Life being taken ill upon his Death-bed cried out Father Father the Blacks are come to carry me away The other of an English Martyr comforted in the Prison with the glorious Appearance of a Spiritual Messenger I could enlarge much upon this Subject but list not to do it now having given many Instances of this Nature in the following Work 3. The Society the departed Soul is carried too is Spiritual likewise A Spirit carried by Spirits to a World of Spirits to the Bosom of Abraham Isaac Jacob and to an innumerable Company of Angels Heb. 12.22 Application 1. Let us endeavour what we can to refine and screw up our Souls to a Spiritual Temper let it not sink so deep as commonly it doth into an Oblivion of its own Country Remember that this Body is but the Mansion-House for the time of its Apprentice-ship and Nonage when 't is grown up and fit for a change the Tabernacle must be taken down and laid in the Grave to moulder in order to a more glorious Resurrection In the mean while the Soul is a Spiritual Substance near a-kin to the Angels of Heaven attended and waited on by those Ministring Spirits and by them guarded and conducted to the General Assembly of those Beatified Glorious Spiritual People in the other World Why then do we go about to stisle and suffocate these Spirits of ours with the thick noisom Vapours of worldly Cares and Pleasures Why do we go about to emasculate and evigorate our excellent Souls with putting them to the Drudgery of the Flesh Why do we let the Body the Lusts and inordinate Passions of it domineer over and Pinion down the Wings of the Soul Why do we forget our selves that we have the best part of an Angel in our Breasts A Piece of Noble Substance prized by Angels design'd for the Fellowship of Angels for ever c. Spend not your Time Strength Substance and Passion in providing for the Body but think of the poor Soul that is imprison'd in it and labour as much as you can to enlarge its Condition to spiritualize its Nature to separate it as much from the Body to advance it as far above the Body as your present State is capable of 2. Be thankful to God who hath ennobled your Souls so far and dignified them with the Guardianship and Protection of Angels How much methinks do we owe to the God of our Beings for raising the Spirit of Man to such a high Degree that he is in a fair way to be an Angel's Fellow That hath not only provided them for Guards here but Companions for us hereafter Surely God loves us honours us and puts some great value upon us when he sends such Noble Honourable Messengers to us Why then we ought to love to honour to serve him to live up to the Credit of our Religion the Honour of our Lord and Master Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou thus vifitest him Psal 8.4 5. 3. Let us not lightly esteem the Dignity of our Fellow-Christians be they otherwise what they will poor in Estate Lazarus with Sores weak in parts of low Degree in the Honours of the World under Reproach Temptation or Afflictions whatever Their Souls also as well as ours are precious in the sight of God Angels are their guardians Glorious Spirits minister to them for their Good let us beware of doing any thing to their hurt Mat. 18.10 4. Let us also hence take Example of Ministration to our Fellow-Creatures Let it be accounted no Disparagement to our Honour to do Attendance to our weaker Brethren Creatures made in the same Mold with us born to the same Dignities the like Priviledges If Angels stoop from Heaven to Earth from a Seat of Bliss and Glory to do the Offices of Love Tuition and Convoy to our Souls let not us disdain to wait upon our Fellows Mat. 20.26 5. Let us Reverence the Angels and do what we can to secure their Ministry to and Care for us and Protection of us Praying unto God their and our common Lord the Author of every good and perfect Gift to him who can presently give if there be a necessity of it more than Twelve Legions of Angels to deliver thee out of Danger Psal 91.11 12. Keep within the Pale of the Church upon Sacred Ground I mean in the Bounds circumscribed by the Gospel of our Saviour the Territory and Confines of the right Faith Nor is that enough we must keep within the Limits of our lawful Vocations too be found doing nothing but what we need not be asham'd for Angels to look upon resisting Satan and banishing him far out of our Correspondence and Community putting out of sight every thing that is offensive to those pure Angelical Spirits those Flames of Fire that are fervent hot with Zeal for their Maker conforming our selves as near as will consist with the State of our present Corporeal Condition to a hearty ready and chearful and constant Obedience in imitation of the Angels shaking off what we can the Impediments of the Body the Shackles and Chains of our corrupt Nature aspiring to a Noble Freedom Easiness and Alarity in all the Parts of a Christian Devotion stooping with the most profound Humility and Condescention to our Fellow-sinners maintaining as far as 't is possible for us an unspotted Purity in Heart and Life shining to the World bright as Mortal Angels incarnated in Flesh and Blood but above all burning with a Seraphic Love and Charity to God to Man to all proportionably and then will he give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Psal 91.11 IV. The Future State c. being Meditations on the Glory of the Invisible World Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 I Have formerly attempted this Subject but yet am not satisfied to say so little upon it The Reward at the End of the Work is an excellent Motive to the Courage of the Work-man I have considered that our Wages is proportion'd to our Work and more and we may think of it before hand for our Encouragement As we have not to do with a Tyrant that requires our Slavery and propounds no Rewards so we are not bound to a continual Service without looking at the End of our Labours Nay I believe that on purpose to encourage us the Almighty hath been pleased to make some Revelation of his kind intentions towards us we may as well as our Saviour the Son of God look a little upon the Joy that is set before us I am not able to say much upon the Point 't is high and future and intercepted at present from our Apprehension with Clouds and a thick Darkness and when I have said all that I can say I must leave off before I come to the middle of the Story
he said Pray remember my dear Love to my Brother and Sister and tell them I desire they would comfort themselves that I am gone to Christ and we shall quickly meet in the Glorious Mount Sion above Afterwards he prayed for about three quarters of an hour with the greatest fervency exceedingly blessing God for Jesus Christ adoring the Riches of his Grace in him in all the Glorious Fruits of it towards him Praying for the Peace of the Church of God and of these Nations in particular all with such eminent Assistance of the Spirit of God as convinced astonished and melted into Pity the Hearts of all present even the most malicious Adversaries forcing Tears and Expressions from them some saying They knew not what would become of them after Death but it was evident he was going to great Happiness When he was just going out of the World with a joyful Countenance he said Oh! now my Joy and Comfort is that I have a Christ to go to and so sweetly resign'd his Spirit to Christ the 12th of September 1685. An Officer who had shewed so malicious a Spirit as to call the Prisoners Devils when he was Guarding them down was now so convinced that he after told a Person of Quality That he was never so affected as by his chearful Carriage and fervent Prayer such as he believed was never heard especially from one so young and said I believe had the Lord Chief Justice been there he could not have let him die The Sheriff having given his Body to be buried although it was brought from the Place of Execution without any notice given yet very many of the Town to the Number of about 200 came to accompany him and several Young Women of the best of the Town laid him in his Grave in Lyme Church-yard the 13th of September 1685. After which his Sister writ this following Letter to her Mother ALthough I have nothing to acquaint my Dear Mother withal but what is most afflictive to Sense both as to the Determination of God's Will and as to my present Apprehension concerning my Brother Benjamin yet remaining yet there is such abundant Consolation mixt in both that I only wanted an Opportunity to pay this Duty God having wrought so Glorious a Work on both their Souls revealing Christ in them that Death is become their Friend My Brother William having already with the greatest Joy declared to those that were with him to the last That he would not change Conditions with any that were to remain in this World and he desired that his Relations would comfort themselves that he is gone to Christ My Brother Benjamin expects not long to continue in this World and is exceeding willing to leave it when God shall call being fully satisfied that God will choose that which is best for him and us all by these things God doth greatly support me and I hope you also my dear Mother which was and is my Brothers great desire there is still room for Prayer for one and God having so answered though not in kind we have Encouragement still to wait on him Honoured Mother Your Dutiful Daughter Hannah Hewling When I came to Taunton to Mr. Benjamin Hewling he had received the News of his Brother's being gone to die with so much comfort and joy and afterwards of the continued goodness of God increasing it to the end He expressed to this effect We have no cause to fear Death if the Presence of God be with us there is no evil in it the sting being taken away it 's nothing but our Ignorance of the Glory that the Saints pass into by Death which makes it appear dark for our selves or Relations if in Christ What is this World that we should desire an abode in it It 's all vain and unsatisfying full of sin and misery Intimating also his own chearful expectations soon to follow discovering then and all along great seriousness and sense of Spiritual and Eternal things complaining of nothing in his present Circumstances but want of place of Retirement to converse more uninterruptedly with God and his own Soul saying That this lonely time in Newgate was the sweetest in his whole Life He said God having some time before struck his Heart when he thought of the hazard of his Life to some serious Sense of his past Life and the great consequences of Death and Eternity shewing him that they were the only happy Persons that had secured their Eternal states The folly and madness of the ways of sin and his own Thraldom therein with his utter inability to deliver himself also the necessity of Christ for Salvation He said it was not without Terror and Amazement for some time the sight of unpardon'd sin with Eternity before him But God wonderfully opened to him the Riches of his Free-Grace in Christ Jesus for poor Sinners to flee to enabling to look alone to a crucified Christ for Salvation He said this blessed Work was in some measure carried on upon his Soul under all his business and hurries in the Army but never sprung forth so fully and sweetly till his close Confinement in Newgate There he saw Christ and all Spiritual Objects more clearly and embraced them more strongly there he experienced the blessedness of a reconciled State the Excellency of the ways of Holiness the delightfulness of Communion with God which remained with very deep and apparent impressions on his Soul which he frequently express'd with Admiration of the Grace of God towards him He said Perhaps my Friends may think this Summer the saddest time of my Life but I bless God it hath been the sweetest and most happy of it all nay there is nothing else worth the name of happiness I have in vain sought satisfaction from the things of this World but I never found it but now I have found Rest for my Soul in God alone O how great is our Blindness by Nature till God open our Eyes that we can see no Excellency in Spiritual things but spend our Precious Time in pursuing Shadows and are deaf to all the Invitations of Grace and Glorious Offers of the Gospel How just is God in depriving us of that we so much slighted and abused Oh! his Infinite Patience and Goodness that after all he should yet sanctifie any Methods to bring a poor sinner to himself Oh! Electing Love distinguishing Grace what great cause have I to admire and adore it He said What an amazing Consideration is the Suffering of Christ for sin to bring us to God his Suffering from wicked Men was exceeding great but alas what was that to the Dolours of his Soul under the infinite Wrath of God This Mystery of Grace and Love is enough to swallow up our thoughts to all Eternity As to his own Death he would often say He saw no reason to expect any other I know God is infinitely able to deliver and I am sure will do it if it be for his Glory and my Good in
in the performance of that Duty which like Jacob's Ladder tho' it stand upon the Earth yet it reaches up to Heaven Here 's the Love of God made manifest to a poor Sinner at the last hour like the Thief upon the Cross he that never new before what the Love of God was to his Soul finds it now filled with it and running over Now bless the Lord O my Soul yea all that is within me Bless his holy Name for this Dispensation Now Light appears out of Darkness in the Face of Jesus now all Worldly Joy and Comforts seem to me as they are things not hard to part with Father Mother Brothers Sister Wife Children House and Lands are as my dear Saviour saith to be parted with for him or we are not worthy of him I bless his Name I find no reluctancy to do it he hath brought me to his Foot-stool and I can say heartily the Will of the Lord be done in this matter I never before but saw a Beauty in Worldly Comforts but now those seem so faded by the greater Lustre and Beauty that I see in God in Christ Jesus that I am astonished where I have been wandring all my days spending my Time and my Money for that which is not Bread O strive to get a taste of this Love of God in Christ Jesus and it will perfectly wean you from this deceitful foolish World What is worldly Honour and Riches O set not your hearts upon them but get a Treasure in Heaven that your hearts may be there also O lose no time for if you ever knew the sweetness of it you would never be at rest till you found him whom your Soul loved it will be more yea infinitely more than all worldly Enjoyments can afford you tho' in their greatest Perfection it will make your Life sweet and your Death most comfortable It is the Bread which this World knoweth not of and therefore maketh little or no Enquiry after it Dearest Relations whilst you and my other dear Friends are like Aaron and Hur holding up the Hands of Moses I am through Grace getting Victory over the Amalekites I â—n embrace my dear and beloved Brother and Companion with more Joy in the Field of Suffering than ever I could have done had I met him crowned with the Lawrels of Victory Oh the Mercy to die with such a Friend and such a valiant Soldier of Jesus who hath kept his Garments clean I now begin to pity you that stay behind who have many Temptations to conflict with for a little yea a very little time and my Warfare will be accomplished and if God continue his Love and Influence upon my Soul it will be both short and sweet I have little of this World about me I leave you all the Legacy of what was ever dearest to me the best of Wives and five poor Children who must pass through an evil and sinful World but I have committed them to God who hath commanded to cast our Fatherless Children and Widows upon him Dear Parents Brothers Sister all adieu my time draws on my Paper is finished and your dying Child and Brother recommends you all to him who is All-sufficient to the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant who will make you Perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen RICHARD NELTHROP From the Palace of Newgate Octob. 30. 1685. Two of the Clock in the Morning Mr. Nelthrop's Last Speech THE great and inexpressible trouble and distraction I have been under since I came into Trouble especially since my close Confinement in Newgate hath so broken my Reason that for many Weeks last past till the day my Sentence was passed I have not had any composure of Mind and have been under the greatest trouble imaginable Since my dearest Wife hath had the Favour granted her of coming to me I am at present under great composedness of Mind through the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. As to what I stand Outlawed for and am now sentenced to die I can with comfort Appeal to the great God before whose Tribunal I am to appear that what I did was in the simplicity of my heart without seeking any private Advantage to my self but thinking it my Duty to hazard my Life for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and English Liberties which I thought invaded and both in great danger of being lost As to the Design of Assassinating the late King or his present Majesty it always was a thing highly against my Judgment and which I always detested and I was never in the least concerned in it neither in Purse nor Person nor ever knew of any Arms bought for that intent nor did I believe there was any such Design or ever heard of any disappointment in such an Affair or Arms or Time or Place save what after the Discovery of the General Design Mr. West spoke of as to Arms bought by him And as to my self I was in the North when the late King was at New-Market and the first News I had of the Fire was at Beverly in York-shire As to my coming over with the late Duke of Monmouth it was in prosecution of the same ends but the Lord in his Holy and Wise Providence hath been pleased to blast all our Undertakings tho' there seemed to be a very unanimous and zealous Spirit in all those that came from beyond the Seas And as to the Duke of Monmouth's being declared King I was wholly Passive in it I never having been present at any publick Debate of that Affair and should never have advised it but complained of it to Col. Holmes and Captain Patchet I believe the Lord Gray and Mr. F the chief Promoters of it As to the Temptation of being an Evidence and bringing either into trouble or danger of his Life the meanest Person upon the Account for which I suffer I always abhorred and detested the thoughts of it both when in and out of danger and advised some very strongly against it except when under my Distraction in Prison that amongst other Temptations did violently assault me but through the goodness of my dearest God and Father I was preserved from it and indeed was wholly incapable and could never receive the least shadow of comfort from it but thought Death more eligible and was some time afore out of my distracted and disquieted condition wholly free from it though not without other Temptations far more Criminal in the sight of Men. I bless the Father of all Mercies and God of all Consolations that I find a great Resignedness of my Will to his finding infinitely more comfort in Death than ever I could place in Life tho' in a condition that might seem honourable every hour seeing the Will of God in ordering
into the Lungs and so into the Arteria Venosa and thence again into the left Ventricle of the Heart and so into his Arteries and Veins and whose Body at last I speak not of the dreggy part of Nourishment But what should I talk of the Whole Man take but one of his smallest Parts his Eye see its variety of Colours warry glassy and chrystalline Humors consider the Ends and Uses of them the one to defend the bordering Parts from driness to break the Brightness of Objects continually flowing in and to greaten the Representations of them the other to prepare Nourishment for the Chrystalline and to give to passage for the Species to the Retina that it may refract them from Perpendiculars the last to receive and collect the Representations of Things See its Muscles six in number the first to lift the second to press down the third to move the Eye inwards the fourth outwards the two last to rowl and which it about to the outward and inner Corner See its Nerves a seeing and moving Pair those to carry the Faculty of Seeing with the Species from the Brain or the Visible Represeatation of Things to the Brain those to stir and move them to and fro See its Coats the Tunica Admata fastning the Eye to the Socket the Scleretica divided again into the Cornea and Choroides and Retina all which have their particular Uses Consider their Situation in the most eminent place like Watchmen in long Sockets for the better Safeguard sake Consider the Eye-lidsof how soft a Coat they are made left they hurt that tender part how loose to shut and open that they may be in a constant readiness to cover it from harm or danger how eminent in place to overshadow the Picture and render it more illustrious Consider how between the Musâ—es and sundry Vessels there is Fat interspersed left for want of Heat and Moisture the Motion of the Eye should be hindred And lastly take Notice of that little portion of Flesh placed at the great Corner of the Eye spongy to liquor it but placed over a Hole which goes into the Nose-Bone to stop a continual Weeping Consider these things and withal that the Hundredth part hath not been told thee And say if the Finger of a GOD be not plainly discernable in all this Take some time now and then to know thyself and view but the Contexture of thy Body how thou art trusted with Bones and Sinews how curiously thou art wrought in every Part in every Limb and speak the Truth if a wiser Hand than thine than any Creature 's be not concerned there 2. If thou distrustest thy own Judgment ask thy Neighbours If thy own Convictions be not sufficient in the Case we will give thee leave enough to consult others Go ask thy Fathers and they will tell thee and thy Forefathers thy furthermost Ancestors and they will account to thee what God did in their Days and in the Old Time before them Nay enquire of the Nations round about hee Spain and Turkey and the barbarous Tartary the wild Africans and ignorant Americans and they will all confess with one Mouth this undeniable Truth That there is a God 'T is a Universal Dictate of Nature implanted in all Breasts inserted in all Common-wealths of as large a Spread as Reason and Mankind in the World Rom. 1.19 3. From Miracles Prithee Reader answer me whether or no those Wonders in Nature which we call Miracles be nothing else but a meer Lye and Forgery If not then how comes the World to be so generally imposed on How comes not only the Christian but Jewish Religion to be confirmed and ratified in so fixed a posture as they have been amongst Men Or what makes our Scriptures and Annals and Books of History so big with them If yea then I hope they speak a Divinity and a supernatural Power concerned in the performance of them If it be indeed certain that is constantly reported among us for a Truth That Nature's Bounds are sometimes broken and the ordinary Method of Things and Actions is crossed and turned quite another way if ever the Sun stood still or Angels were seen in an Embassy from Heaven if ever God appeared in a flaming Bush or talked with Man in Clouds and Thunder if ever Sin were immediately punished with a Shower of Brimstone if ever Diseases were cured with a Word and the Dead raised to Life by a Groan or Prayer if ever Blasphemies were smitten with present Vengeance and those who have denied or palpably injured the God of Heaven have smarted immediately for the Guile and Sin as our own Age and Country if we will not deafen our Ears and wink with our Eyes will afford us now and then a notorious Instance I say if these Things are so resolve me who it is so able and bold as to transgress the Laws of Nature And I am sure it can be no other than a God Consider these Things raise up thy Thoughts into an admiration of Him with that Heathen King Nebuchadnezzar when he saw the Children saved in the burning Furnace Dan. 4.23 This Knowledge of God is insufficient to save and bless us Here 't is true we may know so much as will reader us inexcusable but yet not enough to instruct and edifie us unto perfect Salvation In the Scripture we may take a more deliberate View of him we may acquaint our selves better with him we may see him look through the Lattices and commune with his Church in a free and familiar way entertaining a Patriarch in solemn Discourses appearing in Visions in Dreams by Prophets by Vrim by Oracles to his Children and People Having briefly proved the Being of a GOD I shall next prove that GOD is a Spirit I hope I need not spend time here in proving the Existence of a Spirit That there are such Things in Nature i. e. immaterial Beings Substances naked of any Matter or Corporeal Parts invisible to the Eye undiscernable to the Touch without Flesh and Bones as ordinary Creatures have Beings hidden from our outward Senses either filling or traversing the World unseen unobserved for the most part by our weak Intellectuals is so certain a Truth attested by the whole Bulk of Holy Writ by a â—ong Train of History and Tradition both amongst Jews Heathens and Christians by the Suggestions of our own Souls the very exact Character and Pourtraicture of immaterial Spirits that I need not now employ my Pen to enlarge upon this Subject only I shall prove that GOD is a Spirit 1. Because he is the Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 He it is who is the prime Parent of all such Spiritual and Immaterial Substances out of his Bosome did they all come ripened to that Maturity and Perfection of an Existence in the World 't was he made the Angels and Man little lower than them breathing into his Nostrils a more sublime and defecated Substance than any could be squeez'd out of his
his Creation nor attend his Master's Will nor pursue diligently his own Happiness Tho' our Feet are upon the Earth our Heads reach above the Clouds and we are near a-kin to the other World and have very great Concernments beyond the Stars and yet that we should let our Affections sink into the Earth and our Souls incline so strongly towards Hell For shame Sirs let us set forth the Glory of God a little better in our Generations than commonly we do Let us vie here upon the Earth by the Excellency of our Conversations with those twinkling Lamps that shine over our Heads let it never be said to our Disgrace that these sensless Creatures glorifie God better in their place than we Let our Faces our Graces outshine the Sun Let Men look on the Humility Honesty Sobriety Charity Piety and Patience of our Lives and give Glory to Him that hath given such Graces unto Men. And let these Graces never be darkned with any unworthy uncristian Practices let us appear glorious to the World and no Hypocrisie or Apostacy ever pull down our Professions or lay our Glory in the Dust It 's possible we may meet with strong with close Temptations O let not our shining Stars fall from Heaven nor Let our Moon be turned into Blood and then we shall be shortly removed from Grace to Glory and shortly shine like Stars in the highest Heavens yea as the Sun in the Firmament for ever 1 Cor. 15.41 As we shine in Grace now so in Glory hereafter 6. Of the Continuation of the Heavenly Bodies DAY unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge q. d. one Day informeth another and one Night gives in fresh evidence to another to prove the truth of it Not a Day nor a Night passeth over our Heads but the Heavens preach this Sermon to us We have a continual Rehearsal of this Doctrine from Age to Age from One Year to another from the beginning of the World to this present time This Preacher is never silent this Exercise never over All that I can think necessary to be said upon this particular may be referred to two Heads I. The Wonderfulness of this Continuation II. The Practical Lessons we should learn from it I. Wherein the Wonder of it lies 1. In the multitude of the Bodies concerned We observe of Mechanical Instruments made by the Hands of Men that an Engine consisting of very many Wheels or very many Motions or other Parts are the most difficult to be kept in order An Orchard with many Trees or Gardens with may Herbs and Flowers require more Culture and Dressing or some will decay A Society of many Members is apt to disorder 'T is a harder Task to manage a Nation than a Family The Hosts of Heaven are Thousands and the Appurtenances relating to them more and yet all keep still their appointed Courses We have lost none of the Stars out of their Orbs since their first coming there Some People tell us of some new ones as that in Cassiopea which was first discovered in the Heavens about the beginning of the Reformation what Salvo to give for that I know not it may be it was there before but not discovered But however 't was a Case extraordinary and no prejudice to the Order of the rest we have lost none of our Seasons Day and Night Summer and Winter have kept their times the Sun its Revolutions the Moon its due Changes the Stars their proper Periods and exact Motions the standing still of the Sun in Joshua's time and the going back of it on Ahaz Dial are miraculous Instances and not to be parallel'd other Ages 2. The Greatness of them Small Bodies are easily managed and apt to motion but great ones move slowly according to the course of sublunary Nature But they in the Aetherial Orbs are of so vast a bigness that that Consideration doth mightily accumulate and greaten the Wonder That the Sun Moon and Stars all of them so big should move continually without disorder or period is an Accent upon the Miracle 3. The various Qualities they are of and the different Motions they make do yet raise the Wonder to a higher strain to keep all one Motion especially if all of one Nature were not so very much But to move from East to West from West to East from North to South from south to North again as some of them do and this continually is an augmentation of the Wonder 4. Without Period Flowers wither Trees rot Stones decay Man dies the very Face of Things below will shortly cease to be and another succeed The Day dies and so doth the Year and Stones and Castles here decay every thing here is weary of Motion The Apostle tells us The whole Creation groans But here is groans and dies only what is a-kin more nearly to Heaven and borders upon that Court is of a more lasting Constitution or a more constant Motion of a more perpetual Duration Since the Fathers fell asleep all things of that kind relating to the upper Regions continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation 2 Pet. 3.4 7. For the Heavens are by the same Word of God by which they were created kept in store reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment 5. Without Interruption No faulter in their Courses no breach of Continuity in this long space of time Nothing hath been able to stop these great Bodies in the progress of their Motion or intermit the Exercise of their Vertues and Operation 6. Without Error or Mistake or Deviation Tho' great and many and various in their Qualities and incredibly swift in their Motions yet have they committed no remarkable Fault in all this Tract of Years and Revolutions They have all kept close to the Path chalk'd out for them by their Creator and have never leapt out of their Orbs. Nothing hath been able to tempt them from the faithful Execution of their Offices and Employments Who hath ever beckâ—n'd the Sun out of the Firmament or pusht the Moon out of its place Or made the Stars wander into strange Courses Or amidst all their divers Motions mingled them into Confusion or Disorder When was ever Day and Night jumbled together or the Seasons of the Year reversed or the Order of the Coelestial Bodies turn'd backward Illic justo foedere rerum verterem servant sidera pacem II. Practical Inferences Learn we then 1. To hold on from Day to Day from Night to Night in the excellent Offices of a Christian Life let Day to Day utter Speech and Night to Night shew Knowledge of our continual Goodness Mankind is born with his Eyes higher set than all the rest of the Creation besides his Looks are by Nature more sublime and lofty Let us look up earnestly towards those lucid Spangles those sparkling Globes over our Heads and use our Eyes to some good purpose Let us make thence some Practial Deductions for our Imitation at least Emulation and scorn
to Truant and Loiter here at that rare as usually we do Let no Temptation soften our Spirits into an unnecessary Repose nothing provoke us unduly to depart our Orbs to run back or start aside Let us never be weary of well-doing Particularly 1. Let us never be weary of the Duty of Prayer 'T is an excellent Exercise and such as we ought continually to be intent upon Our Saviour spoke a Parable Luke 18.1 2. unto his Disciples That Men ought always to pray and not to faint And the Apostle Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving c. And 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing And let this amongst many others be one Argument to perswade us to assiduity in this kind of Devotion viz. That God Almighty is continually from Day to Day from Night to Night serving and supplying our Necessities by the Ministry of the lower Heavens all the Hosts of the Etherial Regions are in continual employment for our Good why then should we disdain to bestow some few Minutes upon warm and serious Addresses to the God of Heaven Let neither the Day or Night go away without a Testimony of or Devotion Let not God hereafter ever cite the Sun Moon or Stars for to bear Witness to our Ingratitude You know the Story of Daniel recorded to the Honour of his Memory ' That three times every Day he open'd his Windows and set his Face towards Jerusalem and prayed to the God of Heaven Even then when pinch'd with the close Temptations of the Court under a Heathen Emperour Let us at least twice a Day do Obeisance to Heaven Offer as God appointed to the Jews a Morning and Evening Sacrifice continually Let our Altars burn with Incense at least so often and this shall not only perfume our Days and Nights and make our Conversations smell sweeter to our selves and Neighbours but a fragrant Odour in the Nostrils of the Almighty And please the Lord better than a Bullock c. Job 1.5 2. Let us praise God continually as long as we live let us praise the Lord yea let us sing praises to him whilst we have any being Psal 34.1 His Praises continue in my Mouth Psal 36.9 3. Let us be continually employed in doing Good to others And let us remember this that our God causeth his Sun to shine and Rain to descend on the just and unjust Let us try what we can to be like him like our Heavenly Father diffusing our Rays to as wide a Circuit as possibly we can not limiting our Goodness to a few individual Persons or a single Party or a narrow bound but as our Faculties will extend to the Church Catholick and the wide World in general This is to be in truth like the God of Heaven And let our Charity never be discouraged never tired To do good and to distribute forget not c. To make it plainer yet God hath given us a Copy of his Infinite Goodness in general to the whole World in the Face of the outward Heavens as of his special Goodness to the Church in the Revelation of the Gospel If we contemplate seriously the Structure and Properties and several Vertues of the Heavenly Bodies we may read there in legible Characters not only the Greatnes and Glory but the infinite Goodness also of him that made them and that to the whole Race of Mankind and that not for a Spurt a short Fit of two or three Ages but of continual Duration his Patience is indefatigable and his Beneficence reacheth to the end of Time Let us then if we will aim at Perfection and try to tread in our Father's Steps Do good unto all Men without weariness and communicate the Light of our Graces to a whole Nation a whole World if possible and never grudge to lend our Candles to the assistance of those that are about us And as for those narrow Souls that confine their Goodness to a Canton or whose Light is like that of a flaming Meteor or an Ignis Fatuâ—s or a falling Star they deserve to lie down in Darkness and never more to rise up again to Light or Glory Levit. 24.2 Cause the Lamps to burn continually 2. Let us consider a little the Employment of the Saints and Angels in Heaven 'T is pretty hard to conceive with our present Apprehensions the Business of Eternity and reconcile the Notion of a Compleat Happiness to the Exercise of a continual Devotion and yet this is handsomely represented to us in the Scheme of the heavenly Bodies the Sun Moon and Stars are never weary never decay never wander out of their place but still are exercised in a continual Motion and keep still their Brightness and Glory and yet they are inanimate sensless Creatures Why should we think it strange or absurd that the belssed Spirits in the other World should be still employed in the Offices of Devotion and yet still possess'd of Ease and Bliss And which I drive at why should we not strike up and mend our Pace at present Why do we often mutter and complain as if it were a weariness to serve the Lord And cry out When will the Sabbath be over that may return to our worldly Cares and Pleasures again Is there so much Difference indeed between Grace and Glory between the Apprentice-ship and the Profession between the Church here and hereafter Or is it possible think ye to make so quick a return from one Extream to another To be all Earth and Flesh and Sin here and Heaven and Spirit and Holiness there Or must we not a little at least be Heaven'd in our Minds now and be in a continual Motion to the End of our Happiness Having these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 Or as Psal 119.112 Inclined to perform the Statutes of the Lord always Or Psal 1.2 Exercising our selves in his Law Day and Night And when we can do this and do it with delight we are upon the Brink of a blessed Eternity upon the Skirts of the Holy Land Upon the Borders of Heaven When our Light shines without Darkness thô it do twinkle now and then and shines continually when our Devotion doth not die with the Day but glimmers through the darkest Night then and not 'till then we are in a fair way to the Life of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect 3. Learn we hence to look for that which is lasting In this World we have no continuing City nothing durable no lasting Motion unless it be that of Changes and Vicissitudes Summer and Winter Day and Night Peace and War Health and Sickness Life and Death even the Earth changes its Face according to the Seasons and the Seas thô they flow continually they are supplied from the Clouds above and both Earth and Sea and every thing here depend upon the heavenly Bodies for that Motion and Continuance which they have In Heaven only is to be found the perpetual Motion everlasting Life
