A Collection of some Letters that were written by the same Author, most of them in the time of his Servitude.
Reading edition
To my much Honored Friend Mr. T. B.
SIR,
I Have lived with sorrow to see the Anointed of the Lord tore from his Throne by the hands of Paricides, and in contempt haled, in the view of God, Angels and Men, upon a public Theatre, and there murthered. I have seen the sacred Temple of the Almighty, in scorn by Schismatics made the Receptacle of Theeves and Robbers; and those Religious Prayers, that in devotion Evening and Morning were offered up as a Sacrifice to our God, rent by Sacrilegious hands, and made no other use of, then sold to Brothel-houses to light Tobacco with.
Who then can stay, or will, to see things of so great weight steer’d by such barbarous Hounds as these: First, were there an Egypt to go down to, I would involve my Liberty to them, upon condition ne’er more to see my Country. What? live in silence under the sway of such base actions, is to give consent; and though the lowness of my present Estate and Condition, with the hazard I put my future dayes upon, might plead a just excuse for me to stay at home; but Heavens forbid: I’le rather serve in {84} Chains, and draw the Plough with Animals, till death shall stop and say, It is enough. Sir, if you stay behind, I wish you well: I am bound for Mary-Land, this day I have made some entrance into my intended voyage, and when I have done more, you shall know of it. I have here inclosed what you of me desired, but truly trouble, discontent and business, have so amazed my senses, that what to write, or where to write, I conceive my self almost as uncapable as he that never did write. What you’le find will be Ex tempore, without the use of premeditation; and though there may want something of a flourishing stile to dress them forth, yet I’m certain there wants nothing of truth, will, and desire.
Heavens bright Lamp, shine forth some of thy Light,
But just so long to paint this dismal Night;
Then draw thy beams, and hide thy glorious face,
From the dark sable actions of this place;
Leaving these lustful Sodomites groping still,
To satisfie each dark unsatiate will,
Untill at length the crimes that they commit,
May sink them down to Hells Infernal pit.
Base and degenerate Earth, how dost thou lye,
That all that pass hiss, at thy Treachery?
Thou which couldst boast once of thy King and Crown,
By base Mechanicks now art tumbled down,
Brewers and Coblers, that have scarce an Eye,
Walk hand in hand an thy Supremacy;
And all those Courts where Majesty did Throne,
Are now the Seats for Oliver and Ioan: {85}
Persons of Honour, which did before inherit
Their glorious Titles from deserved merit,
Are all grown silent, and with wonder gaze,
To view such Slaves drest in their Courtly rayes;
To see a Drayman that knows nought but Yeast,
Set in a Throne like Babylons red Beast,
While heaps of Parasites do idolize
This red-nos’d Bell, with fawning Sacrifice.
What can we say? our King they’ve Murthered,
And those well born, are basely buried:
Nobles are slain, and Royalists in each street
Are scorn’d, and kick’d by most Men that they meet:
Religion’s banisht, and Heresie survives,
And none but Conventicks in this Age thrives.
Oh could those Romans from their Ashes rise,
That liv’d in Nero’s time: Oh how their cries
Would our perfidious Island shake, nay rend,
With clamorous screaks unto the Heaven send:
Oh how they’d blush to see our Crimson crimes,
And know the Subjects Authors of these times:
When as the Peasant he shall take his King,
And without cause shall fall a murthering him;
And when that’s done, with Pride assume the Chair,
And Nimrod-like, himself to heaven rear;
Command the People, make the Land Obey
His baser will, and swear to what he’l say.
Sure, sure our God has not these evils sent
To please himself, but for mans punishment:
And when he shall from our dark sable Skies
Withdraw these Clouds, and let our Sun arise,
Our dayes will surely then in Glory shine,
Both in our Temporal, and our State divine: {86}
May this come quickly, though I may never see
This glorious day, yet I would sympathie,
And feel a joy run through each vain of blood,
Though Vassalled on t’other side the Floud.
Heavens protect his Sacred Majesty,
From secret Plots, & treacherous Villany.
And that those Slaves that now predominate,
Hang’d and destroy’d may be their best of Fate;
And though Great Charles be distant from his own,
Heaven I hope will seat him on his Throne.
