Time drops Pearls from his golden Wings yea the Orient on's: we for Butterflies has: zard God, Christ, Heavens joys, our Immortal souls to Eternity, & all for nothing, for nothing Call Time again Call Time again Cried a great Lady when it was to late Prize it therefore as the greatest jewel in the world.  
  

THE LADY'S Charity School-house Roll OF HIGHGATE: OR A Subscription of many Noble, well-disposed Ladies for the easy carrying of it on.  
BEing well informed that there is a Pious, Good, Commendable Work for maintaining near forty Poor, or Fatherless Children, Born all at, or near Highgate, Hornsey, or Hamsted: We whose Names are subscribed do engage or promise, That if the said Boys are decently Clothed in Blue, lined with Yellow; constantly fed all alike with good and wholesome Diet; taught to Read, Writ, and Cast Accounts, and so put out to Trades, in order to Live another day; Then we will give for one Year, two or three (if we well like the design, and prudent management of it) once a Year, the sum below mentioned: But if we be not fully satisfied, that the said Boys are all of them true Objects of Charity, or are in the least neglected to be taught the holy Scripture, and Fear of God by good Discipline, frequent Catechising, and orderly going to the Public Church every Lord▪ s Day, Forenoon and After; then we will not mind this our promise in the least, or contribute any thing at all to it: But hoping that the work may be good, take Root, find many friends, last long, be commendable in future Ages, we be inclined to do as above mentioned, not knowing but that a Kernel may become a Tree, and a thing of small beginning prove popular and praiseworthy to the Honour of our Protestant Religion, and in time find many Benefactors: Also it standing so exceeding well and near this City's famous Hospitals, which were not half so great as now. However, this little Infant being the first erected thing in our names, and Dedicated to us as a Pious Work, worthy of Encouragement; we are not willing it should wholly die, but to try the Expedient, believing all good Works to be good, and not to be repent of, in Life, Death or Eternity, but the surest sign of true love to God, and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  
And now 'tis ten to one but some of your near Acquaintance, as well as your great Relations, may say, Pray Madam let us trouble you with a small sum, or a few Guynies to this good Work, hoping it will be no sin to add a little Charity to your Ladyship. And in such a case you may for the ease of your memory, set it down in one of these Lines below, and so you will be sure not to forget or wrong us. Now a Lord or Gentleman's money will do almost as well for our School as your Ladyships, only we will still ascribe all to your Honour.  
For God's sake do not object any thing, but read and see whether these Scriptures do not all seem to be for us:  
The night comes when none can work (that is, at Death) Joh. 9 4.  
Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.  
Lay up Treasure in Heaven, Matth. 6. 20.  
He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly, 2 Cor. 9 6.  
Make ye friends of the unrighteous Mammon, that when ye fail (that is, when ye depart this world) Christ may receive ye into his everlasting habitation. Luk. 16. 9  
He that observes the wind shall not sow, or he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap, (that is, he that makes excuses and objections) Eccl. 11. 4.  
But cast your Bread upon the waters, and after many days you shall find it, Eccl. 11. 1.  
Give, and it shall be given to you, Luke 16: 38.  
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they do good, and not trust in uncertain riches, but be rich in good works, 1 Tim. 6. 17.  
Blessed is he that considereth the Poor; the Lord shall preserve him alive, when he lay sick; and not deliver him into his enemy's hands, but he shall be blessed in the Earth, Psal. 41. 1, 2.  
And now he that gives in Life, carries his Lantern before him, & makes his own hands and eyes Executors.  
The Great Ladies do allow their Housekeeper one bottle of Wine, three of Ale, half a dozen Rolls, and two Dishes of Meat a day, who is to see the Wilderness, Orchard, great Prospect, Walks and Gardens, all well kept and Rolled for their Honour's Families, and to give them small Treats according to discretion, when they please to take the Air, which is undoubtedly the best round London.  
Three or four short Reasons why you Noble Ladies should not let this little School-house die:  
1. It is but little yet you have done for Christ, or the Honour of Religion, being cumbered with many things, like Martha, you neglect the best.  
2. In this you imitate the best two Princes that ever Reigned in this Realm, Queen Elizabeth, and Edward the sixth, who founded most of the great Hospitals.  
As for Queen Elizabeth, she hated Popery, made Christ's Righteousness her Rock, loved the Parliament, City and Dutch (a Cord hardly to be broken.)  
3. It stands so well, and is really dedicated to you who are the choicest Flowers in Nature: What is beloved like you English Ladies? no mortals more happy, if sin do not hurt you. Others have not the hand and purse. Others have not the Climate. Others have not such Husbands as your Right English Nobles are, or were many of them heretofore. No such Noble Seats as most of yours be. You have every one a Canaan, Milk, Honey, and the holy Gospel preached; and may that ever be, and your lives exemplary, whilst the Sun, Moon and Stars endure.  
But pray Madams, why should Old Sutton's brave Hospital, such and such Hospitals flourish, but yours die; yours who are certainly the best and greatest Ladies in the whole world?  
May God Almighty bend your hearts to us Poor Boys, who will ever pray for you and all yours.   

An Essay, or humble Guests how the Noble Ladies may be inclined to give to, and Encourage their Charity-School at Highgate, near London.  
AND first, my Lady such a one cried, Come, we will make one Purse out of our Family, and if we get so much we will buy a Close, Mead, or Field, near the School, and it shall be called by our names to the world's end: A Noble Motion.  
My Lady such a one said, She would give for one Year or two, but settle nothing.  
And my Lady such a one said, She would give only to the Lecture, which is every Lord's Day, Winter and Summer, about five or six in the Evening.  
But my Lady such a one said, She would first inform herself, and then do as others did.  
My Lady such a one said, She would give at present, because she liked the School-house Orders, and its standing very well, and was very much taken with the Wilderness and Walks.  
And my Lady such a one said, She would give for the fancy of the Roll, and Charity-stick, and that she never saw the like, and did wonder how any body would speak against the design of it.  
My Lady such a one said, She would give, to bind some out, or send one or two to be Poor Scholars in Cambridge, or else to a Sea Captain, to learn Navigation, and get her Lord (if she could) to give the Quitrent of one or two Houses yearly; saying, It was no more than the Hawks-man cost him, or else she would spare one Point of Venice, but the thing should go forward: Another Lady Warwick.  
And for the six or seven Citizen's Ladies we intent to go to, we do verily believe they will give pretty well, because they are the chiefest in all London, and eminently good.  
My Lady such a one cried, By her Troth she would give nothing at all, for she had ways enough for her money; But the next said, She would give so much for five or six stone of Beef every Week; and which of these is most like to Repent when they come to die and go into another World?  
Then my Lady such a one said, She would give for Bread and Beer between this and January come Twelvemonth, and others promise for their Clothing.  
But we have abundance of ways and objects for our Charity: Ay, said a fine young Lady, it is the better for us, we have abundance of Masses, many Joints, Toes, Feet, Fingers, (some Excuses) all should do something in order to another World, where we must be for ever; 'tis good to send a little beforehand; Faith lays out for Christ, and up for self; but builds not upon works in the least, (that is) Hay, Sand, Straw, Stubble; but Christ a Rock for ever; and we should be glad to do any thing for his Honour, who Loved, Lived, and Died for us, and still maketh Intercession for us to the Father.  
And now, good Ladies and Gentlewomen, We humbly pray that all your Charity be ready about Whitsuntide, or Midsummer next, at the furthest, or sent in to the Worshipful Mr. Henry Cornish, of Blackwell-Hall, Merchant, next door to the Gate, whom we have one and all Prayed and Petitioned to be our only Interceder, Receiver, and Chief Treasurer for Life, to all you much Honourable Ladies and Gentlewomen, of the famous, mighty, wellbeloved City of London, or other places round about; or else to William Blake, of Covent-Garden, Woollen Draper, at the end of Maiden-Lane, in Bedford-Street, at the Sign of the Golden-Boy, who will likewise take the same care to see it fairly Registered, for the Honour of your Families; or wait upon your Honours with the Clerk, to give you further satisfaction in any particular, when you please to command it.   


THE Noble Marquis Galliaces' Sufferings for the Truth was famous through the World; your Lord's embracing of it, makes his Marquisdom more great; and may that Truth which our true Protestant Religion teacheth, be for ever in and among your Noble Family; may all the Branches of it flourish as Palms and Cedars, be all as green Bays in the Courts of God's own House; may the young Lord and his Noble Lady, and that great Mass of old Gold, be dedicated to the Lord that made Heaven and Earth; and all their Blessings be sprinkled with a Blessing from above, which may be as the Dew and Rain to the new-mown Grass, to make you all fruitful in the ways of God; loving him for himself, and his Son for ever, and all Good works, because they are so: And this, amongst many, we humbly beg your most Great and Honourable Family, to abound in: And that as at the Dedicating of the Tabernacle, Exod. 35. 22. every one brought something; so at the Rearing of this our Charity School-house, one half handful of these Broad-pieces may be slung in as a  Offering to the Lord, who will then sanctify all that great Lump or Heap besides; and bless you all, as he did the Seed of his Beloved Israel of Old; and that he may so do, we shall in our station, as Poor Hospital ones, ever pray.   

Most Honourable and Great Lady,  
THE Bounty of your Noble Deceased Mother, the Lady Marchioness, and great Hospitality of the Marquis your Father to the Poor of this Town, as well as other places, which has been, and still is, and was, before we, or any of us were born; to our Poor Parents, now Widows and Widowers, many of them, of which Bounty we having largely tasted, obliges us, and all of us, humbly to acknowledge your great Goodness, and the Charity of your Family, the only Noble one near our School; wherefore, Dear Madam, we most humbly beg leave of your Goodness, to present one of our Charity School-house Sticks, or Letter, to your Ladyship, and do promise one and all, never to forget, nor cease to pray for long Life, and Eternal Happiness, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to your most Noble Ladyship, and the Marquis also.   

May it please you most Great and Noble Lady,  
YOur Gentleman says, That your Honour fears the Yearly Charge of the Ladies Little Charity-School, will in time bring Ruin to my Family, if not looked into; I return a thousand humble thanks for this most kind Caution; but I cannot in the least believe those good and Noble Ladies, whom I ever intended, believed, and have Dedicated this unto, will ever suffer such an inferior, mean and little person to sink under the Burden of so good and great a Work, tending to their own Honour, and the Honour of Religion; which will be a good Work, if half the World should oppose it, because 'tis not only commended, but commanded in holy Writ, to do all the good we can whilst opportunity lasts; for at Death no man reputes of being or doing good, nor never will whilst the World stands, but thousands for their not doing have complained how they have lost their time; and a very great one of this Nation said, Man's only Happiness lies in being good, and at leisure doing good, imitating the glorious Sun and Air; yea, the best Saints and Angels, and God himself, who is good to all, and all his Works. Oh Madam! how sweet and cheering are these Beams to every Creature, and that Air too, through which they spread and send themselves to us below, who have yet holy Angels to guard us, as well as the blessed Writ, and those good examples in it for to guide us in our Charity; which does every where commend the poor Widow and Fatherless Children to us, as the truest objects of it; these being really such, and you a very Great, Noble, and Pious Countess, abounding in all manner of Mercies, Honour and Plenty enough; a large considerable Offspring, as young and tall Plants and Cedars, to stand on high ground, flourish as Bays and Bay-Trees in the True Church of God, as well as in this happy Nation, the most happy yet in all the known World, and a Lord and Husband of a Thousand, to Crown all these many Mercies; for all which we hearty and most humbly beg, as on our Knee, that we may have your Noble step in this Good Work, as a Leading Card to other Pious Ladies, and a little small Acknowledgement, which you cannot better make to the Great and Good God, of the deep sense you have of all his many mercies; To whom be Glory, Honour and Dominion, world without End; Pray all we Poor Boys.   

May it please you most Great and Noble Countess,  
AS your Title bears the greatest sound, so your Name and Memory will be more beloved than all that shall succeed; the Protestants loved, and they all bewailed it in the Nation when it fell; but, while Sion-House shall last, Old Northumberland's Name will live; and may you live also for ever; Live, when Sun, Moon and Stars shall be no more: Live in the heavenly Jerusalem, when earthly Zion, and earthly things shall be no more; And that you may so do, let the Love of God now dwell in you; the Blood of Christ and his Spirit wash and sanctify you, Soul and Body, to make both blameless at his coming, and to wait for his Son from Heaven; which, though it may not be in your days, yet will it be a pleasure all your life long to think indeed upon it; and that when he comes the second time, it will be without sin unto salvation; without sin, that is a good word indeed: At his first coming he was loaded with sins for us, Isa. 53. O read often this Chapter; but he is now without, and shall appear without sin for us: Christ is got rid of our sins by his sufferings; he gave satisfaction for us to the Father; no Pens nor Tongues can sufficiently set out this: Madam, feed your thoughts upon it frequently; the worlds all vanity from top to bottom, and must pass away, 1 Joh. 2. 17. But the Love of God, and Blood of Christ, abides for ever: O happy man that maketh that his portion! All things fail but my God and my Duty, said a great one: Oh! keep close to Christ then, that he may clasp you when you and this world must part: Trust not in worldly Princes, saith the Psalms; Their breath is in their nostrils, and will soon fall to earth: Happy is the man who hath the God of Jacob for his portion, which made Heaven and Earth; and that Heaven and Earth may both be yours: One you have already, and the other may you ever have also; That shall be the prayers of us poor Schoolboys; yea, we shall all pray, that you may for ever sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Luke 13. v. 28. be in the Kingdom of God to sing the everlasting praises of the Lamb, and his Joys to Eternity, Revel. 7. 16.   

May it please your most Great and Noble Ladyship,  
WE, the Lady's Hospital-Boys of Highgate, have humbly presumed to pray, and dedicate one of these little Charity School house-Sticks to your Right Honourable Family, which is Illustrious, as a Star of great Magnitude, and has shined (if not outshined) most in this our Horizon, for great Wisdom in the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom, which made the Nation so happy in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, when your Lord's Noble Ancestor governed all as only Minister of State; and may your present Lord be as great and as good a Patriot to his Country, the Laws and Privileges of it; yea, and Patron to the best of Preaching-Ministers, as his Noble Family or Grandfather has been heretofore; and so, whilst he really loves both his Prince and Kingdom, with the Preaching-Ministers also, he must needs be a good and great friend to both, and our Protestant Religion, so much struck at, at this time, which is far beyond all the earthly things in the world, for true value and esteem; may your Ladyship and Lord therefore both long live together, and may your mutual Love be blessed by the Great God, with many Children, as it is; and may they all live, and stand round your great Table, as Olive-branches, flourish in the Courts of God's own House; be good and pious here, holy and happy to all Eternity; for that is a long thing, and must be, and our Immortal Souls too, when the Sun, the Sea and World shall be no more.   

Most Honourable Madam,  
WE are come again, though the Year be hardly out since our setting up: But for the future, we will never trouble your Right Noble Ladyship more than once, if so often; but now necessity puts us upon it for getting something out of Great Families, to carry on this next Years Charge: And we remember how your Honour gave a Caution when you sent your Guineas, not to be too troublesome, for that you had very many objects in the Country, which did need my Lord's help; and the truth is, the whole World is full of wants, so that Good and Great Persons can never lack Objects; but this is a thing not common, that bears your Noble Name, and is Dedicated to the Honour of your Sex; and in feeding it two or three Years, you will make it live itself, and stand upon its own Legs; and would your Honour but be pleased to send to see how well it stands; in the mean time, we well know you to be a good and prudent Lady, and therefore will not believe in the least you will yet stick out to help us, till the thing be a little stronger, and have taken better Root, which it will soon and certainly do; and than you, nor no other Noble Ladies will ever repent in the least of what has been done for us; who will ever pray, for you, my Lord, his Sons, and all your Noble Family, that your Souls may be truly happy, when the World shall fly away like a mighty Eagle, and be seen no more for ever; the Sun, Moon or Stars be darkened, the Silver Cord loosed, or the Golden Bowl broken, and the Spirit return to God that gave it, Eccles. 12. v. 2, 6.   

Right Honourable Madam,  
THough all Good Works may be said to speak for themselves, yet a powerful Intercessor does do well, and (for your house) or most Noble Family, a greater than yourself cannot be; for as our Lord Jesus Christ his greatness with the Father, makes every thing to be easy, and readily granted, that he moves the Father for; so your Power and Influences must needs be very successful, because you move the nearest of Relations, and them too that are all eminently Religious, and such as have been so for many years; the Grandmother being yet living in the Children & Grandchildrens' graces. (Madam) assure yourself, 'tis for a Good Work we are now a begging, and it must be none but good and great Families, and a few Citizens, that are very eminent indeed, that we intent thus to go unto; and in so doing, how can we miss, especially when it is fully resolved, by God's grace, that the Discipline of this little Charity-School shall be as near as may be, for the Honour of God, and Religion, to the best of our power; and who can do too much for him, who is all, and will be all, for ever? He gives us all we have, and though we can give nothing to him, yet he accepts of what we give to any, so it be for his Honour; and the highest Honour on Earth is to be good, and extensively doing good, like the Air. 'Tis but a little while at best, that we can work, and it may be you, and the great good Ladies of that Family, will never have such an opportunity to help erect a thing that may last, perhaps, to the last period of time, and be so long for the Honour of your Noble Sex and Family also; and therefore pray despise not the day of small things, nor this good design.   

Most Great and Right Honourable Countess,  
AS your Noble Name and Title is beloved by all; some for worth, in that brave Warrior, who yet lost his head in the days of Queen Elizabeth; and others for that brave Knight your Father, who lost his in the late times, for Loyalty to his Prince; both which will hardly be forgotten; and especially whilst your Lord continues (as he does) to do all good, and good Offices for his King and Country; may such Peers flourish, and be (as they are indeed) Pillars of our Nation, which do bear up Prince and People's Happiness and Honour: And for this may Children love you; yea, Children yet unborn, will, when they come to know the worth of our Religion; which if lost, our Bodies would be all slaves, and our Souls in danger to be damned for ever by Antichristian Errors. O Madam! who can love enough, whilst he loves his Country so exceeding well, and the Protestant Interest also! May you, yours and himself, all long live; live for us, for our Prince and Nation (once a Terror unto others) but especially for himself, and true Happiness; for to live to God is best of all. We may live to ourselves and Fortunes, our King and Country, forget Heaven, and so be lost and miserable to Eternity, which will be Heaven when all is done; and no home is like that, and he that made it; for his favour is better than life itself; and may that favour which he bears to his Chosen ones, be to you, and yours also; yea, may you all see the good of his Inheritage, and be blessed in Soul and Body, with all your Right Noble Issue, here, and hereafter; pray every one of us.   

Most Great and Right Noble Countess,  
Says the Lord, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem! that shall never hold their peace day nor night: Your brave Lord, most Noble Madam, may be said to be the same; & if ever faithful warning was given to a Prince and Nation, of dangers near, and Counsels to prevent, even at the brink, your Lord hath certainly done it, with strength of Wisdom, Zeal and Boldness, that never man spoke better. And now what shall we say of this our great Nations Seer, that loves Scotland, England, Ireland, and the Protestant Interest, all the world over; it being extensive, like the Truth itself, and the holy Gospel; who can love more than every place where it is professed? or preserve Liberty and Interest (our only Jewels) better than strongly to oppose all enemies? for which may his Noble Name and Memory live, and his Lordship sit as long as ever Statesman served a Prince; and for his Zeal to Prince and People, let both love him, and the Love of God dwell in him; the blood of Christ be his Laver, and when ever his great Soul shall leave this little lower sinful World, let the holy Angels guard him, and our Lord Jesus Christ personally present him to the Father, to sing the high praises of God and the Lamb to all Eternity: And when any of his near and Noble Family and Race have served their Generations, and fallen asleep, may they do the same, and so successively to the World's end; pray we Poor Hospital Boys.   

Right Honourable and Noble Countess,  
SOlomon tells us, Wisdom is the principal thing; and if it be, as it is most deservedly accounted, an excellent piece of Wisdom, to know all the Laws and Statutes of a Nation; What is it then to know the Laws and Statutes of Heaven, the Will and Pleasure of the great and mighty Monarch, Lord God of Heaven and Earth? which your Lord yet doth: Surely this must needs make him to be a great Figure, and a great Statesman, in this our Kingdom: And may many, many such Statesmen be to Rule and Govern the Great People of this Nation, under our most excellent and good natured Prince: And may their Wisdom be ever harkened to, and their hearts be zealous; for his Greatness, and all the People's Interest; for he that serveth both shall never miscarry, to his Honour, and the wisest Ones Applause: May your Lord steer in this Channel, miss all Rocks, especially what may hurt his Soul, live to his God and himself, as well as his Prince and Country; for Eternity is a long thing, and may he, you, and all your Noble Issue be ever happy in it; Pray one and all we Hospital-Boys.   

Right Honourable Madam,  
MAny and great have the Changes been which your Ladyship have known; but this is certain, there is a great and unchangeable good God, who lives for ever; and because he is so, therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed. Madam, 'tis this God, and his Love we must stick to, for nothing else will do us long good; all things fail and fade, set that aside; the fairest Beauty, and the sweetest Rose; the richest Garment, with the greatest Wealth and Honour, will be left on Earth, to die like other things; but the Living God, and the Living Word (Jesus Christ) who lives with, and by the Father, shall abide for ever, Joh. 6. v. 57 And whosoever believes in him shall never die, c. 11. v. 26. Oh Madam! may you so live, live for ever with the Son and his Saints in the Kingdom of the Father, to drink of the new Wine, namely, his Love, which he speaks of: Oh! 'tis that, that must be our portion, if we have any thing worth the speaking of: What's the fluttering up and down the world, or the Enjoyment of the world, with all Accommodations in, and Applauses of it; if we lose our Souls, as Christ speaks, what shall it profit us? That's a Gem, or inestimable Jewel never to be Rated but in Eternity; it comes next of all to God and Christ; it's immortal, ever living, and shall never die; if sin does not hurt it, nothing can: God Almighty make Christ to be our Righteousness, both in Life, Death and Eternity; and that we may know this his Righteousness which is nigh, and this Salvation which he so often and affectionately calls upon us for to mind; saying, Harken, harken unto me my People; Give ear unto me, oh my Nation! This (my) is a sweet word; Scripture myes, and Scripture ours, are all so. Oh! read, often read this 51 of Isaiah; 'tis a sweet Chapter, and tells you what shall become of Enemies to his Church and People, and how the Moth or Worms shall eat them up like Wool: But that you, nor your Noble Lord may never be, we shall ever pray, pray, pray.   

Right Honourable and Good Madam,  
WE shall find in all sorts of Relations Spiritual and Natural; that having done much for any that they love, it engages them still to do more; instance Paul, Christ and Moses; now God, Christ, Religion and Good Works, have ever been the Beloved things of your heart; so we yet presume that they still are, and ever shall be, to the last moment of your Life; and beyond that, none can love: Your Right Noble Sister Warwick was in this most of all Noble; for she loved much, and gave more than any in the Nation of her great Rank, yet now enjoys all things. Oh Madam! be not yet weary of well doing, for you will certainly reap to Eternity, what you sow from faith, in Christ, love to, and union with him; and may your union with him be more inseparable, as it is than your Arm to your Shoulder, o' your Soul to your Body; yea, these are not so inseparable, as both are to Christ; for though Time, Sin or Death may separate them for a while; yet Sin, Death, Grave nor Eternity, shall ever separate either from Christ; but because he lives, both shall live, and be where he is; and what a little while is it that you have more to work for God, Christ, Heaven, and Eternal Happiness? Oh! when those Everlasting Mansions are really thought on, it makes our Souls mount as the Lark, our Thoughts and Desires, like the wing and tongue of that nimble morning Bird, to praise its Maker. Madam, we writ not these things in the least to stir up kindness towards us; you have enough, and have done enough, more than any; for you really gave first of all, and we doubt not in the least, now our Year is up, but many Noble well-disposed persons will follow your good Example, and some of your great Relate us, if you but give a little hint this way, it being for so good a work, as certainly it is; and your Labour of Love to us poor Fatherless Sinners, and others God's Saints and Servants, he will never forget.   

Most Honourable Madam,  
'TIs the Goodness of the Great God that he beholds things below, and is good to the Children of Men, yea, all his Works; may you from that kindness have your heart, your lips and your life, yea, your soul filled with that Marrow which is from above, no where to be tasted but in Religion or Communion with himself, and when that is strongly moving in you, how easy will it then be to prevail with you for a little kindness, to an English Charity-School? which is young, and in its Infancy (as yet) but will soon become strong, root, grow, and be a great thing, if the Ladies be not wanting to promote their own praise; for what's more praiseworthy, than to be good, and do good? to raise the Needy from the Dust; Poor and Fatherless Children, from Ignorance, Idleness and Beggary, to know themselves, and God in Christ, live another day in a hard world? to this Good Work, you, and none but you, and this great Duchess in all your Kingdom, are invited; surely your Figures must needs be great among the English Ladies: God Almighty bless both your Princely Families, and make them and theirs to be blameless at the coming of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, pray one and all we Poor Hospital-Boys.   

Most Great Lady,  
IT is your Happiness that you have not a great Lord in his own Country only, but a good one that lives well, does well, and is much beloved where he comes; may you both long live, have your Land and Country slow with Honey Gospel, as it doth, with Milk and Kine, which is yet a great mercy; fat Ground, a good Climate, holy Lives, with heavenly Preaching, is the best place to live in in the world; and oh that this Nation were but stocked with more Prophets than it is! and oh that those that be, were but more countenanced than they are! oh that the Pulpits were but more open than they are, or like yet to be, and Drones quite asleep, dead we mean, or out of the way, that those that can Preach, and would, might yet be restored to the great Congregations! A Preaching Minister is a Star or Finger pointing unto Christ, a Golden Stick or Candle in the Socket; a Silver Bell, that gives a good molodious sound; drops heavenly Dew, and feeds with Manna; Bread that comes from Heaven: Christ Preached, and Christ broken in the Preaching of the Gospel, is the Bread of Life, and the Water too, which he that drinks shall never thirst. Give us this, said the Jews? Ay, Christ's Flesh is meat, and Christ's Blood is drink indeed: We may all by faith think upon it, and that is really eating in a Gospel sense. May Ladies, eat like Angels; yea, your Ladyship, and live upon the holy Joys and Comforts of the Spirit; have Fellowship, true Communion with the Father and the Son; be no strangers to the Love and Life of God, who is seen in all his works. What's the Rose? a painted blossom of his Beauty; the little Pink and Violet, but a thing of his, which all the world cannot make? the Honeycomb and Hony-drops from Heaven; the early Dew, sweet Showers, and fruitful Seasons; all Preach a good God to a heavenly mind; the morning Star, and glorious Sun and Beams Preach Christ; and there is but one Sun, and one Christ for all the world: Many Eyes cannot see, but all might, were they heavenly, never hurt or hinder one another; and Christ is similed in these glorious Beams of his Beauty; for the Sun is no more to Christ than one Beam or Ray: May these Rays, Joys and Comforts be upon you and yours, heads, and hearts, and souls: May you all know, and dwell in the Love of God, which passeth knowledge: May your Children be all taught of God, according to his promise, to avoid sin, the sins of the times; live as Pilgrims and Strangers to noisome lusts, the sins and pleasures of this Age: And may your Love and Piety abound to us, and our Poor Hospital-School, or little Charity-house; and in so doing, you will imitate the Divinity, who is good to all his Works; yea, the Spring that refreshes every thing; the blue veins, or bosom flowers, come from, or are refreshed by that; yea, the Sun, and Beams of it; for though this glorious creature be millions of miles distant from us, yet his Influences come down to us every day. O send, send something to us then, although you be in Cheshire; though you be where you will! and than we will all pray that you and the whole Family that love God, may be blest with long Life here, and Eternal Joys hereafter.   

