to reduce 'em from their Sins to a Holy and Religious Life that so their Souls may be saved in the great Day of the Lord is the earnest Desire of their Languishing and Sorrowful Friend DUNCOMB COLCHESTER Who desires this may be read in the Parish-Churches of Michel Dean and Westbury and shewn to such Gentlemen Friends and others as may bring God most Glory Nov. 1693. Signed and Delivered in the presence of several of his Friends 6. The Remarkable Penitence of J. H. The next Letter is written by a Woman and one of inferior Quality in the World but not at all inferior in her Repentance It was that and the Grace of God in her Heart which moved her to do it long before it was done and it was the pure effect of that when at last it was done and all her own Composure we are assured by Mr. Stephens an ancient Divine now living in London who gave her Absolution approved her Purpose in it and perused it when she had done it and hath seen other Letters of her Writing by which he could easily discern the Composure of this if there had been any other hand in it or any Reason to suspect it It is published with her Consent who is very ready to embrace any Motion tending to the Honour and Service of God or her own Humiliation Her Letter was directed to Mr. Minister in Portsmouth and is as follows viz. Reverend Sir I Have put Pen to Paper humbly beseeching you to hear me of your Charity a few Words The Enemy of my Soul hath raised many Objections to hinder my intended purpose and I have been almost perswaded to give it over but now having the Advice of a Pious Holy Minister of God who says it may be of great use I desire to take Shame to my self and to give Glory to the Majesty of Heaven who in great Love and Pity hath pluck'd me as a Firebrand out of the Fire and I am this Day a Living Monument of Mercy I cannot but be grieved at the many sad Examples I have given at Portsmouth My Sins have encreased the heap of the publick Impieties and made them cry the louder to Heaven for Vengeance both there and here too It is very meet right and my Duty to confess to the Glory of God and Praise of his Grace my crying Sins committed in that Place that some of my Companions in Evil may hear and fear and do no more such Wickedness About Nine or Ten Years agone I came a young Woman if I deserve that Name to P my Husband Cook of a Ship in that Harbour a very ill Husband no Excuse for me Almighty God did suffer two Sinners to come together in plague one another and whilst he acted the Part of a Drunkard with Shame and Confusion of Face be it spoken I acted the part of a Harlot giving my self over to work all Vncleanness with greediness insomuch that my very Name was a Proverb of Reproach to all Civil Women Two or Three Years I lived openly Scandalous and then it pleased the Almighty to visit me with a sore Fit of Sickness even to the Loss of my Limbs for a Season at which time I did beg of God to restore me to my Health and did faithfully promise never more to defile my Marriage Bed and the Lord was entreated at that time also and hath added to my Life these remaining Years Some time after it pleased the All-wise Providence to make me a Mother I was very thankful for the Mercy and was much reclaimed and I was in some measure convinced of the great Evil of sin and did put Pen to Paper with intent it should come to the Ministers hand but the Enemies of my Soul prevented and hindred that reasonable Design and I was again lull'd to sleep in the Bed of Carnal Security where I continued three or four Years with little Interruption in which time I buried my Husband and two Children After this I was in danger of being as bad as ever living at Service in the very midst of Temptation at Portbridge I continued there but a short space for the good Hand of Providence brought me to London where I had Time and Opportunity to reflect upon my ill-spent Life O that I might improve the Mercy O that I could tell you what God hath done for my Soul He hath brought me out of Darkness into his marvellous Light O that I could prevail with my Companions in Evil to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near Some of them are old Sinners grey hairs are upon them and they know it not I could be content to stand in a white sheet in your Church if I might but prevail with any one Soul to see the heinousness of my sin Nay I could be content to be stoned without the Walls of the Garrison so I might but be a means of the Conversion of any one Sinner O that I could write these Lines with my purest Blood I am grieved for the Dishonour I have done to God by my abominable sin and heartily wish my Head were Waters and mine Eyes were a Fountain of Tears that I might weep day and night for abusing Mercy O Sir you live in a place relating to Sodom cry aloud spare not to tell the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseer their Sins and my Companions in Evil their Sins The Lord is coming to reckon with the Nations and with you God grant you may be found among the Faithful Shepherds watching them and giving them their Meat in due Season I humbly beg your Blessing desiring to be remembred in your Prayers and I humbly beseech the Almighty that this poor Paper may have its designed Effect that God may be glorified and our Souls saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Amen and Amen J. H. Jan. 22. 1693 4. 7. Sir Alan Broderick who was a Gentleman of Extraordinary Learning and Accomplishments did own with much Contrition that a long Scene of his Life had been acted in the Sports and Follies of Sin that he had sometime pursued a Pagan and abandon'd way Scepticism it self not excepted wherein the poignancy of his Wit and the strength of his Reasoning even in that very Argument the using of which proclaims a Man in the Language of the Holy Scriptures a Fool may have been the occasion of a great deal of Mischief towards some that are already gone to their Accounts Yet some Years before his Death the bent and tendency of his Life and Actions was Devout and Religious and in his Private Conversation with his Minister he would always be Discoursing some Cases of Conscience about retir'd Closet-Prayer or the Nature and Necessity of True Religion and in his last Sickness he thought himself under a mighty Incumbency to Pray but was much harassed and anxious what to do because of his fear of not performing it with all becoming Reverence and Seriousness
that they might well School and Catechise some of our old Professors Grey-hair'd Christians for Seven Years together It would be too large a Task now to tell you what Lessons they learn'd from the Contemplation and Study of these Things Their Books of Moral Philosophy writ by Aristotle Plato Cicero Seneca Isocrates c. where they preach'd in our Pulpits were enough to fill some Number of Years with Sermons strong enough for our Auditors of the Lower Form And convictive enough to shame the Major part of Christians among us into Blushing and Confusion Read over but the Roman Twelve Tables Plato's Republic the Laws of the several Heathen Nations about Religion Sobriety Justice c. And you 'll find Reason to fear lest the Queen of the South and the Inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon the Greek Scythian and Barbarian will escape better some of them at the Day of Judgment than many of Christendom that have both the Books wide open before them all the Days of their Life Rom. 2.14 15. 3. What might they learn Answ All the Articles of our Christian Creed and all the Precepts of our Christian Religion except those which refer to the Cause and Cure of our Misery viz. The Fall of Adam and the Intercession of the Second Adam That there was a God one only Supreme Maker of Heaven and Earth Infinite in the Attributes of Wisdom Power Truth Justice Mercy worthy to be worshipped with a Holy Life Prayer Praise Obedience and a pure Heart and Affection one that had a Good Will to save us one that would reward us with excellent Rewards or Punishments according to our Actions in the other World All this and more than this they might have discerned by their Glimmering Light of Nature in only the Frontispiece of Heaven if they had but used their Eyes And so much many of them did not only learn but teach and make a publick and stout Profession of it to the World The Existence of One Supreme God the Divine Governance of the World the Immortality of the Soul a Mediation between God and us and almost all the Moral Duties of the Law in Substance the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments after this Life distinct Places and Times of Worship Priests and Priestly Maintenance and Attonements and Purifications and something like the Dedicating of their Infants to God by Baptism with secret Devotions and Family-Worship as well as that which was publick in the Temples All these and much more were adopted into the Body of the Heathen Religion and excepting only some few Articles of our Creed referring to the Trinity and especially the Business of our Redemption and the true Notion of our Two Sacraments and it may be the Resurrection of our Bodies it were not very hard to make out all the rest of our Religion demonstrable by the meer Light of Reason The invisible Things of GOD from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made 4. What Practical Deductions may be made from hence How great is God A Contemplation of the Heavenly Fabrick will directly lead us to this Point viz. an admiration of the Divine Eternal Power of the Godhead For Rom. 1.19 That which may be known of God is manifest to all the World for God hath shewed it to them He hath shewed his Face in the Glass of his Works and his Features there appear so glorious that 't is a Wonder it doth not fill our Apprehensions with a pregnant and awful Conceit of his Infinite Majesty and Power The Splendour of the Divine Attributes gives Shine to all the World So that now all the Inhabitants of the round World have Scope enough for Spiritual Contemplation and the Exercise of their Rational Faculties and the Turk and Pagan both have a Book large and voluminous enough being wide open before them to employ all their Studies in all the Days of their Life Who that considers a while the Nature of that God that made the Heavens how he must stretch his Compass over the whole Vniverse how he must mete out the Heavens with a Span and comprehend the Dust of the Earth in a Measure and weigh the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance and take up the Isles as a very little thing and measure the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand and make the Clouds his Chariot and ride upon the Wings of the Wind and climb up to the highest Orbs and extend every Globe with the present Thought and hang not only the Earth but the Heavens upon nothing and this in the exactest Order and Perfection that no remarkable Fault shall appear in 6000 Years in any part of all this magnificent Building Who that considers a little the Nature of the Supreme Architect shall not be ready to cry out with the Psalmist Psal 8.1 9. O Lord our Lird how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth 2. What little low worthless Creatures are we That God who is the Author of such excellent Handy-work that dwells in that inaccessible Light in such a glorious Palace who can make Heavens at his pleasure and garnish them in a moment and fill the whole World with the Beams of his Glory should yet place his Affections so much on such little silly things as we are Psal 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Shall I speak my Opinion freely in this Matter I do conceive that one great Reason why God hath laid out so much of his Excellency and bestowed so much of his Infinite Wisdom and Power upon the Creation of the Things that are above us especially the Heavens over our Heads was on purpose to astonish proud Man into a Religious Admiration of his God and an humble Detestation of himself For that 's the very Frame and Temper which disposeth Man for the Impressions of Religion and the Exercise of a devout Affection Isa 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne 3. A due Consideration of the Creation of the World and especially of the Heavens belongs unto us all Os homini sublime c. If God doth preach to us by these Things that are seen and thereby reveal to the World the invisible Properties of the Divinity then we ought to hearken to this Voice and make some good use of their Language The Curious Spectator looks up to the Heavens and examines every particular there Quidni quaerat Scit illa ad se pertinere Tunc contemnit domicilii prioris angustias Seneca And as he goes on what is all the distance from the utmost Coasts of Spain to the Indies But a Voyage of a very few Days if thou sail with a good
by reading Isa 53. 24. Lyra Immanuel Tromelius Paulus Riccius Lud. Curetus were converted Jews 25. R. Hakkunas Ben Nehunia was Converted by Occasion of the Miracles which he saw I am Hakkunas one of them that believe and have washed my self with the Holy Waters and walk in those right ways being induced thereunto by Miracles Hottinger out of Suidas c. 26. Elias Levita before his death became a Christian and with thirty more Jews receiv'd Baptism but upon what Occasions and Inducements I cannot learn A. C. 1547. Alsted 27. Eve Cohan was Converted by occasion of reading the New Testament which she found in the Chamber of her Dancing-Master in Holland but being threatned and ill-treated by her Mother upon it marry'd her Master came over into England and was Baptized at London about half a score Years ago 28. J. Sul a Turkish Chaous was born in Constantinople and for his Dexterity in managing Affairs was imployed by the Grand Seignior in the Ambassies once in Venice once into Russia and once to the Emperor of Germany where he resided at Vienna eighteen Months He had also Thirty three Gallies under his Command This great Man was by one of his Father's Slaves who attended ordinarily upon him much and frequently importuned to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God the only true Prophet greater than Mahomet J. Sul for a long time refused to hearken to him and sharply rebuked him for speaking to him of that Matter and when yet the Slave would not be silent but he did oft beat him kick him and caused him to be Bastonadied for his Importunity all which the Slave endured with much Patience and told him that tho' he should kill him he would not be silent concerning the Matter And it pleased God that at last some special Providence concurring he was induced to believe that indeed Jesus Christ whom the Jews Crucified was the Son of God and now alive in Heaven having all Power in Heaven and Earth committed to him And hereupon he took up a secret Resolution within himself to forsake his natural Country and his Father's House and to fly to the Christians to learn the Law of Christ and to make an open Profession of his Name that so his Soul might be saved in the great day of the Lord being convinced that all the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this World whereof he had a large Portion could not make any Man happy here nor deliver him from Death nor bring him to the Assurance of obtaining Glory in the World to come But that owning the Name of Jesus Christ by Faith and Obedience would procure all this After he was convinced hereof and thereupon fully resolved to go into some Christian Countrey he was two whole Years before he could contrive and find out a way how he might escape with Safety For had he been discover'd he by their Law was to be burnt alive This made him the more wary at last God's Providence so order'd it that he got Safe into Smyrna and from thence to Leghorn At Leghorn he was honourably entertain'd by one of the great Duke's Cousins who would have had him baptiz'd but because he was recommended to the Arch-Bishop of Paris and was to be conducted thither by some that came with him from Smyrna he excused himself and rejected that Favour At Paris he was receiv'd with much Respect as a Person of Quality and lodged in St. Lazaro a place appointed for entertaining and Instruction of Proselites who were bountifully there entertain'd The Priest that was to instruct and fit him for Baptism would have imposed upon his Belief and Practice in these things That Christ is in the Host That an Agnus Dei hath a Divine Virtue in it That the Crucifix is to be worshipped That the Pope is a Saint and Christ's Vicar That Saints and Images are to be respected in the Worship of God But in these Points he did so argue with them that they could not convince him and therefore were forced to let him alone And he was much troubled to find himself yoaked with Men of such a Belief so that he had thoughts of returning to Constantinople if the way had been open to him Whilst he lay under these Temptations Providence so order'd it that he fell into Acquaintance with two Arabians who were become Protestants By their means he got notice that there were besides the Papists among whom he was other Christians in Paris whose Faith and Worship was free from Superstition and a way was contriv'd how he should be brought into Acquaintance with them for under pretence of walking abroad to take the Air he shifted himself of the company of those which attended him from St. Lazaro and went with the Arabians to the House of a Protestant and was made acquainted with the Protestant Ministers in Paris who took special Care of him for the space of Forty three Days In which time they instructed him diligently in the Truth which also he did heartily embrace But great Search being made for him and they not being able to protect him from the Power of those who would have taken him into England where he arrived March the last and was entertain'd kindly and after 2. while had Means of Subsistence provided for him and was committed to the Care of Mr. Durie and Mr. Calandrine who took a great deal of pains in instructing him in the Principles of Religion and in observing his Conversation And in Process of time when he had gained a competent measure of Knowledge which he greedily drank and had given good Evidence of the Soundness and Sincerity of his Faith he was put upon making a Consession of his Faith which was written in French and being translated into English was publickly read to the whole Congregation It was subscribed thus J. Sul Chaous the Slave of my Lord Jesus Christ. After which the Minister that was to Baptize him asked him Whether he did not renounce before God and that Gongregation the Mahometan Sect He answer'd Yea He did renounce it utterly Q. Do you desire to make Profession of the Christian Faith and to be baptiz'd in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as a Disciple of Christ A. Yea It is my earnest desire Q. Are you resolved in the future Course of your Life to submit to all the Ordinances of Christ c. A. Yea It is my sincere Resolution After this he was Baptized by the Name of Richard Christophilus Jan. 30. 1658. in the Church of St. Paul Covent-Garden See the Printed Narrative at large or Mr. Clark 's Abridgment of it in his Examples Vol. 2. c. 23. p. 120 121. c. 29. One Richard White a Smith of Wilden-Hall was a prophane Atheistical Man and believing that there was no Devils in his Cups would wish he could once see the Devil if there were such a Thing and that suddenly he changed his Life and became a Prosessor of Zeal
