A Light from Christ Leading Unto Christ, Dedication 2 – Dedication 3
To the Right Honorable Thomas Adams Lord Mayor. The Right Worſhipful
Sir Nicholas Rainton Knight.
Iſaac Pennington.
Sir John Wollaſton Knight.
Thomas Atkin,
Sir John Cordel,
Sir Thomas Soam,
Sir Iohn Gayer,
Sir Iacob Gerrard Knights.
Iohn Warner,
Abraham Reynardſon,
Sir George Garret,
Sir George Clark, Knights.
Iohn Langham.
Thomas Andrews,
Iohn Fowke,
Iames Bunce,
William Gibbe,
Richard Chambers,
Thomas Cullum,
Simon Edmons,
Samuel Avery.
Iohn Bide,
George Witham, Aldermen.
Thomas Foot, and Iohn Kendrick, Aldermen and Sheriffs of the Honorable City of London.
With the ſeveral Families of and within the ſaid City, and the Lives of Communication; and eſpecially the Beloved Congregation, and particular Families of and within the Pariſh of Sepulchres; a daily increaſe of Light from CHRIST.
Right Honorable and Beloved in the Lord Chriſt,
THe many burning and ſhining lights my Reverend Brethren, the faithful Miniſters of Chriſt in this Famous City, moſt graciouſly holding forth the bleſſed Light of Chriſt in their conſtant Preaching the Goſpel of your Salvation, Eph. 1.13. with their glorious abilities and readineſſe to Catechize and inſtruct both yong and old,Acts 20.20. in publike, and from houſe to houſe, known to many of your ſelves by ſweet experience, and to my ſelf by aſſured evidence, might well ſeem to commend my ſilence, rather then this ſeeming preſumption to be a Remembrancer to you, or a furtherance of the neceſſary Duty of Catechizing, to this Illuſtrious, and (to this day) wonderfully preſerved City. But love and duty on my part, and hope of Chriſtian acceptation on yours, emboldens me to declare my deſires and endeavors for a bleſſed increaſe of the true light of Chriſt amongſt your dwellings, and in your ſeveral Families: Me thinks my heart is indicting of a good matter, and I cannot but ſpeak the things that pertain to Londons Peace.Duo ſunt Reipublicae Chriſtianae firmamē ta veritas & pax praefat. Synopſis purioris Theolog. &c. Truth and Peace are ſaid to be the ſtays and pillars of a Chriſtian Common-wealth, and ſo they muſt needs be of a Chriſtian City; yea, of the Church of Chriſt, the communion of Saints. The Prophet Zachary prefers Truth in the firſt place, and makes Peace to follow in order; I may joyn a third, as a concomitant or accompanying Grace, this is Vnity and Vnanimity, eſpecially in the true light of Chriſt, all to go hand in hand together; a Brotherly walking in the light of Truth, revealed by Chriſt in the ſacred Scriptures: Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, for Brethren to dwell together in Unity. Zac. 8.19Ieruſalem is builded as a City that is compact, or at Vnity in it ſelf: So is London this glorious City,Pſ. 133.1. & 122.3 Honorable and Honoured Chriſtians; and my daily Prayer is and ſhall be, that as it is in your beautiful Habitations in many parts of it, ſo it may be united, and continue to be as one glorious building in your mindes, hearts, wills and affections, and principally in that bleſſed light of Truth and true Religion. I would to God there were not too many different lights, glimmering like Glow-worms in dark corners, leading aſide ſometimes ſome of your deareſt Conſorts, your beloved Children, Servants and Apprentices into wayes of different, if not contrary walkings from the true light of Chriſt, breeding Diviſions even in Families, the moſt Ancient Common wealths: One chief Reaſon I am aſſured is want of Catechizing in the Principles of Religion, and their duties in particular. To recover ſight and prevent the following of by lights in time to come, I am bold to commemorate the excellent practiſe of Catechizing, not only in publike Congregations, but in private Families; and to bring a light from Chriſt for this end, hath been my deſire and endeavour in this Iewel of Chriſtian Divinity, I commend it to your Lordſhip, and to you Honoured Fathers of this precious and populous City, and to you Religious Worthies, Parents and Maſters of Fam…lies, and to you the particular, my beloved the great Congregation of Sepulchres, to whom the Lord in his good Providence was pleaſed by your free Election to call me, and this two years and upwards to continue me an Aſſiſtant Teacher: If it be not ſo perfect for method or matter as might be expected; beſides that, my intention at firſt was only to give light to a right preparation for the Lords Supper, and not to enlarge my ſelf ſo fully in the Principles of Divinity, my conſtant Preaching theſe two years ſince I began this work, beging for three parts of the year three times a week at leaſt, and the reſt twice or more, beſides my attendance both on the publike Service, and other ſpecial occaſions may plead my excuſe.
