took up a 〈◊〉 resolution to go on with his Work in private both of 〈◊〉 and Visiting from House to House till he should be 〈◊〉 to Prison or Banishment which he counted upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assisting him And this Resolution without delay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Thursday after he appointed a Solemn Day of Humiliation when he preached to as many as would adventure themselves with him at our own House But it being then a strange thing to the most Professors to suffer they seemed much afrighted at the threatnings of Adversaries so that there was not such an appearance at such opportunities as my Husband expected whereupon he made it his Work to converse much with those he perceived to be most timerous and to satisfie the Scruples that were on many amongst us so that the Lord was pleased in a short time to give him such success that his own People waxed bold for the Lord and his Gospel and multitudes flocked into the Meetings at whatsoever season they were either by day or night which was a great encouragement to my Husband that he went on with much vigour and affection in his Work both of Preaching and Visiting and Catechizing from House to House He went also frequently into the Villages and Places about the Towns where their Ministers were gone as most of them did flie or at the least desist for a considerable time after Bartholomew day Where-ever he went the Lord was pleased to give him great success many converted and the generality of those animated to cleave to the Lord and his wayes But by this the Justices rage was much heightned against him and he was often threatned and sought for but by the Power of God whose Work he was delighted in was preserved much longer out of their hands than he expected For he would often say If it pleased the Lord to grant him three months liberty before he went to Prison he should account himself favoured by him and should with more chearfulness go when he had done some Work At which time we sold off all our goods preparing for a Goal or Banishment where he was desirous I should attend him as I was willing to do it alwayes having been more grievous to me to think of being absent from him than to suffer with him He also resolved when they would suffer him no longer to stay in England he would go to China or some remote Part of the World and publish the Gospel there It pleased the 〈◊〉 to indulge him that he went on in his Work from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 26th after Though often 〈◊〉 yet he was never 〈◊〉 though the People both of the Town and Countrey were grown so resolute that they came in great multitudes at whatever season the Meeting was appointed very seldom missing twice a Sabbath and often in the week I know that he hath Preached fourteen times in eight dayes and ten often and six or seven ordinarily in these Months at home and abroad besides his frequent converse with Souls He then laying aside all other Studies which he formerly so much delighted in because he accounted his time would be but short And the Lord as he often told me made his Work in his Ministry far more easie to him by the supplies of his Spirit both in Gifts and Grace as did evidently appear both in his Doctrine and Life he appearing to be more Spiritual and Heavenly and affectionate then before to all that heard him or conversed with him He was upon a Saturday in the evening about six a clock seized on by an Officer of our Town who had rather have been otherwise imployed as he hath often said but that he was forced to a speedy execution of the Warrant by a Justice's Clerk who was sent on purpose with it to see it Executed because he feared that none of the Town would have done it The Warrant was in the Name of three Justices to summon him to appear forthwith at one of their Houses which was about two miles from the Town but he desired liberty to stay and Sup with his Family first supposing his Entertainment there would be such as would require some refreshment This would not be granted till one of the chief of the Town was bound for his speedy appearance His Supper being prepared he sat down eating very heartily and was very chearful but full of Holy and gracious Expressions sutable to his and our prosent state After Supper having prayed with us he with the Officer and two or three Friends accompanying him repaired to the Justices House where they lay to his charge that he had broken the Act of Uniformity by his Preaching which he denyed saying That he had Preached neither in any Church nor Chappel nor place of publick Worship since the 24th of August and what he did was in his own Family with those others that came there to hear him Here behold hom many Ministers have these eight or nine years been silenced in England Scotland and Ireland whose Holy Skill and Conscience Fidelity and Zeal is sucht as would have justly advanced most of the Antient Fathers 〈◊〉 the Church to far greater renown had they been but possessed with the like Of whom indeed the World is not worthy O! how many of them am I constrained to remember with joy for their great Worth and sorrow for their Silence But though Learning Holiness wonderful Ministerial Skill and Industry Moderation Peaceableness true Catholecism absolute Dedication unto Christ Zeal Patience and Perseverance did not all seem sufficient to procure his Ministerial or Corporal Liberty in his latter years yet they did much more for him than that in qualifying him for the Crown which he now enjoyeth and to hear Well done good and faithful Servant enter into thy Masters Joy But alas Lord What is the terrible future evil from which thou takest such men away And why is this World so much forsaken As if it were not a Prayer of Hope which thou hast taught us Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven He hath Printed a small Book called A Call to Archippus to perswade the silent Non-conformists to pity Souls and to be faithful in the Work to which they are Devoted and Consecrated how dear soever it may cost them He held that Separation in a Church was necessary many times from the known corruptions of it But allowed not Separation from a Church where Active Complyance with some sinful Evil was not made the Condition of Communion And in this way he frequently declared himself in Health and Sickness and most expresly in my hearing on his Bed of Languishing when he was drawing near his Long-Home And that the People were not disobliged from attending upon their Ministry who were ejected out of their Places as his Book entituled A Call to Archippus sheweth after that Black and Mournful Sabbath in which he took his farewel with much affection of his Beloved People When he was taken up for Prison
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
