God The vows of God are upon me which I confess I have been too slack to pay that I would put you in remembrance and in all Brotherly tenderness advise you to remember from whence you are fallen I was informed before your leaving of England of many unhappy miscarriages which the great reproach of your holy profession you had been too manifestly guilty of I am not without some hope that the Lord may have since recalled you and brought you back to himself and yet not without more fear lest if the power of corruption were so strong as to precipitate you with such violence at such a time as that was and in such a place as England as Oxon where you had so many encouragements and inducements examples and faithful friendly watchful observes you may now much more be carried away in such a place and among such Company as now you may be likely to be in Sir I beseech you to be assured that nothing but the conscience of my duty hath engaged me now you have been so many years a stranger to me and are at so many thousand miles distance from me to write notwithstanding to you And I beseech you bear a little with me Is it wisdom after you have begun in the Spirit to end in the flesh you did run well who hath hindred you I remember your strict walkings your holy converse your many tears will you lose the things that you have wrought have you found out another a nearer way to Heaven do you hope to get in at the wide Gate in the broad way need I to mind you that it had been better for you never to have known the way of life then after you have known it to turn aside from the Holy Commandment can you ever enter into Gods Hill without you be of clean hands and a pure heart I know you are not ignorant That strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it and will you yet do as the most and decline the way of strictness and holy self-denial and give the flesh the reins what when God that cannot lie hath said If you live after the flesh you shall die Do you not know that you do in vain name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ except you depart from iniquity I am sure you know it Oh Sir consider it improve it Oh! have you for learnt Christ as to think that the way of Carnal liberty and loosness the way of evil company and fleshliness is the way to eternal life I am not for tying up Salvation to this or that Opinion but certainly let men be of what opinion they will without strictness self-denial and holy diligence they cannot be saved Mat. 16. 42. Mat. 11 12. 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. Once you could say with David I am a companion to all them that fear thee is it so now O Sir let not the wicked entice you Hath not God said A Companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. That you must forsake the foolish if you desire to live Prov. 9. 6. Sir I have no more hopes ever to meet you more on Earth O that I might meet you in Heaven let us tread the same path of Holiness and then we shall doubtless meet there But surely you must deeply and timely repent of and return from your grievous back-slidings or else I desire never to meet in your Heaven But why should not we that have so often met in serious and holy Prayer together we that have so often met at the Lords Table together we that have so often eat together and fasted together meet in glory together I beseech you dear Sir if the Lord hath not already smitten you to the dust and broken you and reduced to the ways of holiness now consider your ways and turn your feet to his Testimonies Oh remember that The back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways God hath said it and who shall reverse it If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And once again when the righteous turueth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity shall be live In his trespass that he hath trespassed shall he not die I know Prayers can reach you though at so vast a distance I shall add to them these Counsels and commit you to God remaining Your real Friend in Crist Joseph Alleine Juelchaster May 18th 1664. LETTER XXXV Good Counsel to his Wife My most dear Theodosia THou seemest to have been long from me Let nothing any longer detain thee but my Sisters necessity or Fathers Authority I am very sorry that thou shouldst lose two Sacraments I am in a comfortable state of health through Divine goodness to which be glory for ever See that thou love and admire that Fountain of our life and peace and be ever mindful that 't is all thy business to love and save and praise thy Creator and Redeemer I have no 〈◊〉 but this to write to thee about But this is all our 〈◊〉 What be use to call business is but vanity and 〈◊〉 and some by matter in comparison of this Remember and forget not that 't is thy chief end to glorifie God and enjoy him for ever Learn well that Leston and know that it is the one thing necessary Every morning remember that thy serving and pleasing of God is the whole business of that day and therefore set out accordingly with an express design and intention to please God in thy eating drinking visiting conversing calling and duties of thy Relations throughout the day My most dear heart I have nothing in the world that doth concern thee or me so much to write of to thee as this is Oh that thou mayst be still be laying up in Heaven still furthering thy account still adding to the heap and encreasing thy glorious reward nothing is done for God but thou shalt hear of it again Whatever is not done for God is but so much lost Those things which others do being led by their natural affections and desires those things do thou do with holy Aims for spiritual ends and then God will put it on the account as so much done for him So it is my dearest God keeps a true account See that thou believe it and so plow in hope and sowe in hope pray and hear with an eye to the sure reward Let thy hopes be strong and lively and then thy hands will be strong and thy resolutions and affections will be strong My time is very precious and I would not lose any inch of it See thou to it that mytime in writing this Letter be not lost time Love God the more and set thine heart the straighter towards him and do but practice this one thing in every solemn action to look to thy ends and then I have got well and thou better by these Counsels My dearest I love thee in truth and tenderness but my
