power with you I have sent you an help on purpose what shall all my perswasions be but speaking in the wind and all my pains but labouring in the fire Beloved you have no dread of the Almighties Charge That you should teach these things diligently to your Children and talk of them as you sit in your houâ—… c. Deut. 6. 6 7 8 9. and 4. 9 10 and 11. 18 19 20. train them up in the way they should go Prov. 22. 6. the Margin Hath God so commended Abraham that he would teach his children and his houshold Gen. 18. 19. and that he had so many 〈…〉 servants Gen. 14. 14. the Margin hath given such a promise to him thereupon and wlll not you put in for a share neither in the praise nor the Promise Hath Christ honoured Cathechising with his presence Luke 2. 46. and will not you own it with your practise Say not they are careless and will not learn What have you your Authority for if not to use it for God and the good of their Souls You will call them up and force them to do your work and should you not at least be as zealous in putâ—…ing them upon Gods work Say not they are dull and are not capable If they be dull God requires of you the more pains and patience but so dull as they are you will make them learn how to work and can they not learn as well how to live Are they capable of the misteries of your trade and are they not capable of the plain principles of Religion well as ever you would see the growth of Religion the cure of ignorance the remedy of prophaness the downfal of error fulfill you my joy in going through with this duty I have been too long already and yet I am afraid my Letter will be ended before my work be done how lâ—…th am I to leave you before I have prevailed with you to set to the work to which you are here directed will you pass your promise will you give me your hands Oh that you would you cannot do me a greater pleasure Ask what you will of me See if I will not do as much for you Oh that your Families might be a joy to me as that twice noble Ladies to John who professes he had no greater joy then to find her Children walking in the truth Beloved why should you not give the hand one to another and mutually engage each to other for more vigorous and diligent endeavours in promoting Family Godliness I must tell you God looks â—…or more than ordinary from you in such a day as this He expects that you should do both in your hearts and in your houses somewhat more that ever under these his extraordinary dispensations My most dearly beloved minc own bowels in the Lord will you satisfie the longings of a travelling Minister will you answer the calls of Divine Providence would you remove the Incumbent or prevent the impending Calamities would you plant Nurseries for the Church of God would you that God should build your Houses and bless your substance would you that your children should bless you that your Father should bless you Oh then set up piety in your Families as ever you would be blessed or be a blessing let your hearts and your Houses be the Temples of the living God in which â—…is worship according to all the forementioned directions may be with constancy reverently performed Pardon my proâ—…xity and importunity in so earnest pursuing of you I am yet afraid I have done too soon and shall end without my Errand The Lord God perswade you To him I turn me for I am well assured he can prevail with you O Father of Spirit that hath set me over thy Flock to match for their Souls as one that must give an account I have long studied thy Will and taught in thy Name and do unfeignedly bless thee that any have believed my Report I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me and they have received them I have manifested thy Name unto them and they have kept thy Word And now I am no more with them but I come unto thee Holy Father keep them through thine own Name for they are thine As they have kept the Word of thy Patience so keep thou them in the hour of Temptation They are but a flock a little and a helpless flock but thou art their Shepheard suffer them not to want Do thou feed them and fold them Let thy Rod and thy Staff comfort them and let not the Beasts of prey fall upon them to the spoiling of their Souls But what shall I do for them that will not be gathered I have called after them but they would not answer I have charged them in thy Name but they would not hear I have studied to speak perswasively to them but I cannot prevail Then I said I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet I cannot give them over much less may I give thee over Lord perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem. Lord compel them to come in and lay the hanas of mercy upon them as thou didst on lingring Lot and bring them forth that they may escape for their lives and not be consumed Lord I pray thee open their eyes that they may see and lay hold upon their hearts by thy Omnipotent Grace Do thou turn them and they shall be turned O bring back the miserable Captives and suffer not the enemy of mankind to drive away the most of the flock before mine eyes and to deride the fruitless endeavours of thy Laborers and boast over them that he can doâ—…e with them though he seek to ruine them than all the beseechings counsels and charges of thy Servants that seek to save them Lord if I could find out any thing that would pierce them that would make its way into their hearts thou knowest I would use it But I have been many years pleading thy cause in vain O let not these endeavors also be lost O God find out every ignorant every prophane sinner every prayerless Soul and every prayerless family and convince them of their miserable condition while without thee in the World Set thy Image upon their Souls set up thy Worship in their Families Let not pride ignorance or slothfulness keep them in neglect of the means of knowledge Let thine eyes be over the place of my desires for good from one end of the year to the other end thereof Let every House therein be a Seminary of Religion and let those that cast their eyes upon these lines find thee sliding in by the secrâ—…t influence of thy Grace into their hearts and irresistably engaging them to do thy pleasure Amen Amen LETTER XXXII He that endureth to the end shall be saved To the most loving and best beloved the Servâ—…ts of Christ in Huntington Grace and Peace Most dear Christians I Do thankfully acknowledge
