to break the Spirit by putting us to death for I am confident That God will give his Spirit seven-fold unto those that are left but the enemy the Lord hath set their feet in slippery places so that when they come to their measure they must be cast down Therefore 't is the the duty of the Lord's people to wait patiently and he that shall come will come and will not tarry 'T is a trying time and none but those that are endued with power from on High will be able to hold out One asking him where his Chain was he said here it is and though I have worn it so long that it hath entred into my flesh yet it was not as Joseph's it had not entred into his soul He was highly raised up in admiring the grace of God That he should be accounted worthy to wear a Chain for Christ saying They have been blessed Chains to me adding that the Lord had crowned him beyond many of his Brethren being counted worthy to seal Gods work with his bloud admiring that God should accept of such a crasie body much of his strength being already spent yet That God should so honour it in the end he much admired the depths of the love of God to such an unworthy worme The Lord will bring my bloud saith he to cry with the rest of the Martyrs How long O Lord Holy and True c. As for death or the fears of it I am got above them in and through the beholding of the glory of our God into which I am entring which glory shall be shortly for the reviving of the spirits of his Saints and destroying his Enemies A friend speaking to him the night before he died of this dispensation he said he was perswaded That their bloud would be of much advantage to the Cause in Foraign Nations Two Friends that came to visit him being as he thought under some trouble of spirit he directed his speech to them as follows Be not troubled there is nothing stands between me and the Father for I go with all clearnesse and freedome and I know That Jesus Christ is my compleat Righteousnesse and this is my crown of Rejoycing That I die not in the Lord onely but for the Lord And think not that this blessed Cause shall be lost for it shall reach to the end of the Earth Think not your prayers lost for your prayers and tears with our bloud shall come down shortly upon Babylon although they think to heale her yet they shall give her a greater blow then ever we could have given her in our persons Those who have been pleading for suffering who so ready to run away from it While the Lord hath given us a little of the spirit of Rejoycing that hath made us willing to be giving up our selves unto him And although the Enemy think to Conquer us they shall never do it for we are got above them in the Spirit of the Kingdome we trample upon them and they are under our feet and this bloud that now shed shall warm the bloud that hath bin shed before and shall come down and doe notable Execution upon the Enemy The Lord hath in much wisdome hid this death from us and hath alured into it but he hath fitted us for it and be not troubled that he hath taken away two or three drops of the spirit for he will in the room thereof pour it out upon you The day he suffered and the hour being come The Rope being tyed about him he rejoyced exceedingly saying Oh! what am I that I should be bound for the Cause and Interest of the Son of God And when he was coming down Newgate-stairs to go into the Sledge in a very smiling cheerful manner his countenance shining with great glory uttered words to this effect My Lord Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse and despised the shame and is now set down on the right hand of God whose steps desire to follow It was also observ'd that the cheerfulness of his countenance all the way as he went to the Gibber remained to the encouragement of the Faithfull and admiration of enemies uttering by the way many chearfull expressions setting forth his joy in the Lord. When he was brought to the gibbet before he went up the ladder his hands being bound he exhorted severall friends standing by to be faithfull unto death and not to be ashamed of the cause for which they suffered and they should receive a Crown of life And further said to a friend that stood by That he hoped the Truths of the Kingdom which he had preached up and down would not be the lesse esteemed for that he now came to seale it with his blood Mr. Carew's Speech upon the Ladder TRuly it is not words nor that which I have to speake in mine own spirit will glorifie God or give any advantage to your soules or unto me but it is if I may speak a few words in the Spirit of the Lord and in the power of his might and from an unfeigned love unto Jesus Christ that would indeed give me an open entrance and make my passage very sweet and a blessing may be left behind even upon you The first thing indeed that hath been very weighty and I desire to leave it upon all upon Saints as well as upon those that are not acquainted with Jesus Christ that Eternity Immortality and Eternall life it is a wonderfull thing the thoughts and apprehensions of it are able to swallow up a poor soul we little think what it is he that knows most of God and most of Christ and hath the greatest measure of the anoynting he little little knows what it is to appeare before the holy the most glorious the most righteous God of Heaven and Earth to stand before his judgement seat before Jesus Christ that is at his right hand and where all the holy Angels are so ashamed because of the glory of God that they fall down and cover their faces and cry Holy holy Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come And therefore if such glorious creatures if such excellent Spirits as these Seraphins and Cherubins be if they do fall down before the glory and Majesty of this most excellent and wonderfull God how should dust and ashes doe and how should they feare and tremble to appeare before him And therefore I say think of this and of the righteousness of God as well as of his glory and Majesty and of his justice that when for one sinne he threw down the Angels those glorious Spirits into hell and he would take no ransome or redemption for them and though he hath mercy on the sons of men according to his own election and purpose and according to that that he hath purchased for himself in Christ Jesus before the foundations of the World was laid yet in time he made his Sonne a Sacrifice before men and Angels to bring
