they were hardly used and now in their Journey loaded with heavy Irons and more inhumanely dealt with They with great chearfulness profess'd That they were better in a more happy Condition than ever in their Lives from the sense they had of the Pardoning Love of God in Jesus Christ to their Souls wholly referring themselves to their wise and gracious God to chuse for them Life or Death Expressing themselves thus Any thing what pleases God what he sees best so be it We know he is able to deliver but if not blessed be his Name Death is not terrible now but desirable Mr. Benjamin Hewling particularly added As for the World there is nothing in it to make it worth while to live except we may be serviceable to God therein And afterwards said ' Oh! God is a strong Refuge I have found him so indeed The next Opportunity I had was at Dorchester where they both were carried there remaining together four days By reason of their strait Confinement our Converse was much interrupted but this appeared that they had still the same Presence and Support from God no way discourag'd at the approach of their Tryal nor of the event of it whatever it should be The 6th of September Mr. Benjamin Hewling was ordered to Taunton to be tryed there Taking my leave of him he said Oh! Blessed be God for Afflictions I have found such happy Effects that I would not have been without them for all this World I remained still at Dorchester to wait the Issue of Mr. William Hewling to whom after Tryal I had free Access whose Discourse was much filled with Admiring of the Grace of God in Christ that had been manifested towards him in calling him out of his Natural State he said God by his Holy Spirit did suddenly seize upon his Heart when he thought not of it in his retired Abode in Holland as it were secretly whispering in his Heart See ye my Face enabling him to answer his gracious Call and to reflect upon his own Soul shewing him the Evil of Sin and Necessity of Christ from that time carrying him on to a sensible adherence to Christ for Justification and Eternal Life He said Hence he found a Spring of Joy and Sweetness beyond the Comforts of the whole Earth He further said He could not but admire the wonderful Goodness of God in so Preparing him for what he was bringing him to which then he thought not of giving him hope of Eternal Life before he called him to look Death in the face so that he did chearfully resign his Life to God before he came having sought his Guidance in it and that both then and now the Cause did appear to him very Glorious notwithstanding all he had suffered in it or what he further might Although for our Sins God hath with-held these good things from us But he said God had carryed on his blessed Work in his soul in and by all his Sufferings and whatever the Will of God were Life or Death he knew it would be best for him After he had received his Sentence when he returned to Prison he said Methinks I find my Spiritual Comforts increasing ever since my Sentence There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus it 's God that justifies who shall condemn When I came to him the next Morning when he had received News that he must die the next day and in order to it was to be carried to Lyme that day I found him in a more excellent raised Spiritual Frame than before He said he was satisfied God had chosen best for him he knows what the Temptations of Life might have been I might have lived and forgotten God but now I am going where I shall sin no more Oh! it 's a blessed thing to be free from sin and to be with Christ Oh! the Riches of the Love of God in Christ to Sinners Oh! how great were the Sufferings of Christ for me beyond all I can undergo How great is that Glory to which I am going It will soon swallow up all our Sorrow here When he was at Dinner just before his going to Lyme he dropt many abrupt Expressions of his inward Joy such as these Oh! the Grace of God the Love of Christ Oh that blessed Supper of the Lamb to be for ever with the Lord He further said When I went to Holland you knew not what Snares Sins and Miseries I might fall into or whether ever we should meet again But now you know whither I am going and that we shall certainly have a most joyful meeting He said Pray give my particular Recommendations to all my Friends with acknowledgments for all their Kindness I advise them all to make sure of an Interest in Christ for he is the only Comfort when we come to die One of the Prisoners seemed to be troubled at the manner of the Death they were to die to whom he replied I bless God I am reconciled to it all Just as he was going to Lyme he writ these few Lines to a Friend being hardly suffered to stay so long I AM going to Launch into Eternity I hope and trust in the Arm of my Blessed Redeemer to whom I commit you and all my dear Relations my Duty to my dear Mother and Love to all my Sisters