be more seriously affected with your Case then I am with mine who have more cause O if ever poor Creature had need to make such complaints it s I Well but do we not hear Persons most eminently Pious making such complaints very frequently We should not be quite discouraged as though our case was singular How often doth warm hearted David pray for quickning which argues a sense of his want Sensible we should be but not discouraged O that we could confess and bewail our deadness more sensibly more lively But all our work lieth not in complaining but we must use the means God hath appointed for our quickning I verily believe our greatest work lieth in prevailing with our own Hearts to the diligent constant and believing use of the means certainly quickning enlivening Grace is purchased for us by the Lord Jesus and now he hath gone through the most painful part of his Work is he not willing to apply to our Souls what he hath purchased O let us not once question this O let us not wrong a dear Redeemer so much as to think otherwise of him O methinks was I but once made a meet recipient of these influences of his Spirit I should not doubt but I should have them Well it is Grace that must make us so and we have a gracious God to deal with who delights in Communicating of his grace and goodness to his Creatures let us call to mind what we heard of this Subject when we was last together let us ply our Hearts with the serious Consideration of the Sin and Evil of such a Frame together with the necessity reasonableness excellency and usefulness of the Contrary let us pray hard for it and use other means But pray S. take heed of that ungrateful Partiality as to judge and conclude from the remainders of Sin in you that you are in a state of Sin and Death the best on Earth complain of deadness and they do not Complement but have real Cause for it a perfect freedom from all Sin and its Effects remember that is reserved for Heaven Have you not a principle of Spiritual life Else whence comes the Sense you have of your deadness Methinks if I was with you and you would be faithful to your self I should not doubt but I could convince you think as ill of Sin as you will as you can but acknowledge and honour Grace joyfully and thankfully entertain any quickning Motions you have as you would have more what I say to you I would speak home to my own Soul the Lord help me that I may The Lord who is all perfect Spirit and Life make us more like unto himself I am your truly Affectionate Loving Brother I. B. LETTER VIII To S. E. December 15. 1684. Dear S. I Receiv'd both your's and owe you more then thanks for them I would bless the Lord that hath directed us to this way of Correspondence by Writing and that about the great Concernments of our Souls which I hope may prove profitable to each of us and very comfortable in the review I am sorry to hear of the bodily grievances you are under but stormy and pationate at the providential Dispensations of our wise and good God I dare not I would not be certainly if there be any true rest and satisfaction for the Creature it is in the will of its Creator who is goodness it self and I am glad to hear of the calmness of your Spirit my daily Prayers to God are for your spiritual and eternal Welfare and that you may not want any good thing here that the Lord would rebuke Distempers and lengthen out your Life but in that you are mindful of Death I rejoyce for to tell you true I love in my Heart to read and hear and think of Death my self indeed I have now out-lived my self my own expectation some Years But O the unaccountable folly that I am guilty of in that I am yet no more fit to die O strange almost incredible I Profess to believe a Future Judgment that there is a day wherein the great God by Jesus Christ will Judge me with all the World for all my Thoughts and Words and Actions whether they have been good or bad and so sentence me to my final State But O how unaffecting are my Apprehensions of this certain great and dreadful Truth and how inconsistent is my Practice to the belief hereof I am daily running on in my Errors heaping one Sin upon the back of another so laying my self under an unavoidable necessity either of bitter Repentance here or else exposing my self to the condemning Sentence of a most just and righteous Judge hereafter to a State of inconceivable and endless Misery which is enough to make any Heart except such a Flint as mine to tremble if seriously thought of Well shall I go on in this careless Frame and Course I fear I fear I shall but God forbid Well there are two things I would commend to my self and you in order to our Preparation for Death and Judgment 1st Let us make sure of a true and thorough work of Sanctification upon our Hearts O how shall we dare to look Death in the Face if found in an unsanctified Estate Sin is the sting of Death but then how may we with undanted Courage look it in the Face and as it were play with it when the Sting is taken out when we are passed from Death to Life if Sin be dead to be sure it s pardoned so otherwise how shall we think of Judgment to which Death immediately carries our Souls Will God clear the Guilty The turning point at that Day will be whether we be such as have come up to the Terms required of us in the remedying Law of Grace all are Sinners that is certain but all are not impenitent unbelieving Sinners O Sister penitent believing holy Souls and they alone shall be able to stand in Judgment shall obtain Mercy from the Lord in that Day and none but such have real ground of Comfort in the forethoughts of it 2dly Let us labour after clear and certain Evidences of our sincerity O how sweet a thing is Assurance of God's Love peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost How would these chear and revive our Souls in a dying Hour Sure I am a well grounded Assurance would then pay us our own with Interest though we should be at never so much pains to attain it but how sad to be sent to bed in the Dark it must needs be very uncomfortable to a gracious Soul to leave this World uncertain how it shall go with it in the next therefore let us study the Word more which is the Rule by which we must be judged and impartially compare our Hearts and Lives therewith by which means through God's help we may come to know how it will go with us then Blessed be God for that Revelation of his Will Well that our mortality and immortality may
O happy Place and happy Persons whose continual Work is perfect love and joy and praise I am your loving obedient S. I. B. LETTER XXII To T. W. My dear F. YOUR lines were very welcome to me both as they express your Affection to me your readiness to Simpathize with me your hearty Prayers to God for me and likewise as they give some revival to our former intercourse which my thoughts were working upon a day or two since with much desire I can heartily bless God for the comfortable Society I have formerly had with you O can we not both of us remember many an Hour with Comfort when the Lord hath been pleased to make a Third with us Yea and I hope when a few Minutes of Time more are past we shall be removed out of this Vale of Tears and meet upon the Mountains of Spices O a happy meeting that will be will it not think you O should we not be looking and longing and with Patience waiting for that blessed Day And should we not be quickning and encouraging one another in the way It is my hearty desire now we cannot so frequently pray and discourse together as we have formerly done I am perswaded to the great Satisfaction of us both it is my desire I say that we may maintain a mutual Correspondence by writing And methinks I have much to tell my Friend of now but that streightness of Time and some bodily Indispositions will not suffer me the dispensations of the Lord towards me are very Gracious O how manifold are his Mercies Indeed goodness and mercy hath followed me all my Days and methinks there is so much of Love mixed