A26780:486
An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…
An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the gospel near Whitechurch in Shropshire, who died June 24, 1696, in the sixty fifth year of his ageAn account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the gospel near Whitechurch in Shropshire, who dy'd June 24, 1696, in the sixty fifth year of his age
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1698
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
We are all well here, Thanks be ⟨p. 227⟩to God, the Divine Providence watching about our Tabernacle, and compassing us about with Favour, as with a Shield. Our great Enquiry is, What shall we render? Alas! our Renderings are nothing to our Receivings; w•re like the Barren Field, on which must Cost is bowed, but the Crop is not accordingly. Our Heavenly Father is loading us with his Benefits, and we are loading him with our Sins, grieving him that comforts us; and how long, how long shall it be so? O that it might be otherwise! that our Mercies might be as Oil to the Wheels, to make us so much the more active and lively in our Masters Work, especially considering how it is with our fellow Servants, they empty and we full, they Marah and we Naomi. There may a Day come, when it may cost dear to be honest, but after all. To fear God and keep his Commandments, is the whole of Man. I therefore commend it to you, and you to God, who is a shield and buckler to them that fear him. We are well, but in daily expectation of that which we are born, and born again to, and that is Trouble in this World, yet rejoicing in hope of the Glory of God, which we are reaching after, and pressing towards, as we trust you are also. Where you are, you see more of the glittering Vanities of this World in a Day, than we here do in an Age; and are you more and more in love with them, or dead and dying to them? I hope dead and dying to them, for they are poor things, and perish in the using; make many worse that enjoy them, but none better. What is Translated vexation of Spirit, Eccl. 1. 2. may be read Feeding upon Wind, comp. Hos. 12. 1. and can Wind satisfy? The Lord preserve and keep you from all Evil, the Lord preserve ⟨p. 228⟩and keep your Soul. We both send you our Love, and bless you together, and apart, every day, in the Name of the Lord. Amen and Amen. Be sincere and humble and choice in your Company, always either getting go• or doing good, gathering in or laying out. Re•ber to keep the Heart with all diligence and above all keepings, for there the Fountain is, and if that be well kept and clean, the streams will be accordingly. 'Tis some short Refreshment to Friends and Relations, to see and hear from one another, but it passeth away, and we have here no continuing City, no abiding Delights in this World; our Rest remains elsewhere;