Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A39567
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Fair warnings to murderers of infants being an account of the tryal, codemnation [sic] and execution of Mary Goodenough at the assizes held in Oxon in February, 1691/2 together with the advice sent by her to her children, in a letter sign'd by her own hand the night before she was executed, with some reflections added upon the whole : printed for the publick good.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing F105; ESTC R31491
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18,323
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Love Honour and Obey this Lord that has Redeem'd you with his Precious Blood shed upon the Cross his Meritorious Righteousness learn to hear and know his Voice he speaks to you in your Bibles by Faithful Ministers by your own Consciences by his Spirit by Sound Christians if you seek to get into their Company their Houses yea their Hearts by enquiring of them concerning his Will Nay sure he calls you by your Dying Parent now to come to him that you may have Life to prefer him before this World before childish Sports and Vanity Oh my Aking Heart for you my Yearning Bowels towards you what a World of Snares and Wickedness have you to pass thro' What a Life probably of Labour Contempt and Poverty to undergo and of Persecution too if you will live Godly in Christ Jesus What a Subtle Devil to resist Cunning and Malicious to cheat and destroy you To whom shall I leave you to whose Care and Conduct You have been sometime without a Father on Earth shortly you 'll be without a Mother too Will you not seek a Father in Heaven Oh chuse Christ Jesus he 'll be a Friend a Portion a Guard a Guide Honours Pleasures all things yea more and better than all things to you in him God will be your Father Oh Blessed Trinity in Unity wilt thou accept my I hope now unfeigned Dedication of these my poor Children to thee Oh Son of God wilt thou be their Saviour from Sin and from Eternal Death Oh Blessed Spirit wilt thou early Enlighten strongly Incline and powerfully Enable them to chuse God for their Portion Jesus for their Prince and Saviour thy Word for the Rule of their Life Shall my Unworthy Prayer be heard on the Account of my Saviour for these my Distressed Children Oh then I 'll no longer call them forsaken no nor think them so the Lord is their Shepherd they shall not want Well had I my Life again my Tender Hearts would I not again Travel in Birth with you till Christ were formed on you were you not Happy think you if you were in such a case will you not be happy Children if your God be the Lord Well then as you love your Souls Pray dayly Early Earnestly that you may be Renewed in the Spirit of your Minds Pray till you find a Return of your Prayers Pray till you can understandingly and truly say you need no more Grace no more Aids against Corruption no more Help in Religious Duties no more Wisdom and Resolution to contest against the Devil who will be always Tempting you then I 'm sure you 'll from this time to your latest Breath on Earth and in all likelyhood till you breath Praises in Heaven If you pray aright pray earnestly believe those Honest Christians that tell you there are Joys in Religion above the Joys of Harvest not to the Formal Sluggish Inconstant Trifling Christian I believ but to the Diligent Must you not work in this World to maintain you will you not work for Eternity much more with what words shall I Excite you will not my Death my Doubts my Danger of Everlasting Death excite you Oh I exceedingly Fear and Tremble lest your hard Heart should barr out or despise my wholsome Councel how oft has Heaven Thundred in my Ears and yet I dead in Trespasses and Sins arose not to call upon my God I started indeed once in my dead Sleep but the World Flesh and Devil soon Lull'd me asleep again faster than I was before on the Pillow of Carelessness and Security Now by waking Pains I pay for that Lethargick Sleep Come cast a Look with me into Eternity see if that will move you Oh that I could leave you the Eyes wherewith I now see but use your own I mean the Eyes of your Mind to look into Eternity Such Thoughts will Instruct and make you Wise Thoughts of your Temporal Death may stir you up to lay hold on Everlasting Life Keep Death always in view of your Minds so whenever it seizes it shall not surprize you If you shall fear at any time henceforward when you are reading this Paper that I 'm gone to the Blackness of Darkness for ever where God is only known by the Vengeance which he Executeth where the Damned drink Eternally of Rivers of Flaming Brimstone and keep Company with Spiteful Fiends in endless Despair Will you not be afraid to follow tho' it were a Mother to that Eternal Prison Or how can I bear the Thought that you should come to share yet not alleviate but sharpen Torments before Intolerable To Curse my former Negligence towards you and your own Neglects of my present Advice in so doleful a Place in such dreadful Company for ever Oh take Heed better Ten Thousand times better a Millstone were hang'd about your Necks and you cast into the Depths of the Sea But if you can believe from this Copy of my Mind that I 'm gone to Heaven the place of Everlasting Joys will you not take my foregoing Advice wherein I have mark'd you out the Strait and Narrow Way thither