Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	heart_n	lord_n	way_n	4,954	5	4.7237	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23622	The life & death of Mr. Joseph Alleine, late teacher of the church at Taunton, in Somersetshire, assistant to Mr. Newton whereunto are annexed diverse Christian letters of his, full of spiritual instructions tending to the promoting of the power of Godliness, both in persons and families, and his funeral sermon, preached by Mr. Newton.	Alleine, Theodosia.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Alleine, Joseph, 1634-1668. Christian letters full of spiritual instructions.; Newton, George, 1602-1681. Sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Joseph Alleine.	1672 (1672)	Wing A1013_PARTIAL; Wing N1047_PARTIAL; ESTC R19966	231,985	333

he could not for many Weeks bear the scent of any Flesh-meat nor retain any Liquors or Broths so that he consumed so fast that his Life seemed to draw to an end But the Lord did so bless the means that he recovered out of this Distemper after two months time but so lost the use of his Arms from October till April that he could not put off nor on his Clothes nor often write either his Notes or any Letters but as I wrote for him as he dictated to me He was by all Physitians and by my earnest beseechings often diswaded from Preaching but would not be prevailed with but did go on once and sometimes twice a Sabbath and in his private Visiting all that Winter in the Spring the use of his Arms returned for which he was exceeding thankful to the Lord and we had great hopes of his Recovering and making use of further Remedies he was able to go on with more freedom in his Work And the Summer following by the use of Mineral-Waters in Wiltshire near the Devises where he was born his strength was much increased he finding great and sensible good by them But he venturing too much on what he had obtained his weakness returned frequently upon him the next Winter and more in the Spring following being seised as he was at the first But it continued not long at a time so that he did Preach often to his utmost strength nay I may say much beyond the strength he had both at Home and Abroad going into some remote parts of the Countrey where had been no Meetings kept all that time the Ministers had been out which was two Years And there he ingaged several of his Brethren to go and take their turns which they did with great success He had also agreed with two of his Brethren to go into Wales with them to spread the Gospel there but was prevented in that by his weakness increasing upon him It was much that he did but much more that he desired to do He was in this time much Threatned and Warrants often out for him and he was so far from being disturbed at it that he rejoyced that when he could do but little for God because of his Distempers God would so far honour him that he should go and suffer for him in a Prison He would often with chearfulness say They could not do him a greater kindness But the Lord was yet pleased to preserve him from their rage seeing him not then fit for the inconveniencies of a Prison The five Mile Act coming in force he removed to a place called Wellington which is reckoned five miles from Taunton to a Dyers House in a very obscure place where he preached on the Lord's-Dayes as he was able But the vigilant Eyes of his old Adversaries were so watchful over him that they soon found him out and resolved to take him thence and had put a Warrant into the Constables hand to apprehend him and sent for our Friend and threatned to send him to Goal for entertaining such persons in his House So my Husband returned to the House of Mr. John Mallack a Merchant who lived about a mile from Taunton who had long solicited him to take his House for his Home We being in such an unsetled state my Husband thought it best to accept of his courteous offer But many of his Friends were willing to enjoy him in the Town and so earnest that he did to satisfie them go from one to another staying a fortnight or three weeks or a month at each House but still took Mr. Mallacks for his Home This motion of his Friends he told me though it was troublesome for us to be so unsetled he was willing to embrace because he knew not how soon he might be carried again from them to Prison and he should have opportunity to be more intimately acquainted with them and the state of their Souls and of their Children and Servants and how they perform their Duties each to other in their Families He went from no House without serious Counsels Comforts or Reproofs as their Conditions called for dealing with all that were capable both Governours and others particularly acquainting them faithfully and most affectionately what he had seen amiss in any of them He went from no House that was willing to part with him nor had he opportunity to answer the requests of half that invited us to their Houses So that he would often bless God and say with holy Mr. Dod That he had a hundred Houses for one that he had parted with and though he had no Goods he wanted nothing his Father cared for him in every thing that he lived a far more pleasant life than his Enemies who had turned him out of all He was exceedingly taken with God's Mercy to him in Mr. Mallacks entertaining him and me so bountifully the House and Gardens and Walks being a very great delight to him being so Pleasant and Curious and all Accommodations within suitable so that he would often say That he did as Dives fare deliciously every day But he hoped he should improve it better than he did and that God had inclined him to take care for many Poor and for several of his Brethren in the Ministry and now God did reward him by not suffering him to be