death by the hand of his Brother At other times and in other cases his Carriage was commendable Psal 39. 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it If you say this is not to the purpose this cometh not home to the point what comfort can you afford me touching my Sons Salvation or what ground of hope Here I confess I am at a loss and must say as the King of Israel to the poor Woman crying Help O King If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee If the Word yield thee no hope or solid ground of Comfort I should but proffer flattery and visions of my own heart if I should offer to give Topicks of Comfort out of my own Invention You are not without hope that God might give him Repentance to recover himself out of the snare of the Devil if your intelligence be not to the contrary There is place left for hope Adversity often opens the eye that sin had shut as we see in Josephs Brethren who had lain in their sin above twenty years without remorse till Affliction awakened them The like we see in Manasses when he was in affliction he humbled himself and besought God who was intreated of him though he had been a prodigious sinner So the prodigal Son by straits and other awakening afflictions came to himself and returned to his Fathers house And the example of Rochesters Repentance is remarkable You cannot say you were sure his Repentance was true neither are you sure of the contrary So you are between hope and fear let that keep you from despair But suppose the worst to use the words of Bildad to Job If thy Children have sinned against him and he have cast them away for their transgressions by the way this was a harsh censure if it should be thus yet here is this Comfort that he dyed in his Youth not a sinner of an hundred years old but â— young vain ignorant seduced person to use your own words Anâ— so his punishment will be less than if he had lived to gray hairs and aâ—l his life had walked in the way of his own heart and so had served divers lusts and pleasures You have parted with some Children before now these you make no question but are in Heaven you have others living I know not how many they will strive to be a Comfort to you I hope by walking in the fear of God And it is a rare thâ—ng and not often seen that aâ—l a Mans Children where thâ—y be numerous do make good proof but one or more of them go astray I mean where Parents are Godly and careful Corruptions too often prevails above Education Imitate David not in his immoderate mourning for Absalom but in his moderation touching Ammon he was comforted concerning Ammon seeing he was dead And at the death of the Infant Now he is dead saith he wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Which of you by taking thought can add to his stature on cubit Put away excessive grief from your heart and rejoyce in hope of Glory to come Be thankful for the work of Grace in your own heart that God is yours Christ is yours all things are yours Life and Death things present and things to come Now the God of Peace fill you with all Joy and Peace in believing to whose Grace I commend you and rest Your unfeigned Lover SIR OUT of a deep sense of your Affliction and tender commiseration of your great loss in parting with your dearest Daughter I write these Lines to testifie our compassion and fellow feeling of your sorrow which to do is every Christians Duty much more the Duty of near Relations The same which Job calls for from his Friends Job 19. 21. Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my Friends â—or the hand of God hath touched me That you are full of heaviness â—nd have great sorrow of heart for the loss of so sweet a Child I make â—o doubt nor do I at all blame you for it so that you mourn modeâ—ately and after a right manner 1 Cor. 7. 30. Let them that weep be â—s though they wept not but I desire you may sorrow after a Godly sort â—ith Godly sorrow which worketh Repentance to Salvation not to be reâ—ented off but the sorrow of the world worketh death 2 Cor. 7. 10. That you may mourn aright you are to look up to God and see his and in this stroke Ezek. 24. 16. Son of man behold I take away â—he desire of thine eyes with a stroke And remember God is wise the â—nly wise God And wise Agents act for some end some wise and â—reat end God doth nothing in vain but the skill is to find out the â—nd of Gods chastisement He is a wise man that can do that can know the meaning and understand the Errand of Gods Rod and see his Name written upon it Mich. 6. 9. for this let us search the Scriptures which make known to us Gods mind and our Duty in such cases Let us consult the Word make it the men of our counsel as David did Psal 119. 24. and pray with Job Job 10. 2. Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me To understand Gods meaning in his correcting us and the chief end he aims at though some other ends God may have which for brevity sake I omit read Job 33. 17. where you may see Gods end is to open mens ears to instruction to with hold man from his purpose namely of sinning against God to hide pride from man Job 36. 8 9 10. If they be holden in cords of affliction he sheweth them their work their evil works their transgressions that they have exceeded i. e. gone beyond the bounds which God setteth in his Word He openeth their ear to discipline and commandeth that they turn from iniquity To the same purpose you find in Isa 27. 9. By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Agreeable hereunto hath been the practice of Gods people to humble themselves under Gods afflicting hand Lam. 3. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Let us search and try our wayes and turn unto the Lord. Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Psal 38. 18. I will declare mine iniquity I will be sorry for my sin Where this Duty is neglected God complaineth of them Isa 9. 13. This people turneth not to him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts Jer. 5. 3. Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved i. e. for their sins they have refused to return Ch. 44. 10. They are not humbled to this day To the right performance of this Duty gracious Promises are made 2 Chron. 7. 14. If my people shall humble
