of the mouth that first spake them Psal 27.14 And say in faith as you may in his own language Psal 138.8 It is to me a great sign of what the Lord hath done for you that you are so willing to part with your I know dear Husband for the Lords sake and his works sake but He is and It is worthy Think still it is to the Lord and should a Husband be between a gracious heart and Christ our Lord God forbid we should think so who have had already in hand for every step word and thought for him from him more weight and worth than a wedge of Ophirs Gold besides those thousands of years in glory that are yet in reversion and wherein I cannot thank you or him my Lord shall my Lord shall my Lord shall else his word failes and I le complain Heb. 6.18 2 Chron. 25.9 After two years spent at Ashburne he sayes he saw nothing to contradict his resolutions to part from them and that the Lord cut out work for him elsewherere judging his reasons sufficient for removal he proceeds I was called thence to Atherston in Warwickshhire where I spent one year in a Lecturers place and the Lord did abundantly crown my poor pains on a sudden with conversion-conversion-work which made me say Cant. 6.12 Or ever I was aware my soule made me like the Chariots of Amminadib But I saw not the Lords mind and will to continue me there in which I saw the Lords hand and for the time was content for I wanted nothing having a Seabridge-home for supply And I had my hearts desire in opportunities to extend my labours to Staffordshire and otherwise some Lords-dayes and many week-dayes no one gainsaying which I saw was for the destruction of the Devils work and an aking-tooth he carried against me but two things stay'd my thoughts in my travels from place to place and house to house My Saviours leading the way Acts 10.38 And this The more the Devil hates me the more my God loves me This year was his time to have Commenced Mr. in Arts which he inclined to doe chiefly to give testimony of his respect to Learning and the Schools thereof in a time when too many were bent against them but his Estate being enough to make him a Compounder whereby some extraordinary charges would be expected from him more than he could well spare he sate down with this consideration that he thought he might lay out that money more to the Honour of the Gospel than to part with it for the Honour of a Degree though the single charge he could willingly have born upon the other account His removal thence to Astbury he thus records himself I was ordered and called to Astbury in Cheshire about Novem. 17. 1652. but exprest not my full consent until the Spring following Then I left Atherston About this time his Father dyed of which he saith thus He dyed on March 12. 1652. being the Sabbath day about ten of the clock at night about the 55th year of his Age with these words in his mouth Psal 39.5 Behold thou hast made my days as an hand breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity And said to his Mother and Sisters standing by weeping why do you so you have a God that will be better than ten thousand Husbands and Fathers He wisely observed when such an unthought of loss befel him how he was imployed at that instant saying At the time he dyed I was at prayer and that with the most remarkable impressions that I ever had both in pleading for mercy for him and on a sudden submitted to the Lords determination Many observable warnings he had from the Lord of this Event before it came to pass His serious and solemn exposition and application of Job 21.23 24. in the Family before any sickness appeared March 9.2 His earnestness to know his Fathers Soul-estate before they parted the next morning and also to thank his love and care in his behalfe and to understand his mind and will concerning himself and outward estate while he yet continued in perfect health 3. The day following having occasion to send home he recommended by the messenger that Scripture Isa 38.1 2 3. to his Father These with several other notable passages and pious improvements he made hereof gave him hope that this sad providence was in love to him and in mercy to his Father whom he could not reach to see in the land of the living Not long after he removed to Astbury and changed his condition whereof he saith thus himself The good hand of my everliving Father so disposing I had some Christian acquaintance in Darbyshire especially I observed one forward in the Profession at Mickleover neer Darby who might be to me as Rebecca to Isaac by name Jane Butler Daughter to John Butler on whom my thoughts much setled with submission to my heavenly Fathers will and she became my Wife Sept. 29. 1653. at Vttoxeter whom God gave to me and with her what I expected in an humble and gracious woman Prov. 31.11 12. 29.30 31. her price was above Rubies her Portion of outward Estate very considerable His managing that affaire was in such an holy and heavenly manner that all their meetings on that account were improveed to the utmost advantage of both their soules and their very marriage fixt on one of his Lecture-dayes where two of his Brethren preached and joyn'd in the Solemnization thereof and after two dayes stay with his Wife went a long journey to the work of the Lord for many dayes following whereby he made it evident how much the greatest worldly comforts were made subordinate to the joy of the Lord and wore so far from hindring that they rather inlarged and fitted him up in the wayes of God His first contrivance of a Lecture was some moneths before his Fathers death and no sooner was the Estate his own but he resolves a share of it for God and will not serve the Lord with that which costs him nothing Take his intentions in his own words out of his own papers thus I intend a monethly Lecture to be preached at these following towns of greatest concourse viZ. Newcastle Leeke Vttoxeter Lichfield Tamworth Walsall Wolverhampton Penkridge Stafford Eccleshall Stone Muckleston in the County of Stafford the last Friday in each month allowing of the Lords fulness in my hands thirteen shillings and four pence to the Ministers that preach to convert soules and one Shilling to be given to twelve of the poorest people in the Church In all Eight pounds and twelve shillings in the year This was the resolution of an heart ingaged to him one that would honour the Lord with his Substance is J.M. July 31. 