short lines yet I could not tell how to leave you unsaluted nor chuse but write to you in a few words that you should not be dismayed neither at our present sufferings or at the evil tidings that by this time I doubt not are come unto you Now Brethren is the time when the Lord is like to put you upon the trial now is the hour of temptation come Oh! be faithful to Christ to the death and he shall give you a Crown of life Faithful is he that hath called you and he will not suffer you upon his faithâ—…ulness to be tempted above what you are able Give up your selves and your All to the Lord with resolution to follow him fully and two things be sure of and lay up as sure grounds of everlasting consolation 1. If you seek by prayer and study to know the mind of God and do resolve to follow it in uprightness you shall not fail either of direction or pardon either God will shew you what his pleasure is or will certainly forgive you if you miss your way Brethren fix upon your souls the deep and lively affecting apprehensions of the most gracious loving merciful â—…eet compassionate tender nature of your Heavenly Father which is so great that you may be sure he will with all readiness and love accept of his poor Children when they endeavours to approve themselves in sincerity to him and would fain know his mind and do it if they could but clearly see it though they should unwillingly mistake 2. That as sure as God is faithful if he do see that such or such a temptation with the forethought of which you may be apt to disquiet your selves lest you should fall away when thus or thus tried will be too hard for your Graces he will never suffer it to come upon you Let not my dear Brethren let not the present tribulations or those impending move you This is the way of the Kingdom persecution is one of your Land marks self-denial and taking up the Cross is your A B C of â—…eligion you have learnt nothing that have not begun at Christs-Cross Brethren the Cross of Christ is your Crown the reproach of Christ is your riches the shame of Christ is your glory the damage attending strict and holy diligence your greatest advantage sensible you should be of what is coming but not discouraged humbled but not dismayed having your hearts broken and yet your spirits unbroken humble your selves mightily under the mighty hand of God but fear noâ—… the face of man may you even be low in humility but high in courage little in your own apprehensions of your selves but great in holy â—…ortitude resolution and holy magnanimity lying in the dust before your God yet triumphing in faith and hope and boldness and confidence over all the power of the enemies Approve your selves as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ with no Armour but that of righteousness No weapons but strong crying and tears looking for no Victory but that of Faith nor hope to overcome but by patience now for the faith and patience of the Saints now for the harness of your suffering Grace O gird up the loyns of your mind and be sober and hope to the end Fight not but the good fight of Faith here you must contend and that earnestly Strive not but against sin and here you may resist even unto blood now see that you chuse life and embrace affliction rather than sin Strive together mightily and frequently by prayer I know you do but I would you should abound more and more Share my loves among you and continue your earnest prayers for me and be your assured that I am and shall be through Grace a willing thankful Servant of your Souls concernments From the common Goale May 2. 1663. Joseph Alleine LETTER III. Warning to Professors To my most dearly beloved my Christian Friends in Taunton Salvation Most loving Brethren I Shall never forget your old kindnesses and the entire affections that you have shed upon me not by drops but by floods would I never so fain forget them yet I could not they are so continually renowned for there is never a day but I hear of them Nay â—…ore than hear of them I feel and taste them The God that hath promised to them that give to a Prophet though but a cup of cold Water shall receive a Prophets reward he will recompence your labour of love your servent prayers and constant cryes your care for my welfare your bountiful supplies who have given me not a cup of cold water but the Wine of your loves with the sense and tidings whereof I am continually refreshed I must I do and will bless the Lord as long as I live that he hath cast my lot in so fair a place to dwell in your communion and especially to go in and out before you and to be the Messenger of the Lord of Host to you to proclaim his Law and to Preach his Excellencies to be his Spokesman to you and to wooâ—… for him and to espouse you to one Husband and to present you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ. Lord how unworthy am I everlastingly unworthy of this glorious Dignity which I do verily believe the most brightest Angels in Heaven would be glad of if the Lord saw it fit to imploy them in this work Well I do not I cannot repent notwithstanding all the difficulties and inconveniences that do attend his dispised Servants and hated ways and that are like to attend them for we have but sipped yet of the Cup but I have set my hand to his plow my Ministry I took up with you and my Testimony I finished with you though I thought I had espoused you till death and when I was entred into that Sacred Office which through rich Grace I was imployed in I told you in the close of what I spake before the laying of the holy Hands upon me most gladly do I take up this Office with all the persecution affliction difficulties an tribulation and inconveniencies that do and may attend it and blessed be God I am through his goodness of the same mind still and my tribulations for Christ do to him be Glory for to me belongs nothing but shame and confusion of face confirm my choice and my resolution to serve him with much more than my labours Verily Brethren it is a good choice that I have commended to you Oh! that there might not one be found among you that hath not made Maries choice I mean of that good part which shall never be taken away from you Brethren let them take up with the world that have no better portion be content that they should carry the Bell and bear away thâ—… riches and perferments and glory and splendor of the World Alas you have no reason to envy them verily they have a lye in their right hand Ah! how soon will their hopes fail them how soon will the crackling blast be out
