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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

passeth all Understanding keep your Hearts and minds I am Yours to serve you and for you with all readiness of mind JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester July 28th 1665. LETTER XXI What do you more than others To the most Dearly Beloved the Servants in Taunton Grace and Peace Most loving and entirely Beloved YOu are a great Joy to me I know not what thanks to render to the Lord for you when I hear of your Constancy and Pidelity and Zeal in adhering to him and his Ways even in such a time as this you are highly favoured Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that he hath regarded the low Estates of his Servants That he should ever Indulge you as he hath and Hover over you even as the Eagle stirreth up her Nest and fluttereth over her Young spreadeth abroad her Wings taketh them beareth them on her Wings for so hath the Lord your God dealt with You He hath kept you as the Apple of his Eye and since the Streams of Cherith were dried up yet to this day he hath not suffered the handful of Meal to wast nor the Oyl in the Cruse to fail but though you have no certainty to trust to hath continually provided for you to the full How should I love and bless the Lord for this his great Grace towards you while I live Now I beseech you my Brethren that you consider the Kindness of the Lord for the Lord your God is he that careth for you and that you love the Lord your God and fear him for ever for he is your Life and the Length of your Daies And as Job had a holy fear of his Children least they should have offended So my most dearly Beloved I am jealous of you with a Godly jealousie lest any of you should receive this Grace of God in vain I must not cease to put you in mind that God doth look for no small matters from You. Remember my most endeared Charge that the Lord doth look for singular things from you that there be not a barren Tree nor a Dwarf Christian among you where the Lord doth strow much he looks to gather much and where he soweth much he expects to reap accordingly Whose account my Beloved is like to be so great as yours O look about you and think of the Master coming to Reckon with you for his Talents when he will expect no small increase Beloved what can you do How much are you grown What spoil have you made upon your Corruptions What progress in Grace Suppose Christ should put that awakening Question to you What do you more than others Beloved God doth expect more of his People than of any others in the World besides And well he may For First He hath bestowed more on them than on others Now where much is given much shall be required Can you think of that without trembling He hath bestowed on them singular Love more than on others You only have I known of all the Families on Earth He hath a distinguishing Love and Favour for his People and he looks that his Love should be a constraining Argument to Obedience Again he hath laid out a singular care on his People more than on others He cares for no man for nothing in all the World in comparison of them He reproveth Kings for their sakes He will give Nations and Kingdomes for their Ransome So precious are they in his sight and so dearly Beloved that he will give men for them and People for their Life He withdraweth not his Eyes from the Righteous he will not indure them out of his sight The Eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous and first the Eye of his more accurate Observation God can wink at others as it were and overlook what they do with little notice but he hath a most curious eye upon his People he marketh their steps and booketh their words he weigheth their Actions and pondereth all their goings And should not they walk more cautiously and charily than any alive that are under so exact and curious an Eye Secondly the Eye of special Care and Protection Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him I will guide thee with mine Eye And should not they be infinitely tender and careful how to please the Lord who have his singular Care laid out on them In short God hath bestowed on them singular Priviledges more than others These are a peculiar Treasure to him above all People a Kingdome of Priests an Holy Nation a singular separated People they dwell alone they are diverse from all People When the whole World lies in wickedness these are Called and Chosen and Faithful Washed and justified and Sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The rest are the Refuse These the Jewels These are taken and they are left Shall not Gods Priests be Cloathed with Righteousness and shall not Princes Live above the rate of Peasants Secondly He hath intrusted them with more than others Not onely with the Talents of his Grace for the increase whereof they must give a strict account but also with the Jewel of his Glory How tenderly should they walk that are entrusted with such a Jewel Remember your Makers Glory is bound up in your fruitful walking Thirdly He hath qualified them more than others He hath put into them a Principle of Life having quickned them together with Christ. He hath set up a Light in their Minds when others lie in Darkness He hath given them other Aids than others have even his Spirit to help their Infirmities when others lie like Vessels that are Windbound and cannot stir Fourthly He hath provided for them other manner of things than for others These are the little Flock to whom it is his good pleasure to give the Kingdom great are the preparations for them The Father