1652. And presently after his Fathers Burial he wrote this following Paper about this thing I believed the Lord could give more dayes but yet do will that 8 l.
of the Ministry which was after some improbabilities and besides the thoughts of all Friends God had another plough for thee to follow and another match to make than that which I and my Friends had thoughts of His Father was induced by the advice of a Friend to let him goe to Cambridge for a quarter of an year scarce intending him to be admitted but to abide there for some short time for further breeding And he gladly accepted the Motion and went thither in December 1645. and finding some kinred and acquaintance there he was admitted in Jesus Colledge The first year it pleased God to make a gracious change in him of which he saith himselfe The time of my conversion was in the twenty first year of my age as I remember the place was Jesus Colledge in Cambridge The Texts that most overturned me were Ephes 6.12 13 14. and 1 Cor. 16.22 the one by Dr. Hill the other by a Stranger He often shew'd some of his acquaintance the seat in which he was first wrought upon and told them how dearly he loved the sight of it and that ever after he chose to sit in that seat rather than in any other if it were possible to crowd into it One evidence among many others of the eminent success which God gave to the faithful plain preaching of that Holy man D. Hill who went over that whole Epistle to the Ephesians in a Lecture every Lords-day in the morning at six of the clock which he continued for several years Learned D. Arrowsmith also about the same time preached over a succinct body of Divinity in Aphorismes in St. Iohns Colledge in the evening of the Lords-day part whereof is since published of which he hath often said that he found his heart so moulded to the truths deliver'd upon the hearing thereof that it was greatly to his spiritual joy and satisfaction No sooner did he find this change in his own heart but his Friends at Seabridge found it in his letters which spake the new frame of his soul and were most instant pathetical perswasions to his Father and Mother and Sisters to look after their soules and to minde the things of Eternity which he seconded afterward with his holy and exemplary society with them so that he was an instrument to convert all his three Sisters early unto God and to prevaile very hopefully with his Parents in like manner as appeared afterwards He so followed his studies in the Vniversity that being of ripe years very good natural parts and religiously making conscience of his time he made good progress therein and was not inferiour to any in the Colledge of his year in University-learning when he left it And though he made no Shew of learning as some did in his preaching yet he made good Vse of it and well understood the necessity of it for his work About the time of his great Grandfathers death which was in March 1647. he was sick of a dangerous spotted-feaver at Cambridge and that unto death as himself and most about him concluded which he thus mentions That it was in Jesus-Colledge in a middle chamber next to the Chappel on the right hand but saith he God having some work for me to do had mercy on me Phil. 2.27 saved me and brought me back again to say Psal 56.13 for thou hast delivered my soul from death wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the land of the living And Psal 118.17 18. I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastned me sore but he hath not given me over unto death In this sickness the Lord dealt most powerfully with his soul planting therein great and firme resolutions of serving his God eminently upon Recovery which by his grace he afterward faithfully performed And hereupon he began a Meeting of Scholars for religious ends which continued in the Colledge for several years after his departure to the restrayning at least of some and the great spiritual advantage of many young Scholars there which he managed with such caution as they might not easily become nurseries of faction or false doctrine whatever the ignorance or malice of senseless frothy persons did slanderously vent to the contrary Take a further account of him and of his usefulness in the Colledge in these few clauses of several letters to him from some Worthy Members of that Society Dear Friend I received your loving Letter which breathed nothing but piety and good affection The next Companion to him who is both Fundator Socius Praeses of the Colledge of Graces and comforts of Believers is he whom God hath warmed with the same principles to be instrumental for the inlivening them in others I bless God the society you were the founder of in the Colledge do grow numero et mensura And you have here my real thanks in that you have been instrumental in setting religious meetings on foot wherein you reap much of the