The royal sufferer A manual of meditations and devotions. Written for the use of a royal, tho' afflicted family. By T- K- D.D.

INTRODUCTION.

HAVING with grief of Heart, observed that Uninterrupted Se∣ries of Afflictions that has now for some Years attended one of the most Royal Families in Europe (to which I have the Honour to be particularly re∣lated, and thereby am involved in their common Fate, my self having run the same Risque with that of my Royal Master, and suffered the loss of all as well as He) I have thought it my Duty, by the Ensuing Meditations, to cast my Mite into the Royal Treasury, and by considering the Vicissitude and Un∣certainty of all Sublunary States and Things, to offer some Support under that weight of Sorrow, which a Mind less Magnanimous than that of our Great Master, would have sunk under long ago.

AND since the Holy Scriptures do inform us, that Afflictions rise not out of

the Ground, neither does Trouble spring out of the Dust, it will not be unnecessary to inquire into the Cause from whence our great and sore Calamities arise; for as in the Case of a Diseased Body, to know the Cause from whence the Morbifick Affect proceeds, is accounted half the Cure; so if by a thorow search we can come to know the Cause why it has pleas'd the Soveraign Majesty of Heaven to Bring and to Continue these Calami∣ries upon us, it may, (accompany'd with the Divine Blessing) go a great way to∣wards the Removal of them: There be∣ing nothing more certain, than that the way to have our Offended Maker Re∣concil'd unto us, is, To Search our Hearts, and try our Ways, and to turn unto Him against whom we have sinned; and so may we hope He will have Mercy upon us, and say to the Proud Waves of Affliction that have so long been rolling over our heads, Thus far have ye gone, but ye shall proceed no further, and here shall your proud Waves be stopped: For the same GOD that puts a stop to the Raging of the Sea,

can soon put a Period to the Madness of the People, and bring back our Cap∣tivity as the Streams in the South.

NOW since the Loss of what we formerly Enjoy'd, is that which makes us the most Uneasie, and gives us the great∣est Disquiet, I will first Endeavour to re∣move it, by giving you a Scheme of the Vanity and Emptiness of all those things; and consequently that it is not worth our while to afflict our selves for the Loss of that which is so Fading and Transitory in its own Nature, and when Enjoy'd in its greatest Advantages, adds so very little to our happiness: Which things are pro∣perly reducible to three Heads, viz. Honours, Riches, and Pleasures, which I shall distinctly consider in Meditations upon each. And that what I write may be the more effectual to the End for which it is written, I shall Address my self to the Divine Majesty for a Blessing thereupon.