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 〈◊〉 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 Brethen in the everlasting Arms and rest From the common 〈◊〉 at Juelchester June 13th 1663. Your Embassador in bonds Joseph Alleine LETTERS 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 to work a mutual affection between me and you I remember the Tears and Prayers that you have sent me hither with and how I saw your hearts in your eyes How can I forget how you poured out your Souls upon me And truly you are a People much upon my heart whose welfare is the matter of my continual prayers care and study And oh that I knew how to do you good Ah? how certainly should never a son of you miscarry if I knew how to save you Ah! how it pities me to think how that so many of you should remain in your sins after so many and so long endeavours to convert and bring them in Once more Oh! my Beloved once more hear the call of the most high God unto yon The Prison Preaches to you the same Doctrine that the Pulpit did Hear O People hear he that hath an ear let him hear The Lord of Life and of Glory offers you all Mercy and Peace and Blessedness Oh why should you die whosoever will let him take of the Waters of Life freely what miss of life when it is to be had for the taking God forbid O my Brethren my Soul yerns for you and my bowels towards you Ah! that I did but know what Arguments to use with you who shall chuse my words for me that I may prevail with sinners not to reject their own Mercy how shall I get within them How shall I reach them Oh! that I did but know the words that would pierce them That I could but get between their sins and them Beloved Brethren the Lord Jesus hath made me most unworthy his Spokesman to bespeak your hearts for him And oh that I knew but how to 〈◊〉 for him that I might prevail these eight years have I been calling and yet how great a part do remain visibly in their sins and how few alas how few souls have I gained to Christ by sound conversion Once more I desire with all possible earnestness to apply my self to you I have thought it may be a Sermon out of a Prison might do that which I could not do after my long striving with you but have left undone 〈◊〉 then O Friends and let us reason together Many among you remain under the power of Ignorance Ah! how often have I told you the dangerous yea damnable estate that such are in Never make excuses nor flatter your selves that you shall be saved though you go on in this I have told you often and now tell you again God must be false of his Word if ever you be saved without being brought out of the state of Ignorance If ever you enter in at the door of Heaven it must be by the Key of Knowledge you cannot be saved except you be brought to the knowledge of the Truth A people that remain in gross ignorance that are without understanding the Lord that made them will not have mercy on them O why will you flatter your selves and wilfully deceive your own selves when the God of Truth hath said you shall surely die if you go on in this estate Oh for the love of God and of your Souls I beseech you awake and bestir your selves to get the saving knowledge of God you that are capable of learning a Trade to live by are you not capable of learning the way to be saved yea I doubt not but you are capable if you would but beat your heads about it and take pains to get it And is it not pity that you should perish for ever for want of a little pains and study and care to get the knowledge of God Study the Catechism if possible get it by heart if not read it often or get it read to you cry unto God for knowledge improve the little you have by living answerable Search the Scripture daily get them read to you if you cannot read them Improve your Sabbaths diligently and I doubt not but in the use of these means you will sooner arrive to the knowledge of Christ than of a Trade But for thee O hardned sinner that wilt make thy excuses that thou hast not time nor abilities to get knowledge and to sit still without it I pronounce unto thee that thou shalt surely perish And I challenge thee to tell me if thou canst how thou wilt answer it before the most High God when he shall fit in judgement upon thee that thou wouldest be contented to undergo a seven years Apprentiship to learn how to get thy living and that thou mightest have got the knowledge of the principles of Religion in half the time but thou wouldest not beat thy head about it Many are swallowed up in meer profaneness Alas that there should be any such in a place of such means and mercies but it cannot be concealed Many of them proclaim their sin like Sodom and carry their deadly Leprosie in their foreheads I am ashamed to think that in Taunton there should be so many Alehouse-haunters and Tiplers so many lewd Gamesters and Rioters and debauched livers so many black mouthed Swearers who have Oaths and Curses for their common language so many Raylers at Godliness and Prosane Scoffers so many Lyars and deceitful Dealers and unclean and wanton Wretches O what a long list will these and such like make up if put together it saddens me to mention such as these O how crimsen is their guilt how often have you been warned and yet are still unreformed yea loose and profane Yet one warning more have I sent after you from the Lord to repent Return O finners what will you run into everlasting burnings with your eyes open Repent O Drunkards or else you
serviceable 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 am My dear Brother Norman salutes you tenderly desiring you to be patient to stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh The ready Servant of your Faith and Joy JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 14. 1663. 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 the main work go on do your souls prosper This is my care beware that you Flag not that you faint not now in the evil day I understand that your dangers grow upon you may your Faith and courage and resolution grow accordingly and much more abundantly to overtop them Some of your enemies I hear are in great hopes to satisfie their Lusts upon you well be not discouraged my dear Brethren but bless the Lord who of his abundant Mercy hat so remarkably preserved you so long beyond all expectation Let it not be a strange thing to you if the Lord do now call you to some difficulty forsake not the Assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is I plainly see the Coal of Religion will soon go out unless it have some better helps to cherish it then a Carnal Ministrie and lifeless Administration Dear Brethren now is the time for you that fear the Lord to speak often one to another manage your duties with what prudence you can but away with that Carnal prudence that will decline duty to avoid danger Is the Communion of Saints worth the venturing for Shut not up your doors against Godly Meetings I am told that it is become a hard matter when a Minister is willing to take pains with you to get place Far be this from you my Brethren What shut out the World suppose there be somewhat more danger to him that gives the Minister entertainment Is there not much more advantage accordingly did not Obed Edom and his House get the blessing by entertaining the Ark there or do you think God hath never a Blessing for those that shall with much Self-denial entertain his Messengers his Saints his Worship are you believers and yet are affraid you shall be loosers by Christ do you indeed not know that he that runs most hazard for Christ doth express most love to Christ and shall receive the greatest reward away with that unbelief that prefers the present safety before the future glory I left you some helps for daily Ezamination I am jealous least you should grow slack and slight and careless in that duty Let me ask you in the name of the Lord doth never a day