spoil so great a Gem and Jewel or Immortal thing Christ will save us now Christ will save us ever if we be but willing yet he will never bleed more but he prays and mediates for us still for he makes continual Intercession Rom. 10. 4. and his blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel that cryed down vengeance upon Cain but Christ's blood crys up forgiveness unto us Oh Father let them come to me if they will be mine Joh. 17. 24. And may you both dwell with him for ever but oh live a little if you have not live to him a little if you cannot much time being now short lay up as much as can be Treasure in Heaven where no Rust nor Thieves can come Lands Debts Rents and Houses may be all lost but Treasure in Heaven can never miscarry and if ever we indeed mean to come there it must be by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Money will not buy Pardon Blood nor Tears cannot nor the Fruit of our Bodies go for the sin of our Souls Micah 6. 7. But Christ's Blood is Currant Coin Oh stick to that Rock which will not fail when the Silken Stockin and the Silver Shoe must off and never on more nor the Soul return to the same Body Vanity of Vanities how is all but froth and vanity besides Christ and therefore if he be not ours we are lost for nothing for nothing but a Dream a Bubble and a Fancy yea and our Souls to Eternity Madam WE have presumed to offer one of these to the Lady Player Mrs. Love and Madam Pilkinton with a few humble Lines as now we do to your most great Right Honourable Ladiship from all which we most humbly pray that this Good Work which in charity must be so accounted may be a little countenanced by you the four Beloved Ladies of this mighty City for if any names be deservedly great and famous more than others sure it is yours and those other three above mentioned And may your Names live from generation to generation whilst your Walls and Gates last and your Souls to Eternity after all May Hell never be known nor Heaven lost by you nor none of yours especially your dear Husbands But may they be all four for ever Citizens in the New Jerusalem walk hand in hand with the Lamb and his Redeemed ones to the Fountains of Living Water where God shall be all in all and they alwaies drinking from the River of his Pleasures Rev. 7. 17. Psal 36. 8. So prays one and all our Charity School-house Madam THE great God and his Providence has made Sir Thomas the Father as it were of all the famous Apprentices of London and onely sole Judge between the great Merchant and his Man and not so but an Eye for the Nation also piercing through and through the greatest Intrigues Policies Stratagems that Malice Hell or Rome can lay against our King Kingdom or Religion Liberty and Interest Gems and Jewels of greater value than the Gold of Ophir in a true sense But in your sphere Madam this little little Work is not to be despised in the least but a Scriptural Honour it is to be owned the Lady of Charity and a Mistress or great Benefactor to one of their little Schools Light is light truth truth a spark is fire and true Charity praise worthy to the world's end and so long may your Name Praise and Honour live and our House also Madam LOve is from the Fountain and Divine Being of all good May that ever flow in your Name and Nature and be as natural to you as the Rose and Buds are to the Summer and then when this Spring and your Charity shall flow up in and from you to the barren Hill of Highgate where your School-house stands it will then become a feeding filling Spring too for Charity will feed us and praise flow from us to the famous City-Ladies names which shall never be forgotten but be fairly Registred and read from one Age and one Generation to another And now may the Love of God Almighty the pure Joys and Comforts of his holy Spirit ever abide with you and yours whilst you abide in this Tabernacle of Clay and he constantly guide you through the Wilderness of this bewitching barren wicked World till you come to the last period of Life and wrap you up then in the Righteousness of God's dear and anointed only Christ to shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father for ever more praies thirty six of us and our Minister also Most Worthy Madam THere are four Gates in the City four Seasons in the Year four Ladies nigh together that will hardly be forgotten but shall be beloved for their Husbands sakes their own too for their praise is truly praise-worthy their virtues all eminently specious But now dear Madam would it not be a high and great Honour to see you our four Citizens Ladies with your four well-beloved Husbands our constant Parliament men for London chosen more by hearts than hands and a many brave judicious sober Citizens waiting on them all standing one by one as it were on the brow of our Hill saying one to the