a Justice of Peace and above that of a Petty-Constable This was his only Child very fair and honourable Overtures had been made for her disposal but it pleased God so to order Events and to over-rule the Spirits of those concern'd that she was reserv'd to be a Blessing to this good Man in things pertaining both to Life and Godliness His purpose of Marriage was published in the Church three Lord's Days before a laudable Practice which he greatly approved and perswaded others to The Day before his Marriage he kept as a Day of secret Prayer and Fasting He us'd to say Those who would have comfort in that Change of their condition must see to it that they bring none of the Guilt of the Sin of their single State with them into the married State And the presence of Christ at a Wedding will turn the Water into Wine and he will come if he be invited by Prayer He took all occasions while he liv'd to express his thankfulness to God for the great comfort he had in this Relation A day of Mercy so he writes on his Marriage day never to be forgotten God had given him one as he writes afterwards every way hâ—… helper in whom he had much comfort and for whom be thanked God with all his Heart He writes in his Diary April 26. 1680. This day we have been Married Twenty Years in which time we have received of the Lord more than Twenty Thousand Mercies to God be Glory Sometimes he writes we have been so long Married and never Reconciled that is there was never any occasion for it His usual Prayer for his Friends in the Married State was according to his own Practise in that State That they might be mutually serviceable to each others Faith and Holiness and joyntly serviceable to God's Honour and Glory Her Father though he put some Hardships upon him in the Terms and had been somewhat a verse to the Match yet by Mr. Henry's great Prudence and God's good Providence he was influenced to give a free consent to it and he himself with his own Hand gave her in Marriage From this as from other Experiences Mr. Henry had learned to say with Assurance It is not in vain to wait upon God and to keep his way Mr. Matthews settled part of his Estate before Marriage upon them and theirs he lived about seven Years after and when he dyed the remainder of it came to them This competent Estate which the Divine Providence brought into his Hand was not only a Comfortable Support to him when he was turn'd out of his Living and when many Faithful Ministers of Christ were reduced to great Poverty and Straits but it enabled him likewise as he had opportunity to Preach the Gospel freely which he did to his dying Day and not only so but to give for the Relief of others that were in want in which he sow'd plentifully to a very large proportion of his Income and often blessed God that he had wherewithal remembring the words of the Lord how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive Such was his House and such the Vine which God graciously planted by the side of his House By her God gave him six Children all born within less than eâ—…ht Years the two eldest Sons Iohn and Matthew â—…he other four Daughters Sarah Katharine Eleanor and Ann. His eldest Son Iohn dyed of the Measles in 〈◊〉 sixth year of his Age and the rest were in Mercy continued to him The Lord having built him up into a Family he was careful and faithful in making good his solemn Vow at his Ordination that he and his House would serve the Lord. He would often say That we are really that which we are relatively It is not so much what we are at Church as what we are in our Families Religion in the Power of it will be Family Religion In this his Practise was very Exemplary he was one that walked before his House in a perfect way with a perfect Heart and therein behav'd himself wisely His constant Care and prudent endeavour was not only to put away Iniquity far from his Tabernacle but that where he dwelt the word of Christ might dwell richly If he might have no other Church yet he had a Church in his House He made Conscience of Closet-Worship and did abound in it not making his Family-Worship to excuse for that He hath this affecting Note in his Diary upon the removing of his Closet but from one Room in the House to another this day saith he my new Closet was Consecrated if I may so say with this Prayer That all the Prayers that ever should be made in it according to the Will of God Morning Evening and at Noon-day ordinary or extraordinary might be accepted of God and obtain a gracious Answer Amen and Amen It was the Caution and Advice which he frequently gave to his Children and Friends Be sure you look to your Secret Duty keep that up whatever you do the Soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it He observed that Apostasy generally begins at the Closet-door Secret Prayer is first neglected and carelesly performed then frequently omitted and after a while wholly cast off and then farewel God and Christ and all Religion He also advis'd that Secret Duty be perform'd secretly which was the Admonition he gave sometimes to those who caused theiâ—… Voice to be heard on high in that Duty Besides this he and his Wife constantly prayed together Morning and Evening and seldom if they were together at home or abroad was it intermitted and from his own Experience of the Benefit of this Practise He would take all opportunities to recommend it to those in that Relation as conducing very much to the comfort of it and to their furtherance in that which he would often say is the great Duty of Yoke-fellows and that is to do all they can to help one another to Heauen He would say that this Duty of Husbands and Wives Praying together is intimated in that of the Apostle 1. Pet. 3. 7. where they are Exhorted to live as Heirs together of the Grace of Life that their Prayers especially their Prayers together be not hindred that nothing may be done to hinder them from Praying together nor to hinder them in it nor to spoil the Success of those Prayers This Sanctifies the Relation â—…nd fetcheth in a Blessing upon it makes the Comforts of it the more sweet and the Cares and Crosses of it the more easie and is an excellent means of preserving and encreasing Love in the Relation Many to whom he hath recommended the Practise of this Duty have blessed God for him and for his advice concerning it When he was abroad and lay with any of his Friends he would mind them of his Rule That they who lye together must pray together In the performance of this part of his daily Worship he was usually short but often much affected Besides these he
that however unlawfully impos'd it was in itself an unlawful Oath and that no Person that took it was under the Obligation of it For sometimes Quod fieri non debuit factum valet In short it cannot be wondred at that he was a Nonconformist when the Terms of Conformity were so industriously contrived to keep out of the Church such Men as He which is manifest by the full Account which Mr. Baxter hath left to Posterity of that affair and it is a passage worth noting here which Dr. Bates in his Funeral Sermon on Mr. Baxter relates that when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King while the Act of Uniformity was under debate that he was afraid that the Terms were so hard that many of the Ministers would not comply with them Bishop Sheldon being present replied I am afraid they will And it is well known how many of the most sober pious and laborious Ministers in all parts of the Nation Conformists as well as Nonconformists did dislike those Impositions He thought it a Mercy since it must be so that the Case of Nonqonformity was made so clear as it was abundantly to satisfie him in his Silence and Sufferings I have heard that Mr. Anthony Burgoss who hesitated before when he read the Act blessed God that the Matter was put cut of doubt And yet to make sure Work the Printing and Publishing of the New Book of Common-Prayer was so deferr'd that few of the Ministers except those in London could possibly get a sight of it much less duly consider of it before the time prefix'd which Mr. Steel took Notice of in his Farewel-Sermon at Hanmer August 17. 1662. That he was silenced and turn'd out for not declaring his unfeigned Assent and Consent to a Book which he never saw nor could see One thing which he comforted himself with in his Nonconformity was that as to Matters of doubtful Disputation touching Church-Government Ceremoniâ—…s and the like he was unsworn either on one side or the other and so was free from those snares and bands in which so many find themselves both ty'd up from what they would do and entangled that they knew not what to do He was one of those that fear'd an Oath Eccl. 10. 2. and would often say Oaths are Edg-Tools and not to be played with One passage I find in his Papers which confirm'd him in this satisfaction 't is a Letter from no less a Clergy-man than Dr. F. of Whitchurch to one of his Parishioners who desired him to give way that his Child might be Baptized by another without the Cross and Godfathers if he would not do it so himself both which he refus'd 'T was in the Year 1672 3. For my part saith the Doctor I freely profess my Thoughts that the strict urging of indifferent Ceremonies hath done more harm than good and possibly had all Men been left to their liberty therein there might have been much more Unity and not much less Uniformity But what Power have I to dispense with my self being now under the Obligation of a Law and an Oath And he Concludes I am much grieved at the unhappy condition of my self and other Ministers who must either lose their Parishioners Love if they do not comply with them or else break their solemn Obligations to please them This he would say was the Mischief of Impositions which ever were and ever will be bones of Contention When he was at Worthenbury though in the Lord's Supper he used the Gesture of Sitting himself yet he Administred it without scruple to some who chose rather to Kneel and he thought that Ministers Hands should not in such things be tied up but that he ought in his place though he suffered for it to witness against the making of those things the indispensable Terms of Communion which Jesus Christ hath not made to be so Where the Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of the Gospel is there is liberty Such as these were the Reasons of his Nonconformity which as long as he liv'd he was more and more coâ—…firm'd in 2. His Moderation in his Nonconformity was very exemplary and eminent and had a great influence upon many to keep them from running into an Uncharitable and Schismatical Separation which upon all occasions he bore hiâ—… Testimony against and was very industrious to stem the Tide of In Church Government that which he desired and wished for was Usher's Reduction of Episcopacy He thought it lawful to join in the Common-Prayer in Publick Assemblies and practis'd accordingly and endeavoured to satisfie others concerning it The Spirit he was of was such as made him much afraid of extreams and solliciâ—…ous for nothing more than to maintain and keep Christian Love and Charity among Professors We shall meet with several Instances of this in the progress of his Story and therefore wave it here I have been told of an aged Minister of his acquaintance who being as'd upon his Death-bed What his thoughts were of his Nonconformity replied he was well satisfied in it and should not have Conformed so far as he did viz. to join in the Liturgy if it had not been for Mr. Henry Thus was his Moderation known unto all Men. But to proceed in his Story At Michaelmas 1662. he quite left Worthenbury and came with his Family to Broad-Oak just Nine Years from his first coming into the Country Being cast by Divine Providence into this new place and state of Life his Care and Prayer was that he might have Grace and Wisdom to manage it to the Glory of God which saith he is my chief End Within three Weeks after his coming hither his second Son was Born which we mention for the sake of the Remark he has upon it We have no Reason saith he to call him Benoni I wish we had not to call him Iâ—…habod And on the Day of his Family-Thanksgiving for that Mercy he writes We have reason to Rejoyce with Trembling for it goes ill with the Church and People of God and reason to fear worse because of our own Sins and our Enemies Wrath. At the latter end of this Year he hath in his Diary this Note It is observed of many who have Conformed of late and fallen from what they formerly Professed thaâ—… since their so doing from unblamable orderly pious Men they are become exceeding dissolute and profane and instanceth in some What need have we every day to Pray Lord lead us not into Temptation For several Years after he came to live at Broad-Oak he went constantly on Lords days to the publick Worship with his Family at Whitewell-Chapel which is hard by if there were any supply there as sometimes there was from Malpas and if none then to Tylstock where Mr. Zachary Thomas continued for about half a Year and the place was a little Sanctuary and when that string fail'd usually to Whitchurch and did not Preach for a great while unless occasionally when he visited his Friends or to
