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
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
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
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
decent and respectful that it could not but win the Hearts of all he had to do with Never was any Man further from that Rudeness and Morofeness which some Scholars and too many that profess Religion either wilfully affect or carelesly allow themselves in sometimes to the Reproach of their Profession 'T is one of the Laws of our Holy Religion exemplifi'd in the Conversation of this good Man to Honour all Men. Sanctify'd Civility is a great Ornament to Christianity It was a saying he often us'd Religion doth not destroy good Manners and yet he was very far from any thing of Vanity in Apparel or Formality of Compliment in Address but his Conversarion was all Natural and easie to himself and others and little appear'd in him which a severe Critick could call Affected This Temper of his tended very much to the adorning of the Doctrine of God our Saviour and the general Transcript of such an excellent Copy would do much towards the healing of those Wounds which Religion hath received in the House of her Friends by the contrary But to return to his Story The first Latin School he went to was at St. Martin's Church under the teaching of one Mr. Bonner Afterwards he was removed to Battersey where one Mr. Wells was his School master The grateful mention which in some of his Papers he makes of these that were the Guides and Instructors of his Childhood and Youth brings to mind that French Proverb to this purpose To Father Teacher and God All-sufficient none can render Equivolent But in the Year 1643. when he was about Twelve Years old he was admitted into Westminster-School in the Fourth Form under Mr. Thomas Vincent then Usher whom he would often speak of as a most able diligent School-master and one who grieved so much at the Dulness and Non-proficiency of any of his Scholars that falling into a Consumption I have heard Mr. Henry say of him that he even killed himself with false Latin A while after he was taken into the upper School under Mr. Richard Busby afterwards Dr. Busby and in October 1645. he was admitted King's Scholar and was first of the Election partly by his own Merit and partly by the Interest of the Earl of Pembroke Here he profited greatly in School-Learning and all his Days retained his Improvements therein to admiration When he was in Years he would readily in Discourse quote Passages out of the Classic Authors that were not common and had them ad unguem and yet rarely us'd any such things in his Preaching though sometimes if very apposite he inserted them in his Notes He was very ready and exact in the Greek Accents the Quantities of Words and all the several kinds of Latin Verse and often pressed it upon young Scholars in the midst of their University Learning not to forget their School-Authors Here and before his usual Recreation at vacant times was either reading the printed accounts of Publick Occurrences or attending the Courts at Westminster-hall to hear the Trials and Arguments there which I have heard him say he hath often done to the loss of his Dinner and oftner of his Play But Paulo major a canamus Soon after those unhappy Wars begun there was a daily Morning Lecture set up at the Abby-Church between Six and eight of the Clock and Preached by Seven worthy Members of the Assembly of Divines in Course viz. Mr. Marshal Mr. Palmer Mr. Herl Dr. Staunton Mr. Nye Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Hill It was the Request of his pious Mother to Mr. Busby that he would give her Son leave to attend that Lecture daily which he did not abating any thing of his School-Exercise in which he kept pace with the rest but only dispensing with his absence for that Hour And the Lord was pleas'd to make good Impressions on his Soul by the Sermons he heard there His Mother also took him with her every Thursday to Mr. Case's Lecture at St. Martins On the Lord's Days he sat under the powerful Ministry of Mr. Stephen Marshal in the Morning at New Chappel in the Afternoon at St. Margarets Westminster which was their Parish Church in the former place Mr. Marshal Preached long from Phil. 2. 5 6 c. in the latter from Ioh. 8. 36. of our Freedom by Christ. This Minister and this Ministry he would to his last speak of with great Respect and Thankfulness to God as that by which he was through Grace in the beginning of his Days begotten agāin to a lively hope I have heard him speak of it as the saying of some wise Men at that time That if all the Presbyterians had been like Mr. Stephen Marshal and all the Independents like Mr. Ieremiah Burroughs and all the Episcopal Men like Arch-bishop Usher the Breaches of the Church would soon have been heal'd He also attended constantly upon the Monthly Fasts at St. Margarets where the best and ablest Ministers of England Preached before the then House of Commons and the Service of the Day was carried on with great strictness and Solemnity from Eight in the Morning till Four in the Evening It was his constant Practice from Eleven or Twelve Years old to write as he could all the Sermons he heard which he kept very carefully Transcribed many of them fair over after and notwithstanding his many Removes they are yet forth-coming At these monthly Fa◅s as he himself hath Recorded it he had often Sweet Meltings of Soul in Prayer and Con◅ession of Sin particularly once with special Remark when Mr. William Bridg of Yarmouth Prayed and many warm and lively Truths came home to his Heart and he daily increased in that Wisdom and Knowledge which is to Salvation Read his Reflections upon this which he wrote many Years after If ever any Child saith he such as I then was between the Tenth and Fifteenth year of my Age enjoy'd Line upon Line Precept upon Precept I did And was it in vain I trust not altogether in vain My Soul rejoyceth and is glad at the remembrance of it the word distilled as the Dew and Dropt as the Rain I lov'd it and lov'd the Messengers of it their very Feet were beautiful to me And Lord what a Mercy was it that at a time when the poor Countries were laid waste when the noise of Drums and Trumpets and the clattering of Arms was heard there and the way to Sion Mourn'd that then my Lot should be where there was Peace and Quietness where the voice of the Turtle was heard and there was great plenty of Gospel Opportunities Bless the Lord O my Soul as long as I live I will bless the Lord I will praise my God while I have my Being Had it been only the restraint that it laid upon me whereby I was kept from the common Sins of other Children and Youths such as Cursing Swearing Sabbath breaking and the like I were bound to be very Thankful But that it prevailed through Grace effectually to bring me to God How
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
Henry the Yearly Rent of One Hundred Pounds charged upon all his Messilages Lands and Tenements in the several Counties of Flint Denbigh and Chester to be paid Quarterly until such times as the said Philip Henry shall be promoted or preferred to some other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Living or Preferment with Power of Distress in Case of Non-payment A Hundred a Year was more than Worthenbury Tithes were worth at that time and the manner of the Gift freed the maintenance from much of that Loss and Incumbrance which commonly attends the gathering of Tithe He still continued for some Years in Emeral Family where he laid out himself very much for the Spiritual good of the Family even of the meanest of the Servants by Catechizing repeating the Sermons and Personal Instruction and he had very much Comfort in the Countenance and Conversation of the Judge and his Lady Yet he complains sometimes in his Diary of the Snares and Temptations that he found in his way there especially because some of the Branches of the Family who did not Patrizare were uneasie at his being there which made him willing to remove to a House of his own which when Judge Puleston perceived in the Year 1657. out of his abundant and continued kindness to him he did at his own proper Cost and Charges build him 〈◊〉 very handsome House in Worthenbury and settled it upon him by a Lease bearing Date March 6. 1657. for Threescore Years if he should so long continue Minister at Worthenbury and not accept of better Preferment He hath Noted in his Diary that the very Day that the Workmen began the Building of that House Mr. Mainwaring of Malpas preached the Lecture at Bangor from Psal. 127. 1. Except the Lord build the House they Labour in vain that build it There never was Truth saith he more seasonable to any than this was to me It was a word upon the Wheels He hath Recorded it as his great Care that his Affections might be kept loose from it and that it might not incroach upon God's Interest in his Heart When it was finished he thus writes I do from my Heart bless God that no hurt or harm befel any of the Workmin in the Building of it Thus was his Maintenance settled at Worthenbury In the Year 1659. he was by a Writing of Judge Puleston's Collated Nominated and Presented to the Church of Worthenbury and the Powers that then were having so appointed he had an Approbation thereof from the Commissioners for Approbation of publick Preachers Some little opposition was made to his Settlement at Worthenbury by Mr. Fogg then Rector of Bangor because he conceiv'd it an Intrenchment upon his Right to Worthenbury and thought it might prejudice his Recovering of it by Course of Law I only mention this for the sake of the Note he hath upon it in his Diary which is this I do earnestly desire that the Iudge may give Mr. Fogg all reasonable Satisfaction that there may be no appearance of wrong to him or any other in this thing And when Mr. Fog insisted upon it that he would have Mr. Henry give it under his Hand that he desired the Consent of the said Mr. Fogg to be Minister of Worthenbury he yielded to do it for peace-sake and from thence forward there was an intimate intire Friendship between Mr. Fogg and him Being thus settled at Worthenbury his next Care was touching Ordination to the Work of the Ministry to which he would-see his Call very clear before he Solemnly Devoted himself to it And though afterwards in the Reflection especially when he was Silenced it was some trouble to him that he had so long deferred to be Ordain'd and he would often from the Consideration of that press those who intended the Ministry not to put it off yet as the times then were there was something of a reason for it The nearest acting Class of Presbyters was in the Hundred of Bradford North in Shropshire wherein Mr. Porter of Whitchurch was the leading Man of whom Mr. Baxter gives so high a Character in his Life Part 3. Pag. 94 and who was one of those whom he recommended to the Lord Chancellor as fit to be made a Bishop Part 2. p. 283. This Class was Constituted by Ordinance of Parliament in April 1647. the Members of it then were the aforesaid Mr. Porter Mr. Boughy of Hodnet Mr. Hougton of Prees Mr. Parsons of Wem and Mr. Iohn Ruby by and afterwards Mr. Malden of Newport Mr. Binney of Ightfield and Mr. Steel of Hanmer though in Flintshire were taken in to them and acted with them This Class in Twelve Years time publickly Ordained Sixty three Ministers Mr. Henry was very desirous to have been Ordained at Worthenbury plebe praesence which he thought most agreeable to the Intention but the Ministers were not willing to set such a Precedent However that was one thing which oâ—…asioned the Delay so that he was not Ordained till Sept. 16. 1657. The way and manner of his Ordination was according to the known Directory of the Assembly of Divines and the common usage of the Presbyterians and yet he having left among his Papers a particular Account of that Solemnity and some of the Workings of his Soul towards God in iâ—… I hope it may be of some use both for Instruction and Quickning to Ministers and for the information of such as are perhaps wholly strangers to such a thing to give some account of te whole Transaction He made Addresses to the Presbytery in order to his Ordination Iul. 6. at Prees when he submitted to Trial and Enquiry was made in the first place concerning his Experience of the Work of Grace in his Heart in Answer to which he gave a reason of the Hope that was in him with Meekness and Fear that the Spirit of Grace had been dealing with him when he was young and he hoped had Discovered to him his need of Christ and had bow'd his Will in some Measure to close with him upon his own Terms c. His Skill in the Original Languages of the Scripture was then tried and he read and construed two Verses in the Hebrew Bible and two in the Greek Testament He was then Examined in Logick and natural Philosophy next in Divinity what Authors he had read and what Knowledge he had touching the Mediation of Christ c. and his Skill in the Scripture was tried by propounding to him a Difficult Text to give his Sense of a Case of Conscience was also put to him to be resolvâ—…d and Enquiry made into his Acquaintance with Church History Lastly a Question was given him to provide a Thesis upon against next Meeting which was this An Providentia Divina extendat se ad omnia 〈◊〉 Aff. On this Question he exhibited his Thesis Aug. 3. and defended it Several of the Ministers oppos'd and Mr. Porter moderated He then produced two Certificates which he left with the Register of the Class one from
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
