love signifies little unless it serve thine Eternal good I rest thine own JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI To his Wife Desires after Heaven My Dear Heart MY heart is now a little at rest to write to thee I have been these three days much disturbed and set out of frame Strong solicitations I have had from several hands to accept very honourable preferment in several kinds some friends making a Journey on purpose to propound it but I have not found the invitations though I confess very honourble and such as are or will be suddenly embraced by men of far greater worth and eminency to suit with the inclinations of my own heart as I was confident they would not with thine I have sent away my friends satisfied with the reasons of my refusal and am now ready with joy to say with David Soul return unto thy rest But alas that such things should disturb me I would live above this lower region that no passages or providence whatsoever might put me out of frame nor disquiet my soul and unsettle me from my desired rest I would have my heart fixed upon God so as no occurrences might disturb my tranquility but I might be still in the same quiet and even frame Well though I am apt to be unsettled and quickly set off the hinges yet methinks I am like a Bird out of the nest I am never quiet till I am in my old way of Communion with God like the needle in the Compass that is restless till it be turned towards the the Pole I can say through grace with the Church with my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my Spirit within me have I sought thee early my heart is early and late with God and 't is the business and delight of my life to seek him But alas how long shall I be a seeking how long shall I spend my days in wishing and desiring when my glorified Brethren spend theirs in rejoycing and enjoying look as the poor imprisoned captive fighs under the burdensome clog of his Irons and can onely pear through the Grace and think of and long for the sweetness of that liberty which he sees others enjoy such methinks is my condition I can only look through the Grate of this Prison my flesh I see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob sitting down in the Kingdom of God but alass I my self must stand without longing striving fighting running praying waiting for what they are enjoying Oh happy thrice happy pouls when shall these Fetters of mine be knocked off when shall I be set at liberty from this Prison of my body you are cloted with glory when I am clothed with dust I dwell in flesh in a House of Clay when you dwell with God in a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens I must be continually clog'd with the cumbersome burden of this Dung-hill Body that had it not a soul dwelling in it like Salt as it were to preserve it would soon turn to putrefaction and corruption and be as odious and loathsome as the filthiest Carrion when you have put on incorruption and immortaliey What continual molestation am I subject to by reason of this flesh what pains doth it cost me to keep this earthen Vessel from breaking it must be fed it must be clothed it must be exercised recreated and which is worst of all cherished with time-devouring sleep so that I live but little of the short time I have alotted me here but oh blessed souls you are swallowed up of immortality and life your race is run and you have received your Crown How cautious must I be to keep me from dangers how apt am I to be troubled with the cares and fears of this life molesting my self with the thoughts of what I shall eat and what I shall put on and wherewithal I shall provide for my self and mine when your souls are taken with nothing but God and Christ and 't is your work to be still contemplating and admiring that love that redeemed you from all this Alas how am I encompast with infirmities and still carry about me Death in my bosome what pains and cost must I be at to repair the rotten and ruinous building of this earthly Tabernacle which when I have done I am sure will shortly fall about my ears when you are got far above mortality and are made equal with the Angels Oh I groan earnestly to be clothed upon with my house which is from Heaven being willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord Oh when shall I come and appear before him When shall I receive the Purchase of my Saviour the fruit of my prayers the harvest of my labours the end of my Faith the Salvation of my soul Alas what do I here this is not my resting place My treasure is in Heaven and my heart is in Heaven Oh when shall I be where my heart is woe is me that I sojour in 〈◊〉 and dwell in the Tents of Kedar Oh that I had wings 〈◊〉 a Dove that I might flie away and be at rest Then would I hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest and be out of the reach of fears disturbances and distractions How long shall I live at such a distance from my God at such a distance from my Countrey Alas how can I be merry how can I sing the Lords Song in a strange Land no I will hang my Harp upon the Willows and sit down and weep when I remember Sion But yet my flesh shall rest in hope and I will daily bathe my soul in the sweet thoughts of my blessed home I will rejoyce in hopes of what I do not yet enjoy and content my self with the taste of what I shall shortly have my fill of But stay this Pen run not beyond thy Commission Alas now I receive what I have gotten I perceive I have set down what I would be rather than what I am and wrote more of my dears heart than my own penning rather a Copy for my self than a Copy of my self Well I thank God I have got some heat by it for all the Lord grant thou mayst get a thousand times more The Lord grant the request I daily pour out before him and make us helps and furtherances to each others soul that we may quicken and promote and forward one another in his ways Help me by thy Prayers as thou dost always The God of all peace and comfort be with thee my sweet love Farewel Thine beyond Expression Joseph Aleine LETTER XXXVII God is a satisfying Portion My most dear Pylades HAd not my right hand long since forgot her cunning and the Almighty shook the Pen out of my hand I should long ere this have been writing to thee but it is a wonder of Divine Power and goodness that my soul had not before this time dwelt in silence and that death had not put the long period to all my Writing and
