take up a Pin he appeared to her and told her that Follet was the cause of all her Troubles and so left her Hitherto I have given you as exact an Account as I could get from them as to the time That which follows I set down without observing the Circumstances of Time or Order of Action because I can learn no certainty of it from them but the Matter of Fact is truth Often when they were gone to Bed the inner Doors were flung open as also the Doors of a Cupboard which stood in the Hall and this with a great deal of Violence and Noise And one Night the Chairs which when they went to Bed stood all in the Chimney-corner were all removed and placed in the middle of the Room in very good order and a Meal-sieve hung upon one cut full of Holes and a Key of an inner Door upon another And in the Day-time as they sate in the House spinning they could see the Barn-doors often flung open but not by whom Once as Alice sate spinning the Rock or Distaff leapt several times out of the Wheel into the middle of the Room upon which she said she thought Follet was in it She had no sooner said the Words but she saw Follet ride by to Sir William York's House about some business with him relating to him as a Justice with much more such ridiculous stuff as this is which would be tedious to relate See the whole Story in Mr. Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 499. 2. The Story of the Devil of Mascon is notorious who a long time disturbed the Quiet of Mr. Perrheaud and his Family by tumbling about the Chairs throwing down his Brass and Pewter drawing the Curtains of his Bed walking about the Chambers whistling singing talking familiarly to them sadling the Horse in the Stable with the Crupper towards the Horses Head sometimes disturbing them at their Devotions answering Questions put to them and telling them things far off with many ludicrous Fits and disputing with a Papist Officer of the City and whirling him oft about and at last cast him on the Ground and sending him home distracted with the Wages of his Curiosity is sufficiently attested by the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle who prefixt an Epistle to it owning it a an undoubted Truth being acquainted with the Author Mr. â—errheand as was also his Brother the Earl of Orkny and Dr. Peter Durmouling Prebend of Canterbury all which have believed it and attested the truth of it Besides could it be counterfited and never contradicted since the first Publication of it in a City where many of both Religions had leave to croud in at certain Houses where they were certain Witnesses what was spoken and acted by their sporting Devil Historian Discourse of Apparitions and Witches p. 16. 3. The Story of the haunting of Mr. Mompesson's House in Wiltshire is famons and Printed in part by Mr. Joseph Glanvil Mr. Mompesson is yet living no melancholy nor conceited Man the truth not doubted of by his Neighbours within this Month I spake with one of them an Attorney who said that the Noises heard the visible moving about of the Boards before their Faces and such like were all undoubtedly true and the thing unquestioned by Mr. Mompesson who to his great Cost and Trouble was long molested by it and his Neighbours and those that purposely went thither to see it Notwithstanding that when some unbelievers went from London to be satisfied nothing was done when they were there for as God oweth not such Remedies to Unbelievers so Satan hath no desire to cure them Ibid. p. 41. 4. In May 1679. Sir William York being from home there was a great Noise made by the lifting up of the Latch of the outmost Door which continued with great Quickness and Noise for the space of two or three Hours 'till betwixt ten and eleven it Clock in the Night his Lady then being at home with few Servants apprehended it to be Thieves and thereupon they went to the Door and spake to them and afterwards winded a Horn and raised the Town and upon the coming in of the Town the Noise ceased and they heard no more of it 'till May following And then Sir William being at London the same Noise was made at the Door as before for two or three Nights together and then they began to believe it to be occasioned by some extraordinary means This was heard alike by twenty several Persons then in the Family who looking out at the Windows over the Door heard the Noise but saw nothing About a Month after when Sir William had returned from London he being in Bed and his Lady ready to go in he heard the same Noise again which held about half a quarter of an Hour and then ceased and began again several times that Night the same Persons being then in the House also and taking the same care to discover it At the end of this knocking there was as if it were a thrusting with a Knee only more violent These Noises continued with some variation to the great disturbance of the whole Family 'till such time as they thought of removing from the House and Sir William's Attendance was required at the Parliament in October following But from that time they were never heard more Glanvil's Saducis Triumph p. 509. CHAP. LXXXVIII Satan Hurting by Charms Spells Amulets c. I Do not mean here that the Devil hath always his desired Success upon the Souls of Men in these things but through the Permission of Almighty God he is able and oftentimes doth strange and wonderful Actions upon the Vse or Application of Charms Amulets Spells c. on purpose to amuse the World and tempt Mankind to leave the ordinary natural lawful or scriptural Methods and address to him in a way of superstitious or foolish Devotion And I desire the Reader to consider soberly with himself in cases of this nature what Cause within the Cope of meer Nature or within the Bounds of that which is lawful just and good such Effects as I shall mention hereafter can be attributed to Lei him Read and Pause and tell me seriously whether the Effects following are to be fathered upon the Cause in sight or whether there be not something behind the Curtain latent to our Senses that is the Author and if so Whether a good or evil Spirit at least a Spirit and then let him proceed to draw Inferences accordingly which any Man of Sense and unbiassed in Judgment may easily do 1. Bodinus relates how himself and several others at Paris saw a young Man with a Charm in French move a Sieve up and down More 's Antid against Atheism p. 164. 2. And that ordinary way of Divination which they call Coskinomancy or finding who stole this or spoiled that by the Sieve and Sheers Pictorius Vigillanus professeth he made use of thrice and it was with success Ibid. 3. A Friend of mine saith Mr. H. Moor told me
again and again that they would not fail to remember him in their Publick Assemblies and Private Duties At last he tells us that before this Desertion he had prayed very earnestly and vehemently that God would deliver him from the World being froward and dissatisfied with his Condition troubled in his Thoughts and weary of the World whereas he should have prayed for Submission and Patience See the Narrative Printed by himself at London 1676. 2. Mary Cook executed for the Murder of her own only Child 1670. declared that the occasion was a great Discontent which she had conceived in her Mind grounded upon an apprehension of exceeding unkindnesses of Relations to her tho' she had never been undutiful to them alledging her Relations slighted her she was weary of Life and afraid the Child should come to want when she was gone See the Narrative 3. One Tho. Holt of Coventry a Musician having Nineteen Children and a Competent Estate but not a contented Mind fearing Poverty made a Contract with the Devil and on Feb. 16th 1641. after a very Tempestuous day and mighty Wind which blew down several Houses and Reeks of Corn and Hay was himself by one in Humane shape at Night after he had called to his Wife for Pen Ink and Paper to make his last Will killed in his Bed whilst his Wife almost at her Wits end was calling her Neighbours and there found by them in a wretched manner with his Neck broken to their great astonishment after his Death they opened a Chest which he would never suffer his Wife or any Child to look in whilst living wherein they found Gold up to the top as they thought but upon touching of it it fell at to dust This was attested and published by one Lawrence Southern of Coventry Anno 1642. And tho' it may seem incredible to a Reader of ordinary size yet compared with many other Relations as that of Young Sandie mentioned before who received Money from the Devil and lost it again before Morning c. it is not so very strange CHAP. CXXXI Divine Judgments upon Idleness and Evil Company I Put Idleness and ill Society together because they are near a-kin one to the other and both of them give an occasion to vitiousness The one betrays us more immediately to the Snare of the Devil and the other by the Mediation of his Agents exposeth us with a greater violence and a stronger Torrent than the Corruption of our own single Natures In Idleness our own Hearts are in danger of being too hard for us but in ill Company they meet with their Seconds to abet them And when several vitiated Natures meet together like so many dry sticks they are easily enkindled with a little Fire and blown up into a great Flame and therefore seldom do any good Effects or Consequences follow upon such precedent Causes 1. The Egytians made a Law that he that could not shew by what means he maintained himself should be put to Death Plut. Laert. in vita Periandri 2. St. Augustine tells us of Alipius his dear Friend who went to Rome to study the Law where there were usually those Gladiatory Pastimes wherein Men kill'd one another in sport Alipius could not be perswaded by his Companions to see those Sports They oft desired him but by no means would he go At last saith St. Augustine by a famillar Violence they drew him to go Well saith he I will go but I will be absent whilst I am there I will not look on it He went but when he came there amongst others he shut his Eyes and would not see any of those Sports till at length there was a Man wounded at which the People shouted He heard the shout and would see what was the matter he looked about and seeing the wounded Man he desired to see a little more Thus saith St. Augustine he grew at last not to be the same Man as he was when he came thither For after that time he desired to see it a second and third time and at last he came to be not only a Companion of those that went thither but would be a Guide to them and one of the forwardest till it pleased God by a mighty hand to deliver him from this Vanity Let those amongst us that adventure to go to the Meetings of Hereticks out of Curiosity to see and hear learn Wisdom by these Examples Vid. August Confess and Clark's Examples c. 3. Mat. Hunniades King of Hungary when one brought him a Wooden Coat of Mail wherein was not one Ring wanting a Work of Fifteen Years commanded him to Prison for Fifteen Years more to expiate for so much Time and Parts mispent Author of Education of Young Gentlemen 4. Few or no Beggars are found in China for a young Beggar hath the Whip The whole Country is well Husbanded and though the People are generally great spenders yet they first get it by their hard Labour Idle Persons are much abhorred in this Country and such as will not Labour must not eat amongst them for there are none that will give Alms to the Poor If any be Blind they are put to Grind in Horse-Mills If Lame Impotent Bed-rid c. the next of their Kin is forced to maintain them if they be not able the King hath Hospitals in every City wherein they are sufficiently provided for Sir Tho. Herb. Travels P. Pil. 15.3 5. The Lacedaemonians brought up their Children in Labour from their Infancy whereby it grew into a Proverb That only the Lacedaemonian Women brought forth Men. Alex. 6. The Cretans brought up also their Sons from their Childhood in daily and difficult Labours lest when they grew Old they should think it was not unseemly to waste themselves in Idleness Idem 7. The Gymnosophists to reclaim their Scholars from Idleness Enacted a Law that Young Men should neither eat nor drink any day before they had given an Account to the Elder what Work they had done that Morning Idem 8. Amasis made a Law that the Egyptian Youth should no day eat and Food till they had run One Hundred and Eighty Furlongs Judging them unfit either to eat or drink till by honest Labour they had deserved it Diod. Sic. 9. The Aethiopians anciently accustomed their Youth daily to fling great Stones or Darts that thereby they might understand that Man was born to Labour not to Idleness Alex. ab Alex. 10. In the City of Casan in Parthia an Idle Person is not suffered to live amongst them 11. Sir Philip Sidney as one writes in the extream Agony of his Wounds so terrible the sense of Death is adds my Author requested the dearest Friend he had living to burn his Arcadia Will. Winstanley's Worthies p. 219. 12. I have read formerly that Mr. Abraham Cowley on his Death-bed made it his Request that this Poems called The Mistress might undergo the same Fate be burnt Mr. Herbert on his Death-bed commended his Poems to the Press 13. And I
to the uttermost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great Instant full Patience proportionable Comfort and a Heart ready to die for thy Honour the King's Happiness and this Church's Preservation and my Zeal to these far from Arrogancy be it spoken is all the Sin Humane Frailty excepted and all Incidents thereto which is yet known to me in this Particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my Sins are very many and great Lord pardon them all and those especially whatever they are which have drawn down this special Judgment upon me And when thou hast given me Strength to bear it do with me as seems best in thine own Eyes and carry me through Death that I may look upon it in what Visage soever it appear unto me Amen And that there may be a Stop of this Issue of Blood in this more than miserable Kingdom I shall desire That I may pray for the People too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give Grace of Repentance to all Blood-thirsty People but if they will not Repent O Lord confound all their Devices defeat and frustrate all their Designs and Endeavours upon them which shall be contrary to the Glory of thy Great Name the Truth and Sincerity of Religion the Establishment of the King and his Posterity after him in their just Rights and Privileges the Honour and Conservation of Parliaments in their just Power the Preservation of this poor Church in her Truth Peace and Patrimony and the Settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done all this in Mercy for them O Lord fill their Hearts with Thankfulness and with Religious Dutiful Obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their Days So Amen Lord Jesus Amen And receive my Soul into thy Bosom Amen Our Father c. Again kneeling by the Block he prayed thus Lord I am coming as fast as I can I know I must pass through the Shadow of Death before I can come to see thee But it is but umbra mortis a meer Shadow of Death a little Darkness upon Nature but thou thro' thy Merits and Passion hast broke through the Jaws of Death So Lord receive my Soul and have Mercy upon me and bless this Kingdom with Peace and Plenty and with Brotherly Love and Charity that there may not be this Effusion of Christian Blood amongst them for Jesus Christ's sake if it be thy Will Then laying his Head upon the Block and praying silently to himself he said aloud Lord receive my Soul Which was the Signal given to the Executioner Thus he died Aged 71. Jan. 10. 1644. A brief Relat. of his Death and Sufferings printed at Oxon c. 1644. 114. King Charles the First made this his last Speech upon the Scaffold I Shall be very little heard by any body here I shall therefore speak a Word unto you here Indeed I could hold my Peace very well if I did not think that holding my Peace would make some Men think that I did submit to the Guilt as well as to the Punishment but I think it is my Duty to God first and to my Country for to clear my self both as an honest Man and a good Christian I shall begin first with my Innocency In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this for all the World knows I never did begin a War with the two Houses of Parliament and I call God to witness to whom I must shortly make an Account that I never did intend to encroach upon their Privileges They began upon me it was the Militia they began upon They confess'd that the Militia was mine but they thought it fit to have it from me And to be short if any Body will look to the Dates of Commissions both theirs and mine and likewise to the Declarations will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not I So that for the Guilt of these enormous Crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of it I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this Guilt For I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me have been the Cause of all this Bloodshed so that by way of speaking I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may be so too Yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say That God's Judgments are just upon me Many times he doth pay Justice by an unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this That an unjust Sentence that I suffered to take effect is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me That is so far I have said to shew you that I am an innocent Man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is a good Man pointing to Dr. Juxon that will bear me witness that I have forgiven all the World and those in particular that have been the chief Causers of my Death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great Sin in that Particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all my Soul and I hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you how you are out of the way and will put you in a way First You are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest Certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sirs in my Opinion is never Just except there be a good just Cause either for Matter of Wrong or a just Title and then if you go beyond it that makes it Unjust in the end that was Just at first But if it be only Matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander That he was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber And so Sirs I do think the way you are in is much out of the way Now Sirs for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out
