Christian Letters Full of Spiritual Instructions, Letter 19
LETTER XIX. [1. Try. 2. Rejoyce.] To the most loving, and best beloved, the Flock of Christ in Taunton, Grace and Peace.
Most endeared Friends,
MY heart is solicitous for you: your Spiritual and Eternal welfare is the matter of my desires and designs. Let not my Beloved think they were forgotten by me, because you heard not from me the last Week: sleep departed from my eyes to write to you at large; but in the morning I concluded it best, to defer the imparting of it to you for a season, that you might have it a better way. Can a woman forget her Child, that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb? yea, they may forget, but Christ will earnestly remember you still. Natural Parents may be so far unnatural; spiritual Parents may be so far carnal, as to forget their own Children: I would have you count nothing as certain but Christs love and care. This you may build upon: You need not fear lest time and distance should wear out the remembrance of you with him: your names are in…olled in the everlasting Decrees of Heaven, and a whole Eternity hath not been able to wear them out. Do any of you question whether you are so happy as to have your names recorded above? I shall bring it to a speedy issue: Do …ou question whether Christ hath taken your names? whether you are upon his heart? Let me ask you, Is Heaven upon your Hearts? Is the Name of Jesus deeply engraven upon your Souls? Is his Image and Superscription there? If you can find that Heaven is the main of your cares, that your hearts are set upon it as your home and your Countrey; and that it is your great business to seek it and secure it, then never doubt, if your Hearts be chiefly upon Heaven, your Names are unquestionable written in Heaven. Again, hath Christ recorded his name in your Hearts? Is the Name of Jesus the Beloved name with you? precious above all; next to your hearts? Is there no other Name under heaven so dear and sweet to you? What room …ath Christ in you? If any thing be deeper in your hearts than he is, you are unsound. As the Father hath given him, so do your hearts give him a Name above every Name: Is Christ uppermost with you in your estimations and affection? Then rejoyce and leap for joy, your Names are most p…ecious with Christ, if his Name be above all dear to you. Once more, hath Christ drawn out his own similitude upon You! Is Christ within you? doth he dwell in your Hearts? Then be sure you have a room in his heart: The Image of Christ is in holiness. Is this that which your very hearts are set upon? Do you thirst for Holiness? Do you follow after Holiness? Do you prize it above all prosperity and worldly greatness? Do you hate every sin and long to be rid of it as your most irksome burden? and use all Gods means against it as far as you know them? If it be thus with you, Christ hath set his stamp upon your hearts, and so you may be sure he hath set you as a Seal upon his heart.
Rejoyce then, O Christians, and bless your selves in the happy priviledge that you have, in being under Christs care. Fear not little Flock; Stronger is he that is with you, than he that is against you: What though Satan should raise all his Militia against you, adhere to Christ in a patient doing & suffering his pleasure and he shall secure you: The Lord will not forsake you, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people: God hath entrusted you with his Son: You are his Care and his Charge: Many will be lif…ing at you, many will be plucking at you, but fear not, you shall not be moved, none shali pluck you out of Christs hand, he hath all power, Mat. 28. 8. Can Omnipotence secure you? He is all Treasures, Col. 2. 3. Can unsearchable Riches suffice you? In a word, he is all fullness, Col. 1. 21. Can all content you? Can Fulness fill you? if so, you are blessed and shall be blesied.
Beloved, We loose unutterably for want of considering, for want of viewing our own Priviledges, and Blessedness. O Man, is Christ thine, and yet dost thou live at a low rate and Comfort? Is thy Name written in heaven, and yet dost thou not rejoyce? Shall the Children of the Kingdom, the Candidates of Glory, the chosen Generation, the Royal Priesthood, be like other men? O Christians, Remember who and whence you are, consider your Obligations, put on a better pace; …stir your selves, run and wrestle, and be strong for the Lord of Hosts (and earnestly, yet peaceably) contend for the Faith once delivered to his Saints; What shall we make nothing of all that God hath said and done for us? O Christians, shall he that hath gotten an inriching Office boast of his Booty? or he that hath obtained the Kings Patent for an Earldome, glory in his Riches and Honour? And shall the Grant of Heaven signifie little with thee? Or Christs Patent for thy Son-ship and Partnership with himself be like a Cypher? Shall Hamon come home from the Banquet with a glad heart, and glorying in the greatness of his Riches, the multitude of his Children, and all the things wherein the King had promoted him above the Princes? And shall we turn over our Bibles and read the Promises, and find it under Gods own hand, that he intends the Kingdom for us, that he will be a Father to us, that he gives and grants all his infinite perfections to us, and yet not be moved? Beloved Christians, live like your selves, let the Word see that the Promises of God, and Priviledges of the Gospel are not empty sounds, or a meer Crack. Let the Heavenly cheerfulness and the restless diligence, and the holy raisedness of your Conversations prove the reality, excellency, and beauty of your Religion to the World. Forget not your Prisoner. Labour earnestly for me in your Prayers, who am night and day labouring and suffering for you. I can never bless God enough for his most tender & indulgent care for you, which appears so wonderfully in his Fatherly Protection, and his Fatherly Provision. See that you receive not the Crace of God in vain. Remember with trembling, that of our Lord, To whom much is given of him much shall be required. With my most dear loves to you all, I commend you to your Father and my Father, your God and my God, remaining
Yours in all manner of Obligations, JOS. ALLEINE. From the common Goal at Juelchester, January 20. 1663.