and the rest of my Friends William Hewling As they passed through the Town of Dorchester to Lyme multitudes of People beheld them with great Lamentations admiring at his Deportment at his parting with his Sister As they passed upon the Road between Lyme and Dorchester his Discourse was exceeding Spiritual as those declared who were present taking occasion from every thing to speak of the Glory they were going to Looking out on the Country as he passed he said This is a Glorious Creation but what then is the Paradise of God to which we are going 'T is but a few hours and we shall be there and for ever with the Lord. At Lyme just before they went to die reading John 14.18 He said to one of his fellow-Sufferers Here is a sweet Promise for us I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Christ will be with us to the last One taking leaving of him he said Farewel till we meet in Heaven Presently I shall be with Christ Oh! I would not change conditions with any in this World I would not stay behind for Ten Thousand Worlds To another that ask'd him how he did now He said Very well he bless'd God And farther asking him if he could look Death in the face with Comfort now it approach'd so near He said Yes I bless God I can with great Comfort God hath made this a good Night to me my Comforts are much increased since I left Dorchester Then taking leave of him said Farewel I shall see you no more To which he replied How see me no more Yes I hope to meet you in Glory To another that was by him to the last
was this One Day at an Atheistical Meeting at a Person of Quality's I undertook to manage the Cause and was the principal Disputant against God and Piety and for my Performances receiv'd the Applause of the whole Company upon which my Mind was terribly struck and I immediately replied thus to my self Good God! That a Man that walks upright that sees the wonderful Works of God and has the uses of his Sence and Reason should use them to the defying of his Creator But tho' this was a good beginning to my Conversion to find my Conscience touch'd for my Sins yet it went off again Nay all my Life long I had a secret Value and Reverence for an honest Man and lov'd Morality in others But I had form'd an odd Scheme of Religion to my self which would solve all that God or Conscience might force upon me yet I was not over-well reconcil'd to the Business of Christianity nor had that Reverence for the Gospel of Christ as I ought to have which estate of Mind continu'd till the 53d Chapter of Isaiah was read to him and some other Portions of Scripture by the Power and Efficacy of which Word assisted by his Holy Spirit God so wrought upon his Heart that he declar'd that the Mysteries of the Passion appear'd so clear and plain to him as ever any thing did that was represented in a Glass so that that joy and Admiration which possessed his Soul upon the reading God's Word to him was remarkable to all about him and he had so much delight in his Testimonies that in my absence he begg'd his Mother and Lady to read the same to him frequently and was unsatisfied notwithstanding his great Pains and Weakness till he had learn'd the 53d of Isaiah without Book At the same time discoursing of his Manner of Life from his Youth up which all Men knew was too much devoted to the Service of Sin and that the Lusts of the Flesh the Eye and the Pride of Life had captivated him he was very large and particular in his Acknowledgments about it more ready to accuse himself than any one else could be publickly crying out O blessed God! Can such an horrid Creature as I am be accepted by thee who has denied thy Being and contemn'd thy Power asking often Can there be Mercy and Pardon for me Will God own such a Wretch as I And in the middle of his Sickness said Shall the unspeakable Joys of Heaven be conferr'd on me O mighty Saviour never but through thine infinite Love and Satisfaction O never but by the purchase of thy Blood adding that with all abhorrency he did reflect upon his former Life that sincerely and from his Heart he did repent of all that folly and Madness which he had committed He had a true and lively sense of God's great Mercy to him in striking his hard Heart saying If that God who died for great as well as lesser Sinners did not spâ—edily apply his infinite Merits to his poor Soul his Wound was such as no Man could conceive or bear crying out That he was the vilest Wretch and Dog that the Sun shined upon or the Earth bore That now he saw his Error in not living up to that Reason which God endued him with and which he unworthily vilified and contemned wish'd he had been a starving Leper crawling in a Ditch that he had been a Link-Boy or a Beggar or for his whole Life-time confin'd to a Dungeon rather than thus to have sinend against God How remarkable was his Faith in a hearty embracing an devout Confession of all the Articles