against Heresies saith That some in his time had the spirit of Prophecy to foreknow things to come they saw Divine Dreams and Visions Ibid. 3. Cyprian in his 4th Epistle sets down this Vision with a Respect to the Persecution then raised by Aemilianus President of Egypt Paternus c. There was saith he an aged Father sitting at whose Right Hand was a young Man very Pensive and Sorrowful with his Hand on his Breast on the other Hand another Person with a Net in his Hand as threatning to catch those Men that were about him Whilst Cyprian was wondring hereat he seem'd to hear a Voice saying unto him The young man is sorrowful because his Precepts are not observed he on the Left Hand danceth and is merry for that hereby occasion is given him from the Antient Father to afflict Men. This was long before the Persecution happened Ibid. Cyprian faith he was by another Vision admonished to use a Spare Diet and he sparing in his Drink Ibid. 4. Valens the Emperor fully purposing to drive Basil out of Cesarea was warn'd by his Wife to desist for that she had been troubled with dreadful Dreams about him and their only Son Gallates was desperately ill at that time in the Judgment of the Physitians and this she imputed to the ill Design of the Emperor against Basil Valens hereupon sent for Basil saying thus to him If thy Faith be true pray that my Son die not of this Disease To whom Basil answer'd If you will believe as I do and bring the Church into Vnity and Concord your Child shall doubtless live The Emperor not agreeing to this Basil departed and the Child presently died Ibid. 5. Antonius Physitian to Augustus was admonished in a Dream by a Daemon that appeared to him in the form of the Goddess Pallas that altho' Augustus was sick yet he should not fail to be present in the Battle which was next day to he given by Brutus and Cassius and that he should there abide in his Tent which he would have done but by the Physicians deep Perswasions to the contrary For it came to pass that the Enemy's Soldiers won the Tents where questionless they had slain Augustus if he had been present there So upon this Dream he prevented his Death won the Day and remain'd sole Monarch of the Roman Empire and under his Reign was born the Saviour of the World Mexico's Treasury of Antient and Modern Times Book 5. C. 25. 6. Quintus Curtius declares in the Life of Alexander That when he laid Siege to the City of Tyre he being intreated for Succour of the Carthaginians who said they were descended of the Tyrians concluded to raise his Siege as despairing of ever surprizing it But in a Dream a Satyr appear'd to him after whom he follow'd as he fled before him into a Chamber his Interpreters told him that it was a sure Sign he should take the City if he pursued and continued the Siege which fell out to be true Idem ex Qu. Curtio 7. Katherine de Medicis Queen of France and Wife to King Henry the II. dream'd the day before the said King was wounded to Death That she saw him very sickly holding down his Head as he walked along the Streets of Paris being followed by an infinite number of his People that lamented for him Hereupon she most earnestly intreated him with wringing Hands and bended Knees not to adventure in the Rank of Tilters on that Day But he giving no Credit to her words the last Day of Feasting for the Marriage of Madam Margaret his Sister to Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy entred the Lists of Honour and running to break the Lance against a bold and worthy Knight the Count of Montgomery happened to be wounded of which wound the King died soon after Aged about 40. leaving his Kingdom sadly mourning for him Ibid. l. 5. c. 25. 8. His Son King Henry the third three days before he was murdered at St. Clou beheld in a Dream all his Royal Ornaments viz. his Linnen Vesture Sandals Dalmatian Robe Mantle of Azure Sattin Crowns Scepter and Hand of Justice Sword and gilt Spurs all bloody and soil'd with the Feet of Religious Men and others and that he was very angry with the Sexton of St. Dennis And though good Advice was given him to stand upon his Guard yet so it fell out that he could not avoid the fatal Chance Ibid. 9. Calphurnia Wife to the Adopted Father of Caesar having dreamed That she beheld Caesar slain and massacred gave him notice thereof but he in despite of the Dream went jocundly to the Senate next day where he found the sad Effect and Consequence of this Dream Ibid. Mr. Chetwind in his Hist Collections gives us the Account more at large thus viz. Caesar in the fifty sixth year of his Age was slain in the Senate Seventy of the chief Senators conspiring his Death he having the Night before when a Question was asked What Death was best answered The suddain and not propensed His Wife dreamt that Night That he lay dead in her lap and Spurina warned him to have heed to the Ides of March and a Note was given to him going to the Senate discovering the Conspiracy which he began to read but was interrupted and died with it in his hands 10. Bradwarain in his Preface to his Learned Book de Causa Dei tells us of a Dream he had in the Night when he was about his Book in Confutation of Pelagius he thought he was caught up into the Air and Pelagius came and took hold of him to cast him down head-long upon the Earth but he prevailed against him after much strugling and cast down Pelagius so that he brake his Neck and he lay dead upon the Earth Whereby he faith he was much comforted and strengthened Mr. Barkers Flores 11. Thomas Wotton Esq of Bocton Malherb in Kent Father to the Famous Sir H. Wotton a little before his death dreamed That the Vniversity-Treasury was Robbed by Townsmen and poor Scholars in number Five and wrote this Dream the next day by way of Postscript in a Letter to his Son Henry then of Queens Colledge The Letter dated 3 days before out of Kent came to his Son's hands the very Morning after the Robbery was committed The Letter being Communicated by Mr. Wotton gave such Light to this Work of Darkness that the Five guilty Persons were presently discovered and apprehended Dr. Plat's Nat. Hist of Oxfordsh c. 8. p. 47. 12. Astyages last King of the Medes saw in his Dream a Vine springing forth from the Womb of his only Daughter and at last so Flourish and Spread out it self that it seemed to overspread all Asia The Sooth-sayers being Consulted about it answered him That of his Daughter should be born a Son that should seize on the Empire of Asia and divest him of his Tertified with this Prediction he bestowed his Daughter on Cambyses an obscure Person and a Foreigner When his
them plainly that as they came both into the Room she saw a Man with a Scarlet Cloak and a white Hat betwixt them giving the Lady a Kiss over the Shoulder and this was the Cause of her weeping All which came to pass after Macklend's Death the Tutor of Lovat marry'd the Lady in the same Habit the Woman saw him 33. One Instance I had from a Gentleman here of a Highland Gentleman of the Mackdonalds who having a Brother that came to visit him saw him coming in wanting a Head yet told not his Brother he saw any such thing but within 24 Hours thereafter his Brother was taken being a Murderer and his Head cut off and sent to Edinburgh Many such Instances might be given 34. Diembrooke in his Book de Pete gives us a Story of Dimmerus de Raet that being at Delft where the Plague then raged sent then his Wife Thirty Miles off And when the Doctor went to see the Gentleman of the House as soon as he came in the old Chair-woman that washed the Cloaths fell a weeping He asked her Why said she My Mistress is now dead I saw her Apparition but just now without a Head and that it was usual with her when a Friend of hers died to see their Apparitions in that manner tho' never so far off His Wife died at that time 35. Th. May in his History Lib. 8. writes That an old Man like an Hermit Second-sighted took his Leave of King James the First when he came into England He took little notice of Prince Henry but addressing himself to the Duke of York since King Charles I. fell a weeping to think what Misfortunes he should undergo and that he should be one of the miserablest unhappy Princes that ever was 36. A Scotch Noble Man sent for one of these Second-sighted Men out of the Highlands to give his Judgment of the then great Favourite George Villers Duke of Buckingham as soon as ever he saw him Pish said he he will come to nothing I see a dagger in his Breast and he was stabb'd in the Breast by Capt. Felton Thus far I am beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collections 37. Before the Battle at Philippi began two Eagles sought in the Air between the two Armies Both the Armies stood still and beheld them and the Army was beaten that was under the vanquished Eagle See Appian's Hist Part 2. Lib. 4. Sect. 2. 38. 'T is commonly reported That before an Heir of the Cliftons of Clifton in Nottinghamshire dies that a Sturgeon is taken in the River Trent by that place 39. Thomas Fludd of Kent Esq told me That it is an old Observation which was pressed earnestly to King James I. that he should not remove the Queen of Scots Body from Northamptonshire where she was Beheaded and Interred For that it always bodes ill to the Family when Bodies are remov'd from their Graves For some of the Family will die shortly after as did Prince Henry and I think Queen Anne 40. A little before the Death of Oliver Protector a Whale came into the River Thomas and was taken at Greenwich Foot long T is said Oliver was troubled at it 41. When I was a Freshman at Oxford 1642. I was wont to go to Christ-Church to see King Charles I. at Supper where I once heard him say That as he was Hawking in Scotland he rode into the Quarry and found the Covey of Partridges falling upon the Hawk and I do remember this Expression farther viz. And I will swear upon the Book 't is true When I came to my Chamber I told this Story to my Tutor said he That Covey was London 42. The Day that the Long Parliament began 1641. the Scepter fell out of the Figure of King Charles in Wood in Sir Trenchard's Hall at Wullich in Dorset as they were at Dinner in the Parlour Justice Hunt then dined there 43. When the High Court of Justice was voted in the Parliament-House as Berken-head the Mace-bearer took up the Mace to carry it before the Speaker the top of the Mace fell off This was avowed to me by an Eye-witness then in the House 44. The Head of King Charles I.'s Staff did fall off at his Tryal that is commonly known 45. King Charles II. went by long Sea to Portsmouth or Plymouth or both an extraordinary Storm arose which carried him almost to France Sir Jonas Moor who was then with his Majesty gave me this Account and said that when they came to Portsmouth to refresh themselves they had not been there above half an Hour but the Weather was Calm and the Sun shone His Majesty put to Sea agian and in a little time they had the like Tempestuous Weather as before 46. The Gloucester-Frigot cast away at the Lemanere and most of the Men in it the Duke of York escaping in a Cockboat An. 1682. May the fifth on a Friday 47. When King James II. was Crown'd according to the antient Custom the Peers go to the Throne and kiss the King the Crown was almost kiss'd off his Head An Earl did set it upright And as he came from the Abbey to Westminster-Hall the Crown totter'd extreamly 48. Mr. Hill at Shellen in Herefordshire in 1648. after saying God bless our Gracious Soveraign he puts the Cup to his Lady to drink at which a Swallow flew in at the Window and pitch'd on the Brim of the Earthern Cup not half a Pint and sipt and so flew out again This was in the Presence of Parson Still Major Gwillim and two or three more that I knew very well The Cup is preserv'd here still as a Rarity See Mr. Aubrey 's Mscellanies for a larger Account 49. When King James II. was at Salisbury Anno 1688. the Iron Crown upon the Turret of the Councel-House was blown off 50. I did see Mr. Chr. Love beheaded on Tower-Hill in a delicate clear day About half an Hour after his Head was struck off the Clouds gathered blacker and blacker and such terrible Claps of Thunder came that I never heard greater 'T is reported that the like happened after the Execution of Alderman Cornish in Cheapside Octob. 23. 1685. 51. Anno 1643. as Major John Morgan of Wells was marching with the King's Army into the West fell sick of a Malignant Fever at Salisbury and was brought dangerously ill to my Father 's at Broad-Chalk where he was lodged secretly in a Garret there came a Sparrow to the Chamber-Window which peck'd the Lead of a certain Pannel only and only one side of the Lead of the Lozenge and made one small hole in it He continued this pecking and biting of the Lead during the whole time of his Sickness which was not less than a Month when the Major went away the Sparrow desisted and came thither no more 52. Sir Walter Long 's Widow of Dorset in Wilts did make a solemn Promise to him on his Death-bed that she would not marry after his Decease But not long after one Sir Fox
scent to her Nose and thereby receive it into her Brain which if she had done it had been her Death Never any Treason against her came so near to Execution as this For the Traytor Squire observed his Direction did the Deed and that immediately before the Queen rode abroad but the Divine Providence kept her from touching the Pummel with her Hand yet was the Treason discovered and the Traytor received his reward 17. A. C. 1599. The Earl of Tyr-Owen an Irish-man having been some while in Spain returned from thence with a Rebellious Mind and by the Assistance of Spain and the Popish Faction raised a Rebellion whereby more damage accrued to the Queen and State than by any other Rebellion all her Days yet by the good hand of God this Rebellion also was subdued and that Land secured and quieted 18. A. C. 1600. There was a Plot for the removing some of the Queens chief Officers and Councellors from about her which had it been effected might have proved dangerous to her Person and State the rather because many Papists had a great hand in that Conspiracy But the Lord prevented the mischief intended 19. A. C. 1602. Henry Garnet Superiour of the Jesuits in England Robert Tresmand Jesuit Robert Catesby Francis Tresham and others in the Name of all the Romish Catholicks in England imployed Thomas Winter into Spain to obtain an Army from thence to joyn with a Popish Army that should be raised here to change the Government and Religion setled among us Spain and England being then at Wars the motion was readily embraced by the Spaniards and an hundâ—ed thousand Crowns promised to help forward the business but before any thing could be effected it pleased God to take away that Peerless Princess full of Years in peace on her Bed having Reigned Gloriously 44 Ysars four Months and seven Days being sixty nine Years six Months and seventeen Days old II. In the Reign of King James 1. In the first Year of his Reign before he was solemnly Anointed and Crowned Watson and Clark two Romish Priests drew into their Conspiracy some Noble Men some Knights and some Gentlemen to surprise the King and his Son Prince Henry presuming on Foreign Forces for Aid and Assistance intending to alter Religion and to set up such Officers of State as they ohought best but their Plot before it came to execution was discovered the Traytors Condemned some of them Executed and others through the Kings Clemency spared Garnet and Tresmond Jesuits with Catesby and Tresham notwithstanding the Death of Queen Elizabeth when they saw that King James Defended the same Faith continued to solicit the King of Spain to send an Army into England to joyn with the Forces of the Papists here for Extirpation of Religion But the King of Spain being in Treaty with the King of England about Peace refused to hearken to any such motion whereupon they together with other Unnatural and Trayterous Subjects Plotted the matchless merciless devilish and damnable Gun-powder Treason as is now to be shewed The Plot was to under-mine the Parliament-House and with Powder to blow up the King Prince Clergy Nobles Knights and Burgesses the very Confluence of all the flower of Glory Piety Learning Prudence and Authority in the Land Fathers Sons Brothers Allies Friends Foes Papists and Protestants all at one blast Their intent when that Irreligious Atchievement had been performed was to surprize the remainder of the King's Issue to alter Religion and Government and to bring in a Forreign Power Sir Edmond Baynam an attainted Person who stiled himself Prince of the Damned Crew was sent unto the Pope as he was the Temporal Prince to acquaint him with the Gun-powder Plot and now to the Plot it self The Sessions of Parliament being dissolved July 7th A. C. 1605. and Prorogued to the 7th of February following Catesby being at Lambeth sent for Thomas Winter who before had been imployed into Spain and acquainted him with the design of blowing up the Parliament-House who readily apprehending it said This indeed strikes at the Root only these helps were wanting a House for Residence and a skilfull Man to carry the Mine but the first Catesby assured him was easie