven you could not have ask'd under , nor would have been deny'd ; but 't is as well , their fire is sure , if not above , from hell. upon the legend of saint bartholomew . the gospel's sound , though the whole world is run , now hear it preach'd , where inmate is the sun on india's parched ground , the east , the west , ( wealth that few merchants get ) and yet the best . who dare upbraid the lord at latter day , and say , this newes did never come in 's way ? shall he be damn'd for what he could not know ? no , arguer ; thou shalt not , if 't be so : no gospel slighted , no apostle slain , no faith rejected , no eternall pain : god by no absolute decree does list men to damnation ( maugre calvin's twist . ) conditional are his decrees , and they mulcted alone , who gainsay , disobey . we fondly therefore to iamaica sent , to convert indians , ( when for gold'twas meant . ) saint bartholomew , full sixteen hundred years ago ( as in eusebius chronicon appears ) preach'd to those heathen folk ; who did not weigh the matter , so he went into armenia . what if the indians prized more their gold then this rich margarite ? will the reason hold ? ( because the negroes will not faith receive , because apostle-taught , they 'l not believe : ) is therefore god unjust ? whose sentence is , whosoe're believes in christ , salvation's his . his acts of grace and his good pardons be in law and gospel never covenant-free . repent , and be secure , proud nineve , believe , and enter my felicity : they therefore put the obex , they bolt out themselves , who are or reprobate , or doubt . armenia shall rise up against india and thank her for her refuse , she will say our king converted by saint bartholomew , his folly our great idol overthrew : and we exampl'd by a pious prince , receiv'd the faith , and have been christians since . vve honour him as our grat saint , and boast , that e're his sacred person toucht our coast : but it prov'd bloody to him , for a king astiages by name ( o horrid thing ! ) apostate to the faith , and full of spight to those that did , and would continue right ( after so many wondets done , such shoales of preaching bartholomew's converted souls ) condemn'd this saint to a most cruel end , a flay'd him alive , and raw to th' earth did send . but thou , great saint , art one o' th' twelve , that shalt b judge the whole world , thy saviour will exalt thee for a witness of his judgement last , vvhen sentence on all flesh by him is past . then shall astlages and the iewes see him whom he flay'd , they cast out , c glorify'd be . upon saint matthew apostle and evangelist . from the receipt of custome call'd ? what ? leave excise and tax-money , the banck ? and cleave to poverty and preaching ? blessed saint ! thou cam'st alone , and didst companions want . few of that tribe will live on parables , the scent of gain a great deal better smells then the perfumes of prayer , though th' incense flie , and please the nostrils of a deity : heaven and earth too , the lawyer will content to barter this for that , he 'l not indent : sell all ? leave all ? give to the poor ? be poor ? give him his parchments , farewell saviour . o bunch of camel-wealth ! damn'd avarice ! that stops the narrow passe of paradice ; that strait-ey'd needle cannot enter'd be , till all that mountain of monopoly be wire-drawn into such slender lines , a spider works not smaller , finer twines . thus stretcht , and beat , and crusht , impair'd , and lank , he may arrive to the elysian-bank ; for charon will not ferry in his light cork-vessel any fare of heavy weight : spirits are all his passengers , no grosse usurers , nor gluttons abominous : such loads will sink his boat , and themselves too , and then in styx they 'l stick , amongst a crew of snakes and vipers , in most noisome mud , which like themselves ne're was , ne're can be good , matthew forsakes these cloggs , this heavy lead casts off , 't was but his foy , his own god-speed . wrestlers and racers strip unto the shirt , any superfluous weight will do them hurt : away with luggage and impediment , a wife , a farm , honour , merriment , may lose the goale . run , run , atlanta , flie , and let those rubs , the golden apples lie : a christian life is race and warfare too , a strict militia we undergo : hard duty , little pay , strong enemies , a passage block'd with blood and injuries : yet all must be encounter'd , all o'recome , or else no lawrel , no elysium . our banner is the crosse , the standard dy'd in gules of our chief captain crucify'd , like general , like souldiers , so he was made triumphant first , and so must we : whether the indies , or a ethiopia be our sad field ( there was saint matthew's day ; there he did fight his last ) we must march on , the word is martyrdome , the van is gone , and the prime leaders of the front are seen blazon'd with crosses , swords and axes keen , with sawes and poison'd cups , and gridirons hot , caldrons of boiling lead ( all to the pot ) and we , the following reer , must track by track , tread the same way , and end in the same rack . all 's but a death , the acute stone , the gout , ulcers in reines and bladder bring about their persecutors fate . but oh ! they die not once , but are reviv'd to misery . death after death , a second fate doth seize those , besides tortures of consciences . when quiet are the passages of saints , their ends are charity , and no complaints . forgivenesse fills their mouths , praises their heart , the tyrant's hurry'd hence , but these depart . upon the festival of s. michael . what ? warres in heaven ? angels disagree ? ovid hence took his gigontomachie , or else from babel : so that pelion , pindus and ossa ( batteries of stone ) were these bold builders babel , that whereby they thought t' have scal'd olympus 'bove the skie . unequal force ! like titans sawcy race , instead of iuno a void cloud embrace ▪ so satan , and abaddon , and his train conspir'd against the highest ( all in vain . ) michael doth muster up his holy host , ( who in their confirmation onely boast ) propt by divinity and their chieftains pow'r , that grand devourer they did soon devour . scatter'd those legions of unjust array , who took up armes , as lucifer bid say , for god , and hierarchy , and covenant took to make him glorious , but t' was but a hook , a snare , a devil-trepan to list gull'd sprights , and cozen them of their eternal rights . dethroning was th' intent ; the juncto-devils , vvhen they cry peace and truth , contrive all evils . but michael understood their cloak'd design , and did the underminers undermine . god and his angels , was the devils word , for god alone this angel drew the sword . no pow'r concurrent , no nor parliament , nor any trick of satans slye invent , ( as that their god should lesser be in pow'r then all his angels , and then each one more . ) these engines would not serve , for michael knew their false coynage , art for to rebell , and hating dawb'd hypocrisie worse farre then their hostility and open warre , bade the usurper and his specious tayle avaunt , and in gods name he did prevaile . down fell that fiery general and 's crew , and michael did his victory pursue ; left not a devil there , not to accuse , ( whom first he did mislead , and then traduce . ) but woe to us ! us men ! since this defeat expulsed satan makes the earth his seat , and makes base men his agents , which out-do in villany him and his angels too : he and his fellow-dragons about flie , arm'd with all malice and malignity , against the seed o' th' woman ; which bless'd seed , though bruis'd i' th' heel , yet broke the vipers head ; yet wounded , not subdu'd , he fights in blood , and his last station far a while makes good . heaven given for lost , and routed of all bliss , to people hell his dire ambition is : and to enlarge that kingdome 's his desire , though king and subjects all must dwell in fire . the world being his de facto , there he spy'd the lamb's most faire , but yet distressed bride , ( her bridegroom for a time in heaven contain'd ) his spotlesse spouse he hop'd to have profan'd , made her adultresse , and abjure her head , ( because not seen ) and take another bed . but she stood chaste and firm , defy'd his suit , then lust turn'd rage , and he did cast about how to confound , whom he could not perswade ; ( all stratagems in vain ) he will invade : her and her children this pursuer drives ; into the wildernesse , yet there she thrives ; short grass is sweet ; afflictions smooth the face , nothing so fair as persecuted grace . the blubber'd eyes of saints their ceruse proves , the choicest unguent which their high god loves . see how her children ( pretty lambkins ) run , ( not a whole skin their plunder'd backs upon ) some worry'd by fierce wolves and dogs of prey , as in the wildernesse they passe away : nor heeds the serpent , though he knowes full well , and his curs'd emissaries too can tell , they should not hurt nor wrong these little ones , because that angels are their guardians , and intimate their sufferings in god's eare , who 's slow to wrath , but will not long forbeare : 't is for a time and times ; but then come woes to this poor persecuted woman's foes . amen say heavens , angels fill the quire , triumphant be the church that 's purg'd by fire , that through the wildernesse and bloody sea , shall with her bridegroom keep long iubilee . upon saint lukes day , physitian and evangelist . no calling is exempt from grace ; why , priest , do'st thou exclude ? when an evangelist of a physitian 's made , who can deny this to be true religio medici ? see , our decry'd profession here is purg'd , let atheisme never 'gainst us more be urg'd , cleans'd and baptiz'd in thee ( most eloquent saint ) vve bid those foul aspersions avaunt . then for our lives , who ever liv'd with lesse then gallen , and renown'd hypocrates , vvho not by lessius or cornarus weight , ( measures of abstinence deviz'd of late ) did scale out diet ; that is tyranny , these were the standards of sobriety : and as a prince in physick should , they both oblig'd their willing patients by an oath : a voluntary sacrament , and why is not this too religio medici ? fasting and abstinence are harbingers to divine gifts , the one the other infers . no devil with his tricks can circumvent a fasting iohn , or iesus in his lent. and those fast alwayes , who do sparing feed , then are physitians a most sacred seed . it is the staple doctrine of my art , vvhich to our losse , to th' world we do impart : be temperate and live ; be temperate , and be an hercules , be wise , be that , and be a saint ; angels will be our guests , if we do treat them with such frugal feasts . physicians diet is like angels food , a very little , but 't is very good . now for our acts , saint luke his book of acts shall be our aera and our first epacts . to thee ( divine historian ) we owe vvhat of our saviours life and death we know : none hath so fully wrote ; and learn'd saint paul calls thine his gospel , as if that were all . saint paul had not been known , but that for thee , to thee we owe the church-chronologie . not such a history doth livy write , compar'd with thee deep tacitus is light . vvhere such a piece can any annals boast , as the descending of the holy ghost ? vvhen all the sacred apostolick quire spake all tongues with tongues , out of mouth in fire ; not iupiters escapes , nor the iliads , nor he who wrote of wandring trojan lads , comes neere saint paul's escapes and voyages , aenea's stormes in famous virgil's dress sounds not so high as thy saint paul's dire wrack , vvhen his wind-beaten barque did bulge and crack into a thousand pieces ; when heaven powers another sea into the main in showers : vvhen lightning was instead of sun , and th' aire in sheets of flashes had its lights repaire : vvhen thunder did with noyse of high winds vie , and did all voyces , but saint paul's , out-cry . then in that storm the greatest light was he , he like a rock in all that tyranny of winds and sea , stood unremov'd , and brought each soul to land , each splinter was a boat ; and his all-shatter'd ship came safe to bank , each passenger was shipt but on a plank . so floated this great navy of one bark , and paul the pilot of that swimming park . vvhen such an orator as thy saint paul ? or such oration as from him did fall ? the fam'd philippicks of demosthenes , and cicero's catalines , and anthony's ( gallant , but fatall speeches ) have ●o name with his oration of eternall fame . whose killing words and language spirit-shook the gaudy a governour , that bribes had took , and made a b king his convert . these ( saint luke ) are the great subjects of thy worthy book . physician 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , let me in physick and in gospel follow thee , e'ne unto roman martyrdome , when all but thee alone forsook th'apostle c paul. on simon and jude's day . brothers in blood , and blood ( a double die ) for martyrdome is a nativitie justly in church-account , thaddaean race , of meanest parentage , of meaner grace . we shall not blazon now your fishing-coates , your church-nobility's not from your boats , but pulpits , not unlike your trades before , fish-nets for souls almost in every shoare . how many at a cast saint peter caught ! a five thousand from a sermon , mighty draught ! simon , no lesse adventure didst thou make in aegypt , where thy holy baits did take that superstitious people ; won by thee , to leave their manifold idolatry . thence to ierusalem thou art recall'd , and iames thy brother stoned , there install'd bishop in 's place , remain in persia , or come unto the jews , the same 's your pay , this is the wages , this good bishops fate , ( that on the altar , not on the trencher wait ) to hang like b simon , or like 's brother c iude , be murder'd by a pagan multitude . old crucifie in vulgar mouths is loud still , and as high as for our saviours blood , whom in his priests they daily crucifie , and till he come last will this tyrannie . then in that monarchie ( be it call'd the fift ) he that was first lift up will these up-lift unto tribunals , seats of glory , where all their accusers naked shall appear in thousand horrours of confused mind , looking for shelter-mountains , but none find : wishing the seas vast entrailes would receive their souls ; or , that they are at all , they grieve : annihilation were a kindnesse , all twisse's distinctions metaphysicall give not a grain of comfort : not to be is better then to be in miserie . better be never born , then born for hell , and for god'sglory in pains lasting dwell . the milstone in the sea ( if it could hold the swallow'd captive ) that wretch rather would , then for 's a apostacy , and hating light , lie in the blacknesse of the darks of night . upon all-saints day . will you behold this glorious company in earth or heaven first ? there cannot be ( take all imperial pomp ) so rare a shew , whether the scene above be , or below . let then their first representation be , as they stood here i' th' vale of misery , in the church-militant : how they appear with cheerfull looks , but ragged every where ? poor in apparel , but in a spirit more , you 'l meet him in the streets and at your doore , in teares , in sighs , in many dolefull tone b bemoaning others , none doth them bemoan : c calm as the lew at sea , yet themselves blown by envy's blasts and sequestration upon the quick-sands of deep wants , yet then they are still meek and most becalmed men : nay , though their lenten faces , and dry cheeks , and shrivel'd stomachs for cold water seeks , ( and get it not ) their hunger doth encrease , and they thirst on ; but 't is for d righteousness . the mercy that they cannot finde , they give , they will not hurt the poorest worm alive : for f innocence is in their hearts and hand , no wool , no snow so white on cotswold-lands , as are their thoughts and actions ; their eyes and often lift-up hands are known to'th'skies ; and in contentions and domestick jarres , or when ambition raiseth civil warres , for g peace is all their intercession : no arm'd petitioners , which won't lay down , unlesse they have their wills ; which when they 've got , they are undone and ruin'd by the vote . no , these , though in their just requests deni'd , rest with repuls'd content , and satisfy'd : or if a a persecution on them fall , they don't recalcitrate , but take it all . call 'um malignants , enemies to th' state , ( words on good christians stampt too much of late ) a sigh perchance is sent , or look on high , but not a word provoking , rather die ; and for the name of iesus , and his truth , they b suffer gladly , open not the mouth . thus in their lower garments they appear , now in their upper robes , triumphant tire , please to behold them : those , those tatter'd things , the scorn o' th' world , the foot-balls of proud kings ; those are the persons now array'd in c white , in garments which surpasse the brightest light ; with ensignes of their blood-got victories , palmes in their hands ; these are the martyrs , these they whom despightfull men did hale like rogues , and hurrie up and down to synagogues , unto high courts of justice ; first by throats of people murder'd , then by judges votes . how hear they now ? another hue and die their actions bear : hark! there 't is loyaltie : vvhat here was treason call'd : disturber here is there a laureat for a peace-maker : the innovator here is there on high vvith angels all in uniformity , all in one voice ; one sacred anthem's sung , that holy quire , and sacred saints among . the spirit there , though present , and still by , likes their set form and holy liturgie . amen begins the hymne , amen concludes , and this is chanted out by multitudes , and tongues , and people of a several shew , vvho learn'd these anthems ( they there use ) below . vvhere 's their accusers now ? they 'r slunk away , and not a man has any thing to say : the mouth of all iniquity is shut , and satan to perpetual silence put . vvhat shall we do ? who live in the sad age , vvhere all these combatants were on the stage ; some flying up in fire , some flowing on in streams of their own blood to the lambs throne ; vve follow must , and with long steps adore these hero's , that shall never suffer more . who ne're shall thirst , nor hunger , nor drop tear , but with the lamb keep iubilean year . upon the prohibited festivall of the nativity of our saviour . what ? are our prayers refus'd ? and do the jews prevail ? that we decry this high day's news ? born , and not own'd ? 't is covenanted well , 'twixt rabbi presbyter and a israel . we shall joyn synagogues in time , and say , no christ come yet , as well as no christ's day . who could imagine things should alter thus ? that an index expurgatorius should passe upon the calendar , and red letters expung'd , and black be hallowed ? the very horn-books censures undergo , because they do begin with christ-cross-row . the times were not so stingie once , but cry'd , mass , i defie thee , but allow'd christ-tide . a generation now starts up so holy , that counts all festivals ( but two ) meer folly , saint rent day , and saint gunpowder ; the rest , as superstitious figments , are supprest . not so these sixteen hundred years , till now , as if a light from hell had broken through , and a new voice of sense quite contrary had cry'd , saul , saul , why dost thou honour me chim cham , enthusiasmes ; bells do backward ring with motto's chang'd , honour no god , no king. o for an athanasian spirit , that durst now stand up , and these new arrians flat ! or that the swedish sword had found the way to weed socinus from cracovia ! blest reformation , had it so gone on , and beat into their heads the first of iohn : a sword is best expositor for brains , who poyson scripture with divine rats-banes : but jews have shipt them over in dantz ' boats , and we ( like brutes ) have swallowed polish oats . crellians and crollians , and socinians we , and any thing but catholicks may be . thus hersie doth burgeon , since the creed in the suppressed liturgie doth bleed . but jew , do'st thou by an unalter'd law , ( as if the persian did thy conscience awe ) still keep a passeover ? and solemnize that day , the day from aegypts tyrannie , ( the type of this day's birth ) and we to wipe out of our calendars the antitype ? why don't we keep this festivall as well ? is a day from aegypt good , and not from hell ? did abraham joy through faith's dimme perspective to see in after-thousand years christ live ? and we , who from the true apostolick see deduce an uncontroll'd chronologie , ( like iob in bitternesse of soul ) defie and damn the day of this nativity ? are our own births and dayes but on repute , 'cause none our mothers can , nor clerks confute ? and shall the mother-church of the whole world in this one computation be controul'd ? senselesse contest ! when her authority for the alter'd sabbath good we grant to be : we give her faith to th' resurrection , but for the birth of christ her verdict's gone . abhor , my soul , this base confederacy ( praeludium to a sanedrim ) when i a synod see , and iudaisme go on from the deniall of the day to th' son. let us in chorus joyn with angels , they no share i' th' anthem have who hate the day . let us with eastern sages come from far , worship the babe discover'd by a star : and let the mad apostates of the age get gold and myrrhe , but ne're be counted sage . a meditation upon the churches pious observation of lent . this is that portion of the year , in which ( as the prophet sayes ) the lord calls for fasting and mourning , sackloth and ashes , the usuall rites of the jewish penitence ; wherein we christians ( as well as they of the circumcision ) should forsake our beds of pleasure , and boords , not onely of excesse , but convenient food , to the dismantling and attenuating the body , that the soul being made active and unclogg'd of the load of her unweildy scabbard , may be more expedite in the exercise of holy duties . he that is to go a great journey ( sayes minutius felix ) doth not load himself , but lighten his garments , lest the balast of his obese and heavy body should sink him in the way . ships that are for speed and saile are not big bottom'd , but gaunt , and made neat for their quicker dispatches . no man seeing a flemmin and a spaniard , both dress'd for a race , would ever imagine that the dutchman should come first to the goal ; wherefore with great care and wisdome hath the church of england called the first day of this quadragesimal fast , ashwednesday , dies cinerum , a day of the most low prostration of our mind and flesh to all acts of humiliation . in my university it is the day of convoking or convening our determining batchelors ( the lamb-skin hopes which the mother lately yean'd into the first degree of academick honour . ) these cyens , grafts of early learning , meet at a latin sermon , where the concionator excites them gravely and appositely to both sobrieties , the abstinence from lusts and meats , the nerves and sinews of the other , that these young men might be ( as solomon wished his ) rememberers of their creator in the dayes of their youth ; with which severe pickle if that age be seasoned , you have a poets warrant , servabit odorem testa diu & aliquid haerebit . their whole life will smell of the ingredients if it took a due and handsome tincture . this introductory sermon is the parent of many more , solemnly perform'd in another pulpit at s. peters in the east , and so held on till the religious grief of the whole lent ends in a joyfull resurrection sermon in that place , and two at s. mary's , which all are and have bin of late years most excellently repeated by two successive admirable sons of pia mater memoria : which circumstances premised , i shall to the matter of this meditation , which is the things for which we fast , and from which we fast . our saviour could not be imagin'd to undertake the latter part of this , whose pure and guiltless soul , as it could not be tainted , so it needed none of these auxiliaries for its pious support . holinesse it self , essentiall purity , wants no fulcra pietatis ; those props are for us mortals made of fragile composures , which are apt to faell and break , if not corroborated and strengthened by continuall covers and shields of grace and prayers . and for the things for which we fast ( unlesse it were the glory of his father ) christ also needed not to have undergone this miraculous lent , which no man could ever keep but himself , although some do not forbear to think and say that any man butterest up in grace may attain to such perfection . it were to be wished indeed , but never to be hoped for ; therefore the montanists of old , and the racovians of late ; and the roman catholicks , pretenders to highest discipline may prescribe much , but never can take this dose of penance , nor observe the rules they teach others : nor was this example of our saviour set for an adaequate rule , to be imitated either by his apostles , which were otherwise assisted then any of us , or by any of us , who though our spirits perchance may be willing , yet he knowes our flesh is weak ; deus non requirit ab homine , quod non habet , and our measures of grace are proportion'd to our capacities . if we are by divine assistances holy men , yet men are men still , and not gods. let no pharisaicall presumption delude us into a wildernesse ; for the experience of our strength and spirituall valour , for fear satan , that vigilant spie of all our devotions , smell out the pride or hypocrisie which first were of his instilling , and while we think to be similes altissimi , like christ in this duty , fall down and worship ( what he never could ) the devil himself . in my small observation i never found the most atlantick professors , both in civil and religious resolution and practice , those hectors for monarchy , and the hierachy in times of peace , i found them fall in the dayes of temptation most sadly . saint peters verbal magnanimity and great challenge ; what a poore come off hath it ? how does it end ? this dimock for christ layes downe the cudgels at the quaerie of a poor damosel , & turnes an apostate of a cavalier , untill a cock ( the valiant'st of creatures ) allarum'd his affrighted heart , and made him know that it is not good to crow before the christian engagement be begun : 't is not he that putteth on , but he that putteth off the armor , knows the success of the battel . this diversion pardoned , i shall succinctly touch ( for i intend a speech rather then a tract ) the res substrata , or subject of a fast : and first , the things we fast for , are faith , assistances of grace , and for gifts of prayer , whereby so assisted , we may persevere in that christian state wherein we finde our selves , for not onely resolutions of amendment of our lives , but reall changes . for both charities , that principal of the love of god and our neighbour , which indeed is the summary of the law , and the other lesser of the hand , which will be opened and enlarged , as the heart is enflamed within ; for fire is of a dilating and expansive property , which no clutch'd fist can ever hold . we fasted also , or should , for righteousnesse , justice , meeknesse , temperance , obedience , patience , thankfulnesse , and all christian and moral vertues ; and if we fast soundly , he that onely can quench that thirst and appease that appetite , will distill into your dry floores such comfortable showers , as the dew of sion and hermon hills cannot excel in fragrancy nor fertility . this is to fast for life , for everlasting life , and the bread of life that came down from heaven , will again descend by his spirit into your hearts , and fill you full of all spirituall joy and assurances of heaven , which are only certified to us by our constant sanctification , ietched out in fear and trembling . a christian is alwayes under a caveat , in his most souldierly posture upon his armour , this is the word , cave pedibus miles ; look to thy foot , take heed lest thou fall : the whole armoury of s. paul is but little enough to defend these militia-men against three such enemies , which sometime lie in ambuscadoes , sometime attempt them with open hostility , and batteries , and dangerous onsets , besides underminings : wherefore knowing you are to fight , whether in the wilderness , in a single duel , or in campania , in the open field , or pickeering , that is , against one particular vice ; cape arma , sta in procinctu ; be harnassed , be girt , and let the word be sit deus nobiscū ; let god be with us , and then you shall so fast and so fight , that a joyfull victory will follow , or quick delivery , which is as good . which hints unto me the second things from which we are to fast , which are most excellently enumerated in that singularly well composed prayer of the letany of our churches liturgy , wherein we pray god to deliver us from all evil and mischief , from sin , from the crafts and assaults of the devil : which if avoyded , by necessary consequence gods wrath and everlasting damnation will be escaped . and take the concluding prayer into your fasts , and say , from all sedition and privy conspiracy ( begot by & arising ) from false doctrine and heresie , and from hardness of heart ( which is now called tendernesse of conscience ) and contempt of gods word and commandements , ( which is now called the new light ) good lord deliver us . thus fast and you shall obtain , not out of the work done by you , which is acceptable , but in his fasting , who is onely gracious , and in whose merits all our lame and imperfect works are sanctified . for by his holy incarnation our flesh is purified , by his holy nativity and circumcision our new life is raised , & our old adam buried ; by his baptism , fasting and temptation , our fonts , our abstinence , our trials , are all made in some measure holy , so in the procession of his glorious merits . by his agony and bloody sweat , by his crosse and passion , our sufferings , plunderings and martyrdomes are crowned ; by his precious death and burial , by his resurrection and ascension , our pious exits and goings out of the sad stage of this world , our sursum corda , our lifted-up souls , our awakenings from the lethargie and death of our past sins , are gracious with his father , and beneficial to our selves . and by the coming of the holy ghost we are fortified and double guarded , intrench'd and pallissado'd against all the malice of our invading enemie , the world , the flesh , and the devil . feare not little garrison , though you fast a while , relief is coming , yea , & by a party of horse , by an army , such as elias was upon the mountain , greater in number then your enemies . fear not , besieged soul , for god will rescue thee , and he shall bring you forth from this garrison of the world , with colours flying , drumms beating , & all but your moneys , which must be left behind ; that bunch in the camels back , which must be crush'd , and pash'd , and wire-drawn , before you can be fitted to take that narrow pass , the eye of the needle ; and then look before you the strait way of christian discipline , the gauntlet run , what joy doe you enter into ! what variety of heavenly mansions ! where every souldier for his earthly services hath a patrimony , which cannot be taken from him , which cannot suffer waste , but is upon improvement for ever , where every souldier hath a medall of his chieftaines donation , the seal of the everliving god , which is the badge of his fidelity , and a perpetual and indelible character of his loyalty to his master : no more shall be heard the word of indigent officers , or any such sarcastick sound against them ; for they shall hunger no more , nor thirst any more ; neither shall the sun of persecution , nor any heat of oppression light on them : but the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to fountaines of living waters , and god shall wipe away all teares from their eyes . amen . a meditation on the passion of our saviour . i do present your royall highnesse with such a scene of sorrow , such a tragedy , as that age onely beheld , and no age after it shall see , the prince of peace , the councellor , murthered by his own people , crucified at his own gates : was there any sorrow like this sorrow ? which is magnified by the dignity of his person , by the basenesse of his accusers , the falsenesse of the accusations , the impudence of his judges . from which unjust tribunal , those that loved him fled : at whose sufferings the ashamed sun withdrew its light , testifying by its miraculous opacity and darknesse , that the god of light was extinguished , the earth opened ; and had not the god of mercy and love forbad , would have swallowed the nation , as it did once before a part of them , whilest his helplesse spectators ( the ever blessed virgin his mother , with his belov'd disciple ) stood by pierc'd at the heart to see him so pierc'd , to see her son ( the son of god ) so roughly and barbarously butcher'd , by those who liv'd , and mov'd , and had their being from him , while god look'd through the cloud , permitting ( what was from eternity designed ) men and devils to act a piece of wickednesse , which was the ruine of the contrivers , the devils fatal overthrow , the destruction of ierusalem , the abandoning of the iewes , and redemption of the whole world. pardon me sir , if in honour to my saviours sufferings , i undertake what would ask the pen of the most ready writer , and he onely could truly blazon that princely prophet , from whose loyns ( as to the flesh ) he was descended . i had need of a protection royal , nay an army royal , for a guard , while i enter upon the history . as many enemies hath christ himself as had his father david , gebal , and ammon , and amaleck ; the philistines , with they of tyre , hagarens , moabites and ishmalites , and a number of confederate and associate conspirators united against the tribe of iudah ; so against this lion of that tribe are combin'd marcionites , ebionites , eutichians , nicolaitans , arrians , socinians , and a hidra of schismaticks , all of them either enemies of his humanity or divinity . these crucifie not his person on the crosse , but his natures in their heretical writings : they untext the gospel of s. iohn , and with false and pitiful glosses would perswade their sectaries that tempus erat quando non suit , that there was some time when he was not , and so labour to null his eternal and coessential being with his father before all worlds , deprive him of his just right of creation of the world , testified by that eagle-ey'd evangelist , who sayes , directed by the holy ghost : by him all things were made , and without him nothing was made that was made ; who being the wisdome of his father , was the most accomplish'd agent through the holy spirit to effect that stupendious convex that hoops in this lower orb. and how bravely were these blasphemies introduc'd by the assassination of a most christian king aurelius * , & that murder proving successeful , per scelera sceleribus iter est , they march in a procession of wickednesse , and streight stab the deity of him that is anoynted for evermore : that inhuman butchery got an empire to phocas , and a triple crown to his sacrificing * priest , who ever since usurps the purple robe ; a fit die and eternal testimony of his blood-got supremacy over his fellow-bishops . these crucifie the scriptures , as the jewes did christ , and expunge the sense , though not the words : and whereas the letter sayes , none shall be greater then another , they say , one shall , and is above them all ; nay not onely their apostolick overseers , but in ecclesiasticis , over emperours and kings . well gratified ( old phocas ) that by the base acquisition of a diadem , straight didst part with the best flower in it . no such regimen was left by our saviour , nor no such vicar , nor no such peter , with a brandisht sword , no such boanerges , with a sublunary fire , cellars of gun-powder and spiritual ammunition , that shall more expeditely conveigh three estates to heaven , then elias fiery chariot ; yet this usurpation still obtains upon some princes , who for politick ends , or for fear of raviliacks and jesuited daggers , or which is ▪ worse , for covetous and ambitious designes , suffer that christ that is in them , to have his head stuck with thornes , and his mouth imbitter'd with this damnable doctrine , the lees of the cup of the lady of babylon . how far short are our sectarians at home , who hold not forth indeed a golden cup , but a worse , an a antinomial cup ; which if the princes of this world drink , the rough emetick will make them void all the just prerogatives belonging to their sacred authorities . up comes first the militia , without which kings are as powerful as our saviour with his reed in his hand . arundinem pro sceptro , they must hold forth a bulrush instead of a scepter . the next reach or straine of this vomitary purge , is potestas vitae & naecis , without which there can be no magistrate , the administration of justice , the dispensations of rewards and punishments , being the charter of god , delegated to his servant the king , for the encouragement of the good , and punishment of evil persons . the third operation is as bad , which fetches all his jurisdiction ecclesiastical up at one heave , and throwes that precious right into the classical bason first , and then into the great caldron of a provincial synod , in which his own head must boil , if he dissent from that consistorian sentence and assembly suffrage . what jew , what loyolist of ignatius could ever desire more ? these are the abisgah of our adonirams & adonijah's humble petition to his majesty , and let his answer be ( as i hope his wisdome is ) like solomon's , aske the kingdome also to be tripartite and divided betwixt abiathar a covenanting presbyter , and ioab the son of zervia , a traiterous generall : so let the king serve them as solomon did , who dare to intreat him from his power with bended knees , and hands lift up to heaven , yet carry short swords to destroy the loyal abners , the kings most trusty and well-beloved friends . so let the king displace such abiathars , who not subscribing to the enacted lawes of the land , under pretence of weak conscience , have the consciences to disturb the peace of the land , and affront the government thereof . there is no fear , royal sir , that your majestick brother should want zadocks , orthodox and loyal priests : for look , sir , in the cave , where god hath hid from cruel persecution five thousand , who never bowed to the baal of those dayes , nor fell down to worship the calfe , though made of the ear-rings , whistles , bodkins and silver spoons of the deluded sisters of the nation . let them bite upon the bit , and stoop to the sentence of the house of eli and abiathar , till they snap at a morsel of bread out of the inferiour tables belonging to your high priests . if upon any threats or solicitations , these prerogatives be parted with , then take heed of a tolle , & crucifige , away with him , crucifie him ; as your martyr'd father saith in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , kings once divested of their power , are soon imprisoned , and then murdered . for truly , royal sir , the lives of princes run almost parallel with their saviours : their whole reignes are but continued passions . damocles did well in his item of regal care and danger to suspend a naked sword with the point downward , by a slender twist over his head as he sate at table . how early was thy persecution , my deare redeemer , when thy cradle was not free from a murtherous herod , whose life he so much thirsted for , that many hecatombs of infants were musthered for fear thy tender person should escape . that streame of innocent blood was praeludium to the death of the lamb , that the red sea wherein thou didst float to aegypt , which harbour'd thee in thy flight , the onely goshen of the land. no pharaoh's daughter now to suckle this divine exile , but angels were thy rockers and nurses , and the apis of aegypt , i mean the cow , was prostrate , and fed the onely via lactea , or milky way to heaven . herod dead , and the wise men thy worshippers , star-guided home , thou didst return to thy ierusalem , a while to preach , anon to die . 't is true indeed , the loaf-fed multitude , very pious by qualmes and fits , especially when their bellies are full , would have made an earthly prince of the king of heaven : but thou that knewest the danger of such principalities , didst flie from a scepter with more hast then richard the third came to it , of whom it is storied , that he came from the womb with his feet forward , and he made wicked speed , and in a crimson flood swom to the crowne , which he did not long enjoy , the duke of richmond soon after avenging the blood of his slain kindred in bosworth field , which was his just aceldama . just got diadem , regal inheritances are insecure , but ill acquired thrones never sit safe , and tyrants seldome make a drie end , but are wet and bedewed in blood to their graves . neque enim lex justior ulla est , quam necis artifices arte perire sua . 't is just th' inventers of great torments have the executions they to others gave . there is a bull for a phalaris , nay his owne bull , a thomaris for cyrus , a gibbet for haman , an axe for a bloody rump , and a pole rampant higher then the rest for an aspiring oliver . our saviour said , his kingdome was not of this world , he was lord over it , lord paramount , and these the fifth monarchists , who so much contend for his reign upon earth , though they make themselves onely his subjects , shall never see their adopted king , whom the heaven of heavens must contain , untill all kingdomes , levellers and all , are levelled with the earth . he came not to wear a crown of gold , but thorns , which made his head so many fontinells of blood , every prick opening an orifice , whence issued salvation to the world . in the garden this bloody fight began , when by his strong apprehension of the imminent danger , he sweat thick drops of blood , the soveraigne water of that garden : then he prayed , that man of sorrow deprecated , that that cup might pass . vox hominem sonat ; the prayer shewes him man , but his suffering and his submission , god : not my will , not the will of me , as man , for what man can court death ? but thine and my will , as god , be done . therefore his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his vehement groaning and weeping were the strong and emphatick emanations of his sad soul , laden with the sins of the whole earth , as a cart is laden with sheaves , in which are millions of millions of grains , the complicated vices of the seed of adam ; so was this winepress-treader burthened , who alone trod the grapes in garments sprinkled with his own blood. can we heare this , and not compassionate ? weep daughters of ierusalem a little for him , but more for your selves , for whose defections , whose spiritual fornications , for whose pride and luxury , covetousnesse and hypocrisie : this hen ( that so oft would have gathered you as chickens under his healing wings ) is pull'd and torn to pieces , hash'd by barbarous souldiers and tumultuous villaines . if we can , let us with watery eyes follow the pomp and prowess of his sufferings : through water and tears objects are magnified , but this shew cannot be made greater by any optick helps . the god that made us is as much above our decyphering as comprehension , and no painter , no apelles can draw the lines of this representation , so strong the agony , so vehement , that an angel is sent to strengthen the man ( the god for a time withdrawn . ) the angel no sooner gone ( o take not from us those guardians ! ) see a multitude comes , and iudas , a devil and his legions : the traitor now acts his part , this holy cut-purse , this pious uses man , whose love to money made him verbally good to the poor . he was more thirsty and saving for a box of precious oyntment then for the lords anoynted : for with a kiss ( the signe and seal of highest affection ) this false apostle betrayes the lord of life to certain death ; for thirty pieces of silver sells the king of righteousnesse to the devils emissaries . auri sacra fames quid non mortalia cogit , pectora . a purse of gold , and a million of money shall preponderate and out-weigh plighted allegiance , covenanted fidelity , and a king ( if queen argent command ) shall be delivered to the merciless cruelties of implacable beasts . now the rout have him and souldiers , captaines and chief priests , a combination of murtherers , ( but a jewish high court of iustice ) they first privately in the close committee vote him to death , & in mockery of the law bring false witnesses against him in the court. as iudas was brib'd to betray his person , so these mercenary mouths sweare his guilt , accuse him of a fact he never did , nor they never knew . this is the known artifice against all good and loyal men in every age : when their vertues and actions grow either suspected and hateful to the state , then sparge res voces , in vulgum ambiguas & quaerere conscius arma , if lies will not prevaile , tumults and souldiers doe it without fail . so the renowned prelate , the noble earle of strafford , and his sacred majesty of ever blessed memory , were belyed out of their lives , and armies raised to defend the lawlesse execution . but the jewes may not put any man to death , that morsel of sweet revenge & regall power was not permitted to their elderships ; they might accuse stoutly , but could not sentence : that jurisdiction was the sole priviledge of the supreme power , which at that time was tiberius the second emperour from caesar , so then to pilate his governour under him , was this innocent person led by malicious persecutors , whose charge is , that he was an innovator , a sabbath-breaker , an enemy of caesars , i , there it went ; for pilate was to look to that above all other accusations : the first device of his intention to change religion , was to open the peoples throats , who though they understand little in the point , yet they are alwayes very fierce for the word , and are very jealous of losing that indeed they never had ; but all these aggregated and accumulated treasons would not reach to his life : 't is strange they had not begg'd the murder , and enacted it with a salvo law to their own necks , ne trahatur in exemplum . but that trick was reserv'd for our modern jewes , who far out-did these of the text : for our saviour begs pardon and forgiveness for these , excusing them to god , because of their ignorance , they knew not what they did ; and the apostle afterward apologizes for them , if you had known , you would not have crucified the lord of life ; but our hirudines , our king-leeches , the eldership of the late model knew that charles the first was their king , had sworn faith and allegiance to him , and yet in pursuance of a blessed covenant , suffered their fellow-foxes to worry that lamb of the land to death . their hypocriticall excuse is nothing , that they never intended the business should go on to blood : but , qui nolunt occidere quenquam , posse volunt . many there are who will not kill , but wish the power to do it still . is it the axe onely destroyes ? do not the accusers , doe not the witnesses , doe not the despoylers of the fences of innocency do as much as the executioner ? he is more excusable then the other , for being an appointed minister for that purpose ; he does the commands of superiours , and let them look to it , whosoe're were the authors and abettors , who brought him to the block . but observe , i pray , what a league of love is struck in the very height of an intended murther , herod and pilate , two publick ministers of the emperial state , are this day cemented into a fresh amity by the blood of christ , sectarians and souldiers , cromwell , bradshaw and ireten could not hugg closer in private then these great officers did in publick ; quos opinio divisit , scelus hoc conjunxit ; whom diversities of religions did divide , a prosperous mischief does unite . o fatall friendship ! for by this confederacy the lord of heaven & earth was exalted to the shamefull death of the cross , see him pendent in his own aire , which when he made it was good , but desires to be now as it was before struck out of chaos ; haec est illa dies quae magnae conscia caedis , exitio christum ( virgo beata ) dedit : this is that fatall day , and conscious hour , virgin , which kill'd thy son our saviour . see here the type of that brasen serpent , long ago raised up in the wilderness , which saves even those that fixt him to the crosse , that sav'd the trooper longinus , who , converted at the sight of his sacramental blood , and miracles of the passion , was baptised at the wound himself made in his side ; soveraign is the blood of soveraignes ; so the blood-dipt hankerchief of a scoffing souldier proves a cure to the kings evil , when they had done all evil unto him . the scoffs , the taunts , revilings of stony hearted spectators were greater piercings to him then that of the spear , that was vinegar to his eares , more sharp and acid then that of the spunge ; a sad draught to drink his last in ; yet in that salutem propinavit mundo , he drank saving health to the whole world. and so , exit regum optimus , vitaque cum gemitu fugit exornata sub umbras . but what a scene is in that last catastrophe ? the sun withdrew his light , the temple rent assunder , the graves opened . let me a little paraphrase here : so was it ( under correction ) at the departure of our king ? the light , which was more precious then the suns , the gospel , was for a time clouded and extinct : darkness , worse then egyptian , surrounded us , no goshen , but here and there a light , like ignes fatui , the wise and learned of the land wandered up and down in fields and dens ; the routed glow-worms of this land shone for all that in this obscurity . temples rent not onely , but pull'd down , or violated by horsedung , and what is worse , dungmen . graves opened , and the bodies of new saints streight appeared , which no man ever knew before . these graves were truly open sepulchres , which devoured widowes houses , royalists estates , church , kings and bishops lands . see now what a pharaoh's dream is new interpreted : the lean kine , the meanest , basest and worst wretches of the land , eat up the fat , the rich , the fortunate ; and what becomes of the lowing of these oxen ? the bleating of these sheep ? alas , ye fooles , ye saw not the hand-writing on the wall ; your mene tekel was then set up , and your fatnesse onely prepared you for the slaughter . saginati in caedem , — mischiefs feed like beasts , till they be fat , and then they bleed . a meditation upon the th . of may , being his majesty's birth-day , and day of restauration , and upon the fifth of november , being the day of the general deliverance of the king and parliament from the gunpowder-treason . if the noyse of ioy were not as loud as that of treason , we should not on this day hear the news of our own redemption ( said a learned arch-deacon of christ church ) and to quote an eminent prelate of the same house , i shall borrow a little preface from him also , and say , sicut infra sic supra , sicut extra sic intra , as the mine of the first treason was in a cellar , and below the house , so the second , which was no lesse in intention , and higher in execution , was in the house it self , where depraved and most wicked persons out-gunpowdered the popish conspirators . what those intended , these acted , & the conclave was but the antimasque to the consistory . if ever lenthall the faithless speaker spoke any thing true , it was , that the presbyterians were and are the mortal enemies to monarchy . this was no extorted confession , but the words of a dying sinner , affraid , of the account he was to make to him by whom kings reign . his vast estate could not quiet a troubled conscience , nor will brandywine , though it intoxicate for the present , comfort or relieve a harrison , or a hugh peters . sir henry vane saying he died a presbyterian , shewed he died a rebel in grain , and in his confession aggrevated his sin against god , and entail'd to that faction . i believe the prick-ear'd knight thought to see a new war out of the elysian fields , where he , cromwel , ireton and bradshaw , are dancing a fiery morris , and the three furies playing upon severe instruments to their deplored changes . let not any man or party think , that evil is , or ought to be done , that good may come of it , when it is contrary to the expresse words of the text : no man is able , or can , or must bring good events out of bad actions ; 't is onely god can do that , and alwayes does , who over-ruling all designes , and suffering high mischiefs for ends best known to himself , doth , and providentially did confound the presbyterian contrivances by an anabaptistical army , and that army by an indigent rump , and an almost beggar'd city , and the sound rather then the power of an army , and so restored without a blow , a most heroick prince to the rights which every one of those factions had deprived his father of . who , i pray , but god blasted the councils of achitophel , dethroned the hotspur absalon , intrapped the politick adonijah and his second , ioab , the revolted captain of the host of israel ? men may plot , but god orders the event : what are the tutelary angels of kingdomes for , but to execute his will , and to over-rule the mad enterprizes of ambitious , covetous and blood-thirstymen ? nor doe i write this because of the joyfull event onely , but in the midst of the usurpers glory it was my faith , though i could not assure my selfe the sight of it , that it would be brought to pass . these are thy doing , o god , and it is wonderfull in our eyes ; let our hearts be enlarged with thankfulness , as thy favours are amplified above our deserts . honourable mention is made by the parliament for the th . of may , and in everlasting memory will be the fifth of november . here the grandfather , uncle and father of our king was preserved from the blow of unruly fire ; and now the joy of our hearts , the breath of our nostrils wonderfully brought in into a gasping and almost expiring kingdome : ezekiels vision acted to the life , bones , carcases , skelitons , are re-enlivened , reflesh'd , and walking , not like trees , but trees reverst , men indeed , royalists , the reputed off-scouring of this nation , in feathers , velvet jumps , and gold belts , as if it had been their resurrection day : an army , but a moneth ago in pay against their prince , the loyal reer-guard of his majesty's person : red-coats , that routed him at worcester , and my heroick duke at dunkirk , houting and shouting loud vive le roy's , tossing their caps for joy that he was come again to them , whom god would exalt . the devils extorted confession of our saviour was the effect of a divine power , and these acclamations were the finger-work of god , who can turn the hearts of men as it pleaseth him best , who stills the raging of the people , and allayes the foaming of the sea. let us therefore cry salvation to him that sitteth on the throne , & setteth in the throne : let our amen be as a clap of thunder , and our hallelujahs as the roaring of the sea. let the harmony of our souls out-voice the organs , and let the anthem of all true englishmen be , as that sometimes of the angels at the birth of christ , so now at his restitution to this island , glory be to god on high , good will to men , and peace on earth . let the discontented no more repine at what the lord hath brought about ; let them not fight against heaven , but imitate this story of philip , the husband of queen mary , who when he heard of the loss of his formidable armado , dispersed and scattered by the fleet of queen elizabeth ( but as it was related to him by a tempest ) he patiently said , he did not send his navy to fight against god almighty . the . of may be ever as the spring it self for glory , a day of all ornaments , feasts , and jubilee , for two such great blessings , a prince born , and a prince reborn without a baptism of blood to his crown of inheritance . caesar came to a dictator-ship through a pharsalia field of blood. but here was no feri faciem miles , strike at their faces souldiers , but rather a parce civibus , an act of indemnity , which every citizen should wear in their hats , to expiate for the libellous petitions they sometimes so carried . in that oblivion let the triumphs for two seditious barrabbas's burton and bastwick be for ever forgot , and let the cursed hue and cry maker be forgiven , and his . exit tyrannorū ultimus be washed out of his conscience , as it is exploded from the statue . let the crucifige of the souldiers be drowned in their vivat rex , and let the pouder of the petropolitans be buried in the earth from whence it is made , even in that cellar where it was barrell'd up for king and parliaments destruction . let the restoring of a true persecuted church inform the roman catholicks , that this is mother of the true children , the common prayers add good preaching , which the dragon of huntington , general under the great dragon in the apocalyps , pursued into the wildernesse : but see how she sits , most eminent , most conspicuous ; o may she continue so for ever ; and let her priests be cloath'd with righteousnesse , as with a surplice , and with meekness and liberality as in scarlet robes and rich mitres . and you my loving friends of the clergie , raise your selves high by good examples , lives and hospitalities in the opinion of the people ; and do not as the giants of old , who by heaps of mountaines fought against heaven , do not not you , i say , by piles of multiplied steeples think so to ascend thither : but as you are souldiers of the church militant , remember the advice of s. iohn baptist's to the caesareans ; or if you like best the text of the apostle , let a bishop or presbyter be the husband of one wife ; which in the rhemish interpretation , or in the literal , is good ; or as the poet saith , pectora nostra duas non admittentia curas . yet do not , i beseech you , misunderstand me , for i am not against pluralities , where they are conferred upon deserving and suffering persons , but i am really against plus-plurimalities . and so i conclude these well intended meditations , desiring your royal highness gracious incouragement , whereby i may be warmed into another work. