His Father being much affected herewith sent him to the Free-School in Coventry where through his extraordinary diligence and industry he made so good a progress in Learning that though at near fourteen years of Age he understood nothing or very little of the first rudiments of Grammer yet within a few years he became fit for the University and accordingly he was sent to Cambridge He goes to the University and placed in L. Colledge and had for some time that famous Doctor Preston for his Tutor At the feet of this Gamaliel those natural and gracious abilities which he brought along with him were much improved and partly by the help and directions of so excellent a Guide and partly by Gods blessing upon his unwearied labours His proficiency there he attained to a great measure of knowledge both in the Tongues and Arts and also in Divinity When he had Commenced Master of Arts being as yet unwilling to enter upon that great and dreadful work of the Ministry he left Cambridge and went to Boston in Lincolnshire He goes to Boston where he lived under the Ministry of Holy and learned Mr. John Cotton out of whose Family after some time he married a Wife one Mrs. Anne Beeston a Gentlewoman of a good extraction His first Mariage and one that had a considerable Portion the match being of Mr. Cottons contrivance After his marriage and some time continuance with his Wife in Mr. Cottons 〈◊〉 sickness Family he fell into a very violent Feavour which in the Judgement of his Physitians was desperate and left no hopes of his recovery His Wife being much affected and afflicted herewith he would oft comfort her telling her that he should not die at this time for that God had not yet fulfilled his Promise made to him in his youth wherein he had assured him that he should be an Instrument of converting many Souls unto him His recovery And accordingly he recovered and then resolved to apply himself to the Work of the Ministry He enters upon the Ministry and being more ambitious to do God and his Church service than to advance himself in the World he removed from Boston to a small living near Nottingham called Woodborow where by his painful and powerful Preaching many out of neighbouring Towns flocking to his Ministry as the Doves to their windows the seeds of Grace through Gods blessing were sown in the hearts of many which sprang up and some of them remain unto this day This place he alwaies highly esteemed and would often call it His First-born From Woodborow he was removed to York where His remove to York in that great and populous City he continued a Lecturer for some time and as there he had great opportunities for service so had he great success receiving there a manifest Seal to his Ministry in the Conversion and Confirmation of many But our Civil Wars coming on about that time he could not stay long at York Yet though the door was shut up against him in that place another large and effectual door was opened for him elsewhere For Cottingham a great Town within three miles of Hull His remove to Cottinghamâ— being then destitute of a Pastor thither he was by a more than ordinary Providence brought and in that place for about the space of eight years he continued to be a burning and shining Light as it was said of John the Baptist burning in his Zeal and Doctrine and shining in his Life and holy Conversation His activity for God He was exceeding active and industrious for God He thought no pains too great whereby the peoples Souls might be edified He Preached to them in publick twice every Lords Day He expounded the Chapters which he read and Catechised the Youth In the evening he repeated his Sermons to his own Family many of the neighbours also resorting to him On the week daies he took occasion to go from House to House instructing the Ignorant and endeavouring to build up his Parishioners in their most holy Faith And God was pleased so to bless his labours The success of his â—â—inistry that he became instrumental to the Conversion and Confirmation of many who attained partly by his publick Ministry and partly by his private pains a great measure of Grace and Gifts so that they made Conscience of the strict observation of the Lords Day of Closet and Family duties and other spiritual services required by God as fruits of their Faith So meek and affable he was in his carriage towards all men that his company was pleasing and delightful even to many of those who had no relish of his Doctrine At Cottingham he buried his loving His 〈◊〉 dâ—es and dearly beloved Wife who left him five Sons which loss was yet through Gods merciful Providence abundantly repaired in his second marriage about three years after with Mrs. Elizabeth Weaver His second marriage the Daughter of Christopher Weaver Esq with whom he had a good Portion and she proved excellently quallified for the good and comfort both of him and his children and God was pleased so to bless her prudent management of his outward affairs that when he dyed he left a plentiful estate to his Children besides all those Acts of more than ordinary bounty which both in his Life and at the time of his Death he testified his Faith by In the year 1650. the Powers that were