Invisibles Realities Demonstrated in the Life and Death of John Janeway, Illustration – To the reader 1
Time made no furrowes in the face you see
He died young: yet few did more then he,
He ſpent himſelfe for God: and now is bleſst
After hard labour; with Eternal Reſt.
Inviſibles, Realities, Demonſtrated in the HOLY LIFE AND Triumphant Death OF Mr. JOHN JANEWAY, Fellow of Kings Collegde in CAMBRIDGE.
By JAMES JANEWAY Miniſter of the Goſpel.
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt, and are to be ſold at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapſide neer Mercers Chappel, and at the Bible on London Bridge under the Gate. 1674.
Chriſtian Reader,
THE Love of Chriſt in his holy ones, and the great uſefulneſs of ſuch Hiſtory, command me to take it as a pleaſing office to commend this real deſcription of a Saint, to thy ſerious peruſal and imitation. The good acceptance and ſucceſs of the late publiſhed Life and Death of Mr. Joſeph Alleine, the more encourageth me to ſerve thee in this. As to the credit of the Narrative, let it be enough to tell thee, that his worthy Brother Mr. James Janeway (intimately acquainted with his moſt ſecret life) is the writer of it (I have no hand in it my ſelf) And if thou live in or neer London, where he is now well known. I will not be beholden to thee to believe it; eſpecially, if you alſo know the other moſt credible atteſtors. I know that many ſuch Hiſtories ſhew more what the writer could ſay, than what the Perſon was or did: But here both He and his Relations, and thoſe whom he lived with, were all ſo neer us, and are many of them yet ſo intimately known to me, and others, that there is no place for doubting left us.
I confeſs ſuch inſtances are very ſad to my thoughts, while I am deſiring the welfare of mankind on earth. To hear of the death of an Infant, who might have proved we know not what; or of an uſeleſs perſon, or of an aged Chriſtian, who hath profitably run out the courſe of nature, is nothing ſo ſad to me, as to hear of the removal of ſuch excellent young men, when they are prepared for their work, and juſt beginning it! But God is infinitely Wiſe, and Juſt, and more Merciful too than we can be. He knoweth what he doth and why; and is accountable to none about the meaſure of his benefits, nor the reaſons of his various diſpoſals. But the great Judgments which ſince his death have befallen theſe Kingdomss do partly tell us that it is no wonder, if ſuch men were taken from the evil to come, of whom the world hath ſo notoriouſly declared it ſelf unworthy. It is fitter for ſuch lights to ſhine in Heaven, than to be put under a buſhel here on earth.
And for himſelf, he hath run long enough who hath toucht the prize: He hath ſailed long enough who is come ſafe to the harbour: And he hath lived long enough, who is readieſt to die? Though I wonder at the lengthning of my own life, which hath been threatned by God and Man theſe thirty three years or more, yet, alas, how much leſs have I lived than this man did, who am yet far ſhort of his heavenly preparations? I am aſhamed to read that any thing of mine was a help to his attainments, and to find that at almoſt ſixty years of age, I am much below what he was raiſed to at twenty three. O that God would give my frozen age, ſuch warm reflections from theſe his remains, that (according to my need) I may receive more from him that is dead, than ever he did from me alive! If his own Reverend Father received ſo much from him, why may not I alſo have ſome quickning even by the dead, through the fruits of the ſpirit left behind him, and the ſame ſpirits quickning influx upon me? And may I but ſo Die, how harmleſs, how welcome will Death be?
We think it great pity, that he lived to preach but two Sermons in the world! That ſame poor ignorant dull Congregation, had not been inſtructed and awakened by his Doctrine; and his ſpiritual ſervour had not by diſperſed writings, enflamed the ſouls of thouſands with the ſame Heavenly Love and Zeal. But who knoweth yet but that this one Narrative of his Holy exemplary Life and Death, may do as much as more numerous or Voluminous writings? The many Volumes of holy Lives, of antient Docters, Martyrs, and later Divines, Philoſophers and others in Germany, England and other Lands, have done much good, and are ſtill very uſeful, and a pleaſant and profittable recreation, (O how much better than play-Books and Romances)? But experience tells us, that God ſtill poureth forth as large meaſures of his ſpirit, as heretofore he did. If holy Augustines life, after ſo much pollution, and holy Hieroms life, qui fatetur ſe non fuiſſe virginem, were ſo laudible and examplary; O how much praiſe do I owe to God, for his grace upon his Servants, who am yet acquainted with ſo great a number of holy laborious faithful miniſters, who I have great reaſon to believe, not only to have all their lives been free from all groſs heynous ſins, but alſo to have laid out their zeal, their time, their labours, ſo ſincerely and ſelf-denyingly for God, and the good of ſouls, as that I cannot but hope that, if thoſe who are againſt their Preaching of the Goſpel, were but as well acquainted with them as I am, they would be their friend and forward to promote their work.