to be got and for the Man he commended Guy Fawkes a sufficient Souldier and a forward Catholick Thus Robert Catesby John Wright Thomas Winter and Guy Fawkes had many Meetings and Conferences about the business till at last Thomas Piercy came puffing into Catesby's Lodging at Lambeth saying What Gentlemen shall we always be thinking and never do any thing You cannot be ignorant how things proceed To whom Catesby answered that something was resolved on but first an Oath for Secrecy was to be Administred for which purpose they appointed to meet some three Days after behind St. Clements Church beyond Temple-Bar where being met Peircy professed that for the Catholick cause himself would be the Man to advance it were it with the slaughter of the King which he was ready to undertake and do No Tom. said Catesby thou shalt not adventure thy self to so small purpose if thou wilt be a Traytor there is a Plot to greater Advantage and such a one as can never be discovered Hereupon all of them took the Oath of Secresie heard a Mass and received the Sacrament after which Catesby told them his devilish Devise by Mine and Gun-powder to blow up the Parliament-House and so by one stroke with the Destruction of many effect that at once which had been many Years attempting And for case of Conscience to kill the Innocent with the nocent he told that it was Warrantable by the Authority of Garnet himself the Superiour of the English Jesuits and of Garrard and Tresmond Jesuitical Priests likewise who by the Apostolical Power did commend the Fact and Absolve the Actors The Oath was given them by the said Garrard in these words You shall swear by the blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament you now purpose to receive never to disclose directly nor indirectly by Word or Circumstance the Matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret nor desist from the Execution thereof until the rest shall give you leave The Project being thus far carried on in the next place the first thing they sought after was a House wherein they might begin the Work for which purpose no place was held fitter than a certain Edifice adjoyning to the Wall of the Parliament-House which served for a With-Drawing Room to the Assembled Lords and out of Parliament was at the disposal of the Keeper of the place and Wardrobe thereto belonging These did Piercy hire for his Lodgings entertained Fawkes as his Man who changed his Name into Johnson had the Keys and keeping of the Rooms Besides this they hired another House to lay in Provision of Powder and to frame and to fit Wood in for the carrying on the Mine which Catesby provided at Lambeth and Swore Robert Keyes into their Conspiracy whom he made the
whom he might be Ordained he pitched upon the Bishop of Catalonia to whom when he came and had Conversed a while with him there grew a very strict Bond of Friendship between them Ibid. p. 105. 5. Under the Seventh Persecution Theodora a godly Virgin for her Religion was condemned to the Stews where her Chastity was to be a Prey to all Commers which Sentence being executed many wanton young Men were ready to press into the House but one of the Brethren called Didymus putting on a Soldier 's Habit would have the first turn and so going in perswaded her to change Garments with him and so she in the Soldiers Habit escaped and Didymus being found a Man was carried before the President to whom he confessed the whole matter and so was condemned Theodora hearing of it thinking to excuse him came and presented her self as the guilty Party desiring that she might Die and the other be Excused but the Merciless Judge caused them both to be put to Death Clark Gen. Martyr p. 82. 6. In Queen Elizabeth's Reign in a Fight between the Earl of Kildare and the Earl of Tir-Owen two of the Earl of Kildair's Foster Brethren were Slain whose Death he took so heavily that himself shortly after Died for Grief For there is no Love in the World comparable by many degrees to that of Foster-brethren in Ireland Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 116. 7. Dr. Cranmer was a Faithful Friend to the Lord Cromwel even in his Disgrace insomuch that he ventured King Henry VIIIth's Displeasure to excuse for him and absented from the Parliament when he was condemned Church Hist. by Dr. Burnet 8. Minutius Faelix saith that he and his Friend Octavius did both will and will the same things 9. Humphry Duke of Glocester being Wounded and Overthrown by the Duke of Alenzon at the Battel of Agincourt in France was rescued by his Brother King Henry Vth who bestriding him delivered him from the Danger Speed Chron. Clark's Mirrour c. 56. p. 231. 10. Pelopidas and Epaminondas were singularly noted and commended for the perfect Love and Friendship that was ever inviolable kept between them even till their Deaths having been joined together in so many Wars Battels Charges of Armies and in Government of the Common-wealth They were both alike born to all Vertue only Pelopidas took most pleasure in the Exercise of his Body and Strength and Epaminondas in the Exercise of his Wit and Learning the Recreation of the one was to wrestle hunt and exercise his Strength of the other to hear study and always to learn something in Philosophy Their great Love each to other was shewed in a Journey they made together unto Mantinea to aid the Lacedemonians who were now in League with the Thebans wherein they being both set in the Battel near together amongst the Foot-men against the Arcadians it fell out that that point of the Lacedemonian Army wherein they were retreated and many of them run away But these two gallant young Men resolved rather to die than to fly and standing close together they couragiously resisted the many Enemies that assaulted them till such times as Pelopidas having received seven dangerous Wounds fell down upon a heap of dead Bodies as well of their Friends as of their Foes then Epaminondas thinking he had been slain stept notwithstanding before him and defended his Body and Armour and he alone fought against many desiring rather to die than to forsake Pelopidas lying amongst the Dead but himself at last being thrust through the Breast with a Pike and receiving a sore Cut on his Arm with a Sword was even ready to sink when Agesipolis King of the Lacedemonians came with the other point of the Battel in an happy hour and so saved both their Lives when they were even past hope Plut. in vita Pelop. 11. Audamidas a Corinthian by Birth had two Friends Aretaeus and Charixcenus both wealthy himself being very poor This Man at his Death made this his last Will and Testament viz. I bequeath my Mother to be nourished and cherished by him in her Old Age. Item I bequeath my Daughter to Charixcenus to be placed out by him with as big a Portion as possibly he can give her The Girl was at that time Marriageable The Heirs as soon as they heard of the Will came forthwith and accepted those things that were given in charge but Charixcenus dying within five days Aretaeus undertook the whole Charge maintained the old Woman during Life and married the Man's Daughter together with his own on the same day allowing them out of five Talents two Talents apiece for their Portion Lucian in Toxar Dial. CHAP. XXXVIII Remarkable Hospitality BY a Hospitality I mean a Charitable Disposition of Soul to entertain and relieve such as are in real Distress And the Apostle enforceth this as a Duty upon Christians with a good Argument when he bids us Not to be forgerful to entertain Strangers because that some by so doing formerly had received Angels into their Houses unawares And who knows till after some time of Conversation with them what Graces may be lodged in the Breasts or what Commissions may be put into the Hands of those Persons that Lazarus like wait at our Gates 1. A religious and rich Matron at Anticch entertained Origen together with his Mother and his Brethren after the Death of his Father and the Confiscation of his Goods 2. Gregory the Great was much given to Hospitality so that when many Inhabitants from divers parts fled from the barbarous Cruelty of the Longobards and came to him he entertained and relieved them inviting daily to his House many of those Exiles He made also large Distributions unto others giving them Corn Wine Flesh Cheese and many other Refreshments in their several Seasons he sent often also large Relief to the Sick Lame and Impotent not only in Rome but in many other Towns and Villages round about insomuch that all that he had seemed to be a common Granary Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 98. 3. Mrs. Margaret Corbet was eminent for a charitable and bountiful Spirit She was another Dorcas Full of Good-Works and Alms-Deeds That high Elogium that Solomon gives to a vertuous Woman may properly be applied unto her Many Daughters have done vertuously but she excelled them all Prov. 31.19 Many there are that come far short of her but very few that went beyond her in Acts of Charity God gave her a liberal and plentiful Estate and that was a great Mercy But it was a far greater Mercy that he gave her a free and liberal Heart to do good and to distribute To cast her Bread on the Waters and to honour God with her Substance That Protestation which Job makes for his own Vindication Job 31.16 19. may fitly be applied unto her He would not withhold the poor from their desire nor cause the eyes of the Widow to fail He would not see any to perish for want of Clothing nor any poor
p. 101. 3. Luther had many made upon him as Roma Orbum domuit Romam sibi Papa subegit Viribus illa suis fraudibus iste suis Quanto isto major Lutherus major illâ Istum illamque uno qui domuit calamo I nunc Alciden memorato Graecia mendax Lutheri ad calamum ferrea clava nihil Theod. Beza Another Lutherus Decimum confregit strage Leonem De clava noli quaerere penna fuit Joh. Major 4. Zuinglius had this Zuinglius arderet gemino cum Sanctus amore Nempe Dei imprimis deinde suae Patriae Dicitur in solidum se devovisse duobus Nempe Deo imprimis deinde suae Patriae Quam benè persolvit simul istis vota Duobus Pro Patrià exanimis pro Pietate Cinis Theod. Beza 5. John Picus Mirandula who lived apace and did a great deal in a little time dying in the 32d Year of his Age had this Epitaph engraven upon his Tomb in St. Mary 's Church in Florence belonging to the Jacobine Friars Joannes jacet hic Mirandula caetera norunt Et Tagus Ganges forsan Antipodes Boisardus in Biblioth 6. John Brentius was buried with much Honour and had this Epitaph Voce Stylo Pietate Fide Candore probatus Joannes tali Brentius ore fuit In English With Voice Style Piety Faith and Candour grac'd In outward shape John Brentius was thus fac'd Full. Abel Rediv. p. 298. 7. John Knox had this Epitaph bestowed upon him in extempore Expression while his Corpse was putting in the Ground by the Earl of Murray Here lieth one who in his Life-time never feared the Death of any Man Ibid. p. 324. 8. Wigandus made his own Epitaph In Christo vixi morior vivoque Wigandus Do sordes morti caetera Christe tibi In English In Christ I lived and die and live again My Filth to Earth I give my Soul with Christ shall reign Ibid. p. 369. 9. Mr. John Fox hath this upon his Tomb in St. Giles 's Church without Cripplegate Christo S. S. Johanni Foxo Ecclesiae Anglicanae Martyrologo Fidelissimo Antiquitatis Historicae indagatori sagacissimo Evangelicae Veritatis Propugnatori acerrimo Thaumaturgo Admirabili qui Martyres Marianos tanquam Phoenices ex cineribus redivivos praestîtit Patri suo omni pietatis Officio imprimis colendo Samuel Foxus illius primogenitus hoc Monumentum posuit non sine lachrymis Obiit die 18 Mens Apr. A. D. 1587. jam Septuagenarius Vita vitae mortalis est spes vitae immortalis Ibid. p. 38â— 10. Bishop Andrews had this most excellent significant and speaking Epitaph Lector Si Christianus es siste Morae pretium erit Non nescire Te Qui vir hic situs sit Ejusdem tecum Catholicae Ecclesiae membrum Sub eadem foelicis Resurrectionis spe Eandem D. Jesu praestolans Epiphaniam Sacratissimus Antistes Lancelotus Andrews Londini oriundus educatus Cantabrigiae Aulae Pembrock Alumnorum Sociorum Praefectorum Unus nemini secundus Linguarum Artium Scientiarum Humanorum Divinorum Omnium Infinitus Thesaurus stupendum Oraculum Orthodoxae Christi Ecclesiae Dictis scriptis precibus exemplo Incomparabile Propugnaculum Reginae Elizabethae a Sacris D. Pauli London Residentiarius D. Petri Westmonast Decanus Episcopus Cicestrensis Eliensis Wintoniensis Regique Jacobo tum ab Eleemosynis Tum ab utriusque Regni Consiliis Decanus denique Sacelli Regii Idem ex Indefessà operà in studiis Summà sapientià in rebus Assiduà pietate in Deum Profuâ—â largitate in egenos Rarâ amenatate in suos Spectatâ probitate in omnes Aeternum admirandus Annorum pariter publicae famae satur Sed Bonorum passim omnium cum luctu denatus Celebs hinc migravit ad Aureolam caelestem Anno Regis Carolis Secundo Aetatis suae 71. Christi MDCXXVI Tantum est Lector Quod Te merentes Posteri Nunc volebant atque ut ex voto tuo valeas Dicto Sit Deo Gloria Mr. Issaacson in his Life 11. Dr. Reinolds had this Epitaph bestowed upon him by Dr. Spencer his Successour with an Inscription in Golden Letters Virtuti Sacrum Johanni Rainolde S. Theologiae D. Eruditione Pietate Integritate hujus Collegii Pres. qui obiit Maii 21. A. 1607. Aetatis suae 58. Johannes Spencer Auditor Successor Virtutum Sanctitatis admirator h. e. amoris ergô posuit Fuller Abel Rediviv p. 491. 12. Archbishop Parker had this engraven upon his Tomb in Lambeth Chapel composed by Dr. Haddon Matthew Parker lived sober and wise Learned by study and continual practice Loving True of Life uncontroll'd The Court did foster him both young and old Orderly he dealt the Right he did defend He lived to God to God he made his End Ibid. p. 530. 13. In the last Year of the Reign of King Henry he Second more than 600 Years after the time of his Death the Body of King Arthur was found in the Church-yard of Glastenbury betwixt two Pyramids therein standing He was laid no less than 16 foot deep in the Ground for fear as Hollinshead writes the Saxons should have found him and surely the searchers for his Body would have never digged so deep had they not at seven foot depth found a mighty broad Stone to which a Leaden Cross was fastened and in that side that lay downwards in barbarous Letters according to the rudeness of that Age this Inscription was written upon that side of the Lead that was towards the Stone Hic jacet sepultus inclytus Rex Arturius In insula Avalonia Here lieth King Arthur buried in the Isle of Avalodonia Nine foot deeper in the Trunk of a Tree was his Body found buried his Bones being of a marvellous bigness the space of his Forehead betwixt his two Eyes was a span broad and his Shin-bone being set in the Ground reached up to the middle Thigh of a very tall Man ten Wounds appeared in his Scull one whereof was very great and plain to be seen His Wife Queen Guinever lay buried likewise with him the Tresses of whose Hair the last of our Excrements that perish finely pleated and of coulour like the burnish'd Gold seemed whole and perfect until it was touched but then to shew what all Beauties are it immediately fell to dust Engl. Worthies by Will Winstanley p. 14. 14. The old Verses which were written on Geoffery Chaucer's Grave at first were these Galfridus Chaucer vates sama Poesis Maternae haec sacra sum tumulatus humo 15. Mr. Michael Drayton was buried Anno 1631. in Westminster Abby near the South Door by these two eminent Poets Geoffery Chaucer and Edmund Spencer with this Epitaph Do pious Marble let the Readers know What they and what their Children owe To Drayton's Name whose sacred Dust We recommend unto thy Trust Protect his Memory and preserve his Story Remain a lasting Monument of his Glory And thy Ruines shall disclaim To be the Treasurer of his Name His Name that cannot fade shall be An everlasting Monument to thee