Family that respect and obedience to his Commands which their Rule required reproving them that were careless and negligent in observing them He was frequent in keeping solemn dayes of Humiliation especially against a Sacrament He was a very strict observer of the Sabbath the Duties of which he did perform with such joy and alacrity of Spirit as was most pleasant to joyn with him both in Publick and in the Family when we could enjoy him And this he did much press upon Christians to spend their Sabbaths more in 〈◊〉 and Thanksgivings as dayes of holy rejoycing in our 〈◊〉 All the time of his Health he did rise constantly at or before four of the Clock and on the Sabbaths sooner if he did wake he would be much troubled if he heard any Smiths or Shoomakers or such Tradesmen at work at their Trades before he was in his Duties with God Saying to me often O how this Noise shames me Doth not my Master deserve more than theirs From four till eight he spent in Prayer Holy Contemplation and singing of Psalms which he much delighted in and did daily practise alone as well as in his Family Having refreshed himself about half an hour he would call to Family-Duties and after that to his Studies till eleven or twelve a Clock cutting out his Work for every hour in the day Having refreshed himself a while after Dinner he used to retire to his Study to Prayer and so Abroad among the Families he was to visit to whom he alwayes sent the day before going out about two a Clock and seldom returning till seven in the Evening sometimes later He would often say Give me a Christian that counts his time more precious than Gold His Work in his publick Ministry in Taunton being to Preach but once a Sabbath and Catechise he devoted himself much to private Work and also Catechised once a Week in Publick besides and repeated the Sermon he Preached on the Sabbath-Day on Tuesday in the Evening He found much difficulty in going from House to House because it had not been practised a long time by any Minister in Taunton not by any others of his Brethren and he being but a Young Man to be looked upon as singular was that which called for much Self-denyal which the Lord inabled him to Exercise For after he had Preached up in Publick the Ministers Duty to their People and theirs to receive them when they came to them for their Spiritual Advantage he set speedily upon the Work In this Work his course was to draw a Catalogue of the Names of the Families in each Street and so to send a day or two before he intended to visit them that they might not be absent and that he might understand who was willing to receive him Those that sent slight Excuses or did obstinately refuse his Message he would notwithstanding go to them and if as some would they did shut their Doors against him he would speak some few affectionate words to them or if he saw cause denounce the Threatnings of God against them that despise his Ministers and so departed and after would send affectionate Letters to them so full of love and expressions of his great desires to do their Souls good as did overcome their Hearts and they did many of them afterwards readily receive him into their Houses Herein was his Compassion shewed to all Sorts both Poor and Rich not disdaining to go into such Houses amongst the Poor as were often very offensive to him to sit in he being of an exact and curious temper yet would he with joy and freedom deny himself for the good of their Souls and that he might fulfil his Ministry among those the Lord had given him the oversight of I perceiving this Work with what he did otherwise to be too hard for him fearing often he would bring himself to Distempers and Diseases as he did soon after besought him not to go so frequently His answer would be What have I strength for but to spend for God What is a Candle for but to be burnt And he would say I was like Peter still crying O spare thy self But I must not hearken to thee no more than my Master did to him Though his Labours were so abundant I never knew him for nine years together under the least Distemper one quarter of an hour He was exceeding temperate in his Dyet though he had a very sharp Appetite yet did he at every Meal deny himself being perswaded that it did much conduce to his Health His converse at his Table was very profitable and yet pleasant never rising either at home or abroad without dropping something of God according to the Rule he laid down to others He was very much in commending and admiring the Mercies of God in every Meal and was still so pleased with his provision for him that he would often say He fared deliciously every day and lived far better than the Great 〈◊〉 of the World who had their Tables far better furnished For he enjoyed God in all and saw his Love and Bounty in what he received at every Meal So that he would say O Wife I live a voluptuous life but blessed be God it is upon Spiritual Dainties such as the World know not nor taste 〈◊〉 of He was much in minding the Poor that were in want of all things often wondering that God should make such a difference between him and them both for this World and that to come and his Charity was ever beyond his Estate as my self and many other Friends did conceive but he would not be disswaded alwayes saying If he were Prodigal it was for God and not for himself nor sin There were but few if any Poor Families especially of the godly in Taunton but he knew their necessities and did by himself or Friends relieve them So that our Homes were seldom free of such as came to make complaints to him After the times grew dead for Trade many of our godly men decaying he would give much beyond his ability to recover them He would buy Pease and Flitches of Bacon and distribute twice a year in the cold and hard Seasons He kept several Children at School at his own Cost bought many Books and Catechisms and had many thousands of Prayers printed and distributed among them And after his Brethren were turned out he gave four pounds a year himself to a publick Stock for them by which he excited many others to do the same and much more which else would never have done it And on any other occasions as did frequently fall in he would give even to the offence of his Friends So that many would grudge in the Town to give him what they had agreed for because he would give so much Besides all this the necessities of his own Father and many other Relations were still calling upon him and he was open handed to them all So that it hath been sometimes even incredible to our selves to
the dangerous place you stand in and look about you with trembling Methinks I see Satan watching for your souls as the Dragon did for the seed of the Woman waiting to devour it as soon as she should be delivered Know you not that you must wrestle with Principalities and Powers Methinks I see temptations surrounding you and beleaguering you as the enemy about the walls of the treacherous party within you I mean carnal affections and corruptions complotting how to deliver up the castle Know you not that your fleshly lusts do war against your souls and that your own hearts are not true to you but deceitful above all things Lord what need have you to bestir your selves and to flie unto Jesus to distrust your selves and to trust onely in him and his righteousness Oh work out your salvation with fear and trembling Do you ever think to escape these mighty enemies to conquer the power and 〈◊〉 the plots and snares of those potent adversaries without most painful diligence O cry to heaven for help watch and pray fear left a promise being left of entring into rest either of you should come short of it My dear Neeces you have many do watch for your souls to devour them but I doubt too few except my self do watch for your souls to save them therefore I look upon my self who am now upon the matter your only Monitor to be the more concerned to awaken my self to your help and to look after