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A63959 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 : with the most remarkable circumstances that attended their execution : never before published. 1689 (1689) Wing T3372A; Wing D2956_CANCELLED; ESTC R42261 33,759 40

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are very near my Heart so that to leave the World before I have writ a Line or two to you to bid you farewel and to comfort you under this sad Providence would be uncomfortable to me I hope you have by this time learned how to welcome Evil as well as good Tydings and submit to the wise Disposer of all things who knows what 's best for us better than we do our selves though I question not but the News of my Death especially in such a violent manner as within a few hours I am to suffer will be afflictive to you yet I would beg of you to consider the Happiness I am going to and that I am but a few Years sooner taken out of a troublesome wicked World unto the Quire of Triumphant Martyrs in Glory which place of Happiness though I have not deserved by any Merit of my own yet for the Merits of my Mediator and Redeemer who hath purchased more for me than can enter into my Heart to conceive I doubt not but I have a Mansion prepared for me in that place where the Wicked cease from Troubling and the Weary are at Rest. And now Dear Sister I have nothing more to do in this World but to be preparing and fitting my self for this place of Rest which in a few Hours I am going to and therefore leave you and yours to the Protection of God who is able to keep and support you under this and all other his afflictive Providences and bring a good Issue out of them and who will in his own due time conduct you safe to that place of Happiness where you will meet above for Christs sake Dear Sister our Loving and Affectionate Brother William Jenkins An Account of the Behaviour of Mr. William and Benjamin Hewling before and at their Execution with several Letters to divers of their Relations THe Gracious Dealings of God manifested to some in their dying hours have been of great Use to those living that heard the same giving them occasion thereby to reflect on their own Estate and to look for the things of their Peace before they are hid from their Eyes As also a great encouragement to strengthen the Faith of those that have experienced the Grace of God to them at the End it 's thought necessary by Parents especially to preserve to their Children what remains of those Blessed Experiences that such have had that God hath taken to himself you have here a true Account presented of the Admirable Appearance of God towards two young Men Mr. Benjamin Hewling who dyed when he was about 22 years of Age And of Mr. William Hewling who dyed before he Arrived to 20 years which for reasons best known to themselves engaged with the Duke of Monmouth for which Mr. William Hewling was Executed at Lyme September 12 and Mr. Benjamin Hewling at Taunton September 30. 1685. However severe Men were to them yet the Blessed Dispensation of God towards them was such as hath made good his Word That out of the Mouth of Babes he hath ordained strength that he may still the Enemy and Avenger After the Dispersing of the Duke's Army they fled and got off to Sea but were driven back again and with the hazard of their lives got on Shore over dangerous Rocks where they saw the Country fill'd with Soldiers and they being unwilling to fall into the hands of the Rabble and no way of defence or escape remaining with them they surrendered themselves Prisoners to a Gentleman whose House was near the place they Landed at and were from thence sent to Exeter Goal July the 21 where remaining some time their behaviour was such that being Visited by many caused great Respect towards them even of those who were Enemies to the Cause they engaged in And being on the 15th of July put on Board the Swan Frigot in order to their being brought up to London their Carriage was such as caused the Commander and the rest of the Officers in the Ship to shew great kindness to them and being brought into the River Captain R. by Order came down to take them into his Custody and carried them to Newgate putting great Irons upon them and put them into rooms apart without giving Liberty for any near Relation to see them though in the presence of a Keeper which did greatly increase the Grief and Sorrow of their Relations But although men were cruel and severe to them God who wisely orders all things for good to all those whom he intends Grace and Mercy upon made this very Restraint and hard Usage a Blessed Advantage to their Souls as appears by their own Words when after great Importunity and Charge some of their near Relations had an opportunity to speak a few words to them before the Keeper to which they replyed That they were content with the Will of God whatsoever it should be Having been in Newgate three Weeks there was orders given to carry them down into the West in order to their Tryals which being told them they answered they were glad of it and the morning they went out of Newgate several that beheld them so Chearful said Surely those Yonng Men have their Pardons in their Pockets or else they could never carry it with that Chearfulness as they do This must be observed that from first to last whatever