19. His sickness lasted long: and at least three days before his death he prophesied his departure, and not only that he must die, but the very day. "On the Lord's day," said he, "look to me;" neither was this a word of course, which you may guess by his frequent repetition, every day asking till the day came indeed, "What, is Sunday come?" At last, the looked-for day came on; and no sooner had the sun beautified that morning with its light, but he falls into a trance, his eyes were fixed, his face cheerful, his lips smiling, his hands and arms clasped in a bow, as if he would have embraced some blessed angel that was at hand to receive his soul. But he comes to himself, and tells them how he saw the sweetest body that ever eyes beheld, who bid him to be of good cheer, for he must presently go with him.
20. One that stood near him, as now suspecting the time of his dissolution nigh, bid him say, "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit, which is thy due; for why? thou hast redeemed it, O Lord, my God, most true!"
21. The last words which he spoke were exactly these: "Pray, pray, pray, nay, yet pray, and the more prayers the better all prospers; God is the best physician; into thy hands I commend my spirit. O Lord Jesus receive my soul: now close mine eyes: forgive me, father, mother, brother, sister, all the world. Now I am well; my pain is almost gone, my joy is at hand. Lord, have mercy on me. O Lord, receive my soul unto thee." And thus he yielded up his spirit unto the Lord when he was about twelve years old.
[A POOR BUT HAPPY BOY.]
A VERY poor child, of the parish of Newington-Butts, came to the door of a friend of mine, in a very lamentable case: it pleased God to raise in the heart of my friend a great pity and tenderness toward him: so that he took him out of the streets, who had nothing at all to commend him to any one's charity but his misery. My friend, seeking the glory of God, discharged the parish of the child, and took him as his own; yet there seemed to be little hopes of doing good upon him, for he was a very monster of wickedness, and a thousand times more miserable and vile by his sin than by his poverty. He was running to hell as fast as he could go, and was old in vice when he was but young in years: we scarcely hear of one so like the devil in his infancy as was this poor child. What sin was there that his age was capable of, which he did not commit? What by the corruption of his nature, and the abominable example of little beggar boys, he was indeed arrived at a great pitch of impiety. He would call names, take God's name in vain, curse, swear, and do all kinds of mischief; and as to any thing of God, he was worse than a heathen.
2. No sooner had this good man taken this creature into his house but he prayed for him, and laboured with all his might to convince him of his miserable condition by nature, and to teach him something of God, the worth of his own soul, and that eternity of glory or misery to which he was bound. And, blessed be God, it was not long before the Lord was pleased to let him understand that it was himself who put into his heart to take in this child. The Lord soon blessed his instructions, so that an amazing change was seen. In the space of a few weeks he was convinced of the evil of his ways; no more calling of names, swearing or cursing, no more taking of the Lord's name in vain. His company, his talk, his employment, were changed, and he was like another creature.
3. And this change was not only an external one, but he would get by himself, and weep and mourn bitterly for his wicked life.
4. He was still more and more broken under a sense of his undone state by nature; often in tears, and bemoaning his lost and miserable condition. When his master spoke of the things of God, he listened earnestly, and took in with much eagerness and affection, what he was taught. There was seldom any discourse about religion in his hearing, but he heard as though it were for his life.
5. Thus he continued seeking after the knowledge of God, till the sickness came into the house, with which he was smitten. At his first sickening the poor child was greatly amazed and afraid; and though his pains were great, and the distemper very tedious; nevertheless, the sense of his sins, and the thought of the condition that his soul was still in, made his trouble ten times greater.
6. He was in grievous agonies of spirit; his former sins stared him in the face, and made him tremble. The poison of God's arrows did even drink up his spirits; the sense of sin and of wrath were so great that he knew not what to do. The weight of God's displeasure, and the thought of lying under it to all eternity, broke him even to pieces, and he bitterly cried out, "What shall I do! I am a miserable sinner, and I fear that I shall go to hell." His sins had been so great and so many, that there was no hope for him. He was not by far so much concerned for his life as for his soul: what would become of that for ever. Now the plague upon his body seemed nothing to that which was in his soul.