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

eyes that he attained to the right temperament of the Christian Religion and to a truly Evangelical frame of Spirit suitable to the glorious hopes of Faith and to the wonderful love of our Redeemer And when most Christians think that they have done much if they can but weep and groan over their Corruptions and can abstain from the lustful Pollutions of the World in the midst of many doubts and fears LOVE and JOY and a HEAVENLY MIND were the Internal part of his Religion and the large and fervent PRAISES of God and THANKS GIVING for his Mercies especialiy for CHRIST and the SPIRIT and HEAVEN were the External Exercises of it He was not negligent in confessing Sin nor Tainted with any Antinomian Errours but PRAISE and THANKSGIVING were his Natural Strains his frequentest longest and heartiest Services He was no despiser of a broken Heart but he had attained the blessing of a healed joyful Heart The following Narratives the strain of his Letters but above all the admirations of his nearest Friends will tell him that will enquire how his tryumphant Discourses of the Hopes of Glory and his frequent and fervent Thanksgiving and Praise were the Language which he familiarly spake and the very business of his Heart and Life And O how amiable is it to hear the Tongue employed seriously and frequently in that which it was made for even in the praise of him that made it And to see a man passing with joyful hopes towards Immortality And to live as one that seriously believeth that he must quickly be in the Heavenly Church and live with God and Christ for ever O how comely is it to see a man that saith he believeth that Christ hath redeemed him from Hell and reconciled him to God and made him an Adopted Heir of Glory to live like one that was so strangely saved from so great a misery and with the most affectionate gratitude to honour the Purchaser of all this Grace And how uncomely a thing is it to hear a man say That he believeth all this Grace of Christ this Heavenly Glory this Love of God and yet to be inclined to no part of Religion but fears and complainings and scarce to have any words of Praises or Thanksgiving but a few on the by which are heartless affected and constrained O did Christians yea Ministers but Live with the Joy and Gratitude and Praise of Jehovah which beseemeth those that believe what they believe and those that are entring into the Coelestial Chore they would then be an honour to God and their Redeemer and would win the World to a love of Faith and Holiness and make them throw away their worldly Fool-games and come and see what it is that these Joyous Souls have found But when we shew the World no Religion but Sighing and Complaining and live a sadder life than they and yet talk of the glad-Tydings of Christ and Pardon and Salvation we may talk so long enough before they will believe us that seem no more to be Believers our selves or before they will leave their fleshly pleasures for so sad and dreadful a Life as this And as this kind of Heavenly Joyful Life is an honour to Christ and a wonderful help to the Converting of the World so is it a Reward to him that hath it which made this Holy Person live in such a vigour of Duty such fervour of holy Love and such continual Content in God so that the Kingdom of God in him was Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost which others think consisteth in Meats Drinks and Dayes in Shadows and Circumstances in Sidings and in singular Conceits Rom. 14. Col. 2. 16. It was not a Melancholy Spirit that acted him nor did he tempt his People into such an uncomfortable state and strein But in the multude of his thoughts within him the comforts of God did delight his Soul His Meditation of God and his Redeemer was sweet and he rejoyced in the Lord. He delighted in the Law of the Lord and when delight invited him no wonder if it were his Meditation day and night Psal. 1. 2. 104. 34. 119. 103. 94. 19. And how great a Solace was this in his Sufferings when he could be in a Goal and in Heaven at once When he could after the terrible torment of Convulsions have the foresight and taste of Heavenly Pleasures Nihil Crus sentit in Nervo cum Animus est in Coelo saith Tertul. And as he lived so he died in Vigorous Joyful Praises and Thanksgivings Reviving out of his long speechless Convulsion into those fervent Raptures as if he had never been so impatient of being absent from the Lord as when he was just passing into his Presence or rather as if with Stephen he had seen Heaven opened and Christ in his Glory and could not but speak of the unutterable things which he had seen I deny not but his vigorous active Temper might be a great help to all his holy Alacrity and Joy in his healthful State But when that frame of Nature was broken by such Torments and was then dissolving to hear a dying Man about sixteen hours together like the ferventest Preacher in the Pulpit pour out his Soul in Praises and Thanskgiving and speak of God of Christ of Heaven as one that could never speak enough of them and