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Verily Sir it is but a very little while that Prisons shall hold us or that we shall dwell in dirty flesh 〈◊〉 tells us of 〈◊〉 that he was ashamed to see himself in the Body to see a divine and immortal Soul in a 〈◊〉 of Flesh for so they held the body to be but the worst shackles are those of sin Well they must shortly off all together our Lord doth not long intend us for this lower Region Surely he is gone to prepare a place for us Doubtless it is so yea and he will come again and receive us to himself that where he is we may be also And what have we to do but to believe and wait and love and long and look out for his coming in which is all our hope 'T will be time enough for us to be preferred then We know before hand who shall then be uppermost Our Lord hath shewed us where our place shall be even at his own right hand and what he will say to us Come ye blessed c. Surely we shall stand in his Judgment He hath promised to stand our Friend Let us look for the joyful day As sure as there is a God this day will come and then it shall go well with us What if Bonds and Banishments abide us for a season This is nothing but what our Lord hath told us The world shall rejoyce but ye shall weep and lament You shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Oh how reviving are his words I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you If that miserable wretch leapt chearfully off the Ladder saying I shall be a Queen in Hell With what joy should we do and suffer for God who have his Truth in pawn that we shall be Crown'd in Heaven Verily they are wonderful Preparations that are making for us The Lord prepare us apace and make us meet to be Partakers It was the highest Commendation that ever that Worthy R. Baxter received which fell from the Pen of his scoffing Adversary Tilenus who saith of him Totum Puritanismum totus spirat Oh that this may be true of us and ours Let your true yoke-fellow and my Christian Friends with you in the Bonds of the Gospel have my hearty Commendations And these Counsels I pray you give them from me for the improving of their present state 1. To habituate themselves both as to their thoughts and discourses more throughly than ever unto Holiness Brethren I would teach you the Lesson that I resolve to learn with you That your minds and tongues may as naturally run on the things of Heaven as others on the things of this world Why should it not be thus I am sure God and Heaven do as well deserve to be thought on and talked of by us as froth and vanity can deserve of the world There are many that have in a great measure learnt this lesson and why should not we be some of them What if it be hard at first Every thing is so to a beginner Besides is not ours a Religion of self-denial Further if we do but force our selves a while to holy Thoughts and Heavenly Discourse it will grow habitual to us and then it will be most natural familiar and heavenly sweet Oh what gainers will you be if you do but learn this Lesson Verily it 's the shame of Religion that Christians are so unlike themselves unless upon their knees Sirs our lives and language should tell the world what we are and whither we are going Christians let little things content you in the world but aspire after great things in the grace of God Many real Christians do little think what high frames of Holiness they might grow up to even in this life with pains and diligence Sirs be you men of great designs Think it not enough if you have wherewith to bear your charges to Heaven but aspire with an holy ambition to be great in the Court of Heaven Favourites of the most High of 〈◊〉 growth great experience singular communion that you may burn and shine in your places and convince the world that you may savour of Heaven where ever you come and that there may be an even-spun thred of Holiness running through your whole course 'T is the disgrace of Profession that there is so little difference to be seen in the ordinary coversation of Believers from other men Is it not a shame that when we are in company with others this should be all the difference that is to be seen onely that we will not curse and swear as do the worst of men Christians if you will honour the Gospel bring forth your Religion out of your Closets the world can't see what you do there into your Shops Trades Visits c. and exemplifie the rules of Religion in the management of all your Relations and in your ordinary converse Let there be no Place or Company that you come into in which you do not drop something of God This will be the glory of Religion and we shall never convince the World till we come to this May you come my Brethren out of your Prisons with your faces shining having your minds seasoned and your tongues 〈◊〉 with Holiness May your mouths be as a Well of Life from whence may flow the Holy Streams of Edifying Discourse May you ever remember as you are sitting in your Houses going by the Way lying down rising up what the Lord doth then require of you Deut 6. 7. 2. To improve their present retirements from the World for the settling of their spiritual estates 'T is a common complaint amongst Christians That they want Assurance Oh if any of you that wanted Assurance when you came to Prison may carry that blessing out what happy gainers would you be Now you are called more than ever to self-searching Now bring your Graces to the Touchstone Be much in Self Observation See what your hearts do with most love and delight go out unto what are your greatest hopes and your chief designs See whether God's Intrest be uppermost in you prove this and prove all Rest not in probable hopes Think not that is enough that you can say you hope 't is well God lookes for extraordinary things from you under such great helps such extraordinary Dispensations Be restless till you can say that You know 't is well that you know you are passed from Death to Life Think not that this is a priviledge that only a few may expect Observe but these three things 1. To acquaint your selves throughly with the conditions of Life and take heed of laying the marks of Solvation cither too high or too low 2. To be much in observing the frame and bent and workings of your own hearts 3. To universally conscientious and to be constant in even and close walkings and then I