his chosen ones to glory That he should take pleasure to send his own Sonne out of his bosome who was the delight of his soule and bruise him for our sinnes yet it pleased the Father to bruise him The most holy and righteous God that had but one Sonne one onely begotten Sonne that was the delight of his soule and should take pleasure to bruise him that we might be healed and laid stripes upon him that we might be healed oh the height and depth oh the length and bredth of the love of God in Christ Jesus unto poor souls Oh! this is that the Angels do desire to stoope down and looke into and to know more of this great mystery of the love of God in Christ and that God should take upon him the nature of man and put him into that glorious union with his own Sonne and that he should leave the Angels though Christ was made a little lower then they for suffering death for us yet now because the nature of man is united to the Godhead by vertue of that marriage and unâ—on we become the sonnes of God and heirs of glory Those that are adopted by Jesus Christ are brought neer to the Throne of glory are in a high and glorious communion and fellowship with the Father and Spirit owned of all the holy Angels And therefore they doe stand without the Throne as in severall places of the Revelations and round about the Elders and round about those that were given to the Lambe as in the fifth of the Revelations and many other Scriptures they stand without but there is another company within which is the 24 Elders and four living creatures they fall down and worship God they are neerer then the Angels Oh! who hath credited who hath believed this report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Oh! how many professors are there in this day in this Nation that call upon the name of Christ and that say they shall be saved by Christ and doe live and trust most in their awn works and righteousness and never come to the knowledge and understanding of this great mystery of the love of God in Christ who never received those teachings from the Anointing and according to the new covenant where it is promised that they shall be all taught of God all the children of God shall be taught of him and there is no one can teach these but the Father none can draw them to the Sonne but the Father and no man can come to the Father but through the Sonne and this great mysterie is both by the light and opperation of the holy Spirit who makes the new creature in the soule o that God would poure out of his holy Spirit that God would poure out the Spirit of the new Covenant and the spirit of the Gospel and the spirit that can declare the mystery of Gods word in the Spirit and that he hath made manifest through Jesus Christ oh there is much talking and speaking in the name of Christ and how many men spend little time in getting evidences in the power and demonstration of the Spirit and come to apprehend God in Christ that speake of him Oh! time are few of these the Lord knows O that the annoynting may be poured out more now according to this faith in the way of this grace and in this love of God even in the electing love of the Father and in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ according to the purchased possession that he hath obtained through his own righteousnesse wherein God hath been just also in justifying the ungoldy and among them such a poore simple piece of dust and ashes as I have been and have to this day little glorified my father and yet I can call him father through some measure of his spirit and father according to the spirit of adoption to and can say the Lord Jesus hath given himselfe for me and I take the Lord Jesus Christ as the great gift of the Father desiring to bear witnesse of that love and of that wonderfull grace and glory that he hath made me partaker of in and through him Oh! blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath called me to this hope and who hath made me partaker of this glory that the Saints an enlightned in And now I long to see the face of this father and of his Sonne though I have such a number of sinnes in me and though I have an interest in him and can call him Father at any time without doubt and in full assurance of faith in the holy Spirit yet if Jesus Christ were not there to present me faultlesse before the presence of God I should be afraid to appear e before him but he is able to doe it and therefore saith the Apostle Now unto him that is able to save you and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy c. I am a poore sinfull piece full of iniquity laden with many burdens that have a body of death that I carry about me and I am now about to lay it down and my soule shall enter into eternall life and be made perfect in a moment through the mighty power of God that hath wrought that glorious work of raising Christ from the dead Oh! all my strength and all my joy and all my life is in Christ and in him alone and I have a righteousnesse already of his working according to his owne grace and according to his own mighty power and according to his own mercy that he hath been pleased to worke in me and so hath been pleased to keep me in a very wicked and in a very evill day by the power of his grace And I desire to glorifie my father and many years have I been in that worke that hath been of late in this Nation few and evill have been the daies of my pilgrimage but I have desired to serve the Lord with faithfulnesse and in the integrity of my soule without prejudice against any creature and it hath been the desire of my soule to approue my selfe faithfull towards God and towards man and what I have done I have done it in obedience to the Lord that I had in my eye and in my heart There are many things laid upon many of those that professe the Kingdome and glorious appearane of Jesus Christ as if they were enemies to Magistracy and Ministery and as if so be we were for the destruction of the Lawes and properties of mankind therefore shall I speak a few words unto that And if indeed we were such we were fit to be turned out of the World as some now think they should doe God good service in sending such poore creatures quickly from hence There is no such thing I desire to beare witnesse to the true Majestracy that Majestracy that is in the Word of the Lord. And that true Ministery which Ministery is a
am now going to Heaven and shall leave you in the storm Mr. Cook to some Friends in prison Friends I beseech you rejoyce with me O let us blesse the Lord that he counts us worthy to be sacrifices to follow his steps was not the Captain of our Salvation made perfect through sufferings and shall not I Oh I long to be at home out of the body with the Lord though I go through a sea of Bloud to him truly I think every Hour Ten little doe my Enemies think what a Friendly part they do me to hasten me to my Fathers Kingdom to my Crown and Glory I had rather go to my Dear Jesus with my Chain and Crosse then to sit down with an Earthly King on his Throne and wear a Crown of Gold Some disaffected to him being present said the Jesuits suffered chearfully and confidently Mr. Cooke replyes I blesse God my justification is not built upon the merits of Works but alone upon Grace in the bloud of Christ The said person compared him and his fellow prisoners to Corah Darhan and Abiram Well friends said he it matters not who condemnes when God justifies Mr. Cooke said they do not justifie your self but confess your sins your haynous crime against the Lord and his Anointed and Resent Mr. Cooke replyes I must needs tell you that if Repentance was now to doe I was in a sad condition but I blesse my God he hath inabled me to confesse my sin and hath sealed my pardon in the bloud of his Dear Son and given such peace as none can give or take away I have no Guilt nor Trouble upon my spirit touching what is done but such sweet peace in God as I cannot expresse and I shall leave all with God who judgeth righteously who will decide all things Mr. Cooke to Mr. Peters in the Dungion said Brother Peters we shall be in