an unchangeable God and an unchangeable Heaven And while these three remain the same yesterday to day and for ever Welcome the Will of our Heavenly Father in all Events that may happen to us come what will nothing can come amiss to us Keep the Invisible things of the other World always in your Eye He that ventures the loss of an Eternal Crown and Kingdom for a Cup or two of puddle Water such as all terâ—…ene pleasures in Comparison are makes a bargain which no less a space than that which is Everlasting will be sufficient to bewail and repent of How much better is it to lay up in store now a good Foundation for time to come and to lay hold on Eternal Life doing those Works which we would be willing should hereafter follow us yet still making the blessed Jesus our All in all The further Progress you make in your Studies you will find them the easier 't is so with Religion the worst is at first It is like the Picture that frown'd at first entrance but afterwards smiles and looks pleasant They that walk in sinful ways meet with some Difficulties at first which Custom conquers and they become as nothing 'T is good accustoming our selves to that which is good The more we do the more we may do in Religion Your Acquaintance I doubt not increaseth abroad and accordingly your watch must be for by that oftentimes e're we are aware we are ensnar'd He that walketh with wise men shall be wise The return of the Spring invites our Thanksgiving for the mercy of it The Birds are singing early and late according to their Capacity the Praises of their Creator but Man only that hath most cause finds something else to do 'T is Redeeming Love that is the most admirable Love less than an Eternity will not suffice to adore it in Lord how is it Lord what is man As the Streams lead to the Fountain so should all our Mercies lead us to that We both of us send you our most affectionate Love and Blessing Blessing That is we pray and beseech the most Blessed God even our own God to give you his Blessing for he only can command the Blessing and those whom he Blesseth are Blessed indeed Let us still hear to our comfort that you walk in the Truth living above the things of the World as dead to them The Lord in Mercy fit us for his Will in the next Providence Publick and Personal for Time is always teeming Your Improvement is our Ioy. Be sincere and serious cloathed with Humility abounding always in the work of the Lord and when you have done all saying I am an unprofitable Servant 'T was the good advice of the Moral Philosopher in your Converse with Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distrust but I must add in every thing towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Believe expect Temptation and a Snare at every turn and walk accordingly We have a good Cause a vanquished Enemy a good Second and extraordinary Pay for he that overcomes needs not desire to be more happy than the second and third of the Revelation speaks him to be The God of all Mercy and Grace compass you about always with his Favour as with a shield I would have you redeem time for hearing the word in Season and out of Season your other studies will prosper never the worse especially if you could return immediately from it to the Closet again without cooling Divertisements by the way See your need of Christ more and more and live upon him no Life like it so sweet so safe Christus meus mihi in omnia We cannot be discharged from the Guilt of any Evil we do without his Merit to satisfie we cannot move in the performance of any good required without his Spirit and Grace to assist and enable for it and when we have done all that All is nothing without his Mediation and Intercession to make it acceptable so that every day in every thing he is All in All. Though you are at a distance from us now we rejoyce in the good hope we have through Grace of meeting again in the Land of the Living that is on Earth if God see good however in Heaven which is the true Land of the truly Living and is best of all The Lord God Everlasting be your Sun and Shield in all your ways See time hasting away a pace towards Eternity and the Judge even at the Door and work accordingly where-ever you are alone or in Company be always either doing or getting good Sowing or Reaping As for me I make no other Reckoning but that the Time of my Departure is at hand and what Trouble I may meet with before I know not the Will of the Lord be done One of my chief Cares is that no Iniquity of mine may be laid up for you which God grant for his Mercy sake in Christ Jesus Amen Be careful of your Health Remember the Rule Venienti occurrere but especially neglect not the main matter The Soul is the Man if that do well all 's well Worship God in the Spirit rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no Confidence in the Flesh. God be gracious unto thee my Son Redeem Time especially for your Soul Expect Trouble in this World and prepare for it expect Happiness in the other World and walk worthy of it unto all pleasing A good Book is a good Companion at any time but especially a good God who is always ready to hold Communion with those that desire and seek Communion with him Keep low and humble in your Thoughts and Opinion of your self but aim high in your Desires and Expectations even as high as the Kingdom of Heaven it self and resolve to take up with nothing short of it The Lord guide you in all your ways and go in and out before you and preserve you blameless to his Heavenly Kingdom Immediately after his Son was Ordained to the Work of the Ministry at London in the Year 1687. he thus wrote to him Are you now a Minister of Jesus Christ Hath he counted you Faithful putting you into the Ministry then be Faithful out of love to him feed his Lambs Make it your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a workman that needs not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth I hope what you Experienced of the presence of God with you in the Solemnity hath left upon you a truly indelible Character and such Impressions as neither time nor any thing else shall be able to wear out Remember Psal. 71. 