Right Honourable Madam,  
THis is certain, That the Sun, Moon and Stars, in some sense, do not more adorn the Heavens, than good Lives, good Doctrine, and good Works do Religion; and if any Religion in the world be more inward, spiritual and heavenly than others, surely it is the Doctrine of our true reformed Protestant Religion, which lies not in Shows and Ceremonies, but in Love to God, and all that bears his Image; which we Poor Children cannot yet be said to do, whilst Poor, and altogether ignorant of ourselves and Maker; and such are We; And all We which do humbly present ourselves as Objects to your Honour's Charity: And yet if We, or some of Us, by God's Blessing, good Discipline, Catechising and Preaching, shall be brought to know ourselves, and the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as to get our Bread, and be put forth into a hard World, to live another day; then our Advantage will be great, and your Satisfaction also, because your Bounty has contributed to this good Work; and because 'tis a good Work, 'twas very unfit your Honour should be left out in the least: For your Good and Noble Lord has ever still been in (as we hope he will) when Religion, Liberty, or the Civil Interest of the Nation has been at stake in the least, as a bold and brave Champion for his King and Country; yea, the three Kingdoms; for which God Almighty bless all, and every Branch of Ye: And may your Names be in the Memory of our Nation, your own Country as it is; Yea, the Lamb's Book of Life especially; for all out of that will be everlastingly cast into the Lake that burns for ever: Rev. 20. 15. God Almighty bless us all with the Power of Religion, that we may yet have an abundant Entrance into his everlasting Kingdom. To whom be Power, Glory and Dominion, world without end. Amen, Amen.   

Right Honourable and Good Madam,  
THE Great God and his Goodness having made you and your Lord not only Noble and Great in Quality, but Good and Gracious in Disposition, loving Humility and Religion, which teaches the right way to Life and Happiness, as it is most full, and plainly revealed in the holy blessed Writ and Word of God, the which may ever dwell in your hearts, to shine in your Lives as it does.  
Oh! when Lords and Ladies fear the Lord God Almighty, that made Heaven, Earth, Sun and Seas, they do abundantly add to their own Honour, and praise their Creator too: May you both so do, love him, and live to him, who is all, and will be all for ever: And may he dwell in your hearts by faith, establish, root and fix you both in himself, Giving you to know, taste, and comprehend with all Saints, what is the height, breadth, length and depth of his grace, and to know the Love which is unsearchable, and passeth knowledge; and be filled with all the fullness of God, Ephes. 3. 17, 18, 19 Yea, may the young Lord your Son, grow as a Lily; be as a Vine that runs over the wall, and in time root as a Cedar, to be tall in the Nation, and may many Branches be his Portion; yea, all the Blessings of Joseph, or everlasting Hills, come upon his head to be as a fruitful Bough and Blessing to your Family, Gen 49. 25, 26, 27. Yea, may you both live to see all this and our poor divided Nation flourish; yea, our little School live and thrive, which is a thing near where your Honours have been sometime past, taking a little Air; and will be for God's Honour, if it flourish and be well disciplined, which is sweet, and good, and Charity wholesome also; and therefore pray, Madam, let us taste a little of your Bounteous Goodness, for we have nothing else to live upon, nor no such Noble Good Protestant person as yourself to help us, that is near; and therefore pray, good Madam, do something for us and our School, which stands so full or near in your Eye; And we will never cease to beg the best of blessings in Heaven or Earth to be on you and yours.   

Most Noble,  
WE the great English Ladies Charity School-house of Highgate, which are yet but in our Infancy as it were, do with all humility adore you the virtuous Maiden-Ladies of that high or mighty State or Commonwealth's Ambassador; being desirous that your, and only your most Noble Names and Charity be Rolled and Registered with the Ladies of our Nation: For as Queen Elizabeth of happy memory did love you more than any; so We, and the People of this Nation in general, do wish to You above all the Commonwealths in the world, great Prosperity and Peace, and may never more unhappy breach be, or drop of blood spilt by any enemy whatever; but may your Ships and ours be, as the mighty Ships of Tarshish, to carry in and out the Treasures of the world, to the Church of God; or the people of the world which do favour them; and all your Guns and ours be as Brazen walls to defend both, and Truth from Falsehood, or at least our Habitations and Enjoyments; and from this Union may the Children of men, and the Christian world suck the Consolation of Peace and Quiet, if they will be quiet; and then we Poor Hospital-Boys will never bow nor beg of any Foreign Prince or State's Ambassador in the world, set your most Honourable ladyship's Father aside; but yours we naturally love, and your great Figures and Names we would all fain beg to be visible in our Charity School for all Ages to come.   

May it please your Honour, most Good and Great Lady,  
AS we have presumed to petition the She Princess of this world, or the great Ladies of this Nation to be charitable unto us; so we most humbly do your Honour also, presuming a Figure of your making in the Lady's Roll, must needs be, like yourself, Great; and therefore the good God and his Son from Heaven bless you and your Sir Henry, make you still to love your King and Country, as you really do, and live for the Kingdom of Heaven: To love your King, is to love him in his Person, Power, and Just Prerogative; to love him in all the good he doth his People; your Country, yea, the whole Nation, Prince and People's Happiness is much bound up in God, both in living unto him, and therefore Heaven must still be at the end of our living, and the end of our dying; for then Eternity comes to be a serious thing: Sharp, quick and great Wits, have ever sooner or later found the Power of Religion: Everlastingness makes time and action short here, and in that we shall have time enough to look back, read over past things; Great Actions will be there greatly influenced by it; and for little ones of this nature, they cannot trouble either mind or thoughts in another world, being so warrantable as they are, and commendable too: Lord what am I? whence came I? whither go I, so fast away, and yet the Nation lies at stake? may your most worthy Husband say.  
Thousands, thousands Soul-happiness lies at stake, if Popery should come in, and Property quite be lost, than we are miserable, and like to be unhappy for both worlds; to live in fear in this, die in doubts and dangers as to the other is a great slavery, as all out of the way must needs do: God Almighty grant the Truth may never be lost, nor any thing prevail against it, or those either that contend and care for it day and night: But the Church is founded on a Rock, God's Love, and Christ's Merit, which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail over; and much of the Nation's Happiness is in the two Houses, and the good Acts there to be made: May your dear Relation sit, who bears the whole name of that not forgotten proper, brave beloved man his Father; may he Vote, may you both Live; may you die to God, and Love your Country, as you really do; so shall your Names and Souls both live, one on Earth for a while, and the other in Heaven for ever with the Lamb and his Redeemed ones.  
So prays all of us.   

Right Honourable Madam,  
WEre not your sharp, quick and great parts, naturally mixed with good and pious Principles, we should not in the least presume, or endeavour to engage your cheerful, good and prudent Inclinations, to accept of this your Family's Roll or Charity School-house Stick; but presuming the work itself to be very good, and the Noble Lady your Mother, who is so eminently blest with good and many Children abounding in the world, and they very Charitable also, makes us complain of a peck of troubles; for having raised near forty Poor and Fatherless Boys, they prove very chargeable to be kept, with Meat, Drink and , as you know they have: Now pray, dear Madam, speak or write to my Lady out of hand, and tell her how it is with us; and if she will subscribe a good gob, and get the young Ladies to do something too; and then put it all together, with your ladyship's, and Sir James' also; for it is necessary he, or you in his stead, should do something, now the great Ship is come safe in. At the Rearing of the Tabernacle every one brought something, Exod. 25. 22. And if in this you will, to the Rearing of our School, give something as the first fruits of your great Bay, or new Plantation, as it were, to be sure the rest will be blessed the better; and therefore pray give freely, that we may say, Received from you and your Family so much: For we would not have them, nor you, out of the Noble List of Ladies, nor want those prayers in the least, which all our good Benefactors have.   

May it please your Honourable Ladyship,  
SIR Francis being a pious, good, charitable, and most worthy person, our only great Neighbour, able to relieve, support and help us, we humbly pray this our Charity School-house Stick may be accepted by your Ladyship; for we have nothing in the world to keep up us Poor Boys, or put us out, but the Benevolence of pious, good and charitable Ladies; therefore pray, Madam, be entreated to do a little for us, who will never cease to pray the great God and his Son to bless you both in Soul and Body, and your Olive-branches also, ye may also be blessed with the blessing of Abraham, sit down with Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, Luk. 13. 29. and never know troubles on the Earth, but such as God's nearest and dearest Children meet with, for the good of their Souls; and a Soul-mercy it is for to have his Love and Providence turning all things to our good; yea, the worst things that do befall us here, he can make the Best, Sickness, Death and Sin: And may all this be, and Sin forever pardoned to both your Souls, and blotted out, as if they had never been: Oh the blessedness of that man, whose sins are pardoned, in Life, Death and Eternity! May this blessing, with all others your Souls can wish or desire, be your portion for ever and ever, prays one and all us now at Highgate.   

May it please your Ladyship,  
SIR Walter Raleigh in the Tower, said, That true and eternal Happiness lieth in God, and no where to be tasted but in Religion; which is a certain thing going up and down the world, too little minded by the greatest, but of more concern than all things in it, said the Lord of Marlborough, that was lately slain: And that man that doth not first or last live to God, will certainly wish he had never been when he cometh to die; says another great one; and yet we must bleed and bleed, saith the Doctor, to keep Life, or prevent Consumptions, Cough, Dropsy, Ptysick and Diseases, which it tells and foretells certain Death to be at hand; as grey hairs doth a youthful Life past: And if we have got over one bout of Sickness or Disease, yet still another hangs over or upon us, and is nigh, or ready for to shake, force or tear poor frail man all to pieces; yea, and something or another still at hand to turn us where we cannot turn; namely, Coffin, Grave, Prison, and the Winding-sheet, or last shift, which may be eaten, but never shaken off by mortals; No, Skin, Flesh, Bones, and the faggs of pale Beauty, must all be Earth, and turn to that from whence we first of all came; and 'tis but just and reasonable, that as that did feed, cloth and nourish us, as it were our Mother for a while, we should sink, die, fall, and lay down our heads again, into that most natural Lap or Bosom, as being its most proper place to take our last or longest sleep in: But, O Madam! may you, yours, or Sir Richard, never come, go into one world and another without a great Errand: And may the Great God direct us what it is he sent us hither for: For this end was I born, every one says, namely, to know God, and live to him. Christ was born to die for us, as he told Pilate, and we are bound to live to him, and must, or else we shall wish we had never been. The world is nothing but the world, a dream and shadow that must pass away: Were the Sands; Sea and Mountains beaten Gold; Death stretcheth out the fingers, and we let go again all that head, hand, will, heart or thoughts, could ever hold, wish, or eye see: May you then know, may you then love Christ, and live to him, whilst you may; he is yet near and dear, but you would both be lost for ever, if you should neglect him till it be too late. Christ once wept, often bled and wept too; but will die no more, nor do no more for us, if we do not live to him: O let's live to him, and die to sin, before we die: Sin dies, and dips the Soul in black and bloody Scarlets of defiance. Old, long and great ones eat it quite up. O let not Canker, Death, Hell's Worm spoil so great a Gem and Jewel, or Immortal thing! Christ will save us now; Christ will save us ever, if we be but willing; yet he will never bleed more; but he prays and mediates for us still; for, he makes continual Intercession, Rom. 10. 4. and his blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel, that cried down vengeance upon Cain; but Christ's blood cries up forgiveness unto us. Oh Father! let them come to me if they will be mine, Joh. 17. 24. And may you both dwell with him for ever; but oh! live a little if you have not; live to him a little, if you cannot much, time being now short; lay up, as much as can be, Treasure in Heaven, where no Rust nor Thiefs can come. Lands, Debts, Rents and Houses may be all lost; but Treasure in Heaven can never miscarry; and if ever we indeed mean to come there, it must be by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Money will not buy Pardon, Blood nor Tears cannot; nor the Fruit of our Bodies go for the sin of our Souls, Micah 6. 7. But Christ's Blood is Currant Coin: Oh stick to that Rock which will not fail! when the Silken Stockin, and the Silver Shoe must off, and never on more; nor the Soul return to the same Body: Vanity of Vanities, how is all but froth and vanity besides Christ! and therefore if he be not ours, we are lost, for nothing, for nothing, but a Dream, a Bubble and a Fancy; yea, and our Souls to Eternity.   

Madam,  
WE have presumed to offer one of these to the Lady Player, Mrs. Love, and Madam Pilkinton, with a few humble Lines, as now we do to your most great & Right Honourable Ladyship, from all which we most humbly pray, that this Good Work, which in charity must be so accounted, may be a little countenanced by you, the four Beloved Ladies of this mighty City; for if any names be deservedly great and famous, more than others, sure it is yours; and those other three above mentioned: And may your Names live from generation to generation, whilst your Walls and Gates last, and your Souls to Eternity (after all.) May Hell never be known, nor Heaven lost by you, nor none of yours; especially your dear Husbands: But may they be all four for ever Citizens in the New Jerusalem; walk hand in hand with the Lamb, and his Redeemed ones, to the Fountains of Living Water, where God shall be all in all, and they always drinking from the River of his Pleasures, Rev. 7. 17. Psal. 36. 8. So prays one and all our Charity School-house.   

Madam,  
THE great God and his Providence has made Sir Thomas the Father as it were of all the famous Apprentices of London; and only sole Judge between the great Merchant and his Man; and not so, but an Eye for the Nation also, piercing through and through the greatest Intrigues, Policies, Stratagems, that Malice, Hell or Rome can lay against our King, Kingdom or Religion, Liberty and Interest; Gems and Jewels, of greater value than the Gold of Ophir in a true sense: But in your sphere Madam, this little little Work is not to be despised in the least, but a Scriptural Honour it is, to be owned the Lady of Charity, and a Mistress or great Benefactor to one of their little Schools. Light is light, truth truth, a spark is fire, and true Charity praise worthy to the world's end; and so long may your Name, Praise and Honour live, (and our House also.)   

Madam,  
LOve is from the Fountain and Divine Being of all good: May that ever flow in your Name and Nature, and be as natural to you as the Rose and Buds are to the Summer; and then when this Spring and your Charity shall flow up in and from you, to the barren Hill of Highgate, where your School-house stands, it will then become a feeding, filling Spring too; for Charity will feed us, and praise flow from us to the famous City-Ladies names, which shall never be forgotten, but be fairly Registered, and read from one Age, and one Generation to another: And now may the Love of God Almighty, the pure Joys and Comforts of his holy Spirit, ever abide with you and yours whilst you abide in this Tabernacle of Clay; and he constantly guide you through the Wilderness of this bewitching, barren, wicked World, till you come to the last period of Life, and wrap you up then in the Righteousness of God's dear and anointed only Christ, to shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father for ever more, prays thirty six of us and our Minister also.   

Most Worthy Madam,  
THere are four Gates in the City; four Seasons in the Year; four Ladies nigh together, that will hardly be forgotten, but shall be beloved for their Husband's sakes, & their own too; for their praise is truly praiseworthy, their virtues all eminently specious. But now, dear Madam, would it not be a high and great Honour to see you our four Citizen's Ladies, with your four wellbeloved Husbands, our constant Parliament men for London, chosen more by hearts than hands; and a many brave, judicious, sober Citizens waiting on them, all standing one by one, as it were, on the brow of our Hill, saying one to the other, There is the Tower and the Monument, the Old Change, Guild-Hall, and Blackwell-Hall, which some would fain burn again; there is Bow-Steeple, the Holy Bible, the Silver Bells of Aaron the godly outed Ministers, the melodious Music of the Gospel, Smithfield▪ Martyrs yet alive, and the Best Society, the very Best in all the world, for Civility, Loyalty, Men and Manners, with the greatest cash, bulk, mass, and stock of all sorts of Silks, Cinnamon, Spices, Wine, Gold, Pearl, Spanish-Wooll and , with the River Nilus, and the stately Ships of Turshish, to carry in and out the great Merchandizes of the world? And may all this, with the dew of Hermon her Silver Drops, with your godly Ministers yet unrestored, ever be to the World's end, and to your Live's end: May you and yours be beloved, as you are: And now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all Consolations, bless you both in Spirit, Soul and Body, Sickness, Health, Life and Death, here, and for evermore, prays all we your poor youngest Hospital-Boys of Highgate; and to help them is most Charity ever. The old fares well, thanks be to a good City, and their Benefactors in it; for which God Almighty bless them and their Government to the world's end with Peace, Health, Wealth, Honour, and the Power of Religion.   

Most Honourable Madam,  
THE Best have not always Love boiling in them, yet at sometimes nothing works so strongly as Divine Goodness in their Souls; and now we think we see in your heart, hand and eye, all lifting up unto the Hills, from whence alone has your Salvation and Deliverance been; we think we hear you still say, God has been my Helper, my Rock, and my Salvation, and I will bless him; he hath inclined his Ear unto me, therefore will I love him as long as I live: The sorrows of death caught hold upon me; I found trouble, than called I on the Name of the Lord, and he heard me. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? I will take the Cup of Salvation, and pay my vows in the midst of his people, in the Courts of the Lord's own House, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye the Lord. And if ever there be a time for us to speak, and you to give, it is now: Whilst your heart is full of his Goodness, yet yours can never extend to him; to us and our School it may, and others need it not; we mean, your great City-Hospitals, but our poor little In fant, newborn thing, needs, really needs, and that makes us speak, others are Rich, we are poor; others are full, we are empty; others have all things, we have nothing, but what the good Lord Jesus shall incline some great Ladies, and a few of you the choicest Citizens of London for to give; and choice men it must be that we thus go to; for we intent never to beg, nor mingle, but with the best of Protestants; and some of them too have scarce faith enough to believe the success of this great or good design. Nay, your Brother Cornish himself, who in other things is one of a hundred, through the greatness of his diffidence would have once persuaded us to lay it down; whose Charity yet we doubt not of in the least, it being a well approved thing by good men and Ministers, one of which constantly Preaches every Lord's day an Evening Lecture, for all sorts of comers, where Bread, and other encouragement is given for any Poor or Needy people that please to be there and hear at that same hour. In short, the praise and good report of this House, and your Charity, will live, grow, and be a great thing, and still redound to your Honour, and the City's Praise: And now the prayers of all our School, with the Blessings of the great God of Heaven and Earth, rest on the Heads, Hearts and Souls of all your near Relations and Family.   

May it please you most Worthy Madam,  
THE Good and Noble Ladies have given liberty to Petition (as now we do) some few Honourable Citizens and great Merchants Wives of eminent Quality or Degree, your Husband being one, we well know, to be both free, bountiful and a Right English Gentlemen in all things, We humbly beg and entreat your Ladyship, that this our Charity School-house Stick, or Roll, may be accepted, it being for a good work, much of praiseworthy: And we humbly promise this, We will all beg many Blessings, or wish Health, Peace, Wealth, and Eternal Happiness to you for ever and ever: Yea, we will beg for the two young Ladies also, that they may be Saints in Heaven, good and virtuous Wives on Earth and may have, as they really do, and will ever well deserve the best of Husbands to enjoy them, such as may never grieve nor offend day nor night; such as may love them and their Souls, both above their great Fortunes, and next our Lord Jesus Christ: Study what to do for both; for to be ensnared with a bad man, and unkind or churlish Husband, will be a thousand, thousand pities, & grieve us to the heart. When sweet Nature's Blossoms, Buds and Roses meet with churlish Nabals, the yielding gentle Reed is bruised by the ugly Oak, and the Honey suckle tangled in a knot, which can never be untied till Death. But a good man, though he be not a Lord, though he be not a very great Merchant; yet if he be but good natured, wise, cheerful, and careful for the world, and minds the world to come, prays daily for a Blessing, let the Ladies (we all say) accept of such a one; or let one venture first, and the other for Honour after; or let either choose as they will, but still let both be happy, we all pray from the bottom of our hearts: Yet happy they can never be, unless after all, they go to Heaven; for Heaven is Heaven when all is done, and ever will be. We should Buy, Sell, Trade, Marry, Live and Dye so, as that we may not endanger our Souls in the least: Other losses may be gained, Health, Wealth, and the World; but Heaven lost will never be found in another. O love God and Jesus Christ now above all! love his Praise, love his Promise, love his Spirit, which knocks now and then; yea, often at your hearts, with sweet, soft, and still Motions in the night, saying, Open, open unto me: Hear, hear, and your Souls shall live. I will make a Covenant with you, if you will be mine; love and live to me now. I will own you here and hereafter; save you when you come to die, and bless you at the present with Children, more or less; or that which is better, good things: Yea, no good thing will he withhold from them that fear him, saith the Psalmist. And therefore fear him day and night both you; yea, both you Young and Lovely Ladies, that he may indeed bless you in Life, Death and Eternity; prays all we at Highgate.    