that with a Vivacity and Force as if he had been in former Health and to tryumph in Joy as one that was just laying hold upon the Crown surely in this there was something that was the Reward of all his former Praise and Thankfulness and that which must needs tell the Auditors the diference not onely between the death of a Righteous Believer and the wicked Unbeliever but the weak and distempered Believer also the difference between a sound and a diseased Christian and between the tryumphant Faith and Hopes of one that saw the God and World invisible and the staggering Faith and trembling Hopes of a feeble and distrustful Soul and between the death of one that had been used to converse in Heaven and to make Thanksgiving and Praise his Work and of one that had been used to cleave to Earth and make a great matter of the concernments of the Flesh and to rise but little higher in Religion then a course of outward Duty animated most with troublesome Fears Though he died not in the Pulpit yet he died in Pulpit-Work And I must also note how great an advantage it was to himself and to his Ministerial Works that he was possessed deeply with this true sentiment That the PLEASING of GOD is the proper ultimate end of Man not doubting but it includeth the notion of glorifying him for thus his heart was rightly principled and all his Doctrine and Duties rightly animated And as in all his Ministry he was extraordinarily addicted to open to the Hearers the Covenant of Grace and to explain Religion in the true Notion of Covenanting with God and

of GOD do you help us in our Praises Love the Lord the better Praise him the more and what is wanting in us let it be made good by you O that the Praises of GOD may sound abroad in the Country by our means and for our sakes HE was prevented of going to the Waters by his last Imprisonment for want of which his Distempers increased much upon him all the Winter after and the next Spring more 〈◊〉 yet not so as to take him fully off from his Work but he Preached and kept many Dayes and Administred the Sacrament among them frequently But going up to the Waters in July 1667 they had a contrary effect upon him from what they had at first For after three dayes taking them he fell into a Feaver which seised on his Spirits and decayed his strength exceedingly so that he seemed very near Death But the Lord then again revoked the Sentence passed upon him and enabled him in six Weeks to return again to his People where he much desired to be But finding at his return great decay of his strength and a weakness in all his Limbs he was willing to go to Dorchester to advise further with Doctor Lose a very Worthy and Reverend Physitian from whom he had received many Medicines but never conversed with him nor had seen him which he conceived might conduce more to his full Cure The Doctor soon perceiving my Husbands weakness perswaded him to continue for a fortnight or three weeks there that he might the better advise him and alter his Remedies as he should see occasion which motion was readily yeelded unto by us But we had not been there above five dayes before the use of all his Limbs was taken away on a sudden one day his Arms wholly failing the next his Legs so that he could not go nor stand nor move a Finger nor turn in his Bed but as my self and another did turn him night and day in a Sheet All means failing he was given over by Physitiand and Friends that saw him lie some weeks in cold Sweats night and day and many times for some hours together half his Body cold in our apprehensions dying receiving nothing but the best Cordials that Art could invent and Almond Milk or a little thin Broth once in three or four days Thus he lay from September 28 to November 16. before he began to Revive or it could be discerned that Remedies did at all prevail against his Diseases In all this time he was still chearful and when he did speak it was not at all complaining but alwayes praising and admiring God for his Mercies but his Spirits were so low that he spake seldom and very softly He still told us he had no pain at all and when his Friends admired his Patience he would say God had not yet tryed him in any thing but laying him aside out of his Work and keeping him out of Heaven but through Grace he could submit to his pleasure waiting for him It was Pain he ever feared and that he had not yet felt so tender was his Father of him and he wanted strength as he often told us to speak more of his Love and to speak for God who had been and was still so gracious to him Being often askt by my self and others how it was with his Spirit in all this weakness he would answer He had not those ravishing joys that he expected and that some Believers did partake of but he had a sweet serenity of Heart and confidence in God grounded on the Promises of the Gospel and did believe it would be well with him to all eternity In all this time I never heard one impatient word from him nor could upon my strictest observation discern the least discontent with this state though he was a pitiful Object to all others that beheld