here at Westminster-School which was this It was Customary there among the studious Boys for one or two or more to sit up the former part of the Night at Study and when they went to Bed about Midnight to call others and they others at two or three a Clock as they desired His Request was to be call'd at Twelve and being awaked desired his Candle might be lighted which stuck to the Beds Head but he dropt asleep again and the Candle fell and burnt part of the Bed and Bolster e're he awaked but through God's good Providence seasonable help came in the Fire soon quenched and he received no harm This gave him occasion long after to say It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not Consumed When he was at Westminster-School he was employed by Dr. Busby as some others of the most ingenious and industrious of his Scholars were in their reading of the Greek Authors to Collect by his Direction some Materials for that Excellent Greek Grammar which the Doctor afterwards Publish'd But be the School never so agreeable Youth is desirous to Commence Man by a Removal from it This step he took in the Sixteenth Year of his Age. It was the antient Custom of Westminster-School that all the King ' s Scholars who stood Candidates for an Election to the University were to receive the Lord's Supper the Easter before which he did with the rest in St. Margarets Church at Easter 1647. and he would often speak of the great pains which Dr. Busby took with his Scholars that were to approach to that Solemn Ordinance for several Weeks before at stated times with what skill and seriousness of Application and manifest Concern for their Souls 〈◊〉 â—…ed to them the Nature of the Ordinance and 〈◊〉 the work they had to do in it and instructed them what was to be done in Preparation for it and this he made a Business of appointing them their Religious Exercises instead of their School Exercises What Success this had through the Grace of God upon young Mr. Henry to whom the Dr. had a particular Regard read from his own Hand There had been Treaties saith he before between my Soul and Jesus Christ with some weak Overtures towards him but then then I think it was that the Match was made the Knot tied Then I set my self in the strength of Divine Grace about the great Work of self-Examination in order to Repentance and then I repented that is solemnly and seriously with some poor meltings of Soul I confessed my Sins before God original and actual Judging and Condemning my self for them and casting away from me all my Transgressions receiving Christ Jesus the Lord as the Lord my Righteousness and Devoting and Dedicating my whole self absolutely and Unreservedly to his Fear and Service After which coming to the Ordinance there there I received him indeed and he became mine I say mine Bless the Lord O my Soul Dr. Busby's Agency under God in this blessed work he makes a very grateful mention of in divers of his Papers The Lord recompense it saith he a Thousand fold into his bosome I have heard him tell how much he surprized the Doctor the first time he waited upon him after he was turn'd out by the Act of Uniformity For when the Doctor asked him prithee Child what made thee a Nonconformist truly Sir saith Mr. Henry you made me one for you taught me those things that hindred me from Conforming Encouraged by this Experience I have my self saith he in one of his Papers taken like pains with divers others at their first Admission to the Lord's Table and have through Grace seen the comfortable Fruits of it both in mine own Children and â—…to God be Glory Mr. Dyke's Book Of the Sacrament I have heard him say was of great use to him at that time in his Preparation for that Ordinance Thus was this great Concern happily settled before his Lanching out into the World which through Grace he had all his Days more or less the comfort of in an even serenity of Mind and a peaceful Expectation of the Glory to be Revealed May 17. 1647. he was chosen from Westminster-School to Christ's-Church in Oxford jure loci with Four others of which he had the second place At his Election he was very much Countenanced and Smiled upon by his God-father the Earl of Pembroke who was one of the Electors CHAP. II. His Years spent at Oxford THough he was Chosen to the University in May yet being then young under Sixteen and in love with his School-Learning he made no great haste thither 'T was in December following 1647. that he removed to Oxford Some merciful Providences in his Journey he being a young Traveller affected him much and he us'd to speak of them with a sense of God's Goodness to him in them according to the Impressions then made by them and he hath Recorded them with this thankful Note That there may be a great Mercy in a small Matter as the care that was taken of him by Strangers when he Fainted and was Sick in his Inn the first Night and his casual Meeting with Mr. Annesly Son to the Viscount Valentia who was chosen from Westminster-School at the same time that he was when his other Company going another way had left him alone and utterly at a loss what to do Thus the sensible remembrance of old Mercies may answer the intention of new ones which is to engage our Obedience to God and to encourage our Dependance on him Being come to Oxford he was immediately entred Commoner of Christ-Church where Dr. Samuel Fell was then Dean the Tutor assigned to him and the rest of that Election was Mr. Underwood a very Learned ingenious Gentleman His Godfather the Earl of Pembroke had given him Ten Pounds to buy him a Gown to pay his Fees and to set out with This in his Papers he puts a Remark upon as a Seasonable Mercy in regard of some Straits which Providence by the Calamity of the Times had brought his Father to God had taught him from his Youth that excellent Principle which he adher'd to all his Days that Every Creature is that to us and no more than God makes it to be and therefore while many seek the Rulers Favour and so expect to make their Fortunes as they call it seeing every Man's Iudgment proceedeth from the Lord it is our Wisdom to seek his Favour who is the Ruler of Rulers and that is an effectual way to make sure our Happiness To the proper Studies of this place he now vigorously address'd himself but still retaining a great Kindness for the Classick Authors and the more polite Exercises he lov'd so well at Westminster-School He was admitted Student of Christ-Church March 24. 1647 8. by Dr. Henry Hammond that great Man then Sub-Dean who called him his God-Brother the Earl of Pembroke being his Godfather also and Prince Henry the other who gave him his Name The
Worthenbury in the County of Flint We do hereby send him thither and actually admit him to tâ—…e said Charge to perform all the Offices and Duties of a faithful Pastor there exhorting the People in the Name of Iesus Christ willingly to receive and acknowledge him as the Minister of Christ and to maintain and encourage him in the Execution of his Office that he may be able to give up such an account to Christ of their Obedience to his Ministry as may be to his joy and their everlasting comfort In Witness whereof we the Presbyters of the Fourth Class in the County of Salop commonly called Bradford-North Class have hereunto set our Hands this 16th day of September in the Year of our Lord God 1657. Tho. Porter Moderator for the time Andrew Parsons Minister of Wem Aylmar Haughton Minister of Prees John Malden Minister of Newport Richard Steel Minister of Hanmer I have heard it said by those who were present at this solemnity that Mr. Henry did in his Countenance Carriage and Expression discover such an extraordinary Seriousness and Gravity and such deep Impressions made upon his Spirit as greatly affected the Auditory and even struck an Aw upon them Read his Reflection upon it in his Diary Methoughts I saw much of God in the carrying on of the work of this dayâ—… O how good is the Lord he is good and doth good the Remembrance of it I shall never loose to him be Glory I made many promises of Diligence Faithfulness c. but I lay no stress at all on them but on God's Promise to me that he will be with his Ministers always to the end of the World Amen Lord so be it Make good thy Word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to put my Trust. And in another place I did this day receive as much Honour and Work as ever I shall be able to know what to do with Lord Iesus proportion supplies accordingly Two Scriptures he desir'd might be written in his Heart 2 Cor. 6. 4 5 c. and 2 Chron. 29. 11. Two Years after upon occasion of his being present at an Ordination at Whitchurch he thus writes This Day my Ordination Covenants were in a special manner renew'd as to diligence in Reading Prayer Meditation Faithfulness in Preaching Admonition Catechizing Sacraments Zeal against Error and Profaneness Care to preserve and promote the Unity and Purity of the Church notwithstanding Opposition and Persecution tho' to Death Lord thou hast filled my Hands with Work fill my Heart with Wisdom and Grace that I may discharge my Duty to thy Glory and my own Salvation and the Salvation of those that hear me Amen Let us now see how he applied himself to his Work at Worthenbury The Sphere was narrow too narrow for such a burning and shining Light There were but Forty one Communicants in that Parish when he first set up the Ordinance of the Lord's Suppe and they were never doubled Yet he had such low Thoughts of himself that he not only never sought for a larger Sphere but would never hearken to any Overtures of that kind made to him And withal he had such high thoughts of his work and of the worth of Souls that he laid out himself with as much diligence and vigor here as if he had had the over-fight of the greatest and most considerable Parish in the Country The greatest part of the Parish were poor Tenants and labouring Husbandmen but the Souls of suâ—… he us'd to say are as precious as the Souls of the Rich and to be look'd after accordingly His Prayer for them was Lord despise not the day of small things in this place where there is some willingness but much weakness And thus he writes upon the Judges settling a handsome Maintenance upon him Lord thou knowest I seek not theirs but them Give me â—…he Souls He was in Labours more abundant to win Souls besides Preaching he Expounded the Sciptures in order Catechized and Explain'd the Catechism At first he took into the Number of his Catechumens some that were adult who he found wanted Instruction and when he had taken what pains he thought needful with them he dismiss'd them from further attendance with Commendation of their Proficiency and Counsel to hold fast the form of found Words to be watchful against the Sins of their Age and to apply themselves to the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and make ready for it afterwards he Catechized none above Seventeen or Eighteen Years of Age. He set up a Monthly Lecture there of Two Sermons one he himself Preached and the other his Friend Mr. Ambrose Lewis of Wrexham for some Years He also kept up a Monthly Conference in private from House to House in which he met with the more knowing and judicious of the Parish and they discoursed Familiarly together of the things of God to their mutual Edification according to the Example of the Apostles who tho' they had the liberty of publick Places yet taught also from House to House Acts 5. 42. 20. 20. That which induced him to set and keep up this Exercise as long as he durst which was till August 1660. was that by this means he came better to understand the state of his Flock and so knew the better how to Preach to them and pray for them and they to pray one for another If they were in doubt about any thing relating to their Souls that was an opportunity of getting Satisfaction It was likewise a means of encreasing Knowledge and Love and other Graces and thus it abounded to a good Account He was very industrious in visiting the Sick instructing them and preying with them and in this he would say he aimed at the good not only of those that were Sick but also of their Friends and Relations that were about them He Preach'd Funeral Sermons for all that were Buryed there rich or poor old or young or little Children for he looked upon it as an opportunity of doing good He called it setting in the Plow of the Word when the Providence had softned and prepared the Ground He never took any Money for that or any oâ—…er ministerial Performance besides his stated Salary for which he thought himself obliged to do his whole Duty to them as a Minister When he first set up the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper there he did it with very great solemnity After he had endeavoured to instruct them in his publick Preaching touching the Nature of that Ordinance he discoursed personally with all that gave up their Names to the Lord in iâ—… touching their Knowledge Experience and Conversation obliged them to observe the Law of Christ touching brotherly Admonition in case of Scandal and gave â—…otlce to the Coâ—…gre gaâ—…on who they were that were â—…mitted adding thâ—… 〈◊〉 Concerning these and my self I have two things to say 1. As to what is past we have sinned if â—…e should say we have nâ—… we should deceive our selves and the Truth
Baptize a Child and desir'd the Congregation to bear witness That he did not Baptize that Child into the Church of England nor into the Church of Scotland nor into the Church of the Dissenters nor into the Church at Broad-Oak but into the visible Catholick Church of Iesus Christ. After this he Baptized very many and always publickly though being in the Country they were commonly carried a good way The publick Administration of Baptism he not only judged most agreeable to the Nature and End of the Ordinance but found to be very profitable and edifying to the Congregation for be always took that occasion not only to explain the nature of the Ordinance but affectionately and pathetically to excite People duly to improve their Baptism He usually received the Child immediately out of the hands of the Parent that presented it and return'd it into the same hands again with this or the like charge Take this Child and bring it up for God He us'd to say that one advantage of publick Baptism was that there were many to join in Prayer for the Child in which therefore and in Blessing God for it he was usually very large and particular After he had Baptized the Child before he gave it back to the Parent he commonly used these words We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christ's Church having washed it with Water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost in token that hereafter it shall not be ashamed to confess Christ Crucified and manfully to fight c. He Baptized many adult Persons that through the Errour of their Parents were not Baptized in Infancy and some in Publick The Solemn Ordinance of the Lord's Supper he constantly Celebrated in his Congregation once a Month and always to a very considerable number of Communicants He did not usually observe publick days of Preparation for that Ordinance other than as they fell in course in the weekly Lectures nor did he ever appropriate any particular Subject of his Preaching to Sacrament-days having a great felicity in adapting any profitable Subject to such an occasion and he would say What did the Primitive Christians do when they Celebrated the Lord's Supper every Lord's day His Administration of this Ordinance was very solemn and affecting He had been wont to go about in the Congregation and to deliver the Elements with his own hand but in his latter time he delivered them only to those near him and so they were handed from one to another with the assistance of one who supplied the Office of a Deacon as having also the Custody and disposal of the Money gathered for the use of the Poor Mr. Henry taking and carefully keeping a particular account of it Such as desir'd to be admitted to the Lord's Supper he first discoursed with concerning their Spiritual State and how the Case stood between God and their Souls not only to examine them but to instruct and teach them and to encourage them as he saw occasion gently leading those whom he discern'd to be serious though weak and timorous He usually discoursed with them more than once as finding Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line