Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	affliction_n	great_a	sin_n	1,620	5	5.2580	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30965	The speeches, discourses, and prayers, of Col. John Barkstead, Col. John Okey, and Mr. Miles Corbet, upon the 19th of April being the day of their suffering at Tyburn : together with an account of the occasion and manner of their taking in Holland : as also of their several occasional speeches, discourses, and letters, both before, and in the time of their late imprisonment : faithfully and impartially collected for a general satisfaction.; Selections. 1662	Barkstead, John, d. 1662.; Okey, John, d. 1662. Selections. 1662.; Corbet, Miles, d. 1662. Selections. 1662.	1662 (1662)	Wing B817; ESTC R22773	95,595	102

What Roaring and Ranting What uncontrolable wickedness rageth every where through the Land Even as if the men of these times had been delivered on purpose to do all these abominations Jerem. 7.10 may not ruful England as much now as ever sit down in tears and even weep her eyes out for grief Dr. Gauden himself being Judge It is true indeed there are many that cry up the blessednesse of these times and the happy changes we are now under that do in a manner conclude that it is impossible any thing can be now done which may admit of amendment that nothing ought now to be accounted grievous or oppressive no not though Princes themselves become companions of theeves Esay 1.23 though open Robberies Assaults and Murthers be done by them upon the very high wayes The Poor Commons of England travelling about their lawful occasions may be now slain and their innocent blood bought and sold if they be great men or great mens Sons that do it They may Kill and Murther and do what they please and yet shall find a deliverance Oh! how are witnesses even in the case of blood now tampered with silenced ' or over-awed by Bribes or Threats What Corrupt and Vnrighteous Juryes have we How is Judgement turned into wormwood Murther into man-slaughter and man-slaughter into murther as the case lyes for or against a Phanatique as they call him or a poor Commoner But may not such as bring the price or guilt of innocent blood upon their own Families as well as pollute the Nation with it chance to have the innocent blood of themselves or some of theirs be enquired after by the next Jury whilest thus they encourage the hands of murtherers against their Brethren As for those that blesse themselves with such times times as these what are they for the most part at least but men of most filthy and dissolute lives such as were described before Haters of God and godlinesse such as cannot indure holinesse of Life or soundnesse of Doctrine but are even mad against a convincing Ministry in the Nation and the pious Examples of such neighbours as walk most close with God least their own wickednesse should be reproved or shamed and what ever their pretended devotion may be yet are they not such generally as care no more for one Religion then for another any further then it suits with the full swing and dominion of their lusts and is it not for this very reason that they contend so much for present things even with a zeal as hot as hell For our parts we account it no priviledge to live to behold what is already come in part upon us and is farther coming upon these Nations therefore are the lesse sollicitous about our death And however at present we may be judged to suffer as mal●factors yet who can tell but that our blood may prove as fattening and sructifying towards the Common Cause as the bloud of the Martyrs did in the Church and then it will be no soliscisme to say Sanguis Martyrum semen est ut Ecclesiae sic Reipublicae Some Occasional Passages Discourses and Letters of Col. John Barksteads as they were taken from his own mouth or left behind him in writing under his own hand AFter Liberty was granted to some of his Relations and Friends to visit him in his imprisonment very many of them did at several times repair to him Those who first came to him were so affected with those choice Expressions which dropt from him that like the Woman of Samaria they made it their work to invite and encourage others to partake of the same Mercy with themselves upon which many had the opportunity to hear him speak and amongst them several sober and descreet Persons did commit to writing the things that were most remarkable which fell from him And here we begin with what he spake to several Friends who came to visit him during the time of his imprisonment Having been saith he but a very little while off of my Watch in that time giving way to a Parley with Flesh and Bloud Sathan who is never idle was not now wanting but put me for some hours to it endeavouring to present to me the greatnesse of the Sufferings I was yet to go through and my own weaknesse to go thorow them I saw indeed my own weaknesse and inability and taking the Bible to look for a word from whence I might get strength and encouragement the Lord brought to me that place of Isaiah 26.3 4. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he tru●teth in thee And so v. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength And so v. 8. Yea in the way of thy Judgement O Lord have we waited for thee the desires of our souls is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee The Lord helped him by this word to conquer all his fears which did arise from the sense of his own weaknesse and utter insufficiency to conflict with those difficulties and deaths which did now encounter him neither was the Lord wanting in renewing his strength from other portions of his good Word which upon the opening of his Bible his eye by Providence was still directed to whereof hear him give his following account When I was sayes he locked up in my lodging in the Tower alone I began to consider what my present condition called for from me and taking my Bible my joy I first pitched on this Scripture Psalm 4. vers 4. Stand in aw and sin not commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be still and vers 5. Offer the Sacrifice of Righteousnesse and put your trust in the Lord. After some hours spent in Reading and Meditating upon these words and finding not one syllable in which there was not an overflowing fulness as to me At this time of my Affliction I was lead forth in my Spirit abundantly to add more the goodnesse of the Lord to me that I should so providentially pitch upon this Scripture And now my heart being filled with ravishing Joys and Rejoycings I looked a little further and reading vers 7. Thou hast put gladnesse in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased I found that Scripture aboundantly made good to me and can truly seal to this that in all my full enjoyments of the Creature I never had such Joy and Gladnesse in my heart as now and that all the Afflictions Cares and Torments I have met with are nothing to those sweet enjoyments that God hath given in through Christ No no there is more affliction in the least sin then in the greatest of Sufferings and that I can truly say there hath not one private thought past through me that I was sorry or wish I had not been so far engaged in this Glorious Cause but I have rather admired the great love of Christ to me that he

Death to him taking and looking into his Bible God was pleased to set home that Scripture with his own Spirit upon his soul 2 Tim. 4.6 For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand and sayes he I can truly say in the strength of the Lord I am now ready to offer up my body to the Lord all things being very clear to me in my own Conscience He earnestly desired some Friends to seek to the Lord for him that he might have a better heart than that which he had to burn but blessed be the Lord saith he I have in a good sense a heart and a heart though still my strength is in my weakness He was wont frequently during the whole time of his Imprisonment to utter very sweet expressions to this purpose That the wayes of God are very pleasant wayes and that his sufferings were as nothing Prisons Chains Manacles with Buffetings c. were not to be accounted sufferings and that had he known before what it had been to be in Bonds for Christ and to have the Presence of God in such a condition he would never have gone beyond Sea and that he had enjoyed more of God in that Palace for so he called his close Prison than ever he did in his life before He often said likewise especially the day before his Execution to an eminent Minister That it was his great burden at this time that ever he lifted up a finger against any of the People of God that were heretofore of another Perswasion different from his and exhorted all his Friends that were present to love the Image of Christ where-ever they see it A Minister being with Col. Barkstead the day before he suffered and having heard that whilst he was Lieutenant of the Tower he had been somewhat severe and harsh to certain godly persons called Fifth-Monarchy-men then in his custody asked him this Question Sir Had not you some good men in your custody once when you were in power and intended further to have said and were you not then somewhat harsh and severe to them But Col. Barkstead anticipating his meaning prevented him with this affectionate Reply Oh Sir that very thing hath cost me many a tear when I was some hundreds of miles from this place and before I came into this condition indeed they held forth an opinion concerning the Fifth Monarchy or Kingdom of Christ upon Earth which I was then much prejudiced against and so prejudiced that I was not willing to hear or reade any thing in favour of it but now I am so far perswaded of the truth of it that I could freely lay down my life for it Oh Sir saith he many hours would not suffice to tell you all my Experience as touching this particular it was since I came into Prison that the Lord hath led me into the light and knowledge of this Truth and when I many times opened my Bible such places of Scripture presented themselves to me as preached this Doctrine which I several times out of prejudice waved and would not look into but notwithstanding the Lord did so overcome my heart to the faith and love of this Truth and Doctrine of Christ's visible Kingdom here on Earth or the Fifth Monarchy that now I could as I said before freely lay down my life for it and I hope the Lord will help me to speak something to this particular to morrow but if through weakness I should not then speak so fully to it I have left a Testimony behind me to that glorious Truth When he saw his Friends at any time sad about him he would often say to them Be sad for nothing but Sin fear nothing but Sin There is more evil in the least Sin than in the greatest Sufferings this was as he said his own experience The Sheriff's man bringing him word of his Execution and telling him he was sorry to bring him the ill news he smiled and very chearfully returned him this answer Blessed