hopes they received from their friends of their Pardon they still thought the contrary never being much affected with the hopes of it nor cast down at the worst that might attend them in their Journey to Dorcester The Keepers that went with them have given this Account of them That their Carriage was so Grave and Serious that made them admire to see and hear what they did from such young men The first opportunity their Sister had to speak with them was at Salisbury August the 30th who gives the following Account of them I found them in an excellent Composure of Mind declaring their Experience of the Grace and Kindness of God to them in all their Sufferings in supporting strengthning and providing for them turning the Hearts of all them whose Hands they had been in both at Exon and on Ship-board to shew pity and favour to them although since they came to Newgate they were hardly used and how in their Journey loaden with heavy Irons and more Inhumanely dealt with they with great Chearfulness profest they were better yea and in a more happy Condition then ever in their lives from the sence they had of the Pardoning Love of God in Jesus Christ to their Souls with only referring themselves to the Wise and Gracious God to chose for them Life or Death expressing themselves thus Any thing what pleases God what He sees best so be it we know He is able to deliver if not Blessed be His Name Death is not terrible but desirable My Brother Benjamin in particularly added As for the World there 's nothing in it to make it worth while to live except we may
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
mercy but only in the Free Grace of God by the Application of the Blood of Jesus my dearest and only Saviour to my poor sinful Soul my Distresses have been exceeding great as to my eternal State but through the infinite Goodness of God tho I have many sins to answer for yet I hope and trust as to my particular that Christ came for this very end and purpose to relieve the Oppressed and to be a Physitian to the sick I come unto thee O blessed Jesus refuse me not but wash me in thine own Blood and then present me to thy Father as righteous What tho my sins be as Crimson and of a Scarlet dye yet thou canst make them as white as Snow I see nothing in my self but what must utterly ruine and condemn me I cannot answer for one action of my whole Life but I cast my self wholly upon thee who art the Fountain of Mercy in whom God is reconciling himself to the World the greatest of Sins and Sinners may find an All-sufficiency in thy Blood to cleanse them from all sin O dearest Father of Mercy look upon me as righteous in and through the imputed righteousness of thy Son he hath payed the debt by his own offering up himself for sin and in that thy Justice is satisfied and thy Mercy is magnified Grant me thy love O dearest Father assist me and stand by me in the needful hour of Death give thy Angels charge over my poor Soul that the Evil One may not touch nor hurt it Defend me from his power deliver me from his rage and receive me into thine Eternal Kingdom in and through the alone Merits of my dearest Redeemer for whom I praise thee To whom with thy self and Holy Spirit be ascribed all Glory Honour Power Might and Dominion for ever and for ever Amen Dear Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Amen R. Nelthrope Newgate October 29. 1685. Mrs. Gaunt's Speech written the day before her Sufferings NOT knowing whether I should be suffer'd or able because of weaknesses that are upon me through my hard and close Imprisonment to speak at the place of Execution I writ these few lines to signifie That I am well reconciled to the way of my God towards me though it be in ways I looked not for and by terrible things yet in righteousness having given me Life he ought to have the disposing of it when and how he pleases to call for it and I desire to offer up my All to him it being but my reasonable Service and also the first Terms that Jesus Christ offers that he that will be his Disciple must forsake all and follow him and therefore let none think hard or be discouraged at what hath happened unto me for he doth nothing without cause in all he hath done unto us he being holy in all his wayes and righteous in all his works and 't is but my lot in common with poor desolate Sion at this day Neither do I find in my heart the least regret for what I have done in the service of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ in succouring and securing and of his poor Sufferers that have shewed favour to his righteous Cause which Cause though now it be fallen and trampled upon as if it had not been annointed yet it shall revive and God will plead it at another rate than ever he hath done yet and reckon with all its opposers and malitious haters and therefore let all that love and fear him not omit the least Duty that comes to hand or lies before them knowing that now it hath need of them and expects they shall serve him And I desire to bless his holy Name that he hath made me useful in my generation to the comfort and relief of many desolate ones and the blessing of those that are ready to perish has come upon me and being helpt to make the Heart of the Widdow to sing And I bless his holy Name that in all this together with what I was Charged with I can approve my Heart to him that I have done his Will though it does cross Man's Will and the Scriptures that satisfie me are Isa. 16. 