you abstain from sin out of fear or out of dislike Are you at peace with no sin or do you not hide some iniquity as a sweet morsel under your Tongue Is there not some practice that you are not willing to know is a sin for fear you should be forced to leave it Do you love the Commandment that forbids your sin or do you not wish it ouâ—… of the Bible as that evil man wished God had never made the Seventh Commandment Again how do you stand affected towards Holiness Do you love it Do you choose it Do you hâ—…nger and thirst after it desire it more than any Temporal good Have you chosen the way of Gods Precepts and had rather live holily than be allowed to live in your sins Do You in your very hearts prefer a Godly strict Life in communion with and conformity to God before the greatest prosperity of the World do you chose Holiness not out of bare necessity because you cannot go to Heaven without it but out of love to it and from a deep sense that you have of the surpassing excellency and loveliness and beauty of it If it be thus with you you are the persons that the Lord Jesus hath marked for his Sheep And now come ye blessed all that have this mark upon you come and understand your happiness you are marked out for preservation and let it go how it will with the rest that I know it shall go well with you that fear the Lord that fear before him You are the separated ones the sealed ones upon whom the Angel hath set the Seal of the Living God and so you are redeemed unto God from among men being the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb and have your Fathers Name written in your Fore-heads Hear O beloved Flock I may give you the salutation of the Angels Hail you are highly favoured of the Lord Blessed â—…re you among men though you are but poor and despised and like little Benjamin among the thousands of Judah you carry away the blessing and the priviledge from all the rest God hath done more for the least of you than for the whole World of Mankind besides put all their mercies together Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Blessed are you of the Lord for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven All that the Scripture speaks of that Kingdom of Glory that Kingdom of Peace of Righteousness that Everlasting Kingdom It speaks it all to you Behold your Inheritance see that you believe What know you not your own selves you are the Sons of God Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven Joint Heirs with Christ the Lord of Glory Do you believe this Take heed you make not God a Lyar his Word is nigh you have you noâ—… the Writings in your hands Do I speak any thing but what God hath spoken Shall I tell you of the thing which shall be hereafter Why thus it shall be The Son of man shall come in his Glory and all his holy Angels with him Then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and he shall separate you as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and he â—…hall set you at his own right hand Then shall the King say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you Do you believe yet Do you throughly believe If so then my work is done then I need not bid you Rejoyce noâ—…bid you be Thankful only believe Do this and do all Belieâ—… and joy will rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glorâ—… Believe and you will be fruitful and shew your Faith by yoâ—… works Believe and you will Love for Faith worketh by lovâ—… In a word keep these things upon your hearts by daily anâ—… lively consideration and this will bring Heaven into yoâ—… souls and ingage you to all manner of holy conversation anâ—… Godliness This will morâ—…ifie you to the World the graâ—… enemy which I advise nay I charge you to beware of Wheâ—… Saul had gotten his Kingdom he left off taking care for thâ—… Asses O remember yours is the Kingdom what are yoâ—… the better that you have all this in your Bibles if you do noâ—… weigh it by frequent and serious consideration and pondâ—… these sayings in your hearts Beloved I have written thâ—… things to you that your joy may be full And now Peace leave with you I am Christs Embassador to you an Embasâ—…dor of Peace his Peace I pronounce unto you In hiâ—… Name I bless you Farewel in the Lord I am The fervent Well-willer of your Soâ—… JOS. ALLEINE Devises June 29. 1666. LETTER XXVII Oâ—… the Second coming of Christ. To the Faithful and Beloved the Servants of God iâ—… Taunton Grace and Peace Loving and most dearly Beloved THough I trust my Bonds do preach to you yet methink that doth not suffice me but the conscience of my duty and the workings of my heart towards you are still calling upon me to stir you up by way of remembrance notwithstanding you know and be established in the present Truth And if Paul do call upon so great an Evangelist as Timothy to Remember that Jesus was raised from the dead according to the Gospel why should not I be often calling upon my self and upon you my dearly Beloved to remembeâ—… and meditate upon and closely apply the great and weighty Truths of the Gospel which you have already received and in truth I perceive in my self and you another manner of heat and warmth in the insisting upon the plainest principles of Christianity and the setting them home upon mine own heart and yours than in dwelling upon any more abstruse Speculations in the clearest handling of which the Preacher may seem to be too much like the winter nights very brighâ—… but very cold But now my Brethren I shall not with Paul call upon you so much to remember the resurrection of Christ as the Return of Christ Behold He cometh in the Clouds and every Eâ—…e shall see him Your eyes and mine eyes and all the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn because of him But we shall lift up our heads because the Day of our Redemption draweth nigh this is the day I look for and wait for and have laid up all my hopes in If the Lord return not I profess my self undone my Preaching is vain and my suffering is vain and the bottom in which I have intrusted all my hopeâ—… is for ever miscarried But I know whom I have trusted We are built upon the foundation of that sure Word we are not built upon the sand of Mortality Nor do we run so as uncertainly but the Word of the Lord abideth for ever upon which Word do we hope How fully doth this Word assure us that this same Jesus that is gone up into Heaven shall so return and that he shall appear the second time unto Salvation to them that look for him Oh how sure
