be glorified by me the meanest and poorest of all his Servants but through Free-grace faithful unto the end My Soul is ravished I can hardly write and my Comforts are more unspeakable than my Terrors were I did this Evening see my dearest Brother and Companion his Face was to me as that of an Angel and he gave me that Comfort that I cannot but say my Love to him is beyond what I ever had to my dearest Relations When God comes every thing hath a beauty and lustre upon it here is an Answer of Prayers and such an Answer as Dearest Relations must engage you all to be constant in performance of that Duty which like Jacob's Ladder though it stand upon the Earth yet it reaches up to Heaven Here 's the Love of God made manifest to a poor Sinner at the last hour like the Thief upon the Cross he that never knew before what the Love of God was to his Soul finds it now filled with it and running over Now bless the Lord O my Soul yea all that is within me Bless his holy Name for this Dispensation Now light appears out of darkness in the face of Jesus now all worldly Joy and Comforts seem to me as they are things not hard to part with Father Mother Brothers Sister Wife Children House and Lands are as my Dear Saviour saith to be parted with for him or we are not worthy of him I Bless his Name I find no reluctancy to do it he hath brought me to his foot-stool and I can say heartily the Will of the Lord be done in this Matter I never before but saw a beauty in worldly Comforts but now those seem so faded by the greater lustre and beauty that I see in God in Christ Jesus that I am astonished where I have been wandering all my dayes spending my time and my money for that which is not Bread. O strive to get a taste of this Love of God in Christ Jesus and it will perfectly wean you from this deceitful foolish World What is worldly Honour and Riches O set not your hearts upon them but get a Treasure in Heaven that your hearts may be there also O lose no time for if you ever knew the sweetness of it you would never be at rest 'till you found him whom your Soul loved it will be more yea infinitely more than all worldly Injoyments can afford you though in their greatest perfection it will make your Life sweet and your Death most comfortable It is the Bread which this World knoweth not of and therefore maketh little or no enquiry after it Dearest Relations whilst you and my other dear Friends are like Aaron and Hur holding up the hands of Moses I am through Grace getting Victory over the Amalakites I can embrace my dear and beloved Brother and Companion with more Joy in the field of Suffering than ever I could have done had I met him crowned with the Laurels of Victory Oh the Mercy to dye with such a Friend and such a valiant Souldier of Jesus who hath kept his garments clean I now begin to pity you that stay behind who have many Temptations to conflict with for a little yea a very little time and my warfare will be accomplished and if God continue his Love and Influence upon my Soul it will be both short and sweet I have little of this World about me I leave you all the Legacy of what was ever dearest to me the best of Wives and five poor Children who must pass through an evil and sinful World but I have committed them to God who hath commanded to cast our Fatherless Children and Widdows upon him Dear Parents Brothers Sister all adieu my time draws on my Paper is finished and your dying Child and Brother recommends you all to him who is alsufficient to the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant who will make you perfect in every good work to do his Will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Richard Nelthrope From the Palace of Newgate October the 30th 1685. Two of the Clock in the Morning Mr. Richard Nelthrope's Letter to his Children My dear Children THE Providence of God hath so ordered it that your poor and ever loving Father is taken from you in such a manner as may cast both worldly Loss and Reproach upon you but I charge you let not this be a Stumbling-block to you in the way of God but that you remember your Creator in the days of your Youth That you never neglect a day without reading the Holy Scripture wherein you 'l find your Duty both to God and Man there you 'l find the way to everlasting Life there you 'l find Christ Jesus instructing you and dying for you Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and all other things will be added to you After your Duty to God Almighty your dying Father charges and conjures you as you 'l answer it at the great day of Appearance of our dearest Saviour that you be dutiful and loving to the best of Mothers as long as God shall continue that great Mercy to you Hearken to her Voyce and be obedient to the words of her Mouth for she 'll be faithful to your Souls and Bodies and remember that Obedience to Parents hath the Promise of this Life as well as of Eternal Life Pay a great Duty and Obedience to your Grandfather and Grandmother Unkles and Aunt who all of them have not only testified the greatest Love to your dying Father but from whom if you carry your selves as becomes you you may expect both the good things of this World and Advice and Counsel for what is far beyond all temporal Blessings