necessary but he did it with so much Mildness and Humility and tenderness and endeavour to make the best of every body as did greatly affect and win upon many He was herein like our Great Master who can have compassion on the ignorant and doth not despise the day of small things But his admission of young People out of the rank of Catechumens into that of Communicants had a peculiar solemnity in it Such as he Catechiz'd when they grew up to some Years of discretion if he observed them to be intelligent and serious and to set their Faces Heaven-wards he marked them out to be admitted to the Lord's Supper and when he had a competent number of such twelve or fifteen perhaps or more he order'd each of them to come to him severally and discoursed with them of the things belonging to their Everlasting Peace put it to their choice whom they would serve and endeavoured to affect them with those things with which by their Catechisms they had been made acquainted drawing them with the Cords of a Man and the bands of Love into the way which is called Holy For several Lord's days he Catechized them particularly in Publick touching the Lord's Supper and the Duty of Preparation for it and their Baptismal Covenant which in that Ordinance they were to take upon themselves and to make their own Act and Deed. Often telling them upon such occasions that they were not to oblige themselves to any more than what they were already obliged to by their Baptism only to bind themselves faster to it Then he appointed a day in the Week before the Ordinance when in a solemn Assembly on purpose he prayed for them and preached a Sermon to them proper to their Age and Circumstances and so the following Sabbath they were all received together to the Lord's Supper This he looked upon as the right Confirmation or Transition into the State of adult Church membership The more solemn our Covenanting with God is the more deep and the more durable the impressions of it are likely to be He hath Recorded it in his Diary upon one of these occasions as his Hearts desire and prayer for those who were thus admitted That it might be as the day of their Espousals to the Lord Jesus and that they might each of them have a Wedding Garment 3. The Discipline he observed in his Congregation was not such as he could have wished for but the best he could get considering what a scatter'd Flock he had which was his trouble but it could not be helped He would sometimes apply to the circumstances he was in that of Moses Deut. 12. 8 9. However I see not but the end was effectually attained by the methods he took though there wanted the formality of Officers and Church-Meetings for the purpose If he heard of any that walked disorderly he sent for them and reproved them gently or sharply as he saw the Case required If the Sin had scandal in it he suspended them from the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper till they gave some tokens of their Repentance and Reformation And where the offence was publick and gross his judgment was that some publick satisfaction should be made to the Congregation before Readmission But whatever offence did happen or breaches of the Christian Peace Mr. Henry's peculiar Excellency lay in restoring with the Spirit of meekness which with his great Prudence and Love and Condescension did so much command the respects of his People and win upon them that there was a Universal Satisfaction in all his Management and it may truly be said of him as it was of David 2 Sam. 3. 36. That whatsoever he did pleased all the People And it is an Instance and Evidence that those Ministers who will Rule by Love and
Oxford Subscribed by Dr. Wilkinson Dr. Langley c. the other from the Neighbour Ministers Mr. Steel Mr. Fogg c. both testifying of his Conversation c. The Lord forgive me saith he in his Diary upon this that it hath not been more Exemplary as it ought for Piety and Industry Amen Lord in Christ. The Day for Ordination was appointed to be Sept. 16. at Prees of which Notice was given at Worthenbury by a Paper read in the Church and afterwards affixed to the Church-door the Lord's Day before signifying also That if any one could produce any just Exceptions against the Doctrine or Life of the said Mr. Henry or any sufficient Reason why he might not be Ordained they should certifie the same to the Classis or the Scribe and it should be heard and considered On the Day of Ordination there was a very great Assembly gathered together Mr. Porter began the Publick work of the Day with Prayer then Mr. Parsons Preached on 1 Tim. 1. 12. I thank Christ Iesus who hath enabled me for that he counted me Faithful putting me into the Ministry Putting Men into the Ministry is the Work of Jesus Christ. After Sermon Mr. Parsons according to the usual Method requir'd of him a Confession of his Faith which he made as follows The Ground and Rule of my Faith towards God is the Scripture of the Old and New Testament I believe they were written by Holy Men immediately inspir'd by the Holy Ghost having found the efficacy of them in some measure upon my own Heart I believe they are further able to make me wise to Salvation Concerning God I believe that he is and that he is the Rewarder of those that diligently seek him The Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead I receive and own as a Truth I admire and adore as a Mystery though no Man hath seen God at any time yet the only Begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath declared him and what he hath declared concerning him that I believe I believe that God is a Spirit for the Son hath said God is a Spirit I believe that he hath Life in himself and that he hath given to the Son to have Life in himself I believe all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made I believe by his Providence he preserves guides and governs all the Creatures according to the purpose of his own Will to his own Glory for the Father worketh hitherto and the Son also worketh I believe he made Man upright after his own Image and Likeness which Image consisted in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness but Man by Sin lost it I believe we were all in the Loins of our first Parents and that they stood and fell as publick Persons and upon that Account justly without any colour of wrong we bear our share both in the Guilt of their Disobedience and also the Corruption of Nature following thereupon so that we come into the World Children of Wrath and Heirs of the Curse one as well as another Enemies to God hating him and hated of him Averse to what is good and prone to all manner of Evil. Though all are born in this Condition yet there are some that do not dye in it I believe there is a Mediator and there is but one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Iesus Those whom the Father hath from Everlasting pitched his Love upon and given to Christ not because of Works or Faith foreseen but meerly of his Free Grace for those I believe Christ was sent forth into the World made of a Woman made under the Law for their sakes he sanctified himself and became obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross wherefore God also highly exalted him and having raised him from the Dead on the third Day seâ—… him at his own Right Hand where he ever lives to make Intercession for those for whom he shed his Blood All these Elect redeemed ones I believe are in due time sooner or later in their Lives effectually called washed sanctified justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God I believe the Righteousness of Christ alone apprehended by Faith is the matter of our Justification before God and that no Flesh can stand in his Sight upon any other terms for he is the Lord our Righteousness and in him only the Father is well pleas'd I believe the Work of Sanctification managed by the Spirit who dwelleth in us though in respect of Parts it be compleat for the whole Man is renewed yet in respect of Degrees it is not fully perfected till we come to Glory and I believe all that are Justified shall be Glorifi'd for we are kept by the Fower of God through Faith unto Salvation I believe the gathering in and Building up of Saints is the special end why Pastors and Teachers are appointed in the Church and that Jesus Christ according to his Promise will be with them in that Work to the end of the World The Two Sacraments of the New Testament Baptism and the Lord's Supper I receive and own as Signs and Seals of the Covenant of Grace the former Instituted by our Lord Jesus as a Sign and Seal of our engrassing into him due of right to all the Infants of Believing Parents and but once to be Administred the other instituted by our Lord Jesus in the Night wherein he was Betrayed to shew forth his Death and to Seal the Benefits purchased thereby to his Church and People and to be often repeated When the Body returns to the Dust I believe the Soul returns to God that gave it and that immediately it receives from him the Sentence according to what hath been done in the Flesh either Come inherit the Kingdom oâ—… Depart accursed into everlasting Fire I believe besides this a Day of general Judgment in the end of the World wherein we must all appear before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ and that our Bodies being raised by an Almighty-Power from the Dust shall be United to the same Souls again and shall partake with them in the same Condition either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity Those that have done good shall come forth unto the Resurrection of Life and those that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation This is the Sum and Substance of my Faith into which I was Baptized and in which by the Grace of God I will live and Dye Mr. Parsons then propos'd certain Questions to him according to the Instructions in the Directory to which he return'd Answer as followeth Question 1. What are your Ends in undertaking the Work and Calling of a Minister Answer As far as upon search and Enquiry I can
Baptism which is the Seal of the Covenant So that in the Administration of this Ordinance this Day according to the Institution of Jesus Christ we look upon you who are the Father of this Child as a Person in Covenant with God How far you have dealt unfaithfully in the Covenant is known to God and your own Conscience but this we know the Vows of God are upon you and let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity But before we Baptise your Child I am to acquaint you in a few words what we expect from you Q. 1. Do you avouch God â—…n Jesus Christ this Day to be your God See to it that this be done in Truth and with a perfect Heart you may tell us you do so and you may deceive us but God is not mocked Q 2. And is it your desire that your Children also may be received into Covenant with the Lord and that the Lord 's Broad-seal of Baptism may be set to it Q. 3. And do you promise in the presence of God and of this Congregation that you will do your endeavour towards the training of it uâ—… in the way of Godliness that as it is by you through Mercy that it lives the Life of Nature so it may by you also through the same Mercy live the Life of Grace else I must tell you if you be wanting herein there will be a sad Appearance one Day when you shall meet together before the Judgment-seat of Christ and this solemn Engagement of yours will be brought in to witness against you These were but the first Instances of his Skilfulness in dispensing the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God He declin'd the private Administration of the Lord's Supper to sick Persons as judging it not consonant to the Rule and Intention of the Ordinance He very rarely if ever Baptised in private but would have Children brought to the solemn Assembly upon the Lord's Day that the Parents Engagement might have the more Witnesseâ—… to it and the Child the more Prayers put up for it and that the Congregation might be edified And yet he would say there was some inconvenience in it too unless People would agree to put off the Feasting part of the Solemnity to some other time which he very much perswaded his Friends to and observed that Abraham made a great Feast the same Day that Isaac it is weaned Gen. 21. 8. not the same Day that he was circumcised His Carriage towards the People of his Parish was very exemplary condescending to the meanest and conversing familiarly with them bearing with the Infirmites of the weak and becoming all things to all Men. He was exceeding tender of giving Offence or occasion of Grief to any body minding himself in his Diary upon such occasions that the Wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable and gentle c. Yet he plainly and faithfully reproved what he saw amiss in any and would not suffer Sin upon them mourning also for that which he could not mend There were some untractable People in the Parish who sometimes caused Grief to him and exercised his Boldness and Zeal in reproving Once hearing of a merry Meeting at an Ale-house on a Saturday Night he went himself and broke it up and scattered them At another time he publickly witnessed againt 〈◊〉 â—…rolick of some vain People that on a Saturday Night came to the Church with a Fidler before them and dress'd it up with Flowers and Garlands making it as he told them more like a Play-house And was this their preparation for the Lord's Day and the Duties of it c. He minded them of Eccl. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth but know thou Many out of the neighbouring Parishes attended upon his Ministry and some came from far though sometimes he signifi'd his dislike of their so doing so far was he from glorying in it But they who had spiritual Senses exercised to discern things that differ would attend upon that Ministry which they found to be most edifying He was about Eight Years from first to last labouring in the Word and Doctrine at Worthenbury and his Labour was not altogether in vain He saw in many of the travel of his Soul to the rejoycing of his Heart but with this particular Dispensation which I have heard him sometimes speak of that most or all of those in that Parish whom he was through Grace instrumental of Good too died before he left the Parish or quickly after so that within a few Years after his removal thence there were very few of the visible Fruits of his Ministry there and a new Generation sprung up there who knew not Ioseph Yet the opportunity he found there was there of doing the more good by having those that were his Charge near about him made him all his days bear his Testimony to Parish Order where it may he had upon good Terms as much more elegible and more likely to answer the end than the Congregational way of gathering Churches from places far distant which could not ordinarily meet to worship God together From his Experience here though he would say we must do what we can when we cannot do what we would he often wished and prayed for the opening of a Door by which to return to that Order again He had not been long at Worthenbury but he began to be taken notice of by the neighbouring Ministers as likely to be a considerable Man Though his extraordinary Modesty and Humility which even in his Youth he was remarkable for made him to sit down with silence in the lowest Room and to say as Elihu Days shall speak yet his eminent Gifts and Graces could not long be hid the Ointment of the Right-hand will betray it self and a Person of his Merits could not but meet with those quickly who said Friend go up higher and so that Scripture was fulfilled Luke 14. 10. He was often called upon to preach the Week-day Lectures which were set up plentifully and diligently attended upon in those parts and his Labours were generally very acceptable and successful The Vox Populi fasten'd upon him the Epithet of Heavenly Henry by which Title he was commonly known all the Country over and his Advice was sought for by many neighbouring Ministers and Christians for he was one of those that found Favour and good Understanding in the sight of God and Man He was noted at his first setting out as I have been told by one who was then intimately acquainted with him and with his Character and Conversation for three things 1. Great Piety and Devotion and a mighty savor of Godliness in all his Converse 2. Great Industry in the pursuit of useful Knowledge he was particularly observed to be very inquisiâ—…ive when he was among the Aged and Intelligent hearing them and asking them Questions a good Example to young Men especially young Ministers 3. Great Self-denial Self-diffidence and Self-abasement this eminent Humility