Vale.
Yours what I may,
G. A.
From the Chimney Corner upon a low cricket, where I writ this in the noise of some six Women, Aug. 19. Anno
To my Honored Father at his House.
SIR,
BEfore I dare bid Adieu to the old World, or shake hands with my native Soyl for ever, I have a Conscience inwards tells me, that I must offer up the remains of that Obedience of mine, that lyes close centered within the cave of my Soul, at the Alter, of your paternal Love: And though this Sacrifice of mine may shew something low and thread-bare, (at this time) yet know, That in the Zenith of all {87} actions, Obedience is that great wheel that moves the lesser in their circular motion.
I am now entring for some time to dwell under the Government of Neptune, a Monarchy that I was never manured to live under, nor to converse with in his dreadful Aspect, neither do I know how I shall bear with his rough demands; but that God has carried me through those many gusts a shoar, which I have met withall in the several voyages of my life, I hope will Pilot me safely to my desired Port, through the worst of Stormes I shall meet withall at Sea.
We have strange, and yet good news aboard, that he whose vast mind could not be contented with spacious Territories to stretch his insatiate desires on, is (by an Almighty power) banished from his usuped Throne to dwell among the dead. I no sooner heard of it, but my melancholly Muse forced me upon this ensuing Distich.
Poor vaunting Earth, gloss’d with uncertain Pride,
That liv’d in Pomp, yet worse than others dy’d:
Who shall blow forth a Trumpet to thy praise?
Or call thy sable Actions shining Rayes?
Such Lights as those blaze forth the vertued dead,
And make them live, though they are buried.
Thou’st gone, and to thy memory let be said,
There lies that Oliver which of old betray’d
His King and Master, and after did assume,
With swelling Pride, to govern in his room.
Here I’le rest satisfied, Scriptures expound to me,
Tophet was made for such Supremacy.
{88}
The death of this great Rebel (I hope) will prove an Omen to presage destruction on the rest. The Worlds in a heap of troubles and confusion, and while they are in the midst of their changes and amazes, the best way to give them the bag, is to go out of the World and leave them. I am now bound for Mary-Land, and I am told that’s a New World, but if it prove no better than this, I shall not get much by my change; but before I’le revoke my Resolution, I am resolv’d to put it to adventure, for I think it can hardly be worse then this is: Thus committing you into the hands of that God that made you, I rest
Your Obedient Son,
G. A.
From aboard a Ship at Gravesend, Sept. 7th, Anno
To my Brother.
I Leave you very near in the same condition as I am in my self, only here lies the difference, you were bound at Joyners Hall in London Apprentice-wise, and I conditionally at Navigators Hall, that now rides at an Anchor at Gravesend; I hope you will allow me to live in the largest Mayordom, by reason I am the eldest: None but the main Continent of America will serve me for a Corporation to inhabit {89} in now, though I am affraid for all that, that the reins of my Liberty will be something shorter then yours will be in London: But as to that, what Destiny has ordered I am resolved with an adventerous Resolution to subscribe to, and with a contented imbracement enjoy it. I would fain have seen you once more in this Old World, before I go into the New, I know you have a chain about your Leg, as well as I have a clog about my Neck: If you can’t come, send a line or two, if not, wish me well at least: I have one thing to charge home upon you, and I hope you will take my counsel, That you have alwayes an obedient Respect and Reverence to your aged Parents, that while they live they may have comfort of you, and when that God shall sound a retreat to their lives, that there they may with their gray hairs in joy go down to their Graves.
Thus concluding, wishing you a comfortable Servitude, a prosperous Life, and the assurance of a happy departure in the immutable love of him that made you,
Vale.
Your Brother,
G. A.
From Gravesend, Sept. 7. Anno
{90}
To my much Honored Friend Mr. T. B. at his House.