that they might well School and Catechise some of our old Professors Grey-hair'd Christians for Seven Years together It would be too large a Task now to tell you what Lessons they learn'd from the Contemplation and Study of these Things Their Books of Moral Philosophy writ by Aristotle Plato Cicero Seneca Isocrates c. where they preach'd in our Pulpits were enough to fill some Number of Years with Sermons strong enough for our Auditors of the Lower Form And convictive enough to shame the Major part of Christians among us into Blushing and Confusion Read over but the Roman Twelve Tables Plato's Republic the Laws of the several Heathen Nations about Religion Sobriety Justice c. And you 'll find Reason to fear lest the Queen of the South and the Inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon the Greek Scythian and Barbarian will escape better some of them at the Day of Judgment than many of Christendom that have both the Books wide open before them all the Days of their Life Rom. 2.14 15. 3. What might they learn Answ All the Articles of our Christian Creed and all the Precepts of our Christian Religion except those which refer to the Cause and Cure of our Misery viz. The Fall of Adam and the Intercession of the Second Adam That there was a God one only Supreme Maker of Heaven and Earth Infinite in the Attributes of Wisdom Power Truth Justice Mercy worthy to be worshipped with a Holy Life Prayer Praise Obedience and a pure Heart and Affection one that had a Good Will to save us one that would reward us with excellent Rewards or Punishments according to our Actions in the other World All this and more than this they might have discerned by their Glimmering Light of Nature in only the Frontispiece of Heaven if they had but used their Eyes And so much many of them did not only learn but teach and make a publick and stout Profession of it to the World The Existence of One Supreme God the Divine Governance of the World the Immortality of the Soul a Mediation between God and us and almost all the Moral Duties of the Law in Substance the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments after this Life distinct Places and Times of Worship Priests and Priestly Maintenance and Attonements and Purifications and something like the Dedicating of their Infants to God by Baptism with secret Devotions and Family-Worship as well as that which was publick in the Temples All these and much more were adopted into the Body of the Heathen Religion and excepting only some few Articles of our Creed referring to the Trinity and especially the Business of our Redemption and the true Notion of our Two Sacraments and it may be the Resurrection of our Bodies it were not very hard to make out all the rest of our Religion demonstrable by the meer Light of Reason The invisible Things of GOD from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made 4. What Practical Deductions may be made from hence How great is God A Contemplation of the Heavenly Fabrick will directly lead us to this Point viz. an admiration of the Divine Eternal Power of the Godhead For Rom. 1.19 That which may be known of God is manifest to all the World for God hath shewed it to them He hath shewed his Face in the Glass of his Works and his Features there appear so glorious that 't is a Wonder it doth not fill our Apprehensions with a pregnant and awful Conceit of his Infinite Majesty and Power The Splendour of the Divine Attributes gives Shine to all the World So that now all the Inhabitants of the round World have Scope enough for Spiritual Contemplation and the Exercise of their Rational Faculties and the Turk and Pagan both have a Book large and voluminous enough being wide open before them to employ all their Studies in all the Days of their Life Who that considers a while the Nature of that God that made the Heavens how he must stretch his Compass over the whole Vniverse how he must mete out the Heavens with a Span and comprehend the Dust of the Earth in a Measure and weigh the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance and take up the Isles as a very little thing and measure the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand and make the Clouds his Chariot and ride upon the Wings of the Wind and climb up to the highest Orbs and extend every Globe with the present Thought and hang not only the Earth but the Heavens upon nothing and this in the exactest Order and Perfection that no remarkable Fault shall appear in 6000 Years in any part of all this magnificent Building Who that considers a little the Nature of the Supreme Architect shall not be ready to cry out with the Psalmist Psal 8.1 9. O Lord our Lird how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth 2. What little low worthless Creatures are we That God who is the Author of such excellent Handy-work that dwells in that inaccessible Light in such a glorious Palace who can make Heavens at his pleasure and garnish them in a moment and fill the whole World with the Beams of his Glory should yet place his Affections so much on such little silly things as we are Psal 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Shall I speak my Opinion freely in this Matter I do conceive that one great Reason why God hath laid out so much of his Excellency and bestowed so much of his Infinite Wisdom and Power upon the Creation of the Things that are above us especially the Heavens over our Heads was on purpose to astonish proud Man into a Religious Admiration of his God and an humble Detestation of himself For that 's the very Frame and Temper which disposeth Man for the Impressions of Religion and the Exercise of a devout Affection Isa 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne 3. A due Consideration of the Creation of the World and especially of the Heavens belongs unto us all Os homini sublime c. If God doth preach to us by these Things that are seen and thereby reveal to the World the invisible Properties of the Divinity then we ought to hearken to this Voice and make some good use of their Language The Curious Spectator looks up to the Heavens and examines every particular there Quidni quaerat Scit illa ad se pertinere Tunc contemnit domicilii prioris angustias Seneca And as he goes on what is all the distance from the utmost Coasts of Spain to the Indies But a Voyage of a very few Days if thou sail with a good
here neither the Ancient Fathers of the Church have started the Notion before me Dr. Day in his Lectures cites Justin Martyr Tertullian Cyprian and Lactantius making use of this Comparison I humbly acknowledge this Article of our faith is without a bottom past Human Fathom 'T is storied of St. Augustin that he endeavoured to sound it He walk'd abroad to that purpose at last came to a River-side musign with himself and labouring to conceive it At length not far off a little Child appeared unto him very busie on the Bank He had made forsooth a little Hole and with a Spoon which he had in his Hand was lading of the Water into the aforesaid little Hole St. Augustin draws nearer to him demands of the Child what he was a doing Father quoth he my purpose is to unlade this whole River into this little hole you here see Augustin That 's impossible c. Child No more will you be ever able to bring to pass that which you are about And with that the Child vanished I relate not the Story for a certain Truth The Thing itself in absolute Consideration is true viz. That 't is as impossible for us to conceive the Blessed Trinity as with a little Spoon to unlade a great River into a little Hole The present Emblem may serve a little to take off our Suspicions of the Impossibility and Absurdity of the Trinity of Persons in One God It is not sufficient to Expound the Thing itelf all the Three Persons are represented under this Notion FATHER The Lord is a Sun Isa 60.19 SON Mal. 4 2. And Vide Margent Luke 1.78 And Mat. 17.2 Rev. 1.16 HOLY GHOST He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Lead you into the Way of all Truth Multa sunt quae dici possunt sed sufficiat fidelibus pauca de Mysterio Trinitatis audivisse Aug. In die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi Naturam Creatoris mei si autem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenas luit ignorantia veniam promeretur Id. 3. Of the Divine Glory and Vnsearchableness He that goes about to stare long upon the Sun or approach its Light and dive deep into the Nature of it may as Democritus stare himself blind before he can make any near approaches to it 'T is not easie to bear the Influence of the Sun for one whole Day suppose we could possibly be so long under the immediate and direct Emission of its glorious Beams tho' upon the Earth It will burn combustible Stuff at the distance of 1000000 Miles should it stand still and neither remove away nor be tempered with other cooling Elements Consider this a little seriously and apply it The Glory of God is such an amazing Wonder that as the Father saith In hac mortali vita quicquid ad nos usque pertingit aliud nihil est quam exiguus quidam rivulus ac velut parvus magnae Lucis Rivulus Naz. vide Act. 26.13 1 Tim. 6.16 So that when we go about to search into the Divine Nature we must stand off and know our distance and assume modestly to our Thoughts and acknowledge the Depth of the Mystery and cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11.33 c. O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out For who hath known the ind of the Lord Or who hath bee his Counsellour Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all Things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Sure I am thô we ought as much as any thing in the World to study the Nature and Properties of that God we are concerned with and account it one of the first Points of True Wisdom to acquaint our selves with that Almighty Being we have to do with and to pray for more Light and Grace that we may be able in due time to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the Love of God which passeth knowledge Yet in our highest Attainments on this side the Veil we shall know but in part and prophesie in part our utmost Skill will not be sufficient to comprehend the Infinite God in the Embraces of our Finite Conceptions And we shall as soon be able to climb the Sun and stare with open Eyes upon that great Luminary and comprize all is excellent Rays and Influences within the Limits of our narrow Bosom as by searching to find out and trace out the Almighty to Perfection Est in Deo quod percepi potest est plane si modo quod potest velis Sicut videre est in Sole quod videas si hoc velis videre quod possis amittas autem quod potes videre dum quod non poes niteris ita ut in rebus Dei habes quod inelligas si intelligere quod potes velis Caelum si ultra quam potes speres id quod potuisti non poteris Hilar. Psal 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his Greatness is unsearchable I am loth ro leave this Abyss of Meditation Pardon me Reader if I strain Courtesie a little in the Case This Infinite Being is the Fountain of our Blessedness and therefore notwithstanding his excellent Majesty can be cooped within no Bounds nor scaled by any Human Apprehensions to the Height nor fathomed to the utmost Depth by any Line of Human Reason yer 't is pleasant to behold him through the Lattices and spend our deepest Thoughts and Admirations upon his Glory and if we cannot comprehend him let us stand and wonder And cry out with longing and importunate Desire Oh! when shall the Veil be taken off our Eyes When shall the Apartment that separates us be taken away When shall we come to know as we are known But Oh! when shall our finite Natures be exhaled and drawn up with this Sun and our Souls drawn up into his boundless Glory and we eternally blessed in the warm Embraces of his Divine Love In those Flames of pure Affection for ever and ever To think now of this unsearchable God the most infinitely good and glorious Being in the whole World whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain whom Angels all admire and adore the Nature of whose Glory we cannot now grasp with our most expanded Thoughts That this God shall first pardon our Sins and then sanctifie our Natures and shortly send his Angels of fetch our Souls up to that Heavenly Choire where we shall be cloathed indeed with the Sun and tread the Moon under our Feet and look with a holy scorn upon the little silly trifling Comforts of the sublunary World This is enough to make our Faces smile now at every Beam of Light and Mercy darted upon our Souls from that Divine Countenance to make our Hearts dance within us To fill us with an
the Seed of David Psal 89.37 compared there to the Moon is meant the Church and as for the Sun ye have heard already that God himself stoops to the Metaphor the other part is easily made out viz. That this Sun and this Moon are related one to the other as the Bridegroom and the Bride Isa 62.1 5. You are this Moon God hath set his Love upon the Children of Men with design to marry them to himself Christ the Son of Righteousnes hath died to purchase their Affections and present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle c. As a Man loves his Wife so doth Christ the Church Only this Are you willing to accept the Proposal or will you disdain the Motion Shall this Moon scorn to be married to this glorious Sun Or are you willing to take Christ for your wedded Husband to live together after God's Ordinance in the sacred Tye of a Matrimonial Relation God himself courts you Christ hath died for you the Spirit and the Bridegroom say Come and we his Embassadors and Ministers say Come we beseech you in Christ's stead The Commission to us is much the same with Abraham's to his Servant Gen. 24.38 And our Answer may be much the same with Abraham's Servant to his Master ver 39. However our Address to you is the same with his to Rebecca v. 49. If you are willing God is willing and all things are ready and the Match is excellent and no Dowry on your part is required only as the Psalmist Psal 45.10 Hearken O Daughter and consider and incline thine Ear. And if you are thus far willing heartily willing the Espousals may be celebrated now we will very quickly God willing solemnize the Contract in the Sacrament and shortly the Marriage shall be consummate and the Feast prepared when the Scaffold of this World is taken down and the Compeer of our Bridegroom the Man of Sin is destroyed and the Number of the Guests are compleated and Room is made for that Great Solemnity then I say the Marriage-Day will come and the Feast celebrated and the Nuptials consummate and then Rev. 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb i◠come and his Wife hath made herself ready III. Of the Existence of a Separate Soul and Ministry of Angels And was carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom Luke 16.22 THE Context is a Parable which I need not make a Rehearsal of The Subject of my Discourse is somewhat abstruse from Common Sence My Text lies all out of sight The Soul of Lazarus lately departed out of the Body the Angels carrying it perceptible to no Mortal Eye the Place whither Abraham's Bosom in the other World From whence we have a fair occasion to Discourse of I. The Existence of a Separate Soul II. The Ministration of Angels to it in that State III. The Conveyance of it to the common Receptacle of Departed Souls I shall propound the Doctrine thus Doct. Vpon the supposition of a Sound Faith in Christ our Souls are well provided for at the Dissolution of our Bodies The Soul of a good Christian is better accommodated after its departure out of the Body than it could be in the Body Thô the outward Tabernacle be taken down and returns to the Dust the Soul is in a safe and comfortable Condition and that in respect of its Immortality and Existence in a Separate State The Foundation I have for this Argument in my Text is this viz. That thô our supposed Friend Lazarus was dead yet he was carried away by Angels His Body cannot be meant in this Case that was to return to its Dust and at the disposal of Mankind it must therefore be his Soul which remained alive after Death Shall I give you some Arguments to prove that the Soul lives when the Man dies 1. The Scripture tells us so The Righteous hath hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 Stephen pray'd Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7.59 To Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise c. 2. Take away this Doctrine and the Force of all Religion falls to the Ground Then that of the Epicurean takes place Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die Then who would renounce his Lusts to serve a God And quit the present Pleasures of Sin in hopes of a future Reward Were it not that Mankind hath naturally and generally all the World over a sollicitous Care for the other World Religion would be soon banish'd out of this 3. If the Soul live not after the Body 't is more unhappy in the Body than the Souls of Bruits and Man is a more ignoble inferiour Creature than those Creatures which serve him We enjoy less of the Pleasures of this World than many Bruits We are distracted with more Cares Fears and Anxieties about Death and Hell about Duty and Conscience about Body and Soul about Children and Friends about the Concerns of the present Time and Time to come than the innocent pleasant Birds of the Air Beasts of the Forrest and Fishes of the Sea So that we must conclude if the Creator that made us made us with any Wisdom and did not put an absolute Cheat upon us he made us for a longer Life than that of this World And the Soul must live longer or the Workmanship of God's Hands is clouded with a grievous Solecism There are many more Arguments by which this Doctrine is wont to be proved which I shall now pass over supposing my Readers are all willing enough that their souls should survive their Bodies and endure to Eternity 2. When the Soul goes out of the Body 't is conveyed away by Angels into the other World Once out of Prison and it comes into the Society of Spirits whilst 't is here in the Body 't is pent up and cloyster'd within such thick Mud-walls that it hardly enjoys a free and unconfined Breathing can scarce peep out at the Windows or take Acquaintance with those Spiritual Creatures of its own Kind 't is mancipated for the time to a heavy lumpish Body shackled and chained up in a narrow Tabernacle of Flesh and Blood But when Death unties the Knot and open's the Prison-doors then like a Bird broke newly out of the Cage 't is presently saluted with Ghosts its Fellows a sort of Spiritual Intelligent Abstracted Forms naked Spirits which come to congratulate and conduct it to its place of Rest This will appear more probable if you consider 1. That God employs the Angels about the common Providential Government of the World Those Ministring Spirits are ready at hand to do his pleasure and nimble and active if he bids them go they go if come they come c. And this all without Murmur Dispute or Displeasure in a ready pleasant chearful manner Thus we find an Angel attending Hagar by the Fountain of Water Gen. 16.7 And again Gen. 21.17 we read of Angels appearing to Abraham
about the Judgment of Sodom to Jacob to Moses to Balaam to Joshua Gideon Manaoh Elijah to our Saviour often and to his Disciples to Philip to Cornelius to St. Peter So that we may upon the whole conclude safely that Angels are Ministers ordinarily employed about the Concernments of us Men especially for our Salvation 2. That they have a Love for us upon the account of the similitude and resemblance of Nature The great Difference is our Souls are younger Brothers born last and put in Prison for the time Both Spirits both immortal both intelligent both able to exist and live and act without the help of a dull Organical Body both active busie Creatures and both accomplished in the Fruition of the same God the Father of Spirits and therefore no wonder if these Angels thô of a different Species from the Separate Souls of us Men have a dear Affection for us The truth is our Souls are here upon their Probation for Eternity and so long as they have any Time to spend and the Sentence is not passed upon them the Angels of both Worlds are Competitors for them and the Rivalry is importunate and the Soul is courted with much eagerness and contention on both hands The Angels of the bottomless Pit tug hard and bid fair for the greatest part of Souls and no doubt but all those who are immersed deep in Flesh and prefer the ditty Pleasures of Sin to the Light and Purity of the blessed Spirits will all fall to the share of those impure fiends A Man cannot be at his Duty but a Devil is at his Elbow If he goes to Church Satan will meet him there too Job 1. Jesus himself shall not escape without an Assault and after extraordinary Devotion also And as they that are against us are many so they that stand our Friends are many too Psal 68.17 The Chariots of God are Twenty thousand even Thousands of Angels In short the Soul of Man is a Wager staked down between these two divided opposite Armies and the Battle is strong and the Victory doubtful III. The Angels assist in our Second Birth and therefore we may reasonably expect that they will not be wanting in our Third likewise They help on our Conversion and they rejoyce at it Luke 15.10 There is Joy in the Presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth The Angel of the Lord appeared to Cornelius Acts 10.3 7. In a word Heb. 1.14 Are they not all Ministring Spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sent forth to Minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation It is generally agreed upon by all Religions in the World that every Man hath a Guard appointed him of the Angelical Host to be the Guide of his Actions and the Preserver of his Life Menander the Heathen Poet saith That every Man from his Nativity hath his peculiar Daemon assigned him for his Conduct The Egyptians and some of the Platonics assigned Three Many Christians as well Jews as Mahometans are of Opinion That every Man hath some One or more for that purpose However 't is we have great Reason to believe that our God and Saviour hath provided better for the Concerns of our Salvation and allows us a stronger Guard for our safe Convoy through the Temptations and Dangers of this World than the Devil hath to seduce and ruine us And if the Angels as some believe take us at the First Gate of our Nativity but especially at the Second of our Regeneration the Birth of Grace is it probable that they will be wanting to us at the last our Birth of Glory 4. It is but very meet that the Man should have some such Assistants ready at hand to receive the Soul upon its going out of the Body and carry it to its place of Eternal Abode tot he Mansion and Company it is appointed for And that because 't is so in all other the like Cases When the Man is born out of the Womb into the World there must be some of those People present that are already Inhabitants of that World When the Man is Regenerate and Born anew there must be some Members of the Church acquainted with Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Matters to receive it out of the World of Nature into the Assembly of the Church and at the Birth of Glory 't is very requisite also that there be some of those Spiritual People which belong to that place ready to embrace and introduce it to the whole Society of departed Spirits We may not be incorporated into any Society or admitted to any Court without some such Friends related to that Society or that Court to introduce and bring us thither And we may assure our selves that when once these souls of ours are dismissed out of these Earthly Mansions emancipated from the Body and dispeopled out of this World and have left off to converse with Corporeal Beings the Change will look mighty strange and amazing and the naked Spirit will be at first very modest and unskilful to appear immediately and intrude hastily and without Company into that Spiritual Corporation Why thô we grant that the Soul upon the pulling down of the Corpreal Prison is cloathed with a much greater Light and Intelligence and knows more and seeth more clearly into the Affairs of the Spiritual World than ever it did when it only peeped through the Key-hole of the Prison-door yet still it 's the first time it ever appear'd upon that Ground or ever saw such People and its Acquaintance being so new its Introduction is more necessary And besides I doubt not but as long as the Soul is on this side Canaan the Enemy is at his Heels whilst not possess'd actually of the State of Bliss the Evil Spirits challenge him for thier own and threaten to Arrest him and carry him to their own Home And again we find 5. The Proposition true in Fact the Angels attend Lazarus and carry him to the Bosom of Abraham We find the Angels attend at the Ascension of our Saviour into Heaven We find abundance of Stories of this Nature in Modern Ages of Dying People sublimated to that pitch and their Souls so elevated and refined that they have seen the Spiritual Harbingers and Guard prepared for them before the House of Clay was pull'd down or themselves turn'd out God doth sometimes whether for the sake of the Soul itself to chear it with a Cordial or for the sake of us that remain alive put Dying Men sometimes in a Rapture and present them with a Scene of Spirits arrayed in Light and Glory For this Cause Tertullian calls the Angels Evocatores Animarum the Callers forth of Souls and such as shew to them Paraturam Diversorii the Lodging and Entertainment provided for them And thus the Souls of wicked and good Men are both called out and conveyed away I 'll give you one Instance or two Gregory the Great tells of a Boy ill Educated by an ill Father of a vicious
When all is said that I can say the one half will not be told you But this I will be bold to promise if I do not make it out by sober Reason to any Man of a sober Mind and reasonable Spirit a Man that is humble enough and impartially willing to believe Truth to be Truth that the Rewards are 1. Great 2. Certain I say Reader if I make not this out by sober Reason to be very credible then say either first that the whole Business of Religion is back'd with but a cold Encouragement or which would be more favourable that I am very unskilful in the Managery But I do hope so to explain the Matter as to convince you That the Joy beyond is worth our seeking thô it cost us much more than is required from us And if it prove upon our serious enquiry to be both Great and Certain exceeding great and very certain then I hope it will add Courage to our Religion and Strength to our Devotion and we shall be willing to work harder in Consideration of our Wages I remember St. Augustine tells of himself That going about to write to St. Hierom that very Day on which Hierom died as it proved on a sudden he saw a Light breaking into his Study and perceived the Room perfumed with a fragrant Smell and heard a Voice as he thought O Austin what art thou going to do to put the Sea into a little Vessel when the Heavens shall cease from their perpetual Motion then and not till then shalt thou be able to understand the Glory of Heaven unless thou come to feel it as now I do We are Reader upon a great Disadvantage in this Case we cannot conceive the Glories of another World which we never saw especially of such a World as that is whilst we dwell in such a place as this is But more especially yet if we live in Sin and belong to the Kingdom of Darkness then 't will be hard indeed If we not only walk with our bodies on this Earth but stoop low with our Souls towards Hell then the great Gulf between will make the Prospect darker to Heaven and we shall find it difficult and even impossible to see so far with such weak Faculties The natural Man understands not the Things of God For in order to the Discovery there is requisite the Grace of Faith as well as Natural Knowledge and if Mens Hearts are not disposed to believe it all the Wonders of the Future Glory told with the greatest Demonstration of Natural Reason will signifie no more than the fine Description of a Utopia or the World in the Moon and Men will be as far from seeking after it as if they look'd upon all as a Romantick Fiction Well Reader think of it how you please I shall begin I. To tell you That God doth mean great Rewards for them that love him And this I shall shew from several Topicks 1. The Preparation that hath been making 2. The Place 3. The Riches of the Place 4. The Company 5. The Sufferings of good Men for it 6. The Author and Design 1. The Preparation for it We are wont to guess the Greatness of a Solemnity Feast Triumph Building any extraordinary Work by the Preparations that are made afore-hand in order thereunto whereas little Works require little Preparation If this Rule be worth any thing we have this Argument here The first Stone of this Building was set from Eternity the Counsel was taken up before the Foundation of this World was laid Our Saviour was intentionally provided before we had actually sinned nay before Adam was actually created 1 Pet. 1.20 Thus the chief Corner-stone was provided from Etenrity God who saw before-hand that Man after his Creation would not stand before he put him into the World provides a Remedy for his Fall and this Remedy not provided without the concurrent Assent of all his Attributes Wisdom Power Truth Justice and Mercy And as he selected Christ so early for our Messiah so he chose us to Salvation in and through him Ephes 1.4 Besides consider what a brave World he made for Man before he created him what Powers and Faculties he created him with what a Paradise he put him in and there set him down vested with Righteousness and Holiness in order to his Happiness All the Creatures besides were but Attendants to wait upon Man Man for God Observe here a Messiah provided from Eternity for Man in case he should fall the Mercy of Election contrived before-hand for such as would accept it a whole World provided filled with variety of Creatures all excellently and wonderfully made and put in admirable Order and at last Man a little Being usher'd upon the Stage with the Songs of Angels for Job 38.7 Those Morning-Stars sung together at this Solemnity All this lower World was but a Theater for Man to act in a Preface to Eternity and Eden's a Type of Heaven and Man design'd thither in the Sequel of his Journey for as yet he was but upon his Journey just entring his Sojourning State No sooner scarce was Man come hither but he fell soully and exposed himself and Posterity to the Danger of Hell for ever From that time to this hath God been laying out himself for us by Providence Promises Threatnings Judgments Mercies variety of Dispensations diversity of Administrations by Law by Gospel by Angels by Men by Prophets by Apostles by his own Son by his Holy Spirit by Circumcision and Passover by Baptism and Eucharist by ordinary Means by extraordinary Miracles by such manifold Methods all tending to our Salvation and conducive to our future Glory that it would fill a Volume enough to cloy you to enumerate the Particulars of them The whole Frame and Furniture of this wide vast Universe all the Lustre and Transactions of Divine Providence for these many Thousands of Years ahve been but so many several preparations subservient to the State of Happiness and Glory hereafter nay Hell itself the Infernal Tophet ordained of old was made for this vâ—â—y purpose for a Prison or Dungeon to remove those wicked Men and Devils into which are unfit for this State of Glory and would be offensive and troublesome to the Good if God should do violence to his Justice to admit them there All things work together for good But neither is this all we ourselves are prepared for this very thing 2 Cor. 5.5 He who hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God He hath not only made the Elect but predestinated redeem'd called justified and sanctified them for this purpose and so hath created some Vessels of Silver and some Vessels of Gold of Honour and Glory in order to it Our Sins after Repentance and Pardon are but like the cold stormy and cloudy Days of Winter which will make the Summer more welcome and pleasant and he that knows how to bring Good out of Evil hath fetch'd Honey out of this Lion to whom much is
forgiven the same loveth much The Forgiveness of our Sins will be an Endearment of our Affections and provoke us to love God better and delight more in our blessed Sight and Enjoyment of him 'T is true our Natures by our Apostasie are soyl'd and deformed 't is the Work of Grace to smooth and imbellish them This is the World the School the Stage where we are dressing our selves and putting on the Wedding-Garment of Holiness that at the Marriage of the Lamb and his Bride the Church we may be qualified for Happiness Christ is now washing our Souls clean by the Waters of Repentance the Graces of his Spirit and the Blood of his Cross that when we come into that heavenly Jerusalem that pure City we may be found clean all over If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me John 13.8 And Eph. 5.25 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself that he might sanctifie and cleanse it And believe it that 's no light matter but it puts the God of Heaven upon infinite Charges and costs him not only many a Mercy many a Check Rod and Judgment upon us but the Graces of his Spirit the Blood of his Son the Calls of his Ministry and a continual Providence and Care for us Look over all this and say when there is such Hacking and Hewing so much Care and Concernment with Compass and Chizzel to carve the Stones of the Building what a mighty Glory is the Structure design'd for The Walls of Babylon they say were a Work of many Years I need not tell you how great or stately they were you may guess the Greatness of the Work by the Labour about it they say Three hundred thousand Men were continually employed in it for many Years From the Preparation made for Solomon's Temple the Stock left in Banco by David to that end the Gold from Ophir the Cedars from Lebanon the Thousands of Workmen about it you may guess the Glory of the Building These are but Shadows but poor Emblems to the New Jerusalem 2. The Place The very Name of it is sweet and glorious Where it lies I take not upon me to tell you 't is enough to me 't is somewhere not in Hell not on Earth but above them both therefore above the Evils of them both The Scripture gives us a large Account of the Excellency of that place above this World by excluding all the Evils Inconveniences and Disadvantages we are subject to here out of it Where-ever 't is 't is in no part of the Elementary World no not in any of the visible Orbs of the Heavens over our Heads The whole Universe is but a Scaffold to the Building to be taken down at the Last Day in order to the Commencement of that glory The Heavens themselves shall submit to the common Fate of the Universal Conflagration the Sun and Moon and all the apparent material Host of Heaven shall be dissolved and burn'd up like a Scroll into Ashes Vanity and Nothing The Elements themselves shall all melt with fervent Heat whole Nature shall stoop and a final Period be put to the Transactions of Things here and then a vast Space will be made void and empty to erect the Eternal Kingdom in What some Men guess of a Local Heaven above the Firmament I presume they have it all without Book For of the Place as well as Day knows no Man on Earth Behold the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain the Majesty of the Great God and the Glory of his court and therefore I humbly conceive with deference to wiser Heads that one reason of taking down the Fabrick of this World then is to let the Glory of the Infinite God have free Scope and full Liberty not for his sake for nothing can obstruct his Power especially no Bars Bolts or Paper-walls and thin Enclosures of his own making but for our sakes whose Sence is finite and Faculties limited Psal 148.13 His Name is exalted his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven 'T is true we are told Psal 115.16 The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth he hath given to the Children of Men. But I suppose that means no more than that the Spheres above the Clouds especially the Firmament where the Sun Moon and Stars are do in especial manner shew forth the Power Goodness and Wisdom of God whereas the Earth is more immediately and directly made subservient to our use When the Scripture speaks of the last Glory it expresses it by the Name of New Heavens and a New Earth wherein dwells Righteousness i. e. If I mistake not a new World instead of both And thô we find still in Holy Writ the Throne of God and the Seat of the Blessed placed in Heaven that is but a lisping Phrase a condescending Figure that God useth to express himself to Man by such means as he is aptest to understand because we look upon those higher Parts the most Noble and Glorious of the World and withal to take off our Eyes Thoughts and Affections from the drossy Sediment of this Earth that lies below to teach us that our Happiness lies not here but we must look for it out of this World 3. The Riches of the Place Which are very great And if you ask how we may know that I answer by observing what comes thence How know we the Riches of the East and West-Indies but by taking Notice of the Wealth and Commodities that are carried out of those Countries and the Reports of them that have been there 1. The Riches that come thence What is there here that hath the Name of Goodness writ upon it which came not first from that Fountain The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Every Beast of the Forest is his and the Cattle upon a Thousand Hills 'T is his Sun that shines upon our Heads and his Earth that is under our Feet and his Air that we draw with our Health and his Rain that makes our Fields fruitful the very Essence Existence and Excellence of this World and all Things in it are derived from that Original Whatever Things are beautiful strong wise good pleasant desirable these all are but Drops from that Ocean Every good Gift comes from above our Health Wealth Life and Learning are but lesser Tokens sent us out of that Country What have we here that is delightful or of any Account with us which is not there in a much more eminent manner In short here 's a Dungeon there 's a Paradise here we live we sin we die like Children of Men there we shall be as the Children of God like Angels glorified Creatures Here 's a World of Confusion Disorder and Discomfort there 's a Kingdom and Crowns for every Head Crowns incorruptible and full of Glory You may guess the Fruits of Canaan by the Eshcol the Cluster of Grapes that comes thence the Glory of Heaven by the little Beams that are darted hither
