Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	form_n	prayer_n	word_n	7,107	5	5.2255	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33971	Par nobile two treatises, the one concerning the excellent woman, evincing a person fearing the Lord to be the most excellent person, discoursed more privately upon occasion of the death of the Right Honourable the Lady Frances Hobart late of Norwich, from Pro. 31, 29, 30, 31 : the other discovering a fountain of comfort and satisfaction to persons walking with God, yet living and dying without sensible consolations , discovered from Psal. 17, 15 at the funerals of the Right Honourable the Lady Katherine Courten, preached at Blicklin in the county of Norfolk, March 27, 1652 : with the narratives of the holy lives and deaths of those two noble sisters / by J.C.	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Excellent woman.; Collinges, John, 1623-1690. Light in darkness.	1669 (1669)	Wing C5329; ESTC R26441	164,919	320

unweariable in her attendance upon Sermons such especially where the Truths of God were opened most lively and with least vanity and in fullest evidence of Scripture she ordinarily heard three or four Lecture Sermons in the week and three on the Lords day till her distempers so prevailed upon her that she could not attend them without that heaviness which she was loth to discover and which was her great affliction This her love to the Word argued that she had chosen the Promises in it for her portion and had cast her Soul upon them how else were they so precious to her She was indeed a Lady exercised with her doubts and fears and love-jealousies rather evidences for than against this adherence to her dear Lord. I have seen her in great agonies and conflicts and almost refusing to be satisfied but could never find that they argued more than an earnest thirsting after further evidences of divine love than it pleased God for some time to vouchsafe her She was possessed indeed of a Noble Estate and so had not that temptation as others to distrustfull cares for the things of this life yet so far as she could she exercised this act of faith never caring for to morrow nor considering what it might bring forth But freely spending her whole revenue in pious and charitable works that of it I mean which she could spare from the frugal expenses of her houshold prosessing she desired no more than to make her accounts of Receits and Disbursements even at the years end Her love to God was beyond the love of Women whether we view it in the more secret motions of her soul or in more imperate acts What sighs what heart-breaking sadness have I been a witness to from her when she lay at any time under apprehensions of any degrees of divine desertions or any suspicions of the truth of Grace in her own heart What tears in such dark hours have I seen flow from her eyes in her Closet more privately What groans have I heard from her while we have been praying more publickly On the other side if at any time she could have laid hold upon any good Word of God if she had found any more freedom of spirit or heart or felt what she judged an Efflux of divine love upon her Soul What a chearfulness did we all the day see in her countenance what freedom did we discern in her converse It was no hard matter for me from the observation of her converse and countenance in the day-time to judge how it had sared with her Ladyships spirit in her addresses to God that morning Her dread of God was exceeding great I have sometimes trembled to hear with what earnestness she would adjure me to be faithfull to her in the business of her Soul and not to suffer sin to rest upon her Her fear indeed was for some time too too servile favouring too much of the spirit of Bondage but it was afterward more constantly Filial in all things discovered by a reverential sense of the great and glorious Majesty of God and a fear of wilfull sinning against him Nor was this Excellent Lady's Religion such as to evince it to the World she was put to flee to the plea of a good heart as a Sanctuary Out of the abundance of Grace in her heart her mouth spake her whole outward man moved in a just conformity to her external profession She was exemplarily diligent and devout in all Religious performances Prayer was her great delight To that form are the first spiritual words which the Childe of God speaketh The first account we have of Saint Paul after his conversion was Behold he prayeth and this seemeth to have been the first study of this Excellent Lady In the external performance of which she found some difficulty to relieve her self in which she had furnished her Closet with most valuable English books which contained Forms of Prayer upon several occasions in none of which she could find a full satisfaction but ever and anon she was still at a loss for words fitted to the altering complexion of her spirit To help her self she procured her Pastor to draw up several Forms fitted to the frame of her Soul at several times And in this work when I was come into her Family she often imployed me but still she remained dissatisfied that she gave us so frequent troubles and that after some years owning her self to be Gods childe she should in any exigent be at a loss for words to take unto her self and to say Abba Father I humbly advised her to a praevious study of the more general matter and method of Prayer and of the Divine Promises which are the sacred Obligations which Prayer puts in suit As to the former I drew up for her Ladyship a Scheme which she kept hanging before her in her Closet to her dying day describing to her the plainer and more ordinary method and the more general matter of Prayer and commended to her some Books which gave the fullest account of the Promises After some small exercise of her self in both of them she needed her Prayer-books and Forms no longer