Innuendo's to the then King of England never considering adds he that if such Acts of State be not allowed Good no Prince in the World has any Title to his Crown and having by a short Reflection shewn the Ridiculousness of deriving Absolute Monarchy from Patriarchal Power he appeals to all the World whether it would not be more Advantageous to all Kings to own the Deerivation of their Power to the Consent of willing Nations than to have no better Title than Force c. which may be over-powered But notwithstanding the Innocence and Loyalty of that Doctrine he says He was told he must die or the Plot must die and complains that in order to the destroying the best Protestants of England the Bench was fill'd with such as had been blemishes to the Bar and Instances how against Law they had advised with the King's Council about bringing him to Death suffer'd a Jury to be pack'd by the King's Sollicitors and the Vnder-Sheriff admitted Jury men no Freeholders received Evidence not valid refus'd him a Copy of his Indictment or to suffer the Act of the 46th of Edw. 3. to be read that allows it had over-ruled the most important Points of Law without hearing and assumed to themselves a Power to make Constructions of Treason tho' against Law Sense and Reason which the Stat. of the 25th of Edw. 3. by which they pretended to Try him was reserved only to the Parliament and so praying God to forgive them and to avert the Evils that threatned the Nation to sanctifie those Sufferings to him and tho' he fell a Sacrifice to Idols not to suffer Idolatry to be established in this Land c. He concludes with a Thanksgiving that God had singled him out to be a Witness of his Truth and for that Good Old Cause in which from his Youth he had been engag'd c. His EPITAPH ALgernoon Sidney fills this Tomb An Atheist by declaiming Rome A Rebel bold by striving still To keep the Laws above the Will And hindring those would pull them down To leave no Limits to a Crown Crimes damn'd by Church and Government Oh whither must his Soul be sent Of Heaven it must needs despair If that the Pope be Turn-key there And Hell can ne'er it entertain For there is all Tyrannick Reign And Purgatory's such a Pretence As ne'er deceiv'd a Man of Sense Where goes it then where 't ought to go Where Pope and Devil have nought to do His CHARACTER There 's no need of any more than reading his Trial and Speech to know him as well as if he stood before us That he was a Person of extraordinary Sense and very close thinking which he had the Happiness of being able to express in Words as manly and apposite as the Sense included under ' em He was owner of as much Vertue and Religion as Sense and Reason tho' his Piety lay as far from Enthusiasm as any Man's He fear'd nothing but God and lov'd nothing on Earth like his Country and the just Liberties and Laws thereof whose Constitutions he had deeply and successfully inquired into To sum up all He had Piety enough for a Saint Courage enough for a General or a Martyr Sense enough for a Privy-Counsellor and Soul enough for a King and in a word if ever any he was a perfect Englishman 9. Mr. JAMES HOLLOWAY MR. Holloway declared That Mr. West proposed the Assassination but none seconded him That he could not perceive that Mr. Ferguson knew any thing of it and HOlloway said It was our Design to shed no Blood He being interrogated by Mr. Ferguson's Friend Mr. Sheriff Daniel whether he knew Ferguson he answer'd That he did know him but knew him to be against any Design of killing the King 10. Sir THOMAS ARMSTRONG HE had been all his Life a firm Servant and Friend to the Royal Family in their Exile and afterwards He had been in Prison for 'em under Cromwel and in danger both of Execution and Starving for all which they now rewarded him He had a particular Honour and Devotion for the Duke of Monmouth and push'd on his Interest on all Occasions being a Man of as undaunted English Courage as ever our Country produced In his Paper he thus expressed himself That he thanked Almighty God he found himself prepared for Death his Thoughts set upon another World and weaned from this yet he could not but give so much of his little time as to answer some Calumnies and particularly what Mr. Attorney accused him of at the Bar. That he prayed to be allowed a Tryal for his Life according to the Laws of the Land and urged the Statute of Edward 6. which was expresly for it but it signified nothing and he was with an Extraordinary Roughness condemned and made a precedent tho' Holloway had it offered him and he could not but think all the World would conclude his Case very different else why refused to him That Mr. Attorney charged him for being one of those that was to kill the King He took God to witness that he never had a Thought to take away the King's Life and that no Man ever had the Impudence to propose so barbarous and base a thing to him and that he never was in any Design to alter the Government That if he had been tried he could have proved the Lord Howard's base Reflections upon him to be notoriously false He concluded that he had lived and now died of the Reformed Religion a Protestant in the Communion of the Church of England and he heartily wished he had lived more strictly up to the Religion he believed That he had found the great Comfort of the Love and Mercy of God in and through his blessed Redeemer in whom he only trusted and verily hoped that he was going to partake of that fulness of Joy which is in his pesence the Hopes whereof infinitely pleased him He thanked God he had no repining but chearfully submitted to the Punishment of his Sins He freely forgave all the World even those concerned in taking away his Life tho' he could not but think his Sentence very hard he being denied the Laws of the Land On the Honourable Sir Thomas Armstrong Executed June 20. 1684. HAdst thou abroad found Safety in thy Flight Th' Immortal Honour had not flam'd so bright Thou hadst been still a worthy Patriot thought But now thy Glory 's to Perfection brought In Exile and in Death to England true What more could Brutus or just Cato do 11. Alderman CORNISH TO make an end of this Plot altogether 't will be necessary once more to invert the Order in which things happened and tho' Mr. Cornish suffer'd not till after the Judges returned from the West as well as Bateman after him yet we shall here treat of 'em both and so conclude this Matter Cornish on his Tryal is said to have denied his being at the Meeting and discoursing with the Duke of Monmouth Which they 'd have us believe
unspeakable Joy upon the hopes of that Intuitive Fruition in the other World Then and not till then we shall see the Maker of the Worlds and come to see and understand the deep and pleasant Mysteries of his wondrous Works 4. Of the Divine Omnipresence That God should be every-where preent as our Religion obligeth us to believe that he is is a pretty hard Article in Heaven on Earth in Hell In the one by the especial Manifestation of his Glory in the other by the continual Exercise of his Providence in the last by the Execution of his Justice and yet thus he is as both Scripture and Reason oblige us to believe The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him nor the Earth nor Hell He transcends all the Limits of Nature and surpasses all those finite little Bounds of Man's Conception Psal 139.3.4 5. c. yet even the difficulty of this Attribute as insuperable as it seems to be is plainly illustrated by this Simile The Sun is placed in the heavenly Orbs there it resides continually yet disperseth its shining Rays to the Firmament above to the Air to the Earth below yea it traverseth round the World and visits the Antipodes under our Feet it passeth through our Windows through the Crevises of our Walls the Light breaks in through the Pores of our Curtains and its Heat through Stone-walls it shines upon the nasty Dunghils and yet receives no Infection or Impurity thence Why should it seem then a thing impossible that the God that made it should fill the World with his Presence and be confin'd to no Bounds 5. Of the Divine Omniscience This borders upon the former Head The Heathens supposed the Sun could see and hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even the Scripture itself sometimes makes use of this Allusion and Metaphor The Sun hath looked upon me Cant. 1.6 2 Sam. 12.11 In the sight of this Sun And there is so much Ground for this Fancy that take away the Sun and our Eyes would serve to very little purpose it is that dispels the Darkness and discovers the Truth in all places of the World where it is discovered and it brings to light the hidden things of darkness As I said but now it visits all parts of the World Air Earth Sea all the Corners of the Earth all the Rooms of our Houses nay our very Reins and Heart the most retired parts of our bodies are not hid from the Heat of it Were it possible to bar the Pores of our Skin and shut the Door of our Breasts fast against the Beams and warm Influence of it our very Heart-blood would soon congeal into a dead and putrid Humour What is this but a fair Copy of the Divine Omniscience so far as an insensate Creature can possibly vie with an intelligent and infinite Creator Tell me you now that are ready to object Blindness to the God of Heaven and say Tush the Lord doth not see nor the God of Jacob regard Can you hide your selves from the Sun of the Firmament and live If not shall not he that made the Sun search further than an insensate finite Creature of his own making shall not he that made the Eye see c. But shall not he that made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eye of the World see more than the Eye itself Go now ye Hypocrites and shut the Door and draw the Curtain over your secret Debaucheries and dare to perpetrate the boldest Sins under a Veil but remember that the Light will break in through the narrowest Chink and nothing can hide you from the Omniscient Eye before whom Hell is naked and Destruction hath no covering Job 26.6 vid. Heb. 12.13 6. Of the Divine Providence That God should be still in Heaven and there safe in the Enjoyment of a compleat Happiness and yet interpose his Power and Government in the Transactions of this lower World withut any Disturbance to his Rest and Quietness is a Wonder which some People in the World have not been able to digest I desire these People but to give themselves leisure to meditate a little upon the present Subject of our Discourse and take Notice how the Sun is as quiet in his Orb and excellently glorious from Age to Age without any change or diminution or disturbance from any thing either in the Spheres above or the Orbs below and yet hath still a mighty Influence upon all Things here beneath tempering the Air fanning the Clouds dissolving the Snow and Hail and Frost and Dew giving Light to the Moon shining round the Earth fecundating the very Mines Trees Herbs Grass Fruits Flowers influencing upon the Constitutions of us Men our Bodies first and then our Minds giving Light Heat Motion Action Generation Sense and Life to all sublunary living Bodies and then say Whether it be not very feasible to believe that God Almighty may govern this lower World and interpose his Hand in the Concernments of us Men without any prejudice to the rest of his blessed Attributes I am very sorry that Men are so apt to suspect the weakness of the Almighty Power as if he were a meer Cypher to the Governance of all Human Affairs But when they are so insensible of the secret and yet notorious Concurrence of this eminent Planet with the Concerns of Nature the Wonder is at a stop And we must say at best that Men are Fools for want of Thinking and using their Faculties Men have got a Trick ever since Sin debauch'd their Natures of looking low and creeping upon the Earth and taking Notice only of things that run directly into their Eyes fixing upon Secondary Causes and the immediate Effects and Consequences like the Dog that quarrels with the Staff but regards not the Hand that holds it or the Hog that gathers the Acorns and Mast but looks not up to the Tree from whence they fall forgetting that the God of Heaven hath an effectual Influence upon the Works of his own Hands Is there Evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it And is there any Godo amongst us which comes not from the Fountain of Blessedness the Author of every good and perfect Gift Let Men learn a little from this Topick to raise their Aspect and climb the Ladder from Orb to Orb in the tracing of Causes 'till they come to the Primum Mobile the Oriignal Principle of all Motions and by accustoming themselves to this Method of Consideration peradventure they will find Reason to run every remarkable Contingent of their Life to the Head and at last terminate in the Son of Righteousness 7. Of the Divine Invisibility 'T is true we may see something of the Sun but there is something likewise in it which we cannot see who can see its Beams or glaring Light or Heat or Motion so as to be able to give any competent Account of the Nature Substance Colour and Properties of them You may see the Back-parts the Operations the glimmering and faint Representations
so cold and frigid in defending the Pope as Eccius and some like him are who seem to me to defend the Papacy rather for their bellies sake then in good earnest Yea like Epicures they seem to me to deride the Pope whereas I was serious in his cause as one that trembled at the Thoughts of the day of Judgment and from my very heart desired to be saved Ibid. p. 146. vid. Sleid. Comment c. 8. Lambertus disputing with Zuinglius about the Intercession of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Masse and being non-plus'd left his Error and gave Praise to God Ibid. p. 149. 9. Mr. Rastal Sir Thomas Moor's Son in Law was converted likewise by the clear and strenuous Arguments of John Frith which he used in some Disputations that were managed by way of Letter between Sir Thomas and Him Ibid. p. 157. 10. In Mr. Baxters Narrative of his Life p. 3. He gives this Remarkable Account of his Conversion Being says he under some more Conviction for my Sin a poor Day-Labourer in the Town had an old torn Book which he lent my Father which was called Bunny's Resolution I had before heard some Sermons and read a Book or two which made me more Love and Honour Godliness in the General He further adds in the reading of this Book when I was about Fifteen Years of Age it pleas'd God to awaken my Soul and shew me the Folly of Sinning and the misery of the Wicked and the unexpressible weight of things Eternal and the necessity of resolving on a Holy Life more than I was ever acquainted with before The same things which I knew before came now in another manner with light and sence and seriousness to my heart About that time it pleased God that a poor Pedlar came to the Door that had Ballads and some good Books And my Father bought of him Dr. Sibbs bruised Reed This also I read and found it suited to my State and seasonably sent me which opened more the Love of God to me and gave me a Livelier apprehension of the Mystery of Redemption and how much I was beholden to Jesus Christ After this we had a Servant that had a little peice of Mr. Perkins's Works of Repentance and the right Art of Living and Dying well and the Government of the Tongue and the reading of that did further inform me and confirm me And thus without any means but Books was God pleased to resolve me for himself Thus far Mr. Baxter 11. Mr. Thomas Bilney Martyr was thus converted Having heard the Speech of Jesus saith he even then when the New Testament was Translated by Erasmus understanding it to be eloquently done I bought it being allured thereto rather by the Elegancy of the Latin then the Word of God for at that time I knew not what it meant and looking into it by God's special Providence I met with those words of the Apostle S. Paul This is a True saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief Oh! most sweet and comfortable sentence to my Soul This one sentence through Gods instruction and inward working did so exhilerate my heart which before was wounded through the guilt of my Sins and being almost in despair that immediately I sound Marvellous comfort and quietness in my Soul so that my bruised Bones did leap for Joy After this the Scripture began to be more sweet unto me then Honey and the Honey-comb c. Ibid. p. 162. 12. John Picus Mirandula being of a ductile Nature and an aimable Countenance and Disposition was for some time so inveigled with the Blandishments of an Effeminate Society that he gave himself over to unlawful pleasures with them but it pleased God by the Malice of his Adversaries and the troubles which he met with by their means to awaken him from his sensual delights and to stir him up to shake off and avoid all these Provocations and Incentives to Wickedness and to chuse Celestial instead of fleshy Pleasures And laying aside his hunting after vain Glory to devote himself wholly to the Glory of God and the good of the Church Idem in ejus vitâ 13. George Prince of Anhalt when the Controversies about Religions waxed hot and Luther's Books came abroad fell to reading of them and suspecting his own Injudiciousness would often pray with Tears to God to encline his heart to the Truth saying Deal with thy Servant according to thy Mercy and Instruct me in thy Righteousness He was frequent in reading the Scriptures Ecclesiastical Histories Augustine Hierom and Lombard studied also Greek and Hebrew and discoursed with Learned Men about the Controversies And after all upon mature deliberation embraced the reformed Religion and reformed the Churches with the counsel of his Brethren within his own Jurisdiction Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 165. 14. Vergerius having been the Popes Legate in Germany after his return to Rome the Pope intended to bestow a Cardinals Cap upon him but some about him suggested that he had been so long in Germany that he smelled of a Lutheran This made the Pope to alter his purpose which when Vergerius heard was wonderfully Astonished and that he might purge himself from that Imputation he retired into his own Countrey purposing to Write a Book under this Title Against the Apostate Germans But it pleased God that whilst he read over his Adversaries Books to confute them himself was converted by them Hereupon casting off all desires of a Cardinalship he went to his Brother John Baptista Bishop of Pola and Communicated his thoughts unto him and asked his advice His Brother at first was much perplexed and bewailed his condition But after a while was perswaded by Vergerius to read and study the Scriptures especially in the point of Justification by Faith whereby it pleased God that he also saw the Popish Doctrines to be false and so they both became Zealous Preachers of the Truth to the People Clark's Exampl Vol. 2. p. 117. Sleidan Commentar p. 475. 15. Whilst Francis Junius was a Student in Lions there came a Man to him using the words of the Epicure Nihil curare Deum nec sui nec alieni That God cares for nothing And he Corroborated this with such subtile Arguments that Junius sucked in that damnable Principle and thereupon gave up himself to vile Pleasures for somewhat more than a year But the Lord suffered him not to continue longer in so dangerous a condition For first in a tumult at Lions the Lord wonderfully delivered him from imminent Death which Signal Deliverance compelled him to acknowledge a Divine Providence And his Father hearing of the dangerous courses that he took sent for him home requiring him to read over the New Testament Concerning which himself thus Writes Novum Testamentum aperis exhibet se mihi ad spectu primo Augustissimum illud Caput in Principio erat Verbum c. When I had opened the New Testament the
