A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

A plain Relation of some part of my sore Distress.

AFter an ill habit of Body that had for some years attended me, together with some little Ilnesses now and then which were but as drops to the greater Storm that was to come upon me, and which I could not foresee, it pleased God at length in his just and righteous Judgments, to suffer my growing Distemper to arrive to a most formidable height: So that before I desisted from coming to this place, my Sleepdeparted qui••e away; and for several Nights in a Week. I slept no more than I do at this time: upon which there immediately followed a general Weakness and Decay of Spirits, a general Listlessness, and a total Indisposition; and by feeling of this I had a strong Impression in my Mind, that I shouldvery speedily die; as strongly fix'd in my Apprehensions, as if it had been said to me as to Hezekiah, Thou shalt surely die. I thought I was immediately to go to the Tribunal of God; and the Thoughts of immediate appearance before him continued with me for about a year:

there was not a Day past wherein. I did not think that I should be dead before Night, and at Night I should be dead before the Morning. I thought my self just at the entrance into the Grave: And what a strange prospect that is, and what a mighty Change it causes in a Man's Thought, none know but those that have apprehended themselves so near it; nor do they fully know it, unless they have been near it for many Months together.

He adds in another place;

If at any time I rested a little, that little Rest was all the while disturb'd with terrible and amazing Dreams; and when I awaked, I always sound my self in strange and un∣expressible Pain, in Anguish and Bitterness, such as nothing in this World is able to represent even as to its lowest degrees. And judge you into what Confusions and Disorders this alone would throw a Man if it were single. My Disease, and my Fears, and sad Apprehensions came upon me as a Whirlwind, like the rushing of many mighty Waters; strange and horrible Pains, and great Fears; so that it was as an universal Storm, from which there was no retreat. — Sometimes by the Greatness of my Trouble, I was even stifled with Grief, that I could not for a great while speak a Word, and when I spoke, it was in a mournful manner; for many Months I could not breath without a mighty Pain, and as soon as with Difficulty I had breath'd, every Breath was turn'd in∣to a Groan, and every Groan was big with a very deep Sorrow. I was weary with my Groaning, Psal. 6.6. All the Night made I my Bed to swim, and watered my Couch with Tears. —Those that are in Health will scarcely perhaps credit what I say; they will think I am a melancholy Man, and aggravate my Trouble, and set it out more than needs, or than it was, and that in the whole there was a great deal more of Fancy than of Reality; but I pray God they may never taste one drop of that bitter Cup whereof I was made to drink, for if they should they'l find it whatever Names they now give it, to be then full of real Miseries. — You think it may be that I have spoke a great deal, and your Attention may be wearied; but I'l assure you 'tis many hundred times below what I felt. Great Griefs, as well as mighty Joys, exceed all our Words, and Bitterness is not to be described: Never was any, I believe, nearer to Death, not to die, never was any compass'd with a greater Danger; never any had less hoep of an Escape, than I, and yet the Mercy of a God that is Omnipotent, has relieved me. And as 'tis commonly said that Musick sounds best upon the Water; so by setting our Sorrows and our Mercies together, our Praise may be more harmonious. You may in this behold the Severity and the Goddness of God: his Severity in continuing on me so many smart Strokes for so long a space;and his Goodness in giving me help, when no Power on Earth was able to give me the least Relief. — The Storm indeed is in a great measure over, bles∣sed be God; but I cannot without trembling call it to mind, nor dare I think very long upon it. — I can scarce believe that I am at so much ease as I now am; I can scarce believe that I am in this Assembly, of which I confidently thought I had taken my leave for ever. When I look back upon the rough Waves, and the stormy Seas, I am ready to say, Can it be that God has brought me safe to Land? After I had conversed with the Dead, am I now among the Living? am I now with People under Hope? blessed be the Name of the Lord, I am? It is a great Mercy to me, and it is the more so, as it was unexpected and above the Power of Nature, contrary to all my hopes, and above all humane help: Those that have heard my Groans, and seenmy Agonies, and heard of my Affliction, cannot but wonder at it. I often said that I could not be delivered without a Mi∣racle, and God himself has wrought it. — It was by the Soveraign Goodness and meer Mercy and Grace of God, that I obtained this Deliverance; all this he did for a most unworthy Sinner, for an impatient and fretful Sinner too; is not this wonderful, Mercy with a witness, a Mercy never to be forgotten as long as I have a Day to live. — I have cause to give Thanks; for how many has he suffered to sink, when the Waves were not so high against them, as those that rowl'd over me? the Storms and the Winds that blew them down, not so fierce in some respect against them, as they were against me; and yet they are covered in the Grave, whilst I, though sorely weather-beaten, have out-lived the Storm. How many are there dead, since I was ill? many excellent and holy Men are now silent in the Dust, who were more knowing, more useful, more zealous and better qualified than ever I am like to be; and yet God has spared a poor Shrub, whilst he has torn up some of the Cedars of our Lebanan by the Roots.