of the Christian Religion and all the Divine Mysteries of the Gospel saying that that absurd and foolish Philosophy which the world so much admir'd propagated by the late Mr. Hobbs and others had undone him and many more of the best Parts of the Nation He cast himself entirely upon the Mercies of Jesus Christ and the Free Grace of God declared to repenting Sinners through him with a thankful Remembrance of his Life Death and Resurrection begging God to strengthen his Faith and often crying out Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief His mighty Love and Esteem of the Holy Scriptures his Resolutions to read them frequently and meditate upon them if God should spare him having already tasted the good Word for having spoken to his Heart he acknowledged all the seeming Absurdities and Contradictions thereof fancied by Men of corrupt and reprobate Judgments were vanished and the Excellency and Beauty appeared being come to receive the Truth in the Love of it How terribly did the Tempter assault him by casting upon him wicked and lewd Imaginations But I thank God said he I abhor them all and by the Power of his Grace which I am sure is sufficient for me I have overcome them 'T is the Malice of the Devil because I am rescued from him and the Goodness of God that frees me from all my Spiritual Enemies He was greatly rejoiced at his Lady's Conversion from Popery which he called a Faction supported only by Fraud and Cruelty He was heartily concerned for the Pious Education of his Children wishing that his Son might never be a Wit that is as he explain'd it One of those wretched Creatures who pride themselves in abusing God and Religion denying his Being or his Providence but that he might become an Honest and a Religious Man which could only be the Support and Blessing of his Family He gave a strict Charge to those Persons in whose Custody his Papers were to burn all his profane and lewd Writings as being only fit to promote Vice and Immorality by which he had so highly offended God and shamed and blasphemed that holy Religion into which he had been baptized and all his obscene and filthy Pictures which were so notoriously Scandalous I must not pass by his pious and most passionate Exclamation to a Gentleman of some Character who came to visit him upon his Death-Bed O remember that you contemn God no more he is an avenging God and will visit you for your Sins will in Mercy I hope touch your Conscience sooner or later as he has done mine You and I have been Friends and Sinners together a great while therefore I am the more free with you We have been all mistaken in our Conceits and Opinions Our Perswasions have been false and groundless therefore God grant you Repentance And seeing him again next Day said to him Perhaps you were disobliged by my Plainness to you Yesterday I spake the Words of Truth and Soberness to you and striking his Hand upon his Breast said I hope God will touch your Heart He commanded me continues our Author to preach abroad and let all Men know if they knew it not already how severely God had disciplin'd him for his Sins by his afflicting Hand that his Sufferings were most just tho' he had laid Ten thousand times more upon him how he had laid one Stripe upon another
now about One or Two and twenty He and several young Gentlemen rode down from London a little before the Duke landed and were taken on Suspicion and laid up in Ilchester Gaol till the Duke himself came and relieved them He continued in his Army till the Rout when if I mistake not he got to Sea and was forc'd back again with the Hewlings or some others He was condemned at the bloody Assizes in Dorchester A Friend discoursing to him at Dorchester about his Pardon and telling him the doubtfulness of obtaining it he replied Well Death is the worst they can do and I bless God that will not surprize me for I hope my great Work is done At Taunton being advised to govern the Airyness of his Temper telling him it made People apt to censure him as inconsiderate of his Condition to which he answered Truly this is so much my natural Temper that I cannot tell how to alter it but I bless God I have and do think seriously of my eternal Concerns I do not allow my self to be vain but I find cause to be chearful for my Peace is made with God through Jesus Christ my Lord. This is my only ground of Comfort and Cheerfulness the Security of my Interest in Christ for I expect nothing but Death and without this I am sure Death would be most dreadful but having the good Hope of this I cannot be melancholy When he heard of the triumphant Death of those that suffered at Lyme he said This is a good Encouragement to depend upon God Then speaking about the mangling of their Bodies he said Well the Resurrection will restore all with great Advantage the 15th Chapter of the First of Corinthians is Comfort enough for all Believers Discoursing