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I do find that the servants of God have been very careful and particular in writing the lives of eminent men, as Camerarius wrote the life of Luther; Junius, of Ursin; Beza, of Calvin; Antonius Taius, of Beza; Josias Simlerus, of Peter Martyr; Dr. Humphrey, of Bishop Jewell, &c. Melchior Adamus hath summed them up together, and Mr. Samuel Clark hath made a large collection; neither the Person described, nor the Writer being on a level with those men of God, it doth make me blush to appear in this undertaking, especially in so critical an age as the present; but this I dare say, the subject or person treated of, was full of good works, and he that treats thereon is full of good will.

Nor have I related all that might have been written, or that he himself wrote, judging it not convenient because it might be offensive. Take this in good part, live up to it, pray for the weak transcriber, and beg hard that God would raise up many masters in Israel, to make up this and other vacancies made of late by the death of eminent ministers, which seems to be a sad omen and dreadful prognostic of some desolating judgment approaching; for our defence is departing from us; the chariots, and horsemen of Israel are ascending in a fiery chariot; stakes are taken out of the hedge, that wild beasts may enter; pillars are removed, the house totters, we have lost much good blood, Jacob's face looks pale. May our dear Lord once, at last, restore his ministers to their public employments, pour out a spirit of prayer, cause sinners universally to be cast into the mould of the gospel, and revive a work of reformation, that the promise, Isa. xxix. 22, 23, may be performed, "Thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his chlidren, the work of mine hands in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel." Amen, so be it.

March 29th, 1694.

A

SHORT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

OF THE

Life and Death

OF THE

REV. NATHANIEL HEYWOOD.

MR. NATHANIEL HEYWOOD was born in Little Lever, in the parish of Bolton-le-Moors in Lancashire. His parents, Richard and Alice Heywood, were pious and respectable; he was baptized in the parish church, Sept. 16th, 1633. During his infancy he was exceedingly weak and sickly, he was much afflicted with fits of convulsion, and frequently under the sentence of death in the apprehension of all around him; his tender hearted parents often gave him up for gone, but God, who quickeneth the dead, brought him from the gates of the grave, that by him he might raise sinners from a death in sin to spiritual life. Nevertheless those violent fits, did so weaken his spirits, that in his younger days it was not judged eligible that he should be trained up for the ministry, and therefore his parents frequently took him from school, and occupied him in learning to write and cast up accounts, for the purpose of sending him to London to be an apprentice. But his natural strength having been recruited, and they being encouraged by his extraordinary capacity for learning, kept him still at school, having the advantage of a

learned and diligent master near them, who advised them to educate him as a scholar; especially from observing his inclination bent that way. At last they resolved upon it; and when he had passed his juvenile studies at school, after making great proficiency, notwithstanding frequent interruptions, he was thought prepared for the university at fourteen years of age; whither he went, and was admitted May 4th, 1648, into Trinity College at Cambridge; he was well approved for his school attainments; and devoting himself to his studies, he performed the usual exercises with applause; he had good natural abilities, a quick apprehension, solid judgment, and tenacious memory, which seldom meet in one person; he was qualified to manage what he undertook with great readiness and facility; so that he profited in academical learning beyond his equals.

As for religion, as yet his heart was not seasoned with a principle of saving grace; though he was religiously educated, united in holy exercises, loved God's people, and was not tainted with gross immorality ; yet he had not discerned the evil of sin, the malignity of his nature, or the necessity of Christ, till he was providentially brought under the ministry of Mr. Hammond, Fellow of Magdalen College, preacher at St. Giles's, through whose plain and powerful preaching, his mind became the subject of strong convictions, which cost him many sad thoughts of heart, as well as tears, but ended at last in a genuine conversion, in sincere covenanting with God, and in centring his soul by faith on Jesus Christ. Then he associated with serious Christians, and walked exemplarily; he however complained of his backslidings, of which he repented, and his soul was healed. When he had taken his degree, he went to London, and there heard Mr. Peter Sterry;

and was much pleased with his talents and manner of preaching.

When he came down into the country, his father judged it convenient to place him under the tuition of some reverend minister, by whose care and example he might be prepared for further service. And it pleased God, in his providence, to settle him in the family of that solid and judicious divine, Mr. Edward Gee, minister of Eccleston; where he continued two years. studying hard, behaved himself orderly, and profited much so that he often blessed God for the good he received in that family. And indeed he was moulded into the method, manners, and practice of that holy and eminent man of God, whose excellent treatises on Prayer and Government speak his real worth. He was a man distinguished for his learning, orthodoxy, and holiness; a most judicious, scriptural preacher; son to that famous Mr. Gee mentioned by historians in the fall at Blackfriars.

Whilst Mr. Heywood lived in Mr. Gee's family, God directed his thoughts to a young gentlewoman in the neighbourhood, Miss Elizabeth Parr, a relation to Dr. Parr, Bishop of the Isle of Man, whom in convenient time he married, and she became a pious, prudent, provident wife to him, by whom he had several children, six of whom are yet living-two sons and four daughters; his eldest son succeeded in his father's place as pastor in the newly erected meeting-house, a young man of great accomplishments and exemplary piety.

When Mr. Heywood was married, it pleased God to give him a call to a people in Yorkshire: for he had a great desire to be employed in his Lord's work, and the very day that an invitation came to him, he told the messenger, he had been spending most of it in fasting and prayer, wherein he found his heart much en.

larged, and therefore he looked upon that Call as an answer of prayer, and on that account freely embraced it, and in due time took his departure.

The place to which he was called was Illingworth chapel, in the vicarage of Halifax, Yorkshire. When he had preached a day or two with them, the people laid hold of him, and engaged him to settle with them, which he did. He continued three or four years, and was an instrument of much good in that place, having a full auditory, and some seals of his ministry. But Satan envying the success of the gospel, raised up some potent adversaries against him, who maligned and opposed him for the faithfulness of his plain admonitions. Some meetings took place about his continuance. One said to him, Mr. Heywood, you have raised differences and disturbances since you came. He answered, I have not sought the peace of the place, but the good of it. Which the man ruminated upon, but could not tell what to make of that expression; not remembering that the principal design of the gospel and its publishers, is the good of souls, but the accidental fruit of it is dissension, through the corruption of men's hearts, according to what our blessed Lord expressed: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace but a sword."* During this controversy about his stay or removal, an earnest request was sent to him by the people of Orms-church to come among them; he hearkened to them, having several discouragements at Illingworth, which cannot here be named, notwithstanding some cordial friends in that congregation adhered closely to him, and claimed an interest in him; both parties using more than ordinary arguments and importunity, did exceedingly perplex him, and put him upon the rack of suspense. He earnestly sought *Matt. x. 34, 35.

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