then the Bravery of the Vniverse in one entire Eternal Scene Infinite Glory display'd in Paraphrase You shall see then what a God is and what he can do And when ye have seen the Beauty Order and Excellence of it you shall believe and wonder and say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomon's House the Reports you heard of Heaven in the lower World were far short of the Truth Chrysostom says It were worth the while 't would quit Costs to suffer daily Torments yea to endure Hell itself for some time to see Christ come in his Glory and joyn himself to the Number of his Saints For my part I am very sensible that the outward Court of this World is strew'd with variety of Comforts very pleasant to Flesh and Blood to the Sensitive part of Man but I do firmly believe that if we had but a sight of the inner part of Heaven were the Curtains drawn and could we look within the Veil 't would be a Sight worth all this World and more The Cherubims over the Mercy-Seat were enough to put a Sinner into Rapture and Extasie Glorious Things are spoken of thee thou City of GOD. Thus having told you the Joys of Heaven are great now I am to tell you they are certain And all the Arguments I have used already to prove the Joys great are of some validity and tendency to prove them certain If the Preparation for it hath been so long a making from Eternity to the present Time by Decree Creation Providence Redemption Sanctification variety of Dispensations c. If the wisest and best of Men have taken such Pains for it if it be the Purpose of Almighty God whose Power nothing is able to resist then to shew forth the Greatness and Excellency of his Glory we may safely conclude that God will certainly accomplish his whole Will and will not be frustrate in any of his Decrees and that the wisest and best of Men in the World cannot be all mistaken in a Point of so great moment and if they should be so yet it were the safest way to err in such Company But be it how it will with some I am very confident some will be as willing to have it certain as I to prove it so and for the sake of those I go on 1. God hath promised it Dan. 12.2 3. Mat. 5.8 Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom c. 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 2. But if ye dare not take his Word he hath sworn by his Life and Being that if the Future Glory be not ours it shall not be by his default he will not be wanting to do his part As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked Ezek. 33.11 3. He hath entred into a very solemn Covenant with us by Baptism and hath confirmed it too in the Lord's Supper and therein hath avowed to us before Witness that he will be our God and do what is fit for a God to do in order to the saving of us Thus have I briefly proved that the Joys of Heaven are very great and very certain with such Arguments as I cannot answer myself and I suppose nor you neither such as are enough to make a lame Man run a Coward fight a Sinner repent and the heaviest Sluggard rouze up shake himself and be Religious in earnest Enough to make the Sinner leave his wicked Courses the Miser his Bags and the Martyr his Body Oh that Joy O my God when shall I be with thee The Saying of the young Lord Harrington To sit on Thrones with Robes of White and Crowns of Glory To live like Angels to see God Face to Face To sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven To shine as the Sun in the Firmament To feel no Hunger Thirst Pain Sickness Death more To have our Bodies glorified and our Natures refined and all our Faculties perfected and we safe in the full Enjoyment of God to all Eternity To be made free to Rivers of Pleasure and Joys unspeakable for evermore What Soul not clogg'd with Flesh and Blood and bewitched with Sin would not leap at these Tidings and scorn to truckle any longer to the Moon and Clouds and little Vanities of this World Those soft effeminate Souls that sleep out their Life in a Golden Dream of Happiness and awake anon in Everlasting Burnings shall sadly find too late that Heaven was worth more than a cold Wish I would fain Reader Is it not possible to awaken myself and you into a posture of Work and Resolution When you find yourself declining into a Slumber look up and remember what lies beyond the Stars and then gird your Loyns put on Courage and scorn to keep pace with an ill-natur'd sluggish drowsie World put on with Courage and fear no Colours Heaven is before you i. e. Joy so great as you cannot conceive enough to make amends for all the Travel foul Way and Charges of your Journey A Compleat HISTORY Of the Most Remarkable Providences Both of Judgment and Mercy which have happened in this Present Age. Extracted from the best Writers the Author 's own Observations and the Numerous Relations sent him from divers Parts of the Three Kingdoms To which is added Whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature and Art The Whole digested into one Volume under proper Heads being a Work set on Foot Thirty Years ago by the Reverend Mr. Pool Author of the Synopsis Criticorum and since Undertaken and Finish'd by William Turner M. A. Vicar of Walberton in Sussex Recommended as useful to Ministers in Furnishing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation and to Private Christians for their Closets and Families Together with the Names of those Modern Authors and persons of Note from whose Printed Works or Manuscripts the aforesaid Author has received great Assistance in the Compiling of this Book The CONTENTS PART I. COntaining The History of Divine Providences to which is Prefixt A Practical Introduction to this Work being the Author's Meditations On The Being of a God On The Works of Creation and Providence On The Existence of a separate Soul On The Ministry of Angels and On The Future State c. Chap. 1. Of the Appearance and Manifestation of God Himself in the World p. 5 Chap. 2. Of the Appearance of good Angels p. 7 Chap. 3. Of the Appearance of bad Angels or Daemons p. 16 Chap. 4. Of the Appearance of separate Souls with several late Instances of that nature p. 34 Chap. 5. Revelation of secret or future Things by express Voice p. 40 Chap. 6. The discovery of things secret or future by signs common sounds and voices p. 43. Chap. 7. Discovery of things secret or future by Prodigies Comets Lights c. p. 44. Chap. 8. Discovery of things secret or future by Dreams
reserved for the Reward of our Faith and therefore 't is unseasonable now we must wait for it till we have done our work and are got safe into the other World and then we shall have purer Intellectuals and more refined Souls and more Glorious Bodies fitted up on purpose and disposed for such Ravishing Glory and such a Transcendent Object Obj. It is said Gen. 32.30 Jacob called the Name of the place Peniel for I have seen God face to face and my Life is preserved Answ Still I say Jacob saw not God in his Essence but in some visible Representation and that not adequate to the Nature or Glory of God but far beneath it For the shape of a Man is no more the excellency of God than a Rush-candle or a poor silly Glow-worm to the Noon-Sun nor so much neither All the ways of God's Appearance and Manifestation in the World that I can think of may be reduc'd to these following Particulars 1. By a Voice only as in the Case of Adam and Eve Gen. 3.8 9. of Noah Gen. 6.13 c. of Abraham Gen. 12.1 7 ch 13 14. 2. By a Vision as he did to Abraham Gen. 15.1 to Balaam Numb 24.4 16. to Samuel 1 Sam. 3.15 to Nathan 2 Sam. 7.17 1 Chr. 17.15 to the Prophets frequently These Visions are sometimes called Trances as in the Case of Balaam Numb 24.4 where the man seem'd to fall into a fit of Extasie with his Eyes open v. 16. He is said to exercise Two of his Senses Hearing and Seeing and both of them with his Eyes open Peter Acts 10.10 is said to fall into One of these Trances where he both heard a Voice and saw a Vision S. Paul Acts 22.17 affirms of himself That whilst he was praying in the Temple he was in a Trance Cornelius Acts 10.3 is said to have seen a Vision evidently viz. an Angel of God coming to him but with such a Glorious appearance that seeing him he was afraid and said Lord what is it c. S. Paul quite contrary to Balaam in the Vision mentioned before fell to the Earth and heard a Voice And though at first he saw a Light shining round about him yet afterwards we have Reason to believe that his Eyes were shut for it is said Acts 9.8 Saul arose from the Earth and when his Eyes were opened he saw no man and he continued three days without sight 3. By Angels in the shape or form of men as One Angel is said to find Hagar by a Fountain of water Gen. 16.7 c. Two appear to Lot Gen. 19.1 2 c. Three to Abraham Gen. 18. Many to Jacob Gen. 32.1 24. An Angel appeared to Moses in a Flame of Fire out of the midst of a Bush Exod. 3.1 2. c. And yet 't is said God called unto Muses out of the midst of the Bush saying I am the God of thy Father c. 4. By Dreams As to Abimelech Gen. 20.3 to Laban Gen. 31.24 to Jacob Gen. 31.11 But here likewise there was often the Appearance of an Angel as in the last Instance of Jacob and Mat. 1 20. and c. 2.13 19 c. an Angel appeared to Joseph in a Dream 5. By Angels in a Pillar of Cloud and Fire as Exod. 13.21 c. 14.24 c. 6. By such Works either of Creation or Providence as must necessarily be accounted the Effects of Infinite VVisdom and Power and can be supposed to proceed from no other Being in the VVorld but One of Unlimited Attributes that both Knows and VVills and acts in such a way as none can do but he that hath all the VVorld at his Command and all the diverse Classes of the Creatures at his back I meddle not here with that Universal Character that Idea of the Divine Nature which is impressed upon the Mind of all Mankind by him that made us Our Creator it seems would not suffer us to come out of his Hands till he had instamp'd his own Mark upon us But this I insist not here upon because that Impression was made upon the inward Tables of the Heart for the use of the Man himself And 't is so soyl'd with the Corruption of our Nature and Men are often so resolved upon the Trade of sinning and so exposing themselves to the Displeasure and Judgment of him that made them that they take no delight in Reading and Acknowledging this Divine Inscription Nay some are so set against it that they do all they cam to blot out the Characters and expunge them clearly out VVhen men are once arrived at this Degree of Obstinacy 't is a hard matter to deal with them Our utmost Aim and Design here is to present the world with such a Scheme of Divine Providences so strange and so true Relations put into a method and marshelled under their proper Heads that if our Scepticks and Atheists would but read what follows in this book and come to a fair Examination and Consideration of the matter they would find themselves so over-power'd with Evidence and so pinch'd with the strength of Arguments and Attestations that they must either honestly surrender up the Cause and acknowledge the Footsteps of the Divinity very plain and legible in the curious and wonderful Transactions of Providence or else very stoutly and impudently fly in the Face of all History Sacred and Profane Ancient and Modern Civil and Ecclesiastick Foreign and Domestick and very foolishly and dangerously encounter not only the Reason of all the World besides but their own Consciences too and even the Common Senses of Many VVise and Good Men. In short God hath manifested himself to us Inwardly and Outwardly by imprinting the Notion of Himself upon our Hearts and discovering his Excellent properties to us in his works the one legible to our Reasonable Minds and Consciences the other to our Common Senses And what more could we wish a God to do Bur if after all men will resolve to wink at the Light within and without too they are worthy in plain English neither of the Reason nor the Sense they are endowed with and the Curious VVorks of Divine Providence are drawn in vain to such dull Souls that are sunk down so deep into the Brutish Nature and almost choak'd up with the Thick Fumes of meer Flesh and Blood The God of heaven that Governs the VVorld with so much VVisdom and Goodness and Power and Constancy give a blessing to the Contents of this book and shew himself a little in every Chapter of it to every particular Reader with the like efficacy and brightness and kindness as he doth in all the various Scenes of Providence in his Government of the VVorld CHAP. II. Concerning the Appearance of Good Angels FOR those that will admit the Testimony of Sacred Scripture it will be easie to satisfy such That Good Angels do exist and are exercised in the Affairs of this Little World as in the Case of Hagar Gen. 16.7 c. of Abraham Gen. 18.
was at some pains to enquire into the truth of it and found the means to get the present Lord Duffus's opinion thereof which shortly is That there has been and is such a Tradition 20. The following Account I received November last from Mr. Alexander Mowat a Person of great Integrity and Judgment who being Minister at the Church at Lesly in the Shire of Aberdene was turned out for refusing the Oath of Test Anno. 1681. He informs That he heard the late Earl of Cathnes who was Married to a Daughter of the late Marquess of Argyle tell the following Story Viz. That upon a time when a Vessel which his Lordship kept for bringing home Wine and other Provisions for his House was at Sea a common Fellow who was reputed to have the Second-sight being occasionally at his House the Earl enquired of him where his Men meaning those in the Ship were at that present time The Fellow replied at such a place by Name within four Hours Sailing of the Harbour which was not far from the place of his Lordship's Residence The Earl asked what Evidence he could give for that The other replied that he had lately been at the place and had brought away with him one of the Sea-mens Caps which he delivered to his Lordship At the four Hours end the Earl went down himself to the Harbour where he found the Ship newly arrived and in it one of the Seamen without his Cap who being questioned how he came to lose his Cap Answered that at such a place the same the Second-sighted Man had Named before there arose a Whirl-wind which endangered the Ship and carried away his Cap The Earl asked if he would know his Cap when he saw it He said he would whereupon the Earl produced the Cap and the Seaman owned it for that which was taken from him This is all the Information which I can give at present concerning Transportation by an Invisible Power 21. One Instance I had of one Allen Miller being in Company with some Gentlemen having gotten a little more than ordinary of that strong Liquor they were Drinking began to tell Stories and strange Passages he had been at But the said Allen was suddenly removed to the farther end of the House and was there almost strangled recovering a little and coming to the place where he was before they asked him What it was that troubled him so He Answered he durst not tell for he had told too much already 22. The Devil appeared to a Dying Man and shewed him a Parchment very long Written on every side with the Sins both of words thoughts and deeds of the Sick Man and said unto him Behold thy vertues See what thy Examination shall be To whom he Answered True Satan but thou hast not set all Thou shouldst have added The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all Sin And he that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Chetwinds Hist Collect. 23. Luther relates of himself that being at Prayer contemplating how Christ hung on the Cross and suffered for his Sins there appeared suddenly on the Wall a bright shining Vision and therein appeared also a glorious form of our Saviour Christ with his five wounds stedfastly looking upon him as if it had been Christ himself corporally Now at the first sight he thought it had been some good Revelation yet presently recollected himself and apprehending it some jugling of the Devil For Christ appeareth unto us in his word and in a meaner and more humble form like as he was humbled on the Cross for us Therefore said he I spake to the Vision in this manner Away thou confounded Devil I know no other Christ than he that was Crucified and who in his word is Pictured and Preached to me Whereupon the Image Vanished which was the very Devil himself And in like manner said Luther further A Gentlewoman a Virgin not far from my House at Wittenburg lay very sick to whom also appeared a Vision after this sort following She beheld as she thought a Glorious form of our Saviour which she was ready to have Worshipped and fall down before but I being sent for presently repaired to her and saw the Vision also as in the form of Christ I admonished her seriously that she should not suffer her self to be deluded by the Devil whereupon upon she raised up her self and spit upon the Face of the Image and instantly the Image was changed into a great ugly Snake which slid to the Gentlewomans Bed and bit her by the Ear so there stood drops of Blood upon the Ear which trickled down and thereupon the Snake vanished This I beheld with mine Eyes said Luther with divers others that stood by Luther's Coll. p. 144. 24. There was in Scotland one an Obsessus carried in the Air several times in the view of several Persons his Fellow-Soldiers Major Henton hath seen him carried away from the Guard in Scotland sometimes a Mile or two Sundry Persons are living now 1671 that can attest this Story I had it from sir Robert Harley the Son who Marryed Major Henton's VVidow as also from E. T. D. D. 25. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance Mr. M. was in Portugal Anno 1655 when one was Burnt by the Inquisition for being brought thither from Goa in East-India in the Air in an incredible short time CHAP. IV. Concerning the Existence and Appearance of Separate Souls THat the Souls of Men do not expire with the Breath and Vital Vnion or fall into a deep Sleep never to be awaked till the General Resurrection according to the Opinions of some Drowsy People whose Reasons at present are asleep in their Bodies is a Truth I think easily evincible out of the Topicks of all Religions that make any Noise and Figure in the World out of the clear Text of Sacred Scripture and from the very nature of our Souls as they now are and act in the Body whilst in union with it Mr. Stevens in his late Sermons upon the Parable of Dives and Lazarus tells us that one of the Fathers calls the Good Angels Enocatores Animarum the Callers forth of Souls and such as shew them Paraturam Diversonii the preparation of those Mansions they are going to Hence says he we observe when good Men are dying they are often in silent Raptures and express a kind of impatience till they are dissolved And why because they spiritually see what they cannot utter as did St. Paul when he was wrapt up into the Third Heaven There is a kind of a Draught presented to them by their Guardian Angels of those Transcendent Joys they are almost ready to enter in possession of and therefore long and pine till they are conveyed into that place of unspeakable Felicity These Heavenly Spirits succour and support them under their Pain and Sickness and when their Souls are stormed out of their Bodies they encompass and embrace them soaring through the Regions of Evil Angels into Heaven 'T is said that Lazarus
so cold and frigid in defending the Pope as Eccius and some like him are who seem to me to defend the Papacy rather for their bellies sake then in good earnest Yea like Epicures they seem to me to deride the Pope whereas I was serious in his cause as one that trembled at the Thoughts of the day of Judgment and from my very heart desired to be saved Ibid. p. 146. vid. Sleid. Comment c. 8. Lambertus disputing with Zuinglius about the Intercession of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Masse and being non-plus'd left his Error and gave Praise to God Ibid. p. 149. 9. Mr. Rastal Sir Thomas Moor's Son in Law was converted likewise by the clear and strenuous Arguments of John Frith which he used in some Disputations that were managed by way of Letter between Sir Thomas and Him Ibid. p. 157. 10. In Mr. Baxters Narrative of his Life p. 3. He gives this Remarkable Account of his Conversion Being says he under some more Conviction for my Sin a poor Day-Labourer in the Town had an old torn Book which he lent my Father which was called Bunny's Resolution I had before heard some Sermons and read a Book or two which made me more Love and Honour Godliness in the General He further adds in the reading of this Book when I was about Fifteen Years of Age it pleas'd God to awaken my Soul and shew me the Folly of Sinning and the misery of the Wicked and the unexpressible weight of things Eternal and the necessity of resolving on a Holy Life more than I was ever acquainted with before The same things which I knew before came now in another manner with light and sence and seriousness to my heart About that time it pleased God that a poor Pedlar came to the Door that had Ballads and some good Books And my Father bought of him Dr. Sibbs bruised Reed This also I read and found it suited to my State and seasonably sent me which opened more the Love of God to me and gave me a Livelier apprehension of the Mystery of Redemption and how much I was beholden to Jesus Christ After this we had a Servant that had a little peice of Mr. Perkins's Works of Repentance and the right Art of Living and Dying well and the Government of the Tongue and the reading of that did further inform me and confirm me And thus without any means but Books was God pleased to resolve me for himself Thus far Mr. Baxter 11. Mr. Thomas Bilney Martyr was thus converted Having heard the Speech of Jesus saith he even then when the New Testament was Translated by Erasmus understanding it to be eloquently done I bought it being allured thereto rather by the Elegancy of the Latin then the Word of God for at that time I knew not what it meant and looking into it by God's special Providence I met with those words of the Apostle S. Paul This is a True saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief Oh! most sweet and comfortable sentence to my Soul This one sentence through Gods instruction and inward working did so exhilerate my heart which before was wounded through the guilt of my Sins and being almost in despair that immediately I sound Marvellous comfort and quietness in my Soul so that my bruised Bones did leap for Joy After this the Scripture began to be more sweet unto me then Honey and the Honey-comb c. Ibid. p. 162. 12. John Picus Mirandula being of a ductile Nature and an aimable Countenance and Disposition was for some time so inveigled with the Blandishments of an Effeminate Society that he gave himself over to unlawful pleasures with them but it pleased God by the Malice of his Adversaries and the troubles which he met with by their means to awaken him from his sensual delights and to stir him up to shake off and avoid all these Provocations and Incentives to Wickedness and to chuse Celestial instead of fleshy Pleasures And laying aside his hunting after vain Glory to devote himself wholly to the Glory of God and the good of the Church Idem in ejus vitâ 13. George Prince of Anhalt when the Controversies about Religions waxed hot and Luther's Books came abroad fell to reading of them and suspecting his own Injudiciousness would often pray with Tears to God to encline his heart to the Truth saying Deal with thy Servant according to thy Mercy and Instruct me in thy Righteousness He was frequent in reading the Scriptures Ecclesiastical Histories Augustine Hierom and Lombard studied also Greek and Hebrew and discoursed with Learned Men about the Controversies And after all upon mature deliberation embraced the reformed Religion and reformed the Churches with the counsel of his Brethren within his own Jurisdiction Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 165. 14. Vergerius having been the Popes Legate in Germany after his return to Rome the Pope intended to bestow a Cardinals Cap upon him but some about him suggested that he had been so long in Germany that he smelled of a Lutheran This made the Pope to alter his purpose which when Vergerius heard was wonderfully Astonished and that he might purge himself from that Imputation he retired into his own Countrey purposing to Write a Book under this Title Against the Apostate Germans But it pleased God that whilst he read over his Adversaries Books to confute them himself was converted by them Hereupon casting off all desires of a Cardinalship he went to his Brother John Baptista Bishop of Pola and Communicated his thoughts unto him and asked his advice His Brother at first was much perplexed and bewailed his condition But after a while was perswaded by Vergerius to read and study the Scriptures especially in the point of Justification by Faith whereby it pleased God that he also saw the Popish Doctrines to be false and so they both became Zealous Preachers of the Truth to the People Clark's Exampl Vol. 2. p. 117. Sleidan Commentar p. 475. 15. Whilst Francis Junius was a Student in Lions there came a Man to him using the words of the Epicure Nihil curare Deum nec sui nec alieni That God cares for nothing And he Corroborated this with such subtile Arguments that Junius sucked in that damnable Principle and thereupon gave up himself to vile Pleasures for somewhat more than a year But the Lord suffered him not to continue longer in so dangerous a condition For first in a tumult at Lions the Lord wonderfully delivered him from imminent Death which Signal Deliverance compelled him to acknowledge a Divine Providence And his Father hearing of the dangerous courses that he took sent for him home requiring him to read over the New Testament Concerning which himself thus Writes Novum Testamentum aperis exhibet se mihi ad spectu primo Augustissimum illud Caput in Principio erat Verbum c. When I had opened the New Testament the
preparing that we may be ready to die Therefore oh my God I humbly pray receive my Soul by thy free Mercy in Jesus Christ my Saviour and Redeemer for Christ hath died for me and for all my Sins in this World committed My great God hath given me long Life and therefore I am now willing to die Oh Jesus Christ help my Soul and save my Soul I believe that my Sickness doth not arise out of the Dust nor cometh at peradventure but God sendeth it Job 5.6 7. By this Sickness God calleth me to repent of all my Sins and to believe in Christ now I confess my self a great Sinner Oh pardon me and help me for Christ his sake Lord thou callest me with a double Calling sometimes by Prosperity and Mercy sometimes by Affliction And now thou callest me by Sickness but let me not forget thee O my God For those that forget thy Name thou wilt forsake them As Psalm 9.17 All that forget God shall be cast into Hell therefore let me not forget thee Oh my God I give my Soul to thee Oh my Redeemer Jesus Christ pardon all my Sins and deliver me from Hell Oh do thoa help me against Death and then I am willing to die and when I die 〈◊〉 help me and receive me In so saying he died 39. Plaâ—bohon He was the second Man next Waban what received the Gospel he brought with him to the second Meeting at Wabay's House many when we formed them into Government he was chosen Ruler of Ten when the Church at Hassenamessit was gather'd he was called to be a Ruler then in that Church when that was scatter'd by the War they came back to Natick Church so many as survived and at Natick he died His Speech as followeth I rejoyce and am content and willing to take up my Sorrows and Sickness many are the Years of my Life long have I lived therefore now I look to die But I desire to prepare my self to die well I believe God's Promise that he will for ever save all that believe in Jesus Christ. Oh Lord Jesus help me deliver me and save my Soul from Hell by thine own Blood which thou hast shed for me when thou didest die for me and for all my Sins Now help me sincerely to confess all my Sins Oh pardon all my Sins I now beg in the Name of Jesus Christ a Pardon for all my Sins for thou O Christ art my Redeemer and Deliverer Now I hear God's Word and I do rejoyce in what I hear tho' I do not see yet I hear and rejoyce that God hath confirmed for us a Minister in this Church of Natick he is our VVatchman And all you People deal well with him both Men VVomen and Children hear him every Sabbath Day and make strong your praying to God and all you of Hassaunemesue restore your Church and Praying to God there Oh Lord help me to make ready to die and then receive my Soul I hope I shall die well by the help of Jesus Christ Oh Jesus Christ deliver and save my Soul in everlasting Life in Heaven for I do hope thou art my Saviour Oh Jesus Christ. So he died 40. Old Jacob He was among the first that pray'd to God he had so good a Memory that he could rehearse the whole Catechize both Questions and Answers when he gave thanks at Meat he would sometimes only pray the Lord's Prayer his Speech is as followeth My Brethren now hear me a few Words stand fast all you People in your praying to God according to that Word o God 1 Cor. 16.13 Watch ye stand fast in the Faith quit you like Men and be strong in the Lord. Especially you that are Rulers and Teachers Fear not the Face of Man when you Judge in a Court together help one another agree together Be not divided one against another remember the Parable of ten Brethren that held together they could not be broken nor overcome but when they divided one against another then they were easily overcome and all you that are Rulers judge right Judgment for you do not judge for Man but for God in your Courts 2 Chron. 19.6 7. Therefore judge in the fear of God Again You that are Judges see that ye have not only Humane Wisdom for Mans Wisdom is in many things contrary to the Wisdom of God counting it to be foolishness Do not judge that right which only seemeth to be right and consider Matth. 7.1 2. Judge right and God will be with you when you so do Again I say to you all the People make strong your Praying to God and be constant in it 1 Thess 5.17 Pray continually Again lastly I say to you Daniel our Minister be strong in your Work As Mat. 5.14 16. You must bring Light into the World and make it to shine that all may see your good Work and glorifie your Heavenly Father Every Preacher that maketh strong his Work doth bring precious Pearls As Matth. 13.52 And thou shalt have Everlasting Life in so doing I am near to Death I have lived long enough I am about 90 Years old I now desire to die in the presence of Christ Oh Lord I commit my Soul to thee 41. Antony He was among the first that prayed to God he was studious to read the Scriptures and the Catechism so that he learned to be a Teacher but after the Wars he became a Lover of strong Drink was often admonished and finally cast out from being a Teacher His Dying Speeches follow I am a Sinner I do now confess it I have long prayed to God but it hath been like an Hypocrite tho' I was a confessing Church-Member yet like an Hypocrite tho' I was a Teacher yet like a Backsliding Hypocrite I was often drunk Love of strong Drink is a lust I could not overcome tho' the Church did often admonish me and I confessed and they â—orgave me yet I fell again to the same Sin tho' Major Gookins and Mr. Eliot often admonished me I confessed they were willing to forgive me yet I fell again Now Death calls for me and I desire to prepare to die well I say to you Daniel beware that you love not strong Drink as I did and was thereby undone Strengthen your Teaching in and by the word of God take heed that you defile not your work as I did for I defiled my Teaching by Drunkenness Again I say to you my Children forsake not praying to God go not to strange places where they pray not to God but strongly pray to God as long as you live both you and your Children Now I desire to die well tho' I have been a Sinner I remember that word that saith That tho' your Sins be many and great yet God will pardon the Penitent by Jesus Christ our Redeemer Oh Lord save and deliver me by Jesus Christ in whom I believe send thy Angels when I die to bring my poor Soul to thee and save my poor sinful
