who had been less guilty were forced to run the Gantlet Twenty more who had no great inclination yet had been seduced to those hellish Enterprises because they were very young were condemned to be lashed with Rods upon their Hands for three Sundays together at the Church-door and the afore-said six and thirty were also doom'd to be lashed this way once a Week for a whole Year together The number of the seduced Children was about three Hundred On the 25th of August Execution was done upon the notoriously Guilty the Day being Bright and Glorious and the Sun shining and some Thousands of People being present at the Spectacle The Order and Method observed in the Examination was thus First The Commissioners and the neighbouring Justices went to Prayer this done the Witches who had most of them Children with them which they either had seduced or attempted to seduce from four Years of Age to sixteen were set before them some of the Children complained lamentably of the Misery and Mischief they were forced sometime to suffer of the Witches The Children being asked whether they were sure they were at any time carried away by the Devil they all declared they were begging of the Commissioners that they might be freed from that intollerable Slavery Hereupon the Witches themselves were asked whether the confessions of these Children were true and admonished to confess the Truth that they might turn away from the Devil unto the Living God At first most of them did very stifly and without shedding the least Tear deny it though much against their Will and Inclination After this the Children were examined every one by themselves to see whether their Confession did agree or no and the Commissioners found that all of them except some very little ones who could not tell all the Circumstances did punctually agree in the Confession of Particulars In the mean while the Commissioners that were of the Clergy examined the Witches but could not bring them to any Confession all continuing stedfast in their denials till at last some of them burst out into Tears and their Confession agreed with what the Children had said And these expressed their abhorrency of the Fact and begged Pardon adding that the Devil whom they called Loeyta had stopp'd the Mouths of some of them and stopp'd the Ears of others and being now gone from them they could no longer conceal it for they now perceived his Treachery Glanvil's Sadduc Triumph p. 579 580 c. I am unwilling to leave this Chapter 'till I have represented the Murderous Nature of Satan and displayed the Devil in his own Colours And this I will endeavour to do in a few Instances which shall be irrefragable beyond all Exceptions and Confutation as I think these before Recorded are enough to make the Atheist bite his Nails and our Witch-Advocates scratch their Heads to find out an Evasion or Scape-hole for themselves to shelter in 7. In 1618. happened a very sad Tragedy in the Family of the Right Honourable the Earl of Rutland whose Children were Bewitched and one Murthered by the Devilish Malice of Joan Flower and her two Daughters Margaret and Philip who dwelt near Belvoir-Castle in Rutland-shire the Residence of that Noble Earl and where they were not only relieved but entertained as Cheerwomen After which Margaret was admitted to live in the Castle as a Servant-maid 'till at length the Countess had Information of some Misdemeanours they were guilty of having Notice that the Mother was a very malicious Woman and much given to Swearing Cursing and Atheistical Imprecations and that of late Days her Countenance was strangely altered her Eyes fiery and hollow her Speech fierce and envious and her whole Demeanour strange and ridiculous being much alone and having divers other Symptoms of a notorious Witch and her Neighbours reported she had Familiar Spirits and terrified 'em all with her Curses and Threats of Revenge upon the least Displeasure was done her She likewise heard That her Daughter Margaret often carried such great Quantities of Provision from the Castle to her Mother as was unfit for a Servant to purloyn and at such unseasonable Hours that it was believed they could never maintain their extraordinary Riot and Expence without robbing their Lady to maintain several debauched Fellows who frequented her Mother's House for the Love of her youngest Daughter Philip who was likewise leudly transported with the Love of one Thomas Symson insomuch as he was heard to say she had Bewitched him for he had no power to leave her though he found himself much altered both in Body and Mind since he kept her Company Such Discourses passed concerning them several Years before they were Apprehended or Convicted of which the Earl and Countess took little Notice by reason of their cunning Observance and modest Carriage toward them At length my Lord had some suspition of the Mother and estranged himself from that Familiarity and Discourse which he used to have with her for one Peak having wronged her she complained to the Earl whom she found unwilling to encourage Clamours and malicious Informations And the Countess discovering some Incivilities in her Daughter's Life and her Neglect of Business discharged her for â—â—ing any more in the Castle yet gave her Forty Shillings a Bolster and a Bed commanding her 〈◊〉 â—ome Upon this the Mother being upbraided by her Neighbours and told that her Daughtâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—urned out of Doors she cursed all that were the Cause of it and studied to Revenge herself upon that Honourable Family The Devil perceiving the malicious Temper of this Wretch and that she and her Daughter were fit Instruments to enlarge his Kingdom offered them his Service and that in such a manner as should no way terrifie them nor could thâ—â— be suspected to be concerned appearing in the shape of a Dog Cat or Rat telling them That if they would make a Contract with him they should have their Will upon their Enemies and do them what Damage they pleased The Thoughts of doing Mischief to their Ill-willers easily induced them all to agree to his damnable Proposals and they consented to be his Body and Soul confirming their Agreement with abominable Kisses and an odious Sacrifice of Blood with certain Charms and Conjurations wherewith the Devil deceived them After this these Three Women became Devils Incarnate and grew proud in the Power they had got to do Mischief by several Spells and Incantations whereby they first killed what Cattel they pleased which so encouraged them that they now threaten the Earl and his Family who soon after fell sick with his Countess and were subject to strange and extraordinary Convulsions which they judging only to proceed from the Hand of God had not the least Jealousie of any evil Practice against them At last as Malice increased in them so the Earl's Family felt the smart of their Revenge for Henry Lord Ross his Eldest Son fell sick of a very unusual Disease and soon after died His
Second Son the Lord Francis was likewise miserably tortured by their wicked Contrivances and his Daughter the Lady Catherine was oft in great danger of her Life by their barbarous Dealings with strange Fits c. The Honourable Parents bore all these Afflictions with Christian Magnanimity little suspecting they proceeded from Witchcraft 'till it pleased God to discover the Villanous Practices of these Women whom the Devil now left to fall into the Hands of Justice for Murdering the Innocent and to remain notorious Examples of God's Judgment to future Ages They were apprehended about Christmas in 1618. and after Examination before divers Justices of Peace who wondred at their audacious Wickedness were all Three ordered to be carried to Lincoln-Jail Joan Flower the Mother it is said called for Bread and Butter by the way and wished it might never go through her if she were guilty of that which was charged upon her and so mumbling it in her Mouth she never spake a word more but fell down and died with horrible Torture both of Soul and Body before she got to the Jail The two Daughters were Examined before Sir William Pelbam and Mr. Butler Justices of Peace Feb. 4. 1618 where Philip the youngest made the following Confession That her Mother and Sister were very malicious against the Earl of Rutland his Countess and their Children because Margaret was turned out of the Lady's Service whereupon her Sister by her Mother's Order brought from the Castle the Right-hand Glove of the Lord Henry Ross who presently rubbed it on the Back of her Spirit called Rutterkin and then put it into boyling Water after which she prickt it very often and then buried it in the Yard wishing the Lord Ross might never thrive And so her Sister Margaret continued with her Mother and she often saw her Imp Rutterkin leap on her Shoulder and suck her Neck She confest also That she often heard her Mother curse the Earl and his Lady and would thereupon boyl Blood and Feathers together using many Devilish Speeches and strange Gestures She likewise acknowledg'd That she herself had a Spirit sucking her Left-breast in the form of a White Rat which it had done for three or four Years past and that when it came first to her she gave her Soul to it who promised to do her good and to force Tho. Symson to love her if she would suffer it to suck her which she agreed to and that it had suckt her two Nights before Margaret her Sister being Examined agreed in the Confession that Philip had made of their Malice to the Earl and about the young Lord's Glove which for other Circumstances for brevity's sake I here omit 12. About the same time Joan Wilmot of Goadby a Witch was Examined by Sir Henry Hastings and Dr. Fleming Justices in Leicester-shire about the Murther of Henry Lord Ross who declared That Joan Flower told her the Earl of Rutland had dealt badly by her and had put away her Daughter and though she could not have her Will of my Lord himself yet she had sped my Lord's Son and had stricken him to the Heart c. 13. Another Witch called Ellen Green of Stathorn in Leicester-shire was Examined about that time by the same Justices who confessed That Joan Wilmot above-named came to her about six Years since and perswaded her to forsake God and betake herself to the Devil to which she consented who then called two Spirits one like a young Cat which she named Puss and the other in the shape of a Mole which she called Hiff Hiff who instantly came and Wilmot going away left them with her after which they leapt on her Shoulder the Kitling sucking her Neck under her Right-ear and the Mole under her Left in the same place after which she sent the Kitling to a Baker in the Town who had called her Witch and struck her bidding it go and Bewitch him to Death And the Mole she sent to Anne Daws of the same Town upon the same Errand because she had called her Witch Whore and Jade and within a Fortnight after they both died After which she sent them to destroy two Husbandmen named Willison and Williman who died both in ten Days these four she murâ—hered while she dwelt at Waltham When she removed to Stathorn where she now dwelt upon a Difference between her and one Patchet's Wife a Yeoman there Joan Wilmot called her to go and touch Patchet's Wife and Child which she did touching the Woman in Bed and the Child in the Midwife's Arms and then sent her Spirits to Bewitch them to Death the Woman languished a Month before she died but the Child lived only 'till next Day after she had touched it adding that Joan Wilmot had a Spirit sucking on her like a little White Dog which she saw and that she gave her Soul to the Devil to have these Spirits at Command for any mischievous purpose and suffered them to suck her constantly about the Change and Full-Moon 14. One Anne Baker a Witch was likewise Apprehâ—â—◠〈◊〉 and Examined about the same time who confessed before Sir George Mannors and Dr. Fleming 〈◊〉 of Peace That she had a Spirit like a White Dog which she called a good Spirit and that one Peak and one Dennis's Wife of Belvoir told her That the young Lord Henry was dead and that his Glove was buried in the Ground which as it wasted and rotted in like manner did the Lord's Liver rot and waste likewise 15. Margaret and Philip Flower were arraigned at the Assizes at Lincoln before Sir Henry Hobart and Sir Edward Bromley Judges whereupon their confessing themselves Actors in the Destruction of Henry Lord Ross with other damnable Practices they were Condemned and Executed at Lincoln March 11. And the rest questionless suffered according to their Deserts History of Daemons p. 140 141 c. Discov of Witchcraft c. 16. Anno Dom. 1645. There was a notable Discovery of several Witches in Essex and among others one Elizabeth Clark was accused of this horrid Crime and Informations taken against her before Sir Harbottle Grimstone and Sir Thomas Bowes Justices of Peace for that Country John Rivet of Mannintree deposed That about Christmass his Wife was taken sick and lame with such violent Fits that he verily believed her Distemper was more than natural who thereupon went to one Hovey at Hadly in Suffolk who was reckoned a cunning Woman she told him That his Wife was Cursed or Bewitcht by two Women who were her near Neighbours and that she believed she was Bewitcht by Elizabeth Clark alias Bedingfield who lived near their House and that her Mother and some of her Kindred had formerly suffered as Witches and Murtherers At the same time Matthew Hopkins of Mannintree declared upon Oath That this suspected Witch being ordered by the Justices to be watched several Nights for Discovering her wicked Practices he coming into the Room where she was with one Mr. Sterne intending not to
from Thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practise this my Resolution through Thy Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this World rather than to turn from Thee to the Ways of Sin and that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from Thee beseeching Thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose wicked Suggestions I resolve by thy Grace never to yield myself a Servant And because my own Righteousness is but menstruous Rags I renounce all Confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone Creature without Righteousness or Strength And for as much as Thou hast of Thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched Sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of Thee I call Heaven and Earth to Record this Day that I do here solemnly avouch Thee for the Lord my God and with all possible Veneration bowing the Neck of my Soul under the Feet of Thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take Thee the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and Chief Good and do give up myself Body and Soul for Thy Servant promising and vowing to serve Thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of my Life And since Thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only Means of coming unto Thee I do here upon the bended Knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living Way by which Sinners may have Access to Thee and do here solemnly joyn myself in a Marriage-Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to Thee hungry and hardy bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsome polluted Wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the Feet of the Servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glory but sith such is thine unparallell'd Love I do here with all my Power accept Thee and do take thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all Times and Conditions to love and honour and obey Thee before all others and this to the Death I embrace Thee in all Thine Offices I renounce my own Worthiness and do here avow Thee for the Lord my Righteousness I renounce mine own Wisdom and do here take Thee for my only Guide I renounce my own Will and take Thy Will for my Law And since Thou hast told me that I must Suffer if I will Reign I do here Covenant with Thee to take my Lot as it falls with Thee and by Thy Grace assisting to run all Hazards with Thee verily purposing that neither Life nor Death shall part between Thee and Me. And because Thou hast been pleased to give me Thy Holy Laws as the Rule of my Life and the Way in which I should walk to Thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under Thy Yoke and set my Shoulder to Thy Burden and subscribing to all Thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the Rule of my Words Thoughts and Actions promising that tho' my Flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole Life according to thy Direction and will not allow myself in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my Duty Only because through the frailty of my Flesh I am subject to many Failings I am bold humbly to protest that unallowed Miscarriages contrary to the settled Bent and Resolution of my Heart shall not make void this Covenant for so Thou hast said Now Almighty GOD. Searcher of all Hearts Thou knowest that I make this Covenant with Thee this Day without any known Guile or Reservation beseeching Thee that if Thou espiest any Flaw or Falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now Glory be to Thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this Day forward to look upon as my God and Father that ever thou shouldst find out such a way for the Recovery of undone Sinners Glory be to Thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my Sins in thy own Blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to Thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the Finger of Thine Almighty Power hast turned about my Heart from Sin to God O dreadful Jehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost Thou art now become my Covenant-Friend and I through Thine Infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-Servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on Earth let it be ratified in Heaven HENRY GEARING April 11. 1667. 16. For the Christians better Help for the keeping of this Covenant Mr. Allen in his Allarm to the Vnconverted gives this Advice about it This Covenant says he I advise you to make not only in Heart but in Word not only in Word but in Writing and that you wou'd with all possible Reverence spread the Writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed and when you have done this set your Hand to it keep it as a Memorial of the solemn Transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have Recourse to it in Doubts and Temptations Mr. Corbet in his Enquiry into the State of his Soul has these Expressions I do not cease says he to lament the more heinous Sins of my Life and cannot forbear the continual imploring of the Pardon of them I do not return again to them and I resolve never so to do I Watch and Pray and strive against all Sin but especially against those Sins to which I am more especially inclined my Conflicts are daily and am put hard to it But I do not yield up my self to any Sin nor lie down in it yea I do not suffer sinful Cogitations to lodge in me I find upon the review of my Life past according to the clearest Judgment that I can make that I have not gone backward but proceeded forward in the ways of Godliness I have been grieved that I am no more elevated in the hope of Heaven and that I cannot attain to a longing desire to be gone hence and to be there with Christ I think with my self sometimes were my Evidences clear for Heaven I would exult to be gone hence this very Hour but I find not this readiness at all times O Lord forgive my ten Thousand Talents I come to Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction and lay this heavy Reckoning to his Account Lord forgive my Iniquity for it is exceeding great I have done what in me lies to call to remembrance all my remarkable Sins from my Childhood and Youth till now And as far as I can judge I have repented of them both generally and particularly And I now repent of them all from
times sooner than Old Jude will forgive us once But Sam was of another Mind goes to Jude's House confesseth the Injury offers the Money Jude Pardons him but would take no Money This grieved him more upon which he goes to his Spiritual Father Mr. Ward opens to him the whole state of his Soul who in great tenderness poured Wine and Oyl into his Wounds See his Life See the Story of the Fire at Brightling in the last Chapter as also of the Staffordshire man that stole a Bible in the Chapter of Cursing c. 6. Rich. Rogers of Middle near Salop had a Bible stollen out of his Seat in the Church and a while after his Daughter one Morning found another thrown by the House Door which he made publick Proclamation of at Church and no body own'd or claim'd it From his own Mouth 7. Mr. Mackerness in the Narrative which himself hath publish'd of his own Life confesseth his stealing a Duck near Oxford and eating it and with great trouble of Spirit professeth himself willing to make four-fold Restitution if he knew to whom CHAP. CXVI Divine Judgments upon Sacrilege Simony SAcrilege is the Diversion of Holy and Ecclesiastick things to Profane and Secular use As Simeon and Levi so Theft and Sacrilege be evil Brethren saith Sir H. Spelman Theft robs our Neighbour Sacrilege God God himself hath told us That Lands and Houses may be sanctified to the Lord but things devoted are most Holy to the Lord Lev. 27.28 and not redeemable And the Charters of our Foundations of Monasteries and Abbies were generally in these words Concessi Deo Ecclesiae Offero Deo confirmavi Deo Ecclesiae c. Cook Magn. Chart. fol. 2.1.6 c. Simony is the Purchasing of what is Sacred and Spiritual with things of Secular Nature and Consideration Both which sins God hath appeared plainly against as may be made appear to any one that is acquainted with the History of the Church Uzzah died because be did but touch the Ark to save it He that prosaned the Sabbath was stoned Corah and his Company who medled with the things of the Priesthood wire swallowed up quick Ananias died Simon Magus was accursed 1. When Heliodorus was present in the Temple with his Soldiers ready to seize upon the Treasury by the Prayers of the People of Jerusalem the Lord of all Spirits and power shewed so great a Vision that he fell suddenly into an extream fear and trembling For there appeared unto him an Horse with a terrible Man sitting upon him most richly trapped which came fiercely and smote at him with his fore-feet Moreover there appeared two Young Men notable in Strength excellent in Beauty and comely in Apparel which stood by him on either side and scourged him with many stripes so that Heliodorus that came in with so great a company of Soldiers and Attendants was stricken dumb and carried out in a Litter upon means shoulders for his strength was so abated that he could not help himself but lay destitute of all hopes of Recovery so heavy was the Hand of God upon him until by the Prayers of Onias the High-Priest he was restored then he confessed that he which dwelt in Heaven had his Eyes on that Place and defended it from all those that came to hurt and spoil it Josephus 2. Sir Henry Spelman instanceth in these Examples following 1. William the Conqueror fires St. Peter's Church in York rifles the Monasteries destroyed Thirty Six Mother-Churches in Hampshire to make his New-Forest takes all their Plate Treasure Chalices c. Afterwards Robert his own Son rebels beats his Father and wounds both his Person and Honour Richard his beloved Son is killed in his Father's New-Forest by the goring of a Stag as Speed saith by ill Air as Cambden After which he burns the City of Manuts and Church of St. Mary's with two Anchorites upon which his Horse gives him a fall breaks his Belly his Body is forsaken by his Nobles and Servants but by the Courtesie of a Country Gentleman brought after three days to Caen in Normandy but there a Fire happening an Interruption is made again and afterwards Burial denyed by one that claimed the Ground At last a Composition being made he is Interred but the Town being afterwards taken by an Enemy his Bones are digged up and scattered as Chaff before the Wind. 2. His Son Henry Hunting in the New-Forest is Struck through the Jaws with the bough of a Tree 3. His Grandchild William second Son to Robert Eârl of Flanders in a War against his Uncle Henry the First received a small Wound in his Hand and died of it 4. Robert of Normandy the Conqueror's Eldest Son is disinherited by his Father imprison'd by his Brother Henry the First for 26 Years hath both his Eyes put out and is starved in Cardaff Gaol 5. William Rufus stores his Treasury by the Sale of Chalices and Church-Jewels and is afterwards killed by Sir Walter Tyrrel shooting at a Deer in New-Forest in the same place where a Church stood His Funeral was interrupted as his Fathers his Corpse brought by a â—iâ—â—y lean Beast to Winchester the Cart breaks by the way he is buried unlamented and his Bones after taken up and laid in a Coffin with Canutus his Bones c. 6. Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury 11th kennell'd his Dogs in the Church of S. Frydame where in the Morning they were found mad and himself afterwards fighting with the Enemy was shot dead in the Eye 7. King John rifled the Abbeys of Peterborough and Croyland and carrying his Sacrilegious Wealth to Lincoln the Earth swallows up Carts Carriages Horses and all his Church-Spoil and all the Church-spoilers the King passing the Washes in another place receives the News together with his own Sickness whereof he died 8. William Marshal Earl of Pembroke in the Irish War takes from the Bishop of Furnes two Mannors belonging to his Church is Excommunicated dies and is buried in the Temple-Church at London The Bishop sues to the King to return the Lands the King requires the Bishop to Absolve the Earl Both King and Bishop go to the Earl's Grave the Bishop is obstinate the Earl's Son is obstinate too the Bishop tells the King Sir what I have said stands immutable the Punishment of Malefactors is from the Lord and the Curse written in the Psalms will fall heavy upon Earl William in the next Generation shall his Name be forgot and his Sons shall not share the Blessing of Increase and Multiply and some of them shall die miserable Deaths and the Inheritance of all be dispersed and scattered and all this my Lord O King you shall see even in your Days With what Spirit soever the Bishop spake it in the space of Twenty Five Years all the Earl's five Sons inherited successively all die Childless particularly one in Prison and another by a fall from his Horse 9. Cardinal Woolsey while free from Sacrilege was the Catalogue of Humane
best kill me too The Son replyed No Sir I have done enough I am sure it was too much The Father Sir George upon this said Why then you must look to be hang'd Which Doom was accordingly pass'd upon him at the next Assizes held at Maidstone Anno 1655. See the Narrative of his Life and Death by R. Boreman 2. Anno Christi 1641. There was in Juchi near Cambray an unnatural Son that in a fury threw his Mother out of Doors thrice in one Day telling her That he had rather see his House on fire and burned to Ashes than that she should remain in it one Day longer And accordingly the very same Day his House was fired and wholly burned down with all that was in it none knowing how or by what means the Fire came Enguer de Monast v. 2. 3. Manlius relateth a Story of an old Man crooked with Age and almost pined with Hunger who having a Rich and Wealthy Son went to him only for some Food for his Belly and Cloaths for his Back But this proud young Man thinking that it would be a Dishonour to him to be born of such Parents drove him away denying not only to give him sustenance but disclaiming him from being his Father giving him bitter and reproachful Speeches which made the poor old Man to go away with an heavy Heart and Tears flowing from his Eyes Which the Lord beholding struck his unnatural Son with Madness of which he could never be cured till his Death 4. The same Author relates another Story of another Man that kept his Father in his old Age but used him very churlishly as if he had been his Slave thinking every thing too good for him and on a time coming in found a good Dish set on the Table for his Father which he took away and set courser Meat in the room But a while after sending his Servant to fetch out that Dish for himself he found the Meat turned into Snakes and the Sauce into Serpents one of which leaping up caught this unnatural Son by the Lip from which it could never be pulled to his Dying-day so that he could never feed himself but he must feed the Serpent also 5. Adolf Son of Arnold Duke of Guelders repining at his Father's long Life one Night as he was going to Bed came upon him suddenly and took him Prisoner and bare-legged as he was made him go on foot in a cold Season five German Leagues and then shut him up a close Prisoner for six Months in a dark Dungeon But the Lord suffered not such Disobedience to go unpunished For shortly after the Son was apprehended and long imprisoned and after his Release was slain in a Fight against the French History of the Netherlands 6. Henry Jones of Monmouth in Wales for an unnatural Murder of his Mother a Widow Mrs. Grace Jones out of a greedy desire to enjoy her Estate was at the Assizes held at Monmouth condemn'd to be pressed to Death his Sister to be burnt as consenting with him and his Boy hanged A. C. 1671. See the Narrative 7. A Malster near Cocks-Hill in Essex having made over all his Estate to his Son was afterwards turn'd out of Doors without so much as a Bed to lie on But the Son soon after slighted by his Sweet-heart hang'd himself 1674. Sir P. Pett being on January the 24th 1695. in the Company of the Honourable Sir Edward Lutwyche who was formerly Recorder of Chester and afterward one of the Judges of the Court of Common-Pleas he related to him That while he was Recorder of Chester a Father there who had two Sons demising some Land to his elder Son by his Will and ordering in his Will That for want of Heirs to the elder Son the Land should come to the younger Son and further enjoyning it to the elder Son in the Will that he should not cut off the Entail it so happen'd that notwithstanding the Father's Injunction the elder Brother did in process of time cut off the Entail And the younger Brother fearing that the elder would so do while they both walked amicably together in a Field in Cheshire the younger Brother using several Expostulations with the elder did entreat him that he would observe the Injunction laid upon him in his deceas'd Father's Will and not cut off the Entail Whereupon the elder Brother thus replied to him Brother if ever I do it may that Bull or some other gore me to Death pointing to a Bull then grazing in the Field Yet this notwithstanding the elder Brother shortly after did cut off the Entail and afterwards walking in the same Field was there by a Bull gored to Death This Remarkable Providence as Sir Edward averrs happen'd within these Twenty Years This Account was sent me by Sir Peter Pett now living in London CHAP. CXXI Divine Judgments upon Careless Parents IT is a strange thing to me that Parents should look upon themselves as bound in Conscience to provide an Estate and temporal Livelihood for their Children and yet at Liberty in respect of their Good Manners and future Happiness as if they were obliged to do no more for them than for their Dogs and Horses Socrates might well stand and wonder to see Men take such pains to cut and carve Stones in the Likeness of Men and let their Children go rude and unpolish'd out of their Hands in the Likeness of Bruits Old Eli tho' a good Man yet because he was too soft a Parent destroyed his Sons and broke his own Neck 1. Sir George Sondes mentioned in the fore-going Chapter is strongly suspected for his too much Indulgence to his Son Freeman that committed that foul Murder as may be collected from Sir George's Answer in print upon occasion of a Charge made against him by some neighbouring Ministers See his own Words p. 15. Now saith he for the Education of my Children having buried many other and having now only two Sons remaining I confess I was more fond and indulgent and gave more way to them than otherwise I should have done And presently after speaking of them both he saith To that foolish Sports of Cocking they were addicted but the youngest most as also to Carding and he would play somewhat deep at those Games I often child him but could never break him of it He was in his Behaviour pleasing and courteous to none but cross-grain'd to all and as much to his Father as to any which I hoped that Years and Discretion might have made him leave in time Afterwards speaking concerning the Allowance which he made them he saith I ever gave them Money not only when but commonly before they asked and more than they desired Afterwards concerning his Son 's undutiful Carriage in his Letter to him in the Prison he writes thus Your Stubbornness appeared in the least trivial Things as in riding abroad to my Park and Town things you liked in themselves yet because I desired it of you you refused it saying
how Happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosen sake send me Life and Death I suspect some Mistake in recording these last Words perhaps Life or Death that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God! bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and thy People may praise thy Holy Name for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake His last Words were I am faint Lord have mercy and take my Spirit He died aged 17. 108. The Lady Jane Grey by King Edward's Will proclaimed Queen of England the Night before she was beheaded sent her Sister her Greek Testament in the end whereof she wrote as may be seen under the Head of Love of the Holy Scriptures She spoke on the Scaffold thus GOod People I am come hither to Die and by a Law I am condemned to the same My Offence against the Queen's Majesty was only in consenting to the Device of others which now is deemed Treason yet it was never of my seeking but by Counsel of those who should seem to have further understanding of those things than I who knew little of the Law and much less of Titles to the Crown But touching the Procurement thereof by me or on my behalf I do here wash my Hands in Innocency before God and the Face of you all this Day and therewith she wrung her Hands wherein she had her Book I pray you all good Christian People to bear me Witness that I die a true Christian Woman and that I look to be saved by no other means but only by the Mercy of God in the Blood of his only Son Jesus Christ And I do confess That when I knew the Word of God I neglected the same and loved my self and the World and therefore this Plague and Punishment is justly befallen me for my Sins And I yet thank God of his Goodness that he hath been pleased to give me Respite to Repent in And now good People while I am alive I pray assist me with your Prayers She died 1554. aged 16. Tu quibus ista legas incertum est Lector ocellis Ipsa equidem siccis scribere non potui Fox 's Martyrol 109. Queen Elizabeth is reported upon her Death-bed but by what Author I confess I do not presently remember to complain of the want of Time Time Time a World of Wealth for an Inch of Time yet finished her Course with that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good Fight c. 110. The young Lord Harrington professed in his Sickness That he feared not Death in what shape soever it came declaring about two Hours before his Death that he still felt the assured Comforts and Joys of his Salvation by Jesus Christ And when Death approached he breathed forth these longing Expressions Oh that Joy Oh my God! when shall I be with thee And so sweetly resigned up his Spirit unto God An. 1613. aged 22. See in his Life in the Young Man's Calling and my Christian 's Companion 111. Henry Prince of Wales eldest Son to King James in his Sickness had these Words to one that waited on him Ah Tom I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain Recreations Which puts me in mind of what Mr. Smith relates in the Funeral Solemnity of Mr. Moor Fellow of Gaius College and Keeper of the University Library viz. That he often lamented the Misery of our English Gentry who are commonly brought up to nothing but Hawks and Hounds and know not how to bestow their Time in a Rainy Day and in the midst of all their Plenty are in want of Friends necessary Reproof and most loving Admonition 112. The Earl of Strafford made this Speech on the Scaffold May 12. 1641. MY Lord Primate of Ireland and my Lords and the rest of the Gentlemen it is a very great Comfort to me to have your Lordship by me this Day in regard I have been known to you a long time I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few Words but I doubt I shall not My Lord I come hither by the Good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to Sin which is Death and by the Blessing of God to rise again through the Merits of Christ Jesus to Eternal Glory I wish I had been private that I might have been heard My Lord if I might be so much beholden to you that I might use a few Words I should take it for a very great Courtesie My Lord I come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented Mind I do freely forgive all the World a Forgiveness that is not spoken from the Teeth outward as they say but from the Heart I speak it in the Presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not in me so much as a displeasing Thought to any Creature I thank God I may say truly and my Conscience bears me witness that in all my Service since I have had the Honour to serve His Majesty in any Employment I never had any thing in my Heart but the joynt and individual Prosperity of the King and People If it hath been my Hap to be misconstrued it is the common Portion of us all while we are in this Life the Righteous Judgment is hereafter here we are subject to Error and apt to be misjudged one of another There is one thing I desire to clear my self of and I am very confident I speak it with so much clearness that I hope I shall have your Christian Charity in the belief of it I did always ever think the Parliaments of England were the happiest Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and under God the happiest Means of making King and People happy so far have I been from being against Parliaments For my Death I here acquit all the World and pray God heartily to forgive them and in particular my Lord Primate I am very glad that His Majesty is pleased to conceive me not meriting so severe and heavy a Punishment as the utmost execution of this Sentence I am very glad and infinitely rejoyce in this Mercy of his and beseech God to turn it to him that he may find Mercy when he hath most need of it I wish this Kingdom all the Prosperity and Happiness in the World I did it living and now dying it is my Wish I do now profess it from my Heart and do most humbly recommend it to every Mâ—n here and wish every Man to lay his Hand upon his Heart and consider seriously whether the beginning of the Happiness of a People should be written in Letters of Blood I fear you are in a wrong way and I desire Almighty God that no one drop of my Blood may
upon his Head and a Charter in his Hand They are stiled by the King Consanguinii nostri our Cousins and may use the Stile of Nos but so may Viscounts too All Earls are Local except the Earl-Marshal of England who is also Officiary and the Earl Rivers who is denominated not from the Place but Family 4. Viscounts are so made by Patent 5. Barons so called from Baron or Varon Vir in Spanish are made by Writ and called thereby to sit in the Higher House of Parliament but most usually by Patent The Earls Palatines and Earls Marches of England had anciently their Barons under them and in Cheshire there are still such Barons But these not holding immediately from the King as the Bishop of Man under the Earl of Darby are no Peers The Head of the Barony is some Castle or chief Seat of the Noble Man which is not to be divided amongst Daughters if there be no Son but must defcend to the eldest Daughter All the Lords of England are Feudatories to the King swearing Fealty and doing Homage to him Their several Titles are thus A Duke hath the Title of Grace and may be stiled Most High Potent and Noble Prince a Marquess Most Potent and Noble Lord But so may Earls and Viscounts also A Baron Right Noble Lord. Their Coronets differ thus A Baron hath six Pearls upon the Circle A Viscount hath the Circle of Pearls without number An Earl's Contronet hath the Pearls raised upon Points and Leaves low between The Marquess a Pearl and a Strawberry-leaf round of equal height And a Duke's Coronet only Leaves without Pearls Note That the Dukes of the Blood-Royal bear a Coronet of Crosses and Flower-de-luce which is the same with that of the Prince of Wales and his is the same with the Kings the Arches Globe and Cross on the top of the King's Crown Their Parliamentary Robes are thus distinguished A Baron hath but two Guards on him Mantlet or short Cloak a Viscount two and a half an Earl three a Marquess three and a half and a Duke four Also the Mantle of a Duke Marquess and Earl is faced with Ermin that of a Viscount and Baron with plain white Fur. Their Marks of State are thus A Duke may have in all places out of the King's Presence a Cloth of Estate hanging down within half a Yard of the Ground so may his Dutchess and her Train born up by a Baroness and no Earl to wash with a Duke without the Duke's Pleasure A Marquess may have a Cloth of Estate reaching within a Yard of the Ground and that in all Places out of the Presence or the King or a Duke and his Marchioness to have her Train borne by a Knight's Wife and no Viscount to wash with a Marquess but at his Pleasure An Earl also may have a Cloth of Estate without Pendants but only Fring and a Countess may have her Train borne up by a Gentlewoman out of the Presence of her Superiors and in her Presence by a Gentleman A Viscount may have a Cover of Assay holden under his Cup while he drinks but no Assay taken as Dukes Marquesses and Earls may have and have a Travers in his own House and a Viscountess may have her Gown borne up by a Woman out of the Presence of her Superiours and in their Presence by a man A Baron may have the Cover of his Cup holden underneath whilst he drinketh and a Baroness may have her Gown borne up by a Man in the Presence of a Viscountess All Dukes eldest Sons are born as Marquesses and the younger as Lords with the addition of their Names as Lord Thomas Lord John c. A Marquess's eldest Son is called Lord of a Place and the younger Sons as Lord Thomas Lord John c. And Earl's eldest Son is born as a Viscount and shall go as a Viscount and shall have as many Powderings as a Viscount so their younger Sons are said to be born as Barons but shall go after all Barons and before all Baronets An Earl's eldest Son is called Lord of a place and all his Daughters Ladies but his youngest Sons are not Lords A Viscount's eldest Son is no Lord nor his Daughters Ladies and therefore the eldest Sons and the eldest Daughter of the first Viscount of England is said to be the first Gentleman and Gentlewoman without Title in England yet a Viscount's eldest Son is said to be born a Baron 6. The next Degree to Barons are Baronets which is the lowest Degree of Hoour that is Hereditary An Honour first instituted by King James An. 16 11. given by Patent to a Man and his Heir Males of his Body lawfully begotten for which each one is obliged to pay in the Exchecquer so much oney as will for three Years at Eight Pence per Diem pay 30 Foot Soldiers to serve in the Province of Vlster in Ireland which Sum amounts to 1095 l. which with Fees doth commonly arise tp 1200 l. Baronets have Precedence before all Knights except Knights of the Garter Knights who are Privy-Counsellors and Knights Banorets made under the King's Banner or Standard displayed in an Army Royal in open War and the King personally present or the Prince of Wales Baronets have the Priviledge to bear a Canton of their Coat of Arms or in a whole Scutcheon the Arms of Vlster viz. In a Field Argent a Hand Gules Also in the King's Armies to have place in the Gross near the King's Standard with some other particular for their Funerals The whole Number of Baronets are not to exceed 200 at one and the same time after which Number compleated as any one for want of Heirs come to be extinct the Number shall not be made up by new Creations but be suffered to diminish as appears by their Patent No Honour is ever to be created between Baronets and Barons The word Knight is derived from the German word Knecht signifying Originally a lusty Servitor The Germans by publick Authority bestowed on their young Men able to manage Arms a Shield and a Javelin as fit for Martial Service and to be a Member of the Commonwealth accounted befoe but a part of a Family and such a young Man publickly allow'd they call'd Knetcht from whence we had our Institution of Knighthood The thing Knight is at this Day signified in Latin French Spanish Italian and also in High and Low-Dutch Tongues by a word that properly signifies an Horseman because they were wont to serve in War on Horseback and were sometimes in England called Radenhyts id est Riding Soldiers the Latine Milites according to the common Law 1. Knights of the Garter so call'd because the Garter is an Emblem of Concord or Combination to prevent all Sinister Interpretation whereof the King commanded that Motto or Impress to be wrought on the Garter Honi Scit qui Maly Pence This Honourable Company was anciently a College or Corporation of 25 Companions called Knights of the Garter 14 secular
