of Lot Gen. 19. of Jacob Gen. 31. of Moses Exod. 3. of Balaam Gideon Manoah Elijah c. in the Old Testament And in the Case of the Baptist's and our Saviour's Birth in the New Testament they appeared to the Two Maries Zechariah and the Shepherds Act. 10.3 Cornelius is said to have seen a Vision evidently viz. An Angel of God coming to him More may be observed by Men of Leisure and Ingenuity that will take the pains to examine their Concordance and turn over a few leaves of the Bible The greatest difficulty is with Men of an Infidel Nature not only of the Sadducean humour who Account Angels no more then Divine Praises or of the Familist's Principle who say they are meer Phantasms created for the present occasion and then presently when their Business is over manumitted into Old Vanity and Nothing but Hobbists and Scepticks and Atheists The first of which Symbolizes much with the Old Sadduces the Sceptick doubts and the Atheist flatly denies them To all which I have no more to say it being not my business now to engage in the Lists of Disputation which would swell my Book into a Volume too big for the Purses of the present Age but to submit fairly the aforesaid Texts and the following stories to the Sober and Mature consideration of the Reader Only be pleased to take this distinction along with you that Angels may appeaâ— visibly to the Eye of the mind as well as to the Eye of sense And now let us lay aside our Bible a while to humour the Infirmity of this Unbelieving Club who could be well enough content there might be Good Angels concerned for us so there were no Bad ones against us Bodinus who had it from the Mouth of the Man whom it concerned a Holy and Pious Man and an Acquaintance of Bodinus's tells us that he had a certain Spirit that did perpetually accompany him which he was then first aware of when he was about Thirty Seven years of Age but conceived that the said Spirit had been with him all his Life time as he gathered from certain Monitory Dreams and Visions whereby he was forewarned as well of several Dangers as Vices That this Spirit discovered himself to him after he had for a whole year together earnestly prayed to God to send a Good Angel to him to be the Guide and Governour of his Life and Actions adding also that before and after Prayer he used to spend two or three hours in Meditation and Reading the Scriptures diligently enquiring with himself what Religion might be the Best beseeching God that he would be pleased to direct him to it And that he did not allow of their way that at all adventures pray for Confirmation of them in that Opinion they are in whether right or wrong That whilst he was thus busy in matters of Religion he light on a passage in Philo Judeus de Srcrificiis where he Writes That a Good and Holy Man can offer no greater nor more acceptable Sacrifice to God then the oblation of himself And therefore following Philo's Counsel that he offered his Soul to God And after that amongst many other Divine Dreams and Visions he once in his sleep seemed to hear the Voice of God saying to him I will save thy Soul I am he that appeared unto thee Afterwards the Spirit would every day knock at the Door about three or four a Clock in the Morning tho he rising and opening the Door could see no body This Trouble and Boysterousness made him begin to conceit that it was some ill Spirit that thus haunted him and therefore he daily Prayed earnestly to the Lord that he would be pleased to send his Good Angel to him and often also Sung Psalms having most of them by heart Wherefore the Spirit afterwards knocked more gently at the Door and One day discovered himself to him Waking which was the first time that he was assured by his senses that it was He for he often touched and stirred a Drinking-Glass that stood in his Chamber which did not a little amaze him Two days after when he entertained a Friend of his Secretary to the King his Friend was much abashed while he heard the Spirit thumping on the Bench hard by him and was strucken with fear but he bid him be of good courage there was no hurt towards him and the better to assure him of it told him the truth of the whole matter From that time saith Bodinus he did affirm that this Spirit was always with him and by some sensible Sign did ever advertise him of things as by striking his Right Ear if he did any thing amiss if otherwise his left If any body came to Circumvent him his right Ear was struck but his left if a good Man and to good Ends accosted him If he was about to Eat or Drink any thing that would hurt him or intended to do any ill Action he was inhibited by a Sign and if he delayed to follow his Business he was quickened by a Sign given him When he began to Praise God in Psalms and to declare him Marvellous Acts he was presently raised and strengthened by a Supernatural Power He daily begg'd of God that he would teach him his Will and set one day of the Week a part for meditation and Reading the Scripture and Singing of Psalms and did not stir out of his House all that day But in his ordinary Conversation he was sufficiently merry and of a cheerful mind for which he cited that saying Vidi facies sanctorum letas But in his conversing with others if he had talked Vainly and Indiscreetly or had some days together neglected his Devotions he was forthwith Admonished thereof by a Dream He was also Admonished to rise betime every Morning about four a Clock with a Voice coming to him while he was asleep saying Who gets up first to Pray He was often Admonish'd likewise to give Alms and observed the more Charity he bestowed the more Prosperous he was On a time when his Enemies sought after his Life knowing he was to go by Water his Father in a Dream brought two Horses to him the one white the other Bay and thereupon he bid his Man hire him two Horses and tho he said nothing of the Colours his Man brought him a White Horse and a Bay one In all Difficulties Journeyings c. He us'd to ask Counsel of God and one Night when he had begg'd his Blessing while he slept he saw a Vision wherein his Father seemed to Bless him At another time when in great danger and was newly gone to Bed he said the Spirit would not let him alone till he had raised him again whereupon he watched and prayed all that Night the day after he escap'd the hands of his Persecutors in a wonderful manner which done in his next sleep he heard a Voice saying Now Sing Qui sedet in latibulo altissimi c. He once attempting to speak to this
