162 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. it may please God to dispose of myhealth,' rest comfortably assured of his everlasting love to me in his Son Jesus Christ; who loved me and gave himself for me. In the use of the means, I wait to see what the Lordwill do with me. I know' it will be well with me at last, having so many pledges of his everlasting love to support me. My'wasting continues, and my appetite faileth; but my God faileth not. In him, and in contemplation of the great things he hath done for me, and the far greater things he will yet do, I find refreshment." A few days previous to his dissolution, his friends desiring him to give them some account of his hopes and comforts, he cheerfully replied, " I will let you know how it is with me, and on what ground I stand. Here is the grave, the wrath of God and devouring flames, the great punishment of sin, on the one hand ; and here am I, a poor sinful creature, on the other: but this is my comfort, the covenant of grace, es- tablished upon so many sure promises, hath satisfied all. The act of oblivion passed in heaven is, I willforgive their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more, saith the Lord. This is the blessed privilege of all within the cove nant, of whom I am one. For I find the spirit which is promised, bestowed upon me, in the blessed effects of it upon my soul, as the pledge of God's eternal love. By this I know my interest in Christ, who is the foundation of the covenant; and therefore, my sins being laid on him, shall never be charged on me." As the earthly house of his taber- nacle was dissolving, with great difficulty, he said, "'My dis- solution is more comfortable to me than my marriage-day. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And when the trying moment arrived, he cheerfully surrendered his soul into the hands of his dear Redeemer, October 3, 1653, aged fifty-five years, when his remains were interred in the chancel of Sherbourn church.. Fuller observes, that Mr. Lyford was " a man of a pleasant countenance, a courteous carriage, a meek spirit, great mo- desty, and that his memory is still preserved in his learned works."t Wood says, " he joined the presbyterians, was much followed for his edifying and practical preaching, and that his works savour much of piety, zeal, and sincerity, but shew him to have been a zealous Cakinist."t Dr. Walker affirms, " that he suffered much from the faction, both in his . Memorials of Mr. Lyford, prefixed to his " Plain Man's senses Exer- cised." Edit. 1655. + Fuller's Worthies, part i. p. 96. t Wood's Athena Oxon. vol. ii. p. 96.
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