Love Honour and Obey this Lord that has Redeem'd you with his Precious Blood shed upon the Cross his Meritorious Righteousness learn to hear and know his Voice he speaks to you in your Bibles by Faithful Ministers by your own Consciences by his Spirit by Sound Christians if you seek to get into their Company their Houses yea their Hearts by enquiring of them concerning his Will Nay sure he calls you by your Dying Parent now to come to him that you may have Life to prefer him before this World before childish Sports and Vanity Oh my Aking Heart for you my Yearning Bowels towards you what a World of Snares and Wickedness have you to pass thro' What a Life probably of Labour Contempt and Poverty to undergo and of Persecution too if you will live Godly in Christ Jesus What a Subtle Devil to resist Cunning and Malicious to cheat and destroy you To whom shall I leave you to whose Care and Conduct You have been sometime without a Father on Earth shortly you 'll be without a Mother too Will you not seek a Father in Heaven Oh chuse Christ Jesus he 'll be a Friend a Portion a Guard a Guide Honours Pleasures all things yea more and better than all things to you in him God will be your Father Oh Blessed Trinity in Unity wilt thou accept my I hope now unfeigned Dedication of these my poor Children to thee Oh Son of God wilt thou be their Saviour from Sin and from Eternal Death Oh Blessed Spirit wilt thou early Enlighten strongly Incline and powerfully Enable them to chuse God for their Portion Jesus for their Prince and Saviour thy Word for the Rule of their Life Shall my Unworthy Prayer be heard on the Account of my Saviour for these my Distressed Children Oh then I 'll no longer call them forsaken no nor think them so the Lord is their Shepherd they shall not want Well had I my Life again my Tender Hearts would I not again Travel in Birth with you till Christ were formed on you were you not Happy think you if you were in such a case will you not be happy Children if your God be the Lord Well then as you love your Souls Pray dayly Early Earnestly that you may be Renewed in the Spirit of your Minds Pray till you find a Return of your Prayers Pray till you can understandingly and truly say you need no more Grace no more Aids against Corruption no more Help in Religious Duties no more Wisdom and Resolution to contest against the Devil who will be always Tempting you then I 'm sure you 'll from this time to your latest Breath on Earth and in all likelyhood till you breath Praises in Heaven If you pray aright pray earnestly believe those Honest Christians that tell you there are Joys in Religion above the Joys of Harvest not to the Formal Sluggish Inconstant Trifling Christian I believ but to the Diligent Must you not work in this World to maintain you will you not work for Eternity much more with what words shall I Excite you will not my Death my Doubts my Danger of Everlasting Death excite you Oh I exceedingly Fear and Tremble lest your hard Heart should barr out or despise my wholsome Councel how oft has Heaven Thundred in my Ears and yet I dead in Trespasses and Sins arose not to call upon my God I started indeed once in my dead Sleep but the World Flesh and Devil soon Lull'd me asleep again faster than I was before on the Pillow of Carelessness and Security Now by waking Pains I pay for that Lethargick Sleep Come cast a Look with me into Eternity see if that will move you Oh that I could leave you the Eyes wherewith I now see but use your own I mean the Eyes of your Mind to look into Eternity Such Thoughts will Instruct and make you Wise Thoughts of your Temporal Death may stir you up to lay hold on Everlasting Life Keep Death always in view of your Minds so whenever it seizes it shall not surprize you If you shall fear at any time henceforward when you are reading this Paper that I 'm gone to the Blackness of Darkness for ever where God is only known by the Vengeance which he Executeth where the Damned drink Eternally of Rivers of Flaming Brimstone and keep Company with Spiteful Fiends in endless Despair Will you not be afraid to follow tho' it were a Mother to that Eternal Prison Or how can I bear the Thought that you should come to share yet not alleviate but sharpen Torments before Intolerable To Curse my former Negligence towards you and your own Neglects of my present Advice in so doleful a Place in such dreadful Company for ever Oh take Heed better Ten Thousand times better a Millstone were hang'd about your Necks and you cast into the Depths of the Sea But if you can believe from this Copy of my Mind that I 'm gone to Heaven the place of Everlasting Joys will you not take my foregoing Advice wherein I have mark'd you out the Strait and Narrow Way thither Oh if you do who can tell the Joys shall attend our Meeting in those chearful Regions that never know a Storm nor so much as fear a Cloud Blest with the most Healthful Refreshing Airs of Gods Countenance Water'd with the Rivers of Pleasures that flow at his Right Hand Oh how shall we there Rejoyce Eternally together Oh that I could prevail with you to Meditate some time every day upon Eternity Your Mother in a few Hours will be swallow'd up therein will not that draw your Thoughts a little thither Oh that you might be Haunted as it were whereever you go with the Thoughts of Death and Eternity I see Death marching towards me every Hour and Moment and is it not thus marching towards you and all the World whether they Eat Drink Sleep or Play I see my Judge