World but saith he I have not yet subdued the little World my self At his Thirty third Year he hath this Humble Reflection A long time lived to small purpose What shall I do to redeem it And at another I may Mourn as Caesar did when he Reflected upon Alexander ' s early Atchievements that others younger than I am have done much more than I have done for God the God of my life And to mention no more when he had lived Forty two Years he thus writes I would be loth to live it over again least instead of making it better I should make it worse and besides every Year and Day spent on Earth is lost in Heaven This last Note minds me of a Passage I have heard him tell of a Friend of his who being grown into Years was asked how old he was and answer'd On the wrong side of Fifty Which said Mr. Henry he should not have said for if he was going to Heaven it was the right side of Fifty He always kept a Will by him ready made and it was his Custom yearly upon the return of his Birth-day to Review and if occasion were to Renew and Alter it For it is good to do that at a set time which it is very good to do at some time The Last Will he made bears Date This 24th day of August 1695. being as he said the day of the Year on which I was Born 1631. and also the day of the Year on which by Law I Died as did also near Two thousand Faithful Ministers of Iesus Christ 1662. alluding to that Clause in the Act of Uniformity which disposeth of the Places and Benefices of Ministers not Conforming as if they were naturally Dead His Father's Name was Iohn Henry the Son of Henry Williams of Brittons Ferry betwixt Neath and Swansey in Glamorganshire According to the old Welsh Custom some say conformable to that of the ancient Hebrews but now almost in all Places laid aside the Father's Christian Name was the Sons Sirname He had left his Native Country and his Father's House very Young unprovided for by his Relations but it pleased God to bless his Ingenuity and Industry with a considerable Income afterwards which enabled him to live Comfortably himself to bring up his Children well and to be kind to many of his Relations but Publick Events making against him at his latter End when he Dy'd he left little behind him for his Children but God graciously took care of them Providence brought this Mr. Iohn Henry when he was Young to be the Earl of Pembroke'â—… Gentleman whom he served many Years The Earl coming to be Lord Chamberlain preferred him to be the King's Servant He was first made Keeper of the Orchard at White-hall and afterwards Page of the Back Stairs to the King 's Second Son Iames Duke of York which place obliged him to a Personal Attendance upon the Duke in his Chamber He liv'd and dy'd a Courtier a hearty Mourner for his Royal Master King Charles the First whom he did not long survive He continued during all the War time in his House at White-Hall though the Profits of his Places ceased The King passing by his Door under a Guard to take Water when he was going to Westminster to that which they call'd his Tryal enquir'd for his old Servant Mr. Iohn Henry who was ready to pay his due respects to him and pray'd God to Bless his Majesty and to Deliver him out of the Hands of his Enemies for which the Guard had like to have been rough upon him His Mother was Mrs. Magdalen Rochdale of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields in Westminster She was a vertuous pious Gentlewoman and one that fear'd God above many She was altogether dead to the Vanities and Pleasures of the Court tho' she liv'd in the midst of them She look'd well to the ways of her Houshold Prayed with them daily Catechized her Children and taught them the good Knowledge of the Lord betimes I have heard him speak of his Learning Mr. Perkins his Six Principles when he was very Young and he often mentioned with Thankfulness to God his great Happiness in having such a Mother who was to him as Lois and Eunice were to Timothy acquainting him with the Scriptures from his Childhood And there appearing in him early inclinations both to Learning and Piety she devoted him in his tender Years to the Service of God in the work of the Ministry She Dyed of a Consumption March 6. 1645. leaving behind her only this Son and Five Daughters A little before she Dyed she had this saying My Head is in Heaven and my Heart is in Heaven it is but one step more and I shall be there too His Susceptors in Baptism were Philip Earl of Pembroke who gave him his Name and was kind to him as long as he lived as was also his Son Philip after him Iames Earl of Carlile and the Countess of Salsbury Prince Charles and the Duke of York being somewhat near of an Age to him he was in his Childhood very much an Attendant upon them in their Play and they were often with him at his Father's House and were wont to tell him what Preferment he should have at Court as soon as he was fit for it He kept a Book to his Dying Day which the Duke of York gave him and I have heard him bewail the loss of Two curious Pictures which he gave him likewise Arch-bishop Laud took a particular Kindness to him when he was a Child because he would be very officious to attend at the Water-Gate which was part of his Fathers Charge in White-hall to let the Arch-Bishop through when he came late from Council to cross the Water to Lambeth These Circumstances of his Childhood he would sometimes speak of among his Friends not as glorying in them but taking occasion from thence to bless God for his Deliverance from the Snares of the Court in the midst of which it is so very hard to maintain a good Conscience and the Power of Religion that it hath been said though Blessed be God it is not a Rule without exception Exeat ex aulâ qui velit esse pius The breaking up and scattering of the Court by the Calamities of 1641. as it dashed the expectations of his Court Preferments so it prevented the danger of Court Entanglements And though it was not like Mofes's Choice of his own when come to Years to quit the Court yet when he was come to Years he always expressed a great Satisfaction in his Removal from it and blessed God who chose his Inheritance so much better for him Yet it may not be improper to observe here what was obvious as well as aimable to all who Convers'd with him viz. that he had the most sweet and obliging air of Courtesie and Civility that could be which some attributed in part to his early Education at Court His Meen and Carriage was always so very
prudent method they took then about the University Sermons on the Lord's Day in the Afternoon which us'd to be Preached by the Fellows of Colledges in their course but that being found not so much for Edification Dr. Owen and Dr. Goodwin performed that Service alternately and the Young Masters that were wont to Preach it had a Lecture on Tuesday appointed them The Sermons he heard at Oxford he commonly wrote not in the time of hearing but afterwards when he came home in his reflection upon them which he found a good help to his Memory In December 1652 he proceeded Master of Arts and in Ianuary following Preach'd his first Sermon at South-Hincsey in Oxford-shire on Ioh. 8. 34. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin On this occasion he writes in his Diary what was the breathing of his heart towards God The Lord make use of me as an Instrument of his Glory and his Churches good in this high and holy Calling His great Parts and Improvement notwithstanding his extraordinary Modesty and Humility had made him so well known in the University that at the following Act in Iuly 1653. he was chosen out of all the Masters of that Year to be Iunior of the Act that is to answer the Philosophy Questions in Vesperi is which he did with very great applause especially for the very witty and ingenious Oration which he made to the University upon that occasion His questions were 1 An licitum sit carnibus vesci Aff. 2. An Institutio Academiarum sit utilis in Republicâ Aff. 3. An Ingenium pendeat ab humoribus Corporis Aff. At the Act in 1654. He was chosen Magister Replicans and answer'd the Philosophy Questions in Comitiis with a like applause His Questions then were 1. An melius sit sperare quà m frui Neg. 2. An Maxima Animi Delectatio sit agrave sensibus Neg. 3. An utile sit peregrinari Aff. Dr. Owen who was then Vice-Chancellor hath spoken with great commendation of these performances of Mr. Henry's to some in the University afterwards who never knew him otherwise than by report and I have heard a Worthy Divine who was somewhat his Iunior in the University and there a perfect Stranger to him say how much he admired these Exercises of his and lov'd him for them and yet how much more he amir'd when he afterwards became acquainted with him in the Country that so Curious and Polite an Orator should become so Profitable and Powerful a Preacher and so readily lay aside the enticing Words of Mans Wisdom which were so easie to him There is a Copy of Latin Verses of his in print among the Poems which the University of Oxford published upon the Peace concluded with Holland in the Year 1654 which shew him to be no less a Poet than an Orator He hath noted it of some Pious Young Men that before they removed from the University into the Country they kept a day of Fasting and Humiliation for the Sins they had been guilty of in that place and state And in the visits he made afterwards to the University he inserts into His Book as no doubt God did into His a tear dropt over my University Sins CHAP. III. His removal to Worthenbury in Flint-shire His Ordination to the Ministry and his Exercise of it there WOrthenbury is a little Town by Dee side in that Hundred of Flint-shire which is separated some Miles from the rest of the County and known by the name of English Mailoes because tho it is reputed in Wales as pertaining to Flint-shire yet in Language and Customs it is wholly English and lies mostly between Cheshire and Shrop-shire Worthenbury was of old a Parochial Chapel belonging to the Rectory of Bangor but was separated from it in the Year 1658 by the Trustees for uniting and dividing of Parishes and was made a Parish of itself But what was then done being vacated by the Kings coming in it then came to be in statu quo and continued an appurtenant to Bangor till in the Second Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary it was again by Act of Parliament separated and made Independant upon Bangor That was the only Act that passed the Royal Assent with the Act of Recognition at the beginning of the Second Parliament of this Reïgn The Principal Family in Worthenbury Parish is that of the Pulestons of Emeral The Head of the Family was then Iohn Puleston Serjeant at Law one of the Iudges of the Common-Pleas This was the Family to which Mr. Henry came from Christ-Church presently after he had compleated his Master's Degree in 1653. Order'd into that remote and to him unknown corner of the Country by that Over-ruling Providence which determineth the times before appointed and the bounds of our Habitation The Judges Lady was a Person of more than ordinary Parts and Wisdom in Piety inferiour to few but in Learning Superiour to most of her Sex which I could give Instances of from what I find among Mr. Henry's Papers particularly an Elegy she made upon the Death of the Famous Mr. Iohn Selden who was her great Friend This was the Lady whose Agency first brought Mr. Henry into this Country She wrote to a Friend of hers Mr. Francis Palmer Student of Christ-Church to desire him to recommend to her a Young Man to be in her Family and to take the over-sight of her Sons some of whom were now ready for the University and to Preach at Worthenbury on the Lord's-Dayes for which a very honourable Encouragement was promised Mr. Palmer proposed it to his Friend Mr. Henry who was willing for one half Year to undertake it provided it might be required of him to Preach but once on the Lord's-Day and that some other supply might be got for 'tother part of the day he being now but Twenty two Years of Age and newly entred upon that great Work Provided also that he should be engaged but for half a Year as little intending to break off so soon from an Academical Life which he delighted in so much But preferring Usefulness before his own private Satisfaction he was willing to make trial for a while in the Country as one that sought not his own things but the things of Jesus Christ to whose Service in the Work of the Ministry he had intirely devoted himself bending his Studies wholly that way In the latter part of his time at Oxford as one grown weary of that which he used to say he found little to his purpose he employed his time mostly in searching the Scriptures and collecting useful Scripture Observations which he made very familiar to him and with which he was throughly furnished for this good Work He got a Bible interleav'd in which he wrote short Notes upon Texts of Scriptures as they occur'd He would often say I â—…ad other Bâ—…k that I may be the better alâ—… to â—…nderstand the Scripture 'T was a stock of Scripture Knowledge that he set up