that then were â—…ppermost under Sir George Booth afterwards Lord Delamere and that of North-Wales under Sir Thomas Middleton could not but affect Worthenbury and the Country thereabouts Mr. Henry's Prayeâ—… for them in â—…his Diâ—…y the Day of their first appearing is Lord own them if they truly own thee He noteâ—… that Lambert's Forces which came down to Suppress them did in that Neighbourhood espouse the Quakers Cause and offer Injury to some Ministers and therefore saith he unless God intend the Ruin of the Nation by them they cannot prosper Nor did they long though in that Expedition they had Success In their Return some of Lambert's Soldiers were at Worthenbury Church hearing Mr. Henry upon a Lord's Day and one of them sat with his Hat on while they were Singing Psalms for which he Publickly admonish'd him And there being many Anabaptists among them he hath Recorded it as a good Providence that those Questions in the Cateâ—…hism which are concerning Baptism came in Course to be Expounded that Day The first Rising of the Cheshire Forces was Aug. 1. 1659. and the 19th following they were worsted and scattered by Lambert's Forces near Northwich a strange Spirit of fear being upon them which quite took off their Chariot Wheels The Country call'd it not the Cheshire Rising but the Cheshire Race Some blamed him that he did not give God thanks publickly for the defeat of Sir George Booth to whom he answer'd with his usual mildness that his Apprehensions concerning that Affair were not the same with theirs We are now saith he much in the dark never more He preach'd the Lecture at Chester soon after just at the time when Mr. Cook aâ—… eminent Minister in Chester and several others were carried Prisoners to London for their Agency in the late Attempt and the City was threatned to have their Charter taken away c. The Text in Course that day for they Preached over the latter part of that Epistle if not the whole at that Lecture happen'd to be Heb. 13 14. We have here no continuing City which he thought a word upon the Wheels at that time He Notes in his Diary that when after that the Army Rul'd disturb'd the Parliament and carry'd all before them with a high Hand there were great Grounds to fear sad times approaching and his Prayer is Lord fit thy People for the Fiery Trial. He was a hearty well-wisher to the return of the King the Spring following April 1660. and was much affected with the Mercy of it While others rejoyce carnally saith he Lord help thy People to rejoyce spiritually in our publick National Mercies 'T was upon that occasion that Mr. Baxter preached his Sermon of Right Rejoycing on Luke 10. 20. But he and others soon saw cause to Rejoyce with Trembling and to sing both of Mercy and Judgment for about that time he hath this Melancholy Remark Religion loses Ground exceedingly and Profanâ—…ss gets it Help Lord However he was very Industrious to quiet the minds of some who were uneasie at that great Revolution and that Scripture yielded him much Satisfaction Ioh. 3. 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his Hands If Christ be not only Head of the Church but Heir over all things to the Church we may be assured that all things shall be made to work together for good to it The Text also which the Lord put it into his Heart to preach upon on the day of Publick Thanksgiving for the King's Restoration was very comfortable to him Prov. 21. 1. The Kings Heart is in the hand of the Lord. His sence of that great Mercy of God to the Nation in the unbloody peaceable and legal Settlement of King Charles the 2d upon the Throne was the same with that of Multitudes besides both Ministers and others that were of the quiet in the Land who yet not long after suffered very hard things under him Soon after the Return of the King he notes how industrious some were to remove him from Worthenbury on which he writes this as the Breathing of his Soul towards God Lord if it please thee fasten me here as a Nail in a sure place if otherwise I will take nothing ill which thou dost with me and when press'd by his Friends more earnestly than before to accept of some other place Lord saith he Mine Eye is up unto thee I am wholly at thy disposal make my way plain before my Face because of mine Enemies my Resolution is to deny my self if thou callest me Here or any where 't is no great Matter where I am Many Years after the King's Return he Dated a Letter May 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two things further which I think it may be of use to give some account of in the close of this Chapter 1. Of the Course of his Ministry at Worthenbury and 2. Of the State of his Soul and the Communion he had with God in those Years The former out of his Sermon-Notes the latter out of his Diary As to the Subjects he Preached upon he did not use to dwell long upon a Text. Better one Sermon upon many Texts viz. many Scriptures opened and applied than many Sermons upon one Text To that purpose he would sometimes speak He used to Preach in a fixed Method and linked his Subjects in a sort of a Chain not confining himself to the Method of the Assemblies Catechism which some commend but he adapted his Method and Style to the Capacity of his Hearers fetching his Similitudes for Illustration from those things which were familiar to them He did not shoot the Arrow of the Word over their Heads in high Notions or the Flourishes of affected Rhetorick nor under their Feet by blunt and homely Expressions as many do under pretence of plainness but to their Hearts in close and lively Applications His Delivery was very graceful and agreeable far from being either noisie and precipitate on the one Hand or dull and slow on the other His Doctrine did drop as the Dew and distil as the soaking Rain and came with a charming pleasing Power such as many will bear witness to that have wonder'd at the gracious words which proceeded out of his Mouth He wrote the Notes of his Sermons pretty large for the most part and always very legible he wrote most of them twice over But even when he had put his last Hand to them he commonly left many imperfect Hints which gave room for Enlargements in Preaching wherein he had a very great Felicity And he would often advise Ministers not to tye themselves too strictly to their Notes but having well digested the Matter before to allow themselves a liberty of Expression such as a Man's Affections if they be well rais'd will be apt to furnish him with But for this no certain Rule can be given there are diversities of Gifts and each to profit withal He kept his Sermon-Notes in very neat and exact Order Sermons in
Course according to the Order of the Subject and occasional Sermons according to the Scripture-order of the Texts so that he could readily turn to any of them And yet tho' afterwards he was removed to a place far enough distant from any of that Auditory yet though some have desired it he seldom preach'd any of those hundreds of Sermons which he had preach'd at Worthenbury no not when he preach'd never so privately but to the last he studied new Sermons and wrote them as elaborately as ever for he thought a Sermon best preach'd when it was newly meditated Nay if sometimes he had occasion to preach upon the same Text yet he would make and write the Sermons over and he never offered that to God which cost him nothing When he went to Oxford and preach'd there before the University in Christ-Church as he did several times his Labours were not only very acceptable but successful too particularly one Sermon which he preach'd there on Prov. 14. 9. Fools make a mock at sin for which Sermon a young Master of Arts came to his Chamber afterwards to return him thanks and to acknowledge the good Impressions which Divine Grace by that Sermon had made upon his Soul which he hoped he should never forget In his Diary he frequently records the frame of his Spirit in studying and preaching Sometimes blessing God for signal help vouchsafed and owning him the Lord God of all his Enlargements at other times complaining of great deadness and straitness It is a wonder saith he that I can speak of Eternal things with so little Sense of the reality of them Lord strengthen that which remains which is ready to die And he once writes thus upon a studying Day I forgot explicitly and expressly when I began to crave help from God and the Chariot Wheels drove accordingly Lord forgive my Omissions and keep me in the way of Duty As to the state of his Soul in these Years it should seem by his Diary that he was exercised with some Doubts and Fears concerning it I think saith he never did any poor Creature pass through such a mixture of Hope and Fear Ioy and Sadness Assurance and Doubting down and up as I have done these Years past The Notice of this may be of use to poor drooping Christians that they may know their Case is not singular and that if God for a small Moment hide his Face from them he deals with them no otherwise than as he useth sometimes to deal with the dearest of his Servants It would affect one to hear one that liv'd a Life of Communion with God complaining of great straitness in Prayer No Life at all in the Duty many Wandrings If my Prayers were written down and my vain Thoughts interlined What incoherent Nonsense would there be I am ashamed Lord I am ashamed O pitty and Pardon To hear him suspecting the workings of Pride of Heart when he gave an Account to a Friend who enquired of him touching the success of his Ministry and that he should record this concerning himself with this Ejaculation annexed The Lord pardon and subdue 'T was a sign that he kept a very watchful Eye upon the Motions of his own Heart To hear him charging it upon himself that he was present at such a Duty in the midst of many Distractions not tasting sweetness in it c. When a Fire is first kindled saith he there is a deal of Smoak and Smother that afterwards wears away so in young Converts much peevishness frowardness darkness So it hath been with my Soul and so it is yet in a great measure Lord pity and do not quench the smoaking Flax though as yet it do but smoak let these Sparks be blown up into a Flame Great Mercies but poor Returns signal Opportunities but small Improvements Such are his Complaints frequently concerning himself And though few or none excell'd him in profitable Discourse yet in that he often bewails his Barronness and Unprofitableness Little good done or gotten such a day for want of a Heart 't is my Sin and Shame O that I had Wings like a Dove Yet when he wanted a Faith of Assurance he liâ—…'d by a Faith of Adherence Such a Day saith he a full Resignation was made of all my Concernments into the Hands of my Heavenly Father let him deal with me as seemeth good in his Eyes I am learning and labouring to live by Faith Lord help my Unbelief Another time he notes that many perplexing Fears being upon his Spirit they were all silenced with that sweet Word which was seasonably brought to his remembrance Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer He very frequently kept Days of Fasting and Humiliation in secret which he calls his Days of Atonement Sometimes he observed these monthly and sometimes only upon special occasions but the Memorandums in his Diary not only while he was at Worthenbury but often after shew what sweet Communion he had with God in those solemn Duties which no Eye was Witness to but his who sees in secret and will reward openly Remember O my Soul such a Day as a Day of more then ordinary Engagements entred into and strong Resolutions taken up of closer Walking and more Watchfulness O my God undertake for me And upon another of those Days of secret Prayer and Humiliation he notes If sowing in Tears be so sweet what then will the Harvest be when I shall reap in Ioy Bless the Lord O my Soul who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and will in due time heal all thy Diseases CHAP. IV. His Marriage Family Family Religion and the Education of his Children His removed from Emeral to the House in Worthenbury which the Judge had built for him in February 1658 9 and then had one of his Sisters with him to keep his House No sooner had he a Tent but God had an Altar in it and that a smoaking Altar There he set up Repetition on Sabbath-Evenings and welcom'd his Neighbours to it His Christian Friends often and sometimes his Brethren in the Ministry kept Days of Fasting and Prayer at his House He us'd to tell People when they had built new Houses they must dedicate them referring to Deut. 20. 5. and Psal. 30. ult that is they must invite God to their Houses and devote them to his Service Providence having thus brought him into a House of his own soon after provided him a Help-meet for him After long Agitation and some Discouragement and Opposition from the Father Apr. 26. 1660. he Married Katherine the only Daughter and Heiress of Mr. Daniel Matthews of Broad-Oak in the Township of Iscoyd in Flint-shire but in the Parish of Malpâ—… which is in Cheshire and about two Miles distant from Whitchurch a considerable Market Town in Shropshire Mr. Matthews was a Gentleman of a very competent Estate such a one as King Iames the First us'd to say was the happiest Lot of all others which set a Man below the Office of