16. It is in the Eye of Sense a bad time to set out in but in Sowing and Reaping Clouds and Wind must not be heeded The Work is both Comfortable and Honourable and the Reward rich and sure and if God be pleased to give Opportunity and a Heart though there may be Trouble attending it 't will be easily born If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him I am and shall be
his own Family on Lords days when the Weather hindred them from going abroad He comforted himself that sometimes in going to publick he had opportunity of instructing and exhorting those that were in company with him by the way according as he saw they had need and in this his Lips fed many and his Tongue was as choice Silver and he acted according to that Rule which he often laid down to himself and others That when we cannot do what we would we must do what we can and the Lord will accept us in it He made the best of the Sermons he heard in Publick It is a Mercy saith he we have Bread though it be not as it hath been of the finest of the Wheat Those are froward Children who throw away the Meat they have if it be wholsome because they have not what they would have When he met with Preaching that was weak his Note is That 's a poor Sermon indeed out of which no good Lesson may be learned He had often occasion to remember that Verse of Mr. Herbert's The worst speaks something good if all want sense God takes the Text and preacheth Patience Nay and once he saith he could not avoid thinking of Eli's Sons who made the Sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred Yet he went to bear his Testimony to publick Ordinances For still saith he the Lord loves the Gates of Zion more than all the Dwellings of Jacob and so do I. Such then were his Sentiments of things expecting that God would yet open a door of return to former publick Liberty which he much desir'd and prayed for and in hopes of that was backward to fall into the stated Exercise of his Ministry otherwise as were all the sober Nonconformists generally in those parts but it was his grief and burthen that he had not an opportunity of doing more for God He had scarce one Talent of opportunity but that one he was very diligent and faithful in the improvement of When he visited his Friends how did he lay out himself to do them good Being asked once where he made a visit to Expound and Pray which his Friends return'd him thanks for he thus writes upon it They cannot thank me so much for my pains but I thank them more and my Lord God especially for the Opportunity Read his Conflict with himself at this time I own my self a Minister of Christ yet do nothing as a Minister What will excuse me Is it enough for me to say Behold I stand in the Market place and no Man hath hired me And he comforts himself with this Appeal Lord thou knowest what will I have to thy Work publick or private if I had a Call and Opportunity and shall this willing mind be accepted Surely this is a Melancholy Consideration and lays a great deal of blame somewhere that such a Man as Mr. Henry so well qualified with Gifts and Graces for Ministerial Work and in the prime of his time for usefulness so Sound and Orthodox so Humble and Modest so Quiet and Peaceable so Pious and Blameless should be so industriously thrust out of the Vineyard as a useless and unprofitable Servant and laid aside as a despised broken Vessel and a Vessel in which there was no pleasure This is a Lamentation and shall be for a Lamentation especially since it was not his Case alone but the Lot of so many Hundreds of the same Character In these Circumstances of Silence and Restraint he took comfort himself and administred Comfort to others from that Scripture Isa. 16. 4. Let mine out-casts dwell with thee Moab God's People may be an Out-cast People cast out of mens Love their Synagogues their Country but God will own his People when Men cast them out they are out-casts but they are his and somewhere or other he will provide a dwelling for them There were many worthy able Ministers thereabouts turn'd out both from Work and Subsistence that had not such comfortable Support for the Life that now is as Mr. Henry had for whom he was most affectionately concern'd and to whom he shew'd kindness There were computed within a few Miles round him so many Ministers turn'd out to the wide World stript of all their Maintenance and expos'd to continual Hardships as with their Wives and Children having most of them Numerous Families made up above a Hundred that liv'd upon Providence and though oft reduced to wants and straits yet were not forsaken but were enabled to rejoyce in the Lord and to joy in the God of their Salvation notwithstanding to whom the promise was fulfilled Psal. 37. 