Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A70564
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An impartial account of Mr. John Mason of Water-Stratford, and his sentiments by H. Maurice ...
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Maurice, Henry, 1648-1691.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing M1358; ESTC R3723
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33,266
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78
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AN Impartial Account OF Mr JOHN MASON OF WATER-STRATFORD AND HIS SENTIMENTS By H. MAVRICE Rector of Tyringham Bucks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne quis Sapiat supra quam oportet sed ad sobrietatem Sapiat Rom. 12.3 Proxima puris Sort est manibus nescire nefas Sen. Herc. Fur. LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of YORK May it please your Grace IN Obedience to your Lordship's Wishes I here publish an entire Account of Mr. Mason and his Followers which by God's Blessing may detect Error and becalm Faction In those chiefly who esteem a general Rendezvous upon Earth a better enjoyment than Heaven's Triumph who look upon all Government as Antichristian and think it their duty to despise Dominion that they may set up themselves and Christ together I had design'd indeed to silence the Incredulity of the Atheist and Deist but a report being spread and believ'd by some great Friends that I was the Publisher of Mr. Mason's Letters c. made me contract my thoughts that I might gain and undeceive the more Readers I return your Grace my Humble Thanks for the Honour of your Commands for the opportunity of doing a probable piece of Service to the Church of God and for the liberty you have given me to profess my self My Lord Your Lordship 's constant Servant Henry Maurice AN Impartial Account OF Mr. JOHN MASON AND HIS SENTIMENTS THE Design of these Papers is to transmit to Posterity as remarkable an instance of pure Enthusiasm as the Reformed World ever knew They are writ in Answer to several Letters The First of which desir'd a Representation of the Matters of Fact at Water-Stratford The Next desir'd an Account of Mr. Mason's Character The Third ask'd my Thoughts of the Impulses and Vision to which he pretended and what might occasion them The Last was To enquire how it could be consistent with the Goodness of God to suffer a Person that meant well to be deluded The Fact is this That for Four Years or more Mr. Mason had been a stiff Asserter of our Saviour's Reign a Thousand Years on Earth and had drawn a Scheme of it in a Discourse call'd The Mid-night Cry which was Preach'd in several Places with great Zeal and receiv'd with much Applause This brought him many Followers Ten Miles about and as his Hearers encreas'd for the Novelty of the Doctrine so the Notion was confirm'd and in time improv'd The Reign upon Earth was to commence in England and Water-Stratford was the very Spot of Ground where his Standard was to be set up Those who would repair thither might find a safe Retreat but all other parts of the Nation would infallibly be expos'd to Fire and Sword Those who could heartily believe this thought it their Interest to reside there and those who had it brought with them as many Necessaries as they thought would last 'till the good Time should come As for Lodgings when his House was fill'd some as I was told lay in the Town and others made themselves open Partitions in the Barn fearing no ill because they design'd none About Easter last their Notions were fix'd and their Habitations settl'd Here they spent their time nigh an hundred of them besides many hundreds of well-wishers who were coming and going in Dancing Singing Praying c. 'till the long expected Appearance presented it self on April the 16th last about One in the Morning Towards the latter end of April being at Northampton I call'd on Mr. Ives a Relation to Mr. Mason's Family and discoursing on his late Pretences Mrs. Ives show'd me the following Letter dated April the 23d which I immediately Transcrib'd April 23d Water-Stratford Dear Cous Ives THE Thing which I am about to relate to you is very wonderful I need not rehearse what Doctrines my Brother has of late four Years been upon you know it has been of Christ's setting up of his Kingdom and that it would be usher'd in by a dreadful Tribulation and that this was very near at hand But the great Thing I have to acquaint you with is That on the sixteenth day of this Instant the Lord Jesus Christ did appear in this House to his Servant my Brother Mason in his glorious Person He was in a Crimson Garment his Countenance exceeding Beautiful abundance of sweetness and great Majesty He had the sight of him for some considerable time and then he was pleas'd to disappear I have not time nor strength to write what I heard from him of Christ's glorious Person He often says that all the glories that the World speaks of are but dirt to what has appear'd in the face of Christ Thus much I was desirous to acquaint you and the rest of my Relations with and now He and the rest that have had the Faith of Christ's coming live in the immediate expectation of Christ's Appearance here to gather to himself all his People to preserve them from the storm that is coming upon this land Those I say that God has given this Faith to are come hither and sing and dance before the Ark day and night some at a time and bid the Michals despise to their peril Here has been many hundred of Spectators but my Brother's advice to them all is daily to go home and see if they have Oyl and trim their Lamps for the Bridegroom is very near coming My Brother has had a thousand false stories reported of him and one that he was mad But he never had any thing like it in all his Life And it is not doubted but he will prove the Prophet of the Age and sent of God as Noah was to warn the World and the Forerunner of Christ's second coming as the Holy Baptist was of Christ's first coming and that Elijah in the last of Malachy that was to be sent before the Great and Dreadful Day But I must conclude That those who have this Faith of Christ's coming are mean unlearned and contemptible Persons in the Eye of the World excepting this Minister and that has much stumbled all sorts of People God gives the Faith to whom he pleases and at Christ's first coming was given to Fishermen and unlearned poor Creatures and so He has done again that no Flesh may glory in His sight I have been larger than I thought I rest Your Affectionate and Humble Servant and Kinswoman Margaret Holms Upon the reading of this I went on the 28th of April to visit my old Friend Mr. Mason at Water-Stratford with whom I had been familiarly acquainted twenty years before I no sooner came into his Yard but was surpriz'd with the wildness of unexpected Noises They were all singing some to one tune and some to another but so loud that it could not be exact When I enter'd the House a more melancholy Scene of a Spiritual Bedlam which still fills me with horror presented it self