much of the Certainty and Felicity of the Resurrection at another time he said I will as I think I ought use all lawful Means for the saving of my Life and then if God please to forgive me my Sins I hope I shall as chearfully embrace Death Upon the Design of Attempting an Escape he said We use this means for the preserving our Lives but if God is not with us it will not effect it It 〈◊〉 Business first to seek to him for Direction and Success if he sees good with resigning our Lives to him and then his Will be done After the Disappointments when there was no prospect of any other Opportunity he spake much of the Admirableness of God's Providence in those things that seem most against us bringing the greatest Good out of them For said he we can see but a little way God is only wise in all his Disposals of us If we were left to chuse for our selves we should chuse our own Misery Afterwards discoursing of the Vanity and unsatisfyingness of all things in this World he said It is so in the enjoying we never 〈◊〉 our Expectations answer'd by any thing in it and when Death comes it puts an end to all things we have been pursuing here Learning and Knowledge which are the best Things in this World will then avail nothing nothing but an Interest in Christ is then of any worth One reading to some of his Fellow-Prisoners Jer. 42.12 I will shew mercy unto you that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own Land he said Yes we shall but not in this World I am perswaded September the 29th at Night after he heard he must die the next Morning he was exceedingly composed and chearful expressing his Satisfaction in the Will of God The next Morning he was still more spiritual and chearful discovering a very sweet Serenity of Mind in all that he said and did Whilst he was waiting for the Sheriff reading the Scriptures Meditating and conversing with those about him of Divine Things amongst other things said be I have heard much of the Glory of Heaven but I am now going to behold it and understand what it is Being desir'd to disguise himself to attempt an Escape he said No I cannot tell how to disturb my self about it and methinks it is not my Business now I have other things take up my Thoughts If God saw good to deliver me he would open some other Door but seeing he has not it is more for the Honour of his Name we should die And so be it One saying to him that most of the Apostles died a violent Death he replied Nay a greater than the Apostles our Lord himself died not only a shameful but a painful Death He further said This manner of Death hath been the most terrible thing in the World to my Thoughts but I bless God now am I neither afraid nor ashamed to die He said The parting with my Friends and their Grief for me is my greatest Difficulty but it will be but for a very short time and we shall meet again in endless Joys where my dear Father is already enter'd him shall I presently joyfully meet Then musing with himself a while he with an extraordinary seriousness sung these two Verses of one of Herbert's Poems Death is still working like a Mole Digging my Grave at each remove Let Grace work so on my Soul Drop from above Oh come for thou dost know the way Or if to me thou wilt not move Remove me where I need not say Drop from above He then read the 53d of Isaiah and said He had heard many blessed Sermons from that Chapter especially from the 16th Verse All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way but the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all Seeming to intimate some Impress made on his Soul from them but was interrupted Then he said Christ is all When the Sheriff came he had the same chearfulness and serenity of Mind in taking Leave of his Friends and in the Sledge which seemed to encrease to the last as those present have affirmed joyning in Prayer and in singing a Psalm with great appearance of Comfort and Joy in his Countenance insomuch that some of his Enemies that had before censured his Chearfulness for unthoughtfulness of his Danger and therefore expected to see him much surprized now professed they were greatly astonished to see such a young Man leave the World and go through Death as he did His CHARACTER He was a very promising and ingenious young Gentleman He had a great deal of ready Wit and an extraordinary Briskness and Gaity He was a very good Scholar had run through a course of Philosophy but his particular Inclination was to the Mechanical part of it wherein he had a very happy Genius and performed many pretty things He wrote very good clean Latin He was indifferent tall pretty thin a fair Complexion his Nose a little inclining to one side being hurt in his Infancy He led a sober vertuous Life and dy'd a happy Death at Taunton September the 30th 1685. 4. Lady LISLE HAD those Persons who suffer'd about Monmouth's Business
