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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No man goeth downe into himselfe , no man soundeth the bottome of himselfe ; even as the Prophet Ieremy , speaking of the wickednesse of the people , complained and said , that he hearkned , but no man repented him of his wickednesse , saying , what have I done ? Chap. 8.6 . But enough of this , I will not inlarge upon these complaints . Having told you the complaint of one Poet , let me now tell you the counsel and advise of another — teipsum Concute , Horat. Serm. lib. 1. Sat. 3. num qua tibi vitiorum inseverit olim Natura , aut etiam consuetudo mala . Shake thy selfe , search thy selfe whether or no nature , or evill custome hath sowen into thee any vices . Shake thy self : doe as they doe who hav● to doe with cloths and stuffe in infected houses , who shake , and move , and stirre them , to get out of them the infection : or , as was injoyned to be done in a leprous house , which was to be scraped within round about , Levit. 14. 41. Search thy self I say . Let us search our wayes ( once again to tell you the advise of the Prophet . ) In the times of plague , we know there are searchers who have experience , and can judge of the disease : Let us ( Beloved ) be our own searchers , searchers of our selves , such a one as David was , who said ( as I said once and againe before ) my spirit made diligent search ; & search he made about his heart , communing ( as his words are ) with his owne heart : by doing which he came to know the plague of his owne heart , saying , Ps. 51.3 . I acknowledge my faults , and my sinne is ever before me , praying in that Psalme thus , Create in me a clean heart O God , V. 10. He knew his heart had been foule , and had need of clensing , and therefore prayed for it , Purge me with hysope , and J shal be clean , wash me &c. wash me throughly from mine iniquity , V. 7. 2. Ps. 19.12 . and cleanse me from my sinne . O cleanse thou me from my secret faults . But to make short : Let my exhortation be that of the Prophet Jsai . ch . 1. ●6 . Wash yee , make you clean , put away the evill of your doings , and that of S. Iames ch. 4.8 . Cleanse your hands , you sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded and to make use of the words , Ezek. 20.43 . Let us remember our wayes , and all our doings , wherein we have been defiled , and lothe our selves in our owne sight , for all our evils that we have committed !

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