undutiful and irregular in his Conversation and therefore his Father being grieved at it left with one Mrs. Wilson a Sails-man in London 40 l. per Annum upon this Condition That if his Son did forsake his evil Courses and become an honest Man he should then give him the Estate if not he should never let him have it After the Father's Decease Mr. Baines reformed mightily and became eminently pious and devout Mr. Wilson falling sick sends for him and desires him to pray with him which Mr. Baines did every savourily upon which the good Gentleman told him of the 40 l. per Annum which his Father had left with him and so faithfully delivered up those Writings of the Agreement which had passed betwixt his Father and him And being like to leave behind him a Wife and two Children he intreated Mr. Baines to be a Friend to them And accordingly after Mr. Wilson's Death to Discharge his Trust and approve himself grateful he married his Widow Mr. Clark in his Life Here was a Son that indeed was not dutiful to his Father in his first Years that would not go when his Father bid him go but afterwards repented and went and accordingly he fared for tho' the Estate came not to him presently yet afterwards it came CHAP. LXXVI Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet BLessed saith our Saviour are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth and again Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God And 't is certain a Meekness and Quietness of Spirit doth mightily contribute to the Health of our Bodies the Comfort of our Minds and a peaceable and sweet Enjoyment of the good things of this Life The Christian Religion says a learned Man Dr. Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Sermon upon Phil. 3. v. 16. doth lay the greatest Obligations on Mankind to Peace and Unity by the strictest Commands the highest Examples and the most prevailing Arguments yet so much have the Passions and Interests of Men overlay'd the Sense of their Duty that as nothing ought to be more in our Wishes so nothing seems more remote from our Hopes then the universal Peace of the Christian World Not that there is any impossibility in the thing or any considerable difficulty if all Men were such Christians as they ought to be but as long as Men pursue their several Factions and Designs under the colour and pretence of Zeal for Religion if they did not find Names and Parties ready framed that were suitable to their Ends the difference of their Designs would make them So that 'till mens Corruptions are mortified and their Passions subdued to a greater degree then the World hath yet found them it is vain to expect a state of Peace and Tranquility in the Church We need not go far from home for a sufficient Evidence of this for although our differences are such as the wiser Protestants abroad not only condemn but wonder at them yet it hath hitherto puzzled the wisest Persons among us to find out ways to compose them not so much from the distance of mens Opinions and Practices as the strength of their Prejudices and Inclinations Thus far Dr. Stillingfleet I now proceed to Instances of Present Retribution to the Peaceable and Quiet 1. Bazil the Great after a difference had happened between him and Eusebius Bishop of Caesaria upon danger of a Persecution from Valens the Arrian Emperour went to him and was reconciled and afterwards upon Eusebius's Death was chosen Bishop in his room Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist 2. Ambrose Lieutenant and Consul of Millain upon the Death of Auxentius Bishop of that See going to appease an Uproar that was then risen about the Election of another Bishop with his excellent Arguments so appeased the Rage of the heady Multitude they with one Voice cried up Ambrose for their Bishop upon which without any further deliberation he was by the Bishops there present installed into the Office tho' at that time he was but a Catechumenist and unbaptized Ibid. Another time Justina the Empress going about to banish Ambrose the People bore such a singular love to him that they withstood her Act and hindred it and besides just at the same time a Rebellion was raised in Britain by Maximus which cooled her Spleen and broke her Purpose concerning it Ibid. 3. There is among the Advertisements of the late News-Letters a Book mentioned with this Title The happiness of a quiet Mind both in Youth and Old Age with the way to attain it In a Discourse occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13. 1695 in the Ninety fifth Year of her Age. By Tim. Rogers M. A. c. I suppose by the Title for I have not yet seen the Book that the Author doth ascribe the healthful Crasis of the Gentlewoman's Body and the Longevity of her Life in great measure to the quietness of her Mind but for further satisfaction I leave my Reader to consult the Book it self 4. John of Times who lived a Nestors Age and more till he was three Hundred Sixty one Years old was a Man of a contented Spirit in all Conditions of Life Wanley's Wonders l. 1. c. 31. 5. Mr. Phil. Henry of whom I have made mention before was a Man of a very sedate even Temper a calm Spirit a great Peace-maker in his Neighbourhood and accordingly he lived loved and died with the universal Lamentation of People of all sorts And which perhaps ought not to be omited in the consideration after the enjoyment of a kind and loving Wife who brought him a good and plentiful Estate and seeing his Children all disposed of with his consent and to content of all Persons concerned and they walking in the Truth and mutual Love one with another and his Chhildrens Children to his great Joy and Comfort I say after all these Blessings poured plentifully upon his Head with great assurance and satisfaction about his spiritual and eternal Estate he quietly with a short Sickness of about twelve Hours continuance or not much more resign'd up his Spirit into the Hands of the God of Peace 6. Mrs. Katherine Stubs obeyed the Commandment of the Apostle who biddeth Women to be silent and learn of their Husbands at home she would never suffer any Disorder or Abuse in her House to be unreproved or unreformed and so gentle was she and courteous of Nature that she was never heard to give the Lie to any in all her Life nor so much as Thou to any in Anger She was never heard to fall out with any of her Neighbours nor with the least Child that lived much less to scold or brawl And for true Love and Loyalty to her Husband and his Friends was she the rearest Paragon in the World she lived very contentedly there was never any Man or Woman that ever opened their Mouths against her And accordingly as she lived so she died peaceably and comfortable out-braving