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e * virgil. † magnum iovis incrementum . ) luke . v. . * luke . v. . a sicut septuaginta interpretum glossa . a cradle . b luke . ▪ a the king and apostle . b act. . , . c ciceronis orot . contra m. anton. & catilinam . 〈…〉 acts . . ( a ) hensius in oratione natalitiâ . ( b ) joh. . ver . . verse . c honesta publico gaudent , scelera secreta sunt . minutius felix . a three epistles of saint iohn . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verba novissima emorientis apostoli . c irenaeus . lib. adversus ▪ heret . a ioseph . b herod . c mallem horodis esse porcus quam filius . a dorotha● virgo , martyr . b rachel lugens . c ecclesia plorans suos per universum orbem discerptos . a the sacerdotal knife of circumcision . a acts . . b s. aug. a luke , a nunc dimittis . a pondus in i verbis & vocem fata sequuntur . a duplessis . b maximilla , wife to egeas , proconsul of achaia . a iudat . a duplessis , euseb. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a psal. . a knox of scotland , and his sectary's . b matthias stonn'd to death by the jews , dupl●ssis . a isa. . . a ald. ir — mayor , . a persecutions under the first emperors . b ephes. . , . a eph. . . b which iudas kept . c allusion to chess-play . d see the collect for the day . a twelve apostles . b aerius condemned of heresie and schisme , for equalling presbyters with bishops . c equalling a bishop with a presbyter . d s. iames his generall epistle , v. . a the pulpit . b iames threw headlong from the temple , and stoned to death . dupl . c buried by the temple . euseb. d james . . e acts c. . f joh. . , . g with his head upwards , as peter's was downward . a regnum christi non est de hoc mundo . b quid proderit universum mundum lucrari , & animam perdere ? c healing the cripple at lystra , act. . a bristol and other places . b acts c. . a duplessis . b luc. . . c acts . . a the two places where s. matthew preacht and converted ; in the later he was murder'd . a felix . b agrippa . c the second of paul to timothy . a acts . . b st. simon crucified under atticus . c st. iude muder'd at e. dessa . dupless . euseb. a the general epistle of iude. a mat. . . b ver. . c ver. . d ver. . ver. . f ver. . g ver. . a verse . b verse . c rev. . . a a jew , who would have bought saint pauls church for a synagogue . students of all souls , and magd. coll. rev. . . john . . * or moritius . * boniface the third . a against the commandements . luke . . verse . verse . virg. 〈◊〉 . arch-bishop laud. luke ▪ . . die lunæ . martii, . it is this day ordered by the commons assembled in parliament; that the day of publique thanks-giving, appointed by both houses to be kept on wednesday next the th. of this instant march, ... england and wales. parliament. house of commons. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e k thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) die lunæ . martii, . it is this day ordered by the commons assembled in parliament; that the day of publique thanks-giving, appointed by both houses to be kept on wednesday next the th. of this instant march, ... england and wales. parliament. house of commons. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] [i.e. ] title from heading and first lines of text. imprint from wing. signed: h. elsynge cler. parl. d. com. an order of the house of commons "that the day of publique thanksgiving appointed to bee kept on march bee observed on all churches and chappels within the lines of communication." reproduction of the original in the british library. eng public worship -- great britain -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- civil war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no die lunæ . martii, . it is this day ordered by the commons assembled in parliament; that the day of publique thanks-giving, appointed england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die lunae . martii , . it is this day ordered by the commons assembled in parliament ; that the day of publique thanksgiving , appointed by both houses to bee kept on wednesday next the th . of this instant march , bee observed on the same day , in all the churches and chappels within the lines of communication . and the assembly of divines are desired to take notice hereof , and to employ their best endeavours and care herein . and my lord major is further desired to give notice hereof to all the severall and respective ministers . h. elsynge cler. parl. d. com. a declaration of his highness, inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) a declaration of his highness, inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : o. cromwell) england and wales. council of state. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by henry hills and john feild printers to his highness, london : [i.e., ] dated at end: given at whitehall this . of march . reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . public worship -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no a declaration of his highness, inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion op blazon or coat of arms a declaration of his highness , inviting the people of england and wales to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation . that we all in these nations have more than ordinary cause to humble our selves , and to lay our mouths in the dust in fasting and prayer before the lord at this time , will undoubtedly be agreed by all . amongst many others let these following motives induce us to be very solemn and serious in this duty . i. we having made peace with all our neighbour nations , and upon righteous grounds deeply engaged in a war with the spaniard , with whom we had no peace , but where he pleased , and from whom we could obtain none for the future , without subjecting the lives , liberties and estates of the people of these nations trading thither , to the bloody inquisition , and other papall determinations , nor unless we would quit our claims of satisfaction for multiplied injuries done us , in shedding the innocent blood of this people , and expulsing them out of divers islands , of which they were justly possessed , as is more at large expressed in the late declaration , holding forth the grounds and reasons of our undertaking against them . the lord hath been pleased in a wonderful manner to humble and rebuke us , in that expedition to the west indies , which although we apprehend was not in favour of the enemy , yet gives us just reason to fear , that we may have either failed in the spirit and manner wherewith this business hath been undertaken , or that the lord sees some abomination , or accursed thing , by which he is provoked thus to appear against us . ii. that whilest the lord has thus abased us ( instead of humbling our selves under the mighty hand of god , and each man searching and repenting of the plague and evil of his own heart , and mourning for so great an affliction upon the whole land , and more principally on the interest and profession of the gospel in all the world ) some most unnaturally rejoice , others are apt hastily to apply according to their fancies ; being too forward to give a reason of the judgements of god , which are so great a deep , and particularly to assign the reason of this sharp dispensation , not considering that the lord may for tryal as well as in judgement , exercise the faith of his people . others imputing the cause onely to the evil of the magistrate , who profess ( if there were no other provocation ) even for their own sins justly to have incurred all this , and much more , and hope they can in some measure desire to redeem the losse sustained by this heavy stroke , with their lives , desiring nothing more than a conviction from the lord . and have appointed this day of humiliation , that the magistrate , together with all such as fear the lord , may deal impartially with their own souls , before the lord , in a matter of so great concernment . iii. that the people of god continue still in their animosities , and improve not such strokes unto love and union , whilest by the advantage thereof , the common enemy , both at home and abroad , take encouragement to hope , that the time hastneth wherein they shall swallow us up ; but instead thereof , some of the same faith in all things necessary to salvation , upon private thoughts of their own , hold up still a quarrel with , and opposition to their brethren , about christs kingdome , or rather their own understanding of the time , and manner of it , we mean those of them , who will not give way that others wait upon the spirit of god for light in this matter . others still differing about forms , even to the breach of the royal law . others repining at the present begun reformation , though having much tendency to good , both as to the comfort and security of the godly , and discountenance of wicked men , and wickedness ; wherein through god it hath had some small effect , and also , which ( which is most sad ) even because it hath had the success to unite more good men upon the old principles of love and truth than any expedient the providence of god hath brought forth since these troubles . iv. that still we murmur and are unquiet , unthankful to the lord , weary of our peace , making it a light thing to run again into blood ; we despise magistracy , and are become weary of the preaching of the gospel , and other ordinances of christ . v. oathes , prophaneness , unmercyfullness , oppression covetousness , and seeking great things in such shaking times , not mourning when the lord calls to it , nor being sensible of our condition . these and many more are just causes and provocations to us to mourn ; especially taking in this aggravation that the lord hath done for us , yea even for his people here , above what he hath done for any people . vi . adde to these the condition of the protestant churches abroad , the members whereof have very lately been massacred in piedmont without sparing age or sex , are bleeding in switzerland , divers there having been put to death for no fault , but being protestants ; the designes upon the whole interest by the popish party almost in all places of europe , and the grounds of their quarrel and persecution for religion , more clear and avowed then in many years before . vii . and lastly , that the lord would pardon the iniquities both of magistrate and people in these lands , wherein the magistrate desires first to take shame to himself and sind out his provocation , as well as lay it upon others , and that the lord would pardon our iniquities and convert us unto himself , and bless our poor friends in the indies , and go out with our fleets , and prosper our undertakings as formerly by his own blessed presence , and unite us in love , causing mercy and truth to meet together , and righteousness and peace to kiss each other , and thereby exalt his own great name , make our land glorious and bless his cause and people in all the world , and hasten the time of the pulling down of antichrist , and expelling out of these lands the unclean spirit , is this day of solemn humiliation and prayer appointed to be upon friday the . of march . given at whitehall this . of march . london printed by henry hills and john feild printers to his highness , . an act for the observation of a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act for the observation of a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by iohn field, printer to the parliament of england, london : . order to print dated: friday the fourth of june, . signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. with parliamentary seal at head of text. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- politics and government -- - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act for the observation of a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms an act for the observation of a day of publique fasting and humiliation . the parliament acknowledging from the bottom of their hearts the abundant mercies of their good god continually heaped upon this nation , notwithstanding their great vnworthiness and unproportionable returns of thanks in their lives and actions ; and being sensible withal of those new dangers which this nation seems to be threatned with , and hath most justly deserved , have thought fit to have recourse to the same god by publique humiliation and prayer , for averting his iudgements , and removing those sins which otherwise may call for those iudgements , and for obtaining a blessing upon the councels and forces of this commonwealth both by sea and land : be it therefore enacted by this present parliament , and by authority thereof , that a day of solemn fasting and humiliation be set apart to be observed on wednesday the ninth of june , one thousand six hundred fifty two , in the cities of london and westminster , and within the late lines of communication and weekly bills of mortality ; and upon wednesday the thirtieth of june following , in all other cities , towns and places within england , wales , and the town of berwick upon tweed : and that the ministers of the respective parishes and places aforesaid , be and hereby are required and enjoyned to give notice hereof on the lords-day next preceding the day so to be observed : to the end the people may more diligently attend the publique exercises of gods worship and service on that day ; and for the better observation thereof , the parliament doth inhibit and forbid the holding or use of all fairs , markets , and servile works of mens ordinary callings on the respective days aforesaid : and all majors , sheriffs , iustices of peace , constables , and other officers , be and are hereby enjoyned to take special care of the due observation of the said day accordingly . friday the fourth of june , . ordered by the parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti . london , printed by iohn field , printer to the parliament of england . . act of the synod of lothian and tweeddale, anent the observation of a fast, with the causes thereof. edinburgh the sixth day of may years post meridiem. church of scotland. synod of lothian and tweeddale. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing c a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) act of the synod of lothian and tweeddale, anent the observation of a fast, with the causes thereof. edinburgh the sixth day of may years post meridiem. church of scotland. synod of lothian and tweeddale. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, printer to the kings most excellent majesty, edinburgh : . caption title. signed at end: extracted by jo. sandilands cls. syn. pr. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . public worship -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion act of the synod of lothian and tweeddale , anent the observation of a fast , with the causes thereof . edinburgh the sixth day of may years post meridiem . the provincial synod of lothian and tweddale met here , taking to their consideration , the dispensations of god in his providence , with respect to the season of the year , in this cold and unkindly spring ; did judge that god was thereby calling them , and the people under their charge to solemn humiliation , for averting his threatned judgements : and therefore appointed tuesday the seventeenth day of this current moneth of may , to be observed as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation , in all the churches within the bounds of the said synod , for these causes following . . that notwithstanding the light of the glorious gospel shining among us , there is a great contempt of the gospel , much ignorance and ungodliness in the land , and self-seeking , and lukewarmness in the matters of god among all ranks of persons , and profaneness and wickedness grow , the shameful sins of drunkeness and uncleaness , swearing , sabbath-breaking , the total neglect by some , and superficial performing by others of the worship of god , both in secret and in families , abound in city and countrey , and by frequent murders blood toucheth blood. . that notwithstandidg of vows and engagements national and personal , and after severe judgements , and signal mercies , and after solemn humiliations people go on in their sins and continue impenitent , hard hearted and unreformed . . that for these & other sins , the wrath & displeasure of god is visible against us in the unkindly cold & winter-like spring , whereby god threatnes to blast our expectations and hopes of the fruits of the earth , and cut off man and beast by famine , and that already there is a great dearth arisen , and in many places of the land they have great want both of food and seed , and the cattel and sheep die in great numbers , and yet we are not duely affected therewith , but there is generally a woful stupidity and security . . the dangerous state of the church both at home and abroad , through the spreading of atheistical and blasphemous opinions contrary to , and destructive of the fundamental principles of religion , and the increase of popery in diverse places , the divisions in some , and desolations in other parts of this church , and that in diverse places abroad , these of the reformed religion are under persecution , and others in fear and danger . for these beside many other causes mentioned in former fasts , we have cause to humble our selves by fasting and prayer , and to be afflicted , and mourn , and weep , and to turn unto the lord , and to pray that he would turn us unto him , and pardon our sins , and the sins of the land , and that he would turn from his wrath , and send kindly weather , which may cherish the fruits of the earth for food to man and beast , that he would heal our breaches , plant our desolate places , stop the growth of prophaneness and popery , and other corrupt opinions , and grant deliverance , and rest , and safety to his suffering people , and preserve his church , and advance the kingdom of the lord jesus , and that for his churches sake he would long preserve , and richly bless our king , direct and guide him in his government , that under him the people may live a quiet and peaceable life , in all godliness and honesty . extracted by jo. sandilands . cls. syn. pr. edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to the kings most excellent majesty , anno dom. . die martis . iunii . forasmuch as the feasts of the nativity of christ, easter, and whitsontide, and other festivals commonly called holy-dayes; have beene heretofore superstitiously used and observed bee it ordained by the lords and commons in parliament assembled; that the said feasts of the nativity of christ, easter, and whitsontide, and all other festivall dayes, commonly called holy-dayes be no longer observed as festivals or holy-dayes within this kingdome of england and dominion of wales, any law, statute, custome, constitution, or cannon to the contrary in any wise not withstanding : ... england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) die martis . iunii . forasmuch as the feasts of the nativity of christ, easter, and whitsontide, and other festivals commonly called holy-dayes; have beene heretofore superstitiously used and observed bee it ordained by the lords and commons in parliament assembled; that the said feasts of the nativity of christ, easter, and whitsontide, and all other festivall dayes, commonly called holy-dayes be no longer observed as festivals or holy-dayes within this kingdome of england and dominion of wales, any law, statute, custome, constitution, or cannon to the contrary in any wise not withstanding : ... england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) for john wright at the kings head in the old bayley, printed at london : . establishes regular vacations instead of festival days for schools -- cf. steele. order to print signed: joh. brown cler. parliamentorum. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng holidays -- great britain -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no die martis . iunii . forasmuch as the feasts of the nativity of christ, easter, and whitsontide, and other festivals commonly called ho england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die martis . iunii . forasmuch as the feasts of the nativity of christ , easter , and whitsontide , and other festivals commonly called holy-dayes ; have beene heretofore superstitiously used and observed , bee it ordained by the lords and commons in parliament assembled ; that the said feasts of the nativity of christ , easter , and whisontide , and all other festivall dayes , commonly called holy-dayes , be no longer observed as festivals or holy-dayes within this kingdome of england and dominion of wales , any law , statute , custome , constitution , or cannon to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding : and to the end that there may be a convenient time allotted to schollers , apprentices , and other servants for their recreation , be it ordained by the authority aforesaid , that all schollers , apprentices , and other servants shall with the leave and approbation of their masters respectively first had and obtained , have such convenient reasonable recreation and relaxation from their constant and ordinary labours on every second tuesday in the moneth thorowout the yeare , as formerly they have used to have on such aforesaid festivals , commonly called holy-dayes . and that masters of all schollers , apprentices , and servants shall grant unto them respectively such time for their recreations on the aforesaid second tuesdayes in every moneth , as they may conveniently spare from their extraordinary and necessary services and occasions . and it is further ordained by the said lords and commons , that if any difference shall arise betweene any master and servant concerning the liberty hereby granted , the next justice of the peace shall have power to order and reconcile the same . die martis junii . ordered by the lords assembled in parliament , that this ordinance be forthwith printed and published . joh. brown cler. parliamentorum . printed at london for john wright at the kings head in the old bayley . . a proclamation, for a solemn national fast to be keeped monethly. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, for a solemn national fast to be keeped monethly. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : willliam and mary) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson, printer to their most excellent majesties, edinburgh : anno dom. . caption title. royal arms at head of text; initial letter. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet, at edinburgh, the twenty day of april, and of our reign the third year, . signed: da. moncrief, cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion monogram of 'w' (william) superimposed on' m' (mary) diev et mon droit honi soit qui mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms a proclamation , for a solemn national fast to be keeped monethly . william and mary by the grace of god , king and queen of great-britain , france and ireland , defenders of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greeting : forasmuch as the commission of the general assembly of this church , have applyed to the lords of our privy council , that they would interpose their civil sanction , for keeping of a solemn national fast and humiliation , in all the kirks and meeting-houses of this our ancient kingdom , for imploring the blessing of the lord upon us , in our counsels and undertakings , in defence of the true reformed religion , and of these lands ; and especially , that god would countenance us in this present war , preserving our royal person , and giving success to our arms by sea and land , at home and abroad . therefore we , with advice of the lords of our privy council , do hereby command and enjoyn , that the said solemn fast and humiliation , for the ends above-set-down , be religiously observed , by all persons within this kingdom , both in churches and meeting-houses , upon the last wednesday of may next to come , and thereafter monethly , upon the last wednesday of each moneth , untill the last wednesday of august next inclusivè . and ordains all ministers either in kirks , or meeting-houses , to read these presents , publickly from the pulpit , a sunday or two before the first day appointed for keeping the said fast , and humiliation , and upon a sunday , before each last wednesday , during the space foresaid ; and to the effect that this so necessary and religious a duty may be publictly performed , and punctualy observed , and our pleasure in the premisses known , our will is herefore , and we charge you straitly , and command , that incontinent these our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and remanent mercat-crosses of the head burghs of the several shires and stewartries within this kingdom , and in our name and authority , make publication of the premisses , that none may pretend ignorance . and we ordain our sollicitor , to dispatch coppies hereof , to the sheriffs of the several shires , and stewarts of the stewartries , and their deputs , or clerks ; to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of the head-burghs , upon receipt thereof . and immediately sent to the several ministers , both in kirks and meeting-houses ; to the effect , they may read and intimate the same from their pulpits , and may seriously exhort all persons to a sincere and devote observance thereof , as they will be answerable at their perril . and ordains these presents to be printed , and published in manner forsaid . given under our signet , at edinburgh , the twenty day of april , and of our reign the third year , . per actum dominorum sti. concilii . da. moncrief , cls. sti. concilii . god save king william and queen mary . edinburgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , printer to their most excellent majesties , anno dom. . . an act appointing thursday the thirteenth of june, . to be kept as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation and declaring the reasons and grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act appointing thursday the thirteenth of june, . to be kept as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation and declaring the reasons and grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by edward husband and iohn field, printers to the parliament of england, london : . order to print dated: die martis, maii, . signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . public worship -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- politics and government -- - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act appointing thursday the thirteenth of june, . to be kept as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation; and declaring the reasons an england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - elspeth healey sampled and proofread - elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an act appointing thursday the thirteenth of june , . to be kept as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation ; and declaring the reasons and grounds thereof . although this nation hath enjoyed many blessings , and great deliverances from the hands of god , yet have the people thereof multiplied their sins , as god hath multiplyed his blessings upon them , especially the sins of vnthankfulness and vnfruitfulness , under such gospel means and mercies , which may most justly provoke the lord to multiply his judgements upon this nation . the parliament taking the same into serious consideration , as also the pernicious designs of the enemies of this commonwealth , to engage the same in a new and bloody war ; and being truly sensible of their own inability to prevent or disappoint the same ; and to testifie , that their whole dependance is upon the lord alone , and upon the freeness of his grace in christ , do enact and ordain , and be it enacted and ordained , that thursday the thirteenth of june next enfuing , be observed and kept in all churches and chappels in england and wales , and the town of berwick upon tweed , a solemn day of fasting and humiliation for the fore-mentioned sins , and for all other the transgressions whereof this nation is guilty ; and for imploring the favor of god , for a blessing upon the counsels and endeavors of the parliament , and upon their forces by land and by sea ; and that our gracious god would be pleased to give the people of this nation a heart to serve him in sincerity ; and to unite them against all combinations and practices of forreign or domestique enemies to this cause of god ( which the parliament hath , and shall by his blessing and assistance , maintain to the end ) that so at last , through the goodness and mercy of god , this commonwealth may be established in all truth and peace , to the glory of god , and happiness of this nation . and the ministers of the respective churches and chappels aforesaid , are hereby required to give notice hereof on the lords-day next preceding the said thirteenth of june ; at which time also the said ministers are required to publish this present act . die martis , maii , . ordered by the parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti . london , printed by edward husband and john field , printers to the parliament of england . . an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, . together with a declaration of the grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, . together with a declaration of the grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field for edward husband, printer to the parliament of england, london : . order to print dated: oct. . signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . public worship -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, . together england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales , on thursday the first of november , . together with a declaration of the grounds thereof . the great and wonderful providences , wherein the lord hath eminently gone forth in mercy towards this nation , have been such , that howsoever many do shut their eyes , or murmure against them , or at least refuse to joyn in publique acknowledgements , and thanksgiving to almighty god for the same ; nevertheless , the lord hath been pleased to publish to all the world , that it is the work of his own hand : nor hath his infinite goodness and favor been restrained to england onely , but extended to ireland , which he hath been pleased to remember in its low estate ; and when his people there were as dry bones , he hath not onely revived them in a way almost as miraculous as a resurrection from the dead , but been pleased to raise both them and us to a high pitch of hope , that the lord will go on to perfect his work in that land , and make it likewise at last a quiet habitation for his people , and establish the power and purity of the gospel there . the consideration whereof , and of the goodness and power of god in the late wonderful victory , which he hath been pleased to give unto the parliaments forces there before dublin ( never to be forgotten ) and the further progress god hath made in giving in drogheda , a place of great strength and consequence , defended by a considerable number of their prime officers and soldiers , the particulars whereof are expressed in the lord lieutenants and other letters , lately printed ; and since that , by striking terror into the hearts of the enemy , so as they have yielded up or deserted many other considerable castles and garisons , as trym , dundalk , carlingford , the newry , and other places , and some other additional victories which god hath cast in since , cannot but make a deep impression on the hearts of all that fear the lord , and provoke them to exceeding thankfulness and rejoycing . upon consideration of all which , the parliament out of their deep sense of so great and continued mercies , have thought fit , as in duty to god , to set apart a day for publique and solemn thanksgiving to the lord , the author of these mercies : and they do therefore enact and ordain , that thursday the first of november next , be kept as a day of publique thanksgiving to the lord , in all the churches and chappels , and places of divine worship within this commonwealth of england , dominion of wales , and town of berwick upon tweed : and that the ministers of the respective parishes and places aforesaid , be and hereby they are required and enjoyned to give publique notice on the lords-day next preceding the said first of november , of the day so to be observed , to the end the people of their several congregations may the more generally and diligently attend the publique exercise of gods worship and service , there to be dispensed upon this occasion ; at which time , that the people may be more particularly and fully informed of this great victory and successes , the said ministers are hereby required to publish and read this present act. and for the better observation of the day , the parliament doth hereby inhibit and forbid the holding or use of all fairs , markets , and servile works of mens ordinary callings upon that day : and all majors , sheriffs , iustices of the peace , constables and other officers , be and are hereby enjoyned to take especial care of the due observance of the said day of thanksgiving accordingly . die jovis , octobr. . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric ' parliamenti . london , printed by john field for edward husband , printer to the parliament of england . . proclamation for a solemn fast and humiliation scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) proclamation for a solemn fast and humiliation scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, edinburgh, : . intentional blank spaces in text. caption title. title vignette: royal seal; initial letter. imperfect: torn, with slight loss of text. reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms proclamation , for a solemn fast and humiliation ▪ william by the grace of god , king of great britain france and ireland , defender of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally specially constitute greeting . forasmuch , as , by reason of many abounding heinous sins and provocations ; the displeasure and wrath of almighty god is very visible against us , and our people , not only in the sad calamity , under which the kingdom labours , by reason of the disappointment , and failing of the cropt and fruits of the ground , for the year by past , whereupon such scarcity and dearth did ensue ; that the poor of the land have generally been reduced to the greatest extremity ; but also , by the continuance of such bad vveather , and so unnatural a season , as doth sadly threaten the mil-giving , and blasting of the present cropt , and fruits of the ground , to the increase of that distress , whereby the kingdom is already afflicted , and in hazard to be ruined , ( if god in his mercy prevent not ) which certainly calls for our deepest humiliation and most earnest and fervent supplications to our gracious god to avert it : vvhich consideration , hath also moved the commission of the late general assembly , to adress the lords of our privy council , that a day of humiliation may be appointed , and keeped throughout this kingdom ; vvherefore , vve with advice of the lords of our privy council , appoint and command a day of solemn humiliation and prayer to be observed through this whole kingdom , that all may put up fervent prayers to god , 〈…〉 and forgivenness . and that he would turn away his wrath , and keep off deserved judgement , and yet graciously bless 〈…〉 people with seasonable vveather , for in bringing the fruits of the ground . and also , that above all things , he would bestow on us and them , his spiritual and heavenly blessings , by the continuing and prospering of his gospel , and the fruits thereof amongst us . and we , with advice foresaid , require and command the said solemn fast , and day of humiliation , to be religiously observed and keeped , by all ranks and degrees of people , upon the days following , viz. in all the planted churches on this side the river of tay , upon the twenty fifth day of august instant , and in all the planted churches of the rest of this kingdom , upon the eight day of september next to come : and in such churches , as are vacant , upon such days , as shall be appointed by the presbytery of the bounds . certifying such who shall contemn or neglect the dutiful observing and keeping of the said day of humiliation ; they shall be proceeded against , as contemners of our authorty , and neglecters of such a necessary duty : and seing , that on such an occasion , and for such causes . god doth more especially require the exercise of christian charity and compassion towards the poor and indigent , whose pinching straits and vvants , do at present lay them under the deepest distress and cry aloud to all for their help and relieff , as they expect , and would wish that god should be gracious to them in the like case ; therefore , vve do further , with advice foresaid , seriously recommend to all our good subjects , to draw forth and extend their christian charity , and compassion towards the poor and indigent , by a cheerful , and liberal and bountiful contribution , upon the said day of humiliation and lords day thereafter , as the best and most acceptable expressions of their sincerity and earnestness in the foresaid duty and vve peremptory require and command , that not only the money to be contribute and collected upon the dayes foresaid ; but likewise , ( if it shall be found needfull , ) that all other money formerly collected , and still lying in church-boxes , or in the hands of kirk sessions , or lent out upon interest , by bonds taken for the product of such collections , be instantly uplifted , imployed and wared out for buying of victual , and other necessars for relief of the poor , within the bounds of the paroches to which the saids collections and bonds do belong . and that at the fight of the ministers and elders , with concourse of such heretors as shall joyn with them , within the saids respective paroches , by these already intrusted , or who shall be intrusted by the saids ministers and elders , and heretors with the over sight of the poor in the saids bounds , to the effect the said victual , and other necessars , for the relief of the poor , may be orderly , and proportionally distribut among them , effeiring to their severall indigencies . and we again , require and command , all ministers of the gospel , and others foresaid , to applye themselves diligently to the foresaid pious vvork , for the supplye and relief of the poor , as they will be answerable to god , and us thereanent our vvill is herefore , and vve charge you strictly , and command , that in continent these our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat cross of edinburgh , and to the remanent mercat crosses of the head burghs of the several shires , and steuarties within this kingdom , and in our name and authority , make publication hereof , that none pretend ignorance . an vve ordain our solicitor to dispatch copies hereof , to the sheriffs of the several shires , and steuarts of steuartries , and their deputs , or clerks to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of the head burghs , upon receipt thereof , and immediately sent to the several ministers to the effect they may read and intimate the same , from their pulpits upon the lords day immediately preceeding the dayes above appointed , and ordains these presents to be printed , and published in manner foresaid . given under our signet at edinburgh , the seventh day of august , and of our reign the eighth year , . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . gil . eliot cls. sti concilii . god save the king . edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson printer to his most excellent majesty , an act appointing a fast throughout the whole kingdom of scotland scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an act appointing a fast throughout the whole kingdom of scotland scotland. privy council. gibson, alexander, sir, d. . scotland. sovereign ( - : charles ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by andrew anderson, printer to the king's most excellent majesty, edinburgh : anno . caption title. royal arms at head of text; initial letter. dated at end: given under our signet, at edinburgh, the fifteenth day of july, and of our reign, the twenty seventh year, one thousand six hundred and seventy five years. signed: al. gibson, cl. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- th century -- early works to . public worship -- scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- th century -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - megan marion sampled and proofread - megan marion text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an act appointing a fast throughout the vvhole kingdom of scotland . charles , by the grace of god , king of great brittain , france , and ireland , defender of the faith , to all and sundry our lieges and subjects whom it effeirs , greeting . forasmuch , as the almighty god , in his most wise and righteous providence , after the sinfull abuse of his most signal mercies of the blessed gospel , of our own and our subjects wonderfull deliverance from the yoke of usurpation and bondage , by the almost miraculous restauration of us to the exercise of our government , and of the long and mercifull continuance of our despised peace and plenty ; doth , by his warnings and judgements incumbent and impendent , manifestly discover his anger and displeasure against the grievous sins of this kingdom ; and particularly by the sad and pinching dearth , whereby many indigent persons and families are reduced to a starving condition , and by the long and threatning drought , the lord , in his righteous judgement , having so long bound up the clouds , making the heavens brass , and the earth iron , thereby threatning our subjects of this kingdom with the breaking of the staff of their bread , and with the dreadful plague of famine : which dispensation doth with a loud voice call upon all ranks of people for speedy and true repentance , and the national expression hereof by deep mourning and solemn fasting and humiliation . therefore we , with advice and consent of the lords of our privy council , do ordain a day of publick and solemn fasting and humiliation to be keeped and observed by all the people of this kingdom in the several paroches thereof ; strictly commanding and requiring them upon that day , to cease from all the works of their ordinary callings , and to repair to their respective paroch churches , and there make solemn confession of their sins , and implore the divine mercy for the land , by praying , mourning , fasting , and such other devotions , as are requisite and usual upon such dayes of publick humiliation : and more particularly , humbly to confess and mourn for the great neglect and contempt of , and disobedience to the blessed gospel , and the ordinances thereof , and the great and lamentable increase and prevalency of atheism , profaneness , and irreligion which is thereby occasioned , and for the sinfull undervaluing of the great blessing of peace so long enjoyed by our subjects under our government . by all which , and many other crying sins , the lords jealousie and anger are kindled , and his hand is stretched out against this kingdom , threatning the destruction of the fruits of the ground , the necessarie provision for the life of man and beast , that by serious mourning for , and sincere and hearty turning from these provoking sins , the lord may graciously pardon them and repent him of the evil seemingly determined by him , and most righteously deserved by us , and may open the clouds and grant the latter rain in its due season and measure , reserving for us the appointed weeks of the harvest . and for this end and purpose , we , with advice foresaid , do seriously recommend to , and require the arch-bishops and bishops , to be carefull that this fast be duely observed by the ministers in their respective diocesses , as followes ; to the arch-bishops of st. andrews and glasgow , the bishops of edinburgh , dunkell , brechin and dumblane , to cause it to be intimated in the several paroch kirks of their diocies upon sunday , the twenty fifth , and observed on wednesday , the twenty eighth of july instant ; and the remanent bishops , whose diocies are more remote , to cause it to be intimated on sunday , the first of august , and to be observed the fourth of angust next . and as to such ministers , who , by reason of their distance from edinburgh , cannot be so soon advertised , that they celebrate this fast upon the next convenient wednesday thereafter . given under our signet , at edinburgh , the fifteenth day of july , and of our reign , the twenty seventh year , one thousand six hundred and seventy five years . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . al. gibson , cl. s ti concilii . god save the king. edinburgh , printed by andrew anderson , printer to the king 's most excellent majesty . anno . die veneris, julii, . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that vvednesday next come three weeks be set apart and appointed for a day of publique fasting ... england and wales. parliament. house of commons. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) die veneris, julii, . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that vvednesday next come three weeks be set apart and appointed for a day of publique fasting ... england and wales. parliament. house of commons. sheet ([ ] p.) printed for edward husband, printer to the parliament of england, london : iuly . . title from caption and opening lines of text. signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliament. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . public worship -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no die veneris, julii, . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that vvednesday next come three weeks be set apart and appointed england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die veneris , julii , . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that vvednesday next come three weeks be set apart and appointed for a day of publique fasting and humiliation , for seeking unto almighty god in an especial maner , for his blessing upon the forces designed , and now going for the relief of ireland , to be observed in all cities , towns and places in england and wales , besides the cities of london and westminster : and that the sheriffs of the several counties in england and wales , do take care to disperse this order unto the ministers of the several churches aforesaid : and the iustices of peace in the several counties , are required to take care for the due observation thereof ; and that the ministers do publish this order in their several churches , on the lords day next before the day appointed for the due observation of the said fast . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti ' . london , printed for edward husband , printer to the parliament of england , iuly . . a proclamation for a solemn national fast and humiliation. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation for a solemn national fast and humiliation. