God that with many of you this work is not yet to do but this set solemn resignation to the Lord is to be done more than once and to be followed with an answerable practice when it is done See that you walk worthy of the Lord but how in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost let these two go together So shall you adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour and experience the Heavenly felicity of a Christians life While Holiness is made the But of others Persecution do you make it the white the mark of your prosecution that you live it up as much as others cry it down O watch and keep your Garments about you the plain but comely clothing of humility the seamless Coat of Christian unity the strait and close Garment of strictness mortification and self-denial the warm Winter-garment of love and charity this Garment will keep you warm in the Winter love will not be quenched by the Waters nor cooled by the nipping Frosts of persecution and opposition Cleave fast to Christ never let go your hold cling the faster because so many are labouring to knock off your fingers and loosed your hold Hold fast your Profession hold fast your Integrity hold â—…ast the beginning of your confidence stedfast to the end If you do but keep your hold and make goud your ground and keep your way all that the World can do and all that the powers of darkness can do can never do you harm Keep your own Vinyard with constant care and watchfulness and be sure that there be no Inroad made upon your consciences that the Enemy do not get between you and home between your souls and God and then let who or what will assail you without you need not fear let this be your daily exercise to keep your consciences void of offence keep fair weather at home however it be abroad But I would not only that you should walk holily but that you should walk comfortably But I need say the less to this because the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost do lie together On the provision God hath made for your continual joy and comfort dear Brethren do but understand your own blessedness happy men that you are if you did but know and consider it who would count himself poor and miserable that hath all the fulness of the Godhead for his sound in this deep can you find any bottom take the heighth of the Divine Perfections if you can till then you cannot tell your own felicity Take a servey of Immensity tell me the longitude or latitude of infinite goodness and mercy of the Eternal Diety if you can do this you may guess at your own happiness Oh Christians live like your selves live worthy of your Portion of your Priviledge and your glorious prerogatives I am in haste and it is time for me to end however that you may walk worthy of your glorious hopes and may live answerably to the mercies you have received from above is the great desire of From the Prison at Juelchester September 18. 1663. Your Souls fervent well wisher in the bonds of affliction and tribulation JOS. ALLEINE LETTER IX Easie Sufferings To the most Loving and Beloved my Christian Friends at â—…aunton Salvation DEarly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown for whom I am an Embassadour in Bonds what thanks to render to God in your behalf I know not for your fervent charity towards me and all the servants of my Lord for all your labours of love for all your diligence and boldâ—…ess and resolution in owning the despised way and hared serâ—…ants of the Lord Jesus in an evil day The Lord is not unrighteous to forget this Is not this upon record with him and â—…aled up among his Treasures surely the Lord will have mercy upon Tauntou I have no doubt but that the God of â—…our Mercies hath yet a choice blessing in store for you be not weakned by my Bonds Glory be to God in the Highest that he hath accounted me worthy not only to Preach the Gospel to you but also to confirm it by the paâ—…ing with my much valued liberty so dear a People so sweeâ—… Relations comforts conveniencies which I enjoyed in all aâ—…dance when I was with you When I look back upon all the circumstances of the late Providence I must say as they of Christ upon his Miracles He hath done all things well it is all as I would have it I am fully satisfied in my Fathers good pleasure Verily there is no little honour and happiness no little peace and priviledge in these Bonds Verily all is true that I have told you of the All-sufficiency of God of the fulness of Christ of the satisfactoriness of the promises of the peace tranquility content and security that is to be had in a life of Faith Surely methinks I should be content to seal to these things at a much dearer rate than this but my gracious Father will not put me to the hardest Lesâ—…on at first oh what reason have I to speak good of his name what else should I do all my days but love and fear and preach and praise so good a God when I look back upon the gentle dealings of God with me I often think he hath brought me up as indulgently as David did Adoniâ—…ah of whom it is said His Father had not displeased him I have received nothing but good at the hands of the Lord all my days and now he doth begin to afflict I see so much Mercy in this very Goal that I must be more thankful for this than for my prosperity Surely the name of the place is The Lord is here Surely it may be called Peniel Be strong in the Lord my Breâ—…hren be patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh In nothing be terrified by your adversaries Now let those that fear the Lord be often speaking one to another I hear that Satan is practising to send more of you after me I desire and pray for your liberty but if any of you be sorced hither for the testimony of the Gospel I shall embrace you with both arms Fare you well my most dearly Beloved be perfect and be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you My Brethren in Bonds salute you with much affection rejoycing to behold your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ share my heart among you and know that I am The willing Servant of your Faith and Joy JOS. ALLEINE From the common Gaole at Juelchester Sept. 28. 1663. LETTER X. The Love of Christ. To my Beloved in the Lord the Flock of Christ in Taunton Grace and Peace Most Loving and best Beloved MY heart is with you my affections are espoused to you And methinks I could even say with the Apostle you are in my heart to live and die
presence of God for you May his memory ever live in our hearts though mine should die Oh remember his Love more than Wine remember in what a case he found you and yet nothing could anihilate his heart nor divert the purpose of his Love from you He loathed not your Rags nor your Rottenness he found you in a loathsome vomit and filthiness in a nasty and verminous tatters think not these expressions too odious no Pen can describe no heart can imagine the odiousness of sin in his sight in which you lay and rolled your selves as the filthy Swine in the mire yet he pitied you his Bowels were moved and his Compassions were kindled when one would have thought his wrath should have boiled and his indignation have burned down to Hell against you he loathed not but loved you and washed you from your sins in his own Blood Ah monstrous and polluted Captives ah vile and putrid Carkases that ever the holy Jesus should take the hands of you and shouâ—…d his own self wash you and wrinse you merhâ—…nks I see him weeping over you and yet it was a more costly Bath by which he cleansed you Ah Sinners look upon the streaming Blood flowing out warm from his blessed Body to setch out the ingrained filthiness that you by sin had contracted Alas what a horrid filthiness in sin that nothing but the blood of the Covenant could wash away and what a love is Christs than when no Sope nor Nitre could suffice to cleanse us when a whole Ocean could not wash nor purifie us would open every vein of his heart to do the work look upon your crucified Lord do you not see a sacred stream flowing out of every Member ah how those holy hands those unerring Feet do run a stream to purge us Alas how that innocent Back doth bleed with cruel scourgings to save ours how the great drops of blood fall to the ground from his sacred Face in his miraculous sweat in his bitter and bloody Agony to wash and beautifie ours how his wounded hearts and side twice pierced first with love and pity and then with Souldiers cruelty do pour out their healthful and saving Flouds upon us Lord how do we make a shift to forget such a love as this ah mirrors or rather monsters of ingratitude that can be unmindful of suâ—…h a Friend do we thus requite him is this our kindness to such an obliging friend Christians where are you affections to what use do you put your faculties what have you memories for but to remember him what have you the power of loving for but that you should love him wherefore serves joy or desire but to long for him and delightfully to embrace him may your souls and all their Powers be taken up with him may all the little doors of your souls be set open to him Here â—…ix your thoughts heâ—…e terminate your desire here you may light your Candle and kindle your fire when almost out Rub and chafe your hearts well with the deep consideration of the love of Christ and it is a wonder if they do not get fome warmth The Lord shed abroad his love in your hearts by the H. Ghost Oh that this love might constrain you Brethren what will you do now for Jesus Christ. Have you never a Sacrifice to lay upon his Altar come and I will shew you what you shall do let your hands be in the blood of your sins fall foul with them search them out with diligence search your hearts and your houses whatever iniquitâ—…es you find there out with them put them far from your Tabernacles if you crucifie them not you are not Jesus his Friends Godforbid that there should be a lying Tongue or any way of deceit in your Shops That his service should give place to the World in your Families Far be it from any of you my Brethrâ—…n that you should be careful to teach your children and servants the way of your Trades and Callings and neglâ—…t to instruct them in the way of Life Is weekly Caâ—…echising up in every one of your Families The Lord convince any of you that may be guilty of this neglect Oh set up God in your Houses and see that you be not slovenly in Closet performances beware of serving the Lord negligently serve not the Lord with that which cost you nothing look to it that you content not your selves with a cheap and easie Religioâ—… Put your flesh to it be well assured that the Religion that costs you nothing will yeeld you nothing keep up the life of Religion in your Family and Closet duties Fear nothing like a customary and careless performance of Gods service Judge your own selves whether lazie wishes idie complaints and yawning Prayers are like to carry you through the mighty difficulties that you must get through if ever you come to Heaven When you find your selves going on in a liftless liveless heartless course and have no mind to your work ask your selves is this to take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence or can I hope to win it without see that you sacrifice your selves to the Lord that you deliver up your selves to him that now you live to Christ himself As Christ hath made over his life and death to you so let it be your care to live and die to him labour to forget your selves and look upon all your enjoyments as Christs goods upon your time parts strength as his Talents look upon your selves onely in the quality of Servants and Stewards that are to husband all these for your Lords advantage and as those that must give an account And pray for me that I may take the Counsel that I give I â—…ss the Lord I want nothing but the opportunity of being â—…ceable unto you and to enjoy you but I hope the Lord will make my bonds for you to be useful to your edification that is the White I aim at if I may glorifie God and serve your Souls best by being here I shall never wish to come out though I confess liberty of its self is very precious Finally Brethren Farewel be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you I The ready Servant of your Faith and Joy JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester Octob. 14. 1663. My dear Brother Norman salutes you tenderly desiring you to be patient to stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh LETTER XII For daily Self-Examination To the most Beloved People the Flock of Christ in Taunton Salvation Most dear Brethren I Would my time were as long as my heart that I might open my self to you but I was not without some discontent diverted when I was setting my self to have Written at large to you Now I am pinched however I could not leave my dear charge altogether unvisited but must needs salute you in a few Lines Brethren how stands it with you doth
