of evil Report Nor to the hinderance of mens particular Callings Nor by night or other times suspected Nor for Controversies of Disputations But for the clearing and setting home of truth received in the publick Ministry and in clearing Cases of Conscience arising thereupon or otherwise And in such exhortations admonitious counsels consolations as conduce thereunto or are otherwise necessary In some convenient time of the day for an hour or two at the most and once in a week at the most except in some urgent case In some Family of good report and among persons of good report Each one present having Liberty to speak one by one to begin and end with prayer for a blessing That the Minister of the place or some other approved Minister be defired to be present Then presently to depart each one to his place and duty and to walk sutably that the way of God be not evil spoken of This Paper was enough to satisfie all ingenious and unprejudiced persons and whereas it was feared that these Meetings might have been an occasion for the spreading of Errors the contrary effect was found for by this means the godly of that place where these meetings were held were kept stedfast in the Faith And this arose much from the wisdom which God had endowed Mr. Rome withal for his prudence was such in managing of those meetings as that the time which they spent together in them was taken up for the most part excepting only what time was spent in prayer in discoursing of some main Article of Religion or some Catechetically point And by this means the Christians of that place were so rooted and grounded in the Faith as that they were not so soon shaken by temptations as many others were in others parts of the Nation who had not the principles of Religion so much distilled into them nor rendred so familiar to them To all that which hath been already said The great conjunction of the graces of the Spirit in him this is to be added as that which did most of all commend and set forth the Grace of God in him and towards him He did not only attain an eminency in this or that grace or some few particular Graces but he arrived to a great eminency in every grace so that as there was no grace but it was very visible and might be clearly seen and discerned to be in him so there was not one of these graces but he seemed to excel therein Holy affection and a spiritual fervor in prayer and other acts of worship zeal for the glory of God faith humility meekness patience submission to the will of God heavenly-mindedness charity and compassion to others and the like graces were not only to be found in him as they are more or less to be found in all the Saints but they were elevated to a greater height and brought up to a greater and more peculiar eminency that is commonly found in most Christians and there was such a special eminency in every grace as that it was hard to say which grace it was that he most excelled in Having thus walked with God many years His bringing forth more fruit in his age he kept his integrity to the end and that which was most remarkable in his elder years he seemed to excel himself he did not only retain the lustre of his former graces but he grew more spiritual and was more active and lively in the ways of God he spent more time in Prayer meditation and other holy exercises he was more abundant in holy counsells and exhortations And this was one of his speeches Since our time is short let us work the faster and watch and pray the more fervently Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments He seemed to mind little else but spiritual concernments grace seemed to have the whole command of him Being asked by one of his Relations that whereas in his younger years he seemed to be more inclined to passion and perturbation and was sooner moved when those that were under him had not given him due observance and done things according to his mind and expectation how it came to pass that now in his elder years he was more meek and patient and seemed to be little moved at any thing he answered it was not because he found not the same things in his nature still and that he found himself more inclined to passion then before but that the grace of God had now overcome and overpowred him and reduced him to the temper that he was in He had a long and a constant remembrance of his change before it came His expectation and longing after his change And herein he was most like the antient saints he accounted himself but a Pilgrim and Stranger upon Earth Several years before his death there was scarce a Letter that he wrote to some of his nearest Relations but he expressed the sense he had of his approaching change In one of his Letters he expressed himself thus our time of departure hence draweth neer Oh pray for us as we desire to do for you that we may be found blameless at that day In another letter after he had been sick he said Pray for me that I may not be taken hence unready nor yet my life be longer desired then all Gods work in me and by me be done A year or two before his death he rejoyced much to think that so much of his race was run and expressed himself to this purpose that he would not for a great deal be set back and have those years to live again that he had already passed over Some five or six weeks before his last sickness whereof he died he thus expressed himself I am old as Isaack said and know not the day of my death pray for me that I may be faithful to the death About the begining of December 1659. he fell sick of a lingring distemper His last Sickness which continued upon him for the space of ten weeks before the Lord was pleased to put a period to his race In the beginning of his sickness he had some intimation from the Lord concerning his change The Intimation he had concerning his change and as there was no eminent thing that befell him in his course but he had usually some hint before from the Lord concerning it So the Lord the better to prepare him for it had fastned the impression of his change upon him before it came When the Minister of the place where he lived came to visit him and said he hoped he might recover he replied he knew not how God might deal with him but he had received the sentence of death in himself A little after the beginning of his sickness he wrote to some of his near Relations Beloved in the Lord I am yet thorough mercy alive and continue sick my God dealeth bountifully with me who do acknowledge from my heart that I am a chief of sinners
