particular interest in these general promises she was told that the Almighty who was mercifull as she had proued and faithfull as she confessed intended all these mercies to as many as he did call and make promise to And that hee called her she must néeds confesse both because that then she not only her selfe read but heard others reade those blessed words of God vnto her and also for that in former times she had bin touched with the loue of God and that his truth and had well profited in the detestation of sinne and imitation of her Sauiour in a holy life And for the proofe thereof she was wished to remember in former times her Baptisine her frequenting of Sermons often receiuing the most comfortable repast of the holy Communion her daily and almost continual exercise of reading meditating and praying c. Also he assured her that neither the present agony she was in nor the spéeches then in that distresse tending to the signification of despaire extorted from her were any iust causes why either she or any that heard her should iudge fearefullie of her because all might see the fault was not in her will as appeares by her prayers confessions plaints sighs teares and grones to God for mercy and full assurance in the blood of Christ but in her iudgement not able at that time to discerne the waies of the Almightie And therein he told her she was made cōformable not only to many the holy Saints of God Iob Ieremy Dauid Iob 3.1 c. Ier. 20.14 Iob 6.4.8.9 Iob 16.9 Lament 3. c. others more but also to her head our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus of whom we reade that some haue cursed the day of their birth and called for their end and darkenes to couer them They haue been as men without hope and swallowed vp in despaire They haue cried how the wrath of God hath torne them Psal 6.3 and the terrors of the Almighty haue fought against them They haue had no peace in their soules nor comfort in their consciences their prayers haue bin shut from God their sinnes haue been terrible vnto them crying that their iniquities had gone ouer their heads Psal 38.4 c. Psalm 71.7 Psalm 77.1.7 c. Psalm 51.5 Psalm 102.3 c. Rom. 7.24 and were a burthen too heauie for them to beare And they haue thought themselues spectacles of shame and reproch and as monsters vnto men They were grieued for the sinnes of their parents and complained that they were desolate forsaken and most miserable and wretched in the world yet for all this were they still the deare children of God as you are this day Nay saith hée I pray you consider what torments God inflicted vpon his deare Son vpon the Crosse did he not crie out Matth. 27 46. Matth. 26.38 Heb. 5.7 May 26. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He complained that his soule was heauie vnto death yet was hee heard in that which he feared and God deliuered him After this he read vnto her the 22. Psalme wherein Dauid complained partly of his owne but principally of the most bitter anguish which our Sauiour Christ endured and suffered in body and soule putting her in mind that her case was not so bad as Dauids nor much vnlike our Sauiours who endured all that and more for her and therefore she had no cause to feare séeing Christ had obtained victorie and would vndoubtedly bee with her deliuer her and eternally glorifie her with himselfe for euermore and so continually hee propounded to her such comfortable places of Scripture as might meet with her infirmities This greatly refreshed her and gaue her occasion many times to call vpon God for encrease of grace and deliuerance from her grieuous tentations the which God of his accustomed goodnes vouchsafed on Tuesday about thrée a clocke in the afternoone what time shée felt her selfe in very good measure deliuered from all her former feares and afflictions But on Saturday next after which was the day before her death she was wholly released and filled with such inward comfort that it greatly affected vs that saw it This is the summe of that tentation which shee had wherein what can any man sée that might giue iust occasion to report our religion comfortles or the Gentle woman died despairing This we are sure of that to be without tentation is the greatest tentation as also that nothing befell her which hath not befallen the holiest of the children of God And she that considered her owne corruption which how great it is in the best of Gods Saints I need not say and be thought her selfe of the punishment due therto if God in iustice should reward her no maruel if she brake out sometime into heauy complaints I make no question it was the worke of God in her to suffer Satan to accuse her and afflict her for her sinnes that so shée might the better see them and consider the hainousnes of them and before her departure repent her of them and betake her wholly to Christ for the sauing of her soule And if it pleased God thus to make her possesse her sins before she died let