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, printer to his most excellent majesty, edinburgh : anno dom. . caption title. initial letter. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh, the fifth day of june, and of our reign the eighth year. . signed: gilb. eliot cls. sti. concilli. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proclamation for a solemn national fast and humiliation . vvilliam by the grace of god , king of great-britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , messenger at arms , our sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally specically constitute , greeting . forasmuch , as the continuance of a dangerous and necessar● war , wherein we and our people are engaged , and which inevitably exposes our royal person to great and continual danger , and that in the success and prosperity of our arms by sea and land , the welfare of our kingdoms , and of the churches of god both at home and abroad , are highly concerned , do call for earnest and fervent prayer to god , for success to our arms , protection to our royal person , and for his gracious assisting us and our allies , with a spirit of wisdom , counsel and courage , in all our consults , designs and undertakings against the common enemy , and that deep humiliation and fasting before the lord , should be joyned , with our fervent supplications for the causes foresaids ; and that a day should be solemnly set apart , to be keeped through all the churches of this kingdom for that effect . and for appointment of which solemn fast and day of humiliation ; the ministers and elders now met at edinburgh , commissioners appointed by the late general assembly , of the national church of this our ancient kingdom , have also addressed the lords of our privy council , and that for the same causes and ends foresaids , and others contained in their said address , which we have allowed to be printed . therefore we with advice of the lords of our privy council , command and appoint a day of solemn humiliation and prayer , to be observed for the causes foresaids , throughout the whole kingdom , upon the days following , viz in all the churches upon this side of tay , upon tuesday the sixtenth day of june currant : and in all the rest of the paroch churches within this kingdom , upon tuesday the thirtieth day of the said month : upon which days of solemn humiliation and prayer , respective foresaids , as we and our people are to be deeply humbled , for our great and manifold provocations , and to deprecat the wrath of god for our ingratitude for former deliverances ; so we are importunatly to implore the divine majesty , for the continuance of his protection , and good hand upon us ; and that he would turn away his anger and threatned judgements from us and our people , so justly deserved for our great unthankfulness and manifold provocations . which days respective foresaids , we with advice of the lords of our privy council , require and command , to be religiously and seriously observed by all ranks and degrees of people ; and that the samen be wholly spent and imployed upon preaching , and hearing the word , and the other acts of devotion foresaid ; certifying such of the leiges who shall not give due obedience hereunto , or who shall contemn or neglect the keeping and observing of the saids days and duties that they shall be proceeded against by fyning , not exceeding an hundred pounds scots . and we with advice foresaid , require and command the sheriffs of the several shires , stewarts of stewartries , lords and baillies of regalities , and their deputs , justices of peace , and magistrats of burghs within their several jurisdictions , to proceed against the persons guilty , and to exact the fynes accordingly , to be applyed the one half to the judge , and the other half to the poor of the paroch : and certifying such minister● as shall fail of their duty , in not observing the premisses , and in not reading , and duely intimating of thir presents in manner after-mentioned , they shall be processed before the lords of our privy council . and we with advice foresaid , require the several magistrats above-mentioned , betwixt and the twenty second day of july next to come , to make report to the lords of our privy council , of these ministers within their respective jurisdictions , who shall fail in their duty and obedience to the premisses . our will is herefore , and we charge you strictly , and command , that incontinent these our-letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and to the remanent mercat-crosses of the head burghs of the several shires and stewartries within this kingdom , and in our name and authority , make publication hereof , that none pretend ignorance . and we ordain our sollicitor to dispatch copies hereof , to the sheriffs of the several shires , and stewarts of stewartries , and their deputs or clerks to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of the head-burghs upon receipt thereof , and immediatly sent to the several ministers , ●o the effect they may read and intimat the same from their pulpits upon the lords days , immediatly preceeding the days above appointed ; and ordains these presents to be printed and published in manner foresaid . given under our signet at edinburgh , the fifth day of june , and of our reign the eighth year . . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . gilb . eliot cls. sti. concilii . edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to his most excellent majesty , anne dom. . by the protector. a declaration of his highness for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : r. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) by the protector. a declaration of his highness for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : r. cromwell) cromwell, richard, - . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by henry hills and john field, printers to his highness the lord protector, london : . dated at end: given at white-hall this twenty fourth day of september, in the year of our lord god, one thousand six hundred fifty and eight. annotation on thomason copy: "septem. ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no by the protector. a declaration of his highness for a day of publique fasting and humiliation. england and wales. lord protector c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion commonwealth blazon or coat of arms olivarivs dei gra : reipvb : angliae , scotiae , et hiberniae , &c protector pax qvaeritur bello . by the protector ▪ a declaration of his highness for a day of publique fasting and humiliation . as it is the duty , so it hath been the constant practise of the people of god in all ages , not onely to take special notice of the providential dispensations of god towards them , whether they concerned them as a nation , or as particular persons , but also to meet the lord in the way , both of his iudgements , and of his mercies , in a solemn maner , suitable to such dispensations , to which the lord hath been pleased to give such visible testimonies of his gracious acceptance , as hath been and still is a great encouragement to his people to make their addresses to him under the like providences . and as no nation under heaven hath been exercised with more various and wonderful providences then these nations of england , scotland and ireland , so none have had more eminent experiences of the goodness of the lord in the speedy and merciful returns he hath made to the prayers of his people ; and therefore of all others , it becomes them to let no providence of god go unobserved or unregarded , especially such as seem to carry upon them characters of the displeasure of that god , from whom alone we have professed to all the world , we have received all our mercies past , and that we depend on him alone for greater things , which are yet in his peoples expectation . vpon these grounds , his highness the lord protector and the council , sadly reflecting on the late dispensation of divine providence , in removing from vs his highness the late lord protector , whom the lord hath used as a choice instrument for carrying on his work , and under him to be both a sun and a shield unto those that fear the lord abroad and at home ( which they cannot but be deeply sensible of as a sore stroak of his mighty hand ) as also in the general visitation of sickness and great mortality , which is now upon many parts of this nation , hold it their duty to invite the people of these nations to humble themselves greatly under the mighty hand of god , in the sence of the many great and crying sins of this nation , which have deserved his sore displeasure , and to accept the punishment of their sins . and likewise to seek the lord for a blessing upon his highness and his government and counsels for the good of these nations , that thereby the breach which he hath made upon vs may be healed , and the present tokens of his displeasure removed , and that he will be pleased yet to continue his gracious presence among vs , and delight in vs as his people , that his own work may by his assistance be carried on , and peace and truth may be established in the midst of vs . for which purpose his highness the lord protector , with the advice of his privy council , hath thought fit to set apart wednesday the thirteenth day of october one thousand six hundred fifty and eight , to be observed as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation in all places within england and wales , and the town of berwick upon tweed , earnestly exhorting all the people of god in this nation to cry mightily unto the lord , and to wrestle with him by prayer and supplication for the ends aforesaid . and that the ministers of the several churches and congregations , do diligently and conscientiously attend their duties on that day , as is suitable unto so solemn a work , and that they give notice hereof on the lords day next before the said thirteenth day of october in their publique meeting-place , and read this declaration on the said day . and his highness doth hereby prohibit all fairs , markets , and all bodily labour in the works of mens callings , which may interrupt or hinder the religious observation of the day aforesaid . given at white-hall this twenty fourth day of september , in the year of our lord god , one thousand six hundred fifty and eight . london : printed by henry hills and john field , printers to his highness the lord protector , . an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, together with a declaration of the grounds thereof. public general acts. - - . england and wales. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, together with a declaration of the grounds thereof. public general acts. - - . england and wales. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field for edward husband, printer to the parliament of england, london : . with an order to print dated oct. . arms a; steele notation: forth them of. reproduction of original in the henry e. huntington library. eng fasts and feasts -- law and legislation -- england -- early works to . broadsides -- england a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales, on thursday on the first of november, . together england and wales f the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the f category of texts with or more defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the commonwealth flag ( - ) ●ct for a day of publique thanksgiving to be observed throughout england and wales , on thursday the first of november , . together with a declaration of the grounds thereof . the great and wonderful providences , wherein the lord hath eminently gone forth in mercy towards this nation , have been such , that however many do shut their eyes , or murmure against them , or at least refuse to joyn in publique acknowledgements , and thanksgiving to almighty god for the same ; nevertheless , the lord hath been pleased to publish to all the world , that it is the work of his own hand : nor hath his infinite goodness and favor been restrained to england onely , but extended to ireland , which he hath been pleased to remember in its low estate ; and when his people there were as dry bones , he hath not onely revived them in a way almost as miraculous as a resurrection from the dead , but been pleased to raise both them and us to a high pitch of hope , that the lord will go on to perfect his work in ●●●d , and make it likewise at last a quiet habitation for his people , and establish the power and purity of ●●●el there . the consideration whereof , and of the goodness and power of god in the late wonderful 〈◊〉 which he hath been pleased to give unto the parliaments forces there before dublin ( never to be for●●●●● and the further progress god hath made in giving in drogheda , a place of great strength and conse●●●●●●●efended by a considerable number of their prime officers and soldiers , the particulars whereof are ex●●●●●●●n the lord lieutenants and other letters , lately printed ; and since that , by striking terror into the 〈…〉 the enemy , so as they have yielded up or deserted many other considerable castles and garisons , as ●●●●●ndalk , carlingford , the newry , and other places , and some other additional victories which god hath cast in 〈…〉 not but make a deep impression on the hearts of all that fear the lord , and provoke them to exceeding ●●●●●lness and rejoycing . ●●on consideration of all which , the parliament out of their deep sense of so great and ●ontinued mercies , have thought fit , as in duty to god , to set apart a day for publique ●nd solemn thanksgiving to the lord , the author of these mercies : and they do there●● act and ordain , that thursday the first of november next , be kept as a day of pub●●●●●●hanksgiving to the lord , in all the churches and chappels , and places of divine 〈◊〉 within this commonwealth of england , dominion of wales , and town of berwick up●●●●●ed : and that the ministers of the respective parishes and places aforesaid , be and here●●●● are required and enjoyned to give publique notice on the lords-day next preceding the ●●●●st of november , of the day so to be observed , to the end the people of their several con●●●●●ons may the more generally and diligently attend the publique exercise of gods wor●●●● 〈◊〉 service , there to be dispensed upon this occasion ; at which time , that the people may 〈…〉 particularly and fully informed of this great victory and successes , the said ministers 〈…〉 by required to publish and read this present act. and for the better observation of the day , 〈…〉 ●arliament doth hereby inhibit and forbid the holding or use of all fairs , markets , and ser●●rks of mens ordinary callings upon that day : and all majors , sheriffs , iustices of ●●●ce , constables and other officers , be and are hereby enjoyned to take especial care of 〈◊〉 observance of the said day of thanksgiving accordingly . die jovis , octobr. . ●●●●red by the commons assembled in parliament , that this act be forth with printed and published ▪ hen : scobell , cleric ' parliamenti . london , printed by john field for edward husband , printer to the parliament of england . . scotlands warning, or a treatise of fasting containing a declaration of the causes of the solemne fast, indyted to bee kept in all the churches of scotland, the third and fourth sundayes of this instant moneth of may anno .& the weeke dayes betwixt them, as they may be goodly keeped in townes. together with a direction how to proceed in the religious obseruation of any soleme fast. written at the appointment of superiors by mr. w. struther, preacher of the gospel at edinburgh. struther, william, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) scotlands warning, or a treatise of fasting containing a declaration of the causes of the solemne fast, indyted to bee kept in all the churches of scotland, the third and fourth sundayes of this instant moneth of may anno .& the weeke dayes betwixt them, as they may be goodly keeped in townes. together with a direction how to proceed in the religious obseruation of any soleme fast. written at the appointment of superiors by mr. w. struther, preacher of the gospel at edinburgh. struther, william, - . [i.e. ], [ ] p. by the heires of andro hart, printed at edinburgh : anno dom. . page misnumbered . reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within 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be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion scotlands warning , or a treatise of fasting , containing a declaration of the causes of the solemne fast , indyted to bee kept in all the churches of scotland , the third and fourth sundayes of this instant moneth of may anno . & the weeke dayes betwixt them , as they may be goodly keeped in townes . together with a direction how to proceed in the religious obseruation of any soleme fast. written at the appointment of superiors , by mr. w. strvther , preacher of the gospel at edinbvrgh . printed at edinburgh , by the heires of andro hart. anno dom. . ieremiah . . . . . and ieremiah said vnto baruch , i am shut vp , i cannot goe into the house of the lord. therefore goe thou , and read in the roule which thou hast written from my mouth , the words of the lord , in the eares of the people , in the lordes house vpon the fasting day , and also thou shalt read them in the eares of all iuda , that come out of their cities . it may bee they present their supplications before the lord , and will returne euerie one from his euill way : for great is the anger and wrath that the lord hath pronounced against this place . . chron. . . . because thine heart was tender , and thou didst humble thy selfe before god , when thou heardest his wordes against this place , and against the inhabitants thereof , and humblest thy selfe before me , and diddest ren● thy clothes and weepe before mee , i haue euen heard thee also , saith the lord. behold , i will gather thee to thy fathers , and thou shalt bee put in thy graue in peace , neither shall thine eyes see all the euill that i will bring vpon this place , and vpon the inhabitants of the same : scotlands warning : or a treatise of fasting , containing a declaration of the causes of the solemne fast , indyted to be keeped in all the churches of scotland . it is the duetie of the lords watch-men , whom hee hath sette on the walls of ierusalem , ezech. . . to consider diligentlie both the estate of it within , and the dangers imminent from without : and according as they see , to giue faithfull and tymous aduertisement to the people , habac. . . isa. . . that thereby they may both deliuer their owne soules and direct the people by speedie repentance , to preuent the approaching wrath . this their calling craueth ; for they stand betwixt god and his people , as the interpreters of his will to them . iob. . . and as their remembrancers to god , to present them and their necessities to him continuallie . isa. . . . hee calleth them vp to the mountaine to see further than other , and ( beside their giftes ând graces , as christians ) giueth them a pastorall eye to see , and a pastorall heart to consider , and a pastorall mouth to declare what they see and consider . this also he commandeth them vnder a most heauie paine . sonne of man , i haue sette thee a watch-man vnto the house of israel , therefore thou shalt heare the word from my mouth , & warne them from mee : when i say to the wicked , o wicked man , thou shalt surelie die , if thou doest not speake to warne the wicked from his way , that wicked man shall die in his sinne , but his blood will i require at thine hand . ezech. . . . . . and god commnendeth this as wisedome in pastors according to his heart , who is the wise mā to vnderstand this ? and who is hee to whome the mouth of the lord hath spoken , that hee may declare it ? for what the land perished . ier. . vpon these considerations , the clergie of this ●and , taking to heart the estate of the church of god , both in this kingdome and other reformed countries , haue thought it necessa● , ( suppreme authoritie commanding also the same ) that all the congregations of this land keepe a solemne and publicke fast , the third and fourth sundayes of this instant moneth of may , and the weeke dayes betwixt these two sabbaths : to intreat god , in all humilitie , and repentance for pardon of our sinnes , and for auerting of his just wrath , where it is alreadie begunne , and to hold it off these who are threatned with it . and for the better informing of euery one in the equitie & necessitie of that religious work of fasting and prayer , and their better stirring vp therevnto : the just and weightie causes thereof are to bee considered , which may bee reduced to these heads . . first the most lamentable estate of the reformed churches of germanie , and other countries in europe : where the gospel did shine , and gods worshippe was exercised fruitfullie to his glorie : but nowe by the crueltie of the preuailing papists , fearefull desolation is wrought in these places , gods sainctes bereft of their liues , their blood spilt as water in the streetes , their women shamefullie abused , their goods taken from them : and the estate of them who haue escaped the rage of the sword , worse than the slaine . their liberties lost and themselues either driuen from their dwellings or compelled to forsake their god & religion , & take themselues to romish idolatrie , or to banishment . and vnder the name of an imperiall reformation , there is nothing but a godlesse deformation , setting vp the abomination of ignorance , and errour where the light hath beene . how many prouences sometimes pleasant , in a peaceable professing of the trueth , as the paradise of god , are now turned in a wildernesse : and the houses of god prepared sometime on the top of the mountaines , and exalted aboue the hills , wherevnto people did flowe , are destroyed : and the lords displayed banner , vnder which many did merch in comelie order , is cast down , & manie mothers in israel , famous colledges and universities are scattered , and the abomination of desolation erected in them . so wee may say with the prophet , come , & behold the workes of the lord , what desolations hee hath wrought in the earth . psal. . . the heathen are come in the inheritance of the lord , his holie temple haue they defiled , and made ierusalem heapes of stones : the dead bodies of gods saincts haue they giuen to bee meate to the fowles of heauen ▪ and the flesh of thy saincts to the beastes of the earth : their blood haue they shed as water about ierúsalem , and there was none to burie them : they haue deuoured iacob , and made his dwelling place waste . psal . . . . god hath forsaken the tabernacle of shiloh , the tent which he placed among them : he deliuered his strength in captiuitie , and his glorie in the enemies hand . psal. . . and wee may lament with ieremie . how doeth the citie remaine solitarie , that was full of people ? shee is a widow : shee that was great among the nations , and princesse among the prouince is made tributarie . and wee may wish with that same prophet , oh , that mine head were waters , and mine eyes a fountaine of teares , that i might weepe day and night , for the slaine of the daughter of my people . ierem. . this worke is a part of antichrists persecution , for now hee is both breathing threatnings & slaughter , against the reformed churches , and executeth his crueltie against them , because of their obedience to gods voyce in comming out of babell , and that according to the bloodie decrees of the counsell of trent . for after that sathan had for a long space vented his first propertie of lying by antichrist his first borne involuing and holding these westerne places of europe vnder the errours of a false religion : and seeing that manger his malice , god in the appointed time brought in the light of the gospel , and discouered that darkenesse : then hee tooke him to his other propertie and practise of blood , to maintaine by force his discouered heresies : and hee set antichrist and his supposts to worke , to put out the light of the gospel , in destroying the professours of it . so the indyting of the counsell of trent beares : ad reformandum ecclesiam & exstirpandas haeresies , to reforme the kirke , and roote out heresies ; that is to say in the romane sense , to confirme and establish the deformities and corruptions of their church , and roote out the trueth , which god hath brought in againe by the gospel . and from that tyme , hee hath sent out his emissaries , iesuites and other locusts from the bottomlesse pit , to stirre vp the kings of the earth to fight against the lambe : this is the quarrell now debated in europe . and albeit hee hath cast in the mixture of ciuill respects , in rights to kingdomes and dignities , and such like , to blind the eyes of the simple , as to make them belieue that all these warres are onelie for ciuill and not for sacred things : yet sure it is , that all this matter is directed and sweyed by the pope : for his maine end is to roote out the gospel , and re-establish his false religion : his purpose serueth to the end of his associat kings & princes , and their power serueth his end . as they plotte and worke joyntlie in the worke , so they share in the end for their seuerall aduantage : for the countreyes subdued , fall as a prey and a reward to the enlarging of princes dominions , and therein idolatrie is established , as the popes recompence . beside , what euer be the mixture of the cause , yet their maine intention is manifeste from themselues : for one of them in his alarme to this warre , stirreth vp the emperour to destroy the protestants , as moses did the moabits : and if he did not so , his life should goe for their life , as achabs for the king of syria . sciopp . classicum belli sacri . cap. . . . next , their cardinals consulting , how to restore their church to her auncient integritie aduised the pope , that there was no better way to doe it , than by prosecuting this warre , to the rooting out of protestants . aphorisml . cardinal . anno . and for this end , a new order is instituted called the sodalitie of the christian defence , that is to say , of antichristian offence of the protestants , cancell . hispani . consid. . this course as others of the like stampe of the mysterie of iniquitie is drawne deepelie , for now antichrist vnder the name of christs vicar persueth christ ; vnder the colours & banners of the crosse of christ hee destroyeth the doctrine of the crosse : vnder name of the church , hee oppresseth the true church : vnder the name of the pretended verity , he rooteth out the trueth of god , to establish his owne heresie : and vnder the name of an old religion , hee setteth vp a new vp-start religion . this is iudas his betraying of christ with an haile master : when his pretended vicar turneth all his usurped power to the destruction of his kingdome : the titles and names that of old were the notes of the apostolicke church , are claimed now of the antichristian synagogue , and made signes for the persecution of the church of christ. god doeth so afflict his church , not for her religion , but for the abuse of it : he hath called vs out of babell , and wee haue obeyed his voyce in comming out , and haue vndertaken to walke in the light of god ; but wee haue contemned that light , and in the midst of it brought out the workes of darknesse : sinne is grieuous in euery person , tyme , and place , but most grieuous in the church , in the time of so cleare a light : and where euer men sin , they are in gods sight , but his eye in a more particular manner is ouer his church . a father is angrie at faults in his seruant , but more angrie at them in his sonne : the more liberall and bountifull god is to a people , the greater is their sinne , and heauier shall bee their judgement woe to thee chorazin , woe to thee bethsaida , for if the great works which were done in you , had beene done in tyrus and sydon , they had repented long agoe in sack-cloth and ashes : but i say to you it shall bee more easie for tyrus and sydon at the last day than for you . matth. . . . and it is a strange forme of reasoning with israel , you onely haue i knowne of all the families of the earth sayeth the lord : therefore will i punish you for all your iniquities . amos. . . god may justlie compleane of vs , as hee did of the iewes . hee planted a vineyard in a fruitefull hill , and fencedit , and gathered out the stones of it , and planted it with the choisest vines , and built a tower in the midst of it , and a wine-presse in it : and hee looked that it should bring foorth grapes , but it brought foorth wylde grapes : and now , o inhabitants of ierusalem , and men of iudah , iudge i pray you betweene mee and my vine-yard : what could i doe more to my vineyard , than i haue done ? and now i will tell you what i will doe to my vine-yard , i will take away the hedge thereof , and it shall bee eaten vp , and breake down the wall thereof , and it shall bee troden downe , and i will lay it waste . esa. . . . . . as hee threatned them , so hee performed it . hee brake downe her hedges , so that all that passed by plucked her the wilde boare out of the woode destroyed it , and the wilde beastes of the fielde did eate it vp . psal. . . . for after that hee had chastened his people by edomites , moabites , philistims , and other bordering nations , and they became incurable : in end hee chased them out of the land : and that not at once , but by degrees , for hee powred out that wrath first vpon the tenne tribes , reseruing to himselfe the tribe of iudah : and when iudah was not made wise by the sinne and punishment of ephraim , but ierusalem did justifie samaria by her greater sinnes , god sent iudah also away in captiuitie to babylon : and after hee had brought them againe , and settled them in the pleasant land , they returned to their olde sinnes , till in end god cast them off altogether . thus god dealt with the iewes , and after the like manner hee is now dealing with the churches reformed , to bring them to amendement in time , that they may eschew a finall destruction : their heauie calamities who are now vnder that bloodie persecution of antichrist , are cleare documents to vs in this land , commanding vs in time to turne to god , lest the like or a worse befall vs. wee can no wayes compare with these worthie churches , neither in grace nor in the fruites of the gospel : and yet god hath begunne at them . if hee haue done so to the greene tree , what will hee doe to vs , who are a dry and a barren tree . god in our sight and hearing these eight years , hath smitten seuerelie , thogh justlie these churches , and that to teach vs repentance : but wee are as iudah , who mended not at the captiuitie of israel ▪ vvhen i had put away backslyding israel for all her iniquities , and giuen her a bill of diuorcement , then trecherous iudah seared not , nor turned not to mee with all her heart , but fainedlie . ierem. , . . though euerie report of their calamitie bee gods calling vs to sack-cloth and mourning , yet for all the newes of their trouble , wee are not turned to repentance . they were not the greatest sinners in ierusalem , on whome the tower of siloh fell , neither were they the worst galileans whose blood pilate mingled with their sacrifices : they are not the worst protestants whose blood is shed by this romane tyrannie and persecution , but except we repent we shall all likwise perish . luk. . their tryall is our lesson , and their chastisement is our document : vvee shall learne it , and tak it out wiselie , if their example turne vs to god : but if we doe not so , the heauier judgement abideth vs : they haue drunken the brimme of the cup of wrath , ●●t the dregges of the bottome are reserued for 〈◊〉 except in time wee repent . neither let v●●●inke , that their affliction doeth not concerne vs , because they are farre distant from vs : for the communion of saincts knoweth no distance of place , and the church of christ which is his bodie , as it hath him for the head , so his spirite for the life , and that spirit quickning all the bodie , indueth it with a fellow-feeling of others miseries : if wee haue fellowship with them in christ , vve must feele their troubles , and mourne with them : if wee doe not so , wee proue wee haue no fellowshippe with them . let such hard-hearted and sensles christians reade their doome and dittay in the prophet amos , woe to them that are at ease in sion , they put the euill day farre from them : they lye on their beddes of yvorie , and stretch themselues on their beddes , and eate the lambes of the flocke , & the calues out of the midst of the stall : they drink wine in bowles , but no man is sorie for the affliction of ioseph : therefore now shall they goe into captiuitie with the first that goe captiue , & the sorrow of them that strech out themselues , is at hand . amos . . . . . . these are twinne branches of a senslesse and carelesse heart , in the day of the churches affliction : first they put the euill day farre from themselues & maka couenant with death , as though it neuer should , nor would come neere to them : next , they put the affliction of their breth●ē far from their feeling and affection , as a thing that concerneth them not , the first is a fleshlie dreame of their owne immunitie : the other , a senslesse mis-regarde of their brethren ▪ and both of them a just cause , and certaine presage of a grieuous ruine to come vpon them , who are so graceleslie disposed . but the godlie are otherwayes affected with the troubles of syon : for they take pleasure in the stones , and delight in the dust thereof . psal. . though nehemiah was in the fauour of his king and great prosperitie , yet when he heard that the iewes were in great affliction and reproach , and the wall of ierusalem broken downe , and the gates thereof burnt with fire , hee sate downe and weeped , and mourned certaine dayes , and fasted and prayed before the god of heauen . neither could all his courtlie happinesse smoother the griefe of his heart : but when the king perceiued the sadnes of his countenance , and asked the cause of it , he said , vvhy should not my countenance bee sadde , when the citie , and house of the sepulchre of my fathers lyeth waste . nehemia . . if hee was so grieued for the violation of the sepulchres of the dead : shall not the cruell murther of the liuing temples of the holie ghost , moue vs more ? and ieremiah , though hee was at libertie among the people , and well looked to by nebuzaradan , yet when hee saw ierusalems desolations : for these thinges i weepe , mine eyes casteth out water , because the comforter that should refresh my soule is farre from mee , my children are desolate , because the enemie preuaileth . lame . . . beside , the respect of their persons , their cause should also moue vs to this holy griefe : the gospel of christ & true religion in them , is persecuted and oppressed : and if wee haue found grace and comfort in that gospel , should we not be grieued whē so glorious a meanes of grace is obscured , and the cause of our good god borne downe by his enemies . god hath lighted that candle , to discouer the darknesse of sathan , and destroy his worke : and when the prince of darknesse preuaileth so farre as to put out that candle , and to cast downe the candle-stickes on which it shined , if wee bee the children of light , wee must sorrow for that change : therefore if vve feele not their sorrowes , wee declare wee haue no communion with them in the bodie of christ , and no part in the grace of the gospel , which in their handes is persecute . no feeling , no communion , and no communion , no vnion with them , and christ : if wee haue no griefe for the light put out , vvee haue no part in the life and grace , that the light carrieth . we ought then a brotherlie compassion to them , vnder their trouble , because they are brethren , and fellow members of iesus christ , and the more , because their affliction , is not for ciuill or common causes , but for religion : as wee are commanded to mourne , with them that mourne , so much more , with them that suffer for the gospel : bee partaker of the suffering of the gospel , according to the power of god. . tim. . . shall sathan make errour and heresie , so forcible in his supposts , as to joyne their heartes and hands , to giue their power to the beaste , to fight against the lambe ? and shall not trueth and charitie , in the children of god , procure at least , a brotherlie compassion of the griefes of other ? the first is a wonder , to see the spirit of diuision make such an union among his adherents : but it is a greater wonder , not to see that compassion in them who are one spirit in christ iesus . but though wee would in the hardnesse of our heart cutte our selues off from all feeling of their miseries , that would not secure vs from punishment but rather double our sinne , and hasten a double punishment vpon vs : wee stand in that same case with them : in a true religion , in the abuse of it , and so vnder gods processe for our sins : and it is a great mercie of god , that hee hath spared vs so long , and giuen vs so large a time of repentance : when hee might haue begunne his iudgement at vs , hee hath begunne at other , that by their example we might turne in time , & preuent his heauie strok : if forraine miseries beyond sea , will not moue vs to sorrow , let our own home sins & dāgers moue vs to repētance . and for this ende , wee haue to consider , our owne state in this land , as the second cause of our humiliation : god hath blessed vs with his law & gospel , but we haue sinned against them both : there is no precept of the law , whose breach is not shameleslie practised & avowed . euerie one maketh himselfe his owne god , and seeketh themselues , their owne glorie , and gaine , directing all their wayes from their own heart , and turning all to themselues . . idolatrie ( once alluterlie banished ) is cropen in , and setteth vp the head in this land , and manie who professed the trueth , are gone backe to poperie : they close their eyes from the shining light , that is readie to resolue and reforme them : and are so possessed by errors and darkenes , that they abhorre the light , which wold pull them out of their fleshly delights . their case is to be pitied . who so wilfullie losse themselues , refusing saluation , and running head-long to hell. . the abuse of the glorious name of the lord our god , is growen a popular disease , & reigneth in all estats , & the better sort out-run the common people in so grieuous a sinne . and the rifenesse of it hath put it out of the respect of a sinne , and hath turned it in the flower of their language , as though all speech were but wersh , and could neither fill the mouth of the speaker , not the eare of the hearer , except the name of god bee profaned , and god himselfe thereby thrust through . if the flying booke of the curse of god , light vpon the house of euerie swearer , to destroy the timber and stone . zach. . how few houses shall escape the curse of god in this land , which groaneth vnder the multitude of oathes . . the profanation of the lords day is vniuersall , and no difference made betwixt the obseruation of it , and other dayes : but rather more libertie is taken in vaging , in drinking , & chalmering , & wantonnesse , in idle and profane speaking in it , than in other days : as if god had set it a part , not for his owne honour , but for the workes of the flesh ▪ though wee bee not bound to judaize in the sabbath , yet are wee bound christianlie to spend the lords day in abstaining from euill , and busying our selfe in the works of pietie & charitie , as the sabbaths proper exercise : as a memoriall of the resurrection of christ , & our redemption perfected thereby : and a token of our eternall sabbath , & rest in heauen . disobedience to superiours , is a reigning sinne : though god for their further honouring hath placed the precept that commandeth their obedience , next to the precepts of pietie , and calleth the dueties of it by the name of pietie , yet it is least respected . parents naturall are misregarded : pastours who beget and feede people in christ , are contemned ▪ and supreme authoritie disobeyed of the most part . . innocent blood is shedde in many places , as water , and the earth groaneth vnder it , and the cry of it ascendeth to heauen to bring down a judgement vpon vs all . . filthinesse , hath layed off the former vaile of shame , and is now impudent : fornication , adulteries & incests , out-face the light and multiplie out of number : and the couenant of god in marriage is lesse respected and keeped then light promises amongst men : whereby thogh their were none other sinnes , a way is made to ouerthrow families , for god cannot blesse inheritance in the hands of wrongous heires . . secret and open hurting of the lots of men , is a common practise , and no man standeth in awe , to make his neighbours ruine a stepping stone to his owne exalting . the most part without regarde of god , conscience , or humanitie lose their soule , and quite the heauen for the baggage of this life . . and calumnies are now so frequent , that their is no godlie man who findeth not the scourge of the tongue . and no man almost , who lendeth not to sathan , his eare to heare and his heart to belieue lies , and his tongue to bee a scourge to his neighbour . . as for the abominations of the heart , though they bee hidde from vs , yet they are manifest to god , and by these and the like fruites , the world may see , that the heartes of the most parte are voyde of god , and are vyle puddles to defile themselues , and ouerflow this land with sinne : these filthie fountaines are not seasoned with the salt of grace , but send out the deadlie waters of filthienes , to burden this land , and make it spew vs out . these and the like grieuous sinnes against the law , doe swarme in this land : but the sinnes against the gospel , are more grieuous , both because of their kind , and because they are sinnes against the remeede of sinne . faith , a speciall part of our euangelicall duetie , is rare to bee found : god day lie is offering grace & saluatiō in the gospel , yet few do receiue it by faith : and so his greatest mercie in offering christ , is mett with greatest wickednesse on our parte , in not belieuing : wee count fornication or thift , or murther , to bee sinnes , but infidelitie worse than anie of them , is counted no sinne , and yet it is among the greatest pardonable sinnes . this infidelitie bringeth out all sortes of disobedience : when the heart by faith is not purified , and ioyned to god , it is casten loose to all kinde of iniquitie , without any restraint of euill , or constraint to good : our hearing , and reading , is not mixed with faith , and so bringeth not out the obedience of faith , if wee neither belieue the promised reward , nor threatned punishment , wee cannot obey the directing precept . with these sins , is a fearefull apostasie to poperie in many partes of this land : many & these of the better sort , are seduced and drawen away to romish superstition , and that because they were voyde of the trueth of god , and beeing ledde with their owne lustes , they haue rendered themselues to that fleshlie religion which giueth them libertie to sinne . i speake of you , and to you , o seduced papists , how long will it bee , ere yee open your eyes to see how your blinde guides are leading you to damnation ? if yee will not try this matter by conscience try it at the least by common sense , & see what sort of guides these are , who take you by the hand , with this condition , to close your eyes , that yee neither inquire , nor care whether they lead you : tell mee if you would commit your selfe in a dark night to such a guide , as would close your eyes , put out the lanterne in your hand & not suffer you to know how & what way hee leadeth you : yee might think he were a ruffian , to mislead you to a bordell , or to rob you & yet ye hazard your saluation vpon such cousening : yee know your iesuites and seducing seminaries , strictlie discharge you the reading of scriptures , and holde you hood-winked vnder the vaile of implicite faith , or rather explicite ignorance . they propone to you worse conditions , than nahash the ammonite did to the men of labesh gilead : hee craued that one of their eyes should bee put out : but they craue , and yee agree , to haue both your eyes pulled out of you : it was israels priuiledge ▪ to haue light in goshen , in the midst of egypts darknesse , but your delight is to haue darknesse in the midst of goshen , and to winke in the cleare noone-day of the gospel , shining in this land. you know , they haue drawne your houses within the compasse of treason , and are a moth and canker-worme to eate vp your state : and how euill they recompence your good intreating them in secrete , by defiling your houses , in joyning bodilie whoredome with spirituall ? for the married women , they keepe their old direction , si non caste , tamen cautè , if not cleanelie , yet cannalie . but with maides they cannot so conuoy it : the professed chastitie of these ghostlie fathers , maketh virginitie fruitefull : and their auricular confession is found to bee a carnall pollution . these thinges , and worse , you knowe of your seducers , yet you will not see them : but choose to couer your errours by a selfe-deceate , and least you should let men see , that yee know your abuse , yee remaine still vnder that your willing and wilfull captiuitie . this is none other , than that strong delusion , making you beleiue lies , because you will not receiue the loue of the trueth . they abuse you as their slaues vnder blind credulitie ▪ to belieue their lies , and base obsequiousnesse to doe all their direction . it is time for you to auenge your selues on these philistines for your two eyes by pulling downe the house of their dagon , and to vendicate your goods , children , wiues , and conscience from their tyrannie . though it bee a benefite to the church , that you separate your selues from it , as the bodie is relieued , when noysome and excrementitious humours draw themselues to byles and apostemes , yet your apostacie bringeth guiltinesse on the land. further more , vvho seeth not atheisme an uniuersall disease in this land : many professe the true religion , and some are fallen to poperie . but atheists are moe than true protestants , and superstitious papists . the most part doe liue , as though there were not a god , or an heauen for the godlie , or an hell for the wicked : some more openlie expresse in wordes and actions , their grosse atheisme , other more closelie couer it with a ciuill life , and a morall honestie : but all of them say in their heart , that there is no god. so the lord may say to vs as by ieremiah , run to and fro in the streetes of ierusalem , and inquire in the open places of it , if there bee any that executeth iudgement , and seeketh the trueth , and i will spare it ieremiah . . . as impietie hath spred it selfe ouer all , so god hath punished it with the breach of charitie . all estates of this land , are rent from other , and euerie one of them diuided in it selfe . it was an vntimous strife betweene the seruants of abraham and lot , when the canaanites ( enemies to them both ) were in the land : gen. . . peaceable abraham reproued and amended it , saying , why doe wee striue , since we are brethren . and moses tooke that ●essoun of him , and reproued the two israelites for their strife , vvhy striue yee together , yee are brethren , our renting is like the diuisions of reuben , strong thoughts of heart . iudg. . ● . weaknesse of judgement cannot discerne thinges , but breadeth scruples , and the scrupling weake minde is strong to hold fast the apprehension , and refuse better information and for to intertaine schisme . they are sinfull of themselues , & dangerous to vs ●ll : vvhen the papist taketh occasion of our diuisions , to strengthen himselfe , and waiteth opportunitie for our ruine . if wee can reconceale our selues to god , hee will soone bind vp our diuisions with brotherlie loue , in the bond of peace . it is oftimes an ominous presage of ruine , if ye byte & deuoure one another take heed ye be not deuoured one of another galat. . . and among all the sinnes against the gospel , the contempt of the gospel , and the ministrie of it , is a great one , and so vniuersall , that few can cleanse themselues of it . . papists abhorre them , because the light of their doctrine discouereth their abominable errours , as theeues in their thift abhorre a torch-bearer . . atheists hate them deadlie ▪ because their doctrine suffereth them not to sleepe peaceablie in sathans armes but suggesteth to them the thoughts of god , of the soules immortalitie , of the last judgement , and eternall rewardes in heauen and hell : these , things make their conscience checke them , and so troubleth their false peace . . deboshed and dissolute men pursue them for their discipline , because they suffer them not to run on in the workes of the flesh without censure . and politickes care not for their message , but serue themselues of them , for gaining a name of good professours , they cannot abide faithfull and free pastours , but labour for a trencher ministrie , and to haue them as baselie obsequious , as their foote-boyes : if they with michah can finde a leuite for ten shickles of siluer , and a sute of apparell , they care not for the gospel , nor the ministerie of it . . and other who possiblie doe neither mislike their doctrine , nor discipline , nor sinceritie , doe grudge at them for church patrimonie . this is counted a great degree of iulians persecution ( though they bee not of his minde ) by withdrawing the maintenance of the professours , to vnderminde the profession and religion it selfe . this hath beene since the reformation , and yet it is a great sinne in this land : men of the greatest sort pulling gods portion from his church , and turning it to the increase of their own estat . whereby the gospel is spoiled , & many thousand soules perish : where there is no vision , the people perish . and where there is no maintenance , how can there bee prophecie or vision ? it is now a question greatlie debated , how it commeth to passe , that moe great houses are decayed within these few yeares , than in some three ages before ? but it is easilie answered , . in the generall : sinne is the ruine of all estates . . in the particular the abuse of the gospel : for as one hotte day'rypneth the cornes more , than twentie colde dayes : so one yeare vnder the cleare light of the gospel , filleth more the cuppe of the sinnes of an house , than twentie yeares vnder idolatrie . . and sacriledge is a consuming moth , to destroy a state , other wayes well acquired and guided . it falleth to them as to the eagle : shee was not content of her free booting abroad , but pulled a collop from the altar wherein was fastned an hotte firie coale , and when shee brought it to her nest , & filled her birds with that sacrilegious morsel , the coale fired her nest and burnt her birds in ashes : it is manifest to the worlde , that houses moste ladened with church patrimonie , haue gone most to ruine . if one achan stealing a part of things cōsecrate to god , and not as then conuerted to the use of the tabernacle , brought wrath on all israel : what shall wee looke for , where so many pull from god , these things , which beside their devoting , may pleade prescription , for many ages ▪ and if in the beginning of the gospel , god gaue an exempler punishment , on ananias and saphira , for interuerting a part of that which was once their owne , and was not sacred by that primarie separation of god , but by a secondarie mortification in their owne voluntarie offering , what shall bee their punishment , who draw that to themselues , which was neuer theirs but hath long stood both vnder a sacred separation and a religious use . god compleaneth of the iewes . will a man robbe god ? yet yee haue robbed mee . but yee say . wherein haue wee robbed thee ? in tithes and offerings . yee ar●●ursed with a curse : for yee haue robbed mee , euen this whole nation . bring yee all the tithes into the store-house , that there may bee meate in mine house , and proue mee now heerewith ▪ sayeth the lord of hostes , if i will not open to you the windows of heauen , and powre you out a blessing , that there shall not bee roome enough to receiue it . malach. . . . . such is the state of the gospel , concerning the maintenance of it ▪ in this land , that had not god in mercie stirred vp the heart of king iames , of happie memorie , and made now our gratious king charles to succeede him , in that religious affection , as well as in the thrones of these kingdomes , to proue a nurse-father to the church , and maintaine her maintenance . pouertie would banish the gospel out of this land. and with these sinnes is joyned impenitencie : all men sinneth , but