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<DATE>2014-05-01</DATE>
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<NAME>Anne Simpson</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P> <HI>Spira</HI>'s De&s;pair Revived.</P>
<P>Being A <HI>Narration</HI> OF The Horror and De&s;pair OF Some late Sinners under the Appprehen&s;ions of Death and Judgment.</P>
<P>Wherein are &s;uch Unque&s;tionable Examples produc'd, and &s;uch Mat|ters laid down, and proved, as may &s;top the Mouths of the Athei&s;tical Scoffers and Mockers.</P>
<P>By <HI>Thomas Iames,</HI> Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel at <HI>A&s;hford</HI> in <HI>Kent.</HI></P>
<LICENSE LANG="eng">
<P><HI>Licen&s;ed</HI> June 16. 1694. <HI>E. C.</HI></P>
</LICENSE>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>R. Baldwin,</HI> at the <HI>Oxford Arms</HI> in <HI>Warwick-Lane,</HI> 1694.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>To the right Honourable</HI> Philip <HI>Lord</HI> Wharton&punc;</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Lord,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>TO make a Dedication of this &s;mall peice to your Honour, would be a Crime, if there were not &s;uch rea&s;ons as might not only excu&s;e, but even com|mand the &s;ame from me. The very lea&s;t is Gratitude, which obliges me to ac|knowledg your &s;ingular kindne&s;s and favour, being &s;etled once in a Family hav|ing a branch &s;prung out of your <HI>Noble Stock;</HI> and much the &s;ame overtures having
<PB REF="3"> been &s;ince made towards &s;uch another imployment; But tho the&s;e con&s;iderations are too great to be pa&s;&s;ed by in <HI>&s;ilence,</HI> yet there is an higher rea&s;on which enfor|ces me to this undertaking; 'tis your Lord&s;hips Piety, that &s;incere, &s;olid and ex|emplary Piety, which is to be &s;een in you. 'Tis your owning and maintaining Religion in your Principles and Practice, publickly and privately approving your &s;elf to be a Di&s;ciple of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; having learnt that le&s;&s;on of the A|po&s;tle, <HI>to be &s;tedfa&s;t, unmova|ble,</HI>
<PB REF="3"> <HI>always abounding in the Work of the Lord, as knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.</HI> Pardon me, <HI>my Lord,</HI> that I prefix your name, it being &s;o &s;uitable, it being that of a &s;ound Believer, a &s;incere Chri&s;tian, and with|al &s;o high and Noble; one who not only believes what Athei&s;ts deny, and expects what they deny, but adorns the Profe&s;&s;ion he makes of the ble&s;&s;ed Go&s;pel, and &s;o confounds them: That your Honour is not a&s;hamed of the Go&s;pel, is mo&s;t evident, and I am bold to think that your Lord&s;hip will not be
<PB REF="4"> offended with what is here offered to you, becau&s;e 'tis Written for a defence of the &s;ame: The Lord God Al|mighty, before whom you walk, reward you, may his ble&s;&s;ings be upon your head, and may your Po&s;terity &s;hare in your Piety, and par|take of the &s;ame Mercies of the ever ble&s;&s;ed God, both in this World, and for ever, &s;o Prays (my Lord)</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Lord&s;hips very humble and obliged Servant. <HI>Thomas James.</HI></SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>A&s;hford,</HI> <DATE><HI>June</HI> 7. 1694.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>THE PREFACE.</HEAD>
<P>'TIS common to put a Title to <HI>Treati&s;es,</HI> and not to perform what is promi&s;ed thereby; to rai&s;e the expectation of the Reader very high, and then to bring him down again with di&s;appointment and vexation; to decoy the Reader with &s;pecious pretences, drawing a fine Front, and having nothing within worth look|ing into; the first and after pages holding no proportion. Who almo&s;t hath not been thus met with? 'Tis no pre&s;umption to think that many will be under &s;uch a jealou&s;y, when they read the Name of <HI>Spira</HI> &s;et be|fore
<PB REF="5"> this piece, doubting much whe|ther that can be made good which is pretended, e&s;pecially this bringing to mind the <HI>Second Spira</HI> may fill men with the greater unbelief. For, was ever any thing more plau&s;ible in its time, and afterwards &s;o de&s;pi&s;ed, rejected, and trampled under foot? Was ever any thing more taking, &s;preading and diffu&s;ing it &s;elf throughout the whole <HI>Kingdom,</HI> &s;o generally received, caught for, em|braced and entertained? Oh! what a light did the <HI>Second Spira</HI> give? and yet at la&s;t Went out in a &s;nuff, and proved a meer Meteor, &s;corn and deri&s;ion. Verily he had need to be well provided and arm'd, that comes forth again in this Cau&s;e; Arm'd with Truth, and well provided on all hands, &s;eeing he goes out at &s;uch great di&s;advantage. But yet, Why &s;hould the <HI>folly,</HI> or <HI>weakne&s;s,</HI> or <HI>wickedne&s;s of &s;ome make others afraid and</HI>
<PB REF="5"> <HI>negligent of their Duty?</HI> Why &s;hould <HI>Truth</HI> &s;uffer for <HI>Error</HI> and <HI>Impo|&s;ture?</HI> 'Tis true, it will be hard to make men believe the real truth, when they have been trickt, and caught with fal&s;hood; But &s;till truth will and mu&s;t prevail: Tho a man take ba&s;e and counterfeit Mony many times, yet &s;hall be refu&s;e therefore that which is good ever after? Nay rather he will de&s;ire it, for as much as he &s;tands the more in need there|of. The Antifices of wicked men will not always attain their end, to hin|der the Truth, and keep back its knowledg: Truth may be eclips'd for a while, but it will &s;hine more bright|ly afterward. <HI>Spira's De&s;pair</HI> is re|viv'd almo&s;t every day, and it a|ri&s;eth from one and the &s;ame ground &s;till, the guilt of Sin, and the ap|prehen&s;ions of the <HI>wrath of the E|ternal God.</HI> Let Athei&s;ts mock and &s;coff their fill, examples of this
<PB REF="6"> kind are very many, and their evi|dence mo&s;t clear, they &s;peak home to the purpo&s;e, and &s;hall perform that for which they are appointed: There needs no <HI>Pious Fraud,</HI> nor <HI>Officious Lies</HI> to help <HI>Religion,</HI> and uphold the <HI>Truth:</HI> Every age, and every quarter hath &s;ome <HI>Mo|nument</HI> or another &s;et up, with this kind of In&s;cription, <HI>Look upon me, and learn to fear God;</HI> take warning by my Torments and De|&s;pair, lea&s;t your <HI>unbelief</HI> and <HI>pro|fanene&s;s</HI> bring down the &s;ame <HI>Ven|geance on your Heads:</HI> There are Pillars of Salt &s;et up every where for our remembrance: The fire of Hell hath kindled upon <HI>multitudes</HI> of <HI>&s;in|ners,</HI> and the worm that never dies does begin to gnaw their Con&s;cien|ces, even while they are on this &s;ide the Grave.</P>
<P>Do any &s;eek a proof of this? What mean tho&s;e <HI>Self-Murders</HI> which are
<PB REF="6"> committed &s;o frequently! This is &s;o common that few regard it, and they are very few that examin the Ca&s;e and enquire into it: But whence come they? How &s;hould Men hate their own Life, and have an Heart to per|petrate &s;uch a <HI>Villany</HI> to <HI>De&s;troy</HI> that which is the <HI>deare&s;t thing</HI> in all the World unto them? <HI>Self-murder!</HI> what an unnatural wick|edne&s;s? Thou&s;ands are &s;o de&s;perate as for the enjoyment of this pre&s;ent Life, tho &s;o &s;hort and uncertain, to venture an eternity to come; for a few Months of &s;inful Plea&s;ure, they will hazard the lo&s;s of an immortal Soul; &s;o &s;weet is Life, &s;uch a darling! But the&s;e wretches lay violent hands upon them&s;elves, and ca&s;t away this Pearl of Price, &s;o un&s;peakably preti|ous, and had by all men in E&s;tima|tion above the whole World. Let <HI>A|thei&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Scoffers</HI> &s;ay what they can against the Terrours of the Lord,
<PB REF="7"> and the angui&s;h that ari&s;eth from the horrours of Con&s;cience, this abun|dantly proves it: When prophane and wicked Creatures thus destroy their lives, it is evident that they are un|der the &s;en&s;e of the <HI>wrath of the Al|mighty,</HI> that their Con&s;ciences are wounded deeply, that the Arrows of the Lord &s;tickfa&s;t in them, which they are not able to bear the &s;mart and angui&s;h of, and therefore would, if po&s;&s;ible, put an end to their very being. I do not &s;ay, that all that do thus are moved by this occa&s;ion, but ordinarily &s;o it is; and 'tis no hard thing to di&s;cern when it proceeds from &s;uch grounds of Horrour and De&s;pair: Who doubts of it, whether <HI>Judas</HI> did Hang him&s;elf out of guilt and horrour? when they are the ungod|ly, and the greatest &s;inners who prove &s;uch <HI>Felo-de &s;e's,</HI> there is no room fr he&s;itation: When they are the in|tolerably proud, covetous, envious, fil|thy
<PB REF="7"> and unclean, Sabbath breakers, and &s;uch who&s;e hearts <HI>Satan</HI> hath filled with wickedne&s;s; per&s;ons who have highly offended God, and liv|ed in contempt of his Laws; when &s;uch can find no peace in their trou|bles, no hope; what can any man think of their <HI>Self-murders,</HI> but that they ari&s;e from this De&s;pair? Were this matter well con&s;idered, there might be an excellent Argument rai&s;|ed out of it, and managed to the ad|vantage of Religion, again&s;t tho&s;e who would fain put off the man, and per&s;uade them&s;elves there is no God, at least that he is not &s;uch a God as the holy Scriptures reveal him to be, not Omni&s;cient, and one that will re|ward every one according to their ways and works; who hath a wit|ne&s;s within every man, and who&s;e judgments are every where abroad in the world, declaring his Justice, and what &s;hall certainly come to pa&s;s
<PB REF="8"> hereafter. This is a &s;ort of proof near of kin to what I &s;hall produce, and therefore I do but touch upon it in this place, making way to matters more plain and cogent, to examples which will irrefragably evidence the Truth in hand <HI>(&s;c.)</HI> that &s;inners are by their wicked ways reduced to hor|rour and de&s;pair, &s;uch as doth even demon&s;trate God to be, and al&s;o to be an avenger of the ungodly: Some have been made &s;ick of &s;in in this life, and have confe&s;t openly, freely and plentifully to the Glory of God, and this they have done, e&s;pecially who have laid violent hands upon them&s;elves, and have been very won|derfully pre&s;erv'd. Now out of many I will quote one example of this kind in the fir&s;t place, making &s;uch ob|&s;ervations and improvements as na|turally flow from the &s;ame; a late Example of my own per&s;onal know|ledg.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="1" REF="8">
<HEAD>&sect; I.</HEAD>
<P>IN the year 1689. <HI>Octob.</HI> 27. a|bout 5 of the Clock in the E|vening one <HI>R. L.</HI> cut his own throat, with an intention of <HI>Self-murder.</HI> It was done but a few doors from the place of my a|bode; &s;o that the Report and Out|cry reached me in a few minutes: The man had always been a &s;tranger to me; &s;o that I know not that I had ever &s;een his Face; how|ever, I had no manner of acquaint|ance with him; but being moved with the relation of &s;uch a Trage|dy, I was de&s;irous to come into the pre&s;ence of the poor wretch, and in|form my &s;elf of what had pa&s;t, to learn the true grounds of &s;uch a piece of Wickedne&s;s, and to ob&s;erve his Carriage and Behaviour, as well as to be ready to yield any Mini&s;te|rial