tell any one of it The Gentlewoman died and afterwards in a Tavern in London he spake of it and there going to make Water the Ghost of the Gentlewoman did appear to him He was afterwards troubled with the Apparition of her even sometimes in Company when he was drinking but he only perceiv'd it Before she did appear he did find a kind of a Chilness upon his Spirits she did appear to him in the morning before he was kill'd in a Duel This Account I have from an intimate Friend of mine who was an Acquaintance of his 13. In James-street in Covent-Garden 1647. did lodge a Gentlewoman a handsome Woman but common who was Mr. Mohun's Son to the Lord Mohun Sweet-heart Mr. Mohun was murthered about Ten a Clock in the Morning and at that very time his Mistress being in Bed saw Mr. Mohun come to her Bed-side drew the Curtain looked upon her and went away She call'd upon him but no answer She knock'd for her maid ask'd her for Mr. Mohun she said she did not see him and had the Key of her Chamber Door in her Pocket This Account I had from the Gentlewoman's own mouth and her maid's A parallel Story to this is That Mr. Brown Brother-in-law to the Lord Conningsby discover'd his being murther'd to several His Phantome appear'd to his Sister and her maid in Fleet-street about the time he was Killed in Herefordshire which was about a Year since 1693. 14. I must not forget an Apparition in my Country which appear'd several times to Dr. Turbervile's Sister at Salisbury which is much talk'd of One marry'd a second Wife and contrary to the Agreement and Settlement at the first VVife's marriage did wrong the Children by the first Venter The Settlement was hid behind a VVainscot in the Chamber where the Doctor 's Sister did lie And the Apparition of the first VVife did discover it to her By which means Right was done to the first Wife's Children 15. One Mr. Towes who had been School-fellow with Sir George Villers the Father of the first Duke of Buckingham and was his Friend and Neighbour as he lay in his Bed awake and it was Day-light came into his Chamber the Phantome of his dear Friend Sir George Villers Said Mr. Towes to him Why you are Dead what make you here Said the Knight I am dead but cannot rest in Peace for the Wickedness and Abomination of my Son George at Court I do appear to you to tell him of it and to advise and dehort him from his Evil ways Said Mr. Towes The Duâ—e will not believe me but will say that I am Mad or Dâ—at Said Sir George Go to him from me and tell him by such a Token some Mole that he had in some secret place which none but himself knew of Accordingly Mr. Tomes went to the Duke who laugh'd at his message At his return home the Phantome appear'd again and told him that the Duke would be stabb'd he drew out a Dagger a quarter of a Year after and you shall outlive him half a Year and the Warning that you shall have of your Death will be That your Nose shall fall a-bleeding All which accordingly fell out so 16. The Learned Henry Jacob Fellow of Merton-College in Oxford died at Dr. Jacob's M. D. House in Canterbury About a Week after his Death the Doctor being in Bed and awake and the Moon shining bright saw his Cousin Henry standing by his Bed in his Shirt with a white Cap on his Head and his Beard mustaches turning up as when he was alive The Doctor pinched himself and was sure he was awaked He turned to the other side from him and after some time took Courage to turn the other way again towards him and Henry Jacob stood there still he should have spoken to him but did not for which he has been ever since sorry About half an Hour after he vanished Not long after this the Cook-maid going to the Woodpile to fetch VVood to dress Supper saw him standing in his Shirt upon the VVoodpile This Account I had in a Letter from Dr. Jacob. 1673. relating to his Life for Mr. Anthony Word which is now in his Hands 17 Mr. T. M. an old Acquaintance of mine hath assured me that about a quarter of a Year after his VVives Death as he lay in Bed awake with his little Grand-child his Wife open'd the Closet Door and came into the Chamber to the Bedside and looked upon him and stooped down and kissed him her Lips were warm he fancied they would have been cold He was about to have embraced her but was afraid it might have done him hurt When she went from him he asked when he should see her again she turn'd about and smiled but said nothing The Closet Door striked as it uses to do both at her coming in and going out 18. Mr. Jo. Lydall or Trinity-College Soc. Oxon. March 11. 1649 50. Attests the ensuing Relation in a Letter to Mr. Aubrey thus Mr. Aubrey Concerning that which happened at Woodstock I was told by Mr. W. Haws who now lives with Sir William Fleetwood in the Park That the Committee which sat in the Mannor-house for Selling the King's Lands were frighted by strange Apparitions and that the Four Surveyors which were sent to measure the Park and Lodged themselves with some other Companions in the Mannor were pelted out of their Chambers by Stones thrown in at the Windows but from what Hands the Stones came they could not see that their Candles were continually put out as fast as they lighted them and that one with his Sword drawn to defend a Candle was with his own Scabbard in the mean time well Cudgell'd so that for the Blow or for fear he fell Sick and the others forced to remove some of them to Sir William Fleetwood's House and the rest to some other places But concerning the cutting of the Oak in particular I have nothing Your Friend To be commanded to my power John Lydall 19. A Minister who liv'd by Sir John Warre in Somersetshire about 1665 walking over the Park to give Sir John a Visit was rencounter'd by a venerable old Man who said to him Prepare your self for such a day which was about three Days after you shall die The Minister told Sir John Warre and my Lady this Story who heeded it not On the Morning fore-warn'd Sir John calls upon the Parson early to ride a Hunting and to Laugh at his Prediction His Maid went up to call him and found him stark dead This from my Lady Katherine Henly who had it from my Lady Warre 20. Dr. Twiss Minister of the New Church at Westminster told me That his Father Dr. Twiss Prolocutor of the Assembly of Divines and Author of Vindiciae when he was a School-Boy at Winchester saw the Phantome of a School-fellow of his deceased a Rakehell who said to him I am damned This was the occasion of Dr. Twiss the Fathers Conversion who had been before
after comes to her and tells her she had sent the Devil to him and bids her take the Land and so gave it up and her Son is now possest of it His Name is Mat. he lived in the Service of Mr. Reading's Brother for some Years but he has forgot his Sir-name though he knows him very well Related in a Letter of Dr. Ezekias Burton to Dr. H. More Mr. Glanvil's Saducism Triumph p. 417. 3. Dr. Bretton late Rector of Ludgate and Deptford lived-formerly in Herefordshire and married the Daughter of Dr. S. This Gentlewoman was a Person of extraordinary Piety which she expressed as in her Life so at her Death She had a Maid that she had a great kindness for who was Married to a near Neighbour whose Name as I remember was Alice Not long after her death as Alice was rocking her Infant in the Night she was called from the Cradle by a knocking at the Door which opening she was surprised at the sight of a Gentlewoman not to be distinguished from her late Mistress neither in Person nor Habit. She was in a Morning Gown the same in appearance with that she had often seen her Mistress wear At first sight she expressed very great Amazement and said Were not my Mistress dead I should not question but that you are she She replied I am the same that was your Mistress and sook her by the Hand Which Alice affirmed was as cold as a Clod. She added That she had Business of great Importance to imploy her in and that she must immediately go a little way with her Alice trembled and beseecht her to excuse her and intreated her very importunately to go to her Master who must needs be more fit to be employed â—he answered That he who was her Husband was not at all concerned but yet she had a desire rather to make use of him and in order thereunto had several times been in his Chamber but he was still asleep nor had she power to do more than once uncover his Feet towards the awakning of him And the Dr. said That he had heard a walking in his Chamber in the Night which till now he could give no account of Alice next objected That her Husband was gone a Journey and she had no one to look to her Child that it was very apt to cry vehemently and she feared if it awaked before her return it would cry it self to death or do it self mischief The Spectre replyed The Child shall sleep till you return Alice seeing there was no avoiding it sorely against her will followed her over a Stile into a large Field who then said to her Observe how much of this Field I measure with my Feet And when she had taken a good large and leasurely compass she said All this brlongs to the Poor it being gotten from them by wrongful means And charged her to go and tell her Brother whose it was at that time that he should give it up to the Poor again forthwith as he loved her and his deceased Mother This Brother was not the Person who did this unjust Act but his Father She added That she was the more concerned because her Name was made use of in some Writing that related to this Land Alice ask'd her How she should satisfie her Brother that this was no Cheat or delusion of her Fancy She replyed Tell him this Secret which he knows that only himself and I are privy to and he will believe you Alice having promised her to go on this Errand she proceeded to give her good Advice and entertained her all the rest of the Night with most heavenly and divine Discourse When the Twi-light appeared they heard the Whistling of Carters and the noise of House-Bells whereupon the Spectre said Alice I must be seen by none but your self and so she disappeared Immediately Alice makes all haste home being thoughtful for her Child but found it as the Spectre had said asleep as she left it When she had dressed it and committed it to the care of a Neighbour away she went to her Master the Doctor who amazed at the account she gave him sent her to his Brother-in-Law He at first hearing Alice's Story and Message laughed at it heartily but she had no sooner told him the secret but he changed his Countenance told her he would give the Poor their own and accordingly he did it and they now enjoy it This with more Circumstances hath several times been related by Dr. Bretton himself who was well known to be a Person of great Goodness and Sincerity He gave a large Narrative of this Apparition of his Wife to two of my Friends First to one Mrs. Needham and afterwards a little before his Death to Dr. Whichcot Some Years after I received the fore-going Narrative viz. near four Years since I light into the company of three sober Persons of good Rank who all lived in the City of Hereford and I travelled in a Stage Coach three days with them To them I happened to tell this Story but told it was done at Deptford for so I presumed it was because I knew that Dr. Bretton lived there They told me as soon as I had concluded it that the Story was very true in the main only I was out as to the place for it was not Deptford but as I remember they told me Pembridge near Hereford where the Dr. was Minister before the Return of the King And they assured me upon their own knowledge that to that Day the Poor enjoyed the piece of Ground They added That Mrs. Bretton's Father could never endure to hear any thing mentioned of his Daughters appearing after her death but would still reply in great anger That it was not his Daughter but it was the Devil So that he acknowledged that something appeared in the likeness of his Daughter This is Attested by me this 16th of Febr. 1681. Edward Fowler This Narrative was sent to Dr. H. More from Mr. Edward Fowler Prebendary of Gloucester Glanv Sad. Triumph p. 419. 4. These Relations seem strange indeed but was it now as strange that Constantine the Great praying earnestly to God should see the sign of the Cross figured in the Air with an Inscription in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hoc vince by this overcome And yet Eusebius Reports it in these words While the Emperour was thus earnestly praying unto God and besought him that he would reveal himself to him and that he would assist him in his purposes and resolutions while he was thus earnestly at his Prayers a divine and wonderful Vision appeared unto him which was scarce credible if himself had not related it But seeing this victorious Emperour did with an Oath confirm it to be true when he related it to me who intended to write his History long after when taking notice of me he admitted me to familiar Conference with him who can doubt of the Truth of his Relation which even then was seen and admired
was with Child of him she dreamed that she had a little white and barking Dog in her Womb which a Religious Person Interpreted thus An excellent Dog indeed for he shall be a Keeper of God's House and shall incessantly bark against the Adversâ—â—ies of it and as a famous Preacher shall cure many with his Medicinal Tongue Idem ex Heidfeld in Sphing c. 37. 25. Francis Petrarch had a Friend so desperately ill that he despaired of his Life wearied with Grief and Tears he fell into a slumber and seemed to see his sick Friend stand before him and tell him that he could not now stay any longer with him for there was one at the Door would interrupt their Discourse to whom he desired that he would recommend his weak Estate and that it he should undertake him he should be restored Presently a Physician enters Petrarch's Chamber who came from the sick as having given him over for a dead Man to comfort him Petrarch recounts his Dream to him with Tears and prevails with him to undertake his Friend who thereupon in a short time recovered Idem ex Fulg. l. 1. c. 5. 26. Arlotte Mother of William the Conqueror when great with Child of him dreamed that her Bowels were extended over all Normandy and England Bakers Chron. p. 28. 27. Whilst I lived at Prague saith an English Gentleman and one Night had sate up very late a drinking at a Feast early in the Morning the Sun-beams glancing on my Face as I lay in my Bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me That my Father was dead At which awaking I rose and wrote the Day and Hour and all Circumstances thereof in a Paper-Book which Book with many other things I put into a Barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be carried into England And now being at Nuremberg a Merchant of a Noble Family well Acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my Father was dead about two Months ago I list not to write any Lies but that which I write is as true as strange When I returned into England some Four Years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be Witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written Dream answer the very day of my Father's Death Morison's Itin. p. 1. c. 1. A.B. Annot. on Relig. Med. p. 294. Wanley's Wonders of the Little World l. 6. c. 1. 28. The same Gentleman saith thus also I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsmen have heard witnessed by my Brother Henry whilst he liv'd that in my Youth at Cambridge I had the like Dream of my Mother's death where my Brother Henry lying by me early in the Morning I dreamed that my Mother passed by with a sad Countenance and told me That she could not come to my Commencement I being within 5 Months to proceed Master of Arts and she having promised at that time to come to Cambridge when I related this Dream to my Brother both of us awaking together in a Sweat he professed to me That he had dreamed the very same and when we had not the least knowledge of our Mother's sickness neither in our youthful Affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream yet the next Carrier brought us word of our Mother's death Iâ—id 29. I cannot omit the Dream and Revelation of Joan d' Arke a Virgin who dreamed that she her self should be the only means to put Charles the 7th in possession of his Kingdom After she had acquainted her Father and Mother with her Dream she is brought to the Lord Baudricate and habited like a Man is presented to the King The Matter seemed ridiculous to the King he takes upon himself the Habit of a Country-man this Maid being brought into the Chamber goeth to the King and salutes him with a modest Countenance and delivered to him the Charge which she had received of the God of Heaven and told him That she should be the means to place the Crown upon his head and relieve Orleance that was Besieged by the English The King was persuaded to give her a Troop of 100 and a good Horse She puts her self into a Man's Habit and like a valourous Captain goeth towards Orleance and relieveth the Town with Victuals without resistance After she was in Orleance she sends a Letter to the King of England and his Troops and wisheth them to depart without shedding any more innocent Blood Joan d' Arke a second time relieveth Orleance and brings in fresh Provision she makes choice of 1500 Men and enters the Fort of Saint Loope the Virgin in the foremost of the Ranks crying Saint Denis the next Day they took two other Forts on the third Day the English made the French recoil but the Virgin incouraging her Men and marching couragiously was shot in the Arm Tush saith she this is a favour nothing amazed she takes the Arrow in one hand and her Sword in the other and enters the Fort. In these three Days the English lost 8000 Men and the French not one hundred and as a remembrance of their Victories the Statues of Charles the Seventh and Joan d' Arke are placed upon the Bridge of Orleance kneeling before a Crucifix Charles the Seventh is Crowned at Rheins all Champaigns yield unto him and the King that was in great danger of losing his Kingdom is now an absolute King The Divine Dreamer p. 15. 30. Cicero among other Dreams relates this A certain Man dreamed that there was an Egg hid under his Bed The Sooth-sayer to whom he applied himself for the Interpretation of the Dream told him That in the same place where he imagined to see the Egg there was Trensure hid Whereupon he caused the place to be digged up and there accordingly he found Silver and in the midst of it a good quantity of Gold and to give the Interpreter some testimony of his acknowledgment he brought him some pieces of the Silver which he had found but the Sooth-sayer hoping also to have some of the Gold said And will you not give me some of the Yolk too Amyrald Dis of Div. Dreams p. 22. 31. Monsieur Pâ—irese Councellor of the Parliament of Provence going from Mohrpellier to Nismes lay all Night in an Inn which is the mid-way betwixt these two places he had in his Company one James Rainier Citizen of Aix who in that Journey lodged in the same Chamber with him As that great Man slept Rainier observ'd that he talk'd and mutter'd something in his Sleep otherwise than was usual with him whereupon he wakened him and ask'd what was the matter Oh! said he you have made me lose a most excellent and pleasant Dream for I was dreaming That I was at Nismes and that a Goldsmith shew'd me a Golden Medal of Julius Caesar which he would sell me for four Crowns and as I was ready to
