which as yet is none of the softest like the Babe in Elisabeth's Womb leap within me for Joy This indeed indeared you very much to me and set me a Longing to be partaker of your Heavenly Gift and though I had several Letters from several Persons that spake very largely of you and the wonderful Things God did by you and that at such a Rate if I had not known them to be Men of Sobriety Faithfulness and eminent Piety I should certainly have Judg'd they had flown in their Language above the Capacity of an Hyperbole to bring 'em safely off yet early at my Return when I went my self to Chichester and saw the unusual Seriousness of the vast Auditory and the extraordinary Going forth of your Spirit both in Prayer and Preaching I was strangely amazed and forc'd to say with the Queen of Sheba The half of your deserved Fame was not told me and made this Remark in my own Breast There was no such Sight to be seen any where in our Israel and therefore left others to consider of it and speak their Minds And if the Lord goes on as he has graciously and wonderfully begun Chichester will be the Place of Religion in the South of England and we may take in the rest of the Points of the Compass Verily you have or rather the Great Jehovah by you lighted such a Candle there that the Enemies of Free-Grace with all their Tricks and Artifices with all their Growling and Grumbling with all their Lying and Slandering with all their Noise and Clamour yea with all their Cunning and Priest-craft will never be able to put out for Magna est veritas prevalebit Dagon must and shall fall before the Ark of the Living God Dear Brother I am in a large Field whilst I have your noble Chichesterian Acts under review which will be for ever your Praise in the Gates of the Daughter of Zion and your Eternal Rejoycing in the day of the Lord Jesus and so very large is this Field that I despair of finding the way out and therefore must be forc'd to stand still breaking forth in the Apostle's Admiration O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and how are his Ways past finding out Or taking up the Dictates of the Holy Spirit in the Mouth of Balaam According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel Ay and now of Chichester too what has God wrought And though you did good even beyond Conception very much good even beyond Parallel whilst these Parts were Blessed with your Presence yet really the Good by way of Emphasis and which will be the most Sparkling Jewel in the Crown wherewith your Master will crown you in the Day of his Appearing was your speaking Peace to this Blessed Saint whose Sad Life is the Subject of the following Tract You were chosen out by the Lord of the Harvest and preferr'd before any of his Labourers to bring a Message of Peace and Comfort to her drooping Soul great Pains were used and many Essays made to effect a Cure upon her but alas all in vain No Words were wanting no Labour was spared no Gospel ways untryed for the easing her distressed Mind but all to no purpose If Prayers and Tears if publick and private Wrestlings with God if setting a-part Solemn Days if the spending part of many Nights if communicating of Experiences if opening and inculcating of the Promises if frequent Visits and labouring all manner of ways with her What shall I say If imparting the very Secrets of my Soul and all the Mysteries and Wonders of Grace my Gracious God ever made known to me in his Christ had any thing availed she had not been in those Shades of Horrid Darkness you found her For I can say in all Sincerity as Paul to the Corinthians My Mouth was opened my Heart was enlarged towards her Oh! how often did my Soul Mourn in Secret because I could not help her How many Tears did I shed in private because no words I spoke could take hold on her I was too unworthy of such an Honour My Poor Labours through the Influence of a Divine Blessing awakened her out of a Natural State but Success was denied to my Endeavours how great soever to Administer any Ease or Comfort That was your alotted Task by him with whom is the Residue of the Spirit Oh! to this end were you Born and for this cause came you unto Chichester to bear Witness unto the Truth to Gospel-truth Light and special Grace for the lifting up this Dear Languishing Soul who would not see who could not believe there was any Love or Redeeming Mercy for her till it was confirmed to her from your Lips then she saw the Beauty of the Lord as the Morning and the Glory of Jehovah her Righteousness as the Noon-day There was indeed before a Wind a Gale of Gospel-Truths that continually blew upon her but the Lord was not in the Wind There was a Fire of Zeal kindled in the Breasts of Ministers and many others always flaming in her Bosom but the Lord was not in the Fire and therefore though there was Balm enough fetch'd from Gilead and applied to her Wounds yet this Sorrowful Daughter of Jerusalem was not Healed till you came and God came with you as a Welcome Messenger of Salvation Then Oh! then the Son of Righteousness arose with Healing in his Wings in the Horizon of her Soul Then did the day break and the Shadows began to fly away and then did her Beloved come leaping over the Mountains and skipping over the Hills unto her Oh! Happy was the time wherein you first saw her and Blessed was the day in which it was told her Behold there is a Watch-man of the Lord 's sending a Work-man of the Lord 's preparing go and hear what he has to say to you As the Lord's way of Judgment so his ways of Mercy are in the Deep and his Footsteps coming towards a Poor Creature for Good and Comfort are not known So far am I from the Mode of this Generation to envy you or repine that you should do that in a few days which I could not do in many Months that the Lord knows I Love Honour Prize and Value you the more for it and you are much dearer to me since than ever you were before To you therefore I dedicate this short History of her Life and Death as that which of right belongs to you You knew her and was well known to her You pittied her in her doleful Agonies and took a great deal of Pains with her to help her out of the Deep Pit into which she was so horribly sunk The Lord reward you yea he will abundantly reward you for all your great Labour of Love to her precious Soul You were very high in her Esteem and exceeding Dear she never spoke of you but with wonderful Respect heartily
the Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness if the Absoluteness of the Covenant of Grace if believing Justification to be an immanent and instaneous Act if the excluding Works and all other Concauses whatever with the Merits of Christ in the matter of our Justification be Antinomianism the Lord keep me an Antinomian whilst I live for in the firm Truth of these great Points I desire to be found believing when I dye Oh! my Dear Friends and Brethren hold fast the Form of sound Words keep close to the Blessed and Glorious Truths of the Gospel do not give heed to the Seducing Fables of Men who cry up Inherent Righteousness and previous Qualifications in order to a Regenerate State making an Idol of them Singing Songs of Triumph to them as Israel did about the Golden Calf These be thy Gods O Israel that brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt 'T is the Honour of your Pulpit that no other Sound but that of Aaron's Golden Bells no other Melody but Grace Grace has as yet been heard there No Trash of Legal Righteousness or Humane Glittering Performances as Antecedaneous to a closing with Christ have been bellow'd forth within your Virgin-Walls that are yet undefiled and God of his Mercy still keep them so with the Language of the Beast For though you have had many Preachers yet they have been all acted by the same Spirit spoke the same thing borne Witness to the same Truth even Salvation by the Blood of Jesus without any Hay or Stubble of Man's Endeavours And if the Opposers of the everlasting Gospel gratifie their Luxuriant Fancies by Nick-naming it Antinomianism Oh! let not that discourage or disturb you Fourthly My last Advice to you is That you would have a special care of your Walking you have the Light Oh! Walk as Children of the Light You are Foundation Stones I heartily with none of you may prove rotten or unsound ones for that will prove very pernicious to your future Building and most dreadful to your own Souls in a dying Hour Remember Oh! Remember Holiness becomes the House of our God for ever Holiness is the Crown of the Church-Militant and it will be for ever the Glory of the Church-Triumphant You have many Eyes upon you many envious ones that are impatiently watching for your halting Oh! therefore I beseech you I most humbly and earnestly beg you for the Lord's sake for your Souls sake for the Gospel's sake for your Friends sake take special heed to your Steps and that in every respect Oh! do not fill Gath with Joy or the Streets of Askelon with Triumph put no occasion of insulting in the Mouths of the Uncircumcised by any Failing or Miscarriage Grieve not the Spirits of your Friends by giving your Enemies any just cause to upbraid you But walk in all things in all cases according to the Rule of the Gospel Loath Sin and leave it yea hate the very Appearance of Evil Remember the Son of God walks up and down among you to observe you with his Eyes as Flames of Fire you are not now in the wide World but in the Sacred Boundaries of Mount Zion and therefore you cannot Sin at so cheap a Rate as you did before Oh! that you would follow the Footsteps of your Dear and Precious Sister She has left you a Copy Oh! that you would Write after it Oh! that you may so live Oh! that you may so dye as she did Then comfortable will it be for you here and happy will it be with you hereafter As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the Faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving And we will not cease to Pray for you and incessantly to desire That ye might be all filled with the Knowledge of the Will of God in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being Fruitful in every good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of God Strengthned with all Might according to his Glorious Power unto all Patience and Long-suffering with Joyfulness Giving Thanks to the Father who hath made you meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Who hath delivered you from the Powers of Darkness and hath translated you into the Kingdom of his Dear Son My Dear Friends Excuse my Plainness bear with my Earnestness for my Soul loves you and you are very near my Heart I would not have you in the least miscarry or fall short in any thing of the Hopes we have of you for the whole World But as you have begun so hold out hold on and you will certainly Reap at last if you faint not It is but a little while and you shall he where your Heavenly Sister is gone before you even in the Mansions of Eternal Glory with the ever-blessed God In whose Presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose right-hand there are Pleasures for ever-more Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead the Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant 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 And I beseech you Brethren suffer the Word of Exhortation for I have written a Letter unto you in few words with which I bid you heartily Farewel in the Lord Sincerely Subscribing my self Your Truly Affectionate Servant and Brother in our Dearest Jesus C. Nicholetts TO HIS Worthy and much valued Friend Mr. R. W. SIR I Received yours wherein you pressingly desire an Account of that young Gentlewoman Mrs. Mary Harrison who lately went to Heaven from amongst us whose Fame I perceive has reached your Ears Really Sir the Person you enquire after deserves to be known by the whole World For I sincerely think considering every thing and all Circumstances as to the manner of her Conversion and the Fruitful Consequence of it together with the Agonies of her Soul in yearning after Christ and her prodigious aspiring Heaven-ward she has hardly left her Fellow behind her 'T is pitty the Pencil was not in an abler Artist's Hand that her Picture might be drawn to the best Advantage according to the Truth of those lively Colours the many Passages of her Life would afford to set it off for then I am sure it would be as valuable at least in the Eyes of the Serious as any Life whose History has pass'd the Press these many Years and so universally satisfactory that the Censures of the severest Criticks would be turned into Astonishment and Admiration You are pleased to tell me I am the fittest Person to write the Narrative of her Case I confess in respect of my intimate Knowledge of her and frequent Converse both day and night with her and as one to whom