with the severest of his Dispensations towards me that I cannot but love him the more and praise him the more for them O they are not the wounds of an enemy nor the chastizements of a cruel one God is all love yet even when he takes as well as when he gives O to see Love in every thing is not that sweet O what is this Heart of mine made of that it is no more affected O help me love the Lord for me praise the Lord for me come let us exalt his Name together the Lord hath dealt very favourable as to my F. his Distemper not so violent as it might have been though his Weakness hath been very great how the Lord may dispose of him I cannot tell he continues very Weak though I hope the Distemper is much abated but this I know God will do all things well pray for us still yea and praise the Lord on our behalf I am affectionaly Your's I. B. LETTER XXIII To S. M. Dear S. I Hope you will not take it ill that you have not heard from me before now I am sure you are much in my thoughts and I should be glad to exchange a Letter with you now and then I had many affectionate concerned Thoughts about you when I heard of your late illness and it was not a little Comfort to me when I heard of your recovery much more shall the health and prosperity of your Soul rejoyce my Heart and that it may be daily promoted by all the Methods of God's Providence as well as by his Ordinances is and shall be my daily Prayer to that God who I hope hath begun a good Work there Dear S. the near Relation I am in to you lays me under a strong Obligation to do the utmost I am able to promote the welfare of your outward Man but methinks I feel my Affections especially working towards your Soul Well how is it Is your Soul in health Doth your Soul prosper By nature our Souls are like Hospitals for spiritual Diseases O there is no sound Part left in them but the Lord out of his Divine pity and bounty hath provided a wife able and tender hearted Physician for us the Lord Jesus Christ who hath prepared a rich Medicine every way suitable to our Diseases of his own most precious Blood and he is daily begging for Patients and his great Complaint is that Men will not come to him who would assuredly and freely heal them but rather choose Death now O that you and I may see more of our need of him our Souls are really O that they were more sensibly Sick our Diseases are in their own Nature mortal ones and all others besides him are Physicians of no value but if he undertake our Cure the danger is over no fear of miscarrying under his Hands O that now we may be so thoroughly convinced of our need of him and of his ability skill and good will that we may now look after him indeed and no more neglect him as we have done but may sincerely heartily chearfully and thankfully accept him and fiducially put our lives our souls our all into his Hands confiding in him and in him alone and obedientially following his Prescriptions then our Souls should live and not die but I must take leave let me hear how it is with you You have a daily remembrance in my poor Prayers who am affectionately Yours I. B. LETTER XXIV To S. M. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's which I took very kindly I had thoughts of writing to you before I received it for I shall be glad of intercourse this way and desire it may be so managed as that it may prove to the great Advantage of us both we should ever act like Persons for another World and should endeavour to manage every thing so as may help our selves and others forward in our way to Heaven O that we may I have two things to advise you to and let my Councel be acceptable The First is highly esteem and accordingly improve your precious Time surely if we did but consider how much great and necessary Work lies upon our hands we could not so lightly esteem and squander away that short and precious Time allotted to us for the doing of it in we have much to do for God to promote his Honour and Glory much to do for our Selves for our Souls we have our Salvation to work out an Interest in Christ to secure and clear weak Graces to strengthen strong Corruptions to subdue many and strong Temptations to resist and overcome many hard and difficult Duties to discharge and we must expect that the task of Duties though in another Sense we should not look upon Duty as a task will be encreasing as we grow up and much we have to do for others to promote their good We have our Generation to serve in the places God sets us in and all this must be done in time and is not that Time to be accounted Precious And farther it may be much shorter then we think of what is Man's life taken at its full length It is but as a Span days and years pass away like the Wind are spent as a Tale that is told but let not you and I promise our selves long Life but be thinking of a shorter cut then ordinary
so a Father when he strikes as well as when he stroaks What is his Design in this Affliction Assuredly he intends me Good and not Evil by this means he would set my Heart more against Sin causing me to taste of its Bitterness And wean me more from the Creature shewing me its vanity and insufficiency for my Happiness and so draw up my Affections more to himself who is the only Soul-satisfying good this is to mortisy and spiritualize me to make me place my Happiness in God and fetch my Comfort from him and those eternal Joys with him in a word to turn me from Sin to God to raise me from Earth to Heaven And is not all this Good Is not that good Physick which is a means to cure such mortal Distempers and he a good Physician who doth prescribe and give it though in it self it be a bitter Potion But farther as his Design is Gracious in sending this Affliction so his Providence exercised about it is very Compassionate this stroke might have come with many more sad and aggravating Circumstances he might have given me a larger Dose but like a wise and merciful Phycian he considereth my Strength or he might have left me to my self to have sunk under this heavy Pressure But behold underneath is his supporting Arm he helps to bear the Burthen himself lays on And when is it so well with me when have I so much of God when do I enjoy such sweet incomes from the Spirit as then when all things look black and dark about me in the World It s ordinarily God's use to know me my felicity to enjoy him most in the time of my greatest Adversity O therefore let me kiss that Rod which is bound up with so much love 6thly God even my God is all sufficient a few serious Thoughts of this may tend much to my Satisfaction and Comfort He who is the only self sufficient independent Being is his Peoples Potion and enough for them all O how happy do ten thousand times ten thousand of his Saints justly deem themselves in him And is he not enough for me Why what 's the matter Sure either I do not know him or else my interest in him is doubtful or I am inconsiderate not truly weighing my Happiness in him Ah what a poor Creature should I be had nothing but a God left me Why what would I have more To have God is as much as to have God and all the World have I him O then I have all in him I am ready to cry out wo is me for I am broken with a grievous breach this day Ah my loss how great it is I have lost a loving tender hearted careful Father one that had not only the name and relation but the heart and bowels of a Father as well How solicitous he was for my Welfare What care he took for my temporal Welfare but especially how concerned he was for my Soul O! Methinks I have sometimes seen even his very Heart in his Prayers Counsels Warnings Reproofs yea and Corrections too but now I am at once deprived of all O sad loss Why true my loss is very Great it pincheth sore it is my Duty to be sensible of it and much affected with it But hold what is become of my God of my heavenly Father He is yet alive and behold he lives for evermore Let it be with me here as it was with Jacob of Old when he was convinced that his Son Joseph was