but was able as occasion ministred it self to pour out her Soul to God according to her necessities without any further Monitor than the Spirit of Supplications in conjunction with the pious workings of her own breast And indeed after this she was no friend to Forms she judged that they could never be used with that warmth of affection which attends the words of a good Christian formed in his own heart That whoso limited himself by them would never from his performance in duty understand any thing of the frame of his heart And that no knowing person could have other need of them than as a Supplement for his own laziness neither studying the Scriptures nor his own Heart Whatever be determined as to her judgement in the ease her Ladyship for 15 or 16 years before her death would not allow her self the use of them She prayed much in her Closet Thrice each day in Communion with us in the Family She was as diligent in hearing the Word ordinarily hearing three Sermons on the Lords Day and more Lectures in the Week-day till her increasing distempers of late years more indisposed her Her Sabbath day service and the hearing of one weekly Lecture which her Ladyship at her own charge erected and maintained she continued while she was able to go down stairs yea and after that in her Bed-chamber to her dying-day Once every month she in Communion with us received the Lords Supper and that not without praevious preparation before she came and most ardent devotion when she was present at that sacred Institution Of her private Fastings and extraordinary times of Prayer I shall say nothing though in them she was not wanting Her love to the Ministers and servants of God was beyond comparison she had not only like the Shunamite prepared a Table a Bed

her is that she is the most excellent woman There are many others praise-worthy in their order and kind many to whom sua laus debetur but there is none like unto her she hath to speak in the Hebrew dialect ascended above them all Others may deserve some praise but she shall be praised she in the most eminent manner deserveth praise Two things then are said 1. She is the most excellent person 2. She deserveth most true and eminent praise The latter justly followeth upon the former That therefore is it alone which I shall insist upon and the general question is Quest 2. Wherein it doth or may appear that a woman fearing the Lord in this sense is the most excellent woman that person the most excellent person The commendation in the text being in the superlative degree the most natural way to demonstrate the truth of the Proposition is that which Solomon here directeth us to per modum comparationis comparing her with other women or persons to whom the world giveth praise or honour and shewing you the excellency of her and those perfections of which she is possessed above all other persons of her order whom the world admireth and doteth upon and above all those things for which the mistaken world so admireth others This therefore is the method which I shall follow having the Holy Ghost himself for my guide I will then 1. Enquire what those things are which a● adjuncts to persons inhance their value either really or in the opinion of men weighing them all in the ballance of reason and Religion as I go along and shewing you what there is of excellency in them 2. Secondly I will shew you what there is in this supereminent quality The fear of the Lord which maketh it to out-shine all those other excellencies even before any abatement of their value and supposing them not subject to those accidents which indeed they are subjected to which will inforce a rebatement in any reasonable soul of what they are at first blush and appearance worth 3. Lastly I will consider both the one and the other in their due circumstances and so consider both the one and the other substracting what either Reason or Religion will shew reasonable to be substracted from the appearing value of those other things And then I hope it will be easie for us to cast up the total summ of each and by comparing them together to judge of the truth of the Proposition 1. As to the first set aside what is here comprehended under the notion of The fear of the Lord all things which either in reality or in opinion do inhance the value of any person may be reduced to three heads 1. The ornaments perfections and accomplishments of the body which is our outward man 2. The endowments of the mind 3. More external accidental forein advantages to our persons The first head is The ornaments perfections and accomplishments of our bodies There are strength and beauty both mentioned in the text in the terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word of very large interpretation Primarily it signifieth natural strength and courage Thence in Scripture it is ordinarily used to express an Army which is ordinarily made up of strong men Men of strength as the Hebrew dialect is Thus Gen. 47. 6. If there be Gen. 47. 6. amongst them any men of strength or activity as we translate it for activity dependeth upon Judg. 11. 1. strength So Jephthah is called A mighty man of valour Where the same word is again used it is translated Army Exod. 14. 9. Jer. Exod. 14. 9. Jer. 37. 7. 37. 7. It is true that amongst us strength doth not ordinarily fall into the commendation of the female sex but you know of old Deborah and Joel were renowned for this Judg. 5. 