time of horrid and unheard of Temptation with poor Jonah Oh! what could he think and to be sure the Devil was not wanting to push him on to such Thoughts but that he was a Cast-away since God in his great Displeasure had imprison'd him in the bulky Walls of such an horrid Dungeon as never any Humane Creature was in before him Surely for this his Heart must needs be grieved for this he must needs be pricked in the Reins As Asaph said of himself Psalm 73.21 Yet notwithstanding this dreadful Temptation his Mouth was enlarged in Supplication for even then he prayed Thirdly This Then implies a time of some Glimpses of Gospel-Light For alas if he had not had some Rayes of Redeeming Love in that dark hideous hole he would not he could not with such Fervency have prayed unto God For in Death Ay and in despairing Darkness too there is no remembrance of God and in the Grave or in the horrible Pit of Despondency who can give him Thanks Psalm 6.5 So that Jonah in the Darksome Cavities of the Whales Belly through some little Cranny saw the dawning Light of Divine Favour Fourthly This Then also implies that Jonah had some Sense and Apprehension of his being safe in the main however dangerous his present State seem'd to be And 't is more than probable his being miraculously preserv'd so long a space of time as three days and three nights in such a gloomy Prison did not a little contribute to his so conceiving For he did not Pray as a Stranger but as one that knew God and had some dependence on his Mercy and therefore might breathe in David's Language Psalm 116.16 O Lord truly for all thou hast dealt so strangely with me I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thy Handmaid thou wilt loose my Bonds Persons may be under very sad and dismal Circumstances and yet be safe in the main From the time I passed to the Act He prayed and shewed what he prayed for First He breathed after Freedom and Deliverance from his miserable Condition So Israel in their Anguish begged Moses to Pray to the Lord to take away the Serpents from them Numb 21.7 So Paul besought the Lord thrice that the Temptation might depart from him 2. Cor. 12.8 When any poor Soul is surrounded with Affliction either outward or inward it is his Interest as well as Duty to be Praying hard for Deliverance The Apostolical Rule is If any Man be afflicted let him Pray Secondly Jonah prayed for Strength to bear that Weight and Pressure of Grief under which he was then groaning Thus David prayed in the Bitterness of his Soul when under the Scorching of the Fiery Furnace Psalm 25.16 Turn thee unto me and have Mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted This turning includes God's coming towards him with help and assistance to inable him to bear what he was pleased to lay upon him Till God does deliver we should Pray for supporting Grace that we may not dishonour him in the Hour of Temptation Thirdly Jonah Prayed that is he humbly expostulated with his God concerning the present and unparallell'd Dispensation Thus we find Job often expostulating under his sore and severe Tryals So also Heman Psalm 77.7 Will the Lord cast off for ever Will he be favourable no more q. d. Thou lovest thy People with an everlasting Love and is there a Termination of this Love to me Oh! Clear up the meaning of this awful Providence of bringing my Soul into such Shades of hideous Darkness as to make me question the Continuance of thy Favour We may plead upon Gospel-Topicks we may expostu ate upon Gospel-grounds in an humble debased manner it is our Priviledge so to do when God's Hand is hard upon us Fourthly Jonah prayed for Faith for operative Faith in the Power and Goodness of God in this time and under this Dispensation Thus the Father of the Child prayed with Tears in his Eyes Lord I believe help thou my Vnbelief Oh! in time of Trouble we should Pray for the Faith the Leper had of whom we find it recorded Matt. 8.2 3. And behold there came a Leper and worshipped him saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying I will be thou clean and immediately his Leprosie was cleansed Ah! what Encouragement have we to Pray for Faith in God's Power for that there is no Leprous State but he can heal I next viewed the second Verse which runs thus And said I cryed by reason of mine Affliction unto the Lord and he heard me cut of the Belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardest my voice From whence I took notice of two words here which Jonah made use of to set forth his present State Affliction and Hell First Affliction I cryed by reason of mine Affliction On which I grounded the following Conclusions First God knows every thing and every Circumstance belonging to the Affliction of poor Creatures It had been in vain for Jonah to have cryed to the Lord in his Affliction if God had not known his Affliction yea all and every part of it Leah called the first Son she bare Jacob Reuben Gen. 29.32 which signifies the Vision of the Son or the Son of Vision For he the Lord saw and knew her Affliction in being less esteemed by her Husband than Rachel We also read Exod. 3.7 And the Lord said I have surely seen the Affliction of my People which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their Sorrows Oh! what a mighty Encouragement is it to cry to that God in our Affliction who knows every thing of our Affliction Secondly God hears the groaning Cries and bemoaning Lamentations of poor Souls under the heavy weight and pressure of Affliction Jonah here acknowledges God heard his Cry so he heard Hagar's Sighing and Sobbing in the Sense of her great Affliction when she wholly disconsolate and full of Heart-perplexing Grief was wandering in the Wilderness Gen. 16.11 And observe what he says of bemoaning Ephraim Jer. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. Ah! this is Comfort indeed to the greatest Mourners upon what account soever they are in a mourning State that God knows their Sorrows Thirdly God has a gracious End and Design towards all that are his in their greatest
Heaven she should not be found naked Yet again V. 8. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee Behold thy time was the time of Love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness Yea I sware unto thee and entred into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Oh! verily Novv vvas the time of Love as to her Soul Novv vvas the Holy Jesus coming tovvards her his Face shining vvith the resplendent Beauty of Gospel-Grace and Love saying to her I am thy Saviour and thou art in the number of my Redeemed ones I vvill cover thee vvith the Glorious Robe of my Everlasting Righteousness and thou shalt appear therein without Spot or Wrinkle before my Father and before the Holy Angels Therefore cease thy Grief dry up thy Tears For though thou hast lien among the Pots yet now thou shalt be as the Wings of a Dove covered with Silver and her Feathers with yellow Gold And novv thou shalt knovv that I have loved thee with an everlasting Love for with loving-kindness will I draw thee Mr. Robins as though he had been as I doubt not but he vvas specially directed from above preached that day from these vvords Luke 22.31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as Wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Which he so managed through the assistance of God's Spirit and brought so many Gospel-Cordials and Comforts from it as gave abundant satisfaction to this languishing Mourner insomuch that her Sorrovvs like the Waters of the Flood apparently vvere abated and her long Captivity seem'd to be turning about as the Rivers of the South She vvas so sensible that this Holy Man vvas a Messenger sent of God to her an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto her the Ransom God has found and accepted for poor Sinners and for her in particular and to declare the glad Tidings of Salvation to her Soul resulting from therein that she immediately repaired to Chichester and attended upon the Word dropping from Mr. Robins his Lips during his stay there Mr. Robins after a little time planted a Church there such an amazing Change was wrought on many by the mighty Power of God accompanying his Ministerial Labours and this Plant God has since abundantly water'd with the Dew of his Blessing so that 't is now as the Garden of God the pleasant Field which the Lord of Hosts delights to bless Mrs. Mary Harrison after frequent Conferences with Mr. Robins and being enlightned by him in the Mystery of Gospel-Grace and Love joyn'd her self with the Church and sate down at the Table with them at their first Solemnity of breaking Bread yet on this Condition to be redismiss'd to the Church at Havant when they were Organically compleated and so in a Capacity to do it But before this could be effected she was translated to a better Church than either even To the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are in Possession of the Glorious Mansions of Heaven And to the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect among whom she is and ever will be with her God In whose presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose right-hand there are Pleasures for evermore Glad was I yea my very Soul rejoyced at my return from London to find such an amazing Change in her for now she could speak in the Language of Canaan now she could discourse in the Dialect of the new Jerusalem praising the Lord for his Redeeming Goodness Now she could tell her Lips being opened in a wonderful manner the delightful Stories of God's marvelous Dispensations towards her in a way of special Grace and Favour for now she saw in part and that part filled her with inexpressible Comfort The Good of God's Chosen Now in spite of all Satan's Suggestions and Hellish Machinations she could rejoyce in the Gladness of God's Nation And now notwithstanding the late Cloud that was upon her the late darkening Eclipse that quite overspread her she could Glory with God's Inheritance For now she heard the Voice of her Beloved speaking to her Cant. 2.10 11 12. Rise up my Love my fair one and come away For lo the Winter is past the Rain is over and gone The Flowers appear on the Earth the time of the singing of Birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land Oh! then Arise my Love my fair one and come away Again Verse 14. O my Dove that art in the Clefts of the Rock that is hid in the Eternal Electing Love of God in the secret places of the Stairs that is kept secretly from sinking though wofully tossed with the Waves and Billows of Temptation Let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy Voice for sweet is thy Voice and thy Countenance is comely And therefore Now we that were mournfully bemoaning of her rejoyced with her yea with loud Peals of Joy blessed and praised God for her Yet she had her Ebbings as well as Flowings and Fears as well as Comforts after this And her Discourses were very often mixed with Mistrustings and Doubtings of her self She had now and then the dark side as well as the bright side of the Cloud to shew that she was not yet beyond the reach of Satan's Snarlings though above the force of his rampant Power Hence to her dying hour she serv'd the Lord with Fear and rejoyced before him with Trembling She always had a Dread upon her Spirit of miscarrying under which I laboured what I could to support her A little after Mr. Robins left Chichester came down that Sweet and most Spiritual Preacher Mr. Hammond to the new Meeting-house at which juncture of time I was confined to my Bed by a severe Fit of Sickness which I and so did others thought had been unto Death But my Gracious God in whose Hands our times are order'd it otherwise Now by reason I was wholly uncapable of Preaching most of my People that had Horses went to Chichester to hear Mr. Hammond among whom precious Mrs. Mary Harrison was none of the backwardest But Oh! with what wonderful Refreshing and enlivening in her Inward Man did she return She presently come to my Bed-side and told me what a rich Cordial she had that day which was so Comforting so Ravishing to her she was even ready to break forth into the Virgin Mary's Extasie My Soul doth magnifie the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour For verily Jehovah regarded the low Estate of this Hand-maiden and he that is mighty did great things to her that day in putting such a Word of Comfort and Support in the Mouth of his dear Servant for her Oh! Holy is his Name Mr. Hammond was upon that Text Jer. 31.3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying yea I have loved thee with an Everlasting Love therefore with Loving-kindness have I drawn thee