pass you but you do solemnly and seriously call your selves to an account what your carriage hath been to God and Men speak conscience Is there never an one within the hearing of this Letter that is a neglecter of this duty doth every one of your Consciences acquit you Oh that they did oh that they could tell me would not some of you be put shrewdly to it if I should ask you when you read or thought over the Questions that were given you for your help and would you not be put to a blush to give me an answer And will you not be much more ashamed that God and Conscience should find you tardy not that I would necessarily bind you up to that very Method only till you have found a way more profitable I would desire you yea methinks I cannot but deeply charge you to make daily use of that Awake conscience and do thou fall upon that Soul that thou findest careless in this work and never let him be at rest till thou canst witness for him that he is a daily and strict observer of himself and doth live in the constant practice of this duty What shall neither Gods charge nor your promise nor profit hold you to your work yet I may not doubt but some of you do daily perform this duty The Lord incourage you in it yet give me leave to ask you what you have gained are you grown more universally consciences more strict more humble and more sensible of your many and great defects then you were before If so blessed are you of the Lord if otherwise this duty hath been performe but slightly by you What can you say to this question doth your care of your ways abate or doth it increase by the constant use of this duty If it abate remember from whence you are fallen and repent as good not do it at all as not to the purpose My Pen is apt to run when I am writing unto you I beseech you that my Letters may not be as so much waste Paper to you may they be provocations to your duty and Medicines to any corruptions that they meet with Oh that they might find out mens sins and excite their graces I have run much farther than I thought I should have done but now I am called upon and must shut up The Lord God be a Sun and a Shield to you My most dear Love to you all fare you well in the Lord I am Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the common Gaol at Juelchester October 20. 1663. LETTER XIII Motives and Marks of Growth To the most Loving and best Beloved the Servants of Christ in Taunton Grace and Peace Most dear and tender Friends WHose I am and whom under God I desire to serve to build you up in Holiness and comfort hath been through grace my great ambition This is that which I laboured for this is that which I suffer for and in short the end of all my applications to you and to God for you How do your Souls prosper are they in a thriving case what progress do you make in Sanctification doth the house of Saul grow weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger beloved I desire to be jealous of you with a Godly jealousie lest any of you should lose your ground in these declining times and therefore cannot but be often calling upon you to look to your standing and to watch and hold fast that no man take your Crown Ah! how surely shall you reap in the end if
in Profession It is not Profession but Converson that turns a man from a Swine to a Sheep Let none of you be deceived nor flatter your selves that because you beat the Name of Christians and do many things and have escaped the open gross pollutions of the World therefore you are surely among the number of Christs true Sheep All this you may attain to and yet be but washed Swine here must be an inward deep and thorow and universal Change upon your Natures Dispositions Inclinations or else you are not Christs Sheep In a word If you will be put out of doubt whether you are his Sheep or not you must trie it by this certain Mark that Christ sets upon all his Sheep even your Sanctification you that will stand to the trial answer me truly and deliberately to these Questions Do you hate every sin as the Sheep doth the Mire Do you regard no Iniquity in your Hearts Do you strive against and oppose all Sin though it may seem never so necessary never so natural to you or have you not you secret Haunts of evil For every Swine will have his swill Do 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 out 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 hunger and thirst after it and 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 this 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 are you among men though you are but poor and despised and like little Benjamin among the thousands of Judah You carry away the 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 Kingdome of Heaven All that the Scripture speaks of that Kingdome of Glory that Kingdome of Peace of Righteousness that Everlasting Kingdome 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 not 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 shall set you at his own right hand Then shall the King say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome 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 nor bid you be Thankful onely believe Do this and do all Believe and you will rejoyce with Joy unspeakeable and full of Glory Believe and you will be Fruitfull and shew your Faith by your works Believe and you will Love for Faith worketh by love In a word keep these things upon your Hearts by daily and lively Consideration and this will bring Heaven into your Souls and ingage you to all manner of holy Conversation and Godliness This will mortifie you to the World the grand Enemy which I advise nay I charge you to beware of When Saul had gotten his Kingdome he left off taking Care for the Asses O Remember yours is the Kingdom What are You the better that You have all this in your Bibles if you do not weigh it by frequent and serious Consideration and ponder these sayings in your Hearts Beloved I have written these things to you that your joy may be full And now Peace I leave with you I am Christs Embassador to you an Embassador of Peace his Peace I pronounce unto you In his Name I bless you Farewell in the Lord I am The fervent Well-willer of your Souls JOS. ALLEINE Devises June 29. 1666. LETTER XXVII Of the Second coming of Christ. To the Faithful and Beloved the Servants of God in Taunton Grace and Peace Loving and most dearly Beloved THough I trust my Bonds do preach to You yet methinks 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 remember 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 bright but very
would set up and maintain this duty in your families Have you done it all accordingly Cannot your consciences witness cannot your families 〈◊〉 you have not Well I thought my parting words would have done something with you I hoped the fervent request of a dying Minister would have prevailed for such a small matter with you What to this day without solemn catechizing in your houses 〈◊〉 what a discouragement to your teacher is this Brethren shall I yet prevail with you Will you reject me now also O let me perswade you before you take off your eyes from 〈◊〉 lines to resolve to set upon the constant exerise of this duty Surely I have done and suffered more for you then this comes to will you deny me I 〈◊〉 you let me find if ever God do bring me again to visit your houses that the words of a suffering Minister have some power with you I have sent you an help on purpose what shall all my perswasions be but speaking in the wind and all my pains but labouring in the fire Beloved you have no dread of the Almighties charge That you should teach these things diligently to your children and talk of them as you sit in your houses c. Deut. 6. 6 7 8. 9. and 4. 9 10. and 11. 18 19 20. and train them up in the way they should go Prov. 22. 6. the Margin Hath God so commended Abraham that he would teach his children and houshold Gen. 18. 