Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A45365
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A relation of the last words and departure of that antient and honourable woman Loveday Hambly of Trigangeeues, in the parish of Austell in the County of Cornwal. With farther testimonies concerning her life and conversation.
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Hambly, Loveday, 1603 or 4-1682.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing H472; ESTC R216508
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9,017
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11
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A RELATION OF THE Last WORDS and Departure OF THAT Antient and Honourable Woman Loveday Hambly OF Trigangeeues in the Parish of Austell in the County of Cornwal With farther Testimonies concerning her LIFE and CONVERSATION Prov. 10.6 Blessings are upon the Head of the Just but Violence covereth the Mouth of the Wicked Prov. 31.30 31. A Woman that feareth the Lord shall be praised Give her of the Fruit of her Hands and let her own Works praise her in the Gates Acts 10.4 And he said unto him thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God London Printed by John Gain Living in the Upper Moor-Fields near the Flying-Horse M.DC.LXXXIII The PREFACE DEar Friends unto whose hands this may come this is to signifie of the Decease of our dear Friend Loveday Hambly who hath finished her Course in this World and is gone to her long home where the wicked cease from troubling and if in former time such Women as feared God were esteemed honourable and recorded to Posterity for their Vertue and good Works may not this Friend of ours be recorded amongst the Living at this day whom the Living God raised up and made an Instrument in his hand to be serviceable in doing much good who was a Woman of a noble universal Spirit and descended of honourable Parentage as amongst Men Her fame no doubt is already gon far especially amongst God's People though many never knew her or saw her Personally to whom the following Account may be of service as well as to such as did know her and be a means to stir up the Mind that 's Pure in all to admire the Goodness of the Lord may be encouraged to serve and obey him in faithfulness in their Day and Time that they may come to rest in Gods heavenly Kingdom for evermore into which this faithful Friend is entred I shall not need here much to enlarge concerning this my dear loving and well beloved Friend because the Matter is so fully and truly Stated in the following Relation and Testimonies to which much of it I can truly Subscribe for it was my Lot to be a Houshold Servant to her about two years to look after her Affairs and might have been to her dying day for ought I know if I had not been taken a Prisoner for the Testimony of Truth and kept about eight years in Prison at which she was troubled and disappointed also for she did manifest much Love to me yea I may say she was more like a Mother to me than a Mistriss I was an Eye-Witness to much of her Tryals and Sufferings in which she was very valiant and chearful she had a great Family and God gave her a great Measure of Wisdom to order it her Tables were largely and plentifully spread which is well known to many and she took great care that all might have sufficient and likewise that none of the good Creatures which God had given should be abused or wasted upon any account And how tender was she and pitiful to the meanest Servant in her Family if they were sick or wanted her Help and Assistance and the Lord wonderfully blest her Endeavours for it may be truly said she had a true regard unto him as I have observed upon many occasions her Heart was often tendered in a sense of the Mercies and Love of God and this often was her Expression I give God the Glory Or Blessed be the Name of the Lord. And many times in the day as she had Opportunity she betook her self to her Closet to be retired and many times came out amongst her Family as one whose Strength was inwardly renewed in a cool and tender Frame of Spirit O what could I say of her Sincerity and love to the Lord his Truth and People But shall summe up all in this That she was a good Woman and very serviceable as many in those parts do right well know And as it was her earnest desire often in my hearing so it is mine That the Lord who raised her up in that Place and County would be pleased to raise another in her stead and place to do as she hath done that her Intentions may be fulfilled and answered even the Propagation of the pretious and everlasting Truth in which I do dearly Salute you all and am your real Friend Reading the 20th of the 1st Month 1682 3. Benjamin Coales A Coyy of a Letter sent to M. D. and Friends at Plymouth the 14th day of 10th Month 1682. Margery Dyer AND the rest of Friends in Plymouth knowing that you have a desire to hear how it is with our Friend Loveday Hambly whose Fame for Good Works Charity and Hospitality is gone forth to the uttermost Confines of the Land of our Nativity and we believe it may be affirmed with confidence that her Renown is gone forth to the Isles afar off as a Person accounted famous among Gods People for Sufferings and Zealous of Good Works ever since the Day that she was turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God Now Dear Friend this may certifie thee and Friends there that our Dear Friend above mentioned L. H. hath by reason of Old Age great Weekness and many Infirmities kept her Bed for the most part this Seven Weeks being aged about seventy eight Years and though we are here as in a House of Mourning under the consideration of her Bodily Weakness and in the sense of the Departure of such a Serviceable Friend yet we are Comforted and Refreshed in that we can give a Living Testimony that she is in a good Frame of Spirit in relation to Heavenly Things for it hath been observed of late that if any Friend or other of her Relations have spoken to her about any of her Outward Affairs her Memory fail'd her as to give any direct Answer but when any Friend did Read or Pray by her or speak to her of Spiritual Matters she hath been much Revived and full of good Expressions and Praises to the Lord for his manifold Mercies towards her often saying She desired nothing but the Kingdom of God and in the Evening several Friends Relations and Attendants being about her Bed with a Candle one did desire to see her Tongue she chearfully said Take away the Candle and let me have the Light of the Countenance of the Lord Jesus And dayly and hourly she ceased not to sound forth the Praises of the Lord and her Desires and Prayers to the Lord were to continue his Mercy towards her She saw her own weakness and believed in the Strength of the Lord and as she drew near her End she grew into a loving Child-like State and Condition to all that came to see her desiring earnestly the Prosperity of Gods Truth and often declared her Intent in bestowing her Outward Estate in the manner as she had done was even that the Holy Truth might be propagated and those that profess it might be Supported by