<PB N="2" REF="9"> help, as there &s;hould be <HI>Oppor|tunity.</HI> It was but a little while e're I prevail'd with a Gentleman, who had &s;ufficient Knowledge of him, to introduce me. Being come to the Chamber where he had done this horrid Fact, which was now thron|ged with Spectators, my Friend took to one &s;ide of the Bed, and my &s;elf to the other; His Wound was dre&s;t by the <HI>Chyrurgeon,</HI> being very large and deep; the Wind Pipe was cut about half through; &s;o that all a|bout him concluded he was pa&s;t re|covery, and &s;o he judged of him&s;elf, tho I really thought otherwi&s;e, and told my thoughts to &s;ome that night; by his freene&s;s of Speech, and other circum&s;tances, having Rea&s;on to hope that the Chyrurgeon would perform his part &s;o well as to make a Cure, which to his prai&s;e he did. The Ca&s;e being thus, I pre&s;ently ap|plied my &s;elf to him, asking, <HI>What made him to commit &s;uch a Wickedne&s;s as to go about to murder him&s;elf?</HI> At my fir&s;t &s;peaking he gave little heed; but asking him again to the &s;ame effect,
<PB N="3" REF="9"> immediately he turned him&s;elf a|bout to me, and &s;hew'd a wonderful willingne&s;s to fall into di&s;cour&s;e. To me it &s;eem'd, that &s;o &s;oon as ever he recollected who I was, he was glad of my Company. I &s;till put the &s;ame Que&s;tion; and now he replied, ca|&s;ting it upon the Devil; declaring how <HI>he was perpetually tempted to com|mit &s;omewhat of this kind.</HI> I then de|manded, <HI>how the Devil &s;hould prevail &s;o far as this upon him, and carry him away &s;o that he could dare to de&s;troy his own life?</HI> Then he began to lay o|pen, and &s;pread before me his pa&s;t Life; and truly he delivered him&s;elf &s;o freely, di&s;tinctly and openly, the <HI>Room</HI> all the while being full of <HI>com|pany</HI> (too many of them &s;uch as had been partakers with him in &s;ome, at lea&s;t, of his Wickedne&s;&s;es) that it was beyond what I could have ex|pected. He told me how he had left his Trade, being by profe&s;&s;ion a <HI>Sad|ler</HI> at <HI>Rochester,</HI> being debauch'd be|fore, but then waxing much wor&s;e and wor&s;e; he bemoaned his lewd Company keeping, whereby he was
<PB N="4" REF="10"> hardened every day more than o|ther; e&s;pecially the &s;in of Sabbath-breaking he confe&s;s'd, and bewailed above all the re&s;t, having of late years &s;eldom or never attended up|on the publick Wor&s;hip of God. <HI>At the fir&s;t,</HI> &s;aid he, <HI>I &s;pent indeed good part of my time in reading privately at home; but then I fell off from that al&s;o, and fre|quented Ale-hou&s;es, and &s;uch like places on that day, &s;pending the Sabbath in drinking, revelling,</HI> &amp;c. While he was relating the&s;e things, one came in, who had been an Old Compani|on, and too much conver&s;ant with him in tho&s;e ways: He &s;eeing him &s;tanding at the Beds Feet, cryed out, <HI>Oh&mdash;have a care, beware; you &s;ee what tho&s;e wicked cour&s;es have brought me to, especially the &s;in of Sabbath-brea|king.</HI> The&s;e words he uttered not without warmth and vehemency. After &s;uch a Narration as this made to me, and &s;ome other di&s;cour&s;es be|tween us, he reque&s;ted me to pray with him; particularly he de&s;ired, and directed me to pray for a little longer time to live, that he might
<PB N="5" REF="10"> be <HI>&s;pared but to the morning&punc; One Night&punc; but One Night! that it would plea&s;e God to grant him but that Petition, that he might have a &s;hort time to repent, confe&s;s his &s;ins, and call upon the Lord for for|givene&s;s and mercy.</HI> I reply'd, That it was not a thing he could expect; how could he think God &s;hould be &s;o gracious to &s;pare his Life when he had attempted &s;o wickedly to take it away? Why &s;hould he look for this Favour at God's hands, &s;eeing he had left him &s;o long, and mo&s;t de&s;|perately ca&s;t him&s;elf away, com|mitting Self-Murder! How could he think God would hear his Cry! It was a time to look after his Soul, and to humble him&s;elf. <HI>Oh but,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>the Malefectors many times have a Repreive; they are not pre&s;ently executed after Sentence is pa&s;t; and will not God &s;pare me a few hours, only to the morning? Oh! may not this be, that I may have &s;ome space for repentance, and to &s;eek pardon of my &s;ins.</HI> For my own part, as I hinted before, I verily thought he might he recovered, and his deadly wound healed, calling to
<PB N="6" REF="11"> mind In&s;tances of a like nature, when the Ca&s;e had been more de&s;|perate, and yet a Cure wrought. But thus I di&s;cour&s;ed to bring him to deep humiliation, and godly &s;orrow, and earne&s;t &s;upplication to the Lord for grace and mercy. Then he call|ed for his <HI>Bible,</HI> and therein he &s;hew|ed me &s;everal Portions of Scripture, which he had formerly taken no|tice of, and received &s;ome Convicti|ons from; underneath the&s;e he had drawn black lines, and marked with a Pen, and truly they were very ma|ny. At this I wondred a little, find|ing that he had been &s;ometime no negligent Reader of the Word of God. We turned to the <HI>51st P&s;al.</HI> and other Portions &s;uitable to his condition. We read and &s;earcht in|to them, and I &s;till gave him all the light and help I could po&s;&s;ible. Then again he de&s;ired me to pray with him, which I did, there being a ve|ry mixt Company in the Room, &s;ome of them too well acquainted with him in the days of his Impie|ty. After Prayer was ended, and
<PB N="7" REF="11"> &s;ome little di&s;cour&s;e, I took my leave, but could hardly get leave from him to depart, he holding me by the hand, and de&s;iring my help; But it grew late in the night, and I was unwilling to hold him di&s;cour|&s;ing any longer, con&s;idering the great effu&s;ion of blood, and other circum&s;tances, whereby his &s;pirits mu&s;t needs be exhau&s;ted, and much weakne&s;s follow, which requireth re&s;t: So I left him, directing him &s;piritually, according to the ability <HI>God</HI> had given me; particularly advizing him not to yield him&s;elf up to <HI>Sathan's</HI> temptations, nor hearken to any of his &s;ugge&s;tions, or be affrighted at them, however he was di&s;turbed, but to compo&s;e him&s;elf, and wait upon <HI>God,</HI> and &s;ee if he would not be more merci|ful to him than he expected, even with re&s;pect to this pre&s;ent life: But I could not thus part with him for that night, but about an hour or two after I returned, enquiring of the watchers, of his &s;tate; I found his mind had been much di&s;turbed,
<PB N="8" REF="12"> he had talked to them of very frightful apparitions; and upon my dealing more con&s;iderately with him, he was not pre&s;ently brought off from the &s;ame, but did &s;eriou&s;ly own to me that there were appari|tions of Devils, tempting him, and terrifying him: I laboured to calm his tumultuous mind, and ap|plied my &s;elf to him much as be|fore, endeavouring to bring him to a &s;en&s;e of his &s;in, not only in this horrid fact, but in his life pa&s;t, which had led him on to this wicked|ne&s;s, hardning his heart, and giving <HI>Sathan</HI> &s;uch an admi&s;&s;ion, and &s;o great advantage again&s;t him; di|&s;cour&s;ing of the ju&s;tice of <HI>God,</HI> and al&s;o of the redemption through Chri&s;t, and the riches of divine grace to &s;ave penitent &s;inners, even the chiefe&s;t of them, upon their true and unfeigned faith in the Son of <HI>God.</HI> In all this he was very atten|tive, taking in all that was &s;aid with great greedine&s;s and intention of &s;oul, expre&s;&s;ing wonderful repen|tance, and crying mightily to <HI>God</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="12"> for mercy; &s;till he was exceeding importunate that he might live but a little while to perform that great work of preparing for an entrance into eternity; But if it plea&s;ed God to &s;pare his life, O then how glad|ly &s;hould he manife&s;t and declare his repentance to all the world, and what manner of per&s;on would he be? I &s;till continued to vi&s;it him, next day, and I think &s;ome few days after till he was out of danger, and began to recover his former &s;tate of health. This is the &s;umm of what I am able to recollect of that black Tragedy; and indeed it is &s;o long &s;ince, that I cannot be &s;o particular as I would: Little did I think then of making &s;uch u&s;e of this Example. But as to the mat|ters of any importance, I dare ap|peal to the omnipotent God, it is the Truth; yea, the per&s;on is now liv|ing at this time of writing, who is the Subject of this Relation; and it was all &s;aid and done openly.</P>
<P>Now I will make &s;ome <HI>Remarks,</HI> or <HI>Animadver&s;ions</HI> upon the whole, to
<PB N="10" REF="13"> pro&s;ecute my great and only de&s;ign in writing after this kind and man|ner.</P>
<P N="1">1. How came this <HI>Felo-de-&s;e</HI> (for &s;uch he was to the purpo&s;e of his Heart) to fall under &s;uch horrour immediately upon the committing of this wickedne&s;s? If there be no God, no Judgment to come, but <HI>Re|ligion</HI> be a <HI>Publick Cheat,</HI> &s;et on foot only for Private ends; then whence was it that this poor creature who had been hardning him&s;elf &s;o long in &s;in, and now &s;truck this blow, &s;hould immediately recoil, and be &s;tartled at the thoughts of Death? &s;urely, upon the grounds the <HI>Athe|i&s;ts</HI> go, now was a time for him to have Triumphed, as having ac|compli&s;hed his de&s;ire, and put an end to his mi&s;erable Life. He had been long weary of Living, and now he had de&s;perately extingui&s;h'd the Light of Life; how came he then to repent of what he had done, and to have &s;uch a dread of the darkne&s;s he thought to hide him&s;elf in? Alas! 'tis evident there was a
<PB N="11" REF="13"> Con&s;cience &s;triving and rou&s;ed out of its deep &s;leep, which Revealed the wrath of God and his righte|ous Judgments.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whence came this &s;udden change and alteration? Such fear and horrour and amazement in a few Moments? Upon &s;peaking a few words, and debating the mat|ter calmly, the man became quite another than ju&s;t before; whence &s;hould this proceed? Was there not (<GAP DESC="foreign">) &s;omething Divine in this &s;udden alteration? Indeed Athei&s;ts may brave it out while they are living, and in their &s;trength and heat of Blood; but when it comes to Death, and they have the Sen|tence thereof pa&s;t within them|&s;elves, and a fearful expectation of the Righteous Judgment of the great God, then their Hearts mu&s;t needs fail them; they &s;ay indeed it &s;hall not, but they promi&s;e more than they ordinarily perform: We &s;ee the contrary daily, even in tho&s;e who were no ways behind them, who &s;peak &s;o pre&s;umptuou&s;ly: And
<PB N="12" REF="14"> what if they die de&s;perately? This is no Argument; a Mad-man may throw him&s;elf into the Fire or Wa|ter, but who doth not know he takes the way to be burnt or drown|ed? A de&s;perate Death of an Athe|i&s;tical Wretch di&s;proves not a Judg|ment to come; and that <HI>De&s;peration</HI> is the faire&s;t &s;ide of their <HI>Exit;</HI> for Peace, and Comfort, and Hope they have none.</P>