alive the good old Man his Spirit revived within him and so let mine upon this Consideration and let me say with him it is enough Is it not he that hath cared for me all this while and may I not humbly and confidently rely upon him still Is he not the same he was Nay is he not in a more especial manner the helper of the Fatherless What though this instrument and the other be removed out of the way He never wants Instruments to do his Work he can either make use of new Ones or do his Work without them when his People are in Distress if he see it good he can and will create Deliverance for them and that 's a Work done without a Tool I but what will become of that poor Family What will become of poor Relations Why by Faith and Prayer let me commit them all to the same God who will look after and provide for them too I have great Incouragement thus to do whether I look at him or them the little knowledge I have of him may assure me that they cannot be in better Hands He wants neither Wisdom Power nor Will to do them good under his Fatherly care and custody they are sure to want no good Thing which is consistent with his Love to bestow and their real Benefit to enjoy and are secured here from all real and destructive Evils It seems on purpose to strengthen the Faith and revive the Souls of his poor Creatures under such Tryals that he hath taken upon him those sweet relative Titles of a Father a Husband Again If I look at them I have farther Incouragement having a comfortable Assurance of the special covenant Interest that the most of them have in this God and a good Hope concerning the rest now let God alone he loves and will take care of his Children Let me not at once both grieve and dishonour him and torment my self with my Distrust But farther the loss is Publick O my Father the Chariots of England and the Horse men thereof God's poor Church hath lost a judicious faithful and painful Minister how many poor Souls that may want him How will that poor Place where he lived want him Well though here is a wide gap made yet sure such a God can fill and stop it up which of the Prophets live for ever God that sends his Servants appoints them their Work and when they have done that they must away and others come in their room He will not have all his Work done by one Minister or in one Generation but by a Succession of such in his Church to the end of the World so this precious Servant of his having acted his Part is gone down to make way for such as the Lord shall send having dispatched the Work given him to do he is gone to his Great Lord and Master to receive an ample Reward And still God's Church while upheld that is so long as the World stands shall be provided for 7thly The inconceivable Happiness his Soul enjoyeth the Soul of Man is a spiritual immortal Substance and Jesus Christ hath purchased eternal Life for all true Believers and firmly entituled it upon them in the Gospel So that their Souls no sooner depart this Life but immediately they are with him It is my great Sin and Misery both that my belief of such great and comfortable Truths as these is no more firm and stable And what a shame it is that I should be so wavering
about them who have so long enjoyed the glorious Light of the Gospel wherein they are so fully and plainly revealed O this evil Heart of Unbelief Well I now see a poor cold dead Carkase but what 's become of the Soul which did a while since animate it No doubt it is with Christ in Paradice O thrice happy Soul indeed Methinks while I am sadly lamenting my own Loss I should also rejoyce in his Gain which is inconceivably greater he is now possessed of that State of Bliss which he hath sometimes so sweetly described to us But how shall I proceed here My conceptions of this blessed State how low dark imperfect and confused are they But let not the Lord be angry he is now perfectly freed from all those gross Evils and Miseries which poor we Mortals are encompassed with he hath now at once bid farewel to Sin and Sorrow both for ever What grievious complaints I have heard sometimes coming from his Mouth by reason of his Corruptions and Imperfections though he had comparatively so little Reason But now I know his Note is changed He crieth out of a naughty Heart no more being received into the number of Just ones made perfect He is no more afflicted with perplexing Doubts and Fears His shaking Fits are all over A sweet serenity of Mind he ordinarily enjoyed indeed while here but now his Peace is perfect and uninterrupted Possession hath put his Title quite out of doubt He is no more cast down under a Sense of God's displeasure He seeth a Frown in his blessed Face no more he complains no more the Lord is angry with me He is no more annoyed and disquieted with Satan's Temptations being got quite out of his Gun-shot That old Serpent is now troden under his Feet so as never to hiss or put forth his Sting at him more For temptations he hath an everlasting triumph He is now got above a vain tempting and vexing World How little he regards this worldly Trash now he is got possessed of the heavenly Treasure How he would disdain yea abhor any Solicitations from the World was he in their reach Draw him away from his God with a toy a shadow O vile and vain Attempt He knows better things then so The rule of the greatest Empire upon Earth is far below the meanest of his heavenly Companions thrice happy Creatures be they all And as for a raging persecuting World he fears it no more for ever let his Enemies touch him now with their Scorns Reproaches and Callumnies if they can Which of them will imprison impoverish or banish him now It s a thing quite out of all their hands in his Conflict here he was exemplary for his Faith Patience and other Graces And now he hath obtained a full and final Conquest and with it a Crown of Glory which fadeth not He is now perfectly freed from all other sad effects and consequents of Sin He is no more seen in Tears and sad Complaints Grief no more finds a passage into his blessed Soul fears no more darken his Delights He is no more consumed with Cares He crieth out of a pained Head or Side of a sick Stomack or of weak and feeble Limbs no more for ever He is no more heard complaining of languishing unserviceable Weakness which hath sometimes been so great a burden to him All his dolourous Hours all his weary Nights and Day 's are over and past the Lord hath wonderfully changed Chear with him Behold for paternal corrections the highest expressions of fatherly Love and Affection The rod having done its work is quite laid aside and he is taken into the lap and as all his personal Troubles both inward and outward are at an End so all relative and publick ones of which he was wont to have no small share being one of a truly tender compassionate and publick Spirit He is now no more sadned and grieved with this Friends sinful Miscariage or that Friends heavy Affliction He is now got out of the sound of the Churches Sufferings Many a sad sight he had seen and many doleful tideings he hath heard concerning the Church of Christ which have deeply affected him with Grief and Sorrow the interest of a dear Redeemer lying very near his Heart but now no more of this for ever He is otherwise now taken up having wept freely with those that wept here on Earth he is now rejoycing much more abundantly with triumphant ones above O happy Soul indeed But this is not all may I therefore proceed a little farther And the good Lord pardon my great Sin the wrong I do thee in disparaging thy magnificent Bounty darkening rather then otherwise the Glory of thy heavenly Kingdom and his Felicity therein with my inadaequate Conceptions unsuitable Affections and low Expressions But what better can be expected from so sinful a Soul in Flesh Lord when thou admittest me to tast of the Tree of Life my self I shall have other kind of thoughts and be able to give another account of it I am now thinking what a sweet Story some Angel or