a Justice of Peace and above that of a Petty-Constable This was his only Child very fair and honourable Overtures had been made for her disposal but it pleased God so to order Events and to over-rule the Spirits of those concern'd that she was reserv'd to be a Blessing to this good Man in things pertaining both to Life and Godliness His purpose of Marriage was published in the Church three Lord's Days before a laudable Practice which he greatly approved and perswaded others to The Day before his Marriage he kept as a Day of secret Prayer and Fasting He us'd to say Those who would have comfort in that Change of their condition must see to it that they bring none of the Guilt of the Sin of their single State with them into the married State And the presence of Christ at a Wedding will turn the Water into Wine and he will come if he be invited by Prayer He took all occasions while he liv'd to express his thankfulness to God for the great comfort he had in this Relation A day of Mercy so he writes on his Marriage day never to be forgotten God had given him one as he writes afterwards every way hâ—… helper in whom he had much comfort and for whom be thanked God with all his Heart He writes in his Diary April 26. 1680. This day we have been Married Twenty Years in which time we have received of the Lord more than Twenty Thousand Mercies to God be Glory Sometimes he writes we have been so long Married and never Reconciled that is there was never any occasion for it His usual Prayer for his Friends in the Married State was according to his own Practise in that State That they might be mutually serviceable to each others Faith and Holiness and joyntly serviceable to God's Honour and Glory Her Father though he put some Hardships upon him in the Terms and had been somewhat a verse to the Match yet by Mr. Henry's great Prudence and God's good Providence he was influenced to give a free consent to it and he himself with his own Hand gave her in Marriage From this as from other Experiences Mr. Henry had learned to say with Assurance It is not in vain to wait upon God and to keep his way Mr. Matthews settled part of his Estate before Marriage upon them and theirs he lived about seven Years after and when he dyed the remainder of it came to them This competent Estate which the Divine Providence brought into his Hand was not only a Comfortable Support to him when he was turn'd out of his Living and when many Faithful Ministers of Christ were reduced to great Poverty and Straits but it enabled him likewise as he had opportunity to Preach the Gospel freely which he did to his dying Day and not only so but to give for the Relief of others that were in want in which he sow'd plentifully to a very large proportion of his Income and often blessed God that he had wherewithal remembring the words of the Lord how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive Such was his House and such the Vine which God graciously planted by the side of his House By her God gave him six Children all born within less than eâ—…ht Years the two eldest Sons Iohn and Matthew â—…he other four Daughters Sarah Katharine Eleanor and Ann. His eldest Son Iohn dyed of the Measles in 〈◊〉 sixth year of his Age and the rest were in Mercy continued to him The Lord having built him up into a Family he was careful and faithful in making good his solemn Vow at his Ordination that he and his House would serve the Lord. He would often say That we are really that which we are relatively It is not so much what we are at Church as what we are in our Families Religion in the Power of it will be Family Religion In this his Practise was very Exemplary he was one that walked before his House in a perfect way with a perfect Heart and therein behav'd himself wisely His constant Care and prudent endeavour was not only to put away Iniquity far from his Tabernacle but that where he dwelt the word of Christ might dwell richly If he might have no other Church yet he had a Church in his House He made Conscience of Closet-Worship and did abound in it not making his Family-Worship to excuse for that He hath this affecting Note in his Diary upon the removing of his Closet but from one Room in the House to another this day saith he my new Closet was Consecrated if I may so say with this Prayer That all the Prayers that ever should be made in it according to the Will of God Morning Evening and at Noon-day ordinary or extraordinary might be accepted of God and obtain a gracious Answer Amen and Amen It was the Caution and Advice which he frequently gave to his Children and Friends Be sure you look to your Secret Duty keep that up whatever you do the Soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it He observed that Apostasy generally begins at the Closet-door Secret Prayer is first neglected and carelesly performed then frequently omitted and after a while wholly cast off and then farewel God and Christ and all Religion He also advis'd that Secret Duty be perform'd secretly which was the Admonition he gave sometimes to those who caused theiâ—… Voice to be heard on high in that Duty Besides this he and his Wife constantly prayed together Morning and Evening and seldom if they were together at home or abroad was it intermitted and from his own Experience of the Benefit of this Practise He would take all opportunities to recommend it to those in that Relation as conducing very much to the comfort of it and to their furtherance in that which he would often say is the great Duty of Yoke-fellows and that is to do all they can to help one another to Heauen He would say that this Duty of Husbands and Wives Praying together is intimated in that of the Apostle 1. Pet. 3. 7. where they are Exhorted to live as Heirs together of the Grace of Life that their Prayers especially their Prayers together be not hindred that nothing may be done to hinder them from Praying together nor to hinder them in it nor to spoil the Success of those Prayers This Sanctifies the Relation â—…nd fetcheth in a Blessing upon it makes the Comforts of it the more sweet and the Cares and Crosses of it the more easie and is an excellent means of preserving and encreasing Love in the Relation Many to whom he hath recommended the Practise of this Duty have blessed God for him and for his advice concerning it When he was abroad and lay with any of his Friends he would mind them of his Rule That they who lye together must pray together In the performance of this part of his daily Worship he was usually short but often much affected Besides these he
made Conscience and made a Business of Family-Worship in all the parts of it and in it he was uniform steddy and constant from the time that he was first called to the Charge of a Family to his dying Day and according to his own Practice be tooâ—… all occasions to press it upon others His Doctrine once from Iosh. 24. 15. was That Family-Worship iâ—… Family-Duty He would say sometimes if the Worship of God be not in the House write Lord have Mercy on us upon the Door for there is a Plague a Curse in it It is the Judgment of Arch-Bishop Tillotson in that excellent Book which he Published a little before his Death upon this Subjecct That constant Family Worship is so necessary to keep alive a sense of God and Religion in the Minds of Men that he sees not hoâ—… any Family that neglects it can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians or indeed to have any Religion aâ—… all How earnestly would Mr. Henry reason with People sometimes about this Matter and tell them what a Blessing it would bring upon them and their Houses and all that they had He that makes his House a little Church shall find that God will make it a little Sanctuary It may be of use to give a particular Account of his Practise in this Matter because it was very Exemplary As to the Time of it his Rule was commonly the earlier the better both Morning and Evening in the Morning before Worldly Business crowned in early will I seek thee He that is the first should have the first nor is it fit that the Worship of God should stand by and wait while the Worlds turn is served And early in the Evening before the Children and Servants began to be sleepy and therefore if it might be he would have Prayer at Night before Supper that the Body might be the more fit to serve the Soul in that Service of God And indeed he did industriously contrive all the Circumstances of his Family-Worship so as to make it most solemn and most likely to answer the end He always made it the Business of every day and not as too many make it 〈◊〉 By-business This being his fixed Principle all other affairs must be sure to give way to this And he would tell those who objected against Family-Worship that they could not get time for it that if they would but put on Christian Resolution at first they would not find the Difficulty so great as they imagined but after a while their other Affairs would fall in easily and naturally with this especially where there is that Wisdom which is profitable to direct Nay they would find it to be a great preserver of Order and Decency in a Family and would be like a Hem to all their other Business to keep it from Ravelling He was ever careful to have all his Family present at Family-Worship though sometimes living in the Country he had a great Houshold yet he would have not only his Children and Sojourners if he had any and Domestick Servants but his Workmen and Day-Labourers and all that were employ'd for him if they were within call to be present to join with him in this Service and as it was an act of his Charity many times to set them to work for him so to that he added this act of Piety to set them to work for God And usually when he paid his Workmen their Wages he gave them some good Counsel about their Souls Yet if any that should come to Family-Worship were â—…t a distance and must be staid for long he would rather want them than put the Duty much out of time and would sometimes say at a Night Better one away than all sleepy The Performances of his Family-Worship were the same Morning and Evening He observed that under the Law the Morning and the Evening Lamb had the same Meat-offering and Drink-offering Exod. 29. 38 41. He always began with a short but very solemn Prayer imploring the Divine Presence and Grace Assistance and Acceptance particularly beging a Blessing upon the word to be read in reference to which he often put up this Petition That the same Spirit that indited the Scripture would enable us to understand the Scripture and to make up something to our selves out of it that may do us good And esteeming the Word of God as his necessary Food he would sometimes pray in a Morning that our Souls might have a good Meal out of it He commonly concluded even this short Prayer as he did also his Blessings before and after Meat with a Doxology as Paul upon all occasions To him be Glory c. which is properly Adoration and is an Essential part of Prayer He next sung a Psalm and commonly he sung David's Psalms in order throughout sometimes using the old Translation but generally Mr. Barton's and his usual way was to sing a whole Psalm throughout thô perhaps a long one and to sing quick yet with a good variety of proper and pleasant Tunes and that he might do so usually the Psalm was sung without reading the Line betwixt every one in the Family having a Book which he preferred much before the common way of Singing where it might conveniently be done as more agreeable to the Practise of the Primitive Church and the Reformed Churches abroad and by this means he thought the Duty more likely to be performed in the Spirit and with the Understanding the Sense being not so broken nor the affections interrupted as in reading the Line betwixt He would say that a Scripture Ground for singing Psalms in Families might be taken from Psal. 118. 15. The voice of Rejoycing and of Salvation is in the Tabernacles of the Righteous and that it is a way to hold forth Godliness like Rahab's Scarlet Thread Iosh. 2. 17. to such as pass by our Windows He next read a Portion of Scripture taking the Bible in order and would sometimes blame those who only pray in their Families and do not read the Scripture In Prayer we speak to God by the Word he speaks to us and is there any reason saith he that we should speak all In the Tabernacle the Priests were every day to burn Incense and to light the Lamps the former Figuring the Duty of Prayer the latter the Duty of reading the Word Sometimes he would say those do well that Pray Morning and Evening in their Families those do better that pray and read the Scriptures but those do best of all that pray and read and sing Psalms and Christians should covet earnestly the best Gifts He advised the reading of the Scripture in order for though one Star in the Firmament of the Scripture differ from another Star in Glory yet wherever God hath a Mouth to speak we should have an Ear to hear and the diligent searcher may find much excellent Matter in those parts of Scripture which we are sometimes tempted to think might have been spar'd How affectionately
However you cannot but say that you had a Kindness done you to have your lives put into it Thus did he frequently deal with his Children and even Travel in Birth again to see Christ formed in them and from this Topick he generally Argued and he would often say If Infant Baptism were more improved it would be less disputed He not only taught his Children betimes to pray which he did especially by his own Pattern his Method and Expressions in Prayer being very easie and plain But when they were young he put them upon it to pray together and Appointed them on Saturdays in the Afternoon to spend some time together none but they and such of their Age as might occasionally be with them in Reading good Books especially those for Children and in singing and praying and would sometimes tell them for their Encouragement that the God with whom we have to do understands broken Language And if we do as well as we can in the Sincerity of our Hearts we shall not only be accepted but taught to do better To him that hath shall be given He sometimes set his Children in their own reading of the Scriptures to gather out such Passages as they took most notice of and thought most considerable and write them down Though this Performance was very small yet the Endeavour was of good use He also directed them to insert in a Paper Book which each of them had for the purpose Remarkable Sayings and Stories which they met with in Reading such other good Books as he put into their hands He took a Pleasure in relating to them the remarkable Providences of God both in his own time and in the days of Old which he said Parents were taught to do by that Appointment Exod. 12. 26 27. Your Children shall ask you in Time to come what mean you by this Service and you shall tell them so and so What his pious Care was concerning his Children and with what a godly Jealousie he was jealous over them take in one Instance when they had been for a week or Fortnight kindly entertained at B. as they were often he thus writes in his Diary upon their Return home My Care and Fear is lest Converse with such so far above them Though of the best should have Influence upon them to lift them up when I had rather they should be kept low For as he did not himself so he was very Sollicitous to teach his Children not to mind high Things not to desire them not to expect them in this World We shall conclude this Chapter with another Passage out of his Diary Apr. 12. 