took up a 〈◊〉 resolution to go on with his Work in private both of 〈◊〉 and Visiting from House to House till he should be 〈◊〉 to Prison or Banishment which he counted upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assisting him And this Resolution without delay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Thursday after he appointed a Solemn Day of Humiliation when he preached to as many as would adventure themselves with him at our own House But it being then a strange thing to the most Professors to suffer they seemed much afrighted at the threatnings of Adversaries so that there was not such an appearance at such opportunities as my Husband expected whereupon he made it his Work to converse much with those he perceived to be most timerous and to satisfie the Scruples that were on many amongst us so that the Lord was pleased in a short time to give him such success that his own People waxed bold for the Lord and his Gospel and multitudes flocked into the Meetings at whatsoever season they were either by day or night which was a great encouragement to my Husband that he went on with much vigour and affection in his Work both of Preaching and Visiting and Catechizing from House to House He went also frequently into the Villages and Places about the Towns where their Ministers were gone as most of them did flie or at the least desist for a considerable time after Bartholomew day Where-ever he went the Lord was pleased to give him great success many converted and the generality of those animated to cleave to the Lord and his wayes But by this the Justices rage was much heightned against him and he was often threatned and sought for but by the Power of God whose Work he was delighted in was preserved much longer out of their hands than he expected For he would often say If it pleased the Lord to grant him three months liberty before he went to Prison he should account himself favoured by him and should with more chearfulness go when he had done some Work At which time we sold off all our goods preparing for a Goal or Banishment where he was desirous I should attend him as I was willing to do it alwayes having been more grievous to me to think of being absent from him than to suffer with him He also resolved when they would suffer him no longer to stay in England he would go to China or some remote Part of the World and publish the Gospel there It pleased the 〈◊〉 to indulge him that he went on in his Work from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 26th after Though often 〈◊〉 yet he was never 〈◊〉 though the People both of the Town and Countrey were grown so resolute that they came in great multitudes at whatever season the Meeting was appointed very seldom missing twice a Sabbath and often in the week I know that he hath Preached fourteen times in eight dayes and ten often and six or seven ordinarily in these Months at home and abroad besides his frequent converse with Souls He then laying aside all other Studies which he formerly so much delighted in because he accounted his time would be but short And the Lord as he often told me made his Work in his Ministry far more easie to him by the supplies of his Spirit both in Gifts and Grace as did evidently appear both in his Doctrine and Life he appearing to be more Spiritual and Heavenly and affectionate then before to all that heard him or conversed with him He was upon a Saturday in the evening about six a clock seized on by an Officer of our Town who had rather have been otherwise imployed as he hath often said but that he was forced to a speedy execution of the Warrant by a Justice's Clerk who was sent on purpose with it to see it Executed because he feared that none of the Town would have done it The Warrant was in the Name of three Justices to summon him to appear forthwith at one of their Houses which was about two miles from the Town but he desired liberty to stay and Sup with his Family first supposing his Entertainment there would be such as would require some refreshment This would not be granted till one of the chief of the Town was bound for his speedy appearance His Supper being prepared he sat down eating very heartily and was very chearful but full of Holy and gracious Expressions sutable to his and our prosent state After Supper having prayed with us he with the Officer and two or three Friends accompanying him repaired to the Justices House where they lay to his charge that he had broken the Act of Uniformity by his Preaching which he denyed saying That he had Preached neither in any Church nor Chappel nor place of publick Worship since the 24th of August and what he did was in his own Family with those others that came there to hear him Here behold hom many Ministers have these eight or nine years been silenced in England Scotland and Ireland whose Holy Skill and Conscience Fidelity and Zeal is sucht as would have justly advanced most of the Antient Fathers 〈◊〉 the Church to far greater renown had they been but possessed with the like Of whom indeed the World is not worthy O! how many of them am I constrained to remember with joy for their great Worth and sorrow for their Silence But though Learning Holiness wonderful Ministerial Skill and Industry Moderation Peaceableness true Catholecism absolute Dedication unto Christ Zeal Patience and Perseverance did not all seem sufficient to procure his Ministerial or Corporal Liberty in his latter years yet they did much more for him than that in qualifying him for the Crown which he now enjoyeth and to hear Well done good and faithful Servant enter into thy Masters Joy But alas Lord What is the terrible future evil from which thou takest such men away And why is this World so much forsaken As if it were not a Prayer of Hope which thou hast taught us Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven He hath Printed a small Book called A Call to Archippus to perswade the silent Non-conformists to pity Souls and to be faithful in the Work to which they are Devoted and Consecrated how dear soever it may cost them He held that Separation in a Church was necessary many times from the known corruptions of it But allowed not Separation from a Church where Active Complyance with some sinful Evil was not made the Condition of Communion And in this way he frequently declared himself in Health and Sickness and most expresly in my hearing on his Bed of Languishing when he was drawing near his Long-Home And that the People were not disobliged from attending upon their Ministry who were ejected out of their Places as his Book entituled A Call to Archippus sheweth after that Black and Mournful Sabbath in which he took his farewel with much affection of his Beloved People When he was taken up for Prison
feelingly doth he cry out at the hurt of his poor Members on Earth Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Oh of what quick Sense is the Sense of our dear Lord unto us when we are touched on Earth he feels it in Heaven Brethren Christ is real in all that he speaks unto you He is not like a flourishing Lover who fills up his Letters with Rhetorick and hath more care of the dress of his Speech than of the Truth Who ever gave Demonstration of the reallity of his Love at so dear a rate as Christ hath done Men do not use to die in jest Who will impoverish himself to enrich his Friend and divest himself of his honour to advance him and debase himself to admiration below his own degree to contract affinity with him and all this but to make him believe that he loves him Brethren possess your very hearts with this that Christs love doth go out with infinite dearness towards you Even now while he is in all his Glory he earnestly remembers you still This is the High Priest that now is entred into the Holy of Holies doth bear your names particularly remembring every poor believer by name He bears your names but where upon his Brest-plate upon his Heart saith the Text Exod. 28. 