being displeased with that way from such an unusual Manifestation of his special Grace and Favour has an Art beyond what I desire to be acquainted with Oh! that every Congregation in England that call themselves a Church had so full and clear a Testimony from Heaven of God's owning them and his reflecting so on them with the Rays of his Beauty and the Beams of his Glory our Land would be in a far better State as to Religion than now it is To you also my dear Friends do I therefore Dedicate the following Narrative Of the Life and Death of this sweet Lamb who was of your Fold When she first heard of the Breathings amongst you and the Spirit of Judgment and of Burning with the Lord of Hosts had poured forth upon you she could not be satisfied till she went to see you and seeing you she lik'd and liking you she joyned with you and joyning with you she met with the Comfort which before in vain she sought after The time to Favour her yea the set time was come when she entred her self a Member of your Society and became as one of your Infant Congregation Oh! then she found the overflowing Fulness to her of those Words spoke about Temple-work That God will not despise the Day of small Things in which there is a Meiosis that is something more Intended than Expressed God will not despise the Day of small Things No he will eminently appear in and Gloriously Honour the Day of small Things when those Things have a Tendency to his Glory 'T was a Day of small Things with you when this then Militant now Triumphant Saint became acquainted with you but as mean as you were in outward Appearances as despisable as you were in the Eyes of the World you were Precious in God's Sight who put this great Honorarium upon you in casting this unvaluable Jewel into your Bosome whom I am more than Confident the most Famous Church in the Nation would have been Glad of and Thankful for as a more than common Blessing Certainly you would not be more Honoured in a State of Mortality than to have such a Darling of Heaven take her last Step in the Borders of your Sanctuary immediately before her Translation unto Glory And now my dear Friends having this Opportunity of speaking to you from the Press which I may never have again I will make bold as a real Lover of you and the Cause you are ingaged in to commend a few Words of serious Advice which I pray take as the result of my Dying Thoughts for I am not like to trouble the World long and I hope they may have some Impression on you First Be much affected with the Footsteps of God towards you and his wonderful Appearance for you in your Church State We are told The Works of the Lord are Great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His Work is Honourable and Glorious and his Righteousness endureth for ever If ever People had cause to â—ook back with Admiration upon the Works of the Lord and to take Pleasure therein surely you have who have so abundantly experienced the Truth of what Bildad told Job Though thy beginning be but small thy latter-end shall greatly Increase Your beginning was but small and you are not yet come to your latter-end yet your Progression and the Accession to you is already very Great so that you are apparently in the most thriving Way of any Church I know or hear of And should you not remember even to Admiration the Divine Wisdom that has led you and the Divine Power that has help'd you though the many Briars and Thorns that â—ay in your Way Give me leave therefore though very briefly to make a Rehearsal and that ab initio of the many Difficulties you have met with and yet have been borne up as upon Eagle's Wings above them and how you have been carried on in your or rather God's Way in spight of them so that you may now say with David By thee we have run thorough a Troop and by your God we have leap'd over a Wall When the House where you now meet to Worship God was begun what Flouts and Jeers were there at it how did the Sanballats Mock and Scoff with a What do these feeble Jews some cry'd where will they have Money others cry'd where will they have Company And indeed they took what Course they could to prevent any Company by Ingaging all they had any Interest in from hearing a Sermon in that place What Lies and Shams did they make to Discourage poor People from attending on the Word there I know some of you Breathed unto God in the Words of Nehemiah Hear O our God for we are Despised and turn their Reproach upon their own Head which Prayer in an astonishing and terrible Manner you know what I mean has been already answered and that so visibly as was I am confident as much beyond your Expectation as Desire But the Sheet Anchor of your Adversaries Hope for a Blasâ— on your Undertaking was want of Money It seems they took Measure of the Spirit of God by their own Genius and so thoughts he would not nor could not Work without Money and where Money was necessary 't was above his Power to provide it But in this they found themselves wofully Mistaken for the Place was Finish'd and made Commodious to meet in and no complaint of the Workmen heard that they lack'd their Pay Ay But though there was Money procur'd for the Place how should you do for Money to maintain a Minister This was another Refuge they sled to as a comfortable Hope of the Works miscarrying But in this they have been as Successless as the former for that God whose is the Earth and the Fulness thereof has prevented even to Astonishment their Hopes and your Fears by opening such an effectual Door through the Key of his special Providence that there is though in a secret and unknown Way not only a comfortable but a plentiful and honourable Maintenance secur'd to your present worthy Minister And will you not now look up and admire will you not now look up and adore the interposing Goodness of God! who has a Wheel within the Wheel who can do who does do and who for you has done Great Things and unsearchable marvellous Things without Number I have so much Charity for the worst of your Opposers as to Believe that if they realy did know how strangely the Lord appear'd with respect to Supply they would have so much Christianity as to confess with that Cavelier Captain in the Civil Wars between the King and Parliament God does not stand Neuter But I must put you farther in Mind of God's exerting his Power for you not only in setting you as he has done above the Scoffs of your Enemies but in Reviving the Work after a fatal Damp had almost been put upon it by your Friends for though you cry'd to the great
wrought out by and made most secure in the Lord Jesus Christ might be the more precious and valuable to them when they are made to see it and have a joyful Sense of it by the enlightning Efficacy of God's Spirit which she was now believingly to be expecting of for I assured her in the Name of the Great God it was not far from her urging for her Support under the Burthen of her present Calamity that sweet Promise Hab. 2.3 For the Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie Though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry By Vision here I told her is meant the Manifestation of the Light of God's Countenance and the Glory of his Presence and there is a secret appointed time in the Breast of the Father for reviving the drooping Spirit and ravishing the sadned Heart of every Elect Son and Daughter of Adam with this great and glorious Mercy But she must patiently wait this appointed time for it and this plain Word of God assures her she would not be deceived in her Expectation I also for her Incouragement instanced the bitter Passion of Sorrow poor Mary Magdalen was in from the Sense of her horrid Sins and most vile and filthy Pollutions And the great and Soul-amazing Shakings the Gaoler had from the dreadful Apprehensions of his miserable State and the doleful Agonies of his Soul in the Sense of Hell and Damnation And yet what Comfort both of them met with what abundant Satisfaction both of them had by the Lord 's speaking effectual Peace to their Souls But whatever I could say and much more through the good Hand of my God upon me to this purpose I did say she still continued in a lamentable manner under the Power of Despair hideously crying out she was sure there was no Mercy for her By which I perceiving that no words how right soever were at present forcible so as to have any Effect upon her It growing late and I much wearied with travelling and speaking after solemn seeking the Lord for her I at that time left her I cannot tell you whether with more Joy or Sorrow Joy that there was so eminent a Work begun in her which plainly appear'd to me to be of God for I saw a thorough Work of Conviction wrought by the mighty Power of Jehovah in her Soul and I doubted not but design'd by him who brings forth Meat out of the Eater and Sweet out of the Strong for her Eternal Good though the Tempter for the present had such an ascendant upon her Or Sorrow that she was groveling in such hideous Darkness and left to struggle with the Horrors of a wounded Spirit which as the wise Man implicitly tells us is far more deplorable and much less tolerable than any Sickness or Infirmity how great or sore soever of the Body can be It was not long before I gave her another Visit and then found her under dreadful Consternation of Mind through the violent and malicious Assaults of Satan who as a roaring Lyon was seeking to devour or rather swallow up this distressed Damsel by the multitude of vain wicked yea blasphemous Thoughts he cast into her whereof she wofully complained and that in a lamentable and heart-melting Accent to me Oh Sir says she with dismal black Clouds in the Horizon of her Countenance you little think what a prodigious vile wicked and abominable Wretch I am my Heart is full of most horrid blasphemous Thoughts against God my Mind is running upon nothing but what is Evil and that of the deepest dye Surely there is none there can be no such grosly wicked Person as I in the World as there is no Sorrow so there is no Wickedness like mine To which I replied Mrs. Mary As for the Thoughts you complain of with so much Bitterness of Heart they are not yours neither are you chargeable with them God will not impute them to you they are thrown into you by the evil one who is doing you all the spite he can and trying all means to make your Life every way uncomfortable and therefore I would have you and Oh! that you would harken unto me to cast Satan's Brats with an Holy Scorn at his own Door bidding Defiance to him and all his Cursed Suggestions For I tell you as from the Lord what is your Grief or Burthen now will not be charg'd upon you as your Sin hereafter Then I commended to her Serious Consideration that pathetical Scripture 1 Joâ—n 3.20 For if our Heart condemn us God is greater than our Heart and knoweth all things From whence I