THE LIFE AND DEATH OF Mr. John Rowe OF Crediton in Devon Follow me as I follow Christ 1 Cor. 11. Whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation Heb. 13.7 LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1673. TO THE READER THe Verity and Reality of Religion is Exemplified in the Lives of holy men Whoever will please to peruse the following Narrative without prejudice Two things will appear with great evidence unto him the one is that this Person whose Life and Death are here faithfully reported did both in his Life and Death firmly believe Religion to be a Real thing and lived and died as believing it to be most Real The other is that there was some other Principle what ever it was that carried him beyond the common principles of Humanity and the highest Attainments of the most Refined Morality Both which if duly considered will plainly Demonstrate first that Religion is not a meer piece of Hypocrisie or an empty shew without substance when as it is evident that some have believed it to be a Real Thing and lived and died as believing it to be so Secondly this also will appear that there is a Superior Principle besides those common Principles which are left in Humane Nature and those Improvements which Morality may advance men unto that hath acted some Persons Both these Considerations confirm the Verity and Reality of Religion And truly the more Credit may be given to the Testimony of this Holy Man concerning the Reality of Religion partly because he was known to have a Capacity and Abilities of Mind to understand the affairs of the world and Worldly Interests as well as most men and partly because he had experimented what was in Religion for the space of Fifty years and after so long experience when he came to die gave this Testimony concerning it that it was no Notion it was a Reality The Memory of this Holy Man is still fresh with many that are yet alive and as it is Probable that several of his Friends and Acquaintance may remember many Remarkable Passages concerning him which are not here inserted so they may possibly meet with some things in this Narrative especially such things as relate to the more inward Part of his Life which they were not acquainted with before What ever benefit any may receive by the Publication of this Persons Life it is earnestly desired that all the Glory may be Ascribed unto God and nothing Attributed unto Man THE PREFACE HAving by a friendly violence prevailed that the ensuing Relation which has for more then ten years space been confined unto privacy should now be exposed to publick view I cannot but conceive my self in duty obliged to usher it into the world with this Preface thereby to declare mine own just sentiments grounded on personal observations touching the Spirit and Life of this great Saint here Characterized And indeed to speak the truth I find it no difficult matter to ingage my Pen in a task so pleasing to my Spirit especially considering how much the Notion but how much more the Practice of Christianity is banished out of the world yea may we not say from the Hearts and Lives of too many great pretenders thereto O what a deluge of Atheism is as it were in a few years broken in on us How many Profest Atheists yea whole Societies of that Profession are there And what is the main design of such but to perswade us that Religion is but a Blind of Hypocrisie or a meer Notion without Reality Yea to come nearer home how much practical Atheism which is a Monster worse then Speculative is there to be found even among the Professors of Religion What contradictions are there in mens lives to the Faith they profess How disagreeing are the Actions of many Professors from the principles of their Profession And how much is the holy Name of the great God hereby blasphemed Oh how far do the lives of Professors now adays come short of that Purity Simplicity Heavenly-mindedness holy conference and Activity for God which shone with so much lustre and Beauty in the Christians of the foregoing and beginning of this Age. What a great Testimony did they give to the Religion they professed by the Sanctity and Piety of their Conversations How much did they both demonstrate and adorn their profession by the Integrity of their Actions For men are more apt to believe our Works than our Tongues our Deeds have greater efficacy to perswade then our Words A good Life is the most potent demonstration of good principles Exemplary visible Piety is not only most Beautiful but also most efficacious to beget the like disposition in those that behold it as also to take off those prejudices which ill-minded men take up against the ways of God These and such like contemplations have made me the more pressing and importunate to get the following Narrative made publick thereby to give check to the growing Atheisms both speculative and practical of this Age as also to let professors see what raisures in exemplary Godliness have been attained unto and they likewise ought to aspire after But to detain thee no longer in the Porch of this Sacred Temple I shall give thee a little Image of this holy man whose Life and Death is more fully related in the following Story Crediton in Devon was anciently very famous by reason of some eminent persons who have been born or seated there But what adds more to its honour upon the truest and best account then that Mr. John Rowe lived and died there What a bright and Influential Star was he How accute solid judicious and comprehensive was his Intellectual capacity What a great measure of prudence as