I Am got ashoar with much ado, and it is very well it is as it is, for if I had stayed a little longer, I had certainly been a Creature of the Water, for I had hardly flesh enough to carry me to Land, not that I wanted for any thing that the Ship could afford me in reason: But oh the great bowls of Pease-porridge that appeared in sight every day about the hour of twelve, ingulfed the senses of my Appetite so, with the restringent quality of the Salt Beef, upon the internal Inhabitants of my belly, that a Galenist for some days after my arrival, with his Bag-pipes of Physical operations, could hardly make my Puddings dance in any methodical order.
But to set by these things that happened unto me at Sea, I am now upon Land, and there I’le keep my self if I can, and for four years I am pretty sure of my restraint; and had I known my yoak would have been so easie, (as I conceive it will) I would have been here long before now, rather then to have dwelt under the pressure of a Rebellious and Trayterous Government so long as I did. I dwell now by providence in the Province of Mary-Land, (under the quiet Government of the Lord Baltemore) which Country a bounds in a most glorious prosperity and plenty of all things. And though the Infancy of her situation might plead an excuse to those several imperfections, (if she were guilty of any of them) which by {91} scandalous and imaginary conjectures are falsly laid to her charge, and which she values with so little notice or perceivance of discontent, that she hardly alters her visage with a frown, to let them know she is angry with such a Rascality of people, that loves nothing better then their own sottish and abusive acclamations of baseness: To be short, the Country (so far forth as I have seen into it) is incomparable.
Here is a sort of naked Inhabitants, or wilde people, that have for many ages I believe lived here in the Woods of Mary-Land, as well as in other parts of the Continent, before e’er it was by the Christian Discoverers found out; being a people strange to behold, as well in their looks, which by confused paintings makes them seem dreadful, as in their sterne and heroick gate and deportments, the Men are mighty tall and big limbed, the Women not altogether so large; they are most of them very well featured, did not their wilde and ridiculous dresses alter their original excellencies: The men are great Warriours and Hunters, the Women ingenious and laborious Housewives.
As to matter of their Worship, they own no other Deity then the Devil, and him more out of a slavish fear, then any real devotion, or willing acknowledgement to his Hellish power. They live in little small Bark-Cottages, in the remote parts of the Woods, killing and slaying the several Animals that they meet withall to make provision of, dressing their {92} several Hydes and Skins to Trafique withall, when a conveniency of Trade presents. I would go on further, but like Doctor Case, when he had not a word more to speak for himself, I am afraid my beloved I have kept you too long. Now he that made you save you. Amen.
Yours to command,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Febr. 6. Anno
And not to forget Tom Forge I beseech you, tell him that my Love’s the same towards him still, and as firm as it was about the overgrown Tryal, when Judgements upon judgements, had not I stept in, would have pursued him untill the day of Judgement, &c.
To my Father at his House.
SIR,
AFter my Obedience (at so great and vast a distance) has humbly saluted you and my good Mother, with the cordialest of my prayers, wishes, and desires to wait upon you, with the very best of their effectual devotion, wishing from the very Center of my Soul your flourishing and well-being here upon Earth, and your glorious and everlasting happiness in the World to Come. {93}
These lines (my dear Parents) come from that Son which by an irregular Fate was removed from his Native home, and after a five months dangerous passage, was landed on the remote Continent of America, in the Province of Mary-Land, where now by providence I reside. To give you the particulars of the several accidents that happened in our voyage by Sea, it would swell a Journal of some sheets, and therefore too large and tedious for a Letter: I think it therefore necessary to bind up the relation in Octavo, and give it you in short.
We had a blowing and dangerous passage of it, and for some dayes after I arrived, I was an absolute Copernicus, it being one main point of my moral Creed, to believe the World had a pair of long legs, and walked with the burthen of the Creation upon her back. For to tell you the very truth of it, for some dayes upon Land, after so long and tossing a passage, I was so giddy that I could hardly tread an even step; so that all things both above and below (that was in view) appeared to me like the Kentish Britains to William the Conqueror, in a moving posture.
Those few number of weeks since my arrival, has given me but little experience to write any thing large of the Country; only thus much I can say, and that not from any imaginary conjectures, but from an occular observation, That this Country of Mary-Land abounds in a flourishing variety of delightful Woods, {94} pleasant groves, lovely Springs, together with spacious Navigable Rivers and Creeks, it being a most helthful and pleasant situation, so far as my knowledge has yet had any view in it.