confess Matter of Fact too plainly because it would certainly have brought him within the Guilt of Misprision and so he thought it better to say little than by departing from the Ingenuity he had always practised by using little Tricks and Evasions to make the last and solemnest part of his Life so notably different from the preceding course of it as such a Conduct would have made it He farther subjoyns that he never pretended great Readiness in Speaking and advises those Gentlemen of the Law that have it to use it more conscientiously and not to run Men down and impose on Easie and Willing Juries by Strains and Fetches c. the Killing unjustly by Law being the worst of Murthers He then as in several other places repeating his wishes that the Rage and Revenge of some Men and the Partiality of Juries may be stopped with his Blood and so after a small hint how by the Importunity of his Dearest and most Vertuous Lady and some other Dear Friends he had been prevail'd upon against his Inclinations to Address tho' ineffectualy for his Life he concludes with a fresh Protestation of his Innocency and a Devout Prayer to God suitable to that sad Occasion 5. Captain WALCOT CAptain Walcot and his Fellow-sufferers in order of time should have gone first he being convicted before my Lord Russel and executed the Friday as he on Saturday But my Lord Russel's Fate having so immediate a dependance on the Earl of Essex's and all the Plot hanging on him especially they two making the greatest Figure of any who suffer'd on this occasion it look'd more proper and natural to begin with them and reserve the other to this place Captain Walcot was a Gentleman of a considerable Estate in Ireland but more remarkable for the rare Happiness of having Eight Children all at once living and most of all for his Love to his Country which cost him his Life An Abstract of Captain Walcot's Speech CAptain Walcot denied any Design of killing the King or of engaging the Guards whilst others killed him And said That the Witnesses invited him to Meetings where some thing were discoursed of in order to the asserting our Liberties and Properties which we look'd upon to be violated and invaded That They importuned and perpetually solicited him and then deliver'd him up to be hang'd That They combined together to swear him out of his Life to save their own and that they might do it effectually They contrived an Vntruth That he forgave them though guilty of his Blood But withal earnestly begg'd That they might be observed that Remarks might be set upon them whether their End be Peace And he concluded with what made Sir Roger L'Estrange a great deal of Sport but yet Heaven has made it good That when God hath a Work to do he will not want Instruments With him was try'd Rouse who was charged with such a parcel of mad Romance as was scarce ever heard of and one would wonder how Perjury and Malice which use to be sober sins could even be so extravagant as to hit on 't He was to seize the Tower pay the Rabble uncaese the Aldermen to be Pay-Master and Flea-Master General and a great deal more to the same Tune In his Defence he says no great Matter but yet what looks a Thousand times more like Truth than his Accusation That the Tower Business was only Discourse of the feasibleness of the thing as Russel's about the Guards but without the least intent of bringing it to Action That all he was concern'd in any real Design he had from Lee and was getting more out of him with an intention to make a Discovery But it seems Lee got the whip-hand of him they were both at a kind of Halter-Combat Rouse's foot slipt and Lee turn'd him over and saved his own Neck His Dying Words Mr. Rouse declared That he was told that They did not intend to spill one drop of Blood and affirmed that Lee the Witness against him did by his Evidence make him the Author of the very Words that came out of his the said Lee 's own Mouth A Brief Extract of Captain Walcot's Prayer O Lord our God Thou art a God of present help in time of Trouble a God that hast promised to be with thy People in the Fire and in the Water O Lord we pray Thee that thou wilt afford thy Presence to thy poor Suffering Servants at this time O Lord thy Servant that speaketh doth confess that the Iniquties at his heels have justly overtaken him O do thou bathe each of our Souls in that Fountain set open for sin and Uncleanness O do thou enable every one of us from the inward Evidence of thy Spirit to say with thy Servant Job That we know and are assured that our Redeemer lives O give us some inward Tasts of those Heavenly Joys that we hope through the Mercy of Jesus Christ in a little time to have a more full Fruition of O Lord do thou speak Peace to every one of our Consciences though we lie under a Sentence of Death from Man we beg that we may have a Sentence of Life Eternal from our God and though we meet Thee O Lord in a Field of Blood we beg that Thou wilt come to meet us in a Field of Mercy O Lord though we have been Prodigals we desire to return unto our Father's House where there is Bread enough O enable us to come unto Thee as Children to their Parents Lord put to thy helping Hand Lord teach us truly to leave no Sin unrepented of in any one of our Hearts And O Lord we beg that with us thou wilt give us leave to recommend unto thy Care our Poor Wives and Children Thou hast promised to be the Father of the Fatherless and the Husband of the Widow and thou hast commanded us to cast the Care of them upon Thee O do thou make Provision for them an enable them to bear this severe stroke with Patience O Lord we also beseech thee in the behalf of these Poor Kingdoms wherein we are that Thou wilt be merciful to them prevent Divisions among them heal all their Breaches compose their Differences make all that are thine of one Heart and Mind in the things of Thee our God Lord favour us with the Mercy assure us of thy Love stand by us in the difficult Hour take us into thine own Care cause thy Angels to attend us to convey our Souls as soon as they are divided from our Bodies into Abraham's Bosoâ— All which we beg for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ in whom O Lord this little time do thou give us Hearts to give Thee all Glory Honour and Praise now and for evermore Amen Sweet Jesus Amen 6. Mr. HONE Hone was accused and owns himself Guilty of a Design to Kill the King and the Duke of York or one or neither for 't is impossible to make any Sense of him When they came to suffer Walcot
and all the World 2. Colonel HOLMES THe next Place was Lime where many of Note died particularly Colonel Holmes who was the first of those there executed near the same Place where they landed when they came ashore with the Duke of Monmouth Being brought to the Place after some difficulty for the Horses that were first put into the Sledge would not stir which obliged those concerned to get others which they did from the Coachman who had that Morning brought them to Town When they were put into the Sledge they broke it in pieces which caused the Prisoners to go on foot to the Place of Execution Where being come as I told you before the Colonel began thus at the foot of the Ladder He sate down with an Aspect altogether void of Fear but on the contrary with a kind of smiling Countenance so began to speak to the Spectators to this purpoe That he would give them an Account of his first Undertaking in the Design which was long before in London for there he agreed to stand by and assist the Duke of Monmouth when Opportunity offer'd in order to which he went to Holland with him and there continued until this Expedition in which God had thought fit to frustrate his and other Good Mens Expectations He believed the Protestant Religion was bleeding and in a step towards Extirpation and therefore he with these his Brethren that were to suffer with him and Thousands more had adventured their Lives and their All to save it but God Almighty had not appointed 'em to be the Instruments in so glorious a Work Yet notwithstanding he did verily believe and doubted not but that God would make use of others that should meet with better success tho the way or means was not yet visible but of this he did not doubt He also was satisfied of the Duke's Title so that matter did not afflict him on account of his engaging on his Score And going on further with a Discourse of this nature he was asked by a Person why he did not pray for the King He with a smiling Countenance answered I am sorry you do not yet understand the Difference between Speaking and Praying And having ended his Discourse he then prepared himself by Prayer for his Dissolution which was very devout and pious for half an Hour which was as follows Colonel Holme's Last Prayer MOst Glorious most Great and most Merciful God! there is none in Heaven or in Earth that is like unto Thee Heaven is thy Throne and the Earth is thy Footstool Who shall say unto thee What doest thou Here we are poor deplorable Creatures come to offer up our last Prayers and Services unto thee We beseech thy favourable Ear to our Prayers and the Comfort of thy Holy Spirit at this time We praise and magnifie thy Name for all the Dispensations of thy Providence towards us especially for this thy Providence in bringing us to this Place and at this time to suffer Shame for thy Name Help and assist all of us to submit to thy Will patiently Pardon all our Sins remove them out of thy Presence as far as the East is from the West and accept of us in the Merits of thy Son Jesus Christ Thou who art the Searcher of Hearts and Tryer of Reins let there not at the moment of Death be the least spark of Sin in-dwelling in us nor the Strivings of Flesh and Blood that may hinder us from a joyful Passage unto thee Give us Patience also under these Sufferings and a Deliverance to all others from undergoing them and in thy good time work a Deliverance for poor England let thy Gospel yet flourish among them Hasten the Downfall of antichrist we trust the time is come Prevent O Lord this Effusion of Christian Blood and if it be thy Will let this be the last Lord bless this Town let them from the highest to the lowest set the Fear of God before their Eyes Bless all sorts and conditions of Men in all Ranks and Qualities pardon all their Sins give them all true Repentance and the Grace of thy Holy Spirit Fit and prepare us for the chearful fulfilling of thy Holy Will Let the Comforter be still with us Be Merciful to all our Friends and Relations and Acquaintance Forgive our Enemies Accept of our Thankfulness for all the Mercies and Favours afforded us and hear and graciously answer us in these our Requests and what else thou knowest needful and expedient for us and all for our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ his sake who died for us that we might reign with him for ever and ever To whom with Thee and thy Blessed Spirit of Grace be ascribed as is most due all Honour Glory and Praise both now and for ever After having ended his Prayer he took occasion to speak to his suffering Brethren taking a solemn Leave of them encouraging them to hold out to the end and not to waver observing that this being a glorious Sun-shining Day I doubt not though our Breakfast be sharp and bitter it will prepare us and make us meet for a comfortable Supper with our God and Saviour where all Sin and Sorrow shall be wiped away So embracing each of 'em and kissing of them told the Sheriff You see I am imperfect only one arm I shall want assistance to help me upon this Tragical Stage Which was presently done and Execution suddenly followed 3. The Execution of Mr. SAMPSON LARKE MR. Sampson Larke who was a very Eminent Pious Minister and had lived in that Town but a little before Many Years he was there well acquainted and all People that knew him had a Value for him behaving himself with that Humility and Circumspection as no body could have any other Occasion but to value him He design'd to have spoken somewhat on a Portion of Scripture and was beginning having mentioned the Place he intended to speak upon but was interrupted and told the Work of the Day being great they should want time So then he stopp'd and reply'd He could make Application where he should not meet with Interruption and so apply'd himself to Prayer which he performed with great Devotion and Zeal for a quarter of an Hour to the great Satisfaction of the Auditors And so taking leave of his suffering Brethren he mounted the Stage which was to be the last Act he made in this World Being on the Ladder he saw some of his Friends and Neighbours weeping and mourning for him to whom he spake Pray weep not for me I am going to a Place of Bliss and Happiness Wherefore pray repair to your Houses and e're you get thither I doubt not but I shall be happy with my God and Saviour where all Tears shall be wiped away and nothing shall remain but Hallelujahs to all Eternity Leaving this Place we proceed to other Parts of the Country where with the like Butchery were only five Executed amongst whom was one 4. Mr. TYLER MR. Tyler of Bristol
that occur to our Senses and common Observations And this is not for bare Contemplation only but with a Design to make as Natural Genuine and Reasonable Deductions for Practice as possible Be pleased then to contemplate a-while with me the Beauty of the outward Parts of Heaven and thence make Conjecture at the Wisdom of him that made the World and the Provision he hath made in the highest Heavens for all that love and obey him in Truth It cannot be improper certainly to ascend Pisgah by degrees we may see the outward Skirts of Heaven from the Foot of the Mount When we can get to the Top our Desire is to take a Prospect of the whole Hemisphere to leave the Stars whilst we make Enquity after all the Invisible Host of the Middle Region that are employed about us either as Friends or Enemies And this is attempted in the following Survey of that Spiritual and Invisible World where those Dii Medioxami Intermediate Agents are employed as Reporters and Transporters Monitors Couriers Apparitors Guardians Adversaries between this and the other World For certainly 't is lawful whilst we live here to peep out of our Prison and take Acquaintance in what degree lawfully we can with Angels and naked Spirits Upon the score of our Kindred and Alliance to them and Concernment with them we are obliged so far we must do it or we are not only Disingenuous but blind to our own Interest And why doth the Almighty use to frequently and remarkably in the World those Intelligent and Spiritual Ministers in the Exercise of his Providence if we might not Enquire after them and take Acquaintance with them Is he ashamed of his Spiritual Train and Family Or are they so mighty strange and foreign to our Natures or so very far above us that we must run away like People affrighted out of our Wits to hide from all such Apparitions in Corners of thick Darkness But why should we be so ungrateful to those Angelical Creatures as to suppress all those Occurrences of History all those conspicuous Remarks of the Divine Providence wherein their Footsteps are plainly visible not only to their Grief and Dishonour but to the great Encouragement of Atheism and Infidelity in the World Thus far I humbly conceive we may safely climb our Scala Coeli to the Veil that interposeth between us and the Inner Court to the Gate of the New Jerusalem and no farther The Lord guide us the Angels guard us in all our Ways 'till we are got safe into that place where we shall be satisfied with Glories which now we little know or comprehend where we shall be sweetly surprized and bravely entertained with Joyous Company and Glorious Objects and tread not only the Moon but all the Starry Globes under our Feet In my Essay on the Works of Creation my Design is to take Measure by the Sublimity of our Aspect and the Excellency of the Object for the Order and Method of my Thoughts Both these seem naturally disposed to determine my Choice of the Heavens and Heavenly Bodies and the Appurtenances that are more nearly related to them and depend upon them for the Subject of my present Discourse leaving this Globe of Earth the very Sediment of the Creation and the most dreggy part of the World for my future Thoughts and Meditations And because in all our Disquisitions and Actions we ought to propound to our selves for our Main End the Glory of God I shall consider 1. The Greatness of the Heavens 2. The Quality of them 3. Their Situation 4. The Stars and Planets 5. Other inferiour Appurtenances Comets Thunder Lightning Air Winds Storms and Tempests Hail Rain Snow and Frosts extraordinary Signs and Apparitions c. 6. The Continuation of them 7. Their Extensiveness and Universality And Lastly Because amongst all these the Sun is the most admirable most conspicuous and most glorious Body I shall assign a particular Meditation upon this great and excellent Luminary by itself But so I shall manage my Discourse from the Beginning to the End as to intermix it all along with Practical Remarks and Inferences as accounting it but a poor Exercise to expend our best Thoughts upon barren Speculations 1. Of the Greatness of the Heavens BY the Heavens I mean not the Supreme Emperial Part not the Seat of the Blessed which is out of sight and the reach of Humane Sense but the outward lower visible Parts of the Heavenly Orbs those Parts which may be seen And how great these are you cannot expect that we should be able certainly to tell you they are very great that we all know so vast that they comprehend within the Cavity of them the whole Universe besides all the Earth Seas Air and every thing that belongs to them Astronomers say the Primum Mobile is 1960 times bigger than the Earth whatever 't is the Magnitude is wonderful past our Fathom and enough to fill us with the admiration of him that made it 2. Of the Quality of the Heavens OF such a subtile diaphonous Nature that it will not terminate our sight a Man may see through it if the distance did not hinder more thin and perspicuous than the Air itself clearer than the Chrystal or the finest Glass Ezek. 1.22 Rev. 21.11 Rev. 4.6 So immutable that for near upon 6000 Years it hath not been impaired or decayed or altered with continual Exercise and Motion Every thing here below the Moon is subject to change The outward and courser Arches of the Heavens suffer no damage even Stones and Monuments in this lower World die with Age the Posts and Pillars the outward Scaffold of the World above is in its own Nature by the Law of the Supream Architect immortal I mean so that no Creature can endamage them 'till the God that made them forbid them to be any more The nearer to God and Heaven the more pure firm and lasting the Constitution of the Creature is If the outward Heavens are such what is the Seat of the Blessed which if terminated in any place lies beyond them What are the Angels that tread that Floor those Arches under Feet What is God himself that made them and looks after them The Figure also is very wonderful so vastly great and yet exactly round without any Unevennesses or Angles and Turnings of a perfect Circular Figure Circulus said the Philosophers est Divinum quid And the Egyptians pourtrayed one of their Divinities named Kneph as a beautiful Man with Feathers on his Head a Girdle and a Scepter in his Hand with an Egg the Hieroglyphick of the World proceeding out of his Mouth And some of them did adore the Circle of the Heavens as an expression of his Power and Perfections And 't is true there is no Figure so capacious as the Round One because as I said it admits no Corners no Unevenness c. Nor is there any Being so perfect as God without any Infirmity or Defect How great then in Power
particular Instances of these kind of Meteors the Scripture tells us at the Birth of our Saviour a Star appeared which perhaps was the Comet spoken of by Heathen Authors in the Days of Augustus of a stupendious Greatness upon which the Tibertine Sibyl shewed the Emperour the Divinity of our Saviour in these words Hic Puer Major te est Ipsum adora Our last great Comet I doubt not was of extraordinary signification not to us only but to whole Europe and farther so far as it was conspicuous What a gracious God have we that never scarce goes about any great Commotions or Changes in the World but he gives Warning before-hand As if not willing to take us tardy He shews his Signs in the Heavens above when he is about to do any great Work in the Earth beneath And therefore as Darius in the Case of Daniel Chap. 6.26 27. Let Men tremble and fear before this God for he is the Living God and steadfast for ever his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end he delivereth and rescueth and worketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven and Earth 2. Thunder and Lightning Called by the Psalmist the Voice of God and by some supposed to be that Trumpet that shall sound at the Last Day to raise the Dead and to call to Judgment I will not trouble you with declaring the strange and divers Effects of this kind of Meteor its hurting of things inward when the outward are safe shattering the Bones when the Flesh is left sound melting the Blade of the Sword when the Scabbard is free breaking the Vessel when the Wine slows not away exempting poisonous Creatures from their Venom and infusing it into those who are not so striking Men dead and leaving them in the same posture it found them as if still alive c. It is enough to say that 't is a stupendious Meteor and may well be called the Voice of the Divine Excellency Job 37.2 3 4 c. Job 26 6-14 It is said of Nero that a Thunder-bolt fell upon his Table and struck the Cup out of the Emperor's Hand And we have known in our Age some strong Towers and high Buildings demolished to the very Ground with Lightning Some Men struck dead some lamed some blinded Trees clove asunder A Learned Divine of our Nation tells of a profane Person walking abroad with another upon the Lord's-Day when it thundred his Companion telling him of it made Answer 'T is nothing but a Knave Cooper beating of his Tubs But he had not gone much farther but himself was struck dead This may teach us to put on a Reverential Awe of the Divine Majesty at such Seasons That Emperor Caligula who used to brave it out as if he meant to vie with the Almighty and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an Instance of the Divine Patience but no safe Example for Imitation The Psalmist is more ingenuous Psal 29. c. Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord Glory and Strength And Psal 97.1 2 3 4. To see all the lower World cover'd with thick Clouds and the Cracks of Thunder shake the very Pillars of the Earth and terrible Flashes and Corruscations of Lightning with a speedy pace fly from one end of the Heavens to the other is so like the Voice of God and a Type or Shadow of that black gloomy Day which shall put a Period to the World that it may well be a Memento of our Duty and Reverence we owe to the Divine Majesty and may well put that Question into our Mouths Who shall be able to stand when God appears When this great and terrible God shall by the Sound of this Trumpet or the Voice of an Arch-Angel Summon the World to Judgment who shall dare to appear before him If the Giving of the Law and the Enacting or rather Promulgation of our Religion upon Mount Sinai was so dreadful as Exod. 19.16 Chap. 20.18 19. What will the Great Assizes be when all the Men that ever lived in the World shall be called to give up their last Account and receive their Final Doom Then Oh! Come ye Mountains and fall upon us and ye Rocks cover us and hide us from the Wrath of the Lamb Then Oh! where will the Heart and Stoutness of the presumptuous Sinner shew itself How will he that brav'd it here with the Almighty be able then to stand his Ground and maintain his Cause Psal 50.1 2 3 4. 3. Air and Winds Which what to make of we know not 't is such an invisible and yet real Meteor that it will puzzle the Natural Reason of the most subtile Philosopher to tell the Nature of it The Air is so like the Nature of the Souls in our Bodies or a Spirit in general that we know little more of either one or other than what we know by the sensible Effects John 3.8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth c. If Man be so dim in Naturals with what Face can he boast his Knowledge of Spiritual Objects We neither know the Air that surrounds us every-where nor the Wind that whistles in our Ears nor the Souls that lodge in our own Bodies We are so blind so near home And 't is enough to make us blush at our own Weakness and such Ignorance should make us Humble and such Humility should make us Learn And 'till we are thus qualified we are not fit to learn What a proud Lump of Clay is foolish Man that cannot comprehend Things so near him Things meerly natural Things so common and ordinary and yet will call every Point of his Religion even the sublimest Mysteries to the Tribunal of meer Reason and determine in particular Branches and Puâ—ctilio's as peremptorily and decisively as if be had been Privy Counsellour to the Almighty and judge others censoriously unkindly for differing from him but in the lesser doubtful difficult Points of Religion and prosecute severely for not knowing and believing with equal clearness as himself But besides We are often wondring at the Nature of God himself and cannot tell how to frame a Notion of a Being every-where present Is not the Air and Wind a fit Emblem to shadow forth this Attribute of the Divinity to us Is not the Air in every Creviss of our Houses in our Nostrils in our very Bowels Doth it not fill the World and enter into the smallest Pores of our Bodies And yet 't is but a Creature and we see it not Why should we think it such an impossible thing for the God of Heaven to fill all Places with his Presence and yet be limited to no Bounds nor visible to any Eyes The same word that we use to signifie Air is used also to express the Spirit of God by in almost all the Languages viz. Spiritus Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amp c. And we find the Spirit of God choosing sometimes to come down and shew