Soul in thy Heavenly Kingdom 42. Nehemiah this very hopeful young Man going out to hunt with a Companion who fell out with him and stabbed him mortally and kill'd him A little was gather'd up spoke by him as followeth I am ready to die now but knew not of it even now when I went out of my door I was only going to hunt but a wicked Man hath killed me I see that word is true He that is well to day may be dead to morrow He that laughed yesterday may sorrow to day My Misery overtook me in the Woods No Man knoweth the day and time when his Misery cometh Now I desire patiently to take up my Cross and Misery I am but a Man and must feel the Cross Oh Christ Jesus help me thou art my Redeemer my Saviour and my Deliverer I confess my self a Sinner Lord Jesus pardon all my Sins by thy own Blood when thou diedst for us O Christ Jesus save me from Hell Save my Soul in Heaven Oh help me help me So he died The wicked Murderer is fled 43. John Owussumug sen He was a Young Man when they began to pray to God he did not at the present joyn with them he would say to me I will first see into it and when I understand it I will answer you he did after a while enter into the Civil Covenant but was not entered into the Church-Covenant before he dyed he was propounded to joyn to the Church but was delayed he being of a quick passionate temper some witty littigations prolonged it I till his Sickness but had he recovered the Church was satisfied to have received him he sinished well His Speech as followeth Now I must shortly die I desired that I might live I sought for Medicines to cure me I went to every English Doctor at Dadham Medfield Concord but none could cure me in this World But Oh Jesus Christ do thou heal my Soul now I am in great pain I have no hope of living in this VVorld a whole Year I have been afflicted I could not go to the publick Sabbath worship to hear God's VVord I did greatly love to go to the Sabbath VVorship Therefore I now say to all you Men Women and Children Love much and greatly to keep the Sabbath I have been now long hindred from it and therefore now I find the worth of it I say unto you all my Sons and Children do not go into the Woods among non-praying People abide constantly at Natick You my Children and all my Kindred strongly pray to God Love and Obey the Rulers and submit unto their Judgment hear diligently your Ministers Be obedient to Major Gookins and to Mr. Eliot and Daniel I am now almost dead and I exhort you strongly to Love each other be at peace and be ready to forgive each other I desire now rightly to prepare my self to dye for God hath given me warning a whole year by my Sickness I confess I am a Sinner My heart was proud and thereby all Sins were in my heart I knew that by Birth I was a Sechim I got Oxen and Cart and Plough like an English Man and by all these things my heart was Proud Now God calleth me to Repentance by my Sickness this whole Year Oh Christ Jesus help me that according as I make my confession so through thy grace I may obtain a pardon of all my Sins For thou Lord Jesus didst dye 〈◊〉 us to deliver us from Sin I hear and believe that thou hast dyed for many Therefore I desire to cast away all Worldly hindrances my Lands and Goods I cast them by they cannot help me now I desire truely to prepare to dye My Sons I hope Christ will help me to dye well Now I call you my Sons but in Heaven we shall all be Brethren this I Learned in the Sabbath Worship all miseries in this World upon Believers shall have only Joy and Blessing in Jesus Christ Therefore Oh Christ Jesus help me in all my miseries and deliver me for I trust in thee and save my Soul in thy Heavenly Kingdom now behold me and look upon me who am dying So he dyed 44. John Speen he was among the first that prayed to God he was a diligent Reader he became a Teacher and carried well for Divers years until the Sin of strong drink did infect us and then he was so far infected with it that he was deservedly laid aside from Teaching His last Speeches were as followeth Now I dye I defire you all my Friends forgive him that hurt me for the word of God saith in Mat. 6.3 4. Forgive them that have done you wrong and your Heavenly Father will forgive you but if you do not forgive them your Heavenly Father will not forgive you Therefore I intreat you all my Friends forgive him that did me wrong for John Nunusquanit beat him and hurt him much a little before his Sickness now I desire to dye well now I confess all my Sins I am a Sinner especially I loved strong Drink too well and sometimes I was mad drunk tho I was a Teacher I did offend against praying to God and spoiled my Teaching all these my Sins and Drunkeness Oh I pray you all forgive me Oh Jesus Christ help me now and deliver my Soul and help me that I may not go to Hell for thou O Christ art my Deliver and Saviour Oh God help me Lord tho I am a Sinner Oh Lord do not forget me And so he dyed 45. Black James He was in former times reputed by the English to be a Pawaw but I cannot tell this I know he renounced and repented of all his former ways and desired to come to Christ and pray to God and died well as appears in what followeth Now I say I almost dye but you all my Sons and all you that pray at Chabanukong komu◠take heed that you leave not off to pray to God for praying to God is exceeding good for praying to God is the way that will bring you to the Heavenly Kingdom I believe in Christ and we must follow his Steps Especially you my Sons beware of Drunkenness I desire you may stand fast in my room and Rule well I am almost now dead and I desire to dye well Oh Lord Jesus Christ help me and deliver my Soul to die well So he died CHAP. XIX Strange ways of Restraining Persons from Sin THE Doctrine of the Irresistibleness of Gods Decrees was so far ventilated in the last Age that the Letters of Accord between the Judicious Bishop Sanderson and the Learned Dr. Hammond sufficed to confirm me and I think they may be sufficient for others in this Opinion viz. That those whom God hath Elected to everlasting Life shall be so far taken care of that such means shall be allowed them and such methods used towards them that they shall not fail of Inheriting Everlasting Life For whom God Loves he Loves unto the end And all things shall work
replied unto this purpose Wine is a noble generous Liquor and we should be humbly thankful for it but as I remember Water was made before it Yet he lived till near 90 Years of Age. Cotton Mather in his Life p. 33. 5. Abraames Bishop of Carras saith Theodoret lived with that rigorous Abstinence that Bread and Water Bed and Fire seemed superfluous to him It is said of this great Man that he drank not nor made use of Water wherein to boil his Herbs or any other thing but his manner was to feed upon Endive and Lettice and Fruits and such other things as were to him both Meat and Drink and from these also he used to abstain till the Evening Yet he was a Person of great Liberality to such as were his Guests these he entertained with the best Bread the most generous Wines the better sort of Fishes and all such other things as a generous Mind and a real Love could produce and himself would take upon him to be the Carver and to distribute to every Man his Portion Drexel oper tom 1. p. 796. 6. Pittacus made a Law that whosoever committed any Crime when drunk should be punished double Laert. 7. Solon made another That if any Prince were taken Drunk he should die for it Idem 8. Plato's Suppers were Frugal to a Proverb He despised delicate Banquets and sumptuous Feasts being himself content with his Academical Olives and Bread and Water Text. Offic. 9. Zeno drank Water instead of Wine and by his own Example invited his Scholars to Temperance insomuch that it became a Proverb More sober than Zeno. Idem 10. About Zurich notwithstanding their Neighbourhood to the Switzers Drinking is very little known amongst them Dr. Burnet's Letters 11. A. C. 1606. Mr. George Coldwel Mayor of Northampton having assembled the Aldermen of the said Town declared to them his Purpose to ordain these Acts That no Inhabitants should enter into any Ale-House to drink together upon pain of forfeiting the Inholder 3 s. 4 d. and Imprisonment during the Mayor's Pleasure the Tippler or Person offending 3 s. 4 d. and Imprisonment in like manner The Scourging of Tipplers by R. R. CHAP. XXXIV Remarkable Frugality and Humility in Cloaths Houshold-stuff c. NAture is content with a little Grace with less How many things are there said Diogenes standing in the Market and observing the Abundance of fine things and Knick-knacks that were to be sold there which I have no need of In truth 't is an excellent Lesson which S. Paul had learned in what State soever he was therewith to be content And when we consider our Saviour's Birth in a Stable and a Manger served him for a Cradle and that he had no settled Dwelling where to lay his Head and that his Coat was all of a piece woven from the top to the bottom and John Baptists Apparel made of Camels Hair and that girt about him with a piece of Leather 't is enough to mortifie our Pride and make us Frugal and Humble about these things The Reverend Mr. Alsop in his Sermon of Strange Apparel advises his Readers not to come near those Fashions whose numerous Implements Trinckets and Tackling requiring much time in dressing and undressing no Cost of Apparel is so ill bestow'd as that of precious time in Apparelling And if common time be so ill spent what is the solemn sacred Time laid out in such Curiosity how many Sabbaths Sermons Sacraments Prayers Praises Psalms Chapters Meditations has this one vainly devour'd Let me recommend the Counsel of Holy Mr. Herbert to you Church-Porch be dress'd Stay not for t'other Pin why hast thou lost A Joy for it worth Worlds Thus Hell doth jest Away thy Blessings and extreamly flout thee Thy Cloaths being fast but thy Soul loose about thee O ye wanton Folly of our times when as one expresses it it 's almost as easie to enumerate all the Tackling of the Royal-Soveraign as the Accoutrements of a capacious Lady And perhaps it requires not much more time to equip and rig out a Ship for the Indies as a whimsical Madam when she is to sail in State with all her Flags Streamers Pennons bound for a Court-Voyage With less Labour did Adam give Names to all the Creatures in Paradice than an Attire-Herald shall give you the Nomenclature of all the Trinkets that belong to a Ladies Closet And yet all this is but to consume a whole Morning to put on which must waste the whole Evening to put off But adds this Author in another place they that spend unmercifully must gain unconscionably The Mill will not grind unless some Lust brings grist unto it A Gentleman anticipates his Rents in the Country he comes up to Town to vamp his fine Lady and Daughter with the newest Fashion He ransacks the Court and City for the Fashion searches the Shops for Materials to furnish out the Pomp he retnrns home and then his poor Tenants go to rack the sweat is squeez'd out of their Brows the Blood screw'd out of their Veins the Marrow out of their Bones that they may pay the unconscionable Reckonings and monstrous Bills that his own Prodigality has drawn upon him Nor is it one single Sin that fills the Train of Pride Pride drinks the Tears of Widows and Orphans revels with the hard Labours of the Indigent feeds on the Flesh of Thousands Elegantly Tertullian A vast Estate is enclosed in one small Locket a Necklace hf almost 8000 l. hangs on one single String a slender Neck carries Lordships and Mannors and the thin Tip of the Eaer wears a Jewel or Pendent that wou'd defray the Charges of House-keeping for a Twelve-month Thus far Mr. Alsop But I shall prcceed now to give Instances of Remarkable Frugality and Humility in Cloaths 1. Holinshed saith that he knew some old Men who told him oft times in England that if the good Man of the House had a Matris or a Flock Bed and a Sack of Chaff to rest his Head on he thought himself as well lodged as the Lord of the Town For ordinarily they lay upon Straw Pillars cover'd with Canvas and a round Log of Wood under their Heads instead of a Boulster and why not that as well as a Stone which was Jacob's Pillow they said that soft Pillows were fit only for Women in Child-bed and in a good Farmer 's House it was rare to find four pieces of Pewter And it was counted a great Matter that a Farmer should shew five Shillings or a Noble together in Silver Clark's Mirr V. 2. P. 1. 2. John Duns Scotus Dr. Subtilis was noted as for his Meager Countenance and homely Aspect so for his mean and course Apparel and going barefoot Dr. Subtilis Nomen subtilia donant Quem vestis vilis pes nudus corda coronant Leigh in his Relig. and Learning 3. Primislaus King of Bohemia kept his Country Shoes always by him Dr. Jer. Taylor 4. Willigis Bishop of Mentz being the Son of
Thought of God and of Christ overwhelms it The Terrors of the Lord we may feel indeed but we cannot express them they are so very terrible that they wound our most sensible and tender part they cause our very Souls to pine and languish away they fix our Minds to the Contemplation of every thing that is sad and doleful they fill us with Confusion and Heman says Ps 88.15 They are Terrors that compass us round about they seize upon every Faculty and distress us in every part to have God against us his Holiness to dazle us his Power to overthrow us his Law to condemn us our Consciences to accuse us is the Sum of Terrors 6. Fear is another occasion of Sorrow We are frighted with the view of our innumerable Sins and with the Dangers that attend them the Thoughts of Heaven fright us because we think we have lost that blessed Place and the Thoughts of Hell are no less frightful because we think we shall soon be there the Thoughts of Life are frightful because 't is with Anguish and Horror that we live nor can we bear the Thoughts of Death because we dare not die 7. 'T is a Night of Weeping to deserted Souls because they find no heart to pray and no life to pray they fall upon their Knees and cover the Altar of the Lord with Tears but he seems not to regard them The Thoughts of such poor People are in a continual hurry and so are very full of Wandrings in the Performance of their Duty Sorrows damp our Faith our Love and our Hope and so spoil our Duties for without these they are without Life and without Acceptance and sometimes our Grief is so violent that it finds no vent it strangles us and we are overcome I am so troubled that I cannot speak Ps 77.4 8. Such have no Patience wherewith to bear their Evils Who is he that can bear the Wrath of God The sight of Heaven inspires our Hearts with vital heat and makes us quiet and submissive under every Dispensation but the daily Sight and Fear of Hell fills us with Tumult and Disorder 9. They usually see no prospect of Relief or Deliverance and that encreases the Sorrows of their doleful Night They have indeed now and then some Intermissions but they are like the small Breathings and Refreshments of a Person that is newly taken off the Rack to be carried to the Rack again 10. This Night of Weeping is the more sorrowful because it is the time of Satan's Cruelty When God is departed then the Devil comes insults and says Where is now your God What think you now of Sin What is now become of all your Hearing your Reading and your many Prayers You thought to have escaped my Power and now I have you within my reach Now remember that at such a time or such a time you sinned and therefore God has forsaken you you weep and your Tears are just for you are miserable and are like to be with me for ever 11. Sometimes this Sorrow is mixed with deep Despair It is a tempestuous and stormy Night and as St. Paul said in another case All hope of their being saved is taken away I shall surely perish saith the Mourning Soul I am damned I am lost for ever I am already as in Hell the Lord will be favourable no more he is gone he is gone from me and he is for ever gone No more shall I behold his shining Face he is my Judge and my Enemity and I am afraid he will be so for ever I am never like to see that Heaven where I once hoped to go and these unbelieving Conclusions produce hard and strange Thoughts of God and an Enemy to him in our Minds 12. Looking upon their present Troubles as an Introduction to more and that these are but the beginning of Sorrows How often do we hear such Saying O! if I cannot bear these Pains and this Wrath what shall I do to bear an eternal Hell If I tremble so now what shall I do when the blow is given and the final Sentence past God knows I dare neither live nor die O what shall I do whether shall I go The Shadows of the Evening are stretched out and what shall I do if it prove an eternal Night For as it is the Glory of Faith to shew us future things as if actually present and to give us JOY from them so considered so it is the TORMENT of Despair to make poor distressed Souls believe they are even as in Hell whilst they are on Earth and that they are actually scorched with that Wrath that is to come in greater measures 13. From all these flow strange Discourses and Expressions of Sorrow they scarce care what they say of God or of themselves My Soul is meary of my Life I will leave my Complaint upon my self I will speak in the Bitterness of my Soul Job 10. c. 3. They frequently proceed to wish they had never been born nay they may proceed so far as to wish even to be destroyed that they may know the worst And there are two things that make their Sorrows more sorrowful 1. As comparing their State with that of others 2. As with their own former State 1. It makes them more sad when they consider the Case of others with that Peace and Joy they have With what Hope and Comfort whilst they are drown'd in Sorrows others says that deserted Soul can sing the Praises of God with Delight whilst I am overwhelmed and my Harp is hung upon the Willows Others can go into the solemn Assemblies and hear his Word but I am confined in my thick Darkness and dare not go thither 2. When the deserted Soul compares its present with its former State To a Person in Misery 't is a great encrease of Misery to have been once happy It was to David an occasion of new Tears when he remembred his former Joys Psal 42.3 4. Time was says the poor Soul when I cou'd read the Bible and treasure up the Promises and Survey of the Land of Canaan as my own Inheritance but now I dare not look into the Word least I read my own Condemnation there The Sabbath was formerly to me as one of the days of Heaven but now it is as well as the rest a sad and mournful day How fair was I once for Heaven and now am like to come short of it These are some of the Sorrows that deserted Souls often meet withal and indeed but a small part of what they feel in this dark and stormy Night Thus far I have given you some of Mr. Rogers 's own Words and have been the larger as thinking his an EXTRAORDINARY CASE and well-deserves the Consideration of every serious Christian but for a more particular Account of it I refer the Reader to his Book intituled A Discourse concerning Trouble of Mind CHAP. XLVII Remarkable Gratitude THankful Returns for Kindnesses and Favours received are but the just
they must go with me to hear at the same place I do but if they are joyn'd with any others then I 'll let them go sometimes there and sometimes with me They shall give an Account of what they hear until the Affairs of my Family are such that I can't do it They shall read to me at least once a Day or else I 'll ask them about their Reading for I shall think it to be my Duty when I take any into my Family to take some care of their Souls as well as for their Bodies and to do all I can for their Souls good by Admonishing them and giving them all the good Council I can and giving all Encouragement I can in what is good If they grow wicked and careless and will not bear Reproof I shall look upon it my Duty to change them and not to mind what People say of my frequent changing of Maids David would not abide a Lyar in his sight and I am sure that is most pleasing to God to have as near as I can all in my Family that fear him and deight in his holy ways As for Children if it please God to bless me with them I shall look upon it to be my Duty if I am able to Nurse them my self and to take all the care of them I can in their Infancy and betimes to check the Buddings of Original Sin by not encouraging of Revenge or Pride in them and as soon as they are able to learn to teach them their Catechism and what is good but so as not to tire them but make it as pleasant to them as I can by giving them all the Encouragement and Praise when they do well and timely Correcting them when they do what is sinful As for my CARRIACE TO MY HVSBAND I shall reckon it both Prudence and my Duty to study his Humour when we first come together and then to do all I can without sinning to please and oblige him to obey him in all things that are not contrary to the Commands of God If I should light on one that is wicked I 'll endeavour what I can by my carriage to engage his Affections throughly to me and then to make use of that tye to engage him to God and by my Christian Carriage to try what can be done to win him over to Christ by reproving of him with all Meekness and acknowledging my great Love to him and that 't is Love that makes me do it and my desire of his being happy for ever I shall reckon it my Duty if I have a good Man to be willing to learn of him and to do what we can to engage each other more entirely to God to make use of our Love to one another to inflame our Souls with Love to Christ Being convinced from Scripture and Reason that 't is my Duty to give to the Poor I now resolve when I marry to give according to my Ability though I cannot resolve upon any Sum yet I 'll give according to my Ability When I make any Provisions that I 'de have kept I 'll give some to all in the Family that so I may not put 'em upon the Temptation of Stealing And as for other Victuals they shall have sufficient but none to waste if I can help it This is a thing that I hate for People to repeat my words after me I will not therefore allow any under my care to do it and if ever it please God that I keep Servants I now resolve to endeavour to do my Duty towards them though they should not do theirs towards me and to endeavour conscientiously to discharge my Duty towards all Relations begging of God that he would now help me to do it O that I could now do all with an Eye to God and be willing always to be at his dispose in every thing Next follows her occasional Reflections upon Variety of Subjects as I find 'em in her Diary REFLECTION I. Occasioned upon seeing my Mother very melancholy one day after she and I had had some words and I fearing she was displeased with me OH my Soul see how afraid I am at the Anger of an Earthly Parent It lays a Restraint upon me in their presence when I think I have any ways offended them I am grieved for fear of their Anger and would do the utmost I can to have 'em reconciled to me again O my Soul I may well wonder at the Patience of God towards me that when I daily grieve his holy Spirit resist all the Workings of his Grace yet he bears with me I am not neither can I be any ways so obliged to an Earthly Parent as to my dear Heavenly father and yet I sin against him offend his Justice abuse his Mercy frequently in the day-time without one serious Thought on my own Ways When I offend my natural Parents I can reflect on my self consider what I have done that may any ways give the Offence I can offend my dear God and not be troubled as I should be O the Wâ—nders of Divine Patience that God should bear so long with one so vile O the Wonders of free Love that when God knew before my Creation what a base disingenuous ungrateful Wretch I should prove yet nothing could hinder his Thoughts of love towards me before the Foundation of the World was laid Well O my Soul I see I am so infinitely indebted to free Grace that I can never do enough to testify my Thankfulness to God I am so infinitely indebted to Divine Justice that without fresh Supplies of pardoning Mercies I am irrecoverably undone for ever O God I beg of thee that I may be more and more sensible of my unchild-like Carriage towards thee that I may be more and more grieved when I offend thee that I may do my utmost endeavours to please thee in all things and yet daily grieve that I can do no better REFLECTION II. Upon seeing her Sister T 's continually loving to be talking of her Cousin W. and when she had begun a Discourse to carry it on with great Delight SEE how Persons talk of those they love they are grieved if they are troubled at any thing so that two Persons Satisfaction must go to the making one happy and one's Trouble will make them both miserable Turn in O my Soul into thy self and consider what a vast Difference there is betwixt God's Love to the Soul and all other kinds of Love in the World God lov'd the believing Soul millions of Years before it had a Being And though he knew what Sins the Creature would commit how all his Laws would be broken yet this could not hinder his Electing Love So that then you 'l grant the Sinner could not deserve God's Love since its being it hath done â—â—â—d daily doth grieve and offend him yet this cannot take off God's Love from the Soul The Love of a Creature is for some Real or Imaginary Excellency and Suitableness Their Love
ex Speed Chron. 7. Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston enjoyed his Father a less time than his Grand-Father his Father being removed by Death long before his Grand-Father but yet we may easily gather what his Carriage to him was from the high and extensive Value he set upon his Memory as he used to please himself to Discourse of his Father affirming That he was a very Godly Man and that it was a great Disadvantage for him to part with him so young These things and others he would often declare to his Children and Friends dropping many Tears to shew his great and strong Affection and when he made his Will he there exprest an importunate Desire to his Executors that the Bones of his Father might be digged out of the Earth where they were buried and laid by his own Body in a new vault he order'd his Executors to erect for the same purpose Thus though he could not live with his Father as long as he would have desired yet he designed that their Bodies or Relicks should lie together 'till the happy Resurrection-Day which certainly did denote a Noble Veneration and a most raised Filial Affection See his Life CHAP. LIV. Remarkable Instances of an Early Piety or Children Good betimes TO see young Trees newly planted hopeful and promising is a very lovely and inviting sight A Jeremiah sanctified from his Mother's Womb a Joshua pious in his young years a Timothy well instructed in the Scriptures from a Child are very pleasant in sacred Records And when we see the Seeds of Piety spring up so soon we are ready to impute it to the Influence of Heaven and the Efficacy of Divine Grace And though sometimes these Blossoms die before any Fruit appears and a good Beginning hath not always a good Ending yet certainly and Lot Solomon or our Senses be Witnesses in the case 't is the likeliest way to end well when we begin well 1. Mr. Samuel Crook to shew that his Heart even in his Youth was drawn up towards the Pole of Heaven translated divers of David's Psalms and composed several Hymns of his own Some of which he sung with Tears of Joy and Desire in his last Sickness See his Life p. 4. 2. Origen when a Child was mightily inquisitive into the Meaning of the Scriptures even tiring his Parents with asking Religious Questions comforting his Father in Prison with Letters and hardly forbearing to offer himself to Martyrdom Dr. Cave 's Prim. Christian 3. K. Edward VI. took Notes of such things he heard in Sermons which more nearly related to himself Hist of the Reform 4. Queen Elizabeth wrote a good hand before she was Four years old and understood Italian Ibid. 5. Sir Thomas Moore never offended his Father nor was ever offended by him 6. Arch-bishop Vsher at 10 years old found himself wrought upon by a Sermon on Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God c. Dr. Bernard in his Life 7. Dr. W. Gouge when at School was continually studious even at play-hours conscionable in secret Prayer and sanctifying the Sabbath Clark 's Lives 8. Mr. Tho. Gataker was often chid by his Father from his Book Ibid. 9. Mr. Jeremy Whitaker when a School-Boy would frequently go in company 8 or 10 miles to hear a warming Sermon and took Notes and was helpful to others in repeating them and though his Father often and earnestly endeavoured to divert him yet when a Boy he was unmoveable in his Desires to be a Minister Ibid. 10. Mr. Herbert Palmer was esteemed sanctified even from the Womb at the Age of 4 or 5 years he would cry to go to his Lady Mothers Sir Tho. Palmer being his Father that he might hear somewhat of God When a Child little more than Five years old he wept in reading the Story of Joseph and took much pleasure in learning Chapters by heart he learned the French Tongue almost so soon as he could speak he often affirmed that he never remembred the learning of it by his Discourse he could hardly be distinguished from a Native French-man When at the Latin-School at vacant hours others were at play he was constantly observed to be reading studiously by himself Ibid. 11. Mr. Tho. Cartwright in his younger years rose many times in the night to seek out places to pray in Ibid. 12. Mr. Rich. Sedgwick when he was a School-boy and living with his Uncle and the rest of the Family were at their Games and Dancing he would be in a Corner mourning Ibid. 13. Mr. Julius Herring when a Boy was noted for his Diligence in Reading the Scriptures On Play-days he with 2 or 3 more School-fellows would pray together repeat the Heads of the Catechism with the Sermons which they heard last Lord's-day Ibid. 14. Mrs. Margaret Corbet Daughter of Sir Nathaniel Brent Warden of Merton-Colledge whom about 14 years of Age wrote Sermons with Dexterity and left many Volumes of such Notes writ with her own Hand Ibid. 15. Mrs. Elizabeth Wilkinson was from her Childhood very Docile took much pains in writing Sermons and collecting special Notes out of Practical Divines When I was saith she in a Narrative written with her own Hand about Twelve years old upon reading in the Practice of Piety concerning the happy State of the Godly and the miserable Condition of the Wicked in their Death and so on to all Eternity it pleased the Lord so to affect my Heart as from that time I was wrought over to a desire to walk in the Ways of God Ibid. 16. Mr. Caleb Vernon could read the Bible distinctly at Four years old and by six became very apt in places of Scripture the Theory thereof and moral Regard thereto exactly observant of his Parents with ambition to serve and please them in love To begin a Correspondency with a good Friend of his Mr. R. D. then in London he wrote this his first Letter at Ten years of age Dear Sir I Received your kind Letter for which I thank you and desire the Book which you sent me may be made of good effect to my Soul and that my Soul may be filled with the Love of God ' being ready for the Day of his coming to judge the World in Righteousness when the Kings of the Earth shall tremble and the Rulers shall be astonished at the Brightness of his coming when he shall come with his Holy Angels in Power and Glory to judge the Earth in the Valley of Jehoshaphat O! that my Soul was fit for his Coming that I may be like a flourishing Flower in the Garden of Eden prepared for the Lord Christ This is a Trying-day the Lord is searching Jerusalem with Candles to find out out-side Professors who do make clean the out-side of the Cup and Platter when their Hearts are full of Deceit Oh! that we might be comforting one another with his coming putting on the Breast-plate of Faith and laying aside the Traditions of Men. O! how near is his coming even at the
Things He could not endure to be put to Bed without Family-Duty but would put his Parents upon Duty and would with much Devotion kneel down and with great Patience and Delight continue 'till Duty was at an end When he had committed any fault he was easily convinced of it and would get into some Corner and Secret Place and with Tears beg Pardon of God and Strength against such a Sin He had a Friend that oft watched him and listned at his Chamber-door from whom I received this Narrative A Friend of his asked him Whether he were willing to die when he was first taken sick he answered No because he was afraid of his State as to another World Why Child said the other thou didst pray for a new Heart for an humble and a sincere Heart and I have heard thee Didst thou not pray with thy Heart I hope I did said he Not long after the same Person asked him again Whether he were willing to die He answered Now I am willing for I shall go to Christ He still grew weaker and weaker but carried it with a great deal of sweetness and patience waiting for his Change and at last did cheerfully commit his Spirit unto the Lord and calling upon the Name of the Lord and saying Lord Jesus Lord Jesâ—â— in whose Bosom he sweetly slept dying as I remember when he was about Five or Six Years old 8. Of a little Girl that was wrought upon when she was between Four and Five Years old Mary A. when she was between Four and Five Years old was greatly affected in hearing the Word of God and became very solicitous about her Soul and Everlasting Condition weeping bitterly to think what would become of her in another World asking strange Questions concerning God and Christ and her own Soul So that this little Mary before she was full Five Years old seemed to mind the one thing needful and to choose the better part and sate at the Feet of Christ many a time and oft with Tears She was very Conscientious in keeping the Sabbath spending the whole time either in Reading or Praying or learning her Catechism or teaching her Brethren and Sisters See took great delight in Reading of the Scripture and some part of it was more sweet to her than her appointed Food she would get several choice Scriptures by heart and discourse of them savourly and apply them suitably A little before she died she had a great Conflict with Satan and cried out I am none of his Her Mother seeing her in trouble asked her what was the matter she answered Satan did trouble me but now I thank God all is well I know I am none of his but Christ's After this she had a great Sence of God's Love and a Glorious Sight as if she had seen the very Heavens open and the Angels come to receive her by which her Heart was filled with Joy and her Tongue with Praise Being desired by the Standers-by to give them a particular Account of what she saw she answered You shall know hereafter and so in an Extasie of Joy and holy Triumph she went to Heaven when she was about Twelve Years old Hallelujah 9. Of a Child that began to look towards Heaven when she was about Four Years old A certain little Child when she was about Four Years old had a Conscientious Sence of her Duty towards her Parents because the Commandment saith Honour thy Father and thy Mother And though she had little advantage of Education she carried it with the greatest Reverence to her Parents imaginable so that she was no small Credit as well as Comfort to them She would be very attentive when she read the Scriptures and be much affected with them and would by no means be perswaded to prophane the Lord's Day but would spend it in some good Duties When she was taken sick one asked her Whether she were willing to die she answered Yes if God would pardon her Sins Being asked How her Sins should be pardoned she answered Through the Blood of Christ. There were very many observable Passages in the Life and Death of this Child but the Hurry and Grief that her Friends were in buried them 10. Charles Bridgman had no sooner learned to speak but he betook himself to Prayer His Sentences were wise and weighty and well might become some ancient Christian His Sickness lasted long and at least Three Days before his Death he prophesied his Departure and not only that he must die but the very Day The last Words which he spake were exactly these Pray pray pray nay yet pray and the more Prayers the better all prospers God is the best Physician into his Hands I commend my Spirit O Lord Jesus receive my Soul Now close mine Eyes Forgive me Father Mother Brother Sister all the World Now I am well my Pain is almost gone my Joy is at hand Lord have mercy on me O Lord receive my Soul unto thee And thus he yielded his Spirit up unto the Lord when he was about Twelve Years old This Narrative was taken out of Mr. Ambrose 's Life's Lease 11. Of a poor Child that was awakened when she was about Five Years old A certain very poor Child that had a very bad Father but it was to be hoped a very good Mother was by the Providence of God brought to the sight of a Godly Friend of mine who upon the first sight of the Child had a great pity for him and took an Affection to him and had a mind to bring him for Christ It was not long before the Lord was pleased to strike in with the Spiritual Exhortations of this good Man so that the Child was brought to a liking of the things of God He would ask very excellent Questions and Discourse about the Condition of his Soul and Heavenly Things and seemed mightily concerned what should become of his Soul when he should die so that his Discourse made some Christians even to stand astonished He was greatly taken with the great kindness of Christ in dying for Sinners and would be in Tears at the mention of them and seemed at a strange rate to be affected with the unspeakable Love of Christ After the Death of his Mother he would often repeat some of the Promises that are made unto Fatherless Children especially that in Exod. 22.22 Ye shall not afflict any Widow or the Fatherless Child if thou afflict them in any wise and they cry at all unto me I will surely hear their cry These words he would often repeat with Tears I am Fatherless and Motherless upon Earth yet if any wrong me I have a Father in Heaven who will take my part to him I commit myself and in him is all my trust Thus he continu'd in a Course of Holy Duties living in the fear of God and shewed wonderful Grace for a Child and died sweetly in the Faith of Jesus My Friend is a Judicious Christian of many Years Experience who was
