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ACCOUNT

OF THE

LIFE

AND

DEATH

O F

Lieutenant ILLIDGE,

Who was in the MILITIA
Óf the County of Chester, near
Fifty Years.

Chiefly drawn out of his own
PAPERS,

By the late Reverend

Mr. MATTHEW HENRY

The SECOND EDITION Corrected.

LONDON,

Printed for 7. Osborne, in Lombard-street:

R. Ford, at the Angel in the Paultry

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210.9

दे

THE

PREFACE

CHRISTIAN READER,

I

T is well obferved by the wife Man, Prov. XIV. 10. that the Heart knows its own Bitterness, and its own Fears, Cares, Defires, Joys, and Hopes and Expectations, that as there is Occafion, it is natural and eafie to Speak or write moft feelingly concern ing them: Thefe are thofe Things of a Man, that no Man knoweth, fave the Spirit of Man which is in him, 1 Cor. II. 11. which is therefore called the Candle of the Lord, which fearcheth all the inward A 2

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Parts

Parts of the Belly, i. e. of his own Heart, Prov. XX. 27. especially when this Candle is lighted by the Word and Spirit of God; And when a Perfon makes it his Bufines to accomplish a Ailigent Search, doubtleß he may arrive at a certain Knowledge of his own State and Condition, with refeFence to God, and his Salvation: By obferving the Complexion of his own Soul from Time to Time, and looking himself in the Glaß of God's Law, he may come to know what manner of Man he is.

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The World fees our Ways and AEtions, and is apt to be either fevere enough on the one Hand, or favourable enough on the other Hand, in their Remarks upon them: But as to this, which is the most hidden, and yet most excellent Part of Man, the Thoughts, the Defigns, the various Workings of the Heart, and the fecret and folemn Tranfactions between God and it; here a Man is best able. to draw his own Picture, which this

good

good Man had done for his own Ufe, in the Manufcripts he hath left behind him, that he might know (but not with any Defign to make known to others) what manner of Man he was.

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What he had done more at large, his Friend hath in this Extract done in Miniature, and taken the Liberty to fhew it to the World: This we find done by fome, who, for their Eminency in Gifts, and Learning, and Station, have made a much greater Figure in the Church, and in the World; and it hath met with good Acceptance, and been of use for the affifting, quickning, and warning of others. And we are not without Hopes, that this may have the like good Effects; that it will not be deSpifed, but be the more acceptable to fome, for its Plainneß and Simplicity, as proceeding from an honest Farmer, who was a good Husband of his Time, and was inftructed, by the Grace of God, how to cultivate his Soul, as well as his Ground, and fuffer neither

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