to call for it and I desire to offer up my All to him it being but my reasonable Service and also the first Terms that Jesus Christ offers That he that will be his Disciple must forsake all and follow him and therefore let none think hard or be discouraged at what hath happened unto me for he doth nothing without cause in all he hath done to us he being Holy in all his ways and Righteous in all his works and 't is but my Lot in common with poor desolate Sion at this day Neither do I find in my heart the least regret for what I have done in the Service of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ in succouring and securing any of his poor Sufferers that have shewed favour to his Righteous Causeâ— which Cause though now it be fall'n and trampled upon as if it had not been anointed yet it shall revive and God will plead it at another rate than ever he hath done yet and reckon with all its Opposers and malicious Haters And therefore let all that love and fear him not omit the least Duty that comes to hand or lies before them knowing that now it hath need of them and expects they shall serve him And I desire to bless his Holy Name that he hath made me useful in my Generation to the Comfort and Relief of many desolate Ones and the Blessing of those that are ready to perish has come upon me and help'd to make the Heart of the Widow to sing And I bless his Holy Name that in all this together with what I was charged with I can approve my Heart to him that I have done his Will tho' it does cross Man's Will and the Scriptures that satisfie me are Isaiah 16.4 Hide the Outcasts bewray not him that wandereth And Obad. 13.14 Thou shouldst not have given up those of his that did escape in the day of his distress But Man says You shall give them up or you shall die for it Now who to obey Judge ye So that I have cause to rejoyce and be exceeding glad in that I suffer for Righteousness sake and that I am accounted worthy to suffer for Well-doing and that God has accepted any Service from me which has been done in Sincerity tho' mixed with manifold Infirmities which he hath been pleased for Christ's sake to cover and forgive And now as concerning my Fact as it is called alas it was but a little one and might well become a Prince to forgive but he that shews no Mercy shall find none And I may say of it in the Language of Jonathan I did but tast a little Honey and lo I must die for it I did but relieve an unworthy poor distressed Family and so I must die for it Well I desire in the Lamb-like Gospel Spirit to forgive all that are concerned and to say Lord lay it not to their Charge but I fear he will not Nay I believe when he comes to make Inquisition for Blood it will be found at the Door of the furious Judge who because I could not remember things through my dauntedness at Burton's Wife and Daughter's Vileness and my Ignorance took advantage thereat and would not hear me when I had called to mind that which I am sure would have invalidated their Evidence though he granted something of the same nature to another yet denied it to me My Blood will also be found at the door of the unrighteous Jury who found me Guilty upon the single Oath of an Out-law'd Man for there was none but his Oath about the Money who is no legal Witness though he be pardoned his Outlawry not being recall'd and also the Law requires two Witnesses in point of Life And then about my going with him to the Place mentioned 't was by his own Words before he was Out-law'd for 't was two Months after his absconding and though in a Proclamation yet not High-Treason as I have heard so that I am clearly murder'd by you And also Bloody Mr. A. who has so insatiably hunted after my Life and though it is no Profit to him through the ill-will he bore me left no stone unturn'd as I have ground to believe till he brought it to this and shewed favour to Burton who ought to have died for his own Fault and not bought his Life with mine and Capt. R. who is cruel and severe to all under my Circumstances and did at that time without all Mercy or Pity hasten my Sentence and held up my Hand that it might be given all which together with the Great One of all by whose Power all these and a multitude more of Cruelties are done I do heartily and freely forgive as against me but as it is done in an implacable Mind against the Lord Christ and his Righteous Cause and Followers I leave it to him who is the Avenger of all such Wrongs who will tread upon Princes as upon Mortar and be terrible to the Kings of the Earth And know this also that though ye are seemingly fix'd and because of the Power in your Hand are writing out your Violence and dealing with a despiteful hand because of the old and new Hatred by impoverishing and every way distressing of those you have got under you yet unless you can secure Jesus Christ and all his Holy Angels you shall never do your Business nor your Hands accomplish