Part 2

A VERY poor child, of the parish of Newington-Butts, came to the door of a friend of mine, in a very lamentable case: it pleased God to raise in the heart of my friend a great pity and tenderness toward him: so that he took him out of the streets, who had nothing at all to commend him to any one's charity but his misery. My friend, seeking the glory of God, discharged the parish of the child, and took him as his own; yet there seemed to be little hopes of doing good upon him, for he was a very monster of wickedness, and a thousand times more miserable and vile by his sin than by his poverty. He was running to hell as fast as he could go, and was old in vice when he was but young in years: we scarcely hear of one so like the devil in his infancy as was this poor child. What sin was there that his age was capable of, which he did not commit? What by the corruption of his nature, and the abominable example of little beggar boys, he was indeed arrived at a great pitch of impiety. He would call names, take God's name in vain, curse, swear, and do all kinds of mischief; and as to any thing of God, he was worse than a heathen.

2. No sooner had this good man taken this creature into his house but he prayed for him, and laboured with all his might to convince him of his miserable condition by nature, and to teach him something of God, the worth of his own soul, and that eternity of glory or misery to which he was bound. And, blessed be God, it was not long before the Lord was pleased to let him understand that it was himself who put into his heart to take in this child. The Lord soon blessed his instructions, so that an amazing change was seen. In the space of a few weeks he was convinced of the evil of his ways; no more calling of names, swearing or cursing, no more taking of the Lord's name in vain. His company, his talk, his employment, were changed, and he was like another creature.

3. And this change was not only an external one, but he would get by himself, and weep and mourn bitterly for his wicked life.

4. He was still more and more broken under a sense of his undone state by nature; often in tears, and bemoaning his lost and miserable condition. When his master spoke of the things of God, he listened earnestly, and took in with much eagerness and affection, what he was taught. There was seldom any discourse about religion in his hearing, but he heard as though it were for his life.

5. Thus he continued seeking after the knowledge of God, till the sickness came into the house, with which he was smitten. At his first sickening the poor child was greatly amazed and afraid; and though his pains were great, and the distemper very tedious; nevertheless, the sense of his sins, and the thought of the condition that his soul was still in, made his trouble ten times greater.

6. He was in grievous agonies of spirit; his former sins stared him in the face, and made him tremble. The poison of God's arrows did even drink up his spirits; the sense of sin and of wrath were so great that he knew not what to do. The weight of God's displeasure, and the thought of lying under it to all eternity, broke him even to pieces, and he bitterly cried out, "What shall I do! I am a miserable sinner, and I fear that I shall go to hell." His sins had been so great and so many, that there was no hope for him. He was not by far so much concerned for his life as for his soul: what would become of that for ever. Now the plague upon his body seemed nothing to that which was in his soul.

7. He not only cried out against his swearing, lying, and other outward notorious sins; but was in great horror for the sin of his nature; the vileness and original corruption of his heart. For this he was in so great anguish that the trouble of his spirit made him forget the pain of his body.

8. He very particularly confessed and bewailed his sins, and some sins so secret that none in the world could charge him with.

9. He would ask others whether they thought there were any hopes for him, and would beg of them to deal plainly with him; for he was greatly afraid of being deceived.

10. Being informed how willing and ready the Lord Jesus Christ was to accept of poor sinners, and being counselled to venture himself upon Christ for mercy and salvation, he said he would fain cast himself upon Christ, but he could not but wonder how Christ should die for such a vile wretch as he was, and he found it one of the hardest things in the world to believe.

11. But at last it pleased the Lord to give him some hope that there might be mercy for him, the chief of sinners; and he was enabled to lay hold upon that, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Nor was it long before he was full of praise and admiration of God; so that, to speak in the words of one that was an eye and ear witness, he was so full of joy and praise that he longed for heaven.

12. He now grew exceedingly in knowledge, experience, patience, humility, and self-abhorrence. He prayed before, but now the Lord poured out upon him the spirit of prayer in an extraordinary manner; so that now he prayed more frequently, more earnestly, more spiritually than ever. O how eagerly would he beg to be washed in the blood of Jesus! And that the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who was over heaven and earth, would pardon and forgive him all his sins, and receive his soul into his kingdom. And what he spoke was with so much life and fervour of spirit, that it filled the hearers with astonishment and joy.

13. He had no small sense of the use and excellence of Christ, and such longings and breathings of his soul after him, that when mention has been made of Christ, he hath been ready to leap out of his bed for joy.

14. The Wednesday before he died, he lay in a trance for about half an hour, in which time he thought he saw a vision of angels. When he was out of his trance, he asked his nurse why she did not let him go? "Go! whither?" said she; "Why, along with those lovely gentlemen," said he; "but they told me they would come and fetch me away upon Friday." And he repeated these words many times, "Upon Friday next those lovely gentlemen will come for me."