men and see what apprehensions they have of the World if any should come â—…o such as these and tell them here is such and such prâ—…ferments for you you shall have such titles of honour and delights if you will now disown Religion or subscribe to iniquity do you think such a motion would be embraced Brethren why should we not be wise in time why should we not now be of the mind of which we know we shall be all shortly woe to them that will not be wise till it be to no purpose woe to them whose eyes nothing but Death and Judgement will open woe to them that though they have been warned by others and have heard the Worlds greatest Darlings in Death to cry out of its vanity worthlessness and deceitfulness and have been told where and how it would leave them yet would take no warning but only must serve themselves to for warnings to others Ah my Beloved beware there be no worldly Professors among you that will part rather with their part in Paradise than their part in Paris that will rather part with their Consciences than with their Estates that have secret reserves in hearts to save themselves whole when â—…t comes to the pinch and not to be of the Religion that will undo them in the World Beware that none of you have your hearts where your Feet should be and love your Mammon before your Maker It is time for you to learn with Paul to be Crucified to the World But it is time for me to remember that 't is a Letter and contain my self within my limits The God of all Grace stablish strengthen and settle you in these shaking times and raise your hearts above the fears of the worlds threats and above the ambition of its favours My dearest loves to you all with my servent desire of your Prayers May the Lord of Hosts be with you and the God of Jacob your refuge Farewell my dear Brethren Farewel and be strong in the Lord I am From the common Gaole at Juelchester June 31. 1663. Yours to serve you in the Gospel whether by Doing or Suffering JOS. ALLEINE LETTER VII First Christian Marks 2. Duties To the Beloved my most endearing and endeared Friends the Flock of Christ in Taunton Salvation Most dearly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown I Must say of you as David did of Jonathan Very pleasant have you been unto me and your love to me is wonderful And as I have formerly taken great content in that my Lot was cast among you so through grace I rejoyce in my present Lot that I am called to approve my love to you by suffering for you for you I say for you know that I have not sought yours but you and that for doing my duty to your souls I am here in these Bonds which I do cheerfully accept through the grace of God that strengtheneth me Oh! that your Souls might be quickened and enlarged by these my Bonds that your hands might be strengthened and your hearts encouraged in the Lord your God by our sufferings See to it my dearly Beloved that you stand fast in the power of the Holy Doctrine which we have Preached from the Pulpit preached at the Bar preached from the Prison to you It is a Gospel worth the suffering for see that you follow after holiness without which no man shall see God Oh! the madness of the blind World that they should put from them the only Plank upon which they can scape to Heaven Surely the Enemies of Holiness are their own Enemies Alas for them they know not what they do What would not these foolish Virgins do at last when it is too late for a little of the Oyl of the wise Oh for one dram of that Grace which they have scorned and despised But let not any of you my dear People be wise too late Look diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God Beware that none of you be cheated through the subtlety of Satan and deceitfulness of your hearts with counterfeit grâ—… There is never a grace but hath its counterfeit and there is nothing in all the World that is more common or more easie than to mistake common and counterfeit Grace for true and saving and remember you are undone for evermore if you should die in such a mistake Not that I would shake the confidence of any sound Believer who upon often and through searce into the Scripture and his own heart and putting himself upon Gods tryal hath gotten good evidence that his Graces are of the right kind Build your confidenee sure See that you get the knowledge of the certain and infallible marks of Salvation and make sure by great observing your own hearts that these marks be in you and then you cannot be too confident But as you love your souls take heed of a groundless confidence Take heed of â—…ing confident before you have tried Dear Brethren I would fain have you all secured against the day of Judgement I would that the state of your souls were all well setled Oh how comfortably might you think of any troubles if you were but sure of your pardons Were your Salvation out of doubt no matter though other things were in hazard I beseech you whatever you neglect look to