told her yea thus argued with her Though your trembling Heart does indeed condemn you and your very Soul is perplexed in the abhorring Sense of these horrid Thoughts and you are in extream Bitterness and Sorrow therefore yet God who is greater than your Heart and who knows all things very well knows the Source and Spring from whence these abominable evil Thoughts flow and the Power by which they are injected into you and though you are laying your self so low even as Hell abhorring your self in Dust and Ashes and condemning your self so grievously for them this Righteous this All-seeing this All-knowing God is so far from Condemning you that he is pittying you in this great Distress and Anguish you are You in this your deep Affliction Jehovah the Lord of your Righteousness is afflicted and the Angel of his Presence shall save you And in his Love and in his Pitty he will I question not in his own way which you must submit to and in his own time which you must wait for redeem you from the Snares of the Deceiver and he will bare you and carry you as he did all his Tempted ones in the Days of Old even as upon Eagles Wings above the reach of this or any other Delusion whatsoever But whatever I said of this nature took no hold upon her so as to administer any Comfort or Satisfaction to her for the Ephah of her Sorrow was not yet filled up No she was to be plunged yet deeper in the Furnace of Tribulation she was yet to pass thorough hotter and more scorching Fiery Tryals she was yet to drink a much larger Draught of that bitter Cup her Redeemer drank of before her and in a more dolorous manner to be Baptized with that Baptism he was Baptized with She was yet to be more dreadfully and terribly shaken and to be exempted from Vessel to Vessel that she might at last know the Righteousness of the Lord And therefore after a little more Conference with her and going to the Throne of Grace for her I again took leave of her with an akeing Heart for her and yearning Bowels towards her By this time her Fame began to spread abroad and she was talk'd of far and near the general Subject of most Peoples Discourse and their Discourse about her was
other Voice but that of Wo Lamentation and bitter Bewailing was day and night to be heard Insomuch that she was an Heart-breaking Grief to her Friends a Burthen to her self and an amazing Spectacle of Astonishment to all that look'd upon her The Lord Pardon the Hardness of my Heart that having these things under review I am no more affected Never did I see such a Mournful Sight never did I hear such a doleful Sound and I think never was there a Creature more exactly like in Sorrow to her Redeemer in the day of his Humiliation when he said of himself My Soul is exceeding Sorrowful and heavy unto Death I had great Thoughts and Akeings of Heart about her what the Issue of these things would be my very Soul travelled in Birth till Christ was formed in her till she was made through the up-lifting of the Spirit to arise and shine as seeing Light to be come and the Glory of the Lord to be risen upon her I pray'd for her I pray'd with her I cry'd day and night to the mighty God of Jacob in her behalf I wept I sigh'd I sobb'd my Heart was ready to break my Soul mourn'd in secret places because the Chariot-wheels of Deliverance drove so heavily on I chose suitable Subjects as I thought for her Condition to Preach upon in publick and did many times apply what I delivered particularly to her She sate just against me in the next Pew to the Pulpit Her Eyes were continually fixed on me but with so ghastly and pittiful a look which had such an Impression on me that I could scarce refrain Tears whenever I cast my Eyes upon her She always repair'd after Evening Sermon to the Repetition Lecture in the middle of the Town carried on by a Godly Zealous Brother of our Church who never failed to pour out his Soul in Prayer to God for her and that in a most affectionate melting manner I was many times as oft as my Weakness would permit there my self and when all was over I used to take her by the Hand and smilingly ask her Come Dear Mrs. Mary how is it with you has God spoken any thing to your Soul to day Have you relish'd and savor'd any thing you have heard Her answer I very well remember was always the same No my Heart is too hard I have not been in the least sensible of any thing you have deliver'd this day you had as good have Preach'd to a Stone as to me And then pulling her Hood over her Eyes to hide her Tears would pensively go away for she could never bear to be long in any Company This Oh! this filled my Heart with unexpressible Sadness that no word how suitable soever would fasten that no Truth how Pertinent soever would take hold on her that one Sabbath came successively after another but she never the better her Soul was not at all refresh'd by any Waters flowing from the Sanctuary I want words to tell you how my wounded Spirit was upon the Rack how my disturbed Mind was in a Flame for this young disconsolate Gentlewoman who was so miserably walking in Darkness that she could see no Light who was so wofully under the Gripings of Satan that she could by no means be perswaded to trust in the Name of the Lord or stay her self upon her God In this deplorable State lying among the Pots she continued many Weeks without any sensible Alteration unless for the worse That she was in a lost undone Condition having an hard unbelieving Heart without any Interest in Christ or like to have any was the Versus intercularis or the Burthen of the Song in her continued uninterrupted dolorous Complaint At last in the midst of some serious Discourse she desired me to keep a day with her to seek the Lord for her to which I willingly consented as very glad of the Motion she desired some other Minister might be also assistant in the Work to which I freely gave way She then ask'd me what Minister would be most acceptable to me I answered I was very indifferent and desired her to please her self and she would not nor could not displease me She propounded Mr. Earl of Gospert who I think was some Relation to her I told her with all my Heart Accordingly we met at a Private House in the Town with several Christian Friends Mr. Earl began with Prayer and I with Preaching from these words Psal 43.5 Why art thou cast down O my Soul And why art thou disquieted within me Hope in God for I shall yet Praise him who is the Health of my Countenance and my God I directed my Discourse wholly to her and spake all as far as God help'd me that I could judge proper for her to hear under the Circumstances she at that time was she sate at the Table just against me fixing her Eyes constantly on me with a doleful and pitty-commanding look But nothing I said as I could by after-discourse perceive made any Impression on her After I concluded with Prayer Mr. Earl then Preach'd his Text was John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the World giveth give I unto you She was in appearance a great deal worse after this day than she was before Her Temptations were more rampant her Breakings-out in bitter and dismal Complaints were more violent and her Sorrow great enough before did every way more abundantly increase which made my Soul mourn in secret breathing forth the sad words of the Church O Lord God of Hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the Prayer of thy People Thou feedest this poor Creature with the Bread of Tears and givest her Tears to drink in great measure One night very late I cannot forget it I was sent for in all haste to her when I came I found her in the most dreadful Agonies under the most horrible Consternation of Spirit as 't was possible for any of the Children of Men on this side the Lake of Burning to be possessed with She cry'd she roar'd out in a most terrible manner even beyond an humane Accent as if she had been at the brink of Hell ready to be swallowed up in the bottomless Gulf The Sorows of Death compassed her and the Pains of Hell took hold upon her yea she found Trouble and to the Amazement and Sorrow even to the Astonishment of all that were in the Chamber with her I was at my Wits end what to do to speak any thing I too evidently saw was but in vain and yet I could not I dar'd not be silent She took no notice of any words upon what Topick soever enforced nor in the least minded the Sluces of Consolation how Sweet and Pleasant soever that were opened to her I pray'd and intreated her I begg'd and beseeched her I spoke to her in the most moving and melting Language I was capable to utter and that with Tears in my Eyes with Contrition in my
Heart with Compunction in my bleeding Soul that she would compose her self and fix her mind to look up to the Lord and with her Eyes to have respect to the Holy one of Israel who would help her and that with the saving Aid of his right hand if she would believe in him who would comfort her and that with the ravishing Comforts of his blessed Spirit if she would cast her self upon him Minding her in way of Paraphrase what Moses said to Israel There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency on the Sky The Eternal God is thy refuse and underneath are the everlasting Arms and he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee and shall say destroy them That Enemy said I who is now so exceeding rampant in you who is now so maliciously affrightning and terrifying you with the Sense of Hell and Wrath which yet will never be your Portion this very Enemy God will thrust out from you yea this envious Satan that does you now so much Mischief the God of Peace will most assuredly bruise under your Feet shortly and then you shall dwell in Safety alone the Enemy shall no more trouble you nor be perplexing of you And your Fountain shall be upon a Land of Corn and Wine Also his Heavens shall drop down Dew that is the Doctrine and Graces of the Gospel the Spirit of the Lord Jesus breathing therein shall drop down in a Soul-reviving Soul-refreshing yea in a Soul-ravishing manner upon you And then You shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth your Root as Lebanon your Branches shall spread and your Beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and your Smell as Lebanon And then thus dwelling under his Shadow you shall return you shall revive as the Corn and grow as the Vine and your Scent shall be as the Wine of Lebanon And then Oh then you will be an happy a thrice happy Virgin in our Israel And who will be like unto you though now a distressed Maid yet then Saved by the Lord. Who will awake for you as one awaketh out of sleep and as a mighty Man that shouteth by reason of Wine And will deliver you out of the hand of your present Tormentor who will be the Shield of your help and the Sword of your Excellency And the Enemy of your Salvation who is now Suggesting many uncomfortable and most false things to you whereby you are so lamentably disquieted in your Spirit even to Distraction will then be found as he is and as from the beginning he has been a Liar to you And you shall tread upon high places and so be infinitely above the reach of all his fiery Darts that not one of them shall sting or hurt you any more for ever But alas all that I spake or all that any could speak to this purpose was but like the weak Trajans casting their feeble Arrows at the Conquering Grecians wholly in vain I could not in the least allay her Grief or asswage the Torrent of her violent Passion which was at the greatest height I ever beheld in any Creature before I knew not how to leave her in the horrible Pit in the miry Clay of such Soul-tormenting Distress and yet I plainly discern'd it was to no purpose to stay with her so outragious was her Grief and so beyond all bounds of Moderation was her Sorrow Horror and most dreadful Despair had such a powerful Ascendant on her that her poor Heart was like to break yea she was even ready to dye for fear of Eternal dying Oh! how was this tender Lamb in Zion rufully afraid because of her Sins which were set in order before her and continually staring her in the Face How did amazing