<P N="3">3. Whence came tho&s;e frightful Apparitions of Devils, or wicked Spirits, di&s;tracting his Mind, and tormenting him now more than e|ver? If this proceeded only from a Natural Cau&s;e, he mu&s;t be very wi&s;e that can a&s;&s;ign it; The <HI>lo&s;s of Blood</HI> could not in the lea&s;t di&s;po&s;e to it; but contrariwi&s;e, it mu&s;t naturally tend to Dizzine&s;s, and a Lethargick Frame. The Body was not di&s;tem|pered with a Fever before, only the re&s;tle&s;ne&s;s of the Mind might &s;ome|what affect it; but all on a &s;udden the Man was full of <HI>Terror</HI> and af|frighted with <HI>Vi&s;ions</HI> and <HI>Spectrums:</HI> He had <HI>horror in his looks;</HI> the <HI>Soul</HI> did
<PB N="13" REF="14"> as it were &s;hew it &s;elf through the Windows, in a gha&s;tly manner, frighted, and <HI>full of confu&s;ion.</HI> How many thou&s;ands have &s;uffered wor&s;e than all this in their bodies, and di&s;|covered no &s;uch <HI>fear or terror,</HI> talked of no &s;uch dreadful Apparitions? To &s;ay, that this was only Fancy and I|magination, or a fit of Melancholy or Frenzy, would be very trifling; For there was no bodily di&s;temper that did nece&s;&s;arily di&s;po&s;e to &s;uch things. Was it ever known, that upon &s;uch a Wound, or the &s;topping of the flux of <HI>Blood,</HI> by the <HI>Chyrurge|on,</HI> Men fell immediately into <HI>fear,</HI> and <HI>terror,</HI> and <HI>confu&s;ion,</HI> and talking of being tempted and tormented by the Devil? Ask the <HI>Chyrurgeons</HI> con|cerning all the <HI>In&s;ections, Amputations</HI> or <HI>Cauteries,</HI> they make, where the pain is unque&s;tionably very great many times, and the Ca&s;e every way more terrible, if nothing but what is natural be con&s;idered; ask them, I &s;ay, if ever they found their Patients in &s;uch a Temper. No, here was <HI>Guilt, a wounded Con&s;cience,</HI> and <HI>Satan,</HI>
<PB N="14" REF="15"> <HI>like a Lion, roaring upon his prey;</HI> and tho&s;e infernal Vultures flocking to|gether about the &s;ame to devour it.</P>
<P>But, 4. Is this any new thing, and not the &s;ad Experience of all Ages, in innumerable Examples of like na|ture? Doth not God threaten &s;in|ners, and do not his Judgments &s;ome|times overtake them thus? How ma|ny Sabbath-breakers and Scoffers have been brought to &s;uch a confe&s;|&s;ion, and &s;truck with <HI>dread and horror</HI> at the end of their Lives? Tho&s;e of them that have died natural deaths, have been oft under the &s;ame <HI>Con|vul&s;ions and Agonies of Soul,</HI> as well as tho&s;e that died violent deaths; there hath been no difference; &s;o certain it is that <HI>a guilty con&s;cience</HI> hath been the cau&s;e of &s;uch fearful ends, and not any unaccountable di&s;order of body.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="15" REF="15">
<HEAD>&sect; II.</HEAD>
<P>The former In&s;tance may, and doth &s;ufficiently evince this, <HI>That man is &s;ubject to the Dominion of God, not only as a Creature, but as a Creature endued with rea&s;on and under&s;tanding, having a con&s;cience which binds him over to the judgment of the eternal God.</HI> It was not &s;lavi&s;h fear, and crafty in&s;inuations of de&s;igning men, that brought the fir&s;t Notion of God into the world; but God him&s;elf put this Fear into man&punc;s heart; &s;o that whenever he &s;ins willfully, and contumeliou&s;ly, he is con&s;igned over to the Judg|ment, and bound in Chains of Dark|ne&s;s and Horror <HI>again&s;t the Judgment of the la&s;t Day.</HI></P>
<P>The following Example will make this matter yet more clear and evident, and an&s;wer the Title fully, being a Ca&s;e of <HI>downright Despair,</HI> under a &s;en&s;e of the Wrath of the
<PB N="16" REF="16"> Almighty, without being able to take the lea&s;t comfort.</P>
<P>'Tis thus, Being called to a poor Woman in the Neighbourhood, one <HI>M. T.</HI> who was very &s;ick and weak in body, and drawing nigh to her End, her Husband importuned me to ha&s;ten away as &s;oon as po&s;&s;i|ble, becau&s;e &s;he was withal lying under a very great di&s;turbance and di&s;&s;atisfaction of mind; He told me her Trouble of Spiris aro&s;e from &s;ome <HI>Opinion</HI> relating to matters of <HI>Religion,</HI> which &s;he had imbibed in her <HI>Youth,</HI> and now it became her burthen. But when I came, I found another kind of <HI>Trouble, another Cau&s;e,</HI> and of a deeper Dye. The Woman lay in great Angui&s;h, ex|ceedingly di&s;quieted in her <HI>Soul;</HI> the <HI>Occa&s;ion</HI> far wide of what her Hus|band &s;ugge&s;ted; but he &s;pake as he thought, tho&s;e about the <HI>Woman</HI> keeping back the true Cau&s;e from him (as they told me) out of Pru|dence, he being of too Rugged a Temper and Carriage. It was this; In the mean time while &s;he was a
<PB N="17" REF="16"> Servant, a lewd Fellow-&s;ervant had oft attemted to corrupt her Cha&s;tity, following her up and down continually, taking all oc|ca&s;ions <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Deut.</HI> 21. 14.</NOTE> to <HI>humble her;</HI> in the dark about the Hou&s;e, in the Fields where &s;he was employed in Countrey bu&s;ine&s;s. She <HI>re&s;i&s;ted,</HI> and <HI>with&s;tood him for a long time very vigorou&s;ly,</HI> and never yielded up her &s;elf to his Lu&s;ts ab&s;olutely, to the la&s;t; but in &s;hort, not making the Ca&s;e Known, nor &s;eeking Help, at la&s;t, through the Lu&s;ts of her own heart, and the Snare of the Devil, being <HI>&s;o oft a&s;&s;aulted,</HI> and <HI>&s;o la&s;civiou&s;|ly,</HI> by a filthy wretch, &s;he was <HI>guil|ty of too much dalliance,</HI> and &s;uffered what <HI>ought not to have been.</HI></P>
<P>Thus &s;he got a Wound and Brui&s;e in her Soul, which now cau&s;ed Pains and Angui&s;h <HI>intolerable.</HI></P>
<P>She told me, &s;he was <HI>a Reprobate,</HI> a damned wretch, that <HI>God had no mercy for her;</HI> yea, upon every turn this was her Expre&s;&s;ion, That <HI>&s;he felt Hell-Fire within her.</HI> When I replied, That the Lord was willing
<PB N="18" REF="17"> to forgive Sinners, even the Chief|e&s;t, upon their Repentance, and Faith in his <HI>Son,</HI> who had &s;uffered the Wrath of God due to &s;in, to &s;atisfie for the &s;ame, and reconcile Us to the Father; That <HI>God</HI> was en|gaged to forgive &s;uch penitent Be|lievers, and we &s;inned in not laying <HI>hold on his Covenant;</HI> &s;he would re|ply, <HI>It is true, but I have wilfully &s;in|ned, and am actually ca&s;t off b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> God and am rejected for ever.</HI> She <HI>&s;hock</HI> and <HI>trembled,</HI> and <HI>&s;weat</HI> in &s;uch a manner while &s;he was di&s;clo&s;ing her &s;in, and declaring her Angui&s;h and Tor|ment, that it was a &s;ad thing to be|hold a poor wretch lying in &s;o mi|&s;erable a condition, and enough to make one think that every thing was as dreadful as &s;he &s;aid. When I found that no Argument would move her, to expre&s;s any hope in God's Mercy, but &s;he turned all up on her &s;elf, after the manner of &s;uch de&s;pairing Wretches, like <HI>Spira</HI> of Old, and &s;uch as have been quoted of the &s;ame kind: I demanded of her whether &s;he was willing (could
<PB N="19" REF="17"> find her heart willing) to be &s;aved? whether, if God &s;hould work &s;uch a wonder (as &s;he thought of it) as to pluck her as a Brand out of the Fire, and to give her an Inherit|ance in Heaven, &s;he would thank God, and be glad therein? Here &s;he pau&s;ed, and was at a &s;tand: I urged her to &s;peak her mind, to con&s;ider and an&s;wer. If her torments were &s;o great already, and her fear and dread &s;o much greater, would &s;he not ble&s;s the Lord to be delivered from the lowe&s;t Hell, and to be &s;a|ved with everla&s;ting Salvation? At len<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters"> &s;he told me, <HI>Yes.</HI> Then I &s;et in with her an&s;wer, and &s;hewed her how willing God was, how graci|ous, that nothing was wanting on his part; that if &s;he could believe all things were po&s;&s;ible, &s;he &s;hould &s;ee the &s;alvation of God&punc; But now &s;he return'd her Old Reply; <HI>It was indeed the truth; but her Time was pa&s;t; &s;he was even now &s;uffering the Wrath of God, the Torments of the Damned, Hell Fire was already kindled upon her.</HI> I confe&s;s, &s;he kept &s;o clo&s;e
<PB N="20" REF="18"> to this, that it &s;ilenc'd me; and tho my heart was melted, and my Spirit much moved to reveal the Grace of God, and the un&s;earcha|ble Riches thereof, yet I could not beat her out of that &s;trong hold. In the end, I prayed by her, and then having &s;pent a little time more in Di&s;cour&s;e, I departed.</P>
<P>This I had upon my own Spirit, that God had Mercy for her. Me|thoughts I could &s;py &s;omething to build upon for hope of her Salvati|on; tho I mu&s;t confe&s;s to the very la&s;t, even at parting, &s;he &s;aid &s;till the &s;ame things, <HI>That Hell was her portion, that &s;he had now an Hell within, that her tor|ments were dreadful;</HI> and &s;ome other Expre&s;&s;ions wor&s;e (in &s;ome &s;en&s;e.) Once I replyed. She was yet upon Earth, <HI>on this &s;ide the Grave, in the land of the living</HI> (becau&s;e &s;he never cea&s;ed &s;aying, &s;he was in Hell): She returned again, that the <HI>Wrath of God was Hell, and that &s;he &s;uffered and en|dured without any difference from tho&s;e in the place of eternal Torments.</HI> This is the Sum of what I can call to mind
<PB N="21" REF="18"> of this dreadful Example. She di|ed (as I heard afterwards, upon En|quiry) &s;oon after. There was little or no notice of her condition, all being done in a corner, among <HI>poor people,</HI> where Vi&s;itors were few, and they were all willing to conceal &s;o &s;ad a Ca&s;e: So that I know no fur|ther than what I learnt by this One Vi&s;it; and if I had not been call'd &s;o Providentially, what is here rela|ted had been all lo&s;t, and in all like|lihood had never been brought to light.</P>
<P>Now let Us con&s;ider, and &s;ee what Arguments may be rai&s;ed hence to be employed on the behalf of our Chri&s;tian Faith, again&s;t Athei&s;ts and Scoffers.</P>
<P N="1">(1.) I ob&s;erve how &s;mall a mat|ter (as Men would be apt to &s;peak) cau&s;ed all this Di&s;turbance; what a &s;park of &s;in &s;et the Con&s;cience of this poor creature on fire. Wan|tonne&s;s and Dalliance, how common is it in the world? What a trivial Matter is it with many to
<PB N="22" REF="19"> &s;tir up Lu&s;ts in them&s;elves or others, by wanton Embraces, and &s;uch like Behaviour as is not fit to be named. Tho&s;e &s;ins comprehended in the A|po&s;tles Phra&s;e of <HI>Works of Darkne&s;s,</HI> are practic'd eve|ry <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rom.</HI> 13. 12.</NOTE> where openly, in City and Countrey. But it was this that cau&s;ed all the&s;e Convul&s;i|ons and Agonies in this mi&s;erable woman O that Men and Women, Young Men and Maids, would be Sober and Temperate, that they would be afraid to do tho&s;e things which tend to &s;hame and confu&s;ion; yea, <HI>the end of which is death.</HI> Learn by this <HI>In&s;tance</HI> to fly youthful Lu&s;ts, ro avoid tho&s;e wanton cour&s;es which corrupt good Manners, wa&s;te and wound the Con&s;cience, lead &s;inners to the very Suburbs of Hell, and whence there is no deliverance without the di&s;playing of the Rich|es of Divine Grace. But,</P>
<P N="2">(2) Whence &s;hould this Horror and black De&s;pair proceed? How came this Worm of Con&s;cience &s;o grievou&s;ly to gnaw upon her heart?