glorified Saint could tell me concerning the heavenly State who could thus speak from Experience Well he is now with them made perfect He is not only freed from sinful Imperfections but hath his Capacity inlarged for the Reception of the heavenly Glory we are poor narrow-mouthed shallow Creatures little that we can take in or or hold What would Heaven be to us in our present State But it s otherwise with him being raised to as high a degree of Perfection as he is capable of and according to his Receptivety are his Enjoyments His large Vessels are filled brim full in the Ocean of eternal Bliss He is got to the nearest enjoyment of God your chief Good And what need I or can I say more O that I did but know experimentally know what thus much meaneth Blessed Soul he doth by sweet Experience being got as near him as he can well desire He now knoweth God indeed the knowledge of whom in Christ is life-eternal Indeed the estrangedness which Sin had created between God and his Soul was hapily removed in a good-measure while here so that he had much sweet entercourse with him but alass It was but in part but this is done away that which is perfect being come while he was here he saw but through a glass darkly as poor we do but now Face to Face And having this knowledge of God what can he be ignorant of which is worth the knowing or would any way augment his Happiness And doubtless it would add much to his Joys now he is got to the heavenly Canaan to reflect and look back upon the many weary turns and windings which he had in his Passage through the howling Wilderness of this World but that which is sweeter still indeed the kernel of all is he now enjoyeth God in the perfect and constant actings of joyful Love while we are forced to breath out many
a sad complaint of the disaffection of our Souls towards God he is breathing out nothing but love and joy and praise now he had perfected Affections and a perfect sight of his Aimableness and continually enjoyeth the sweet embraces of his Love it s a thing impossible for him either not to love him or to love him with such remisness coldness and inconstancy as poor unworthy we do and perfectly to love God and to be beloved of him this perfect mutual and joyful Love I think is the highest happiness the Creature is capable of O blessed Soul How pure and perfect are his Joy's What shall I say to these things O that I could feel more He hath changed his quarters indeed Glorious Angels and Saints are now his Familiar's his continual Associates which when he beareth a part in those heavenly Songs of Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever O blessed Place blessed Work and blessed Company In a few words as he defined it to us while here he is now perfectly freed from all Sin and Misery in the fruition of all good being perfectly restor'd to God's Image and admitted to the beatifical Vision and Fruition of him in the most glorious Fellowship with Christ the head of our recovery and all the holy Angels and blessed Saints in Heaven O famous Description And yet the one half is not told us now shall I be so unkind as once to wish him back again with me Should I not rather long to be with him and in the mean time think well of the Rod which is a blessed means to drive me forward in Heavens way Should I not with humble Submission entertain this and all other afflictive Providences which may exceedingly befriend me in my Preparation for that blessed Place and State 8thly Death and the Grave are quite vanquished and overcome by Jesus Christ and surely this is a very staying quieting Consideration I am ready to think sadly of it that his precious Soul and Body that loving couple should be separated their Union dissolved that he in whom I have so delighted whose company hath so oft refreshed me that he should be laid in the dust and have worms for his Companions while I may see his Face no more in the land of the living that he should consume and rot in the Grave this goeth hardly down But is there not somewhat of childish pity here I am to consider that its only the Flesh that is the looser here and that but for a time which loss shall be made up with unspeakable advantage at the great Day of the Lord which draws on Death to his Soul was his present inservicable Gain as before And why should I be so immoderately concerned for what the body suffers Alass What was it but a lump of Corruption Indeed while that gracious Soul of his did animate it it was very lovely of much value But now the Jewel is gone what is the Cabinet worth Good reason why I should take delight in that House though but of Clay while the heavenly Inhabitant was there But now it s gone and House is fallen in why should I so value it And farther what was it to him what an Enemy How much care and labour grief and sorrow it hath cost him A log a prison to his Soul I may be sure he doth not grieve or grudge that God hath now by Death thus disburdened unfettered and released him But farther I am to consider that Jesus Christ the Lord of Life hath vanquished and overcome Death if Death had swallowed him up had made an end of him this had been sad indeed but God be thanked it is otherwise He had a firm Belief of this great Truth and the Comfort of it too for in his late Sickness when he called me to Pray by him he bid me bless God for a Mediator through whom he could say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead a main part of the glad tidings which the Gospel brings which is good assurance of the blessed Resurrection of all those that belong to him let me think oft of those sweet Words of his because I live ye shall live also To be sure the Lord Jesus Christ the head of his Church will not have a dead Body no nor one dead Member while it is in his Power to give it Life as sure as he is risen from the Dead and lives for ever more which is as sure as that God is True who hath declared it in his Word so sure it is that whosoever believing his shall be raised by him at the last day and live for ever with him Now think I have many a time chearfully bid him Good-night when he hath been going to take his Natural rest and why Because I hoped to see him again in the Morning and that more refreshed And why should I grieve immoderately now His grave is but a bed wherein to rest his weary Bones for a while and I may not only hope but have a confident well grounded Assurance that the Morning of the Resurrection will come when the earth shall disclose him and the dust cover him no more this shall not be an everlasting Night an endless Sleep No his Body shall be raised and that a glorious spiritual Body That blessed Day will e're long dawn and how sweet will be the Salutation between that lovely couple his glorified Soul and Body perfectly delighting in each other without jarring in the least for ever more And how happy a meeting it will be for me when I shall so meet with him as never to be parted from him more O! I shall have enough of his company in Heaven and it will be better to me there then it was here if it hath been so comfortable to spend Sabbath's and Solemn-day's of Humiliation and Thanksgiving with him here What will it then be to spend an everlasting Sabbath with him in Heaven in singing forth the high Praises of God and of the Lamb Sure I should not be so dejected with the sad thoughts of parting here as comforted with the joyful hopes of that blessed meeting Well the time is coming on a pace the Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead the first Fruits of them that sleep and by and by the Trumphet sounds and that quickning Voice which will make dead and dry Bones live Arise ye dead will be heard all the World over Then shall all the Faithful arise out of their Graves with Bodies made like unto Christ's Glorious Body Now what say I to these things Believe I this I have cause to be extream jealous of this naughty Heart of mine which I have so often found tardy and I may be sure of this that my own immoderate fear of Death and dejectedness at the death of Friends if it prove not the absence of Faith yet sadly bewrayeth the weakness of
