marvelling at GOD's infinite goodness in the Gift of his Son our Saviour Neither did he so gaze upon and adore Christ his Redeemer and his Redemption as to forget to sound forth Praises of GOD the Creator for often he hath been heard with admiration and praise to take notice of the Divine Power and Wisdom in the Works of Creation and therefore in the open Air in the private retirement of some Field or Wood he delighted to address himself to God in praise that his eyes might affect his heart and awake his glory And here often he hath been heard to say That Man was the Tongue of the whole Creation appointed as the Creatures Interpreter to speak forth and make articulate the Praises which they but silentlently intimate He much delighted in Vocal Musick and especially in singing Psalms and Hymns particularly Mr. Bartons witness his constant practice after Dinner else-where related In him it may be said in as high a degree as of most Saints on Earth That each Thought was to him a Prayer each Prayer a Song each Day a Sabbath each Meal a Sacrament a Fore-taste of that Eternal Repast to which he hath now Arrived His Time-redeeming Thrist To conclude That he might effect all the excellent purposes of a Holy Life he set a high value on his most precious Time and did with so Wise and Holy Fore-cast each day redeem and fill it up that he did not onely not do nothing but also not little though in a little and short time All Companies did hear him proclaim the Price of Time and how excellently and advantagiously he did it in publick before his Ejection in several most useful Sermons on Ephes 〈◊〉 16. many that heard him do to this day to their great comfort and profit remember And the more remarkable was this his Holy Thrist because prophetical of his short 〈◊〉 here on Earth His diligence and holiness in this his Sphere of Action was a presage of his speedy Translation as with Enoch to the Sphere of Vision and Fruition for a reward of his singular Piety it being not probable that he who made so great a haste to dispatch his Heavenly Work should be long without his desired Recompence CHAP. X. A few Additions to the former Character by his Reverend and Intimate Friend Mr. R. F. HE was a Person with whom for many years I was well acquainted and the more I knew him the more I loved and admired the rich and exceeding Grace of GOD in him I looked on him as one of the most elevated refined choice Saints that ever I knew or expect while I live to know and that because among others I observed these things of him 1. A most sincere pure and absolute consecration of himself to GOD in CHRIST JESUS his Soul had first practised the Covenant-Dedication which his hand afterward prescribed as a Patern to others in his Father-in-Laws Book There seemed no sinister end or false affection to move or sway him in his way But the good pleasure of the LORD the edification of his Church and the Salvation of Souls were the only marks his eye seemed at all to regard in his Designs and Acts I know no other mans heart but thus he appeared to my most attentive observation and so I fully believe concerning him as much as of any Person I ever saw 2. In this his dedication to God he was carried with the highest and purest flame of Divine Love that ever I observed in any And that Love arising from a clear vision of the Beauty of Divine Perfections especially his Gospel Love the sight of which Beauty and Excellency seemed perpetually to possess and ravish his Soul This Love seemed wholly unmixed from all that carnal heat that would carry him into Fantastick or Indecent Expressions but his mind seemed to be alwayes ascending with its might in the greatest calmness and satisfaction Thus have I oft observed him in frequent and silent elevation of Heart manifested by the most genuine and private lifting up of his eyes and joyned with the sweetest smile of his Countenance when I am confident he little thought of being seen by any Thus have I oft heard him flow in Prayer and Discourse with the clearest conviction and dearest taste of divine Excellency and Goodness and the fullest highest and most pleased expression of his being overcome by it and giving up his ALL in esteem to it but this Love in the greatest demonstration appeared by his perpetual greedy and unsatiable spending of his whole self for the Glory of God good of the Church and Salvatio of Souls His Head was ever contriving his Tongue 〈◊〉 and his whole Man acting some design for these so he lived and so he dyed He laboured and suffered himself into the Maladies which ended him And when he was at Bath like a perfect Skeleton and could move neither Hand nor Foot when his Physitians had 〈◊〉 him all Preaching and diswaded him from Vocal Praying as being above his strength yec then would he almost daily be carried in his Bath-Chair to the Alms-Houses and little Childrens Schools and there give them Catechisms teach them the meaning of them and call them to an account how they remembred and understood And he died designing a way how every poor Child in Somersetshire might Have Learn and be instructed in the Assemblies Catechism yea and at the expression of his affection I cannot but mention the frequentest Extasies or Raptures of Spirit wherein he lay on his Bed when his Body was even deprived of all power of its own motion but with no great pain in consideration of Divine Love to him in general and in particular that he felt no great pain Never heard I God so loved and thanked in the highest confluences of pleasing providences by others as he was by him in his affliction for not inflicting great pain upon him though he was otherwayes so sad a Spectacle of weakness and looked so like death that some great Ladies oft hindered his coming into the Bath the gastliness of his look did so afright them 3. His pure and sacred Love wrought in him a great Spirit of Charity and Meekness to Men of other Judgements and Perswasions and great affection towards all such in whom he found any Spiritual good His Zeal was all of a building and no destroying nature he had too much wisdom to esteem his own thoughts to be the Standard of all other Mens His clear Light and pure Heat made him of a more discerning substantial and divine temper than to reject any in whom Charity could see any thing of a new nature for differing from him in the Modes or Forms of Discipline or Worship or Disputable Points 4. Suitably to his high degree of Holiness and Divine Communion he enjoyed the richest assurance of Divine Love to himself in particular and his saving interest in Christ. I believe few Men were ever born that attained to so clear satisfied and powerful
Imaginations or of the Lifeless motions in a Poppit-Play where there is much stir to little purpose till the Play be ended further than the Matters of God and of the Church and Mens everlasting concernments are comprehended in them The report of one Souls Conversion to God and of the Reformation of one Family City or Church and of the noble Operations of the blessed Spirit by which he brings up Souls to God and conquereth the World the Flesh and the Devil the Heavenly Communications of God unto Sinners for their Vivification Illumination and holy Love to God and to his Image are so far better than the Stories of these grand Murderers and Tyrants and their great Robberies and Murders called Conquests as the Diagnosticks of Health are than those of Sickness Or as it is more pleasant to read of the Building of Cities than of their ruins or of the Cures of a Physitian than of the hurts done by Robberies and Frays yea of the Healing of Immortal Souls than of the over-hasty destroying of mens Bodies which would quickly turn to Dust of themselves if these valiant Murderers had but the patience to stay the time And among all parts of Church-History the Lives of Wise and Holy Men do seem to be not least Useful and Delightful which is the reason why Satan hath so marvelously and successfully bestird himself to corrupt this part of History with so many impudent lies in the Popish Legends as might render all such Narratives afterwards Contemptible and Incredible and might destroy the Ends Therefore is the Sacred Scripture so