3. So shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed The World was told long since by the Conformists Plea that the worthy Mr. Lawrence Mr. Henry's intimate Friend when he was turn'd out of Baschurch and if he would have Consulted with Flesh and Blood having as was said of one of the Martyrs Eleven good Arguments against Suffering viz. a Wife and Ten Children was ask'd how he meant to maintain them all and cheerfully replied they must all live upon the 6th of Matthew Take no thought for your Life c. and he often sung with his Family Psal. 37. 16. And Mr. Henry hath Noted concerning him in his Diary some time after he was turn'd out that he bore witness to the love and care of our Heavenly Father providing for him and his in his present Condition beyond Expectation One Observation Mr. Henry made not long before he Dyed when he had been young and now was old that though many of the Ejected Ministers were brought very low had many Children were greatly harrassed by Persecution and their Friends generally poor and unable to support them yet in all his Acquaintance he never knew nor could remember to have heard of any Nonconfor mist Minister in Prison for Debt In October 1663. Mr. Steel and Mr. Henry and some other of their Friends were taken up and brought Prisoners to Hanmer under pretence of some Plot said to be on foot against the Government and there they were kept under confinement some days on which he writes it is sweet being in any Condition with a clear Conscience The Sting of Death is Sin and so of Imprisonment also 'T is the first Time saith he I was ever a Prisoner but perhaps may not be the last We felt no hardship but we know not what we may They were after some Days examin'd by the Deputy Lieutenants charged with they knew not what and so dismissed finding verbal security to be forth-coming upon Twenty four hours notice whenever they should be called for Mr. Henry return'd to his Tabernacle with Thanksgivings to God and a hearty prayer for his Enemies that God would forgive them The very next day after they were released a great Man in the Country at whose Instigation they were brought into that trouble died as was said of a drunken Surfeit So that a Man shall say verily there is a God
c. He acknowledgeth God in all And indeed after all this is it my dear Cosins that you must satisfie your selves with under this sad Providence that the Lord hath done it and the same Will that ordered the thing it self ordered all the Circumstances of it and who are we that we should dispute with our Maker Let the Potsherds strive with the Potsherds of the Earth but let not the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus And as for the Improvement of this Affliction which I hope both of you earnestly desire for it is a great Loss to lose such a Providence and not be made better by it I conceive there are four Lessons which it should teach you and they are good Lessons and should be well learned for the advantage of them is unspeakable 1. It should for ever imbitter Sin to you you know what she said to the Prophet 1 Kings 17. 18. Art thou come to call my Sin to remembrance and to slay my Son 'T is Sin Sin that is the old Kill-Friend the Ionah that hath raised this Storm the Achan that hath troubled your House then how should you grow in your hatred of it and endeavours against it that you may be the Death of that which hath been the Death of your dear Children I say the Death of it for nothing less will satisfie the true Penitent than the Death of such a Malefactor 2. It should be a Spur to you to put you on in Heavens way It may be you were growing remiss in Duty beginning to slack your former pace in Religion and your Heavenly Father saw it and was grieved at it and sent this sad Providence to be your Monitor to tell you you should remember whence you were fallen and do your first Works and be more Humble and Holy and Heavenly and self-denying and Watchful abounding always in the work of the Lord. O Blessed are they that come out of such a Furnace thus resined they will say hereafter 't was a happy day for them that ever they were put in 3. You muâ—… learn by it as long as you live to keep your Affections in due Bounds towards Creature Comforts How hard is it to love and not to over-love to delight in Children or Yoke-fellows and not over-delight now God is a jealous God and will not give his Glory to any other and our excess this way doth often provoke him to remove that Mercy from us which we do thus make an Idol of and our Duty is to labour when he doth so to get that matter mended and to rejoyce in all our Enjoyments with Trembling and as if we rejoyced not 4. It should be a means of drawing your Hearts and Thoughts more upwards and home-wards I mean your Everlasting-Home You should be looking oftner now than before into the other World I shall go to him saith David when his little Son was gone before It is yet but a little while e're all the things of Time shall be swallowed up in Eternity And the matter is not great whether we or ours die first whilst we are all dying in the midst of Life we are in Death What manner of persons then ought we to be Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father be your support under and do you good by this Dispensation and give you a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters We are daily mindful of you at the Throne of Grace in our poor measure and dearly recommended to you c. We shall next gather up some Passages out of his Letters to his Children after they were married and gone from him To one of his Daughters with Child of her first Child he thus