particularly remembring every poor believer by name He bears your names but where upon his Brest-plate upon his heart saith the Text Exod. 28. 29. Ah Christians I may salute you as the Angel did Mary Hail you that are highly favoured Blessâ—…d are you among men Sure your Lot is fallen in an happy place what in the bosom of Christ yea and verily you may believe and doubt not I may apply that of Gabriel O Daniel thoâ—… art greatly beloved unto you you are beloved indeed to have your Names written upon the very heart of Christ now he is in Glory Oh let his Name be written then on your hearts Do not write his Name in the Sand when he hath written yours upon his own Brest Do not forget him who hath taken such care that while he is he may never forget you having recorded your names not onely on his Book but on his Flesh and set you as a Seal upon his heart He hath you upon his heart but why For a memorial before the Lord continually so saith the Text. Beloved your Lord is so far from forgetting you in all his Greatness and Glory that he is gone into Heaven on purpose there to present you before the Lord that you may be always in remembrance before him O Beloved Glory yea and Triumph in his love Doubtless it must go well with us Who shall condemn It is Christ that died and rose again and is now making Intercession His interest is potent He is always present Our Advocate is never out of Court Never did cause miscarry in his hand Trust you safely in him Happy is that man for whom he shall undertake to speak Oh the Riches of Christs love he did not think it enough to die for you His love and care doth not end with his natural life on Earth but he ever liveth to make Intercession for us His love is like his life ever ever knowing no remission in degree nor intermission of time no cessation of working but is ever ever in motion towards us But when shall I end if I suffer my soul to run out its length and my running Pen te enlarge according to the demensions of this boundless Field of Divine Love If the Pens of all the World were imployed to write Volumes of love if the tongues of all the living were exercised in nothing else but talking of this love If all the Hearts that be were made up of love and all the powers and affections of the mind were turned into one to wit the power of love yet this were no less than infinitely too little either to conceive or to express the greatness of Christs love O my dearly beloved may your souls be swallowed up in this love Think and think while you will you can never think how much you are beloved See that ye love again by way of Gratitude though not of Requital what though your souls be but narrow and your powers but little yet love him with all you have Love him with all your hearts and all your strength To the Meditations and to the Embraces of Divine love I leave you thinking it now not worth while to tell you of my Love Remaining Yours in the bonds of your most dear Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE August 11. 1665. LETTER XXIX Warning tâ—… Professors of their Danger To the Beloved â—…ople the Inhabitants of the Town of 〈…〉 Grace and Peace Most dear 〈…〉 MY 〈…〉 my beloved is mine and I am his but 〈…〉 â—…ave no joy so great as that you are mine and I 〈…〉 â—…ou are Christs My Relation to Christ is aboâ—… 〈…〉 life and my peace my riches and my righteoâ—… 〈…〉 my hope and my strength and mine Inheritance 〈…〉 â—…ycing In him will I please my self for ever and 〈…〉 will I glory I esteem my self most happy and rich and safe in him though of my self I am nothing In him I may boast without Pride and glory without vanity Here is no danger of being over much pleased neither can the Christian exceed his bounds in over-valuing his own riches and happiness in Christ. I am greatly pleased with the Lot that is fallen to me the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me and none shall stop this my confidence of boasting in Christ. But as my lot in him is above all so I will assure you it is no small content to me that my lot is fallen with you And though many difficulties have fallen to my lot among you for I have broken my health and lost my liberty once and again for your sakes yet none of these things move me I wish nothing more then to spend and to be spent upon the service of your Faith I bless the Lord for it as an invalnable mercy that ever he called me to be an Embassador of the Lord Jesus Christ to you-wards In this station I desire to approve my self to him and that I am withdrawn from my Work for a season it is but that I may return to you refreshed and inabled for my work among you You may not think that I have forgotten you and consulted my own ease and pleasure but if God prosper my intentions I shall be found to have been daily serving you in this retirement I will assure you I am very tender of preserving all that little strength that God doth add to me entirely for your sakes being resolved not so much as once to broach the Vessel till I draw forth to you I bless the Lord I am in great tranquility here in this Town and walk up down the Corporation without any Questioning me Only it hath pleased the Lord to add to my Affliction since my coming by taking away my dear Father the day of whose glorious Translation was the day after my arriving here But I bless the Lord I do believe and expect the return of the Redeemer with all his Saints and the most glorious Resurrection of my own dead Body with all Believers and this makes me to rest in Hope and fills me with unspeakle more Joy than the death of my self or any other Saint can with grief And now I make it my business to be rendred serviceable to you and do by this return you my hearty thanks for your earnest Prayers and Intercessions to God in my behalf for it is he that must do the Cure I seem to my self to be retired to this place as a Vessel rent and shatter'd and torn in the Service that it come to recruit in the Harbour And here I am as it were rigging and repairing and Victualling to put sorth again in the Service which I shall do with the first Wind as soon as I am ready What is my life uâ—…less I am serviceable And though I must for the present forbear my wonted Labour yet I shall not cease to exhort you and call upon you while I am absent from you to stand sast and to grow up in your holy Faith Be warned my dearly Beloved that you fall not
upon those dangerous Rocks upon which so many Professors have been split There are three things which I beseech you carefully to beware of First Lest while Christ is in your mouths the world run away with your hearts There is many a seeming Professor that will be fòund a meer Idolater Many a Soul goes down to Hell in this sin in the midst of his Profession and never discerns it till it be too late Remember I beseech You that the Oxen the Farm Wife Merchandize all of them lawful Comforts did effectually keep men from a sound and saving closing with Christ as the vilest lusts of the worst of men Whatever you find your hearts very much pleased in and in love with among these earthly Comfoâ—…ts set a mark upon that thing and remember that there lies your greatest danâ—…r What you love most you must fear most and think ofâ—…en wiâ—…h your selves This if any thing is like to be my 〈…〉 multitudes of Professors that perish for ever by 〈…〉 â—…and of this mortal Enemy I mean the overvalâ—…ing of Earthly things The hearers compared to the thornâ—… Ground did not openly fall away and cast off their Profession as the stony ground did but while others withered away the blade of Profession was as green and fresh as ever and yet their inordinate aâ—…ection to the things of this life did secretly undo all at last Little do most Professors think of this while they please themselves in their estates while they delight themselves so freely in their Children in their Wives in their habitations and possessions that these be the things that â—…re like to undo them for ever How little is that Scripture thought of which speaks so dreadfully to worldly Professors Love not the World for if any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him Are there not many among us who though they do keep up Prayer and other holy Duties yet the strength and vigour of their hearts goeth out after earthly things And these are their chief care and their chief joy Such must know that they are none of Christs and they were better to understand it now and seek to be renewed by Repentance then hereafter when there shall be no place for Repentance 2. Lest while Iniquity doth abound your love to Christ doth wax cold Remember what an Abomination Laodicea was to Christ because she grew so luke-warm and what a controversie he had with Ephesus a sound Church because she did but flacken and grow more remiss in her love A friend is born for adversity and now is the time if you will prove the sincerity of your love and friendship to Jesus Christ by following him zealously resolvedly sully now he is more rejected and opposed Thirdly Lest you keep up a barren and fruitâ—…ss Profession withâ—…ut Progression See to it my Brethren that you be not onely Professors but proficients Many Professors think all is well because they keep on in the exercises of Religion but alas You may keep on praying aâ—…d hearing all the Week long and yet be not one jot the further Many there are that keeâ—… going but it is like the Horse in the Mill that is going all day but yet is no further than when he first began Nay it oft times happens in the Trade of Religion as it doth in trading in the World where many keep on in trading still till for want of care and caution and examining their accounts whether they go forward or backward they trade themselves out of all Oh look to it my Brethren that none of you rest in the doing of duties but examine what comes of them Otherwise as you may trade your selves into Poverty so you may hear and pray your selves into hardness of heart and desperate security and formality This was the very case of wretched Laodicia who kept up the trade of religious duties and verily thought that all was well because the trade still went on and that she was increased in spiritual goods and in a gaining way but when her accounts were cast up at last all comes to nothing and ends in wretchedness poverty and nakedness Most dear Brethren I wish and pray for the prosperity of you all but above all I wish your Souls prosperity with which after my most dear Loves to you all having already exceeded the bounds of an Epistle I commend you to the living God Remaining Your fervent well wisher and Embassador in Christ JOS. ALLEINE Devises June 22. 1666. LETTER XXX An Admiration of the Love of God To the most Loving and best Beloved the servants of God in Taunton Salvation My most dear Friends I Love you and long for you in the Lord and I am weary with forbearing that good and blessed work that the Lerd hath committed to me for the surtherance of your Salvation How long Lord how long shall I dwell in silenâ—… How long shall my Tongue cleave to the Rooâ—… of my Mouth When will God open my Lips that I may stand up and praise him But it is my Fathers good pleasure yet to keep me in a total disability of publishing his Name among you unto him my Soul shall patiently subscribe I may not I cannot complain that he is hard to me or useth me with Rigour I am full of the Mercies of the Lord yea Brimful and running over And shall I complain Far be it from me But though I may not murmur meâ—…hinks I may mourn a little and sit down and wish O if I may not have a Tongue to speak would I had but Hands to Write that I might from my Pen drop some heavenly Councels to my Beloved People Methinks my feeble Fingers do even Itch to Write unto you but it cannot be alas my right-hand seems to have forgot her cunning and hath much ado with trembling to lift the Bread unto my Mouth Do you think you should have had so little to shew under my Hand to bear Witness of my Care for You and love to you if God had not shock my Pen as it were out of my Hand Buâ—… all that he doth is done well and wisely and therefore I submit I have purposed to borrow Hands wherewith to write unto my Beloved rather then to be silent any longer But where shall I begin or when should I end If I think to speak of the Mercies of God towards me or mine enlarged affections towards you methinks I feel already how strait this Paper is like to be and how insignificant my Expressions will be found and how insufficient all that I can say will prove at last to utter what I have to tell you but shall I say nothing because I cannot utter all this must not be neither Come then all ye that fear the Lord come and I well tell you what he hath done for my Soul O help me to love that precious Name of his which is above all my Praises O love the Lord all ye his Saints and fear before him