the Bishops would not satisfie neither Mr. Hieron could have been content to have declined all further prosecution of the business But he was desired still to stand for it and his Friends promised that if he went without it they would choose him Lecturer and they proved as good as their words Men wise and unbiassed pitched upon him in whom worth was and after the Lecturers place was void by Mr. Taylors death the Trustees for the Lecture chose Mr. Hieron Lecturer Mountney proved bad and immoral a great dishonour to the School and a vexation to the Town who sought to the Bishop to remove him who alledged he could not Then the Governours of the School stopped his Sallary and after articled against him in the High Commission but that way giving them no Relief they were at last forced to sue him at Common Law and it came to a Tryal before Judge Hutton or his Collegue and they cast him and ejected him But while Mountney proved so ill and such a vexation Mr. Hieron proved like himself and an honour to his place and satisfaction to the Town He built upon Mr. Taylors foundations and both preached and lived as that Worthy Predecessor did And though Mr. Taylor was dead yet he lived and the work was carryed on by his Successor Here Mr. Hieron continued labouring in Word and Doctrine and procured from Bishop Wright a Licence for a weekly Lecture to be preached at Ashborne which was upheld by many very able men that so by the mouths of many Witnesses what was preached on the Lords day might be confirmed and that by mutual converse Ministers might be edified and comforted as well as people advantaged I suppose it was about October in the year 1635 that he married the Relict of Mr. Taylor who had then by her former Husband two Children a Son and a Daughter An happy Choice he made and very happily they lived together She was an holy Soul understanding and prudent loved her former Husbands good Acquaintance and brought them to be Mr. Hieron's Acquaintance Those of them that I knew honoured her indeed and so did all that knew her She was the Daughter of Parents that were considerable and of very good reputation in Ashborne She had many Brethren and Sisters some of whom I knew and I think I may truly say that few Families produced more persons of good brains and excellent behaviour I knew none of them mean in the World and some of them made a considerable Figure in it Here Mr. Hieron pitched and staid till the Civil Wars came on in England and then though a quiet Man and fain would have continued at his work yet could not but was forced to make many withdrawments for security which did much disturb and tire him and his Family were put into many â—â—â—ghts by searches for him ill Neighbours informing them of Tâ—â—bury and solliciting them to take him who had no other provocation for him but only the faithful discharge of his duty He loath to live a Prisoner in a place so like Hell where his Righteous Soul must have been upon a pepetual rack resolved to remove himself and his Family with some part of his Goods to Derby And no sooner was he and his Family gone but his House was plunder'd and his Books hidden securely as he thought discovered by some ill Neighbours taken likewise This was in the year 1643. Sect. 3. About two Moneths after his coming to Derby the Inhabitants of Breadsall a Town two little Miles distant from Derby being destitute of the Exercise of the Ministry among them made their complaints to Sir John Gell then Governour of Derby who answered them Find out any sit man and I will put him in They applyed themselves to Mr. Hieron he answered He was out of employment but would not move a foot toward getting the place They returned to Sir John who offered the place to Mr. Hieron's Father occasionally there but he desired Sir John rather to bestow it on his Son which he immediately did and caused an Order of the Committee to be drawn for that End and sent a Command to the Constable of Breadsal to come on the Sabbath morning and convey him to the place and secure him They went back to him to acquaint him with what was done he told them he would not go unless the Order was sealed to take with him The Order was perfected and the Constable came on the Lords day and took him with him to Breadsall where he performed the work of the day and returned to Derby at night Thus he continued about ten moneths going to Breadsall on the Sabbath days officiating there all the day returned to his Family at Derby at night But after that time having some more probable prospect of Safety at Bradsall he removed his Family thither November 1. 1644. And there continued quietly during the War and afterwards till the 24th of August 1662 that setled Uniformity by so many breaches and rendings of Ministers and People as the Protestant part of the World never saw before Amongst the rest this conscientious Minister of Jesus Christ was catched in the Noose for no better are such Impositions than snares to the truly conscientious who are not for leaping from one mode of profession to another are not for wrigâ—ing out themselves by distinctions and evasions but would do all in simplicity and godly sincerity without any equivocations endeavouring to maintain a principle of honesty in the World I shall close this Section and Chapter with a few remarks Here may you see how Gods Providence finds work for them that have a mind to work willing minds do not ordinarily want opportunities long but God opens a door for them See again how God disposeth the forced flights of his Ministers to spread the Gospel into other places He that must not preach at Ashborne shall preach at Bradsall when his seed-time was over at Ashborne God â—â—â—â—d this Spiritual seeds-man another field God distinguisheth betwen flying Hirelings and Shepherds that are forced away God seemed by this Providence to approve his flight And you lastly see how seekers after the word do find it here was a people that could not live without the Ordinances and God cast upon them not a bare Doer but a Workman not only a man in a Ministerial habit but a man of a Ministerial Spirit The greatest mercy that ever befel Bradsall if they did know in his day the things of their peace It was his day of Service their day of advantages a price indeed was in their hands happy they that had hearts to it as some of them I hope had CHAP. VI. Of his Ministerial Endowments and of the discharge of his Ministry THE qualifications of this Worthy Man I shall give Sect. 1. you summarily He was a good Man as it 's said of Barnabas he was a Learned Man he had much of Egypts Gold and Treasure and brought it all to Gods Tabernacle He was
22. Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Job 10. 2. If your Heart do not condemn you for any particular sin yet renew your Repentance for all sin labour to excite and stir up the Grace of God within you Be more fervent in Prayer diligent in hearing more watchful over your hearts and all your wayes mortifie corruptions and walk more closely with God and pray that this Affliction may be sanctified to you that you may come forth as gold after God hath tryed you Job 23. 10. That you may be able to say as David Psal 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes This is what I thought good to say to you Parents Now I speak to your Son Though God does sometimes visit the iniquity of Parents upon Children yet there is none upon Earth so just or innocent as to be Naturally pure and free from sin All are born in sin The imagination of the Heart of Man is evil from his youth You are therefore to be humbled for Original Sin the Corruption of your Nature the Mother of all abominations And pray that you may be born again with a new birth from Heaven David confesseth Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Every one therefore must be renewed taken off the stock of old Adam and ingrassed into Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature Make sure of this that you be in Christ In him God is well pleased and with all that are in Christ If you may say with David Psal 118. 6 7. The Lord is on my side I will not fear what men or Devils can do unto me The Lord taketh my part with them that help me Again Psal 56. 11. In God I put my trust I will not fear what man can do unto me Psal 27. 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is my strength of whom shall I be afraid Rom. 8. 31. If God be for us who can be against us He that spared not his own Son c. Make sure of Gods love and then you need not fear the Devils malice For first the Devil is a conquered Foe He is a Dragon or Lyon in chains Rev. 20. 1. Christ that owns the Cross hath overcome and subdued him Heb. 2. 14. Through his death he hath destroyed him that had power of death that is the Devil He cannot go one link beyond his Chain He could not touch one Lamb of all Jobs flock till God gave him leave He could not enter into the Herd of Swine till Christ permitted him He cannot appear to you nor hurt you except God suffer him The very hairs of your head are all numbered Matth. 10. 30. By fearing him you do him too much pleasure and honour And will you pleasure a cruel enemy An enemy to God and your Soul By so doing you dishonour God and Christ who is your strength and Redeemer You do in effect say I doubt the Devil is too hard for God I fear God cannot deliver me out of his hands Whereas it is promised Rom. 16. 20. The God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly 1 Joh. 4. 4. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world How foolish a thing is it to fear that which never did befal you nor any man not one of ten thousand What did you see the Devil or have you known one man or woman that ever did see him except Witches who call him in to their assistance His suggestions or temptations cannot harm you but molest and trouble you They are not your sins you may still keep your integrity for all them as Job and Christ did And if God should suffer him to appear to you yea and carry your Body from place to place as he did our Saviour yet it is not in his power to hurt you I have read of a Godly Minister that for want of a better was forced to dwell in a House that was haunted and one night when he was in Bed the Devil appear'd to him standing like a Man at his Beds feet The Minister saw him but was not affrighted only said to him If thou have nought else to do thou mayest stand there still I will betake my self to my rest and so he did and heard no more of his guest The Devil is a proud Spirit and loveth to domineer and have men stand in awe of him to fear him instead of God and this he triumpheth in But the best way is to slight and contemn him as the Minister did so shall you be sooner rid of him Leave thinking of him and have God more in your mind his Mercy Love and Care to all that fear him his Promises Providence These call to mind Gods Attributes his Allsufficiency his Almighty Power I am the almighty God Gen. 17. 1. and Gen. 15. 1. Fâ—ar not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Josh â— 5 6. I will be with thee I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Be strong and of a good courage These Promises though made to Abraham and to Joshua belong to every believer Believers are Heirs of the Promises Heb. 6. 17. And Paul applies them to all believers Heb. 13. 5. And so doth Peter 2 Pet. 1. 4. Do you act faith in the promises and reason thus Is God my God my Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ Doth he love me Psal 146. 8. Doth he care for me 1 Pet. 5. 7. Watch over me is he my shield and buckler Psal 121. 3 4 5. Prov. 2. 7. My strength rock fortress high tower my deliverer Psal 18. 1 2. Shall I then be so cowardly as to fear a creature the Devil all the Devils in Hell when God is for me God keepeth careth for me watcheth over me night and day Isa 27. 3. Where is my faith Check your self for unbelief as Christ did Peter Matth. 14. 31. O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt And as David did his own Soul Psal 42 Why art thou cast down O my Soul c. Lastly If you are in Christ then are you dear to God though you be never so poor you are a member of Christ of the family of Heaven of the Houshold of Faith a Lamb of Christs flock a Child of God an Heir of Heaven Will God suffer the Devil to harm any so dear to him Joh. 10. 28. My sheep shall never perish nor shall any man or devils be able to pluck them out of my fathers hand Christ is a good Shepherd Isa 40. 11. He will gather the lambs in his armes and carry them in his bosom He will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised reed As a Father pityeth his Children so the Lord pityeth them that fear him He may suffer men to ride over their heads Satan to buffit them 2 Cor.