ing of men, whofe light, till they be illuminate from above, as it arifes out of a dark dungeon, fo, it leads to deftruction; and instead of directing the man who follows it, to a place of reft, it leads him to the pit, and leaves him there to perifh. If thou be taken, I fay, with fuch kind of ftuff, I fhall not bid thee, but I know thou wilt go elfe where: but if thou be one, who loves not to feed upon afhes, and haft no mind to fill thy belly with that eaft-wind, which inftead of nourishment, produceth nothing but much torment in the inward parts, I know thou wilt welcome this piece, as that which hath both meat and medicine for thy foul in it: here thou wilt meet with one warmed with the love of God, fhining and reflecting heat upon all that are about him, letting thee know from his own experience, what is to be found in a fellowship with God, and defirous of nothing fo much, as that thou and others may fhare with him in that fame love, which is better than life, and be partakers of that fame bleffednefs, which made him boaft of God all the day, and blefs himself in his afflicted lot: he would have thee tafte of that, which made him cheerful under the cross, and put him in cafe, not only to look, but to laugh all his troubles out of countenance: and if thou wilt but converfe with him a little, it may be, thou find thy heart burn within thee while thou talkeft with this warm foul, whofe words feem as they drop, to catt fire in the affections, and fet the heart in a flame: the author in his other writings (which have always a fpecial tincture of holiness; for even in following the most obftrufe notion, and apparently remote from practice, thou wilt ftill perceive. him fpirare fanctitatem) he is much above many men; but in these (how low foever at the first look they may appear) he is above himself, being often, either as a man elevate above the pitch of mortality, and caught up already into the choir of angels, or as an angel come down amongst men, fhewing the inhabitants of this lower world, fomewhat of that, which will be ftill a great fecret, while we are here, viz. what a life they live, who fee God as he is, and enjoy him.

For the fubject matter thou wilt meet with in thefe epiftles, I fhall not fay much; there is a fweet and pleasant variety of purpose to be found in them, whereof thou canft only expect a juft account by a perufal of the whole; but mostly thou wilt find thefe things infifted on, 1. What high fpring-tides of joy and confolation, did fill and overflow the foul of this fufferer, fo, as fometimes ye have him expreffing himself as pained with a furcharge of love (O rare and bleffed difeafe!) and having nothing elfe to feek, there are earnest longings, after a more capacious foul, to contain more of that infinite ocean, which hath neither brim gor bottom; this is the gain of one who can fuffer the lofs of all things for Chrift: this is the cool refreshing fhade that they find in the furnace, which not only keeps the fire of affliction from fcorching them, or confuming them into afhes; but makes it a more defireable lot, than what others account the beft of lives: the foul amidst thefe flames, being admitted to fuch a nearness with God, as caufeth joy to overflow all its banks, and perfumes the heart with delight, is fo far from complaining, because of the fiery trial, that the crofs of Chrift is more defireable to it, than a crown and since it is there, where next to heaven, his People enjoy most of himself, it makes them fing fweetly amidst all the outward forrows that befal them, and puts them in cafe to command a confort of mufic within, while others in their fool's paradife, laugh as they lift, have fadnefs at their heart, and find themfelves pierced through with many forrows. 2 Ye have fometimes a felt emptinefs (for this full feaft, is not, or cannot be the ordinary diet, it may well be the extraordinary defert of the people of God, while they walk by faith, and