29. Ah Christians I may salute you as the Angel did Mary Hail you that are highly favoured Blessed are you among men Sure your Lot is fallen in an happy place What in the Bosom of Christ yea and verily you may believe and doubt not I may apply that of Gabriel O Daniel thou art greatly beloved unto you you are beloved indeed to have your Names written upon the very heart of Christ now he is in Glory Oh let his Name be written then on your hearts Do not write his Name in the Sand when he hath written yours upon his own Brest Do not forget him who hath taken such care that while he is he may never forget you having recorded your Names not onely on his Book but on his Flesh and set you as a Seal upon his Heart He hath you upon his heart but why For a memorial before the Lord continually so saith the Text. Beloved your Lord is so far from forgetting you in all his Greatness and Glory that he is gone into heaven on purpose there to present you before the Lord that you may be alwaies in remembrance before him O Beloved Glory yea and Triumph in his Love Doubtless it must go well with us Who shall condemn It is Christ that died and rose again and is now making Intercession His Interest is potent He is alwaies present Our Advocate is never out of Court Never did Cause miscarry in his hand Trust you safely in him Happy is that man for whom he shall undertake to speak Oh the Riches of Christs Love He did not think it enough to die for You. His Love and care doth not end with his natural Life on Earth but he ever liveth to make Intercession for us His Love is like his Life ever ever Knowing no remission in degree nor intermission of time no cessation of working but is ever ever in motion towards us But when shall I end if I suffer my Soul to run out its length and my running Pen to enlarge according to the demensions of this boundless Field of Divine Love If the Pens of all the World were imployed to write Volumes of Love if the Tongues of all the living were exercised in nothing else but talking of this love If all the Hearts that be were made up of Love and all the Powers and affections of the mind were turned into one to wit the power of Love yet this were no less than infinitely too little either to conceive or to express the greatness of Christs Love O my dearly Beloved may your Souls be swallowed up in this Love Think and think while you will you can never think how much You are beloved See that ye love again by way of Gratitude though not of Requital What though your Souls be but narrow and your powers but little yet love him with all you have Love him with all your hearts and all your strength To the Meditations and to the Embraces of Divine Love I leave you thinking it now not worth while to tell You of my Love Remaining Yours in the Bonds of your most dear Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE August 11. 1665. LETTER XXIX Warning to Professors of their Danger To the most Beloved People the Servants of God in Taunton Salvation Most dear Friends MY top Joy is that my Beloved is mine and I am his but next to that I have no Joy so great as that You are mine and I am yours and You are Christs My Relation to Christ is above all He is my Life and my Peace my Riches and my Righteousness He is my Hope and my Strength and mine Inheritance and my Rejoycing In him will I please my self for ever and in him will I glory I esteem my self most Happy and Rich and safe in him though of my self I am nothing In him I may boast without Pride and glory without Vanity Here is no danger of being overmuch pleased neither can the Christian exceed his Bounds in overvaluing his own Riches and Happiness in Christ. I am greatly pleased with the Lot that is fallen to me The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me and none shall stop this my confidence of boasting in Christ. But as my Lot in him is above all so I will assure You it is no small content to me that my Lot is fallen with You. And though many difficulties have fallen to my Lot among You for I have broken my health and lost my Liberty once and again for Your sakes yet none of these things move me I wish nothing more then to spend and to be spent upon the service of your Faith I bless the Lord for it as an invaluable Mercy that ever he called me to be an Embassadour of the Lord Jesus Christ to You-wards In this station I desire to approve my self to him and that I am withdrawn from my Work for a season it is but that I may return to you refreshed and inabled for my Work among You. You may not think that I have forgotten You and consulted my own ease and pleasure but if God prosper my Intentions I shall be found to have been daily serving You in this Retirement I will assure You I am very tender of preserving all that little strength that God doth add to me entirely for Your sakes being resolved not so much as once to broach the Vessel till I draw forth to You. I bless the Lord I am in great tranquility here in this Town and walk up and down the Corporation without any Questioning me Onely it hath pleased the Lord to add to my Affliction since my coming by taking away my dear Father the day of whose glorious Translation was the day after my arriving here But I bless the
love signifies little unless it serve thine Eternal good I rest thine own JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI To his Wife Desires after Heaven My Dear Heart MY heart is now a little at rest to write to thee I have been these three days much disturbed and set out of frame Strong solicitations I have had from several hands to accept very honourable preferment in several kinds some friends making a Journey on purpose to propound it but I have not found the invitations though I confess very honourble and such as are or will be suddenly embraced by men of far greater worth and eminency to suit with the inclinations of my own heart as I was confident they would not with thine I have sent away my friends satisfied with the reasons of my refusal and am now ready with joy to say with David Soul return unto thy rest But alas that such things should disturb me I would live above this lower region that no passages or providence whatsoever might put me out of frame nor disquiet my soul and unsettle me from my desired rest I would have my heart fixed upon God so as no occurrences might disturb my tranquility but I might be still in the same quiet and even frame Well though I am apt to be unsettled and quickly set off the hinges yet methinks I am like a Bird out of the nest I am never quiet till I am in my old way of Communion with God like the needle in the Compass that is restless till it be turned towards the the Pole I can say through grace with the Church with my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my Spirit within me have I sought thee early my heart is early and late with God and 't is the business and delight of my life to seek him But alas how long shall I be a seeking how long shall I spend my days in wishing and desiring when my glorified Brethren spend theirs in rejoycing and enjoying look as the poor imprisoned captive fighs under the burdensome clog of his Irons and can onely pear through the Grace and think of and long for the sweetness of that liberty which he sees others enjoy such methinks is my condition I can only look through the Grate of this Prison my flesh I see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob sitting down in the Kingdom of God but alass I my self must stand without longing striving fighting running praying waiting for what they are