19. and that he had so many instructed servants Gen. 14. 14. the Margin and given such a promise to him thereupon and will not you put in for a share neither in the praise nor the promise Hath Christ honoured catechizing with his presence Luke 2. 46. and will not you own it with your practise Say not they are careless and will not learn What have you your Authority for if not to use it for God and the good of their souls You will call them up and force them to do your work and should you not at least be as zealous in putting them upon Gods work Say not they are dull and are not capable If they be dull God requires of you the more pains and patience but so dull as they are you will make them learn how to work and can they not learn as well how to live Are they capable of the mysteries of your trade and are they not capable of the plain principles of Religion well as ever you would see the growth of Religion the cure of ignorance the remedy of prophaness the downfal of error fulfil you my joy in going through with this duty I have been too long already and yet I am afraid my letter will be ended before my work be done how loath am I to leave you before I have prevailed with you to set to the work to which you are here directed will you pass your promise will you give me your hands Oh that you would you cannot do me a greater pleasure Ask what you will of me See if I will not do as much for you Oh that your Families might be a joy to me as that twice noble Ladies to John who professes he had no greater joy then to find her children walking in the truth Beloved why should you hot give the hand one to another and mutually engage each to other for more vigorous and diligent endeavours in promoting family godliness I must tell you God looks for more than ordinary from you in such a day as this He expects that you should do both in your hearts and in your houses somewhat more than ever under these his Extraordinary dispensations My most dearly beloved mine own howels in the Lord will you satisfie the longings of a travelling Minister Will you answer the Calls of Divine Providence Would you remove the Incumbent or prevent the impending Calamities Would you plant Nurseries for the Church of God Would you that God should build your Houses and bless your Substance would you that your Children should bless you that Your Father should bless You Oh then set up Piety in your Families as ever you would be blessed or be a blessing let your Hearts and your Houses be the Temples of the living God in which his worship according to all the forementioned directions may be with constancy reverently performed Pardon my prolixity and importunity in so earnest pursuing of You I am yet afraid I have done too soon and shall end without my Erranil The Lord God perswade you To him I turn me for I am well assured he can prevail with you O Father of Spirits that hath set me over thy Flock to watch for their Souls as one that must give an account I have long studied thy Will and taught in thy Name and do unfeiguedly bless thee that any have believed my Report I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me and they have received them I have manifested thy Name unto them and they have kept thy Word And now I am no more with them but I come unto thee Holy Father keep them through thine own Name for they are thine As they have kept the Word of thy Patience so keep thou them in the hour of Temptation They are but a flock a little and a helpless flock but thou art their Shepheard suffer them not to want Do thou feed them and fold them Let thy Rod and thy Staff comfort them and let not the Beasts of prey fall upon them to the spoiling of their Souls But what shall I do for them that will not be gathered I have called after them but they would not answer I have charged them in thy Name but they would not hear I have studied to speak perswasively to them but I cannot prevail Then I said I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet I cannot give them over much less may I give thee over Lord perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem. Lord compel them to come in and lay the hands of mercy upon them as thou didst on lingring Lot and bring them forth that they may escape for their lives and not be consumed Lord I pray thee open their eyes that they may see and lay hold upon their hearts by thy Omnipotent Grace Do thou turn them and they shall be turned O bring back the miserable 〈◊〉 and suffer not the Enemy of Mankind to drive away the most of the flock before mine eyes and to 〈◊〉 the fruitless endeavours of thy Laborers and boast over them that he can do more with them though he seek to ruine them than all the beseechings counsels 〈◊〉 charges of thy Servants that seek to save them Lord if I could find out any thing that would pierce them that would make its way into their hearts thou 〈◊〉 if would 〈◊〉 it But I have been many years pleading thy Cause in vain O let not these endeavors also be lost O God find out every ignorant
soon What doth he wish that he were back again with you Hath he his everlasting Rest too soon His glorious Recompence too soon Brethren he wrought a pace you know while he had strength and finished the work that God had given him to do betime So that it is no wonder though he hath his wages early sooner then such dull heavy Slugs as we are His life was short indeed though filled up with Grace and Duty and God hath made but an exchange of an Eternal one for it He was a burning and a shining light burning with enflamed Affections till the Oyl was spent and shining in an exemplary Conversation But this Lamp is not extinguished but only lighted up to flame and shine in a more glorious place And there he shall shine forth as the Sun for ever and ever So that I may say still weep not for him 2. But you will ask me For whom shall we weep then I answer for your selves and for your Children 1. Weep for your selves The Lord you see hath made a woful breach upon you as it is said of 〈◊〉 1 Sam 6. 8. And that your hearts remain unbroken they are unsutable to this heavy dispensation God hath remov'd his holy faithful servant not into a blind corner but into a dark pit The Grave hath newly shut her mouth upon him he is gone hence to be no more in this world You shall behold him now no more in the Land of the Living Your eyes shall see your Teacher here no more for ever You shall now be no more enlightened with his clear instructions No more enliven'd with his zealous Exhortations No more quickned with his fervent Prayers No more warm'd with his heavenly Discourses No more chear'd with his sweet Consolations No more guided by his holy Example The Lord hath made him up among his Jewels because indeed we were not worthy of such a precious Gemme as he was He hath in anger and displeasure pluckt away one of our Pillars as if he meant the House should fall And shall we be insensible of such a stroke Shall we have tears enough to waste upon our petty Losses and not to have a tear to spend on this Inestimable and Irreparable one Brethren you are allow'd to weep here though not for him yet for your selves And that especially in two respects 1. For the sins that you have done for they have made this sad work They are the true and real cause of all your Losses They are your sins that binder good things that they come not to you or take them quite away when they are come If God carry you a side into a Wilderness and strip you naked there of any mercy as if he meant to 〈◊〉 you to the purpose Your waies and your doing I have procured you these things such is your wickedness Believe it you have sinned some way or other against the Mercy which the Lord takes from you They are our sins against the Ordinances of the Lord that cause the Lord to take away our Ordinances from us They are our sins against the Ministers of Christ in that