SILVER DROPS, OR SERIOUS THINGS.  
HEre follows the Substance of the fine Young Lady's Answer to that Objection in the Essay; Are these Times for Charity, and a new Design, when we have so many Ways and Objects for it? Ay, said she, And it is the better for us too; we have many Joints and Mercies, Fingers, Feet and Toes; all should do something for him and another world, who is always doing of us good; and all his Works: So saith the Psalmist; And all his Works do praise him, Psal. 145. 10. Now if this little Design of theirs at Highgate be for, or look like any thing of serving him, why should it die? Let the vanity and things of the world, sin, folly and emptiness die; but let Virtue, Religion, and the Love of Charity live in all our bosoms, breasts and lives. If Angels were to be visible, and present with us, how much would they be to be embraced and desired for their holiness? When Great and Noble Persons, Lords, Ladies, and others, embrace true Piety, they seem to imitate the holy Angels, though clothed with frailty and mortality; immortality is for another world, and in that world nothing but Divine Love shall live: Joy and Glory cease here, but that which is heavenly shall never cease; yet Charity shall cease, though it be greater than Faith and Love too. So says Paul, 1 Cor. 13. 13. Now abides Faith, Hope and Charity, but the greatest of all is Charity.  
Will you abound a little in this Work? you have enough of this world; yea, enough to swallow and drown you to Eternity, if a good God do not love and save you from the snares, cares and flatteries of it: For all its pleasures are bewitching things; and the sweetest Music fails & tires often times. But thou O Son, Saint and Servant of God, 1 Tim. 6. 11. fly these things, and Covetousness. Fight the good fight of Faith: Lay hold of Eternal Life: And witness a good Confession, as Christ did, v. 12, 13. I have done it, I have done it, says Paul, and there is laid up for me a Crown of Life; and that is Life indeed, 2 Tim. 4. 8.  
Temporal Life flies away, but Eternal Life never ends; and Charity leads to that under Christ: Oh! let's not want that which leads to him, who is all, and will be all for ever, Gal 3. 11. Other things will fail, but Christ will never fail, if we be his, and he ours. Oh! get a never-failing Christ to be your God and Guide, Lord and Master now. If all the Princes, Kings and Queens in the world had but one Lord and Master, as they have not in a strict sense, to whom Account at last must be given; would they, or should they not love him? I am sure all the Ladies in the world have but one Lord at last to trust to; Oh! love him now, that he may love you in a dying hour, and save you then when you and the world must part; and part you must for ever; but then to be for ever with the Lord of Lords, the Lord of Life and Glory, 1 Thes. 4. 17.  
And where he is, to be also there, according to his last prayer, Joh. 17. 24. Oh! how happy will that be? and may this happiness be the portion of your Honour, and all your Honour's sweet and lovely Children too; but that can never be, unless you love and live to him, embrace and choose him as the Chiefest Good. Be wise then, O ye Honourable of the Earth, Lords, Ladies, and others! Psal. 2. 10.  
If ye were a thousand times more Noble, Rich and Bountiful than ye are, yet, yet, you will all certainly perish if you do not stoop, if you do not bend to him, to whom every knee must bend, Psal. 2. 12. what will become of you, Lords, Ladies and others? you have but one true friend in Heaven and Earth, and that is the good God, and our good Lord Jesus; and if ye do whatsoever he has bid you, he will love you to the end of Time and Eternity too, if that could be supposed to have any; but that is without end, says a great Father, and clasps in all times and things that ever were, or shall be; but this you may easily suppose none but he can. Creatures die, and the love of Creatures; but the Love of God abides for ever, 1 Joh. 2. 17. 1 Cor. 7. 31. And the Blood of Christ sticks by us in a dying hour; yea, 'tis the only thing that sticks by us, as great Lord Strafford said; and if you, great Ladies, would wash in that, it would make you whiter than the Snow. Wash me, says David, Psal. 5. 1. v. 52. Oh! ye had all need wash, and pray David's prayer, Lords, Ladies and others; but especially to you great Ladies, do we commend and beg these few lines may be accepted: 'Tis not for your Charity alone, but good as well as Charity, that we thus plead: Gold and Silver is but little worth to us, or our School, in comparison of God and Christ: Oh! look to him that ye be not undone at last, when ye should be happy; yea, utterly undone; once in Hell, and never out; once in Hell, and utterly undone; other losses may be gained, but Heaven can never be gained, if once lost: Ye weep for Love, and weep for Honours, weep for Frowns, and weep for Friends, many times; but how will ye weep, says Christ, if such a thing should happen! which, God forbidden; namely, that some, or many of you, great Ladies, should ever see great sinners and little, we mean, mean sinners in respect of you Noble Ones, that shall come from the East, and from the West, from the North, and from the South, Luk. 17. v. 22. and from places where Preaching has never been; and yet these sinners shall sit down with Abraham, with Isaac and Jacob, Luke 13. 28. and you, great Ladies, should be shut out, as Christ speaks, into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore: Weep to think that weeping avails not. We suppose it a vain story, that the Queen of Carthage wept for Aeneas, but 'tis true Divinity, that the Lord of Glory wept for the Jews, saying, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! how oft would I have gathered thee, as a Hen would have gathered her Chickens? Matth. 23. 37. But oh! who can, or will weep for you, if you should once miscarry in the days of Eternity? Nay, there will be no day, if that night once overtake you, John 9 4. But you will long, and long, and lose your longing; for a Gospel day can never come, when 'tis once finally lost: Now, as we would beg from you, so we would beg for you, that you would mind, whilst you may, and work whilst you may, for the night cometh, wherein no man can work, John 9 3. And if indeed you would work for your Souls, God, and another world, first make Christ and his Love the ground of all your Joys and Sorrows for the future. Christ is a true Foundation, and others can no man lay, 1 Cor. 3. 11. Honours, Riches, Smiles, Favours, with all the Mirth, Music and Embraces in the world, are but Toys to a soaring Soul: Yea, I have experienced it, said a great Lady: If you would soar aloft, as the lofty Eagle flies, then fly away in your Soul's Loves, Joys and Pleasures to a heavenly Object, and a heavenly Christ yea Christ in Heaven, who sits there and ever lives to make continual Intercession for such sinners as come unto him, Rom. 8. 34.  
Madam, as we would beg hearty, so we would deal plainly with your Honours; and your Noble Sex, do rather need more plain dealing, than any others in the world; for all things seem to smile and flatter you, and will till you be in Hell, if you have not a care; the greatness of your Birth, Beauty, Train, Fortune and Relations; yea, some of your own Chaplains deal not so faithfully with you as they should many times, but wink at sin, say little.  
When Dives was in Hell, he would fain have sent to his kindred then on Earth, to forewarn them, Luk. 16. 24. but who almost of a thousand gives you half that timely warning that you should have, to look after Heaven, and the God of Heaven, which will be a lasting Good for ever and ever?  
Oh Madam! home is home, as we use to say; but there is no home like to Heaven, and he that made that; will ye mind whilst ye may, and live whilst ye may for Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens? I mean the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all Glory, as the Apostle calls him. I repent of all the hours I ever spent in my life, said Sir Thomas Mason, save what I spent in communion with God: And that man will certainly wish he had never been in a dying hour, who lives not unto him. All things fail me now, but my God, my duty and my prayers, 
Mason.  So then, faith never fails, said he, who had been five times Ambassador for King James. But from all chief learn this, the world to be vanity, that God in Christ, Faith and holy Duties well performed, were never failing things; that is to say, holy Duties done, by Divine assistance, and the sense of his Love in Christ: But all things else fail us, and Cordials cease when breath and life flies away. But God is my portion for ever, saith the Psalmist, 16. 5. Money will not; nor money cannot buy one moment from the grave; for what would not some give, could the Physician help? but Faith and Holiness will help; practise then the Art of well living, for the comfort of well dying. Great peace have they that love thy Law, saith David, Psal. 119. 165. Many shall be the sorrows of those that sin much here or hereafter. And I suffer these pains for my sins past, saith a great Lord. And I shall never sleep more, saith a Carding Gentlewoman, the word Eternity doth so run in mine Ear. And indeed it is hard when people spend their time in Carding, as she had done, and come to dying, to find comfort. Oh! but a good conscience sings sweet; Remember, O Lord, I walk before thee, says good King Hezekiah, 2 King. 20 3. I have finished my work, says Christ, Joh. 17. 4. I have fought a good fight, says Paul, 2 Tim. 4. 7. And, I have loved, Preached, and lived to thee, says Luther, Oh Christ, from my Soul! And so have I, says Beza; and I am weary of sin, and willing to die. But what have you, great Ladies, done, that you should expect to live with Angels, and sing with that Celestial Choir the praises of the Lamb to all Eternity? Rev. 7. 9 Come and begin Heaven here on Earth, that ye be never made the tail at last; you are now uppermost in all places, rooms and companies, would you be lowermost in the next world? Lords lead you by the hand up and down stairs, where your steps go pit pat, with your silver Clappers: But oh! if ye do not live to Christ, what will become of you when the Silken Stockin, and the Silver Shoe, the Holland Shift, and all must off; and as ye come into the world, so must ye go; only your Mother's blood will be washed away. Princes, Kings and Queens must all lie down to Death, and Parliament Lords must pull off their Robes; but Death can never strip a Saint, nor any true believing penitent of Christ and his Righteousness; no, no, Worms may eat his skin through and through, and the Grave consume his flesh and bones to dust, as Job speaks, Job 19 26. Yet shall I see my Redeemer.  
But will he own you then, if you do not own him now? My Sheep hear my voice, and I give to them Eternal Life, says Christ. But you would none of me, Joh. 10. 27. I have piped, says Christ, but you would not dance; I have mourned, but ye would not lament, Mat. 11. 17. Christ Preached Repentance by John to the Jews, but they would not mourn: Christ Preached Forgiveness by himself, but they would not believe, nor have any of his Salvation. Oh! take heed, and again take heed, that ye, Great and Noble, Gentile Ladies, do not the same. The Gadarens once preferred their Swine before the Lord of Life and Glory, and entreated him to be gone out of their Coasts or Country, Luk. 8. 37. And take ye heed that ye refuse not the waters of Shiloah, that run softly, Isa. 8. 6. and slight him that speaks from Heaven, Heb. 12. 25. prefer your Lusts, Toys, Honours, and every little thing before your Lord and Master. Why should the braying of an Ass be more acceptable to you, than the most melodious Music of the Gospel? I mean, base and mean things, before the high and heavenly ones of God: Oh! taste and see that the Lord is gracious, and Religion sweet, Psal. 34. 8. I will assure you 'tis, said a great Countess to the Lord Bartlet. And, Cursed be the man, said the Noble Marquis Galliaces, that thinks all the pleasure in the world worth one hours' communion with God. And if you would have communion with God, sit down, and sink down in your spirits, and converse with yourselves a little before ye go hence and be no more; but the Devil visits, and twenty needless things will not let you sit down, walk alone, or be in the dark one hour, to mind Death, Heaven, Hell and Eternity. Indeed, it is hard for a man of much business, or a Lady of much Honour and Courtship, to mind the main, or to live to him at all, who lives much for others. Wise men, and Great men, and Statesmen too, are great strangers to themselves many times. Oh! let's live to ourselves: We have lived to our Fortune, our King, and our Country; let's live to ourselves before we go hence: All the world will not make amends, if we neglect it (said Sir Francis Walsingham to Lord Burlington) who were great Statesmen in Queen Elizabeth's time; and if you neglect it too, to breed up two or three young Lords, or Ladies to stand in your room and stead, merely to maintain your Honour, and the Honour of your Families, and not mind the Honour of Christ, and his Exemplary Life, or Laws, which should be copied out in your Lives, and Child's Conversations; What do ye more than others? as Christ speaks; nay, do ye not worse than others many times? Matth. 5. 47. As if Greatness were necessitated to abandon Piety and Goodness: This is a bad conclusion. Great men should imitate the great Planets, and the great Deity, by being good, and doing good; but you do hurt many times by bad Examples, sinning, leading others into sin; send away your Children for a little breeding, to the hazard of their Souls; match them to the worst of men for a little Honour many times; weep for them when they are sick, and laugh when they sin. But Cato advises, He that will buy a Farm, should look well what Neighbours he has; but the qualifications of the person had need more be minded of the Young Lady's Servant, because 'tis for Life; For Honour is but a shadow without Piety, and will prove a bubble, a bubble, as one cried out of all the world, upon the thoughts of Eternity; indeed that swallows all things, as mighty Whales does the little Fishes: how quick and soon this comes, God knows. Man walks, sings, laughs and talks, and Ladies do the same; play upon the Lute and Citern one day, and to Death's Pipe the next: And now if Death and Night puts an end to Life and Day, what should remain but to work whilst day and time last? because, though another day comes, and that past, yet the same Day and Life; nor may that opportunity be, which in your hands, if once slipped and gone. Oh! how much lost time have I to repent of, and how little time to do it in! said Sir Henry Wotton in King James' Reign. Man's greatest happiness is to be good, and at leisure to do good; Delays and procrastinations of being good, and doing good, are dangerous. And, To morrow, to morrow, cousins many a one, says a Father. Therefore the Wise man says, What thou findest in thy heart to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no device nor work in the Grave whither thou art going, Eccles. 9 10. But he that dies to sin daily, makes the best step to this Eternal step of Death, as a great Philosopher calls it, which puts us not into another room, but another place and condition quite, away from all we now converse withal. Relations never meet together more, in the way and manner that they now do, but the Father puts away the Son, and the Son the Father; and this Relation is never more, nor the Marriage one neither, Matth. 22. 30. Death is a Divorce for ever; and though these Relations meet in the Resurrection-state, yet is there neither Marriage, nor giving in Marriage, as Christ speaks to the seventh Brother.  
Let Husbands love their Wives, whilst they may; and Wives their Husbands; this step and journey will part them both for ever; as one said to his wife a dying, who had been married fifty years or upwards. Oh me! said a young Lady, This is very sad, that I must leave thee, my dear, so soon; we have not been married one year; what, is there no Remedy? and must I needs die? Truly yes; he that lives must die whether he be sick or no. We die, because we lived; said one, Death is decreed, and we die naturally; our Bed and Sleep resembles Death and the Grave, What is sleep but the shadow of it? And he that will die well, must live well; and if there be any thing after this Life, Why do not young men take care to live well? I did both, saith Socrates, though a heathen: Live and Dye well go together: What God hath joined, let no man put asunder: for as the tree leans, so it falls; Eccles. 11. 3. Men do not live sin-ward, and die God ward; no, no; you must live to God, and lean to God; live and die to God, if ever you mean to go to him. The Tree falls as it leans, and lies as it falls: If you fall God ward you are happy; But if sin-ward you are miserable; and ever like to be. For after death comes judgement; that is, the stating of the Soul, saith Burrace, in an unchangeable state. Here a man's condition may be mended, but after death its never to be altered. Faith and Repentance may be wrought here, though it be at the last cast. This night shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Luk. 23. 43. Yet late Repentance seldom true; though true Repentance never too late: But after death there is no amendment nor Repentance neither. Solomon hewed and squared his Building for the Temple beforehand; so that at the rearing of it up, there was no noise of the Axe or Hammer heard; Whoever God intends as a stone in the heavenly Jerusalem he fits before hand: May you all be fitted, all you young and lovely Ladies, And you more elderly too; May you all stand before the Lamb, see him, have his name and praise in your forehead, Palms in your hands, Robes upon your backs; to cry with that numberless number of all kindreds, tongues and people; Salvation, Glory, Honour to the Lamb, and to him that sits on the Throne for ever, Rev. 7. 10. Yea, may you all fall down & cry, not with the cry of Lamentation, but Acclamation, Joy, and triumph; which Triumph to the Godly will certainly be; after all actions of Mortality are come to an end. In the mean time all affections have two sharp ends, the first and the last; the first meeting, and the last parting of Friends and Lovers is always so. And as Christ wept for Jerusalem, and the hardness of the Jews, whom Paul wished almost to be accursed for, that they might be saved; so the Jews shall one day be converted and look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn, as for their first born, Rev. 1. 7. And Paul's Friends wept sore when he told them they should see his face no more; Act. 21. 13. But the Mary's wept, Marry Magdalen, and the Mother of Jesus wept, when he said in his sufferings, Woman behold thy Son, John 19 26. And the other Loved much, because much was forgiven, Mark 8. 36. You who have all your sins forgiven, let the memorial of his sufferings dwell in your hearts, and 'twill make you weep to sin against him; Oh! the kindness and favours of a good God, are obligations to a good Soul. May you all remember what he has showed unto you at any time. Were you never sick in dangers, nor partakers of some special mercies? Oh! keep the Remembrance of his goodness to your Souls. But, oh how little do rich and poor, think upon this God and his goodness to their Souls! which must stand before the Lamb, as I said but now, or be banished from him for ever and ever; or how little do they think of the worth, Nature, or Immortality of them? What's a fine Silk, a fine Skin, a fine Shape, a sweet Face to such a Spark or Beam of God as the Soul is, that came out from him, and was breathed into man by him? Gen. 2. 7. Shall this immortal thing ever starve, die and be forgotten? which one calls the Breath of Life, or the Living Breath which gives us Life. Some never look their Bibles, others never mind their Souls; the whole world will not make amends for such a loss, much less a vain wretched life of sinful pleasures, and a few honours. What! Careful for shape, and fashion, and neglect that which is the Breath of life, or the life which gives us Breath? as I said before. Good Books are good Companions, and the Bible makes glorious Christians, when they so read, mind it, as to live up to it. Queen Elizabeth loved it well, and hug'd it in the Prison. But vain Books eat up time, and spoil many young Ladies and Gentlewomen, but 'tis not lack of time, but love and relish to it, that you do not read, hear and pray more▪ But what kind of foolish Creatures are many of you young Ladies, to think God, Christ, Heaven, Souls may be put off for any slight occasions, or a Looking-glass. You were not made for Birds or Butterflies, to sing in woods, Play, Court, or Dance in Sun: But you are made for Saints, to sing with Angels, and go to God; or else to weep in Hell. Nay 'tis so, we will assure you and no otherwise, there is but two places; Look to the heavens, and think well what he deserves that made them and you. Psal. 8. 3. and you to live in them for ever. If you be his servants you shall sing and others shall weep, grieve, and mourn; Isa. 65. 14. You shall drink, and others shall be thirsty.  
The Heavens declare his wondrous work, saith the Psalmist, and the Earth is full of his Goodness, Psal. 8. 1. And will you be full of Sin, Enmity and Folly? Oh! God forbidden, that such lovely Creatures as many of you young Lords and Ladies be, should be full of sin: Sin is an evil, an evil Disease in the Soul, and to the Soul, it kills it worse than Leprosy to Eternity, if Christ do not save it: Oh! value him; fly to him; clasp about him, that ye never miscarry in Time nor Eternity. Compare both, how short is one, and long the other. The pleasures of sin are but for a season, Heb. 11. 25. Moses left Pharaoh's Court, preferring afflictions before these pleasures, which betrays into Gulfs, Snares and Rocks. Do not you make yourselves unhappy in another world, when you may do well in both: A thousand years should be more valuable than fourscore: However, let not fourscore be more to you than three or fourscore thousand, thousand, thousand. This is certain, Riches, Honours, Estates and Courtships, with all that is Terrene and Sublunary, shall fly away. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, before one Jot or Tittle of God's Word, Joh. 2 17. Luk. 21. 33. 'Tis a very dangerous thing, though you do not mind it, to be irreligious: Pleasure one day in God's Court is worth a thousand elsewhere, Psal. 114. 10. Oh! taste and see the sweet and honey of it: Less pains will serve for Eternal Life than some take for Temporal; yea, to dress themselves: What! three hours about that, and not a quarter at prayers? Some get great Fortune by Marriages, others a little by Plough, Cart and pains; others by Play, and that's almost cheating; but get the Lord Jesus Christ, and you get all, 1 Tim. 4 8. This world you see, but do not you believe the other, and the Resurrection-state? if you do not, you are Sadduces, and irrational. Do not you see all things spring again every year? Dead Seeds and Corn bring the same Grain; and shall not man spring again, as well as Worms, Flies and Spiders, which seem to be dead all the Winter, yet live again in the Summer? Oh! believe the Resurrection-state, and the Promises; for Godliness hath one for both worlds. But this lies in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5. 19 Ephes. 2. 2. Shall honours, pleasures, profits be your portion ever? it cannot be; Oh look ye after another world then! Why choose you not then that that you would have when you come to die; let me die the death of the Righteous, and my latter end be like unto his; Num. 23. 10. And every one will say and wish so; Let go sin and sorrow, take faith and you shall do it; how much better is that than fancy, heaven and earth, than earth and not heaven? God can give a thousand pleasures; a river of pleasures, Psal. 36. 8. But vain sinful pleasures are certainly the way to hell; 2 Tim. 3. 4 And I could never reconcile them and Religion together: said a great one. Lovers of pleasures that are sinful, are really Lovers of Death, yea, the whore's house goes down to death; her feet take hold on hell, Prov. 2. 16. 5. 5. He that cannot cease from sin, and repent of it must needs be damned for it, it is an ill bedfellow, and a worse grave fellow; And a cutting saying it was to the Jews that they should die in it, Joh. 8. 21. If ye believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins, says Christ. Sinful lusts make men beasts, and sinful wrath makes men Devils: What! kill a man in anger? Go into the field to seek honour, but find Death and Hell? live a Murderer, or die by one? If furious sparks did mind the sparkles of an eternal fire; and how much the Devil is glad when he finds such fools; they would never do as they do, sight and damn one another for a thing of nought many times. My Life is of more worth, said the Philosopher to the rude Mariners, who were swearing, and careless in a storm, than to be cast away. And indeed Life is a thing to be valued at a high rate. And upon a Life well spent depends Eternal happiness; therefore 'tis the wise, and not fools, that redeem time for Eternity. The Egyptians pictured time with three heads; a Dog, a Lion, and a Wolf; a Dog, signifying Time to come, flattering; and a Lion, to denote Time present, strongly working; and a Wolf, denoting Time lost or passed, to be biting: And Death on a dark Throne, with a Rod in one hand, and a Key in the other; as if by one he drove us together, and the other he locked us up. Oh Ladies! every moment of time commands Regions of Blessedness, when 'tis improved; but lost, it becomes a Worm in conscience, and eats to Eternity. If men in health, and Duellers did but mind this, they would not send one another to Hell as they do. Certainly such Duellers will be sad repenters (as I said before) in another world: Do they believe a God? or do they not? If there be a God, he is a Rewarder of Virtue, and will certainly punish all unpardoned sins which lead us into Gulfs, Snares and Rocks. Say, when temptations are upon you to any great sin, Now are the Philistines come, and the Cords of Death and Hell are upon me; shall I be foolish, base, vile and unclean? do this and wrong my own soul? Prov. 8. 36. And, all that hate me love death, says Solomon. Some vices have short pleasures, long throws, and after-pains; if vice, sin, sinful sin and folly, have spoiled youth: Have a care of old Age; one foot is in the grave: What! sin all your life, and have Heaven at last? no, it will be Hell. And, I had rather be in it, says a Father, without sin, than in Heaven filled with it. Oh! take a fair farewell of it betimes; it never did, will, nor can do any one good; no, it cannot; it brings all the losses, crosses in the world on us, here, or hereafter: And how can we think of going to Heaven, if we do not live to it, but leave a Hell of sin, seeds and spawn, by bad example behind us? or if we should live for Heaven a little, and lose it for want of living a little more, would it not be sad?  
A good bargain lost for want of a second or third bidding, proves a great vexation many times; one step more and all had been well and safe; but to lose a Heaven for nothing, for nothing, for want of a little Religion, and being serious in it, bites to Eternity. Oh! if you fall but a step or two short, this will be your case, and you will never come in. Take heed, and again take heed, O ye great Ones of the times! Lords, Ladies, and others, that ye do not miscarry in the days of Eternity, but give at length some diligence to make your Calling and Election sure. Honours and Evidences are never sure enough; can Heaven be too sure for you? Come, look after God and Christ more; pray oftener; throw yourselves into the Arms of Jesus; depend upon Free Grace, and he will certainly save you, and your Souls: Like and love holiness: Be in love and league with no sin, and you shall have Joy, Happiness and Holiness to Eternity: And therefore, as ever you would be Lodgers out of Hell, live in the Church as a holy member of the Church; love the best of Protestants, persecution is a devilish sin; And good preaching a great mercy; And if ye love one another then are ye my disciples indeed, says Christ, Joh. 14. 21. And 'tis reported of St. Chrysostom, that they had rather want the shining of the Sun than his preaching; and says he, if I had a Mountain for my Pulpit, and the whole world to hear me it should be upon that Text. O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity! Psal. 4. 2. The delight of the soul is to know its maker, and heavenly preaching is a soul-ravishing thing; there being infinite sweetness in the love of God: But he that does not lift his head and his heart above this world; will perish with the world. And he & she that is for much ease, new fashions, and fine , & haiting up & down in Coaches is oftentimes for little religion. If you cannot live without excess of pleasures, I say excessive ones, you will be carried down the stream of Nilus to the deadly Sea, called, Mare Mortuum; like the skipping fishes till they fall into it. Come, let brave Sparks and gallant Lady's mind better things, the great God and his Son that came down from heaven, and never knew pleasure here on earth but in doing his Father's Will; and if you will, now do it; when the Door is once shut it is too late: Some would be troubled if they should never go to the Park again, or see another May-day. But if you should never go to heaven you are utterly undone; for there are but two places, all go to one place saith Solomon; but he means that of the grave, Eccles. 12. 7. But all besides believe two places, if the principles of Religion were never so dubious, yet, it concerns us to be serious, because they are of such mighty concernment to us Said the great Earl of Leicester, Fools play with their souls, and drawlers at Religion cut the thread of life, and throat of them. But sink not into this deadness and deadly wickedness, as to make sin a sport of at any time; especially such kind of sinning as throws a contempt upon God and his word, and hardens others to despise and condemn that, namely Religion, which all ages and nations beside this have never done before: But it were better to be drowned with a millstone about our necks, than left to die and be buried with a hard heart in the grave, or live to draw others to hell. Take heed which way you go, the broad way is most easy, but the narrow is most safe, Luke 13. 24. Safe bind, and safe find; but sin loosened, and the Reins let go, carries us whither we should not, and whither we would not. If we did but consider; but the want of due consideration; if you will indeed do it too, than you shall know it more than you do, and taste it to be far better than all the sports and pleasures of the Court and Country too. Oh! that I had never been King of Spain, said that great Prince Charles the fifth, and that I had lived a Hermite's life. But a heavenly life will never be repent of: Should not Ladies strive to be Angelical, and holy in the eyes of God, as well as lovely in the eyes of men? why should you be all for Honour, and not for Religion, as some of you are? It becomes great Sparks to seek great things, and not to spend their time in Ladies Chambers, tossing of a Playbook, or reading this or that little Jest, crying, Faith Madam here's a good one. Lord Bacon said, Nothing concerns us so much in all the world as Religion, and the Principles of it.  
Come then, and let us seek the world to come; this passes away like May-day and May-flowers; all but smoke or dew quickly gone, but everlastingness is a mighty thing. The world and times are bad; let us make Christ all in all, Col. 3. 11. He is so, and will be so: Let him be to us in point of Justification, Sanctification and Redemption: Imitate him, and lean upon him in Life, Death and Eternity. Wisdom waits at his Gate to keep you from sin, which a Playhouse leads unto: But I will go to the house of God, says David, and pay my Vows in thee, O Jerusalem! Psal. 116. 19 And I mine in thee, O Smithfield, said that brave Hampshire Martyr, John Philpot; but if you care not for God's Honour, he will not care for yours, nor what becomes of you when you die: But he that honours me, will my Father love, said Christ, Joh. 14. 21. But no man can love, serve, or honour him enough, who has loved us so much, as to wash us in his own blood, Rev. 1. 5. And Philpot shed his free and boldly, and disputed as bravely as ever man did for Christ and his Truth in the Convocation-house. And the world is not worthy of those men which have been burnt upon this account, in all, or divers Countries, by the Man of Sin: But take heed you be not foolish Virgins, and foolish Ladies; and such as have not Oil in your Lamps, nor saving Grace in your hearts, at midnight, when the Cry of the Bridegroom shall come: For if the door be then shut, and Repentance too late, Christ will never hear, though you knock, beg, and cry upon your knees; and were more beautiful than Angels, saying, Lord, open, open, with ten thousand tears in your eyes. The day is past, and the night will never have an end: But 'tis non-consideration is the cause of men and woman's damnation, said a good Divine: Therefore said God, O that my people did but consider! But the Ox knows his Owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib; but my people doth not consider, Isa. 1. 3.  
The length of Time; the certainty of Eternity; the impossibility of more than a long Life; and how vain it is to labour not to die once! Methusalem died, Gen. 5. 7. Piety, strength or policy keeps none from the grave. Consider, saith Solomon, do not all go one way to the dust? Eccles. 12. 5. But Christ shall say, Come ye Blessed; Go ye Cursed: I was an hungry, and you fed me; naked, and you clothed me; or, you did it not. Nay, what you did to one of these little ones, you did to me, Matth. 25. 41, 42. O Do something for the School, if you have not yet! though works do not merit. 'Tis impossible, saith St. Austin; for we cannot will good, much less do it of ourselves. Yet you must live for Heaven, and by Christ get Faith, or you can never be saved.   