Here ends the Relation of Mr. Rogers's Bodily Distress, which you'l find more at large in his Practi∣cal Discourses of Sickness and Recovery, to which I refer you. I shall next proceed to give an Account of his Trouble of Mind, as I find it in his Treatise upon that Subject: In which he displays in Experi∣mental Judgment, a Moderate Temper, and a Spirit repleat with all the Charms of Mildness and Pity, of which his own Sufferings have rendred him very sensible. The Preface contains certain Heads of Advice to the Relations of such as are Melancholy: As, 1. That they should look upon the Party as under te worst Distemper in this Life; both Body and Mind being infected, and therefore a Sub∣ject both for a Physician and Minister. 2. To be compassionate to 'em, considering that we our selves are in the Body. 3. Not to use harsh Speeches to 'em, but imitate him that wou'd not break the bruised Reed, nor quench the smoaking Flax. 4. To believe what they say, or at least that their Apprehensions are such as they tell you they are: 'Tis a real Misery to them if but fancy'd: To con∣tradict 'em, is Cruelty. 5. Urge 'em not to do what they cannot, lest you add to their Burden. 6. Attribute not the Effects of meer Disease to the Devil; it may proceed from a violent Pressure upon their Spirits. 7. Do not much wonder at what they say or do: All's to be born with where the Agent is so unhappy as to think himself lost for ever. 8. Mention no formidable Things or Stories to 'em, 'twill effect greater Disorders upon their Spirits. 9. When you talk to 'em, do not speak as if their Troubles would be very long, that's the Sword that stabs them: An End of Misery is encouraging. 10. Give 'em Examples of others under the same Circumstances that have been delivered. 11. Pray for 'em. 12. Get others to pray for 'em. 13. Put 'em in mind of the Sovereign Grace of God in Christ Jesus. Menasseh found Mercy.

New follow the Letters of several Divines to the Author and his Relations, very pertinent to the Subject treated of, being mostly Experiences in such Troubles and Deliverances from 'em.