capacity as Ministers that provoke him to remove our Ministers from us yea many times to take away the Candlestick and Light together You may take up the Lamentation of the Church this day The Crown is faln from our heads wo to us for we have sinned They are our sins that 〈◊〉 and Impair and Kill our Ministers who are indeed the Churches Crown and the glory of Christ. Sometimes we overvalue them and then we kill them with kindness Sometimes we undervalue them and then we kill them with neglect and 〈◊〉 them do their work with grief Sometimes we are 〈◊〉 and unthankful and unfruitful and God calls away his Workmen out of the Vineyard that will yield no better Fruit. Nay sometimes we decline and grow remiss and cold and slat we lose our love to God and Christ and then he takes away our Beloved comforts from us And let me tell you some of you have backslidden grievously and sensibly abated of your former Zeal and Holiness and strictness in the Waies of God Yea sinned scandalously to the dishonour of Religion and the Gospel This grieved our dear Brother who will grieve no more now I had it from his Mouth and Pen how tenderly he took some late miscarriages and how near they went to him These things brought him low among you who was low enough before and made him to bewail many who have manifestly sinned and have not repented as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 12. 21. Oh how it wounded him after so many Labours and so many Sufferings for your establishment and confirmation to see such declinations and backslidings He might have said with the Apostle 1 Thes. 3. 8. Now I live if you stand fast in the Lord if not I die and dead he is Oh my dear Friends What have your sins done What hath your barrenness and your unfruitfulness and your backsliding done I know you lov'd him with a very high affection and have made it to appear in many outward declarations to your great praise But the best way to shew your love to the true Ministers of Christ Who seek not yours but you who seek not profit and applause but Fruit is to bear their just reproofs and to be amended by them to hear and obey them in their regular directions to follow all their good Examples For the Ministers of Christ are Samplers to the flock and Samplers must be wrought after And in a word to bring them in the return of all their Labours in Holiness and holy Walking that they may see the travel of their souls and be satisfied Nothing but this will satisfie them and make them do their work with Joy I know you lov'd him as there was cause enough you should but say in truth have you Improv'd him I am assur'd that many of you a considerable number have Improv'd him to the utmost of your power That you have made the most you could of his Indefatigable and Incessant pains among you That you have gather'd up the very Fragments of the Bread of Life and pick'd up the very Crums that nothing might be lost That you have eyed his exemplary Conversation and walked according to your pattern And this I make no question is no small comfort to you in this doleful day But have you all done this Are there no secret Stitches at the Hearts of any of you upon this consideration He spent his strength indeed among you he wasted and consumed himself that you might flourish But tell mee have there been answerable Fruits among you of Holiness and Obedience When he Fed you have you prosper'd He got a poor lean wither'd Body that you might have fat Souls And are you all fat and well liking Oh what lean Souls have some of you who have attended on his Ministry even to his dying day How hath your rich and fat Pasture been
eyes that he attained to the right temperament of the Christian Religion and to a truly Evangelical frame of Spirit suitable to the glorious hopes of Faith and to the wonderful love of our Redeemer And when most Christians think that they have done much if they can but weep and groan over their Corruptions and can abstain from the lustful Pollutions of the World in the midst of many doubts and fears LOVE and JOY and a HEAVENLY MIND were the Internal part of his Religion and the large and fervent PRAISES of God and THANKS GIVING for his Mercies especialiy for CHRIST and the SPIRIT and HEAVEN were the External Exercises of it He was not negligent in confessing Sin nor Tainted with any Antinomian Errours but PRAISE and THANKSGIVING were his Natural Strains his frequentest longest and heartiest Services He was no despiser of a broken Heart but he had attained the blessing of a healed joyful Heart The following Narratives the strain of his Letters but above all the admirations of his nearest Friends will tell him that will enquire how his tryumphant Discourses of the Hopes of Glory and his frequent and fervent Thanksgiving and Praise were the Language which he familiarly spake and the very business of his Heart and Life And O how amiable is it to hear the Tongue employed seriously and frequently in that which it was made for even in the praise of him that made it And to see a man passing with joyful hopes towards Immortality And to live as one that seriously believeth that he must quickly be in the Heavenly Church and live with God and Christ for ever O how comely is it to see a man that saith he believeth that Christ hath redeemed him from Hell and reconciled him to God and made him an Adopted Heir of Glory to live like one that was so strangely saved from so great a misery and with the most affectionate gratitude to honour the Purchaser of all this Grace And how uncomely a thing is it to hear a man say That he believeth all this Grace of Christ this Heavenly Glory this Love of God and yet to be inclined to no part of Religion but fears and complainings and scarce to have any words of Praises or Thanksgiving but a few on the by which are heartless affected and constrained O did Christians yea Ministers but Live with the Joy and Gratitude and Praise of Jehovah which beseemeth those that believe what they believe and those that are entring into the Coelestial Chore they would then be an honour to God and their Redeemer and would win the World to a love of Faith and Holiness and make them throw away their worldly Fool-games and come and see what it is that these Joyous Souls have found But when we shew the World no Religion but Sighing and Complaining and live a sadder life than they and yet talk of the glad-Tydings of Christ and Pardon and Salvation we may talk so long enough before they will believe us that seem no more to be Believers our selves or before they will leave their fleshly pleasures for so sad and dreadful a Life as this And as this kind of Heavenly Joyful Life is an honour to Christ and a wonderful help to the Converting of the World so is it a Reward to him that hath it which made this Holy Person live in such a vigour of Duty such fervour of holy Love and such continual Content in God so that the Kingdom of God in him was Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost which others think consisteth in Meats Drinks and Dayes in Shadows and Circumstances in Sidings and in singular Conceits Rom. 14. Col. 2. 16. It was not a Melancholy Spirit that acted him nor did he tempt his People into such an uncomfortable state and strein But in the multude of his thoughts within him the comforts of God did delight his Soul His Meditation of God and his Redeemer was sweet and he rejoyced in the Lord. He delighted in the Law of the Lord and when delight invited him no wonder if it were his Meditation day and night Psal. 1. 2. 104. 34. 119. 103. 94. 