other There is the Tower and the Monument the Old Change Guild-Hall and Blackwell-Hall which some would fain burn again there is Bow-Steeple the Holy Bible the Silver Bells of Aaron the godly outed Ministers the melodious Musick of the Gospel Smithfield Martyrs yet alive and the Best Society the very Best in all the world for Civility Loyalty Men and Manners with the greatest cash bulk mass and stock of all sorts of Silks Cinnamon Spices Wine Gold Pearl Spanish-Wooll and Cloaths with the River Nilus and the stately Ships of Turshish to carry in and out the great Merchandizes of the world And may all this with the dew of Hermon her Silver Drops with your godly Ministers yet unrestored ever be to the World's end and to your Live's end May you and yours be beloved as you are And now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and all Consolations bless you both in Spirit Soul and Body Sickness Health Life and Death here and for evermore prayes all we your poor youngest Hospital-Boys of Highgate and to help them is most Charity ever The old fares well thanks be to a good City and their Benefactors in it for which God Almighty bless them and their Government to the world's end with Peace Health Wealth Honour and the Power of Religion Most Honourable Madam THE Best have not alwaies Love boiling in them yet at sometimes nothing works so strongly as Divine Goodness in their Souls and now we think we see in your heart hand and eye all lifting up unto the Hills from whence alone has your Salvation and Deliverance been we think we hear you still say God has been my Helper my Rock and my Salvation and I will bless him he hath inclined his Ear unto me therefore will I love
honest Mr. Perkins that old Puritan Minister did calling upon God for the pardon of all his Sins both as to Commission and Omission Policarpus being pierced with a Sword issued so much Blood that it almost quenched the Fire and amazed the Beholders as it were At his Apprehending they hurried him so fast along that they broke his Leg crying This is the Father of the Christians and the despiser of our God said the Heathens And says Ignatius the first Martyr as we read of When the Beasts have ground me and my Bones with their Teeth I shall be as God's White Bread and I will worship none none but the God of Heaven Said another And none but Christ none but Christ said that brave English meek and humble Martyr John Lambert when half burnt by Henry the 8th for denying the real Presence in the Sacrament The Soul is in the Body but not the Body So Believers are in the World but not the World said another Doctor Hall said The English Clergie were the Worlds wonder He means the Painful Pious Preaching ones and would some were in again that were long ago put out Tertullian wrote Day and Night and made an Apology for the Christians and complained That too many Lawyers did almost as much hurt as Souldiers But Pliny told the Heathen Emperor The Christians did none but pray'd in the Night and sung Hymns to one Jesus but they would not Lye Steal nor commit Adultery but did visibly eat together But the Souldiers wearing all Crowns of Lawrel upon their Heads for a great Victory which the Emperour had obtained A private Christian wore his upon his Arm saying It did not become him nor his Fellows to be Crowned with it Head Heart Feet Milt and Liver are all failing said a great Divine Arise make ready mount my Soul and go away I saw not you my Children when you were in the Womb God that fed you then will be a Father to you when I am gone and you shall not want I am weary of Sin and willing to Die God's Mercy is unspeakable One Saterday Morning especially I found the power of Religion and the certainty of the other World and Divine Eternal Love Glory glory to the Deliverer of my Soul out of all doubts about it Origen was fastened by the Neck with an Iron Chain his Feet in a pair of Stocks till he died Paul and Barnabas differed a little Act. 15. 39. But in Heaven Luther and Zyngulus will agree together said a Father though here in some things they could not Come Oh sweet Jesus Christ thou bright Morning-Star come I desire to be with thee said Holland Zepheron was said to be the Blind Man's Eyes and the Lame Man's Feet And the Lady Warwick gave both Books Clothes and Money for the Schooling both in England and Wales And a great Countess that lives in or near the Strand being lately in the Country was informed of a very poor Family which she went in Person for to see and finding the poor Woman Sick and Weak having two or three Children in the Bed and no other Boulster but an old Straw Cushion she presently caused a good Caudle and saw it made for the Woman gave her a very considerable sum of Money and ordered Boulster Bed or Blanckets for the Children and all this is good Charity and Humility too And to