writes You have now one kind of Burthen more than ever you had before to cast upon God and if you do so he will sustain you according to his Promise And when the time of Travel was near thus You know whom you have trusted even him who is true and faithful and never yet did noâ—… ever will forsake the Soul that seeks him Though he be Almighty and can do every thing yet this he cannot do he cannot deny himself nor be worse than his Word But what is his Word Hath he promised that there shall be always a safe and speedy delivery that there shall be no Iabez no Benoni No but if there be he hath promised it shall work together for good hath promised if he doth not save from he will save through If he call to go even through the valley of the shadow of death and what less is Child-bearing 〈◊〉 he will be with you his Rod and his Staff shall comfort you and that 's well Therefore your Faith must be in those things as the Promise is either so or so and which way soever it be God is good and doth good Therefore my dear Daughter lift up the Hands that hang down cast your Burthen upon him trust also in him and let your Thoughts be established We are mindful of you in our daily Prayers but you have a better Intecessor than we who is heard always To another of them in the same Circumstance he thus writes Your last Letter speaks you in a good Frame which rejoyced my Heart that you were fixed fixed waiting upon God that your Faith was uppermost above your Fears that you could say Behold the handmaid of the Lord let him do with me as seemeth good in his eyes We are never fitter for a Mercy nor is it more likely to be a Mercy indeed than when it is so with us now the Lord keep it always in the Imagination of the Thoughts of your Heart And he concludes ' Forget not 1 Tom. 2. last When one of his Daughters was safely delivered in a Letter to another of them that was drawing near to that needful Hour he observ'd that when David said Psal. 116. 12. What shall I render He presently adds v. 13. I will call upon the Name of the Lord. As if saith he calling upon the Name of the Lord for Mercy for you were one way of rendring unto the Lord for the great Benefit done to your Sister On occasion of affliction in their Families by the sickness or Death of Children or otherwise he always wrote some word in season In the Furnace again saith he but a good Friend sits by and it is only to take away more of the Dross If less Fire would do we should not have it so much and so often O for Faith to trust the Refiner and to refer all to his Will and Wisdom and to wait the Issue for I have been young and now am old but I never yet saw it in vain to seek God and to hope in him At another time he thus writes Tough and knotty Blocks must have more and more Wedges our heavenly Father when he judgeth will overcome We hear of the death of dear S. T. and chide ourselves for being so
often pleased with his little pretty fashions lest we offended therein by being too much so No Rival must sit with him in his Throne who deserves all our Love and Ioy and hath too little of it At another time upon the death of another little one The dear little one saith he made but a short Passage through this to another World where it is to be for ever a living Member of the great Body whereof Jesus Christ is the ever-living Head but for which Hope there were cause for Sorrow indeed If he that gives takes and it is but his own why should we say What dost thou At another time upon the like occasion Our Quiver of Childrens Children is not so full but God can soon empty it O for Grace Grace at such a time which will do that that Nature cannot The God of all Grace supply your Need and ours according to his Riches in Glory The Lord is still training you up in his good School and though no Affliction for the present be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yields well your Work is in every thing to bring your Will to the Will of God To one of his Daughters concerning her little one he thus writes They are but Bubbles we have many warnings to sit loose the less we rely upon them in our Ioys and Hopes the more likely to have them continued to us Our God is a jealous God nor will he suffer the Creature to usurp his Throne in our Affections Upon the death of a little Child but few days old he thus writes The tidings of the death of your little one were afflicting to us but the Clay must nor say to the Potter What dost thou If he that took be the same that gave and what he gave and took was his own by our own consent it becomes us to say Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I hope you have been learning to acknowledge God in all Events and to take all as from his Hand who hath given us to know Isay to know for Paul saith so that all things do work together not only shall but do for our good that we may be more and more partakers of his Holiness He can make the two left as comfortable to you as all the three as all your five could have been However if all the Cisterns were drawn dry while you have your Fountain to go to you are well you may also by Faith look forward and say it was a Covenant-child and through Mercy we shall see it again in a better World Upon the sickness of a dear Child he thus writes to the Parent You and we are taught to say It is the Lord upon his Will must we wait and to it must we submit in every thing not upon constraint but of choice nor only because he is the Potter and we the Clay and therefore in a way of Soveraignty he may