wherein I might sufficiently reâ—…lect on you or my self But although so great a part of Taunton be translated to Juelchester with me yet I may not I cannot forget you that are behind Alas poor Taunton how should I bewail thee did I look upon thee only with the Eye of sense Alas for thy wonted liberties for thy former plenty and variety wherewith the Lord hath blessed thee he had spread a Table for thee in the midst of thine Enemies Bread hath been given thee and thy Waters have been sure Bâ—…t now a Famine seems to threaten thee and the Comforters that should relieve thy Soul are far from thee Thy Shepheards are removed Thou seest not thy Signs nor thy Prophets and thy wonteâ—… helpers are now disabled from giving thee supplies Alas how do thine enemies triumph and thy Teachers and thine Inhabitants are become their Captives and how great is the cry of thy poor and thine oppressed Such would be the language of sense if that were suffered to be the Speaker But faith will speak in another Dialect And therefore amongst my other Counsels that I shall send you this shall be the first Judge not of the present Providences by the conduct of sense but by the eye of Faith Faith will see that we are then-most honoured when we are most vilified and reproached and set at nought for the sake of Christ and that we are then most happy when the World hath done its worst to make us miserable Faith will tell you that GOD is a very present help when you seem quite to fail of help and will shew you the Well of water that is near when the Water in the Bottle is spent What though you seem to have lost Ministers Husbands Friends for a Season Faith will tell you that they are well bestowed and that it will be both your and their advantage in the Day of Retribution Brethren what are you for are you for the present world or for that that to come are you for your temporal enjoyments or do you seek for Glory Honour and Immortality If you are for this World you have made a very imprudent choice in taking up the Profession of Godliness and cleaving to and owning the hated ways of the Lord But if you are for Glory and for Eternity then be of good chear all these things do make for us You are witnesses how often I have told you of these things and I can say with the Apostle I believe therefore have I spoken and therefore I am nothing moved with all these things nor with the things that do yet further betide me I believe and therefore I told you that you should never be losers by Jesus Christ. Nay do I say I told it you you know the Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed you that the persecuted are doubtly blessed that such should rejoyce and leap for joy because great is their reward in Heaven Hath not God said that if we suffer with him we shall also Reign with him and that these light afflictions work for us a weight of Glory And if this be true I pray you tell me whether GOD hath not dealt well with us in counting us worthy of this little Tribulation for his Name Indeed the Sufferings is but little but verily the Reward will not be little I know whom I have trusted I am well assured the Glasse is turned up and every hour reckoned of our Imprisonment and every Scorn and Reproach of our Enemies is kept in Black and VVhite I believe therefore do I speak GOD is infinitely tender of us my Brethren though a Poor and despicable Generation I value not the Pot gun threats of a frowning world 't is well with us we are GODS Favourites Come my Beloved let us sit down under his Shadow Here is safety and rest if God be for us who can be against us Verily he Bottles all our Tears and tells all our wandrings He numbers all our hairs whosoever toucheth us shall not be Innocent Know you not that we are the Apple of his Eye Hath not he reproved the greatest for his Peoples sakes saying reproach not mine anointed And so we forget how he loved us Are not we his Jewells Doth he not own us for his Members for his Children Ah what a Block doth Unbelief make of man VVhat do you think that all this doth signifie nothing Can you forget your Children VVill you suffer your Jewells to lie in the Dirt or make no reckoning of them whether they are lost Verily I write not this without shaming reflections upon my own stupidity VVhat Beloved of God adopted by God! VVhat a Member of Christ Jesus A Vessel of Mercy An heir of Glory VVhat and not yet swallowed up in the sense of Gods infinite love Blush Oh my Soul and be còfounded before the most high cover thy face with shame I remember what the Heathen Seneca writes observing the expressions of Gods love to man in his common Providence Verum est usque in delicias Amamur That is it is a very truth we are Beloved of God even as his darlings My Brethren Have Faith in God Believe his Promises VValk in the sense of his love Comfort your selves in Gods love towards you under all the hatred and envy of men and the contradiction of sinners that you meet with Be strong and of a good Courage God is for you Be assured that he that walketh uprightly walketh surely Forsake not the assembling of your selves together Now see that you speak often to one another and build up each other in the holy Faith God knows I cannot do for you as I would I would have been larger to you but I cannot My most dear loves I desire you to share among you I am greatly Yours The Peace that passeth all Understanding keep your hearts and minds I am Yours to serve you and for you with all readiness of mind JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester July 28th 1665. LETTER XXI What do you more than others To the most dearly Beloved the Servants in Taunton Grace and Peace Most loving and entirely Beloved YOu are a great Joy to me I know not what thanks to render to the Lord for you when I hear of your Constancy and Fidelity and Zeal in adhering to him and his ways even in such a time as this you are highly favoured Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that he hath regard ed the low Estates of his Servants That he should ever Indulge you as he hath and hover over you even as the Eagle stirteth up her Nest and fluttereth over her Young spreadeth abroad her VVings taketh them beareth them on her Wings for so hath the Lord your God dealt with you He hath kept you as the Apple of his Eye and since the Streams of Cherith were dried up yet to this day he hath not suffered the handful of Meal to wast nor the Oyl in the Cruse to fail but though you have no certainty to trust