Qualities upon any but as Dispositions to Eternal Glory and a Token of special Love and everlasting Favour I shall therefore in the next place proceed to enquire after a few Remarkable Instances of this Nature and first of all of Faith that Grace that is so mightily commended under the Oeconomy of the New Testament 1. Luther was a Man of great Faith and Resolution as appears by these Passages in his Sermons Sir Devil I gear not thy Threatenings and Terrors for there is one whose Name is Jesus Christ in whom I believe He hath abolished the Law condemned Sin vanquished Death and destroyed Hell And again Good Mrs. Death Dost thou know this Man Christ Come and bite out his Tooth Hast thou forgotten how little thy Biting prevailed with him once Faith kills Reason that Beast and Monster that all the World cannot kill and Laughs at all the Iniquiry Rage and Fury of the World c. 2. Arch-Bishop Vsher though he fore-told in the time of his greatest Prosperity that he should die in Poverty yet made little Provision for the Storm and though his Losses in Ireland upon the turn of the Times were great and his Straits in England very considerable yet when two several Offers were made him from Foreign Nations the one from Cardinal Richlieu in relation to his great Learning with a promise of large Maintenance and Liberty to live where he listed in France among the Protestants the other from the States of Holland who proffered him the Place of Honorarius Professor at Leyden which had an ample Stipend belonging to it yet he refused both and chose rather to put himself upon Divine Providence in his own Countrey Clâ—rk in his Life 3. Mr. Heron on his Death-bed being minded of his young Children whom he had made but slender Provision for made this Answer which my Author saith was Censured for too light by some Persons That he did not fear but He that fed the young Ravens when they cried unto him would likewise take care of and provide for the young Herons Dr. Fuller in his Meditations 4. Mr. Lancaster being by Birth a good Gentleman and sometime Fellow in King's College in Cambridge he was but little of Stature but eminent as for other things especially for his living by Faith His Charge being great and his Means so small his Wife would many times come to him when she was to send her Maid to Banbury Market to buy Provision and tell him that she had no Money his usual Answer was Yet send your Maid and God will provide and though she had no Money yet she never returned empty for one or other that knew her to be Mr. Lancaster's Maid either by the way or in Banbury Town meeting her would give her Money which still supplied their present wants Mr. Clark in the Life of Dr. Harris 5. Mr. Edw. Lawrence formerly Minister of Basckarth in Shropshire but refusing to comply with the Act of Vniformity and thereupon being in danger of being turned out of his Living being ask'd How he would maintain his VVife and so many small Children as he had Made Answer I intend to live and maintain my Family upon the Fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew CHAP. XXVIII Remarkable Courage and Boldness FEar not thou them saith our Saviour that can destroy the Body and after that have nothing that they can do c. certainly a good Christian Courage in a good Cause and under the Conduct of an humble Prudence is the Gift of God and Blessing of Heaven and one of those Graces that bespeak the person endowed therewith to be somewhat more than common Man Our dear Saviour was taken notice of for one that Preach'd with Authority and the Apostles with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a liberty of Speech and boldness of Spirit which their Adversaries were not able to resist And sometimes we may pick up such Examples of boldness in succeeding Ages of the Church as these that follow 1. Ignatius being required to be present at the Gratulatory Sacrifices appointed by Trajan after the Parthian War which were to be offered in every City before Trajan's Face did justly and sharply reprove the Idolatry for which cause he was delivered to ten Soldiers to be carried to Rome Clark's Mar. of Eccl. Hist 2. Polycarp would not flie when in danger of Persecution and Martyrdom saying The will of the Lord be done and coming to the Searchers he communed with them very chearfully and commanded that the Table should be spread for them intreating them to eat and dine well requesting but one Hours space for his Prayers which was granted him Ibid. 3. Origen was in his early Years desirous of Martyrdom and would have thrusted himself into the Persecutors Hands had not his Mother in the Night time privily convey'd away his Cloathes on purpose to restrain him and when he could do no more he stoutly Exhorted his Father then â—â—â—â—rison by Letters that he would not alter his purpose of Suffering for his Son's sake Dr. Cave Prim. Christ Clark Marrow of Eccl. Hist. c. 4. Valentinian Jun. compassing the Church where Ambrose was in a great rage with a great number of Armed Souldiers commanded him to come forth but he nothing terrified answered That I will never willingly do neither will I betray the Sheepfold of my Sheep to the Wolves nor deliver up the Temple of God to the Authors of Blasphemy but if thou pleasest to kill me here 's my Breast peirce it as thou pleasest with Spear or Sword I am willing to embrace such a Death Upon which resolute Answer the Emperor with-drew ibid. 5. Luther's Courage and Boldness is well known when disswaded from going to Dispute at Worms for fear of his Enemies If I thought saith he there were danger of our Cause I would go tho' there were as many Devils in Worms as Tiles upon the Houses And another time to his Friends quaking for fear of future troubles Come saith he let 's sing the 46th Psalm and let all the Devils in Hell do their worst Pref. to his Sermons 6. John Frith to certain Messengers sent by the Arch-Bishop to bring him before him and they disswading Frith from stiffness in his Opinion about the Sacrament made answer I most heartily thank you for your Good-will and Councel whereby I see your Good-will to me yet my Cause and Conscience is such that in no wise I may or can without danger of Damnation start aside and fly from the Truth whereof I am convinced and which I have Published concerning the Lord's Supper so that if I be askt what my Judgment is about it I must needs declare my Judgment and Conscience therein as I have formerly written tho' I was sure to lose Twenty Lives if I had so many Clarks Eccl. Hist p. 158. 7. King Arthur to increase the Courage of his Soldiers Instituted the Order of Knights of the Round Table that he might reward the well deserving with Titles of Honour None
Zealand where living in a great deal of Ease he fell in Love with a Woman of a Beautiful Body and a mind and manners no whit inferior He passed and repassed by her Door soon after grew bolder entered into Conference with her discovers his Flame and beseeches a Compassionate Resentment of it he makes large Promises and uses all the ways by which he hoped to gain her but all in vain Her Chastity was proof against all the Batteries he could raise against it falling therefore into Dispair he converts himself unto Villany He was as I said a Governour and Duke Charles was busied in War he causes the Husband of his Mistriss to be Accused of Treachery and forth with Commits him to Prison to the end that by Fear or Threats he might draw her to his pleasure or at least quit himself of her Husband the only Rival with him in his Loves The Woman as one that loves her Husband goes to the Goal and thence to the Governour to entreat for him and if she was able to obtain his Liberty Dost thou come O my Dear to entreat me said the Governour You are certainly ignorant of the Empire you have over me Render me only a mutual Affection and I am ready to restore you your Husband for we are both under a Restraint he is in my Prison and I am in yours Ah how easily may you give Liberty to us both Why do you refuse As a Lover I beseech you and as you tender my Life as the Governour I ask you and as you tender the Life of your Husband both are at stake and if I must perish I will not fall alone The Woman blush'd at what she heard and withal being in Fear for her Husband trembled and turned pale He perceiving she was mov'd and supposing that some Force should be used to her Modesty they were alone throws her upon the Bed and enjoys the Fruit which will shortly prove bitter to them both The Woman departed Confounded and all in Tears thinking of nothing more but Revenge which was also the more enflamed by a Barbarous Act of the Governour for he having obtained his desire and hoping hereafter freely to enjoy her took care that her Husband and his Rival should be Beheaded in the Goal and there was the Body put into a Coffin ready for Burial This done he sent for her and in an Affable manner What said he do you seek for your Husband You shall have him and pointing to the Prison you shall find him there take him along with you The Woman suspecting nothing went her way when there she sees and is astonished she falls upon the dead Corps and having long lamented over it she returns to the Governour with a fierce Countenance and Tone It is true said she you have restored me my Husband I owe you Thanks for the Favour and will pay you He endeavours to retain and appease her but in vain but hasting home she calls about her most faithful Friends recounts to them all that had passed All agree that she should make her Case known to the Duke who amongst other of his excellent Virtues was a singular Lover of Justice To whom she went and was heard but scarce believed The Duke is angry and grieved that any of his and in his Dominions should presume so far He commands her to withdraw into the next Room till he sent for the Governour who by chance was then at Court being come do you know said the Duke this Woman The Man changed colour do you know too added he the Complaints she makes of you They are sad ones and such as I would not they should be true He shakes faulters in his Speech says and unsays being urged home he confesses all frees the Woman from any fault and casting himself at the Duke's Feet said he placed all his Refuge and Comfort in the good Grace and Mercy of his Prince and that he might the better obtain it he offered to make amends for his unlawful Lust by a Lawful Marriage of the Person whom he had injured The Duke as one that had inclined to what he said and now somewhat milder You Woman said he since it is gone thus far are you willing to have this Man for your Husband She refuses but fearing the Duke's Displeasure and prompted by the Courtiers that he was Noble Rich and in Favour with his Prince was overcome at last she yields The Duke causes both to joyn Hands and the Marriage to be lawfully made which done You Mr. Bridegroom said he You must grant me this that if you die first without Children of your Body that then this Wife of yours shall be the Heir of all that you have he willingly granted it it is writ down by a Notary and witness is to it Thus done the Duke turning to the Woman Tell me said he is there enough done for your satisfaction There is said she But there is not to mine said he And sending the Woman away he commanded the Governour to be led away to that very Prison in which the Husband was slain and dead to be laid in a Coffin headless as he was This done he sent the Woman thither ignorant of what had passed who frighted with that unthought of Misfortune of two Husbands almost at once and the same time lost by one and the same Punishment fell sick speedily and in a short time died having gain'd this only by her last Marriage that she left her Children by her former Husband very rich by the Accession of this new and great Inheritance Lips Monit Lib. 2. Chap. 9. P. 240 241. 3. Sir John Fitz-James was so fearful of the very Shadow and Appearance of Corruption that it cost his chief Clerk his place but for taking a Tankard after a signal Cause of 1500 l. a Year wherein he had been serviceable tho not as a Bribe but as a Civility Caesar would have his Wife without Suspition of Lewdness and Fitz-James his Servants without the appearance of Corruption What way Law always was then a Resolution neither to deny nor defer nor sell Justice When our Judge came upon the Bench he knew no more than Melchisedeck or Levi Father or Mother neither Friend nor Interest For when his Cousin urged for a kindness Come to my House saith the Judge I will deny you nothing come to the King's Court and I must do you Justice And when the Attorney-General bespake his Favour in a publick Cause Troble not your self said he I will do the King Right The King is cast the Attorney expostulates the Judge satisfieth him That he could not do his Majesty Right if he had not done Justice Lloyd 's State Worthies p. 115. 4. Sir Matthew Hale would never receive private Addresses or Recommendations from the greatest Persons in any matter in which Justice was concern'd One of the first Peers of England went once to his Chamber and told him that having a Sute at Law to be try'd before
the Press and very curious and attentive in Reading and Marking them In all my Conversation I have not met with such a Walking-Library except the late Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Barlow 33. Dr. Rich Blackmore my Contemporary and Colleague at Oxon now living and one of the College in London was in his first Years the most eager and diligent Student that I ever knew sitting up at his Book 'till Twelve One Two and sometimes Three a Clock in the Morning and then lying down only upon his Chairs 'till Prayer-time 'till his Health broke and he was constrained by necessity to retire into the Country to repair himself by Physick CHAP. XLIX Remarkable Instances of Contempt of Wealth JAcob 's Vow That if God would be his God and allow him Bread and Water c. Our Saviour's Poverty St. Paul 's Contentedness and the Community of the Primitive Christions are well known and in truth the very Intention of the Doctrine of the Gospel is to draw us off from a Love of the World to the Love of God and a fond Affection of Secular Riches to a diligent Enquiry after the Kingdom of Heaven so that it is no wonder if we find sometimes the Spiritual and Heavenly Temper of Christians so great and strong and vigorous as quite to conquer and triumph over all their little Cares and Concernments about the present Life 1. Origen was a great Contemner of worldly Wealth inuring himself to Cold and Nakedness never wearing two Coats nor Shooes nor taking care for the time to come with any convetous desire sold his Books especially of Humanity for Two-pence a Day to be allowed him for his Maintenance with which he was content Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist Dr. Cave's Prim. Christ 2. Lactantius was so far from seeking after Riches that he died poor 3. St. Augustine would neither buy either House or Land but any thing that was given to the Church he would not refuse except Inheritances offered by those who had poor Children Parents or Kindred judging it unfit to alienate them in such Cases for he would often say That it were much better to bestow Legacies than Inheritances on the Church Clark Ibid. 4. Gregory the Great could never read those words Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things c. without horrour and astonishment least having such Dignities and Honours as he had he should be excluded from his Portion in Heaven Ibid. p. 99. 5. Luther when he reflected upon the Favours and Presents bestowed upon him by Princes and Gret Personages fearing least they might be a Bait to draw him to an inordinate Love of the World broke out into these pathetick Expressions Valde protestatus sum me nolle ita satiari That is I protested stoutly that I would not be satisfied with worldly Welfare for my Portion Ibid. p. 144. 