Diligence in your lawful Callings to which God shall in his Providence appoint you is both commendable and a Duty but let not the eager pursuit of the things of this World justle out the Time allotted for better things Prayer will bless what you get in your Imployments and so at once you obtain Gods Blessing upon worldly mercies and find God manifesting himself to you in his dear Son Christ Jesus in the Pardon of your sins and receiving worldly things in the Covenant Your tender years in which I leave you in this wicked and deceitful world may render you subject to many temptations but I commit you to the Father of the Fatherless who is able to preserve you both in Soul and Body your poor Father hath no Legacy to leave you but the Blessing of the great Jehovah which he begs for you upon the bended knees of his Soul. The Lord God bless you with the Dew of Heaven and if he sees good give you Jacob's Portion Food and Raiment and if the Lord bless you with any temporal Goods remember they are Talents employ them well to the Masters
his present Majesty for I was in the East Country when the Duke Landed and from thence I went directly to him when he was at Shipton-Mallet not one Man accompanying me from thence But hitherto as I lived so now I dye owning and professing the true Reformed Christian commonly called the Protestant Religion which is founded on the pure written Word of God only and which I acknowledge likewise to be comprehended in the Articles of the Doctrine of the Church this Religion I have made a reasonable and free Choice of and have heartily embraced not only as it protests against all Pagan and Mahometan Religion but against the Corruption of the Christian and I humbly and earnestly Pray to God that by his Infinite Wisdom and Almighty Power he will prevent not only the utter extirpation but diminition thereof by the heighth and influence of what is contrary thereto and for that end the Lord make the Professors of it to live up more to its Principles and Rules and bring their Hearts and Conversations more under the Governmeâ—t and Power of the same I dye also owning my Ministry Non-conformity for which I have suffer'd so much and which doth now obstruct the Kings Grace and Mercy to be manifested and extended to me For as I chose it not constrainedly so I appeal to God as a dying Man not moved from sullenness or humour or factious temper or erroneous Principles of Education or from secular Interests or worldly advantages but clearly from the Dictates of my own Conscience and as I judged it to be the Cause of God and to have more of Divine Truth in it than that which is contrary thereto so now I see no Cause to repent of it nor to recede from it not questioning but God will own it at the last Judgment-day If no more had been required after the late King's Restauration to qualifie Ministers for publick Preaching than was after the first Restauration from the time of Charles the first probably I might have satisfied my self therewith and not scrupled Conformity thereto but the Terms and Conditions thereof by a particular Law made in 1662. being not only new but so strict and severe that I could never have satisfaction in my own Conscience after all endeavours used for a Complyance therewith and a Conformity thereto to say nothing of the Covenant which I never took but the giving my Assent and Consent have been too difficult and hard for me to comply with And I very well remember that about fourteen years agoe entring into a Discourse with Mr. Patrick Heldore and Irish-man who was Contemporary with me in Dublin concerning Conformity which he much endeavour'd to perswade me to I urg'd the severity of the forementioned Conditions against it and after some Debates and Reasons with him I told him I did believe they were contrived and designed on purpose to prevent our publick Preaching and to keep us out of the Church to which he ingenuously reply'd he judged it was so For said he a Bishop in Ireland whose Name I have forgot told me the very same But though I could not wade through and conquer this Difficulty yet I censure not those that did it and I believe after all the hottest Disputes and most vehement Debates and violent Contests between Conformist and Non-conformist there are of both Parties will be glorified in Heaven hereafter According to the 29th Article of the Church of England a visible Church is a Congregation of faithful Men in the which the pure Word of God is Preached the Sacraments of the Lord duly administred according to Christ's Ordinance and all those things that of necessity are requisite and necessary to salvation so with such a Church I have held the most intimate Communion and with such did I live could hold it I would not therefore be so Incorporated with any Church as to exclude me from and render me uncapable of holding Communion with other Churches I was never strongly bound up to any form of Ecclesiastical Government but that under which a pure and undefiled Religion doth flourish and that which contains and really practises Holiness and advances the Kingdom of God in the World that can I approve of and submit to and willingly live under were I to live I did approve of the ancient and present form of Civil Government