2. Beauty is that bodily ornament which more ordinarily commendeth the woman it lieth in the perfection and proportion of bodily parts and in a due mixture of colours proper to flesh and blood But the indowments of the mind are things which yet further raise the value of any person These fall under three heads 1. Knowledge which is the furniture of the intellectual part of the soul the object of it is as large as Heaven and Earth and all things contained in it Without knowledge saith Solomon Prov. 19. the soul is not good without divine knowledge not spiritually good without natural knowledge not morally good Knowledge is a great ornament 2. Moral virtues Nobleness of spirit chastity temperance sobriety justice mercy and pity bounty and liberality meekness humility affability courtesie The woman indued with these and such like habits is far more excellent than her neighbour that is leud drunken intemperate ill-tongued morose immodest c. This kind of excellency is expressed in the text under the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which both in the text and vers 21. is translated virtue A third thing is activity of spirit when one is disposed and ready for business apt to manage affairs and agile in it Thus we translate this word Gen. 47. 6. If there be Gen. 47. 6. amongst them any men of activity It is used Exod. 18. 21. to express the fit qualifications Exod. 18. 21. of Magistrates we there translate it able able men where certainly it signifies knowledge prudence and almost all moral virtue together with activity of spirit The woman of an industrious active diligent spirit and temper is far more excellent than her who is of a slothful crazy idle temper and this also is comprehended in the text under the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you may see by comparing v. 10. of this chapter with the following verses the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned v. 20. is expounded by Solomon to be one that seeketh wooll and flax and worketh willingly with her hands that riseth while it is night and giveth meat to her houshold and a portion to her Maidens This now is a second sort of things which raise the value of a person in the world The third and last sort I call more external advantages such as are not inherent in our persons but forein to us and indeed alone signifie little or nothing to the commendation of a rational creature as such These are 1. Noble Parentage and Relations to be born atavis regibus of noble progenitors related to great persons or families these are some of those things which the Heathens called good things of fortune and the Poet knew not how to call Ours Vix ea nostra voco 2. Honours which are lookt upon highly by many but are things still without us having their original in the favour of others 3. The Affection and Favour of men which begetteth a good and honourable name 4. Riches a great estate in mony or lands c. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifieth Riches Jer. 17. 3.

I will give thy substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all Jer. 17. 3. Isa 30. 7. thy treasures to the spoil Isa 30. 7. They will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young Asses Honours credit and reputation are expressed under the other term in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often used in Scripture to express the favour of others to us Thus the world accounteth him or her that is rich honourable in credit and favour with the world more excellent than those that are of mean parentage mean estate or of no repute in the world And thus I have given you a short account of the most of those things which raise the value of any person in the world to which might have been added Wit and Fancy and some noble vertuous actions The latter is mentioned in the text Many daughters have done vertuously And indeed though it be the great errour of the men of the world to over-rate those things and because of them to set too high a value upon the person possessed of them yet there is something of true worth value and excellency in them and they at least some of them and some of them more than others do confer something of excellency upon the person whom it pleaseth God to bless with them Solomon himself yields it when he saith in the text Many Daughters have done vertuously And that leadeth me to a further consideration what there is of real value in these things we shall find if we wisely consider it That the true excellency which these things have and which they can confer upon the person blessed with them chiefly dependeth upon these things First They are all of them the gifts of God though they be not of his choicest and best sort of gifts yet his gifts they are and not the portions of all persons That one is more nobly and ingenuously born is Gods gift who breathed his soul into a finer piece of clay than anothers He is our Potter and they are his hands that have shaped one body into a more lovely and beautiful form than anothers and hath knit the joynts of one more strong than anothers It is he that hath given to one a quicker understanding a more dexterous wit and fancy a more solid judgement a more tenacious memory a more active spirit than another All this cometh from the Lord. It is he that hath more disposed the mind of one than another to moral vertue meekness ingenuity courtesie sobriety c. It is he that hath given to one more than to another favour in the eyes of Princes and great persons or in the eyes of the common people It is he that hath given to one a greater estate than to another and by whose guidance and assistance one doth more noble and virtuous actions than another Promotion cometh not from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is the Judge he pulleth down one and setteth up another saith the Psalmist Psal 67. 