him being so consumed besides the loss of the use of his Limbs Yet the Lord did support and quiet his Spirit that he lay as if he had endured nothing breaking out often most affectionately in commending the kindness of the Lord to him saying Goodness and Mercy had followed him all his dayes And indeed the loving kindness and care of God was singular to us in that place which I cannot but mention to his praise We came Strangers thither and being in our Inn we found it very uncomfortable yet were fearful to impose our selves on any private House But necessity inforcing we did enquire for a Chamber but could not procure one the Small Pox being very hot in most Families and those that had them not daily expecting them and so could not spare Rooms as else they might But the Lord who saw our affliction inclined the heart of a very good Woman a Ministers Widdow one Mrs. Bartlet to come and invite us to a Lodging in her House which we readily and thankfully accepted off where we were so accommodated as we could not have been any where else in the Town especially in regard of the assistance I had from four young Women who lived under the same roof and so were ready night and day to help 〈◊〉 I having no Servant nor Friend near me we being so unsetled I kept none but had alwayes tended him my self to that time And the Ministers and Christians of that place were very compassionate towards us visiting and Praying with and for us often And Dr. Lose visited him twice a day for twelve or fourteen Weeks except when he was called out of Town refusing any Fees tendered to him The Gentry in and about the Town and others sending to us what-ever they imagined might be pleasing to him furnishing him with all delicates that might be grateful to one so weak So that he wanted neither Food nor Physick having not only for necessity but for delight and he did much delight himself in the consideration of the Lord's kindness to him in the love he received and would often say I was a Stranger and Mercy took me in in Prison and it came to me sick and weak and it visited me There was also ten young Women besides the four in the House that took their turns to watch with him constantly for twelve weeks space I never wanted one to help me And the Lord was pleased to shew his power so in strengthening me that I was every night all these Weeks in the depth of Winter one that helped to turn him never lying out of the Bed one night from him but every time he called or wanted any thing was waking to assist her in the Chamber though as some of them have said they did tell that we did turn him more than 40 times a Night he seldom sleeping at all in the Night in all those Weeks Though his tender Affections were such as to have had me sometimes lain in another Room yet mine were such to him that I could not bear it the thoughts of it being worse to me than the trouble or disturbance he accounted I had

As to his skill in the Languages it was not contemptible especially in those three which as Ludovicus Vives saith Christ sanctified upon the Cross. Thirdly His Moderation and Humility He managed his dissents in Judgment from others with great Charity Humility and Moderation most strictly observing what he still exhorted his Flock unto viz. To speak evil of no man much less of dignities Insomuch that when his Judgement was at any time desired concerning any Sermon which he had heard and any Minister Conformist or Nonconformist though weak and mean he would yet ever find matter of Commendation none of Dispraise judging the Minister and his Discourse at least to be honest and of good intent He abhorred to intrench on the Divine Prerogative in judging of Mens States before the time and in condemning Mens Actions at all adventures without considering their lessening or altering Circumstances And as he liked to judge no man beyond his Sphere and speak evil of no Man so in his Life did he reap as great and visible Reward as any for this most Christian Practice for the Tongues even of all did pay tribute to his good Name which was a thing so entire and sacred that scarce a Rabsheka or Shimei could find a passage by which to invade it His good Name was as a precious Box of Oyntment by his Death especially broken and poured forth the delicious scent whereof all those Hearts with great delight retain which like Lidia's were open d to his Heavenly Dectrine and not onely so but they will perpetuate it whilst they have Childrens Children by whom to eternize his Memory Fourthly His Practice as to Church-Communion His Judgment as to Obedience to Authority As respects his Practice and moderate Opinion in point of Church-Communion and his Judgment in point of Obedience to the Supream Power together with his great regard to and earnest insisting on Second-Table Duties 〈◊〉 may be said to his worthy Praise He as frequently attended on the publick Worship as his opportunities and strength 〈◊〉 and often declared his very good liking of some 〈◊〉 which he heard from the present Incumbent He did not account that none could worship God aright unless in all Instances and