then in being resolved to send over four Commissioners into Ireland for the settlement of that distracted and almost ruined Kingdom and judgeing it necessary to send along with them a godly able and Orthodoxe Divine His call to Ireland they ordered that Mr. Winter should attend these Commissioners thither Which Order of theirs being sent to him to Cottingham where he then lived he looked upon it as a clear Call from God Yet for his better satisfaction he advised with his Friends and begged direction from God in a business of so weighty concernment after which he chearfully embraced this Call hoping that God would bring some Glory to his own Name by the labours of him his unworthy servant in that Kingdom And so not consulting with flesh and blood which might have suggested unto him that it would be an unadvised act and disadvantagious to him to part with so tractable and loving a People and with so good a Rectory it being above four hundred pound a year and to cast himself upon Strangers neither knowing nor capitulating with them what his Salary should be for the maintenance of himself and Family And so resigning up his Living he prepared for his Journey At his coming over into Ireland His remove to Ireland the Commissioners allowed him but one 100. l. for the first year which yet he chearfully accepted though it did not defray the charges of their Transportation with such necessaries as he provided for the accommodation of himself and Family much less did it
so with much earnestness of spirit looking up towards Heaven he begged of God that the words of a dying man might make a deep impression upon the hearts of his Hearers And that as God had made him an Instrument of converting many Souls unto him in his Life so he would bless what he had now spoken that some one Soul might be brought to Jesus Christ by this his last Sermon Then he proceeded to further Heavenly discourses and Instructions quoting sundry Texts of Scripture for the proof of what he spake naming the Chapters Verses and words of the Texts which he opened and explained out of the Originals with that acuteness and strength of words with that zeal and fervency of spirit as was admirable so that he drew tears from the eyes of all that were present whether young or old And left any there present should think that his understanding and memory were grown weak oâ— that he was overcome through the abundance of Revelation which he had the night before to let them know that he had spoken to them the words of truth and soberness and that with a perfect understanding of what he spake he made this Narrative following He told them the manner of his education in Religion from his childhood and of the vanity which did attend his youthful daies and where and how God did appear to him for his Conversion at twelve years of his age and of the assurance which God had given him as is before related that he should be an Instrument of converting many Souls to God As also of his proficiency in learning from that very time He farther declared with tears trickling down his cheeks that he had many and many a time A faithfull Pastor in private before he went to Preach put God in mind of that Promise so made unto him and earnestly besought him to make good that Promise by giving a blessing to that Word of his which he was then going to deliver that some Glory might redound to his holy Name thereby To which his Prayers God had often been pleased to give a gracious Answer and to let him know it by the Conversion of some by those Sermons One of his Relations then present fearing that his Spirits would be weakened and spent by that his continued discourse desired him to repose himself for a while To whom he replyed with much earnestness and strength of voice No His Zeal were I sure that this should be my last night as indeed it proved and the last Sermon that I should Preach I would continue it two hours longer Adding that he was not afraid of Death And turning his Head backward he said Death is a Coward he comes behind me His Triumph He dares not look me in the Face And farther he said The Devil hath oft assaulted me in my Life time But God stoâ—d by me and give me strength to resist him so that he could never hurt me All that day following he lay in Heavenly Contemplation and Raptares His Raptures often breaking forth in Praises unto God for Jesus Christ And would sometimes desire his Wife and other Friends to tell him whether he were in the Body or out of the Body for he could not tell And a Minister being the in the House he desired that he might be called in and when he was come he propounded the same Question unto him who answered That he was in Life and among his Friends on Earth and therefore in the Body To this he replyed It is true and therewith rested satisfred and desired the Minister to pray with him which he did accordingly His Wife told him that some Friends present hoped that he might yet live To which he answered Can a Dead man live Will God work Miracles Shortly after he said God is doing great things in the world and he much bewailed the sad condition of the Church of Christ c. In the afternoon The power of Death finding Death to approach he