you and to watch for you left by any means you should miscarry by the deceits and temprations wherewith you are encompassed I would not have you over-careful for the things of this life though I commend your laudable care and diligence that you may not be burdensom to any man but I commend to you a better and more necessary care and that is that which the Apostle speaks of the Virgins care The unmarried saith he careth for the things of the Lord. Ah let this be your care seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and then all these things shall be added you have Gods sure promise for it If the Lord give me to live and prosper you shall see and know that I am not a friend only in words to you but however that shall be see that you embrace the Counsels of God from me Oh make sure of Heaven betimes walk humbly with God beware of a proud heart and a lofty spirit abhor your selves else God will not accept you be displeased with your selves else God will not be pleased with you condemn your selves that God may acquit you The leven of pride will sowr the whole lump and mar all your Profession and Religion and render your Persons and Prayers and all an abomination to the Lord if it prevail in you Oh therefore be not high minded but fear and by prayer and watchfulness restrain and root up this wretched corruption of pride which is a sin so natural to you that you had need to use an infinite care and caution to keep it under As to my self these may acquaint you That I have been often at the very gates of death I have lost all my limbs but prayer hath redeemed me from my extremities and God hath blessed the use of the Bath to me Oh praise the Lord praise him for my sake and give glory to the God of my life Love him honour and glorifie him whose favour and friendship hath filled my soul with comfort and given a resutrection to my body I can now walk alone and feed my self but am altogether unable to write which is the reason why these come to you in another hand Dear Cousins you may think me too tedious but you must pardon me if I erre in my love and zeal for your welfare And now I shall 〈◊〉 no more but with my own and dear Wifes love to you I commend you to God and rest Your loving and careful uncle JOSEPH ALLEINE LETTER XXXVIII Do all in reference to God and his glory Dear Friend I Have received yours of the 19th of September but it came to me in the time of my sickness in which I was much a stranger to writing it continued upon me five Months and to this day so much weaknes remains in my arms that I am not able to put off or on my own clothes Your Letter was exceeding welcom to me not only as reviving the remembrance of our old friendship but also as bringing me news of some spiritual good that you received by me which is the best tidings that I can receive for what do I live for but to be useful to souls in my generation I desire to know no other business than to please and honour my God and serve my generation in that short allowance of time that I have here before I go hence and be seen no more Shall I commend to you the Lesson that I am about to learn But why should I doubt of your acceptance who have so readily embraced me in all our converses The Lesson is To be entirely devoted unto the Lord that I may be able to say after the Apostle To me to live is Christ. I would not be serving God onely for a day in the week or an hour or two in the day but every day and all the day I am ambitious to come up towards that of our Lord and Master To do always those things that please God I plainly see that self-seeking is self-undoing and that then we do promote our selves best when we please God most I find that when I have done all if God be not pleased I have done nothing and if I can but approve my self to God my work is done I reckon I do not live that time I do not live unto God I am fain to cut off so many hours from my days and so many years from my life so short as it is as I have lived unto my self I find no enemy so dangerous as self and O that others might take warning by my hurt O that I had lived wholly unto God! then had every day and every hour that I have spent been found upon my account at that great day of our appearing before God then I had been rich indeed in treasure laid up there whither I am apace removing then I had been every day and hour adding to the heap and encreasing the reward which God of his meer grace hath promised even to the meanest work that is done to him Col. 4. 24. I verily perceive I am an eternal loser by acting no more as for God for what is done to my self is lost but what is done for God is done for ever and shall receive an everlasting reward Verily if there be another world to come and an eternal state after this short life it is our onely wisdom to be removing and as it were transplanting and transporting what we can from hence into that Countrey to which we are shortly to be removed
and life He did earnestly press the said Duty on his Hearers in his Preaching directing them in the performance and not onely so but dealt with them also in private about it and got a promise from the most of them that they would every night before they did take their rest set about this Duty and spend some time in secret on purpose to call themselves to an account how they had carried it that day by proposing several Questions to their own hearts which Questions he had referred to several Heads and drawn up for them in writing And not a few of them have acknowledged that they have cause to bless GOD who stirred him up to put them upon this practice which they have found very helpful to them in their daily Christian Walk USEFUL QUESTIONS Whereby a Christian may every day examine himself PSAL. 4. 4. Commune with your Hearts upon your Beds EVery Evening before you sleep unless you find some other time in the day more for your advantage in this Work sequester your self from the World and having set your heart in the presence of the Lord charge it before God to answer to these Interrogatories For your Duties Q. 1. Did not God find me on my Bed when he looked for me on my knees Job 1. 5. Psal. 5. 3. Q. 2. Have not I prayed to no purpose or suffered wandering thoughts to eat out my duties Mat. 18. 8 9. Jer. 12. 2. Q. 3. Have not I neglected or been very overly in the reading God's Holy Word Deut. 17. 19. Josh. 1. 7 8. Q. 4. Have I digested the Sermon I heard last Have I 〈◊〉 it over and prayed it over Luk. 2. 19 51. Psal. 1. 2. 119. 5 11 97. Q. 5. Was there not more of custome and fashion in my Family Duties than of Conscience Psal. 101. 2. Jer. 30. 22. Q. 6. Wherein have I denyed my self this day for God Luk. 9. 23. Q. 7. Have I redeemed my time from too long or needless visits idle imaginations fruitless discourse unnecessary sleep more than needs of the World Ephes. 5. 16. Col. 4. 5. Q. 8. Have I done any thing more than ordinary for the Church of God in this time extraordinary 2 Cor. 11. 28. Isa 62. 6. Q. 9. Have I took care of my Company Prov. 13. 20. Psal. 119. 63. Q. 10. Have not I neglected or done something against the duties of my Relations as a Master Servant Husband Wife Parent Child c. Ephes. 5. 22. to Chap. 6. ver 9. Col. 3. 18. to chap. 4. ver 2. For your Sins Q. 1. Doth not sin sit light Psal. 38. 4. Rom. 7. 24. Q. 2. Am I a mourner for the sins of the Land Ezek. 9. 4. Jer. 9. 