your Enterprizes for he will be upon you e're you are aware and therefore O that you would be wise instructed and learn is the Desire of her that finds no Mercy from you ELIZABETH GAVNT POSTSCRIPT SUch as it is you have it from her who hath done as she could and is sorry she can do no better hopes you will pity and cover weakness shortness and any thing that is wanting and begs that none may be weakned or humbled at the lowness of my Spirit for God's Design is to humble and abase us that he alone may be exalted in this Day and I hope he will appear in the needful time and it may be reserves the best Wine till last as he hath done for some before me None goeth to Warfare at his own Charge and the Spirit bloweth not only where but when it listeth and it becomes me who have so often grieved quenched and resisted it to wait for and upon the Motions of the Spirit and not to murmure but I may mourn because through want of it I honour not my God nor his blessed Cause which I have so long â—â—ed and delighted to love and repent of nothing about it but that I served him and it no Latter 7. The Earl of ARGYLE â—â—E must now take a step over into Scotland that poor Country which has been harrass'd and tired for these many Years to render them perfect Slaves that they might help to enslave 〈…〉 prevent which and secure the Protestant Religion which 't was grown impossible 〈…〉 but by Arms this good Lord embark'd from Holland about the same time with the
it to lye No I will not I say if he was my Lawful King I was misled in my Judgment and have committed a great Error but Lord I hope thou hast washed away all my sins in and through the Blood of my dear Redeemer in whose alone Merits I hope for Mercy I desire to be asked no more Questions Then the Minister prayed very devoutly near half an hour after which lifting up his Hands and Eyes to Heaven he quietly submitted to Death 14. Mr. John Hicks's Last Speech 1685. I Suppose the Spectators here present may expect I should speak something before I leave this Sanguinary Stage and Passage through my Bloody Sufferings by which my Immortal Spirit will be speedily transported into an invisible and eternal World and I conclude that they have different Resentments hereof Some resent them with much Joy high Exultation and Triumph others with equal Grief and Sorrow that to the one I am a most pleasant Spectacle that they behold me with high complacency and delight but to the other I am a mournful and unpleasant one and they behold me with no less pity and compassion Concerning the first I can say I freely and heartily forgive them and heartily pray that God would most mercifully and graciously prevent their mourning through Misery not only here but eternally hereafter Concerning the other I will say Weep for your own sins and for the sins of the Nation for the highest Rebellions that ever were committed against the great and eternal God lament bitterly for those sins that have been the meritorious Cause of the late terrible Judgment that which I fear will cause God to break in upon this Nation with an overflowing Deluge of Judgments which are far more tremendous and dreadful As for Sympathizing with me in drinking this bitter Cup appointed for me I return you most humble and hearty thanks earnestly desiring God to come unto you and fill your Souls with all Coelestial Comforts and Spiritual Consolations Something I must say to purge and clear my self from a false Accusation laid to my Charge as that I was engaged with Col. Blood in Rescuing Col. Mason near Boston when he was sent down with a Guard from London to York to be Tryed for High Treason and that I was the Man that killed the Barber of that City and that also I was with him when he stole the Crown Now as I am a dying Man and upon the very brink of a very stupendous Eternity the truth and reality whereof I firmly believe without any Reservation or the least Equivocation I do declare in the Presence of the All-seeing God that Impartial Judge before whom in a very little time I must appear I never saw nor conversed with Mr. Thomas Blood from 1656 till after he stole the Crown which was in 71 or 72 nor was ever engaged with him in any of his Treasonable Plots and Practices 'T is true I being involved in great trouble of another Nature of which I have given to the World a Narrative and which is notoriously known in the Country where I then lived by some that were Enemies to me for my Preaching I was perswaded to apply my self to Mr. Blood to procure by his Intercession his late Majesty's Gracious Favour Accordingly he brought me into his Royal Presence while I was there his Majesty carried it with great Clemency without expressing one word of that which I am now charged with Mr. Blood continued with his Majesty a little longer than I did then he told me that he had granted me a Pardon which I did thankfully accept of knowing