Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A42915
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The Godly man's legacy to the saints upon earth exhibited in the life of that great and able divine, and painful labourer in the word, Mr. Stephen Marshal ... : written by way of a letter to a friend.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing G937; ESTC R7520
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17,522
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40
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was conscious And therefore would never accept any University Preferment lest he should make himself ridiculous nor never Commenced Doctor Indeed he took the Degree of Batchelor in Divinity per saltum but it is said his Tutor Dr. Garnons made his Excellent Position and that somebody else made or help'd him to make his Clerum His sitting so long time in the Assembly had somewhat improv'd his Abilities and therefore he was judg'd fit with Mr. Vines to be a disputing Commissioner at Vxbridge in the point of Episcopacy A point which they had canvass'd thred-bare in the Assembly Indeed they did little else but beat down and trample upon that Reverend and Apostolick Government one Divine in a months time would have done as much as they did in seven years and to the overthrow of which they had all of them contributed their several Mites * An insignificant Directory fit to have accompanied the Covenant They Epitomiz d Bishop usher's Body of Divinity which they called their larger Catechism and again epitomiz'd that Epitome abolishing the ancient Church Cotehcism hence so much ignorance in the Fundamentals of Religion and the ill Consequences of that which these two doughty Champions having budgetted up carried with them to the Treaty The Evening before they were to dispute these two Eves-droppers stole to the Chamber door of the opposite Doctors where they over-heard them reading over their Arguments this is Mr. Marshall's own Confession as well as his Boast which when they had done they sate up all Night examining their reasons and preparing answers of all which helps they had need having to oppose so good a Cause and such able Defenders And now you have heard of his Learning take a cast of his Wit for he was venturous at that sport But first stop your Nose because the Jests smell rank Once this Scoggin requested a Lady whose name it is not fit to stain by making it here publick that he might speak his mind freely to her which she very innocently granting the rude Presbyter spoke like a Pythoniss from the hollow of his Belly giving such a burst as some Beast would do that had newly eaten green Tares The same reply he is said to have given another Gentlewoman asking his Judgment concerning the Lord's Prayer If the other was a clownish affront this was unhallow'd prophaneness And now my hand is in the Honey-pot take another provided that you read not these upon a full Stomach It once hapned that he took Physick in an House which he much frequented and at the same time the Mistress of the House also had taken a Purge and having but one Easement which stood conveniently between both their Chambers the Gentlewoman had got possession of it when Mr. Marshall's Physick began to wring and gripe and desire a Writ of Ejectment he therefore calls to his Mistress to make haste which her own need delaying she cries out for his patient stay his retentive faculty being almost overcome he tells her if she does not give way he must discharge himself in her Lap but this being a matter ex officio out of modesty I shall contract it with an c. And now I have mentioned modesty it puts me in mind of a Sermon that I heard him preach at Saffron Walden about 15 or 16 years ago upon this Text Hosea 13. v. 12 13. The Iniquity of Ephraim is bound up his sin is hid the sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of Children Which Metaphor he did so plainly open and so closely pursue and so pertinently apply that the modest Women hung down their Heads blushing And some of them in my hearing said they never heard such a bawdy Sermon in their lives His wit was not without wealth for by a kind of Omnipotence he created to himself out of nothing an Estate as it has been computed worth 10000 l. and left it to his Children which is more than one of the last Arch-Bishops of Canterbury out of his great Revenue had to bequeath to his Relations Which his Sister Newman took an occasion to note when at a Meeting she told a Lady that the World was well amended with her Brother who was present since the time he and she us'd to go a Gleaning together when he would cudgel her Coat if she did not ply her business and thus she was even with him for saying before some Gentleman that she look'd like a Witch in a Play But to let these small things pass and draw to a Period with my Subject Honest Stephen for all his Favour Wit Learning Honour Cunning Wealth must die die of a Consumption too who had help'd to consume so much of the Kingdom 's Blood and Treasure and of the Churches Vitals and Beauty His Sickness was long and tedious which made him a very Skeleton and ghastly spectacle before his Death Some report that like Henderson he died full of horrour and despair they that speak most sparingly of him say he had not that assurance of his Salvation that he expected to have had at his Death Death and Judgment are solemn things and give a man a truer and less flattering view of his actions than covetous and ambitious Interests will let him see I presume not to judge his future Estate to his own Master he stood or fell his Conscience being awakened he might and so others may find more truth and comfort in the first sentence of our Liturgy tho' they call it a Lye than in all their thin notions of Divinity He was of a middle Stature thick Shouldered swarthy Complexion his Eyes always rowling in his Head when he talked with any man he never look'd in his face but cast them this way and that way which some interpreted as an argument of a jealous mind and suspicious of Mischief His Deportment was clownish like his Breeding his Garb slovenly sometimes preaching without his Cloak his Gate shackling and the Furniture within not unlike the outside Now Sir tho' I have exceeded the length of an Epistle yet I am not conscious to my self that I have any where exceeded the Truth and now let the World judge if there were not more scandal in this man's Life than in eating Sack and Custard or in both White 's Legends put together And do you Presbyterians judg what an able Builder your Cause has had here in England for it is not to leave an infamy upon this persons name that I have given you this copy of the man but purely for your sakes who have been unhappily deluded by his seeming merit I know some of you have discovered him to be another man than you first took him for but the most of you are ignorant of his Private Carriage and under-hand practices and divers of you are so firmly wedded to your old Opinions and which is worse still justly those ungodly means whereby you have maintain'd them For God's sake let not the King's Pardon which extends but to your Goods and Lives be an occasion to betray your Souls There must pass an Act of Indempnity in Heaven before you can be secured and this will never be without Repentance Repent then and let the World see that you are forry for and sensible of your sin this will not be your Shame but your Honour That part of the Kirk of Scotland at Aberdene have bury'd all their Infamy in their Ingenuous acknowledgment of their foul Miscarriages God Almighty accept and pardon them and stir up you to do the like Penance in a white sheet of Paper which shall be the hearty desire of your Friend and more particularly Worthy Sir of him who is Yours Humbly Devoted FINIS