is the thing how near is the time how glorious will his appearing be The thing is sure the Day is set God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World by that man whom he hath ordained the manner of it is revealed Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints The Attendants are appointed and nominated The Soâ—… of Man shall come in his Glory and all his holy Angels with him The thing you see is established and every circumstance is determined How sweet are the words that dropped from the precious Lips of our departing Lord What generous Cordials hath he left us in his parting Sermons and his last Prayer and yet of all the rest those are the sweetest I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there you may be also What need you any further witness you have heard him your selves assuring you of his return Doubtless he cannot deceive you you have not only known but seen and felt the truth of his promises And will he come tremble then ye sinners triumph yâ—… Saints clap your hands all ye that look for the consolation of Israel O sinners where will you then appear how will you look upon him whom you have pierced whom you have persecuted whose great Salvation you have neglected and despised Wo unto you that ever you were born unless you should then be found to be New-born But you O Children of the most high how will you forget your travel and be melted into joy This is he in whom you have believed whom having not seen ye loved But how will love and joy be working if I may so speak with pangs unutterable when you shall see him and hear his sweet voice commending applauding approving of you and owning you by name before all the World Brethren thus it must be the Lord hath spoken it See that you stagger not at the Promise but give Glory to God by believing Again the time is near Yet a little while and he that shall come will come Behold I come quickly saith he And again The Lord is at hand Sure you are that death cannot be far off O Christian thou dost not know but the next year nay possibly the next week thou mayest be in Heaven Christ will not long endure thine absence but will have thee up to him till the time of his general appearing when he will take us up altogether and so we shall be ever with the Lord. Soul believest thou this If thou dost indeed what remains but that thou shouldest live a life of love and praise studying to do all the good thou canst till thou come to Heaven and waiting all the days of thine appointed time till thy change shall come O my Soul look out and long O my Brethren be you as the Mother of Sisera looking out at the Windows and watching at the Latices saying why are his Chariot-wheels so long a coming Though the time till you shall see him be but very short yet love and longing make it seem tedious My Beloved comfort your hearts with these Words look upon these things as the greatest reallities and let your affections be answerable to your expectations I would not have told you these things unless I had believed them for it is for this hope that I am bound with this Chain The blessing of the Holy Trinity be upon you I am yours and will be The God of Peace be with you I rest Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester August 5. 1663. LETTER XXVIII Of the Love of Christ. To his most endeared Friends the servants of God in Taunton Salvation Most dearly Beloved MEthinks my Brests are not easie unless I do let them forth unto you Methings there is something still to do and my Weeks work is not ended unless I have given my Soul vent and imparted something to the Beloved flock that I have left behind And Oh that my Letters in my absence might be useful to you Assuredly it is my joy to serve you and my love to you is without dissimulation witness my twice lost liberties and my impaired health all which I might have preserved had it not been for my readiness to minister to you But what do I speak of my love it is the sense of the infinite love of God your Father that I would have to dwell upon you Forget me so you remember him Let me be very little so he be very lovely in your eyes Let him be as the Bucket that goes up though I be as the Bucket that goes down Bury me so that you do but set the Lord always before you Let my name be written in the dust so his Name be written deep up all your Souls O Lord I am thy Servant truly I am thy servant Glorifie thine own Name by me and thou shalt have my hand to it that I will be content to be hid in obscurity and to disappear through the overcoming lustre and brightness of thy Glory Brethren understand mine Office I Preach not my self but the Lord Jesus Christ and my self your Servant for Jesus sake Give him your hearts and I have my Errand I am but the Friend of the Bridegroom and my business is but to give you to understand his love and to gain your hearts unto him He is an Object worthy of my Commendations and of your affections His Love is worth the writing of and worth the thinking of and worth the speaking of O my Brethren never forgeâ—… I beseech you how he loveth you He is in Heaven and you are on Earth he is in Glory and you in Rags he is in the shining Throne aâ—…d you in dirty flesh and yet he loveth you His heart is infinitely tender of you even now while he is at the right hand of the Majesty on High How 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
and leave them in eternal darkness they shall go to the generation of their Fathers they shall never see light like sheep they shall be laid in their Graves and the upright shall have Dominion over them in the morning But for my Brethren I am jealous that none of you should come short of the Glory of God I am ambitious for you that you should be all the heirs of an endless life the living hopes of the Saints the inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away Ah my Brethren why should not you be all happy I am jealous for you with a Godly jealousie lest a promise being left you of entering into his rest any of you should come short of it O look diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God Alas how it pities me to see this Rest neglected How it grieves me that any of you should fall short of mercy at last That any of that flock over which the holy Ghost hath made be in part overseer should perish when Christ hath done so much for you and when his under Officers through his Grace for we are not sufficient of our selves have done somewhat to recover and save them Ah dear Brethren I was in great