JP A Ii T H. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. 4.31 him : I hayed with him his laft Evening, till we had long expected his Change (being fpeechlefs all that day), and in the night he departed. § 4a1. On the firft ofYanaarq followingwas buried good Mr. 7amet Nation, a- nother Minifter of the Primitive Sincerity : A good Linguilt; a zealous excellent Preacher, commonly called, The weeping Prophet, beeaufe his Serioufnefs oft exprelt it Pelfby Tearst ofa moh holy blamelefs Life : Though Learned, yet greatly a- verfe to Controverfie and Difputes : In almoft all things like Mr. 4k, except his natural temper, andthe influence it had upon his Soul : bothof them fo compofed of Humility, Piety, and Innocence, that no Enemy of GodlineE that knew them, had a word (offence) to fay against them ! Theywere fcorned as Puritansas their Brethren, but efcaped all the particular Exceptions and Obloquy which many,o- thers underwent : But as one was cheerful, fo the other was fronn his Youth fur- prized with violent Fits ofMelancholy once ina few years, which though it di- fIratked him not, yet kept him, till it was over, ina molt defpondent Cafe, and next unto Defpair: And in his health he was over humble, and had too mean Thoughts ofhimfelf and all that was his own, and never put out himfelf among hisBrethren into any Imployment which had the leaft Thew of Ofentation. Lefs then a year beforehedied, he fell into a grievous fit of Melancholy, in which he wasfo confident of his Gracelefnefs, that he ufually criedout, [O not one ffark . of Grace, not one good De /ire or Thought I 'Ican no more pray than a poi : If an Angelfrom Heaven would tellme that I have true Grace, I would not believe him]. And yetat that time did he pray very well ; and I could demonftrate his fincerity fo much to him in his Defiresand Life, that he had not a word to fay againR it : But yet was harp- ing Bill onthe fameBring, andwould hardly be perfwaded that he was Melancho- ly. It pleated God to recover him from this fir, and Ihortly after he told me, That now he confeffed that what I faid was true, and his Defpair was all but the effect of Melancholy, and rejoyced much in God's deliverance: But Ihortly after came out the Bartholomew AA, which call him-out of his Place and Miniftry, and his heart being troubled with the lad Cafe of the Church, and the multitude of . Minihers call out and filenced, and at his own unferviceahlenefs, it revived his Melancholy (which began to workalfo with fome fears of Want, and his Family's Diflrefs), and this call him fo low, that the violenceof it wore him away like a true Marafmur, fo that without any other Difeafe, but meer Melancholy, he con- fumed to Death,continuing (till his fad Defpondency, and Self-condemning Means. By which it appeareth how littleJudgment is to be made of a Man's Condition by his Melancholy Apprehenfions, or the fadnefs. of his Mind at Death and in what a different manner Men of the fame Eminency in Holinefs and Sincerity may go to God ! Which I have the rather (hewed by the inftance of thole two Saints, than whom this Age bath fcarce produced and fet up a pair more pious, humble, jut, fincere, laborious in their well- performed Work, unblameable in their Lives, not medling with State Matters, nor Secular Affairs, and therefore well fpoken of by all ! Only the Imerefl of thepiece of the Long Parliament ( which ejeóted the cell, and was called The Rump, and cherifhed Cromwell till he pull'd them down alfo) didcalk them to perfecute Mr. Nalten, with many other London Minilters, at the time when Mr. Love was beheaded by them, for being true to the Covenant in endeavouring to :enure the prefent King : And then when goodoldMr.fackfon, Dr. Drake, (a very holy man) Mr. Jenkinr, and many more of them were in the Tower Prifoners, Mr. Natron and Mr. Cawton were glad to fly into flehend , where the latter died, and the former lived to feehimfelf, and everyoneof thole impri foned Minifers, with the refs of their Brethren, all call out, and forbidden upon pain of Imprifonment and Banifhment topreach the Gofpel in the King's Domi- nions. § 422. And as we were forbidden to preach, fo we were vigilantly watcht in private, that wemight not exhort one another or pray together ; and (as I fore- told them oft, they would ufe us when they had filenced us) every Meetingfor Prayer was calleda dangerous Meeting for Sedition, or a Conventicle at leaft. I will now give but one,inhanceof their kindnefs tomy Pelf. One Mr. Beale inHat-. ton-Garden havinga Son (his only Child, andvery towardly and hopeful) who lead been long lick of a dangerous Fever, ( as I remember a Quartan ) and by relapfe brought fo low that the Phyftcians thought he would die, defired a few Friends, of whom I was one, to meet at his Houfe to pray for him : and becaufe it pleated God to hearourPrayers, and that very night to rettore him, his. Mother thordy after falling lick ofa Fever, we were defired to meet to pray for her Recovery(the left day when lite was near to Death) : Among thofe that were to be there, it fell out,
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