Worthenbury in the County of Flint We do hereby send him thither and actually admit him to tâ—…e said Charge to perform all the Offices and Duties of a faithful Pastor there exhorting the People in the Name of Iesus Christ willingly to receive and acknowledge him as the Minister of Christ and to maintain and encourage him in the Execution of his Office that he may be able to give up such an account to Christ of their Obedience to his Ministry as may be to his joy and their everlasting comfort In Witness whereof we the Presbyters of the Fourth Class in the County of Salop commonly called Bradford-North Class have hereunto set our Hands this 16th day of September in the Year of our Lord God 1657. Tho. Porter Moderator for the time Andrew Parsons Minister of Wem Aylmar Haughton Minister of Prees John Malden Minister of Newport Richard Steel Minister of Hanmer I have heard it said by those who were present at this solemnity that Mr. Henry did in his Countenance Carriage and Expression discover such an extraordinary Seriousness and Gravity and such deep Impressions made upon his Spirit as greatly affected the Auditory and even struck an Aw upon them Read his Reflection upon it in his Diary Methoughts I saw much of God in the carrying on of the work of this dayâ—… O how good is the Lord he is good and doth good the Remembrance of it I shall never loose to him be Glory I made many promises of Diligence Faithfulness c. but I lay no stress at all on them but on God's Promise to me that he will be with his Ministers always to the end of the World Amen Lord so be it Make good thy Word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to put my Trust. And in another place I did this day receive as much Honour and Work as ever I shall be able to know what to do with Lord Iesus proportion supplies accordingly Two Scriptures he desir'd might be written in his Heart 2 Cor. 6. 4 5 c. and 2 Chron. 29. 11. Two Years after upon occasion of his being present at an Ordination at Whitchurch he thus writes This Day my Ordination Covenants were in a special manner renew'd as to diligence in Reading Prayer Meditation Faithfulness in Preaching Admonition Catechizing Sacraments Zeal against Error and Profaneness Care to preserve and promote the Unity and Purity of the Church notwithstanding Opposition and Persecution tho' to Death Lord thou hast filled my Hands with Work fill my Heart with Wisdom and Grace that I may discharge my Duty to thy Glory and my own Salvation and the Salvation of those that hear me Amen Let us now see how he applied himself to his Work at Worthenbury The Sphere was narrow too narrow for such a burning and shining Light There were but Forty one Communicants in that Parish when he first set up the Ordinance of the Lord's Suppe and they were never doubled Yet he had such low Thoughts of himself that he not only never sought for a larger Sphere but would never hearken to any Overtures of that kind made to him And withal he had such high thoughts of his work and of the worth of Souls that he laid out himself with as much diligence and vigor here as if he had had the over-fight of the greatest and most considerable Parish in the Country The greatest part of the Parish were poor Tenants and labouring Husbandmen but the Souls of suâ—… he us'd to say are as precious as the Souls of the Rich and to be look'd after accordingly His Prayer for them was Lord despise not the day of small things in this place where there is some willingness but much weakness And thus he writes upon the Judges settling a handsome Maintenance upon him Lord thou knowest I seek not theirs but them Give me â—…he Souls He was in Labours more abundant to win Souls besides Preaching he Expounded the Sciptures in order Catechized and Explain'd the Catechism At first he took into the Number of his Catechumens some that were adult who he found wanted Instruction and when he had taken what pains he thought needful with them he dismiss'd them from further attendance with Commendation of their Proficiency and Counsel to hold fast the form of found Words to be watchful against the Sins of their Age and to apply themselves to the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and make ready for it afterwards he Catechized none above Seventeen or Eighteen Years of Age. He set up a Monthly Lecture there of Two Sermons one he himself Preached and the other his Friend Mr. Ambrose Lewis of Wrexham for some Years He also kept up a Monthly Conference in private from House to House in which he met with the more knowing and judicious of the Parish and they discoursed Familiarly together of the things of God to their mutual Edification according to the Example of the Apostles who tho' they had the liberty of publick Places yet taught also from House to House Acts 5. 42. 20. 20. That which induced him to set and keep up this Exercise as long as he durst which was till August 1660. was that by this means he came better to understand the state of his Flock and so knew the better how to Preach to them and pray for them and they to pray one for another If they were in doubt about any thing relating to their Souls that was an opportunity of getting Satisfaction It was likewise a means of encreasing Knowledge and Love and other Graces and thus it abounded to a good Account He was very industrious in visiting the Sick instructing them and preying with them and in this he would say he aimed at the good not only of those that were Sick but also of their Friends and Relations that were about them He Preach'd Funeral Sermons for all that were Buryed there rich or poor old or young or little Children for he looked upon it as an opportunity of doing good He called it setting in the Plow of the Word when the Providence had softned and prepared the Ground He never took any Money for that or any oâ—…er ministerial Performance besides his stated Salary for which he thought himself obliged to do his whole Duty to them as a Minister When he first set up the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper there he did it with very great solemnity After he had endeavoured to instruct them in his publick Preaching touching the Nature of that Ordinance he discoursed personally with all that gave up their Names to the Lord in iâ—… touching their Knowledge Experience and Conversation obliged them to observe the Law of Christ touching brotherly Admonition in case of Scandal and gave â—…otlce to the Coâ—…gre gaâ—…on who they were that were â—…mitted adding thâ—… 〈◊〉 Concerning these and my self I have two things to say 1. As to what is past we have sinned if â—…e should say we have nâ—… we should deceive our selves and the Truth
that then were â—…ppermost under Sir George Booth afterwards Lord Delamere and that of North-Wales under Sir Thomas Middleton could not but affect Worthenbury and the Country thereabouts Mr. Henry's Prayeâ—… for them in â—…his Diâ—…y the Day of their first appearing is Lord own them if they truly own thee He noteâ—… that Lambert's Forces which came down to Suppress them did in that Neighbourhood espouse the Quakers Cause and offer Injury to some Ministers and therefore saith he unless God intend the Ruin of the Nation by them they cannot prosper Nor did they long though in that Expedition they had Success In their Return some of Lambert's Soldiers were at Worthenbury Church hearing Mr. Henry upon a Lord's Day and one of them sat with his Hat on while they were Singing Psalms for which he Publickly admonish'd him And there being many Anabaptists among them he hath Recorded it as a good Providence that those Questions in the Cateâ—…hism which are concerning Baptism came in Course to be Expounded that Day The first Rising of the Cheshire Forces was Aug. 1. 1659. and the 19th following they were worsted and scattered by Lambert's Forces near Northwich a strange Spirit of fear being upon them which quite took off their Chariot Wheels The Country call'd it not the Cheshire Rising but the Cheshire Race Some blamed him that he did not give God thanks publickly for the defeat of Sir George Booth to whom he answer'd with his usual mildness that his Apprehensions concerning that Affair were not the same with theirs We are now saith he much in the dark never more He preach'd the Lecture at Chester soon after just at the time when Mr. Cook aâ—… eminent Minister in Chester and several others were carried Prisoners to London for their Agency in the late Attempt and the City was threatned to have their Charter taken away c. The Text in Course that day for they Preached over the latter part of that Epistle if not the whole at that Lecture happen'd to be Heb. 13 14. We have here no continuing City which he thought a word upon the Wheels at that time He Notes in his Diary that when after that the Army Rul'd disturb'd the Parliament and carry'd all before them with a high Hand there were great Grounds to fear sad times approaching and his Prayer is Lord fit thy People for the Fiery Trial. He was a hearty well-wisher to the return of the King the Spring following April 1660. and was much affected with the Mercy of it While others rejoyce carnally saith he Lord help thy People to rejoyce spiritually in our publick National Mercies 'T was upon that occasion that Mr. Baxter preached his Sermon of Right Rejoycing on Luke 10. 20. But he and others soon saw cause to Rejoyce with Trembling and to sing both of Mercy and Judgment for about that time he hath this Melancholy Remark Religion loses Ground exceedingly and Profanâ—…ss gets it Help Lord However he was very Industrious to quiet the minds of some who were uneasie at that great Revolution and that Scripture yielded him much Satisfaction Ioh. 3. 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his Hands If Christ be not only Head of the Church but Heir over all things to the Church we may be assured that all things shall be made to work together for good to it The Text also which the Lord put it into his Heart to preach upon on the day of Publick Thanksgiving for the King's Restoration was very comfortable to him Prov. 21. 1. The Kings Heart is in the hand of the Lord. His sence of that great Mercy of God to the Nation in the unbloody peaceable and legal Settlement of King Charles the 2d upon the Throne was the same with that of Multitudes besides both Ministers and others that were of the quiet in the Land who yet not long after suffered very hard things under him Soon after the Return of the King he notes how industrious some were to remove him from Worthenbury on which he writes this as the Breathing of his Soul towards God Lord if it please thee fasten me here as a Nail in a sure place if otherwise I will take nothing ill which thou dost with me and when press'd by his Friends more earnestly than before to accept of some other place Lord saith he Mine Eye is up unto thee I am wholly at thy disposal make my way plain before my Face because of mine Enemies my Resolution is to deny my self if thou callest me Here or any where 't is no great Matter where I am Many Years after the King's Return he Dated a Letter May 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two things further which I think it may be of use to give some account of in the close of this Chapter 1. Of the Course of his Ministry at Worthenbury and 2. Of the State of his Soul and the Communion he had with God in those Years The former out of his Sermon-Notes the latter out of his Diary As to the Subjects he Preached upon he did not use to dwell long upon a Text. Better one Sermon upon many Texts viz. many Scriptures opened and applied than many Sermons upon one Text To that purpose he would sometimes speak He used to Preach in a fixed Method and linked his Subjects in a sort of a Chain not confining himself to the Method of the Assemblies Catechism which some commend but he adapted his Method and Style to the Capacity of his Hearers fetching his Similitudes for Illustration from those things which were familiar to them He did not shoot the Arrow of the Word over their Heads in high Notions or the Flourishes of affected Rhetorick nor under their Feet by blunt and homely Expressions as many do under pretence of plainness but to their Hearts in close and lively Applications His Delivery was very graceful and agreeable far from being either noisie and precipitate on the one Hand or dull and slow on the other His Doctrine did drop as the Dew and distil as the soaking Rain and came with a charming pleasing Power such as many will bear witness to that have wonder'd at the gracious words which proceeded out of his Mouth He wrote the Notes of his Sermons pretty large for the most part and always very legible he wrote most of them twice over But even when he had put his last Hand to them he commonly left many imperfect Hints which gave room for Enlargements in Preaching wherein he had a very great Felicity And he would often advise Ministers not to tye themselves too strictly to their Notes but having well digested the Matter before to allow themselves a liberty of Expression such as a Man's Affections if they be well rais'd will be apt to furnish him with But for this no certain Rule can be given there are diversities of Gifts and each to profit withal He kept his Sermon-Notes in very neat and exact Order Sermons in