this I am afraid there are among you that have not made your peace with God yet that are not yet acquainted with that great work of Conversion such I would warn and charge before the living God to speed into Christ and without any more disputes or delayes to put away their iniquities and to come in and deliver up themselves to Jesus Christ that they may be saved It is not your Profession nor performing external duties nor partaking of external Priviledges that will save you No no you must be converted or condemned It is not enough that you have some love and liking to Gods ways and people and are willing to venture something for them all this will not prove you sound Christians have your hearts been changed have you been soundly convinced of your sins of your daâ—…nable and undone condition in your selves and your utter inaâ—…lity to lick your selves whole again by your own duties have you been brought at least to such a sight and sense of sin as that there is no sin though agreeable to your constitution though a support to your gain but you do heartily abhor it and utterly disallow of it are you brought to such a sense of the beauty of holiness and of the Laws and ways of God as that you do desire to know the whole mind of God and would not excuse your selves by ignorance from any duty and that you do not allow your selves in the ordinary neglect of any thing that conscience charges upon you as a duty are your very hearts set upon the glorifying and enjoying of God as your greatest happiness which you desire more than Corn and Wine and Oyl had you rather be the
rejoyce in the Lord and again I say Rejoyce let your souls magnifie the Lord and your spirits rejoyce in God your Saviour Live you a life of praise you are highly favoured of the Lord your Lines are fallen in a pleasant place only stick you fast to your choice Beware lest any man beguile you of your reward watch and keep your garments about you lest you walk naked and men see your shame Many will be plucking to pull you out of Christs hands but the harder they pluck the harder do you cling and cleave to him and the better hold fast do you take of him blessed is he that overcometh And now the God of Heaven fill you all with himself and make all Grace to abound in you and toward you and that he may be a Sun to comfort you and a Shild of protection to you and shine with his happy Beams of Grace and Glory on you all Farewel in the Lord I am Yours in the Bonds of the Gospel JOS. ALLEINE August 28. 1663. LETTER XVI How to live to God To the Beloved People the Inhabitants of the Town of Taunton Grace and Peace Most endeared Christians TO tell you I love and long for you seems somewhat needless I cannot doubt of your confidence that you have a deep share in my tenderest affections for this let my labours among you and the hazards for you speak rather that I my self Beloved I am without a Complement the devoted servant of your souls prosperity and the interest of Christ in you way the Lord Jesus be set up higher in your hearts may his name ever live in you and be magnified by you and I have what I ask If this work be not promoted among you I shall account all my letters but waste Paper and all my pains but lost labour Brethren I beseech you that none of you live to your selves for this were directly to cross the very end of Christ's death for therefore he died that you should not live to your selves 2 Cor. 5. 15. Oh live to him that died for you live to him that is the God of your life live to him that bought your lives with the expense of his own To him that bought you from destruction and not only so but bought your names into the eternal Inheritance reserved in the Heavens for you Will a man be easily perswaded to lose his life how infinitely tender are men here And yet in the worst sence the most of men do lose their lives yea lose them for nothing Beloved consider I beseech you that life is lost that is not lived unto God If you would not loss your lives that you live see to him who is the end of your lives Oh remember this and reckon that day lost which you have not lived unto God! Brethren how great a part of our lives have we really alas to too really lost I beseech you take heed here you are careful about many things but beware that other things do not put out this which should be the main of your cares to wit the spendin your days and strength for him that made you Would it not be dreadful for a man to find at last when he comes to his account with God that his whole life or at least the main of it had been but damnable self-seeking That a man should have so many years allowed him by God and he should at last be found to have been but a false and wicked servant that had set up for himself with his Masters stock and alienated his goods and turned them to his own use Well that you may throughly learn the grand lesson of living unto God take these Counsels First Settle it upon your heart that it is the sum of all your business and blessedness to live unto God 'T is your business for his pleasure you are and were created what have you else to do but to serve your Maker in your general and particular Callings what was the Candle made for saith one but to be burnt beloved what else have you strength for but for God doth he maintain servants and shall not he look for their work Would you endure it that the servants that you find with meat and wages should set up for themselves that they should eat your bread and all the while do their own work beloved Gods service is your business and he made you and keeps you for no other end and it is your blessedness too Labour to be under the rooted conviction of this principle that your very happiness lies in pleasing and honouring of