enjoying Oh happy thrice happy pouls when shall these Fetters of mine be knocked off when shall I be set at liberty from this Prison of my body you are cloted with glory when I am clothed with dust I dwell in flesh in a House of Clay when you dwell with God in a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens I must be continually clog'd with the cumbersome burden of this Dung-hill Body that had it not a soul dwelling in it like Salt as it were to preserve it would soon turn to putrefaction and corruption and be as odious and loathsome as the filthiest Carrion when you have put on incorruption and immortaliey What continual molestation am I subject to by reason of this flesh what pains doth it cost me to keep this earthen Vessel from breaking it must be fed it must be clothed it must be exercised recreated and which is worst of all cherished with time-devouring sleep so that I live but little of the short time I have alotted me here but oh blessed souls you are swallowed up of immortality and life your race is run and you have received your Crown How cautious must I be to keep me from dangers how apt am I to be troubled with the cares and fears of this life molesting my self with the thoughts of what I shall eat and what I shall put on and wherewithal I shall provide for my self and mine when your souls are taken with nothing but God and Christ and 't is your work to be still contemplating and admiring that love that redeemed you from all this Alas how am I encompast with infirmities and still carry about me Death in my bosome what pains and cost must I be at to repair the rotten and ruinous building of this earthly Tabernacle which when I have done I am sure will shortly fall about my ears when you are got far above mortality and are made equal with the Angels Oh I groan earnestly to be clothed upon with my house which is from Heaven being willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord Oh when shall I come and appear before him When shall I receive the Purchase of my Saviour the fruit of my prayers the harvest of my labours the end of my Faith the Salvation of my soul Alas what do I here this is not my resting place My treasure is in Heaven and my heart is in Heaven Oh when shall I be where my heart is woe is me that I sojour in 〈◊〉 and dwell in the Tents of Kedar Oh that I had wings 〈◊〉 a Dove that I might flie away and be at rest Then would I hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest and be out of the reach of fears disturbances and distractions How long shall I live at such a distance from my God at such a distance from my Countrey Alas how can I be merry how can I sing the Lords Song in a strange Land no I will hang my Harp upon the Willows and sit down and weep when I remember Sion But yet my flesh shall rest in hope and I will daily bathe my soul in the sweet thoughts of my blessed home I will rejoyce in hopes of what I do not yet enjoy and content my self with the taste of what I shall shortly have my fill of But stay this Pen run not beyond thy Commission Alas now I receive what I have gotten I perceive I have set down what I would be rather than what I am and wrote more of my dears heart than my own penning rather a Copy for my self than a Copy of my self Well I thank God I have got some heat by it for all the Lord grant thou mayst get a thousand times more The Lord grant the request I daily pour out before him and make us helps and furtherances to each others soul that we may quicken and promote and forward one another in his ways Help me by thy Prayers as thou dost always The God of all peace and comfort be with thee my sweet love Farewel Thine beyond Expression Joseph Aleine LETTER XXXVII God is a satisfying Portion My most dear Pylades HAd not my right hand long since forgot her cunning and the Almighty shook the Pen out of my hand I should long ere this have been writing to thee but it is a wonder of Divine Power and goodness that my soul had not before this time dwelt in silence and that death had not put the long period to all my Writing and
a great and signal mercy to himself and to his people And therefore Joab even rates him for it 2 Sam. 19. 5 and following verses Saith he Thou hast sham'd this day the faces of all thy servants who have sav'd thy life and the life of thy Sons and of thy Daughters and thy Wives Since thou hast 〈◊〉 thine Enemies and hated thy Friends and hast declar'd this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants And I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day it would have pleased thee well You see the reason of his immoderate and overflowing sorrow for him was his inordinate Affection to him Which was so out of measure great that when he heard the news his passion wrought and he was hasting to a room to give it vent But alas he cannot hold till he come thither but discharges at the stairs as he is going up 2 Sam. 18. 33. He wept as he went and said O my Son Absalom my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son You see then both that and why we are so ready to misplace our grief and to misapply our sorrow Use. The application of the point shall be for Caution and Direction both together To watch our hearts against it that so we lay not out our tears amiss Be circumspect that you do not misplace your grief and that you do not mistake the ground and object of your sorrow like these poor Daughters of Jerusalem who wept where they should not and wept not where they should Oh what a deal of grief do some men waste away when there is no cause at all How do many men take on when they are crost in prosecution of their lusts and hindred in their sins which is in deed a great mercy Oh what floods of tears do some men pour 〈◊〉 upon a petty flight occasion at a trifling accident Beloved tears if they be shed aright are precious things God puts them up into his Bottle as if they were of great value And yet some lay them out on nothing How will they weep and grieve at any disappointment in their small affairs any miscarriage in their business any little petty loss any unkindness from their friends or neighbours any affront or provocation in the least degree nay if they be but crossed in their wills though it be best indeed they should All their sorrow is bestowed on little trifling inconsiderable things Why my beloved have ye not other manner of things then these to grieve for what think you of your own sias with all their bloody aggravations what think you of the horrible Abominations and woful desolations of the Land And of all the wrath of God that hath been lately manitested and reveal'd from Heaven against us more ways then I am able to express I might be very large in shewing you particularly and distinctly both what you should and what you should not grieve for and giving you directions from the word of God about it But because the time spends and I would not be prevented of that which I have principally in my eye I shall pass over many other things that so I may apply my self to the occasion Methinks I see the clouds gather and return after the Rain And out of question many of you are come hither with a sufficient 〈◊〉 of sorrow your hearts are full of grief and your souls full of trouble and your bottles full of tears brim full You have drawn water and are ready to pour it our before the Lord this day My work shall be to guide you and direct you with our Saviour in the Text how to bestow these tears and how to spend this sorrow that you may not weep in vain I say to you as Christ doth to the Daughters of Jerusalem with a little alteration weep not for him whom the Lord hath taken from you but weep for your selves and for your Children 1. Weep not for him I know the loss of such an Able Faithful Painful zealous Minister of Christ as he was ought to be very much bewailed Men of such hidden worth as he had in him and of such publick use and service in the Church should not be raked up in their Graves without tear and lamentations Joash a wicked King wept for a good Prophet and that with very great affection 2 Kings 13. 