15. He was very thankful to his master, and very sensible of his great kindness in taking him out of the streets when begging, and he admired the goodness of God, which put it into the mind of a stranger: said he, "I hope to see you in heaven, for I am sure you will go thither. O blessed, blessed be God, that made you to take pity upon me; for I might have died, and have gone to the devil, and been damned for ever, if it had not been for you."

16. The Thursday before he died, he asked a friend of mine what he thought of his condition, and whither his soul was going? for he said he could not still but fear, lest he should deceive himself with false hopes. At which my friend spoke to him thus:--"If thou art but willing to accept of Christ, thou mayest have Christ, and all that thou dost want with him. Thou sayest thou fearest that Christ will not accept of thee! I fear that thou art not heartily willing to accept of him." The child answered, "Indeed I am." "Why, then, if thou art unfeignedly willing to have Christ, I tell thee he is a thousand times more willing to have thee, and wash thee, and save thee. And now at this time, Christ offers himself to thee again; therefore, receive him humbly by faith into thy heart, and bid him welcome, for he deserveth it." Upon which words the Lord discovered his love to the child; and he gave a kind of leap in his bed, and snapped his finger and thumb together with abundance of joy. And from that time forward, in full joy and assurance of God's love, he continued earnestly praising God, desiring to die, and to be with Christ. And on Friday morning he sweetly went to rest, using that expression, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit!" being not much above nine years old.

A BABE IN CHRIST.

JOHN SUDLOW was born of religious parents, in the county of Middlesex, whose care was to instill spiritual principles into him as soon as he was capable of understanding them, whose endeavours the Lord was pleased to crown with the desired success.

2. When he was scarce able to speak plain he seemed to have a very great awe and reverence of God upon his spirit, and a strange sense of the things of another world.

3. The first thing that much affected him, and made him endeavour to escape from the wrath to come, and to inquire what he should do to be saved, was the death of a little brother. When he saw him without breath, and not able to speak or stir; and when carried out of doors, and put into the ground, he was greatly concerned, and asked whether he should die too? Being answered yes it made so deep an impression on him, that from that time forward, he was exceedingly serious; and this was when he was about four years old.

4. He was now desirous to know what he might do that he might live in another world, and what to avoid, that he might not die for ever. And, being instructed by his parents, he soon laboured to avoid whatsoever might displease God. Now the apprehensions of God, death and eternity, laid such a restraint upon him, that he would not, for a world, have told a lie. He was much taken with reading the book of martyrs, and would willingly leave his dinner and go to his book.

5. He went to his father and mother with great tenderness and compassion, and entreated them to take more care of his brothers and sisters; and to take heed lest they should go to hell, and be ruined for ever.

6. The providences of God were not passed by without his minute observation. In the time of the plague he was exceedingly concerned about his everlasting state, and was very much by himself upon his knees. The following prayer was found written in short hand after his death.

7. O Lord God and merciful Father, take pity upon me, a miserable sinner: and strengthen me, O Lord, in thy faith, and make me one of thy saints in heaven. O Lord, keep me from this poisonous infection; however, not my will, but thy will be done. O Lord, if thou hast appointed me to die by it, fit me for death, and give me a good heart to bear up under my afflictions. O Lord God, and merciful Father, take pity on me, thy child. Teach me, O Lord, thy word; make me strong in faith. O Lord, I have sinned against thee; Lord, pardon my sins. I had been in hell long ago if it had not been for thy mercy. But, O Lord, if thou hast appointed me to die, fit me for death, that I may die with comfort. And, O Lord, I pray thee to help me to bear up under my afflictions for Christ's sake. Amen.

8. He was not a little concerned for the whole nation, and begged that God would pardon the sins of this land, and bring it nearer to himself.

9. About the beginning of November, this child was smote with the distemper, but he behaved with admirable patience under the hand of God.

10. These were some of his last expressions. "The Lord shall be my physician, for he will cure both soul and body. Heaven is the best hospital. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good in his eyes." Again, "It is the Lord that taketh away my health; but I will say as Job did, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.' If I should live longer, I should but sin against God." Looking upon his father, he said, "If the Lord will but lend me the least finger of his hand to lead me through the dark entry of death, I will rejoice in him."

11. When a minister came to him, among other things, he spake something of life. He answered, "This is a wicked world: it is better to live in heaven."