Course according to the Order of the Subject and occasional Sermons according to the Scripture-order of the Texts so that he could readily turn to any of them And yet tho' afterwards he was removed to a place far enough distant from any of that Auditory yet though some have desired it he seldom preach'd any of those hundreds of Sermons which he had preach'd at Worthenbury no not when he preach'd never so privately but to the last he studied new Sermons and wrote them as elaborately as ever for he thought a Sermon best preach'd when it was newly meditated Nay if sometimes he had occasion to preach upon the same Text yet he would make and write the Sermons over and he never offered that to God which cost him nothing When he went to Oxford and preach'd there before the University in Christ-Church as he did several times his Labours were not only very acceptable but successful too particularly one Sermon which he preach'd there on Prov. 14. 9. Fools make a mock at sin for which Sermon a young Master of Arts came to his Chamber afterwards to return him thanks and to acknowledge the good Impressions which Divine Grace by that Sermon had made upon his Soul which he hoped he should never forget In his Diary he frequently records the frame of his Spirit in studying and preaching Sometimes blessing God for signal help vouchsafed and owning him the Lord God of all his Enlargements at other times complaining of great deadness and straitness It is a wonder saith he that I can speak of Eternal things with so little Sense of the reality of them Lord strengthen that which remains which is ready to die And he once writes thus upon a studying Day I forgot explicitly and expressly when I began to crave help from God and the Chariot Wheels drove accordingly Lord forgive my Omissions and keep me in the way of Duty As to the state of his Soul in these Years it should seem by his Diary that he was exercised with some Doubts and Fears concerning it I think saith he never did any poor Creature pass through such a mixture of Hope and Fear Ioy and Sadness Assurance and Doubting down and up as I have done these Years past The Notice of this may be of use to poor drooping Christians that they may know their Case is not singular and that if God for a small Moment hide his Face from them he deals with them no otherwise than as he useth sometimes to deal with the dearest of his Servants It would affect one to hear one that liv'd a Life of Communion with God complaining of great straitness in Prayer No Life at all in the Duty many Wandrings If my Prayers were written down and my vain Thoughts interlined What incoherent Nonsense would there be I am ashamed Lord I am ashamed O pitty and Pardon To hear him suspecting the workings of Pride of Heart when he gave an Account to a Friend who enquired of him touching the success of his Ministry and that he should record this concerning himself with this Ejaculation annexed The Lord pardon and subdue 'T was a sign that he kept a very watchful Eye upon the Motions of his own Heart To hear him charging it upon himself that he was present at such a Duty in the midst of many Distractions not tasting sweetness in it c. When a Fire is first kindled saith he there is a deal of Smoak and Smother that afterwards wears away so in young Converts much peevishness frowardness darkness So it hath been with my Soul and so it is yet in a great measure Lord pity and do not quench the smoaking Flax though as yet it do but smoak let these Sparks be blown up into a Flame Great Mercies but poor Returns signal Opportunities but small Improvements Such are his Complaints frequently concerning himself And though few or none excell'd him in profitable Discourse yet in that he often bewails his Barronness and Unprofitableness Little good done or gotten such a day for want of a Heart 't is my Sin and Shame O that I had Wings like a Dove Yet when he wanted a Faith of Assurance he liâ—…'d by a Faith of Adherence Such a Day saith he a full Resignation was made of all my Concernments into the Hands of my Heavenly Father let him deal with me as seemeth good in his Eyes I am learning and labouring to live by Faith Lord help my Unbelief Another time he notes that many perplexing Fears being upon his Spirit they were all silenced with that sweet Word which was seasonably brought to his remembrance Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer He very frequently kept Days of Fasting and Humiliation in secret which he calls his Days of Atonement Sometimes he observed these monthly and sometimes only upon special occasions but the Memorandums in his Diary not only while he was at Worthenbury but often after shew what sweet Communion he had with God in those solemn Duties which no Eye was Witness to but his who sees in secret and will reward openly Remember O my Soul such a Day as a Day of more then ordinary Engagements entred into and strong Resolutions taken up of closer Walking and more Watchfulness O my God undertake for me And upon another of those Days of secret Prayer and Humiliation he notes If sowing in Tears be so sweet what then will the Harvest be when I shall reap in Ioy Bless the Lord O my Soul who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and will in due time heal all thy Diseases CHAP. IV. His Marriage Family Family Religion and the Education of his Children His removed from Emeral to the House in Worthenbury which the Judge had built for him in February 1658 9 and then had one of his Sisters with him to keep his House No sooner had he a Tent but God had an Altar in it and that a smoaking Altar There he set up Repetition on Sabbath-Evenings and welcom'd his Neighbours to it His Christian Friends often and sometimes his Brethren in the Ministry kept Days of Fasting and Prayer at his House He us'd to tell People when they had built new Houses they must dedicate them referring to Deut. 20. 5. and Psal. 30. ult that is they must invite God to their Houses and devote them to his Service Providence having thus brought him into a House of his own soon after provided him a Help-meet for him After long Agitation and some Discouragement and Opposition from the Father Apr. 26. 1660. he Married Katherine the only Daughter and Heiress of Mr. Daniel Matthews of Broad-Oak in the Township of Iscoyd in Flint-shire but in the Parish of Malpâ—… which is in Cheshire and about two Miles distant from Whitchurch a considerable Market Town in Shropshire Mr. Matthews was a Gentleman of a very competent Estate such a one as King Iames the First us'd to say was the happiest Lot of all others which set a Man below the Office of
from his House in a Morning before Family Worship but upon such an Occasion would mind his Friends that Prayer and Provender never hinder a Iourney He managed his daily Family-Worship so as to make it a Pleasure and not a Task to his Children and Servants for he was seldom long and never tedious in the Service the variety of the Duties made it the more pleasant so that none who join'd with him had ever any reason to say Behold what a Weariness is it Such an Excellent Faculty he had of rendring Religion the most sweet and aimable Employment in the World and so careful was he like Iacob to drive as the Children could go not putting new Wine into old Bottles If some good People that mean well would do likewise it might prevent many of those Prejudices which young Persons are apt to conceive against Religion when the Services of it are made a Toil and a Terror to them On Thursday Evenings instead of Reading he Catechized his Children and Servants in the Assemblies Catechism with the Proofs or sometimes in a little Catechism Concerning the matter of Prayer published in the Year 1674. and said to be written by Dr. Collins which they learned for their help in the Gift of Prayer and he Explain'd it to them Or else they Read and he Examined them in some other useful Book as Mr. Pool's Dialogues against the Papists the Assemblies Confession of Faith with the Scriptures or the like On Saturday Evenings his Children and Servants gave him an Account what they could remember of the Chapters that had been Expounded all the Week before in order each a several part helping one anothers Memories for the Recollecting of it This he call'd gathering up the Fragments which remained that nothing might be lost He would say to them sometimes as Christ to his Disciples Have ye understood all these things If not he took that occasion to explain them more fully This Exercise which he constantly kept up all along was both delightful and profitable and being managed by him with so much Prudence and sweetness helped to instil into those about him betimes the Knowledge and Love of the Holy Scriptures When he had Sojourners in his Family who were able to bear a part in such a Service he had commonly in the Winter time set Weekly Conferences on Questions propos'd for their mutual Edification and Comfort in the fear of God the Substance of what was said he himself took and kept an Account of in Writing But the Lord's Day he called and counted the Queen of Days the Pearl of the Week and observed it accordingly The Fourth Commandment intimates a special regard to be had to the Sabbath in Families Thou and thy Son and thy Daughter c. it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your Dwellings In this therefore he was very exact and abounded in the work of the Lord in his Family on that Day Whatever were the Circumstances of his Publick Opportunities which vari'd as we shall find afterwards his Family Religion on that day was the same Extraordinary Sacrifices must never supersede the continual Burnt-offering and his Meat-offering Numb 28. 15. His common Salutation of his Family or Friends on the Lord's Day in the Morning was that of the Primitive Christians The Lord is risen he is risen indeed making it his chief Business on that day to Celebrate the Memory of Christ's Resurrection and he would say sometimes Every Lord's Day is a true Christians Easter day He took care to have his Family ready early on that day and was larger in Exposition and Prayer on Sabbath-Mornings than on other days He would often remember that under the Law the daily Sacrifice was doubled on Sabbath-days two Lambs in the Morning and two in the Evening He had always a particular Subject for his Expositions on Sabbath Mornings the Harmony of the Evangelists several times over the Scripture Prayers Old Testament Prophesies of Christ Christ the true Treasure so he Entituled that Subject sought and found in the Field of the Old Testament He constantly sung a Psalm after Dinner and another after Supper on the Lord's Dayes And in the Evening of the Day his Children and Servants were Catechized and Examined in the sense and meaning of the Answers in the Catechism that they might not say it as he used to tell them like a Parrot by Rote Then the Days Sermons were repeated commonly by one of his Children when they were grown up and while they were with him and the Family gave an Account what they could remember of the word of the Day which he endeavoured to fasten upon them as a Nail in a sure place In his Prayers on the Evening of the Sabbath he was often more than ordinarily Enlarged as one that found not only God's Service perfect Freedom but his Work it s own Wages and a great Reward not only after keeping but as he used to observe from Ps. 19. 11. in keeping God's Commandments A perfect Reward of Obedience in Obedience In that Prayer he was usually very particular in praying for his Family and all that belong'd to it It was a Prayer he often put up that we might have Grace to carry it as a Minister and a Minister's Wife and a Minister's Children and a Minister's Servants should carry it that the Ministry might in nothing be blamed He would sometimes be a particular Intercessor for the Towns and Parishes adjacent How have I heard him when he hath been in the Mount with God in a Sabbath Evening Prayer wrestle with the Lord for Chester and Shrewsbury and Nantwich and Wrexham and Whitchurch c. those nests of Souls wherein there are so many that cannot discern between their Right Hand and their Left in Spiritual things c. He closed his Sabbath Work in his Family with singing Psalm 134. and after it a solemn Blessing of his Family Thus was he Prophet and Priest in his own House and he was King there too Ruling in the fear of God and not suffering Sin upon any under his Roof He had many Years ago a man Servant that was once over-taken in Drink abroad for which the next Morning at Family-Worship he solemnly Reproved him admonish'd him and Prayed for him with a Spirit of Meekness and soon after parted with him But there were many that were his Servants who by the Blessing of God upon his Endeavours got those good Impressions upon their Souls which they retain'd ever after and blessed God with all their Hearts that ever they came under his Roof Few went from his Service till they were Married and went to Families of their own and some after they had been Married and had Bury'd their Yoke fellows return'd to his Service again saying Master it is good to be here He brought up his Children in the fear of God with a great deal of Care and Tenderness and did by his Practise as well as upon all occasions in Discourses