a Relation from her of what she herself remembers of those several strange Passages of her Life that I here relate or of any other that I have either forgot or that never came to my Cognizance but she being prevail'd with by some of her poor ignorant Neighbours not to do it and she fancying that if she should do it she might again fall into trouble about it I here give your Lordship the best and faithfullest Account I can In the Year 1691 I wrote into Cornwall to my Sister Mary Martyn's Son an Attorney to go to the said Anne and discourse her as from me about the most material strange Passages of her Life he answers my Letter Sept. 12 1691. and saith I have been with Anne Jefferies and she can give me no particular Account of her Condition it being so long since My Grandfather and Mother say That she was in Bodmyn Goal Three Months and lived Six Months without Meat and during her Continuance in that Condition several eminent Cures were performed by her the Particulars no one can now relate My Mother saw the Fairies once and heard one say That they should give some Meat to the Child that she might return to her Parents Which is the fullest Relation can now be given But I not being satisfied with this Answer did in the Year 1693 write into Cornwall to my Sister's Husband Mr. Humph. Martyn and desired him to go to Anne Jefferies to see if he could perswade her to give me what Account she could remember of the many and strange Passages of her Life He answers my Letter Jan. 31. 1693. and saith As for Anne Jefferies I have been with her the greatest part of one Day and did read to her all that you wrote to me but she would not own any thing of it as concerning the Fairies neither of any of the Cures she then did I endeavoured to perswade her she might receive some benefit by it She answered That if her own Father were now alive she would not discover to him those things that did then happen to her I ask'd her the Reason why she would not do it she reply'd That if she should discover it to you that you would make either Books or Ballads of it And she said That she would not have her Name spread about the Country in Books or Ballads of such things if she might have Five hundred Pounds for the doing of it for she said she had been questioned before Justices and at the Sessions and in Prison and also before the Judges at the Assizes and she doth believe that if she should discover such things now she should be questioned again for it As for the ancient Inhabitants of St. Teath Church Town there are none of them now alive but Thomas Christopher a blind Man Note This Tho. Christopher was then a Servant in my Father's House when these things happened and he remembers many of the Passages you wrote of her And as for my Wife she then being so little did not mind it but has heard her Father and Mother relate most of the Passages you wrote of her This is all I can at present possibly get from her and therefore I now go on with my own Relation of the wonderful Cures and other strange Things she did or hapned to her which is the Substance of what I wrote to my Brother and that he read to her It 's the Custom in our County of Cornwall for the most substantial People of each Parish to take Apprentices the Poor's Children and to breed them up till they attain to twenty one Years of Age and for their Service to give them Meat Drink and Cloaths This Anne Jefferies being a poor Man's Child of the Parish by Providence fell into our Family where she lived several Years being a Girl of a bold daring Spirit she would venture at those Difficulties and Dangers that no Boy would attempt In the Year 1645 she then being Nineteen Years old she being one Day knitting in an Arbour in our Garden there came over the Garden-hedge to her as she affirmed Six Persons of a small stature all cloathed in Green which she call'd Fairies upon which she was so frighted that she fell into a kind of a Convulsion-fit but when we found her in this Condition we brought her into the House and put her to Bed and took great Care of her As soon as she recovered out of her Fit she cries out They are just gone out of the Window they are just gone out of the Window Do you not see them And thus in the height of her Sickness she would often cry out and that with eagerness which Expressions we attributed to her Distemper supposing her light-headed During the Extremity of her Sickness my Father's Mother died which was in April 1646 but we durst not acquaint our Maid Anne with it for fear it might have increas'd her Distemper she being at that time so very sick that she could not go nor so much as stand on her Feet and also the Extremity of her Sickness and the long Continuance of her Distemper had almost perfectly mop'd her so that she became even as a Changeling and as soon as she began to recover and to get a little strength she in her going would spread her Legs as wide as she could and so lay hold with her Hands on Tables Forms Chairs Stools c till she had learn'd to go again and if any thing vex'd her she would fall into her Fits and continue in them a long time so that we were afraid she would have died in one of them As soon as she had got out of her Fit she would heartily call upon God and then the first Person she would ask for was myself and would not be satisfied 'till I came to her Upon which she would ask me If any one had vex'd or abus'd me since she fell into her Fit Upon my telling her no one had she would stroke me and kiss me calling me her dear Child and then all her Vexation was over As soon as she recovered a little strength she constantly went to Church to pay her Devotions to our great and good God and to hear his Word read and preached Her Memory was so well restored to her that she would repeat more of the Sermons she heard than any other of our Family She took mighty delight in Devotion and in hearing the Word of God read and preach'd altho' she herself could not read The first Manual Operation or Cure she perform'd was on my own Mother the occasion was as follows One Afternoon in the Harvest time all our Family being in the Fields at work and my self a Boy at School there was none in the House but my Mother and this Anne my Mother considering that Bread might be wanting for the Labourers if care were not taken and she having before caus'd some Bushels of Wheat to be sent to the Mill my Mother was resolved that she herself