the aforesaid Memoirs Vnder this Stone the Matchless Digby lies Digby the Great the Valiant and the Wise This Age's Wonder for his Noble Parts Skill'd in six Tongues and Learn'd in all the Arts. Born on the day he died th' Eleventh of June On which he bravely fought at Scanderoon 'T is rare that one and self-same Day should be His Day of Birth of Death of Victory 13. I had a Maternal Uncle that died the Third of March last 1678. which was the Anniversary day of his Birth and which is a Truth exceeding strange many Years ago he foretold the day of his death to be that of his Birth and he also averr'd the same but about the Week before his departure 14. Of the Family of the Trevours six successive principal Branches have been born the Sixth of July Same Memoirs 15. Meekren in his Medico Chirurgical Observations gives an Account of a Man that had a Septenary-Fever and Pliny if we may believe him tells us of one Antipater a Sidonian that also had a Fever or as some call it an Ague every Year upon his Birth-day As for the Nature of such Fevers or Agues they are as unaccountable as the Revolution of Sevens a Year in which it 's observ'd a great part of the World that get out of Childhood die in and we read of one Family that never escapes it Whether an Anniversary Ague is curable I dare not pretend since we want Examples perhaps from the Fewness of ' em 16. In the Family of the Hastings Earls of Pembrooke it is memorable that for many Generations together no Son ever saw the Father The Father being always dead before the Son was born Chetwind's Historical Collections I shall take particular Notice here of the Third of November both because 't is my own Birth-day and also for that I have observ'd some remarkable Accidents to have happen'd thereupon I had an Estate left me in Kent of which between thirty and forty Acres was Marsh-Land very conveniently flanking its Up-land and in those Days this Marsh Land was usually lot for Four Nobles an Acre My Father died 1643. Within a Year and half after his Decease such Charges and Water-scots came upon this Marsh-land by the Influence of the Sea that it was never worth one Farthing to me but very often eat into the Rents of the Up-land So that I often think this Day being my Birth-day hath the same evil Influence upon me that it had 580 Years since upon Earl Godwin and others concern'd in Low Lands 18. The Parliament so fatal to Rome's Concerns here in Henry VIII's time began the Third of November 26th of his Reign in which the Pope with his Authority was clean banish'd the Realm See Stow's Annals and Weaver p. 80. 19. The Third of November 1640. began that Parliament so direfully fatal to England in its Peace its Wealth its Religion its Gentry Nobility nay it s King 20. The Third of September was a remarkable Day to the English Attila Oliver 1650. He obtain'd a memorable Victory at Dunbar another at Worcester 1651. And that day he died 1658. 21. The Third of September was Dismal and Unhappy to the City of London and consequently to the whole Kingdom I come now to the Days of the Week 22. I. Tuesday Dies Martis was a most remarkable Day with Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury as Weaver 201 observes from Mat. Paris Upon a Tuesday he suffer'd upon a Tuesday he was Translated upon Tuesday the Peers of the Land sate against him at Northampton upon Tuesday he was Banished upon Tuesday the Lord appear'd to him at Pontiniac saying Thomas Thomas my Church shall be glorified in thy Blood Upon Tuesday he return'd from Exile upon Tuesday he got the Palm or Reward of Martyrdom upon Tuesday 1220. his Venerable Body receiv'd the Glory and Renown of Translation fifty Years after his Passion Thus my Author 22. II. Wednesday is said to have been the fortunate day of Sixtus Quintus that Pope of Renowned Merit that did so great and excellent Things in the time of his Government See The just Weight of the Scarlet Robe p. 101. his desired Praises On a Wednesday he was born on that Day he was made Monk on the same he was made General of his Order on that also was he successively created Cardinal elected Pope and also Inaugurated See Heylin speaking of the Temple of Jerusalem 23. III. Thursday was a fatal Day to Henry VIII as Stow 812. and so also to his Posterity He died on Thursday Jan. 28. King Edward VI. on Thursday July 6. Queen Mary on Thursday November 17. Queen Elizabeth on Thursday March 24. 24. IV. Friday was observ'd to be very fortunate to the Great Renowned Capt. Gonsalvo he having on that day given the French many Memorable Defeats 25. V. Saturday was a Lucky Day to Henry VII Upon that Day he atchiev'd the Victory upon Richard III. being August 22. 1485. On that day he entred the City being August 29. Correct Stow who mistakes the Day and he himself always acknowledged he had experienced it fortunate See Bacon in his Life 26. At Feltwell in Norfolk which lies East and West a Fire happen'd to break out at the West end which the West Wind blew and burn'd all the Street On that Day Twenty Years another Fire happened there which began at the East end and burn'd it to the Ground again This I had from a Reverend Divine 27. Collonel Hugh Grove of Wiltshire was beheaded at Exeter together with Coll John Penrudock on the Ninth day of May 1655. On that very day Three Years his Son and Heir died at London of a Malignant Fever and about the same Hour of the Day 28. A very good Friend of mine and old Acquaintance was born on the 15th of November his eldest Son was born on the 15th of November and his Second Son's First Son on the 15th of November Thus far I 'm beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collections CHAP. XVI Premonitions of particular Changes or Accidents of Life FOR God to take notice of and concern himself with Particulars was an Article of Religion which Epicurus could not allow of because it seemed Inconsistent with the Majesty of the Supream Being to interrupt his own Peace and Quiet with so many little Punctilioes But for us Christians to doubt of it were very unreasonable since we find in Sacred Scripture that He was concerned about the Sin of Adam the Murder of Abel the Punishment of Cain the preservation of Noah the Production of Isaac the Correction of David the safety of Daniel and the Three Children and to pass over many more Instances the Death of his Son and St. Peter his Apostle 1. Sir Henry Wooton speaking of the Duke of Buckingham's Death takes notice of these Ominous Presagements before his end being to take his Leave of my Lord's Grace of Canterbury the only Bishop of London whom he knew well planted in the King 's unchangeable Affection by
his own great Abilities after Courtesies of Courage had passed between them My Lord says the Duke I know your Lordship hath very worthily good Accesses unto the King our Soveraign let me pray you to put His Majesty in Mind to be good as I no way distrust to my poor Wife and Children at which Words or at his Countenance in the Delivery or at both my Lord Bishop being somewhat troubled took the freedom to ask him whether he had never any secret Abodement in his Mind No reply'd the Duke but I think some Adventure way kill me as well as another Man The very day before he was slain feeling some indisposition of Body the King was pleased to give him the Honour of a visit and found him in his Bed where and after much serious and private Discourse the Duke at his Majesty's departing embraced him in a very unusual and passionate Manner and in like sort to his Friend the Earl of Holland as if his Soul divined he should see them no more which infusions towards fatal End had been observed by some Authors of no Light Authority On the very day of his Death the Countess of Denbigh receiv'd a Letter from him whereupon all the while she was writing her Answer she bedew'd the Paper with her Tears And after a most bitter Passion whereof she could yield no Reason but that her dearest Brother was to be gone she fell down in a Swoon Her said Letter endeth thus I will pray for your happy Return which I look at with a great Cloud over my Head too heavy for my poor Heart to bear without torment but I hope the great God of Heaven will bless you The day following the Bishop of Ely her devoted Friend who was thought the fittest Preparer of her Mind to receive such a doleful Accident came to visit her but hearing she was at rest he attended till she should awake of her self which she did with the Affrightments of a Dream her Brother seeming to pass thorough a Field with her in her Coach where hearing of a sudden Shout of the People and asking the reason it was answer'd to have been for Joy that the Duke of Buckingham was sick Which natural Impression she source had related unto her Gentlewoman before the Bishop was entred into her Bed-Chamber for a chosen Messenger of the Duke's Death This is all I dare present of that Nature or any of Judgment not unwillingly omitting certain Prognostick Anagrams and such strains of Fancy Sir Henry Wooton 's Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers Duke of Buckingham p. 25 26. 2. When Alexander went by Water to Babylon a sudden Wind arising blew off the Regal Ornament of his Head and the Diadem fixt to it This was lookt upon as a Presage of Alexander's Death which happen'd soon after 3. In the year of Christ 1185. the last and most fatal end of Andronicus Commenus being at Hand the Statute of St. Paul which the Emperor had caused to be set up in the great Church of Constantinople abundantly wept Nor were these Tears in vain which the Emperor washt off with his own Blood 4. Barbara Princess of Bavaria having shut her self up in a Nunnery among other things allow'd her for her peculiar Recreation she had a Marjoram-Tree of an extraordinary bigness a small Aviary and a Gold Chain which she wore about her Neck But 14 Days before she died the Marjoram-Tree dried up the Birds the next Night were all found dead and after that the Chain broke in two in the middle Then Barbara calling for the Abbess told her that all those Warnings were for her and in a few Days after died in the Seventeenth year of her Age After her Death above twenty other Virgins died out of the same Nunnery Several other Presages there are that foretold the death of Princes and great Men As the unwonted Howlings of Dogs the unseasonable Noise of Bells the Roaring of Lions c. Concerning Dead Mens Lights seen often in Wales take this following Story 5. A Man and his Family being all in Bed about Midnight and awake he could perceive a Light entring a little Room where he lay and one after another of some Dozen in the shape of Men and two or three Women with small Children in their Arms entring in and they seemed to dance and the Room to be far wider and lighter than formerly they did seem to eat Bread and Cheese all about a kind of a Stick upon the Ground they offer'd him Meat and would smile upon him he could perceive no Voice but he once calling upon God to bless him he could perceive the Whisper of a Voice in Welsh bidding him hold his Peace being about four Hours thus he did what he could to awake his Wife and could not they went out into another Room and after some dancing departed and then he arose yet being but a very small Room he could not find the Door nor the way to Bed until crying out his Wife and Family awaked Being within about two Miles of me I sent for the Man who is an honest poor Husbandman and of good Report And I made him believe I would put him to his Oath for the Truth of this Relation who was ready to take it Attested by Mr. John Lewis a learned Justice of Peace in Cardigan-shire Hist Discourse of Appar and Witches p. 130. 6. Mr. Flavel in his Treatise of the Soul says I have with good Assurance this Account of a Minister who being alone in a Journey and willing to make the best Improvement he could of the Days Solitude set himself upon a close Examination of the State of his Soul and then of the Life to come and the manner of its being and living in Heaven in the Views of all those things which are now pure Objects of Faith and Hope after a while he perceiv'd his Thoughts begin to fix and come closer to these great astonishing things than was usual and as his Mind settled upon them his Affections began to rise with answerable Liveliness and Vigour He therefore whilst he was yet Master of his own Thoughts lift up his Heart to God in a short Ejaculation that God would so order it in his Providence that he might meet with no Interruption from Company or any other Accident in that Journey which was granted him For in all the Days Journey he neither met overtook or was overtaken by any Thus going on his way his Thoughts began to rise and swell higher and higher like the Waters in Ezekiel's vision till at last they became an overflowing Flood Such was the Intention of his Mind such the ravishing Tastes of Heavenly Joys and such the full Assurance of his Interest therein that he utterly lost the Sight and Sense of this World and all the concerns thereof and for some hours knew no more where he was than if he had been in a deep sleep upon his Bed At last he began to perceive
On the Lord's Day Octob. 6. she said thus Here is nothing here but sin I am willing to die but either to live or to die which the Lord pleaseth his Will be done and so it will whether I will or no On Tuesday at Night Octob. 8. seeing her Mother weeping she said Mother do not weep for me but leave me to the Lord and let him do with me what he pleaseth And then clasping her Arms about her Mother's Neck her Mother said Thou embracest me but I trust thou art going to the Embracings of the Lord Jesus She answered Mother I know it that when I go from hence I shall go into Health and Happiness or else I should not undergo all my Pains with so much patience More Expressions of Mary Warren Pray you Mother take off these Plaisters for I would not have them I would have no Doctors or Apothecaries for God shall be my Physician and he will heal me I do not value the Things of this World no more than Dirt. Her Mother had told one That she thought her Daughter had Assaults of Satan she once looked very ghastly and now her Daughter said thus Once I think I looked ghastly and turned my Head on one side and on the other Satan stood upon my left side and God was upon my right side and opened the Gates of Heaven for me and he told me Satan should not hurt me though he sought to devour me like a roaring Lyon I am very sore from the Crown of my Head to the Sole of my Foot but I am so full of Comfort and Joy that I do feel but little of my Pain I do not know whether I shall live or die but whether I live or die it will be well for me I am not in trouble for my sins God is satisfied with his Son Jesus Christ for he hath wash'd them away with his Blood Then her Sister standing by she said Sister Betty and Sister Anne be sure your first Work be in the Morning to seek the Lord by Prayer and likewise in the Evening and give Thanks for your Food for you cannot pray too ofen to the Lord and though you cannot speak such Words as others have yet the Lord will accept of the Heart for you do not know how soon your Speech may be taken away as mine was She desired her Mother thus Do not let too much Company be here late at Night lest it should hinder them from seeking the Lord in Duty at home I know not whether I shall live or die but if I die and if you will have a Sermon I desire this may be the Text the Place I do not know but the Words may be comfortable to you That David when his Child was sick he cloathed himself in Sackcloth and wept but when his Child was dead he washed and eat Bread For you have wept much while I have been sick and if I die you have cause to rejoyce My Comfort is in the Lord there is Comfort indeed Though we may seek Comfort here and the Glory of this World yet what is all that All will be nothing when we come to lie upon a Death-bed then we would fain have the Love of God and cannot get it I am full of Comfort and Joy Though my Pains are very great yet I am full of Joy and Comfort I was very full of Comfort before but I am fuller of Joy this Hour