breed up poor ignorant Countrey Boyes to know God and themselves is the same which shall be endeavoured in your School-House yea 't is as much as to feed the Blind and Lame and in some sence rather more for the Soul is better than the Body To teach a young Bird to sing or young Boys to fear God is the best thing in the World The Light of Europe is the Gospel and the life of Preaching is for holy Living but Persecution brings Death and Life too Says a Father Death in one hand and Life in the other it kills the Body and crowns the Soul I have Lived long and Sinned long saith Beza but now I am willing and would fain Die to be rid of it giving God thanks for six things And some signal Mercies every good Man may find besides his daily ones Basil being profer'd Honours to Apostarize cryed They were changeable being threatned with Confiscation and Banishment he cried he need not fear he had little to loose and for Banishment Heaven was his Home or Country as for his Death they might do it with one blow You are mad said they Ay and ever will be for Divine Love is to me a never failing Treasure Francis Junus was converted with that Text In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God John 1. 1. And by this through the tender Mercies of God was I brought Home and when a Prodigal and a great Sinner comes Home there is great joy in Heaven Perkins converted a poor Thief that was going to be Hanged thus he wringing of his Hands upon the Ladder Perkins asked him why he was afraid to die Oh said he 't is t'other t'other Death I am afraid of Ah man come down a little and see what God's good Grace can do for thee and by Prayer so opened the nature of Sin and then of God's free Grace and Mercy by Jesus Christ for the Pardoning of it that he made the man both chearful and willing to Die He wrote many Books and frightned Sinners with that word Damn and yet would open the Blood Death and Merits of Jesus Christ in the Preaching of the holy Gospel Most wise Men desire the Lawyer and Phisician to deal plainly with them and Lords and Ladies should not love a Flatterer in the Pulpit nor a Chaplain that is not Holy Harmless or Exemplary in the Family Ambrose boldly reproved Theodotius the Emperor and used to say Men embrace Gold but refuse Salvation put off that on any account and catch at good Bargains The World is a Bird in Hand Heaven is one in the Bush like the Frenchman that would not leave his part in Paris for Paradise Theodoret said The delight of the Soul is to know its Maker And the great learned Earl of Leicester said Man differ'd in nothing more from a Beast than in his Reason especially Heavenly Reason Wisdom and Vnderstanding Hierom would not live in Rome because it savoured so much of Paganism and sinful Pleasures hardly of any true Christianity which is an inward Mystical and outward mortifying Thing and indeed it has not been long free from one Wickedness or another Ignorance Uncleanness Persecution Idolatry Sodomy and therefore well may she be called the Mother of Harlots who takes Money and Rent for so many Stew-Houses yearly and it is as good Money to him as the best which comes into his Cosser But if my Father or Mother Brothers Sisters and Children were all before me weeping and hanging on me to keep me in a sinful Life I would despise them all and fling them to the Ground saith
Papists The last and general Closing Letter that is thus presumed to be offered ANd now most Noble Great and Right Honourable Ladies Gentlewomen and others 'T is not many Weeks nay Days since your poor Orator Supplicant or Petitioner was in his own and others apprehension at the brink of Death and the Grave and so many Days together But God was pleased by Doctor Cox my alone Physician to raise me up again And though in my Sickness my Life seemed to be flying away like an Eagle in the Air and the World and the Things thereof to be passing away as if they had never been yet yet I did secretly resolve if God should raise me up to perform or finish this poor little scribled and yet serious short brief and harmless Pocket-Book with the Ladies Letters which yet I humbly entreat your Noble Ladyships to peruse and view over and over in some serious leisure Hour persuading my self that though your Breasts are full of Piety Virtue Wisdom and Virtuous Thoughts yet you may find some if not many brief hints of Truth Religion and Virtue well worth your pious Thoughts or Memory for as Eternity is a very serious thing so every Sickness that brings one near the Borders of it or from the Borders of it should make us very serious and to Speak and Act as those that have been near another World though not in it And truly if I were no more nor longer to be in this than just to finish these few Lines and humbly on the bended Knee to present them to your Lilly Hands and so to lie down and