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF Mr. John Rowe OF Crediton in Devon Follow me as I follow Christ 1 Cor. 11. Whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation Heb. 13.7 LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1673. TO THE READER THe Verity and Reality of Religion is Exemplified in the Lives of holy men Whoever will please to peruse the following Narrative without prejudice Two things will appear with great evidence unto him the one is that this Person whose Life and Death are here faithfully reported did both in his Life and Death firmly believe Religion to be a Real thing and lived and died as believing it to be most Real The other is that there was some other Principle what ever it was that carried him beyond the common principles of Humanity and the highest Attainments of the most Refined Morality Both which if duly considered will plainly Demonstrate first that Religion is not a meer piece of Hypocrisie or an empty shew without substance when as it is evident that some have believed it to be a Real Thing and lived and died as believing it to be so Secondly this also will appear that there is a Superior Principle besides those common Principles which are left in Humane Nature and those Improvements which Morality may advance men unto that hath acted some Persons Both these Considerations confirm the Verity and Reality of Religion And truly the more Credit may be given to the Testimony of this Holy Man concerning the Reality of Religion partly because he was known to have a Capacity and Abilities of Mind to understand the affairs of the world and Worldly Interests as well as most men and partly because he had experimented what was in Religion for the space of Fifty years and after so long experience when he came to die gave this Testimony concerning it that it was no Notion it was a Reality The Memory of this Holy Man is still fresh with many that are yet alive and as it is Probable that several of his Friends and Acquaintance may remember many Remarkable Passages concerning him which are not here inserted so they may possibly meet with some things in this Narrative especially such things as relate to the more inward Part of his Life which they were not acquainted with before What ever benefit any may receive by the Publication of this Persons Life it is earnestly desired that all the Glory may be Ascribed unto God and nothing Attributed unto Man THE PREFACE HAving by a friendly violence prevailed that the ensuing Relation which has for more then ten years space been confined unto privacy should now be exposed to publick view I cannot but conceive my self in duty obliged to usher it into the world with this Preface thereby to declare mine own just sentiments grounded on personal observations touching the Spirit and Life of this great Saint here Characterized And indeed to speak the truth I find it no difficult matter to ingage my Pen in a task so pleasing to my Spirit especially considering how much the Notion but how much more the Practice of Christianity is banished out of the world yea may we not say from the Hearts and Lives of too many great pretenders thereto O what a deluge of Atheism is as it were in a few years broken in on us How many Profest Atheists yea whole Societies of that Profession are there And what is the main design of such but to perswade us that Religion is but a Blind of Hypocrisie or a meer Notion without Reality Yea to come nearer home how much practical Atheism which is a Monster worse then Speculative is there to be found even among the Professors of Religion What contradictions are there in mens lives to the Faith they profess How disagreeing are the Actions of many Professors from the principles of their Profession And how much is the holy Name of the great God hereby blasphemed Oh how far do the lives of Professors now adays come short of that Purity Simplicity Heavenly-mindedness holy conference and Activity for God which shone with so much lustre and Beauty in the Christians of the foregoing and beginning of this Age. What a great Testimony did they give to the Religion they professed by the Sanctity and Piety of their Conversations How much did they both demonstrate and adorn their profession by the Integrity of their Actions For men are more apt to believe our Works than our Tongues our Deeds have greater efficacy to perswade then our Words A good Life is the most potent demonstration of good principles Exemplary visible Piety is not only most Beautiful but also most efficacious to beget the like disposition in those that behold it as also to take off those prejudices which ill-minded men take up against the ways of God These and such like contemplations have made me the more pressing and importunate to get the following Narrative made publick thereby to give check to the growing Atheisms both speculative and practical of this Age as also to let professors see what raisures in exemplary Godliness have been attained unto and they likewise ought to aspire after But to detain thee no longer in the Porch of this Sacred Temple I shall give thee a little Image of this holy man whose Life and Death is more fully related in the following Story Crediton in Devon was anciently very famous by reason of some eminent persons who have been born or seated there But what adds more to its honour upon the truest and best account then that Mr. John Rowe lived and died there What a bright and Influential Star was he How accute solid judicious and comprehensive was his Intellectual capacity What a great measure of prudence as to civil affairs was he endowed withall How publick-spirited was he as to the good of the place where he lived How many Controversies and Law-Suits did he by his happy interposure and mediation prevent or end Oh! what a publick good was he to poor Crediton and the parts adjacent How free hearted and ready to assist those that needed either Advice or Relief Was not a considerable part of his time strength and estate laid out for the good of others And Oh what an universal esteem and Affection did he hereby gain from all even the worst As for the inward frame of his Spirit he had a deep insight into and feeling acquaintance with the great mystery of Faith and Godliness His Light was not meerly Notional or Traditional but real distinct and affective derived from the Father of Light The self denial and Humility of his Spirit was very illustrious in the whole of his life Oh how much would he abase self and magnifie free grace in all the good he received or performed Albeit he was filled by God with great measures of grace yet how empty was he of self-fullness The more gracious God was to him the more vile he was in his own eyes Was not self-love