4. Hide the Outcasts bewray not him that wandereth And Obad. 13 14. Thou shouldst not have given up those of his that did escape in the day of his distress But Man says you shall give them up or you shall dye for it now who to Obey Judge ye So that I have cause to rejoyce and be exceeding glad in that I suffer for righteousness sake and that I am accounted worthy to suffer for well doing and that God has accepted any service from me which has been done in sincerity though mixed with manifold infirmities which he hath been pleased for Christ's sake to cover and forgive And now as concerning my Fact as it is called alas it was but a little one and might well become a Prince to forgive but he that shews no Mercy shall find none And I may say of it in the language of Jonathan I did but tast a little honey and lo I must dye for it I did but relieve an unworthy poor distressed Family and so I must dye for it Well I desire in the Lamb-like Gospel spirit to forgive all that are concerned and to say Lord lay it not to their Charge but I fear he will not nay I believe when he comes to make inquisition for Blood it will be found at the door of the furious Judge who because I could not remember things through my dauntedness at Burden's Wife and Daughters vileness and my ignorance took advantage thereat and would not hear me when I had called to mind that which I am sure would have invalidated their evidence though he granted something of the same kind to another at that time yet denyed it unto me My Blood will also be found at the door of the unrighteous Jury who found me guilty upon the single Oath of an Out-lawed Man for there was none but his Oath about the Money who is no legal Witness though he be Pardoned his Outlawry not being recalled and also the Law requires two Witnesses in point of Life And then about my going with him to the place mentioned 't was by his own words before he was Outlawed for 't was two Months after his absconding and though in a Proclamation yet not High Treason as I have heard so that I am clearly Murdered by you And also bloody Mr. A. who has so unsatiably hunted after my Life and though it is no Profit to him through the ill will he bore me left no stone unturn'd as I have ground to believe 'till he brought it to this and shewed favour to Burton who ought to have dyed for his own fault and not bought his Life with mine and Capt. R. who is cruel and severe to all under my Circumstances and did at that time without all Mercy or Pity hasten my Sentence and held up my hand that it might be given
years longing for a most perfect Conformity to the most glorious and holy God the only Infinite pure Being thirsting for a perfect Diffusion of his Grace through all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul panting after perfect Spiritual Life and Liberty and a Consummate Love to my dearest Jesus who is an All-comprehensive Good and to be satisfied with his Love for ever A vigorous and vehement Zeal for the Protestant Religion with a Belief I had of the Dukes Legitimacy hath involved me into this ignominious Death yet blessed be God that by sincere Repentance and true Faith in the Blood of Jesus there is a passage from it to a glorious Eternal Life and from these bitter sorrows to the fulness of sweetest Joyes that are in his Presence and from these sharp bodily pains to those more pure Pleasures that are at his Right hand for evermore and blessed be God that such a Death as this cannot prevent and hinder Christ's changing of my vile Body and fashioning it like unto his Glorious Body in the general Resurrection-day I am now going into that World where many dark things shall be made perfectly manifest and clear and many doubtful things fully Resolved and a plenary Satisfaction given concerning them all Disputes and Mistakes concerning Treason Rebellion and Schism shall be at an end and cease for ever many things that are Innocent Lawful and Laudable which have foul Marks and black Characters stampt and fixt upon them here they shal be perfectly purified and fully cleansed from there where at one view more shall be known of them than by all wrangling Debates and eager Disputes or by Reading all Polemick Books concerning them here I greatly deplore and bewail the greedy Appetite and insatiable thirst that Professing Protestants have after the Blood of their Brethren and the high pleasure they take in the Effusion thereof But what will not Men do when they are either Judicially blinded or their secular worldly Interest insensibly insinuates and winds it self into their Religion Is so twisted and incorporated with it that it animates and acts it is the Life and Soul the vital Form and Power and made wholly subservient thereunto I bless God for all my Sufferings and particularly for this last for the benefit and fruit of it by Gods sanctifying of them to me have been great hereby I have been effectually convinced of the Vanity of the World and my own sinfulness by Nature and practice and to see that to be sin which I never saw before and to be more throughly humbled for what I know to be sin not only of Commission but of Omission also Hereby I have been brought to a more thorough deep inward sence and