1 2 3. Q. 3. Do I live in nothing that I know or fear to be a sin Psal. 119. 101 104. For your Heart Q. 1. Have I been much in Holy Ejaculations Neh. 2. 4 5. Q. 2. Hath not God been out of mind Heaven out of sight Psal. 16. 8. Jer. 2. 32. Phil. 3. 23. Q. 3. Have I been often looking into mine own Heart and made conscience of vain thoughts Prov. 3. 23. Psal. 119. 113. Q. 4. Have not I given way to the workings of Pride or Passion 2 Chron. 32. 26. Jam. 4. 5 6 7. For my Tongue Q. 1. Have I bridled my Tongue and forced it in James 1. 26. 3. 2 3 4. Psal. 39. 1. Q. 2. Have I spoke evil of no Man Tit. 3. 2. Jam. 4. 11. Q. 3. Hath the Law of the Lord been in my mouth as I fat in my House went by the way was lying down and rising up Deut. 6. 6 7. Q. 4. Have I come into no company where I have not dropped something of God and left some good savour behind Col. 4. 6. Ephes. 4. 29. For your Table Q. 1. Did not I sit down with an higher end than a Beast meerly to please my Appetite Did I eat drink for the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. Q. 2. Was not mine Appetite too hard for me Jude 12. 2 Pet. 1. 6. Q. 3. Did not I arise from the 〈◊〉 without dropping any thing of God there Luk. 7. 36 c. 14. 1 c. John 6. Q. 4. Did not I mock with God when I pretended to 〈◊〉 a blessing and return thanks Acts 27. 35 39. Mat. 15. 36. Col. 3. 17 23. For your Calling Q. 1. Have I been diligent in the duties of my Calling Eccles. 9. 1 Cor. 7. 17 20 24. Q. 2. Have I desrauded no man 1 Thes. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 6. 3. Q. 3. Have I dropped never a lye in my Shop or Trade Prov. 21. 6. Ephes. 4. 25. Q. 4. Did not I rashly make nor falsly break some promise Psal. 106. 33. Jos. 9. 14 c. Psal. 15. 4. An Addition of some brief Directions for the Morning Direct 1. If through necessity or carelesness you have omitted the reading and weighing of these Questions in the evening be sure to do it now D. 2. Ask your self what sin have I committed what duty have I omitted Against which of these Rules have I offended in the day foregoing And renew your repentance and double your watch D. 3. Examine whether God were last in your thoughts when you went to sleep and first when you awake D. 4. Enquire whether your care of your heart and wayes doth increase upon your constant using of this course for Self-Examination or whether it doth abate and you grow more remiss D. 5. Impose a task of some good meditations upon your selves while you are making ready either to go over these Rules in your thoughts or the Heads of some Sermon you heard last or the Holy Meditations for this purpose in the Practice of Piety or Scuders Daily Walk D. 6. Set your ends right for all that day D. 7. Set your watch especially against those sins and temptations that you are like to be most incident to that day CHAP. VI. A full Narrative of his Life from his Silencing till his Death by his Widdow Mrs. Theodosia Allein in her own Words wherein is notably set forth with what patience he ran the Race that was set before him and fulfilled the Ministry that he had received of the Lord. BEfore the Act for Uniformity came forth my Husband was very earnest day and night with God that his Way might be made plain to him that he might not desist from such Advantages of saving Souls with any scruple upon his Spirit In which when he saw those Clauses of Assent and Consent and Renouncing the Covenant he was fully satisfied But he seemed so moderate before that both my self and others thought he would have Conformed He often saying He would not leave his work for small and dubious Matters But seeing his way so plain for quitting the publick Station that 〈◊〉 held and being thoroughly perswaded of this that the 〈◊〉 of the Ministers out of their Places did not 〈◊〉 them from preaching the Gospel he presently
his People was most apparent in that he was still after he had finished a foregoing Text or Discourse even at a loss as he hath often expressed himself to some of his Friends what Subject most advantagious and seasonable to his Auditory he should next insist on so far he was from aiming or shooting at Rovers in his Divine Instructions and Exhortations And so loth he was to labour in vain and to pass from one Discourse to another as one unconcerned whether he had sown any good Seeds or no on the Hearts of his Hearers that in the close of his Applicatory part on any Text which sometimes he handled for a considerable while he ever expressed his great unwillingness to leave that Subject till he could have some assurance that he had not fought in that Spiritual Warfare against Sin as one who beateth the Air when also he expressed his great fear lest he should after all his most importunate Warnings leave them as he found them And here with how much Holy-Taking Rhetorick did he frequently expostulate the Case with Impenitent Sinners in words too many to mention and yet too weighty to be forgotten vehemently urging them to come to some good resolve before he and they parted and to make their choice either of Life or Death 2. His Compassion on Souls His Compassion also towards all committed to his charge was most manifest especially towards the Ignorant those that were out of the way and those that did move heavily on in the way 1. On the Ignorant in instructing and catechizing them To the Ignorant And here knowing that without knowledge the Heart is not and cannot be good and considering also how too successfully the evil one by sowing evil Seeds betimes in the hearts of Youth doth ever after forestal and defeat the most laborious endeavours for their recovery and salvation Thus knowing and considering he was in nothing more industrious and in nothing more happy and successful in exerting his industry than in an early sowing those Blessed Seeds of Divine Knowledge in the Hearts of all the Youth that he could reach in person or otherwise by which they were exceedingly formed to receive all good Impressions During the time of his publick Ministry on every Lords-day in the Afternoon he constantly catechised before a great Congregation the Youth of each Sex by turns amongst whom were several both young Men and Women sometimes five or six of the chief Scholars of the Free-School sometimes five or six of the Apprentices of the Town some of whom though of mans estate who accounted it not a disgrace to learn according to the guise of this mad World but to be ignorant Sometimes of the other Sex five or six young Gentlewomen who were under his Wifes Tuition and so his Domestick over-sight kept their turns of whom she had not a few and those the Daughters of Gentlemen of good rank far and near whose laudable emulation and love to their Father as they styled him and to the Work was the cause why they were not so over-bashful as to decline so advantagious a course by which together with domestick Instructions and Example even all received a tincture of Piety and Religion and many a through Impression Besides these several Virgins also and among these the Daughters of some of the chief Magistrates in the Town did keep their turns In this his course he drew out on the short Answers in the Assemblies Catechism an excellent Discourse on all the Points of the Christian Theology which he handled successfully reducing his Discourse to several Heads which he also proved by pertinent Places of Scripture which done he gave