much Historical and the Gospel it self is not a Volumn of well composed Orations or a Systeme or Encuclopaedia of the Sciences and Arts nor yet a great Volumn of unnecessary Laws but the History of the Life and Death of Christ and the wonderous Works of Himself and his Spirit in his Servants and a Record of those brief Laws and Doctrines which are needful to the Holiness and Happiness of Man In the Lives of Holy Men we see God's Image and the Beauties of Holiness not only in Precept but in Reality and Practice not Pictured but in the Substance And though the Precepts and Rules be more perfect in their kind as wanting no Degree or Part yet the real Impress and Holiness in the Soul is that living Image of God which is the end of the former and of which the Scripture is but the Instrumental cause And Holiness in visible Realities is apt to affect the World more deeply than in Portraiture and Precept only Therefore we find that Satan and his Instruments are used to do that against the Scriptures exemplified in the Godly which they have not done against the Scriptures in themselves They can bear the bare Precepts of a perfect Rule who cannot bear the very imperfect practice of them in a Holy Life Many have burnt Martyrs that could endure good Books Living Holiness most exciteth Malice Besides that the best of men have Imperfections which may be a pretence for Detraction Slander and Persecution when the Sacred Rule is not so boldly to be accused till they are ripened in Malignity and Audacity Many a one can read with Reverence the Life of a dead Saint who will neither imitate nor indure the Living And I doubt not but many can bear the Narrative of this holy persons Life who could not have endured to see themselves condemned in the Exercises of his present Holy Zeal And yet it is not to be denied but that Humane Nature yet containeth such Principles and Inclinations as give an honourable testimony to goodness For the exercises of prudent impartial equal Vertue and eminent holiness in a Heavenly Life and in the joyful Hopes of the invisible Blessedness and in servent Love to God and Man and in an innocent Life and Self-denying endeavours to do good to all do so much convince and awe Mans Nature and so powerfully command Approbation and Honour that Satan and bad Men could not resist them were it not that such excellent Persons are too Rare and that the far greater number of good Men are lamentably imperfect and tainted with many unlovely Faults And were it not 〈◊〉 for two great advantages that Satan layeth hold on that is Mens Strangeness and Disaecquaintance with those that are good and the Slanderous reports of them by others And whoever noteth it shall find that most that ever Hated and Persecuted men of eminent Holiness were such as never intimately knew them but only at a deceitful distance and such as heard them odiously described by lying Tongues And it is not a small benefit of this kind of History that the Weak and Lame Christians may see such excellent Examples for their imitation and the sluggish and distempered Christian may have so real and lively a reproof and the discouraged Christian may see that higher degrees of goodness are indeed attainable and that the dark and troubled Christian may see the Methods in which Gods Spirit doth work upon his Servants and see that a Genuine Christian life is a Life of the greatest joy on earth And that the sloathful Hypocrite may see that Religion is a serious Business And that the factious Christian may see that a man may be eminently Holy that is not of his Opinion Side or Party And that both the proud domineering Pharisee may see that eminent Piety is separated from his Traditions Formalities Ceremonies and Pomp And the Opinionative Hypocrite may see that Holiness consisteth of something else than in circumstantial and siding Singularities and in a condemning of other mens outward Expressions or Modes of Worship or a boisterous Zeal against the Opinions and Ceremonies of others And it is a notable benefit of this kind of History that it is fitted to Insinuate the Reverence and Love of Piety into young unexperienced Persons For before they can read much of Theological Treatises with understanding or delight Nature enclineth them to a pleasure in History and so their Food is sugard to their Appetites and Profit is entertained by delight And nothing taketh well with the Soul that is not pleasant to it nor did he ever know the true way of Educating Youth or doing good to any that knew not the way of drawing them to a pleasedness and love to goodness Omne 〈◊〉 punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. On such Accounts we may conclude that such men as Melchior Adamus Mr. Samuel Clark c. that have served the Church with this sort of History have done no small or useless Service which we the easilier perceive when we remember at what rates now the Church would purchase a full History of the Lives of all the Apostles and all the Eminent Pastors of the Churches for the first two hundred or three hundred Years yea or but of some few of them And how much of the History of the Times they lived in is contained in a just History of such mens Lives It were to be wished that
much his Soul was grieved at them for the wrong they did hereby to their own Souls especially and the reproach they brought upon the Gospel of our Lord. 5. He was of great Patience To say nothing of his behaviour under sufferings of other kinds his great weakness and long languishing for some years together and his constant serenity calms and quietness of Spirit in all that time so far from the least touch of murmuring that he was still blessing the Lord for his tender dealings with him have given the World a full proof that he was of a patient Spirit 6. He was Eminent in Liberality He not only did but devised liberal things and by liberal things did he stand He studied and considered how he might both give himself and procure from others relief for those in want He gave much Alms daily both in the place where he lived and where-ever he came When there were Collections at any time for pious and charitable uses He stirred up others to bountiful giving both by Word and also by his Example In the Collection for the Fire in London He gave publickly such a liberal proportion as he thought meet to be an example to others and as I came occasionally to understand lest it should be misjudged he had been known to give more he gave more than as much again secretly He distributed much amongst his Relations His Aged Father and divers of his Brethren with their large Families being fallen into decay he took great care for them all and gave education to some Pensions to other Portions to others of them and notwithstanding all this he had but a very small matter of Stock to begin upon and never above 80 pounds per ann that I know of and near the one half of his time not above half so much only by the industry of his Wife who for divers years kept a Boarding-School his income was for that time considerably enlarged He took great pains in journeyings abroad to many Gentlemen and othe rich Men in the Countrey to procure a standing supply for such Non-conforming Ministers as were in want 7. He was of an Active Spirit He went about doing good As he was abundant and uncessant in his Labours in the Congregation where he lived So where-ever he came he would be scattering some good Seed not only among the Adult but he would be dealing much with the Children in those Families into which he came asking them Questions giving them Counsel and sometimes leaving them his Counsel in Writing In his own Family which was great whilst his Wife kept Boarders he was exceedingly industrious the gravity of his Carriage contempered with much sweetness and affability towards those young ones begat in many of them the Awe and Love as of Children to their Father and made way for the success of his Indeavours with them which was considerable upon divers of them At Bath while he lay sick there he sent for many of the Poor both Old and Children and gave them Catechisms engaging them to learn them and give him an account who came chearfully and frequently to him being encouraged hereto by his Familiar and Winning Carriage his giving them Money his Feeding and Feasting them He would sometimes say It 's pity that Counsel of our Lord Luk. 14. 