6 7. Favour is not to men of skill Eccles 9. God gave Joseph favour in the eyes of his Keeper and the Israelites in the sight of the Egyptians It were easie to shew you the Scripture speaking the like concerning Riches and other-accomplishments of Nature and gifts of Providence so Christians call them acknowledging the donor of them the Heathen called them the gifts of fortune which they dreamed to be one of the four causes of all things and made to be a God Now I say this putteth an excellency upon the things themselves and also upon the person possessed with them whoso hath them hath more to shew for a favour that God hath to him than he that wanteth them unless he hath this same excellent thing in my text A second thing which commendeth these or some of these things is their usefulness as to our comfortable being and subsistence in this life Riches and Favour though they be things more external and forein to what truly makes up a reasonable creature or adorneth him considered in that capacity yet they have this excellency in them that whoso is possessed of them is at a better advantage than another man for a comfortable subsistence in the world and to do good to others than he that is poor and of no credit and reputation in the world Strength and health of body upon which strength you know much depends are necessary and advantagious to us for our comfortable subsistence An Active busie diligent spirit is that also which maketh rich through the blessing of God and upon this account all these things have a true and real excellency in them and ought to be looked upon as the blessings of God which we ought to acknowledge and to receive with thankfulness at his hand Lastly There is an excellency in some of them and which they give to the persons that are possest of them which lies in their approvableness to the reasonable nature of man All of them do not so approve themselves to our rational part reason understands not the excellency of great parentage or a fair face nor of riches or honours c. But now knowledge prudence sobriety temperance modesty with other moral virtues are things which have in them a certain innate and connatural beauty even reason being Judge and make the person possessed of them as much to excite another that is ignorant immodest impudent intemperate foolish as light excelleth darkness and upon this account it was that the wiser Heathens valued them though they knew nothing of the revealed mind and will of God in reference to them and considered them not at all as falling under a divine precept but only as improvements of nature and due products of a soul that had not lost its reason and was not metamorphosed by debauchery The Heathens had no other eye than that of reason no other ballance than that in which to weigh things that differed And now I think we have made a just estimate of other things the fear of the Lord only excepted which either do or may put a value upon any person in this world above his neighbour we have seen what they are and how much they signifie The summ is this That there are many things which either really or at least in common opinion make a man or woman to excel Bodily perfections strength health beauty mental endowments knowledge judgement wit prudence moral vertues temperance sobriety c. An active diligent spirit and temper fitted for business in our respective callings things more external such as honour estate favour credit and reputation And though it be very usual as I have said to over-rate these things and to overvalue persons blessed with them because of them yet these things considered as the gifts and favours of God and as things of singular advantage to us with reference to the comfortable beeing and subsistence of our outward man in the world and as some of them are naturally far more

Earth Prov. 8. 13. The fear of the Lord is 〈◊〉 ●vil Prov. 16. 6. By Prov. 8. 13. 16. 6. the fear of the Lord 〈…〉 from evil That man feareth the Lord 〈◊〉 ●●th not only a reverence and dread of ●od upon his heart but in whom this dread worketh to make the person that hath it to take heed of every sin and to perform every duty to avoid all that the Lord forbiddeth and to do all that God commandeth This it is for a man or woman to fear Jehovah But you will say ●● this be so where is that person to be found of whom this can be predicated or how shall any person satisfie himself that he is by the fear of the Lord distinguished from another This is a great question and the Holy Ghost having thought fit to express the whole of Grace and Godliness by this notion the resolution of it will exceedingly tend to the satisfaction of such souls as thirst after righteousness To which purpose now I shall lay down some few Conclusions which will open this thing to you 1. A true fear of God in what soul soever it is found is not only the product of sense but the operation of faith This is one great and material difference betwixt that fear and dread of God which may be found in a natural man and that which is sound in every true child of God There is a terrour and awe and dread of God which as I told you before sometimes seizeth the hearts of the greatest Atheists and most debaucht wretches in the Earth But this dread is ordinarily but the effect and product of sense the poor wretch seeth some terrible work of God and trembleth or feeleth something of the weight of Gods hand Hence as soon as the impression is off his sense the fear and dread of God is also off his heart And thus it will be with all that fear which is but the product of sense The natural mans fear is not at all caused from faith neither from the habit of faith which is within us nor from the object of saith which is without us I mean the Word of God he doth not fear God because of what the holy Scriptures tell him concerning God he believeth not that But now the fear of God in a gracious soul is the issue of saith A Christian knows the Scripture and what that revealeth concerning God and now the Lord having by his Spirit wrought up his soul to give a firm and stedfast assent to what is revealed in his Word he feareth the great God as much when he seeth or feeleth nothing of the greatness of his power in his works of Providence as when he is under the greatest demonstrations of sense It is the precept of Solomon Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the