than I have been yet It is better to live Lazarus's Life and to die Lazarus's Death than to live Dives's Life he had his Delicates and afterwards would have been glad to have had Lazarus dip his Finger in Water and cool his Tongue The last Night I could not stir my Head Hand nor Foot but by and by the Lord did help me to move my Head a little and at length my Body O what a good God have I that can cast down and raise up in a moment 29. Of the Expressions of an hopeful Child the Daughter of Mr. Edward Scarfield that was but Eleven Years of Age in March 1661 Gathered from a Letter written by one fearing God that lived in the House with the Child In August last this Child was sick of a Fever in which time she said to her Father who is a holy humble precious Man I am afraid I am not prepared to die and fell under much trouble of Spirit being sensible not only of actual Sins but of her lost Estate without Christ in Unbelief as Ephes 2.12 John 16.8 9. and she wept bitterly crying out thus My sins are greater than I can bear I doubt God will not forgive them telling her Father I am in unbelief and I cannot believe Yet she was drawn out to pray many times in those words of Psal 25. For thy Name 's sake O Lord pardon my sin for it is great Thus she lay oft mourning for sin and said I had rather have Christ than Health She would repeat many Promises of God's Mercy and Grace but said she could not believe But whilst her Father was praying the Lord raised her Soul up to believe as she told her Father when Prayer was ended Now I believe in Christ and I am not afraid of Death After this she said I had rather die than sin against God Since that time she hath continued quiet in mind as one that hath Peace with God Her Father saith that since she was Five Years old he remembred not that either a Lye or an Oath hath ever come out of her Mouth neither would she have wronged any to the value of a Pin. For these two last Relations I 'm beholding to Mr. Henry Jessey Next follows a Narrative of the Conversions and happy Deaths of several young Children extracted from Mr. White 's and Mr. Janeway's Treatises upon that Subject to which the Reader is refer'd for a much larger Account 1. THere was a Child of whom many things which I here relate I was an Ear-witness of and other things which I shall speak of him I am fully satisfied of This little Child when he died was in Coats somewhat above eight years old of singular Knowledge Affections and Duties for his Age of whom that I may give a more full Account For his Knowledge 1. He asked how the Angels could sin since there were none to tempt them and they were with God 2. It being told him that all Sins and Duties were commanded in the Ten Commandments and forbid I asked him what Commandment forbad Drunkenness He said Thou shalt not kill for they quartelled and killed one another His Father asked him who bid you learn your Book and there is no Commandment saith Thou shalt learn thy Book The Child answered in these words or to this purpose It is said Thou shalt honour thy Father and thy Mother you bid me learn my Book He asked his Father when he was at Dinner what became of Children that died before Baptism he made a little stop that he might answer him
undutiful and irregular in his Conversation and therefore his Father being grieved at it left with one Mrs. Wilson a Sails-man in London 40 l. per Annum upon this Condition That if his Son did forsake his evil Courses and become an honest Man he should then give him the Estate if not he should never let him have it After the Father's Decease Mr. Baines reformed mightily and became eminently pious and devout Mr. Wilson falling sick sends for him and desires him to pray with him which Mr. Baines did every savourily upon which the good Gentleman told him of the 40 l. per Annum which his Father had left with him and so faithfully delivered up those Writings of the Agreement which had passed betwixt his Father and him And being like to leave behind him a Wife and two Children he intreated Mr. Baines to be a Friend to them And accordingly after Mr. Wilson's Death to Discharge his Trust and approve himself grateful he married his Widow Mr. Clark in his Life Here was a Son that indeed was not dutiful to his Father in his first Years that would not go when his Father bid him go but afterwards repented and went and accordingly he fared for tho' the Estate came not to him presently yet afterwards it came CHAP. LXXVI Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet BLessed saith our Saviour are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth and again Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God And 't is certain a Meekness and Quietness of Spirit doth mightily contribute to the Health of our Bodies the Comfort of our Minds and a peaceable and sweet Enjoyment of the good things of this Life The Christian Religion says a learned Man Dr. Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Sermon upon Phil. 3. v. 16. doth lay the greatest Obligations on Mankind to Peace and Unity by the strictest Commands the highest Examples and the most prevailing Arguments yet so much have the Passions and Interests of Men overlay'd the Sense of their Duty that as nothing ought to be more in our Wishes so nothing seems more remote from our Hopes then the universal Peace of the Christian World Not that there is any impossibility in the thing or any considerable difficulty if all Men were such Christians as they ought to be but as long as Men pursue their several Factions and Designs under the colour and pretence of Zeal for Religion if they did not find Names and Parties ready framed that were suitable to their Ends the difference of their Designs would make them So that 'till mens Corruptions are mortified and their Passions subdued to a greater degree then the World hath yet found them it is vain to expect a state of Peace and Tranquility in the Church We need not go far from home for a sufficient Evidence of this for although our differences are such as the wiser Protestants abroad not only condemn but wonder at them yet it hath hitherto puzzled the wisest Persons among us to find out ways to compose them not so much from the distance of mens Opinions and Practices as the strength of their Prejudices and Inclinations Thus far Dr. Stillingfleet I now proceed to Instances of Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet 1. Bazil the Great after a difference had happened between him and Eusebius Bishop of Caesaria upon danger of a Persecution from Valens the Arrian Emperour went to him and was reconciled and afterwards upon Eusebius's Death was chosen Bishop in his room Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Ambrose Lieutenant and Consul of Millain upon the Death of Auxentius Bishop of that See going to appease an Uproar that was then risen about the Election of another Bishop with his excellent Arguments so appeased the Rage of the heady Multitude they with one Voice cried up Ambrose for their Bishop upon which without any further deliberation he was by the Bishops there present installed into the Office tho' at that time he was but a Catechumenist and unbaptized Ibid. Another time Justina the Empress going about to banish Ambrose the People bore such a singular love to him that they withstood her Act and hindred it and besides just at the same time a Rebellion was raised in Britain by Maximus which cooled her Spleen and broke her Purpose concerning it Ibid. 3. There is among the Advertisements of the late News-Letters a Book mentioned with this Title The happiness of a quiet Mind both in Youth and Old Age with the way to attain it In a Discourse occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13. 1695 in the Ninety fifth Year of her Age. By Tim. Rogers M. A. c. I suppose by the Title for I have not yet seen the Book that the Author doth ascribe the healthful Crasis of the Gentlewoman's Body and the Longevity of her Life in great measure to the quietness of her Mind but for further satisfaction I leave my Reader to consult the Book it self 4. John of Times who lived a Nestors Age and more till he was three Hundred Sixty one Years old was a Man of a contented Spirit in all Conditions of Life Wanley's Wonders l. 1. c. 31. 5. Mr. Phil. Henry of whom I have made mention before was a Man of a very sedate even Temper a calm Spirit a great Peace-maker in his Neighbourhood and accordingly he lived loved and died with the universal Lamentation of People of all sorts And which perhaps ought not to be omited in the consideration after the enjoyment of a kind and loving Wife who brought him a good and plentiful Estate and seeing his Children all disposed of with his consent and to content of all Persons concerned and they walking in the Truth and mutual Love one with another and his Chhildrens Children to his great Joy and Comfort I say after all these Blessings poured plentifully upon his Head with great assurance and satisfaction about his spiritual and eternal Estate he quietly with a short Sickness of about twelve Hours continuance or not much more resign'd up his Spirit into the Hands of the God of Peace 6. Mrs. Katherine Stubs obeyed the Commandment of the Apostle who biddeth Women to be silent and learn of their Husbands at home she would never suffer any Disorder or Abuse in her House to be unreproved or unreformed and so gentle was she and courteous of Nature that she was never heard to give the Lie to any in all her Life nor so much as Thou to any in Anger She was never heard to fall out with any of her Neighbours nor with the least Child that lived much less to scold or brawl And for true Love and Loyalty to her Husband and his Friends was she the rearest Paragon in the World she lived very contentedly there was never any Man or Woman that ever opened their Mouths against her And accordingly as she lived so she died peaceably and comfortable out-braving
Death strike my Heart I fear not thy Stroke Now it is Father into thy blessed Hand I commend my Spirit sweet Jesus into thy Hands I commend my Spirit blessed Spirit of God I commit my Soul into thy Hands O most Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one true and everlasting God into thy blessed Hand I commit my Soul and Body At which Words her Breath stayed and so moving neither Hand nor Foot she slept sweetly in the Lord. See her Life CHAP. LXXIX Protection of the Good in Dangers THE Divine Providence is exercised over all the Creation but more especially upon Man then other Creatures that are made subject to him For God causeth his sun to shine and his Clouds to distil with Rain upon the just and unjust But more remarkably upon those that fear God and keep close to him in the way of Duty and a close and cordial Devotion then any others For the Truth whereof I appeal to History and the Experiences of Private and good Men. 1. By Vertue of a Bull issued out by Pope Gregory against John Wickleif and signed by Twenty three Cardinals declaring his Writings to be Heretical and this Bull sent to Oxford together with letters to the King Arch-bishop Sudbury and Courtney then Bishop of London requiring them to Apprehend and Imprison the said Wickleif and they resolving to proceed against him in a Provincial Synod laying aside all Fear and Favour and going to work roundly with him in spite of all Entreaties Threatnings or Rewards god by a small matter overthrew and confounded their Devices for the day of Examination being come in came a Courtier name Lewis Clifford a Man of no great Birth and commanded them That they should not proceed to any definitive Sentence against the said Wickleif wherewith the Bishops were so amazed and crest-fallen that they became as mute Men not having a Word to answer And one that writes this Story saith further that whilst the Bishops were sitting at the Chappel at Lambeth upon John Wickleif not only the Citizens but the vise Objects of the City were so bold as to entreat for him and to stop them in their Proceedings Clark's Mar. of Eccl. Hist p. 112. 2. John Husse being condemned and excommunicated by the Pope and Cardinals for an Heretick opposed by some of the Barons of Bohemia and banished by King Winceslaus yet was entertained in the Country and protected by the Lord of the Soil at Hussinets and Preached there still 'till afterwards the Pope dying a Schism happened in the new Election at the Council of Constance whither Husse was commanded to come and make his Appearance which proved so fatal to him notwithstanding the safe conduct granted him by the Emperour for his Journey and Return Idem p. 117. 3. Henry Alting when Heidelberg was taken by Storm prepared for Death and being at the same time in his Study bolted his Door and betook to Prayer looking every Moment when the bloody Soldiers would break in to make a Sacrifice of him But the great Arbiter of Life and Death took care for his safety for Monsieur Behusius Rector of the School and his dear Friend hiring two Soldiers called him forth and conveyed him through a Back-door into the Lord Chancellors House which Tilly had commanded to be preserved from Plundering because of the publick Monuments of the Common-wealth that were kept there This House was commanded to be Guarded by a Lieutenant Colonel that was under the Count of Hoheuzollem a Man greedy of Prey who lest he should lose his Share in the Booty by his Attendance upon that place sent forth his Soldiers as it were a hunting commanding them That if they met with any Citizens of Note that under pretence of Safeguarding them they should bring them to him purposing by their Ransom to enrich himself To this Man Alting was brought who with his naked Sword reeking with Blood said to him This Day with this Hand have I slain ten Men to whom Dr. Alting shall be added as the eleventh if I knew where to find him But who art thou Such a Countenance and such a Speech by such a Man at such a time might have affrighted the most constant Mind but our Alting by a witty Answer neither denying himself to be Alting nor unseasonably discovering himself Answered as sometime Athanasius in the like case I was saith he a Schoolmaster in the College of Wisdom Hereupon the Lieutenant Colonel promised him safety who if he had known him to have been Alting would certainly have slain him But what a sad time had be that Night hearing the continual Shrieks and Groans which filled the Air of Women ravished Virgins deflowred Men some haled to Torments others immediately slain himself retiring into a Cockloft lest he should be discovered by some of those many which fled thither for Refuge At last the Colonel being remanded away thence the House was resigned to the Jesuits and so he was in fresh Danger but by a special Providence the Kitchin being reserved for Tilly's own Use he was close fed by one of the Palatine Cooks who at last hired three Bavarian Soldires to guard him to his own House Idem p. 493. The following Letter was sent me Novemb. the 8th 1696. by a Gentleman now living in London with whom I am well acquainted viz. SIR THere were three strange Accidents that befel my Son John during his abode at Chesham in Bucke some Years since which perhaps may be worth your taking notice of in your History of Remarkable Providences 1. The first was the great Danger he was once in of Drowning which hapned to him by venturing too fat upon the Groundsil just by a large Pond for a little Whisk where his Foot slipt and down he plunged and being but about eight Years of Age was not able to swim but by a wonderful Providence one Mr. John Reading his first Cosen was then at work in a Stable near the Pond who coming to see what it was made such a Plunge into the Pond found it to be my Son John strugling and sprawling for Life and almost at his last Gasp The Providence of God was signally remarkable in this my Son's Deliverance from Drowning for when his Cosen first heard the noise in the Pond he took it to be some Stone flung into the Pond and was a while resolved not to see after it as believing no harm had befallen any one But at last of a sudden it came into his Mind that the great noise which the Plunge made could not be made by a Stone he therefore now leaves his Work and runs to satisfie his dubious Thoughts and finds my Son almost Drowned when this Person with the hazard of his Life got my Son out of the Pond he could not be brought to speak the muddy and dirty Water had so swell'd him for about nine Hours time but then he came something to recollect his Senses he gave the Account of his falling