be the Lord I am ready and therefore it is no ill news to me After which time until Execution he behaved himself with much Joy and Chearfulness so that many that came to see him with tears in their eyes went away rejoycing for that of God they saw in him At another time to a Friend speaking to him of the greatness of his Afflictions he returned this Answer My greatest Affliction sayes he hath been my Opposition to those of the People of God who were contrary-minded to me And said further that he was much comforted and helped by the Prayers of the Saints yea of those Saints said he which considering my dealings with them had more cause to curse me than to bless me when I heard that such prayed for me I believed they would prevail and that God would answer his own Spirit in his People for me He also desired a Friend to use his interest to reconcile him to those Saints whom he had offended and dealt hardly with viz. those who are in a proper Scripture-sense for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ a Truth which he confessed he so much opposed together with the Professors of it which Opposition saith he I have often felt in my very bones in regard of the sorrow it cost me But now sayes he I rejoyce that the Lord hath enlightned me in it though much without humane means only by the Bible in the time of my Sufferings The day before his Execution he dined and supped with his Friends as heartily and chearfully as ever they saw him and slept as well that night as he had done these many years being still much refreshed and kept up with that Scripture He that believes in me shall never dye In the morning he arose early and the Gentleman-Jaylor bringing him word that the Sheriff was come desired him to be ready He answered Blessed be the Lord I am ready but he staying a little longer than was expected he was as one in haste to be gone and often looked out at the windows still wishing for the coming of his Chariot for so he called the Sled and when the Jaylor came for him he went with that readiness and chearfulness as was to admiration These following Scriptures he left written upon the walls of his Prison-Chamber in the Tower viz. Exod. 32.14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his People Numb 14.19 20. Pardon I beseech thee the Iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy Mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word Psal. 73.25 26 27 28. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever For lo they that are far from Thee shall perish Thou hast destroyed all them that go a

that he had not left me to the wickedness of my own heart as he hath left thousands that do live in pleasure and vanity and so are dead while they live Now the good Lord grant that as he hath done for me more than he hath done for many thousands so I may love Him more than many thousands do that I may yet live and die for the Glory of his holy Name and that the few hours I have to live I may wholly spend to the praise of God I humbly desire to bless the Lord that hath made me willing to live or die as may be most for his Glory and the Good of his People for I can say through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things in some measure and have learned how to want and how to abound and can say to live is Christ and to die is gain praised be the Lord that hath made my heart fit in some good measure for the work which he hath called me unto and as I hear my departure is at hand so through the Lord 's rich Grace and free Mercy to me his poor unworthy Servant I am willing to be offered up and if I be offered upon the Sacrifice of your Faith I joy and much rejoyce therein I hope by the continual Prayers of you and the rest of the People of the Lord he that hath begun that good work in me will carry it on till the coming of the Lord Jesus When I look upon my self then I have cause to fear and tremble for my strength is as weak as water but when I look to the Lord Jesus then am I strong for he hath promised He will never leave nor forsake me nor all those that trust in Him And I know that through the Lord I shall do those things that may tend to the praise of his great Name in this evil day and I hope by his Grace to honour Him more by my Death than in all my Life before for indeed although I had a desire in the day of liberty to do that which was most for the glory of God and the good of his People and on that account I did not think my Life nor any thing I had near or dear to me and can say I do believe no man did more rejoycingly go to lay down his Life than I did yet I was accompanied with so many failings in my best doings that I have cause to be ashamed and humbled for the best of all my services that ever I have performed and praised be his holy Name although I have nothing in my self to glory in yet in Christ Jesus I can and will rejoyce giving thanks to the Father of our Lord Jesus who hath made me meet to be partaker of the Inheritance of the Saints in light and for his unspeakable love to me in the Lord Jesus for being justified by Faith I have peace with our blessed God through our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be praise and glory both now and for evermore And now a word concerning the Cause for which I am to suffer all that is near and dear unto me I shall as before the Lord who only knoweth the hearts and thoughts of all men tell you my Faith I do believe at long-run there is not a man that fears the Lord will have any reason