smaller Circumstances of Worship they wholly accorded with his Apprehensions But with the Divine Apostle he had learnt to say Notwithstanding every way 〈◊〉 in Pretence or in Truth Christ is preached and I 〈◊〉 do rejoyce yea and will rejoyce He knew of how great moment it was that the publick Worship of God should be maintained and that its Assemblies should not be 〈◊〉 though some of its Administrations did not clearly approve themselves unto him because upon the account of some Imperfections and Pollutions in them supposed or real to withdraw Communion is evidently to suppose our selves joyned before our time to the Heavenly Assembly or to have found such a one here on Earth exempt from all 〈◊〉 and imperfections of Worshippers and Worship He abandoned not all Forms but their formal use neither those in particular publickly Established through a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or partiality as may be affirmed of too many but hath been heard much to commend that Form of Thanksgiving both 〈◊〉 and Antient viz. the Te Deum and particularly that Sentence in it The noble Army of Martyrs praise 〈◊〉 which he was wont to mention with a certain Exaltation So moderate and calm he was in his Judgment that when the two new Forms in the Liturgy viz. on the horrid 〈◊〉 of King Charles the First and on the return of King Charles the Second were first Printed he was so far from Nauseating them because Forms or because 〈◊〉 the stamp of Authority that he had ever resolved to read them though then only as I remember recommended had not some occurrences which I need not name prevailed with him at present to forbear His Loyalty It appeared that he had a due sense of the grand importance of the Obedience of Subjects to the Supream Magistrate by some excellent Sermons which he Preached on that of the Apostle Rom. 13. ver 1. a little before his Election where and when his Judgment was so strict as unjustly to offend some whose weakness and ignorance by reason of a long Proscription of the Regal Power had made over-scrupulous or erroneous His I oyalty also to his Prince he discovered in observing the injunction of the Wise Man viz. Not to Curse the King no not in his bed-Chamber or Retiring-Rooms for he hath often been seen with indignation to turn from and hush into silence all Reports or Surmises true or false which directly or indirectly did tend to detract from and defame Dignities accounting them no cause of withdrawing or lessening our just Honour and Obedience but rather of giving our selves the more to Prayer and Humiliation Fifthly His respect to Second-Table Duties He was not onely a man aspiring to the Heights but also respecting the due breadth and extent of Religion being well-advised how much the Vitals and Honour of Religion in the World are conserved by and concerned in a conscionable discharge of Second-Table Duties That he had a deep sense of the great advantage or disadvantage accruing to Religion by the strict or remiss performance of the Duties of the Second-Table and particularly those of the Fifth Commandment all bear him witness in that he upon several Texts for a long time together most faithfully instructed his People in Relative-Duties than which none indeed are more momentous and less observed and most sharply reproved the Guilty for their failures therein on all which Relations their Duties and Defects he particularly and with much Zeal insisted Witness also his great grief and indignations which he frequently conceived and with great vehemency expressed in lamenting over and reproving some Professors of Religion for their wretched neglect and breach of some Second-Table Precepts the scandal and dishonour of which to Religion and the Reiigious how he resented none but God and his own Soul did throughly know He vehemently detested that impious and hellish design of putting asunder in this matter what God hath joyned together viz. Those Commands respecting God and our Neighbour both which he hath equally appointed to us as Rules of Direction and Judgement He was neither Legalist nor Solifidian neither Ritualist nor Enthusiast not so much above in the Mount with God as not also to come down to his Neighbour whom he did accost as Moses with both Tables in his Hand on which his Life and Doctrine did constantly and excellently comment Sixthly His Labours in the Ministry As Respects His great Industry and happy Labours in the Ministry together with his great Prudence and Compassion in applying himself to the Souls of his Flock according to their most pressing needs none who knew the former but must also confess and admire at the latter 1. His Prudence in them His Prudence Then in apportioning as well as designing the most suitable and seasonable instructions to