19. And how great a Solace was this in his Sufferings when he could be in a Goal and in Heaven at once When he could after the terrible torment of Convulsions have the foresight and taste of Heavenly Pleasures Nihil Crus sentit in Nervo cum Animus est in Coelo saith Tertul. And as he lived so he died in Vigorous Joyful Praises and Thanksgivings Reviving out of his long speechless Convulsion into those fervent Raptures as if he had never been so impatient of being absent from the Lord as when he was just passing into his Presence or rather as if with Stephen he had seen Heaven opened and Christ in his Glory and could not but speak of the unutterable things which he had seen I deny not but his vigorous active Temper might be a great help to all his holy Alacrity and Joy in his healthful State But when that frame of Nature was broken by such Torments and was then dissolving to hear a dying Man about sixteen hours together like the ferventest Preacher in the Pulpit pour out his Soul in Praises and Thanskgiving and speak of God of Christ of Heaven as one that could never speak enough of them and that with a Vivacity and Force as if he had been in former Health and to tryumph in Joy as one that was just laying hold upon the Crown surely in this there was something that was the Reward of all his former Praise and Thankfulness and that which must needs tell the Auditors the diference not onely between the death of a Righteous Believer and the wicked Unbeliever but the weak and distempered Believer also the difference between a sound and a diseased Christian and between the tryumphant Faith and Hopes of one that saw the God and World invisible and the staggering Faith and trembling Hopes of a feeble and distrustful Soul and between the death of one that had been used to converse in Heaven and to make Thanksgiving and Praise his Work and of one that had been used to cleave to Earth and make a great matter of the concernments of the Flesh and to rise but little higher in Religion then a course of outward Duty animated most with troublesome Fears Though he died not in the Pulpit yet he died in Pulpit-Work And I must also note how great an advantage it was to himself and to his Ministerial Works that he was possessed deeply with this true sentiment That the PLEASING of GOD is the proper ultimate end of Man not doubting but it includeth the notion of glorifying him for thus his heart was rightly principled and all his Doctrine and Duties rightly animated And as in all his Ministry he was extraordinarily addicted to open to the Hearers the Covenant of Grace and to explain Religion in the true Notion of Covenanting with God and
again Through the blessing of the Lord upon this means without any thing else except his drinking of Goats-Milk he that was not able to go nor stand nor move a Finger could in three weeks time walk about his Chamber and feed himself his impaired Appetite was again restored and his strength so increased that there seemed no doubt to the Physitians of his full recovery he having not the least sign of any inclination to his Fits from the twelfth of May till his Death drew nigh In this time of his being in Bath his Soul was far more strengthened with Grace so that my self and all that beheld him and conversed with him discerned sensibly his growth and he was in the nights and dayes so frequently with God and often in such ravishments of Spirit from the Joys and Consolations that he received from the Spirit of God that it was oftentimes more than he could express or his bodily strength could bear so that for my own part I had less hopes of his continuance on Earth than ever before For I perceived plainly the Lord had spared him but to recover strength of Grace and to make him a more evident instance of his singular Love before he took him hence He being now more chearful than formerly and more exceedingly affectionate in his carriage to me and to all his Friends especially with those that were most Heavenly the Lord was pleased to order it in his Providence there were many such then who came to use the Bath as Mr. Fairclough and his Wife Mr. How of Torrington Mr. Joseph Barnard and his Wife and several of our Taunton Friends and of Bristol Ministers and others which was a great comfort to us His parts seemed to be more quick in his Converses whatever he was put upon either by Scholars or those that were more Inferiour He had many visitors there both of strangers and Friends who were willing to see him and discourse with him having heard what a monument of Mercy he was and he would to all of them so amplifie upon all the Passages of Gods dealings with him as was very pleasant to all that heard him and did affect many that were strangers to God and to Religion as well as to him He found much favour even among the worst both Gentry and others such as would make a scoff at Religion or holy Discourse from others would hearken to him Though he did often faithfully reprove many for their Oaths and excess in Drinking their lascivious Carriages which he observed in the Bath and there was none of them but did most thankfully accept it from him and shewed him more respect after than they had done before In which he observed much of Gods goodness to 〈◊〉 and would often say to me O! how good is it to be faithful to God The vilest of these Persons as I was by several informed said of him That he never spake with such a man in his life His Reproofs were managed with so much respect to their Persons and the honourable esteem he had of their Dignity that they said They could not but accept his Reproofs though very close and plain And his way was sometime before he intended to reprove them he would often in the Bath Converse with them of things that might be taking with them and did so ingage their Affections that they would willingly every day converse with him He being furnished from his former Studies for any Company designing to use it still for Holy ends by such means hath caught many Souls While he was in this place though he had many Diversions by his using the Bath constantly every day and his frequent Visits besides his Weakness yet he kept his constant Seasons four times a day for his Holy Retirements waking in the Morning constantly at or before five a Clock and would not be disturbed till about seven when he was carried to the Bath Having the Curtains drawn close he spent his time in Holy Meditation and Prayer and Singing and once again before Dinner but then he spent less time and about half an hour before two in the Afternoon just before he went abroad For though he never attained to so much strength as to be able to walk abroad in the Streets without my leading him or some other yet he would be imployed for his Lord and Master His Chair-men that used to carry him to the Bath he appointed to fetch him about three a Clock who carried him to Visit all the Schools and Alms-houses and the Godly Poor especially the Widdows to whom he would give Money and with whom he would Pray and Converse with them concerning their Spiritual States according as their Necessities required ingaging those that were Teachers and Governours to Teach the Assemblies Catechism buying many Dozens and giving them to distribute to their Scholars and many other small Books which he thought might be useful for them and then would come and see in a Week or Fortnight what progress they had made He also ingaged several to send their Children once a Week to him to be Catechised which they did hearken to him in And we had about sixty or seventy Children every Lord's-Day to our Lodging and they profited much by his Instructions till some took such offence at it that he was forced to desist and the School-Master was threatned to be cited to Wells before the Bishop and many others afrighted from it He also sent for all the godly Poor he could find in that place and entertained them at his Chamber and gave to them every one as he was able as a Thank-Offering to the Lord for his Mercy to him and desired them with several others to keep a day of Thanksgiving for him Mr. Fairclough Mr. How and Himself performing the duties of the day Thus though his Sickness had been long and his Expences great he thought he could never spend enough for him from whom he had received all He constantly gave Money or Apples to all the Children that came to be catechized by him to ingage them besides all he gave to the Teachers and Poor which indeed was beyond his ability considering his Estate But I am perswaded he did foresee that his time would be but short and having made a competent and comfortable provision for me he resolved to lay up the rest in Heaven he did often say to me If he lived never so long he would never increase his Estate now I was provided for he having no Children God's Children should have it But he was yet again designing what he might do before he took his leave of the World And his next work was to send Letters to all his Relations and intimate Friends in most of which he urges them to observe his Counsels for they were like to be his last to them I alwayes wrote for him for he could not by reason of his weakness write a Line At this time he had a great desire to go to Mr. Joseph