feeling of the absolute necessity of the Righteousness of Christ to justifie me and he hath been made much more dear and precious to my Soul than ever he was before Hereby my Soul hath been more Refin'd from the Dross of Sensuality wrought into a more heavenly Frame raised up to a higher pitch of Spirituality hereby I am made more Meek and Humble and so Judge more charitably of others that differ from me in Opinion and Judgment so though by God's most Righteous Judgment I have been apprehended and most Justly and deservedly undergo this Suffering for my Sins yet I hope they have wrought for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory fitting and preparing me making me a better qualified Subject for and far more meet to be a Partaker of the same By the Grace and Strength of God I will not purchase my Life by the Death and Blood of my Protestant Brethren but chuse to dye rather than be a Betrayer of them the Impetuous and violent assault of this I dreaded more than Death it self Blessed be God I was not exposed unto it and conquered by it as some have been having such full bodily vigour and strength being in such perfect Health notwithstanding my Age predominating in me it hath made it more difficult to dye than if I had been Clogged and Incumbred with Infirmities made to bow and stoop under them by prevailing Diseases and Distempers gradually worn out therewith which many times makes Men weary of Life and to desire to dye and this in Conjunction with many things which I forbear to mention highly gratifying and pleasing to sense which I must leave for ever strengthens and heightens the Difficulty and begets a greater Regret and Reluctancy in my Will to have the Earthly Tabernacle of my Body dissolved and my Soul to dislodge and quit the same But now when the black and gloomy Shades of Death do overspread me I can say to the Glory of God's most Free and Powerful Grace True Faith in some measure hath changed the difficulty into a Facility and easiness of Dying It hath very much subdued the Reluctancy of my Will against it for it makes Future things present and Invisible things visible and doth Realize and substantiate the same to me and as by it I penetrate and pierce into Eternity and behold Invisible and Immortal things so hereby blessed be God I have obtained a greater Victory over Sense The World is crucified to me and I to the World and all the most pleasant delightful Objects therein all finite fading Creatures Comforts and Injoyments are become minute and small Despicable and Contemptible to me in comparison thereof being infinitely Contained and Comprehended therein Shall my Soul clasp and cling about these Mortal and Perishing things Shall it cleave and be glued to them Shall it be confin'd and captivated into what is kept in the narrow bounds of Time and in this lower World Shall it earnestly desire and thirst for muddy Streams yea Rivers of Flesh-pleasing Good when by an Eye of Faith I can look into the Indeficient Inexhaustible purest Fountain the Immense Imensurate Ocean of Divine Good hoping to Drink thereof to Swim and Bathe my Soul therein for ever and ever And when I consider how long my Ears have been bound up and tyed to their innumerable and horrid Oaths and Cursed Blasphemies and my Eyes to see the prophanation of the day of God and when I behold such an overflowing Flood of most prodigious Impiety such an Inundation of most monstrous Iniquity and so much Hell upon Earth and that there is so much decay of holy Zeal and true Piety and Christian Religion among the Professors of it such seeming incurable Breaches and Divisions such expiring Love and Charity and parting 's among them it hath powerful influence on my Soul to reconcile it more to Death and makes it electively and from choice to leave this present World and to take up my abode in that which is Unseen and Future were there shall be nothing but perfect Love and Holiness a sinless state and serving God with all unweariedness and perfection with the highest complacency and delight that immortal Souls can be capable of there is perfect Peace and Concord the innumerable company
out of the World with a Joyful Countenance he said O now my Joy and Comfort is I have a Christ to go to and so sweetly Resigned his Spirit to Christ September the 12th 1685. An Officer who had shewed so Malicious a Spirit as to call the Prisoners Devils when he was Guarding them down was now so concerned that he after told a Person of Quality that he was never so Affected as by his Chearful Carriage and Fervent Prayer such as he believed never was heard especially from one so young and said he believed that had the Lord Chief Justice been there to see and hear what he did he could not have let him die The Sheriff having given his Body to be Buried although it was brought from the place of Execution without the knowledge of his Friends yet very many of the Town came to his Funeral to the number of about two hundred and several young Women of the best of the Town laid him in his Grave in Lyme Church-Yard September the 13th 1685. After which his Sister Writ this following Letter to her Mother ALthough I have nothing to Acquaint my Dear Mother withal but what is most Afflictive to Sense both as to the Determination of Gods Will and as to my present Apprehension concerning my Brother Benjamin