Fearfulness lamentably surprize her in the awful sense of dwelling with the devouring Fire that can never be put out and in the doleful Apprehension of rowling upon those Pillars of everlasting Flames that never will cease burning Verily had she seen with her Eyes the Sulphurous Torches had she heard with her Ears the dismal Groans of the Damned yea had she actually felt the very Torments those endure who are surrounded with horrid Mists of Darkness in the Eternal Shades below she could hardly express her self in a more dolorous in a more grievous manner than she did such Heart-melting such Soul-piercing Complaints such a mournful crying our of a lost State of a barren Mind of a Certainty of being Damned never sounded at least in my Ears before I had much ado to perswade her to a Composedness till I went to Prayer with her in which Duty I pleaded with the Lord according to the measure of the Spirit given me for her that the sounding of his Bowels of Pitty and Compassion might be moved towards her that he would Graciously hear this Dejected Creature as he did Ephraim bemoaning of her self in his very words I am ashamed yea even Confounded to bear the Reproach of my Youth And that he would say of her as he did of him Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him and I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. When I concluded Prayer I took a very sorrowful leave of her being towards Morning 'T is said For the Divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart And again For the Divisions of Reuben there were great Searchings of heart I am sure for the Spiritual Troubles for the Despairing Sorrow of this young Gentlewoman there were great Thoughts and Searchings of Heart great Distress and Anxiety of Mind both by me and many others And truly we were and we could not but be between Hope and Fear about her We would fain hope the Lord design'd Love and Mercy to her precious Soul notwithstanding the many bitter and grievous things he wrote against her and the great and fearful Trials she was exercised with but then the strangeness the unparallell'dness of her Grief the intollerable Heaviness and Weight of that Burthen she groaned under the apparent Prevalency of the Tempter over her for she seemed to be wholly in his Clutches and above all the woful and most horrible uninterrupted Despairingness of her Language for I know not how long time together gave a little Check to those Hopes we were willing to retain and made too much room for Fear and Doubts in our Thoughts concerning her Indeed we were all at our Wits end and could not tell what to think or say of her For my part I can truly say her Case took up my whole time I could hardly mind any thing else Day and Night were my Thoughts busily imploy'd what course to take for her or what means to use that might be of avail to her And after many Wrestlings with Sighs and Groans unto God in her behalf and revolving many things in my perplexed
Mind about her sad Condition I at last called to mind the words of our Lord Jesus This kind of Devil goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting It came therefore into my Thoughts to try once more that way that never-failing way when manag'd rightly and in good earnest And being not very well satisfied with the manner of keeping the First day upon several Accounts not proper here to mention I resolved to take another and as I judg'd a more effectual course that is to desire the Church to set a-part a Solemn day of Humiliation to cry mightily unto God on her behalf And I was mightily encouraged to this way by what I found recorded in Sacred Writ in which there was an overflowing Fulness as to me and a very Incentive to a Proceeding in my intended Design In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel In Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion There brake he the Arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword And the Battle Selah And a little farther we find these words When God arose to Judgment to save all the Meek of the Earth Surely the Wrath of Man shall Praise thee the remainder of Wrath shalt thou restrain Now thought I musing on this Sweet Portion of Scripture as the Wrath of Man so the Wrath of Satan shall Praise God and the ramainder of that Wrath how fierce or boisterous soever God will most certainly restrain And this restraining is chiefly to be expected and looked for in the Sacred Boundaries of Zion For there he breaks the Shield that is the Carnal yet Obstinate Defence poor tempted ones make through the cunning Delusions of the Devil against the Saving Comforts of the Gospel when tendred to them in the day of their Conflicts There he breaks the Sword that is the Arguments poor tempted ones according to the Logick they have learn'd of Satan do form as it were in Mood and Figure to wound and gall themselves with Horror and Despair There he breaks the Battle that is the long and tedious War poor tempted ones are ingaged in with Satan in the fatal Course of which they are spoil'd of all their precious and pleasant things and by Satan's too prosperous Success they are miserably held down under the Hatches and cannot help themselves and pittifully a long time kept in horrid Darkness and can-see no manner of Light and lamentably made to walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death and cannot in the least find any Comfort Oh! but when Prayers are made in and by a Gospel-Church for such tempted worried Persons God will in answer to those Prayers Arise to Judgment to save such meek ones of the Earth And then and there he will Graciously break the Shield and the Sword and the Battle My Thoughts ripening upon this comfortable Subject I forthwith repair'd to Mrs. Mary and acquainted her with what was upon my Spirit and what I had in my Thoughts resolved upon as to the calling my Church together to keep a Solemn day of Wrestling with God for her and ask'd her if she was willing to it She answered I might if I pleased but was something cold in the matter seeming to suggest it would be of little avail as to her nothing being likely to do her any good for she look'd upon her Disease as past Cure and her self as past Remedy I replied God had among other his Glorious Attributes entitled himself A God hearing Prayer And therefore upon this account and for this most Gracious Manifestation of himself Praise always waits for him in Zion and there the Vow shall be performed And there Prayers shall be answered and seasonable Mercies shall be bestowed Moreover as I farther alledg'd we are told The effectual or working Prayer of the Righteous avail much And if the Prayers of God's People solemnly met together would so far reach the Ears of God which I doubted not but they would according to his own word Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And had such Prevalency with him to awake for her and to visit her with the special Favour he beareth unto all his Her despairing Language would soon be turned into another Tone for then She would see the Good of God's Chosen then she would rejoyce in the Gladness of God's Nation yea then she would Glory with God's Inheritance And then a new Song would be put into her mouth even of Praise unto her God So leaving her pretty well satisfied I took the first Opportunity of propounding it to my People who very willingly and readily embraced the Motion We agreed upon Friday the twentieth of May 1698. and accordingly met in the Morning at a Private House in the Town after a little while being together Mrs. Mary Harrison come to us with a mournful dejected Countenance her Hood over her Face she sat down over against me at the Table I then address'd my self to the Company in a few words declaring the cause of our meeting at that time and opening as well as I could Mrs. Maries Case to them begging their assistance and concurrence with me in laying close siege to the Throne of Grace for her I began in Prayer and then called forth some of the Brethren who prayed very meltingly and affectionately for her Indeed the Lord opened their mouths and mightily help'd them with apt suitable and pathetical Expressions which was no small Comfort and Refreshing to me for I plainly perceived the Cause was the Lord's and he would own it since he enabled his Servants to plead it so notably with him And I could not but comfortably infer a pleasing Presage that God was not far from appearing since the Grace of Prayer and Supplication was so eminently poured forth by himself for it For thought I with a Transport of Joy little below an Assurance of the thing he never did yet say to the House of Jacob and surely he will not now assist any of the House of Jacob to seek his Face in vain After the Brethren had concluded I spoke from those words of Jonah Chap. 2.4 Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy Holy Temple I took notice of the first Verse Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the Fishes Belly And I began with the word Then as noting the time From whence I remark'd these things First It was a time of very great and amazing Surprize to Jonah to be in the State he was poor Creatures are often plunged into those Soul-troubles they never dream'd of But notwithstanding the Greatness and Amazingness of their Sorrows it is then an especial time of going to God as Jonah here did and of crying out with David Psalm 39.7 And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee Ah! God should be the Object of hope in never so hopeless a Condition Secondly It was a
and severest Affliction And it is more than imply'd that Jonah apprehended this when he thus cried to him The Israelites were to eat no Leavened Bread with the Sacrifice of their Passover but the unleavened Bread of Affliction Deut. 16.3 That they might remember what they were once in Egypt and the gracious Design God had towards them even in that Bondage State Oh! a Belief of this glorious Truth would allay the tempestuous Sea of Sorrow when our Souls are bowed down with Anguish Fourthly God will appear as answering of Prayer in the greatest Affliction When Jonah was crying he heard by an Ear of Faith God answering And so we find Israel acknowledging Deut. 26.7 And when we cryed unto the Lord God of our Fathers the Lord heard our voice and looked on our Affliction and our Labour and our Oppression He is a Prayer-hearing God and then especially when Prayer comes from the Anguish and Bitterness of the Soul And we have not only the Experience of his afflicted People in all Ages to witness this Truth but his own express word for it Psalm 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Oh! who would not beg hard for a Praying Heart and a Crying Tongue when the blessed God has such an hearing Ear. Secondly The other word that Jonah here sets forth the Misery of his Condition by is Hell Out of the belly of Hell cryed I From whence I remark'd these Observations First Poor Creatures and yet Elect Vessels may be in very dreadful Torments their Souls may be in very doleful Agonies Hell is a place of Torment 't is said of the rich Man Luke 16.23 In Hell he lift up his Eyes being in Torments Hence great and grievous Soul-troubles are Metaphorically called Hell David speaks in the same Language Psalm 18.5 The Sorrows of Hell compassed me about Now then when Jonah said here Out of the belly of Helâ— cryed I It is as if he had said In the midst of dreadful Torments and anguish of Soul I cryed to my God Secondly Poor Creatures may be surrounded with Sorrows every way from above from below from without from within thus David speaks of his case Psalm 116.3 The Sorrows of Death compassed me and the Pains of Hell gat hold upon me I found Trouble and Sorrow That is he was compassed about every way with Woe and Misery As Job's Messengers came from every Corner sinking his Spirits with ill News and piercing his Soul with the Darts of disconsolate Tidings Job 1.16 So many chosen Vessels of the Lord may be beset with Troubles and Sorrows of every kind which may make them roar and cry out as those without hope Thirdly Poor Creatures