those which neuer yet knew the waight of their sinnes be wise in time and remember that he shall neuer haue his sinne forgiuen which first or last doth not vndergoe a holy despaire for it and acknowledge nothing to remaine in himselfe but matter of iudgement and condemnation and comfort and eternall life to flow alone from Iesus Christ And as for those which haue learned to scoffe at the terrors of Gods children and to censure such as are at sometimes cast downe with feeling the anger of God against sinne let them consider the blessed issue that God gaue to the troubles of this Gentle woman and let them acknowledge his worke in her And if they will not doe this but proceed to traduce the dead Fox Acts and Mon. pag. 1904.61 pag. 1908. then let them call to mind those of the Popish crue and persons of greater note among them then this Gentlewoman was which haue died most fearefully indeed Cardinall Sadelot Iacobus Latomus the Diuinitie Reader at Louaine Hofmester the Frier Guarlacus Bomelius Crescentius the Cardinall Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and diuers the bloodie persecutors in Queene Maries time and some of the Popes themselues as namely n = * Francis the Monke one of the ten popish persons conuerted in France Anno Dom. 1601. See Hasen Mill. historia Iesuirica who sets downe certaine examples of the Iesuites to this purpose Pope Sixtus Quintus of late yeeres all which died most fearefullie and miserablie and shewed manifest signes at their death that their popish superstition was the condenmation of their soules And if they will iudge of my religion by my death let them acknowledge their religion is the doctrine of desperation and that the truth and faith which was able to fill the heart
O praise the Lord for his mercies for hee hath brought me out of darkenes Esa 27.1 Psalm 103.1.2.3.4 and the shadow of death hee hath deliuered my soule from the snare of the hunter and hath taken me out of the den of Lions euen from the iawes of Leuiathan that piercing and crooked serpent and hath set me in a place of rest and sweete refreshing Oh praise the Lord O my soule all that is within me praise his holy name my soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefits which forgiueth all thine iniquities and healeth all thine infirmities which hath redeemed thy life from the graue and crowneth thee with mercie and compassion This she often repeated And then againe remembring the 21. and 22. verses of the 17. of Iohn shee said O my sweete Sauiour shall I be one with thee as thou art one with thy Father And wilt thou glorifie mee with that glorie which thou haddest with the father before the world was And dost thou so loue mee which am but dust and ashes to make me partaker of glorie with Christ What am I poore wretch that thou art so mindfull of me Psal 144.3 Psal 8.4 Oh how wonderfull how wonderfull how wonderfull is thy loue Oh thy loue is vnspeakeable that hast dealt so gratiouslie with me Oh I feele thy mercies and oh that my tongue and heart were able to sound forth thy praises as I ought and as I willingly would doe Oh that you all would helpe me to praise the holie one of Israel the God of all consolations And thus for the space of fiue houres together at the least shée continued praising and lauding the Lord with such a gladsome and heauenly countenance testifying such inward ioy from a comfortable feeling of the mercies of God in her soule and vsing such swéete sentences and sugred phrases of perfect and holy eloquence as the truth thereof if it could haue been taken were admirable continuing so many houres together some part whereof was this Oh my Lord oh my God blessed bee thy name for euermore which hast shewed me the path of life Esa 54.8 Thou didst O Lord hide thy face from me for a little season but with euerlasting mercie thou hast had compassion on me And now blessed Lord thy comfortable presence is come yea Lord thou hast had respect vnto thy handmaid and art come with fulnes of ioy and abundance of consolations O blessed be thy name O Lord my God Then shée repeated part of the 16. Psalme saying The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance wherefore my heart is glad Psal 16.59.11 and my tongue reioyceth Thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulnes of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore Oh that I could therefore praise the Lord as hee is worthie to be praised I will sing to the Lord I will sing to the praise of the God of Israel come come saith she and helpe me Iudges 5.3 O helpe me to praise the Lord. And with that she began to sing the third Psalme and continued to the end of the Psalme as perfectly and with as sweete a voice as euer she had before in her health and concluded with the 49. verse of the 106. Psalme The Lord the God of Israel be blest for euermore Let all the people say Amen praise ye the Lord therefore And after this she said O praise the Lord