King Henry the IV. and the fine Gardens of the Tuilleries adjoyning to it Yet as I have been informed it hath been graced with this Distick by an ingenious Poet whom the King rewarded abundantly for his flattering Wit Non Orbis Gentem non Vrbem Gens habet Vnam Vrbsve Domum Dominum nec Domus Vlla Parem 21. Madrid in Spain the King's Seat populous but placed in a barren Soyl upon the River Guadarama concerning which I find little worthy Remark but near to Cucuca about 7 Leagues from madrid is the Escurial or Monastery of S. Lawrence built by Philip II. King of Spain a Building of that magnificence that nothing is comparable to it The Front towards the West is set out with three stately Gates the middlemost whereof leads into a very sumptuous Temple and Monastery where are 150 Monks of the Order of S. Hierome and a College At the four Corners are four Turtets of excellent Workmanship and Majestical Height towards the North is the King's Palace on the South Beautiful Galleries on the East pleasant Gardens c. Heylin 22. London in England is especially remarkable for the Church of S. Paul the Tower the Royal-Exchange the Bridge the Tombs at Westminster and the Monumental Pillar 23. Oxford for Christs-Church-College the Schools and Library together with the Theatre which is spacious and lofty and yet without any Pillar to support it Concerning which I shall add no more because I design Brevity and write to my own Countrymen CHAP. XI Improvements in Mechanicks Agriculture c. 'T IS wonderful to observe what excellent Pieces of Handy-work have been wrought and presented to the World by that one little Member of Man's Body that Piece of Flesh and Blood no bigger than a Palm only branch'd out like a Cinquefoyl into five Parts how useful it hath been to our necessities and to what a degree of Skilfulness and Dexterity 't is arrived of late Years though it must be confessed That the Brain hath had the chief Stroak in its Guidance and Conduct 1. For Boulting of Meal Cardan describes an Invention whereby one Man who turns a Wheel and puts Meal into a Dish and when all places are full gathering up the Flower and Bran that is bolted doth the work of three Men any ordinary Person may do it By which means likewise none of the Meal is lost and the Meal is sifted exactly and all this without fouling the House Moreover the Nature of the Instrument is to make two or three sorts of Flower 2. For Grinding of Corn there have been several kinds of Mills invented as first Water-Mills Secondly Wind-Mills of several sorts used in Italy France England c. which will grind 3000 pounds of Corn in an Hour in some places Horse-Mills are used and of late there hath been Invented an Ingenious Instrument made of Steel or Iron of no great bulk very useful for grinding of Malt and some say of any other Grain but I fear it is not bought to that perfection yet 3. A Gentleman in Shropshire one Mr. Peark had a Water running by his House side which served to turn his Mill to turn his Spit and churn Butter 4. At Mr. Fermors at Tusmore in Oxfordshire is a Mill which with one Horse and Man who is carried round as it were in a Coach-box behind the Horse performs at pleasure these many Offices First it grinds Apples the common way for Cider And secondly Wheat which it sifts at the same time into four different Finesses Thirdly Oats which it cuts from the Husk and winnows from the Chaff making very good Oatmeal and lastly makes Mustard and all these it performs severally or together according as desired Dr. Plot ' Nat. Hist Oxfordsh p. 264. 5. At Sir Anthony Copes at Hanwel there is also a Mill erected that doth not only grind the Corn for the House but with the same motion turneth a very large Engine for cutting the hardest Stone after the manner of Lapidaries and another for Boring of Guns And these either severally or altogether at pleasure Ibid. 6. At Henly in the said County the Malt-Kills are placed in the Backs of their Kitchin Chimneys so that drying their Malt with Wood the same Fire serves for that and all other uses of their Kitchins beside One Philps a Baker of Magdalen-Parish Oxon who having a very great Oven made it plain at the top and plaister'd it over whereon laying Malt he dried it with the same Fire that he heated his Oven for his Bread and thus made the best Malt that Oxford afforded and of necessity the cheapest for it cost him nothing Ibid 7. At Caversham in Oxford-shire they make a sort of Brick 22 Inches long and about 6 broad called Lath-bricks by reason they are put in the places of the Laths or Spars supported by Pillars in Oâ—sts for drying Malt which is the only use of them and are not liable to the Fire as the wooden Laths are and hold the Heat so much better that being once heated a small matter of Fire will keep them so which are unvaluable advantages in the Malting Trade Also about Burford they make Malt-kilns of Stone which beside the great Security from Fire these also dry the Malt with much less Fuel and in a shorter time than the old ones would do insomuch that whereas they could formerly dry with the ordinary Kiln but two Quarters in a Day they now dry six and with as little Fuel Now if ordinary Stone prove so advantagious how would the Cornish warming Stone that will hold heat well 8 or 10 Hours Or Spanish Ruggiola's which are broad Plates like Tiles cut out of a Mountain of red Salt near Cardona which being well heated on both sides will keep warm 24 Hours Ibid. p. 252. 8. Mr. John Dwight M. A. of C. C. College Oxon hath discovered the Mystery of the Stone or Cologne-Wares such as Jugs Bottles Noggins heretofore made only in Germany and hath set up a Manufacture of the same which by methods and contrivances of his own in three or four Years time he hath brought to greater Perfection than it has attained where it hath set up a Manufacture of the same which by methods and contrivances of his own in three or four Years time he hath brought to greater Perfection than it has attained where it hath been used for many Ages He hath discovered also the Mystery of the Hessian-Wares and making Vessels for Retaining the penetrating Salts and Spirits of the Chymists more serviceable than those Imported from Germany And hath found out ways to make an Earth white and Transparent as Porcellane and not distinguishable from it by the Eye or by Experiments that have been purposely made to try wherein they disagree To this Earth he hath added the Colours that are usual in the coloured China Ware and divers other not seen before He hath also caused to be modelled Statues of the said Transparent Earth which he hath diversified with