Heaven to morrow in blisse and Glory what a blessed thing is that my very heart leaps within me for joy I am now just as I was in the * See his Relation of his passage by Sea to Ireland and his dream storm almost in sight of Heaven read me the Isa 43.9.10 Isa 61.10.11 Hos 13.14 Then looking upon his bed said that shall be my last Pillow I will lay me down and sleep awhile and he slept about an hour and half and then awoke saying now farewel sleep no more sleep in this World and farewel Darknesse and Night I am going where there shall be no Night there neither need of a Candle nor of the Sun for the Lord will give us light yea the Lord will be our Everlasting light and our God will be our Glory And welcome every thing that gives notice the hour is at hand welcome the Cock that crowes welcome sweet death my good Friend that will bring me so near Eternity O blessed be God blessed be his Name Oh this Christ is a blessed Christ he answereth all things and within few hours we shall be crowned with Glory and Victory blessed be our Lord Jesus that hath given us the Victory over Sin and Death Welcome Mr. Loman my keeper welcome Angels that will within few hours take the Office and Guard me into Eternity At midnight he prayed very fervently and the common prisoners heard him and seemed very sorrowful by their expressions saying Sir the Lord be with you O that our souls might go where your soul goes About the Morning speaking to Mris. Cooke said Lamb do not dishonour my last Wedding day by any trouble for me For if all my Judges did but know what Glory I shall be in before Twelve of the Clock they would desire to be with me And let the Executioner make what hast he can I shall be before hand with him for before he can say here is the Head of a Traytor I shall be in Heaven Come Lord Jesus come quickly my soul longeth for thee and I wait to hear thy voyce saying come up hither and immediately I shall be in the Sprit and then shall I for ever be with the Lord. At and midnight there was a cry heard the Bridegroome cometh and they that were ready went into the Marriage This day I shall enter into the joy of my Lord. Come brother Peters let us knook at Heaven Gates this morning God will open the dores of Eternity to us before Twelve of the Clock and let us in to that innumerable company of Saints and Angels and to the souls of just men made perfect and then we shall never part more but be with the Lord for Ever and Ever Singing praises Singing praises to our Lord and Everlasting King to all Eternity he said further O what a good master have I served that stands by me now and supports me with his Everlasting Arme he bears me up then said come away my beloved make hast and be thou like unto a young Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountaines of Spices Behold I come Lord Jesus I come full sayle to thee I come upon the wing of Faith Lord Jesus receive me and going to lye down upon his bed he said it is no more to go to dye to morrow then it is to go to sleep to night I bless the Lord I am free from trouble and my poor heart is as full of spiritual eomfort as ever it can hold And this joy can no man take from me The dores of the prison being opened in the morning he spent that little time he had left in prayer and heavenly discourse with Friends that came to visit him preparing himself for his suffering with such a cheerfulnesse as was an Astonishment to the spectators Then speaking to his Wife said farewel my Dear Lamb I am now going to the soules under the Alter That cry how long O Lord holy and true dost thou not Judge and Avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the Earth and when I am gone my bloud wil cry and doe them more hurt then if I had lived But I am now going to eternity blessed be God be not troubled for me but rejoyce because I goe to my father and your father to my God and your God And after some time spent in prayer he desired his wife not to withhold him by an unwillingness to part with him now when God called for him to be offered up as a sacrifice for his name and cause After a little pause she freely gave him up to the Lord to which he replied Now all the work is done and said I resign thee up to Jesus Christ to be thy husband to whom also I am going to be married in glory this day His wife shedding tears he said Why weepest thou let them weep who part and shall never meet again but I am confident we shall have a glorious meet in heaven here our comforts have been mixt with chequer work of troubles but in heaven all tears shall be wiped from our eyes He asked severall times if the Sheriffe
his most precious blood and had not by that blood gone to heaven our Salvation had not been Lord let it be well with England the Lord hear me for my poor Friends and Relations for my poor Wife and Child unto thee Lord I commend the cause of God and of Jesus Christ And remember poor Ireland wherein I had a lot and interest the Lord remember them all and help thy poor Children to continue Faithfull unto Death that so we may receive a Crown of life for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and so I come Lord Jesus Oh receive my soul Send down a Guard of Angells to convey my soul into Abrahams Bosome Receive my soul O Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit And I desire to appeal to thee O lord thou art the great God of Heaven and Earth before whom all controversies must come I believe there is not a man in the world what ever he be but hath some reverentiall feare of death but for any sinfull vitious fear I bless the Lord I have not the hundredth part of a dram upon my conscience if it were my wedding day I could not more rejoyce in the Lord because it is a consummation of that blessed marriage that my Lord Jesus hath made up with me Blessed be thy name me thinks I doe see with Stephen even by the eye of faith Heaven open and the Lord Jesus ready to receive my poor soule And oh that I may with Ezekiel see the glory of God and see with Isaiah the Lord sitting on his Throne of glory And oh that the love of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Spirit may warme my heart and carry me up from the beginning of this passage to the end and close of it Lord Jesus come and receive my spirit and sweeten this cup and let me say The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink of it And I leave all into the hands of the Lord that if it be the Lords will every one that belongs to the election of grace my meet with comfort at the great day and that we may shake hands together where no office of love shall be unrewarded nor any unkindness shewed to the people of God But within a few hours I shall be in the harbour I am just now entring into it I would not goe backe againe for all the world Blessed be the Lord I despise the shame and am willing to endure the crosse for Christs sake because the Lord Jesus who is the author and finisher of my salvation did it for me The Lord pitty those that follow and bear up their hearts The Lord helpe his poore people that finde any thing upon their soul that they should stand fast unto the truths of Jesus Alas we shall be but a few daies here and Heaven will make amends for all and we shall glorifie God in