to civil affairs was he endowed withall How publick-spirited was he as to the good of the place where he lived How many Controversies and Law-Suits did he by his happy interposure and mediation prevent or end Oh! what a publick good was he to poor Crediton and the parts adjacent How free hearted and ready to assist those that needed either Advice or Relief Was not a considerable part of his time strength and estate laid out for the good of others And Oh what an universal esteem and Affection did he hereby gain from all even the worst As for the inward frame of his Spirit he had a deep insight into and feeling acquaintance with the great mystery of Faith and Godliness His Light was not meerly Notional or Traditional but real distinct and affective derived from the Father of Light The self denial and Humility of his Spirit was very illustrious in the whole of his life Oh how much would he abase self and magnifie free grace in all the good he received or performed Albeit he was filled by God with great measures of grace yet how empty was he of self-fullness The more gracious God was to him the more vile he was in his own eyes Was not self-love
greatly swallowed up in and by the sense of Gods love to him What delight did he take in concealing that grace which was conferred on him under an humble self-abasement before God and men He lived the most that ever I knew any in a continual separation not only from the world but also from himself He seemed to me to have arrived unto the greatest abjuration of self-sufficiency that ever I met with Oh how much did he depart from himself day by day that so he might more intirely enter into and live in Christ What a generous design had he to abandon every part not only of sinful but legal self for Christ But yet the less he lived in the Spirit of his own Gifts or Graces received the more he lived in the Spirit of Christ his head Oh what an amorous union with and value for Christ did he gain by the Ruines of self-love The less he was in his own eyes by so much the more did he magnifie Christ His works did praise him but how much did his tongue heart and life praise Christ Yea how much did he rejoyce to see Christ glorifyed by others as well as by himself I must confess according to my best knowledge I never knew any that did more cry down self and cry up Christ than this now glorified Saint How willing was he to render unto Christ whatever he received from him Thus as the Rivers receive new supplies by emptying themselves into the Sea so did this holy man by returning the acknowledgement and improvement of all his grace unto Christ the Ocean of all As Humility kept him low in his own eyes so Faith raised in him an high esteem of Christ As he went unto Christ for all grace so he ascribed all unto him Thus he made Christ all in all He seemed so laborious in the ways of Godliness as if there were no Christ to trust unto and yet he was so much in Faith and dependance on Christ as if there were nothing to be done on his part As for his diligence in the work of God that he ascribed to Christ but as for any negligence he was guilty of that he ascribed to himself His will stood strongly Bent for God Oh! what a pure sound single entire upright heart for God had he How did Divine Love bend his will purifie the intention thereof keeping it in a firm adhesion unto God What spiritual Affections for Christ ballanced with saving light was his heart possessed withall How much did he fear God under Smiles love him under frowns hope in him under difficulties desire and enjoy him under all other enjoyments What a beautiful Harmony was there between his will and the Divine Will Yea how much did he live and die in the Soveraign Will When the Lord took from him any dear Relation what a correspondence with and Acquiescence in his royal pleasure did he discover in his deportment How Passive yea Active in concurrence with the will of God was his will under all chastisements How little covetuous or thirsty after his own will was he Oh what a flexible humble meek and broken will towards God was there discovered in him and yet lo how inflexible and stiffe was his will as to whatever had the appearance of evil how patient calm and submissive was he in his own cause and yet what an ardent zeal had he for the concerns of his Lord How much could he condescend to the will of the meanest for their good and yet how little would he stoop to the lusts of the proudest As for the constant establisht tenor of his Spirit in walking with God not only in Religious dutys but also in his civil Affairs I have much admired it Yea I cannot but tell the world what I have oft mentioned in private that I verily believe this holy man enjoyed more of God in his civil employments then many Christians do in their spiritual Retirements and Devotion I have taken him when newly come of a croud of secular affairs and have found him more spiritual in his converse then I find the most of Christians after their most serious exercises in religious worship And I remember he then told me what I hope I shall never forget That this was his course every day to examine what had been Gods carriage towards him and what had been his carriage towards God A Golden Rule for Heart examens Oh what an estrangement from a worldly Spirit had he in all his worldly concerns How were his Thoughts Principles Inclinations Affections and Actions moulded into a fit frame for walking with God Was not this the main business and exercise of his Life How much time did he spend in the service of his Lord and how