12. An hour and a half before his death, the same minister came again to visit him, and asked him, "John, art thou not afraid to die?" He answered, "No, if the Lord will comfort me in that hour." "But," said the minister, "how canst thou expect comfort, seeing we deserve none?" He answered, "No, if I had my deserts, I had been in hell long ago." "But," replied the minister, "which way dost thou expect comfort and salvation, seeing that thou art a sinner?" He answered, "In Christ alone." In whom, about an hour and a half after, he fell asleep.

THE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER.

TABITHA ALDER was the daughter of a minister in Kent, who lived near Gravesend. She was instructed in the Holy Scriptures by her father and mother; but there appeared nothing extraordinary in her till she was between seven and eight years old:

2. About which time, when she was sick, one asked her what she thought would become of her if she should die? She answered that she was greatly afraid she should go to hell.

3. Being asked why she was afraid she should go to hell? She answered, because she did not love God.

4. Again, being asked how she knew that she did not love God? she replied, "What have I done for God ever since I was born? And beside this, I have been taught that he that loves God keeps his commandments; but I have kept none of them."

5. Being farther demanded if she would not fain love God? she answered, "Yes, with all my heart, if I could, but I find it a hard thing to love one I do not see."

6. She was advised to beg of God a heart to love him: she answered, "I am afraid it is too late."

7. Upon this, seeing her in such a desponding condition, a friend of hers spent the next day in fasting and prayer for her.

8. After this, that friend asked her how she did now? She answered with a great deal of joy, "Now I bless the Lord; I love the Lord Jesus dearly; I feel I do love him. O, I love him dearly."

9. "Why," said her friend, "did you not say yesterday you did not love the Lord, and that you could not?" "Sure," said she, "it was Satan hindered me. But now I love him. O blessed be God for the Lord Jesus Christ."

10. After this she had a discovery of her approaching dissolution, which was no small comfort to her: "Anon," said she, (with a holy triumph,) "I shall be with Jesus. I am married to him: he is my husband: I am his bride: I have given myself to him, and he hath given himself to me, and I shall live with him for ever."

11. This language struck the hearers with astonishment. She still continued in a kind of ecstasy of joy, admiring the excellence of Christ, rejoicing in her interest in him, and longing to be with him.

12. After a while, some of her friends, who stood near her, observed a more than ordinary earnestness and fixedness in her countenance; they said one to another, "Look how earnestly she looks, surely she sees something."

13. One asked her what it was that she fixed her eyes upon so eagerly? "I warrant," says one, "she saw death coming."

14. "No," said she, "it is the glory that I saw, it is that on which my eyes were fixed."

15. One demanded of her, what the glory was like? She replied, "I cannot tell what, but I am going to it: will you go with me? I am going to glory. O that you were all going with me to that glory!" With these words her soul took wings, and went to the possession of that glory. She died when she was between eight and nine years of age.

LITTLE JACOB'S FAITH.

JACOB BICKS was born in Leyden, in the year 1657. He was visited with sickness upon the 6th of August, 1664. In his distemper he was very sleepy till near his death, but when he did awake he was wont still to fall a praying.

2. Once when his parents had prayed with him, they asked him if they should once more send for the physician? "No," said he, "I will have the doctor no more; the Lord will help me; I know he will take me to himself."

3. When his parents had prayed with him, he said, "Come, now, dear father and mother, and kiss me: I know that I shall die. Farewell, dear father and mother; farewell, dear sister; farewell, all. Now shall I go unto God and Jesus Christ, and the holy angels. Father, know you not what is said by Jeremiah? 'Blessed is he who trusteth in the Lord.' Now I trust in him, and he will bless me; and in 1 John ii, it is said, 'Little children, love not the world, for the world passeth away.'"

4. "Away then all that is in the world, away with all my pleasant things in the world; away with my dagger, for where I go there is nothing to do with daggers and swords; men shall not fight there, but praise God. Away with all my books: there shall I learn true wisdom without books."

5. His father said, "My dear child, the Lord will be near thee, and uphold thee."

6. "Yea, father," said he, "the Apostle Peter saith, 'God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble.' I humble myself under the mighty hand of God, and he shall help me and lift me up."

7. "O, my dear child," said his father, "hast thou so strong faith?"

8. "Yes," said he, "God hath given me so strong a faith in himself through Jesus Christ, that the devil shall flee from me: for it is said, He who believeth in the Son hath everlasting life, and he hath overcome the wicked one. Now I believe in Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and he will not leave nor forsake me, but shall give unto me eternal life, and then I shall sing, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Sabaoth."

Then, with that word, "Lord, be merciful unto me a poor sinner," he quietly breathed out his soul, being about seven years old.

JACOB'S SISTER SUSANNAH.

SUSANNAH BICKS, the sister of Jacob Bicks, was born in Leyden, in Holland, January 24, 1650, of religious parents, whose great care was to instruct their child, and to present her to the ministers of the place to be publicly instructed.