Mr. Rogers tells us,

It is very hard indeed to persuade a Person under great Pain and Anguish, and a sense of the Wrath of God, and a fear of Hell, that ever any has heretofore been so perplext as he: Such generally think themselves worse than Cain or Judas, or any the most wicked People in the World, as thinking that their Sins have greater Aggravations, and that consequently they shall be more miserable: but you may acquaint them with several Instances of God's Gracious dealing with others, after they have been for many Months and Years afflicted. I could send you to some now alive, that were long afflicted with Trouble of Mind, and Melancholy, as Mr. Rosewell, and Mr. Porter, both Ministers, the latter whereof was six years oppressed with this Distemper; and now they both rejoyce in the Light of God's Countenance. I my self was near two years in great Pain of Body, and greater Pain of Soul, and without any prospect of Peace or Help; and yet God hath re∣vived me thro' his Soveraign Grace and Mercy; and there have been several heretofore forely per∣plex'd with great inward and outward trouble, whom God, aftr that, wonderfully refreshed. Mr. Robert Bruce, some time ago Minister at Edinburgh, was Twenty years in Terrors of Conscience, and yet delivered afterwards. You may also direct them to the Lives of Mrs. Brettergh, Mrs. Drake, Mr. Peacock, and Mrs. Wight, where they will see a very chearful day returning, after a black and stormy night; and that the Issue from their Afflictions, was more glorious than their Conflict was troublesome; They went forth weeping, they sowed in Tears, but they reaped an Harvest of wonderful Joys afterwards. You have in the Book of Martyrs, written by Mr. Fox, an instance of Mr. Glover, who was worn and consumed with inward Trouble for the space of Five years, that he neither had any Comfort in his Meat, nor any Quietness of Sleep, nor any Pleasure of Life; he was so perplexed as if he had been in the deepest Pit of Hell; yet at last, this good Servant of God, after so sharp Tempetations, and the strong Buffetings of Satan, was freed from all his trouble, and was thereby framed to great Mortification, and was like one already placed in Heaven, and led a Life altoge∣ther Celestial, abhorring in his Mind all propahen things; and you have a remarkable instance of mighty Joy in Mr. Holland a Minister, who having the day before he died meditated upon the 8th of the Romans, he cried on a sudden, Stay your Reading, What Brightness is it that I see? They told him it was the Sun-shine: Nay, saith he, my Saviour's shine. Now, farewell World, and welcome Heaven; the day-star from an high hath visited my Heart; O speak it when I am gone, and let it be Preached at my Funeral, God dealeth familiarly with Man. I feel his Mercy, I see his Majesty, whether in the Body, or out of the Body, God he knoweth, but I see things unutterale: And in the Morning following, he shut up his blessed Life with these blessed words, O! what an happy Change shall I make, from Night to Day, from Darkness to Light, from Death to Life, from Sorrow to Solace; from a factious World, to an Heavenly Being! O! my dear Friends, it pitieth me to leave you behind; yet remember what I now feel, I hope you shall find e're you die, That God doth, and will deal familiarly with Men. And now thou fiery Chariot, that came down to fetch up Eliah, carry me to my happy hold; and all the blessed Angels who attended the Soul of Lazarus, to bring it up to Heaven, bear me, O bear me into the Bosom of my best Beloved: Amen, Amen. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. And so he fell asleep. See this, and several other Instances in Mr. Robert Bolton's In∣structions for Afflicted Consciences, p. 87. and 235, &c.

Thus far Mr. Rogers: I shall next add what dreadful Apprehensions a Soul has that is under De∣sertion, from Mr. Rogers's own Experience, and I shall give it you in his own words, viz.

The time of God's Forsaking of a Soul is a very dark and mournful time; 'tis not only night, but a weeping stormy Night; and it may not be unuseful to you who have it may be hitherto lived in the Beams and chearful Light of Day to know what passes in this sorrowful and doleful Night; and in this Matter I will not borrow Information from others, but give you my own Experience.