not my gracious God by disappointing my unsanctified desires for seven years space or more prevented my Folly Oh what a misery is it for vain youth to have its will Oh what a blessing to bear the yoke betime especially when God will open the Ear to discipline as blessed be his Name he did mine at the last And here I may justly break out into admiration of the Riches of his Grace that brought light to me out of my darkness I mean a great Light of Grace into my Soul by occasion of the great Darkness of mine own sin into the which I fell My Pride went before my fall so sin drew on sin and sin was punished with sin yet O depth of Grace this Fall was the cause of my Rising I mean in Grace Thus my gracious God did me good by mine own Evils and made my greatest sins occasions of my great Humiliation And although Voluptuousness Ambition and Coveteousness were the Idol-sins of my youth yet my gracious God preserved me from the gross acting of those sins either by Murder Adultery Fornication Tneft or any other unlawful way of Gain I say that it was my gracious God that preserved me and therefore let his name have all the Glory as for me I should have run Mad in Pride with Nebuchadnezar and burst asunder in Coveteousness with Judas and drowned my self in a daily course of Delicacy with the Glutton that St. Luke mentions had I not been kept by the power of God alone Only only to thy name O Lord be the praise My desire of Marriage was corrupt through my Coveteousness Voluptuousness and Ambition as I have said and my gracious God crossing those unsanctified desires of mine for divers years did at length teach me to desire Marriage for better ends And having begun to set my mind in order he also brought on the blessing for first he prepared my heart to seek him by Prayer for a meet helper and then he opened his Ear and granted my request so that even in the same day wherein he had stirred me up in a more then ordinary manner to seek a blessing in my Marriage by Prayer he was pleased to give me evidence that he had heard me in sending to me an honest Christian which came to me on purpose to break the matter for Marriage with her which afterward God gave me to wife This match Satan attempted to hinder by stirring up a neer friend of mine to fail in performance of his promise made to me for my preferment which justly might have alienated the minds of my wifes parents from me but that my gracious God would not suffer Satan to do me that mischief yea more then so he gave me grace to seek reconciliation with that Friend of mine which had so deeply wronged me So far are the words of his own Relation written by himself The Family into which he matched was a Godly Family who did the sooner imbrace Mr. Rowes motion because of that which they had heard concerning his Affection to Religion The person whom he took to Wife was a very godly and sincere woman although one that walked in Darkness and had no assurance of Gods Love the greatest part of her days and that appears by this Passage which we may not therefore omit because Mr. Rowe himself hath Registred it as one special experience of Gods Love towards him When his wife lay Sick and was upon her Death bed she complained that she had no assurance of the Love and Favour of God and that when she died she should be taken to Glory in Heaven hereupon Mr. Rowe besought the Lord very earnestly for her and the Lord was so far intreated as a little before her death to assure her of her Glory in heaven and this in somewhat an unusual extraordinary manner giving in such a secret Hint and Intimation to her soul as this I will Glorifie thee After Mr. Rowe was Married he continued four years in the house of his Father in law at Pinhow in Devon a place as himself hath recorded it in the Memoriall of his own experiences enriched with divers worldly contentments but all embittered thorough the want of the Ministry of Gods Word And what he adds in the same place may not be omitted There says he had I just occasion given me to repent of my former fulsomness and weariness of that heavenly Manna But here again my gracious God that never ceaseth to do me good did as well provide the Plaister as give the Wound He wounded my Conscience by the want of the Ministry in my own Parish of Pnin bringing to my rememberance my sin in undervaluing the plentiful Ministry which I had once enjoyed but he healed the breach again not only by forgiveness and repentance but also by providing for me the Ministry of a worthy servant of his in a Neighbouring Parish But to proceed in the Narrative of his Life His remove to Crediton Mr. Rowe being weary of living any longer in the house of his Father in Law by reason of the want of the meanes of grace in that place although as hath been said he enjoyed at least for a season for how long it was he had that happiness the Relator hath not come to the knowledg of the labours of a faithful Minister in an adjacent Parish and hearing that there was an able Preacher at Crediton he had a great desire to remove his Family and Habitation thither and accordingly did so taking his leave of his wives Relations he went and setled himself and family in Credition on purpose to enjoy the means of grace and there continued to his dying day And according to this example of his own he would often exhort his children and acquaintance that their first care should be to place themselves under a Godly and a powerful Ministry and for this purpose he would often mention that text Can. 1.8 Go forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids besides the Shepheards tents Not long after his coming to Crediton he was made High-Constable His Executing the office of High-Constable in which office he continued about Twenty years during which service his care diligence and zeal was such for the suppressing and punishing of Vice that his Name became a Dread and a Terror to all the Prophane that were near to the place he lived And as his zeal was great so his wisdom Charity and Compassions were no less he would first seek to win Offenders by his loving counsels and gentle admonitions before he would use the severity of the Law against them and his great care was to let men see that it was their Vices not their Persons that he aimed at And such was the Presence of God with him such the Authority and Majesty that shone in his carriage and behaviour that although he was forced to punish many for their misdemeanors that would not be otherwise reclaimed yet none had power to lift up an
