Of these 100 or so of persons who came over first, more than half died in the first general sickness. Of those that remained, some were too old to have children. Nevertheless in those thirty years there have sprung up from that stock over 160 persons now living in this year 1650; and of the old stock itself nearly thirty persons still survive. Let the Lord have the praise, Who is the High Preserver of men.

INDEX

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Note (written by the author at a later date than the passage to which it refers).—Little did I think that the downfall of the Bishops, with their courts, canons, and ceremonies had been so near, when first I began these scribbled writings,—which was about the year 1630, and continued as leisure permitted,—or that I should have lived to see and hear it. But it is the Lord’s doing, and ought to be marvellous in our eyes.... Do you not now see the fruits of your labours, O all ye servants of the Lord that have suffered for his truth, and have been faithful witnesses of it, and ye little handful amongst the rest, the least among the thousands of Israel? You have not only had a seed-time, but many of you have seen the joyful harvest. Should you not rejoice, then, yea, and again rejoice, and say Hallelujah, Salvation, and Glory, and Honour, and Power be to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are His judgments (Rev. xix., 1, 2).... The tyrannous bishops are ejected, their courts dissolved, their canons forceless, their service cashiered, their ceremonies useless and despised; their plots for Popery are prevented, all their supersititions discarded and returned to Rome, whence they came, and the monuments of idolatry rooted out of the land. Their proud and profane supporters and cruel defenders (the bloody papists and wicked atheists and their malignant consorts) are marvellously overthrown. And are not these great things? Who can deny it?

But who has done it? Who, even He that sitteth on the white horse, Who is called faithful and true, and judgeth and fightest righteously (Rev. xix., 11), Whose garments are dipped in blood, and His name was called the Word of God, for He shall rule with a rod of iron; for it is He that treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty. And He hath upon His garment, and upon His thigh, a name written: The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Anno Domini, 1646. Hallelujah.

[2] O sacred bond,—whilst inviolably preserved! How sweet and precious were its fruits! But when this fidelity decayed, then their ruin approached. Oh that these ancient members had not died (if it had been the will of God); or that this holy care and constant faithfulness had still remained with those that survived. But, alas, that still serpent hath slyly wound himself to untwist these sacred bonds and ties. I was happy in my first times to see and enjoy the blessed fruits of that sweet communion; but it is now a part of my misery in old age to feel its decay, and with grief of heart to lament it. For the warning and admonition of others, and my own humiliation, I here make note of it.