Justices and Judges That they should be sent beyond Sea or carried to some Island where they should be kept close Prisoners yet the Lord preserved them by his Power and thus ordered it that their Imprisonment was a great furtherance to the Gospel and brought much Glory to him both by their Preaching and Conversing with Souls In which they had great Success through his Blessing on their Labours My Husband having here more freedom made a little Book Entituled A Call to Archippus to stir up his Non-conforming Brethren to be diligent at their Work whatsoever Dangers and Sufferings they might meet withal And because he could not go to his Flock he had prepared for them The Synopsis of the Covenant which was after placed into one of my Fathers Books And for the help of the Governours of Families in their Weekly Catechizing those under their charge he explained all the Assemblies shorter Chatechism to which he annexed an affectionate Letter with Rules for their daily Examination which were Printed and Dispersed into all their Houses by his Orde while he was a Prisoner He also writ many Holy and Gracious and affectionate Letters to all his Relations and many other Friends to many Churches of Christ in other parts and places both far and near His Sufferings that he underwent for the sake of the Gospel could neither remit his Zeal not abate his Activity for God but he would gladly imbrace all Opportunities of doing him Service The Minister who was appointed to Preach at certain times to the Fellons in the Prison being by sickness disabled for that Work he freely performed that Office among them as long as he was permitted earnestly exhorting them by Repentance towards God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ to secure the eternal welfare of their Souls freely bestowing upon them according to his Ability for their Relief that by doing good to their Bodies he might win upon them to receive good for their Souls He was very forward to promote the Education of Youth in the Town of Ilchester and Country adjacent freely bestowing Catechisms on those that were of poor Families to instruct them in the Principles of Religion stirring up the Elder to Teach and incouraging the Younger to Learn He was a serious and faithful Monitor to his fellow Sufferers if he espyed any thing in any of them that did not become the Gospel for which they suffered Here as else-where he was a careful redeemer of his time his constant practice was early to begin the day with God rising about four of the Clock and spending a considerable part of the Morning in Meditation and Prayer and then falling close to his Study in some corner or other of the Prison where he could be private At times he would spend near the whole Night in these Exercises not putting off his Clothes at all onely taking the repose of an hour or two in his Night-Gown upon the Bed and so up again When any came to visit him he did not entertain them with needless impertinent Discourse but that which was serious profitable and edifying in which he was careful to apply himself to them according to their several capacities whether Elder or Younger exhorting them to those gracious Practices which by reason of their Age or Temper Calling or Condition he apprehended they might be most defective in and dehorting them from those Evils they might be most prone and lyable unto He rejoyced that he was accounted worthy to suffer for the Work of Christ and he would labour to incourage the timerous and faint-hearted by his own and others experience of the Mercy and Goodness of God in Prison which was far beyond what they could have thought or expected He was a careful observer of that Rule of the Lord Jesus Mat. 5. 44. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you It was none of his practice to exclaim against those that were the greatest Instruments of his Sufferings In all his Imprisonment at present I could not discern his Health to be the least impaired notwithstanding his abundant Labours but cannot but suspect as the Physitians judged that he had laid the foundation for that Weakness which suddenly after surprised him and was his death At his return from the Prison he was far more earnest in his Work than before yet willing to preserve his liberty among his People who had no Minister that had the oversight of them though some came and preached while he was absent And the People flocked so greatly after him that he judged it best to divide the Company into four and resolved to Preach four times each Sabbath to them But finding sensibly that would be too hard for him his strength much decaying he did forbear that course and preacht only twice a Sabbath as formerly and often on Week-days at Home and in the Countrey and spent what time he had else from his studying in private converse with God as formerly he had done Pressing all that feared the Lord especially those that were of a more weak and timerous Spirit to a life of Courage and Activity for God and to be much in helping one another by their Converses now Ministers were withdrawn and to be much in the Work of Praises and Thanksgiving to God rejoycing and delighting themselves in him and with chearfulness and readiness denying themselves for him and resigning themselves and all they did enjoy to him Letting the World know they could live comfortably on a God alone on his Attributes and Promises though they should have nothing else left But it pleased the All-wise God to take him off from the eager pursuit of his Work and designs for him by visiting him in the later end of August with much Weakness so that he had not above three months time after he came out of Prison For he going about sixteen miles at the request of a Society whose Pastor was not able to come among them to Preach and to Administer a more solemn Ordinance he was so disabled that he was able not to perform the great and chief Work though he did adventure to Preach but with much injury to himself because he would not wholly disappoint the People who came so far as many of them did With much difficulty after three or four dayes I made way to get him home to Taunton where we then sojourned and presently had the best Advice the most Able Physitians both in and round the Town could give who advised together and all judged it to be from his abundant Labours and the Preaching too soon after his Meals as he did when he Preacht four times a Sabbath whereby he had so abated the natural heat of his Stomach that no Food would digest nor oftentimes keep within him He would assure us he was in no pain but a constant discomposure in his Stomach and a failing of his Appetite that