watchful observers you may now much more be carried away in such a place and among such company as now you may be likely to be in Sir I beseech you to be assured that nothing but the conscience of my duty hath engaged me now you have been so many years a stranger to me and are at so many thousand miles distance from me to write notwithstanding to you And I beseech you bear a little with me Is it wisdom after you have begun in the Spirit to end in the flesh you did run well who hath hindred you I remember your strict walkings your holy converse your many tears will you-lose the things that you have wrought have you found out another a nearer way to Heaven do you hope to get in at the wide Gate in the broad way need I to mind you that it had been better for you never to have known the way of Life then after you have known it to turn aside from the Holy Commandment can you ever enter into Gods Hill without you be of clean hands and a pure heart I know you are not ignorant That strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it and will you yet do as the most and decline the way of strictness and whole self-denial and give the flesh the reins what when God that cannot lie hath said If you live after the fleshe you shall die Do you not know that you do in vain name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ except you depart from iniquity I am sure you know it Oh Sir consider it improve it Oh have you so learnt Christ as to think â—…at the way of carnal liberty and loosness the way of evil company and fleshliness is the way to eternal life I am not for tying up Salvation to this or that Opinion but certainly let men be of what opinion they will without strâ—…ess self-denial and holy diligence they cannot be saved Mat. 16. 42. Mat. 11. 12. 1 Pet. 15 16. Once you could say with 〈…〉 I am companion to all them that 〈…〉 is it so now O Sir let not the wicked entice you Hath not God said A Companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. That you must forfake the foolish if you desire to live Prov. 9. 6. Sir I have no more hopes ever to meet you more on Earth O that I might meet you in Heaven let us tread the same path of Holiness and then we shall doubtless meet there But surely you must deeply and timely repent of and return from your grievous back-slidings or else I desire never to meet in your Heaven But why should not we that have so often met in serious and holy Prayer together we that have so often met at the Lords Table together we that have so often eat together and fasted together meet in glory together I beseech your dear Sir if the Lord hath not already smitten you to the dust and broken you and reduced to the ways of holiness now consider your ways and turn your â—…eet to his Testimonies Oh remember that The back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways God hath said it and who shall reverse it If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And once again when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity shall he live In his Trespass that he hath trespassed shall he not diâ—… I know Prayers can reach you though at so vast a distance I shall add to them these Counsels and commit you to God remaining Yours real Friend in Christ JOS. ALLEINE Juelchester May 18th 1664. LETTER XXXV Good Counsel to his Wise. My most dear Theodosia THou seemest to have been long from me let nothing any longer detain thee but my Sisters necessity or Fathers Authority I am very sorry that thou should lose two Sacraments I am in a comfortable state of health through Divine goodness to which be glory for ever See that thou love and admire that Fountain of our life and peace and be ever mindful that 't is all thy business to love and serve and praise thy Creator and Redeemer I have no other business but this to write to thee about but this is all our business What be use to call business is but vanity and pastime and some by matter in comparison of this Remember and forget not that 't is thy chief end to glorifie God and enjoy him for ever Learn well that Lesson and know that it is the only thing necessary Every morning remember that thy serving and pleasing of God is the whole business of that day and therefore set out accordingly with an express design and intention to please God in thy eating drinking visiting conversing calling and duties of thy Relations throughout the day My most dear heart I have nothing in the world that doth concern thee or me so much to write of to thee as this is Oh that thou mayst still be laying up in Heaven still furthering thy account still adding to the heap and encreasing thy glorious reward nothing is done for God but thou shalt hear of it again Whatever is not done for God is but so much lost Those things which others do being led by their natural affections and desires those things do thou do with holy aims for spiritual ends and then God will put it on the account as so much done for him So it is my dearest God keeps a true account See that thou believe it and so plow in hope and sowe in hope pray and hear with an eye to the sure reward Let thy hopes be strong and lively and then thy hands will be strong and thy resolutions and affections will be strong My time is very precious and I would not lose any inch of it See thou to it that my time in writing this letter be not lost time Love God the more and set thine heart the straighter towards him and do but practice this one thing in every solemn action to look to thy ends and then I have got well and thou better by these Counsels My dearest I love thee in truth and tenderness but my love signifies little unless it serve thine eternal good I rest thine own JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI To his Wife Desires after Heaven My dear Heart MY heart is now a little at rest to write to thee I have been these three days much disturbed and set out of frame Strong solicitations I have had from several hands to accept very honourable preferment in several kinds some friends making a Journey on purpose to propound it but I have not found the invitations though I confess very honourable and such as are or will be suddenly embraced by men of far greater worth and eminency to suit with the inclinations of my own heart as I was confident they would not with thine I have sent away my friends satisfied with the reasons of my refusal and
Graces Experiences Communion and Prisonartainments may shine most brightly to all beholders I wish your Prison may be a Paradice of Peace and a Patmos of Divine discoveries Lord Jesus set to thy Amen I am Sir Your unworthy Brother and Companion in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus JOâ—… ALLEINE Jan. 10. 1664. LETTER XL. Directions to the Ministers of Somersetshire and Wiltshire for the instructing of Families by way of Catechising Sir THis Letter cometh to you like the men of Macedonia to Paul crying to you Come and help us O how insufficient do we find our selves for the praises of God! what reason have we to call upon our selves and to call upon all our Friends and yet we foresee that all will be too little a Sacrifice at last and to slender a return to the most High God God who hath made us such wonders of Mercy and such signal instances of his Divine Power and rich Grace You are not ignorant of our Estate how the Sentence of death had passed upon us how our flesh and our hearts failed and friends an Physicians gave up their hopes but God that raised the Dead was pleased to make us the Monuments of his wondrous mercy O that the same God would make us the special instruments of his praise and glory Of a Truth Sir we perceive our hearts are too little our Tongues are too short our expressions are too low either to conceive or utter what we owe to the great God O help help bless the Lord O our souls bless the Lord O our friends O that all that have wrestled with God for us might joyn hand in hand to make some suitable returns to the God of our lives and may bring in every one his Sacrifice and all contribute to make one common stock of Praises that many thanksgivings may abound to God on our behalfs O what hath Prayer done for us while we live we must honour Prayer and admire the power of Prayer we owe our limbs and our lives to prayer O that a goodly crop of praise may grow up unto God as a return for his Mercies that the seed of prayers and showers of tears may procure sheaves of joy and songs of deliverance But O what shall we render wherewithall shall we come before the Lord or bow our selves to the most high God O where shall we find a fitting sacrifice Verily we will give our selves and our all to him But alas what are we and what is this little that we call our All Therefore have we found in our hearts to write to you and others that we might excite you to the Divine praises with us And O that the Lord might be loved the better and glorified the more for our sakes Will you tell us wherein we may shew our love to him wherein we may best please and serve him O that you would herein assuredly you would most highly gratifie us O that we might do some singular thing for God for certainly they aré not common things that he hath done for us We pray you call upon those that fear the Lord to help us in celebrating his loving kindness O how it pleaseth our very hearts to think that God should be loved and honoured the better for us that we may be instruments if it be but for the blowing up of one flash nay the kindling of one spark of Divine love in the heart of his Children towards him Sir you cannot pleasure us in any thing so much as in thâ—…s to love and admire God and spread his praise more and more that what is wanting through our weakness may be made up in your abundance But we have need to crave your pardon for our length but the love of Christ constraineth us and we hope you will pass by an error of love While we have been devising what to do for our God we thought we could no way better him than by providing such as you are to set up his great Name with us We love and honour you not only as you are a Member but a Minister of Christ Jesus our Lord and therefore deserve to be doubly dear unto us And because we could think of no more pleasing a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving we have stirred up our selves and friends with us to send to you a Prophet in the name of a Prophet this poor token of love which though but small yet we trust will be a sweet savour unto God and will be accepted with you being our two Mites cast into God's Treasury But look not upon your self as obliged to us hereby but put it upon the account of Christ to whose precious Name we dedicate and from whom although he be so much already before hand with us yet we expect a recompence at the Resurrection of the Just. And being further desirous to promote the work of God in our low and slender capacities we have been bold to provoke your self with other our Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry to set about that necessary and much neglected work of Catechising not a little pleasing our selves in the sweet hope that by your means we may be instrumental to spread the sweet savour of the knowledge of our God in every place and being well perswaded of your readiness to forward so blessed a work we have stirred up our selves and our friends to expend a considerable sum of money to furnish Ministers with Catechisms a hundred whereof we have sent unto you beseeching you to use your best prudence and utmost diligence for the spreading of them and for others improvement by them that our labour and charge in so good a work prove not at last of no effect Sir we shall humbly propose unto you but not impose upon you But let us be bold with you in Christ to lay our requests before you as touching this concernment they being indeed what judicious friends and brethren have thought fit to propound 1. That that people be publikely and privately instructed about the high necessity and great usefulness of this duty 2. That the Catechisms be freely given to all that will promise to use them 3. That you would be pleased 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 Mistress of every Family for the forwardsng 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 speedily 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 souls 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 pains and that we have not run in vain nor laboured in vain If there be any of these Catechisms remaining in your hands that you cannot dispose of by our Lady-day be pleased to send them to Mr. Bernard 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 Servants and your Friends JOS. BERNARD and JOS. ALLEINE FINIS