little was he taken up with self-concernments What a serious lively affectionate communion with God had he not only in but also out of duties How much was his end ever in his eye And with what vigorous activity did he pursue the same How much was his heart with God in eating walking commerce and all parts of civil Conversation What a curious vigilant eye had he on his Spirit to secure it from all violent passions and irregular motions How unwilling was he to let pass the least occasion presented for receiving or doing good How little was there of a Vacuum in his Life for tentation to fill up What an equal uniform and harmonious life did he lead In sum He was one of an Universal Spirit for Godliness The Yoke and Cross of Christ were pleasant and familiar to him Oh how strict was his life but his heart large towards God and men How much did he vindicate the Reality of his Religion by living at a more than ordinary rate in Religion It was his great Aphorism both living and dying That Religion was a Real thing And how much did he demonstrate the same by the power thereof in his life and conversation What an Heaven of Holiness and Happiness did he find in his way to Heaven What a Tranquility of Spirit did he arrive unto in this inferiour world Was not his life by reason of the equality of its parts like a circle which every day began and ended in God What a constellation of graces seemingly contrary did there shine forth in his Conversation How knowing in the deep mystery of Faith and yet how humble was he What a blessed mixture of zeal and meekness appeared in him What a Majesty mixed mith a sweet Affability was there in his presence How much did he advantage men that knew him by giving them such a bright shining example of visible Godliness I would not exceed in mine esteem of persons or things but yet I must confess I cannot but admire the grace of God that shone so illustriously in this eminent Saint And I think I may say it without injury to truth or person that to my best remembrance I have not seen any one clothed with more visible and shining grace then
bitterness of any afflicting providence and may contain our Spirits in an even temper by the expectation of that uninterrupted and eternal joy that we hope one day to enter into when we shall meet never more to be separaced In another of his letters he expressed himself thus We have but an inch of time on earth and then we enter into eternity Oh then let us pray continually effectually fervently that our way may be right and our hearts upright to the finishing of all his wills in duty according to our relations unto all well pleasing He was a man of a very tender Conscience The Tuederness of his Conscience sensible of the least slip and failing and though none was ever known to be more Charitable to others and to make a more Charitable construction of what was done by others yet none was ever more severe against himself or more curious to espy the least sinful defect or irregularity in himself when he perceived the ebullitions of pride self-love covetousness infidelity When he saw the least mixture of carnal and self-ends in his good actions When he observed how prone he was to be byased by man-fearing and man-pleasing as he expressed it from his dutiy This was an inexpressible trouble to him and he would bewail these things with more bitterness then many are wont to do their grosser sins If he had at any time unawares and of a sudden spoken although others it may be apprehended it was not so an uncomely word as he thought unsuitable to the gravity which he conceived became him as a Christian he would bewail it greatly and could never be at rest in himself till he had prayed the persons that he supposed might take offence would pass it by He would be often complaining of his infirmities it was rare to hear him speaking of his comforts or spiritual joys but he would be very frequent in discovering what he found amiss in himself and many things that are very much sleighted by others were curiously observed by him In one of his letters he expresseth himself thus My unthankfulness besides my other sinful infirmities grieveth me sore and I am jealous of myself least the fear of the Rod do trouble me more then my grief for sin In another letter he hath this passage I have found and do find a great difficulty as in other things so in this of health to keep that narrow way of the Lord for I find by woful experience that I am often slipping out either by too much indulgence or too much severity which may rather be termed cruelty the Lord make us wise to avoid both these extreames His great care was to keep himself not only from such things as were in themselves sinful and unlawful but to abstain from all appearance of evil and to cut off occasion of offence from those that might seek it or be apt to take it He said he had found by many years experience that the great difficulty that lay upon the Saints it was in the use of things lawful and indifferent and he said he had often been unawares overtaken this way sometime by the leading aside of his own corrupt nature which was ever willing to take the largesT size and sometime by the mistaking of others who had misapprehended his intentions and made an evil construction of his actions yet God hereby had made him more wise and circumspect Hereupon he would advise to forbear a lawful recreation at some time and place rather then by the use of our Christian liberty occasion the censures of any that were loose and large walking though unjustly raised Another thing wherein