A COMPLEAT HISTORY Of the MOST Remarkable Providences BOTH OF Judgment and Mercy Which have Hapned in this PRESENT AGE EXTRACTED From the Best WRITERS the AUTHOR' 's own OBSERVATIONS and the Numerous RELATIONS sent him from divers Parts of the Three KINGDOMS To which is Added Whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature and Art THE Whole Digested into One VOLUME under Proper Heads being a Work set on Foot Thirty Years ago by the Reverend Mr. POOL Author of the SYNOPSIS CRITICORUM And since Undertaken and Finish'd By WILLIAM TVRNER M. A. Vicar of WALBERTON in SUSSEX Recommended as useful to Ministers in Furnishing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation and to Private Christians for their Closets and Families One Generation shall praise thy Works to another and shall declare thy mighty Acts. Psal 145.4 LONDON Printed for Iohn Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-Street MDCXCVII TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN Lord Bishop of Chichester My LORD THE Dedication of Books to some Worthy Persons seems to be very natural For tho' Men of Great Abilities and Fame may appear in the World without any such Patrons to make Way for their Admittance yet we that are in a Lower Sphere stand in need of a Person of Figure and Value to give some Countenance to such Undertakings 'T is to you My Lord I therefore make my Application whose Genius according to what I have heard and from that short Conversation I have had with you I judge suitable to the Toyl and Greatness of that Province you are called to Preside over This is a Work I acknowledge if faithfully Discharged may perhaps offend and exasperate some and if not impartially Executed the God of Heaven will be Displeased and your own Conscience be Disobliged But I come not here so much to be your Monitor as with this small Present a Token of my Spiritual Fealty to bid your Lordship Welcome into our Diocess Where I pray you may do much Good and enjoy many Good Days and at last in God's good time may be removed to a better place I am My LORD Your most Humble Obedient and Faithful Son WILLIAM TURNER TO THE Courteous Reader THE Work I have undertaken is so difficult and obnoxious to Doubt and Error so slippery and obscure that it must be confest by any Man of a solid Judgment that I have been bold to make an Adventure upon such a Subject But the Genius of it being so generally acknowledg'd it will admit of much Candour and Alleviation from all Men of an honest Principle and sober Understanding 'T is true I have scaled the Mountains and scrabbled above the Clouds and open'd a little the Curtains that hid and separated the Secrets of Heaven from Common View and sometimes likewise have dived into the profoundest Secrets and Depths of Nature and at a distance look'd into the Divine Councels and made Enquiry into the Affairs of the other World but with so much Modesty and so little Pragmaticalness that it will not be easie for any but a man of a contentious Spirit to find out Matter to accuse me of If there be any that will take upon him to be my Adversary I challenge him to outvy me and if he can as I question not but he may find out new Matter and a better Method I shall thank and commend him for his Industry But if Men can only pick out a single Paragraph or particular Circumstance and nibble at it with their Teeth and bawl loud with their Tongues and proceed no further 't is a poor Game for a Man of good Sence to play at But I hope this Book will not meet with any Reader of this Tribe But if it do I desire and entreat him to go on with my Observations to the end and put all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and strange Appearances of Providence Nature and Art into one Text and meditate seriously upon them and try to solve all the Difficulties of them and give us one more System of Philosophy that may give a full Satisfaction to Humane Reason in these Things to the World's end What I have done was undertaken with a Probity of Intention and managed with such a Competency or Portion and Pittance of Reason and Prudence as I was endowed with And no Man is answerable for more than he hath receiv'd I have been true and just to all Parties Jews and Gentiles and the Church of God to Protestants Papists Dissenters of all sorts so far as I know never daring wittingly and willingly to tell a Lye in the Cause of God or for Gods ◠Glory And no Body can in Justice tax me for Partiality in that Point for the Discourse must always suit with the Text and a History of Providence must be as extensive as the Subject itself And it is plain that the Divine Care and Government is spread over the whole Creation God commands his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall upon just and unjust and therefore I resolved at the first Enterprize of this Work Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agentur I 'll make no difference but speak Truth of all Men that the Sun shines upon and the Divine Providence is concern'd with Let those little Narrow-Soul'd Christians that appropriate their Faith and Charity to a Canton live in a little Corner of the World by themselves they are hardly worthy to enjoy the Benefit and Influence of an Universal Sun and Gospel and Government For my part I have long ago challeng'd the Epithet of Catholic so far as 't is lawful and commendable But else I protest against a real Heretic or Schismatic as unworthy of Catholic Favour and Communion As to the Work itself 't is of no dishonourable Original all the Historians that ever writ almost have given a Touch upon it both Ethnic and Christian many Christians have made Essays upon it but none more particularly that I know of than Mexico Camerarius Pontanus Delrio Dr. Beard Dr. Tho. Tailour Mr. Clark Mr. Mather c. And of late in our own Church and Nation Dr. More Mr. Glanvile and Mr. Baxter c. I have tried what I could to comprize the Substance of all in a little room and given my Reader the Extract of my Collections here in one Volume and to them have added my own Observations and other Relations never before in Print For which I stand Indebted and Obliged to several Friends and some worthy Personages who have given in their fresh Informations and Encouragements to this Undertaking from divers Parts of the Three Kingdoms A Work of this Nature was set on Foot about Thirty Years ago by Mr. Pool Author of the Synopsis Criticorum but or what Reason I know not it was laid aside and nothing has since appeared on that Subject but a small Essay written by Mr. Increase Mather Rector of Harvard Colledge in New-England to invite some others to go on with the Work and finding that 't was not attempted by
here neither the Ancient Fathers of the Church have started the Notion before me Dr. Day in his Lectures cites Justin Martyr Tertullian Cyprian and Lactantius making use of this Comparison I humbly acknowledge this Article of our faith is without a bottom past Human Fathom 'T is storied of St. Augustin that he endeavoured to sound it He walk'd abroad to that purpose at last came to a River-side musign with himself and labouring to conceive it At length not far off a little Child appeared unto him very busie on the Bank He had made forsooth a little Hole and with a Spoon which he had in his Hand was lading of the Water into the aforesaid little Hole St. Augustin draws nearer to him demands of the Child what he was a doing Father quoth he my purpose is to unlade this whole River into this little hole you here see Augustin That 's impossible c. Child No more will you be ever able to bring to pass that which you are about And with that the Child vanished I relate not the Story for a certain Truth The Thing itself in absolute Consideration is true viz. That 't is as impossible for us to conceive the Blessed Trinity as with a little Spoon to unlade a great River into a little Hole The present Emblem may serve a little to take off our Suspicions of the Impossibility and Absurdity of the Trinity of Persons in One God It is not sufficient to Expound the Thing itelf all the Three Persons are represented under this Notion FATHER The Lord is a Sun Isa 60.19 SON Mal. 4 2. And Vide Margent Luke 1.78 And Mat. 17.2 Rev. 1.16 HOLY GHOST He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Lead you into the Way of all Truth Multa sunt quae dici possunt sed sufficiat fidelibus pauca de Mysterio Trinitatis audivisse Aug. In die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi Naturam Creatoris mei si autem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenas luit ignorantia veniam promeretur Id. 3. Of the Divine Glory and Vnsearchableness He that goes about to stare long upon the Sun or approach its Light and dive deep into the Nature of it may as Democritus stare himself blind before he can make any near approaches to it 'T is not easie to bear the Influence of the Sun for one whole Day suppose we could possibly be so long under the immediate and direct Emission of its glorious Beams tho' upon the Earth It will burn combustible Stuff at the distance of 1000000 Miles should it stand still and neither remove away nor be tempered with other cooling Elements Consider this a little seriously and apply it The Glory of God is such an amazing Wonder that as the Father saith In hac mortali vita quicquid ad nos usque pertingit aliud nihil est quam exiguus quidam rivulus ac velut parvus magnae Lucis Rivulus Naz. vide Act. 26.13 1 Tim. 6.16 So that when we go about to search into the Divine Nature we must stand off and know our distance and assume modestly to our Thoughts and acknowledge the Depth of the Mystery and cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 c. O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out For who hath known the ind of the Lord Or who hath bee his Counsellour Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all Things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Sure I am thô we ought as much as any thing in the World to study the Nature and Properties of that God we are concerned with and account it one of the first Points of True Wisdom to acquaint our selves with that Almighty Being we have to do with and to pray for more Light and Grace that we may be able in due time to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the Love of God which passeth knowledge Yet in our highest Attainments on this side the Veil we shall know but in part and prophesie in part our utmost Skill will not be sufficient to comprehend the Infinite God in the Embraces of our Finite Conceptions And we shall as soon be able to climb the Sun and stare with open Eyes upon that great Luminary and comprize all is excellent Rays and Influences within the Limits of our narrow Bosom as by searching to find out and trace out the Almighty to Perfection Est in Deo quod percepi potest est plane si modo quod potest velis Sicut videre est in Sole quod videas si hoc velis videre quod possis amittas autem quod potes videre dum quod non poes niteris ita ut in rebus Dei habes quod inelligas si intelligere quod potes velis Caelum si ultra quam potes speres id quod potuisti non poteris Hilar. Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his Greatness is unsearchable I am loth ro leave this Abyss of Meditation Pardon me Reader if I strain Courtesie a little in the Case This Infinite Being is the Fountain of our Blessedness and therefore notwithstanding his excellent Majesty can be cooped within no Bounds nor scaled by any Human Apprehensions to the Height nor fathomed to the utmost Depth by any Line of Human Reason yer 't is pleasant to behold him through the Lattices and spend our deepest Thoughts and Admirations upon his Glory and if we cannot comprehend him let us stand and wonder And cry out with longing and importunate Desire Oh! when shall the Veil be taken off our Eyes When shall the Apartment that separates us be taken away When shall we come to know as we are known But Oh! when shall our finite Natures be exhaled and drawn up with this Sun and our Souls drawn up into his boundless Glory and we eternally blessed in the warm Embraces of his Divine Love In those Flames of pure Affection for ever and ever To think now of this unsearchable God the most infinitely good and glorious Being in the whole World whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain whom Angels all admire and adore the Nature of whose Glory we cannot now grasp with our most expanded Thoughts That this God shall first pardon our Sins and then sanctifie our Natures and shortly send his Angels of fetch our Souls up to that Heavenly Choire where we shall be cloathed indeed with the Sun and tread the Moon under our Feet and look with a holy scorn upon the little silly trifling Comforts of the sublunary World This is enough to make our Faces smile now at every Beam of Light and Mercy darted upon our Souls from that Divine Countenance to make our Hearts dance within us To fill us with an
of the Almighty But there shall no Man see his Face and live Exod. 33.20 Can the Owl see the Sun or Batts endure the Day-light No more can we abide the Lustre of the Divine Presence or see the Essentials of his Being 1 Tim. 6.16 8. Incorruptibility and Immortality The Sun is the same now as he was last Year last Age Thousands of Years ago he suffers no Decay Infirmity Old Age or Declension but is as fresh and vigorous now as in the first Morning of its Creation Doth not this somewhat resemble the Glory of the incorruptible God the King Immortal Eternal Invisible Jam. 1.17 Who is the same to day yesterday and for ever All things here wax old as doth a Garment c. 9. Of his Omnipotence For all these Attributes are reckon'd to the Almighty as in a manner peculiar to him and therefore I hope you 'll not quarrel with the Number of my Particulars What cannot in Reason the Sun do I have instanced in many things under the Point of Providence I will add a few more The Waters can parch our Grounds exhale our Waters make the Earth barren destroy our Harvests and bring a Dearth upon the Land The Sun can invenom the Air and shed a Poison into our Constitutions and destroy us with Plagues and Mortal Distempers the Sun can burn our Houses Towers Steeples and make a Desolation in the Earth the Sun can make our Heads ache our Hearts burn our Choler domineer and so dispose to Wars and Bloodshed Again the Sun can melt the Clouds and send Rain upon the Earth to make it fruitful and turn our dry Grounds into Springs of Water can heal the Air and warm our Constitutions and preserve our Health and Wealth and Peace and Plenty but all this under the Permission of God Almighty He only is the Supream Power whom nò Creature can resist He only is Omnipotent Our God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12.29 What a mighty Foundation is this Attribute of the Divine Omnipotence to build our Faith and Affiance upon And what strong Reasons we have to believe it And yet we shake like a Bulrush when we lean upon that strong Arm the Strength of Israel who will not lie nor deceive that Mighty God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we weak Mortals can wish or think of What Conceptions we are able to frame to our selves now of this Attribute I know not this I believe when once the Leaf of this sublunary World is turn'd over and the Gates of Heaven are open'd and that Scene of Infinite Glory which lies yet before us out of sight is presented to our Eyes when the WONDERS of the other World come in view we shall then cry out Rev. 19.6 The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth 10. Purity and Holiness The Fire is a clean Element and one of those that we are wont to purifie Metals and Vessels made of them with It was enjoyned under the Law The Sun is pure from any Spot or Blemish or Wrinkle or Cloud or Earth or Pollution Yea thô it visits our Dunghils 't is not defiled with them no Vncleanness can stick to the Sun-beams Yea it discovers the Spots upon our Garments the Freckles upon our Faces and puts a Shame upon our Deformities Eccles 16.10 What is this but a lively Emblem of the Infinite Purity of that God with whom we have to do That Refiner's Fire and Fuller's Soap whose Words are all of them purer than Gold tried in the Fire and requires us to be pure as he is pure And really when we consider this Visinity of the Divine Holiness we may be justly abashed into Shame and Confusion to think what Deformities our Souls are disfigured with and what Insolencies we have committed in the sight of this Sun and withal we have Reason to cry out as 1 Sam. 6.20 Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God If the Righteous scarcely be saved c. We are apt to please our selves with the Memoirs of the Divine Goodness and Clemency the shining Light and Warmth of the Sun-beams but seldom remember that the same Sun when it looks through a Burning-glass is apt to set fire upon combustible Stuff I mean that whosoever builds any such Light Tinder Hay Straw Stubble Wood False Doctrines and Errors of Judgment or Ungodly Practices runs the Risk of an extraordinary Hazard and that these Works must be tried by a Jealous God and whatever is combustible must be burn'd up and if the Sinner after that loss have any Substance of Purity and Holiness left he shall be saved but so as by Fire as a piece of impure Gold or Sslver thrown into the Furnace to prove the Metal and waste the Dross Our God is a consuming Fire 11. Bounty How beneficial the Sun is to the Earth I need not stay now to tell you 't is sufficient to say the Benignity and Beneficence of it is so great and its good Offices so many that we can as ill spare the Sun out of the Firmament as the Breath almost out of our Nostrils nor can we live or move as Men as Christians without the Mercies of God His Mercies are over all his Works And should I go about to expatiate upon this Theme I might as well go waâ—e in the deep and wide Ocean His Mercy is over all his Works He is a gracious God merciful slow o anger of great kindness pitiful and compassionate of tender bowels and of long patience and plenâ—â—ous in goodness keeping mercy for thousands of them In short the Prophet seems to make out my Analogy in this Point more exactly when he ells us Mal. 4.2 The Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings 12. Vnchangeableness and Everlastingness We see nothing visible in the Nature of Things to prognosticate the Ruine of the Sun at least 'till the expiration of the whole Elementary World It neither changes nor decays nor dies it falters not in its Motions or Influences 't is still one continues the same and will do so 'till the End of Time So long as the Sun endures Psal 72.5 17. And in this respect likewise 't is an Adumbration of the Divine Truth and Faithfulness and Unchangeableness and Eternity I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 The Lord shall endure for ever Psal 9.7 13. I have one thing more and I have done The Sun and Moon repesent a Husband and Wife So the Heathen Poets fancied and accordingly gave the Names of Phoebus to one and Phoebe to the other Psal 19.5 And 't is very certain the Moon depends entirely upon the Sun for all its Light and attends it in its Motion as becomes an obsequious Bride Nor am I singular in this Conceit Holy Scripture gives sufficient Countenance to it The Church is fitly compared to the Moon upon the Account of its Changes Eclipses borrowed Light and wanish Complection I think by
Life being taken ill upon his Death-bed cried out Father Father the Blacks are come to carry me away The other of an English Martyr comforted in the Prison with the glorious Appearance of a Spiritual Messenger I could enlarge much upon this Subject but list not to do it now having given many Instances of this Nature in the following Work 3. The Society the departed Soul is carried too is Spiritual likewise A Spirit carried by Spirits to a World of Spirits to the Bosom of Abraham Isaac Jacob and to an innumerable Company of Angels Heb. 12.22 Application 1. Let us endeavour what we can to refine and screw up our Souls to a Spiritual Temper let it not sink so deep as commonly it doth into an Oblivion of its own Country Remember that this Body is but the Mansion-House for the time of its Apprentice-ship and Nonage when 't is grown up and fit for a change the Tabernacle must be taken down and laid in the Grave to moulder in order to a more glorious Resurrection In the mean while the Soul is a Spiritual Substance near a-kin to the Angels of Heaven attended and waited on by those Ministring Spirits and by them guarded and conducted to the General Assembly of those Beatified Glorious Spiritual People in the other World Why then do we go about to stisle and suffocate these Spirits of ours with the thick noisom Vapours of worldly Cares and Pleasures Why do we go about to emasculate and evigorate our excellent Souls with putting them to the Drudgery of the Flesh Why do we let the Body the Lusts and inordinate Passions of it domineer over and Pinion down the Wings of the Soul Why do we forget our selves that we have the best part of an Angel in our Breasts A Piece of Noble Substance prized by Angels design'd for the Fellowship of Angels for ever c. Spend not your Time Strength Substance and Passion in providing for the Body but think of the poor Soul that is imprison'd in it and labour as much as you can to enlarge its Condition to spiritualize its Nature to separate it as much from the Body to advance it as far above the Body as your present State is capable of 2. Be thankful to God who hath ennobled your Souls so far and dignified them with the Guardianship and Protection of Angels How much methinks do we owe to the God of our Beings for raising the Spirit of Man to such a high Degree that he is in a fair way to be an Angel's Fellow That hath not only provided them for Guards here but Companions for us hereafter Surely God loves us honours us and puts some great value upon us when he sends such Noble Honourable Messengers to us Why then we ought to love to honour to serve him to live up to the Credit of our Religion the Honour of our Lord and Master Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou thus vifitest him Psal 8.4 5. 3. Let us not lightly esteem the Dignity of our Fellow-Christians be they otherwise what they will poor in Estate Lazarus with Sores weak in parts of low Degree in the Honours of the World under Reproach Temptation or Afflictions whatever Their Souls also as well as ours are precious in the sight of God Angels are their guardians Glorious Spirits minister to them for their Good let us beware of doing any thing to their hurt Mat. 18.10 4. Let us also hence take Example of Ministration to our Fellow-Creatures Let it be accounted no Disparagement to our Honour to do Attendance to our weaker Brethren Creatures made in the same Mold with us born to the same Dignities the like Priviledges If Angels stoop from Heaven to Earth from a Seat of Bliss and Glory to do the Offices of Love Tuition and Convoy to our Souls let not us disdain to wait upon our Fellows Mat. 20.26 5. Let us Reverence the Angels and do what we can to secure their Ministry to and Care for us and Protection of us Praying unto God their and our common Lord the Author of every good and perfect Gift to him who can presently give if there be a necessity of it more than Twelve Legions of Angels to deliver thee out of Danger Psal 91.11 12. Keep within the Pale of the Church upon Sacred Ground I mean in the Bounds circumscribed by the Gospel of our Saviour the Territory and Confines of the right Faith Nor is that enough we must keep within the Limits of our lawful Vocations too be found doing nothing but what we need not be asham'd for Angels to look upon resisting Satan and banishing him far out of our Correspondence and Community putting out of sight every thing that is offensive to those pure Angelical Spirits those Flames of Fire that are fervent hot with Zeal for their Maker conforming our selves as near as will consist with the State of our present Corporeal Condition to a hearty ready and chearful and constant Obedience in imitation of the Angels shaking off what we can the Impediments of the Body the Shackles and Chains of our corrupt Nature aspiring to a Noble Freedom Easiness and Alarity in all the Parts of a Christian Devotion stooping with the most profound Humility and Condescention to our Fellow-sinners maintaining as far as 't is possible for us an unspotted Purity in Heart and Life shining to the World bright as Mortal Angels incarnated in Flesh and Blood but above all burning with a Seraphic Love and Charity to God to Man to all proportionably and then will he give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Psal 91.11 IV. The Future State c. being Meditations on the Glory of the Invisible World Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 I Have formerly attempted this Subject but yet am not satisfied to say so little upon it The Reward at the End of the Work is an excellent Motive to the Courage of the Work-man I have considered that our Wages is proportion'd to our Work and more and we may think of it before hand for our Encouragement As we have not to do with a Tyrant that requires our Slavery and propounds no Rewards so we are not bound to a continual Service without looking at the End of our Labours Nay I believe that on purpose to encourage us the Almighty hath been pleased to make some Revelation of his kind intentions towards us we may as well as our Saviour the Son of God look a little upon the Joy that is set before us I am not able to say much upon the Point 't is high and future and intercepted at present from our Apprehension with Clouds and a thick Darkness and when I have said all that I can say I must leave off before I come to the middle of the Story
an Angel that gave the Boy Bread and Cheese Manlius Folio 17. Batman's Doom p. 421. 18. Mr. Patrick Simpson's Wife Martha Barson in her last Sickness was sorely Assaulted by Satan who suggested to her that she should be given over into his hands And it ended in a Visible Distraction which for a time grew upon her So that most unlike to her former practice she would break forth into dreadful and horrid Expressions and it was most violent on a Sabbath Morning when Mr. Simpson was going to Preach whereupon with an heavy Countenance he stood silent for a time and at last kneeled down and Prayed which she no whit regarded After which he turned to the Company that were present and said that he was sure that they who were now Witnesses of that sad hour should yet see a Gracious change and that the Devil's Malice against that poor Woman should have a shameful toil Her Distraction still continued untill Tuesday August the Ninth which Morning at the very dawning of it he went into his Garden and shut the Door where for many hours he was alone But a Godly VVoman one Mrs. Helen Garner VVife to one of the Bayliffs of Sterling who had been with his VVife all Night apprehending that Mr. Simpson might much wrong himself by much grief and fasting by some help she did climb over into the Garden But as she came near to the place where Mr. Simpson was she was terrified with an Extraordinary Noise which made her fall to the Ground It seemed to her like a mighty Rushing of Multitudes running together and withal she heard such a Melodious sound as made her Judge that it was more then humane VVhereupon she prayed to God to pardon her Rashness which her Affections to that Good Man of God had carried her to Yet afterwards going forwards she found him lying upon the ground she earnestly intreated him to tell her what he had from God He whom she had promised not to reveal it so long as he lived said O what am I being but Dust and Ashes that the Holy ministring Spirit should be sent by the Lord to deliver a message to me Adding that he had seen a Vision of Angels who did with an audible Voice give him an Answer from the Lord concerning his Wife's condition And returning into his House he said to all that were present Be of good cheer for e're ten hours be past I am sure that this Brand shall be plucked out of the Fire After praying by his VVife's Bed-side and making mention of Jacob's wrestling in Prayer she sate upright in the Bed and drawing aside the Curtain said Thou art this day Jacob who hast wrestled and also prevailed And now God hath made good his words which he spake this Morning to you for I am plucked out of the hands of Satan and he shall have no more Power over me This Interruption made him silent a while as I remember my self was in the Case of my Maid Mary Holland mentioned before But afterwards with great melting of heart he proceeded in Prayer and Magnified the Riches of Gods Love towards her And from that hour she spake most Comfortably and Christianly even to her Death which was Friday following Aug. 13. A. C. 1601. Her last words were with a loud Voice Come Lord Into thy hands I commend my Spirit Clark's Lives last Vol. p. 217 218. 19. In the Year 1539 not far from Sitta in Germany in the time of a great Dearth and Famine a certain Godly Matron having two Sons and destitute of all manner of Sustenance went with her Children to a certain Fountain hard by praying unto Almighty God that he would there relieve their Hunger by his infinite goodness As she was going a certain Man met her by the way and saluted her kindly and asked her whither she was going who confessed that she was going to that Fountain there hoping to be relieved by God to whom all things are possible for if he nourished the Children of Israel in the Desart 40 years how is it hard for him to nourish me and my Children with a Draught of Water And when she had spoken these Words the Man which was doubtless an Angel of God told her that seeing her Faith was so constant she should return Home and there should find Six Bushels of Meal for her and her Children The Woman returning found that true which was promised Beard 's Theat p. 442. 20. Under the Emperor Mauritius the City of Antioch was shaken with a terrible Earthquake after this manner There was a certain Citizen so given to bountifulness to the Poor that he would never Sup nor Dine unless he had one poor Man to be with him at his Table Upon a certain Evening seeking for such a Guest and finding none a Grave Old Man met him in the Market-place cloathed in white with Two Companions with him whom he entreated to sup with him But the Old Man answered him That he had more need to pray against the destruction of the City and presently shook his Handkerchief against One part of the City and then against another and being hardly entreated forbore the rest Which he had no sooner done but those Two parts of the City terribly shaken with an Earthquake were thrown to the Ground and Thousands of Men slain Which this good Citizen seeng trembled exceedingly To whom the Old Man in white answered and said by reason of Charity to the Poor his House and Family were preserved And presently these three Men which to question were Angels vanished out of sight This Story Sigisbert in his Chronicle reporteth Anno 583. 21. Hottinger tells a strange Story out of Nauclerus and Evagr. to this purpose it was an ancient custom at Constantinople at Communion to call for the Young Children that went to School and give them the Parcels of Bread and Wine that were left at doing of which the child of a certain Nobleman a Jew was with the Children who took of the Bread and Eat with them his angry Father who was a Glass-Maker put him into an Oven burning hot with Coals his Mother after Three Days finding him alive in the Furnace he told her a Woman in Purple habit came often to him and brought VVater to quench the Coals and Meat to allay his Hunger The Mother and the Child were afterwards Converted and Baptized and the Father Crucified by command of Justinian the Emperor Mr. Beard relates the same out of Nicephorus Lib. 17. Chap. 35. See more in The Chapters of Miraculous Cures of Diseases and Earnests of a Future Retribution and the last Example in the Ch. of Prediction of Prophets c. 22. Oh! said Mrs. Katharine Stubs upon her Death-bed if you saw such glorious Sight as I see you would rejoyce with me for I see a Vision of the Joys of Heaven and of the Glory that I shall go unto and I see infinite Millions of Angels attendant upon me and watching to carry
was safely carried by the Angels into Abraham 's Bosom so that 't is plain that the Angels are employed to convey the Souls of true Believers into a fixed State of blessedness But because Men are very apt to be incredulous in these Cases my Design is to enquire in their Chapter what knowledge we can pick up concerning the Existence of particular Souls after their Separation out of Antient and Modern Histories and I believe it will appear by what follows that the Soul is really alive and active and concerned after Death I Insist not on the Parable to the Rich Man and Lazarus mention'd by our Saviour nor any particular Instances out of Sacred Writ Read the following Stories and if all of them are not credibly and rightly interpreted and applied if Satan may in some be concerned on purpose to put Tricks upon poor Incredulous shall I say or Credulous Souls yet 't is strange if they are all untrue 1. A Narrative of an Apparition which a Gentleman in Boston had of his Brother just then Murthered in London It was on the Second of May in the Year 1687 that a most ingenious accomplished and well-disposed Gentleman Mr. Joseph Beacon by Name about Five a Clock in the Morning as he lay whether Sleeping or Waking he could not say but judged the latter of them had a View of his Brother then at London altho he was now himself at our Boston distanced from him a Thousand Leagues This his Brother appeared to him in the Morning about five a Clock at Boston having on him a Bengal Gown which he usually wore with a Napkin tied about his Head his Countenance was very Pale Gastly Deadly and he had a Bloody Wound on one side of his Forehead Brother says the affrighted Joseph Brother answered the Apparition Said Joseph What 's the matter Brother How came you here The Apparition replied Brother I have been most barbarously and injuriously Butcher'd by a Debauch'd drunken Fellow to whom I never did any wrong in my Life Whereupon he gave a particular Description of the Murderer adding Brother This Fellow changing his Name is attempting to go over unto New England in Foy or Wild I would pray you on the first Arrival of either of these to get an Order from the Governour to Seize the Person whom I have now described and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother I 'll stand by you and prove the Indictment And so he vanished Mr. Beacon was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and heard and the People of the Family not only observed an extraordinary Alteration upon him for the Week following but have also given me under their Hands a full Testimony that he then gave them an Account of this Apparition All this while Mr. Beacon had no Advice of any thing amiss attending his Brother then in England but about the latter end of June following he understood by the common ways of Communication that the April before his Brother going in haste by Night to call a Coach for a Lady met a Fellow then in Drink with his Doxy in his Hand Some way or other the Fellow thought himself affronted with the hasty passage of this Beacon and immediately ran into the Fire-side of a Neighbouring Tavern from whence he fetch'd out a Fire-fork wherewith he grievously wounded Beacon in the Skull even in that very part where the Apparition show'd his Wound Of this Wound he Languished until he Died on the Second of May about Five of the Clock in the Morning at London The Murderer it seems was endeavouring to Escape as the Apparition affirmed but the Friends of the Deceased Beacon seized him and prosecuting him at Law he found the help of such Friends as brought him off without the loss of his Life since which there has no more been heard of the Business This History I received of Mr. Joseph Beacon himself who a little before his own pious and hopeful Death which follow'd not long after gave me the Story written and signed with his own Hand and attested with the Circumstances I have already mentioned See Mr. Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World 2. In the City of Athens there was a goodly Lodging which yet was out of Request as a Place very dangerous for in the Night there was a Spirit that walked in it drawing a Chain and making a Noise and seemed as if he came afar off and then would suddenly be hard by After that there would appear a great Old Man his Flesh all worn away having a Long Beard his Hair standing an end and all tangled Fetters on his Feet a Chain at his Hands which he would always be shaking They that dwelt in the house could never rest in the Night but would grow heavy and pensive and so fall sick and dye For in the very day time though they saw not the Spirit yet they would think he always was in their sight and that the ringing of his Chain did always beat in their Ears Upon this the Lodging stood empty though it was by Bills exposed to sale After some time Athenodorus the Philosopher came to Athens lacked a House and purchasing this at a small Rate the first Night put his Servants into the back-part of it to lodge chose for himself the forepart where he had a Bed placed his VVriting-Tables brought and a Lamp well lighted Here he betook to Read VVrite and Study very earnestly And late in the Night the Spirit came with his old Noise Chain and Fetters the Philosopher continuing still earnest at his Business 'Till at last the Spirit shaking his Chain over his Head made a Sign to him as if he desired the Philosopher to follow him Upon which he obeyed taking a Light in his Hand and following till such time as the Ghost vanished away in the Street Athenodours marked the Place with some Grass and Leaves which he laid upon it and the next Day went to the Council of the City desired the Place might be searched which being done they found a Dead body all rothen nothing left but Bones and Chains which they took up and buried elsewhere After which the House was no more Haunted Camerar Hist Med. l. 4. ex Plen. 2d Epist l. 3. 3. The Elder Countess of Donagal a Lady Pious Discreet and Credible told me That one of her Husband's Tennants near Belfast or Carickfergus where he was Lord agreed with him for to put his Son's Life with his own Life in a renew'd Lease of a Farm and he paid part of the Money and dy'd before the Lease was made and seal'd His Wife marry'd another Man and paid the rest of the Money out of her second Husband's Purse and therefore put in his Son's Life instead of her Son by the former Husband into the Lease The Earl of Donagal going into England and being then in the West a Servant of his in Ireland his Porter a stout lusty Man was haunted with the
is somewhat for her And then said Mary meaning his the said Goddard's Wife as he conceived is troubled for me but tell her God hath shewed Mercy to me contrary to my Deserts But the said Goddard answered In the Name of Jesus Christ I refuse I refuse all such Money Then the Apparition said I perceive you are afraid I will meet you some other time And immediately it went up the Lane to his appearance So he went over the same Stils but saw it no more that day He saith the next Night about Seven of the Clock it came and opened his Shop Window and stood in the like Cloaths looked him in the Face but said nothing to him And the next Night after as Goddard went forth into his back side with a Candle light in his Hand it appeared to him again in the same shape but he being in fear ran into his House and saw it no more then But he saith That on Thursday the Twelfth instant as he came from Chilton riding down the Hill between the Mannor-House and Axford-Farm-Field he saw somewhat like an Hare cross his way at which his Horse being frighted threw him in the dirt and as soon as he could recover his feet the same Apparition there met him again in the same Habit and there standing about Eight Foot directly before him in the way spake again to him with a loud Voice Source a word he commonly used when living you have staid long and then said to him Thomas bid William Avon take the Sword that he had of me which is now in his House and carry it to the Wood as we go to Alton to the Vpper End of the Wood by the way side for with that Sword I did wrong about Thirty Years ago and he never prospered since he had that Sword And bid VVilliam Avon give his Sister Sarah Twenty Shillings of the Money which he had of me And do you talk with Edward Lawrence for I borrowed Twenty Shillings of him several Years ago and did say I had paid him but I did not pay it him and I would desire you to pay him Twenty Shillings out of the Money which you had from James Elliot at Two Payments Which Money the said Goddard now saith was Five Pounds which James Elliot a Baker here owed the said Avon on Bond and which he the said Goddard had received from the said Elliot since Michaelmas at Two Payments viz. Thirty Five Shillings at one and Three Pounds Five Shillings at the other Tell Margaret meaning his own Wife as he conceived that I would desire her to deliver up the little which I gave to little Sarah Taylor to the child or to any one she will trust for it But if she will not speak to Edward Lawrence to perswade her But if she will not then tell her that I will see her very suddenly And see that this be done within a Twelve Month and a day after my Decease and Peace be with you And so it went away over the Rails into the Wood there in the like manner as any Man would go over a Style to his Apprehension and so he saw it no more at that time And he saith that he paid the twenty Shillings to Edward Lawrenceâ— of this Town who being present now doth remember he lent the said Avon twenty Shillings about twenty years ago which none knew but himself and VVife and Avon and his VVife and was never paid it again before now by this Goddard And this said Goddard further saith that this very day by Mr. Mayor's order he with his Brother-in-Law William Avon went with the Sword and about Nine a Clock this Morning they laid down the Sword in the copse near the place the Apparition had appointed Goddard to carry it and then coming away thence Goddard looking back saw the same Apparition again in the like habit as before VVhereupon he called to his Brother-in-Law and said Here is the Apparition of our Father VVho said I see nothing Then Goddard fell on his Knees and said Lord open his Eyes that he may see it But he replyed Lord grant I may not see it if it be thy Blessed Will And then the Apparition to Goddard's Appearance beckned with his hand to him to come to it And then Goddard said In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost what would you have me to do Then the Apparition said to him Thomas take up the Sword and follow me To which he said should both of us come or but one of us To which it Answered Thomas do you take up the Sword And so he took up the Sword and followed the Apparition about Ten Lugs that is Poles further into the Copse and then turning back he stood still about a Lug and an half from it his Brother-in-Law staying behind at the place where they first laid down the Sword Then Goddard laying down the Sword upon the ground saw something stand by the Apparition like a mastiff Dog of a brown Colour Then the Apparition coming towards Goddard he stept back about two steps and the Apparition said to him I have a Permission to come and a Commission not to touch you And then it took up the Sword and went back to the place at which before it stood with a Mastiff Dog by it as before and pointed the top of the Sword into the ground and said In this place lies Buried the Body of him which I Murdered in the Year 1635. VVhich is now Rotten and turned to Dust VVhereupon Goddard said I do abjure you in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost wherefore did you do this Murder And it said I took Money from the Man and he contended with me and so I Murdered him Then Goddard askt him who was Confederate with him in the said Murder And it said None but my self Then Goddard said What would you have me do in this thing And the Apparition said This is that the World may know that I Murdered a Man and Buried him in this place in the Year 1635. Then the Apparition laid down the Sword on the bare ground there whereon grew nothing but seemed to Goddard to be as a Grave sunk in And then the Apparition rushing further into the Copse Vanished and he saw it no more VVhereupon Goddard and his Brother-in-Law Avon leaving the Sword there and coming away together Avon told Goddard he heard his Voice and understood what he said and heard other words distinct from his but could not understand a word of it nor saw any Apparition at all VVhich he now also at present affirmeth and all which the said Goddard then attested under his hand and affirmed he would depose the same when he shall be thereto required In the Presence of Christ Lypiat Mayor Ralph Bayly Town Clerk Joshua Sacheverel Rector of St. Peters in Marlborough Examined by me William Bayly Thus far out of Mr. Glanvil which I have related more largely because I my self was at