may be worried and hurried by the Temptations of the Devil which is a Species of Hells Torture As the Tongue is said to be set on Fire of Hell James 3.6 So the Spirits of tempted ones may be and too often are borne down and kept under the Hatches by the Tyranny of Hells Monarch We find Paul complaining of a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan buffeting him 2 Cor. 12.7 Oh! it is an Hell upon Earth to be in the Claws of Hells roaring Lyon Fourthly Poor Creatures may be for a time conquered and overcome by Hells Sorrows though The Gates of Hell shall not absolutely prevail Matt. 16.18 yet they may a great while and in a great measure prevail over many precious Children of Zion though God's chosen ones shall not be left to remain always in Hell as David personating Christ spake with respect to the Grave Psalm 16.10 Yet they may be left a long time under the power of Hell to be crying out as though they were for ever lost Then I took notice of the Dolefulness of Jonah's Complaint as we have it in the third Verse For thou hadst cast me into the Deep in the midst of the Seas and the Floods compassed me about all thy Billows and thy Waves passed over me Wherein there is Metaphorically set forth First The Sense he had of Sin as the deserving Cause of what he now so lamentably groaned under Thou hadst cast me into the Deep and that deservedly for my horrid and crying Sin of Disobedience of which mention is made Chap. 1.1 2 3. Now the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the Son of Amittai saying Arise go to Nineveh that great City and cry against it for their Wickedness is come up before me But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Here we find him shamefully turning his Back upon the Commands of his God and now in the Deep he is sadly sensible of it and broken in Heart for it So in like manner we find the Church acknowledging and that in a Soul-humbled and debased way Lam. 5.15 16. The Joy of our Heart is ceased our Dance is turned into Mourning The Crown is fallen from our head Woe unto us that we have sinned Ah! happy if under the weight of Grief we have a Sense of the Evil of Sin Secondly He was under Terrors of Conscience and miserable Confusion in his Spirit this is imply'd in the vvord Seas In the midst of the Seas That he vvas literally cast into the Seas vve read Chap. 1.15 So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the Sea But besides this he vvas in a mystical Sense in the Sea that is under the Rackings of a vvounded Spirit under the Bitings of a stinging Conscience So that he vvas as the Prophet told Pashur he should be Jer. 20.3 Magor Missabib even a Terror to himself Oh! Terrors of Conscience are the vvorst of Sea-storms Thirdly He was over-whelmed with Sorrow and this is imply'd in the word Floods And the Floods compassed me about So that his Spirit as well as his Body sunk as Lead in the mighty Waters As it was said of Pharaoh and his Host when they were drowned in the Red Sea Exod. 15.10 Our Saviour thus expresses the Misery that shall come upon all incorrigible Sinners Matt. 18.6 It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hanged about his Neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Oh! who can be sensible of the Troubles and Miseries wherewith poor Jonah was overwhelmed when he was in the Sea Fourthly He was closely confined not only as to his Body but narrowly pent up as to his Spirit This is included in the word Billows All thy Billows and thy Waves passed over me We read indeed of his being in the Whales Belly Chap. 1.17 And as that miserably confin'd his Body so his Spirit was worse restrain'd through the awful Sense of Divine Displeasure As David's once was Psalm 42.7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy Water-spouts All thy Waves and thy Billows are gone over me Ah! how sad 't is when the Soul is depressed groveling in the Dust and cannot look up for want of Strength and Faith
And so I came to the words of the Text Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy Holy Temple Which after I had open'd by shewing in what Sense Jonah was cast out of God's â—ight and what was the meaning of his looking again toward the holy Temple I â—hewed what may befal many that God may yet be working Grace in and have designs of eminent Good unto First They may be in a State of Blindness and Darkness yea thick and gross Darkness may be a great while upon them We read in the Gospel of a Man that was stark Blind that was born so and liv'd so all his days yet by the Povver of Jesus he immediately receiv'd his sight Mark 10.51 52. Ah! present Darkness is no ground of Despair you may see vvhat God in his Word says to such Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that â—eyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh 〈◊〉 Darkness and hath no light Let him â—ust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon â—…s God Here is a certain Remedy for nose that are in Darkness to stay upon their God and here is a Duty that God requires even in a dark State to trust in his Name Secondly They may be as to their own Apprehension in a very hopeless and helpless Condition but yet even then there is both Hope and Help for them by looking toward the holy Temple that is by looking to Christ and believing what he is and what he says Oh! hear that sweet word flowing from his Lips Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach Deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the Blind to set at liberty them that are bruised Oh! What can be more fully and plainly expressed What can Christ speak more comfortably and more encouragingly to poor wounded Souls to look unto him Thus the Church by Faith look'd to God in a sad State Lam. 3.55 I called upon thy Name O Lord out of the low Dungeon And did she call or believe in vain Oh! No. Pray mark the next words Verse 56 57 58. Thou hast heard my voice hide not thine Ear at my breathing at my Cry Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidst Fear not O Lord thou hast pleaded the cause of my Soul thou hast Redeemed my Life And what the Church did here experience all afflicted ones in like manner shall experience to their unspeakable Joy if they take the same course of looking to the Lord in the day of Trouble Thirdly They may have no Sense of God's Work in their Hearts which yet for all that may be really carrying on We read of the Peoples smiting their Breasts upon the doleful sight of Christ's Agony on the Cross Luke 23.48 But many poor Souls are smiting their Breasts with Sorrow because they can find no effect of Christ's Death in their Hearts They have not yet Taâ—ed that the Lord is Gracious 1 Pet. 2.8 And therefore they are breaking forth into hideous Lamentations and giving up themselves as lost Creatures Oh! but this is through a great Mistake there may be a blessed Work a glorious Work begun and yet you not at present sensible of it Fourthly They may be in their own Thoughts without the inâ—â—…ential Motion of God's Spirit And hence they are day and night â—ourning though still preserved and not consumed as the built was Exod. 3.3 Oh! how many do look upon themselves in no better a Condition than those dry Bones which God shewed the Prophet and ask'd him whether they could live Ezek. 37.3 4. But as these Bones the forsaken Jews will live when the Spirit of the Lord blows upon them so those Creatures that are at present dry and vvithout Sap and therefore are mourning in secret and crying out bitterly because of their desolate State shall most certainly if they look toward the holy Temple as Jonah here did find and feel after a little time the vivifying Influences of God's Spirit to their exceeding Joy and Comfort I then drew some Inferences from all this which I will make a brief Rehearsal of and so proceed First Then even in such a State we are not really out of God's sight Jonah was obvious to God when he was shut up in the Whales Belly and so is every Mourning Soul though under the blackest Circumstances Hear the Apostle as to this Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Not a Tear flows from our Eyes not a Sigh or Sob comes from our Hearts though in never so secret a manner in never so retired a place but is naked and open unto God Christ told Nathaniel John 1.48 When thou wast under the Fig-tree I saw thee Ah! When any poor Creature is Weeping Lamenting and Bemoaning himself in Holes and Corners even then and there God sees him Secondly Oh! Then this State is the Will of God which must be submitted to Is there any Evil in the City and the Lord has not done it Jonah being in the Whales Belly was the Act of God God put him there So whatever Mourning State thou art in it is the Lord 's doing As Christ speaking of God's Gracious Revelation of Gospel-Light and Knowledge rather to Babes than to the Wise and Learned resolves it into God's Free-Will and distinguishing Goodness as the only moving cause thereof Matt. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight So should every poor Creature under the pressure of Temptation under Spiritual Conflict and Soul-trouble say Even so Father it is thy Will it should be so It hath seemed good unto thee thus to lay thy hand upon me and therefore come to this â—â—sult under such a Dispensation with 〈◊〉 dear Redeemer John 18.11 The Cap which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it So this stroak that my Father has laid upon me shall I not bear it Thirdly Then such a State is very dreadful to poor Creatures To be under the hiding of God's Face and left to the Hurries of the Tempter is sadly terrifying and affrightning The Spirit of a Man may sustain his Infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear If it was a grievous thing to Abraham to send away his Son and the Bond-woman out of his House Gen. 21.11 12. Oh! How much more grievous is it to poor Creatures when their Rest is gone Peace is gone and all Quietness is gone from them In such a Perplexity was Jonah here in the Whales Belly And thus David mournfully complain'd Psalm 30.7 Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled 'T is not a small but a very sore great tormenting Trouble when a Soul is left in the Dark
Assembly nor Rejoyce in any Company but sate in her Chamber pensive alone because of the Lord's Hand that was upon her and because he had filled her with Indignation Hence her Pain was Perpetual and her Wound seemed to be incurable Jer. 15.17 18. What the Poet speaks extravagantly of Niobe's Weeping was in a great measure true of her from Weeks end to Weeks end her Eyes were seldom dry As it was said of Joseph at the sight of his Brother Benjamin Gen. 43.30 And he sought where to weep and he entred into his Chamber and wept there She was almost always in her Chamber still Weeping there Indeed 't was no easie matter at least some particular times to get her out of her Chamber though many Godly People out of Love and Pitty to her did often attempt it Her Chamber was as the Valley of Tears in which even with an eagerness of Mind she immur'd her self and I am perswaded would have liv'd there and died there if she had been left to her self She could not bear much Company nor endure to be where any thing of Mirth though never so innocent was One Instance among many I will give you I very well remember and shall do while I live that one day Baptizing Mr. Millerd's Child a Brother of our Church there was Provision made ready and several Christian Friends invited to partake of it among whom was Mrs. Mary's Father and Mother As we were sitting down to Table I ask'd her Mother why her Daughter was not with her She told me she could not perswade her to come Whereupon I desired the People of the House to stop serving up of Dinner and I would try what I could do which they willingly agreed to I immediately repair'd to her and found a Gentlewoman in the Chamber with her As soon as I acquainted her with the occasion of my coming Oh! how much dissatisfied she seemed to be and earnestly begg'd me to desist any farther talking about it I told her plainly I would have