hath prepared the Kingdome for them from the Foundations of the World The Son is gone to Heaven on purpose to prepare a place for them The Spirit is preparing them and making them meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And should these be like other People Brethren beloved God and Men do expect you should do more than others see that that you be indeed singular For 1. If you do no more for God than others he will do more against you then others You onely have I known therefore will I punish you The barren Tree in the Vineyard must down whereas had he been in the Common he might have stood much longer God looked for Grapes from his Vineyard on which he had bestowed such Care and Cost more than ordinary but when they bring forth wild Grapes he will lay them waste in a worse manner than the Forrest When Christ came to the Figg-tree seeking Fruit and met with none he Curst it from the Root whereas had it been a Thorn or Bramble it might have stood as before 2. If you do no

Covenant-keeping and greatly to urge men to deliberate well-grounded Resolutions in this Holy Covenant as one that understood that Baptizing is truly Christening and that Baptism and the Lord's-Supper are our Sacramental Covenanting and that we need no new Descriptions nor Characters of Grace and Church-Titles if we understand what these Sacraments truly mean So God was pleased to give him a certainty and sense of his Divine Faithfulness in fulfilling the Promises of his Covenant and a lively sense of all the benefits of it and his Faith in God for the performance of his part was as strong and fixed as was his own Resolution in the strength of Grace to be true to God I compare not his resolution to God's Fidelity for what comparison between God and Man but onely to his belief of God's Fidelity and his comfort in the assurance of the Conclusion And as he was resolved through Grace never to forsake Christ so Christ did never fail him nor forsake him And in his Ministry in his Sufferings and his Death this Faith this Hope this Heavenly Joy was his support and strength and in the Valley of the shadow of Death he feared no evil But when his flesh and heart failed as to natural strength the Lord was the Rock or Strength of his Heart and never failed him Psal. 73. 25. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his I have premised this general Skeleton as Limners and Builders first draw the Pillars and Stamina of their Work which the following Narratives will fill up And I have given you this general Index or Contents of what is distinctly contained in the Sequel For the History is not drawn up by one Hand nor as by one that intended rather to shew what he could say than what the Person was and did But it is the brief Account of the several parts of his Life drawn up by several of his most worthy and judicious Friends that were present or most intimate and familiar with him And I take this to be the best Advantage to a History as to the Truth which should satisfie the Incredulous though not as to Uniformity and a fluid Stile which might please the Curious For a Man's Life is like a War or Battle No dispersed War no nor any one particular Battle can fully be described by the Observations of any one man alone But one Man is but in one place and seeth onely that which is within his own prospect which his proper station did advantage him to see But when Intelligent Men from each part of the Army do every one bring in their several Narratives all set together may be a satisfactory History of the whole War or Fight So when a Man's course of Life is transient and one is his Familiar in his Youth and another at riper Age one in the University and another in the Ministry one in Prison and another at Home one in Health and another at Death it is no one of himself that can credibly report the whole And therefore though by variety of Stile it may seem a Ceuto or incongruously composed yet Truth being the Soul of History that 's best which is best fitted to the lovers of Truth And though one part be written by a Woman his Widow and another by his Reverend Father in Law another by that worthy Pastor whom he assisted another by a Fellow Minister and another by a Scholar of his intimate Acquaintance c. Yet is there such Agreement in them all and such Evidence of unquestionable Verity especially to all that know these Worthy and Faithful Persons that for my part I take it as coming to me with greater advantage than if it had been an evener Thred drawn out by one skilful Hand alone as the writing of the History of Christ by the four Evangelists is advantagious to the Christian Faith The plainness and open Breast of a Godly Widow and of so many Holy and most credible Friends is another kind of Evidence than the contrived History of a Learned Man which is fitted to the Interest of a Party to which the persons Fame and Honour seemeth requisite I know not how a History of this Nature could come to the World with fairer humane Evidence of unquestionable credibility than this doth And let Posterity know for I need not tell it to this present Age who live in the Light that though this Servant of Christ excelled very many of his Brethren yet it is not that such men are wonders in this Age that his Life is singled out to be recorded to Posterity But because his affectionate Friends and Auditors are forwarder than many others hereby to tell the World what Effects his Holy Doctrine and Example hath left upon their hearts It makes the Writers heart to bleed to think how many thousands of Souls do perish by Ignorance and ungodliness even in