not

not by fight; the conftancy of that joy, as well as the fulness of it, is referved for the chamber of prefence, no faint, how eminent foever, even in fuffering for Chrift, can expect, that all tears fhall be wiped from his eyes, till he come to that land, where all the inhabitants have everlafting joy upon their heads, and where he will be put beyond hazard of finning, as well as without the reach of fuffering) there is fometimes a felt emptinefs, I fay, that cafts into a fever of defires: that river of God that is full of water, which did overflow and refresh the foul, running again into that fea whence it came; and in this low ebb, ye fee how the patient is pained with abfence, and what a panting there is for a fenfible prefence; the foul as it were is evaporate in fuch wishes as thefe, O! when wilt thou come unto me! Or, O when fhall I come and appear before thee, and be put once for all, and for ever beyond the fear of the arifing of any cloud to eclipfe the light of thy countenance ! The foul in this abfence, is fcorched with the fever and flame of burning defires; but to keep it from being burnt up, there is hope, this holds the foul in life that it expire not; this faves from fwooning, and preferves from finking into defpondency: and though while hope is deferred, the heart be fick, yet there is eafe in this very pain; for an unerring expectation of a future good, yields a prefent eafe to the expectant, and makes the man give himself the check thus, Why art thou caft down, O my foul? This fickness was never yet unto death, but ever to the glory of God, therefore hope thou in him, for I fhall yet praise him: in a word, that which is principally infifted upon, in these fhort fummaries of a communion with God, is this on the one hand, how a hungry and longing foul is filled and feafted with the confolations of God, and when in that pofture, how puzzled and non-plus'd, as to what to think, or fay of God: it knows not what to do, or how to lay out itfelf for him, the fatisfaction that it hath in him, and the obligation it fees itfelf under to him, making it look on every thing it doth for him, fayeth or thinketh of him, with a kind of regrete and holy diffatisfaction: it doth not please itself in pleasing him, and though he accept what love offers, yet love defiderates fo much in the offering, that it prefents all with a blush and suitable to this amiable and orderly confufion of fpirit, its greateft oratory and eloquence, is, a kind of abrupt, concife, and broken difcourfe: it is moft defirous to fpeak, but not knowing what to fay, which is not unworthy of him, it falls into filent admiration, and yet fomething it muft fay; wherein though it do not please itfelf, yet it makes good fenfe before him, and is a moft pleasant melody in his ears: it is then, when he feems to be fo taken with that, wherein the foul finds fo many failings and defects, that he fays, fpeak on, let me fee that blushing countenance, let me hear thy voice; for fweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. And truly thou mayeft perceive much of this kind of difcourfe in thefe epiftles, whereto the holy writer was fo habituate in thefe foliloquies with God, which were ordinary to him in his retirement, that his pen, and preaching, did ever after keep the tincture, and had the relifh of that: for while many preached notions, and fome fpake becaufe they believed; he was perceived ofttimes, not fo much to fpeak as believing, as feeing: his being fo long in the mount with God, made his face to fhine ever thereafter in his public appearances: and there was fome peculiar fweetnefs in his phrase (efpecially in crying up, and commending the love of Chrift, in mentioning the joy of the Holy Ghoft, or the glory of the life to come) beyond what was to be found, even with other holy men: neither was it amongst the dry fchool-men, nor at Ariftotle's feet (though there were few in the age, fo well acquaint with either) that he learned this; nay;