do what he pleaseth with us and ours But because he is our Father and will do nothing but what shall be for good to us The more you can be satisfied in this and the more willing to resign the more likely to have Be strong therefore in the Grace which is in Christ Iesus it is given for such a time of need as this I hope your Fears and ours will be prevented and pray they may but thanks be to God we know the Worst of it and that Worst hath no harm in it while the better part is ours which cannot be taken away from us To one of his Children in affliction he writes thus T is a time of Trial with you according to the Will of your and our Heavenly Father Though you see not yet what he means by it you shall see He means you good and not hurt he is shewing you the vanity of all things under the Sun that your happiness lies not in them but in himself only that they and we are passing away withering Flowers that therefore we may learn to die to them and live above them placing our Hope and Happiness in better things trusting in him alone who is the Rock of Ages who fails not neither can fail nor will fail those that fly to him I pray you think not a hard thought of him no not one hard thought for he is good and doth good in all he doth and therefore all shall work for good but then as you are called according to his purpose blessed be his Name for it so you must love him and Love you know thinks no evil but puts the best construction upon all that the Person loved saith or doth and so must you though now for a Season if need be you are in Heaviness And at another time Your Times and the Times of yours are in the Lord 's good Hand whose Will is his Wisdom 'T is one thing as we read and observ'd this Morning out of Ezek. 22 to be put into a Furnace and left there as Dross to be consumed and another thing to be put in as Gold or Silver to be melted for use and to have the Refiner set by You know whom you have believed keep your hold of the everlasting Covenant He is faithfull that hath promised We pray for you and we give Thanks for you daily for the Cup is mixed therefore trust in the Lord for ever and rejoyce in the Lord always again I say rejoyce To one of his Sons in Law that was a little engaged â—…n building he thus writes Be sure to take God along with you in this as in all other your Affairs for except he build the House they labour in vain that build it Count upon troublesome Oâ—…crrences in it and keep the Spirit quiet within And lâ—… nor God's Time nor Dues be entrenched upon and then all will be well 'T was but a little before he died that he wrote thus to one of his Children We rejoyce in God's goodness to you that your Distemper hath been a Rod shaken only and not laid on He is good and doth good and should we not love him and rest in our love to him He saith he doth in his to us and rejoyceth over us with singing Zeph. 3. 17. And have not we much more cause What loveliness in us What not in him I pray let me recommend him to your Love love him love him with all the Powers of your Soul and out of love to him please him He is pleas'd with honest Endeavours to please him though after all in many things we come short for we are not under the Law but under Grace To one of his Children recovered from Sickness he gives this hint Remember that a New Life must be a New Life indeed Reprieves extraordinary call for Returns extraordinary The last Journey he made to London was in August 1690. before he went he sent this Farewel-Letter to his Son at Chester I am going forth this Morning towards the great City not knowing but it may be Mount Nebo to me
the Evening of the Lord's Day I have just done the publick Work of this Day wherein before many scores of Witnesses many of whom I dare say are no little concerned for you I have absolutely freely and unreservedly given you all up to the good Will and Pleasure of our Heavenly Father waiting what he will do with us for good I am sure we have received and shall we not receive Evil also He Preached at Chester upon occasion of that sad Breach in his Family on Iob 10. 3. Shew me wherefore thou contendest wich me When two of his Children lay ill and in perillous Circumstances after he had been wrestling with God in Prayer for them he wrote thus in his Diary If the Lord will be pleased to grant me my Request this time concerning my Children I will not say as the Beggars at our Door use to do I 'll never ask any thing of him again but on the contrary he shall hear oftner from me than ever and I will love God the better and love Prayer the better as long as I live He us'd to say Trades-men take it ill if those that are in their Books go to another Shop while we are so much indebted to God for past Mercies we are bound to attend him for further Mercies As he was an Intercessor for his Children at the Throne of Grace so he was upon all occasions a Remembrancer to them both by Word and Letter to quicken them to that which is good How often did he inculcate this upon them Love one another and the God of Love and Peace will be with you Do all you can while you are together to help one another to Heaven that you may be together there for ever and with the Lord. When the Families of his Children were in Health and Peace the Candle of God shining upon their Tabernacles he wrote thus to them 'T was one of Iob's Comforts in his Prosperity that his Children loved one another and feasted together The same is ours in you which God continue But you will not be offended if we pray that you