England and how many vast Kingdoms of the World are deprived of the Gospel If you ask What Labours he hath left behind him I Answer First The great numbers of Holy Souls converted confirmed and edified by his Doctrine and the Example of his holy Life The Specimen or Exemplar of a right Minister of the Gospel which he hath left to the Neighbour Ministers that knew him and to those that now possess their Places and to all the Ministers of the Land and to the Ages that are yet to come For who will not be convinced of the necessity and sweetness of Holy Diligence in so good 2 Work and become Laborious in the Word and Doctrine who seriously readeth such Examples as this here set before him And who that considereth it aright can chuse but see how greatly such Holy Labourers do differ from those that Preach the Gospel in strife and envie to add affliction to Pauls Bonds Phil. 1. 15. And those that use their Ministry but as Lawyers use the Laws to get Preferment and worldly Wealth by it that they may say Soul take thy Ease Eat Drink and be Merry thou hast Goods enough laid up for many years Till they hear at last Thou fool this night shall they require thy Soul Whos 's then shall the things be which thou possessest So is every one that layeth up Riches for himself and is not Rich towards God Secondly And for Writings who can expect that a man that entered upon the Sacred Ministry at Twenty One years of Age and died about Thirty Five and lived in such exceeding Ministerial Labours should leave many Books behind him of his Writing in an Age wherein we have had too many Books and too few such Ministers yet the following History tells us He is the Author of tha Synopsis of the Covenant in Mr. Richard Alleins Book He Printed an Exposition of the Assemblies 〈◊〉 with an Exhortation to use it As also Prayers for his Peoples 〈◊〉 And left a Book to work on the Unconverted not yet Printed And he hath left alass imperfect a

you prize the Promises more and hug and imbrace them with greater dearness and live more upon them Tenthly If you grow of a more publick Spirit A selfish Spirit is unworthy of a Christian are the common concernments of Gods Glory and the prosperity of the Church much upon your hearts will it no way content you to dwell in plenty peace and safety your selves except you may see peace upon Israel do the wounds in Gods Name and Glory go deep into you are the sins of others your sorrows Time and room and strength fails to add means too as I intended I have trespassed in length already may these be helps to you to put you forward and to help you in discerning your growth I must conclude abruply and commend you to God with my dear loves to you all I take leave and can only tell you that I am Yours in the Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 31. 1663. LETTER XV. Perswasion to Sinners and comfort to Saints To my dearly Beloved the Inhabitants of the Town of Taunton Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Most dearly Beloved I Have been through mercy many years with you and should be willingly so many years a Prisoner for you so I might eminently and effectually further your Salvation I must again yea again and again thank you for your abundant and intire affections to me which value as a great mercy not in order to myself if I know my own heart but in order to your benefit as I may thereby be a more likely Instrument to further your good Surely so much as I do value your love which is not a little yet had I rather if I am not unacquainted with my self be forgotten and forsaken of you all and buried in oblivion So that your eyes and hearts might be hereby fixed on Christ and sincerely engaged to him Brethren I have not bespoken your affections for my self O that I might win your hearts universally to Jesus Christ though I had lost them for ever O that I might be instrumental to convert you to him though you were diverted from me I am perswaded that I should much rather choose to be hated of all so this might be the means to have Christ honoured and set up savingly in the hearts of you all And indeed there is nothing great but in order to God nothing is much material or considerable as it is terminated in us It matters not whether we are in Riches or poverty in sickness or Health in honour or disgrace so Christ may be by us magnified in the condition we are in Welcome Prison and Poverty welcome Scorn and Envy welcome pains or contempt if by these Gods glory may be most promoted What are we for but for God what doth the Creature signifie separated from his God why just so much as the Cypher separated from the Figure or the letter from the Syllable we are nothing or nothing worth but in reference to God and his ends Better were it that we had never been than that we should not be to him Better that we were dead than we should live and not to him Better that we had no understandings than that we should not know him Better that we were Blocks and Bruits than that we should not use our Reason for him What are our Interests unless as they may be subservient to his Interest or our esteem or reputation unless we may hereby glorifie him do you love me I know you do but who is there that will leave his sins for me I mean at my requests with whom shall I prevail to give up himself in strictness and self denial to the Lord who will be intreated by me to set upon neglected duties or reform accustomed sins O wherein may you rejoyce me in this in this my Brethren in this you shall befriend me if you obey the voice of God by me if you be prevailed with to give your selves up throughly to the