seated on his Throne will he not be yours likewise having Eyes as a Flame of Fire which will pierce into all the Secrets both of mine and your Hearts and Actions I see methinks my own Conscience unfolded and as it were compar'd with Gods Omniscience where all I have done in the Body is Recorded and is there not in Heaven a Register kept of your Actions too I hear the Devil as it were charging all my Sins against me at Gods Barr Asserting my Services to his Interest and puting in an High Challenge to me as his own Will he not serve you so think you if you serve him I would think I hear on the other side the Blood of Jesus pleading for my Ransom from Eternal Death and Hell as being made a Penitent Believer This is all the Life I have in Death Will you not want it at your Deaths may you not have it in your Lives In short I see as it were Hell naked before me and Destruction without a Covering I see Heaven fill'd with Crowned Martyrs Triumphing Saints and Shining Angels all swallow'd up in the Light and Love of the Glorious Jehovah And now what Hope and Fear fills my Head and Heart I can't certainly determine which is my Place and what my Portion I liv'd neglecting to determine this great Point 't is just if Heaven suffer me to dye doubting of it And will you dare to do so can you like to dye so Oh now a World for such a Repentance as I could be assur'd I should never repent of were I to live in this World again as that I should hate Sin in my very Soul and burn it up with Jealousie and Indignation Oh for such a Love to God and Holiness as I could be assur'd if I were to live on Earth again would carry me thro' the Force of contrary Examples thro' the Fires of raging Persecution thro' the deepest Waters of Affliction thro' the strongest Contradictions of my own Corruption to Love Serve Honour Fear Obey Trust Reverence Desire Delight in the Living God Then would I welcome Death in its closest Attack and most dismal Shape yea I would leave this World with a more chearful Heart than ever I bore in it thro' my whole Life My Dear Children that I have any Hopes now of Pardon of my Sin Peace with God and Everlasting Life is owing to the abundant Riches of the Glory of Gods Grace Oh take you heed of Sinning that Grace may abound if you do you may come to rue it for ever But go I must hence whether I hop'd or no Time draws to a Close and calls me to bid you a long Farewel Farewel my Dear Children May your Souls be bound up in the Bundle of Life I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace May the very God of Peace Sanctify you wholly and preserve you Blameless in Body Soul and Spirit to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Amen Amen Sign'd with my own Hand Mary Goodenough POSTSCRIPT I am in this Paper a Witness to you my poor Orphans of your Duty and Danger Oh force me not in as a Witness against you by your Carelessness and Obstinacy at the Great Tribunal whither I am now called and where you must shortly appear Read this Paper or get it Read to you by my Neighbour Thomas Bolt or Mrs. Mary Rose or such others as will teach you to Understand and Improve not to Contemn and Neglect it Read it over or a good Part of it every Lords Day be not asham'd of my Dying Confessions or Advice for they are the best Remains of your Dying Mother the only Legacy she has to leave you and if well Improv'd they will indeed yield you a Goodly Heritage FINIS
her Sins which would bind her over to a great Tribunal and more dismal Sentence and persuaded her to apply her self to the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant which could wash out the deepest Stains and dissolve the strongest Guilt of her Sins Whilst she lay under Sentence of Death she was with Care and Diligence attended by the Ordinary Mr. Blackbourn Minister of Cairfax in Oxon to her last hour he instructed her in the way of Salvation frequently pray'd with her and gave her the Sacrament on the sabbath-Sabbath-Day which was the very day before she dy'd she giving good Evidences of her Repentance She was also during this time visited by the Nonconforming Minister in Oxford who from the Wednesday before her Death had daily Conferences with her In his 3 first Conferences he most industriously apply'd himself to lead her into an affecting Sense of the Sinfulness of her Nature the Sinfulness of every Sin to bring her to an humbling Reflection upon all the Sins of her past Life before God as also to shew her the fearful Consequences of an unpardon'd unrenew'd State still interweaving the comfortable Doctrins of the Gospel One particular result of these Conferences was her sending for him on the Fryday before she dy'd and acknowledging with great Remorse that she had been convinc'd of her Duty towards God by the Famous Mr. Birch late of Burford and had resolv'd on those Convictions to live more Piously and accordingly endeavoured it But in some process of time had baffled them and returned to her former Remisness in Religion Forgetfulness of God and of her Soul c. in the two last Conferences the Minister proceeded to make more particular Application to her concerning her closing with the Offers of Pardon and Salvation on the Terms and Grounds of the Gospel Covenant which she profess'd her Readiness to imbrace But he admitted it not without the most trying Search he cou'd possibly make into the Nature and Grounds of her profess'd Consent that she might not be impos'd upon as to her Eternal Estate She aswer'd the most trying Questions