Sermons Volume 4, Dedication 2
TO THE Lady BAWDON.
MADAM,
IT needs no Apology that I have prefixed your Ladiship's Name to this Part of the late Reverend Dr. Thomas Manton's Works, since the Memory of the Author is so precious with you, by whom you and your Children were baptized into the Christian Faith, under whose Ministry you were brought up in the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Gospel; and whose Works published both before and since his Death, have been so highly valued by you. But your Ladiship has a more especial Title to these Sermons, because a great part of them being committed to my Care to publish, the preparing them for the Press was performed in a great measure under your Ladiship's Roof, when the Providence of God called me there in my Attendance on your Honoured Mother, the Lady Wharton, in the last Scene of her Life.
The Duty I owe to the Memory of that Great Person, obliges me to testify to the World what I, as well as others who had the Honour of knowing her, observed in her. She was one whom God had indowed with more than common Gifts and Graces; one of a piercing Judgment, quick Apprehension, great Presence of Mind, useful in all her Relations. But that which adorned all, was her eminent Godliness, which was visible in the whole Course of her Conversation. She had a great understanding of the Mysteries of the Gospel; and though she abounded in good Works, yet she knew how to account all things Loss and Dung for the Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus her Lord. She was often in the Admiration of the Riches and Freeness of God's Grace in Jesus Christ; and all her Hopes, Trust and Confidence, were in his Merits and Righteousness. She had a very high Valuation and Esteem of the Ordinances of God: and when her long Sickness had for some time hindred her from a publick Attendance on the Worship of God, she would often complain of it, That she was as a Leper shut out from the Sanctuary of God. She was of a noble, generous, and charitable Frame of Spirit; and her Charity was dispensed with great Prudence: I cannot but mention one Branch of it, viz. The relieving of sick Persons, especially providing and giving Medicines to the Poor, who had no Money to buy them; and God did wonderfully own her with great Success herein.
In her latter Days God was pleased to exercise her with great Trials▪ her Sickness was long and tedious, her Pains great and sharp: but under all, her steady Adherence to God shewed the Strength of her Faith, and the Truth of her Patience. I have often heard her say, this one thing silenced all Complaints, It is God who hath done it. All the Breaches God made upon her, made no Breach between God and her Soul. In her languishing Hours, when her Strength failed her, she expressed the inward Tranquillity and Repose of her Mind, it being almost the last Words she said, All is well, all is well.
Thus she lived, and thus she died; and is now joined to that Great Assembly of Glorified Saints, who are always praising, blessing and adoring God; where she is always beholding the Face of her God in Glory, and fully understands the meaning of all the dark Providences of God towards her in the latter part of her Life.
I mention not these things to renew your Ladiship's Grief for so great a Loss, and to make your Wounds bleed afresh; but to provoke you to a holy Imitation of so great a Pattern, and to be a Follower of her, as she was of Christ. Good Examples have a powerful Influence upon us, for we are led more by Pattern than by Precept; especially the Examples of those we love, for such we are prone to imitate: but more especially of those who are in nearest Relation to us, for there Nature sides with Grace. And what an Advantage your Ladiship has had in having such a Precedent before your Eyes, appears by the fair Transcript you have been of so fair a Copy.
Madam, God hath been pleased to exercise your Ladiship also with great Trials; but you have had your Comforts and Supports. God hath taken away some of your nearest Relations, but he hath continued others to you: What a Blessing hath God bestowed upon you in those excellent Daughters that have sprung from you! But alas! we are too apt to pore on our Losses, and overlook our Enjoyments, to make our Afflictions the Grave of our Mercies. God hath given your Ladiship a better Frame of Spirit, and taught you how to see his Love in the Losses you have sustain'd, and the Blessings you enjoy. But were it worse with you as to outward Comforts, yet the Foundation of God standeth sure, having this Seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And certainly there is more in God, and a Covenant-Relation to him, to support your Joy, than there can be in any outward Affliction to cause Grief and Sorrow of Heart: And a due sense of God's afflicting Hand is not inconsistent with a holy rejoicing in him. Now that God would fill you more and more with the Joys and Comforts of his Holy Spirit, and multiply his Blessings upon your self, and those that have descended from you, is the Prayer of,
Honoured Madam, Your Ladiship's most obliged, and most humble Servant, WILLIAM TAYLOR. February 9. 1692/3.