Some Prison Meditations, Title page – Publishers note
SOME Priſon-Meditations AND EXPERIENCES: WITH Some Hints touching the Fall of the Mother of Harlots, and the exaltation of the SON of GOD upon the Throne of DAVID.
Written in Newgate by JOHN GRIFFITH a Priſoner there.
My heart is inditing a good matter, I ſpeak of the things which I have made touching the King,
Pſal. 45.1.
Thou wilt ſhew me the path of life, in thy preſence is fulneſs of joy, at thy right hand there are pleaſures for evermore,
Pſal. 16.11.
Thou ſhalt guide me with thy counſel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I deſire beſides thee,
Pſal. 73.24, 25.
And there followed another Angel, ſaying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great City, becauſe ſhe made all Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, Rev. 14.8. Yet have I ſet my king upon my holy hill of Zion,
Pſal. 2.7.
Printed in the year 1663.
The Epiſtle Dedicatory.
To all in every place that love our Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity and Truth, and that wait for his glorious appearing, (more eſpecially unto that Remnant to whom I ſtand more particularly related) Grace be multiplied, with encreaſe of Faith and Love from God the Father, and his Son Jeſus the Anointed through the Comforter, Chriſtian Salutation.
Well-beloved,
ITs matter of comfort to the Lords poor deſpiſed people, in a dark day, that he is pleaſed not to leave his nothing-ones (that either have or do ſuffer any thing for the ſake of bleſſed Jeſus) without ſome ſignal tokens of his comforting and ſtrengthening-preſence with them, by which they are in a good meaſure kept from fainting, and that he doth ſeal up inſtruction to their ſouls, leading them to the Rivers of Pleaſures, cauſing them to drink deep of his Love and Free-Grace in his dear Son: Oh what a choice Mercy it is, that the Moſt High God ſhould ſo far condeſcend, as to have regard to ſuch worthleſs Creatures; who in the day of their fulneſs ſo much provoked the Eternal God by their unthankfulneſs and miſ-improvement of ſuch Choice Mercy, as the Mercy of the Goſpel is.
It is wonderful Grace that God ſhould (notwithſtanding ſuch provocations wherewith he hath been provoked by Congregations in general, and by every Member in particular) ſtill continue the good ſavour of his Grace upon the hearts of any of them, or that he ſhould account any of his poor ſervants worthy to ſuffer Reproach and Bonds for his ſake.
Which Mercy (which I eſteem very choice and ſweet to my ſoul) he hath been pleaſed for ſome time to let me enjoy; which is wonderful in my ſight, that ſuch a nothing, empty Creature as I am, ſhould be employed by him in ſuch a Noble Work, and in ſuch a Noble Cauſe, as to ſuffer Bonds for the ſake of bleſſed Jeſus.
Yet notwithſtanding the length of time I have been in durance, I find my heart is not ſo cleanſed and brought to the foot of Chriſt, as I hope it may, and wait it ſhould.
And if it ſo pleaſe the Lord to ſanctifie theſe Bonds, that I may by the help of his holy Spirit ſo crucifie the remains of Corruption that I find ſtill in my heart, and ſubdue, and bring in ſubjection every vain imagination, that every high thing that exalts it ſelf, may be brought in obedience to the King, then may I bleſs the Lord for the day that ever I lay in Newgate.
The which I may ſay I am engaged (and not without cauſe) already to do, for aſmuch as God hath let me ſee my ſelf, and the baſeneſs of my own heart, the unbelief and diffidence that lodgeth there in ſome meaſure, which give… occaſion to me to magnifie the Grace of God the more, in that he ſhould be graciouſly pleaſed to accept ſuch an unworthy Worm as I am, in his dear Son. A clear evidence of which, through Grace I can ſay I am not without in my ſoul, yet not ſo, as wholly to be without ups and downs, occaſioned by temptation working upon my Frailties, which my dear Lord Jeſus is pleaſed to aſſiſt me in, and cauſe them to work for good unto my ſoul; Bleſſed be Jehovah.
I have in this Poem rudely ſcattered here and there ſome of thoſe MEDITATIONS and EXPERIENCES, that God hath been pleaſed to viſit my Soul with; the which I preſent to the view, and commend to the ſerious thoughts of all the Faithful, but more particularly, to that Remnant and choſen ones to whom I ſtand more immediately and particularly related in the bonds of the Goſpel:
Hoping all the Spiritual will take them in good part, and judge of them in the Spirit of Love, to whoſe Chriſtian correction I readily ſubject my ſelf and Labours; hoping alſo, th… they will put the faireſt conſtruction and interpretation both upon them and me, that Brotherly Love and Duty binds them to.
I could not willingly paſs to the Concluſion of this poor Work, until I had firſt hinted ſomething touching the Fall of Myſterie Babylon, that old and great Whore, and of the Exaltation of our dear Lord; the thoughts of which now in my bonds, makes me very merry, and is as a cordial to comfort my poor heath, for which I wait, and to which time I truſt he will keep that which I have committed to him.
My dear Brethren, 'Tis but a very little while, and he that ſhall come will come, and will not tarry: In this time of our Pilgrimage let us labour to exalt him in our hearts, that he may be chief, and rule as Lord and King there, that when we come to lay down this houſe of clay, we may be cloathed upon with our Houſe from Heaven, and be found of him without fault at his coming: To which end wait diligently upon the Lord in his Word and Ordinances: Be much with God in Prayer, praying for all Saints, and for me the moſt unworthy Servant of Chriſt, that I may be kept faithful to death; and let your walks be in Heaven; So ſhall the King greatly deſire thy Beauty, for He is thy Lord, and worſhip thou Him. Farwell: Grace be with you all: Amen.
From my poor pitiful Study in Newgate, Septem, 22. 1663. Your Brother in the dear love of Jeſus, JOHN GRIFFITH.
COurteous Reader, by reaſon of the Authors abſence, many faults have eſcaped the Preſs, which thou art deſired to mend with thy Pen.