die at your Feet yet would I seriously do it in the way of Prayer to your Honours First That the short Hints might be weighed and weighed again and again in your most strict serious and retired Thoughts whether they be really so as they seem to be hinted to you and if you find them indeed so to be by the standard Golden Rule Reed or Touchstone of God's holy Word then not to slight and say Pish Fool or cry This simple Man will never a done for 't is of more concern than so Truth is Truth and serious Things must and will be serious whether we mind or count them so or no. And this I assure you if ever you come as come you must to a Fit and Bed of Sickness I mean a thorow Sickness that your life seems in your own others thoughts to be flying away you will be then thinking of your immortal ever-living and never-dying Souls And it may be in a dowsed manner not knowing well where you are or what Day it is whether Day or Night The Watch Candle being in the Room the Curtains drawn little or no Company to speak to you because of the high Feaver or other Distemper but yet in that hour it may be Fears Doubts Conscience will be working and secret Questions will be working in you whether you must and shall Die now or no go to the Grave leave your golden Hangings Rooms Honours and Relations going to the silent and be seen no more whilst it may be are just in the middle of some great Design or other as your Supplicant was in these Papers or setting up of your little Charity-School at High-Gate But be it what it will every Design must break off if Death really come with and at the end of your Sickness and then no remembrance of you or yours will be after a very little while Oh Madams for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake and your own Souls I beseech you mind a little the house of mourning Eccles 7. 2. which he says 't is so good to go to and the Bed of sickness before it comes and especially what to do before it comes that its coming may not be as a damp and death to your spirits when it comes It 's said the Cockatrice never kills but when it sees us before we see it Oh be before-hand with your Sickness and prepare in Life for Death and Health for Sickness and assure your selves you may as well persuade your selves that Michaelmas will never come because April is and May is at hand as that Sickness and Death will not come because Health Wealth Honour and all about you is now as you would have it and more comforts seem to promise to you also from a Son or Daughter 's great Match or Purchase which you are just a making But yet Michaelmas comes in course and Winter too when one Flower will not be left But now against the height and heart of that and all that is cold and killing unto Creature-comforts set a never-failing good God aside make him your portion and with the Prophet Habakkuk say Though the labour of the Olive should fail Flocks Herds and the Fruits of the Field yield no increase yet I will rejoyce greatly I will joy in the God of my salvation Habbak 3. 17 18. But this must nor can ever otherwise be but by true Faith in the Love Life Blood Death and Merit of our Lord Jesus Christ with holy walking in the sanctifying graces of his Spirit six or seven of which you may eminently find I shall hint at in the first Sermon our Lord Jesus Christ ever preach'd Mat. 5. 3 4 5 6 7 8. First blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven by purchase purpose promise and eternal preparation Mat. 25 34. Come ye blessed of my Father and receive a Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World Oh blessed Poverty that enriches men with the Kingdom of Heaven This poverty of Spirit is nothing else but a sensible want of Grace and Christ and every good thing in our selves through the discovery of original sin to us by the Fall of Adam whereby we go out of our selves as knowing our selves to be lost by the purity and spirituality of God's most holy inward piercing Law the ten Commandments by which we go out of our selves as knowing our selves to be most miserable wretched creatures and lost in our selves seeing no hope nor help any ways but in Gods mercy thorough Christ and this brings us to be like the poor Prodigal or Publican Luke 18. 11. to cry Lord be merciful to me poor lost sinner and grant that I may find Christ and pardon for my Soul and by Prayer Reading Hearing Preaching Meditating make out after him in an humble persevering way And this is the Poverty to which the Kingdom of Heaven belongs that is the Gospel with all its Promises and everlasting Kingdom of Glory too which God grant you and yours may all find But secondly ver 4. Blessed are all they that mourn for they shall be comforted that is for sin in-dwelling of original and actual sin and upon that account cry out like great St. Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin Rom. 7. 24. Mark Ladies Sin has a Body yea in Paul it had though he was