for hee hath filled me with ioy and gladnes of heart and brought me from the gates of hell and of death repeating that of the 16. Psalme Psal 16.6 My line is fallen vnto me in a pleasant place yea I haue a faire heritage for the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance The place where I now am is sweete and pleasant Oh how pleasant is the sweete perfume of the place where I lie Exod. 30.23 It is sweeter then Aarons composed perfume of principall spices how comfortable is the sweetnes I feele Reuel 8.4 It is like that odour that proceeds from the golden censor that delights my soule The taste is precious doe you not feele it Oh so sweete it is yea sweeter then myrrhe the hony or the hony combe Let me therefore sing againe and againe vnto my Lord and my God Then she did sing the nineteenth Psalme beginning at the seuenth verse How perfect is the law of God c. and so on to the end of the same And after that spirituall reioycing in singing of Psalmes she then prayed vnto God faithfully and praised the Lord againe ioyfully And being still full of these and such like heauenly consolacions she did sing againe most hearthly vnto the praise of God the 136. Psalme Praise yee the Lord for hee is good for his mercie endureth for euer c. In which Psalme for his mercie endureth for euer is 26. times repeated A Christian friend comming in at the same time Master William Fox which was about sixe of the clocke in the euening maruelling to see her exceeding ioyes and heauenly harmonie wherein she continued with such words and phrases that were so spirituall prayed for the continuance of the same vnto the end William Brettâ—â—gh William Fox William Woodward whereupon shee then hurst out relating further of her ioyes saying Oh the ioyes the ioyes the ioyes that I feele in my soule oh they be wonderfull they bee wonderfull they bee wonderfull And after that shee prayed for increase of faith and that God would strengthen her against tentations with continuall crauing of cemission of sins euer meditating of heauenly matters as by her sudden and often breaking out into heauenly speeches and praises did appeare for the same euening she lying still and silent for a while William Fox one prayed her to remember the Lord Iesus and that shee would in her heart pray for constancie in her ioyfull course whereupon shee answered with a delightsome and cheerefull countenance and comfortable voyce Psal 27.1.3 Oh said she so I doe for the Lord is my light and my saluation whom then shall I feare Though an host pitch against me yet my heart shall not bee afraid for the Lord hath said Deut. 4.31 I will not leaue thee nor forsake thee Indeed I should vtterly haue fainted Psal 27.13 Psal 108.1 but that I beleeued to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing And now my heart is readie my heart is readie and prepared yea it panteth after thee O God as the Hart brayeth after the riuers of water Psal 42.1.2 so panteth my soule after thee O God my soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God When Lord William Brettergh when shall I come and appeare before thy presence c. Saying then further Lord sith it hath pleased thee to prepare my heart whether to life or death thy will bee done dispose of me to thine owne glorie I am thine Lord work
and tongue of this blessed Gentle woman at her death with such heauenly comforts is the doctrine of Christ reuealed from heauen that wee might liue and die in it From Tuesday Pl till Whitian-eeuen her comfort still incereased and tentations vanished away She would then very chearefully ioyne with the company in prayer and singing Psalmes as occasion offered Iohn Bruen Esquire William Brettergh William Fox Iohn Brettergh William Woodward Iohn Holland Maud Brettergh Scholastica Fox 1. Pet. 4.17.18 Iohn Holland William Brettergh William Woodward and performed all such duties as were méet for her in that estate One day her brother M. Iohn Bruen of Bruenstapleford came from his house in Cheshire to visit her and 〈…〉 some kind salutation passed betwéene them he said vnto her Sister be not dismaied at your troubles but remember what the Apostle saith that iudgement must begin at the house of God To whom she answered as one that was also very ready in the Scriptures with the very next words following True it is and if it begin at vs and the righteous shall scarce be saued where shal the sinners and vngodly appeare After that she prayed with him and sung a Psalme with him as one that receiued great comfort by him and acknowledged in him a hart set to séek the things belonging to the kingdam of Christ During this time in the night with such as waked with her she would pray and rehearse for her comfort many texts of Scripture and namely the 8. to the Romanes many times concluding and closing vp that shée read or repeated with prayer and most comfortable vses and applications thereof to her selfe with shew of such ioy and comfort