Oh if you do who can tell the Joys shall attend our Meeting in those chearful Regions that never know a Storm nor so much as fear a Cloud Blest with the most Healthful Refreshing Airs of Gods Countenance Water'd with the Rivers of Pleasures that flow at his Right Hand Oh how shall we there Rejoyce Eternally together Oh that I could prevail with you to Meditate some time every day upon Eternity Your Mother in a few Hours will be swallow'd up therein will not that draw your Thoughts a little thither Oh that you might be Haunted as it were whereever you go with the Thoughts of Death and Eternity I see Death marching towards me every Hour and Moment and is it not thus marching towards you and all the World whether they Eat Drink Sleep or Play I see my Judge seated on his Throne will he not be yours likewise having Eyes as a Flame of Fire which will pierce into all the Secrets both of mine and your Hearts and Actions I see methinks my own Conscience unfolded and as it were compar'd with Gods Omniscience where all I have done in the Body is Recorded and is there not in Heaven a Register kept of your Actions too I hear the Devil as it were charging all my Sins against me at Gods Barr Asserting my Services to his Interest and puting in an High Challenge to me as his own Will he not serve you so think you if you serve him I would think I hear on the other side the Blood of Jesus pleading for my Ransom from Eternal Death and Hell as being made a Penitent Believer This is all the Life I have in Death Will you not want it at your Deaths may you not have it in your Lives In short I see as it were Hell naked before me and Destruction without a Covering I see Heaven fill'd with Crowned Martyrs Triumphing Saints and Shining Angels all swallow'd up in the Light and Love of the Glorious Jehovah And now what Hope and Fear fills my Head and Heart I can't certainly determine which is my Place and what my Portion I liv'd neglecting to determine this great Point 't is just if Heaven suffer me to dye doubting of it And will you dare to do so can you like to dye so Oh now a World for such a Repentance as I could be assur'd I should never repent of were I to live in this World again as that I should hate Sin in my very Soul and burn it up with Jealousie and Indignation Oh for such a Love to God and Holiness as I could be assur'd if I were to live on Earth again would carry me thro' the Force of contrary Examples thro' the Fires of raging Persecution thro' the deepest Waters of Affliction thro' the strongest Contradictions of my own Corruption to Love Serve Honour Fear Obey Trust Reverence Desire Delight in the Living God Then would I welcome Death in its closest Attack and most dismal Shape yea I would leave this World with a more chearful Heart than ever I bore in it thro' my whole Life My Dear Children that I have any Hopes now of Pardon of my Sin Peace with God and Everlasting Life is owing to the abundant Riches of the Glory of Gods Grace Oh take you heed of Sinning that Grace may abound if you do you may come to rue it for ever But go I must hence whether I hop'd or no Time draws to a Close and calls me to bid you a long Farewel Farewel my Dear Children May your Souls be bound up in the Bundle of Life I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace May the very God of Peace Sanctify you wholly and preserve you Blameless in Body Soul and Spirit to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Amen Amen Sign'd with my own Hand Mary Goodenough POSTSCRIPT I am in this Paper a Witness to you my poor Orphans of your Duty and Danger Oh force me not in as a Witness against you by your Carelessness and Obstinacy at the Great Tribunal whither I am now called and where you must shortly appear Read this Paper or get it Read to you by my Neighbour Thomas Bolt or Mrs. Mary Rose or such others as will teach you to Understand and Improve not to Contemn and Neglect it Read it over or a good Part of it every Lords Day be not asham'd of my Dying Confessions or Advice for they are the best Remains of your Dying Mother the only Legacy she has to leave you and if well Improv'd they will indeed yield you a Goodly Heritage FINIS
of the Earth Righteousness surely then this Judgment of God fallen upon one amongst you whom you knew with whom you convers'd is now clearly design'd by God to teach you Righteousness Think it not a Warning to you against the particular Crimes for which she dy'd only Tho I dare affirm it positively you are not secure of your selves that you shall not commit the Crimes or worse than those for which she dy'd till you get your Hearts renew'd and chang'd as she has shew'd you in the Tryal of her self No nor are you then secure of avoiding the commission of such enormous Crimes but in your close walking with God and thro' Faith on Jesus receiving continual Supplies of Grace and Strength from him to resist Temptations Did not David commit Adultery and Murder Was not this Woman as Religious as most of you Did not she seeminly out go many of you Will you not be warn'd by her Fall then not to content your selves with a Form of Religion without the Power of Godliness But I would chiefly apply my self to you on the behalf of her poor destitute Children The Law of the Nation exacts from you the care of their Bodies does not the Law of God under several Penalties require you to take care of their Souls Are not their Souls