However you cannot but say that you had a Kindness done you to have your lives put into it Thus did he frequently deal with his Children and even Travel in Birth again to see Christ formed in them and from this Topick he generally Argued and he would often say If Infant Baptism were more improved it would be less disputed He not only taught his Children betimes to pray which he did especially by his own Pattern his Method and Expressions in Prayer being very easie and plain But when they were young he put them upon it to pray together and Appointed them on Saturdays in the Afternoon to spend some time together none but they and such of their Age as might occasionally be with them in Reading good Books especially those for Children and in singing and praying and would sometimes tell them for their Encouragement that the God with whom we have to do understands broken Language And if we do as well as we can in the Sincerity of our Hearts we shall not only be accepted but taught to do better To him that hath shall be given He sometimes set his Children in their own reading of the Scriptures to gather out such Passages as they took most notice of and thought most considerable and write them down Though this Performance was very small yet the Endeavour was of good use He also directed them to insert in a Paper Book which each of them had for the purpose Remarkable Sayings and Stories which they met with in Reading such other good Books as he put into their hands He took a Pleasure in relating to them the remarkable Providences of God both in his own time and in the days of Old which he said Parents were taught to do by that Appointment Exod. 12. 26 27. Your Children shall ask you in Time to come what mean you by this Service and you shall tell them so and so What his pious Care was concerning his Children and with what a godly Jealousie he was jealous over them take in one Instance when they had been for a week or Fortnight kindly entertained at B. as they were often he thus writes in his Diary upon their Return home My Care and Fear is lest Converse with such so far above them Though of the best should have Influence upon them to lift them up when I had rather they should be kept low For as he did not himself so he was very Sollicitous to teach his Children not to mind high Things not to desire them not to expect them in this World We shall conclude this Chapter with another Passage out of his Diary Apr. 12. 1681. This Day fourteen Years the Lord took my First-born Son from me the Beginning of my Strength with a Stroke In the Remembrance whereof my heart melted this Evening I beg'd pardon for the Jonah that raised that Storm I blessed the Lord that hath spar'd the Rest I beg'd Mercy Mercy for every one of them and absolutely and unreservedly devoted and dedicated them my self my whole self Estate Interest Life to the will and Service of that God from whom I received all Father Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come c. CHAP. V. His Ejectment from Worthenbury His Non-conformity his Removes to Broad-Oak and the Providences that were concerning him to the Year 1672. HAving thus laid together the Instances of his Family Religion we must now return to the History of Events that were concerning him and are obliged to look back to the first Year after his Marriage which was the Year that King Charles the Second came in a Year of great Changes and struggles in the Land which Mr. Baxter in his Life gives a full and clear and Impartial Idea of by which it may easily be guess'd how it went with Mr. Henry in his low and narrow Sphere whose Sentiments in those things were very much the same with Mr. Baxter's Many of his best Friends in Worthenbury Parish were lately removed by Death Emeral Family contrary to what it had been and the same Spirit which that Year reviv'd all the Nation over was working violently in that Country viz. a Spirit of great Enmity to such Men as Mr. Henry was Worthenbury upon the Kings coming in returned into its former Relation to Bangor and was look'd upon as a Chappelry dependant upon that Mr. Robert Fogg had for many Years held the sequestred Rectory of Bangor to which now Dr. Henry Bridgman Son to Iohn Bishop of Chester and Brother to the Lord Keeper Bridgeman return'd to the Possession of By which Mr. Henry was soon Apprehensive that his Interest at Worthenbury was shaken but thus he writes The will of the Lord be done Lord If my Work be done here provide some other for this People that may be more Skilful and more Successful and cut out Work for me elsewhere However I will take nothing ill which God doth with me He laboured what he could to make Dr. Bridgman his Friend who gave him good words and was very civil to him and assured him that he would never remove him till the Law did But he must look upon himself as the Doctors Curate and depending upon his Will which kept him in continual expectation of a removal however he continued in his Liberty there above a Year though in very ticklish and precarious Circumstances The Grand Question now on foot was whether to conform or no. He us'd all means possible to Satisfy himself concerning it by reading and discourse particularly at Oxford with Dr. Fell afterwards Bishop of Oxford but in vain his dissatisfaction remain'd however saith he I dare not judge those that do conform for who am I that I shall judge my Brother He hath noted that being at Chester in discourse with the Dean and Chancellor and others about this time the great Argument they used with him to perswade him to conform was that else he would lose his Preferment and what said they you are a young Man and are you wiser then the King and Bishops But this is his reflection upon it afterwards God grant I may never be left to consult â—…ith Flesh and Blood in such matters In September 1660. Mr. Fogg and Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry were Presented at Flint-Assizes for not Reading the Common Prayer though as yet it was not enjoyn'd but there were some busie People that would out-run the Law They entred their Appearance and it fell for soon after the King's Declaration touching Ecclesiastical Affairs came out which promised Liberty and gave hopes of Settlement but the Spring-Assizes afterwards Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry were presented again On this he writes Be merciful to me O God for Man would swallow me up The Lord shew me what he would have me to do for I am afraid of nothing but Sin It appears by the Hints of his Diary that he had Melancholy Apprehensions at this Time about publick Affairs seeing and hearing of so many faithful Ministers distur'b silenced and ensnared the ways
his own Family on Lords days when the Weather hindred them from going abroad He comforted himself that sometimes in going to publick he had opportunity of instructing and exhorting those that were in company with him by the way according as he saw they had need and in this his Lips fed many and his Tongue was as choice Silver and he acted according to that Rule which he often laid down to himself and others That when we cannot do what we would we must do what we can and the Lord will accept us in it He made the best of the Sermons he heard in Publick It is a Mercy saith he we have Bread though it be not as it hath been of the finest of the Wheat Those are froward Children who throw away the Meat they have if it be wholsome because they have not what they would have When he met with Preaching that was weak his Note is That 's a poor Sermon indeed out of which no good Lesson may be learned He had often occasion to remember that Verse of Mr. Herbert's The worst speaks something good if all want sense God takes the Text and preacheth Patience Nay and once he saith he could not avoid thinking of Eli's Sons who made the Sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred Yet he went to bear his Testimony to publick Ordinances For still saith he the Lord loves the Gates of Zion more than all the Dwellings of Jacob and so do I. Such then were his Sentiments of things expecting that God would yet open a door of return to former publick Liberty which he much desir'd and prayed for and in hopes of that was backward to fall into the stated Exercise of his Ministry otherwise as were all the sober Nonconformists generally in those parts but it was his grief and burthen that he had not an opportunity of doing more for God He had scarce one Talent of opportunity but that one he was very diligent and faithful in the improvement of When he visited his Friends how did he lay out himself to do them good Being asked once where he made a visit to Expound and Pray which his Friends return'd him thanks for he thus writes upon it They cannot thank me so much for my pains but I thank them more and my Lord God especially for the Opportunity Read his Conflict with himself at this time I own my self a Minister of Christ yet do nothing as a Minister What will excuse me Is it enough for me to say Behold I stand in the Market place and no Man hath hired me And he comforts himself with this Appeal Lord thou knowest what will I have to thy Work publick or private if I had a Call and Opportunity and shall this willing mind be accepted Surely this is a Melancholy Consideration and lays a great deal of blame somewhere that such a Man as Mr. Henry so well qualified with Gifts and Graces for Ministerial Work and in the prime of his time for usefulness so Sound and Orthodox so Humble and Modest so Quiet and Peaceable so Pious and Blameless should be so industriously thrust out of the Vineyard as a useless and unprofitable Servant and laid aside as a despised broken Vessel and a Vessel in which there was no pleasure This is a Lamentation and shall be for a Lamentation especially since it was not his Case alone but the Lot of so many Hundreds of the same Character In these Circumstances of Silence and Restraint he took comfort himself and administred Comfort to others from that Scripture Isa. 16. 4. Let mine out-casts dwell with thee Moab God's People may be an Out-cast People cast out of mens Love their Synagogues their Country but God will own his People when Men cast them out they are out-casts but they are his and somewhere or other he will provide a dwelling for them There were many worthy able Ministers thereabouts turn'd out both from Work and Subsistence that had not such comfortable Support for the Life that now is as Mr. Henry had for whom he was most affectionately concern'd and to whom he shew'd kindness There were computed within a few Miles round him so many Ministers turn'd out to the wide World stript of all their Maintenance and expos'd to continual Hardships as with their Wives and Children having most of them Numerous Families made up above a Hundred that liv'd upon Providence and though oft reduced to wants and straits yet were not forsaken but were enabled to rejoyce in the Lord and to joy in the God of their Salvation notwithstanding to whom the promise was fulfilled Psal. 37. 3. So shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed The World was told long since by the Conformists Plea that the worthy Mr. Lawrence Mr. Henry's intimate Friend when he was turn'd out of Baschurch and if he would have Consulted with Flesh and Blood having as was said of one of the Martyrs Eleven good Arguments against Suffering viz. a Wife and Ten Children was ask'd how he meant to maintain them all and cheerfully replied they must all live upon the 6th of Matthew Take no thought for your Life c. and he often sung with his Family Psal. 37. 16. And Mr. Henry hath Noted concerning him in his Diary some time after he was turn'd out that he bore witness to the love and care of our Heavenly Father providing for him and his in his present Condition beyond Expectation One Observation Mr. Henry made not long before he Dyed when he had been young and now was old that though many of the Ejected Ministers were brought very low had many Children were greatly harrassed by Persecution and their Friends generally poor and unable to support them yet in all his Acquaintance he never knew nor could remember to have heard of any Nonconfor mist Minister in Prison for Debt In October 1663. Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry and some other of their Friends were taken up and brought Prisoners to Hanmer under pretence of some Plot said to be on foot against the Government and there they were kept under confinement some days on which he writes it is sweet being in any Condition with a clear Conscience The Sting of Death is Sin and so of Imprisonment also 'T is the first Time saith he I was ever a Prisoner but perhaps may not be the last We felt no hardship but we know not what we may They were after some Days examin'd by the Deputy Lieutenants charged with they knew not what and so dismissed finding verbal security to be forth-coming upon Twenty four hours notice whenever they should be called for Mr. Henry return'd to his Tabernacle with Thanksgivings to God and a hearty prayer for his Enemies that God would forgive them The very next day after they were released a great Man in the Country at whose Instigation they were brought into that trouble died as was said of a drunken Surfeit So that a Man shall say verily there is a God