2. It pleased God to bless this to her soul, so that she had soon a true relish for what she was taught, and made an admirable use of it in time of need.

3. She was a child of great dutifulness to her parents, and of a very sweet, humble nature; and not only the truth, but the power and eminence of religion did shine in her.

4. In August, 1664, when the pestilence raged in Holland, as she felt herself very ill, she broke forth in these words, "If thy law were not my delight, I should perish in my affliction."

5. Her father coming to her, said, "Be of good comfort, my child, for the Lord will be near to thee and us: he will not forsake us, though he chastens." "Yea, father," said she, "our heavenly Father doth chasten us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness; no chastisement seemeth for the present to be joyous, but grievous; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby."

6. After this, with her eyes lifted towards heaven, she said, "Be merciful to me a sinner, according to thy word."

7. She greatly abhorred sin, and, with much grief and self-detestation, reflected upon it; but that which lay the closest to her heart was the depravity of her nature. She often cried out in the words of the psalmist, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." She could never lay herself low enough under a sense of that sin which she brought with her into the world.

8. That scripture dwelt much on her tongue, "The sacrifices of God are a broken heart; a broken and contrite spirit, O God, thou wilt not despise." "O for that brokenness of heart," said she, "which flows from faith, and for that faith which is built upon Christ, who is the alone and proper sacrifice for sin."

9. Then she discoursed of the nature of faith, and desired that the 11th of the Hebrews should be read unto her: at the reading of which she cried out, "O what a steadfast faith was Abraham's, which made him willing to offer up his own and only son! Faith is indeed the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

10. Her father and mother, seeing her, burst into tears; upon which she pleaded with them to be patient under the hand of God. "O," said she, "why do you weep over me, seeing you have no reason to question: but, if the Lord takes me, it shall be well with me to all eternity? You ought to be well satisfied, seeing it is said, 'God is in heaven, and doth whatever pleaseth him.' And do you not pray every day that the will of God may be done upon earth as it is in heaven? Now, father, this is God's will, that I should lie upon this sick bed, and die of this disease; shall we not be content when our prayers are answered? I will, as long as I live, pray that God's will be done, not mine."

11. "Doth not," said she, "the pestilence come from God? Why else doth the Scripture say, Shall there be evil in the city which I have not sent? Does it come from the air? And is not the Lord the Creator and Ruler of the air? Or if they say it comes from the earth, hath not he the same power and influence upon that too? What talk they of a ship that came from Africa? Have you not heard long ago, 'I will bring a sword upon you, and avenge the quarrel of my covenant, and when you are assembled in the cities, then I will bring the pestilence into the midst of you?'"

12. After this, having taken a little rest, she said, "Whether in death or life, a believer is Christ's, who hath redeemed us by his own precious blood from the power of the devil; then, whether I live or die, I am the Lord's. O why do you afflict yourselves thus? But what shall I say? With weeping I came into the world, and with weeping I must go out again. O my dear parents, better is the day of my death than the day of my birth."

13. She then desired her father to pray with her, and to request of the Lord that she might have a quiet passage into another world.

14. Her father, observing her to grow very weak, said, "I perceive, child, thou art very weak." "It is true, sir," said she, "I feel my weakness increasing, and I see your sorrow increasing too, which is a part of my affliction. Be content, I pray you, it is the Lord who does it; and let you and I say with David, 'Let us fall into the Lord's hand, for his mercies are great.'"

15. She laid a great charge upon her parents not to grieve for her after her death, urging that of David: while the child was sick he fasted and wept: but when it died he washed his face, and sat up, and ate, and said, "Can I bring him back from death? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

16. Being very feeble, she said, "O that I might quietly sleep in the bosom of Jesus! and that till then he would strengthen me! O that he would take me in his arms, as he did those little ones, where he said, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven: and he took them in his arms, and he laid his hands on them, and blessed them,' I lie here as a child: O Lord, I am thy child, receive me into thy gracious arms. O Lord, grace! grace! and not justice! For if thou shouldst enter into judgment with me, I cannot stand: yea, none living would be just in thy sight."

17. Then she said, "O what is the life of man! The days of man upon earth are as grass, and as the flower of the field, so he flourishes: the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and his place knows him no more."

18. She added, "My life shall not continue long. I feel much weakness: O Lord, look upon me graciously, have pity upon my weak distressed heart. I am oppressed, undertake for me, that I may stand fast and overcome."

19. She was very frequent in spiritual ejaculations, and it was no small comfort to her that the Lord Christ prayed for her, and promised to send his Spirit to comfort her. "It is said," continued she, "'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.' O let him not leave me! O Lord, stay with me till my battle and work is finished!"