I know one Temptation the Reader is like to meet with, to hinder his profiting by this example: Even to think that Mr. Alleine and Mr. Janeway by Overdoing did but cut ſhort their own Lives; and that their exceſſive lobours in meditation, prayer and other duties did deprive the Church of the benefit of much more, which they might have lived to do: and therefore that ſuch examples are not to be imitated, but ſtand as warnings to us, not to over do and deſtroy our bodies as they did. To which I anſwer, 1. I am one my ſelf, that wiſh both of them had done ſomewhot leſs, in that part of duty which hurt the body, and overmatched their ſtrength. And I am not perſwading you, that every man muſt needs Preach as oft as Mr. Allen, or ſtudy aud meditate as long as Mr. Janeway and he did: Men have their various capacities and oportunities, and works. 2. But yet I dare not charge either of them with ſin, becauſe I know not their particular motives. 3. And perhaps their lives had been as ſhort if they had done leſs; as are the lives of many hundred Students, who favour themſelves more than any wiſe men would wiſh. And it was Gods mercy that they who had but a ſhort life to live, ſhould do more than any that live to the period of natures courſe. And Methuſalems life and theirs is equalled now. Whom have you known that by longer living, hath got more holy readineſs to die? 4. But I beſeech you diſtinguiſh well, between that part of their work, which was really like to overthrow their natures, and the reſt which had no ſuch tendency; and do not make the avoiding of the former a pretence, againſt your imitating of the latter. It is not ſtudying, meditating, praying, preaching, according to the meaſures of natures ſtrength, that much ſhortnerh life. I think that Learned man wrote not fooliſhly, who maintaineth that ſtudies tend to long life? For my own part I was ſeeble before I was a hard Student: And ſtudies have been a conſtant pleaſure to me; And let any man judge whether conſtant pleaſure tend to ſhorten any mans life? Indeed, that which deſtroyeth the health of Students is, 1. The ſedentarineſs of their lives, 2. And want of temperance or due care of their diet, 3. And want of ſufficient cheerfulneſs, 4. And taking colds. Could Students but more imitate the labouring-man, and take juſt hours and opportunities for bodily labour (not playful walks and exerciſes, that never warm and purge the blood,) and did they eat and drink wiſely, and live joyfully, and avoid colds, they might beſtow the reſt of their time in the hardeſt ſtudies, with little hurt; (except here and there a melanchly or diſeaſed man.) I doubt not but ſuch narratives as this, will tempt many a ſlothful ſenſual Scholar, to indulge his ſenſuality as the wiſer way; but at a dying hour he will find the difference. O what a comfort then is the review of a Holy, Heavenly well-ſpent life!
I have oft thought what the Reaſon is that among the Papiſts, if the lives of their Saints be deſcribed in the higheſt ſtrain, or their books have even unreaſonable pretenſions of devotion, even to the laying by of our underſtandings, or to a kind of Deification, (like Barbanſons, Benedictus, de Benedictis, and divers others) it doth not offend men, but the vulger themſelves do glory in the ſancity of them. Whereas if with us a man riſe higher in holineſs, and in devote contemplation, yea or action, than others, he is preſently the great eye-ſore and obloquy of the world, I mean of the envious and ungodly part, which is too great. But the reaſon I perceive is, that among the Papiſts, to be a Religious man is to be a Perfectest who doth more than is commanded him or is necceſary to ſalvation; and ſo the people being taught that they may be ſaved without being ſuch themſelves, their ſpleen is not ſtirred up againſt them, as the troubles of their Conſciences peace; but they are intreſſed in their honour, and being the honour of their way and Church: But with us men are taught that they muſt be Religious themſelves in ſincerity if ever they will be ſaved, and that without Holineſs none ſhall ſee God, and that they are not ſincere if they deſire not to be perfect: And ſo they that will not be godly themſelves, do think that the lives of the godly do condemn them.
I write not this to caſt any diſgrace on the true Hiſtory of any holy mens lives: Nor ſhall it ever be my employment to reproach or hide Gods Graces in any, nor to make men believe that they are worſe than they are. Whoever revile me for it, I will magnifie and love that of God which appeareth in any of his ſervants, of any ſect or party whatſover. When I read ſuch writings as old Gerſon, Guil. Pariſineſies, and divers others, and ſuch as Joſ. Accoſta and ſome other Jeſuits, and ſuch lives as Nerius's and Mr. de Reuti's, &c. I cannot but think that they had the ſpirit of God, and the more do I hate all thoſe miſchievous engines, additions and ſingularities, which divide ſo many Chriſtians in the world, who have the ſame Spirit, and will not ſuffer us to hold the unity of the ſpirit in the bond of of peace. O unhappy pretended Wiſdom, and Oxthodoxneſs in the holding of our ſeveral opinions, is the knowledge that puffeth up, and hath bred the pernicious tympanite of the Church, when it is Charity that edifieth it; And the more men glory in their dogmatical knowledge, to the contempt and hurt of ſuch as differ from them, the leſs they know as they ought to know. And if any man have knowledge enough to kindle in his ſoul the Love of God, the ſame is known and loved of God, and then he will prove that wiſe man indeed, at death and to Eternity, 1 Cor. 8. 1, 2, 3.
Reader, Learn by this Hiſtory to place thy Religion in love and praiſe, and a heavenly life. Learn to keep ſuch communion with God, and to find ſuch employment with thy heart by meditation, as thy ſtrength, and opertunity, and other duties will allow thee: (for I urge thee to no more) Learn hence to thirſt after the good of ſouls, and to fill up thy hours with fruitful duty! And O that we could here learn the hardeſt leſſon, to get above the love of life, and to overcome the fears of death, and to long to ſee the glory of Chriſt, and triumphantly to paſs by Joy to Joy. O bleſſed world of holy ſpirits! whoſe nature, and work, and happineſs is Love: not Love of Carnal-ſelf, and Intereſt, and Parties, which here maketh thoſe ſeek our deſtruction moſt, who have the higheſt eſteem of our knowledge and ſincerity (as thinking our diſſent will moſt effectually croſs their partial Intereſt:) But the Love of God in Himſelf and in his Saints, checked by no ſin; hindred by no diſtance, darkneſs, deadneſs or diſaffection: diverted by no carnal worldly baits; tempted by no perſecutions or afflictions; damped by no fears of death, nor of any decaies or ceſſation through Eternity. To teach me better how to live and die, in Faith, Hope ane Love, is that for which I read this narrarive; and that thou maiſt learn the ſame is the end of my commending it to thee! The Lord teach it effectual to thee and me. Amen.
RICHARD BAXTER. Auguſt 28. 1672.