to be sorrowful for engaging in that Good Old Cause which I am now to seal with my Blood again as I have many a time done I am satisfied in my soul that it is a most just and glorious Cause as hath been in many years asserted and although the Lord hath been pleased for the sins of his People and for a great judgment to the wicked of the three Nations to let it be in respect of the Cause as it were the Sun setting for a night yet it will certainly arise the next morning very gloriously though now it be never so much reproached by the wicked of this day And when I die I shall die in the Faith thereof And that most of the Reformed Churches in the world by report are all of that mind and I my self have heard the same from many among them where I have been abroad I bless the Lord I have no guilt upon me in reference to that Cause if I had I would let you know it And although many object against me that place 1 Pet. 4.15 Let none of you suffer as a Murderer yet I cannot after much seeking the Lord be convinced that I am such a one And in case any did it out of base ends of their own I praise the Lord I had none but looking at the Glory of God and the Good of his poor People in what I did and I bless the Lord I find the comfort of it at this day And for the Cause I shall say no more of it than what the Parents said to the Pharisees when they asked them if that were their son they told them he was of age he should speak for himself So I say this Cause hath spoken in most parts of the Christian World and will speak more when we are dead when the Fowls have eaten of our vile Bodies that are to be set up on the Gates of the City I shall only add a word to the People of the Lord to comfort them against sufferings for the Cause of God for it is a most glorious thing and honourable and therefore saith the Apostle James Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations And so the Apostle Paul Rom. 5 We glory in Tribulation Also the like in Phil. 1.28 29. To you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake And so again the Apostle sayes Jam. 1● 12. 2 Cor. 12.10 Act. 2 13. Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive a Crown of life So the Apostle Paul rejoyced in his Infirmities Reproaches Necessities in Persecutions in Distresses And he professes himself to be ready not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Further It is the duty of Saints to suffer as the Apostle speaks He that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 We are also commanded not to fear their fears nor to be terrified by any thing that evil men can do against us but suffer as good Souldiers of Christ Jesus We are likewise to rejoyce in as much as we are partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed 1 Pet. 4.13 we may rejoyce with exceeding joy And as it brings peace to a man 's own soul so it rejoyceth the hearts of the Saints for saith the Apostle We live if ye stand fast in the Lord. And therefore dear Brethren fear none of these things for the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison and you shall have Tribulation for ten dayes

curse and wrath and death O Lord hath not He born our sins and so likewise our shame and carried our sorrows O Lord what shame was cast upon Him as thy poor Worms are at this day and at this time a shame in the eyes of many present O Lord he was despised and rejected of men O did not He suffer death did not that Righteous one that Holy one suffer death O he dyed for those sins of ours He was cut off from the Land of the Living He poured-out his Soul unto death Nay Lord blessed Father it pleased thee to put Him to grief and he hath born our sins and ô Lord the chastisements of our Peace was laid on Him he was made sin for us Blessed Lord we will lay all our sins upon the head of the scape Goat upon our Lord Jesus Christ Him thou hast given to be a Propitiation O dear Lord in him and through his Blood thou hast found out a way of Atonement for sin and by that one Oblation that he once offered he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto thee through him Lord we come in the blood of that Mediation we desire to lay hold on the Atonement and Propitiation that he hath offered up unto thee O he hath satisfied thy Justice He that knew no sin he was made sin and thou didst lay our sins upon him and thou hast accepted of that satisfaction that he hath made and thou hast raised him from the dead and set him at thy right hand and though he dyed but once yet by that one Oblation he hath satisfied for all our sins O here is the Blood of God the Lord Jesus Christ which was God and man O that Righteous one he loved us and dyed for us that we might live he bare thy Wrath that we might be reconciled that we might find mercy yea and through him thou art merciful Thou God of Mercy shew Mercy to our souls and to the souls of all those in this great Assembly that is met here and dear Father accept us in his Mediation O 't is our comfort though he dyed but once having satisfied thy Justice thereby he doth ever live to make Intercession for Sinners Lord here is Comfort for poor wretched Sinners the Great Mediator that is so pleasant in thy sight whom thou hearest alwayes O he doth continually live to make Intercession for us we pray thee in and through Him accept these poor Prayers of ours these poor Petitions and Requests of ours which we make known to thee O it is pardoning love we seek O Reconciliation with thee before we go hence and