14. He wept over his face and said My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And if you mark the carriage of the Saints when such as he I mean our dear and worthy Brother have been taken from them it would warrant all the tears you have to spend on this occasion In the first of Kings 13. 30. You find a Prophet burying a Prophet and melting over him when he Inter'd him He laid his Carcase in the Grave and mourned over him and said alass my Brother How solemnly did Israel lament the death of Samuel and made their grief as remarkable and publick as their loss 1 Sam. 25. 1. It is observed of Stephen that he was carried by devout men to his burial with great lamentation Acts 8. 2. And God forbid that such an one as we have lost should die away as if he were not desired that he would steal into his Grave as if there were no notice taken of his Death No my Beloved weep and weep on sit down and weep till you can weep no more yet still I say weep not for him Your loss is unaccomptable indeed and time perhaps will shew it to be greater then as yet you see But tell me my Beloved is he a loser any way Nay is he not an infinite gainer Is not this best of all for him Indeed to have continued in the flesh was better for you as the Apostle states the case when he was 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 24. But for him it was far better to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Now he enjoys a 〈◊〉 deliverance from all Corruptions all Temptations all Afflict 〈◊〉 A full return of all his Prayers and Breathings after God and Christ in which he was transported when he was drawing near his Glory A full reward of all his tiring and incessent Labours Oh blessed soul You know a Voice from Heaven hath said Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their works follow them Therefore I say weep not for him There is one thing I must confess that makes this Providence the sadder to us You know it is the Prophet Davids Prayer Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my daies The Lord indeed hath taken him away in the midst of his days and in the midst of his Ministry But is he gone to Heaven too soon Too soon indeed for you but not for him Is he got home to his Fathers house too soon Is he with God and Christ and Angels and glorified Saints too
Monuments of the Famous Worthies mentioned in the Hebrews and of those of the same Atchievements with them in all Ages of the World even broke his sleep by impregnating his Soul with high designs of aspiring after their perfections Oft therefore he hath been heard to excite Christians so long to move in the Sphear of difficulties till the sweet severities of Christianity as he often called them were subdued and even made familiar encouraging them with this consideration That then they would highly approve their Divine Love and Sincerity and conceive a pleasure in those difficult Acts which would equal yea exceed the pleasure of their natural Actions 3. On the Doubting by Resolving and Releasing them Neither had he onely compassion on those that were out of the way but also on those who moved heavtly on in the way How he hath often raised and rectifyed desponding Christians those who are too prone to account doubting which is their Sin to be their Duty and Vertue At once he hath often 〈◊〉 them from the straitness of their needless fears and disquiets and undeceived them by discovering the latent unbelief that did lie lurking in such despondings assuring them in these words That under a sly pretence of Humility they did call in question God's Veracity Seventhly His singular Piety As respects his singular Piety all who knew him can say much and yet all but little considering how much more 〈◊〉 escaped the most tenacious memory observant eye and attentive ear Yet he must be wretchedly inobservant who amidst so many and great instances of it can make no reflections How much he conceived it as his own and others greatest Interest Ornament and Felicity herein to excel will be manifest by his 〈◊〉 which he gave to a young Scholar ready to depart to the University in words to this purpose I know saith he that you will labour to excel in Learning but be sure to excel as in that so also and especially in Holiness which 〈◊〉 render you one of the most useful and 〈◊〉 Creatures in the World Learning will render you perchance aeceptable to men but piety both to God and Men by that you will shine only on Earth to the Clods thereof and perhaps in some obscure corner of it but this is an Orient Pearl which will shine in you on Earth and in Heaven both to God Angels and Men. How much he dwelt on this Exhortation and these Apprehensions will be evident by a Pious Letter which he sent to the Person forenamed some years after wherein his words are these O study God and study your self closly and pursue Holiness more than Learning though both these together make a happy Constellation and are like Castor and Pollux which when they appear together do ever presage good to the Mariners And that it might appear that he did not onely commend Holiness in the general but also in the particular and chief Instances of a Holy Life He excellently proceeds in the same Letter saying `` I much commend unto you those four beautifying Lessons so shortly comprehended in this Distich Spernere mundum spernere nullum spernere sese Spernere se sperni quatuor ista beant His Contempt of the World Happy is the man that can but learn this When once a man is arrived hereto he is above the Worlds reach and hath attained to the true Heroick mind so as that no external commotions will be able to disturb his Tranquility neither will the Comforts or Crosses here below make any great accession to or diminution from the serenity of his Spirit And indeed no thing was more conspicuous in this Blessed Saint than that generous contempt of the World that true loftiness and yet profound humility of Spirit of which the Lessons aforementioned are but as so many instances which he recommended unto others He was much a stranger on the Earth like the Kingly Prophet not because with old Barzillai he could not but would not tast or comply with its Pleasures and Delights but he was chiefly induced by a forced exilement from his desired and delectable Habitation to think on his state of Banishment from his Heavenly Country whilst here militant upon Earth and to solace his Thoughts under so great a grievance by such Divine Considerations as those which he mentions in the following words of his