both the Heads and Proofs written at length on a Week day to those whom he designed to Catechize on the ensuing Lords-day which besides the short Answers in the Catechism and the annexed Proofs they committed to memory and rendred on the After-noon of the day aforesaid Throughout all which course he approved himself to be a most substantial Divine Neither did his Catechistical Labours rest here but also on Thursdayes in the Afternoon as I remember he Catechised in the Church Street by Street whole Families excepting the Married or more Aged in order Which Exercise I suppose he designed as preparatory to his Lord's-Dayes Work Besides this on Saturdayes in the Morning he Catechised the Free-School of that place instructing them in the Points of Christian Doctrine and excellently explaining the Answers in the Assemblies Catechism discovering a Mine of Knowledge in them and in himself How excellent was his design and great his Labour besides all this in going from House to House and instructing both Old Young is elsewhere abundantly declared Neither was this his Labour in vain but became even as successful as laborious for there are few but have gratefully acknowledged that by this means they were either led into the Knowledge or induced to the belief choice and practice of that which was and is of Soveraign advantage to them to this day And how happy and likely a course he took herein to advance Religion in the Nation on the hearts and lives of men and how far less successful and probable all other means are aiming at this end without this initial Work it is left to all pious and considering men to judge 2. On those that Err by reproving and reducing them He had not onely compassion over the Ignorant but also over those who were out of the way witness his faithful and effectual discharge of that great duty of giving seasonable reproofs of which his great faithfulness there is abundant mention else-where And by so much the more did his excellent discharge hereof speak forth his high praise by how much the more difficult he ever apprehended it aright to apply it He hath been heard often to say That it was far more difficult to him to give than to take a Reproof considering how great Wisdom Courage Compassion Self-denyal c. is required in order to its right discharge And though he was so rarely Passive and often Active in this Work yet the frequency of his giving a Reproof never made it so easie as to be less difficut than to receive it Lut ever his Work was to him not only an Act of the greatest Self-denyal but also the result of a strong conflict within 〈◊〉 his Indignation at the Sin and Compassion on the Sinner And yet the consideration of the difficulty was not to him an Argument to forbear but rather a stronger Motive to undertake it who ever delighted to converse in and conquer the difficulties of Christianity both in doing and suffering Small difficulties here were not his match and there were no noble Atchievements in Religion to which he attained not or vigorously aspired His truly Heroick Spirit As it is said of Themistocles that famous Athenian Captain that the Acts of Miltiades broke his sleep so as truly may it be said of this Blessed Saint That the Acts and
earnest desire and that which I should account my self happy in I have a longing desire to see the Faces of you all and besides mine Expectation shall I trust speedily have the opportunity to see you at the approaching Assizes which I shall greatly rejoice in notwithstanding our coming may be otherwise attended with many Inconveniencies In the mean time I send you a few Prison Counsels As 1. To improve for Eternity the Advantages of your present State Though you are at many disadvantages with respect to the publick Ordinances yet you have many wondrous and most happy Priviledges which Spiritual Wisdom would make no small improvement of Oh what a Mercy have you that you may serve God while you will in your Families That you may be as much as you will with God in secret Prayer and holy Meditation and Self-examination I beseech You consider what a Blessing You have above others that have your Health and a Competency of the Comforts of this Life and are free from those continual pains or Heart-eating Cares that others are disabled by from looking after God and their Souls as You may do Oh consider what a blessed Seed-time You have for Eternity Now be wise and improve your happy Season your day of Grace Prepare for Death make all sure Press on towards the Mark lay up in store for your selves a good Foundation against the time to come In the Morning sow your Seed and in the Evening withdraw not your Hand Treasure up much in Heaven What profit is it that you have more than others more Liberty more Comfort more Health more Wealth than others except You love God more and serve him better than others Now ply your Work and dispatch your Business so as that you may have nothing to trouble You upon your Death-Beds 2. To Consider also the Temptations and Disadvantages of your State Study to know your own weaknesses and where your danger lies that you may obviate Satan and prevent your Miscarrying There is no Condition but hath its Snares See that You acquaint your selves with his Devices least You be beguiled by him and caught in his Trap through your own unwariness You that are well provided for in the World had need to watch your selves least You fall in love with present things least you be lifted up least You trust in those Carnal props and put confidence in the Creatures least You warp and decline and baulk your duties through Carnal fear and the desire of preserving your Estates You that have little in the World are not without your temptations neither Oh take heed of envying others prosperity of murmurring and discontent of diffidence and distrustfulness of using indirect means to help your selves Be sure You make not the Worlds pressures upon you an excuse from your daily serving of God in your Families and in secret Set this down as your Rule and unchangeeble Resolution that God and your Souls and your Families shall be looked duly and continually after go the world which way it will Consider what sins your Tempers Relations Callings do most expose you to Be not strangers to your selves Prove your selves upright in keeping from your Iniquities 3. To converse often with your Dust. Brethren we are going we are going the Grave waiteth for us Oh forget not that Corruption is your Father and the Worm your Mother and your Sister These are your poor Kindred that you must shortly dwell with when you come to your long Home Remember the days of Darkness which shall be many Take every day some serious turns with Death Think where you shall be a few days and nights hence happy he that knew what to morrow meant for 20. Years together Believe it you will find it no little thing to die Think often how you are provided how you should receive the Sentence of Death Were you never within sight of Death How did it look What did you wish for most at that time What did then trouble you most Oh mark those things and live accordingly Often ask your Hearts What if God should this night require my Soul 4. To serve your Generation with your might while you have time You have but a very little time to bring God any Glory here or to do your Friends any good now up and be doing Now or never live in the deep