Observation of Sabbaths Praying Preaching especially according to the new mode in Fasts and Thanksgivings under these specious shews the Mistery of Iniquity lay hid For to what end were their Fasts but for Strife and to smite with the Fist of Wickedness and to break the Strength and Heart of the King And wherefore were their Thanksgivings but for Success in Rebellion Whereas they had more reason to thank God for his Forbearance that the Earth did not open and swallow them up quick as it once did their Fellow-Rebels But this made a great Noise among the silly People who saw no farther than a Man may look into a Mill-stone His Jureverence about Holy things was abominable and hardly credible when he baptized a Child in Private to sit in a Chair upon his Breech while he administred that Sacrament What Superstition could equalize that Rudeness Perhaps he thought the same posture would as well become that Sacrament as the other such doings have brought both into Contempt Indeed to him and his Brethren we owe not only the loss of our Government and Liturgy but of the Sacraments themselves Baptism having been restrain'd and the Lord's Supper in many places disus'd Mr. Marshall himself having not had a Communion in Finchingfield for seven Years together which is far worse than Promiscuous Communions That he was of all Clergy-men the most mischievous to his Sovereign is without Controversie every where robbing him of the Hearts of his Subjects creating Jealousies in them stirring them up to Arms and Contributions of Moneys engaging all Persons of Quality whom he had any hopes to work upon and when he found the man backward he plays the Devil tempts the Woman to betray her Husband He had always a strong influence upon that Sex and wrought that by their Importunity which he could not effect by his own reason or perswasions By this means he became a Murderer a Murderer of those Souls that he had seduc'd into Rebellion a Murderer of those Bodies which were slain by such as he stirr'd up to the War a Murderer of all such as died by the Hands of the Royalists a Murderer of his Prince by taking away his good Name by that means rendring him in the esteem of his Subjects unworthy to govern or live and this he did not only by his Preaching and private Calumnies but in those absurd dins-ingenuous and malicious Animadversions of his upon the Kings Letters taken at Naseby Letters so full of Modesty Ingenuity Wisdom and Piety yet if he had not had the Heart of a very bad man he would never have so maliciously Commented upon them and made them speak contrary to their own Grammatical Sense Letters that when Malice had done its worst and its religious Votaries had pick'd out of the Cabinet such as they thought would best serve their turn suppressing such Papers as might have given all the World satisfaction of his Majesties Love to his Subjects and the Protestant Religion and had discanted upon those select Papers yet were so far from prejudicing his Majesty that they convinc'd thousands of his Integrity who were before doubtful The worst that could be laid to his Charge was that contrary to former Resolutions he sought help from Forreigners forc'd thereunto by their implacable Violence Besides this he is thought to have instigated them who were forward enough to the hastening the King's Death He has been heard to say That the King was too wise to be suffer'd to Rule That he had as live see his own Death as the King in his Throne His revengful Spirit could not forget that Affront as he accounted it which the King put upon him at Holmby when being to say Grace for his Majesty while he was long in forming his Chaps as his manner was his Majesty said Grace for himself and was fallen to his Meat and had eaten up some part of his Dinner before his Chaplain had ended his Blessing the Creature The King then checking him and saying that he intended not to stay till his Meat was cold whilst he stood whistling for the Spirit Which Check never went out of his Stomach till it rotted out That well might one of his own Gang say He died in time or else he might have taken a Turn with Hugh Peters at Charing Cross of which his Arrest at Cambridge was an unlucky Omen which was a mistake and no mistake I know some affirm that when the King was dead he was much perplext and repented of what he had done For my part I rather think them transient Pangs and Gripes of Conscience than true remorse for his publick Sins First because he never publickly recanted Secondly he never labour'd to undeceive those whom he had seduced Thirdly He still joyned himself to his old wicked Company even the King's Murderers Lastly He acted under the Grand Usurper was as harsh and severe as ever to the King's Party for he was no less malicious to his Friends all along than to him always opposing them if they came to the Assembly for Examination or after the Tryers at White-hall for he was one of those Spanish Inquisitors pretending forsooth only Care to advance Godly and able men and yet could prefer his Son-in-law Nye to a Living of 400 l. a year who never deserv'd one of 40 l. I come now to describe his Virtues His Charity in giving was as little as his Charity in forgiving never so much as bestowing a penny or piece of Bread at his Door the year throughout tho' he had many poor Kindred and some who lived not far from him yet out of his abundance never gave them the worth of Twelve pence as themselves have said Nay when he had the World flowing in upon him he suffer'd his poor Father to beg about the Country which shew'd he had neither Shame nor pity nor yet any Natural Affection And tho' men say the Puritan will not swear but will lye damnably This Impostor both swore and ly'd having several times taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Canonical Obedience the Protestation and his own Solemn League and Covenant all which for the Glory of God and undoing this Nation he as solemnly broke and perswaded others to break that if his Soul had not load enough of his own personal Perjuries he might sink it with the addition of other mens Having said this you shall not need to question his Truth For verily he was a man that would not deceive him who never trusted him He is a Lyar in Print of which there needs no other Proof than his own Preaching up of Rebellion for God's Cause which is a Lye in Text and what were all his Fasts and Thanksgivings but Lyes in Hypocrisie lying not only to men but to the Holy Ghost At the Funeral of Mr. Borradel Minister of Bumsted in Essex he had this reach in his praise That upon his knowledge he had wept a Bushel that 's a dry measure of Tears for the Sins of his People