that time as he told his Son a very wicked Boy 21. John Evelyn shewed us at the Royal Society a Note under Mr. Smyth's Hand the Curate of Deptford that in November 1679 as he was in Bed sick of an Ague came to him the vision of a Master of Arts with a white Wand in his Hand and told him That if he did lie on his back three Hours viz. from ten to one that he should be rid of his Ague He lay a good while on his Back but at last being weary he turned and immediately the Ague attacked him afterwards he strictly followed the Direction and was perfectly cured He was awake and it was in the Day-time 22. A Dutch Prisoner at Woodbridge in Suffolk in the Reign of Charles II. could discern Spirits but others that stood by could not The Bell tolled for a Man newly deceased The Prisoner saw his Phantome and did describe him to the Parson of the Parish who was with him exactly agreeing with the Man for whom the Bell tolled Says the Prisoner now he is coming near to you and now he is between you and the Wall the Parson was resolved to try it and went to take the Wall of him and was thrown down but could see nothing This Story is credibly told by several Persons of Belief Dr. Hooke the Parson of the Parish has often told this Story of which I know many more particulars 23. Vavasor Powell saw several Apparitions See page 8. of his Life As concerning Apparitions of a Man 's own self there are sundry Instances some whereof I shall here set down 24. The Beautiful Lady Diana Rich Daughter of the Earl of Holland as she was walking in her Father's Garden at Kensington to take the fresh Air before Dinner about Eleven a Clock being then very well met with her own Apparition Habit and every thing as in a Looking-Glass About a Month after she died of the Small-pox And 't is said that her Sister the Lady Isabelta Thinne saw the like of her self also before she died This Account I had from a Person of Honour 25. Mrs. E. W. Daughter of Sir W. W. affirms that Mrs. J. her Father's Sister saw her self i. e. her Phantome half a Year before she died or a quarter of an Hour together She said further that her Aunt was sickly Fourteen Years before she died and that she walked Living i. e. her Apparition and that she was seen by several at the same time The like is reported of others 26. Mr. Trehern B. D. Chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgman Lord Keeper a Learned and sober Person was the Son of a Shoe-maker in Hereford One Night as he lay in Bed the Moon shining very bright he saw the Phantome of one of the Apprentices sitting in a Chair in his red Wastcoat and Head-band about his head and Strap upon his Knee which Apprentice was really a Bed and asleep with another Fellow-Apprentice in the same Chamber and saw him 27. When Sir Richard Nepier M. D. of London was upon the Road coming from Bedfordshire the Chamberlain of the Inn shewed him his Chamber the Doctor saw a dead Man lying upon the Bed He look'd more wistly and saw it was himself He was then well enough in Health He goes forward in his Journey to Mr. Steward's in Berkshire and there died This Account I have in a Letter from Elias Ashmole Esquire They were intimate Friends Thus far Mr. Aubery CHAP. V. Revelation of secret or future Things by express Voice BY this Title I do not mean any Declarations Discoveries Confessions or Predictions made by any Person living but only such as are uttered either with only an audible Voice alone or with a Voice proceeding from some Phantasm or Apparition either in the likeness of some deceased Person Friend or Relation or of some Ghost dressed up in the Figure of some Animal that we are generally acquainted with as the Serpent to Eve the Ass to Balaan c. Histories are full of Testimonies and Instances of this kind to enquire after all would be a wild Chase and nauseous to the Reader as well as laborious to the Writer We will call a few out of many for a Specimen which will give such a lustre to the Theme we are upon that will certainly run us up in our Meditations and Searches to Digitus Dei the Finger of God as having a signal stroke in all such Voices and Occurrences as cannot with any shew of Reason be imputed or ascribed to any Inarticulate Inorganical Irrational Being which yet appears to be the only Immediate Instrument they proceed fro◠1. In Jerusalem before the Destruction of it by Titus Vespasian at the Feast of Pentecost the High-Priest entering into the Temple to offer the usual Sacrifices which at that time God regarded no more there was a sudden Noise heard and a Voice immediately following it which said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us depart hence Gaffarella's unheard of Curios Part 2. Ch. 3. out of Josephus Besides we know that our blessed Saviour had by express Words Predicted the same dismal Calamity to that place and People with a particulat notation of the Time when it should happen viz. before the then present Generation should be passed away 2. An Inhabitant of the Town of Guilford in Surrey who was possest of some Copy-hold Land which was to descend to his Children or in default of such Issue to his Brother dies having no Child born And his Wife apprehending her self not to be with Child which her Husbands Brother asked her immediately after his Brother's death she told him she believed she was not but afterward proved to be Which when she knew she went by the instigation of Neighbours to her Brother and told him how it was with her He railed at her called her Whore and told her That she had procured some Body to g et her with Child knowing that such a Field must be Inherited by the Posterity of her Husband but her whoring should not fool him out of the Estate The poor Woman went home troubled that not only her Child should lose the Land but which was worse that she should be thought a Whore However she quieted her self and resolved to sit down with the loss When her times came she was delivered of a Son he grew up and one Summer's Night as she was undressing him in her Yard her Husband appeared and bid her go to his Brother and demand the Field which she did but was treated very ill by him He told her That neither she nor her Devil for she had told him her Husband appeared and bid her speak to him should make him forego his Land Whereupon she went home again But some time after as her Brother was going out of this Field home-ward the dead Man appears to him at the Stile and bids him give up the Land to the Child for it was his Right The Brother being greatly frighted at this runs away and not long
speedy approaching of his final Destruction Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 32. 8. John Knox to the Earl of Morton who came to visit him in his Sickness said my Lord GOD hath given you many Blessings Wisdom Honour Nobility Riches many good and great Friends and he is now about to prefer you to the Government of the Realm the Earl of Marr the late Regent being newly dead in His Name I charge you use these Blessings better than formerly you have done seeking first the Glory of God the Furtherance of his Gospel the Maintenance of his Church and Ministry and then be careful of the King to procure his Good and the Welfare of the Realm if you do thus God will be with you and honour you if otherwise he will deprive you of all these Benefits and your end shall be Shame and Ignominy These Speeches the Earl call'd to mind about nine Years after at the time of his Execution saying That he had found John Knox to be a Prophet Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 322. 9. The same Knox a day or two before his Death calling Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Lawson to him the two Preachers of the Church said There is one thing that grieveth me exceedingly you have some time seen the Courage and Constancy of the Laird of Graing in the cause of God and now that unhapyy Man is casting himself away I pray you go to him from me and tell him that unless he forsake that wicked Course that he is in the Rock wherein he confides shall not defend him nor the Carnal Wisdom of the Man which he counts half a God which was young Leskington shall yeild him Help but he shall be shamefully pull'd out of that Nest and his Carcass hung before the Sun meaning the Castle which he kept against the King's Authority for his Soul is dear to me and if it were possible I would fain have him saved Accordingly they went to him conferr'd with him but could by no means divert him from his course But as Knox had foretold so the Year after his Castle was taken and his Body was there publickly hang'd before the Sun yet he did at his Death express a serious Repentance Ibid. p. 323. 10. How Mr. Dod by a secret Impulse of Spirit went at an unseasonable time to visit a Neighbour whom he found with a Halter in his Pocket going to hang himself and by such a seasonable Visit prevented his Death See elsewhere in this Book 11. Dr. Bernard in the Life of Arch-bishop Vsher tells us That the Bishop himself had confessed in his Hearing that oftentimes in his Sermons he found such warm Motions and Impulses upon his Mind to utter some things which he had not before intended to deliver or not to deliver with so much Briskness and Peremptoriness that he could not easily put them by without present Expression and Delivery I remember not the Doctor 's words but of this nature were those remarkable Predictions of his concerning the Massacre in Ireland and his own Poverty c. which because I have not Bishop Vsher's Life by me written by Dr. Bernard take out of Mr. Clark Upon the Suspension of the Statute in Ireland against the Toleration of Papists Preaching before the State at Dublin making Application of that Text Ezek. c. 4. v. 6. where the Prophet by lying on his Side was to bear the Iniquity of Judah for 40 days I have appointed thee saith the Lord each day for a year This saith he by the Consent of Interpreters signifies the time of 40 Years to the Destruction of Jerusalem and of that Nation for their Idolatry and so said he will I teckon from this Year the Sin of Ireland and at the end of the time those whom you now embace shall be your Ruin and you shall bear this Iniquity wherein he prov'd a Prophet For this was delivered by him A. C. 1601. and A. C. 1641. was the Irish Massacre and Rebellion and what a continued Expectation he had of a grat Judgment upon his Native Country I saith Dr. Bernard can witness from the year 1624. Clark in his Life Dr. Bernard I remember makes this Remark upon that Sermon that it was the last the Bishop wrote at length and it was dated with a particular Notion of the Day and Year He foretold likewise his own future Poverty when he was in his greatest Prosperity and spoke before many Witnesses 1624. repeated it often afterwards that he was perswaded that the greatest Shake to the Reformed Churches was yet to come In short as I said before he often acknowledged that sometimes in his Sermons he was resolved to forbear speaking of some things but it proved like Jeremiah's Fire shut up in his Bones that when he came to it he could not forbear unless he would have stood mute and proceeded no further Ibid. 12. Mr. Hugh Broughton in one of his Sermons 1588. when the Spanish Navy was upon the Sea and Men's Hearts were full of Fears of the Event Now saith he the Papists Knees knock one against another as the Knees of King Belshazzar did and News will come that the Lord hath scatter'd that Invincible Navy Fear ye not nor be dismay'd at these smoaking Firebrands In his Life p. 2. 13. Bishop Jewel crossing the Thames when on a sudden at the rising of a Tempest all were astonished looking for nothing but to be drowned assured Bishop Ridley that the Boat carry'd a Bishop that must be burnt and not drowned In Bishop Jewel's Life 14. Mrs. Katherine Stubs after she had Conceived with Child of a Daughter three or four Years after Marriage said many times to her Husband and others That that Child would be her Death She was delivered safely within a Fortnight and was able to go abroad but presently after fell sick of a Burning Quotidian Ague of which she died See her Life 15. Impulses Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubrey Esq Oliver Cromwell had certainly this Afflatus One that I knew that was at the Battle of Dunbar told me that Oliver was carried on with a Divine Impulse he did Laugh so excessively as if he had been drunk his Eyes sparkled with Spirits He obtain'd a great Victory but the Action was said to be contrary to Humane Prudence The same fit of Laughter seiz'd Oliver Cromwell just before the Battle of Naseby as a Kinsman of mine and a great Favourite of his Collonel J. P. then present testified 16. King Charles the I. after he was Condemn'd did tell Collonel Thomlinson that he believed That the English Monarchy was at an end About half an Hour after he told the Collonel That now he had an Assurance by a strong Impulse on his Spirit that his Son should Reign after him This Information I had from Fabian Philips Esq of the Inner-Temple who had good Authority for the Truth of it I have forgot who it was 17. The Lord Roscomon being a Boy of Ten Years of Age at Caen in Normandy one day was
Brugis for W. Thackery at the Angel in Duck-Lane Let part of France and part of Germany and Spain look to it for they either offensively or defensively shall batter themselves or some other People and in as much as it is gotten into Capricorn I pray God keep the Dominions of Great Britain in Peace because under Capricorn is the North part of Sotland for it is much to be feared the Scots may once more Rebel against England c. And at last I shall now conclude with this Astrological prediction that within this five years all Europe shall go near to be up in Arms. Multi multa sciunt sed nemo omnia Thus far my Author too truely 12. A Neighbour and Friend of mine in Shropshire with whom I have had several discourses about the Lawfulness and certainty of Astrology always asserted the Lawfulness of it because he saw nothing but what was natural in it but confessed the uncertainty of it in many cases as others have done before him not through default of the Art but the Weakness and Unskilfulness of the Artist And he mentioned some particular Instances of his own Experiments wherein he had hit upon the Truth as particularly when one Captain C. near Salop had lost a Horse out of his Stable he was sent for and desired to cast a Figure which he accordingly did and gave such a particular description of the Man that had stole him and the way he was gone that by Virtue of his Directions the Horse was presently found His other Instances I remember not but he was reputed an honest Farmer a good Neighbour and a very facetious Man I suppose he is stil lliving 13. Prophesies Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubrey Esq to pass by the Prophesies of Holy-Writ the Prophesies of Nostraedamus do foretel very strangely but not easily understood till they are fulfilled The Book is now common In a Book of Mr. William Lilly's are Hieroglyphick Prophesies Viz. Of the great Plague of London expressed by Graves and Dead Corps and a Scheme with II ascending the Sign of London and no Planets in the XII Houses Also there is the Picture of London all on Fire also Moles creeping c. Perhaps Mr. Lilly might be contented to have People believe that this was from himself But Mr. Thomas Flatman Poet did affirm that he had seen those Hieroglyphicks in an old Parchment Manuscript Writ in the time of the Monks 14. There is a Prophecy of William Tyndal poor Vicar of Welling in the County of Hertford made in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign I have seen it It is in English Verse two Pages and an half in Folio It fore-told our late Wars I know one that read it Forty Years since 15. Before the Civil-Wars there was much talk of the Lady Ann Davys's Prophesies for which she was kept Prisoner in the Tower of London She was Sister to the Earl of Castlehaven and Wife to Sir John Davys Lord Chief Justice in Ireland I have heard his Kinsman Counsellor Davys of Shraftsbury say that she being in London I think in the Tower did tell the very time of her Husbands Death in Ireland Thus far Mr. Aubrey CHAP. XII Of ORACLES ALL that I propound to my self under this Head is to shew not what Illusions and Impostures were used by the Priests to Cheat the poor Votaries with that Addressed to them much less to vindicate them from the Frauds of Ambiguity and Vanity but to evince this That by them God Almighty permitted sometimes Things otherwise Secret and Future to be made known and this by the mediation of invisible Spirits as the Agents that some Responses were given by Oracles which could not be imputed to the Artifice of a Mechanical Statue nor yet to the Wit of the Priest that officiated As for Instance among the Heathen Oracles for such only I mean this place 1. The Oracle of Delphos the most Famed of all other being consulted for a Resolution of this Question Who was the most happy Man The Answer was made Phedius who died but a while before in the Service of his Countrey The same Question being sent a second time by Gyges one of the greatest Kings in those days of all the Earth viz. Who was the happiest Man next to Phedius The Answer was made Aglaus Sophidius This Aglaus was a good honest Man well stricken in Years dwelling in a very narrow Corner of Arcadia where he had a little House and Land of his own sufficient with the yearly Profits thereof to maintain him plentifully with ease out of which he never went but employed himself in the Tillage and Husbandry of it to make the best benefit he could in such manner that as it appeared by that course of Life as he coveted least so he felt as little Trouble and Adversity while he lived Plin. Nat. Hist l. 7. c. 46. 2. Julian the Apostate Op. p. 181. Ep. 38. makes frequent mention of Oracles in his time particularly in an Epistle to Maximus the Cynick concerning whose Trouble he had by another though at a great distance Consulted the Oracle and received an Apposite Answer Doctor Tenison against Hobbs The Doctor adds also that which is to my purpose viz. I cannot prevail upon my Mind to think that the Priests had no Assistance from Daemons 3. Extracted from the Miscellanies of Mr. Aubrey Hieronimus Cardanus Lib. III. Synesiorum Somniorum Cap. XV. treats of this Subject which see Johannes Scotus Erigena when he was in Greece did go to an Oracle to Enquire for a Treatise of Aristotle and found it by the Response of the Oracle This he mentions in his Works lately Printed at Oxford and is quoted by Mr. Anthony à Wood in his Antiquities of Oxen in his Life 4. Concerning the Oracles of the Sybils there hath been much Controversie and many Discourses spent but after all we have little of their Writings to rely upon excepting only those of the Cumaean Prophetess and those especially which are Recorded by Virgil yet that very same Year that Jerusalem was taken by Pompey it was noised abroad in the World That Nature was with Child for the People of Rome of a King that should Reign over them Whereupon as Suetonius writeth in the Life of Augustus the Senate being affrighted made Order That none Born in that Year should be brought up They who had Wives great with Child promising themselves some hopes thereupon took care lest this Decree of the Senate should be carried to the Treasury The same Year P. Cornelius Lentulus was stirred up therewith conceiving some hopes for himself as both Appian Plutarch Salustius and Cicero in his third Oration against Cataline testifie c. The Verses of the Sybils which gave occasion to these Thoughts and Counsels were these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and Milking her Cows and was now become the great Comforter and Encourager of her Husband exceeding chearfully God saith she hath had Mercy on me and any pains taking is pleasant to me There they lived some years with much comfort and had the Blessing of Marriage Divers Children After some three years he was met in Kent on the Road by one of the Tenants of the Estate and Saluted by the Name of Landlord Alas said he I am none oâ— your Landlord Yes you are said he I know more than you do of the settlement Your Father tho a cunning Lawyer with all his Wit could not alienate the Estate from you whom he had made Joint-purchaser My self and some other Tenants know it have refused to pay any Money to Dr. Reeves I have Sixteen Pounds ready for you in my hands which I will pay to your Acquittance and that will serve you to wage Law with them He was amazed at this wonderful Providence received the Money sued for his Estate in a Term or two recovered it He that loseth his Life for my sake and the Gospel shall find it His Blessed Wife in the midst of Blessings enjoying a Loving Husband Divers fine Children a plentiful Estate in the midst of these outward Blessings fell into a Way of questioning the truth of her Grace because of outward Prosperity This was her Sin without doubt for which Mr. Knight rebuked her But it was a severe rebuke that the Lord gave her for her unthankfulness A fine Boy about three years old fell into a Kettle of scalding Wort and was taken out by the Mother and Dyed This she looked on as the Lords Discipline for her unthankfulness and was instructed This Relation was sent me by the Reverend Mr. Singleton now living in Hogsdon-Square near the City of London And he received it from Mr. Knight who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Studly as was hinted before 34. One Nicholas West born at Putney in Surrey being a Student in Kings-College in Cambridge proved a Rakehel and very Wicked for something crossing him in the Colledge he could not find how to be revenged but by setting on fire the Master's Lodgings part whereof he burnt to the ground and immediately after he left the Colledge and lived very loosely but soon after by the influence of the Grace of God and good Advice he seasonably retrenched his Wildness turned hard Student and became an excellent Schollar and after smaller promotions he was at last made Bishop of Ely after which he became a worthy Benefactor to that Colledge and rebuilt the Master's Lodgings which he before had caused to be burnt He Died An. Dom. 1533. Memorands of Kings Colledge Those bodys are usually the most Healthful that break out in their Youth and many times the Souls of many prove the sounder for having vented themselves in their younger days commonly none are greater Enemies to Vice than such as have formerly been the Slaves of it a certain blackness in the Cradle hath been observed to give beginning and rise unto the most perfect Beauties and there are no sort of Men that have shined in greater Glory in the world than such whose first days have been sullied and a little overcast 35. Henry the fifth tho while Prince was Wild and Companion of Riotous Persons yet coming to the Crown the first thing he did was the Banishment of all such his old Companions Ten Miles from his presence 36. Paphnutius is reported to convert a Harlot by this means Pretending Love he desired to be brought into the most private Room she had which she brought him into but still he found fault and complained to her that he was afraid some Eye would see him to which she Answered None can see thee here but only God To which he replyed And dost thou think that God sees thee and yet wilt play the Harlot Which he so enforced that it prevailed upon her to a change Chetwoods Hist Collect. Wonderful were the Conversions of the Indians in America under the Ministry of the Reverend Mr. Eliot the first Preacher of the Gospel amongst ' em I shall give you the Narrative of these Conversious as I sind it drawn up in Mr. Eliot's Life written by Mr. Cotten Mather which is as follows viz. 37. The Indians that had felt the Impressions of Mr. Eliot's Ministry were quickly distinguished by the Name of Praying Indians and these Praying Indians as quickly were for a more decent and English way of Living and they desired a more fixed Cohabitation At several Places did they now combine and settle But the place of greatest Name among their Towns is that of Natick Here 't was that in the year 1651. those that had heretofore lived like the wild Beasts in the Wilderness now compacted themselves into a Town and they first apply'd themselves to the forming of their Civil Government Our general Court notwithstanding their exact Study to keep these Indians very sensible of their being subject unto the English Empire yet had allow'd them their smaller Courts wherein they might govern their own smaller Cases and Concerts after their own particular Modes and might have their Town Orders if I may call them so peculiar to themselves With respect hereunto Mr. Eliot on a Solemn Fast made a publick Vow That seeing these Indians were not prepossess'd with any Forms of Government he would instruct them into such a Form as we had written in the Word of God that so they might be a People in all things ruled by the Lord. Accordingly he expounded unto them the Eighteenth Chapter of Exodus and then they chose Rulers of Hundreds of Fifties of Tens and therewithal enter'd into this Covenant We are the Sons of Adam We and our fore-fathers have a long time been lost in our Sins but now the Mercy of the Lord beginneth to find us out again therefore the Grace of Christ helpeth us we do give our selves and our Children unto God to be his People He shall rule us in all our Affairs the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us and the wisdom which God has taught us in his Book shall guide us Oh Jehovah teach us Wisdom send thy Spirit into our Hearts take us to be thy People and let us take thee to be our God Such an Opinion about the Perfection of the Scripture had he that he thus express'd himself upon this Occasion God will bring Nations into Distress and Perplexity that so they may be forced unto the Scriptures all Governments will be shaken that Men may be forced at length to pitch upon that firm Foundation The Word of God The little Towns of these Indians being pitched upon this Foundation they utterly abandoned that Polygamy which had heretofore been common among them They made severe Laws against Fornication Drunkenness and Sabbath-breaking and other Immoralities which they began to lament after the Establishment of a Church-order among them and
Soul in thy Heavenly Kingdom 42. Nehemiah this very hopeful young Man going out to hunt with a Companion who fell out with him and stabbed him mortally and kill'd him A little was gather'd up spoke by him as followeth I am ready to die now but knew not of it even now when I went out of my door I was only going to hunt but a wicked Man hath killed me I see that word is true He that is well to day may be dead to morrow He that laughed yesterday may sorrow to day My Misery overtook me in the Woods No Man knoweth the day and time when his Misery cometh Now I desire patiently to take up my Cross and Misery I am but a Man and must feel the Cross Oh Christ Jesus help me thou art my Redeemer my Saviour and my Deliverer I confess my self a Sinner Lord Jesus pardon all my Sins by thy own Blood when thou diedst for us O Christ Jesus save me from Hell Save my Soul in Heaven Oh help me help me So he died The wicked Murderer is fled 43. John Owussumug sen He was a Young Man when they began to pray to God he did not at the present joyn with them he would say to me I will first see into it and when I understand it I will answer you he did after a while enter into the Civil Covenant but was not entered into the Church-Covenant before he dyed he was propounded to joyn to the Church but was delayed he being of a quick passionate temper some witty littigations prolonged it I till his Sickness but had he recovered the Church was satisfied to have received him he sinished well His Speech as followeth Now I must shortly die I desired that I might live I sought for Medicines to cure me I went to every English Doctor at Dadham Medfield Concord but none could cure me in this World But Oh Jesus Christ do thou heal my Soul now I am in great pain I have no hope of living in this VVorld a whole Year I have been afflicted I could not go to the publick Sabbath worship to hear God's VVord I did greatly love to go to the Sabbath VVorship Therefore I now say to all you Men Women and Children Love much and greatly to keep the Sabbath I have been now long hindred from it and therefore now I find the worth of it I say unto you all my Sons and Children do not go into the Woods among non-praying People abide constantly at Natick You my Children and all my Kindred strongly pray to God Love and Obey the Rulers and submit unto their Judgment hear diligently your Ministers Be obedient to Major Gookins and to Mr. Eliot and Daniel I am now almost dead and I exhort you strongly to Love each other be at peace and be ready to forgive each other I desire now rightly to prepare my self to dye for God hath given me warning a whole year by my Sickness I confess I am a Sinner My heart was proud and thereby all Sins were in my heart I knew that by Birth I was a Sechim I got Oxen and Cart and Plough like an English Man and by all these things my heart was Proud Now God calleth me to Repentance by my Sickness this whole Year Oh Christ Jesus help me that according as I make my confession so through thy grace I may obtain a pardon of all my Sins For thou Lord Jesus didst dye 〈◊〉 us to deliver us from Sin I hear and believe that thou hast dyed for many Therefore I desire to cast away all Worldly hindrances my Lands and Goods I cast them by they cannot help me now I desire truely to prepare to dye My Sons I hope Christ will help me to dye well Now I call you my Sons but in Heaven we shall all be Brethren this I Learned in the Sabbath Worship all miseries in this World upon Believers shall have only Joy and Blessing in Jesus Christ Therefore Oh Christ Jesus help me in all my miseries and deliver me for I trust in thee and save my Soul in thy Heavenly Kingdom now behold me and look upon me who am dying So he dyed 44. John Speen he was among the first that prayed to God he was a diligent Reader he became a Teacher and carried well for Divers years until the Sin of strong drink did infect us and then he was so far infected with it that he was deservedly laid aside from Teaching His last Speeches were as followeth Now I dye I defire you all my Friends forgive him that hurt me for the word of God saith in Mat. 6.3 4. Forgive them that have done you wrong and your Heavenly Father will forgive you but if you do not forgive them your Heavenly Father will not forgive you Therefore I intreat you all my Friends forgive him that did me wrong for John Nunusquanit beat him and hurt him much a little before his Sickness now I desire to dye well now I confess all my Sins I am a Sinner especially I loved strong Drink too well and sometimes I was mad drunk tho I was a Teacher I did offend against praying to God and spoiled my Teaching all these my Sins and Drunkeness Oh I pray you all forgive me Oh Jesus Christ help me now and deliver my Soul and help me that I may not go to Hell for thou O Christ art my Deliver and Saviour Oh God help me Lord tho I am a Sinner Oh Lord do not forget me And so he dyed 45. Black James He was in former times reputed by the English to be a Pawaw but I cannot tell this I know he renounced and repented of all his former ways and desired to come to Christ and pray to God and died well as appears in what followeth Now I say I almost dye but you all my Sons and all you that pray at Chabanukong komu◠take heed that you leave not off to pray to God for praying to God is exceeding good for praying to God is the way that will bring you to the Heavenly Kingdom I believe in Christ and we must follow his Steps Especially you my Sons beware of Drunkenness I desire you may stand fast in my room and Rule well I am almost now dead and I desire to dye well Oh Lord Jesus Christ help me and deliver my Soul to die well So he died CHAP. XIX Strange ways of Restraining Persons from Sin THE Doctrine of the Irresistibleness of Gods Decrees was so far ventilated in the last Age that the Letters of Accord between the Judicious Bishop Sanderson and the Learned Dr. Hammond sufficed to confirm me and I think they may be sufficient for others in this Opinion viz. That those whom God hath Elected to everlasting Life shall be so far taken care of that such means shall be allowed them and such methods used towards them that they shall not fail of Inheriting Everlasting Life For whom God Loves he Loves unto the end And all things shall work
Discourses upon these Subjects and after all told me Sir the Lord hath given me Repentance for this Sin yea and for every other Sin I see the evil of Sin now so as I never saw it before Oh I loath my self I am a very vile Creature in my own Eyes I do also believe Lord help my unbelief I am heartily willing to take Christ upon his own Terms One thing troubles me I doubt this bloody Sin will not be pardoned Will Jesus Christ said he apply his Blood to me that have shed my own I told him Christ shed his Blood even for them that with wicked Hands had shed the Blood of Christ and that was a Sin of deeper Guilt than this Well said he I will cast my self upon Christ let him do by me what he pleases And so I parted with him that Night Next Morning the Wounds were to be open'd and then the Opinion of the Chyrurgeon were he would immediately expire Accordingly at his Desire I came that Morning and found him in a most serious frame I prayed with him and then the Wound in his Stomach was opened but by this time the Ventricle it self was swoln out of the Orifice of the Wound and lay like a live discolour'd Tripe upon his Body and was also cut through so that all concluded it was impossible for him to live however they stitch'd the Wound in the Stomach enlarged the Orifice and fomented it and wrought it again into his Body and so stitching the Skin left him to the Dispose of Providence But so it was that both the deep VVound in his Throat and this in his Stomach healed and the more dangerous VVound Sin had made upon his Soul was I trust effectually healed also I spent many Hours with him in that Sickness and after his return home received this Account from Mr. Samuel Hardy a Minister in that Town Part whereof I shall Transcribe Dear Sir I was much troubled at the sad Providence in your Town but did much rejoyce that he fell into such Hands for his Body and Soul You have taken much Pains with him and I hope to good purpose I think if ever a great and thorough VVork were done such a way it is now and if never the like I am perswaded now it is Never grow weary of such good VVorks One such Instance is methinks enough to make you to abound in the work of the Lord all your days Flavel's Divine Conduct CHAP. XXI Wants strangely supplied JOseph was sold into Egypt by the Envy of his Brethren to make Provision for them and their Father in a time of Famine Elijah is fed by an Angel when he was ready to starve with Hunger under the Juniper-Tree and found to his great Surprizal a Cake baked on the Coals and a Cruise of Water at his Head another time by a Raven who brought him Bread and Flesh Morning and Evening and a third time by the Wisdom of Zarepheth's Barrel of Meal and Cruise of Oyl which failed not so long as there was necessity of it What should I tell of Daniel and the three Children's Pulse and Water our Saviour's Loaves and Fishes of the Money found in the Belly of a Fish of the great Draught of Fishes that astonished St. Peter into Amazement God feedeth the young Ravens c. 1. Origen with his poor Mother and six Children after the Father's Death and the Confiscation of all his Goods to the Emperor procured a Sustenance for himself and them by teaching a Grammar-School and after being weary of that Profession he betook himself to the stndy of Sacred Scripture and Divinity and thus throwing himself upon Divine Providence it pleased God he was entertain'd by a Religious and Rich Matron together with his Mother and Brethren Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Mr. Samuel Clark in the Life of that painful and humble Servant Mr. John Fox records a memorable Instance or Providence and it is thus That towards the end of King Henry the Eighth his Reign he went to London where he quickly spent that little his Friends had given him or he had acquired by his own Diligence and began to be in great want As one day he sat in St. Paul's Church spent with long Fasting his Countenance thin and his Eyes hollow after the ghastful manner of dying Men every one shunning a Spectacle of so much horror There came one to him whom he had never seen before and thrust an untold Sum of Money into his Hand bidding him be of good Cheer and accept that small Gift in good part from his Country-man and that he should make much of himself for that within a few Days new Hopes were at Hand and a more certain Condition of Livelihood Three Days after the Dutchess of Richmond sent for him to live in her House and be Tutor to the Earl of Surrey's Children then under her Care 3. Mr. Isaac Ambrose a worthy Divine whose Labours have made him acceptable to his Generation in his Epistle to the Earl of Bedford prefixed to his last things gives a pregnant Instance in his own Case his Words are these For my own part saith he however the Lord hath seen cause to give me but a poor pittance of outward things for which I bless his Name yet in the Income thereof I have many times observ'd so much of his peculiar Providence that thereby they have been very much sweetned and my Heart hath been raised to admire his Grace When of late under an hard Dispensation which I iudge not mete to mention wherein I suffer'd conscientiously all Streams of wonted Supplys being stopt the VVaters of Relief for my self and Family did run low I went to Bed with some Staggerings and Doubtings of the Fountains letting out it self for our refreshing but e're I did awake in the Morning a Letter was brought to my Bed-side which was signed by a choice Friend Mr. Anthony Ash which reported some unexpected breakings out of God's Goodness for my Comfort These are some of his Lines Your God who hath given you an Heart thankful to record your Experiences of his Goodness doth renew Experiences for your Encouragement Now shall I report one which will raise your Spirit towards-the God of your Mercies VVhereupon he sweetly concludes One Morsel of God's Provision especially when it comes in unexpected and upon Prayer when wants are most will be more sweet to a Spiritual Relish than all former Enjoyments were Flavel's Divine Conduct p. 93. 4. Rochell was strangely relieved by a Shoal of Fish that came into the Harbour when they were ready to perish with Famine such as they never observed before nor after that time Ibid. p. 31. 5. Mr. William Garaway a Gentleman sufficiently known for his excellent Parts and Activeness and Fidelity to both King and Country in several Parliaments during these three last Reigns told me lately of another such a Special and Remarkable Providence as this was which happened to a certain Sea-Port Town in England
long as might be The seven in the Boat apprehended themselves to be in a condition little better than that of them in the Ship having neither Sail nor Oars neither Bread nor Water and no Instrument of any sort except a Knife and a piece of Deal-board with which they made sticks and set them up in the sides of the Boat and cover'd them with some Irish-Cloth of their own Garments to keep off the spray of the Sea as much as could be by so poor a matter In this condition they drave with an hard VVind and high Sea all that day and the night following But in the next Morning about six a Clock they saw a Ketch the Master was Mr. Edmund Henfield of Salem in New-England under Sail which Ketch coming right with them took them up and brought them safe to New-England And it is yet further remarkable that when the Ship Foundred the Ketch which saved these Persons was many Leagues to the VVestward of her but was by a contrary VVind caused to stand back again to the Eastward where these distressed Persons were as hath been said met with and relieved 11. January 13. 1670. Three VVomen viz. the VVives of Lieut. Filer and of John Drake and of Nathaniel Lomas having crossed Connecticut-River upon a necessary and neighbourly Account and having done the work they went for were desirous to return their own Families the River being at that time partly shut up with Ice new and old and partly open There being some Pains taken aforehand to cut a way through the Ice the three VVomen abovesaid got into a Canoo with whom also there was Nathaniel Bissel and an Indian There was likewise another Canoo with two Men in it that went before them to help them in case they should meet with any Distress which indeed quickly came upon them for just as they were getting out of the narrow passage between the Ice being near the middle of the River a great part of the upper Ice came down upon them and struck the end of their Canoo and broke it to pieces so that it quickly sunk under them The Indian speedily got upon the Ice but Nathaniel Bissel and the abovesaid Women were left floating in the middle of the River being cut off from all manner of humane Help besides what did arise from themselves and the two Men in the little Canoo which was so small that three Persons durst seldom if ever venture in it they were indeed discern'd from one Shoar but the dangerous Ice would not admit from either Shoar one to come near them All things thus circumstanced the suddenness of the Stroke and Distress which is apt to amaze Men especially when no less than Life is concern'd the extream Coldness of the Weather it being a sharp Season that Persons out of the Water were in danger of freezing the unaptness of Persons to help themselves being mostly Women one big with Child and near the time of her Travel who was also carry'd away under the Ice the other as unskill'd and unactive to do any thing for self-preservation as almost any could be the Waters deep that there was no hopes of footing no passage to either Shoar in any Eye of Reason neither with their little Canoo by reason of the Ice nor without it the Ice being thin and rotten and full of holes Now that all should be brought off safely without the loss of Life or wrong to Health was counted in the day of it a Remarkable Providence To say how it was done is difficult yet something of the manner of the Deliverance may be mentioned the abovesaid Nathaniel Bissel piercing their Danger and being active in swimming endeavour'd what might be the preservation of himself and some others he strove to have swum to the upper Ice but the Stream being too hard he was forced downwards to the lower Ice where by reason of the slipperiness of the Ice and disadvantage of the Stream he found it difficult getting up at length by the good Hand of Providence being gotten upon the Ice he saw one of the Women swimming down under the Ice and perceiving an Hole or open place some few Rods below there he waited and took her up as she swum along The other two VVomen were in the River till the two Men in the little Canoo came for their Relief at length all of them got their Heads above the water and had a little time to pause tho' a long and difficult and dangerous way to any Shoar but by getting their little Canoo upon the Ice and carrying one at a time over hazardous Places they did though in a long while get all safe to the Shoar from whence they came 12. Very memorable was the Providence of God towards Mr. Ephraim How of New-Haven in New-England who was for an whole twelve Month given up by his Friends as a dead Man but God preserved him alive in a desolate Island where he had suffer'd Shipwreck and at last return'd him home to his Family The History of this Providence might have been mention'd amongst Sea-Deliverances yet considering it was not only so I shall here Record what himself being a godly Man did relate of the Lord 's marvellous Dispensations towards him that so others might be encouraged to put their trust in God in the times of their greatest Straits and Difficulties On the 25th of August in the Year 1676. the said Skipper How with his two eldest Sons set sail from New-Haven for Boston in a small Ketch Burden 17 Tun or thereabout After the Dispatch of their Business there they set Sail from thence for New-Haven again on the 10th of September following But contrary winds forced them back to Boston where the said How was taken ill with a violent Flux which Distemper continued near a Month many being at that time sick of the same Disease which proved mortal to some The Merciful Providence of God having spared his Life and restored him to some measure of Health he again set Sail from Boston Octob. 10. By a fair wind they went forward so as to make Cape Cod but suddenly the weather became very Tempestuous so as that they could not seaze the Cape but were forced off to Sea when they were endanger'd in a small Vessel by very fearful Storms and outragious VVinds and Seas Also his eldest Son fell sick and died in about Eleven Days after they set out to Sea He was no sooner dead but his other Son fell sick and died too This was a bitter Cup to the good Father It is noted in 1 Chron. 7.22 that when the Sons of Ephraim were dead Ephraim their Father mourned many days and his Brethren came to comfort him This Ephraim when his Sons were dead his Friends on Shoar knew it not nor could they come to comfort him But when his Friends and Relations could not the Lord himself did for they died after so sweet gracious and comfortable a manner as that their Father