6. St. Bernard going to entr himself into a Monastery of the Cistertians perswaded Four of his Brethren to leave the World and all their worldly Preferments and to joyn with him in this Retirement which they did and accordingly taking leave of their Father seeing their youngest Brother Nivard a playing with other Boys and Guido the elder bidding him Farewel Brother Nivard behold said he we leave to you all our Earthly Possessions He presently answered You will take Heaven and leave me Earth this is no equal Division Afterwards he himself took leave of his Father and followed them Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 104. 7. Thomas Aquinas was so great a Contemner of worldly Honours and Wealth that when Promotions were offered him his usual Answer was Chrysostomi Commentarium in Mattheum vellem I had rather have Chrysostom 's Commentary on Matthew Idem in Vit. ejus 8. Constantine the Great was so averse from all Superfluities that upon Festival Days and when he entertained Strangers he was fain to borrow Plate of his Friends to furnish his Cupboard Idem in Vitâ ejus p. 2. 9. Arch-bishop Vsher's Father having left him a good Estate in Land finding that he must have involved himself in many Suits of Law before he could attain to the quiet Enjoyment of it to the interrupting of his other Studies he gave up the Benefit of it to his Brothers and Sisters suffering his Uncle to take Letters of Administration for that end resolving to cast himself upon the good Providence of God to whose Service in the Work of the Ministry he had wholly devoted himself not doubting but he would provide for him yet that he might not be judged weak or inconsiderate in that Act he drew up a Note under his Hand of the State of all things that concerned it and Directions what to do about it 10. Sir Matthew Hale had a Soul enlarged and raised above that mean Appetite of loving Money which is generally the Root of all Evil. He did not take the Profits that he might have had by his Practice for in common Cases when those who came to ask his Counsel gave him a Piece he used to give back the half and so made Ten Shillings his Fee in ordinary Matters that did not require much time or study If he saw a Cause was unjust he for a great while would not meddle further in it but to give his Advice that it was so if the Parties after that would go on they were to seek another Counsellor for he would assist none in Act of Injustice if he found the Cause doubtful or weak in Point of Law he always advised his Clients to agree their Business 11. Mr. John Janeway upon his Death-bed had these words The World hath quite lost his Excellency in my Judgment O! how poor and contemptible a thing it is in all its Glory compared with the Glory of that invisible World which I now live in the sight of And as for Life Christ is my Life Health and Strength and I know that I shall have another kind of Life when I leave this I tell you it would more incomparably please me if you should say to me You are no Man for this World you cannot possibly hold oput long before to Morrow you will be in Eternity I tell you I do so long to be with Christ that I could be content to be cut in pieces and to be put to the most exquisite Torments so I might but die and be with Christ. Oh how sweet is Jesus Come Lord Jesus come quickly Death do thy worst Death hath lost its terribleness Death it is nothing I say Death is nothing through Grace to me I can as easily die as shut mine Eyes or turn my Head and sleep I long to be with Christ I long to die See his Life 12. Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exeter flying beyond Sea in Queen Mary's Reign his Bishoprick was reserved for him till his Return and then sundry times proffered him but he would by no means accept thereof but chose rather to live a more private Life yet not of Action for he
is at best fickle and subject to change We are short sighted and cannot see at first what the Effects of such Love will be And therefore what more ordinary than for Lovers to grow cold and indifferent If the Person be loved for Beauty the Small-Pox or Feaver may put an end to that Love If for good Humour Age and Sickness often alters it if for Money Riches may make themselves Wings and fly away or else any Vnkindness or unsuitable Carriage from the Person loved often alters the Affections Yet with what delight can they talk of these they love 't is hard to put them off with other Discourse Lovers think not the time long they are together Yet O my Soul I am infinitely obliged to God his Love is beyond all Expression I have ever since I was born offended him and brought Sin enough into the World with me to set me at an eternal Distance from him Yet God's great Love was such that he thought nothing too much for fallen Man He knew before ever he fixt his Love on me what I should prove how I should carry it towards him yet that could not hinder his Thoughts of Love O my Soul thou canst never do enough to testify thy Love to God There 's no fear of the Decay of his Love to thee if thou dost but carry it ingenuously towards him There can be no Defect in God all that is is on my part I have cause to bewail my former Miscarriages and now to resolve to walk more holily and humbly before God Christ he is altogether lovely there is nothing in him but what if considered may inflame my Heart with Love to him I may wonder at my self that I do no more love to talk of this lovely Jesus that I do so seldom think of him Well now let me learn something from this Reflection to fill my Soul with Love to him and to set me a longing after Communion with him O that I may for ever have him in my Thoughts whose Thoughts I was never out of from Eternity if I am not mistaken but am truly his REFLECTION III. On her Brother H 's telling her Mother that she lay at Mrs. B 's and her Mother discoursing what her Landlord said of her Febr. 2. 1679. Her Reflections on this were these viz. OH my Soul What use should I make of all this I may see how vain it is to expect Satisfaction in the Creatures when they do in so small a matter disappoint me and prove false Sure the use God would have me to make of all the Disappointments I have ever yet met with is to expect more from God and less from the Creature I see and find by Experience this I may soon expect more from them than is to be had But I never yet expected that from God that is to be had in him I find I may soon loose my good Name and Credit in the World I should from hence learn to make it my business to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man that so whatever the World says or thinks of me I may still be able to approve my Heart to God and to carry it so towards all I converse with as not willingly to give them any just cause to speak Evil of me I see 't is a vain thing nay I shall be the most inexcusable of any one in the World if ever I should expect Satisfaction in the Creature For my Experience tells me it is not there to be had I no sooner promise my self Comfort in any Earthly Enjoyment but some way or other it is imbittered to me I promised my self a great deal of Comfort in Mrs. B 's Acquaintance and now I cannot go to see her without hazarding my good name Well I will now retreat back again to my former SOLITVDE and converse more with God and my own Soul I have found enough of the Vanity of Acquaintance But I never yet had cause to complain of my God The more I acquaint my self with him the better it is I should be so ingenuous in all cases to make a Spiritual Improvement of an Earthly Disappointment that so I may reap real Benefit by outward Vexations REFLECTION IV. Upon her being taken ill in the Night and thinking she was struck with Death OH my Soul thou seest what need I have to be always prepared for Death How soon can God take away Health and Life I am but Tenant at Will to my Maker and therefore I need to be ready I then began to call my self to account to see with what Comfort I could appear before God I find upon Examination and some sight of Eternity here is abundance of Sin to be repented of I dare not think of appearing before God without an Assurance of an Interest in Christ Well O my Soul what use should I make of this Providence I know not how soon I may die Death is a serious thing it is a solemn thing to appear before the Heart-searching God there to be accountable for all I have done in the body and for ever to be doomed to endless Happiness or Misery What a mad Body and Fool am I then to be so negligent in working â—â—t of my Salvation when I am sure I cannot live long The Pain I felt was great but nothing to what the Damned feel I did then bless God that it was not eternal I thought if my Pain was so sad what is it to be tormented in Body and Soul and that for ever I then considered what Sin it was that most disturbed my Peace and find it is trifling with God Well O my Soul it is time for thee now to resolve to be more serious and always prepared because in such an hour as I think not the Son of Man comes REFLECTION V. Upon her Mother's and Sister T 's saying to her She would neither make a fond Wife nor Mother OH my Soul What use should I make of all the Opinions People have of me and of their thinking I shall never be fond of any Relation Sure God hath some end in it that notwithstanding my Willingness to please all manner of Persons I cannot yet have their good word Let me now more than ever endeavour to please God I have great cause to love my Parents for under God I am beholding to them for my Being But I am not only beholden to God for my Creation but I hope for Redemption and a whole Life of Mercies that be hath continually followed me with I have great cause to love Relations but that is nothing if compared with what cause I have to love God Their greatest Love is Hatred when compared with God's Love Well then the use I should make of all this is to consider my Obligations to God I would not willingly displease an Earthly friend sure then had not Sin basely besotted me I should abhor the Thoughts of doing any thing that might displease God I should endeavour
conscientiously to discharge my Duty to all Relations let the Event be what it will O that I were so spiritual as to make a good use of all the Disappointments I have ever yet met with I bless God I have not promised my self Happiness in any thing in the World but have been some way or other disappointed in it God is very kind to me in it He sees how my Affections are still running out after the Creature and how apt I am to be fond of that which draws my Heart from God Now I will return to God let God do what he pleases with me I bless God for Relations and Friends but I desire to enjoy them more as God is pleased to make them a Blessing to me than for any outward Comfort I have in them O that I could love Christ more and Creatures less I see they are uncertain Comforts but in Christ is never failing Delight and Satisfaction to be had Upon a Dream she dreamt on the Nineteenth of November in the Year 1680. HER Dream in her own Words was this viz. Methoughts I was above Stairs and either something or a Voice said to me That I must in a very short time come and appear before my Judge there to give an Account of all I have done and then I should be tried whether I was sincere or no in what I did Methoughts I presently died but Soul and Body remained together 'till I were Summoned to Judgment I was extreamly concerned at this Voice and began to bethink myself what Account I could give at Judgment I could not tell whether I was really sincere or no. I began to Examine myself and thought what should I do The Day of Grace was over 't was too late to repent and the like c. and I could not tell what would become of me for ever I dreamt I went down Stairs and there the People told me I look'd like Death Aye says I so I well may when I am dead I could not tell what to do for a room to pray in to see if there were any hopes of acceptance I was so amazed and affrighted that I was almost besides myself for fear I was not siucere I then thought what Ends have I proposed to myself in the performance of Duties and could not find that I had designed any thing of Self in what I had done I was I hoped sincere though under great Fears and Amazements because of my appearing before the Heart-searching God I awaked in a great fright REFLECTION VI. Her Reflection in her own Words upon this Dream was this viz. OH my Soul What shall I now do This that was but a Dream will shortly be true I must e're long be Summoned to Judgment in a more Solemn Manner than I can now think of and there I must give up my Account before the Great GOD. If I am an Hypocrite I shall then be undone for ever Sure there is something more than ordinary in this Dream God is wonderful good and kind to me I have been very careless and negligent in the performance of all Duties God is pleased to give me one Warning more to see if I will do what I can towards an Assurance of Salvation If after all these Warnings I shall be found Christless my Damnation will be greatly aggravated my Summons to Judgment will be more dreadful than I can now think it will be When I must appear before my Judge fitting on his Throne I shall there be accountable for all my Thoughts Words and Actions before that God who knows them better than I do my self When the Sentence shall be pronounced and the Judge will stay to see it executed there will be no Repealing of that Sentence no avoiding its Execution but I must for ever then enter either into endless Joys or Torments What shall I now resolve upon I do and cannot but believe that this Day is near Die I must I am not sure of one Moments time more Am I mad then to live as I now do To be contented when I know not what will become of me for ever I now resolve through the Assistance of the Blessed Spirit to be more in the Work of Self-examination that I may not be surprized by Death or Judgment Blessed be God for bearing with me so long for giving me one Warning more before the Great Day of Judgment What wonderful Patience have I abused What need have I to be speedy and sincere in my Repentance and now do what I wish'd in my Sleep I had time to have done REFLECTION VII Upon Scalding her Foot Sept. 7. 1681. Her Reflection upon it was this which follows in her own Words viz. OH how great was that Smarting Pain I then presently considered if that pain was so dreadful what would be the Torments of the Damned If it is now so sad to have a little hot Liquor poured on ones foot what will it be to have Soul and Body tormented to lie burning in Fire and Brimstone for ever This pain though great yet is quickly over I have cooling things for it but in Hell a Drop of Cold Water cannot be obtained to cool the Tongue of the Damned tho' if that could be yet it would do but little good What doth God point out to me by all these Providences but that I should do the utmost I can to scape Hell Torments I have now time and opportunity to work out my Salvation How inexcusable shall I be if after all I should neglect so great Salvation What cause have I to admire Christ who not only died to deliver his from Hell-Torments but hath purchased such Joy and Glory for all such as durst trust themselves with him Well now what do I resolve upon Oh! for an Holy Ingenuity in my Carriage towards God! that I could but live as becomes the Redeemed of the Lord and make use of all Providences and Ordinances as God hath appointed them for Her Carriage before she Received the Sacrament IN her Sixteenth Year she had longing Desires to receive the Sacrament which she acquainted her Pastour with who told her That then she must forsake all Sin and cleave to Christ and not live in the omission of any known Duty or in the commission of any known Sin then he said She must make Religion her Business He said He hoped she made Conscience of Secret Prayer He said She knew what Paul said concerning the unmarried Woman That she cares for the things of the Lord how she might be holy both in body and spirit And he bid her observe this and he did not question but Christ would bid her Welcome and accordingly on the Sabbath-day following she went to the Sacrament but before she went she spent some time in Examination and could not find but that she had Truth of Grace And then she brake out in the following pathetical Ejaculations viz. Oh! how should the Thoughts of Free Grace ravish and fill me with Love to