fear of the Lord at all times Indeed he that is not in the fear of the Lord at all times doth truly fear the Lord at no time for where fear is the operation and fruit of saith the effect is as abiding and permanent as the cause now the cause of the fear of the Lord in that person is his firm assent to what is revealed in the holy Scriptures concerning God The Word of the Lord abiding the same for ever and the Propositions in it having an eternal verity and the seed of God also once cast in the soul ab●ding at all tim●s in it it is impossible but this soul should have a fear and dread of God upon his heart in health as well as in sickness in prosperity as well as in adversity in a time of the greatest liberty as well as in a time of the greatest straits when the Providence of God may propose the greatest objects of terrour unto him If the soul of any at all times dreadeth and reverenceth the great God of Heaven and Earth and that by reason of what the Word of God revealeth and it believeth concerning him this is an excellent sign that the true fear of God is in that soul Though it is true the various workings of Divine Providence may make this fear as to the servile part of it higher and greater at some one time than at another 2. Although the true fear of the Lord in any soul be not consistent with a course of deliberate sinning against God and defying the Divine Majesty yet it is confistent in the same soul with many sinnings both of ignorance and of infirmity If there were none feared God but such as were wholly free from sin there were no such excellent person in the world as I have been discoursing of For who liveth and sinneth not against God But I must open this General 1. I say the fear of God is not in any soul consistent with open defiances of the Divine Majesty or constant courses of deliberate sinning There are some in the world that live in an open defiance of Heaven the Atheistical blasphemer the prophane swearer and curser and such like eminent sinners Every one that cometh near them may say the fear of God is not in these persons No nor with any course of deliberate or presumptuous finning when a man is free and under no height of temptation to do this or that thing which he knoweth to be what God hath forbidden him to do and yet he will do it and doth do it and that not once only but again and again from one day to another making a course of it how dwelleth the fear of God in that soul God hath said he that doth these things shall die he shall be plagued in this life and he shall die eternally The poor wretch knoweth this and yet presumptuously doth these things how can the dread or fear of God be in any judgement of charity judged to dwell in this soul 2. But I say the fear of God is consistent in the soul with much sin either sins of ignorance or sins of infirmity Experience teacheth this 1. For sins of ignorance a servant may truly fear his master and a child his father and yet they may both do many things that their superiours would not have done if they do not persectly know their will It is so betwixt the child and servant of God and his Father and Master which is in Heaven 2. I say it is also consistent with much sinning of weakness and infirmity Sins of infirmities are of two sorts 1. Such as are of pure weakness and infirmity which are failures in such things as through our natural weakness and impotency we cannot perform 2. Such as are mixt with something of wilfulness but yet the great cause of our admission of them is some original weakness and infirmity in us Such now are those sins which we commit upon the prevalence of some affection or passion in us whether love or fear or anger c. Lust prevailed on David fear on Peter and truly it is hard to say what sin that is which upon this account a soul truly fearing

men fetch their breath shorter and shorter till at last it quite fails them so are the presumptuous hopes of hypocrites the nearer they come to death the shorter they fetch the breath of their hopes till at last they quite fail them and they die either stupid or despairing God makes a great trial of his Saints faith when he calls them to die in the strength of it 3. God may have a design in it to honour his Word If we wholly lived upon sight the Word of God would not be so precious to us the Promises would not be so dear to us Though I consess it is a very suspicious comfort which the Word brings not into our souls but yet consolatory dispensations are the more special and extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit in a more than ordinary improvement of the Word Gods Word appeareth and is made very precious to the soul when it hangs its whole weight upon it being not at all advantaged from sensible reflexions I had perished saith Psal 119. 92. David in my affliction if they Word had not been my delight What an honour there did holy David put upon the Word of God acknowledging that the whole weight of his perishing soul hung upon it and it sustained him Indeed there is a secret powerful influence of the Holy Ghost tcaching and inabling the soul to lay hold upon and to apply this Word But in faith of adhere●●e though the Spirit be the great Author and Finisher of it teaching and inabling the soul to lay hold upon and to apply the Promise yet it is by a more secret and insensible act and the Word appeareth most in maintaining that Oh! faith the soul had it not been for such a Word such a Promise such a good word of God is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation In the reflex act of Faith which giveth the soul a plerophorous evidence or a full perswasion of its evidence in God the work of the Spirit appeareth more extraordinary and glorious the vertue of the Word doth not so much shew it self Now the Lord will sometimes honour his Word in the fight of his children letting them