the mischief for we may as soon expect all the Clocks in the Town to strike together as to see all good People of a mind in every thing on this side Heaven but the mismanagement of that difference In the Association of the Ministers it was referred to Mr. Henry to draw up that part of their Agreement which concerned the Worship of God which task he performed to their Satisfaction his Preface to what he drew up begins thus Though the main of our Desires and Endeavours be after Unity in the greater things of God yet we judge Uniformity in the Circumstances of Worship a thing not to be altogether neglected by us not only in regard of that influence which external visible Order hath upon the Beauty and Comliness of the Churches of Christ but also as it hath a Direct Tendency to the strenthning of our Hands in Ministerial Services and withal to the removing of those Prejudices which many People have conceiv'd even against Religion and Worship itself We bless God from our very Souls for that whereunto we have already attained and yet we hope some further thing may be done in reference to our closer walking by the same Rule and minding the same things The word of God is the Rule which we desire and resolve to walk by in the Administration of Ordinances and for those things wherein the Word is silent we think we may and ought to have recourse to Christian Prudence and the Practise of the Reformed Churches agreeing with the general Rules of the Word And therefore we have had as we think we ought in our present Agreement a special Eye to the Directory c. These Agreements of theirs were the more likely to be for good for that here as in Worcestershire when they were in agitation the Ministers set apart a Day of Fasting and Prayer among themselves to bewail Ministerial neglects and to seek to God for Direction and Success in their Ministerial Work They met sometimes for this purpose at Mr. Henry's House at Worthenbury One Passage may not improperly be inserted here that once at a Meeting of the Ministers being desired to subscribe a Certificate concerning one whom he had not sufficient acquaintance with he refus'd giving this Reason That he preferred the peace of his Conscience before the Friendship of all the Men in the World Sept. 29. 1658. the Lady Puleston dyed She was saith he the best Friend I had on Earth but my Friend in Heaven is still where he was and he will never leave me nor forsake me He preached her Funeral Sermon from Isa. 3. last Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils He hath noted this Expression of hers not long before she dy'd My Soul leans to Iesus Christ lean to me sweet Saviour About this time he writes A dark Cloud is over my Concernments in this Family but my desire is that whatever becomes of me and my Interest the Interest of Christ may still be kept on foot in this place Amen so be it But he adds soon after that saying of Athanasius which he was us'd often to quote and take comfort from Nubecula est citò pertransibit It is a little Cloud and will soon blow over About a Year after Sept. 5. 1659. Judge Puleston dy'd and all Mr. Henry's Interest in Emeral Family was buryed in his Grave He preached the Judges Funeral Sermon from Neh. 13. 14. Wipe not out my good Deeds that I have done for the House of my God and for the Offices thereof the Design of which Sermon was not to â—…pplaud his Deceased Friend I find not a word in the Sermon to that purpose But he took occasion from the instance of so great a Benefactor to the Ministry as the Judge was to shew that Deeds done for the House of God and the Offices thereof are good Deeds and to press People according as their Ability and Opportunity was to do such Deeds One passage I find in that Sermon which ought to be Recorded That it had been for several Years the practise of a worthy Gentleman in the Neighbouring County in renewing his Leases instead of making it a Condition that his Tenants should keep a Hawk or a Dog for him to oblige them that they should keep a Bible in their Houses for themselves and should bring up their Children to learn to Read and to be Catechized This saith he would be no charge to you and it might oblige them to that which otherwise they would neglect Some wish'd saith he in his Diary that I had chosen some other Subject for that Sermon but I approved my self to God and if I please mâ—…n I am not the Servant of Christ. What personal Affronts he received from some of the Branches of that Family at that time need not be mentioned but with what Exemplary Patience he bore them ought not to be forgotten In March 165â—… he was very much sollicited to leave Worthenbury and to accept of the Vicaridge of Wrexham which was a place that he had both a great Interest in and a great kindness for but he could not see his Call clear from Worthenbury so he declin'd it The same Year he had an offer made him of a considerable Living near London but he was not of them that are given to Change nor did he Consult with Flesh and Blood nor seek great things to himself That Year he had some disturbance from the Quakers who were set on by some others who wished ill to his Ministry they Challenged him to dispute with them and that which he was to prove against them was that the God he Worshipped was not an Idol that Iohn Baddely a Blacksmith in Malpas and the Ring-leader of the Quakers in that Country was not Infallible nor without Sin That Baptism with Water and the Lord's Supper are Gospel Ordinances that the Scriptures are the word of God and that Jesus Christ will come to judge the World at the last Day But he never had any publick Disputes with them nor so much disturbance from them in publick Worship as some other Ministers had elsewhere about that time He had some apprehensions at that time that God would make the Quakers a Scourge to this Nation but had Comfort in this Assurance that God would in due time vindicate his own Honour and the Honour of his Ordinances and those of them who will not Repent to give him Glory will be cast into the Fire One passage I cannot omit because it discovers what kind of Spirit the Quakers were of A Debauch'd Gentleman being in his revels at Malpas Drinking and Swearing was after a sort reproved for it by Baddely the Quaker who was in his Company Why saith the Gentleman I 'll ask thee one Question Whether is it better for me to follow Drinking and Swearing or to go and Hear Henry He answered Of the two rather follow thy Drinking and Swearing The Cheshire Rising this Year in Opposition to the Irregular Powers
from his House in a Morning before Family Worship but upon such an Occasion would mind his Friends that Prayer and Provender never hinder a Iourney He managed his daily Family-Worship so as to make it a Pleasure and not a Task to his Children and Servants for he was seldom long and never tedious in the Service the variety of the Duties made it the more pleasant so that none who join'd with him had ever any reason to say Behold what a Weariness is it Such an Excellent Faculty he had of rendring Religion the most sweet and aimable Employment in the World and so careful was he like Iacob to drive as the Children could go not putting new Wine into old Bottles If some good People that mean well would do likewise it might prevent many of those Prejudices which young Persons are apt to conceive against Religion when the Services of it are made a Toil and a Terror to them On Thursday Evenings instead of Reading he Catechized his Children and Servants in the Assemblies Catechism with the Proofs or sometimes in a little Catechism Concerning the matter of Prayer published in the Year 1674. and said to be written by Dr. Collins which they learned for their help in the Gift of Prayer and he Explain'd it to them Or else they Read and he Examined them in some other useful Book as Mr. Pool's Dialogues against the Papists the Assemblies Confession of Faith with the Scriptures or the like On Saturday Evenings his Children and Servants gave him an Account what they could remember of the Chapters that had been Expounded all the Week before in order each a several part helping one anothers Memories for the Recollecting of it This he call'd gathering up the Fragments which remained that nothing might be lost He would say to them sometimes as Christ to his Disciples Have ye understood all these things If not he took that occasion to explain them more fully This Exercise which he constantly kept up all along was both delightful and profitable and being managed by him with so much Prudence and sweetness helped to instil into those about him betimes the Knowledge and Love of the Holy Scriptures When he had Sojourners in his Family who were able to bear a part in such a Service he had commonly in the Winter time set Weekly Conferences on Questions propos'd for their mutual Edification and Comfort in the fear of God the Substance of what was said he himself took and kept an Account of in Writing But the Lord's Day he called and counted the Queen of Days the Pearl of the Week and observed it accordingly The Fourth Commandment intimates a special regard to be had to the Sabbath in Families Thou and thy Son and thy Daughter c. it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your Dwellings In this therefore he was very exact and abounded in the work of the Lord in his Family on that Day Whatever were the Circumstances of his Publick Opportunities which vari'd as we shall find afterwards his Family Religion on that day was the same Extraordinary Sacrifices must never supersede the continual Burnt-offering and his Meat-offering Numb 28. 15. His common Salutation of his Family or Friends on the Lord's Day in the Morning was that of the Primitive Christians The Lord is risen he is risen indeed making it his chief Business on that day to Celebrate the Memory of Christ's Resurrection and he would say sometimes Every Lord's Day is a true Christians Easter day He took care to have his Family ready early on that day and was larger in Exposition and Prayer on Sabbath-Mornings than on other days He would often remember that under the Law the daily Sacrifice was doubled on Sabbath-days two Lambs in the Morning and two in the Evening He had always a particular Subject for his Expositions on Sabbath Mornings the Harmony of the Evangelists several times over the Scripture Prayers Old Testament Prophesies of Christ Christ the true Treasure so he Entituled that Subject sought and found in the Field of the Old Testament He constantly sung a Psalm after Dinner and another after Supper on the Lord's Dayes And in the Evening of the Day his Children and Servants were Catechized and Examined in the sense and meaning of the Answers in the Catechism that they might not say it as he used to tell them like a Parrot by Rote Then the Days Sermons were repeated commonly by one of his Children when they were grown up and while they were with him and the Family gave an Account what they could remember of the word of the Day which he endeavoured to fasten upon them as a Nail in a sure place In his Prayers on the Evening of the Sabbath he was often more than ordinarily Enlarged as one that found not only God's Service perfect Freedom but his Work it s own Wages and a great Reward not only after keeping but as he used to observe from Ps. 19. 11. in keeping God's Commandments A perfect Reward of Obedience in Obedience In that Prayer he was usually very particular in praying for his Family and all that belong'd to it It was a Prayer he often put up that we might have Grace to carry it as a Minister and a Minister's Wife and a Minister's Children and a Minister's Servants should carry it that the Ministry might in nothing be blamed He would sometimes be a particular Intercessor for the Towns and Parishes adjacent How have I heard him when he hath been in the Mount with God in a Sabbath Evening Prayer wrestle with the Lord for Chester and Shrewsbury and Nantwich and Wrexham and Whitchurch c. those nests of Souls wherein there are so many that cannot discern between their Right Hand and their Left in Spiritual things c. He closed his Sabbath Work in his Family with singing Psalm 134. and after it a solemn Blessing of his Family Thus was he Prophet and Priest in his own House and he was King there too Ruling in the fear of God and not suffering Sin upon any under his Roof He had many Years ago a man Servant that was once over-taken in Drink abroad for which the next Morning at Family-Worship he solemnly Reproved him admonish'd him and Prayed for him with a Spirit of Meekness and soon after parted with him But there were many that were his Servants who by the Blessing of God upon his Endeavours got those good Impressions upon their Souls which they retain'd ever after and blessed God with all their Hearts that ever they came under his Roof Few went from his Service till they were Married and went to Families of their own and some after they had been Married and had Bury'd their Yoke fellows return'd to his Service again saying Master it is good to be here He brought up his Children in the fear of God with a great deal of Care and Tenderness and did by his Practise as well as upon all occasions in Discourses
of Sion mourning and the quiet in the Land treated as the troublers of it his Soul wept in Secret for it And yet he join'd in the Annual Commemoration of the King's Restauration and preach'd on Caesar's considering saith he that it was his right also the sad Posture of the Civil Government through Usurpers and the manner of his coming in without Bloodshed This he would all his Days speak of as a national Mercy but what he rejoyced in with a great Deal of Trembling for the Ark of God and he would sometimes say That during those Years between forty and sixty though on Civil accounts there were great Disorders and the Foundations were out of Course yet in the matters of God's Worship things went well there was Freedom and Reformation and a Face of Godliness was upon the Nation tho' there were those that made but a mask of it Ordinances were administred in Power and Purity and though there was much amiss yet Religion at least in the Profession of it did prevail This saith he we know very well let Men say what they will of those times In November 1660. he took the Oath of Allegiance at Orton before Sir Thomas Hanmer and two other Justices of which he hath left a Memorandum in his Diary with this added God so help me as I purpose in my Heart to do accordingly Nor could any more Conscientiously observe that Oath of God than he did nor more sincerely promote the Ends of it That Year according to an Agreement with some of his Brethren in the Ministry who hoped thereby to oblige some People he Preached upon christmas-Christmas-day The Sabbath before it happen'd that the 23d Chapter of Leviticus which treats intirely of the Jewish Feasts called there the Feasts of the Lord came in course to be Expounded which gave him occasion to distinguish of Feasts into Divine and Ecclesiastical the Divine Feasts that the Jews had were those there appointed their Ecclesiastical Feasts were those of Purim and of Dedication and in the Application of it he said He knew no Divine Feast we have under the Gospel but the Lord's Day intended for the Commemoration of the whole Mercy of our Redemption And the most that could be said for Christmas was that it is an Ecclesiastical Feast and it is questionable with some whether Church or State though they might make a good Day Esth. 9. 19. could make a Holy Day Nevertheless for asmuch as we find our Lord Iesus Joh. 10. 22. so far complying with the Church Feast of Dedication as to take occasion from the Peoples coming together to Preach to them he purposed to Preach upon Christmas day knowing it to be his Duty in Season and out of Season He Preached on 1 Ioh. 3. 8. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil And he minded his People that it is double dishonour to Iesus Christ to practise the Works of the Devil then when we keep a Feast in Memory of his Manifestation His Annuity from Emeral was now with held because he did not read the Common Prayer tho' as yet there was no Law for Reading of it hereby he was disabled to do what he had been wont for the Help and Relief of others and this he has Recorded as that which troubled him most under that Disappointment but he blessed God that he had a Heart to do good even when his Hand was empty When Emeral Family was unkind to him he reckoned it a great Mercy which he gave God thanks for who makes every Creature to be that to us that it is that Mr. Broughton and his Family which is of considerable Figure in the Parish continued their kindness and respects to him and their countenance of his Ministry which he makes a grateful mention of more than once in his Diary Many attempts were made in the Year 1661. to disturb and ensnare him and it was still expected that he would have been hindred Methinks saith he Sabbaths were never so sweet as they are now we are kept at such uncertainties now a day in they Courts is better than a thousand such a day as this saith he of a Sacrament Day that Year better than ten thousand O that we might yet see many such days He was advis'd by Mr. Ratcliff of Chester and others of his Friends to enter an Action against Mr. P. for his Annuity and did so but concerning the Success of it saith he I am not over sollicitous for though it be my due Luke 10. 7. yet it was not that which I Preached for and God knows I would much rather Preach for nothing than not at all and besides I know assuredly if I should be Cast God will make it up to me some other way After some Proceeding he not only mov'd but sollicited Mr. P. to refer it having learned saith he that it is no Disparagement but an Honour for the Party wronged to be first in seeking Reconciliation The Lord if it be his Will incline his Heart to Peace I have now saith he two great Concerns upon the Wheel one in reference to my Maintenance for time past the other as to my continuance for the future the Lord bâ—… my friend in both but of the two rather in the latter But saith he many of greater Gifts and Grace than I are laid aside already and when my turn comes I know not the Will of God be done He can do his Work without us The issue of this affair was that there having been some Disputes between Mr. P. and Dr. Bridgman about the Tithe of Worthenbury wherein Mr. P. had clearly the better Claim to make yet by the Mediation of Sir Tho. Hanmer they came to this Agreement Septemb. 11. 1661. that Dr. Bridgman and his Successors Parsons of Bangor should have and receive all the Tithe Corn and Hay of Worthenbury without the Disturbance of the said Mr. P. or his Heirs except the Tith-Hay of Emeral Demesn upon Condition that Dr. Bridgman should before the first of November following avoid and discharge the present Minister or Curate Philip Henry from the Chappel of Worthenbury and not hereafter at any time re-admit the said Minister Philip Henry to Officiate the said Cure This is the Substance of the Articles agreed upon between them pursuant to which Dr. Bridgman soon after dismiss'd Mr. Henry and by a Writing under his Hand which was published in the Church of Worthenbury by one of Mr. Puleston's Servants October the 27th following Notice was given to the Parish of that Dismission That Day he Preached his Farewel Sermon on Phil. 1. 27. Only let your Conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Christ. In which as he saith in his Diary his desire and design was rather to profit then to affect it matters not what becomes of me whether I come unto you or else be absent but let your Conversation be as becomes the Gospel His parting Prayer for them was The
that judgeth in the Earth In the Beginning of the Year 1665. when the Act for a Royal Aid to his Majesty of two Millions and a half came out The Commissioners for Flintshire were pleas'd to nominate Mr. Henry Sub-collector of the said Tax for the Township of Iscoyd and Mr. Steel for the Township of Hanmer They intended thereby to put an Affront and disparagement upon their Ministry and to shew that they look'd upon them but as Lay-men His note upon it is It is not a Sin which they put us upon but it is a Cross and a Cross in our Way and therefore to be taken up and born with patience When I had better work to do I was wanting in my Duty about it and now this is put upon me the Lord is righteous He procured the gathering of it by others only took account of it and saw it duly done and deserv'd as he saith he hoped he should that Inscription mentioned in Suetonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Memory of an honest Publican In September the same Year he was again by warrant from the Deputy Lieutenant's fetch'd Prisoner to Hanmer as was also Mr Steel and others He was examined about private Meetings some such but private indeed he own'd he had been present at of late in Shropshire but the Occasion was extraordinary the Plague was at that Time raging in London and he and several of his Friends having near Relations there thought it time to seek the Lord for them and this was imputed to him as his Crime He was likewise charged with Administring the Lord's Supper which he denied having never Administred it since he was disabled by the Act of Uniformity After some Days Confinement seeing they could prove nothing upon him he was discharged upon Recognizance of 20 l. with two Sureties to be forth-coming upon Notice and to live Peaceably But saith he our Restraint was not Strict for we had liberty of Prayer and Conference together to our mutual Edification thus out of the Eater came forth meat and out of the strong Sweetness and we found Honey in the Carcase of the Lion It was but a little before this that Mr. Steel setting out for London was by a Warrant from the Justices under Colour of the report of a Plot stop't and search'd and finding nothing to accuse him of they seiz'd his Almanack in which he kept his Diary for that Year and it not being written very legibly they made what malicious readings and comments they pleas'd upon it to his great Wrong and Reproach though to all sober and sensible people it discover'd him to be a Man that kept a strict Watch over his own heart and was a great Husband of his time and many said they got good by it and should love him the better for it Psal. 37. 5 6. This Event made Mr. Henry somewhat more cautious and sparing in the Records of his Diary when he saw how evil Men dig up Mischief At Lady-day 1666. The Five-mile Act commenced by which all Nonconformist Ministers were forbidden upon pain of Sixth Months imprisonment to come or be within five Miles of any Corporation or of any plaâ—…e where they had been Ministers unless they would take an Oath of which Mr. Baxter saith 't was credibly reported that the Earl of Southampton then Lord High Treasurer of England said no honest Man could take it Mr. Baxter in his Life hath set down at large his Reasons against taking this Oxford Oath as it was called part 2. p. 396. c. part 3. p. 4. c. Mr. Henry set his down in short 'T was an Oath not at any time to endeavour any Alteration of the Government in the Church or State He had already taken an Oath of Allegiance to the King and he look'd upon this to amount to an Oath of Allegiance to the Bishops which he was not free to take Thus he writes March 22. 1665 6. This Day methoughts it was made more clear to me than ever by the Hand of my God upon me and I note it down that I may remember it 1 That the Government of the Church of Christ ought to be managed by the Ministers of Christ. It appears Heb. 13 7. that they are to rule us that Speak to us the Word of God 2 That under Prelacy Ministers have not the Management of Church-Government not in the least being only the Publishers of the Prelates Decrees as in Excommunication and Absolution which Decrees sometimes are given forth by Lay Chancellors 3 That therefore Prelacy is an Usurpation in the Church of God upon the Crown and Dignity of Jesus Christ and upon the Gospel-Rights of his Servants the Ministers And therefore 4 I ought not to subscribe to it nor to swear not to endeavour in all lawful ways the Alteration of it viz. by Praying and Perswading where there is opportunity But 5 that I may safely venture to suffer in the refusal of such an Oath committing my Soul Life Estate Liberty all to him who judgeth righteously And on March 25. the day when that Act took place he thus writes A sad day among poor Ministers up and down this Nation who by this Act of Restraint are forced to remove from among their Friends Acquaintance and Relations and to sojurn among strangers as it were in Mesech and in the Tents of Kedar But there is a God who tells their wandrings and will put their Tears and the Tears of their Wives and Children into his Bottle are they not in his Book The Lord be a little Sanctuary to them and a place of Refuge from the Storm and from the Tempest and pity those Places from which they are ejected and come and dwell where they may not He wished their Removes might not be figurative of Evil to these Nations as Ezekiel's were Ezek. 12. 1. 2. 3. This severe Dispensation forced Mr. Steel and his Family from Hanmer and so he lost the comfort of his Neighbourhood but withal it drew Mr. Laurence from Baschurch to Whitchurch Parish where he continued till he was driven thence too Mr. Henry's house at Broad Oâ—…k was but four reputed Miles from the utmost Limits of Worthenbury Parish but he got it measured and accounting 1760 Yards to a Mile according to the Statute 35 Eliz. cap. 6. it was found to be just five Miles and threescore Yards which one would think might have been his Security but there were those near him who were ready to stretch such Laws to the utmost rigor under Pretence of construing them in Favour of the King and therefore would have it to be understood of reputed Miles this obliged him for some time to leave his Family and to sojurn among his Friends to whom he endeavoured wherever he came to impart some Spiritual Gift At last he ventured home presuming among other things that the Warrant by which he was made Collector of the Royal Aid while that continued would secure him according to a Promise in the
last Clause of the Act which when the Gentlemen perceived they discharged him from that Office before he had served out the Time He was much affected with it that the Burning of London happned so soon after the Nonconformists were banished out of it He thought it was in Mercy to them that they were removed before that desolating judgment came but that it spoke aloud to our Governours Let my People go that they may serve me and if ye will not behold thus and thus will I do unto you This was the Lord's voice crying in the City In the Beginning of the Year 1667. he removed with his Family to Whitchurch and dwelt there above a Year except that for one quarter of a Year about harvest he returned again to Broad-Oak His Remove to Whitchurch was partly to quiet his Adversaries who were ready to quarrel with him upon the five Mile Act and partly for the benefit of the School there for his Children There in Apr. following he buried his eldest Son not quite six Years old a child of extraordinary praegnancy and forwardness in learning and of a very towardly disposition his Character of this Child is Praeterquam aetatem nil puerile fuit This Child before he was seized with the Sickness whereof he died was much affected with some Verses which he met with in Mr. Whites Power of Godliness said to be found in the Pocket of a hopeful young Man who died before he was twenty four Years old Of his own accord he got them without Book and would be often rehearsing them they were these Not twice twelve Years he might say Not half twelve years full told a wearied Breath I have exchanged for a happy Death Short was my Life the longer is my Rest God takes them soonest whom he loveth best He that is born to day and die's to morrow Loses some hours of joy but months of sorrow Other Diseases often come to grieve us Death Strikes but once and that Stroak doth relieve us This was a great Affliction to the render Parents Mr. Henry writes upon it in the reflection Quicquid amas oupias non placuisse nimis Many Years after he said he thought he did apply to himself at that Time but too sensibly that Scripture Lam. 3. 1. I am the Man that hath seen affliction And he would say to his Friends upon such occasions Loosers think they may have leave to speak but they must have a care what they say lest speaking amiss to God's dishonour they make work for Repentance and shed tears that must be wipt over again He observed concerning this child that he had always been very patient under rebukes The remembrance of which saith he teacheth me now how to carry it under the rebuke's of my heavenly Father His Prayer under this Providence was shew me Lord shew me wherefore thou contendest with me have I over-boasted overlov'd over-priz'd A Lord's Day intervening between the Death and burial of the Child I attended saith he on publick Ordinances though sad in Spirit as Job who after all the evil Tidings that were brought him whereof Death of Children was the last and heaviest yet fell down and worshipped And he would often say upon such occasions that weeping must not hinder sowing Upon the Interment of the Child he writes My dear Child now mine no longer was laid in the cold Earth not lost but sown to be raised again a glorious Body and I shall go to him but he shall not return to me A few days after his dear Friend Mr. Lawrence then living in Whitchurch Parish Buried a Daughter that was grown up and very hopeful and giving good Evidence of a work of Grace wrought upon her Soul how willing saith he may Parents be to part with such when the Lord calls they are not amissi but praemissi And he hath this further Remark The Lord hath made his poor Servants that have been often Companions in his Work now companions in Tribulation the very same Tribulation me for my Sin him for his Trial. While he liv'd at Whitchurch he attended constantly upon the publick Ministry and there as ever he was careful to come to the beginning of the Service which he attended upon with Reverence and Devotion standing all the time even while the Chapters were read In the Evening of the Lord's day he spent some time in instructing his Family to which a few of his Friends and Neighbours in the Town would sometimes come in and it was a little gleam of opportunity but very short for as he Notes He was offended at it who should rather have rejoyced if by any means the Work might be carried on in his Peoples Souls He observes in his Diary this Year how zealous People had generally been for the Observation of Lent a while ago and how cold they are towards it now The same he Notes of Processions in Ascention Week for saith he what hath no good Foundation will not hold up long but in that which is Duty and of God it is good to be zealously affected always In this Year I think was the first time that he Administred the Lord's Supper very privately to be sure after he was Silenced by the Act of Uniformity and he did not do it without mature Deliberation A fear of Separation kept him from it so long what induced him to it at last I find thus under his own Hand I am a Minister of Christ and as such I am obliged Virtute Officii by all means to endeavour the good of Souls Now here 's a company of serious Christians whose Lot is cast to live in a Parish where there is one set over them who Preacheth the Truth and they come to hear him and join with him in other parts of Worship only as to the Lord's Supper they scruple the lawfulness of the Gesture of Kneeling and he tells them his hands are tyed and he cannot administer it unto them any other way wherefore they come to me and tell me they earnestly long for that Ordinance and there is a competent number of them and opportunity to partake and how dare I deny this Request of theirs without betraying my Ministerial Trâ—…st and incuring the Guilt of a grievous Omission In February 1667 8. Mr. Laurence and he were invited by some of their Friends to Betley in Staffordshire and there being some little publick Connivance at that time with the Consent of all concerned they adventured to Preach in the Church one in the Morning and the other in the Afternoon of the Lords day very peaceably and profitably This Action of theirs was presently after Reported in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament with these Additions That they tore the Common-Prayer Book trampled the Surplice under their Feet pull'd the Minister of the place out of the Pulpit c. Reports which there was not the least Colour for But that with some other such like false Stories produced an Address of the