eternity where we shall enter into a sinlesse timelesse and temptationless estate and never meet with sorrow or troubles any more but the Lord will receive us to himselfe and then the innocency of thy poor servants shall be vindicated and we shall be ever with the Lord blessing and praising his holy name When Elijah was taken away the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha who stood up in his stead And when John the Baptist was cut off the Lord had his Apostles to supply that office The Lord will have profit in the Death of his Children I believe that an Army of Martyrs would willingly come from Heaven to suffer in such a cause at this that I come here to suffer for I desire to bewaile that I have not had so much love to the Glory of God therein as I ought But as to the thing I come to suffer for I have not had any thing or act come to my mind with lesse regret and greater comfort then this And as for those that brought me hither I do forgive them I have not one hard thought concerning them the blessing of the Father Son and Spirit be with them Oh that the Lord would grant that no more might suffer and so Dear and Blessed Father I come into the bosome of thy love and desire to enter into that Glory which is Endlesse and Boundlesse through Jesus Christ A Letter written from the Tower to a Christian friend by Mr. Justice Cooke Sir NOw in answer to your loving inquiry how it fares with my better part I blesse God I never found so much internall spirituall solice and unmixt joy and comfort as I have experimented in these five moneths indurance 2 Cor. 1.3 4 5. Let never any Christian fear a prison it being the onely place where wanting other books a man may best studdy the book of the knowledge of himselfe having a long vacation from all business but praying unto and praising God in Christ by the spirits assistance I cannot take Marthas part for none must come to me nor Marys part to wait upon the ordinances which my soul thirsts after therefore my chamber is like the sanctum sanctorum where wittingly none may enter but the high Priest of our profession the Lord Jesus I did not think that there had been so much ignorance impotence impatience ingratitude pride inordinate affection to creature comforts revenge diffidence of God self-love and iniquity of all sorts in me as I finde there is who am not onely a poor sinner but sin it selfe a very masse of sin I find it very hard to rely nakedly on Gods goodness not to feel the heat of persecution nor to be carefull when all is taken away Jer. 7.17 Lo so this darkness and filthiness of spirit is onely discovered by the light of Christ by whose lowliness in washing the Apostles feet I see my loftiness and want of condescention when I had power by his patience my many passions and heart-risings against instruments by his obedience to the death my reluctancies by his faithfulness my former backslidings by his fruitfulness and doing good Act. 10.38 my barrenness the little good I did when I had opportunity and by his liberality my penuriousness whereby I adore and acknowledge his justice that he hath most righteously deprived me of my liberty estate all which drives me neerer to Christ and makes me take faster hold of his righteousness I now understand through grace how precious he is 1 Pet. 2.7 if it were not for Christ what a miserable condition were I now in that might suddenly be sent to contend with the wrath of God in everlasting burnings and this makes me love Christ the more having forgiven me more then others and having had ten thousand talents forgiven me I would forgive any wrong doers and this keeps me humble and from censoriousness I bless God I have ransackt into every corner of my soule I have with David Job Esay and Paul bewailed my hereditary disease and heart-corruption I feel it is as a rotten tooth that akes would fain be
invested with a better possession a heavenly Countrey Heb. 11.16 if there be such glorious times to be expected upon earth as you and I have discoursed of I am sure there is no less joy in heaven and we that are there shal have no cause to envy our millitant brethren besides as for my self I can expect to doe little for God I am three parts dead 70 being divided into four the shadows of the evening are upon me and aches and paines are inseparable companions if now Christ should graciously accept of my poore crazy body bring me to an honourable and an easie death for him blessed be his name forever 1 Chro. 29.10 to 16. The heathen could say Dulce est pro patria mori pro Christo mori dulcimum How did the Romans glory to die for their liberties and after for the glory of their Cesars and how glad are the poor Spaniards and Muscovites that they have a life a wise or a sonne for their King and how glad are the City that their feastings will be received A Popish Friar told me lately that if he were of my opinion for assurance of salvation he would not willingly live an houre longer for all Ireland yet Saints too much feare this grim porter death though when executed we goe from the crosse to the Crown Jam. 1.12 indeed it is below the profession that we have made to be now troubled in prosperity I would be a worm but now the Lord makes us bold as Lyons that being called to suffer after so blessed an example we may think it an honour to pledge our master in his own cup and commit the keeping of our soules to him in wel doing as unto a faithful creator 1 Pet 2.21 and 4.19 for he wil never leave nor forsake us but wil give us shoulders to bear what he laies upon us 1 Cor. 10.13 let us therefore who are the children of Zion be joyful in our King as others who one day wil appeare to be fanatiques indeed rejoyce in them for these present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with our future glory Rom. 8.18 Sir I bless God I have an invincible peace and a secret joy surpassing my expression and I press towards the marke Phil. 3.14 yet divine cordials are not constant but often some fainting fits and dispondencies the spirit bloweth where it listeth where it is not comforting it is supporting Esay 40.29 41.10 if I were not very feeble how could Gods power appear in my weakness I bless his name that his arrows are not within me nor doe the terrors of death take hold upon me as Job 6.4 for I never was better as to the frame and temper of mind and body then since my restraint and blessed be the comforter I am not long without him My cousin Harrison is very full of spiritual comfort as the Gentleman Jaylor tels me and bids me cheere up and indeed it wil be a mercy if those who are called forth to testifie for Christ prove couragious as Jos 1.9 but truly as for my part in does not lie on that side I fear least I may be too much exalted with the honour of it though I know the Lord can soon withdraw we live by faith and not by sight our happiness is in our union rather then in communion and sensible gusts and I rather fear a lingring death with severity some for banishment Ezek 7.16 c. but let the Lord doe with me as he pleaseth as Joab siad 1 Chro. 19.13 Omnia cooperatur in bonam Rom. 8.28 So having unbosomed my heart unto you that you and such whom you judge faithful and secret may the better spread my condition before the Lord I would intreat you to beg for me more particularly 1. That God would set home upon my heart and fulfil in me with power your sweet Scripture for which I heartily thank you 2 Tim. 1.7 8 9 12. that I may not be afraid of their terrors nor troubled but may sanctifie the Lord at that time and be able to answer all opposers that they may be ashamed when we suffer for wel doing 1 Pet. 3.14 to 18. 