House of Commons to the King to issue out a Proclamation for the putting of the Laws in Execution against Papists and Nonconformists which was issued out accordingly though the King at the opening of that Session a little before had declared his desire that some Course might be taken to compose the minds of his Protestant Subjects in matters of Religion which had raised the Expectations of some that there would be speedy enlargement but Mr. Henry had Noted upon it We cannot expect too little from Man nor too much from GOD. And here it may be very pertinent to observe how industrious Mr. Henry was at this time when he and his Friends suffered such hard things from the Government to preserve and promote a good affection to the Government notwithstanding It was commonly charged at that time upon the Nonconformists in general especially from the Pulpits that they were all a factious and turbulent People and as was said of old Ezra 4. 15. hurtful to Kings and Provinces that their Meetings were for the sowing of Sedition and Discontents and the like and there is some reason to think that one thing intended by the Hardships put upon them was to drive them to this there is a way of making a wise Man mad But how peaceably they carried themselves is manifest to God and in the Consciences of many For an Instance of it it will not be amiss to give some Account of a Sermon which Mr. Henry Preached in some very private Meetings such as were called Seditious Conventicles in the Year 1669. when it was a day of treading down and of perplexity it was on that Text Psal. 35. 20. Against them that are quiet in the Land Whence not to curry favour with Rulers for whatever the Sermon was the very Preaching of it had it been known must have been severely Punished but purely out of Conscience towards God he taught his Friends this Doctrine That it is the Character of the People of God that they are a quiet People in the Land This Quietness he described to be an orderly peaceable Subjection to Governours and Government in the Lord. We must maintain a reverent Esteem of them and of their Authority in opposition to despising Dominion 2 Pet. 2. 10. we must be Meek under severe Commands and burthensome Impositions not murmuring and complaining as the Israelites against Moses and Aaron but take them up as our Cross in our way and bear them as we do foul Weather We must not speak evil of Dignities Iude 8. nor revile the gods Exod. 22. 28. Paul checked himself for this Acts 23. 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did not consider it if I had I would not have said so We must not traduce their Government as Absalom did David's 2 Sam. 15. 3. Great care is to be taken how we speak of the faults of any especially of Rulers Eccl. 10. 20. The People of God do make the word of God their Rule and by that they are taught 1. that Magistracy is God's Ordinance and Magistrates God's Ministers that by him Kings Reign and the Powers that be are Ordained of him 2. That they as well as others are to have their Dues Honour and Fear and Tribute 3. That their lawful Commands are to be obey'd and that readily and chearfully 1 Tit. 3. 1. 4. That the Penalties inflicted for not obeying unlawful Commands are patiently to be undergone This is the Rule and as many as walk according to this Rule Peace shall be upon them and there can be no danger of their Unpeaceableness They are taught to pray for Kings and all in Authority 1 Tim. 2. 1. 2. and God forbid we should do otherwise yea thô they Persecute Ier. 29. 7. Peaceable Prayers bespeak a peaceable People Psal. 109. 4. If some professing Religion have been unquiet their unquietness hath given the lye to their Profession Iude 8. 11 12. Quietness is our Badge Coll. 3. 12. ' â—…will be our Strength Isa. 30 7 15. our Rejoycing in the day of Evil Ier. 18. 18. it is pleasing to God 1 Tim. 2. 2 3. it may work upon others 1 Pet. 2. 12 13. The means he prescribed for the keeping of us quiet were to get our Hearts fill'd with the Knowledge and Belief of these two things 1. That the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World Ioh. 18. 36. many have thought otherwise and it hath made them unquiet 2. That the wrath of Man worketh not the righteousness of God Iam. 1. 20. he needs not our Sin to bring to pass his own Counsel We must mortifie Unquietness in the Causes of it Iam. 4. 1. we must always remember the Oath of God Eccl. 8. 2. the Oath of Allegiance is an Oath of Quietness and we must beware of the Company and Converse of those that are unquiet Prov. 22. 24 25. Thô deceitful Matters be devis'd yet we must be quiet still nay be so much the more quiet I have been thus large in gathering these hints out of that Sermon which he took all occasions in other Sermons to inculcate as all his Brethren likewise did that if possible it may be a Conviction to the present Generation or however may be a Witness in time to come that the Nonconformist Ministers were not Enemies to Caesar nor troublers of the Land nor their Meetings any way tending to the disturbance of the publick Peace but purely design'd to help to repair the Decays of Christian Piety All that knew Mr. Henry knew very well that his Practise all his days was consonant to these his settled Principles In May 1668. he return'd again with his Family from Whitchurch to Broad-Oke which through the good Hand of his God upon him continued his settled home without any Remove from it till he was removed to his long home above twenty eight Years after The edge of the Five Mile Act began now a little to rebate at least in that Country and he was desirous to be more useful to the Neighbours among whom God had given him an Estate than he could be at a distance from them by relieving the Poor employing the Labourers and especially instructing the Ignorant and helping as many as he could to Heaven He made that Scripture his standing Rule and wrote it in the beginning of his Book of Accounts Prov. 3. 9 10. Honour the Lord with thy Substance c. And having set apart a day of Secret Prayer and Humiliation to beg of God a wise and an understanding Heart and to drop a Tear as he expresseth it over the sins of his Predecessors formerly in that estate he laid out himself very much in doing good He was very serviceable upon all Accounts in the Neighbourhood and though it took up a great deal of his time and hindred him from his beloved Studies yet it might be said of him as the Bishop of Salisbury saith of Arch-Bishop Tillotson in his Sermon at his Funeral that he chose rather to live to the good of
he constantly attended there with his Family was usually with the first and reverently joined in the Publick Service he diligently wrote the Sermons always staid if the Ordinance of Baptism was Administred but not if there were a Wedding for he thought that Solemnity not proper for the Lord's Day He often Din'd the Minister that Preach'd after Dinner he sung a Psalm repeated the Morning Sermon and Pray'd and then attended in like manner in the Afternoon In the Evening he Preach'd to his own Family and perhaps two or three of his Neighbours would drop in to him On those Lord's Days when there was no Preaching at the Chappel he spent the whole Day at home and many an excellent Sermon he Preach'd when there were present only four besides his own Family and perhaps not so many according to the limitation of the Conventicle Act. In these narrow private Circumstances he Preached over the former part of the Assemblies Catechism from divers Texts He also Preached over Psalm 116. besides many particular occasional Subjects What a grief of Heart it was to him to be thus put under a Bushel and consin'd to such a narrow Sphere of Usefulness read in his own words which I shall Transcribe out of an Elegy he made to give vent to his thoughts upon the Death of his worthy Friend Mr George Mainwaring sometime Minister of Malpas who was Silenced by the Act of Uniformity and Dy'd Mar. 14. 1669 70 wherein he thus bewails feelingly enough the like restraints and Confinements of his Friend His later Years he sadly spent Wrap't up in Silence and Restraint A Burthen such as none do know But they that do it undergo To have a Fire shut up and pent Within the Bowels and no vent To have gorg'd Breasts and by a Law Those that fain would forbidden to draw But his dumbSabbaths here did prove Loud crying Sabbaths in Heaven above His Tears when he might sow no more Wat'ring what he had Sown before Soon after his Settlement at Broad-Oak he took a young Scholar into the House with him partly to teach his Son and partly to be a Companion to himself to Converse with him and to receive help and instruction from him and for many Years he was seldom without one or other such who before their going to the University or in the intervals of their attendance there would be in his Family sitting under his Shadow One of the first he had with him in the Year 1668. and after was Mr. William Turner born in the Neighbourhood afterwards of Edmund Hall in Oxford now Vicar of Walberton in Sussex to whom the World is beholden for that Elaborate History of all Religions which he Published in the Year 1695. and from whom is earnestly expected the Performance of that Noble and useful Project for the Record of Providences Betwixt Mr. Henry and him there was a most intire and affectionate Friendship and notwithstanding that distance of place a constant and endearing Correspondence kept up as long as Mr. Henry liv'd It was observ'd that several young Men who had sojourn'd with him and were very hopeful and likely to be serviceable to their Generations dy'd soon after their Removal from him I could instance in Six or seven as if God had sent them to him to be prepared for another World before they were called for out of this yet never any dy'd while they were with him He had so great a kindness for the University and valued so much the mighty advantages of improvement there that he advis'd all his Friends who design'd their Children for Scholars to send them thither for many Years after the Change though he always counted upon their Conformity But long Experience altered his mind herein and he chose rather to keep his own Son at home with him and to give him what help he could there in his Education than venture him into the Snares and Temptations of the University It was also soon after this Settlement of his at Broad-Oak that he Contracted an intimate Friendship with that learned and pious and judicious Gentleman Mr. Hunt of Boreatton the Son of Colonel Hunt of Salop and with his excellent Lady Frances Daughter of the Right Honourable the Lord Paget The Acquaintance then begun betwixt Mr. Henry and that worthy Family continued to his dying day about Thirty Years One Lords day in a Quarter he commonly spent with them besides other interviews And it was a constant rejoycing to him to see Religion and the Power of Godliness uppermost in such a Family as that when not many Mighty not many Noble are called and the Branches of it Branches of Righteousness the planting of the Lord. Divers of the Honourable Relations of that Family contracted a very great respect for him particularly the present Lord Paget now his Majesty's Ambassador at the Ottoman Court and Sir Henry Ashurst whom we shall have occasion afterwards to make mention of In the time of Trouble and Distress by the Conventicle Act in 1670. he kept private and stirr'd little abroad as loth to offend those that were in Power and judging it Prudence to gather in his Sails when the Storm was violent He then observ'd as that which he was troubled at That there was a great deal of precious time lost among Professors when they came together in discoursing of their Adventures to meet and their escapes which he feared tended more to set up self than to give Glory to God Also in telling how they got together and such a one Preached but little enquiring what Spiritual Benefit and advantage was reaped by it and that we are apt to make the circumstances of our Religious Services more the matter of our Discourse than the Substance of them We shall close this Chapter with two Remarks out of his Diary in the Year 1671. which will shew what manner of Spirit he was of and what were his Sentiments of things at that time One is this All acknowledge that there is at this day a number of sober peaceable Men both Ministers and others among Dissenters but who either saith or doth any thing to oblige them who desireth or endeavoureth to open the Door to let in such nay do they not rather provoke them to run into the same Extravagancies with others by making no difference but laying load on them as if they were as bad as the worst 'T is true that about this time the Lord Keeper Bridgman and Bishop Wilkins and the Lord chief Justice Hale were making some Overtures towards an Accommodation with them but it is as true that those Overtures did but the more exasperate their Adversaries who were ready to account such moderate Men the worst Enemies the Church of England had and the event was greater Acts of Severity Another is this If all that hath been said and written to prove that Prelacy is Antichristian and that it is Unlawful to join in the Common Prayer had been effectually to perswade Bishops to Study