as had been vain and wordly and careless and mindless of God and another World became sober and serious and concern'd about their Souls and a Future State This was the Conversion of Souls aimed at and laboured after and through Grace not altogether in vain Whatever Lectures were set up in the Country round 't was still desired that Mr Henry would begin them which was thought no small Encouragement to those who were to carry them on and very happy he was both in the choice and management of his Subjects at such opportunities seeking to find out acceptable Words Take one Specimen of his Address when he began a Lecture with a Sermon on Heb. 12. 15. I assure you saith he and God is my Witness I am not come to Preach either Sedition against the Peace of the State or Schism against the Peace of the Church by perswading you to this or that Opinion or Party but as a Minister of Christ that hath received Mercy from the Lord to desire to be faithful My errand is to exhort you to all possible Seriousness in the great Business of your Eternal Salvation according to my Text which if the Lord will make as profitable to you as it is material and of weight in it self neither you nor I shall have cause to repent cur coming hither and our being here to day looking diligently lest any of you fail of the Grace of God If it were the last Sermon I were to Preach I did not know how to take my aim better to do you good In doing of this Work he often said that he looked upon himself but as an Assistant to the Parish Ministers in promoting the common Interests of Christs Kingdom and the common Salvation of precious Souls by the Explication and Application of those great Truths wherein we are all agreed And he would compare the Case to that in Hezekiah's time when the Levites helped the Priests to kill the Sacrifice which was something of an irregularity but the exigence of affairs called for it the Priests being too few and some of them not so careful as they should have been to sanctifie themselves see 2 Chr. 29. 34. and wherever he Preached he usually pray'd for the Parish Minister and for a Blessing upon his Ministry He hath often said how well pleas'd he was when after he had preached a Lecture at Oswestry he went to visit the Minister of the Place Mr. Edwards a worthy good Man and told him he had been Sowing a handful of Seed among his People and had this Answer That 's well the Lord prosper your Seed and mine too there 's need enough of us both And another worthy Conformist that came privately to hear him but was reprimanded for it by his Superiours told him afterwards with tears that his Heart was with him His Heart was wonderfully enlarged in his Work at this time the Fields were white unto the Harvest and he was busie and God did remarkably own him setting many Seals to his Ministry which much confirm'd him in what he did He hath this observable passage in his Diary about this time which he recorded for his after Benefit and the Example of it may be instructive Remember that if trouble should come hereafter for what we do now in the use of present Liberty I neither shrink from it nor sink under it for I do therein approve my self to God and to my own Conscience in truth and uprightness and the Lord whom I serve can and will certainly both bear me out and bring me off with comfort in the end I say Remember and forget it not this 24th day of March 1672 3. 'T was at the beginning of this Liberty that the Society at Broad-Oak did Commence made up besides the Neighbourhood of some out of Whitchurch and Whitchurch Parish that had been Mr. Porter's People some out of Hanmer Parish that had been Mr. Steel's and some out of the Parishes of Wem Prees and Ellismere Persons generally of very moderate and sober Principles quiet and peaceable Lives and hearty well-wishers to the King and Government and not Rigid or Schismatical in their Separation but willing to attend though sometimes with difficulty and hazard upon those Administrations which they found most lively and edifying and most helpful to them in the great business of working out their Salvation To this Society he would never call himself a Pastor nor was he willing that they should call him so but a Helper and a Minister of Christ for their good He would say That he look'd upon his Family only as his Charge and his Preaching to others was but accidental whom if they came he could no more turn away than he could a poor hungry Man that should come to his door for an Alms. And being a Minister of Iesus Christ he thought himself bound to Preach the Gospel as he had opportunity Usually once a Month he administred the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper Some of his Opportunities of that kind he sets a particular Remark upon as sweet Sealing Days on which he found it good to draw near to God When about the Years end there was a general Expectation of the Cancelling of the Indulgence He hath this Note upon a precious Sabbath and Sacrament day as he calls it perhaps this may be the last Father thy will be done it is good for us to be at such uncertainties for now we receive our Liberty from our Father fresh every day which is best and sweetest of all On the 3d of March 1676 7. being Saturday night the Town of Wem in Shropshire about six Miles from him was burnt down the Church Market House and about One hundred twenty six dwelling Houses and one Man in little more than an Hours time the Wind being exceeding violent at which time Mr. Henry was very helpful to his Friends there both for their support under and their improvement of this sad Providence It was but about half a Year before that a threatning Fire had broke out in that Town but did little hurt some serious People there presently after Celebrated a Thanksgiving for their Deliverance in which Mr. Henry imparted to them a Spiritual Gift Oct. 3. 1676 from Zech. 3. 2. Is not this a brand pluck'd out of the Fire In the close of that Sermon pressing them from the consideration of that remarkable Deliverance to personal Reformation and Amendment of Life That those who had been Proud Covetous Passionate Lyars Swearers Drunkards Sabbath-breakers would be so no more and urging Ezr. 9. 13 14. he added If this Providence have not this effect upon you you may in reason expect another Fire for when God judgeth he will overcome and minded them of Lev. 26. where 't is so often threatned against those who walk contrary to God that he would punish them yet seven times more The remembrance of this could not but be affecting when in so short a time after the whole Town was laid in Ruins The
AN ACCOUNT OF THE Life and Death OF Mr. Philip Henry Minister of the Gospel near Whitchurch in Shropshire Who Dy'd Iune 24. 1696 in the Sixty fifth Year of his Age. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and Iohn Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1698. TO His much Honoured Friend Sir Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR THE Ministers of the Gospel are in the Scripture Language Stars in the right Hand of Christ to signifie their diffusive Light and beneficial Influences As in the future State of the Resurrection some Stars shall differ from others in Glory so in the present State of the Regeneration some Ministers are distinguish'd from others by a brighter Eminence in their Endowments and a more powerful Emanation of Light in their Preaching Of this Select Number was Mr. Philip Henry in whom there was Union of those real Excellencies of parts Learning and Divine Graces that signaliz'd him among his Brethren This does evidently appear in the Narrative of his Life drawn by one very fit to do it as having had intire knowledge of him by long and intimate Conversation and having by his Holy Instructions and the impression of his Example been made partaker of the same sanctifying Spirit The describing the External Actions of Saints without observing the Holy Principles and Affections from whence they derived their Life and Purity is a defective and irregular Representation of them 'T is as if an account were given of the Riches and Faecundity of the Earth from the Flowers and Fruits that grow upon it without considering the Mines of Precious Metals contain'd in its Bosom Now only an inward Christian that has felt the Power of Religion in his Heart can from the Reflexion upon himself and his uncounterfeit Experience discover the Operations of Grace in the Brests of others Mr. Henry was Dedicated to the Service of Christ by his Mother in his tender Age. His first Love and Desires when he was capable to make a judicious Choice were set upon God He entred early into the Ministry and Consecrated all the Powers of his Soul Understanding Memory Will and Affections with his Time and Strength to the Servioâ—… of Christ. And such was the Grace and Favour of God to him that he lost no Days in his Flourishing Age by satisfying the voluptuous Appetites nor in his declining Age by Diseases and Infirmities but uncessantly applied himself to his Spiritual Work He was called to a private place in Wales but his shining Worth could not be shaded in a Corner A Confluence of People from other parts attended on his Ministry Indeed the word of Truth that dyes in the Mouths of the cold and careless for they are not all Saints that serve in the Sanctuary had Life and Spirit in his Preaching For it proceeded from a Heart burning with Zeal for the Honour of Christ and Salvation of Souls Accordingly he suited his Discourses to the wise and the weak and imitated the Prophet who contracted his Stature to the dead Body of the Widows Son applying his Mouth to the Mouth of the Child to inspire the Breath of Life into him The poor and despised were instructed by him with the same compassionate Love and Diligence as the Rich notwitstanding the civil distinction of Persons which will shortly vanish for ever For he considered their Souls were of the same Precious and immortal value In the Administration of the Lord's Supper he exprest the just temperament of sweetness and severity with melting Compassion he invited all relenting and returning Sinners to come to Christ and receive their Pardon Sealed with his Blood But he was so jealous of the Honour of Christ that he deterr'd by the most fearful Consequences the Rebellious that indulg'd their Lusts from coming to partake of the Feast of the unspotted Lamb. He was not allur'd by Temporal Advantage which is the mark of a Mercenary to leave the first place where by the Divine Disposal he was seated When the fatal Bartholomew-day came tho he had fair Hopes of Preferment by his Attendance upon the King and Duke of York in their early Age of which the remembrance might have been reviv'd Yet he was guided by a Superiour Spirit and imitated the Self-denyal of Moses a Duty little understood and less practised by the Earthly minded rather choosing to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the good things of this World As the Light of Heaven when the Air is stormy and disturb'd does not lose the rectitude of its Rays So his enlightned Conscience did not bend in compliance with the Terms of Conformity but he obeyed its sincere Judgment After his being Expell'd from the place of his publick Ministry his deportment was becoming a Son of Peace He refus'd not Communion with the Church of England in the Ordinances of the Gospel so far as his Conscience permitted Yet he could not desert the Duty of his Office to which he was with sacred Solemnity set apart He was Faithful to improve Opportunities for serving the Interest of Souls notwithstanding the Severities inflicted on him And after the restoring our Freedom of Preaching he continued in the Performance of his delightful Work till Death put a period to his Labours After this account of him as a Minister of Christ I will glance upon his Carriage as a Christian. His Conversation was so Holy and regular so free from taint that he was unaccuseable by his Enemies they could only object his Nonconformity as a Crime But his vigilant and tender Conscience discover'd the spots of sin in himself which so affected his Soul that he desir'd Repentance might accompany him to the Gate of Heaven an excellent Testimony of Humility the inseparable Character of a Saint His love to God was supreme which was declar'd by his chosen Hours of Communion with him every day The Union of Affections is naturally productive of Union in Conversation Accordingly our Saviour promises He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him And he repeats the Promise If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him To his special and singular Love to God was joined a universal Love to Men He did good to all according to his Ability His forgiving of Injuries that rare and difficult Duty was eminently conspicuous in the shaâ—…pest Provocations When he could not excuse the offence he would pardon the offender and strive to imitate the perfect Model of Charity exprest in our suffering Saviour who in the extremity of his Sufferings when resentments are most quick and sensible pray'd for his cruel Persecutors His filial trust in God was Correspondent to God's Fatherly Providence to him This was his Support in times of Tryal and maintain'd an equal temper in his mind and tenor in his Conversation In short he led
condemn the Indiscretion of those Parents who are partial in their affections to their Children making a Difference between them which he observed did often prove of ill Consequence in Families and lay a Foundation of Envy Contempt and Discord which turns to their shame and ruine His Carriage towards his Children was with great Mildness and Gentleness as one who desir'd rather to be loved than feared by them He was as careful not to provoke them to Wrath nor to discourage them as he was to bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. He Rul'd indeed and kept up his Authority but it was with Wisdom and Love and with a high Hand He allowed his Children a great degree of Freedom with him which gave him the opportunity of reasoning them not frightning them into that which is good He did much towards the Instruction of his Children in the way of Familiar Discourse according to that Excellent Directory for Religious Education Deut. 6. 7. Thou shalt whet these things so the word is which he said noted frequent Repetition of the same things upon thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy House c. which made them love home and delight in his Company and greatly endear'd Religion to them He did not burthen his Childrens Memories by imposing upon them the getting of Chapters and Psalms without Book but endeavoured to make the whole word of God familiar to them especially the Scripture Stories and to bring them to understand it and love it and then they would easily remember it He us'd to observe from Psal. 119. 