13. of Feasting the Poor was no more practised amongst Christians 8. He was of an humble Spirit Though God had so exceedingly listed him up in the Hearts of others yet he was not puffed up in his own He was low in his own eyes and despised the praise of men His whole carriage was without the least ostentation and he was of great condescention to the Weakest or Meanest Once or twice he was complaining to me of the pride of his Heart I judging it to proceed rather from an holy jealousie of himself and a tenderness of the least spark of that evil than from any power it had upon him replyed to him as I remember to this purpose If he had a proud Heart he had it to himself for none else could perceive it But he answered Some men that are proud enough have more wit than to let every one know it Another time making the same complaint in a Letter to me he added this But my naughty heart whilst I am writing this is in hope you will not believe me So watchful was he as to espie and check the least motions of that Lust which he so much abhorred 3. As a Minister He was setled in Taunton Magdalen as an Assistant to the Reverend Pastour there with whom as a Son with the Father he served in the Gospel I shall say nothing here there being a large Account given under the Hand of that worthy Person But besides his Labours in that great Congregation in which alone he was fixed the care for many other Congregations was daily upon him He went forth frequently into several places about the Countrey amongst the poor ignorant people that lived in dark Corners and had none to take care of them and both Preached to them himself and stirred up many of his Brethren whose forward minds readily joyned with him to set up standing Lectures amongst them He had an Eye to poor Wales and had an influence upon the sending over some Ministers to them He resolved also to have gone and spent some time amongst them himself and by all the disswasions of his Friends from his great Weakness and Unfitness for Travail he was hardly with-held from his Purpose CHAP. IV. An Account of his Godly Life and Practice and of the Course of his Ministry in Taunton given by Mr. George Newton the Reverend Pastor there whose Assistant he was MR. Joseph Allein came to my Assistance in the Year 1655. being then in the One and Twentieth year of his Age and we continued together with much mutual Satisfaction I soon observed him to be a young Man of Singular Accomplishments Natural and Acquired His Intellectuals solid his Memory strong his Affections lively his Learning much beyond the ordinary Size And above all his Holiness eminent his Conversation exemplary In brief he had a good Head and a better Heart He spent a considerable part of his time in private converses with God and his own Soul he delighted very much to perform his secret Devotions in the view of Heaven and the open Air when he could find advantages fit for his purpose He used to keep many dayes alone and then a private Room would not content him but if he could he would withdraw himself to a solitary House that had no inhabitant in it And herein he was gratified often by some private Friends of his to whom he did not impart his design Perhaps it was that he might freely use his Voice as his Affections led him without such prudential considerations and restraints as would have been necessary in another place and that he might converse with God without any avocation or distraction His conversation with others was
of GOD do you help us in our Praises Love the Lord the better Praise him the more and what is wanting in us let it be made good by you O that the Praises of GOD may sound abroad in the Country by our means and for our sakes HE was prevented of going to the Waters by his last Imprisonment for want of which his Distempers increased much upon him all the Winter after and the next Spring more 〈◊〉 yet not so as to take him fully off from his Work but he Preached and kept many Dayes and Administred the Sacrament among them frequently But going up to the Waters in July 1667 they had a contrary effect upon him from what they had at first For after three dayes taking them he fell into a Feaver which seised on his Spirits and decayed his strength exceedingly so that he seemed very near Death But the Lord then again revoked the Sentence passed upon him and enabled him in six Weeks to return again to his People where he much desired to be But finding at his return great decay of his strength and a weakness in all his Limbs he was willing to go to Dorchester to advise further with Doctor Lose a very Worthy and Reverend Physitian from whom he had received many Medicines but never conversed with him nor had seen him which he conceived might conduce more to his full Cure The Doctor soon perceiving my Husbands weakness perswaded him to continue for a fortnight or three weeks there that he might the better advise him and alter his Remedies as he should see occasion which motion was readily yeelded unto by us But we had not been there above five dayes before the use of all his Limbs was taken away on a sudden one day his Arms wholly failing the next his Legs so that he could not go nor stand nor move a Finger nor turn in his Bed but as my self and another did turn him night and day in a Sheet All means failing he was given over by Physitiand and Friends that saw him lie some weeks in cold Sweats night and day and many times for some hours together half his Body cold in our apprehensions dying receiving nothing but the best Cordials that Art could invent and Almond Milk or a little thin Broth once in three or four days Thus he lay from September 28 to November 16. before he began to Revive or it could be discerned that Remedies did at all prevail against his Diseases In all this time he was still chearful and when he did speak it was not at all complaining but alwayes praising and admiring God for his Mercies but his Spirits were so low that he spake seldom and very softly He still told us he had no pain at all and when his Friends admired his Patience he would say God had not yet tryed him in any thing but laying him aside out of his Work and keeping him out of Heaven but through Grace he could submit to his pleasure waiting for him It was Pain he ever feared and that he had not yet felt so tender was his Father of him and he wanted strength as he often told us to speak more of his Love and to speak for God who had been and was still so gracious to him Being often askt by my self and others how it was with his Spirit in all this weakness he would answer He had not those ravishing joys that he expected and that some Believers did partake of but he had a sweet serenity of Heart and confidence in God grounded on the Promises of the Gospel and did believe it would be well with him to all eternity In all this time I never heard one impatient word from him nor could upon my strictest observation discern the least discontent with this state though he was a pitiful Object to all others that beheld him being so consumed besides the loss of the use of his Limbs Yet the Lord did support and quiet his Spirit that he lay as if he had endured nothing breaking out often most affectionately in commending the kindness of the Lord to him saying Goodness and Mercy had followed him all his dayes And indeed the loving kindness and care of God was singular to us in that place which I cannot but mention to his praise We came Strangers thither and being in our Inn we found it very uncomfortable yet were fearful to impose our selves on any private House But necessity inforcing we did enquire for a Chamber but could not procure one the Small Pox being very hot in most Families and those that had them not daily expecting them and so could not spare Rooms as else they might But the Lord who saw our affliction inclined the heart of a very good Woman a Ministers Widdow one Mrs. Bartlet to come and invite us to a Lodging in her House which we readily and thankfully accepted off where we were so