God! Oh! how am I filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Oh Lord I solemnly resolve against all my Sins These are the Murtherers that would not have thee to Reign over me Original Sin the pollution of my own Nature the Sins that I have committed before I knew what Sin was have rendred me obnoxious to thy Displeasure I beg of thee that thou wouldest give them their Death's Wound I shall now meditate on the wonderful Love of God in electing some to Salvation and passing by others and wonder that I shou'd be an Object of Electing Love sure Lord thou cou'dst not have chosen one more vile than I am and one that wou'd have carried it to thee as I have done I may well wonder at thy infinite Love I considered of the Love of God in parting with the Son of his Love to die for Sinners that God shou'd contrive such a way of Salvation for fallen Man and not for fallen Angels What an astonishing amazing Love was that that Christ shou'd become Man that he shou'd be so poor as not to have where to lay his Head when he came to enrich the World Oh that sweet Expression of Christ's Love when he says I was with him when he laid the Foundations of the World yet then my Thoughts were in the habitable part of the Earth and my Delights were with the Sons of Men. That I shou'd be one of them that Christ shou'd have in his Thoughts of Love I cou'd not but cry out And why me Lord why me Oh infinite Free Grace that I shou'd be freely chosen whereas if God had but required Satisfaction for one Sin tho' but a sinful thought I must have perish'd for ever I told Christ Dearest Jesus I cannot at this Sacrament take a denial of thy gracious Presence I come to meet with God and I cannot be contented without him I bless thy Name I have often enjoyed great Delight in this Ordinance but now I would enjoy more of God than ever I would have all my Graces grow and flourish I would have my Sins utterly destroyed and rooted out O Blessed Jesus I come to thee here are my Lusts my Pride my Vnbelief my want of Love to thee the base Sins of my Nature my disingenuous Carriage towards thee here Lord slay them before thee They are unwilling that thou shouldest rule in my Soul I did in these or the like Expressions make over my self to be more entirely God's and I dare own upon review that I did enjoy Christ This did in some measure set my Soul a longing for Heaven Lord said I if a Smile of thy Love is so sweet what are the full and ravishing Views of thy Love If a Glimps of my dearest Jesus is so sweet and refreshing what will the full Visions of God be for ever But my base Heart was several times trying to draw me from God O surely a Freedom from Sin will be unconceivably sweet to me that am so continually harassed with these Corruptions She writ abundance of such MEDITATIONS and EJACVLATIONS as these but here 's all that her Husband could ever get transcribed By these her MEMOIRS and RVLES for holy Living we not only see what an extraordinary Wife she was for her Husband says she fully practis'd 'em but also the happy Effects of a regular Course of Piety for certainly never was there on a Sick-bed a greater Instance of a willing Resignation to the Will of God as to either Life or Death She would often say to her Husband O my dear 't is a solemn thing to die but I can freely leave all the World but you and at saying so she would still burst out into Tears she said at another time Sickness is no time to prepare for Death were my Work now to do I were undone for ever But I shall stop here for she needs not borrowed Shades to set her off I need do no more than refer you to these Memoirs which are all the curious Contexture of her own Brain I shall only add She was MISTRESS IN THE ART OF OBLIGING in which she attain'd that Sovereign Perfection that she reigned over all Hearts with whom she did converse In a word She did consecrate her self entirely to God and was more afraid of Sin than of Hell it self In such a loose Age as this such an extraordinary Instance may perhaps be doubted as to the Truth of it but I do assure the Reader there 's nothing inserted in this Relation of Mrs. L but what is real Matter of Fact CHAP. LII Good Husbands Remarkable HVsbands have as much cause to be good as Wives and more clearness of Reason and strength of Judgment ordinarily to govern their Passions and direct their Actions and therefore they should excel the Women not only in Prudence but in Goodness and particularly Patience And so they do sometimes as for Instance 1. Sir Nathanael Barnardiston seemed here to imitate the Practice of the Lord Jesus towards his Church in his Conjugal Love Protection and full Contentation and Delight until he became a Pattern and Mirrour of Matrimonial Sweetness and Faithfulness and as it is said by one of the Rabbins concerning Methuselah's Wife That she had Nine Husbands in One for Age and Years so I may say of this Gentleman's Lady that she had Nine Husbands in him alone for his aimable Carriage and Graces These were it is true acted while he was living but he left a Testimonial in his Will of his living Affection after his own Death over and above the Marriage-Covenants to shew his endearedness of her by his Affectionate Remembrance when he himself was gone See his Life 2. Dominicus Catalusius was the Prince of Lesbos and is worthy of eternal Memory for the entire Love which he bare to his Wife she fell into a grievous Leprosie which made her appear more like unto a rotten Carcase than a living Body Her Husband not fearing in the least to be infected with the Contagion nor frighted with her horrible Aspects nor distasted with the loathsome Smells sent forth by her filthy Ulcers never forbid her either his Board or Bed but the true Love he had towards her turned all those things to him into Security and Pleasure Lond. Theatr. p. 462. Fulgos L. 4. C. 6. p. 526. 3. Ant. Wallaeus lived most lovingly with his Wife they never brake forth into Anger or mutual Brawling their mutual Care was to please each other and by Deeds to prevent each others's Desires neither did Wallaeus fear any thing more than that his Dear Wife should die before him-for he used her not only for the Government of his Family but for his constant Companion What soever befel him in the Common-wealth Church or Civil Converse he acquainted her with it ask'd and often followed her Advice for she was a modest and prudent Woman Clark's Eccles Hist p. 488. 4. Mr. Eliot of New-England loved prized and cherished that one Wife which was given to
for his People That God would provide for them a Pastor after his own Heart He was a Man of such a moving Eloquence that the Bishop of Carthage hearing him Preach Two Days together in his Church could not refrain from Tears rejoycing that God had given to his Church in those afflicted Times such a worthy Instrument of his Glory Ibid. p. 95. 4. Austin would have a Preacher so long pursue and press the same Point until by the Gestures and Countenances of the Hearers he perceived that they understood it and also intended to practise it 5. Jerom was called Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the Churches Thunderbolt And surely Ministers should take the same liberty to cry down Sin that Men take to commit Sin Isa 58.1 6. Athanasius was said to be both an Adamant and a Loadstone for in his private Converse he was very affable and courteous drawing all Men to him even as a Loadstone doth Iron but in the Cause of God and his Truth he was unmovable and unconquerable as an Adamant 7. Of Luther it was said Vnus homo solus totius Orbis imperium sustinuit That he alone opposed a World of Enemies 8. It s recorded of Father Latimer that he preached twice every Sabbath even when he was of a very great Age and that he arose to his Studies Winter and Summer at Two a Clock in the Morning Act. and Mon. 9. 9. Bernard hath these Words If I deal not plainly and faithfully with your Souls Vobis erit damnosum mihi periculosum Timeo itaque damnum vestrum timeo damnationem meam si tacuero It will be ill for you and worse for me the Truth is ye would be betray'd and I should be damned if I should hold my Peace 10. Peter Chrysologus was eloquent and very powerful in his Sermons to the People and very holy in his Conversation whereby he won many to embrace the Truth Ever before he penned any thing he used with great ardency and humility to set himself by Prayer to seek unto God for Direction therein CHAP. LIX Reverence to Learned or Good Men. THere is such a Majesty in Wisdom and Goodness that they beget at least a secret Veneration in all Sensible Persons Barnabas and Paul were on this score worshipped at Lycaonia for Gods one under the Notion of Jupiter the other of Mercurius and Sacrifices were preparing for them The Lacedemonians finding it their Interest to corrupt Philopaeâ—en with Money were yet so possest with a Reverence of his Virtues that none durst venture to attack him And we are told that certain Pirates came to Visit Scipio that worthy Conquerour of Africa worshipped the Posts of his Doors laid their Gifts at his Thresholds went hastily to kiss his Hands and so over-joyed they departed And 't is not long ago since a wild Bravo of our own Nation the late Earl of Rochester acknowledged That even in the midst of his wild Paroxysms he had a secret Veneration for a Good Man 1. Valens the Emperour coming to Church on purpose to disturb Basil Bishop of Caesarea in his Holy Offices was so convinced and struck with an awful Opinion of him by observing his Reverent Behaviour that he made a large Offering instead of doing him any hurt which notwithstanding Basil refused as coming from an Heretick Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Gregory Nazianzen when Valens the Emperour entred his Church first astonish'd him and afterward by discreet Conference deterr'd him from his Cruelty yea reclaim'd him from the Arrian Faction tho' he afterwards relaps'd again Ibid. 3. Fulgentius being recalled from Exile by King Hilderic was received with such great Devotion by the Africans as if he had been peculiar Bishop to every City every where met with Tokens of Joy yea their Love was so great towards him that a Shower of Rain falling they held their Garments over him to keep him dry Ibid. p. 94. 4. Poggius Secretary to the Council of Constance writing to a Friend concerning Hierom of Prague saith thus of him I profess I never saw any Man who in Discourse especially it being for Life or Death that came nearer to the Eloquence of the Apostles and Ancients whom we do so much admire It was a Wonder to see with what Words with what Eloquence Arguments Countenance and Confidence he answered his Adversaries and maintained his own Cause insomuch as it is to be lamented that so fine a Wit had strayed into the way of Heresie if that be true which was objected against him When every Article of his Accusation was read publickly and proved by Witnesses they asked him Whether he had any thing to object But 't is almost incredible how cunningly he answered and with what Arguments he defended himself He never spake one Word unworthy a good Man So that if he thought in Heart as he spake with his Tongue no Cause of Death could have been found against him neither indeed was he guilty of the least Offence At last he concludes that he was a Man that deserved everlasting remembrance Ibid. p. 129. 5. Luther hath this Testimony given him by Melancthon Pomeram is a Grammarian I a Logician Justus Jonas an Orator but Luther is All even a Miracle amongst Men whatsoever he reads or writes pierceth to the very Soul and leaves wonderful Stings in the Hearts of Men. And this from Vrbanus Regius Talis tantus est Theologus Lutherus ut nullo secula habuer nt similem semper mihi Magnus fuit at jam mihi Maximus est vidi enim praesens audici quae nullo calamo tradi possunt abseneibus Ibid. p. 169. 6. Cassander for his Learning was so respected that he held a Correspondence with most Learned Men of all Perswasions Roman Catholicks Lutherans and Calvinists was sent for more than once by the Emperour to assist in reconciling the Differences that were then arisen with large Overtures for his Encouragement 7. William Tindal hearing of a Juggler amongst the English Merchants at Antwerp that by his Magical Art could fetch all kind of dainty Dishes and Wine from what place they pleased and let it presently upon the Table before them with many other such-like Feats desired of some of the Merchants that he might be present at Supper to see this Juggler play his Pranks which being granted the Juggler came and with his wonted boldness boasted what he could do but after much Labour Toyl and Sweating being able to effect nothing he openly confessed That there was some Man in the Company which disturbed and hindred all his doings Clark's Eccl. Hist p. 167. 8. Vrbanus Regius was dearly beloved by Ernestus Duke of Brunswick and esteemed as his Father insomuch as when the City of Auspurg A. C. 1535 sent to the Duke desiring him to return Regius again he answered That he would as soon part with his Eyes as with him And at his Return from Auspurg when divers of his Nobles asked him What new and precious Ware after the Example of other
〈◊〉 King James 3. A certain Drunkard whom I knew very well saith mine Author a Godly Minister when he was in Drink quarrelled with his Fellow-Servant and after a few words knock d him down with his Flail and killed him at one blow Yet when he came to his Tryal by the help of Friends he made a shift to escape the Halter and came home again and there he used to Swear and Curse and Drink at as high a rate as ever But at last when he was in the same Yard where he committed the aforesaid Murther he fell down dead in a moment And I was saith he one of the first that saw him 4. In the Year 940. Hatto Archbishop of Mentz assembled certain poor Beggars together into a great Barn not to relieve their wants as he might and ought but to rid them of their Lives as he ought not but did For he set on Fire the Barn wherein they were and consumed them all alive comparing them to Rats and Mice that devoured good Corn but served to no other good Use But God that had regard and respect unto those poor wretches took their Cause into his Hand to quit this proud Prelate with just Revenge for his Outrage committed against them sending towards him an Army of Rats and Mice to lay Siege against him with the Engines of their Teeth on all sides which when this cursed Wretch perceived he removed into a Tower that standeth in the midst of the Rhine not far from Bing whither he presumed this Host of Rats could not pursue him but he was deceived For they swam over the Rhine thick and three-fold and got into his Tower with such strange Fury that in a very short space they had consumed him to nothing in Memorial whereof this Tower was ever after called The Tower of Rats And this was the Tragedy of that Bloody Arch-Butcher that compared poor Christian Souls to brutish and base Creatures and therefore became himself a Prey unto them as Popiel King of Poland did after him in whose strange Examples the Beams of God's Justice shine forth after an extraordinary and wonderful manner to the Terror and Fear of all Men when by the means of small Creatures they made room for his Vengeance to make entrance upon these execrable Creature-Murtherers notwithstanding all Man's Devices and Impediments of Nature For the Native Operation of the Elements was restrained from hindring the passage of them armed and inspired with an invincible and supernatural Courage to fear neither Fire Water nor Weapon till they had finished his Command that sent them And thus in old time did Frogs Flies Grashoppers and Lice make War with Pharaoh at the Command of him that hath all the World at his beck Beard 's Theater p. 196. Munster's Cosmogr c. 5. Anno 1346. Popiel King of Poland amongst many of his particular kinds of Cursings and Swearings whereof he was no niggard used ordinarily this Oath If it be not true would Rats might devour me Prophesying thereby his own Destruction for he was devoured by the same means which he often wished for as the Sequal of his History will declare The Father of this Popiel feeling himself near Death resigned the Government of his Kingdom to two of his Brethren Men exceedingly reverenced of all Men for the Valour and Vertue which appeared in them He being deceased and Popiel being grown up to Ripe and Lawful Years when he saw himself at full Liberty without all Bridle of Government to do what he listed he began to give the full swinge to his lawless and unruly desires in such sort that within few days he became so shameless that there was no Vice which appeared not in his Behaviour even to the working of the Death of his own Uncles for all their Faithful dealing towards him which he by Poison brought to pass Which being done he caused himself forthwith to be crowned with Garlands of Flowers and to be perfumed with Precious Oyntments And to the end the better to Solemnize his Entry to the Crown commanded a Sumptuous and Pompous Banquet to be prepared whereunto all the Princes and Lords of his Kingdom were invited Now as they were about to give the Onset upon the delicate Chear behold an Army of Rats sallying out of the dead and putrefied Bodies of his Uncles set upon him his Wife and Children amidst their Dainties to gnaw them with their sharp Teeth insomuch that his Guard with all their Weapons and Strength were not able to chase them away but being weary with Resisting their daily and mighty Assaults gave over the Battle Wherefore Counsel was given to make great Coal Fires about them that the Rats by that means might be kept off not knowing that no Policy or Power of Man was able to withstand the unchangeable Decree of God for for all their huge Fires they ceased not to run through the midst of them and to Assault with their Teeth this cruel Murtherer Then they gave him Counsel to put himself his Wife and Children into a Boat and thrust it into the midst of a Lake thinking that by reason of the Waters the Rats would not approach unto them But alas in vain for they swam thropugh the Water a main and gnawing the Boat made such chinks in the sides thereof that the Water began to run in which being perceived of the Boat-men amazed them sore and made them make Post-hast to Shoar where he was no sooner arrived but a fresh Muster of Rats uniting their Forces with the former encountred him so sore that they did him more mischief than all the rest Whereupon all his Guard and others that were there present for his Defence perceiving it to be a Judgment of God's Vengeance upon him abandoned and forsook him at once Who seeing himself destitute of Succour and forsaken on all sides flew into a high Tower in Chouzitze whither also they pursued him and climbing even up to the highest Room where he was first eat up his Wife and Children she being guilty of his Uncles Death and lastly gnawed and devoured him to the very Bones Ibid. 6. Anno 1056. a certain Nobleman abounding with Wealth not far from Augusta of the Vindilicians brought up in his HOuse a Young Black-a-more which Villain when his Master was from home rose up in the Night and slew not only his Lady but the whole Family excepting one little Daughter of the Nobleman's The Nobleman returning home after two days and finding his Gate shut rode nearer to the Walls of the House wondring Where the Black-a-more upon the top of the House with a fearful Countenance spake unto him these words O thou cruel Man thou rememberest how unworthily thou beat'st me not long since for no fault the memory whereof I still retain in my mind and have revenged this wrong upon thine behold here part of the Carcass of thy Wife whom I have slain with thy whole Family except this little Child which I have reserved