the Odiousness of the Fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritans Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the Business having Suits now in England at the Court Yet he promised to engage him all that he could and to send into England with the first so soon as the Plot had taken Effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further Suspicion kept still in Flanders all the beginning of September and then returning receiv'd the Keys of the Cellar and laid more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Country and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Peircy meeting at the Bath it was there concluded that because their numbec was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which Authority he took in Sir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esq of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient State and Wealth For Sir Everard offer'd Fifteen Hundred Pounds to forward the Action and Tresham Two Thousand But Peircy disdaining that any should out-run him in Evil promised Four Thousand Pounds out of the Earl of Northumberland's Rents and ten swift Horses to be used when the Blow was past Against which time to provide Ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been apprehended alive whose own Tongues only could have given an Account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their Complices they at home were no less active For Peircy Winter and Fawkes had stored the Cellar with thirty fix Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of Shot has said upon them Bars of Iron Logs of Timber Massie stones Iron Crows Pickaxes and all their working Tools and to cover all great Store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the good Success of their expected Hopes Upon Thursday in the Evening ten Days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was deliver'd by an unknown Person to his Footman in the Street with a strict Charge to give it into his Lords own Hands which accordingly he did The Letter had neither Date nor Subscription and was somewhat unlegible This Letter was imparted to the Earl of Salisbury then Principal Secretary and they both presently acquainted the Lord Chamberlain next to the Earl of Worcester and Northampton and last to the King as followeth My Lord Out of the Love I bear to some of your Friends I have a care of your Preservation Therefore I would advise you as you tender your Life to devise some Excuse to shift off your Attendance at this Parliament For God and Man have concurr'd to punish the Wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this Advertisement but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the Event in safety For though there be no Appearance of any Stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them This Counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm For the danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter and I hope God will give you the Grace to make a good use of it to whose holy Protection I commend you His Majesty after reading this Letter pausing a while and then reading it again deliver'd his Judgment that the Stile of it was too quick and pithy to be a Libel proceeding from the Superfluities of an idle Brain and by these Words That they should receive a terrible Blow at this Parliament and yet should not see who hurt them he presently apprehended that a sudden Danger by a Blast of Gunpowder was intended by some base Villain in a Corner though no Insurrection Rebellion or desperate Attempt appear'd And therefore wished that the Rooms under the Parliament-House should be thoroughly searched before himself or Peers should sit therein Hereupon it was concluded that the Lord-Chamberlain according to his Office should view all Rooms above and below but yet to prevent idle Rumours and to let things ripen further it was resolved that this Search should be deferr'd till Monday the day before the Parliament met and that then it should be done with a seeming slight Eye to avoid Suspect According to this Conclusion the Earl of Suffolk Lord-Chamberlain upon Monday in the Afternoon accompanied with the Lord Monteagle repair'd into these Under-Rooms and finding the Cellar so fully stored with Wood and Coals demanded of Fawkes the counteffeit Johnson who stood there attending as a Servant of small Repute who owned the place He answer'd that the Lodgings belong'd to Master Thomas Peircy and the Cellar also to lay in his Winter-Provision himself being the Keeper of it and Master Thomas Peircy's Servant whereunto the Earl as void of any Suspicion told him That his Master was well provided for Winter Blasts But when they were come forth the Lord Monteagle told him That he did much suspect Peircy to be the Inditer of the Letter knowing his Affection in Religion and the Friendship betwixt them professed so that his Heart gave him as he said when heard Peircy named that his Hand was in act The Lord-Chamberlain returning related to the King and Council what he had seen and the Suspition that the Lord Monteagle had of Peircy and himself of Johnson his Man all which increased His Majesties Jealousie so that he insisted contrary to the Opinion of some that a harrow Search should be made and the Billets and Coals turn'd up to the bottom and accordingly the Search was concluded to be made but under colour of searching for certain Hangings belonging to the House which were missing and conveyed away Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman of His Majesties Privy-Chamber was employ'd herein who about Midnight before the Parliament was to begin went to the place with a small but trusty number of Persons And at the Cellar Door entring in finding one who was Guy Fawkes at so unseasonable an Hour cloaked and booted he apprehended him and ransacking the Billets he found the Serpent's Nest stored with Thirty six Barrels of Powder and then searching the Villain he found a Dark-Lanthorn about him three Matches and other Instruments for blowing up the Powder And being no whit daunted he instantly confessed his Guiltiness vowing that if he had been within the House he would have blown up House and self and all and before the Council lamented nothing so much as that the Deed was not done saying The Devil and not God was the Discoverer
Translating a Book called Enchiridion Militis Christiani and when he had finished it he presented it to the Lady that he might with more Advantage to the Cause convince her that it was not his only Sentiment but the Doctrine of others also and accordingly he succeeded in his purpose and afterwards when he had Composed a Book of his own about the Sacrament and against the Mass he kept it by him for some time because he could not bear it but waited for a fitter Season for the Publication of it Clark's Eccl. Hist p. 166. 2. Mr. Henry Alting was so Prudent that his Answers were accounted Oracles yet he would never refuse to hear the Judgment of others and in cases of Difficulty he would never rest till he had searched out and made the Truth plain And in the Government of his Family he kept all so in Peace Order and Concord that this only was known That none knew what was done therein Ibid. p. 496. Arch-Bishop Vsher's Prudence appears excellent by this Story which followeth 3. A Lord's Eldest Son who from his Cradle had been trained up in Popery but was of excellent Parts and Learning was at last prevailed with by his Father to Sojourn for a while with the Learned Prelate in Drogheda The Prudent Prelate studied nothing more than how he might take him by Craft as the Apostle did the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12.16 And therefore did not presently fall into Discourse with him about his Religion but recreated himself for a time in Discoursing with him about some Philosophical Questions and School-Points in which Studies he perceived the Gentleman was well versed and took much delight in them This he continued till at last he gained so far upon his Affections that of his own accord he moved some Discourse about Matters of Religion and then finding him Studious he did not presently go about to instruct him in that Truth but sought to puzzle him with Doubts about Religion By this means the Gentleman's Conscience began to be awakened nor were his Scruples removed though he had recourse to a Monastery hard by where it was Debated so that at last he came with Tears to the Learned Primate for Satisfaction and he promised to deal Faithfully with him But saith he those whom you trust do not so for they will not suffer you to see with your own Eyes nor to understand the Scriptures but according to their Churches Commentaries Then did he advise him to go amongst them and to ask them Whether he that understood the Originals might Examine their Interpretations And to bring him word what they said Accordingly he did so and brought him word That they were divided in their Judgments Mr. Clark in the Life of Dr. Vsher p. 294. 4. Bishop Babington had a little Book containing only Three Leaves which he turned over Night and Morning the first Leaf was Black to mind him of Hell and God's Judgments due to him for Sin the second Red to mind him of Christ and his Passion the third White to set forth God's Mercy to him through the Merits of his Son in his Justification and Sanctification Clarks Exampl vol. 1. p. 540. 5. Rodulph the Emperor of Germany being at Noriberg there came a Merchant to him and complained That having left a Bag with 200 Marks in it with a Citizen with whom he had Lodged the Man now denied the same The Emperor ask'd him for his Proofs he takes his Oath of it but could produce no other Witness The Emperor bids him stay in another Room and asks what manner of Bag it was and the Man unexpectedly coming to Salute the Emperor the Emperor begins to him with the Admiration of his Hat and pray'd him to give it Him The Citizen gave it and took it for an Honour that so great a Personage would accept of it Upon this the Emperor with-draws sends a Servant to this Man's Wife desiring from her Husband to send him such a Money-Bag and withal the Hat for a Token The Woman sent it the Emperor shews it the Merchant who knew it and rejoyced at the sight Then the Emperor calling the Citizen tells him the other Man's Complaint of a Sum of Money delivered into his Custody The Citizen denies and Forswears it The Emperor produceth the Bag upon which the Citizen was confounded obliged to pay the Merchant the full Sum and sufficiently Fined besides Lips Exempl Pol. p 135. Item Lips Monit l. 2. c. 9. p. 259 c. CHAP. XXXI Remarkable Justice JVstice is so necessary a Vertue in the World that no Commerce or comfortable Conversation could be maintained without it 't is a Dictate of the Law of Nature and writ is as fair and legible Characters as any other whatsoever Yet 't is imprinted in a more Capital Letter by the Laws of Christianity so that now he that runs may read it And blessed be God tho' we have many that love the ways of Unrighteousness and consequently are tempted to pervert Justice yet many worthy Examples may be found of such who had rather chuse according to the old Symboâ— to do Justice than Save the World Fiat Justitia pareat Mundus 1. When Theodosius was at Rome after he had overcome Maximus he reformed two most abominable Wickednesses the first was this There was in Rome a huge House of Ancient Building where all the Bread that served the City was baked and most of the Rooms were under Ground round about it were Taverns and Victualling-Houses full of Harlots so that many that resorted thither either to satisfie their Hunger or Lust were by these Whores spoiled of all they had and usually so made away that their Friends could hear of them no more For by private Conveyances they were thrown into these Back-Houses and there kept to Grinding and Drudgery all their Life after It chanced that one of the Emperor's Soldiers was thus thrown into this Hole who when they would not suffer him to depart drew his Dagger and slew some that hindered his Escape so that the rest being afraid let the Soldier go and the Emperor being informed by him sent for the Millers and Bakers punished the Masters with extream Torments overthrew those blind Houses and so rid the Princely City of that shameful doing The other Abuse which he reform'd was this If a Woman were taken in Adultery they shut her up in a narrow Stew and compelled her beastly and without all shame to play the Harlot ringing a Bell whilst the thing was doing that all the Neighbours might be acquainted with it which was so far from removing the Sin that it rather increased it The good Emperor being informed hereof caused the Stews to be pulled down and wholly Suppressed and made other Laws for the punishment of Adultery Clark in the Life of Theodos 2. Charles the bold Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders had a Noble Man in special Favour with him to whom he had committed the Government of a Town in
God! Oh! how am I filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Oh Lord I solemnly resolve against all my Sins These are the Murtherers that would not have thee to Reign over me Original Sin the pollution of my own Nature the Sins that I have committed before I knew what Sin was have rendred me obnoxious to thy Displeasure I beg of thee that thou wouldest give them their Death's Wound I shall now meditate on the wonderful Love of God in electing some to Salvation and passing by others and wonder that I shou'd be an Object of Electing Love sure Lord thou cou'dst not have chosen one more vile than I am and one that wou'd have carried it to thee as I have done I may well wonder at thy infinite Love I considered of the Love of God in parting with the Son of his Love to die for Sinners that God shou'd contrive such a way of Salvation for fallen Man and not for fallen Angels What an astonishing amazing Love was that that Christ shou'd become Man that he shou'd be so poor as not to have where to lay his Head when he came to enrich the World Oh that sweet Expression of Christ's Love when he says I was with him when he laid the Foundations of the World yet then my Thoughts were in the habitable part of the Earth and my Delights were with the Sons of Men. That I shou'd be one of them that Christ shou'd have in his Thoughts of Love I cou'd not but cry out And why me Lord why me Oh infinite Free Grace that I shou'd be freely chosen whereas if God had but required Satisfaction for one Sin tho' but a sinful thought I must have perish'd for ever I told Christ Dearest Jesus I cannot at this Sacrament take a denial of thy gracious Presence I come to meet with God and I cannot be contented without him I bless thy Name I have often enjoyed great Delight in this Ordinance but now I would enjoy more of God than ever I would have all my Graces grow and flourish I would have my Sins utterly destroyed and rooted out O Blessed Jesus I come to thee here are my Lusts my Pride my Vnbelief my want of Love to thee the base Sins of my Nature my disingenuous Carriage towards thee here Lord slay them before thee They are unwilling that thou shouldest rule in my Soul I did in these or the like Expressions make over my self to be more entirely God's and I dare own upon review that I did enjoy Christ This did in some measure set my Soul a longing for Heaven Lord said I if a Smile of thy Love is so sweet what are the full and ravishing Views of thy Love If a Glimps of my dearest Jesus is so sweet and refreshing what will the full Visions of God be for ever But my base Heart was several times trying to draw me from God O surely a Freedom from Sin will be unconceivably sweet to me that am so continually harassed with these Corruptions She writ abundance of such MEDITATIONS and EJACVLATIONS as these but here 's all that her Husband could ever get transcribed By these her MEMOIRS and RVLES for holy Living we not only see what an extraordinary Wife she was for her Husband says she fully practis'd 'em but also the happy Effects of a regular Course of Piety for certainly never was there on a Sick-bed a greater Instance of a willing Resignation to the Will of God as to either Life or Death She would often say to her Husband O my dear 't is a solemn thing to die but I can freely leave all the World but you and at saying so she would still burst out into Tears she said at another time Sickness is no time to prepare for Death were my Work now to do I were undone for ever But I shall stop here for she needs not borrowed Shades to set her off I need do no more than refer you to these Memoirs which are all the curious Contexture of her own Brain I shall only add She was MISTRESS IN THE ART OF OBLIGING in which she attain'd that Sovereign Perfection that she reigned over all Hearts with whom she did converse In a word She did consecrate her self entirely to God and was more afraid of Sin than of Hell it self In such a loose Age as this such an extraordinary Instance may perhaps be doubted as to the Truth of it but I do assure the Reader there 's nothing inserted in this Relation of Mrs. L but what is real Matter of Fact CHAP. LII Good Husbands Remarkable HVsbands have as much cause to be good as Wives and more clearness of Reason and strength of Judgment ordinarily to govern their Passions and direct their Actions and therefore they should excel the Women not only in Prudence but in Goodness and particularly Patience And so they do sometimes as for Instance 1. Sir Nathanael Barnardiston seemed here to imitate the Practice of the Lord Jesus towards his Church in his Conjugal Love Protection and full Contentation and Delight until he became a Pattern and Mirrour of Matrimonial Sweetness and Faithfulness and as it is said by one of the Rabbins concerning Methuselah's Wife That she had Nine Husbands in One for Age and Years so I may say of this Gentleman's Lady that she had Nine Husbands in him alone for his aimable Carriage and Graces These were it is true acted while he was living but he left a Testimonial in his Will of his living Affection after his own Death over and above the Marriage-Covenants to shew his endearedness of her by his Affectionate Remembrance when he himself was gone See his Life 2. Dominicus Catalusius was the Prince of Lesbos and is worthy of eternal Memory for the entire Love which he bare to his Wife she fell into a grievous Leprosie which made her appear more like unto a rotten Carcase than a living Body Her Husband not fearing in the least to be infected with the Contagion nor frighted with her horrible Aspects nor distasted with the loathsome Smells sent forth by her filthy Ulcers never forbid her either his Board or Bed but the true Love he had towards her turned all those things to him into Security and Pleasure Lond. Theatr. p. 462. Fulgos L. 4. C. 6. p. 526. 3. Ant. Wallaeus lived most lovingly with his Wife they never brake forth into Anger or mutual Brawling their mutual Care was to please each other and by Deeds to prevent each others's Desires neither did Wallaeus fear any thing more than that his Dear Wife should die before him-for he used her not only for the Government of his Family but for his constant Companion What soever befel him in the Common-wealth Church or Civil Converse he acquainted her with it ask'd and often followed her Advice for she was a modest and prudent Woman Clark's Eccles Hist p. 488. 4. Mr. Eliot of New-England loved prized and cherished that one Wife which was given to
Transaction between God and him and upon mature Deliberation he judged it most adviseable for him to make his Covenant with God as Explicit as Writing and Signing could render it that so it might leave the more Impression upon his Heart and Life and be an Evidence likewise which in Temptation or Desertion he might have recourse unto Wherefore he set apart a time for I think secret Fasting and Prayer before the Lord and then behold how this young Man counting it high time for hime to be bound out unto some Service took a course for it he subscribed an Holy Covenant of which this was the Matter this the Form The Covenant between God and my Soul renewed confirmed and signed Nov. 22. 1683. Whereas not only the Commands of God who hath often called upon me by his Word preached to give up my self both Body and Soul to be at his Disposal which calls by the publick Ministry were enough to engage me unto this but also the Christian Religion which I profess and my Baptism in which I took the Lord to be my God and promised to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil and to dedicate my self unto the Service Work and Will of God do bind me hereunto in that God is such a God as deserves this yea infinitely more than this at my Hands my Creator the Fountain of my Being my Preserver my Benefactor my Lord my Soveraig my Judge he in whose Hands my Life my Breath and all my Concerns are he that doth protect me from all Dangers and supply me in all Wants support me under all Burdens and direct me in all Streights he alone that can make me Happy or Miserable he alone that can Save me or Damn me he alone that can give inward Peace and Joy that is my Friend my God in that Self-dedication is the Creatures Advancement these First-fruits if in Sincerity putting upon me a Gloriousness and Excellency in that Felicity hereafter depends upon my dedicating of my self unto God now in that this is the highest piece of Gratitude I am capable of expressing unto God and I know no better way to obey the Will of God than first to give up my self unto him And whereas the Mercies which the Lord hath been pleased graciously to bestow upon me are so many that even bare Morality doth shew me that I can never enough requite one that hath done so much for me except by giving up my self wholly to him 1669. Whereas God hath given me a godly Father and Mother 1674. In that when I was like to die being twice sick of a Feaver God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery and lengthen out the Thread of my Life 1675. Whereas when I by an Accident fell down and had like to have been deprived of the use of my Tongue God was in his good Providence graciously pleased to give me the use of it 1678. Whereas when I was sick of the Small Pox God was pleased to bless means for my Recovery whereas then I made Promises unto God that if he would give me my Health I would endeavour to become a new Creature and he hath done so for these five Years And whereas God hath of late been bestowing many and wonderful Mercies upon me What can I do less than give up my self wholly to him which now I do And O Lord God I beseech thee to accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating of himself before thee I confess O Lord I have fallen from thee by my Iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Hell but of thy infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ If I will but turn unto thee with all my Heart therefore upon the call of thy Gospel I come in and from the bottom of my Heart I renounce all thy Enemies with whom I confess I have wickedly sided against thee firmly Covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known Sin but conscientiously to use all means which thou hast prescribed for the utter Destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have inordinately let out my Affections upon the World I here resign my Heart unto thee that made it humbly protesting before thy glorious Majesty that it is the firm Resolution of my Heart and that I do unfeignedly desire Grace from thee that when thou shalt call me thereunto I may put in Practice my Resolution through thine Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in the World rather then to turn from thee to the ways of Sin and that I will watch over all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from thee beseeching thee to help me I renounce all my own Righteousness and acknowledge that of my self I am helpless and undone and without Righteousness and whereas of thy bottomless Mercy thou hast offer'd to accept of me and to be reconciled to me and to be my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I do this day avouch thee to be the Lord my God I do here take the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and chief Good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising to endeavour to serve thee in Righteousness and Holiness I do here also on the bended Knees of my Soul accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and living Way by which Sinners may have access to thee and do here joyn my self in a Marriage-Covenant with him O Lord Jesus I come to thee hungry poor miserable blind and naked and a most loathsome Creature a condemned Malefactor Who am I that I should be Married unto the King of Glory I do accept of thee for my Head and Husband and embrace thee in all they Offices I renounce my own Worthiness and do choose thee the Lord my Righteousness I do renounce my own Wisdom and do take thine for my Guide I take thy Will for my Will and thy Word for my Law I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoke I do subscribe to all the Laws as Holy Just and Good and do promise to take them as the Rule of my Thoughts Words and Actions but because I am subject to many Failings through frailty I do here protest here before thee that unallowed Miscarriages contrary to the constant Bent of my Heart shall not disannul this everlasting Covenant NATHANAEL MATHER It may justly be taken for granted that such a Work as this would have an Influence into his Conversation afterwards and so it had producing in him a Conversation which became the Gospel of Christ. He kept waiting upon God not only in the Family but also under the Ministry of Two that were near a-kin unto him namely his Father and his Brother whereby the Grace thus begun in him was not a little cherished and promoted and unto all known Sins he now kept saying as I find once in Short-hand written by him To my Lusts I have had Communion
forsake all my Sins I am willing to give Glory to God in taking Shame unto myself I acknowledge myself a guilty Malefactor and judge myself worthy of the just Condemnation of the Righteous Judge of all the Earth XV. I hope I am one whom God hath taken into Covenant with himself because he hath bestowed upon me the Fruits of the Covenant because he hath circumcised my Heart to love him and hath put his Fear into me and hath wrought an universal change in me and hath given me a new Heart and a new Spirit XVI As for my Affliction that lieth upon me though it be in itself very heavy I much more desire the sanctification of it than the removal I earnestly labour to learn all those Lessons which God teacheth me by Affliction XVII Faith is the Condition of Salvation Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved And this is his commandment that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ. Now I find nothing so hard to me as to believe aright Yet I must and will give Glory to God and say Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Thus I have according to the Apostle's Exhortation endeavoured to give a Reason of the Hope that is in me Thus far Mr. Edm. Calamy 18. Mr. Albyn's Evidences for Heaven which take in his own Words viz. Some Observations upon my own Heart which I humbly hope are true Evidences of a Work of saving Grace and that my Soul has a real Interest in Jesus Christ and I desire to deal plainly sincerely and truly as in the presence of the Heart searching God in this great and weighty Work of Self-Examination humbly and heartily imploring the Grace and Assistance of God's most Holy Spirit therein 1. I desire every day to attain unto a most clear and distinct Knowledge of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with all their Properties and Attributes and to have more high and reverend Thoughts of him and to be more enlarged in Thankfulness in Heart and Life for my Creation and Preservation but especially for my Redemption 2. I desire a true sanctified Knowledge of the whole Will of God and the full Latitude of every Commandment 3. I heartily desire and endeavour to yield constant and chearful Obedience to every one of his Commandments and particularly I endeavour to consecrate the Sabbath Day in the Service of God only and I embrace all opportunities besides that I conveniently may to hear the Word of God Preached and to Read and Meditate on it in private and I would not willingly omit any opportunity for coming to the Table of the Lord nor neglect Praying in my Family or alone in private in and by all which Ordinances 't is the unfeigned Desire of my Soul to enjoy true Spiritual Communion with God through Jesus Christ and that every Grace of God may by them be strengthened in me and evdry Sin and Lust mortified and though I do most miserably and sinfully miscarry in the Performance of every Holy Duty being continually haunted with many sinful Wandrings and Indispositions of Heart for which I unfeignedly humble my self 'twixt God and my own Soul confessing the same and Judging and Condemning my self for them in his Presence yet through the infinite Mercy and Bounty of my gracious God through Jesus Christ I feel and experimentally find some sensible Abatements of the one and a comfortable Addition to the Strength of the other 4. I do desire and in some poor Measure endeavour constantly to watch and observe the Actings and Motions of my own Heart and would not allow of any sinful Project or Design whatsoever to be contrived and harboured therein and am more careful to keep my Heart from contemplative Iniquity then to order my outward Actions to the Liking and Approbation of Men. 5. I desire to know the Duties of every one of my Relations and conscientiously to walk in all of them to Magistrates Ministers Parents Wife Children Servarts and all others and in reference to the present Distractions of our Land I humbly desire that the Lord would be pleased to set up such a Magistracy as I may with a good Conscience yield chearful Obedience to all its Lawful Commands and such under whom Religion may flourish the Power of Godliness be countenanced and the Government of Jesus Christ be erected and submitted unto for the Effecting whereof I pray that God would cast out the Spirit of Errour Prophaneness and Divisions that is almongst us 6. For the Duties of my particular Calling I desire faithfully to discharge the same and pray that God would give me such a Measure of Grace and true Heavenly Wisdom as that I may not be carryed away with Covetousness Ambition or Deceitfulness on the one hand nor with Pride Idleness or Presumption on the other but that I may conscientiously Labour diligently in my Calling so as to provide for my Family and that I may have to give to him that needeth Praying that I may be kept from all those Sins and Temptations that do attend my Calling at any time 7. I do often tho' with much Frailty and Weakness reflect on my own ways acknowledging before God and bewailing my own Miscarriages and beg Pardon for them and all my secret unknown Sins through the Merits of Jesus Christ and still desire the Lord to keep me from the Deceits of my own Heart and from all the Temptations I do or may meet with in reference to the Sins of the present evil Times And in my Judgment and Affections so far as I know my own Heart I would rather loose all my outward Comforts and Accommodations then sin against my God by a sinful Submission to any unlawful Injunctions for the Preservation thereof and pray thatas the Lord hath hitherto I hope in some good measure kept me so he would still preserve me upright in Heart before him and unspotted in Life before Men and that if I should be called thereunto he would give me Grace and Strength to make publick Profession of my Resolution to persevere in well doing and to keep close to my Duty whatsoever Sufferings I meet withal and that the carnal Reasoning of my corrupt Flesh and Blood which I find to be exceeding strong and often assaulting of me may never prevail over me to make me sin against my God on whose Promises I desire above all other things Grace to rest and commit my self to his gracious Providence to take care for me and mine rather then to use and sinful means to secure or provide for my self or them 8. In all Streights and Difficulties I meet with in my Calling and in all Hazards in my Estate by Sea or otherwise I first of all make my Addresses to the Throne of Grace for Strength and Courage to trust and relie upon the faithful Promises and gracious Providence of God and for Direction and Assistance for the conscientious using of all lawful Means for the managing of my
chearfulness tractableness industriousness willingly to learn and obey of thy Truth and honesty and especially of thy Desire and Endeavour to know and serve the Lord. Oh Child this good Character of thee is the most comfortable and reviving Cordial that I have taken all the time of my late and long Sickness I pray God continue thy good Resolutions of living up to thy Master's wonderful Commendations of thee Now dear Child if thy Deserts answer these Praises I shall not fear but I shall meet thy Face in Heaven hereafter though through my corporal Indisposition I fear I shall see thy Face no more on Earth and in the new Jerusalem if thou diest in the Arms of Divine Embraces I shall see thee not disfigured with Pock-holes but dignified with celestial Glory and there wilt thou see thine own Mother's Face who killed herself with excessive Love to thee and who died Praying so earnestly for thy everlasting Salvation But I must subscribe in hast being much indisposed through a Cold I catch'd last Lord's Day in Preaching Your real loving Father Still Praying for the Welfare of your Soul and Body May 10. 1675. I shall next add his pious Counsel to his Son which he gave him at his own House December 25th 1675. which here follows in his own Words viz. Concerning your SOVL 1. AS you have been a Son of many Prayers and Tears being a long time earnestly begg'd of God and against all Human Hope being brought forth into the World by God's Special Hand of Providence and being wonderfully restored to Life again after sâ—me Hours seeming Death which immediately ensued after your Birth and being likewise as signally delivered from the nearest hazard and likelihood of Death when you had the Small-Pox I do therefore exhort and charge you in the Presence of the All-seeing God and as you will answer it before Jesus Christ the Judge of the Quick and Dead that you make it your primary and principal Care and Endeavour to know fear love obey and serve God your Creator and Deliverer as he hath revealed himself through his Son by his Spirit in his Holy Word 2. I do likewise counsel you to read God's Holy Word both in the Latin and English Bible as often as you have opportunity and I also counsel you to read over Wollebius's Compendium of Theology in Latin and English 'till you well understand both at such Seasons as you may most conveniently do it 3. I do likewise counsel you constantly every Morning and Evening to pray unto God for his Direction Protection and Benediction in all that you do and that with an audible Voice when you may conveniently do it or at least mentally expressing all possible Reverence Affection Joy and Thankfulness to God through Christ therein 4. I counsel you likewise manfully to resist all Extreams sinful Sadness and Despondency of Spirit and to exercise Faith Chearfulness and Delight in the remembrance of all God's Mercies and Deliverances 5. I do likewise counsel you carefully to shun all evil Company with all Temptations to and Occasions of Evil. 6. I do likewise counsel you to be Dutiful to your Mother Loving to your Brother and Sisters Obedient to your Master diligently and faithfully to serve the Lord in all Relations and Conditions as he requireth Concerning your BODY 1. I Counsel you to use moderate Exercise and lawful Recreations for the necessary Health of your Body being always moderate in your Eating Drinking and Sleeping Never spend too much Time of Cost in any Exercise or Recreation Concerning your ESTATE 1. I Do counsel you never to desert your Trade or Calling which you have by God's special Providence been call'd unto 2. I do counsel you to serve out your full time with cheerfulness and delight endeavouring to acquaint your self with all the Mysteries and Improvements of your Trade and if you find not convincing Reasons to the contrary to serve as Journey-man for One Year because I judge you may by that means gain more Acquaintance and Interest and a further Insight into your Trade 3. I do counsel you not to marry before you be Twenty five Years of age unless some remarkable Providence shall induce you thereunto 4. I do likewise counsel you to use all possible Prudence in your Choice of a Wife that she be truly Religious or at least eminently Vertuous that is born of honest Parents and who is of Age and Estate suitable unto your self 5. I do likewise counsel you not to sell any part of your Estate in Land if either your Wife's Portion or your borrowing of Money upon Interest may conveniently serve to set up your Trade 6. I do likewise counsel you to have a convenient Shop in a convenient Place at your own Charge which will very much facilitate and make way for your suitable and comfortable Marriage yet if you shall by some remarkable Providence meet with a Wife of a considerable Estate you may by her Portion set up your Trade without Mortgaging of your Land 7. Lastly I likewise counsel you in all Things and in all Times so to Think and Speak and Act as you may be willing to appear before God at Death and Judgment Decemb. 25. Anno Dom. 1675. 20. Constantine the Great did so honour the Countenance of old Paphnutias tho' disfigured by the loss of his Eye that he often with delight did kiss the Hollow of that Eye which was lost for the Cause of Christ Chetwind's Historical Collections 21. I have read of one Chilion a Dutch Schoolmaster who being perswaded to recant and save his Life for the sake of his Wife and poor Children answered If the whole Earth was turned into a Globe of Gold and all mine own I would part with it rather than with my Wife and Children and yet these I can part with for the sake of Jesus Christ. The like was said by George Carpenter as Mr. Fox relates Part 2. p. 113. Mr. Barker's Flores 22. A young Man condemned and brought to the Block and then remitted by Julian as he rose spake these Words Ah sweet Jesus am not I worthy to suffer for thy sake Luther's Coll. p. 247. CHAP. LXII Remarkable Zeal and Charity in Propagating Religion EVery thing is naturally apt to communicate its own Qualities Earth Air Fire and Water the Sun Moon and all the Planets the Light makes an Infant smile and the Night affects us with dulness and sleepiness God would make us good and happy as himself is and the Devil bad and miserable Jews and Mahometans and Hereticks have a Zeal many times to promote their particular and unsound Principles but we have some Examples of good Christians who have been forward and zealous to propagate the Gospel in sincerity 1. Mr. Tho. Gouge having a compassion for those parts of Wales which were distressed with Ignorance and wanted the Means of Knowledge made a Journey into South Wales and in every Town where he came he enquired what poor People there were
and made savoury with Grace to the edification of others and 't is certain that out Tongues are but the Signs and Indications of our Thoughts and therefore as the Heart thinketh the Tongue speaketh commonly A pure Fountain doth not send out dirty Streams nor a good Tree bring forth evil Fruit. Besides our Language doth not only expose our selves but hath a great Influence in disposing of others either to Good or Evil to Truth or Error and therefore we had need be cautious and use a sober Prudence and Piety in the Government of that little Member And wise and good People are so sparing and discreet in their Words 1. Bembo a Primitive Christian coming to a Friend to learn a Psalm he began to him the 39th I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not in my tongue Upon hearing of which Words he stop his Tutor saying This is enough if I learn it as I ought And being after Six Months rebuked for not coming again replied That he had not learnt his first Lesson Nay after Fifteen Years he professed That in that time he had scarce learned to fulfil that one Line Anonym 2. Dr. Potter when Fellow of Queen's College Oxon observing the Fellows after Dinner according to their usual manner talking together of many trivial things said nothing but carefully remarked what they said and when they had done talking he thus bespake them Now my Masters will you hear all your extravagant Discourses for I have strictly observed and marked what you said and thereupon gave them a perfect Rehersal of all their Discourses which they admired and wondred at See his Life by Mr. Clark p. 155. Much the like Story is reported of Mr. J. Janeway in his Life 3. The Essaeans are towards God very Religious for before the Sun rise they speak of nothing but Holy Things and then they make certain Prayers and Vows after the manner of their Country c. Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 2. c. 7. 4. The Council of Trent because Bishops must be blameless exhorts that to prevent idle Discourses which might arise at the Table of Bishop's themselves the Holy Scriptures be read Conc. Trid. Decret 1. Sess 5. John Picus Earl of Mirandula usually discoursed amongst his Friends of the Vanity and Uncertainty of all Earthly Things and of the Stability of Heavenly Things and therefore he would often call upon them to love the Lord above all c. Clark in his Life 6. One of Bishop Latimer's Injunctions to the Prior and Convent of St. Mary's House in Worcester 1537 was thus Item That the Prior have at his Dinner or Supper every Day a Chapter read and to have edifying Communication of the same History of the Reformation by Dr. Burnet 7. Cardinal Pool in the Platform of his Reformation requires Bishops to have at their Table the Scriptures or other good Books read mixt with pious Discourses Ibid. 8. The Conferences of Mr. John Eliot were like those which Tertullian affirms to have been common among the Saints in his Days Vt qui sciret Dominum audire as knowing that the Ear of God was open to them all and he managed his Rudder so as to manifest that he was bound Heaven-ward in his whole Communication He had a particular Art at Spiritualizing of Earthly Objects and raising of high Thoughts from very mean Things As once going with some feebleness up the Hill to Church he said unto the Person that led him This is very like the way to Heaven 't is up Hill the Lord by his Grace fetch us up And instantly spying a Bush near him he as nimbly added And truly there are Briars and Thorns in the way too As a Friend of the famous Vrsin could say That he never went unto him without coming away Aut doctior aut melior either the wiser or better from him So 't is an Animadversion which more than One Friend of our Eliot's hath made concerning him I was never with him but I got or might have got some good from him Cott. Mather in the Life of Mr. J. Eliot p. 19. 9. Oh! saith Dr. Bolton that worthless Subjects should so often take up our Tongues and Thoughts And Christ so full so sweet so delightful and so profitable a Subject which shall be Matter for our Soul's Discourse to all Eternity shall be thrown aside as not worth taking up In Vit. ejus 10. Mr. Giles Firmin speaking of Mr. Daniel Rogers saith He was a Man of great Parts great Grace and great Infirmities My Father Ward would often say of him My Brother Roger hath Grace enough for Two Men and not half enough for himself a most woful Temper or rather Distemper in his Constitution which hindred much the Lustre of that Grace which was in him By one passage we may judge of his Grace he Dined One Day at a Knight's Table what Company was there I know not but he had not that liberty to be a seasoning his Meat with Savoury and Spiritual Discourse as he was wont to do to sit at Meals and not one Word for God was to him strange the next Day he comes to my House the Man was sadly dejected in such a manner that those who fall into gross Sins scarce know so much Sorrow What is the matter said I. This was the Reason that he was a Man of such a base dastardly Spirit that he could not speak for God I told him Your Father would say in such Companies If you cannot sowe any Good you do well if you can keep out evil Much ado I had to get up his Spirit Firmin's Real Christian Preface to the Reader 11. The late Countess of Warwick would perfume the Company with good Discourse to prevent idle or worse Communication not abruptly upbraidingly or importunely which is very nauseous and fulsome and spoils a good Game by bad Playing but she was like Spiritual Stove you should feel the Heat and not see the Fire and find yourself in other Company among the same Persons and rather wonder than perceive how you came there for she would drop a wise Sentence or moral holy Apothegm with which she was admirably furnish'd that suited with at least not far remote from what was talk'd of and commending or improving it that she 'd wind about the whole Discourse without offence yea with pleasure Dr. Walker in her Life 12. The Discourses which daily fell from Bishop Vsher at his Table in clearing Difficulties in the Scripture and other Subjects especially when learned Men came to visit him tended exceedingly to the Edification of the Heaters so that it might well be said of him as the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon Happy are these thy Servants that stand continually about thee and hear thy Wisdom See his Life 13. Mr. Samuel Fairclough made such a Reform in his Parish that divers Persons who had lived many Years in the place said That in the whole time they never heard an Oath sworn nor