at the least expence for himself or me He was a very strict observer of all Providences of every day and did usually reckon them up to me before we went to sleep each night after he came into his Chamber and Bed to raise his own Heart and Mind to praise the Lord and to trust him whom we had such experience of from time to time The time of the Year being come for his going to the Waters he was desirous to set one day apart for thanksgiving to God for all his Mercies to him and them and so to take his leave of them Accordingly on the 10th of July 1665. divers of his Brethren in the Ministry and many of his Friends of Taunton met together to take their leave of him before his departure at the House of Mr. Mallack then living about a mile out of the Town Where after they had been a while together came two Justices and several other Persons attending them brake open the Doors by force though they might have unlatched them if they had pleased and with Swords came in among them After much deriding and menacing Language which I shall not here relate having taken their Names committed them to the custody of some Constables whom they charged to bring them forth the next day at the Castle Tavern in Taunton before the Justices of the Peace there The next day the Prisoners appeared and answered to their Names and after two dayes tedious attendance were all Convicted of a Conventicle and Sentenced to pay three Pounds a piece or to be committed to Prison threescore dayes Of the Persons thus Convicted but few either paid their Fines or suffered their

consider how much he did out of a little Estate and therefore may seem strange to others Moreover when he had received any more than ordinary Mercy at the Hand of GOD his manner was to set apart some considerable Portion out of his Estate and dedicate it to the Lord as a Thank-offering to be laid out for his Glory in pious and charitable Uses When I have begged him to consider himself and me he would answer me He was laying up and GOD would repay him That by liberal things he should stand when others might fall that censured him that if he sowed sparingly he should reap so if bountifully he should reap bountifully And I must confess I did often see so much of GOD in his dealings with us according to his Promises that I have been convinc'd and silenc'd God having often so strangely and unexpectedly provided for us And notwithstanding all he had done he had at last somewhat to dispose of to his Relations and to his Brethren besides comfortable provision for me Thus his whole Life was a continual Sermon holding forth evidently the Doctrines he Preached Humility Self-denyal Patience Meekness Contentation Faith and holy Confidence 〈◊〉 in him with most dear Love to God and his Church and People and where he longed and panted to be he is now shiniug in Heaven singing Praises to God and to the 〈◊〉 which Work he much delighted in whilst here on Earth CHAP. VII Some Notes from another whose House he Lodged in Mr. F. The Narrative of his most Constant Tender Compassionate dealing with ignorant and bad People in the places when he came frequently giving them Money with his Exhortations is mentioned before AS for such as feared God already he was still seeking their Edification and stirring them up to a Holy Life Very much pressing them to intend God as their end and to do whatever they did for God When the Week began he would say Another Week is now before us let us spend this Week for God And in the Morning he would say Come now let this day be spent for God Now let us live this one day well Could we resolve to be more than ordinary circumspect but for one day at a time and so on we might live at extraordinary 〈◊〉 In the day time he would seasonably ask People How did you set out to day Did you set out for God to day What were your Morning Thoughts In the Week time he would often ask the Servants for the Heads of the Sermon which they had heard on the Lord's-Day before As he walked about the House he would make some Spiritual use of what-ever did occur and still his Lips did drop like the Hony-Comb to all that were about him to do any Offices for him in his Weakness were all well requited To give a few Instances of his savoury words To one that had done well There are two things said he that we must specially look to after well doing and the special tast of the Love of God 1. That we grow not proud of it and so lose all 2. That we grow not secure and so give the Tempter new Advantages Speaking of the Vanity of the World he said It is as good be without the World and to bear that state as beseemeth a Christian as to enjoy the World though it were never so well imployed If a Man hath Riches and layeth them out for God and for his Servants yet is it as happy a state to receive Alms of another so we bear our Poverty aright and are chearful and thankful in our low Estate Though yet it is true that Riches may be used to the good of others and it is more honourable to give than to receive Another time he was saying How necessary a Duty it is for a Child of God placidly to suit with all God's Dispensations and that a Christian must not onely quietly submit to God in all his dealings but ever to be best pleased with what God doth as knowing that he is infinitely Wise and Good And O how unbecoming a Christian is it to do otherwise To which one answering How short we ordinarily fall as to that temper He replyed We have much ground to go yet but so it must be but we shall never be well indeed till we come to Heaven Another time said he O what an alteration will be shortly made upon us Now we are the Sons of God but yet it doth not appear to sight what we shall be Did we imagine onely that we shall shine as the Sun in the Firmament it