earnest with you when I besought you out of the Pulpit many a time to give a Bill of Divorce to your sins and to accept of the match and the mercy that in the name of God Almighty I did there offer to you Alas how it pitied me to look over so great a Congregation and to think that I could not for my life I could not perswade them one quarter of them in likelihood to be saved how it moved me to see your diligence in flocking not only to the stated Exercises but to the Repetitions and to most hazardous opportunities for which you are greatly to be commended since the Law forbad my publick Preaching and yet to think that many of you that went so far were like to perish for ever for want of going further I must praise your diligent attendance on all opportunities Blessed be God that made a willing ministry and a willing people for I remember how I have gone furnished with a Train How I went with the multitude to the House of God with the voice of joy and praises with the multitude that kept Holy-days The remembrance of which moves my soul but O my flock my most dear flock how fain would I carry you farther then the external and outward profession O! how loath am I to leave you there How troubled to think that any of you should go far and hazard much for Religion and yet miscarry for ever by the hand of some unmortified lust as secret pride or untamed passion or an unbridled tongue or which I fear most of all a predominate love of the World in your hearts Alas must it be so and is there no remedy but I must carry you to Heavens-gate and leave you there Oh that I should leave the work of your Souls but half done and bring you no farther than the almost of Christianity Hear O my people hear although I may command you upon your utmost peril in the Name of the Lord Jesus that shall shortly judge you I beseech you I warn you as a Father doth his Children to look to the setling and securing of your everlasting condition and for life take heed of your resting in the outter-part of Religion but to be restless till you find the through-change of Regeneration within that you are quite new in the frame and bent of your hearts for here is the main of Religion in the hidden man of the heart for Christs sake for your Soul-sake look to it that you build upon the Rock that you be sure in the Foundation work that you do unfeignedly deliver over your selves to the Lord to be under his command and at his dispose in all things see that you make no exceptions no reserve that you cast over board all your worldly hopes and count upon parting with all for Christ that you take him alone for your whole happiness Wonder not that I often inculcate this If it be well here it is well all if unsound here the error is in the foundation and you are undone Brethren I see great tryals coming when we shall see Professors fall like leaves in the Autumn unless they be well setled therefore is it that I would so fain have you look to your standing and to secure the main And for you whose Souls are soundly wrought upon O make sure whatever you do get and keep your evidences clear How dreadful would your temptations be if you should be called to part with all for Christ and not be sure of him neither get a right and clear understanding of the terms of life which I have set before you in that form of Covenanting with God in Christ that I commended to you I would that none of you should be without a Copy of it be much in observing your own hearts both in duties and out-crying mightily to God for assurance If you cannot discern your estate your selves go to some body that is albe and faithful and fully open your Case your Evidences and doubts and be extraordinary strict and watchful in your whole course and I doubt not but you will quickly grow up to assurance I cannot tell how to make an end methinks I could write all the day to you but my straights of time are great and my Letter already too long yet I cannot conclude till I have given you my unfeigned thanâ—… for your most kind and gracious Letter Surely it shall be in store with me and laid up among my Treasures that God is pleased so to unite your hearts to me and to make use of me for your edification is matter of highest joy unto me as also to see your stedfasâ—…ness in Christ your unshaken resolutions notwithstanding all the Tempters wiles Go on my dearly Beloved and the Lord strengthen your hands and your hearts and lift you up above the fears of men My most dear Brother Norman salutes you with manifold Loves and Respects earnestly wishing that you may wear the Crown of perseverance as also Brother Turner The Lord strengthen establish settle you and after you have suffered a while make you perfect I leave my Brethren in the everlasting Arms and rest From the common Goale at Juelchester June 13th 1663. Your Embassador in bonds Joseph Alleine LETTER IV. A Call to the Unconverted To the Beloved People the Inhabitants of the Town of Taunton Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Most endeared and beloved Friends I Do most readily acknowledge my self a Debtor to you all and a Servant of all and therefore I have sent these few Lines to salute you all My Lines did fall in a fair place when the Lord did cast my lot among you for which I desire to be thankful God hath been pleased
holiest than the richest and greatest in the world and is your greatest delight ordinarily and when you are your selves in the thoughts of God and in your conversings with God in Holy Exercises Is Christ more precious than all the world to you and are you willing upon the through consideration of the strictness and holiness and self-denyińg nature of his Laws yet to take them all for the rule of your thoughts words and actions and though Religion may be dear do you resolve if God will assist you by his Grace to go through with it let the cost be what it will happy the man that is in such a case This is a Christian indeed and whatever you be and do short of this all is unsound But you that bear in your souls the marks of the Lord Jesus above mentioned upon you I should lay no other burden but to hold fast and make good your ground and to press forward towards the mark Thankfully acknowledge the distinguishing grace God to your souls and live rejoycingly in the hopes of the glory of God the hopes that shall never make you ashamed live daily in the praises of your Redeemer be much in admiring God and study the worthiness excellency and glory of his Attributes let your souls be much