it would free me from all Penalties and Troubles that I was obnoxious to and were occasioned to me by my Nonconformity Then engaging him to take out my Pardon he told me That he got it out with several others that had been engaged with him in several Treasonable Designs and Actions at which I was troubled supposing it might be imputed to me thereby yet God knows I have often since reflected upon it with great regret and dissatisfaction If Mr. Blood did inform the late King to make himself the more considerable and to bring as many of his Party as he could to accept of their Pardons that he might be rendered utterly incapable of Plotting any further Mischief against his Government or any other ways that I was engaged with him in any of his Treasonable Attempts I now appeal to God as a dying Man concerning it that he hath done me an irreparable wrong I also in the same manner do declare That I was never engaged with any Party in Plotting or Designing or Contriving any Treason or Rebellion against the late King and particularly that I was altogether unconcerned in and unacquainted with that for which my Lord Russel and others suffered and as much a stranger to any against the present King And whereas it is reported of me That at Taunton I perswaded the late Duke of Monmouth to assume the Title of King I do once more selemnly declare That I saw not the said Duke nor had any Converse with him till he came to Shipton-Mallet which was Thirteen Days after he landed and several days after he had been at Taunton And 't is as false that I rid to and fro in the West to stir up and perswade Men to go into his Army and Rebel against his present Majesty for I was in the East Country when the Duke landed and from thence I went directly to him when he was at Shipton-Mallet not one Man accompanying me from thence But hitherto as I lived so now I die owning and professing the true Reformed Christian commonly called the Protestant Religion which is founded on the pure written Word of God only and which I acknowledge likewise to be comprehended in the Articles of the Doctrine of the Church This Religion I have made a reasonable and free choice of and have heartily embraced not only as it protests against all Pagan and Mahometan Religion but against the Corruption of the Christian and I humbly and earnestly pray to God that by his Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power he will prevent not only the utter extirpation but diminution thereof by the heighth and influence of what is contrary thereto and for that end the Lord make the Professors of it to live up more to its Principles and Rules and bring their Hearts and Conversations more under the Government and Power of the same I die also owning my Ministry Non-conformity for which I have suffered so much and which doth now obstruct the King's Grace and Mercy to be manifested and extended to me For as I chose it not constrainedly so I appeal to God as a dying Man not moved from Sullenness or Humour or Factious Temper or Erroneous Principles of Education or from Secular Interests or Worldly Advantages but clearly from the Dictates of my own Conscience and as I judged it to be the Cause of God and to have more of Divine Truth
Barbadoes Virginia St. Thomas c. Dr. Willis lays the cause of the Increase of the Scurvy on the too much use of Sugar and in Portugal 't is observed of those who work much in the Sugar-houses that they are very subject to the Scurvey and their chief Distemper is a Consumption Ibid. p. 136. 18. The Soap-Tree grows in Jamaica the Berries whereof as big as Musquet Bullets wash better then any Castle-Soap but they rot the Linnen in time the Negroes use them Dr. Stubbs Ibid. p. 357. 19. The Poison-Tree grows in Barbadoes its Leaves are as large and beautiful as the Laurel and so like as not to be known asunder If any of its Sap fly into the Eyes of the Workmen they become blind they wear Cypres over their Eyes Yet of this Timber they make the Pots they cure their Sugar in for being sawed and the Boards dried in the Sun the Poison vapours out Ibid. p. 358. 20. The Poisonous-Cane grows there also so like the Sugar-Cane as hardly to be discerned the one from the other Whosoever chews this Plant and sucks in any of the Juice will have his Tongue Mouth and Throat so swelled as to take away his Speech for two Days and no Remedy but Patience Ibid. p. 357. 21. Arbor Tristis grows in Malacca bears Flowers after Sun-set and sheds them so soon as the Sun rises and this every Night in the Year R. Morden's Geogr. p. 413. 22. The Sensitive Plant called by some the Bashful Plant contracts it self if any one puts his Hand to it and upon pulling back of the Hand it recovers it self again Much of this Nature is that Tree in the Island Simbubon whose Leaves being like the Mulberry and having somewhat like two little Feet on both sides when they fall upon the Ground do move and creep One of them kept eight Days in a Dish lived and moved so oft as one touched it Jul Scalig. Exerc. 