no man repenteth , or mourneth either for his owne sinnes , or the sin of his time . god hath giuen vs a time of repentance , but we let it passe without turning , and though hee hewed vs by his prophets , by denouncing judgements , yet wee feare not . hos. . . and though hee haue smitten vs with famine , pest , and mortalitie , yet we haue not turned . the lord hath stricken , but wee haue not sorrowed , thou hast consumed vs , but wee haue not receiued correction , wee haue made our face harder than a stone , and refused to returne . neither know wee the time of our mercifull visitation , and the thinges that concerne our peace , neither our just correction to amend . and with all , this wicked disposition , a worse is joyned , that the most parte ▪ will neither forsake sinne , nor repent , nor suffer it to be called sin ▪ or themselues to be reproued and censured for it . it is not now sinne , to commit sinne , but to call sinne sinne , and in an holy zeale , for the wakening of mens cōscience to reproue it , that is now called sinne , and an intolerable thing . and so to fill vp the cuppe of our sinnes , many are come to this degree of vncurablenesse , as to quarrell the reprouers of their sinne , as god noteth it in israel . let no man reproue another , for my people are as they that striue with the priest. hos. . . this is a great policie and preuailing of sathan , hee desireth nothing more , than to holde men sleeping to death in sinne : and hee knoweth no meanes more able to waken them , than faithfull pastours : therefore hee laboureth to discredite them by contempt , that their warning may bee fruitlesse : and thus hee doeth by secrete and close degrees : hee maketh not men at the first to contemne pastours , and their callings , but to mislike their reproofes and taxing of sinne , as vndis●reet : from that hee leadeth them to hate their person , and then their calling : and so to contemne the gospel , and make it fruitlesse to themselues . when he hath thus far preuailed , he can lead them further , as to mak thē thinke that hating and abhorring of them , is a marke of true zeale : and to persecute them , is good seruice to god : as christ foretelleth , whosoeuer killeth you , will thinke hee doeth god seruice . ioh. . . it is a forerunner of a grieuous judgement : amos was euill handled of israel , immediatelie before their captiuitie : and ieremie was foullie intreated , and uriah slaine , immediatelie before the captiuitie of iudah : and christ himselfe , and his apostles persecuted to death , before their last destruction . it cannot fall otherwayes to them , for contemning the meanes of grace : they are left to themselues , and so fill vp the measure of their sinne to the hight . there is some hope , so long as god holdeth pastours in a land : but whē the people cōtemne that his mercifull ordinance , it is iust with him , to send them harder messengers of wrath . so long as gods ambassadours are welcome , there is appearance that god is working peace : but when they are contemned , and reproached for their fidelitie , god is no more to negotiate peace , but to proceed to destruction . if dauid reuenged so seuerely the indignitie done to his ambassadours by the ammonites , what shall god doe , when his messengers of peace are so spitefullie intreated of men ? the signes of a desparate and incurable disease in man , are foure speciall which are all to bee found in this land. . the first is , senslesnesse of all paine : sicknesse after a long strife with nature , preuaileth so farre against her , that as it hath expelled health , so it taketh away the feeling of that losse . . next conceate of health vnder that state : that notwithstanding of the great disease , yet they conceate of strength and integritie ▪ the minde affected with the bodie , mistaketh the true estate of it . . a carlesnesse to bee cured : conceated health expelleth all care of helpe against sicknesse . . a neglect of the wholesome counsell of the physitian , with a reproaching and iniuring , his person . all these are spirituallie in this land. . an uniuersall senslesnesse , of our spirituall state : all doctrine of the sicknesse of the soule by sin : of the nature of conscience : the sense of god of his mercie and wrath , and such like , are to the most part but as free discourses , without trueth or use : there is not so much of the life of god in them , as to know or feele that there is such a thing : all are closed vp in the fatnes of a hard and senslesse heart . this is senslesse atheisme . . and notwithstanding of this , there is a strong conceate of perfection in some : they judge themselues in their owne light , & ponder them in their own ballance , and thinke all that is spoken in scripture against sinners pertaineth not to them , but others , and all that is spoken of grace , and promises , is layed in their lappe alone : this is proud pharisaisme . . many smoothing themselues vnder this sweete sleepe , ly still in sinne , and neuer thinke of a physitian ▪ this is fleshlie securitie . . and the last are worse , they tak not the information of pastours , neither can they abide their admonitions , when they are rebuked for sinne . then they cry out as against ieremie . the earth dow not beare this mans words and railings . and take vpon them to prescriue to their pastours , both mater and manner of doctrine , they say to the seers , see not , & to the prophets , prophecie not vnto vs right things : but speak vnto vs pleasant wordes , prophecie deceites . isa. . . they will gladlie heare the sweete doctrine of the gospel , but not of the law : theorie but not practise ; discoursing of doctrine and controuersies , but not usefull application : and will heare the sinnes of other men , other callings , other countreyes ▪ and superiours , but not their owne sinnes reproued . this is a desparate resolution , not to bee cured at all . this is the pittifull state of this land , in all callings and persons : from the crowne of the head , to the sole of the foote , there is nothing whole therein , but wounds and swelling , and sores . isa. . . . . &c. he may justlie pronounce against vs , as hee did against the iewes , shall i not visite for these thinges , sayeth the lord , and shall not my soule bee auenged on such a nation as this . ierem. . . therefore the lord hath that same plea with vs , that hee had with rebellious israel . heare the word of the lord , ye children of israel : for the lord hath a controuersie with the inhabitants of the land , because there is no trueth , nor mercie , nor knowledge of god in the land : by swearing , and lying , and killing , and steeling , and whoring , they breake out and blood toucheth blood . therefore shall the land mourne , and euery one that dwelleth in it , shall languish . hos. . . . . hee seeth vs lying in our sinnes , and is going to his place , to see if wee will seeke him . i will returne , and goe to my place , till they acknowledge their offence , and seeke mee , in their affliction they will seeke mee earlie . hos. . . the third cause of our humiliation , is for an happie successe to our kings majesties weightie affaires , at home and abroad , both in peace and warre . to pray to god , who hath the hearts of kings in his hand , to multiplie more and more on his ma. all princelie giftes and graces , that hee may walke before god in the vprightnesse of dauid , the sinceritie of hezekiah , and tendernesse of heart , like iosiah . that hee would inlarge his heart more and more like solomon , to goe out and in before his people . and because his maiestie is ingaged in a necessarie and dangerous warre , for the defence of trueth , and his royall allyance , whereby great princes are become his enemies , and his kingdomes are threatned with a bloodie inuasion : it is the duetie of all , to intreate the lord , for preseruation to his ma. and his dominions . when iehoshaphat was beset by the moabites and ammonites : he set himselfe to seeke the lord , with fasting and prayer : and all his people gathered themselues together to aske helpe of god , and all iudah with their wiues ; and little ones , stood before him , who commanded them to stand still , and see the saluation of the lord , and gaue them a glorious deliuerie . . chron. . and when hezekiah receiued the blasphemous and boasting letter of senacherib , hee went vp to the temple ▪ and sprede it before the lord , and prayed for saftie , and the lord sent away his enemies , with slaughter and shame . wee haue at these times , to pray to god , that hee would bow downe his eare , and heare the blasphemie and boasting of the enemies , and open his eye , and behold their bloodie decrees , and the plotting of princes to execute them , and their insulting for preuailing against vs. and since god hath put it in our kings ma. heart , both to appoint to all his subiects , and to keepe in his royall person , a solemne fast ▪ wee may the more confidentlie pray , that the lord of hostes , to whom pertaineth the issues of death , would merche before our armies . psal. . . that hee would wound the head of our kings enemies , and thrust them through the thigh : and giue to him their neckes and backes alwayes : that hee would cloath them with shame , and make his crowne to flourish on his head. psal. . two punishments are most to bee feared at this time , the remouing of the gospel , and the sword of man : the one to destroy the soule , the other the bodie . . god is threatning the remouing of the word , because it hath beene long among vs without fruite : wee haue not receiued it as the word of god , to belieue and obey it , and to delight and walke in the light of it : though god haue his owne amongst vs , yet the most parte doe contemne it , and the preachers of it : it is counted an intolerable burden , because it curbes their lustes , and reproueth their sinnes so plainelie : they would bee glad to want it , that they might sinne freelie . god brought it wonderfullie amongst vs , few martyrs sealing it with their blood , and yet great opposition made to it : but god by his owne good meanes , lighted that candle amongst v● : at that time this nation was as a new laboured ground , with little labour it rendered great increase : light was then pleasant to men comming out of darknesse , and the taste of grace was sweete at the first hearing of the gospel : but now , after long hearing of it : wee haue lost our first zeale , and are become as an out-worne & barren ground . vvee are as the earth , which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it , but bringeth out nothing , but thornes and briers , which is neere vnto cursing , & whose end is to be burnt . heb. . . the lord hath patientlie waited on our fruits , and hath spared vs , like that figge tree , not for three , but three score and seuen yeeres , and yet neither is there fruite , nor repentance , for want of fruite : vvhat remaineth in his iustice , but that hee cutte vs downe , and cast vs in the fire ? let vs not feede our selues with idle and groundlesse conceates , as that the gospel is pure amongst vs , and wee haue a true religion & a glorious profession , &c. the lik conceat possessed the iewes in their greatest guiltines & danger : they cryed , the temple of the lord , the temple of the lord , this is the temple ▪ of the lord , ierem. . . but ye trust , sayeth the lord , in lying words , which cannot profite : vvill ye steale murther , and commit adulterie , and sweare falslie , and come and stand before mee in this house , which is called by my name , and say , vvee are deliuered , though wee haue done all these abominations : but goe yee now into my place , which was in shiloh , where i set my name at the first , & see what i did to it , for the wickednes of my people israel . ier. . . . . they thought they vvere secure vnder their profession , and god would not forsake them , but hee tolde them plainelie hee vvould cast them off , as hee did shiloh . the iewes had his presence , and now they are casten off , the greeke church in asia , africke , and the easterne partes of europpe , had the gospel , but abused it , and now are giuen ouer to mahumets carnall , and absurde delusions . and the westerne places of europ , and rome at the first did shine as a glorious church , it vvas then an hammer of heretickes , and an harbour of distressed and persecuted sainctes , and yet falling from that trueth , is novv for manie ages , the nest of antichrist . and this nation at the first inlightned with the gospel , enjoyed peace ( when other nations were ouer-runne with warre , and had almost lost both learning and religion . ) then this church proued a mother church ▪ and sent out her schollers as apostles to conuert the most parte of england , and other nations beyond sea : but when shee was therafter first compelled , and then willingly yeelded to romane superstition , god put out that candle of the gospel , which had shined some seuen or eight ages : and now since many ignorants relapse to poperie , and the most part fall in atheisme , who are we after so many fearfull examples ▪ to thinke that god will still dwell amōgst vs , not withstāding of all our rebellions , this fleshly conceat is an high degree of fleshly securitie , & as odious to god , as our other sins , for it would blemish him , whose eyes are purer , than that they can behold iniquity , as a fauourer of sin : as though he were tyed to dwell with obstinate and impenitent sinners , whom his soule abhorreth : & to keepe his couenant with them who proudlie breake it , which is all one , as to make god and beliall dwell together . the discouerie of the newe found land , reserued till the laste times , offereth a remarkable consideration for this purpose : some doe rest vpon naturall causes ▪ as the perfection of sailing , & the inuention of the sailers compasse , and other naturall reasons : but diuinitie leadeth vs a steppe further , in the cause of this diuine prouidence : that as light came out from sion at the first , and spred it selfe through all parts : & error and heresie came after treacing the steps of trueth , to the out most-parts of the earth , yet many nations either remaining in , or returning to paganisme , other falling in mahumetisme , & other were caried in that horrible apostasie within the church to anti-christianisme . the kirk groning vnder these abuses , & heresies within it selfe , did lute for reformation . in this mean time god discouered another world to tel this old one , that if they wold not reforme thēselues , he had prouided him a soyle & dwelling place , & set vp a people that were not of our knowledge , to prouocke vs to iealousie . god hath indeede taken vs by the hand , but when nothing can moue vs to our duetie , what can hee but giue vs a bill of deuorcement , and put vs from him ? god this day , and wee in his name ▪ are speaking as hee did to the church of ephesus . i haue something against thee , that thou hast forgotten thy first loue. remember therefore , from whence thou art fallen , and repent , and doe the first workes , or else i will come against thee shortlie , and remoue the candlesticke out of his place , except thou repent . rev. . . the iewes promised continuance of all happinesse to themselues , because they were abrahams seede : but christ telleth them that god will not want a people , though they were destroyed ; for hee could raise vp children vnto abraham out of the stones of the fielde : and hee letteth them see ( if they would see it ) to the griefe of their hearte , that hee is better serued of the gentiles , than euer hee was of them : if we joyne to our other sins , this fleshlie conceat also , that hee will want a people , if hee cast vs off : he can make either barbarians or iewes ( or th●se who now are the enemies of the gospel , turning them to the gospel ) better seruants to him than wee are : and will teach vs to our by eternall sorrow , that hee can haue a people , though wee bee not his people : but where shall wee finde a god , if in his iustice hee cast vs off for our sin : he will euer prouide himselfe a church , but woe to vs when hee departeth from vs. hos. . . the second plague to bee feared , is the sword of man : god hath shaken many roddes on vs , and smitten vs with them , but we mend not : hee hath broken the staffe of bread , and giuen vs cleannesse of teeth in our cities , and multitudes in the streetes dying for famine : hee hath stricken vs with pestilence , and made that flying arrow rage fearfullie : and great mortalitie on men and beastes , hath almost latelie taken the tith of this land , and yet wee haue not amended : the sword onlie remaineth as the last and most fearfull plague , which god then useth , when all other chastisements haue not wrought his end to bring vs to repentance . wee are as israel , whome god did smyte with plague after plague : and yet for all this , they returned not to me , sayeth the lord. amos. . and therefore , why should i smite them any more ? isa. . . and thou hast forsaken mee , saith the lord , thou art gone backeward : therefore will i stretch out mine hand against thee , and destroy thee , i am wearie with repenting . ierem. . . when hee had taken paines on them , and they were not mended hee cast them a way . the bellowes are burnt , the leede is consumed in the fire , the founder melteth in vaine , for the wicked are not plucked away : retrobate siluer shall men call them , because the lord hath reiected them . ier. . ● . . it is now dangerous to sleepe in securitie , as though our enemies were farre off , and wee cōpassed with the walls of a great sea : we haue our enemies within ; so long as sin increaseth , & is not repented , we wāt not enemies to destroy vs : god wanteth neuer instruments , whē he wil punish a land , he can hisse on the flee at the riuer of egypt , and on the bee in the land of ashur . isa. . . and though there were but men halfe wounded and halfe dead , they shall rise vp euery man in his tent , and burne ierusalem with fire , when god is angrie with her . ierem. . grashoppers are but weake creatures , yet when god sent them on israel , they could not bee resisted , because the lord uttereth his voyce before his armie ▪ for his camp is very great , for he is strong that executeth his word . ioel. . . as for our walls of water , if our sinnes remaine , they will bee shippes and bridges for our enemies , to bring ouer the wrath of god , vpon vs : though wee would build our nest into the toppe of rockes , yet the hand of god can pull vs downe , where euer a man dwelleth , hee is a blacke marke for god to shoote at , and the arrowes of his wrath to light on , so long as guiltines abideth in him . wee should not indeede neglect or contemne lawfull meanes of our defence , for that were to tempt god. though the apostle had an expresse promise , that none of his companie should perish in the storme , yet when the mariners minded to conuoy themselues away , hee said , except these men abyde , wee can not bee saued . act : . neither ought wee on the other part with asa , to put our trust in meanes , as to rely on the reede of egypt , or the arme of flesh , for that is to prouocke god to iealousie . both extremes , make god our enemie , either in tempting him by neglect of meanes , or prouocking him , by trusting on them : the midst is his ordinance , which hee will euer blesse , to wit , the use of them , in holie wisedome and confidence in god. our maine care should bee to bee at peace with him , that so the lord of hostes may bee with vs , and the god of iacob may bee our refuge . psal. . in this case wee are inclosed in gods pannall , and he is set on his throne to iudgement , and the decreete will come foorth in the sentence , & bring forth the own executiō , except in time wee agree with our god. long hath hee spoken by his prophets , in his reforming , directing , and exhorting word : but wee haue neglected all that faire proceeding : he is gone to an harder word , euen the worde of iudgement , and processe : and let vs assure our selues , hee will not leaue off , till hee bring it to some end : when i beginne , i will also make an end : . sam. . . and there is none end , but one of two , either our iust destruction , or mercifull preseruation . if wee dispute with him , hee is righteous , for we cannot answere to one of a thousand : and wee cannot flee from him , whether shall wee goe from his spirit ? neither can we resist him , for he is almightie . since then we can neither answere to him , nor flee from him , nor resist him , our onelie best is to flee to him with the forlorne sonne and cast our selues in the armes of his fatherlie mercie . thus , god who knoweth best how to bee intreated , commandeth vs. come , let vs reason together . isa. . . call a solemne assemblie , sanctifie a fast. ioel. . onelie acknowledge your iniquitie . ierem. . . and as hee commandeth , so he promiseth a blessing . though your sins were as the skarlet , they shal be as the snow : thogh they were as the crimson , they shall be as wooll , if ye returne and repent . isa. . . and he will leaue a blessing behind him . ioel. . call vpon mee in the day of thy trouble , i will deliuer thee . psal. . and i will bee with him in trouble , i will deliuer him , i will glorifie him . psal. . . and as he promised a blessing , so in all time hee hath performed it , for his people did neuer sincerelie humble themselues before him , but hee gaue them a visible blessing . the book of iudges is full of this practise . . israel sinned against him , . and hee gaue them ouer in the hand of some enemie . . and when they felt their miserie , they cryed vnto god , by prayer & fasting . . the lord raised vp a iudge or sauiour , who deliuered them . when niniuie was threatned with destruction , and humbled themselues in fasting and praying , the lord spared them , ionah . . . and though ahab was a wicked hypocrite , yet when hee put on sacke-cloath and fasted , the lord said to eliah , seest thou how ahab is humbled before mee ? because hee hath submitted himselfe to mee , therefore i will not bring this euill in his dayes . . kings . . prayers , and teares , are the kindlie weapons of gods church , which they use in all their necessities and dangers : and that neuer without an euident blessing . they ouercome god , and bow him to mercie , because hee hath bound himselfe to accept the sacrifice of a contrite heart : a contrite and a broken spirit , hee can not refuse . psal. . . and vvhen hee is reconcealed to vs in christ , and our sinnes pardoned , hee becommeth our friende , and protectour . so long as sinne remaineth , hee is our aduersarie , and our sinnes bind his hand , that hee cannot helpe , and stoppeth his eare , that hee cannot heare . isa. . but vvhen god is appeased , then he becommeth our deliuerer frō all our dangers . and though they seeme but vveake vveapons to the naturall man , vvho would haue his eyes filled with bodilie meanes , yet they are most forcible against our enemies . and sathan himselfe is affraied of nothing more , than solemne humiliation and repentance . hee knoweth so long as god is angrie with his people , hee will finde both great permissions , & large commissions against them , to their hurt : but when god and his people reason together , and his mercie pardoneth their sinne , then sathans permissions are restrained , and his commissions end , and a certaine shame and disapointment is concluded against him . there is neuer a solemne humiliation in the church , but it bringeth a notable ruine to his kingdome : our groanes and teares are as great ordinances to batter and beate downe his building of iniquitie : all the armories in the world ▪ haue not so terrible canouns to satan , as faithfull hearts grieued for sinne : neither so fearefull bullets , as feruent prayer and supplications sent vp with strong cryes and groanes to god : though such hearts bee broken , in sending them vp , yet they batter sathans kingdome , and bringe health to themselues . to these prayers and teares , wee haue now a cleare calling : as god in his word commandeth , so he is by his worke applying that command to vs. . by the obseruation of all his seruants , the prophets who with a pastorall heart and eye , seeth the present iniquities of this land , and wrath hanging aboue our head . this burden is layed on vs , who are watchmen , to stand on our watch , and sitte vpon our tower , and see what god will say to vs , sonne of man , if the watch-man , when hee seeth the sword comming , blow the trumpet , and warne the people : then whosoeuer heareth the sounde of the trumpet , and taketh not warning , if the sword come , & take him away , his blood shall be vpon his owne head . hee heard the sound of the trumpet , and tooke no warning , his blood shall bee vpon him . but hee that taketh warning ▪ shall deliuer his soule . so thou , o sonne of man , i haue sette thee a watch-man vnto the house of israel : therefore , thou shalt heare the vvorde at my mouth , and warne them from mee . ezech. . . , . . . vpon this heauie charge layed on vs , and the care to saue our selfe , and our people , we cry a loude , and spare not , wee lift vp our voyce as a trumpet , to shew to israel his sinne , and to the house of iaacob their transgression . isa. . . therefore , gather your selues , o nation not worthie to bee loued , before the decree come foorth , and yee bee as chaffe that passeth in a day , & before the fierce wrath of the lord come vpon you , & before the day of the lords anger come vpon you ▪ seeke ye the lord all ye meek of the earth : it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the lords anger . zeph. . . . . the obseruatiō of good people of euery sort , falleth vpon this necessitie and cryeth for a publicke humiliation . the causes are so manifest and vveightie , that anie who is not blinded may perceiue them , & vvhat is this else , than a mutuall exhorting one of another . come , let vs returne to the lord : for he hath spoiled , and he will heale vs , hee hath wounded vs , and hee will bind vs vp hos. . . . gods prouidence is a reall calling & a commanding of vs to this fast. hee hath begun his iudgements in other places , & we are vnder the same sinnes , and hee is shaking that rod vpon vs. it vvas time for dauid to pray for ierusalem , vvhen hee saw the angell stretch his sword ouer it : hee prayed , and god made the angell stay his hand , . sam. . seeing then vvee are ladened with so many sinnes , and compassed vvith so many troubles , and god by his vvord and vvorkes , and our conscience calleth vs to repentance & fasting , vve may not neglect this fast. for he who will not afflict his soule in the day of expiation , that soule shall bee cut off from his people . leuit. . . and in that day , sayeth the lord , i called to weeping & mourning & to baldnes , & girding with sackcloth : and behold ioy & gladnesse , slaying oxen , and killing sheepe , eating flesh , and drinking wine : let vs eate and drinke , for tomorrow wee shall die : and it was reuealed to mee , by the lord of hostes , surelie this iniquitie shall not bee purged from you , till you die , sayeth the lord. isa. . . . . neither let vs keepe the fast of hypocrites who disfigure their faces , and looke sowrlie , that they may bee knowne of men to fast . matth. . . they afflict their soules for a day , & hing their heads as a bulrush , and yet they finde pleasure , and oppresse their neighbour in the day of their fast. isa. . . neither let vs keepe the papists fast , who are hypocrites in their externall shewe ▪ and epicures in the dyet of their fasting : there can bee no afflicting of their bodie , where for qualitie , they haue libertie to eate bread , confections , conserues , fruits , & to drinke all sorts of wine : & for quantitie , to tak their satietie , & fill of them , and yet in so doing , they breake not their ecclesiasticall fast. this is a mocking of the christian fast , a scorning of the vvorld , the feeding of the flesh , and a deceate of themselues in that wil-worship a feasting for fasting . but let vs keep the christian fast , in a simple abstinence frō all that may comfort the bodie , in true and vnfained repentance , and forsaking of our euill wayes , turning to the lord our god with all our hearts that he may haue mercie on vs. if vvee seeke the lord vvhen hee may bee found , then vvee shall cry , and hee will answere , wee shall call , & hee shall say , behold , heere i am if thou take away from the midst of thee the yocke of sinne , isa. . . and for this ende , wee muste first inquire where these sinnes are , that so grieuouslie offend god , & that not by prying in our neighbours , to lay all the blame on them , and transferre it from our selues , and so to foster a conceate of our owne innocencie in this common guiltinesse . it is a deepe policie of sathan , to cousen men in this case , to cleanse themselues , and blame their neighbours . this is one olde lesson , wee haue of our first parents . adam layed the sinne vpon the woman , and the woman on the serpent : wee are forward to commit sinne , but are ashamed of it , when it is committed , and would father it on another : wee defile our selues reallie by the guiltinesse of it , and labour to cleanse vs by a conceate : but god will not bee so put off , and that shifting is a doubling of our guiltinesse . so , after that core , and his complices were punished , the people murmured against moses and aaron , saying , yee haue killed the people of the lord. nu. . . the cause of corahs punishment , was not in moses and aaron , but in corahs sinnes , who inuying their credite , ambitiouslie affected the like , and seditiouslie made a faction , and drew the people after him , against them whom god had set ouer them : but the foolish people , not considering his sinne , nor their owne factious following of him , layed all the blame vpon moses and aaron . this is to harden our selfe in our sinne & impenitencie , and to freeze on our dregges . zeph. . . but euerie one of vs ought to examine first & most our selues , and wee shall finde seuen abominations in our hearts : if we looke in the glasse of gods law , we shall see our leprosie , & bee forced with the lepers to cry out , i am vncleane ▪ i am vncleane . so dauid ( albeit god beeing angrie at israel suffered him to number the people ) said to the lord , i haue sinned , and i haue done wickedlie , but these sheepe what haue they done ? . sam , . . and ieremie putteth himselfe in with the rest , vvee haue sinned , and thou hast not spared . lament . . and daniel , wee and our fathers haue sinned . dan. . it is a token of true grace , in the censure of our selfe , with the apostle , to count our selues the first of all sinners : and a token of true repentance . . tim. . . in the appearance of sin with ionah , to say , i know , that for my sake , this storme is come vpon you . ionah . . . euerie one of vs , hath broght his coale to this great fire of gods wrath , so , let euery man come and take out the coale , hee hath cast in it , & draw waters out of his brokē heart and powre out the teares of true repentance to quench it withall : let vs search and try our vvayes , and turne againe to the lord . lament . . . as on the one part wee ought not pharisaicallie to lay all the fault on others , so neither should weelazelie waite vpon the repentance of other : euerie one ought indeede to stirre vp another to this holie exercise : but if other remaine in their hardnesse , and will not bee stirred vp to seeke the lord , wee ought not to delay repentance by their euill example . euerie one is bound to keepe his owne soule : if yee vvill not repent , my soule shall mourne in secrete for your pryde . ierem. . . as the multitude of the godly cannot secure an euill man from gods justice , hee found out achan among the thousands of israel , and punished him : so the multitude of impenitent sinners , shall not hyde one mourning sinner from his mercie : he sendeth not out his wrath , till first hee marke them , that sigh and cry for the abomination of ierusalem ezch. . and promiseth to baruch his life for a prey . hee had the arke readie to saue noah , and a zoar to receiue lot. . next , for this holy exercise , let vs rent our hearts , and that by a true and godlie sorrow for our bygone and present offences , afflicting our soules by a true contrition , ioel. . as wheate or corne , is brayed betweene the nether and vpper milstones , so is the penitent soule , bruised betweene the griefe for sinne , and feare of wrath , with an holie indignation at our selues , for offending so good a god , and taking an holie reuenge or sythment , on our selues for that vylnesse . . cor. . that when wee remember our wayes , and all our doings , wherin wee haue beene defiled , wee may loath our selues in our owne sight , for all the euills that wee haue committed . the reasons of this renting are , . our heart is the fountaine , from which all proceedeth , that defileth the man , and ought to bee stopped . . it is the forge-house , wherein sathan forgeth all iniquitie , and must bee ruined . . and the place of the conception of all our miseries , therefore by an heart-breaking godlie sorrow , it must be so disabled , as it losse the power of conceiuing , or bringing foorth of sinne as of before . it is the bellie of the viper for conceiuing , but it is not rent in the deliuerie of that venemous brood : therefore it ought to bee rent in remorse for it , and with that renting , wee must bring out the birth of a sincer confession of our sinne , let vs lift vp our heartes and our hands to heauen , and say , vvee haue sinned and haue rebelled , and thou hast not spared . lament . . . . . thirdlie , for the time to come , we must purpose with our selfe , and vow to god amendement of our life , & the studie and practise of new obedience : these holie vowes , will both bind our corruption , that it breake not out at all occasions , and stirre vp the grace of god to a life worthie of god. true repentance will so presse our corruption , that it may finde for the present a weight to bow it downe , and a knyfe to cutte the throate of it : and it will strengthen gods grace by remouing sinne , which is the bane of it . it is a repeating of our first conuersion , and a notable promouing of sanctification , by so solemne a worke , adding a sensible degree of killing the old man , & the quickning the new . this is the fruite of our wrestling with god , euen to halt with iacob : though wee haue preuailed , our corruption will bee so disjoynted , as it be not so strong therafter . so , god in mercie to his owne , by true repentance , slayeth sin , which sathan augmented by our falling & disappointing him of his end , turneth his work of sinne in vs , to a destruction of our sinne . fourthlie , wee must strengthen our hearts with confidence on god , that hee will haue mercie on vs : we can neuer goe to him with boldnesse , without this confidence in iesus christ , but wee runne from him as a consuming fire . for this end , we ought first to fixe our mind vpon him , as hee hath discryued himselfe . . a god full of goodnesse , for hee is gratious , freelie to pittie vs not looking to our deseruing , but beside , aboue , & contrare to it , to helpe vs , bringing all the reasons of his goodnesse to vs from himselfe , and respecting none other thing in vs , than our miserie to cure it . . hee is mercifull , to pardon our sinnes , and remoue all euill from vs , whom gratiouslie hee accepteth , and giueth vs euerie good thing that wee neede . . and slow to anger , because the best men are often falling in sinne , and so giue matter of his provocation , yet hee is not soone moued at their sinnes , but waiteth on their repentance . . and of great kindnesse , that euen in the time of his just anger , keepeth euer his fatherlie loue and benignitie to them : his anger can stand well with his loue , though wee doe not well consider it : hee doeth not afflict vs willinglie . lament . . . but in the midst of his wrath , hee remembreth mercie , in the change of his work and action , from blessing to crossing , his heart and affection is not changed vpon vs hee is not hastie to anger , and long in it , but slow to it , and soone from it . anger is in men according to their seuerall disposition : it is in the melancholian , a vertue , that hee is slow to anger , but a vice , that hee abydeth long in it : and it is the cholerians fault , that hee is soone angrie , but a vertue that hee is as soone from it . our good god , speaking of himselfe according to man , expresseth his anger by the vertues of them both : with the first , hee is slow to anger , and with the second hee is soone appeased : and this is to our great comfort . . and he repenteth him of euill : although our sinnes force strokes out of his hand , yet hee is grieued for vs vnder them , and by his sudden relieuing of vs , so soone as wee repent , doeth testifie , that hee hath neither pleasure in the death of sinners , nor in the troubles of his owne : in all their afflictions hee is afflicted . isa. . . and these diuine properties and their worke is not as his strange vvorke , and strange act , but in those thinges , hee delighted , because mercie pleaseth him . isa. . . ierem. . . micah . . and for our fuller confidence , wee haue not simplie to consider this his goodnesse in himselfe , but as it is presented and offered to vs in a couenant , which is confirmed by christ. his goodnesse is in himselfe as a fountaine superabounding , but the couenant is as a chariot , or conduit , conuoying it to vs. his goodnesse assumed our nature in christ , to a personall vnioun with the sonne ; to assure vs both of the grounds of that communication of his goodnesse , and of our right to it ; and of the way how it is : that beeing and belieuing in christ our brother , wee may haue boldnesse and accesse by that way , which his blood hath consecrate toward the throne of grace . heb. . when in our mourning for sinne , our faith looketh to christ , whome our sinnes haue pierced , and intreate god , to looke on the sonne of his loue , in whome hee is well pleased , wee haue confidence to bee heard in that wee pray for : zachar. . no man can tryst and meete with god in christ the great peace-maker , who is both the prince and pryce of our peace , but hee shall finde reconciliation in him . thirdlie , our owne experience may giue vs confidence : when this yland was invaded by that great nauie , that was called , invineible : god made the seas to burie our enemies , as it did the aegyptians : anno . next , when sathan saw , that our god vvas god of the seas , hee tooke him to fire , and put it in the heartes of cruell papists , to attempt the blowing vp by powder , of the king , the parliament , the flower of all estates of england : but god discouered that hellish plot , and brake their bow at the lowsing of their arrow . anno . when mortalitie passed through all this land , and remoued many , god vvas intreated by our prayers , and stayed it . anno. . when hee brak in with a fearefull pest among vs , and we humbled our selues before him , he commanded the destroying angel to depart from vs. an. . when hee threatened extreame famine , in the rotting of all our cornes , wee called on him by fasting and praying , & immediatelie thereafter for seuen weekes gaue such serenitie as scarcelie any man doeth remember the like . anno . hee is that same god , that hee was then ▪ and if we will run to him in true repentance , hee both can and will deliuer vs as of before . in a word , we must processe our selues seuerelie before god. . in presenting our selues before his fearefull tribunall , and standing there , compare our selfe to that righteousnesse of the law , and our god , and wee shall finde that our sins are moe , than the haires of our head . . when wee haue found it so , wee must cry in the bitternesse of our heart , with the publican , knocking on our breast , the lord bee mercifull to mee , a sinner ▪ luke . . . this sight of our vilenesse , and sorow for it , must chase vs to god , to begge remission of sinne , and to be couered with the righteousnesse of christ ▪ wash mee throughlie from my sinne , and cleanse mee from mine iniquitie . psa. . . we must striue to find remission sealed vp in the peace of conscience . all this processe before god , must be formed in our conscience , & led in a spirituall feeling : many a time we doe the worke of god negligently , and content our selues with a light thoght & motion of these things : but we must labour to bring our conscience to a sight & our heartes to a feeling of them , without which god cannot bee pleased , nor we blessed in this worke . and this processing is a great blessing of god , because it bringeth vs back to the first processe , that god formed in vs , at the time of our conuersion ; and acquainteth vs with that processe , which wee shall see at the last day ; and shall secure vs from the terrour of it . wee shall then count our selues happie , for tymous processing our selues , whē we shall see others condemned , who now neglect to doe it . further , wee must remember our ordinarie measure of deuotion will not serue our turne in fasting : but as the solemnitie is more than customable occasions : so our deuotion in it must as far exceede our ordinarie , as it is aboue ordinarie occasions : the sabbaths seruice had the own measure aboue the daylie sacrifice : so our griefe , zeale , faith , and softnesse of heart , must bee seuen fold more , than at other times : therfore , is it compared to the greatest sorrow as the sorrow of a woman mourning for her first borne , and for the husband of her youth , and that as the mourning of iudah in the vallay of megiddo for the slaughter of iosiah . zach : . when our soules by the grace of god , are brought to this holie disposition , we must also take order for our bodie , that it may know in the owne kinde this exercise ; that defrauding it of the owne desires , wee may bring it to some feeling of that worke , that is within it euen of the reasoning betweene god and our soule ; that pinching of it , is both the chastining and amending of it . wee must abstaine from mirth and solace : when gods sword is forbished , shall wee then make mirth , and contemne his rodde . ●zech . . . let the bride-groome goe foorth of his chamber , and the bride out of her chamber . vvhen god is angry , it is not timous , nor comelie for vs to sport , or giue ourselues to any delight . if nehemiah forbade the people to weepe at the reading of the law , because that day was a festiuitie to god , nehem. . shall it not bee more vnseemelie to laugh , and rejoyce in the dayes , wherein god calleth vs to mourning and teares ? it is not a day of libertie or loosing our minde and body to delights , but inclosing and shooting vp our selfe in secrete . that wee retrinch , and call in all our thoughtes , that at other times , may goe out to our businesse , and keepe them all , as a mourning widow ▪ clothed vvith du●e , in tokens of the affliction of our soule . the maine thing indeed , that god requireth in publicke humiliation is true repentance , in godlie sorrow for our sinnes , and earnest imploring of his mercie in iesus christ. rent your hearts , and not your garments , and yet with all , hee requireth also a bodilie fasting , that our bodies bee defrauded , not onelie of their superfluous and vnlawfull desires , but also of their due and lawfull necessities in nourishment and rest , and that for these speciall reasons . . that the bodie by that abstinence , may bee afflicted and punished , as one instrument of euill to the soule : though strength and health of the bodie bee a blessing of god , yet oft-times it affecteth the soule , and either stirreth it vp to euill , or else is a readie weapon of vnrighteousnes , to execute the euill desires of it . . that it may bee taught by that defrauding and punishing , what is the punishment of sinne . . that since it is a great impediment to our soule in good , when it is satisfied in all the desires : it may not hinder , but rather further the soule in so holie an exercise , but the felt necessities of it , make it to spurre our soule to bee earnest in the seruice of god , who is onlie able to saue both soule and bodie . . lastlie , for the compleete humiliation of the whole man : that as both soule and bodie haue sinned , and euerie one of them haue had their owne parte in that wickednesse , they may now suffer conjunctlie , and bee humbled for it before god. vvith prayer and fasting other things must bee joyned : first course and base apparrell , that none come before god in their best cloathing , but in their course and common garmentes : costlie rayment doeth no more agree with fasting and repentance , than laughing and surfette : an heart sopped with sorrow and bitternesse for sinne , can neither desire , nor take paines vpon the busking of the bodie . remorsfull thoughts can neither breed nor dwell vnder a painted face , and a husked bodie : contrition in the heart commandeth a neglect of the flesh : as our flesh ought to bee taught by defrauding of nurishment , so also in bafnesse and neglect of apparrell . in most of our former fastes , this hath beene a blotte , that people haue come to the lords house in their best garments , vvhen hee hath cryed for sacke-cloth and ashes : they mak no difference betwixt fasting and feasting : betwixt repentance and other ioyfull solemnities , as communion and thankesgiuing . naomie thought her name ( vvhich signifieth beautifull ) not fitting for her pittiefull estate , and the bitternesse of her heart , and desired not to bee called naomie , but marah or bitternesse . vvhen our parents sinned in paradise , their nakednes made them ashamed , and that shame made them couer ther nakednesse vvith anie thing that come first to hand . busking at fasting is not of shamefastnesse , but a shamelesse out-facing of the vvorld , their own conscience and the iustice of god. that deuotion will neuer pierce heauen , vvhere the ratling of silkes and veluets out-cryeth the groanes of their spirits . the sorrowfull iewes : rent their garments , and cast dust on their heades : dolour in the heart biddeth the bodie hing out sorrowfull ensignes , and these in blacke or base clothing : but in a busked bodie , there is not no such dulefull ensigne , and therefore , no sorrow in the heart . these painted puppies seeme to bee sent of sathan to congregations ▪ to bee blots in them , and scoffers of god in his face . the primitiue church enjoyned their penitents to come before the congregation in sackcloth , and cast themselues on the ground , so that oft-times their teares moystening the dust , defiled their faces with clay : a face so ouerlaide , is more beautifull in the sight of god , than iezabells fairding . they seeme to read silke for sacke in the prophets exhortations to fasting ; at least they put on silke in stead of sacke . to heare doctrine of humiliation , and to bee richlie ●led , doe not agree : to pretend griefe in heart , and bee sumptuouslie arrayed , is abomination in the sight of god , and a uisible solecisme , in the eyes of man. . the second thing to bee joyned with fasting , is a large offering for the support of the poore : it is our tyme of supplication to god for his grace , whereof wee both desire and expect a large measure : vvhy should vve not thē bee liberall to the poore ? as vvee vvould haue him open handed to fill our hearts with grace , vvee should be free to helpe their necessities : beside the measure of our daylie offering to them , wee are bound to conuert the charges of our house to their comfort , that vvhat wee spare on our selues in fasting , may bee lent to god , and giuen to the poore . vnlesse this way wee helpe them , vvee offer to god but a lame sacrifice , and turne his seruice to our owne worldlie gaine , because that vvhich we spare on our selues , remaineth vvith vs to be large in deuotiō , & niggard in our contributiō to the poore , is to proue , that we count more of our moneyes than of deuotion : and to moue god to respect it as little , as wee doe this hath also beene a great fault in our former ▪ fastings . wee ought therefore to giue our dinner to them that are hungrie , that christ hungring in the poore , may receiue that which the fasting christian doth abate : and so our fastes may bee filled and fatted with almous deedes , and wee may reioyce that our fasting hath made another to eate . . thirdlie wee must also joyne heerewith all requisite godlie exercises , to bring our hearts to that holie disposition , that god , requireth , as , . the reading and hearing of the law of god , that vvee may see our dittay in the commands that wee haue broken , and our doome ▪ in the threatned wrath , vvherevnto vvee are lyable by these breaks : so iosiahs heart melted , when hee heard it read , because hee saw great sinne in iudah , and heauie wrath hinging ouer their heads . . the hearing of pastours , apply that law to vs , and lance our conscience by their doctrine : so peters sermon pierced the iewes hearts vvhen their sins vvere layed to their charge , & they were forced to seeke ease to their wounded conscience : act. . and when the leuits did expound the law , the people mourned before the lord. nehem. . that piercing sharpnesse of the worde , chaseth them that are wounded to god : the heart pierced with conscience of sinne , can find no rest , but in him . . the reading of bookes of deuotion , which among other good ends , are vvritten by godlie men to stirre vp the heart to a tendernesse , and affectuousnesse in the worshippe of god. . conference with pastours , and other well affected christians , for the mutuall stirring vp of our hearts to that holie exercife : as coales joyned to coales , augment the heate , so godlie conference increaseth both zeale & affectiō . . heerewith must be joyned holie meditation : all worldlie thoughts must bee put out of our soule , and the thoughts of god onelie keeped in it : our heartes are hard ; and not soone moued wee must labour on them painefullie , and hold them on the ben●sell of spirituall disposition : hard stones are dissolued by strong waters and vineger , and the hardest heart will be softned by laying it in the strong water of contrition , & that piercing vineger of bitter remorse , all which things are furdered by constant meditation . . and aboue all , feruent prayers to god , and singing psalmes of repentance , that our desires be not a sound and multitude of words , but a powring out of our verie heartes , as water before him : we must wrestle with him as iacob in power of his owne grace , and not suffer him to depart , till hee blisse vs with the remission of our sins . it is not enough that one sort of people fast , but all of euery sort and state ; for all haue sinned , and are impannelled at the barre of gods iustice : gather the people , sanctifie the congregation , assemble the elders , gather the children , and these that sucke the brests . ioel. . . and the king of ninivie did fast , & made all his seruants to fast also . ionah . . . pastours haue their part in this worke . to informe the people of their sin and danger of wrath , and waken vp their conscience by the terrours of the law , that being priked in their hearts , they may cry out , men and brethren , what shall wee doe . act. . . and not that onelie but also in example to goe before them : let the priestes the lordes ministers weepe betweene the porch & the altar . ioel. . that thereby , they may shew to the people , that they themselues belieue the things which they speake of sinne and death , and that the worke of humiliation is good when they practise it affectuouslie . . to interceede with god for their people , that hee would pardoun and spare them : spare thy people , o lord , and giue not thine inheritance to reproach . ioel. . moses was so zealouslie carefull of the peoples safetie . that hee wished his name to bee rased out of the booke of life , rather than they were destroyed : and phineas seeing the plague , breake into the campe , made atonement for them . this is to stand in the gappe , and make vp the breach from staying the proceeding of gods anger . ezech. . . and the bearing of the names of the tribes of israel , on the breast-plate of our heart , in a pastorall loue , and on the two shoulders of an earnest care and assiduous labour : presenting them and their necessities daylie to god. our tyme is like the tyme of ieremiah and ezechiel . god hath now presented the roule of his booke vnto vs , and it is all written within and without , lamentation , mourning , and woe . ezech. . . our duetie is as noah , to fore-warne the world of the floode : as ionah to denounce destruction against niniuie : and as men that stand in the counsell of god , to discouer the iniquitie of the people , to turne them from their sinne , and turne away their captiuitie . ierem. . now the shippe of gods church , is tossed and beaten with the stormie seas of calamities , and the multitude , like ionah in the sides of the shippe , and are fast asleepe in their sinne : wee ought to rouse them vp , and