Wise. When she drew near her end, she called for her husband, and when he was come to her, she told him, {150b} That now he and she must part, and said she, God knows, and thou shalt know, that I have been a loving, faithful Wife unto thee; my prayers have been many for thee; and as for all the abuses that I have received at thy hand, those I freely and heartily forgive, and still shall pray for thy conversion, even as long as I breathe in this world. But husband, I am going thither, where no bad man shall come, and if thou dost not convert, thou wilt never see me more with comfort; let not my plain words offend thee: I am thy dying wife, and of my faithfulness to thee, would leave this Exhortation with thee: Break off thy sins, fly to God for mercy while mercies gate stands open; remember, that the day is coming, when thou, though now lusty and well, must lye at the gates of death, as I do: And what wilt thou then do, if thou shalt be found with a naked soul, to meet with the Cherubims with their flaming swords? yea, what wilt thou then do, if Death and Hell shall come to visit thee, and thou in thy sins, and under the Curse of the Law?
Atten. This was honest and plain: but what said Mr. Badman to her?
Wise. He did what he could to divert her talk, {151a} by throwing in other things; he also shewed some kind of pity to her now, and would ask her, What she would have? and with various kind of words put her out of her talk; for when she see that she was not regarded, she fetcht a deep sigh, and lay still. So he went down, and then she called for her Children, and began to talk to them. And first she spake to those that were rude, {151b} and told them the danger of dying before they had grace in their hearts. She told them also, that Death might be nearer them than they were aware of; and bid them look, when they went through the Church-yard again, if there was not little graves there. And, ah children, said she, will it not be dreadful to you, if we only shall meet at the day of Judgment, and then part again, and never see each other more? And with that she wept, the Children (also) wept; so she held on her discourse: Children, said she, I am going from you, I am going to Jesus Christ, and with him there is neither sorrow, nor sighing, nor pain, nor tears, nor death. {151c} Thither would I have you go also, but I can neither carry you, nor fetch you thither; but if you shall turn from your sins to God, and shall beg mercy at his hands by Jesus Christ, you shall follow me, and shall, when you dye, come to the place where I am going, that blessed place of Rest: and then we shall be for ever together, beholding the face of our Redeemer, to our mutual and eternal joy. So she bid them remember the words of a dying mother when she was cold in her grave, and themselves were hot in their sins, if perhaps her words might put check to their vice, and that they might remember and turn to God.
Then they all went down; but her {151d} Darling, to wit, the child that she had most love for, because it followed her ways. So she addressed her self to that. Come to me, said she, my sweet child, thou art the child of my joy: I have lived to see thee a Servant of God; thou shalt have eternal life. I, my sweet heart, shall goe before, and thou shalt follow after; if thou shalt hold the beginning of thy confidence stedfast to the end. {152a} When I am gone, do thou still remember my words, love thy Bible, follow my Ministers, deny ungodliness still, and if troublous times shall come, set an higher price upon Christ, his Word and Wayes, and the testimony of a good conscience, than upon all the world besides. Carry it kindly and dutifully to thy Father, but choose none of his ways. If thou mayest, goe to service, choose that, rather than to stay at home; but then be sure to choose a service where thou mayest be helped forwards in the way to heaven; and that thou mayest have such a service, speak to my Minister, he will help thee, if possible, to such an one.
I would have thee also, my dear child, to love thy Brothers and Sisters, but learn none of their naughty tricks. Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness, but rather reprove them. {152b} Thou hast Grace, they have none: do thou therefore beautifie the way of salvation before their eyes, by a godly life, and conformable conversation to the revealed will of God, that thy Brothers and Sisters may see and be the more pleased with the good wayes of the Lord.