to Truant and Loiter here at that rare as usually we do Let no Temptation soften our Spirits into an unnecessary Repose nothing provoke us unduly to depart our Orbs to run back or start aside Let us never be weary of well-doing Particularly 1. Let us never be weary of the Duty of Prayer 'T is an excellent Exercise and such as we ought continually to be intent upon Our Saviour spoke a Parable Luke 18.1 2. unto his Disciples That Men ought always to pray and not to faint And the Apostle Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving c. And 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing And let this amongst many others be one Argument to perswade us to assiduity in this kind of Devotion viz. That God Almighty is continually from Day to Day from Night to Night serving and supplying our Necessities by the Ministry of the lower Heavens all the Hosts of the Etherial Regions are in continual employment for our Good why then should we disdain to bestow some few Minutes upon warm and serious Addresses to the God of Heaven Let neither the Day or Night go away without a Testimony of or Devotion Let not God hereafter ever cite the Sun Moon or Stars for to bear Witness to our Ingratitude You know the Story of Daniel recorded to the Honour of his Memory ' That three times every Day he open'd his Windows and set his Face towards Jerusalem and prayed to the God of Heaven Even then when pinch'd with the close Temptations of the Court under a Heathen Emperour Let us at least twice a Day do Obeisance to Heaven Offer as God appointed to the Jews a Morning and Evening Sacrifice continually Let our Altars burn with Incense at least so often and this shall not only perfume our Days and Nights and make our Conversations smell sweeter to our selves and Neighbours but a fragrant Odour in the Nostrils of the Almighty And please the Lord better than a Bullock c. Job 1.5 2. Let us praise God continually as long as we live let us praise the Lord yea let us sing praises to him whilst we have any being Psal 34.1 His Praises continue in my Mouth Psal 36.9 3. Let us be continually employed in doing Good to others And let us remember this that our God causeth his Sun to shine and Rain to descend on the just and unjust Let us try what we can to be like him like our Heavenly Father diffusing our Rays to as wide a Circuit as possibly we can not limiting our Goodness to a few individual Persons or a single Party or a narrow bound but as our Faculties will extend to the Church Catholick and the wide World in general This is to be in truth like the God of Heaven And let our Charity never be discouraged never tired To do good and to distribute forget not c. To make it plainer yet God hath given us a Copy of his Infinite Goodness in general to the whole World in the Face of the outward Heavens as of his special Goodness to the Church in the Revelation of the Gospel If we contemplate seriously the Structure and Properties and several Vertues of the Heavenly Bodies we may read there in legible Characters not only the Greatnes and Glory but the infinite Goodness also of him that made them and that to the whole Race of Mankind and that not for a Spurt a short Fit of two or three Ages but of continual Duration his Patience is indefatigable and his Beneficence reacheth to the end of Time Let us then if we will aim at Perfection and try to tread in our Father's Steps Do good unto all Men without weariness and communicate the Light of our Graces to a whole Nation a whole World if possible and never grudge to lend our Candles to the assistance of those that are about us And as for those narrow Souls that confine their Goodness to a Canton or whose Light is like that of a flaming Meteor or an Ignis Fatuâ—s or a falling Star they deserve to lie down in Darkness and never more to rise up again to Light or Glory Levit. 24.2 Cause the Lamps to burn continually 2. Let us consider a little the Employment of the Saints and Angels in Heaven 'T is pretty hard to conceive with our present Apprehensions the Business of Eternity and reconcile the Notion of a Compleat Happiness to the Exercise of a continual Devotion and yet this is handsomely represented to us in the Scheme of the heavenly Bodies the Sun Moon and Stars are never weary never decay never wander out of their place but still are exercised in a continual Motion and keep still their Brightness and Glory and yet they are inanimate sensless Creatures Why should we think it strange or absurd that the belssed Spirits in the other World should be still employed in the Offices of Devotion and yet still possess'd of Ease and Bliss And which I drive at why should we not strike up and mend our Pace at present Why do we often mutter and complain as if it were a weariness to serve the Lord And cry out When will the Sabbath be over that may return to our worldly Cares and Pleasures again Is there so much Difference indeed between Grace and Glory between the Apprentice-ship and the Profession between the Church here and hereafter Or is it possible think ye to make so quick a return from one Extream to another To be all Earth and Flesh and Sin here and Heaven and Spirit and Holiness there Or must we not a little at least be Heaven'd in our Minds now and be in a continual Motion to the End of our Happiness Having these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 Or as Psal 119.112 Inclined to perform the Statutes of the Lord always Or Psal 1.2 Exercising our selves in his Law Day and Night And when we can do this and do it with delight we are upon the Brink of a blessed Eternity upon the Skirts of the Holy Land Upon the Borders of Heaven When our Light shines without Darkness thô it do twinkle now and then and shines continually when our Devotion doth not die with the Day but glimmers through the darkest Night then and not 'till then we are in a fair way to the Life of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect 3. Learn we hence to look for that which is lasting In this World we have no continuing City nothing durable no lasting Motion unless it be that of Changes and Vicissitudes Summer and Winter Day and Night Peace and War Health and Sickness Life and Death even the Earth changes its Face according to the Seasons and the Seas thô they flow continually they are supplied from the Clouds above and both Earth and Sea and every thing here depend upon the heavenly Bodies for that Motion and Continuance which they have In Heaven only is to be found the perpetual Motion everlasting Life
here neither the Ancient Fathers of the Church have started the Notion before me Dr. Day in his Lectures cites Justin Martyr Tertullian Cyprian and Lactantius making use of this Comparison I humbly acknowledge this Article of our faith is without a bottom past Human Fathom 'T is storied of St. Augustin that he endeavoured to sound it He walk'd abroad to that purpose at last came to a River-side musign with himself and labouring to conceive it At length not far off a little Child appeared unto him very busie on the Bank He had made forsooth a little Hole and with a Spoon which he had in his Hand was lading of the Water into the aforesaid little Hole St. Augustin draws nearer to him demands of the Child what he was a doing Father quoth he my purpose is to unlade this whole River into this little hole you here see Augustin That 's impossible c. Child No more will you be ever able to bring to pass that which you are about And with that the Child vanished I relate not the Story for a certain Truth The Thing itself in absolute Consideration is true viz. That 't is as impossible for us to conceive the Blessed Trinity as with a little Spoon to unlade a great River into a little Hole The present Emblem may serve a little to take off our Suspicions of the Impossibility and Absurdity of the Trinity of Persons in One God It is not sufficient to Expound the Thing itelf all the Three Persons are represented under this Notion FATHER The Lord is a Sun Isa 60.19 SON Mal. 4 2. And Vide Margent Luke 1.78 And Mat. 17.2 Rev. 1.16 HOLY GHOST He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Lead you into the Way of all Truth Multa sunt quae dici possunt sed sufficiat fidelibus pauca de Mysterio Trinitatis audivisse Aug. In die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi Naturam Creatoris mei si autem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenas luit ignorantia veniam promeretur Id. 3. Of the Divine Glory and Vnsearchableness He that goes about to stare long upon the Sun or approach its Light and dive deep into the Nature of it may as Democritus stare himself blind before he can make any near approaches to it 'T is not easie to bear the Influence of the Sun for one whole Day suppose we could possibly be so long under the immediate and direct Emission of its glorious Beams tho' upon the Earth It will burn combustible Stuff at the distance of 1000000 Miles should it stand still and neither remove away nor be tempered with other cooling Elements Consider this a little seriously and apply it The Glory of God is such an amazing Wonder that as the Father saith In hac mortali vita quicquid ad nos usque pertingit aliud nihil est quam exiguus quidam rivulus ac velut parvus magnae Lucis Rivulus Naz. vide Act. 26.13 1 Tim. 6.16 So that when we go about to search into the Divine Nature we must stand off and know our distance and assume modestly to our Thoughts and acknowledge the Depth of the Mystery and cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 c. O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out For who hath known the ind of the Lord Or who hath bee his Counsellour Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all Things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Sure I am thô we ought as much as any thing in the World to study the Nature and Properties of that God we are concerned with and account it one of the first Points of True Wisdom to acquaint our selves with that Almighty Being we have to do with and to pray for more Light and Grace that we may be able in due time to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the Love of God which passeth knowledge Yet in our highest Attainments on this side the Veil we shall know but in part and prophesie in part our utmost Skill will not be sufficient to comprehend the Infinite God in the Embraces of our Finite Conceptions And we shall as soon be able to climb the Sun and stare with open Eyes upon that great Luminary and comprize all is excellent Rays and Influences within the Limits of our narrow Bosom as by searching to find out and trace out the Almighty to Perfection Est in Deo quod percepi potest est plane si modo quod potest velis Sicut videre est in Sole quod videas si hoc velis videre quod possis amittas autem quod potes videre dum quod non poes niteris ita ut in rebus Dei habes quod inelligas si intelligere quod potes velis Caelum si ultra quam potes speres id quod potuisti non poteris Hilar. Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his Greatness is unsearchable I am loth ro leave this Abyss of Meditation Pardon me Reader if I strain Courtesie a little in the Case This Infinite Being is the Fountain of our Blessedness and therefore notwithstanding his excellent Majesty can be cooped within no Bounds nor scaled by any Human Apprehensions to the Height nor fathomed to the utmost Depth by any Line of Human Reason yer 't is pleasant to behold him through the Lattices and spend our deepest Thoughts and Admirations upon his Glory and if we cannot comprehend him let us stand and wonder And cry out with longing and importunate Desire Oh! when shall the Veil be taken off our Eyes When shall the Apartment that separates us be taken away When shall we come to know as we are known But Oh! when shall our finite Natures be exhaled and drawn up with this Sun and our Souls drawn up into his boundless Glory and we eternally blessed in the warm Embraces of his Divine Love In those Flames of pure Affection for ever and ever To think now of this unsearchable God the most infinitely good and glorious Being in the whole World whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain whom Angels all admire and adore the Nature of whose Glory we cannot now grasp with our most expanded Thoughts That this God shall first pardon our Sins and then sanctifie our Natures and shortly send his Angels of fetch our Souls up to that Heavenly Choire where we shall be cloathed indeed with the Sun and tread the Moon under our Feet and look with a holy scorn upon the little silly trifling Comforts of the sublunary World This is enough to make our Faces smile now at every Beam of Light and Mercy darted upon our Souls from that Divine Countenance to make our Hearts dance within us To fill us with an
then the Bravery of the Vniverse in one entire Eternal Scene Infinite Glory display'd in Paraphrase You shall see then what a God is and what he can do And when ye have seen the Beauty Order and Excellence of it you shall believe and wonder and say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomon's House the Reports you heard of Heaven in the lower World were far short of the Truth Chrysostom says It were worth the while 't would quit Costs to suffer daily Torments yea to endure Hell itself for some time to see Christ come in his Glory and joyn himself to the Number of his Saints For my part I am very sensible that the outward Court of this World is strew'd with variety of Comforts very pleasant to Flesh and Blood to the Sensitive part of Man but I do firmly believe that if we had but a sight of the inner part of Heaven were the Curtains drawn and could we look within the Veil 't would be a Sight worth all this World and more The Cherubims over the Mercy-Seat were enough to put a Sinner into Rapture and Extasie Glorious Things are spoken of thee thou City of GOD. Thus having told you the Joys of Heaven are great now I am to tell you they are certain And all the Arguments I have used already to prove the Joys great are of some validity and tendency to prove them certain If the Preparation for it hath been so long a making from Eternity to the present Time by Decree Creation Providence Redemption Sanctification variety of Dispensations c. If the wisest and best of Men have taken such Pains for it if it be the Purpose of Almighty God whose Power nothing is able to resist then to shew forth the Greatness and Excellency of his Glory we may safely conclude that God will certainly accomplish his whole Will and will not be frustrate in any of his Decrees and that the wisest and best of Men in the World cannot be all mistaken in a Point of so great moment and if they should be so yet it were the safest way to err in such Company But be it how it will with some I am very confident some will be as willing to have it certain as I to prove it so and for the sake of those I go on 1. God hath promised it Dan. 12.2 3. Mat. 5.8 Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom c. 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 2. But if ye dare not take his Word he hath sworn by his Life and Being that if the Future Glory be not ours it shall not be by his default he will not be wanting to do his part As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked Ezek. 33.11 3. He hath entred into a very solemn Covenant with us by Baptism and hath confirmed it too in the Lord's Supper and therein hath avowed to us before Witness that he will be our God and do what is fit for a God to do in order to the saving of us Thus have I briefly proved that the Joys of Heaven are very great and very certain with such Arguments as I cannot answer myself and I suppose nor you neither such as are enough to make a lame Man run a Coward fight a Sinner repent and the heaviest Sluggard rouze up shake himself and be Religious in earnest Enough to make the Sinner leave his wicked Courses the Miser his Bags and the Martyr his Body Oh that Joy O my God when shall I be with thee The Saying of the young Lord Harrington To sit on Thrones with Robes of White and Crowns of Glory To live like Angels to see God Face to Face To sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven To shine as the Sun in the Firmament To feel no Hunger Thirst Pain Sickness Death more To have our Bodies glorified and our Natures refined and all our Faculties perfected and we safe in the full Enjoyment of God to all Eternity To be made free to Rivers of Pleasure and Joys unspeakable for evermore What Soul not clogg'd with Flesh and Blood and bewitched with Sin would not leap at these Tidings and scorn to truckle any longer to the Moon and Clouds and little Vanities of this World Those soft effeminate Souls that sleep out their Life in a Golden Dream of Happiness and awake anon in Everlasting Burnings shall sadly find too late that Heaven was worth more than a cold Wish I would fain Reader Is it not possible to awaken myself and you into a posture of Work and Resolution When you find yourself declining into a Slumber look up and remember what lies beyond the Stars and then gird your Loyns put on Courage and scorn to keep pace with an ill-natur'd sluggish drowsie World put on with Courage and fear no Colours Heaven is before you i. e. Joy so great as you cannot conceive enough to make amends for all the Travel foul Way and Charges of your Journey A Compleat HISTORY Of the Most Remarkable Providences Both of Judgment and Mercy which have happened in this Present Age. Extracted from the best Writers the Author 's own Observations and the Numerous Relations sent him from divers Parts of the Three Kingdoms To which is added Whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature and Art The Whole digested into one Volume under proper Heads being a Work set on Foot Thirty Years ago by the Reverend Mr. Pool Author of the Synopsis Criticorum and since Undertaken and Finish'd by William Turner M. A. Vicar of Walberton in Sussex Recommended as useful to Ministers in Furnishing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation and to Private Christians for their Closets and Families Together with the Names of those Modern Authors and persons of Note from whose Printed Works or Manuscripts the aforesaid Author has received great Assistance in the Compiling of this Book The CONTENTS PART I. COntaining The History of Divine Providences to which is Prefixt A Practical Introduction to this Work being the Author's Meditations On The Being of a God On The Works of Creation and Providence On The Existence of a separate Soul On The Ministry of Angels and On The Future State c. Chap. 1. Of the Appearance and Manifestation of God Himself in the World p. 5 Chap. 2. Of the Appearance of good Angels p. 7 Chap. 3. Of the Appearance of bad Angels or Daemons p. 16 Chap. 4. Of the Appearance of separate Souls with several late Instances of that nature p. 34 Chap. 5. Revelation of secret or future Things by express Voice p. 40 Chap. 6. The discovery of things secret or future by signs common sounds and voices p. 43. Chap. 7. Discovery of things secret or future by Prodigies Comets Lights c. p. 44. Chap. 8. Discovery of things secret or future by Dreams
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