Herds of Deer are as numerous in this Province of Mary-Land, as Cuckolds can be in London, only their horns are not so well drest and tipt with silver as theirs are.
Here if the Devil had such a Vagary in his head as he had once among the Gadareans, he might drown a thousand head of Hogs and they’d ne’re be miss’d, for the very Woods of this Province swarms with them.
The Christian Inhabitant of this Province, as to the general, lives wonderful well and contented: The Government of this Province is by the loyalness of the people, and loving demeanor of the Proprietor and Governor of the same, kept in a continued peace and unity.
The Servant of this Province, which are stigmatiz’d for Slaves by the clappermouth jaws of the vulgar in England, live more like Freemen then the most Mechanick Apprentices in London, wanting for nothing that is convenient and necessary, and according to their several capacities, are extraordinary well used and respected. So leaving things here as I found them, and lest I should commit Sacriledge upon your more serious meditations, with the Tautologies of a long-winded Letter, I’le subscribe with a {95} heavenly Ejaculation to the God of Mercy to preserve you now and for evermore, Amen.
Your Obedient Son,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Jan. 17. Anno
To my much Honored Friend Mr. M. F.
SIR,
YOu writ to me when I was at Gravesend, (but I had no conveniency to send you an answer till now) enjoyning me, if possible, to give you a just Information by my diligent observance, what thing were best and most profitable to send into this Country for a commodious Trafique.
Sir, The enclosed will demonstrate unto you both particularly and at large, to the full satisfaction of your desire, it being an Invoyce drawn as exact to the business you imployed me upon, as my weak capacity could extend to.
Sir, If you send any Adventure to this Province, let me beg to give you this advice in it; That the Factor whom you imploy be a man of a Brain, otherwise the Planter will go near to make a Skimming-dish of his Skull: I know your Genius can interpret my meaning. The people of this place (whether the saltness of the Ocean gave them any alteration when they went over first, or their continual dwelling under {96} the remote Clyme where they now inhabit, I know not) are a more acute people in general, in matters of Trade and Commerce, then in any other place of the World (see note No. 60) and by their crafty and sure bargaining, do often over-reach the raw and unexperienced Merchant. To be short, he that undertakes Merchants imployment for Mary-Land, must have more of Knave in him then Fool; he must not be a windling piece of Formality, that will lose his Imployers Goods for Conscience sake; nor a flashy piece of Prodigality, that will give his Merchants fine Hollands, Laces, and Silks, to purchase the benevolence of a Female: But he must be a man of solid confidence, carrying alwayes in his looks the Effigies of an Execution upon Command, if he supposes a baffle or denyal of payment, where a debt for his Imployer is legally due. (See note No. 61).
Sir, I had like almost to forgot to tell you in what part of the World I am: I dwell by providence Servant to Mr. Thomas Stocket (see note No. 62) in the County of Baltemore, within the Province of Mary-Land, under the Government of the Lord Baltemore, being a Country abounding with the variety and diversity of all that is or may be rare. But lest I should Tantalize you with a relation of that which is very unlikely of your enjoying, by reason of that strong Antipathy you have ever had ’gainst Travel, as to your own particular: I’le only tell you, that Mary-Land is seated within the large extending armes {97} of America, between the Degrees of 36 and 38, being in Longitude from England eleven hundred and odd Leagues.
Vale.
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Jan. 17. Anno
To my Honored Friend Mr. T. B. at his House.
SIR,
YOurs I received, wherein I find my self much obliged to you for your good opinion of me, I return you millions of thanks.
Sir, you wish me well, and I pray God as well that those wishes may light upon me, and then I question not but all will do well. Those Pictures you sent sewed up in a Pastboard, with a Letter tacked on the outside, you make no mention at all what should be done with them: If they are Saints, unless I knew their names, I could make no use of them. Pray in your next let me know what they are, for my fingers itch to be doing with them one way or another. Our Government here hath had a small fit of a Rebellious Quotidian, (see note No. 63), but five Grains of the powder of Subvertment has qualified it. Pray be larger in your next how things stand in England: I understand His Majesty is return’d with Honour, and seated in the hereditary Throne of his Father; God {98} bless him from Traytors, and the Church from Sacrilegious Schisms, and you as a loyal Subject to the one, and a true Member to the other; while you so continue, the God of order, peace and tranquility, bless and preserve you, Amen.