God Let the sense of this live fresh upon your hearts and it will regulate your whole course Secondly Remember what a dangerous yea damnable thing it is to live to your selves To make it our main care and business to please and gratifie our selves or to have applause from and reputation with others or to grow rich in the world and greaten our selves and posterity is the certain evidence of a graceless heart And though the Godly do make God their principle end in general yet they must know that for so much of their lives ar is spent besides this end which is too too much they shall suffer loss Thirdly Labour to keep alive upon your selves a deep sense of your strong obligations to God Often think with your selves what a righteous what a reasonable thing it is that you should with all that you have serve the Lord. Beloved sha I not the Vessel be for the use of the Potter that made it Shall not the servant Trade for his Master with whose goods he is entrusted do yot not fetch all your bread from Gods door Is not he the Rock that begat you the Author of your being and well-being is not this he that can crucifie you or release you can save you or damn you at his pleasure Is it not from him that you fetch every breath your interest obliges you to please him Why should Beltshazzars charge be against you that the God in whose hand your breach is and whose are all your ways you have not glorified Dan. 5. 23. Fourthly Do not only intend God as the general end of your course but in every solemn action actually mind your end Though a man need not cannot think of his Journeys-end at every step yet with care he might come to this in every solemn action particularly and expresly to mind his end a man cannot nor need he think at every bit that he puts into his mouth I will eat this for God yet he might every time he sits down to his Table remember to eat and drink not to gratifie his flesh but to glorifie God by getting strength for his work you cannot think of it in every step in your Journey but without intending some glory to God by serving his will in your place and station and so in your visits and labours Fifthly Every morning let this be your first and firm resolution I will set
you have for Eternity Now be wise and improve your happy Season your day of Grace Prepare for Death make all sure Press on towards the Mark lay up in store for your selves a good Foundation against the time to come In the morning sow your Seed and in the Evening withdraw not your Hand Treasure up much in Heaven What profit is it that you have more than others more Liberty more Comfort more Health more Wealth than others except you love God more and serve him better than others Now ply your Work and dispatch your Business so as that you may have nothing to trouble You upon your Death-Beds 2. To Consider also the Temptations and Disadvantages of your State Study to know your own weaknesses and where your danger lies that you may obviate Satan and prevent your miscarrying There is no Condition but hath its Snares See that you acquaint your selves with his Devices least you be beguiled by him and caught in his Trap through your own unwariness You that are well Provided for in the World had need to watch your selves least you fall in love with present things least you be lifted up least you trust in those Carnal props and put confidence in the Creatures least you warp and decline and baulk your duties through Carnal fear and the desire of preserving your Estates You that have little in the World are not without your temptations neither Oh take heed of Envying others Prosperity of murmuring and discontent of diffidence and distrustfullness of using indirect means to help your selves Be sure You make not the Worlds pressures upon you an excuse from your daily serving of God in your Families and in secret Set this down as your Rule and unchangeable Resolution that God and your Souls and your Families shall be looked duly and continually after go the world which way it will Consider what sins your Tempers Relations Callings do most expose you to Be not strangers to your selves Prove your selves upright in keeping from your Iniquities 3. To Converse often with your Dust. Brethren we are going we are going the Grave waiteth for us Oh forget not that Corruption is your Father and the Worm your Mother and your Sister These are your poor kindred that you must shortly dwell with when you come to your long home Remember the days of Darkness which shall be many Take every day some serious turns with Death Think where you shall be a few days and nights hence happy he that knew what to morrow meant for twenty Years together Believe it you will find it no little thing to die Think often how you are provided how you should receive the Sentence of Death Were you never within sight of Death How did it look What did you wish for most at that time What did then trouble you most Oh mark these things and live according Often ask your hearts VVhat if God should this night require my Soul 4. To serve your Generation with your might while you have time You have but a very little time to bring God any Glory here or to do your Friends any good now up and be doing Now or never live in the deep and constant sense of the very little time that you have for this world and the great work you have to do You are going whence You shall not return There 's no After-Game to be plaid VVhat But one cast for Eternity and will you not be careful to throw that well Most dearly Beloved I covet after your furtherance in Mortification and growth in Grace And Oh that I could but represent Death to you as shortly it will shew it self Or could but open a VVindow into Eternity to You How effectually would this do