taken up in contemplating and commending his glorious perfection and blessing your selves in the goodly portion you have in him live like those that have a God and then be disconsolate if you can If there be not more in an infinite God to comfort you than in a Prison or poverty or other affliction to deject you our Preaching is vain and your Faith is vain Let the thoughts of God be your daily repast and never be satisfied till your heart◅ run out as freely naturally constantly unweariedly after God as others do after the World a little force upon your hearts for a while to turn them into this holy Channel may quickly come so to habituate your minds to holiness that they may na◅urally run that way But it is time to shut up Farewel my dear Brethren the Lord God Almighty be a protection to you and your exceeding great reward Farewel in the Lord I am Yours in the Bowels of the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE From the common Goale at Juelchester Sept. 11. 1663. Just now I received your melting Letter to which I am not able now to return an answer but shall with speed your very great affections for me cannot but move me and make me ready to repeat again the first words of my letter above The Lord inable me to return something to you for your great loves I am sensible I have come very short of my duty to you but I must needs tell you my Bowels are moved with your loves which I hope I shall greatly prize once more Farewel My dear Brother Norman remembers you with much love desiring that you may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye should snine as lights in the World LETTER VIII How to shew love to Ministers and live joyfully To the most Loving and dearly Beloved my Christian Friends in Taunton Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Most endeared Brethren I Have received your moving melting letter and could not look over such tender expressions of your working affections without some commotions in my own I may confidently say I spent more Tears upon those lines than ever you did Ink your deep sense of my labours in the Ministry I cannot but thankfully acknowledge and take notice of yet withal heartily and unseingedly consessing that all was but the duty which I did owe to your precious and immortal Souls which God knows are very much short of my duty The omissions imperfections defects deadness that accompanied my duties I do own I must and will own and the Lord humble me for them But all that was of God and that was all that was good be sure that you give to God alone To him I humbly ascribe both the Will and the Deed to whom alone be Glory for ever My dear Brethren my business as I have often told you is not to gain your hearts or turn your eyes towards me but to Jesus Christ his Spokesman I am will you give your hearts to him will you give your hands your names to him will you subscribe to his Laws and consent to his Offices and be at through defiance with all his Enemies This do and I have my Errant Who will follow Christs Colours who will come under his Banner this shall be the man that shall be my Friend this is he that will oblige me for ever Do these Letters come to none that are yet unsanctified to no loose sinner to no ignorant finner to no unsound professor Oh that there were none such indeed oh that I had left no such behind me but would they do me a kindness as I believe they would oh then let them come away to Jesus Christ at this call lie no longer O sinner in thy swill be no more in love with darkness stick no longer in the skirts and outside of Religion demure no longer dispute not and waver no more halt no further but strike in throughly with Jesus Christ except nothing reserve nothing but come off throughly to the Lord and follow him fully And then happy man that thou shalt be for thou will be made for ever and joyful man that I shall be for I shall save a Soul from death The earnest and pittiful beggings of a poor Prisoner do use to move some Bowels hear O Friends will you do nothing for a Minister of Christ Nothing for a Prisoner of Jesus Christ methinks I hear you answer yea rather what will we not do he shall never want while we have it he shall need no office of Love but we will run and ride to do it Yea but this is not that I beg of you will you gratifie me indeed then come in kiss the Son bow to the Name of Jesus not in a Complement with Cap and Knee but let your Souls bow let all your Powers bend Sail and do him homage Let that Sacred Name be Graven into ◅he substance of your hearts and lie as a bundle of Mirth between your Breasts Let me freely speak for him for he is worthy for whom you shall do this thing worthy to be beloved of you worthy to have your ve◅y hearts worthy to be admired adored praised served glorified to the uttermost by you and every Creature worthy for whom you should lay down all leave all Can any thing be too much for him can any thing be too good for him Or too great for him come give up all Resign all lay it at the Feet of Christ Jesus offer all as a Sacrifice to him see that you be universally the Lords keep nothing from him I know through the goodness of
presence of God for you May his memory ever live in our hearts though mine should die Oh remember his Love more than Wine remember in what a case he found you and yet nothing could anihilate his heart nor divert the purpose of his Love from you He loathed not your Rags nor your Rottenness he found you in a loathsome vomit and filthiness in a nasty and verminous tatters think not these expressions too odious no Pen can describe no heart can imagine the odiousness of sin in his sight in which you lay and rolled your selves as the filthy Swine in the mire yet he pitied you his Bowels were moved and his Compassions were kindled when one would have thought his wrath should have boiled and his indignation have burned down to Hell against you he loathed not but loved you and washed you from your sins in his own Blood Ah monstrous and polluted Captives ah vile and putrid Carkases that ever the holy Jesus should take the hands of you and shouâ—…d his own self wash you and wrinse you merhâ—…nks I see him weeping over you and yet it was a more costly Bath by which he cleansed you Ah Sinners look upon the streaming Blood flowing out warm from his blessed Body to setch out the ingrained filthiness that you by sin had contracted Alas what a horrid filthiness in sin that nothing but the blood of the Covenant could wash away and what a love is Christs