The Dead Saint Speaking to Saints and Sinners Living, Illustration – To the reader
VERA EFFIGIES SAMVELIS BOLTON S.S. THEOL: D: NVPER COLL: C: CANTAB: MAG:
Qui Obiit 15 Oct:b•s 1654 AEtatis 48.
Ars vtmam mores animum… dep…gere posset,
Pul…nrior in terris … …abella foret.
O … Art could pens…l, ou… … mind,
A fairer peice on Earth we should not find.
G. Faith… …culp:
THE Dead Saint Speaking, TO Saints, and Sinners Living: In ſeverall TREATISES.
VIZ.
The
Sinfulneſs and greateſt evill that is in Sin, On 2 Sam. 24.10.
Loves of Chriſt to his Spouſe, On Cant. 4.9.
Nature and Royalties of Faith, On John 3.15.
Slowneſs of Heart to Beleeve, On John 1.50.
Cauſe, Signes and Cure of Hypocriſie, with
Motives
Helps
to Sincerity, On Iſaiah 58.2.
Wonderfull Workings of God for his Church and People, On Exod. 15.11.
Never before Publiſhed.
BY SAMƲEL BOLTON, D. D. Late Mr. of Chriſt Colledge in Cambridge. Prepared for the Preſſe … himſelf, during Life.
Oh wretched man that I am, who ſhall deliver mee from the body of this Death! Rom. 7.24.
But God commended his love towards us, in that whilſt wee were yet Enemies, Chriſt dyed for us. Rom. 5.8.
LONDON: Printed by Robert Ibbitſon, for Thomas Parkhurſt, and are to be ſold at his Shop at the three Crowns, over againſt the Great Conduit in Cheapſide, 1657.
TO THE Right Honourable, and Right Religious Lord, Robert Earle of Warwick, Baron of Leez, and to the truly Noble, and truly vertuous, the Lady Elianor, Counteſs of Warwick, his moſt pious Conſort. E. B. wiſheth to your preſent proſperities, the addition of many dayes, increaſe of Grace in this life, and the full fruition of Glory in the life to come.
Right Honourable,
IT was the purpoſe of my dear Huſband deceaſed, to have preſented theſe his Works unto you Both, by an Epiſtle Dedicatory, wherein hee would have ſpoken his gratitude for your manifold favours. And when his waſting weakneſſes had rendred him unfit for that intended ſervice, hee deſired, if theſe manuſcripts ſhould bee eſteemed worthy of publick view, they might come abroad under your Honours Patronage, to bee living evidences of his high reſpect and unfeigned thankfulneſs. This Narrative will, I humbly hope, make a ſatisfying Apologie for my preſumption, in prefixing your noble Names before theſe his Sermons, which are likely to find the ſame good acceptance from the Preſſe (as ſome eminently pious and learned, upon the peruſall of them judge) which they received from the Pulpit.
My prayers are, that Your Selves and Your Family, may both here and hereafter reap the fruit of all thoſe encouragements, which many famous Miniſters (ſome dead, and others ſurviving to do ſervice) have received from Your Honours favour.
I humbly crave your acceptance of this Widdows mite of Gratitude, for all the expreſsions of Your reſpect, both to my reverend Husband and worthleſſe ſelf.
Right Honourable, I am under many Obligations bound to bee
Your Honours humble Servant, ELIANOR BOLTON.
An Epistle to the Reader.
THE Books of learned and godly Miniſters, publiſhed by others after their death's, do for the moſt part come far ſhort of thoſe Books, which they themſelves publiſh in their lives time. The children of their brains being herein, like unto the children of their bodies, who many times live plentifully while their Fathers live, but meet with much hardſhip after their death's. It may bee ſaid of the poſthumous works of moſt men in compariſon of their firſt works Printed by themſelves, as it is of Abiſhai and Benaiah, 2 Sam. 23.19.23. They were very valiant and honourable men, but they attained not unto the three firſt Worthies of David.
But it fairs far otherwiſe with this our Reverend Brother, hee hath attained a double happineſs which few arrive unto. Theſe enſuing Sermons were written out in a fair and legible Character, and prepared for the Preſs in his life time, and wherein they were defective, they have been ſupplied and made up, by an able, learned, and judicious Friend; ſo that the Reader may aſſure himſelf that they are no whit inferior to thoſe other Books, which he himſelf ſet forth, and that theſe Fatherleſs children, ſuffer no conſiderable prejudice by their Authors death.
The Subjects treated on in this Book, are all of them of ſingular uſe and benefit. Here you have exactly proved, That Sin is the greateſt of Evils, and therefore calls for the greateſt ſorrow, the greateſt hatred, the greateſt care to avoid it, and to be rid of it. That the heart of Jeſus Christ is exceedingly taken with his Church and people, and that therfore his people ought to be exceedingly in love with him. Here you have the Nature, Neceſsity, and Difficulty of Faith, learnedly and practically handled, and eſpecially the Priviledges and Royalties of it. Here alſo is ſhewed the Cauſe and Cure of Hypocriſie; And how far a man may go towards Heaven, and yet fall ſhort of it.
The truth is, As the rude Satyre in Plutarch, who ſtrove to make a dead man ſtand upright, had ſo much wit as to ſay, Deeſt aliquid intus, there wants a principle within to inable him to ſtand. So may I truly ſay of him that ſhall read this Book, and not be very well pleaſed with the matter therein contained, Deeſt aliquid intus, hee wants a principle of grace within, to cauſe him to cloſe with ſuch wholeſome, ſpiritual, and heavenly truths.
There are other very profitable Treatiſes of this our Reverend, and godly Brother (prepared by himſelf for the Preſs) yet behinde, which may happily be brought to light, if God ſhall pleaſe to cauſe this Book to finde acceptance with his people, for whoſe ſpiritual advantage it is intended; And that it may obtain the end for which it is Printed, is the Prayer of
Thy Servant in the Work of the Miniſtry, ED. CALAMY.