stretching out her Fingers to the full length used to swear by these Ten Bloody Bones This Woman had a Son called Stephen Maurice who was born with two Thumbs upon a Hand and he likewise marrying had several Children born in like manner with two Thumbs a-piece upon each Hand all which supernumerary Thumbs she in a bloody manner with her own Hand cut off This Woman assisted my Mother as Midwife when she brought me into the World W. T. 6. Sir Roger Mosson of Mosson in Flint-shire had a Coal-pit sunk pretty deep by some Workmen who discovered a good Mine of Coal but meeting with a Fire-damp were so affrighted that they deserted the Work At last a bold Fellow that was a notorious Swearer came and undertook to go on with it He with two or three more Men goes down into the Pit leaving the other Men near the Eye thereof whilst himself with a Candle lighted goes forward but presently was so attacked with the Fire-damp that the other Men were struck down with it in great amazement and had much adoe to recover themselves and an Engine of a vast bulk and weight that stood near the Eye of the Pit was carried up into the Air as high as the tops of some Trees that grew upon a Hill near adjoyning and the Man himself that went foremost with the Candle miserably and irrecoverably perished This I had out of the Philosophical Transactions printed some Years ago but in what Year particularly I remember not having not the Pamphlet by me at present 7. Anno Christi 1649. about the end of June there was a Soldier at Ware going with some others to wash himself in the River but finding the Water shallow he asked if there was no deeper a Place for him to swim in Some told him that there was not far off a deep Pit but that it was very dangerous and therefore advised him to take heed how he went into it To whom he answered God damn me if it be as deep as Hell I will go into it which accordingly he did but immediately sunk to the bottom never rising again but was there drowned Attested by good Witnesses Clark's Mirr c. 129. 8. One Mr. Barrington a great Swearer going forth a Hunting or Hawking on a Lord's-Day or a Festival and not speeding to his Mind came to an Ale-house at Puckrych Five Miles from Ware in the way to Cambridge and called for Drink beginning to swear after his unhappy Custom saying By God's Blood this is an unlucky Day and presently after he bled at the Nose which so vexed him that he began to rail and blaspheme the Name of God swearing Passion Wounds Flesh Nails Blood and Body c. till at last he proceeded farther to bleed at the Ears Eyes Wrists joynts of his Hands and of all his Body at the Navil and Fundament in a wonderful great Quantity and Streams of Blood blaring out his Tongue in a fearful manner as black as Pitch so that no Person durst come near him This continued faith my Author till the Devil and Death made an end of him Next day the Body was laid on a Cart carried to Stondâ—n and buried in the High-way Mr. Batman in his Doom warning to the Judgment p. 418. Who saith he had it from Mr. Barrington's wife afterward married to Mr. Carington in Cambridge CHAP. CVII Divine Judgments upon Sabbath-breakers AS God requires us to Remember the Sabbath-Day so as to keep it Holy so himself Remembers them that dare to Profane it The Child that gathered Sticks on that Day among the Israelites in the early Times of the Mosaick Oeconomy was by the Order of God himself stoned to Death And as he began to shew his Severity betimes in the Punishing of this Sin so he hath continued to the present Age to shew his great Displeasure against it insomuch that I think King James was much in the right when he caused his Declaration for Sports upon that Day to be torn out of his printed Volume of Writings where it is not now to be seen 1. A certain Nobleman profaning the Sabbath usually in Hunting had a Child by his Wife with a Head like a Dog and with Ears and Chaps crying like a Hound 2. Stratford upon Avon was twice on the same Day Twelve month being the Lord's-Day almost consumed with Fire chiefly for Profaning the Lord's-Day and Contemning his Word in the Mouth of his Faithful Minister 3. Feverton in Devonshire whose Remembrance makes my Heart bleed was oftentimes admonished by her Godly Preachers that God would bring some heavy Judgment on the Town for their horrible Profanation of the Lord's-Day occasioned chiefly by the Market on the Day following Not long after his Death on the 3d. of April Anno Dom. 1598. God in less than half an Hour consumed with a sudden and fearful Fire the whole Town except only the Church the Court-House and the Alms-Houses or a few poor Peoples Dwellings where a Man might have seen Four Hundred Dwelling-Houses all at once on fire and above Fifty Persons consumed by the Flame Not many Years after this a Misfortune of the like nature befell the Town again for on the Fifth Day of August 1612. Fourteen Years since the former Fire it was again fired and all consumed except some Thirty Houses of poor People with the School-House and Alms-Houses They are blind which see not in this the Finger of God God grant them Grace when it is next built to change their Market-Day and to remove all Occasions of Profaning the Lord s-Day Let other Towns remember the Tower of Siloe Luke 13.4 and take Warning by their Neighbours Chastisements Fear God's Threatnings Jerem. 17.27 And believe God's Prophets if they will prosper 1 Chron. 20.20 Thus far Dr. Bread in his Theatre of God s Judgments p. 419 420. 4. Mr. Smythyes Curate of St. Giles's Cripplegate in the Confession and Discovery of a Condemned Prisoner executed May the 25th 1687 for Theft saith that it was his Earnest Desire That all young Men especially should take care not to mispend the Lord's-day And I do now know saith he that ever I observed any Repentance in a Condemned Malefactor who did not bitterly lament his Neglect of his Duty to God on that Day 5. Edmund Kirk Vintner executed at Tyburn July 11. 1684. for murdering his Wife in his Confession acknowledged himself frequently guilty of Profaning the Lord's-Day Vpon which Holy Day saith he I committed the hainous Sin of murdering my poor Wife Thus Sin was punished with Sin a Less with a Greater and the Greater with the Gallows and that Greater committed near the same Gallows And himself confessed That he had to his Wife asking whilst she passed by what Place that was told it was Tyburn where John Gower was lately hanged for killing his Wife O Lord how dear to me thy Counsels are but how just and terrible are thy Judgments 6. Famous and memorable also is that Example which happened at
best kill me too The Son replyed No Sir I have done enough I am sure it was too much The Father Sir George upon this said Why then you must look to be hang'd Which Doom was accordingly pass'd upon him at the next Assizes held at Maidstone Anno 1655. See the Narrative of his Life and Death by R. Boreman 2. Anno Christi 1641. There was in Juchi near Cambray an unnatural Son that in a fury threw his Mother out of Doors thrice in one Day telling her That he had rather see his House on fire and burned to Ashes than that she should remain in it one Day longer And accordingly the very same Day his House was fired and wholly burned down with all that was in it none knowing how or by what means the Fire came Enguer de Monast v. 2. 3. Manlius relateth a Story of an old Man crooked with Age and almost pined with Hunger who having a Rich and Wealthy Son went to him only for some Food for his Belly and Cloaths for his Back But this proud young Man thinking that it would be a Dishonour to him to be born of such Parents drove him away denying not only to give him sustenance but disclaiming him from being his Father giving him bitter and reproachful Speeches which made the poor old Man to go away with an heavy Heart and Tears flowing from his Eyes Which the Lord beholding struck his unnatural Son with Madness of which he could never be cured till his Death 4. The same Author relates another Story of another Man that kept his Father in his old Age but used him very churlishly as if he had been his Slave thinking every thing too good for him and on a time coming in found a good Dish set on the Table for his Father which he took away and set courser Meat in the room But a while after sending his Servant to fetch out that Dish for himself he found the Meat turned into Snakes and the Sauce into Serpents one of which leaping up caught this unnatural Son by the Lip from which it could never be pulled to his Dying-day so that he could never feed himself but he must feed the Serpent also 5. Adolf Son of Arnold Duke of Guelders repining at his Father's long Life one Night as he was going to Bed came upon him suddenly and took him Prisoner and bare-legged as he was made him go on foot in a cold Season five German Leagues and then shut him up a close Prisoner for six Months in a dark Dungeon But the Lord suffered not such Disobedience to go unpunished For shortly after the Son was apprehended and long imprisoned and after his Release was slain in a Fight against the French History of the Netherlands 6. Henry Jones of Monmouth in Wales for an unnatural Murder of his Mother a Widow Mrs. Grace Jones out of a greedy desire to enjoy her Estate was at the Assizes held at Monmouth condemn'd to be pressed to Death his Sister to be burnt as consenting with him and his Boy hanged A. C. 1671. See the Narrative 7. A Malster near Cocks-Hill in Essex having made over all his Estate to his Son was afterwards turn'd out of Doors without so much as a Bed to lie on But the Son soon after slighted by his Sweet-heart hang'd himself 1674. Sir P. Pett being on January the 24th 1695. in the Company of the Honourable Sir Edward Lutwyche who was formerly Recorder of Chester and afterward one of the Judges of the Court of Common-Pleas he related to him That while he was Recorder of Chester a Father there who had two Sons demising some Land to his elder Son by his Will and ordering in his Will That for want of Heirs to the elder Son the Land should come to the younger Son and further enjoyning it to the elder Son in the Will that he should not cut off the Entail it so happen'd that notwithstanding the Father's Injunction the elder Brother did in process of time cut off the Entail And the younger Brother fearing that the elder would so do while they both walked amicably together in a Field in Cheshire the younger Brother using several Expostulations with the elder did entreat him that he would observe the Injunction laid upon him in his deceas'd Father's Will and not cut off the Entail Whereupon the elder Brother thus replied to him Brother if ever I do it may that Bull or some other gore me to Death pointing to a Bull then grazing in the Field Yet this notwithstanding the elder Brother shortly after did cut off the Entail and afterwards walking in the same Field was there by a Bull gored to Death This Remarkable Providence as Sir Edward averrs happen'd within these Twenty Years This Account was sent me by Sir Peter Pett now living in London CHAP. CXXI Divine Judgments upon Careless Parents IT is a strange thing to me that Parents should look upon themselves as bound in Conscience to provide an Estate and temporal Livelihood for their Children and yet at Liberty in respect of their Good Manners and future Happiness as if they were obliged to do no more for them than for their Dogs and Horses Socrates might well stand and wonder to see Men take such pains to cut and carve Stones in the Likeness of Men and let their Children go rude and unpolish'd out of their Hands in the Likeness of Bruits Old Eli tho' a good Man yet because he was too soft a Parent destroyed his Sons and broke his own Neck 1. Sir George Sondes mentioned in the fore-going Chapter is strongly suspected for his too much Indulgence to his Son Freeman that committed that foul Murder as may be collected from Sir George's Answer in print upon occasion of a Charge made against him by some neighbouring Ministers See his own Words p. 15. Now saith he for the Education of my Children having buried many other and having now only two Sons remaining I confess I was more fond and indulgent and gave more way to them than otherwise I should have done And presently after speaking of them both he saith To that foolish Sports of Cocking they were addicted but the youngest most as also to Carding and he would play somewhat deep at those Games I often child him but could never break him of it He was in his Behaviour pleasing and courteous to none but cross-grain'd to all and as much to his Father as to any which I hoped that Years and Discretion might have made him leave in time Afterwards speaking concerning the Allowance which he made them he saith I ever gave them Money not only when but commonly before they asked and more than they desired Afterwards concerning his Son 's undutiful Carriage in his Letter to him in the Prison he writes thus Your Stubbornness appeared in the least trivial Things as in riding abroad to my Park and Town things you liked in themselves yet because I desired it of you you refused it saying
and at last sacrificed his Right Hand for but tampering a little this way 'T is ill jesting with God and our own Consciences who will neither of them be mocked 17. Berengarius tried this and therefore though he retracted his Doctrine against Transubstantiation he relapsed again and retracted and relapsed again or rather returned and repented finding no Peace for his Conscience whilst he had not Truth in his Possesston CHAP. CXLI Great Effects wrought by weak means IT is pleasant to observe how God delights to shew his Power by using weak and contemptible Instruments and to werk â—â—eat Effects by little secondary Causes to make a World by speaking a Word or two to punish and subdue a slout-hearted Pharaoh with Frogs and Lice and Locusts and Darkness to baffle a Giant-like People in Canaan with a handful of Men to make the Walls of Jericho fall down and the Peoples Hearts quail with only a Shout and the Noise of Rams Horns to overthrow the two great Religions of the World Judaisin and Pagan Idolatry with the Foolishness of Preaching and the Piety and Patience of Confessors and Martyrs to turn Sinners Thoughts into a Case of Knives or a Nest of Wasps or Serpents to sting and torment them with 1. The Duke of Arcos Viceroy of Naples under the King of Spain having imposed many Gabels or Taxes both vendible and eatable at last imposed a Gabel upon Fruit also which more irritated and offended that Multitude than all the former Whereupon by the publick Cries and Lamentations of Men and Women they daily solicited the Viceroy as he passed through the Market-place to ease them of the said Burthen they used also the Mediation of others and not prevailing they were ready to raise a Mutiny Which so affrighted the Viceroy that he promised quite to take off the said Gabel but delaying to do it some of the enraged People one Night but fire to some Powder in the Market-place where the said Gabel was exacted and blew it up There were also from Day to Day bitter Invectives and fiery Protests against the publick Officers fixed up in sundry Places of the City The Viceroy being alarmed thereby often assembled the six Precincts of the City to consult about this Business But they were divided some perswading him to ease and please the People others advising him to Repair the Toll-house that was burnt down and continue the Gabel saying That they were but a few Tatterdemallions that had made that Noise Besides divers of the great Men and Merchants of the City had advanced upon the said Gabel above 600000 Crowns and were to pay 85000 Crowns of annual Rent This was noised abroad and the Report went That if this Tax was taken off there would be a new one set upon â—orn and Wine Whereupon the enraged People protested That they would never endure the same and whilst these Discontents were hot July 17. 1647. this Occasion suddenly presented it self A young Man of about 24 Years old being spritely pleasant and of a middle stature in Linen-Slops Blew Wastcoat and bare-foot with a Mariner's Cap on his Head happened to be in the Market-place His Profession was to angle for little Fishes as also to buy Fish and carry them about to sell He was vulgarly called Massianello and being naturally Crafty he observed the general Murmurings of the People and so went up and down to the Fruiterers Shops and advised them That meeting together the next Day in the Market-place they should tell the Country Fruiterers That they would buy no more gabelled Fruit. Upon this he listed many Boys under him to the number of Two Thousand giving every one of them a little Cane in their Hand Against a great Festival that was approaching a Feast that used to be made by the Boys and meaner fort of People in the Market-place he gathered to the number of Fifty Thousand Upon this Success the number of People encreased exclaiming aloud against their Oppressions protesting to pay no more Gabel crying out Let the King of Spain live and let the ill Government die Massianello being thus attended with his Boys and an infinite Company of loose People who were now armed with Pikes and Partizans he leaped up on a Table and with a loud Voice cried Be merry my dear Companions and give God Thanks that the Hour of your Redemption draws near This poor bare-footed Fellow as another Moses who freed the Israelites from Pharaoh's Rod shall redeem you from all Gabâ—ls Peter a Fisherman redeemed with his Voice Rome and with it all the World from Satan's Slavery to the Liberty of Christ Now another Fisher-man which is Massianello shall release Naples and with it a whole Kingdom from the Tyranny of Gabels c. Nor to effect this do I care a Rush to be torn in pieces and to be dragged up and down the Gutters of Naples let all the Blood in my Body spin out of these Veins let my Head skip from my Shoulders by a fatal Steel and be pearched in this Market-place on a Pole yet I shall die contentedly and gloriously It will be Honour enough to me to think that my Blood and Life perish in so glorious a Cause In short he afterwards brought the Viceroy to an Agreement but after some time falling into a Frensie by either Excess of Wine or Watching and Cares died See more in the printed Narrative or Clark 's Examples 2. The Inhabitants of Myons a City of Jonia were so pester'd with Gnats which were bred in a muddy Pond near them that they were constrain'd thereupon to leave the City and fly to Milerum This I read many Years ago when a Student in the University but took no care then to Record my Author 3. Luther by his Preaching and Disputing baffled the Arguments Arts and Power of two very potent Enemies the Pope and Emperor and procured a happy Reformation in the Church 4. Francis Spira was punished in this World for his Apostacy with the keen Reflections of a guilty Conscience and many others besides Our own Thoughts may be sufficient to make a Hell of 5. Some have been convicted of Murder by the Barking of a Dog the Flight of Birds the Shaking of Leaves Anacreon was choaked with a Grape-stone Adrian with a Gnat others with the Excrements of Birds flying over their Heads An Acquaintance of mine dislocated her Thigh-bone with only turning a Custard at the Fire and died upon it 7. This very Year a Woman near Hanmer going over a Hedge was hung to Death with her Head-string catching accidentally in the Sticks as was related to me by Mr. Henry of Broad-oak in Flintshire CHAP. CXLII Remarkable Passages relating to Sickness Death and Funerals WHat was long since decreed in Heaven God hath sent Warrants to execute on Earth Semel mori For us once to die Then be acquainted with Death betimes for through acquaintance Death will lose his Horror like unto an ill Face though it be as formidable as a