(1.) In this Night the deserted Soul in overwhelmed with continual Thoughts of the Holiness and Majesty and Glory of the Lord; not does in think of him with any manner of Delight, acording to that of Asaph. Psal. 77.3. I remembred God, and was troubled, I complained, and my Spirit was over-whelmed. And in how deplo∣rable a case is such a Soul that cannot think of its God and its Creator, but with Grief and Sorrow. (2.) The Deserted Soul in this mournful Night, does look upon God as its Enemy, and as intending its Hurt and Ruin by the Sharpness of his Dispensations; and this makes it to be incapable of re∣ceiving any Consolation from the Creatures; for will it say to them, Alas! if God be my Enemy as I apprehend him to be, which of you can be my Friend. — He is with his People, ut he has forsa∣ken me; he has east me into a fiery Furnace where I am daily burnt and scorcht, and he is not with me there. — I dare not, says the mourning Person, look up to Heaven, for there I see how great a God I have against me: I dare not look into his Word, for there I see all his Threats as so many barbed Arrows to strike me to the Heart: I dare not look into the Grave, because thence I am like to have a doleful Resurection; and what can a poor Creature do that apprehends the Almighty to be his Enemy? It is a common thing to say, Why do you so lament and mourn, you have many Mer∣cies left, many Friends that pray for you, and that pity you: Alas! what help is there in all this if God himself be gone? Nothing is then lookt upon as a Mercy: and as for the Prayers of others will the distressed Person say, They can do me no good unless I have Faith, and I find I have none at all; for that wou'd purify and cleanse my Heart, and I do nothing else but sin. (3.) In this doleful Night the Soul hath no evidence at all of its former Grace; so that in this Night the Sun is not only set, but there is not one Star appears; such an one look upon himself as altogether void of the Grace of God; he looks upon all his former Duties to have been Insincere or Hypocrital; he feels his Heart hardned at present, and concludes that it was never tender. — I am an Apostate; if I had any share in the In∣tercession of the great Redeemer, he wou'd not leave me thus sad and desolate. — O! how greatly have I been deceived that imagined my self to be an Heir of Heaven; and am now seized with the Pangs of Hell. (4.) During this Sadness the Soul cannot think of Christ himself with any Comfort. For