forenamed Letter It was saith he the Divine Argument that Epictetus used for comfort in banishment Ubique 〈◊〉 sunt colloquia cum Deo I met lately mith a passage out of one of the Fathers which I which engraved upon my heart Cui Patria solum placet nimis dilicatus est Cui omnis Terra Patria is fortis est Cui omnis Terra exilium is Sanctus est That 's worthy of a Saint indeed to account himself alwayes in the state of Banishment whilst in the state of Mortality like the Worthies that sojourned even in the Land of Promise as in a strange Countrey Sueh a sojourner I wish both my self and you and may the moveableness of our present State fix our desires upon that Kingdom which shall never be shaken So far he His Universal and Uniform Obedience But to proceed He declared that his Piety was 〈◊〉 and Excellent by its universal regard and extent as to all GOD's Commands so to all Man's Converses and Employments witness his earnest and frequent Exhortations whereby he did daily call upon his People to a constant uniform care over their Hearts and Wayes Nothing did he more passionately dehort them from than from that undoing fraud unto their Souls viz. Confining their Religion to their Closets upon the supposal that in so doing they had there put in sufficient security for their after conversation and had bid fair for the Divine favour as if Religion had taught Men only to kneel and not how to work and walk as if it were solitary or deformed loving onely to move in the private Path and narrow circle of our Morning or Evening Devotions and so ever before and after to appear least in sight or as if it were a fury and so to be limited and not to be entrusted with the universal conduct of our Lives and Actions For many there are who think fit rather to make Religion then Vassal than undivided Companion to command it rather than it should command them and therefore they make it to keep its Times and Places its Postures and due Distance and think not good that it retain to their Company or appear in their Words or Actions unless when it may serve the Uses of a cloak and cover of Hypocrisie and Iniquity His care of his Thoughts and Ends especially Morning and Evening But enough of this digression These his fore-mentioned momentous Exhortations attended with most excellent Motives designed chiefly to direct them how well to begin and end the day in the fear and as in the presence of GOD by hallowing their Thoughts and as his Words were setting their ends aright in the
evidence that his sins were pardoned and his Person accepted in Jesus into eternal Life and had more glorious fore-tastes of Heaven I remember once coming in when he was kneeling down to Family Prayer his Heart was in that Duty carried forth into such expressions of love and praise for the sealings of everlasting Love and Life as I never heard before or since and such as I am fully satisfied none could express but who had received the White Stone with the new Name in it But this was not accidental to him or unusual for whatever Clouds he might possibly have though I know of none yet I am sure for a good time before his death he lived in the very dawning to Glory both in the full assurance of it as his Portion and a Spirit of Sanctity Love and Praise like unto it And though in the very hour of his dying his Disease had heat his Head and in his Raptures he had Expressions which at another time his Grace and Reason would not have used yet all the Copies I have seen of those Transports in the substance of them speak only fuller assurance of God's Love to him and his highest returns of love to Christ again And I do not at all wonder that a Person shining so much with the Divine Image and living so uninterruptedly in the clearest and nearest Divine Communion should enjoy such assurance of God's everlasting Love and be filled so with Joy therein and making such returns of Love and Praise thereto CHRISTIAN LETTERS FULL OF Spiritual Instructions TENDING To the Promoting of the Power of Godliness both in Persons and Families Anno Dom. 1672. CHRISTIAN LETTERS Full of SPIRITUAL INSTUCTIONS Tending To the Promoting of the Power of Godliness both in Persons and Families LETTER 1. To his Wife to Dispose her to his Acceptance of Taunton on small Maintenance My Dear Heart BY this time I hope thou hast received mine by Martin and also an Answer touching their Resolution at Taunton My thoughts have been much upon that Business of late so small as the outward Incouragements in point of Maintenance are and methinks I find my heart much Inclining that way I will tell thee the Principles upon which I go First I say this for a Foundation That a mans Life consisteth not in the Abundance of the things that he possesseth It was accounted a wise Prayer that 〈◊〉 put up of old that he might only be Fed with Food convenient for him And certain it is that where men have least of the World they esteem it least and live more by Faith and in dependance upon God casting their care and burden upon him O the sweet breathings of Davids soul the strong actings of his Faith and Love that we find come from him when his condition was low and mean in the World How closely doth he cling How fully doth he Relie upon God The Holy Ghost seems to make it a Priviledge to be brought to a necessity of living by Faith as I think I have formerly hintted thee out of Deut. 11. 10. 11. where Canaan is prefer'd before AEgypt in regard of its dependance upon God for the former and latter Rain which in AEgypt they could live without and have supplies from the River And certainly could we that are unexperienced but feel the Thorns of those cares and troubles that there are in gathering and keeping much and the danger when Riches increase of setting our hearts upon them we should prize the happiness of a middle condition much before it Doubtless Godliness with contentment is great gain Seekest thou great things for thy self saith the Prophet to Baruch seek them not Certainly a good Conscience is a continual Feast and enough for a happy Life no man that Wareth intangleth himself with the affairs of this Life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier We should be but little Incumbred with the things of this World and withal free from a World of Intanglements which in a great place committed wholly to our charge would be upon our Consciences as no small Burden Secondly I take this for an undoubted truth that a dram of Grace is better than a Talent of Wealth and therefore such a place where our Consciences would be free and we had little to do in the World to take off our hearts and thoughts from the things of Eternity and had the advantage of abundance of means and the daily opportunities of warming our hearts with the 〈◊〉 Society and Conference of Heavenly Christians and no temptations to carry us away nor discouragements in our walking with God and the due performance of our duty is if we pass a true and Spiritual Judgement as the Holy Ghost in Scripture would without comparison before another place void of those Spiritual helps and advantages Let us think with our selves what though our Purses our Estates may thrive better in a place of a larger maintenance yet where are our graces our souls like to thrive any way answerable to what they are in this We should have