You have seen the Destroying Angel entering the City, and Death riding upon the Pale Horse Triumphant in the streets, Arrows flying, the ⟨image 3⟩sword bathed, Garments rolling in blood, and this grim Conqueror breaking in upon Houses without resistance, taking Captive, Men, Women and Children, and clapping them up in the Prison of the Grave, where they must remain fast bound in his chains of darkness, until the opening of the doors, by him who hath the keys of the Grave, who having Conquered Death himself, will at his appearance loosen the Bonds of all Deaths prisoners, that they may stand before his Judgement Seat, to receive their Final Dooms. In the midst of which slaughter and Captivity, the Captain of your Salvation hath stood by you, held his shield over you; set his mark upon you, and given you singular experience of his Power and Goodness in your preservation. You have been in a storm, God hath shown you his wonders in ⟨image 4⟩the Deep, and when so many Ships have been cast away before your eyes, and so many Persons have been devoured by the cruel Waters, and your selves environed with waves on every side, yet the Lord hath kept you alive, like Jonah in the Belly of the Sea, or made a way for you to pass through, when so many not only Egyptians, but Israelites have been drowned; you have been in the water, but the Lord hath been an Ark about you: You have been in the fire like the three Children, but the Son of God hath walked with you, and suppressed the violence of the fire, that it hath not prevailed over you; you have been like the Bush which Moses saw burning, but was not burned, because God was in it. And when you look back upon those dark days, and black Bills of Mortality, where you have had account of so many ⟨image 4⟩thousands dying for so many weeks together: Do you not wonder at your strange escape? Do you not look upon your selves, as Brands plucked out of the fire? And must you not acknowledge it is the Lords mercy you are not consumed? You who have continued in the City in the time of the Plague, when such throngs of people have been crowding out of this world daily into another, have had singular advantages of looking into and preparing for Eternity, which few think of with fixed seriousness, till they be awakened by some dangerous sickness, whereby withal they are usually so weakened in body and spirit, that they are rendered unfit for such cogitations;
You have seen the Destroying Angel entering the City, and Death riding upon the Pale Horse Triumphant in the streets, Arrows flying, the ⟨image 3⟩sword bathed, Garments rouling in blood, and this grim Conqueror breaking in upon Houses without resistance, taking Captive, Men, Women and Children, and clapping them up in the Prison of the Grave, where they must remain fast bound in his chains of darkeness, untill the opening of the doors, by him who hath the keys of the Grave, who having Conquered Death himself, will at his appearance loosen the Bonds of all Deaths prisoners, that they may stand before his Judgement Seat, to receive their Final Dooms. In the midst of which slaughter and Captivity, the Captain of your Salvation hath stood by you, held his shield over you; set his mark upon you, and given you singular experience of his Power and Goodness in your preservation. You have been in a storm, God hath shown you his wonders in ⟨image 4⟩the Deep, and when so many Ships have been cast away before your eyes, and so many Persons have been devoured by the cruel Waters, and your selves inviron'd with waves on every side, yet the Lord hath kept you alive, like Jonah in the Belly of the Sea, or made a way for you to pass through, when so many not onely Egyptians, but Israelites have been drowned; you have been in the water, but the Lord hath been an Arke about you: You have been in the fire like the three Children, but the Son of God hath walked with you, and suppressed the violence of the fire, that it hath not prevailed over you; you have been like the Bush which Moses saw burning, but was not burn't, because God was in it. And when you look back upon those dark days, and black Bills of Mortality, where you have had account of so many ⟨image 4⟩thousands dying for so many weeks together: Do you not wonder at your strange escape? Do you not look upon your selves, as Brands pluckt out of the fire? And must you not acknowledge it is the Lords mercy you are not consumed? You who have continued in the City in the time of the Plague, when such throngs of people have been crouding out of this world daily into another, have had singular advantages of looking into and preparing for Eternity, which few think of with fixed seriousness, till they be awakened by some dangerous sickness, whereby withal they are usually so weakened in body and spirit, that they are rendred unfit for such cogitations;