1681. This Day fourteen Years the Lord took my First-born Son from me the Beginning of my Strength with a Stroke In the Remembrance whereof my heart melted this Evening I beg'd pardon for the Jonah that raised that Storm I blessed the Lord that hath spar'd the Rest I beg'd Mercy Mercy for every one of them and absolutely and unreservedly devoted and dedicated them my self my whole self Estate Interest Life to the will and Service of that God from whom I received all Father Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come c. CHAP. V. His Ejectment from Worthenbury His Non-conformity his Removes to Broad-Oak and the Providences that were concerning him to the Year 1672. HAving thus laid together the Instances of his Family Religion we must now return to the History of Events that were concerning him and are obliged to look back to the first Year after his Marriage which was the Year that King Charles the Second came in a Year of great Changes and struggles in the Land which Mr. Baxter in his Life gives a full and clear and Impartial Idea of by which it may easily be guess'd how it went with Mr. Henry in his low and narrow Sphere whose Sentiments in those things were very much the same with Mr. Baxter's Many of his best Friends in Worthenbury Parish were lately removed by Death Emeral Family contrary to what it had been and the same Spirit which that Year reviv'd all the Nation over was working violently in that Country viz. a Spirit of great Enmity to such Men as Mr. Henry was Worthenbury upon the Kings coming in returned into its former Relation to Bangor and was look'd upon as a Chappelry dependant upon that Mr. Robert Fogg had for many Years held the sequestred Rectory of Bangor to which now Dr. Henry Bridgman Son to Iohn Bishop of Chester and Brother to the Lord Keeper Bridgeman return'd to the Possession of By which Mr. Henry was soon Apprehensive that his Interest at Worthenbury was shaken but thus he writes The will of the Lord be done Lord If my Work be done here provide some other for this People that may be more Skilful and more Successful and cut out Work for me elsewhere However I will take nothing ill which God doth with me He laboured what he could to make Dr. Bridgman his Friend who gave him good words and was very civil to him and assured him that he would never remove him till the Law did But he must look upon himself as the Doctors Curate and depending upon his Will which kept him in continual expectation of a removal however he continued in his Liberty there above a Year though in very ticklish and precarious Circumstances The Grand Question now on foot was whether to conform or no. He us'd all means possible to Satisfy himself concerning it by reading and discourse particularly at Oxford with Dr. Fell afterwards Bishop of Oxford but in vain his dissatisfaction remain'd however saith he I dare not judge those that do conform for who am I that I shall judge my Brother He hath noted that being at Chester in discourse with the Dean and Chancellor and others about this time the great Argument they used with him to perswade him to conform was that else he would lose his Preferment and what said they you are a young Man and are you wiser then the King and Bishops But this is his reflection upon it afterwards God grant I may never be left to consult â—…ith Flesh and Blood in such matters In September 1660. Mr. Fogg and Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry were Presented at Flint-Assizes for not Reading the Common Prayer though as yet it was not enjoyn'd but there were some busie People that would out-run the Law They entred their Appearance and it fell for soon after the King's Declaration touching Ecclesiastical Affairs came out which promised Liberty and gave hopes of Settlement but the Spring-Assizes afterwards Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry were presented again On this he writes Be merciful to me O God for Man would swallow me up The Lord shew me what he would have me to do for I am afraid of nothing but Sin It appears by the Hints of his Diary that he had Melancholy Apprehensions at this Time about publick Affairs seeing and hearing of so many faithful Ministers distur'b silenced and ensnared the ways
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
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-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
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
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
first time he went thither after that Calamity a Neighbouring Justice having Notice of it sent to forbid him to Preach to his own Grief as well as to the Grief of many others who came expecting But saith he in his Diary there was a visible Sermon before us the Ruins Preaching that Sin is an evil thing and God a terrible God However a few days after he got an opportunity of Preaching to them a word in Season which some will not forget from Hos. 6. 1. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn And at the return of the Year when the Town was in the Rebuilding he gave them another very suitable Sermon from Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the just Though it be rising again saith he in his Diary out of its Ashes yet the burning of it should not be forgotten especially not the Sin that kindled it He oft pray'd for them that the Fire might be a Refining Fire In the Years 1677 1678 and 1679 in the Course of his Ministry at Broad-Oak he Preached over the Ten Commandments and largely open'd from other Texts of Scripture the Duties requir'd and Sins forbidden in each Commandment For thô none delighted more than he in Preaching Christ and Gospel-Grace yet he knew that Christ came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil and that though through Grace we are not under the Law as a Covenant yet we are under it as a Rule under the Law to Christ. He was very large and particular in pressing second Table Duties as essential to Christianity We have known those saith he that have called Preaching on such Subjects good Moral Preaching but let them call it as they will I am sure it is necessary and as much now as ever How earnestly would he press upon People the necessity of Righteousness and Honesty in their whole Conversations A good Christian he us'd to say will be a good Husband and a good Father and a good Master and a good Subject and a good Neighbour and so in other Relations How often would he urge to this purpose that it is the Will and Command of the Great God the Character of all the Citizens of Sion the Beauty and Ornament of our Christian Profession and the surest way to thrive and prosper in the World Honesty is the best Policy He would say that these are things in which the Children of this World are competent Iudges They that know not what belongs to Faith and Repentance and Prayer yet know what belongs to the making of an honest Bargain they are also Parties concern'd and oftentimes are themselves careful in these things and therefore those who profess Religion should walk very circumspectly that the Name of God and his Doctrine be not Blasphemed nor Religion wounded through their sides Thus he Preached and his constant Practise was a Comment upon it One thing I remember he was more than ordinarily enlarged in the pressing of which was upon the Ninth Commandment to speak evil of no Man from Tit. 3. 2. If we can say no good of Persons we must say nothing of them He gave it as a Rule Never to speak of any ones faults to others till we have first spoken of them to the Offender himself He was himself an eminent Example of this Rule Some that have Convers'd much with him have said That they never heard him speak evil of any Body nor could he bear to hear any spoken evil of but often drove away a Backbiting-tongue with an angry Countenance He was known to be as Faithful a Patron of Offenders before others as he was a Faithful Reprover of them to themselves Whenever he Preached of Moral Duties he would always have something of Christ in his Sermon either his Life as the great Pattern of the Duty or his Love as the great Motive to it or his Merit as making Atonement for the neglect of it In the Year 1680. he preached over the Doctrines of Faith and Repentance from several Texts of Scripture He us'd to say that he had been told concerning the famous Mr. Dod that some call'd him in scorn Faith and Repentance because he insisted so much upon those two in all his Preaching But saith he if this be to be vile I will be yet more vile for Faith and Repentance are all in all in Christianity Concerning Repentance he hath sometimes said If I were to dye in the Pulpit I would desire to dye Preaching Repentance as if I dye out of the Pulpit I would desire to dye practising Repentance And he had often this saying concerning Repentance He that Repents every day for the sins of every day when he comes to dye will have the sins but of one day to repent of Even Reckonings make long Friends That Year also and the Year 1681 he preached over the Duties of Hearing the Word and Prayer of the former from the Parable of the four sorts of Ground of the latter from Luke 11. 1 c. when he preached over the Lord's Prayer in above Thirty excellent and elaborate Discourses Helook'd upon the Lord's Prayer to be not only a Directory or Pattern for Prayet but according to the advice of the Assembly of Divines proper to be us'd as a Form and accordingly he often us'd it both in Publick and in his Family And as he thought 't was an Error on the one hand to lay so much stress upon it as some do who think no solâ—…mn Prayer accepted nor any solemn Ordinance or Administration of Worship compleat without it and so repeat it five or six times and perhaps oftner at one Meeting so he thought it an Error on the other hand not to use it at all since it is a Prayer a compendious comprehensive Prayer and may be of use to us at least as other Scripture Prayers but he thought it a much greater Error to be angry at those that do use it to judge and censure them and for no other reason to conceive Prejudices against them and their Ministry A great strait saith he poor Ministers are in when some will not hear them if they do not use the Lord's Prayer and others will not hear them if they do What is to be done in this case We must walk accord-to the Light we have and approve our selves to God either in using or not using it and wait for the day when God will mend the matter which I hope he will do in his own due time He was in the close of his Exposition of the Lord's Prayer when a dark Cloud was brought upon his Assemblies and he was necessitated to contract his Sails CHAP. VII The Rebukes he lay under at Broad Oalâ—… betwixt the Years 1680. and 1687. IN the beginning of the Year 1681. in April and May the Country was greatly afflicted and threatned by an extream Drought there was no Rain for several Weeks
him he hath made us accepted in the Beloved After the Exposition of the Chapter he sung a Psalm and commonly chose a Psalm suitable to the Chapter he had Expounded and would briefly tell his Hearers how they might sing that Psalm with Understanding and what affections of Soul should â—…e working towards God in the singing of it his hints of that kind were of great use and contributed much to the right Performance of that Service he often said The more singing of Psalms there is in our Families and Congregations on Sabbath-days the more like they are to Heaven and the more there is in them of the Everlasting Sabbath He would say sometimes he loved to sing whole Psalms rather than pieces After the Sermon in the Morning he sung the 117th Psalm without reading the Line He intermitted at Noon about an Hour and a half and on Sacrament days not near so long in which time he took some little Refreshment in his Study making no solemn Dinner yet many of his Friends did partake of his Carnal as well as of his Spiritual things as those did that follow'd Christ of whom he was careful they should not faint by the way The Morning Sermon was repeated by a ready Writer to those that staid in the Meeting place as many did and when that was done he begun the Afternoons Exercise in which he not only Read and Expounded a Chapter but Catechized the Children and Expounded the Catechism briefly before Sermon Thus did he go from strength to strength and from Duty to Duty on Sabbath-days running the ways of God's Commandments with an enlarged Heart And the variety and vivacity of his publick Services made them exceeding pleasant to all that joined with him who never had cause to complain of his being tedious He us'd to say Every Minute of Sabbath Time is precious and none of it to be lost And that he scarce thought the Lord's day well spent if he were not weary in Body at Night wearied with his Work but not weary of it as he used to distinguish He would say sometimes to those about him when he had gone through the Duties of a Sabbath Well if this be not the way to Heaven I do not know what is In pressing People to Number their days he would especially exhort them to Number their Sabbath-days how many they have been and how ill they have been spent how few 't is like they may be that they may be spent better and to help in the Account he would say that for every twenty Years of our Lives we enjoy above a thousand Sabbaths which must all be accounted for in the day of Reckoning As to his constant Preaching it was very Substantial and Elaborate and greatly to Edification He us'd to say he could not Starch in his Preaching that is he would not as knowing that where the Language and Expression is stiff and forced and fine as they call it it doth not reach the greatest part of the Hearers When he grew old he would say sure he might now take a greater liberty to talk as he call'd it in the Pulpit that is to speak familiarly to People yet to the last he abated not in his Preparations for the Pulpit nor ever delivered any thing raw and undigested much less any thing unbecoming the Gravity and Seriousness of the Work If his Preaching were talking it was talking to the purpose His Sermons were not Common Place but even when his Subjects were the most plain and 〈◊〉 yet his management of them was usually peculiar and surprizing In those Years as formerly he kept for the most part in a method for Subjects and was very seldom above one Sabbath upon a Text. And his constant Practise was as it had been before when he concluded a Subject that he had been a good while upon he spent one Sabbath in a brief Rehearsal of the Marrow and Substance of the many Sermons he had Preached upon it which he call'd the clenching of the Nail that it might be as a Nail in a sure place So very industrious was he and no less ingenious in his endeavours that his Hearers might be able after his Decease to have these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1. 