with him for I feared none would do any thing about him with such ease neither would he suffer any one all the day to touch him but me or to give him any thing that he did receive by which I discerned it was most grateful to him and therefore so to me And I never found any want of my Rest nor did get so much as a Cold all that Winter though I do not remember that for 14 or 15 years before I could ever say I was one month free of a most violent Cough which if I had been molested with then would have been a great addition to his and my affliction and he was not a little taken with the goodness of God to me in the time of all his sickness but especially that Winter for he being not able to help himself in the least I could not be from him night nor day with any comfort to him or my self In this condition he kept his Bed till December the 18th And then beyond all expectation though in the depth of Winter began to revive and go out of his Bed but he could neither stand nor go nor yet move a finger having sense in all his Limbs but not the least motion As his strength did increase he learnt to go as he would say first by being led by two of us then by one and when he could go one turn in his Chamber though more weakly and with more fear than the weakest Child that ever I saw he was wonderfully taken with the Lord's Mercy to him By February he was able with a little help to walk in the Streets but not to feed himself nor to go up or down stairs without much help When he was deprived of the use of his Limbs looking down on his Arms as I held him up by all the strength I had He again listed up his Eyes from his useless Arms to Heaven and with a chearful countenance said The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken and blessed be the Name of the Lord. Being asked by a Friend How he could be so well contented to lie so long under such weakness He answered What is God my Father Jesus Christ my Saviour and the Spirit my sweet Friend my Comforter and Sanctifyer and Heaven my Inheritance Shall I not be content without Limbs and Health Through Grace I am fully satisfied with my Fathers pleasure To another that asked him the same he Answers I have chosen God and he is become mine and I know with whom I have trusted my self which is enough He is an unreasonable wretch that cannot be content with a God though he had nothing else My interest in God is all my joy His Friends some of Taunton coming to Dorcester to see him he was much revived and would be set up in his Bed and have all the Curtains drawn and desired them to stand round about the Bed and would have me take out his Hand and hold it out to them that they might shake him though he could not them as he used formerly to do when he had been absent from them And as he was able thus he spake to them O how it rejoyces my heart to see your Faces and to hear your Voices though I cannot speak as heretofore to you Methinks I am now like Old Jacob with all his Sons about him Now you see my weak estate thus have I been for many weeks since I parted with Taunton but God hath been with me and I hope with you your Prayers have been heard and answered for me many wayes the Lord return them into your own Bosoms My Friends Life is mine Death is mine in that Covenant I was preaching of to you is all my Salvation and all my desire although my Body do not prosper I hope through Grace my Soul doth I have lived a sweet Life by the Promises and I hope through Grace can Die by a Promise It is the Promises of God which are everlasting that will stand by us Nothing but God in them will stead us in a day of Affliction My dear Friends I feel the power of those Doctrines I Preached to you on my Heart Now the Doctrines of Faith of Repentance of Self-denyal of the Covenant of Grace of Contentment and the rest O that you would live them over now I cannot Preach to you It is a shame for a Believer to be cast down under Afflictions that hath so many glorious Priviledges Justification Adoption Sanctification and eternal Glory We shall be as the Angels of God in a little while Nay to say the truth Believers are as it were little Angels already that live in the power of Faith O my Friends Live like Believers trample this dirty World under your feet Be not taken with its Comforts nor disquieted with its Crosses You will be gone out of it shortly When they came to take their leaves of him he would Pray with them as his weak state would suffer him and in the words of Moses and of the Apostles Blessed them The same he alwayes used after a Sacrament The Lord bless you and keep you the Lord cause his Face to shine upon you and give you peace And the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen And then spake thus Farewell farewell my dear Friends Remember me to all Taunton I beseech you and them if I never see your faces more go Home and live over what I have preached to you and the Lord provide for you when I am gone O! let not all my labours and sufferings let not my wasted strength my useless Limbs rise up in judgment against you at the great Day of the LORD Another time some coming to Visit him there he spake thus to them O! my Friends let your whole Conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Christ whether I am present or absent live to what I have spoken to you in the Name of the Lord Now I cannot Preach to you let my wasted strength my useless Limbs be a Sermon to you Behold me I cannot move a finger all this is come upon me for your sakes and the Gospel It is for Christ and you that I have thus spent out my self I am afraid of you lest some of you after all that I have spoken to you should be lost in the World There are many Professors who can pray well and talk well whom we shall find at the left Hand of Christ another day You have your Trades your Estates your Relations be not taken with these but with God O live on him For the Lord's sake go Home and take heed of the World worldly Cares worldly Comforts worldly Friends c. Saying thus The Lord having given Authority to his Ministers to bless his People
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