be seen no more O Lord we do believe that thou hast sealed our Pardon that thou art reconciled to us and that there is Peace betwixt thee and our poor souls through that great Peace-maker else it would go ill with us now we are going out of this world O come and sprinkle every one of our souls with that precious Blood O that we that are in our selves vile Wretches may yet stand righteous before thee in his Righteousness O the same Righteousness of Christ which thou hast appointed for thou hast made him to be Righteousness for us and Sanctification and Redemption and He is the Lord our Righteousness O put that Robe upon us that glorious Robe of his Righteousness that we may be presented now not having our own righteousness for that is like a vile filthy Rag a menstruous cloth but cloath us with that Righteousness that we may be presented before thee in and through him without spot and without wrinkle before thy presence through him with exceeding joy O thou hast made him our King O that he would now undertake our Cause the Cause of our poor souls Come Lord Jesus thou King of Saints come tread our Enemies under our feet especially that great Enemy O Lord he hath conquered Satan he hath born our sins and hath condemned sin O he took the likeness of sinful flesh and in his flesh condemned sin in the flesh O that now through his Righteousness we might fulfil thy holy Law He is our Righteousness his obedience we now fly to O dear Lord thou hast set before us as a Refuge to fly unto that blessed hope even those Glorious things the Gospel holds out O the hope of Eternal Life which thou that art the faithful God that canst not lye hast promised unto us O thou hast set this hope of perfect Justification and perfect Sanctification before us O thou hast held it forth this same hope of Righteousness thou hast set it before us and now we fly unto it in this day of our distress to lay hold upon it O thou art pleased Lord that we might have strong consolation thou art pleased to confirm this thy Covenant with an Oath That by two immutable things the Covenant of God and the Oath of God we might have strong Consolation Now we fly to this Covenant through Jesus Christ. O be a God in Covenant with us Father say to us every one that we are thine that thou art in Covenant with us and then say Fear not Worms Else ah Lord God now were we to encounter with Death that King of Terrors what would become of us but O Lord speak Peace to us speak Comfort to us thou God of Comfort O comfort our hearts O Lord it must be done by our dear Lord Jesus Christ himself Our Father hath given us Everlasting Consolation Come and comfort our hearts ô comfort us with thy Love ô Lord ô set thy Banner of Love over us Thou dost not despise the affliction of the afflicted blessed be thy Name We have found thee Lord we bear witness to thee before this great Assembly O thou hast not despised the affliction of the afflicted thou hast seen us in our low estate and been very good to us We have had a Banner of Love over us and we bless thy Name for this very Affliction that thou hast laid upon us O that we could bear witness to thee in the face of this great City and before this great Assembly of thy Goodness and Faithfulness and of thy Mercy which endures for ever O we have tasted of thy Love and it 's good to cleave unto thee Father thou art a Refuge to the Poor and Strength to the Poor and Needy Come and be a Refuge to us in this great Storm truly we are to go through a great Storm before we come unto thee ô that we may finde Death a sweet in-let and a passage into thy blessed Arms through Jesus Christ When our poor souls shall be coming to thee we pray thee give thy Angels charge over us and strengthen us against the fears and terrors of Death O let fresh strength come from Jesus Christ at this present It is not all the Graces we have had will now do us any good unless we have fresh supplies Our fresh springs are in thee Arise O Spring O

should make choice of such a poor Creature as I am to be employed in his Work I must further say that the Lord hath made crooked things straight and rough wayes plain and hard and difficult things easie to me through the Free and Rich Love of Christ Oh he h●th made death nothing unto me now but yet I have no strength of my own no my strength lies in my weaknesse and it is Christ alone that can renew my strength which he doth daily by setting upon my heart these following Scriptures which have been a constant relief to me The Lord is my Light and Salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the Rock of my life of whom should I be afraid Psal. 28.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy Heart wait I say on the Lord. Psalm 33.11 The Counsel of the Lord stands for ever and the thoughts of his Heart to all Generations Blessed be the Soul that hath the Lord for its inheritance Psalm 138. vers 8. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me the Mercies of the Lord endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands Prov. 16. vers 9. A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps in the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul commit thy wayes to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 28. vers 28. When the wicked arise men hide themselves but when they perish the Righteous increase But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins Esaiah 63. vers 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pitty he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old Lam. 3. vers 24. and 2.5.2.6 37. vers 38. The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the souls that seeketh him it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. Who is he that saith it cometh to passe when the Lord commandeth it not out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good Psal. 34.9 Oh fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Psal. 11.22 Though hand joyne in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished but the seed of the Righteous shall be delivered Some Experimental Passages in Discourse with a Friend A Friend coming to him the week of his Tryal and Suffering did partake of many choice breathings from him some of them which he could call to mind are here faithfully collected We are to esteem Sufferings the better when they are in the Wayes of God and we must not esteem the Wayes of God the worse because they are accompanied with Sufferings in this world A Believing Souls Sufferings for Christ do confirm him the more in the wayes of Christ. A Principle of Faith finds three sorts of Promises in the Gospel First The Promise of Assistance Secondly The Promise of Acceptance Thirdly The Promise of Reward Then he proceeded in some further Spiritual Discourse Although I find I have no strength to encounter with those great Tryals I am to meet with yet I will labour to quit my heart through the Spirit of Faith from that Scripture Esa. 30.7 Your strength is to sit still and indeed I find it so Then one present did ask him if he thought the Cause in which he had been engaged would ever arise again He said The Cause lies in the Bosom of Christ and as sure as Christ arose the Cause will arise again and we die but to make way for it for when John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Christ he must be beheaded for it so we by our death do but make way for the next comming of Jesus Christ personally to raign a thousand years with his Saints And although we die the Cause will certainly live The Thursday before his Suffering he entertained some Friends who came to visit him with very sweet and Heavenly Discourse to this purpose That although God had given him a sight of his Eternal happines yet Satan would have brought all his sins before him yea the very sins of his youth as unpardoned yea sayes he I my self also would fain have set them before me but God out of his free love through his Son was stronger then them both and would not suffer it but gave me in a full assurance that all my sins were freely forgiven and blotted out and never to be remembred against me any more which caused such unspeakable Joyes that he was not able to utter nor was he to the best observation of Friends then present ever seen so chearful in the greatest of his prosperity At noon one desired him that he would eat he answered him that he was above that kind of meat for the Lord saith he hath fed me with the fat things of his own Spirit The night before he Suffered he was exercised with some fears least he should want strength to go through the great work he was now suddenly to engage in he took his Bible and opened it at an adventure and God gave him in such a word that was so sutable for him at the time that he rejoyced and said Blessed be his Name that never leaves me without a Word the Scripture which Providence then presented him with was Isa. 54.10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither the Covenant of my Peace be removed from thee saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Oh sayes he to his Friends and Relations then with him You are the Mountains and the Hills that must depart from me now and so took his leave of them all with much chearfulness saying Go seek the Lord for me for I cannot go one hairs breadth in my own strength At another time he thus spake to some near Friends and Relations who were with him Certainly saith he if I had known the comforts of this sweet communion with God in a Prison before I had run to a Prison long ago If I had suffered when my Brethren did suffer I had had little or no blood in my body to have spilt for Jesus Christ in this good Cause but God carried me into Germany and there made us to sow a good Seed which will never dye and now God hath brought me back again with more strength to suffer for his Name and Cause Indeed the Lord hath made me in some measure now fit to go through Sufferings for him and it is indeed He alone who hath done it Upon hearing the news of his Tryal which he knew was

thus ended Mr. Corbet himself gave thanks praying to and praising God with such melting language such readiness of speech such a composed frame of heart and such holy well-digested matter that it much affected some that joyned with him to hear an old Disciple of Jesus Christ so nigh his Death and such a Death as he was within a few hours to undergo to have a mind so sweetly setled without any the least seeming disturbance at all Among other passages in that his heavenly Prayer these were some viz. That as God had been his Guide unto Death so now he prayed that he would be his Support in Death that he would make Death a safe and speedy passage unto Glory That God would enable him to make a good Confession of Him before men and carry him well through that new kind of terrible work which he was now about to undertake in His Name and Strength and in Witness to His Cause That he might joyfully go hence as from the use of creatures which he had been now