God and then commanded them to be taken away That Night the Ministers continuing with him a certain Friend coming to him Oecolampadins ask'd him What News The Answer being made None But saith he I 'll tell you some News I shall presently be with my Lord Christ Being ask'd if the Light offended him Putting his Hands to his Eyes he answered Here is abundance of Light and then praying earnestly with the Words of David Psal 51. to the end and saying O Christ save me he fell asleep Clark Ibid. 14. Queen Mary the Second of blessed Memory on her Death-bed when the Most Reverend Archbishop Tenison bespoke her Madam Settle your Affairs your Family and your Mind you have lived and finished the course which the Parent of Nature hath allâ—tted you replied with an undaunted Cheerfulness Father How good a Messenger are you to me who as it were commanded from Heaven bring the Tydings of my last Necessity of Dying Here I am ready to submit to whatever pleaseth God the Disposer of my Life and Death I am not now to learn that difficult Art of Well-dying I have made up my Account with God by the Assistance of my Surety Christ I have discharged my Conscience long since I have considered the Condition of my Mortality I have settled all my Affairs and surrendred into the Bosom of my dearest Husband all those Cares that concern the World And therefore he that calls finds me ready to lay down the Burden of this Life being no more than a load of Infirmities Sin and Labour Then turning to her Husband standing by her Bed-side she is said to have broke forth into Words to this Effect Farewel my William and live mindful of our undefiled Matrimony till thy Lot shall restore thee to me or moe to thee I shall not altogether die while you singly possess the sole Image of us both c. Spanheim in his Fun. Orat. of Queen Mary the Second This I suppose contains the summ of what that Excellent Queen delivered but I suspect the Author hath set it off with an Embellishment of Words which did not become a dying Person The most Reverend Archbishop delivers it more nakedly and briefly 15. Anthony Walleus on his Death-bed exhorted all his Family to Fear God and the Children to Reverence their Mother for so God would bless and provide for them That every one should take care of all the rest but especially that every one should take care of himself Then he bad his Son John to have a special Care of his Mother and so kissing them took his Leave of them all and then turning his Face from them he fell asleep out of which he never awaked only some time when his Pains came upon him he stirred a little and so on the Sabbath about Eleven of the Clock he quietly resign'd up his Spirit unto God A. C. 1639. Aetat 66. Clark's Exampl p. 490. 16. Henry Alting the Day before his Death sang the 130 Psalm with a sweet Voice and warm Zeal and spent the rest to his time in hearty Prayers and holy Meditations In the Evening he blessed his Children and then commanded his Son Dr. James Alting to pray with him and in his Prayers to remember the Church and University The next Day which was the Sabbath-Day being visited by Camerarius and Strasbergerus Agents for the Crown of Sweden and his old Friends he was refreshed a little with their Company but told them that he should depart before Sun-set and accordingly about Three of the Clock in the Afternoon with a constant Voice he bid them all Farewel and after the Prayer of Emmius Pastor of the Church without the least struggling he quietly slept in the Lord A. C. 1644. Ibid. p. 497. 17. Mr. John Bruen of Stapleford a little before his Death said I will have no black no proud or pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but of Rejoycing rather in my particular And immediately before he expired lifting up his Hands he said The Lord is my Portion my Help and my Trust his blessed Son Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen Even so saith the Spirit unto my Spirit Therefore come Lord Jesus and kiss me with the Kisses of thy Mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love Into thy hands I commend my spirit O come now and take me to thine own self O come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come Mr. Hinde in his Life 18. Berengarius is said to have breathed out these Words with his last gasp Now I am to go and appear before God either to be acquitted by him as I hope or condemned by him as I fear Mr. Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 7. out of Illyricus 19. Erasmus by his Last Will and Testament confirmed both by the Emperor and Pope declared Bonifacius Amerbachius his Heir Hieronymus Frobenius and Nicolaus Episcopius Overseers of his Will wherein to several Friends he bequeathed several Legacies as a Clock of Gold to Ludovicus Berus a Spoon and Fork of the same to Beatus Rhenanus to Petrus Vetereus 150 Crowns as much to Philippus Montanus to his Servant Lambert 200 Florins to Brischius a Silver Tankard to Paulus Volsius 100 Florins to Signismundus Tilenius 150 Duckats to Erasmus Frobenius his Godson two Rings to Hieronymus Frobenius his wearing Cloaths Bedding and Houshold-stuffs to his Wife a Ring wherein was set a precious Stone having therein engraven a Woman looking ove her Left Shoulder to Episcopius a fair Silver Bowl with a Cover to his Wife a Diamond Ring to Goâ—lenius a Silver Bowl his Library he sold upon his Death-bed to Johannes à Lasco his Medals ancient Coins ready Money and Debts with the remainder of his Watches Clocks Rings Plate Jewels and other Curiosities of no small value to his Heir Amerbachius not for his own use but to be sold and the Money by Advice of the fore-named Overseers to be distributed first to the poor infirm Persons whether through Age or Sickness secondly to portionless Virgins to procure them Husbands and thirdly to poor but hopeful young Scholars for Advancement of their Studies His Heir he restrained meerly to his Legacy which was none of the greatest He fell sick first of the Gout and then fell into an Hepatical Flux so that for a whole Month together he came seldom out of his Bed and but once over the Threshold of his Chamber yet whilst his Body lay tortured upon this double Rack he wrote a Treatise de Puritate Ecclesiae and made a hard shift to finish his Recognitions of Origen These were the two last Songs of this dying Swan whose Patience ever encreased with his Torments and in the end surmounted them He retained his Speech to the last gasp and breathed out his Soul in these Ejaculations Mercy sweet Jesus Lord loose these Bands How long Lord Jesus how long Jesus Fountain of Mercy have Mercy on me c. He died July 12. 1536. Aged 71 or
Therefore have charitable Conceit of me That I know to swear is an Offence to swear falsly at any time is a great Sin but to swear falsly before the Presence of Almighty God before whom I am forthwith to appear were an Offence unpardonable Therefore think me not now rashly or untruly to confirm or protest any thing As for other Objections as That I was brought perforce into England That I carried Sixteen Thousand Pounds in Money out of England with me more than I made known That I should receive Letters from the French King and such like with many Protestations he utterly denied England's Worthies by Will. Winstanley p. 303. 119. The Death of Henry Bullinger Mr. Bullinger falling Sick and his Disease encreasing many Godly Ministers came to visit him but some Months after he recovered and preached as formerly but soon Relapsed when finding his vital Spirits wasted and Nature much decayed in him he concluded his Death was at hand and thereupon said as followeth If the Lord will make any farther use of me and my Ministry in his Church I will willingly obey him but if he pleases as I much desire to take me out of this miserable Life I shall exceedingly rejoyce that he will be so pleased to take me out of this miserable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Christ Socrates said he was glad when his Death approached because he thought he shou'd go to Hesiod Homer and other Learned Men deceased and whom he expected to meet in the other World then how much more do I joy who am sure that I shall see my Saviour Christ the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World These I say I am sure to see and to partake with them in Joy Why then should I not be willing to die to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory And then with Tears told them That he was not unwilling to leave them for his own sake but for the sake of the Church Then having written his Farewel to the Senate and therein admonished them to take care of the Churches and Schools and by their permission chose one Ralph Gualter his Successor he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the Hands of his Redeemer dying Anno Christi 1575. and or his Age 71. 120. Mr. Haines Minister of Westminister was acquainted with a Gentleman of a very Holy Life and Conversation Which said Gentleman as he lay in his Bed one Morning a Boy of about twelve Years of Age appeared to him in a radiant Light and bid him prepare to Die in twelve Days He being surprized at it sent for Mr. Haines and told him of it who perswaded him from believing of it telling him 't was only a Fancy But within six Days he was siez'd with a violent Fever and four or five Hours before his Death the same Boy came and sate upon his Pillow and as the Gentleman grew paler he changed colour too and just as the Breath went out of the Body he disappeared This is attested by the Gentleman's Family for they all saw it and Mr. Haines related it to a Person of good Reputation from whom I received it 121. The Last Will of Mr. Henry Stubbs Deceased July â— 1678. Published at the Desire of his Widow Mrs. D. S. KNowing that I must shortly put off this my Earthly Tabernacle I make my Last Will and Testament Imprimis I commend my Soul into the Hands of God wholly trusting in Jesus Christ my dear Lord and Saviour through his All-sufficient Satisfaction and powerful Mediation to be accepted Eph. 1.6 Item I commit my Body to the Earth from whence 't was taken in sure and certain Hope of a Resurrection to Life Eternal building upon that sure Word John 6.40 Item I leave my Fatherless Children to the Lord who hath promised to be a Father to the Fatherless Ps 68.5 And to preserve them alive Jer. 49.11 Commanding them to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.19 Item I â—xhort my Widow to trust in the Lord of whose care she hath had no little Experience and therefore should trust in him Psal 9.10 And I desire her to read often Jer. 49.11 Psal 68.5 Heb. 13.5 Item The Congregations to which I have been formerly a Preacher and that with which I now am by a special Hand of Providence I commend to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build them up and to give them an Inheritance amongst all them which are sanctified Acts 20.32 beseeching them by the Lord Jesus That as they ahve received of me how they ought to walk and please God so they would abound more and more 1 Thes 4.1 Item And for my Kindred according to the Flesh my Hearts Desire and Prayer to God for them is That they may be saved Rom. 10.1 Item And for all those yet living and who have seriously and earnestly desired my Prayers my earnest Request to God for them is That it would please him to do for them all as the Marter shall require 1 Kings 8.59 Item And for my Brethren in the Ministry my Prayer is That they may take heed to themselves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood Acts 20.28 Item And for the People my Prayer is That they may obey them that have the Rule over them Heb. 13.17 Item And for Professors of Religion my Prayer is That they may walk worthy of God unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every Good Work Col. 1.10 11. Item And for the King my Prayer is That Mercy and Truth may preserve him Prov. 26.28 And for Him and all that are in Authority my Prayer is That they may so lead their own Lives that the People under them may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 Item And for the whole Land of my Nativity my humble Prayer to the Lord of all Grace and Mercy is That the Power and Purity of the Gospel together with a Learned and Faithful Ministry to dispence the same may be continued and preserved therein The Last Words of those Eminent Persons who fell in the Defence of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties both in London and the West of England from the Year 1678. to this time IN the two last Reigns many of the Flower of our Nobility and Gentry either lost their Lives or Estates or Liberties or Country whilst a Crew of Parasites triumphed and fluttered in their Ruins To see a Russel die meanly and ignobly in the Flower of his Age an Essex or a Godfry sacrificed to the insatiable Ambition and Revenge of their Enemies who yet not content with their Lives would like the Italian stab on after Death and tho' they could not reach their Souls endeavour to damn their Memories These and too many other such melancholy Instances would be