seem light I will endeavour to pray for you as hard as I can do you endeavour to pray down more of the Spirit of Prayer into my Heart and then my poor Prayers may stand you in more stead I desire a plainer Account of your Circumstances as soon as you can who am your Loving Brother I. B. LETTER XIII To S. E. May 6. 1685. Dear S. I Receiv'd your's and cannot but sympathize with you in your Troubles I have been under those inward Troubles lately that have taken off my Thoughts from other things otherwise I have been and am under Circumstances much like your own I have more and more experience of the vanity and deceitfulness of the Creature O how vain a thing is Man But I must tell you Sister as I tell my own Heart I am afraid we expect too much from the Creature we meet with disappointments in and from the Creature who bid us look for better Not our Bibles The Lord will sooner or later make us know the Creature as the Creature if we belong to him that we place not too much of our Happiness in it and we have cause to bless God for the crossest Providences that are blessed by him to that End O let us learn to live more upon God! And let us learn not to be too much concerned at such things they are without us and unless we open them the door they cannot get into our Hearts to sink them God is a true and faithful Friend remember that indeed we live far below our selves as I trust we are Heirs according to the hope of eternal Life if we suffer such little things to distract and deject us I had written sooner but that I hoped before this to have seen you I shall be contriving for an opportunity as soon as I can who am your Loving Brother I. B. LETTER XIV To C. H. Dear Cozen METHINKS our ill husbanding the means of Grace hath brought us to this that we must either beg or starve the Lord hath formerly afforded us rich means to live upon How have we been feasted in his publick Ordinances Many a poor hungry Soul would have got a good meal out of our livings but now alass we have almost run out of all now we have but hungry Sabbath's God knows what will become of our poor Souls now Well but here is a way whereby you and I may get a good living still by the right improvement of this Duty we may be thriving Christians still shew me a praying Soul I dare say that is a happy Soul that Soul hath many a sweet morsel from Heaven that others taste not of that Soul is growing rich but then we must acquaint our selves with the divine Art and Mystery that there is in this Duty alass our Souls cannot live upon the Wind words in Prayer are but wind but in the lively exercise of Grace and in Communion with God there is nourishment for our poor Souls for your help him accept of this small Sheet which about two Years since I receiv'd from one that is as well skilled in this spiritual Mystery as any Christian that I know and when you are with God in this Duty then remember me a poor wretch that after so many years Practice of it to my Sorrow still find many roving wandring Thoughts much deadness of Spirit and inactivity of Grace I am confident you are many times in my praying Thoughts when you think not of it may I not beg the like from you for a requital Your's I. B. LETTER XV. To C. W. Dear Friend YOUR Soul is very precious in my sight my hearty desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved and O that I could do any thing to promote it it pleases me much to think in how hopeful a way you are for Heaven and O how I should rejoyce to see you crowned there but alass we are yet but in the Fight with our Enemies yet faint not hold on and the day is our own conquer and we are crowned yet be we jealous of our selves I am ready to tremble when I think of our danger by our Enemy the World it is a very Cheat and how ready we are to be imposed upon by it For my own part I never thought there had been so much Carnality in my Heart as I lately discovered and O I am afraid there is much more abominable wickedness that I have not yet discovered O methinks I would have something besides God for my Portion I am loath to cast all my worldly hopes over board O my Folly Well my love to you inclines me to impart some of my Thoughts to you in this Matter God and the World are presented to our Choice and this is our choosing time now that you and I may make a wise Choice 1st Let us seriously consider the excellency of God O happy Souls indeed whose Portion the Lord is O wonderful wonderful That the ever blessed God should be wiling to become the Creatures portion a portion for such Wretches as we are Let all the Angels and Saints of God admire and adore him for this his matchlefs Condescention and God-like Bounty Now think what God is and can we not be content with him for a Portion What not with God Why what is there that our Souls can reasonably desire that is not eminently in him O there is enough in God to make us compleatly and eternally Happy and what would we have more 2dly Think we seriously of the Vanity of the Creature O what trifles are these that Men make such a hurry about Such as are projecting most throngly for the World alass what have they when they have got it but a little Vanity for which they many time loose an eternal Crown O woful Choice When such come to die they will put another estimate upon the World I dare appeal to your own Experience when you have any serious thoughts of Death and Judgment and the Life to come then O how little you regard the World I find it thus with me now let us learn this project to set one Enemy against another to set Death against the World as one saith frequentiy lie down in our own Graves and thence take a prospect of the World let us take our Coffin into the Field with us when we go to fight the World And farther to make us serious let us consider it is for everlasting that we choose here choose God in Christ for our portion and he is our own for ever choose Sin and the World and we loose him and Hell must be our portion and our loss herein will be everlastingly imparable the Lord help us to act like reasonable Creatures but I must take leave if I have any interest in you I would entitle a dear Redeemer to it Will you choose him I hope you have but will you renew and confirm your choice and never rest till you can my beloved is mine and I am his I
am one that would fain be your Companion in the path of Holiness here and joint Possessor with you of Happiness hereafter I. B. LETTER XVI To C. H. Dear Cozen I Received your's and the doubt which troubles you I find to be the same that I have been exercised with my self so I shall give you a few of my Thoughts although I am under discouragements and have much ado to perswade my Pen to write when I think I have more need to seek advice then to give in this Case so sar as I understand it the matter stands thus with us we fear we are not sick enough for Christ to heal we are not humbled enough our hearts not broken enough for Christ to bind them up now it s true those are deceitful flatterers that would teach us to slight Humiliation for Sin this is a dangerous deceit they will prove but unsound believers that were never soundly humbled but we must consider all Christ's Patients are not sick to the like degree The wounds of such are not all of a like depth some the Spirit deals more gently and tenderly with draws them with the cords of love when others he snatcheth as brands out of the Fire if the Lord hath done his Work shall we peevishly quarrel with him because he hath not done it just as we desire O let the Lord take his own method so he will but save our Souls from Sin and Wrath But it s well if there be not Pride in the bottom when we are so thoughtful about these preparatory Humiliations we would fain bring something to Christ that might make us more acceptable O deceitful Hearts wicked Hearts As one saith why do we not