accommodated as we could not have been any where else in the Town especially in regard of the assistance I had from four young Women who lived under the same roof and so were ready night and day to help 〈◊〉 I having no Servant nor Friend near me we being so unsetled I kept none but had alwayes tended him my self to that time And the Ministers and Christians of that place were very compassionate towards us visiting and Praying with and for us often And Dr. Lose visited him twice a day for twelve or fourteen Weeks except when he was called out of Town refusing any Fees tendered to him The Gentry in and about the Town and others sending to us what-ever they imagined might be pleasing to him furnishing him with all delicates that might be grateful to one so weak So that he wanted neither Food nor Physick having not only for necessity but for delight and he did much delight himself in the consideration of the Lord's kindness to him in the love he received and would often say I was a Stranger and Mercy took me in in Prison and it came to me sick and weak and it visited me There was also ten young Women besides the four in the House that took their turns to watch with him constantly for twelve weeks space I never wanted one to help me And the Lord was pleased to shew his power so in strengthening me that I was every night all these Weeks in the depth of Winter one that helped to turn him never lying out of the Bed one night from him but every time he called or wanted any thing was waking to assist her in the Chamber though as some of them have said they did tell that we did turn him more than 40 times a Night he seldom sleeping at all in the Night in all those Weeks Though his tender Affections were such as to have had me sometimes lain in another Room yet mine were such to him that I could not bear it the thoughts of it being worse to me than the trouble or disturbance he accounted I had
morning then making their resolves and piously fore-casting the Work of the day following and by an impartial survey and examination in the evening of their Compliance or Non-compliance with their foregoing Prescriptions unto themselves whether they obtained their designs and ends and how they acquitted themselves in the day foregoing His delight in Self-examination Thus by pointing at the two extreams in each day he happily secured the middle He tacitely convinced them by his own example and great growth in Piety hereby and expresly by many other eminent instances how advantagious a course he had recommended to them To this end he much applauded those two no less excellent than common Books the Practice of Piety and Scudders daily Walk By this course he had taught himself and others as by constant though small gains to arrive to great acquests in Christianity by constant and short accounts the more accurately to know the state of their Souls and the more easily to discern their Progress or Declinings so as the more to rejoyce in and promote the one and the sooner to put limits to and redress the other Also he much inculcated on each Christian that important duty of fore-appointing and fixing his ends not onely in the general but as much as might be particularly and explicitely before each action of the day but especially each solemn Action revolving and conceiving such a Thought and Resolve as this in his Mind His frequent and generous Designs This or this will I do for GOD c. By which heedful course he assured the Observer that he would hallow all his Actions and reap this treble advantage to say no more both of espousing the Divine Direction and Blessing and of obtaining a surer Testimony of his sincerity and also a stronger motive to Diligence and an awful circumspectness in the right discharge of what he undertook In complyance with this his excellent Exhortation unto others he knew not a day wherein he arose without some Heavenly design of promoting GOD's Glory and the good of Souls accounting it a shame that the Covetous should arise with such anxious projects of compassing his desired Wealth the Ambitious his aiery Honours and Grandeur the Voluptuous his vain Pleasures and that the Religious who have so glorious a Prize and Trophies before their eyes should be Men of no Projects or Designs If of any it may be affirmed of him that according to his frequent and vehement Exhortation thereunto he made Religion his business Which worthy advice in the same words he did so often inculcate that a Gentleman meeting a plain honest Countrey Man and discoursing of Mr. Allein cavil'd at this passage which he had often heard from him as appearing unto him absur'd and unintelligible not knowing how any thing as he said could be called a Man's business unless that which is secular so foolishly ignorant of the just Interest and Power of Religion is an unhallowed heart and so apt to quarrel with that wholesome advice and loth to be in earnest in any thing unless in the pursuit of Vanity or Vice His Delight in Meditation Neither did onely the frequent and faithful performance of the two great difficulties of Christianity viz. Reproof and Self-Examination consisting of so many complicated Self-denyals proclaim and improve his great Piety but also his so great acquaintance with the delightsome Work of Heavenly Meditation A Specimen of his profitable managery of this Work and his great Heights herein he often gave in some of his most excellent devotional and contemplative Discourses both dropt from his Mouth and committed to Writing And as was his delight so were his Converses with those Authors who did encrease his contemplative Pleasure but particularly he delighted in Mr. Baxters Platform of Meditation on the Heavenly Felicity in the close of his Saints Everlasting Rest great part whereof he so digested as often to cite it with great pleasure prefacing his Citations with these words Most divinely saith that Man of GOD Holy Mr. Baxter c. And indeed had not his zeal for GOD's Glory and the Salvation of Souls engaged him so much to an Active Life he could have even lived and dyed wholly in Divine Contemplation and Adoration so much did he delight to shrink within himself and to abandon the view of the desperate Adventures and Antick Motions of a mad World that so being shut to these he might onely open his Soul to GOD and Glory displaying it to the glorious Beams of the Sun of Righteousness Therefore did he often delight in his devotions to converse with the Fowls of the Air and the Beasts of the Field since these were more innocent and less degenerate than Man With Streams and Plants did he delight to walk and all these did utter to his attentive Ear the Praise and Knowledge of his Creator and in his unsetled sojournings from place to place he did often to use his Words look back with sweetness and great content on the places of his former pleasant retirements setting as it were a Mark upon those which had marvellously pleased him in his Solitudes by administring to his contemplative delight His delight in Praising c. In the Close His great perfection in holiness was manifest in that he loved so much and lived a life of Praise and Thanksgiving Being arrived to some perfection he desired and designed to antedate the Work and Songs of Spirits made perfect Thus David much proclaimed his perfection in Piety by his so great heights in this Heavenly Employment And its Evident that Saints most devoted to this Heavenly repast are most perfect because the more Men adore and praise the less they want for sad and constant Complaints and pensive Thoughts are the Attendants of great wants and the less men want the more is their perfection His Exhortations to Christians did frequently design to raise them to that sublime life of Praise and Thanksgiving Often hath he reproved Christians charging them with the greatest folly and ingratitude in so much neglecting this so pleasing and profitable duty and in interessing it so little in their Religious Exercises He much condemned them for that too general practice in thrusting so enlarging a part of their Devotions into so narrow a Room as only the close of their Prayers Especially did he excite Christians to this Duty on the Lord's Day as the most proper Work for so Divine a Festival Shaming them with the excellent Example of the Primitive Christians who welcomed in the Sun that brought so glorious a Day as the Christian Sabbath with their Heavenly Hymnes to their Creator and Redeemer And reproving them for so little considering and observing the proper end of its Institution But as he respects his own practice a great yea and sometimes the greatest part of his Prayer was Thanks-giving and indeed he was never so much in his Element either in Prayer or in Preaching as when he was extolling and adoring the Love of Christ and