the eminency of the grace of God in him appeared His Eminency in self Resignation was the Resignation of himself and all he had to the will of God the nature of grace is very much seen in this which we will as God wills and our wills do follow and not anticipate the Divine and uncreated will this holy man attained a great excellency in this kind it was his great exercise to pray up his will into a one-ness with the will of God he observed it was very incident to our natures to desire to bring down Gods will to ours but it was much better for us to pray up our wills into his when any difficulty lay before him and his natural affections and inclinations would have carried him such a way His first work was not to pray so much that he might obtain that which nature would desire but that this will might be brought up to the will of God and that his Spirit might be brought to an holy indifferency and the Lord did eminently answer him herein for before the issue of providence was discovered his will was usually brought up to the will of God and in several great Cases and emergencies in his life wherein he was much concerned he hath been known to say Touching the issue and success of such a business I have received power through grace to acquiess in the will of God when it is manifest And as it was his great exercise to be much in self-resignation so he made it his endeavour to resign all he had unto the Lords dispose After he had heard of the welfare of some of his Children he thus expressed himself And now what thanks can I render to God for you all only I desire to give you all up to God that hath given you to me for a time His advice also to his Children was to follow his example herein and to give up their nearest comforts to the Lord daily His great desire was to be spiritual in all he did His uprightness and that grace and not nature or fleshly wisdom might sway him in every thing When a near Relation desired his advice and connsel in a business of concernment before he came to give his advice he said Oh that I might be wholly spiritual that no carnal respects might blind mine eyes and this was his constant course when ever he was ingaged in any difficulty or to manage any business wherein he might be much concerned as to the issue of it his first care wes to mind his duty and to study which way grace would teach him to act and his great care was that grace might have the principal sway in all his actions that so it might appear to himself and others that not his natural affections or the principles of fleshly wisdom and carnal policy but grace and the word of God had led him forth to what he did He was wont to say that Duty was ours but the issues and successes of things belonged to God we should therefore study what our own duty was and leave the issue and successes of of things to God When one had desired his advice in a business of importance and great difficulty he wrote thus This one thing let us with incessant importunity crave of the Lord that in this as in all other things he
would teach us the way we should go and that we may walk with God and follow him fully in the integrity of our hearts and then leave the success on his care who is the only Wise and Almighty and our Father His advice was His advice how to understand the mind of God in difficult Cases that in all Cases of Conscience we should seek resolution from the word and in difficult cases we should ask the counsel of some faithful Minister For said he the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and we were to enquire the law at his mouth and God had appointed pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints and for that advice we were to take from godly Ministers he would say that which they spake out of the Pulpit was to be preferred before that which they spake occasionally and in a more private way of discourse for it was to be supposed that they had consulted much with God and had studied and prayed hard for that which they had delivered in publick and therefore more authority was to be given to it then to any occasional or sudden counsel He said also that for a right understanding of the mind of God in difficult cases the best way was to reduce things to their first Original and the first beginning they had from God and to look to the first foundation of them His desire was to be always in the exercise of grace His Desire to be alwayes in the exercise of grace and to mind and attend present duty He was much delighted in the saying of a godly Minister which afterward he was wont to use in his familar discourse that a Christian ought always to be in duty according to this he made it his great study to consider what it was that God called him to at present and what the present duty was that God put him upon When he went to visit any he would consider what his call was to go and what opportunity he might have to do or receive good and he much bewailed needless and complemental visits as things which did eat up and consume much precious time when he used any bodily exercise or lawful recreation he would do this as duty because he said it was the will of God we should preserve health and when he followed his earthly affairs he would do this as duty because he said it is the will of God that we should honour him in a particular calling His great care was to make his particular calling subservient to his general calling he would still endeavour to manage and order his earthly affairs so as that they might not intrench upon the duties of Religion nor he be abridged of fit