cry , what meanest thou , o sleeper ? arise , and call vpon thy god : if so be , god will thinke vpon vs , that we perish not . ionah . . . vvhy will yee die in your sinnes , o house of israel . ezech , . . the people also ought to cōsider their dueties heere●n . . to count it a blessing of god to haue pastours that will waken them , for none of themselues , can awak out of the sleepe of sin : dauid a prophet , & tender hearted , had neede of a nathan to waken his sleeping conscience . . therefore they should heare and receiue information from their pastours , whom god hath set ouer them : as hee hath bound pastours vnder heauiest paine to informe them , so are they bound in conscience to heare them , and receiue their instruction . . to deale with their pastors , to interceed for them with the lord : cease not to cry to the lord for vs , that hee would deliuer vs from the philistmes , said israel to samuel . . sam. . . and pray to the lord , for thy seruants , that wee die not ibid. . . to ioyne their prayers with the prayers of their pastors : if they lye still in senslesnesse , the prayers sent vp to god for them will not auaile . pharaoh desired moses to pray for him , but prayed not for himselfe . thogh moses and samuel stood before me , yet my mind could not be toward this people . ier. . . but when pastors & people joyne their prayers together , then god suffereth himselfe to bee bound with the bonds of his owne making , euen his mercie and trueth in the promise layed vpon him by faith , in feruent prayers . a cleare proofe of all these dueties , in pastours and people , is in samuel the prophet , and the israelites : when hee reproued them for their sinne the people drew out water ( not out of wells , but out of their broken hearts ) and powred it out at their eyes , and fasted , and weeped that day , and said , wee haue sinned against the lord , and besought the prophet to pray to god for them . then hee offered a sacrifice ▪ and cryed to the lord for them , and the lord heard him , and deliuered in their handes the hoast of the philistimes , which was come vp against them . . sam. . if wee minde sincerelie to approue our selues to god in fasting , it must bee both publicke and priuate , . publicke humiliation at such solemne times , is both first and most required , for sindrie reasons . . to iustifie god , who hath arrested vs , and threatned or begunne judgementes , by publicke confession of our sinnes , proclaiming that hee hath just cause of wrath against vs ; and so by that publicke homage done to him , to acknowledge our obligement to him , for a newe holding of the life that hee spareth to vs. . secondlie , to make a more forcible onset on him , by all our prayers joyned together . for he who hath promised to heare vs in secret apart , and to bee in the midst of two or three , that are met in his name , will not he be in the midst of some hundreths , and thousands when they are come before him . matth. . . and he who said ▪ moses , let me alone ( as though moses prayers did bind him ) shall hee not suffer himselfe to bee stayed from executing his wrath , when many thousands feruent and faithfull prayers lay holde vpon him at once . . for our mutuall and greater incitation : many who in congregations meete together , possiblie haue gone before other in euill example , and some haue offended and stumbled at the fall of other . it is therfore moste expedient , that these see one another in that solemne deuotion : that they who haue giuen euill example in sinne may giue good example by their repentance : & they who haue conceiued just offence of other , may lay aside their offence , when they see them ryse frō their sin . dauid offended manie by his sinnes , but doubtlesse his repentance satisfied them , and conuerted moe people to god. . for sathans greater conuiction , hee intendeth no lesse in drawing vs to sinne , than to yock god and vs together , & so to set vs before him as guiltie persons to bee destroyed , both in this life , and at the day of our last reckoning : but in these publicke assemblies hee seeth the case altered , that god hath preuented the terme , and in place of a wrathfull meeting , to come to a friendlie commoning , & to end in a gratious reconciliation . when god commeth downe in these meetings , and melteth the hearts of his people , and reconcealeth them to him , such a sight is an heart-breake to sathan . vve ought also to joyne priuate humiliation in our houses , with that publicke exercise . and they shall mourne euery familie apart . the familie of the house of dauid apart , and their wiises apart : the familie of the house of nathan apart , &c. zech. . and that for sindrie causes . . we pollute our houses by sinne , and therefore ought to sanctifie them to god particularlie , in the time of a solemne fast. dauid sanctified his house after absoloms sin , and shall not wee much more consecrate our houses for our owne sinne ? . for preparation to the publicke worship : if wee come out of our owne houses to gods house , without anie preparation , wee cannot looke for a great blessing in the sanctuarie : priuate worshippe before wee come out , is as a seede for the greater and publicke worke . . and when we haue beene in the sanctuarie , and returned to our houses , wee ought to turne it in an haruest in them in reaping the fruit that we haue foūd in publick : our houses then are both the barne and the garner : wherein wee prouide the seede that wee take out to the sanctuarie , and to the which wee bring in the haruest , and increase that we haue found in it . . priuate worship is a seale of the sinceritie of grace , for manie doe counterfeate deuotion & repentance in publicke , who haue none exercise of it in their houses , all their care is to be seene of men , and so they are holie in the church , and profane at home : but to exercise gods worshippe feruentlie in priuate , is a token of a true and vigorous grace of god. . for greater libertie , to utter groaning , weeping , humbling , and prostrating of our bodie in priuate , than wee can in publicke , there wee doe manie things which would finde an vncheritable censure , if they were seene of men : affections once loosed , will breake out in sindrie actions , which in publicke wee must suppresse ; but in priuate wee giue them libertie . hannah vttered griefe of heart in the temple , and was misconstrued by eli , but her priuate deuotion at home , though with greater libertie was not offensiue , but a cause of her husbands more tender affection to her . . sam. . dauid in priuate , watered his bedde with teares . psal. . and filled his house with roaring , which in publicke hee did moderate . psal. . and by this priuate worship , is not onlie to be vnderstood , when the whole family meeteth together in their hall , or other conuenient roome , but beside that , when the master of the house hauing discharged that duety with his family , goeth a part to some reteered corner of the house , & there is yet more free in his deuotion than hee can bee in the sight of his familie : and so other of the house , who are come to vnderstanding or any measure of grace : this is , the familie aparte and their wiues aparte . in end , we haue three thinges to consider in all his work . first our preparation for it : the worke is transcendent to the naturall man , and craueth preparation to lift him aboue nature , in so heauenlie an exercise . though sudden ejaculations waite not on preparation , because in them wee are set to worke vpon an instant , by some urging occasion , yet in the set dyet of his worshippe , we are bound to an holie preparation : and in this solemnitie we haue neede to double the measure of our deuotion , beeing called to the highest extent both of afflicting nature , and stirring vp the grace of god in vs. it is therefore needfull , to try if god prepare vs for the worke . this we shall know . . if he open our eyes , to see how needfull this humiliation is for vs , by seeing our sin & his just wrath , that wee may be driuen to that resolution that wee must either breake off our sinne by repentance , or else be consumed in his anger . and by this sight , if he wakē our sleeping conscience and make it to set vs to worke , that we giue god no rest , till hee giue rest to his beloued . . this is some proofe of that which god telleth i haue beene sought of them that answered not , and found of them that sought mee not : and before they call i will answere . isa. . . where our miserable state hid from our selfe , is seene of him , so as hee pittieth it to helpe it , that our miserie vnwitting of vs , calleth for mercie : as the sores of a sleeping childe moue the father to compassion : and though wee neither seeke him , nor call on him , in anie knowne or sensible incalling , yet his fatherlie pittie answereth the cry of that our necessitie , when wee know not : this is a preuenting grace in this point : whereby god finding vs in the pitte of miserie , setteth downe iacobs ladder to vs , afore wee know of our estate , or thinke of a deliuerie . next , wee should try our disposition in the worke it selfe , if gods preuenting grace in preparation bee seconded by an assisting grace , which standeth in those points . . if hee soften our heart , to powre out it selfe as water before him , and bruse it , so as to bee an acceptable sacrifice . . if hee powre vpon vs the spirit of grace and supplication , his spirite making intercession for vs , to helpe our infirmities , in teaching vs both what to aske , and how to pray , with groanes that cannot bee expressed . . if hee giue vs boldnesse to draw neere to the throne of grace , and to finde accesse to him in the blood of christ , and libertie of spirit in all our deuotion . . if he giue vs the desire of our heart , in disposing it as we desire , to be both casten down for his offence , and raised vp in hope and confidence of his mercie : to feele our hearts melting in a godlie sorrow , is matter of vnspeakable joy ; while that sorrow is melting the heart , the sense & conscience of that disposition , cōforteth our heart whē we find gods spirit hath giuē vs our will ouer our hard heart , to sacrifice it to god. . if wee see his beautie in the sanctuarie , when hee holdeth the golden scepter of peace , like assuerus , and commeth downe , and moueth people to teares and groanes . when the angel of the lord , or the prophet charged the people of their sins , they did mourne , so that the place was called bochim or mourners . and assisteth euery one according to their necessitie and place , making the pastours as trumpets , to speak and not spare , his words in their mouth is as the hammer , that breaketh the rocke in pieces . ierem. . . when hee casteth downe , and raiseth vp , woundeth , and healeth vs againe , and worketh so in the congregation , that it may bee seene hee hath appointed that meeting , and keepeth it to reconceale his people to himselfe . . if as hee worketh a godlie sorrow in our heartes , so bee putteth wordes in our mouth for his intreatie : take to you wordes , and turne to the lord , and say to him , take away all our iniquitie , and receiue vs gratiouslie , so will we render the calues of our lippes . hos. . . and againe , let them say , spare thy people , lord , and saue thine inheritance . ioel. . . it is a token , god will heare vs , when he giueth vs his spirit to helpe our infirmities , and dytteth our bill : hee cannot refuse that supplication , which hee formeth himselfe . hee heard daniel , and send him comfort while he prayed : while i was speaking , and praying , and confessing my sinne , the man gabriel beeing caused to flee to mee swiftlie touched mee , and said , at the beginning of the supplication , the commandement came foorth . dan. . . so sonne as wee are humbled on earth , and send vp our supplications to god , hee is readie to answere vs to our heart . thirdlie , how vvee close that exercise : if as it beginneth in sorrow for our felt miseries , so it end in ioy , because our sacrifice is turned in ashes . vvee haue sufficient grounds of good successe vpon his promises : but beside these promises in his vvord , his vvorke in preparing vs for it , and disposing vs in it , are a good inducement to our hope : when hee powreth out the spirit of supplication on ierusalem , then assuredlie hee will breake vp a fountaine to the house of dauid for sinne , and for vncleannesse , zac. . . vvee know not his purpose and thoughts concerning vs , but his spirit vvho knoweth his minde , reuealeth them , and this is an sort of reuelation by his working : for as he knoweth the minde of god , so hee vvorketh the godly to that disposition vvhich he knoweth is most requisite , for obtaining the purposed blessing . therefore that holie and heauenlie , libertie , is ●ome sort of euidence to vs , that god hath both purposed for vs , and will giue vs the blessing , which wee craue after that manner . when he strengtheneth vs to wrestle with him , like iacob , hee will not depart , till hee blesse vs , and of wrestling iacobs , make vs his preuailing israel on whom is his peace . but , let none deceiue himselfe by a voluntar apprehension of peace , or fainzie to himselfe a ioy where hee hath none : god hath giuen vs the infalible mark of good successe of fasting in new obedience : who so after fasting walketh not in a newnesse of life , is deceiued by his seduced heart . this is cleare , both by the nature of repentance , and remission : true repentance is not onelie in a sorrowing for sinne , and refraining from it , for a day or two , but for all our lifetime thereafter . the purposes & vowes of obedience , which we make in our repentance , must be practised and performed : though the act of repentance indure not euer in it selfe , yet the vertue of it remaineth constantlie in the godlie . in baptisme we are sacramentallie changed , and at the time of our effectuall calling , wee feele that sacramentall grace in justification , and sanctification , and all our following dayes vvee are bound to goe forward in them : since repentance then is nothing but sanctification contracted : and sanctification all our life is nothing , but repentance inlarged and continued , it will follow that if sanctification doe not kyth constant after our fasting , there hath beene no true repentance in it . remission of sinne proueth the same : for though iustification , and sanctification be two seuerall graces in themselues , and bring seuerall respects & dispositions in vs , yet they are inseparable , for god neuer pardoneth the guilt of sin , but iontlie therewith he slayeth sin originall : as he washeth away the blot of all sinne , so he woundeth deadlie the roote of sinning sin in vs : and the cōscience of our washing in the blood of christ , doeth euer beget in vs a care to keepe these garments cleane which god hath cleansed . therefore , if there be not after our fastings a visible amendement of life , neither haue wee repented , nor god pardoned our sinne , but we haue added greater and worse sinnes to the former , and brought vpon vs a degree of judiciall induration and hardnesse of heart : when christ had healed the sicke man at the poole of bethesda , hee commanded him , sinne no more , lest a worse thing befall thee . ioh. . so when we are washed in the house of the lords aboundantlie powred out mercie , let vs keepe our selfe from sinne thereafter . if god be with vs , & accept our prayers , then we may be sure of these following fruits . . of remission of sinnes , in iesus christ : so when dauid confessed his sinnes , and said , i haue sinned against the lord : hee was answered by nathan : the lord hath also put away thine iniquitie : he had a warrād more speedilie to absolue him , thā he had to accuse him . ● . sa. . and whē the publicane knocked on his breast , & said , the lord haue mercy on me , a sinner , he went home justified : lu. . and whē the forlorne son came in repentance to his father , he receiued him in his fauour & house againe . luk. he seeth no sin in iacob , nor transgressiō in israel : our god pardeneth iniquitie , & passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance ; hee retaineth not his anger for euer , because hee delighteth in mercie . hee will turne againe , he will haue compassion on vs , hee will subdue our iniquities , and thou wilt cast all their sinnes in the bottome of the sea. mica . . . . he will accept of our persons , vnder his shaddow , nothing holdeth vs out of that secrete refuge , but our sinne , because hee is of purer eyes , than hee can beholde sine , and he pursueth sinne in all , and can no more protect an impenitent sinner , than hee can denie , his justice . but when the heart is purged from euerie euill conscience , thē his refuge is open to vs. . as for our enemies . wee should consider their estate , better than themselues , they are in gods worke for our punishment , but neither in his fauour , nor of his disposition . they are more foolish than sathan , hee durst not hurt iob , without a cōmission of god , but they think all possible & lawfull to them : and when he set on to execute that commission , though malice blinded his desire , yet not his minde , for hee did fore ▪ see a disappointing , because hee knew gods loue to iob , by so manie pledges and testimonies of his sinceritie in grace : but our enemies are not so wise as hee : they goe on without cōmission , sought & obtained they expound their preuailing , as gods sentence approuing their cause , and see not that all their businesse is a prouyding of a coffine , and beare-trees , to carrie them out of this combate with shame & confusion . god will pleade his cause against them . hee hath giuen them a hard , but a just commission against vs for our sinnes . assur is the rodde of mine anger , i will send him against an hypocriticall nation , against the people of mine anger will i giue him a charge to take the spoile : but they passed the bounds of their commission , and satisfied their owne wicked heart vpon the people of god. for assur meaneth not as god doeth , but his heart is to destroy and cutte off nations , isa. . they say , let vs defile sion , but they know not the thoughts of the lord , neither vnderstand his counsell . micah . . and when god suffereth them to preuaile , for the humiliation of his owne , they sacrifice to their owne net , and impute all this successe to their owne idols . habak . . . when god hath humbled vs ▪ and pardoned our sinnes , then their commission expyreth ▪ and god will plague them in his furie for their own wickednesse in doing his work peruerslie . and therefore , he will turne him against them , & plead his cause saying , i am verie sore displeased with the heathen , that are at ease : for i was but a little displeased with my people , & the enemies helped forward the affliction : i was angrie with my people , and polluted mine inheritance ▪ and giuen them in thine hand : but thou hast shewed them no mercie , thou hast layed vpon the auncient a verie heauie yocke . zach. . . is. . . and in his due time , hee will turne the rage of the enemie to his praise , the remnant of their rage hee will restraine . psal. . hee will stretch out his hand against the wrath of our enemies , and his right hand shall saue vs. psal. . . so that wee may iustlie say to them , reioyce not against mee , o mine enemie , when i fall , i shall rise , when i sitte in darknesse , the lord shall bee a light vnto mee : i will beare the indignation of the lord , because i haue sinned against him , vntill hee pleade my cause , and execute iudgement for mee . hee will bring mee foorth to the light , and i shall behold his righteousnesse : then shee that is mine enemies shall see , and shame shall couer her , which said vnto mee , where is the lord thy god ? mine eyes shall behold her , now shee shall bee troden downe as myre in the streete . mica . . . . . they are nowe an instrument in his hand , to execute his anger on vs , but they shall be the bute and marke of his greater anger . . as for the churches now desolate , god will returne to them in mercie , in his own time : and this time is , when they are purged from sinne , and the sinnes and insolencie of the enemie are come to an hight : then god will ryse ▪ and haue mercie vpon sion : for the time to saue her , euen the sette time is come . psal. . . it is time for the lord to worke when they haue made voyde his law. psal. . . so long as sinne remaineth in the church , the commission giuen to our enemies ▪ is in force . if wee moue the question , o thou sword of the lord , how long will it bee ere thou bee quiet ? put vp thy selfe in thy scabbard and bee still : it will be answered , how can it bee quyete , seeing the lord hath giuen it a charge . and the charge will lest till sin bee repented . when sin is pardoned , the lord will speake to his reconcealed people , feare not , thou worme , iacob , i will helpe thee , saith the lord , and thy redeemer the holie one of israel : feare not , for i am with thee , i will vphold thee , with the right hand of my righteousnesse . behold , all they which were incensed against thee shall bee ashamed and confounded , and they that striue with thee , shall perish . isa. . . . for i know the thoughts that i thinke towards thee , sayeth the lord , euen thoughts of peace , and not of euill , to giue you the exspected end ier. . . he will build vp the tabernacles of dauid that are fallen downe , and make vp the breaches thereof , and repaire the ruines thereof , as of old : amos. . . and will say , i am returned to ierusalem with mercie , mine house shall bee built in it , sayeth the lord of hostes , and a line shall bee stretched out vpon it . zach. . . as for vs , whom as yet in mercie , hee hath spared from cruell persecution , hee is now crying to vs , come my people , enter into thy chambers , and shute thy doores about thee , hide thy selfe , as it were for a little moment , vntill the indignation be ouerpassed : the lord will ordaine peace for vs , when hee hath wrought all our workes , euen the workes of true repentance and conuersion in vs. isa. . . . if wee repent truelie ▪ the riuer of his grace will flow among vs , and the streames of it will make vs glad : hee will dwell in the midst of vs , and helpe vs tymouslie . psal. . hee will be a fierie wall round about vs , and a glorie in the midst of vs. zachar. . . this is the summe of all : that wee returne to the lord our god , and seeke him vvhen hee may bee found , euen in this acceptable time vvhen hee is seeking vs : that wee afflict our soules for sinne , and call for remission of them , vvithout which wee cannot be saued : that euery one of vs forsake our euill wayes , and renew our couenant with him : and among the rest , let vs mourne for this madnes that wee offended such a god , who as hee hath power to destroye vs , so also hee hath that grace in his hand , vvithout the vvhich vvee cannot repent ; our sinnes at once both pulling downe destruction , and closing the doore of his grace vpon vs , except his vnspeakable mercie open it vnto vs againe . the lord our god , the father of lights , from whom euery good gift and perfect donation commeth downe : and who hath the hearts of all men in his hand , worke in vs all , in this and all other humiliations , that which may bee acceptable to him : that by his grace wee may bee enabled to offer the sacrifice of a contrite and a broken heart , and obtaine at his hand full pardon and remission of all our sinnes . and the good lord pardon all our sinnes , and the verie infirmities of that our repentance for sinne : and bee mercifull to euerie one that prepareth his heart to seeke the lord god of his fathers , though hee bee not cleansed according to the purifications of the sanctuarie : . chr. . . . through iesvs christ our lord , amen . finis . the summe of the former treatise . the dutie of watch-men . numb . scotlands pastours giue warning . a fast appointed . . cause . the churches affliction . it is antichrists persecution . but hee colloureth it with ciuill respects . why god afflicteth his church . their trouble is our lesson . vvee should mourne with them . for their persons . and for the gospel . and for our home dangers . . cause . the sinnes of this land. sinnes against the law. sinnes against the gospel . . infidelitie . . vniuersall disobedience . . apostasie . papists admonished . . atheisme . . breach of brotherlie loue. . contempt of the word and preachers . . sacriledge . . impenitencie ▪ foure signes of a deadlie disease in this land. gods controuersie with this land. . cause . our kings ma. royall affaires . remouall of the gospel to bee feared . an idle conceate refuted . vse of discouerie of the new world. the sword to bee feared . god our best defence . right use of lawfull meanes . god hath impannelled this land. none escape but by repentance . god commandeth it . prayers and teares our kindlie weapons . sathan is most affrayd of them . how vvee are called to them . vvee must fast . not the hypocrets fast. nor the papists fast , in but the christians fast which standeth in . inquirie vvhere sinne is . and that not laying it on another . but taking it to our selues . not to waite on others rep●ntance . but repent our selues . . next in renting our hearts ▪ the reasons of that renting . . in amendement of life . . in confidence of mercie ▪ fine grou●ds of it from god. from his couenant . from experience . how to processe our selues . foure reasons of bodilie fasting . base apparrell to bee used ▪ large almes to the poore , sixe godlie exercises ioyned . all must repent . pastours duetie in fasting . peoples duetie in fasting . . reasons for publicke humiliation . . reasons of priuate humiliation . . preparation for fasting , . disposition in it . . how vvee close it . new obedience , a proofe of repentance . true repentance findeth . . remission . . accepting of our persons . . punishment of our enemies . . releauing of his distressed church . . continuance of our peace . a prayer for repentance and remission . and for pardon of the faults of our repentance . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e . . . . . . . . an act appointing thursday the last day of february, . for a solemn day of humiliation, fasting & prayer and declaring the grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) an act appointing thursday the last day of february, . for a solemn day of humiliation, fasting & prayer and declaring the grounds thereof. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by edward husband and john field, printers to the parliament of england, london : . [ie. ] order to print signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . public worship -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- politics and government -- - -- early works to . a (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no an act appointing thursday the last day of february, . for a solemn day of humiliation, fasting & prayer: and declaring the grounds the england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - elspeth healey sampled and proofread - elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an act appointing thursday the last day of february , . for a solemn day of humiliation , fasting & prayer : and declaring the grovnds thereof . the lord who ruleth over the nations , who disposeth and ordereth all things , according to the good pleasure of his own will , hath in our age ( as in former generations ) exceedingly glorified his wisdom , power and mercy , that he might warn and awaken the inhabitants of the earth unto a diligent enquiry after him , a faithful and fruitful living before him ; his voyce and his hand hath been heard , and seen in this land most eminently , in rescuing us out of the destroying hands of tyranny , popery and supersition : which experience of the lords wonderful goodness and mercy towards this nation , might have wrought an answerable return of duty and obedience ; and the sense of the want hereof ought to fill us with shame , astonishment and confusion of face , especially when ( in stead thereof ) we finde in the midst of it , such crying sins , hideous blasphemies , and unheard of abominations ( and that by some under pretence of liberty , and greater measure of light ) as after all our wondrous deliverances , do manifest themselves to the exceeding dishonor of god , and reproach of our christian profession : to the end therefore that this nation in general , and every one in particular may have an opportunity to know and acknowledge their sins in the sight of god , and be truly humbled for them ; and that earnest prayer and supplication may be put up on behalf of this commonwealth , for the advancement of the kingdom of christ , and propagation of his gospel throughout the same , and all the dominions thereof ; that the good hand of god may be continued with us in perfecting his great works , which have been carryed on to so good a degree in england and ireland ; that all differences among brethren might be reconciled in love ; that the designs , combinations and conspiracies of all wicked men ( whether within or without us ) to imbroil this nation in a new war , may be discovered and prevented ; and that whilest ungodly men do make the arm of flesh their confidence , we may testifie ( from an abundant experience of the lords goodness ) that our strength is onely in the living god : be it therefore enacted and declared , that thursday the last day of february , . be appointed and kept as a solemn day of fasting , prayer and humiliation , for the ends aforesaid . die lunae , o februarii , . ordered by the parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric , parliamenti . london , printed by edward husband and john field , printers to the parliament of england . . a testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the lord before his dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes. boulbie, judith. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the lord before his dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes. boulbie, judith. boulbie, judith. a testimony against all observers of times and dayes. p. s.n., [london : ?] signed at end: judith boulbie. imprint suggested by wing. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng freedom of religion -- england. fasts and feasts -- england. conduct of life. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - celeste ng sampled and proofread - celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a testimony for truth against all hireling-priests and deceivers : with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation , to turn to the lord , before his dreadful judgments overtake them . also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes . o ye priests and bishops of this nation , the lord god that made heaven and earth is a witness for me this day , i have no evil in my heart to any of you , but in love to your souls ; and in the bowels of tender compassion am i constrained to cry out against your ungodly gaines ; for gods day is come , and wo to all the workers of iniquity . o ye bishops and priests of this nation , ye have for a long time covered your selves with the name of christ's ministers , but now your covering is too narrow , and your profession will not hide you ; for the light of christ is risen , and with it you are judged and condemned , and seen to be enemies to the the cross of christ , and strangers to the covenant of promise ; being in cains way , who slew his brother about religion ; and in balaams way , who loved the wages of unrighteousness , therefore i say , leave off your deceit , and keep the people no longer in your dark forms ; but let them have liberty to worship god in spirit and truth ; for the time is come , that every man need not teach his neighbour or his brother , saying , know the lord ; for every one must know him from the least to the greatest . yea , gods second covenant of light and glory is made manifest , i will forgive their sins , and remember their iniquities no more ; i 'll be to them a god , and they shall be my people : o ye blind guides , will ye seek to dissannul this ? will ye seek to stop the lords work in this the day of his power ? ye are but as bryars and thorns , who are setting your selves together against him , who is a consuming fire , and is risen to consume you , and all your false doctrine ( if ye repent not . ) therefore i say again and again , leave off your deceit , and come to the teaching of gods witness in your own perticulars : for this is the day that god is pouring forth of his spirit , and his sons and his daughters do prophesie ; for there is no more room for deceit . why take ye christs words in your mouths , and hate to be reform'd ? why talk ye of the scriptures , and are err'd from the spirit that gave them forth ? ye are gone from the practice of christ , and of the apostle : did ever peter , paul , james , john , or any of christs ministers , keep curates to get money ? did they ever sue any man for lambs , piggs , hens , or geese ? did they ever hale any to the courts , and to prison ? nay , was not this the testimony of him that was called to the ministry , cor. . . ( saith he ) a necessity is laid upon me to preach the gospel , and wo be unto me if i preach it not ; i have coveted no mans silver , nor gold , nor apparrel ; but have laboured with these hands , day and night , that i should not be chargeable to any man ? and was not this christs doctrine , do good to them that hate you , bless them that curse you ; if any sue thee at the law , and take away thy coat , let him have thy cloak also ; he that smites thee on the one side , turn to him the other ? matthew . . . oh! blush for shame , and t●ade no more with the scriptures ; for they testifie against you , to your condemnation , ye hireling-shepherds : have you brought any lambs to christs fold ? have ye brought any of your hearers into the pleasant valleys , where the springs of life are to be felt ? nay : are they not wandring in the imaginations of their own hearts , and many of them dissatisfied , thirsting after the bread of life , but know not where to find it , while you are eating the fat , and clothing your selves with the fleece ; and putting the day of the lord far from you , when many of gods faithful servants , whom he hath called to labour in his vine-yard , are exercised with strong cryes to the god that made heaven and earth , that he may turn away his judgments , and revoak his destroying angel , and spare this nation , which otherwise will feel an heavy stroke of gods hand ▪ if they repent not . and though you live in pride and excess , spending your pretious time in vanity and pleasure , eating and drinking with the drunken , and say in your hearts , the lord delays his coming ; but know , that for all these things ye must come to judgment : for of a truth , ye priests and people of this nation , the lord will turn your feasting into fasting , and your mirth into lamentation ; he will fill you with terror , and amazement : though you have had plenty and fulness , your barns and store-houses must become empty ; because of these things i weep , sorrow hath filled mine heart , and mine eyes run down with water : what shall i say to prevail with thee , o england ? must thou needs be left desolate ? where are thy wise and prudent ? where are thy divines ( so called ? ) there is a seed raised , and a birth brought forth , which will confound them all ; the promised seed is come , christ is risen , and unto him must the gathering of the people be : for though the world cry out , no perfection ( and the hireling-shepherds , no redemption on this side the grave ) yet i say , there is a birth brought forth , which will naturally do the will of god , as ever man did his own will. but o ye people of this nation , are ye willing to receive him ? are not your hearts filled with pleasures and delights ? are they not filled with cares and incumbrances of this present life , while there is no room for your christ : o man and woman , is not every thing in thine heart , and christ in the stable : o ye inhabitants of this nation , its hard for ye to kick against that which pricks you ; for in the dread of god almighty do i declare it , there 's not another way , in which god will be worshiped , but by the light which shines in your inward parts ; neither is there another gospel to be preache but this ; gods power made manifest in the heart . o ye professors , my heart is a little enlarged to you , i being once with you in the same dark profession : o how doth my soul breath for you in secret , that you may all come to the substance , the one thing that is needful , and witness the redemption of your souls , to serve the living god no longer in the oldness of the letter , but in the newness of the spirit ; for you have a form , but the life and power is wanting ; you are crying up scriptures , and crying up ordinances , you are crying up baptism and the lords-supper , while you know nothing of the faith which works by love ; and because of these things , saith the apostle , many are sick and weak among you , and many are faln asleep , not discerning the lords body , cor. . . for you discern not the body of whom christ jesus is the head , nor the gospel which is the power of god unto salvation ; you discern not the glad-tidings of life and salvation , which is freely tendered without money or price ; let every one that thirsteth come to the waters , and he that hath no money , let him come buy wine and milk without money and without price , isa . . , , . why do you spend your money for that which is not bread , and your labour for that which satisfieth not ? learn of me , saith christ , heark●n diligently and your souls shall live ; and i will make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of david . o england , thy teachers have deceived thee ; they have spoken lyes unto thee , and the divinatien of their own brains , but not one word from the mouth of the lord ; they have cryed peace , peace , when sudden destruction was ready to enter into thy bowels : mic . . thy priests preach for hire , thy heads judge for reward , thy prophets divine for money , and the people love to have it so , but what will ye do in the end thereof ? consider your wayes and your doings , and turn spedily unto the lord by a true and unfeigned repentance , before the decree be sealed , which must never be revok'd again ; rev. . . he that is filthy , let him be filthy still , he that is holy , let him be holy still ; and behold i come , saith christ jesus , to render unto every man according to his works . o land though fruitful thou hast been , thy glory must decay ; the thing thy heart takes pleasure in , must wither like the hay . o england , wilt thou still forget , god's kindness unto thee ? a little time is left thee yet , that happy thou may'st be . but if perversly thou go'st on , then mark what i do say ; i do thee tell ere it be long , the lord will bring a day , of bitter howling unto thee , of anguish , and of smart ; in which the deceit thou shalt see , that lodgeth in thine heart . a testimony for truth against all observers of times and dayes . oye that live in pleasures and vanities , and spend your pretious time in sin and transgression , as carding and dicing , drunkening and feasting , in pretence of keeping christs-day : o my friends consider where you are , and what you are a doing : are you indeed come to christs-day ? or are you not rather in the night , wherein gross darkness surrounds you about ? you are making provision for the flesh to satisfie the lusts thereof : o starved souls , lean , dry , and barren ! you are making provision for the flesh whilst your souls lie in death and darkness , unredeemed to god : alas my friends ! to what purpose is your feastings , to what purpose is your observations of dayes and times , so long as the babe lieth in the manger , and the seed of life is unredeemed to god ? ah friends , if ever you would be witnesses of christs day , and of his glory , which he is now revealing , ye must all come to the light , which you are enlightened by , as the apostle said , we have a more sure word of prophesie , unto which you do well to take heed , as unto a light which shineth in a dark place , until the day-dawn , and the day-star arise in your hearts , pet. . . now friends , if the day-star were risen in you , there would be no need of observing dayes and times , there would be no keeping a day in twelve moneths , but every day would be a holy day , so that gods glory would fill his temple : but if the day-star be not risen in you , then ye are in the night and in darkness , and he that walks in darkness knoweth not whether he goes : and thus the parable comes to be opened , and the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations , comes to be revealed , even by him who was found worthy to open the book which was sealed with seven seals , reve. . . who is the lion of the tribe of judah , whose everlasting day is dawned , and his glory is risen ; he hath filled our hearts with praise and thanksgiving , glory , honour , everlasting praise , saith my soul , be unto him forever . judith boulbie . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e gen. . . num. . jer. , vers . , , . jo. . . the lawfulness of the celebration of christs birth-day debated, in case it be annnally [sic] known or not known. discussed by scripture, and consequence of scripture; and many objections answered, and refuted by reasons. by george palmer, wel-willer to a particular and solemn joyous-thankfulness to god, for his several special mercies in christ; by way of gradation. palmer, george, b. or . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason e _ ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing p thomason e _ estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; :e [ ]) the lawfulness of the celebration of christs birth-day debated, in case it be annnally [sic] known or not known. discussed by scripture, and consequence of scripture; and many objections answered, and refuted by reasons. by george palmer, wel-willer to a particular and solemn joyous-thankfulness to god, for his several special mercies in christ; by way of gradation. palmer, george, b. or . [ ], p. [s.n.], london : printed in the yeer, . [i.e. ] annotation on thomason copy: "dec: th". thomason received his copy in december, . reproduction of the original in the british library. eng jesus christ -- nativity -- early works to . christmas -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of england -- early works to . a r (thomason e _ ). civilwar no the lawfulness of the celebration of christs birth-day debated,: in case it be annnally [sic] known or not known. discussed by scripture, a palmer, george b the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - angela berkley sampled and proofread - angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the lawfulness of the celebration of christs birth-day debated , in case it be annnally known or not known . discussed by scripture , and consequence of scripture ; and many objections answered , and refuted by reasons . by george palmer , wel-willer to a particular and solemn joyous-thankfulness to god , for his several special mercies in christ ; by way of gradation . job . . , . daies should speak , and multitude of yeers should teach knowledge , but there is a spirit in man , and the inspiration of the almighty giveth them understanding . isa. . , . & cor. . , . for as much as this people draw neer me with their mouth , and with their lips do honour me , but have removed their heart far from me , and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men : therefore , behold i will proceed to do a marvellous work and wonder ; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish , and the understanding of their prudent men shal be hid . london , printed in the yeer , . to the reader . beloved , it may seem strange ( to many ) that i am intermedling with controversies amongst the learned in divinity . and therefore it ▪ is likely that some will say of me , as it was somtime said of one , thou art but a stripling , but they are men of war from their youth ▪ and therefore not to be encountred with by thee . and they will think it more safer for me to be employed about meaner matters , of a lower nature , rather than to encounter with gyants . and ( perhaps ) give me a nipping check , like that of eliab to david ; viz. where are those few sheep left in the wilderness ? it is thy pride that moved thee to come and see the battel . but my answer is as that which then was made , what have i now done ? is there not a cause ? &c. there were israelites on the one side that stood for the glory of god ▪ and the lawful liberty of his children ; and there were philistines on the other side , that did defie christ and his redeemed ones , and they had one great goliah on whom they did cast their confidence , and he did approach towards the israelites with reproach and defiance , and yet those israelites remained in a kind of astonishment . our condition is somwhat like theirs ( if well examined . ) and although i am not furnished with such complete armour as some other ( spiritual ) warriours are , yet if the stone of israel be with me , i shall have good success ; you know , a jaw-bone was but a strange peice of armour , yet a thousand philistins could not stand against it , for god was with it : and his riddle did occasion the quarrel between them ; for they brake the covenant of garments and sheets , as some have done in a covenant with me here . i will not compare my self with any of those warriours : yet give me leave to put forth a riddle ; by weakness comes strength ▪ yet strength beareth down weakness . canterbury , may , . yours , for truth , george palmer . the lawfvlnesse of the celebration of christs birth-day debated , &c. in the second chapter of the gospel by saint luke , from the tenth verse to the fourteenth verse , you may find , that the angel of the lord , the same day that christ jesus was born , did incite the shepherds to rejoyce , by reason of the good tydings which he then the same day brought them , concerning the birth of christ the lord : and for their example , and greater encouragement thereunto , the lord our god had then the same day , appointed a multitude of holy angels to begin the songs of praise with joy , praising god , and saying , glory to god in the highest , and on earth peace , good will towards men . yea , the first angel did render them an exceeding strong reason to move their affections and wills thereunto , in these words ; for , unto you is born ( this day ) a saviour , which is christ the lord . from whence i will note one thing by the way , from the speedy delivery of this message to the shepherds ; that if it had not bin the will of our god , that that day should be the day of their solemn joyous praise , then the angel might have divulged the birth-day of our saviour afterwards only , and not soo speedily in the same day of his birth ; but he was speedy in the delivery of his message , and emphatical in his expression , viz. this day is born unto you a saviour , which is christ the lord . and very great reason there was that men should then so rejoyce , for , if the angel told zechariah that many should rejoyce at the birth of john the baptist ( who was but the fore-runner of christ , to prepare his way before him ) as in chap. . verse . you may see ; then much more cause had the children of god had , to rejoyce at the birth of christ their saviour . in the next place , i will observe what our lord god hath caused to be written ( for our instruction in this particular , ) by the evangelist s. matthew , in chap. . and some of the former verses . there we may see how the lord god would cause the wise men , of the east to honour christ ( being new-born ) with precious gifts , gold , franckincense , and myrrhe ; yea you may see in the second verse , that the star that appeared unto them , did denote to them his birth ; these are the words , where is he that is born king of the iews ? for we have seen his star in the east , and are come to worship him . this birth of christ was much respected by the prophet isaiah , as in the ninth chapter of his prophesie doth appear ; for he seeing it ( by faith ) admired it in these words , behold , unto us a child is born ! &c. many scriptures might be brought in to prove the excellent esteem or account of his birth . the apostle took good notice of the excellent resemblance that is between christs bodily-birth , and our spiritual-birth , as well as of his circumcision , and our heart-circumcision , and of his death , and our dying to sin , and of his resurrection , and our rising again to newness of life . and farther , the excellencie of his birth was typified before-hand , to be very much esteemed of in a particular respect ; for every male that first opened the womb , was to be accounted holy to the lord . and if the type was to be accounted holy , then much more was the thing typified to be esteemed holy . thus i have noted to you the message of the angel to the shepherds , inciting them to rejoyce , with the reason to move them to perform that their duty ; and also the example set before them , to encourage them therein , by a multitude of angels singing out his praise , & proclaming his glory at his birth : and how the wise men did honour him , being moved by a star , denoting his birth in an especial manner . and how the prophet isaiah admired and esteemed of it ( he seeing it but by faith . ) and how his birth was esteemed in the types of it , viz. the first born male was to be esteemed holy to the lord . therefore i cannot but conclude , that christs birth was to be esteemed very highly by them then living , and therefore that they were to rejoyce for that great blessing of god , that same day of his birth , so many as could take notice of that day ; no man will deny this to be a truth , unless such as are of a diabolical spirit . and also that the birth of christ is to be much esteemed by all those that at any time afterwards do trust for salvation by him ; as it was by them that lived at that time , and so rejoyced in it . but a question is made , whether it be to be celebrated annually , and solemnly with such joy for ever after , if in case his birth-day be known to us now , as it was to them then ; or whether that incitation given by the angel to the shepherds , belongs to us christians successively and annually , or no ? first , i answer , that it concerneth us now , as much as it did those shepherds , and others then living and believing in him : for the chief reason or cause of their joy at his birth , was from the benefit which by and from him they were to receive , who then , and at that time was newly born : and we that do believe in him , do obtain the same benefit by his birth , as they did that then rejoyced in him ; and therefore it needed not to be commanded in express words successively . but some object farther , that when the jews were to keep any day successively and annually for the remembrance and solemn thanks-giving for any special benefit received ; they then were enjoyned to do it by gods special command successively and annually . to this i answer plainly , that those benefits did concern them in some temporal deliverances , and were for that particular people only , or chiefly at the most ; as the israelites deliverance out of aegypt , and their deliverance from an intended slaughter in the time of queen hester , &c. but this birth of christ concerneth all believers in all places , to the end of the world : for so saith the angel , behold , i bring you good tydings of great joy , that shall be to all people , &c. and therefore it being for the good of all believers in christ , of all sorts of people to the end of the world , it belongeth to all believers in christ to rejoyce for the birth of christ , as it did belong to them to rejoyce that were then living ; for the message is belonging to us , as much as it was to them ; in as much as the good tydings belongeth to all people : and therefore it being for the good of all believers to the end of the world , the angel requireth our greater attention and admiration , by this word , behold , behold , i bring you good tydings of great joy that shall be to all people , for unto you is born this day , &c. a saviour , which is christ the lord . and we read of no command from god for the keeping of the new-purim , but it is noted as well done by them &c. and that it ought annually to be celebrated with joy we may collect farther by reason , that it ought so to be ; for if great temporal deliverances deserved annual thanks-givings on some special daies , then doth an everlasting deliverance from damnation , deserve much more such manner of thanks . but it is farther objected , that all believers in christ , do give thanks for that great mercy of god ( as they do for all other his benefits ) upon the lords daies in special , and upon all ordinary occasions . to this i answer thus , so