Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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ID |
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A33417
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Certain letters written to severall persons
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Capel of Hadham, Arthur Capel, Baron, 1610?-1649.; Morley, George, 1597-1684.
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1654
(1654)
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Wing C465; ESTC R22646
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20,606
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50
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of this villany might pursue a counsell that shall draw such sharp revenges and infallible destruction upon themselves But truly I think that those who have been or are their veryest Friends and who have any light of understanding or motions of conscience will never forgive them so outragious a folly madness and wickedness I must confesse the present proceedings torment me with terrible apprehensions but truly I cannot make my self believe that God will permit the Devil to draw Christian Protestant Professours unto the consummation of so detestable and impious a Fact God of his infinite mercy prevent it Enclosed in a Letter thus Sir THis short Letter hath no other errand but to excuse that longer which is inclosed I pray read it over though it comes from a person that is not proper to apply himself to you and using an instrument a penne not suitable to my Genius But believe it 't is the extremity of this present occasion extorts it from me God guide you and recall you if you are engaged in this horrid proceeding I rest SIR Your humble Servant Tower Jan. 15. 1648. A Letter written to his LADY the day before his suffering My dearest Life MY greatest care in relation to the World is for thy dear self But I beseech thee that as thou hast never refused my advice hitherto do thou now consummate all in this one And indeed it is so important both for Thee Me and all our Children that I presume passion shall not over-rule thy reason nor my request I beseech Thee again and again moderate thy apprehension and sorrows for me and preserve thy self to the benefit of our dear Children whom God out of his love to us in Christ Iesus hath given us And our dear Mall in the case she is in and our comforts in that Family depend entirely upon thy preservation I pray remember that the occasion of my Death will give Thee more cause to celebrate my memory with praise rather then to consider it with sadness God hath commanded my obedience to the fifth commandement and for acting that duty I am condemned God multiply all comforts to thee I shall leave Thee my dear Children In them I live with Thee and leave Thee to the protection of a most gracious God And I rest Thy c. Another written the same day He suffered My dearest Life MY eternall life is in Christ Iesus My worldly considerations in the highest degree Thou hast deserved Let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech Thee take care of thy health Sorrow not unsoberly unusefully God be unto Thee better then an Husband and to my Children better then a Father I am sure He is able to be so I am confident He is graciously pleased to be so God be with Thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many comforts to Thee and my Children is the fervent prayer of Thy c. A Letter to Mr. E.S. from a reverend and grave Divine SIR I Hope this paper will find you upon your recovery You have my dayly and hearty prayers for it not so much for your own sake for I doubt not but it would be much better for you in regard of your self to be dissolved and be with Christ but in the behalf of the Church your friends and poor Family to which notwithstanding be assured God will be mercifull howsoever he disposeth of you either for this life or for a better But if you live as I pray and hope you will you shall do very well to write the life and death of that Noble Lord and Blessed Martyr who professed at his death that he dyed for the fifth Commandement to dye in the defence for the testimony of any Divine truth is truly and properly to be a Martyr That which I can contribute towards this work is to communicate some few observations I made of him and from him before and after his Condemnation I was severall times with him and alwayes found him in a very chearfull and well-composed temper of mind proceeding from true Christian grounds and not from a Roman resolution only as his enemyes are pleased to speak of him He told me often It was the good God he served and the good Cause he had served for that made him not to fear death adding he had never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrell for he took it for his Crown and Glory and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it After his Condemnation and the afternoon before his suffering we were a great while in private together when bewailing with that sense which became a true and not despairing penitent the sins of his life past the greatest he could remember was his voting my Lord of Straffords death which though as he said he did without any malice at all yet he confessed it to be a very great Sin and that he had done it out of a base fear they were his own words of a prevailing party adding that he had very often and very heartily repented of it and was confident of Gods Pardon for it Then he told me he had a great desire to receive the Blessed Sacrament so he called it before he dyed the next morning asking what Divine of the Kings party I would recommend to him I replyed that though many were more worthy yet none would be more willing to do him that service then my self Which he accepting very kindly told me he durst not desire it for fear it might be some danger to me After this and some conference in order to his preparation both for his viaticum and his voyage the Sacrament and his death he desired me to pray with him Which after I had performed and promised to be with him by seven the next morning I left him for that time to his own devotions The next day I was there at the time assigned and after some short conference in order to the present occasion he desired me to hear him pray which he did for half an hour in an excellent method very apt expressions and most strong hearty and passionate affections First confessing and bewailing his sins with strong Cryes and Tears then humbly and most earnestly desiring Gods Mercy through the merits of Christ only Secondly for his dear Wife and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine providence with great confidence and assurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life then of this Thirdly for the King Church and State and lastly for his enemyes with almost the same ardour and affection After this sending for my Lord of Norwich and Sr. Iohn Owen I read the whole Office of the Church for good Friday and then after a short Homily I used for the present occasion we received the Sacrament In which action he behaved himself with great humility zeal and devotion And being demanded after we had done how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and chearfuller for that heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an agony before his passion and that was the parting with his VVife eldest Son Son in Law two of his Uncles and Sr. T C especially the parting with his most dear Lady which indeed was the saddest Spectacle that ever I beheld In which occasion he could not chuse but confesse a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to Comfort and Counsell her and the rest of his friends Particularly in blessing the Young Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of Davids Psalmes and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy said he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this with much ado I perswaded his VVife and the rest to be gone and then being all alone with me he said Doctour the hardest part of my work in this world is now past meaning the parting with his VVife Then he desired me to pray preparatively to his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods Glory for the endearing of his Dead Masters memory his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of vanity or sullenness This being done they were all carried to Sir Robert Cottons House where I was with him till he was called unto the Scaffold and would have gone up with him but the Guard of Souldiers would not suffer me Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Psalm 116.15 The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance He shall not be afraid of any evill tidings His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psalm 112.6.7 Rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in Heaven for in the like manner did their Fathers to the Prophets Luke 6.23 I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held And they cryed with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth And white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Revel. 6.9 10 11. They overcame Him by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Revel. 12.11 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Revel. 14.13 FINIS