Year 1687. and the other two in a Year and a half after so many Swarms as he us'd to call them out of his Hive and all not only with his full Consent but to his abundant Comfort and Satisfaction He would say he thought it the Duty of Parents to study to oblige their Children in that affair And though never could Children be more easie and at rest in a Father's House than his were yet he would sometimes say concerning them as Naomi to Ruth Ruth 3. 1. Shall I not seek rest for thee Two advices he us'd to give both to his Children and others in their Choice of that Relation One was Keep within the bounds of Profession such as one may charitably hope is from a good Principle The other was Look at Suitableness in Age Quality Education Temper c. He us'd to observe from Gen. 2. 18. I will make him a help meet for him that where there is not Meetness there will not be much Help And he would commonly say to his Children with reference to that choice Please God and please your selves and you shall never displease me and greatly blamed those Parents who conclude Matches for their Children and do not ask Counsel at their Mouth He never aim'd at great things in the World for his Children but sought for them in the first place the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof He us'd to mention sometimes the saying of a Pious Gentlewoman that had many Daughters The Care of most People is how to get good Husbands for their Daughters but my care is to fit my Daughters to be good Wives and then let God provide for them In this as in other things Mr. Henry steer'd by that Principle That a Man's Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth And it pleased God so to order it that all his Children were disposed of into Circumstances very agreeable and comfortable both for Life and Godliness He was greatly affected with the Goodness of God to him herein without any forecast or contrivance of his own The Country saith he in his Diary takes notice of it and what then shall I render Surely this is a Token for good All his Four Daughters were Marry'd at Whitewel Chappel and he Preach'd a Wedding Sermon for each of them in his own Family after He would often tell his Friends That those who desire in the Marâ—…ied Condition to live in the Favour of God must enter upon that Condition in the Fear of God For it 's an ill Omen to stumble at the Threshold and an Error in the first Concoction is seldom amended in the second While he lived he had much comfort in all his Children and their Yoke fellows and somewhat the more that by the Divine Providence four of the five Families which Branched out of his were settled in Chester His youngest Daughter was Married April 26. 1688. the same Day of the Year as he observes in his Diary and the same Day of the Week and in the same place that he was Married to his dear Wife twenty eight Years before upon which this is his Remark I cannot desire for them that they should receive more from God than we have received in that Relation and Condition but I would desire and do desire that they may do more for God in it than we have done His usual Complement to his New-Married Friends was others wish you all Happiness I wish you all Holiness and then there is no doubt but you will have all Happiness When the Marriage of the last of his Daughters was about to be concluded on he thus writes But is Joseph gone and Simeon gone and must Benjamin go also We will not say that all these things are against us but for us If we must be thus in this merciful way bereav'd of our Children let us be bereav'd and God turn it for good to them as we know he will if they love and fear his Name And when sometime after she was Married he parted with her to the House of her Husband he thus writes We have sent her away not as Laban said he would have sent his Daughters away with Mirth and with Songs with Tabret and with Harp but with Prayers and Tears and hearty good wishes And now saith he in his Diary we are alone again as we were in our beginning God be better to us than twenty Children Upon the same occasion he thus writes to a dear Relation We are now left as we were One and One and yet but one One the Lord I trust that hath brought us thus far will enable us to finish well and then all will be well and not till then That which he often mentioned as the matter of his great Comfort that it was so and his desire that it might continue so was the Love and Unity that was among his Children and that as he writes the Transplanting of them into new Relations had not lessened that Love but rather increased it for this he often gave thanks to the God of Love noting from Iob 1. 4. That the Childrens Love to one another is the Parents Comfort and Joy In his Last Will and Testament this is the Prayer which he puts up for his Children That the Lord would build them up in Holiness and continue them still in Brotherly Love as a bundle of Arrows which cannot be broken When his Children were removed from him he was a daily Intercessor at the Throne of Grace for them and their Families Still the Burnt-offerings were offered according to the number of them all He used to say Surely the Children of so many Prayers will not miscarry Their particular Circumstances of Affliction and Danger were sure to be mentioned by him with suitable Petitions The greatest Affliction he saw in his Family was the Death of his dear Daughter in Law Catharine the only Daughter of Samuel Hardware Esq who about a Year and a half after she was Transplanted into his Family to which she was the greatest Comfort and Ornament imaginable dy'd of the Small-Pox in Child-bed upon the Thanks giving day for King William's coming in She dy'd but a few Weeks after Mr. Henry had Married the last of his Daughters upon which Marriage he had said Now we have a full Lease God only knows which Life will drop first She comforted her self in the extremity of her illness with this word Well when I come to Heaven I shall see that I could not have been without this Affliction She had been for some time before under some Fears as to her Spiritual State but the Clouds were through Grace dispell'd and she finished her Course with Joy and a Cheerful Expectation of the Glory to be reveal'd When she lay ill Mr. Henry being in fear not only for her that was ill but for the rest of his Children in Chester who had none of them past the Pikes of that perillous Distemper wrote thus to his Son on
the Evening of the Lord's Day I have just done the publick Work of this Day wherein before many scores of Witnesses many of whom I dare say are no little concerned for you I have absolutely freely and unreservedly given you all up to the good Will and Pleasure of our Heavenly Father waiting what he will do with us for good I am sure we have received and shall we not receive Evil also He Preached at Chester upon occasion of that sad Breach in his Family on Iob 10. 3. Shew me wherefore thou contendest wich me When two of his Children lay ill and in perillous Circumstances after he had been wrestling with God in Prayer for them he wrote thus in his Diary If the Lord will be pleased to grant me my Request this time concerning my Children I will not say as the Beggars at our Door use to do I 'll never ask any thing of him again but on the contrary he shall hear oftner from me than ever and I will love God the better and love Prayer the better as long as I live He us'd to say Trades-men take it ill if those that are in their Books go to another Shop while we are so much indebted to God for past Mercies we are bound to attend him for further Mercies As he was an Intercessor for his Children at the Throne of Grace so he was upon all occasions a Remembrancer to them both by Word and Letter to quicken them to that which is good How often did he inculcate this upon them Love one another and the God of Love and Peace will be with you Do all you can while you are together to help one another to Heaven that you may be together there for ever and with the Lord. When the Families of his Children were in Health and Peace the Candle of God shining upon their Tabernacles he wrote thus to them 'T was one of Iob's Comforts in his Prosperity that his Children loved one another and feasted together The same is ours in you which God continue But you will not be offended if we pray that you may none of you Curse God in your Hearts Remember the Wheel is always in Motion and the Spoke that is uppermost will be under and therefore mix Tremblings always with your Joy He much rejoyced in the Visits of his Children and made that as other things which were the matter of his Rejoycing the matter of his Thanksgiving His usual saying at parting was This is not the World we are to be together in and 't is well it is not but there is such a World before us And his usual Prayer was That our next Meeting might be either in Heaven or further on in our way towards it He had in eight Years time twenty four Grand-children Born some by each of his Children concerning whom he would often bless God that they were all the Sealed ones of the God of Heaven and Enroll'd among his Lambs On the Birth of his Second Grand-Child at a troublesome time as to publick Affairs he thus writes I have now seen my Childrens Children let me also see Peace upon Israel and then I will say Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart Some were much affected with it when he Baptized two of his Grand-children together at Chester publickly and Preached on Gen. 33. 5. They are the Children which God hath graciously given thy Servant He observed in what a savory pious gracious manner Iacob speaks He had spoken good Sense if he had only said They are my Children but then he had not spoken like Iacob like one that had so lately seen the Face of God Though our Speech be not always of Grace yet it must be always with Grace Grace pour'd into the Lips There is a kind of Language the air of which speaks it the Language of Canaan Christians should speak like Christians It was not long after his Children were Married from him but his House was fill'd again with the Children of several of his Friends whom he was by much importunity perswaded to take to Table with him All that knew him thought it a thousand pities that such a Master of a Family should have but a small Family and should not have many to sit down under his Shadow He was first almost necessitated to it by the death of his dear Friend and Kinsman Mr. Benyon of Ash who left his Children to his Care Some he took gratis or for small Consideration and when by reason of the advances of Age he could not go about so much as he had done doing good he laid out himself to do the more at home He kept a Teacher to attend their School-Learning and they had the benefit not only of his Inspection in that but which was much more his Family-Worship Sabbath Instructions Catechizing and daily Converse in which his Tongue was as choice Silver and his Lips sed many Nothing but the hopes of doing some good to the rising Generation could have prevailed with him to take this trouble upon him He would often say We have a busie House but there is a Rest remaining We must be doing something in the World while we are in it but this fashion will not last long methinks I see it passing away Sometimes he had such with him as had gone through their Course of University Learning at private Academies and desired to spend some time in his Family before their Entrance upon the Ministry that they might have the benefit not only of his Publick and Family Instructions but of his Learned and Pious Converse in which as he was throughly furnished for every good Word and Work so he was very Free and Communicative The great thing which he used to press upon those who intended the Ministry was to study the Scriptures and make them familiar Bonus Textuarius est bonus Theologus was a Maxim he often minded them of For this purpose he recommended to them the study of the Hebrew that they might be able to search the Scriptures in the Original He also advised them to the use of an inter-leav'd Bible wherein to insert such Expositions and Observations as occur occasionally in Sermons or other Books which he would say are more happy and considerable sometimes than those that are found in the professed Commentators When some young Men desir'd the Happiness of coming into his Family he would tell them You come to me as Naaman did to Elisha expecting that I should do this and 'tother for you and alas I can but say as he did Go wash in Iordan Go Study the Scriptures I profess to teach no other Learning but Scripture Learning It was but a little before he dyed that in reading Isa. 50. he observed from v. 4. The Lord God-hath given me the Tongue of the learned c. That the true Learning of a Gospel Minister consists not in being able to talk Latin fluently and to dispute in Philosophy but in being able to speak a word in Season to