of his Death and Passion that Satisfaction may be made by this means for all my Sins and Crimes and the remembrance of them may be blotted out I witness also and profess that I humbly beg of him that being washed and cleansed in the Blood of that most high Redeemer shed for the sins of Mankind I may stand at the Judgment-Seat under the Image of my Redeemer Also I profess that I have diligently done my Endeavour according to the measure of Grace received and Bounty which God hath used towards me that I might Preach his Word holily and purely both in Sermons Writings and Commentaries and interpret his Holy Scriptures faithfully I also witness and profess That I have used no Jugglings no Evil and Sophistical Arts in my Controversies and Disputations which I have held with the Enemies of the Gospel but have exercised my self candidly and sincerely in maintaining the Truth But out alas that Study and Zeal of mine if it be worthy to be so called hath been so remiss and languishing that I confess innumerable things have been wanting in me to the well-performing of my Duty and unless the unmeasurable Bounty of God had been present my Studies had been vain and languid Moreover I acknowledge that unless the same Bounty had been present to me the Goods of the Mind which God hath given me would have made me guilty of the greater sin and Slothfulness before his Judgment-seat For which causes I witness and profess that I hope for no other help for Salvation but this only that seeing God is a Father of Mercy he shewed himself a Father unto me who acknowledge my self a Miserable Sinner As for Other Things after my Departure out of this Life I would have my Body committed to the Earth in that order and manner which is usual in this Church and City till the blessed Day of Resurrection cometh As for that Slender Patrimony which God hath given me I determine thus to dispose of it Let Anthony Calvin my most dear Brother be my Heir but only for Honour-sake let him take before hand and have to himself the Silver Charger given me by Varannius wherewith I desire him to be contented For whatsoever things remain in my Inheritance I request and commit them to his Faith that he return them to his Children when he dies I bequeath Ten Golden Scutes to the School of Boys from the same my Brother and Heir Also so much to Poor Strangers So much to Joan the Daughter of Charles Costan and of my Kinswoman But to Samuel and John the Sons of my said Brother I desire 40 Golden Scutes may be given to them by mine Heir when he dies To Ann Susan and Dorothy his Daughters 30 Scutes of Gold but to David their Brother because of his lightness and miscarriages but 25. This is the whole Sum of the whole Patrimony and Goods which God hath given me so near as I can estimate it setting a Price upon my Library my Moveables and all my Houshold Goods with all other my Faculties If there be found any thing above I would have it to be distributed to all these Children the Sons and Daughters of my Brother Neither do I exclude that David if he prove a good Husband If there shall be any surplusage above that Sum I believe there will be no great matter especially when my Debts are paid the care thereof I have committed to my said Brother upon whose Love and Fidelity I rely For which cause I will and appoint him to be the Executor of my Testament and together with him the Worshipful Lawrence Normandy giving them power to takean Inventory of my Goods without any more accurate Diligence of the Court I also permit them to sell my Moveables that out of the Money made thereof they may execute my Will above-written Dated this 25th of Apr. A. C. 1564. After this Will signed he made a Speech to the Senators and another to the Ministers both very grave and pathetical wrote a Letter to Mr. Viret an old Friend of his 80 Years of Age to prevent his Visiting of him concluding thus I would not have you to weary your self for my sake I hardly draw my Breath and I expect daily when it will fail me wholly It is enough that I live and die to Christ who is gain to his both in Life and Death Again Farewell May 11th 1564. On May 27th after much short breathing and sighing and those Words frequently uttered How long Lord how long about Sun setting he fell asleep Ibid. p. 312. 12. Cardinal Bellarmine made this his Last Will and Testament In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ I Robert Bellarmine Cardinal of the Title of our Blessed Lady's Church called in Via This was a Year before his Death changed to the Name of St. Praxedes being promoted thereunto out of the Society of Jesus desired leave of Clement VIII of Sacred Memory to make my Will That my Goods might be applied to pious Uses that I might be sure that such Temporal Things as should remain after my Death and such as whilst I lived could neither be bestowed on the Poor or on Churches as being necessary for my own Maintenance might return unto the said Poor and Churches The Pope gave me a more general Grant than I desired which I did not accept but only for bestowing them on good Uses as I had desired This Indult or Grant is amongst other Bulls granted me in a great Leaf of Parchment sealed with Lead dated A. C. 1603. Apr. 8. in the 12th Year of the Pontificate of the said Pope Clement This Grant presupposed I made my Will at Capua whilst I was Archbishop of that City afterwards that Will being annulled I made another in Rome but the Circumstances of things being altered and that Second also abrogated I determined now again to make my Will being of the Age of Sixty Nine and very near as I imagine to my last Day but yet by the Grace of God in perfect Health of Body and Mind First therefore I desire with all my Heart to have my Soul commended into the hands of God whom from my Youth I have desired to serve and I beseech him not as a Valuer of Merit but as a Giver of Pardon to admit me amongst his Saints and Elect. I will have my Body not being opened to be carried without any Pomp to the Church of the Society either of the Roman College or of the professed Fathers and let the Exequies be made by the Fathers and Brothers alone of the Society without Concourse of the Holy College to wit of the Cardinals without any Bed made aloft without Arms or Scutcheons with the same plainness as is usual for others of the Society And this I do as earnestly as I can humbly entreat His Holiness that he will satisfie my Desire in it As for the Place of my Burial I would gladly have had my Body at the Feet of blessed Aloysius Gonzaga once my
rise up in Judgment against you My Lord I profess my self a True and Obedient Son to the Church of England to that Church wherein I was born and wherein I was bred Prosperity and Happiness be ever to it And wherein it hath been said That I have been enclined to Popery If it be an Objection worth answering let me say truly That from the Time I was One and twenty Years of Age till this Hour going up Nine and forty I never had thought in my Heart to doubt of the Truth of my Religion in England and never any had the boldness to suggest to me the contrary to the best of my Remembrance and so being reconciled to the Mercies of Christ Jesus my Saviour into whose Bosom I hope shortly to be gathered to enjoy those Eternal Happinesses that shall never have end I desire heartily the Forgiveness of every Man both for any rash or unadvised Word or Deed and desire your Prayers And so my Lords Farewel Farewel all the Things of this World Lord strengthen my Faith give me Confidence and Assurance in the Merits of Christ Jesus I desire that you would be silent and joyn in Prayers with me and I trust in God we shall all meet and live eternally in Heaven there to receive the Accomplishment of all Happiness where every Tear shall be wiped from our Eyes and every sad Thought from our Hearts and so God bless this Kingdom and Jesus have Mercy upon my Soul After this he prayed twice and with a low Obeysance took his Leave submitting to the Block The Relat. of his Execut. 113. Archbishop Laud made this his last Speech on the Scaffold Jan. 10. 1644. GOod People this is an uncomfortable time to preach yet I shall begin with a Text of Scripture Hebr. 12.2 Let us run with patience the race c. I have been long in my Race and how I have look'd to Jesus the Author and Finisher of my Faith he best knows I am now come to the end of my Race and here I find a Cross a Death of Shame but the Shame must be despised or no coming to the Right of God Jesus despised the Shame for me and God forbid but I should despise the Shame for him I am going apace as you see towards the Red Sea and my Feet are now upon the very brink of it an Argument I hope that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise for that was the way through which he led his Prophets but before they came to it he instituted a Passover for them a Lamb it was but to be eaten with sour Herbs I shall obey and labour to digest the sour Herbs as well as the Lamb and I shall remember it is the Lord 's Passover I shall not think of the Herbs nor be angry with the Hand that gathers them but look only to Him who instituted that and governs these for Men can have no more power over me than what is given them from above I am not in love with this Passage through the Red Sea for I have the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Flesh and Blood plentifully in me and I have prayed with my Saviour that this Cup of Red Wine might pass from me but if not God's Will not mine be done And I shall most willingly drink of this Cup as deep as he pleaseth and enter into this Sea yea and pass through it in the way that he shall lead me But I would have it remembred Good People that when God's Servants were in this boisterous Sea and Aaron among them the Egyptians which persecuted them and did in a manner drive them into that Sea were drowned in the same Waters while they were in pursuit of them I know the God whom I serve is able to deliver me from this Sea of Blood as the Three Children from the Furnace And I most humbly thank my Saviour for it my Resolution is now as theirs was then they would not worship the Image the King had set up nor will I the Imaginations which the People are setting up nor will I forsake the Temple and the Truth of God to follow the Bleating of Jeroboam's Calf in Dan and in Bethel And as for this People they are at this Day miserably misled God of his Mercy open their Eyes that they may see the right way for at this Day the Blind lead the Blind and if they go on both will certainly fall into the Ditch For my self I am and I acknowledge it in all Humility a most grievous Sinner many ways by Thought Word and Deed and I cannot doubt but that God hath Mercy in store for me a poor Penitent as well as for other Sinners I have now upon this sad Occasion ransacked every corner of my Heart and yet I thank God I have not found among the many any one Sin which deserves Death by any known Law of this Kingdom And yet hereby I charge nothing upon my Judges for if they proceed upon Proof by valuable Witnesses I or any other Innocent may be justly condemned and I thank God tho' the weight of this Sentence lie heavy upon me I am as quiet within as ever I was in my Life and tho' I am not only the first Archbishop but the first Man that ever died by an Ordinance in Parliament yet some of my Predecessors have gone this way tho' not by this means For Elphegus was hurried away and lost his Life by the Danes 3. and Simon Suabury in the Fury of Wat. Tyler and his Fellows before these St. John Baptist had his Head danced off by a lewd Woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his Head to a persecuting Sword Many Examples great and good and they teach me Patience for I hope my Cause in Heaven will look of another dye than the Colour that is put upon it here and some Comfort it is to me that I go the way of these Great Men in their several Generations and also that my Charge as foul as it is made looks like that of the Jews against St. Paul Act. 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Stephen Act. 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the Holy Place and the Temple v. 13. But you will say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Stephen No! far be that from me I only raise a Comfort to my self that these Great Saints and Servants of God were laid at in their times as I am now and 't is memorable that he who helped on this Accusation against St. Stephen did after all fall under the very same himself Yea but here 's a great Clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you know what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him venient Romani
of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that Therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People and truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whomsoever but I must tell you That their Liberty and Freedom consist in having 〈◊〉 Government those Laws by which their Lives and Goods may be most their own It is not for having a share in Government Sirs that is nothing pertaining to them a Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean until you do put the People in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws chang'd according to the Power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to their Charge That I am the Martyr of the People In troth Sirs I shall not trouble you much longer for I will only say this to you That in truth I could have desired some little time longer because that I would have put this that I have said in a little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you may take those Courses that are best for the Good of the Kingdom and your own Salvation The Bishop of London minding him to say something concerning his Religion he answered I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs my Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the World and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left by my Father and this honest Man I think can witness it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs Excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and a Gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take heed that they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax the King said Take heed of the Ax Pray take heed of the Ax. Then to the Executioner I shall have but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my Hand Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Doth my Hair trouble you Who desired him to put it all under his Cap which he did accordingly Then to Dr. Juxon I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side Dr. Juxon There is but one Stage more This Stage is turbulent and troublesome it is a short one but you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of Cordial Joy and Comfort King I go from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Crown where no Disturbance can be Doctor You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good Exchange Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Dr. Juxon saying Remember And so humbly submitted to the Block Jan. 30. 1648. through the Indignity and unjust Dealing of ill Men. A brief Review of the most material Parl. Transact began Nov. 3. 1640. 115. Duke Hamilton Earl of Cambridge made this his last Speech on the Scaffold in the Palace-yard march 9. 1649. I Think it is truly not very necessary for me to speak much there are many Gentlemen and Soldiers there that see me but my Voice truly is so weak so low that they cannot hear me neither truly was I ever at any time so much in love with speaking or with any thing that I had to express that I took delight in it yet this being the last time that I am to do so by a Divine Providence of Almighty God who hath brought me to this End justly for my Sins I shall to you Sir Mr. Sheriff declare thus much as to the Matter I am now to suffer for which is as being a Traytor to the Kingdom of England Truly Sir it was a Country I equally loved with my own I made no difference I never intended either the Generality of its Prejudice or any particular Man 's in it what I did was by the Command of the Parliament of the Country where I was born whose Command I could not disobey without running into the same hazard there of that condition that I am now in It pleased God so to dispose that Army under my Command as it was ruined and I as their General cloathed with a Commission stand here now ready to die I shall not trouble you with repeating of my Plea what I said in my own Defence at the Court of Justice my self being well satisfied with the Command laid upon me and they satisfied with the Justice of their proceedure according to the Laws of this Land God is Just howsoever I shall not say any thing as to the matter of the Sentence but that I do willingly submit to his Divine Providence and acknowledge that very many ways I deserve even a Worldly Punishment as well as hereafter For we are all sinners Sir I am a great one yet for my Comfort I know there is a God in Heaven that is exceeding merciful I know my Redeemer sits at his Right-hand and am confident clapping his hand on his Breast is Mediating for me at this instant I am hopeful through his Free Grace and All-sufficient Merits to be pardoned of my sins and to be received into his Mercy upon that I rely trusting to nothing but the Free Grace of God through Jesus Christ I have not been tainted in my Religion I thank God for it since my Infancy it hath been such as hath been profess'd in the Land and established and now it is not this Religion or that Religion nor this or that Fancy of Men that is to be built upon it is but one that 's right one that 's sure and that comes from God Sir and in the Free Grace of our Saviour Sir there is truly somewhat that he then observing the Writers had I thought my Speech would have been thus takeâ—â—â— would have digested it into some better Method than now I can and shall desire these Gentlemen that do write it that they will not wrong me in it and that it may not in this manner be published to my disadvantage for truly I did not intend to have spoken thus when I came here c.