<PB N="23" REF="19"> A Wound and Reproach &s;he had got none among Men, nay, her Hus|band him&s;elf had nothing to re|proach her withal, and yet &s;he was &s;eized with this Horror and De&s;|pair, and a Cloud of Darkne&s;s came over her at her very end, and a dreadful Storm and Tempe&s;t did &s;eemingly carry her away. If all were the Fruit of Natural &s;hame, a|ri&s;ing only from the Prejudice of Education (as Athei&s;ts talk) why then did &s;he not &s;mother it? What forc'd her to reveal it at the very end of her Life? Or how came it to torment her &s;o exceedingly? I dare be confident the Athei&s;ts and Scof|fers commit greater Abominations than all this, and reveal it not, be|cau&s;e they are not yet under &s;uch a fearful Expectation of the righteous Judgment of God. But when God &s;ets &s;in thus in order, then none can &s;tand, but the hearts of all fle&s;h faint and fail; then Fear and Horror &s;eize upon the &s;inners. This, this was the Cau&s;e, that though &s;he was dying, yet &s;he mu&s;t needs di&s;clo&s;e
<PB N="24" REF="20"> her &s;in; therefore &s;he could not hold it in, becau&s;e &s;he was full of the Fury of the Lord. It was nei|ther common &s;ickne&s;s, nor com|mon &s;hame could cau&s;e all the&s;e Pangs and Commotions. To &s;ee a wretch lye in this condition, &s;weat|ing and &s;haking, and looking with a countenance which &s;poke her in|ward Terrour, and talking at &s;uch a rate of the Wrath of God upon her: What creature that hath the Under&s;tanding of a Man, but mu&s;t conclude here was the finger of God in it? Surely they are blind that cannot &s;ee this, they are without Rea&s;on, who would impute all to I know not what Occa&s;ions, rather than confe&s;s the Truth, to the Ho|nour of the great God, and Judge of all the world; it may be their own time may come when they &s;hall be taught with an Iron Rod and Scor|pions. Yet further.</P>
<P N="3">(3.) I ob&s;erve her godly Educa|tion; for this, as &s;he told me, &s;he had enjoyed, and it was a great Ad|dition to her Load and Torment.
<PB N="25" REF="20"> Her Parents were Religious Per&s;ons, and in&s;tructed her well, &s;o that &s;he knew &s;he ought not to yield to that wicked Servants Temptations, and &s;trugglings with her, without re|vealing them, and u&s;ing means to be freed from &s;uch &s;infulne&s;s. Now this is very con&s;iderable. 'Tis true indeed the Athei&s;ts will catch at this as though it made for them and &s;trengthned their prophane Princi|ples, the &s;tre&s;s being great they lay upon it; Say they, So it is indeed, where per&s;ons have been brought up with the Notions of Heaven and Hell, of Eternal Vengeance due to &s;in, and the Torments prepar'd in another world for the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors of the Law of God; The&s;e things, &s;ay they, in time of bodily weak|ne&s;s come to mind, and di&s;turb the Man or Woman, working upon the Fancy or Imagination in a very frightful manner, ju&s;t as the &s;tories of terrible <HI>Chimera</HI>'s told to Chil|dren, make deep impre&s;&s;ion upon them, doing wrong to their Na|ture, by di&s;po&s;ing them to fear, and
<PB N="26" REF="21"> a timorous frame ever after. So &s;hamefully do many di&s;cover their Principles, comparing the Terrors of the Law, and the Threatnings of the True and Eternal God; to &s;uch Vanities and Trifles. But will they hear Rea&s;on, and receive an An&s;wer grounded upon the &s;ame, together with Experience, and Scripture which is fullfilled in the Eyes of all the World every Day? I an&s;wer then,</P>
<P N="1">(1) How comes it about that all &s;orts of Per&s;ons fall under this Fear and Terror, all after the &s;ame man|ner, and &s;ometimes tho&s;e who are lea&s;t likely, in the highe&s;t degree? Rich and Poor, Ignorant and Wi&s;e, Young and Old, Male and Female, tho&s;e that have but little of this E|ducation as well as they that have the mo&s;t. What think they of tho&s;e Honourable Per&s;onages of High Birth, of pregnant Parts, who drank as deep of their Cup of Abomination in their Life-time, as them&s;elves, and yet in their Deaths fell under the &s;ame Fears and Con|&s;ternation?
<PB N="27" REF="21"> Surely the wi&s;e, and they that had been hardening their hearts a long time, and fortifying them&s;elves &s;o mightily, profe&s;&s;ing &s;uch Principles as the&s;e, &s;hould have quite vanqui&s;h'd tho&s;e vain Fears, if they had been really no other, and meer Scare-Scrows. What will they &s;ay to the Death, and dying Re|mon&s;trance of the late E. of <HI>R.</HI></P>
<P>But (2.) Doth not the Scripture &s;ay this very thing, That God will be more terrible to enlightned Of|fenders than to tho&s;e who &s;in thro' Ignorance? Are not they threatned to be <HI>beaten with</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Luke</HI> 12.</NOTE> <HI>many &s;tripes?</HI> Doth not God denounce greater Wrath again&s;t his own People than o|thers? <HI>You only have I</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Amos</HI> 3. 2.</NOTE> <HI>known of all the Families of the Earth; therefore I will puni&s;h you for your Iniquities.</HI></P>
<P>Now if God threaten this, if the Scripture prophecy of &s;uch a thing, and it come frequently to pa&s;s, it is evident that it is of God, and that
<PB N="28" REF="22"> the &s;ame Scripture is the <HI>Word of Truth.</HI> For Per&s;ons who have apo|&s;tatized from their former profe&s;&s;i|on of Godline&s;s, who have depar|ted from the way in which they have Religiou&s;ly been trained up from their Childhood; for them to have their Con&s;ciences wounded, and to fall under Horror and De|&s;pair, is no &s;trange thing, but what God may ju&s;tly inflict upon them, and what he hath threatned to do.</P>
<P>But (3.) If Education be a refi|ning of Nature, as verily it is, which none but bruti&s;h per&s;ons will deny, then the impre&s;&s;ions which are made by &s;uch education are not to be counted otherwi&s;e than good and noble, not to be de&s;pi&s;ed and condemned, but well &s;poken of, and reckoned &s;uch as tend to perfect the man. They that crye out again&s;t Chri&s;tian education at the rate that Athei&s;ts do, that &s;coff and mock thereat, arguing after that manner, making the be&s;t fruits and effects of it to be meer folly and madne&s;s, are
<PB N="29" REF="22"> them&s;elves in&s;ufferable, and wor|thy to be bani&s;hed into a land not inhabited by men, at lea&s;t not by Chri&s;tians. What would they bring the World to? To wallow in &s;ins and lu&s;ts, to commit all iniquity with greedine&s;s; put out the eyes of the under&s;tanding; &s;tifle con&s;cience and fear it as with an hot iron; let loo&s;e the inordinate affections; and extingui&s;h all Go&s;pel revelation? No que&s;tion of it; this is at the bot|tom of their crying down religious education. Should a Club of drunk|ards cry down all Sobriety, it were more tolerable than for men of no religion (&s;ave the name only) to decry religious education. Should tho&s;e poor creatures in <HI>Bedlam's Ho&s;pital</HI> talk again&s;t <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> and laugh at all who were not guilty of their dotages and extravagancies, there would be more rea&s;on to hearken and a&s;&s;ent to all they &s;ay, though they &s;et folly never &s;o high above wi&s;dom, than to lend an ear to tho&s;e Mon&s;ters of Men who &s;et their mouths again&s;t Heaven, and &s;pit
<PB N="30" REF="23"> their venom upon every good thing, who talk again&s;t God, and Immortality, and a re&s;urrection, and con&s;cience, and a Judgment to come, and would kill religion in the very bud of Chri&s;tian education: Who can endure to hear licentious wretches belching out tho&s;e loath|&s;oms principles of theirs, that early education is the greate&s;t enemy of Man's nature, that the in&s;tilling vertue and religion into them is the deba&s;ing of their &s;pirits, and mak|ing them fearful and cowardly? that this is all the fruit of the care and pains of Pa&s;tors, and Parents, and Tutors and Ma&s;ters? that their in&s;tructions and reproofs and warn|ings, as far as they have their foun|dation in Religion, are no better than this, to make men live uncom|fortably, and die in fear and per|plexity. True indeed, it will work this, when per&s;ons depart from their principles of goodne&s;s, and give up them&s;elves to work all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s; then con&s;cience will &s;ting them, and death will be
<PB N="31" REF="23"> bitter to them; but the righteous are as bold as a <HI>Lion,</HI> and are not afraid to meet death, as knowing that &s;in the &s;ting of death is taken out by their Redeemer, the Son of God, the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> in whom they have believed.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. III.</HEAD>
<P>Becau&s;e there hath pa&s;t a word or two of Education, it will not be out of the way to quote an Ex|ample of the Vices of young per|&s;ons, and the &s;trange effects they have had upon them afterward, all their Life Long, working fear and terrour in them, ari&s;ing from the forementioned grounds, even the &s;en&s;e of the Di&s;pl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;ure of the mo&s;t pure and righteous God, whom they have provoked by their lewd pract|ices. I have known a young man (and I would I could not &s;ay more than one) who being at a School
<PB N="32" REF="24"> where the Boys among them&s;elves committed many evil things, even Defiling them&s;elves, and working &s;uch things as were un&s;eemly, he hereby got &s;uch a wound and brui&s;e in his Con&s;cience as was never after throughly healed, never having perfect joy and comfort afterwards; though he wept bitterly, and hum|bled him&s;elf, and repented in the very du&s;t, and laid hold on the pro|mi&s;e of Pardon and Forgivene&s;s through the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, yet the remembrance of tho&s;e youthful ways was a burden very heavy, and a matter of continual &s;hame and trouble: Others might be cheerful and comfortable, enjoying tranqui|lity and &s;erenity of mind, and hav|ing a bright Heaven over their heads; but as for him he &s;till com|plained, that there was a cloud up|on his Spirit, and that &s;hame and confu&s;ion were ever before him; and all this aro&s;e from that early practice which his companions en|ticed him to, even to &s;port them: &s;elves together in &s;uch a manner as
<PB N="33" REF="24"> defiled them: It is not fit to ex|pre&s;s the matter more plainly, for as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of tho&s;e great|er crimes of the Heathens, 'tis true of this little &s;eed and bud of that wicked|ne&s;s <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eph.</HI> 5. 12.</NOTE> <HI>it is a &s;hame even to &s;peak of tho&s;e things which are done of them in &s;ecret.</HI> And verily it would be an excellent peice of &s;ervice to Chri&s;tian Religion if governours of families, e&s;pecially they who take youth to board for publick Schools, and School-Ma&s;ters them&s;elves, would have a watchful eye over tho&s;e committed to their tru&s;t; If they would employ and encourage &s;ome youths they could tru&s;t to make report of the very &s;ecret pra|ctices of their Companions: Little do many think what leudne&s;s is committed in their hou&s;es, yea in their Schools; what work is made for terrour and horrour in &s;ome, and for eternal Judgment in others: If they be not careful of tho&s;e mat|ters, and do not apply whole&s;ome councel, warning, in&s;truction, or