2. That I and the rest of our brethren and companions in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ for the word of God and his testimony may be strengthned with all might according to Christs glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness as Paul prayed for the Collossians Col. 1.9 to 14. being filled with knowledge wisdome and spiritual understanding and feeling those grounds of joy as an inheritance of light and deliverance from the power of darkness that we may be testes and contestes to agree in our testimonies and not disparage so good a cause 3. That we may be ready not onely to be bound but to die for Christ and the vindication and justification of his Evangelical doctrine we have made high profession and confession of the everlasting Gospel and it is a blessed thing to believe with the heart and confess with our mouths and in our lives and by active martyrdom as Brooke Ireton Hampden Pickering and others have worthily done who are safely arrived expecting us and we are yet upon the waves but the most excellent honourable rich and fruitful confession of Christ whereby we can make the most efficacious demonstration of our election and faith in Christ and love in his glorious person with most supream illustration of Gods glory is to lay down our lives as the martyrs did to seal and confirm the truth of our professions with our blood for the cause of Christ and safety of our brethren Rom. 16.4 1 John 3.16 as our blessed master after he had confessed and preached the glory of God and our salvation confirmed and approved all by miracles and his most holy life made a good confession under Pontius pilat 1 Tim. 6.13 without which all had been ineffectual So I have often thought for the discovery of hypocrites cementing of the Saints in more concording affections trial of faith exercising of patience and love to Christ and for many other glorious ends God would call for some of his childrens blood which wil be the greater favour to them whom he shal count worthy of it because I think this wil rather be a Julian then a Heronian persecution alwaies provided that we be found in the doctrine of the covenant of grace that God does not love us because we live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and are willing to forsake all and loose our lives for him But because he loves us and has singled us out from the world therefore he enables us so to live and to doe singular things for his honour and glory and willingly to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Revel 14.4 for the love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 O that we had more enlarged hearts for our King Jesus 4. That you may fully hit my condition I
3.20 What a comfort is it to thee as me that have such crazy bodies ulcerous Lazarus shall be as sound as a Fish and we shall have an everlasting spring of health and strength which shall never decay Use Let this teach us more to mind eternity to study the joyes of Heaven that we may receive a full reward 2 Ephes to 8. as Mr. Whitfield once exhorted Oliver in every thing to mind and eye eternity for they are the brave men and women that will be so at that day the pleasures of this world are so far from satisfying the understanding and will which are capable of God that they cannot satisfie any one sence never any Musick so sweet but a man will desire to hear better no object so beautiful no meat so pleasant but a man will covet to see that which is more lovely and tasts sweeter Eccles 1.8 study that Book and Canticles well that the spirit may convince us of the vanity and vexation of all creature-delights and of the fullnesse and excellency that is in Jesus Christ the best condition in this life is but a bitter-sweeting all our comforts are impure mixt with Wormwood no Rose without thorn and the bitter is more then the sweet but in Heaven all our delights are pure and unmixed there is perfect joy without any grief sollid comforts and no afflictive misery no Envy no Emulation which abounds here for every Saint has what his heart can desire it is a Sinlesse Sorrowlesse Temptationlesse Oppressionlesse Sicklesse Timelesse and Endlesse estate where being once Arrived we shall never fear parting any more therefore my dear sweeting let us wait patiently and chearfully for that blessed translation from Earth to Heaven we must begin our Heaven here the more prepared to dye the fitter we are to live so let us live so let us dye that we way live Eternally If thee likest such poor breathings broken Meditations thee may'st command more of them I leave thee and me and my dear child and our Christian relations with thee in his Armes who is in Heaven at the right hand of the Father therefore we need not fear what man can do unto us Esa 51.12 To him I am thine for ever Thy loving Husband during this Life John Cooke Another Letter from Mr. Cooke to a Friend after Condemnation DEar Brother beloved in the Lord condemnatus sum ad vitam and this is my Cordial Farewel to you and all Saints from my Jeremiahs prison to morrow I shall be in eternal glory in the bosom of Christ where our father Abraham is and a guard of Angels wil convey my soul thither Never let Gods people fear a prison any more for the Lords supporting or comforting spirit hath not been absent from me since my indictment I writ a letter to you formerly acquainting you with my spiritual condition to which I refer you and fearing lest wrong may be done to the cause when I am in heaven I think fit to leave a few words with my dearest love to all Christian friends 1. Upon my triall it came to this that the Judges said that all have been treason since 1642 so that the Lords and Commons are not to meddle with the King I said that I acted obedientially by order from the house of Commons and the Commons being the representatives of the people cannot commit treason for there can be no trial of all the people And as for any force upon the House in 1648. they were the onely judges of it and no inferiour Court can judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of their acts or orders But they said all our Acts and Orders are treason So that now it is brought to that it was in 1642. 