with great Sincerity and to the great Satisfaction of the Minister who also pray'd with her at these Conferences Most of the Prisoners attended usually whilst he discours'd her and it was hop'd some of them to good purpose The Night before she dy'd she was observably more Chearful in her Countenance more Free and at Liberty in her Speech and more Satisfy'd in her Condition than ever she had shewed before She said she had been under Clouds and Darkness but God had vouchsafed her the Light of his Countenance She Blessed God that had caus'd her Iniquities to find her out else said she I might have gone on in my Sin smother smother till I had fallen into Hell And this she did with Signal Demonstration that she had a chearful and sensible Feeling of what she said When she was ask'd what she would have pray'd for for her she answer'd greater Assurance of Gods Love but Blessed God for good Hopes thro' Grace To the Pious Advice and Fervent Prayers in this her Letter to and for her Children I am persuaded none of the By-standers can from their Hearts witness any less than that she gave her Heart as well as Hand the Night before she was Executed This was her own Project and Desire and she did then most Sollicitously beg of God that he would give her a Mouth of Courage to say something that might be for his Glory and the good of their Souls who should come to see her dye And when she was put upon writing to the man who had drawn her into this Wickedness and Shame she was more than willing nay seemingly desirous to have something writ to him Tho' she said she fear'd he was so hardened in that Sin it would not reclaim him And tho' he neither came to see nor sent to her neither took any manner of Care of or shew'd any Pity towards her after she was in this Distress But want of time prevented a Letter to him When she came to the Gallows in the Castle-Yard at Oxon at about 6 of the Clock on Monday Morning being the 7th of March 1691-92 she said or did little there but dy'd only beg'd of the People to be warn'd against her Sins by her shameful and untimely End And indeed without a Miracle almost it could not be expected she should say much more for she must needs be in great Confusion and Surprize who in less than Two Months time was Committed Try'd Condemn'd and Executed for her Crime Besides she seem'd never to have had any great Faculty or Freedom of Speech and farther the Fatigue and hard Fare of a Prison to one that kept the Two Thirds of her Lying-in Month there had mightily weakened her and impaired her Spirits tho' she declar'd to one that carried her some Victuals she eat them out of Conscience Looking upon it as a Duty required of her by God to support her Nature for the short space of time she had to live In short tho' she dy'd without such outward Demonstrations of it as some have done yet there are few or none that saw the last Scenes of the last day of her Life but must own she appeared to have a great Abhorrence of Sin a strong Love to Holiness upon her Heart and a sincere Desire to propagate them both in others Her Character amongst her Neighbours was a Quiet Honest Civil Harmless Poor Woman yea Religious too before this Fact And thus you have seen what was necessary to lead you clearly into this her following Letter of Advice to her Children and to Recommend it to you as being the Advice of a Dying Penitent My Dear and Loving Children IT is no small addition to my Troubles that I cannot see and speak to you before I go hence and be no more in the Land of the Living especially considering how wanting I have been towards you I would most willingly have endeavoured to do that for you at my Death which I have hitherto neglected I am now forced to take this way of Writing and to beg the help of another Hand my own Hand being as my Heart is trembling and my confused Head uncapable of expressing what I desire to impart to and impress upon you I leave nothing in this World with so much Grief and Trouble as you my poor Children and it greatly aggravates my Sorrow that my Sin shortens my time with you in this World As I have hainously sin'd against God and my own Soul against him whose Body and her whose Bed I joyn'd in defiling and against the Life of that unhappy Infant which I took not care to preserve So have I also offended against you my Dear Children whom thro' my own Default I am forced to leave to the wide World e're you are fit to live in it and to leave you under a Blot to be reproached it may be with that which is not your Fault
the World I do now heartily forgive Set a Watch before the Door of your Lips against all Swearing Lying Idle Talking or Foolish Jesting Slandering or Censuring any that you offend not with your Tongues See that you be diligent in whatsoever Imployment God shall assign to you for the gaining a Livelyhood in this World obey those that shall have Rule over you as Masters Mistresses c. in all things Lawful for the Lords Sake And beg time from them yea Redeem time by your Diligence from their Business wherein you may serve God every day Shun all unjust ways of getting tho' for the Supply of mere Necessity In a word get Gods Commands into your Heads and hide them in your Hearts that you may not sin against him Remembring always you are not of your selves sufficient so much as to think any good thing as of your selves but believe it upon my sad Experience who fail'd and fell by trusting to my own strength for performing the good Resolutions I took up Without Christ you can do nothing