with shame See his Life by Mr. Clark p. 296. And another Lady Wife to the Lord Mordant confirmed by occasion of the Jesuit's absenting from the Disputation and sending his excuse that he had forgot all his Arguments tho' he had them before as ready as his Pater Nâ—ster as he believed through the just Judgment of God because he had undertaken to Dispute with so worthy a Man without License of his Superiour Ibid. p. 278. 4. One Mr. Charles Langford in a Book Published by him called God's wonderful Mercy in the Mount of woful Extremity A. C. 1672. Tells us that for near Forty Years he had been Buffeted severely by Satan who had left no Stone unturn'd to do him all the mischief that he could For the space of Forty Years saith he or thereabouts hath it pleased the Hand that took me out of my Mother's Womb to train me up and lead me along in this uncomfortable Wilderness of Temptation tho' I cannot say that in all these Years he hath left me to the violence of Spiritual Conflicts for then the Burthen had been too heavy for Flesh to stand under so long Yet must I needs say my clearest Day all that time was but clark and however I seemed to others in point of Comfort outwardly sure I am my Soul enjoyed not her rest nor could I ever say I was all that while more than a Prisoner of hope still subject unto Bondage and not discharged of the Debt nor delivered from my Fears It was but a hard shift that I made to hold up my head when I was at best my worst cannot be expressed until now at last that God for whom I waited in the way of his Judgments and from whom were my Expectations in the use of appointed means all this while came and was found of me when I look'd not for him and delivered me from my strong Enemy set my Feet upon a Rock and Established my goings I can say by experience Now I know there is a God and now I know there is a Devil Such have been the Delusions cursed Injections of Blasphemous Thoughts and dreadful Temptations wherewith he hath endeavoured to â—ll my Soul till the day the Lord by his great power delivered me out of his Hands That I have cause to know him and to make him known as I am able to the World In short tho' he had been tempted to Murder his Wife and made Provision for it and she knew it yet she still performed the duty of a faithful Yoke-fellow and upon April 16. 1669. a day for ever to be Solemnized as Glorious and Honourable by me his poor Creature They are his own words she going on in her constant course of Prayer after she had given the Lord his Holy and Reverend Titles using Moses's Arguments brake forth into these words My Father my Father What wilt thou do with my Husband He hath been speaking and acting still in thy cause Oh! Destroy him not for thine own Glory Oh! What dishonour will come to thy great Name if thou do it Oh! Rather do with me what thou wilt On Rather Do what thou wilt But spare my Husband c. He that is pleased to stile himself a God hearing Prayer and in most of his great works delights to advance his own power by using small and unlikely means after long tarrying and in a time when I looked not for him came now and owned his own Ordinance crowned the Cries and Faith and Patience of a poor Woman with such success that my praise shall be continually of him The proud may scorn but the humble shall hear thereof and be glad That roaring Lion mine Adversary the Devil that old Serpent that red Dragon that unclean Spirit that Liar that false Accuser Murderer Appollyon Abaddon even now when he thought himself almost settled in the Possession of his long sought Dominion and that there was no casting him out of my Soul which he had abused making it his Dung-hill whereon he laid all the fifth of Hellish Thoughts and Abominations that he could now was sent to his own place by my dear Lord Christ who broke the Doors of Brass and rescued me from the Rape of Hellish Furies c. See the Book writ by his own Hand p. 53 54. c. 5. When I was Minister of Shipley in Sussex a certain Man of another Parish on a Lord's Day after Evening Service came to me and desired to speak with me about some particular Case of Conscience I think it was concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost after some discourse upon the point he told me that he had for many Years been haunted with doubts and great fears about his Salvation and could enjoy no comfort but at last unexpectedly as he was at his Loom for he was a Weaver by Trade a certain Text of Scripture was suggested to his mind by he knew not what secret Impulse and thereupon all the thick Fog which he had so long laboured under was scattered and the Room was filled with Light and he enjoyed a great Serenity and Peace and Comfort afterwards 6. Mrs. Polsted of Bednel Green for a great while was in great Darkness and Deserted It prevailed even to the uttering of words dreadful to her Friends But drawing near to her end she desired my Sister Dunn to stay with her that Night she died and to close her Eyes She lay by her upon the Bed when she spake to her thus O Mrs. Dunn it is a dreadful thing to be separated from Christ for ever for ever Yes so 't is says her Friend but I am perswaded it shall never be your Portion She fell into a kind of a Slumber and a little after spake Mrs. Dunn Christ is come let us haste to meet him let us haste to meet him She ask'd her if she had now closed with Christ yes said she I stick to my first choice I stick to my first choice What shall I render to the Lord What shall I render to the Lord And so died praising the Lord. 7. Mrs Charlton once told me That after a Desertion of about Eight Years she had such a Floud of Spiritual Joy that when she walk'd in the Streets they seem'd to her Pav'd with Gold for a Fortnights time and she was fain to beg of God to stay his Hand Her Body being not able to bear it 8. Mr. Nutkin of Okingham told me That once after near Fifty Years Profession upon a Day of Thanksgiving observed by himself upon a recovery from Sickness and to beg a Sanctified use of Health restored on a sudden a dark Cloud fell on him that all his Profession had been Hypocrisie That Day and the Night after which he passed without Sleep it continued and he was so held down by the Temptation he had not power to look into his Bible The next Day he thought thus Have I been so long acquainted with the Lord and shall not I dare to look into his
might be reduced to the account of Charity to give to such and such being in such Circumstances For she was never less tender of their Modesty than compassionate of their Necessity and was more sollicitous for their Pardon than their Thanks for helping them Foreigners who fled either to preserve their Religion or to embrace what they were convinced of to be the Truth A great many young Scholars of hopeful promising Parts whom she wholly or in good measure educated at the University allowing some thirty some twenty some ten some eight many five Pounds per Annum and some others who had more assistance less Abundance of young Children which she put to School in the Neighbouring Towns I cannot say how many but a very great number all that were poor and willing to learn Nay that could be perswaded to it whose Schooling she did not only pay for but gave them both Books and often Cloathing and not only near home but as far as Wales contributing nobly to that pious Design of that good old Man and indefatigable Promoter of it Mr. Gouge so amply attested by a Cloud of Witnesses beyond Exception to rescue Wales from its remaining Ignorance and Demi-Barbarism Many Ministers of both Denominations as well Conformists whose Livings were so small as not to yield them a Subsistance as those who had none at all Many occasional Objects of Charity which you may surely conclude failed not to ply at those Stairs where 't was seldom Low-water And though she was sometimes imposed upon and deceived by those that neither needed nor deserved that she gave yet this did not discourage her from giving again for she said She had rather relieve ten that only appeared meet Objects and were not than let one go unrelieved that was so indeed For though they deceived her in her giving God would not deceive her in accepting what was sincerely done for his Name sake Lastly the Poor which she fed in great numbers not only with Fragments and broken Meat but with liberal Provision purposely made for them She was a great Pitier yea a great Lover of the Poor and she built a covenient House on purpose for them at her London-Seat as they had one at Leez to sheluer them from Rain and Heat whilst they received their Dole and when she was at London with her Family had in her absence whilst no House was kept at Leez a kind of House kept for their sakes alone That is twice a Week good Beef and Bread provided for the Poor of four adjacent Parishes and hath taken order in her Will to have the same continued three Months after her decease and by the same Will hath given an hundred Pounds to be distributed to the Poor of Braintree Felsted Little-leez and Much-Walthan at or shortly after her Funeral Dr. Walker in her Life p. 108. 13 Sir Matthew Hale as we have said already gave the tenth Penny of all he got to the Poor but besides that he took great care to be well-informed of Proper Objects for Charitities And after he was a Judge many of the Perquisities of his place as his Dividend of the Rule and Box-money were sent by him to the Goals to discharge poor Prisoners who never knew from whose hands their Relief came It is also a Custom for the Marshal of the King's-Bench to present the Judges of that Court with a piece of Plate for a New-years-Gift that for the Chief-Justice being larger than the rest This he intended to have refused but the other Justice told him it belonged to his Office and the refusing it would be a Prejudice to his Successors so he was perswaded to take it But he sent word to the Marshal That instead of Plate he should bring him the Value of it in Money And when he received it he immediately sent it to the Prisons for the Relief and Discharge of the Poor there He usually invited his poor Neighbours to Dine with him and made them sit at Table with himself And if any of them were sick so that they could not come he would send Meat warm to them from his Table And he did not only relieve the Poor in his own Parish but sent Supplies to the Neighbouring Parishes as there was occasion for it And he treated them all with the Tenderness and Familiarity that became one who considered they were of the same Nature with himself and were reduced to no other Necessities but such as he himself might be brought to But for common Beggars if any of these came to him as he was in his Walks when he lived in the Country he would ask such as were capable of Working Why they went about so idly If they answered It was because they could find no Work he often sent them to some Field to gather all the Stones in it and lay them on a heap and then would pay them liberally for their Pains This being done he used to send his Carts and caused them to be carried to such places of the High-way as needed mending But when he was in Town he dealt his Charities very liberally even among the Street-Beggars and when some told him That he thereby encouraged Idleness and that most of these were notorious Cheats He used to answer That he believed most of them were such but among them there were some that were great Objects of Charity and prest with grievous Necessities and that he had rather give his Alms to Twenty who might be perhaps Rogues than that One of the other sort should perish for want of that small Relief which he gave them He loved Building much which he affected chiefly because it imployed many poor People Dr. Burnet in the Life of Sir Matthew Hale p. 90. CHAP. XXXIX Remarkable Charity and Liberality in Giving EVery Man is but a Steward under the Great Lord of Heaven and Earth of those good things of this Life which he enjoys the best use we can of make them is to do good with them either for the promoting of God's Glory or our own and others Benefit and accordingly we are to give up our Accounts hereafter To spend all upon our own Lusts is Folly and Impiety To give all away without Prudence and Discretion is Madness To give willingly and wisely is good Christianity But in all our Givings we must have an especial care that our Intention be honest and our Ends right for he that gives only to get Praise among Men doth but make an Idol of himself and sacrifice to his own Vanity and for so doing shall receive no other reward but our Religion doth furnish us with better Examples 1. Cyprian immediately upon his Conversion distributed all his Goods amongst the Poor and afterwards being Bishop of Carthage commanded the Care of the Poor to his Presbyters and was himself of a mighty liberal Disposition towards the Exiled Brethren Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist Cyprian receiving joyfully the Sentence of Death bids the Pro-consul discharge his Office duly
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
from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my Resolution through Thy Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this World rather than to turn from Thee to the Ways of Sin and that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from Thee beseeching Thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy Grace never to yield myself a Servant And because my own Righteousness is but menstruous Rags I renounce all Confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone Creature without Righteousness or Strength And for as much as Thou hast of Thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched Sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of Thee I call Heaven and Earth to Record this Day that I do here solemnly avouch Thee for the Lord my God and with all possible Veneration bowing the Neck of my Soul under the Feet of Thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take Thee the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and Chief Good and do give up myself Body and Soul for Thy Servant promising and vowing to serve Thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of my Life And since Thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only Means of coming unto Thee I do here upon the bended Knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living Way by which Sinners may have Access to Thee and do here solemnly joyn myself in a Marriage-Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to Thee hungry and hardy bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsome polluted Wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the Feet of the Servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but sith such is thine unparallell'd Love I do here with all my Power accept Thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all Times and Conditions to love and honour and obey Thee before all others and this to the Death I embrace Thee in all Thine Offices I renounce my own Worthiness and do here avow Thee for the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own Wisdom and do here take Thee for my only Guide I renounce my own Will and take Thy Will for my Law And since Thou hast told me that I must Suffer if I will Reign I do here Covenant with Thee to take my Lot as it falls with Thee and by Thy Grace assisting to run all Hazards with Thee verily purposing that neither Life nor Death shall part between Thee and Me. And because Thou hast been pleased to give me Thy Holy Laws as the Rule of my Life and the Way in which I should walk to Thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under Thy Yoke and set my Shoulder to Thy Burden and subscribing to all Thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the Rule of my Words Thoughts and Actions promising that tho' my Flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole Life according to thy Direction and will not allow myself in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my Duty Only because through the frailty of my Flesh I am subject to many Failings I am bold humbly to protest that unallowed Miscarriages contrary to the settled Bent and Resolution of my Heart shall not make void this Covenant for so Thou hast said Now Almighty GOD. Searcher of all Hearts Thou knowest that I make this Covenant with Thee this Day without any known Guile or Reservation beseeching Thee that if Thou espiest any Flaw or Falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now Glory be to Thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this Day forward to look upon as my God and Father that ever thou shouldst find out such a way for the Recovery of undone Sinners Glory be to Thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my Sins in thy own Blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to Thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the Finger of Thine Almighty Power hast turned about my Heart from Sin to God O dreadful Jehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost Thou art now become my Covenant-Friend and I through Thine Infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-Servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on Earth let it be ratified in Heaven HENRY GEARING April 11. 1667. 16. For the Christians better Help for the keeping of this Covenant Mr. Allen in his Allarm to the Vnconverted gives this Advice about it This Covenant says he I advise you to make not only in Heart but in Word not only in Word but in Writing and that you wou'd with all possible Reverence spread the Writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed and when you have done this set your Hand to it keep it as a Memorial of the solemn Transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have Recourse to it in Doubts and Temptations Mr. Corbet in his Enquiry into the State of his Soul has these Expressions I do not cease says he to lament the more heinous Sins of my Life and cannot forbear the continual imploring of the Pardon of them I do not return again to them and I resolve never so to do I Watch and Pray and strive against all Sin but especially against those Sins to which I am more especially inclined my Conflicts are daily and am put hard to it But I do not yield up my self to any Sin nor lie down in it yea I do not suffer sinful Cogitations to lodge in me I find upon the review of my Life past according to the clearest Judgment that I can make that I have not gone backward but proceeded forward in the ways of Godliness I have been grieved that I am no more elevated in the hope of Heaven and that I cannot attain to a longing desire to be gone hence and to be there with Christ I think with my self sometimes were my Evidences clear for Heaven I would exult to be gone hence this very Hour but I find not this readiness at all times O Lord forgive my ten Thousand Talents I come to Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction and lay this heavy Reckoning to his Account Lord forgive my Iniquity for it is exceeding great I have done what in me lies to call to remembrance all my remarkable Sins from my Childhood and Youth till now And as far as I can judge I have repented of them both generally and particularly And I now repent of them all from
Transaction between God and him and upon mature Deliberation he judged it most adviseable for him to make his Covenant with God as Explicit as Writing and Signing could render it that so it might leave the more Impression upon his Heart and Life and be an Evidence likewise which in Temptation or Desertion he might have recourse unto Wherefore he set apart a time for I think secret Fasting and Prayer before the Lord and then behold how this young Man counting it high time for hime to be bound out unto some Service took a course for it he subscribed an Holy Covenant of which this was the Matter this the Form The Covenant between God and my Soul renewed confirmed and signed Nov. 22. 1683. Whereas not only the Commands of God who hath often called upon me by his Word preached to give up my self both Body and Soul to be at his Disposal which calls by the publick Ministry were enough to engage me unto this but also the Christian Religion which I profess and my Baptism in which I took the Lord to be my God and promised to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and to dedicate my self unto the Service Work and Will of God do bind me hereunto in that God is such a God as deserves this yea infinitely more than this at my Hands my Creator the Fountain of my Being my Preserver my Benefactor my Lord my Soveraig my Judge he in whose Hands my Life my Breath and all my Concerns are he that doth protect me from all Dangers and supply me in all Wants support me under all Burdens and direct me in all Streights he alone that can make me Happy or Miserable he alone that can Save me or Damn me he alone that can give inward Peace and Joy that is my Friend my God in that Self-dedication is the Creatures Advancement these First-fruits if in Sincerity putting upon me a Gloriousness and Excellency in that Felicity hereafter depends upon my dedicating of my self unto God now in that this is the highest piece of Gratitude I am capable of expressing unto God and I know no better way to obey the Will of God than first to give up my self unto him And whereas the Mercies which the Lord hath been pleased graciously to bestow upon me are so many that even bare Morality doth shew me that I can never enough requite one that hath done so much for me except by giving up my self wholly to him 1669. Whereas God hath given me a godly Father and Mother 1674. In that when I was like to die being twice sick of a Feaver God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery and lengthen out the Thread of my Life 1675. Whereas when I by an Accident fell down and had like to have been deprived of the use of my Tongue God was in his good Providence graciously pleased to give me the use of it 1678. Whereas when I was sick of the Small Pox God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery whereas then I made Promises unto God that if he would give me my Health I would endeavour to become a new Creature and he hath done so for these five Years And whereas God hath of late been bestowing many and wonderful Mercies upon me What can I do less than give up my self wholly to him which now I do And O Lord God I beseech thee to accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating of himself before thee I confess O Lord I have fallen from thee by my Iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Hell but of thy infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ If I will but turn unto thee with all my Heart therefore upon the call of thy Gospel I come in and from the bottom of my Heart I renounce all thy Enemies with whom I confess I have wickedly sided against thee firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known Sin but conscientiously to use all means which thou hast prescribed for the utter Destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have inordinately let out my Affections upon the World I here resign my Heart unto thee that made it humbly protesting before thy glorious Majesty that it is the firm Resolution of my Heart and that I do unfeignedly desire Grace from thee that when thou shalt call me thereunto I may put in Practice my Resolution through thine Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in the World rather then to turn from thee to the ways of Sin and that I will watch over all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from thee beseeching thee to help me I renounce all my own Righteousness and acknowledge that of my self I am helpless and undone and without Righteousness and whereas of thy bottomless Mercy thou hast offer'd to accept of me and to be reconciled to me and to be my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I do this day avouch thee to be the Lord my God I do here take the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and chief Good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising to endeavour to serve thee in Righteousness and Holiness I do here also on the bended Knees of my Soul accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and living Way by which Sinners may have access to thee and do here joyn my self in a Marriage-Covenant with him O Lord Jesus I come to thee hungry poor miserable blind and naked and a most loathsome Creature a condemned Malefactor Who am I that I should be Married unto the King of Glory I do accept of thee for my Head and Husband and embrace thee in all they Offices I renounce my own Worthiness and do choose thee the Lord my Righteousness I do renounce my own Wisdom and do take thine for my Guide I take thy Will for my Will and thy Word for my Law I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoke I do subscribe to all the Laws as Holy Just and Good and do promise to take them as the Rule of my Thoughts Words and Actions but because I am subject to many Failings through frailty I do here protest here before thee that unallowed Miscarriages contrary to the constant Bent of my Heart shall not disannul this everlasting Covenant NATHANAEL MATHER It may justly be taken for granted that such a Work as this would have an Influence into his Conversation afterwards and so it had producing in him a Conversation which became the Gospel of Christ. He kept waiting upon God not only in the Family but also under the Ministry of Two that were near a-kin unto him namely his Father and his Brother whereby the Grace thus begun in him was not a little cherished and promoted and unto all known Sins he now kept saying as I find once in Short-hand written by him To my Lusts I have had Communion