c. He acknowledgeth God in all And indeed after all this is it my dear Cosins that you must satisfie your selves with under this sad Providence that the Lord hath done it and the same Will that ordered the thing it self ordered all the Circumstances of it and who are we that we should dispute with our Maker Let the Potsherds strive with the Potsherds of the Earth but let not the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus And as for the Improvement of this Affliction which I hope both of you earnestly desire for it is a great Loss to lose such a Providence and not be made better by it I conceive there are four Lessons which it should teach you and they are good Lessons and should be well learned for the advantage of them is unspeakable 1. It should for ever imbitter Sin to you you know what she said to the Prophet 1 Kings 17. 18. Art thou come to call my Sin to remembrance and to slay my Son 'T is Sin Sin that is the old Kill-Friend the Ionah that hath raised this Storm the Achan that hath troubled your House then how should you grow in your hatred of it and endeavours against it that you may be the Death of that which hath been the Death of your dear Children I say the Death of it for nothing less will satisfie the true Penitent than the Death of such a Malefactor 2. It should be a Spur to you to put you on in Heavens way It may be you were growing remiss in Duty beginning to slack your former pace in Religion and your Heavenly Father saw it and was grieved at it and sent this sad Providence to be your Monitor to tell you you should remember whence you were fallen and do your first Works and be more Humble and Holy and Heavenly and self-denying and Watchful abounding always in the work of the Lord. O Blessed are they that come out of such a Furnace thus resined they will say hereafter 't was a happy day for them that ever they were put in 3. You muâ—… learn by it as long as you live to keep your Affections in due Bounds towards Creature Comforts How hard is it to love and not to over-love to delight in Children or Yoke-fellows and not over-delight now God is a jealous God and will not give his Glory to any other and our excess this way doth often provoke him to remove that Mercy from us which we do thus make an Idol of and our Duty is to labour when he doth so to get that matter mended and to rejoyce in all our Enjoyments with Trembling and as if we rejoyced not 4. It should be a means of drawing your Hearts and Thoughts more upwards and home-wards I mean your Everlasting-Home You should be looking oftner now than before into the other World I shall go to him saith David when his little Son was gone before It is yet but a little while e're all the things of Time shall be swallowed up in Eternity And the matter is not great whether we or ours die first whilst we are all dying in the midst of Life we are in Death What manner of persons then ought we to be Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father be your support under and do you good by this Dispensation and give you a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters We are daily mindful of you at the Throne of Grace in our poor measure and dearly recommended to you c. We shall next gather up some Passages out of his Letters to his Children after they were married and gone from him To one of his Daughters with Child of her first Child he thus writes You have now one kind of Burthen more than ever you had before to cast upon God and if you do so he will sustain you according to his Promise And when the time of Travel was near thus You know whom you have trusted even him who is true and faithful and never yet did noâ—… ever will forsake the Soul that seeks him Though he be Almighty and can do every thing yet this he cannot do he cannot deny himself nor be worse than his Word But what is his Word Hath he promised that there shall be always a safe and speedy delivery that there shall be no Iabez no Benoni No but if there be he hath promised it shall work together for good hath promised if he doth not save from he will save through If he call to go even through the valley of the shadow of death and what less is Child-bearing 〈◊〉 he will be with you his Rod and his Staff shall comfort you and that 's well Therefore your Faith must be in those things as the Promise is either so or so and which way soever it be God is good and doth good Therefore my dear Daughter lift up the Hands that hang down cast your Burthen upon him trust also in him and let your Thoughts be established We are mindful of you in our daily Prayers but you have a better Intecessor than we who is heard always To another of them in the same Circumstance he thus writes Your last Letter speaks you in a good Frame which rejoyced my Heart that you were fixed fixed waiting upon God that your Faith was uppermost above your Fears that you could say Behold the handmaid of the Lord let him do with me as seemeth good in his eyes We are never fitter for a Mercy nor is it more likely to be a Mercy indeed than when it is so with us now the Lord keep it always in the Imagination of the Thoughts of your Heart And he concludes ' Forget not 1 Tom. 2. last When one of his Daughters was safely delivered in a Letter to another of them that was drawing near to that needful Hour he observ'd that when David said Psal. 116. 12. What shall I render He presently adds v. 13. I will call upon the Name of the Lord. As if saith he calling upon the Name of the Lord for Mercy for you were one way of rendring unto the Lord for the great Benefit done to your Sister On occasion of affliction in their Families by the sickness or Death of Children or otherwise he always wrote some word in season In the Furnace again saith he but a good Friend sits by and it is only to take away more of the Dross If less Fire would do we should not have it so much and so often O for Faith to trust the Refiner and to refer all to his Will and Wisdom and to wait the Issue for I have been young and now am old but I never yet saw it in vain to seek God and to hope in him At another time he thus writes Tough and knotty Blocks must have more and more Wedges our heavenly Father when he judgeth will overcome We hear of the death of dear S. T. and chide ourselves for being so
often pleased with his little pretty fashions lest we offended therein by being too much so No Rival must sit with him in his Throne who deserves all our Love and Ioy and hath too little of it At another time upon the death of another little one The dear little one saith he made but a short Passage through this to another World where it is to be for ever a living Member of the great Body whereof Jesus Christ is the ever-living Head but for which Hope there were cause for Sorrow indeed If he that gives takes and it is but his own why should we say What dost thou At another time upon the like occasion Our Quiver of Childrens Children is not so full but God can soon empty it O for Grace Grace at such a time which will do that that Nature cannot The God of all Grace supply your Need and ours according to his Riches in Glory The Lord is still training you up in his good School and though no Affliction for the present be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yields well your Work is in every thing to bring your Will to the Will of God To one of his Daughters concerning her little one he thus writes They are but Bubbles we have many warnings to sit loose the less we rely upon them in our Ioys and Hopes the more likely to have them continued to us Our God is a jealous God nor will he suffer the Creature to usurp his Throne in our Affections Upon the death of a little Child but few days old he thus writes The tidings of the death of your little one were afflicting to us but the Clay must nor say to the Potter What dost thou If he that took be the same that gave and what he gave and took was his own by our own consent it becomes us to say Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I hope you have been learning to acknowledge God in all Events and to take all as from his Hand who hath given us to know Isay to know for Paul saith so that all things do work together not only shall but do for our good that we may be more and more partakers of his Holiness He can make the two left as comfortable to you as all the three as all your five could have been However if all the Cisterns were drawn dry while you have your Fountain to go to you are well you may also by Faith look forward and say it was a Covenant-child and through Mercy we shall see it again in a better World Upon the sickness of a dear Child he thus writes to the Parent You and we are taught to say It is the Lord upon his Will must we wait and to it must we submit in every thing not upon constraint but of choice nor only because he is the Potter and we the Clay and therefore in a way of Soveraignty he may do what he pleaseth with us and ours But because he is our Father and will do nothing but what shall be for good to us The more you can be satisfied in this and the more willing to resign the more likely to have Be strong therefore in the Grace which is in Christ Iesus it is given for such a time of need as this I hope your Fears and ours will be prevented and pray they may but thanks be to God we know the Worst of it and that Worst hath no harm in it while the better part is ours which cannot be taken away from us To one of his Children in affliction he writes thus T is a time of Trial with you according to the Will of your and our Heavenly Father Though you see not yet what he means by it you shall see He means you good and not hurt he is shewing you the vanity of all things under the Sun that your happiness lies not in them but in himself only that they and we are passing away withering Flowers that therefore we may learn to die to them and live above them placing our Hope and Happiness in better things trusting in him alone who is the Rock of Ages who fails not neither can fail nor will fail those that fly to him I pray you think not a hard thought of him no not one hard thought for he is good and doth good in all he doth and therefore all shall work for good but then as you are called according to his purpose blessed be his Name for it so you must love him and Love you know thinks no evil but puts the best construction upon all that the Person loved saith or doth and so must you though now for a Season if need be you are in Heaviness And at another time Your Times and the Times of yours are in the Lord 's good Hand whose Will is his Wisdom 'T is one thing as we read and observ'd this Morning out of Ezek. 22 to be put into a Furnace and left there as Dross to be consumed and another thing to be put in as Gold or Silver to be melted for use and to have the Refiner set by You know whom you have believed keep your hold of the everlasting Covenant He is faithfull that hath promised We pray for you and we give Thanks for you daily for the Cup is mixed therefore trust in the Lord for ever and rejoyce in the Lord always again I say rejoyce To one of his Sons in Law that was a little engaged â—…n building he thus writes Be sure to take God along with you in this as in all other your Affairs for except he build the House they labour in vain that build it Count upon troublesome Oâ—…crrences in it and keep the Spirit quiet within And lâ—… nor God's Time nor Dues be entrenched upon and then all will be well 'T was but a little before he died that he wrote thus to one of his Children We rejoyce in God's goodness to you that your Distemper hath been a Rod shaken only and not laid on He is good and doth good and should we not love him and rest in our love to him He saith he doth in his to us and rejoyceth over us with singing Zeph. 3. 17. And have not we much more cause What loveliness in us What not in him I pray let me recommend him to your Love love him love him with all the Powers of your Soul and out of love to him please him He is pleas'd with honest Endeavours to please him though after all in many things we come short for we are not under the Law but under Grace To one of his Children recovered from Sickness he gives this hint Remember that a New Life must be a New Life indeed Reprieves extraordinary call for Returns extraordinary The last Journey he made to London was in August 1690. before he went he sent this Farewel-Letter to his Son at Chester I am going forth this Morning towards the great City not knowing but it may be Mount Nebo to me