in Hell long ago if it had not been for thy Mercy O Lord I pray thee to keep my Parents in thy Truth and save them from this Infection if it be thy Will that they may live to bring me up in thy Truth O Lord I pray thee stay this Infection that rageth in this City and pardon their Sins and try them once more and see if they will turn unto thee Save me O Lord from this Infection that I may live to praise and glorifie thy Name but O Lord if thou hast appointed me to die of it fit me for Death that I may die with Comfort and O Lord I pray thee to help me to bear up under all Afflictions for Christ his sake Amen These are some of his dying Expressions The Lord shall be my Physician for he will cure both Soul and Body Heaven is the best Hospital It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his Eyes Again It is the Lord that taketh away my Health but I will say as Job did Blessed be the Name of the Lord. If I should live longer I should but sin against God Looking upon his Father he said If the Lord would but lend me the least Finger of his Hand to lead me through the dark Entry of Death I will rejoyce in him An hour and an half before his Death a Minister came to Visit him and asked him John Art thou afraid to die He answered No if the Lord will but comfort me in that hour But said the Minister How canst thou expect Comfort seeing we deserve none He answered No if I had my Deserts I had been in Hell long ago But replied the Minister which way dost thou expect Comfort and Salvation seeing thou art a Sinner He answered in Christ alone In whom about an hour and half after he fell asleep saying He would take a long sleep charging them that were about him not to wake him He died when he was twelve years three weeks and a day old 15. Anne Lane was born of honest Parents in Colebrook in the County of Bucks who was no sooner able to speak plain and express any thing considerable of Reason but she began to act as if she was sanctified from the very Womb. She was very solicitous about her Soul what would become of it when she should die and where she should live for ever and what she should do to be saved when she was about five years old I having occasion to lie at Colebrook sent for her Father an old Disciple an Israelite indeed and desired him to give me some account of his Experiences and how the Lord first wrought upon him He gave me this answer That he was of a Child somewhat civil honest and as to Man harmless but was little acquainted with the power of Religion till this sweet Child put him upon a thorow Inquiry into the state of his Soul and would still be begging of him and pleading with him to redeem his time and to act with life and vigor in the things of God which was no small Demonstration to him of the reality of Invisibles that a very Babe and Suckling should speak so feelingly about the things of God and be so greatly concerned not only about her own Soul but about her Father 's too which was the occasion of his Conversion It was the greatest Recreation to her to hear any good People talking about God Christ their Souls the Scriptures or any thing that concerned another Life She continued thus to walk as a Stranger in the World and one that was making haste to a better place And after she had done a great deal of work for God and her own Soul and others too she was called home to rest and received into the Arms of Jesus before she was ten years old she departed about 1640. 16. Talitha Alder was the Daughter of a Holy and Reverend Minister in Kent who lived near Gravesend She was much instructed in the Holy Scriptures and her Catechism by her Father and Mother but there appeared nothing extraordinary in her till she was between seven and eight years old About which time when she was sick one asked her what she thought would become of her if she should die She answered that she was greatly afraid that she should go to Hell Upon this seeing her in such a desponding Condition a dear Friend of her's spent the next day in Fasting and Prayer for her After this she had a Discovery of her approaching Dissolution which was no small comfort to her Anon said she with a holy Triumph I shall be with Jesus I am married to him he is my Husband I am his Bride I have given my self to him and he hath given himself to me and I shall live with him for ever I am going to Glory O that all of you were to go with me to that Glory With which words her Soul took wing and went to the Possession of that Glory which she had some believing sight of before She died when she was between eight and nine years old about 1644. 17. Susanna Bicks was born at Leyden in Holland Jan. 24. 1650. of very Religious Parents whose great care was to instruct and Catechise this their Child and to present her to the Minister of the Place to be publickly instructed and Catechised It pleased the Lord to bless Holy Education the good Example of her Parents and Catechising to the good of her Soul so that she soon had a true Savour and Relish of what she was taught and made an admirable use of it in a time of need as you shall hear afterwards That which was not the least observable in her was the ardenâ— Affection she had for the Holy Scriptures and her Catechism in which she was thorowly instructed by the Godly Divines of the place where she lived which she could not but own as one of the greatest Mercies next the Lord Christ O how did she bless God for her Catechism and beg of her Father to go particularly to those Ministers that had taken so much pains with her to instruct her in her Catechism and to thank them from her a dying Child for their good Instructions and to let them understand for their Encouragement to go on in that Work of Catechising how Refreshing those Truths were now to her in the hour of her distress O that sweet Catechising said she unto which I did always resort with Gladness and attended without Weariness She laid a great charge upon her Parents not to be over-grieved for her after her Death urging that of David upon them while the Child was sick he fasted and wept but when it died he washed his Face and sat up and ear and said Can I bring him back again from Death I shall go to him but he shall not return to me So ought you to say after my Death Our Child is well for we know it shall be well with them that trust in the Lord. She had
alibi 11. Bishop Vsher's Custom was to pray Four times a Day in and with his Family in the Morning at Six a Clock in the Evening at Eight and before Dinner and Supper in his Chappel at each of which he was always present On Fryday in the Afternoons there was constantly an Hour spent in his Chappel in Catechizing upon the Principles of Religion for the Instructing of his Family and on Sabbaths in the Evening the Sermon which he had preached in the Afternoon was repeated in his Chappel by one of his Chaplains See his Life 12. It is recorded to the everlasting Praise of the young Lord Harrington so famous for Piety that it was his constant use to pray twice every Day in secret twice with some choice Friends and Servants besides his Family-Duties See his Life 13. It was the Practice of Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston to pour out his Soul before the Lord in secret thrice every Day and sometimes oftner if he could gain opportunity besides his Family-Duties and Days of extraordinary Humiliation which he importunately embraced upon every occasion This I can testifie saith Mr. Fairclough upon mine own Experience that for many Years together when I was first acquainted with him I seldom visited him but if any convenient Place could be found we might not part except we had prayed together Nor was he more frequent in secret Prayer than constant in secret Reading the Scriptures See his Life 14. Mr. Samuel Fairclough upon the escape of his Child after a dangerous Fall made a solemn Vow in the Publick Congregation to give all the Tithe-Wool of the Parish to the Poor The Vow was Registred and Subscribed by his Hand and piously observed See his Life 15. Mr. Cotton Mather tells us Such was the Piety of Mr. Eliot that like another Moses he had upon his Face a continual Shine arising from his uninterrupted Communion with the Father of Spirits Indeed I cannot give a fuller Description of him than what was in a Paraphrase that I have heard himself to make upon that Scripture Our Conversation is in Heaven I writ from him as he uttered it Behold said he the Ancient and Excellent Character of a true Christian 't is that which Peter calls Holiness in all manner of Conversation you shall not find a Christian out of the way of Godly Conversation For First A Seventh part of our time is all spent in Heaven when we are duly zealous for and zealous on the Sabbath of God Besides God has written on the Head of the Sabbath Remember which looks both forwards and backwards and thus a good part of the Week will be spent in Sabbatizing Well but for the rest of our time Why we shall have that spent in Heaven e're we have done For Secondly We have have many Days for both Fasting and Thanksgiving in our Pilgrimage and here are so many Sabbaths more Moreover Thirdly we have our Lectures every Week and pious People won't miss them if they can help it Furthermore Fourthly We have our private Meetings wherein we Pray and Sing and repeat Sermons and confer together about the Things of God and being now come thus far we are in Heaven almost every day But a little farther Fifthly We perform Family Duties every Day we have our Morning and Evening Sacrifices wherein having read the Scriptures to our Families we call upon the Name of God and ever now and then carefully Catechise those that are under our Charge Sixthly We shall also have our daily Devotions in our Closets wherein unto Supplication before the Lord we shall add some serious Meditation upon his Word a David will be at this Work no less than thrice a Day Seventhly We have likewise many Scores of Ejaculations in a Day and these we have like Nehemiah in whatever place we come into Eighthly We have our occasional Thoughts and our occasional Talks upon Spiritual Matters and we have our occasional Acts of Charity wherein we do like the Inhabitants of Heaven every Day Ninthly In our Callings in our Civil Callings we keep up heavenly Frames we Buy and Sell and Toil yea we Eat and Drink with some Eye both to the Command and the Honour of God in all Behold I have not now left an Inch of Time to be carnal it is all engrossed for Heaven And yet lest here should not be enough Lastly We have our Spiritual Warfare We are always encountring the Enemies of our Souls which continually raises our Hearts unto our Helper and Leader in the Heavens Let no Man say 'T is impossible to live at this rate for we have known some live thus and others that have written of such a Life have but spun a Web out of their own blessed Experiences New-England has Examples of this Life thô alas 't is to be lamented that the Distractions of the World in too many Professors do becloud the Beauty of an Heavenly Conversation In fine our Employment lies in Heaven In the Morning if we ask Where am I to be to Day Our Souls must answer In Heaven In the Evening if we ask Where have I been to Day Our Souls may answer In Heaven If thou art a Believer thou art no Stranger to Heaven while thou livest and when thou diest Heaven will be no strange place to thee no thou hast been there a thousand times before In this Language have I heard him express himself and he did what he said he was a Boniface as well as a Benedict and he was one of those Qui faciendo docert quae facienda docent Thus far Mr. Cotton Mather 15. Mr. Henry Gearing's Covenant with GOD As I find it in his Life Published by Mr. John Shower O Most Dreadful GOD for the Passion of Thy Son I beseech Thee accept of Thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at Thy Door I have fallen from Thee by mine Iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a Thousand-fold more the Child of Hell by my wicked Practice but of Thine Infinite Grace Thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to Thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my Weapons submit myself to thy Mercy And because Thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with Thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at Defiance with all Thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against Thee I here from the bottom of my Heart renounce them all firmly Covenanting with Thee not to allow myself in any known Sin but to use Conscientiously all the Means that I know Thou hast prescribed for the Death and utter Destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my Affections upon the World I do here resign my Heart to Thee that madest it humbly protesting before Thy Glorious Majesty That it is the firm Resolution of my Heart and that I do unfeignedly desire Grace
Designs of it which it is capable of being interested in Nor is there any thing else worth speaking of that must be foregone except Health and the Momentaneousness of all Bodily Torments will make them very tolerable My Resolutions be That I will not expect by devoting myself unto the Fear of God to gain any thing as to my Body in this World That through the Grace of Christ I will use the Strength Ease Health of my Body yea my whole Body in subordination to my Soul in the Service of the Lord Jesus With such Meditations as these he kept mellowing of his own Soul and preparing it for the State wherein Faith is turned into Sight But there was yet a more delightful and surprizing way of Thinking after which he did aspire He considered that the whole Creation was full of God and that there was not a Leaf of Grass in the Field which might not make an Observer to be sensible of the Lord. He apprehended that the idle Minutes of our Lives were many more than a short Liver should allow that the very Filings of Gold and of Time were exceeding precious and that there were little Fragments of Hours intervening between our more stated Businesses wherein Thoughts of God might be no less pleasant than frequent with us Thus far Mr. Mather 17. A short Account of Mrs. Elizabeth Moore 's Evidences for Heaven as I find 'em in Mr. Calamy's Godly Mans Ark. I. Her Design in this Collection IN the Examination of myself I find that my Aims and Ends why I desire to gather together and clear up my Evidences for Heaven if my deceitful Heart doth not deceive me are these following 1. That hereby as a means I may be enabled to glorifie God in the great Work of Believing 2. My Aim is to strengthen that longed-for Grace of Assurance a Grace which though it be not of absolute necessity for the Being and Salvation yet is of absolute necessity for the Well-being and Consolation of a Christian without this Grace I can neither live nor die comfortably 3. My Aim is to obey God in his Word who hath commanded me by his Apostle To work out my own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make my calling and election sure A brief Collection of her Evidences for Heaven I. Evidence BLessed be God who hath through his free Mercy begotten me to a hope that I am regenerated and born from above and converted unto God Reason Because the Lord hath gone the same usual way with me as with those he pleaseth to convert to himself and this I shall make to appear in five or six particulars 1. The Lord by his Spirit accompanying the Preaching of his Word caused the Scales to fall from my Eyes and opened them and set up a clear Light in my Understanding and made me to see Sin to be exceeding sinful 2. The Lord brought me to see the Misery that I was in by reason of my Sins I thought I was utterly forsaken of God and I thought that God would never accept of such a Wretch as I saw myself to be 3. The Lord brought me to a Spiritual Astonishment that I cried out What shall I do to be saved and said with Paul Lord What wouldst thou have me to do Do but make known to thy poor Creature what thy Will is and I thought I could do any thing or suffer any thing for the Lord. 4. The Lord took me off my own bottom off my own Righteousness and made me to see that that was but a sandy Foundation and would not hold out 5. The Lord brought me to see a Soul-sanctification in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and I think I should be as fully satisfied with Christ alone as my Heart can desire If I know my Heart it panteth after Christ and Christ alone None but Christ none but Christ. II. My Second Scripture-Evidence is taken from Mark 2.17 where Christ saith They that are whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick and he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Now through God's Mercy I can say I am a Sin-sick-Sinner III. From Mat. 11.28 29. I am weary and heavy laden Now Christ hath promised to give Ease to such IV. I can say with David That my Sins are a heavy Burden to me they are too heavy for me Psal 38.4 And I can say that I mourn because I can mourn no more for my Sins V. From Mat. 5.3 I think if my Heart do not deceive me I am poor in spirit now theirs is the kingdom of heaven saith Christ VI. From Mat. 12.20 I am a bruised reed and smeaking flax And therefore Christ hath promised he will not break such a Reed nor quench the Smoak of Grace if it be true Grace but he will increase it more and more VII From 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation saith Paul that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And so say I too it is worthy all acceptation that Christ should come from the Bosom of his Father who was infinitely glorious and happy that he should come into the World to save me me a sinner me the chief of sinners VIII I can say with Paul that I delight in the Law of God after the inward man and I am grieved that I cannot keep it I find that Spiritual War in me between Flesh and Spirit which Paul complains of and I can say that Paul doth confess over my Heart in his Confessions Rom. 7. IX I can say that the Lord hath in some measure put his fear into my Heart and I fear to offend him X. I can say with the Church to Christ Cant. 1.7 O thou whom my soul loveth And if I know any thing at all of mine own Heart Christ is altogether lovely and most desirable to my Soul I think I can truly say with David That I have none in heaven but thee and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee in comparison of thee in competition with thee XI I find my Heart much inflamed with Love to all the Children of God because they are God's Children and the more I see or find or hear of God in them the more I find my Heart cleaving to them and I think I can truly say with David That my delight is in the saints and those that excel in grace XII I do not only love God and the Children of God but I labour to keep his Commandments and they are not grievous to me XIII I find I am one that is very thirty after Jesus Christ and the Grace of Christ and I thirst to have his Image more and more stamped upon me and I would fain be assured by God's Spirit that I am transplanted into Christ and therefore I long and endeavour after a true and lively Faith XIV I am willing to confess and with all my Heart to
other Christians met tegether to pray for her when on a sudden after a terrible Conflict which so much amazed some that they cried out with a confused Noise Jesus help Jesus save the Maid started up out of a wicked Chair wherein she sate and by main Strength lifted up one of the Ministers with her who kneeled behind and held her in his Arms and threw white Froth out of her Throat and Mouth round about the Chamber and on a sudden fell down into the Chair as one really dead with her Head hanging on one side her Neck and Arms limber though before as stiff as if Frozen presently after Life returned into her whole Body and her Eyes and Tongue came into their right place she then looked up with a chearful Countenance round the Chamber and with a loud Voice spoke saying O he is come he is come the Comforter is come the Comforter is come I am delivered I am delivered her Father hearing these Words wept for Joy and with a faultring Vocie said O these were her Grandfather's Words who suffered in Queen Mary 's Days She then kneeled down and gave humble and hearty Thanks and Praise to God for her Deliverance which she continued to do till her Voice grew weak and the Minister desired her to forbear and so they ended the Day with Thanksgiving After which she was committed to the Care of the Minister who writ this Relation least Satan should again assault her His name was Mr. Lewis Haughs then Minister of St. Helens London from whence this Narrative was taken and who doth not mention what became of the Witch nor that the Maid was any more afflicted in this kind History of Demons c. p. 20. What follows is extracted from Mr. Aubrey 's Miscellanies 10. Hugo Grotius in his Annotations on Jonah speaking of Nineve says That History hath divers Examples that after a great and hearty Humiliation God delivered Citys c. from their Calamities Some did observe in the late Civil Wars that the Parliament after a Humiliation did shortly obtain a Victory And as a three-fold Cord is not easily broken so when a whole Nation shall conjoyn in fervent Prayer and Supplication it shall produce wonderful Effects William Lawd Arch-bishop of Canterbury in a Sermon preached before the Parliament about the beginning of the Reign of Kng Charles I. affirms the Power of Prayer to be so great That though there be a Conjunction or Opposition of Saturn or Mars as there was one of them then it will overcome the Malignity of it In the Life of Vâ—vasor Powel is a memorable Account of the Effect of fervent Prayer after an exceeding Drought And Mr. Baxter in his Book afore-mentioned hath several Instances of that kind which see St. Michael and all Angels The Collect. O everlasting God who hast Ordered and Constituted the Services of Men and Angels after a wonderful manner Mercifully grant that as the Holy Angels alway do thy Service in heaven So by thy Appointment they may succour and defend us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Thus far Mr. Aubrey 11. Mr. Tho. Spatchet late of Dunwich and Cookley was under extraordinary Fits occasion'd by Witchcraft and was by the gracious Effects of fervent Prayer delivered out of them as we are assur'd by the Narrative thereof drawn up by the Reverend Mr. Samuel Petto Minister at Sudbury in Suffolk who was an Eye-witness This Account was Printed for John Harris at the Harrow in Little Britain in June 1693. 12. Mr. John Janeway as his Brother writes was mighty in Prayer and his Spirit was oftentimes so transported in it that he forgot the weakness of his own Body and of others Spirits Indeed the Acquaintance that he had with God was so sweet and his Converse with him so frequent that when he was engaged in Duty he scarce knew how to leave that which was so delightful and suited to his Spirit His constant Course for some Years was this He Prayed at least three times a day in secret sometimes seven times twice a day in the Family or College He was used to converse with God with a holy Familiarity as a Friend and would upon all occasions run to him for advice and had many strange and immediate Answers of Prayer one of which I think it not altogether impertinent to give the World an Account of His honoured Father Mr. William Janeway Minister of Kelshal in Hartford-shire being sick and being under somewhat dark Apprehensions as to the state of his Soul he would often say to his Son John Oh Son this passing upon Eternity is a great thing this Dying is a solemn business and enough to make any ones Heart ake that hath not his Pardon sealed and his Evidences for heaven clear And truly Son I am under no small Fears as to my own Estate for another World Oh that God would clear his Love Oh that I could say chearfully I can die His sweet and dutiful Son made a suitable Reply at present but seeing his dear Father continuing under despondings of Spirit he got by himself and spent some time in wresting with God upon his Father's account After he was risen from his Knees he came down to his sick Father and asked him how he felt himself his Father made no Answer for some time but wept exceedingly and continued for some considerable time in extraordinary Passion of Weeping so that he was not able to speak But at last having recovered himself with unspeakable joy he burst out into such Expressions as these Oh Son now it is come it is come it is come I bless God I can die I know now what that white Stone is wherein a new Name is written which none know but they which have it And that Fit of Weeping which you saw me in was a Fit of overpowring Love and Joy so great that I could not for my heart contain my self neither can I express what glorious Discoveries God hath made of himself unto me And had that Joy been greater I question whether I could have born it and whether it would not have separated Soul and Body You may well think that his Son's Heart was not a little refreshed to hear such Words and see such a Sight and to meet the Messenger that he had sent to Heaven returned back again so speedily He counted himself a sharer with his Father in this Mercy and it was upon a double account welcome as it did so wonderfully satisfie his Father and as it was so immediate and clear an Answer of his own Prayers as if God had from Heaven said unto him Thy Tears and Prayers are heard for thy Father Upon this this precious young Man broke forth into Praises and even into another Extasie of Joy that God should deal so familiarly with him and the Father and Son together were so full of Joy Light Life Love and Praise that there was a little Heaven in the place See his Life 13. Speed in his
the promised Land Methinks I hear God saying to me as to Moses Go up to Mount Nebo and die there so Go thou up to Tower-Hill and die there Isaac said of himself That he was Old and yet did not know the day of his Death But I cannot say thus I am Young and yet I know the Day the Kind and the Place of my Death also It is such a kind of Death as two Famous Preachers of the Gospel John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle were put to before me we have mention of the one in Scripture-Story of the other in Ecclesiastical History And Rev. 20.4 The Saints were Beheaded for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus But herein is the disadvantage which I am in in the thoughts of many who judge that I Suffer not for the Word or Conscience but for meddling with State-matters To this I shall briefly say that it is an old Guise of the Devil to impute the cause of God's Peoples Sufferings to be Contrivements against the State The Rulers of Israel would put Jeremiah to death upon a civil Account tho' it was the Truth of his Prophecy made them angry because he fell away to the Chaldeans So Paul must die as a Mover of Sedition The same thing is laid to my Charge whereas indeed it is because I pursue my Covenant and will not prostitute my Principles to the Lusts of Men. Beloved I am this Day to make a double Exchange I am exchanging a Pulpit for a Scaffold and a Scaffold for a Throne and I might add a third I am changing this numerous Multitude upon Tower-hill for the innumerable Company of Angels in the Holy Hill of Sion and I am changing a Guard of Soldiers for a Guard of Angels which will receive and carry me into Abraham's Bosom This Scaffold is the best Pulpit I ever preached in God through his Grace made me an Instrument to bring others to Heaven but in this he will bring me to Heaven and it may be this Speech upon a Scaffold may bring God more Glory than many Sermons in a Pulpit Before I lay down my Neck upon the Block I shall lay open my Case and that without Animosity or Revenge God is my Record whom I serve in the Spirit I speak the Truth I Lye not I do not bring a Revengeful Heart unto the Scaffold this Day Before I came here I did upon my bended Knees beg Mercy for them that denied Mercy to me I have forgiven from my Heart the worst Enemy I have in the World and this is the worst I wish to my Accusers and Prosecutors who have pursued my Blood that I might meet their Souls in Heaven I have no more to say but to desire the Help of all your Prayers that God would give me the Continuance and Supply of Divine Grace to carry me through this great Work I am now to do that I who am to do a Work I never did may I have a Strength that I never had that I may put off this Body with as much Quietness and Comfort of Mind as ever I put off my Cloaths to go to Bed And now I am to commend my Soul to God and to receive my fatal Blow I am comforted in this Tho' Men kill me they cannot damn me and tho' they thrust me out of the World yet they cannot shut me out of Heaven I am now going to my Long Home to my Father's House to the Heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable Company of Angels to Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect to God the Judge of all in whose Presence there is Fulness of Joy and at whose Right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore Then he kneeled down and made a short Prayer privately Then after rising up he said Blessed be God I am full of Joy and Peace in believing I lie down with a world of Comfort And then saying The Lord bless you he lay down with his Head over the Block and when he stretched out his Hands the Executioner did his Office 118. The Last Speech of Sir Walter Rawleigh MY Honourable Lords and the rest of my good Friends that are come to see me die know That I much rejoyce that it hath pleased God to bring me from Darkness to Light and in freeing me from the Tower wherein I might have died in Disgrace by letting me live to come to this Place where tho' I lose my Life yet shall I clear some false Accusations unjustly laid to my Charge and leave behind me a Testimony of a true Heart both to my King and Country Two things there are which have exceedingly possess'd and provoked His Majesty's Indignation against me viz. A Confederacy or Combination with France and disloyal and disobedient Words of my Prince For the first His Majesty had some Cause though grounded upon a weak Foundation to suspect mine Inclination to the French Faction for not long before my Departure from England the French Agent took occasion passing by my House to visit me We had some Conference during the time of his abode only concerning my Voyage and nothing else I take God to witness Another Suspicion is had of me because I did labour to make an Escape from Plimouth to France I cannot deny but that willingly when I heard a Rumour that there was no hope of my Life upon my Return to London I would have escaped for the Safeguard of my Life and not for any ill Intent or Conspiracy against the State The like Reason of Suspicion arose in that I perswaded Sir Lewis Steukly my Guardian to flee with me from London to France but my Answer to this is as to the other that only for my Safegard and nough else was my Intent as I shall answer before the Almighty It is alledged That I feigned my self Sick and by Art made my Body full of Blisters when I was at Salisbury True it is I did so the Reason was because I hoped thereby to deferr my cooming before the King and Council and so by delaying might have gained time to have got my Pardon I have an Example out of Scripture for my Warrant that in case of Necessity and for the Safeguard of his Life David feigned himself Foolish and Mad yet it was not imputed to him for Sin Concerning the second Imputation laid to my Charge That I should speak Scandalous and Reproachful Words of my Prince there is no Witness against me but only one and he a Chymical Frenchman whom I entertained rather for his Jests than Judgment This Man to incroach himself into the Favour of the Lords and gaping after some great Reward hath falsly accused me of Seditious Speeches against His Majesty against whom if I did either speak or think a Thought hurtful or prejudicial Lord blot me out of the Book of Life It is not a time to Flatter or Fear Princes for I am a Subject to none but Death
ready to make a short-sighted Man exclaim with Hercules in the Tragoedian That Vertue is but an empty Name or at least could only serve to make its Owners more sensibly unhappy But altho' such Examples might a little work on a weaker Vertue that which is more confirmed and solid can more easily resist it 'T is not impatient nor uneasie but still believes that Heaven is awake that the Iron Hands of Justice will at length overtake the Offenders and by their Destruction vindicate the Honour and Innocence of those whom they have ruin'd It considers any Riddles in Providence as a curious piece of Opticks which if judged of either before 't is finished or by piece meal here an Eye and there another distorted Feature appears not only unpleasing but really dreadful which yet if viewed when 't is compleat and taking all the Features together makes a Figure sufficiently regular and lovely Who almost could have imagined without some such Reflections as these that those brave Men we have seen for some Years past pick'd out and out off one after another with as much Scandal and Obloquy as cou'd be thrown upon 'em by the ungenerous Malice of thier Enemies when the very Attempt to clear their Reputation has been made almost Capital and involved those who had Courage enough to attempt it in little less Mischief than what they themselves endured That ever these Phoenixes should rise again and flourish in their Ashes That so many great Pens should already have done some of 'em Justice and the World as much to all the rest And with how much more Joy if 't were possible would those Heroes have received their Crowns could they have foreseen their Deaths wou'd have tended so far to work up the Nation to such a just Resentment as wou'd at last have so great an Influence as we find it had on our late glorious deliverance We shall therefore here under this Chapter add the Last Words and what 's Remarkable in the Deaths of those Eminent Persons who fell in Defence of the Protestant Religion and the English Liberties both in London and the West of England from the Year 1678. to this Time 1. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey declared some Days before his Death That he believed in his Conscience he should be the first Martyr Two Anagrams there were made on this brave Gentleman which for the peculiar luckiness of 'em it may not be ungrateful to the Reader to have 'em inserted Sir EDMVNDBVRY GODFREY Anagram I FIND MURDER'D BY ROGUES Another BY ROME'S RUDE FINGER DIE He was the first Martyr for our holy Protestant Religion We shall address what has been written on this Subject not only to Posterity but to all the sober unprejudic'd Men of the present Age and so dismiss it and go on to the rest for whom he only made way after we have presented you with one of the best pieces of Wit tht the Age has yielded on Sir Edmund's Death 'T is a part of that ingenious Poem call'd Bacchanalia Well Primrose my our Godfrey's Name on thee Like Hyacinth inscribed be On thee his Memory flourish still Sweet as thy Flower and lasting as thy Hill Whilst blushing Somerset to her Eternal Shame shall this Inscription wear The Devil's an Ass for Jesuits on this spot Broke both the Neck of Godfrey and the Plot. 2. Mr. COLLEDGE NO body can doubt but that 't was now very much the Interest of the Papists to get off if possible that foul Imputation of a Plot which stuck so deep upon 'em which had been confirm'd by Sir Edmund's Murther Coleman's never-to-be-forgotten Letters Arnold's Assassination and a great deal of Collateral Evidence which fell in unexpectedly many of those who gave it being utterly unacquainted with the first Discoverers After several unfortunate Attempts they had made to this purpose after the Living had perjur'd themselves and the Dying done worse to support their desperate Cause after Attempts to blast and ruine some of the Evidence and buy off others of 'em in both which publick Justice took notice of and punish'd 'em being of a Religion that sticks no Villany to serve an Interest and certainly the most indefatigable and firm People in the World when they set about any Design especially where Diana is concern'd not being yet discouraged they resolv'd to venture upon one Project more which prov'd but too successful to the Loss of the bravest and best Blood in the Kingdom and that was to Brand all those who were the steddiest Patriots and so their greatest Enemies of what Rank soever they were with the odious Character of Persons disaffected to the Government or in the old Language Enemies to Caesar They pretended to perswade the World that after all this great noise of a Popish Plot 't was only a Presbyterian one lay at the bottom Things being thus what can any Man of Modesty say to Mr. Colledge's Protestations over and over both in Prison and at his Death that he was perfectly innocent of what he dy'd for I did deny in them say he that is before the Council and do deny it upon my Death I never was in any manner of Plot in my days nor ever had any such Design as these Men have sworn against me I take God to witness as I am a dying Man and on the Terms of my Salvation I know not one Man upon the face of the Earth which would have stood by me And lower I knew not of any part of what they swore against me till I heard it sworn at the Bar. Again All the Arms we had was for our Defence in case the Papists should have made any Attempt by way of Massacre c. God is my Witness this is all I know And in his solemn Prayer and some of his almost very last Words 'T is thee O God I trust in I disown all Dispensations and will not go out of the World with a Lye in my Mouth And just after to the People From the sincerity of my Heart I declare again That these are the very Sentiments of my Soul as God shall have Mercy upon me Thus dy'd Mr. Colledge whose Blood as he himself desir'd it might sufficiently spoke the Justice of his Cause who seem'd in his Speech to have some Prophetick Intimations that his Blood would not be the last as indeed it was not but rather a Praelude to that which follow'd the Edge of the Law being now turn'd against all those who dar'd defend it He has one Daughter yet living whose Gratitude and Generosity to those who were kind to her under the Misfortunes of her Family is at present the Wonder and Entertainment of the Court of England and whose brave Soul speaks her the true Child of such a Father His CHARACTER How great and undaunted his Courage was both his Tryal and Death testifie He was very vigorous and earnest almost to a Fault in his Undertakings But certainly there are so few who err on that hand that