Short Hints, but Sound Truths, In great Humility.  
THe Heathen Oracle of mortal man used to say, We are born crying, live laughing, and die sighing; But Job and Solomon seem to hint, there is little laughter; for man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly up, Job 5. 7. and All is vanity saith Solomon, Eccles. 12. 8. That is, all besides Christ and the knowledge of him in a strict sense; And says Hintius, Upon this account I could even obscure myself to think how much short all knowledge is, and how much envy the most curious parts sustain and undergo, especially when they are in great and high places, where they have too too little time to converse with themselves, mind their maker, or rectify their crooked nature. Infancy is full of ignorance, Youth of sins, and Old Age of sorrows, and the whole life of dangers: so that it is a great misery for poor man who is but a Pile or Bag full of dust to come into the world, were it not for the hope of heaven or a better world. But this is never lost without great grief when possessed with much love. A certain rich man that loved riches well and too too well too; being sick to death, caused all his Plate and Gold to be brought before him, and thus said to his soul, like the fool in the Gospel, Luk. 1●. 18. My soul, if thou wilt now tarry with me and not leave my body, all this will I promise thee and thou shalt enjoy it with Riches, fine Buildings, Gardens, and sumptuous Houses: But finding his infirmity increasing, and no hopes of life, in a great rage and fury he broke out into this most desperate speech: Since thou wilt not abide, nor be entreated, nor tarry longer with me, I recommend thee to the Devil: and so soon departed. Oh! let such men fear to laugh who are in danger to go where it will never avail or profit any thing to weep: And he that looks on a picture and sees on it a rich man and a beggar, never envies one nor pities th'other: all men are but pictures and shadows, quickly pass away: and the poor have an advantage of the rich many times in dying, having but little to leave behind: but many are dull in want, and wanton in fruition; and most men's lives are miserable seeing those that seek for good hardly find it: When evil comes of itself, and enters our gates unsought. Yet the brain will be working whilst the pulse is beating; let a man live few years, or let a man live many; one does not make him happy, nor another unhappy; but his living well or ill does it. Anselmus says; In heaven joys shall be within and without, above and beneath, in all parts and round about, and everlasting too, saith the Prophet Isaiah 65.  
The lovers of this world eat, drink, and are merry, but for want of the love of God, go down to hell, Psal. 9 17. in a little while and nothing remains of them but a short name, dust and worms. Seneca says evil actions are whipped by the conscience of themselves, and torments them sore; and that wickedness drinketh up the greatest part of its own poison, and is a punishment to itself. But Christians say there is a hell besides, and most of all nations believe future rewards, and punishments: Oh! let us prevent weeping by weeping, says One, and all of hell's sorrows by heavenly repentance; Aristotle says It were better to die than to do any thing against the good of virtue. And I, says Seneca, was better born than to be a slave to lust: what they count virtue, Christians do not so well know; but this is certain, it is better not to be, than not to know a good God in Jesus Christ, and live to him in some measure, who is all, and will be all for ever. Though Zenon said, through his Atheism, he feared nothing but Old Age; yet Socrates tells ye, When Death approaches bad men will be willing to turn Divines. And, if I have lived well, says Lucicrema, why do not you clap your hands? But Divine Love is a never ending Treasure; and the Orient Pearl is gathered from the Early Dew. And in the 110th. Psalms, it is said of Christ, That from the womb of the morning he had the dew of his youth; that is, as I humbly conceive, from the first peeping out of God's Love to mankind, as it was through a promise in Jesus Christ; so all these promises and blessings, obtained in Time or Eternity, are gathered from the head, heart, Love and Merit of Christ, as the morning dew is from Grass, Corn, or Herbs. But to be careless of him, or ourselves, and to live without fear, is to Die Living, and is in great danger to fall into the Sea of God's everlasting wrath. Awake, awake, O miserable Soul! and lift up thine Eyes, lest the night of nights overtake thee, Rom. 13. 12. Joh. 9 4. And assure yourselves, Death will almost daunt good Livers; what wilt thou do? But he whom happiness affects cares not how long he lives. But Job was safer on the Dunghill, than Adam in Paradise. And Christ the true Son of the Living God, when begging water at the Well of Jacob, Joh. 4. 7. from the woman with the Pitcher: Yet many think a middle condition is best for this world, and for our Souls too; but we need every day the blood of Christ to wash us all, as well as Water for our faces: And the Soul is washed by secret thinking and applying of the Love, Life, Death and Merit of Christ to itself: He gave himself for me, says Paul, Gal. 2. 20. And our Souls are like Camaeleons, live upon the Gospel-Air, Promises in Christ, and God's Love through Christ; but the world trusted on, is apt to thrust all out of our minds. And says Tully, No man could ever make me believe the Soul should live in this mortal Body, and be dead when absent. Oh! live then to live for ever. Bear well, and prepare well for that which can never be avoided, namely, Death. To labour not to die once, is to labour in vain; But to live to Christ, is a certain way to prevent a second Death. And a man whose Soul is truly conversing with God, shall find more pleasure in secret walks, closerts, groves and hedges, than in the Palace of a Prince. And Sir Walter Raleigh says, He that is resolved to be a great Favourite and Servant there, must abandon strict Piety. The love of Fame, Name and Pleasure, is inconsistent with the Love of God. True, a weak man may give strict Rules; and the holiest Minister in the world hardly lives up to his own Preaching. And you cannot look to Heaven with one Eye, and look down to the Earth with the other at the same time. But however, the best counsel is best and most wholesome for our Souls: And though our care be great for the Body, yet a man may be as happy in Russet as in Cloth of Tissue. A golden Cap, and a rending Head; a Silken Stockin, and a sore Foot; or a great Estate, and the torment of the Stone, or Gout in the great Toe, is a grievous misery.  
And I see, says the Emperor, that sovereignty commands no diseases nor the seas, having set himself and chair on the shore at the Tides coming in, crying back, back, and I command you, proud waves, back: but the Emperor was fain to move. And Bardue Caesar cried I begot him mortal, when word was brought him his only Son was dead; which was the reward of Trophimus, after he had finished the famous Oracle of Apollo; and begged that which was the best for him, and 'twas promised in three days he should have it; in which time he died. But 'tis our duty said Seneca, to die often: yet one complained against the long life of a Raven and his own short; but the old Romans counted it Ominous to see one, and not two in the morning, as if it had betokened Wife or Husband's death; yet though that be the most known, 'tis the most unknown thing in the world: The Sexton, Clerk, and Coffin-maker are most apt to forget their own, though they nail up and bury others; and the best Men, Citizens and their Neighbours too, when they have got their rings and gloves; but 'tis ill preparing for death when 'tis a burden to live. Sick repentance is seldom true, and 'tis certain 'tis labour and trouble enough to be head and heart sick; and then a man can hardly do any thing but mind his ease, or pillow. Oh! put not off your Will but especially your souls weal and happiness to a dying hour; My care was, when young, to live well, and 'tis now to die well, said a Heathen. Physicians, Lawyers, and Ministers cannot be heard at once; and it may be friends are troublesome too: Come, to live well is best, and that will prevent the worst: Oh! then play not the Courtier's part who, some say, do all things late, Rise late, Dine late, Sup late, and Repent late, many times never, but it is never too late if true, but it should be of the whole man; but when death has folded up men's days, opportunities are all gone; Moles see, and Swans sing a little before they die; but a true Saint and a Simeon says let me departed in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Luk. 2. 29. But the fashion of this world is to put men in mind of dying when they see they cannot live above a day or two longer; but as I have lived uncertain, so I now die doubting, said a wise man and a great Scholar; yet after a thousand thousand millions of years, eternity will be as long as ever; sadly and suddenly will all worldly pleasures be turned into walking dreams: and great Alexander is less now than a little whiteish to thistle down, which the least wind or air rolls about; the world passes away, 1 Cor. 7. 31. time is short, says Burroughs; and says he, the word signifies, folded up to the last end or fag of it like a piece of cloth; but eternity is still as long as ever. Oh! set your house in order, 2 King. 20. 4. as the Prophet said to the good King; if every one has not an house, yet every one has a soul, as well as a body, and there be great affairs that concern both, and the greatest wits in the world have been concerned for them, said the Right Honourable the Earl of Northampton, and have ever found sooner or later the power of God or Religion in their consciences; yea, the Great and Godly ones. Oh, my soul, my soul! said the French Cardinal. And Oh mine! said the wretched Pope; And thou must never be merry more. To die safe is a good thing, and the best of men are best at last, and have heaven in their Bosoms and Breasts; and say Let me go, let me go; Oh Christ! thou are mine, said another. The Jews said, God kissed Moses' soul out of him: And the Minister said, so he did a great Ladies in Essex. But though some men die not so comfortably, yet they all die safely, who have the habits of true Grace in their souls; and many very bad men seem to die quietly and go to hell like a Lamb in dull diseases, consumptions, senslesness, and hardness of their hearts in sins; for Satan can let men alone well enough when he knows he has them sure enough; but 'tis a sad thing to have a man's eyes never opened till they are singed and burnt open in hell; break from him and sin now, by true and timely repentance, and you make sure work for ever. Go forth, go forth, said one to his soul; thou hast served God, and trusted Christ many years, and now Heaven is just at hand, and this dying Body of mine shall live again, as Job speaks, Job 26. 27. and my Soul return with the Joys of Heaven to fetch it to itself. Some say, There are veins or strings in a man's Tongue which reach to the Heart; and when they break he dies: But when heart and tongue shall speak this, oh what a comfort is it in a dying hour!  
Plato, though a Heathen said, All men almost were out of the way, because they did not seek after the mind of God; and that those did die most comfortably that lived by reason, and adored the first Being. Therefore, says Lucicrema to his friends, when he had called for the Glass, and combed his head; Now clap your hands if I have acted my part well. And Seneca says, Since Nature has stamped a God in the mind of every man; and the belief of him arose not from custom, nor was enacted by a Law; it necessarily follows there must be a Deity; the belief is so natural. And Cato says, Epicurus did dread Death more than any thing in the world upon this account. Lord Chancellor Edgerton says, The Atheist and Profane lays a wager with the Pious, but upon mighty odds; for one ventures his Life and Soul, or the Life of his Soul for ever; and the other but his Lust and Sin, which is yet his Interest to be without; and yet if it were on equal ground, the disproportion is vast and infinite; and what a sad surprise will he be in, when by death he shall be instantly seized by horrid Spirits! And this truth of reward and punishments will be tried in a little time: And 'tis but a little while, and every man shall be no man. And though every one should strive to mend one, that the world may be better; yet may we not think, that the world is angry with some, because they are no worse: When good men are sorry in themselves they are no better; but he that is angry with sin, and reputes of it, shall not easily sin in his anger; when he that is angry for every thing, will be angry for nothing, as we say: But it rests in the bosom of Fools, says Solomon, Proverbs.  
Though Moses was sometimes angry with Israel, yet he wished his name might be blotted out of the Book of Life, rather than God should destroy them, Exod. 32. 32. He granted part of the request, and loved Moses the better for it. And Paul had a brave strain of this nature for his Countrymen the Jews, Rom. 9 3. Surely these were as great Saints as ever lived, and loved God as much. 'Tis a sin not to think there is a Providence; but what a sin is it to think there is no God nor Providence? yet such Atheists there be on Earth, if not in Coffeehouses: Yet in Hell there is none but will feel there is a God to punish with everlasting destruction evil doers, as well as to reward with everlasting salvation the well doers: And if he did not both, why should not men do what they please? And says Joshua, when he had pressed them to the Love of God; Do what you will, I and my house will serve the Lord, Josh. 24. 15. And 'tis better to beg our bread here, if it be his will, than to beg Water in Hell, as Dives did, Luk. 16. 23. A thankful heart will bless God for a little, when abundance abuse him for his many, many mercies; but happy are they to whom God is nearer than the nearest, and dearer than all relations in the world: For he that loves Wife and Children best shall never be saved: See this Text, Luk. 14. 26. But before Christ came into the world, God was in Christ reconciling the world to him: But when he died, the work was finished, said Christ, bowed the head: But God took Christ's word before that, and saved millions of his Servants before Christ came into the world; we find a hundred and forty thousand in the Text, Rev. 7. 4. But now that Christ hath shed his blood, and paid, by suffering on the Cross, for the debt and sin of his people, he doth as it were take the Father's word now, for all that shall be saved to the world's end.  
Time was when this Gospel was thinn sown, but thick come up, and many thousands converted by hearing one sermon, but now many sermons to one conversion: Oh! Conversion, Conversion of souls, how have I aimed at thee? when Melancthon was a young man, he had so much Zeal, Rhetoric, and Elegancy that he thought no hearer should be able to withstand him; but at last he sadly complains that old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon: but all Apostates are the Devils prisoners, brook lose and caught again, says one; and when strangers ride apace through a village little dogs bark. And if good men be more ordinary zealous in the way to heaven, wicked men do the like many times saith Burroughs: but God will not ask men why they were no more rich, nor fair, nor learned, but why they were no more zealous: the word of God is a rich Jewel, it should lie in our hearts, as well as hang in our ears: but as one broke her looking glass for showing her wrinkles in her face, so many are angry with the Minister, and the word, when the fault is in themselves. One said, a proud Rome, but all other Cities were but villages to that: but honest London is a Zion to that sink or Sodom in comparison of sin: and David loved that, and hated Mesech, Psal. 120. 5. We may love relations well, and too much, but we can never love God and his Church enough. Oh! that men were as wise as those wise men who came from far to see Christ, Matt. 2. 1. but men forsake him and damn themselves, a little time and pains for this world is enough, but much for heaven is too little, because God, Christ, Holiness, and Happiness is there, and ever will be. Some men trade along time for nothing, but others get heaven; Jacob served for one wife, and then for another: Gen. 29. 27. longer than some getting God and Christ for ever. The first Adam found a place for his Children, and lost it, but the second Adam is gone to Heaven to prepare a place in heaven, which shall never be taken from them; Joh. 14. 2. Some like Rachel weep for their Sons, Matt. 2. 18. when sick or die, but never for their sins; a Printer prints, and hath money for composing; what he doth, he doth not like sometimes; and so have some men for preaching, though they do not practise; such watermens which look one way and row another, may chance to bring others to heaven, but they will never get in themselves; though a Christian do not good works that he may be seen of men, Matt. 15. 16. (yet he) may and aught that they be seen with men (namely good works) the Proud Italian Beggars many times use this phrase Do good for your own sakes, they get most, that do most good: Pray good Ladies consider this, and do not forget the Lady Vare and Warwick's good example, they gain most that do most for God and Religion sake, and the giver gets most.  
Contentment turns all to gold; but grace is better than that: Oh beg of Christ this Eyesalve! Rev. 3. 18. And that it may be like the house of David, and sin like Saul▪ s, weaker and weaker. God says sometimes to his Servants, as a King said to a Courtier, that desired to be gone to provide for himself; No, says the King, do my work first, and I will do thine. So says God, Seek ye first my Kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, and all things shall be added unto you. Matt. 6. 33. Judas sold his master and salvation both cheap, yet they that paid the money bought dear, for they bought their own damnation as is much to be feared: but some have an easy kind of way for sin. A French King wore a Crucifix in his hat, and when he swore he kissed that, as if all was well; some swear, drink, and do worse, and yet cry God forgive me, it was but once or twice and a trick of youth; but such tricks will trip you into hell without mercy and repentance: the world was once destroyed with water, for the heat of lust and other wickedness; but shall at length be burnt with fire for bewitching men to sin. 2 Pet. 3. 11. a foolish witty Gentlewoman being told the world and the glories of it was but vanity, 'tis true, said she, Solomon said it, but he first tried it, and so will I; but Solomon was a double great Type, first, of wretched, sinful, miserable man, who can do nothing but sin of himself; secondly, of holy, happy, Blessed Christ who is all righteous we should imitate him in his wisdom, and holiness, not in his sin and wickedness, for that brings death here and hereafter, Rom. 6. 23. but good men should not dote upon the world, because the world loves its own, Joh. 17. 14. it never loved Christ, nor they that are his, much; the most things of the world, and the best things of the world, leave us at the world's end, send us gawl'd and weary out; a packhorse has but beans and oats, many care and carry for they know not who. A rich man lately going with his son by water towards London Bridg, Father, said the young man, there is a brave play to day at the Duke's Playhouse, let us go see it; O villain! said the Father, wouldst thou go and have me too, when there is a great vessel to look after? Damn me, choose you, said the Son, I will go, calling another boat and so stepped away: but they are both dead now, and a vast estate gone, and no body knows where almost. Oh! how many do the like, care, and care as the old man did, and have nothing many times but sin and the gawled conscience to carry them to the grave: a sad reward, and curse upon over covetous men; but the world at best is but as a spoke in a wheel, one is uppermost to day and another to morrow, and though corn, wine, and oil be the world's happiness, Psal. 4. 7. yet this is at an end, when he or the world is; they ravish in expectation, not in fruition, but heavenly things are sweet in both, and the worlds all is nothing at all at last; many defy it, and the Devil in their mouths, and yet serve both in their hearts, it is not the having the world in our hands, or our hands in the business of the world, but our making an Idol of it, serving it more than the Creator, God blessed for ever: 'Tis a great piece of wisdom to hid faults and ignorance sometimes, yet learned Rome and Greece the two great schools of the world by all their learning did not define whether there were many Gods or one; and were for many years the greatest Idolaters in the world, notwithstanding all their wisemen; but wisdom is good with an inheritance, and true wisdom chooses God and Christ for a portion: The Lord is my portion saith my soul, and whom have I in heaven but thee, says David, Psal. 73. 25. Sir Edward Petto saith that if we do ill, the pleasures are but short, and the pains remain for ever; but if we do well the good does so too; and 'tis good to wait on God who waits to be gracious to such as call upon him. Some men find want of comfort, and others find comfort in want because God is with them; when thou goest through the fire, and through the water; I will be with thee saith the Lord, Isa. 43. 2. And Tertullian says of young Ladies, if they were clothed with Silks and Piety, Satins and Sanctity, Purple and Modesty, God would be with them, and love and like them better too. A man may love morality, civility, and not Grace; Rome would prove the truth by miracles, when she should prove miracles by truth; but her whole Golden Legion is a fiction of forged lies; and that he that wrote it had a brazen face and a leaden heart: they willingly believe lies, and God in judgement suffers them so to do; because they receive not the love of the truth, 2 Thes. 2. 10, 11, 12. And Vespasian was tired with a triumph, and Ladies have been so with music and a playhouse; all is but vanity of vanities at the long run besides Christ and the Knowledge of him: Yea, all else is but Golden Dreams; and 'tis better to fear and dream of Hell, than to drop into it; to think of Jollity, and find misery, is said; or to dream of Heaven upon Earth, and to wake by Death in Hell is sad indeed. Time passes a pace, and all post some where. 'Tis dangerous putting off that to day, which thou must do, or else it may be utterly undone to morrow. Contemplation and Meditation, are good things: 'Tis as the smell of the Rose and Jessemin, says one. Some men are ashamed to sin before a child; but what we are afraid to do before men, we should be to think before God. And 'tis better to spend our time in doing good, than bare talking or getting Riches either. If we should be thankful for little Mercies, Riches and Honour; what should we be for God himself, and the pardon of sin? The Tongue blessing God without the heart, is but a tinkling Cymbal; and the heart blessing God without the tongue, is sweet, but still music; but the heart and tongue together makes the sweetest harmony in the world. And if the Larks and Birds sing so merrily to the morning Sun, we should much more to our Creator and Redeemer. Let all the world praise thee, O God; Let all the world praise thee, saith the Psalmist, Psal 67. 3. And you, Noble Ladies, who have best voices, and least to do, should be most engaged in that good work. But Honour is a snare, and visits many, and needless too sometimes: Better stay at home, and think, Lord, what am I? What do I? Whither go I so fast? a little time will put me in a Basin. Every man is but a bag full of Dust, at the best, and Death turns us into Ashes; and that Dust may be squeezed into a small place: And 'tis probable the Grave-man takes up some of that sometimes to sling upon another, when he cries, Dust to Dust, and Ashes to Ashes. But this is certain, after a little while every man will be no man. A good Gentlewoman being sick, was asked whether she were willing to Live or Die; What God pleased. Ay but, says one, If God should put it to you; but then said she, I would refer it to him again. And a brave Grace it is to be resigned so patiently to God's will in every thing: And there are four Reasons for it: The Holiness; The Sovereignty; Eternity and Goodness of his Will. But he that sins, and quarrels against this good and holy Sovereign and Eternal Will of God, does but do what in him lies to make him send him Soul and Body into Hell.  
But cut me, hack me, kill me, says Austin, so thou savest my Soul. And oh what an Emphasis does the Scripture frequently put upon the word Soul! Hear, and your Soul shall live, Isa. 55. 3. He that sins against me wrongs his own Soul, Prov. 8. 36. Fear not them that can kill the Body, but him that can throw the Body and Soul into Hell. What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his Soul? Matth. 16. 26. Thou Fool! this night shall thy Soul be taken from thee, Luke 12. 18. Matth. 12. 28.  
Soul mercies, Soul-promises, and Soul-salvation, must needs be great. And the Great God by his absolute Sovereignty claims, and says, All Souls are mine; Ezek. 18. 4. But most are like the poor Woman Mr. Burroughs mentions; who when her house was burning, ran about to save some little trifles, but forgot her Child in the Cradle: But then supposing it to be burnt, though indeed it was saved, she presently ran mad, to think she should mind little trifles, and forget that.  
Many scramble for a little Dirt, Dust, Gold and Honour, but when Death comes, they will cry out, Oh my Soul! I would give for Heaven so much, said a Knight at Brumpton. But it was once said of a Lady, That she and her two Children did thrive in the Truth, John 2. 4. We wish you and yours the like. For the soul is more worth than the body, yea, than all the green and glory in the world besides; And I would says Sterry, if God should put it to my choice, that all the vines, greene's, and flowers in the world should everlastingly whither, rather than one soul finally perish, for whom Christ died: but yet, yet for all this, Christ is more worth being God-man, than all the fouls in the world put together, how much better are soul-comforts than bodily ones, and so for mercies. Oh! let me have the Cream, says one, and let others take the scumed milk, sorrow for sin and contrition is good, but it must not keep us from believing and hoping in him: carnal joys breed sorrow, but spiritual sorrow breeds joy, and is a repentance never to be repent of, 2 Cor. 7. 10. In wicked laughter the heart is sad or should be, for says Christ, woe be to you that laugh, Luk. 6. 25. but in holy mourning the heart is secretly glad: therefore blessed are all ye that mourn for ye shall be comforted. Matth. 5. 4. but some mourn for the shame, and not for sin; sorrow lies heavier on the wicked than sin, but sin is heavier than sorrow on the godly, my sin is ever before me, saith David, Psal. 51. 3. And against thee have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. 51. 4. Oh! that bad men would confess and go to God by Christ and repentance! if they don't he will never come over to them whilst the world stands but send them into hell: 'tis the height of wickedness to do ill and think it well done, and go on; swearers swear again, and swear for grace, and think it a brave thing to be damn ye; and so do poor Rascals, Dray-men, Footmen, Coach men, and Porters, and all for grace the of imitating huffing Sparks; but little do such Wretches, Worms, Atheistical, Heathen, Mortals think what sins they brought with them into the world, and what hellish damning, and despairing fears will tend them when they are going out, unless they die brutish, or like one that has no sense of another world. Dr. Manto, Dr. Manto, Fetch him quickly or some other good man, said one. A Horse, a Horse, a Kingdom for a Horse, said crook-backt Richard; and more would these give if they were able; if they did but know how the Devil waited for their souls: 'Twas Saul's Case, and a sad cry he made, God has forsaken me, and the Philistines are upon me: and the Devils, the Devils will be about such men if they do not repent.  
Christ paid dear for their souls, but those that buy sins with damnation set but little on them.  
Let none of us fool ourselves; sin will prove a deadly downfall if we do not rise by faith and repentance: in the mean time it never did any man good, nor never will says the Practice of Piety.  
'Tis one thing to sin, and another to be overcome or taken by sin; but 'tis sad if that which comes from God should daily cause us to sin against and forget him; yet high fortunes lead some men to sad lives and fashions; yea, they think it strange to say their prayers, or do as others do, when they are newly come out of France, and exceeding modish; Oh! my Son, my Son said old Fox, when he was just come from beyond Sea; sure this is not my Son Samuel in this habit. But 'tis a less sin, or less danger to offend Christ or one of his servants, than to be offended with Christ or his Church; yet the least wrongs his own soul; Prov. 8. 36. and private ones have public shame many times; yet 'tis a lesser danger to commit a sin we are inclined to delight in, than really to delight in the sin we commit: Yet Fools will be Fools, though they go to Hell for their folly: But a wise man, and a good, will weep and sigh to see a foolish laugh and sin.  
Come, gentlemans, forsake it before it forsake you, or you be forsaken of God.  
'Tis a hard thing to lose him and all for nothing; or to look up to Heaven with one Eye, and down to the World and Vanity with another. And 'tis hard to commit one sin alone. Sin hangs to sin, as spawn to spawn, and links to links in a Chain. 'Tis easy and hard to tell but a Lie; something or other will tend or go along with it.  
Come, throw up the purpose, and throw up the habit of all sin, and you may do well enough: The pleasures of it are but short. If they say to you, as Jael said to Sisera, Turn in, my Lord, Turn in to me; fear not; I will give thee Milk or Honey: But it proved a Nail in his head. And I will leave one in your Conscience, said that brave Bohemian Martyr John hus; and your sins will prove as a Nail there, if they be not washed away. And no man living can give a reason why he should commit the least against a good God: Yet some that are very wise, will give a reason for all other Actions: But, In good Troth▪ and, By Faith and Troth, are great sins in Gownsmen and Divines; and Drinking, Joking and Drolling, will make them lose ground, and not be reverenced. 'Twas pious, holy Preaching, strict and blameless living, got their first Estimation in the world: And nothing else will ever keep it up. God's Servants are called his Sons and Daughters, 2 Cor. 6. 18. And Ministers that Preach to them, or the World either, should be very holy: Be holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord, 1 Pet. 1. 16. Leu. 11. 44. They are called Suns, Stars and Angels, Rev. 1. 20. and Shepherds, that must watch or give account for the blood of our Souls, if they miscarry: But I am free from the blood of all men, says St. Paul, Act. 20. 26. And I will seal with my blood what I have preached, said that brave Martyr, John Philpot, Latimer: And he did so to the astonishment of all beholders; for it abundantly gushed out at his heart after he had been a long time in the Fire. Well, good men and good Ministers have the Law, Love and Grace of God in their hearts, and do for love of Souls more than money: Neither do they love chopping and changing: But a great Benefice is a great temptation, even to a good man; but to many is certainly a great sin in Giver and Receiver. But I will live and die with my Flock, as I should, Joh. 10. v. 4. said a good man. And 'tis more honour to be a heavenly, holy, zealous Preacher, than a rich Drone, a thousand times. Some Shepherds have for little so much, that the great Shepherd will owe them nothing at all: Others have so little for their faithfulness, that he will give them a Crown. 'Tis better for Ministers it should be said, Why are not you and you provided for? than, Why have such and such so much? As he nobly said, I had rather it should be said, Why does not Cato 's Image stand here? than it should be said, Why does it stand here? But Preachers of Faith, must live by Faith, as well as other men; and the world to come will make amends for all. Come, thou and I shall be happy when King Jesus comes, said one to his friend. And they that fear the Lord speak often one to another, Mal. 3. 16. And then shall the Righteous shine as the Sun, in the Kingdom of their Father, Matth. 13. 43. But many men make work for Repentance; and many Ministers never put them seriously upon it as they should, for want of Skill, Love, Faithfulness or Zeal. The Lion sent for the Wolf, and asked him if he had not a stinking breath: Yea, Sir, said he; and for that he tore him in pieces; and sent for the Dog, and asked him; no, said he; 'tis very sweet; for that he tore him in pieces; and sent for the Fox, and asked him, who cunningly told him, He had a great Cold in his head, and could not smell; and so saved his Skin. 'Tis a brave thing when neither fear nor flattery moves men nor ministers from saying what they should, few love Reproof, fewer who reprove for love of souls, and fewest of all who sincerely love the reprover: Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? says Paul, Gal. 4. 16. and we may say the greatest sin timely repent of is pardonable, but the least never repent of is damnable in its own nature, it being against a holy law and a holy God; and Oh! how would Mr. Fowler that brave Redding and Thames-street preacher set out this! 'Tis for us to bring our will over to God in every thing, and not his to us in any thing contrary to his Law and holy Writ whilst the world stands; Religion is an inward thing, takes off from self and creature; but gives to God reverence in the heart; and the heart and sum of religion is to love God and our Neighbours sincerely; but Religion can do more for Learning than Learning can for Religion, can bless and sanctify that, but that can do nothing but adorn, dress, and set it out with words, which yet is a most excellent thing; And oh! that all the preachers in the world were practisers and learned too; but more especially the former; yet says God, I will set thy Sons, O Zion! against thy Sons, O Greece! Zechariah 9 13. And the quarrel shall never be ended.  
There is naturally so much Scorn, Malice, Enmity, and Disclain, in Learning against the Simplicity, Purity, and Holiness▪ of the Gospel, that the corrupt, unsanctified mind of man cannot but disdain it, as the Pharisees and Sadduces did the preaching of Christ; the Greeks and other learned men Paul, counting him a babbler, and the cross of Christ foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. and he a mad man, and Christ a publican and sinner, for being a Physician to them, and a preacher frequently among them; and therefore a sociable life is better than a solitary Monkish one in a cell; Christ did eat and drink at great tables with publicans and sinners, but he was still as a physician to heal and reprove sin; and Dod the old Puritan minister of Northampton was so holy and good at this and had that reverence and presence with him, that a young gentleman at Sir Anthony Copes could not eat half his Dinner for fear of swearing before Dod; but he is dead, and gone to Heaven, and so may the Gentleman too, for aught that we know. God calls at several hours; but 'tis better to go to Heaven alone, than not at all; or to Hell with half the world. Let me be happy, it matters not how many then be miserable, yet Balak's Balaam wished that he might die the death of the Righteous; and thought of death, another world, and eternal Joys, Numb. 23. 10. And so some will send for good men at their death, which they care not for in their life, to come and pray, and secretly desire that their last end might be like unto them. Yet the world is apt to think of Religion clean contrary to what it is, says Lord Bacon, and to make it madness; a thing that dulls spirits, and is apt to make Ladies look wrinkled before their time; depresses them of Joy; and to be looked upon by Wits and Sparks as some of God Almighty's Shee-fools, and must never see good or merry days more. Alas! alas! said he, What a miserable mistake is this! Can there be better and greater Joy, than Joy in the Holy Ghost, 1 Thes. 1. 6. unspeakable, and full of Glory? And can there be better Sorrow, than such Sorrow which is accompanied with Joy, and Works, or Repentance unto Salvation, never to be repent of? 2 Cor. 2. 10. Can there be better cheer than a good Conscience? Ask Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, if the Ways of God be not good: Ask all the Prophets, Patriarches, and Apostles, if the Ways of God be not Good: Yea, the Martyrs, and the Prisoners: I am in a Bed of Roses, says one. And I am in my Paradise and Palace with God and his Angels, said the Noble Marquis Galliaces, in the Dungeon. And I have Christ, who is, was, and ever will be all in all, says another; All in Health, Life, Death, and Sickness, and Eternity too, to Men and Angels: Yea, ask your own Conscience when the Curtain's drawn, and the Candle out; Which is best, a house of Prayer, a house of God, or a Playhouse? or a days sinning, or a days communion, and waiting on God and his Worship? Come, fie, pish, you are mad, if you prefer the pleasures of sin before Heaven, or sinful pastime before Heaven's Joy. Oh ye vain and foolish young Ladies! do not think of being Religious when you have nothing else to do; but lay aside the Lute and Citern now, and dance a little in your thoughts to Death's Pipe; and think you hear his Night-watch, and where you shall be a hundred years hence; and what when you have lain a month or two in the Grave; and this will help you to be good betimes. Young Ladies might be merry enough, if they would be good and godly, and begin betimes, and have better Husbands too; for good men will love good Ladies; especially when they are young and good too: And we hope some are left, though but a few, that look for Heaven and Religious Wives. True Recreations are in another world: All the pleasures of this are either sins or snares, if we use them too much: But moderation may be; and there is a time for every thing under the Sun, Eccles. 3. 1. excepting sin; and for that you shall hardly sin in moderate mirth and pleasure: But to make Recreation a toil, and the Business of your Life, is folly and madness: What! nothing but hait, hait up and down, as some do, and never to a Lecture; or scarce on the Lord's Day in the forenoon? I said of Laughter, Thou wert mad, saith Solomon, Eccles. 2. 2. It may be they sing too, which had need to weep and pray. But let not your high Fortunes make you too highminded: For they that think themselves better for Gold, Pearl and Lace; and are proud, and disdain others, which yet is very natural; and we are all apt to fall this way; which makes us worse than Gold Slaves, and Servants to it; says Anselmus. But remember what you shall be in the Grave, especially in Hell, if you should go there: And wanton thoughts and plumes will all fall; but humble great ones, are good ones indeed; and God will exalt such, and make them higher than they are; and men will love them more. Humble Great ones are double Great ones, and twice as honourable as others of the same rank: And therefore let not great Fortunes make you proud and unfortunate; yet a grain must be allowed for Old Adam's sake, whose Children we all are.  
And 'tis easier in a minister to preach down Adam in others, than to beat it down in himself, wife, or children; but sound men should love sound preaching; the best wine is best, and so is the best preaching, and that that comes from the heart goes to it; so say and so do is good in a good minister, some speak more briefly than they live, as Cato told his friends; but do not say I will and done't: we read of two Brothers; one said he would do his Fathers will but did it not; the other said he would not but did it; and that was better than the other. When prayers and praise go together, and the heart with both, God is well pleased, and the music sweet; when the tongue doth not go from the inward motions; the Pharisee said, I thank God, and I do this, and I do this; but the poor Publican said, The Lord be merciful to me a sinner, Luk. 18. 13. and he was justified, hand and tongue went together; some forget to pray, because they have too much of the world, and some neglect because they want it, and must work early and late, but 'tis a misery and a sin not to be excused in any; pray if you be rich, and pray if you be poor, or else thou sayest in effect, God, I have nothing to do with thee: don't say you forgot it; for that is a soul-careless trick, few forget their dinner, but it is better to fast all day than not to pray in a day, and a little meditation does well; what ask of God and not think what to ask, or why? they who have most grace have something to ask, and they that have least have something to ask, but they that have none, have all to ask; for they want Christ, pardon and every thing; yet God will give them his holy Spirit if they do but indeed ask it: Luk. 11. 13. Ask then, and down upon your silken knees, O ye great Lords, Ladies and others, that you might have his holy spirit and his heavenly will revealed in and to you so as to do it, live it, and love it; it will be your glory, heaven and happiness for ever if you do so indeed; but if you slight him now, you will need him, miss him, and want him hereafter, and never find him. 'Tis a mercy to have many good things in this world; but what a misery is it if you should have all, and be said, Son, Remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, Luk. 16. v. 25. therefore he is comforted, and thou art tormented: A Scripture that made Gregory the great weep, or tremble, as himself said, for fear to think lest he had received his good things. Come, Heaven's a sweet Cake; but who would eat it beforehand, or take Earth for it? Sweetmeats are the last dish, but it will be sour sauce if you lose all in conclusion. Read to the end of the Chapter. Come, come, a godly Life is best, and best for you, great Countesses, and you Ladies more elderly, and young ones too; though you be not twelve or thirteen: Let head and heart remember that, and what Angelical things you would be, if you would begin betimes, as the best did. Josiah, Samuel, Timothy, John, were all young Saints, and the most eminent in the Book of God; the last leaned in Christ's bosom; dipped his Pen and his Quill in the Love of God, and strews all his Epistles with it.  
But how frail a thing is man (and you are the same, or more: The Venice-glass is soon broke;) that sings, walks, talks, and yet is gone as a Tale, Dream, or Watch in the night! And he is no man that does not need mending more than a Watch, and oftener winding up to mind Heaven and heavenly things: For this world is bad, and too bad too; mend one, and make it better; mend one, and draw twenty; great persons do always so; for many follow them and their Examples, which way soever they go. When Magistrates hearts are towards God, the People's are so too: And when Magistrates hearts are towards the People, the People's hearts are towards them. Love begets Love; and they that do not love, will not be beloved. Love comes down; good Parents, Magistrates, Masters and Landlords too, if they be kind, and love them beneath: But the Love of God is the best Love of all; therefore Magistrates, Ministers and People, should all love him; and you Ladies, which are uppermost in this world, will be lowermost in Hell if ye forget him. True Love seeks how to please him: If you love your Lords much, that is well, and it is but your duty; but if ye love Christ less, that is ill; but if God not at all, he will never care for you, nor what becomes of you, when Honours have done with you, and you with them. 'Tis better to love God now, though you do not see him, than not to love him and never see him. Love God, and he will love you with that Love which has no end, nor never shall have. Your Lord and your Husband will love you no longer after a little time; but Christ will love you with an everlasting Love, and draw you to himself; if all things in the world are not good enough for you and your Souls. If you love God, he will give you himself, the World to come, and his Son for ever; and your Soul shall live, because he lives; and that is most where it loves; and shall be quite with him after a little while, if it love him most. But oh! Love, Love, whither goest thou to love, when thou goest from God, Christ, and Self-happiness. Self-love and happiness is to love God, and God above all: Whom have I in Heaven but thee? or whom do I desire in comparison of thee? saith David, Psal. 73. 25. There was a time when you desired your Lord much; but did you ever desire your Lord Christ a little? if you did, do it more and more; his Name, his Nature, his Person, and his Promise is altogether desirable, and shall be remembered in all Generations, and praised for ever and ever, Psal. 45. 17. Therefore his Love is better than Wine, Cant. 1. 2. Yea, the wine of Angels; for this is that that they drink in the perpetual beholding of him; and you shall see my face too, says God, if you be his Servants, Rev. 22. 4. But do not think of Reigning with God in Heaven, if you be not his Servants here; and your present Heaven is nothing to that. Lift up your Eyes and look upon them, and he that made them; all your Heavens are but Dreams and Smoke. What art thou that forgettest the Lord thy Maker, Isa. 51. 13. that hath stretched forth the Heavens, and laid the foundations of the Earth? and art afraid of a man that shall die, and be as grass? Look unto Abraham, says God, ver. 2. And if Abraham's bosom be desirable, his Faith and Obedience is so too.  
Some have the art to make much of little, but few to make God all as Abraham did when he told him I am thy shield and exceeding great reward, Gen. 15. 1. and it is not in the power of any but he who is all and filleth all in all, to give to all abundantly what their Souls do want; Herod would give half his Kingdom for nothing, but St. John Baptist's head pleased the young Gib well enough; Matt. 14. 8. He preached repentance, and Christ forgiveness; a Prophet may instruct us, but Christ only makes us to profit by the ministry of the word; Oh! pray, pray that hearing you may hear, Rev. 2. 11. Matt. 13. 14. and know him whom to know is life eternal, John 17. 3. though knowledge may be without Grace, yet true Grace is never without knowledge; and I know my redeemer lives says Job, 19 25. and that you have not the love of God in you, says Christ to the Jews, Joh. 5. 42. and his satisfaction for us is more the ground of our justification before God, than his sanctification in us; and yet Christ in us too, is the hope of glory: Oh! let him live in your hearts by faith, 'twill breed joy, and feed joy, a true Christian tastes that here, which will be unspeakable hereafter; here his joys enter into us, hereafter we shall enter into it; and the sweetness of divine love passeth all knowledge, men taste a little here, but ravishment is for fruition: be industrious till you come there, for the industrious man is not at leisure to sin; heavenly meditations keep the mind busy when the hand is at plough or play: but play days, said Bishop Latimer, are the Devils working days; and he has more sin in one of them than in a whole week besides: Religion allows not much idleness, for he that will not work must not eat by Paul's rule. Admire God in your calling and out of thy calling, and the fields will give you room and objects enough for meditations and contemplations if you be not vain and airy, but you must take care, and watch thoughts, or else you'll lose God in your mind, which is the honey in the way: Oh! what is the bough, the bush, and the green, but a little thing he sends every spring; a little Daisy has a fine head, but all the world cannot make it, nor one hair white or black. Oh! admire God in his works which are past finding out, says David, Psal. 19 1. if they were happy which stood before Solomon as the Queen of Sheba said, Luk. 11. 31. what are they that shall stand before the Lamb, to admire him to Eternity, Rev. 7. 15. Come, begin heaven on earth, admire him here and you shall hereafter in a sinless state; here we sin and serve him too, not in sin, that is the Devil's work, as Christ said, John 8. 44. there we shall be without sin, and never fear, nor offend; but love him to all eternity, and be beloved of him, Saints, and Angels too; Oh! may you dwell among them for ever, and that is best of all; but the best of and whole of this world is not worth one half quarter of the world to come; That, that makes heaven full of Joy is; that it is above all fears; and that that makes hell so full of terror is, that it is below all hopes; the certainty, perpetuity, and eternity of it never ends, nor the worm dies says Christ, Mark 9 44. Isa. 66. 24. sin breeds death, and the worm feeds upon the Conscience in remembrance of it, so that a man or woman's own hell comes much from and lies most in themselves, by the alwise providence of a just and wise God ordering of it so; see and buy Mr. Strongs' little book upon the Worm of conscience; we grieve, and take care that little ones be not sick and die of the worms, but seldom take good and sound repentance ourselves through the blood of Christ to kill the worm to come. Oh! that sin may die, and Christ live in all your hearts, grace increase, and that decrease; grace is glory begun; a bud, beam, and slower of it, and a grain of it is more worth than all the hypocritical knowledge in the world; and through justifying grace, scarlet sins and sinners are made whiter than snow by the blood of Christ, Psal. 51. 2. and the true preaching of the holy Gospel is the breaking of one heart, and the binding up of another; the hard is to be broken, and the bruised is to be bound up; much of the Minister or good Physicians skill lies in this: Oh, how good is it to have such a good Physician; or to look out if we have not! and if it be good for us to draw near unto God by prayer; is it not so for him to draw near unto us by Preaching Peace, Pardon and Forgiveness to us in the Ministry. Yea, 'tis this way that he speaks Peace to his People. And every faithful Minister hath as much the Power and Key this way as another. For 'tis but in Preaching and Believing: They tell us of the Love of God, and we apply and believe through the Blood of Christ; and this applying and believing, becomes our Remission and Forgiveness. Oh! believe God is a giving, and a sin-forgiving God, and has two places, one above, and another below in a broken heart; and if he dwell with a penitent, what may not that heart get by him? And for old and past sins, it is our Heaven to be rid of them; for they would have run us to Hell, if we had continued in them. When God is in the heart, and sin out, we might well say, The worst is gone, and the best is come: praise be to him that maketh the change, and is unchangeable in himself, Mal. 3. 6. and in all his Attributes. And he is a Fool that saith, There is no God; or, That the Love of God hath not wonderfully appeared to Mankind by Jesus Christ, Titus 3. 4. Oh! be rich in Faith, and you shall never be poor in the world to come: And they that are most full of that, have most comfort and experience too, of his Faithfulness. Faith is the Life of the Soul, and Christ is the Life of our Faith. Oh! live upon him, and you shall live with him, and never die, Joh. 17. 24. Do not be offended with him, nor they that are his. Great and many waves have beat upon the Rock, but the Church remains still, and the Gates of Hell, Sin, Death and Despair, nor Enemies neither, shall ever prevail against it, Matth. 16. 18. Some set their hearts upon God, others against the Church; but those that maliciously persecute good men, will find ill Rewards. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Act. 9 4. 'Tis a mad thing to be furiously mad against good people. If ever we expect to be happy, we must be holy, and hate no man for it; for without it no man shall see God, Heb. 12. 14.  
But the Devil tempts men to sin, and then to despair, and good men are full of doubts after sinning: Oh! begin to live to God before you die; and a man may live, sin, die, and be utterly lost in a little time; some thiefs rob a long time, others are quickly taken and executed, but God's patience is great towards most men; yet some have but little sport for their souls; airy Sparks ride post and quickly sin away their time, but fair and soft is too fast to hell and the Devils; and death would not be half so troublesome were it not for sin; but he that leads a good life, takes a great deal of comfort with him to his end, and that death of his frees his soul for ever; nothing can trouble in heaven, unless it be want of living, or more living unto God on earth; and nothing can be more terrible in hell than to think there was a time they might, but 'tis passed, 'tis past; Simeon and Paul desired to die, Luk. 2. 29. David and Hezekiah desired to live, 2 Kin. 20. 3. and it was well enough for them and his servants any way, For whether we live or whether we die we are the Lords, Rom. 14. 8. for if indeed we be so we can never die amiss. A wise man never loses his wisdom though he be a sleep, nor a good man his grace, though he be catcht away before he is ware; yet it is best to do as Job says, Wait for our Change, Job 14. 14. Death is never the nearer, nor farther off for minding, or not minding; and young men have it at their backs, as well as old men in their faces; yet the familiar rising of it in our thoughts, will make it less strange, and more welcome when it comes; if it be from trouble to comfort, and not from light to darkness, and the dungeon of darkness, where light shall never be. Oh that sinners would prevent weeping, by weeping; and their own misery, by becoming God's Servants! as a good Lady said. If he be not a better Master than any, do not serve him; but if he be a better Master than all, as certainly he is, oh serve him, serve him day and night, O ye Lords, Ladies, Gentlewomen and others! and ye would quickly be content so to do, if ye did but taste how gracious he is; and how much better to you than you deserve: Sin and Sinners desert is Hell: Oh! 'Tis mercy to us all to have any thing on this side that, and all misery to be there.  
Though we came into the world alike, and must go out, yet let's not live alike, but say you as Joshua did, I and my house will serve the Lord, Joshuah 24. 15. Oh! hazard your credit if it be counted discredit to fear him, for 'tis not unlovely or not commendable to love, what is most lovely, Christ and his ways; Great peace have they that keep his laws, Psal. 119. but ill company will commit evil for company; and two or three men were lately stabbed by their companions who haunted ill houses; but good company never hurts, and the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting many times; And Bishop Cranmer was troubled for but drinking at Queen Mary's court, because she would not hearken to the Gospel nor his Counsel in King Edward▪ s days; and good men should every where savour of the fear of God, be much in self-tryal, and in self-denial too, and to take up his cross when Christ lays it before him, as that good man did at the stake for his counsel or sticking to the word of God, but the worst of Christ or suffering for him is better than the best of all the world. Paul and Silas sung in the Stocks, Act. 16. 25. so did Hampshire Philpot in Bonner's Coal-house. He learns Christ well that learns to follow him through thick and thin. He left his life to save us, we find ours in following him. Christ died to give Life and Repentance, Act. 3. 26. And no man ever repent for serving him in a just Call. A wise man provides for his Family, and saves his Soul by his Skin, or Sufferings many times. Some have bewailed the day of their Birth, as Job did through the greatness of his grief, chap. 6. 2. None the day of Conversion, or Marrying unto Christ, or Trials for him, when he stood by them. And this is a sweet Promise, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, Isa. 49. 14, 16. Isa. 43. 1, 2, 3. But the Forsakers of God shall be forsaken.   