may none of you Curse God in your Hearts Remember the Wheel is always in Motion and the Spoke that is uppermost will be under and therefore mix Tremblings always with your Joy He much rejoyced in the Visits of his Children and made that as other things which were the matter of his Rejoycing the matter of his Thanksgiving His usual saying at parting was This is not the World we are to be together in and 't is well it is not but there is such a World before us And his usual Prayer was That our next Meeting might be either in Heaven or further on in our way towards it He had in eight Years time twenty four Grand-children Born some by each of his Children concerning whom he would often bless God that they were all the Sealed ones of the God of Heaven and Enroll'd among his Lambs On the Birth of his Second Grand-Child at a troublesome time as to publick Affairs he thus writes I have now seen my Childrens Children let me also see Peace upon Israel and then I will say Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart Some were much affected with it when he Baptized two of his Grand-children together at Chester publickly and Preached on Gen. 33. 5. They are the Children which God hath graciously given thy Servant He observed in what a savory pious gracious manner Iacob speaks He had spoken good Sense if he had only said They are my Children but then he had not spoken like Iacob like one that had so lately seen the Face of God Though our Speech be not always of Grace yet it must be always with Grace Grace pour'd into the Lips There is a kind of Language the air of which speaks it the Language of Canaan Christians should speak like Christians It was not long after his Children were Married from him but his House was fill'd again with the Children of several of his Friends whom he was by much importunity perswaded to take to Table with him All that knew him thought it a thousand pities that such a Master of a Family should have but a small Family and should not have many to sit down under his Shadow He was first almost necessitated to it by the death of his dear Friend and Kinsman Mr. Benyon of Ash who left his Children to his Care Some he took gratis or for small Consideration and when by reason of the advances of Age he could not go about so much as he had done doing good he laid out himself to do the more at home He kept a Teacher to attend their School-Learning and they had the benefit not only of his Inspection in that but which was much more his Family-Worship Sabbath Instructions Catechizing and daily Converse in which his Tongue was as choice Silver and his Lips sed many Nothing but the hopes of doing some good to the rising Generation could have prevailed with him to take this trouble upon him He would often say We have a busie House but there is a Rest remaining We must be doing something in the World while we are in it but this fashion will not last long methinks I see it passing away Sometimes he had such with him as had gone through their Course of University Learning at private Academies and desired to spend some time in his Family before their Entrance upon the Ministry that they might have the benefit not only of his Publick and Family Instructions but of his Learned and Pious Converse in which as he was throughly furnished for every good Word and Work so he was very Free and Communicative The great thing which he used to press upon those who intended the Ministry was to study the Scriptures and make them familiar Bonus Textuarius est bonus Theologus was a Maxim he often minded them of For this purpose he recommended to them the study of the Hebrew that they might be able to search the Scriptures in the Original He also advised them to the use of an inter-leav'd Bible wherein to insert such Expositions and Observations as occur occasionally in Sermons or other Books which he would say are more happy and considerable sometimes than those that are found in the professed Commentators When some young Men desir'd the Happiness of coming into his Family he would tell them You come to me as Naaman did to Elisha expecting that I should do this and 'tother for you and alas I can but say as he did Go wash in Iordan Go Study the Scriptures I profess to teach no other Learning but Scripture Learning It was but a little before he dyed that in reading Isa. 50. he observed from v. 4. The Lord God-hath given me the Tongue of the learned c. That the true Learning of a Gospel Minister consists not in being able to talk Latin fluently and to dispute in Philosophy but in being able to speak a word in Season to
a Traveller without a Guide How earnest therefore should we be in praying to God for Grace both for our selves and for our Relations He had intended to preach upon that Text when he was at Chester the Year before but was then prevented by a particular sad occasion which obliged him to a Funeral Sermon Divine Providence reserving that Benediction which his Heart was much upon for his Valediction The Thursday following being kept as a Fast in his Sons Congregation at Chester he Preached on Luke 19. 