and of great Note too that I could name 2. The Reverend Mr. Hooker a Man so bashful and modest by natural Disposition that he was not able to outface his own Pupils yet hath been rewarded with a competent Estate whilst living and a good Name and glorious Elogiums since his Death 3. Mr. Thomas Gouge was great in Modesty yet it never appeared by word or action that he put any value upon himself or hunted for any applause from Man and this was very observable in him that the Charities which were procured chiefly by his Interest and Industry where he had occasion to speak or to give an Account of them he would rather impute it to any one that had but the least hands and part in the procuring of them than assume any thing of it to himself Another Instance of his Modesty was that when he was ejected out of his Living of Sepulchres Parish he forbore Preaching saying That there was no need of his Labours in London where there were so many godly able and painful Ministers to carry on that Work According to the Apostle's Exhortation he was cloathed with Humility and had in a very eminent degree that Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which St. Peter tells us is in the sight of God of great Price so that there was not the least appearance either of Pride or Passion in any of his Words or Actions He was not only free from Anger and Bitterness but from all affected Gravity and Moroseness His Society and Converse was affable and pleasant He had a very great serenity of Mind and evenness of Temper which was visible in his very Countenance and according his Humility was rewarded with Honour and Respect from Men with the Love of all Parties though of different Sentiments with a great Tranquility of Mind with a peaceable and quiet Possession of the Good Things of this Life and at last with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gentle and easie Death for in a good old Age of Seventy seven Years he died in his Sleep without any sensible Pain or Sickness A. C. 1681. See his Life See more in the Ch. The Humble strangely advanced 4. Mr. John Fox in his younger Days and towards the latter and of King Henry the Eighth's Reign went to London where he lived humbly and obscurely and soon spent what his Friends had given him and his own Industry got him and began to be in want one Day sitting disconsolate in St. Paul's Church almost spent with long Fasting his Countenance being thin his Eyes hollow after the ghastful manner of dying Men insomuch that every Body shunned a Spectacle of so much horrour there came one to him as he was sitting in this humble and homely Posture and despicable Condition and thrust an untold Sum of Money into his Hand bidding him be of good Cheer and accept that as a common Courtesie from his country-men wishing him to make much of himself for within a few Days new Hopes were at hand Mr. Fox could never learn who this was but within Three Days after the Dutchess of Richmond sent for him to live in her House and be Tutor to the Earl of Surrey's Children then under her Charge Clark's Examp. Vol. 2. p. 610. 5. Humility says the Reverend Mr. Steel makes a Man think meanly of himself moderately of his own Notions and Apprehensions highly of those that deserve it and respectfully of all It was this which taught excellent Bishop Ridley when he was in Prison thus to accost honest Bishop Hooper However in some By-matters and Circumstances of Religion your Wisdom and my Simplicity I grant hath a little jarr'd yet now c. More Comfort to them if they had been on these Terms in the time of their Liberty and Prosperity Humility is a great step to Unity Ephes 4.2 I beseech you that ye walk with all lowliuess and meekness with long-suffering for hearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Pray behold how these Graces are here link'd together lowliness meekness unity and peace The humble Man will not endure that his Reputation shall outweigh the Peace of the Church and therefore is more willing that Truth should be victorious than himself He 'll go Two Miles for One to meet his Adversary in an honest way of Accommodation and when he cannot make his Judgment to bend yet his Heart shall stoop to you with all sincerity This Vertue made Aristippus come to Eschines when they were at fend with this greeting Eschines Shall we be Friends And this dictated his Answer Yes Sir with all my Heart But remember saith Aristippus That I being elder than you do make the first motion Yea said the other and therefore I conclude you to be the worthier Man for I began the Strife and you began the Peace Let us all then be cloathed with Humility assume not in regard of your Learning Wit or Parts consider you are but Sharers in our Common Benefactor neither let your Riches or Dignities make you speak or write otherwise than you would do without them and this will go a great way to prevent our biting and devouring one another See Mr. Steel 's Sermon in the Casuistical Morning Exercises CHAP. LXX Present Retribution to the Just. THE Vnjust Oppressors Extortioners Felons Thieves and fraudulent Persons think with their crooked Policy their crafty Dealings their Dissimulation and Tricks to impose upon the World to delude the Senses of Men and enrich themselves and be secure but upon a fair Examination it will be certainly found that Righteousness stands upon much the surer Ground and bids fair both for the Love of Man and the Blessing of God Righteousness exalts a Nation when Sin in general and Injustice in particular is the Reproach and Ruine of any People 1. Sir John Fitz-James of whom we have mentioned before in remarkable Justice was by King Henry the Eighth advanced to be Chief Justice of the King's-Bench 2. Sir Matthew Hale of whom we have mentioned as another Great Example of Justice was presently so taken Notice of by the Eye of the World that he was imployed in his Practice by all the King's Party he was assigned Council to the Earl of Strafford Arch-bishop Laud King Charles the First the Duke of Hamilton the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel Afterwards being Councel for the Lord Craven he pleaded with that force of Argument that the then Attorney-General threarned him for appearing against the Government To whom he answered He was Pleading in Defence of those Laws which they declared they would maintain and preserve and he was doing his Duty to his Client so that he was not to be daunted with Threatnings Upon all these occasions he had discharged himself with so much Learning Fidelity and Courage that he came to be generally imployed for all that Party and afterwards Cromwel resolving to take him off from that Party endeavoured to promote him
to a Judge's place in the Common-Pleas and he was much urged to accept of it by some eminent Men of his own Profession who was of the King's Party as Sir Orlando Bridgeman and Sir Geoffery Palmer He accepted of the place and was afterwards chosen a Parliament-Man Thus he continued administring Justice 'till the Protector died but then he both refused the Mournings that were sent to him and his Servants for the Funeral and likewise to accept of the New Commission that was offered him by Richard and when the rest of the Judges urged it upon him and employed others to press him to accept of it be rejected all their Importunities and said He could act no longer under such Authority He lived a private Man 'till the Parliament met that called home the King to which he was returned Knight of the Shire from the County of Gloucester Soon after this when the Courts in Westminster-Hall came to be settled he was made Lord Chief Baron and when the Earl of Clarendon then Lord Chancellor delivered him his Commission in the Speech he made according to the Custom on such occasions he expressed his Esteem of him in a very singular manner telling him among other things That if the King could have found out an honester and fitter Man for that Employment he would not have advanced him to it and that he had therefore preferred him because he knew none that deserved it so well As last 1671 he was proved to the Lord Chief Justice of England See his Life by Dr. Burnet CHAP. LXXI Present Retribution to the Temperate SOlomon amongst the Elogiums he bestows upon Spiritual Wisdom gives this for one That length of days is in her right hand and upon Observation it will be found true For besides other Considerations the Rules of Temperance prescribed by our Religion for the Government of our Appetites de mightily conduce to the preservation of Health and long Life and many other Commodities which shall be hinted at in the following Paragraphs 1. Johannes de Temporibus may justly go for an Antesignanus in the Front of this Chapter Armour-bearer to Charles the Great a Man of great Temperance Sobriety and Contentment of Mind and lived to the Age of 361. Hackwel Apol. L. 3. C. 1. Sect. 6 c. 2. Lescius in his Hygiasticon speaking concerning Sobriety reckons up the several Commodities of it thus 1. It frees from almost all Diseases Catarrhs Coughs Wheezings Dizziness Pains of Head and Stomach Apoplexies c. 2. It fortifies against outward Causes Heat Cold Labour Wounds Bruises putting out of Joynt breaking of Bones for Flux of Humours doth much hinder the Cure and causeth Inflamations against the Plague c. 3. It mitigates incurable Diseases as ulcers in the Lungs Hardness in the Liver and Spleen c. 4. It conduceth to long Life and an easie Death except in Cases extraordinary 5. It makes the Body agile lightsome fresh 6. It maintains the Senses in their integrity and vigour 7. It mitigates the Passions especially Anger and Melancholly 8. It preserves the Memory 9. It helps the Wit and Understanding 10. It quencheth Lust and doth wonderfully prevent the Temptations of the Flesh c. 3. Hippocrates to one asking his Advice concerning the preservation of his Health made Answer Let Meat Drink Sleep Venery all be moderate Nor did he only prescribe so to others but practised himself and accordingly he lived One hundred and Four Years Verulam History of Life and Death 4. Galen who lived in Health except One Day 's Sickness the space of an Hundred Years being asked what Diet he used answered I have drank no Wine touched no Woman eat nothing raw or unripe kept my Body warm and my Breath sweet Some say he lived One hundred and forty Years Fulgos L. 8. C. 14. 5. Cicero prescribeth thus for the Health Concoction Chearfulness Walking Temperance Recreation and the Belly soluble Marcil in Pyth. Carm. 6. Sir Matthew Hale with some other young Students being invited to be merry out of Town one of the Company called for so much Wine that notwithstanding all that Sir Matthew Hale could do to prevent it he went on in his excess 'till he fell down as dead before them Mr. Hale thereupon went into another Room shut the Door and pray'd earnestly to God both for himself and his Friend making a Vow to God That he would never again keep Company in that manner nor drink a Health while he lived His Friend recover'd and he religiously kept his Vow to his dying Day and though sometimes roughly treated because he would drink no Health but especially the King 's yet he fared never the worse either in God's Favour or the King 's as appears by the Divine Blessing upon his Practice and the Preferments he had at Court See his Life 7. Ludovicus Cornarius a Venetian and a Learned Man wrote a Book of the benefit of a Sober Life and produceth himself as a Testimony thereof saying Vnto the Fortieth Year of my Age I was continually vexed with variety of Infirmities I was sick at Stomach of a Fever a Pleurisie and lay ill of the Gout At last this Man by the Perswasion of Physicians took up a way of living with such Temperance that in the space of One Year he was freed almost of all his Diseases In the Seventieth Year of his Age he had a fall whereby he brake his Arm and Leg so that upon the Third Day nothing but Death was expected yet he recovered without Physick for his Abstinence was to him instead of all other means and that was it which hindred a recurrency of malignant Humors to the Parts affected In the Eighty third Year of his Age he was so sound and chearful so vegete and so entire in his Strength that he could climb Hills leap upon his Horse from the even Ground write Comedies and do most of those things he used to do when he was young If you ask how much Meat and Drink this Man took his daily Allowance for Bread and all manner of other Food was Twelve Ounces this was his usual Measure and the said Cornarius did seriously affirm That if he chanced to exceed but a few Ounces he was thereby apt to relapse into his former Diseases All this he hath set down of himself in Writing and it is annexed to the Book of Leonardus Lescius a Physician which was Printed at Amsterdam Anno Dom. 1631. Drexel Oper. Tom. 2. p. 794. Lescius Hygiastic C. 4. Sect. 25. p. 86. 8. Mr. W. Garaway of whom I have made mention elsewhere in this Book is now going upon the Eighty first Year of his Age very healthful and stout in his Body of perfect Sence and good Memory to a wonder but the wonder is abated when we consider his Caution used in Dieting of himself for he keeps a Fast and abstains from all Fond at least One Day every Week and at other times ordinarily abstains from Wine and strong
Liquors unless now and then a Glass by way of Cordial CHAP. LXXII Present Retribution to the Devout and Praying Or Prayers answered in Kind NEver did God say to any of the Seed of Jacob seek my face in vain Our Saviour hath resolved us by the Authority of his Word the Example of the Syrophoenician Woman Mat. 15 22. And the Parable of the Importunate Widow Luke 18.2 That Prayer is no vain or fruitless Point of Devotion Let Elijah Daniel David Jesus the Apostles and all the sincere Votaries of the Church of GOD give their Suffrage in the Case 1. Alexander Bishop of Constantinople when Arius was sent for thither by the Emperour to give an Account of his unquiet Behaviour at Alexandria shut himself up in the Church and there fell to Fasting and Prayer begging of God Night and Day with Tears That if Arius were true in his Opinion he might never see the Day of his Trial but if not that God would inflict some visible Judgment upon Arius the Author of so much Mischief Arius before the Emperour subscribed and swore to the Decrees of the Nicene Council but with Fraud and Equivocation for swearing that he heartily assented to what he had written he meant only a Form of Faith which he had purposely put in his Bosom upon this the good Emperour was satisfied and commanded Alexander to receive him into his Communion This was upon Saturday but the next Day expecting to the admitted he goes out of the Palace with Eusebius and many Followers in great Pomp and Pride but by and by in the chief Marker-place of the City his Conscience accused him his Belly loosened he called for the next Jakes whither he retired immediately and there his Fundament coming out he voided much Blood together with Bowels Spleen and Liver and so died wretchedly Clark's Marr. of Eccl. History 2. St. Augustine when the Goths and Vandals were broke into Africa and besieged Hippo sitting at Table one Day with his Presbyters and the Bishops that were fled thither from other places for Refuge said to them You know Brethren that from the beginning of this Siege my daily Prayers have been That God would either free us from it or give his Servants Patience and Courage to undergo what he imposeth or to take me out of this present evil World and I believe that God will answer my desire And accordingly the Third Month of the Siege he fell sick of a Fever and died Ibid. And Dr. Jer. Tailour Life of Christ. He was very powerful in Prayers so that sometimes thereby he hath cast out Devils Clark Ibid. I have mention'd formerly in my Christian 's Companion out of his Confessions that once being extreamly afflicted with the Tooth-ach so that he could not speak by writing he requested his Friends that came to visit him to pray with and for him which they did and immediately whilst they were at Prayers his Pain ceased and his Speech was restored 3. Luther being present at the Marriage of Philip. Duke of Pomerania with Mary Daughter to the Elector of Saxony prayed for a Blessing and taking Philip by the hand said The Lord God be with you and keep your Posterity from failing but his Wife continuing barren Four Years all his Male-stock was like to be extinct yet at length by God's Blessing according to Luther's Prayer he had Seven Sons by her which wonderfully increased the Family Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 141. 4. Mr. Hugh Latimer used constantly in his Prayers to beg That God would restore the Gospel to England once again Which blessed be God hath been granted Clark's Exam. p. 461. 5. Luther is said to be able to prevail with God at his pleasure to obtain what he list according to that of Prov. 12.2 Once praying for the Recovery of Myconius he let fall this rapturous Expression Fiat voluntas mea Let my Will be done and then sweetning it Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My Will because thine which was granted Ibid. p. 466. 6. Henry late Lord Delamer in his Advice to his Children tells them That he had observed any Morning that he had hurried over his Devotions the Day following was not prosperous and that thing which particularly occasioned him to such haste met with ill success Lord Delamer's Works p. 3. 7. A. C. 1584 near Bern in Switzâ—rland a certain Hill in an Earthquake was carried violently over and beyond other Hills and covered a whole Village consisting of Ninety Families one Half-house only excepted wherein the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were earnestly praying unto God This is attested by Polanus who lived in those parts Syntag. p. 841. Present Retribution to the Devout Prayers answered in kind c. 8. IF Mr. Elliot said of any Affiar I cannot bless it it was a worse omen to it then the most inauspicious Presages in the World but sometimes after he had been with God about a thing he was able successfully to foretel I have set a Mark upon it it will do well I shall never forget that when Enland and Holland were plunged into the unhappy War which the more sensible Protestants every-where had but sorrowful Apprehensions of our Elliot being in the height and heat of the War privatly asked What News we might next look for Answered unto the surprize of the Enquirer Our next News will be a Peace between the two Protestant Nations God knows I pray for it every day and I am verily perswaded we shall hear of it speedily And it came to pass accordingly There was a godly Minister of Charles-Town one Mr. Foster who with his Son was taken Captive by Turish Enemies much Prayer was made both privately and publickly by the good People for the Redemption of that Gentleman but we were at last informed that the bloody Prince in whose Dominion he was now a Slave was resolved that in his Life-time no Prisoner should be released And so the distressed Friends of this Prisoner now concluded Our hope is lost Well upon this Mr. Elliot in some of his next Prayers before a very solemn Congregation very broadly begg'd Heavenly Father work for the Redemption of thy poor Servant Foster and if the Prince which detains him will not as they say dismiss him as long as himself lives Lord we pray thee to kill that cruel Prince kill him and glorifie thy self upon him And now behold the Answer the poor captivated Gentleman quickly returns to us that had been Mourning for him as a lost Man and brings us news that the Prince was come to an untimely Death by which means he was now set at liberty Cotton Mather in his Life p. 50. 9. In 1642 One Mary Glover a Merchants Daughter in Thames-street being bewitched by one Mother Jackson who was arraigned at Newgate in London continuing every second day in most strange and dreadful Fits and Torments for about three Weeks or a Month after the Witch was condemned several Ministers and
an idle Person walking in the Streets but their Doors and Windows close shut the People within exercised in serious and grave Discourses reading of the Scriptures Repetition of Sermons Catechising Praying Singing of Psalms c. In the other the Doors open the Streets too much frequented with idle Company and licentious Exercises And even in Whitchurch where the Plague first and afterwards a Fire had the greatest Influence the Rector or Minister of the Parish did often enough and very plainly admonish them Inhabitants of that particular Street called the New-Town of their careless observance of the Lord's-Day as if that in his Judgment were the distinguishing Sin of that Street above any others in the Town 4. I have taken Notice elsewhere of Ministers and others who have been delighted and expended themselves in Sabbatical Devotions have been called to their Rest upon that Day As for instance 1. The Divine Poet nad Preacher Mr. Herbert 2. Mr. Edw. Deering 3. Theodore Beza 4. Arch-Bishop Abbot soon after he came out of the Pulpit fell sick and shortly after died 5. Dr. Rob. Harris died between Twelve and One a Clock on Saturday Night 6. Dr. Preston at Five a Clock on the Lord's-day Morning 7. Dr. Thomas Tailour of Aldermanbury Mr. Edward West the Lord's-Day-Night after having Preach'd there 8. Mr. Julius Herrings 9. Mr. Thomas Wadsworth and Mr. Richard Vines 10. Sir Matthew Hale upon Christmas-Day a Day which he used to Celebrate with great Devotion and much Spiritual Joy leaving behind him no less than Seventeen Poems which he had Composed upon that Day to the Honour of his Saviour Cum multis aliis c. On the same Day died Mr. Sam. Crook Minister See the Head of Sudden Death for more Relations of this nature 5. Mr. H. Burton after his Sufferings and Exile having an Order sent him from the Parliament for his Enlargement and his Return for England makes this Observation and in these Words Blessed Tidings indeed and the more because it comes from a Parliament and the more because it comes from a Parliament's Handsel presenting much Good but promising more The News filled Guernsey Castle with Joy and so the Island The First Observation I made of it was of the Day on which this Tidings came First I noted it was the Lord's-Day which Day I had mightily propugned and defended both by Preaching and Writing against the Malignant and Prophane Adversaries of the Sanctification thereof and of its Morality And when the Book for Dispensations and Allowance of Sports on that Day came with an Injunction to be publickly read in my Church upon the Lord's-Day that ery Day instead of Reading of it I turned my Afternoon Preaching into an opening of the Fourth Commandment therein proving the Lord's-Day both for Sabbath and Sanctification under the Gospel now the Order for my Liberty came on that Day See his Life p. 38. CHAP. LXXV Present Retribution to them that have been Obedient to Parents HOnour thy Father and Mother saith the Apostle which is the first Commandment with Promise And the particular Promise annexed to it is Length of Days viz. That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And the Reason is obvious and natural and plain to any Man of Common Sence for besides that the Dutifulness of Children is the likeliest may to engage the Favour of God and the Divine Conduct and Blessing on their sides it obligeth the Children who are temselves green in Years and unexperienced in the World and obnoxious to many Temptations and Snares of Ill Company Idleness Rashness Licentiousness c. to keep close to wiser Counsels and the grave Instructions of their faithful aged and experienced Parents by which means they oftentimes fare better than such rash and refractory Phaetons who throw off the Yoke of Parental Discipline and are left like Sons of Belial to do whatsoever seems good in their own eyes How many in the World have escaped the Stings of Poverty and the Ignominy of the Gallows and a violent Death and other Dangers by this means 1. Tho' Lamech had several other Children as Jabal Jubal Tubal-Cain c. yet none that we read of trod in the Steps and proved so dutiful and comfortable to his Parents as Noah Gen. 5.29 And he was remarkably blessed and rewarded for it for when all the rest of the World was destroyed He found Grace in the sight of the Lord Gen. 6.8 2. Noah had Three Sons Shem Ham Japhet but Ham dishonoured his Father and made a Scorn of his Nakedness and therefore was accursed by him Shem and Japhet joyned together and took a Garment to cover their Father's Infirmity and therefore Blessed saith Noah be the Lord God of Shem c. Gen. 9.26 3. Abraham had Two Sons Ishmael and Isaac the one scornful and disinherited and turned out of the House the other dutiful and his Father's Favourite and Heir 4. Isaac had Two Sons Esau and Jacob the one a cunning Hunter a profane Fellow that made light of his Birth-right and therefore forfeited his Blessing the other a plain Man and pious and according procured the Blessing 5. Jacob had many Children but Reuben the First-born unstable as Water went up to his Father's Bed and defiled it and therefore Gen. 49.4 Thou shalt not excel Simeon and Levi had Instruments of Cruelty in their Habitations in their Anger they slew a Man and in their Self-will digg'd down a Wall and therefore ver 7. Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce c. They were to be divided and scattered in Israel Judah to save Joseph's Life who was his Father's Fondling and the Son of his Old Age advised his Brethren to sell him and afterwards offered himself to be Joseph's Bondman for his Brother Benjamin out of Tenderness to his Aged Father Gen. 44.34 For how shall I go up saith he to my Father and the Lad be not with me lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my Father And therefore see how this Piety of Judah and Dutifulness to his Father was at last rewarded chap. 49.8 9 10. Judah thou art he that thy Brethren shall praise thy Hand shall be in the Neck of thy Enemies thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee Judah is a Lion's Whelp c. The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah c. 6. I have read saith my Author of a young Man hang'd at Four and twenty Years whose curled Black Locks upon the Gallows instantly turned White many enquiring into the Cause of such a strange Event a grave Divine assigned this Reason Had this young Man saith he been dutiful to his Parents obedient to his Superiours he might have lived so long 'till that in the Course of Nature his Black Hairs had become White Mr. Quick in his relation of the Poisoning of a whole Family in Plimouth c. p. 87. 7. Mr. Paul Baines of Christ's-College in Cambridge was at first very
between Seven and Eight of the Clock she took the New Testament to read and falling upon the Second Chapter of St. Mark she told her Mistress That she wondred at the Infidelity of the Jews and if such a thing had happenâ—d now saith she that was wrought upon the sick of the Palsie I would run very quickly and believe too and scare had she uttered those words but a redoubling of the Pain came upon her which forced her to stretch out her Leg on which the Bone made a snap her Leg extended itself her Foot and Knee were both restored to their proper situation her Pains ceased and she thought she had heard a Voice saying unto her Thou art healed and presently she walk'd up and down the Chamber and continues very well saving a little weakness The Witnesses who depose that she was extraordinary lame before Nov. 26. were her Father Mother the Inhabitants of the place where she was born and many others English French of all Ages of both Sexes Children of Five or Six Years old a Taylor who made her Cloaths her Shoo maker a Swiss that knew her from her Cradle the Surgeon who visited her Two Years before All which are attested and declared before Sir Sill. Ashurst Lord Mayor of London upon Oath Dec. 19. 1693. 5. Mr. Francis Culham born at New-Buckenham in the County of Norfolk on Christmas-Day 1631. and having been bred a Chirurgeon afterwards Dwelling at the White-Lion in South-Lambeth in the County of Surry in the Month of August 1671. unhappily fell backward and about Michaelmas ensuing had another Fall both which somewhat contused his Head About Three or Four Days after Christmas he complained of an alteration in his Health and about Two Days after became stupified in his Brain which gradually spread over his Body to this a Weakness in his Limbs succeeded so that he was forced to take his Bed and immediately grew not only speechless but lost the use of his Reason He lay a Month without eating any Food or taking any other Sustenance except a small quantity of Drink with a little Syrup of Violets sometimes once a Day which other Days he would intermit nevertheless in all that time he went not to Stool At the expiration of this Month he eat a good Meal and so did eat daily for some short time and after fasted a whole Week neither eating nor drinking any thing then receiving some Sustenance for a few Days he fasted another Week compleat These times of long Fasting being over he afterwards did eat but once in Three Days but then it was incredible both in respect of the Quantity and Manner for be would most greedily devour a whole Joynt of Meat at a Meal and that in a very short time This he usually tore in pieces after an extraordinary ravenous sort and drank therewith not less than Six or Seven Quarts of strong Drink which he always smelt to before he would taste and refused to Drink unless out of a Stone-bottle But the Distemper he seemed to lie under after such extravagant Eating was exceeding strange and remarkable for he made a dreadful and horrid Noise but inarticulate and lay roaring and howling most part of the Day after as sometimes he did before he did eat seeming to covet more Meat even then when he had fed most plentifully In this sad and deplorable Condition he continued keeping his Bed continually and refusing to take any internal Medicine nor did he know either Wife or Children Friends or Visitants or seem'd to take Notice of any other thing He use several sorts of Tones and Cries all lamentable enough and lay for the First Year with his Eyes continually open he would sometimes attempt to bite those that came near him In this time he was once let Blood and once Fluxed About a Month before his Recovery he was twice let Blood but how far that might signifie any thing is uncertain seeing no effect appeared 'till the Day of his Restauration which was the Twelfth of May. 1676. only for Two Days before he now and then wept seeming to have some sensible apprehension of his Wife and Children by holding them fast by the hand when they stood near him tho' since his Recovery he remembers it not But that Twelfth Day of May about Ten a Clock in the Morning by the miraculous Power and Mercy of God his Understanding began to return whereupon he made Signs by moving his Hands in a Writing posture for a Pen Ink and Paper which being brought to him he wrote as followeth LOrd grant a Power from thy Divine Nature I thought I saw the Glorious appear to me The Prayers of all good People I desire I desire the heavenly Water that I thirst no more It is the Light I desire from the most High As the Son doth appear in me I hope a better Work will be perfected in me It is heavenly Bread that I desire that I hunger no more and then I shall be more beautiful His Wife then offering him a Glass of Wine he refused it and wrote again thus It is Prayers I first desire Hereupon the Minister of the Parish was sent for to pray by him who tho' he was not then at home yet not long after bestowed a Visit on him After he had sate up a while Dr. Gale Master of St. Paul's School with Mr. Will. Perry another Minister and two Friends more accidentally passed by his House who being entreated to come in and Pray with him did very readily consent The Doctor being desirous fully and clearly to understand the condition of the Man asked several Questions and finding no Answer but abundance of Tears attended with great Trembling in all his Body and Blackness in his Lips the Doctor with the Company present went to Prayers reading the Office of the Church for the Visitation of the Sick Mr. Culham did manifest a great Devotion applying to himself several Passages in the Offices especially in the Absolution all the while powering out Tears and smiting his Breast And when these Words were pronounced Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Mr. Culham with a loud Voice answered Glory be to God on High Thou hast wrought a great Work now Power is given from the most High c. After this he called for a Morsel of Bread though he had eaten none in all his Distempers refused to drink Sack as too strong for him wondered at his younger Son as grown out of Knowledge gave him his Blessing and commanded him to be dutiful to his Mother These two Ministers came that Night again to him and found him much recovered and since also have frequently visited him at which he always much rejoyceth Immediately upon his speaking he perfectly knew his Neighbours and former Acquaintance who came to see him in great Numbers The second Day after his Recovery he was able to walk about his Chamber leaning on anothers Shoulder the third Day with
a Staff only And now he is greatly increased in Strength feeds moderately sleeps well and his Intellects and Faculties are become exceeding clear and strong His Wife behaved herself toward him all the while he lay under this great Affliction with great Care and Affection and by an honest and industrious course of Life supported him and his Children Attested by Rich. Parr D. D. of Camerwel Tho. Gale D. D. Will. Perry M. A. N. Paget M. D. Elias Ashmole And. Needham Curate of Lambeth c. 6. In the Year 1676 about the thirteenth or fourteenth of this Month October in the Night between one and two of the Clock Jesch Claes being a Dutch Woman of Amsterdam who for fourteen Years had been Lame of both legs one of them being dead and without feeling so that she could not go but creep upon the Ground or was carried in peoples Arms as a Child being in Bed with her Husband who was a Boatman she was three times pulled by her Arm with which she awaked and cryed out O Lord What may this be Hereupon she heard an Answer in plain Words Be not afraid I come in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Your Malady which hath for many Years been upon you shall cease and it shall be given you from God Almighty to walk again But keep this to your self till further Answer Whereupon she cryed aloud O Lord that I had a Light that I might know what this is Then had she this Answer There needs no Light the Light shall be given you from God Then came Light all over the Room and she saw a beautiful Youth about ten Years of Age with curled yellow Hair Clothed in White to the Feet who went from the Beds-head to the Chimney with a Light which a little after vanished Hereupon did there shoot something or gush from her Hip or diffuse it self through her Leg as a Water into her great Toe where she did find Life rising up felt it with her Hand crying out Lord give me my Feeling now which I have not had in so many Years And further she continued crying and praying to the Lord according to her weak Measure Yet she continued that Day Wednesday and the next Day Thursday as before till Evening at six a Clock at which time she sate at the Fire dressing the Food Then came as like a rushing Noise in both her Ears with which it was said to her Stand your going is given you again Then did she immediately stand up that had so many Years crept and went to the Door Her Husband meeting her being exceedingly afraid drew back In the mean while she cryed out My dear Husband I can go again The Man thinking it was a Spirit drew back saying You are not my Wife His Wife taking hold of him said My dear Husband I am the self-same that hath been Married these thirty Years to you The Almighty God hath given me my Going again But her Husband being amazed drew back to the side of the Room till at last she claspt her Hand about his Neck and yet he doubted and said to his Daughter Is this your Mother She answered Yes Father this we plainly see I had seen her go also before you came in This Person dwells upon Princes Island in Amsterdam This Account was sent from a Dutch Merchant procured by a Friend for Dr. R. Cudworth and contains the main Particulars that occur in the Dutch Printed Narrative which Monsieur Van Helmont brought over with him to my Lady Conway at Ragley who having enquired upon the spot when he was there at Amsterdam though of a genious not at all credulous of such Relations found the thing to be really true As also â—hilippus Lambergius in a Letter to Dr. Henry Moor sent this Testimony touching the Party cured That she was always reputed a very honest good Woman and that he believed there was no Fraud at all in that Business Glanvile's Saducism Triumph p. 427. 7. In this place may be accounted the strange way of curing the Struma or Scrophula commonly called the Evil which took its Derivation first of all from King Edward the Confessor and hath in after Ages been effected by the Kings of England and of France Concerning which take only this Story discoursing upon a time with Mr. Philip Caryll of Shipley in Sussex a Roman Catholick concerning Miracles done in this last Age in this Nation he produced this for an Instance That his Son being affected with that Distemper he having no Faith in the case was earnestly perswaded to address himself to King Charles the Second for a Touch of his Hand which having procured his Son was restored to perfect Health which he declared to me calling his Son into company and shewing him perfectly healed 8. Galen had a Man in Cure that had an Artery in his Ankle-bone half cut in sunder whereby he lost all his Blood before any Remedy could be applyed to him He writeth That he was advertised in his Sleep by some God or Angel that he should cut the Artery quite in sunder and the Ends would retire to each side and so lock together again When he awaked he executed what his Dream had represented to him and by that means cured the Man Treas of Ancient and Modern Times l. 5. p. 475. 9. A young Woman Married but without Children had a Disease about her Jaws and under her Cheek like unto Kernels and the Disease so corrupted her Face with Stench that she could scarce without great shame speak unto any Man This Woman was admonished in her Sleep to go to King Edward and get him to wash her Face with Water brought unto him and she should be whole To the Court she came and the King hearing of the matter disdained not to undertake it but having a Basin of Water brought unto him he dipped his Hand therein and washed the Womans Face and touched the diseased Part oftentimes sometimes also signing it with the Sign of the Cross When he had thus washed it the hard Crust or Skin was softned the Tumors dissolved and drawing his Hand by divers of the Holes out thence came divers little Worms whereof and of corrupt Matter and Blood they were full The Kings still pressed it with his Hand to bring forth the Corruption and endured the Stench of it until by such pressing he had brought forth all the Corruption This done he commanded her a sufficient Allowance every day for all things necessary until she had received perfect Health which was within a Week after and whereas she was ever before Barren within one Year she had a Child by her Husband This Disease hath since been called the Kings Evil and is frequently cured by the Touch of the Kings of England Stew's Annals p. 98. 10. Sir John Cheeke was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the Sixth afterwards Secretary of State much did the Kingdom value him but more the King for being once desperately