and Visions p 47 Chap. 9. Of Prediction by Impulses c. p. 54 Chap. 10. Of Divination Southsaying Witchcraft p. 56 Chap. 11. Of Astrology p. 60 Chap. 12. Of Oracles p. 62 Chap. 13. Of Prophets p. 64 Chap. 14. Of Urim and Thummim Teraphim c. p. 67 Chap. 15. Premonitions of general Changes or Revolutions p. 69 Chap. 16. Premonitions of particular Changes or Accidents of Life containing great variety of late Instances p. 71. Chap. 17. Promises fulfill'd p. 81 Chap. 18. Strange Convictions or Conversions with many late Instances of that nature p. 83 Chap. 19. Strange ways of Restraining Persons from Sin in several remarkable Instances of it p. 94 Chap. 20. Strange ways of promoting Salvation p. 95 Chap. 21. Wants strangely supplied p. 97. Chap. 22. Strange Instances of Consolation and Protection in dangers containing 1. Personal deliverances and comforts 2. Sea-dangers and deliverances 3. Princes and Magistrates delivered from Plots p. 99 to 120 Cha. 23. The Innocent strangely cleared p. 120 Chap. 24. Doubts strangely resolved and the weak confirmed p. 123. Chap. 25. The Modest and Humble strangely advanced p. 125 Chap. 26. Persons strangely admonished of sins or dangers p. 126. Chap. 27. Remarkable instances of Faith p. 128. Chap. 28. Remarkable courage and boldness p. 129. Chap. 29. Remarkable Patience p. 130. Chap. 30. Remarkable Prudence p. 132. Chap. 31. Remarkable Justice p. 133. Chap. 32. Remarkable Temperance in â—eats p. 135. Chap. 33. Remarkable Temperance in Drinks p. 136. Chap. 34. Remarkable Frugality and Humility in Cloaths Houshold-stuff c. p. 137 Chap. 35. Remarkable Humility in Behaviour p. 139 Chap. 36. Remarkable Veracity and Love of Truth p. 1 2d Alphabet Chap. 37. Remarkable Friendship p. 2. 2d Al. Chap. 38. Remarkable Hospitality p. 3. 2d Al. Chap. 39. Remarkable charity and liberality in Giving p. 6. 2d Alph. Chap. 40. Remarkable charity in judging â—nd forgiving p. 10. 2d Alph. Chap. 41. Remarkable Instances of Munificence p. 11. 2d Alph. Chap. 42. Remarkable chastity p. 16. 2d Alph. Chap. 43. Remarkable meekness quietness and peaceableness p. 17. 2d Alph. Chap. 44. Remark moderation and zeal for reconciling church differences p. 18. 2d Alph. Chap. 45. Retractations of censorious Protestants p. 20 2d Alph. Chap. 46. Good People extreamly afflicted and mightily comforted with several late instances of Persons troubled in mind p. 21 2d Alph. Chap. 47. Remarkable Gratitude p. 26 2d Alph. Chap 48. Remarkable diligence laboriousness and studiousness p. 27 2d Alph. Chap. 49. Remarkable instances of contempt of wealth p. 29 2d Alph. Chap. 50. Remarkable silence or reservedness of Men c. as also of retirement p. 30 2d Alph. Chap. 51. Good Wives remarkable Chap. 52. Good Husbands remarkable p. 41 2d Alph. Chap. 53. Good Children remarkable p. 42 2d Alph. Chap. 54. An account of the conversions of little Children being about 50 in number and most of this present age p. 43 2d Alph. Chap. 55. Good Parents remarkable p. 52. 2d Alph. Chap. 56. Good Servants remarkable p. 53 2d Alph. Chap. 57. Good Masters and Mistresses remarkable p. 54 2d Alph. Chap. 58. Good Pastors Bishops and Ministers p. 55 2d Alph. Chap. 59. Reverence to learned or good Men p. 55 2d Alph. Chap. 60. People loving and kind to their Ministers p. 58 2d Alph. Chap. 61. Remarkable Zeal and Devotion to this Chap. is added Mr. Albin's Evidences for Heaven subscrib'd as sufficient grounds of assurance by Mr. Calamy and other Divines which Evidences were never Printed before p. 59 2d Alph. Chap. 62. Remarkable zeal and charity in propogating Religion by Mr. Boil and oothers in several parts of the World p. 72 2d Alph. Chap. 63. Remarkable devotion in singing Psalms and Hymns of Praise p. 76 2d Alph. Chap. 64. Persons remarkable for good Discourse p. 78 2d Alph. Chap. 65. Remarkable devotion on the Lords Day p. 79. 2d Alph. Chap. 66. Remarkable love of the Holy Scripture p. 81 2d Alph. Chap. 67. Present retribution to the Faithful p. 86 2d Alph. Chap. 68. Present retribution to Plain and faithful reprovers p. 86 2d Alph. Chap. 69. Present retribution to the humble and modest p. 87 2d Alph. Chap. 70. Present retribution to the Just p. 88 2d Alph. Chap. 71. Present retribution to the Temperate p. 89 2d Alph. Chap. 72. Present retribution to the Devout and Praying or Prayers answered in kind in several late Instances p. 90. 2d Alph. Chap. 73. Present retribution to the charitable p. 93 3d Alph. beginning with a single Letter Chap. 74. Present retribution to the observers of Sabbaths p. 97 3d Alph. Chap. 75. Present retribution to them that have been Obedient to Parents p. 98. 3d Alph. Chap. 76. Present retribution to the peaceable and quiet p. 99 3d Alph. Chap. 77. Present retribution to the merciful p. 100 3d Alph. Chap. 78. Earnest of a future retribution p. 101 3d Alph. Chap. 79. Protection of the good in danger p. 105 3d Alph. Chap. 80. Guidance of the good through difficulties p. 107 3d Alph. Chap. 81. Persons strangely fitted for great Employments p. 108. 3d Alph. Chap. 82. Miraculous cures of diseases in this present age p. 109. 3d Alph. Chap. 83. Satan and evil Spirits permitted to hurt the good in their names p. 120. 3d. Alph. Chap. 84. Satan permitted to hurt the good in their health of Body p. 121 3d Al. Chap. 85. Satan permitted to hurt the good in their Estates p. 127. 3d Alph. Chap. 86. Satan permitted to hurt the good in their Souls p. 128. 3d Alph. Chap. 87. Satan permitted to disturb the quiet and peace of persons or families c. p. 132. 3d. Alph. Chap. 88. Satan hurting by charms spells amulets c. p. 134. 3d Alph. Chap. 89. Satan hurting by interposing with melancholy diseases p. 135. 3d Al. Chap. 90. Satan hurting by temptations injections c. p. 136. 3d Al. Chap. 91. Satan hurting by dreams p. 137. 3d Al. Cha. 92. Satan hurting by witchcraft p. 138. 3d. Al. Chap. 93. Satan restrained in hurting the good p. 151. concluding the 3d Al. of the single Letter Chap. 94. Satan hurting by obsessions possessions c. p. 1. beginning another 3d Alph. with a double Letter Chap. 95. Satan hurting by storms p. 2. 3d Al. Chap. 96. Satan hurting by Apparitions p. 4. 3d Al. Chap. 97. Satan hurting by false Promises or Threatnings p. 5. 3d Al. Chap. 98. Divine Judgments by way of retaliation p. 6. 3d Al. Chap. 99. Divine Judgments upon superstition p. 8. 3d Al. Chap. 100. Divine judgments upon blasphemy and profaneness p. 9. 3d Al. Chap. 101. Divine judgments on scoffers at other Men's imperfections or such as counterfeited to have them when they had them not p. 12. 3d Al. Ch. 102. Divine judgments on Atheism p. 13. 3d Al. Ch. 103. Divine Judgments on cursing p. 14. 3d Al. Chap. 104. Divine judgments upon swearing c. p. 16. 3d Al. Chap. 105. Divine judgments upon sabbath-breakers p. 18. 3d
