Two Treatises, Title page 2 – Dedication 2
LIGHT IN DARKNESS: OR, A twofold Fountain of Comfort and Satisfaction, to thoſe, who walking with God, yet live, and may die unſatisfied, as to the ſenſible manifeſtations of DIVINE LOVE: Diſcovered, In a Diſcourſe firſt Preached at the Funerals of the Right Honourable, the Lady Catharine Courten; late Wife to William Courten, Eſq; and ſince inlarged for more publick profit.
By John Collinges, (late) Preacher of the Goſpel in Norwich.
Iſaiah 50. 20. Who is amongſt you that feareth the Lord? and obeyeth the voice of his ſervant; that walketh in darkneſs, and ſeeth no light? let him truſt in the Name of the Lord, and ſtay upon his God.
LONDON, Printed in the year, 1669.
To His Worthy and Honoured Friend, WILLIAM COURTEN, Eſq;.
Sir,
WHen I had once reſolved to joyn theſe Sheets (long ſince drawn up, and in the hands of ſome of your noble friends) in one Book with thoſe, relating to your Noble Aunt; I had no great diſpute with my ſelf, to whom (according to the uſual cuſtom) I ſhould inſcribe them. You are the only Male Branch of this excellent Root; the Heir of her Religion, Vertue and Honour; you were (while ſhe lived) next to your dear Father, the great object of her Love, Care, and Pious Sollitude: For you it was that ſhe ſo often, ſo paſſionately (even in her greateſt Agonies) begg'd our prayers; ſhe had you only, and your siſter to pour out ſighs and tears to God for, that you might be found conſtant, and walking in the truth. You alone can lay a juſt claim to her picture, and theſe other Papers devoted to a memorial of her. You are fitteſt to undertake the Patronage of her Honourable and Precious Name, againſt ſuch, as (to juſtifie others) would faſten a Debauchery in Religion upon her Urn, after fifteen or ſixteen years reſt, in which, ſince her death, it might preſcribe; for the Faith in which ſhe not only truly died, but in ſo eminent a Profeſſion, and ſuch particular Declarations of it, as are not ordinary. (Alas! (Dear Sir) for the ſad occaſion of this ſo late an impudent a ſlander, but the judgements of God are a great deep) You Sir, ſince her death, have been viſiting the ſeat of iniquity, the Country of the great Whore, which hath made ſo many drunk, and is yet by parcels intoxicating ſouls with her ſuperſtitious and idolatrous abominations; you went not out of curioſity, but upon a juſt call, and to pay a duty to your Fathers Sepulchre. Had your rare Mother lived till you took that Journey, ſhe would have cryed out with another kind of Devotion than Horace for his friend Virgil.
Sic te cunctipotens Dues
Sic pelagi Dominus—
Ventorumque regat Pater
Obſtrictis aliis praeter—
Naves quae tibi creditum
Debes—finibus Italis
Reddas incolumem, precor
Et ſerves animae dimidium meae.
But it pleaſed God (by death ſeven years before) to deliver her from thoſe fears, in which your two years abſence would have kept her: and though ſhe lived not ſo long as to attend you with her fervent prayers; yet Sir, I can tell you, ſhe had treaſured up a large ſtock of prayers for you; and ſhe had begg'd a moving ſtock, which was working for you, when ſhe ceaſed to be; and by the infinite goodneſs of God hearing thoſe prayers, you were preſerved, both in your going and coming, in the perils you ran by Land, and by Sea: Yea and preſerved alſo free from thoſe ſenſual and ſuperſtitious tinctures, which too too many bring home with them. You have (dear Sir) made it appear in your practice, that the fopperies of the Romiſh Religion, are baits fit for no noble and ingenuous ſouls, nor any that have once ſeen them in their proper element: You have had an ocular demonſtration of the folly that attends it, and the licentious leudneſs tolerated and patronized by it: and while others in a Land of Righteouſneſs have learned wickedneſs; and from the very Tents of Proteſtants have proved Renegadoes to the Faith, makeing ſhipwrack both of it and a good conſcience: You have defied the Babiloniſh Whore in her very bed of filthineſs; and been faithful where Satan hath his Throne, treading upon the Lion and the Adder, and (without harm) trampling the young Lion under your feet. 'Tis (Sir) I hope, becauſe the Lord hath ſet his love upon you, that he hath delivered you; and he will ſet you on high; becauſe you have known his Name. Go on (dear and honoured Sir) to make the tear of your Parents to be your fear; to love that dear Saviour, whom above all the world, your dying Mother begged for your portion. (You muſt, Sir, give me leave chiefly to inſiſt upon the mention of your Mother (you know ſhe alone was known to me ſo much as by face.) Go on Sir, to juſtifie her intereſt in Heaven, by making it appear that her prayers were for you heard and accepted. Let all her Vertues and Graces be read in your holy converſation. When ſhe came to die (though it was in the prime of her years) it was no grief of heart unto her, that ſhe had conſecrated her life to God, and early drawn off her ſelf from the periſhing vanities of the world. I can aſſure you Sir, ſhe never repented her of one of thoſe very many hours which ſhe had ſpent in prayers and tears on the behalf of her, and your immortal ſoul; or which ſhe had ſpent in reading the Word of God, or in hearing of it preached in ſeaſon, and out of ſeaſon. I ſpeak this, not Sir, as in the leaſt ſuſpecting your forgetfulneſs of the Law, or the life of your Mother; but you can never enough remember her; and (as the Apoſtle ſpeaketh) I only deſire to ſtir up your mind by way of remembrance. I hope (dear Sir) you will pleaſe to pardon my offers of theſe Papers to you: I have told you your intereſt in them; and though they be but an inconſiderable Preſent, yet your ingenuity will inforce your acceptance of them from him, who (under his preſent circumſtances) knows not better how to improve himſelf:
Sir, Your moſt affectionate Friend and Servant, J. C.