refreshed with so most of all from Sin and the snares of it With divers other like expressions fitted to his present case Time growing short now I stand saith he upon dying-ground and every inch is precious I had need therefore improve it to the utmost and so called to such as were present to joyn in Prayer with him and for him and accordingly they did so the Lord assisting him that was the mouth of the Company with Petitions very sweet and pertinent to the occasion The Prayer ended he fell to discourse again and speaking of Sufferings Truly saith he it is not an ordinary common spirit that will fit men for such Work and when I think of that froward and bitter carriage which still I find and now leave among the People of God I wonder what God will do upon it and fear the consequence if it be not repented of and removed And then again he renewed his aforesaid dying Requests which he had mentioned the night before further entreating that every one would make it their business to perswade all parties of God's People how differing soever in their Opinions to give no further advantage to the Common Enemy by their still continued unbrotherly distances and divisions but that they would rather exhort and admonish each other and set upon a personal and friendly Converse together which he said is one of the best means to unite and strengthen And for this he again propounded Dr. Preston's Counsel and Example one of whom saith he I may truly say that he was a man of the most excellent parts the sweetest Friend and the most savory Christian that ever I was acquainted with A Friend coming in that he had not seen before but wished for made haste to one of the other Prisoners who expected him and so took leave of him then he taking the said Friend by the hand desired him to remember him very kindly to his Brethren and Fellow-Sufferers and tell them saith he that I pray for them as I am able and desire them to do the like for me That God may appear for us and with us and be magnified by our Death Then speaking afterwards of his ten Brethren that first suffered in this Cause Those saith he that went first had the greatest Honour and usually they that have the first Honour in Sufferings have an answerable Assistance and Presence of God with them but we that follow them may haply miss of such eminent Appearances as they had with them Nay saith a Friend but why do you say so were not their Assistances for the encouragement of others and hath not God been very much with you and do you not even at this present find it so why therefore should you now doubt To which he answered It is true indeed you speak well I must confess I can say Eben-ezer Hitherto God hath helped me and I hope saith he he will still do it and enable me from former experiences to trust Him to the last only this I find that all my Comfort and Support comes in by a present Faith I remember saith he that speech of the Psalmist Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power and truly it must be a supernatural Power that must make flesh and blood willing and Oh that I may be willing I desire to be so for God doth not love an unwilling sacrifice that must be pulled and haled like a Dog in a string No the excellency of our services is from the freeness and readiness of our performance when in sincerity and in truth Blessed be God saith one I am comforted to hear you speak thus If God saith he will be with me I shall both speak and do too Ah saith he when I think of Stephen the Proto-martyr how the Heavens opened upon him and what a sight they gave him of the Son of God whilst the stones were about his ears it much encourageth me Some think saith he it was the intensness of Stephen's natural eye at that time raised and strengthened on purpose to behold that most comfortable and glorious object but if God will please to give me an eye of Faith to behold him at the Throne of his Father interceding for me and ready to receive me when I am giving up the ghost and pouring out my blood for him it will do as well Ah! the Righteousness of Jesus Christ saith he his compleat and most unspotted Righteousness the Righteousness of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Ah! how glorious is it to appear before God in that Robe Oh! that I may be found not having mine own righteousness but the Righteousness of this Son of God upon me Then a Friend telling him that so long as he held there he would have good hope indeed and a solid and sound peace for it is that Righteousness that we must all trust to if ever we get to Heaven Yea saith he and through Grace I have trusted to it and the more I think of it the more I cleave to it and see the need of it me-thinks it grows upon me I am greatly raised with my expectations from it else I am sure I should have sunk long ere this time but still I can say Eben-ezer an expression much used by him hitherto God hath helped me About an hour before the Sleds came he was speaking of the Providence of God in freeing his mind from cares and distractions about matters of this world Had I had an Estate saith he to leave behind with my Relations I should have been troubled about the dividing and disposing of it one would have been asking this of me another would have been asking that but now I am eased of all that trouble what Estate I had I spent it all in the Parliament service and now must leave my poor Wife and Children to the good Providence of God and the love of such Friends as he shall please to stir up to