and leave them in eternal darkness they shall go to the generation of their Fathers they shall never see light like sheep they shall be laid in their Graves and the upright shall have Dominion over them in the morning But for my Brethren I am jealous that none of you should come short of the Glory of God I am ambitious for you that you should be all the heirs of an endless life the living hopes of the Saints the inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away Ah my Brethren why should not you be all happy I am jealous for you with a Godly jealousie lest a promise being left you of entering into his rest any of you should come short of it O look diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God Alas how it pities me to see this Rest neglected How it grieves me that any of you should fall short of mercy at last That any of that flock over which the holy Ghost hath made be in part overseer should perish when Christ hath done so much for you and when his under Officers through his Grace for we are not sufficient of our selves have done somewhat to recover and save them Ah dear Brethren I was in great earnest with you when I besought you out of the Pulpit many a time to give a Bill of Divorce to your sins and to accept of the match and the mercy that in the name of God Almighty I did there offer to you Alas how it pitied me to look over so great a Congregation and to think that I could not for my life I could not perswade them one quarter of them in likelihood to be saved how it moved me to see your diligence in flocking not only to the stated Exercises but to the Repetitions and to most hazardous opportunities for which you are greatly to be commended since the Law forbad my publick Preaching and yet to think that many of you that went so far were like to perish for ever for want of going further I must praise your diligent attendance on all opportunities Blessed be God that made a willing ministry and a willing people for I remember how I have gone furnished with a Train How I went with the multitude to the House of God with the voice of joy and praises with the multitude that kept Holy-days The remembrance of which moves my soul but O my flock my most dear flock how fain would I carry you farther then the external and outward profession O! how loath am I to leave you there How troubled to think that any of you should go far and hazard much for Religion and yet miscarry for ever by the hand of some unmortified lust as secret pride or untamed passion or an unbridled tongue or which I fear most of all a predominate love of the World in your hearts Alas must it be so and is there no remedy but I must carry you to Heavens-gate and leave you there Oh that I should leave the work of your Souls but half done and bring you no farther than the almost of Christianity Hear O my people hear although I may command you upon your utmost peril in the Name of the Lord Jesus that shall shortly judge you I beseech you I warn you as a Father doth his Children to look to the setling and securing of your everlasting condition and for life take heed of your resting in the outter-part of Religion but to be restless till you find the through-change of Regeneration within that you are quite new in the frame and bent of your hearts for here is the main of Religion in the hidden man of the heart for Christs sake for your Soul-sake look to it that you build upon the Rock that you be sure in the Foundation work that you do unfeignedly deliver over your selves to the Lord to be under his command and at his dispose in all things see that you make no exceptions no reserve that you cast over board all your worldly hopes and count upon parting with all for Christ that you take him alone for your whole happiness Wonder not that I often inculcate this If it be well here it is well all if unsound here the error is in the foundation and you are undone Brethren I see great tryals coming when we shall see Professors fall like leaves in the Autumn unless they be well setled therefore is it that I would so fain have you look to your standing and to secure the main And for you whose Souls are soundly wrought upon O make sure whatever you do get and keep your evidences clear How dreadful would your temptations be if you should be called to part with all for Christ and not be sure of him neither get a right and clear understanding of the terms of life which I have set before you in that form of Covenanting with God in Christ that I commended to you I would that none of you should be without a Copy of it be much in observing your own hearts both in duties and out-crying mightily to God for assurance If you cannot discern your estate your selves go to some body that is albe and faithful and fully open your Case your Evidences and doubts and be extraordinary strict and watchful in your whole course and I doubt not but you will quickly grow up to assurance I cannot tell how to make an end methinks I could write all the day to you but my straights of time are great and my Letter already too long yet I cannot conclude till I have given you my unfeigned thanâ—… for your most kind and gracious Letter Surely it shall be in store with me and laid up among my Treasures that God is pleased so to unite your hearts to me and to make use of me for your edification is matter of highest joy unto me as also to see your stedfasâ—…ness in Christ your unshaken resolutions notwithstanding all the Tempters wiles Go on my dearly Beloved and the Lord strengthen your hands and your hearts and lift you up above the fears of men My most dear Brother Norman salutes you with manifold Loves and Respects earnestly wishing that you may wear the Crown of perseverance as also Brother Turner The Lord strengthen establish settle you and after you have suffered a while make you perfect I leave my Brethren in the everlasting Arms and rest From the common Goale at Juelchester June 13th 1663. Your Embassador in bonds Joseph Alleine LETTER IV. A Call to the Unconverted To the Beloved People the Inhabitants of the Town of Taunton Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Most endeared and beloved Friends I Do most readily acknowledge my self a Debtor to you all and a Servant of all and therefore I have sent these few Lines to salute you all My Lines did fall in a fair place when the Lord did cast my lot among you for which I desire to be thankful God hath been pleased
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
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 I value as a great mercy not in order to my self if I know my own heart but in order to your benefit and 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 be spoken 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 Bruis 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 strictnese 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 profane 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 could 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 out his hands toward you O sinners cast your selves into his Arm 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 Lotd 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 drifts 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 not profaneness swallow you up let not an almost Christianity deceive you or ignorance carry you blindfold to perdition Oh the thousands and ten thousands that have been undone by one of these Ah how often have you been warned against them least you should split against these dangerous Rocks O Jerusalem Jerusalem said Christ and O Taunton Taunton may I say from him 〈…〉 who can tell how often would Gods 〈…〉 â—…thered you and you would not many very many 〈…〉 would not But will you now will you yet come in I 〈…〉 forbear once more even out of the Prison to 〈…〉 or sinners and make one tender of mercy more O 〈…〉 to the waters of Life wash you make you clean read 〈…〉 diligent observation the melting passages Prov. 1. 22. to the end Isa. 1. 16 21. Isa. 55. 6 10. Oh obdurate sinners if none of these things move you But for you whose very hearts are set against every sin and are deliberately resolved for God and Holiness â—…re all the worlds delight you that have experience of a thorow change and are brought to have respect to all Gods Commandments who will have none but God for your happiness none but Christ for your Treasure that must and will have him come what will come blessed are you of the Lord O happy Souls
wherein I might sufficiently reâ—…lect on you or my self But although so great a part of Taunton be translated to Juelchester with me yet I may not I cannot forget you that are behind Alas poor Taunton how should I bewail thee did I look upon thee only with the Eye of sense Alas for thy wonted liberties for thy former plenty and variety wherewith the Lord hath blessed thee he had spread a Table for thee in the midst of thine Enemies Bread hath been given thee and thy Waters have been sure Bâ—…t now a Famine seems to threaten thee and the Comforters that should relieve thy Soul are far from thee Thy Shepheards are removed Thou seest not thy Signs nor thy Prophets and thy wonteâ—… helpers are now disabled from giving thee supplies Alas how do thine enemies triumph and thy Teachers and thine Inhabitants are become their Captives and how great is the cry of thy poor and thine oppressed Such would be the language of sense if that were suffered to be the Speaker But faith will speak in another Dialect And therefore amongst my other Counsels that I shall send you this shall be the first Judge not of the present Providences by the conduct of sense but by the eye of Faith Faith will see that we are then-most honoured when we are most vilified and reproached and set at nought for the sake of Christ and that we are then most happy when the World hath done its worst to make us miserable Faith will tell you that GOD is a very present help when you seem quite to fail of help and will shew you the Well of water that is near when the Water in the Bottle is spent What though you seem to have lost Ministers Husbands Friends for a Season Faith will tell you that they are well bestowed and that it will be both your and their advantage in the Day of Retribution Brethren what are you for are you for the present world or for that that to come are you for your temporal enjoyments or do you seek for Glory Honour and Immortality If you are for this World you have made a very imprudent choice in taking up the Profession of Godliness and cleaving to and owning the hated ways of the Lord But if you are for Glory and for Eternity then be of good chear all these things do make for us You are witnesses how often I have told you of these things and I can say with the Apostle I believe therefore have I spoken and therefore I am nothing moved with all these things nor with the things that do yet further betide me I believe and therefore I told you that you should never be losers by Jesus Christ. Nay do I say I told it you you know the Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed you that the persecuted are doubtly blessed that such should rejoyce and leap for joy because great is their reward in Heaven Hath not God said that if we suffer with him we shall also Reign with him and that these light afflictions work for us a weight of Glory And if this be true I pray you tell me whether GOD hath not dealt well with us in counting us worthy of this little Tribulation for his Name Indeed the Sufferings is but little but verily the Reward will not be little I know whom I have trusted I am well assured the Glasse is turned up and every hour reckoned of our Imprisonment and every Scorn and Reproach of our Enemies is kept in Black and VVhite I believe therefore do I speak GOD is infinitely tender of us my Brethren though a Poor and despicable Generation I value not the Pot gun threats of a frowning world 't is well with us we are GODS Favourites Come my Beloved let us sit down under his Shadow Here is safety and rest if God be for us who can be against us Verily he Bottles all our Tears and tells all our wandrings He numbers all our hairs whosoever toucheth us shall not be Innocent Know you not that we are the Apple of his Eye Hath not he reproved the greatest for his Peoples sakes saying reproach not mine anointed And so we forget how he loved us Are not we his Jewells Doth he not own us for his Members for his Children Ah what a Block doth Unbelief make of man VVhat do you think that all this doth signifie nothing Can you forget your Children VVill you suffer your Jewells to lie in the Dirt or make no reckoning of them whether they are lost Verily I write not this without shaming reflections upon my own stupidity VVhat Beloved of God adopted by God! VVhat a Member of Christ Jesus A Vessel of Mercy An heir of Glory VVhat and not yet swallowed up in the sense of Gods infinite love Blush Oh my Soul and be còfounded before the most high cover thy face with shame I remember what the Heathen Seneca writes observing the expressions of Gods love to man in his common Providence Verum est usque in delicias Amamur That is it is a very truth we are Beloved of God even as his darlings My Brethren Have Faith in God Believe his Promises VValk in the sense of his love Comfort your selves in Gods love towards you under all the hatred and envy of men and the contradiction of sinners that you meet with Be strong and of a good Courage God is for you Be assured that he that walketh uprightly walketh surely Forsake not the assembling of your selves together Now see that you speak often to one another and build up each other in the holy Faith God knows I cannot do for you as I would I would have been larger to you but I cannot My most dear loves I desire you to share among you I am greatly Yours The Peace that 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 Fidelity 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 regard ed the low Estates of his Servants That he should ever Indulge you as he hath and hover over you even as the Eagle stirteth up her Nest and fluttereth over her Young spreadeth abroad her VVings 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