more valuable than their Bodies Are not you become as Parents to these poor Orphans The case of Orphans and Bastards is deplorable Parishes indeed take care to place them out where they may learn a slavish way of living at the cheapest rates but seldom consider whether they 'll be carefully instructed in the Fear and pâ—ously conducted in the ways of God where they have plac'd them a Cruelty indeed Oh monstrous many religious Persons are guilty of towards their Children The best Trade and most knowing worldly Master is all their enquiry Will you be so cruel to these Childrens Souls know if you be their Blood will God require at your hands But whilst I speak to all I 'm afraid lest none will think themselves concern'd Are there none amongst you that have devoted your selves to Christ Jesus in an everlasting Covenant and Love him in Sincerity I apply my self to you in Christs words Feed these his Lambs Of such little children as those of this Womans with you are the Kingdom of Heaven are they not Christs Members whilst they are yet devoted to him in Vertue of their Mothers Faith Will not God reward your labour of Love towards them Will they not be Blessings to the Families to the Town they shall live in and an Honour too if you endeavour to bring them up to the Practice of their Mothers Precepts Take care her Children learn to read learn the Catechism read to them and press upon them this their Mothers Last Will concerning them Don't stick at a little charge or trouble to do them good Will any thing please you but the good you have done with what you had when you come to dye Will any thing displease you then but that you have done so little And I beg leave to mind you of an Obligation which however to you it may seem small or none at all yet by God perhaps is accounted no small one upon you to be kind to those poor Children Who knows how far your Uncharitableness hiding your selves from your own Flesh from this poor Womans Wants contributed to the strength of that Temptation which brought her to that Sin and Punishment which have left these Children Motherless It was for want of Bread she said If her Modesty did make her asham'd to beg did not her meagre Look her starved Children her meanly furnish'd House and Table beg from you shou'd you not have answered this silent Prayer by Charity Tho you did not do it then shew your Repentance now in shewing a more bountiful and constant Kindness to her Children This way God has left open for you I wish all Parishes might by these Considerations be brought more narrowly to inspect the State of their poor Neighbours and consequently to administer to them Some noisie poor are maintain'd in their Idleness whilst other modest poor are starv'd in the midst of their Labours In short from this Womans Crime and Punishment may we be brought firmly to believe Except we repent we shall all likewise perish May they that think they stand take heed lest they fall May all hear and fear and do no more wickedly An Account of the Tryal Condemnation and Execution of Mary Goodenough at the Assizes held in Oxon in February 1691-92 MAry Goodenough Widow aged about 40 years liv'd at Bradwell in the County of Oxon. Being in great Poverty and Straits even to the want of Bread for her and hers she was seduc'd by a neighbouring Baker reported Infamous for like Practices with others thro' his Promises of some Allowance towards her necessary Maintenance to the commission of Adultery with him who was a marry'd Man She becoming with Child by him concealed it to her time of Travel which when she fell into she also conceal'd under pretence of Sickness till on the 3d. day 2 or 3 Neighbours suspecting the matter came to her and upon search presently discovered by her Breasts c. that she had had a Child Upon their charging it she immediately own'd and directed them to the Infant which lay wrap'd up in a Blanket at her Feet in the Bed dead She had a Son about 7 years old and a Daughter about 11 whom she shut out of the Room in the time of her Labour The Daughter told the Neighbours she heard her Mother cry out About Ten days after her Travel she was brought to Oxon committed Prisoner to the Castle and toward the end of February being about a Month after her Committment she was brought forth and Try'd before Judge Ayres at the Assizes there The Witnesses who were the Neighbours above mention'd depos'd the Matter of Fact as above declar'd and she acknowledg'd the Purport of it and particularly that she call'd not out for Help as also with relation to the Child afterwards That it perish'd for want of suitable Help and due Attendance so that upon the whole Matter she was justly Convicted of Murder and receiv'd Sentence of Death Together with which when the Judge pronounced it he told her with a most becoming Concern and judicious Piety to this purpose That she had committed Murder where even Nature as well as the Laws of God and of the Land one would have thought should have bound up her Hands and so had drawn the deepest Charge of Blood upon her Soul that from Mans Law nor Gods there was no escape for her natural Life quoting her that Passage He that sheds Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed And the Statute Law of this Realm to her Case Yet in Answer to her vehement Cries for Mercy from him he directed her to God as being gracious merciful and ready to forgive the Guilt of that and all