complain more of our want of Faith These preparatory Works are of no worth but as they are means to promote a saving closure with Christ our business is to enquire whether our Humiliation for Sin hath attain'd its end and that Humiliation is sufficient as to its End which prevails so far as that we cannot rest satisfied without Christ when the Soul is so sick that it cannot but cry out give me Christ or I die either we see our need of him or not if not why then do we complain of our selves as lost without him Either we are willing to be saved by him in his own way or not if we are it is a great dishonour and wrong to him to doubt of his Willingness He is more willing to save us then we are to be saved by him when you object your want of Tears that you cannot mourn for Sin I can tell you a sadder Story which makes me write with wet Eyes I say I have more reason to complain of hypocritical Tears then you have for the want of them Humiliation and Repentance lieth chiefly in your Will I remember a saying of Mr. Baxter's there is more Humiliation saith he in a base esteem of ones self then in a thousand Tears more of it in a will and desire to Weep then in the greatest abundance of Tears that come either from the force of Terrour or from the moistness of the Brain could I sind more of this inward Soul humiliation I could take abundantly more comfort in that then in abundance of Tears while my Heart is thus Senseless and feels little when you speak of Reformation consider the terms of the Covenant Sincerity is accepted instead of sinless Perfection and our dear Redeemer sees not only what his Servants are but what they should be and what they shall be O happy time when we shall all see him as he is and be like him I take little notice of what you say of that Expression in my last I am still ready to say as much subscribing my self a Scholar in the lowest Form in the School of the Lord Jesus I. B. LETTER XVII To C. H. Dear Cozen THE reading of your last wherein you did acquaint me with the good Success of my poor worthless Paper did much refresh my Spirit indeed I cannot but look upon your Estate as you describe it to be safe and happy O how glad should I be many times of clear Evidences of so much What Comfort may be safely drawn from such Premises As to what you say that you fear its only a good Mood that you are in it must be granted that natural unregenerate Persons have their good Moods sometimes but I think they never come in them to a sincere willingness and resolution to close with a Gospel Christ on Gospel Terms they may have some faint Wishes and Desires but the Mood is off them before any change is wrought upon their Hearts and Wills and when it leaves them they are more hardened and secure then before and while they are in such a Frame they are out of their Element like Fishes in the Air but I am confidently perswaded that you find it otherwise with your self when you find your Heart in a holy good Frame you are where you would be and when you find it otherwise it is your grief and burthen O how glad you would be was there no such sad and sinful interruptions in your Communion with God and a dear Redeemer Such a happiness as this is well worth dying for and why should you be discouraged at that which is the common Case of all God's Children upon Earth Go to the holiest Saint you know and I warrant you he will freely acknowledge that he hath his up's and down's if it be not so then wo to such as I who alass can seldom find my Heart in any good Frame while we have Flesh as well as Spirit we must expect that-the Flesh will be acting its part and it s well that we have a spiritual Principle to oppose it and happy they who have Faith and Patience to continue this Conflict such shall certainly come off conquerors at last but I would not be too tedious upon any occasion no Friend you have shall be more ready to communicate Experiences or shall more rejoyce in being any way instrumental of the Good of your Soul then my self who though very weak yet am truly willing the Lord be your Guide and Portion I am affectionately your's I. B. LETTER XVIII To C. H. Dear Cozen IN compliance with your request I will tell you what it was that moved me to give you those my Sentiments of your Condition it was this that your Humiliation had this Fruit that nothing could content you without Christ and that as far as you know your own Heart you are willing to be saved by him in his own Way and in his Strength to mortify Corruption which I am sure is more then Flesh and Blood could teach you I desire you may be truly serious sensible and humble but I would not have you turn an unmerciful false Accuser of your self Assurance is a great Mercy where vouchsafed and improved but it is of far greatter moment to us that we have Grace and use and exercise it then
that we know we have it let the most of your time and care and thoughts be spent in the getting and exercising of Grace and wait upon God for comfort in his Time and Way and when you want Evidences of special Grace then as Mr. B. adviseth improve the general Grounds of Comfort as the merciful Nature of God the merciful Nature and Office and the all-sufficiency of a Redeemer the extent of the Covenant of Grace and so the possibility probability yea the conditional Certainty of your Salvation if you come up to covenant Terms abundance of Comfort might be fetched in by the serious Consideration of these things and if you find that trying your self by Marks be ineffectual as to helping you to Comfort but that you are rather more disordered by it your doubts encreasing would you spend your time in endeavouring to exercise Grace in putting forth fresh acts of Faith on Christ and in exercising Love to God and the like would you I say but take this Course a while I am perswaded you would find it a more ready way to Satisfaction and Comfort then by trying your self by Marks unseasonably Thus you might come to feel that you do believe and feel that you love God c. when you complain of the weakness of Grace and strength of Corruption and the like consider you are to distinguish between that which is matter of Humiliation and for Reformation and that which is matter of Doubting the Lord when he hath prepared you for it cause his face to shine upon you and order it so that the present shakings you are under may tend to and issue in your more firm Settlement I am affectionately your's I. B. LETTER XIX To my M. Dear M. I Cannot but really sympathize with you under your present Troubles methinks I feel part of the burthen that lieth upon you O that I could do any thing to make it more easy and light to you But alass I can do little more then pray for you well as your Troubles abound so may your Graces and Comforts abound much more May your Soul prosper indeed May all your outward Troubles prove spiritually Advantagious If so I both may and will rejoyce in your Happiness I take it for a certain Truth that it goeth well or ill with us as Matters go with our Souls alass what are those Mercies worth that do not someway reach our Souls And why should we not prize those Afflictions that further their Salvation and love that God the better that sends them Sure I am these sick Souls of our's need Physick as well as Food and why should we not bless God for the one as well as for the other when both tend to promote our spiritual Health O that we were brought to kiss the Rod patiently chearfully and thankfully to submit to the Lord 's severest Discipline who intends us good and not hurt and will issue all things well Dear M. chear up as well as you can labour to get above this lower Region O what solid Comforts may be fetched from Heaven in our darkest Hours here O how great how sure how near is our reward there Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive what God hath laid up for them that love him and all this we none of us know how much as sure as the decree and promise of the Faithful and unchangeable God