they may not fall down till Israel do prevail Let us fear lest there be some evil among us that God being angry with us doth send this farther tryal upon us Pray earnestly for me lest the eye of the most jealous God should discern that in me which should render me unfit for the mercy you desire And let every one of you search his heart and search his house to see if there be not cause there Let not these disappointments make you to be nevertheless in love with Prayers but the more out of love with sin Let us humble our selves under the mighty hand of God and he shall exalt us in due time And for the enemies of God you must know also that their foot shall slide in due time Let the Servants of God encourage themselves in their God for in the things wherein they deal proudly he is above them therefore fret not your selves because of evil doers commit your cause to him that judgeth righteously Remember that you are bid if you see oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgement and Justice in a Province not to marvel at the matter verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth and you have the liberty of appeals rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him and fret not your selves because of the men that bring wicked devises to pass take heed that none of you do with Peter begin to sink now you see the waters rough and the winds boysterous these things must not weaken your Faith nor cool your Zeal for they are great arguments for the strengthning of it What clearer evidence can there be for the future judgment and perdition of the ungodly and Coronation of the Just in another life than the most unjust proceedings that are here upon Earth shall not the Judge of all the Earth see right to be done We lee here nothing but confusion and disorder the wicked receiveth according to the work of the righteous and the Innocent according to the work of the wicked The Godly perish and the wicked flourish these do prosper and they do suffer What can it be ever thus no doubtless there must be a day when God will Judge the world in righteousness and rectifie the present disorders and reverse the unrighteous Sentences that have been passed against his servants And this evidence is so clear that many of the Heathen Philosephers have from this very Argument I mean the unrighteous usage of the good concluded that there must certainly be rewards and punishments adjudged by God in another World Nor yet lose your Zeal now is the time that the love of many doth wax cold but I bless God it is not so with you I am sure your love to me is as true Friends should be like the Chimneys warmest in the Winter of Adversity and I hope your love to God is much more and I would that You should abound yet more and more Where else should you bestow your Loves Love ye the Lord ye his Saints and cling about him the faster now ye see the world is striving to separate you from him How many are they that go to knock off your fingers O methinks I see what tugging there is The World is plucking and the Devil is plucking Oh hold fast I beseech you hold fast that no man take your Crown Let the Water that is sprinkled yea rather poured upon your love make it to flame up the more Are you not betrothed unto Christ Oh rcmember remember your Marriage Covenant did you not take him for Richer for Poorer for better for worse now prove your love to Christ to have been a true conjugal love in that you can love him when most slighted despised undervalued blasphemed among men Now acquit your selves not to have followed Christ for the Loaves now confute the Accuser of the Brethren who may be ready to suggest of the best of you as he did of Job Doth he serve the Lord for nought And let it be seen that you loved Christ and holiness purely for their own sakes that you can love a naked Christ when there is no hopes of worldly advantage or promoting of self-interest in following him Yet beware that none of you do stick to the wayes of Christ and Religion upon so carnal an account as this because this is the way that you have already taken up and you count it a shame to recede from your Principles I am very jealous lest some Professors should miss of their reward for this least they should be accounted Turn-coats and Hypocrites therefore they will shew a stoutness of spirit in going on since they have once begun and cannot with honour retreat Would you chose holiness and strictness if it were to do again would you enter your selves among Gods poor people if it were now first to do Would you have taken up the Profession of Christ though you had foreseen all this that is come and coming This will do much to evidence your sincerity But I forget â—…hat I am writing a Letter being prone to pass all bounds when I have thus to do with you The Lord God remember and reward you and your labours of love The Eternal God be your refuge and put under you his everlasting Arms. The Peace of God that passeth all understanding keep your hearts Christs Legacy of Peace I leave with you and rest with my dear affections to you all Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXIV Councel for Salvation To the most beloved People the servants of God in Taunton Salvation Most endeared Christians MY continual solicitude for your State will not suffer me to pass in quiet one week without Writing to you unless I am extraordinarily hindred Your sincerity stedfastness and proficiency in the grace of God is the matter of my earnest desire and that which I should account my self happy in I have a longing desire to see the Faces of you all and besides mine expectation shall I trust speedily have the opportunity to see you at the approaching Assizes which I shall greatly rejoyce in notwithstanding our coming may be otherwise attended with many Inconveniencies In the mean time I send you a few Prison Counsels As 1. To improve for Eternity the Advantages of your present State Though you are at many disadvantages with respect to the publick Ordinances yet you have many wondrous and most happy Priviledge which Spiritual Wisdom would make no small improvement of Oh what a mercy have you that you may serve God while you will in your Families That you may be as much as you will with God in secret Prayer and holy Meditation and Self-examination I beseech you consider what a Blessing you have above others that have your Health and a Competency of the Comforts of this life and are free from those continual pains or Heart-eating Cares that others are disabled by from looking after God and their Souls as you may do Oh consider what a blessed Seed-time
you abstain from sin out of fear or out of dislike Are you at peace with no sin or do you not hide some iniquity as a sweet morsel under your Tongue Is there not some practice that you are not willing to know is a sin for fear you should be forced to leave it Do you love the Commandment that forbids your sin or do you not wish it ouâ—… of the Bible as that evil man wished God had never made the Seventh Commandment Again how do you stand affected towards Holiness Do you love it Do you choose it Do you hâ—…nger and thirst after it desire it more than any Temporal good Have you chosen the way of Gods Precepts and had rather live holily than be allowed to live in your sins Do You in your very hearts prefer a Godly strict Life in communion with and conformity to God before the greatest prosperity of the World do you chose Holiness not out of bare necessity because you cannot go to Heaven without it but out of love to it and from a deep sense that you have of the surpassing excellency and loveliness and beauty of it If it be thus with you you are the persons that the Lord Jesus hath marked for his Sheep And now come ye blessed all that have this mark upon you come and understand your happiness you are marked out for preservation and let it go how it will with the rest that I know it shall go well with you that fear the Lord that fear before him You are the separated ones the sealed ones upon whom the Angel hath set the Seal of the Living God and so you are redeemed unto God from among men being the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb and have your Fathers Name written in your Fore-heads Hear O beloved Flock I may give you the salutation of the Angels Hail you are highly favoured of the Lord Blessed â—…re you among men though you are but poor and despised and like little Benjamin among the thousands of Judah you carry away the blessing and the priviledge from all the rest God hath done more for the least of you than for the whole World of Mankind besides put all their mercies together Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Blessed are you of the Lord for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven All that the Scripture speaks of that Kingdom of Glory that Kingdom of Peace of Righteousness that Everlasting Kingdom It speaks it all to you Behold your Inheritance see that you believe What know you not your own selves you are the Sons of God Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven Joint Heirs with Christ the Lord of Glory Do you believe this Take heed you make not God a Lyar his Word is nigh you have you noâ—… the Writings in your hands Do I speak any thing but what God hath spoken Shall I tell you of the thing which shall be hereafter Why thus it shall be The Son of man shall come in his Glory and all his holy Angels with him Then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and he shall separate you as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and he â—…hall set you at his own right hand Then shall the King say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you Do you believe yet Do you throughly believe If so then my work is done then I need not bid you Rejoyce noâ—…bid you be Thankful only believe Do this and do all Belieâ—… and joy will rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glorâ—… Believe and you will be fruitful and shew your Faith by yoâ—… works Believe and you will Love for Faith worketh by lovâ—… In a word keep these things upon your hearts by daily anâ—… lively consideration and this will bring Heaven into yoâ—… souls and ingage you to all manner of holy conversation anâ—… Godliness This will morâ—…ifie you to the World the graâ—… enemy which I advise nay I charge you to beware of Wheâ—… Saul had gotten his Kingdom he left off taking care for thâ—… Asses O remember yours is the Kingdom what are yoâ—… the better that you have all this in your Bibles if you do noâ—… weigh it by frequent and serious consideration and pondâ—… these sayings in your hearts Beloved I have written thâ—… things to you that your joy may be full And now Peace leave with you I am Christs Embassador to you an Embasâ—…dor of Peace his Peace I pronounce unto you In hiâ—… Name I bless you Farewel in the Lord I am The fervent Well-willer of your Soâ—… JOS. ALLEINE Devises June 29. 1666. LETTER XXVII Oâ—… the Second coming of Christ. To the Faithful and Beloved the Servants of God iâ—… Taunton Grace and Peace Loving and most dearly Beloved THough I trust my Bonds do preach to you yet methink that doth not suffice me but the conscience of my duty and the workings of my heart towards you are still calling upon me to stir you up by way of remembrance notwithstanding you know and be established in the present Truth And if Paul do call upon so great an Evangelist as Timothy to Remember that Jesus was raised from the dead according to the Gospel why should not I be often calling upon my self and upon you my dearly Beloved to remembeâ—… and meditate upon and closely apply the great and weighty Truths of the Gospel which you have already received and in truth I perceive in my self and you another manner of heat and warmth in the insisting upon the plainest principles of Christianity and the setting them home upon mine own heart and yours than in dwelling upon any more abstruse Speculations in the clearest handling of which the Preacher may seem to be too much like the winter nights very brighâ—… but very cold But now my Brethren I shall not with Paul call upon you so much to remember the resurrection of Christ as the Return of Christ Behold He cometh in the Clouds and every Eâ—…e shall see him Your eyes and mine eyes and all the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn because of him But we shall lift up our heads because the Day of our Redemption draweth nigh this is the day I look for and wait for and have laid up all my hopes in If the Lord return not I profess my self undone my Preaching is vain and my suffering is vain and the bottom in which I have intrusted all my hopeâ—… is for ever miscarried But I know whom I have trusted We are built upon the foundation of that sure Word we are not built upon the sand of Mortality Nor do we run so as uncertainly but the Word of the Lord abideth for ever upon which Word do we hope How fully doth this Word assure us that this same Jesus that is gone up into Heaven shall so return and that he shall appear the second time unto Salvation to them that look for him Oh how sure