Short Say of the Wise, or Q. Mary 's Martyrs.  
WIll you now, most Noble Ladies, take a few short and serious Say from the Wise; poor and ponder on them but a little, which are as Goads and Nails, fastened by the Master of the Assemblies, that is Christ, saith Solomon, Eccles. 12. 11. for it is meant of him.  
And this was a good one of Sir Francis Compton, Oh! keep close to Religion, for that brings Peace at the last. Hold out Faith and Patience, saith Boulton. It's but one Style more, and we shall be at our Father's House, said a brave Martyr. When shall I be dissolved, and be with Christ, saith another, Lo, here I am, let them do with me what they please; but don't you meet me at the last Day, in an unconverted state. Said a good Man to his Children in a dying Hour, and they weeping for him, he cried, What a deal of do is here to let a Man die, and go Home? And so with Heavenly Counsel, fell a sleep. Perkins converted Northampton Boulton: And Brave, Learned, Famous, Bishop Usher, desired to Die, as honest Mr. Perkins, that old Puritan Minister did, calling upon God for the pardon of all his Sins, both as to Commission and Omission. Policarpus being pierced with a Sword, issued so much Blood, that it almost quenched the Fire, and amazed the Beholders as it were: At his Apprehending, they hurried him so fast along, that they broke his Leg, crying, This is the Father of the Christians; and the despiser of our God, said the Heathens. And says Ignatius the first Martyr, as we read of: When the Beasts have ground me and my Bones with their Teeth, I shall be as God's White Bread; and I will worship none, none but the God of Heaven, Said another. And none but Christ, none but Christ, said that brave English meek, and humble Martyr, John Lambert, when half burnt by Henry the 8th, for denying the real Presence in the Sacrament. The Soul is in the Body, but not the Body: So Believers are in the World, but not the World, said another. Doctor Hall said, The English Clergy were the World's wonder: He means the Painful, Pious, Preaching one's; and would some were in again, that were long ago put out. Tertullian, wrote Day and Night, and made an Apology for the Christians, and complained, That too many Lawyers did almost as much hurt as Soldiers: But Pliny told the Heathen Emperor, The Christians did none, but prayed in the Night, and sung Hymns to one Jesus; but they would not Lie, Steal, nor commit Adultery, but did visibly eat together: But the Soldiers wearing all Crowns of Laurel upon their Heads, for a great Victory which the Emperor had obtained; A private Christian wore his upon his Arm, saying, It did not become him, nor his Fellows, to be Crowned with it. Head, Heart, Feet, Milt, and Liver, are all failing, said a great Divine. Arise, make ready, mount my Soul, and go away; I saw not you, my Children, when you were in the Womb: God that fed you then, will be a Father to you when I am gone, and you shall not want. I am weary of Sin, and willing to Die, God's Mercy is unspeakable. One Saturday Morning, especially, I found the power of Religion, and the certainty of the other World, and Divine Eternal Love; Glory, glory to the Deliverer of my Soul, out of all doubts about it. Origen was fastened by the Neck with an Iron Chain, his Feet in a pair of Stocks, till he died; Paul and Barnabas differed a little, Act. 15. 39 But in Heaven Luther and Zyngulus will agree together (said a Father) though here in some things they could not. Come, Oh sweet Jesus Christ! thou bright Morningstar; come, I desire to be with thee, said Holland. Zepheron was said to be the Blind Man's Eyes, and the Lame Man's Feet. And the Lady Warwick, gave both Books, Clothes, and Money for the Schooling, both in England and Wales: And a great Countess that lives in, or near the Strand, being lately in the Country, was informed of a very poor Family, which she went in Person for to see; and finding the poor Woman Sick and Weak, having two or three Children in the Bed, and no other Bolster but an old Straw Cushion, she presently caused a good Caudle, and saw it made for the Woman; gave her a very considerable sum of Money, and ordered Bolster, Bed, or Blanckets for the Children; and all this is good Charity and Humility too: And to breed up poor ignorant Country Boys to know God and themselves, is the same, which shall be endeavoured in your School-House; yea, 'tis as much as to feed the Blind and Lame, and in some sense rather more; for the Soul is better than the Body. To teach a young Bird to sing, or young Boys to fear God, is the best thing in the World.  
The Light of Europe is the Gospel, and the life of Preaching is for holy Living; but Persecution brings Death and Life too; Says a Father; Death in one hand, and Life in the other, it kills the Body and crowns the Soul. I have Lived long, and Sinned long, saith Beza, but now I am willing and would fain Die to be rid of it, giving God thanks for six things: And some signal Mercies every good Man may find, besides his daily ones. Basil, being proffered Honours to Apostarize, cried, They were changeable, being threatened with Confiscation and Banishment, he cried, he need not fear, he had little to lose; and for Banishment, Heaven was his Home or Country, as for his Death they might do it with one blow. You are mad, said they; Ay, and ever will be, for Divine Love is to me a never failing Treasure. Francis Junus was converted, with that Text, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, John 1. 1. And by this, through the tender Mercies of God, was I brought Home; and when a Prodigal, and a great Sinner comes Home, there is great joy in Heaven. Perkins converted a poor Thief, that was going to be Hanged thus; he wring of his Hands upon the Ladder, Perkins asked him, why he was afraid to die? Oh, said he, 'tis t'other, t'other Death I am afraid of. Ah man! come down a little, and see what God's good Grace can do for thee, and by Prayer so opened the nature of Sin, and then of God's free Grace and Mercy by Jesus Christ, for the Pardoning of it, that he made the man both cheerful and willing to Die. He wrote many Books, and frighted Sinners, with that word Damn, and yet would open the Blood, Death, and Merits of Jesus Christ, in the Preaching of the holy Gospel. Most wise Men desire the Lawyer and Physician, to deal plainly with them, and Lords and Ladies should not love a Flatterer in the Pulpit; nor a Chaplain that is not Holy, Harmless, or Exemplary in the Family. Ambrose boldly reproved Theodotius the Emperor, and used to say, Men embrace Gold, but refuse Salvation; put off that on any account, and catch at good Bargains. The World is a Bird in Hand: Heaven is one in the Bush; like the Frenchman, that would not leave his part in Paris, for Paradise. Theodoret said, The delight of the Soul is to know its Maker. And the great learned Earl of Leicester said, Man differed in nothing more from a Beast, than in his Reason, especially Heavenly Reason, Wisdom, and Understanding. Hierom would not live in Rome, because it savoured so much of Paganism, and sinful Pleasures; hardly of any true Christianity, which is an inward Mystical, and outward mortifying Thing, and indeed, it has not been long free from one Wickedness or another; Ignorance, Uncleanness, Persecution, Idolatry, Sodomy, and therefore well may she be called the Mother of Harlots; who takes Money and Rent for so many Stew-Houses yearly, and it is as good Money to him, as the best which comes into his Cosser: But if my Father, or Mother, Brothers, Sisters, and Children were all before me weeping, and hanging on me, to keep me in a sinful Life, I would despise them all, and fling them to the Ground, saith Chrisostom; And when the Empress threatened to Banish him for preaching against her Covetousness, he told her, I fear nothing but Sin; As for Banishment, the Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof: If she cast me into the Sea, or saw me asunder, I will remember Ionas and Isaiah; if she Stone me, or cut off my Head, I have Stephen and John the Baptist, for my Companions. Plato praised God for three things:  