answer of your prayers in that they carry it so prudently yet as I hear of nothing but what malice and guilt tax them withal In all my serious thoughts I see you represented to me either as a pattern of strict walking or an upbraiding of my little serviceableness but alwayes a blessing and a comfort in this that I have known you and the manner of your life and that I reap the benefit of your prayers and best affections which is a treasure I alwayes desire to prize above all the Jewels in the world c. And from another eminent Person My Dear and Precious Friend I received yours your lines sweetly refresh me O that I could hear oftner from you It glads my soul to see your constancy O that your example might be a motive and incentive to me to be more steady settled and fixt upon God in the way of God c. These are but a tast of many letters from Cambridge wherein several do bless the Lord that ever they saw his face But his Activity in Gods service was not a little disturbed by the malice of Satan who frequently after his recovery from sickness annoyed and tormented him dreadfully in his Dreames which greatly confirmed him in his christian zeale so that he hath often immediately upon waking run in his wastcoat into his Study and betaken himself to his earnest prayers against that mischeivous Fiend He Commenced Batchelor in Arts Anno 1649. and after his Commencement came into the Countrey and spent part of the year among his Friends and in visiting some neighbouring Congregations that were destitute with his pains He was Ordeined Minister at Whitchurch Feb. 20. 1649. In which service he ingaged before hand all the prayers he was able to muster up not only of friends near at hand but some scores of miles distant for a blessing upon that Ordinance and when we consider how pathetically he ingaged them thus in one Epistle Vpon the 20th of
February Pray and prevaile for us what a conjunction of prayers there was in several places on that day and the rich crop and harvest reaped afterwards we think it worthy the reflection of those Ministers who never wonne a soule to Christ from what principle in what manner and for what ends they first ingaged in this sacred Function Though he was not at present dispoesd to settle at any place yet he was loath to go about his work without Ordination and that which induced him to continue unfixed for a space was his large desire after soules not only of his friends and kindred but of all his neighbours as far as he could see or know or goe he even travelled in birth for such as had not seen his face that Christ might be formed in them And the largeness of his heart herein was frequently expressed in his most earnest prayers unto God for the inlarging of his Kingdome in Families Towns and Counties which he would name with the greatest affection both in his prayers and letters crying out O that whole Staffordshire and Cheshire might be saved And by this time he had acquaintance and intimacy with all that were eminent for Piety in all the parts adjacent and greatly did he stirre up the grace of God in them And he was extraordinarily qualified and prepared by the Lord for this work in an especial juncture of time the heat of controversies mannaged by Sword Pen and Pulpit having sadly prevailed to the justling out the lively sense of the main things wherein all were agreed And divers Ministers were so taken off these great matters by other work which the Enemy had found them the tares he had sown in the fiield that to preach of Death and Judgement of Christ Conversion were almost new things to many people And this good man was singularly fitted to retrieve the Great work back again into the hearts and hands of his Brethren having never intermedled with the controversies either in Church or State but setting out with all his might upon the main things and driving on the work of conversion where-ever he came And his success was great In his Fathers house at Seabridge the Lord made him eminently instrumental for his three Sisters conversion His Parents greatly favoured the wayes of God much furthered him in his work and were cheerful entertainers of well-disposed people upon solemn occasions And there was such an habituated course of gracious converse set up in the family by his staying there the first year that an eminent Minister at his first coming thither and beholding their order zeal and forwardness in Christ could not forbear insisting the next day on those words of Moses Numb 11.29 Enviest thou for my sake being the result of that dealing he was forc'd to with his own heart upon that occasion And this Ointment on Aarons head ran down to the skirts of his Cloathing for he was a precious savour to the very poor servants of the house with whom he was unweariedly importunate to be holy and prevailed much A notable pledge of the future success of his Ministry upon others In reference hereunto he takes occasion himselfe to say thus of his Father My Father John Machin did more for our family than his progenitors building both House and Barns from the ground c. But most of all he may be remembred for bringing up me his Son to and at the University who was through Grace instrumental to bring the Gospel in its power into our Family which was more glory to the same than if the materials of the house had been all turned into pure Gold whereof let those Scriptures upon the Chimney-stone in the Parlour be witness Gen. 28.15 22. 2 Chron. 6.7 42. 2 Sam. 7.18 25. 1 Chron. 29.10 20. Psal 116.1.12 19. Psal 118.17 Gen. 32.10 Jer. 30.21 Ezek. 48.35 1 Sam. 7.12 Exod. 17.14 15 20.24 1 Cor. 15.34 1 Chron. 