Vale.
Your real Friend,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Febr. 20. Anno
To my Honored Father at his House.
SIR,
VVIth a twofold unmeasurable joy I received your Letter: First, in the consideration of Gods great Mercy to you in particular, (though weak and aged) yet to give you dayes among the living. Next, that his now most Excellent Majesty Charles the Second, is by the omnipotent Providence of God, seated in the Throne of his Father. I hope that God has placed him there, will give him a heart to praise and magnifie his name for ever, and a hand of just Revenge, to punish the murthering and rebellious Outrages of those Sons of shame and Apostacy, that Usurped the Throne of his Sacred Honour. Near about the time I received your Letter, (or a little before) here sprang up in this Province of Mary-Land a kind of pigmie Rebellion: A company of {99} weak-witted men, which thought to have traced the steps of Oliver in Rebellion (see note No. 63). They began to be mighty stiff and hidebound in their proceedings, clothing themselves with the flashy pretences of future and imaginary honour, and (had they not been suddenly quell’d) they might have done so much mischief (for aught I know) that nothing but utter ruine could have ransomed their headlong follies.
His Majesty appearing in England, he quickly (by the splendor of his Rayes) thawed the stiffness of their frozen and slippery intentions. All things (blessed be God for it) are at peace and unity here now: And as Luther being asked once, What he thought of some small Opinions that started up in his time? answered, That he thought them to be good honest people, exempting their error: So I judge of these men, That their thoughts were not so bad at first, as their actions would have led them into in process of time.
I have here enclosed sent you something written in haste upon the Kings coming to the enjoyment of his Throne, with a reflection upon the former sad and bad times; I have done them as well as I could, considering all things: If they are not so well as they should be, all I can do is to wish them better for your sakes. My Obedience to you and my Mother alwayes devoted.
Your Son
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Febr. 9. Anno
{100}
To my Cosen Mris. Ellinor Evins.
E’ re I forget the Zenith of your Love,
L et me be banisht from the Thrones above;
L ight let me never see, when I grow rude,
I ntomb your Love in base Ingratitude:
N or may I prosper, but the state
O f gaping Tantalus be my fate;
R ather then I should thus preposterous grow,
E arth would condemn me to her vaults below.
V ertuous and Noble, could my Genius raise
I mmortal Anthems to your Vestal praise,
N one should be more laborious than I,
S aint-like to Canonize you to the Sky.
The Antimonial Cup (dear Cosen) you sent me, I had; and as soon as I received it, I went to work with the Infirmities and Diseases of my body. At the first draught, it made such havock among the several humors that had stolen into my body, that like a Conjurer in a room among a company of little Devils, they no sooner hear him begin to speak high words, but away they pack, and happy is he that can get out first, some up the Chimney, and the rest down stairs, till they are all disperst. So those malignant humors of my body, feeling the operative power, and medicinal virtue of this Cup, were so amazed at their sudden surprizal, (being alwayes before battered only by the weak assaults of some few Empyricks) they stood not long to dispute, but with joynt consent {101} made their retreat, some running through the sink of the Skullery, the rest climbing up my ribs, took my mouth for a Garret-window, and so leapt out.
Cosen, For this great kindness of yours, in sending me this medicinal vertue, I return you my thanks: It came in a very good time, when I was dangerously sick, and by the assistance of God it hath perfectly recovered me.
I have sent you here a few Furrs, they were all I could get at present, I humbly beg your acceptance of them, as a pledge of my love and thankfulness unto you; I subscribe,
Your loving Cosen,
G. A.
From Mary Land, Dec. 9. Anno
To My Brother P. A.
BROTHER,
I Have made a shift to unloose my self from my Collar now as well as you, but I see at present either small pleasure or profit in it: What the futurality of my dayes will bring forth, I know not; For while I was linckt with the Chain of a restraining Servitude, I had all things cared for, and now I have all things to care for my self, which makes me almost to wish my self in for the other four years.