2. I intend by Gods assistance upon the Ladder to beare my testimony for Jesus Christ to all his Offices and for a Gospel Magistracy and Ministry and to speak something so farre as God shall enable and wil be permitted for the good Old cause or righteousness and holiness I can at present onely leave my dear love and respects for you and my dear sister beseeching God and not doubting but that we shall shortly meet in eternal glory Company so spends me that I can write no more I shall suddenly enter into the joy of the Lord O blessed be his name blessed be the Comforter my soul is full of consolation Farewel farewel Renede in Paradiso Yours forever John Cooke For my dear brother F. Some Notes taken of a Sermon Preached by Mr. Hugh Peters the 14 th of October 1660. after his Condemnation in the prison of Newgate wherein he was much interrupted by the coming in and going forth of strangers that came to see him and the other prisoners in the Room with him and so was constrained to break off the sooner And though they are but briefe Heads yet it 's thought convenient here to insert them for the better satisfaction of any touching the frame of Mr. Hugh Peters at that time The discourse was from PSAL. 42. ver 11. Why art thou cast down O my soule and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God AFter Analysing the Psalme he Observed this Doctrine Doctrine That the best of Gods people are apt to be disponding This was the Mans case in the whole 88 Psal Also Davids case when he complained of the breaking of his Bones c. This was Christs case himselfe when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Reasons why the best of Gods people are apt to dispondencies are First When something falls out from God more then ordinary when God put 's weight in Sorrow and Affliction that makes it sinking Although that Afflictions are heavy of themselves many times yet it 's the weight that God puts in Sorrow that makes it sink us 2ly Over-valuing our comforts puting too much upon Wife Children Estate or Life it self a man is apt to be cast down when he thinks of parting with them Thirdly Our unpreparednesse for sufferings and afflictions that makes us dispond Alas I thought not of it say some it 's come unexpectedly upon me Fourthly We are apt to dispond when our Afflictions are many when they are multitudes when all is struck at together Name Estate Relations and Life it self Fifthly VVhen Afflictions are of long continuance a man can bear that Burthen a while that he cannot stand under long Sixthly VVhen afflictions fall upon the noblest part of man which is his soule then are dispondencies apt to come in Seventhly VVhen we have more Sense then Faith Now it should not be so Gods people ought not to dispond 1. Because it discovers impatiency 2. Because it discovers want of Faith they leane not upon the Rock that will not faile them 3. It discovers want of Wisdome c. 4. VVe should not be thus because it gratifies the Enemy who in such a
in three or four hours his Wife Children and many other friends returned When we came we found them praying Assoon as Col. Scroop had ended Mr. Scot turned about and opening his arms he imbraced his Wife and one of his Daughters Ah said he my dear ones God is good he is come he is come I am full I am full O blesse the Lord for me and with me O my soul and all that is within me magnifie the Lord. By and by he went to prayer himself and one would have thought he had been as it were in Heaven his soul was so enlarged in blessing praising and magnifying the God of his Salvation O! said he to his Wife I would not change this dark Room for the best Star-Chamber under Heaven He desired his Friends and Relations would not be solicitous for his Body but let them do what they pleased and exercise what Cruelty they would saying it was meet it should be so And that the dead Bodies of the Witnesses must be unburied that the Scriptures might be fulfilled Some part of his prayer was to blesse the Lord That as the Psalmist said though he came in there weeping and fearing that he had not yet been bearing precious feed yet now they were returning rejoycing and triumphing and carrying their sheaves with them Call us not said he Marahs as she once said but call us Naomies for we came in hither some of us empty but we are going out full The Lord hath not writ bitter things but good of us for this is glorious Grace That We are counted worthy to suffer for GOD and His CAVSE Oh! what shall we render to the Lord Wee will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. Oh our souls blesse the Lord And we do with our souls blesse Thee that we have an Eternity to blesse Thee in for no lesse will satisfie our souls And now O blessed and glorious God shall we be among thy Worthies Meaning N. G. H. Mr. Carew and Mr. Cook if Possible let us attain to the first Three but if we attain not to so glorious a Testimony as that yet O Lord let us be among thy Worthies We desire to glorifie thy great and blessed Name that Thou hast in any measure enabled us to encourage our hearts in the Lord our God at such a time as this when Eighty is as it were in the flames and the people speak of worse than stoning us When some spake of the Reproaches of the people he said he accounted that his honour Mr. Scot's Speech upon the Ladder GENTLEMEN I stand here a Spectacle to GOD to Angels and Men To GOD and Angels to whom I hope I am shortly a going And now to you I owe it to God and the Nation and my self to say something concerning each For my self I think it may become me to tell you how and why I came hither and something in the general concerning my capacity In the beginning of these Troubles I was as many others were unsatisfied I saw Liberties and Religion in the Nation in great danger to my best apprehension I saw the approaches of Popery in a great measure coming in upon us I saw Upon which the Sheriff interrupted him in these words If you will betake your self to prayers you may Mr. Scot replied I shall not speak to reproach any The Sheriff interrupted him again saying You have but a little time Mr. Scot Therefore betake that little time to prayer Mr. Scot replied I shall speak The Sheriff interrupted him again saying I beseech you Sir betake your self to prayer Mr. Scot said It may become me to give account of my self because The Sheriff interrupted him again saying It doth not become you to speak any such thing here Therefore I beseech you betake your self to prayer it is but a little time you have to live you know Mr. Scot that is the most needful thing Mr. Scot replied 'T is so The Sheriff interrupts again saying Sir But when you came upon the Stage you deprived your self very much Then said Mr. Scot I thought to tell you how I came hither Here the Sheriff interrupted again or else some one besides the Sheriff and spake to this effect Every body knows that Mr. Scot said Sir 't is hard that an English man hath not liberty to speak The Sheriff interrupted again saying I cannot suffer you to speak any such thing Mr. Scot said I shall say no more but this That it is a very mean and bad Cause that will nor bear the words of a dying-man it is not ordinarily denied to people in this condition The Sheriff interrupted again saying Sir you had a fair Tryal and you were found guilty Mr. Scot replied 'T is according to my mind to speak what may be said Hear the Under-Sheriff interrupted saying It hath been denyed unto your Predecessors and will be denyed unto you Then he Prayed as followeth HOly Lord God the great and glorious God of Heaven and Earth King of Nations and King of Saints in both which capacities thy poor and unworthy Creature comes now to bear his Witness in this great spectacle before Thee Angels and Men. O Lord were it not for Sin none of these things had befallen this Nation nor my unworthy self We have all