were too low a Conception of our 〈◊〉 hereafter Another Morning as he was Dressing he said O what a shout will there be when Christ shall come in his Glory I contribute to that shout Another time I bless the Lord I delight in nothing in this World further than I see God in it Another time in his weakness saith he There are three things which must be unlearned as being mistakes among men 1. Men think that their happiness lyeth in having the World when it is much more in contemning the World 2. Men think that the greatest contentment lyeth in having their Wills when indeed it lyeth in crossing mortifying and subduing their wills to the Will of God 3. Men think it their business and benefit to seek themselves when indeed it is the denying of themselves Another time this was his advice 1. Value precious time while time doth last and not when it is irrevocably lost 2. Know the worth of things to come before they come or are present and the worth of things present before they are past 3. Value no Mercy as it serveth to content the flesh but as it is serviceable for God and to things eternal Such was his talk at the Table where he would be still raised in gratitude for God's Bounty and used to eat his meat with much chearfulness and comfort as savouring of a sweeter good He took one that was watching with him by the hand and said I hope to pass an Eternity with thee in the praises of our God In the mean time Let us live a life of praise while we are here for it is sweet to us and delightful to God It is harmony in his Ears our failings being pardoned and we and our praise accepted through Christ. Such discourse is I hope no great rarity with good men in the chearfulness of prosperity in health but for a man on the Bed of tedious languishing it is more rare The night before he went to Bath where he died he said to the same Person O how much more hath God done for you than for all the World of unconverted Persons in that he hath wrought his Image on your heart and will bring you at last to his Coelestial Glory See now that you acknowledge the Grace of God and give him the praise of it For my part I bless the Lord I am full of his Mercy Goodness and Mercy have followed

away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward The Prisoners of the Lord your Brethren in the Patience of Jesus can tell you it is good suffering for such a Master We must tell you as they said to our Lord in another case He is worthy for whom you should do this God is beyond measure gracious to us here He shines bright into our prison blessed be his Name He waters us from heaven and earth As we trust you forgot not the poor Prisoners when you pray so we would that many thanksgivings should abound in our behalf And Prayer being the onely Key that can open our Prisons we trust that you will not slack nor let your hands be heavy but pray and not faint and doubtless Prayer will do it But I am apt to pass the bounds of a Letter yet I promise my self now 〈◊〉 pardon for lo loving a trespass With my dear Loves to you all I commend you to God and the word of his Grace Though I have done writing yet not praying I will promise where my Letter ends my Prayers shall begin Farewell dear Brethren Fare you well in the Lord I am An unworthy Embassador of Jesus in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 〈◊〉 1663. LETTER XXXIII For Perseverance To my dear Friends the Servants of Christ in Luppit Salvation Beloved Christians HAving taken up a Resolution to Write to and to endeavour to confirm all the Places where I have gone up and down Preaching the Kingdom of God You were by no means to be omitted You were the People that were last upon my Heart before my taking up and had I not been made a Prisoner I think I had in a few hours after the time of my Apprehension been with you Now I can no way but by Prayers Letters and Councels visit you and so have sent these to let you know that you are upon my Heart and that your Welfare is dear unto me I bless the Lord to hear that his Work doth not cease among you It is the Joy of our Bonds Beloved to hear that the Word is not bound and that Satan hath not his design upon the People of God who doubtless intended by these Sufferings to have struck Terrour into them and to have made their Hands weak Know dear Christians that the Bonds of the Gospel are not tedious through Grace unto us that Christ is a Master worth a suffering for that there is really enough in Religion to desray all our Charges and to quit all the Cost and Expence You can be at in or upon it That you may Build upon it that you can never be losers by Jesus Christ that Christs Prison is better than the Worlds Paradise that the Divine Attributes are alone an All-sufficient Livelihood that the Influences of Heaven and Shines of Gods Countenance are sufficient to lighten the 〈◊〉 Dungeon and to Perfume and Sweeten the noisomest Prison to a poor Believer that if You can bring Faith and Patience and the Assurance of the Divine Favour with You to a Prison you will live comfortable in spight of Earth and Hell These are Truths that the Prisoners of Christ can in a measure Seal unto and I would have you to be more soundly assured of and established in Brethren we are of the same mind in a Prison that we were of in the Pulpit that there is no Life to a Life of Holiness that Christ and his Yoak and his Cross are worthy of all acceptation that it is the best and wisest and safest and gainfullest course in the World to stick close to Christ and his Ways and to adhere to them in all hazards Come on Beloved Christians come on slack not your pace but give dilligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end and be ye followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Strengthen