Liberty without money, is like a man opprest with the Gout, every step he puts forward puts him to {102} pain; when on the other side, he that has Coyn with his Liberty, is like the swift Post-Messenger of the Gods, that wears wings at his heels, his motion being swift or slow, as he pleaseth.
I received this year two Caps, the one white, of an honest plain countenance, the other purple, which I conceive to be some antient Monumental Relique; which of them you sent I know not, and it was a wonder how I should, for there was no mention in the Letter, more then, that my Brother had sent me a Cap: They were delivered me in the company of some Gentlemen that ingaged me to write a few lines upon the purple one, and because they were my Friends I could not deny them; and here I present them to you as they were written.
Haile from the dead, or from Eternity,
Thou Velvit Relique of Antiquity;
Thou which appear’st here in thy purple hew,
Tell’s how the dead within their Tombs do doe;
How those Ghosts fare within each Marble Cell,
Where amongst them for Ages thou didst dwell.
What Brain didst cover there? tell us that we
Upon our knees vayle Hats to honour thee:
And if no honour’s due, tell us whose pate
Thou basely coveredst, and we’l joyntly hate:
Let’s know his name, that we may shew neglect;
If otherwise, we’l kiss thee with respect.
Say, didst thou cover Noll’s old brazen head,
Which on the top of Westminster high Lead {103}
Stands on a Pole, erected to the sky,
As a grand Trophy to his memory.
From his perfidious skull didst thou fall down,
In a dis-dain to honour such a crown
With three-pile Velvet? tell me, hadst thou thy fall
From the high top of that Cathedral?
None of the Heroes of the Roman stem,
Wore ever such a fashion’d Diadem,
Didst thou speak Turkish in thy unknown dress,
Thou’dst cover Great Mogull, and no man less;
But in thy make methinks thou’rt too too scant,
To be so great a Monarch’s Turberant.
The Jews by Moses swear, they never knew
E’re such a Cap drest up in Hebrew:
Nor the strict Order of the Romish See,
Wears any Cap that looks so base as thee;
His Holiness hates thy Lowness, and instead,
Wears Peters spired Steeple on his head:
The Cardinals descent is much more flat,
For want of name, baptized is A Hat;
Through each strict Order has my fancy ran,
Both Ambrose, Austin, and the Franciscan,
Where I beheld rich Images of the dead,
Yet scarce had one a Cap upon his head:
Episcopacy wears Caps, but not like thee,
Though several shap’d, with much diversity:
’Twere best I think I presently should gang
To Edenburghs strict Presbyterian;
But Caps they’ve none, their ears being made so large,
Serves them to turn it like a Garnesey Barge;
Those keep their skulls warm against North-west gusts,
When they in Pulpit do poor Calvin curse. {104}
Thou art not Fortunatus, for I daily see,
That which I wish is farthest off from me:
Thy low-built state none ever did advance,
To christen thee the Cap of Maintenance;
Then till I know from whence thou didst derive,
Thou shalt be call’d, the Cap of Fugitive.
You writ to me this year to send you some Smoak; at that instant it made me wonder that a man of a rational Soul, having both his eyes (blessed be God) should make so unreasonable a demand, when he that has but one eye, nay he which has never a one, and is fain to make use of an Animal conductive for his optick guidance, cannot endure the prejudice that Smoak brings with it: But since you are resolv’d upon it, I’le dispute it no farther.
I have sent you that which will make Smoak, (namely Tobacco) though the Funk it self is so slippery that I could not send it, yet I have sent you the Substance from whence the Smoak derives: What use you imploy it to I know not, nor will I be too importunate to know; yet let me tell you this, That if you burn it in a room to affright the Devil from the house, you need not fear but it will work the same effect, as Tobyes galls did upon the leacherous Fiend. No more at present. Vale.
Your Brother,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Dec. 11. Anno
{105}
To my Honored Friend Mr. T. B.