ready to make a short-sighted Man exclaim with Hercules in the Tragoedian That Vertue is but an empty Name or at least could only serve to make its Owners more sensibly unhappy But altho' such Examples might a little work on a weaker Vertue that which is more confirmed and solid can more easily resist it 'T is not impatient nor uneasie but still believes that Heaven is awake that the Iron Hands of Justice will at length overtake the Offenders and by their Destruction vindicate the Honour and Innocence of those whom they have ruin'd It considers any Riddles in Providence as a curious piece of Opticks which if judged of either before 't is finished or by piece meal here an Eye and there another distorted Feature appears not only unpleasing but really dreadful which yet if viewed when 't is compleat and taking all the Features together makes a Figure sufficiently regular and lovely Who almost could have imagined without some such Reflections as these that those brave Men we have seen for some Years past pick'd out and out off one after another with as much Scandal and Obloquy as cou'd be thrown upon 'em by the ungenerous Malice of thier Enemies when the very Attempt to clear their Reputation has been made almost Capital and involved those who had Courage enough to attempt it in little less Mischief than what they themselves endured That ever these Phoenixes should rise again and flourish in their Ashes That so many great Pens should already have done some of 'em Justice and the World as much to all the rest And with how much more Joy if 't were possible would those Heroes have received their Crowns could they have foreseen their Deaths wou'd have tended so far to work up the Nation to such a just Resentment as wou'd at last have so great an Influence as we find it had on our late glorious deliverance We shall therefore here under this Chapter add the Last Words and what 's Remarkable in the Deaths of those Eminent Persons who fell in Defence of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties both in London and the West of England from the Year 1678. to this Time 1. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey declared some Days before his Death That he believed in his Conscience he should be the first Martyr Two Anagrams there were made on this brave Gentleman which for the peculiar luckiness of 'em it may not be ungrateful to the Reader to have 'em inserted Sir EDMVNDBVRY GODFREY Anagram I FIND MURDER'D BY ROGUES Another BY ROME'S RUDE FINGER DIE He was the first Martyr for our holy Protestant Religion We shall address what has been written on this Subject not only to Posterity but to all the sober unprejudic'd Men of the present Age and so dismiss it and go on to the rest for whom he only made way after we have presented you with one of the best pieces of Wit tht the Age has yielded on Sir Edmund's Death 'T is a part of that ingenious Poem call'd Bacchanalia Well Primrose my our Godfrey's Name on thee Like Hyacinth inscribed be On thee his Memory flourish still Sweet as thy Flower and lasting as thy Hill Whilst blushing Somerset to her Eternal Shame shall this Inscription wear The Devil's an Ass for Jesuits on this spot Broke both the Neck of Godfrey and the Plot. 2. Mr. COLLEDGE NO body can doubt but that 't was now very much the Interest of the Papists to get off if possible that foul Imputation of a Plot which stuck so deep upon 'em which had been confirm'd by Sir Edmund's Murther Coleman's never-to-be-forgotten Letters Arnold's Assassination and a great deal of Collateral Evidence which fell in unexpectedly many of those who gave it being utterly unacquainted with the first Discoverers After several unfortunate Attempts they had made to this purpose after the Living had perjur'd themselves and the Dying done worse to support their desperate Cause after Attempts to blast and ruine some of the Evidence and buy off others of 'em in both which publick Justice took notice of and punish'd 'em being of a Religion that sticks no Villany to serve an Interest and certainly the most indefatigable and firm People in the World when they set about any Design especially where Diana is concern'd not being yet discouraged they resolv'd to venture upon one Project more which prov'd but too successful to the Loss of the bravest and best Blood in the Kingdom and that was to Brand all those who were the steddiest Patriots and so their greatest Enemies of what Rank soever they were with the odious Character of Persons disaffected to the Government or in the old Language Enemies to Caesar They pretended to perswade the World that after all this great noise of a Popish Plot 't was only a Presbyterian one lay at the bottom Things being thus what can any Man of Modesty say to Mr. Colledge's Protestations over and over both in Prison and at his Death that he was perfectly innocent of what he dy'd for I did deny in them say he that is before the Council and do deny it upon my Death I never was in any manner of Plot in my days nor ever had any such Design as these Men have sworn against me I take God to witness as I am a dying Man and on the Terms of my Salvation I know not one Man upon the face of the Earth which would have stood by me And lower I knew not of any part of what they swore against me till I heard it sworn at the Bar. Again All the Arms we had was for our Defence in case the Papists should have made any Attempt by way of Massacre c. God is my Witness this is all I know And in his solemn Prayer and some of his almost very last Words 'T is thee O God I trust in I disown all Dispensations and will not go out of the World with a Lye in my Mouth And just after to the People From the sincerity of my Heart I declare again That these are the very Sentiments of my Soul as God shall have Mercy upon me Thus dy'd Mr. Colledge whose Blood as he himself desir'd it might sufficiently spoke the Justice of his Cause who seem'd in his Speech to have some Prophetick Intimations that his Blood would not be the last as indeed it was not but rather a Praelude to that which follow'd the Edge of the Law being now turn'd against all those who dar'd defend it He has one Daughter yet living whose Gratitude and Generosity to those who were kind to her under the Misfortunes of her Family is at present the Wonder and Entertainment of the Court of England and whose brave Soul speaks her the true Child of such a Father His CHARACTER How great and undaunted his Courage was both his Tryal and Death testifie He was very vigorous and earnest almost to a Fault in his Undertakings But certainly there are so few who err on that hand that
Interest than most of his Station He was sworn against by Rouse's Lee and Richard Goodenough upon the old Stories of seizing the Tower City and Savoy 'T was urged That there was Three Years between the Fact pretended and Lee's Prosecution of him which tho' they had but one Witness could have brought him to Punishment which would have been judged sufficient by any but those who would be content with nothing but Blood For Goodenough he was but one Witness and pardon'd only so far as to qualifie him to do Mischief However he was found Guilty and died as much like a Christian and with as great a Presence of Mind as most of the others The Last Words of those which suffered in the West of England and other Places chiefly under Jeffrey's insulting Cruelty ONE thing there is very observable in most if not all of those who laid down their Lives in Defence of the Protestant Religion both in England and Scotland that besides that extraordinary Divine Courage and Chearfulness with which they dy'd they had Expressions plainly boading that great Deliverance which Providence has since that miraculously accomplished for these Kingdom 'T would be endless to give almost all the innumerable Instances of it Mr. Nelthrop says God had in his wonderful Providence made him and others Instruments not only in what was already fallen out but he believed for hast'ning some other great Work he had yet to do in these Kingdoms Mrs. Gaunt says God 's Cause shall revive and he 'd plead it at another rate than yet he had done against all its malicious Opposers And speaks yet more strangely of those then uppermost and likely to be so That tho' they were seemingly fix'd and using their Power and Violence against those they had now got under 'em yet unless they could secure Jesus Christ and all his Holy Angels they should never do their Business but Vengeance would be upon 'em ' e're they were aware Capt. Ansley whose Speech is as pretty a meat thing as close and Christian and couragious as perhaps any that ever was made by Man in his Condition after he had said He did not repent what he had done but if he had a thousand Lives would have engag'd 'em all in the same Cause adds just after Though it has pleased the wise God for Reasons best known to himself now to blast our Designs yet he will deliver his People by ways we know not nor think of Rumbold said just the same Mr. Hewling says I question not but in his own time God will raise up other Instruments to carry on the same Cause they dy'd for for his own Glory Mr. Lark That he was confident God would Revenge their Bloods Now it will be very harsh to say all these and several more to the same purpose were nothing but Enthusiasm since spoken by Persons of all Sexes and Ages in twenty different Places in the most calm and serene Tempers and the Persons not wild or fanciful and their Words miraculously made good by the Event which shews God honour'd 'em with being Prophets as well as Martyrs To proceed to the Persons who suffer'd in this Cause here and in the West and other Places chiefly under Jeffrey's Insulting Cruelty His dealing with 'em is not to be parallel'd by any thing but the new French Dragoons or the old Cut-throats and Lords Chief-Justices of the poor Albigenses or Waldenses at Merindol and Cutrices Had the Great Turk sent his Janisaries or the Tartar his Armies among 'em they 'd scaped better Humanity could not offend so far to deserve such Punishment as he inflicted A certain Barbarous Joy and Pleasure grinn'd from his Brutal Soul through his Bloody Eyes when ever he was Sentencing any of the poor Souls to Death and Torment so much worse than Nero as when that Monster wish'd he had never learnt to Write because forc'd to set his Name to Warrants for Execution of Malefactors Jeffreys would have been glad if every Letter he writ had been such a Warrant and every Word a Sentence of Death He observ'd neither Humanity to the Dead nor Civility to the Living He made all the West an Aceldama some Places quite depopulated and nothing to be seen in 'em but forsaken Walls unlucky Gibbets and Ghostly Carcasses The Trees were loaden almost as thick with Quarters as Leaves the Houses and Steeples covered as closed with Heads as at other times frequently in that Country with Crows or Ravens Nothing could be liker Hell than all those Parts nothing so like the Devil as be Caldrons hizzing Carkesses boiling Pitch and Tar sparkling and glowing Blood and Limbs boiling and tearing and mangling and he the great Director of all and in a word discharging his Place who sent him the best deserving to be the late King 's Chief Justice there and Chancellor after of any Man that breath'd since Cain or Judas Some of the more Principal Persons who fell under his Barbarcus Sentence 't is thought worth the while to treat distinctly and particularly of throning the rest together after ' em And the first whom we shall make special Remarks on are 1. The HEWLINGS IF any one would see true Pure Popish Mercy let 'em look on these two Gentlemen the only Sons of their vertuous and sorrowful surviving Parents the Comforts Props and Hopes of their Name and Family carefully educated vertuously disposed both of them after all repeated Applications if but for one of their Lives barbarously Executed A particular Care was taken by their Father in their Education forming their Minds by his own Example and constant Instructions and Prayers as well as other Pains of Ingenuous Masters to the strictest Rules of Piety and Vertue Nor was their Pious and very tender Mother less careful in that particular The Elder Mr. Benjamin Hewling had Tutors in the Mathematicks and other parts of Philosophy a course of which he went through successfully enough and so as to render him as compleat in his Mind as Nature had form'd his Body After which he went to Holland as his Brother Mr. William Hewling from whence this last returned with the Duke Both of 'em had Commands in the Army the Elder had a Troop of Horse the Younger was a Lieutenant of Foot and discharged their Places with much more Conduct and Bravery than could be expected from such young Soldiers being entirely satisfied in the Cause they fought for since 't was no less than the Interest of all that was dear to 'em in this World or t'other The Eldest had particularly signaliz'd himself in several Skirmishes and was sent with a Detachment of his own Troop and two more to Myn-head in Somersetshire to bring Cannon to the Army at the very instant the Duke engaged the King's Forces at fatal Sedgmore and came not up till after the Field was entirely lost to whose Absence with so considerable a Party of the Duke's Horse and the Most resolved Men of all he had the Loss of
this Affair more and more cleared up to me God hath given God hath taken blessed be his holy Name that hath enabled me to be willing to suffer rather than to put forth my hand to Iniquity or to say a Confederacy with those that do so I am heartily and sincerely troubled for what hath happened many mans Lives being lost and many poor distressed Families ruin'd the Lord Pardon what of sin he hath seen in it He in his wonderful Providence hath made me and others concerned Instruments not only for what is already fallen out but I believe for hastening some other great Work he hath to do in these Kingdoms whereby he will try and purge his People and winnow the Chaff from the Wheat the Lord keep those that are his Faithful unto the end I die in Charity with all the World and can readily and heartily forgive my greatest Enemies even those that have been Evidences against me and I most humbly beg the Pardon of all that I have in the least any way injured and in a special manner humbly ask Pardon of the Lady Lisle's Family and Relations for that my being succoured there one Night with Mr. Hicks brought that worthy Lady to suffer Death I was wholly a Stranger to her Ladiship and came with Mr. Hicks neither did she as I verily believe know who I was or my Name till I was taken And if any other have come to any loss or trouble I humbly beg their Pardon and were I in a condition I would as far as I was able make them a requital As to my Faith I neither look nor hope for Mercy but only in the Free-Grace of God by the Application of the Blood of Jesus my dearest and only Saviour to my poor sinful Soul My distresses have been exceeding great as to my Eternal State but through the infinite goodness of God tho' I have many sins to answer for yet I hope and trust as to my particular that Christ came for this very end and purpose to relieve the Oppressed and to be a Physician to the Sick I come unto thee O blessed Jesus refuse me not but wash me in thine own Blood and then present me to thy Father as Righteous What though my Sins be as Crimson and of a Scarlet Dye Yet thou canst make them as white as Snow I see nothing in my self but what must utterly ruine and condemn me I cannot answer for one Action of my whole Life but I cast my self wholly upon thee who art the Fountain of Mercy in whom God is reconciling himself to the World the greatest of Sins and Sinners may find an All-sufficiency in thy Blood to cleanse them from all sin O dearest Father of Mercy look upon me as Righteous in and through the imputed Righteousness of thy Son he hath payed the Debt by his own Offering up himself for sin and in that thy Justice is satisfied and thy Mercy is magnified Grant me thy Love O dearest Father assist me and stand by me in the needful hour of Death give thy Angels charge over my poor Soul that the Evil One may not touch nor hurt it Defend me from his Power deliver me from his Rage and receive me into thine Eternal Kingdom in and through the alone Merits of my dearest Redeemer for whom I praise thee To whom with thy self and holy Spirit be ascribed all Glory Honour Power Might and Dominion for ever and for ever Amen Dear Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Amen R. NELTHROP Newgate Octob. 