the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees If you faint in the day of Adversity your strength is small Chear up my Brethren look what a Crown what a Kingdom here is What say you Is not here a worthy Portion a goodly Heritage Were it not pity to lose all this for want of Diligence and Patience Come dear Christians and fellow Travellers I pray You let us put on Pluck up the weary Limbs our Home is within sight Lift up your Eyes from the Pisga of the Promises You may see the Land of Rest. Will any of you think of returning into Egypt God forbid A little patience and Christ will come Behold the Husbandman 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 precious fruits of the Earth and hath long patience till he receive the early and later Rain Be ye allo patient stablish your Hearts for the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh He is not a Christian indeed that cannot be content to tarry for his Preferment in another World Cast upon it my Brethren that your Kingdom is not of this World that here you must have Tribulations and that all is well as long as we are secured for Eternity Exhort one another daily 〈◊〉 together in Prayer unite your strength therein and pull a main Mercy will come sooner or later however we will be content to wait till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah how surely will he come He will render Tribulation to them that trouble us and to us that are troubled rest with him Onely believe and wait What not watch with him one hour Why the Judg is even at the door And how blessed will you be if you do but continue and hold fast till he come Watch therefore and stand fast quit you like men be Zealous and let your hearts be strong God is your Friend and you may trust him He is able to bear you out and bear you up Faint not therefore but be stedfast unmoveable abounding in the works of the Lord Speak often one to another provoke to Love and to good Works Let the Bay of Opposition against Godliness make the Torrent of your Zeal break over with the more violence But it 's time to end I have been bold to call upon you you see and to stir you up by way of Remembrance May the Spirit of the most high God excite you encourage you enflame you May these poor Lines be some quickning to you may the Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush dwell with you My dear Loves to you all Pray for the Prisoners Farewel dear Brethren farewell in the Lord I am Yours in the Bonds of the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE Octob. 11. 1665. LETTER XXXIV To a Back-stiding Fellow-Student Sir WHom this will find you or when or where I know not but I have shot this arrow at a venture Once you were an Associate with me in Corpus Christi where I remember your blameless Conversation and your zealous affection for and adhesion to the ways and people of God May you be still found in the same paths of Holiness without which no man shall see

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

you are young and tender but afterward you must look to follow your Business and to keep your distance and to have rebukes and frowns too when you need them Bless GOD for what you have found here but prepare you this is but the beginning shall I say the beginning of Sorrow I cannot say so for the Lord hath made it a place of Rejoycing this is but the entrance of our Affliction but you must look that when you are trained up to a better perfection GOD will put your Faith to harder Exercise Seventhly Cast up your accounts at your Return and see whether you have gone as much forward in your Souls as you have gone backward in your Estates I cannot be insensible but some of you are here to very great disadvantage as to your Affairs in the World having left your business so rawly at home in your Shops Trades and Callings that it is like to be no little detriment to you upon this Account But happy are ye if you find at your return that as much as your Affairs are gone backward and behind-hand so much your Souls have gone forward If your Souls go forward in Grace by your Sufferings blessed be GOD that hath brought you to such a place as a Prison is Eightly Let the Snuffers of this Prison make your Light burn the brighter and see that your Course and Discourse be the more savoury serious and Spiritual for this present Tryal O Brethren Now the Voice of the Lord is to you as it is in the Prophet Isaiah 60. 1. Arise and shine now let your Light shine before men that others may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven It is said of those Preachers beyond Sea that have been sent into England and here reaped the benefit of our English practical Divinity At their Return they have Preached so much better than they had wont to do that it hath been said of them Apparuit hunc fuisse in Angliâ So do you my Brethren Live so much better than you had wont that when men shall see the change in your Lives they may say of you Apparuit hunc fuisse in Custodiâ See that your whole Course and Discourse be more Spiritual and Heavenly than ever See that you shine in your Families when you come Home be you better Husbands better Masters better Fathers study to do more than you have done this way and to approve your selves better in your Family-Relations than you did before that the savour of a Prison may be upon you in all Companies then will you praise and please the Lord. Ninthly And lastly See that you walk Accurately as those that have the Eyes of GOD Angels and Men upon you my Brethren you will be looked upon now with very curious Eyes GOD doth expect more of you than ever for he hath done more for you and he looketh what Fruit there will be of all this Oh! may there be a sensible change upon your