my Soul into the Kingdom of Heaven See her Life 23. I Remember says Mr. Increase Mather in his Disc of Angels that once in Discourse with the Learned Doctor Spencer in Cambridge concerning his Book of Prodigies he said to me that his Judgment was That the Evil Angels had Prenotions of many Future Things and did accordingly give strange Premonitions of them No doubt it is often so and yet as Lavater Schottus and others have noted there are sometimes Things signified by Angels which it is not easie to determine of what sort those Genii are VVhat shall be thought of the Phantom which appeared to General Vesselini assuring him that he might take the City of Muran by the Assistance of a Widow which Lived in that City which strangely came to pass accordingly in the Year 1644. There comes to my mind a very Unaccountable Thing which happened at London above Thirty Years ago It was this One Mr. Cutty an honest Citizen passing between Milk-street and Wood-street in Cheap-side on March 2d 1664 took up a Letter Sealed The Superscription whereof was these VVords following From Geneva to a Friend VVithin the Letter these VVords were written This is to give both timely and speedy Notice that in the Year 1665 in the latter end of May shall begin a Plague and hold very hot till the latter end of December and then cease but not quite and then go on till the latter end of the Spring the next Year And in 1665 and 66 putting both together shall not only happen a Plague but great Sea Fights such as the like was scarce ever heard of and this shall not be all but in the Year 1666 on the Second of September shall happen a Fire that shall burn down one of the Eminentest Cities in the World Mr. Cutty carried the Letter to the then Lord Mayor A Reverend Divine in London who was of his Acquaintance had a Copy of it before the sad Things here Predicted came to pass and at my last being at London was pleased to favour me with it as 't is here Related This Account being certainly true and very surprizing I thought it not unworthy the Publication 24. There are sometimes very unaccountable Motions and Impressions on the Spirits of good men which are wrought in them by the ministry of Holy Angels whose work it is to prevent and disappoint the Designs of Satan and of his evil Angels I remember one relates a remarkable Passage of a good man that when he was reading in his House he could not rest in his Spirit but he must step out of Doors which he had no sooner done but he saw a Child in a Pond of VVater ready to perish which would have been gone past recovery had not he gone out of his Doors just at that moment This Impression must needs be from a good Angel And an other like Passage is related in the Life of that Holy Man Mr. Dod One Evening though he had other work to attend he could not but he must got to such a Neighbour's House when he came to him he told him he knew not what he was come for but he could not rest in his Spirit until he had visited him The poor man was astonished for he had in the Violence of a Temptation put a Rope into his Pocket with an intent to have destroyed himself had not Mr. Dod's thus coming prevented it Surely an Angel of the Lord was in this Providence Bishop Hall speaks of one whom he knew that having been for Sixteen Years a Cripple had these monitions in his Sleep that he should go and wash in St. Matherns Well in Cornwell which he did and was suddenly recovered This he thinks was from Angelical Suggestion Marcus Aurelius Antoninus did in a Dream receive the Prescript of a Remedy for his Disease which the Physitians could not cure A Physitian of Vratislavium followed the Counsel he had given him in a Dream concerning the cure of a Disease which was to him incurable and he recovered the Patient It added to the wonder that a few Years after he met with that Receipt in a Book then newly Printed Histories report that the like to this happened to Philip and to Galen If Angels may Suggest things beneficial unto the minds of Men who are Strangers to God much more unto them that fear him Thus far Mr. Mather Converse with Angels and Spirits Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubery Esq 25 Dr. Richard Nepier was a Person of great Abstinence Innocence and Piety He spent every Day Two Hours in Family Prayer When a Patient or Querent came to him he presently went to his Closet to Pray and told to admiration the Recovery or Death of the Patient It appears by his Papers that he did converse with the Angel Raphael who gave him the Responses 26. Elias Ashmole Esq had all his Papers where is contained all his Practice for about Fifty Years which he Mr. Ashmole carefully bound up according to the year of our Lord in Volumes in Folio which are now reposited in the Library of the Museum in Oxford Before the Responses stands this Mark viz. R â„ž is which Mr. Ashmole said was Responsum Raphaelis The Angel told him if the Patient were curable or incurable There are also severalâ— other Queries to the Angel as to Religion Transubstantiation c. which I have forgot I remember one is Whether the Good Spirits or the Bad be most in Number R â„ž is The Good It is to be found there that he told John Prideaux D. D. Anno 1621 that Twenty Years hence 1641 he would be a Bishop and he was so sc Bishop of Worcester R â„ž is did resolve him That Mr. Booth of in Cheshire should have a Son that should inherit Three Years hence sc Sir George Booth the first Lord Delamere viz. from 1619. Sir George Booth aforesaid was born Decemb. 18th Anno 1622. This I extracted out of Dr. Nepier's Original Diary then in the possession of Mr. Ashmole It is impossible that the Prediction of Sir George Booth's Birth could be found any other way but by Angelical Revelation This Dr. Richard Nepier was Rector of Lynford in Bucks and did practise Physickâ— but gave most to the Poor that he got by it 'T is certain he foretold his own Death to a Day and Hour he died Praying upon his Knees being of a very great Age 1634. April the First One says why should one think the Intellectual World less Peopled than the Material Pliny in his Natural History tells us that in Africa do sometimes appear Multitudes of Aerial Shapes which suddenly Vanish Mr. Richard Baxter in his certainty of the World of Spirits hath a Discourse of Angels and wonders they are so little taken notice of he hath counted in Newman's Concordance of the Bible the word Angel in above 300 places Thus far Mr. Aubery CHAP. III. Concerning the Appearance of bad Angels or Daemons HEre I have a great Task and