than when no Sope nor Nitre could suffice to cleanse us when a whole Ocean could not wash nor purifie us would open every vein of his heart to do the work look upon your crucified Lord do you not see a sacred stream flowing out of every Member ah how those holy hands those unerring Feet do run a stream to purge us Alas how that innocent Back doth bleed with cruel scourgings to save ours how the great drops of blood fall to the ground from his sacred Face in his miraculous sweat in his bitter and bloody Agony to wash and beautifie ours how his wounded hearts and side twice pierced first with love and pity and then with Souldiers cruelty do pour out their healthful and saving Flouds upon us Lord how do we make a shift to forget such a love as this ah mirrors or rather monsters of ingratitude that can be unmindful of suâ—…h a Friend do we thus requite him is this our kindness to such an obliging friend Christians where are you affections to what use do you put your faculties what have you memories for but to remember him what have you the power of loving for but that you should love him wherefore serves joy or desire but to long for him and delightfully to embrace him may your souls and all their Powers be taken up with him may all the little doors of your souls be set open to him Here â—…ix your thoughts heâ—…e terminate your desire here you may light your Candle and kindle your fire when almost out Rub and chafe your hearts well with the deep consideration of the love of Christ and it is a wonder if they do not get fome warmth The Lord shed abroad his love in your hearts by the H. Ghost Oh that this love might constrain you Brethren what will you do now for Jesus Christ. Have you never a Sacrifice to lay upon his Altar come and I will shew you what you shall do let your hands be in the blood of your sins fall foul with them search them out with diligence search your hearts and your houses whatever iniquitâ—…es you find there out with them put them far from your Tabernacles if you crucifie them not you are not Jesus his Friends Godforbid that there should be a lying Tongue or any way of deceit in your Shops That his service should give place to the World in your Families Far be it from any of you my Brethrâ—…n that you should be careful to teach your children and servants the way of your Trades and Callings and neglâ—…t to instruct them in the way of Life Is weekly Caâ—…echising up in every one of your Families The Lord convince any of you that may be guilty of this neglect Oh set up God in your Houses and see that you be not slovenly in Closet performances beware of serving the Lord negligently serve not the Lord with that which cost you nothing look to it that you content not your selves with a cheap and easie Religioâ—… Put your flesh to it be well assured that the Religion that costs you nothing will yeeld you nothing keep up the life of Religion in your Family and Closet duties Fear nothing like a customary and careless performance of Gods service Judge your own selves whether lazie wishes idie complaints and yawning Prayers are like to carry you through the mighty difficulties that you must get through if ever you come to Heaven When you find your selves going on in a liftless liveless heartless course and have no mind to your work ask your selves is this to take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence or can I hope to win it without see that you sacrifice your selves to the Lord that you deliver up your selves to him that now you live to Christ himself As Christ hath made over his life and death to you so let it be your care to live and die to him labour to forget your selves and look upon all your enjoyments as Christs goods upon your time parts strength as his Talents look upon your selves onely in the quality of Servants and Stewards that are to husband all these for your Lords advantage and as those that must give an account And pray for me that I may take the Counsel that I give I â—…ss the Lord I want nothing but the opportunity of being â—…ceable unto you and to enjoy you but I hope the Lord will make my bonds for you to be useful to your edification that is the White I aim at if I may glorifie God and serve your Souls best by being here I shall never wish to come out though I confess liberty of its self is very precious Finally Brethren Farewel be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you I The ready Servant of your Faith and Joy JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 14. 1663. My dear Brother Norman salutes you tenderly desiring you to be patient to stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh LETTER XII For daily Self-Examination To the most Beloved People the Flock of Christ in Taunton Salvation Most dear Brethren I Would my time were as long as my heart that I might open my self to you but I was not without some discontent diverted when I was setting my self to have Written at large to you Now I am pinched however I could not leave my dear charge altogether unvisited but must needs salute you in a few Lines Brethren how stands it with you doth
upon those dangerous Rocks upon which so many Professors have been split There are three things which I beseech you carefully to beware of First Lest while Christ is in your mouths the world run away with your hearts There is many a seeming Professor that will be fòund a meer Idolater Many a Soul goes down to Hell in this sin in the midst of his Profession and never discerns it till it be too late Remember I beseech You that the Oxen the Farm Wife Merchandize all of them lawful Comforts did effectually keep men from a sound and saving closing with Christ as the vilest lusts of the worst of men Whatever you find your hearts very much pleased in and in love with among these earthly Comfoâ—…ts set a mark upon that thing and remember that there lies your greatest danâ—…r What you love most you must fear most and think ofâ—…en wiâ—…h your selves This if any thing is like to be my 〈…〉 multitudes of Professors that perish for ever by 〈…〉 â—…and of this mortal Enemy I mean the overvalâ—…ing of Earthly things The hearers compared to the thornâ—… Ground did not openly fall away and cast off their Profession as the stony ground did but while others withered away the blade of Profession was as green and fresh as ever and yet their inordinate aâ—…ection to the things of this life did secretly undo all at last Little do most Professors think of this while they please