yet remaining yet there is such abundant Consolation mixt in both that I only wanted an opportunity to pay this Duty God having wrought so Glorious a work on both their Souls revealing Christ in them that Death is become their Friend My Brother William having already with the greatest Joy declared to those that were with him to the last that he would not change Conditions with any that were to remain in this World and he desired that his Relations would comfort themselves that he is gone to Christ. My Brother Benjamin expects not long to continue in this World and is exceeding willing to leave it when God shall Call being fully satisfied that God will choose that which is best for him and us all by these things God doth greatly support me and I hope you also my Dear Mother which was and is my Brothers great desire there is still room for Prayer for one and God having so answered though not in kind we have encouragement still to wait on him Honoured Mother your Dutiful Daughter HANNAH HEWLING VVHen I came to Taunton my Brother Benjamin had received the News of my Brother William 's being gon t● die with so much Comfort and Joy and afterwards of the continuance of the goodness of God in increasing unto the end He Exprest himself to this effect We have no cause to fear Death if the Presence of God be with us there is no Evil in it the sting of it is taken away it is nothing but our Ignorance of the Glory that the Saints pass into by Death which makes it appear Dark to our selves or Relations if belonging to Christ what is this World that we should desire any Abode in it It is all Vanity and Vnsatisfying full of Sin and Misery Intimating also his own Cheerful expectation now to follow discovering then and all along great seriousness and sense of Spiritual things complaining of nothing in his present Circumstances but the want of a place of Retirement to Converse more Uninterruptedly with God and his own Soul saying That his little time in Newgate was the sweetest in his whole Life He said God having before struck his Heart when he thought of the hazard of his Life and the great Consequence of Death and Eternity shewing that they were the only happy Persons that had secur'd their Eternal Estate and the folly and madness of the ways of Sin and his own Thraldome therein with his utter Inability to deliver himself also the necessity of Christ to Salvation He said It was not without sorrow and amazement for some time the thoughts of Vnpardoned Sin with Eternity before him was a great surprize but God wonderfully open'd to him the Riches of his free Grace in Christ Jesus for poor Sinners to fly unto enabling him alone to look unto a Crucified Christ for Salvation He said That this Blessed Work was in some measure carried on upon his Soul under his business and hurry in the Army but never sprung forth so fully and sweetly till his close Confinement in Newgate then he saw an All-spiritual Object more clearly and imbraced it more strongly there he experienced the Blessedness of a Reconciled Estate the Excellency of the ways of Holiness of Communion with God which remained very deep and apparent impressions on his Soul which he frequently exprest with Admiration of the Grace of God to him He said Perhaps my Friends may think this some of the sadest time of my Life but I bless God it hath been the sweetest and most happy of all nay there is nothing else worth the name of happiness I have formerly but in vain sought happiness in the things of this World but I never found it but now I have found Rest for my Soul in God alone O how great is our blindness by nature that we can't see an Excellency in spiritual things we spend our pretious time in pursuing of shadows and are deaf to the Invitations of Grace and the Glorious Offers of Christ in the Gospel How just is God in depriving us of that we have so much slighted and abused O his infinite Patience and Goodness that after all he should yet take any method to bring a poor Sinner to himself O Electing Love Distinguishing Grace What cause have I to Admire and Adore it He said What an amazing Consideration is the Sufferings of Christ for Sin to bring us to God His sufferings were exceeding great but alas what was that to the dolours of his Soul under the infinite VVrath of God The great mystery of Grace and Love is enough to swallow up our thoughts to Eternity As to his own Death he would often say He saw no reason to expect any other I know God is infinitely able to deliver and I am sure will do it if it be for his Glory and my Good for which I bless God I am fully satisfied it is all my desire he would choose for me that I am sure will be best whatever it be for truly except God hath some work for me to do in this World for his Service and Glory I see nothing else to make Life desirable in this present state of things there is nothing to cast our Eye upon but Sin Sorrow and Misery and truly were things never so much according to our desire it is but the World still which will never be a Resting-place Heaven is the only state of Rest and Happiness where we shall be perfectly free from Sin and Temptation and enjoy God without Interruption for ever Speaking of the disappointment of their Expectation of the work they had undertaken he said with Reference to the Glory of God and Prosperity of the Gospel and