Toaklys Son Languished and Died calling and crying out upon her that she was the cause of his Death She also declared that about eight days before Susan Cock Margaret Landish and Joyce Boanes brought to her House three Imps which Joyce taking her Imp too carried them all four to Robert Turners to Torment his Servant because her refused to give them some Chips his Master being a Carpenter and that he forthwith fell Sick and oft barkt like a Dog and she believed those four Imps were the cause of his Death Rose Hallybread was for this Wickedness Condemned to be Hanged but Died in Chelmsford Goal May 9. 1645. Ibid. p. 16. Susan Lock was another of the Society concerning whom see more in the Chap. of Satans Permission to hurt the Innocent in their Estates 6. Much about the same time in Huntingtonshire Elizabeth Weed of great Catworth being Examined before Robert Bernard and Nicholas Pedley Esq Justices of the Peace March 31. 1646. Said that about Twenty one years before as she was one Night going to Bed there appeared to her three Spirits one like a young Man and the other two in the shape of Puppies one white and the other black He that was in the form of a youth spoke to her and Demanded Whether she would deny God and Christ which she agreed to The Devil then offered her to do what mischief she would require of him provided she would Covenant he should have her Soul after Twenty one years which she granted She confest further that about a week after at Ten a Clock at Night he came to her with a Paper asking whether she were willing to Seal the Covenant she said she was then he told her it must be done with her Blood and so prickt her under the left Arm till it bled with which she scribled and immediately a great lump of Flesh rise on her Arm in the same place which increased ever since After which he came to Bed and had Carnal Knowledge of her then and many times afterwards The other two Spirits came into the Bed likewise and suckt upon other parts of her Body where she had Teats and that the Name of one was Lilly and the other Priscil One of which was to hurt Man Woman or Child and the other to destroy what Cattel she desired and the young Man was to lye with her as he did often And saith that Lilly according to the Covenant did kill the Child of Mr. Henry Bedel of Catworth as she required him to do when she was angry tho she does not now remember for what and that about two or three days before she sent him to kill Mr. Bedel himself who returned and said he had no Power and that another time she sent the same Spirit to hurt Edward Musgrove of Catworth who likewise returned saying He was not able And that she sent her Spirit Priscill to kill two Horses and two Cows of Mr. Musgroves and Thomas Thorps in that Town which was done accordingly And being askt when the one and twenty years would be out she said To the best of my Remembrance about low Sunday next Being further demanded why she did so constantly resort to Church and to hear the Sermons of Mr. Pool the Minister she said She was well pleased with his Preaching and had a desire to be rid of that unhappy Burthen which was upon her VVitches of Huntington p. 2. 7. About the year of our Lord 1632. As near as I can Remember having lost my Notes and the Copy of the Letter to Serjeant Hutton but I am sure that I do most perfectly remember the substance of the Story near unto Chester in the street there lived one VValker a young Man of Good Estate and a Widower who had a young Woman to his Kinswoman that kept his House who was by the Neighbours suspected to be with Child and was towards the Dark of the Evening one Night sent away with one Mark Sharp who was a Collier or one that digged Coals under Ground and one that had been born in Blakeburn-Hundred in Lancashire And so she was not heard of for a long time and no Noise or little was made about it In the Winter time after one James Graham or Grime for so in that Countrey they call them being a Miller and living about two Miles from the place where Walker lived was one Night alone very late in the Mill grinding Corn and as about twelve or one a Clock at Night he came down the Stairs from having been putting Corn in the Hopper the Mill doors being shut there stood a Woman upon the midst of the Floor with her hair about her head hanging down and all Bloody with five large Wounds on her head He being much affrighted and amazed began to Bless him and at last asked her who she was and what she wanted To which she said I am the Spirit of such a Woman who lived with Walker and being got with Child by him he promised to send me to a private place where I should be well lookt to until I was brought to Bed and well again and then I should come again and keep his House And accordingly said the Apparition I was one Night late sent away with one Mark Sharp who upon a Moor Naming a place that the Miller knâ—w slew me with a Pike such as Men dig Coals withal and gave me these five Wounds and after threw my Body into a Coal-Pit hard by and hid the Pike under a Bank And his Shoes and Stockings being Bloody he endeavoured to wash but seeing the Blood would not wash forth he hid them there And the Apparition further told the Miller that he must be the Man to reveal it or else that she must still appear and haunt him The Miller returned home very sad and heavy but spoke not one word of what he had seen but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the Mill within Night without Company thinking thereby to escape the seeing again of that frightful Apparition But notwithstanding one Night when it began to be dark the Apparition met him again and seemed very fierce and cruel and threatned him that if he did not reveal the Murder she would continually pursue and haunt him Yet for all this he still concealed it until St. Thomas's Eve before Christmas when being soon after Sun-set walking in his Garden she appeared again and then so threatned him and affrighted him that he faithfully promised to reveal it the next Morning In the Morning he went to a Magistrate and made the whole matter known with all Circumstances and diligent search being made the Body was found in a Coal-Pit with five Wounds in the Head and the Pike and Shoes and Stockings yet Bloody in every Circumstance as the Apparition had related unto the Miller Whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehended but would confess nothing At the Assizes following I think it was at Durham they were Arraigned and found guilty