the wicked World look then O come let us make haste our Lord will come shortly let us prepare If we long to be in Heaven let us hasten with our Work for when that is done away we shall be fetcht O this vain foolish dirty World I wonder how reasonable Creatures can so dote upon it What is in it worth the looking after I care not to be in it longer than while my Mvster hath either doing or suffering work for me were that done farewel to Earth He was much in commending the Love of Christ and from that exciting himself and me to obedience to him often speaking of his Sufferings and of his Glory 〈◊〉 Of his Love-Letters as he called the Holy History of his Life Death Resurrection Ascention and his Second coming The thoughts of which he seemed alwayes to be much ravished with He would be frequently reckoning the choice Tokens Christ had sent him which I remember he would frequently reckon up 1. The Pardon of Sin 2. A Patent for Heaven 3. The Gift of the Spirit 4. The Robe of his Righteousness 5. The spoyles of Enemies 6. The Charter of all Liberties and Priviledges 7. The Guard of his Angels The consideration of this last he did frequently solace himself in saying to me often when we lived alone in the Prison and divers other Places Well my Dear though we have not our Attendants and Servants as the Great Ones and Rich of the World have we have the Blessed Angels of God still to wait upon us to minister to us and to watch over us while we are sleeping to be with us when journeying and still to preserve us from the rage of Men and Devils He was exceedingly affected with the three last Chapters of Saint John's Gospel especially Christ's parting Words and Prayer for his Disciples But it is time for me to set a stop to my Pen God did pour into him and he did pour out so much that it was scarce possible to retain the Converses of one day without a constant Register His Heart his Lips his Life was filled up with Grace In which he did thine both in Health and Sickness Prosperity and Adversity in Prison and at Liberty in his own House and in the Churches of Christ where-ever he came I never heard any that conversed with him but would acknowledge it was to their advantage At my Husbands first coming to Taunton he was entertained by Mr. Newton as a Sojourner and after he was ordained in Taunton in a Publick Association Meeting he administred all Ordinances joyntly with him though he were but an Assistant Mr. Newton would have it so who dearly loved him and highly esteemed of him and seeing him restless in his Spirit and putting himself to many tedious Journeys to visit me as he did once a Fortnight 25 miles he perswaded him to marry contrary to our purpose we resolving to have lived much longer single The 4th of October 1655. after a year and two Months acquaintance our Marriage was consummated And we lived together with Mr. Newton near two years where we were most courteously entertained and then hopeing to be more useful in our Station we took a House and I having been alwayes bred to work undertook to teach a School and had many Tablers and Scholars our Family being seldome less than Twenty and many times Thirty My School usually fifty or sixty of the Town and other places And the Lord was pleased to bless us exceedingly in our endeavours So that many were converted in a few years that were before Strangers to God All our Scholars called him Father And indeed he had far more care of them than most of their natural Parents and was most tenderly affectionate to them but especially to their Souls His course in his Family was Prayer and reading the Scriptures and singing twice a day except when he catechised which was constantly once if not twice a Week Of every Chapter that was read he expected an account of and of every Sermon either to himself or me He dealt with them and his Servants frequently together and apart about their Spiritual states pressing them to all their Duties both of First and Second-Table and calling them strictly to account Whether they did not omit them He also gave them Books suitable to their Capacities and Condition which they gave a weekly account of to him or me but too often by publick Work was he diverted as I am apt to think who knew not so well what was to be preferred His Lords-Days Work was great for though he Preacht but once in his own Place yet he was either desired by some of his Brethren to supply theirs on any Exigency or would go where was no Minister and so was forced often to leave his Family to me to my great grief and loss In his Repetitions in Publick as well as Catechising his own Family came all in their turns to Answer in the Congregation both Scholars and Servants When I have pleaded with him for more of his time with my Self and Family he would answer me His Ministerial Work would not permit him to be so constant as he would for if he had Ten Bodies and Souls he could imploy them all in and about Taunton And would say Ah my Dear I know thy Soul is safe But how many that are Perishing have I to look after O that I could do more for them He was a Holy Heavenly Tenderly-Affectionate Husband and I know nothing I could complain of but that he was so taken up that I could have but very little converse with him His love was expressed to me in his great care for me Sick and Well in his Provision for me in his Delight in my Company saying often He could not bear to be from me but when he was with God or imployed for him and that often it was hard for him to deny himself to be so long absent It was irksome to him to make a Meal without me nor would he manage any Affair almost without conversing with me concealing nothing from me that was fit for me to know being far from the Temper of those Husbands who hide all their Concerns from their Wives which he could not indure to hear of especially in Good Men. He was a faithful reprover of any thing he saw amiss in me which I took as a great evidence of his real good will to my Soul and if in any thing he gave me offence which was but seldom so far would he deny himself as to acknowledge it and desire me to pass it by professing to me he could never rest till he had done so and the like I was ready to do to him as there was far more reason by which course if any difference did arise it was soon over with us He was a very tender Master to his Servants every way expressing it to their Souls and Bodies giving them that incouragement in their places they could desire expecting from his whole
