A Pastors Legacy to His Beloved People, Conclusion
ANd thus have I laboured to deliver to you all the Counsel of God, necessary to Eternal life; I have laboured to nourish you up in the words of faith, and good Doctrine.
Give me leave now to take my leave of you, and leave a blessing with you.
The providence of God, brought me from far to you; I was designed from all Eternity to be your Minister: For you I was ordained; you have I loved; you have I taught; with you have I lived; and with you would I have died: Nothing but the keeping of a good conscience should have parted 'twixt me and you.
Great offers of preferments moved me not; but the terrors of the Almighty I dare not run upon.
This I can say in the presence of that God, before whom I shall shortly appear, That though in much weakness, yet I have laboured in the truth of my heart, to walk before you.
The salvation of your souls, I have earnestly prayed, longed, and laboured for.
I desire to humble my self before you, and I beg the mercies of God, in our Lord Jesus Christ, for all my miscarriages; for the want of so good examples, as I should have shewed you: That I have not prest upon you particular duties, nor have been so zealous in private Admoditions, as I should have been.
Oh! let all the evil you have seen in me, be buried from your practice in the bottom of the Sea; Let the good you have seen or heard, abide with you for ever; Let the Spiritual rules, and motives, you have abundantly heard, dwell richly in you.
Take heed of hypocrisy, be serious in Religlon, live in Divine Communion, watch and examine, look into eternity, and live on Jesus to bring you thither.
I heartily thank you for your willing reception of me when I came first; For all your curteous, and civil deportment I have received since; for all your chearful hearing of the word, for your often granting of m… publick request; And (most of all) I thank every one that have received any good from me.
I thank every particular person, that has done me the least particular kindness in word or deed; The Lord repay it seven-… in to his Bosome.
I have winingly wronged no man; I have been glad to do good to any. I have endeavoured to live affectionately in the midst of you; And I pray, if any have any thing against me, let him make it known to me before my departure; and I will make him satisfaction, or bear his shame.
And, I pray, let no man lay any thing to my charge when I am gone, that will not convince me before I go.
I thank you for your desire of my abiding among you, and the Lord provide better for you; I must one day appear, and give an account of my Ministry among you; then we shall meet again, and our old Communion will then be fresh to us: Oh, may it be with joy to every one of you! Oh, may I never be a witness against any soul here!
I was a stranger, and have been naturalized to you: now I am naturalized, I must be a stranger: But, oh that we may once meet, and take our lea…es no more! but may joyn ever in the quire of Glory, who have oft joyned here in Solemn Ordinances.
I any of you have been my Spiritual Children, you must ever love your Father; if I have only been a waterer, and not a planter: yet let me reap the fruit of prayer from you.
Let my Name live in your private Prayers, when it is dead in publick discourse, send tokens by Heaven to me, when you shall see me no more onearth; wee'r meet at the Throne of Grace, when we shall meet no more in this pleasant house. The thickness of no Walls, the distance of no Seas, can hinder the visits of your Prayers.
And pray this for me, that my whole Soul and body, may ever be presented as a living sacrifice unto God; that I may live onelyonly to Jesus, whom I have chosen for my eternal portion; that he would use me; as may be most for his Glory, in doing and in suffering; and enable me to be faithful in what he calls me to; and himself onelyonly would be my everlasting reward; that he would not deny himself to me, who have earnestly desired, to be stript of all things, so I may enjoy him.
Neither shall your prayers be without return on my part, the roads wherein I may travel, the beds whereon I may lie, the rooms wherein I may kneel, will testify how much I have Melis, yea, and Leigh too upon my heart.
That you may farewel, and the God of love and peace be with you, will ascend from my heart and lips, when you may be sleeping on your beds, working in your shops, plowing in your fields.
Oh, may you farewel in the dayes of your temptations and tryals! Let the God of Love and Peace, then be with you, support, strengthen, and deliver you.