marvelling at GOD's infinite goodness in the Gift of his Son our Saviour Neither did he so gaze upon and adore Christ his Redeemer and his Redemption as to forget to sound forth Praises of GOD the Creator for often he hath been heard with admiration and praise to take notice of the Divine Power and Wisdom in the Works of Creation and therefore in the open Air in the private retirement of some Field or Wood he delighted to address himself to God in praise that his eyes might affect his heart and awake his glory And here often he hath been heard to say That Man was the Tongue of the whole Creation appointed as the Creatures Interpreter to speak forth and make articulate the Praises which they but silentlently intimate He much delighted in Vocal Musick and especially in singing Psalms and Hymns particularly Mr. Bartons witness his constant practice after Dinner else-where related In him it may be said in as high a degree as of most Saints on Earth That each Thought was to him a Prayer each Prayer a Song each Day a Sabbath each Meal a Sacrament a Fore-taste of that Eternal Repast to which he hath now Arrived His Time-redeeming Thrist To conclude That he might effect all the excellent purposes of a Holy Life he set a high value on his most precious Time and did with so Wise and Holy Fore-cast each day redeem and fill it up that he did not onely not do nothing but also not little though in a little and short time All Companies did hear him proclaim the Price of Time and how excellently and advantagiously he did it in publick before his Ejection in several most useful Sermons on Ephes 〈◊〉 16. many that heard him do to this day to their great comfort and profit remember And the more remarkable was this his Holy Thrist because prophetical of his short 〈◊〉 here on Earth His diligence and holiness in this his Sphere of Action was a presage of his speedy Translation as with Enoch to the Sphere of Vision and Fruition for a reward of his singular Piety it being not probable that he who made so great a haste to dispatch his Heavenly Work should be long without his desired Recompence CHAP. X. A few Additions to the former Character by his Reverend and Intimate Friend Mr. R. F. HE was a Person with whom for many years I was well acquainted and the more I knew him the more I loved and admired the rich and exceeding Grace of GOD in him I looked on him as one of the most elevated refined choice Saints that ever I knew or expect while I live to know and that because among others I observed these things of him 1. A most sincere pure and absolute consecration of himself to GOD in CHRIST JESUS his Soul had first practised the Covenant-Dedication which his hand afterward prescribed as a Patern to others in his Father-in-Laws Book There seemed no sinister end or false affection to move or sway him in his way But the good pleasure of the LORD the edification of his Church and the Salvation of Souls were the only marks his eye seemed at all to regard in his Designs and Acts I know no other mans heart but thus he appeared to my most attentive observation and so I fully believe concerning him as much as of any Person I ever saw 2. In this his dedication to God he was carried with the highest and purest flame of Divine Love that ever I observed in any And that Love arising from a clear vision of the Beauty of Divine Perfections especially his Gospel Love the sight of which Beauty and Excellency seemed perpetually to possess and ravish his Soul This Love seemed wholly unmixed from all that carnal heat that would carry him into Fantastick or Indecent Expressions but his mind seemed to be alwayes ascending with its might in the greatest calmness and satisfaction Thus have I oft observed him in frequent and silent elevation of Heart manifested by the most genuine and private lifting up of his eyes and joyned with the sweetest smile of his Countenance when I am confident he little thought of being seen by any Thus have I oft heard him flow in Prayer and Discourse with the clearest conviction and dearest taste of divine Excellency and Goodness and the fullest highest and most pleased expression of his being overcome by it and giving up his ALL in esteem to it but this Love in the greatest demonstration appeared by his perpetual greedy and unsatiable spending of his whole self for the Glory of God good of the Church and Salvatio of Souls His Head was ever contriving his Tongue 〈◊〉 and his whole Man acting some design for these so he lived and so he dyed He laboured and suffered himself into the Maladies which ended him And when he was at Bath like a perfect Skeleton and could move neither Hand nor Foot when his Physitians had 〈◊〉 him all Preaching and diswaded him from Vocal Praying as being above his strength yec then would he almost daily be carried in his Bath-Chair to the Alms-Houses and little Childrens Schools and there give them Catechisms teach them the meaning of them and call them to an account how they remembred and understood And he died designing a way how every poor Child in Somersetshire might Have Learn and be instructed in the Assemblies Catechism yea and at the expression of his affection I cannot but mention the frequentest Extasies or Raptures of Spirit wherein he lay on his Bed when his Body was even deprived of all power of its own motion but with no great pain in consideration of Divine Love to him in general and in particular