often cryed out O the power of Death Not that he feared it for it shrunk from him but he found such a Power in Death as none could know but those that were under it He wished that his Sons had been present that they might see what the Power of Death was and what it was to die He desired also that some Neighbours of the Town might be called in that he might Preach his last Sermon to them And indeed to this very time his spirits speech and memory continued very active and strong About four a clock in the afternoon his Wife and his Wives Brother and Sister standing by his bedside asked him how he did He answered Very Weak Adding That he was going to Jesus Christ Death not to be feared Bid them not be afraid of Death with which words he put forth his hand and said Brother Sister Take Death by the Hand Be not afraid Death is a coward He flies from 〈◊〉 They found that his Hands were cold and Clammy whereby they perceived that he grew near to his end And himself not long after feeling that the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle was now approaching lifting up his eyes towards Heaven he cryed out Câ—me Lâ—rd Jesus His blessed Death And presently with a smiling countenance he added Art thou Câ—me And so he breathed out his laâ—â— Thus Reader 〈…〉 through the more considerable passages of this blessed mans Life and Death Pause here a while and take a view 〈◊〉 all again and then surely thou canst nâ—â— but wish though it is desired for thee that it may be from a better Principle than was in Balaam Let me die the Death of this blessed man and let my last end be like his But in vain shak thou wish for this if the pattern of his Holy and Exemplary Life be neglected by thee It is Storied that a person of a loose Life that hearing what a comfortable end St. Bernard made said to his companions I would willingly die like St. Bernard but I would live like you It s too certain that many are of the same mind but as it is impossible but that an holy Life should have a blessed and happy Death Mark the perfect man and behold the Vpright For the end of that man is Peace Psalm 37.37 So it is as impossible in an ordinary way that a loose and wicked Life should have any other than a miserable and uncomfortable Death though some delusive fadeing flashes of seeming comfort they may sometimes have yet are but as a blaze of Thorns that is suddenly extinct For God himself hath said it There is no Peace to the wicked Isa 48.22 And again The wicked are driven away in their wickedness But the Righteous hath Hope in his Death Impius dum spirat sperat Sed Justus cum exspirat sperat The wicked Hope while they live with a vain ungrounded Hope But the Righteous hope when they die with a lively and well-grounded Hope that never
certainly there was in this our old Doctor such warmth of affections as is seldom seen in so antient a man and yet was it mannaged with such Christian Prudence that he exercised it not about light and trivial matters but about the greater and more substantial points of Religion and that through the whole course of his Life Whether he Preached Prayed or discoursed about Divine things all was performed with much zeal and heat of affections He was fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 How glad was he of an opportunity of Preaching and if his liberty could have been purchased with money what would he not have given for it He was very affectionate in Prayer His Prudence and yet were his affections so tempered with Prudence and Judgement that though upon extraordinary occasions he would dâ—â—â—large himself therein yet in his Family Prayers he was usually short that so he might not make Religious duties a burthen to those that joyned with him And as his Prayers were fervent so he had this honour from God that he had many signal returns and answers to his Prayers as we shall hear afterwards and as can be attested by many who received benefit by them both for Soul and Bodily distempers and affections He was conscienciously strict in the observation of the Lords Daies The Sabbath Sanctified not permitting any discourses in his presence but such as were suitable to the Day and to the Duties thereof Rebuking and reproving such as would take liberty to discourse about their worldly businesses upon Gods Day Fourthly His liberality and bounty were as eminent His bounty and charity and exemplary as any of his other Graces God gave him a good Estate so a large heart which was a double mercy He was rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for himself a good Foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.18 19. He hath been often heard to say That he could fare hardly and go meanly that he might be the better enabled thereby to be charitable unto others that were in want And it is believed that few of his estate and rank exceeded him herein Seldom did any necessitous Persons come to him seldom did he hear of the necessitiâ—s of others though at a distance from him but they tasted of his Bounty He gave large summs of money every year for divers years together to pious and charitable uses as his Wife can testifie who kept an account in writing of the several summs so disbursed