see that it is enough to support bear up and to uphold a soul though it should never see the face of God till it come in Heaven yet the Word is enough securely to carry it thither 4. God in such a dispensation may have a design to teach his people that salvation doth not depend upon sensible consolatory manifestations Not upon the sweet application of the Promises to the soul an act wherein we have no share it being the Lords work alone and marvelous in our eyes but upon the strong and steddy application of our souls to the Promise This latter is justifying faith the other is the faith of one already actually justified We are too prone to lay too much upon sensible comforts Some there are who will acknowledge no other notion of faith but a full perswasion of the love of God and so indeed confound faith and sight which the Apostle seemed so warily to distinguish when he told us We live by faith and not by fight And again that hope which is seen is no hope and indeed cut the throat of many a poor Christians comfort who it may be all his life cannot come to such a sensible evidence Indeed the most judicious Christians are prone to lay too much stress upon these consolatory manifestations and to think all nothing if they want them Now this is a great error which the Lord may aim at the correction of in his people by such dispensations letting the soul see there is vertue enough in his Word to bear it up through the deepest waters of affliction without the bladders of sensible manifestations Enough in that and the souls application of it self to that though until it come in Heaven it never sees the face of God It is believing that carries the soul to Heaven i. e. an hungring and relying upon Christ and his righteousness alone not that joy and peace which is the consequent of believing and that too inconsistent and uncertain And indeed I do not know any one truth that needs more rooting and confirmation in a gracious heart The life of sense is the life of the Saint triumphant The life of faith is the life of the militant Christian Though God sometimes condescends in such manifestations to the infirmities and desires of his people and is pleased to give them a glimpse of glory as the earnest penny of a future greater reward which he intendeth them yet these must not be lookt upon as the necessaries of a Christian but what God gives ●s ex abundanti a pledge of future glory Sometimes God gives his children to go to Heaven in the sight of Heaven As Stephen went to it seeing the Heavens opened and Christ Jesus stanidng at the right hand of God pleading for him and ready to receive him into the glorious mansions provided for him But as this is a note of singular and extraordinary favour which God is not bound to any particular soul by promise for so God will sometimes single out a child of his unto death that shall go to Heaven without this seal that living Christians may not run away with an erroneous apprehension that these influences are necessary to salvation and upon the death of such a child of God the Lord proclaims See here my friends you of little of faith here 's a child of mine coming alone to me without the staff of sense trusting me upon the credit of my bare word Here 's one that hath not seen and yet hath believed that hath dared to take my word for Heaven Now be not faithless but believing 5. Lastly I do not know but God may sometimes do it in Justice when one who hath been made partaker of Gods distinguishing love hath apostatized in his profession or run into some degrees of looseness of life by which Gods Name hath been dishonoured the Lord may thus far chastize his Apostacy I told you before that the Covenant runs with a notwithstanding sin as to eternal salvation the unfaithfulness of man cannot make God unfaithful he cannot alter the thing gone out Psal 89. 33. of his lips But the comforts of Gods people may fail and they may for ought I know dy although not despairingly yet doubting with an a king heart and with broken bones Divines question whether holy David though stiled the man after Gods own heart ever after his fall into those two great sins of murther and adultery recovered the fulness of his comfort again It is plain by all his penitential Psalms that he lost them and especially by that petition Psal 51. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation Though the Scripture plainly evidenceth that he died strong in the faith yet it speaketh nothing of sensible consolations You have his last words 2 Sam. 23. 1. These be the last words of

with her Ladiship and perceiving the stone upon which she stumbled indeavoured her assistance partly remembring her 1. Of what Solomon saith That none can judge of love or hate by all that is before him Eccles 9. 1. For it may fall out alike to him that is spiritually wise and to him that is spiritually a fool 2. Partly by minding her of what the Apostle tells us That God chasteneth whom he Heb. 12. 6. loveth and scourgeth every one whom he receiveth 3. Partly arguing thus with her If afflictions be tokens of divine wrath then health and prosperity are signs of divine love which is evidently salfe 4. Par●ly by remembring her of the many examples of Gods children in Scripture to whom God had wrung out bitter waters in a full cup who yet at that time when they were so afflicted were undoubtedly beloved of God and exceeding precious in his eyes Such were Joseph David Job Daniel and many others recorded in Scripture With these and such like Arguments I had satisfied her sanctified reason and judgement and thought I should have heard no more of this temptation But soon after it was inforced Two things she had to say 1. The greatness of her affliction spake more than a chastisement with a rod she was scourged with Scorpions 2. The Lords multiplying afflictions and repeating sad Providences to her seemed to