29. 1685. 6. Mrs. GAVNT ONE of the great Reasons why Mrs. Gaunt was burnt was 't is very possible because she lived at Wapping the honest Seamen and hearty Protestants thereabouts being such known Enemies to Popery and Arbitrary Government that the Friends of both gave all who oppose it the Name of Wappingers as an odious Brand and Title She was a good honest charitable Woman who made it her business to relieve and help whoever suffered for the forementioned Cause sparing no Pains refusing no Office to get them Assistance in which she was the most Industrious and Indefatigable Woman living Among others whom she had thus relieved who were obnoxious Persons was one Burton whom with his Wife and Family she had kept from starving for which may the very Name of them be register'd with Eternal Infamy they swore against her and took away her Life Tho' she says in her Speech there was but one Witness against her as to any Money she was charg'd to give him and that he himself an Outlawed Person his Outlawry not yet revers'd he not being Outlawed when she was with him and hid him away That which she writ in the Nature of a Speech has a great deal of Sense and Spirit Were my Pen qualified to represent the due Character of this Excellent Woman it would be readily granted That she stood most deservedly entituled to an Eternal Monument of Honour in the hearts of all sincere Lovers of the Reformed Religion All true Christians tho' in some things differing in Persuasion with her found in her an Universal Charity and sincere Friendship as is well known to many here and also to a multitude of the Scotch Nation Ministers and others who for Conscience-sake were formerly thrust into Exile These found her a most refreshing Refuge She dedicated her self with unwearied Industry to provide for their Supply and Support and therein I do incline to think she out-stripped every individual Person if not the whole Body of Protestants in this great City Hereby she became exposed to the implacable Fury of Bloody Papists and those blind Tools who co-operated to promote their accursed Designs And so there appeared little difficulty to procure a Jury as there were well-prepared Judges to make her a Sacrifice as a Traytor to the State Her Judges the King's Counsel the Solicitor-General the Common Serjeant c. rackt their Inventions to draw Burton and his Wife to charge Mrs. Gaunt with the knowledge of his being in a Plot or in the Proclamation but nothing of that could be made out nor is here any sort of Proof that Mrs. Gaunt harboured this ungrateful Wretch or that she gave him either Meat or Drink as the Indictment charges her but notwithstanding that her Jury brought her in Guilty The Sentence was executed upon this Excellent Woman upon Friday then following being the 23d of October 1685. when she left her Murderers the following Memorial Newgate 22d of October 1685. Mrs. Gaunt's Speech written the Day before her Sufferings NOT knowing whether I should be suffered or able because of weaknesses that are upon me through my hard and close Imprisonment to speak at the Place of Execution I writ these few Lines to signifie That I am well reconciled to the way of my God towards me though it be in ways I looked not for and by terrible things yet in Righteousness having given me Life he ought to have the disposing of it when and how he pleases
Hearts to be truly thankful Comfort my Fellow Sufferers that are immediately to follow Give them Strength and Comfort unto the end I forgive all the World even all those that have been the immediate Hastners of my Death I am in Charity with all Men. And now blessed Lord Jesus into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Our Father c. After which going up the Ladder he desired the Executioner not to be hard to him who answered No and said I pray Master forgive me To which he said I do with my whole Heart and I pray God forgive thee But I advise thee to leave off this bloody Trade The Executioner said I am forced to do what I do it 's against my Mind So lifting up his Hands to Heaven the Executioner did his Office 17. The Behaviour and Dying Words of Mr. ROGER SATCHEL who was Executed at Weymouth in the County of Dorset MR. Satchel at the time of the Duke's landing at Lyme lived at Culliton about Five Miles West of that Town No sooner had he the News of the Duke's being landed but he sets himself to work to serve him desiring all he knew to joyn with him and was one of the first that went to him to Lyme and was with him to the end But after the Rout travelling to and fro to secure himself was at last taken at Chard by three Moss Troopers He was from thence carried to Ilchester and so secured in Ilchester Gaol and at the Bloody Assizes at Dorchester took his Tryal and received his Sentence with the rest After Sentence two of his Friends came to him and told him there was no Hope He answer'd My Hope is in the Lord. After which he spent most of his time before Execution in Prayer and Meditation and conferring with many good Persons The Morning being come he prepared himself and all the way drawing to Execution was very devout Being come to the Place there was a Minister I think of that Place who sung a Psalm and prayed with them and would have some Discourse with this Person which he avoided as much as possible but he asked him what were his Grounds for joyning in that Rebellion who answered Had you Sir been there and a Protestant I believe you would have joyned too But do not speak to me about that I am come to die for my Sins not for my Treason against the King as you call it So pointing to the Wood that was to burn his Bowels he said I do not care for that what matters it what becomes of my Body so my Soul be at rest So praying to himself near half an Hour and advising some he knew never to yield to Popery he was turned off the Ladder He was a couragious bold spirited Man and one of great Reason just and punctual in all his Business and one that did much Good amongst his Neighbours 18. Mr. LANCASTER THere was at the same Time and Place one Mr. Lancaster executed whose Courage and Deportment was such that he out-braved Death and in a manner challenged it to hurt him saying I die for a good Cause and am going to a gracious God I desire all your Christian Prayers 'T is good to go to Heaven with Company And much more he spake concerning the Duke of Monmouth whom he supposed at that time to be living And so praying privately for some small time he was turned or rather leaped off the Ladder 19. The Last Speech of Mr. BENJAMIN SANDFORD at the Place of Execution HE with Nine more was brought from Dorchester to Bridport to be Executed Coming to the Place of Execution he held up his Hands to Heaven and turning himself to the People said I Am an Old Man you see and I little thought to have ended my Days at such a shameful Place and by such an ignominious Death and indeed it is dreadful to Flesh and Blood as well as a Reproach to Relations but it would have been a great deal more if I had suffered for some Felonious Account Says one to him Is not this worse do you think than Felony He answered I know not any thing that I have done so bad as Felony that this heavy Judgment should fall upon me except it be for my Sins against my God whom I have highly provok'd and must acknowledge have deserved Ten thousand times more Lord I trust thou hast pardoned them Seal my Pardon in the Blood of my Saviour Lord look upon and be with me to the last moment 20. JOHN BENNET THere was also Executed at the same time one John Bennet a poor Man but Pious and of good Report with his Neighbours in Lyme where he lived I have heard that when he was on Trial a certain Person inform'd his Lordship that the Prisoner then at the Bar had Alms of the Parish And that his Lordship should reply Do not trouble your selves I will ease the Parish of that trouble In Prison and at the Place of Execution he behaved himself so to all that many of his Enemies pitied him and would if it had lain in their Power as they said have saved him Here was a glorious Instance of Filial Affection His Son being then present offered to have died for him and was going up the Ladder if it might have been suffer'd He prayed some short time and so was translated as we have Hopes to think from this troublesome World into Celestial Joy and everlasting Happiness To conclude The Solemn Serious Dying Declarations and Christian Courage of the Western Sufferers have always outweighed with me the Evidence of those flagitious Witnesses who swore these Persons out of their Lives And I did and do most stedfastly believe that the only Plot in that Day was the same which the Almighty has at length owned and most signally prospered in the Hand of our Gracious August and Rightful Sovereign King William I mean the rescuing the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of England from a most impetuous Torrent of Popery and Tyranny wherewith they were most dangerously threatned Thus far the Author of the Bloody Assizes from whom I have extracted all the Memoirs relating to the Deaths and Sufferings of English Protestants from the Year 1678. to this Time While we are thus talking of Death and Dying I can't forbear naming the Ghostly Last Will and Testament of M. Armand It contains the real Inclinations of his Soul in all the Accidents of his Life That he was bigotted to the Roman Catholick Religion is plain by this Ghostly Will wherein he allows no Salvation out of it This Will being long I shall not insert it here but referr you to the Present State of Europe for December 1695. where you will find it recited at large Since the Publication of M. Arnaud's Ghostly Will there is come to light his Temporal Will wherein that which is most Remarkable is his persisting to acknowledge himself a Son of the Catholick Church and his bequeathing his Heart to the
Heart into several Muscles and assigning to it a Muscular Motion and thereby showing several ways whereby it may be impeded or disturbed he hath done good Service to the Pathalogical Part of Physick 16. Whether Walaeus Bartholin or any other were the first that found out the Circulation of the Blood I cannot say but Dr. Lower's Computation of the Frequency of the Bloods Circulation through the Heart is very ingenious and the Cause he assigns of the florid Colour of it when emitted seems new and probable 17. Dr. Majo hath lately taught us That the Air is impregnated with a Nitro-acrial Spirit and that it difused almost throughout the whole System of Nature and that Fire it self as to its Form and Effence is nothing else but the same Spirit put into Motion and that all Fermentations whether tending to Generation Perfection or Corruption depend on this Spirit 18. Mr. Tyson hath lately observed that many other strong Scented Animals besides the Hycena Odorifera the Civet-Cat the Castor or Beaver the Gazella Indica or Capra Mosci from whence our Musk and the Fishes Sepia Loligo Purpura have sollicular Repositories or Bags near the Exit of the Intestinum Rectum wherein they keep those Humours or Liquors that are the Vehicles of their Scents This he hath observed in Pole-Cats Foxes Weasels Cats c. Which Vessicles or little Bags are found by pairs one on each side of the Gut proportional to the bigness of the Animals To Instance in all the particular Discoveries and Improvements made in Anatomy Physick c. would be a Task sufficient to make up a large Volume by it self CHAP. IV. Improvements in Musick IN Musick it would be too tedious to determine Whether the Improvement or Alteration hath been greater Certain it is That several old English Instruments are laid aside as the Orpharian the Polyphone an Instrument surely not to be despised considering its rare Structue and the esteem had of it by Learned and therefore most Judiciously Musical Persons of this Age viz. Sir F. Pruscan and Dr. Rugely The Bandore the Ghittern Cittern c. The Treble Viol also is much out of Doors since the Violin came so much in request The Base and Lira Viol in the making whereof Wroth was without dispute the best Workman that ever wrought keep pretty well in repute especially the first because it cannot be wanted well in Consert c. 1. The Lute is not wholly laid aside but within this 20 or 30 Years much neglected to what it was formerly notwithstanding the great Improvement of this Instrument among us within a hundred Years by reason of the diversity of Tunings received from France some of whose best Lute-Masters brought over not only these Harp-Tunings but themselves also and by their active Hands and airy Fancies obliged the Musick-Lovers of our Nation with Transcendant Harmony 2. The Fine easie Ghittar whose Performance is soon gained at least after the brushing way hath at this present over-topt the noble Lute Nor is it to be denied but that after the pinching way the Ghittar makes some good work 3. The Theorbo which is no other than an Arch-Lute keeping to the old Tuning is still generally made use of in Consorts And there are yet some among the Judicious who think it the most agreeable and becoming Associate to Vocal Musick The Organ hath been wonderfully advanced of late Years by the addition of several Melodious Stops 5. The Harpsicon is of late mightily Improved by the Invention of the Pedal which brings it so near to the Organ that it only seems to come short of it in Lungs 6. Here may not be unfitly mentioned that Musical Automaton a kind of Harpsicon which by a Clockwork-motion discharges a certain set number of Tunes according as it is would up to this or that Tune Of this sort of Automata there is to be seen a very neat Piece of Art of Reed-work at a House at St. Mary-Overs-Dock the Artificer thereof Mr. Tho. Hill of Westminster His Pitch-Pipe for the Tuning of Musical Instruments to Consort which is particularly worthy note for exactness variety and curious Work above any thing that is to be seen elsewhere of this Nature 7. The Harp is increased in repute and though the Welsh Gut-string formerly gave place to the Irish Wire-string now the Spanish Gut-string comes up with it 8. The Violin is now arrived to a great Perfection of Performance 9. The Flagiolet within this 20 or 30 Years and since that the Flute have been highly in vogue and frequented in use Present State Eng. Part 3. p. 90. c. 10. In Musick to pass by a Harpsecord that I met with at Sir Tho. Penystons with Cat 's Gut-string it hath been lately observed here at Oxford that though Viol or Lute-strings rightly Tuned do affect one another yet most of them do it not in all places alike as has till now been supposed For if the lesser of two Octaves be touched with the Hand or Bow each half of the Greater will answer it but will stand still in the middle and if the greater of the two Octaves be touched on either of its halves all the lesser will answer it but if touched on the middle the lesser will not stir c. Dr. Plot 's Nat. Hist Oxfordsh c. 9. p. 288. Dr. Marsh hath offered a Solution of this Phaenomenon in all its cases Concerning which vide Ibid. One Hooper of Oxford could so close his Lips as to fing an Octave at the same time And I know saith Dr. Plot two other Persons now living here that can do it though their Lips be set in that posture yet they shut them so close that they can by no means pronounce any thing articulate But he that excells them all and indeed to a miracle is one Mr. Jos Dring a young Gentleman of Har-Hall who sings a Song articulately ore Patulo and all in Octaves so very strongly and yet without much straining that he equals if not excells the loudest Organ He performs it in the lower part of his Throat and it came casually on him at first upon over-straining of his Voice Ibid. CHAP. V. Improvements in Astronomy ONE would think the Heavenly Bodies were out of Man's reach or that the Ancient Inhabitants of Phoenicia Egypt Chaldea Greece c. had in so many Thousand Years made so many Observations upon them that nothing more could be added and yet we have made fresh remarks here and useful Discoveries and Improvements not to speak of the World in the Moon which some have asserted and undertaken to make out for very probable or the Foramina and Cavities in others or the new Star in Cassiopea The Fleet Astronomer can bore And thread the Spheres with his quick-piercing Mind he views their Stations walks from Door to Door Surveys as if he had design'd To make a Purchase there he sees their Dances And knoweth long before Both their full-eyed Aspects and secret glances Herbert 1. The