English Monarchy I am fully satisfied with and do also declare that it is not warrantable for any Subject to take up Arms against and resist their lawful Soveraigns and rightful Princes And therefore had I not been covinced by several things that I have read and heard to believe that the late Duke of Monmouth was the Legitimate Son of his Father Charles the second I had never gone into his Army judging that without this I could not be freed from the guilt of Rebellion which I always resolved to keep my self clear from And tho his Father denyed that he was marryed to his Mother I thought it might be answered with this That Kings and Princes for State-reasons often cannot be fathomed by their Subjects affirming and denying things which otherwise they would not do and make even their natural Affections to truckle and stoop thereto I exhort all to abhorr all treasonable Plots and pretences of all Rebellion with the highest Detestation and to take the plain Text of sacred Scripture to walk by in honouring and obeying and living in Subjection to rightful Kings and not readily to Receive or suddenly to be Impress'd with evil Reports and Defamations of them also not Rashly to be propagators of the same I desire God to forgive all mine Enemies and to give me an heart to forgive them which are many some mighty and all most malicious Particularly Barter of Lisnel who betrayed me and proved such a Traytor to James D. of M. his old and intimate Friend I am grievously afflicted that I should prove the occasion of the great sufferings of so many Persons and Families But this hath fallen under the Just and wise ordering of Divine Providence as Davids going to Abimelech when he proved the occasion of the Death of all the Persons Men Women and Children in the City But who shall say unto God What dost thou The care of my most dear Wife and a great many Children I cast upon God who I hope will be better than the best of Husbands unto her and the best of Fathers unto them God knows how Just and Legal Right my Wife hath unto her Estate to him therefore I commit her to defend her from the violence and oppression of men particularly from a most inhumane and unnatural Brother But no wonder if he will lay violent hands upon his Sisters Estate that hath so often laid them on his own Father I dye a deeply humbled self-judging and self-condemning Sinner loathing and abhorring my many and great Iniquities and my self for them earnestly desiring full Redemption from the bonds of Corruption under which I have groaned so many
THE Dying Speeches LETTERS and PRAYERS c. Of those EMINENT Protestants Who Suffered in the WEST of ENGLAND And Elsewhere UNDER THE CRUEL SENTENCE Of the late Lord Chancellour THEN Lord Chief Justice JEFFERYS WITH An Account of their Undaunted Courage at the Barr and afterwards and the most remarkable Circumstances that attended their EXECUTION Never before Published LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Black Raven in the Poultrey over against the Compter and are to be Sold by R. Janeway in Queens-head-Alley in Pater-noster-row 1689. To the Memory of those Worthy Protestants who Suffered in the West and elsewhere in the Year 1685. SInce that free Agent who conducts the World His Wheels of Providence has backward whirl'd And by the Turn men to their Senses brings To loath their Idol-Priests and Idol-Kings Finding a Popish promise proves all one From an Ignatian Chair and from a Thronâ— Since over Indulgent Heaven has been so kind To op'en our Eyes by Miracles we find All men admiring they 've so long been blind Surpriz'd they should so long their Friends oppose And with a credulous trust caress their foes Amidst the numerous Wonders of the time 'T is no small wonder not to say a Crime We reverence no more their memory Who for their Countrey 's welfare dar'd to dye Whose quarter'd Limbs imbru'd with Native gore Still cry for vengeance on the Western shore Why should we with ignoble triumph tread Vpon the silent Ashes of the dead And with insulting feet their dust profane Whose free-born Souls spurn'd at a slavish Chain Souls not so sensless so supine as ours That early saw the drift of Romish Powers Early disdain'd those yoaks with generous sâ—orn Which our more servile necks have tamely born That saw the hovering Storm approach from far Threat'ning a thousand mischiefs worse than warr And boldly rush'd upon th' impetuous Waves Rather to dye like men than live like Slaves To save their native Countrey bravely try'd Fail'd in th' attempt and then as bravely dy'd In vain would envious clouds their Fame obscure Which to eternal Ages must endure In vain do virulent Tongues attempt to stain The solid Glory noble Patriots gain If ill designs some to the Battel drew T is Impious to condemn all for a few If fawning Traytors in their Councils fate 'T is base to mock rather lament their fate Thô God for England's sins refus'd to bless Their brave designs with the desir'd success 'T is an unequal Brutish argument Always to judge the Cause by the Event Thus the unthinking giddy Multitude A suffering Jesus Criminal conclude Well 't is enough Heaven now crowns with Applause And gives protection to that righteous Cause Nay did ordain that Spot to be the Scene