but little in the World and we could live hereafter but alas what is this if it be made up to us as it will surely be in Communion with God and his People If we thrive in Faith and Love Humility and Heavenly mindedness as above all places I know we are likely to do there what matter is it though we do not raise our selves in the World the thing it may well be accounted but mean but alas let us look upon it with a spiritual Eye and then we shall pass another Judgement of it Oh! who would leave so much Grace and so much comfort in Communion with Christ and his Saints as we may gain there for the probabilities of living with a little more gentility and handsomness in the world 'T is a strange thing to see how Christians generally do judge so carnally of things looking to the things that are seen and Temporal and not the things that will stick by us to Eternity What is it worth a year is the Maintenance certain and sure What charges are there like to be these are the questions we commonly ask first when we speak of setling But alas though those things are duly to be considered too yet what good am I like to do what good am I like to get Both which questions I think might be as comfortably Answered concerning this as any place in England These should be the main Interrogatories and the chief things we should judge of a place to settle in by What if we have but a little in the World Why then we must keep but a short Table and shall make but a little noise in the World and must give the meaner entertainments to our Friends O but will not this be abundantly made up if we have more outward and inward Peace as we may well count we shall have One dram of saving Grace will weigh down all this Let others 〈◊〉 themselves in
away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward The Prisoners of the Lord your Brethren in the Patience of Jesus can tell you it is good suffering for such a Master We must tell you as they said to our Lord in another case He is worthy for whom you should do this God is beyond measure gracious to us here He shines bright into our prison blessed be his Name He waters us from heaven and earth As we trust you forgot not the poor Prisoners when you pray so we would that many thanksgivings should abound in our behalf And Prayer being the onely Key that can open our Prisons we trust that you will not slack nor let your hands be heavy but pray and not faint and doubtless Prayer will do it But I am apt to pass the bounds of a Letter yet I promise my self now 〈◊〉 pardon for lo loving a trespass With my dear Loves to you all I commend you to God and the word of his Grace Though I have done writing yet not praying I will promise where my Letter ends my Prayers shall begin Farewell dear Brethren Fare you well in the Lord I am An unworthy Embassador of Jesus in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 〈◊〉 1663. LETTER XXXIII For Perseverance To my dear Friends the Servants of Christ in Luppit Salvation Beloved Christians HAving taken up a Resolution to Write to and to endeavour to confirm all the Places where I have gone up and down Preaching the Kingdom of God You were by no means to be omitted You were the People that were last upon my Heart before my taking up and had I not been made a Prisoner I think I had in a few hours after the time of my Apprehension been with you Now I can no way but by Prayers Letters and Councels visit you and so have sent these to let you know that you are upon my Heart and that your Welfare is dear unto me I bless the Lord to hear that his Work doth not cease among you It is the Joy of our Bonds Beloved to hear that the Word is not bound and that Satan hath not his design upon the People of God who doubtless intended by these Sufferings to have struck Terrour into them and to have made their Hands weak Know dear Christians that the Bonds of the Gospel are not tedious through Grace unto us that Christ is a Master worth a suffering for that there is really enough in Religion to desray all our Charges and to quit all the Cost and Expence You can be at in or upon it That you may Build upon it that you can never be losers by Jesus Christ that Christs Prison is better than the Worlds Paradise that the Divine Attributes are alone an All-sufficient Livelihood that the Influences of Heaven and Shines of Gods Countenance are sufficient to lighten the 〈◊〉 Dungeon and to Perfume and Sweeten the noisomest Prison to a poor Believer that if You can bring Faith and Patience and the Assurance of the Divine Favour with You to a Prison you will live comfortable in spight of Earth and Hell These are Truths that the Prisoners of Christ can in a measure Seal unto and I would have you to be more soundly assured of and established in Brethren we are of the same mind in a Prison that we were of in the Pulpit that there is no Life to a Life of Holiness that Christ and his Yoak and his Cross are worthy of all acceptation that it is the best and wisest and safest and gainfullest course in the World to stick close to Christ and his Ways and to adhere to them in all hazards Come on Beloved Christians come on slack not your pace but give dilligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end and be ye followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Strengthen the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees If you faint in the day of Adversity your strength is small Chear up my Brethren look what a Crown what a Kingdom here is What say you Is not here a worthy Portion a goodly Heritage Were it not pity to lose all this for want of Diligence and Patience Come dear Christians and fellow Travellers I pray You let us put on Pluck up the weary Limbs our Home is within sight Lift up your Eyes from the Pisga of the Promises You may see the Land of Rest. Will any of you think of returning into Egypt God forbid A little patience and Christ will come Behold the Husbandman 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 precious fruits of the Earth and hath long patience till he receive the early and later Rain Be ye allo patient stablish your Hearts for the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh He is not a Christian indeed that cannot be content to tarry for his Preferment in another World Cast upon it my Brethren that your Kingdom is not of this World that here you must have Tribulations and that all is well as long as we are secured for Eternity Exhort one another daily 〈◊〉 together in Prayer unite your strength therein and pull a main Mercy will come sooner or later however we will be content to wait till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah how surely will he come He will render Tribulation to them that trouble us and to us that are troubled rest with him Onely believe and wait What not watch with him one hour Why the Judg is even at the door And how blessed will you be if you do but continue and hold fast till he come Watch therefore and stand fast quit you like men be Zealous and let your hearts be strong God is your Friend and you may trust him He is able to bear you out and bear you up Faint not therefore but be stedfast unmoveable abounding in the works of the Lord Speak often one to another provoke to Love and to good Works Let the Bay of Opposition against Godliness make the Torrent of your Zeal break over with the more violence But it 's time to end I have been bold to call upon you you see and to stir you up by way of Remembrance May the Spirit of the most high God excite you encourage you enflame you May these poor Lines be some quickning to you may the Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush dwell with you My dear Loves to you all Pray for the Prisoners Farewel dear Brethren farewell in the Lord I am Yours in the Bonds of the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE Octob. 11. 1665. LETTER XXXIV To a Back-stiding Fellow-Student Sir WHom this will find you or when or where I know not but I have shot this arrow at a venture Once you were an Associate with me in Corpus Christi where I remember your blameless Conversation and your zealous affection for and adhesion to the ways and people of God May you be still found in the same paths of Holiness without which no man shall see