their Corn and Wine and Oyl in their sat Livings and their large Tables and their great resort is we have more of the Light of Gods Countenance more grace more comfort who would change with them surely if Paul were to chuse a Place he would not look so much what 't was a year but would wish us to take that where we might be most likely to save our own and others Souls Thirdly That the best and the surest way to have any outward Mercy is to be content to want it When mens desires are over-eager after the World they much have thus much a Year and a House well Furnished and Wife and Children thus and thus Qualified or else they will not be content God doth usually if not constantly break their wills by denying them as one would cross a froward Child of his stubborn humour Or else puts a sting into them that a man had been as good he had been without them as a man would give a thing to a froppish Child but it may be with a knock on his Fingers and a frown to boot The best way to get Riches is out of doubt to set them lowest in ones desires Solomon found it so Alas he did not ask Riches but Wisdom and Ability to discharge his great Trust but God was so pleased with his Prayer that he threw in them into the Bargain If we seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness in the first place and leave other things to him God will not stand with us for these outwards though we never ask them we shall have them as over measure God will throw them in as the Vantage And to this suits the Experience of our dear Honorathius And indeed saith he speaking of God Honorathius finds that his onely hiding place and refuge and a place of Succour from the Storms that fall upon him and hath had such Helps at dead lift there that he is engaged for ever to trust there For when he hath been lowest and in the greatest straights he hath gone and made his moan Heaven-ward with free submission to the rightful disposer of all things and he hath been so liberally supplied as makes him very confident the best way to obtain any Mercy or supply is to be content to be without it And he is perswaded nothing sets Gods Mercies farther off than want of free submission to want them Certainly God will never be behind hand with us Let our care be to Build his House and let him alone to build ours Fourthly That none ever was or ever shall be a loser by Jesus Christ. Many have lost much for him but never did never shall any lose by him Take this for a certainty whatsoever probabilities of outward Comforts we leave whatsoever outward advantages we balk that we may glorifie him in our Services and enjoy him in his Ordinances more than otherwhere we could we shall receive an hundred fold in this Life 'T is a sad thing to see how little Christ is trusted or believed in the World Men will trust him no farther than they can see him and will leave no work for Faith Alas hath he not a thousand ways both outward and inward to make up a little outward disadvantage to us What doth our Faith serve for Have any ventured themselves upon him in his way but he made good every word of the Promise to them let us therefore exercise our Faith and stay our selves upon the Promise and see if ever we are ashamed of our hope Fifthly That what is wanting in the means God will make up in the blessing This 〈◊〉 take for a certain truth while a man commits himself and his affairs to God and is in a way that God put him into Now if a man have but a little Income if he have a great Blessing that 's enough to make it up Alas we must not account Mercies by the Bulk What if another have a Pound to my Ounce if mine be Gold for his Silver I will never change with him As 't is not Bread that keeps men alive but the Word of Blessing that proceedeth out of his Mouth of God so 't is not the largeness of the Means but the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich Oh! if men did but believe this they would not grasp so much of the World as they do Well let others take their course and we will take ours to wait upon God by Faith and Prayer and rest in his Promise and I am confident that is the way to be provided for Let others toyl to enlarge their Income but alas they will find they go not the right way to work we will bless God to enlarge our blessing and I doubt not but we shall prove the Gainers Sixthly That every Condition hath its Snares Crosses and troubles and therefore we may not expect to be without them where ever we be onely that condition is most eligible that hath fewest and least I cannot Object any thing against the Proposal of Taunton but the meaness of the Maintenance but if our Income be but short we can I hope be content to live answerably we must fare the meaner that will be all the inconvenience that Animal know and truly I hope we are not of the nature of that Animal that hath his Heart in his Belly I know how Daniel thrived by his Water and Pulse and think a mean Diet is as wholsome to the body yea and sarless hurtful than a full and liberal is and perswade my self it would be no such hard matter for us conrentedly to deny our Flesh in this respect But let us consider how little and utterly inconsiderable this Inconvenience is in comparison of those we must reckon upon meeting with if God cast us into another place and whether this be not a great deal less than the trouble we shall have for want of comfortable and Christian Society for want of the frequent and quickening means we shall here have in wrangling and contending with the Covetous or else losing our dues in the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and malicious Reports that are we see raised upon the best by the wicked in most places in their contentions about their right to the Sacraments in our Intanglement in the cares and troubles of this life c. all which we should be here exempted from Upon these and the like cousiderations I find my heart very much inclined to accept of their offer at Taunton I beseech thee to weigh and throughly consider the matter and tell me impartially thy thoughts and which way thy Spirit inclines for I have always resolved the place I settled in should be thy choice and to thy content The least intimation of thy will to the contrary shall overballance all my thoughts of settling there for I should account it the greatest unhappiness if I should thus settle and thou shouldst afterwards be discontented at the straightness of our condition But I need not have Wrote this hadst not