28.9 when it may be said blessed be he and they who brought His Name hither to record it To God aolne be the whole Glory His usual way after preaching was to repeat and to assemble together as many as he could to the place where he lodged and there to spend as much time as he was able in pressing things further upon them and in holy and pertinent discourse with unspeakable heat and vigour which made one of his Kinred say that he liked his Cousen Machin well but that he made his house a Chapel when he came to him And during this time he was unfixed as he expresseth himself in a Letter to a Friend of his in Cambridge I am yet placeless Charities servant desired to many places but in part resolved to fix at Ashburne for every other Sabbath reserving the other for the service of Necessity and Charity which may be found in these parts And accordingly he did as himself records At the beginning of An. 1650. I was called co Ashburne in Derbyshire where God was with me two years and though my labours were not in that Towne so successful as I desired yet I had Gods presence much comforting my soule and the soules of many Christian friends thereabout About this time he was with a Quaker on his death-bed presently after the first springing of that Sect in Staffordshire and the more earnestly he prayed with the sick person the more raging he was which was an argument to him as also to several of the company then present that Quakerisme was a degree of Possession Whist he was at Ashburne he was a laborious preacher and very useful and his spare dayes he laid out to the utmost advantage of the Gospel by forecasting heavenly work in the Morelands and darke corners of Staffordshire where the power of the Gospel had scarce ever come before so that he might truly say that he gloried not in another mans line he sowed where few had effectually sowed before nor then save by his procurement There was no man like-minded in the parts he lived in that did so naturally care for the state of soules for indeed he sought not his own but the things of Jesus Christ He would prevaile with his Brethren that were intimate with him and knew the sincerity of his heart and design herein to meet him in those parts and to preach at several places neer together sometimes three or four dayes together And the people were ordinarily so far made willing that they would flock to his great joy from place to place after the means of Grace and he had the comfortable testimony of Gods approving his wrok in the good that many soules received thereby Take a taste of his heavenly spirit in a Letter of his sent to a Ministers wife that thought her husband long from her then with him in the Lords Worke July 9. 1652. Dear Friend I do heartily bless our God for what he hath done for you and especially for your soule I pray believe you heard these following words as coming out
I know not but its motion was directly towards his face coming up the steps in the Garden-walk and the visible means of prevention in Gods hand was another stone that turn'd it out of the Path-way within a few steps of him This was an awakening Providence to me and my Wife that day and sent us to our God on our knees partly for Humiliation partly for Gratulation And this stone he kept in his Study and without Superstition made it his remembrancer to continue his thankfulness to God for this great Deliverance And O that Parents would in this sort transmit to their Children an account of Gods dealings with them when they knew him not what obligations would it lay upon them to love and serve the Lord when grown to age and understanding That the Generation to come might know them even the Children that should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his Commandements Psal 78.6 7. Of his second Child he thus saith My Daughter Lydia so called for that good womans sake Acts 16.14 was born at Astbury March 29. 1656. and there baptized Apr. 6. c. My second Son John was born Sept. 1. 1658. about six in the morning at which time Mr. R.M. a dear Brother and Fellow-labourer and J might be at Prayer for my wife as I understood at my return And he was no less a Son of Prayers The Lord make him a Son of his blessings taking him with the rest into that Everlasting Covenant Jerem. 32.40 John was baptized at Astbury Sept. 12. when I gave him this name John and prayed The Lord be gracious to him Our second Daughter Sarah was born Octob. 8. 1660. and I baptized her at Astbury Octob. 23. by the token of that word then and there Joh. 3.5 c. When this Winter was past this Holy man removed to Whitley May 17. 1661. of whose success there he himself gives this account After some time I found that God was with me in Ordinances to make Conversion work and in Providences to prevent evils and to reach good things to us Let it be remembred to his praise that Octob. 23. 1661. my Son John was within a step of drowning and Providence ordered me within fight at that time though I had been from home the fortnight before And not an hour after my Daughter Sarah was almost choaked with a thread to our great affrightment but we saw the Lords hand very notable in her preservation as we had done the Spring before from sickness in answer to Prayers Psal 103.4 Another merciful preservation of his Son John he subjoyns in these words Memorandum That our Son John had a notable escape and preservation from drowning as he and his Brother were coming from School Jun. 18. 1664. but blessed be God who is present when Parents are absent Here he continued labouring in the Lords Vineyard unto Aug. 24. 