93. I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me that we are then likely to remember the word of God when it doth us good He taught all his Children to write himself and set them betimes to write Sermons and other things that might be of use to them He taught his eldest Daughter the Hebrew Tongue when she was about six or seven Years old by an English Hebrew Grammar which he made on purpose for her and she went so far in it as to be able readily to Read and Construe a Hebrew Psalm He drew up a short Form of the Baptismal Covenant for the use of his Children it was this I take God the Father to be my chiefest Good and highest End I take God the Son to be my Prince and Saviour I take God the Holy Ghost to be my Sanctifier Teacher Guide and Comforter I take the Word of God to be my Rule in all my Actions And the People of God to be my People in all Conditions I do likewise Devote and Dedicate unto the Lord my whole self all I am all I have and all I can do And this I do deliberately sincerely freely and for ever This he taught his Children and they each of them solemnly repeated it every Lord's Day in the Evening after they were Catechized he putting his Amen to it and sometimes adding so say and so do and you are made for ever He also took pains with them to lead them into the Understanding of it and to perswade them to a free and cheerful Consent to it And when they grew up he made them all write it over severally with their own Hands and very solemnly set their Names to it which he told them he would keep by him and it should be produced as a Testimony against them in Case they should afterwards depart from God and turn from following after him He was careful to bring his Children betimes when they were about Sixteen Years of Age to the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper to take the Covenant of God upon themselves and to make their Dedication to God their own Act and Deed and a great deal of pains he took with them to prepare them for that great Ordinance and so to transmit them into the State of adult Church-membership And he would often blame Parents who would think themselves undone if they had not their Children baptized and yet took no care when they grew up and made a profession of the Christian Religion to perswade them to the Lord's Supper 'T is true he would say Buds and Blossoms are not fruit but they give hopes of fruit and Parents may and should take hold of the good beginning of Grace which they see in their Children by those to bind them so much the closer to and lead them so much the faster in the way that is called Holy By this solemn engagemement the Door wich stood half-open before and invited the Thief is shut and bolted against Temptation And to those who pleaded that they were not fit he would say that the further they went into the World the less sit they would be Qui non est bodie cras minus aptus erit Not that Children should be compell'd to it nor those that are wilfully ignorant untoward and perverse admitted to it but those Children that are hopeful and well inclin'd to the things of God and appear to be concern'd in other Duties of Religion when they begin to put away childish things should be incited and encouraged and perswaded to this that the matter may be brought to an Issue Nay but we will serve the Lord Fast bind fast find Abundant Thanks-givings have been rendred to God by many of his Friends for his Advice and assistance herein In dealing with his Children about their spiritual State he took hold of them very much by the handle of their Infant-Baptism and frequently inculcated that upon them that they were born in God's House and were betimes dedicated and given up to him and therefore were oblig'd to be his Servants Psal. 116. 16. I am thy Servant because the Son of thy handmaid This he was wont to illustrate to them by the comparison of taking a Lease of a fair Estate for a Child in the Cradle and putting his Life into it The Child then knows nothing of the matter nor is he capable of consenting however then he is maintained out of it and and hath an Interest in it And when he grows up and becomes able to chuse and refuse for himself if he go to his Landlord and claim the Benefit of the Lease and promise to pay the Rent and do the services well and good he hath the Benefit of it if otherwise it is at his Peril Now Children would he say our great Landlord was willing that your Lives should be put into the Lease of Heaven and Happiness and it was done accordingly by your Baptism which is the Seal of the Righteousness that is by Faith and by that it was assur'd to you that if you would pay the Rent and do the Service that is live a Life of Faith and Repentance and sincere Obedience you shall never be turn'd off the Tenement but if now you dislike the Terms and refuse to pay this Rent this chief Rent so he would call it for it 's no Rack you forfeit the Lease
Lord the God of the Spirits of all Flesh set a Man over the Congregation Thus he ceased to Preach to his People there but he ceased not to love them and pray for them and could not but think there remained some dormant Relation betwixt him and them As to the Arrears of his Annuity from Mr. P. when he was displaced after some time Mr. P. was willing to give him 100 l. which was a good deal less than what was due upon Condition that he would surrender his Deed of Annuity and his Lease of the House which he for Peace-sake was willing to do and so he lost all the Benefit of Judge Puleston's great Kindness to him This was not compleated till September 1662. until which time he continued in the House at Worthenbury but never Preached so much as once in the Church tho' there were vacancies several times Mr. Richard Hilton was immediately put into the Curacy of Worthenbury by Dr. Bridgman Mr. Henry went to hear him if he were at home as long as he continued at Worthenbury and join'd in all the parts of the publick Worship particularly attending upon the Sacrament of Baptism not daring saith he to turn my back upon God's Ordinance while the Essentials of it are retained tho' corrupted circumstantially in the Administration of it which God amend Once being allow'd the liberty of his Gesture he join'd in the Lord's Supper He kept up his Correspondence with Mr. Hilton and as he saith in his Diary endeavoured to possess him with right Thoughts of his Work and advis'd him the best he could in the Soul affairs of that People which saith he he seemed to take well I am sure I meant it so and the Lord make him Faithful Immediately after he was Removed and Silenced at Worthenbury he was sollicited to Preach at Bangor and Dr. Bridgman was willing to permit it occasionally and intimated to his Curate there that he should never hinder it but Mr. Henry declin'd it Tho' his Silence was his great Grief yet such was his Tenderness that he was not willing so far to discourage Mr. Hilton at Worthenbury nor to draw so many of the People from him as would certainly have followed him to Bangor But saith he I cannot get my Heart into such a Spiritual Frame on Sabbath-days now as formerly which is both my Sin and my Affliction Lord quicken me with quickning Grace When the King came in first and shew'd so good a Temper as many thought some of his Friends were very earnest with him to revive his Acquaintance and Interest at Court which it was thought he might easily do 'T was reported in the Country that the Duke of York had enquired after him but he heeded not the Report nor would he be perswaded to make any Addresses that way For saith he my Friends do not know so well as I the Strength of Temptation and my own inability to deal with it Qui benè latuit benè vixit Lord lead me not into Temptation He was greatly affected with the Temptations and Afflictions of many Faithful Ministers of Christ at this time by the pressing of Conformity and kept many private Days of Fasting and Prayer in his own House at Worthenbury seeking to turn away the Wrath of God from the Land He greatly pitied some who by the urgency of Friends and the fear of want were over perswaded to put a force upon themselves in their Conformity The Lord keep me saith he in the Critical time He Preached sometimes occasionally in divers neighbouring places till Bartholomew-day 1662. the day saith he which our sins have made one of the saddest days to England since the Death of Edward the 6th but even this for good though we know not how nor which way He was invited to preach at Bangor on the black Bartholomew-day and prepared a Sermon on Ioh. 7 37. in the last day that great day of the Feast c. but was prevented from Preaching it and was loth to strive against so strong a stream As to his Nonconformity which some of his worst Enemies have said was his only fault it may not be amisshere to give some Account of it 1. His Reasons for his Nonconformity were very considerable 'T was no rash act but deliberate and well weigh'd in the Balance of the Sanctuary He could by no means submit to be Re-ordain'd so well satisfied was he in his Call to the Ministry and his solemn Ordination to it by the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery which God had graciously own'd him in that he durst not do that which looked like a Renunciation of it as null and sinful and would be at least a tacit invalidating and condemning of all his Administrations Nor could he truly say that he thought himself moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon him the Office of a Deacon He was the more confirm'd in this Objection because the then Bishop of Chester Dr. Hall in whose Diocess he was besides all that was requir'd by Law exacted from those that came to him to be Re-ordain'd a Subscription to this Form Ego A. B. praetensas meas Ordinationis literas à quibusdam Presbyteris olim obtentas jam penitus renuncio dimitto pro vanis humiliter supplicans quatenus Rev. in Christo Pater Dominus Dominus Georgius permissione divinâ Cestr. Episc. me ad sacrum Diaconatus ordinem juxta morem ritus Ecclesiae Anglicanae dignaretur admmittere This of Reordination was the first and great Bar to his Conformity and which he mostly insisted on He would sometimes say that for a Presbyter to be Ordained a Deacon is at the best suscipere gradum Simeonis Besides this he was not at all satisfied to give his unfeigned Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer c. for he thought that thereby he should receive the Book it self and every part thereof Rubricks and all both as true and good whereas there were several things which he could not think to be so The Exceptions which the Ministers made against the Liturgy at the Savoy Conference he thought very considerable and could by no means submit to much less approve of the Imposition of the Ceremonies He often said that when Christ came to free us from the Yoke of one Ceremonial Law he did not leave it in the Power of any Man or company of Men in the World to lay another upon our Necks Kneeling at the Lord's Supper he was much dissatisfied about and it was for many Years his great Grief and which in his Diary he doth often most pathetically lament that by it he was debared from partaking of that Ordinance in the solemn Assembly For to submit to that Imposition he thought whatever it was to others whom he was far from judging would be Sin to him He never took the Covenant nor ever-express'd any foundness for it and yet he could not think and therefore durst not declare
that however unlawfully impos'd it was in itself an unlawful Oath and that no Person that took it was under the Obligation of it For sometimes Quod fieri non debuit factum valet In short it cannot be wondred at that he was a Nonconformist when the Terms of Conformity were so industriously contrived to keep out of the Church such Men as He which is manifest by the full Account which Mr. Baxter hath left to Posterity of that affair and it is a passage worth noting here which Dr. Bates in his Funeral Sermon on Mr. Baxter relates that when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King while the Act of Uniformity was under debate that he was afraid that the Terms were so hard that many of the Ministers would not comply with them Bishop Sheldon being present replied I am afraid they will And it is well known how many of the most sober pious and laborious Ministers in all parts of the Nation Conformists as well as Nonconformists did dislike those Impositions He thought it a Mercy since it must be so that the Case of Nonqonformity was made so clear as it was abundantly to satisfie him in his Silence and Sufferings I have heard that Mr. Anthony Burgoss who hesitated before when he read the Act blessed God that the Matter was put cut of doubt And yet to make sure Work the Printing and Publishing of the New Book of Common-Prayer was so deferr'd that few of the Ministers except those in London could possibly get a sight of it much less duly consider of it before the time prefix'd which Mr. Steel took Notice of in his Farewel-Sermon at Hanmer August 17. 1662. That he was silenced and turn'd out for not declaring his unfeigned Assent and Consent to a Book which he never saw nor could see One thing which he comforted himself with in his Nonconformity was that as to Matters of doubtful Disputation touching Church-Government Ceremoniâ—…s and the like he was unsworn either on one side or the other and so was free from those snares and bands in which so many find themselves both ty'd up from what they would do and entangled that they knew not what to do He was one of those that fear'd an Oath Eccl. 10. 2. and would often say Oaths are Edg-Tools and not to be played with One passage I find in his Papers which confirm'd him in this satisfaction 't is a Letter from no less a Clergy-man than Dr. F. of Whitchurch to one of his Parishioners who desired him to give way that his Child might be Baptized by another without the Cross and Godfathers if he would not do it so himself both which he refus'd 'T was in the Year 1672 3. For my part saith the Doctor I freely profess my Thoughts that the strict urging of indifferent Ceremonies hath done more harm than good and possibly had all Men been left to their liberty therein there might have been much more Unity and not much less Uniformity But what Power have I to dispense with my self being now under the Obligation of a Law and an Oath And he Concludes I am much grieved at the unhappy condition of my self and other Ministers who must either lose their Parishioners Love if they do not comply with them or else break their solemn Obligations to please them This he would say was the Mischief of Impositions which ever were and ever will be bones of Contention When he was at Worthenbury though in the Lord's Supper he used the Gesture of Sitting himself yet he Administred it without scruple to some who chose rather to Kneel and he thought that Ministers Hands should not in such things be tied up but that he ought in his place though he suffered for it to witness against the making of those things the indispensable Terms of Communion which Jesus Christ hath not made to be so Where the Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of the Gospel is there is liberty Such as these were the Reasons of his Nonconformity which as long as he liv'd he was more and more coâ—…firm'd in 2. His Moderation in his Nonconformity was very exemplary and eminent and had a great influence upon many to keep them from running into an Uncharitable and Schismatical Separation which upon all occasions he bore hiâ—… Testimony against and was very industrious to stem the Tide of In Church Government that which he desired and wished for was Usher's Reduction of Episcopacy He thought it lawful to join in the Common-Prayer in Publick Assemblies and practis'd accordingly and endeavoured to satisfie others concerning it The Spirit he was of was such as made him much afraid of extreams and solliciâ—…ous for nothing more than to maintain and keep Christian Love and Charity among Professors We shall meet with several Instances of this in the progress of his Story and therefore wave it here I have been told of an aged Minister of his acquaintance who being as'd upon his Death-bed What his thoughts were of his Nonconformity replied he was well satisfied in it and should not have Conformed so far as he did viz. to join in the Liturgy if it had not been for Mr. Henry Thus was his Moderation known unto all Men. But to proceed in his Story At Michaelmas 1662. he quite left Worthenbury and came with his Family to Broad-Oak just Nine Years from his first coming into the Country Being cast by Divine Providence into this new place and state of Life his Care and Prayer was that he might have Grace and Wisdom to manage it to the Glory of God which saith he is my chief End Within three Weeks after his coming hither his second Son was Born which we mention for the sake of the Remark he has upon it We have no Reason saith he to call him Benoni I wish we had not to call him Iâ—…habod And on the Day of his Family-Thanksgiving for that Mercy he writes We have reason to Rejoyce with Trembling for it goes ill with the Church and People of God and reason to fear worse because of our own Sins and our Enemies Wrath. At the latter end of this Year he hath in his Diary this Note It is observed of many who have Conformed of late and fallen from what they formerly Professed thaâ—… since their so doing from unblamable orderly pious Men they are become exceeding dissolute and profane and instanceth in some What need have we every day to Pray Lord lead us not into Temptation For several Years after he came to live at Broad-Oak he went constantly on Lords days to the publick Worship with his Family at Whitewell-Chapel which is hard by if there were any supply there as sometimes there was from Malpas and if none then to Tylstock where Mr. Zachary Thomas continued for about half a Year and the place was a little Sanctuary and when that string fail'd usually to Whitchurch and did not Preach for a great while unless occasionally when he visited his Friends or to