then requested they might sing a Psalm the Sheriff told him It must be with the Ropes about their Necks which they chearfully accepted and sung with such Heavenly Joy and Sweetness that many present saiâ—â— It both broke and rejoyc'd their hearts Thus in the experience of the delightfulness of Praising God on Earth he willingly closed his Eyes on a vain World to pass to that Eternal Employment Sept. 30. 1685. All present of all sorts were exceedingly affected and amazed Some Officers that had before insultingly said Surely these Persons have no thoughts of Death but will find themselves surprized by it after said That they now saw he and they had something extraordinary within that carried them through with such Joy Others of them said That they were so convinced of their Happiness that they would be glad to change Conditions with them All the Soldiers in general and all others lamenting exceedingly saying That it was so sad a thing to see them cut off they scarce knew how to bear it Some of the most malicious in the Place from whom nothing but Railing was expected said as they were carried to their Grave in Taunton Church voluntarily accompanied by most of the Town That these Persons had left a sufficient Evidence that they were now glorified Saints in Heaven A great Officer in the King's Army has been often heard to say That if you would learn to die go to the Young Men of Taunton Much more was uttered by them which shewed the Blessed and Glorious frames of their hearts to the Glory of Divine Grace but this is what occurs to Memory Mr. Benjamin Hewling about two hours before his Death writ this following Letter which shewed the great composure of his Mind Mr. Hewling's last Letter a little before his Execution Taunton Sept. 30. 1685. Honoured Mother THat News which I know you have a great while feared and we expected I must now acquaint you with That notwithstanding the Hopes you gave in your two last Letters Warrants are come down for my Execution and within these few hours I expect it to be performed Blessed be the Almighty God that gives comfort and support in such a day how ought we to magnifie his holy Name for all his Mercies that when we were running on in a course of sin he should stop us in our full Career and shew us that Christ whom we had pierced and out of his Free Grace enable us to look upon him with an Eye of Faith believing him able to save to the utmost all such as come to him Oh admirable long-suffering and Patience of God! that when we were dishonouring his Name he did not take that time to bring honour to himself by our destruction But he delighteth not in the death of a sinner but had rather he should turn to him and live And he has many ways of bringing his own to himself Blessed be his Holy Name that through Affliction he has taught my heart in some measure to be conformable to his Will which worketh Patience and Patience worketh Experience and Experience Hope which maketh not ashamed I bless God I am not ashamed of the Cause for which I lay down my Life and as I have engaged in it and fought for it so now I am going to Seal it with my Blood The Lord still carry on the same Cause which hath been long on foot and tho' we die in it and for it I question not but in his own good time he will raise up other Instruments more worthy to carry it on to the Glory of his Name and the Advancement of his Church and People Honoured Mother I know there has been nothing left undone by you or my Friends for the saving of my Life for which I return my hearty Acknowledgments to your self and them all and it 's my dying Request to you and them to Pardon all undutifulness 〈◊〉 unkindness in every Relation Pray give my Duty to my Grandfather and Grandmother Service to my Uncles and Aunts and my dear Love to all my Sisters to every Relation and Friend a particular Recommendation Pray tell 'em all how Precious an Interest in Christ is when we come to die and advise them never to rest in a Christless Estate For if we are his 't is no matter what the World do to us they can but kill the Body and blessed be God the Soul is out of their reach for I question not but their Malice wishes the Damnation of that as well as the Destruction of the Body which has too evidently appeared by their deceitful and â—â—tering Promises I commit you all to the Care and Protection of God who has promised to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow and to supply the want of every Relation The Lord God of Heaven be your Comfort under these Sorrows and your Refuge from those Miseries we may easily fore-see coming upon poor England and the poor distâ—eâ—â—ed People of God in it The Lord carry you through this Vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Their CHARACTERS THey were both of very sweet and obliging Tempers as has appeared in their History it being a very hard matter for their worst Enemies when they once knew 'em well not to Honour and Love ' em Mr. Benjamin the Elder reconciled the Lamb and the Lion exactly In the Field he seem'd made only for War and any where else for nothing but Love He without Flattery deserv'd to be call'd a very fine Man of a lovely Proportion extreamly well made as handsome a Meen and good an Air as perhaps few in England exceeded him His Picture is pretty like him The Younger Mr. William somewhat taller and more slender his Face fresh and lively as his Spirit being Master of an extraordinary vivacity and briskness of Temper Both of 'em Vertuous Pious and Courageous far above their Years and indeed seem'd to be Men too soon one of 'em not being Twenty the Eldest but Two and twenty when they dy'd verifying that common Observation That whatever is perfect sooner than ordinary has generally a shorter Period prefix'd it than what 's more base and ignoble 2. Mr. CHRISTOPHER BATTISCOMB HE was another young Gentleman of a good Family and very great Hopes and of a fair Estate which lay in Dorsetshire somewhere between Dorchester and Lyme He had studied some time at the Temple and having Occasions in the Country about the Time of my Lord Russel's Business he was there seiz'd on Suspicion of being concern'd in 't and clapt into the County Gaol at Dorchester where he behaved himself with that Prudence and winning Sweetness and shew'd so much Wit and innocent pleasantry of Temper as extreamly obliged both all his Keepers and Fellow-Prisoners and even Persons of the best Quality in that Town They knew how to value such a Gentleman
as Mr. Battiscomb and made him such frequent Visits in the Prison till the Place it self was so far from being Scandalous that there was generally all the Conversation and where you might be sure to meet the best Company in the Town of both Sexes Mr. Battiscomb had the Happiness not to be displeasing to the fair Sex who had as much Pity and Friendship for him as consisted with the Rules of Decency and Vertue and perhaps their Respect for him did not always stop at Friendship tho' it still preserved the other Bounds inviolable Pity is generally but a little way from Love especially when the Object of it is any thing extraordinary But after he had been there some time and nothing could be prov'd against him which could any ways affect him he was at length almost unwillingly deliver'd from this sort of happy Slavery And when the Duke landed appear'd with him and serv'd him with equal Faith and Valour till the Rout at Sedgmoor when he fled with the rest and got up as far as Devonshire where he was seiz'd in a Disguise and brought to his old Palace the Prison at Dorchester He behav'd himself there the second time in the same courteous obliging manner as he did at the first tho' now he seem'd more thoughtful and in earnest than before as knowing nothing was to be expected but speedy Death tho' his Courage never droopt but was still the same if it did not encrease with his Danger At his Tryal Jeffreys rail'd at him with so much eagerness and barbarity that he was observ'd almost to foam upon the Bench. He was very angry with him because he was a Lawyer and could have been contented all such as he should be hang'd up without any Trial and truly 't was no great Matter whether he or the rest had had that Formality or no. Mr. Battiscomb was as undaunted at the Bar as in the Field or at Execution How he demeaned himself in Prison before his Death take this following Account verbatim as 't was written by his Friends The Account given of him by his Relations HE was observed to be always serious and chearful ready to entertain Spiritual Discourse manifesting Affection to God's People and his Ordinances he seem'd to be in a very calm Indifference to Life or Death referring himself to God to determine it expressing his great Satisfaction as to some Opportunities of Escape that were slipt saying That truly he sometimes thought the Cause was too good to flee from suffering in it tho' he would use all lawful Means for his Life but the Providence of God having prevented this he was sure it was best for him for he said he bless'd God he could look into Eternity with Comfort He said with respect to his Relations and Friends to whom his Death would be afflictive That he was willing to live if God saw good but for his own part he thought Death much more desirable He said I have enjoyed enough of this World but I never found any thing but Vanity in it no Rest or Satisfaction God who is an Infinite Spiritual Being is the only suitable Object for the Soul of Man which is spiritual in its Nature and too large to be made happy by all that this World can afford which is all but sensual Therefore methinks I see no reason why I should be unwilling to leave it by Death since our Happiness can never be perfected till then till we leave this Body where we are so continually clogg'd with Sin and Vanity frivolous and foolish Trifles Death in it self is indeed terrible and natural Courage is too low to encounter it nothing but an Interest in Christ can be our Comfort in it he said which Comfort I hope I have intimating much advantage to his Soul by his former Imprisonment The Day he went from Dorchester to Lyme after he had received the News of his Death the next Day he was in the same serious Cheerfulness declaring still the same Apprehension of the Desirableness of Death and the great Supports of his Mind under the Thoughts of so sudden passing through it alone from the Hope of the Security of his Interest in Christ taking leave of his Friends with this Farewel Tho' we part here we shall meet in Heaven Passing by 〈◊〉 Estate going to Lyme he said Farewel Temporal Inheritance I am now going to my Heavenly Eternal One. At Lyme the Morning that he died it appeared that he had the same Supports from God meeting Death with the same cheerfulness When he was mounting the Ladder he smiled and said I am not afraid of this I am going to a better Place from a poor and miserable World to a Celestial Paradise a Heavenly Jerusalem I might have chosen whether I would have undergone this Death if I had hearkened to the L. C. J. but it was upon such unworthy Terms that shou'd I have accepted of my Pardon it wou'd have been troublesome to me I die a true Protestant I am in Charity with all Men. God preserve this Nation from Popery The Lord bless you all So taking his leave of them he knew after Prayer he lanched into Eternity His CHARACTER All that knew or saw him must own Mr. Battiscomb was very much a Gentleman not that thin sort of Animal that flutters from Tavern to Play-house and back again all his Life made up of Wig and Crevat without one dram of Thought in his Composition but one who ha◠solid Worth well drest and set out to the World His Body made a very handsome and creditable Tenement for his Mind and it had been pity it shou'd have liv'd in any other He wa◠pretty tall well made I think inclining to Black not altogether unlike Mr. Benjamin Hewling as He has been thought to resemble the Duke of Monmouth He was Witty Brave exactly Honourable Pious and Vertuous and if ever that Character belong'd to any Man it did eminently to Mr. Battiscomb That he liv'd universally belov'd and dy'd as generally lamented 3. Mr. WILLIAM JENKYNS HIS Father was sufficiently known and his Circumstances hard enough being seized only for his Opinion and clapt up close in Newgate where the Inconvenience of the Place and want of the Exercise he formerly enjoy'd quickly kill'd him as he used to say before his Confinement 't would certainly do if ever it happen'd Thus was he requited by that very Person for whom with Mr. Love he ventured his Life so deeply and so hardly escaped with it 'T was his inhumane Treatment which edg'd and animated his Son and the Revenge of his Father's Blood may be presum'd to have gone very far in pushing him on to engage his Life and Fortune in this Undertaking he having given Funeral Rings for his Father with this Poesie William Jenkyns murder'd in Newgate He was his Father's only Son who had taken care to have him educated suitable to his ingenuous Birth and Inclinations He improved sufficiently in all useful Learning and was
Polemical Books concerning them here I greatly deplore and bewail the greedy Appetite and insatiable Thirst that Professing Protestants have after the Blood of their Brethren and the high pleasure they take in the effusion thereof But what will not Men do when they are either Judicially blinded or their secular Worldly Interest insensibly insinuates and winds it self into their Religion is so twisted and incorporated with it that it animates and acts it is the Life and Soul the vital Form and Power and made wholly subservient thereunto I bless God for all my Sufferings and particularly for this last for the benefit and fruit of it by God's sanctifying of them to me have been great hereby I have been effectually convinced of the Vanity of the World and my own sinfulness by Nature and Practice and to see that to be sin which I never saw before and to be more throughly humbled for what I know to be â—n not only of Commission but of Omission also Hereby I have been brought to a more thorough deep inward sense and feeling of the absolute necessity of the Righteousness of Christ to justifie me and he hath been made much more dear and precious to my Soul than ever he was before Hereby my Soul hath been more refin'd from the Dross of Sensuality wrought into a more Heavenly Frame raised up to a higher pitch of Spirituality hereby I am made more meek and humble and so judge more charitably of others that differ from me in Opinion and Judgment So though by God's most Righteous Judgment I have been â—â—prehended and most justly and deservedly undergo this Suffering for my Sins yet I hope thâ—â— have wrought for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory fitting and preparing me making me a better qualified Subject for and far more meet to be a Partaker of the same By the Grace and Strength of God I will not purchase my Life by the Death and Blood of my Protestant Brethren but choose to die rather than be a Betrayer of them the impetuous and violent Assault of this I dreaded more than Death it self Blessed be God I was not exposed unto it and conquered by it as some have been Having such full bodily vigour and strength being in such perfect Health notwithstanding my Age predominating in me it hath made it more difficult to die than if I had been clogged and incumbred with Infirmities made to bow and stoop under them by prevailing Diseases and Distempers gradually worn out therewith which many times makes Men weary of Life and to desire to die and this in Conjunction with many things which I forbear to mention highly gratifying and pleasing to Sense which I must leave for ever strengthens and heightens the Difficulty and begets a great Regret and Reluctancy in my Will to have the Earthly Tabernacle of my Body dissolved and my Soul to dislodge and quit the same But now when the black and gloomy Shades of Death do overspread me I can say to the Glory of God's most Free and Powerful Grace True Faith in some measure hath changed the Difficulty into a Facility and easiness of dying It hath very much subdued the reluctancy of my Will against it for it makes future things present and invisible things visible and doth realize and substantiate the same to me and as by it I penetrate and pierce into Eternity and behold invisible and immortal things so hereby blessed be God I have obtained a greater Victory over Sense The World is crucified to me and I to the World and all the most pleasant and delightful Objects therein all finite fading Creatures Comforts and Enjoyments are become minute and small despicable and contemptible to me in comparison thereof being infinitely contained and comprehended therein Shall my Soul clasp and cling about these Mortal and perishing things Shall it cleave and be glued to them Shall it be confined and captivated into what is kept in the narrow bounds of Time and in this lower World Shall it earnestly desire and thirst for muddy Streams yea Rivers of Flesh-pleasing good when by an Eye of Faith I can look into the indeficient inexhaustible purest Fountain the immense immensurate Ocean of Divine Good hoping to drink thereof to swim and bathe my Soul therein for ever and ever And when I consider how long my Ears have been bound up and tyed to their innumerable and horrid Oaths and cursed Blasphemies and mine Eyes to see the Profanation of the Day of God and when I beheld such an overflowing Flood of most prodigious Impiety such an inundation of most monstrous Iniquity and so much Hell upon Earth and that there is so much decay of holy Zeal and true Piety and Christian Religion among the Professors of it such seeming incurable Breaches and Divisions such expiring Love and Charity and parting 's among 'em it hath powerful influence on my Soul to reconcile it more to Death and makes it electively and from choice to leave this present World and to take up my abode in that which is unseen and future where there shall be nothing but perfect Love and Holiness a sinless state and serving God with all unweariedness and perfection with the highest complacency and delight that immortal Souls can be capable of There is perfect Peace and Concord the innumerable Company of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect all fastened together with indissoluble and uninterrupted Chains of most pure Love and all continually wrapt up in and transported with the highest Admiration of God's Love his infinite and incomprehensible Excellencies and Perfections singing Hallelujahs to him without ceasing and triumphing in his Praise for ever and ever The Consideration also that I know so little of these Sublime Profound and Divine Mysteries of the most Glorious Mystery of Salvation by Jesus Christ that I am so uncapable to Fathom the depth of the Providences of God whose ways are in the Sea and whose paths are in the deep Waters and whose foot-steps are not known and particularly in the late stupendous and amazing one and that I am so ignorant of the Nature of Angels and Spirits with their Offices and Operations and of their high and glorious Excellencies and that I am so little acquainted with the Nature of my own Soul as at present dwelling in and united to my Body and as disunited and separated from it how without Corporeal Organs it shall most vivaciously and vigorously perform all its proper Functions and Offices and more than ever strongly and indefatigably serve the Lord Jesus most fervently and abundantly love him and delight in him every way much more obtain the supream and highest end of its Creation and Being and this makes me much more willing to die that I may have the knowledge thereof with innumerable other things that I am now either ignorant of or do but imperfectly know and so be made happy by a plenitude of fulness of enjoying intellectual Pleasures which
are of all other most suitable sweet and satisfactory to immortal Souls And also I see that he that departs from iniquity makes himself a Prey and so many plunging themselves into the ways of Iniquity lest they should be accounted odious and vile which makes them so much degenerate not only from Christianity but from Humanity it self as if they were scarce the Excrement of either contemning even that most Noble Generous Heroick Spirit that dwelt in many Heathens who accounted it most honourable and glorious to contend for their Rights and Liberties yea to suffer Death and the worst of Deaths in Defence of the same and judge them accursed and most execrable in the World that do so and not only so but for their own Profit and Advantage have many of them enslaved their Posterity by it and are most industrious and laborious most fierce and furious to destroy them whereby they are become as unnatural as Children that seek the ruine of their Parents that begot them and brought them forth or them that lay violent hands upon themselves dashing out their own Brains cutting their own Throats hanging and drawing themselves ripping up their own Bellies tearing out their own Bowels they being in different senses Children and Members of that Body Politick they design and attempt the Destruction of and when I know not how long the Duration and Continuance of these things shall be or a Conclusion or End by God shall be put thereto who by Divine and Unerring Wisdom Governs the World why shall my Soul be unwilling to take its flight into the unseen and eternal World Where no sullied sordid or impious thing most incongruous and unbecoming Nature shall be seen and found and where I shall behold no narrow conclusive contracted Soul there habitually preferring their private before a publick good but all most unanimously and equally centre in one common universal good and where the sighs and groans and cries of the afflicted and persecuted shall be heard no more for ever I earnestly exhort all most highly to prize and value Time and diligently improve it for Eternity to be wise seriously and seasonably to consider of their latter End For by the irrepealable and irreversible Law of Heaven we must all die yet we know not how where or when Live with your Souls full of solicitude and care with a most deep concernedness and most diligent industriousness whilst you have time and opportunity and the means of Grace Health and Strength make sure of these two great things viz. 1. What merits for you a Right and Title to Eternal Life and Glory and the future unchangeable Blessedness as the Redeemer's most precious Blood and Righteousness that thereby a real Application and Imputation may be unto you by sincere Believing 2. That that which makes you qualified Subjects for it is the great work of Regeneration wrought in your Souls being renewed in the Spirit of your Minds the Divine Nature being imprest upon them repairing of the depraved Image of God in you that being transformed into his own likeness thereby in the World you may mind and savour more the things of the Spirit than the things of the Flesh Coelestial and Heavenly more than Terrestrial and Earthly Superiour more than Inferiour things And therewith have a holy Life and Conversation conjoyned that results and springs from the same as Fruit from the Root and Acts from the Habits Let all in order thereto seriously consider these few Texts of Sacred Scripture let them predominately possess you let them be deeply and indelibly Transcribed upon your Souls let them be assimilated thereunto and made the written Epistles the lively Pictures thereof Matth. 5.8 20. Blessed be the pure in heart for they shall see God Vers 20. For I say unto you except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven John 3.3 Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God c. Gal. 5.19 20 to 23. Now the works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery c. James 1.18 Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Vers 13. Wherefore gird up the loyns of your Minds c. Colos 3.1 2. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things that are above Set your affections on things above not c. Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts c. Ephes 2.1 And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins Rev. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation c. 1 Pet. 1.15 But as he that hath called you is holy so be ye c. Vers 23. Being born again not of corruptible Seed c. Psal 4.3 But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself c. I shall mention now no more the whole Bible abounds with these Texts with what a Renovation and Change of our Carnal and Corrupt Hearts and Natures there must be with Holiness of Life and Conversation before we can be capable of a future and blessed Immortality and of inheriting the Kingdom of God for ever and ever Amen 15. Captain Abraham Ansley 's Last Speech I AM come to pay a Debt to Nature 't is a Debt that all must pay though some after one manner and some after another The way that I pay it may be thought by some few ignominious but not so by me having long since as a true English-man thought it my Duty to venture my Life in defence of the Protestant Religion against Popery and Arbitrary Power For this same purpose I came from my House to the Duke of Monmouth's Army At first I was a Lieutenant and then a Captain and I was in all the Action the Foot was engaged in which I do not repent For had I a Thousand Lives they should all have been engaged in the same Cause although it has pleased the wise God for Reasons best known to himself to blast our Designs but he will deliver his People by ways we know nor think not of I might have saved my Life if I would have done as some narrow-soul'd Persons have done by impeaching others but I abhor such ways of Deliverance choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy Life with Sin As to my Religion I own the way and
of Christ It is not all I can do that will or can save me Were I to live my Days over again and spend them in nothing but Prayers and Tears that could not Save me no it is nothing but the Mercy of God in Christ that must save me and upon this will I trust I am resolved that at the last I will lay my self wholly at the Feet of God's Mercy in Jesus Christ and there I will die This he uttered with raised and enlarged Affections They have brought my Coffin and I am not afraid to see it proceeded he I thank God I can freely lie down in it These Shackles about my Legs are as if they were not I do not regard them My Heart is so cheared with the consideration of the Precious Promises God hath made to poor perishing Sinners and why not to me And why not to thee indeed said I She loved much to whom much was forgiven Ah reply'd he it is much must be forgiven me Much indeed More to this purpose passed between us Several other Ministers were with him that Day and prayed with him as he told me what Discourse they had with him I know not A little before Execution enquiring of him what Confession he thought to make he said he was not inclined to speak much publickly in that respect for this reason That he judged it useless and at most would only gratifie some who came for nothing else but to hear him tell a long Story of a Vicious Life which was more likely to discompose his own Minds than tend to their Edification Moreover he said I cannot affect the Guilty and for others some may believe me some may not The Guilty know themselves I will therefore leave them to God and their own Consciences wishing them true Repentance that they may never come to this miserable End He did not think fit to go out of the World accusing others whom he could no more than accuse and neither bring them to deserved Punishment for what they had done hor prevent thereby their proceeding in the same course of Wickedness No for said he God must convince them and change their hearts which he did and would Pray earnestly for to his last He was desirous to employ all his little space in seeking God and giving up himself to Jesus Christ in humble Prayer now and then saying Oh! my Time is short within a few hours yea moments I shall be in Eternity O vain World Requesting me oft not to leave him till Death separated us I accompanied him to the Place of Execution where I prayed with him committing his Soul to God he joyned with me with great Ardency Then was sung the latter part of the 39th Psalm by his Appointment in singing whereof he seemed elevated in Heart and Voice above most present At last turning about and looking round on the Multitude he took his Farewel in these words or words to the like effect Gentle Spectators You are come to see a sinful miserable Wretch suffer this Ignominious Death I thank God it is not terrible to me for I trust that I shall find Mercy with God for my poor Soul through the precious Blood of my sweet Jesus You may see here what Sin will bring you to Oh take warning by me take heed of Sin shun Temptationsâ— flee Ezsil Company beware of Sabbath-breaking for by this Sin the Devil begins with many to draw them to all manner of Wickedness so he did with me Oh forsake all your Evil Wars turn to the Lord he is a gracious God Oh vile Wretch that I have so sinned against a holy just and merciful God I have been a Prodigal indeed but I hope now a Returning one Oh that they that have been my Companions in Mischief may Repent before it be too late I beg of them to fear God and mind their Souls There may be some of them that hear me at this time the Lord touch their hearts Oh do not still go on you are known to God who will call you to Account for all one day Think of it I beseech you the Lord give you true Repentance and Pardon your Sins that you may not come to this miserable End you see me come to With more to the like purpose Then Resigning himself to God and begging Acceptance with him for the Merits of a Dear and All-sufficient Redeemer he ended this Temporal and Miserable Life Thus far Mr. Burroughs CHAP. CXLV The Last Wills of Persons Remarkable for their Oddness and Singularity HAving had occasion to mention before several Wills with a particular Respect to Charities bestowed and some which were Remarkably Serious and Devout here I shall present the Reader with a few that I thought not very suitable to either of those Heads having something of Oddness or Levity or Brevity in them extraordinary 1. I have already spoken of Endamidas the Corinthian who dying Poor left his Aged Mother to Aretaeus and his Young Daughter to Charixenus two Rich Friends of his the one to be maintained till she died and the other till she married She the Chapter of Remarkable Friendship 2. Hilarion is reported at Eighty Years Old to have made this Will All my Wealth that is the Gospel and one Hair Vest my Coat and little Cloak I leave to my most loving Friend Hesychius Mourning Ring 3. Antonius the Great this As for the Place of my Burial let none know but your own Love my Felt and old Cloak give it to Athanasius which he gave me when it was new Let Serapion take the other which is somewhat better Do you take my Hair Garment And so Farewel my Bowels for Antony is going Ibid. 4. I Acathius Victor have been running to Eternity from A.C. 1581. and have Eternity in my Mind Now I commend my Spirit to God my Body to the Earth and Worms But as for Estate nothing now is mine but Good-Will which I carry with me to the Tribunal of God Ibid. 5. S. Hierom Martyr left his Estate to his Mother and Sister but to Rusticius the Chief Magistrate of Ancyra his Right-hand already cut off Ibid. 6. Zisca bequeath'd his Skin to make a Drum and his Flesh to the Fowls of the Air and Wild Beasts Ibid. 7. A Woman left her Cat 500 Crowns to maintain her with Food so long as she lived 8. I have mentioned already an Old Witch that on her Death-bed bequeathed her Imp the Devil to her Daughter 9. Luther was more serious and wise when he in his Last Will bequeath'd his Wife to God who gave her 10. Cardinal Bellarmine as I have noted before makes a long sputter in his Last Will about his Disposal of a few Cloaths and fine Pictures c. 11. I have been credibly informed that a certain School-Master in Shropshire making his Will his Wife who had always the Whip-hand over him standing by took occasion frequently to Advise the Clerk that wrote for him or rather to Correct and altar what
so have some excellent Persons in this Countrey done Governour Eaton at New-Haven and Governour Hains at Hartford died in their Sleep without being sick That Excellent Man of God Mr. Norton as he was walking in his House in this Boston was taken with a Syncope fell down dead and never spake more Nor is there any Rule or Reason for Christians to pray absolutely against sudden Death Some Holy Men have with submission to the Will of the most High desired and prayed for such a Death So did Mr. Capel and God gave him his Desire for on September 21. 1656. having Preached twice that Day and performed Religious Duties with his Family he went to Bed and died immediately The like is reported by Dr. Fuller in his Church History concerning that Angesical Man Mr. Brightman who would often pray if God saw fit that he might die rather a sudden than a lingring Death and so it came to pass For as he was travelling in the Coach with Sir John Osborne and reading of a Book for he would lose no time he was taken with a Fainting Fit and though instantly taken out in the Arms of one there present and all means possible used for his Recovery he there died August 24. 1607. The Learned and Pious Wolfius not the Divine who has written Commentaries on several Parts of the Scriptures but he that published Lectionum Memorabilium Reconditarum Centenarios on May 23. 1600. being in usual Health was after he had Dined surprised with a sudden illness whereof he died within a few Hours That Holy man Jacobus Faber who did and suffered great things for the Name of Christ went suddenly into the silent Grave On a Day when some Friends came to visit him after he had courteously entertained them he laid himself down upon his Bed to take some Repose and no sooner shut his Eyes but his Heaven-born Soul took its flight into the World of Souls The Man who being in Christ shall always be doing something for God may bid Death Welcome when ever it shall come be it never so soon never so suddenly Thus far Mr. Mather God who is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him was pleased to give a Quietus est to the Reverend Mr. Hurst suddenly taking him from his Work to receive his Wages advancing him from the Pulpit to the Throne April 14. 1690. as he did the laborious Bishop Jewel who was first of the same Merton College in Oxford in somewhat alike manner from preaching at Lacock in Wiltshire now near an Hundred and twenty Years since who had said to a Gentleman disswading him from preaching then It did best become a Bishop to die preaching or standing in the Pulpit seriously thinking of that comfortable Elogy of his Lord and Master which you heard our Preacher chose for his Text at the Interment of Mr. Cawton Happy art thou my Servant if when I come I find thee doing Mr. Wells and Mr. Pledger were if I mistake not both struck with sudden Death on the Lord's-Day An Ingenious Poet of our own said in his Jambicks of the excellent Mr. Vines who went to his eternal Rest the Night after his Preaching and Administring the Lord's Supper the beginning of March 1655. Abit beata Mors Modis oportet hisce Episcopum mori And another then to the same purpose in our Mother Tongue wrote also Our English Luther Vines whose Death Iweep Stole away and said nothing in a Sleep Sweet like a Swan he Preach'd that Day he went And for his Cordial took a Sacrament Had it but been suspected he would die His People sure had stopp'd him with a Cry But his Hour was then come and so was that of the famous Mr. Hollingworth at Manchester who when at a Fast in Praying and Preaching he had as far outdone himself that Day as he used to outdoe other Ministers chang'd his Habitation here for a better having done his Work upon the irresistable Stroke of a deadly Apoplexy So was that as I have heard of the holy Mr. Ambrose So that of the laborious and much-followed Mr. Watson and we know lately of our Brother Mr. Oakes carried out of the Pulpit As was the Learned and Pious Professor Dr. Joshua Hoyl out of the University Pulpit in Oxford Death which came to him was in hast and made quick dispatch it gave one blow and down he fell Mr. Thomas Gouge died says Archbishop Tillotson who preach'd his Funeral Sermon in the 77th Year of his Age Octob. 29th 1681. It so pleased God adds this Great Author that his Death was so sudden that in all probability he himself hardly perceiv'd it when it happen'd for he died in his Sleep So that we may say of him as it is said of David After he had served his Generation according to the Will of God he fell asleep I confess continues our Author that a sudden Death is generally undesirable and therefore with Reason we pray against it because so very few are sufficiently prepared for it But to him the constant Employment of whose Life was the best Preparation for Death that was possible no Death cou'd be sudden nay it was rather a Favour and Blessing to him because by how much the more sudden so much the more easie As if God had designed to begin the Reward of the great Pains of his Life in an easie Death And indeed it was rather a Translation than a Death and saving that his Body was left behind what was said of Enoch may not unfitly be applied to this Pious and Good Man with respect to the suddenness of his Change He walked with God and was not for Good took him See his Funeral Sermon CHAP. CXLVII EPITAPHS MANY Instances of EPITAPHS in Prose and in Verse may be collected from the old Greek Poets and Historians who yet were but Children compared to the Chaldeans and Egyptians But the Ancientest President of Epitaphs must be that recorded in the Ancientest History viz. the Old Testament 1 Sam. 6.18 where it is recorded that the Great Stone erected as a Memorial unto Abel by his Father Adam remained unto that Day in being and its Name was called the Stone of Abel and its Elegy was Here was shed the Blood of Righteous Abel as it is also called 4000 Years after Mattn 23.35 and this is the Original of Monumental Memorials and Elegies 1. St. Bernard 's Epitaph made by one Adam a Canon Regular Clarae sunt Valles sed claris Vallibus Abbas Clarior his clarum nomen in Orbe dedit Clarus avis clarus meritis clarus honore Claruit ingenio religione magis Mors est clara cinis clarus clarumque sepulchrum Clarior exultat Spiritus ante Deum Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 105. 2. The Epitaph upon Bede made by one of his Scholars Hac sunt in Fossà Bedae Snacti Ossa But in the Morning this was found on his Tomb. Hac sunt in Fossà Bedae Venerabilis Ossa Ibid.