forsake all my Sins I am willing to give Glory to God in taking Shame unto myself I acknowledge myself a guilty Malefactor and judge myself worthy of the just Condemnation of the Righteous Judge of all the Earth XV. I hope I am one whom God hath taken into Covenant with himself because he hath bestowed upon me the Fruits of the Covenant because he hath circumcised my Heart to love him and hath put his Fear into me and hath wrought an universal change in me and hath given me a new Heart and a new Spirit XVI As for my Affliction that lieth upon me though it be in itself very heavy I much more desire the sanctification of it than the removal I earnestly labour to learn all those Lessons which God teacheth me by Affliction XVII Faith is the Condition of Salvation Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved And this is his commandment that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ. Now I find nothing so hard to me as to believe aright Yet I must and will give Glory to God and say Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Thus I have according to the Apostle's Exhortation endeavoured to give a Reason of the Hope that is in me Thus far Mr. Edm. Calamy 18. Mr. Albyn's Evidences for Heaven which take in his own Words viz. Some Observations upon my own Heart which I humbly hope are true Evidences of a Work of saving Grace and that my Soul has a real Interest in Jesus Christ and I desire to deal plainly sincerely and truly as in the presence of the Heart searching God in this great and weighty Work of Self-Examination humbly and heartily imploring the Grace and Assistance of God's most Holy Spirit therein 1. I desire every day to attain unto a most clear and distinct Knowledge of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with all their Properties and Attributes and to have more high and reverend Thoughts of him and to be more enlarged in Thankfulness in Heart and Life for my Creation and Preservation but especially for my Redemption 2. I desire a true sanctified Knowledge of the whole Will of God and the full Latitude of every Commandment 3. I heartily desire and endeavour to yield constant and chearful Obedience to every one of his Commandments and particularly I endeavour to consecrate the Sabbath Day in the Service of God only and I embrace all opportunities besides that I conveniently may to hear the Word of God Preached and to Read and Meditate on it in private and I would not willingly omit any opportunity for coming to the Table of the Lord nor neglect Praying in my Family or alone in private in and by all which Ordinances 't is the unfeigned Desire of my Soul to enjoy true Spiritual Communion with God through Jesus Christ and that every Grace of God may by them be strengthened in me and evdry Sin and Lust mortified and though I do most miserably and sinfully miscarry in the Performance of every Holy Duty being continually haunted with many sinful Wandrings and Indispositions of Heart for which I unfeignedly humble my self 'twixt God and my own Soul confessing the same and Judging and Condemning my self for them in his Presence yet through the infinite Mercy and Bounty of my gracious God through Jesus Christ I feel and experimentally find some sensible Abatements of the one and a comfortable Addition to the Strength of the other 4. I do desire and in some poor Measure endeavour constantly to watch and observe the Actings and Motions of my own Heart and would not allow of any sinful Project or Design whatsoever to be contrived and harboured therein and am more careful to keep my Heart from contemplative Iniquity then to order my outward Actions to the Liking and Approbation of Men. 5. I desire to know the Duties of every one of my Relations and conscientiously to walk in all of them to Magistrates Ministers Parents Wife Children Servarts and all others and in reference to the present Distractions of our Land I humbly desire that the Lord would be pleased to set up such a Magistracy as I may with a good Conscience yield chearful Obedience to all its Lawful Commands and such under whom Religion may flourish the Power of Godliness be countenanced and the Government of Jesus Christ be erected and submitted unto for the Effecting whereof I pray that God would cast out the Spirit of Errour Prophaneness and Divisions that is almongst us 6. For the Duties of my particular Calling I desire faithfully to discharge the same and pray that God would give me such a Measure of Grace and true Heavenly Wisdom as that I may not be carryed away with Covetousness Ambition or Deceitfulness on the one hand nor with Pride Idleness or Presumption on the other but that I may conscientiously Labour diligently in my Calling so as to provide for my Family and that I may have to give to him that needeth Praying that I may be kept from all those Sins and Temptations that do attend my Calling at any time 7. I do often tho' with much Frailty and Weakness reflect on my own ways acknowledging before God and bewailing my own Miscarriages and beg Pardon for them and all my secret unknown Sins through the Merits of Jesus Christ and still desire the Lord to keep me from the Deceits of my own Heart and from all the Temptations I do or may meet with in reference to the Sins of the present evil Times And in my Judgment and Affections so far as I know my own Heart I would rather loose all my outward Comforts and Accommodations then sin against my God by a sinful Submission to any unlawful Injunctions for the Preservation thereof and pray thatas the Lord hath hitherto I hope in some good measure kept me so he would still preserve me upright in Heart before him and unspotted in Life before Men and that if I should be called thereunto he would give me Grace and Strength to make publick Profession of my Resolution to persevere in well doing and to keep close to my Duty whatsoever Sufferings I meet withal and that the carnal Reasoning of my corrupt Flesh and Blood which I find to be exceeding strong and often assaulting of me may never prevail over me to make me sin against my God on whose Promises I desire above all other things Grace to rest and commit my self to his gracious Providence to take care for me and mine rather then to use and sinful means to secure or provide for my self or them 8. In all Streights and Difficulties I meet with in my Calling and in all Hazards in my Estate by Sea or otherwise I first of all make my Addresses to the Throne of Grace for Strength and Courage to trust and relie upon the faithful Promises and gracious Providence of God and for Direction and Assistance for the conscientious using of all lawful Means for the managing of my
be deceived but of Perseverance itself we are uncertain Discourses of God c. in the Appendix containing his Judgment in divers controverted Points p. 88. But by the leave of this learned and worthy Man how is this consistent with the Profession of St. Paul I have fought the good Fight henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown c. How with the Doctrine of the Church of England in her Articles and Homilies How with the Letters of Accord between Bishop Sanderson and Dr. Hammond which I have not leisure now to cite at large And how with the Experiences and Assurances of many Christians 1. The Apprehensions that Death drew near were very comfortable to Mr. Wilson A Gentle-woman of his Society coming to take her leave of him being about to remove out of Maidstone he pleasantly said to her What will you say good Mrs. Crisp if I get the start if you and get to Heaven before you get to Dover When another came to visit him he ask'd her What she thought of him she answered Truly Sir I think you are not far from your Father's House To which he replied That 's good News indeed and is enough to make one laugh for Joy See his Life 2. Mr. John Janeway when he lay upon his Death-bed his Mother and Brethren standing by he said Dear Mother I beseech you as earnestly as ever I desired any thing of you in my Life that you would chearfully give me up to Christ I beseech you do not hinder me now I am going to Rest and Glory I am afraid of your Prayers least they will pull one way and mine another Then turning to his Brethren he thus spake unto them I charge you all do not pray for my Life any more you do me wrong if you do O the Glory the unspeakable Glory that I behold my Heart is full my Heart is full Christ smiles and I cannot choose but smile Can you find in your Heart to stop me who am now going to the compleat and Eternal Enjoyment of Christ Would you keep me from my Crown The Arms of my blessed Saviour are open to embrace me the Angels stand ready to carry my Soul into his Bosom O! did you but see you would all cry out with me How long dear Lord come Lord Jesus come quickly O why are his Chariot-wheels so long a coming See his Life 3. Dr. Samuel Winter lying upon his Death-bed about Six of the Clock on the Lord's-Day Morning he raised himself up in his Bed and with a chearful and loud Voice called to his Wife who lay in a Bed by him saying ' Sweet-heart I have been this Night conversing with Spirits And as in a Rapture he cried out O the Glories that are prepared for the Saints of God! The Lord hath been pleased to shew me this Night the exceeding Weight of Glory which in Heaven is laid up for his Chosen Ones Saying further That he had studied and thought that he knew as much what the Glory which in Heaven was as another Man but the now saw that all the Divines on Earth were but Children in the Knowledge of the Great Mystery of Heavenly Glory which the Lord that Night had given him a clearer sight of than ever formerly he had That it was such a Mystery as could not be comprehended by the Wit of Man With many other such-like Expressions and he had his Soul so wonderfully elevated that he could not declare what he found and felt therein See his Life 4. Mr. Samuel Fairclough kept his Bed but one whole Day before his departure which he had longed and waited for and the very Day before his last Day on Earth some Company being with him he expressed how much Comfort he did then take to consider how that his Saviour had tasted Death for him and that Christ by his Resurrection had given him an assurance that he was the First-fruits of those that sleep in him telling some that stood by him That it was very much the Duty of Believers to rejoyce that Death had lost its Sting and was now disarmed and that the Power of the Grave was quite vanquished and overcome See his Life 5. James Bainham a Martyr in Queen Mary's Reign being at the Stake in the midst of the burning Fire his Legs and Arms half consumed spake thus to the Standers-by O ye Papists behold ye look for Miracles and here now ye may see one for in this Fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a Bed of Down and it is to me as a Bed of Roses Fox Martyrol 6. Robert Smith Martyr being at the Stake ready to be burned exhorted the People to think well of his Cause telling them That God would shew some Token thereof and accordingly when he was half burnt all black with Fire and clustered together on a Lump like a black Coal so that all thought him to be dead on a sudden he rose upright lifted up the Stumps of his Arms and clapt them together Ibid. Clark's Examp. Vol. 1. C. 39. 7. Mr. Robert Glover Martyr was so suddenly replenished with Divine Comfort a little before his Death that clapping his Hands together he called to his Man saying He is come he is come and so died chearfully Ibid. 8. Mr. John Holland a faithful Minister the Day before his Death calling for a Bible continued his Meditation and Exposition on Rom. 8. for the space of Two Hours but on a sudden he said Oh stay your Reading What Brightness is this I see Have you light up any Candles A Stander-by said No it is the Sun-shine for it was about Five a Clock in a clear Summer's Evening Sun-shine saith he nay it is my Saviour's-shine now Farewel World welcome Heaven the Day-star from on high hath visited my Heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral God deals familiarly with Man I feel his Mercy I see his Majesty whether in the Body or out of the Body God be knoweth but I see thhings that are unutterable And being ravished in his Spirit he roamed towards Heaven with a chearful Look and a soft sweet Voice but what he said was not understood With the Sun in the Morning following raising himself as Jacob upon his Staff he shut up his blessed Life with these blessed words O what an happy Change shall I make from Night to Day from Darkness to Light from Death to Life from Sorow to Solace from a factious World to a heavenly Being Oh! my dear Brethren Sisters and Friends it pitieth me to leave you behind yet remember my death when I am gone and what I now feel I hope you shall feel e're you die that God doth and will deal familiarly with Men. And now thou fiery Chariot that camest down to fetch up Elijah carry me to my happy Hold. And all ye blessed Angels that attended the Soul of Lazarus to bring it to Heaven bear me O bear me into the Besom of my
Lordship I am ignorant in that she herself can best tell if she could be prevailed with so to do and the History of it and the rest of the Passages of her Life would be very acceptable and useful to the most curious and inquisitive Part of Mankind And now my Lord I think good here to put an end to my plain Relation of these very strange Passages of this Ann Jefferies's Life It 's only Matter of Fact which I have here faithfully related I have not made any Observations nor Reflections upon any one Passage I leave your Lordship to your own free Thoughts and Judgment I my self cannot give one natural Reason for any one of these Passages that happened to this poor Woman but must conclude with that great Apostle and Scholar St. Paul Rom. 11.33 34 35 36. O the depths of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out For who hath known the Mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counseller Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all things To whom be Glory for ever Amen I am Your Lordship's most Humble and Dutiful Servant MOSES PITT May 1. 1696. CHAP. LXXXIII Satan and Ill Spirits permitted to Hurt the Good in their Names SAtan hath his Name from Slandering and to shew that he is a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and answers his Name to a Hair he hath not been wanting to reproach back-bite accuse and affix Nick-names and opprobrious Titles all along upon those People that will not list themselves under his Banner and fight under his Colours The Prophets were sufficiently misrepresented under the old Mosaic Oeconomy and the Jewish Church were accused of Treasons and Rebellions nor did our Saviour himself escape the Lash of slanderous Tongues Is not this the Carpenter And worse then that Behold a gluttonous Man and a Wine-bibber and worse yet He casts out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils St. Paul was counted a seditious and busie Man a raiser of Tumults and causer of Rebellion a Heretick Mad a Blasphemer and a Despiser of the Fathers Ordinances to use the Words of Bishop Jewel in his Apology St. Stephen one who had spoke against the Law Moses the Temple and against God himself 1. Who knows not saith Bishop Jewel after what sort our Fathers were railed upon in times past which first of all began to acknowledge and profess the Name of Christ How they made private Conspiracies devised secret Counsels against the Common-wealth and to that end made early and private Meetings in the Dark killed young Babes fed themselves with Man's Flesh and like Savage and Bruit Beasts Drink their Blood In conclusion after they had put out the Candles did commit Adultery among themselves and without regard commit Incest one with another that Brethren lay with their Sisters Sons with their Mothers without any Reverence of Nature or Kin without Shame without Difference c. Bishop Jewel in his Apol. 2. The Waldenses or Vaudois who were a sort of People that stood it out with Constancy against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome had so many opprobrious Titles bestowed upon them by the Agents of that Prince of Darkness as would almost tire a serious Reader to read over Albigenses Fratricelli's Poor Man of Lions Turlupius Sabalpius c. 3. Luther was so hateful to them of the Roman Communion that they slandered him as if he had been begot by an Incubus had familiar Conversation with the Devil was Possessed and at last was carried away by the Devil Body and Soul alive and they published the Story of his shameful Death whilst himself was yet alive 4. Calvin was so odious that the Wits of Bruxels combined together in a Knot to pour as much Satyr upon him as possibly they could introducing the Prince of the bottomless Pit as transported with Rage and Passion and threatning to plague the World with the most pestilential Monster he could procure for the Punishment of Mankind And then telling us that he had been guilty of such Villanie◠that he was Burned in the Shoulder for a Malefactor that he changed his name from Cawin to Calvin that he went to exercise the Devil out of a Person possessed and had like to have been torn in pieces by him c. I know not how now to cite my Authority for this last Paragraph the Book being gone out of my hands but I think the Title of it was Calvino-Mastix Published by the Wits of Bruxels Some gave the name of Calvin to their Dogs and others out of hatred to him abstained from the Lord's Supper Beza in vit Calvin 5. Beza and Oecolampadius and others of the Reformed Church were bespattered with most dirty and devillish Slanders in a Popish Book which I lent formerly to a Neighbour but could never recover the sight of it agen Particularly Beza was reproached as guilty of Adultery Sodomy and Obscenity 6. Bishop Hooper called a Hypocrite a Beast c. 7. And what hath been the meaning of those odious Nick-names raised in this Kingdom in this last Age amongst People and Brethren of the same Faith and Hope Puritans Phanaticks and Roundheads on the one side and Malignants Cavaliers and Papists are Popishly affected on the other side Whigs and Tories and for them that had not Zeal enough to advance to the same height of Bigottry with either Extreams but endeavoured to moderate between them and make Peace Trimmers and Time-observers And these reproachful Titles thrown about with so much Rashness and Bitterness that it broke the Hearts of some very worthy and innocent Persons particularly a Petition full of unjust Accusations being preferred against Mr. Francis Quarles by eight Men whereof he knew not any two nor they him save only by sight the first News of it struck him so to the Heart that he never recovered it but said plainly It would be his Death and accordingly it proved See his Life Writ by his sorrowful Widow Mrs. Vrsula Quarles by way of Preface to his Poetical Paraphrase upon Ecclesiastes And it is observable what Mr. Mather tells us of the Persons Bewitched lately in New-England that the Devil doth often appear before them in the Shape and Representation of some good or creditable Person whom they had no reason to suspect as he did to Isaf Chacus the Turk at London the Night before he was Baptised in the Person of Mr. Durie his Instructor to disswade and affright him from his Purpose as may be seen in the Printed Relation LHAP CXXXIV Satan permitted to Hurt the Good in their Health of Body AS the Christian Religion hath a natural Tendency to the Preservation of Health and long Life length of Days being in her right Hand according to Solomon And God almighty hath 〈◊〉 Health and Prosperity to them that live a godly Life So
