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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A41728 The life and death of Mr. John Rowe of Crediton in Devon Gale, Theophilus, 1628-1678. 1673 (1673) Wing G146; ESTC R18383 49,518 150

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and that acted by the Spirit of God Hardly one expression could be spared every passage had its weight He never used a form but the substance and materials of his Prayers were for the most part the same though he still took in the other necessitys of his family as the providence of God gave occasion Some that have heard him pray have thought they never saw grace acting more purely then in his prayer his prayer seemed to be the pure language of grace rather then of nature or of parts The main scope at which his payers was levell'd was the glory of God he was still carried above himself to eye the glory of God and therefore the stream of his prayers would usually run thus Lord glorifie thy self in our salvation glorifie thy self in bestowing this or that grace upon us The matter of his prayer was still commensurate to the word what the word required as duty from Christians either in relation to their general or particular callings or in relation to the various providences they might be under that was still the matter of his prayer One thing he was most eminent in he had a very large and comprehensive Charity he would still take in the concernments of the Catholick-Church and he would be sure to pray for all the election where ever they were Once he was observed to let fall such an expression as this in prayer We pray thee pardon the sins of thine here and every where and those that ever shall be In the evening before Supper if he could obtain any liberty he would spend some time in reading the works of some eminent Divine His evening exercises He took most delight in Dr. Prestons Books and he had been so conversant in them that most of the eminent passages in his writings became very familiar with him after that he betook himself to his constant course of Prayer and Meditation After Supper he would cause his children and the young schollars that were in his family of which he was never without some for many years who were sent to the Grammar-School and were placed by their Parents in his family to enjoy the benefit of his instructions and holy example to read each of them a Chapter one by one when this was done he would call together the whole family and then he would spend the rest of the evening in Catechising of them or else in Repetition of some Sermon that had been preached on the week day When the Sabbath was approaching his care was to prepare for it His Care in keeping the Sabbath and he would endeavour so to order his worldly affairs as that he might have dispatcht his business in season and so have the more liberty in the evening to set his heart in order for the duties of the Sabbath When the Sabbath was come he would spend most of the morning in secret prayer and meditation and he was wont to be shorter in the mornings exercises with his family upon that day then at other times that so they might not be hindered from the publick ordinances His care was to be at the beginning of Publick worship and he was wont to say it was more fit that they should wait for the Minister then that he should wait for them and he would often mention that example speech of Cornelius We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Acts 10. When the morning Sermon was done the little time he had before dinner he would spend in perusing his notes of the Sermon and meditating on what had been delivered as soon as dinner was ended he would repeat the Sermon to his family after that was done the time of publick worship in the afternoon drew on then he would hasten to the Congregation when publick worship was ended he would first spend a considerable time in secret the rest of the evening was spent in the repetition of the Sermon that was preached in the afternoon and calling his family to an account of the things they had learned His esteem and reverence of godly Ministers was exceeding admirable The high esteem he had of godly Ministers if a Minister had been never so mean and of never so low parts and gifts he would shew a singular respect to him and according to his own example he would be most frequent in this exhortation to exhort his children to have an high esteem of the Gospel Ministry and he would often press upon them that passage of our Saviour He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me He would also mind them of that passage of St. Paul that faith cometh by hearing and hearing is of the word of God He was went to tell them that God could if he had pleased speak to us himself immediately but the Lord condescended to our infirmites and chose tospeak to us by men like our selves and to this purpose he would often bring the instance of Cornelius the Lord could have spoken to him himself or caused the Angel to speak to him but he bids him send for Peter and he should tell him what he ought to do He could not endure that any should account the Ministry Antichristian and he would upon all occasions vindicate the Authority of the Gospel-Ministry against those that would impugne it and he would say unless we do firmly believe the Ministry to be the appointment of Jesus Christ we cannot so profit by it as we ought to do He would say it was lawful for us to covet the best gifts if we might enjoy them but we must not despise the meanest he said when you come to the Ordinance the business is between God and you and whether the instrument be of meaner or of greater parts yet this is the portion that God will give out He likewise said that there was not the meanest Sermon that ever he heard but the Lord did him good by it Another passage which he let fall was very remarkable When I meet with a Sermon that doth not like me I first look into my self to see if there were nothing amiss there and if there were no fault there I would then scan it over again He would say we many times blame the Minister when as the fault is our own that we have not prayed for him as we should have done His love to the word was such that although there were two Ministers in the place where he lived which supplyed the Lords day and a lecture once in the week yet even in his old age he wouldride six or seven miles to enjoy the benefit of the weekly-Lecture that was at Exeter His desires were carried out much in order to the Conversion of souls His desire of the conversion of Souls there was scarce a prayer that he made but he would pray with great affection for those of his family and all