16. Ben. Johnson bestowed this as part of an Epitaph on his eldest Son dying an Infant Rest in soft Peace and asked say Here doth lie Ben Johnson his best piece of Poetry He died himself Anno Domini 1638. and was buried about the Belfry in the Abby-Church at Westminster having only upon a Pavement over his Grave this written O Rare Ben Johnson 17. Mr. William Shakespear was buried at Stratford upon Avon The Town of his Nativity upon whom one hath bestowed this Epitaph Renowned Spencer lie a thought more nigh To learned Chaucer and a rare Beaumont lie A little nearer Spencer to make room For Shakespear in your threefold fourfold Tomb To lodge all Four in one Bed make a shift Until Dooms-day for hardly will a Fifth Betwixt this Day and that by Fates be slain For whom your Curtains may be drawn again If your precedency in Death do bar A Fourth place in your sacred Sepulcher Under this sacred Marble of thine own Sleep rare Tragedìan Shakespear sleep alone Thy unmolested Peace in an unshared Cave Possess as Land not Tenant of the Grave That unto us and others it may be Honour hereafter to be laid by thee 18. Sir John Mandevile who died at Liege in Germany the 17th Day of November Anno 1372. had this Inscription upon his Tomb. Hic jacet vir nobilis Dr. Joannes de Mandevile Al. D. and Barbam Miles Dominus de Campdi Natus de Anglia Medicine Professor devotissimus Orator bonorum Largissimus pauperibus erogator qui toto quasi orbe Instracto Leodii diem vitae suae clausit extremum Anno Dom. M. CCC LXXI Mens Novemb. die 16. c. But the Town of St. Albans will not allow of this but claim the Honour of his Interment as well as that of his Birth and to this end they have a Rhiming Epitaph for him upon a Pillar near to which they suppose his Body to have been buried Which Epitaph saith Mr. Weaver being set to some lofty Tune as to the Hunting of Antichrist or the like it will be well worth the singing Thus it runs All you that pass by on this Pillar cast eye This Epitaph read if you can I will tell you a Tomb once stood in this Room Of a brave spirited Man John Mandevill by Name a Knight of great Fame Born in this honoured Town Before him was none that ever was known For Travel of so high Renown As the Knights in the Temple cross-legg'd in Marble In Armour with Sword and with Shield So was this Knight grac'd which Time hath defac'd That nothing but Ruins doth yield His Travels being done he shine like the Sun In Heavenly Canaan To which blessed Place O Lord of his Grace Bring us all Man after Man 19. Palmer of Orford within the Diocess of Rochester had this Epitaph Palmers all ouer Faders were I a Palmer lived here And Travyld still till worn wyth Age I ended this World's Pilgrimage On the blyst Assention Day In the cherful Month of May A Thowsand wyth fowre hundred seven And took my Jorney hense to Heaven 20. Rich. Davy Master of the Jewel-House and Mawd his Wife had this Epitaph Pray for the Sowl of Mawd Davy Whose Corps hereunder do lay She was Dawter of William Davy On whose Soul Jesu hae mercy I pray yow all for Cherite Say a Peter Noster and an Ave. 21. Rich. Bonevant laid interred in the Stone Church in the Diocess of Rochester had this Epitaph Preyeth for the Sowl in wey of Cherite Of Richard Bonevant late Mercer of London For the Brethren and Sisters of this Fraternite Owner of this Place called Castle of the Ston Remember him that is laid under Ston For hys Sowl and al Christian to prey To the merciful Jesew a Pater Noster anon And Ave to hys Moder and make no deley In March which decessyd the xix dey In the Year of our Lord God who keep him from pyne A Thousand four hundred fifty and nyne 22. And Sir John Dew Priest this O merciful Jesew Have Mercy on the Sowl of Sir John Dew 23. Another thus Here lies William Banknot and Anne his Wyff Swete Jesew grant to them and us everlasting Liff Pray yow hertely for Cherite Say a Pater Noster and an Ave. 1400. 24. Another with Arms upon the Monument thus Non hominem aspiciam ultra Olivio 25. Another thus Vixi peccavi penitui Naturae cessi Which was as Christian saith Mr. Cambden as that was Profane of the Roman Amici Dum vivimus Vivamus 26. In St. Leonard's Foster-lane is this Epitaph When the Bells be merely roung And Mass devoutly soung And the meat merely eaten Then sall Robert Trappis his Wiffs and his Chyldren be forgetten 27. The Pictures of Robert Agnes and Joan inlaid in Brass seem thus to speak Sancta Trinitas Unus Deus miserete nobis Et Ancillis tuis sperantibus in te O Mater Dei memento mei Jesu mercy Lady help 28. John Brokitwell an especial Founder or new Builder of Leonard's Foster-lane had this All yat will gud warks wurch Prey for them yat help thys Church Geuyng Almys for Cherite Pater Noster and Ave. 29. Vpon Michael Forlace c. this Prey for the Sowlygs of Michael Forlace and his Wyf and in the Worschypp of God and our Lady for theyr Faders and Moders wyth the Sowlygs of all Christen of yowr Cherite sey a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria. Body I Mary Pawson ly below sleepying Soul I Mary Pawson sit aboue weaking Both. We hope to meet again wyth Glory clothed Then Mary Pawson for ever blessed 30. Vpon Sir John Woodcock Lord Mayor this Hic jacet in requie Woodcock Jon vir generosus Major Londonie Mercerus valde morosus Miles qui fuerat ......... M. Domini mille centum quater ruit ille Cum X bis This John Woodcock was Lord Mayor Anno Dom. 1405. in which his Office he caused all the Werers in the River of Thames from Stanes to the River of Medway to be destroyed and the Trinks to be burned 31. Tho. Knowles Lord Mayor and John his Wife of St. Anthonies had this Epitaph Here lyth grauyn under this Ston Thomas Knowles both flesh and bon Grocer and Alderman Yeres forty Sheriff and twis Mayor truly And for he should not ly alone Here lyth wyth him his good Wyff Joane They were togeder Sixty yere And nineteen Children they had in fear Now ben they gon wee them miss Christ have there Sowlys to Heaven bliss Amen Ob. Ann. 14 32. The Epitaph of Walter Lempster Doctor of Physick Under this black Marbl ston lyeth the Body of Master Walter Lempster Doctor of Physick and also Phisition to the High and Mighty Prince Henry VII which Master Lempster gayve unto this Chyrch too Cheynes of fine Gold weying 14 Ounces and a quarter for to make certeyn Ornament to put on the blessyd Body of our Saviour Jesus He died the 9th of March M. CCCC 87. whose Soul God
His honour or profane this ground Let no black-mouth'd breath'd rank Curr Peaceful James his Ashes stur Princes are Gods O do not then Rake in their Graves to prove them Men. 56. Vpon the King of Sweden Upon this Place the great Gustavus died While Victory lay weeping by his side 57. Vpon Sir Francis Vere When Vere sought Death arm'd with his Sword and Shield Death was afraid to meet him in the Field But when his Weapons he had laid aside Death like a Coward struck him and he died 58. Another Here lieth Richard A Preene One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Nine Of March the xx day And he that will die after him may 59. Another Here lieth he who was born and cryed Told Threescore Years fell sick and dyed 60. At Farlam on the West Marches toward Scotland near Naworth-Castle John Bell broken brow Ligs under this stean Fovr of mine een Sons Laid it on my weam I was a Man of my Meat Master of my Wife I lived on my own Land With mickle strife 61. In St. Paul 's was this Here lies John Dod a Servant of God to whom he is gone Father or Mother Sister or Brother he never knew none A Headborough and a Constable a Man of Fame The first of his House and last of his Name Died buryed and deceas'd the Fifteenth of May One Thousand Five Hundred and Fifteen being Whitson-Monday 62. On Mr. Burbidge the Tragedian Exit Burbidge 63. On Mr. Weymark a constant Walker in Paul ' s. Defessus sum ambulando 64. In St. Mary Saviours this Here lies William Emerson Who lived and died an honest Man 65. In the North-Country this Here ligs John Hubberton And there ligs his Wife Here ligs his Dagger And there ligs his Knife Here ligs his Daughter And there ligs his Son Heigh for brave John Hubberton 66. Vpon JOhn Death Here lies John Death the very same That went away with a Cousin of his Name 67. Vpon Mr. Parsons Organist at Westminster Death passing by and hearing Parsons play Stood much amazed at his depth of Skill And said this Artist must with me away For Death bereaves us of the better still But let the Quire while he keeps time sing on For Parsons rests his Service being done 68. On Mr. Charles Wray When I in Court had spent my tender Prime And done my best to please an Earthly Prince Even sick to see how I had lost my Time Death pitying mine Estate removed me thence And sent me mounted upon Angels Wings To serve my Saviour and the King of Kings 69. Many and sundry Opinions were conceived of Joan of Arck some judging her miraculously raised up by God for the good of France others that she was but a meer Impostor We will suspend our Judgment herein and referr you to the Epitaph which we find thus written on her Here lies Joan of Arck the which Some count Saint and some count Witch Some count Man and something more Some count Maid and some a Whore Her Life 's in question wrong or right Her Death 's in doubt by Laws or might Oh Innocence take heed of it How thou too near to Guilt dost sit Mean time France a Wonder saw A Woman Rule ' gainst Salique Law But Reader be content to stay Thy censure till the Judgment-day Then shalt thou know and not before Whether Saint Witch Man Maid or Whore 70. An Epitaph upon Sir Philip Sidney England Netherland the Heavens and the Arts All Soldiers and the World have made six Parts Of the Noble Sidney for none will suppose That a small heap of Stones can Sidney inclose England hath his Body for she it bred Netherland his Blood in her Defence shed The Heavens his Soul the Arts his Fame All Soldiers his Grief the World his Good Name 71. The following Epitaph was written upon the Tomb-stone of JOHN WHITE Esq a Member of the House of Commons in the Year 1640. and Father to Dr. Annesley's Wife lately deceased Here lies a John a burning shining Light Whose Name Life Actions all alike were WHITE 72. Mrs. Wilkinson with her Child went to Heaven from her Childbed on whose Tomb-stone a learned Doctor wrote the following Lines viz. Here lies Mother and Babe both without sins Next Birth will make her and her Infant Twins See Mr. Adams 's Sermon in the Continuation of Morning Exercise Questions and Cases of Conscience 73. Vpon Richard Howkins Here lies Richard Howkins who out of his store Gave Twenty good Shillings for the use of the Poor Upon condition his Body shoul'd ne'er be removed Until the appearing of our dearly Beloved 74. On the Tomb-stone of a great Scold was written Her Husband prays if by her Grave you walk You gently tread for if she 's wak'd she 'll talk 75. Vpon Mr. West Here lies Ned West of Men the best Well loved by his Wife But Oh he 's gone his Thread is spun And cut off by the Knife Of cruel Atropos Oh Jade Rokcy and flinty hearted Maid To kill so good a Man Take from my Wooff two Inches off And let him live again 76. On the Tomb of the Electeress Dowager of Saxony are to be seen the following Devices and Motto's I. Piety with an Heart in which some Beams from the Name Jehovah are centered with this Motto From him and to him II. Clemency with a Cloud of Dew hanging over the Land with this Motto Water is common to all III. Friendliness with a Sun piercing a dark Cloud over-against a Rainbow and this Motto He enlightens and makes glad IV. Magnanimity with a Rock upon which some Thunderbolts are darted with this Motto They don't terrifie V. Liberality with a Fountain from whence some Hands were taking out Water with this Motto So much the more plentiful VI. Patience with a Crucible full of Gold standing in the Fire with this Motto I burn but I am cleansed from my Dross or I shall come out more pure VII Pity or Compassion with a Silk-Worm beginning to Spin with this Motto I will serve you with my Bowels And VIII Humility with a Violet Flower growing in the Grass with this Motto The more humble the more fragrant Flying Post Nov. 21. 1696. 77. I find I have inserted in my Paper-book an Epitaph upon the Tomb of the Earl of Warwick in whose Death the Family was extinct Within this Marble doth Entombed lie Not one but all a Noble Family A Pearl of such a price that soon about Possession of it Heaven and Earth fell out Both could not have it so they did devise This fatal Salvo to divide the Prize Heaven shares the Soul and Earth his Body takes Thus we lose all while Earth and Heaven part stakes But Heaven not brooking that the Earth should share In the least Atom of a Piece so rare Intends to sue out by a new revize His Habeas Corpus at the Grand Assize Mr. Barker's Flores 78. I have read of a certain Prince who would have
because of his grievous Provocations till he had brought him home to himself that in his former Visitations he had not that blessed Effect he was now sensible of He had formerly some loose Thoughts and slight Resolutions of Reforming and designed to be better because even the present Consequences of Sin were still pestering him and were so troublesome and inconvenient to him but now he had other Sentiments of Things and acted upon other Principles He was willing to die if it pleased God resigning himself always to the Divine Disposal but if God should spare him yet a longer time here he hoped to bring Glory to the Name of God in the whole course of his Life and particularly by his Endeavours to convince others and to assure them of the Danger of their Condition if they continued Impenitent and how graciously God had dealt with him The Time of his Sickness and Repentance was just Nine Weeks in all which time 30 Hours about the middle of it excepted wherein he was delirous he was so much Master of his Reason and had so clear an understanding that he never dictated or spake more composed in his Life Three or Four Days before his Death he had comfortable Perswasions of God's accepting him to his Mercy saying I shall Die but Oh what unspeakable Glories do I see What Joys beyond Thought or Expression am I sensible of I am assured of God's Mercy to me through Jesus Christ O how I long to die and to be with my Saviour His Dying REMONSTRANCE FOR the Benefit of all those whom I may have drawn into Sin by my Example and Encouragement I leave to the World this my Last Declaration which I deliver in the presence of the great God who knows the Secrets of all Hearts and before whom I am now appearing to be Judged That from the bottom of my Soul I detest and abhor the whole Course of my former wicked Life that I think I can never sufficiently admire the Goodness of God who has given me a lively sense of my pernicious Opinions and vile Practices by which I have hitherto liv'd without Hope and without God in the World have been an open Enemy to Jesus Christ doing the utmost despite to the holy Spirit of Grace and that the greatest Testimony of my Charity to such is to warn them in the Name of God and as they regard the Welfare of their Immortal Souls no more to deny his Being or his Providence or despise his Goodness no more to make a Mock of Sin or Contemn the pure and excellent Religion of my ever-blessed Redeemer thro' whose Merits alone I one of the Greatest of Sinners do yet hope for Mercy and Forgiveness Amen J. ROCHESTER Declared in the presence of Anne Rochester Rob. Parsons 5. Sir Duncomb Colchester who died May 25. 1694. in his Return from London towards Gloucestershire wrote this Penitential Letter Sir Duncomb Colchester's Penitential Letter Gentlemen and Friends SInce it hath pleased Almighty God of his great and undeserved Mercy and Goodness to bring me one of the chiefest of Sinners by a long and sharp Visitation to a sense of my Sins for which with all Humility of Soul I adore and praise him it is a Duty I know incumbent on me as ever I hope for his Pardon and Forgiveness to do what in me lies to bring Honour to his Holy Name to make Reparation for the Mischief I have done by my former vitious Life and antidote as far as I can the Poison which my Example has shed round about me In order whereunto I do hereby Declare That I am heartily sorry for all the Sins of my past Life the remembrance whereof however pleasant they formerly seemed to be is now Grief and Bitterness to my Soul More particularly that I may take shame to my self I do with the deepest Sorrow lament my Bioting and Drunkenness my Chambering and Wantonness those daring and presumptuous Sins which had so long dominion over me I do also most heartily lament that great Sin which I was so frequently guilty of of encouraging and drawing others to Excess which has made me partaker O sad Thought of other Mens Sins and liable to answer for more than mine own I am sensible that as it hath been my Practice so it is still of too many Gentlemen and that they as I did reckon excessive Drinking so far from a Fault as to be rather one of the best Indications of a hearty Respect and true Affection to the Persons they entertain But O false Love O treacherous Friendship to receive their Friends Men and send them out of their Houses Beasts I wish from the bottom of my Soul that any thing I could say would make all those whose Consciences accuse them of Guilt in this particular to loath and abhor this wicked Practice as I do And I do also heartily lament my great Neglect of putting the Laws in execution against common Drunkards Swearers and such-like scandalous Sinners and do earnestly beseech all such as are in Authority and whose Business it is to see the Laws executed if any such come to hear this Paper read that they will be more careful in that particular and consider that as their Power is a Talent entrusted in them whereof they must give a strict Account to their Heavenly Lord so by their being duly conscientious in the Discharge of their Duty herein we may hope for a Reformation amongst us and then with confidence expect God's Blessing to rest upon us And as I abhor my self for my Neglect in this Particular now mentioned and all my great Sins and Provocations against an infinite Majesty so I do farther hereby declare my full Purpose and Resolution if it shall please Almighty God with whom all things are possible to restore me to Health or prolong my Days by his special Grace and Assistance without which I shall be able to do nothing to lead a new Life in all Holy Obedience to his Will and Commands and desire that this Declaration of mine if I fail to do so may be produced as a Testimony against me to my Shame and Reproach But since my Recovery is very uncertain and what I have the least Reason in the World to hope for being heartily desirous to do what good I can in the Circumstances I am in I do hereby earnestly warn and beseech all Sinners especially those whom my Example has at any time encouraged the Remembrance whereof still fills me with Shame and Sorrow to repent of all thier Sins and Provocations least God's Vengeance overtake them in their Security and there be no Remedy And I beseech them farther to take notice that if this Warning be slighted the wilful Neglect and Refusal thereof will at last be charged upon them as a heinous Aggravation of all their Sins they shall hereafter commit will encrease their Condemnation and make their Doom more dreadful and terrible But that it may have a contrary Effect and be a means
vigour and energy to it beyond common Sense 1. Marinus Barlâ—tins reports of Scanderberg That he brought with him into the World a notable mark of Warlike Glory for he had upon his Right Arm a Sword so well set on as if it had been drawn with the Pencil of the most curious and skillful Painter in the World Camer Hor. Subscis l. 1. c. 60. p. 308. 2. Camerarius saith that he always heard it reported That the Counts of Habsburg have each of them from the Womb a Golden Cross upon his Back viz. certain Hairs after a wonderful manner formed into the Figure of a Cross Ibid. l. 3. c. 42. p. 145. 3. M. Venetus in his 45 years Itinerary in Asia reports That the Kings of Corzani boast of a Nobility beyond that of all other Kings of the Earth upon this account that they are Born into the World with the Impress of a Black Eagle upon their Shoulder which continues with them to their Deaths Ibid. 4. Camerarius saith that it was related That King James I. brought with him from his Mother's Womb certain Royal Signatures for at his Birth there was beheld imprinted on his Body a Lion and Crown and some also add a Sword Ibid. 5. Abraham Buckoltzerus saith That John Frederick Elector of Saxony who was Born June 30. Anno 1503. brought with him from his Mother's Womb an Omen of his future State For he was Born with a Cross of a splendid and golden Colour on his Back upon the sight of which a pious and ancient Priest was sent for by the Ladies of the Court who thereupon said This Child shall carry a Cross conspicuous to all the World the Emblem of which is thus apparent in his Birth The Event did declare and confirm the Truth of the Presage Camerur Ibid. p. 146. 6. Gaffarel tells of his Sister born with a Fish on her Leg caused by the desire of his Mother when Pregnant that it was drawn with so much perfection and rarity as if drawn by some excellent Master and the wonder was that when the Girl eat Fish that on her Leg put her to sensible pain Gaff Curiosities c. 5. p. 143. 7. The Hostess of the Inn in the Suburbs of St. Mich. at Bois de Vicenne had a Mulberry growing upon her Nether Lip which was smooth till the time that Mulberries began to ripen at which time hers began to be red and to swell observin the Season and Nature of other Mulberries till it came to their just bigness and redness Ibid. p. 144. 8. A Woman in the seventh Month of her Pregnancy longed to Eat Rosebuds which being difficult to be procured at last a Bough of them was found she greedily devoured the green Buds of two Roses and kept the rest in her Bosom In the ninth Month being delivered of a Boy upon his Ribs there appeared the likeness of three Roses very red upon his Forehead and either Cheek he had also he resemblances of a red Rose He was therefore commonly called the Rose-Boy Zasut Lusit adm l. 2. Obs 133. CHAP. XXV Childen abiding in the Womb beyond their time THere is not one of the Actions of Nature that I can think of which is not subject to Anomaly and Disorder Sometimes our Tongue stammers our Eyes fail us our Memory is deficient our Feet stumble Sometimes there is a fault in Conception sometimes in Parturition One while the Infant comes too soon before its Natural time into the World another while it is detain'd a prisoner too long and cannot be set at liberty for many years and it may be the Soul go into another World before the Body can be admitted into this and sometimes the Womb that bore it must be the Grave to bury it a miserable case and unhappy for Mother and infant both 1. Catherine the Wife of Michael de Menne a poor Conntryman for 12 years together carried a dead Child or rather the Skeleton of one in her Womb. It was manifest to the touch saith Aegidius de Hertoge who with many other both Men and illustrious Women are witnesses hereof Henricus Cornelius Mathisius Domestick Physician to the Emperor Charle V. who having handled the Woman both standing and lying by touch easily distinguished all the Bones of the Dead Infant in a great Amazement cried out nothing is impossible to God and Nature She Conceived of this Child Anno 1549. Schenck Obs l. 4. p. 575. 2. In the Town of Sindelfingen a Woman of 30 years or thereabouts being with Child 6 or 7 weeks before her expected Delivery upon occasion of a fall on the Ice never afterwards felt her Child to stir After which she Conceived twice or thrice and hath been as often Delivered yet still the usual bigness of her Belly continued and the Dead Child was supposed to continue in her Womb. Ibid. p. 577. 3. Anno 1545. Margarita Carlinia Wife of Geo. Volzerus of Vienna in her Travel perceiving somewhat to Crack within her and never after feeling her Child to stir for four years afterwards she lived with much pain till at length Anno 1549. an Ulcer appearing about her Navel and the Bone of the Child's Elbow at the Orifice she was by Incision Delivered of a Male Child half Putrid which was drawn out thence piece-meal and afterwards happily Cured Zuing. Theat vol. 2. l. 4. p. 357. Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 239. 4. Zacutus Lusitanus hath set down the History of a Woman of mean Fortune and 16 years of Age who being with Child and the time of her Travail come could not be delivered by reason of the narrowness of her Womb the Chirurgions advised Section which they said was ordinary in such Cases but she refused it the Dead Child therefore Putrified in her Womb After three years the smaller Bones of it came from her and so by little and little for ten years together there came forth pieces of corrupted Flesh and Fragments of the Skull At last in the twelfth year there issued forth piecemeal the greater Bones and then her Belly fell and after some years she Conceived again and was happily delivered of a living Boy Zacut. Lusit praxis Med. Admir lib. 2. Obs 357. p. 276. 5. Donatus tells of one Paula the Wife of Mr. Naso an Innkeeper in the Street of Pont Merlian in Mantua who voided by way of Siege a Dead Child with a great deal of Pain the Bones coming forth by piecemeal for several months and years together Donat. Hist Med. Mir. l. 2. c. 22. p. 241. For this the Author cites the Testimony of Hippolitus Genifortus a Chirurgeon and Joseph Arancus a Physician CHAP. XXVI Children Born Preternaturally THAT the Births of Children are sometimes attended with strange either precedent or concomitant or consequent Symptoms or Accidents may be attributed to variety of infetiour and natural Causes as in the following Examples But surely there is a Finger of Omnipotence that over-rules Nature in these and all other
infinite terrour and the top appeared all in Flames this trembling of the 9th was felt in the Cities of Mineo Palaonia Ragosa Licodia and most of the South parts of Sicily at the same instant with that of Catania but the most tremendous shake of all happened on the 11th of January under which dismal Calamity the antient City of Catania pleasantly seated and full of Inhabitants of Quality with an University and about 24000 People in a Minute was sunk out of sight with a noise as loud as if thousands of Cannons had been discharged at once In the place where Catania stood some heaps of Rubbish and a great Lake of Water appear at a distance Under the same dismal Calamity fell the antient City of Syracuse so famous in History that it was formerly reckoned one of the greatest in the World having in it about 16000 Inhabitants By the Earthquake of the 9th many principal Houses and the Castle were torn in divers Night and so escaped the horrible Devastation of the 11th wherein two thirds of the Buildings were thrown down and above 7000 People buried in the rubbish Neither did Noto though built upon a very high Rock almost inaccessible on all sides but one narrow way partake of a less dismal Fate The trembing of the 9th did very much affect it and on the 11th laid it in heaps in a Minute all the Inhabitants except some few who fled from thence on the 9th were Buried in the Ruins of their own Houses being reckon'd about 7000 very little Buildings standing in the whole Town Augusta a City in a Peninsula on the East of Sicily with a large prospect to the Sea Safe-Harbours and considerable Trade was much damaged by the Earthquake of the 9th instant and about 600 People killed by the downfal of the Houses and the following day the rest of the Town and the remaining Inhabitants by another dreadful shake were utterly destroyed and buried in rubbish so that of 6000 People none were left alive Lentini the antient Leontium a Town of about 3000 Families was burnt to the ground on the 11th Calatgirone a Town well-built of Free-Stone by the shake on the 11th had the fifth part of the Buildings and two Monasteries demolished but of 7000 People 5000 made their escape Mineo was shaken both the 9th and the 11th on the former the Heavens were Serene without the least Cloud but on the latter was a terrible Storm of Lightning and Thunder for 6 hours together At both times several Houses and a large Church were overthrown and it was judged about 4000 People perished Pasceni of about 200 Inhabitants was so entirely ruined that not one House or Person was saved The spacious Valley adjoyning which was formerly full of excellent Vines being turned into a new Lake whose Water is of a brackish taste and like Brimstone In Patuzolo a place of about 1000 People all were swallowed up Furla another Town of about the same number of Souls had the like fate Sciorti a bigger Town was totally demolished and the Inhabitants about 2000 so utterly destroyed that none was left to tell the News In Militello where of 6000 People no one is left to give tidings how or when its Calamity happened The Country People who dwell in the Mountains about it affirm that for 3 days before they could not discern the Town by reason of a thick Fog that surrounded but that on the 11th in the morning it was no more seen A great part of the Mountain on the North-side is torn asunder and one half overwhelmed the Town leaving a deep Gulph betwixt that and the other part of the Mountain THE Curiosities of Art PART III. By WILLIAM TVRNER M. A. Vicar of WALBERTON in SUSSEX And Moses said unto the Children of Israel See the Lord hath called by Name Bezaleel the son of Vri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah And he hath filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship and to devise curious works to work in gold and in silver and in brass And in the cutting of stones to set them and in carving of wood to make any manner of cunning work Exod. xxxv 30 31 32 33. LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-street MDCXCVII THE PREFACE TO THE Curiosities of Art WHen God made us He instamp'd his own Image upon us which Image is most clearly apparent in those two great Distinguishing Faculties of Humane Nature the Vnderstanding and Will The one disposeth us to a subtilty and sublimity of Knowledge the other to a Goodness of Temperance and Beneficence in our Actions And 't is worthy a sober Remark and pretty to observe how Man hath exercised these Two Faculties in pursuit of these Ends from the first Creation how his Intellectuals have mounted above the Sphere of Sense tranigressed the common Limits and Horizon of the dull unthinking Multitude and peer'd about with a Sagacity of Reason into all the Crevisses and secret Recesses of Nature to find out the utmost Bounds of Humane Power and see how far the Wit of Man might be stretch'd and extended without a Fault or Fracture I have already shew'd somewhat of the Divinity conspicuous in the Great World now I am to shew somewhat of it in the Microcosm in Man the Epitome of the World the Top and Master-piece of the visible Creation and that only in part too viz. his Soul and Mind for I have spoken of his Body elsewhere But the Mind being the more Noble and Excellent part of the Man and of it self so Spiritual and not subject to Sense I have no other way left to give the Anatomy of it but by summing up and presenting to view its Operations and Effects We admire the Industry and Skilfulness of the Bee in gathering Honey out of the Flowers carrying it home and disposing it in several Cells ingeniously contriv'd for the Purpose the Wisdom of the little Ant in a hundred particular Instances of her Polity and Managery of Business the curious Embroidery and Net-work of the busie Spider in making Webs and pursuing her Game for the catching of Flies the strange and almost stupendious Artifice of the poor Silk-worm which by the Impulse of meer Nature works her self out of Breath and spends her self to cloath Nobles Let us sit a while at home and call back our Rambling Thoughts to contract our Meditation and Prospect and view our selves and take notice of a more lofty Design and we shall certainly find the Humane Intellectuals flying at a higher Game pitching upon more Noble Objects propounding more excellent Ends pursuing them with proper Means ingenious and apt Methods And I am confident upon a solid Speculation we shall find our selves astonish'd at our own Powers and admire the wisdom of Him that made us and be provoked to Aemulation by observing how others have out-stript us When I consider how many wonderful Pheanomena of both
Nature and Art the World is furnish'd with and we set as the principal Spectators of them in order to be High-Priests to offer the Sacrifices of Praise for the Rest of the visible Creation methinks I am ready to complain that our Lives are contracted to so short a Span that we can hardly have time to look about us and admire and give due Praise but we must be gone off the Stage Oh! think I if we might but live now to a Mathusalem's Age or at least a Nestor's or John of the Times or but so long as my Country-man Part what brave Schemes might we draw of Architecture What high Scaffolds might we raise What wonderful Projects might we contrive What ingenious and subtle Ideas might we form The Quadrature of the Circle the perpetual Motion the scaling of the Skies and a perfect Discovery of the Lunar World the Philosopher's Stone Flying Diving Any thing Every thing would be but mean and ordinary to imploy our Wits upon But God hath wisely prevented our Projection of these Babels by reducing our Time to a short Scantling of but a Span long and confounding our Thoughts with a Thousand Cares and Abbreviating our Necessities to a little Compendium of Fearing God and heeping his Commandments as the whole of Man Notwithstanding we have all of us almost some spare Minutes left from our necessary Offices which we might if we would spend in a more noble way upon more generous Exercises either of Veiwing or Doing of Speculation or Action or which were much better both I am not so fond as to conceit that I have given here a due Account of all or most of the Wonders and strange Improvements of Art 't is enough to my purpose if tanquam canis ad Nilum I have exhibited a short Specimen enough to beget Admiration and Emulation Let my Reader read and wonder and fall into an honest Indignation with himself that he hath suffer'd his Sands of Time to run so fast in his Glass and his Blood stagnate in his Veins and his Brains gather Flegm and Water whilst himself doth nothing or nothing to purpose or next door to nothing in comparison with those brave Intellectuals he is endowed with I am not for Domitian's pricking Flies with a Pin nor the Hungarian 's wooden Coat of Mail the work of fifteen Years nor Myrmerides 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coach with four Horses so little you might hide them under a Flie's Wing nor Collicrates 's Elegies writ so small that a Cherry-stone might hold them nor Mark Scaliot 's Lock spoken of hereafter c. These are all certainly but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a laborious Loss of Time an Ingenious Profusion of one of the best Talents we are intrusted with and more than that perhaps of Two viz. Our Time and Wit Let People know their Strength what they can do and consider the Price of Time they have allowed to act in and act accordingly with a due Aim and direct Tendancy to the Divine Honour their Neighbour's Benefit and their own Happiness and I do not doubt but Men will find better Work and at last receive a Better a more Comfortable and Satisfactory Reward Curiosities of Art PART III. CHAP. I. The English Tongue Improved THE Art of Speaking is none of the least Extellencies of Humane Nature the Confusion of Tongues introduced a great Obscurity in delivering the Sense of our Minds and Men were many Ages blundering and unskilful in expressing themselves properly Where Learning prevailed the Languages were sooner ripen'd to a Perfection and Purity The English Tongue by occasion of frequent Intermixtures with other People lay a long time corrupted with a variety of Dialects How it hath been improved of late Ages we may guess by comparing the Old Dialect with the New Of the old take these few Parcels out of Richard a Religious Hermit in the Earl of Exeter 's Library for a Specimen 1. His Te Deum begins thus We heryen ye God we knowlecnen ye Lord Alle ye erie worschips ye everlasting Fader Alle Aungels in Hevens and alle ye poures in yis VVarld Cherebin and Seraphin cryen by be voice to ye unstinting 2. His Benedictus thus Blessyd be ye Louerd God of Israel for he has visityd maad buying of his puple 3. The Magnificat thus My Soul worschips ye Louerd and my gost ioyed in God my hele for he lokyd ye mekeness of hys honde mayden So for i â—en of yat blissefulle Schal sey me all generaciouns For he has don to me grete yingis yat myrty is and his Nome hely 4. Nunc dimittis Louerd you leuest nowe yi Servaunt in pees astir yi word yat you hast seyde byfore for now I am ripe to die for mine eghen hau seen yin owen Son Christ yat is yin owen he le to Men. 5. Mat. Cap. 1. The Bok of ye Generacoun of Jhu Crist Sone of Dauid Sone of Abraham Abraham gendryde Isaac Isaac forsoye gendride Jacob Jacob forsoye gendride Judas and hys breyren 6. Acts 1. Ye dedis of ye Apostlis Theofile fyrst I maad a Sermon of all yingis yat ittu began to do and to teche into the day of his assencioun in whych he commandide in ye hoolst to his Apostlis whyche he hadde chosen to whyche he schewide hymselfe alyve aftyr his passioun by many Argumentys appering to hem fourti dais 7. Rem 1. Paul ye Servaunt of Jhu Crist clepid an Apostle depromptyd into the Gospel of God whyche he hadde behote tofore by hise Profetis in hooli Scriptur of his Sone Apoc. 1. Apocalipis of Jhu Crist whyche God 3 as to him to maak open to hys Servauntis whyche yingis hit behouey to be maad soone c. 8. Pater Noster thus Ure Fadir in Hevene riche Thy nome be haliid everliche Thou bring us to thy michilblisse Thi wil to wirche thu us wisse Al 's it is in Hevene ido Euer in Erth ben hit also That heli bred yat lastyth ay Thou send hious yis ilke day Forgive ous all yat we haueth don Al 's we forgive ych oder mon He let ous falle in no founding Alt scilde ous fro ye foul thing Amen 9. The Creed thus I beleive in God Fadir Almighty Shipper of Heven and Erth and in Jhesus Crist his onle thi Son ure Louerd that is iuange church the hooli gost bore of Mary maiden tholedepine undyr Pounce Pilat picht on rode tre dead and yburiid licht into helle the thrid day fro death arose steich into Heuene sit on his Fadir richt honde God Almichty then is comminde to deme the quikke and the dede I beleue in the hooli Gost alle hooli Chirche mone of Allehallwen forgiuenis of sine fleiss uprising lif withuten end Amen Wevers Fun. Men. p. 152. Of the New or Modern Dialect there is no necessity of giving any Specimen at all CHAP. II. Blind Persons Improved by Art and Industry WHere Nature is defective there the Assistance of Art