15. and it is hoped that by the Blessing of God the effect did not altogether disappoint his Expectation In the later times of his Ministry he would often contrive the Heads of his Sermons to begin with the same Letter or rather two and two of a Letter but he did not at all seem to affect or force it only if it fell in naturally and easily he thought it a good help to Memory and of use especially to the younger sort And he would say the chief reason why he did it was because 't is frequently observed in the Scripture particularly the Book of Psalms And though it be not a fashionable Ornament of Discourse if it be a Scripture Ornament that is sufficient to recommend it at least to justifie it against the imputation of Childishness Mr. Porter of Whitchurch very much us'd it so did Mr. Malden But the Excellency of his Sermons lay chiefly in the Enlargements which were always very solid grave and judicious but in expressing and marshalling his Heads he often condescended below his own Judgment to help his Hearers Memories Some of his Subjects when he had finished them he made some short Memorandums of in Verse a Distich or two of each Sabbaths work and gave them out in Writing among the young ones of his Congregation many of whom wrote them and learned them and profited by them It might be of use especially to those who had the happiness of sitting under his Ministry to give some Account of the Method of his Sabbath Subjects during the last Eight or Nine Years of his Ministry and it was design'd till 't was found 't would swell this Narrative into too great a Bulk 2. As to the Administration of the Sacraments those Mysteries of God which Ministers are the Stewards of As to the Sacrament of Baptism he had never that I know of Baptized any Children except his own from the time he was turn'd out in 1662. till this last Liberty came though often desir'd to do it such was the tender regard he had to the Established Church but now he reviv'd the Administration of that Ordinance in his Congregation The occasion was this One of the Parish-Ministers Preaching at Whiteweâ—… Chappel Mr. Henry and his Family and many of his Friends being present was earnestly cautioning People not to go to Conventicles and us'd this as an Argument against it That they were Baptized into the Church of England Mr. Henry's Catholick Charity could not well digest this Monopolizing of the great Ordinance of Baptism and thought it time to bear his Testimony against such narrow Principles which he ever expressed his dislike of in all Parties and Perswasions Accordingly he took the next opportunity that offer'd it self publickly to
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-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
Meekness need no Laws or Canons to Rule by other than those of the Holy Scripture How forceable are right words Iob. 6. 25. 4. He was very strict and very serious in observing the Publick Fasts appointed by Authority and called them a delight He had seldom any one to assist him in carrying on the Duties of those Days but perform'd the Service of them himself alone He began at Nine of the Clock or quickly after and never stirred out of the Pulpit till about four in the Afternoon spending all that time in Praying and Expounding and Singing and Preaching to the admiration of all that heard him who were generally more on such days than usual And he was sometimes observed to be more warm and lively towards the latter end of the Duties of a Fast-day than at the beginning as if the Spirit were most willing and enlarged when the Flesh was most weak In all his Performances on Publick Fast-days he did hoc agere attend to that which was the proper work of the day every thing is beautiful in its Season His Prayers and pleadings with God on those days were especially for National Mercies and the pardon of National Sins How excellently did he order the Cause before God and fill his Mouth with Arguments in his large and particular Intercessions for the Land for the King the Government the Army the Navy the Church the French Protestants c. He was another Iacob a Wrestler an Israel a Prince with God Before a Fast-day he would be more than ordinarily inquisitive concerning the state of publick affairs as Nehemiah was Neh. 1. 2. that he might know the better how to order his Prayers and Preaching for on such a day he hath sometimes said as good say nothing as nothing to the purpose He made it his business on fast-Fast-days to shew People their Transgressions especially the House of Iacob their Sins 'T is most proper said he to Preach of Christ on Lord's days to Preach of Sin on Fast-days and to Preach Duty on both He went over the third Chapter of the Revelation in the Fast Sermons of two Years Another Year he Preached over the particulars of that Charge Zeph. 3. 2. Hypocrisie in Hearers and Flattery in Preachers as he would sometimes say is bad at any time but it is especially abominable upon a day of Humiliation 5. He Preached a great many Lectures in the Country about some stated some occasional in supplying of which he was very indefatigable He hath sometimes Preached a Lecture ridden eight or nine Miles and Preached another and the next day two more To quicken himself to diligence he would often say our opportunities are passing away and we must work while it is day for the Night cometh Once having very wet and foul Weather to go through to Preach a Lecture he said he comforted himself with two Scriptures one was 2 Tim. 2. 3. Endure hardness as a good Soldier of Iesus Christ. The other because he exposed and hazarded his Health for which some blamed him was 2 Sam. 6. 21. It was before the Lord. He took all occasions in his Lectures a broad to possess the minds of People with sober and moderate Principles and to stir them up to the serious regard of those things wherein we are all agreed We are met here together said he once in an Exhortation with which he often began at his Lecture not because we think our selves better than others but because we desire to be better than we are He was very happy in the choice of his Subjects for his Week-day Lectures At one which was stated he Preached against Errors in general from Iam. 1. 16. Do not err my beloved Brethren particularly from divers other Scriptures he shewed that we must not Err concerning God and Christ and the Spirit concerning Sin and Repentance Faith and Good Works concerning God's Ordinances concerning Grace and Peace and Afflictions and Prosperity and the things of the Life to come At the Monthly Lectures at his own House he chose to Preach upon the Four last things Death and Iudgment Heaven and Hell in many particulars but commonly a new Text for every Sermon When he had in many Sermons finished the first of the Four one that us'd to hear him sometimes enquiring of his progress in his Subjects asked him if he had done with Death meaning that Subject concerning Death to which he pleasantly replied No I have not done with him yet I must have another turn with him and he will give me a Fall but I hope to have the Victory at last He would sometimes remove the Lectures in the Country from one place to another for the benefit of those that could not Travel Once having adjourned a Lecture to a new place he began it there with a Sermon on Acts 17. 6. These men that have turned the World upside down are come hither also in which he shew'd how false the Charge is as they meant it for Religion doth not disturb the Peace of Families or Societies doth not cause any disorder or unquietness c. And yet that in another sense there is a great Truth in it That when the Gospel comes in Power to any Soul it turns the World upside down in that Soul such is the Change it makes there All this he did gratis and without being burthensome to any nay he was best pleas'd when at the places where he Preached nothing was got for his Entertainment but he came home though some Miles Fasting as in other places it was a trouble to him to see his Friends careful about much serving tho' it was out of their respect to him Lastly As he was an excellent Preacher himself so he was an exemplary Hearer of the Word when others Preached though every way his Inferiours so reverent serious and attentive was he in hearing and so observant of what was spoken I have heard him tell that he knew one and I suppose it was as Paul knew a Man in Christ who could truly say to the Glory of God that for Forty Years he had never slept at a Sermon He was diligent also to improve what he heard afterwards by Meditation Repetition Prayer and Discourse and he was a very great Encourager of young Ministers that were humble and serious though their Abilities and Performances were but mean He hath noted in his Diary as that which affected him this saying of a godly Man a Hearer of his I find it easier to go six Miles to hear a Sermon than to spend one quarter of an Hour in Meditating and Praying over it in Secret as I should when I come home As to the Circumstances of his Family in these last nine Years of his Life they were somewhat different from what they had been but the same Candle of God which had shined upon his Tabernacle continued still to do so In the Years 1687 and 1688. he Married all his Five Children the three eldest in four Months time in the
Heavenly Father and a cheerful acquiescence in his Heavenly Will I am ashamed saith he of these Groans I want Virtue O for Virtue now when I have need of it referring to his Subject the Lord's day before For give me that I groan thus and I will endeavour to silence them But indeed my stroak is heavier than my groaning It is true what Mr. Baxter said in his Pain there 's no disputing against sense It was his trouble as it was Mr. Baxter's that by reason of his bodily pain he could not express his inward comfort however that was it with which God graciously strengthned him in his Soul He said to those about him they must remember what Instructions and Counsels he had given them when he was in Health for now he could say but little to them only to refer them to what he had said as that which he would live and dye by It was two or three Hours after he was taken ill before he would suffer a Messenger to be sent to Chester for his Son and for the Doctor saying he should either be better or dead before they could come but at last he said as the Prophet did to his importunate Friends Send About eight a Clock that Evening they came and found him in the same Extremity of Pain which he had been in all day And Nature being before spent with his constant and indesatigable Labours in the Work of the Lord now sunk and did perfectly suceumb under its Burthen and was qâ—…ite disabled to grapple with so many Hours uncessant pain What further means were then us'd proved fruitless and did not answer the intention He apprehended himself going a pace and said to his Son when he came in O Son you are welcome to a dying Father I am now ready to be offered and the time of my Departâ—…e is at Hand His pain continued very acute but he had Peace within I am tormented said be once but blessed be God not in this Flame and soon after I am all on Fire when at the same time his extreme parts were cold but he presently added Blessed be God it is not the Fire of Hell To some of his next Neighbours who came in to see him for those at a distance had not notice of his illness he said O make sure work for your Souls by getting an Interest in Christ while you are in Health for if I had that work to do now what would become of me but I bless God I am satisfied It was a Caution he was often wont to give See to it that your work be not undone when your time is done lest you be undone for ever Towards ten or eleven a Clock that Night his Pulse and Sight began to fail of the latter he himself took notice and inferred from it the near approach of his Dissolution He took an affectionate farewel of his Dear Yoke-fellow with a thousand thanks for all her Love and Care and Tenderness left a Blessing for all his dear Children and their dear Yoâ—…e-fellows and little ones that were absent He said to his Son who sat under his head Son the Lord bless you and grant that you may do worthily in your Generation and be more serviceable to the Church of God than I have been such was his great Humility to the last And when his Son reply'd O Sir pray for me that I may but tread in your steps he answered yea follow Peace and Holiness and let them say what they will More he would have said to bear his Dying Testimony to the way in which he had walked but Nature was spent and he had not strength to express it His Understanding and Speech continued almost to the last Breath and he was still in his dying Agonies calling upon God and committing himself to him One of the last words he said when he found himself just ready to depart was O Death where is thy with that his Speech falter'd and within a few Minutes after about sixteen Hours illness he quietly Breathed out his precious Soul