May you farewel in the dayes of your sorrows and afflictions; and the God of Love and Peace, be with you in the fire, and in the waters, and bring you as gold out of the fire, seven times refined and purified, and give you the garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness.
May you farewell in your joys and comforts; and the God of love and peace make you humble, spiritual, and thankful; that your temporal joys, may be but fore-runners of eternal Songs.
May you farewel in your shops, your fields, your journeys, at your tables, by your fires, on your pillows; may you be blessed in the basket, and in the store, in in your goings out, and your comings in.
May you be blessed in your children, your servants, your yoak-fellows, and your Minister.
May you be blessed in your healths, your names, and your estates.
May you farewel in the exercises of Graces, Duties, and Ordinances; may the God of love and peace, make them easie, pleasant, spiritual, and fruitful to you.
May you farewel in the hour of death: Let the God of love and peace, then shew his Reconciled Face, and speak peace unto you.
May you farewel at the great day o Judgment; may the God of love & peacef then set you at his right hand, smile up-, on you, and absolve you for ever.
May you farewel in the dayes of Eternity; Let the God of love and peace, then lead you to the Fountain of living Waters; let everlasting joy, be upon your heads; may you ever walk in Paradice with him, sing in the quire of Saints and Angels, or fit with him upon the Throne of his Glory; may you never know, what Hell means, but dwell in the Rests, and Ravishments of Heaven for ever.
May my enemies be all well; though I have known but a few, yet they that are, the Lord bless them for ever; may they be happy in the highest Heavens; the Lord love them, with an everlasting love; pardon all their sins, inrich them with all graces, overcome all their corruptions; the Lord return them good, for every evil thought, word, or deed they have used against me, I do from my soul beseech him: I earnestly desire of God, I may know what 'tis to live in their love, and communion in Eternity, whose favour I could never gain in time.
This I can truly say, There are none in the world I have more heartily loved, than my greatest enemies.
I have had no greater delight, than to do good for evil; to pass by provocations, to offer obligations, has been one of the sweetest pleasures of my life: Let them enjoy that love from God, which I could never gain from them.
May my friends be rewarded; let them be reaping in the dayes of Eternity, every good thought, word, and deed, they have here vouchsafed unto me; how anworthy soever I am, yet (seeing it was done in the name of a Prophet) let them receive a Prophets reward; may they never want God to be their friend; let the upper and the neather springs be their portion.
May all the graces of the Divine spirit, all the promises of the Gospel, and all the joys of glory, be the lot Inneritance.
I can now say no more, but my life shall spend it self, in crying for their blessednesses: And God has no greater riches to bestow, than my soul shal daily importune from them; Let all the Treasures of Divine love, be the reward of theirs. Let every particular Family be blest, and (in especial) that honourable Family, whose deceased Head brought me hither. Let every Branch thereof, be an heir of Temporal, Spiritual, and Eternal Mercies; Let their Name continue in Splendor, and their Posterity in Divine favour, as long as the Sun and Moon endureth: The Lord unite them in Peace, and God deal so with me, as I have sincerely laboured, the Union and Prosperity of that Family.
And now (as in reference to my Administration) farewel Sacraments, and Sabbeths; farewel Expositions, and Catechize; farewel this house; and farewel this Seat for ever: and (within a little while) farewel your discourse, and your faces; farewel my pleasant habitation, and this sweet air of Mells; farewel friend and foe; farewel all; and the God of Glory, give us himself who is all in all.
New the Lord bless you, and keep you, the Lord make his Face to shine upon you, and be gratious to you; The Lord lift up the Light of his Countenance vponupon you, and give you peace.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sweet and comfortable Fellowship of God the Holy Ghost, be with you, bless, guide, and keep you; Save your souls, and bodies now, hencefor Ever, and for Ever.
FINIS.
End of the text · Samuel Fairclough Sr, A Pastors Legacy to His Beloved People (1663)