you prize the Promises more and hug and imbrace them with greater dearness and live more upon them Tenthly If you grow of a more publick Spirit A selfish Spirit is unworthy of a Christian are the common concernments of Gods Glory and the prosperity of the Church much upon your hearts will it no way content you to dwell in plenty peace and safety your selves except you may see peace upon Israel do the wounds in Gods Name and Glory go deep into you are the sins of others your sorrows Time and room and strength fails to add means too as I intended I have trespassed in length already may these be helps to you to put you forward and to help you in discerning your growth I must conclude abruply and commend you to God with my dear loves to you all I take leave and can only tell you that I am Yours in the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 31. 1663. LETTER XV. Perswasion to Sinners and comfort to Saints To my dearly Beloved the Inhabitants of the Town of Taunton Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Most dearly Beloved I Have been through mercy many years with you and should be willingly so many years a Prisoner for you so I might eminently and effectually further your Salvation I must again yea again and again thank you for your abundant and intire affections to me which value as a great mercy not in order to myself if I know my own heart but in order to your benefit as I may thereby be a more likely Instrument to further your good Surely so much as I do value your love which is not a little yet had I rather if I am not unacquainted with my self be forgotten and forsaken of you all and buried in oblivion So that your eyes and hearts might be hereby fixed on Christ and sincerely engaged to him Brethren I have not bespoken your affections for my self O that I might win your hearts universally to Jesus Christ though I had lost them for ever O that I might be instrumental to convert you to him though you were diverted from me I am perswaded that I should much rather choose to be hated of all so this might be the means to have Christ honoured and set up savingly in the hearts of you all And indeed there is nothing great but in order to God nothing is much material or considerable as it is terminated in us It matters not whether we are in Riches or poverty in sickness or Health in honour or disgrace so Christ may be by us magnified in the condition we are in Welcome Prison and Poverty welcome Scorn and Envy welcome pains or contempt if by these Gods glory may be most promoted What are we for but for God what doth the Creature signifie separated from his God why just so much as the Cypher separated from the Figure or the letter from the Syllable we are nothing or nothing worth but in reference to God and his ends Better were it that we had never been than that we should not be to him Better that we were dead than we should live and not to him Better that we had no understandings than that we should not know him Better that we were Blocks and Bruits than that we should not use our Reason for him What are our Interests unless as they may be subservient to his Interest or our esteem or reputation unless we may hereby glorifie him do you love me I know you do but who is there that will leave his sins for me I mean at my requests with whom shall I prevail to give up himself in strictness and self denial to the Lord who will be intreated by me to set upon neglected duties or reform accustomed sins O wherein may you rejoyce me in this in this my Brethren in this you shall befriend me if you obey the voice of God by me if you be prevailed with to give your selves up throughly to the Lord would you lighten my burden would you loosen my bonds would you make glad my heart let me hear of your owning the ways and servants of the Lord in adversity of your coming in of your abiding and patient continuing in the ways of holiness O that I could but hear that the prayerless Souls the prayerless Families among you were now given to prayer that the prosane sinner would be awakened and be induced by the preaching of these Bonds which heretofore would not be prevailed with to leave their drunkenness their loose company their lying and deceit and Wantonness by all the threatnings of God that cou'd be pronounced against them nor all the beseechings wooings and entreaties that I was able to use with them will you not be made clean when shall it once be how long shall the patience of God wait for you how long shall the Lord Jesus stretch our his hands toward you O sinners cast your selves into his Arms Why should you die Why will you forsake your own Mercy will you perish when mercy wooes you confess and forsake your sins and you shall find mercy will you part with Christ and sell your Souls to perdition for a little ease and delight to your flesh or a little of the gain of unrighteousness or a little Ale or vain mirth or loose company why these are the things that part between Sinners and Christ. I know many are spun with a finer thred and are not so far from the Kingdom of God as the prayerless ignorant Sabbath-breaking intemperate sort are But I must once again warn you of staying in the Suburbs of the City of Refuge O what pity is it that any should perish at the Gates that any should escape the pollutions of the world and do many things yea and suffer it may be too and yet should fall short of the glory of God for want of a through work of grace Oh you halting Christians that halt between Christ and the World that are as Ephraim like a Cake not turned dow-baked Professors that have Lamps without Oyl that cry Lord Lord but do not the will of our Father which is in Heaven how long will you stay in the place of the breaking forth of Children and stick between the Womb and the World your Religion will carry you among the profane despisers of Godliness but do own the people of the Lord and do love the Ministers and Ordinances therefore all is well I tell you Godliness is a heart-work it goes deep and spreads far unless the frame of your hearts and the drists of your course be changed unless you be universally conscientious and unreservedly delivered up to the Lord for all times and conditions whatever be the cost you are none of Christs how far soever you go in common workings and external performances Hear then O people and let nor profaneness swallow you up let not an almost Christianity deceive you orignorance carry you blindfold to perdition