into the Embraces of his dear Redeemer whom he had trusted and faithfully served in the work of the Ministry about forty three Years He deparetd betwixt twelve and one a Clock in the Morning of Iune 24. Midsummer-day in the Sixty fifth Year of his Age. Happy thrice Happy he to whom such a sudden Change was no surprize and who could Triumph over Death as an unstung disarmed Enemy even when he made so fierce an onset He had often spoke of it as his desire that if it were the Will of God he might not out-live his usefulness and it pleased God to grant him his desire and give him a short passage from the Pulpit to the Kingdom from the height of his usefulness to receive the recompence of Reward So was it ordered by him in whose Hands our Times are After the Account we have given of his great Usefulness it is easie to imagine what sorrow and Mourning there was among his Friends when they heard that the Lord had taken away their Master from their Head One that liv'd so much desir'd could not but dye as much lamented The surprize of the stroke put People into a perfect astonishment and many said the Lord remov'd him so suddenly because he would not deny the many Prayers that would have been put up for his Recovery had it been known that he was in Peril One thing that aggravated this severe Dispensation and made it in the apprehension of many look the more dismal was that this powerful Intercessor was taken away just before a Fast-day when he would have been Wrestling mightily with God for Mercy for the Land However it proved a Fast-day indeed and a day of Humiliation to that Congregation to whom an empty Pulpit was an awakening Sermon The Broad-Oak was then like that under which Rebekah's Nurse was buried Gen. 35 8. Allon-bacuth Bochim a place of Weepers They who had many a time fitten with dry Eyes under melting Ordinances could not sit so under such a melting Providence by which the Lord God call'd so loudly to weeping and to mourning and to girding with Sack cloth But because Mr. Henry had been wont to give it for a Rule that Weeping must not hinder Sowing a Mite was cast into the Treasury of the Nations Prayers and a word spoken to bring the Work of the day and the event of the day together from 2 Kings 13. 20. The day following being Saturday Iune 27. the Earthen Vessel in which this Treasure had been lodg'd was laid up in the Grave in Whitchurch Church attended thither with a very great Company of true Mourners all the Country round many from Chefler and Shrewsbury and the Towns about came to do him Honour at his Death And besides the Floods of Tears that were shed there were abundance of Testimonies given to him by Persons of all sorts like that Iehojadah 2 Chron 24. 16. That he was one that had done good
in Israel And there were those who said He was a Man that no Body did or could speak evil of except for his Nonconformity He was us'd to say to his Relations when I am dead make little a do about me a few will serve to bring me to my Grave but his mind could not be observed in that 't was impossible such a burning and shining light could be extinguished but there must be a Universal Notice taken of it Multitudes came unsought unto not to fill their Eyes as Mr. Vines expresseth it but to empty them nor was there any other noise there but that of general Lamentation That Morning before the removal of the Corpse a most affectionate Sermon was Preached in Mr. Henry's Meeting place by his dear and worthy Friend Mr. Tallents of Shrewsbury who was eleven Years elder than he and through God's goodness still survives him He was willing to take that opportunity to testifie the great Love and Honour that he had for Mr. Henry whom he call'd a Friend that is nearer than a Brother His Text was Rom 8. 23. And not only they but our selves also which have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our Body In his Application he shew'd excellently and with much affection how the consideration of the Spirit and Life of this Eminent Servant of God would greatly lead us to believe on Christ and to have the Spirit of Christ and live after it and to suffer with Christ and to groan for our Adoption Several things were hinted concerning him which have been mentioned already in this Narrative and a very honourable Testimony born to him From a long acquaintance with him he witnessed concerning him to those who knew his Record to be true that he was humble and meek kind and peaceable wise and charitable and one in whom the Fruits of the Spirit were eminently That he was a Friend and a Counsellor and a Father to many that his Expounding and Preaching was plain and pleasant warm and savory full and such as few could reach and greatly blessed by God and that in it he labour'd more abundantly than any And after a great encomium of him it was excellently observed and must be mentioned here as that which was highly agreeable to Mr. Henry's Spirit and his Expressions upon all occasions That it was not his own Righteousness that saved him nor his own strength that quickned and upheld him but Christ's Righteousness and Christ's Strength for to him to live was Christ And in all his Discourses Sermons and Letters he was very careful to ascribe the Honour of all to Christ and to make Christ his All in-all He concluded with some words of seasonable Advice to those of that Society and Neighbourhood 1. Give thanks to God that ever you had him or saw him and that you had him so long above thirty Years in this place Do not many of you owe even your very Souls to him under God While you Mourn give thanks to God that you ever knew him old and great Mercies must be thankfully remembred 2. Rejoyce in the Glory that he now enjoys weep not for him but weep for your selves 'T was the Text on which he Preached not much above a Year ago at the Funeral of that intelligent holy useful Man Mr. William Lawrence of Wem The Primitive Christians buried their Saints with Hymns and Psalms of Joy Chrysostom on the Hebrews saith we are to glorifie God and give thanks to him that he hath Crown'd the Deceased and freed them from their Labours and chides those that Mourn'd and Howl'd And the Days of their Death were called Natalitia Martyrum Sanctorum the Birth-days of the Saints and Martyrs And Hierom in his Epitaph on Holy Paula and in the Lives of other Holy Persons writ by him saith that at her Funeral no Shreeks were heard but multitudes of Psalms and Hymns were sung in divers languages 3. Bewail the Loss the general Loss and yours in particular yet so as to have Hope in God I need not tell you how great your loss is you teel it more than I am able to express If any rejoyce that he is gone because he tormented them say as the Church Mic. 7. 8 9. 4. Seek out for a Supply do not mourn and sit still but up and be doing in your places you have had a cheap Gospel hitherto God sent you one that could Preach freely and which is more that would do so too one that sought not yours but you and now God will see what you will do for your selves that now the Shepherd is smitten the Sheep may not be scattered Pray to God to raise up others like him and graciously to give you one 5. Take heed of liking no Preacher now he is gone This a usual Fault among many that have had excellent Preachers no Body can please them But God may bless weaker means and make your Souls live and thrive under them 6. Hold fast that which you have it is the advice given to Philadelphia the best of the Churches Rev. 3. 11. Keep that good thing which is committed to you that savoriness of Heart that love to Christ and to Saints to all Saints that Knowledge of the Truth Keep to his sober Principles Remember his dying Counsel Follow Peace and Holiness have these things always in remembrance Take heed of falling off take heed of falling away the World will draw you and Satan will tempt you and your own busie Hearts will be apt to betray you but go on humbly and honestly in the strength of Christ and fear not Be not like those Jews that turned aside when Iohn Baptist was dead Iohn 5. 35. The Lord keep you from being such and give you to go on so his Heavenly Kingdom It would have swelled this Book too much if we had inserted the Sermon at large and therefore we forbear it The next day being Lord's day Mr. Owen of Oswestry Preached a most excellent Sermon in the Morning agreeable to that sad occasion upon that pathetical Farewel which Elisha gave to Elijah 2 Kings 2. 12. My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof and he saw him no more and he took hold of his own Cloths and rent them He observed 1. That faithful Ministers are the Fathers of a People and their Chariots and Horsemen the former a Metaphor taken from a Family a peaceable Society the latter from an Army a warlike Body Fathers to provide good things Chariots and Horsemen to protect from evil things 2. There is a time when we shall see these Fathers these Chariots and Horsemen of Israel no more Their time is appointed their work cut out for them and when those are finished they are removed 3. When God takes away our Fathers the Chariots of our Israel and the Horsemen thereof it is a proper Season for Mourning and Lamentation Under
ill with our Souls That Honesty is the best Policy That those that would have the comfort of Relations must be careful to do the Duty of them That All is well that ends everlastingly well That Time and the things of Time are nothing compared with Eternity and the things of Eternity That it is better to suffer the greatest Affliction than to commit the least Sin That it highly concerns us to do that now which we shall most wish we had done when we come to dye That Work for God is its own Wages That it is folly for a Man to do that which he must certainly undo again by Repentance or be undone to all Eternity Such as these were the Principles he would have Christians to govern themselves by Speaking of the Causes of Atheism he had this Observation That a Head full of vain and unprofitable Notions meeting with a Heart full of Pride and Self-conceitedness dispose a Man directly to be an Atheist A Gentlewoman that upon some unkindness betwixt her and her Husband was parted from him and lived separately near a Twelve-month grew Melancholy and complained of Sin and the withdrawing of the Light of God's Countenance and the want of Assurance he told her she must rectifie what was a miss between her and her Husband and return into the way of Duty else 't was in vain to expect Peace Her Friends were against it but he said he was confident it would prove so He said he had observed concerning himself that he was sometimes the worse for eating but never for abstinence sometimes the worse for wearing too few Cloaths but never for wearing too many sometimes the worse for speaking but never for keeping Silence As to his Letters he was very free in writing to his Friends A good Letter he would say may perhaps do more good than a good Sermon because the Address is more particular and that which is written remains His Language and Expressions in his Letters were always pious and heavenly and seasoned with the Salt of Grace and when there was occasion he would excellently Administer Counsels Reproofs or Comforts by Letter He kept no Copies of his Letters and it is impossible if we should attempt it to retrieve them from the Hands into which they were scatter'd Mr. Rutherford's and Mr. Allen's Letters that like some of the most excellent of Paul's Epistles boâ—…e date out of a Prison have a mighty Tincture of their peculiar Prison-Comforts and Enlargements we have none such to Produce of Mr. Henry's no Pastoral Letters or Prison Letters he was himself in his whole Conversation an Epistle of Christ. But we shall only glean up some Passages out of such of his Letters as are in our Hands which may be affecting and edifying To his Son when he was abroad for Improvement at London in the Year 1685 and 1686 with the common business of his Letters which was always written with a savor of Religion he would intermix such Lines as these We are all well here Thanks be to God the Divine Providence watching about our Tabernacle and compassing us about with Favour as with a Shield Our great Enquiry is What shall we render Alas our Rendrings are nothing to our Receivings wâ—…re like the Barren Field on which must Cost is bâ—…wed but the Crop is not accordingly Our Heavenly Father is loading us with his Benefits and we are loading him with our Sins grieving him that comforts us and how long how long shall it be so O that it might be otherwise that our Mercies might be as Oyl to the Wheels to make us so much the more active and lively in our Masters Work especially considering how it is with our fellow Servants they empty and we full they Marah and we Naomi There may a Day come when it may cost dear to be honest but after all To fear God and keep his Commandments is the whole of Man I therefore commend it to you and you to God who is a shield and buckler to them that fear him We are well but in daily expectation of that which we are born and born again to and that is Trouble in this World yet rejoycing in hope of the Glory of God which we are reaching after and pressing towards as we trust you are also Where you are you see more of the glittering Vanities of this World in a Day than we here do in an Age and are you more and more in love with them or dead and dying to them I hope dead and dying to them for they are poor things and perish in the using make many worse that enjoy them but none better What is Translated vexation of Spirit Eccl. 1. 2. may be read Feeding upon Wind comp Hos. 12. 1. and can Wind satisfie The Lord preserve and keep you from all Evil the Lord preserve and keep your Soul We both send you our Love and bless you together and apart every day in the Name of the Lord. Amen and Amen Be sincere and humble and choice in your Company always either getting goâ—… or doing good gathering in or laying out Reâ—…ber to keep the Heart with all diligence and above all keepings for there the Fountain is and if that be well kept and clean the streams will be accordingly 'T is some short Refreshment to Friends and Relations to see and hear from one another but it passeth away and we have here no continuing City no abiding Delights in this World our Rest remains elsewhere those we have lose much of their sweetness from the thoughts of parting with them while we enjoy them but the Happiness to come is Eternal After Millions of Millions of Ages if we may so speak of Eternity as far from an end as the first Moment and the last of Glory will be Glory so some read Prov. 25. 27. keep that in your Eye my dear Child and it will as much as any thing dazzle your Eyes to all the fading deceiving Vanities of this lower World and will be a quickning Motive to you to abound always in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. The Lord bless you who blesseth indeed See that you walk circumspectly not as the Fools but as the wise many Eyes are upon you his especially who is all Eye Cave Deus videt memento hoc agere our Blessing with 1 Chr. 28. 9. The same which is yet the Prologue of yours is of ours also Ommia bene laus Deo but he that girdeth on the Harness must not boast as that puts it off While the World we live in is under the Moon constant in nothing but inconstancy and such Changes are made in other Families why should we alone promise our selves immunity from the common Lot There would be no need of Faith and Patience which are Winter Graces if it should be always Summer time with us We have three Unchangeables to oppose to all other Mutabilities an unchangeable Covenant