is the thing how near is the time how glorious will his appearing be The thing is sure the Day is set God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World by that man whom he hath ordained the manner of it is revealed Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints The Attendants are appointed and nominated The Soâ—… of Man shall come in his Glory and all his holy Angels with him The thing you see is established and every circumstance is determined How sweet are the words that dropped from the precious Lips of our departing Lord What generous Cordials hath he left us in his parting Sermons and his last Prayer and yet of all the rest those are the sweetest I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there you may be also What need you any further witness you have heard him your selves assuring you of his return Doubtless he cannot deceive you you have not only known but seen and felt the truth of his promises And will he come tremble then ye sinners triumph yâ—… Saints clap your hands all ye that look for the consolation of Israel O sinners where will you then appear how will you look upon him whom you have pierced whom you have persecuted whose great Salvation you have neglected and despised Wo unto you that ever you were born unless you should then be found to be New-born But you O Children of the most high how will you forget your travel and be melted into joy This is he in whom you have believed whom having not seen ye loved But how will love and joy be working if I may so speak with pangs unutterable when you shall see him and hear his sweet voice commending applauding approving of you and owning you by name before all the World Brethren thus it must be the Lord hath spoken it See that you stagger not at the Promise but give Glory to God by believing Again the time is near Yet a little while and he that shall come will come Behold I come quickly saith he And again The Lord is at hand Sure you are that death cannot be far off O Christian thou dost not know but the next year nay possibly the next week thou mayest be in Heaven Christ will not long endure thine absence but will have thee up to him till the time of his general appearing when he will take us up altogether and so we shall be ever with the Lord. Soul believest thou this If thou dost indeed what remains but that thou shouldest live a life of love and praise studying to do all the good thou canst till thou come to Heaven and waiting all the days of thine appointed time till thy change shall come O my Soul look out and long O my Brethren be you as the Mother of Sisera looking out at the Windows and watching at the Latices saying why are his Chariot-wheels so long a coming Though the time till you shall see him be but very short yet love and longing make it seem tedious My Beloved comfort your hearts with these Words look upon these things as the greatest reallities and let your affections be answerable to your expectations I would not have told you these things unless I had believed them for it is for this hope that I am bound with this Chain The blessing of the Holy Trinity be upon you I am yours and will be The God of Peace be with you I rest Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester August 5. 1663. LETTER XXVIII Of the Love of Christ. To his most endeared Friends the servants of God in Taunton Salvation Most dearly Beloved MEthinks my Brests are not easie unless I do let them forth unto you Methings there is something still to do and my Weeks work is not ended unless I have given my Soul vent and imparted something to the Beloved flock that I have left behind And Oh that my Letters in my absence might be useful to you Assuredly it is my joy to serve you and my love to you is without dissimulation witness my twice lost liberties and my impaired health all which I might have preserved had it not been for my readiness to minister to you But what do I speak of my love it is the sense of the infinite love of God your Father that I would have to dwell upon you Forget me so you remember him Let me be very little so he be very lovely in your eyes Let him be as the Bucket that goes up though I be as the Bucket that goes down Bury me so that you do but set the Lord always before you Let my name be written in the dust so his Name be written deep up all your Souls O Lord I am thy Servant truly I am thy servant Glorifie thine own Name by me and thou shalt have my hand to it that I will be content to be hid in obscurity and to disappear through the overcoming lustre and brightness of thy Glory Brethren understand mine Office I Preach not my self but the Lord Jesus Christ and my self your Servant for Jesus sake Give him your hearts and I have my Errand I am but the Friend of the Bridegroom and my business is but to give you to understand his love and to gain your hearts unto him He is an Object worthy of my Commendations and of your affections His Love is worth the writing of and worth the thinking of and worth the speaking of O my Brethren never forgeâ—… I beseech you how he loveth you He is in Heaven and you are on Earth he is in Glory and you in Rags he is in the shining Throne aâ—…d you in dirty flesh and yet he loveth you His heart is infinitely tender of you even now while he is at the right hand of the Majesty on High How feelingly doth he cry out at the hurt of his poor Members on Earth Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Oh of what quick sense is the sense of our dear Lord unto us when we are touched on Earth he feels it in Heaven Brethren Christ is real in all that he speaks unto you He is not like a flourishing Lover who fills up his Letters with Rhetorick and hath more care of the dress of his Speech than of the Truth Who ever gave demonstration of the reallity of his love at so dear a rate as Christ hath done Men do not use to die in jest Who will impoverish himself to enrich his Friend and divest himself of his honour to advance him and debase himself to admiration below his own degree to contract affinity with him and all this but to make him believe that he loves him Brethren possess your very hearts with this that Christs love doth go out with infinite dearness towards you Even now while he is in all his Glory he earnestly remembers you still This is the High Priest that now is entred into the Holy of Holies doth bear your names
magnifie the Lord with me aud let us exalt his Name together he hath remembred my low estate because his Mercy endureth for ever O blessed be you of the Lord my dearly Beloved O thrice blessed may you be for all your remembrances of me before the Lord you have wrestled with the Lord for me you have wrestled me out of the very Jaws of Death it self O the strength of Prayer Surely it is stronger than death See that you even honour the power and Prevalenâ—… of Prayer Oh be in love with Prayer and have high and venerable thoughts of it What distresses diseases Deathts can stand before it Surely I live by Prayer Prayer hath given a Resurrection â—…o this Body of mine when Physicians and friends had given up their hopes Ah my dearly Beloved methinks it delights me to tell the story of your love how much more of the love of God towards me I have not forgotten O my dearly Beloved I have not forgotten your tender love in all my distresses I remember your kindness to me in my Bonds when once and again I was delivered up to a Prison for your sakes I remember with much delight how you refreshed and comforted me in my Tribulations how open your hearts were and your hands were not straightned neither for I was in want of nothing I may not I must not forget what painful Journies you took to visit me when in places remote the hand of the Lord had touched me and though my long sickness almost incredible expensive to me yet your Supplies did not a little lighten my Burthen And though I put it last yet I do not mind it least that you have been so ready in returning Praises to God in my behalf your thanksgiving to God my dear Brethren do administer abundant cause to me of my giving thanks unto you And now my heart methinks is big to tell you a little of my love to you surely you are dear unto me but though it be sweet to tell the story of love yet in this I will restrain my sâ—…lf For I fear least as the wise man saith of the beginning of strife so I should find of the beginning of love that it is like the letting forth of the Water and the rather I do â—…orbear because I hope you have better Testimonies than Words to bear witness here unto you But if I sing the song of love O let Divine Love overcarry the praise I found my self in straights when I began to speak of the natural love between my dear people and an unworthy Minister of Christ to them and it seemed that all that I have said was much too little but now I have to speak of the love God it seems to be by far too much O infinite love never to be Comprehended but ever to be admired magnified and adored by every Creature O let my heart be filled let my Mouth be filled let my papers be filled ever ever filled with the thankful Commemoration of this matchless love O turn your eyes from other objects O bury me in forgetfulness and let my love be no more mentioned nor had in remembrance among you so that you may be throughly possessed and inflamed with the love of God This my Beloved this is that love which is ever to be commended and extolled by you See that you studie this love fill your souls with wonder and feast your souls with joy and be ravished with rich contentment in this Divine Love Take your daily walk and lose your selves in the Field of Love Drink O Friends yea drink abundantly O Beloved fear no excess O that your souls may be drencht and drowned in the love of Christ till you can every one say with the ravisht Spouse I am sick of love Marvel not that I wander here and seem to forget the bounds of a Letter this love obligeth me yea rather constraineth me Who in all the Earth should admire and commend this love if I should not I feel it I taste it the sweet savour thereof reviveth my soul it is light to mine eyes and life to mine heart the warm Beams of this blessed Sun O how have they comsorted me ravished and refreshed me both in Body and Soul my benumbed Limbs my withered hands my feeble knees my bones quite naked of flesh do yet again revive through the quickning healing and raising influence of Divine Grace and Love Now my own hands can feed me and my own seet can bear me my appetite is quick my sleep comfortable and God is pleased to give some increase continually though by insensible Degrees and shall not I praise that love and grace that hath done all this for me yea what is this to all I have to tell you My heart is enlarged but I told you Paper could not hold what I have to speak of the goodness of the All-Gracious God in which I live I am forced to end least you should not bear my length My dearly Beloved I send my heart unto you divide my love amongst you all and particularly tender it to your Reverend and Faithful Pastour whose presence with you and painfulness and watchfulness over you and Zeal and courage for you in so dangerous a time is matter of my great Joy and Thanksgivings unto God The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all Fare you well in the Lord I remain Your unworthy Minister and servent Well-wisher in the Lorâ—… JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXI To the most Beloved People the Servants of God in Taunton Salvation Most dearly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown MY hearts desire and Prayer for you is that you may be saved This is that which I have been Praying and studying and Preaching for these many Years and this is the end of my Venturing and Suffering and Writing at this present time God that knoweth all things he knoweth that this is my wish Oh that I could but come at their Souls And that this is the prize and the gain that I run for that I might win souls I seek not other gifts give me your hearts let me but part between your sins and you suffer me but to save you give me leave to carry you over to Jesus Christ and I will not ask you any more I will serve you gladly I will suffer for you thankfully so I may but save you Do not wonder why I follow you so pressingly why I call upon you so frequently let not my importunity be grievous to you all this is but to save you Christ did not bethink his Blood and shall I think my Breath or Ink too dear in order to your salvation what pitie is it that any of you should miscarry at last under the power of Ignorance or by a prophane negligence or a formal and lifeless profession of strict Godliness Beloved I am afraid of you lest as to many of you I have run in vain I cannot but most thankfully acknowledge that considering the paucity of those