First, That he was a Man.  
2. That he was born in Greece.  
3. That he had seen Socrates.   
You may thank God that you are Lords and Ladies, as well as Men and Women; but you may thank God that you are Christians, and such as have the holy Gospel, and may hear it preached every day if you will: But especially that you have the holy Bible in your own Tongue, which doth reveal the Will and Mind of God, concerning Man and his Salvation. A Mercy, which the poor Italians and Spaniards, and other whole Countries are debarred of; or if they have the Bible, it is so very very scarce and corrupted, that the poor People are more Blind and Ignorant than Bats and Beetles, all running after lies, whilst we enjoy a Goshen of light, through the blessed Bibles, in our own English Tongue, which cost so many men's lives: May be you never minded scarce what the Bible cost, for having it Bound, Translated, and brought into the English Tongue; 'tis probable the Papist brought Lord Cromwell to the Block upon this account, and the Monks fat houses, more than any thing, who cried, going to the Scaffold, Though our Breakfast be sharp, yet our Dinner will be very sweet. And how many have been burnt for Translating of it into English!  
Sure we are bound in conscience to love the names of these men, especially such as love the Word of God, and live to it; yea, and almost the very ground of Smithfield where they were burnt. If Papists give CATCH money for a Bit of Rope, why should not we love the Name of Smithfield, where those brave ones suffered, but especially above all the Cross of Christ; that is to say, the Sufferings that Christ endured on the Cross for us, or any Sufferings that he brings upon us for his own Glory, and our Good.  
Now his Suffering is called the Blood of the New Testament, Matth. 26. 28. Mark 14. 24. And he himself is called the Testator, Hebr. 9 16. And the Holy Bible is the Will and Testament of this Testator, wherein he gives us the love of God, pardon of Sin, Eternal Life and Glory.  
O it were better, better, a thousand times, the Pope should take all your Lands again, than the Holy Bible, or last Will and Testament of Christ in the Four Evangelists more especially contained; but it may be his Conscience would be content to swallow both.  
Yet Bellarmine loved Whitaker's Picture, Because he was a brave Scholar, and a learned Heretic, as he said. But the charity of their Church is for burning them alive; yea, sometimes after they are dead, John Whitcliffe 41 Years after, because he denied the Popes-pences.  
And Mrs. Martyr was digged up at Oxford, and buried in a Dunghill, because her Husband had been a great Preacher in Queen Mary's time. But I am neither ashamed to live, nor afraid to die, said Austin: And Holy Marriage is better than proud Virginity a thousand times; and how can we merit, when we can neither will good, nor do good? (says he) My heart is in Heaven, and I would fain be there also: For thy Sabbath, O Lord, shall be my Eternal One, into thy Hands I commend my Spirit: And so he died.  
O Christ, said another, I depend upon thee, and resign up to thee.  
Farewell Riches, farewell Honour, said the great Earl of Somerset, unhappy in his good nature; I would rather suffer and lose all, than speak a wicked word against God. I suffer now for sins past, said he in his penitent frame in the Tower. I have a great many, and but a little time to repent of them, said a Knight; and he that succours the Poor, lays up safely for himself.  
As Clouds darken the Heaven, so Intemperance does the Mind; as Winds and Waves sink a Ship, so Uncleanness, Gluttony, Drunkenness, do our Souls: Yet we should never hate the Man for his Vice, nor love the Vice for the Man, but with pity do what we can to save a Sinner▪ A good Mariner would be loath to have any of his Passengers miscarry, or a good Shepherd, who takes care of all his flock, John 10. 2.  
The Papist done't love the Name of John Fox, because he wrote the Book of Martyrs: And their Priests do so scoff and jeer at Martin Luther, because he wanted a Wife forsooth, as they say, as if it had been a great sin to follow God's Word, and holy Ordinance, instituted in Paradise, and honoured by the first Miracle that Christ ever wrought.  
O filthy Fools to despise that when God has ordained a Mate for every Creature, Fish, Fowls, Birds and Beasts, Worms and creeping things, put an instinct in Nature, to love, choose and mate with one another; (1 Tim. 4. 6. Doctrine of Devils. If an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel, let him be accursed, Gal. 1. 8. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book, Rev. 22. 18. And yet you thrust out one of his Commandments:) so that if the Priests be Men, they must needs desire Nature's enjoyment and privilege as well as all creatures; but they themselves need never want one, who have so many Wanton Women, and Confessions to be whispered in their ear every day, with money to boot. But Bugentius says of Martin Luther, I did once think him the most pestilent Fellow that ever lived upon the earth, but now what shall I say of him, all the World is in a seminarian darkness, and he has found the light; and I am more instructed in one little Page of his, than in all Thomas Aquinas 's great Library. And he and Luther Translated the Bible into the Germane Tongue, and when they had finished it, kept a day of Thanksgiving every Year to their lives end.  
But John Jewel was a brave Man too, almost as ever writ, but the Queen said, I doubt I shall spoil him, when I have made him a Bishop, for a Preacher: Yet he continued, saying. It well becomed a Bishop to die in his Pulpit. But when John Fox was poor, he had a Purse of Gold and Money sent him, he knew not from whence; would some Body would do the like for Highgate, to help up our new School-House which is just a Building, and will have a brave Green by it; but the Duke of Richmond was Fox's great Friend and Patron, yet he would say, he forgot some Lords and Ladies, to remember poor People that truly fear God; and yet great Saints are little and poor in their own Eyes. I am less than the least of all Saints, and the greatest of all Sinners, said St. Paul. And if I were equal, says Deering, in holiness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and had the purity of Angels, yet I would confess myself a Sinner, and expect no Salvation, but in Christ, and from his Righteousness: And if I had the excellency of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth, I would still rely upon that; for as there is but one Sun for all the World, so there is but one Communion and Saviour for all Saints. Oh! that I might live more to him, or die to go to Heaven, says a Father. He is my Life, he is my All, said another. And whenever thou art tempted to Uncleanness, Lust, or Pride, consider what thou art already by Sin, in respect of its desert and punishment, and what thou shalt be in the Grave, when thou hast lain a Month or two there, and thy thoughtful Lusts and Plumes will quickly fall; as the Soul is the Life of the Body, so God is the Light and Life of the Soul: When the Soul departs, the Body dies; and so the Soul dies too when God leaves it: for when he forsakes us, he utterly overthrows us, and gives us a deadly Wound. But Anselmus says, That Christ died for Elect Men and Angels; For Men, that they might rise out of Sin; and for Angels, that they might not fall into it. And if they should go to Hell, that do not feed the Hungry, and  the Naked, Mat. 25. 42. what will become of them that oppress the Poor, and take from them? Prov. 14. 31. Ezek. 12. If want of Charity shall be Tormented, what will become of Covetous Oppressors? One said of Gregory the Great, That he was the worst and the best Bishop, worse than all that went before him, and better than all those that have succeeded; who used to be troubled when he read these words, Son, remember in thy Life-time, thou receivedst thy good Things, Luke 16. 25. A great Preacher said in his Life-time, he was often tempted to despair, but God gave him strength to overcome it: But the same subtle Serpent in my Sickness, would have persuaded me, That my Labours and Fidelity in the Ministry had even merited Heaven; but blessed be God that gave me strength to overcome him, by bringing these two Scriptures especially, What hast thou that thou hast not received? 1 Cor. 4. 7. yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me, 1 Cor. 15. 10. These Texts made the Enemy get away ashamed; Fools go laughing to Destruction, as well as to the Correction. But do any thing with me, says another, so thou save my Soul; I had rather be in Hell without Sin, than in Heaven with it. Says Anselmus, Ambition is a gilded Misery, a secret Poison, and an hidden Plague; the Parent of Envy, the Original of Vice, and Moth of Holiness.  
Oh the unhappiness of great Men, said a great Earl in the Tower, that know no other end of their Greatness, than to abuse Inferiors! Young men, middle-aged, and old, are oft surprised by Death, and Ladies too, while the Gown is making: But this is life eternal, to know thee the eternal true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, John 17. 3. And, said a great Scholar and English Gentleman, (now in being) I have studied almost all the Learning in the World, and find more mystery in that short saying of Paul to Timothy, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners, 1 Tim. 1. 15.  
But when we consider what was done to John Huss of Bohemia, and Thomas Cranmer Bishop of Canterbury in Queen Mary's days, we have just reason in this Land to fear the worst. Dr. Cranmer was discoursed about the lawfulness of King Henry's Divorce from Queen Catharine his Brother's Wife, and his judgement was, The King would do well to consult the Word of God, and take able Divines counsel.  
This advice was harkened to, and he sent for by the King, and so dispatched away to Rome, to dispute it with the Pope, and the Earl of Wiltshire Ambassador along with him: And it is said when they both came before the Pope, the Pope put his Foot out for them to kiss; the Earl's Spaniel (being young, fond and foolish, and it may be trained up) catcht him by the Toe; but however Cranmer and the Earl both scorned to kiss after him; and presently after his return, he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and soon after the Proverb grew, Do him but a shrewd turn, and he will be your Friend as long as you live. And some say by Nature he Was a very Charitable Man; I wish you Ladies, for your own sakes, were so too: But we have no reason to complain, nor I hope never shall against your most Noble Sex.  
He was the freest from Passion of any man in the World: But when they had set him upon a high Scaffold in Queen Mary's days, to make his Recantation for owning the Protestant Principles. Dr. Cole having made a sad Popish Sermon to him to take his Death patiently, and to rejoice in his Conversion, as he called it.  
After Sermon, Cranmer said, Pray you good People pray for me, who have contrary to Truth, and my Conscience, for fear of Death, Signed a Writing of Recantation, for which this Hand of mine shall be first burnt; holding it up with many tears running down his cheeks; and at the fire he held it out, that all might see it first burnt, never stirring of it but once to wipe his Face, to the grief of many Beholders, in the Year 1556.  
But for John Huss, he was burnt in the Year 1415. There being a Council about three Popes, the Cardinals being divided after Alexander the fifth's Death; to which Council the Emperor commanded John Huss to go, giving him his safe conduct to pass and return; in which journey he preached, and set up letters of his judgement in every City.  
At Constantine he was sent for by the Cardinals, imprisoned, and tied up to a Rack, against a Wall; many Nobles and Lords of Bohemia petitioned for him, but that would do no good.  
But a good thing it is for great Lords to appear on the behalf of poor Ministers, when imprisoned and persecuted for the Truth; yea, there were fifty of them in Bohemia that stood up and petitioned for him and Jerom of Prague. A brave pattern for all Ages, when the Truth is suffering; but yet all signified nothing: For when the Council had degraded and condemned him, he kneeled down, saying, Lord Jesus forgive them, they know not what they do. In degrading of him, they pared off the hair so close, that they even cut the skin off his Crown, the Council having made an Order, That Faith was not to be kept with Heretics.  
Going to be burnt, they put upon him a Triple Crown of Paper, all painted over with ugly Devils; which when he saw, he said, My Lord Jesus did wear a Crown of Thorns for me, and I will this for his sake.  
And now, said they, We do commit thy Soul to the Devil: (We believe it was in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for usually such wickednesses are so pronounced) But I, said John Huss, do commit it to my dear Redeemer, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  
As he lifted up his head, the Crown of Paper fell off, but they put it on again, saying, Let him be burnt with his Masters the Devils.  
And as they tied his Neck with the Chain, he smiling, said, This I suffer for Preaching of the Holy Gospel, singing three times with a loud voice, Lord Jesus Christ, thou Son of the Living God, have mercy on me.  
He told them at his Death, God would raise up out of the Ashes of the Goose (for so Huss' Name signified in the Bohemian Language) in 100 Years, a Swan in Germany, whose Singing would affright all the Vultures: which was exactly fulfilled in Luther.  
But for Jerom of Prague, he was so bold and zealous, that he wrote certain Letters, which he sent to Constantine to be set up upon the Gates of Noblemen and Cardinals; showing the purity and clearness of his Faith and Doctrine for which he was accused, and that he was ready to come and make good all he had Preached.  
His great Crime was, he had thundered against the ill Lives of the Monks and Friars; but being taken into custody, he was sadly used, fed with Bread and Water, and tied almost Neck and Heels together, so that he sell sick. After a long time they required him to subscribe, That John Huss was justly put to Death; which he did partly for fear of Death, and hoping to escape their hands: But he soon repent, saying before the Council, All the Sins he ever committed in his Life, did not half so much gnaw and trouble his Conscience, as that pestiferous Sin.  
When they had condemned him, he said, I Cite you all to answer it within 100 Years before the most High Judge of Heaven and Earth; in the mean time I leave a remorse and nail in your Consciences.  
He was bound to the Image of John Huss, and had a Paper-Crown of red Devils painted on his head.  
When the Executioner went to kindle the Fire behind him, he bade him do it before his Face, saying, If I had been afraid of Death, I had not come to this place, for I had opportunities to escape; but this Soul of mine, in burning flames, Oh Christ I will offer thee.  
And for his Oration that he made before the Council, it is said, That no Tongue is able to express that learned Elegancy and Braveness of his Speech, showing what the Best of Men had still suffered in all Ages.  
Latimer was a zealous Papist, till Mr. Blinny converted him, and then he was made Bishop of Worcester; he preached twice a day, and in Queen Mary's days he was laid up in the Tower.  
As he road through Smithfield, he said that had groaned for him many Years. He used to pray for three things.  
First, That as God had made him a Preacher of his holy Word, that he might seal it with his Blood, if called thereunto.  
Secondly, That God of his Mercy would restore his Gospel to England once again, once again. Shall we not prise it?  
Thirdly, That the Lord would preserve Queen Elizabeth, and make her a Comfort to the Comfortless Realm: At his Burning, the Blood run out of his Heart so abundantly, as if all the Blood in his Body had gathered there, according to his Prayer; which struck the beholders with Astonishment. In the Fire, he stroked his Face with his Hand, crying out, Oh! Father of Heaven, receive my Soul; and so died, 1555. Ridley, in the same Year, writing to Latimer, he said, Good Father, assist me with your Prayers; for unless God stand by me, I shall play but the part of a white liver'd Knight: At his hearing he stood bare, till the Cardinal named the Pope, and then he put on his Cap. A Woman weeping for him, a day before his Suffering, he cried, Ah! Mistress, I see you love me not; it appears you will not be at my Marriage to Morrow (meaning his Burning) nor will be therewith contented, A Friend offering to watch with him, he cried, I intent to go to Bed, and sleep as quietly as ever I did in my Life: At the Stake, he cried, Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit; Lord Jesus receive my Soul. But the Fire being pressed down by much Wood, he desired for Christ's sake, to let the Fire come up to him; his lower part and Legs were quite burnt before his upper part, so that he fell into the Fire. He going one day by Water, the Thames, being very rough, and the Watermen being a little fearful, he cried, Fear not, you carry one that must be Burnt, and not Drowned. John Bradford, was persuaded by Booker, to enter upon the Ministry; and he modestly complained of his want of Parts and Learning: Oh! says Booker, be not discouraged, if you have not fine Manchet, give them Barley Bread. But being in Prison Condemned, one comes running to him, Oh! Mr. Bradford, I bring you heavy News, you must be burnt to Morrow, I saw your Chain a buying: At which, he plucked off his Cap, saying, I thank God for it, the Lord make me worthy; lifting up his Eyes to Heaven, saying, Life with God's displeasure, is worse than Death; and Death with his true Favour, is better than Life. Oh, England! repent of thy Sins, repent; beware of Idolatry and false Preachers, and take heed they don't deceive you: A good Prayer. And to another, he said, Be of good comfort, my Brother, for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord. He was so Charitable, that in a hard Time, he sold his Jewels and Rings, to relieve them that were in Want: He was so humble, that he often subscribed some of his Letters, The most miserable hard Hearted unthankful Sinner, John Bradford, a painted Hypocrite.  
Rowland Taylor was a great Preacher, and would often visit the Poor and Sick, and relieve them too, when Bedridden; but being threatened by the Bishop's Pursurvant, he said, I know my Cause to be so good and just, that I will appear before them, and to their Beards, resist their false Do; I fear not their Lordly looks, nor the Proudest of them all. Going to the Fire, he told the Sheriff. I shall deceive a great many, being a fat Man; for, said he, I thought the Worms in Hadley Church-yard must have had me, but now I see I must be Burnt: Giving one or two Leaps, and said, God be praised, I am almost at Home: But the People cried, Oh, dear Father, and good Shepherd, God help and secure thee, as thou hast done us many times, and our poor Children; and so they went weeping all along the Streets for him: To whom he said, I have preached to you God's Truth and Word, and now am going to seal it with my Blood. In the Flames, he cried, Merciful Father of Heaven, for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake, receive my Soul: And so departed.  
A Popish Doctor told Tindal, (disputing about Religion) That it were better to be without God's Law than the Popes. Tindal replied, I defy the Pope and all his Laws. He translated the Testament into English, but the Popish party exceedingly raged, saying, There were a thousand Errors in it: And for his good Works he was Imprisoned, Condemned, and Burnt; but at his Death he cried, Lord, open the King of England 's Eyes.  
John Hooper, who Died 1555, being writ to by one out of England, to send him some News; he said, He had no News to send him, but that the last News that you will hear of me, will be, That where I have taken most pains to preach the holy Gospel, there I shall be burnt to Ashes. But one persuading him to Fly; No, says he, I will live and die with my Sheep. But being sent for to London, he was Committed to the Fleet, where he was miserably used, and even poisoned with the common Ditch; but being Sick, he cried and called for help, but the Warden said, Let him alone, if he die, it will be a good riddance: But a Knight coming to him, told him, Life was sweet, and Death bitter: To which he replied, Death to come is more bitter, and Life to come more sweet. But being proffered his Pardon going to the Execution, he cried, If you love my Soul, if you love my Soul, away with it: He prayed at the Stake, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me, and receive my Soul: And wiping his Face with his Hand, cried, For God's sake, let me have more Fire. And a third Fire being kindled, he was yet alive; but the last words he spoke were, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.  
Laurence Saunders, meeting with one Pembleton, another Minister, said, I have many fears if I should come to Suffer, or Die for Religion's sake. What need you fear, said Pembleton, you have but a lean Body, but I have a fat one? yet you shall see the last gobbet and Grease of mine melt or fry away, rather than deny Christ, or the least of his Truth, which I have professed. Mr. Saunders being called, a while after Imprisoned, Tried, and Condemned, cried, Welcome Christ, welcome Christ, welcome Eternal Life; and the Fire being kindled, sweetly slept in God, sealing the Truth with his Blood: But faint-hearted Pembleton, for all his Self-boasting, played Apostate in a small time.  
John Rogers might have escaped, and had many Motives, a Wife and ten Children, and had Friends in Germany, if he would have gone; he helped to Translate the Bible into English, but Bonner sent him to Newgate amongst Thiefs, and Murderers: And being Condemned, he desired to have his Wife admitted to see him, but that would not be granted him by any means; but being told in the Morning he must Die that Day, O, said he, if it be so, I need not tie my Points: (being Dressing of himself) But a Pardon being proffered him if he would Recant; he utterly refused it. His Wife then, with nine Children, and the tenth sucking at her Breast, were brought to him, but this sorrowful sight nothing moved him; but in the Flames he took his Death with wonderful Patience: The Sabbath before his Death, he drank to Mr. Hooper, who lay in a Chamber beneath him, bidding the Messenger tell him, That by God's Grace, never little Fellow stuck closer to a man than he would to him, supposing they should be both Burnt together.  
Thomas Blinney, in the Year 1531, had been in Prison, and was drawn to Abjure and Submit himself, after which he fell into terrors of Conscience for almost a Year; being through God's Mercy restored to Comfort, he resolved to lay down his Life for that Truth which he before had Renounced, he Preached openly, and complained of himself for his Fact, bidding them beware they did not trust in Flesh nor Friends in matters of Religion, but was seized by the Bishop, and Imprisoned: Being told of the Fires heat, O, said he, God's Spirit will cool those Flames; and I am sailing through a boisterous Sea, but shall shortly be in Heaven, help me with your Prayers; and was Burnt, calling upon Jesus, with his Eyes and Hands lifted up.  
John Frith, was Prisoner in the Tower, and had many Conflicts with the Bishops, and at last condemned to be Burnt, and delivered over to the Mayor and Sheriffs, and in Smithfield patiently endured the same; the Wind blowing away the Fire, made his Death very long; but by God's Grace, he bore it as though he felt no Pain; he much helped Tindal in Translating the New Testament.  
And thus have I given you, most Great and Noble Ladies, a little short brief hint, of a few brave and famous worthy English Martyrs; there are Hundreds more in Fox's Book which you may find, yea, Thousands more English and others; surely we should love the Truth, and our English true Protestant Religion for the Truth's sake, yea, and a little for these holy Martyr's sake. And the God of Heaven grant our merciful King may long Live, and such a Spirit never come again.  
For this is the sum, and substance of that Stuff we shall have, if we lose the Bible, of which the Gold Legion has a Cartload, which I here give you in a score or two of Lines, as I found it written in a great Book, Translated out of Spanish, and Dedicated to a mighty Princess, by an English Knight.  
A great Person quitting all his fair Possession, and giving them to the Church (as 'twas likely) turned Colliers Man, which labour brought Sickness and Death; at which very instant, all the Bells in Rome rang out on their own accord, to the astonishment of the Pope himself. A certain holy Monk, retiring into a Wilderness house, 70 miles distant from any, 14 Years together, had a certain Leopard, which came to him every day for his Meat, a long time together.  
Gregory the Great, in a great Sickness-year, relates, that he saw many visible Arrows come down from Heaven, and struck Men dead; yea, another saw it Rain perfect Arrows and pieces of Stars. A holy Priest that went into a very Rich Man's Kitchen, where was a great Dinner of Chickens, Capons and Feasants in Dishes, which when the Priest saw, he bade the Cook uncover the Dishes, and they presently became Toads and Serpents.  
A certain Monk saw a little Bird in a Cloister singing very pleasantly; and hopping out, he followed it to a certain Wood, where the Bird continued singing for the space of two or three hours, as he thought; but returning to the Cloister again, thinking he had been only a few hours, or half a day at most; but being unknown, and searching of the Records, he had been absent from the Covent 300 Years, when he thought he had not been half a day.  
St. Antonius tells you of an ill Liver that he knew, was afflicted with tedious Sickness, earnestly begged of God to deliver him, who sent an Angel to tell him, he must lie so two Years, and then die, and go to Heaven; or else lie three days in Purgatory, and from thence go to Heaven, willing him to take his choice. He presently pitched on Purgatory, and his Soul went straight thither; where he had not been one hour, but the Angel appeared to him there, and asked him how he did; and that he was the same Angel that brought him the Message from God, about his two years, or three days in Purgatory:  
Ay, but said he, You are not a good Angel, for I have been here three years, and you told me but two days. No, said the Angel, it is not one hour yet.  
O pray for me, said he, that I may come out, and go to my sick Bed again; which the Angel did, and the man was very glad he got into the world again.  
St. Francis writes just such another Story, and God sent an Angel to him, to know whether he would lie one day in Purgatory, or one year longer in his Bed; but prayed hard here, and the Angel came and let him out before he had lain one hour, and yet he thought his two days had been out, so great were those Torments; and therefore what a cruel hard hearted thing is it, for People that have money, to let their Friends lie there in Torment, when the Priest can so easily get them out, if they will but pay for it! Ay, and what a devilish thing is that of the Pope, to keep them there for money, especially if they be poor!  
Gregory the Great, writes of Tarsellus' Sister being dead, cast forth a most fragrant smell, beyond Ointment, Jessamy, or Roses; and that St. Hillarion did the like for 10 months together.  
A French Doctor in Paris wondering in his mind how God should make the Bodies of his Saints to shine in the Kingdom of Heaven, had immediately his Feet so transparently shining and bright, that he was not able to behold them with his eyes, but to cover his head and them with the Bed .  
St. Anthony in one day passed from Milan to Portugal.  
St. Ignatius transported himself from Rome to Cologne, and to Rome again, in less than two hours.  
St. Francis, and St. Martinus, were seen lifted up in Prayer, to a very great height, namely above Trees or Towers, or any Steeples, and continued praying a great while, very visible to be seen.  
A Gentleman of Noble Parentage became a Monk, and went on with that courage and zeal, that at last he challenged the Devil, and bade him do his worst. The Devil appeared, and fought in his own Cell, and made his nose and mouth bleed; but with the noise the rest of the Monks came in, where he lay as in a trance, but they carried him to his Bed, where he continued almost three days without any sign of life, in which time, by the company of an Angel, who descended to a dark obscure place, and saw a man sitting in a Chair, and certain beautiful Women thrusting Torches in his mouth, drawing them through his body again, and many strange things, which frighted the Monk, and he prayed the Angel to tell him what it meant:  
This miserable Wretch, said the Angel, was a Gentleman much given to Women, and therefore the Devil torments him in the shapes of Women.  
And he, said the Angel, that lay on the Gridiron rubbed with Salt, was a cruel Lord to his Tenants.  
Others had their Brains and Eyes beat out, because that in their life-time they would not see.  
These, and such like Stories be in that Book, which is big and large, but has not a Primer-full of Divinity in it, only a few moral rational things, mixed with these kind of Lies, which they would teach men instead of the Scriptures, and the Holy Word of God. And if such kind of Divinity shall be Translated and Dedicated to agreat Princess, what stuff is there in France, Spain, Italy, and other Countries, for which we may justly charge these two or three Scriptures against them, and a hundred more, were we minded, who are Enemies to the Bible, and the Souls of Men.  
The first Scripture is this, They have forsaken me the Fountain of living Water, and digged to themselves broken Cisterns, which can hold no Water, Jer. 2. 13. That is, they have forsaken the Holy Scriptures, which contain the waters of consolation and comfort for all thirsty and desiring Souls after God and Christ, and the saving knowledge of God and Christ in their Souls; and for the broken Cisterns, that is, the deceitful, lying, cracked, unsound History Books, of little Truth or Divinity in them.  
And this is the very same which St. Paul speaks of in the 2d Chapter of the 2d of the Thessalonians, ver. 11, 12. where he says, For this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a Lye. 'Tis but one Lie, all their whole Religion; that is, one great, entire Lie, congealed, linked, massed, and coupled together, by Time, Policy, Covetousness, Deceit and Ignorance. And a strange delusion is sent them by God, ver. 12. who can and doth most righteously and often punish sin with sin; the Jews and Pharisees for malicious accusing and persecuting Christ and his Apostles with blindness to this day, and the Papist too, for abusing of the Word of God, and concealing of it from the People, to believe Lies and Delusions; God suffering it to be, because of the People's ignorance and willingness to have it so, not at all caring for his Word, or receiving the love of, and Truths contained in it about Jesus Christ and his pure Worship, full and infinite satisfaction to the Father for our sins by his sufferings, all which they are willingly ignorant of; and for this cause or sin of theirs, God has sent, that is, suffered Satan by false, foolish Teachers, Books and Lies, to deceive them, that they might be justly damned, for not loving, regarding, or forsaking the pure Fountain, that is, the plain wholesome Word and Truths of God, but suffer their Priests to forbid Meats and Marriages, which is the very Doctrine of Devils, saith S. Paul, 1 Tim. 4. 1, 3. & S. Peter, whom they advance above all, almost equal with Christ, making him a Rock; or that the Church of God stands upon him, when as he is no more than another, but says this against them, that Christ is the Rock or precious Cornerstone on which all the Church of God and Believers are spiritually built, 1 Pet. 2, 4. and how his Word is a more sure Rule to us, and that we ought to take more heed to it, than if an Angel from heaven speak to us, 2 Pet. 1. 18, 19 Gal. 1. 8. And says St. John, If any man add to that, God shall add to him all the Plagues that are written in this Book, Rev. 22. 18. Or if they shall take away any thing of this Prophecy, God shall take his part out of the Book of Life, ver. 19 And yet you presume to alter, or take quite away one of his Commandments. Read this, you poor wellmeaning Papists.   