Lord would you lighten my burden would you loosen my bonds would you make glad my heart let me hear of your owning the ways and servants of the Lord in adversity of your coming in of your abiding and patient continuing in the ways of holiness O that I could but hear that the prayerless Souls the prayerless Families among you were now given to prayer that the prosane sinner would be awakened and be induced by the preaching of these Bonds which heretofore would not be prevailed with to leave their drunkenness their loose company their lying and deceit and Wantonness by all the threatnings of God that cou'd be pronounced against them nor all the beseechings wooings and entreaties that I was able to use with them will you not be made clean when shall it once be how long shall the patience of God wait for you how long shall the Lord Jesus stretch our his hands toward you O sinners cast your selves into his Arms Why should you die Why will you forsake your own Mercy will you perish when mercy wooes you confess and forsake your sins and you shall find mercy will you part with Christ and sell your Souls to perdition for a little ease and delight to your flesh or a little of the gain of unrighteousness or a little Ale or vain mirth or loose company why these are the things that part between Sinners and Christ. I know many are spun with a finer thred and are not so far from the Kingdom of God as the prayerless ignorant Sabbath-breaking intemperate sort are But I must once again warn you of staying in the Suburbs of the City of Refuge O what pity is it that any should perish at the Gates that any should escape the pollutions of the world and do many things yea and suffer it may be too and yet should fall short of the glory of God for want of a through work of grace Oh you halting Christians that halt between Christ and the World that are as Ephraim like a Cake not turned dow-baked Professors that have Lamps without Oyl that cry Lord Lord but do not the will of our Father which is in Heaven how long will you stay in the place of the breaking forth of Children and stick between the Womb and the World your Religion will carry you among the profane despisers of Godliness but do own the people of the Lord and do love the Ministers and Ordinances therefore all is well I tell you Godliness is a heart-work it goes deep and spreads far unless the frame of your hearts and the drists of your course be changed unless you be universally conscientious and unreservedly delivered up to the Lord for all times and conditions whatever be the cost you are none of Christs how far soever you go in common workings and external performances Hear then O people and let nor profaneness swallow you up let not an almost Christianity deceive you orignorance carry you blindfold to perdition

Companion in your Closets Let it Travel with You in your Journies Let it Lie down and Rise up with You Let it close your Eyes in the Evening and call You out of your Beds in the Morning Be You the Votaries of Holiness Keep Her and She shall Keep You. I shall close with my Loves to You all onely because I know You love to hear of my Well-fare I must tell You that Goodness and Mercy do follow me perpetually every Day and every Night Glory to God in the highest Dear Brethren Fare you well in the Lord I am Your Devoted Servant in the Gospel whether a Bond-Man or a Free JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelshester Decemb. 3. 1663. Most Dearly Beloved This was intended for you a Week sooner then it comes to be Communicated I purposely Write in the middle of the Week that if any Opportunity be suddenly offered I may have somewhat ready for You But last Week I failed of a Conveyance I shall not add any thing further now but that I shall follow my Counsels with my Prayers and shall be an humble Intercessor night and day before God for You To him I commend You and to the Word of his Grace Remaining Yours while I am J. A. LETTER XIX 1. Try 2. Rejoyce To the most Loving and best Beloved the Flock of Christ in Taunton Grace and Peace Most endeared Friends MY heart is solicitous for You Your Spiritual and Eternal welfare is the matter of my desires and designes Let not my Beloved think they were forgotten by me because you heard not from me the last Week sleep departed from my eyes to write to you at large but in the morning I concluded it best to defer the imparting of it to You for a season that you might have it a better way Can a woman forget her Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb Yea they may forget but Christ will earnestly remember You still Natural Parents may be so far unnatural spiritual Parents may be so far carnal as to forget their own Children I would have you count nothing as certain but Christs love and care This you may build upon You need not fear lest time and distance should wear out the remembrance of you with him Your names are inrolled in the everlasting Decrees of Heaven and a whole Eternity hath not been able to wear them out Do any of you Question whether you are so happy as to have your Names recorded above I shall bring it to a speedy issue Do you Question whether Christ hath taken your Names Whether you are upon his heart Let me ask you Is Heaven upon your Hearts Is the Name of Jesus deeply engraven upon your Souls Is his Image and Superscription there If you can find that Heaven is the main of your cares that your hearts are set upon it as your home and your Countrey and that it is your great business to seek it and to secure it then never doubt if your hearts be chiefly upon Heaven your Names are