Now that the light of Chriſt may by the help of this or my leſſer Catechiſm, or any other Labours of the Lords faithful Servants ſhine forth more and more gloriouſly in all your ſouls and ſeveral Families, that they may be enlightned as ſo many particular Churches of Saints; that Chriſt may walk in the midſt of them, as of the ſeven golden Candleſticks,Rev. 2.1. Eph. 2.19. that you may be found Citizens with the Saints, and of the houſhold of God; that being truly lightned by the true light of Chriſt in the Church Militant, you and yours with the whole Iſrael of God in all the Families of this City and Kingdom, may ſhine as bleſſed lights for ever in the Church Triumphant, is and ſhall be the daily Prayer of
The moſt unworthy and humble Servant and Miniſter of the Lord Ieſus Chriſt, IMMANUEL BOURN. From Sepulchres London, May 2. 1646.
To the Right Worſhipful Sir Edward Worthley Kt. AND Dame ELIZABETH his Religious Lady. The Right Worſhipful Sir SAMUEL TRYON Baronet, And Dame BRIDGET his Vertuous Lady. The true Light of Chriſt here, and true Light with Chriſt in Heaven for ever.
Right Worſhipful,
THat Honorable respect I did receive above twenty years ſince as a Miniſter of Chriſt, from your Religious Mother, the Right Honorable the late Counteſſe of Devonſhire; and the more ancient relation I had unto your now Religious Lady, as living divers years in houſe with her and her former Husband Sir Samuel Tryon (my Honoured Patron) with the due respects I owe to Sir Samuel Tryon their Son, and his Vertuous Lady; together with kindeneſſe from your ſelf, may command a publike acknowledgement of all your private favours. And ſince the Lord hath now enabled me after two years ſtudy and labour at times extraordinary, almoſt spared from my neceſſary ſleep (riſing up early and late taking reſt) to finiſh this Light from Chriſt, by way of Catechiſm, which as it concerneth the general, I have Dedicated to thoſe Honoured Worthyes in more publike places: And do humbly deſire every of you alſo to accept of it, as a Light from Chriſt, a help for you and yours better acquaintance with God in your Families in private, and your cloſets in ſecret, that you and yours may be the better enabled to meet Chriſt with comfort in his Ordinances, and to walk joyfully with Chriſt in every condition in the whole courſe of your lives: And for this end, I commend this excellent duty of Catechizing in and by your worthy Names, to all the Gentry, with their and all others Families in the Kingdom; particularly in the County of Northampton, my Native country,Now Paſtor of Eaſt-haddon: where my Reverend Aged Father hath been a Preacher and Catechizer almoſt this fifty years, and in the County of Derby, and Pariſh of Aſhover, where by the free love of my Noble Patron aforeſaid, I was placed, and did finde both the want and benefit of Catechizing by good experience; that they and every of you, making your Calling and Election ſure, you may gain a ſweet entrance here, and in the end a full poſſeſsion and fruition of that everlaſting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt: which to further, is the earneſt deſire and endeavour of
Yours ever to ſerve you in Chriſt Ieſus, IMMANUEL BOURN. May 2. 1646.