and and constant sense of the very little time that You have for this World and the great work You have to do You are going whence You shall not return There 's no After-Game to be Plaid What! But one cast for Eternity and will You not be carefull to throw that well Most dearly Beloved I covet after your furtherance in Mortification and Growth in Grace And Oh that I could but represent Death to You as shortly it will shew it self Or could but open a Window into Eternity to You How effectually would this do the work Then the Cripple would fling away his Crutches and betake himself to his Leggs Then the Slothful would pluck his Hand out of his Bosome and shake off his Excuses and be Night and Day at his work Then the Laodicean would be recovered from his benumed frame then we should have no Halving in Religion no Lazy wishing and complaining but men would ply the Oars to purpose and sweat at their work But Oh unhappy man how powerfully hath the World bewitched thee How miserably hath Sin unmanned thee that thou shouldst look no farther than thou canst see and to be taken up with present things and forget so momentous Concernments as are before thee But You my Brethren lift up your selves above the Objects of Sense May You be men for Eternity and carry it like those that seek for Glory Honour and Immortality I am apt to be too long with You I commend You to Divine Grace my dearest Loves among You I am Yours in the Bonds of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus JOS. ALLEINE From the Prison at Juel-Chester March 5. 1665. LETTER XXV To the loving and most Beloved People the Servants of God in Taunton Grace and Peace Most dearly Beloved ALthough I am forced at the present to be at a distance from You yet I would not have you ignorant that the dear remembrance of you is always fresh with me and the care of your eternal Welfare is always living upon my heart Therefore as my Beloved Friends I warn you and cease not to stir you up by way of remembrance being jealous for you with a Godly jealousie that no man take your Crown My dearly Beloved I know you have many Enemies and above all I fear your bosom Enemies and as the Watchman of the Lord I give you careful warning and exhort you all not to be high-minded but fear Blessed is the man that feareth always Look diligently lest any of you fail of the Grace of God You have made much and long Profession of the Name of Jesus Christ Oh look to your Foundations see upon what Ground you
dealings Be you temperate in all things and let Chastity and Sobriety be your undivided companions Let truth and Purity Seriousness and modesty Heavenliness and gravity be the constant ornaments of your speech Let patience and humility simplicity and sincerity shine out in all the parts of your conversations See that you forget and forgive wrongs and requite them with kindness as you would be found children of the most high Be merciful in your 〈◊〉 and put the most favourable construction upon our Brethrens carriage that their actions will reasonably bear Be slow in promising punctual in fulfilling Let meekness and innocency Affableness Yieldingness and Curtesie commend your conversations to all men Let none of your Relations want that love and loyalty that reverence and duty that tenderness care and vigilancy which their several places and capacities call for This is throughout godliness I charge you before the most high God that none of you be found a swearer or a lyar a lover of evil company or a scoffer or malicious or covetous or a drunkard or a 〈◊〉 unrighteous in his dealing unclean in his living or a quareller or a thief or backbiter or a railer for I denounce unto you from the living God that 〈◊〉 and damnation is the end of all such Prov. 13. 20. Jam. 5. 12. Rev. 21. 8. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. 2. Family Godliness He that hath set up Christ in his heart will be sure to study to set him up in his house Let every family with you be a Christian Church every house a house of Prayer every houshold a houshold of faith Let every housholder say with Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord and resolve with David Psal. 121. 2. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart Let me press upon you a few duties which I have been long harping upon but Alas I speak it to your shame with many too too many of you to little purpose in general First Let Religion be in your families not as a matter by the by to be minded at leisure when the world will give you leave but the standing business of the house Let them have your prayers as duly as their meals is there any of your families but have time for their taking food wretched man canst thou find time to eat in and not time to Pray in Secondly Settle it upon your Hearts that your Souls are bound up in the Souls of your Family They are committed unto you and if they be lost through your 〈◊〉 will be required at your hands Sirs if you do not you shall know that the charge of Souls is a heavy charge and that the Blood of Souls is a heavy guilt O man hast thou a charge of Souls to answer for and dost thou not yet bestir thy self for them that their Blood be not found in thy Skirts Wilt thou do no more for immortal Souls than thou wilt do for thy Beasts that perish What dost thou do for thy children and Servants Thou providest Meat and Drink for 〈◊〉 agreeable to their Natures and dost thou not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy Beasts Thou givest them Medicines and 〈◊〉 them when they be Sick and dost thou not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swine More particularly 1. Let the solemn Reading of the Word Isa. 34. 16. Joh. 5. 31 and singing of Psalms be your Family Exercises Psal. 118. 15 See Christ singing with his Family viz. his Disciples Mat. 26. 30 Tuke 9. 18. 2. Let every person in your Families be duly called to an account of their profiting by the word heard or read as they be about doing your own Businesses This is a Duty of consequence unspeakable and would be a means to bring those under your charge to remember and profit by what they recive See Christs Example in calling his Family to an account Mat. 16. 11 13 15. 33. Often take and account of the Souls under your care concerning their Spiritual estates Herein you must be Followers of Christ Mat. 13. 10 36 51. Mark 4. 10 11. Make enquiry into their conditions insist much upon the sinfulness and misery of their natural estate and upon the necessity of Regeneration and Conversion in order to their Salvation Admonish them gravely of their sins incourage beginnings Follow them earnestly and let them have no quiet for You till You see them in a saving change This is a duty of high consequence but I am afraid fearfully neglected by some that are Godly Doth not Conscience say Thou art the man 4. Look to the strict sanctisying of the Sabbath by all of your Housholds Exod. 20. 10. Lev. 23. 3. Many poor Families have little time else O improve but your sabbath-Sabbath-days as diligently in labouring for knowledge and doing your Makers work as You do the other days in doing your own work and I doubt not but you may come to some proficiencie 5. Let the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of solemn Prayer be daily offered up in all your Families Psal. 92. 1 2. Exod. 30. 7 8. Luk. 1. 