and convenient time for the more immediate service of God Religion was become so spiritually natural to him How natural Religion was become to him that he seemed to be wholly turned into it what ever he did and spake for the most part did not only savour of grace but it seemed to be wholly guided and acted by grace Grace seemed to have made a perfect conquest of nature not but that he had the remnants of the body of death which he complained of as bitterly as any but grace had so great sway and command in him that there was little else but grace appeared to the view of others He said heretofore when he was carnal he could have wished many of the Commandments razed out of the book of God but now he found his heart in some measure made sutable to the Law He thought his heart never in a right temper but when he could delight in the ways of God and would frequently mention that Scripture blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments Such was the delight and complacency that he took in the ways of God and the satisfaction that he found in them that not years before his death he had such a speech as this which he spake with much solemnity If I were sure that as the beast dies so dies the man yet would I not chuse to be otherwise then I am Amongst those many graces that he was Eminent for His living by Faith on Christ that which seemed to be most eminent in him was his Faith and living upon Christ this was the true root from whence his other great attainments in Christianity did arise It was the great exercise of his life to go wholly out of himself and to live wholly upon Christ for all His most familiar expressions in prayer were such as these Take us wholly out of self and let our whole dependance be upon Christ Make us one Spirit with Christ and let us be acted by his Spirit that so we may not live so much as Christ may live in us It hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell out of his fulness let us receive grace for grace Thou hast appointed him to be wisdom righteousness sanctification all in all unto thy people make him so to us This was his constant and most familiar language and as the Bent of his Spirit lay most this way so he accounted this his greatest perfection It was a memorable speech that he used to some that had a great esteem of him for that singular holiness and sanctity that they knew to be in him The highest thing that I have attained unto it is to go quite and clean out of my self and to roll my self wholly upon the grace of God in Christ After all the grace he had attained unto he accounted it his greatest perfection to deny himself and to live wholly upon Christ herein imitating the blessed Apostle who after the greatest measures of holiness that he had attained yet made it his great desire to be sound in Christ This holy man was so curious in this point of living intirely upon Christ as that he never suspected himself more or thought worse of himself then when he found a secret inclination to look to somewhat in himself and could not find himself so clearly brought off to acts of self-denial One passage of his was very remarkable to this purpose I have been apt to question my condition much of late because when I have found things amiss within me and have found out any salve I would be quiet and did not deny my self fully to rest on the grace of God in Christ The great counsel which he would ever be inculcating on his children it was that they should labour to deny themselves more and more and study Christ and learn him more and more He was scarce ever known to give any holy exhortations to any in which he was most frequentand abundant but still he would be sure in the close to admonish them to look to Christ for all grace and what everduty he had been exhorting them unto he would still put them in remembrance that the grace and strength by which they were to perform this was to be
of evil Report Nor to the hinderance of mens particular Callings Nor by night or other times suspected Nor for Controversies of Disputations But for the clearing and setting home of truth received in the publick Ministry and in clearing Cases of Conscience arising thereupon or otherwise And in such exhortations admonitious counsels consolations as conduce thereunto or are otherwise necessary In some convenient time of the day for an hour or two at the most and once in a week at the most except in some urgent case In some Family of good report and among persons of good report Each one present having Liberty to speak one by one to begin and end with prayer for a blessing That the Minister of the place or some other approved Minister be defired to be present Then presently to depart each one to his place and duty and to walk sutably that the way of God be not evil spoken of This Paper was enough to satisfie all ingenious and unprejudiced persons and whereas it was feared that these Meetings might have been an occasion for the spreading of Errors the contrary effect was found for by this means the godly of that place where these meetings were held were kept stedfast in the Faith And this arose much from the wisdom which God had endowed Mr. Rome withal for his prudence was such in managing of those meetings as that the time which they spent together in them was taken up for the most part excepting only what time was spent in prayer in discoursing of some main Article of Religion or some Catechetically point And by this means the Christians of that place were so rooted and grounded in the Faith as that they were not so soon shaken