thou fully signified thy mind already to me I had never gone so far as I have Well the Lord whose we are and whom we serve do with us as it shall seem good unto him We are always as mindful as is possible of thee here both together and apart Captain Luke desired me to intreat thee to meet him one two Hours in a Day for the 〈◊〉 of Mercies upon the twenty third Day of every Month. Send word to me of their Resolution at Taunton in two Letters least possibly one should miscarry though never a one did yet I dare not think of settling under sixty Pound at Taunton and surely it cannot be less I have Written as well as I could on a suddeu my Mind to thee I have been so large in delivering my Judgement that I must thrust up my Affections into a Corner Well though they have but a corner in my Letter I am sure they have room enough in my heart But I must conclude The Lord keep thee my Dear and cherish thee for ever in his Bosom Farewell mine own Soul I am as ever Thine own Heart JOSEPH ALLEINE Oxon May 27. 〈◊〉 LETTER II. Prepare for Suffering To my dearly beloved the Flock of Christ in Taunton Grace and Peace Most dear Christians MY 〈◊〉 straights of time will now force me to bind my long loves in a few short lines yet I could not tell how to leave you unsaluted nor chuse but write to you in a few words that you should not be dismayed neither at our present sufferings or at the evil tidings that by this time I doubt not are come unto you Now Brethren is the time when the Lord is like to put you upon the trial now is the hour of temptation come Oh! be faithful to Christ to the death and he shall give you a Crown of life Faithful is he that hath called you and he will not suffer you upon his faithfulness to be tempted above what you are able Give up your selves and your All to the Lord with resolution to follow him fully and two things be sure of and lay up as sure grounds of everlasting consolation 1. If you seek by prayer and study to know the mind of God and do resolve to follow it in uprightness you shall not fail either of direction or pardon Either God will shew you what his pleasure is or will certainly forgive you if you miss your way Brethren fix upon your Souls the deep and lively affecting apprehensions of the most gracious loving merciful sweet 〈◊〉 tender nature of your Heavenly Father which is so great that you may be sure he will with all readiness and love accept of his poor Children when they endeavour to approve themselves in sincerity to him and would fain know his mind and do it if they could but clearly see it though they should unwillingly mistake 2. That as sure as God is faithful if he do see that such or such a temptation with the forethought of which you may be apt to disquiet your selves lest you should fall away when thus or thus tried will be too hard for your Graces he will never suffer it to come upon you Let not my dear Brethren let not the present tribulations or those impending move you This is the way of the Kingdom persecution is one of your 〈◊〉 self-denial and taking 〈◊〉 the Cross is your ABC of Religion you have learnt nothing that have not begun at Christs-Cross Brethren the Cross of Christ is your Crown the reproach of Christ is your riches the shame of Christ is your glory the damage attending strict and holy diligence your greatest advantage sensible you should be of what is coming but not discouraged humbled but not dismayed having your hearts broken and yet your spirits unbroken humble your selves mightily under the mighty 〈◊〉 of God but fear not the face of man may you even be 〈◊〉 in humility but high in courage little in your own apprehensions of your selves but great in holy fortitude 〈◊〉 and holy magnanimity lying in the dust before your God yet triumphing in faith and hope and boldness and confidence over all the power of the enemies Approve your selver 〈◊〉 good Souldiers of Jesus Christ with No Armour but that of righteousness No Weapons but strong crying and tears looking for no Victory but that of Faith nor hope to overcome but by patience now for the faith and patience of the Saints now for the harness of your suffering Graces O gird up the loyns of your mind and be sober and hope to the end Fight not but the good fight of Faith here you must contend and that earnestly Strive not but against sin and here you may resist even unto blood now see that you chuse life and embrace affliction rather than sin Strive together mightily and frequently by prayer I know you do but I would you should abound more and more Share my loves among you and continue your earnest prayers for me and be you assured that I am and shall be through Grace a willing thankful Servant of your Souls concernments From the common Gaole May 28. 1663. Joseph Aleine LETTER III. Warning to Professors To my most dearly beloved my Christian Friends in Taunton Salvation Most loving 〈◊〉 I Shall nover forget your old kindnesses and the entire affections that you have shed upon me not by drops but by floods would I never so fain forget them yet I could not they are so continually renowned for there is never a day but I hear of them may more than hear of them I feel and taste them The God that hath promised to them that give to a Prophet though but a cup of cold Water shall receive a Prophets reward he will recompence your labour of love your servent prayers and constant cryes your care for my wellfare your bountiful supplies who have given me not a cup of cold water but the Wine of your loves with the sense and tidings whereof I am coutinually refreshed I must I do and will bless the Lord as long as I live that he hath-cast my lot in so fair a place to dwell in your communion and especially to go in and out before you and to be the Messenger of the Lord of Host to you to proclaim his Law and to Preach his Excellencies to be his Spokesman to you and to wooe for him and to espouse you to one Husband and to present you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ. Lord how unworthy am I everlastingly unworthy of this glorious Dignity which I do verily believe the most brightest Angels in Heaven would be glad of if the Lord saw it fit to imploy them in this work Well I do not I cannot repent notwithstanding all the difficulties and inconveniences that do attend his despised Servants and hated ways and that are like to attend them for we have but sipped yet of the Cup but I have set my hand to his plow my Ministry I took up with
passeth all Understanding keep your Hearts and minds I am Yours to serve you and for you with all readiness of mind JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juelchester July 28th 1665. LETTER XXI What do you more than others To the most Dearly Beloved the Servants in Taunton Grace and Peace Most loving and entirely Beloved YOu are a great Joy to me I know not what thanks to render to the Lord for you when I hear of your Constancy and Pidelity and Zeal in adhering to him and his Ways even in such a time as this you are highly favoured Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that he hath regarded the low Estates of his Servants That he should ever Indulge you as he hath and Hover over you even as the Eagle stirreth up her Nest and fluttereth over her Young spreadeth abroad her Wings taketh them beareth them on her Wings for so hath the Lord your God dealt with You He hath kept you as the Apple of his Eye and since the Streams of Cherith were dried up yet to this day he hath not suffered the handful of Meal to wast nor the Oyl in the Cruse to fail but though you have no certainty to trust to hath continually provided for you to the full How should I love and bless the Lord for this his great Grace towards you while I live Now I beseech you my Brethren that you consider the Kindness of the Lord for the Lord your God is he that careth for you and that you love the Lord your God and fear him for ever for he is your Life and the Length of your Daies And as Job had a holy fear of his Children least they should have offended So my most dearly Beloved I am jealous of you with a Godly jealousie lest any of you should receive this Grace of God in vain I must not cease to put you in mind that God doth look for no small matters from You. Remember my most endeared Charge that the Lord doth look for singular things from you that there be not a barren Tree nor a Dwarf Christian among you where the Lord doth strow much he looks to gather much and where he soweth much he expects to reap accordingly Whose account my Beloved is like to be so great as yours O look about you and think of the Master coming to Reckon with you for his Talents when he will expect no small increase Beloved what can you do How much are you grown What spoil have you made upon your Corruptions What progress in Grace Suppose Christ should put that awakening Question to you What do you more than others Beloved God doth expect more of his People than of any others in the World besides And well he may For First He hath bestowed more on them than on others Now where much is given much shall be required Can you think of that without trembling He hath bestowed on them singular Love more than on others You only have I known of all the Families on Earth He hath a distinguishing Love and Favour for his People and he looks that his Love should be a constraining