thus it argues he will be a Saviour to none but those that believe. I have no Faith, and therefore he will be no Saviour to me; he that is to his Servants as the Lamb of God, will be to me as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; he that deals gently with them, will tear me to pieces. —He seems to be angry and enraged against me for my Disobedience; and though I have cried sometimes, Have Mercy on me thou Son of David, he passes away and does not regard my Cries; and O what shall I do when he comes in the Clouds of Heaven, when I am to stand at his Bar, and to be punished as an Unbeliever. (5.) In this Night the Soul is full of Terror; and how can it be otherwise when every Thought of God and of Christ overwhelms it? — The Terrors of the Lord we may feel indeed, but we cannot express them; they are so very terrible that they wound our most sensible and tender part; they cause our very Souls to pine and languish away; they fix our Minds to the Contemplation of every thing that is sad and dole∣ful; they fill us with Confusion: and Heman says, Ps. 88.15. They are Terrors that compass us round a∣bout; they seize upon every Faculty, and distress us in every part; to have God against us, his Holi∣ness to dazle us, his Power to overthrow us, his Law to condemn us, our Consciences to accuse us, is the Sum of Terrors. (6.) Fear is another occasion of Sorrow. —We are frighted with the view of our innumerable Sins, and with the Dangers that attend them; the Thoughts of Heaven fright us, because we think we have lost that blessed Place; and the Thoughts of Hell are no less frightful, because we think we shall soon be there; the Thoughts of Life are frightful, because 'tis with Anguish and Horror that we live; nor can we bear the Thoughts of Death, because we dare not die. (7.) 'Tis a Night of Weeping to deserted Souls, because they find no heart to pray, and no life to pray; they fall upon their Knees, and cover the Altar of the Lord with Tears, but he seems not to regard them. —The Thoughts of such poor People are in a continual hurry, and so are very full of Wandrings in the Performance of their Duty. —Sorrows damp our Faith, our Love, and our Hope, and so spoil our Duties; for without these they are without Life and without Acceptance; and sometimes our Grief is so violent, that it finds no vent, it strangles us, and we are overcome: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Ps. 77.4. (8.) Such have no Patience wherewith to bear their Evils: Who is he that can bear the Wrath of God? —The sight of Heaven inspires our Hearts with vital heat, and makes us quiet and submissive under every Dispensa∣tion; but the daily Sight and Fear of Hell fills us with Tumult and Disorder. (9.) They usually see no prospect of Relief or Deliverance, and that encreases the Sorrows of their doleful Night. — They have indeed now and then some Intermissions, but they are like the small Breathings and Refreshments of a Person that is newly taken off the Rack to be carried to the Rack again. (10.) This Night of Weeping is the more sorrowful, because it is the time of Satan's Cruelty. —When God is departed, then the Devil comes; insults and says Where is now your God? What think you now of Sin? What is now become of all your Hearing, your Reading, and your many Prayers? You thought to have escaped my Power, and now I have you within my reach: Now remember that at such a time or such a time you sinned, and therefore God has forsaken you; you weep, and your Tears are just; for you are miserable, and are like to be with me for ever. (11.) Sometimes this Sorrow is mixed with deep Despair.—It is a tem∣pestuous and stormy Night; and as St. Paul said in another case, All hope of their being saved, is taken away: —I shall surely perish, saith the Mourning Soul, I am damned, I am lost for ever, I am already as in Hell; the Lord will be favourable no more; he is gone, he is gone from me, and he is for ever gone. No more shall I behold his shining Face; he is my Judge and my Enemity and I am afraid he will be so for ever. I am never like to see that Heaven where I once hoped to go; and these unbelieving Con∣clusions produce hard and strange Thoughts of God, and an Enemy to him in our Minds. (12.) Looking upon their present Troubles as an Introduction to more, and that these are but the beginning of Sorrows: How often do we hear such Saying, O! if I cannot bear these Pains and this Wrath, what shall I do to bear an eternal Hell? If I tremble so now, what shall I do when the blow is given, and the final Sentence past. God knows I dare neither live nor die, O what shall I do, whether shall I go? The Shadows of the Evening are stretched out, and what shall I do if it prove an eternal Night: For as it is the Glory of Faith to shew us future things as if actually present, and to give us JOY from them so considered; so it is the TORMENT of Despair to make poor distressed Souls believe they are even as in Hell, whilst they are on Earth, and that they are actually scorched with that Wrath that is to come in greater measures. (13.) From all these flow strange Discourses and Expressions of Sorrow; they scarce care what they say of God, or of themselves: My Soul is meary of my Life, I will leave my Complaint upon my self; I will speak in the Bitterness of my Soul, Job 10. c. 3. They frequently proceed to wish they had never been born, nay they may proceed so far as to wish even to be destroyed that they may know the worst.—And there are two things that make their Sorrows more sorrowful: (1.) As comparing their State with that of others. (2.) As with their own former State.

(1.) It makes them more sad when they consider the Case of others, with that Peace and Joy they have. With what Hope and Comfort, whilst they are drown'd in Sorrows; others, says that deserted Soul, can sing the Praises of God with Delight, whilst I am overwhelmed, and my Harp is hung upon the Willows. Others can go into the solemn Assemblies, and hear his Word; but I am confined in my thick Dark∣ness, and dare not go thither.

(2.) When the deserted Soul compares its present with its former State. To a Person in Misery 'tis a great encrease of Misery to have been once happy: It was to David an occasion of new Tears when he remembred his former Joys, Psal. 42.3, 4. Time was, says the poor Soul, when I cou'd read the Bible, and treasure up the Promises and Survey of the Land of Canaan as my own Inheritance; but now I dare not look into the Word, least I read my own Condemnation there. The Sabbath was formerly to me as one of the days of Heaven, but now it is as well as the rest, a sad and mournful day. —How fair was I once for Heaven, and now am like to come short of it? —These are some of the Sorrows that deserted Souls often meet withal, and indeed but a small part of what they feel in this dark and stormy Night. —Thus far I have given you some of Mr. Rogers's own Words, and have been the larger as thinking his an EX∣TRAORDINARY CASE, and well-deserves the Consideration of every serious Christian; but for a more par∣ticular Account of it, I refer the Reader to his Book intituled, A Discourse concerning Trouble of Mind.