41. He beheld the City and wept over it which proved his Farewel to the Town as the former was his Farewel to his Friends and Relations in it It was not many Weeks before he dyed that he wrote thus to one of his Children We are well here thanks be to God and are glad to hear that you and yours are well also God in Mercy continue it But why should we be well always Do we deserve it Are there no mixtures in our Obedience Are there any Persons or Families at whose door Sickness and Death never knock'd Must the Earth be forsaken for us or the Rock removed out of its place Is it not enough that we be dealt with according to the manner of Men and that we have a Promise that it shall end well everlastingly well To another of his Children about the same time he writes We are sensible that we decline a pace but the best of it is that as Time goes Eternity comes and we are in good hope through Grace that it will be a comfortable Eternity It was in April 1696. a few Weeks before he dy'd that his Sons Father-in-Law Robert Warbinton Esq was gather'd to his Grave in peace in a good old Age Upon the tidings of whose Death Mr. Henry wrote thus to his Son Your Fathers Where are they Your Father-in-Law gone and your own Father going but you have a God-Father that lives for ever He was wont sometimes to subscribe his Letters Your ever-loving but not ever-living Father It was not a Month before he Dy'd that in a Letter to his very dear and worthy Friend and Brother Mr. Tallents of Shrewsbury he had this passage Methinks it is strange that it should be your Lot and mine to abide so long on Earth by the Stuff when so many of our Friends are dividing the Spoil above but God will have it so and to be willing to live in obedience to his Holy Will is as true an Act of Grace as to be willing to dye when he calls especially when Life is Labour and Sorrow But when it is Labour and Joy Service to his Name and some measure of Success and Comfort in serving him When it is to stop a Gap and stem a Tide it is to be rejoyced in 't is Heaven upon Earth nay one would think by the Psalmists oft repeated Plea Psal. 6. 30. 88. and 115. and 118. that it were better than to be in Heaven itself and can that be A little before his Sickness and Death being Summer time he had several of his Children and his Childrens Children about him at Broad-Oak with whom he was much refreshed and very cheerful but ever and anon spoke of the fashion he was in as passing away and often told them he should be there but a while to bid them welcome And he was observed frequently in Prayer to beg of God that he would make us ready for that which would come certainly and might come suddenly One asking him how he did he answer'd I find the Chips fly off apace the Tree will be down shortly The last time he Administred the Lord's Supper a Fortnight before he dy'd he closed the Administration with that Scripture 1 Ioh. 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be not yet but it will shortly The Sabbath but one before he dy'd being in the course of his Exposition come to that difficult part of Scripture the 40th of Ezekiel and the following Chapters he said he would endeavour to explain those Prophecies to them and added If I do not do it now I never shall And he observed that the only Prophetical Sermon which our Lord Jesus Preached was but a few days before he dy'd This many of his Hearers not only Reflected upon afterwards but took Notice of at that time with a Concern as having something in it more than ordinary On the Lord's Day Iune 21. 1696. he went through the work of the Day with his usual vigor and liveliness He was then Preaching over the first Chapter of St. Peter's second Epistle and was that day on those words add to your Faith Virtue v. 5. he took Virtue for Christian Courage and Resolution in the Exercise of Faith and the last thing he mentioned in which Christians have need of Courage is in Dying for as he was often us'd to say It is a serious thing to dye and to dye is a work by itself That day he gave Notice both Morning and Afternoon with much Affection and Enlargement of the Publick Fast which was appointed by Authority the Friday following Iune 26. pressing his Hearers as he us'd to do upon such occasions to come in a prepared Frame to the solemn Services of that day The Tuesday following Iune 23. he rose at Six a Clock according to his Custom after a better Nights Sleep than ordinary and in wonted Health Between seven and eight a Clock he performed Family Worship according to the usual manner he Expounded very largely the former half of the 104th Psalm and sung it but he was somewhat shorter in Prayer than he us'd to be being then as it was thought taken ill Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing Immediately after Prayer he retired to his Chamber not saying any thing of his illness but was soon after found upon his Bed in great Extremity of pain in his Back Breast and Bowels it seem'd to be a complicated Fit of the Stone and Cholick together with very great Extremity The means that had been us'd to give him Relief in his illness were altogether ineffectual He had not the least intermission or remission of Pain neither up nor in Bed but in a continual toss He had said sometimes that God's Israel may find Iordan rough but there 's no Remedy they must through it to Canaan and would tell of a good Man who us'd to say He was not so much afraid of Death as of Dying We know they are not the Godly People part of the Description of whose Condition it is that there are no Bands in their Death and yet their End is Peace and their Death Gain and they have Hope in it In this Extremity he was still looking up to God and calling upon him who is a present Help in the needful Hour When the Exquisiteness of his Pain forced Groans and Complaints from him he would presently Correct himself with a patient and quiet submission to the Hand of his