nay,

nay, flesh and blood did not, nor could not reveal it unto him, he was a ftudent above the clouds; and there it was, where he learned thefe metaphyfics. This, I fay, is the thing upon the one hand which is infifted upon, and on the other, thou haft the fad condition of a foul deprived of thefe fweet enjoyments: he who was just now taken into the banqueting-houfe, and had the banner of love for his canopy, hath that fpiced wine which his foul was drinking with delight fnatcht out of his hand, and fits panting for a drop of the rivers of his pleasure, wherein nor long ago he was bathing himfelf: whereupon follows a night of forrow in the foul; because the fun that did illuminate and warm it, with his rays, is fet: then, as if the foul would break forth at many paffages together, for hafte to be after him, who hath withdrawn himself, it runs out at the eyes in tears, and at the mouth in complaints, because of his abfence; yet faith fets down the fainter upon the brink of the river, and puts him under an arreft (that he run not away) till the fea flow again: and defire makes him look out with a watery eye as impatient of delay, the inward echo of the heart, in the mean time, being ftill this, How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long? And while he is in this pofture, ye would not know him to be the man, that a few minutes fince he was, and a few minutes hence he may and will be: and no wonder, fince that is wanting and away, which was the health of his countenance, that he look pale: as the weeping man's eye, being blinded with water, cannot take up objects as they are, efpecially if they be at any diftance; fo ye have this holy man in thefe heavy hours, venting his jealoufies, and becaufe of withdrawing, giving way to his forrow: now, as the joy of enjoying God, is by the former, made clear to be of all the greatest (for under thefe full manifeftations, the foul may be tranfported to fuch an extafy of delight, that for the time, whether in the body, or out of the body, the man knows not) fo, the forrow for being deprived of that, (the giver feeing it neceffary, to withhold and fufpend thefe manifeftations, knowing that heavinefs for a feafon thro' manifold temptations, is fit for thefe, who are fons of confolation, and who fhall have a few days hence, an everlasting year of jubilee) is, of all forrows, feen to be the foreft and sharpeft. This is foul-anguish, and fo leaft of any fupportable: because it makes the very Spirit, which if it were found would fuftain a man's infirmities, fink under it: while it is thus with him, ye may perceive that his bed cannot comfort him, nor his couch eafe his complaint. And in this Fever, there are fome expreffions dropped, which after the height is over, he doth retract, as rafh and unadvifed, and upon more mature deliberation, is made to fay, This was my infirmity: and truly he who intendeth the advantage of the whole, in his way of dealing with every member of that body, whereof he is Head, hath excellently ordered this matter, that they who have the fulleft feafts of joy, and are admitted to the neareft fellowship upon the earth, to the end, that pride may be hid from their eyes, have ordinarily the deepeft down-caftings; these warm hours and hot blinks of a fenfible prefence, are often followed with a fharp fhower, and a dark night of bitter defertion: fo that if poor fouls in reading thefe, fhould begin to think or fay, Alas! we are fparingly dealt with, we are great ftrangers to fuch a favourite's feaft: let them confider alfo (befides that he was an ambaffador now in bonds, and fo his mafter allowed liberally upon him) that their foul anguish is fhort of his, and fo, if they confider his condition well, they will fee, that though he had much, yet he had nothing over; and if they take notice of the mercy that is in their own, they will perceive alfo, that though they have little, yet they have no lack; for he abounds

towards

:

towards his, in all wisdom and prudence. There is a third condition fpoken frequently to in thefe epiftles alfo, which lies in the middle betwixt these two: and that is, fuch a communion with God, as con fifts in the foul's being well pleafed with him, and being moft defirous to please him in all things, abstracting from thefe extraordinary tranfports of joy upon the one hand, and free likewife of thefe deep down-caftings upon the other: and this is the more ordinary way of the faints, whofe daily exercife it is, to come and take out their directions from their mafter, and endeavour to walk according to thefe, both as men who are ftill under their mafter's eye, and as thofe who must give an account of themselves to him: in which fervice they want not their own fweet peace; for the way wherein they walk is a way of pleasantnefs, and all these paths are peace; though it be not fuch an overflowing peace, as amounts to a joy unfpeakable and full of glory; fo full joy is nothing elfe but peace fwelling without its ordinary channel, and overflowing all its banks and on the other hand, they want pot their own checks and challenges; they are often before God with the tear in their eye, and know what it is to figh, becaufe of a body of death within them; becaufe of that law which is in their members, warring against that law which is in their mind, and bringing them into captivity to the law of fin, which is in their mem bers yet this is fhort of the forrow of fome dear to him, who are made to roar, by reafon of the difquietness of their heart, and to cry out of the arrows of the Almighty fticking within them, and the poifon thereof drinking up their fpirit, fo that while they fuffer this, they are with wife Heman almost distracted. These things, I fay, are mainly infifted upon, which according to an epiftolar method, lie fcattered in feveral parcels up and down the book: in reading whereof, thou wilt eafily perceive alfo, that though the whole of thefe epiftles may be of fingular ufe for a Chriftian in every condition, yet a great many of them have a more fpecial reference, both to the comfort and the carriage of a Chriftian under the crofs (whether his affliction be outward trouble, or inward foul-exercife and terror, where he is most frequently to be found which is all I have to fay for the matter.