by him Towards the relief of the poor persecuted Protestants in Piâ—mont he gave thirty pounds and as much the same year to another charitable use He gave also several considerable summs yearly for the support and encouragement of some poor Schollars in the University of Dublin besides a large summ of money disbursed out of his own purse towards furnishing the Library there with Books And as he had thus sundry waies exercised his Bounty whilst he lived so at his Death he gave large Legacies to pious and charitable uses and God made good that Promise to him Isa 58.10 If thou draw out thy Soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted Soul Then shall thy Light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the Noon-day 5. To this Grace of Charity may be added his Candour His Candour and courteous deportment which gave a lustre to his Bounty according to that of the Poet Dat benè dat multum Qui dat cum munere vultum He was not apt to be offended with others much less apt to offend others His Meekness He alwaies interpreted to the best sense that which might seemingly have ministred occasion of offence by which excellent temper he drew love and respect to himself wheresoever he came and with whomsoever he conversed whether in private Families or in his more publick imployments Sixthly In the last place his Faith His Faith and Patience and Patience calls for our consideration of which as he had given good proof in the whole course of his Life so they eminently shon forth when he came to die In the time of his sickness he shewed an holy humble and chearful resignation of himself to the wife and merciful disposal of God his Heavenly Father Not one repining word was heard to proceed out of his mouth He was dumb and opened not his mouth because it was the Lord that did it Psalm 39.9 There was not any impatient or uncomly motion seen in him but being full of Faith of Christian Patience and courage he feared not Death but was well prepared and resolved against that stroke of it And would often say O how happy a thing is it by Death to be about a possibility of Sinning The Heathen Philosophers called Death The most terrible of all terribles and the Sacred Scripture calls it The King of terrours It is Storied that one hearing a person highly commended for his excellent Virtues said Let us stay till his Death and then we shall be the better able to judge of all these things which make such a glittering shew in him for the present And certainly to be able to look the King of Terrouâ—s in the Face without consternation and to meet the last enemy Death with Joy and consolation His Perseverance is no small evidence of a true and strong Faith and this was evidently seen and discerned in this worthy Doctor at the time of his Death He often declared in his health that in his younger daies he had been sorely vexed and pestered with Satans Temptations but at last meeting with a plain honest Christian such an other probably as the Shepherd was with whom Junius met to whom complaining of his fears he first rebuked him and then instructed him Good Counsel saying You look at the reward without minding and intending the Work in that you desire and expect Assurance before you have well resolved upon doing your Duty My advice therefore is to mind what God requires of you in your present station and be serious and diligent therein and the other will come in Gods due time This advice he professed was of great use to him all his Life after so that after that time he was not troubled with such perplexing thoughts as formerly he had been but lived and dyed in Peace both with God and man in the great Climacterical year of his Age October 22. 1666. Examples of his power and prevalency in Prayer The wise Solomon tells us Prov. 12.2 That a good man obtaineth favour of the Lord That is He hath what he will of God Id quod vult à Domino impetrat quia eius voluntas est ipsissima Dei voluntas nec aliud vult As Mercer hath it out of Rabâ—i Levi. It is written of Luther â—â—e vir potuit à Deo quicquid voluit That by his Prayers he could prevail with God at his pleasure Melancthon and Myconius being sick of desperate
and I must now die which also came to pass for she could not be delivered XI After Doctor Winters return into England he with his Wife came to London and for a month sojourned in Doctor Drakes House In which time his second Daughter fell sick of the Twisting of the Guts She had two able Physitians Doctor French and Doctor Cox She lay in very great torture from Munday till Saturday night and the Doctors had very little hope of her Life On Saturday evening Doctor Winter came in and meeting with her Sister asked how she did Her Sister answered she thought that now she was very near unto death For that the Doctors having prescribed something to be given her in a Spoon her teeth were so set that her Aunt and she had much ado to open them to put it into her mouth But said she Sir what do you think of her Give me said he a candle that I may go into my chamber and anon I will tell you whether she shall live or die When he came down she met him at the foot of the stairs and asked him what he thought of her now