can make it and near too The Lord is at hand he saith behold I come quickly and my reward is with me dear M. Comfort your self with these Words be very careful of your self least grief be added to our Affliction My dear F. though I have not time to write is much in my Thoughts his illness hath damped my Spirit in that Business you know of many Friends are inquisitive about him and I hope many Prayers are going up to Heaven for him here I am your loving obedient Servant I. B. LETTER XX. To S. E. Dear S. HAVING a little time I resolved to write a line or two hoping they would not be unwelcome I have little business except Soul concerns to write about but indeed that is our greatest Business these our grand Concerns and all other things even those we call Matters of Weight great Concerns they are but trifles compared with these it is a great Comfort to me when I think what comfortable Evidences I hope I have of the good Estate of your Soul I think my self happy in having so many Relations related to Jesus Christ O happy Family highly favoured of the Lord that is likely to turn out so many Souls for Heaven O S. make sure to be one and pray hard for me that I may be another yea that there may not be one outcast amongst us and labour to get as long an Heaven as ever you can O we may begin Heaven even here O how much more of Heaven might me enjoy then we do Well I will tell you what I would be pressing after even to maintain a constant strict and holy Communion with God in and through Christ O the sweetness of Communion with God Oh our unspeakable loss in having Hearts so alienated from God and in being such strangers to a heavenly Life Lord how long shall it be thus How long e're we may love and enjoy thee perfectly without the least intermission interruption or cessation O this body of Sin And O this body of Flesh Well it is our happiness to desire and long and wait with Patience for that which others happy they are do possess and enjoy with fullest satisfaction may our Souls now be following harder after God May we now live like believers a life of holy Love and joyful praises I am much concerned for poor F. but can do little to help him only I pray as hard for him as I can be as careful as you can poor M. that she be not brought down to I am affectionately Your's I. B. LETTER XXI To my F. Dear F. NOW I am beginning to write comes to mind God's great goodness in that I have yet a F. to write to I have great cause to sing aloud of Mercy the Lord punisheth less then my iniquity deserveth he doth but shake the Rod to let me see what I deserve and he can do at pleasure that I ly every way at Mercy when he might strike home indeed O that my Heart should be no more affected with so great Mercy O how far the Lord will fall short of that tribute of Praise due from me O that he would help me yea O that all my Friends would help me by their Prayers that I may love and praise God more who is continually every way doing me good O what a pitty what a shame so good a God should be loved saved and praised no more Was not Earth what it is was not my Heart what it is is was impossible but I live in hopes it will be better e're long
would not have one praying Hour intermitted and yet I am loath my Pen should go the round a second time before I have somthing from you I beg you would be urgent with your worthy Ministers for a second Call to the whole Kingdom which I shall in impatiently long for not to ease my Pains but to do the Work much more universally and effectually and to encourage them to it let them know that the Iron is now hot with many of us by the experiments I have made I find a great readiness of Mind to the Duty and dare almost promise them a general universal Correspondence with the thing by those whose Prayers are likely to stand poor England in any stead at this dark and trembling Point of Time though it cannot be expected that all should fall in exactly with every Circumstance the good Lord give them an one-rest of Heart in this Affair and the whole Nation in complying with them If the Lord should encline their Hearts to do any thing this way I shall hope for some Copies I shall think the time long till I hear from you but I know not when to end it s well I have a Man of Patience to deal with I am dear Sir your very affectionate humble and much obliged Servant Jo. Barrett LETTER XXXVI To Mr. L. May 25. 1696. SIR I Cannot but eagerly take hold of the first Opportunity to let you know how well I was pleased with the short hint you gave me in the close of your last the Lord help me to do it so as may be to your eternal Advantage Since you took the little good Advice I gave you so well I am encouraged thereby to tell you more of my Heart I do not dissemble with you in telling you that yon have a great share of my Affections if you was my own Brother I think I could not love you better and I am well satisfied that as we use to say there is no love lost between us that you bear the like Affection unto me now I would endeavour to make the best improvement of the Interest I have in you and surely that cannot be better done then by doing my utmost to in-title my great Master a dear and lovely Jesus to it I do heartily rejoyce in your outward prosperity but more earnestly desire the Prosperity of your Soul and should exceedingly rejoyce might I any way be an instrument in promoting it the thing I aim at is not so much the proselyting you the bringing you over to my way and party but the engaging you in a course of serious Godliness though as I have found G. in the way that I am in I dare not forsake it my self so far as I am satisfied it is according to his Word yet I am far from thinking that Religion lies in Notions and Opinions and I doubt not but that there are many serious Christians that differ from me in their Opinions about lesser Matters but this all serious Christians in the World are agreed in that without conversion regeneration true repentance faith and real holiness both of Heart and Life there is no hopes of Salvation Now this is the Business you and I must look after to see that we have past the new birth are throughly changed from what we were by Nature and truly Grace makes a mighty great Change where it comes it is a thing above Morality common Civillity above a formal Profession above outward Attendance or Ordinances above the common Works of the Spirit in the Hearts of Men it is an inward deep powerful abiding thing The Lord give us to experience it in and upon our own Souls without which its impossible that all the Words in the World should make us rightly understand it The poor miserable deluded World thinks all this is meer Phancy but assure your self it s otherwise I know you will meet with a great many Objections arising from Satan and your own Heart as I and all others who have experience of a saving work of G. upon their Souls have done before you He will its like endeavour to make you shy of Convictions of your sin and misery by Nature which in some degree or other ever goes before a sound Conversion but as you love your Soul when ever you feel the holy Spirit of G. this way at work do not stifle but encourage them all you can when you feel your self pained this way take the first opportunity you can to retire into some private Place and there pour out your Complaint before the Lord acknowledge your sinfulness lament your misery cry to him for Mercy cast your Soul at his Feet and though you should not have ease and satisfaction at first yet be not discouraged but hold on seek him in good earnest and my Soul for your's he is found of you And its like he will endeavour to prejudice you against Religion as too strict as a moross dull melancholy Thing as that which would deprive you of all the Comfort of your Life but this is notoriously False I would not delude you and I do and must seriously profess to you this in just commendation of my dear Master and his Service that I am fully satisfied upon the little