Souls by the Showres that have fallen in Prison as there is in the greenness of the Earth by the showres that have fallen lately abroad By way of Dehortation also I have these four things to Leave with you First Revile not your Persecutors but bless them and pray for them as the Instruments of conveying great Mercies to you Do not you so far forget the Rule of Christ as when you come home to be setting your Mouths to talk against those that have injured you Remember the Command of your Lord Bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Whatsoever they intended yet they have been Instruments of a great deal of Mercy to us and so we should pray for them and bless GOD for the good we have received by them Secondly Let not the humble acknowledgment of GOD's Mercy degenerate into proud Vain-glorious boasting or Carnal-tryumph I beseech you see that you go home with a great deal of fear upon your Spirits in this respect left pride should get advantage of you left instead of humble acknowledging GOD's Mercy there should be Carnal boasting Beware of this I earnestly beg of you for this will very much spoyl your Sufferings and be very displeasing in the sight of GOD. But let your acknowledging of his Mercy be ever with humble Self-abasing Thankfulness and be careful that you do not make his Mercies to be the Fuel of your Pride which were to lose all at once Thirdly Be not Prodigal of your Liberty upon a conceit that the Prisons will be easie nor fearful of adventuring your selves in the way of your Duty Alas I am afraid of both these extreams on the one hand lest some among us having found a great deal of Mercy here will now think there is no need of any Christian prudence which is alwayes necessary and is a great duty It is not cowardice to make use of the best means to preserve our Liberty not decling our Duty On the other-side there is fear lest some may be fearful and ready to decline their Duty because they have newly tasted of a Prison for it Far be it from you to distrust GOD of whom you have had so great experience but be sure you hold on in your duty whatsoever it cost you Fourthly Do not load others with censures whose Judgment or Practice differs from yours but humbly bless GOD that hath so happily directed you You know all are not of the same mind as to the Circumstances of Suffering and all have not gone the same way Far be it from any of you my Brethren that you should so far forget your selves as to be unmerciful to your Brethren but bless GOD that hath directed you into a better way Your charity must grow higher than ever GOD forbid that you should increase in Censures instead of increasing in Charity Having spoken to my Fellow-Prisoners I have two Words to speak to you our Friends and Brethren with us First Let our experience be your incouragement O love the Lord ye our Friends love the Lord fear him for ever believe in him trust in him for ever for our sakes we have tasted of the kindness of GOD. You know how good GOD hath been to us in Spirituals in Temporals Encourage your hearts in the Lord your God serve him the more freely and gladly for our sakes You see we have tryed we have tasted how good the Lord is Do you trust him the more because we have tryed him so much and found him a Friend so Faithful so Gracious that we are uttterly unable to speak his Praise Go on and fear not in the way of your Duty Verily there is a reward for the Righteous GOD hath given us a great reward already but this is but the least we look for a Kingdom Secondly and lastly My desire is to our Friends that they will all help us in our Praises Our Tongues are too little to speak forth the Goodness and the Grace

doubt not but you will grow up speedily to a settled assurance and know and feel that peace of God that passeth all understanding and this will be somewhat worth your carrying out of Prison But I return to your self But what shall I say I have more need to receive from you than abilitie to give only I will tell you my wishes for you I wish that your body may prosper as your soul also prospereth I wish That you may see the travel of your Soul that you may find your People thriving under your hands in all manner of holy conversation and godliness that whosoever converses with them may see and hear by them that God is in them of a Truth I wish your enlargement from your bonds and your enlargement in them That your Prison may be but the Lanthorn through which your Graces Experiences Communion and Prison-attainments may shine most brightly to all beholders I wish your Prison may be a Paradice of Peace and a Patmos of Divine discoveries Lord Jesus set to thy Amen I am SIR Your unworthy Brother and Companion in the Kingdom and Patience of JESUS JOS. ALLEINE Jan. 10. 1664. LETTER XL. Directions to the Ministers of Somersetshire and Wistshire for the instructing of Families by way of Catechising SIR THIS Letter cometh to you like the men of Macedonia to Paul crying to you Come and help us O how insufficient do we find our selves for the Praises of GOD What Reason have we to call upon our selves and to call upon all our Friends and yet we foresee that all will be too little a Sacrifice at last and too slender a return to the most High God who hath made us such wonders of Mercy and such signal instances of his Divine Power and Rich Grace You are not ignorant of our Estate how the Sentence of Death had passed upon us how our Flesh and our Hearts failed and Friends and Physicians gave up their Hopes But God that raised the Dead was pleased to make us the Monuments of his wondrous Mercy O that the same God would make us the special instruments of his Praise and Glory Of a Truth Sir we perceive our Hearts are too little our Tongues are too shore our