He answered Your Sister will live And going up into her Chamber he spake to his Wife and bid her to use all means possible for her recovery For said he she must not dye this time His Wife begged of him not to be so confident for that she was very near unto Death and no hopes of Life remained Yet he told her Mother and Aunts that she should recover and live His Wife was much troubled at it notwithstanding all her former experiences But the next day signs of her recovery began to appear and within a little space she was perfectly well Some other instances might be given but these may suffice as evidently demonstrating that the Lord is a Prayer-hearing God That never saith to the seed oâ— Jacob Seek ye my Face in vain Probably the incredulous World will not believe these things to bâ—trueâ— but judge them rather to be Romances and fancies than realities But there are so many Consciencious Persons and of Good credit yet living who can and will attest the Truth of them that there is no place left to distrust or doubting among those that are sober and judicious Amos 3.7 Surely the Lord God will dâ— nothing but he revealeth his secret unâ—â— his Servants the Prophets John 16.23 Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my Name He will give it you v. 24. Hitherto have you asked nothing in my Name Ask and ye shall receive that you Joy may be full A Letter written by Doctor Winter to a Gentleman desiring of him a short and plain account of what was necessary to the Person that would be saved THough many things in Scripture be required of a Christian which he is bound to observe not to â—â—tain any Truth in unrighteousness for whosoever pâ—rsisteth in any sinful course against his light of Conscience without remorse and hearty sorrow for the same sinneth fundamentally Rom 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against aâ— ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Yet there are not many things in themselves absolutely necessary to selvation without which no man can be Saved These God in much mercie hath set down in holy â—â—itt that the meanest and weakest Christians may understand Luke 19.42 If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace c. From whence 〈◊〉 may observe that a man may know many things â—â—d yet not know the thing which concerns his everlasting peace The understanding is the first that lives and the last that dies I say then 1. First It is absolutely necessary that there be a work of illumination and conviction and that a clear full particular and through work be upon the understanding which must be renewed and sanctified as well as the will John 16.9 when the Spirit is come he will reprove the world of Sin because they believe not on me Eph. 4.23 And be renewed in the Spirit of your minds so that the soul see sin to be the greatest evil in the world and Christ the greatest good the only excellent and desireable thing Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Philip. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered to loss of all things and do counâ— them but Dung that I may win Christ In the the young man in the Gospel failed for though 〈◊〉 came running to Christ yea kneeled down to him Himself being a Ruler he thought he had kept the Commandments from his youth he thought he saw aâ— excellency in Christ else why went he away sorrowful yet because he saw a greater excellency in the world and Embraced that rather than Christ 〈◊〉 perished Mark 10.17 Luke 18.18 2 Secondly It is necessary that the heart be broken Psal 51.17 A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise A broken heart is the sound heart the oyl of Grace is poured into the broken Vessel as first the heart must be broken with hearty sorrow for sin as sin as it is a breach of the Law and Command of God 1 John 3.4 Whosoever committeth Sin Transgresseth the Law for Sin is the transgression of the Law We must grieve for Christ Crucified by and for us Zech. 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have Pierced and they shall mourn as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born Till Sin is bitter to us Christ will not be sweet to us Again he must be broken down 2 Cor. 10.5 That all the strong holds of Sin be tumbled down and all those high thoughts and strong imaginations be laid low that those invincible forts of sin be level'd and the will subdued to the will of Christ Again thirdly the heart must be broken through that the heart be contrite Psal 51.17 A Contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise The heart must be as it were shivered in pieces and melted before the Lord not like an Earthen Jugg that is broken indeed but the pieces remain hard as before and thus it was with Pharaoh King of Egypt Again fourthly its necessary the heart be broken from Sin as well as for sin it s called Repentance from dead works Heb. 6.1 He that doth not break off his former sins and bid adiew to them no more to act sin and live in sin as farmerly cannot expect to be saved in the day of Christ 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness 3. Thirdly It s necessary that we should be emptied of all self righteousness so that