tively of theſe Things; becauſe theſe were only the diſmal Objects which repreſented themſelves to me as I look’d thro’ my Chamber Windows (for I ſeldom opened the Caſements) while I confin’d my ſelf within Doors, during that moſt violent rageing of the Peſtilence; when indeed, as I have ſaid, many began to think, and even to ſay, that there would none eſcape; and indeed, I began to think ſo too; and therefore kept within Doors, for about a Fortnight, and never ſtirr’d out: But I cou’d not hold it: Beſides, there were ſome People, who notwithſtanding the Danger, did not omit publickly to attend the Worship of God, even in the moſt dangerous Times; and tho’ it is true, that a great many Clergymen did ſhut up their Churches, and fled as other People did, for the ſafety of their Lives; yet, all did not do ſo, ſome ventur’d to officiate, and to keep up the Aſſemblies of the People by conſtant Prayers; and ſometimes Sermons, or Brief Exhortations to Repentance and Reformation, and this as long as any would come to hear them; and Diſſenters did the like alſo, and even in the very Churches, where the Pariſh Miniſters were either Dead or fled, nor was there any Room for making Difference, at ſuch a Time as this was.
It was indeed a lamentable Thing to hear the miſerable Lamentations of poor dying Creatures, calling out for Miniſters to Comfort them, and pray with them, to Counſel them, and to direct them, calling out to God for Pardon and Mercy, and confeſſing aloud their paſt Sins. It would make the ſtouteſt Heart bleed to hear how many Warnings were then given by dying Penitents, to others not to put off and delay their Repentance to the Day of Diſtreſs, that ſuch a Time of Calamity as this, was no Time for Repentance; was no Time to call upon God. I with I could repeat the very Sound of thoſe Groans, and of thoſe Exclamations that I heard from ſome poor dying Creatures, when in the Hight of their Agonies and Diſtreſs; and that I could make him that read this hear, as I imagine I now hear them, for the Sound ſeems ſtill to Ring in my Ears. If