1662. at which time he took his Civil Death with many of his Brethren being unsatisfied to Conform as the Act of Uniformity then required But no man took his Death with less reflection upon Superiours or more grief for that affliction But yet there he continued labouring for the peoples advantage with all his strength and was a singular blessing to the Neighbourhood round about having his heart uncessantly bent towards the good of Souls And the Neighbouring Gentry though of a different Perswasion yet offered him not the least molestation in his honest indeavours as being convinced of the Innocence and Peaceableness of his Spirit and uprightness of his ends therein After this his youngest Child was born which he thus records My Daughter Esther was born Jan. 28. 1663. and baptized at Whitley Jan. 31. and called Esther because hidden Hidden as to Conception until time of life and hid as to the time of Travel It was then prayed Lord give her the hid treasure of his fear Isa 33.6 and make her a hid treasure to his house and ours also And having thus made use of these his Memorials we shall add what himself said of the writing of them in these words The occasion of making and writing this Book was a thought I had what was become of all my Fore-fathers and 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 for my Sons sake and Posterities imitation when it may be said of us in this Generation as of Israel once in that Exod. 1.6 And Joseph dyed 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 Masters work at Astbury in Cheshire Anno 1655. when I first set Pen hereunto And so he continued it observing things remarkable towards him and his Family to the last year of his life which we have made use of in divers places of this Narrative And now having brought him within the view of his Fathers house before we give an account of the last part wherein he took possession of his expected Crown we shall give you his just Character 1. In his Personal 2. his Relative Capacity I. In himself 1 he was of an excellent Spirit in the sense of Pro. 17.27 as dispassionate as most we ever knew One that lived with him for some time sayes truly of him That he knew not that ever he saw him transported with passion but angry he would be at Sin yet still exactly after his Lord and Masters passion being grieved for the hardness of their hearts Mark 3.5 yet his Reproofs were alwayes so moderated with Love and Compassion that the Offendor could not but see that he intended them for his good 2. He had good natural Parts and was no Novice in all that learning which was necessary for his work For though he was more abundant in publick Preaching than most others which must needs hinder his Studies yet what time of vacancy he had from this work he diligently redeemed for his Book and took in Philosophy the Tongues History Positive and Practical Divinity in his course of Study being never well unless in Study or in immediate Duties or holy Conference though as it was once said of Plato's Houshold-stuff it was truly said of all his Studies There was nihil in pompam omne in usum And like one of the Architects in Plutarch who when the other had made an artificial discourse of his skill to contrive a new building before those that were to make their choice of them He only said All that this man hath said I can do So this Holy Man had the Knowledge of Doing what others could learnedly Dispute and Discourse of he could learnedly live in
every point that became a Learned Preacher 3. He had an extraordinary measure of Holiness and Heavenliness according to the Observation that a Judicious Divine long since made of him That he had more than ordinary degrees of Sanctification He was of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord and had the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the state of all Souls This was his Master-piece and was naturalized to him He had a singular ingenuity in improving Scripture Similitudes and every Occurrence with unimaginable dexterity each Tree and Bird and Stone would be a Text whereon he would aptly inlarge having a mighty wit for the Spiritualizing of every thing and gathering occasion of good Converse in every Company and almost upon every matter and it was apparent That out of the abundance of his heart his mouth spake His holy jealousie and fear of himself was very great A dear friend that well knew him writes thus of him Never man more watchful against Relapses nor more jealous to maintain his first love to the height I have sometimes told him that it was not usual for Converts to retain that Land flood of comfort that intention of zeal and extension of affection which flourished in him and was preserved to the height he must expect an abatement in time and the Current thereof to be contracted and setled in a narrower Channel He often reflected on these words Ore tenus and in his Letters intimating he was what he was heretofore not without an admiration of supporting Grace Thereunto he ascribed all he was And indeed he was so habituated unto Spiritual Communion with his God that he could not patiently bear his withdrawings and was far more sensibly and sooner aware of it than many others are that can to their great loss admit of other delights instead of his face and favour but this Holy Man did most eagerly seek for him upon all occasions till he found Him whom his Soul loved He was a great Observer of the frame and bent of his heart at all times a worthy Minister writes thus of him I have admired at the constant frame of his Spirit he was not subject to that deadness and indisposedness as other good men seem to be his heart was continually burning with an holy zeal Take