9 10. Beware they be not found among the Families that call not upon Gods Name for why should there be wrath from the Lord upon your Families Jer. 10. 25 O miserable Families without God in the World that are without Family Prayer What have You so many Family 〈◊〉 Family wants Family Mercies what and yet no Family Prayers How do You pray with all Prayer and Supplication if You do not with Family Prayer Say not I have no time What hast thou all thy time on purpose to serve God and save thy Soul and is this that for which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 find no time Find but a heart and I will find time Pinch out of your meals and sleep rather then want for Prayer Say no my business will not give leave This is thy greatest business to save thy self and the Souls committed to thee Besides a 〈◊〉 will be no let In a word the Blessing of all is to be got by Prayer Jer. 29. 11 12. 2 〈◊〉 29. And what is thy business without Gods Blessing Say not I am not able Use thy one Talent and God will increase it Mat. 25 24 c. Helps are to be had till thou art better able But if there be no other remedy thou 〈◊〉 join with thine 〈◊〉 Neighbour God hath special regard to joint Prayer Jam. 5. 14. to 19. Acts 12. 5. to 12. 〈◊〉 Cor. 1. 11. and therefore You must improve Family advantages for the performing of it 6. Put every one in your Families upon private Prayer Observe whether they do perform it Get them the help of a form if they need it till they are able to go without Direct them how to Pray by minding them of their sins wants and mercies the materials of Prayer This was the practice of John and of Jesus Luk. 11. 1 2. 7. Set up Catechizing in your Families at the least once every week It was my parting dying request that you
a great and signal mercy to himself and to his people And therefore Joab even rates him for it 2 Sam. 19. 5 and following verses Saith he Thou hast sham'd this day the faces of all thy servants who have sav'd thy life and the life of thy Sons and of thy Daughters and thy Wives Since thou hast 〈◊〉 thine Enemies and hated thy Friends and hast declar'd this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants And I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day it would have pleased thee well You see the reason of his immoderate and overflowing sorrow for him was his inordinate Affection to him Which was so out of measure great that when he heard the news his passion wrought and he was hasting to a room to give it vent But alas he cannot hold till he come thither but discharges at the stairs as he is going up 2 Sam. 18. 33. He wept as he went and said O my Son Absalom my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son You see then both that and why we are so ready to misplace our grief and to misapply our sorrow Use. The application of the point shall be for Caution and Direction both together To watch our hearts against it that so we lay not out our tears amiss Be circumspect that you do not misplace your grief and that you do not mistake the ground and object of your sorrow like these poor Daughters of Jerusalem who wept where they should not and wept not where they should Oh what a deal of grief do some men waste away when there is no cause at all How do many men take on when they are crost in prosecution of their lusts and hindred in their sins which is in deed a great mercy Oh what floods of tears do some men pour 〈◊〉 upon a petty flight occasion at a trifling accident Beloved tears if they be shed aright are precious things God puts them up into his Bottle as if they were of great value And yet some lay them out on nothing How will they weep and grieve at any disappointment in their small affairs any miscarriage in their business any little petty loss any unkindness from their friends or neighbours any affront or provocation in the least degree nay if they be but crossed in their wills though it be best indeed they should All their sorrow is bestowed on little trifling inconsiderable things Why my beloved have ye not other manner of things then these to grieve for what think you of your own sias with all their bloody aggravations what think you of the horrible Abominations and woful desolations of the Land And of all the wrath of God that hath been lately manitested and reveal'd from Heaven against us more ways then I am able to express I might be very large in shewing you particularly and distinctly both what you should and what you should not grieve for and giving you directions from the word of God about it But because the time spends and I would not be prevented of that which I have principally in my eye I shall pass over many other things that so I may apply my self to the occasion Methinks I see the clouds gather and return after the Rain And out of question many of you are come hither with a sufficient 〈◊〉 of sorrow your hearts are full of grief and your souls full of trouble and your bottles full of tears brim full You have drawn water and are ready to pour it our before the Lord this day My work shall be to guide you and direct you with our Saviour in the Text how to bestow these tears and how to spend this sorrow that you may not weep in vain I say to you as Christ doth to the Daughters of Jerusalem with a little alteration weep not for him whom the Lord hath taken from you but weep for your selves and for your Children 1. Weep not for him I know the loss of such an Able Faithful Painful zealous Minister of Christ as he was ought to be very much bewailed Men of such hidden worth as he had in him and of such publick use and service in the Church should not be raked up in their Graves without tear and lamentations Joash a wicked King wept for a good Prophet and that with very great affection 2 Kings 13. 14. He wept over his face and said My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And if you mark the carriage of the Saints when such as he I mean our dear and worthy Brother have been taken from them it would warrant all the tears you have to spend on this occasion In the first of Kings 13. 30. You find a Prophet burying a Prophet and melting over him when he Inter'd him He laid his Carcase in the Grave and mourned over him and said alass my Brother How solemnly did Israel lament the death of Samuel and made their grief as remarkable and publick as their loss 1 Sam. 25. 1. It is observed of Stephen that he was carried by devout men to his burial with great lamentation Acts 8. 2. And God forbid that such an one as we have lost should die away as if he were not desired that he would steal into his Grave as if there were no notice taken of his Death No my Beloved weep and weep on sit down and weep till you can weep no more yet still I say weep not for him Your loss is unaccomptable indeed and time perhaps will shew it to be greater then as yet you see But tell me my Beloved is he a loser any way Nay is he not an infinite gainer Is not this best of all for him Indeed to have continued in the flesh was better for you as the Apostle states the case when he was 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 24. But for him it was far better to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Now he enjoys a 〈◊〉 deliverance from all Corruptions all Temptations all Afflict 〈◊〉 A full return of all his Prayers and Breathings after God and Christ in which he was transported when he was drawing near his Glory A full reward of all his tiring and incessent Labours Oh blessed soul You know a Voice from Heaven hath said Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their works follow them Therefore I say weep not for him There is one thing I must confess that makes this Providence the sadder to us You know it is the Prophet Davids Prayer Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my daies The Lord indeed hath taken him away in the midst of his days and in the midst of his Ministry But is he gone to Heaven too soon Too soon indeed for you but not for him Is he got home to his Fathers house too soon Is he with God and Christ and Angels and glorified Saints too