am now ready with joy to say with David Soul return unto thy rest But alas that such things should disturb me I would live above this lower region that no passages or providence whatsoever might put me out of frame nor disquiet my soul and unsettle me from my desirest rest I would have my heart fixed upon God so as no occurrences might disturb my tranquility but I might be still in the same quiet and even frame Well though I am apt to be unsettled and quickly set off the hinges yet methinks I am like a Bird out of the nest I am never quiet till I am in my old way of Communion with God like the needle in the Compass that is restless till it be turned towards the Pole I can say through grace with the Church with my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my Spirit within me have I sought thee early my heart is early and late with God and 't is the business and delight of my life to seek him But alas how long shall I be a seeking how long shall I spend my days in wishing and desiring when my glorified Brethren spend theirs in rejoycing and enjoying look as the poor imprisoned captive sighs under the burdensome clog of his Irons and can only pear through the Grace and think of and long for the sweetness of that liberty which he sees others enjoy such methinks is my condition I can only look through the Grate of this Prison my flesh I see Abraham and Isaac and Jâ—…ob sitting down in the Kingdom of God but alas I my self must stand without longing striving fighting running praying waiting for what they are enjoying Oh happy thrice happy pouls when shall these Fetters of mine be knocked off when shall I be set at liberty from this Prison of my body you are clothed with glory when I am clothed with dust I dwell in flesh in a House of Clay when you dwell with God in a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens I must be continually clog'd with the cumbersome burden of this Dung-hill Body that had it not a soul dwelling in it like Salt as it were to preserve it would soon turn to puâ—…faction and corruption and be as odious and loathsom as the filthiest Carrion when you have put on incorruption and immortality What continual molestation am I subject to by reason of this flesh What pains doth it cost me to keep this earthen vessel from breaking it must be fed it must be clothed it must be exercised recreated and which is worst of all cherished with time-devouring â—…ep so that I live but little of the short time I have allotted me here but oh blessed souls you are swallowed up of immortality and life your race is run and you have received your Crown How â—â—â—rious must I beâ—…to keep me from dangers how apt am I to be troubled with the cares and fears of this life molesting my self with the thoughts of what I shall eat and what I shall put on and wherewithal I shall provide for my self and mine when your souls are taken with nothing but God and Christ and 't is your work to be still contemplating and admiring that love that redeemed you from all this Alas how am I encompast with infirmities and still carry about me Death in my bosom what pains and cost must I be at to repair the rotten and ruinous building of this earthly Tabernacle which when I have done I am sure will shortly fall about my ears when you are got far above mortality and are made equal with the Angels Oh I groan earnestly to be cloathed upon with my house which is from Heaven being willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord Oh when shall I come and appear before him When shall I receive the purchase of my Saviour the fruit of my prayers the harvest of my labours the end of my Faith the Salvation of my soul Alas what do I here this is not my resting place My treasure is in Heaven and my heart is in Heaven Oh when shall I be where my heart is woe is me that I sojour in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kâ—…dar Oh that I had wings like a Dove that I might flie away and be at rest Then would I hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest and be out of the reach of fears disturbances and distractions How long shall I live at such a distance from my God at such a distance from my Countrey Alas how can I be merry how can I sing the Lord Song in a strange Land no I will hang my Harp upon the Willows and sit down and weep when I remember Sion But yet my flesh â—…hall rest in hope and I will daily bath my soul in the sweet thoughts of my blessed home I will rejoyce in hopes of what I do not yet enjoy and content my self with the taste of what I shall shortly have my fill of But stay this Pen runs not beyoud thy Commission Alas now I â—…ceive what I have gotten I perceive I have set down what I would be rather than what I am and wrote more of my dears heart than my own penning rather a Copy for my self than a Copy of my self Well I thank God I haue got some heat by it for all the Lord grant thou mayst get a thousand times more The Lord grant the request I daily pour out before him and make us helps and furtherances to each others soul that we may quicken and promote and forward one another in his ways Help me by thy Prayers as thou dost always The God of all peace and comfort be with thee my sweet love Farewel Thine beyond Expression JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXVII God is a satisfying Portion My most dear Pylades HAd not my right hand long since forgot her cunning and the Almighty shook the Pen out of my hand I should long ere this have been writing to thee but it is a wonder of Divine Power and goodness that my soul had not before this time dwelt in silence and that death had not put the long period to all my writing and converse O my Pylades what shall I say unto thee now I begin to write where shall I begin when shall I end methinks I am as a full Bottle quite inverted where the forward pressing of the overhasty liquor makes the evacuatin more flow and my thoughts are like a thronging croud sticking in the door Long is the song of love that I have to tell thee I rejoice in the constancie of thy love that the waters of so long a silence and so great a distance have not yet quenched it but thy desires are towards me and thy heart is with me though providence hath hindred me from thy much desired company I will assure thee it hath been a pleasure to my heart a good part of this summer to hope that I should come one half
of the way to give thee a meeting but such is my weakness hitherto that I am forced to put off those hopes till the Spring when if God give me strength to ride I intend to see thee before mine own Home I thank thee for all the dear expressions of thy fervent love Methinks I see it and feel how it runs through all the veins of every â—…etter nay every Line I needed not so chargeable a Testomony as thy golden Token with which I was somthing displeased because I thought thou needest more than my self but the love thereby expressed is most dearly welcome to me What thou talkest of Retribution and of Justice doth not so well relish with me because the Phrases seem improper to the love profest between us I never lookt for any return from thee but love which is the paying of all thy Debts my expences have indeed been vast and almost incredible but surely goodness and mercy hath followed me and do follow me in every place and in every change of my condition so that as to temporals I have lack of nothing and as for spirituals I abound and superabound and the streams of my comforts have been full and running over the joy of the Lord hath been my strength at weakest and in the multitude of my thoughts within me his comforts have refresh'd my Soul I have found God a satisfying portion to me and have sat down under his shadow with full delights and his fruit is most sweet to my taste he is my strength and my Song for I will talke of him and write of him with perpetual pleasure Through grace I can say methinks I am now in my Element since I have begun to make mention of him I am rich in him and happy in him and my soul saith unto him with Divid Thou hast made me most Blessed for evermore and happy is the hour that ever I was born to be made partaker of so blisful a Treasure so endless a felicity so Angelical Prerogatives as I have in him O sweet are his converses how delightful it is to Triumph in his Love Suffer me to be free with thee where should I pour out my Soul if not into thy bosom did the poor woman call upon her friends and neighbours to rejoyce together with her at the finding of a lost Groat and shall not I tell to thee the keeper of the Secrets of my Soul the friend of my inmost Bosom what a friend is the Lord to me though an unworthy sinner shall not I run and tell thee what a treasure I have found And here methinks the story of the Lepers comes not unaptly to thy mind who said one to another when they had eat and drunk aâ—…d carried away silver and gold and raiment and went and hid it We do not well this day is a day of good tydings and we hold our peace It is sit that I should be cloathed with shame I acknowledge before God who trieth the hearts I am unworthy everlastingly unworthy but it is not fit that he should lose his praise nay rather let him be the more ador'd and magnifi'd and admir'd for ever and ever and let my Secrets say Amen Bless the Lord O my Soul bless the Lord O my Friend let us exhalt his Name together he is my solace in my solitude he is my standing comforter my tried friend my sure refuge my safe retreat he is my Paradise he is my Heaven and my heart is at rest in him and I will sit and sing under his shadow as a Bird among the Branches and whither should I go but unto him Shall I leave the faâ—…ness of the Olive and sweetness of the Fig-tree and of the Vine and go and put my trust under the shadow of the Bramble No I have made my everlasting choice this is my rest for ever he is my well Beloved in whom I am well pleased Suffer me to boast a little here I may Glory without Vanity and I can praise him without end or measure but I have nothing to say of my self I find thou dost overvalue me and magnifie me above my measure set the Crown upon the head of Christ let nothing be great with thee but him give him the glory but thy love pleaseth me only I have this exception that thou art in love with thine own Idol as Austin somewhere speaks to a friend of his that did too much magnifie him and magnifiest a Creature of thine own fancie and not thy poor Orestes God that knoweth all things knoweth my poverty how little how low and how mean I am and how short I come of the attainments of the Saints who yet do themselves come so exceedingly short of the Rule that God hath set before us I often think of the Complaint of the devout Monsier I feel my self very poor this week and very defective in the love of God if you would know wherein you may pleasure me love God more that what is wanting in me may be made up in the abundance of your love in this my Pylades in this thou maist most highly pleasure me love God a little the better praise him a little the more for my sake let me have this to please my self in that God is alittle the better loved sor me and that I have blowed up if it be but one flash nay but one spark of Divine Love in the bosom of my dearest friend towards him But why my Pylades why is thy stile towards me changed why hast thou lost the old and wonted strain of our former pleasing familiarity this I could not but observe with some disgust is it because thy heart is changed but this is a question in which I cannot ask any resolution I am satisfied and at rest in thy love but what this alterations means I know not art thou willing by degrees to grow strange it cannot be thou seest however that I cannot change my voice Besides I find some jealous passages in thy last lines unto us but canst thou think that T. B. can be put into the ballance against my old friend my own my Covenant Pylades or can a friend of words come into any competition or comparison with thine experienced love I cannot entertain the thoughts of this without some disdain But thy needful cautions are acceptable to me I desire to foresee and provide for manifold changes and storms I know I am not yet in the harbor O pray with me that I enter not into Temptation for I am very weak in Spirit as well as in body God knoweth But there is no end with me somewhere or other I must break off and thou wilt say it is time to shut up for once only know that I am thy daily Orator and will be whilest I am and yet once more I must have room to add my thankful acknowledgement of thine and thy costly kindness and so with our most dear affections to you both I commend you to the God of