unquestionably written in Heaven Again hath Christ recorded his Name in your hearts Is the Name of Jesus the Beloved name with you precious above all next to your Hearts Is there no other Name under Heaven so dear and sweet to you What room hath Christ in you If any thing be deeper in your hearts than he is you are unsound As the Father hath given him so do your hearts give him a Name above every Name Is Christ uppermost with you in your estimations and affections Then rejoyce and leap for joy for your Names are most pretious with Christ if his Name be above all dear to You. Once more hath Christ drawn out his own similitude upon You Is Christ within You doth he dwell in your Hearts Then be sure You have a room in his heart The Image of Christ is in holiness Is this that which your very hearts are set upon Do You thirst for Holiness Do You follow after Holiness Do you prize it above all Prosperity and worldly Greatness Do You hate every sin and long to be rid of it as your most irksome burden and use all Gods means against it as far as you know them If it be thus with you Christ hath set his stamp upon your hearts and so you may be sure he hath set You as a Seal upon his heart Rejoyce then O Christians and bless your selves in the happy priviledge that you have in being under Christs care Fear not little Flock Stronger is he that is with you than he that is against you What though Satan should raise all his Militia against you adhere to Christ in a patient doing and suffering his pleasure and he shall secure you The Lord will not forsake you because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people God hath entrusted you with his Son You are his Care and his Charge Many will be listing at you many will be plucking at you but fear not you shall not be moved none shall pluck you out of Christs hand he hath all power Mat. 28. 8. Can Omnipotence secure you He is all Treasures Col. 2. 3. Can unsearchable Riches suffice you In a word he is all Fulness Col. 1. 21. Can all Content you Can Fulness fill you if so you are blessed and shall be blessed Beloved We lose unutterably for want of considering for want of viewing our own Priviledges and Blessedness O Man is Christ thine and yet dost thou live at a low rate and Comfort Is thy name written in Heaven and yet dost thou not rejoyce Shall the Children of the Kingdom the Candidates of Glory the chosen Generation the Royal Priesthood be like other men O Christians Remember who and whence you are consider your Obligations put on a better pace Bestir your selves run and wrestle and be strong for the Lord of Hosts and earnestly yet peaceably contend for the Faith once delivered to his Saints What shall we make nothing of all that God hath said and done for us Christians shall he that hath gotten an inriching Office boast of his Booty or he that hath obtained the Kings Patent for an Earldome glory in his Riches and Honour And shall the Grant of Heaven signifie little with thee Or Christs Patent for thy Sonship and Partnership with himself be like a Cypher Shall Haman come home from the Banquet with a glad heart and glorying in the greatness of his Riches the multitude of his Children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him above the Princes And shall we turn over our Bibles and read the Promises and find it under Gods own hand that he intends the Kingdome for us that he will be a Father to us that he gives and grants all his infinite perfections to us and yet not be moved Beloved Christians live like your selves let the World see that the Promises of God and Priviledges of the Gospel are not empty sounds or a meer

dealings Be you temperate in all things and let Chastity and Sobriety be your undivided companions Let truth and Purity Seriousness and modesty Heavenliness and gravity be the constant ornaments of your speech Let patience and humility simplicity and sincerity shine out in all the parts of your conversations See that you forget and forgive wrongs and requite them with kindness as you would be found children of the most high Be merciful in your 〈◊〉 and put the most favourable construction upon our Brethrens carriage that their actions will reasonably bear Be slow in promising punctual in fulfilling Let meekness and innocency Affableness Yieldingness and Curtesie commend your conversations to all men Let none of your Relations want that love and loyalty that reverence and duty that tenderness care and vigilancy which their several places and capacities call for This is throughout godliness I charge you before the most high God that none of you be found a swearer or a lyar a lover of evil company or a scoffer or malicious or covetous or a drunkard or a 〈◊〉 unrighteous in his dealing unclean in his living or a quareller or a thief or backbiter or a railer for I denounce unto you from the living God that 〈◊〉 and damnation is the end of all such Prov. 13. 20. Jam. 5. 12. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. 2. Family Godliness He that hath set up Christ in his heart will be sure to study to set him up in his house Let every family with you be a Christian Church every house a house of Prayer every houshold a houshold of faith Let every housholder say with Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord and resolve with David Psal. 121. 2. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart Let me press upon you a few duties which I have been long harping upon but Alas I speak it to your shame with many too too many of you to little purpose in general First Let Religion be in your families not as a matter by the by to be minded at leisure when the world will give you leave but the standing business of the house Let them have your prayers as duly as their meals is there any of your families but have time for their taking food wretched man canst thou find time to eat in and not time to Pray in Secondly Settle it upon your Hearts that your Souls are bound up in the Souls of your Family They are committed unto you and if they be lost through your 〈◊〉 will be required at your hands Sirs if you do not you shall know that the charge of Souls is a heavy charge and that the Blood of Souls is a heavy guilt O man hast thou a charge of Souls to answer for and dost thou not yet bestir thy self for them that their Blood be not found in thy Skirts Wilt thou do no more for immortal Souls than thou wilt do for thy Beasts that perish What dost thou do for thy children and Servants Thou providest Meat and Drink for 〈◊〉 agreeable to their Natures and dost thou not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy Beasts Thou givest them Medicines and 〈◊〉 them when they be Sick and dost thou not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swine More particularly 1. Let the solemn Reading of the Word Isa. 34. 16. Joh. 5. 31 and singing of Psalms be your Family Exercises Psal. 118. 15 See Christ singing with his Family viz. his Disciples Mat. 26. 30 Tuke 9. 18. 2. Let every person in your Families be duly called to an account of their profiting by the word heard or read as they be about doing your own Businesses This is a Duty of consequence unspeakable and would be a means to bring those under your charge to remember and profit by what they recive See Christs Example in calling his Family to an account Mat. 16. 11 13 15. 33. Often take and account of the Souls under your care concerning their Spiritual estates Herein you must be Followers of Christ Mat. 13. 10 36 51. Mark 4. 10 11. Make enquiry into their conditions insist much upon the sinfulness and misery of their natural estate and upon the necessity of Regeneration and Conversion in order to their Salvation Admonish them gravely of their sins incourage beginnings Follow them earnestly and let them have no quiet for You till You see them in a saving change This is a duty of high consequence but I am afraid fearfully neglected by some that are Godly Doth not Conscience say Thou art the man 4. Look to the strict sanctisying of the Sabbath by all of your Housholds Exod. 20. 10. Lev. 23. 3. Many poor Families have little time else O improve but your Sabbath-days as diligently in labouring for knowledge and doing your Makers work as You do the other days in doing your own work and I doubt not but you may come to some proficiencie 5. Let the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of solemn Prayer be daily offered up in all your Families Psal. 92. 1 2. Exod. 30. 7 8. Luk. 1. 9 10. Beware they be not found among the Families that call not upon Gods Name for why should there be wrath from the Lord upon your Families Jer. 10. 25 O miserable Families without God in the World that are without Family Prayer What have You so many Family 〈◊〉 Family wants Family Mercies what and yet no Family Prayers How do You pray with all Prayer and Supplication if You do not with Family Prayer Say not I have no time What hast thou all thy time on purpose to serve God and save thy Soul and is this that for which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 find no time Find but a heart and I will find time Pinch out of your meals and sleep rather then want for Prayer Say no my business will not give leave This is thy greatest business to save thy self and the Souls committed to thee Besides a 〈◊〉 will be no let In a word the Blessing of all is to be got by Prayer Jer. 29. 11 12. 2 〈◊〉 29. And what is thy business without Gods Blessing Say not I am not able Use thy one Talent and God will increase it Mat. 25 24 c. Helps are to be had till thou art better able But if there be no other remedy thou 〈◊〉 join with thine 〈◊〉 Neighbour God hath special regard to joint Prayer Jam. 5. 14. to 19. Acts 12. 5. to 12. 〈◊〉 Cor. 1. 11. and therefore You must improve Family advantages for the performing of it 6. Put every one in your Families upon private Prayer Observe whether they do perform it Get them the help of a form if they need it till they are able to go without Direct them how to Pray by minding them of their sins wants and mercies the materials of Prayer This was the practice of John and of Jesus Luk. 11. 1 2. 7. Set up Catechizing in your Families at the least once every week It was my parting dying request that you

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

run not with others into the wretched practice of Lying and Couzening Whoredom and the like but what is this more than a Pharisee may have to say for himself can I prove by Scripture my claim to Heaven can I produce Chapter and Verse to justifie my self Oh Couzin fear least a Promise being lest of entring into rest you should by any mistakes or self-deceits fall short through unbelief fear lest you should take Counters of gold or some common workings for saving Grace Oh there is a world of counterfeit Coin going multitudes perish by mistake and wake in Hell whilest they dreamt they were in Heaven the tempter is very subtile and will sure deceive if he can your heart is deceitful above all things and is willing to cheat you if it can Therefore am I engaged so earnestly to call upon you as one that watcheth for your soul to arise speedily and to set roundly to your Work Oh consider your danger and