the main work go on do your souls prosper This is my care beware that you Flag not that you faint not now in the evil day I understand that your dangers grow upon you may your Faith and courage and resolution grow accordingly and much more abundantly to overtop them Some of your enemies I hear are in great hopes to satisfie their lusts upon you well be not discouraged my dear Brethren but bless the Lord who of his abundant Mercy hath so remarkably preserved you so long beyond all expectation Let it not be a strange thing to you if the Lord do now call you to some difficulty forsake not the Assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is I plainly see the Coal of Religion will soon go out unless it have some better helps to cherish it then a Carnal Ministrie and lifeless Administration Dear Brethren now is the time for you that fear the Lord to speak often one to another manage your duties with what prudence you â—…an but away with that Carnal prudence that will decline duty to avoid danger Is the Communion of Saints worth the venturing for Shut not up your doors against Godly Meetings I am told that it is become a hard matter when a Minister is willing to take pains with you to get place â—…ar be this from you my Brethren What shut out the Wor d suppose there be somewhat more danger to him that gives the Minister entertainment Is there not much more advantage accordingly did not Oâ—…ed Edom and his House get the blessing by entertaining the Ark there or do you think God hath never a blessing for those that shall with much Self-denial entertain his Messengers his Sainâ—…s his Worship are you believers and yet are affraid you shall be loosers by Christ do you indeed not know that he that runs most hazard for Christ doth express most love to Christ and shall receive the greatest reward away with that unbelief that prefers the present safety before the future glory I left you some helps for daily Examination I am jealous least you should grow slack and slight and carâ—…less in that duty Let me ask you in the name of the Lord doth never a day pass you but you do solemnly and seriously call your selves to an account what your â—…arriage hath been to God and Men speak conscience Is there never an one within the hearing of this Letter that is a neglecter of this duty dotâ—… every one of your Consciences acquit you Oh that they did oh that they could tell me would not some of you be put shrewdly to it if I should ask you when you read or thought over the questions that were given you for your help and would you not be put to a blush to give me an answer and will you not be much more ashamed that God and conscience should find you tardy not that I would necessarily bind you up to that very Method only till you have found a way more profitable I would desire you yea methinks I cannot but deeply charge you to make daily use of that Awake conscience and do thou fall upon that Soul that thou findest careless in this work and never let him be at rest till thou canst witness for him that he is a dâ—…ily and strict observer of himself and doth live in the constant practice of this duty What shall neither Gods charge nor your promise nor profit hold you to your work yet I may not doubt but some of you do daily perform this duty The Lord incourage you in it yet give me leave to ask you what you have gained are you grown more universally consciâ—…ncious more strict more humble and more sensible of your many and great defects then you were before If so blessed are you of the Lord if otherwise this duty hath been performed but slightly by you What can you say to this question doth your care of your ways abate or doth it incrâ—… by the constant use of this duty If it abate remember from whence you are fallen and repent as good not do it at all as not to the purpose My Pen is apt to run when I am writing unto you I beseech you that my Letters may not be as so much waste Paper to you may they be provocations to your duty and Medicines to any corruptions that they mâ—…et with Oh that they might find out mens sins and excite their graces I have run much farther than I thought I should have done but now I am called upon and must shur up The Lord God be a Sun and a Shield to you My most dear Love to you all fare you well in the Lord I am Your Embassador in Bonds JOS. ALLEINE From the common Goal at Juelchester Octob. 20. 1668. LETTER XIII Motives and Marks of Growth To the most Loving and best Beloved the servants of Christ in â—…aunton Grace and Peace Most dear and tender Friends WHose I am and whom under God I desire to serve to build you up in Holiness and comforts hath been through grace my great ambition This is that which I laboured for this is that which I suffer for and in short the end of all my applications to you and to God for you How do your souls prosper are they in a thriving case what progress do you make in Sanctification doth the House of Saul grew weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger beloved I desire to be jealous of you with a Godly jealousie lest any of you should lose your ground in these declining times and therefore cannot but be often calling upon you to look to your standing and to watch and hold fast that no man take your Crown Ah! how suâ—…ely shall you reap in the end if you faint not take heed therefore that you lose not the things you have wrought but as you have begun well so go on in the strength of Christ. and give diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end 't is your thriving I tell you I drive at Do you need Motives 1. How much are you behind-band Oh the fair advantages that we have lost what time what Sabboths Sermons Sacraments are upon the matter lost how much work have we yet to do are you sure of Heaven yet are you fit to die yet surely they that are in so much Poverty under so many great wants had need to set upon some more thriving courses Secondly Consider what others have gained whilst we it may be sit down by the loss Have we not met many Vessels richly laden while our Souls are empty Oh the rich Booties the golden Prizes that some have won while we have folded the hands to sleep have not many of our own standing in Religion left us far behind them Thirdly Consider what a spending time there is coming Affliction and Tribulation seem to be not far from you had you not need to be well stocked against such a day go to the Ant