whenever it may be had and an Ear open to all Overtures of that kind The two Motto's proper for the great Guns are applicable to this Ratio ultima Regum and Sic quaerimus Pacem Four Rules he sometimes gave to be observed in our Converse with Men Have Communion with few Be familiar with one Deal justly with all Speak evil of none He was noted for an extraordinary neat Husband about his House and Ground which he would often say he could not endure to see like the Field of the Sloathful and the Vineyard of the Man void of Understanding And it was strange how easily one that had been bred up utterly a Stranger to such things yet when God so ordered his Lot acquainted himself with and accommodated himself to the Affairs of the Country making it the Diversion of his vacant Hours to over-see his Gardens and Fields when he better understood that known Epode of Horace Beatus ille qui procul negotiis than he did when in his Youth he made an ingenious Translation of it His care of this kind was an Act of Charity to poor Labourers whom he employed and it was a good Example to his Neighbours as well as for the Comfort of his Family His Converse likewise with these things was excellently improved for Spiritual purposes by occasional Meditations hints of which there are often in his Diary as those that Conversed with him had many in Discourse Instances of this were easie but endless to give He us'd to say that therefore many of the Scripture Parables and Similitudes are taken from the common Actions of this Life that when our Hands are employed about them our Hearts may the more easily pass through them to Divine and Heavenly things I have heard him often blame those whose irregular Zeal in the Profession of Religion makes them to neglect their Worldly Business and let the House drop through the affairs of which the good Man will order with Discretion and he would tell sometimes of a Religious Woman whose Fault it was how she was convinced of it by means of an intelligent godly Neighbour who coming into the House and finding the good Woman far in the Day in her Closet and the House sadly neglected Children not tended Servants not minded What saith he is there no fear of God in this House which much startled and affected the good Woman that over-heard him He would often say Every thing is beautiful in its Season and that it is the Wisdom of the Prudent so to order the Duties of their General Callings as Christians and those of their particular Callings in the World as that they may not clash or interfere I have heard it observed from Eccl. 7. 16. That there may be over-doing in well-doing I cannot omit one little passage in his Diary because it may be Instructive When he was once desired to be bound for one that had upon a particular occasion been Bound for him he writes Solomon saith He that hateth Suretiship is sure but he saith also he that hath Friends must shew himself friendly But he always cautioned those that became Sureties not to be Bound for any more than they knew themselves able to pay nor for more than they would be willing to pay if the Principal fail His House at Broad-Oake was by the Road-side which tho' it had its inconveniencies yet he would say pleased him well because it gave his Friends an opportunity of calling on him the oftner and gave him an opportunity of being kind to Strangers and such as were any way distressed upon the Road to whom he was upon all occasions cheerfully ready fully answering the Apostles Character of a Bishop that he must be of good Behaviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decent affable and obliging and given to Hospitality 1 Tim. 3 2. like Abraham sitting at his Tent Door in quest of Opportunities to do good If he met with any poor near his House and gave them Alms in Money yet he would bid them go to his Door besides for Relief there He was very tender and compassionate towards poor Strangers and Travellers though his Charity and Candor were often imposed upon by Cheats and Pretenders whom he was not apt to be suspicious of but would say in the most favourable sense Thou knowest not the Heart of a Stranger If any ask'd his Charity whose Representation of their Case he did not like or who he thought did amiss to take that Course he would first give them an Alms and then mildly reprove them And labour to convince them that they were out of the way of Duty and that they could not expect that God should bless them in it and would not chide them but reason with them And he would say if he should tell them of their Faults and not give them an Alms the Reproof would look only like an Excuse to deny his Charity and would be rejected accordingly In a word his greatest Care about the things of this World was how to do good with what he had and to devise liberal things desiring to make no other Accession to his Estate but only that Blessing which attends Beneficence He did firmly believe and it should seem few do that what is given to the Poor is lent to the Lord who will pay it again in kind or kindness and that Religion and Piety is undoubtedly the best Friend to outward Prosperity and he found it so for it pleased God abundantly to bless his Habitation and to make a Hedge about him and about his House and about all that he had round about And though he did not delight himself in the abundance of Wealth yet which is far better he delighted himself in the abundance of Peace Psal. 37. 11. All that he had and did observably Prospered so that the Country oftentimes took Notice of it and called his Family a Family which the Lord had Blessed And his Comforts of this kind were as he us'd to pray they might be Oyl to the Wheels of his Obedience and in the use of these things he served the Lord his God with joyfulness and gladness of Heart yet still mindful of and grieved for the Affliction of Ioseph He would say sometimes when he was in the midst of the Comforts of this Life as that good Man All this and Heaven too surely then we serve a good Master Thus did the Lord bless him and make him a Blessing and this abundant Grace through the Thanksgiving of many redounded to the Glory of God Having given this general Account of his Circumstances at Broad-Oak we shall now go on with his Story especially as to the Exercise of his Ministry there and thereabouts for that was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing in which he was and to which he wholly gave himself taking other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After this Settlement at Broad-Oak whenever there was Preaching at Whitewell Chappel as usually there was two Lord's days in the Month
he constantly attended there with his Family was usually with the first and reverently joined in the Publick Service he diligently wrote the Sermons always staid if the Ordinance of Baptism was Administred but not if there were a Wedding for he thought that Solemnity not proper for the Lord's Day He often Din'd the Minister that Preach'd after Dinner he sung a Psalm repeated the Morning Sermon and Pray'd and then attended in like manner in the Afternoon In the Evening he Preach'd to his own Family and perhaps two or three of his Neighbours would drop in to him On those Lord's Days when there was no Preaching at the Chappel he spent the whole Day at home and many an excellent Sermon he Preach'd when there were present only four besides his own Family and perhaps not so many according to the limitation of the Conventicle Act. In these narrow private Circumstances he Preached over the former part of the Assemblies Catechism from divers Texts He also Preached over Psalm 116. besides many particular occasional Subjects What a grief of Heart it was to him to be thus put under a Bushel and consin'd to such a narrow Sphere of Usefulness read in his own words which I shall Transcribe out of an Elegy he made to give vent to his thoughts upon the Death of his worthy Friend Mr George Mainwaring sometime Minister of Malpas who was Silenced by the Act of Uniformity and Dy'd Mar. 14. 1669 70 wherein he thus bewails feelingly enough the like restraints and Confinements of his Friend His later Years he sadly spent Wrap't up in Silence and Restraint A Burthen such as none do know But they that do it undergo To have a Fire shut up and pent Within the Bowels and no vent To have gorg'd Breasts and by a Law Those that fain would forbidden to draw But his dumbSabbaths here did prove Loud crying Sabbaths in Heaven above His Tears when he might sow no more Wat'ring what he had Sown before Soon after his Settlement at Broad-Oak he took a young Scholar into the House with him partly to teach his Son and partly to be a Companion to himself to Converse with him and to receive help and instruction from him and for many Years he was seldom without one or other such who before their going to the University or in the intervals of their attendance there would be in his Family sitting under his Shadow One of the first he had with him in the Year 1668. and after was Mr. William Turner born in the Neighbourhood afterwards of Edmund Hall in Oxford now Vicar of Walberton in Sussex to whom the World is beholden for that Elaborate History of all Religions which he Published in the Year 1695. and from whom is earnestly expected the Performance of that Noble and useful Project for the Record of Providences Betwixt Mr. Henry and him there was a most intire and affectionate Friendship and notwithstanding that distance of place a constant and endearing Correspondence kept up as long as Mr. Henry liv'd It was observ'd that several young Men who had sojourn'd with him and were very hopeful and likely to be serviceable to their Generations dy'd soon after their Removal from him I could instance in Six or seven as if God had sent them to him to be prepared for another World before they were called for out of this yet never any dy'd while they were with him He had so great a kindness for the University and valued so much the mighty advantages of improvement there that he advis'd all his Friends who design'd their Children for Scholars to send them thither for many Years after the Change though he always counted upon their Conformity But long Experience altered his mind herein and he chose rather to keep his own Son at home with him and to give him what help he could there in his Education than venture him into the Snares and Temptations of the University It was also soon after this Settlement of his at Broad-Oak that he Contracted an intimate Friendship with that learned and pious and judicious Gentleman Mr. Hunt of Boreatton the Son of Colonel Hunt of Salop and with his excellent Lady Frances Daughter of the Right Honourable the Lord Paget The Acquaintance then begun betwixt Mr. Henry and that worthy Family continued to his dying day about Thirty Years One Lords day in a Quarter he commonly spent with them besides other interviews And it was a constant rejoycing to him to see Religion and the Power of Godliness uppermost in such a Family as that when not many Mighty not many Noble are called and the Branches of it Branches of Righteousness the planting of the Lord. Divers of the Honourable Relations of that Family contracted a very great respect for him particularly the present Lord Paget now his Majesty's Ambassador at the Ottoman Court and Sir Henry Ashurst whom we shall have occasion afterwards to make mention of In the time of Trouble and Distress by the Conventicle Act in 1670. he kept private and stirr'd little abroad as loth to offend those that were in Power and judging it Prudence to gather in his Sails when the Storm was violent He then observ'd as that which he was troubled at That there was a great deal of precious time lost among Professors when they came together in discoursing of their Adventures to meet and their escapes which he feared tended more to set up self than to give Glory to God Also in telling how they got together and such a one Preached but little enquiring what Spiritual Benefit and advantage was reaped by it and that we are apt to make the circumstances of our Religious Services more the matter of our Discourse than the Substance of them We shall close this Chapter with two Remarks out of his Diary in the Year 1671. which will shew what manner of Spirit he was of and what were his Sentiments of things at that time One is this All acknowledge that there is at this day a number of sober peaceable Men both Ministers and others among Dissenters but who either saith or doth any thing to oblige them who desireth or endeavoureth to open the Door to let in such nay do they not rather provoke them to run into the same Extravagancies with others by making no difference but laying load on them as if they were as bad as the worst 'T is true that about this time the Lord Keeper Bridgman and Bishop Wilkins and the Lord chief Justice Hale were making some Overtures towards an Accommodation with them but it is as true that those Overtures did but the more exasperate their Adversaries who were ready to account such moderate Men the worst Enemies the Church of England had and the event was greater Acts of Severity Another is this If all that hath been said and written to prove that Prelacy is Antichristian and that it is Unlawful to join in the Common Prayer had been effectually to perswade Bishops to Study
weary Souls He that knows how to do that well is a learned Minister CHAP. IX His Sickness Death and Burial IN the time of his Health he made Death very familiar to himself by frequent and pleasing Thoughts and Meditations of it and endeavoured to make it so to his Friends by speaking often of it His Letters and Discourses had still something or other which spoke his constant expectations of Death thus did he learn to dye daily And it is hard to say whether it was more easie to him to speak or uneasie to his Friends to hear him speak of leaving the World This minds me of a passage I was told by a worthy Scotch Minister Mr. Patrick Adair that Visiting the famous Mr. Durham of Glasgow in his last Sickness which was long and lingring he said to him Sir I hope you have so set all in order that you have nothing else to do but to dye I bless God said Mr. Durham I have not had that to do neither these many Years Such is the comfort of dying daily when we come to dye indeed Mr. Henry's Constitution was but tender and yet by the Blessing of God upon his great Temperance and care of his Diet and moderate Exercise by walking in the Air he did for many Years enjoy a good measure of Health which he us'd to call The Sugar that sweetens all Temporal Mercies for which therefore we ought to be very thankful and of which we ought to be very careful He had sometimes violent Fits of the Cholick which would be very afflictive for the time Towards his latter end he was distress'd sometimes with a pain which his Doctor thought might arise from a Stone in his Kidnies Being once upon the Recovery from an ill Fit of that Pain he said to one of his Friends that ask'd him how he did he hoped by the Grace of God he should now be able to give one blow more to the Devil's Kingdom and often profess'd he did not desire to live a day longer than he might do God some Service He said to another when he perceived himself Recovering Well I thought I had been putting into the Harbour but find I must to Sea again He was sometimes suddenly taken with fainting Fits which when he recovered from he would say Dying is but a little more When he was in the Sixty third Year of his Age which is commonly called the Grand Climacterick and hath been to many the Dying Year and was so to his Father he numbred the Days of it from August 24. 1693. to August 24. 1694. when he finished it And when he concluded it he thus wrote in his Diary This Day finisheth my commonly dying Year which I have numbred the Days of and should now apply my Heart more than ever to Heavenly Wisdom He was much pleased with that Expression of our English Liturgy in the Office of Burial and frequently us'd it In the midst of Life we are in Death The Infirmities of Age when they grew upon him did very little abate his vigour and liveliness in Preaching but he seemed even to renew his Youth as the Eagles as those that are Planted in the House of the Lord who still bring forth Fruit in old Age not so much to shew that they are upright as to shew that the Lord is upright Psal. 92. 