something in her Lap that looked like a white Bag as he thought which he did not observe before So soon as he had emptied his Pail he went into his Yard and stood still to try whether he could see her again but she was vanished In his Information he says That the Woman seemed to be habited in a brown-colour'd Petticoat Wastcoat and a white Hood such a one as his Wife's Sister usually wore and that her Countenance look'd extream Pale and Wan with her Teeth in sight but no Gums appearing and that her Physiognomy was like to that of his Wife's Sister who was Wife to William Barwick But notwithstanding the ghastliness of this Apparition it seems it made so little Impression in Lofthouse's Mind that he thought no more of it neither did he speak to any Body concerning it till the same Night as he was at his Family Duty of Prayer that that Apparition returned again to his Thoughts and discompos'd his Devotion so that after he had made an end of his Prayers he told the whole Story of what he had seen to his Wife who laying Circumstances together immediately inferr'd that her Sister was either drown'd or otherwise murdered and desired her Husband to look after him the next Day which was the Wednesday in Easter-Week Upon this Lofthouse recollecting what Barwick had told him of his carrying his Wife to his Unkle at Selby repairs to Harrison before-mentioned but found all that Barwick had said to be false For that Harrison had neither heard of Barwick nor his Wife neither did he know any thing of them Which notable Circumstance together with that other of the Apparition encreas'd his Suspicion to that degree that now concluding his Wife's Sister was murdered he went to the Lord-Mayor of York and having obtained his Warrant got Barwick apprehened who was no sooner brought before the Lord-Mayor but his own Conscience then accusing him he acknowledg'd the whole Matter as it has been already related as it appears by his Examination and Confession herewith printed To which are also annex'd the Informations of Lofthouse in like manner taken before the Lord-Mayor of York for a further Testimony and Confirmation of what is here set down On the Sixteenth of September 1690. the said William Barwick was brought to his Tryal before the Right Honourable Sir John Powel Knight one of the Judges of the Northern Circuit at the Assizes holden at York where he was found Guilty and afterwards hang'd in Chains See the Narrative 19. Colonel Venables had a Soldier in his Army that came out of Ireland and as under Colonel Hill who was then in London and would attest this following viz. That this Soldier looked pale and sad and pined and the Cause was unkown At last he came to Colonel Hill with his Confession that he had been a Servant 1. England as I remember to one that carried Stockings and such Ware about to sell an for his Money he had murdered his Master and buried him in such a Place and flying into Ireland listed himself his Soldier and that of a long time whenever he lay alone somewhat like a headless Man stood by his Bed saying to him Wil t thou yet Confess And in this case of Fear he had continued till lately it appeared to him when he had a Bedfellow which it never did before and said as before Wil t thou yet Confess and now seeing no hope of longer concealing it he confessed And as I remember saith my Author his going to Hispaniola was his Punishment instead of Death where Vengeance followed him This he offered then to bring Colonel Hill to me to attest Mr. Baxter 's Histor Disc of Apparitions and Witches c. p. 58. 20. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murder was secretly acted and strangely discovered and the Actors brought to condign Punishment as is well known to most of this Nation that are now living 1. Captain Bedloe deposed thus concerning the Murder The Papists because Sir Edmundbury seemed to be an Obstacle to them and had taken the Information of Oats and Tonge about the Plot resolved and contrived to take away his Life 2. Pursuant to which Design they hired for 4000 Pound Le Phaire Welch Atkins Pritchard the Deponent and some Jesuites to do the Fact 3. Accordingly the above-named Persons trapann'd Sir Edmundbury into Somerset-house about 5 a Clock at Night on Saturday October the 12th 1678. 4. This Trapan was effected thus The Deponent was told by le Phaire that He Welch and Atkins met Sir Edmundbury near the King's-head Inn in the Strand and decoyed him into Somerset-house under Pretence of Apprehending some Plotters 5. When they had him in the upper great Court of Somerset-house they thrust him into a low Room put a Pistol to him and threaten'd him if he made a noise then stifled him between two Pillows and finding him still alive strangled him with a long Cravat in the Room where he lay 6. On Monday following precisely between Nine and Ten a Clock at Night the Body was shewn to the Deponent by Le Phaire in the Room or the next to it where the Duke of Albemarle lay in State in the upper square Court there it was by the help of a Dark-lanthorn the Deponent saw the Body in the presence of Le Phaire Welch Atkins and two other Persons Extracted out of the Journals of the Lords and Council Mr. Prance adds That pursuant to this Design they hired Hill Green Kelley the Deponent Gerald and Berry to do the Fact Accordingly they trapann'd Sir Edmundbury into Somerset-house Hill decoyed him down to the Water-Gate under pretence of parting a Fray when they had him near the Rails by the Queen's Stables Green strangled him with a twisted Handkerchief wrung his Neck quite round punched him with his Knee and dragg'd him into Dr. Godwin's Lodgings On the Monday Night following the Body was shown by he help of a Dark-lanthorn to the Deponent and then at Nine a Clock at Night the dead Body was carried out by certain Chair-men to the corner of Clarenden-house and from thence in a Coach to Primrose-hill says Bedloe into Covent-Garden and so to Long-acre and thence to Sohoe says Prance and from thence he was conveyed a-stride on Horseback before Hill into the Fields where they thrust his Sword through his Body and cast him into a Ditch Out of the Lord's Journal As this Murder was committed for Reward so it was discovered for Reward too 21. Anno 1675. March the 19th William Writtle of Chatham was condemn'd at Maidstone Assizes to be hang'd in Chains on Beacon-hill for murdering of Ann James his Sweetheart and her Son John about Six Years old The manner of which Murder and its Discovery was thus He tells her That he had taken a Malt-house near Canterbury and had near Faulson a small Living under Pretence of going to see them he leads her and her Son into a Copice near Beacon-hill where he first murdered the woman and
Blessings but when by the King and Pope's leave he had dissolved Forty small Monasteries to Erect two Colleges the one in Oxford the other in Ipswich the King seizeth upon his Palace at Westminster takes the Great Seal Wealth and Liberty from him his College at Ipswich destroyed before it was built that at Oxford receives a new Name himself is arrested of High Treason and to prevent a Publick and Ignominious Death Poisons himself 10. The Cardinal in dissolving his Forty Monasteries had made use of five Men besides Cromwel whereof two fought a Duel in which one was slain and the other hanged for Murder a third drowns himself in a Well a fourth a Rich Man too lives to beg his Bread from door to door the fifth a Bishop was cruelly murdered in Ireland by Tho. Fitz-Garret Son to the Earl of Kildare Pope Clement the Seventh that gave consent to this Dissolution is forced out of his Palace besieged at his Castle constrained there to eat Asses Flesh and at last dies of a miserable Disease Cromwel Cardinal Woolsey's Servant and Successor whilst sitting at the Council-Table is suddenly Apprehended sent to the Tower and thence to the Place of Execution 11. King Henry the Eighth who engrossed Sacrilege and entailed it to Posterity is afflicted with the Rebellion of his Subjects in Suffolk Lincoln Somerset York-shire the North Ireland c. with a great Dearth falls from one sin to another in the case of his Wives the three last die Childless the Children of the two first are declared Illegitimate And though he entail'd the Crown upon his Children and they all successively wore it yet they all die Childless and his Family is extinct and not to be mentioned but with his Crimes 12. Charles Brandon was an Active Man and aiding to Henry the Eighth in the Dissolution of Monasteries and received great Rewards out of his Church-Spoils and though he had four Wives yet by the fifth of Edw. 6. the Name Title and Family of Brandon was extinct 13. The Duke of Norfolk had by the Statute of Hen. 8. c. 13. the Monastery of Sibaton in Suffolk and the Lord Cobham the Chantry of Cobham in Kent since which time my Author remarks how heavy the Hand of Justice hath fallen upon those two Families 14. The Duke of Somerset had in the First Year of Edward the Sixth procured the Dissolution of some Chantries Free-Chapels and Hospitals defaceth part of St. Paul's Church converts the Charnel-House and a Chapel by it into Dwelling-Houses destroys the Steeple and part of the Church of St. John's of Jerusalem and with the Stone begins to build his House in the Strand but the consecrated Stone becomes unsuccessful so as the Builder doth not finish his House nor his Son Inherit it Afterwards the Duke was Indicted of Felony found Guilty and suffered by a Law that was but the year before passed by himself Sir Hen. Spelman De non Temerand Eccl. Epist to the Reader p. 28-38 CHAP. CXVII Divine Judgments upon Treachery TReachery had ever an ill Name and not undeservedly for it discovers the falseness of a Man's Heart and represents him to the World as a Man to fit to be trusted For who dares lean with any confidence upon a broken Reed And accordingly though it meets often with fine Promises yet is often served in self as it serves others with poor and miserable Performances Every one is ready to retort upon the traitor in the words of the Emperor Aâ—no proditionem odi proditorem I love the Treachery but hate the Traitor 1. Sir Robert Carre afterwards Earl of Somerset a great Favourite of King James admitted Sir Thomas Overbury into his Favour and put him in Trust with his most Secret Employments in which he behaved himself so discreetly and honestly that afterwards when the Earl of Somerset falling in Love with the Lady Frances Howard late Wife of the Earl of Essex but then divorced or intended to be divorced consulted with Sir Thomas about it and Sir Thomas freely disswading him from the Match with words reflecting much on the Countess's Reputation and doing this upon a Principle of unfeigned Love the Earl with the Advice of the Countess resolved upon Revenge and contrived the murdering of Sir Thomas afterwards in the Tower but after a mighty Celebration of the Wedding the Murder was discovered the Instruments hanged the Earl and Countess both convicted their Estate seized only their Lives by the King's favour were reprieved Select Lives of England 's Worthies p. 286 287. Detect of the Court and State in the Four last Reigns p. 39 40 c. 2. Nicholas Keretschen Governour of Gyula in Transylvania betrayed the same unto the Turks for a great Sum of Money but when he expected the Reward he was by the Command of Solyman the Great Turk thrust into an Hogshead stuck full of Nails with the points inward with this Inscription upon it Here receive the Reward of thy Treason if thou beest not faithful to thy Master neither wilt thou be so to me And so he was rolled up and down till he died Turk Hist p. 824. 3. Banister Servant to the Duke of Buckingham in the Reign of Richard the Third upon the Promise of a Thousand Pounds basely betrayed his Lord and Master from whom he had formerly received great Favours but after this base Treachery he never had the Reward promised and beside had these Judgments befel him His Eldest Son fell Mad and so died in a Swine-stye His second Son became deformed in his Limbs and fell Lame His third Son was drowned in a small Puddle of Water His Eldest Daughter was suddenly struck with a Leprosie and himself in his Old Age was arraigned found guilty of Murther and escaped Hanging very narrowly Speed Chron. p. 97. 4. One Mr. Roscadden going on Pilgrimage according to the Blindness and Superstition of those Times his Wife had in his absence one if not more Children Whereupon at his return one John Tregoss advised and perswaded him to settle his Estate upon some Friend for the Use and Benefit of his Wife and Children lest after his Death the Heir at Common Law should turn his Wife and Children out of Doors Mr. Roscadden entertained and approved the Motion and entreated him to accept of the Trust which Request the said John Tregoss readily embraced But instead of a Deed in Trust he made it Absolute to himself and his Heirs for ever And accordingly so soon as Mr. Roscadden was dead he entred upon all his Lands and turned his Children out of Doors who for some time were fain to lie in a Hog-stye and every Morning went forth to the Dunghil and there upon their Knees imprecated and prayed that the Vengeance of God might fall upon this Tregoss and his Posterity for this so perfidious and merciless dealing And after this God's severe but righteous Judgments fell upon Tregss's Family For his Son Walter one day riding upon a Horse in a fair way
They brought to me the Man himself and when we ask'd him how he dared to sin again after such a Warning he had no Excuse But being a Person of Quality for some special Reason of Worldly Interest I must not name him Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 60. 27. Mr. William Rogers an Apothecary of Crancbrook in Kent exceeding much given to Drinking and Sabbath-breaking though a Young Man of a sweet and pleasing Temper was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister of the Place to come to Church but had often promised and failed But one Lord's-day in the Morning when he said he was ready to come he was taken sick and betook him to his Bed but it proving only an Ague next Morning he betook him to his old course again Next Week the Messenger of Death came in earnest Mr. Abbot addressed himself to him in his Chamber with these words Oh! how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will die and then what will become of you His Sickness prevailed and there was too great a Fire kindled in his Breast to be smothered it burned in his own Soul and it lightened from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those about him One while he cries out of his sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one Draught after another till one Draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of God's Creatures which I have abused I have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives in my hands and how many Souls have I thus murdered I have wilfully neglected God's House Service and Worship and tho' I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my Promise comes because I am unworthy to come among God's People again Another while he falls to wishing Oh! that I might burn a long time in that Fire pointing to the Fire before him so I might not burn in Hell Oh! that God would grant me but one Year or a Month that the World might see with what an heart I have promised to God my Amendment Oh! that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while to his Companions Be warned by me to forsake your wicked ways lest you go to Hell as I must do Calls his young Servant tells him that he had been a wicked Master to him But be warned by me saith he you have a Friend that hath an Iron Furnace which burns hot a long time but if you give your self to my sins you shall be burned in the Furnace of Hell an hotter Furnace Millions of Millions of Ages The Minister propounding to him the Gospel-Promises of the largest size he cried It is too late I must be burned in Hell He pressed him with Tears not to cast away that Soul for which Christ died c. He answered He had cast off Christ and therefore must go to Hell In short at last in idleness of Thoughts and Talk he ended his miserable Life See the Narrative published by Mr. Abbot the Minister Or A Pamphlet called A Warning-piece to Drunkards p. 31 32. 28. Nathanael Butler was first addicted to Drunkenness Gaming Purloining and Fornication before he committed that Murder upon his Friend John Knight in Milk-street London 1657. for which he was afterwards condemned to the Gallows and executed 29. Tho. Savage used to spend the Sabbath at an Ale-House or a Base House and was that very Morning made Drunk by his Harlot with burnt Brandy when perswaded to Murder his Fellow-Servant for which he was executed at Ratcliff 1668. CHAP. CXXIV Divine Judgments upon Uncleanness Inordinate Love c. BIshop Latimer is said to have presented King Henry the VIII a new Testament wrapp'd up in a Napkin for a New Year's Gift with this Poesie about it Fornicators and Adulterers God will judge 'T was boldly done and the Admonition tho' very biting and pungent yet had the Word of God for its Basis and Foundation For to touch a little upon the History of this Sin 1. Eli's Sons 1 Sam. 2. David 2 Sam. 11. The two Women 1 King 3.16 may go for Scriptural Examples all faulty this way and all punished yea Solomon himself no doubt paid dear for his Polygamy and Concubinage not to except Jacob among the Patriarch's who was most crossed in his Children of any as I have noted before in this Book 2. Henry the VIII and our late King Charles the II. may be worthy of the Reader 's Remark 3. A. C. 1544. Henry Duke of Brunswick had for his Wife the Sister of Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg who had for one of her Wairing-Maids one Eve Trottin with whose Beauty the Duke was so desperately smitten that after some Sollicitations he had several Children by her But after some time unknown to his Wife and her Friends he shut her up in his Castle of Stauffeburg and appoints two Women to lay a wooden Image representing her in her Bed giving out that Eve was sick at last this Image was laid up in a Coffin and it was pretended that Eve was dead The Counterfeit Corps was carried forth to be buried with all the usual Pomp and Ceremonies of a Funeral Prayers and Sacrifices The Dutchess and her Maids and other Companies of Virgins were present at the Solemnity all in mourning Apparel In the mean time Eve was kept in the Castle and the Duke had seven Children by her afterwards But at last the Imposture was brought to light to the perpetual Shame and Ignominy of the Duke with what ill Consequences more I cannot inform my self Sleidan's Commentar l. 15. 4. Childeric King of France was so odious for his Adulteries that his Nobles conspired against him and drove him out of the Kingdom Clark's Exampl Vol. I. c. 2. 5. Sir Robert Carr made afterwards Viscount Rochester a Minion of King James the I. and one of the Privy-Council falling in Love with the Countess of Essex who being married with Robert Earl of Essex both at Twelve Years of Age had lived above Ten Years without any carnal Knowledge one of another to make way for a Marriage with the same Countess procures the Commitment of Sir Tho. Overbury to the Tower because he discouraged Rochester from the said Match and at last his Death Upon which followed a Divorce between the Countess and the Earl her Husband a Creation of Rochester Earl of Somerset a Consummation of the Marriage between Rochester and the Countess of Essex a Celebration of the Wedding with the presence of the King Queen Prince and a great Confluence of Bishops and Nobles a gallant Masque of Lords and afterwards another Masque of the Princes Gentlemen which out-did this a Treat afterwards at Merchant's-Hall where the Mayor and Aldermen in their Gowns entertained the Bride and Bridegroom with the Attendance of the Duke of Lenox the Lord Privy-Seal the Lord-Chamberlain
and Compotations But this Error cost him dear for being on a time at a youthful Meeting one of his petulant Convivators poured a Cup of cold Water on his Head Which Affront he took so hainously that he went home and died Mr. Jo. Hales of Eaton 3. A. C. 1470. George Nevil Brother to the Great Earl of Warwick at his Instalment into his Archbishoprick of York made a Feast for the Nobility Gentry and Clergy wherein he spent 300 Quarters of Wheat 330 Tuns of Ale 104 Tuns of Wine one Pipe of spiced Wine 80 fat Oxen 6 wild Bulls 1004 Wethers 300 Hogs 300 Calves 3000 Geese 3000 Capons 300 Pigs 100 Peacocks 200 Cranes 200 Kids 2000 Chickens 4000 Pigeons 4000 Rabbits 204 Bitterns 4000 Ducks 400 Hernsews 200 Pheasants 500 Partridges 4000 Woodcocks 400 Piovers 100 Curlews 100 Quails 1000 Egrets 200 Rees above 400 Bucks Does and Roe-bucks 1506 hot Venison-Pasties 4000 cold Venison-Pasties 1000 Dishes of Gelly parted 4000 cold Custards 2000 hot Custards 300 Pikes 300 Breams 8 Seales 4 Propoises and 400 Tarts At this Feast the Earl of Warwick was Steward the Earl of Bedford Treasurer the Lord Hastings Comptroller with many more noble Officers Servitors 1000 Cooks 62 Kitchiners 515. Fuller's Hist of the Church But Seven Years after the King seized on all the Estate of this Archbishop and sent him over Prisoner to Callis in France where vinctus jacuit in summà inopiâ he was kept bound in extream Poverty Ibid. l. 4. cent 15. p. 193. 4. Cleopatra's Luxury in dissolving a Pearl which she took from her Ear in Vinegar to the Value of Fifty Thousand Pound and drinking it off at one Draught out of Vain-glory is well known and yet she was afterwards notwithstanding all her Bravery taken Prisoner and deprived of her Royal State and the other Pearl cut in twain and hung at both the Ears of the Statue of Venus in the Pantheon in Rome Plin. Nat. Hist l. 9. Fulg. Ex. l. 9 c. 5. Heliogabalus filled his Fish-ponds with Rose-water supplied his Lamps with the precious Balsam that distilled from the Trees in Arabia wore upon his Shooes Pearls and Precious Stones engraven strewed his Dining-room with Saffron and his Portico's with Dust of Gold he never wore the same Garments twice and yet they were of the richest silk or Cloth of Gold near the Sea he would eat no Fish in the Midland no Flesh his whole Meals were made often of the Tongues of Singing-Birds Peacocks or the Brains of costly Creatures he gathered in Rome 10000 weight of Spiders to shew the Greatness of his City his Bed was covered with Gold and Silver his Statue whilst he was living was worshipped for a God he set up a Senate of Women gave great Estates to wicked Bawds Panders Jesters c. But at last being generally despised he was slain by his Soldiers in the Fourth Year of his Reign his own Body and his Mother 's dragged along the Streets and cast into the common Laystall Imp. Hist Sabell Ex. l. 8. c. 7. Time's Store-house l. 10. c. 12. 6. Vitellius another Roman Emperor had 20000 Dishes of Fish and 7000 Fowl at one Supper and yet commended his own Temperance in a set Oration before the Senate and People of Rome In the time that he reigned which had need to be but short he wasted Nine Hundred Millions of Sesterces i. e. saith Budaeus 2500000 Crowns or as another 31250 l. Sterling For after he had reigned but Eight Months and a few Days he was slain in the midst of the City Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 5. c. 13. Tacit. Hist l. 2. 7. Mahomet the Great Sultan at the taking of C. P. had one Helana a very beautiful Person presented to him with whom he was so taken that he spent all his Time with her and seemed quite to have emasculated his Spirit Upon which his Janisaries and Captains began to murmur and threatened to Depose him and put one of his Sons on the Throne One of his Courtiers with great Submission admonished him of it Whereupon he goes presently to his Paragon spent the whole Night with her appointed a Feast next Day sets his Curtezan at Table dressed in the most Princely Robes After Dinner having charged all his Nobles to appear together he brings her before them in his Left Hand and immediately with his Faulchion at one Blow struck off her Head saying Now judge by this whether your Emperor be not able to bridle his Affections Knowles 's Turk Hist 8. The Romans were so given to Pleasure and Luxury in their Apparel Food Ornaments Attendance and Retinue c. before the Decleâ—â—â—on of their Grandeur that Juvenal spends several Satyrs in exposing them to the Laughter and Reproach of the World So effeminate were they that they had a Distinction in their Rings and had some of massie Gold to wear in the Winter others more light for Summer-wear Lucullus had 5000 Cloaks Incredible Summs were expended upon Entertainments 9. The Monks before the Reformation and the Judgments that followed in Germany were grown to that heighth of Luxury that several Pens were exercised in publick Reflections and Censures upon them Among the rest an Author whom I have now by me and who stiles himself Frater de Viridi Valle in Prussia complains pathetically of the Pride of their Habit their Silk Gowns and Cloaks trailing behind them on the Ground their Pearls and Jewels in their Shooes and for a pleasant Jest I suppose tells a Story of one Monk who through extream Poverty was not able to purchase a Cloak with so long a Tail at last got a Mat upon his Back and went about strutting with that and looking on a time behind him to see how finely it trailed after him espied the Devil sitting upon the hinder end of it who laughed in his Face and cryed out saying Aha! plus velles si plus posses 10. Zaleucus the Law-giver of Locris made a Law That no Woman should be attended with more than one Maid in the Streets but when she was drunk nor walk out in the City by Night but when she was going to commit Adultery nor wear Gold or Embroidered Apparel but when she designed to set up for a common Strumpet nor that Men should wear Rings or Tissues but when they went a Whoring Heyl. Geogr. p. 158. This proved an effectual Restraint upon their Luxury that way CHAP. CXXVI Divine Judgments upon Pride Ambition c. HOW vain an Attempt it is for Men to lift up themselves and aspire above the Limits of their own Orb in despite of Him that rules in the Heavens and hath prescribed for wise Reasons the Rules of Humility to us Men threatning to resist the Proud and give Grace to the Humble may appear evidently from these following Examples 1. Colonel James Turner executed at Lime-street London 1663. being a Man of a high Spirit and not having an Estate answerable thereto wherewith to keep up that State and Grandeur
his Creatures that depend upon him for every bit of Bread they eat and are not able to stand a moment upon their Legs without him grow bold in confidence of their own Faculties as if they were a kind of Demi-gods upon Earth Absolute and Soveraign without any dependance upon Heaven 1. Arimazes having garrison'd a very strong and steep Rock in the Sogdian Country with Thirty Thousand Men sent to Alexander the Great who demanded it to know whether he could flee or not But the next Day he was taken together with his strong Hold and nailed to a Cross God delights to confute Men in their Confidences that they that are his way run to the Rock of Ages Isa 26.4 to that Arx roboris of his Holy Name which alone is impregnable and inexpugnable 2. The Spaniards in 1588. called their Navy the Invincible Armado but it proved otherwise and that upon St. James's Dayâ— whom they count their Patron and Tutelary Saint Trapp 3. The Lord Mordant afterwards Earl of Peterborough being a Papist and desirous to draw his Lady to the same Religion he was willing that there should be a Meeting of two Eminent Parsons of each Party to dispute what might be in Controversie between them The Lady made choice of our Lord Primate and prevailed with him though newly recovered from a long Sickness and scarce able to take such a Journey The Jesuite chosen by the Earl went under the Name of Beaumond but his true Name was Rookwood Brother to Ambrose Rookwood one of the Gunpowder Traytors The Place of Meeting was at Drayton in Northamptonshire where there was a great Library so that no Books of the Ancient Fathers were wanting upon occasion for their View The Points to be disputed on were concerning Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints Worshipping of Images and the Visibility of the Church Three Days they were in this Disputation three Hours in the Forenoon and two in the Afrernoon each Day and the Conclusion was this after the third Day 's Meeting The Lord Primate having been hitherto Opponent now the Tables were to be turned and the Jesuite according to his desire was to oppose and the Lord Primate to answer But when the time came the Jesuite was expected instead of coming he sent his Excuse to the Lord Mordant which was That all the Arguments which he had framed in his Head and premeditated so that he thought he had them as perfect as his Pater-Noster were now slipt from him and he could not possibly recover them again and that he believed it was a just Judgment of God upon him for undertaking of himself to dispute with a Man of that Eminency and Learning without a License from his Superiors The Lord Mordant seeing his Tergiversation upon some further Discourse with the Lord Primate was converted and became a Protestant and so continued to his Death One Challoner a Secular Priest afterwards writing a Book against this Beaumond by way of Scorn bids him beware of coming any more to Drayton lest he should meet with another Vsher to foil him again to the Dishonour of his Profession and himself See his Life 4. A little before the late horrid Conspiracy against the Life of our present Soveraign King William the III. in an exempt Chappel within three Miles of Norwich one preached on those Words Jer. 24.10 and near the time of the intended Assassination on Jer. 46.10 For this is the day of the Lord God of Hosts a day of Vengeance that he may avenge himself on his Adversaries and the Sword shall devour and it shall be satisfied and made drunk with their Blood for the Lord God of Hosts hath a Sacrifice in the North Country by the River Euphrates One Mr. Trinder also a noted Justice of Peace in Middlesex in the Reign of King James to his Nephew in the Earl of Arran's Regiment in a Letter dated at Paris Feb. 1695. writes thus viz. Sir Notwithstanding your great Confidence in your Hero and your great Ingratitude to your Friend your Repentance shall not be too late if the Effects of it appear within a Month after the Receipt of this Advertisement from your Friend J. T. Another great French Man in a Letter to a Friend concluded That the whole English Nation would be a miserable Field of Blood c. And the Courtiers of France and some of them bragg'd That King James was not gone to invade but to take possession of his Kingdom Nay the D. of B. was so confident of Success in this Business that he told the French King he scrupled not within three Months but he should be sent over by King James to give him Thanks in way of Embassy for all his Kindness to him since he left his Kingdoms A Declaration was drawn up printed and dispersed on purpose to cajole the People of England into false Hopes of a Relaxation of Taxes perpetual Parliaments and the Preservation of the Protestant Religion c. Transport Ships were ready and Soldiers to the number of 20000 to embark at Callis Bullen Dunkirk c. And the French King caused to be delivered 100000 Lewis ' d'ores to the late King desiring him to hasten his Departure for that all things were in readiness and so took his leave of him wishing him a prosperous undertaking promising as soon as he posted himself in England he would supply him with more Troops The Pope's Nuncio likewise pronounced a solemn Benediction upon the Enterprize and the Jesuites had begg'd Chelsea-College for themselves the Image of St. Victor was bestowed upon the Army as an auspicious Omen And yet after these Preparations and great Confidences when they thought all cock-sure the Descent was hindred by the Winds the Counsels took air in England and by Divine Providence the Authors of the Conspiracy discovered and several of them brought to condign Punishment The Impartial History of the Plots and Conspiracies against King William p. 30 31 c. CHAP. CXXXIV Divine Judgments upon Bribery and Injustice SHould any one saith Bishop Latimer in a Sermon preached at Court ask me which was the readiest way to Hell I would answer First be Covetous secondly take Bribes thirdly pervert Judgment and Justice There 's the Mother and her two Daughters I will add fourthly a Tyburn Tippet Hangum Twinum for him If saith he to his Majesty I were King and any of my Judges should thus suffer themselves to be corrupted and pervert Justice tho' he were my Lord Chief Justice himself as God shall judge me I would make Quondams of every Man of them If not in these Words yet to this purpose Sure I am God Almighty doth ring very sharp Peals of his Wrath and Vengeance by the Prophets in the Ears of his People Israel for this very Sin and there is no doubt but he is as severely angry with it in all Ages even to this Day 1. A. C. 1289. A. 16. Edw. I. upon the general Accounts made of the ill Administration of Justice in
Monster yet often viewing will make it familiar and free it from distaste Walk every day with Joseph a turn or two in thy Garden with Death and thou shalt be well acquainted with the Face of Death but shalt never feel the Sting of Death Death is black but comely Philostrates lived Seven Years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his Bones came to lie in it Some Philosophers have been so wrapp'd in this Contemplation of Death and Immortality that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it as if a fair Death were to be preferâ—◠〈◊〉 a pleasant Life 1. King Xerxes standing on a Mountain and having many Hundred thousand of his Soldiers standing in the Plain fell a weeping to think upon it how in a few Years he and all those gallant valiant Men must die Adam he lived 930 Years and he died Enoch he lived 965 Years and he died Methusalem lived 967 Years and he died Oh the longest Day hath its Night and in the end Man must die Maximilian the Emperor made his Coffin always to be carried along with him to this end that his high Dignity might not make him forget his Mortality Joseph the Jew in his best Health made his Stone Coffin be cut out in his Garden to put him in mind of his Ego abeo I go hence The Persians they buried their dead in their Houses to put the whole Houshold in mind of the same Lot Semel mori once to die Simonides when commanded to give the most wholsome Rule to live well willed the Lacedoemonian Prince ever to bear in mind Se tempore brevi moriturum E're long he must die I have read of a sort of People that used dead Mens Bones for Money and the more they have they are counted the more Rich Herein consists my richest Treasure to bear that about me that will make me all my Life remember my End Great Sultan Saladin Lord of many Nations and Languages commanded upon his Death-bed that one should carry upon a Spear's point through all his Camp the Flag of Death and to proclaim for all his Wealth Saladin hath nought left but this Winding-sheet An assured Ensign of Death triumphing over all the Sons of Adam I uncloath my self every Night I put off all but what may put me in mind of my Winding-sheet Anaxagoras having Word brought him his only Son was dead his Answer was Scio me genuisse mortalem I know he was born to die Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a Pension every Morning to say to him Philippe memento te hominem esse Philip remember thou art a Man and therefore must die When I was a young Man saith Seneca my care was to live well I then practised the Art of Well-living When Age came upon me I then studied the Art of Dying well Platonius in Stobelas 'T is not enough saith he to spend the present Day well unless thou spendest it so as if it were to be thy last Caesar Borgias being sick to Death said When I lived I provided for every thing but Death now I must die and am unprovided to die A Man saith Luther lives Forty Years before he knows himself to be a Fool and by that time he sees his Folly his Life is finished So Men die before they begin to live When dying then sin if you can said Picus Mirandula In Sardis there grew an Herb called Appium Sardis that would make a Man lie laughing when he was deadly sick Such is the Operation of Sin Beware therefore of this Risus Sardonicus Laughter of Sardis Commonly good Men are best at last even when they are dying It was a Speech worthy the Commendation and frequent Remembrance of so divine a Bishop as Augustine which is reported of an aged Father in his time who when his Friends comforted him on his Sick Bed and told him they hoped he should recover answered If I shall not die at all well but if ever why not now Surely it is Folly what we must do to do unwillingly I will never think my Soul in a good case so long as I am loath to think of dying There is no Spectacle in the World so profitable or more terrible than to behold a dying Man to stand by and see a Man dismanned Curiously didst thou make me in the lowest part of the earth saith David But to see those Elements which compounded made the Body to see them divided and the Man dissolved is a rueful sight Every dying Man carries Heaven and Earth wrapped up in his Bosom and at this time each part returns homeward Certainly Death hath great dependency on the course of Man's Life and Life it self is as frail as the Body which it animates Augustus Caesar accounted that to be the best Death which is quick and unexpected and which beats not at our doors by any painful Sickness So often as he heard of a Man that had a quick passage with little sense of pain he wished for himself that Euthanesie While he lived he used to set himself between his two Friends Groans and Tears When he died he called for his Looking-glass commanded to have his Hair and Beard kembed his rivelled Cheeks smoothed up then asking his Friends if he acted his part well when they answered Yes Why then says he do you not all clap your hands for me Happy is he who always and in every place so lives as to spend his every last moment of Light as if Day were never to return Epictetus most wisely teaching this Death saith he and Banishment and all that we look upon as Evils let them be daily set before thy Eyes but of all most chiefly Death So shalt thou think upon nothing that is too low nor too ardently covet any thing The Day-Lily is a Flower whose Beauty perishes in a Day There is also a Bird haunts the River Hypanis called Haemorobios or the Bird of one Day ending its Life the same Day that it begins dying with the dying Sun and travelling thro' the Ages of Childhood Youth and Old Age in one Day In the Morning it is hatch'd at Noon it flourishes in the Evening it grows old and dies But this is more to be wonder'd at in that winged Creature that it makes no less Provision for one little Day than if it were to live the Age of a Crow or a Raven To this little Animal the Life of Man is most fitly to be compar'd It inhabits by the River of Gliding Time but more fleet than either Bird or Arrow And often only one Day determines all its Pomp oft-times an Hour and as often a Moment We ambitiously desire great Names and without any prejudice to our Ears we hear the Titles of Magnificent most Illustrious Happy Pious Most Potent Most August Most Invincible the Best the Greatest What can we do more unless we should imitate Sapor King of the Persians in an Epistle which he thus began to Constantine the Emperor Sapor King
Fires with Red Wine and gathering the Bones together to include them in Urns which they placed in or upon some sumptuous rich Monument erected or that purpose The Custom of Burning the dead Bodies continued among the Romans but until the time of the Antonine Emperors An. Dom. 200. or thereabouts then they began to Bury again in the Earth Manutius de leg Rom. Fol. 125 126. They had at these Burials suborned counterfeit hired Mourners which were Women of the loudest Voices who betimes in the Morning did meet at appointed Places and then cried out mainly beating of their Breasts tearing their Hair their Faces and Garments joyning therewith the Prayers of the defunct from the hour of his Nativity unto the hour of his Dissolution still keeping time with the Melancholick Musick This is a Custom observed at this day in some Parts of Ireland but above all Nations the Jews are best skilled in these Lamentations being Fruitful in Tears Tears that still ready stand To sally forth and but expect Command Amongst these Women there was ever an old aged Beldam called Praefica Superintendint above all the rest of the Mourners who with a loud Voice did pronounce these words Ire licet as much as to say He must needs depart and when the dead Corps was laid in the Grave and all Ceremonies finished she delivered the last Adieu in this manner Adieu Adieu Adieu we must follow thee according as the course of Nature shall permit us To Mourn after the Interrment of our Friends is a manifest Token of true Love Our All-Perfect and Almighty Saviour Christ Jesus wept over the Grave of dead Lazarus whom he revived whereupon the standers by said among themselves Behold how he loved him The Ancient Romans before they were Christians mourned Nine Months but being Christians they used Mourning a whole Year cloathed in black for the most part for Women were cloathed partly in white and partly in black according to the diversity of Nations These Examples considered I observe that we in these days do not weep and mourn at the departure of the Dead so much nor so long as in Christian Duty we ought For Husbands can bury their Wives and Wives their Husbands with a few counterfeit Tears and a sour Visage masked and painted over with dissimulation contracting Second Marriages before they have worn out their Mourning Garments Babilas the Martyr appointed to be buried with the Bolts and Fetters which he had worn for Christ Mr. Barker 's Flores It was Lewis the Second of France who when he was sick forbad any Man to speak of Death in his Court Mr. Barker 's Flores Abraham see how he beginneth to possess the World by no Land Pasture or Arrable Lordship The first being is a Grave So every Christian must make this Resolution The first Houshold-stuff that ever Seleucus brought into Babylon was a Sepulchre-stone a Stone to lay upon him when he was dead that he kept in his Garden Beza saith of a Sickness he had at Paris Morbus iste verae Sanitatis mihi principium fuit That Disease was the beginning of my true Health And Olevian to the same purpose of a Sickness he had said I have thereby learned more of Sin and the Majesty of God than I ever knew before As also Rivet said In the space of ten days since I kept my Bed I have learned more of true Divinity than in the whole course of my Life before Mr. Barker 's Flores Socrates the Night before he was to die would learn Musick because he would die learning something Chetwind's Hist Collections We can never be quiet till we have conquered the fear of Death The sight of Cyrus's Tomb struck Alexander into a dumps But when Grace prevails Death hath lost his Terror Aristippus told the Mariners that wondred why he was not as they afraid in the Tempest that the Odds was much for they feared the Torments due to a wicked Life and he expected the Reward of a good one And it was cold Comfort that Diogenes gave a lewd Liver that being banish'd complained that he should die in a Foreign Soil Be of good chear wheresoever thou art the way to Hell is the same Feltham Resolves p. 42. Queen Ann the Wife of King Henry the Eighth when she was lead to be beheaded in the Tower espying one of the King's Privy-Chamber she called him unto her and said unto him Commend me unto the King and tell him he is constant in his course of advancing me for from a Private Gentlewoman he made me a Marchioness from a Marchioness a Queen and now that he hath left no higher Degree of Worldly Honour for me he hath made me a Martyr Baker's Chron. Hen. VIII Philip King of Macedon walking by the Sea-side got a fall and after he was risen perceiving the Impression of his Body upon the Sand Good God said he what a small parcel of Earth will contain Us who aspire to the Possession of the whole World That Great Man Hugo Grotius near his Death professed That he would gladly give all his Learning and Honour for the Integrity of a Poor Man in his Neighbourhood that spent Eight Hours of his Time in Prayer Eight in Labour and Eight in Sleep and other Necessaries and unto some that applauded his marvellous Industry he said Ah Vitam perdidi operose nihil Agendo But unto some that asked the best Counsel which a Man of his Attainment could give he said Be serious sabina a Roman Matron being condemned to die for her Religion fell in Travel and cried out And one said to her If you cry out thus now what will you do when you come to the Stake She answered Now I cry out because I feel the fruit of Sin but then I shall be in comfort as suffering and dying for my Saviour Mr. Barker 's Flores CHAP. CXLIII The Last words of Dying Men as also their Last Wills and Testaments WE are apt to make Enquiry after the Last Speeches and Sentiments of Persons when they are going out of the World because we then believe that their Exes are open and their Judgments 〈◊〉 and they dare net tell a Lye for Fear or Affection when they are going to appear before their Judge and commencing state of Eâ—ernily The Last Words so far as we can understand by Records 1. Of Ignatius I am God's Corn I shall be ground to Meal by the Teeth of Wild Beasts and he found God's white Bread Dr. Cave 's Prim. Christ Clark 's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Of Dionysius Arâ—â—pag He with Eyes and Hands lift up to Heaven said O Lord God Almighty thou only begotten Son and Holy Spirit O Sacred Trinity which art without beginning and in whom is no Division received the Soul of thy Servant in Peace who is put to Death for thy Cause and Gospel Ibid. viz. Clark 's Marrow c. 3. Epiphanius dying said to his People of Salamia God bless you my Children for Epiphanius