That all your Sufficiency is of God whose Spirit and Grace you must therefore beg as you would do Bread when you are ready to starve of your Parents Since Christ hath told you if Parents tho' evil give good Gifts to their Children how much more will not your Heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask it and continue asking it Oh Children would you live happily and dye so take the Advice of your Dying Mother Would you not have it to say at last How have we hated Instruction and despised Reproof Wou'd you not have God laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear cometh Oh then take my Advice as here given you Would you be Blessings to your Generation the Love of Good Men the Delight and Care of Heaven Read then over and over Ponder and Practise my Advice Bind these my Precepts on your Heads Hands and Hearts an Ornament of Grace they will be unto you even as Chains about your Neck and Bracelets on your Arms. Oh what a Peaceful Happy and Joyful Life had I lead if I had ever chosen these ways of Wisdom these ways of Pleasantness which I mark you out Oh what an Honourable Death should I have dyed what a Sweet Flourishing and Blessed Memory should I have left behind me whereas now Woe is me my Life is going out like the Snuff of a Candle cut off in the midst of my Years the Proud Waters are come in unto my Soul Oh what would I now give Ten Thousand Worlds surely if I had them that I had lead my Life as I am persuading you the Dear Fruit of my Womb to lead yours Oh had I my past Life again would I barter it away for Toyes for Vanity or sinful Pleasures Should the World or the Devil again impose upon me as I find they have done No surely No Yet alas had I kept the Precepts I have recommended to you from my Youth upward as exactly as I would beg of you to keep them or as you would wish you had kept them did you stand in my present Circumstances yea allowing these Precepts to contain a perfect Rule of Life yet would there be one thing lacking and chargeable upon me even a Satisfaction for the Guilt of my Sin in and from Adam Nor can my present Prayers Tears Penitent Confessions Promises of future Obedience c. expiate that Guilt much less attone for all the Violations of Gods Laws thro' my past Life Oh no I must have the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus to cover my naked Soul withal before the Barr of God in order to my Acceptance and Salvation Where 's any room then my Children for that vain Conceit think you that Persons may be too diligent exact or abounding in the Way and Works of God When you have done all must you not own your selves unprofitable Servants But oh how much short of the whole will you fall when you do all you can of whatever I have counselled you Believe me then for 't is undoubted Truth never any repented of too much Diligence in Gods Service whilst they liv'd much less when they came to dye Oh that I could draw forth the present earnest Pantings of my Soul before you Sure they would put your Souls into the like or better motion Hear Children the Prayers of your Dying Parent for her own Soul which she puts up with infinitely more Earnestness if it were possible than she could pray for her Release from the present Chains she wears the Dungeon she lyes in the Shame and approaching Death she is to undergo Yea hear the Prayers and pray them whilst you live which your Dying Mother makes for you not for Riches Preferment Esteem Ease or Plenty in this World No let the World enjoy the Gods they dote on May you my Children who are born with Souls naked before God and so ought to be asham'd have the Cloathing of Christs Righteousness to cover your sinful Nakedness May you who have Souls expos'd to the Wrath of God for the Sin of your Natures and the Sins of your but as it were newly begun Lives have Christs Righteousness as Armour against the second Death Armour of Proof to keep off all furious Discharges of Gods Law upon you May you who have Souls miserably poor by Nature void of all saving Knowledge and Grace which are the true Riches have your Souls made Rich by Christ Jesus with his Gold try'd in the Fire Rich in Faith Rich with all the Graces of his Holy Spirit dwelling richly in you Rich in the Love of God manifested to your Souls and Rich thro' Christs Purchase in your being united to him having a sure Reversion of Eternal Glory These mighty Blessings may you seek after may God give you them early Had I look'd after them as I advise you now to do I might once more easily have attained and secured them I might have had the Use and Comforts of them thro' my Life Oh that I may not now fail of these Blessings at Death Alas that I have driven it to this doubtful Point God and Christ waited on me with these Offers ever since and are ready always to bestow them upon you if you are but ready to receive them Well shall I shew you the way wherein you are to seek these Blessings wherein seeking ye shall find yea wherein only seeking I hope my self to find them why truly 't is in the way of Repentance and Faith on the Lord Jesus Christ The World think they can as easily Repent and Believe almost as I can write the Words but alas they 'l find themselves desperately mistaken if they don't alter their Minds mistaken to their endless Ruin Oh how hard is it for me to believe my Heart which was but some Weeks ago in deep Love and League with Sin and with this World to be now absolutely unalterably irreconcilably set against all Sin and set fixedly to mortify