love still abiding Thy fast and sure ORESTES Bath Octob. 12. 1668. LETTER XXXVII To a person of Quality to be constant Most Honoured Sir MAny charges have passed over both you and my self since my last Writing to you but I am glad to hear that in that great change of your condition you have made so wise and happy a choice Mine unfeigned desire to God is for your Temporal and Spiritual prosperity and that the blessings of both Worlds may be heaped up upon you Yet I should desire you not to expect too much here nor to count it a strange thing if you meet with disappointments Is it enough if you have the Lord for your portion and Heaven for your Inheritance though the World should not answer your expectations I doubt not but you will be likely as well as we to meet with manifold temptations the Lord make you when you have done all to stand Hold out a while in faith patience and self-denial and you shall be as sure as God can make you of the Crown Now arise and shine and hold forth the power of holiness in all your converse We have lived in times when Religion was the way to credit and esteem and then it was more difficult to discern sincerity of ones profession because men might be drawn to it upon worldly ends But now is the time when God will prove us if we will appear for him and own his ways when they are the common scorn of the World Oh Sir think it not hard if God do call you forth to own him in such a time as this when few of your rank and quality will bear you company but look upon it as a special advantage to prove your sincerity and your fidelity to the Lord your Maker The holy and blessed life of that noble Marquess Galeacius I should much commend to your reading and imitation Court not the World nor its preserments Moses his self-denying choice which the World would have branded for unparalled folly when he voluntarily left all the Court-preferments and pleasures the wisest Judge commends for the greatâ—… wisdom If Religion will make you vile resolve with thaâ—…â—…yal Worthy that you will be yet more vile Remember who accounted the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt Verily it is a greater honour to you to be vilified for Christ than to be â—…ignified with the highest Titles that the greatest on Earth can conser and to be call'd Puritan or Phanatique for the bold and constant owning of the power of Christianity than to have whole Pages filled up with the honourable offices and marks of Dignity that Earthly Princes can bestow Now then is your time to get the true honour Few of your places and dignity will take this way to get it But he that can but use the prospective os Faith and look as far as the approaching Judgement will easily see the vanity of the worlds riches and flattering preferments and the everlasting glory and honour wherewith the dispised Saints shall surely be Crowned Fix your eyes and Meditations here and that will set you above the worlds temptations when by its offers or threatnings it would make you to warp and to let go your hold-fast of Eternal life Now is the time for you to make Heaven sure and when that is done you are prepared for the worst that can come I desire you to accept of my service and respects and my Wives which I do hereby present unto you and to your most deserving yoak-fellow whom I unfeignedly honour though I never saw her not so much for her noble blood which yet calls sor great respects as for her far more noble qualifications and priviledges of her second birth Pardon my boldness with you in troubling you so long I am Sir Your most Oblidged Friend and Servant JOS. ALLEINE Feb. 26. 1661. LETTER XXXVII Dear Cousin THough I have been in the valley of the shadow of death though I have had more than one foot in the Grave and have been in deaths often yet the love and remembrance of you ever liveth on my heart I have long had neither feet to walk nor hands to write yet I have borrowed hands as you see rather than I would stay any longer from warning and admonishing of you Dear Couzin that soul of yours that precious-immortal soul is of no light value with me I pray hard for its Salvation I have a Godly fear for you lest your soul should miscarry in a crowd of worldly business and of earthly cares Ah my dear Niece it comforts me that you are so setled for this world and are in want of nothing I bless the Lord for this but me thinks this doth not satisfie me Oh that I could be sure that you were once safe setled in Christ though you are I trust comfortably furnished with earthly things yet in this you are but half provided for have you a Treasure in Heaven have you laid hold on eternal life have you made sure work for everlasting have you past the straits of the New-Birth do you bear upon you the marks of the Lord Jesus If you shall pass by a sumptuous Fabrick and a great Lordship and should lay claim to all as your inheritance and please your self with the hopes of enjoying all this when you had nothing to shew no Writing no Evidence to produce as a ground for any such hopâ—… would not every one say this were a piece of strange vanity and imprudence much greater folly is it to promise our selves a part in Paradise and rest satisfied in a meer perswasion that we are the Heirs of Heaven when we cannot prove our Title from the Book of God nor produce from within our selves the sure and certain marks of the children of God Ah dear Couzin rouze up your self make conscience to deal plainly and freely with your soul say within your self I have hopes for Heaven but where are my grounds and my Evidences do I not build without a foundation do I venture my Salvation upon meer uncertainties What have I what do I more than others I pray I hear I read but may not a meer Hypocrite do all this I 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 left of entring into rest you should by any mistakes or self-deceits fall short through unbelief fear lest you should take Countâ—…â—…old 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 tempâ—…er 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
with you and who can but love where they have received so much love and continually do as I have from you the Lord requiâ—…e your love which is great and if compared with his but little with his which is infinite this is a love worthy of your ambition worthy of your adoration and admiration This is the Womb that bore you from eternity and out of which have burst forth all the Mercies Spiritual and Temporal that you enjoy This was the love that chose you when less Offenders and those that being converted might have been a hundred sold more serviceable to their Makers Glory are lâ—…ft to perish in their sins May your souls be filled with the sense of this love But it may be you will say how shall I know if I am an object of Electing love least an unbelieving thought should damp your joy know in snort that if you have chosen God he hath certainly chosen you Have you taken him for your blessedness and do you more highly prize and more diligently seek after conformity to him aâ—…d the fruâ—…tion of him than any than all the goods of this World If so theu away with doubts for you could not have loved and have chosen him unless he had loved you first Now may my Beloved dwell continually in the thoughts the views the tastes of the love Get you down under its shadows and taste its pleasant fruits Oh the Provisions that love hath made for you before the Foundation of the World Ah silly dust that ever thou shouldest be thought upon so long before thou wast that the contrivances of the infinite Wisdom should be taken up about thee that such a Crawling thing such a Mite a Flea should have the consultations of the Eternal Diety exercised about thee verily his love to thee is wonderful Lord what is man thou tellest us he is Dust and Vanity a Worm nothing less than nothing how then dost thou love him oh wonderful be astonished yea Heavens at this be moved ye strong foundation of the Earth Fall down yeaâ—… Elders strike up ye Heavenly Quires and sing yet again Glory to God in the highest for all our strings would crack to reach the Notes of love praise and admiration that this love doth call for Oh that ever emptiness and vanity should be thus prized that Jehovah should make account of so worthless so useless a thing as man that ever baseness should be thuâ—… preferred that ever nothing should be thus dignified thaâ—… ever rottenness should be thus advanced a Clod a shaddow Potsheard should be thus glorified Oh Brethren study beseech you not to require or retaliate there 's impossibility and blasphemy in such a thought but to admire and imâ—…tate his love Let love constrain you let love put you upoâ—… doing and prepare you for suffering forget not a love sâ—… memorable undervalue not a love so unvaluable I would have you all the captives of love may the cords of love draâ—… you towards and knit you to your Redeemer may the â—…vided streams be united in him Alas that our souls are sâ—… narrow that the Waters are so shallow with us how little how very little would our love be if he had it all infinitâ—… less than the Glow-worm to the Suu or the Attome to the Universe and have we any of this little to spare for him oh that we might love him with our little Ah! that all oâ—… little powers were ingaged for him Brethren here is no exâ—…cess oh love the Lord ye his Saints he is worthy for whoâ—… you shall do this Do but think what love hath done for yoâ—… and think if you can what it means to do for you This is thâ—… love that yarned upon you when in your Blood no eye pitying you This is the love that took you up when you werâ—… robbed and wounded and left for dead and poured in Winâ—… and Oyl into your wounds This is that love that reprieved and spared and pardoned when the Law had condemneâ—… you and Justice would have had you delivered up anâ—… your Self-condemning consciences gave up all for lost coâ—…cluding there was no hope This is the love the expensivâ—… love that bought you from the power of darkness from the eternal burnings the devouring fire in which you must otherwise have dwelt Do you not remember how you were hungry and it fed you naked and it cloathed you strangers and it took you in sick and it visited you in Prison and it came unto you you were dead and are alive you were lost and are found And me thinks I see how love runs to meet you and falls upon your necks and kisseth the Lips that deserve to be loathed and rejoyces over you and makes a Festival and as it were a Holiday in Heaven to you inviting Angels to rejoyce And if the friends do rejoyce how much more doth the father for saith he These my Sons were dead and are alive were lost and are sound Oh melting love ah Brethren how strange is this that our recovery should be Heavens triumph the joy of God and Angels That this love should feast us and feast over us and our Birth-day should be kept in Heaven that this should be the round at Heavens Table and the burden of the Song above For this my Son was dead and is alive and well what remains but that you should be another manner of People than ever yet you have been more holy more humble more even more resolved more lively more active where is your Zeal for the Lord of Hosts will slender returns suffice you in answer to such a love God forbid But necessity calls me off from going any further May the love that chose you and redeemed you for ever dwell in you and overshaddow you and bear you safe to the Kingdom In the Holy Arms of Divine Love I desire to leave you May you live under its daily Influences and be melted and overcome with its warming Beams with its quickning piercing powerful Rays My most dear love to you all See that you live not in a dull fruitless liveless course Be patient be watchful instant in Prayer fervent in Spirit serving the Lord I am very healthful and chearful through grace See that none of these things move you that befal us Fare you well my dear Brethren farewel in the Lord I am From the Prison at Juelchester October 25. 1663. Yours in the strongest Bonds of Affection and Affliction Joseph Alleine LETTER XI Remember Christ Crucified and crucifie Sin To the Faithful and Well-beloved People the servants of Christ in Taunton Salvation Most dear Christians I Am by Office a Remembrancer the Lords Remembrancer for you and your Remembrancer in the behalf of Christ. My business is with the Apostle to stir up your pure minds by way of Remembrance And what or whom should I remember you of but your mindful Friend your Intercessour with the Father who hath you always in remembrance appearing in the