Family that respect and obedience to his Commands which their Rule required reproving them that were careless and negligent in observing them He was frequent in keeping solemn dayes of Humiliation especially against a Sacrament He was a very strict observer of the Sabbath the Duties of which he did perform with such joy and alacrity of Spirit as was most pleasant to joyn with him both in Publick and in the Family when we could enjoy him And this he did much press upon Christians to spend their Sabbaths more in 〈◊〉 and Thanksgivings as dayes of holy rejoycing in our 〈◊〉 All the time of his Health he did rise constantly at or before four of the Clock and on the Sabbaths sooner if he did wake he would be much troubled if he heard any Smiths or Shoomakers or such Tradesmen at work at their Trades before he was in his Duties with God Saying to me often O how this Noise shames me Doth not my Master deserve more than theirs From four till eight he spent in Prayer Holy Contemplation and singing of Psalms which he much delighted in and did daily practise alone as well as in his Family Having refreshed himself about half an hour he would call to Family-Duties and after that to his Studies till eleven or twelve a Clock cutting out his Work for every hour in the day Having refreshed himself a while after Dinner he used to retire to his Study to Prayer and so Abroad among the Families he was to visit to whom he alwayes sent the day before going out about two a Clock and seldom returning till seven in the Evening sometimes later He would often say Give me a Christian that counts his time more precious than Gold His Work in his publick Ministry in Taunton being to Preach but once a Sabbath and Catechise he devoted himself much to private Work and also Catechised once a Week in Publick besides and repeated the Sermon he Preached on the Sabbath-Day on Tuesday in the Evening He found much difficulty in going from House to House because it had not been practised a long time by any Minister in Taunton not by any others of his Brethren and he being but a Young Man to be looked upon as singular was that which called for much Self-denyal which the Lord inabled him to Exercise For after he had Preached up in Publick the Ministers Duty to their People and theirs to receive them when they came to them for their Spiritual Advantage he set speedily upon the Work In this Work his course was to draw a Catalogue of the Names of the Families in each Street and so to send a day or two before he intended to visit them that they might not be absent and that he might understand who was willing to receive him Those that sent slight Excuses or did obstinately refuse his Message he would notwithstanding go to them and if as some would they did shut their Doors against him he would speak some few affectionate words to them or if he saw cause denounce the Threatnings of God against them that despise his Ministers and so departed and after would send affectionate Letters to them so full of love and expressions of his great desires to do their Souls good as did overcome their Hearts and they did many of them afterwards readily receive him into their Houses Herein was his Compassion shewed to all Sorts both Poor and Rich not disdaining to go into such Houses amongst the Poor as were often very offensive to him to sit in he being of an exact and curious temper yet would he with joy and freedom deny himself for the good of their Souls and that he might fulfil his Ministry among those the Lord had given him the oversight of I perceiving this Work with what he did otherwise to be too hard for him fearing often he would bring himself to Distempers and Diseases as he did soon after besought him not to go so frequently His answer would be What have I strength for but to spend for God What is a Candle for but to be burnt And he would say I was like Peter still crying O spare thy self But I must not hearken to thee no more than my Master did to him Though his Labours were so abundant I never knew him for nine years together under the least Distemper one quarter of an hour He was exceeding temperate in his Dyet though he had a very sharp Appetite yet did he at every Meal deny himself being perswaded that it did much conduce to his Health His converse at his Table was very profitable and yet pleasant never rising either at home or abroad without dropping something of God according to the Rule he laid down to others He was very much in commending and admiring the Mercies of God in every Meal and was still so pleased with his provision for him that he would often say He fared deliciously every day and lived far better than the Great 〈◊〉 of the World who had their Tables far better furnished For he enjoyed God in all and saw his Love and Bounty in what he received at every Meal So that he would say O Wife I live a voluptuous life but blessed be God it is upon Spiritual Dainties such as the World know not nor taste 〈◊〉 of He was much in minding the Poor that were in want of all things often wondering that God should make such a difference between him and them both for this World and that to come and his Charity was ever beyond his Estate as my self and many other Friends did conceive but he would not be disswaded alwayes saying If he were Prodigal it was for God and not for himself nor sin There were but few if any Poor Families especially of the godly in Taunton but he knew their necessities and did by himself or Friends relieve them So that our Homes were seldom free of such as came to make complaints to him After the times grew dead for Trade many of our godly men decaying he would give much beyond his ability to recover them He would buy Pease and Flitches of Bacon and distribute twice a year in the cold and hard Seasons He kept several Children at School at his own Cost bought many Books and Catechisms and had many thousands of Prayers printed and distributed among them And after his Brethren were turned out he gave four pounds a year himself to a publick Stock for them by which he excited many others to do the same and much more which else would never have done it And on any other occasions as did frequently fall in he would give even to the offence of his Friends So that many would grudge in the Town to give him what they had agreed for because he would give so much Besides all this the necessities of his own Father and many other Relations were still calling upon him and he was open handed to them all So that it hath been sometimes even incredible to our selves to