that he felt no great pain Never heard I God so loved and thanked in the highest confluences of pleasing providences by others as he was by him in his affliction for not inflicting great pain upon him though he was otherwayes so sad a Spectacle of weakness and looked so like death that some great Ladies oft hindered his coming into the Bath the gastliness of his look did so afright them 3. His pure and sacred Love wrought in him a great Spirit of Charity and Meekness to Men of other Judgements and Perswasions and great affection towards all such in whom he found any Spiritual good His Zeal was all of a building and no destroying nature he had too much wisdom to esteem his own thoughts to be the Standard of all other Mens His clear Light and pure Heat made him of a more discerning substantial and divine temper than to reject any in whom Charity could see any thing of a new nature for differing from him in the Modes or Forms of Discipline or Worship or Disputable Points 4. Suitably to his high degree of Holiness and Divine Communion he enjoyed the richest assurance of Divine Love to himself in particular and his saving interest in Christ. I believe few Men were ever born that attained to so clear satisfied and powerful

be shortly forgot among the Dead your places will know you no more and your Memory will be no more among men and then what will it profit you to have lived in fashion and repute and to have been Men of esteem one serious walk over a Church-yard as one speaks might make a man mortified to the World Think upon how many you Tread but you know them not no doubt they had their Estates their friends their Trades their businesses and kept as much stir in the World as others do now But alas what are they the better for any for all this know you not that this must be your own case very shortly oh the unhappiness of deceived man how miserably is he bewitched and befooled that he should expend himself for that which he knows shall for ever leave him Brethren I beseech you lay no stress upon these perishing things but labour to be at a Holy indifferencie about them Is it for one that is in his wits to sell his God his conscience his soul for things that he is not sure to keep a week nor a day and which he is sure after a few sleepings and wakings more to leave behind him for ever go and talk with dying men and see what apprehensions they have of the World if any should come to such as these and tell them here is such and such preferments 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 worthlesness 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 All 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 it 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 Farewel my dear Brethren Farewel and be strong in the Lord I am Yours to serve you in the Gospel whether by Doing or Suffering Joseph Alleine From the common Gaole at Juelchester June 31. 1663. 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 Enimies 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 grace There is never a grace but hath its counterfeit and there is nothing in all the World that is more common or more casie than to mistake common and counterseit 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 search 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 confidence 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 being confident before you have tried Dear Brethren I would fain have you all secured against the day of Judgement I would that the states 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

to acquaint your self with all the Schools that are within your Verge and that you would do your utmost to engage the Teachers thereof to teach their Scholars this Catechism and that you would furnish all their Scholars that are capable and willing to learn 4. That you will endeavour from house to house to engage the Master or Mistris of every Family for the forwarding of this work 5. That you will appoint set-times wherein to take an Account of the proficiency of all such as have promised to Learn and that if it may be they may be engaged to Learn weekly a proportion according to their Capacities 6. That you would favour us so far as to let us know as speedilie as you may of the receit of these Lines and if we may presume so far upon you we pray you to indulge us some assurance under your Hand That you will to your Power promote this happy design and that by our Lady-day next you will acquaint Mr. Bernard what progress is made Sir our Sou's will even travel in Birth for the success of this undertaking and therefore we request you for the love of God and by the respect which we are perswaded you bare to us that you will labour to comfort and encourage us in our endeavours for God which you can no way in the World do so well as by letting us see that there is some Blessed Fruit of our cost and paines and that we have not run in vain nor laboured in vain If there be any of these Catechsims remaining in your hands that you cannot dispose of by our Lady-day be pleased to send them to Mr. Barnard