a tast of his excellent sweet frame of heart in this short Letter-passage to a Friend My dear dear dear Brother I pray thee I pray thee report the loving kindness of the Lord unexpressible unto a poor vile empty altogether undeserving worm for I have found an answer this day this day more than ever to our Prayers and can say the Lords work will on though hell say no and still Believe Preach Pray and Believe Lam. 3.25 I am constrained to say Isa 63.7 Neither thou nor any of my friends can conceive how good the Lord is to me even to me I pray thee and others think and study how good he is to me to me to me And a constant watch he kept over his thoughts especially of his last thoughts that he slept with and his first thoughts that he waked with and usually they were some precious Scripture or other which he would discourse of to his friends with great alacrity He kept a Diary of his Life wherein every day he wrote in Characters where he was what Scriptures he found any sweetness from what was the state of his Soul towards God and such other remarkable passages that did occurr each day from the year 1650. to the year he dyed His love to the Word of God was superlative it was his Meditation day and night He did constantly in a morning pitch upon some Verse which he would endeavour to infuse into his heart ever unwilling to leave it till he had suck'd some virtue from it He was chewing by Meditation the 119th Psalme at the time of his sickness daily squeezing the virtue of one verse thereof into his Soul as appears by his Diary and this he did not formally as a task but with that effectual seriousness and relish that his family at home and friends at a distance in his Letters might perceive exactly what dainties he had tasted And at every vacant time he would be looking for a word and would find out by the casual turning down a leaf in his Bible which was his usual way such passages as were very remarkable and not observed before A Scripture thus met with was as food to him exceeding sweet to his tast he would make much of it and usually would not leave it till he had improved it to the good of others by speaking or writing that others might see what he saw and feel what he felt in the word of God Another usage he had also which shewed him to be both a good Textuary and a good Christian and that was usually to take leave with his Friends and Relations by leaving some Scripture with them and those most suitable to their condition nay he hardly sent commendations to a friend but it was accompanied with some pertinent Scripture that he seemed to breath no other aire but Scripture His Bible was his constant Companion in the day and usually his Pillow at night and many scores of emphatical lively expressions he had found therein which the constant reading and diligence of others could never light on And wherever he came he was engraving some Scripture or other on the Mantle-posts and Walls and Trees which was so constant and peculiar a course with him that his acquaintance oft knew he had been in such a place by the marks he usually left His design therein being the advantage of all mens Souls that the very novelty of seeing such things might set people upon enquiring and looking those those Scriptures in their Bibles not knowing what good one Verse of the Scripture thus met with might do upon a Soul if God set it on At least he found this advantage to himself that when he came to a review of them he was put in mind of that frame of heart he had when he was there before and might tast over again what he had before felt in that passage of the Word of God He seldome wrote a Note or Letter but he made it up with some suitable Scripture the word of God dwelling plentifully in him and in the Memorials forementioned he inserts Scriptures upon every occasion saying in the conclusion The Texts of Scripture herein mention'd are best worth thy finding and noting in thy life as they were in mine His moderation was remarkable to all sorts of godly people though of differing judgements his heart and heat being wholly taken up with the great and necessary parts of Religion that all true Christians agreed in and making the substance of Religion his work and business he never had leisure to trouble himself with controverted circumstances nor would put his Soul out of tune with such things as had caused so much jarring
make my directory in that Case Alwayes when you think on your Friends let it be with a praying thought He would sometimes have his intimate friends write downe in his Day-book and so mutually what especial thing they should intercede for in one anothers behalf till their next meeting His Letters were frequent and full of Heaven commonly setting time apart for writing such letters as he was in arrear and seldom upon any business but Religion was interwoven and such plenty of sweet Scriptures and postscripts that sometimes some Scripture would be indorsed on the outside of his letters when sent by a friends hand In this useful part of Friendship he was abundant very profitable there remaining yet as is verily believed many hundreds of his good letters in the hands of friends wherein was scarce a syllable of any business but Religion O how much good might many Able and Holy Divines do this way to wit by serious letters to their Kindred and Acquaintance yea even to strangers which would do good not to one only but many yea to the generation to come How much doth the Church of God owe to the letters of some modern and primitive Divines and others Since a great part of our New Testament is the Letters of the Apostles the heavenly plainness