<PB N="34" REF="25"> correction if need be, they are the greate&s;t enemies to their own Reli|gion, the betrayers of the be&s;t part of their tru&s;t, I mean the &s;ouls of tho&s;e under their care and charge in the ab&s;ence of their Parents. I my &s;elf have been a Boarder in &s;everal Families, when about that Age, and in more publick Schools than one, and my Heart akes to con&s;ider what I have &s;een and known of that Nature: O that the&s;e few Lines may be &s;ea&s;onable to alarm them who have the care and tuition of Youth! But to return to the example after this nece&s;&s;ary digre&s;&s;ion Remarks may well be made upon it, &s;uch as the&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. Whence comes it to pa&s;s that there &s;hould be &s;uch a little remem|brance of youthful &s;ins? That per|&s;ons &s;hould be &s;o mightily torment|ed upon the account of what they committed &s;o early? Indeed what hath been here written is not the half what &s;ome have felt and &s;uffe|red of this nature, it doth not ex|pre&s;s the heavine&s;s hath been many
<PB N="35" REF="25"> years upon them; they have mourn|ed for their evil ways, and would not, could not, be comforted: Though none have accu&s;ed them of &s;uch things, yea though there hath not been the lea&s;t notice taken thereof, not a word or &s;yllable dropt to &s;tir up &s;hame or grief in them, yet they have fallen into this &s;hame and confu&s;ion, and fear, accu&s;ing, judging and condemning them|&s;elves. What can this be a&s;cribed to but the hand of God? But the Law written in their hearts? And that con&s;cience which God hath armed with a power to accu&s;e, wit|ne&s;s, judge and condemn?</P>
<P N="2">2. Whence was it that nothing was &s;ufficient to relieve them in &s;uch a ca&s;e, however throughly to heal and comfort them, no not the con|&s;ideration of the age in which they did &s;uch things, nor the kind of evil committed, nor &s;uch other circum&s;tances as might attenuate and le&s;&s;en the crime? Athei&s;tical per&s;ons mock at all &s;in, however circum&s;tantiated, but &s;urely &s;uch
<PB N="36" REF="26"> ca&s;es as the&s;e they would count meer trifles, and turn them off very ea&s;ily, &s;porting at &s;uch youthful extravagancies. But, alas! The&s;e con&s;iderations were not wanting to tho&s;e who yet were &s;carce able to bear up under their burden of guilt and horrour; they had rea|&s;on to con&s;ider the ca&s;e well, and make the be&s;t of it, but their rea&s;on was that which wounded them more deeply, becau&s;e they &s;aw &s;uch natural <HI>corruption</HI> within them, &s;uch early inclinations to evils, and &s;uch con&s;ent and yeilding to leud and wicked companions. The Law of God was made for the young as well as the old, and therefore the breach of that Law, though in their youth, was a grievous wound and tor|ment to them.</P>
<P N="3">3. The &s;ecre&s;y of tho&s;e young &s;inners is very remarkable Sin|ners of all ages and conditions are naturally alike afraid of the Law; therefore they all vainly <HI>&s;eek</HI> to hide them&s;elves; even the&s;e young ones u&s;e to &s;eek &s;ecret places to pollute
<PB N="37" REF="26"> them&s;elves; &s;o that &s;uch as the&s;e may well come under the Apo&s;tles rebuke of <HI>Chambering</HI> and <HI>Wantonne&s;s,</HI> as well <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rom.</HI> 13. 13.</NOTE> as tho&s;e who are old in &s;in. There were indeed degrees among them, &s;ome being more hardned than others, and not &s;tick|ing at any place, but others, and more commonly, &s;eeking a greater privacy.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. IV.</HEAD>
<P>I come now to produce another &s;ort of example, tending &s;till to make good the Argument, that there is a God, and that he governs the world, and will in his time judge the world, and reward every man eternally according to his works: The proof hath hitherto ari&s;en thus, that the Soul or con&s;ci|ence of man hath a certain &s;en&s;e thereof, even in the greate&s;t &s;inners
<PB N="38" REF="27"> them&s;elves; Upon the breach of Gods law there hath followed &s;hame and horrour, &s;uch as declares and makes it evident to all the world, that they expect the vengeance of the ju&s;t and eternal God to come upon them and con&s;ume them; and it hath been made as plain, that all this was <HI>Supernatural:</HI> Now the following examples are al&s;o to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, though a little differing, and of a lower &s;phere. It hath been my lot to have been ac|quainted with &s;everal per&s;ons who have been under great di&s;quietude of mind, &s;trange hurries, confu&s;ions and di&s;tractions, which have brought them almo&s;t to their wits end; the cau&s;e of all which hath been preternatural, I mean not from their bodily humours, con|&s;titutions and tempers, or at lea&s;t but accidentally, as I &s;hall &s;hew, and labour to &s;et forth by and by: the&s;e ca&s;es were &s;piritual, and &s;ometimes little or nothing depending upon the body; and they had ends very different, &s;ome very tragical, others
<PB N="39" REF="27"> without any mi&s;chief coming upon them, nay, very comfortable and peaceable, going off with greater light and liberty and tranquility.</P>
<P>Once I was called to a man in our neighbourhood one <HI>R. M.</HI> who&s;e condition was deplorable, and the occa&s;ion of his trouble as &s;trange, and his end as lamenta|ble, by laying violent hands on him|&s;elf, and de&s;troying his own life. The ca&s;e was this, (as he told me face to face) One night as he lay in bed he heard (as he thought) great groaning and lamentation made in the next room, which continued and increa&s;ed to that height that he was exceedingly di&s;turbed, and thought verily that the Woman who lay there (and was his Hou&s;e|keeper, he being a &s;ingle Man) was the per&s;on from whom it proceed|ed. Hereupon he aro&s;e, and en|quired of her if all were well. She an&s;wered, <HI>Yes.</HI> Then he returned, and immediately heard the &s;ame Groans; This put him upon think|ing what it &s;hould mean; and then
<PB N="40" REF="28"> it darted into his mind, that his Si|&s;ter, a poor Woman, who lived a|bout a Mile and an half off, was &s;ick and dying: He pre&s;ently ha&s;t'n|ed away to her Hou&s;e, found the door locked, and the Woman in|deed &s;o &s;ick and &s;pent, that &s;he was not able to ri&s;e and let him in; up|on this he called help, broke open the door, and finding her in a very dangerous condition, got Advice from one who Practis'd Phy&s;ick (the next at hand) who ordered &s;ome Medicines, but in vain, for &s;he quickly died.</P>
<P>This &s;trange accident &s;truck &s;uch a damp upon his Spirits, that he fell immediately into a deep Melan|cholly, which ended at la&s;t very Tragical, both for Body and Soul; for he killed him&s;elf, and while he lived, lay under hor|rour and de&s;pair. He cried out <HI>he was Damned,</HI> and could have no Peace or Re&s;t, or take any Com|fort. When I di&s;cour&s;ed him it appeared to me that his mind was wonderfully di&s;turbed and confu&s;|ed:
<PB N="41" REF="28"> He aggravated his crime of neglecting his poor Si&s;ter at a &s;trange rate. Poor Wretch! He would plead, that not to &s;hew pity and to help the Fatherle&s;s and Wi|dows in di&s;tre&s;s, was the greate&s;t &s;in conceivable; that it was greater than Murder; that none had &s;inn'd like him; tho all this while no|thing could be learnt that he had been truly guilty in this Nature&punc; tho he charged it indeed from this accident upon him&s;elf, and it workt &s;trangely upon him, to &s;uch an height as the &s;equel may &s;ufficient|ly make it appear. It was but once I vi&s;ited him, when I heard from his own Mouth this extraordinary Relation, and &s;aw the di&s;mal ef|fects of it; after &s;ome Di&s;cour&s;e and Prayer, I advi&s;ed him, according to my weak judgment, what cour&s;e to take, and what means to u&s;e, refer|ing him for his Body to a Phy&s;iti|an, and &s;o departed; I had hopes he would get over this Perplexity and Trouble, but I would what fol|lows had not hapned; tho I do not
<PB N="42" REF="29"> charge the Mi&s;chief ab&s;olutely up|on the Parties to be mentioned, yet 'tis pity they acted &s;o incon&s;iderate|ly and did &s;o much wrong. There were a &s;ort of People about him, who finding the poor man in this trouble, thought to make a <HI>Pro&s;elite</HI> of him, and pre&s;ently &s;ate in, and told him, <HI>his way to have Peace and Comfort was to be</HI> Dipped; <HI>that his Infant-bapti&s;m was of no value, and not to be tru&s;ted in as any thing yeilding Spiritual Profit and Comfort:</HI> with this new Doctrin they puzl'd afre&s;h his weak di&s;turbed head, and whereas the poor wretch &s;tood in need of &s;o|lid in&s;truction &s;uitable to his mala|dy, e&s;pecially that the devices of Satan &s;hould be laid open to him, and his ignorant mind in&s;tructed in tho&s;e Scriptures by him perverted, and the Doctrine of the Grace of God in Chri&s;t cleared to him; in|&s;tead of &s;uch Applications they bu|&s;ily infu&s;ed this Notion; and this pre&s;ently filled him with a new kind of Di&s;order: Now he que&s;ti|oned his Religion, and doubts of his
<PB N="43" REF="29"> Opinion and Principles; he was in no condition to con&s;ider of the&s;e <HI>important matters,</HI> and yet he dared not de&s;i&s;t: This became a new <HI>mat|ter of Confu&s;ion,</HI> and how great it was I was better able to gue&s;s, than to expre&s;s it, and leave every rea|der to judg. Thus was he hurried in his mind, and &s;uffered not a lit|tle by this blind and incon&s;iderate Zeal: At la&s;t it ended in a perfect <HI>Di&s;traction;</HI> then care was taken to prevent what might happen, yet it could not be done; for notwith|&s;tanding the attendance of two men, who were conducting him to a neighbouring Town for a Phy&s;i|tian's help, he found a means to Cut his Throat.</P>
<P>'Tis be&s;ide my purpo&s;e to make <HI>Re|flections</HI> upon per&s;ons of any <HI>Opinion</HI> or <HI>Per&s;ua&s;ion in Religion,</HI> be&s;ides <HI>Athe|i&s;ts,</HI> who are its avowed Enemies.</P>
<P>The <HI>Anabapti&s;ts,</HI> or the <HI>Bapti&s;ts</HI> (as they rather chu&s;e to call them|&s;elves) are men to whom I bare no &s;uch grudg or envy as to bring up any evil report upon them, as a
<PB N="44" REF="30"> Calumny or unju&s;t Accu&s;ation God forbid, that while I am writ|ing for <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> I &s;hould act &s;o contrary to one of its <HI>Principles</HI> as to do thus. They are <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> and will, I doubt not, e&s;pou&s;e this cau&s;e of our Lord with my &s;elf; and there are &s;ome of them <HI>my worthy good Friends,</HI> Pious and Judicious per|&s;ons; but this I mu&s;t Publi&s;h upon <HI>this &s;ad occa&s;ion</HI> (and I pray God the <HI>Guilty</HI> would con&s;ider it) if a <HI>Man</HI> or <HI>Woman</HI> come under <HI>Trouble of Mind,</HI> and they can &s;pie it out, or if any one newly be joyn'd to their fellow Di&s;&s;enters of other Opini|ons, immediately they &s;et upon them, thinking that now it is their time to <HI>Pro&s;elite them to their Party;</HI> and then they urge <HI>Dipping,</HI> and lay &s;uch a &s;tre&s;s upon it, that they make it a Salve for every Spiritual Sore, and make all Religion to lie in go|ing down into the Water. But, alas! What kind of cour&s;e is this? To take <HI>Advantage</HI> of their <HI>Bodily Weakne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>Infirmity,</HI> and confu&s;i|on of their <HI>Minds</HI> to win per&s;ons, or