read often read this 51 of Isaiah 't is a sweet Chapter and tells you what shall become of Enemies to his Church and People and how the Moth or Worms shall eat them up like Wooll But that you nor your Noble Lord may never be we shall ever pray pray pray Right Honourable and Good Madam WE shall find in all sorts of Relations Spiritual and Natural that having done much for any that they love it engages them still to do more instance Paul Christ and Moses now God Christ Religion and Good Works have ever been the Beloved things of your heart so we yet presume that they still are and ever shall be to the last moment of your Life and beyond that none can love Your Right Noble Sister Warwick was in this most of all Noble for she loved much and gave more than any in the Nation of her great Rank yet now enjoys all things Oh Madam be not yet weary of well doing for you will certainly reap to Eternity what you sow from faith in Christ love to and union with him and may your union with him be more inseparable as it is than your Arm to your Shoulder o' your Soul to your Body yea these are not so inseparable as both are to Christ for though Time Sin or Death may separate them for a while yet Sin Death Grave nor Eternity shall ever separate either from Christ but because he lives both shall live and be where he is and what a little while is it that you have more to work for God Christ Heaven and Eternal Happiness Oh! when those Everlasting Mansions are really thought on it makes our Souls mount as the Lark our Thoughts and Desires like the wing and tongue of that nimble morning Bird to praise its Maker Madam we write not these things in the least to stir up kindness towards us you have enough and have done enough more than any for you really gave first of all and we doubt not in the least now our Year is up but many Noble well-disposed persons will follow your good Example and some of your great Relate us if you but give a little hint this way it being for so good a work as certainly it is and your Labour of Love to us poor Fatherless Sinners and others God's Saints and Servants he will never forget Most Honourable Madam 'T Is the Goodness of the Great God that he beholds things below and is good to the Children of Men yea all his Works may you from that kindness have your heart your lips and your life yea your soul fill'd with that Marrow which is from above no where to be tasted but in Religion or Communion with himself and when that is strongly moving in you how easie will it then be to prevail with you for a little kindness to an English Charity-School which is young and in its Infancy as yet but will soon become strong root grow and be a great thing if the Ladies be not wanting to promote their own praise for what 's more praise-worthy than to be good and do good to raise the Needy from the Dust Poor and Fatherless Children from Ignorance Idleness and Beggary to know themselves and God in Christ live another day in a hard world to this Good Work you and none but you and this great Dutchess in all your Kingdom are invited surely your Figures must needs be great among the English Ladies God Almighty bless both your Princely Families and make them and theirs to be blameless at the coming of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ pray one and all we Poor Hospital-Boys Most Great Lady IT is your Happiness that you have not a great Lord in his own Country only but a good one that lives well does well and is much beloved where he comes may you both long live have your Land and Country slow with Honey Gospel as it doth with Milk and Kine which is yet a great mercy fat Ground a good Climate holy Lives with heavenly Preaching is the best place to live in in the world and oh that this Nation were but stockt with more Prophets than it is and oh that those that be were but more countenanced than they are oh that the Pulpits were but more open than they are or like yet to be and Drones quite asleep dead we mean or out of the way that those that can Preach and would might yet be restored to the great Congregations A Preaching Minister is a Star or Finger pointing unto Christ a Golden Stick or Candle in the Socket a Silver Bell that gives a good molodious sound drops heavenly Dew and feeds with Manna Bread that comes from Heaven Christ Preacht and Christ broken in the Preaching of the Gospel is the Bread of Life and the Water too which he that drinks shall never thirst Give us this said the Jews Ay Christ's Flesh is meat and Christ's Blood is drink indeed We may all by faith think upon it and that is really eating in a Gospel sense May Ladies eat like Angels yea your Ladiship and live upon the holy Joys and Comforts of the Spirit have Fellowship true Communion