16 / 186
·
Gr,ace
abounding '
w~s,
to
light upon a
Wife,
whofe Father was
counte<tl godly: This
\"(
oman
and I,
though
we
came together as poor as poor
might
be,
{not
having fo much houfhold-ftuffas a Difu .
or
Spoon betwixt us both)
yet
this fhe had
for
llerpart,The
Plain Man's Path
wat
to Hfaven,
and
The Practice ofPiety,whi<th
her
Father
had
left
her, when he died. In thefetwo Books I
fuould fometimes read with her, wherein I
alfo found fome things
that
were fomewhat
pleafing to me; (but all this while I met with
no Conviction.)
She
alfo \vould
be
often
tel–
ling
of
me,
what a
godly
Man
her
Father was,
And how h·e WfJuld repro·ve and cor.rect
Vice~
both
:in
h-is
h~oufe,and
amongjf
his
Neighbours;
what
A
flri&
and
holy Life
he
lived in
his Days,
both
.J
·in Word
and
Deed.
·
x6.Wheretore thefe Books,with this Rela.
tion,
tho they did not reach my"Heatt, to a–
\Vaken
it
about
my
fad
and finful
St~te,
yet
they
did
beget within me fome defires to Re–
ligion : So that,becaufe I knew
no
better,! fell
in very eagerly
vvith theReligion of the times;
to ·wit
1
to~
go to Church twice a day, and
that
too
wt~
the
forernoft;and
there
fheuld
very
devoutly,
both
fay
and fing as others
did,
yet
retaining
my
wicked Life:But withal, I was fo
over..run with theSpirit of Superftition,that I
ador'd,and that wi_th great devo.tion
,even
·all
things (both the High Place,
Pri~fb, Cle~k,
Vefhnents, Service, and
what elfe)belonging
to
the
C~urch
;.counting all
things
holy,that ,
.
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