and Books and Collections I can rest my Soul on nothing but the Scriptures and above all that Passage lies most upon my Spirit Titus 2.11 12. The Grace of God that brings Salvation c. 76. Dr. Donn on his Dying-bed told his Friends I Repent of all my Life but that part I spent in Communion with God and doing good 77. Sir Walter Rawleigh in a Letter to his Wife after his Condemnation hath these words If you can live free from Want care for no more for the rest is but a Vanity Love God and begin betimes in him shall ye find True Everlasting and Endless Comfort My dear Wife Farewel Bless my Boy Pray for me and let my True God hold you both in his Arms. 78. Mr. Herbert the Divine Poet to one going about to Comfort him with the Remembrance of a good Work he had done in Repairing a ruinous Church belonging to his Ecclesiastical Dignity made answer 'T is a good Work if sprinkled with the Blood of Christ In the Preface before his Poems 79. Mr. Tho. Cartwright the last Sermon that he made was Dec. 25. on Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the earth c. On the Tuesday following the Day before his Death he was two Hours on his Knees in private Prayer in which as he told his Wife he found wonderful and unutterable Joy and Comfort and within a few Hours after he quietly resigned up his Spirit to God Dec. 27. 1603. Mr. Clark 's Martyrol p. 21. 80. Mr. Paul Baines in his last Sickness had many Fears and Doubts God letting Satan loose upon him so that he went away with far less Comfort than many weaker Christians enjoy Ibid. p. 24. 81. Mr. William Bradshaw exhorted all that came to him to lay a good Foundation for a comfortable Death in time of Life and Health assuring them that their utmost Addresses and Endeavours would be little enough when they came to that Work Ibid. p. 51. 81. Mr. Richard Rothwel foretold his own Death I am well and shall be well shortly said he to some that sent to enquire how he did And afterwards whispering one in the Ear there present said Do you know my meaning I shall be with Christ e're long but do not tell them so And after Prayer smiling said he Now I am well Happy is he that hath not bow'd a knee to Baal He called upon the Company to sing Psal 120. And in the singing of it he died An. 1627. Aged 64. Ibid. p. 71. 83. Dr. Preston the Night before he died being Saturday he went to Bed and lay about three Hours desirous to sleep but slept not Then said My Dissolution is near let me go to my Home and to Jesus Christ who hath bought me with his most precious Blood About Four of the Clock the next Morning he said I feel Death coming to my Heart my Pain shall now be quickly turned into Joy And after Prayer made by a Friend he look'd on the Company turned away his Head and at Five a Clock on the Lord's-Day in the Morning gave up the Ghost An. 1628. Aged 41. or near it Ibid. p. 113. 84. Mr. Hildersam sickening with the Scurvy in the midst of Winter on March 4. being the Lord's-Day was prayed for in the Congregation of Ashby His Son also prayed with him divers times that Day and in the last Prayer he departed March 4. 1631. Had I time to pause upon it methinks the Death of many worthy Persons happening upon the Christian Sabbath is worthy of a special Remark Mr. Hildersam had given order in his Will that no Funeral Sermon should be preached at his Burial Ibid. p. 123. 85. Dr. Tho. Tailour of Aldermanbury expressed himself thus O said he we serve a good Lord who covers all our Imperfections and gives us great Wages for little Work And on the Lord's-Day he was dismissed hence to keep a perpetual Sabbath in Heaven in the Climacterical Year of his Age 56. Ibid. p. 127. 86. Mr. John Carter likewise Feb. 21. 1635. being the Lord's-Day ended his Life with a Doxology The Lord be thanked Ibid. p. 140. 87. Dr. Sibs died Anno 1631. Aged 58. Ibid. Dr. Chaderton Anno 1640. Aged 94. Ibid. 88. Mr. Ball being ask'd in his last Sickness whether he thought he should live or die answered I do not trouble my self about that matter And afterwards how he did replied Going to Heaven apace He died 1640. Aged 55. Ibid. 89. Dr. Potter died about the great Climacterical Year of his Age being suspected to have laid to Heart the Reproaches of some thrown upon him for a Sermon preached a little before at Westminster as too sharp against Innovations in the Church Ibid. 90. Mr. Julines Herrings the Night before his Departure was observed to rise upon his Knees and with Hands lifted up to Heaven to use these Words He is overcome overcome through the Strength of my Lord and only Saviour Jesus unto whom I am now going to keep a Sabbath in Glory And accordingly next Morning March 28. 1644. Aged 62. on the Sabbath-Day he departed Ibid. 168. 91. Mr. John Dod was tried with most bitter and sharp Pains of the Strangury and great Wrestlings with Satan but was Victorious To one watching with him he said That he had been wrestling with Satan all Night who accused him That he had neither preached nor prayed nor performed any Duty well for manner or end but saith he I have answer'd him from the Example of the Prodigal and the Publican One of his last Speeches was with Eyes and Hands lift up to Heaven I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Which desire was granted him Anno 1645. aged 96. Ibid. p. 178. 92. Mr. Herbert Palmer after Isa 38 Chap. being read prayed himself to this purpose First for himself That God would heal the sinfulness of his Nature pardon all his Transgressions deliver him from Temptation accept him in Christ c. Then for the Publick the Nation King and Parliament Ministers c. For Scotland and the Churches in France New-England c. Queen's College Westminster the Country his Benefactors c. He departed December 25. 1647. aged 46. He desired his Friends not to Pray for his Life but Pray God saith he for Faith for Patience for Repentance for Joy in the Holy Ghost Lord saith he cast me down as low as Hell in Repentance and lift me up by Faith to the highest Heavens in confidence of thy Salvation The Tuesday before he departed This day Seven-night said he is the Day on which we have used to remember Christ's Nativity and on which I have preached Christ I shall scarce live to see it but for me was that Child born unto me was that Son given c. Ibid. p. 201. 93. Mr. John Cotton to Mr. Wilson taking his last leave of him and praying that God would lift up the Light of his Countenance upon him and shed his Love into his Soul presently answered
to carry my Soul to the Bosom of Jesus and I shall be for ever with the Lord in Glory And who can chuse but rejoyce in all this And now my dear Mother Brethren and Sisters Farewel I leave you for a while and I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified And now dear Lord my Work is done I have finished my course I have fought the good Fight and henceforth there remaineth for me a Crown of Righteousness Now come dear Lord Jesus come quickly Then a Godly Minister came to give him his last Visit and to do the Office of an inferiour Angel to help to convey his blessed Soul to Glory who was now even upon Mount Pisgah and had a full sight of that goodly Land at a little distance When this Minister spake to him his heart was in a mighty flame of Love and Joy which drew Tears of Joy from that precious Minister being almost amazed to hear a Man just a dying talk as if he had been with Jesus He died June 1657. Aged between 23 and 24 and was buried in Kelshall-Church in Hartfordshire For a larger Account of this Extraordinaay Person see his Life written by his Brother Mr. James Janeway 102. Mrs. Allein in the History of the Life and Death of Mr. Joseph Allein writes thus concerning his Death viz. About Three in the Afternoon he had as we perceived some Conflict with Satan for he uttered these words Away thou foul Fiend thou Enemy of all Mankind thou subtil Sophister art thou come now to molest me Now I am just going Now I am so weak and Death upon me Trouble me not for I am none of thine I am the Lord 's Christ is mine and I am his His by Covenant I have sworn my self to be the Lord's and his I will be Therefore be gone These last words he repeated often which I took much notice of That his Covenanting with God was the means he used to expel the Devil and all his Temptations The time we were in Bath I had very few hours alone with him by reason of his constant using the Bath and Visits of Friends from all Parts thereabouts and sometimes from Taunton and when they were gone he would be either retiring to GOD or to his Rest But what time I had with him he always spent in Heavenly and Profitable Discourse speaking much of the Place he was going to and his Desires to be gone One Morning as I was Dressing him he looked up to Heaven and smiled and I urging him to know why he answered me thus Ah my Love I was thinking of my Marriage-Day it will be shortly O what a joyful Day will that be Will it not thinkest thou my dear heart Another time bringing him some Broth he said Blessed be the Lord for these Refreshments in the way home but O how sweet will Heaven be Another time I hope to be shortly where I shall need no Meat nor Drink nor Cloaths When he looked on his weak consumed hands he would say These shall be changed This vile Body shall be made like to Christ's Glorious Body O what a Glorious Day will the Day of the Resurrection be Methinks I see it by Faith How will the Saints lift up their heads and rejoyce and how sadly will the wicked World look then O come let us make haste our Lord will come shortly let us prepare If we long to be in Heaven let us hasten with our Work for when that is done away we shall be fetch'd O this vain foolish dirty World I wonder how reasonable Creatures can so dote upon it What is in it worth the looking after I care not to be in it longer than while my Master hath either doing or suffering Work for me were that done farewel to Earth Thus far Mrs. Allein 103. Dr. Peter du Moulin Professor of Divinity at Sedan at his last Hour pronounced these Words I shall be satisfied when I awake c. and twice or thrice Come Lord Jesus come Come Lord Jesus come and the last time that Text which he loved so much He that believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life and a little after Lord Jesu receive my Spirit It being said to him You shall see your Redeemer with your eyes laying his Hand on his Heart he answered with an Effort I believe it and so departed 1658. aged 90. Out of the French Copy of his Death 104. Arminius in his Sickness was so far from doubting any whit of that Confession he had publish'd that he stedfastly judged it to agree in all things with the Holy Scriptures and therefore he did persist therein That he was ready at that very moment to appear with that same Belief before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ the Son of God the Judge of the Quick and Dead He died of a Disease in the Bowels which caused Fevers Cough Extension of the Hypochondria Atrophy Gout Iliack Passion Obstruction of the Left Optick Nerve Dimness of the same Eye c. which gave occasion to some Censures He died Oct. 19. In his Life by an unknown Hand 105. Simon Episcopius An. 1643. falling sick of an Ischuria for Eleven Days not being able to make a drop of Water continued ill two Months or more and at last for some Weeks was deprived of his Sight which Loss had been more grievous to him had not his deep and almost continual Sleeping lessened the same For he complained of it to his Friends that he should not be able to serve the Church of Christ any more He died April 4 at Eight of the Clock in the Morning the Moon being then eclipsed saith the Author of his Life p. 26. 106. Gustavus Ericson King of Sweden having lived 70 Years and reigned 38. gave in Charge to his Children to endeavour the Peace and maintain the Liberties of their Country but especially to preserve the Purity of Religion without the Mixture of Human Inventions and to live in Unity as Brethren among themselves and so sealing up his Will he resigned his Spirit to God An. 1562. Clark's Martyrol p. 370. 107. Edward the Sixth King of England in the Time of his Sickness hearing Bishop Ridley preach upon Charity gave him many Thanks for it and thereupon ordered Gray-Friars Church to be a House for Orphans St. Bartholomew's to be an Hospital and his own House at Bridewel to be a Place of Correction And when he had set his Hand to that Work he thank'd God that he had prolong'd his Life till he had finished that good Design About three Hours before his Death having his Eyes clos'd and thinking none near him he prayed thus with himself Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life and take me among thy Chosen howbeit not my Will but thine be done Lord I commend my Spirit to thee O Lord thou knowest
how Happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosen sake send me Life and Death I suspect some Mistake in recording these last Words perhaps Life or Death that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God! bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and thy People may praise thy Holy Name for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake His last Words were I am faint Lord have mercy and take my Spirit He died aged 17. 108. The Lady Jane Grey by King Edward's Will proclaimed Queen of England the Night before she was beheaded sent her Sister her Greek Testament in the end whereof she wrote as may be seen under the Head of Love of the Holy Scriptures She spoke on the Scaffold thus GOod People I am come hither to Die and by a Law I am condemned to the same My Offence against the Queen's Majesty was only in consenting to the Device of others which now is deemed Treason yet it was never of my seeking but by Counsel of those who should seem to have further understanding of those things than I who knew little of the Law and much less of Titles to the Crown But touching the Procurement thereof by me or on my behalf I do here wash my Hands in Innocency before God and the Face of you all this Day and therewith she wrung her Hands wherein she had her Book I pray you all good Christian People to bear me Witness that I die a true Christian Woman and that I look to be saved by no other means but only by the Mercy of God in the Blood of his only Son Jesus Christ And I do confess That when I knew the Word of God I neglected the same and loved my self and the World and therefore this Plague and Punishment is justly befallen me for my Sins And I yet thank God of his Goodness that he hath been pleased to give me Respite to Repent in And now good People while I am alive I pray assist me with your Prayers She died 1554. aged 16. Tu quibus ista legas incertum est Lector ocellis Ipsa equidem siccis scribere non potui Fox 's Martyrol 109. Queen Elizabeth is reported upon her Death-bed but by what Author I confess I do not presently remember to complain of the want of Time Time Time a World of Wealth for an Inch of Time yet finished her Course with that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good Fight c. 110. The young Lord Harrington professed in his Sickness That he feared not Death in what shape soever it came declaring about two Hours before his Death that he still felt the assured Comforts and Joys of his Salvation by Jesus Christ And when Death approached he breathed forth these longing Expressions Oh that Joy Oh my God! when shall I be with thee And so sweetly resigned up his Spirit unto God An. 1613. aged 22. See in his Life in the Young Man's Calling and my Christian 's Companion 111. Henry Prince of Wales eldest Son to King James in his Sickness had these Words to one that waited on him Ah Tom I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain Recreations Which puts me in mind of what Mr. Smith relates in the Funeral Solemnity of Mr. Moor Fellow of Gaius College and Keeper of the University Library viz. That he often lamented the Misery of our English Gentry who are commonly brought up to nothing but Hawks and Hounds and know not how to bestow their Time in a Rainy Day and in the midst of all their Plenty are in want of Friends necessary Reproof and most loving Admonition 112. The Earl of Strafford made this Speech on the Scaffold May 12. 1641. MY Lord Primate of Ireland and my Lords and the rest of the Gentlemen it is a very great Comfort to me to have your Lordship by me this Day in regard I have been known to you a long time I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few Words but I doubt I shall not My Lord I come hither by the Good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to Sin which is Death and by the Blessing of God to rise again through the Merits of Christ Jesus to Eternal Glory I wish I had been private that I might have been heard My Lord if I might be so much beholden to you that I might use a few Words I should take it for a very great Courtesie My Lord I come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented Mind I do freely forgive all the World a Forgiveness that is not spoken from the Teeth outward as they say but from the Heart I speak it in the Presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not in me so much as a displeasing Thought to any Creature I thank God I may say truly and my Conscience bears me witness that in all my Service since I have had the Honour to serve His Majesty in any Employment I never had any thing in my Heart but the joynt and individual Prosperity of the King and People If it hath been my Hap to be misconstrued it is the common Portion of us all while we are in this Life the Righteous Judgment is hereafter here we are subject to Error and apt to be misjudged one of another There is one thing I desire to clear my self of and I am very confident I speak it with so much clearness that I hope I shall have your Christian Charity in the belief of it I did always ever think the Parliaments of England were the happiest Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and under God the happiest Means of making King and People happy so far have I been from being against Parliaments For my Death I here acquit all the World and pray God heartily to forgive them and in particular my Lord Primate I am very glad that His Majesty is pleased to conceive me not meriting so severe and heavy a Punishment as the utmost execution of this Sentence I am very glad and infinitely rejoyce in this Mercy of his and beseech God to turn it to him that he may find Mercy when he hath most need of it I wish this Kingdom all the Prosperity and Happiness in the World I did it living and now dying it is my Wish I do now profess it from my Heart and do most humbly recommend it to every Mâ—n here and wish every Man to lay his Hand upon his Heart and consider seriously whether the beginning of the Happiness of a People should be written in Letters of Blood I fear you are in a wrong way and I desire Almighty God that no one drop of my Blood may
to the uttermost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great Instant full Patience proportionable Comfort and a Heart ready to die for thy Honour the King's Happiness and this Church's Preservation and my Zeal to these far from Arrogancy be it spoken is all the Sin Humane Frailty excepted and all Incidents thereto which is yet known to me in this Particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my Sins are very many and great Lord pardon them all and those especially whatever they are which have drawn down this special Judgment upon me And when thou hast given me Strength to bear it do with me as seems best in thine own Eyes and carry me through Death that I may look upon it in what Visage soever it appear unto me Amen And that there may be a Stop of this Issue of Blood in this more than miserable Kingdom I shall desire That I may pray for the People too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give Grace of Repentance to all Blood-thirsty People but if they will not Repent O Lord confound all their Devices defeat and frustrate all their Designs and Endeavours upon them which shall be contrary to the Glory of thy Great Name the Truth and Sincerity of Religion the Establishment of the King and his Posterity after him in their just Rights and Privileges the Honour and Conservation of Parliaments in their just Power the Preservation of this poor Church in her Truth Peace and Patrimony and the Settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done all this in Mercy for them O Lord fill their Hearts with Thankfulness and with Religious Dutiful Obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their Days So Amen Lord Jesus Amen And receive my Soul into thy Bosom Amen Our Father c. Again kneeling by the Block he prayed thus Lord I am coming as fast as I can I know I must pass through the Shadow of Death before I can come to see thee But it is but umbra mortis a meer Shadow of Death a little Darkness upon Nature but thou thro' thy Merits and Passion hast broke through the Jaws of Death So Lord receive my Soul and have Mercy upon me and bless this Kingdom with Peace and Plenty and with Brotherly Love and Charity that there may not be this Effusion of Christian Blood amongst them for Jesus Christ's sake if it be thy Will Then laying his Head upon the Block and praying silently to himself he said aloud Lord receive my Soul Which was the Signal given to the Executioner Thus he died Aged 71. Jan. 10. 1644. A brief Relat. of his Death and Sufferings printed at Oxon c. 1644. 114. King Charles the First made this his last Speech upon the Scaffold I Shall be very little heard by any body here I shall therefore speak a Word unto you here Indeed I could hold my Peace very well if I did not think that holding my Peace would make some Men think that I did submit to the Guilt as well as to the Punishment but I think it is my Duty to God first and to my Country for to clear my self both as an honest Man and a good Christian I shall begin first with my Innocency In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this for all the World knows I never did begin a War with the two Houses of Parliament and I call God to witness to whom I must shortly make an Account that I never did intend to encroach upon their Privileges They began upon me it was the Militia they began upon They confess'd that the Militia was mine but they thought it fit to have it from me And to be short if any Body will look to the Dates of Commissions both theirs and mine and likewise to the Declarations will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not I So that for the Guilt of these enormous Crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of it I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this Guilt For I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me have been the Cause of all this Bloodshed so that by way of speaking I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may be so too Yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say That God's Judgments are just upon me Many times he doth pay Justice by an unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this That an unjust Sentence that I suffered to take effect is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me That is so far I have said to shew you that I am an innocent Man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is a good Man pointing to Dr. Juxon that will bear me witness that I have forgiven all the World and those in particular that have been the chief Causers of my Death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great Sin in that Particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all my Soul and I hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you how you are out of the way and will put you in a way First You are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest Certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sirs in my Opinion is never Just except there be a good just Cause either for Matter of Wrong or a just Title and then if you go beyond it that makes it Unjust in the end that was Just at first But if it be only Matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander That he was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber And so Sirs I do think the way you are in is much out of the way Now Sirs for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out