Companion in your Closets Let it Travel with You in your Journies Let it Lie down and Rise up with You Let it close your Eyes in the Evening and call You out of your Beds in the Morning Be You the Votaries of Holiness Keep Her and She shall Keep You. I shall close with my Loves to You all onely because I know You love to hear of my Well-fare I must tell You that Goodness and Mercy do follow me perpetually every Day and every Night Glory to God in the highest Dear Brethren Fare you well in the Lord I am Your Devoted Servant in the Gospel whether a Bond-Man or a Free JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelshester Decemb. 3. 1663. Most Dearly Beloved This was intended for you a Week sooner then it comes to be Communicated I purposely Write in the middle of the Week that if any Opportunity be suddenly offered I may have somewhat ready for You But last Week I failed of a Conveyance I shall not add any thing further now but that I shall follow my Counsels with my Prayers and shall be an humble Intercessor night and day before God for You To him I commend You and to the Word of his Grace Remaining Yours while I am J. A. LETTER XIX 1. Try 2. Rejoyce To the most Loving and best Beloved the Flock of Christ in Taunton Grace and Peace Most endeared Friends MY heart is solicitous for You Your Spiritual and Eternal welfare is the matter of my desires and designes Let not my Beloved think they were forgotten by me because you heard not from me the last Week sleep departed from my eyes to write to you at large but in the morning I concluded it best to defer the imparting of it to You for a season that you might have it a better way Can a woman forget her Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb Yea they may forget but Christ will earnestly remember You still Natural Parents may be so far unnatural spiritual Parents may be so far carnal as to forget their own Children I would have you count nothing as certain but Christs love and care This you may build upon You need not fear lest time and distance should wear out the remembrance of you with him Your names are inrolled in the everlasting Decrees of Heaven and a whole Eternity hath not been able to wear them out Do any of you Question whether you are so happy as to have your Names recorded above I shall bring it to a speedy issue Do you Question whether Christ hath taken your Names Whether you are upon his heart Let me ask you Is Heaven upon your Hearts Is the Name of Jesus deeply engraven upon your Souls Is his Image and Superscription there If you can find that Heaven is the main of your cares that your hearts are set upon it as your home and your Countrey and that it is your great business to seek it and to secure it then never doubt if your hearts be chiefly upon Heaven your Names are unquestionably written in Heaven Again hath Christ recorded his Name in your hearts Is the Name of Jesus the Beloved name with you precious above all next to your Hearts Is there no other Name under Heaven so dear and sweet to you What room hath Christ in you If any thing be deeper in your hearts than he is you are unsound As the Father hath given him so do your hearts give him a Name above every Name Is Christ uppermost with you in your estimations and affections Then rejoyce and leap for joy for your Names are most pretious with Christ if his Name be above all dear to You. Once more hath Christ drawn out his own similitude upon You Is Christ within You doth he dwell in your Hearts Then be sure You have a room in his heart The Image of Christ is in holiness Is this that which your very hearts are set upon Do You thirst for Holiness Do You follow after Holiness Do you prize it above all Prosperity and worldly Greatness Do You hate every sin and long to be rid of it as your most irksome burden and use all Gods means against it as far as you know them If it be thus with you Christ hath set his stamp upon your hearts and so you may be sure he hath set You as a Seal upon his heart Rejoyce then O Christians and bless your selves in the happy priviledge that you have in being under Christs care Fear not little Flock Stronger is he that is with you than he that is against you What though Satan should raise all his Militia against you adhere to Christ in a patient doing and suffering his pleasure and he shall secure you The Lord will not forsake you because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people God hath entrusted you with his Son You are his Care and his Charge Many will be listing at you many will be plucking at you but fear not you shall not be moved none shall pluck you out of Christs hand he hath all power Mat. 28. 8. Can Omnipotence secure you He is all Treasures Col. 2. 3. Can unsearchable Riches suffice you In a word he is all Fulness Col. 1. 21. Can all Content you Can Fulness fill you if so you are blessed and shall be blessed Beloved We lose unutterably for want of considering for want of viewing our own Priviledges and Blessedness O Man is Christ thine and yet dost thou live at a low rate and Comfort Is thy name written in Heaven and yet dost thou not rejoyce Shall the Children of the Kingdom the Candidates of Glory the chosen Generation the Royal Priesthood be like other men O Christians Remember who and whence you are consider your Obligations put on a better pace Bestir your selves run and wrestle and be strong for the Lord of Hosts and earnestly yet peaceably contend for the Faith once delivered to his Saints What shall we make nothing of all that God hath said and done for us Christians shall he that hath gotten an inriching Office boast of his Booty or he that hath obtained the Kings Patent for an Earldome glory in his Riches and Honour And shall the Grant of Heaven signifie little with thee Or Christs Patent for thy Sonship and Partnership with himself be like a Cypher Shall Haman come home from the Banquet with a glad heart and glorying in the greatness of his Riches the multitude of his Children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him above the Princes And shall we turn over our Bibles and read the Promises and find it under Gods own hand that he intends the Kingdome for us that he will be a Father to us that he gives and grants all his infinite perfections to us and yet not be moved Beloved Christians live like your selves let the World see that the Promises of God and Priviledges of the Gospel are not empty sounds or a meer
not what thanks to render to you nor to God for You for all the unexpressable love which I have found in you toward me and not terminatively to me but to Christ in me for I believe it is for his sake as I am a Messenger and Embassador of his to You that you have loved me and done so much every way for me and I think I may say of Taunton as the Psalmist of Jerusalem If I forget thee let my right hand forget her cunning if I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth I would not my dear Brethren that You should be dejected or discouraged at the Late disappointments For through the goodness of God I am not but rather more satisfied than before and this I can truly say nothing doth sadden me more than to see so much sadness in your faces As on the contrary nothing doth comfort me so much as to see your Chear and Courage Therefore I beseech you Brethren faint not because of my Tribulation nor of Gods delays but strengthen the hands and the feeble knees And the Lord bolster up your hands as they did the hands of Moses that they may not fall down till Israel do prevail Let us fear lest there be some evil among us that God being angry with us doth send this farther tryal upon us Pray earnestly for me lest the eye of the most jealous God should discern that in me which should render me unfit for the mercy You desire And let every one of you search his heart and search his house to see if there be not 〈◊〉 there Let not these disappointments make you to be nevertheless in love with Prayers but the more out of love with sin Let us humble our selves under the mighty hand of God and he shall exalt us in due time And for the Enemies of God you must know also that their foot shall slide in due time Let the Servants of God encourage themselves in their God for in the things wherein they deal proudly he is above them Therefore fret not your