themselves in their estates while they delight themselves so freely in their Children in their Wives in their habitations and possessions that these be the things that â—…re like to undo them for ever How little is that Scripture thought of which speaks so dreadfully to worldly Professors Love not the World for if any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him Are there not many among us who though they do keep up Prayer and other holy Duties yet the strength and vigour of their hearts goeth out after earthly things And these are their chief care and their chief joy Such must know that they are none of Christs and they were better to understand it now and seek to be renewed by Repentance then hereafter when there shall be no place for Repentance 2. Lest while Iniquity doth abound your love to Christ doth wax cold Remember what an Abomination Laodicea was to Christ because she grew so luke-warm and what a controversie he had with Ephesus a sound Church because she did but flacken and grow more remiss in her love A friend is born for adversity and now is the time if you will prove the sincerity of your love and friendship to Jesus Christ by following him zealously resolvedly sully now he is more rejected and opposed Thirdly Lest you keep up a barren and fruitâ—…ss Profession withâ—…ut Progression See to it my Brethren that you be not onely Professors but proficients Many Professors think all is well because they keep on in the exercises of Religion but alas You may keep on praying aâ—…d hearing all the Week long and yet be not one jot the further Many there are that keeâ—… going but it is like the Horse in the Mill that is going all day but yet is no further than when he first began Nay it oft times happens in the Trade of Religion as it doth in trading in the World where many keep on in trading still till for want of care and caution and examining their accounts whether they go forward or backward they trade themselves out of all Oh look to it my Brethren that none of you rest in the doing of duties but examine what comes of them Otherwise as you may trade your selves into Poverty so you may hear and pray your selves into hardness of heart and desperate security and formality This was the very case of wretched Laodicia who kept up the trade of religious duties and verily thought that all was well because the trade still went on and that she was increased in spiritual goods and in a gaining way but when her accounts were cast up at last all comes to nothing and ends in wretchedness poverty and nakedness Most dear Brethren I wish and pray for the prosperity of you all but above all I wish your Souls prosperity with which after my most dear Loves to you all having already exceeded the bounds of an Epistle I commend you to the living God Remaining Your fervent well wisher and Embassador in Christ JOS. ALLEINE Devises June 22. 1666. LETTER XXX An Admiration of the Love of God To the most Loving and best Beloved the servants of God in Taunton Salvation My most dear Friends I Love you and long for you in the Lord and I am weary with forbearing that good and blessed work that the Lerd hath committed to me for the surtherance of your Salvation How long Lord how long shall I dwell in silenâ—… How long shall my Tongue cleave to the Rooâ—… of my Mouth When will God open my Lips that I may stand up and praise him But it is my Fathers good pleasure yet to keep me in a total disability of publishing his Name among you unto him my Soul shall patiently subscribe I may not I cannot complain that he is hard to me or useth me with Rigour I am full of the Mercies of the Lord yea Brimful and running over And shall I complain Far be it from me But though I may not murmur meâ—…hinks I may mourn a little and sit down and wish O if I may not have a Tongue to speak would I had but Hands to Write that I might from my Pen drop some heavenly Councels to my Beloved People Methinks my feeble Fingers do even Itch to Write unto you but it cannot be alas my right-hand seems to have forgot her cunning and hath much ado with trembling to lift the Bread unto my Mouth Do you think you should have had so little to shew under my Hand to bear Witness of my Care for You and love to you if God had not shock my Pen as it were out of my Hand Buâ—… all that he doth is done well and wisely and therefore I submit I have purposed to borrow Hands wherewith to write unto my Beloved rather then to be silent any longer But where shall I begin or when should I end If I think to speak of the Mercies of God towards me or mine enlarged affections towards you methinks I feel already how strait this Paper is like to be and how insignificant my Expressions will be found and how insufficient all that I can say will prove at last to utter what I have to tell you but shall I say nothing because I cannot utter all this must not be neither Come then all ye that fear the Lord come and I well tell you what he hath done for my Soul O help me to love that precious Name of his which is above all my Praises O love the Lord all ye his Saints and fear before him
am apt to pass the bounds of a Letter yet I promise my self now an easie pardon for so 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 Farewel dear Brethren Fare you well in the Lord I am An unworthy Embassador of Jesus in Bond JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 29. 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 defray all our Charges 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 darksomest 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 comfortably in spight of Earth 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 os 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 gainfulllest 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 stack not your pace but give diligence 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 waiteth for the precious fruits of the Earth and hath long patience till he receive the early and later Rain Be ye also 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 strive 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 Judge 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 sor the Prisoners Farewel dear Brethren farewel in the Lord I am Yours in the Bonds of the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE Octob. 11. 1665. LETTER XXXIV To a Back-sliding 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 God The vows of God are upon me which I confess I have been to slack to pay that I would put you in remembrance and in all Brotherly tenderness advise you to remember from whence you are sallen 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