then requested they might sing a Psalm the Sheriff told him It must be with the Ropes about their Necks which they chearfully accepted and sung with such Heavenly Joy and Sweetness that many present saiâ—â— It both broke and rejoyc'd their hearts Thus in the experience of the delightfulness of Praising God on Earth he willingly closed his Eyes on a vain World to pass to that Eternal Employment Sept. 30. 1685. All present of all sorts were exceedingly affected and amazed Some Officers that had before insultingly said Surely these Persons have no thoughts of Death but will find themselves surprized by it after said That they now saw he and they had something extraordinary within that carried them through with such Joy Others of them said That they were so convinced of their Happiness that they would be glad to change Conditions with them All the Soldiers in general and all others lamenting exceedingly saying That it was so sad a thing to see them cut off they scarce knew how to bear it Some of the most malicious in the Place from whom nothing but Railing was expected said as they were carried to their Grave in Taunton Church voluntarily accompanied by most of the Town That these Persons had left a sufficient Evidence that they were now glorified Saints in Heaven A great Officer in the King's Army has been often heard to say That if you would learn to die go to the Young Men of Taunton Much more was uttered by them which shewed the Blessed and Glorious frames of their hearts to the Glory of Divine Grace but this is what occurs to Memory Mr. Benjamin Hewling about two hours before his Death writ this following Letter which shewed the great composure of his Mind Mr. Hewling's last Letter a little before his Execution Taunton Sept. 30. 1685. Honoured Mother THat News which I know you have a great while feared and we expected I must now acquaint you with That notwithstanding the Hopes you gave in your two last Letters Warrants are come down for my Execution and within these few hours I expect it to be performed Blessed be the Almighty God that gives comfort and support in such a day how ought we to magnifie his holy Name for all his Mercies that when we were running on in a course of sin he should stop us in our full Career and shew us that Christ whom we had pierced and out of his Free Grace enable us to look upon him with an Eye of Faith believing him able to save to the utmost all such as come to him Oh admirable long-suffering and Patience of God! that when we were dishonouring his Name he did not take that time to bring honour to himself by our destruction But he delighteth not in the death of a sinner but had rather he should turn to him and live And he has many ways of bringing his own to himself Blessed be his Holy Name that through Affliction he has taught my heart in some measure to be conformable to his Will which worketh Patience and Patience worketh Experience and Experience Hope which maketh not ashamed I bless God I am not ashamed of the Cause for which I lay down my Life and as I have engaged in it and fought for it so now I am going to Seal it with my Blood The Lord still carry on the same Cause which hath been long on foot and tho' we die in it and for it I question not but in his own good time he will raise up other Instruments more worthy to carry it on to the Glory of his Name and the Advancement of his Church and People Honoured Mother I know there has been nothing left undone by you or my Friends for the saving of my Life for which I return my hearty Acknowledgments to your self and them all and it 's my dying Request to you and them to Pardon all undutifulness 〈◊〉 unkindness in every Relation Pray give my Duty to my Grandfather and Grandmother Service to my Uncles and Aunts and my dear Love to all my Sisters to every Relation and Friend a particular Recommendation Pray tell 'em all how Precious an Interest in Christ is when we come to die and advise them never to rest in a Christless Estate For if we are his 't is no matter what the World do to us they can but kill the Body and blessed be God the Soul is out of their reach for I question not but their Malice wishes the Damnation of that as well as the Destruction of the Body which has too evidently appeared by their deceitful and â—â—tering Promises I commit you all to the Care and Protection of God who has promised to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow and to supply the want of every Relation The Lord God of Heaven be your Comfort under these Sorrows and your Refuge from those Miseries we may easily fore-see coming upon poor England and the poor distâ—eâ—â—ed People of God in it The Lord carry you through this Vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Their CHARACTERS THey were both of very sweet and obliging Tempers as has appeared in their History it being a very hard matter for their worst Enemies when they once knew 'em well not to Honour and Love ' em Mr. Benjamin the Elder reconciled the Lamb and the Lion exactly In the Field he seem'd made only for War and any where else for nothing but Love He without Flattery deserv'd to be call'd a very fine Man of a lovely Proportion extreamly well made as handsome a Meen and good an Air as perhaps few in England exceeded him His Picture is pretty like him The Younger Mr. William somewhat taller and more slender his Face fresh and lively as his Spirit being Master of an extraordinary vivacity and briskness of Temper Both of 'em Vertuous Pious and Courageous far above their Years and indeed seem'd to be Men too soon one of 'em not being Twenty the Eldest but Two and twenty when they dy'd verifying that common Observation That whatever is perfect sooner than ordinary has generally a shorter Period prefix'd it than what 's more base and ignoble 2. Mr. CHRISTOPHER BATTISCOMB HE was another young Gentleman of a good Family and very great Hopes and of a fair Estate which lay in Dorsetshire somewhere between Dorchester and Lyme He had studied some time at the Temple and having Occasions in the Country about the Time of my Lord Russel's Business he was there seiz'd on Suspicion of being concern'd in 't and clapt into the County Gaol at Dorchester where he behaved himself with that Prudence and winning Sweetness and shew'd so much Wit and innocent pleasantry of Temper as extreamly obliged both all his Keepers and Fellow-Prisoners and even Persons of the best Quality in that Town They knew how to value such a Gentleman
in the performance of that Duty which like Jacob's Ladder tho' it stand upon the Earth yet it reaches up to Heaven Here 's the Love of God made manifest to a poor Sinner at the last hour like the Thief upon the Cross he that never new before what the Love of God was to his Soul finds it now filled with it and running over Now bless the Lord O my Soul yea all that is within me Bless his holy Name for this Dispensation Now Light appears out of Darkness in the Face of Jesus now all Worldly Joy and Comforts seem to me as they are things not hard to part with Father Mother Brothers Sister Wife Children House and Lands are as my dear Saviour saith to be parted with for him or we are not worthy of him I bless his Name I find no reluctancy to do it he hath brought me to his Foot-stool and I can say heartily the Will of the Lord be done in this matter I never before but saw a Beauty in Worldly Comforts but now those seem so faded by the greater Lustre and Beauty that I see in God in Christ Jesus that I am astonished where I have been wandring all my days spending my Time and my Money for that which is not Bread O strive to get a taste of this Love of God in Christ Jesus and it will perfectly wean you from this deceitful foolish World What is worldly Honour and Riches O set not your hearts upon them but get a Treasure in Heaven that your hearts may be there also O lose no time for if you ever knew the sweetness of it you would never be at rest till you found him whom your Soul loved it will be more yea infinitely more than all worldly Enjoyments can afford you tho' in their greatest Perfection it will make your Life sweet and your Death most comfortable It is the Bread which this World knoweth not of and therefore maketh little or no Enquiry after it Dearest Relations whilst you and my other dear Friends are like Aaron and Hur holding up the Hands of Moses I am through Grace getting Victory over the Amalekites I â—n embrace my dear and beloved Brother and Companion with more Joy in the Field of Suffering than ever I could have done had I met him crowned with the Lawrels of Victory Oh the Mercy to die with such a Friend and such a valiant Soldier of Jesus who hath kept his Garments clean I now begin to pity you that stay behind who have many Temptations to conflict with for a little yea a very little time and my Warfare will be accomplished and if God continue his Love and Influence upon my Soul it will be both short and sweet I have little of this World about me I leave you all the Legacy of what was ever dearest to me the best of Wives and five poor Children who must pass through an evil and sinful World but I have committed them to God who hath commanded to cast our Fatherless Children and Widows upon him Dear Parents Brothers Sister all adieu my time draws on my Paper is finished and your dying Child and Brother recommends you all to him who is All-sufficient to the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant who will make you Perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen RICHARD NELTHROP From the Palace of Newgate Octob. 30. 1685. Two of the Clock in the Morning Mr. Nelthrop's Last Speech THE great and inexpressible trouble and distraction I have been under since I came into Trouble especially since my close Confinement in Newgate hath so broken my Reason that for many Weeks last past till the day my Sentence was passed I have not had any composure of Mind and have been under the greatest trouble imaginable Since my dearest Wife hath had the Favour granted her of coming to me I am at present under great composedness of Mind through the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. As to what I stand Outlawed for and am now sentenced to die I can with comfort Appeal to the great God before whose Tribunal I am to appear that what I did was in the simplicity of my heart without seeking any private Advantage to my self but thinking it my Duty to hazard my Life for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and English Liberties which I thought invaded and both in great danger of being lost As to the Design of Assassinating the late King or his present Majesty it always was a thing highly against my Judgment and which I always detested and I was never in the least concerned in it neither in Purse nor Person nor ever knew of any Arms bought for that intent nor did I believe there was any such Design or ever heard of any disappointment in such an Affair or Arms or Time or Place save what after the Discovery of the General Design Mr. West spoke of as to Arms bought by him And as to my self I was in the North when the late King was at New-Market and the first News I had of the Fire was at Beverly in York-shire As to my coming over with the late Duke of Monmouth it was in prosecution of the same ends but the Lord in his Holy and Wise Providence hath been pleased to blast all our Undertakings tho' there seemed to be a very unanimous and zealous Spirit in all those that came from beyond the Seas And as to the Duke of Monmouth's being declared King I was wholly Passive in it I never having been present at any publick Debate of that Affair and should never have advised it but complained of it to Col. Holmes and Captain Patchet I believe the Lord Gray and Mr. F the chief Promoters of it As to the Temptation of being an Evidence and bringing either into trouble or danger of his Life the meanest Person upon the Account for which I suffer I always abhorred and detested the thoughts of it both when in and out of danger and advised some very strongly against it except when under my Distraction in Prison that amongst other Temptations did violently assault me but through the goodness of my dearest God and Father I was preserved from it and indeed was wholly incapable and could never receive the least shadow of comfort from it but thought Death more eligible and was some time afore out of my distracted and disquieted condition wholly free from it though not without other Temptations far more Criminal in the sight of Men. I bless the Father of all Mercies and God of all Consolations that I find a great Resignedness of my Will to his finding infinitely more comfort in Death than ever I could place in Life tho' in a condition that might seem honourable every hour seeing the Will of God in ordering
Duke 〈…〉 in Scotland with what Forces he could make to which were added some others who 〈…〉 which after several Marches and Counter-Marches were at length led into a Boggy sort of a place on pretence or with intention to bring him off from the other Army then upon the Heels of 'em where they all lost one another dispers'd and shifted for themselves the Earl being taken by a Country-man and brought to Edinburgh where he suffer'd for his former unpardonable Crime requiring Care shou'd be taken of the Protestant Religion and explaining his taking the Test conformable thereto for the Legality of which he had the Hands of most of the eminent Lawyers about the City He suffer'd at Edinburgh the 30th of June 1685. His Speech has a great deal of Piety and Religion nor will it be any Disgrace to say 't was more like a Sermon 'T is as follows The Earl of Aâ—gyle's Last Speech June 30. 1685. JOB tells us Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble and I am a clear Instance of it I shall not now say any thing of my Sentence or Escape about three Years and a half ago nor of my Return lest I may thereby give Offence or be tedious Only being to end my Days in your presence I shall as some of my last Words assert the Truth of the Matter of Fact and the Sincerity of my Intentions and Professions that are published That which I intend mainly now to say is To express my humble and I thank God chearful Submission to his Divine Will and my Willingness to forgive all Men even my Enemies and I am heartily well satisfied there is no more Blood spilt and I shall wish the Stream thereof may stop at me And that if it please God to say as to Zerubbabel Zech. 4.6 Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts I know Afflictions spring not out of the Dust God did wonderfully deliver and provide for me and has now by his special Providence brought me to this Place and I hope none will either Insult or stumble at it seeing they ought not for God Almighty does all things well for good and holy Ends tho' we do not always understand it Love and Hatred is not known by what is before us Eccles 9.1 and 8.11 12 13. Afflictions are not only foretold but promised to Christians and are not only tolerable but desirable We ought to have a deep Reverence and Fear of God's Displeasure but withal a firm Hope and Dependance on him for a blessed Issue in compliance with his Will for God chastens his own to refine them and not to ruine them whatever the World may think Heb. 12.3 to 12. Prov. 3.11 12. 2 Tim. 1.8 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Matth. 10.18 to 40. Matth. 16.24 to 28. We are to imitate our Saviour in his Sufferings as 1 Pet. 2.23 and 1 Pet. 4.16 to 20. We are neither to despise our Afflictions nor to faint under them both are extreams We are not to suffer our Spirits to be exasperated against the Instruments of our Trouble for the same Affliction may be an effect of their Passion and yet sent by God to punish us for Sin Tho' 't is a Comfort when we may say to them with David Psal 59.3 Not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord. Nor are we by fraudulent pusillanimous Compliances in wicked Courses to bring Sin upon our selves Faint Hearts are ordinary false Hearts choosing Sin rather than Sufferings and a short Life with eternal Death before temporal Death and a Crown of Glory Such seeking to save a little loses all and God readily hardens them to proceed to their own Destruction How many like Hazael 2 Kings 8.13 run to Excesses they never thought they were capable of Let Rulers and others read seriously and weigh Prov. 1.10 to 20. 2 Chr. 28.6 to 17. Prov. 24.11 12. and 28.10 And avoid what is Bad and follow what is Good For me I hope by God's strength to joyn with Job chap. 13. 15. and the Psalmist Psal 22.4 and 167. and shall pray as Psal 74.19 to 24. and Psal 122.6 to 9. and Luke 1.74 75. and shall hope as Psal 94.14 15. I do freely forgive all that directly or indirectly have been the Cause of my being brought to this Place first or last and I pray God forgive them I pray God send Truth and Peace in these Three Kingdoms and continue and encrease the glorious Light of the Gospel and restrain the Spirit of Profanity Atheism Superstition Propery and Persecution and restore all that have back-slidden from the Purity of their Life or Principles and bless his whole People with all Blessings spiritual and temporal and put an end to their present Trials And I entreat all People to forgive me wherein I have offended and concurr with me to pray That the Great Good and Merciful God would sanctifie my present Lot and for Jesus Christ his sake Pardon all my Sins and receive me to his Eternal Glory It is suggested to me That I have said nothing of the Royal Family and it remembers me that before the Justices at my Trial about the Test I said That at my Death I would pray That there should never want one of the Royal Family to be a Defender of the True Ancient Apostolick Catholick Protestant Faith which I do now And that GOD would enlighten and forgive all of them that are either luke-warm or have shrunk from the Profession of it And in all Events I pray God may provide for the Security of his Church that Antichrist nor the Gates of Hell may never prevail against it 8. Colonel RVMBOLD AT the same Place died Colonel Richard Rumbold June 26. 1685. Two or three Passages there are worth Remarks in his Speech and Tryal as Arguments of his Sense and Courage For this Cause he says were every Hair of his Head and Beard a Life he 'd joyfully sacrifice 'em all That he was never Antimonarchical in his Principles but for a King and Free Parliament the King having Power enough to make him Great and the People to make 'em happy That he died in the Defence of the just Laws and Liberties of the Nations That none was mark'd by God above another for no Man came into the World with a Saddle on their Backs nor others Booted and Spurr'd to ride upon 't And being ask'd if he thought not his Sentence dreadful answer'd He wish'd he had a Limb for every Town in Christendome The Last Speech of Colonel Richard Rumbold at the Market-Cross of Edinburgh with several Things that passed at his Tryal June 26. 1685. ABout Eleven of the Clock he was brought from the Castle of Edinburgh to the Justices Court in a great Chair on Mens shoulders where at first he was asked some Questions most of which he answer'd with silence at last said He humbly conceived it was not necessary for him to add to his
Practice of the Independant Church and in that Faith I die depending on the Merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ for my Eternal Salvation His Blessing be with you all Farewel to thee poor England Farewel 16. Mr. Josias Askew's Letter to his Father Honoured Father I Not having an Opportunity to make my Gratitude known to you for all your Endeavours for the saving a poor vain perishing and troublesome Life and seeing it is all in vain I would desire you both to acquiesce in the Will of God and rejoyce with me for this happy Day of my departure from this State of Pilgrimage home to the Possession of those Heavenly Mansions which my God and Father hath provided for me in and through my Lord Jesus Christ It is in him alone I put my Trust and Confidence and therefore can boldly say Who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again and is set down at the Right Hand of God making Intercession for all those that have a well-grounded Confidence in him My Time is but short and by reason of Company I am disturbed Therefore I conclude with my last Breath begging of God that he would keep you constant in his Fear in this Day of great Temptation and at last receive you to his Glory where we shall once more unite in praising without interruption or distraction World without end Amen Until which time the Grace of God the Father the Love of God the Son the comfortable Refreshing of God the holy Ghost be with you all yours and the whole Israel of God both now and for ever Which is the hearty Prayer of your Son JOSIAS ASKEW Pray remember me to all with Joy The Account his Friend gives of him TO prevent your further Trouble in suing for a Pardon I think it convenient to let you know I do not question but my dear Cousin hath had his Pardon sealed by the King of Kings and is in everlasting Blessedness singing Hallelujahs Salvation Glory and Honour to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever For God did so carry him through to drink that bitter Cup with so much Courage and Chearfulness to the last as was to the Admiration of all Spectators notwithstanding the terrible Sight he saw at the Place of Suffering and so vehemently as he was tried by the Adversary yet it did not in the least discompose him or alter his Countenance for he continued with a smiling Countenance to the last and was transported above measure I want Words to express it he was like one wrapp'd up in Heaven with his Heart there and his Eyes fixed thereon I could wish you had been there it would have driven away all cause of Sorrow from your Heart to see his Deportment and hear the Gracious Words that proceeded out of his Mouth He remembreth his Duty to you both and left Paul's Blessing with you Grace Mercy and Peace his Love to his dear Sister He desires her not to be troubled for him for he hath made his Peace with God and was assured he should go to eternal Happiness He would have written more to you and to his Sister but that he had so short a time after Sentence that he wanted Opportunity When he went out of Prison he said Gentlemen Now I am going and it is the Time I much longed for I would not change with him that passeth Sentence upon me for a World I was with him to the last and seeing his Courage it did very much encourage me though I never saw such a sight with my Eyes 17. The Behaviour of JOHN HOLWAY before and at the Place of Execution at Warham in the County of Dorset HE lived in Lime where the Duke landed and appeared in Arms at that time until his Captain left him then took up Arms under the Duke of Monmouth and went with him until the King's Proclamation came forth That all that would lay down their Arms before some Justice of the Peace in Four Days after and take a Certificate for their so doing they should be acquitted and have his Majesty's Pardon which this Person did though one Day too late He received his Sentence with much Courage and Resolution and by the means of one Mr. Tiller who was to suffer with him was brought to that settled frame of Spirit as is fit for one in that Condition As he was riding in the Cart toward the Place of Execution the Troopers being just behind the Cart he told them They shewed like brave Fellows But said he if I were to have my Life for fighting the best Five of you I would not question it At the Place of Execution he said not much But that he thought his and other Mens Blood would be revenged one time or another and said Forgive me have Mercy on my poor Soul pardon all my Sins and the like and so the Executioner did his Office 18. The Last Speech and Prayer of Mr. Matthews at the Place of Execution HE was much concerned the Morning before he died to see his Wife weep and to be in such a Passion for him which drew Tears from his Eyes and taking her in his Arms said My Dear Prithee do not disturb me at this time but endeavour to submit to the Will of God and although thy Husband is going from thee yet I trust God will be All in All to thee Sure my Dear you will make my Passage into Eternity more troublesome than otherwise if you thus lament and take on for me I am very sensible of thy tender Love towards me but would have you consider that this Separation will be so much for my Advantage as your Loss cannot parallel I thank God I am willing to die and to be with my Jesus Be satisfied the Will of God must be done Thy Will be done O God in Earth as it is in Heaven So embracing her he took his Last Farewel of her and prepared to go to the Place of Execution where being come he with a very modest sober composed frame of Spirit stood while he saw several Executed before him His Turn being come he thus spake Dear Countrymen I Suppose we are all of one Kingdom and Nation and I hope Protestants O I wonder we should be so Cruel and Blood-thirsty one towards another I have heard it said heretofore that England could never be ruin'd but by her self which now I frear is a doing Lord have Mercy on poor England Turn the Hearts of the Inhabitants thereof cause them to love one another and to forget one anothers Infirmities Have Mercy O Lord on me Give me Strength and Patience to fulfil thy Will Comfort my dear and sorrowful Wife be a Husband unto her stand by her in the greatest Trouble and Affliction Let her depend upon thy Providence Be merciful to all Men. Preserve this Nation from Popery Find out a way for its Deliverance if it be thy good Will and give all Men
