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<DATE>2008-03-04</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B080142.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">T1188A</STC>
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<VID>180392</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 15 -->
<HEAD>A COPY of Arch-Bi&s;hop TILLOTSON's LETTER to His FRIEND.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Am &s;orry to under&s;tand by Mr. <HI>Janeways</HI> Letter to my Son, that your Di&s;temper grows upon you, and that you &s;eem to decline &s;o fa&s;t. I am very &s;en&s;ible how much eai&s;er it is to give Advice again&s;t trouble in the ca&s;e of another, then to take it in our own. It hath plea&s;ed God to Exerci&s;e me of late with a very &s;ore Tryal in the lo&s;s of my Dear and Only Child, in which I do perfectly &s;ubmit to his good Plea&s;ure, firmly believing that he does always what is be&s;t; and yet tho' Rea&s;on be &s;atisfied, our Pa&s;&s;ion is not &s;o &s;oon Appea&s;ed; and when Nature hath received a Wound, time mu&s;t be allowed for the Healing of it. Since that God hath thought fit to give me a nearer Summons and a clo&s;er of my Mor|tality in the danger of an Apoplexy, which yet I thank God hath occa&s;ioned no very Melan|choly Reflections, but this perhaps is more owing to natural Temper than to Philo&s;ophy and wi&s;e Con&s;iderations; Your Ca&s;e I know is very different, who are of a Temper naturally Melancholy, and under a Di&s;temper apt to increa&s;e it; for both which, great Allowances are to be made. And yet methinks both Rea&s;on and Religion do offer to us Con&s;iderations of that Solidity and Strength, as may very well &s;upport our Spirits under all the Infirmities and Frailties of the Fle&s;h, &s;uch as the&s;e; that God is perfect Love and Goodne&s;s, that we are not only his Creatures, but his Children, and as dear to him, as to our &s;elves, that he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the Children of Men; and that all Evils and Afflictions which &s;hall befall us, are intended for the Cure and Preventions of greater Evils, of Sin and Puni&s;h|ment: And therefore we ought not only to &s;ubmit to them with Patience, as being de&s;erved by us, but to receive them with thankfulne&s;s, as being de&s;igned by him, to do us that good, and to bring us to that &s;ence of him, and our &s;elves, which perhaps nothing el&s;e would have done; that the Sufferings of this pre&s;ent time are but &s;hort and &s;light, with that extream and endle&s;s Mi&s;ery which we have de&s;erved; and with that exceeding and eternal weight of Glo|ry which we hope for in the other World: That if we be careful to make the be&s;t Preparati|on we can for Death and Eternity, whatever brings us nearer to our End, brings us nearer to Happine&s;s; and how rugged &s;oever the Way be, the Comfort is that it leads to our Fathers Hou&s;e, where we &s;hall want nothing that we can wi&s;h. When we labour under a Di&s;temper, that threatens our Life, what would we not be content to bear in order to a perfect Recove|ry? could we but be a&s;&s;ured of it: And &s;hou'd we not be willing to endure much more, in or|der to Happine&s;s, and that Eternal Life which God that cannot Lye hath promi&s;ed. Nature I know is fond of Life, and apt to be &s;till Lingering after a longer Continuance here; and yet a long Life with the u&s;ual Burdens and Infirmities of it, is &s;eldom de&s;irable; it is but the &s;ame thing over again or wor&s;e. So many more Days and Nights, Summers and Winters, a repetition of the &s;ame Plea&s;ure, but with le&s;s Plea&s;ure and Reli&s;h, every day a return of the &s;ame, or greater Painsor Trouble, but with le&s;s Patience and Strength to bear them.</P>
<P>The&s;e and the like Con&s;iderations <HI>I</HI> u&s;e to Entertain my &s;elf withall, not only with Content|ment, but with Comfort, though with great inequality of Temper at &s;everal times, and with much mixture of Humane Frailty, which will always &s;tick to us while we are in this World. However by the&s;e kind of Thoughts, Death becomes more familiar with us, and we &s;hall be able by Degrees to bring our minds clo&s;e up to it, without &s;tarting at it. The greate&s;t tender|ne&s;s I find with my &s;elf, is with regard to &s;ome near Relations, e&s;pecially the dear and con&s;tant Companions of my Life, which <HI>I</HI> mu&s;t confe&s;s doth very &s;en&s;ibly touch me, but then <HI>I</HI> con&s;i|der, and &s;o I hope will they al&s;o, that this Seperation will be but for a little while, and that though <HI>I</HI> leave them in a bad World, yet under the care of a good God. who can be more and better to them then all other Relations, and will certainly be &s;o to tho&s;e that Love him, and Hope in his Mercy. <HI>I</HI> &s;hall not need to advi&s;e you what to do, and what u&s;e to make of this time of your Vi&s;itation, <HI>I</HI> have rea&s;on to beleive that you have been careful in the time of your Health to prepare for this Evil Day, and have been conver&s;ant in tho&s;e Books, which give the be&s;t Directions to this purpo&s;e, and have not, as too many do, put of the great Work of your Life to the End of it: And then you have nothing now to do, but as well as you can under your pre&s;ent Weakne&s;s and Pains, to renew your Repentance for all the Errors and Mi&s;carriages of your Life, and<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;es of God, and the Hope of tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> Happine&s;s which you are ready to enter into, and in the mean time to Exerci&s;e Faith and Patience for a little while, be of good Courage &s;ince you &s;ee Land the Storm you are in will quickly be over, and then it will be as if it had never been, or rather the Remembrance of it will be a Plea&s;ure. <HI>I</HI> do not u&s;e to write &s;uch long Letters, but I do heartily Compa&s;&s;ionate your Ca&s;e, and &s;hould be glad if I could &s;ugge&s;t a|ny thing that might help to mitigate your Troubles, and make that &s;harp and rough Way, through which you are to pa&s;s into a better World, more &s;mooth and ea&s;ie. <HI>I</HI> Pray God, fit us both for that great Change which we mu&s;t once undergoe, and if we be but in any good Mea&s;ure fit for it, &s;ooner or later makes no great difference. <HI>I</HI> commend you to the Father of Mercies, and the God of all Con&s;olation, be&s;eeching him to increa&s;e your Faith and Patience, and to &s;tand by you in the la&s;t and great Conflict, that when you walk through the Valley of the Shaddow of Death, you may fear no Evil, and when your Heart fails, and Strength fails, you may find him the Strength of your Heart and your Portion for ever. Far|wel my good Friend, and while we are here let us Pray for one another, that We may have a Joyful meeting in another World. <HI>I</HI> re&s;t</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your truly Affectionate Friend and Servant, <HI>JOHN TlLLOTSON.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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