and do strictly impose upon my self from day to day Never to lie down but in the Name of God not barely for natural refreshment but that a wearied servant of Christ may be recruited and fitted to serve him better the next day Never to rise up but with this râ—…solution Well I will go forth this day in the Name of God and will make Religion my business and spend the dâ—…y for Eternity Never to enter upon my calling but first thinking I will do these things as unto God because he requireth these things at my hands in the place and station he hath put me into Never to sit down to the Table but resolving I will not eat meerly to please my appetite but to strengthen my self for my Masters work Never to make a visit but upon some holy design resolving to leave something of God where I go and in every company to leave some good savour behind This is that which I have been for some time a learning and am pressing hard after and if I strive not to walk by these Rules let this Paper be a witness against me I am not now in my former publick capacity such things being required of me to say and subscribe as I could by no means yield to without open lying and dissembling with God and Men yet that I am unuseful I cannot say but rather think that possibly I may be of more use than heretofore I thank the Lord I have not known what it is to want a tongue to speak but in my sickness nor a people to hear but so as that we both follow the things that make for peace I perceive you are otherwise perswaded in some things than I am but however I trust we meet in our end Since you are in may it be your whole study to gain souls and to build them up in holiness which is with too many the least of their cares One duty miserably neglected I shall be bold to commend to you from my own experience and that is the visiting your whole Flock from house to house and enquiring into their spiritual estates particularly and dealing plainly and truly with them about their conversion to God to the usefulness of this great work I can set my Probatum est I hear you have two Parsonages O tremble to think how many precious souls you have to look to and let it be seen however others aim at the Fleece you aim at the Flock and that you have indeed Curam animarum You see how free I am with you but I know your candor I rejoice in your happy Yoke-fellow salute her from your old Friend and accept the unfeigned respects of him who is Sir Your real and faithful Friend JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXIX PRISON COMFORTS To a Minister in Prison worthy Sir I Owe you a Letter and more than a Letter for your particular respects to me your brotherly sympathy your multiplied and earnest prayers your tenderness of my health your welcome Jewel in M. Ruths Letters from which I trust my soul and others may reap no small benefit Much more do I owe you for your common respects to the people of my desires and not only to them but to the whole Church of God and in all whose concernments I see you are concerned Your indefatigable labours with us we do with all thankfulness accept as the undoubted evidence of your great love For all which may he requiâ—…e you who will shortly say Inasmuch as thou didst it unto the least of these my Brethren thou didst it unto me It was but a little after my release from my own confinement but I heard of yours and now write to you as one that hath taken a higher degree than ever and more truly honourable being commenced Prisoner of Christ. I was once affected with the Picture of a devout man to whom a voice came down from Heaven saying Quid vis fieri pro te To which he answered Nihil domine nisi pati ac contemni proâ—…e Undoubtedly Sir it is our real glory to be throughout conformed to Jesus Christ not onely in his sanctity but in his sufferings Paul counted all things but dung for this that he might win Christ c. and know the fellowship of his sufferings and be made conformable to his death I doubt not but your consolations in Christ do much more then superabound in all your tribulations for him Yet let me add this one Cordial That now you have a whole shoal of Promises come in to you which you had not before I mean all the Promises to suffering Saints in which they have not so immediate but only a remoter right unless in a suffering state And doubtless he hath gotten well that hath gotten such a number of exceeding great and precious Promises If the men of the world do so rejoyce when such or such an Estate is fallen to them should not you much more that have such a Treasure of Promises fallen to you I can tell you little good of my self but this I can tell you That the Primises of God were never so sweet in this world to me as in and since my imprisoned state Oh the bottomless riches of the Covenant of Grace It shames me that I have let such a Treasure lie by so long and have made so little use of it Never did my soul know the Heaven of a Believers life till I learnt to live a life of praise and by more frequent consideration to set home the unspeakable riches of the Divine Promises to which I trust through grace I am made an heir I verily perceive that all our work were done at once if we could but prevail with our selves and others to live like Believers to tell all the world by our selves and others to live like Believers to tell all the world by our course and carriage that there is such pleasantness in Christs wars such beauty in holiness such reward to obedience as we profess to believe May ours and our peoples conversations but preach this aloud to the world that there is a reality in what God hath promised that Heaven is worth the venturing for that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Verily Sir it is but a very little while that Prisons shall hold us or that we shall dwell in dirty flesh Porphyry tells us of Photinus that he was ashamed to see himself in the body to see a Divine and immortal soul in a Prison of flesh for so they held the body to be but the worst shackles are those of sin Well they must shortly off all together our Lord doth not long intend us for this lower Region Surely he is gone to prepare a place for us Doubtless it is so yea and he will come again and receive us to himself that where he is we may be also And what have we to do but to believe and wait and love and long