14 15. But in his latter Years Travelling was very troublesome to him and he would say as Mr. Dod us'd to do that when he thought to shake himself as at other times he found his hair was cut his Sense of this led him to Preach an occasional Sermon not long before he dyed on Iohn 21. 18. When thou wast young thou girdedst thy self c. Another occasional Sermon he Preached when he was old for his own Comfort and the Comfort of his aged Friends on Psal. 71. 17 18. O God thou hast taught me from my Youth c. he observed there That it is a blessed thing to be taught of God from our Youth and those that have been taught of God from their Youth ought to declare his wondrous Works all their days after And those that have been taught of God from their Youth and have all their days declared his wondrous Works may comfortably expect that when they are old he will not forsake them Christ is a Master that doth not use to cast off his old Servants For some Years before he dyed he us'd to complain of an habitual weariness contracted he thought by his standing to Preach sometimes very uneasily and in inconvenient places immediately after Riding He would say every Minister was not cut out for an Itinerant and sometimes the manifest attention and affection of People in Hearing enlarged him both in length and fervency somewhat more then his strength could well bear It was not many Months before he dy'd that he wrote thus to a dear Relation who enquir'd sollicitously concerning his Health I am always habitually weary and expect no other till I lye down in the Bed of Spices And blessed be God so the Grave is to all the Saints since he lay in it who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vallies When some of his Friends perswaded him to spare himself he would say It 's time enough to rest when I am in the Grave What were Candles made for but to burn It doth not appear that he had any particular Presages of his Death but many instances there were of his actual gracious expectation of it somewhat more than ordinary for some time before The last Visit he made to his Children in Chester was in Iuly 1695. almost a Year before he dy'd when he spent a Lords-day there and Preached on the last Verse of the Epistle to Philemon The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with your Spirit By Grace he understood nor so much the good Will of God towards us as the good Work of God in us call'd the Grace of Christ both because he is the Author and finisher of it and because he is the Pattern and Samplar of it Now the choicest Gift we can ask of God for our Friends is that this Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ may be with their Spirit This is the one thing needful the better part the Root of the Matter the whole of Man the Principal thing the more excellent Way a Blessing indeed and the thing that accompanies Salvation The Grace of Christ in the Spirit enlightens and enlivens the Spirit softens and subdues the Spirit purifies and preserves the Spirit greatens and guides the Spirit sweetens and strengthens the Spirit and therefore what can be more desirable A Spirit without the Grace of Christ is a Field without a Fence a Fool without Understanding it is a Horse without a Bridle and a House without Furniture it is a Ship without Tacle and a Soldier without Armour it is a Cloud without Rain and a Carcass without a Soul it is a Tree without Fruit and
a Traveller without a Guide How earnest therefore should we be in praying to God for Grace both for our selves and for our Relations He had intended to preach upon that Text when he was at Chester the Year before but was then prevented by a particular sad occasion which obliged him to a Funeral Sermon Divine Providence reserving that Benediction which his Heart was much upon for his Valediction The Thursday following being kept as a Fast in his Sons Congregation at Chester he Preached on Luke 19. 41. He beheld the City and wept over it which proved his Farewel to the Town as the former was his Farewel to his Friends and Relations in it It was not many Weeks before he dyed that he wrote thus to one of his Children We are well here thanks be to God and are glad to hear that you and yours are well also God in Mercy continue it But why should we be well always Do we deserve it Are there no mixtures in our Obedience Are there any Persons or Families at whose door Sickness and Death never knock'd Must the Earth be forsaken for us or the Rock removed out of its place Is it not enough that we be dealt with according to the manner of Men and that we have a Promise that it shall end well everlastingly well To another of his Children about the same time he writes We are sensible that we decline a pace but the best of it is that as Time goes Eternity comes and we are in good hope through Grace that it will be a comfortable Eternity It was in April 1696. a few Weeks before he dy'd that his Sons Father-in-Law Robert Warbinton Esq was gather'd to his Grave in peace in a good old Age Upon the tidings of whose Death Mr. Henry wrote thus to his Son Your Fathers Where are they Your Father-in-Law gone and your own Father going but you have a God-Father that lives for ever He was wont sometimes to subscribe his Letters Your ever-loving but not ever-living Father It was not a Month before he Dy'd that in a Letter to his very dear and worthy Friend and Brother Mr. Tallents of Shrewsbury he had this passage Methinks it is strange that it should be your Lot and mine to abide so long on Earth by the Stuff when so many of our Friends are dividing the Spoil above but God will have it so and to be willing to live in obedience to his Holy Will is as true an Act of Grace as to be willing to dye when he calls especially when Life is Labour and Sorrow But when it is Labour and Joy Service to his Name and some measure of Success and Comfort in serving him When it is to stop a Gap and stem a Tide it is to be rejoyced in 't is Heaven upon Earth nay one would think by the Psalmists oft repeated Plea Psal. 6. 30. 88. and 115. and 118. that it were better than to be in Heaven itself and can that be A little before his Sickness and Death being Summer time he had several of his Children and his Childrens Children about him at Broad-Oak with whom he was much refreshed and very cheerful but ever and anon spoke of the fashion he was in as passing away and often told them he should be there but a while to bid them welcome And he was observed frequently in Prayer to beg of God that he would make us ready for that which would come certainly and might come suddenly One asking him how he did he answer'd I find the Chips fly off apace the Tree will be down shortly The last time he Administred the Lord's Supper a Fortnight before he dy'd he closed the Administration with that Scripture 1 Ioh. 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be not yet but it will shortly The Sabbath but one before he dy'd being in the course of his Exposition come to that difficult part of Scripture the 40th of Ezekiel and the following Chapters he said he would endeavour to explain those Prophecies to them and added If I do not do it now I never shall And he observed that the only Prophetical Sermon which our Lord Jesus Preached was but a few days before he dy'd This many of his Hearers not only Reflected upon afterwards but took Notice of at that time with a Concern as having something in it more than ordinary On the Lord's Day Iune 21. 1696. he went through the work of the Day with his usual vigor and liveliness He was then Preaching over the first Chapter of St. Peter's second Epistle and was that day on those words add to your Faith Virtue v. 5. he took Virtue for Christian Courage and Resolution in the Exercise of Faith and the last thing he mentioned in which Christians have need of Courage is in Dying for as he was often us'd to say It is a serious thing to dye and to dye is a work by itself That day he gave Notice both Morning and Afternoon with much Affection and Enlargement of the Publick Fast which was appointed by Authority the Friday following Iune 26. pressing his Hearers as he us'd to do upon such occasions to come in a prepared Frame to the solemn Services of that day The Tuesday following Iune 23. he rose at Six a Clock according to his Custom after a better Nights Sleep than ordinary and in wonted Health Between seven and eight a Clock he performed Family Worship according to the usual manner he Expounded very largely the former half of the 104th Psalm and sung it but he was somewhat shorter in Prayer than he us'd to be being then as it was thought taken ill Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing Immediately after Prayer he retired to his Chamber not saying any thing of his illness but was soon after found upon his Bed in great Extremity of pain in his Back Breast and Bowels it seem'd to be a complicated Fit of the Stone and Cholick together with very great Extremity The means that had been us'd to give him Relief in his illness were altogether ineffectual He had not the least intermission or remission of Pain neither up nor in Bed but in a continual toss He had said sometimes that God's Israel may find Iordan rough but there 's no Remedy they must through it to Canaan and would tell of a good Man who us'd to say He was not so much afraid of Death as of Dying We know they are not the Godly People part of the Description of whose Condition it is that there are no Bands in their Death and yet their End is Peace and their Death Gain and they have Hope in it In this Extremity he was still looking up to God and calling upon him who is a present Help in the needful Hour When the Exquisiteness of his Pain forced Groans and Complaints from him he would presently Correct himself with a patient and quiet submission to the Hand of his
c. He acknowledgeth God in all And indeed after all this is it my dear Cosins that you must satisfie your selves with under this sad Providence that the Lord hath done it and the same Will that ordered the thing it self ordered all the Circumstances of it and who are we that we should dispute with our Maker Let the Potsherds strive with the Potsherds of the Earth but let not the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus And as for the Improvement of this Affliction which I hope both of you earnestly desire for it is a great Loss to lose such a Providence and not be made better by it I conceive there are four Lessons which it should teach you and they are good Lessons and should be well learned for the advantage of them is unspeakable 1. It should for ever imbitter Sin to you you know what she said to the Prophet 1 Kings 17. 18. Art thou come to call my Sin to remembrance and to slay my Son 'T is Sin Sin that is the old Kill-Friend the Ionah that hath raised this Storm the Achan that hath troubled your House then how should you grow in your hatred of it and endeavours against it that you may be the Death of that which hath been the Death of your dear Children I say the Death of it for nothing less will satisfie the true Penitent than the Death of such a Malefactor 2. It should be a Spur to you to put you on in Heavens way It may be you were growing remiss in Duty beginning to slack your former pace in Religion and your Heavenly Father saw it and was grieved at it and sent this sad Providence to be your Monitor to tell you you should remember whence you were fallen and do your first Works and be more Humble and Holy and Heavenly and self-denying and Watchful abounding always in the work of the Lord. O Blessed are they that come out of such a Furnace thus resined they will say hereafter 't was a happy day for them that ever they were put in 3. You muâ—… learn by it as long as you live to keep your Affections in due Bounds towards Creature Comforts How hard is it to love and not to over-love to delight in Children or Yoke-fellows and not over-delight now God is a jealous God and will not give his Glory to any other and our excess this way doth often provoke him to remove that Mercy from us which we do thus make an Idol of and our Duty is to labour when he doth so to get that matter mended and to rejoyce in all our Enjoyments with Trembling and as if we rejoyced not 4. It should be a means of drawing your Hearts and Thoughts more upwards and home-wards I mean your Everlasting-Home You should be looking oftner now than before into the other World I shall go to him saith David when his little Son was gone before It is yet but a little while e're all the things of Time shall be swallowed up in Eternity And the matter is not great whether we or ours die first whilst we are all dying in the midst of Life we are in Death What manner of persons then ought we to be Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father be your support under and do you good by this Dispensation and give you a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters We are daily mindful of you at the Throne of Grace in our poor measure and dearly recommended to you c. We shall next gather up some Passages out of his Letters to his Children after they were married and gone from him To one of his Daughters with Child of her first Child he thus writes You have now one kind of Burthen more than ever you had before to cast upon God and if you do so he will sustain you according to his Promise And when the time of Travel was near thus You know whom you have trusted even him who is true and faithful and never yet did noâ—… ever will forsake the Soul that seeks him Though he be Almighty and can do every thing yet this he cannot do he cannot deny himself nor be worse than his Word But what is his Word Hath he promised that there shall be always a safe and speedy delivery that there shall be no Iabez no Benoni No but if there be he hath promised it shall work together for good hath promised if he doth not save from he will save through If he call to go even through the valley of the shadow of death and what less is Child-bearing 〈◊〉 he will be with you his Rod and his Staff shall comfort you and that 's well Therefore your Faith must be in those things as the Promise is either so or so and which way soever it be God is good and doth good Therefore my dear Daughter lift up the Hands that hang down cast your Burthen upon him trust also in him and let your Thoughts be established We are mindful of you in our daily Prayers but you have a better Intecessor than we who is heard always To another of them in the same Circumstance he thus writes Your last Letter speaks you in a good Frame which rejoyced my Heart that you were fixed fixed waiting upon God that your Faith was uppermost above your Fears that you could say Behold the handmaid of the Lord let him do with me as seemeth good in his eyes We are never fitter for a Mercy nor is it more likely to be a Mercy indeed than when it is so with us now the Lord keep it always in the Imagination of the Thoughts of your Heart And he concludes ' Forget not 1 Tom. 2. last When one of his Daughters was safely delivered in a Letter to another of them that was drawing near to that needful Hour he observ'd that when David said Psal. 116. 12. What shall I render He presently adds v. 13. I will call upon the Name of the Lord. As if saith he calling upon the Name of the Lord for Mercy for you were one way of rendring unto the Lord for the great Benefit done to your Sister On occasion of affliction in their Families by the sickness or Death of Children or otherwise he always wrote some word in season In the Furnace again saith he but a good Friend sits by and it is only to take away more of the Dross If less Fire would do we should not have it so much and so often O for Faith to trust the Refiner and to refer all to his Will and Wisdom and to wait the Issue for I have been young and now am old but I never yet saw it in vain to seek God and to hope in him At another time he thus writes Tough and knotty Blocks must have more and more Wedges our heavenly Father when he judgeth will overcome We hear of the death of dear S. T. and chide ourselves for being so