The last and general Closing Letter, that is thus presumed to be offered.  
ANd now most Noble, Great, and Right Honourable Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others: 'Tis not many Weeks, nay, Days, since your poor Orator, Supplicant, or Petitioner, was in his own and others apprehension, at the brink of Death, and the Grave; and so, many Days together: But God was pleased by Doctor Cox, my alone Physician, to raise me up again. And though in my Sickness, my Life seemed to be flying away like an Eagle in the Air, and the World, and the Things thereof, to be passing away as if they had never been, yet, yet, I did secretly resolve (if God should raise me up) to perform, or finish, this poor little scribbled (and yet serious) short, brief, and harmless Pocket-Book, with the Lady's Letters; which yet I humbly entreat your Noble Ladyships to peruse, and view over and over, in some serious leisure Hour; persuading myself, that though your Breasts are full of Piety, Virtue, Wisdom, and Virtuous Thoughts, yet you may find some, if not many brief hints of Truth, Religion, and Virtue, well worth your pious Thoughts, or Memory; for as Eternity is a very serious thing, so every Sickness that brings one near the Borders of it, or from the Borders of it, should make us very serious, and to Speak and Act as those that have been near another World, though not in it. And truly, if I were no more, nor longer to be in this, than just to finish these few Lines, and humbly, on the bended Knee, to present them to your Lily Hands, and so to lie down and die at your Feet; yet would I seriously do it in the way of Prayer to your Honours. First, That the short Hints might be weighed, and weighed, again and again, in your most strict, serious, and retired Thoughts▪ whether they be really so as they seem to be hinted to you; and if you find them indeed so to be, by the standard, Golden Rule, Reed, or Touchstone of God's holy Word; than not to slight and say, Pish Fool; or cry, This simple Man will never a done; for 'tis of more concern than so. Truth is Truth, and serious Things must and will be serious, whether we mind or count them so or no. And this I assure you, if ever you come, as come you must, to a Fit and Bed of Sickness; I mean, a thorough Sickness that your life seems in your own & others thoughts to be flying away; you will be then thinking of your immortal everliving and neverdying Souls: And it may be in a dowsed manner not knowing well, where you are, or what Day it is; whether Day or Night: The Watch Candle being in the Room, the Curtains drawn, little or no Company to speak to you, because of the high Fever, or other Distemper, but yet in that hour (it may be) Fears, Doubts, Conscience will be working, and secret Questions will be working in you, whether you must and shall Die, now or no; go to the Grave, leave your golden Hang, Rooms, Honours, and Relations, going to the silent and be seen no more, whilst it may be, are just in the middle of some great Design or other, as your Supplicant was in these Papers, or setting up of your little Charity-School at Highgate: But be it what it will, every Design must break off, if Death really come with, and at the end of, your Sickness; and then no remembrance of you or yours, will be after a very little while. Oh, Madams, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and your own Souls, I beseech you mind a little the house of mourning, Eccles. 7. 2. which he says 'tis so good to go to; and the Bed of sickness before it comes, and especially what to do before it comes; that its coming may not be as a damp and death to your spirits when it comes. It's said the Cockatrice never kills, but when it sees us before we see it. Oh be beforehand with your Sickness, and prepare in Life for Death, and Health for Sickness! and assure yourselves, you may as well persuade yourselves, that Michaelmas will never come, because April is, and May is at hand, as that Sickness and Death will not come, because Health, Wealth, Honour, and all about you, is now as you would have it; and more comforts seem to promise to you also, from a Son or Daughter's great Match or Purchase, which you are just a making: But yet Michaelmas comes in course, and Winter too, when one Flower will not be left. But now against the height and heart of that, and all that is cold and kill unto Creature-comforts, set a never-failing good God aside; make him your portion, and with the Prophet Habakkuk say, Though the labour of the Olive should fail, Flocks, Herds, and the Fruits of the Field yield no increase, yet I will rejoice greatly, I will joy in the God of my salvation, Habbak. 3. 17, 18. But this must nor can ever otherwise be, but by true Faith in the Love, Life, Blood, Death and Merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, with holy walking in the sanctifying graces of his Spirit, six or seven of which you may eminently find I shall hint at in the first Sermon our Lord Jesus Christ ever preached, Mat. 5. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. First, blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; by purchase, purpose, promise, and eternal preparation, Mat. 25, 34. Come ye blessed of my Father, and receive a Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. Oh blessed Poverty, that enriches men with the Kingdom of Heaven! This poverty of Spirit is nothing else but a sensible want of Grace and Christ, and every good thing in ourselves; through the discovery of original sin to us by the Fall of Adam, whereby we go out of ourselves as knowing ourselves to be lost, by the purity and spirituality of God's most holy, inward, piercing Law, the ten Commandments, by which we go out of ourselves, as knowing ourselves to be most miserable, wretched creatures, and lost in ourselves, seeing no hope, nor help any ways, but in God's mercy through Christ; and this brings us to be like the poor Prodigal or Publican, Luke 18. 11. to cry, Lord be merciful to me poor lost sinner, and grant that I may find Christ, and pardon for my Soul; and by Prayer, Reading, Hearing, Preaching, Meditating, make out after him in an humble, persevering way. And this is the Poverty to which the Kingdom of Heaven belongs, that is the Gospel with all its Promises, and everlasting Kingdom of Glory too; which God grant you and yours may all find.  
But secondly, ver. 4. Blessed are all they that mourn; for they shall be comforted: that is for sin, indwelling of original and actual sin, and upon that account cry out, like great St. Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? Rom. 7. 24. Mark, Ladies, Sin has a Body, yea in Paul it had, though he was as great and experienced a Saint and Servant of Christ as ever lived; that is an indwelling in every part of our Body, yea and Soul too, saith Perkins and Bishop Usher. Indeed both, and every part of both, is miserably defiled through Adam's Fall; and this indwelling of sin in us, makes good men mourn, and hinders them also that they cannot do what they would, and makes them too too often do what they should not, Rom. 7. 19 I hope you Ladies and Gentlewomen find it so. And this is the true cause of their mourning and complaining; But blessed are they that mourn, upon this so good and gracious an account, for they shall be comforted; first here, 2dly hereafter; and a thousand promises are made to them in the Holy Writ, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably unto Zion, her Warfare is accomplished, her Victory is ended, her Sins are pardoned, Isa. 40. 1, 2. And blessed is the man whose sin is pardoned, Psal. 32. 1. This real blessedness is beyond the tongue of men or Angels to set out, and oh that it might be yours, and that you could mourn and secretly weep, and now and then on the knee drop a tear in the Closet upon this account, that you have lived to yourselves, your Lords, Pleasure, Sin and the World so much, and Christ so little! God would certainly comfort you with a thousand secret Soul-comforts in the pardon of Sin, the sense of his love and assurance of Christ to your Souls; and this assure yourselves shall be your last and lasting comforts, if you be Sin-mourners and Forsakers of it.  
But, Thirdly, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth, Mat. 5. 4. Yea, and God too in the Earth: For thus saith he that is High and Holy, I will dwell with him that is of a meek and lowly Spirit, Mat. 11. 29. May this high and holy One dwell and abide in all your Ladyship's Hearts, Souls, and Families; may he secretly be your Comfort Day and Night, but you must be meek; and I am meek and lowly, says Christ. Humility is a great Grace in a great Person, and well becomes your most Noble Sex, yea, and Lords too; but this Meekness is a quiet submissiveness of Grace in your wills to the Will of God, in all his Providences to you and yours; whereby you say as it were with holy David, If he has pleasure in me, he will bring me back again. And with good old Ely, It is the Lord, 2 Sam. 3. 18. And with Paul, and his Friends after weeping for him, The Will of the Lord be done, Acts 21. 14. And like our Lord Jesus Christ in his Agony, about passing of the bitter Cup in his Bloody Agony, Not my Will, but thy Will be done. This is a brave frame indeed for Ladies on the Knees, to hold up the little Hands, kiss the Rod quietly, and patiently submit to all the Providences, Losses, and Afflictions, because God as a Father, sends them for good and holy ends to his Servants, best known to himself; and if you patiently take them as his Children without Murmuring, then are you Meek, Patiented ones indeed. 'Tis the sturdy Oaks that resist the Winds and are split, but the gentle Reed yields: And stubborn Sinners quarrel at the Providence and Will of God, but good Men and Women submit & serve some divine design or other; and this is the way to inherit the Earth. That is to say, All your outward Earthly Comforts, namely, Honour, Riches, and Prosperity, yea, Heavenly and Inward too. Does God take one Child? Be quiet, lest he take another. Does he take one part of your Estate, or Comfort? He can take another; yea, He can take all, as he did Job's, and restore it again, Blessed be his holy Name, Job 1. 21. Oh! labour to be Meek and lowly, and he will lead and guide you through the Wilderness of this miserable, wretched, sinful, and bewitching World, in all your plentiful Enjoyments, till you come to himself in Glory.  
But, Fourthly, Blessed (saith our Saviour) are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness. What Righteousness? God's, Christ's, Abraham's, Isaac's, Jacob's, Jews and Gentiles, Faith's Righteousness; and the fruit of this Righteousness is Sanctification. By Righteousness here is meant, that which God imputes to Men or Women, and makes Sinners complete and happy in, which is indeed his Son's Righteousness, or that which is often called his Son's Active and Passive Obedience, as God and Man in our Nature, to the whole Will and Law of God. Christ, you know, did all the Will of God in a way of Obedience, Submission, and Observance to his holy Law, and so fulfil every Branch of it to a tittle; for had he failed in one, he could never have Justified us, who do still come short in all, as we are in ourselves. But he suffered all the Will of God too, in a way of satisfaction for our Breach and Breaches of this his holy Righteous, Perfect, Good, and Heavenly Law, given by God himself unto Moses in the Mount, Exod. 19 20. Yea, as he fulfilled this, and satisfied for the Breach of it; so he did the Levitical, or Ceremonial Law also; for he was Circumcised and Baptised for us in both, and all which he stood as a Man, or God-Man, and Surety for us, or as one in our Room, Stead, Place, or Company. And as he fulfilled the Law for us in the Active Obedience of his Life, so he did all the Law required, or God ever desired of him in his Will to do, and in his Death, he satisfied the Justice of God for all that we, or Adam ever did against him, or his most pure and holy Law. Yea, he did it to the full, uttermost, and over too, whereby he has, as it were, an infinite Overflowing, endless Merit in his Hand, to show the Justice of God in our behalf, why he should deliver us from Hell, and all the Curse and Curses of the Law; which dreadful ones, you may read in Deut. 27. 15, 16, 17, 18. which implies Eternal Death to all out of Christ; for it saith, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all that is written; and not only so, but to give us everlasting Life and Glory. Pray Ladies, mind this seriously, for it is this Obedience of Christ and his Righteousness, and that, and that alone, which being imputed, reckoned, and conveyed, or given unto us, becomes before God in a way of strict Justice and equal Righteousness, our Justification, and so eternal Salvation; and you, nor none of you, nor any living, can be saved otherwise, and therefore well may, and well ought you, for to mind it. And how Isaiah, and Paul says, He was made Sin, and died for us, as well as Born for us, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5. 21. Now this Righteousness is called God's Righteousness, Christ's Righteousness, Abraham's, Jews and Gentiles, Faith's and the Saints Righteousness, Rev. 19 8. And first, It is called God's, because God contrived and designed this Way of justifying Sinners from Eternity; therefore says Paul, God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself, not imputing their Sins, 2 Cor, 5. 19 Secondly, It is called God's Righteousness, because Christ who was God as well as Man, wrought and brought it about; yea, he alone brought it about: And therefore it is said of the People, There was none to help, and mine own arm brought salvation, Isa. 63. 5. Then what an injury and dishonour do the Papists unto Christ, in bringing so many He and She-Saints in to share with him; now the work's done?  
Thirdly, it is called God's Righteousness, Rom. 10. 3. because it is imputed, reckoned, implied, and discovered to us by the holy Spirit of God, working Faith in our hearts.  
But than secondly, it is frequently called Christ's Righteousness, because Christ, as man, in our nature, stead, room, and place, wrought it for us, not Christ and Peter, not Christ and Paul; the Disciples all slept, and Christ prayed, and sweat alone, bore all the wrath, and hung upon the Tree for us; bore our sins in his own body; dead, buried, and risen again for us; well may he be called, as he is, the Lord our Righteousness, and the Justifier of the .  
Thirdly, it is called Abraham's Righteousness, he being the Father, first and most ancient Saint of God, and he to whom the promise, next Adam, or rather Eve, was most eminently made; and therefore saith God, In thy Seed, that is in Christ, shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed, Gen. 22. 17. Not that it is indeed his any more than Isaac's, Jacob's, or any other Servant of God's that shall believe the promise, as he or they eminently did, Isa. 51. 1. We are bid look unto Abraham; do, and go unto the same Pit as he did, namely, Christ for Righteousness: (for as God justified him, so, just so and no otherwise will he do by you, and all us that do believe in him.)  
Fourthly, it is called the Gentiles Righteousness; that is, the Heathens and Ungodly Sinners, such as were without God in the World, and did worship instead of the true God, Moloch, Bell and the Dragon; Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Apollo; and the Devil in an hundred Idols, consecrated Trees, and  Creatures. Now to these miserable Gentiles was Christ promised and sent, and he shall bring forth judgement unto the Gentiles, Isa. 51. namely Christ; that is a right understanding to worship the true God that made Heaven and Earth, which Papists yet so much continue in, by worshipping Pictures, Shrines, Images, and the consecrated Host, a little Half-farthing Wafer; and for which not doing, they have burnt and murdered thousands. A thing most cruel on one hand, and irrational on the other; yea more than the Persians worshipping of the Sun a thousand times, for that's a glorious creature, though it be but a creature. Now from these Gentiles we came, and are of their Race; yet by Christ and his Righteousness, which is called the Gentiles, we are made near, though otherwise Strangers and Aliens.  
But fifthly, as it is called God's, Christ's, Abraham's, and the Gentiles Righteousness, so it is called Faith's Righteousness also, Rom. 10. 6. That the Righteousness of Faith might come unto the Gentiles, Rom. 9 30. And it is called Faith's Righteousness, first because by Faith we see it, lay hold on, and believe in it, to the saving of our souls. Faith is an eye, that sees Christ and his Righteousness. Faith is an hand, and receives Christ and his Righteousness. Faith is an ear, that hears Christ and his Righteousness when 'tis preached on; And all my Sheep follow me, says he, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, Joh. 10. 28. For with the heart man believes, saith St. Paul, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What Confession? namely this, That God has raised Christ from the dead, and made his life and death a Righteousness for poor sinners, which alone is the ground of their justification, and eternal salvation in the highest Heavens also. And for this, and this alone, and denying Mass, Purgatory, and Works of Supererogation, and for denying the Pope's Infallibility and Supremacy, have thousands and thousands been massacred and murdered in the Christian world; but when did any Protestants put any roman-catholics to death, merely upon the account of their Religion? or how very few have they been? Thomas of Becket, Bishop of Canterbury, was knocked on the head by 3 or 4 Blades at Court, for quarrelling with the King, or interrupting of the Laws; and somebody else by a just Law hanged, for a Gun intended against a better & much greater King; and for this one is Sainted, and the other may be too in a little time: But Faith and its Righteousness teaches us none of these, but to submit to Kings, and all lawful authority, that we may live peaceably and quietly under them in all righteousness and honesty, Rom. 13. 1.  
But sixthly, this Righteousness is called the Saint's Righteousness; that is, all sanctified men, women and children, and Righteousness in the world; for a Saint is nothing else in a strict sense, but a man or woman truly fearing God; and a little of the true fear and grace of God in the heart, makes any man or woman in the world so in the account of God and the holy Scriptures; for 'tis not Notion, Gifts, Parts, great and humane Learning, but saving truth that make a Saint. And all the humane learning in the world, says Hintius, will not rectify the crooked nature of man; as instance Socrates and Aristotle, the one being a covetous wretch as ever lived, and the other keeping a common Strumpet for his Lust. But a little saving grace will bridle men from all sin, when bare humane knowledge cannot; nor all the Brass, Tin and Copper in the world, make a dram of Gold; nor all the common gifts, parts and wit of men, which I speak not in the least against, no not in the least, but reverence it, and them that have it; yet, I say, 'tis grace, and the sanctifying grace and Spirit of God in the heart that makes a Saint, and whoever has any thing of that more or less; for some have much more and some much less than others, yet whoever has the least sanctifying measure of the Truth in his Heart, is a Saint and Servant of God, be he Noble or Ignoble, High or Low, Rich or Poor, Learned or Unlearned; and for this, see these Texts, or Scriptures at your leisure, Phil. 1. 1. Col. 1. 2, 12. Ephes. 4. 12. Chap. 3. 8. Heb. 6. 10.  
And therefore if any fine young Lady, Gentlewoman, or others, have but a little love to Christ, the Word, Ways, Things, or Servants of Christ, she may be a Saint as well as the greatest; they were called at the first Disciples, Brethren, 2 Joh. 1. 2. Jam. 1. 2. Christians, Acts 11. 26. Saints and Believers, Acts 5. 14. 1 Tim. 4. 12. And we are now lately called Protestants, from the seven Princes of Germany, protesting against the Pope's Supremacy, but are indeed the true real Catholics, because we hold the Universal truths which were from the Beginning, are, and shall be so to the World's end; the main of which, is the Worshipping of God in and through Christ, and loving Him and his Son for ever. But many beyond Sea are called Lutherans, Calvinists and Hussites, for following those great Lights and their Doctrine. But now this Righteousness of God, Christ, Abraham, Jews, Gentiles, and Believers is called the Saints, for two or three Reasons. First, Because it is this that makes them so. Christ's Righteousness is our Justification, and Sanctification too before God, and it is that and his holy Spirit sanctifying of us, which makes us Saints in the Eyes of God, and before Men in this World too; take three distinctions, and they will end 20 disputes about this Point, 
☜  for Christ justifies us before God by his Blood, Life, and Death. Faith, that is the object of Faith; Christ justifies us in our own Consciences, so that it is not so much Faith in a strict sense, as Christ by Faith Justifies us and that too. And indeed, Faith being imperfect at the best, needs a Christ for Justification, as well as other Graces, though it still shows us Christ as in a glass, for our justification, and good Works which are really so, and the fruits of God's Spirit, namely good Works, these do justify us before Men: And therefore (says Christ) let your light so shine before Men, that they may see your good Works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven, Mat. 5. 16. And says St. James, Show me thy Faith by thy Works, and do not tell me so much thou hast it, but let me see it by thy Works. So that to God we must plead the Blood of Christ, and nothing else, and to our Consciences, show the Blood of Christ, and witness all to others by good Works and a Godly Conversation; and this is the Saints visible and invisible Justification.  
And now, had I the Tongue of Men, or Angels, 1 Cor. 13. 1. I could never enough set out the Blessedness, or Blessednesses of Men or Women, that do Hunger and Thirst, that is, Long, Love, and secretly wish and pray for day by day this Righteousness; and to be found in it, namely, this of God and Christ, and the sanctifying graces of his Spirit, for they shall be satisfied, yea, they shall certainly be satisfied in the discovery of it, and present comfort also; yea, in the everlasting wearing and enjoyment of it in the highest Heavens. For as Kings Cloth all their Yeomen in their Gold Embroidered Coats. So Christ the King of Kings, doth spiritually  the Souls of all his; and by virtue of this, They shall shine as the Sun, in the Kingdom of his Father, for evermore, Mat. 13 43. Yea, all his Rich, and all his Poor, and all his Gifted, and all his Ungifted, that hunger after it. Here one has his Silken Suit, and another his Threadbare Habit; here one has their Holland Shifts, and fine Laces, others want course Linen; but Time shall pass, and Time shall come, when all wants shall be done away, and small Gifts, and no Gifts scarce, shall be equally happy with the greatest, for all shall everlastingly shine as the Sun in the Righteousness of Christ; which is the Blessedness here hungered after, which is the White Linen, and the Wedding Garment, so often spoken of in the Revelations, Rev. 19 8. And that which Paul would so feign be found in; Counting his own Righteousness but dung and dross, in comparison of it, Phil. 3. 8, 9  
But, Fifthly, Our Lord and Saviour goes still on with his Blessings, saying, Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain Mercy, Mat. 5. 7. And the merciful Man, will be merciful to his Beast, saith Solomon. And now, Noble Ladies, give me leave to plead with you a little, from this good Text, The Mercies of God are dear and tender Things, the choicest chiefest things in Heaven and Earth. We have nothing to hang upon Living, or Dying, but the tender Mercies of God in Christ, which he proclaims, and shows to us, Exod▪ 26. And he was with Joseph, and showed mercy in the Pit, Isa. 39 21. Prov. 11. 17. And, A merciful Man (saith Solomon) doth good to his own Soul.  
And if you will show a little to some 30 or near 40 poor and fatherless Boys now in your School at Highgate, you will shine as lights before men, and your candle shall be on a hill, and not under a bushel, which Christ bids you do; and in doing of it, do good to your own, so saith Solomon, Prov. 11. 17. and in this, and doing something for it, you will to yours.  
But you will say, You have ways enough, and need not a new design for Charity: Oh! but you can never have too many ways, nor do too much good in the world; and if it be new, 'tis the more pity that so many brave Noble English Ladies as there be that profess the true Religion, and are Religious also; that they have not done some public thing for the honour of it, as well as old Sutton, when you see so many burnt to ashes for the Gospel, and that Religion which you profess. Oh then do a little, eminent, and something that may have a little notice taken of it, for the honour of their Lord & Master, Religion, and your own also! all which this would do; surely the great and famous Hospitals of London are famours praiseworthy things, and honourable to Religion; and should nor you most Great and Noble English Ladies, which all the world must needs give place unto, do something for the honour of it? If they did well that did build, and set up them, as you will not say but they did, you cannot do amiss in a little countenancing this. Those were done by some one particular person at first, which would swallow up a great and whole Estate; this would hurt no more than a little Tradesman's Bill, because there are so many of you to join in this good and pious Work; surely God will incline some of your hearts, yea many, we yet hope, to it. The Wiseman saith, You will do good to your own Souls. And we are certain it can be no hurt to your children; come and take Christ's counsel, and lay up treasure in Heaven, where no Rust nor Moth, nor Thief can ever come; and to the merciful, God will show himself merciful. But if you do not love your Souls, care for treasure in Heaven, nor the tender mercies, which is the Rise, Spring-head and Fountain of all we hope for, or can hope for from God in this world, or tother, you need not mind these say in this blessed Book of his. Oh! but you dare not say or think so in the least; for God and his mercies are your last and lasting Refuges. Oh! then dear good Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others, as the Italian Beggars proudly beg, saying frequently, Do it for your own good. Let us humbly beg as on our knee, in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, do, yea, and do without your lame Objections, That you have so many ways, when it is nothing else but a will and heart that you want; for you have Purse enough, and 20 ways to save a little, and therefore do something worthy of this good Design. And you may be sure 'tis a good one, because it is to feed, cloth and teach poor ignorant Children to know themselves, fear God, and live in a hard world, what can be better? ask your Lords; I am sure the Lord Christ, all the Prophets and Apostles commend it; I have clothed the hungry, saith Job. And Dorcas or Lydia made , saith Paul, Acts 9 39 And Cornelius was a man full of good Works, Alms-deeds, and Charity, Acts 10. 4. And Primitive Christians sold their Lands to give to necessitated Brethren, Acts 4. 32, 3, 4. so that 'twas all along, and is still a good work, because it suits so well with our Religion, and the Church of England, which saith with St. James, Faith without Works is dead, Jam. 2. 26. But this, and such as the nature of this is, amongst many others will declare it living.  
Thirdly, it is a good work, because it will in some measure stop the mouths of Papists, who are prone to say, Where are your Works, and how few are your Hospitals, and how small is your Charity, notwithstanding great Preaching? Yet we have more than they know, but do not boast as they do. Our Catholic Doctrine teaches us to do good, private and public too: And this is a Catholic grace, because it is more or less in every Member of Christ; and ought so to be, for he bids us be merciful, as our heavenly Father is merciful, who maketh the Sun to shine, and the Rain to rain upon the just, and the unjust, Mat. 5. 45. I shall give you one blessed Scripture more, and I hope I may, without any boasting, truly say, I have even this present February or March experienced something of it; and God Almighty grant that you, many, or all of you, might do so too; for it will be your case or cases, as sure as God lives, to lie upon the Bed of Sickness, as I have done many days together: Now says the Holy Writ, Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy, Psal. 41. 1.  
All these Children of Hampstead, Hornsey, or Highgate, are really so; the Lord preserveth and keepeth him, delivereth him not into the hands of his Enemy, and keepeth him alive, the Lord shall comfort him when he is sick upon his Bed, and shall make his Bed in his sickness; that is, comforts for his Soul, yea and Body too; if this great, full, plain, eminent, well-known Scripture be not considered, none will.  
Now 'twill be of the latest, may be, another day; and you will certainly come to be sick, and it may be in your Sickness be dozed, scarce know where it be day or night, as I said before, and it may be in your Sickness have many fears and doubts concerning your eternal weal. The Enemy will tempt you, by reason of sin and guilt, secretly to despair, or throw away your Soul and Souls; nay he will do it, because you have lived no more to God and his Honour, but have minded your own Honour, Ease, Pleasure, and Interest, in the World, done no Good, been a Christian in Name, only having a form of Godliness, but no Power, 2 Tim. 3. 5. And a thousand things of this Nature he will bring, it may be, he will bring some particular Sins committed so and so to your Minds, whilst the Room is close, or two or three in it, with a watch Light, the Curtains drawn, but the Evil One is very busy in the Bed or Conscience with you. Now, now, if you wish (as God Almighty grant you may) never be delivered over into your Enemies, or the Enemy of Mankind's salvations Hands. Mind this Promise: I do not bid you build upon it; that is dangerous: But build upon Christ, and mind this, for the Promises must be minded, and the Conditions performed too in some measure: And therefore be Merciful, that the Lord may be Pitiful, and not by Death deliver you to your Enemy's Hands. 'Tis a dreadful terrible thing, for a poor Partridge to lie trembling in the Talons of the Falcon, says the Practice of Piety; but a thousand thousand times more dreadful to be delivered into the hands of Satan, in a dying Hour; but the Promise is, God will not deliver the merciful Man into the Enemy's hands, Psal. 41. 2. but keep him alive: Nay, he will certainly do it, that is, He will keep him alive in Christ, unto Eternal Life, or else alive in this World for more Work and Comfort; which latter Promise is rather meant here. So that a long Life seems to be promised to a merciful Man or Woman. And now, Ladies, would you also live long on the Earth, as I believe you would? and enjoy all your Comforts, Riches, Honours, and Relations, be merciful to the Poor, not idle vagabons, sturdy Rogues and Beggars, that make a Trade; but poor industrious Housekeepers, old people and children, that are past their Labour, or too young, poor Outed Ministers Widows, and others: All these you must consider. And as the Apostle says, Do good unto all men, as ye have opportunity, especially the household of Faith; and in so doing you might expect the promise or promises. But some may object, it may be you would have us give all away; no, nor above the tenth part neither, scarce that: Yet many, many good men and Ministers think we are bound to that; especially Dr. Gouge. And in his Book called The Best Way of Thriving, gives you forty Arguments of Scripture for it: And tells you an excellent story of a Bishop, that lost a hundred pound for not giving five, etc.  