of whose style this good Man did much imitate and it is well observed that the best part of the works of famous Writers is their Epistles And lastly he was eminent in Real Charity he had a faithful sympathy with those that were in any strait and affliction and a ready hand to help them He was far from that clumbzy frozen and strait-hearted manner of many that are ready to say go and be warmed and go and be cloathed that are readier to censure their Brethrens necessities and increase their burthens by reproaches than to reach out their hand to their assistance No he was a doing Christian according to yea and beyond his power In his accounts to his Father from the University they seldome found less than twelve pence a week to the poor besides sometimes half a Crown at a time And afterwards it was his delight to ingage others and to contribute himself in a liberal manner twenty shillings and five pound at a time to Charitable uses sometimes to make a stock for such as were poor and pious sometimes to help a Minister or other out of his straits for which the bowels of many have blessed God for him in divers places In short he was a Starr of the first Magnitude in the impartial judgement of those that throughly knew him Thus saith an Eminent Divine to him in a familiar Letter Dear Brother I earnestly desire correspondence with thee Thy Letters are precious and weighty to my Soul Thou art more in my heart and eye and thoughts than all the acquaintance I have in the world I have seen that in thee that hath no little convinced me of the Reality of Religion These are not the words of a flatterer but the overflowings of a sincere heart c. When we view him in his Natural and Moral accomplishments in his graces in his Relations in his publick and private behaviour and in his true humility and sincerity which crowned all the rest we must needs say he feared God above many and hath left but few such Ministers behind him He had apprehensions of his Death long before it came In a Letter May 1659. concerning an Old Disciple this Clause Will he not let me see him before I dye In another Novemb. 1659. these words Lam. 3.21 22 23 24 25 32. To which let thoughts be directed when no more is to be seen or heard of me but that I am thy Friend in store not lost but laid up J. M. In March 1663 he complains of frequent dejectedness and melancholy And this passage he had in a letter June 28. 1664. I have been very melancholy some while by fits what this precedes I know not But the all-wise God whose wayes are past finding out well knew that the shadowes of the Evening were coming upon him For intending shortly to remove to Seabridge he took in his way the house of a worthy Gentleman and there treated on these words Acts 20.24 Neither count I my life dear unto my self c. which he studied and preached as his last farewel to this world in a sickly condition having spent many Sermons before on Rev. 22.3 4 5. sweet preparations to life everlasting He grew worse and worse at Seabridge and it proved an high malignant Feaver His Wife was sent for who found him in his bed and then he told her he was ill but whether it were life or death he would not choose his Father should choose for him The season for opening a vein through the Physitians absence from home was mist and so his distemper prevailed Looking his Face in the Glass he brake out very affectionately into these words Ah Adam Adam what hast thou done what a beautiful happy Creature wast thou but now how poor and sorrowful c. art thou Ah Adam what hast thou done which greatly affected some that were present with him But his distemper grew higher whereby his Spirits were deadned in him so that when his Wife and Children were about him and she said Love thou sayest nothing to me nor to thy Children he only answer'd That he had said to her and them too How good therefore is it to observe what Parents and Husband say to us forasmuch as we know not which counsel may be their last and must stand for their death-bed charge unto us On the 4th of September being the Lords day though through his distemper he was scarce sensible yet perceiving it to be the Lords day he would needs be helped up and held up with pillows that he might kneel down and offer at prayer though he was disabled from performace On Tuesday Sept. 6. in the evening this holy Man breathed his last being the 17th day of his sickness and in the 40th year of his age and was buried Sept. 8. at Newcastle with a particular Encomium by the Preacher and the profound grief of all the Congregation The truth is this world was not worthy of him scarce any that began no sooner and lived no longer having done so much good in the world as he did in his capacity It is the sence and character of a learned and pious Divine and at this time a Dignitary in the Church I am so well satisfied as to his extraordinary piety in the general which I never yet heard or believe he departed from that I wish my everlasting portion may be with him And after To conclude I never knew one more publick spirited more sensible of mens spiritual necessities and more ready to his ability to supply them more zealous for Gods glory more delighted incessant importunate and succesful in prayer and more thankfully sensible of the returns thereof than this Holy Person was of whom this degenerate world was not worthy therefore having been abundant in the work of the Lord God hath satisfied him with never ending experience that his Labour from which he now rests may not be in vain in the Lord. The following of whose example will be the best amends greatest End of writing this his Life FINIS