Monuments of the Famous Worthies mentioned in the Hebrews and of those of the same Atchievements with them in all Ages of the World even broke his sleep by impregnating his Soul with high designs of aspiring after their perfections Oft therefore he hath been heard to excite Christians so long to move in the Sphear of difficulties till the sweet severities of Christianity as he often called them were subdued and even made familiar encouraging them with this consideration That then they would highly approve their Divine Love and Sincerity and conceive a pleasure in those difficult Acts which would equal yea exceed the pleasure of their natural Actions 3. On the Doubting by Resolving and Releasing them Neither had he onely compassion on those that were out of the way but also on those who moved heavtly on in the way How he hath often raised and rectifyed desponding Christians those who are too prone to account doubting which is their Sin to be their Duty and Vertue At once he hath often 〈◊〉 them from the straitness of their needless fears and disquiets and undeceived them by discovering the latent unbelief that did lie lurking in such despondings assuring them in these words That under a sly pretence of Humility they did call in question God's Veracity Seventhly His singular Piety As respects his singular Piety all who knew him can say much and yet all but little considering how much more 〈◊〉 escaped the most tenacious memory observant eye and attentive ear Yet he must be wretchedly inobservant who amidst so many and great instances of it can make no reflections How much he conceived it as his own and others greatest Interest Ornament and Felicity herein to excel will be manifest by his 〈◊〉 which he gave to a young Scholar ready to depart to the University in words to this purpose I know saith he that you will labour to excel in Learning but be sure to excel as in that so also and especially in Holiness which 〈◊〉 render you one of the most useful and 〈◊〉 Creatures in the World Learning will render you perchance aeceptable to men but piety both to God and Men by that you will shine only on Earth to the Clods thereof and perhaps in some obscure corner of it but this is an Orient Pearl which will shine in you on Earth and in Heaven both to God Angels and Men. How much he dwelt on this Exhortation and these Apprehensions will be evident by a Pious Letter which he sent to the Person forenamed some years after wherein his words are these O study God and study your self closly and pursue Holiness more than Learning though both these together make a happy Constellation and are like Castor and Pollux which when they appear together do ever presage good to the Mariners And that it might appear that he did not onely commend Holiness in the general but also in the particular and chief Instances of a Holy Life He excellently proceeds in the same Letter saying `` I much commend unto you those four beautifying Lessons so shortly comprehended in this Distich Spernere mundum spernere nullum spernere sese Spernere se sperni quatuor ista beant His Contempt of the World Happy is the man that can but learn this When once a man is arrived hereto he is above the Worlds reach and hath attained to the true Heroick mind so as that no external commotions will be able to disturb his Tranquility neither will the Comforts or Crosses here below make any great accession to or diminution from the serenity of his Spirit And indeed no thing was more conspicuous in this Blessed Saint than that generous contempt of the World that true loftiness and yet profound humility of Spirit of which the Lessons aforementioned are but as so many instances which he recommended unto others He was much a stranger on the Earth like the Kingly Prophet not because with old Barzillai he could not but would not tast or comply with its Pleasures and Delights but he was chiefly induced by a forced exilement from his desired and delectable Habitation to think on his state of Banishment from his Heavenly Country whilst here militant upon Earth and to solace his Thoughts under so great a grievance by such Divine Considerations as those which he mentions in the following words of his forenamed Letter It was saith he the Divine Argument that Epictetus used for comfort in banishment Ubique 〈◊〉 sunt colloquia cum Deo I met lately mith a passage out of one of the Fathers which I which engraved upon my heart Cui Patria solum placet nimis dilicatus est Cui omnis Terra Patria is fortis est Cui omnis Terra exilium is Sanctus est That 's worthy of a Saint indeed to account himself alwayes in the state of Banishment whilst in the state of Mortality like the Worthies that sojourned even in the Land of Promise as in a strange Countrey Sueh a sojourner I wish both my self and you and may the moveableness of our present State fix our desires upon that Kingdom which shall never be shaken So far he His Universal and Uniform Obedience But to proceed He declared that his Piety was 〈◊〉 and Excellent by its universal regard and extent as to all GOD's Commands so to all Man's Converses and Employments witness his earnest and frequent Exhortations whereby he did daily call upon his People to a constant uniform care over their Hearts and Wayes Nothing did he more passionately dehort them from than from that undoing fraud unto their Souls viz. Confining their Religion to their Closets upon the supposal that in so doing they had there put in sufficient security for their after conversation and had bid fair for the Divine favour as if Religion had taught Men only to kneel and not how to work and walk as if it were solitary or deformed loving onely to move in the private Path and narrow circle of our Morning or Evening Devotions and so ever before and after to appear least in sight or as if it were a fury and so to be limited and not to be entrusted with the universal conduct of our Lives and Actions For many there are who think fit rather to make Religion then Vassal than undivided Companion to command it rather than it should command them and therefore they make it to keep its Times and Places its Postures and due Distance and think not good that it retain to their Company or appear in their Words or Actions unless when it may serve the Uses of a cloak and cover of Hypocrisie and Iniquity His care of his Thoughts and Ends especially Morning and Evening But enough of this digression These his fore-mentioned momentous Exhortations attended with most excellent Motives designed chiefly to direct them how well to begin and end the day in the fear and as in the presence of GOD by hallowing their Thoughts and as his Words were setting their ends aright in the