work out your Salvation with fear and trembling away with these lazie Prayers away with these cold and heartless Professions away with this drowsie liveless liftless Religion bestir your self to purpose for your Soul before it be too late Search your Conscience as with Candles be jealous of your self consider now is your time what you do you must do quickly the patience of God is waiting Christ is knocking the Spirit of God is striving and death is at the door Oh now take your opportunity and take heed lest a slothful heart and the cares of this world or a presumptuous confidence that all is well and safe already should at last shut you out of the Kingdom of God I cannot write distinctly to your Husband but I beseech you to call upon him to set his heart to these Counsels which I have written to you I earnestly entreat him to make Religion his business and to look heedfully to it that the gain of the world prove not the loss of his soul. I desire him that Closet and Family Prayers and weekly Catechesing of his Houshold and strict sanctifying of the Sabbath and reading of the Scriptures singing of Psalms repeating of Sermons and diligent attendance upon powerful Preaching may be his continual exercises that so his house may be a little Church and God may delight to dwell in his Family pray give me to understand what is done of these things for I have a zeal for your welfare and that you and your Houshould should serve the Lord that you may enter into his rest and carry children and servants and friends and all to Heaven with you As to my own estate I have lost all my Limbs and about this twelve Months useless and been again and again under the sentence of death but was brought in a Horse-litter to Bath where God hath wonderfully restored me so that I can seed my self and go alone and speak with a little more freedom Oh love the Lord praise the Lord for me notwithstanding I continue weak and have not strength to write yet I could not tell how to die in silence from you but have made use of a friendly hand to send these counsels and calls after you which I beseech you to accept in the fear of God for it is not unlike that they may be my last to you that ever you may receive I now commend you to the Lord and with mine own and my dear Wives love to you both Rest Your loving and careful unkle JOS. ALLEINE Octob. 21. 1668. FINIS LETTER XXXV The Concernments of our Souls especially to be regarded Dear Cousin YOU may think you are forgotten with me because you have not heard so long a time from me but this may let you know That though God hath taken away your Father and suffered your Mother to be helpless to you yet you have one friend on earth that careth for you The welfare of your immortal soul is dear to me and is the matter of my sollicitous care and prayer Dear Cousin Methinks I feel a godly jealousie of you within my heart lest you should lose your soul amongst a croud of worldly cares and business Oh remember the story of him in the Book of the Kings who relates that he had a Soldier committed to his keeping upon condition that he should lose his life if he did let him go But while thy servant went hither and thither the man escaped But the King replies presently Even so shall thy judgment be thy life shall go for his life Ah Cousin take earnest heed lest while you are going hither and thither minding many things tossed in a hurry of worldly affairs the enemy run not away with your soul. Oh beware that the world doth not secretly steal away your heart Consider that whatever your business be you must and will have an eating time and a sleeping time Oh be as sollicitous every day to keep your praying times which are a thousand times more necessary than a time to eat in or sleep Be sure that there doth not a morning or evening pass over your head in which you have not perfumed your closet with solemn and fervent prayer And take heed if you love your salvation lest Satan beguile you with the bare outward performance of duties and outward acts of Religion See to it that you do not rest in a worldly Religion to give God your knee while the World carries away your heart You may pray hear and read and all to no purpose excep your very Soul be employed and engaged in these duties and the life vigour and strength of your affections be found to go after God in them If therefore you will have Christ and Heaven see that you renounce the world You must cast overboard your worldly hopes and take up with God with a naked Christ as your whole happiness both for this life and that which is to come There is no hopes of your salvation without a sound mortification to the world you must be mortified to your worldly expectations look not for much from the world promise not your self much from the world seek not great things for your self say unto God So I may have thee for my portion and thy Kingdom for my inheritance give or deny me what thou wilt poverty or riches any thing or nothing I will be contented with my Lot Say unto your soul So I may but have Christ so I may but carry it for the other world let this world go which way it will I must be converted or condemned I must be born again or else would I had never been born but of this present world there is no such necessity I may be poor and yet happy but wo to me if I remain unsanctified I must have grace or perish for ever Dear Cousin if I live you shall find me a friend to your worldly prosperity but whether I live or die I charge you by the Lord that you be infinitely tender of your immortal Souls everlasting

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