shall see your Face no more in this Life Ibid. 4. S. Augustine whose usual wish was that Christ when he came might find him either Praying or Preaching was accordingly answered for in the Siege of Hippo by the Goths after he had for some Months together continually exercised himself in Prayers in the third Month of the Siege he fell sick of a Fever in his Sickness breathing forth most Pious Ejâ—culations as Vivere renuo ut Christo vivam viz. I refuse to live that I may live to Christ c. and so died making no Will having nothing to bestow but only Books which he left to several Libraries Aged 76. Anno Christi 430. having been a Minister 40 Years Ibid. 5. Prosper upon his Death-bed speaking to many of his People that wept sore said the Life which I have enjoyed was but given me upon condition to render it up again not grudgingly but gladly For me to stay longer here might seem better for you but for me t is better to be dissolved Ibid. p. 89. And so praying and lifting up his Hands before them all be departed Anno Christi 466. 6. Bede in his Sickness comforted himself with Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth be chasteneth c. When his Scholars were weeping about him he said in the words of S. Ambrose Non sic vixi ut pudeat me inter vos vivere sed nec mori timeo quia bonum Dominum habemus The time is come if my Creator pleaseth that being freed from the Flesh I shall go to him who made me when I was not out of nothing I have lived long and the time of my Dissolution is approaching proaching and my Soul desires to see my Saviour Christ in his Glory Ibid. p. 101. His Epitaph was Hac sunt in fossa Bedae Venerabilis put in as Tradition saith by an Angel Ossa 7. S. Bernard in his Sickness wrote this Letter to Arnold Abbot of Boneval We received your Love in Love and not in Pleasure for what Pleasure can there be where Pain and Bitterness challengeth all to it self Only 't is a little delightful to me to eat nothing Sleep is departed from me that Sorrow and Pain may never depart by the benefit of my Senses lulled asleep The want of a Stomach is all that I suffer only it lacks to be continually refreshed with some comfortable Liquor But if I admit more than is meet 't is very grievous to me My Feet and Thighs are swollen as in a Dropsie And in all these things that I may conceal nothing from my Friend who defires to know the state of his Friend the Spirit is willing but the Flesh weak Pray unto my Saviour who desires not the Death of a Sinner not that he will defer but guard my Departure hence with his Angels Take you care that my Heel which is naked of Merits he strengthened and defended by your Prayers that he which lies in wait may not find where to fasten his Tooth and inflict a Wound Farewel To his Monks he said I am in a Streight not knowing which to chuse Life or Death but leave all to the will of God Ibid. p. 105. 8. John Husse used these words by way of Prayer at his suffering Martyrdom Lond Jesus Christ assist and help me that with a constant and patient Mind by thy most gracious help I may bear and suffer this most Cruel and Ignominious Death burning with a tripe Crown of Paper painted with ugly Devils on his Head whereunto I am condemned for Preaching thy most Holy Gospel And when the Fire was kindled he sung three times with a loud Voice Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God have Mercy upon me And so the Wind drove the Flame into his Face and choaked him Ibid. p. 119. 9. Cardinal Woolsey being arrested by the King's Order breathed out his Soul in words to this purpose If I had served the God of Heaven as faithfully as I did my Master upon Earth he had not forsaken me in my Old Age as the other hath done Lloy's State-worthies p. 19. 10. Luther dying in his Clymacterical Year made this his last Prayer O Heavenly Father my Gracious God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ thou God of all Consolation I give thee hearty Thanks that thou hast revealed unto me thy Son Jesus Christ whom I believe whom I profess whom I love whom I glorifie whom the Pope and the wicked Rout do persecute and dishonour I beseech thee Lord Jesus Christ receive my Soul O my Heavenly Father tho' I be taken out of this Life and must lay down this frail Body yet I certainly know that I shall live with thee eternally and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands God so loved the World c. Lord I render up my Spirit into thy Hands and come to thee And again Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou O God of Truth hast redeemed me And so as one falling asleep and without any bodily Pain as could be discerned he departed this Life Feb. 18. Anno Christi 1548. Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 143. 11. Calvin makes this his Last Will In the Name of God Amen Anno Christi 1564. April 25. I Peter Chenalat Citizen and Notary of Geneva do Witness and Profess that being sent for by that Reverend Man John Calvin Minister of the Word of God in the Church of Geneva and a Free Denizen of the same City who then truly was sick in Body but sound in Mind told me that his purpose was to make his Testament and declare his Last Will c. which was this In the Name of the Lord Amen I John Calvin Minister of the Word of God in the Church of Geneva oppressed and afflicted with divers Diseases so that I easily think the Lord hath appointed shortly to lead me out of this World I therefore have determined to make my Testament and to commit to Writing my Last Will in this form following First I give Thanks to God that taking pity of me whom he created and placed in this World hath delivered me out of the deep Darkness of Idolatry into which I was plunged and that he brought me into the Light of his Gospel and made me a partaker of the Doctrine of Salvation whereof I was most unworthy Neither hath he only gently and graciously born with my faults for which yet I deserved to be rejected by him and driven out but hath used towards me so great meekness and mildness that he hath vouchsafed to use my Labours in Preaching the Truth of his Gospel And I Witness and Profess that I intend to pass the remainder of my Life and Religion which he hath delivered to me by his Gospel and not to seek any other Aid or Resuge for Salvation than his free Adoption in which alone Salvation resteth And with all my Heart I embrace the Mercy which he hath used towards me for Jesus Christ's sake recompensing my Faults with the Merit
God and then commanded them to be taken away That Night the Ministers continuing with him a certain Friend coming to him Oecolampadins ask'd him What News The Answer being made None But saith he I 'll tell you some News I shall presently be with my Lord Christ Being ask'd if the Light offended him Putting his Hands to his Eyes he answered Here is abundance of Light and then praying earnestly with the Words of David Psal 51. to the end and saying O Christ save me he fell asleep Clark Ibid. 14. Queen Mary the Second of blessed Memory on her Death-bed when the Most Reverend Archbishop Tenison bespoke her Madam Settle your Affairs your Family and your Mind you have lived and finished the course which the Parent of Nature hath allâ—tted you replied with an undaunted Cheerfulness Father How good a Messenger are you to me who as it were commanded from Heaven bring the Tydings of my last Necessity of Dying Here I am ready to submit to whatever pleaseth God the Disposer of my Life and Death I am not now to learn that difficult Art of Well-dying I have made up my Account with God by the Assistance of my Surety Christ I have discharged my Conscience long since I have considered the Condition of my Mortality I have settled all my Affairs and surrendred into the Bosom of my dearest Husband all those Cares that concern the World And therefore he that calls finds me ready to lay down the Burden of this Life being no more than a load of Infirmities Sin and Labour Then turning to her Husband standing by her Bed-side she is said to have broke forth into Words to this Effect Farewel my William and live mindful of our undefiled Matrimony till thy Lot shall restore thee to me or moe to thee I shall not altogether die while you singly possess the sole Image of us both c. Spanheim in his Fun. Orat. of Queen Mary the Second This I suppose contains the summ of what that Excellent Queen delivered but I suspect the Author hath set it off with an Embellishment of Words which did not become a dying Person The most Reverend Archbishop delivers it more nakedly and briefly 15. Anthony Walleus on his Death-bed exhorted all his Family to Fear God and the Children to Reverence their Mother for so God would bless and provide for them That every one should take care of all the rest but especially that every one should take care of himself Then he bad his Son John to have a special Care of his Mother and so kissing them took his Leave of them all and then turning his Face from them he fell asleep out of which he never awaked only some time when his Pains came upon him he stirred a little and so on the Sabbath about Eleven of the Clock he quietly resign'd up his Spirit unto God A. C. 1639. Aetat 66. Clark's Exampl p. 490. 16. Henry Alting the Day before his Death sang the 130 Psalm with a sweet Voice and warm Zeal and spent the rest to his time in hearty Prayers and holy Meditations In the Evening he blessed his Children and then commanded his Son Dr. James Alting to pray with him and in his Prayers to remember the Church and University The next Day which was the Sabbath-Day being visited by Camerarius and Strasbergerus Agents for the Crown of Sweden and his old Friends he was refreshed a little with their Company but told them that he should depart before Sun-set and accordingly about Three of the Clock in the Afternoon with a constant Voice he bid them all Farewel and after the Prayer of Emmius Pastor of the Church without the least struggling he quietly slept in the Lord A. C. 1644. Ibid. p. 497. 17. Mr. John Bruen of Stapleford a little before his Death said I will have no black no proud or pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but of Rejoycing rather in my particular And immediately before he expired lifting up his Hands he said The Lord is my Portion my Help and my Trust his blessed Son Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen Even so saith the Spirit unto my Spirit Therefore come Lord Jesus and kiss me with the Kisses of thy Mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love Into thy hands I commend my spirit O come now and take me to thine own self O come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come Mr. Hinde in his Life 18. Berengarius is said to have breathed out these Words with his last gasp Now I am to go and appear before God either to be acquitted by him as I hope or condemned by him as I fear Mr. Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 7. out of Illyricus 19. Erasmus by his Last Will and Testament confirmed both by the Emperor and Pope declared Bonifacius Amerbachius his Heir Hieronymus Frobenius and Nicolaus Episcopius Overseers of his Will wherein to several Friends he bequeathed several Legacies as a Clock of Gold to Ludovicus Berus a Spoon and Fork of the same to Beatus Rhenanus to Petrus Vetereus 150 Crowns as much to Philippus Montanus to his Servant Lambert 200 Florins to Brischius a Silver Tankard to Paulus Volsius 100 Florins to Signismundus Tilenius 150 Duckats to Erasmus Frobenius his Godson two Rings to Hieronymus Frobenius his wearing Cloaths Bedding and Houshold-stuffs to his Wife a Ring wherein was set a precious Stone having therein engraven a Woman looking ove her Left Shoulder to Episcopius a fair Silver Bowl with a Cover to his Wife a Diamond Ring to Goâ—lenius a Silver Bowl his Library he sold upon his Death-bed to Johannes à Lasco his Medals ancient Coins ready Money and Debts with the remainder of his Watches Clocks Rings Plate Jewels and other Curiosities of no small value to his Heir Amerbachius not for his own use but to be sold and the Money by Advice of the fore-named Overseers to be distributed first to the poor infirm Persons whether through Age or Sickness secondly to portionless Virgins to procure them Husbands and thirdly to poor but hopeful young Scholars for Advancement of their Studies His Heir he restrained meerly to his Legacy which was none of the greatest He fell sick first of the Gout and then fell into an Hepatical Flux so that for a whole Month together he came seldom out of his Bed and but once over the Threshold of his Chamber yet whilst his Body lay tortured upon this double Rack he wrote a Treatise de Puritate Ecclesiae and made a hard shift to finish his Recognitions of Origen These were the two last Songs of this dying Swan whose Patience ever encreased with his Torments and in the end surmounted them He retained his Speech to the last gasp and breathed out his Soul in these Ejaculations Mercy sweet Jesus Lord loose these Bands How long Lord Jesus how long Jesus Fountain of Mercy have Mercy on me c. He died July 12. 1536. Aged 71 or
And so fell asleep A. C. 1590. aged 61. Ibid. p. 389. 49. Robert Rollock being sick of the Stone which came upon him at last with great violence set his House in Order and commended his Wife after Ten Years Barrenness then with Child to the Care of his Friends requested two Noblemen his Visitants to go from him to the King and entreat him in his Name to have a care of Religion and to persevere in it to the end as hitherto he had done and to Reverence and Esteem the Pastors of the Church as it was meet And to the Pastors of Edinburgh he made an excellent exhortation and Profession of his Sincerity he made such a Divine and Heavenly Speech as astonished the Hearers And when the Physicians were preparing Physick he said Thou Lord wilt heal me Then he prayed fervently that God would Pardon his Sins for Christ's sake and that he might have an Happy Departure and enjoy God's Presence which he had long breathed after Desired the Magistrates to be very careful of the University desiring them to chuse in his room Henry Charter and commended his Wife to their care professing that he had not laid up one Penny of his Stipend and therefore hoped they would provide for her And when he had their Promise for these things he said I bless God I have all my Senses entire but my Heart is in Heaven And Lord Jesus why shouldest not thou have it It hathbeen my care all my Life long to dedicate it to thee I pray thee take it that it may live with thee for ever Come Lord Jesus put an end to this Miserable Life Haste Lord and tarrâ— not Come Lord Jesus and give me that Life for which thou hast redeemed me And when some told him that the next day was the Sabbath he said Thy Sabbath O Lord shall begin my Eternal Sabbath The next Morning to Mr. Belcanqual praying for his long life he said I am weary of this Life all my desire is that I may enjoy the Coelestial Life that is hid with Christ in God And so quietly resigned to his Spirit A. C. 1598. aged 43. Ibid. p. 412. 50. Nic. Hemingius a little before his Death expounded the 103 Psalm with so much Fevour Efficacy and Power of the Holy Ghost that all that heard him wondred at it and shortly after resign'd up his Soul Anno 1600. aged 87. Ibid. p. 414. 51. Chytraeus before his Death made a Confession of his Faith received the Sacrament and lying sick on his Bed if any Discourse were raised about a Controversie called to them to speak out for that he should die with more Comfort if he could learn any new thing before his departure Ibid. p. 421. 52. Tossanus being grown very old and infirm laid down his Professors Place tho' with the Reluctance of the University of Heidelberg and having in his Lectures expounded the Book of Job to the end of the 31st Chapter he concluded with these words The words of Job are ended And presently after falling sick he comforted himself with these Texts of Scripture I have fought the good Fight c. Be you faithful unto the Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life We have a City not made with hands eternal in the Heavens c. And when he had made a good Confession of his Faith c. he departed quietly A. C. 1602. aged 61. Ibid. p. 430. 53. Bishop Andrews was not sick in Thirty Years except once till his last Sickness at Downham in the Isle of Ely the Air of that Place not agreeing with the Constitution of his Body But there he seemed to be prepared for his Dissolution saying often-times in that Sickness It must come once and why not here And at other times The days must come when whether we will or nill we shall say with the Preacher we have no pleasure in them Eccles 12.1 Of his Death he seemed to Presage with himself a year before he died and therefore prepared his Oyl that he might be admitted in due time into the Bride-Chamber That of qualis vita c. might be truly verified of him for as he lived so he died As his Fidelity in his Health was great so the strength of his Faith in his Sickness increased His Gratitude to Men was now changed into Thankfulness to God his Affability to incessant Prayers his Laborious Studies to restless Groans Sighs Cries and Tears his Hands labouring his Eyes lifted up and his Heart beating and panting to see the Living God even to the last of his Breath He departed this Life A. C. 1626. aged 71. Mr. Isaacson in his Life 54. Dr. Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury Twenty Years and Five Months used these his last words to His Majesty who in Person visited him the day before he died when he could hardly be understood Pro Ecclesia Dei pro Eclesiâ— Dei c. For the Church of God for the Church of God Fuller Abel Rediviv p. 463. 55. Beza on the Lord's-day Octob. 13. 1605. rising early and calling his Family to Prayers afterwards Prayers ended walked up and down some few Paces and receiving some small quantity of Wine repaired to his Bed again demanding whether all things were quiet in the City and when Answer was made they were he forthwith gave up his Soul into the hands of Almighty God with all alacrity and chearfulness aged 86. Ibid. p 474. 56. Dr. John Reynolds on his Death-bed being desired to obviate some scandalous Reports raised concerning him by the Papists as if his Conversion were not sincere and a form of Confession being offered him to Subscribe he shook his Head called for his Spectacles and signed the Writing with his Name in very fair Characters at which they all admired because he had that Morning assayed to write but could not through extream weakness The next day he resign'd his Ghost being Holy-Thursday May 21. 1607. Ibid. p. 490. 57. Mr. Tho. Holland born in Shropshire and Regius Professor at Oxford in his old Age growing sickly spent all his time in Fervent Prayers and Holy Meditations and when his End approached he often sighed out Come O Come Lord Jesus thou Morning-star Come Lord Jesus I desire to be dissolved and to be with thee and so quietly departed in the Lord A. C. 1612. aged 73. Ibid. p. 501. 58. John Gerardus having desired the Communion to be administred to him and told his Wife what he would have done after his Death and instructed his Children and laid his Hand on his Youngest Son with those words Disce mi fili Learn my Son the Commandments of the Lord and he will provide for thee and at last turning to the Neighbours and declaring in what Faith he died he fell asleep Anno 1564. aged 53. Ibid. p. 518. 59. Archbishop Parker before his decease some space of time the better to mind him of his Mortality caused his Monument to be made of plain black Marble and to be placed in
J. with whom I only leave for their Direction and Encouragement 1 Cor. 15.58 Mat. 28.20 The Lay men whom I put in Joynt-Trust are Mr. B. Mr. M. Mr. B. and plain-hearted T. H. all whose Faces I hope to see in Heaven with them I leave for their Refreshment when taking some steps about it Mat. 25.39 40 for Eternity is the place I would be for to which when gone I am but a little before and you a little behind This Lecture he kept up by his constant cost and care from Aug. 4. 1653. Monthly until Jan. 2. 1659. whereof he kept an exact Account in a Catalogue wherein he took notice of the day of the Month the Place the Persons that Preached and their Texts some hints of the Congregation both number and seriousness See his Life And having thus made use of some of his Memorials we shall add what himself said of the ' writing of them in these words The occasion of making and writing these things was a thought I had what was become of all my Fore-fathers and what what Price I should set upon one of their Manuscripts concerning the state of our Family Nation or Church of God in it 500 Years since Whereupon I resolved this Work formy Son's sake and Posterity's imitation when it may be said of us in this Generation as of Israel once in that Exod. 1.6 And Joseph died and all his Brethren and all that Generation I John Machin called by him who separated me from the Womb Gal. 1.15 to the hope of having my Name in the Book of Life and likewise to be an Embassador of my Lord Christ Jesus was in my great Master's Work at Astbury in Cheshire Anno 1655. when I first set Pen hereunto See his Life 67. Part of Mr. Richard Baxter's Last Will as I find it published by Mr. Sylvester in the Narrative of his Life I Richard Baxter of London Clerk an unworthy Servant of Jesus Christ drawing to the end of this Transitory Life having through God's great Mercy the free use of my Understanding do make this My Last Will and Testament My Spirit I commit with Trust and Hope of the Heavenly Felicity into the hands of Jesus my glorified Redeemer and Intercessor and by his Mediation into the hands of God my Reconciled Father the Infinite Eternal Spirit Light Life and Love most Great and Wise and Good the God of Nature Grace and Glory of whom and through whom and to whom are all things my absolute Owner Ruler and Benefactor whose I am and whom though imperfectly I serve seek and trust to whom be Glory for ever Amen To him I render most humble Thanks that he hath filled up my Life with abundance of Mercy pardon'd my Sins by the Merits of Christ and vouchsafed by his Spirit to renew and seal me as his own and to moderate and bless to me my long-sufferings in the Flesh and at last to sweeten them by his own Interest and comforting Approbation who taketh the cause of Love and Concord as his own Now let the Reader Judge adds the Reverend Mr. Sylvester in his Preface to Mr. Baxter 's Life whether any thing in all this can in the least infer his doubting or denyal of a fature state as some have reported 68. The Reverend Mr. John Dunton late Rector of Aston Clinton in Bucks after he had in his Last Will bequeathed his Soul to God who gave it speaking next concerning his Funeral he adds That 't is his desire that his Funeral might not be performed till Five days after his decease Which Request was occasioned by his first Wife 's lying seemingly dead for three days and afterwards coming to Life again to the Admiration of all that saw her 69. A Copy of the Will made by the Reverend Dr. Samuel Annesly who departed this Life on Thursday Decemb. 31. 1696. in the 77th Year of his Age. IN the Name of God Amen I Dr. Samuel Annesly of the Liberty of Norton-Folgate in the County of Middlesex an unworthy Minister of Jesus Christ being through Mercy in Health of Body and Mind do make this my Last Will and Testament concerning my Earthly Pittance Formy SOVL I dare humbly say it is through Grace devoted unto God otherwise than by LEGACY when it may live here no longer And I do believe that my BODY after its sleeping a while in Jesus shall be reunited to my Soul that they may both be for ever with the Lord. Of what I shall leave behind me I make this short disposal My Just Debts being paid I give to each of my Children One Shilling and all the rest to be equally divided between my Son Benjamin Annesly my Daughter Judith Annesly and my Daughter Ann Annesly whom I make my Executors of this my Last Will and Testament revoking all former and confirming this with my Hand and Seal this 29th day of March 1693. SAMVEL ANNESLY 70. Cardinal Richelieu was visited by the King in his last Sickness which saith my Author was the greatest Favour he could receive from any Mortal Man seeing that having lived altogether for his King he was to die near him and almost in his Arms. He desired in his Sickness That he might live no longer than he was able do the King and the Kingdom of France Service He expired Decemb. 4. St. N. 1642. aged 58. He was buried in the College of Sorbonne where he had caused his Monument to be built during his Life Gabriel Du-gres in the Life of Jean Arman Du Plessis D. of Richelieu p. 65. 71. Cardinal Mazarine thus expressed himself to the Queen-Mother of France before his Death Madam your Favours have undone me were I to live again I would be a Capuchin rather than a Courtier This with some others following I am not now able to cite my Authors for having taken the Abstracts out of borrowed Books several Years ago 72. Sir John Mason Privy-Counsellor to four Princes expressed himself thus Seriousness is the best Wisdom Temperance the best Physick a good Conscience the best Estate and were I to live again I wold change the Court for a Cloyster my Privy-Counsellor's Bustles for an Hermit's Retirement and the whole Life I have lived in the Palace for one hours enjoyment of God in the Chapel All things else forsake me except my God my Duties and my Prayers 73. Hugo Grotius wish'd that he might exchange all his Learning and Honour for the plain Integrity of Jean Vrich who was a Poor Religious Man that spent Eight hours of his Day in Prayer Eight in Meat and Sleep and Eight in Labour 74. Salmasius his last Reflections were to this purpose Oh! I have lost a World of Time Time that most Precious thing in the World whereof had I but one Year more it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles O Sirs mind the World less and God more The Fear of the Lord this is Wisdom 75. Mr. Selden to Archbishop Vsher Notwithstanding my curious Enquiries
rise up in Judgment against you My Lord I profess my self a True and Obedient Son to the Church of England to that Church wherein I was born and wherein I was bred Prosperity and Happiness be ever to it And wherein it hath been said That I have been enclined to Popery If it be an Objection worth answering let me say truly That from the Time I was One and twenty Years of Age till this Hour going up Nine and forty I never had thought in my Heart to doubt of the Truth of my Religion in England and never any had the boldness to suggest to me the contrary to the best of my Remembrance and so being reconciled to the Mercies of Christ Jesus my Saviour into whose Bosom I hope shortly to be gathered to enjoy those Eternal Happinesses that shall never have end I desire heartily the Forgiveness of every Man both for any rash or unadvised Word or Deed and desire your Prayers And so my Lords Farewel Farewel all the Things of this World Lord strengthen my Faith give me Confidence and Assurance in the Merits of Christ Jesus I desire that you would be silent and joyn in Prayers with me and I trust in God we shall all meet and live eternally in Heaven there to receive the Accomplishment of all Happiness where every Tear shall be wiped from our Eyes and every sad Thought from our Hearts and so God bless this Kingdom and Jesus have Mercy upon my Soul After this he prayed twice and with a low Obeysance took his Leave submitting to the Block The Relat. of his Execut. 113. Archbishop Laud made this his last Speech on the Scaffold Jan. 10. 1644. GOod People this is an uncomfortable time to preach yet I shall begin with a Text of Scripture Hebr. 12.2 Let us run with patience the race c. I have been long in my Race and how I have look'd to Jesus the Author and Finisher of my Faith he best knows I am now come to the end of my Race and here I find a Cross a Death of Shame but the Shame must be despised or no coming to the Right of God Jesus despised the Shame for me and God forbid but I should despise the Shame for him I am going apace as you see towards the Red Sea and my Feet are now upon the very brink of it an Argument I hope that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise for that was the way through which he led his Prophets but before they came to it he instituted a Passover for them a Lamb it was but to be eaten with sour Herbs I shall obey and labour to digest the sour Herbs as well as the Lamb and I shall remember it is the Lord 's Passover I shall not think of the Herbs nor be angry with the Hand that gathers them but look only to Him who instituted that and governs these for Men can have no more power over me than what is given them from above I am not in love with this Passage through the Red Sea for I have the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Flesh and Blood plentifully in me and I have prayed with my Saviour that this Cup of Red Wine might pass from me but if not God's Will not mine be done And I shall most willingly drink of this Cup as deep as he pleaseth and enter into this Sea yea and pass through it in the way that he shall lead me But I would have it remembred Good People that when God's Servants were in this boisterous Sea and Aaron among them the Egyptians which persecuted them and did in a manner drive them into that Sea were drowned in the same Waters while they were in pursuit of them I know the God whom I serve is able to deliver me from this Sea of Blood as the Three Children from the Furnace And I most humbly thank my Saviour for it my Resolution is now as theirs was then they would not worship the Image the King had set up nor will I the Imaginations which the People are setting up nor will I forsake the Temple and the Truth of God to follow the Bleating of Jeroboam's Calf in Dan and in Bethel And as for this People they are at this Day miserably misled God of his Mercy open their Eyes that they may see the right way for at this Day the Blind lead the Blind and if they go on both will certainly fall into the Ditch For my self I am and I acknowledge it in all Humility a most grievous Sinner many ways by Thought Word and Deed and I cannot doubt but that God hath Mercy in store for me a poor Penitent as well as for other Sinners I have now upon this sad Occasion ransacked every corner of my Heart and yet I thank God I have not found among the many any one Sin which deserves Death by any known Law of this Kingdom And yet hereby I charge nothing upon my Judges for if they proceed upon Proof by valuable Witnesses I or any other Innocent may be justly condemned and I thank God tho' the weight of this Sentence lie heavy upon me I am as quiet within as ever I was in my Life and tho' I am not only the first Archbishop but the first Man that ever died by an Ordinance in Parliament yet some of my Predecessors have gone this way tho' not by this means For Elphegus was hurried away and lost his Life by the Danes 3. and Simon Suabury in the Fury of Wat. Tyler and his Fellows before these St. John Baptist had his Head danced off by a lewd Woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his Head to a persecuting Sword Many Examples great and good and they teach me Patience for I hope my Cause in Heaven will look of another dye than the Colour that is put upon it here and some Comfort it is to me that I go the way of these Great Men in their several Generations and also that my Charge as foul as it is made looks like that of the Jews against St. Paul Act. 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Stephen Act. 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the Holy Place and the Temple v. 13. But you will say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Stephen No! far be that from me I only raise a Comfort to my self that these Great Saints and Servants of God were laid at in their times as I am now and 't is memorable that he who helped on this Accusation against St. Stephen did after all fall under the very same himself Yea but here 's a great Clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you know what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him venient Romani
we may without Flattery account this his warm Zeal for his Country if it did a little exceed a happy as well as a very pardonable Error He was extraordinary ingenious in his own Trade and imployed amongst great Persons for his dexterity therein He had an entire Love for the City of London and stood up for its Honour and Privileges as highly as any Man living He had a Soul so very great and generous that many who knew him well have said considering his Education they wondred how he came by it He was a Man of very good sound Sense considerably more than those of his Rank generally have which he had much improved in his latter time by Conversation with Persons of Honour and Quality In fine he liv'd sufficiently belov'd by those who knew and did not fear him and dy'd lamented by his Friends and admired and esteemed by his very Enemies Some time after his Death his Picture was sold about Town Under it were these Lines engraven By Irish Oaths and wrested Laws I fell A Prey to Rome a Sacrifice to Hell My guilty Blood for speedy Vengeance cries Hear hear and help for Earth my Suit denies 3. ARTHVR Earl of Essex THat Party and those Persons who were engag'd to manage the Designs before-mention'd were now entred on the most compendious way of introducing what they desir'd as well as avoiding what their own Consciences and all the World knew they deserv'd My Lord of Essex was a Person whom 't was no doubt the highest Interest of the Popish Faction to have gotten out of the way even tho' there had been no such extraordinary Reason as has been mentioned He had large Interest a plentiful Estate a great deal of Courage understood the World and the Principles and Practices of the Papists as well as any Man having been of several Secret Committees in the Examination of the Plot on which very reason there was as much necessity for his dying as Sir E. B. Godfrey's He was besides all this they very well knew of Inflexible Honesty and so true a greatness of Mind they could no more expect to gain him than Heaven it self to be on their side As for the immediate Subject of his Death the manner and circumstances thereof It must first be granted and a very reasonable demand it is that for the present only supposing he was murder'd by the Papists they would we may be sure make it their business to render the manner of it as dark as the Hell in which 't was contriv'd But whatever this couragious honest Gentleman suffer'd from their Spite and Malice he bore all with handsom and truly English Resolution As he before his Imprisonment and since was indefatigably diligent in getting up the bottom of this foul Business all English-men must own he has deserv'd the Love and Honour of his Country who was not discourag'd from acting even in the worst of times against a whole enraged Faction His CHARACTER It must be confessed 't is a bold and dangerous thing to attempt the Character of one of the greatest Men which our Age has produced especially for one who had not the Honour of any Personal intimacy with him All that 's to be done is from what has been already said and what other Memoirs are left of him to endeavour at something so like him that any one who sees it may say 't was meant for the Picture of the Great Essex how infinitely soever it must of necessity be short of its Original The first thing then Remarkable in him and which alone would sufficiently distinguish him is That he was a Person of strict Morals and severe Piety and that in the midst of a Court and Age not very Famous for either Nor did this degenerate into Superstition or Weakness He was a refin'd Politician without what some will say 't is impossible to be so and that 's Dissimulation When Affronts were offer'd him he did not as others dissemble 'em but like himself only scorn and conquer 'em even tho' of the highest Nature and which generally pierce deepest into Persons of his Figure and Character He was as all the rest here commemorated a firm Lover of his Country and Religion the true Character of a true English-man and engaged on their sides against the then Duke of York and other Ministers not from any mean Pique or little discontented Humour which he was very much above but meerly from the true Respect he had for them and a sense of that imminent Danger they were in which his piercing Judgment and long Experience made him more sensible of and his Courage and Vertue more concern'd at than others not only those who fat unconcern'd Spectators or shared in their Ruins but even then most of them who were engaged with him in the same Common Cause of their Defence and Preservation Nothing of such an impatience or eagerness or black Melancholy could be discern'd in his Temper or Conversation as is always the Symptom or Cause of such Tragical Ends as his Enemies would perswade us he came to Lastly What may be said of most of the rest does in a more especial and eminent manner agree to the Illustrious Essex and than which nothing greater can be said of Mortality He liv'd an Hero and dy'd a Martyr Upon the Execrable Murther of the Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Essex MOrtality wou'd be too frail to hear How ESSEX fell and not dissolve with fear Did not more generous Rage take off the blow And by his Blood the steps to Vengeance show The Tow'r was for the Tragedy design'd And to be slaughter'd he is first confin'd As fetter'd Victims to the Altar go But why must Noble ESSEX perish so Why with such fury drag'd into his Tomb Murther'd by slaves and sacrific'd to Rome By stealth they kill and with a secret stroke Silence that Voice which charm'd when e'er it spoke The bleeding Orifice o'er flow'd the Ground More like some mighty Deluge than a Wound Through the large space his Blood and Vitals glide And his whole Body might have past beside The reeking Crimson swell'd into a Flood And stream'd a second time in Capel's Blood He 's in his Son again to Death pursu'd An instance of the high'st Ingratitude Then they malicious Stratagems employ With Life his dearer Honour to destroy And make his Fame extinguish with his Breath An Act beyond the Cruelties of Death Here Murther is in all its shapes compleat As Lines united in their Centre meet Form'd by the blackest Politicks of Hell Was Cain so dev'lish when his Brother fell He that contrives or his own Fate desires Wants Courage and for fear of Death expires But mighty ESSEX was in all things brave Neither to Hope nor to Despair a Slave He had a Soul to Innocent and Great To fear or to anticipate his Fate Yet their exalted Impudence and Guilt Charge on himself the precious Blood they spilt So were the Protestants some Years ago Destroy'd
then requested they might sing a Psalm the Sheriff told him It must be with the Ropes about their Necks which they chearfully accepted and sung with such Heavenly Joy and Sweetness that many present saiâ—â— It both broke and rejoyc'd their hearts Thus in the experience of the delightfulness of Praising God on Earth he willingly closed his Eyes on a vain World to pass to that Eternal Employment Sept. 30. 1685. All present of all sorts were exceedingly affected and amazed Some Officers that had before insultingly said Surely these Persons have no thoughts of Death but will find themselves surprized by it after said That they now saw he and they had something extraordinary within that carried them through with such Joy Others of them said That they were so convinced of their Happiness that they would be glad to change Conditions with them All the Soldiers in general and all others lamenting exceedingly saying That it was so sad a thing to see them cut off they scarce knew how to bear it Some of the most malicious in the Place from whom nothing but Railing was expected said as they were carried to their Grave in Taunton Church voluntarily accompanied by most of the Town That these Persons had left a sufficient Evidence that they were now glorified Saints in Heaven A great Officer in the King's Army has been often heard to say That if you would learn to die go to the Young Men of Taunton Much more was uttered by them which shewed the Blessed and Glorious frames of their hearts to the Glory of Divine Grace but this is what occurs to Memory Mr. Benjamin Hewling about two hours before his Death writ this following Letter which shewed the great composure of his Mind Mr. Hewling's last Letter a little before his Execution Taunton Sept. 30. 1685. Honoured Mother THat News which I know you have a great while feared and we expected I must now acquaint you with That notwithstanding the Hopes you gave in your two last Letters Warrants are come down for my Execution and within these few hours I expect it to be performed Blessed be the Almighty God that gives comfort and support in such a day how ought we to magnifie his holy Name for all his Mercies that when we were running on in a course of sin he should stop us in our full Career and shew us that Christ whom we had pierced and out of his Free Grace enable us to look upon him with an Eye of Faith believing him able to save to the utmost all such as come to him Oh admirable long-suffering and Patience of God! that when we were dishonouring his Name he did not take that time to bring honour to himself by our destruction But he delighteth not in the death of a sinner but had rather he should turn to him and live And he has many ways of bringing his own to himself Blessed be his Holy Name that through Affliction he has taught my heart in some measure to be conformable to his Will which worketh Patience and Patience worketh Experience and Experience Hope which maketh not ashamed I bless God I am not ashamed of the Cause for which I lay down my Life and as I have engaged in it and fought for it so now I am going to Seal it with my Blood The Lord still carry on the same Cause which hath been long on foot and tho' we die in it and for it I question not but in his own good time he will raise up other Instruments more worthy to carry it on to the Glory of his Name and the Advancement of his Church and People Honoured Mother I know there has been nothing left undone by you or my Friends for the saving of my Life for which I return my hearty Acknowledgments to your self and them all and it 's my dying Request to you and them to Pardon all undutifulness 〈◊〉 unkindness in every Relation Pray give my Duty to my Grandfather and Grandmother Service to my Uncles and Aunts and my dear Love to all my Sisters to every Relation and Friend a particular Recommendation Pray tell 'em all how Precious an Interest in Christ is when we come to die and advise them never to rest in a Christless Estate For if we are his 't is no matter what the World do to us they can but kill the Body and blessed be God the Soul is out of their reach for I question not but their Malice wishes the Damnation of that as well as the Destruction of the Body which has too evidently appeared by their deceitful and â—â—tering Promises I commit you all to the Care and Protection of God who has promised to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow and to supply the want of every Relation The Lord God of Heaven be your Comfort under these Sorrows and your Refuge from those Miseries we may easily fore-see coming upon poor England and the poor distâ—eâ—â—ed People of God in it The Lord carry you through this Vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Their CHARACTERS THey were both of very sweet and obliging Tempers as has appeared in their History it being a very hard matter for their worst Enemies when they once knew 'em well not to Honour and Love ' em Mr. Benjamin the Elder reconciled the Lamb and the Lion exactly In the Field he seem'd made only for War and any where else for nothing but Love He without Flattery deserv'd to be call'd a very fine Man of a lovely Proportion extreamly well made as handsome a Meen and good an Air as perhaps few in England exceeded him His Picture is pretty like him The Younger Mr. William somewhat taller and more slender his Face fresh and lively as his Spirit being Master of an extraordinary vivacity and briskness of Temper Both of 'em Vertuous Pious and Courageous far above their Years and indeed seem'd to be Men too soon one of 'em not being Twenty the Eldest but Two and twenty when they dy'd verifying that common Observation That whatever is perfect sooner than ordinary has generally a shorter Period prefix'd it than what 's more base and ignoble 2. Mr. CHRISTOPHER BATTISCOMB HE was another young Gentleman of a good Family and very great Hopes and of a fair Estate which lay in Dorsetshire somewhere between Dorchester and Lyme He had studied some time at the Temple and having Occasions in the Country about the Time of my Lord Russel's Business he was there seiz'd on Suspicion of being concern'd in 't and clapt into the County Gaol at Dorchester where he behaved himself with that Prudence and winning Sweetness and shew'd so much Wit and innocent pleasantry of Temper as extreamly obliged both all his Keepers and Fellow-Prisoners and even Persons of the best Quality in that Town They knew how to value such a Gentleman