Argument to Obedience Again he hath laid out a singular care on his People more than on others He cares for no man for nothing in all the World in comparison of them He reproveth Kings for their sakes He will give Nations and Kingdomes for their Ransome So precious are they in his sight and so dearly Beloved that he will give men for them and People for their Life He withdraweth not his Eyes from the Righteous he will not indure them out of his sight The Eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous and first the Eye of his more accurate Observation God can wink at others as it were and overlook what they do with little notice but he hath a most curious eye upon his People he marketh their steps and booketh their words he weigheth their Actions and pondereth all their goings And should not they walk more cautiously and charily than any alive that are under so exact and curious an Eye Secondly the Eye of special Care and Protection Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him I will guide thee with mine Eye And should not they be infinitely tender and careful how to please the Lord who have his singular Care laid out on them In short God hath bestowed on them singular Priviledges more than others These are a peculiar Treasure to him above all People a Kingdome of Priests an Holy Nation a singular separated People they dwell alone they are diverse from all People When the whole World lies in wickedness these are Called and Chosen and Faithful Washed and justified and Sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The rest are the Refuse These the Jewels These are taken and they are left Shall not Gods Priests be Cloathed with Righteousness and shall not Princes Live above the rate of Peasants Secondly He hath intrusted them with more than others Not onely with the Talents of his Grace for the increase whereof they must give a strict account but also with the Jewel of his Glory How tenderly should they walk that are entrusted with such a Jewel Remember your Makers Glory is bound up in your fruitful walking Thirdly He hath qualified them more than others He hath put into them a Principle of Life having quickned them together with Christ. He hath set up a Light in their Minds when others lie in Darkness He hath given them other Aids than others have even his Spirit to help their Infirmities when others lie like Vessels that are Windbound and cannot stir Fourthly He hath provided for them other manner of things than for others These are the little Flock to whom it is his good pleasure to give the Kingdom great are the preparations for them The Father hath prepared the Kingdome for them from the Foundations of the World The Son is gone to Heaven on purpose to prepare a place for them The Spirit is preparing them and making them meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And should these be like other People Brethren beloved God and Men do expect you should do more than others see that that you be indeed singular For 1. If you do no more for God than others he will do more against you then others You onely have I known therefore will I punish you The barren Tree in the Vineyard must down whereas had he been in the Common he might have stood much longer God looked for Grapes from his Vineyard on which he had bestowed such Care and Cost more than ordinary but when they bring forth wild Grapes he will lay them waste in a worse manner than the Forrest When Christ came to the Figg-tree seeking Fruit and met with none he Curst it from the Root whereas had it been a Thorn or Bramble it might have stood as before 2. If you do no
concernments Will you not spin a fair thread of it if while you are pursuing after earthly things you lose your soul in the 〈◊〉 While I live I shall pray and care for you Farewel in the Lord. I am Your truly loving and careful Uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVI Godly Counsels Dear Cousin THE welcom tidings of your safe arrival at Barbadoes is come to my ears as also the news of your escape from a perillous sickness for which I bless the Lord and desire to be thankful with you for I am not without a care for your well-being but do look upon my self as really concerned in you I have considered that God hath bereft you of a careful Father and that your Mother takes but little care for you so that you have none nearer than my self to watch for your soul and to charge and admonish you in the Lord and to take care of you But yet Dear Cousin be not discouraged by these things but look to Heaven flie unto Jesus put away every known sin set upon the conscientious performance of every known duty make Christ your choice embrace him upon his own terms deliver up your self body and soul to him see that you have no reserves nor limitations in your choice of him give him your very heart cast away your worldly hopes and expectations make Religion your very business O Cousin these things do and you shall be sure of a Friend in Heaven to take the care of you and if I may be any comfort to you you shall not fail while I live to have one friend on earth to take care for you You are gone far from me even to the uttermost parts of the earth but I have sent these Letters to call even thither after you yea not onely to call but to cry in your ears O what is like to become of your soul Where is that immortal soul of yours like to be lodged for ever amongst Devils or amongst Angels upon a bed of Flames or in the joys of Paradise Dear Cousin go aside by your self in secret retire from the noise of the world and say to your self Oh my soul whether art thou going do not I know in my very heart that I must be converted or condemned that I must be sanctified or can never be saved Oh my soul what seekest thou what designs do I drive at what is my chief care which way do I bend my course Is it for this world or for the world to come Do I first seek the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof Do I think Heaven will drop into my mouth that glory and immortality will be gotten with a wet finger with cold prayers and heartless wishes while the world carries the main of my heart Do I think to be crowned and yet never fight to get the race and never run to enter at the strait gate and never strive to overcome Principalities and Powers and never wrestle No no say within your self Oh my soul either lay by the hopes of Heaven for ever or else rouse up thy self put forth thy strength in seeking after God and glory either lay by thy worldly hopes or thy hopes of immortality away with thy sins or thou must let Christ go for ever think not to have Chrst and the world too to serve God and Mammon it cannot be If thou follow the world as thy chief desire and delight if thou live after the flesh thou must die count upon it the Lord hath spoken it and all the world can never reverse it Thus reason the case with your own soul and give not rest to your self night nor day till you are gotten off from the world broken off from the wilful practice of every known sin and gotten safe into Christ. Dear Cousin I charge you by the Lord to observe these things pray over them weep over them read them again and again do not pass them over as slight and ordinary things your soul is at stake it is your salvation is concerned in them think not I am in jest with you Ah Cousin I travel in birth with you till Christ be formed in you Why should you die Oh repent and live lay hold on eternel life win Christ and you win all O be thankful to the Lord that now you are fatherless and friendless yet you have one Remembrancer to warn you to flie from the wrath to come God forbid that I should find you at last in the place of Torments for your not embracing the godly Counsels To conclude in short I charge you as a Minister as a Friend as a Father to you Take heed of these three things 1. Left the gain of the world prove the loss of your soul 2. Left the snare of evil company withdraw you from God and so prove your final ruine 3. Left a lofty and a worldly heart should thrust you out of the Kingdom of Heaven God abhors that the proud should come near him Oh labour whatever you do for an humble heart be little be vile in your own eyes seek not after great things be poor in spirit without this Heaven will be no place for you God will be no friend to you Dear Cousin your lot is fallen as I fear in a place of great wickedness where your soul is in much danger where your temptations are many and your helps for Heaven but few where godly examples are rare and many will entice you to sin and vanity O! if you love me or love your soul look about you consider your danger fear lest you should miscarry for ever by worldly loss and vain company which proves to so many the fearful cause of their eternal perdition I can but warn you and pray for you but though you have none to oversee you remember the strict and severe eye of God is upon you to observe all your actions and that he will surely bring all your practices into his Judgment Your Aunt with my self commend our dear love to you and I commend you to the Lord and remain Your loving and careful uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE August 19. 