selves because of evil-doers commit your Cause to him that judgeth righteously Remember that you are bid if you see oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgment and Justice in a Province not to marvel at the matter Verily there is a God that Judgeth in the Earth And you have the liberty of Appeals Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him and fret not your selves because of the men that bring wicked devises to pass take heed that none of you do with Peter begin to sink now you see the waters rough and the winds boysterous these things must not weaken your Faith nor cool your Zeal for they are great Arguments for the strengthning of it What clearer evidence can there be for the future Judgment and Perdition of the ungodly and Coronation of the Just in another life than the most unjust proceedings that are here upon Earth Shall not the Judge of all the Earth see right to be done We see here nothing but confusion and disorder the wicked receiveth according to the work of the Righteous and the Innocent according to the work of the Wicked The Godly perish and the Wicked flourish these do prosper and they do suffer What! Can it be ever thus No doubtless there must be a day when God will Judg the World in Righteousness and rectifie the present disorders and reverse the unrighteous Sentences that have been passed against his Servants And this evidence is so clear that many of the Heathen Philosophers have from this very Argument I mean the unrighteous usage of the Good concluded that there must certainly be Rewards and Punishments adjudged by God in mother World Nor yet lose your Zeal Now is the time that the love of many doth wax cold but I bless God it is not so with you I am sure your love to me is as true Friends should be like the Chimneys warmest in the Winter of Adversity and I hope your love to God is much more and I would that You should abound yet more and more Where else should you bestow your Loves Love ye the Lord ye his Saints and cling about him the faster now ye see the World is striving to separate you from him How many are they that go to knock off your fingers O methinks I see what tugging there is The World is plucking and the Devil is plucking Oh hold fast I beseech you hold fast that no man take your Crown Let the Water that is sprinkled yea rather poured upon your Love make it to flame up the more Are you not betrothed unto Christ Oh Remember Remember your Marriage-Covenant Did you not take him for Richer for Poorer for better for worse Now prove your love to Christ to have been a true Conjugal love in that you can love him when most slighted despised undervalued blasphemed among men Now acquit your selves not to have followed Christ for the Loaves Now confute the Accuser of the Brethren who may be ready to suggest of the best of You as he did of Job Doth he serve the Lord for nought And let it be seen that You loved Christ and Holiness purely for their own sakes that You can love a naked Christ when there is no hopes of worldly advantage or promoting of self-interest in following him Yet beware that none of you do stick to the wayes of Christ and Religion upon so carnal an Account as this because this is the Way that you have already taken up and you count it a shame to recede from your Principles I am very jealous lest some Professors should miss of their Reward for this Least they should be accounted Turn-coats and Hypocrites therefore they will shew a 〈◊〉 of spirit in going on since they have once begun and cannot with honour retreat Would you chose holiness and strictness if it were to do again Would you enter yourselves among Gods poor people if it were now first to do Would you have taken up the Profession of Christ though you had foreseen all this that is come and coming This will do much to evidence your sincerity But I forget that I am writing a Letter being prone to pass all bounds when I have thus to do with you The Lord God remember and reward you and your Labours of Love The Eternal God be your Refuge and put under you his everlasting Arms. The Peace of God that passeth all understanding Keep your Hearts Christs Legacy of Peace I leave with you and Rest with my dear affections to You all Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXIV Councel for Salvation To the most Beloved the Servants of Christ in Taunton Salvation Most endeared Christians MY continual Solicitude for your State will not suffer me to pass in quiet one week without Writing to you unless I am extraordinarily hindred Your Sincerity Stedfastness and Proficiency in the Grace of God is the matter of my
yea or no. And it is perhaps some mercy that you are not quite uncovered Here spend your Tears and you shall not misplace your sorrow That is the first branch of Direction weep for your selves For the sins that you have done and for the Judgments that you may be like to suffer 2. There is a second yet behind and I have done Weep for your Children Weep not for me saith Christ but weep for your selves and for your Children And why for them Because their Children were to bear a share and suffer with them in the wrath that was about to come upon them as you may see Luke 19. 43. For the days shall come upon thee saith our Saviour that thine enemies shall cast 〈◊〉 Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee eaven with the ground and thy Children with thee Brethren if you have any Tears left drop a few upon your Children You are not able to foresee what miseries your little ones may be reserved for And verily their danger is increased as well as yours by this stroke For you have lost a 〈◊〉 as well as a Preacher you know what care and pains he took and what a Gift and Faculty he had in instilling holy Knowledg into your Children and your little ones while he had liberty in Publick and strength with opportunity in Private He took a very great delight to tamper with them and to role them on to the holy Waies of God by all the means that he was able to devise It was his very last design As he was alwaies full of holy Projects to take some Course that Children might be more generall Principled in the Grounds and Fundamentals of Religiony then they are And I am very well assured that many of your Children have such Liquor poured into them by his means that they will relish of it as long as they have a day to live and it may be bless the Lord and him for it to all Eternity And therefore you have cause enough to 〈◊〉 that you have lost a Minister that was 〈◊〉 and apt to Teach not your selves only but your Children too and 〈◊〉 them know the way of the Lord. Not to feed the Sheep only but to lead the 〈◊〉 too and to 〈◊〉 them in his Bosom as the expression is Isa 40. 11. I have done with the Directions Weep for your selves and for your Children And now for the close of all 〈◊〉 again Weep not for him his sorrow certainly is turned 〈◊〉 Joy and therefore so let yours be also He hath receiv'd that Blessed Sentence Welt done good and faithful Servant enter into thy Masters Joy And let me tell you I speak it upon good assurance he went Triumphantly to Glory An Entrance was 〈◊〉 to him abundantly into the Heavenly Kingdom As he drew nearer Heaven till his disease prevailed against his reason he grew still more Heavenly When Grace and Glory were about to Joyn Grace in him was most Glorious Oh with what Extasie and Ravishments of Spirit did he flie away into the Bosom of his Saviour I have but one word to add and it is that of the Apostle Heb. 13. Remember him that had sometimes the Rule over you who hath spoken to you the word of the Lord whose Faith follow considering the end of his conversation And that was a blessed end indeed Remember him to follow him in all that was exemplary in him whether concerning Faith or Life that walking in the holy way that he did you may at last come to the happy End and Place where he is FINIS