with the Father and the Son be no strangers to the Love and Life of God who is seen in all his works What 's the Rose a painted blossom of his Beauty the little Pink and Violet but a thing of his which all the world cannot make the Honey-comb and Hony-drops from Heaven the early Dew sweet Showers and fruitful Seasons all Preach a good God to a heavenly mind the morning Star and glorious Sun and Beams Preach Christ and there is but one Sun and one Christ for all the world Many Eyes cannot see but all might were they heavenly never hurt or hinder one another and Christ is similed in these glorious Beams of his Beauty for the Sun is no more to Christ than one Beam or Ray May these Rays Joys and Comforts be upon you and yours heads and hearts and souls May you all know and dwell in the Love of God which passeth knowledge May your Children be all taught of God according to his promise to avoid sin the sins of the times live as Pilgrims and Strangers to noisom lusts the sins and pleasures of this Age And may your Love and Piety abound to us and our Poor Hospital-School or little Charity-house and in so doing you will imitate the Divinity who is good to all his Works yea the Spring that refreshes every thing the blew veins or bosom flowers come from or are refresht by that yea the Sun and Beams of it for though this glorious creature be millions of miles distant from us yet his Influences come down to us every day O send send something to us then although you be in Cheshire though you be where you will and then we will all pray that you and the whole Family that love God may be blest with long Life here and Eternal Joys hereafter Right Honourable
for we cannot will good much less do it of our selves Yet you must live for Heaven and by Christ get Faith or you can never be saved Short Hints but Sound Truths In great Humility THe Heathen Oracle of mortal man used to say We are born crying live laughing and dye sighing But Job and Solomon seem to hint there is little laughter for man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly up Job 5. 7. and All is vanity saith Solomon Eccles 12. 8. That is all besides Christ and the knowledge of him in a strict sense And sayes Hintius Vpon this account I could even obscure my self to think how much short all knowledge is and how much envy the most curious parts sustain and undergo especially when they are in great and high places where they have too too little time to converse with themselves mind their maker or rectifie their crooked nature Infancy is full of ignorance Youth of sins and Old Age of sorrows and the whole life of dangers so that it is a great misery for poor man who is but a Pile or Bag full of dust to come into the world were it not for the hope of heaven or a better world But this is never lost without great grief when possest with much love A certain rich man that loved riches well and too too well too being sick to death caused all his Plate and Gold to be brought before him and thus said to his soul like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 1â— 18. My soul if thou wilt now tarry with me and not leave my body all this will I promise thee and thou shalt enjoy it with Riches fine Buildings Gardens and sumptuous Houses But finding his infirmity increasing and no hopes of life in a great rage and fury he broke out into this most desperate speech Since thou wilt not abide nor be intreated nor tarry longer with me I recommend thee to the Devil and so soon departed Oh! let such men fear to laugh who are in danger to go where it will never avail or profit any thing to weep And he that looks on a picture and sees on it a rich man and a beggar never envies one nor pities th' other all men are but pictures and shadows quickly pass away and the poor have an advantage of the rich many times in dying having but little to leave behind but many are dull in want and wanton in fruition and most mens lives are miserable seeing those that seek for good hardly find it When evil comes of it self and enters our gates unsought Yet the brain will be working whilst the pulse is beating let a man live few years or let a man live many one does not make him happy nor another unhappy but his living well or ill does it Anselmus sayes In heaven joys shall be within and without above and beneath in all parts and round about and everlasting too saith the Prophet Isaiah 65. The lovers of this world eat drink and are merry but for want of the love of God go down to hell Psal 9. 