Where the Cause dy'd for't to revive again Great Nassau favour'd by the Powers above Their special care and their peculiar love An Atlas to our sinking State does prove Auspicious Stars on all his Councils smile That breathe vast Blessings on our joyful Isle And now methinks their Manes who of late Fell worthy Martyrs of our bleeding State Reproach us with Ingratitude and say Is nothing due unto our murther'd Clay Vnto our murther'd Names is nothing due Who sacrific'd both Lives and Names for you Does no Tongue daign to move in the defence Of wounded Honour and wrong'd Innocence If th' All-wise God tho Just do'nt yet see good With swift revenge t' appease our crying Blood Save us at least from Envy's darker Grave And let our Fame a Resurrection have Great Souls too great for our Inferiour Praise You for your selves the noblest Trophyes raise Your Dying Words your Monuments become More Bright more Lasting than a Marble Tomb To future Times your Fame shall freshly bloom And speak aloud till it strike Envy dumb THE Dying Speeches LETTERS and PRAYERS c. OF Those Eminent Protestants who Suffered in the West of England and elsewhere Some Passages of Henry Cornish Esq before his Sufferings COming into the Press-yard and seeing the Halter in the Officers hand he said Is this for me the Officer answered Yes he replyed Blessed be God and Kissed it and after said O blessed be God for Newgate I have enjoyed God ever since I came within these Walls and blessed be God who hath made me fit to dye I am now going to that God that will not bâ— mocked to that God that will not be imposed upon to that God that knows the Innocency of his poor Creature And a little after he said Never did any poor Creature come unto God with greater Confidence in his Mercy and Assurance of Acceptation with him through Jesus Christ than I do but it is through Jesus Christ for there is no other way of coming to God but by him to find acceptance with him there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby we can be saved but the Name of Jesus Then speaking to the Officers he said Labour every one of you to be fit to dye for I tell you you are not fit to dye I was not fit to dye my self 'till I came in hither but O blessed be God he hath made me fit to dye and hath made me willing to dye In a few moments I shall have the fruition of the Blessed Jesus and that not for a day but for ever I am going to the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of God where I shall enjoy the presence of God the Father and of God the Son and of God the Holy Spirit and of all the Holy Angels I am going to the general Assembly of the First-born and of the spirits of just Men made perfect O that God should ever do so much for me O that God should concern himself so much for the good of poor Creatures for their salvation blessed be his Name for this was the design of God from all Eternity to give his only Son to dye for poor miserable sinners Then the Officers going to tye his Hands he said What must I be tyed then well a brown Thred might have served the turn you need not tye me at all I shall not stir from you for I thank God I am not afraid to dye As he was going out he said Farewell Newgate Farewell all my fellow-prisoners here the Lord comfort you the Lord be with you all The Croud and Noise of People being so great that what was spoken at the Place of Execution could not be exactly taken it was not thought convenient to Publish it Mr. Richard Nelthrope's LETTER TO HIS Parents Brothers and Sister Dearest Parents and ever loving Brothers and tender hearted and beloved Sister THrough the Infinite Goodness of God the nearer I approach my end the more Joy and Comfort I find in my suffering Estate that I may so call it I can through Mercy say that I have found more true Delight and Content this Night than in all the Days and Nights of my whole life and I hope the Lord will continue it that his Name may
Deliverance of the People of God We have great reason to lament but for the outward Prosperity that would accompany it it is but of small moment in it self as it would never satisfie so neither could it be abiding for at longest Death would put an end to it Also adding Nay perhaps we might have been so foolish as to have been taken with that part in the neglect our Eternal Concerns then I am sure our present Circumstances are incomparably better for us He frequently Exprest grrat concern for the Glory of God and affection to his People saving If my Death may be for the Glory of God and hasten the Dâ—liverance of his People it will be enough and that it was great Comfort to him to think of so great a Priviledge as to have an Interest in all their Prayers In his particular Converse he greatly delighted in and valued those Persons where he saw most shining Holiness he also shewed great pity to the Souls of others saying That the Remembrance of our Vanity may well cause Compassion to others in that Estate and in his Conversation promoting others to a Seriousness telling them that Death and Eternity are such weighty concerns that they deserved the greatest intentions of our Mind for the way to receive Death Cheerfully is to prepare for it seriously and if God should please to save our Lives we have