also aggravating the Fault from the Circumstances of it judging and condemning your self for it in the sight of God and for your help herein you must acquaint your self with the Divine Law the Precepts and Prohibitions of it especially their Extent and Spiritual Nature as the Rule and then bring your own Thoughts Words and Actions to it daily to be tryed by it 3. Petition for such good things as God hath promised and you have need of both concerning this Life and that which is to come As to the latter you are to pray for Mercy to pardon and Grace to help in time of need As to the former for Bread to eat and Raiment to put on and a Heart to be therewith contented You are to pray for others also the Church of God the Land of your Nativity Magistrates Ministers Relations and Friends not forgetting the Afflictions of the Afflicted 4. Thanksgiving which should have a considerable share in every Prayer for our Duty is in every thing to give thanks for Mercies received Publick and Personal which is the Will of God in Christ Iesus concerning us This Rule of Method is not so necessary to be observ'd in Prayer as in no case to be varied from but it is certainly very useful and expedient and a great help to young beginners in that Duty 8. My advice is that you would delay no longer but forthwith apply your self in the strength of Jesus Christ to this sweet and excellent way of Praying 〈◊〉 and I dare say in a short time you will find through the aids and supplies of Divine Grace what is at first hard and difficult will by degrees be easie and delightful The promise is that to him that hath i. e. that hath and useth what he hath more shall be given Though you cannot do what you would yet fail not to do what you can wherein the Lord will accept of you according to his Everlasting Covenant in Christ Jesus for we are not under the Law but under Grace CHAP. XI A short Account of some of his Friends especially his Brethren in the Ministry that dyed before him WE think our selves obliged to add this Account out of his own Papers partly as an Evidence of the great esteem he had of the Gifts and Graces of others to whom he delighted to do Honour an Instance of that Humility which he was in all respects a great Example of and partly that we may preserve the remembrance of some in that Country whose Names ought not to be bury'd in Oblivion It is part of that Honour which we owe to them that fear the Lord to mention them with respect when they are dead and gone that we may contribute something to the fulfilling of the Promise That the Righteous and especially they who turn many to Righteousness shall be had in everlasting remembrance While their glorified Souls shine as the Stars in the Firmament of our Father it is fit that their embalmed Memories should in these lower Regions go forth as a Lamp that burneth The Jewish Rabbins read Prov. 10 7. as a Precept Let the Memory of the Iust be Blessed We will take them in the Order wherein we find them in his Diary according to the time of their Death premising only this Note of his occasioned by a particular instance Such a day I read the Life of old Mr. Bruen of Stapleford in which I met with some things that shame me some things that confirm me and some things tha quicken me Blessed be God for that Cloud of Wit nesses we are encompassed about with Mr. Iohn Machin was buried at Newcastle Septemb. 8. 1664. a worthy instrument in Gospel Work Laborious Faithful and Successful above his Fellows taken away in the midst of his Days the first Candle I have heard of put out by God among the many hundreds put under a Bushel by Men. An account of his Holy Exemplary Life was Printed many Years after drawn up I think by Mr. Newcome Mr. Heath late Minister of Iulians Church in Salop was buried May 28. 1666. He was of Christ's-Colledge in Cambridge where he was much valued for his great Learning especially in the Oriental Tongues in which he was one of the greatest Masters of his Age. He was employed to Correct the Syriac and Arabick of the Polyglot Bible which was sent down to him in Sheets for that purpose for which Bishop Walton gave him a Copy He read the Liturgy till August 24. 1662. and then was Silenced because he could not come up to the imposed Terms of Conformity When the Five Mile Act Commenced March 25. 1666. he removed to Wellington and there within a few Weeks Dyed and was Buried When he lay upon his Death bed Mr. Lawrence asked him what Reflections he had upon his Nonconformity Truly said he I would not but have done as I did for a Thousand Worlds He had great Confidence that God would provide for his Widow and Children according to Promise The Character Mr. Baxter gives of him is that he was moderate sedate quiet and Religious Much about the same time Mr. York dyed in Salop a Holy good Man and well approved in the Ministry who wasted his own Candle in giving Light to others even after he was removed out of the Candlestick Lord Is this the meaning of Rev. 11. 12 concerning the Witnesses Mr. Thomas Porter late Minister of Whitchurch dyed at Salop in a good old Age Iune 19. 1667. he was born in Northamptonshire bred in Cambridge he was settled Minister of Hanmer in Flintshire long before the Wars by the means of Sir Iohn Hanmer the Patron who was a very worthy pious Gentleman and a great promoter of Religion in that Parish but dyed in the midst of his days Here Mr. Porter's Ministry was blessed with wonderful acceptance and success both in that and the Neighbouring Parishes and a great Harvest of Souls was there gathered in to Christ. After the Wars were over during the Heat of which he was forced to withdraw he procured Mr. Steel for Hanmer and he removed to Whitchurch where he continued an Instrument of much good till the King came in and then he gave way to Dr. Bernard a worthy moderate Man He preached his Farewel-Sermon at Whitchurch August 28. 1660. on Col. 1. 24. and spent the rest of his Days in Silence and Affliction He was exercis'd long with pain upon his Bed and the multitude of his Bones with strong pain If this be done to the green Tree what shall be done to the dry His dying Counsel to the Lord's People was to stick to Christ and not to let him go come Life come Death The worthy Colonel Thomas Hunt dyed at his House in Shrewsbury April 12. 1669. a true Nathaniel an Israelite indeed in whom was no Guile One that like Caleb followed the Lord fully in difficult trying times he was a Member of the long Parliament for Shrewsbury and very active for God in his Generation abounding in
good Works and his Memory is blessed I was going to Shrewsbury upon an appointment of his and by the way met the sad news of his Death which was sudden but not surprizing to one that was always ready He was twice at publick Ordinances the day before being Lord's day worshipped God with his Family in the Evening went to bed well as at other times but about two or three a Clock in the Morning wak'd very ill and before five fell asleep in the Lord. Help Lord for the Godly Man ceaseth Mr. George Mainwaring a Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ and my worthy Friend dyed in a good old Age March 14. 1669 70. gathered as a shock of Corn in his Season He was born in Wrenbury Parish in Cheshire supported at the University by Mr. Cotton of Cumbermere where he had the Reputation of a good Scholar he was brought acquainted with the ways of Religion by means of Mr. Buckly his Uncle a strict Puritan He was first Chaplain to Sir Henry Delves afterwards Rector of Baddely and Chaplain to Sir Thomas Mainwaring After the Wars he was removed to Malpas whence he was ejected upon the King's coming in His Conversation was exemplary especially for plainness and integrity he was eminent for expounding Scripture While he was at Malpas he constantly gave all the Milk which his Dairy yield ed on the Lord's day to the Poor Mr. Iohn Adams of Northwood was buried at Ellesmere April 4. 1670. he was a faithful Minister of the Gospel Mr. Zechariah Thomas my worthy Friend dyed of a Consumption at Nantwich September 14. 1670. in the forty first Year of his Age. He was bred up for a Tradesman in Suffolk but always addicted to his Book and was ordained a Minister after the King came in and entertained Curate at Tilstock under Dr. Bernard but by reason of his Nonconformity could not continue there long On the Monday before he Dyed he said to those about him that towards Wednesday he should take his leave of them and did so He was Buried at Acton Mr. Kirkes Vicar of Acton Preached and gave him a worthy Character and such as he deserved for Uprightness Humility Moderation Prayer Faithfulness in reproving Patience under Affliction and in saying he was an Israelite indeed without Guile he said all The Lord make me a Follower of him and of all the rest who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Mr. Ioshuah Richardson my truly worthy Friend and Brother dyed at Alkinton in Whitchurch Parish September 1. 1671. Blessed be God for his Holy Life and Happy Death He was several Years Minister of Middle in Shropshire and was turned out thence for Nonconformity He was a holy loving serious Man Dr. Fowler Preached his Funeral Sermon at Whitchurch on Dan. 12. 3. highly praising him as he deserv'd for Wisdom Piety and Peaceableness Mr. Samuel Hildersham dyed near Bromicham in April 1674. the only Son of Mr. Arthur Hildersham of Ashby whose works praise him in the Gates Fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge Batchelor of Divinity 1623. settled Rector of West-Felton in Shropshire in the Year 1628. and continued there till Silenced by the Act of Uniformity He was one of the Assembly of Divines a Father to the Sons of the Prophets in and about Shropshire He was learned loving and charitable an excellent Preacher an eminent Expositor and very much a Gentleman he was about Fourscore Years of Age when he Dyed He ordered by his Will this Inscription upon his Grave-stone Samuel Hildersham B. D. Rector of West-Felton in the County of Salop 34 Years till August 24. 1662. Mr. Richard Sadler my worthy Friend and Fellow Labourer dyed at Whixal in Prees Parish April 1675. He was born in Worcester went when young with his Father into New-England after the Wars he returned into England was Ordained at Whixal Chappel May 16. 1648. and was removed thence to Ludlow Being turned out there upon the King 's coming in he spent the rest of his Days in Privacy at Wrexal A Man of great Piety and Moderation Mr. Rowland Nevet dyed at his House near Oswestry December 8. 1675. and was buried at Morton Chappel I Preached his Funeral Sermon at Swinny on 2 Pet. 1. 14. Knowing that I must shortly put off this my Tabernacle Thence shewing that the Ministers of Christ must certainly and shortly dye He was born in Hodnet Parish Anno Dom. 1609. brought up at Shrewsbury School was afterwards of Edmund-Hall in Oxford Commenced Master of Arts in the Year 1634. he was Episcopally Ordained and Anno 1635. He was presented to the Vicaridge of Stanton in Shropshire where he continued many Years with great Success in his Ministry While he was single he kept House judging that more for the furtherance of his Work among his People than to Table After the War he removed to Oswestry where he laboured abundantly in the work of the Lord and even after he was silenced for Nonconformity he continued among his People there to his dying Day doing what he could when he might not do what he would He would say he thought most of his Converting Work was done at Oswestry the first Seven Years of his being there He loved to Preach and to hear others Preach concerning the great things of Religion Redemption Reconciliation Regeneration c. for these said he are the main matter When the Plague was at Oswestry he continued with his People and preached to them and it was an opportunity of doing much good His Conversation from his Youth was not only blameless but Holy and Pious he was exemplary for Family Religion and great care and industry in the Education of his Children He was looked upon as Congregational in Judgment and Practise and was not satisfied to join in the Common Prayer but he was free to Communicate with those that did It was his Judgment that Ministers should be Ordained by Ministers and that a Minister is not only a Minister of the particular Congregation in which he labours He greatly bewailed the Divisions of the Church and the intemperate Heats of some of all Perswasions He was exceeding kind and loving to his Friends very frequent in pious Ejaculations to God Being often distemper'd in Body he would say he was never better than in the Pulpit and that it was the best place he could wish to dye in He often blessed God for a fit of Sickness which he had which he said he would not have been without for a World the Foundation of his Comfort and Hope of Heaven being laid then When he was sometimes much spent with his Labours he would appeal to God that though he might be wearied in his Service he would never be weary of it His dying Prayer for his Children after many sweet Exhortations was That the Mediator's Blessing might be the Portion of every one of them adding I charge you all see to it that you meet me on the right Hand of Christ at the great Day A little