<PB N="45" REF="30"> draw them rather to a <HI>Party?</HI> How contrary is this to the free and open preaching of the Go&s;pel practi&s;ed by Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles? Truth &s;eeks not corner, but loves the clear|e&s;t light, and gets mo&s;t ground when it meets its enemies in their full &s;trength, and they have all the advantage on their &s;ide they can wi&s;h or de&s;ire. To act otherways argues a bad cau&s;e, or at lea&s;t a ra&s;h zeal to promote a good one in a wrong way. Would to God &s;uch proceedings might be laid down, and men do &s;o no more, as upon my own experience, and not a &s;ingle one onely, they have done. Let Chri&s;tians labour to build up one another in faith in Chri&s;t, in love to God and Man, and &s;tir up one another to good works, and be|ware how they trouble them&s;elves or their brethren (e&s;pecially at &s;o un&s;ea&s;onable times) with que&s;tions tending to endle&s;s &s;trife and debate, rai&s;ing doubts and &s;cruples, and &s;triking dread and terrour into ig|norant and weak &s;ouls, m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">king
<PB N="46" REF="31"> them to que&s;tion their eternal well fare, if they do not pre&s;ently &s;ub&s;cribe their Faith, and e&s;pou&s;e their principles. <HI>But enough of this,</HI> yet I hope not <HI>too much,</HI> becau&s;e my matter led me to it, and I cannot but judge it nece&s;&s;ary; God grant it may be profitable.</P>
<P>Now let us recollect the former example, and &s;ay &s;omething of it, an&s;werable to the chief de&s;ign in writing, to confute <HI>Athei&s;ts</HI> and Scoffers.</P>
<P>Some may think this a barren &s;ubject to ground any thing of this nature upon, but yet not &s;o barren a &s;oyl, but it may yeild &s;ome fruit to them that &s;earch it out.</P>
<P N="1">1. I ob&s;erve that this mu&s;t needs bea <HI>Sathanical Delu&s;ion,</HI> and carried on by the wi&s;e and holy permi&s;&s;ion of God to bring about his &s;ecret purpo&s;es. That this was done by &s;ome Angelical &s;pirit (and there is little rea&s;on to think it a good one) is &s;urely unque&s;tionable. For which way &s;hould the &s;pirit of this man him&s;elf act and work at this rate,
<PB N="47" REF="31"> divining at things at &s;uch a di|&s;tance, and being &s;o di&s;turbed at &s;ounds and noi&s;es truly pre&s;ignify|ing &s;omewhat of a like nature with what he was concerned in? how &s;hould the event prove &s;o true an&s;wering his thoughts? His Si&s;ter being langui&s;hing and dying at this time; and he not only fancying &s;uch a thing, but finding it more and more &s;en&s;ibly till he was led to the place where he really di&s;co|vered the ground of that amazing alarum? To deny the matter of fact &s;o notably circum&s;tantiated, is for men to &s;ay that all are liars but them&s;elves; to attribute it to a melancholly fancy or imagination, which might by <HI>Chance</HI> hit upon &s;uch a thing, would be a reviving of that old <HI>Athei&s;tical</HI> dotage, that all things come to pa&s;s by chance, according to the &s;ect of the <HI>Epicure|ans,</HI> even the world it &s;elf; but when we &s;ee the lea&s;t things come to pa&s;s thus, as hou&s;es builded, and books made, without any help of an intelligent cau&s;e, meerly by this
<PB N="48" REF="32"> chance, then we may hearken to &s;uch &s;olly. But &s;ome may &s;ay that melancholly per&s;ons have hit up|on &s;trange pre&s;ages, as to &s;peak languages they knew not, to per|form peices of art and skill they ne|ver had any education to give them knowledge or under&s;tanding in; and &s;o al&s;o to prophe&s;y of events beyond their natural power to know; and &s;o this man might have a melancholly fancy or con|ceit of &s;omewhat which might prove true in the manner recited. But what an irrational and ab&s;urd &s;aying is this, if duely con&s;idered? what is it grounded upon but meer pre&s;umption, without any rea&s;on to make it good? That this hap|pens &s;ometimes to melancholly per&s;ons, or rather to per&s;ons po&s;&s;e&s;t, none doubts; who hath not read or heard of &s;uch things, matters of fact unqu&s;tionably true? But if this be of them&s;elves, and not from intelligent agents, who invi&s;ibly work the &s;ame; repre|&s;enting &s;uch things to their ima|gination,
<PB N="49" REF="32"> and moving the Organs of their bodies, what then &s;hall we make of it? What rea&s;on &s;hall we a&s;&s;ign? Verily a man mu&s;t confe&s;s that there is a divine relation, or a diabolical in&s;piration and agency, in all &s;uch ca&s;es: He that doth not own this, mu&s;t &s;ay nothing, or as good as nothing; Let any make tryal, and &s;ay further, and &s;ee if he doth not &s;peak ab&s;urdities and con|tradictions, and di&s;cover his own folly: Like as <HI>Plutarch,</HI> who would give a rea&s;on for the &s;ilence of the <HI>Oracles,</HI> and not knowing, or at lea&s;t not acquie&s;cing in the true cau&s;e being our <HI>Lord Chri&s;t's</HI> triumphing over the Devil, and &s;poyling tho&s;e principalities and powers, he la|boured in the fire, and though a wi&s;e Man, yet he a&s;&s;ign'd rea&s;ons very ridiculous, as will appear to any who will take the pains to read him upon that &s;ubject; his great conclu&s;ion being this, that the Oracles were all from a kind of bla&s;t ari&s;ing at &s;et times out of the earth through &s;ome natural hidden
<PB N="50" REF="33"> cau&s;e now decayed, and &s;o there was no further &s;pirit of prophecy; &s;trange, that a natural bla&s;t, a vapour, or &s;ubterraneous wind &s;hould in&s;pire the <HI>Pythoni&s;&s;es,</HI> and make them capable of predicting &s;o many things as they did. But, alas! Poor Heathens who walked in darkne&s;s, might well &s;tumble, and as they wor&s;hipped &s;tocks and &s;tones and a&s;cribed a divinity to their idols, they might ea&s;ily err in a&s;cribing this &s;upernatural power to the winds and vapours. But to come clo&s;er to our <HI>Athei&s;ts,</HI> who are &s;worn enemies to the doctrine of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions by evil Spirits; if the&s;e predictions be not from &s;uch a cau&s;e, then it mu&s;t be from the Men and Women them&s;elves; they mu&s;t then find it within them; But it cannot be from the body, and the corpulent matter; how &s;hould that foretel and predict? Let them &s;hew it if they can: But if it be from the Soul and Spirit in them, then here is an argument <HI>ad hominem;</HI> Surely then it is a more
<PB N="51" REF="33"> excellent &s;ub&s;tance and being, than they ever allowed; 'tis then indeed a Ray of the immortal Sun, the image of the divine nature. What &s;trange accounts are there (infallibly true, and beyond all contradiction) of the&s;e kind of progno&s;tications, proceeding from &s;uch per&s;ons as never pretended to any skill or art above other men, nay, when they them&s;elves were ignorant, at other times, of &s;uch things as they then wrought or uttered, and knew not the truth of what they delivered &s;o prophetically? Witne&s;s the fa|mous dream of Sir <HI>H. W</HI>'s. father, about the robbery of the Univer&s;ity trea&s;ury, wherein he &s;aw the rogues in their true lineaments and habits &s;o as to give a di&s;covery of them in a letter to his Son in the Colledge, whereby they were di&s;|covered and apprehended: But there are multitudes of &s;uch in&s;tan|ces. They who will not own &s;ome external agent, &s;ome &s;piritual intel|ligent beings, to make the&s;e revelati|ons and impre&s;&s;ions, mu&s;t &s;olve
<PB N="52" REF="34"> the&s;e <HI>Phaenomena,</HI> another way if they be able; and let them take heed they &s;peak &s;ound &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;ubject before us runs yet higher; here is a &s;trange impul&s;e upon the mind of this poor wretch carried on &s;o far that at la&s;t it ends in di&s;traction and &s;elf-murder: Yea though the man did immediately di&s;charge his duty very largely to|ward the woman, and her children after her death, and began to be too profu&s;e in his charity towards the poor, &s;o that he would have parted with all his &s;ub&s;tance, and have become poor and mi&s;erable him&s;elf, if he had not been &s;taid from his extravagant purpo&s;e; yet nothing would availe, but a &s;trange inquietude &s;eized his Spirit, and he was hurried from one thing to ano|ther, till at la&s;t he was weary of his life, and &s;ought to rid him&s;elf of his mi&s;ery by putting an end thereto.</P>
<P>What &s;hall be thought of this, and &s;uch like ca&s;es? Is not the hand of <HI>Sathan</HI> in it, very evidently?
<PB N="53" REF="34"> Whence &s;hould all this &s;torm and tempe&s;t ari&s;e, and increa&s;e &s;o far, but from that evil &s;pirit, who loves to cloud the mind, and wrap up him&s;elf in darkne&s;s, that he may work more effectually upon poor, weak and deluded Sinners? Here he fell like lightning, and as he <HI>Scared Job</HI> with dreams, and terrified him with <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ch.</HI> 7. 14.</NOTE> vi&s;ions of the night; &s;o he did to this <HI>ignorant</HI> and <HI>feeble</HI> crea|ture; and tho <HI>&s;ecret things</HI> belong to God, yet it is clear enough &s;o far, that he hurried him away, and prevailed upon him to be his own Executioner. That mirrour of pa|tience, <HI>Job</HI> I mean, yeilded not at all to this part of the temptation, of <HI>Cur&s;ing God,</HI> and de&s;troying his own life; but here he proved victorious The&s;e things may &s;eem <HI>Riddles,</HI> and become matter of &s;corn and laughter to <HI>Athei&s;tical</HI> per&s;ons, leud wretches who give them&s;elves up to plea&s;ures, and have no will or lei&s;ure to examin the grounds and occa&s;ions of &s;uch tragical matters;
<PB N="54" REF="35"> but how con&s;onant is this to the holy Scripture, and how agreeable to rea&s;on, when all the circum&s;tances are duly weighed? How many and how frequent examples are there every where of this na|ture? Of &s;uch workings of that enemy of mankind, and great di&s;turber of the Peace and Quiet of our Souls? Some are urged to do that which they mo&s;t hate, and vi|olently urged, again&s;t their Inclina|tions. Some feel a kind of Force upon their Spirits, compelling them to &s;uch Actions as they loathe and abhor. Their Fancy and Imagina|tion is filled with abominable <HI>Idea</HI>'s; and not only &s;o, but they are even made to believe things of per&s;ons, which are contrary to their Sen&s;e, Rea&s;on and Judgment, and which tend only to Strife, Contention, Ha|tred, and &s;uch deplorable Effects.</P>
<P>I confe&s;s, when I have &s;ome times read the Mon&s;trous Hatred between Parents and Children, Husbands and Wives, as it is reported in authen|tick Hi&s;torians, I have much won|dered
<PB N="55" REF="35"> thereat; but now I think it is not &s;o hard to render a Rea&s;on for it many times. If it were needful, or lawful to produce In&s;tances by Name, to name the Per&s;ons; I could &s;et forth &s;uch Examples as are mo&s;t amazing: Of Wives, who have lain under continual Hurries of their Minds, being never at re&s;t, but provoked to take away the Life of their deare&s;t Husbands; again&s;t whom they have not the lea&s;t grudge, but love them as their own Souls. Others have been &s;tirred up to think, and do things which it is unaccountable how it &s;hould enter into their hearts, if there were not this Solutioo of it, <HI>That the unclean and wicked Spirit, that Old Serpent, the Father of Lies and Murders,</HI> &s;ugge&s;ts &s;uch matters, and is at work in the heart to carry on the &s;ame; he lays the Scene, he &s;tands behind the cur|tain, and acts invi&s;ibly. Some of the&s;e tempted per&s;ons have revealed their condition to my &s;elf, and be|moaned it, de&s;iring advice and a&s;&s;i|&s;tance. Some have been at the ve|ry