by temptations as many others were in others parts of the Nation who had not the principles of Religion so much distilled into them nor rendred so familiar to them To all that which hath been already said The great conjunction of the graces of the Spirit in him this is to be added as that which did most of all commend and set forth the Grace of God in him and towards him He did not only attain an eminency in this or that grace or some few particular Graces but he arrived to a great eminency in every grace so that as there was no grace but it was very visible and might be clearly seen and discerned to be in him so there was not one of these graces but he seemed to excel therein Holy affection and a spiritual fervor in prayer and other acts of worship zeal for the glory of God faith humility meekness patience submission to the will of God heavenly-mindedness charity and compassion to others and the like graces were not only to be found in him as they are more or less to be found in all the Saints but they were elevated to a greater height and brought up to a greater and more peculiar eminency that is commonly found in most Christians and there was such a special eminency in every grace as that it was hard to say which grace it was that he most excelled in Having thus walked with God many years His bringing forth more fruit in his age he kept his integrity to the end and that which was most remarkable in his elder years he seemed to excel himself he did not only retain the lustre of his former graces but he grew more spiritual and was more active and lively in the ways of God he spent more time in Prayer meditation and other holy exercises he was more abundant in holy counsells and exhortations And this was one of his speeches Since our time is short let us work the faster and watch and pray the more fervently Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments He seemed to mind little else but spiritual concernments grace seemed to have the whole command of him Being asked by one of his Relations that whereas in his younger years he seemed to be more inclined to passion and perturbation and was sooner moved when those that were under him had not given him due observance and done things according to his mind and expectation how it came to pass that now in his elder years he was more meek and patient and seemed to be little moved at any thing he answered it was not because he found not the same things in his nature still and that he found himself more inclined to passion then before but that the grace of God had now overcome and overpowred him and reduced him to the temper that he was in He had a long and a constant remembrance of his change before it came His expectation and longing after his change And herein he was most like the antient saints he accounted himself but a Pilgrim and Stranger upon Earth Several years before his death there was scarce a Letter that he wrote to some of his nearest Relations but he expressed the sense he had of his approaching change In one of his Letters he expressed himself thus our time of departure hence draweth neer Oh pray for us as we desire to do for you that we may be found blameless at that day In another letter after he had been sick he said Pray for me that I may not be taken hence unready nor yet my life be longer desired then all Gods work in me and by me be done A year or two before his death he rejoyced much to think that so much of his race was run and expressed himself to this purpose that he would not for a great deal be set back and have those years to live again that he had already passed over Some five or six weeks before his last sickness whereof he died he thus expressed himself I am old as Isaack said and know not the day of my death pray for me that I may be faithful to the death About the begining of December 1659. he fell sick of a lingring distemper His last Sickness which continued upon him for the space of ten weeks before the Lord was pleased to put a period to his race In the beginning of his sickness he had some intimation from the Lord concerning his change The Intimation he had concerning his change and as there was no eminent thing that befell him in his course but he had usually some hint before from the Lord concerning it So the Lord the better to prepare him for it had fastned the impression of his change upon him before it came When the Minister of the place where he lived came to visit him and said he hoped he might recover he replied he knew not how God might deal with him but he had received the sentence of death in himself A little after the beginning of his sickness he wrote to some of his near Relations Beloved in the Lord I am yet thorough mercy alive and continue sick my God dealeth bountifully with me who do acknowledge from my heart that I am a chief of sinners