beginning and that I had taken the Counsel which I have now given c. Loathing his beloved Sin Uncleanness and admonishing all young People to Watch and Pray against it Hoping if he were to live as many Years as he had been but Moments to live he should through the Grace of God never commit it any more 2. Thomas Savage executed at Ratcliff-Cross Oct. 28. 1669. He began very early to tread the Paths of Sin confessing at the Place of Execution That the first Sin he began with was breaking the Sabbath He was not above Sixteen Years of Age when he was Executed His Crime was for murdering a Maid his Fellow-Servant 3. Robert Foulks executed at Tyburn Jan. 31. 1678. Being at the Place of Execution he admonished the People to consider the Mischief of Uncleanness and what a Sin it was for a Member of Christ to make himself the Member of an Harlot that it was a Sin that seldom goes alone but is the Mother-Sin to a number more Warning them to avoid the Snares of a Whorish Woman to keep the Marriage-Bed undefiled He was Minister of Staunton-Lacy and executed for murdering his Bastard-Child 4. Thomas Short executed at Oxford Anno 1678. Being in Prison he imagined the Person whom he murdered viz. Mr. Wingrove an Oxford Scholar to appear before his Eyes in a bloody and threatning form commanding him to appear before God's Tribunal to answer for what he had done Being at the Place of Execution he exhorted the People to speedy and sincere Repentance and strictly to observe the Sabbath c. Which had he done he had not come to this miserable End 5. Margaret Clark executed in Surry Anno 1679. She consented for 2000 Pound Reward to the Firing of her Master's House in Southwark Being in Prison in the Marshalsea she confessed That for her Breaking the Sabbath and neglecting her Duty towards God this Temptation had prevailed over her On the Day of her Execution when she was going into the Cart This is said she a blessed Day to me O this is my Wedding-Day I shall be married to my Saviour O Lord that ever I should offend so Good and Gracious a God as thou art O the Joys I long to be at the Place of Being under the Gallows she looked up and said I am now going to the Glory to the Glory which God hath prepared for me c. Lord I am come to thee I desire you all not to spend the Lord's-Day idly and wickedly as I have done For it was Sabbath-breaking that was my first Step to this Wickedness And I beg of you all not to spend your Time in vain but to the Honour and Glory of God Being ask'd by Dr. Martin What Assurance last thou of God's Forgiveness I know said she in whom I have believed I had great Joys from the Lord since the Sentence passed on me Blessed be God that ever I came into a Prison The Doctor having prayed with her she continued crying out O the Glory O the Glory 6. Henry Parker executed at Tyburn Anno 1689. He lamented the mispending of his Time saying O the precious Time I have squandred away upon Trifles and Vanities upon my Lusts and Pleasures which I now want to make my Peace with God and purchase Eternal Life That it was not so easie to Repent as he supposed His Crime was for Counterfeiting Guinea's 7. John Marketman executed in Essex April 17. 1680. He confessed he had departed from his God in his Youth and disobeyed his Parents not shewing them that Reverence as he ought For which Sin said he I think God has justly punished me in making me die Childless For sure it is if Long Life be a Promise to those that Honour their Parents it should cause Children to take care how they do the contrary adding That neglecting the church and the Publick Worship of God and choosing rather to spend my Time in an Ale-house brought me to Evil Company and so to Drunkenness which getting an Habit made me a professed Enemy to God and give my self over to Swearing and Cursing and Lying and so from one Sin to another till I arrived at the heighth c. That formerly he loved to commit Sin but now hated the very Thoughts of it and could not commit a Sin to gain a Kingdom Exhorting the People to take heed of the Beginnings of Sin telling them You will find if once you habituate your selves to the committing of Sin it will be very hard to root it out it must cost you many a Tear and much Bitterness in crucifying your darling Sins which Trouble and Expence might be sav'd if you would be careful to resist the first Temptation Bewailing his Drunkeriness and Uncleanness His Crime was for murdering his Wife 8. William Bottler executed in Essex for murdering Captain Wade When he heard his Friends laboured for a Pardon he expressed his Dislike of it rather desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ least being so well prepar'd the Naughtiness of his Heart without a Godly carcusie over it might make him turn again to Vanity 9. John Stern executed at St. James's March 10. 1681. He consented to the Murder of Thomas Thynn Esq under the Promise of Three or Four Hundred Rix-Dollers He often blessed God for bringing him to a Prison and that he had not made his Escape to lead a wicked Life any longer The Morning of his Execution he confessed he found much Joy and Comfort saying He was going to exchange a Prison for a Paradise a Prison that had been better to him than any Palace for that God had touched him and drawn him and quickened him And now saith he O God I come to thee to live with thee for ever Breaking out into such Ecstasies of Joy as these O my God! my God! my infinitely Good God! How do I love thee I will bless thee as long as I live c. That when I had forsaken thee and was at the Gates of Hell thou hast brought me from thence to the Gates of Heaven I bless thee that thou hast chastised me with thy Rod that thy Rod is a Rod of Mercy When he expressed these Words he appeared in a Rapture of Joy and though he wept he said they were not Tears of Sorrow but Floods from the excess of Joy 10. Robert Brighurst who poisoned himself Anno 1680. He confessed to a Minister whom he sent for to pray with him That he had cast off Prayers two or three Years agoe and that now he found his Heart so hardned that he could not form it to Prayer 11. Francis Kirk executed at Tyburn Anno 1684. for murdering his Wife The Question being asked him where was his Wife he changed Colour and fell into a Fit of Trembling and being carried before a Magistrate confessed he had murdered her A Note was left in her Pocket signifying the Place of her Abode which the infatuated Murderer Divine Providence so ordering it had not taken
Spirit that he might Labour faithfully and successfully in so holy and excellent a Work which being ended Brousson said Well my Brethren is it then your desire that I should preach the Word of God to you and also administer the Holy Sacrament To whom when the Faithful had made answer That they ardently desired it he added That since it was the Will of God that he should preach the Gospel and administer the Lord's Supper unto them he also Prayed with all his Heart that the Lord would vouchsafe the saving Aids of his Holy Spirit unto him and continually increase of Grace to the end he might for the remainder of his Life Labour successfully to the Glory of the great God the Advancement of his Kingdom and for the Salvation and Consolation of his chosen Ones Then having himself made his Prayer of Consecration he entred upon Preaching and Administring the Ordinances unto them Broussâ—n in the beginning of January 1690 having need of a Companion took Henry Poutant along with him as Vivens did Papus and so they left the high Mountain where they had endured great Hardships and parted Brousson going from Desart to Desart through Câ—vennes and Lower Languedoc to preach the Gospel And tho' there were a great many Soldiers in that Country who moved Night and Day to hinder such Assemblies yet that did not prevent their being frequently held in the Desarts Brousson for the first two Years had a great many of them sometimes three or four Meetings a Week till at last the ill state of his Health and Stomach which he had lost by continual Labour forced him to abstain for some Months but the extream Desolation whereunto the People of God were reduced affected him to that degree that he could not moderate his Zeal so that after he had taken some Repose in one place his manner was to traverse a large Country and to keep Meetings almost at every League 's distance according as he found it necessary for the Instruction and Consolation of the People Nay many times before he rested in any one place he held ten a dozen fifteen to twenty Assemblies sometimes it so happened that for fifteen Nights together he kept Meetings every other Night and yet made use of some part of the intermediate Night to go from one place to another In the ordinary Assemblies he was obliged to speak eagerly for the space of three Hours and when the Sacrament was administred for four or five Hours and an half in the various Exercises of Divine Worship Besides these continual Labours he made three long Prayers every Day one in the Morning another at three in the Afternoon and a third in the Evening for the Consolation of Families he came to as he passed from place to place or for such who took care of him in the Desarts and for those of other faithful Families who could be present at these particular Exercises and these Prayers were also many times accompanied with an Exhortation He also every Lord's Day performed two religious Exercises one in the Morning and the other in the Afternoon with the Faithful who knew the place of his retreat and who could come to Pray to God with him and hear the Reading and Expounding of his Word or the Reading of some one of his Sermons which Reading was also attended with an Exhortation He did not content himself with Preaching the Gospel Viva voce but he Preached it also by Writing for the Night he employed to keep great Meetings or to travel from Place to Place and the Day after having taken a few Hours Repose in the Morning he spent incessantly in making Copies of his Sermons which he composed upon the most Important Matters of Salvation in relation to the State the Church of God was then in in France and in Opposition to the Errors Superstitions Idolatry and Tyrannick and Antichristian Rule that took place in the Romish Church which he took Care to have dispersed in Towns and Villages where he could not go himself to Preach He also Transcribed Copies of several Letters or Prayers which he Composed for the Edification of the People and which he sent also to several Places For this purpose he always carried a little Board with him which serv'd him to write upon in the Woods upon his Knees and which he called the Wilderness-Table insomuch that when the ill State of his Body or the over-great Fury of his Enemies hindred him to continue Holy Assemblies God gave him the Comfort to labour for the Salvation of the People in a way sometimes more efficacious and extensive than if he could have Preached to them in Person Besides which he also laboured from time to time to defend the Truth by other Writings which he sent to the Court in Justification of the Doctrine which he Preached and to serve at the same time for an Apology for the other Servants of God who Preached his Word in France and for the People that met together to serve God and hear his Word Which yet had so little effect that besides the daily Outrages of the Soldiery there was an Order Published in the Year 1691 wherein was promised Five thousand Livres to any one that should take Vivens and Brousson dead or alive At which Vivens being somewhat transported with Indignation thô otherwise of unblamable Conversation of which even the Intendant himself Monsieur de Bavile who hath made so many Martyrs in Lower Languedoc Cevennes Vivares c. bare Testimony when he said That he would not judge that same Man they were so transported against him that having taken one named Valdeiron who was of the Number of those that accompanied him the Violence offered him and the fear of the horrible Punishment prepared for him made him shew them the Cave where Vivens had hid himself which they immediately surrounded with Soldiers in February 1692 the poor Man after he had prayed thrice resolved to sell his Life as dear as he could and so killed three of the most adventurous Men that drew nearest the Cave at last he was killed There were three Men in the Cave with him who could have defended themselves much longer and destroy'd many of their Enemies but the Governour of Alais who Commanded the Soldiers offering them Life if they would surrender they accepted of the Conditions But for all this they were some Days after most injuriously hanged at Alais contrary to the said Capitulation It 's true Brousson did not approve of this immoderate Zeal in his Brother Vivens and the rest and therefore he proposed for his part to combat against his Enemies with the Sword of the Spirit only which is the Word and so continue his Ministry as before and holding a Meeting one time in the Wood of Boncoviran where there happened to be a Person remarkable for his Quality who drew near him through the midst of the People and such being rarely then seen in the like Assemblies this Assembly was
first brought forth pregnant of another Nat. Hist Oxfordsh p. 189. 5. An. 1633. David Spilinbergerus Physician of Leutschovia tells us of a Cow in Hungary that brought forth a Calf with a great Belly wherein was found another Calf with all its Limbs perfect ibid. Bartholin tells us of a Female still-born Child pregnant with another Female duly plac'd in the Womb about a span in length ibid. The same Author met with an Egg at Witney containing another imperfect one in it like that Ovum in Ovo of Doctor Harvey's or that kept in the King of Denmarks Repository or the other Bartholin saw 1669 or which Schastin Jungius saw 1671. ibid. CHAP. IV. Examples of the Fruitfulness of some Women HE whose Wife is as a Fruitful Vine by the sides of his House and his Children like Olive Plants round about his Table is by the Psalmist pronounced a happy Man supposing that he be withal one that fears the Lord Let Goodness and Fruitfulness go together and they will Terminate in Blessedness every Vertuous Child being a Crown of Glory and a particular Comfort to his Parents But Ill Fruit is certainly a Curse and the more in number the more Reproachful and Burthensome however they prove when he that carries the Keys of the Womb opens so wide and pours out so plentifully let none Fault the Supreme Governor for his Dispensations but attend diligently his own Office in the Nurture and Education 1. One of the Maid-servants of Augustus the Emperor was delivered of five Children at a Birth the Mother together with her Children were buried in the Laurentine-way with an Inscription upon them by the Order of Augustus relating the same Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 1 c. c. 3. p. 249. 2. Also Serapia a Woman of Alexandria brought forth five Children at one Birth Cael. Rhod. Antiq. lect l. 4. c. 23. p. 180. 3. Doctor Fuller out of Ausonius speaks of a Roman Matron called Callicrate and thus Translateth her Epitaph as speaking in her own Person Twenty Nine Births Callicrate I told And of both Sexes saw none sent to Grave I was an Hundred and Five Summers Old Yet stay from staff my Hands did never crave A rare instance which yet in the former respects you will find surpassed in what follows Fullers Worth p. 138. 4. A Woman of Dunstable who as her Epitaph in the Church testifies bore at three several times three Children at a Birth and five at a Birth two other times Haker Ap. p. 224. 5. Elionera Salviata the Wife of Frescobald a Citizen of Florence was delivered of 52 Children never less then three at a Birth Fullers Worth p. 119. 6. Anno 1553. The Wife of John Gissinger a Tigurine was delivered of Twins and before the Year was out brought at once five more three Sons and two Daughters Schenck Ob. 1 p. 563. 7. Julius Sentinarius of Bononia came into the World with six Births and was himself the seventh Schenck Obs. 1. p. 563. 8. Jane Pancica Wife to Bernard a Sicilian of Agrigentum was so fruitful that in 30 Births she was delivered of 73 Children Camer Hor. Subcis Cent. 2. c. 66. p. 273. 9. The famous Story of the Welfs is this Irmentrudes the Wife of Isenbbard Earl of Altorf had unadvisedly accused of Adultery a Woman that had three Children at a Birth being not able to believe that one Man could at one time get so many Children adding that she deserved to be sowed up in a Sack and thrown into the River and accusing her to her Husband the Earl It happened that the next Year the Countess felt her self with Child and the Earl being from Home she was brought to Bed of 12 Male Children but all of them very little She fearing the reproach of Adultery whereof yet she was not Guilty commanded that 11 of them should be taken and cast into a River not far from the House and one only brought up it so fell out that Isenbard met the Woman that was carrying the little Infants to their Death and asking her whither she went with her Pail she reply'd she was going to drown a few Whelps in the River of Scherk The Earl came to her and in despite of her resistance would see what was there and discovering the Children pressed her in such wise that she told him all the matter He caused them to be secretly Educated and so soon as they were grown great and brought home to him he set them in the Hall by him whom his Wife had brought up Being thus by their Faces all known to be Brethren their Mother mov'd in Conscience confessed the Fact and obtained Pardon for her Fault in remembrance whereof the Honourable Race of Wolfs that is Whelps got their Name Camer ibid. p. 274. 10. John Francis Earl of Mirandula tells of one Dorothy who at two several Births brought forth 20 Sons 9 at the one and 11 at the other while she went with this burthen by reason of the mighty weight she was wont to tie a swathing-band about her Neck and Shoulders and with that to bear up her swolen Belly which fell down to her very Knees Schenck Obs. Med. l. 4. Obs. 1. p. 563. 11. Matthias Golancevius Bishop of Vladislavia in Poland it is said of his Mother that she was delivered of 12 Sons at once and that of all these he only lived the rest dying as soon as they were born ibid. 12. Alexander de Campo Fregosa Bishop of Ventimilium attested upon his Faith that at Lamaia a Noble-woman brought forth 16 Humane Births of the bigness of a Man's Palm all which had motion and that besides these 16 which had Humane likeness she brought forth at the same time a Creature in the likeness of a Horse which had all motion all the 17 were wrap'd in one and the same Secondine which is monstrous ibid. p. 164. 13. Anno 1217. Upon the 20th of January the Lady Margaret Wife to the Earl Virloslaus was in the Country of Cracovia brought to Bed of 30 living bodies all at once ibid. 14. Matilda some say Margaret Wife to Count Herman of Henneberg did see a poor Widow Woman begging her Bread for God's sake having in either Arm a Child which she had at one Birth this poor Woman craving her Alms the Countess rejected her saying That it was against Nature for a Woman that was Honest to conceive by her Husband two Children of one birth the poor Woman prayed to God that in Vindication of her Innocency he would send the Lady at one burden so many Children as there are Days in a Year a while after the Lady was brought to bed on the Friday before Palm-Sunday Anno 1276 and was delivered of 365 Children half Sons and half Daughters the odd one found to be a Hermophradite These were laid in two Basons and Baptized by Guido Suffragan Bishop of Utrict the Sons Named John and the Daughters Elizabeth who presently died Heylins Cosmogr p. 384. Grimstons Hist Nethel l.