<PB N="56" REF="36"> brink of Ruin, being ready to &s;ink in the Mire and Clay, and to peri&s;h in tho&s;e Mighty Waters; but it hath plea&s;ed God, after the Trial of their Faith and Patience, to &s;et them free, and lead them into a large place. Some of the&s;e Ca&s;es &s;pring, as it were, out of the ground, there being no manife&s;t procuring cau&s;e, no &s;in or iniquity but what is common to our corrupt Nature; but others have had more matter within them, for that wicked Spirit to work upon; and then the Ca&s;e hath been more deplorable, the tem|ptation and trouble la&s;ting longer, and being al&s;o more black and terri|ble. What can Athei&s;ts &s;ay to the&s;e things? Whence proceed tho&s;e im|pul&s;es upon per&s;ons Spirits, of this Kind, which are &s;o common? Whereby they are almo&s;t con&s;train|ed to do Evil, even what they hate, and which creates them &s;o much trouble? Nay, which things are &s;o <HI>trouble&s;ome to them,</HI> whether they <HI>con|&s;ent or not thereto?</HI> E&s;pecially, what can they &s;ay to that which is carri|ed
<PB N="57" REF="36"> on &s;ometimes even to <HI>Frenzy and Distraction,</HI> to <HI>Horror</HI> and <HI>Despair,</HI> which is <HI>more bitter and terrible than Death it &s;elf;</HI> &s;o that they chu&s;e <HI>Strangling rather than to live?</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Natural Re&s;ult</HI> of All this, and what is mo&s;t ea&s;ily deduced from the &s;ame, is, <HI>That there is a De|vil, and that through the Corruption in us, and the guilt of our hearts ari&s;ing from our &s;ins, he hath great advantage over us, &s;o that &s;ometimes he makes a Prey of &s;inners, driving them where|ever he will, into spiritual Pits and Pre|cipices of Horror and De&s;pair, and &s;ome|times into Self-Murder of various kinds.</HI> Oh how needful is that Petition of our Lord's Prayer, <HI>Lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>from the Evil One, the Devil,</HI> (as the Scripture-Phra&s;e will bear it).</P>
<P>For my part, I do not think that the <HI>Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions</HI> read of in the Go&s;pel, were only &s;ingular Ca&s;es; for <HI>that Age and Sea&s;on</HI> when the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> came into the World to give occa&s;i|on to the proof of his divinity, by
<PB N="58" REF="37"> his di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing tho&s;e wicked Spirits; he needed not &s;uch a te&s;timony, doing other works which abun|dantly declared his Godhead; though out of pity to poor po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ed wretches he did this al&s;o as it lay in his way: But &s;urely there is &s;omewhat of the &s;ame kind in all ages, and quarters of the world; and the more corrupt any time or place is, the more of the&s;e po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; even as &s;ickne&s;&s;es, di&s;ea&s;es and deaths abound according to a peo|ples &s;infulne&s;s; and &s;trange judgments are the fruits of greater wickedne&s;|&s;es: Hereby there is, be&s;ides other ends of Gods permitting it, perpe|tual occa&s;ion for the proof of the power of the Word and Prayer; the&s;e work mightily upon &s;uch per|&s;ons to help them: Though all are not &s;aved by the Mini&s;try of the word, and prayer, and &s;piritual advice, as the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves could not <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mark.</HI> 1. 18.</NOTE> always ca&s;t out <HI>Sathan,</HI> yet this kind generally goes out by the&s;e means; and it may be an ar|gument
<PB N="59" REF="37"> again&s;t <HI>Athei&s;ts,</HI> that when no other means in the World, as <HI>Phy&s;ick, Mirth</HI> and plea&s;ure, or bu|&s;ine&s;s can avail any thing, yet then this &s;aves many &s;uch per&s;ons; it re&s;tores their &s;ouls, bringing Joy and gladne&s;s gain into them.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. V.</HEAD>
<P>Thus I hope the Title is made good, and the matter in hand made evident by the <HI>Examples</HI> laid down, and the Reflections upon them of the horrour and de&s;pair of &s;ome poor wretches under apprehen&s;ion of the judgment to come; &s;ome things al&s;o have been brought forth to corroberate the evidence. Now if any of the &s;coffers, and enemies of Religion, can give a &s;olution of &s;uch matters as have been pro|pounded, and give a rational ac|count how the&s;e troubles come, and grow to &s;uch an height without any
<PB N="60" REF="38"> relation to Religion, to God or the Law of God, or a guilty con&s;cience, and the judgment to come, they will attempt that which never yet hath been done, and I am bold to &s;ay, never will. We may read, and hear, and &s;ee Athei&s;tical mockers in the pride of their hearts puffing at God him&s;elf, belching out their bla&s;phemies again&s;t their Creatour, &s;coffing at his holy Word, and ridi|culing all &s;uch examples of guilty, trembling Sinners, who are filled with the terrours and indignation of the Lord: They call them &s;illy, weak and fearful creatures; They brand them with cowardize, and turn all into a matter of common melancholly; and this is the hinge upon which all (I do not &s;ay their arguments but) their mockery and railery turns; be&s;ides this they have nothing to &s;ay in defence of their abominable principles, and to impeach the &s;olid a&s;&s;ertions of tho&s;e that are believers. But what a de&s;perate folly and madne&s;s is this that doth po&s;&s;e&s;s the&s;e men? They
<PB N="61" REF="38"> are not only of a perver&s;e Spirit, as the <HI>Stoick</HI> of old, who would &s;tiffly a&s;&s;ert, that no pa&s;&s;ion ever be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ell a wi&s;e or vertuous man, as though they could put off the man when they would, and be as Gods; or of a <HI>Sceptical</HI> opinion, as they who would not believe any motion, when yet they &s;aw every thing al|mo&s;t in the world moving; nor &s;uch <HI>Pyrrhonians,</HI> who will doubt of every thing, and cavil for contention &s;ake: But the&s;e <HI>Athei&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Saddu|ces</HI> of our age de&s;troy Rea&s;on and Religion all at once; They lay the ax to the root of Truth, and re&s;olve to give the lye both to God and man; nay they will not be|lieve their own eyes, nor ears, nor rea&s;on, again&s;t their wicked prin|ciples. Some of them&s;elves have felt the wrath of God, and fallen into grievous horrour, crying out they have &s;inned and done wick|edly, and now God hath met with them, and their burthen is greater than they can bear; But their old companions &s;ay of them, that now
<PB N="62" REF="39"> they know not what they &s;ay, that they are delirious, or in a dream, and that they are afraid of their own &s;hadow. Then it &s;eems none have &s;en&s;e but profe&s;t <HI>Athei&s;ts,</HI> none have rea&s;on but they. A wi&s;e world indeed at this rate! Nay the poor wretches who lye under &s;uch torments mu&s;t be abu&s;ed by them, and become their laughing &s;tock, while they are in &s;uch mi&s;ery, and &s;uffering the wrath of God. But this is ju&s;t the old policy of the De|vil, to lay fal&s;e things to the charge of the godly, and to put fal&s;e con|&s;tructions upon the works of God, on purpo&s;e that men may not re|gard them, not take any due notice thereof for their education and pro|fit. The&s;e, &s;ay they, are poor, ignorant, deluded and melancholly men and women, and there is no heed to be taken to what they &s;ay or do. A fine &s;tratagem! A de&s;ign fairly laid to take off the &s;en&s;e of all the judgments of God in the world of this nature, to render all exam|ples u&s;ele&s;s, and in &s;hort to make
<PB N="63" REF="39"> men <HI>&s;tocks and &s;tones,</HI> or which is yet wor&s;e, and they had ra|ther, to make us all turn <HI>Bea&s;ts,</HI> that &s;o we might go Hand in Hand together.</P>
<P>Truly, as it hath been wi&s;ely ob&s;erved, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mr.</HI> Pa&s;cal<HI>'s thoughts.</HI></NOTE> <HI>It is an Ho|nour to Religion to have &s;uch &V;nrea&s;onable Men for its Enemies;</HI> And to have &s;uch <HI>incon&s;ider|able Oppo&s;ition</HI> made thereto is its advantage.</P>
<P>All that Athei&s;ts can &s;ay, is this, <HI>Believe none but us;</HI> Be|lieve not the &s;ober &s;ort of Man|kind; for they are Ignorant, Me|lancholy, and Mad, Per&s;ons of <HI>no Courage</HI> or <HI>Re&s;olution;</HI> but tru&s;t <HI>&V;s,</HI> who dare do any thing, who &s;et our Mouths again&s;t Hea|ven, and would fain bring our &s;elves to believe, that there is neither God nor Devil; who
<PB N="64" REF="40"> would fain renounce all Religi|on, and the Laws of God, and Light of Nature, and bani&s;h them out of the World; bringing con|fu&s;ion and de&s;truction into all Kingdoms and Families: Believe <HI>&V;s,</HI> who live in the mo&s;t &s;hame|ful Neglect of &s;eeking after <HI>Spi|ritual Knowledge,</HI> and yet con|demn the mo&s;t diligent Searchers into it for <HI>ignorant and unwi&s;e,</HI> who di&s;pute, and &s;et our &s;elves a|gain&s;t Religion, and yet never learnt, nor will we &s;tudy what it is. Is not this the truth of the&s;e <HI>Athei&s;ts</HI> and <HI>&s;coffers?</HI> Their true portraicture? How is it then that men &s;hould hearken to them, and be enticed to walk in their ways? But there is an an&s;wer for it; 'Tis owing to the great corruption of mans nature &s;ince the fir&s;t Apo&s;tacy from God; hence proceeds all this &s;piritual &s;olly and madne&s;s.</P>
<PB N="65" REF="40">
<P>'Tis hard to make an end of writing again&s;t &s;uch a generation of men as the&s;e are; and indeed I think they are not publickly handled as they ought to be; not that that they &s;hould be re|viled as men, nay many of them are per&s;ons of excellent natural parts and acquired al&s;o, but their pernicious and abominable prin|ciples cannot be &s;ufficiently ex|po&s;ed. But my de&s;ign is not an <HI>invective,</HI> but only to an&s;wer tho&s;e cavils, and to take off the reproach ca&s;t upon the ever ble&s;&s;ed God, and Chri&s;tian Re|ligion, e&s;pecially the fundamen|tal principles thereof; &s;uch as the <HI>immortality</HI> of the Soul; the Judgment to come; Hea|ven and Hell; The Divine authority of the Scriptures the being and providence of God; the being of Spirits, Angels
<PB N="66" REF="41"> good and bad; more e&s;pecially the fallen Angels, tho&s;e wicked Spirits the Devils: As for the la&s;t of the&s;e, the <HI>Sadduces</HI> of our age laugh at all that is written or related of them; and that which it plea&s;eth God to permit as a &s;ingular means to convince an unbelieving World, they labour to expo&s;e to con|tempt and deri&s;ion; I mean not only the diabolical &s;ugge&s;tions, and the temptations of tho&s;e wicked Spirits, which do de|mon&s;trate their being; but the frequent <HI>apparitions</HI> which are made by Spirits good or evil; This they cavil at above all the re&s;t, and are glad to meet with the mention of &s;uch things, as though thereby they &s;hould make a great advantage, and triumph over the truth.</P>
<PB N="67" REF="41">
<P> Now for the <HI>&s;ake of &s;uch &V;n|believers,</HI> and al&s;o for <HI>others</HI> who are at a lo&s;s in this Point, though I will not enlarge, as I might, upon this Subject, yet this I will &s;ay, and do prote&s;t before God, I lye not, but relate a &s;erious Truth, That I my &s;elf have &s;een an Apparition, in the Sen&s;e, of which I am writing thereof. It was in the year 1684. in the Month of <HI>June,</HI> and in the clear Day|time, while I was in the open Air, in company with a certain young Gentleman: And this was &s;trange, That the very &s;ame Per&s;on and my &s;elf were nearly concerned within a few Days, in a matter which that Apparition was evi|dently a Sign and Token of, as the Effect proved.</P>