were the jews to do upon their sabbaths , for all their temporal deliverances ; as for their deliverance from egyptian bondage , and hamans decree of their death ; and yet they had their feast of passeover and purim , to commemorate those deliverances more specially ; and we have special daies set apart for us to praise the lord for our deliverances from the spanish invasion , and the gun-powder treason ; and also for many deliverances , from divers great dangers in these our times of war . but it is objected again , that we do not know certainly what day in our yeer christs birth-day can be celebrated , as the right and true annual day , it being not certainly known ; or at the least , it is questioned by many learned christians . to this i answer , first , that it is not so great a matter whether we know ( strictly ) the day or no ; so as we do solemnize one day thankfully , so neer the true day as we can guess ; for in such a case we shall be accepted : for so saith the apostle , god accepteth the willing mind of his children for the deed , ( which endeavoureth to perform according to their knowledge . secondly , if in case we do know the day strictly , yet it is not absolutely necessary for us to keep it upon that day alwaies 〈◊〉 for the jews did not keep their purim upon the same day of the yeer wherein their deliverance was given them , but as on the next day after ; as you may see in the book of esther , the ninth chapter , and the sixteenth verse to the two and twentienth . and christ jesus himself did excuse david for eating the shew-bread in his great ( necessity : ) and he excused his owne disciples for plucking the eares of corne upon the sabbath day , &c. upon their necessity ; and therein was the ancient proverb verified , viz. necessity hath no law . we are necessitated to observe a day neer the day of christs birth . and the passeover was to be eaten in the first moneth , as you may see in exodus . , . &c. neverthelesse if you look in chron. . , . compared with verses the . and . you may there finde that hezekiah and his people kept it ( at that time ) in the second moneth , contrary to the institution ( in that particular , ) and the reason is there rendred , viz. that they could not keep it at that time in the first moneth ; and yet they were accepted of god too , as in the . verse you may see . and although it be said in the last verse now quoted , that hezekiah prayed for the people , and that the lord healed them ; which implyeth , that god was offended with them : you shall see that the reason thereof was for their not preparing themselves better when they did come , ( as in the . verse you may see ) for they came unpreparedly to that holy sacrament . if it be questioned whether we may keep it festivally or not ? i answer , we may and ought so to do : ( though not in excesse thereof , ) but first we are to be exercised in the use of the publike ordinances , as the preaching and hearing the word , and in godly prayers and praises , &c. and after that in plentifull feasting , and giving gifts to the poor according to our several abilities : for though fasting be for mourners , yet feasting is for joy and mirth , as you may see in the . chapter of the book of nehemiah , the former part of that chapter to the verse , these are those words , eat the fat , and drink the sweet , and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared , &c. for the joy of the lord is your strength : and the jewes purim was kept festivally , as in the ninth chapter doth appear , in verses the , . . but it is objected again , that the name that is given to the day , or the manner of its celebration is now justly excepted against , for it is called christ-masse day , which causeth us to beleeve that it was instituted by the pope , or at the least thus named by the pope , for his service which he pretendeth to christ , is called masse , or at least , much of his service is so called . to this i answer briefly , that it is not taken for a bad service in its signification , but indifferently for either bad or good service , ( as some affirm ) and some one word may have divers significations ; and besides it is by some expositors taken for an heap and greatnesse in quantitie , and so we often now use the word , as a masse of money , and the like : but it was taken ( as some affirm ) to dismisse an assembly with a blessing , called missa . and besides if the name were given to a bad intent at the first ( which i do not beleeve ) if in case the pope first gave this name to it , ( for the first popes were such as did accompany us in the way to salvation , and were not so bad as in latter times they have been , and now are ) yet may we not omit so great a duty of joyous praise as the celebration of so great a mercy is , because some have cast in some evill weed into it ; but refine it again that it may be better spirituall nutriment . and therefore take this example of the prophet elisha , who did not cast away all the pottage which had some gourds of the wilde vine in it , but did put in some meal that might over-powre the killing strength of the gourds of that wilde vine , as you may see king. . . to . therefore if the name offend you , you may take as quick a way to alter that fault , as the anabaptists do in a thing not so warrantable as this ; for they can provide a new name against their next washing . but it is further objected , that of late time this feasting hath been abused , by excesse therein , and many vicious actions have been committed in that day we lately so celebrated to that end we now plead so much for ; and therefore it ought to be no more observed as a day of joyous feasting in the remembrance of the birth of christ our saviour . to this i answer : thus the best things have been abused , as namely , the lords day it self ; but many things which are abused may not be taken away or made void , but the abuses purged from them , as i said before concerning the name of the day ; for , though some things may be taken away , or suspended when they are much abused , yet such things whose losse will produce very great ill consequences may not be made void ; for in so doing we shall , lose many good substances which are maintained and preserved by some means that are of lesse concernment , ( in themselves considered ) and especially it is very dangerous to clip off the speciall occasioning of the remembring of so great a mercy , as the celebration of the birth of so dear a saviour . and if we clip off so great a commemoration of christs birth now , it will make way to the neglecting of some other the like mercy another time ; and so ( ere long be ) we shall ( through the displeasure of our god ) lose all good occasions of our speciall thankfulnesse to our god for his sending of christ in the flesh . selah . the especiall celebration of christs birth-day ( though uncertainly known ) doth strengthen our faith concerning his humain nature , or of his taking it in , and of the virgin mary , contrary to the heresie of divers hereticks , as the valentinians , &c. and very likely it was therefore so specially divulged by the angel ( as gods messenger ) to be noted , and celebrated with joy by those shepheards , and also performed by the multitude of angels , as an example to men on earth , to preserve the saints from the heresies of those hereticks , as are mentioned by st. john in his . epistle , chap. . , , . and his d . epistle , ver. . for , that men may be assured that he took his humane nature in , and of the virgin mary , and not otherwise , therefore his birth is expressed by name , in these words , vnto you is born , &c. and because they should rejoyce for it timely , therefore the time is made known to them also , in these words , this day . and lest they should not be incited or moved thereunto by the bare promulgation , therfore their welfare in him , is divulged unto them , in this word saviour ; and that they might not think , that it should be to them onely , they are therefore certified that the benefit belonged to all sorts of people . and because he was to save them from their sins , therfore it was tydings of great joy , ( said the angel . ) and that they might take the greater notice of this so great a mercy , therefore the angel prepareth their attention with this word , behold , behold i bring you tydings of great joy , &c. thus we may see how the all-sufficient fore-knowing god hath provided for us a speciall means to strengthen our faith , concerning the humane nature of our saviour , taking it in , and from the virgin mary , against all those hereticall seducings of men ( that afterwards were to deny the same ) by noting his birth to the shepherds for its joyfull celebration . and surely ( as it is reported ) the polonians do kneel at the receiving of the sacrament of the body and blood of christ , because many arrians deny him to be god . so we may upon the like reason , and with a better warrant , solemnize the commemoration of christs birth , because many now begin to question his humanitie ; i say upon better warrant : viz : from the angel his inciting the shepherds to rejoyce at his birth , and the multitude of the heavenly host promulgating of their exemplary praises , for that transcendent gift , given for the everlasting joy of all ( sorts of ) people . and also , from the shepherds exemplary gloryfying , and praising god , as they returned from that joyfull sight of christ then new born , as appears ver. . and surely the chief question is ( by our christians that oppose the celebration of a day in commemoration of his birth ) whether we may set apart some speciall day for a joyous and festivall celebration of his birth , or whether we ought to do it onely in the generall ; and me thinks it is a very weak question for wise and knowing men to make , the premises wel considered . and you may take notice that the children of israel ( being enjoyned to offer divers offerings ) might offer some offerings over and above to the lord of their own voluntary will and affections , as thank-offerings , and the like , as you may see in levit. . . and chap. . . and they might make some vows to do , or not to do some things , and therefore david inciteth us to it in psal . . in these words , offer unto god thanksgiving , and pay thy vows to the most high . and in colos. . paul will have us to abound in thanksgiving . and likewise they might offer some burnt-offerings of their voluntary free will without any strict injunction in that particular , as in chron. . . you may see . and in the new testament it is said , that paul had a vow ; and in acts . it is said , that there were foure men that had a vow on them ; for , we have liberty to vow to humble and afflict our souls ( as they of the jews had ) when we please , ( upon divers occasions ) as in numb. . . and act. . . &c. and so likewise have we libertie to give thanks with joy to god particularly , and specially , upon divers occasions concurring , and solemnly too ; for , although all kinds of sacrifices might not be offered at mans choice of times , yet some kinds of sacrifices might be offered at mans choice , and choice of times ( for the more part ) and voluntarily of their free will onely , as in deut. . . what think you of that which the israelites did in the time of the reign of king hezekiah , as in chron. . . you may read ; for they kept other seven dayes festivally to the lord , after they had kept the feast of the passeover ; and that . dayes feast ; was of their own free will and affections , by their own counsell , saith the text there . and you may there perceive that the holy ghost noteth it to their commendation . and truly if this solemne joyous thankfulnesse in a festivall way , was so acceptable to god without any speciall command , then much more will the joyous , and thankfull celebration of christs birth-day in a festivall way be acceptable upon a more warrantable ground , namely , the proclamation from god by his holy angel to the shepherds ( at first ) to rejoyce for a great good , given for the good of ( all ) people ; for we must abound in thanksgiving , and rejoyce evermore ; these being our spirituall sacrifices , as those corporall sacrifices were for them then . besides all this alreadie premised , let us take notice of the great inconveniences that cometh to the civill state of the whole kingdom , by the endeavouring to overthrow the joyous observation of this birth-day of our saviour ; and especially in these times wherein the state standeth so fickle , wicked men being apt to make an insurrection upon the least occasion : and much more upon such an occasion as this , wherein ungodly men may procure so great a partie of better men to joyne with them , though not to so bad an end , but , in an holy indignation ; for many of those that love christ , with a well-informed judgement in this particular , upon the consideration of the great love that christ hath shewed to them , in coming to be their saviour , taking flesh in and of the virgin : will be apt to be jealous of the losse of the occasion of the especiall remembring of his coming in the flesh . and besides , wicked men will be forward to take this occasion as a cloak to put on to make a par●ie for a worse end , when they see the observation thereof so much opposed . therefore it is fitting that we i 〈◊〉 itate the apostle in the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion ( to do wickednes and mischief ) and especially in a matter that is so clearly lawfull , and convenient too , as the speciall giving of thanks with joy is , or as the joyous celebration of christs birth-day is to the spouse of christ . for , although the leviticall-ceremoniall daies , times , months , and yeers , are abolished , being but types of those things that are fulfilled by christ : as is mentioned in gal. . . see v. . yet the same apostle affirmeth confidently , that he that thinketh he may not set apart some dayes now under the gospel to celebrate evangelicall duties , as hearing the word , and receiving the sacraments , and offering the sacrifice of speciall thanksgivings for some speciall mercies of god , is as weak as he that thinketh that he may eat but hearbs , as you may see in rom. . , , , , , . and therefore i entreat all well affected people to use their endeavour to get vitious men to be restrained from their abusing of themselves , and the time , to the dishonour of our saviour , the wounding of their own souls to everlasting death , and to the scandalizing of good men , and the perverting of others . and this may be done sometimes by gentle means , and sometimes by chastisements , and punishments , provided that the fault be a notorious sin , or at the least more then an ordinary blemish ; for i know that some make mountains of mole-hils ( comparing one sin to another ) against some men . and truly i beleeve that some do rejoyce to see some men transgresse against god in that day , because they would thereby take an occasion to make the observation of it to be odious to some that may be a mean to take it quite away ; out of a malignant spirit towards the observers of it . i hope better of many . i entreat you to consider , that when men are restrained from the libertie of timely recreation , they then ( for a time ) will be the more unruly when first they come to obtain it again ; and especially from youths , and young raw-manner'd men ; as it is with horses and cows that have been stalled up , &c. if we under the gospel be not afforded daies of refreshing , yea , and somewhat often too , we shall be in greater bondage ( in this kinde ) then the jews in or under the old testament ; for they had many festivals , and they were much refreshed by them ; shall we be in greater bondage to labour then they were ? and shall not we have liberty from sparing dye● , for feasting , as well as they ? they feasted divers dayes together , sometimes , and thereby love and good will was the better occasioned in many that were godly ; and we may do so too ; though not with all the same ceremonies as they did , because not altogether to the same end as they did ; and at such times the poore may be the more easily relieved , and give thanks to god , and pray for us . and by this means men will not be so forward to borrow so much of the sabbath , or lords day to prophane it as ( perhaps ) now they do , when they shall have other convenient time , for their necessarie recreation . i do confesse that some things that are lawfull to be observed and celebrated , may ( for a time ) be suspended , and not celebrated ; provided that it be not forborn as a thing unlawfull , but as a thing inconvenient ; as to prevent a farther mischief for the present time ; but if that which in it self is lawfull , be forborn as a thing unlawfull , then will honest knowing men be offended , and so it will breed a great disturbance in the state ; evill men taking that occasion as a fair cloak to put on , for to begin a quarrell ; and so incite some better men to take part with them ( though not ayming at the same end ) ; therefore it is fitting that men be taught how to distinguish between things lawfull , and things unlawfull ; and between those things that are so lawfull as that they may not be dispensed with , so as to neglect the celebration thereof at the instant time ; and those things that may be dispensed with for a time to prevent some great mischief . and now i will note ( to those that shall either read or hear the premises in this little tract ) some of the particulars contained in the same , for their better remembring what i have been hitherto spelling . first , that the celebration of christs birth with joy was promulgated to the shepherds , because he was born to them a saviour . secondly , that they had an example set before them to lead them on to the performance of that their duty , by a multitude of angels singing out his glory at his birth . thirdly , that his birth was much respected by the prophet isaiah , he seeing it but by faith . fourthly , that the wisemen of the east were sent by the speciall providence of god , by a speciall star , to honour christ being new born . fifthly , that because the angel told zachariah that many should rejoyce at the birth of john the baptist , ( who was but the fore-runner of christ ) therefore , they were to rejoyce at the birth of christ their saviour much more . sixthly , that it is our dutie to rejoyce for the birth of christ as much as it was their duty so to do , because the benefit of his birth belongeth to us as much as it did unto them then ; for the tydings of joy by reason of the birth of our saviour christ , belong to all those that at any time did , do , or shall beleeve in him , as said the angel . seventhly , divers questions are answered , as , first whether we are , or ought , to keep it annually and successively , in case the day of his birth be known to us annually in the strict time . eightly , whether we ought , or may , keep the celebration of christs birth as neer the annuall day , as may be , if in case the strict time be not known to us as it was to those shepherds then living at his birth , &c. and many the like questions . ninthly , that if in case there had been no command given for the joyous celebration of his birth , yet we may do it at our freedome of choice which is left us by the will of god ; for i have proved , that as the jews might afflict their souls voluntarily ( as they had occasions ) so they might rejoyce , and offer thanksgivings at their own free will solemnly without any speciall command , ( at some convenient time ) at their own choice . tenthly , i have proved , that the jews in the dayes of king hezekiah did keep seven dayes with joyous feasting to the lord , by their own counsell , after they had kept the passeover , without any command from god so to do ; and yet the holy ghost noteth it as acceptable , and therefore it is an example for us to do the like . and if we kept more dayes evangelically holy , we should not sin in so doing . eleventhly , i have noted divers reasons for the keeping of the celebration of his birth-day , as to prevent us from being seduced to the heresie of those that did ( and perhaps now do ) deny that christ came in the flesh ; and that he did not take it in and of the virgin mary , &c. and lastly , i have noted divers other inconveniences that may hap to the civill state by our not observing it in times of divisions ( in some cases , ) and therefore the premises well considered , ( especially with the leave of authority ) i will conclude with the words of st. paul in corinth . . . though he spake it in a spirituall way , let us keep the feast , not with old leaven , neither with the leaven of malice and wickednesse : but with the unleavened bread of sinceritie and truth . thus let strength bear down weaknesse . octob. . . imprimatur john downame . finis . at a common-councel held on tuesday the th day of august, . london. city of london (england). court of common council. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing l e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) at a common-councel held on tuesday the th day of august, . london. city of london (england). court of common council. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] signed at end: sadler. imprint from wing. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng city of london (england). -- court of common council -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- great britain -- early works to . public worship -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . london (england) -- history -- th century -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no foot major. at a common-councel held on tuesday the th day of august, . london. city of london a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion at a common-councel held on tuesday , the th . day of august , . it is ordered by this court of common-councell , that thurseday next , the of this present august , shall bee set apart for especiall seeking of god , by prayer and fasting , for the army which is gone hence into scotland : and mr. griffith , mr. sterry , mr. brooks , mr. feak , mr. cardwell , mr. greenhill , mr. thomas goodwin , mr. powell , mr. sedgwick , mr. john sympson , and mr. sidrack sympson , or any of them , to be desired to be then here , to pray with this court , which is to meet in the common-councel chamber , at nine of the clock on thurseday morning ; and every member of this court is especially desired to be present here that day ; and in the close thereof , the court will subscribe , as god shall move each man , ( and afterwards the members of this court will move the inhabitants of their severall precincts , and every member of this court that shall be then absent ) for a free contribution to be sent to the poor souldiers ( in that expedition ) who have so freely adventured their lives , for the safety of this city , and the whole common-wealth . sadler . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a e- foot major . london . at a common-council holden at the guild-hall london, on vvednesday the day of november . city of london (england). court of common council. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ *]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing l l thomason .f. [ *] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ *]) at a common-council holden at the guild-hall london, on vvednesday the day of november . city of london (england). court of common council. alleyne, thomas, sir, fl. . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by james flesher printer to the honourable city of london, [london] : [ ] publication date from wing. an order of the common council appointing the nd of december to be kept as a fast day. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- london -- early works to . london (england) -- history -- th century -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ *]). civilwar no aleyn mayor. at a common-councel holden at the guild-hall london, on vvednesday the day of november . city of london a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion aleyn blazon or coat of arms mayor . at a common-councel holden at the guild-hall london , on wednesday the day of november . it having pleased almighty god to shew us so much of the fruit of our own hearts and evil ways , as to let us see the very foundations of government razed ; and that we have so much cause to fear our great want of fear and love to his holy name and word , worship and sabbaths , magistrates and ministers , may justly provoke him to withdraw from us , and to loath , abhor and leave us to the lusts of our own hearts , and to our great weakness and folly , till confusion and desolations make us become a reproach to religion , and a scorn to all nations . in most humble desires of that good convincing spirit of promise , to give us a right sight and sense of our great vileness , and his greater goodness , yet able to pardon , recover and heal us ; we desire to bow down and humble our souls before the mighty hand of god , that he may yet pitty and spare , pardon and heal , according to the greatness of his power and goodness : that his name may be glorified , and the kingdom of our lord iesus enlarged , and these nations setled in peace and righteousness , with governors and councellors , iudges and teachers after his own mind and heart , according to his holy word : and that he will not leave us in this houre of temptation , till he hath brought us through all our fears , troubles and darkness , unto true rest , peace and setlement . for these great ends this court hath appointed friday the second of december next , solemnly to seek the face of god , with fasting and prayer at pauls church ; and doth recommend it to the ministers of the gospel , to give notice hereof in all their several churches and congregations , and to desire their assistance and concurrence in their several churches , as the lord shall enable them and all his people throughout this city and liberties thereof . sadler . printed by james flesher printer to the honourable city of london . causes of a solemne fast, appointed by the commissioners of the generall assembly, to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk, upon the last thursday of april, church of scotland. general assembly. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c d thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) causes of a solemne fast, appointed by the commissioners of the generall assembly, to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk, upon the last thursday of april, church of scotland. general assembly. ker, a. sheet ([ ] p.) by evan tyler, printer to the kings most excellent majesty, printed at edinburgh : . signed at end: a. ker. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng church of scotland -- history -- th century -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . scotland -- history -- charles i, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no causes of a solemne fast, appointed by the commissioners of the generall assembly, to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk, upon th church of scotland. general assembly. c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion causes of a solemne fast , appointed by the commissioners of the generall assembly , to be kept in all the congregations of this kirk , upon the last thursday of april , . i. besides the diverse causes of our former solemne humiliations , both for the evill of sin and of punishment , lying still in a great measure upon the whole land , wee should lay to heart the late shamefull backsliding and compliance of many with the enemies , in the houre of temptation . ii. it is to be lamented , though the lord our god hath taken pains to purge us by his judgments of sword and pestilence , yet there is no reformation of our lives , our scumme remains in us , many returning with the dog to their former profanenesse , neglect of gods worship in families , uncleannesse , drunkennesse , and other great provocations , as if they had been delivered to do all these abominations : have we not just cause to mourn and be afraid that the lord kindle the fire again , heap on more wood , and cause his fury to rest upon us ? iii. it is high time when the whole land is threatned with a new breach from the north , to acknowledge our great and senselesse ingratitude , who have no wayes rendred to the lord according to the benefits received , though the lord hath begun to draw back his hand in a sensible and unexpected delivery from the raging pestilence , and hath given us a little breathing from the cruell insulting enemie , yet all our promises and vows uttered in the day of our trouble , have proven to be as the early dew and morning cloud ; neither have we brought forth the fruits of righteousnesse , and amendment of our wayes , while the lord looked for them , after so gracious a delivery : so that it is just with our god to disappoint us of our expectation , when we look for healing to send new troubles , and to raise up in his wrath some , who have banded themselves together in the north , contrary to our solemne covenants . iv. seeing our god hears prayer , it is our duty to run to him in this day of trouble , and to wrestle with tears and su●plications , that our god in he might of his power would crush this cockatrice egge , that it break not forth into a fierie flying serpent ; that the insolent pride of the contrivers of this divisive and seditious bond , may be rebuked by the lord ; that the simple who have been mis-led , may be convinced and drawn out of the snare , that these who stand , may be stablished by grace in their stedfastnes , and strengthened with the spirit of unity and courage to oppose that divisive motion : lastly , that the work of uniformity in church-government may be finished , our armies blessed and compassed with gods favour , and a firme and well-grounded peace settled betwixt the kings majesty and parliaments of both kingdomes . a. ker. printed at edinburgh by evan tyler , printer to the kings most excellent majesty . . a proclamation, indicting a solemn and religious fast, to be keeped and observed throughout the whole kingdom of scotland. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, indicting a solemn and religious fast, to be keeped and observed throughout the whole kingdom of scotland. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : charles ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson ..., edinburgh, : anno dom. . caption title. initial letter. title vignette: royal seal with initials c r. imperfect: faded, with slight loss of text. reproduction of original in: national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cr royal blazon or coat of arms a proclamation , indicting a solemn and religious fast , to be keeped and observed throughout the whole kingdom of scotland charles , by the grace of god , king of great-britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith ; to all and sundry our good subjects , greeting : forasmuch as almighty god , after a sinful abuse of the holy gospel , and of the never to be forgotten deliverance of this our ancient kingdom , from the yoke of bondage and usurpation , and of our royal person and government , from the open rebellions , and secret plots and conspiracies of traiterous and phanatical enemies ; and after a long and impious despising of peace and plenty , doth by his righteous judgements , manifestly discover his anger and displeasure against the grievous sins of this kingdom ; and particularly , by the long continuance of the rigor and storms of the last winter , and the severity and unnatural coldnesse of the present spring , whereby not only a great part of the cattel and bestial are already destroyed , and the remanent in apparent danger ; but even the ordinary season of plowing and sowing of the ground , was in danger almost to be lost , thereby threatning the breaking ● the staff of bread , and the dreadful plague of famine : which dispensation , doth invite persons of all ranks , to sp●●dy and true repentance , and the national expression thereof , by deep mourning , and solemn fasting an● humiliation . therefore we , with advice and consent of the lords of our privy council , do appoint and ordain a day of humiliation to be observed by all our subjects of this kingdom ; strictly commanding and requiring them , upon that day , to cease from all the works of their ordinary callings , and to repair to their respective paroch churches , and there , make solemn confe●●ion of their sins , and implore the divine mercy to us , and our subject● , by praying , mourning , fasting , and su●●●ther devotions , as are usual upon such dayes of publict humiliation more particularly , contritely to confess ● mourn for the great neglect and contempt of , and disobedience to the holy gospel , for the sinful separation from the ordinances thereof , and for the great and lamentable pre●alency of atheism , erro● prophaness , and 〈…〉 igion occasioned thereby ; and for the sinful undervaluing of the great blessings of peace and plenty , so long ●ontinued under our government : by all which , and many oth●r ●rying sins , the lord anger and jealousie are kindled , and his hand is stretched out to the destruction of the castel , and threatning the fruits of the ground , the necessary provision for the life of man and beast , that by s●●ious mourning , and sincere turning from these provocking sins , the lord may graciously pardon them , and repen●●im of the evil threatned , and most right●ously deserved . and for this end , we do require the arch-●●●shops of st. andrews and glasgow , the bishop of edinburgh , galloway , dunkel , aberdeen , brichen , and dumblan● 〈◊〉 to cause it to be intimated in the several par●ch churches of their diocesses , upon sunday the fourth day of m●●●● and to be celebrated and observed , on wednesd●● thereafter ; and the remanent bishops , whose diocesses are more ●●●ote , to cause it to be intimated on sunday the twenty fifth of may , to be observed the wednesday thereafter , by r 〈…〉 g the same from the pulpit , after divine ●ervice , the sabbath before the saids respective dayes of fasting a●●●umiliation . ●●●en under our signet ●t edinburgh , the seveteenth day of april , one thousand six hundred eighty four . and of our reign , the threttieth and sixth year . per actum dominorum secreti concilij . will. paterson , cls. sti. concilij . god save the king . edi●●●●gh , printed by the 〈◊〉 of and●●w anderson , printer to his most sacred majesty , anno dom. . votes of parliament for setting apart a day of publique fasting and humiliation. wednesday the ninth of february, . england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) votes of parliament for setting apart a day of publique fasting and humiliation. wednesday the ninth of february, . england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed by john field, printer to the parliament of england, london : [i.e. ] signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. with parliamentary seal at head of text. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- politics and government -- - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no votes of parliament for setting apart a day of publique fasting and humiliation. wednesday the ninth of february, . england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - elspeth healey sampled and proofread - elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion votes of parliament for setting apart a day of publique fasting and humiliation . wednesday the ninth of february , . resolved upon the question by the parliament , that thursday the third day of march next , be set apart for a day of publique fasting and humiliation , to be observed throughout this whole nation , to seek unto almighty god for a blessing upon the councels of this commonwealth , and upon their forces by sea and land . resolved upon the question by the parliament , that this vote be printed and published , and copies thereof sent to the sheriffs of every county ; and that they be required to send the same unto the ministers of the several parishes , that notice thereof may be given in convenient time . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti . london , printed by john field , printer to the parliament of england . . die mercurii, . july, . the lords and commons assembled in parliament, out of the deep sense of gods heavy wrath now upon this kingdome, ... england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e b thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) die mercurii, . july, . the lords and commons assembled in parliament, out of the deep sense of gods heavy wrath now upon this kingdome, ... england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) s.n., [london : ] title from caption and first lines of text. imprint from wing. an order of parliament, appointing july as a fast-day. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- church of england -- early works to . church and state -- great britain -- th century -- early works to . great britain -- history -- civil war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no die mercurii, . july, . the lords and commons assembled in parliament, out of the deep sense of gods heavy wrath now upon this kingdom england and wales. parliament. d the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the d category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die mercurii , . july , . the lords and commons assembled in parliament , out of the deep sense of gods heavy wrath now upon this kingdome , and more particularly manifested by the late discomfeiture of the forces , both in the north and in the west ; have for themselves resolved to set apart and keepe , and do ordaine , and command ▪ that friday the . of this present july , . be set apart and kept as a day of publique and extraordinary humiliation by prayer and fasting , throughout the cities of london and westminster , and the suburbs , and places adjacent , within the bils of mortality ; that every soule may bitterly bewaile his owne sinnes , and the sinnes of the whole nation , and cry mightily to god for christ his sake , that he will be pleased to turne from the fiercenesse of his wrath , and heale the land . and the lord mayor of the city of london , is hereby required to give present order for the due performance of this order . to the gentleman ▪ vsher , or his deputy , to bee delivered to the lord mayor of the city of london . jo. browne cleric . parliamentorum . by the king. a proclamation, for a publick general fast, throughout the realm of scotland. scotland. sovereign ( - : charles ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing c a estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king. a proclamation, for a publick general fast, throughout the realm of scotland. scotland. sovereign ( - : charles ii) charles ii, king of england, - . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by evan tyler, printer to the king's most excellent majesty, edinbvrgh : . caption title. royal arms at head of text; initial letter. printed in black letter. dated at end: given at edinburgh, the third day of may, . and of our reign the seventeenth year. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . anglo-dutch war, - -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms by the king . a proclamation , for a publick general fast , throughout the realm of scotland . charles , by the grace of god , king of scotland , england , france and ireland , defender of the faith , &c. to all and sundry our good subjects , greeting ; forasmuch as we , by the great injuries and provocations from the states of the united provinces , have been forced , for the just defence and vindication of our own and our subjects rights , to prepare and set out naval forces , and to engage into a war upon most important reasons of honour and iustice : and we , out of our religious disposition , being readily inclined to approve of an humble motion made to vs , for commanding a general fast to be kept throughout this our whole kingdom , for imploring the blessing of almighty god upon our councils and forces imployed in this expedition ; have thought fit , by this our proclamation , to indict a general and publick fast and day of humiliation , for the end foresaid . our will is herefore , and we straitly command and charge , that the said fast be religiously and solemnly kept throughout this our whole kingdom , by all our subjects and people within the same , upon the first wednesday of june , being the seventh day thereof : requiring hereby the reverend archbishops and bishops , to give notice hereof to the ministers in their respective diocesses , that upon the lords-day immediatly preceeding the said seventh day of june , they cause read this our proclamation from the pulpit in every paroch church ; and that they exhort all our loving subjects to a sober and devout performance of the said fasting and humiliation , as they tender the favour of almighty god , the duty they owe to vs , and the peace and preservation of their country ; certifying all those who shall contemn or neglect such a religious and necessary work , they shall be proceeded against , and punished as contemners of our authority , and persons disaffected to the honour and safety of their countrey . given at edinburgh , the third day of may , . and of our reign the seventeenth year . god save the king . edinbvrgh , printed by evan tyler , printer to the king 's most excellent majesty , . a proclamation, for a general fast. at edinburgh, the twenty fourth day of august, one thousand six hundred eighty nine years. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, for a general fast. at edinburgh, the twenty fourth day of august, one thousand six hundred eighty nine years. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william and mary) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson, by order of secret council, edinburgh : anno dom. . caption title. signed: gilb. eliot, cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - megan marion sampled and proofread - megan marion text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proclamation , for a general fast. at edinburgh , the twenty fourth day of august , one thousand six hundred eighty nine years . present in council , e. crafurd p. m. douglas . e. southerland . e. leven . e. annandale . l. ross . l. carmichell . sir hugh campbel of calder . sir james montgomry of skelmorly . sir arch. murray of blackbarrony . james brodie of that i●k . sir john hall l. provost of edinburgh . forasmuch as the great and long abounding of sins of all sorts amongst all ranks of persons , with the continued impenitency under them , and not reforming therefrom ; the falling from their first love ; and great faintings and failings of ministers , and others of all ranks , in the hour of temptation , in their zeal for god and his work ; and that although there be much cause to bless god for the comfortable unity and harmony amongst the ministers , and body of christian professors in this church ; yet that there are such sad , and continuing divisions amongst some , is also matter of lamentation before god ; the great ingratitude for his begun deliverance of this nation from popery and slavery , and unsuitable walking thereunto ; the contempt of the gospel , not mourning for former , and present iniquities , nor turning to the lord by such reformation and holiness , as so great work calls for ; the many sad and long continued tokens of gods wrath , in the hiding of his face , and more especially in his restraining the power and presence of his spirit , with the preached gospel , in the conversion of souls , and edifying the converted ; and the lord 's threatning the sword of a cruel and barbarous enemy , in the present great distress of ireland , by the prevailing of an anti-christian party there ; and threatning the sword of the same enemy at home , and the great and imminent danger of the reformed protestant religion , not only from an open declared party of papists , enemies to the same , but from many other professed protestants , who joyn issue with them in the same design , befides the sad sufferings , and scatterings of reformed churches abroad ; having seriously , and religiously moved the presbyterian ministers , elders and professors of the church of scotland , humbly to address themselves to the lords of his majesties privy council , for a general fast and day of humiliation , to be kept throughout the whole kingdom , the saids lords , do out of a pious and religious disposition , approve of the said motion , as dutiful and necessary at the time ; and therefore in his majesties name and authority , do command a solemn and publick fast , and day of humiliation , to be religiously and sincerely observed throughout this kingdom , both in churches and meeting-houses , as they would avert wrath , and procure and continue blessings to this kingdom ; and that all persons whatsomever may send up their fervent prayers and supplications to almighty god , that he would pour out upon all ranks , a spirit of grace and supplication , that they may mourn for all their iniquities , and more especially , that god would pour forth upon king william , and queen mary , and upon all inferior magistrats , and counsellors , a spirit of wisdom for government , and zeal for god , his church , and work in this land , as the present case of both do call for , and that god may preserve them for carrying on that great work , which he hath so gloriously and seasonably begun by them ; and that god would countenance , and bless with success , the armies by sea and land , raised for the defence of the protestant religion ; and more especially , that god would pour forth a spirit of holiness upon them , lest their sins , and ours may provock god against them in the day of battel ; and that he would bless all means for the settlement of church and state : that god would bless the season of the year , and give seasonable weather for cutting down , and gathering in the fruits of the earth , that the stroke of famine , which god hath frequently threatned the nation with , may be averted . and the saids lords of his majesties privy council , do , in name and authority foresaid , command and charge , that the said solemn and publick fast , be religiously , and devoutly performed , both in churches and meeting-houses , by all ranks and degrees of persons within this kingdom , on this side of the water of tay , upon sunday the fifteenth day of september next to come ; and by all others be-north the same , upon sunday thereafter , the twenty second day of the said moneth of september : and to the end that this part of divine worship , so pious and necessary , may be punctually kept upon the respective dayes above-mentioned , they ordain sir william lockhart sollicitor , in the most convenient and proper way , to dispatch , and send copies hereof to the sheriffs , their deputs , and clerks of the several shires of this kingdom , to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of the head-burghs , upon receipt thereof , and immediatly sent to the several ministers , both of churches and meeting-houses , that upon the lords day immediatly preceeding the fast , and upon the respective dayes of the publick fast , and humiliation , the ministers may read , and intimat this proclamation from the pulpit , in every paroch-church , and meeting-house ; and that they exhort all persons to a serious and devout performance of the saids prayers , fasting and humiliation , as they regard the favour of almighty god , and the safety and preservation of the protestant religion , and expect a blessed success to the carrying on of that great and glorious work of this nations being delivered from popery and slavery , so seasonably begun , and as they would avoid the wrath and indignation of god against this kingdom , and procure , and continue manifold blessings to the same : certifying all these who shall contemn , or neglect such a religious and necessary duty , they shall be proceeded against , and punished as contemners of his majesties authority , neglecters of religious services , and as persons disaffected to the protestant religion , as well as to their majesties royal persons and government . and ordains these presents to be printed , and published by macers , or messengers at arms , at the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and other places above-mentioned , that none may pretend ignorance . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . gilb . eliot , cls. sti. concilii . god save king vvilliam and queen mary . edinburgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , by order of secret council , anno dom. . by the king, a proclamation for a general fast throughout the realm of england england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king, a proclamation for a general fast throughout the realm of england england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) charles ii, king of england, - . england and wales. privy council. broadside. printed by john bill and christopher barker ..., london : [i.e. ] "given at our court at whitehal, the eighth day of january, in the thirteenth year of our reign." reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- england. great britain -- history -- charles ii, - . great britain -- politics and government -- - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion royal blazon or coat of arms c r honi soit qvi mal y pense diev et mon droit by the king. a proclamation for a general fast throughout the realm of england . charles r. the kings most excellent majesty , taking into his pious and princely consideration , the present unreasonableness of the weather , whereupon it may be justly feared , scarcity and famine , sicknesses and diseases will ensue , if almighty god of his great clemency be not mercifully pleased to avert those iudgements and punishments which our many and manifold sins and provocations have most justly deserved , hath , out of his own religious disposition , resolved , and hereby doth command a general and publique fast to be kept throughout this whole kingdom , in such manner as hereafter is directed and prescribed , that so both prince and people , even the whole kingdom , as one man , may send up their prayers and supplications to almighty god , to divert those iudgements which the sins of this land have worthily deserved , and to send us such seasonable weather , whereby the fruits of the earth may be duely received , and sicknesses and contagious diseases ( so justly feared ) be prevented . and to the end so religious an exercise may be performed with all decency and uniformity , his majesty doth hereby ( by and with the advice of his privy council publish and declare to all his loving subjets , and doth straitly charge and command , that on wednesday next , being the fifteenth of this instant january , this fast be religiously and solemnly observed and celebrated in the cities of london and westminster , burrough of southwark , and other places adjacent , wherein his majesty in his royal person , and with his royal family and houshold , will give example to the rest of his people . and that on wednesday the two and twentieth day of the same moneth of january , the like be kept and duely observed throughout the rest of this whole realm of england , and dominion of wales ; and that the same be reverently and decently performed by all his loving subjects , as they tender the favour of almighty god , and would avoid his just indignation against this land , and upon pain of such punishment as his majesty can justly inflict upon all such as shall contemn or neglect so religious and necessary a work. given at our court at whitehal , this eighth day of january , in the thirteenth year of our reign . god save the king. london , printed by john bill and christopher barker , printers to the kings most excellent majesty , . a declaration of his highness for a day of solemn fasting & humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : r. cromwell) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing c thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) a declaration of his highness for a day of solemn fasting & humiliation. england and wales. lord protector ( - : r. cromwell) cromwell, richard, - . sheet ([ ] p.) printed by henry hills and john field, printers to his highness the lord protector, . and are to be sold at the sign of the seven stars in fleetstreet over against dunstans church, london : . dated at end: given at white-hall this sixteenth day of december one thousand six hundred fifty and eight. annotation on thomason copy: "septemb. ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . great britain -- history -- commonwealth and protectorate, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no a declaration of his highness for a day of solemn fasting & humiliation. england and wales. lord protector a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion pax qvaeritvr bello olivarivs dei ◆ gra ◆ reipvb ◆ angliae ◆ scotiae ◆ et hiberniae , &c protector ◆ blazon or coat of arms a declaration of his highness for a day of solemn fasting & humiliation . the successes of all the consultations and actions of the sons of men have their dependence on the pleasure of that god , who is wonderful in counsel , and mighty in working : and therefore , as in all other affairs , so especially in those which are of greatest concernment , it is our duty to seek the lord , with whom alone is wisdom and strength , that we may testifie our hope to be in him , and our dependence on him alone . it is the priviledge of those who are in covenant with the lord , that they have a god nigh unto them in all that they call upon him for . the people of god in this nation ( if they had observed them , or have not forgotten them ) may produce so large a catalogue of mercies given in answer to prayers , as no nation under the heavens can parallel : in not a few of which the lord hath as it were exemplified that promise , before they call i will answer , and while they are yet speaking i will hear ; and in others , given a proof of his faithfulness in what he had said , ask of me concerning my sons , and concerning the works of my hands command ye me : all of them so many real demonstrations , that he hath not said unto the seed of jacob , seek ye me in vain : so that above all the people in the world , those who fear the lord in these nations have cause to say of him , because he hath heard my voice , therefore will i call upon him so long as i live : and as if the lord would try us whether we will do so or not , he is pleased to administer variety of occasions to prove the faith of his people . this present season exhibits matter of deep humiliation , and earnest supplication . who can look back on the providences wherewith the lord hath exercised us the year passed , but hath cause to say , my flesh trembleth for fear of thee , and i am afraid of thy judgements ? and if we do but with an eye of common prudence , take a prospect of those great actions which are like to be the product of the ensuing year , and weigh the consequences of them , may we not say , lord , we know not what to do , but our eyes are unto thee ? his highness the lord protector seriously considering these things , and having by the advice of his privy council called a parliament to meet in january next , and being not a little sensible how great an influence the deliberations and determinations of that his great council may have , not onely upon the civil peace and outward prosperity of these three nations , yea of all the protestants abroad , but also in reference to the spiritual liberties which the lord hath in an especial maner reserved as a blessing to be given in to this generation , and likewise to the concernments of the gospel through the world : therefore his highness , by advice of his privy council , holds it a seasonable and necessary duty as in his own person , so to call upon , and invite others who are concerned herein , in a solemn maner to humble themselves before the lord , and earnestly to seek his favor and blessing on the counsels and affairs of these nations , and especially on that great council , that he who is the counsellor and prince of peace , will sit among them , guide their spirits , and lead them to such counsels of peace and good for these nations , and the interest of the lord iesus in them , that the generations to come may rise up and call them blessed , and the nations round about us may be filled with admiration at the lords gracious dealings with us , and we may have further cause to say , the lord is in the midst of us , therefore we shall be established . for which purpose his highness doth appoint , that in all places within england and wales , and town of berwick upon tweed , wednesday the nine and twentieth day of december instant , and in scotland and ireland , wednesday the fifth of january next , be observed as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation in all churches , chappels and congregations within the same ; earnestly exhorting all those whose hearts the lord hath touched with a due sense of these things , to be instant with the lord in this behalf , in such a serious and solemn maner , as the nature of so spiritual and extraordinary a duty doth require , and that every one in their places will study how they may second their prayers with sutable endeavors , tending to vnity and peace : and his highness doth will and require all ministers and pastors of congregations , to read this declaration in their meetings for publique worship on the lords day next before the said day of publique fasting , to the end the same may be the better taken notice of : and the holding of all markets and fairs are hereby prohibited on that day . given at white-hall this sixteenth day of december one thousand six hundred fifty and eight . london : printed by henry hills and john field , printers to his highness the lord protector , . and are to be sold at the sign of the seven stars in fleetstreet over against dunstans church . edinburgh, june . . the general meeting of the ministers and elders of this church ... church of scotland. general assembly. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing c aa estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) edinburgh, june . . the general meeting of the ministers and elders of this church ... church of scotland. general assembly. sheet ([ ] p .) s.n. [edinburgh : ] caption title. signed at end of text: extracted by john spalding cls. imperfect: tightly bound with slight loss of text. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. a recommendation of the observance of the fast ordained by parliament to be kept on the th of june or the st of july. also includes a proclamation of the privy council, appointing an alternative later date, dated: edinburgh, june . and signed: extracted by gilb. eliot cls. sti. con. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion edinburgh , june . . the general meeting of the ministers and elders of this church , finding that the commissioner his grace , and the honourable estates of parliament , by their act the of june . have indicted a solemn fast to be kept on ●●e of june instant , on this side the river tay , and on the . of july thereafter , ●n the other side of the said river ; and they being sensible how much it is their ●uty , and the duty of the rest of the ministers and people of this church , religi●usly to observe the said fast on the foresaids days respectively , and particularly , for ●●e causes therein specified . therefore we do recommend the strict observance of it ●●cordingly , and that it may be the more religiously observed , and through the ●ercy of god , prove the more effectual for his majesties preservation and success in is present undertaking , it is necessary that ministers excite themselves and the peo●●e to the exercise of repentance for their own sins , and the lands ; and particu●●rly for the great ignorance of god , profanity and gross abominations abounding ●●ong all ranks and stations , the slighting of jesus christ , the gospel ordinances ●●d ministry , profanation of the lords day , neglect of family worship and secret ●rayer , the neglect of the duties of righteousness and mercy , the great and gene●●l defection from the truth , and ways of god , over the belly of great light , mer●●es and judgments , and our most solemn engagements to god ; earthly-minded●ess , self-seeking , scandalous divisions , and other the like evils ; as also , for our ●●sensibleness of , and ingratitude for , the manifold mercies bestowed on this church ●nd kingdom ; and in special , in giving us the light of the glorious gospel of christ ; ●nd in delivering us in former times , and now signally at this time , from popery , ●relacy , and slavery ; that being humbled for our sins , we may obtain reconci●●ation with god , and pardon through faith in the blood of christ , and may have ●●cess with confidence to put up our supplications to god , for our king and queen , ●he commissioner his grace , our parliament , council , and forces by sea and land , ●nd for the lord 's carrying on the happily begun restauration of this church , and ●●r his sending out of faithful ministers , and blessing of the gospel , and for his gra●●ous presence in the meetings of this church ; and for that end , that he would dis●over and defeat the plots and attempts against his majesty and his government , ●nd would be pleased to send seasonable weather , for bringing forward the fruits ●f the ground , and that a spirit of reformation and repentance being poured out ●n all of us , religion and righteousness , peace and prosperity under the shining of ●is countenance , may yet flourish in our land. extracted by john spalding cls. edinburgh , june . . their majesties high-commissioner , and the lords of privy counsel , considering , that through the neglect of posts , or others , the proclamations of parliament indicting a solemn and publick fast , to be observed in ●ll the churches and meeting-houses within the kingdom , upon the days therein ●entioned , may not be sent timously to the ministers hands , and the observation ●f so religious a duty being the universal concern of this kingdom . there●ore they hereby appoint , that in case the day of the fast have not been obser●ed upon the particular days mentioned in the said proclamation , that the ministers , ●nd all within their respective congregations , shall keep the famine , upon the tus●ay next thereafter . extracted by gilb . eliot cls. sti. con. by the king a proclamation for restraint of killing, dressing, and eating of flesh in lent, or on fish daies, appointed by the law to be hereafter strictly obserued by all sorts of people england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king a proclamation for restraint of killing, dressing, and eating of flesh in lent, or on fish daies, appointed by the law to be hereafter strictly obserued by all sorts of people england and wales. sovereign ( - : james i) james i, king of england, - . leaves. by bonham norton and iohn bill, printers to the kings most excellent maiestie, imprinted at london : m.dc.xxiiii [ , i.e. ] caption title. imprint from colophon. sheet one has arms without "i r", at top, and line of text begins "daies". "giuen at our court at newmarket the seauenth day of february, in the two and twentieth yeere of our reigne of great britaine, france and ireland." reproduction of original in: society of antiquaries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng lent. fasts and feasts -- church of england. fasts and feasts -- england. meat industry and trade -- law and legislation -- great britain -- early works to . great britain -- history -- james i, - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion honi soit qvi mal y pens royal blazon or coat of arms ¶ by the king. a proclamation for restraint of killing , dressing , and eating of flesh in lent , or on fish daies , appointed by the law , to be hereafter strictly obserued by all sorts of people . whereas , for the benefit and commodity of this our realme of england , as well in the maintenance of our nauy and shipping ( a principall strength of this iland ) as for the sparing and increase of flesh victuall , diuers good lawes and statutes haue beene prouided , for the due obseruation of lent , and other dayes appointed for fish dayes , which from time to time haue beene seconded and quickned by sundry our proclamations , and other actes and ordinances of state ; and whereas , notwithstanding the many good prouisions heretofore had and made in that kinde , wee yet finde the inordinate liberty , now vsually taken by all sorts of people to kill , dresse , and eate flesh in the lent season , and on other daies and times prohibited by law , is become an euill of such inueterate growth , as it requireth more then ordinary care to suppresse the same : wee therefore much affecting the reformation of this so great an euill ( and enemy to the plentie of our kingdomes ) haue thought fit eftsoones ( and thus timely , the better to take away the excuse , and to preuent the prouisions of flesh that vsually men make against the lent season ) to expresse our selfe and our royall commandement in this behalfe : wherein , without any future declaration of our pleasure in this kinde , wee shall expect and require from all our subiects , that due notice be taken , and that a strict and continued obedience and conformitie be yeelded thereunto in all succeeding times . and therefore wee doe straitly charge and command all and euery person and persons whatsoeuer , to whom it may appertaine , carefully to prouide and see , that these orders following may bee duely obserued and put in execution , vpon paine of our high displeasure , and such penalties , as by the lawes of this our realme may be inflicted vpon the offenders , for their contempt or neglect of us and our lawes , whereof we shall shew our selues most sensible . and first , whereas wee finde , that the chiefest cause of these disorders hath growen from the licences that haue beene granted to butchers , to kill and vtter flesh contrary to law , and that by our lawes , no mayor , iustice of peace , or other person of what degree or qualitie soeuer , can grant any licence in this kinde , and that the lords and others of our priuy councell , do by our direction forbeare to grant the same , or giue way thereunto ; our will and pleasure is vpon the penalties prouided by law , and such further punishment to be inflicted vpon the offenders , as shall be thought meete , that no such licence shall be granted for the killing or vttering of flesh ; and that no butcher or other person whatsoeuer , doe by colour thereof , kill , vtter , or put to sale any flesh contrary to the lawes established and prouided in that behalfe . and for the auoiding of such inconueniences hereafter , our will and pleasure is , that the lord maior of our citie of london , and euery other officer and iustice of peace , shall call before them , and send for any of the seruants of any inholders , uictuallers , cookes , alehousekeepers , tauerners , and keepers of ordinary tables , and such others that vtter victuals , and to examine them vpon their corporall oathes , what flesh is , or hath beene , during the lent season , or other daies prohibited by the law , dressed , killed , vttered , or eaten in their houses , which if they shall refuse to doe , then to commit to prison the said seruants so refusing vpon their oathes to declare the trueth . that the lord maior shall also yeerely before lent , or at the beginning thereof , cause all inholders , keepers of ordinary tables , uictuallers , alehouse keepers , and tauerners within the city and liberties thereof , to appeare before him , or such persons as he shall appoint meete for that purpose ; and shall take recognizances with sufficient sureties of euery of them in good summes of money , ( viz. ) one hundred pounds of the principall , and their sureties thirty pounds apiece , to our vse , not to dresse any flesh in their houses in the lent time , or at other times prohibited , for any respect , nor suffer it to bee eaten contrary to lawe . the like recognizance with sureties , shall bee taken of the like parties vpon like penalties , by the iustices of peace of our city of westminster , and the liberties thereof ; and euery of the said recognizances to be certified into our exchequer . and for the butchers , & others that come with victuall of flesh out of the countrey into the city , our pleasure is , that the lord maior shall cause certaine persons to watch at the gates and other like places in the suburbes , where flesh may bee brought , to view and search , and to intercept the same : and if any of those watchmen shall be found negligent and corrupt in his charge , then he to be committed to prison during the whole lent. and to the end that fishermen may imploy themselues to sea with better encouragement then heretofore , and that the fishmongers may furnish themselues with such store from time to time hereafter , as shall be expedient , aswell for the prouision of the citie , as for selling the same at reasonable rates ; we will that they take notice of this our commandement , and constant resolution for the obseruance of lent , and fish-dayes , both now and hereafter , as by law is required . and furthermore , as we thinke it fit , that euery man should be a rule of order and abstinence in his owne house , as well in respect of the publique , as of his priuate ease and benefit , so wee straitly charge and command all inholders , keepers of ordinary tables , uictuallers , alehouse-keepers , and tauerners , not to make any supper for any person or persons whatsoeuer , vpon friday nights , either in lent or out of lent ; nor to suffer any meate to be then dressed , vttered , sold or eaten in their houses , vpon paine of such punishment , as is due to those that shall contemne our royall pleasure and commandement . and forasmuch as vpon further aduice and consideration had , that the restraint of killing and dressing of flesh is no sufficient remedy for the mischiefe , vnlesse there bee better care also taken to suppresse the vnlawfull and inordinate eating of flesh in the time of lent , and on other dayes and times prohibited , wherewith our subiects haue accustomed themselues , rather for delicacie then for necessity ; it is therefore our royall will and pleasure , and accordingly wee doe hereby straitly prohibite and forbid all our subiects of what degree or qualitie soeuer within this our realme , to eate any manner of flesh in the time of lent , or on other dayes now vsually obserued as fish-dayes , without a speciall licence first obtained from the bishop of the diocesse , or such other as by the lawe haue power to giue licence in that behalfe , ( which wee will and command shall bee sparingly granted , and in cases of necessitie onely ) vpon paine of our high displeasure , and to bee proceeded against by our attourney generall in our court of starre-chamber , as contemners of our royall commandement , and vpon such further penaltie , as by the lawes and statutes of our realme may be inflicted on those that shall wilfully offend in this kinde . and as these orders are to be executed in our city of london , & places neere to the same , so it is our expresse pleasure and commandement , that our iustices of peace in all shires within their rule , and all other maiors , bailiffes , and chiefe officers in townes corporate , or in any liberties within their precincts , shall cause the same to be obserued and performed in like manner ; and that no maner of toleration , fauour , or conniuencie be vsed by any iustice of peace , or other officer , contrary to the true meaning of this our proclamation , as both they that shall presume wittingly so to tolerate the offence , as also the party himselfe offending , will answere the same at their vttermost perils : our commandement being , that our lawes in this case shall be hereafter seuerely executed vpon all offenders whatsoeuer . further charging and commanding the lord maior of our city of london , the iustices of assize in their seuerall circuits , the maiors and chiefe officers of all other cities and townes corporate , iustices of peace , lords of liberties , and all other officers and ministers within the seuerall counties of this our realme , that they and euery of them fully obey this our pleasure , and cause and compell the same to be obeyed and executed by others , as they will answere the contrary at their vttermost perils . and for the due execution of the premisses in all other the counties of this our realme , as well as in our cities of london and westminster , wee doe hereby straitly charge and command all our iustices of peace within the same counties , aswell within liberties as without , that yeerely and euery yeere hereafter before lent , they cause to come and appeare before them all inholders , cookes , tauerners , alehouse-keepers , butchers , and other uictuallers whatsoeuer , and to require and take of them to our vse , seuerall recognizances , with sureties , for obseruation of the premisses , ( viz ) the principals in tenne pounds , and their two sureties in fiue pounds apiece : and if they shall refuse or neglect to enter into such recognizances , then the said iustices shall suppresse such persons so refusing , from victualling any more , and shall also cause them foorth with to become bound by recognizance with sureties to our vse , ( viz ) the principals in twenty pounds , and their two sureties in tenne pounds apiece , not to uictuall or sell beere or ale from thencefoorth , which if they shall refuse to doe , then the said iustices to commit to prison all such persons so refusing to enter into such recognizances , vntill they shall submit themselues , & become bound , as aforesaid . and further for-all such inholders , cookes , tauerners , alehouse keepers , butchers , and other uictuallers as shall not appeare before the said iustices , as aforesaid , that they immediatly send foorth their warrants , or grant processe against them and euery of them so making default , to appeare and answere their contempt at the next generall sessions of the peace . and further , for the more due punishment of inholders , keepers of ordinary tables , cookes , butchers , uictuallers , alehouse keepers , tauerners , and such like , who shall forfeit their recognizances by killing or dressing of flesh , or suffering it to be eaten in their houses in the lent time , & other fish dayes , and to the end that the same may be as well taken in due forme of law , as duely certified into our exchequer , we doe will and require all iustices of peace , as well within liberties as without , that at such times as they shal meet within their seueral diuisions , for the taking of such recognizances , that they giue notice to the clerkes of the peace , or their deputies , to attend them for that purpose . of whom we will require a strict accompt for the legall taking and returning of the same recognizances into our said exchequer : the said clerkes of the peace and their deputies , taking for the making and certifying of the same recognizances of all inne-keepers , tauerners , cookes , and butchers , the fee of two shillings sixe pence ; and of all alehouse-keepers the fee of twelue pence , as is limited to be taken by the clerke of the peace for our county of middlesex for euery such recognizance , and no more . and lastly , for that the fishmongers ( vpon the obseruation of the aforesaid orders ) may perhaps take occasion thereby to enhaunce the prices , as well of fresh , as of sea fish , we doe therefore hereby further charge and command all fishmongers whatsoeuer , that they sell and vtter their fish at moderate and vsuall rates and prices ; and that all iustices of peace , maiors , bailiffes , and other our officers , as well within liberties as without , to whom it shall appertaine , shall from time to time take such order with the said fishmongers , that our subiects be not grieued by any such enhauncement or encrease of prices vpon fish , vpon paine of our high displeasure , and such further punishment as may be inflicted vpon them by our lawes . giuen at our court at newmarket the seauenth day of february , in the two and twentieth yeere of our reigne of great britaine , france , and ireland . god saue the king. ¶ imprinted at london by bonham norton and iohn bill , printers to the kings most excellent maiestie . m. dc . xxiiii . proclamation for a solemn national fast. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) proclamation for a solemn national fast. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson, printer to his most excellent majesty, edinburgh : anno. caption title. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh the seventh day of february, and of our reign the tenth year, . signed: gilb. eliot. cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion proclamation for a solemn national fast. william by the grace of god , king of great-britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greeting ; forasmuchas , it hath pleased the holy and righteous god , for the many great and hainous sins and provocations of this kingdom , to afflict the same with the lamentable stroke of dearth and scarcity , ( which if not in his mercy prevented ) doth threaten a dreadful famine ; as likeways that the reformed churches abroad , are through his holy and soveraign displeasure , partly under grievous persecution , and partly under great and imminent hazards , which justly call for our humbleing of our selves for our own sins , and for a tender simpathie towards our said afflicted brethren : likeas the general assembly of this church lately conveened , have therefore addressed the lords of our privy council , that a day of humiliation may be appointed and kept for the causes foresaids , more fully mentioned in their act thereanent . therefore we with advice of the lords of our privy council , command and appoint a day of solemn humiliation and prayer and fasting , to be observed throughout the whole kingdom , upon the ninth day of march next to come , to the effect that all our good subjects may on that day , make earnest prayer and supplication to god for the pardon of our sins , and for turning away and averting his wrath from this , and other reformed churches , and that he may command deliverance for his afflicted people , under persecution , bless and preserve us and our government , for the continuance of that peace and tranquillity , and liberty of gospel ordinances with purity and freedom that we at present injoy , and that he may bless his gospel with success , and grant a seasonable seed-time , and bless the seed with increase for the relief of the poor , and of the present distress of the kingdom : which day , we with advice foresaid , do require and command to be religiously and most seriously observed by all ranks and degrees of people , by solemn prayer and preaching , and other acts of devotion to be performed for the causes and ends foresaids , both in publick and privat throughout the whole kingdom . our will is herefore , and we charge you strictly and command , that incontinent these our lettersseen , ye psss to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and remanent mercat-crosses of the haill head-burghs of the several shires and stewartries within this kingdom , and there in our name and authority , by open proclamation , make publication hereof that none pretend ignorance ; and we ordain our solicitor to cause print thir presents , as also the act of the general assembly thereto annexed , and to transmit the same , or copies thereof to the sheriffs of the several shires , and stewarts of stewartries , or their deputs and clerks , to be by them published at the mercat-crosses of their head-burghs upon receipt thereof , and immediatly sent to the several ministers , to the effect the same may be intimat and read in their several paroch-churches , upon the lords day immediatly preceeding the day above-appointed . given under our signet at edinburgh the seventh day of february , and of our reign the tenth year , . per actum dominorum secreti concilii gilb . eliot . cls. sti. concilii . god save the king edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to the king 's most excellent majesty , anno dom. . the meanes and method of healing in the church. set forth in a sermon. preached before the right honourable the house of peers in westminster abby, april . . being a day of solemn humiliation to seek god for his blessing on the counsels of the parliament. by edward reynolds, d.d. and dean of christ-church. reynolds, edward, - . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason e _ ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing r thomason e _ estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; :e [ ]) the meanes and method of healing in the church. set forth in a sermon. preached before the right honourable the house of peers in westminster abby, april . . being a day of solemn humiliation to seek god for his blessing on the counsels of the parliament. by edward reynolds, d.d. and dean of christ-church. reynolds, edward, - . [ ], p. printed by tho. ratcliffe, for george thomason at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard, london : . running title reads: the means and method of healing in the church. bound with thomason tract items dated . annotation on thomason copy: "may ". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng sermons, english -- th century. fasts and feasts -- church of england -- early works to . church polity -- sermons -- early works to . a r (thomason e _ ). civilwar no the meanes and method of healing in the church.: set forth in a sermon. preached before the right honourable the house of peers in westmins reynolds, edward c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - angela berkley sampled and proofread - angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the meanes and method of healing in the chvrch . set forth in a sermon . preached before the right honourable the house of peers in westminster abby , april . . being a day of solemn humiliation to seek god for his blessing on the counsels of the parliament . by edward reynolds , d. d. and dean of christ-church . london , printed by tho. ratcliffe , for george thomason at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard , . nobilissimis , honoratissimis , amplissimis , dominis , in superiori domo parliamentorum ardua regni negotia tractantibus , concionem hanc coram ipsis habitam , ipsorumque jussu pvblici jvris factam , in summi honoris humillimique obsequii testimonivm , dat , dicat , consecrat . e. r. cron. . , . if i shut up heaven that there be no rain , or if i command the locusts to devour the land , or 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 wayes , then will i hear from heaven , and will forgive their sin , and will heal their land . the words are a gracious promise made by the lord unto solomon after he had dedicated the temple by fasting and prayer ; for though there be no mention of fasting , yet if we consult the time , we shall find that it was in the seventh moneth , chron. . . and that the solemnity continued from the . to the . day of that moneth , chron. ▪ , . and the . day was by a statute for ever appointed to be a day wherein to afflict their souls , levit. . . the parts are three . . a supposition of judgements , vers. . where , by the enumeration of three , any others may synechdochically be understood . . a direction unto duties : wherein are two things to be taken notice of . . the quality of the persons who are to perform them , my people called by my name . . a specification of the duties , which are these four , humiliation , supplication , reconciliation , conversion . . a gracious promise of mercy , wherein are very remarkable four signal returns of grace in conformity to their duties . . they humble themselves under gods holy hand , and he humbleth himself to look down from heaven . . they pray , and god hears their prayer . . they seek the favour and the face of god , and god forgives their sin , and is reconciled unto them . . they turn from their wicked wayes , and god heals those evils which those wicked wayes had brought upon the land ; no duty undertaken in vain , but a sutable and correspondent mercy promised to encourage them thereunto . it may here not impertinently be asked , why these three judgements of shutting up heaven , sending locusts and pestilence , are rather mentioned than any other , since doubtless the promise doth extend it self further ? i take the reason to be , . because these are irresistable , no counsel , no policy , no strength can prevent them . . because they are inflicted by god alone , no second causes immixed in them , if i shut up heaven , if i command the locusts , if i send pestilence . . if an enemy come , counsel may hinder , strength may vanquish , treasure may bribe , and divert him . our own polices and provisions may seem to contribute towards our help . but against an army of locusts , no policy , wisdome , srength , embassie can prevail . no power of man can open or shut the clouds , no gates or barres can keep out a famine , or a pestilence from a place . . if an enemy come , we are apt to ascribe that to the malice of men , to look outward to second causes , and not inward to our own sins , or upward to the justice of god , though it be certain , that there is no humane hostility without a divine commission . men are gods rod , and sword , and staffe , psal. . . isa. . , . ezek ▪ . , , . he by his secret and holy providence edgeth the spirits of men against one another , ( as he sent an evil spirit between the men of shechem and abimelech ) judg. . . and stirreth up adversaries against those that provoke him , as he did against solomon , reg. . , and when he pleaseth to return in mercy , he rebuketh the sword , and breaketh the bow , and cutteth the spear in sunder , psalm . . isa. . . these things i say are certain . but we are too apt to bite the stone that hurts us , and not mind the hand that threw it . whereas when wrath is from heaven only , we are forced to see god , we have no second causes to ascribe it unto . so the meaning is ; if ▪ i send judgments immediately from my self , such as no humane wisdome can prevent , or power remove , if then the people shall bethink themselves , and return , and seek my face , they shall find that when wisdome , policy , treasures , walls , armour , munition are nothing worth , prayer and repentance shall avail for healing . so here is a double combate between god and man . . man provokes god with sin , and god overcomes sin with judgement . . man wrestleth with prayer and humiliation , and god yieldeth in mercy and compassion . i begin with the first general , the supposition of judgements , and from thencemake two observations . i. judgements light not on a people casually , or by chance , but by the over-ruling and disposing power and justice of the command and commission of god . it hath not an earthly original ; it growes not out of the dust , job . , . but it comes from heaven , and is sent from god to signifie something of his mind unto us . . sometimes indeed by way of dominion and absolute power , he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked , he laugheth at the trial of the innocent , job . , . sometimes as a preparation unto intended mercy , as men plow the ground which they mean to inrich with precious seed , and carve the stone which they mean to put in the top of the building . josephs iron chain made way to his golden chain , and davids troubles season'd him for his crown . as men put forth longest into wind and sun that great timber which must bear the greatest burden and stress of the building . no such school to learn in as the school of affliction . but most usually in a way of justice , because thy sins were increased , i have done these things unto thee , jer. . . thou hast done right , we have done wickedly , neh. . . i have not done without cause all that i have done , ezek. . . personal chastisements may be for tryal and exercise of faith and patience , but general and publick judgements are ever in wrath and displeasure . such have been the dealings of god in this nation ; the cup of affliction hath been given to all orders of men ; we have seen princes on scaffolds , and in banishment ; parliaments broken in pieces by their servants , peers and patriots devested of their honours , and secluded from their trust ; dishonours poured upon the city , poverty on the countrey , blood on the land , scorn on ministers , threats on vniversities , consternation on souldiers , there is not any order or degree of men , which have not been shaken with these earth-quakes . o how deep is our stupidity , if we do not all of us analyze and resolve our sufferings into their proper principles , ours sins and gods displeasure ? if we have only howled vnder them , and see not gods providence in them , ordering the sins of men unto our humiliation ? if we know them only naturally by their smart to the flesh , and not spiritually by their influence on the conscience ? if we censure others , and absolve our selves ; if our sufferings harden and enrage us in animosities against men , but do not meeken and melt us under the holy tryals of god ? let us therefore labour to find out our sins by our sufferings , the cloud of wrath rising out of the sea of lust . let us search and try our wayes , and since we are living men , not complain of the punishment of our sins , be not as adamants , rocks , oakes , which blowes , waves , winds , break not , move not , bend not . make use of our sufferings to review our sins , and to know our duty , what we should haply have done , and did not in the day of our prosperity , before god laid us aside , what the controversie was which god had against us in our sufferings , what the duties are which he requireth of us in our restitution . the prophets staffe did no good to the dead child till he came himself . judgements do nothing , till god follow them with his craces . chastisements never mend us till they teach us . blessed is the man whom thou chastenest , o lord , and teachest him out of thy law , psalm . . till we see his name , and hear his voice in them , mic. . . till we take notice of his justice preparing the whale that hath s . vallowed us , jon . . bidding s●imei curse , sam. . . giving a charge to the assyrian , isa. . . this will make us dumb , when we consider that it is god that doth it , psalm . . and now that the cup hath gone round , and god hath by his righteous providence prevented our revenge , and done that by the strange vicissitudes of his justice in a wise and holy manner , which if he had left us to do in our owne , cases would possibly have been done with folly and fury : let us conclude that the lord having judged us all himselfe , we should make it our work not so much to look back with revengefull , as to look forward with healing and closing resolutions . we have been like wanton children which fall out in a family , now our father hath whipped us round , that should make us returne to our fraternal agreements againe . . the lord hath variety of judgements whereby to reduce froward and stubborn sinners , can punish them in the heavens over them , in the earth under them , in their bowels within them , can beset them upward , downward , outward , inward , and make a net , and chain , and hedge of afflictions to shut them in , and to fence up their way that they cannot pass , job . . job . . when he will plead , he will take away all refuge , and make every region , towards which we look , minister despair . they shall look upward , and they shall look unto the earth , and behold trouble , and darkness , and dimness of anguish , isa. . , . if they look without , behold a sword ; if within , behold famine and pestilence , levit. , . jer. . . ezek. . . evil , which they shall not be able to escape , or go forth of , jer. . . when men multiply sins , the lord usually multiplyeth judgements , till he either bend by repentance , or break by destruction . when cleanness of teeth , blasting and mildew , pestilence and sword , the judgements of sodome and gomorah , did not prevail with israel to return , then he threathneth final wrath , therefore thus will i do unto thee , amos . . — . which thus , in the prophet amos , seemeth to me , to be the same with lo ammi , in the prophet hosea , an utter rejection of them from being the lords people , hos. . . four times after one another doth the lord threaten to punish his people seven times more for their sins , if they walk contrary unto him , levit. . , , , . philosophers use to reckon but eight steps to the highest , and most intense degree of a quality , but the wrath of god is represented by eight and twenty degrees unto us . . the methode of god in these various judgements usually is . . he begins at the outward man , exercising a people many times with change of rods , which is ever a sign of anger in the father , and of stubbornness in the son . . he proceeds to the soule by smiteing that , revealing his wrath , subducting his peace , implanting his terrors , causing guilt and fear to gripe and seize on the conscience , called breaking of bones , psal. . . drinking up of spirits , iob. . . a wounded spirit , prov. . . if the lord should give a secure sinner , who now haply thinks himself alive , and safe , upon the mistaken apprehensions of mercy , a full view of the filthiness , and sense of the heaviness of any one atrocious sin whereof he stands guilty , it would make him a terrour to himself , willing to exchange his burden for the weight of a rock or mountain . o my broken bones , saith one , psalm . . o my withered heart , saith another , psalm . , . o the distracting terrours of god , saith a third , psalm . . o the intoxicating arrows of the almighty , saith a fourth , job . . thus the lord can make a man a magor missabib , a very fury and fiend unto himself , by arming his own conscience against him . and if the sergeant be so formidable , what a fearfull thing is it to fall into the hands of the living god ? against whose wrath all the honours of the world , all the wealth and greatness , which a thousand kingdomes could heap upon a man , could be no more a protection , than a robe of beaten gold , could be to one that is cast into a furnace of fire . knowing therefore the terrour of the lord , let us be perswaded to be beware of provoking his wrath by any presumptuous sin . . towards obdurate sinners , the lord many times deals in a more fearfull manner , sealing them up under hardness of heart , a spirit of slumber , a reprobate sense , a seared conscience , to be led blind-fold by satan till destruction unawares overtake them . so it is said of the old world , that notwithstanding the preaching of noah , who by preparing an ark condemned the world , they yet knew not till the flood came , and took them all away , mat. . . because i have purged thee , saith the lord , and thou wast not purged , thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more , ezek. . . ephraim is joyned to idols , let him alone , hos. . . let him that is filthy be filthy still , rev. . . now since the lord hath such variety of judgements , that we can never out-sin his wrath , let us be deeply humbled for our pride , who have pharaoh-like put god to so many changes of rods , and variety of judgements , as we in this nation have felt . let us yield betime unto him , for he will overcome when he judgeth . let us take heed of flattering our selves when one rod is worn out ▪ or laid a side , as if the bitterness of death were past , god can make every creature about us , every faculty within us , a rod and a scourge against us . and therefore having received such deliverances as we lately have done , let us make holy ezra's conclusion , should we again break thy commandments ? ezra . , should we not take heed of sinning any more , lest a worse thing come unto us ? joh. . . should we not consider for what it is that god restored us to our stations , namely , that we should in our places study how to honour him , to be zealous for his truth , and pure religion , tender of the liberties , properties , and equal rights of all the people in the land , to restore all oppressed innocents , to loose the bonds of violence , and to settle these so long shaking and discomposed nations upon the firm foundations of truth , peace and righteousness againe ? thus much for the first general . the supposition of judgements , various , and such as come immediately from god , and admit of no possible prevention by humane wisdome , or removal by humane power . ii. we proceed to the direction unto duties , wherein comes first to be considered the quality of the persons who are to perform them , my people that are called by my name . all men are his creatures , only a select and peculiar inheritance , that bear his name , enjoy his peace , promises and protection , and are in covenant with him , are called his people . i entred into covenant with thee , and thou becamest mine , saith the lord , ezek. . . this people have i formed for my self , isa. . . the lord hath set apart him that is godly for himselfe , psalm . . they are the people of his holiness , isa. . . a people for his name , taken out from among others , acts . . to be called by his name , noteth to be his adopted children , as josephs children were made the children of jacob , genesis . , . we are gods people two wayes . . by visible profession or sacramental separation from the world , as the whole nation of the jewes are called his people . a peculiar treasure unto him above all people , exod. . . a nation , nigh unto him , deut. . . his people even then when they rebelled against him , isa. . , . . by spiritual sanctification , and internal dispositions . thine they were , and thou gavest them me , and they have kept thy word , john . . jews inwardly by the circumcision of the heart , rom. . . the israel of god , gal. . . the children of the promise , rom. . . the remnant according to the election of grace , rom. . . the circumcision which worship god in the spirit , phil. . . these are his people by a price of redemption , cor. . , . by a peculiar designation unto his service , tit. . . by an intimate relation of love and dearness , ezek. . . by an high valuation of them as treasures , jewels , vessels of honour , mal. . . pet. . . tim. . . by destination to a more glorious end , eph. . . the duty extends to both . the whole body of a visible church are in judgements to humble themselves , and as to temporal deliverances the lord doth respect the humiliations of the worser members of the church , as we see in the cases of ahab and rehoboam , reg. . , . chron. . , . but to do this so effectually as to attain all the annexed promises , is the work of the israel of god by spiritual sanctification . now from this qualification we gather these two useful observations . i. the sins of gods own people , who are in covenant with him , may provoke and procure judgements ; their pride , and security , worldly love , conformity to the corruptions of the times , coldness and formality in duty , uneven and unfaithfull walking , acting by divided interests from the rest of the lords people , may provoke god severely to punish a land , and we may justly fear hath done so amongst us . a good man , though a son may yet be silius sub ira , under paternal displeasure . if moses and aaron do not by believing glorifie god , they must both die in the wilderness , num. . . if david grow proud of victories , and number the people , god will send a plague which shall lessen their number and his pride , sam. . . if solomon turn from god to women , and to idols , though he be a son , he shall be chastized with the rods of men , sam. . . if asa grieve the prophet , and oppress the people , he shall be vexed with warrs and diseases , chron. . , . if jehoshaphat help the ungodly , his life shall be endangered , and his ships broken , chron. . . god will have judgement begin at his own house , peter , . . their sins have some aggravations in them which other mens have not ; these are committed against special light and more glorious convictions , as those of solomon , after god had appeared unto him twice , reg. . . against special love , and experiences of divine favour , samuel . . — . against special relations , the honour of a father , a lord , an husband , isa. . . against special grace , and assistance of the holy spirit , ephes , . . against special covenants and engagements , after a vouching god for theirs , psalm . . against special deliverances from greatest dangers , ezra . , . against special hopes , and more special promises which should have ! perswaded them unto holiness , cor. . . john . . . against special peace and glorious comforts , as david sinned against the joy of gods salvation , psalm . . peter denied christ after he had seen his transfiguration . and this may teach the holiest of men ; . to take heed of playing the wantons with the grace of god : though god be a tender , yet he may be an angry father : and who knoweth the power of his anger ? psalm . . . to be more carefull to stand in the breach against publick judgements , having by their sins contributed to the bringing of them upon the land . . it is not our doing of duty , but gods being in covenant with us , which is the ground of his mercy to us . property doth stir up compassion , though they have provoked me , yet i will spare them , because they are mine , malachy . . whence we learn ; . in what manner to go to god , and to plead with him , not in confidence of our duty , but of our relation to him as his , thou art our father , we are thine , isa. . , — . the church in affliction seldome useth any other argument , why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people ? exod. . . art not thou our god ? chron. . . we are called by thy name , leave us not , jer. . . spare thy people , o lord , give not thine heritage to reproach , joel . . and the lord when there is no motive else , is marvellously wrought on by this argument , is ephraim my dear son ? is he a pleasant child ? for since i spake against him , i do earnestly remember him still , therefore my bowels are troubled for him , i will surely have mercy upon him , saith the lord , jer. . . in confession we must say , thus and thus have we done . josh. . . in petition we must say , thus and thus hast thou promised . we may argue much better from relations then performances . lord , we are thy children ; when we deserved wrath thou didst adopt us ; though we deserve it still , do not reject us . when thou didst adopt us , thou didst adopt enemies : if thou shouldst reject us , thou shouldst reject children . our unworthiness could not prevent thy mercy , let it not remove it . . in what manner to do duty . none can do duty aright , but as one of his , and in covenant with him . in christ by faith both our persons , and our services are accepted , ephe. . . pet. . . the altar sanctifieth the gift , and he is our altar . out of him we can do nothing . duties are not done aright , but in the vertue of the covenant of grace . jehu did a work materially good , but carnal policy turned it into sin , hos. . . to pray , and yet hold fast cruelty ; to fast , and to take pleasure in wickedness ; to bring offerings and flocks to gods house , and still delight in violence and oppression ; if any thing be to mock god , and provoke wrath , certainly this is , to make religion , like samuels mantle , a cloak for the devil . . in what manner to escape judgements , and secure mercy . be his people , and you are sure to be spared , mal. . . ezek. . . he hath an ark for noah , a zoar for lot , a basket for paul , a gath for david , chambers and hiding places for his people , untill calamity be over-past , isa. . . psalm . . zeph. . . when jesus was neer his own suffering , and in the midst of dangers himself , he took care of his poor disciples . let these go , joh. . . the less protection they find amongst men , the more they shall have from him . since therefore the lord is tender of the interests of his people , and takes special care of hearing , forgiving , and healing them , let it be your care , right honourable , likewise to take them into your protection : they who hurt them , hew at the bough whereon they stand , dig under the foundation which holds them up . this for the qualifications of the persons of whom these duties are required ; the duties themselves required for the removal of judgements , follow . . if they shall humble themselves , and be cast down under my holy hand in the sense of my displeasure . but that is not enough , ahab did so , reg. . . who for ought we read , did not pray unto god . . if they shall pray , and cry for help , as ninivie did , jonah . . but that is not enough neither . hypocrites in distress will say , arise and save us , jer. . . they will spread forth their hands , and make many prayers , isa. . . and cry in the ears of the lord with a loud voice , ezek. . . and enquire early after him , psalm . . . if they shall seek my face , be grieved more for my displeasure than my rod , pray first for mercy , and then for healing , as david , psalm . . it was christs method first to forgive , and then to heal , mat. . , . and it must be ours in praying for it . but neither is this enough , pharoah can be contented to have his sin forgiven , though he will not let it goe , exodus . . . if they shall turn from their evil wayes , and so lift up holy hands unto god , first wash their hands in innocency , and then compass the lords altar , psalm . . put iniquity far away from their hands , and then stretch them forth towards god , job . , . lift up pure hands , tim. . . put away the evil