or to Mr. Rositer in Taunton If you should need any more give us speedy notice and you shall not fail to be furnished with what number you desire Thus upon the bended knees of our thankful souls we commend our poor sacrifices together with your self to the eternal God and remain Christs devoted Sevants and your Friends JOS. BERNARD and JOS. ALLIENE FINIS ADVERTISEMENT SAcrilegious Desertion of the Holy Ministery rebuked And Tolerated Preaching of the Gospel Vindicated against the Reasoning of a Confident Queftionist in a Book called Toleration not to be abused With Counsel to the Nonconformest and Petition to the Pious Conformist By one that is Consecrated to the Sacred Ministery and is resolved not to be a wilful Deserter of it in trust that any undertakers cau justifie him for such desertion at the Judgment of God till he know better how those can come off themselves who are unfaithful Pastors or unjust Silencers of others Printed for and sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes Arms in Pauls-Church-yard A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. JOSEPHALLEINE BY Mr. GEORGE NEWTON late Minister of Taunton in Sommersetshire Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their works do follow them LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1672. Luke 23. 28. Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your Selves and for your Children WHat Subject fitter for this sad Occasion then a Theam of Weeping what Language can we better speak or more agreeable to the dark Providence that we are under then Sighs and Cries and Lamentations How merciful was God to him whom he hath taken to himself and how severe to us in this Stroke And Oh what hard and stupid hearts have we Should we be so insensible of Gods heavy Indignation and our irreparable Loss as to give him just Occasion to complain as in Jeremiah 5. 3. I have smitten them and they have not grieved You of this Congregation have reason to fit down in bitterness because the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with you And to cry out as sometimes Joash did over Elisha 2 Kings 13. 14. My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And as Rachel once to weep and hardly to be comforted because he is not And for my part I shall take up David's Lamentation over Jonathan with David's Affections 2 Sam. 1. 26. I am distressed for thee my Brother very pleasant hast thou been unto me But me thinks I over-hear him who being dead yet speaketh calling upon us in our Saviours Words weep not for me As for my own part I have rest for Labour Joy for Sorrow Peace for Trouble Ease for Pain I feel no aking Bones no falling Fits no strained Sinews no Distortions no Convulsions in the Grave And for what I find in Heaven you shall know when you come thither My refreshing time is come God hath now wiped clean away every Tear from my Eyes and every drop of Sweat from my Face and every sadt thought from my heart And therefore I forbid your tears for me Weep not for me But if you swelling Passions must have vent Consider whose the Loss is Alas it is not mine but yours and therefore turn the Stream into the right Channel Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children These were our Saviours words sometimes in which he puts a stop upon the sorrow and the 〈◊〉 of those who wept too much even at the Death of Christ himself Dead he was in Law already condemned by Pilate delivered to the Roman Band to guard 〈◊〉 to the Place of Execution Such tragical appearances are 〈◊〉 attended with a Multitude of Lookers on and by how 〈◊〉 the greater and more remarkable the person is who is to 〈◊〉 so much the greater is the Concourse And hence it was that such a heap of people followed Christ on whom the eyes of the 〈◊〉 Nation of the Jews were fixed though with different affections Some to secure him from a rescue some to mock him and deride him some to gaze upon the 〈◊〉 and observe his carriage in his dead 〈◊〉 and some to see the Execution Among the rest there were a sort of People that bewailed his Death of whom it is observed that they exprest their grief in tears I make no 〈◊〉 there were men that wept but because women usually have moister brains and less command upon their passions and so are more inclinable to vent their sorrow in a flood of tears then men especially because their passions are not much regarded neither so that there was no fear or 〈◊〉 though they were free and open in their sorrow Hence it is that there is no notice taken of any other 〈◊〉 but theirs in the Verse before the Text and that our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and directs his Speech to them in the words that have been read Daughters of Jerusolem weep not for me but for your selves and for your Children Now in this Speech of Jesus Christ we have especially to be considered two things a prohibition and a permission In the first place we have the prohibition of our Saviour in which he forbiddeth them

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

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