the same reason to be serious and to spend our remaining days in his Fear and Service He also took great care that the Worship of God which they were in capacity of performing as Reading Prayer and Singing Psalms might be duly performed in which he took great delight for those three or four days before his Death When there was a general Report no more should dye he said I do not know what God hath done beyond our expectation if he do prolong my Life it is all his own and by his Grace I will wholly devote it to him But the 29th of September about Ten or Eleven at Night we found the deceitfulness of that Report for they were then told they must dye the next Morning which though unexpected as to the suddenness of it yet he often therein Blessâ—d God for his Power Grace and Faith in giving suitable support by his Blessed Presence which appeared in him upon my coming to him at that time finding him greatly composed he said Though Man hath a design to surprize yet God doth and will fulfill his Word to be a present help in time of trouble Next Morning when I saw him again his Cheerfulness and Comfort was much increased waiting for the Sheriff with the greatest sweetness and serenity of mind saying Now the wil of God is determined to whom we have referred it and he hath most certainly chosen that which is Best Afterwards with a smiling Countenance Discoursing of the Glory of Heaven there in the 3. 4 5. Verse of the 22 of the Revelations And there shall be no more Curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his Servants shall serve him And they shall see his Face and his Name shall be in their Forehead And there shall be no Night there they need no Candle neither Light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them Light and they still Raign for ever and ever Then he said What a happy state is this shall we be loth to enjoy this Then he desired the Second Book of the Corinthians 5 Chapter and 1 Verse to be read to him For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens All along his Comforts still increasing expressing his hope and full assurance in this Glorious Inheritance and being now going to the Possession of it Seeing the happiness of this Blessed Change he said Death is more desirable then Life and as to the manner of this Death when I have considered others under these Circumstances I haâ—e thought it very dreadful but now God hath call'd me to it I have quite other Apprehensions of it I can now chearfully Embrace it as an easie Passage into Glory and though Death separates us from enjoying each other it will be but for a short time and then we shall meet in such Enjoyment as now we cannot conceive and for ever rejoyce in that Happiness O! How great a thing is Redemption from Wrath to come to an Eternity of Happiness Then Reading of the Scriptures and musing with himself he imitated the great Comfort that God câ—nveighed to his Soul in it saying What an invalidate Treasure is this Blessed Word of God in all Conditions Here is store of strong Consolation One desiring his Bible he said Nay This shall be my Companion to the last moment of my Life Thus Praying Reading and Conversing together waiting for the Sheriffs coming who when he came void of all Pity or Civility hurried them away scarce suffering them to take leave of their Friends but notwithstanding this and the doleful Mourning of those about them the Joyfulness of his Countenance was increas'd that as he left the Prison thus he appeared in the Sledge when they sat about half an Hour before the Officers could force the Horses to draw at which they were greatly Enraged there being no visible Obstruction from Weight or Way but at last they Haled them forward the Mayor and Sheriff Balaam-like driving the Horses when they came to the Place of Execution was surrounded with Spectators Many that waited their coming with great Sorrow said That when they saw him and them come with such Chearfulness Joy and Evidence of the presence of God with them it made Death appear with another Aspect They first Embraced each other with great Affection then two of the Eldest Persons Prayed Audibly they joyning with great Seriousness Then he desired leave of the Sheriff to Pray particularly but he would not grant it but only asked him If he would Pray for the King To which he Answered I Pray for all Men He then Requested they might sing a Psalm the Sheriff told them It must be with Ropes about them which they chearfully accepted and sung with such heavenly Joy Sweetness that many present said it broke and joyed their Hearts Thus in Expressing the Delightfulness of Praising God on Earth he wâ—llingly closed his Eyes on a vain World and past to the Eternal Employment Sept. the 30th 1685. All present of all sorts were exceedingly affected and amazed Some Officers that had before insultingly said Sure these Persons have no thoughts of Death but will find themselves surprized by it after said That they now saw that he and they had something extraordinary within that carried them through with such Joy. Others of them said They were so convinced of their Happiness that they would be glad to change Conditions with them All the Soldiers in general and all others wept and lamented about them and for