argue that he had a quarrel against her Why else should he return upon her body when he had served an execution upon all she had besides To this I replied 1. That the afflictions of Gods people are not called cha●●isements because they are l●ght or little but because they come from the hand of a gracious Father not as legal demands of satisfaction to divine Justice offended because they flow from a principle of love not of wrath and are designed to a gracious end 2. That for the multitude of them Job had as many yet was a person singularly beloved of God and one of whom God gave testimony that there was not one like him in all the East 3. That as the afflictions of Job were of divers hands and exceeding heavy so the succession of them was much like to hers God first took away his children then his estate and last of all let loose Satan upon his person and gave him a liberty to tempt him With these and such like considerations I endeavoured to arm her against this fiery dart at last it pleased him who was therefore tempted that he might be able to succour those that were tempted by his mighty power to lift her over this stone of stumbling and she became fully satisfied that she could neither from the greatness nor multitude of her trials conclude any thing against the love of God to her 2. Tempt If during her afflictions she did not also want the inward consolations of the holy Spirit but alas saith she I have no inward assurance of Gods love no sensible consolations c. Perceiving that her adversary had betaken himself to a new battery I endeavoured to direct her in the use of the Armour of God for the rep●lling of his darts thrown from hence by offering to her consideration 1. That even Gods dearest children have often wanted these influences of the Spirit What else made David cry out When wilt thou comfort me and vestor● unto me the joy of thy salvation What else made the Spouse Cant. 3 1. at such a loss for him whom her soul loved What else caused those sad complaints of the Psalmist Psal 77. To this she replied That it was true but surely if she indeed had any interest in God he would not hide himself from one so pressed with affl●ctions as she was God indeed might thus try his children in health and at liberty but would a tender Father so hide himself from so distressed and a dying child This was hard to imagine of God who is Love I replied to this purpose That sensible consolations were not the necessaries of salvation 2. That the love of God to his children is far more seen in giving the soul necessaries than accommodating it with superfluities 3. That God is no where in Scripture tyed by his promise to Saints for the comforts of assurance to be given them in at this or that hour 4. That it is a very great mistake in Christians to judge they want the manifestations of the Spirit because they want these consolatory reflections for the Spirit manifesteth it self in the soul as well by the influences of strengthening and quickening as comforting grace and the witnessings of it That David was become like a bottle in the smoke that his eyes failed for Gods Word saying When wilt thou comfort me Psal 119. 82 83. yet he was at that time Gods child yea the man according to his heart That Job also as might be gathered from several passages in his Book often wanted these sensible manifestations at last I commended a Sermon upon that subject to her after the reading of which her Spirit was more composed and she satisfied that if she could but find the strengthening and quickening influences of divine grace she had no reason for want of sensible consolations to conclude against her self 3 Tempt Satan perceiving this fiery dart well nigh quenched betakes him again to his quiver for another arrow his next device was to perswade her that she wanted also the strengthening grace of God soon after I heard her speaking to this sense 'T is true Sir if I could but find the grace of God strengthening me unto duty against sin I think I ought not to cast away my hope though I do want assurance that I am my Beloveds and my Beloved mine but alas I want this Sir I am now at such a pass I cannot pray c. God hath laid his hand upon my mouth and I cannot open it so much as to say unto him Abba Father Observing the subtilty of this crafty adversary to perswade her from some partial weaknesses and those also much occasioned from bodily distempers that she wholly wanted the workings of the Spirit of Grace I accordingly applied my self to her She tells me it was true she had learned from the Apostle Rom. 8. 11. That if she had the Spirit of Christ she was his which way soever the Spirit as the author of special and distinguishing grace pleased to work in her and she did believe That if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelt in Rom. 8. 11. 15. Gal. 4. 6. Rom. 8. 26. her he that raised up Christ from the dead should also one day quicken her mortal body by his Spirit dwelling in her But Sir said she this spirit is a spirit of supplication a spirit of adoption teaching to cry Abba Father a spirit helping our infirmities in prayer To which I replied 1. That this was no more than the lot of Gods children Asaph or whoever was the author of that 77 Psalm complained