SIR,
THis is the entrance upon my fifth year, and I fear ’twill prove the worst: I have been very much troubled with a throng of unruly Distempers, that have (contrary to my expectation) crouded into the Main-guard of my body, when the drowsie Sentinels of my brain were a sleep. Where they got in I know not, but to my grief and terror I find them predominant: Yet as Doctor Dunne, sometimes Dean of St. Pauls, said, That the bodies diseases do but mellow a man for Heaven, and so ferments him in this World, as he shall need no long concoction in the Grave, but hasten to the Resurrection. And if this were weighed seriously in the Ballance of Religious Reason, the World we dwell in would not seem so inticing and bewitching as it doth.
We are only sent by God of an Errand into this World, and the time that’s allotted us for to stay, is only for an Answer. When God my great Master shall in good earnest call me home, which these warnings tell me I have not long to stay, I hope then I shall be able to give him a good account of my Message.
Sir, My weakness gives a stop to my writing, my hand being so shakingly feeble, that I can hardly hold my pen any further then to tell you, I am yours {106} while I live, which I believe will be but some few minutes.
If this Letter come to you before I’me dead, pray for me, but if I am gone, pray howsoever, for they can do me no harm if they come after me.
Vale.
Your real Friend,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Dec. 13. Anno
To my Parents.
FRom the Grave or Receptacle of Death am I raised, and by an omnipotent power made capable of offering once more my Obedience (that lies close cabbined in the inwardmost apartment of my Soul) at the feet of your immutable Loves.
My good Parents, God hath done marvellous things for me, far beyond my deserts, which at best were preposterously sinful, and unsuitable to the sacred will of an Almighty: But he is merciful, and his mercy endures for ever. When sinful man has by his Evils and Iniquities pull’d some penetrating Judgment upon his head, and finding himself immediately not able to stand under so great a burthen as Gods smallest stroke of Justice, lowers the Top-gallant sayle of his Pride, and with an humble submissiveness prostrates himself before the Throne of his sacred Mercy, and {107} like those three Lepars that sate at the Gate of Samaria, resolved, If we go into the City we shall perish, and if we stay here we shall perish also: Therefore we will throw our selves into the hands of the Assyrians and if we perish, we perish: This was just my condition as to eternal state; my soul was at a stand in this black storm of affliction: I view’d the World, and all that’s pleasure in her, and found her altogether flashy, aiery, and full of notional pretensions, and not one firm place where a distressed Soul could hang his trust on. Next I viewed my self, and there I found, instead of good Works, lively Faith, and Charity, a most horrid neast of condemned Evils, bearing a supreme Prerogative over my internal faculties. You’l say here was little hope of rest in this extreme Eclipse, being in a desperate amaze to see my estate so deplorable: My better Angel urged me to deliver up my aggrievances to the Bench of Gods Mercy, the sure support of all distressed Souls: His Heavenly warning, and inward whispers of the good Spirit I was resolv’d to entertain, and not quench, and throw my self into the armes of a loving God, If I perish, I perish. ’Tis beyond wonder to think of the love of God extended to sinful man, that in the deepest distresses or agonies of Affliction, when all other things prove rather hinderances then advantages, even at that time God is ready and steps forth to the supportment of his drooping Spirit. Truly, about a fortnight before I wrote this Letter, two of our ablest Physicians {108} rendered me up into the hands of God, the universal Doctor of the whole World, and subscribed with a silent acknowledgement, That all their Arts, screw’d up to the very Zenith of Scholastique perfection, were not capable of keeping me from the Grave at that time: But God, the great preserver of Soul and Body, said contrary to the expectation of humane reason, Arise, take up thy bed and walk.
I am now (through the help of my Maker) creeping up to my former strength and vigour, and every day I live, I hope I shall, through the assistance of divine Grace, climbe nearer and nearer to my eternal home.
I have received this year three Letters from you, one by Capt. Conway Commander of the Wheat-Sheaf, the others by a Bristol Ship. Having no more at present to trouble you with, but expecting your promise, I remain as ever,
Your dutiful Son,
G. A.
Mary-Land, April 9. Anno
I desire my hearty love may be remembered to my Brother, and the rest of my Kinred.
FINIS.