would discover it by the Smell at a distance Sch. l. 7. p. 890. Who tells in the same Page of Jac. Foro-â—viensis that if at any time he eat Garlick he was no less tormented than if he had drank Poison 24. A certain Spaniard who had never tasted any sort of Fish when a Friend of his had invited him to a Supper and had on purpose given him Fish wrapt in Eggs he immediately fell into fainting Pressures of the Heart and Vomitings c. so that little wanted but that he had died upon it Schenck l. 7. p. 890. 25. Germanicus could not endure the Voice or Sight of a Cock and the Persian Magi were possessed with an extream Hatred to Mice Sch. l. 7. p. 889. 26. Another was not able to bear that an old Woman should look upon him and being forced to look upon one intended for Merriment as to him ended in his Death Ibid. 27. Another at the sight of a Dog is not only affrighted but seized with Convulsions Bart. Hist Anat. Cent. 3 Hist 28. p. 65. 28. A young Lady of Namur as often as she heard the sound of a Bell or any loud Voice so often was she cast into a Swound so as that she differed not from one dead Hen. ab H. 61. Obs. 29. p. 253. 29. A Nun in the Monastery of St. Clare would be strangely affrighted at the sight of a Beetle it fell out that some young Girls cast a Beetle into her Bosom betwixt her Breasts which when perceived she presently fell into a Swound to the Earth deprived of all Sense and remained four hours in Cold Sweats when she came to her self yet she recovered not her former strength in many days after Zach. Quest Med. l. 2. tit 2. p. 61. 30. A Noble Man of Mantua would fall in a Syncope and Cold Sweats at the sight of an Hedge-hog Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 6. c. 3. p. 306. 30. A German coming in Winter time into an Inn to Sup the Woman of the House knowing his Temper hid her young Cat in a Chest in the same Room where he was to Sup but though he had neither seen nor heard it yet after some time that he had suckt in the Air infected by the Cats breath he Sweat and a sudden paleness came on his Face he cry'd out that in some corner or other of the Room there lay a Cat hid Sch. l. 7. p. 889. 32. A Lady as oft as she tasted any Raisons or Sugar or any other sweet thing was afflicted with intolerable pain in her Teeth nor was she freed from it till she had Eaten something bitter or sharp Henric. ab Heer 's Obs. Med. l. 1. Obs 29. p. 254. 33. Mr. Baker an ancient Minister in London was not able to indure the sight of a Cat. CHAP. III. Examples of Superfoetation THere are some Mysteries in the Anomalies of Nature which we cannot solve and this is one which for the Difficulty of it I do not care to play the Philosopher upon the Recesses of the Operation are so Secret and the Acts themselves so Sublime that 't is impossible for material Eyes to find out by the most accurate Disquisition or meer Reason to give a perfect Rational upon I must manum de Tabulâ and leave it to the Studies of the Schools 1. .... Palmer Esq of West-Angmering in Sussex It happened that his Wife were a full Fortnight inclusively in Labour and was on Whitsunday delivered of ..... her Eldest Son on Sunday following of .... her Second Son and the Sunday next after of .... her Third Son These Three were Knighted for their Valour and Success as in their Nativities by King Henry the Eighth 2. Anno 1584. Died the Noble Lord Philip Lewis of Hirshorn at his Mansion-house in the Palatinate three miles from Heydelberg he left no Heir but his Lady was with Child his Kindred forthwith enters upon the Rents and Royalties and to gain the more full and perfect knowledge of them soon after the death of her Lord they pluckt from her Waste the Keys of all private Places and that not without Violence the better to inable them for the search they intended This Outrage redoubled the Grief of the Lady so that within few days after she fell in Travel and brought forth a Son but dead and wanting the Scull Now were the next Heirs of the Deceased Noble Man exceeding Jocund as having attained to their utmost hopes and therefore now used the Estate as their own but it pleased God to raise up a Son to that desolate and disconsolate Widow for though she was not speedily delivered of him after the first yet she remain'd somewhat Big after her delivery suspecting nothing but that it was some praeternatural Humour or some Disease that was remaining in her Body she therefore consulted the Physicians who all thought any thing rather to be the cause of the Disease then that in the least they suspected a second Birth so long after the first They therefore advised her to go to the Baths by the Rhine she accordingly did as a sad and comfortless Widow attended only with one Maid came thither July 1584 where â—t so fell out she found Augustus the Elector of Saxony together with the Princess his Wife as also many other Princes and their Ladies by which means all Lodgings were so taken up that she could not find Entertainment in any Inn especially being not known of what Quality she was coming thither with so private a Retinue as a Maid At last discovering to the Governor of the place who she was and her last Misfortunes she procured Lodging in his House for that Night when it was the tenth Week from her former delivery it pleased God to send her in her Affliction and amongst Strangers a lovely Boy the Fame of which came to the Ears of the Illustrious Princes who were then in Town The Elector of Mentz made her a Noble Provision for her lying in The Elector of Saxony also sent her by way of present 1000 Dollars also all the Rents and Royalties before seized upon were restored to this Lawful Heir of her Husbands and Child of hers who was then alive saith Caspar Bauhinus Schenck Obs. Med. Obs. 1. p. 542. A Dutch Woman in Southwark having invited divers of her Neighbours to her upsitting found her self not well on a sudden and rising from the Table was forthwith brought to Bed of another This falling on a time into Discourse one then present reported that the like befell a Sister of his who three Months after the Birth of her first Son was delivered of a second Sandys on Ovid Metam l. 11. p. 215. 4. Doctor Plot tells of a Cow of Mrs. Dunches of Newington near Dorchester that whil'st a Calf before she was 11 Months old produced another which Animals carrying their burthen no less then 9 Months we must either admit that she took Bull at about 10 or 11 Months old or that the Cow her self was
infinite terrour and the top appeared all in Flames this trembling of the 9th was felt in the Cities of Mineo Palaonia Ragosa Licodia and most of the South parts of Sicily at the same instant with that of Catania but the most tremendous shake of all happened on the 11th of January under which dismal Calamity the antient City of Catania pleasantly seated and full of Inhabitants of Quality with an University and about 24000 People in a Minute was sunk out of sight with a noise as loud as if thousands of Cannons had been discharged at once In the place where Catania stood some heaps of Rubbish and a great Lake of Water appear at a distance Under the same dismal Calamity fell the antient City of Syracuse so famous in History that it was formerly reckoned one of the greatest in the World having in it about 16000 Inhabitants By the Earthquake of the 9th many principal Houses and the Castle were torn in divers Night and so escaped the horrible Devastation of the 11th wherein two thirds of the Buildings were thrown down and above 7000 People buried in the rubbish Neither did Noto though built upon a very high Rock almost inaccessible on all sides but one narrow way partake of a less dismal Fate The trembing of the 9th did very much affect it and on the 11th laid it in heaps in a Minute all the Inhabitants except some few who fled from thence on the 9th were Buried in the Ruins of their own Houses being reckon'd about 7000 very little Buildings standing in the whole Town Augusta a City in a Peninsula on the East of Sicily with a large prospect to the Sea Safe-Harbours and considerable Trade was much damaged by the Earthquake of the 9th instant and about 600 People killed by the downfal of the Houses and the following day the rest of the Town and the remaining Inhabitants by another dreadful shake were utterly destroyed and buried in rubbish so that of 6000 People none were left alive Lentini the antient Leontium a Town of about 3000 Families was burnt to the ground on the 11th Calatgirone a Town well-built of Free-Stone by the shake on the 11th had the fifth part of the Buildings and two Monasteries demolished but of 7000 People 5000 made their escape Mineo was shaken both the 9th and the 11th on the former the Heavens were Serene without the least Cloud but on the latter was a terrible Storm of Lightning and Thunder for 6 hours together At both times several Houses and a large Church were overthrown and it was judged about 4000 People perished Pasceni of about 200 Inhabitants was so entirely ruined that not one House or Person was saved The spacious Valley adjoyning which was formerly full of excellent Vines being turned into a new Lake whose Water is of a brackish taste and like Brimstone In Patuzolo a place of about 1000 People all were swallowed up Furla another Town of about the same number of Souls had the like fate Sciorti a bigger Town was totally demolished and the Inhabitants about 2000 so utterly destroyed that none was left to tell the News In Militello where of 6000 People no one is left to give tidings how or when its Calamity happened The Country People who dwell in the Mountains about it affirm that for 3 days before they could not discern the Town by reason of a thick Fog that surrounded but that on the 11th in the morning it was no more seen A great part of the Mountain on the North-side is torn asunder and one half overwhelmed the Town leaving a deep Gulph betwixt that and the other part of the Mountain THE Curiosities of Art PART III. By WILLIAM TVRNER M. A. Vicar of WALBERTON in SUSSEX And Moses said unto the Children of Israel See the Lord hath called by Name Bezaleel the son of Vri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah And he hath filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship and to devise curious works to work in gold and in silver and in brass And in the cutting of stones to set them and in carving of wood to make any manner of cunning work Exod. xxxv 30 31 32 33. LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-street MDCXCVII THE PREFACE TO THE Curiosities of Art WHen God made us He instamp'd his own Image upon us which Image is most clearly apparent in those two great Distinguishing Faculties of Humane Nature the Vnderstanding and Will The one disposeth us to a subtilty and sublimity of Knowledge the other to a Goodness of Temperance and Beneficence in our Actions And 't is worthy a sober Remark and pretty to observe how Man hath exercised these Two Faculties in pursuit of these Ends from the first Creation how his Intellectuals have mounted above the Sphere of Sense tranigressed the common Limits and Horizon of the dull unthinking Multitude and peer'd about with a Sagacity of Reason into all the Crevisses and secret Recesses of Nature to find out the utmost Bounds of Humane Power and see how far the Wit of Man might be stretch'd and extended without a Fault or Fracture I have already shew'd somewhat of the Divinity conspicuous in the Great World now I am to shew somewhat of it in the Microcosm in Man the Epitome of the World the Top and Master-piece of the visible Creation and that only in part too viz. his Soul and Mind for I have spoken of his Body elsewhere But the Mind being the more Noble and Excellent part of the Man and of it self so Spiritual and not subject to Sense I have no other way left to give the Anatomy of it but by summing up and presenting to view its Operations and Effects We admire the Industry and Skilfulness of the Bee in gathering Honey out of the Flowers carrying it home and disposing it in several Cells ingeniously contriv'd for the Purpose the Wisdom of the little Ant in a hundred particular Instances of her Polity and Managery of Business the curious Embroidery and Net-work of the busie Spider in making Webs and pursuing her Game for the catching of Flies the strange and almost stupendious Artifice of the poor Silk-worm which by the Impulse of meer Nature works her self out of Breath and spends her self to cloath Nobles Let us sit a while at home and call back our Rambling Thoughts to contract our Meditation and Prospect and view our selves and take notice of a more lofty Design and we shall certainly find the Humane Intellectuals flying at a higher Game pitching upon more Noble Objects propounding more excellent Ends pursuing them with proper Means ingenious and apt Methods And I am confident upon a solid Speculation we shall find our selves astonish'd at our own Powers and admire the wisdom of Him that made us and be provoked to Aemulation by observing how others have out-stript us When I consider how many wonderful Pheanomena of both
Nature and Art the World is furnish'd with and we set as the principal Spectators of them in order to be High-Priests to offer the Sacrifices of Praise for the Rest of the visible Creation methinks I am ready to complain that our Lives are contracted to so short a Span that we can hardly have time to look about us and admire and give due Praise but we must be gone off the Stage Oh! think I if we might but live now to a Mathusalem's Age or at least a Nestor's or John of the Times or but so long as my Country-man Part what brave Schemes might we draw of Architecture What high Scaffolds might we raise What wonderful Projects might we contrive What ingenious and subtle Ideas might we form The Quadrature of the Circle the perpetual Motion the scaling of the Skies and a perfect Discovery of the Lunar World the Philosopher's Stone Flying Diving Any thing Every thing would be but mean and ordinary to imploy our Wits upon But God hath wisely prevented our Projection of these Babels by reducing our Time to a short Scantling of but a Span long and confounding our Thoughts with a Thousand Cares and Abbreviating our Necessities to a little Compendium of Fearing God and heeping his Commandments as the whole of Man Notwithstanding we have all of us almost some spare Minutes left from our necessary Offices which we might if we would spend in a more noble way upon more generous Exercises either of Veiwing or Doing of Speculation or Action or which were much better both I am not so fond as to conceit that I have given here a due Account of all or most of the Wonders and strange Improvements of Art 't is enough to my purpose if tanquam canis ad Nilum I have exhibited a short Specimen enough to beget Admiration and Emulation Let my Reader read and wonder and fall into an honest Indignation with himself that he hath suffer'd his Sands of Time to run so fast in his Glass and his Blood stagnate in his Veins and his Brains gather Flegm and Water whilst himself doth nothing or nothing to purpose or next door to nothing in comparison with those brave Intellectuals he is endowed with I am not for Domitian's pricking Flies with a Pin nor the Hungarian 's wooden Coat of Mail the work of fifteen Years nor Myrmerides 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coach with four Horses so little you might hide them under a Flie's Wing nor Collicrates 's Elegies writ so small that a Cherry-stone might hold them nor Mark Scaliot 's Lock spoken of hereafter c. These are all certainly but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a laborious Loss of Time an Ingenious Profusion of one of the best Talents we are intrusted with and more than that perhaps of Two viz. Our Time and Wit Let People know their Strength what they can do and consider the Price of Time they have allowed to act in and act accordingly with a due Aim and direct Tendancy to the Divine Honour their Neighbour's Benefit and their own Happiness and I do not doubt but Men will find better Work and at last receive a Better a more Comfortable and Satisfactory Reward Curiosities of Art PART III. CHAP. I. The English Tongue Improved THE Art of Speaking is none of the least Extellencies of Humane Nature the Confusion of Tongues introduced a great Obscurity in delivering the Sense of our Minds and Men were many Ages blundering and unskilful in expressing themselves properly Where Learning prevailed the Languages were sooner ripen'd to a Perfection and Purity The English Tongue by occasion of frequent Intermixtures with other People lay a long time corrupted with a variety of Dialects How it hath been improved of late Ages we may guess by comparing the Old Dialect with the New Of the old take these few Parcels out of Richard a Religious Hermit in the Earl of Exeter 's Library for a Specimen 1. His Te Deum begins thus We heryen ye God we knowlecnen ye Lord Alle ye erie worschips ye everlasting Fader Alle Aungels in Hevens and alle ye poures in yis VVarld Cherebin and Seraphin cryen by be voice to ye unstinting 2. His Benedictus thus Blessyd be ye Louerd God of Israel for he has visityd maad buying of his puple 3. The Magnificat thus My Soul worschips ye Louerd and my gost ioyed in God my hele for he lokyd ye mekeness of hys honde mayden So for i â—en of yat blissefulle Schal sey me all generaciouns For he has don to me grete yingis yat myrty is and his Nome hely 4. Nunc dimittis Louerd you leuest nowe yi Servaunt in pees astir yi word yat you hast seyde byfore for now I am ripe to die for mine eghen hau seen yin owen Son Christ yat is yin owen he le to Men. 5. Mat. Cap. 1. The Bok of ye Generacoun of Jhu Crist Sone of Dauid Sone of Abraham Abraham gendryde Isaac Isaac forsoye gendride Jacob Jacob forsoye gendride Judas and hys breyren 6. Acts 1. Ye dedis of ye Apostlis Theofile fyrst I maad a Sermon of all yingis yat ittu began to do and to teche into the day of his assencioun in whych he commandide in ye hoolst to his Apostlis whyche he hadde chosen to whyche he schewide hymselfe alyve aftyr his passioun by many Argumentys appering to hem fourti dais 7. Rem 1. Paul ye Servaunt of Jhu Crist clepid an Apostle depromptyd into the Gospel of God whyche he hadde behote tofore by hise Profetis in hooli Scriptur of his Sone Apoc. 1. Apocalipis of Jhu Crist whyche God 3 as to him to maak open to hys Servauntis whyche yingis hit behouey to be maad soone c. 8. Pater Noster thus Ure Fadir in Hevene riche Thy nome be haliid everliche Thou bring us to thy michilblisse Thi wil to wirche thu us wisse Al 's it is in Hevene ido Euer in Erth ben hit also That heli bred yat lastyth ay Thou send hious yis ilke day Forgive ous all yat we haueth don Al 's we forgive ych oder mon He let ous falle in no founding Alt scilde ous fro ye foul thing Amen 9. The Creed thus I beleive in God Fadir Almighty Shipper of Heven and Erth and in Jhesus Crist his onle thi Son ure Louerd that is iuange church the hooli gost bore of Mary maiden tholedepine undyr Pounce Pilat picht on rode tre dead and yburiid licht into helle the thrid day fro death arose steich into Heuene sit on his Fadir richt honde God Almichty then is comminde to deme the quikke and the dede I beleue in the hooli Gost alle hooli Chirche mone of Allehallwen forgiuenis of sine fleiss uprising lif withuten end Amen Wevers Fun. Men. p. 152. Of the New or Modern Dialect there is no necessity of giving any Specimen at all CHAP. II. Blind Persons Improved by Art and Industry WHere Nature is defective there the Assistance of Art
Spring then called Goldwell to place a Cistern for his own Drinking met with a Rock so wonderfully contrived by Nature it self that he thought it worthy of all imaginable Advancement by Art He made Cisterns and laid divers Pipes between the Rocks and built a House over them containing one fair Room for Banquetting c. Which when finished A 1636. together with the Rocks Grove c. he presented to the Queen who in Company with the King himself was pleased to honour the Rock not only with her Royal Presence but commanded the same to be called after her own name Henrietta VVhich Structure in the unhappy Civil VVars became neglected and decayed till at last it lapsed into the Hands of the Right Honourable Edw Hen. Earl of Litchfield Lord of the Soil who A. 1674. not only repaired the broken Cisterns and Pipes but made a fair Addition to it in a sinall Island situate in the passage of a Rivulet just before the Building set over the Rock The Rock is Artificial in the middle of the Island covered with living Aqueous Plants the Keeper of the VVater turning the Cocks casteth a Canopy of VVater over the Rock by an Instrument of Brass for that purpose In the middle of the Rock is a Column of VVater rising about 14 Foot designed to toss a Ball. The Streams of VVater that make the Canopy flow from about 30 Pipes set round the Rock which streams while Persons strive to avoid by turning other Cocks they are unavoidably besprinkled either upon their Heads or Leggs or the Reins of their Backs In the Grot the Rock is to beseen made up of large craggy Stones with great cavities between them out of which flows VVater plentifully and perpetually dashing against the Rocks below fed only with a single Spring the natural Rock is about ten Foot high and as many broad but advanced about four Foot more by the addition of some few Shelves of Lead and dry Stones on the top upon turning one of the Cocks rises a Chequer Hedge of VVater and upon turning another two side Columns of VVater and by turning of a third Cock a Column of VVater rises in the middle which ascending into the turn of the Arch and not rising again is received into hidden Pipes into one of which terminated in a very small Cistern of VVater behind a Stone of the Rock and having a Mouth and Languet just above its Surface the Air being forced into it by the Approaches of the VVater a noise is made near resembling the Notes of a Nightingale But when that Pipe is filled the singing ceaseth till the VVater has passed away by another Pipe in the lower part of the Rock which when almost done a noise is heard like the beating of a Drum perform'd by the rushing in of Air into the hollow of the Pipe which is large and of Copper to supply the place of the VVater almost gone out which done the Nightingale may be made to sing again From the turned Roof of the Rock by help of a brass Instrument and turn of a Cock in one of the Closets above they can let down a Canopy of VVater and from the top they can throw arched Spouts of VVater crossing one another c. with some other Sportive Streams of VVater a Cellar behind the Rock to keep Liquors cool or place Musick in for the Surprizal of Strangers c. we think fitter for the Eye than the Pen to describe Ibid. CHAP. XVI TO Sum up all I present my Reader here with an Epitome of Artifices a Miscellany Compendium of little pretty Fancies and Curiosities like the Webs of the Silk-Worm or Spider of an Ingenious Texture and Contrivance enough to demonstrate the Fineness of Man's Wit but whether sufficient to Compensate for the Expence of his precious Talents or no Judge 1. Mr. E formerly mentioned under the Chapter of Grod Wives work'd a most curious wrought Bed all with One Needle which is so much the more remarkable as this Bed by reason of its extraordinary bigness and curious Flourishes was near Ten Years in Finishing 2. Amongst the Rarities of Dresden are to be seen Castles of Gold and Mother of Pearl many Fowls and Cups made of Shells a fine Ostridge made out of its Egg with the Feathers of Gold a Cup made out of the Ball taken out of an Ox's Stomach richly set about a Foot long 121 Heads carved on the out-side of a Cherry-stone a Frier of Japan carv'd in Box a Glass Organ c. Dr. Brown's Travels 3. Dr. Wecker puts the Question VVhether material Statues may Speak by any Artificial way And he tells us That Albertus Magnus was reported to have performed it and he supposeth it may be done by VVind For we see saith he that a Voice or Sound will be conveyed entire through the Air that brass Guns make a mighty noise not to be heard before the slame be seen and therefore Sounds go with Time and are entire without interruption unless they break upon some place the Eccho proves this striking whole against a Wall and rebounding back again like a Beam of the Sun So that he concludes Leaden Pipes 2 or 300 Paces long shall carry Sounds or Words so as to be heard at the other end He tells us he was at the time of VVriting upon the trial of it To which I will add That I have seen the like contrivance of Dr. Wilkins in a Statue set up in Wadham Coll. Garden where there is a leaden Pipe one end whereof is in an Arbor not far distant converyed under Ground to the foot of the Statue which is erected in the middle of a Cistern and so continued through the Body of the Statue upward to the Mouth But what the effect of this Contrivance was I cannot say it being out of Order in my time 4. In the 20th Year of Queen Elizabeth Mark Scaliot Black-Smith made a Lock consisting of 11 pieces of Iron Steel and Brass all which together with a Pipe-Key to it weighed but one Grain of Gold He made also a Chain of Gold consisting of 43 Links whereunto having fastned the Lock and Key before mentioned he put the Chain about a Fleas Neck which drew them all with ease Now all these together Lock and Key Chain and Flea being weighed the weight of them was but one Grain and a half Fayth Ann. p. 128. 5. Myrmecides wrought out of Ivory a Chariot with four VVheels and as many Horses in so little room that a little Fly might cover them all with her VVings The same Man made a Ship with all the Tackling to it no bigger than a small Bee might hide it with her VVings Plin l. 7. c. 21. p. 167. 6. Praxiteles made a Statue of Venus for the Gridians so lively that a certain young Man became so Amorous of it that the excess of his Love deprived him of his VVits This Piece of Art was esteemed at that rate by King Nicomedes that whereas
professed he had Joy in parting with them Yet now their outward Distress and Danger was become greater since the Skipper's two Sons were the only help he had in working the Vessel Not long after another of the Company viz. Caleb Jones Son to Mr. William Jones one of the worthy Magistrates in New-Haven fell sick and died also leaving the VVorld with comfortable Manifestations of true Repentance towards God and Faith in Jesus Christ Thus the one half of their Company was taken away none remaining but the Skipper himself one Mr. Augur and a Boy He himself was still sickly and in a very weak Estate yet was fain to stand at the Helm 36 Hours and 24 Hours at a time in the mean time the boisterous Sea overwhelming the Vessel so as that if he had not been lasht fast he had certainly been washed overboard In this Extremity he was at a loss in his own Thoughts whether they should persist in striving for the New-England Shoar or bear away for the Southern Islands He proposed that Question to Mr. Augur they resolved that they would first seek to God by Prayer about it and then put this difficult case to an Issue by casting a Lot So they did and the Lot fell on New-England By that time a Month was expired they lost the Rudder of their Vessel so that now they had nothing but God alone to rely upon In this deplorable State were they for a Fortnight The Skipper though infirm as has been expressed yet for six Weeks together was hardly ever dry nor had they the benefit of warm Food for six Weeks together was hardly ever dry nor had Weeks in the Morning betimes the Vessel was driven on the Tailings of a Ledge of Rocks where the Sea broke violently looking out they espied a dismal Rocky Island to the Leeward upon which if the Providence of God had not by the Breakers given them timely warning they had been dashed in pieces And this extremity was the Lord's opportunity to appear for their Deliverance they immediately let go an Anchor and get out the Boat and God made the Sea calm The Boat proved leaky and being in the midst of Fears and Amazements they took little out of the Vessel After they came ashoar they found themselves in a rocky desolate Island near Cape Sables where was neither Man nor Beast to be seen so that now they were in extream danger of being starved to Death But a Storm arose which beat violently upon the Vessel at Anchor so as that it was Staved in pieces and a Cask of Powder was brought ashoar receiving no damage by its beiâ—g washed in the Water also a Barrel of Wine and half a Barrel of Molosses together with many things useful for a Tent to preserve them from cold This notwithstanding new and great distresses attended them for though they had Powder and Shot there were seldom any Fowls to be seen in that dismal and desolate place excepting a few Crows Ravens and Gulls These were so few as that for the most part the Skipper shot at one at a time Many times half of one of these Fowls with the Liquor made a Meal for Three Once they lived five Days without any Sustenance at which time they did not feel themselves pincht with Hunger as at other times the Lord in Mercy taking away their Appetites when their Food did utterly fail them After they had been about twelve Weeks in this miserable Island Mr. How 's dear Friend and Consort Mr. Augur died so that he had no living Creature but the Lad before-mentioned to Converse with And on April 2. 1677. that Lad died also so that the Master was now left alone upon the Island and continued so to be above a Quarter of a Year not having any living Soul to Converse with In this time he saw several Fishing Vessels Sailing by and some came nearer the Island than that which last took him in but though he used what means he could that they might be acquainted with his Distress none came to him being afraid for they supposed him to be one of those Indians who were then in Hostility against the English The good Man whilest he was in his desolate State kept many Days of Fasting and Prayer wherein he did confess and bewail his Sins the least of which deserved greater Evils than any in this World ever were or can be subject unto and begged of God that he would find out a way for his Deliverance At last it came into his mind That he ought very Solemnly to Praise God as well as Pray unto Him for the great Mercies and signal Preservations which he had thus far experienced Accordingly he set apart a Day for that end spending the time in giving Thanks to God for all the Mercies of his Life so far as he could call them to mind and in special for those Divine Favours which had been mingled with his Afflictions humbly blessing God for his wonderful Goodness in preserving him alive by a Miracle of Mercy Immediately after this a Vessel belonging to Salem in New-England providentially passing by that Island sent their Boat on shoar and took in Skipper How who arrived at Salem July 18. 1677. and was at last returned to his Family in New-haven I have seen a Manuscript wherein many memorable Passages of Divine Providence are Recorded And this which I shall now mention amongst others 13. About the Year 1638. A Ship fell foul upon the Rocks and Sands called the Rancadories sixty Leagues distant from the Isle of Providence Ten of the Floating Passengers got to a Spot of Land where having breathed a while and expecting to Perish by Famine eight of them chose rather to commit themselves to the Mercy of the Waters two only stood upon the Spot of Land one whereof soon died and was in the Sands buried by his now desolate Companion This Solitary Person in the midst of the roaring Waters was encompassed with the Goodness of Divine Providence Within three Days God was pleased to send this single Person who now alone was Lord and Subject in this his little Common-wealth good store of Fowl and to render them so tame that the forlorn Man could pick and chuse where he list Fish also were now and then cast up within his reach and somewhat that served for Fewel enkindled by Flint to dress them Thus lived that Insulary Anchorite for about two Years till at last having espied a Dutch Vessel he held a rag of his Shirt upon the top of a Stick towards them which being come within view of they used means to fetch him off the said Spot of Sand and brought him to the Isle of Providence The Man having in so long a time conversed only with Heaven lookt at first very strangely and was not able at first Conference promptly to Speak and Answer 3. Princes and Magistrates delivered from Plots c. THE Mercy of God is of a very extensive Nature and his Goodness
nutriment and augmentation is decent and salutary and conducive to action and the proper offices of nature but either a Redundancy or Deficiency are hurtful and obstructive Extraordinary fatness on the one hand devours up or overwhelms the Animal Spirits so that they must move like Travellers in the Wilds of Kent and Sussex Leanness impoverishes Nature and sets her upon a poor Horse that 's hardly able to carry himself 1. Zacutus speaks of a young Man so fat that he could scarce move himself or go or set one step forward but continually sate in a Chair in perpetual fear of being Choaked Zacutus cured him Zacut. prox Adm. l. 3. Obs 108. p. 416. 2. Dionisius Son of Clearchus the Tyrant of Heraclea was by reason of his Fat pressed with difficulty of Breathing and fear of Suffocation He could no feel very long and sharp Needles prick'd into his Sides and Belly upon adivce of his Physicians whilst they passed through the Fat till they touched upon the sensible Flesh Athenaeus l. 12. c. 12. p. 549. 3. Vitus a Matera a Learned Philosopher and Divine was so Fat that he was not able to get up a pair of Stairs He breathed with great difficulty nor could he Sleep lying along without danger of Suffocation Donat. Hist Mirab. l. 5. c. 2. p. 274. 4. I have seen saith the same Author ayoung Englishman carried through all Italy to be seen for Money who was of that monstrous Fatness and Thickness that the Duke of Mantua and Mountferrat commanded him to be Pourtray'd naked to the Life Ibid. 5. Anno 1520. a Nobleman born in Diethmarsia but sometimes living in Stockholme being sent to Prison by the Command of Christiern II. could not be thrust in at the Prison Door by reason of his extream Corpulency but was thrown aside into a Corner near it Zuing. Theat v. 2. l. 2. p. 279. 6. Pope Leo X. was Fat to a Proverb Ibid. 7. Polyeusus Sphettius an Athenian mentioned by Plutarch in Photion Ptolomeus Energes Magan who reigned 50 years in Cirene c. are taken notice of by Authors for their Extraordinary Corpulency CHAP. XXXI Instances of extraordinary Leanness 1. CYnesias called Philyrinus because he girt himself round within boards of the Wood Philyra least through his exceeding Talness and Slenderness he should break in the Waste Athen l. 12. c. 13. p. 551. 2. Panaretus was exceeding lean and thin notwithstanding which he passed his whole Life in a most entire and perfect Health Ibid. p. 562. 3. Philetas of Coos was an Excellent Critick and Poet in the time of Alexander the Great but withal he had a body of that exceeding leaness and lightness that he commonly wore Shoes of Lead and carried Lead about him least at sometime or other he should be blown away by the Wind. Ibid. p. 552. CHAP. XXXII Persons Long-liv'd 'T IS reported of Paracelsus that he would undertake if he had the Nurture of a Well-humour'd and Complexien'd Infant from his Nativity to put him in a way of living Everlastingly but that was a brag fit only for such a bold Thrasonical Smatterer in Chymistry and Magick as he was no doubt but Old Age and Death might be retarded and kept off much longer then they are in the Cases of some Persons where Nature hath given a due Contexture a fit Complexion of Humours with the Observation of a suitable Diet and where Divine Providence doth not resist 1. There is a Memorial entred upon the Wall of the Cathedral of Peterborough for one who being Sexton thereof Interred two Queen's therein Katherine Dowager and Mary of Scotland more then 50 years interceeding betwixt their several Sepultures this Vivacious Sexton also buried two Generations or the People on that place twice over Fullers Worthies p. 293. Northamp 2. Richard Chamond Esq served in the Office of Justice of Peace almost 60 years he saw above 50 several Judges of the Western Circuit was Unkle and great Unkle to 300 at the least and saw his youngest Child above 40 years of Age. Fullers Worth p. 211. Cornwal Carew's Survey of Cornwal p. 18. 3. In Herefordshire saith my Lord St. Albans there was a Morrice Dance of 8 Men whose years put together made up 800 that which was wanting in one superabounded in others Verulam Hist Life and Death p. 135. 4. William Paulet Marques of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England 20 years together who died in the 10th year of Queen Elizabeth was born in the last years of Henry VI. He lived in all 106 years and three Quarters and odd days during the Reign of 9 Kings and Queens of England He saw the Children of his Childrens Children to the number of 103 and died 1572. Bakers Chron. p. 502. fullers Worth Hantshire p. 8. 5. One Polezew saith Mr. Carew of Cornwal reached to 130 years one Beauchamp to 106. And in the Parish where himself dwelt he professed to have remembred the Decease of 4 within 14 Weeks space whose years added together made up the Sum of 340 the same Gentleman made this Epitaph upon one Brawne an Irishman but Cornish Beggar Here Brawne the Quondam Beggar lies who counted by his Tale Some Sixscore Winters and above Such Vertue is in Ale Ale was his Meat his Drink his Cloth Ale did his Death reprieve And could he still have drank his Ale he had been still Alive 6. Democritus of Abdera a most Studious and Learned Philosopher who sent all his Life in the Contemplation and Investigation of things who lived in great Solitude and Poverty yet did arrive to 109 years Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1095. 7. Simeon the Son of Cleophas called the Brother of our Lord and Bishop of Jerusalem lived 120 years though he was cut short by Martyrdom 8. Aquila and Priscilla first St. Paul's Hosts and afterwards his fellow Labourers lived together in Wedlock at least 100 years a piece Verulam p. 116. 9. Johannes Summer Matterus saith Platerus my great Grand-father by the Mother's side of an ancient Family after the Hundredth year of his Age Marryed a Wife of 30 years by whom he had a Son at whose sedding which was 20 years after the Old man was present and liv'd 6 years after that so that he compleated 126 years Plateri Obs. l. 1. p. 233. 10. Galen the great Physician who flourished about the Reign of Antoninus the Emperour is said to have lived 140 years from the time of his 28th year he was never seized with any Sickness save only a Feaver for one day only Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1096. 11. James Sands near Brimingham in Seaffordshire lived 140 years and his Wife 120. He out-liv'd 5 Leases of 21 years a piece made unto him after he was Married Fullers Engl. Worth p. 47. 12. Sir Walter Rawleigh knew the Old Countess of Desmond who liv'd in the year 1589 and many years since who was Marryed in Edward IV's time and held her Joynture from all the Earls of Desmond since them The
Lord Bacon casts up her Age to be 140 at least adding withal that she recovered her Teeth after casting them 3 several times Rawleigh Hist World l. 1. c. 5. p. 166. Fuller p. 310 13. Garsius Aretinus lived to 194 years in good state of Health and deceased without being seized with any apparent Disease only perceiving this Strength somewhat weakned Thus writes Petranch of him to whom Garsias was great Grandfather by the Fathers side Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1096. 14. Thomas Parre Son of John Parre born at Alderbury in the Parish of Winninton in Shropshire he was born in the Reign of King Edward IV. Anno 1483. at 80 years he marryed his first Wife Jane and in the space of 32 years had but two Children by her both of them short lived the one lived but a Month the other but a few years being Aged 120 he fell in Love with Katherine Milton and got her with Child He lived to above 150 years two Months before his Death he was brought up by thomas Earl of Arundel to Westminster he slept away most of his time and is thus Characterised by an Eye Witness of him From Head to Heel his body had all over A Quick set Thick set Natural Hairy Cover change of Air and Dyet are conceived to Accelerate his Death which happened November 15 Anno 1634 and was buried in the Abby Church at Westminster Fullers Worthies p. 11. Shropshire 15. John of Times was Armour-bearer to Charles the Great by whom he was also made Knight being a Man of great Temperance Sobriety and Contentment of Mind in his Condition of Life lived unto the 9th year of the Emperor Conrade and died at the Age of 361 years Anno 1128. 1146 saith Fulgosus Bakers Chron. p. 73. 16. Guido Bonatus a Man of great Learning saith he saw a Man whose name was Richard Anno 1223 who told him that he was a Soldier under Charlemain and that he had now lived to the 400th year of his Age. Fulgos. l. 8. c. 14. p. 1098. CHAP. XXXIII Examples of a Vegete and Healthful Old Age. I have often look'd upon Old Age as the very Dregs of Life the Sediment of our Natural Humour 's a Complex of Infirmities but the following Instances would tempt one to love Temperance for Lifes sake and Life for it self for no doubt but the Sweetness of Life consists much in the Healthful and Vegete Temper of our Bodies and a Virtuous course of Life and due Abstinence Conduceth much thereto when the Debauch'd Sensualist lies down under the Burden of his Carelesness and the Sins of his Youth never able to retrieve the Damages of his former Lusts 1. Sir Walter Rawleigh in his Discovery of Guiana reports of the King of Aromaia being 110 years Old came in a Morning on foot to him from his House which was 14 English Miles and returned on foot the same day Hakew. Apolog. l. 3. c. 1. p. 166. 2. Buchanan in his Scottish History speaks of one Lawrence who dwelling in one of the Orcades marryed a Wife after he was 100 years of Age and more and that when he was 140 years old he doubted not to go a Fishing alone in his little Boat though in a rough and Tempestuous Sea Camor Hor Subs. c. 2. cap. 68. p. 277. 3. Sigismemd Polcastrus a Physician and Philosopher of Padua Read there 50 years in his Old Age he buried 4 Sons in a short time at 70 years of Age he married again and by his second Wife he had 3 Sons the eldest of which called Anronius he saw dignified with a Degree in both Laws Jerome another of his Sons had his Cap set upon his Head by his Aged Father who Trembled and Wept for Joy not long after which the Old Man died Aged 94 years Schenck p. 539. 4. Platerus tells of Thomas Platerus His Father upon the Death of his first Wife Anno 1572. and the 73 year of his Age married a second time within the compass of 10 years he had 6 Children by her 2 Sons and 4 Daughters the youngest of his Daughters was born in the 81 year of his Age two years before he died J Foelix was born Anno 1536 and my Brother Thomas 1574 the distance between us being 38 years and yet my Brother is all Gray and seems Elder then my self possibly because he was gotten when my Father was stricken in years Pl. Obs. p. 275. 5. M. Valerllus Corvinus attained to the fulfilling of 100 years betwixt whose first and sixth Consulship there was the distance of 47 years yet was he sufficient in respect of the entireness of his bodily Strength not only for the most important Matters of the Common-wealth but also for the exactest Culture of his Fields a Memorable Example Val. Max. l. 8. c. 13. p. 236. 6. Metellus equalled the length of his Life and in extream Age was created Pontiffe for 22 years he had the ordering of the Ceremonies in all which time his Tongue never faultred in Solemn Prayers nor did his Hand tremble in the Offering of the Sacrifices Val. Max. ibid. p. 238. 7. Nicholaut Leonicenus was in the 96 year of his Age when Langius heard him at Ferrara where he had Taught more then 70 years he used to say that he enjoyed a Green and Vegete Age because he had delivered up his Youth chast unto Man's Estate Melch. Adam in Vit. Germ. Med. p. 141. 8. Massanissa was the King of Numidia for 60 years together and excelled all other Men in respect of Strength and of an admirable Old Age that for no Rein or Cold he would be induced to cover his Head they say of him that when he was on Horseback he would lead his Army for the most part both a compleat day and the whole Night also nor would he in extream Age omit any thing of that which he had accustomed to do when young and after the 86th year of his Age he begat a Son and whereas his Land was was waste and desert he left it fruitful by his continual Endeavours in the Cultivation of it he lived till he was above 90 years of Age. Val. M. p. 236. 9. Cornarus the Venetian was in his Youth of a Sickly body began to eat and drink first by measure to a certain weight thereby to recover his Health this Cure turned by use into a Diet that Diet into an extraordinary long Life even of 100 years and better without any decay of his Senses and with a constant enjoyment of Health Verulam's Hist of Life and Death p. 134. 10. Appius Claudius Coecus was blind for the space of very many years yet notwithstanding he was burden'd with this mischance he govern'd 4 Sons and five Daughters very many Dependants upon him yea and the Common-wealth it self with abundance of Prudence and Magnanimity when he had lived so long that he was even tired with living caused himself to be carried to the Senate for no other purpose then to perswade them