if those Princes were truly such as the Historians represented them they had well deserved that Treatment And others who tread their Steps might look for the same For Truth would be told at last and that with the more Acrimony of Style for being so long restrained It was a gentle suffering to be exposed to the World in their true Colours much below what others had suffered at their Hands She thought that all Sovereigns ought to read such Histories as Procopius for how much soever he may have aggravated Matters and how unbecomingly soever he may have writ yet by such Books they might see what would be probably said of themselves when all Terrors and Restraints should fall off with their Lives Ibid. 20. She did hearken carefully after every thing that seemed to give some hope that the next Generation should be better than the present with a particular Attention She heard of a Spirit of Devotion and Piety that was spreading itself among the Youth of this great City with a true Satisfaction She enquired often and much about it and was glad to hear it went on and prevailed She lamented that whereas the Devotions of the Church of Rome were all Shew and made up of Pomp and Pageantry that we were too bare and naked And practised not enough to entertain a serious Temper or a warm and an affectionate Heart We might have Light enough to direct but we wanted Flame to raise an exalted Devotion Ibid. 21. She was â—o part of the Cause of the War yet she would willingly have sacrificed her own Life to have preserved either of Those that seemed to be in Danger at the Boyne She spake of that Matter two Days after the News came with so tender a Sense of the Goodness of God to her in it that it drew Tears from her and then she freely confessed That her Heart had trembled not so much from the Apprehension of the Danger that she herself was in as from the Scene that was then in Action at the Boyne God had heard her Prayers and she blessed him for it with as sensible a Joy as for any thing that had ever happened to her Ibid. 22. The Reflections that she made on the Reduction of Ireland looked the same way that all her Thoughts did Our Forces elsewhere both at Sea and Land were thought to be considerable and so promising that we were in great Hopes of somewhat that might be decisive Only Ireland was apprehended to be too weakly furnished for a concluding Campaign Yet so different are the Methods of Providence from Humane Expectations that nothing memorable happened any where but only in Ireland where little or nothing was expected Ibid. 23. When sad Accidents came from the immediate Hand of Heaven particularly on the occasion of a great Loss at Sea she said Tho' there was no occasion for Complaint or Anger upon these yet there was a juster Cause of Grief since God's Hand was to be seen so particularly in them Sometimes she feared there might be some secret Sins that might lie at the Root and blast all But she went soon off from that and said Where so much was visible there was no need of Divination concerning that which might be hidden Ibid. 24. She was sorry that the State of War made it necessary to restrain another Prince from Barbarities by making himself feel the Effects of them and therefore she said She hoped that such Practices should become so odious in all that should begin them and by their doing so force others to retaliate that for the future they should be for ever laid aside Ibid. 25. She apprehended she felt once or twice such Indispositions upon her that she concluded Nature was working towards some great Sickness so she set herself to take full and broad Views of Death that from thence she might judge how she should be able to encounter it But she felt so quiet an Indifference upon that Prospect leaning rather towards the desire of a Dissolution that she said Tho' she did not pray for Death yet she could neither wish nor pray against it She left that before God and referred herself entirely to the disposal of Providence If she did not wish for Death yet she did not fear it Ibid. 26. We prayed for our selves more than for her when we cried to God for her Life and Recovery both Priest and People Rich and Poor all Ranks and Sorts joyned in this Litany A universal Groan was Ecchoed to those Prayers through our Churches and Streets Ibid. 27. But how severely soever God intended to visit us she was gently handled she felt no inward depression nor sinking of Nature She then declared That she felt in her Mind the Joys of a good Conscience and the Powers of Religion giving her Supports which even the last Agonies could not shake Thus far Bishop Burnet 28. In the Publick Worship of God she was a bright Example of solemn and unaffected Devotion She prayed with humble Reverence heard the Word with respectful Silence and with serious Application of Spirit as duly considering the infinite Interval between the Supremacy of Heaven and Princes on Earth That their Greatness in its Lustre is but a faint and vanishing Reflection of the Divine Majesty One Instance I shall specifie in this kind When her Residence was at the Hague a Lady of Noble Quality coming to the Court to wait on her on a Saturday in the Afternoon was told she was retired from all Company and kept a Fast in Preparation for the receiving the Sacrament the next Day The Lady staying 'till Five a Clock the Princess came out and contented herself with a very slender Supper it being incongruous to conclude a Fast with a Feast Thus solemnly she prepared herself for Spiritual Communion with her Saviour Dr. Bates 's Sermon upon the Death of the Queen 29. She had a sincere Zeal for the healing our unhappy Divisions in Religious Things and declared her Resolution upon the first Address of some Ministers that she would use all Means for that Blessed End She was so wise as to understand the Difference between Matters Doctrinals and Rituals and so good as to allow a just Liberty for Dissenters in things of small moment She was not fetter'd with superstitious Scruples but her clear and free Spirit was for the Union of Christians in Things essential to Christianity Ibid. 30. In her Relation to the King she was the best Pattern of Conjugal Love and Obsequiousness How happy was her Society redoubling his Comforts and dividing his Cares Her Deportment was becoming the Dignity and Dearness of the Relation Of this we have the most convincing Proof from the Testimony and Tears of the King since her Death Solomon adds to many Commendations of a vertuous Woman as a Coronis That her Husband praises her The King 's declaring that in all her Conversation he discovered no Fault and his unfeigned and deep Sorrow for his Loss are the Queen 's