of their doings , and then come and reason together with the lord , isaiah . , , . . then , if they shall humble themselves . a duty called for by prophets and apostles , mic. . . jam. . . pet. . . specially respected by god , as we find in the case of josiah , reg. . . and gracious promises made thereunto , leviticus . . . it emptieth the heart of self-confidence , is the root of that fundamental duty of self-denial . it fits for approach to god , because the more humble , the more welcome : the more we tremble at his threatnings , the more we shall supplicate for his grace , isa. . . job . . it disposeth to a confession of sin , as we see in the poor prodigal and publican , luke . , , . luke . . it prepares the heart for the entertainment of mercy , though the proclamation be made , and the court of mercy be open to all , rev. . . yet while men love sin , they forsake mercy , jon. . . but when the soul is humbled , it opens to god , and his grace . weary souls are glad to be satiated , jer. . . it makes way to the forsaking of sin ; the more a soul is humbled for it , the more it is fearfull of it , and watchfull against it . humiliation is two-fold . . a passive , when god breaks the heart by the hammer of the word , as it is called , jer. . . or by some sore affliction . . active , when the soul humbleth it self under sin and wrath ; when a man-afflicts his own soul , levit. . . again , this is two-fold : . legal , proceeding from a spirit of bondage , when the heart roars on a rack , or melts in a furnace , is fill'd with consternation and anguish under the weight of sin and wrath : which was the case of pharaoh , ahab , belshazzar , felix , the jaylor , the murtherers of christ . . evangelical , when the soul is not only broken and batter'd with the horror and dread of wrath ( this it may be , and remain hard , as every piece of a broken flint is hard still . ) but when it is kindly melted and softned with apprehensions of gods goodness and free grace . a compounded duty made up of love and sorrow , the humiliation of hezekiah , jer. . . and of josiah , chron. . . this is a perpetual duty ; as long as sin remains , there must be a sense of it , and sorrow for it . but in some times and cases it is specially to be renewed ; as in time of extraordinary sins and provocations , of publick dangers and distresses , of great enterprizes attempted , or successes and blessings desired : which was the case of exra , . . the great sins , the sad divisions , the dis-joynted affections , the contrary interests , the dolefull errors and distempers in the church , the miserable fluctuations and discomposures which have been in the state , the horrid violations of order and justice , the wofull staines which have been upon the land , by the irregular and prodigious effusion of the blood of princes , peers and prophets , the affronts and dissipations which have been put upon parliaments , the contempts which have been poured outon ministers , and at tempts against their maintenance ; the great difficulties which lie before the noble houses at this time , in their endeavours of healing and setling the land , and putting the broken bones and dislocated joynts into due order again ; the allaying of animosities , the moderating of extremities , the reconciling of differences , the satisfying of interests , the preservation of pure religion , and the great concernments of christ and his people ; the restoring of collapsed honour to the nations , and of just rights to all orders therein ; ( which have been so many years obstructed ) the reviving of trade , the easing of pressures , the reducing of these wofully tossed and naufragated kingdoms unto calmness and serenity again , do call aloud for these duties in the text , that so the lord may be pleased to hear , forgive , and heal us himself ; and shine upon the counsels , and bless the whole undertakings of his servants that they may be instruments of healing us likewise . for your better performance hereof , i shall propose two expedients . i. to take a view of god in himself , and in his relations unto you , and dealings with you . ii. to take a view of your selves in the glass of his pure and holy law . . set the lord before you as david did , psalm . . consider what a god he is with whom we have to do . consider him , . in himself . his searching eye , humble your selves in his sight , jam. . . his mighty hand , humble your selves under his hand , pet. . . his eye can search us , we cannot hide from him ; his hand can reach us , we cannot escape him . every attribute of god may serve to humble us . his majesty and glory , dreadfull to the angels , isa. . . cujus participatione justi ejus comparatione nec justi . he is a great god , and therefore greatly to be feared , psalm . , . his holiness , wherein he is glorious , exodus . . so holy that he cannot be served , josh. . . of purer eyes than to behold iniquity . his jealousie and justice : a god to whom vengeance belongeth , who will not be mocked or provoked , nahum . . his mercy and goodness which should lead us to repentance , and melt the heart into a filial fear of him , hosea . . rom. . . his omniscience , who searcheth and trieth the heart and the reins , hath all things naked and open before him . if we know enough by our selves , to humble and abase us , how should we reverence the eye of god who knoweth all things ? such considerations greatly humbled the holiest of men . moses is afraid to look upon god , exod. . . job abhors himself , job . . elijah hides his face in a mantle , reg. , . isaiah cries out , i am undone , isa. . . ezra cannot stand before god , ezra . . peter bids christ depart from him , because he is a sinfull man , luke . . . in his relations to us : he our maker , we the clay ; he our king , we vassals ; he our judge , we malefactors ; he our father , we undutifull sons ; he our master , we unprofitable servants . all arguments unto humiliation . . in his dealing with us . our humiliation melts him all into mercy , when israel confessed , submitted , prayed , reformed , the soul of the lord was grieved for their misery , judg. . , . when ephraim smote on his thigh , the lords bowels were troubled for him , jer. . , . but our stubborness will seal and shut up his compassions against us , levit. . . consider him ; . in his iudgements and various providences : by which we should learn righteousness , isa. . . the lords cup hath passed through all orders of men , princes , peers , gentry , ministers , people , souldiers themselves ; we have felt his judgements in our houses , our honours , our names , our estates , by wars on land , by dangers on sea , by divisions in church , by confusions in state , by more evils and sorrows then can be well enumerated . and should we not turn unto the lord that smites ? isa. . . should we be like ahaz , the worse for our sufferings ? chron. . . be set on fire , and not know it ; be burnt , and not lay it to heart ? isa. . . . in his mercies which have shined upon us through all our clouds . we have no reason to complain , for we are living men . he hath remembred mercy in the midst of wrath , quenched the flame of war , frustrated the attempts of those who would have kindled it again , rebuked the rage of the sea , the beast of the reeds , as the psalmist speaks , put a stop to the career of those who had in hope and design swallowed up our churches , our vniversities , our ministry , our jordan into their dead sea . continued his gospel , and the means of grace in plenty and liberty amongst us , ( blessed be his name for ever , never may this blessing be removed from us ) restored our parliaments ( the great bulwarks under god of our religion , liberties , properties , interests , all our endearments ) towards their ancient honour and splendor again . and this goodness of god calls for our humiliation , i will accept you , and gather you out of the countries , and then you shall remember your wayes , and loath your selves , ezek. . — , . with an hard and a soft , stone and mortar , we build a wall ; with an hard and an soft , an hammer and a pillow , we break a flint ; with an hard and a soft , the seal and the wax , we make an impression . hard judgements and soft mercies , should build us up in holiness , break our stubborn hearts , and make impressions upon them . ii. take a view of your selves , of your own hearts and lives ; we are apt to forget our selves , iam. . . to mistake our selves , prov. . . rev. . . and therefore we are bid to search and try our selves , cor. . . as a means to silence our complaints against god , lam. . , . when the prodigal son once came to himself , and took a surveigh of his own condition , he was quickly brought to acknowledge his unworthiness , luke . , . this is a duty of singular use and benefit . it enlargeth the heart in godly sorrow for sin past , upon the discoveries which this scrutiny maketh . when we remember our doings , we shall loath our selves , ezek. . . it worketh caution and circumspection for the time to come ; we shall take heed of breaking the commandments , having provoked the lord so much already , ezra . . it will cause us to magnifie divine mercy , as paul did , when he called to mind , that he had been a persecutor and blasphemer , tim. . , . if any one should do us the thousanth part of the wrong which we have done god , could we humble our selves to feed , to cloath , to enrich , to adopt such a person unto our own family , and provide an ample inheritance for him ? it would make us relie only on free grace , and not on any strength of our own , when we consider how much god requires , and how little we perform . i will go in the strength of the lord , i will make mention of thy righteousness , of thine only , psal. . . ashur shall not save us , we will not ride upon horses , nor say to the work of our hands , ye are our gods , for in thee the father less findeth mercy , hos. . . isa. . , . it will make us exceeding meek and patient in afflictions . it is nothing but ignorance of our selves , which makes us swell and fret against god . if we be living men , we have no reason to complain , for we suffer less than our iniquity deserves , lam. . , . job . . psal. , . ezra . . and that we may have the better and fuller view of our selves , of our hearts and lives , let us look upon the holy law of god . it is exceeding broad , and reacheth to the smallest corruption , psalm . . exceeding spiritual , and searcheth the inmost corners of the soul , rom. . . exceeding pure , and cannot away with the least pollution , psalm . . exceeding perfect , and will not dispence with any defect , psalm . . exceeding right and strait , and cannot endure any guil of spirit , psalm . . upon the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel , which are the portion and dowry of the church here below , upon the holy spirit of love and grace , which sealeth believers unto the day of redemption . upon the free love whereby we were elected , upon the precious blood whereby we were redeemed , upon the glorious inheritance whereunto we are reserved , upon the gracious image after which we are renewed . this holy law we have violated , these precious promises we have undervalued , this blessed spirit we have grieved , this grace we have abused , this image defiled , this free love , this inestimable blood , this glorious inheritance we have deprized , and miserably neglected ●ad disesteemed . what remains , but that we cry out all with the leaper in the law , unclean , vnclean . lastly , let us take off our sins ; if we be not rocks and adamants , that will humble us . we were made to converse with god , and sin hath shut him out of all our thoughts . we use to lament sad alterations , when a garden of eden is made a wilderness , cities turned into ruinous heaps , they that wear scarlet , embracing dung-hils . how should we bewail the sad change which sin hath wrought in our nature and lives ? that a creature stamped with the impress of the divine image , made for high and honourable imployments , should so far degenerate , as to be a child of darkness , a vassal of hell , a vessel of lust . that a soul made of a kind of angelical substance , should sink it self into the balance , with sordid pleasures , with perishing profits , with noisome lusts , should barter , and sell away its self , and its salvation , for wind ; for shame , for vanity , for rottenness , and change its glory for that which doth not profit . that a tongue which was made to glorifie god , and to be our glory , made for prayers , and praises , and gracious communication , should belch out blasphemy and profaneness , oaths and curses , ribaldrie and reviling , and all kind of rotten speeches , like an open sepulcher . that an heart which was made for heavenly meditations , and for intimate communion and converse with god , should now entertain none but hellish affections , and be a sink and charnel house of impure lusts . if we should here descend to a more particular disquisition , and consider , the uncleanness of our original from fallen-adam , by whom we have been sold as bond-men under sin , rom. . . for none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? job . . job . . the uncleanness of our nature and constitution , by nature children of wrath , no good thing dwelling in us . as contrary to the holy will of god , as darkness to light ; as full of evil , as the sea of water ; set on fire by a hell of corruption , james . . exactly contrary to the law of god , as appeareth by comparing the strict demands of the one , gen. . . with the thorow depravation of the other , gen. . . the uncleanness of our thoughts , and secret affections which arise continually , as sparkles out of a stirred furnace : vain thoughts , which tend to no good , jer. . . wicked impure thoughts , very gall and bitterness , acts . , . the uncleanness of our words , not only idle words , mat. . . but rotten and unsavory , eph. . . the uncleanness of our actions , that immense colluvies of impieties against god , unrighteousness against men , intemperance against our selves , hainous in quality , measureless in quantity , sands for number , mountains for weight , attended with multitudes of dolefull aggravations ; the uncleanness of our services , and iniquity of our holy things ; such considerations as these sanctified by evangelical grace , would much conduce to our humiliation , and work in us these three fruits and evidences thereof . . a godly sorrow , so called by the apostle , because it sets the soul god-ward . cain , judas , felix sorrowed , but they ran from god . but godly sorrow carries the soul closer unto god . as a ship in a tempest ventures not to any shore , but gets further into the sea ; so the soul when it is humbled by god , betakes not it self unto any carnal shore , but still runs closer into him . . a justifying of god , ascribing to him the glory of his righteousness , if he should condemn us ; and of his mercy , that he doth absolve us , psalm . . daniel . , , . . a self-judging and subscribing to our condemnation , saying amen unto the curse , deut. . . if i judge my selfe , god can reverse my judgement , as the superiour judicatory can the act of the inferiour : but if i stay till god judge me , all the world cannot null or avoid his . as st. austin saith of the poor publican , ipse sibi judex erat , ut deus liberaret ; ipse accusabat , ut ille defenderet . he judged and accused himself , that god might deliver and defend him . bonum judicium , saith bernard , quod me illo districto divinoque judicio subducit & abscondit : volo vultui irae judicatus praesentari non judicandus . this is a good judgement indeed which withdraws and hides me from the severe judgement of god . i tremble to fall into the hands of the living god , let me be presented before his wrath as judged already , not as to be judged by him . ii. the next duty is prayer , without which humiliation is but a sinking under god , not a seeking unto him . the very heathen betook themselves unto this sanctuary in times of trouble , ut pacem dei exposcerent ▪ by this mighty engine god hath been moved to hold his hand , to repent of purposed , to revoke denounced judgements ; vincit invincibilem , ligat omnipotentem . . by this we honour god in acknowledging him the fountain of all our good , the inflicter of all evill , the avenger ▪ of all sin , that we have to do with him in all our sufferings , creatures but the rod , he the father that holds it : that no other means can do us good , except he sanctifie them , that his displeasure none can remove : as a diamond is cut only by a diamond , so god is pacified only by himself : the sting of the scorpion cured by the powder of the scorpion ; the anger of god by the favour of god . . by this we ease our selves , prayer lightneth affliction where it doth not remove it . nature is strengthned to bear the pain , conscience is strengthned to withstand the temptation and snare of it . the heart is meekned to accept the punishment of sin , as wool or mud deads the force of a bullet , so the heart meekned by prayer , doth obtund the edge of an affliction , that it cannot get so deep into the heart to hurt it . iii. in prayer we must seek the face of god ; his favour to comfort us , and his counsell to direct us . . in judgements and difficulties we should more seek gods favour than our own deliverance ; the recovery of his love , than the removal of his rod . others griefs press nature , his displeasure wounds the spirit . in other griefs , gods favour upholds the soul , psa. . . & . , . but when gods favour is withdrawn , the soul hath nothing else left to lean to , nothing can comfort when god frownes . armour can protect against a sword or a bullet , but not against fire . when god is angry , no refuge but unto god . . in difficulties we must likewise seek gods face as david did , sam. . . not lean on our own understanding , nor sacrifice to our net , but have our eyes upon him , who is the father of lights , who when he will , maketh wise the simple ; and when he will , infatuateth the counsel of the wise , and maketh it brutish . iv. after all these preparatory duties , that which is the substantial duty , and the end of all the rest , must follow , turning from our wicked wayes : not from sin to sin , that is , mutatio in aliud only , not in melius : not from sin to secular interest , that is not a conversion from sin to god , but to the world : not from sin to the meer dictates of nature and right reason ; that is not a conversion from sin to god , but from sin to our selves ; a philosophical , not a spiritual conversion : not from sin only to the natural conscience , to gratifie and prevent the terrors of that ; that is a servile , not a filial conversion . but from sin to god , not fainedly and hypocritically , jer. . . with a divided heart , but sincerely in our thoughts from the love and allowance of all sin , in our wayes from the practise willingly of any sin ; but especially from those sins which have most prevailed ▪ against us and wherewith we have most dishonoured god , as isaiah ▪ . , . . . hoseah . . these are the duties here prescribed in order to the answering of solomons prayer . the answer followes exactly commensurate to these duties in four gracious promises . . a promise of gracious condescention intimated in the word from heaven , though he dwell on high , he will humble himself to revive the spirit of contrite and humble sinners , psa. . , . isa. . . he will come down to work deliverance for them , exod. . . . promise of gracious audience , i will hear . it is a● dolefull ▪ affliction to gods servants● , when he is angry with their prayers , and shuts them out , psalm . . lam. . . and on the other side , this is one of the most radiant and glorious comforts of gods people , that in all difficulties they have a throne of grace to betake them to , with a promise , you shall pray , and i will hearken , as a man doth to what he delighteth in : for the prayer of the righteous is his delight , jer. . . . prov. . . . a gracious promise of forgiveness , to serene his countenance , and lift up the light thereof upon them ▪ for even when we do his will , and when we are his people , we want pardoning mercy . there is need of pardon not only for the ungodly unto their justification , but also for his own people and children into a restitution to paternal favour , the sense and fruition whereof they may forfeit by their sins . and this is gods method in hearing prayers , to forgive sin before he cures pain , mat. . . for indeed when sin is pardoned , the sickness is cured at the root , for sin is the sting of every affliction , as well as of death . . a promise of healing , healing of the land , the humiliations and prayers of gods peculiar people are beneficial to the whole land ; the innocent shall deliver the island , job . . a joseph in egypt , an eliah in israel is the chariots and horsemen thereof . an humbled , praying , converting people , shall certainly be an healed people : and if ever we hope to be healed to purpose , this must be our method to it . now touching these promises there is this worthy our observation . . that when god comes down to deliver , and looks from heaven , he doth it by no other way , then by the incarnation of his son , the efficacy of his spirit , the operation of his providence , or the ministry of angels . . when he hears prayers , it is only by the intercession and mediation of christ . . when he forgives sins , it is only by the merits and righteousness of christ . . but when he heals a land , he often useth in that work the ministry of men . magistrates are healers and repairers , isa. . : ministerrs are healers of the sick , ezek. . . and therefore i shall here in all humility implore of you , right honourable , who are instruments for healing in the lords hand unto these long and wofully sick nations , that you would with all your vigour call together all the graces of god , all the abilities of nature in you unto this most necessary work . you have the lords promise to be with you in i● ▪ if you set about it in his way . and his way to heal a land , is , . when the people thereof are his people , called by his name . . when they are an humbled , penitent , praying , reforming people . your greatest care therefore must be , . that the people of the land be gods people , that his name be owned , his truths , worship , interests preserved pure and inviolate amongst us . it is to those that fear gods name that the promise of healing is made , mal. . . . in as much as even the sins of such may provoke the lord , your zeal for god , and love to the nation should appear , in awakening them and all others to remember from whence they are fallen ; many of them through pride , wantonness , interests and carnal designs , from wholesome truths , from holy ordinances ; from the love of a faithfull ministry , from brotherly love , from christian ▪ communion , to many errours and vain janglings , to contempt of magistracy , to affronting authority , to violating publick order and peace , to such an excess of licentiousness under the pretense of freedome , that religion scarce ever was more endangered under the straights of persecution , than under the lasciviousness and wantonness of an abused liberty . though therefore there ought to be all tenderness to preserve for gods people the liberty wherewith the lord hath made them free , god forbid any restraint or abridgement should be upon that ; yet since the same lord hath commanded that we must not use our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness ; it is necessary that great prudence be used to prevent the exorbitances of wanton minds , who make use of liberty to the dishonour and assaulting of publique authority , to the kindling of flames , animating the discontented peopleunto insurrections , enervating the peace and concord of the people of the land , by dis-joynting them in that which is the main bond of unity , the truths of religion : wherein when they are once universally broken , who sees not how wide a door is opened for rome or munster , not only to enter in , butto be welcomed amongst us . the way therefore unto healing , is to endeavour to bring us all home to be gods people , and as his people to be compacted within our selves , to lay aside all dividing distinguishing , invidious titles , & with fraternal affections to coalesce , as far as may be in judgement , however throughly in affection , and so to keep our difforing opinions to our selves , as that the consciences of our brethren may not be grieved , nor the peace of the church of christ endangered thereby . i conclude all , with beseeching you , that since the lord hath taken it as one of his titles to be called the lord that healeth us , exod. . . that without him , the builder worketh , the watchman keepeth , the statesman counselleth , the physician healeth all in vain , you would ever by prayer and attendance upon god for counsel , so seek his face , and guidance in this weighty work , that when it is finished , and the head-stone of our settlement laid , we may say , it was the lords doing , and marvelous in our eyes ; and may with shoutings cry , grace , grace unto it . finnis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a e- mat. . . heb. . . joh. . , . isa. . . isa. . . amos. . . aug. in p●● . ber. in can. s●r . . bris. de . fo●m . l. . p. . by the king, a proclamation appointing the general fast which according to former order falleth out to be on wednesday the first of november, being all saints day, to be kept on the wednesday following, being the eighth of that moneth. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing c estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) by the king, a proclamation appointing the general fast which according to former order falleth out to be on wednesday the first of november, being all saints day, to be kept on the wednesday following, being the eighth of that moneth. england and wales. sovereign ( - : charles ii) charles ii, king of england, - . broadside. printed by john bill and christopher barker ..., london : . "given at the court at oxford the twenty sixth day of september, in the seventeenth year of his majesties reign. ." imperfect: stained, with slight loss of print. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of england. great britain -- history -- charles ii, - . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms by the king. a proclamation appointing the general fast , which according to former order falleth out to be on wednesday the first of november , being all saints day , to be kept on the wednesday following , being the eighth of that moneth . charles r. whereas the kings most excellent majesty did by his royal proclamation , bearing date the sixth day of july last , appoint that from the time therein mentioned , the first wednesday of every moneth successively should be observed and kept in all parts of this realm , as a day of fasting and humiliation , until it shall please god to withdraw this plague and grievous sickness . and to the end that prayers and supplication may every where be offered up unto almighty god for the removal of this heavy iudgment : and whereas the first wednesday in november ( which according to that order ought to be kept ) falls out to be all-saints day , which is a great festival in the church , and so not fit to be kept as a day of fasting and humiliation , his majesties pleasure is , and he doth hereby declare , that the next wednesday following in the said moneth , that is to say , wednesday the eighth of november , shall be kept in all parts of this realm as a day of fasting and humiliation , instead of the first wednesday of that moneth . and for the time to come , the first wednesday in every moneth shall be so kept as was appointed by the said former proclamation ; except the same falls out to be on some day appointed to be kept holy , and in that case it shall be kept the wednesday following , as is hereby directed . and his majesty doth hereby again call upon the respective preachers on the said fast-days , that they do earnestly exhort the people , in the several churches , to a free and chearful contribution , towards the relief of their christian brethren , whom it hath pleased god to visit with sickness ; and that the moneys so gathered be disposed according as his majesty hath directed by his said former proclamation . given at the court at oxford the twenty sixth day of september , in the seventeenth year of his majesties reign . . god save the king. london , printed by john bill and christopher barker , printers to the kings most excellent majesty , . die martis, martii, . an order of the lords and commons assembled in parliament, for putting in due execution the laws and ordinances for observing the lords-day, and publique fast days, and for preventing of disorders and tumults on those days. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (thomason .f. [ ]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing e thomason .f. [ ] estc r this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; : f [ ]) die martis, martii, . an order of the lords and commons assembled in parliament, for putting in due execution the laws and ordinances for observing the lords-day, and publique fast days, and for preventing of disorders and tumults on those days. england and wales. parliament. sheet ([ ] p.) printed for edward husband, printer to the honorable house of commons, london : march . . [i.e. ] signed: io:brown, cleric. parliamentorum., h:elsynge, cler. parl. d. com. order to print signed by elsynge alone. with engraved border. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng fasts and feasts -- england -- early works to . sunday -- early works to . great britain -- history -- civil war, - -- early works to . a r (thomason .f. [ ]). civilwar no die martis, martii, . an order of the lords and commons assembled in parliament, for putting in due execution the laws and ordinances england and wales. parliament. a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die martis , martii , . an order of the lords and commons assembled in parliament , for putting in due execution the laws and ordinances for observing the lords-day , and publique fast days , and for preventing of disorders and tumults on those days . upon information of the great disorders and tumults committed in moor-fields the last lords-day ( being the lords-day ) by divers loose irreligious people in disorderly ale-houses , it is ordered by the lords and commons assembled in parliament , that the lord major , iustices of the peace , and other officers of the city of london and liberties thereof ; and the sheriffs of london and middlesex , the iustices of peace and officers of the county of middlesex and westminster , and the liberties ; the iustices of peace of surrey , and the borough of southwark , be hereby enjoyned to take especial care , that the laws and ordinances for the due observing of the lords-day , and the publique fast days , be observed , and put in strict execution ; and that they do suppress all unnecessary alehouses , & all alehouses where any disorders shal be committed . and the lords and commons in parliament assembled do declare , that they will take notice of all iustices of peace , or other officers , as shall not with diligence perform their duties in putting in due execution the laws and ordinances for the observing of the lords-day , and the publique fast days . it is further ordered , that this order be forthwith printed , and published the next lords-day by the several ministers in london , westminster , and lines of communication , and at the next quarter sessions in london and middlesex , and in the borough of southwark , and at the next assizes in the county of surrey . io: brown , cleric . parliamentorum . h : elsynge , cler. parl. d. com. die martis , martii , . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that this order be forthwith printed and published . h : elsynge , cler. parl. d. com. london , printed for edward husband , printer to the honorable house of commons . march . . a most godly sermon preached at st. albons in woodstreet on sunday last being the of october, : shewing the necessity of selfe-denyall and humiliation by prayer and fasting before the lord in regard of the present plague we now lye under : which god in his good time remove from amongst us / by ... henry burton. burton, henry, - . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing b ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing b estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; :e , no ) a most godly sermon preached at st. albons in woodstreet on sunday last being the of october, : shewing the necessity of selfe-denyall and humiliation by prayer and fasting before the lord in regard of the present plague we now lye under : which god in his good time remove from amongst us / by ... henry burton. burton, henry, - . [ ] p. printed by b. alsop, london : . port. on t.p. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng self-denial -- sermons. fasts and feasts -- england -- sermons. plague -- england -- sermons. a r (wing b ). civilwar no a most godly sermon: preached at st. albons in woodstreet on sunday last, being the . of october, . shewing the necessity of selfe-den burton, henry c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a most godly sermon : preached at st. albons in woodstreet on sunday last , being the . of october , . shewing the necessity of selfe-denyall and humiliation , by prayer and fasting before the lord ; in regard of the present plague we now lye under . which god , in his good time , remove from amongst us . by that faithfull minister , and witnesse of iesus christ , m. henry burton . london , printed by b. alsop , mdcxli . a godly sermon , luke . . let him deny himselfe . doct. i. the first lesson is the a. b. c. that christ teacheth us in his schoole , is this , for a man to deny himselfe , and so is it also the highest taske that is set to any . these words were spoken to them all , a great many professed christ , and thronged upon him . therfore christ taught them a lesson , that most of them never thought of . if any one will follow me , let him deny himselfe . the condition is , let him deny himselfe , the terms are selfe-denyall . selfe-deniall consisteth , . in denying our selves in all good things . . in all evill things . . in all good things , selfe-denyall ought to be in all good things . . internall . . externall . internall as the understanding , will , and affection . so in morall habits , as temperance , fortitude , wisedome , &c. . in labour of knowledge , even of such as are gotten by study . . selfe-denyall ought to be in externall good things . . in matters of duty . . in objects . . jn matters of duty , that is toward god , where is discovered a main duty between true exercise of piety , and counterfeit , those are true , which are set down in scripture , and none else ; for god will be served of himselfe , he commandeth not as man prescript . here appears the vainnesse of that duty which is prescribed of men . those of men may be knowne like trees by their fruits . that of humane invention , set upon the conscience , those who maintain it , cannot but confesse the superstition which they maintaine . the next thing , is the duty we owe to our neighbor , as of charity , of equity , of mercy : when we have done all that is commanded , we must confesse we are unprofitable servants . here is selfe-denyall ▪ yet there may be duties of piety , where there is a want hereof , as . cor. . . there may bee seeming charity , yet fals . there may be a giving up of the body to be burned , yet want of charity ; because not proceeding from faith . even in these workes a christian must deny himselfe . vse . to condemn all popish charity , and many which they call good works , instead of denying themselvs in those works , they deny christ ; for in those works , they say they deserve the kingdome of heaven . for there is salvation in none other but in christ iesus onely . vse . to condemn another sort of carnall profane men that build their salvation on common duties , works of morality ; who say that they doe all men right ( though perhaps they are compelled so to doe ) this overthrowes the doctrine of christ , this is not to deny themselves , but to deny christ . vse . to put a difference between true charity and false , some men are naturally given to be upright , to doe justice , to deale upright . this is not to deny ones selfe , to build in these ; for this is not of grace : for workes of grace humble a man . this may be a tryall of our grace ; if they be of grace , thou wilt deny thy selfe in them . in the next place , we are to consider of certaine objects , of a threefold relation . . a naturall . . a civill . . a sensitive relation . doct. . and first a naturall relation , as to father , mother , wife , children , kindred , &c. we must deny our selves in all relation , where th●y stand in opposition unto christ , for proofe hereof . luke . . if father , mother , wife , children , &c. call us to stand in opposition to christ , in that respe●t we must hate them . mat. . . no marvell then if the world cry out of christ , and call him a seditious person . for a man to hate his parents , as he is a father ; but to deny obodience to his father , so farre as he is hinder'd from comming to christ . a noteable example is in deutr. . . the sonne must not conceale the father , if he seeke to bring him to idolatry . we must not acknowledge father and mother in bidding us to do that which christ forbiddeth . mat. . . so there is a noteable psalm . deutr. . . this denyall brought a blessing upon them , and it is a type of the gospell . for every true beleever is a priest , and must not in that respect looke upon outward relation , in competition with christ : but deny our selves in those things , which otherwise we are bound to love by the law of nature . trample upon thy father , cast off thy wife and children , saith a father , if they seeke to draw thee from christ . vse . to condemne the papist who hang all their faith and religion on their ancestors ; because they liv'd and dy'd in this religion : this is to set up the parents against christ . vse . to reprove too many papists in this land , that doe propagate their children ▪ and childrens children in that religion . many amongst us , that send their children to monasteries in rome , to make them bondslaves in darknesse for ever . god be thanked we have good lawes , & i hope we shall have them increased by the happy parliament ; but happy were it , if there were good magistrates to put those lawes in practice . vse . for parents that professe religion . when the spirit of christ toucheth the heart , then they see the true way whose heart is so touched . yet how many parents cannot endure that their children doe outstrip their parents in purity , even for this they abhorre their own children , and sometime dispossesse them ; and cannot endure them : this is lamentable : kings in their own thrones , are not above christ , much lesse parents in their families . if god come into their families , into the hearts of their children ; shall parents lift their hands up against christ to abhorre and hate their own children , because of this ? the body is received from the parents , but the soule from god ; parents may instruct their children , but not to keepe them from christ . vse . for children that have received a greater measure of light from christ , then the parents they must be modest and humble , & beare their reproches patiently for christ : but if the parents will keep them from christ , we must hate & deny our parents : but in the mean time to be patient to convince them , and ( if possible ) to perswade them . to perswade these children , that they follow this light , and not let their parents , nor any friend in the world draw them from christ . the . relation is civill , doct. a christian must deny himself in all civill relation , if princes or states make lawes against the law of christ , against his religion , & his pure ordinances , threatning punishment to those that will not observe them . herein a true christian must deny himselfe , both in matter of terrour , and in matter of favour . . in matter of terrour , whatsoever is threatned against a man , mat. . . a christian may say , i am lower then all the terrours of the world can hurt me . we should deny our selves with paul , and be reday , not onely to be bound , but to dye for christ . theodorus ( an heathen man ) was told , that he should rot above ground , i care not ( saith he ) it is all one to me , to rot above , or under ground . thus a christian should resolve against all feares , and terrour whatsoever , for christ . so for matter of favour , as polyc carpus had great promotion promised in the time of persecution , answered , i have served christ , saith he , fourty and he hath alwayes bin a good master to me , and i will not deny him now , this is selfe-denyall . how many have bin overcome with these things for want of selfe-deniall . those that are compelled to popery and popish wayes , are not christs followers , but the followers of antichrist . obj. some may say , what need we to have such a doctrine , as this of selfe-denyall , in respect of civill relation to be taught as now ? ans. god be thanked , it is true , the storme is over of this oppressing : yet this doctrine may be very usefull for this very season , we are in the expectation of a true reformation , and in the very reformation , selfe-denyall is to be used . . if some by reformation be reformed , and not others , will they be quiet ? no , the nearer we come to christ , the more we must looke for persecution , tim. . . let us not looke for a true powerfull reformation of religion without persecution . . the next thing is the consideration of such things as are . doct. . the sensitive part of man , which hath heads , pleasure , profit , honour , these must be deny'd ; they were in great esteeme amongst the heathen , these were all represented to eve , in the forbidden fruit , gen. . . and it tooke such an impression then , that every mothers child of us , have the print of it remaining upon us . i heard a story of a fish in garn●sie , when i was there , by some of the best there , that there is a fish in those sands , that being stuck by the fisher-man , her young , if she hath any in her belly , are all wounded in the very same place . this is a direct emblem of man-kind , iohn . . and with these weapons the divell assailed christ , tempting him , luke . . beginning , these are often in scripture together , phil. . do●● . . a christian must deny himselfe in pleasure and delight , even the delights of meate and drink , and lawfull recreation , which are in themselves lawfull meat & drink in a continuall moderation , keeping himselfe from excesse , and sometime in a totall abstinence for a time . . to avoid excesse at all times , luke . . many reasons there are , why we should deny our selves in the immoderate use of the creature . . it is an enemy to the soule , a enemy to all christian duties , . pet. . . . they doe hinder us in the christian race . . cor. . ▪ when a soule is over-charged , he is more fit to lye downe then to run . . it brings many evils upon a state , luke . swilling in drink brought a deluge . so in lots time ▪ sodome and gomorrah did eat and drink , and swill , till fire came downe from heaven , and burnt them all to ashes , psal. . . it brings a man in the way to hell . luke . dives there , he was so full that he forgot poore lazarus , and now he must pinch for it in hell-flames , burning in torments for ever . a christian may have great occasion of mirth : but then we must have most care of all . as the wise man saith , when thou commest to a full table , if thou hast an appetite , put a knife to thy throat . this duty is requisite for all true christians . . sometime we should wholly abstain from the creature : as for the removeall of some calamity we ly under , or to prevent a calamity comming upon us , or to procure a blessing to be fitter for some good duties examples wee have many . sam. . and ionah . ezra . so cor. . fasting keepes the spirit of prayer awake . vse . here is an heavy charge that lyeth upon many professors , it is to be wished , that the whole kingdome were not to be blamed in this , like the children of israel . isay. . . cramming themselves with a desperate saying , let us eat and drink , for tomorrow we must dye . is this a time of eating and drinking . &c. when the plague is so hot amongst us ? is this a time to be so desperate ? it is true , perhaps tomorrow we shall dye , but is this a time to drink and swill , and feast : no it is rather a time to deny our selves ; for wee may be shut up in our houses before tomorrow night , and perhaps dye tomorrow , and be swept away with the plague : is this a time to gorge our selves with eating and drinking ? what issue may we expect from hence : we had indeed a day of thanksgiving , but we had need , that the next day should have bin a day of humiliation ; for then was the plague amongst us . indeed , when the motion of humiliation was made , one in the city ( & that of great note too ) made answer , that winter was comming on , and then the plague would be stayed . object . we have had many dayes of humiliation , both publick , and private . answ. those that doe so , doe well , ezek. . . if they doe it in sincerity . many that doe it in their private families shall have a blessing on them . but let not this content us , that others doe it ; but let us all , each in our families , humble our selves by fasting and prayer , every parish , and every family . i hope this is not against the law , i am sure it is not against gods law , to have such meetings . the lord stirre up the hearts of all those whom it doth concerne to call for fasting and prayer , in these evill times . finis . a proclamation, for a solemn national fast and humiliation. scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, for a solemn national fast and humiliation. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william ii) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, printer to his most excellent majesty, edinburgh : . caption title. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh, the twelfth day of december, and of our reign the eight year, . signed: da. moncrieff. cls. sti concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayers -- law and legislation -- scotland -- early works to . fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proclamation for a solemn national fast and humiliation . william by the grace of god , king of great britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith , to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greetting ; forasmuch as , the displeasure & wrath of almighty god , in very visible against the land , in the judgements of great sicknesse and mortality , in most parts of the kingdoms ; as also of growing dearth , and famine threatned , with the imminent hazard of an invasion from our cruel and bloody enemies abroad , all the just deservings , and effects of our continuing and a bounding sins , and of our great security and impenitency under them : and which certainly do call for our deep humiliation , under the mighty hand of god , and our most earnest and solemn application , and prayers for his gracious pardon , and the removing and averting of the foresaid judgements , upon which consideration , the commission of the general assembly hath likeways addressed the lords of our privy council , that a day of humiliation may be appointed , and keeped for these causes , throughout the kingdom ; therefore , we , with advice of the lords of our privy council , command and appoint a day of humiliation , and prayer to be observed throughout the whole kingdom , upon the tuenty first day of january nixt to come ; upon which we are to be deeply humbled before god , for our manifold sins and provocations , that so openly abound , and in which men still continue secure and hardned , notwithstanding of gods greatmercy & deliverances wrought for us , and of ourfrequent confessions , and former fastings , which yet have produced no amendment , or reformation : and therefore to deprecat his deserved wrath , and to implore his mercy and grace , that we may be delivered from the foresaid judgements already incumbent ; and likewayes from the invasion , and other evils wherewith we are so imminently threatned ; which day of solemn humiliation and prayer , above appointed , we , with advice foresaid , require and command , to be most religiously and seriously observed by all our people , by publick prayer , preaching and all other acts of deep humiliation , and devotion suitable to the foresaid causes and occasions , our will is herefore , and we charge you strictly , and command , that incontinent thir our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat cross of edinburgh , and to the remanent market crosses of the head burghs , of the several shyres , and stewartries within this kingdom , and in our name and authority , make publication hereof , that none pretend ignorance . and we ordain our solicitor to dispatch copies hereof , to the sheriffs of the several shyres , and stewarts of stewartries , and their deputs , or clerks , to be by them published at the mercat crosses of the head burghs , upon recept thereof , and immediately sent to the several ministers , to the effect that the same may be intimate , and read in their several paroch-churches , upon the lords day , immediately preceeding the day above-appointed , and ordains thir presents to be printed , and allowes the causes of this fast , given in to the lords of our privy council be the commission of the general assembly of this national church , to be printed herewith . given under our signet at edinburgh , the twelfth day of december , and of our reign the eight year , . per actum dominorum sti. concilii . da. moncrieff . cls. sti. concilii . god save the king . edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to his most excellent majesty , . a proclamation, superceding the monthly fast after september, . scotland. privy council. approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). b wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. b ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a proclamation, superceding the monthly fast after september, . scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign ( - : william and mary) sheet ([ ] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson, printer to their most excellent majesties, edinburgh : anno dom. . caption title. initial letter. intentional blank spaces in text. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh, the seventh day of september, and of our reign the fifth year, . signed: gilb. eliot. cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fasts and feasts -- church of scotland -- early works to . church and state -- scotland -- early works to . broadsides -- scotland -- th century. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proclamation , superceding the monthly fast after september , . william and mary by the grace of god , king and queen of great-britain , france and ireland , defenders of the faith ; to macers of our privy council , or messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greeting : forasmuch as , by the first act of the last session of this our current parliament , a day of solemn fasting and humiliation was appointed to be observed by all persons within this kingdom , upon the third thursday of every month , until intimation of forbearance should be made by the lords of our privy council : and we considering the season of the year being far spent , it may be convenient to supercede the observing the said fast day , after this month of september : therefore we , with advice of our privy council , do hereby certifie and give intimation to all our liedges , that the said fast and humiliation is only to be observed upon the third thursday of this current month of september , and to be superceded and forborn for afterward . and to the effect our pleasure in the premisses may be known , our will is herefore , and we charge you strictly , and command , that incontinent these our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and whole other mercat-crosses of the head burghs of the several shires and stewartries within this kingdom , and there by open proclamation make publication of the premisses , that none pretend ignorance ; and ordains these presents to be printed . given under our signet at edinburgh , the seventh day of september , and of our reign the fifth year , . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . in supplementum signeti . gilb . eliot . cls. sti . concilii . god save king william and queen mary . edinburgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , printer to their most excellent majesties , anno dom. .