the work Then the Cripple would fling away his Crutches and betake himself to his Legs Then the slothfull would pluck his Hand out of his Bosome and shake off his Excuses and be night and day at his work Then the Laodicean would be recovered from his benumed frame then we should have no Halving in Religion no lazy wishing and complaining but men would ply the Oars to purpose and sweat at their work But Oh unhappy man how powerfully hath the world bewitched thee How miserably hath Sin unnmaned thee that thou shouldst look no farâ—…her than thou canst see and to be taken up with present things and forget so momentous concernments as are before thee But you my Brethren lift up your selves above the objects of sense may you be men for eternity and carry it like these that seek for glory honour and immortality I am apt to be too long with you I commend you to Divine Grace my dearest loves among you I am Yours in the Bonds of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE From the common Goale at Juelchester March 5. 1665. LETTER XXV To the loving and most beloved People the Servants of God in Taunton Grace and Peace Most dearly Beloved ALthough I am forced at the present to be at a distance from you yet I would not have you ignorant that the dear remembrance of you is always fresh with me and the care of your eternal welfare is always living upon my heart Therefore as my beloved Friends I warn you and cease not to stir you up by way of remembrance being jealous for you with a Godly jealouâ—…ie that no man take your Crown My dearly Beloved I know you have many enemies and above all I fear your bosom Enemies and as the Watchman of the Lord I give you careful warning and exhort you all not to be high-minded but fear Blessed is the man that feareth always Look diligently lest any of you fail of the Grace of God You have made much and long Profession of the Name of Jesus Christ Oh look to your foundations see upon what ground you stand Look to your sincerity You must every one of you stand shortly before the Judgement Seat of Christ and be tried for your lives Oh try your selves throughly first 'T is easie to mistake Education for Regeneration and common Conviction and Illumination for Conversion and a partial Reâ—…ormation and external Obedience â—…or true Sanctification Therefore I beseech you every one to examine whether you are in the Faith Prove your own selves Tell not me you hope you are sincere you hope you shall go to Heaven Never put it off with hopes but pray and try and search till you are able to say yea and know you are passed from death to life and that you know you have a Building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Suppose I should ask you one by one where are your Evidences for Heaven Could you make out your claim can you bring me Scripture-proof can you shew me the marks of the Lord Jesus what mâ—…n you to live at uncertainties Brethren it is an intollerable ignorance for any of you in these days of glorious light not to be able to tell the distinguishing marks of a sound believer And
trembling Do you ever think to escape these mighty enemies to conquer the power and avoid the plots and snares of those potent adversaries without most painful diligence O cry to Heaven for help watch and pray fear lest a promise being left of entring into rest either of you should come short of it My dear Neeces you have many do watch for your souls to devoor them but I doubt too few except my self do watch for your Souls to save them therefore I look upon my self who am now upon the matter your only Monitor to be the more concerned to awaken my self to your help and to look after you and to watch for you left by any means you should miscarry by the deceits and temptations wherewith you are encompassed I would not have you over-careful for the things of this lise though I commend your laudable care and diligence that you may not be burdensome to any man but I commend to you a better aâ—…d more necessary care and that is that which the Aposâ—…le speaks of the Virgins care The unmarried saith he careth for the things of the Lord. Ah let this be your eare seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and then all these things shall be added you have Gods sure promise for it If the Lord give me to live and prosper you shall see and know that I am not a friend only in words to you but however that shall be see that you embrace the Counsels of God from me Oh make sure of Heaven betimes walk humbly with God beware of a proud heart and a lofty spirit abhor your selves else God will not be pleased with you condemn your selves that God may acquit you The leven of pride will sowre the whole lump and mar all your Profession and Religion and render your Persons and Prayers and all an abomination to the Lord if it prevail in you Oh therefore be not high minded but fear and by prayer and watchfulness restrain and root up this wretched corruption of pride which is a sin so natural to you that you had need to use an infinite care and caution to keep it under As to my self these may acquaint you That I have been often at the very gates of death I have lost all my limbs but prayer hath redeemed me from my extremities and God hath blessed the use of the Bath to me Oh praise the Lord praise him for my sake and give glory to the God of my Life Love him honour and glorifie him whose favour and friendship hath filled my Soul with comfort and given a resurection to my body I can now walk alone and feed my self but am altogether unable to write which is the reason why these come to you in another hand Dear Cousin you may think me too tedious but you must pardon me if I erre in my love and zeal for your welfare And now I shall