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
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
and do strictly impose upon my self from day to day Never to lie down but in the Name of God not barely for natural refreshment but that a wearied servant of Christ may be recruited and fitted to serve him better the next day Never to rise up but with this râ—…solution Well I will go forth this day in the Name of God and will make Religion my business and spend the dâ—…y for Eternity Never to enter upon my calling but first thinking I will do these things as unto God because he requireth these things at my hands in the place and station he hath put me into Never to sit down to the Table but resolving I will not eat meerly to please my appetite but to strengthen my self for my Masters work Never to make a visit but upon some holy design resolving to leave something of God where I go and in every company to leave some good savour behind This is that which I have been for some time a learning and am pressing hard after and if I strive not to walk by these Rules let this Paper be a witness against me I am not now in my former publick capacity such things being required of me to say and subscribe as I could by no means yield to without open lying and dissembling with God and Men yet that I am unuseful I cannot say but rather think that possibly I may be of more use than heretofore I thank the Lord I have not known what it is to want a tongue to speak but in my sickness nor a people to hear but so as that we both follow the things that make for peace I perceive you are otherwise perswaded in some things than I am but however I trust we meet in our end Since you are in may it be your whole study to gain souls and to build them up in holiness which is with too many the least of their cares One duty miserably neglected I shall be bold to commend to you from my own experience and that is the visiting your whole Flock from house to house and enquiring into their spiritual estates particularly and dealing plainly and truly with them about their conversion to God to the usefulness of this great work I can set my Probatum est I hear you have two Parsonages O tremble to think how many precious souls you have to look to and let it be seen however others aim at the Fleece you aim at the Flock and that you have indeed Curam animarum You see how free I am with you but I know your candor I rejoice in your happy Yoke-fellow salute her from your old Friend and accept the unfeigned respects of him who is Sir Your real and faithful Friend JOS. ALLEINE LETTER XXXIX PRISON COMFORTS To a Minister in Prison worthy Sir I Owe you a Letter and more than a Letter for your particular respects to me your brotherly sympathy your multiplied and earnest prayers your tenderness of my health your welcome Jewel in M. Ruths Letters from which I trust my soul and others may reap no small benefit Much more do I owe you for your common respects to the people of my desires and not only to them but to the whole Church of God and in all whose concernments I see you are concerned Your indefatigable labours with us we do with all thankfulness accept as the undoubted evidence of your great love For all which may he requiâ—…e you who will shortly say Inasmuch as thou didst it unto the least of these my Brethren thou didst it unto me It was but a little after my release from my own confinement but I heard of yours and now write to you as one that hath taken a higher degree than ever and more truly honourable being commenced Prisoner of Christ. I was once affected with the Picture of a devout man to whom a voice came down from Heaven saying Quid vis fieri pro te To which he answered Nihil domine nisi pati ac contemni proâ—…e Undoubtedly Sir it is our real glory to be throughout conformed to Jesus Christ not onely in his sanctity but in his sufferings Paul counted all things but dung for this that he might win Christ c. and know the fellowship of his sufferings and be made conformable to his death I doubt not but your consolations in Christ do much more then superabound in all your tribulations for him Yet let me add this one Cordial That now you have a whole shoal of Promises come in to you which you had not before I mean all the Promises to suffering Saints in which they have not so immediate but only a remoter right unless in a suffering state And doubtless he hath gotten well that hath gotten such a number of exceeding great and precious Promises If the men of the world do so rejoyce when such or such an Estate is fallen to them should not you much more that have such a Treasure of Promises fallen to you I can tell you little good of my self but this I can tell you That the Primises of God were never so sweet in this world to me as in and since my imprisoned state Oh the bottomless riches of the Covenant of Grace It shames me that I have let such a Treasure lie by so long and have made so little use of it Never did my soul know the Heaven of a Believers life till I learnt to live a life of praise and by more frequent consideration to set home the unspeakable riches of the Divine Promises to which I trust through grace I am made an heir I verily perceive that all our work were done at once if we could but prevail with our selves and others to live like Believers to tell all the world by our selves and others to live like Believers to tell all the world by our course and carriage that there is such pleasantness in Christs wars such beauty in holiness such reward to obedience as we profess to believe May ours and our peoples conversations but preach this aloud to the world that there is a reality in what God hath promised that Heaven is worth the venturing for that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Verily Sir it is but a very little while that Prisons shall hold us or that we shall dwell in dirty flesh Porphyry tells us of Photinus that he was ashamed to see himself in the body to see a Divine and immortal soul in a Prison of flesh for so they held the body to be but the worst shackles are those of sin Well they must shortly off all together our Lord doth not long intend us for this lower Region Surely he is gone to prepare a place for us Doubtless it is so yea and he will come again and receive us to himself that where he is we may be also And what have we to do but to believe and wait and love and long