concernments Will you not spin a fair thread of it if while you are pursuing after earthly things you lose your soul in the 〈◊〉 While I live I shall pray and care for you Farewel in the Lord. I am Your truly loving and careful Uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI Godly Counsels Dear Cousin THE welcom tidings of your safe arrival at Barbadoes is come to my ears as also the news of your escape from a perillous sickness for which I bless the Lord and desire to be thankful with you for I am not without a care for your well-being but do look upon my self as really concerned in you I have considered that God hath bereft you of a careful Father and that your Mother takes but little care for you so that you have none nearer than my self to watch for your soul and to charge and admonish you in the Lord and to take care of you But yet Dear Cousin be not discouraged by these things but look to Heaven flie unto Jesus put away every known sin set upon the conscientious performance of every known duty make Christ your choice embrace him upon his own terms deliver up your self body and soul to him see that you have no reserves nor limitations in your choice of him give him your very heart cast away your worldly hopes and expectations make Religion your very business O Cousin these things do and you shall be sure of a Friend in Heaven to take the care of you and if I may be any comfort to you you shall not fail while I live to have one friend on earth to take care for you You are gone far from me even to the uttermost parts of the earth but I have sent these Letters to call even thither after you yea not onely to call but to cry in your ears O what is like to become of your soul Where is that immortal soul of yours like to be lodged for ever amongst Devils or amongst Angels upon a bed of Flames or in the joys of Paradise Dear Cousin go aside by your self in secret retire from the noise of the world and say to your self Oh my soul whether art thou going do not I know in my very heart that I must be converted or condemned that I must be sanctified or can never be saved Oh my soul what seekest thou what designs do I drive at what is my chief care which way do I bend my course Is it for this world or for the world to come Do I first seek the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof Do I think Heaven will drop into my mouth that glory and immortality will be gotten with a wet finger with cold prayers and heartless wishes while the world carries the main of my heart Do I think to be crowned and yet never fight to get the race and never run to enter at the strait gate and never strive to overcome Principalities and Powers and never wrestle No no say within your self Oh my soul either lay by the hopes of Heaven for ever or else rouse up thy self put forth thy strength in seeking after God and glory either lay by thy worldly hopes or thy hopes of immortality away with thy sins or thou must let Christ go for ever think not to have Chrst and the world too to serve God and Mammon it cannot be If thou follow the world as thy chief desire and delight if thou live after the flesh thou must die count upon it the Lord hath spoken it and all the world can never reverse it Thus reason the case with your own soul and give not rest to your self night nor day till you are gotten off from the world broken off from the wilful practice of every known sin and gotten safe into Christ. Dear Cousin I charge you by the Lord to observe these things pray over them weep over them read them again and again do not pass them over as slight and ordinary things your soul is at stake it is your salvation is concerned in them think not I am in jest with you Ah Cousin I travel in birth with you till Christ be formed in you Why should you die Oh repent and live lay hold on eternel life win Christ and you win all O be thankful to the Lord that now you are fatherless and friendless yet you have one Remembrancer to warn you to flie from the wrath to come God forbid that I should find you at last in the place of Torments for your not embracing the godly Counsels To conclude in short I charge you as a Minister as a Friend as a Father to you Take heed of these three things 1. Left the gain of the world prove the loss of your soul 2. Left the snare of evil company withdraw you from God and so prove your final ruine 3. Left a lofty and a worldly heart should thrust you out of the Kingdom of Heaven God abhors that the proud should come near him Oh labour whatever you do for an humble heart be little be vile in your own eyes seek not after great things be poor in spirit without this Heaven will be no place for you God will be no friend to you Dear Cousin your lot is fallen as I fear in a place of great wickedness where your soul is in much danger where your temptations are many and your helps for Heaven but few where godly examples are rare and many will entice you to sin and vanity O! if you love me or love your soul look about you consider your danger fear lest you should miscarry for ever by worldly loss and vain company which proves to so many the fearful cause of their eternal perdition I can but warn you and pray for you but though you have none to oversee you remember the strict and severe eye of God is upon you to observe all your actions and that he will surely bring all your practices into his Judgment Your Aunt with my self commend our dear love to you and I commend you to the Lord and remain Your loving and careful uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE August 19. 1668. LETTER XXXVII Dear Cousins THough you are removed far from me out of my sight and the Seas as a great gulf are fixed betwixt you and me yet my prayers follow you and my good wishes for your present and everlasting welfare like the wings of a Dove take speedy flight I look upon my self now God hath removed my Brother to be as in the room of a Father to you yea and of a Mother too for I know you have but little help from her My dear Neeces my heart is careful for you and therefore I cannot cease while I am in being in this world to warn and admonish you as my children and to call upon you in the name of the Eternal God to awaken your selves with all godly fear and holy diligence lest by any means you should come short of the glory of God Let me mind you dear Cousins of