Usury Stated Overthrown, Dedication 3 – Dedication 4
To the Right Honourable Lord, John Roberts, Earl of Radnor, Lord Preſident of His Majeſty's moſt Honourable Privy Council, Mercy and Peace from Jeſus Chriſt the Prince of Peace.
Right Honourable,
SO ancient is the Mode of Dedicating Books to Great Perſons, that we ſhall find it practiſed even in the Apoſtles time, and ſhortly after; for Luke himſelf, though he was inſpired by the Spirit, yet dedicated his Book, called The Acts of the Apoſtles, to Theophilus, Act. 1. And S. Auſtin dedicated that moſt excellent Piece of his, which he wrote againſt the Epiſtles of the Pelagians, to the Noble Bonifacius. Anſwerably whereunto, I alſo here dedicate this Book, moſt Noble Sir, my great Favourer, to your Lordſhip, to manifeſt my grateful mind for all your great and undeſerved Favours extended to me, and cumulated upon me, the unworthieſt of all the Miniſters of Jeſus Chriſt: hoping, that as your Lordſhip hath accepted of the Dedications of others, ſo you will be pleaſed to accept of mine; and that my God will bedew theſe my Theological Sudors and Labours with his Celeſtial Benediction; ſo, as that when your Lordſhip has peruſed and read the ſame, you will uſe them alſo for your Eternal Good, labouring as for Life, to have that ſweet Society with Jeſus Chriſt which Saints have both Day and Night, by an Holy Walking with his Great and Glorious Majeſty in his Celeſtial Galleries and Walking Places, Cant. 7.5. and fighting the good and great Fight of Faith, as one of his valiant Warriers, wreſtling with God moſt mightily, to overcome God. O Great Sir! may it pleaſe your Honour, to give your mind to theſe great things more than ever, and to do them; for then how rich you would be in God on a ſudden! and how ſure of Heaven! for Heaven would then not only be above you, but alſo in you: Rom. 14.17. and you would be able to ſay truly, Now I have enough: for, loe what a Life I now live, living by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himſelf for me! Gal. 2.20. and ſpending my whole time with my Love Chriſt, by Night as well as by Day, to ſatiate my longing deſire with his moſt ſweet Society! and Oh the unexpreſſible Peace that I now have within; being aſſured in my Heart, that with everlaſting Bliſs I ſhall be bleſſed! and Oh the longing Joy which does now ſurround me! and what a Globe of Glory becircles me…! Oh, Noble Sir, 'tis true Nobility for a Man to be a Worſhipper of God, a good Reader of God's Book, a good Keeper of Holy Communion and Society with the higheſt Majeſty; for that will bring us to the greateſt Riches and Felicity. As for this World's Riches, you have enough of them, bleſſed be God: but one dram of Spiritul Grace, one Glimpſe of Jehovah's Face, one Glance from one of Chriſt's Love-like Eyes, one Drop of his precious-Blood, one Draught of his ſweeteſt Wines of Love, one Sip of his Divine Conſolations, will do you more good than all this World's Goods. And therefore, let that be thought upon, and laboured after, above all things: for then, I ſay again, you will be able to echoe forth theſe Words from your very Heart, and from an undeceiving Experience: Oh, what an Ocean of ineffable Delights do now overflow me, and what a Maſs of Heaven's Bliſs ſurrounds me! But I intend to cloſe up this Epiſtle with praying thus. May Heaven's Bleſſing be dropped down upon my poor Labours, and upon the Head of this Noble Lord to whom I exarate and write theſe Lines; that he, reading and practiſing the ſame on Earth, may reap the benefit thereof above in Heaven; receiving an Eternal and Immarceſſible Crown of Glory.
Your Lordſhip's Moſt Humble Servant, Chriſtopher Jelinger.
To the Moſt Noble Charles Pawlet, Lord Marqueſs of Wincheſter, Grace and Mercy be multiplied.
Highly Honourable,
MAy it pleaſe your Lordſhip to permit your moſt humble Servant to make this Addreſs to your Honour. And firſt to give an Account of my boldneſs therein ſhown; Your Honour knows how long I have been a Tenant to your Noble Father, and to your Honourable Self alſo; and I remember how ready you have been to offer me a Spiritual Living for my Preferment; ſo that I could not but reflect upon that, and all other Favours with Thankfulneſs, and to erect, as it were, a Monument of my Gratitude by dedicating this Treatiſe to your Honour: hoping that if you will be pleaſed to improve it, Godlineſs Epitomized, contained therein, will bring you to be ſo familiar with Chriſt, that great King of Kings, as that his Majeſty and your ſelf will ſeldom or never be aſunder: and that thereupon you will ſay like David; When I awake I am ſtill with thee, Pſal. 139.18. and, I am Prayer, Pſal. 109.4. (ſo it is in the Hebrew) being all for Prayer, and ſpending a great part of your time in Prayer. I have read of a Godly Miniſter, that of twenty four Hours, he ſpent eight in Prayer; which is not expected of every body, nor required of your Honour; but that you, and all Chriſt's Saints ſpend much time in Prayer: Pray often, and even by Night as well as by Day, Luk. 18.1, 7, 8. Well, Great Sir, I truſt in God that he will lead you into all the Truths and things which here you are pointed to: and that thereupon you will lead ſuch a Ceraphical, Celeſtial and Tranſcendental Life for Holineſs, as that being ecſtaſied in your Spirit, you will be able to ſay, O! what a Heaven! what a Paradiſe! what a Beatity doth circumſcribe me! Heaven being in my very Heart, and my Heart in Heaven. Heaven is high, I confeſs; but not too high for Strivers, Wreſtlers, for holy Livers: and therefore let us ſtrive, Great Sir, as for Life, to enter into Life by a ſweet and holy Living with our dear Jeſus, whoſe Life was a moſt ſtrict, moſt pious, moſt Heavenly Life indeed; that we may live with his moſt bleſſed Majeſty in Bliſs and Beatity, Greatneſs and Gladneſs, Peace and Proſperity to all Eternity. Which that it may prove ſo, I humbly beg that the great and mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth would write theſe Lines that are written in this Book with his own Holy Finger, as with the Pen of a Diamond, in your Honour's Heart, and in mine too, and in all the Hearts of thoſe which ſhall peruſe and pervolve the ſame. Amen, Amen.
Your Honour's Moſt Humble Servant, Chriſtopher Jelinger.