<P>The thing was really &s;trange, that I &s;hould be joyned with him in that Action; but there
<PB N="68" REF="42"> were <HI>private Rea&s;ons</HI> accidental|ly occa&s;ioning it.</P>
<P>Upon &s;eeing this Apparition I gave Notice thereof immedi|ately, and &s;atisfied both my &s;elf and others, that it was no <HI>De|lu&s;ion;</HI> but the Event put all out of doubt within a Day or Two after.</P>
<P>That it was really &s;o, <HI>That I &s;aw an Apparition,</HI> I know as truly as that I now am writing thereof. It had this Effect up|on me, among others, that tho I never doubted of the Being of <HI>Angelical Spirits,</HI> nor of <HI>Ap|paritions,</HI> upon &s;undry Occa&s;i|ons, yet now I was confirmed in that behalf, and enabled ever after to make u&s;e of it as an irrefragable Te&s;timony for the Truth, being my &s;elf an Eye-Witne&s;s of &s;omething of the &s;ame kind; and it plea&s;ed God
<PB N="69" REF="42"> that it hath &s;ince done me no &s;mall Service, in di&s;cour&s;ing and arguing things of this Nature, when I have been able to pro|duce this, and &s;ome other like Ca&s;es, which have fallen under my own per&s;onal Knowledge.</P>
<P>Yet further, this I know, and do &s;olemnly aver, That I have per&s;onally known an Hou&s;e (to &s;ay no more) troubled with <HI>Evil Spirits,</HI> that which is commonly called <HI>Haunted.</HI> In &s;uch an one I have lain many Nights, yea, Weeks and Months, and &s;uffered that Di&s;turbance which there was u&s;ually given: Not gue&s;&s;ing at &s;uch <HI>a Cau&s;e,</HI> I was without any Fear upon my Spirits, but what I think might ordinarily befall any other man: However, it never wrought any <HI>Confu&s;ion and Ter|rour,</HI> as is <HI>common</HI> upon the <HI>fore|knowledge</HI>
<PB N="70" REF="43"> <HI>of &s;uch Ca&s;es;</HI> but ve|rily thinking that all proceeded from Robbers, and &s;uch Evil-di&s;po&s;ed per&s;ons, and having &s;trength &s;ufficient with me, and being well provided again&s;t &s;uch Attempts, I was far enough from being daunted; but &s;till &s;ought to put an end to the di&s;turbance, but in vain; till after much Vex|ation, and many Nights broken of Natural Re&s;t, the <HI>Occa&s;ion</HI> was Providentially di&s;covered, and the Trouble ever after cea&s;ed.</P>
<P>I know I write to the <HI>whole World,</HI> and <HI>in a Carping and Cen|&s;orious Age,</HI> and it will be <HI>no wi&s;|dom</HI> to relate every circum&s;tance, but rather be &s;paring, becau&s;e I write not for <HI>Curio&s;ity, but In&s;tru|ction.</HI></P>
<P>The End was this: In that ve|ry part where the greate&s;t Di|&s;turbance
<PB N="71" REF="43"> was u&s;ually given, and the Noi&s;es mo&s;tly heard, which would often render the Ma&s;tiff-Dogs very fierce, which I heard with mine own Ears many times, and could think no other but that, as the Servants cryed out, <HI>The Hou&s;e was be&s;et, and that Door would be broke open.</HI> A few pa|ces from the &s;ame, when the foundations were laying of a cer|tain building, the bones of a child were digged up by the workmen, and &s;ent in to a dear Relation of mine (the owners wife) and my &s;elf dining toge|ther, from which time to this day, being many years, the haunting or di&s;turbance hath cea&s;ed: That this was a murdered infant is as clear to me as the Sun; and there is the &s;tronge&s;t pre&s;umpti|on to lay it to the per&s;on of whom my honoured Relation
<PB N="72" REF="44"> purcha&s;ed the hou&s;e and land; he being a &s;ingle per&s;on to his death, and living to an old age with maid-&s;ervants, between whom fornication was in all likelihood committed and mur|ther added thereto; Upon en|quiry of the neighbourhood he appeared to be a per&s;on of no good fame but I could never trace it further. This ca&s;e I have not been afraid to mention upon any ju&s;t and proper occa&s;i|on, nor am I a&s;hamed now to publi&s;h it to the whole world. I pray God who knows the truth of what I write to make it &s;erviceable to tho&s;e who &s;hall read it. Much hath been writ|ten (and that within a few years) on this &s;ubject; I ca&s;t in my mite, and may &s;ay, I pre|&s;ume without <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">&s;ting, that it is &s;omewhat more than others
<PB N="73" REF="44"> have done before me. For I know not one of tho&s;e learned men who have written &s;o well on this occa&s;ion, that yet have written of their own per&s;onal knowledge, at lea&s;t in two &s;uch ca&s;es. 'Tis true their Collecti|ons, and reports are beyond all doubt (unle&s;s men will believe nothing but what they know of them&s;elves, and give the lye to all is told, though it come never &s;o well confirmed) but what I offer here of this kind, is deli|vered upon my own per&s;onal knowledge and <HI>drawn</HI> out of the trea&s;ury of my <HI>own memory,</HI> helped by the <HI>Diary</HI> I kept at this time and <HI>many</HI> years before. But it is time to <HI>conclude,</HI> having proceeded &s;o far as fully an|&s;wers my de&s;ign and purpo&s;e, of <HI>relating</HI> &s;ome matters of impor|tance to <HI>Religion,</HI> and arguing
<PB N="74" REF="45"> from the &s;ame in its cau&s;e and defence.</P>
<P>The Lord open the eyes of the <HI>blind Atheists,</HI> and profane &s;coffers and mockers; yea the Lord touch their hearts that they may acknowledge the truth, and no longer be the advocates of all <HI>manner</HI> of corrupt prin|ciples and <HI>abominable</HI> practi|ces.</P>
<P>To the wi&s;e and godly I &s;ub|mit my labours, prote&s;ting <HI>(once</HI> more) that I have writ|ten nothing (willfully at lea&s;t) but what is the naked truth, as I &s;hall an&s;wer it to God the &s;earcher of all hearts, and the righteous Judge of the World; for who&s;e <HI>honour</HI> and glory I did &s;et upon the work; and God forbid that I &s;hould &s;peak wickedly for him, who is the
<PB N="75" REF="45"> God of truth, and neither loves, nor needs any lye; who hath al&s;o declared, that he will puni&s;h tho&s;e who hate the truth, and will neither receive nor obey the &s;ame.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="46">
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<PB REF="46">
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<P><HI>Calamy&punc;s</HI> Godly Mans Ark, in five Sermons, his Art of Divine Medita|tion.</P>
<P>Redemption of Time, the Wi&s;|dom
<PB REF="47"> and Duty of Chri&s;tians in E|vil Days. By <HI>John Wade,</HI> Mini&s;ter at <HI>Hammer&s;mith.</HI></P>
<P>Intercour&s;es of Divine Love be|twixt Chri&s;t and his Church, being Sermons on the <HI>1st</HI> and 2<HI>d</HI> Chapters of the <HI>Chronicles,</HI> or the <HI>Song of Songs.</HI></P>
<P>Several Di&s;cour&s;es of actual Pro|vidence, in three Parts. The&s;e two la&s;t by <HI>John Collings,</HI> D. D.</P>
<P>Spiritual Songs, or Songs of prai&s;e to Almighty God on &s;everal Occa&s;i|ons, with thirty penitential Crys; with a Poem al&s;o of <HI>Dives</HI> and <HI>Laza|rus.</HI></P>
<P>The Midnight Cry, a Sermon. The&s;e two by <HI>John Ma&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Corbetts</HI> Self-Employment in Secret.</P>
<P>A Treati&s;e of the Day of Judg|ment: By Mr. <HI>Sam Lee</HI> Mini&s;ter.</P>
<P>Husbandry Spiritualized.</P>
<P>A Saint indeed.</P>
<P>A Token for Mourners. All the&s;e three by Mr. <HI>John Flavel</HI> Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>Satan &s;ifting, or the Oyl of Joy for the Spirit of Sadne&s;s.</P>
<PB REF="47">
<P> <HI>Whites</HI> Little Book for Little Children.</P>
<P>The rare Jewel of Chri&s;tian Con|tentment with four u&s;eful Di&s;cour&s;|es by Mr. <HI>Jer. Burroughs.</HI></P>
<P>An Earne&s;t Call to Family Du|ties being the &s;ub&s;tance of Eighteen Sermons by <HI>Sam. Slater.</HI></P>
<P>Hymns for the Sacrament, com|po&s;ed mo&s;tly out the New Te&s;ta|ment.</P>
<P>Theological Di&s;cour&s;es and Ser|mons on &s;everal occa&s;ions. By <HI>John Wallis</HI> D. D.</P>
<P>The True&s;t and Large&s;t account of the late Earthquake in <HI>Jamaica, June</HI> 7. 1692. from a Reverend Di|vine there, to his Friend in <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P>The be&s;t way to mend the world by per&s;wading the Ri&s;ing Generati|on to an Early and Serious Practice of Piety. Both by <HI>Samuel Peck,</HI> Le|cturer of <HI>Ip&s;wich.</HI></P>
<P>A Sermon preach'd at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. <HI>Tho. Shewell,</HI> M. A. and Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel in <HI>Coventry.</HI> The&s;e two la&s;t by <HI>Wil|liam Tongue,</HI> Mini&s;ter, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<PB REF="48">
<P> A Di&s;cour&s;e concerning Old Age, tending to the In&s;truction, Caution, and Comfort of Aged Per&s;ons. By <HI>Richard Steel,</HI> A. M.</P>
<P>A Sermon at the Funeral of the Wor&s;hipful <HI>John Symmonds,</HI> late of <HI>Great Yeldham</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex,</HI> E&s;q; by <HI>John Brooke,</HI> M. A and Rector there.</P>
<P>A Vindication of the Church of <HI>Scotland</HI> being an An&s;wer to five Pamphlets; by Dr. <HI>Rule.</HI></P>
<P>A Sermon of the ab&s;olute Nece&s;|&s;ity of Family Duties, Preached to the United Pari&s;hes of St. <HI>Mary Wool|noth,</HI> and St <HI>Mary Wool-Church-Haw,</HI> in <HI>Lombard Street.</HI></P>
<P>His <HI>Farewel Sermon.</HI> The&s;e Two by <HI>David Jones,</HI> Student of <HI>Chri&s;t-Church, Oxon.</HI></P>
<P>A brief Tract on the <HI>7th</HI> Com|mandment, wherein is di&s;covered the Cau&s;e of all our Controver&s;ies about the <HI>Sabbath-Day,</HI> and the means of Reconciling them. Recommen|ded by the Reverend Dr. <HI>Bates,</HI> and Mr. <HI>John How.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Convivium Caele&s;te:</HI> A plain and familiar Di&s;cour&s;e concerning the
<PB REF="48"> Lords Supper, &s;hewing at once the Nature of that Sacrament; as al&s;o the right way of preparing our &s;elves for the receiving of it: In which are al&s;o con&s;idered tho&s;e Exceptions which men u&s;ually bring to excu&s;e their not partaking of it.</P>
<P>A Sermon preached before the King and Queen at <HI>White-hall, Nov.</HI> 5. 1692. The&s;e Two by <HI>Richard</HI> Lord Bi&s;hop of <HI>Bath</HI> and <HI>Wells.</HI></P>
<P>The Confirming Work of Reli|gion, and its great things made plain by their primary Evidences and Demon&s;trations; whereby the meane&s;t in the Church may &s;oon be made able to render a Rational Ac|count of their Faith.</P>
<P>The Poor Man's Help, and Young Man's Guide: containing, 1. Doctrinal In&s;tructions for the right informing of his Judgment. 2. Practical Directions for the gene|ral cour&s;e of his Life. 3. Particular advices for the well managing of every day with reference to his na|tural actions: Civil Employments, Nece&s;&s;ary Recreations, Religious
<PB REF="49"> Duties, particularly Prayer, Pub|lick in the Congregation, Private in the Family, Secret in the Clo&s;et, Reading the Holy Scriptures, Hear|ing the Word Preached, and Receiv|ing the Lords Supper. By <HI>Will. Burkit.</HI> M. A. of <HI>Pembrook hall</HI> in <HI>Cambridge,</HI> and now Vicar of <HI>Ded|ham</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex,</HI> and Author of the Pra|ctical Di&s;cour&s;e of Infant Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P>Advice to an only Child, or Ex|cellent Council to all young Per&s;ons containing the &s;um and &s;ub&s;tance of Experimental and Practical Di|vinity. Written by an Eminent and Judicious Divine, for the Pri|vate U&s;e of an only Child; now made publick for the benefit of all!</P>
<PB REF="49">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