is required Nothing makes us more Ingenious than Necessity Rather than Men will suffer all the Inconveniencies consequent upon a Total Eclipse of any of their Senses especially that of Sight and the comfortable use of the Sun they will set their Brains upon the rack and use the greatest intention of Thought to procure a Compensation 1. Esther Elizabeth Van Waldkirk Daughter of a Merchant of Shaffhausen Residing at Geneva aged Nineteen Years having been Blind from two Months old by a Distemper falling on her Eyes nevertheless hath been put on to the Study of Learning by her Father so that she understands perfectly French High-Dutch and Latin she speaks ordinarily Latin with her Father French with her Mother and High-Dutch with the People of that Nation She hath almost the whole Bible by Heart is well skill'd in Philosophy plays on Organs and Violin and which is wonderful in this condition she hath learned to write by an Invention of her Fathers after this manner There was cut for her upon a Board all the Letters of the Alphabet so deep as to feel the Figures with her Fingers and to follow the traces with a Pencil till that she had accustomed her self to make the Characters Afterwards they made for her a Frame which holds fast her Paper when she writes and which guides her Hand to make strait Lines She writes with a Pencil rather than with Ink which might either foul her Paper or by failing might cause her to leave VVords imperfect 'T is after this manner that she writes often in Latin to her Friends as well as in the other two Languages This is an Extract of a Letter written from Lyons by M. Spon M. D. c. From the Journal des Scavans set forth March 25. 1680. 2. John Ferdinand born in Flanders being blind yet overcame that which most learned Men find hard For he was at once a very Learned Poet and Philosopher he was also an excellent Musician and play'd skilfully on divers kinds of Instruments Camer Hor. Subscis p. 171. 3. Vldaricus Schonbergerus a Doctor in Philosophy though blind yet he was Learnedly skill'd in the Latin Greek Hebrew and Syriack Languages an excellent Naturalist an Acute Disputant in Philosophy Skilful in Musick Studious both in Picture and Sculpture he would discharge a Gun with that dexterity that the Builet should oft hit the Mark he died of late Years at Regioment of which unusual Example Simon Dachius hath left to Posterity an Elegant Elegy Barthol Hist Anatom Cent. 3. Hist 44. p. 87 88. 4. James Vsher Lord Primate of Ireland was taught to read by his two Aunts who were Blind from their Cradles yet were they admirably vers'd in the Scriptures being able suddenly to have given a good Account of any part of the Bible Clarks Lives p. 190 191. 5. Count Manifield though Blind yet with the touch alone was able to distinguish white from black Barthol Cent. 3. Hist 44. p. 87. 6. Schenckius tells of one that though Blind yet received visible Species through his Nostrils Zacch quest Med. Legal l. 5. Tit. 3. p. 325. Schen Obs p. 1. 7. Sir Kenelme Digby says he saw one so blind that he could not discern when the Sun shined yet would play well at Cards and Tables Bowls and Shovel-Board discern the Gestures of his Scholars by their Voice walk in a Chamber or long Alley strait and turn exactly at the ends and by an effect of the Light upon his Body but chiefly on his Brain know when the Sun was up and distinguish exactly between a clear and cloudy Day Sir Kehelme Digby's Treatise of Bodies c. 28. p. 253 254. CHAP. III. Persons Deaf and Dumb much Improved by Art ONE would think this Defect of Nature very deplorable and hardly capable of any Alleviation for by it is barr'd and obstructed all Correspondence with the Reasonable Soul no information can be taken in no Communication permitted without The Ears are stopt so that the Person cannot learn from others nor he express the Sense of his own Mind to others So that what remains in such a case where all the Intercourse of Reason is damm'd up but the Expectation of a Bruitality and Sottishness of Nature to follow yet even here the Wit of Man hath found out something like a Remedy to Cure or in some measure to alleviate and assist this great Malady by finding out some uncommon way of conveying Intelligence to the immured Soul and pumping it of its own Sense and Conceptions 1. Mr. Increase Mather of New-England tells us of a Man and of a Woman at Weymouth both of them Deaf and the Woman so from her Infancy and yet that she understands as much concerning the State of the Country and of particular Persons therein and of observable Occurrences as almost any one of her Sex and which is more wonderful tho she is not able to speak a Word she has by Signs made it appear that she is not ignorant of Adam's Fall nor of Man's Misery by Nature nor of Redemption by Christ and the great Concernments of Eternity and of another World and that she her self has had experience of a Work of Conversion in her own Soul I have made Enquiry about this Matter of some that are fully acquainted therewith and have from a good Hand receiv'd this foregoing Account 2. Matthew Prat aged about Fifty-five Years was in his Minority by his godly Parents educated Religiously and taught to read when he was about Twelve Years old he became totally deaf by Sickness and so hath ever since continued after the loss of his hearing he was taught to write his Reading and Writing he retaineth perfectly and makes much good Improvement of both but his Speech is very broken and imperfect not easily intelligible he maketh use of it more seldom only to some few that are wonted to it He discourseth most by Signs and by writing He is studious and judicious in Matters of Religion hath been in Church Fellowship a Partaker of all Ordinances near Thirty Years hath approved himself unto good Satisfaction therein in all ways of Church-Communion both in publick and private and judged to be a well-wrought Convert and real Christian 3. Sarah Prat his Wife being about Forty-three Years old was also quite deprived of Hearing by Sickness when about the third Year of her Age after she could speak and had begun to learn Letters having quite lost her Hearing she lost all Speech doubtless all remembrance and Understanding of Words and Language her Religious Parents being both dead her godly Brother Ephraim Hunt yet surviving took a Fatherly Care of her she also happily fell under the Guardianship and Tuition of the Reveread Mr. Thomas Thatcher who laboured with design to teach her to understand Speech or Language by Writing but it was never observed that any thing was really effected she hath a notable Accuracy and Quickness of understanding by the Eye she discourseth altogether by Signs that they that
after the several Ordinances and Priviledges of a Church-Communion The Churches of New-England have usually been very strict in their Admissions to Church-Fellowship and required very signal Demonstrations of a Repenting and a Believing Soul before they thought Men fit Subjects to be entrusted with the Rights of the Kingdom of Heaven But they seem'd rather to augment than abate their usual Strictness when the Examination of the Indians was to be perform'd A day was therefore set apart which they call'd Natootomeuhtenicusuk or a Day of asking Questions when the Ministers of the adjacent Churches assisted with all the best Inrerpreters that could be had publickly examined a good number of these Indians about their Attainments both in Knowledge and in Virtue And notwithstanding the great satisfaction then received our Churches being willing to proceed surely and therefore slowly in raising them up to a Church-state which might be comprehended in our Consociations the Indians were afterwards called in considerable Assemblies convened for that purpose to make open Confession of their Faith in God and Christ and of the Efficacy which his Word had upon them for their Conversion to him which Confessions being taken in Writing from their Mouths by able Interpreters were scanned by the People of God and found much Acceptance with them I need pass no further Censure upon them than what is given by my Grandfather the well-known Richard Mather in an Epistle of his published on this occasion says he There is so much of Gods Work among them as that I cannot but count it a great Evil yea a great Injury to God and his Goodness for any to make light of it To see and hear Indians open their Months and lifting up their Hands and Eyes in Prayer to the living God calling on him by his Name Jehovah in the Meditation of Jesus Christ and this for a good while together to see and hear them exhorting one another from the Word of God to see and hear them confessing the Name of Christ Jesus and their own Sinfulness sure this is more than usual And tho' they spoke in a Language of which many of us understood but little yet we that were present that day saw and beard them perform the Duties mentioned with such grave and sober Countenances with such comely Reverence in their Gesture and their whole Carriage and with such plenty of Tearâ— trickling down the Cheeks of some of them as did argue to us that they spake with the holy Fear of God and it much affected our Hearts At length was a Church-state settled among them They entred as our Churches do into an Holy Covenant wherein they gave themselves first unto the Lord and then unto one another to attend the Rules and Helps and expect the Blessings of the Everlasting Gospel and Mr. Eliot having a Mission from the Church of Roxbury unto the Work of the Lord Christ among the Indians conceived himself sufficiently authorized unto she performing of all Church work about them grounding it on Acts 13.1 2 3 4. and he accordingly administred first the Baptism and then the Supper of the Lord unto them Thus far Mr. Cotton Mather I shall next insert the Dying Speeches of several of the Converted Indians formerly published by the Reverend Mr. Eliot They are deliver'd to me by a Friend that brought them with him from Boston in New-England and are so great a Rarity that 't was with difficulty he procured them in New-England where they were Printed neither was there a Copy of 'em to be found in London Mr. Eliot begins thus Viz. Here be but a few of the Dying Speeches and Counsels of such Indians as died in the Lord. It is an humbling to me that there be no more it was not in my Heart to gather them but Major Gookins hearing some of them rehearsed he first moved that Daniel should gather them in the Language as they were spoken and that I should Translate them into English and here is presented what was done that way These things are Printed not so much for Publishment as to save Charge of Writing out of Copys for those that did desire them JOHN ELIOT 38. Waban was the first that received the Gospel our first Meeting was at his House the next time we met he had gather'd a great Company of his Friends to hear the Word in which he hath been stedfast When we framed our selves in order in way of Government he was chosen a Ruler of Fifty he hath approved himself to be a good Christian in Church Order and in Civil Order he hath approved himself to be a Zealous Faithful and Stedfast Ruler to his Death His Speech is as followeth I now rejoyce tho' I be now a dying great is my Affliction in this World but I hope that God doth so afflict me only to try my praying to God in this World whether it be true and strong or not but I hope God doth gently call me to Repentance and to prepare to come unto him therefore he layeth on me great pain and affliction tho' my Body be almost broken by Sickness yet I desire to remember thy Name Oh my God untll I die I remember those Words Job 19.23 to 28. Oh that my Words were now written Oh that they were printed in a Book that they were graven with an Iron Pen and Lead in a Rock for ever For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh I shall see God c. I desire not to be troubled about Matters of this World a little I am troubled I desire you all my Brethren and you my Children do not greatly weep and mourn for me in this World I am now almost dying but see that you strongly pray to God and do you also prepare and make ready to die for every one of you must come to dying Therefore confess your Sins every one of you and believe in Jesus Christ I believe that which is written in the Book of God Consider truly and repent and believe then God will pardon all your great and many Sins God can pardon all your Sins as easily as one for God's free Mercy and Glory do fill all the World God will in no wiseâ— forget those that in this World do sincerely repent and believe Verily this is Love oh my God Therefore I desire that God will do this for me tho' in my Body I am full of Pain As for those that died afore we prayed to God I have no hope about them now I believe that God hath call'd us for Heaven and there in Heaven are many Believers Souls abiding Therefore I pray you do not overmuch grieve for me when I die in this world but make your selves ready to die and follow me and there we shall see each other in â—â—â—â—al Glory in this World we live but a little while therefore we must be always
thee to Morrow Sigismund the Second King of Poland because of his perpetual delay and heaviness in weighty Affairs was called the King of to-morrow Such are we certainly Men of to-morrow we delay all things most willingly also if we could to put off Death it self but the business of dying admits of no delay suffers no put-offs Francis the First King of France being taken by Charles the Fifth when he had read at Madrid Charles's Impress upon the Wall Plus ultra Farther yet added thereto To day for me to morrow for thee The Victor took it not ill but to shew that he understood it wrote underneath I am a Man there is no Humane Accident but may befal me Barlaam the Hermit an Old Man of Seventy Years when Jehosaphat the King asked him how Old he was Answered Forty five at which when the King admired He reply'd that he had been absent rom his Studies Twenty five Years as if those Years which he had spent upon the Vanity of the World had been quite lost Sir Tho. Moor that no Age might delude a Person with the hopes of a longer Life gives this Admonition As he that is carried out of a Prison to the Gallows though the way be longer yet fears not the Gallows the less because he comes to it a little the later and though his Limbs are firm his Eyes quick his Lungs sound and that he relish his Meat and Drink yet this is still his Affliction that he is upon his Journey Thus are we all carried to the Gibbet of Death we are all upon the way only parted by some little Intervals The Elector of Brandenburg came to Visit Charles the Fifth being Sick of the Gout and advised him to make use of his Physicians To whom Charles replied The best Remedy in this Disease is Patience The compleat Armour of a Sick Man is Patience being so guarded he need fear neither Sickness Pain nor Death He is Proof against the blows of his Enemies and shall certainly overcome for Patience overcomes all things St. Austin Bishop of Hippo went to visit another Bishop of his Familiar Acquaintance lying in Extremity to whom as he was lifting up his Hands to Heaven to signifie his Departure St. Austin replyed That he was a great support of the Church and worthy of a longer Life To whom the sick Person made this Answer If never 't were another thing but if at any time why not now Thus Sitenus being taken by Midas and asked what was the best thing could happen to Man For a while stood silent At length being urg'd to speak he answer'd That the best thing was never to be born the next to die the soonest that might be This I must not omit very wonderful unheard-of and pleasant in the Relation Lodowick Cortusius a Lawyer of Padua forbid to his Relations all Tears and Lamentations by his Will And desir'd that he might have Harpers Pipers and all sorts of Musick at his Funeral who should partly go before partly follow the Corps leaving to every one of them a small Sum of Money His Bier he ordered to be carry'd by Twelve Virgins that being clad in green were to sing all the way such Songs as Mirth brought to their remembrance leaving to each a certain Sum of Money instead of a Dowry Thus was he buried in the Church of St. Sophia in Padua accompanied with a Hundred Attendants together with all the Clergy of the City excepting those that wore black for such by his Will he forbid his Funeral as it were turning his Funeral-Rites into a Marriage-Ceremony He died the 17th of July 1418. Admirable was the saying of St. Bernard Let them bewail their Dead who deny the Resurrection They are to be deplor'd who after Death are buried in Hell by the Devils not they who are plac'd in Heaven by the Angels Cyrus being about to die My Son said he when I am dead close up my Body neither in Silver nor in any other Metal but return its own Earth to the Earth again His last words were Be grateful to your Friends and you will never want the Power to punish your Enemies Farewel my dear Son and tell these my Words to your Mother also Wisely said Theophrastus upon his Death-Bed Many fine and pleasant things doth Life impose upon us under the pretence of Glory than the love of which there is nothing more vain Hither may be referred the saying of Severus the Emperor I was all things but nothing avails Alexander after many and great Victories overcome at length he fell not only into his Bed but into his Tomb contented with a small Coffin Peter Alphonsus reports That several Philosophers flock'd together and variously descanted upon the King's Death One there was that said Behold now four Yards of Ground is enough for him whom the spacious Earth could not comprehend before Another added Yesterday could Alexander save whom he pleas'd from Death to Day he cannot free himself Another viewing the Golden Coffin of the deceased Yesterday said he Alexander heaped up a Treasure of Gold now Gold makes a Treasure of Alexander This was their Learned Contention yet all ended in this Then he fell sick and died Lewis King of France gave these his last Admonitions to his Son Beware my Son that thou never commit any deadly Sin rather suffer all manner of Torments First chuse such about thee as will not be afraid to tell thee what thou art to do and what to beware To thy Parents give all Obedience Love and Reverence Ferdinand the Great King of Castile falling sick of his last Sickness caused himself to be carried to the great Church in all his Royal Robes where putting off all his Royal Ornaments and as it were restoring God his own he put on a Hair-Clâ—â— and casting himself upon the Ground with Tears in his Eyes Lord said he the Kingdom which thou gavest me I return to thee again seat me I beseach thee in Eternal Light Charles King of Sicily spoke these words Oh the Vain Thoughts of Men Miserable Creatures we are delighted with Honour heap up Treasure and neglect Heaven O the happy Fate of the Poor who content with little sleep in Tranquility What does now my Kingdom what do all my Guards avail me I might have been miserable without all this Pomp. Where is now the power and strength of my Empire The same necessity involves me as hampers the meanest Beggar Of so many Thousands of Clients Servants and Flatterers there is not one that will or can accompany me to the Tribunal of God Go Mortals go and swell your Breasts with great Thoughts to Day or to Morrow ye must die Farewel Earth would I could say welcom Heaven Dionysius the Areopagite being condemned to lose his Head with a Christian Generosity contemning the Reproaches of the Spectators Let the last words of my Lord upon the Cross said he be mine in this World Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit
Basil the Great lying at the last period of Life after he had piously instructed his own Friends breathed out his Soul with these last words Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Cardan relates of a Man in Milan who having in Sixty Years been never without the Walls yet when the Duke hearing thereof sent him peremptory Command never to go out of the Gates during Life He that before had no inclination to do so yet soon died of Grief to be denied the Liberty of doing it Chetwinds Hist Collections The Customs of several Nations in the Burial of their Dead Many Persons 1. Kiss and kindly Salute their dead Friends and Relations to shew the natural tenderness and love they had for the deceased but this Custom is now quite abolished with us in many places though this Peactice ought not to be altogether discommended 2. As for the usage that is in some Countries of washing the Dead St. Chrysostom tells us that it was derived at first from the Person of our Lord and Saviour whose precious Body was washed as soon as they took it down from the Cross And we read in the Ninth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that a Woman of Joppa called Tabitha whom St. Peter restored to Life had been wash'd before she was laid out for the Grave The Indians burn their Dead 3. The Custom of Perfuming and Embalming the Corps hath in our days been especially in England much observed And indeed the very reason why the Primitive Christians were so careful to Perfume the Dead was because they regarded them as so many Members of the Mystical Body of the Redeemer of the World Tertullian in his Apology upbraiding the Heathens with the vast Expences of sweet Scents and Perfumes consumed in the Temples tells them that those Odours would be better employed in Perfuming and Embalming the Bodies of Christians and their dear Friends departed At the Canary Islands they bury their Dead with a Bottle of Wine standing by them 4. As concerning the manner of Apparelling the Dead all Christians use not the same Practice for some do only cover them with a large Winding-sheet as they do in France And others dress them in the very same Cloaths they were wont to wear as in Italy and several other places And others dress them and lay them in their Coffin in a white Shirt a clean Cap and sometimes as a late Act of Parliament enjoyns in Flannel this is the Custom in England The Chinese always before they bury their Dead if he was a Married Man bring him to his Wife that so she might first kiss him and bid him farewel The Method that ought to be observed in Funeral Processions for most Ranks ad Degrees of Men. First Children of the Hospital Two Conductors Poor Men. Gentlemens Servants in Cloaks Gentlemen in Cloaks Gentlemen in Gowns Aldermen in Black The Preacher A Penon of his own Arms Helm and Crest The Coat of Arms. Chief Mourners Two Assistants Aldermen not in Black Master of the Company if c. Master of the Hospital Then all Gentlemen not in Black Neighbours and others I might here enlarge upon Mourning for and the Ancient Customs and Manners of Burying the Dead in all Nations throughout all the habitable World The Ancient Romans did use them that were dead after two manners and they had two kinds of Obsequies the first and most Ancient was to cover the dead with Earth and to bury them as we do the other to burn their Bodies but this manner did not continue long Numa Pompilius was the Inventer of Obsequies and he instituted a High-Priest who had the Charge The first Honour which they used to perform in the Obsequies of Famous Persons was to commend the Party by an Oration Valerius Publicola made a Funeral Oration on the Death and in the Praise of Brutus In like manner Julius Casar being but Twelve Years old commended his Grandfather and Tiberius at the Age of Nine Years praised his Father The second Honour was to make Sword players to Fight Marcus and Decius Sons to Junius Brutus were the first that did practise this in Honour of their Father The third Honour was to make a Feast of Magnificent Furnishment The fourth was a distribution of Meat to all the common People And such a I have said before as could not be buried with the like and so great Pomp for the Expences were insupportable were buried in the Night-time by the Vespiliones cloathed all in white who carried the dead Body to his Grave They had likewise an Order that within some while after the Obsequies they would strew divers Flowers nd sweet Odours upon the Sepulchre as the Roman People did upon the Funeral Monument of Scipio And also they accustomed Yearly to Garnish Deck and Adorn the Tombs or Graves of the Dead with Posies Crowns and Garlands of all sorts of Flowers Husbands saith St. Jerom ad Pammachium were wont to strew spread or scatter over and upon the Graves and Sepulchres of their deceased dear Wives Violers Roses Lilies Hyacinths and divers Purple Flowers by which Vxorious Office they did mitigate and lessen the grief of their Hearts conceived by the loss of their Loving Bedfellows The like expression of Mutual Love Wives shewed to their buried Husbands Now above all Flowers in these Ceremonious Observances the Rose was in greatest request and had the sole preheminence as Kirman relates The Ancient Ethnicks did hold the springing of Flowers from the Grave of a deceased Friend as an Argument of his Happiness and it was their universal wish That the Tombâ—stones of their dead Friends might be light unto them and that a perpetual Spring-tide of all kind of fragrant Flowers might incircle their verdant Graves According to this of Persius Sat. 7. Dii majorum umbris tenuem sine pondere terram Spirantesque crocos in urna perpetuum ver Lie Earth light on their Bones may their Graves bear Fresh fragrant Flowers let Spring-tide still live there But to come back again The Magnificence in burning the Bodies of the Dead did far exceed in charges all other kinds of Funeral for with the Bodies of Persons of Principal regard as you may read in the Travels of George Sandys they burnt rich Odours Gold Jewels Apparel Herds of Cattel Flocks of Sheep Horses Hounds and sometimes the Concubines and Slaves whom they most respected to supply their wants to serve their delights and attend upon them in the lower Shades With the like Solemnity or far greater the Funerals of Patroclus were performed by Achilles for with him were burned Oxen Sheep Dogs Horses and twelve stout and valiant Sons of Noble Trojans Achilles pulls off the Hair off his Head and casts it into the Flame and besides institutes certain Funeral Games to the Honour of his slain Friend the Glory of the Greekish Nation Patroclus which is recorded by Homer in the 23d Book of his Iliads They used to quench these Funeral
J. with whom I only leave for their Direction and Encouragement 1 Cor. 15.58 Mat. 28.20 The Lay men whom I put in Joynt-Trust are Mr. B. Mr. M. Mr. B. and plain-hearted T. H. all whose Faces I hope to see in Heaven with them I leave for their Refreshment when taking some steps about it Mat. 25.39 40 for Eternity is the place I would be for to which when gone I am but a little before and you a little behind This Lecture he kept up by his constant cost and care from Aug. 4. 1653. Monthly until Jan. 2. 1659. whereof he kept an exact Account in a Catalogue wherein he took notice of the day of the Month the Place the Persons that Preached and their Texts some hints of the Congregation both number and seriousness See his Life And having thus made use of some of his Memorials we shall add what himself said of the ' writing of them in these words The occasion of making and writing these things was a thought I had what was become of all my Fore-fathers and what what Price I should set upon one of their Manuscripts concerning the state of our Family Nation or Church of God in it 500 Years since Whereupon I resolved this Work formy Son's sake and Posterity's imitation when it may be said of us in this Generation as of Israel once in that Exod. 1.6 And Joseph died and all his Brethren and all that Generation I John Machin called by him who separated me from the Womb Gal. 1.15 to the hope of having my Name in the Book of Life and likewise to be an Embassador of my Lord Christ Jesus was in my great Master's Work at Astbury in Cheshire Anno 1655. when I first set Pen hereunto See his Life 67. Part of Mr. Richard Baxter's Last Will as I find it published by Mr. Sylvester in the Narrative of his Life I Richard Baxter of London Clerk an unworthy Servant of Jesus Christ drawing to the end of this Transitory Life having through God's great Mercy the free use of my Understanding do make this My Last Will and Testament My Spirit I commit with Trust and Hope of the Heavenly Felicity into the hands of Jesus my glorified Redeemer and Intercessor and by his Mediation into the hands of God my Reconciled Father the Infinite Eternal Spirit Light Life and Love most Great and Wise and Good the God of Nature Grace and Glory of whom and through whom and to whom are all things my absolute Owner Ruler and Benefactor whose I am and whom though imperfectly I serve seek and trust to whom be Glory for ever Amen To him I render most humble Thanks that he hath filled up my Life with abundance of Mercy pardon'd my Sins by the Merits of Christ and vouchsafed by his Spirit to renew and seal me as his own and to moderate and bless to me my long-sufferings in the Flesh and at last to sweeten them by his own Interest and comforting Approbation who taketh the cause of Love and Concord as his own Now let the Reader Judge adds the Reverend Mr. Sylvester in his Preface to Mr. Baxter 's Life whether any thing in all this can in the least infer his doubting or denyal of a fature state as some have reported 68. The Reverend Mr. John Dunton late Rector of Aston Clinton in Bucks after he had in his Last Will bequeathed his Soul to God who gave it speaking next concerning his Funeral he adds That 't is his desire that his Funeral might not be performed till Five days after his decease Which Request was occasioned by his first Wife 's lying seemingly dead for three days and afterwards coming to Life again to the Admiration of all that saw her 69. A Copy of the Will made by the Reverend Dr. Samuel Annesly who departed this Life on Thursday Decemb. 31. 1696. in the 77th Year of his Age. IN the Name of God Amen I Dr. Samuel Annesly of the Liberty of Norton-Folgate in the County of Middlesex an unworthy Minister of Jesus Christ being through Mercy in Health of Body and Mind do make this my Last Will and Testament concerning my Earthly Pittance Formy SOVL I dare humbly say it is through Grace devoted unto God otherwise than by LEGACY when it may live here no longer And I do believe that my BODY after its sleeping a while in Jesus shall be reunited to my Soul that they may both be for ever with the Lord. Of what I shall leave behind me I make this short disposal My Just Debts being paid I give to each of my Children One Shilling and all the rest to be equally divided between my Son Benjamin Annesly my Daughter Judith Annesly and my Daughter Ann Annesly whom I make my Executors of this my Last Will and Testament revoking all former and confirming this with my Hand and Seal this 29th day of March 1693. SAMVEL ANNESLY 70. Cardinal Richelieu was visited by the King in his last Sickness which saith my Author was the greatest Favour he could receive from any Mortal Man seeing that having lived altogether for his King he was to die near him and almost in his Arms. He desired in his Sickness That he might live no longer than he was able do the King and the Kingdom of France Service He expired Decemb. 4. St. N. 1642. aged 58. He was buried in the College of Sorbonne where he had caused his Monument to be built during his Life Gabriel Du-gres in the Life of Jean Arman Du Plessis D. of Richelieu p. 65. 71. Cardinal Mazarine thus expressed himself to the Queen-Mother of France before his Death Madam your Favours have undone me were I to live again I would be a Capuchin rather than a Courtier This with some others following I am not now able to cite my Authors for having taken the Abstracts out of borrowed Books several Years ago 72. Sir John Mason Privy-Counsellor to four Princes expressed himself thus Seriousness is the best Wisdom Temperance the best Physick a good Conscience the best Estate and were I to live again I wold change the Court for a Cloyster my Privy-Counsellor's Bustles for an Hermit's Retirement and the whole Life I have lived in the Palace for one hours enjoyment of God in the Chapel All things else forsake me except my God my Duties and my Prayers 73. Hugo Grotius wish'd that he might exchange all his Learning and Honour for the plain Integrity of Jean Vrich who was a Poor Religious Man that spent Eight hours of his Day in Prayer Eight in Meat and Sleep and Eight in Labour 74. Salmasius his last Reflections were to this purpose Oh! I have lost a World of Time Time that most Precious thing in the World whereof had I but one Year more it should be spent in David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles O Sirs mind the World less and God more The Fear of the Lord this is Wisdom 75. Mr. Selden to Archbishop Vsher Notwithstanding my curious Enquiries
and Books and Collections I can rest my Soul on nothing but the Scriptures and above all that Passage lies most upon my Spirit Titus 2.11 12. The Grace of God that brings Salvation c. 76. Dr. Donn on his Dying-bed told his Friends I Repent of all my Life but that part I spent in Communion with God and doing good 77. Sir Walter Rawleigh in a Letter to his Wife after his Condemnation hath these words If you can live free from Want care for no more for the rest is but a Vanity Love God and begin betimes in him shall ye find True Everlasting and Endless Comfort My dear Wife Farewel Bless my Boy Pray for me and let my True God hold you both in his Arms. 78. Mr. Herbert the Divine Poet to one going about to Comfort him with the Remembrance of a good Work he had done in Repairing a ruinous Church belonging to his Ecclesiastical Dignity made answer 'T is a good Work if sprinkled with the Blood of Christ In the Preface before his Poems 79. Mr. Tho. Cartwright the last Sermon that he made was Dec. 25. on Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the earth c. On the Tuesday following the Day before his Death he was two Hours on his Knees in private Prayer in which as he told his Wife he found wonderful and unutterable Joy and Comfort and within a few Hours after he quietly resigned up his Spirit to God Dec. 27. 1603. Mr. Clark 's Martyrol p. 21. 80. Mr. Paul Baines in his last Sickness had many Fears and Doubts God letting Satan loose upon him so that he went away with far less Comfort than many weaker Christians enjoy Ibid. p. 24. 81. Mr. William Bradshaw exhorted all that came to him to lay a good Foundation for a comfortable Death in time of Life and Health assuring them that their utmost Addresses and Endeavours would be little enough when they came to that Work Ibid. p. 51. 81. Mr. Richard Rothwel foretold his own Death I am well and shall be well shortly said he to some that sent to enquire how he did And afterwards whispering one in the Ear there present said Do you know my meaning I shall be with Christ e're long but do not tell them so And after Prayer smiling said he Now I am well Happy is he that hath not bow'd a knee to Baal He called upon the Company to sing Psal 120. And in the singing of it he died An. 1627. Aged 64. Ibid. p. 71. 83. Dr. Preston the Night before he died being Saturday he went to Bed and lay about three Hours desirous to sleep but slept not Then said My Dissolution is near let me go to my Home and to Jesus Christ who hath bought me with his most precious Blood About Four of the Clock the next Morning he said I feel Death coming to my Heart my Pain shall now be quickly turned into Joy And after Prayer made by a Friend he look'd on the Company turned away his Head and at Five a Clock on the Lord's-Day in the Morning gave up the Ghost An. 1628. Aged 41. or near it Ibid. p. 113. 84. Mr. Hildersam sickening with the Scurvy in the midst of Winter on March 4. being the Lord's-Day was prayed for in the Congregation of Ashby His Son also prayed with him divers times that Day and in the last Prayer he departed March 4. 1631. Had I time to pause upon it methinks the Death of many worthy Persons happening upon the Christian Sabbath is worthy of a special Remark Mr. Hildersam had given order in his Will that no Funeral Sermon should be preached at his Burial Ibid. p. 123. 85. Dr. Tho. Tailour of Aldermanbury expressed himself thus O said he we serve a good Lord who covers all our Imperfections and gives us great Wages for little Work And on the Lord's-Day he was dismissed hence to keep a perpetual Sabbath in Heaven in the Climacterical Year of his Age 56. Ibid. p. 127. 86. Mr. John Carter likewise Feb. 21. 1635. being the Lord's-Day ended his Life with a Doxology The Lord be thanked Ibid. p. 140. 87. Dr. Sibs died Anno 1631. Aged 58. Ibid. Dr. Chaderton Anno 1640. Aged 94. Ibid. 88. Mr. Ball being ask'd in his last Sickness whether he thought he should live or die answered I do not trouble my self about that matter And afterwards how he did replied Going to Heaven apace He died 1640. Aged 55. Ibid. 89. Dr. Potter died about the great Climacterical Year of his Age being suspected to have laid to Heart the Reproaches of some thrown upon him for a Sermon preached a little before at Westminster as too sharp against Innovations in the Church Ibid. 90. Mr. Julines Herrings the Night before his Departure was observed to rise upon his Knees and with Hands lifted up to Heaven to use these Words He is overcome overcome through the Strength of my Lord and only Saviour Jesus unto whom I am now going to keep a Sabbath in Glory And accordingly next Morning March 28. 1644. Aged 62. on the Sabbath-Day he departed Ibid. 168. 91. Mr. John Dod was tried with most bitter and sharp Pains of the Strangury and great Wrestlings with Satan but was Victorious To one watching with him he said That he had been wrestling with Satan all Night who accused him That he had neither preached nor prayed nor performed any Duty well for manner or end but saith he I have answer'd him from the Example of the Prodigal and the Publican One of his last Speeches was with Eyes and Hands lift up to Heaven I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Which desire was granted him Anno 1645. aged 96. Ibid. p. 178. 92. Mr. Herbert Palmer after Isa 38 Chap. being read prayed himself to this purpose First for himself That God would heal the sinfulness of his Nature pardon all his Transgressions deliver him from Temptation accept him in Christ c. Then for the Publick the Nation King and Parliament Ministers c. For Scotland and the Churches in France New-England c. Queen's College Westminster the Country his Benefactors c. He departed December 25. 1647. aged 46. He desired his Friends not to Pray for his Life but Pray God saith he for Faith for Patience for Repentance for Joy in the Holy Ghost Lord saith he cast me down as low as Hell in Repentance and lift me up by Faith to the highest Heavens in confidence of thy Salvation The Tuesday before he departed This day Seven-night said he is the Day on which we have used to remember Christ's Nativity and on which I have preached Christ I shall scarce live to see it but for me was that Child born unto me was that Son given c. Ibid. p. 201. 93. Mr. John Cotton to Mr. Wilson taking his last leave of him and praying that God would lift up the Light of his Countenance upon him and shed his Love into his Soul presently answered