that the hearers reioyced at it When n = * Richar Orme Iohn Holland William Brettergh William Woodward William Fox Reuel 21.6 William Brettergh William Fox Psal 119.71.72 William Brettergh shée receiued any meat shee prayed God not onely to sanctifie those creatures for her bodilie sustenance but also to fill her soule with the waters of life often repeating that of the Reuelation To him that thirsteth will I giue of the waters of life freelie One time she tooke her Bible in her hand and ioyfully kissing it and looking vp toward heauen she said that of the Psalme O Lord it is good for me that I haue bin afflicted that I may learne thy statutes The law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of gold and siluer Another time she called her husband to her and said O husband beware of Papistrie keepe your selfe holy before the Lord Yeeld not to the abominations of the wicked lest they reioyce and so you dishonour God and destroy your owne soule Againe she said Let my little child be brought vp among the children of God Maud Brettergh and in the true feare and knowledge of his Maiestie so shall I meet her in heauen whom now I must leaue behind me on earth Again William Brettergh Rom. 8.15 William Fox sometime shée would pray with a low voice to her selfe and that saying of Paul We haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare any more but the spirit of adoption whereby we crie Abba father was much in her mouth and the last words Abba father she would double oftentimes ouer She would sing to her selfe the last verse of the 13. Psalme I will giue thankes vnto the Lord and praises to him sing Because he hath heard my request and granted my wishing Finally in these and such like exercises and meditations did shée spend the whole time of her sickenes after the Lord had once enlarged her heart from the tentations of Satan But vpon Saturday about eleuen of the clocke in the morning May 30. the Lord disclosed himselfe in mercy to her more plentifully then euer before and as I may say he dealt famlliarly with his handmaid for from that time to her very death which ensued the next day the féeling of Satans tentations séemed quite to be banished from her so that she made no shew of them her thoughts were not occupied with the world husband child or any thing else to our thinking neither was her sickenes trouble some to her as before it had been but as one raised from death to life or rauished in spirit so séemed shée to vs that stood by her countenance ioyfull her tongue flowing with the praises of God and her voice as most heauenly musicke and melodie of peace sounding praise and honour and glorie to God in a wonderfull manuer as followeth About eleuen of the clocke shée began to tremble and quake a little William Brettergh Maud Brettergh Elizabeth Challoner and withall shée asked her husband it hée would helpe her with prayer to God against the tempter saying Will ye neither pray with mée nor bring some godlie man that may put holy things into my mind whereby I may bée able to resist Satan Hauing thus said shee vttered these words O Lord God of my saluation helpe my weaknesse pleade thou my cause O God of truth for in thee do I trust After this they prayed together and she answered Amen to euery petition Then after this she required him to reade some part of the Scripture whereupon hee read vnto her the 8. to the Romanes the 91. Psalme and the 17. of Iohn the which as he read and came to the 4. verse I haue finished the worke which thou gauest me to do and now glorifie me she desired him to pause a while then said Blessed be thy name O blessed Sauiour perfect the worke I humblie beseech thee which thou hast begun in me Then as he read the 9. verse I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast giuen me for they are thine she interrupted him againe saying O Lord Iesu doest thou pray for me O blessed and sweet Sauiour how wonderfull how wonderfull how wonderfull are thy mercies Read on said she the blessedst reading that euer I heard the comfort whereof doth sweeten my soule Then reading verse the 22. And the glorie which thou gauest mee I haue giuen them that they may bee one as we are one with maruellous ioy she vttered the words of Dauid many times ouer Psal 107.8.9 I confesse before the Lord his louing kindnes and his wonderful works before the sonnes of men for he hath satisfied my soule and filled my hungry soule with goodnes When he came to the 24. verse Father I will that they which thou hast giuen me be with me euen where I am that they may behold my glorie which thou hast giuen me Stay said she and let me meditate on the goodnes of the Lord for this is the swéetest saying that euer came to my soule for now I perceiue and feele the countenance of Christ my redeemer is turned towards me and the bright shining beames of his mercie is spread ouer me Oh happie am I that euer I was borne to see this blessed day Praise praise