Expressions are too low either to conceive or utter what we owe to the Great God O help help Bless the Lord O our Souls Bless the Lord O our Friends O that all that have Wrestled with God for us might joyn Hand in Hand to make some suitable returns to the God of our lives and may bring in every one his Sacrifice and all contribute to make one common stock of Praises that many Thanksgivings may abound to God on our behalfs O what hath Prayer done for us while we live we must Honour Prayer and admire the Power of Prayer we owe our limbs and our lives to Prayer O that a goodly crop of praise may grow up unto God as a return for his Mercies that the seed of Prayers and showers of tears may procure sheaves of joy and Songs of deliverauce But O what shall we render wherewithall shall we come before the Lord or bow our selves to the Most High God O where shall we find a sitting sacrifice Verily we will give our selves and our All to him But alas what are we and what is this little that we call our All Therefore have we found in our hearts to write to you and others that we might excite you to the Divine Praises with us And O that the Lord might be loved the better and glorified the more for our sakes Will you tell us wherein we may shew our love to Him wherein we may best please and serve Him O that you would Herein assuredly you would most highly gratifie us O that we might do some singular thing for God for certainly they are not common things that he hath done for us We pray you call upon those that fear the Lord to help us in celebrating his loving kindness O how it pleaseth our very Hearts to think that God should be Loved and Honoured the better for us That we may be instruments if it be but for the blowing up of one flash nay the kindling of one spark of Divine Love in the Hearts of his Children towards him Sir You cannot pleasure us in any thing so much as in this To love and admire God and spread his Praise more and more that what is wanting through our weakness may be made up in your abundance But we have need to crave your 〈◊〉 for our length but the love of Christ constraineth us 〈◊〉 we hope you will pass by an error of Love While we have been deyifing what to do for our God we thought we could no way better serve him than by provoking such as you are to set up his great Name with us We love and Honour you not onely as you are a Member but a Minister of Christ Jesus our LORD and therefore deserve to be doubly dear unto us And because we could think of no more pleasing a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving we have stirred up our selves and Friends with us to send to you a Prophet in the Name of a Prophet this poor Token of Love which though but small yet we trust will be a sweet savour unto God and will be accepted with you being our two Mites cast into God's Treasury But look not upon your self as obliged to us hereby but put it upon the Account of Christ to whose precious Name we dedicate it and from whom although he be so much already before hand with us yet we expect a recompence at the Resurrection of the just And being further desirous to promote the work of God in our low and slender Capacities we have been bold to provoke your self with other our Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry to set about that necessary and much neglected work of Catechising not a little pleasing our selves in the sweet hope that by your means we may be instrumental to spread the sweet savour of the knowledg of our God in every place and being well perswaded of your readiness to forward so blessed a work we have stirred up our selves and our Friends to expend a considerable Sum of Money to furnish Ministers with Catechisms a hundred whereof we have sent unto you beseeching you to use your best prudence and utmost diligence for the spreading of them and for others improvement by them that our labour and charge in so good a work prove not at last of no effect Sir we shall humbly propose unto you but not impose upon you But let us be bold with you in Ghrist to lay our requests before you as touching this concernment they being indeed what judicious friends and brethren have thought fit to propound 1. That the People be publikely and privately instructed about the high necessity and great usefulness of this Dutie 2. That these Catechisms be freely given to all that will promise to use them 3. That you would be pleased

very subject to misplace our grief and to mistake the Ground and Object of our sorrow So did these Daughters of Jerusalem you see they wept where they should not and they wept not where they should And therefore Christ Corrects their Sorrow in the Text Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children A great part of the sin and corruption that hath invaded humane nature consists in the disorder and distemper of our passions and affections lies especially in two things either when we miss the right object or transgress the just measure When they are either ill placed or ill proportioned When we mistake in either of them When we are troubled where we should not or too much troubled where we should we are much to be condemned And both of these we are very subject to The first is pertinent to our purpose we are extreamly apt to grieve and to be troubled where we should not It is no wonder that we find Esau faulty here mistaken in the object of his sorrow He sought Repentance and sought it carefully with tears as you may see Heb. 12. 17. But what Repentance did he seek with tears Alas he missed his mark he sought not his own but his Fathers Repentance feign he would have his Father to Repent of his pouring out the blessing on his younger brother Jacob and consequently to revoke it and to call it back again But when he saw that was not to be done and heard his Father say I have blessed him and he shall be blessed he lifted up his voice and wept Gen. 27. 