before he Dyed he had this Expression Go forth my Soul go forth to meet thy God adding by and by It is now done Come Lord Iesus come quickly One present saying to him that he was now going to receive his Reward he replied It is free Grace Mr. Henry was much importun'd to Print his Sermon at Mr. Nevet's Funeral with some account of his Life and Death which he was somewhat inclined to do but was discouraged by the difficulties of the Times and it was never done But some Materials he had for it out of which we have Collected these hints Mr. Robert Fogg my old dear Friend was buried at Acton near Nantwich April 21. 1676. he dyed in a good old Age about Eighty He was Minister of Bangor in Flintshire till after the King came in and thence forward to his Death was a poor silent Nonconformist but of a bold and zealous Spirit giving good Counsel to those about him A little before he dyed he had this weighty saying among others Assure your selves the Spirit of God will be underling to no Sin Mr. Andrew Parsons sometimes Minister of Wem dyed at London October 1. 1684. He was Born in Devonshire and was Minister there some Years before the War being driven thence to London he became well known to Mr. Pym. who sent him down to Wem when that Town was Garrison'd for the Parliament there he continued in the Exercise of his Ministry till the Year 1660. He was an active friendly generous Man and a moving affecting Preacher Mr. Baxter in his Life Part 3. Page 94. commends him for a moderate Man and speaks of his being in trouble for seditious words Sworn against him which were these Preaching from 2 Tim. 3. 13. he said The Devil was like a King that courted the Soul and spoke fair till he was gotten into the Throne and then play'd pranks The Witnesses deposed contrary to the Coherence of his Discourse that he said the King was like the Devil He was tryed at Shrewsbury before my Lord Newport Mr. Serjeant Turner and others May 28. 1662. It was also charged upon him that he had said there was more Sin committed now in England in a Month than was heretofore in seven Years And that there had been more and better Preaching in England for Twenty Years past then was ever since the Apostles days He had Council assigned him who pleaded that the time limited by the Stature in which he was Indited was Expired The Court yielded it was so allowing Twenty eight Days to a Month but they would understand it of Thirty Days to a Month so he was found Guilty and Fined Two hundred Pound and ordered to be Imprisoned till it should be paid Mr. Hugh Rogers a worthy Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ turn'd out for Nonconformity from Newtown in Montgomery-shire was buried at Welshpool March 17. 1679 80. he was look'd upon as Congregational but his declared Judgment was That Ministers ought to be Ordained by Ministers and to give themselves wholly to that Work and that none but Ministers have Authority to Preach and Govern in a Constituted Church and that Christ's Ministers are his Ministers in all places and that where the word of Christ is Preached and his Sacraments administred there is a true Church He was a Man of Excellent Converse and whose peculiar felicity lay in pleasant and edifying Discourse Iuly 2d and 3d 1680. these two days brought tidings of the Death of Mr. Haines sometime Minister of Wem in Shropshire and since at New Chappel in Westminster and of Mr. Richard Edwards Minister at Oswestry both worthy Conformists pious peaceable and good Men whom I hope through Grace to meet shortly in Heaven The Lord raise up others in their room to be and do better Mr. Robert Bosier my dear Friend and Kinsman having just compleated the Twenty third Year of his Age dyed of a Fever September 13th 1680. at Mr. Doelittle's House in Islington whither he was gone but a few Weeks before for Improvement in Learning being formerly a Commoner of Edmund-Hall in Oxford and since having spent some Years in my Family and designed himself for the Service of Christ in the Work of the Ministry He was a young Man of Pregnant Parts great Industry and exemplary Seriousness and Piety and likely to be an eminent Instrument of good in his day His Friends and Relations had promised themselves much comfort in him but we know who performeth the thing that is appointed for us and giveth not account of any of his Matters Mr. Iohn Malden my dear and worthy Friend turned out from Newport in Shropshire for Nonconformity dyed at Alkington near Whitchurch May 23d 1681. a Man of great Learning an Excellent Hebrician and of exemplary Piety and a solid Preacher as he lived so he dyed very low in his own Eyes esteeming himself good for nothing though really good for every thing which was manifestly a prejudice both to his Comfort and to his Usefulness He said he was far from repenting his being a Sufferer against Conformity The Relicks of so much Learning Piety and Humility I have not seen this great while laid in a Grave But blessed be God we had such a one so long Dr. Ioshua Maddocks a beloved Physician our very dear Friend and Kinsman dyed of a Fever at Whitchurch in the midst of his Days Iuly 27th 1682. a very pious Man and especially eminent for Meekness an Excellent Scholar and particularly learned in the Mathematicks he lived much desired and dyed as much lamented Mr. Thomas Bridge who had been Rector of the higher Rectory of Malpas about fifty seven Years being aged about eighty two Years was buried at Malpas Octob. 7. 1682. In his last sickness which was long he had appointed Mr. Green one of the Curates there to preach his Funeral Sermon on 1 Tim. 1. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering And to say nothing in his Commendation but to give a large Account of his Repentance upon his Death-bed c. He was a taking popular Preacher preaching oftâ—…n and almost to the last When old he could read the smallest Print without Spectacles Mr. William Cook an aged painful faithful Minister of Jesus Christ in Chester finished his Course with Joy Iuly 4. 1684. in the midst of the cloudy and dark Day See Mr. Baxter's Character of him in his Life Part 3. Pag. 98. And an honourable Account given of him by Mr. Samuel Bold of Steple in Dorsetshire in a large Preface to his Book of Man's great Duty He was eminent for great Industry both in publick and private Work great self-denial mortification and contempt of the World and a strict adherence to his Principles in all the Turns of the Times He was first Minister at Wroxal in Warwick-shire there he published two Treatises against the Anabaptists From thence he was by the Advice of the London Ministers removed to Ashby
in Leicestershire whence he was turn'd out for refusing the Engagement and afteward settled in Chester where he was Minister of Michael Church 'till he was outed by the Act of Uniformity He was an active Man for Sir George Booth when he made that attempt to bring in the King in 1659. for which he was brought up a Prisoner to London and continued long in Confinement in Lambeth-house and had not the Times turned had been tried for his Life During the Usurpation his frequent Prayer was That God would pull down all usurped Power and restore the Banished to their Right After he was silenced by the Bartholomew Act he continued to his Death in a Pastoral Relation to a Society of many worthy eminent Christians in Chester though during the heat of the Five-mile Act he was forced to withdraw to Puddington in Wirral where as in Chester 'till King Charles's Indulgence he constantly attended on the publick Ministry and he himself preached in the Intervals He would say sometimes to his Friends when he was in that Retirement that he thought what little peace and quietness there was in this World God's People enjoyed it in their Corners Soon after he was silenced he was committed to the common Goal of Chester for preaching in his own House by the Mayor at the Instigation of the then Bishop Hall He was very indefatigable in his ministerial Labours in which he never sought the Assistance of any other Minister though while he had liberty he constantly kept a publick Fast in his Congregation every Month as he did also a private Fast in his own Closet and Family every Week He usually set apart one Afternoon every Week to visit the Families of his Congregation and to Catechise their Children and Servants and discourse with them personally about their Souls his Visits were short and edifying and he managed them as one that was a great Husband of his Time and he seldom or never parted without Prayer He was not free to joyn in the Common-Prayer and bore his Testimony against Prelacy and the Ceremonies with something of Zeal but his great Piety Integrity Mortification and Charity recommended him to the Respects even of many that differed from him If any ask'd his Advice to any thing which might draw Suffering upon them he would be very tender and desire them not to depend upon his Judgment but since it was a matter of suffering to be fully perswaded in their own minds He was a great Scholar and a hard Student to the last and was far from entangling himself in the Affairs of this Life not knowing ought he had save the Bread that he did eat In worldly Matters he was not very conversable but in Discourse of the things of God none more free and affable or more ready to do Good He lived and died a great Example of strict and close Walking with God and a heavenly Conversation and his Memory is very precious with many He died in the Seventy Third Year of his Age. When he lay on his Death-bed an aged Friend of his asking him if he had not Comfort in reflection upon his Labours in the Work of God he presently replied I have nothing to boast of He was buried in Michael's Church in Chester and though for some time before he died such was the heat of the Persecution that he durst not shew his Face in the City yet many considerable Persons were very forward to do him Honour at his Death Mr. Ionathan Roberts of Slanvair in Denbighshire my dear and precious Friend and a faithful Minister of Christ died at Mr. Thomas's House in West-Felton and was buried there Sept. 26. 1684. A true Nathanael an Israelite indeed for Plainness and Integrity a silent Sufferer for his Nonconformity for which he quitted a good Living in Denbighshire He was a learned Man a Master of Arts of Oxford he died with comfort in his Nonconformity and with confidence of a return of Mercy in God's due time The Summer before he died he had been at Oxford Cambridge and London where he heard and saw that which much confirmed him in his Dissent Mr. Zechariah Cawdrey Minister of Bartâ—…mley in Cheshire a learned and godly Divine was buried Decemb. 24. 1684. a Conformist and formerly a great Sufferer for the King but in his later Times much maligned and reproached by some People for his moderation towards Dissenters for his Book of Preparation for Martyrdom and for his Zeal in keeping up the Monthly Lectures at Nantwich and Tarvin But he is gone to the World of Peace and Love and everlasting Praiâ—…es Mr. Titus Thomas Minister of the Independent Congregation in Salop was buried at Felton Decemb. 10. 1686. He was a worthy good Man and not so strait laced as some others we were six Nonconformist Ministers there at the Funeral and the seventh dead in the midst of us saying to us Therefore be ye also ready Mr. Iohn Cartwright my worthy Friend and Brother a faithful Minister of Jesus Christ was buried at Audlem in Cheshire Feb. 17. 1687 8. formerly Minister of West-Kirby in Wirral afterwards Chaplain to the pious Lady Wilbraham at Woodley Mr. Edward Greg of Chester a worthy Gentleman and my dear Friend died Iuly 9. 1689. of a Fever in the midst of his Days He was one that feared God above many of a meek and quiet Spirit and eminently active and useful in his Generation The Lord is pulling our Earthen Props from under us that we might lean upon and trust in himself alone and might learn to cease from Man Mr. Daniel Benyon of Ash my dear Friend and Kindsman died Iune 25. 1690. a very serious pious Gentleman and an Israelite indeed a true Lover and ready Benefactor to all good Men especially good Ministers He told me a little before he died God had made use of me though most unworthy as an Instrument of his Conversion for which I bless his Holy Name He had a long and lingering Sickness which he bore with great Patience Mrs. Crew of Utkinton in Cheshire an aged Servant of the Lord was buried Iuly 8. 1690. She kept her Integrity and abounded in Works of Piety and Charity to the last and finished well to God be Praise Mrs. Hunt of Shrewsbury the Relique of Colonel Hunt another rare Pattern of zealous Piety abounding Charity and eminent Usefulness in her place finished hâ—… Course October 23. 1690. after two days Sickness The Reverend and Learned and Holy Mr. Richard Baxter died at London December 8. 1691. aged Seventy Six and one Month as much viliâ—…ed by some and magnified by others as most Men that ever were but it is a small thing to be judged of Man's Day He was Buried at Christ Church London with great Honour Mr. Iohn Wood my good Friend died September 19. 1692. at Mitton in Shropshire aged about Seventy he was sometime Fellow of Magdalen College in Cambridge where he was outed for Nonconformity a learned Man but wanted the Faculty