no denial and so renewed my pressing her going with me the Gentlewoman also back'd the Motion with her earnest Perswasion but we both of us found Work enough to prevail with her and were so long about it that Dinner was almost spoil'd At last rather wearied than overcome by violent Importunity she gave me her Hand and away I brought her but she walk'd like a Shadow and sate at the Table like a Ghost she spake nothing eat very little and nobody durst speak to her for they saw the Bitterness of her Heart was very great and the Dolours of her Soul were very grievous As soon as I had returned Thanks she slip'd from the Company and forthwith retired to her beloved Privacy Where her Head was constantly as Waters and her Eyes as a Fountain of Tears This piâ—ing Saint whilst living seem'd as dead In darksome Chambers hanging down her Head Refusing Comfort or to taste of Bread She she at last was to the living Fountain led Fifthly As after Conviction she was a secret Mourner so she was a secret Wrestler with God Private Prayer was her daily and her nightly Work Though she would often tell me and that with bitter Sighs and Sobs in a bemoaning way she could not Pray her Mouth was closed and her Heart was barr'd but by what I gather'd out of her Answers to my Questions I plainly found she did little else but Pray indeed her Praying was for the most part like Hannah's She spake in her heart only her Lips moved but her Voice was not heard 1 Sam. 1.13 And in this Praying according to our Saviour's Rule Mat. 6.6 She entered into her Closet and shut the Door and prayed to her Father in secret who saw the prostrate debased posture she was in who heard the deep Sobs and Groans of her dejected Soul and graciously vouchsafed his Ear unto her So that after long offering up of Prayers and Supplications like her dear Redeemer before her with strong Crying and Tears unto him who was able to save her from spiritual and eternal Death was at last heared in that she feared She never thought I Prayed too often in secret with her and she never thought she Prayed too often in secret by her self And now her mournful Praying is turned into joyful Praising now her doleful Sighing is turned into melodious Singing now her heart breaking Groans are turned into loud Acclamations of Halelujahs For now she is on the top of Mount Zion in the Presence of the Lamb having her Father's Name written in her Forehead among the hundred forty four thousand playing with them on their harps and singing with them the new Song before the Throne for ever This new born Saint unto her God did cry And crying Wept her Eyes were never dry Both Day and Night lamenting bitterly But now she 's singing Praise with heav'nly Mâ—tâ—ly Sixthly After Conviction to her dying Hour she had a very tender Conscience And the greatest dread of Sin was the most visibly manifest in her that ever I saw in any Creature in my Life She did not only hate Evil but the very appearance of it That blessed Promise was eminently and most effectually fulfill'd in her of God's taking away the heart of Stone and giving an heart of Flesh Ezek. 36.26 I could give you an Instance that would put this out of all doubt but 't is so amazing and having some cause to question whether ever she acquainted any in the World with it besides my self I will omit it but two other Stories that are very well known I will tell you the one is a young Man in Chichester Converted by Mr. Robbins his Ministry and joyned to the Church there Soon after his Conversion was brought into a Strait on this Account A great part of his Livelihood came in by attending on Weddings as a Musicianer having an excellent Faculty that way A Marriage was then coming on at which as he told me himself he had a prospect of getting near Five Pounds but thinking it scandalous to the Gospel any longer to continue in that Practice he advised with his Brethren about his going assuring them without their consent he would not give his Attendance they in Consideration of his low Circumstances as to the World and that being part of his Calling were not forward to discourage him but left him to his Liberty he not satisfied came to me for Advice I confess I was put to a stand and the more for that his Wife being then in a Carnal State thô since God has wrought upon her I knew not how her Spirit might be raised to exclaim against Religion and the Possessors of it for hindering them of their Maintenance I therefore desired to be excus'd from giving my Opinion in it but told him to advise him to go I could not and to disswade him from going I durst not he then requested me to ask my People about it and he would acquiess in their Judgment
musing on this matchless Saint I cry'd Thou being so wholly dreined from all Pride As one not fit here longer to abide Go to thy Bridegroom go thou true coelestial Bride Eighthly As after Conviction she was Mortify'd to all Pride so she did in a wonderful manner beyond any President I ever saw shine forth in the contrary Grace Humility She had learned of her Saviour to be meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11.29 And so excellent well she learned that none tabernacled in a Body of Flesh could have a more Debasing thought of Self than she had She sate with Job in the Ashes and with Hezekiah counted all her Prayers and the best of her Performances but as the chattering of a Crane or Swallow Isa 38.14 The Vilest of Creatures was her constant Motto That no body was Worse that every body was better than she was the undissembled Thought of her Heart When she was most Lovely in the Eyes of others she was even then most Mean in her own she could not bear to be in the least praised nor endure that any should speak well of her though she was enabled to Sing the Lord's Song on the Borders of Canaan after her return from a long Captivity Indeed in her languishing Condition she was made Humble by God's Providence but when she was Healed she was kept Humble by his blessed Spirit This Saint beholding great Jehovah's Face Her self as low as Hell she did debase Hence 't was she flourish'd so and grew apace She was the humble one replenish'd with all Grace Ninthly After Conviction she was in a Gospel Frame wholly moulded into the Spirit of the Gospel These Two eminent Servants of the Lord Jesus Mr. Robins and Mr. Hammond led her into the Paths of Gospel Light and Truth in which she was extreamly delighted so that the extolled and muâ—h magnified Mountain of Man's Righteousness and Legal Performances became 〈◊〉 a Plain and by their Ministry the Heâ—â—â—â—stone the Lord Jesus Christ was presented to her and she was inabled by the Spirit 's Breathing in her to cry out Grace Grace unto it Zech. 4.7 Hence though Interest and Relation with some other Obligations had intangled her with another sort of Men yet after her Acquaintance with those ' foresaid great Gospel Luminaries they were very little in her Eye for She was convinced not Doing but Believing was the way of the Gospel and that not by any Works of Righteousness she had done or could do but by the Free Grace of God in Christ she was made what she was And therefore the breathing of her Soul was to be found in him not having her own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith That thereby she might know Christ and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.9.10 Oh! how her very Soul rejoyced in the glad Tidings of the Gospel This glorious Saint admiring Gospel Light Whose most corruscant Beams did shine so Bright Whereby her Darkness was expelled quite The Gospel brought a Day a Day that had no Night Tenthly After Conviction she was inflamed with Love to her dearest Jesus yea with the Spouse she was Sick of Love Cant. 5.8 As she had a Sense of the Forgiveness of Sins as Mary had she verily Loved much as Mary did Luke 7.47 She had a large Share of Gospel Grace as the choice Blessing of Heaven for she loved the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity Ephes 6.24 Tho she saw not Jesus with her Bodily Eyes yet she dearly Loved him and that Love has brought her to him so that now She sees Him and is Glorifyed with him Rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory for she has now received the end of her Faith even the Salvation of her Soul 1 Pet. 1.8 9. What things were formerly her Gain those she counted Loss for Christ yea doubtless she counted all things but Loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord for whom she suffered the Loss of all things and did count them but Dung or Dog's-meat that she might win Christ. 3 Phil. 7.8 Oh Love was the ruling Star in the Firmament of her Soul Though Satan for a while did cast a Mist Over this Saint at length she saw the Christ And seeing lov'd him as her precious Priest Now with his glorious Mouth her precious Soul is Kist. Eleventhly As after Conviction she Loved Christ so she lov'd the Ways of Christ the Ordinances of Christ the Members of Christ the Ministers of Christ and that with a pure Heart fervently If our Saviour's Character of a true Disciple holds good John 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another And if John's Evidence of the new Birth be any thing valid 1 Epist 3.14 We know that we are passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren She was as visible a Disciple as real a Regenerate Person and that to the apparent view of all as 't was possible for any Creature to be For I sincerely think never any especially in these last days possest more of the Grace of Love than she did Her very Soul was wrapt up in the Saints Society with them was her greatest yea her only Delight She had David's Spirit and therefore could say with him Psalm 26.8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth I the least and most unworthy of Saints may say of her as David did of Jonathan Her love to me was wonderful passing the love of Women This Saint who Heaven ward so fast did move That She a Saint in every thing might prove As actuated from a Spirit above Most gloriously did shine within the Sphere of Love Twelfthly After her Conviction that she had tasted of the Love of Christ she was extraordinarily Solicitous even with a burning Zeal for the Conversion of Sinners especially of her own carnal Relations Her warm Discourses on this Subject put me in mind of our Lord's Charge to Peter Luke 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren She was wholly of Paul's Spirit when he spoke so affectionately of the Jews Rom. 10.1 Brethren my Hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be Saved Her Soul pittied such as were running head-long to Hell her Bowels yearned towards those that had no Sense of their own Condition She could not speak of any of her near Acquaintance in an Unconverted State without Weeping for them as our Saviour did for Jerusalem and with the same Pathetical Wish Oh! that they did truly know in this their day the things that belong unto their peace The Night before She Dyed or rather Translated she express'd her self to a Godly Woman passionately Concern'd for the Soul of her only Surviving Sister with these and more