forgot her cunning and hath much ado with trembling to lift the Bread unto my Mouth Do you think you should have had so little to shew under my Hand to bear witness of my Care for you and Love to you if God had not shook my Pen as it were out of my Hand But all that he doth is done well and wisely and therefore I submit I have purposed to borrow Hands wherewith to Write unto my Beloved rather then to be silent any longer But where shall I begin or when should I end If I think to speak of the Mercies of God towards me or mine enlarged affections towards you methinks I feel already how strait this Paper is like to be and how insignificant my Expressions will be found and how insufficient all that I can say will prove at last to utter what I have to tell you but shall I say nothing because I cannot utter all this must not be neither Come then all ye that fear the Lord come and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul O help me to love that precious Name of his which is above all my Praises O love the Lord all ye his Saints and fear before him magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together he hath remembred my low estate because his Mercy endureth for ever O blessed be you of the Lord my dearly Beloved O thrice blessed may you be for all your Remembrances of me before the Lord you have wrestled with the Lord for me you have wrestled me out of the very Jaws of Death it self O the strength of Prayer Surely it is stronger than Death See that You even honour the power and prevalency of Prayer Oh be in Love with Prayer and have high and venerable thoughts of it What Distresses Diseases Deaths can stand before it Surely I live by Prayer Prayer hath given a Resurrection to this Body of mine when Physicians and Friends had given up their hopes Ah my dearly Beloved methinks it delights me to tell the Story of your Love how much more of the Love of God towards me I have not forgotten O my dearly Beloved I have not forgotten your tender Love in all my Distresses I remember your kindness to me in my Bonds when once and again I was delivered up to a Prison for your sakes I remember with much delight how You refreshed and comforted me in my Tribulations how open your hearts were and your hands were not straightned neither for I was in want of nothing I may not I must not forget what painful Journies you took to visit me when in places Remote the hand of the Lord had touched me and though my long Sickness was almost incredible Expensive to me yet your supplies did not a little lighten my Burthen And though I put it last yet I do not mind it least that You have been so ready in returning Praises to God in my behalf your Thanksgiving to God my dear Brethren do administer abundant cause to me of my giving thanks unto You. And now my Heart methinks is big to tell You a little of my Loue to You surely You are dear unto me but though it be sweet to tell the Story of Love yet in this I will restrain my self For I fear least as the Wise man saith of the beginning of strife so I should find of the beginning of Love that it is like the letting forth of the Water and the rather I do forbear because I hope you have better Testimonies than Words to bear Witness herein unto You. But if I sing the Song of Love O let Divine Love overcarry the Praise I found my self in straights when I began to speak of the natural Love between my dear People and an unworthy Minister of Christ to them and it seemed that all that I have said was much too little but now I have to speak of the Love God it seems to be by far too much O infinite Love never to be Comprehended but ever to be Admired Magnified and Adored by every Creature O let my Heart be filled let my Mouth be filled let my Papers be filled ever ever filled with the thankful Commemoration of this matchless Love O turn your Eyes from other Objects O Bury me in Forgetfulness and let my Love be no more mentioned nor had in remembrance among You so that You may be throughly possessed and inflamed with the Love of God This my Beloved this is that Love which is ever to be Commended and Extolled by You. See that You studie this Love fill your Souls with wonder and feast your Souls with joy and be ravished with rich contentment in this Divine Love Take your daily walk and lose your selves in the Field of Love Drink O Friends yea drink abundantly O Beloyed fear no excess O that your Souls may be drencht and drowned in the Love of Christ till You can every one say with the ravisht Spouse I am sick of Love Marvel not that I wander here and seem to forget the bounds of a Letter this Love obligeth me Yea rather constraineth me Who in all the Earth should admire and commend this Love if I should not I feel it I taste it the sweet Savour thereof Reviveth my Soul it is Light to mine Eyes and Life co mine Heart the warm Beams of this blessed Sun O how have they Comforted me Ravished and Refreshed me both in Body and Soul My benumbed Limbs my withered Hands my feeble Knees my Bones quite naked of Flesh do yet again Revive through the Quickning Healing and Raising influence of Divine Grace and Love Now my own Hands can feed me and my own feet can bear me my Appetlte is quick my Sleep comfortable and God is pleased to give some increase continually though by insensible Degrees And shall not I praise that Love and Grace that hath done all this for me Yea what is this to all I have to tell You My Heart is enlarged but I told You Paper could not hold what I have to speak of the Goodness of the All-Gracious God in which I live I am forced to end least you should not bear my length My dearly Beloved I send my Heart unto You divide my Love amongst you all and particularly tender it to your Reverend and Faithfull Pastour whose Presence with you and Painfulness and Watchfulness over you and Zeal and Courage for you in so dangerous a time is matter of my great Joy and Thanksgivings unto God The Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all Fare you well in the Lord I remain Your unworthy Minister and servent Well wisher in the Lord JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXI To the most endeared People the Inhabitants of Taunton Salvation Most dearly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown MY Hearts desire and Prayer for you is that you may be saved This is that which I have been Praying and Studying and Preaching for these many Years and this is the end of my Venturing
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