There are not a few in this generation, I know, who will make it their bufinefs, and think it of their intereft, to derogate from the esteem which thefe epiftles do juftly challenge, and will readily get, from all who know how to prize things according to their worth; as knowing very well, that what refpect thefe get and gain amongst readers, they lofe; though I may truly fay, and they will at laft find it fo, that if they get the thing they feek by this artifice, they lofe by that getting: and I'may affure myfelf alfo, if thefe either find thee a Chriftian or make thee fuch, they may well lofe by this labour any efteem thou hadft for them, but they will not profelyte thee, to their profane contempt of fo fpiritual matter; yet I know they will effay it: Firft, fomewhat to this purpofe may be faid and will be fuggefted by them, that here is a needlefs and naufeating repetition of the fame thing; though it may be, they are not fo difpleafed, that it is faid often, as that it is faid at all; or if the frequency of it offend them, it is out of a fear, that what is often faid, be once liftened to, and at laft learned. I grant that the fame matter and purpofe is divers times touched and infifted upon; but confider, 1. That this is to divers perfons, and is there either reafon or religion in it, to envy him the liberty of telling all the fearers of God, to whom he writes, what was done for his foul, or the people of God, the advantage of that relation? Was it not for the edification of the church, that all who had heard of his perfecution for the gofpel, fhould hear alfo, that

the

the world, do their worst, cannot make a fufferer truly miferable, while God makes him happy in a communion with himfelf: the heat of perfecution may dry up or imbitter all the nether fprings, but then the foul hath free access to the upper, and is admitted to drink, yea, drink abundantly of thefe rivers of his pleasure: this is the fpiced wine he drinks, and the meat he gets to eat in fecret, which the world knoweth not of, and cannot take from him; and having found how fweet to the tafte this bread of God, which comes down from heaven, is, he cannot forbear, to tell others, how he is feafted; to excite defires in all to come and share with him in thefe dainties, and forbear to furfeit themselves with the world's deceitful meat. 2. Confider, that it is at divers times, and furely, he finding the confolations of God new every morning, and abounding every moment, it had been a piece of bafe ingratitude in him, to have made mention of that but once, which God had given him often. 3. Confider, though the fame matter be often mentioned, yet it is moftly with a sweet and taking variety of phrase: he brings forth the old and new together, nay, there is ever fo much new in it, as may contribute to kindle new defires in thee, in order to the fatisfaction of thy own foul, to feek what he found, and when thou haft fallen upon that, and art filled with it, thy practice in telling it over to others, will, without doubt, have fuch a coincidency with his, as will juftify what he hath done, and thou wilt then judge, that an apology for publishing and frequent proclaiming the goodnefs of the Lord in the land of the living, is either wholly fuperfluous, or it doth suppose the reader not to be a Chriftian, at leaft in cafe.

Secondly, Something will be faid by malicious mutterers, (I know) against the apparent courfenefs of fome phrafes, and commonnefs of fome words made ufe of by the author; who all alongst sets himself, to make ufe of the moft ordinary expreffions, which are in ufe among the common fort of people. Something, I fay, of this kind may probably be belched forth, by this carping, criticizing, profane and prejudicate age: but if they would remember, what was faid (by men much more knowing than themselves, and more able to difcern what ought to be spoken, both as to matter and words) to the commendation of Plautus, who made ufe of the most common words that were in use, amongst the most common fort of people in Rome, Si ipfæ mufæ loquerentur ore Plautino uterentur; they would fee reafon, rather to commend a dexterous making ufe of common phrafes, in writing to people of no extraordinary capacity, than take, because of this, any occafion to quarrel at, or cry down, that which is fo useful and excellent: and if in the opinion of men faithful and famous in their generation, he be the beft preacher to a people (and confequently writer too)qui, quam maxime trivialiter, pueriliter, populariter docet, as to words, and phrases: I fee no great reafon fuch have to carp, or neceffity I have to make an apology: but there is fufficient to be faid, if not for filencing of bablers, whofe tongue hath more dimenfions than their reafon (which makes it not worth the while to take notice of their barking) yet for fatisfying of the more fober minded. First, Confider, that this difciple learned at his Mafter, both fo to write and speak, as not to hide his purpose in a cloud of new coined words: he confulted his own reputation fo little, while he fought his Master's honour, that he would rather seem a babler to them, who minded nothing but words; than a barbarian to the meaneft, who was taken with fpiritual matter: if Chrift's example, who taught thefe high and heavenly myfteries of falvation, by plain and obvious fimilitudes, be not fufficient to filence fuch perfons, who