such Words I am going to Heaven but Ah! my poor Sister I hope it may have an Impression upon her and the Reading of this may be of Use unto her This lovely Saint who plainly did appear A Lamb of God possess'd with holy Fear For th' Souls of those that unto her were near Especially for all her own Relations Dear Thirteenthly After Conviction she was full very full of heavenly Discourse indeed her Discourse was nothing but Heavenly She was then only in her proper Element when she was speaking of the Things of God and the Wonders of Free-Grace I have sometimes to try her propounded some alien Subject to talk of but I could not forbear Smiling to observe what a Loss always she was at in speaking of any thing but Spiritual Matters She vvas as a Fish out of the Water or as a Man in the Water nothing but Dashing and Plunging every thing but Heaven vvas the Shibboleth which she could not frame her self to pronounce Judg. 12.6 And therefore after a little Faltring she must and would return to Heaven which only was the Sibboleth she could plainly and with freedom speak It was most clear and visible to all that she was of Christ and belonged to Christ for the continuedness and the unaffectedness of her Speech bewrayed her Mat. 26.73 She believed in Christ and out of her Belly daily flow'd forth Rivers of living Water Her Speech her whole Speech was always season'd with Salt and very Edifying I cannot but make this remark on the Substance of her most excellent and serious Discourses Though all she spake vvas not good for every thing yet really every thing she spake was good for something This Orient Star this most resplendent Jem A follower of Jesse's happy Stein Among the Saints and praising still with them She spoke the Language of the new Jerusalem Fourteenthly After Conviction she was of an exact and exemplary Conversation not one dead fly was ever discerned in this Box of precious Oyntment I do not say she was soluta Legibus in a perfect State absolutely freed from Sin but this I may say this I can say and therefore this I will say her excessive Love to and causeless Value for unworthy Me excepted in the Frame of her Spirit and in the vvhole Course of her short Life there was as little Defect as little Failure observable as in any of the Sons and Daughters of Men how powerfully soever under the Work of Grace And I will thank that Man or Woman who truly knew her that will shew me her Fellow in any part of England As for my own Experience I must and do solemnly declare She was the most Grave Serious Composed young Gentlewoman that in all my Travels which have not been small that in all my Converse which has not been little I ever saw or was acquainted with Like Zacharias and Elizabeth She was righteous before God and walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1.6 And as Paul she always and in every thing exercis'd her self to have a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men Acts 24.16 Yea the setled Frame of her Spirit vvas bent to the exercising her self to Godliness and that in all the parts of it insomuch that I verily think and I am not alone in my thoughts the most eminent Christians the most famous Ministers in the Nation without any Disparagement to their Graces might have Learned something of her Every Step of her Life was Teaching And Oh! that She had had more Scholars and better Schollars than many of us and I especially that were daily with her When 'twixt her Soul and Sin Grace made a Breach She Shined in a manner to Impeach The best of Saints as well as Sinners teach How loudly unto both her Holy Life did Preach Fifteenthly After Conviction She did amazingly grow in Grace her mighty Progression Heaven-ward is beyond what I or any Mortal can express What David said of himself with respect to his Outward was eminently true with respect to her Inward Man She praised God yea in the Night she Sang his Praise for She was fearfully and wonderfully made a Saint of the highest Form a Star of the first Magnitude in the Firmament of the Church Militant marvellous were God's Works in her whereby as the Kings Daughter she was all glorious within her Cloathing was of wrought Gold aad that her Soul knew right well Though none more Debased and Low in their own Esteem than She was Solomon tells us Prov. 4.18 The path of the Just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day She shined in Grace even to the dazling the Eyes of all that beheld her here and now She is shining in the Perfection of Glory above Again we are told Psalm 92.12.13 14. The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Those that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God They shall bring forth Fruit in old Age they shall be Fat and Flourishing The Palm-tree as Naturalists observe grows and ascends Higher in spight of all Pressures and Weights So did She notwithstanding all her Afflictions and no Mortal could be under greater than She was She was planted in the House of the Lord and Wonderfully even to the Admiration of all flourish'd in the Courts of our God And tho she had not arriv'd to Old Age she brought forth fruit in abundance in her young Age in the very Prime and Flower of her Years She vvas a Young a very Young Maid but an Old and through-experienc'd Saint so that She went to the Grave in a full Age like a Shock of Corn cometh in in its Season She had tho in a very short time fought a good Fight She had in the compass of a few Days finish'd her Course She had and that in Spight of all the Devils Assaults kept the Faith and now Oh! now She is gone to receive the Crown of Righteousness She is gone to Heaven to the Mansions of Glory in her Father's House whither her dearest Saviour went before her to prepare a place for her and there She is sitting down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of her Father They wanted her Company and could no longer be without it indeed She was fitter much fitter for them than for such sinful Creatures as we Ah! peerless Saint whilst others are so slow And how to creep along do scarcely know Thou like a winged Arrow from the Bow Mounted aloft by Grace thou up to Heav'n didst go Sixteenthly And Lastly In a Word After Conviction She was altogether Heavenly Heavenly in her Looks Heavenly in her Speech Heavenly in her Carriage yea Heavenly in all and every part of her Life Heaven possest her Soul long before her Soul possest Heaven I may without the least Hyperbole say of her what Paul
to you that are now Mourning To you that are now Weeping To you that are now so full of Sadness for this great and irreparable loss and that in the words of the same Apostle in the same Chapter verse 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words 3dly To you also of this Society my Brethren and Sisters of this Church I would next address my self on this awful Occasion And it is to beg you to have a deep sense of the Lords hand upon us in diminishing our number in Housing our little Flock apace But the last night we were in this place Solemnizing the Funeral of a precious and beloved Sister and now we are here at the Funeral of this triumphant Damsel 'T is true she was not actually a Member of ours but virtually and intentionally she was she walk'd with us sate down vvith us and really design'd if the Lord had spared her life to be dismiss'd to us and so to be wholly ours She extreamly delighted in this Society and dearly loved every one of you But we have now left her with several others of emminent use and worth which calls for no small Lamentation and therefore I may here justly make use of the Prophets words by way of Exhortation to you Jerem. 9. v. 17 18. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider ye and call for the Mourning-women that they may come and send for Cunning Women that they may come And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us that our Eyes may run down with Tears and our Eye-lids gush out with Waters Why what 's the matter What is it that calls for so much Mourning verse 21. For death is come up into our Windows and is entred into our palaces to cut off the Children from without and the young Men in the Streets Oh! How many lovely Children of God have of late been cut off in this place and now this young Flourishing Branch is so suddenly and so unexpectedly cut down from amongst us and we shall never see her more Oh How then for this sad and irreparable loss should we lament with Tears how should our Eyes be gushing out with Water for the Immature fading of so sweet a Flower Oh! Therefore from the sense of Gods displeasure in taking such Unvaluable Jewels from us Be afflicted mourn and Weep let your Laughter be turned into Mourning and your Joy into heaviness Though as to this Saint her self there is no need of it death is to her an unspeakable Gain And therefore Christs words to the Bewailing Women are applicable unto you Ye daughters of Jerusalem Weep not for me but for your selves and the Miseries that are coming upon You. Oh Methinks I hear her speaking aloud to all and every one of us in Davids Language Psal 34. v. 2.3.4 My Soul shall make her Boast in the Lord The humble shall hear thereof and be glad O Magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my Fears But for our own sakes there 's cause enough of Mourning especially from this awful consideration Accession to us does not answer the decession from us 4thly and lastly A word to all of you in this Congregation the Inhabitants of this Town and the parts adjacent And I will Preface what I have to say to you in the Words of Jotham to the Men of Shechem Judg. 9.7 Hearken I beseech you unto me that God may hearken unto you Some of you have seen all of you have heard what this deceased young Gentlewoman underwent for Heaven What Oceans of Troubles she vvas plunged in and what Fires of Soul-tribulations she was a long time burning in Now as Christ said to his Disciples Math. 18.2.3 And Jesus called a little Child unto him and set him in the midst of them And said verily I say unto you except ye be Converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So say I to all and every one here Old and Young Rich and Poor High and Low except ye go thorough the Pangs of the New-birth as this young Damsel did I do not say in that same degree of Horror and Agony for that few do but except you be as really Converted Changed Renewed and Born again as she was you will not nay you cannot enter into the Joys of Heaven when you Die for they are our Lord 's own Words and spoke as plain as plain can be Joh. 3.3 Except a Man any Man every Man be Born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Now this deserves your most deep and serious Consideration for there is a Kingdom of God to be enjoyed and a kingdom of darkness to be avoided And believe it Sirs Heaven is no Feigned Elizium Hell and Eternty is no dream the worm that never dies is no fond Conceit And you will shortly know what the one or the other means You will er'e long be summon'd to spend the Ages of Eternity amongst the blessed or damned and that in a very little time And so I shall close the whole alluding to the words of my Lord and Master with an earnest Exhortation to and fervent Supplication for each and every Soul of you here present Oh! That you would therefore know even you in this your day the things that belong to your everlasting peace before even before they be hid from your eyes And that for ever Two Hymns composed for her Funeral the former of which was publickly sung at the close of her Funeral I Sought the Lord and him I found He did regard my Tears When I lay prostrate on the Ground He freed me from my fears I wept with Sorrow Grief and Woe 'T is God that Mercy gives God made me cry out Oh! I know That my Redeemer Lives And lives to comfort my poor Heart Who did my State condole As finding such an horrid smart Within my wounded Soul But now I 'm eas'd I feel no pain Oh! then rejoyce with me That have found Death so sweet a Gain My Saviour now I see When I through Weakness pin'd away And fetch'd my latest Groan Christ sent his Angels to convey My Soul unto his Throne Oh! Halelujah Lord I am Ravish'd with Joy and Love In Bosome of blest Abraham With all the Saints above The other A Person young late dwelt among Vs Militants below Oppress'd with Fears immerg'd in Tears Which from her Eyes did flow Her Spirit sad with Sable clad To think upon her Soul The Storm was great the Billows beat And Deeps did on her roul So fierce the Stroke her Heart was broke Her inward Man deprest Both Night and Day she pin'd away And had not any Rest. Till God did please t' afford her ease 'T is he that Comfort gives Then in her Woe she cry'd I know My dear Redeemer Lives With this sweet Breath in view of Death She did her Life resign Now wrapt in Love with those above She gloriously does shine Rest holy Saint where no complaint Shall vex thee any more Possess that Peace which ne'er will cease On Canaan's blessed shore Oh! Halelu-Jah he is true At length he 'll surely come He 'll come away without delay And take his Mourners home FINIS