concernments Will you not spin a fair thread of it if while you are pursuing after earthly things you lose your soul in the 〈◊〉 While I live I shall pray and care for you Farewel in the Lord. I am Your truly loving and careful Uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI Godly Counsels Dear Cousin THE welcom tidings of your safe arrival at Barbadoes is come to my ears as also the news of your escape from a perillous sickness for which I bless the Lord and desire to be thankful with you for I am not without a care for your well-being but do look upon my self as really concerned in you I have considered that God hath bereft you of a careful Father and that your Mother takes but little care for you so that you have none nearer than my self to watch for your soul and to charge and admonish you in the Lord and to take care of you But yet Dear Cousin be not discouraged by these things but look to Heaven flie unto Jesus put away every known sin set upon the conscientious performance of every known duty make Christ your choice embrace him upon his own terms deliver up your self body and soul to him see that you have no reserves nor limitations in your choice of him give him your very heart cast away your worldly hopes and expectations make Religion your very business O Cousin these things do and you shall be sure of a Friend in Heaven to take the care of you and if I may be any comfort to you you shall not fail while I live to have one friend on earth to take care for you You are gone far from me even to the uttermost parts of the earth but I have sent these Letters to call even thither after you yea not onely to call but to cry in your ears O what is like to become of your soul Where is that immortal soul of yours like to be lodged for ever amongst Devils or amongst Angels upon a bed of Flames or in the joys of Paradise Dear Cousin go aside by your self in secret retire from the noise of the world and say to your self Oh my soul whether art thou going do not I know in my very heart that I must be converted or condemned that I must be sanctified or can never be saved Oh my soul what seekest thou what designs do I drive at what is my chief care which way do I bend my course Is it for this world or for the world to come Do I first seek the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof Do I think Heaven will drop into my mouth that glory and immortality will be gotten with a wet finger with cold prayers and heartless wishes while the world carries the main of my heart Do I think to be crowned and yet never fight to get the race and never run to enter at the strait gate and never strive to overcome Principalities and Powers and never wrestle No no say within your self Oh my soul either lay by the hopes of Heaven for ever or else rouse up thy self put forth thy strength in seeking after God and glory either lay by thy worldly hopes or thy hopes of immortality away with thy sins or thou must let Christ go for ever think not to have Chrst and the world too to serve God and Mammon it cannot be If thou follow the world as thy chief desire and delight if thou live after the flesh thou must die count upon it the Lord hath spoken it and all the world can never reverse it Thus reason the case with your own soul and give not rest to your self night nor day till you are gotten off from the world broken off from the wilful practice of every known sin and gotten safe into Christ. Dear Cousin I charge you by the Lord to observe these things pray over them weep over them read them again and again do not pass them over as slight and ordinary things your soul is at stake it is your salvation is concerned in them think not I am in jest with you Ah Cousin I travel in birth with you till Christ be formed in you Why should you die Oh repent and live lay hold on eternel life win Christ and you win all O be thankful to the Lord that now you are fatherless and friendless yet you have one Remembrancer to warn you to flie from the wrath to come God forbid that I should find you at last in the place of Torments for your not embracing the godly Counsels To conclude in short I charge you as a Minister as a Friend as a Father to you Take heed of these three things 1. Left the gain of the world prove the loss of your soul 2. Left the snare of evil company withdraw you from God and so prove your final ruine 3. Left a lofty and a worldly heart should thrust you out of the Kingdom of Heaven God abhors that the proud should come near him Oh labour whatever you do for an humble heart be little be vile in your own eyes seek not after great things be poor in spirit without this Heaven will be no place for you God will be no friend to you Dear Cousin your lot is fallen as I fear in a place of great wickedness where your soul is in much danger where your temptations are many and your helps for Heaven but few where godly examples are rare and many will entice you to sin and vanity O! if you love me or love your soul look about you consider your danger fear lest you should miscarry for ever by worldly loss and vain company which proves to so many the fearful cause of their eternal perdition I can but warn you and pray for you but though you have none to oversee you remember the strict and severe eye of God is upon you to observe all your actions and that he will surely bring all your practices into his Judgment Your Aunt with my self commend our dear love to you and I commend you to the Lord and remain Your loving and careful uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE August 19. 1668. LETTER XXXVII Dear Cousins THough you are removed far from me out of my sight and the Seas as a great gulf are fixed betwixt you and me yet my prayers follow you and my good wishes for your present and everlasting welfare like the wings of a Dove take speedy flight I look upon my self now God hath removed my Brother to be as in the room of a Father to you yea and of a Mother too for I know you have but little help from her My dear Neeces my heart is careful for you and therefore I cannot cease while I am in being in this world to warn and admonish you as my children and to call upon you in the name of the Eternal God to awaken your selves with all godly fear and holy diligence lest by any means you should come short of the glory of God Let me mind you dear Cousins of
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
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