17. in a little while and nothing remains of them but a short name dust and worms Seneca sayes evil actions are whipt by the conscience of themselves and torments them sore and that wickedness drinketh up the greatest part of its own poison and is a punishment to it self But Christians say there is a hell besides and most of all nations believe future rewards and punishments Oh! let us prevent weeping by weeping sayes One and all of hells sorrows by heavenly repentance Aristotle sayes It were better to dye than to do any thing against the good of virtue And I sayes Seneca was better born than to be a slave to lust what they count virtue Christians do not so well know but this is certain it is better not to be than not to know a good God in Jesus Christ and live to him in some measure who is all and will be all for ever Though Zenon said through his Atheism he feared nothing but Old Age yet Socrates tells ye When Death approaches bad men will be willing to turn Divines And if I have lived well sayes Lucicrema why do not you clap your hands But Divine Love is a never ending Treasure and the Orient Pearl is gathered from the Early Dew And in the 110th Psalm it is said of Christ That from the womb of the morning he had the dew of his youth that is as I humbly conceive from the first peeping out of God's Love to mankind as it was through a promise in Jesus Christ so all these promises and blessings obtained in Time or Eternity are gathered from the head heart Love and Merit of Christ as the morning dew is from Grass Corn or Herbs But to be careless of him or our selves and to live without fear is to Dye Living and is in great danger to fall into the Sea of God's everlasting wrath Awake awake O miserable Soul and lift up thine Eyes lest the night of nights overtake thee Rom. 13. 12. Joh. 9. 4. And assure your selves Death will almost daunt good Livers what wilt thou do But he whom happiness affects cares not how long he lives But Job was safer on the Dunghill than Adam in Paradise And Christ the true Son of the Living God when begging water at the Well of Jacob Joh. 4. 7. from the woman with the Pitcher Yet many think a middle condition is best for this world and for our Souls too but we need every day the blood of Christ to wash us all as well as Water for our faces And the Soul is washed by secret thinking and applying of the Love Life Death and Merit of Christ to it self He gave himself for me sayes Paul Gal. 2. 20. And our Souls are like Camaeleons live upon the Gospel-Air Promises in Christ and God's Love through Christ but the world trusted on is apt to thrust all out of our minds And sayes Tully No man could ever make me believe the Soul should live in this mortal Body and be dead when absent Oh! live then to live for ever Bear well and prepare well for that which can never be avoided namely Death To labour not to dye once is to labour in vain But to live to Christ is a certain way to prevent a second Death And a man whose Soul is truly conversing with God shall find more pleasure in secret walks closets groves and hedges than in the Palace of a Prince And Sir Walter Rawleigh sayes He that is resolved to be a great Favourite and Servant there must abandon strict Piety The love of Fame Name and Pleasure is inconsistent with the Love of God True a weak man may give strict Rules and the holiest Minister in the world hardly lives up to his own Preaching And you cannot look to Heaven with one Eye and look down to the Earth with the other at the same time But however the best counsel is best and most wholsom
his sake And now said they We do commit thy Soul to the Devil We believe it was in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for usually such wickednesses are so pronounced But I said John Huss do commit it to my dear Redeemer Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ As he lifted up his head the Crown of Paper fell off but they put it on again saying Let him be burnt with his Masters the Devils And as they tied his Neck with the Chain he smiling said This I suffer for Preaching of the Holy Gospel singing three times with a loud voice Lord Jesus Christ thou Son of the Living God have mercy on me He told them at his Death God would raise up out of the Ashes of the Goose for so Huss's Name signified in the Bohemian Language in 100 Years a Swan in Germany whose Singing would affright all the Vultures which was exactly fulfilled in Luther But for Jerom of Prague he was so bold and zealous that he wrote certain Letters which he sent to Constantine to be set up upon the Gates of Noblemen and Cardinals shewing the purity and clearness of his Faith and Doctrine for which he was accused and that he was ready to come and make good all he had Preached His great Crime was he had thundered against the ill Lives of the Monks and Fryers but being taken into custody he was sadly used fed with Bread and Water and tyed almost Neck and Heels together so that he sell sick After a long time they required him to subscribe That John Huss was justly put to Death which he did partly for fear of Death and hoping to escape their hands But he soon repented saying before the Council