yet hath he pardoned me and will ere long receive me to be with Christ which is best of all Pray for me that I may give God his due glory by believing and by holy submission and conformity to his will in life and death Blessed be God I have in my weak measure set my house in order c. As long as ever he was able His unweariedness in the Lords work to the last he continued praying with his family and speaking to them something out of the word and when he found his spirits so low and so much spent that he was not able to do as much as he had done formerly he said it was the grief of his Soul that he could do no more for them His whole carriage during his sickness and at his death His exemplary carrage at his death it was suitable to his life as he had lived exemplarily so he died exemplarily The whole of his carriage at his death was as one who was an eye witness of it and was a judicious person expressed it as if it had been a studied peece his great care was that grace might be seen to act him at his death as his chief care had been to express it in his Life He was naturally a man of a timerous and fearful Spirit but when he came to die the grace of God had so elevated him above his natural temper that he was not only willing to die but he triumphed over death and was no more concerned about it then only that grace might act him at his death as it had done in his life He delighted not to speak much in the time of his sickness but for the most part his time was taken up in a continued Meditation yet something he spake to all that came to visit him and that which he spake it was usually comprized in some short sentence or other His Dying Speeches and Counsels His most usual word to all that came to him was this make sure of Christ remember that one necessary thing At one time when some of the younger sort were come about him he said make sure of Christ and for incouragement I tell you that Religion is no vain thing it is no notion it is a reality I tell you so from mine own experience Another time perceiving some young ones to be talking one to another in a familiar manner he said he knew not what thy were talking about but commended their love only they should be sure to speak something for the edifying one of another and they should have their speeck seasoned with the salt of the word for the Lord he hearkned and heard and there was a Book of remembrance written for them that feared him and thought upon his name At another time when there was a person of Quality came to visit him he said hold on as you have begun make sure of Christ if I had as much gold as would reach up to the sky it would do me no good my interest in Christ is all my happiness Another time his wife and children coming about him he said I hope you have made choice of Christ and he exhorted them to cleave to him withall he added they shyould be diligent in the use of all the means but when all was done they should be sure to depend upon Christ and he added farther take heed of the world for that is your greatest Enemy I have found it to be so And to his children in particular he said deny your selves sinful-self self-pleasure and self\profit and the delights of the world and seek your All in Christ and in him you shall find All-sufficiency When some good people who were wont to meet together to pray and to build up one another in the ways of God came to visit him he said continue in prayer hold on I am confident it is the way of God you are in To the Minister of the place that came to visit him often in his sickness he said Preach to win souls let all your preaching be to win souls And to his own Son a little before his death he wrote to this purpose my Son take heed to the Ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it this will tend to the glory of God the good of souls and to thine account in the day of Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep During the time of his sickness some of his Christian friends kept a Fast for him as also in relation to publick concernments and some being going from him to that exercise he said Pray for me but especially for the Church of God All the time of his sickness he had not the least cloud upon his Spirit The inward Peace and spiritual Comforts which he had in his Sickness neither was Satan permitted in the least to disturb his peace when a Minister that came to visit him asked him whether he had any temptations he answered No blessed be the Lord the had none so that although all his life time he had been full of conflicts yet when he came to die he had the most perfect serenity after he had been sick some weeks he wrote thus to a near Relation I yet live thorough merey and do continue weak but God dealeth very gently with me for my outward afflictions are tolerable and his inward consolations are full of grace and heavenly sweetness These comforts abode and continued with him to the very last for at several times in his sickness and the same day that he died he was heard to say he hath left with me the Comforter and when about an hour before he died his natural Spirits being almost spent he brake forth into this expression my grief is great one of his Relations standing by said to him you do not mean in respect of your spiritual estate Mr. Rowe replied with a little seeming displeasure No no he hath and doth and will support by his eternal Spirit Thus the Lord was pleased to answer him in that which had been his great desire for a long time which was that his Faith might not fail and that he might be kept up in the Faith to the last The night beFore he died he had this expression I have waited upon God for my salvation and blessed be God I shall not be disappointed As his manner was in his life time His Constancy in self-denial so it was observed by those that were most about him at his death He was much in the acknowledgment of his own nothingness and vileness and much in magnifying the free grace mercy of God towards him The Minister that preached at his Funeral had this passage concerning him He was much in self denial even to the last looking on all that he had done as nothing as dross and dung in comparison of Christ At one time when his wife came to him and said she prayed that she might follow his steps he replied Follow Christ follow