trial I have made that a religious godly Life is the most pleasant Life in all the World again Wisdoms Ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace I have now been acquainted with Him and his Service many Years and still the more I know of Him and his Service the better I am pleased with both and that upon solid substantial Grounds really I speak my very Heart to you in these things and nothing but what you shall certainly find your Self if you will but come and see if you will but make trial as I have done Indeed Religion doth forbid all beastly Pleasures but it doth not need them for it brings others infinitely better in their room which are peculiar to it self which strangers intermeddle not with and then as to sober manlike Pleasures it s so far from depriving of them that it gives the best right unto the sweetest Enjoyments and the surest hold of them And the best is still behind even those Rivers of Joys and Pleasures at God's right Hand for ever more where others must ly down in endless Sorrow but I am afraid you will think me too tedious do not take it ill from me I verily think you will not God is my witness that love to my Master whom I can never admire never commend never save so much or so well as he deserves I should and love to your Soul a longing desire that you two may come to be savingly acquainted together hath set my Pen on work let him give it good speed I greatly delight in you here but I would very fain take you along with me to Heaven let us not part But I dare not for a World delude and flatter you here without a sound Conversion
B. LETTER XLI To Mr. F. Chesterfield Aug. 26. 1696. about Mr. Law Reverend Sir I Am frequently thoughtful about that poor People of Elton Midleton c. and having again and again of there flocking into the outward means which the Lord hath pleased now to send among them may they indeed flock in apace to our dear Lord Jesus as also of their diligent attention and affection under them as to many of them I have been encouraged to attempt doing something farther for them in order to their enjoying more frequent Opportunities which blessed be G. I have now effected but they have been something quicker then I thought of in fixing upon one to sit down among them a young Man that lives some where near good Mr. Bagshaw I have nothing to say against their Choice I have very little knowledge of the Person but it being a Matter of greater Importance then its like they are aware of I should desire a little satisfaction about him and supposing you to have knowledge of him I entreat the Favour of a few Lines to inform me what he is as to his Judgment and Practice and whether you look on him as a fit Person to fix among them I greatly desire that they may have one that is a plain warm Preacher one sound in Judgment and of a strict and holy Life such a one I should be well satisfied in as a likely Instrument to do good among them though he should come behind in other things And I suppose you are well acquainted with that poor Country and so desire you would be casting about in your thoughts if it may be to find us out another Place where Charity of this Nature may be duly and advantagiously placed if it may be obtained as I have some hopeful prospect that it might if I could but tell where to fix it and was but enabled to give some good account of it let your thoughts be at work for me this way for me did I say nay for you and let me also say my dear Lord and Master and for precious Souls that are upon the point of perishing whose Condition calls for our tenderest bowels of compassion and help though through want of Sence they do it not for themselves But I forget my Self in thus bespeaking you and as to my Self possibly may deceive you making you think that my Love to Christ and Souls is more then alass it is a poor thing even next to nothing sad sad this is but true and as soon as you can fix and have an opportunity let me hear from you but let me have a line concerning the former Business by my Friend the Bearer hereof for I intend God willing for Elton next Week and then it will be expected that the business be concluded which now blessed be G. I am prepared for in case your character of Mr. L. encourage me I write in hast and will not detain you longer only in begging a remembrance in your Prayers some of my mistaken Friends that are least acquainted with me may possibly think me some body for Religion but alass the truth is I make e'en nothing on 't Help me who am dear Sir your very affectionate Friend and Servant I. B. LETTER XLII To Mr. F. Chesterfield September 18. 1696. Dear Sir YOUR'S by good Mr. P. came safe to hand and was welcome to me indeed I would fain be doing something and with Submission to my great Master will have deliberately and delightfully chosen that which is more directly Charity to Souls for my more especial Province desiring herein to lay out and improve my poor but utmost Capacities and Interest so far as I may without breaking rank but alass it s but very little that I can do and the best of that very poorly done I speak my Heart I fear you think too well of me as to the Substance of your Letter Sir I have not at present in my Hands any thing of publick Charity but what is already determined of as to persons places and uses but having some of Mr. Alleins Books by me I intend to send you some of them on my own account as soon as opportunity offers if you have an opportunity first please to send in hast I remain your affectionate Friend and Servant I. B. LETTER XLIII To Mr. B. Ford November 12. 1696. Reverend and dear Sir I Received your's by good Mr. A. but being surprized with his unexpectedly sudden Return I had no time to Answer it I bless the Lord who enclined and enabled you to come to us at Midleton so that I have once seen your Face and had an opportunity of joining with you in Prayer and that in the heavenly Part of it O how sweet will Heaven be You are great in the Eyes of others but little in your own how happy are you in this that your Face shines and you know it not Dear Sir I thank you for your Letter My Father and I were both concerned that it fell out so that we could not take the opportunity of getting a tast of Mr. A. one in whom methinks one may see something extraordinary even in his Countenance one by appointment six Weeks before coming on purpose from a great distance to preach the Lecture that Day We got a little hold on him by promise to come again pray Sir put him in mind of it when you see him I had great hopes concerning Mr. L. from the time I first see him and heard how the People were generally affected under his Ministry and have my hopes the more confirmed by the account you have once and again given me of him I am sometimes in pain about them fearing least the Adversary by stirring up a Spirit of Division among them should much hinder the Work we are not ignorant of his Devices the good Lord rebuke him I beseech you Sir remember them on that account I shall do what I can to cut off all occasion by procuring something farther for Mr. P. to dispose of as he pleaseth I am in hopes of something out of my Lord Wharton's Charity but cannot yet get a possitive Answer I wonder sometimes that the Lord should encline you to take notice of such a one as I to write to me so oft as you have done but will you indeed bear me upon your warm Heart when you are at the Throne of Grace I seriously beg you would surely I am greatly needy though unworthy of such a Favour I have been smattering at Religion indeed trifling with it for many years for alass the truth is I make e'en nothing of it to this day O what a reproach am I to a dear Jesus a head so full of influences a root so full of sap and to his Ministers and Ordinances I sit under Corruptions and Temptations strong and oft prevailing Grace ordinarily low and languishing nay useless and unprofitable poor and yet upon all occasions I should rather say without any thing that looks like a