But Divine discretion must be used, for this and the other world too. We all commend good Husbandry, and good Housewifery. But what think you of the Lady Warwick? she would say, Save the money of one Rich Laced Gown a year, and that would serve to  a great many poor Children, especially if it should be a May-Gown: Here was good Housewifery, and great Charity. I had rather starve a Lust, said she, than not feed a good Christian. And she found the comfort of it in her sickness, for she had scarce any: God tolled her Soul away, as it were, without groans. But you, it may be, let a thousand pound Necklace, it may be more, lie dead in a little penny Bran Box; and many thousands more in Jewels, Plate, Gold, or Silver by you; and yet, yet, think it a great matter to do a little, any thing that is for a Noble, Good and Brave Charitable Design, which may flourish to the world's end, for ought you know. If you would do some little thing at present, take no care for hereafter; as our Saviour says of to morrow, Mat. 6. 25. Luk. 12. 22. There are Ladies enough in England; yea, and good Citizens too, for to carry it on, when you have once set it up.  
But I have heard that a poor Coach-maker's Wife gave almost as much as a great Countess, at a Collection: Will this pass? Nay, do you yourselves think this will in the day of Account? And our Lord Jesus Christ will take an Account of every Lady of the Land, Wife or Widow, as well as others. And though he approved of the poor Widow's Mite cast into the Treasure; yet he will never accept of your Charity, except it be in some measure proportionable to the Talon he has put in your hands: For, do you think that God or Christ will accept of the improvement of one Talon from a Lady, Lord or others, that he has given ten to? no, he will ask you, Where are the other nine? and you will then be speechless: For he does not allow you, nor no man living, to lay up, up, out and out for Self, Covetousness, Honour, Pride, Vainglory, Children, grandchildren, Nephews, Nieces, and all manner of Relations; this and that great purchase every year; but still little or nothing for Religion, and another World, God, or your Souls; but for Silk, Satin, Coaches, Lace, Tire-women, and other French Toys; and yet may be you good Ladies too; all which we grudge you not in the least; but in the mean time, to see you all almost slight Charity, the love and eminent practice of it; this is uncomfortable, and not Lady Vere like: Or will she and you stand alike together in the day of Accounts? Nay, will not the Lady Drummond, though a Papist, condemn some of you? She was not of the true Church, and yet gave almost a thousand pound to the Poor; but nothing for a Funeral. Come, come, be convinced, and do more good while you live; for you have not done a quarter of that good you might have done, and not have hurt your Lords Estates, or run backwards in the least; nor do we in the least desire that you should: For Charity brings a great blessing; as a good Divine said. But you want a heart or a hand for Christ, or a Death-watch at your Bed's head, to put you in mind of another world: But a sound sickness will do it, and nothing else to purpose: But than it may be you will talk, talk, talk, in a high Fever, of a hundred things, when the plasters are on your feet, blisters on the arms, legs and neck, instead of Christ and his Righteousness. As a Merchant did about Wool; and would hear nothing but what price Wool bore: Bring my Manteau, and my green Petticoat; I will rise; but the Watchers cry, Pray good Madam be still, and keep your Arms in the Bed: Don't tell me; I will rise and go see my Lady such a one; call the Coach quickly: And a hundred things run in the head, when we are running to another world, and its Eternity may be altogether unprepared: Now if you would find mercy in that day, which was the last Text that worthy Dr. Manton ever Preached on; will it not be very sweet, welcome and seasonable, when all things, creature comforts and relations are just a going from you, or you from them for ever, to find a God embracing of you? Oh! be good then; do good; and remember the Poor; and this good Work too, because it may live when you are gone; flourish and be a mighty Tree, as I said before: but the promise is, You shall rather live too, and not die; For the Lord will keep him alive when he lies sick: Mark that word; and it may be when you are dangerously sick, and in your senses, you would not for half; nay, all your Estates but that you should recover; because you have doubts and fears about your Soul's Eternal state, as the poor Apothecary had, that cried despairingly, He should go to Hell, and lie millions of years there. But now to be kept alive and recover, will be the sweetest and greatest mercy to you in the world. Oh try! trust, and take God▪ s promise before all the world's: They often fail, though the blood of Christ never, as one said when his head was going off. Yea this promise; 'tis but, venture a little money; it may be 'tis no more, not so much as a French Page, or one or two Liveries cost you, or some lesser thing, if you look well about. May not this or that be saved, and go to this good design which stands high upon a high Hill, and has a great name. The Ladies, not what Ladies; but the Ladies, taking in all by that general, universal, endless name, as it were, though it be intended to pious, good and great Religious Protestant Ladies, and other virtuous Gentlewomen; yet it has an universal name, because no body knows what God may incline some, or how many of that Noble Sex to do for it. Some are apt to think it may be in time as big as most things (why not?) and as worthy; it bears so many Noble names, as there be Ladies in the Land, or shall be successively; and who knows but some body may die, want an Heir; and remember this, when you have set it once a little up: For it is still The Lady's Charity School-house, and must be whilst one stone or stick remains upon another; for no body can new christian it: And therefore pray don't let this young Godson of yours (it is your first, and will be your last) Starve, die, look poor, or be spoiled, for want of a little good keeping, one two or three years. The Boys are fine, handsome, and well clothed now; not too fine, because they are the Ladies: You cannot but like them and their place exceeding well, and be taken with it, if you would but send or see them these holidays, or after: But now, if a year or two hence they should be grown, which God sordid, poor, ragged, half-starved and no , Country folks would say, who rule or go that way, 〈◊〉 Were there not good Ladies enough in and about London, to maintain a little School? a Deuce on their Pride, Charity, Close hand and Covetousness, if it is be all: And a hundred things of this nature will be said; and some scoffing at Religion too, which will be as bad as death. And therefore pray good Ladies and Gentlewomen, out of tenderness and conscience, do not let the thing die for want of a little countenance; but set the wheel a going by giving something this Easter, one Whitsuntide or two, till you see the thing itself, and the likely wheel of its prosperity, which there is no doubt of if you come a little off. However, above all a hundred times that we can say, do something for this great and serious promise and promises; in case of Death or Sickness, it may be in a week or month's time, and you shall never see May out; and for those mercies which you would wish and hope to find then: And if you do, as the Lord Jesus Christ grant you and your Children may, 'twill be more a comfort to you, than if all your choicest creature-comforts in the world should surround you. Alas, alas! what are Pearls, Plate, Cordials, Jewels, Wife, Children, Husbands, Lands, Live, Rich Bed and Hang, or the Honours of the world, when the Soul is stepping upon the dark Mountains of Eternity, or sitting on the Lip, just taking wing; with the last gasp to fly away for ever, as an Eagle in the Air? O mercy, mercy then! and in that day may mercy be your portion. And as the poor people of Hadly wept and prayed for Dr. Taylor in the street, as he was going to be burnt, saying, Oh! Lord Jesus Christ; relieve thee our good Shepherd Mr. Taylor, as you have relieved and comforted us many times with your Charity. But there are two promises more, which I shall hint at and I have done. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, Matt. 5. 8. To see God is the very heaven of heavens, and to see him in heaven is the last and lasting highest happiness of all men, angels, and glorified creatures, or whatsoever our soul or souls can, or shall ever to all eternity desire: and may you and all you so see him and personally enjoy him for ever and ever: but there must be purity, and heart purity, for it is the pure in heart that shall see him in glory, without holiness no man can see him, Heb. 12. 14. And with the pure he will show himself pure, Psal. 18. 26. but in a strict sense this word pure must not be taken, as if in a strict sense we should not see him without perfect holiness in ourselves which is to be without all sin, and to be perfectly holy in his sight, which otherwise than in Christ no man living can be; saith Job, The Stars are not pure in his sight, Job 25. 5. and he hath beheld folly in his Angels, Job 4. 17. much less men, the best of men, or the best of their actions, yea, so none can say I am pure, Prov. 20. 9 but men may be said to be pure as they are washed, justified, sanctified persons, and made pure by the blood of Christ, and so every believer, or justified, sanctified person is pure, Rev. 1. 5. Timothy speaks of a pure conscience that is washed, 1 Tim. 3. 9 2. Tim. 1. 3. serving God with a pure conscience. And so again Paul bids us draw near to God with a true heart and full assurance (of what?) faith in Christ for justification, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience with the blood of Christ, and our bodies washed with pure water, that is, the water of sanctification by his spirit, typified by that which came out of his blessed side when by the spear pierced for us upon the Cross. And thus, noble Ladies, it is that you must be pure if ever you will be pure, and see God in Glory, you must be washed by the blood of Christ, and sanctified by the spirit of Christ, fine Words, fine , Compliments, and Faces do nothing in point of justification; no nor many sermons hearing if rested upon, nor other good deeds; no, 'tis the blood of Christ witnessed by an honest, humble, godly conversation from the integrity of your hearts, that must get you the denomination of being pure in heart, and seeing God in glory: and therefore dear Ladies, Gentlewomen and others, as ever you would see glory, or see the face of God in glory, be holy, heavenly, and mind things above, Col. 3. 1. 2. where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, Heb. 1. 13. and think not that a little little slight religion, no religion, any religion will bring you there when nothing will do it without Purity, Strictness, and Honess; yea, there must be a little of all this; do you think to go in fine Sedans, Down Beds, and Coaches? no, no, it must be in a way of mortification to sin, and love to holiness if you will ever have happiness; yea, this unspeakable happiness of seeing God in glory, which one says He would for one glimpse of it endure a great while in hell. Oh! but you need not go to hell for heaven; for if you go there you will never come out, though the Papists fancy they may from Purgatory for a little money to the Priest: And therefore one said, Oh Money Money! what wilt not thou do in the Court of Rome! Ay, said the Pope, and you are fools to bring it here, to an English man that was there upon trial for a Church Living. Oh! but go to Christ and the promise, go to God by Christ through the promise, beg and plead that you may see him, and you shall see him, and his grace, and hereafter you shall see his face also, Rev. 22. 4. And his name shall be in your foreheads; that is the blessed rays of his glory shall be visible on you when you come to stand before God and the Lamb in glory with your Palms in your hands, Rev. 7. 9  
But, seventhly and last Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children of God, Matt. 7. 9 Peace makers are Christ's imitators, who is called the Peacemaker and the Lord of life and glory, the mighty God the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Isa. 9 6. by whose commission alone it is, that all his Messengers and Ministers do preach Peace and Pardon to poor sinners, such as are far off and such as are near in their own apprehensions: Yea, to all that believe, be they far or near, Jews or Gentiles, the blood of Christ speaks peace and better things to them than the blood of Abel that cried for vengeance; and all innocent blood will do so. And therefore 'tis not good to pardon any that kill men in quarrels, duels; but this cries for peace, pardon, and forgiveness, Oh! Father forgive them they know not what they do, Luk. 23. 34. now to be a peacemaker, is to be a sin-reconciler, I do not mean to God, for that none can do but Christ who is our propitation, 1 Joh. 2. 2. 4. 10. and he hath done it for all that do believe, but to reconcile men to men is to do all the offices of love and good will, yea, all the offices of good we can for the Church and people of God, especially in our own place, way, and calling; wishing prosperity, peace, and weal, and to say with the Psalmist, Peace be with thee, and let them prosper that love thee, Psalm 22. 6, 7. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy Palaces, Psal. 26. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem saith the Prophet Isaiah, and in the Church's peace, shall you have peace saith the same Prophet, and the people of God are said to delight themselves in abundance of peace, Psal. 37. 11. Where the meek are said again to inherit the earth: And as Paul in his salutation, said, Grace be unto you, and Peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Col. 1. 2. And In as much as in you lies, live peaceably with all men, Rom. 12. 18. Now first there is a personal or particular peace, that is, a peace with a man's own self, Mind, Actions, Ways and Conscience. Secondly, There is a domestic peace, that is, with Masters, Servants, Husbands, Wife and Children. And thirdly, There is a Relative Neighbour, or Parochial Peace, that is, one Neighbour, Friend or Relation with another. And Moses reproved the two Israelites for quarrelling, saying, They were Brethren, Exod. 12, 13. Oh! how good is it, saith the Psalmist, for natural or spiritual) Brethren to live together in Amity! Psal. 133. 1. Fourthly, There is a National and Ecclesiastical Peace, which we are to pray for, and desire also: But this is rather to be desired, than expected. While some men know more, and others less, there will be disputes and some differences; for all men have not the same fancies, nor Physiognomies, but do differ there, and in mind too. However, for peace and quiet sake, let the strong comply with the weak, and the weak not to despise and judge the strong, because they know more than themselves: And this is to become all to all men, as Paul did, to gain some: And for God, Christ, Peace and Angel's sake, do you do so; which was the Song that millions of them sung at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Shepherds; yea, the universal world, saying, Glory be to God in the highest, Luk. 2. 14. Peace and good will towards men on earth.  
But for your worldly outward Peace, take Paul and Christ's counsel in a word, and so shall you preserve and keep it.  
First, Wrong no man, saith he, Act. 25. 10.  
Secondly, Forgive your Enemies, says Christ, Matth. 5. 44. which two Scriptures well observed, would make a great deal of peace in the world; especially amongst the best of good Christians. But I shall not mind nor trouble you further in any thing of this nature about Peace above mentioned; only this; A personal inward Peace, which is a thing of great concern for Eternity; namely, your Soul-Peace; and for that take this great Scripture, Simile or Parable of our Lord Jesus Christ, Matth. 5. 56. Agree with thine Adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time thy Adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be cast into prison.  
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing; which is as much as to say, never, never.  
And now pray will you mind this, young Ladies and Gentlewomen; for you, for the most part, are most ignorant of the holy Scriptures, and their meaning.  
This is a true and great Parable of Soul concern; and therefore Christ's counsel is serously to be minded by us.  
Our Adversary is God; and God, though he be the God of all Good, Grace, Glory, Eternal Love, and Infinite Endless Mercy; yet he is an Adversary to every Man, and every Man and Woman by nature too, is an Adversary, an enemy at distance to him, till he be reconciled by Christ, for the breach of his most righteous, just and equal holy Law, Psal. 119. 19  
Every branch of which, as it contains a beam of his eternal will and image, is more pure than the Sun, or gold tried in the Fire, as the Psalmist hath it, Psal. 119. 72.  
Now, whilst sweet life, and the holy blessed Gospel is continued and preached to us, we are in the way, in the right way, that we may be reconciled to this good God, who is yet an Enemy, and will continue so, if we do not agree and make peace in the blood of Christ: But he, namely God, delivers us by death, any kind of death that kills us; Consumption, Surfeit, Cold, Ague, Fever, Smallpox, Age, Gout or Dropsy, etc. so that we be put into the Judge's hands, namely, the good Lord Jesus Christ's, who is and shall be Judge of quick and dead; he finds us guilty of debt, sin, unbelief, and breach of God's holy Law; sends us, and delivers us over into the Jailor's hands, the Devil; and he presently casts and carries us to Hell, where we never come out, nor can, till we pay the uttermost farthing; that is, till we satisfy to the uttermost for God's wrong, and infinite strict Justice, for the breach of his holy, righteous, just and good Law; which can never, never be, though we lie millions, millions, and ten thousand millions of years; as Francis Spira once said. Oh Lords, Ladies, Gentlewomen and other poor People! make Peace while you may; make Peace, yea, whilst Christ and the holy Spirit of Christ sweetly knocks, with an Olive branch of Peace, pleading with you at the door of your hearts. Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock, that is, by good motions; and if any one hear, and open the door, that is, harken to my counsel, I will come in and sup with him, that is, give him pardon and comfort, Rev. 3. 20. And so again, Cant. 5. 2. Open, Open unto me, my Love, my Dove, and come away.  
And now, if you have taken his advice, and have made your Peace, by harkening unto Christ, and taken his counsel, who is an Advocate, Friend and Counsellor, to plead for you to the Father, by showing of his Blood, Death and Merit in a way of Intercession to the Father for poor Sinners, then will he be a Saviour to you, and not a condemning Judge, to turn you over by Death to Hell and the Jailor; but will convey you safely by the holy Angels, who are now your Guardians to the Bosom of the Father. And now, if you have made your Peace, as easily yet you may, if you have not, and do but look about you with a grain of Faith, through the Blood, Life, Death and Merit of Jesus Christ, as I said before; than you have little else to do, but to study all kind of Peace in your Families, Parish-Church, and every where, where you can come or go; That ye may be called the Children of the Living God, Rom. 9 26. The Sons and Daughters of the most High God, 1 John 3. 1. And so Peacemakers indeed. And this frame of spirit, with the Spirit of God in you, Rom. 8. 10. will be a great Witness and Comfort to you, that you are now the Children of God; and if Children, than Heirs, as the Apostle says, verse 17. and so joint-heirs with Christ.  
O unspeakable Love and Grace! What! an Heir with Christ? Ay says the Text, a joint-heir with him; of what? nay, that's for Eternity to tell; but this we may say they are Heirs of: First, of Eternal Life and Resurrection from the Dead, Luk. 20: 36. But they which shall be accounted worthy of that world, namely, Heaven, and the Resurrection from the Dead, neither marry, nor are given in Marriage; neither can they die any more, Luk. 23. v. 36. for they are equal to Angels, and are the Children of God, being Children of the Resurrection.  
Mark, the Children of the Resurrection, are the Children of God, that is, those, and all those Christ risen as a Head for; they, and all they have a part in the first Resurrection, Rev. 20. 6. Blessed and happy are they that have part in the first Resurrection; for on such the second Death shall have no power; that is, Hell, the Devil or Jailers, Prison, above mentioned.  
O Ladies! Look to Christ, who is the first Resurrection, and the first begotten from the Dead; and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth; for he has loved you, and washed you from your sins in his own Blood, Heb. 1. 6.  
Yea, look to him that he be your Resurrection; and that you have a part by Faith in him, who is the true Book of Life, Revel. 21. 27. And if by Faith in him, you rise from the Grave and Death of sin here, then may you assure yourselves of a share and part in his Resurrection unto Eternal Life, which was typified by the First Fruits, and the Sheaf of Corn which the Priest held up and waved under the Ceremonial or Levitical Law.  
And that you are indeed the Children of it, And of God too, and so shall never die: Oh! believest thou this? as Christ said in another place about Lazarus, I am the life and resurrection of the dead, and he that believeth in me shall never die; Joh. 11. 25. Yea, though he were dead yet shall he live again; Believest thou this says Christ; so say I to you noble Ladies, Gentlewomen and others if you be the Children of God and the resurrection, you shall die no more, die once you must to this world and the things, sleep a little in the grave, and imitate Christ your Head and your Husband, your Lord and your Saviour who was there before you three days and three nights; and then destroyed and tore the grave open to assure you of the resurrection also; but in that you shall never die more: Oh! happy resurrection when Christ shall say, awake, and sing O ye that sleep in the dust, and with my dead body shall ye awake; Isaiah Come with me my love from Bebon the Leopard, and the Lion's den, Canticles. All which promises, and a thousand more are made to you if you be the children of God, and peacemakers in the Church, or World, or where you are.  
The Children of Israel were happy that they were the Children of Israel, and the seed of Abraham, though all were not the true seed: but Oh! how happy are you that you are the Children of God, and shall be like his Angels in the resurrection! yet Israel died in the wilderness and never entered into the land of Canaan; but you shall never die, be as Angels, enter in and possess the true Canaan; Heaven's Kingdom, and the Kingdom of God; be among the Angels to sing with that Celestial Choir the high praises of God and the Lamb to all eternity, Rev. 7. Oh happy day! Oh happy hour! that ever you were born or made to be the Children of God, and peacemakers in the world, and places where you come; Hell is full of brawling, the world is full of brawling, but your Breasts and Lives are full with peace and the love of God, and the ways and things of God: Oh! keep that Nightingale and sweet ever singing Bird of Paradise close to you, and let it never fail you day nor night, yea, all you Children of God; 'tis a heaven to begin a heaven here, and a double hell to lose it for a straw as one said, or a bubble which Children blow from a walnut shell; whilst 'tis a little heaven, or young heaven as a great Lady called it, but old heaven, and the heaven of heaven of heavens shall be your portion; yea, he that compasseth heaven and earth and is within the Starry Element, where Sun, Moon and Stars are. Oh! how glorious is that, this is but the Tileing we see, God's house is all invisible, and the inside no mortal man nor eye can see, nor him neither and live, Exod. 33. v. 20.  
But time shall pass, and time shall come when these things shall be no more, and we for ever with the Lord, 1 Thes. 4. 17. and see him as he is, face to face, and eye to eye, and all tears shall be quite wiped away, sorrow, and mourning fly away for ever, former things be forgotten, and all your Lords unkindness, and your own unworthiness of the Lamb, and your Redeemer's love; yea, the want of Grace, and comforts here, the young Lord, and little Lady's death will be forgotten in another world, yea, in resurrection, glory, all will be swallowed up in everlasting joy, some Fountains have their mouths or pipes through which they send their Crystal streams with pleasant noises, Revel. and in heaven shall the Children of the resurrection, Saints, and Angels, continually send their Praises to God and the Lamb, and that unweariedly; for worthy is the Lamb to receive Power, Glory, and Dominion, for ever and ever, Revel. 7. 10, 11, 12. And every creature in heaven, and earth heard I say Amen, Amen, Amen.  
Oh! ye Lords, Ladies, Princes, Kings, Queens, Potentates, and highest Mortal of the earth, join ye, for it becomes you well, and all ye with that kingly Prophet David in his three last Psalms 148, 149, 150. and with this I shall close this little little book of yours which was made a little before, and just after a great sickness, but the work is Praise the Lord from the heaven, Praise him in the highest, for the highest is too low for him. Praise him all ye Angels; an Angelical praise becomes him and them very well, praise him all ye host, be ye what he will, praise him Sun and Moon for ye are man and wife to rule both day and night, and he made you both; praise him all ye Stars of light, which are as Sun and Moons children, and are of great influence to the children of men; praise him O heavens, air, ye terrestrial, celestial heavens, heaven of heavens, praise him and him alone, he only made you with the word of his power; and ye waters that be above the heavens, the airy heavens and clouds that we see, and in the deep; let the fountains of the deep praise him, he hath commanded and you were created, he establish a Decree and you cannot pass.  
Praise him Dragons, and deep fiery Mountains, Hail, Snow, and Storms, and fulfil his word; Mountains, Hills, Trees, and Cedars, high Men, and low Men, little Beasts, and Cattle, Creeping things, and Flying, little Aunts, and mighty Eagles, Kings, Judges, Princes, and all People, young Lords, and maiden Ladies of nine, ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen; let them praise his name, for his name alone is excellent, and before him let all flesh be for ever silent. His glory is above the Heavens, ever was, is, and ever shall be; he also exalteth the horn of his people, Christ the horn of David, and the horn and salvation of the Church, as well as the praise of all his Saints, Male, and Female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, and so are Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Scythians, all Nations having drunk of his Blood, and Saints too, even the Children of Israel, a People near unto himself, yea, as the apple of his eye. Praise ye the Lord, sing a Song of Praise, Psalm 149. and rejoice in your King; the Lord reigns, the Lord is King for ever and ever; let the Earth be glad; let them praise his Name in Dances, spiritual ones, with Timbrel and Harp, joy and comfort in their Souls; for the Lord taketh pleasure in his People; shall a Worm do it in his hole? a Bird in the Sun? a Saint in God? and not God in his people? Oh yes! he taketh pleasure in his people, and will beautify the meek with salvation.  
We told you the meek should inherit the earth a little before, but here is heaven and salvation too; Oh! Blessed are the meek, and blessed are all these blessed ones whom he takes pleasure in.  
Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing upon their beds, go in all the divine and heavenly discoveries, of God's love to their souls; and let a sword be in their hands, the holy word of God which is as a two edged one to cut down all ungodly lusts and reigning sins in their souls, yea, let the law of God as a golden chain bind their unruly Kingly lusts and Lordly ones too, from acting against God and their souls, for ever; and to execute on them the doom, that is, death and mortification as St. Paul saith, Col. 3. 5. This honour all his Saints shall have, that is, his sanctified justified one's as I told you a little before; yea, in these no sin shall ever reign as Kings and Noble men, for these are not under the Law, but under Grace, so saith the great Apostle, and experienced Saint St. Paul, Rom. 6. 14.  
Wherefore praise him in the sanctuary, yea, that that is of all most proper, yea, in the congregation of his people, yea, in the great congregation will I praise thee, says David; ay, and in the little one too; I will praise thee with my whole heart, and my tongue shall be as the pen of a ready writer, Psal. 45. 1. I will extol thee, O King, I will bless thee for ever and ever, Psal. 145. 1, 2. Every day will I bless thee; great is the Lord most worthy to be praised, his greatness none can reach; Ladies, Men, and Angels may try their skill, and strain their voices, but can never reach it, no, the uttermost thoughts of men and Angels cannot do it, for he is still as far beyond them as the heavens are beyond the earth; yea, he is more excellent than all creatures can conceive to eternity: and Christ also fairer than the children of men, the chiefest of ten thousands altogether lovely, Psa. 45. 2. 6. Cant. 5. 10. And says God concerning Christ I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations, And therefore shall the people love and praise thee for ever and ever. Psal. 45. 17. And to thee shall every knee bow, Phil. 2. 10. that is, submit and be disposed of by Christ as he pleases and how he pleases; Oh! praise him for his acts, he hath led Captivity Captive, and is judge of quick and dead, according to his excellency give him praise, with Timbrel and Harp, yea, with ten stringed instruments, all the veins in tongue and heart praise him, praise him, for musical instruments has Christ put down in his Gospel worship, and therefore 'tis the lip, 'tis the life, 'tis the heart, 'tis the soul, that must now praise him; O Lords, Lords, Ladies and other English Mortals! won't you join to Praise him? Then you are undone, utterly undone For EVER,  
Written by WILLIAM BLAKE, Housekeeper to the Lady's Charity-School.  
FINIS.