Category: Religion/Spirituality
1. AS the Christian religion is not an invention of men, but the work of God, it received its full perfection at the beginning of it. For who can imagine, the apostles were ignorant of any truth necessary or useful to salvation? Or that any thing has been since found out touch...
1. AS the Christian religion is not an invention of men, but the work of God, it received its full perfection at the beginning of it. For who can imagine, the apostles were igno...
4. CHAPTER II.1. AFTER the apostles had received the Holy Ghost, they were living images of Jesus Christ. And by them all the following servants of Christ were to form their hearts and lives....
5. CHAPTER III.1. THEY who are unacquainted with history, suppose, that the men who lived seventeen hundred years ago, were more artless, more innocent and more teachable, than those that are...
6. CHAPTER IV.1. THOSE who were baptized began to lead a new life, wholly spiritual and supernatural: a life of faith and prayer: remembring the words of their Lord, that _men ought always to...
7. CHAPTER V.1. THE fasts of the ancients were either yearly, as that of _Lent_, which they observed daily till six in the evening; or weekly, as those of _Wednesday_ and _Friday_, which the...
8. CHAPTER VI.1. WITH all this disengagement from the world, the greatest part of the first Christians were married. They were sensible indeed of the vast advantages, which St. _Paul_ observe...
9. CHAPTER VII.1. BUT notwithstanding the purity of their doctrine, and the unblameableness of their lives, the Christians found what their Lord had told them before, that they should be _hate...
10. CHAPTER VIII.1. THE church took care of all who were unable to help themselves, of whatever age or sex: the blind, the lame, the maimed, the decrepit; and these they esteemed the treasure of...
11. LETTER I._First_, I lay this for a foundation, That a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. It was accounted a wise prayer that _Agur_ put up, to be...
12. LETTER II.I SHALL never forget your old kindnesses; would I never so fain forget them, yet I could not, they are so continually renewed; for there is never a day but I hear of them: nay,...
13. LETTER III.I READILY acknowledge myself a debtor to you all, and a servant of all, and therefore I have sent to salute you all. My lines fell in a fair place when the Lord cast my lot amon...
14. LETTER IV.MY heart’s desire and prayer to God for you is, that you may be saved. I know that you are the butt of men’s rage and malice: but you may satisfy yourselves as _David_ in sustai...
15. LETTER V.MY heart is with you, though I am absent. Dear fellow soldiers under the captain of our salvation, consider your calling, and approve yourselves men of resolution; be discourage...
16. LETTER VI.I MUST say of you as _David_ did of _Jonathan_, Very pleasant have you been unto me, and your love to me is wonderful. And as I have formerly taken great content in that my lot...
17. LETTER VII.I HAVE received your moving letter, and could not look over _such_ tender expressions without some commotion. I may confidently say, I spent more tears upon those lines, than ev...
18. LETTER VIII.I AM by office a remembrancer, the Lord’s remembrancer for you, and your remembrancer in the behalf of Christ. My business is with the apostle, to stir up your pure minds by way...
19. LETTER IX.BRETHREN how stands it with you? Doth the main work go on? do your souls prosper? This is my care; beware that you flag not, that you faint not now in the evil day. I understand...
20. LETTER X.WHOSE I am, and whom under God I desire to serve; to build you up in holiness, and comfort, hath been through grace my great ambition. This is that which I laboured for; this is...
21. LETTER XI.I HAVE been through mercy many years with you, and should be willingly so many years a prisoner for you, so I might further your salvation. I must again and again thank you for...
22. LETTER XII.BELOVED, I am, without a compliment, the devoted servant of your soul’s prosperity: may the Lord Jesus be set up in your hearts: may his name ever live in you, and I have what I...
23. LETTER XIII.I HAVE sent these few lines, to beseech you by these bonds, which I gladly endure for your sakes, to hold forth, and hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering. The...
24. LETTER XIV.I WOULD have you count nothing as certain but Christ’s love and care. This you may build upon: you need not fear lest time and distance should wear out the remembrance of you wi...
25. LETTER XV.YOU are a great joy to me. I know not what thanks to render to the Lord for you, when I hear of your constancy and fidelity, and zeal, in adhering to him, and his ways, even in...
26. LETTER XVI.I AM your’s, and love to be so, being ambitious not to have dominion over your faith, but to be a helper of your joy. Christ’s officers are so your rulers in the Lord, as yet to...
27. LETTER XVII.1. _To improve for eternity, the advantages of your present state._ Though you are at many disadvantages with respect to the public ordinances, yet you have many most happy priv...
28. LETTER XVIII.*ALTHOUGH I am forced at the present, to be at a distance from you, yet I would not have you ignorant, that the care of your eternal welfare is always living upon my heart. Ther...
29. LETTER XIX.I REJOICE to hear of God’s continual goodness towards you; he is your shepherd, and therefore it is that you do not want. Me you have not always, but he is ever with you; his ro...
30. LETTER XX.OH that my letters in my absence might be useful to you! It is my joy to serve you, and my love to you is without dissimulation: Witness my twice lost liberties, and my impaired...
31. LETTER XXI.MY chief joy is, that my beloved is mine and I am his. But next to that I have no joy so great as that you are mine and I am yours, and you are Christ’s. My relation to Christ i...
32. LETTER XXII.I LOVE you, and long for you in the Lord, and I am weary with forbearing that good and blessed work that the Lord hath committed to me, for the furtherance of your salvation. Ho...
33. LETTER XXIII.I THANKFULLY acknowledge, both to God and you, that I am many ways obliged to love and serve you, and surely, when the Lord shall turn our captivity, I will (through his grace)...
34. LETTER XXIV.THOU seemest to have been long from me; let nothing any longer detain thee, but my sister’s necessity, or father’s authority. I am in a comfortable state of health, through divi...
35. LETTER XXVI.HAD not my right hand long since forgot her cunning, and the Almighty shook the pen out of my hand, I should long e’er this have written to thee; but it is a wonder of divine po...
36. LETTER XXVII.THE welcome tidings of your safe arrival at _Barbadoes_ is come to my ears; as also the news of your escape from a perilous sickness, for which I bless the Lord. I have consider...
37. LETTER XXVIII.*YOUR letter was exceeding welcome to me, not only as reviving the remembrance of our old friendship, but also, as bringing me news of some spiritual good that you received by m...
38. LETTER XXIX.IT was but a little after my release from my own confinement, but I heard of yours: and now write to you, as one that hath taken a higher degree than ever, being commenced priso...
39. LETTER XXX.MY heart’s desire and prayer for you is, that you may be saved. This is that which I have been praying and studying, and preaching for these many _years_: and this is the end of...