1668. LETTER XXXVII Dear Cousins THough you are removed far from me out of my sight and the Seas as a great gulf are fixed betwixt you and me yet my prayers follow you and my good wishes for your present and everlasting welfare like the wings of a Dove take speedy flight I look upon my self now God hath removed my Brother to be as in the room of a Father to you yea and of a Mother too for I know you have but little help from her My dear Neeces my heart is careful for you and therefore I cannot cease while I am in being in this world to warn and admonish you as my children and to call upon you in the name of the Eternal God to awaken your selves with all godly fear and holy diligence lest by any means you should come short of the glory of God Let me mind you dear Cousins of
〈◊〉 of teeth They that do nothing else but laugh in this world shall do nothing else but weep in that to come And all their carnal joy will prove crackling of thorns under a pot soon in and soon out and flashes of Lightning before Eternal fire Use 3. And therefore in the third place since there are times to grieve and to express our grief in tears let this be a Caveat to us not to look for too much joy in this world Let us not cast too much upon it lest we be disappointed and deceived It 's that we are very apt to cozen and delude our selves about when we are on a merry pin and flourish in a prosperous estate it is our manner to conclude that we shall never have a storm again and that this happy time will never end And so we run upon a double inconvenience we grow remiss in making preparations for a time of sorrow and when it comes upon us unexpected it cuts the deeper and disquiets us the more How often shall you hear it from the mouths of some when any heavy Cross befals them alas they never dream'd of this they never look'd to see this doleful day The weaker and unwiser they Did they not know what they are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward so that they have a natural tendency to it That they are wandring in a vale of tears in which they must look out for many storms It was a pretty Speech of Seneca Dolor voluptas inhicem cedunt brevior voluptas Joy and sorrow have still their turns and entercourses here but Joy most commonly hath the speediest dispatch And therefore in the midst of Joy let us be wisely casting upon times of sorrow and making preparation and provision for them And that you may not saint either in the sence and feeling or in the apprehension and expectation of them I shall drop down a few Cordials 1. The times of tears and sorrow are better for us then the times of mirth and laughter And hence saith Solomon in the fore-alledged Scriptures Eceles 7. 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting Is it not a more pleasing good but is it a more profitable good though it be not more delightful yet it is more beneficial to be where there are tears and lamentations then to be where there is nothing else but laughter And that upon these two Accounts 1. Times of grief and tears prepare for grace They fit us for the work of holiness upon our souls They settle us and fix us and make us capable of good impressions When there is nothing else but mirth we have light and 〈◊〉 spirits our fancies rove our thoughts and our imaginations wander But when the Lord presenteth nothing else before our eyes but tears and lamentations this calleth home our thoughts It renders us unto our selves and makes us fit for holy motions We see it by experience that the very men who when they are upon a merry pin are sensless and incapable of any good they have such vain and foolish hearts when they are brought into a melting frame then they are mild and time as Lambs then they are pliable and flexible and tractable so that a little child may lead them If you visit them if you counsel and advise them for their good then you shall have their ears and hearts too 2. And as the times of grief and tears prepare for grace so they increase and further grace Grace will spring and grow the more for such showers as these are It prospers better in a 〈◊〉 and watred then in a dry and barren soyl And if you search the sacred Story you will find the greatest weepers to have been the greatest Saints As David Peter yea our Saviour Christ himself Indeed this precious Seed delights to have such dews as these the Seed of Prayer of Repentance yea that Immortal Seed the Word of God doth best when it is sown in tears When we repent in tears our hearts relent and melt most When we preach and pray in tears we move our selves and others most Si vts me flere dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi This Seed when it is watred thus springs up the faster and bringeth forth the more plentiful increase 2. These times of grief and tears will end at last and end in joy You shall weep saith Christ to his Apostles but your sorrow shall be turned into joy They that sow in tears shall reap in joy and he that goes forth weeping bearing precious Seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him There is no doubt no question to be made of that and therefore it is bound with an Asseveration which takes away all scruple from it he shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him It is the custome every where to have good chear and to be merry when they reap So it was among the Jews as you may see Deut. 16. 13 14. And therefore this is used in Scripture to express the greatest joy Isa. 9. 3. They shall rejoyce before thee according to the joy of harvest So though the Christian sows in rainy weather in a weeping time all shall be sweet and calm and fair when the reaping time comes He shall fit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven feeding on the hidden Manna and drinking of the pure and Crystal River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb and there they shall be merry all together When once he comes to God's immediate presence he shall have joy full joy yea the fulness of joy Psal. 16. last In his presence is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore 3. The joy that is to come will pay for all It will be such so plentiful and overflowing that it will make a full amends for all your present tears and sorrow It will quite overcome the sense and the remembrance of them Alas our trouble here is nothing in comparison it is a light and easie Burthen Our affliction is but short it continues but a moment but the time is drawing nigh when this little light sorrow shall be wholly swallowed up in endless and unutterable joy This short affliction which lasteth but a moment shall end in everlasting and unmixed pleasures 2 Cor. 4. 17. It worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Oh what transporting comfort is there many times in reaping the first fruits of the Spirit that we are ready to cry out if the first fruits be so sweet what will the Harvest be If the earnest be so great what will the Possession be When we shall be filled and satisfied with the delights that heaven yields to all eternity I could say as Peter once It is good to be here let us build Tabernacles here But I must hasten to another Observation Doct. 2. That we are