my car I a little admired at her sudden joy and what she had to say inclining my head to her when she perceived her noble Sister had turned her back and was with the rest of the company out of hearing she tells me I think I may tell it you you will not speak of it I believe I am very near my Fathers house I resolved to keep her counsel till I saw the issue and the rather because she seemed to us further from death than at any time for some weeks before in this temper she continued the remaining part of that day it was the day when I was to preach my weekly Lecture so that I returned not to her until the evening when I found her as before very chearful and able to discourse with me about a private business as to which on the behalf of her friend she had improved her interest in a worthy Gentleman she had that night received a Latter from him letting her know it was dispatched and took her leave of me desiring me to draw up a Letter of thanks to him which she would as she told me the next day subscribe that it might be sent by the next Post But it so pleased God that by an inexpected turn of Providence before morning her spirits failed her and she in a great measure lost her speech and after spake very few words only made signs to us to pray for her Once she said I fear and by and by I hope I hope and so quietly without suffering any pain so sar as we could discern she yielded up her soul to God upon the 25th day of March 1652. about nine of the clock Thus she fought the good fight and kept the faith and hath now put on the Crown of Glory being entred into the actual possession and beatifical vision of those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive even the things which God hath prepared for them that love him She was buried at Blicklin in the County of Norfolk March 27. 1652. With this Epitaph upon her grave-stone Here lyes one nobly born once blest With all the Riches of the East Then stript of all and in the place Receiv'd of God riches of grace These made her couetous to see The Mine whence came such Treasury Her soul for haste there to appear Clogg'd with the body dropt it here Engaging to it in the morn Of th' Resurrection to return And reassume its Vnion Reader weigh this and then pass on A Postscript THese Notes with this memorial of this excellent Lady were within some few months after her death drawn up and several Copies transcribed and presented to her noble relations the same for substance Reader as thou hast them here though they may be a little altered as to some words or phrases Nor had I any thoughts of makeing them publick till Anno 1664. God taking away her noble Sister whom I had the honour eighteen years to wait upon I thought it my duty to raise her up a monume●t according to my ability though her honourable name needed no such little advantage as this Having taken up this resolution I resolved also to joyn these notes with them and accordingly sent them to a Stationer in whose hands they were Anno 1665. when the Plague hindered the printing of them and Anno 1666. till the Dreadful Fire consumed them I was for some times after divided in my thoughts whether to revive them or no but at last finding accidentally amongst my notes an imperfect Copy of them I set to the work and through Gods affistance have once more brought it to an issue and I cannot but in it something confider the Providence of God retarding my hand to an opportunity of doing a piece of service to the last mentioned Lady which I never thought her honourable name for Religion would have stood in need of Within these six months last past to justifie if it were possible the tremendous Apostacy of another I hear it commonly reported amongst the Papists that both this noble Lady and her Husband died Papists and that her only Son is also one For Mr. Courten he was wholly unknown to me I never saw his face it was his unhappiness to die in a Papish Country which might give an advantage to such a fiction But his Son William Courten Esquire yet living is a sufficient testimony against this fabulous report who both visited the place since his Fathers death and received the testimony from a friend which his dying Father left of his perseverance in the communion of the Protestant Church and abhorrence of the visits and superstitious vanities with which those Votaries use to trouble dying persons as also had a real testimony from the unhallowed burying place which alone the Papists would allow him This and much more I have had from his worthy Son which I have forgot as not thinking I should ever have had any cause of such a repetition But that worthy Gentleman yet lives and if any be unsatisfied and will take the pains to inquire of him he can satisfie them both that his Father died no Papist and that himself is none according to another part of their sabulous report who are pleased in making lyes their refuge he hath seen too much of the exceeding fondness the folly and superstitious vanities of that Pageantry in Religion to be ever proselited to it and is I think satisfied that it is justly to be abhorred by a sober person were it only for the little influence it hath upon the lives of those where it is most practised and the dispensation it gives to all manner of Luxury But he is of age and abilities sufficient to speak for himself For this Excellent Lady none living is a more competent witness than my self who had the opportunities of daily converse with her till the moment of her dissolution nor can there be a better testimony than these Papers containing the substance of her discourses with me to her very last gasp They understand little of the Popis● Faith that upon the reading of these discourses will not conclude that her Ladiship was at a sufficient distance from it and that these were not discourses formed for such a design as her Vindication There are four or five Honourable Persons in England her near relations can testifie who have had these notes fourteen years at least if not fifteen or sixteen by them the same as to the substance of them though possibly as I said before some phrases may be altered upon more mature deliberation These discourses do not sound like the language of one who believed the Doctrines of Popery about remission of sins assurance merit prayers to Saints and Augels c. But indeed a person is not ordinarily to be sound upon whom that tribe could with more disadvantage sasten such an imputation than upon upon this Excellent Lady Who so wisely c●sts their eye upon