Ciod of Earth or if she wou'd ' Ise too much a Platonick to tell her I am Flesh and Blood No my Dear when you are gone I can easily part with every thing my Leave then will soon be taken of All but my self Never did any Man bid Adieu to the World more absolutely and purely and shake Hands with all Women in it than I shall do when thou art dead not but I kindly resent thy recommending that dear Saint But she and Argus have nothing to fear For tho' my Flesh is malicious enough yet I 'm as Chast as Ice and a perfect Enemy to Caterwauling I love my Daphne ' cause she pleases me And therefore only pleases ' cause 't is she And therefore in her shake Hands with the whole Sex But tho' I 'm averse to a Second Wife yet to forbid thee Marriage after my Death according to the Property of some Husbands I will not for the Holy Scripture saith The Wife is bound unto the Marriage as long as her Husband liveth If her Husband die she is at Liberty to marry with whom she will only in the Lord. If therefore after my Death thou hast a mind to Marry again as I scarce think it of thee Marry in the Name of the Lord our God but follow not the Practice of doating Widows who couple with those to whom they might more properly have given suck Neither would I have thee engage in a Smithfield Bargain What! Marry for Money or be laying new Foundations of Life now you are half way through it To lay up Goods for many Years was thought by the Primitive Christians fitter for Heathens than Christians for having seen no such thing in their Master they could not tell how it should be proper in his Servants but thou art a Rational Creature tho' a Woman and hast no need of this Advice I come next to tell thee I have made my Will wherein thou art sole Executrix that I might give at the rate I love thee from our Marriage till now I have been wrapp'd in a Circle of Obligations to thee and am so desirous to require thy Love that I am scarce contented with giving All but cou'd grutch my Funeral Expences my very Shroud and Grave that I might add to your future Store I need not press you to believe this for Men in their Last Wills and Speeches appear just as they are they here grow Open and Plain-Hearted and dare not depart with their Hands to a Lye But if you think this Will a Romance or that my Words out-love my Actions I must referr all to Death it self for then will be seen whether the Items in it come only from my Mouth or from my Heart I say I referr you to Death for the Truth of this for my Carriage in Health en't able to shew how Dear you are I have not that Fondness in my natural Temper that trumpets forth great Love and to speak my Conscience I think it unhandsome in a (k) (k) As I hinted in a Letter to the Ingenious Cl s. Marry'd State The Stork is a fond Creature and by always kissing his Mate in publick gives a bad Example to Marry'd People who have learn'd it from him Publick Wantonness is odious between Birds much more so between Man and Wife Believe me Daphne more Souls of our Youth perish this way than any other It pleases not me tho' spoken by an Emperor Give me leave by the Lusts of others to exercise mine own tho' a witty yet a wicked Speech I ever thought an intemperate Man in Wedlock differs little from a Brute for too much Billing in Publick sheweth the way to unexperienc'd Youth to commit Riot in Private Cato accus'd one before the Senate that he had kissed his Wife before his Neighbour's Daughter The very Elephants cry out against the Stork and Marry'd Wantons in this Matter who as Pliny writes make not the least Love one to another except they be covered with Bought 'T was a witty Answer of the Lacedaemouian Virgin who being ask'd in the Morning by her Friend whether or no in the Night she had embrac'd her Husband reply'd Good Words good Man not I him but he me Intimating that Fondness in a Wife was unsufferable and in a Man 't is scandalous Which makes me so little practise it Surely a Landlord may value his House without riding o' th' ridge on 't But I need not bring Arguments to prove I love tho' I am not fond seeing your Charity for me makes you say I out-love every thing Then wonder not I'm grieved at Neither am I less concern'd for the after Reflections so far as they relate to my Dear But pray forgive all my Errors and the Excess of a Love that has nothing of parting in 't 'T will if I do survive you follow thee to thy Dying-Bed 'T is there I 'll attempt to expire that I may if possible follow thee in the same Tract to Heaven where I hope to find and (l) (l) As I lately proved in a Letter upon that Subject know thee hereafter For why may not Husband and Wife that helped forward each others Salvation whose Souls were mutually dear and who went to Heaven as it were Hand in Hand there meet and return each other Thanks for those Christian Offices Holy David cheared up his Thoughts after the Death of his Child with this Meditation (m) (m) 2 Sam. 12.23 I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Which had been little Comfort if he had thought never to have known him there It will be no small Augmentation of our Complacency as I told Ignotus to find those very Friendships which we had contracted here below translated to the Mansions above when I shall see and know thee again with whom I had lived so well and slept so long in the Dust With what Ardours shall we then caress one another With what Transports of Divine Affection shall we mutually embrace and vent those innocent Flames which had so long lain smothering in the Grave How passionately Rhetorical and Elegant will our Expressions be when our Sentiments which Death had frozen up when he congeal'd our Blood shall now be thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradise Like Men that have escap'd a common Shipwrack and swim safe to the Shore we shall Congratulate each others Happiness with Joy and Wonder Our first Addresses will be a Dialogue of Interjections and short Periods the most pathetick Language of Surprize and high-wrought Joy and all our after-Converse will be couch'd in the highest Strains of Heavenly Oratory intermixed with Hallelujahs But I 'll stop here to let you see that my Love to your Soul is not so great as to make me forget the House it dwells in No to thy Ashes I 'll keep a Body pure and Troth inviolable for Separation shall have no place in our Union which is too great to be exampled And as to thy Burial it shall speak
end that if the Papists shou'd go about to untomb Peter Martyr's Wife 's Bones they shou'd be puzzl'd to distinguish betwixt the Woman's Body and the Relicks of that their Saint so Good it is in the Opinion of some to be buried with those that are accounted Pious 'T was for this Reason I formerly desired to lie in the Chancel of C with my Reverend Father but Love to a Parent tho' ne'er so tender is lost in that to a Wife and NOW if I can mingle my Ashes with thine I have nothing further to ask If I shou'd be so miserable as to out-live thee a few Hours thy Tomb shall be my Breast till on Six Shoulders I am brought to Thee and O as the only Companions of my Long Home Neither is this Fancy without Precedent for we read (p) (p) In the Flying-Post March the 4th 1696. of a young Gentleman now in Town who getting a Lock and Key to the Vault (q) (q) In St. Clement's Church where his Mistress lies pays her frequent Visits Just thus I 'll visit thee and when I leave this Light Come spend my Time in the same Cell at Night And then farewel farewel I cannot take A final Leave until thy Ashes wake You see my Dear how loth I am to give the Beck'n of Farewel But won't you pardon a Spouse as Husbands go now-a-days who receives Life from your Smiles and is well no longer than he 's Praising of you The Best of Wives and my Truest Friend is but part of your Character And can I leave such a Treasure in post-hast I have kinder Things to add but have not time to write 'em half so must reserve the rest till we meet in Heaven or till I write again when expect my Thoughts on the several Duties of a Married Life Remarks on thy present Sickness and some Secrets I here omit I beg thy Answer to this Letter for I 'll keep it by me as a dear Memorial I 'd next proceed to consider the nature of our Souls and that other World we are hastening to But here 's enough to let you see that as in Life so in Death I am wholly ours and shall so continue as long as I am London Wall August the 3d. 1682. P t. Mrs. E 's Answer to the foregoing Letter I Received my Dearest thy obliging Letter and thankfully own that tho' God has exercised me with a long and languishing Sickness and my Grave lies in view yet he hath dealt tenderly with me so that I find by Experience no Compassions are like those of a God 'T is true I have scarce Strength to answer your Letter but seeing you desire a few Lines to keep as a Memorial of our Constant Love I 'll attempt something tho' by reason of my present Weakness I can write nothing worth your reading First then As to your Character of me Love blinds you for I don't eserve it but am pleased to find you enjoy by the help of a strong Fancy that Happiness which I can't tho' I would bestow But Opinion is the rate of things and if you think your self Happy you are so As to my self I have met with more a greater Comforts in a Marry'd State than ever I did expect But how could it be otherwise when Inclination Interest and all that can be desired concurr to make up the Harmony From our Marriage till now thy Life has been one continued Act of Courtship and sufficiently upbraids that Indifference which is found among Married People Thy Concern for my present Sickness tho' of long continuance has been so Remarkably tender that were it but known to the World 't wou'd once more bring into fashion Mens loving their Wives Thy WILL alone is a Noble Pattern for others to Love by and is such an Original Piece as will near be equall'd I next come to consider the Imprudence of where I must say I am so far from blaming your Conduct that I admire the Greatness of your Conjugal Love in that very Particular which shewed it self to be like the Apple of the Eye which is disturbed with the least Dust But my Dear be concern'd at nothing for I am well pleased with all you say or do and have such a Kindness for you that I dread the Thoughts of surviving thee more than I do those of Death Cou'd you think I 'd marry again when it has been one great Comfort under all my Languishments to think I shou'd die first and that I shall live in him who ever since the happy Union of our Souls has been more dear to me than Life it self As to what you mention about our Funerals I like it well and am yet further pleased with our Ground Bed-follows I doubt not but dear O Thee and I shall make as wholsome a Morsel for the Worms as any and as we sleep together in the same Grave so I hope we shall be Happy hereafter in the Enjoyment of the Beatifick Vision and in the Knowledge of one another for I agree with you that we shall know our Friends in Heaven Wise and Learned Men of all Ages and several Scriptures plainly shew it tho' I verily believe was there none but God and one Saint in Heaven that Saint would be perfectly Happy so as to desire no more But whilst on Earth we may lawfully please our selves with Hopes of meeting hereafter and in lying in the same Grave where we shal be Happy together if a senseless Happiness can be called so You mention writing your Thoughts of the Nature of the Soul and that other World we are hastening to But seeing you did not send 'em I shall wait with Patience till those things are no longer the Object of our Faith but Vision Thus have I given a short Reply to some Part of your kind Letter and will answer it more at large as my Strength encreases But I shall see you to Morrow at Stoke and will then tell you more of my Mind I hope you 'll write every Week for if I recover I 'll answer all your Letters I shall only add my Hearty Prayer That God wou'd bless you both in Soul and Body and that when you die you may be conveyed by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom where I hope you 'll find Your Constant E 'T will not be improper to add here another Letter writ by Mrs. E to a young Lady which with the former shews her Conjugal Affection was not by fits and starts but that 't was the same in Health as on a Sick-bed The Letter is as follows YOU was not mistaken Dear Madam when you believed I shou'd break-open your Letter 'T is a Freedome we Women take that are bless'd with such obliging Husbands as I have I read it took your Advice and sent it that Night for Tunbridge went to Bed and diverted my self with the Thoughts of that Pure and Vertuous Friendship which was begun between Cl s and P t. I was much concerned at
Lord Bacon casts up her Age to be 140 at least adding withal that she recovered her Teeth after casting them 3 several times Rawleigh Hist World l. 1. c. 5. p. 166. Fuller p. 310 13. Garsius Aretinus lived to 194 years in good state of Health and deceased without being seized with any apparent Disease only perceiving this Strength somewhat weakned Thus writes Petranch of him to whom Garsias was great Grandfather by the Fathers side Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1096. 14. Thomas Parre Son of John Parre born at Alderbury in the Parish of Winninton in Shropshire he was born in the Reign of King Edward IV. Anno 1483. at 80 years he marryed his first Wife Jane and in the space of 32 years had but two Children by her both of them short lived the one lived but a Month the other but a few years being Aged 120 he fell in Love with Katherine Milton and got her with Child He lived to above 150 years two Months before his Death he was brought up by thomas Earl of Arundel to Westminster he slept away most of his time and is thus Characterised by an Eye Witness of him From Head to Heel his body had all over A Quick set Thick set Natural Hairy Cover change of Air and Dyet are conceived to Accelerate his Death which happened November 15 Anno 1634 and was buried in the Abby Church at Westminster Fullers Worthies p. 11. Shropshire 15. John of Times was Armour-bearer to Charles the Great by whom he was also made Knight being a Man of great Temperance Sobriety and Contentment of Mind in his Condition of Life lived unto the 9th year of the Emperor Conrade and died at the Age of 361 years Anno 1128. 1146 saith Fulgosus Bakers Chron. p. 73. 16. Guido Bonatus a Man of great Learning saith he saw a Man whose name was Richard Anno 1223 who told him that he was a Soldier under Charlemain and that he had now lived to the 400th year of his Age. Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1098. CHAP. XXXIII Examples of a Vegete and Healthful Old Age. I have often look'd upon Old Age as the very Dregs of Life the Sediment of our Natural Humour 's a Complex of Infirmities but the following Instances would tempt one to love Temperance for Lifes sake and Life for it self for no doubt but the Sweetness of Life consists much in the Healthful and Vegete Temper of our Bodies and a Virtuous course of Life and due Abstinence Conduceth much thereto when the Debauch'd Sensualist lies down under the Burden of his Carelesness and the Sins of his Youth never able to retrieve the Damages of his former Lusts 1. Sir Walter Rawleigh in his Discovery of Guiana reports of the King of Aromaia being 110 years Old came in a Morning on foot to him from his House which was 14 English Miles and returned on foot the same day Hakew. Apolog. l. 3. c. 1. p. 166. 2. Buchanan in his Scottish History speaks of one Lawrence who dwelling in one of the Orcades marryed a Wife after he was 100 years of Age and more and that when he was 140 years old he doubted not to go a Fishing alone in his little Boat though in a rough and Tempestuous Sea Camor Hor Subs. c. 2. cap. 68. p. 277. 3. Sigismemd Polcastrus a Physician and Philosopher of Padua Read there 50 years in his Old Age he buried 4 Sons in a short time at 70 years of Age he married again and by his second Wife he had 3 Sons the eldest of which called Anronius he saw dignified with a Degree in both Laws Jerome another of his Sons had his Cap set upon his Head by his Aged Father who Trembled and Wept for Joy not long after which the Old Man died Aged 94 years Schenck p. 539. 4. Platerus tells of Thomas Platerus His Father upon the Death of his first Wife Anno 1572. and the 73 year of his Age married a second time within the compass of 10 years he had 6 Children by her 2 Sons and 4 Daughters the youngest of his Daughters was born in the 81 year of his Age two years before he died J Foelix was born Anno 1536 and my Brother Thomas 1574 the distance between us being 38 years and yet my Brother is all Gray and seems Elder then my self possibly because he was gotten when my Father was stricken in years Pl. Obs. p. 275. 5. M. Valerllus Corvinus attained to the fulfilling of 100 years betwixt whose first and sixth Consulship there was the distance of 47 years yet was he sufficient in respect of the entireness of his bodily Strength not only for the most important Matters of the Common-wealth but also for the exactest Culture of his Fields a Memorable Example Val. Max. l. 8. c. 13. p. 236. 6. Metellus equalled the length of his Life and in extream Age was created Pontiffe for 22 years he had the ordering of the Ceremonies in all which time his Tongue never faultred in Solemn Prayers nor did his Hand tremble in the Offering of the Sacrifices Val. Max. ibid. p. 238. 7. Nicholaut Leonicenus was in the 96 year of his Age when Langius heard him at Ferrara where he had Taught more then 70 years he used to say that he enjoyed a Green and Vegete Age because he had delivered up his Youth chast unto Man's Estate Melch. Adam in Vit. Germ. Med. p. 141. 8. Massanissa was the King of Numidia for 60 years together and excelled all other Men in respect of Strength and of an admirable Old Age that for no Rein or Cold he would be induced to cover his Head they say of him that when he was on Horseback he would lead his Army for the most part both a compleat day and the whole Night also nor would he in extream Age omit any thing of that which he had accustomed to do when young and after the 86th year of his Age he begat a Son and whereas his Land was was waste and desert he left it fruitful by his continual Endeavours in the Cultivation of it he lived till he was above 90 years of Age. Val. M. p. 236. 9. Cornarus the Venetian was in his Youth of a Sickly body began to eat and drink first by measure to a certain weight thereby to recover his Health this Cure turned by use into a Diet that Diet into an extraordinary long Life even of 100 years and better without any decay of his Senses and with a constant enjoyment of Health Verulam's Hist of Life and Death p. 134. 10. Appius Claudius Coecus was blind for the space of very many years yet notwithstanding he was burden'd with this mischance he govern'd 4 Sons and five Daughters very many Dependants upon him yea and the Common-wealth it self with abundance of Prudence and Magnanimity when he had lived so long that he was even tired with living caused himself to be carried to the Senate for no other purpose then to perswade them
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