112. 23. The Trawberry-Tree Flowers in July the Buds hang so together that they are joined in Clusters at the utmost end each of them like a long Myrtle-Berry and as great without Leaves hollow as an Egg with the Mouth open Thuphrast de Plant. l. 3. c. 16. 24. The Todda-Tree growing in the Province of Sutan in India is supposed to be that Tree which yields that excellent Rarity called Linum Asbestinum or Incombustible Cloth Mr. Nich. Waite Merchant of London having procured a piece of it gives this Account thereof in a Letter to Dr. Plot. He says He received it from one Conco a Natural Chinese resident in the City of Batavia in the North-East Parts of India who by means of Keayarear Sukradana likewise a Chinese and formerly chief Customer to the old Sultan of Bantam did after several Years Diligence procure from a great Mandarin in Lanquin a Province of China near a quarter of a Yard of the said Cloth and declared that he was credibly informed that the Princes of Tartary and others adjoyning to them did use it in burning their Dead and that it was said and believed by them to be made of the Under Part of the Root of this Tree growing in the Province of Sutan and that of the Upper Part of the said Root near the Surface of the Ground was made a finer sort which is three or four times burning the said Mr. Waite saith he hath seen diminished almost half They report also That out of the said Tree distils a Liquor which not consuming is used with a Week made of the same Material with the Cloth to burn in their Temples to Posterity Mr. Waite shewed an Handkerchief of this Cloth to the Royal Society nine Inches long between the Fringe or Tassels There are two Proofs of its resisting Fire at London one privately on Aug. 20. 1684. with Oil and then it lost 2 Drams 5 Grains The second publick before the Royal Society on Nov. 12. in a clear Charcoal Fire and then it lost 1 Dram 6 Grains Philosoph Transact Numb 172. This Linnen is mentioned by Pliny Caelius Rhodiginus and Paulus Venetus who says the Emperour sent a piece of it to Pope Alexander out of Tartary c. Mr. Ray was shewed a Purse of it by the Prince Palatine at Heidelberg Signior Bocconi sent a long Rope of it to the French King which is kept by Monsieur Marchand in the King's Gardens at Paris And now we have seen a piece of it pass the Fiery Trial both at London and Oxford Dr. R. Plot ' s Philos Transact Numb 172. 25. The Balsom-Tree growing formerly in Judea now mostly in Grand Cairo and other Parts of Egypt bearing Leaves like Rue always green yielding a Gum pon Incision or boiling of the Chips with Water which they collect in little Horns c. See more in the Chapter of Gums 26. Betel-Trees so called from a River of the Name near Cambaia are Plants that are wrapt with others and want propping having neither Flower nor Juice The Indians sprinkle it with Water made of Lime from Shells of Fishes and then eat in when they are at leisure I mean the Leaves which make their Lips red and Teeth black too much disturbs the Mind Mathil l. 4. Scalig. Exere 1.46 Sect. 2. 27. Cedar-Trees growing formerly in libanus abundantly are wonderful for Height and Thickness the Body so great that three Men cannot fathom it They are said to kill Moths and Worms and to preserve Dead Bodies from Corruption Johnst Nat. Hist p. 135. 28. The Indian Fig-Tree or Arbor de Ran so called because it spreads forth vast Boughs which bending to the Earth again in a Year's space take Root and grow up with new Branches roâ—â—â—â— about their Parents like to Arbors so that seven Shepherds may Summer under it being 〈…〉 and fenced about the the Tree and from far it seems an Arched Circumference 〈…〉 â—â—â—per Boughs put forth very high and in abundance that many of them make a Round of 60 Paces and they will cast a Shade 2 Furlongs Johnst Ibid. 29. The Brasil-Trees so called from the Country where they grow used in dying Cloth are of that incredible greatness that whole Families live on an Arm of one of them Dr. Heyl. Cosm p. 1079. 30. The Dragon-Tree so called because its Fruit much resembles a Dragon yielding a Juice called Dragons Blood Ross's Arcan Micro p. 143. 31. The Olive-Tree flowers in July the Fruit is ripe in November first dried and then pressed with a Milstone pouring scalding Water on to get out the Oil. 32. Turpentine-Trees are Male and Female the latter only bearing Fruit first Green then Red afterwards Black 33. The Frankincense-Tree in Arabia engrossed by a certain number of Families who keep it by Succession Guaiacum China the Pomegranate Mulberry the Lote-Tree and some others we pass over as not so strange and unknown to the present Age. Tulip-Trees are to be seen in England 34. The Cotton Plant is a Shrub like a Rose-Bush planted of a Seed It