for I cannot be free to lend them out for many reasons and have deny'd to do it to a Minister that was his intimate Acquaintance and what of them has been seen formerly has since his Death been improv'd against him and so has all that ever was taken out by piece-meals and has turn'd to no account but pecking-work against the Doctrine of the Kingdom If any Person would spread the Doctrine in course as it was deliver'd in the four Years Ministry then all would see how He clear'd and prov'd all things by Scripture which he Preach'd But the Papers that he kept by him were but part of the Doctrine and the Midnight-Cry contains the three parts which he often Preach'd upon That Christ would have a Davidical Kingdom here and that it would be usher'd in by a dreadful Tribulation and that this would be done in a short time He also often declar'd That he knew himself to be the Harbinger sent before Christ's Face which several Scriptures point out that should prepare the way of the Lord though he often would say that he knew himself to be the Unworthiest of all the Lord's Ministers but God should have all the glory of his grace to him for ever He declar'd that by him the way of the Lord was prepar'd and all things restor'd in a ministerial way by a declar'd Decree and that God had given him special grace for this Work and had unseal'd the Book to him that was to be seal'd till the time of the end and had given him the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy He also declar'd to us about three Weeks before he sicken'd That now he had fully and wholly done the Work the Lord had sent him upon as to the Message before Christ's Face and that he had but very few words more to say to us for he should soon be parted from us and be with Christ He told us also That Christ had took the matter into his own hands and that he would visibly perform what he had sent him to declare He said that God had done the part of a God to this Nation in giving them warning and they should know that they were the truths of the eternal God that were deliver'd amongst them and the words of truth and sobriety though the Nation had hist at all and the Devil had roar'd against it yet God would vindicate this Cause and that soon too Two days after he sicken'd He began to tell us how God had pour'd in his Loving kindness into his Soul in an extraordinary manner and so it continu'd all his Sickness And the last words he spake to us were that he was full of the loving-kindness of the Lord. During his sickness he spoke but little but what he did was constantly confirming what he had formerly deliver'd And to the last he still testify'd That he had seen the Lord and that it was time for this Nation to tremble and for Christians to trim their Lamps And as to our present expectations as you desire to know We believe there will be a change according to the word we have had delivered amongst us and that Christ did really appear to my Brother and we take it as a Seal to the doctrine of the Kingdom and as an appearance for his appearance We do believe also that the Lord will appear where the word of the Kingdom has been Preach'd where the Seed of the Kingdom has been sown which my Brother and others have believ'd is meant this Seed of the Kingdom which is that Mustard-Tree in which the Birds will come and lodge in the Branches thereof as Mat. 13.32 And it s believed that the people of God will be gather'd there for where the body is thither will the Eagles be gather'd together And that he will appear in that Mountain where he has been waited for as in Isaiah the 25.9 10. And we do believe him a Prophet sent to this Nation Now as to the second Request in your Letter I find my self very willing to serve you but not capable For the Doctrine that my Brother deliver'd was very large and weighty and so are the particulars of his Life and I not being able to write Sense or English conclude that you will be much troubled to read what I have writ already And if I say any thing of that honourable Minister I must say as hundreds more do that knew him That for soundnese of Doctrine for Christian Converse and for Exemplary Conversation he has not left his Fellow in the World He had such a continual Tide to spirituality such a Zeal to the glory of God and such a Flame of love to Jesus Christ that I never saw the like upon no Man upon Earth before There was certainly an extraordinary effusion of the Spirit of God pour'd out upon him and he was the self-abasingest Creature that ever I knew in my life He would stoop to the necessities of the meanest but would not yield to the sinful humour of the greatest He would never speak evil of no Man but would say to us though you condemn practices condemn not particular Persons for said he a Man that is truly humble will never open his Mouth in Self-boasting or Censure of others He was like Moses meek in his own Cause dead to Affronts and deaf to Reproaches and blind to Injuries but a vehement Man in God's Cause And to the Cartload of Reproaches that was of late cast upon him I never heard him answer any thing to them but Blessed be God that he has accounted me worthy to suffer in this honourable Cause He work'd in God's Service as if he was to merit Salvation by it but yet call'd himself an unprofitable Servant He was of an easy nature in point of Civility but of a steely nature in point of Sinfulness He was the fiercest Man in the World against Sin but the pittyfullest Man to the Sinner His Charity was extraordinary to poor Christians but perfonn'd with the greatest Secrecy that possibly could be and he never turn'd one Petitioner from his Door without an Alms and most commonly gave them Soul-instruction also Now as to his every day Exercise in his Family I need not acquaint you for all knew how he walk'd and how strict he kept the Sabbath But to note particulars that were remarkable of his Life would swell to a large piece and I hear that Mr. Hammet and Mr. Mehew have been writing his Life and Doctrine who have been well acquainted with his Conversation these many Years and have known what a faithful Minister of Jesus Christ he was and what extraordinary success from first to last God gave him in Conversion work in his Ministry and what an universal respect he had for all Christians and where he saw most of the Image of God those he loved best though they differ'd from him in Opinion The Haversham Christians are able to give a large