transgressed and gone astray from thee by a perpetual back-sliding even all of a sorts conditions ranks and orders of men And among them none none more than thy poor unworthy Creature who acknowledgeth the same here before Thee in the face of Heaven and in Thy Presence to which he is very shortly a going That glorious Grace which thou hast been pleased to afford unto his soul in it Thou art gone to the highest extent of mercy that ever was shewed to any of the sons of men Thy poor servant doth acknowledge himself to be the greatest of transgressors And thy glorious Grace is magnified above all thy Name in what Thou hast done for thy poor Creature But Lord so it is because such is thy good pleasure such was thy design from Eternity through or in the great Transactions that was between Thee and Christ thy blessed Son and our blessed Saviour that Thou shouldest in thy dispensation in the governing of thy Church in the World That thou shouldest glorifie thy Free-grace in pardoning of the Sins and in the Salvation of some of lost Man-kind which was the great Master-piece of thy Love that thou shouldest chuse out of poor lost Man-kind one or other it is of admirable and incomprehensible mercy And that thou shouldest chuse thy poor Creature as one in the number is matter of Adoration Admiration is matter of Eternal Extasie and is matter of Thanksgiving for ever And this is the comfort of his poor soul that he shall have an Eternity with thy self Thou hast so assured him that he shall be blessing honouring and magnifying of Thee among a company of Saints and Angels and the souls of just
behold the Lord Jesus Christ in glory with comfort and fulnesse of joy Col. JONES his Prayer BLessed Lord God Thou art the great Opener open unto my soul the Lord Jesus Christ who will lead me into the wayes of truth and life O God save me make good all the pledges of thy love unto my soul Oh make all the Promises which I have believed all the days of my life make them now good unto my soul giving me the full enjoyment of thy self I desire to bless and praise thy Name for this hour that thou hast brought me to Oh what am I poor worm that thou shouldest give me this oportunity to suffer for thy Name and to acknowledg thy Mercies before so great a Congregation at this place Holy Father Holy Father Oh that thou wouldest now rain down Blessings from Heaven upon thy poor creatures that do hear and behold this Action this day Oh that thou wouldest sanctifie this thing to them and let poor England be a Land of truth and happiness O Lord let England flourish And oh that thou wouldest make thy Angel of Light to go before thy people Good God we pray thee keep off those great Judgments that hang over the heads of these Nations because they have sinned against thee Through thy Name sanctifie us let not thy Name be reproached Dear Father receive my soul I am ready to come unto thee Blessed Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou hast redeemed me blessed be thy Name in that thou hast opened the treasures of thy love unto my poor soul Thou hast given me this hope whereof I need not be ashamed Blessed be thy Name my Spirit is full of joy Oh Holy Father holy Father I pray thee let thy blessing come down upon thy poor people Look upon me Holy Father Stretch out thine armes to carries me over this brook I pray thee stand by me Dear Father I cast my self into thy hand I commit my soul unto thee Then speaking to the Sheriff said Mr. Sheriff I must needs return you many Thanks for your Civility Sher. Repl. I am glad to hear such an Ingenuous Confession and that you make such an end and that you have not gone into any reviling language as some others have done before After this he committed his soul to God and so departed Something as to Mr. Gregory Clements take as followeth PErhaps some may think it strange that there is so little said as to Mr. Gregory Clement who suffered with the rest Therefore this only is to be saâ—… more which is known to many That Mr. Clement was very silent both in the time of his Imprisonment at Newgate and at the time and place of his Execution at Charing-Cross only this it is said that he exprest his trouble to some Friends in the Prison for yeelding so far to the Importunity of his Relations as to plead guilty to the Indictment And though he spoke little at the place of Execution yet so far as could be judged by some descerning persons that was near him he departed this life in peace Some Additional Passages of Col. Scroopes Col. Jones and Mr. Cooks with his Letter to his Daughter Some more Passages of Col. Scroope COl Scroope when a Friend asked him at parting the same day how he did answered him Better and better I thank God every moment my life doubles upon me and multiplies He also heard him say when mention was made that there was some Endeavours for his Pardon That only would prove a snare to him but he was fully satisfied what to do and should not to save his Life do any thing to prejudice his Conscience He also heard him when one was discoursing to him the Happiness of Heaven and telling him it consisted in three Things viz. A perfect Communion with God A perfect Conformty to God And a perfect Enjoyment of God He made this reply Those three Things you mention are but one we are entring into it and can tell And that Friend asking him futher about it he said That God was but one pure Act and in whom there was no succession nor distinction of Acts and that Souls led forth in his Spirit were in a manner made like to him for their Injoying was their Conformity and Communion and one was all In which he seemed to be swallowed up and even then gat so far into Heaven that all seemed to be but one Act with him Some Friends being present heard both him and Col. Jones say You can say God is better than all the World and say it truly but you cannot say it with so much feeling and experience as we now can we find he is so indeed Some more Passages of Col. Joh. Jones in Prison COL Jones the night before he suffered told a Friend he had no other Temptation upon him but this Lest he should be too much transported and carryed out to neglect and slight his Life so greatly was he satisfied to die in that Cause The day he suffered he grasped a Friend in his arms and said to him with some expressions of Endearedness Farewel I could wish thee in the same condition with my self that thou mightest share with me in my joyes Some more Passages of Mr Cook MR Cook speaking to his Wife a little before his Death said My Lamb now I am going where I shall meet the Saints all of one mind which thou knowest was the desire of my heart to see At another time saith he Truly my Lamb if I might have my choice now I would not desire Life for I could not live where I might not enjoy the Liberty of my Conscience and when I can do nothing for God what should I live for O welcome sweet Death thy sting is out blessed be God I do imbrace thee with rejoycing thou art a good Potter that will suddenly open to me the Gates of Eternity O those Everlasting Gates will my Father set open to receive me O blessed be God for Jesus Christ the fountain of all Mercies Lord Jesus I come flying to thee upon the wings of Faith I come Lord full-sail to thee Lord Jesus receive me That which the world counts shame saith he I count it my Joy my Crown and my Glory A little before he parted with his Wife she laying her head in his bosom and wept whereat he said My dear Lamb let us not part in a shower God hath wiped away all tears from my eyes blessed be the Lord. Mr. Cook 's Letter to his Daughter Octob. 15. 1660. A little before his Death To my dear Child Free-love Cook These with my most Fatherly endeared Love My dear sweet Child LEt thy Name Free-love put thee in mind of the free Love of God in Christ in giving thee to me and thy dear Mother and know so soon as God gives thee any understanding That thou art the Child of one whom God counted worthy to suffer for his sake and to seal to the Truth of his