her Free Gift after her Decease and that Friends who did Travel in the Truths Service and were in want might be supplyed by those to whom she left her Outward Estate else said she I should never have left it to him Here follow several of her Expressions taken by such as were with her the Night before her Departure My Heart and Soul is poured forth unto thee O thou Eternal God thou art the Comfort and Salvation of Old Age and the Desire of my Heart is that all my Friends may be kept faithful to the Living God for I declare here in the Presence of the Lord and before you that I do love all the Children and Servants of the Living God with all my Heart Soul and Strength And I desire the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all my Heart and Soul that I may faithfully fight under his Banner Moreover she said The Lord knows my Heart I never loved the Riches of this World for what is it worth it is all Vanity and Vexation of Spirit At another time she said I desire to take up the Shield of Faith and the Helmet of Salvation and that I may dwell in the House of God After she had layn still a pritty while like one in a sweet Sleep she opened her eyes and seeing some of her Friends and Servants about her she smilingly said Methinks I have been in a great Warefare and there was mighty Doings and O what a Comfort it was to me we will not fall out about it for their Kingdom must come into my Kingdom Again she said My God look over them keep all thy Handmaids my God my God And not long before her Departure in a good sence and deep Expression of Soul she said Glory Glory Eternal Glory for thy great Kindnest and Love to thy Handmaid And many times after she would begin some good words which she was not able to utter forth but some Friends standing by her would help her therein and then she would rejoyce that her Mind was uttered by another and so continued quiet as a Lamb for about fourteen hours before her Departure then deep groans did proceed from her unâ—il the eighth hour in the Morning on the 14th day of the 10th Month 1682 at which time she departed this Life and slept with her Fathers and as we hope and verily believe is entred into a blessed Eternity And this is written and witnessed unto by thy Loving Friends Thomas Salthouse Richard Tregenow Anne Salthouse Loveday Beachamp With several Servants and other Attendants A farther Testimony concerning Dear Loveday Hambly from T. S. SHould I undertake to set forth a Declaration of her Vertue in the last twenty years of her Life while I have had acquaintance with her it would require the Pen of a far readyer Writer and fill more Paper than is intended at this time for it is not practicable among us to garnish the Sepulcres of the Righteous nor is it any way needful to write Letters of Recommendation for the Dead who are entred into the Rest prepared for Gods People and in quiet Possession of an Inheritance among them that are Sanctifyed by Faith in Christ Jesus for the Spirit saith expresly Blessed are the Dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their Labour and their Works follow them Our Dear Friend L. H. is now gone to her long Home and we cease to sorrow for her that is fall'n asleep like those that have no hope for if in this Life only we have hope of Christ we are of all men most miserable for many are the Tryals of the Righteous c. And truly the Tribulations Tryals and Exercises of this good Woman were many in the Days of her Pilgrimage in this present World as may in part appear by the Records of our Friends Sufferings in this County some of which are in Print and some in Manuscript besides Reproaches Tryals and cruel Mockings that did attend us while the way was every where spoken against in which we walk and Worship the only true God of our Fathers in Spirit and in Truth This Good Friend and Antient Widdow Woman was several times cast into Prison at Lanceston and Bodmine for the Possession and Practice of her Religion and once constrained to ride to London which is about 220 Miles from her House to make appearance there for Non-payment of Tythes c. and at several times had her Goods taken away in great Quantities to the value of many hundreds of pounds sometimes fourty Head of Cattle at once for her faithful Testimony against the Oppression of Tythes and she did always take joyfully the spoiling of her Goods with Bonds and Imprisonmenâ—s that did often attend her for Matter of Conscience for no occasion could justly be taken against her except concerning the Righteous Law Way and Worship of the Living God for in other Cases she was always careful to owe nothing to any Man but Love greatest Policy Prudence and Care was to promote the Interest of the pretious Truth and not only the Form but the Power of Godliness her House was made a House of Prayer her Heart and Hand was bountiful and open to administer to such as needed Food or Physick and the Lord was pleased to give a great Blessing to her Endeavours many of her Neighbours are witnesses or it at this day her Charity and Hospitality was not confined to her Relations and the People of her own Perswasion but was extended to Rich and Poor Strangers and Enemies yea she was truly Kind and Charitable in her day to the utmost of her Ability few in this Generation did exceed her for Love and Good Works she was no Orator as to express her Mind by Men-pleasing Excellency of Speech or inticing fine words that Mens Wisdom teacheth but her Love was manifested to be real Love not in words only but in Deed and in Truth which gives me this Confidence to say she was a Disciple indeed and the Lord blest her in her Basket and Store after all her Sufferings for Righteousness sake and she never wanted Meat Drink nor Cloathing to accomodate her Persecutors and their Children if they were either in want of Food or Raiment neither did she say be warm and be cloathed and fed by others but did it dayly and freely for they were her own words often uttered in my hearing What 's all the World I have enough I will never live miserable to dye Rich. And yet she hath left a competent Estate to be divided amongst many of her Friends and Relations and to the Poor of the Neighbouring Parishes as appears by her last Will and Testament her Command concerning her Funeral was carefully observed by her Relations and Friends and many hundreds of sober People did accompany her to her Grave in a Decent Burying Place in the Tenement of Trigangeeves where her Dead Body is at rest and her Spirit is returned to God that gave it and to the