yet hath he pardoned me and will ere long receive me to be with Christ which is best of all Pray for me that I may give God his due glory by believing and by holy submission and conformity to his will in life and death Blessed be God I have in my weak measure set my house in order c. As long as ever he was able His unweariedness in the Lords work to the last he continued praying with his family and speaking to them something out of the word and when he found his spirits so low and so much spent that he was not able to do as much as he had done formerly he said it was the grief of his Soul that he could do no more for them His whole carriage during his sickness and at his death His exemplary carrage at his death it was suitable to his life as he had lived exemplarily so he died exemplarily The whole of his carriage at his death was as one who was an eye witness of it and was a judicious person expressed it as if it had been a studied peece his great care was that grace might be seen to act him at his death as his chief care had been to express it in his Life He was naturally a man of a timerous and fearful Spirit but when he came to die the grace of God had so elevated him above his natural temper that he was not only willing to die but he triumphed over death and was no more concerned about it then only that grace might act him at his death as it had done in his life He delighted not to speak much in the time of his sickness but for the most part his time was taken up in a continued Meditation yet something he spake to all that came to visit him and that which he spake it was usually comprized in some short sentence or other His Dying Speeches and Counsels His most usual word to all that came to him was this make sure of Christ remember that one necessary thing At one time when some of the younger sort were come about him he said make sure of Christ and for incouragement I tell you that Religion is no vain thing it is no notion it is a reality I tell you so from mine own experience Another time perceiving some young ones to be talking one to another in a familiar manner he said he knew not what thy were talking about but commended their love only they should be sure to speak something for the edifying one of another and they should have their speeck seasoned with the salt of the word for the Lord he hearkned and heard and there was a Book of remembrance written for them that feared him and thought upon his name At another time when there was a person of Quality came to visit him he said hold on as you have begun make sure of Christ if I had as much gold as would reach up to the sky it would do me no good my interest in Christ is all my happiness Another time his wife and children coming about him he said I hope you have made choice of Christ and he exhorted them to cleave to him withall he added they shyould be diligent in the use of all the means but when all was done they should be sure to depend upon Christ and he added farther take heed of the world for that is your greatest Enemy I have found it to be so And to his children in particular he said deny your selves sinful-self self-pleasure and self\profit and the delights of the world and seek your All in Christ and in him you shall find All-sufficiency When some good people who were wont to meet together to pray and to build up one another in the ways of God came to visit him he said continue in prayer hold on I am confident it is the way of God you are in To the Minister of the place that came to visit him often in his sickness he said Preach to win souls let all your preaching be to win souls And to his own Son a little before his death he wrote to this purpose my Son take heed to the Ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it this will tend to the glory of God the good of souls and to thine account in the day of Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep During the time of his sickness some of his Christian friends kept a Fast for him as also in relation to publick concernments and some being going from him to that exercise he said Pray for me but especially for the Church of God All the time of his sickness he had not the least cloud upon his Spirit The inward Peace and spiritual Comforts which he had in his Sickness neither was Satan permitted in the least to disturb his peace when a Minister that came to visit him asked him whether he had any temptations he answered No blessed be the Lord the had none so that although all his life time he had been full of conflicts yet when he came to die he had the most perfect serenity after he had been sick some weeks he wrote thus to a near Relation I yet live thorough merey and do continue weak but God dealeth very gently with me for my outward afflictions are tolerable and his inward consolations are full of grace and heavenly sweetness These comforts abode and continued with him to the very last for at several times in his sickness and the same day that he died he was heard to say he hath left with me the Comforter and when about an hour before he died his natural Spirits being almost spent he brake forth into this expression my grief is great one of his Relations standing by said to him you do not mean in respect of your spiritual estate Mr. Rowe replied with a little seeming displeasure No no he hath and doth and will support by his eternal Spirit Thus the Lord was pleased to answer him in that which had been his great desire for a long time which was that his Faith might not fail and that he might be kept up in the Faith to the last The night beFore he died he had this expression I have waited upon God for my salvation and blessed be God I shall not be disappointed As his manner was in his life time His Constancy in self-denial so it was observed by those that were most about him at his death He was much in the acknowledgment of his own nothingness and vileness and much in magnifying the free grace mercy of God towards him The Minister that preached at his Funeral had this passage concerning him He was much in self denial even to the last looking on all that he had done as nothing as dross and dung in comparison of Christ At one time when his wife came to him and said she prayed that she might follow his steps he replied Follow Christ follow