the transgressions of the remnant of thy people for thine own names sake Lord it is thy covenant that thou wilt put thy spirit into our hearts and erect thy law in our inward parts and our sins and transgressions thou wilt remember no more Blessed be the Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ for had it not been for a Christ we were undone forever Blessed be our Lord that hath written our names in heaven and given us a portion in Christ in whom we have believed and trusted We humbly beg of thee the pardon of all our personal and family guilt the sins of our publique imployments which thou knowest we have not willingly committed though it may be through infirmity and temptation and the sins of our nature Lord we humbly pray thee let us see our selves justified in the blood of our Lord Jesus that we may say with the Apostle Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth us it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again for our justification He is risen that he might be our advocate intercessor and mediator He is filled with all the fulness of the Godhead to distribute to us according to our need Thou hast promised by the Apostle that God shall supply all our wants according to the riches of his own grace Lord thou wilt have the passover eaten with sowre hearbs and Lord we are contented but Lord thou hast provided sweet Wine for us and hast thou not kept the best Wine and the best of thy divine comforts until now til now to carry us over this bridge and passage from earth to heaven sanctifie this our passage for it is best to have the crosse with the crown they goe together and are inseparable therefore saith our Lord they that wil suffer with me shal also raign with me Deare Lord we pray thee give us a full experience and let thy holy Spirit witness to our souls that we are the children of God and reconciled to thee in the covenant and that we shal through thy Son be glorified with thee Strengthen our faith that we may be purged washed and cleansed and for our justification sanctification and acceptation with the Father Glorious lord we desire to leave our requests with thee on the behalfe of this poor people as the last request we have to beg of thee on this side heaven if there be any here not belonging to Christ and not friends to him Lord convert them and shew them their own undone and miserable estate and give them the pardon of a dying Saviour thy poor servants would not part with a Christ for ten thousand lives Lord make Christ precious to their immortal souls Lord convince them of the evil of their sins and the evil of their own ways and break them off from them and cause them to close with Jesus Christ Thou hast promised that those that come unto him thou wilt not cast off Remember all thy people and help them to persevere in thy grace and love and make them able to hold fast the truth till thou come and to quit themselves like men to stand fast in the faith Blessed Lord we humbly pray thee to have mercy upon that great City the place from whence we came When thou resolvedst to destroy Sodom thy servant Abraham expostulated with thee and thou saidst if there were but ten righteous thou wouldst save it but Lord there are many tens of righteous ones in that City It hath been a place where thou hast been glorified and where many godly Ministers have been encouraged O Lord let it goe wel therefore with that great City and let thy Gospel have free passage in the publique worship of it Bless the government and governours thereof and make them instruments to thy glorious praise We pray thee have respect to the chief Magistrates that are come here by command to see execution done Oh Lord we beg mercy for their soules O that Christ would evidence himself more to their soules and that we might meet in Heaven together and be imbraced in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ And him that shal be the Executioner must now wash his hands in our blood doe thou wash his soul in the blood of Jesus Christ O lord we pray thee that thou wouldest have pitty upon his soul and let him know what it is to be washed in the blood of Christ that fountain set open for him and for uncleanness Blessed Lord help us thy poor creatures with strength for we have no strength of our own Thy word saith that death is the King of terrours but blessed be thy Name thou hast taken the sting out of it and the poyson from it and therefore as faith the Apostle Oh death then where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ that hath given us the victory Thou hast said by the Apostle We have the sentence of death in our selves and therefore should not trust in our selves but believe in Christ that raiseth the dead Lord we will not trust in our selves but in the living God Oh my God that art the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob strengthen and support our poor souls Stephen when he was stoned to death saw the Heavens opened and the glory of the Father and of his throne Shall we but see the Face of Jesus Christ bearing up our hearts under all and we shall go through Thou hast promised that thou wilt never never never leave us nor forsake us Thou hast said Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Come life come death or what can separate a believer from Jesus Christ let thy Angels come downe we are perswaded that the Angels are ready to receive our soules and to carry them into thy bosome and into the company of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs and witnesses of Jesus and just men made perfect in thy Kingdome Blessed lord thou art our support and comfort support us with the cordials of thy love Blessed lord before we make an end of praying O thou father of mercies and God of all consolation we beg one request for the chief Magistrate of this Nation That thou wouldest give him a glorious Christ into his poor soul and magnifie thy grace towards him that he may become a friend unto Christ and a friend to the people of Christ and raigne in righteousnesse and may be a terrour to evill doers and a praise to them that doe wel that he may cast away iniquity with his eye rule for God before whom he and all others must render an account in the day of judgement Lord hear us for him And blessed lord doe the like for all that had any uncharitableness towards us we would have none towards them but we beg their souls might live in thy presence make them to see their sins and let them receive