38. Yea the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour Christ himself mistook in this that they misapplyed their sorrow They were extreamly grieved and troubled that Christ was ready to depart and to withdraw his fleshly presence from them Whereas he tells them plainly It is expedient for you that I go away John 16. 7. It is not only expedient for me but it is expedient for you so that here was no real cause of grief and sorrow And hence our Saviour puts a stop upon it John 14. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled q d. I see that you misplace your grief Come it must not be so I will not have it to be so lot not your hearts be troubled Poor Mary was greatly at a loss in this particular she stood besides the sepulcher of Christ Weeping John 11. 20. Why what 's the matter The Body of the Lord is gone Had she found him dead there it seems she had been very well content So that her grief and sorrow was in deed although she did not understand it and intend it so that Christ was Risen She should have wept over an unbelieving heart that doubted of the Resurrection of her Saviour and not over an empty Grave from which his Body was deliver'd God having loosed the pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it Acts 2. 24. I might add other instances but these may satisfie to clear the point That we are very subject to misplace our grief and to mistake the ground and object of our sorrow And there are two especial causes of it viz. Either because our understanding is 〈◊〉 or our Affections are mislaid Reas. 1 Sometimes we are very subject to misplace our grief because our understanding is misled We do not Judg aright of that which is indeed the only or the greatest cause of trouble Some apprehend their tears are fitter to be spent on their Afflictions then their sins They see no great hurt in sin but they feel much in Affliction Affliction is a grievous thing to them but corruption is not so There is a principle in Nature which makes a man averse from penal evil but there is none at all that maketh him averse from sinful evil so that a man needs nothing else but Nature to make him sensible of penal evils of Afflictions but he needs more then Nature to make him sensible of sin And hence it is because the greater part of men have nothing else but Nature in them that they are so exceedingly affected with the one and so regardless of the other Now these affections follow apprehensions as they always do They are mistaken in their judgments and so they misapply their passions They look upon their sins as small matters but they amplifie their troubles and afflictions as he in the Poet I am ten times twenty times an hundred times miserable And hence they weep for their afflictions and will not be comforted while they have not a tear to spend upon their sins And this in probability was Israels case Ier. 30. 15. They were extreamly troubled at the miseries that were upon them but they were little troubl'd at their sins They cryed because of their Afflictions they did not only sigh and mourn and grieve and weep but more then so they cry'd aloud which shews extremity of sorrow But we hear nothing of any sorrow for their sins And therefore God comes in and interrupts them why what 's the matter with you can you tell why you take on in this fashion Why criest thou for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine Iniquitie because thy sins are increased And so for penal evils they mistake there too They think that Temporal Judgments are greater and heavier then spiritual judgments They take the bodily plague to be worse then the plague of the heart a famine of Corn then the famine of the word and so they grieve more for the one then for the other and they had rather lose their Saviour then their 〈◊〉 That is the first reason then why we misplace our grief Because our understanding is misled 2. The second is Because our Affection is misled I mean our love for love is the commander of our other passions It is the first and great wheel of the soul that carries all the rest about and governs them as it pleaseth Love is the strongest of the passions and Affections and therefore all the rest yield to it and are greatly sway'd by it And by this means it comes to pass that if we misplace our Love we are in danger to misplace our sorrow For we shall surely grieve for that most which we love best whether it be best or not Oh what a deal of vain unnecessary sorrow do many throw themselves into by misapplying this Affection Their love is setled where it should not be or it is stronger then it ought to be to such a friend to such a comfort to such a relation and when they find a disappointment by the removall or the change of that which they have set their hearts too much upon their grief is answerable to their love Strong affections especially when they miscarry in the object of them do cast men into strong Afflictions Oh how was David overcome with the death of Absalom though yet indeed the cutting of him off was