All the Sins he ever committed in his Life did not half so much gnaw and trouble his Conscience as that pestiferous Sin When they had condemned him he said I Cite you all to answer it within 100 Years before the most High Judge of Heaven and Earth in the mean time I leave a remorse and nail in your Consciences He was bound to the Image of John Huss and had a Paper-Crown of red Devils painted on his head When the Executioner went to kindle the Fire behind him he bade him do it before his Face saying If I had been afraid of Death I had not come to this place for I had opportunities to escape but this Soul of mine in burning flames Oh Christ I will offer thee And for his Oration that he made before the Council it is said That no Tongue is able to express that learned Elegancy and Braveness of his Speech shewing what the Best of Men had still suffered in all Ages Latimer was a zealous Papist till Mr. Blinny converted him and then he was made Bishop of Worcester he preached twice a day and in Queen Maries days he was laid up in the Tower As he rode through Smithfield he said that had groaned for him many Years He used to pray for three things First That as God had made him a Preacher of his holy Word that he might seal it with his Blood if called thereunto Secondly That God of his Mercy would restore his Gospel to England once again once again Shall we not prize it Thirdly That the Lord would preserve Queen Elizabeth and make her a Comfort to the Comfortless Realm At his Burning the Blood run out of his Heart so abundantly as if all the Blood in his Body had gathered there according to his Prayer which struck the beholders with Astonishment In the Fire he stroakt his Face with his Hand crying out Oh! Father of Heaven receive my Soul and so died 1555. Ridley in the same Year writing to Latimer he said Good Father assist me with your Prayers for unless God stand by me I shall play but the part of a white liver'd Knight At his hearing he stood bare till the Cardinal named the Pope and then he put on his Cap. A Woman weeping for him a day before his Suffering he cried Ah! Mistress I see you love me not it appears you will not be at my Marriage to Morrow meaning his Burning nor will be therewith contented A Friend offering to watch with him he cried I intend to go to Bed and sleep as quietly as ever I did in my Life At the Stake he cryed Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Lord Jesus receive my Soul But the Fire being prest down by much Wood he desired for Christ's sake to let the Fire come up to him his lower part and Legs were quite burnt before his upper part so that he fell into the Fire He going one day by Water the Thames being very rough and the Watermen being a little fearful he cried Fear not you carry one that must be Burnt and not Drowned John Bradford was persuaded by Booker to enter upon the Ministry and he modestly complained of his want of Parts and Learning Oh! says Booker be not discouraged if you have not fine Manchet give them Barley Bread But being in Prison Condemned one comes running to him Oh! Mr. Bradford I bring you heavy News you must be burnt to Morrow I saw your Chain a buying At which he plucked off his Cap saying I thank God for it the Lord make me worthy lifting up his Eyes to Heaven saying Life with God's displeasure is worse than Death and Death with his true Favour is better than Life Oh England repent of thy Sins repent beware of Idolatry and false Preachers and take heed they don't deceive you A good Prayer And to another he said Be of good comfort my Brother for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord. He was so Charitable that in a hard Time he sold his Jewels and Rings to relieve them that were in Want He was so humble that he often subscribed some of his Letters The most miserable hard Hearted unthankful Sinner John Bradford a painted Hypocrite Rowland Taylor was a great Preacher and would often visit the Poor and Sick and relieve them too when Bedridden but being threatned by the Bishop's Pursurvant he said I know my Cause to be so good and just that I will appear before them and to their Beards resist their false Doings I fear not their Lordly looks nor the Proudest of them all Going to the Fire he told the Sheriff I shall deceive a great many being a fat Man for said he I thought the Worms in Hadley Church-yard must have had me but now I see I must be Burnt Giving one or two Leaps and said God be praised I am almost at Home But the People cryed Oh dear Father and good Shepherd God help and succour thee as thou hast done us many times and our poor Children and so they went weeping all along the Streets for him To whom he said I have preached to you God's Truth and Word and now am going to seal it with my Blood In the Flames he cried Merciful Father of Heaven for Jesus Christ my