trespass no more but with my own and dear Wives love to you I commend you to God and rest Your loving and careful uncle JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXVIII Do all in reference to God and his Glory Dear Friend I Have received yours of the 19th of September but it came to me in the time of my sickness in which I was much a stranger to writing it conâ—…nued upon me five months and to this day so much weakness remains in my arms that I am not able to put off or on my own clothes Your Letter was exceeding welcome to me not only as reviving the remembrance of our old friendship but also as bringing me news of some spiritual good that you received by me which is the best tidings that I can receive for what do I live for but to be useful to souls in my generation I desire to know no other business than to please and honour my God and serve my generation in that short allowance of time that I have here before I go hence and shall be seen no more Shall I commend to you the Lesson that I am about to learn But why should I doubt of your acceptance who have so readily embraced me in all our converses The Lesson is To be entirely devoted unto the Lord that I may be able to say after the Apostle To me to live is Christ. I would not be serving God only for a day in the week or an hour or two in the day but every day and all the day I am ambitious to come up towards that of our Lord and Master To do always those things that please God I plainly see that self-seeking is self-undoing and that then we do promote our selves best when we please God most I find that when I have done all if God be not pleased I have done nothing and if I can but approve my self to God my work is done I reckon I do not live that time I do not live unto God I am â—…ain to cut off so many hours from my days and so many years from my life so short as it is as I have lived unto my self I find no enemy so dangerous as my self and O that others might take warning by my hurt O that I had lived wholly unto God! then had every day and every hour that I have spent been found upon my account at that great day of our appearing before God then I had been rich indeed in treasure laid up there whither I am apace removing then I had been every day and hour adding to the heap and encreasing the reward which God of his meer grace hath promised even to the meanest work that is done to him Col. 3. 24. I verily perceive I am an external loser by acting no more as for God for what is done to my self is lost but what is done for God is done for ever and shall receive an everlasting reward Verily if there be another world to come and an eternal state after this short life it is our only wisdom to be removing and as it were transplanting and transporting what we can from hence into that Countrey to which we are shortly to be removed that what we are now doing we may be reaping the fruit of for ever more The world think themselves wise but I will pawn my soul upon it that this is the true wisdom Well let us be wholly swallowed up in the concerns of Religion and know no other interest but Jesus Christs I cannot say I have already attained but this is that my heart is set to learn That in all that I do whether sacred or civil actions still I may be doing but one work and driving on one design That God may be pleased by me and he glorified in me that not onely my Praying Preaching Alms c. may be found upon my account but even my eating drinking sleeping visits discourses because they are all done as unto God Too often do I take a wrong aim and miss my mark but I will tell you what be the rules I set my self
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 wâ—…at he will say to us Come ye Blessed c. Surely we shall stand in his Judgement 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 â—…ld shall rejoyce but ye shall weep and lament You shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be tuâ—…ned into joy Oh how reviving are his words I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh away from you If that miserable wretch leapt chearfully off the Ladder saying I shall be a Queen in Hell With that 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 apâ—…e 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 Tâ—…tum 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 wou'd 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 froâ—…h 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 â—…row 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 't is 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 whether 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 tall growth great experience singular communion that you may burn and shine in your place 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 conversation of Believers from other men It is not a shame that when we are in company with others this should be all the difference that is to be seen only 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 tipt 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 setling 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 our what hapâ—…y 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 looks for extraordinary dispensation 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 onely a few may expect Observe but these three things 1. To acquaint your selves throughly with the condition of Life and take heed of laying the marks of Salvation either 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 doubt not but you will grow up speedily to a settled assurance nad 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 ability 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 iu 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