a great and signal mercy to himself and to his people And therefore Joab even rates him for it 2 Sam. 19. 5 and following verses Saith he Thou hast sham'd this day the faces of all thy servants who have sav'd thy life and the life of thy Sons and of thy Daughters and thy Wives Since thou hast 〈◊〉 thine Enemies and hated thy Friends and hast declar'd this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants And I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day it would have pleased thee well You see the reason of his immoderate and overflowing sorrow for him was his inordinate Affection to him Which was so out of measure great that when he heard the news his passion wrought and he was hasting to a room to give it vent But alas he cannot hold till he come thither but discharges at the stairs as he is going up 2 Sam. 18. 33. He wept as he went and said O my Son Absalom my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son You see then both that and why we are so ready to misplace our grief and to misapply our sorrow Use. The application of the point shall be for Caution and Direction both together To watch our hearts against it that so we lay not out our tears amiss Be circumspect that you do not misplace your grief and that you do not mistake the ground and object of your sorrow like these poor Daughters of Jerusalem who wept where they should not and wept not where they should Oh what a deal of grief do some men waste away when there is no cause at all How do many men take on when they are crost in prosecution of their lusts and hindred in their sins which is in deed a great mercy Oh what floods of tears do some men pour 〈◊〉 upon a petty flight occasion at a trifling accident Beloved tears if they be shed aright are precious things God puts them up into his Bottle as if they were of great value And yet some lay them out on nothing How will they weep and grieve at any disappointment in their small affairs any miscarriage in their business any little petty loss any unkindness from their friends or neighbours any affront or provocation in the least degree nay if they be but crossed in their wills though it be best indeed they should All their sorrow is bestowed on little trifling inconsiderable things Why my beloved have ye not other manner of things then these to grieve for what think you of your own sias with all their bloody aggravations what think you of the horrible Abominations and woful desolations of the Land And of all the wrath of God that hath been lately manitested and reveal'd from Heaven against us more ways then I am able to express I might be very large in shewing you particularly and distinctly both what you should and what you should not grieve for and giving you directions from the word of God about it But because the time spends and I would not be prevented of that which I have principally in my eye I shall pass over many other things that so I may apply my self to the occasion Methinks I see the clouds gather and return after the Rain And out of question many of you are come hither with a sufficient 〈◊〉 of sorrow your hearts are full of grief and your souls full of trouble and your bottles full of tears brim full You have drawn water and are ready to pour it our before the Lord this day My work shall be to guide you and direct you with our Saviour in the Text how to bestow these tears and how to spend this sorrow that you may not weep in vain I say to you as Christ doth to the Daughters of Jerusalem with a little alteration weep not for him whom the Lord hath taken from you but weep for your selves and for your Children 1. Weep not for him I know the loss of such an Able Faithful Painful zealous Minister of Christ as he was ought to be very much bewailed Men of such hidden worth as he had in him and of such publick use and service in the Church should not be raked up in their Graves without tear and lamentations Joash a wicked King wept for a good Prophet and that with very great affection 2 Kings 13. 14. He wept over his face and said My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And if you mark the carriage of the Saints when such as he I mean our dear and worthy Brother have been taken from them it would warrant all the tears you have to spend on this occasion In the first of Kings 13. 30. You find a Prophet burying a Prophet and melting over him when he Inter'd him He laid his Carcase in the Grave and mourned over him and said alass my Brother How solemnly did Israel lament the death of Samuel and made their grief as remarkable and publick as their loss 1 Sam. 25. 1. It is observed of Stephen that he was carried by devout men to his burial with great lamentation Acts 8. 2. And God forbid that such an one as we have lost should die away as if he were not desired that he would steal into his Grave as if there were no notice taken of his Death No my Beloved weep and weep on sit down and weep till you can weep no more yet still I say weep not for him Your loss is unaccomptable indeed and time perhaps will shew it to be greater then as yet you see But tell me my Beloved is he a loser any way Nay is he not an infinite gainer Is not this best of all for him Indeed to have continued in the flesh was better for you as the Apostle states the case when he was 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 24. But for him it was far better to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Now he enjoys a 〈◊〉 deliverance from all Corruptions all Temptations all Afflict 〈◊〉 A full return of all his Prayers and Breathings after God and Christ in which he was transported when he was drawing near his Glory A full reward of all his tiring and incessent Labours Oh blessed soul You know a Voice from Heaven hath said Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their works follow them Therefore I say weep not for him There is one thing I must confess that makes this Providence the sadder to us You know it is the Prophet Davids Prayer Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my daies The Lord indeed hath taken him away in the midst of his days and in the midst of his Ministry But is he gone to Heaven too soon Too soon indeed for you but not for him Is he got home to his Fathers house too soon Is he with God and Christ and Angels and glorified Saints too