A LETTER OF Advice and Comfort TO THE English Captives, Who Suffer SLAVERY IN Foreign Parts.  
By Josiah Woodward, D. D. Minister of Poplar.  
LONDON, Printed for William Hawes, at the Rose in Ludgate-street, 1700.   

To such of the English Captives, Who Suffer SLAVERY IN Foreign Parts, IN TO Whose hands this Paper shall come; Grace and Peace in our Lord Jesus Christ  
My dearly beloved Brother.  
THe alwise Providence of God h●●ing cast you into a 〈…〉 from your ow● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you cannot enjoy th● 〈…〉 Ordinances 〈…〉 manner 〈…〉 Counery; Le●● 〈…〉 of assistance in the great concerns of your Soul, like Sheep without a Shepherd▪ or think yourselves altogether forgotten and unpitied by your Countrymen; I have sent this Letter to you, in the Bowels and Affection of a Minister of Christ, to assist and comfort you under your present sufferings, and to further you in the attainment of everlasting Rest: earnestly Praying, that the Grace and Blessing of God may accompany these few lines to your effectual Edification and Salvation: in order to which I humbly entreat you seriously to peruse the same.  
In the first place. Let me beg of you to consider the righetous hand of God in your present confinement and affliction; and to lay your hand upon your mouth, to suppress all murmuring and discontent at his Providence. For no man living has any Reason to complain against God's Government: Nor have you the least ground for it in this case; whether your past Life has been spent profitably or unprofitably. If the former be your happy Case, if you have advanced in the Knowledge and practice of all Christian Duties as you ought to have done: It may be, God has providentially disposed your habitation for a time among the Heathen, that they might see and admire the Holy Doctrines and Heavenly Lives of Christians, and be brought over by your Example to own and embrace the Christian Faith: as St. Paul was sent in Chains to Rome, that the Gospel might flourish there through his Bonds. And if so, you have great Honour done you as God's Messengers: and you have the happy opportunity of obtaining the infinite Reward promised to such as turn many to Righteousness.  
But if on the contrary, your past Life, has been very barren and unfruitful of all good, very negligent of the Ordinances of the Gospel, and very guilty of sundry impieties and Immoralities: God here graciously gives you a time to repent and reform, before you go down to remediless Torments: You have then no manner of reason to complain of hard dealing from the hand of God, but on the contrary to admire his goodness and Patience, and to be lifted up in Love and devotion to him, who hath spared your Soul from Death, even from eternal Death and destruction, which is justly deserved by every Sin, and is dismaily challenged and provoked by a continued course of sin. So that in this Case (which is I fear, the most usual) the good providence of God seems to intent a double Kindness to you, by way of correction.  
First to make you sensible of your great Sin and folly in slighting and neglecting the Light, Grace, and Mercy of the Holy Gospel. That you might now by sad experience be taught how miserable it is to be destitute of Christian Sermons, Sabaths, and Sacraments: To want the food of spiritual Life, the Light of revealed Doctrines, and the conversation of holy and exemplary Christians. That you might now long after the public Service of God, and above all things relish Communion with him through his Son Jesus Christ.  
And Secondly, an other reason of God's good providence in this your affliction may be, to withdraw you from your former evil Courses, and to stop that fierce carrier in Sin, which might perhaps, in the former posture of things, have been morally remediless: Had you had your full Liberty, your old companions, your former plentiful and unafflicted State, you would perhaps have gone on still in those Sins to which these circumstances induced you before: And so you would have daily increased in guilt and hardness of Heart. But now the scene is quite altered, and all things appear new to invite you to serve God in newness of Life.  
We may well suppose that these were the kind intentions of the gracious Providence of God in this present dispensation, because we are assured from his own word, That he corrects us for our Profit (Heb. 12. v. 5. And that he dealeth with us herein as a Father with his Children) And when you have thoroughly learned these Lessons, which were the cause of your being brought into the School of Affliction; you may then comfortably hope that God will find out means that his Banished be not finally expelled; and that he will bring you to s●e your own Land again, when you know well how to value and improve the mercies of it. As a Gentleman used to keep little Birds in Cages till they could sing tunably and artificially, and then turned them lose into his Grove, when they had perfectly gotten their proper Lessons.  
I Therefore entreat you, my Brother, to look back seriously upon your past Life, and bring every part of it, as near as possible, to the Trial of God's Holy Commandments. Inquire impartially, by what Rules you have lived, from what Principles you have acted, and by what Motives you have been led? whether you have lived after the Will of God, or after your own Heart's desire? and whether your Soul has been chief swayed by thelove of God or of this present World? And where you perceive any marks of your past Gild, rashness, and unthankfulness; say with the Prophet (Amos. 7. 9) I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. And then also, retiring to the most convenient Place that your present condition affords, pour out your Soul to God in earnest prayer and say.  

A Prayer.  
O Most wise and good God, I humbly acknowledge that all thy ways towards me a most sinful Creature have been infinitely righteous and good. Thou in thy faithfulness hast afflicted me here that I might not perish for ever. Enable me I pray thee by thy grace to answer the merciful Ends of this Afflicted which thou hast brought upon me. Led me O God of all grace, unto unfeigned Repentance for all the Iniquitys and unprofit ableness of my past Life. Forgive methat I have loved darkness more than Light, and neglected the ministration of thy holy word and Sacraments, and have been more concerned for the things of this Life than that which is to come. I desire with the deepest sorrow to lament my rejecting of thy Son, my grieving of thy Spirit, and neglecting, that great Salvation which has long been offered me in thy Gospel. O Lord vouchsafe to give me Repentance and Pardon of all my grievous offences through our exalted Prince and Saviour And make me ever hereafter to live righteously, soberly and godly, as it becometh thy holy Gospel: to the blessed Ordinances and Enjoyments of which, I beseech thee, in thy due time to restore me; and make me to adorn the holy profession of a Christian in all righteousness and and true holiness. And during my present Want of those gracious institutions, vouchsafe, O Lord, to communicate the riches of thy Grace to me in such other ways and means as to thine infinite Wisdom shall seem good, that I may not be as a dead branch broken off from the true Vine, but may now and ever be accounted of the number of thy true Israel, thy beloved people in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for whose sake, vouchsafe to hear me and accept me, together with these my unworthy Prayers, in whose blessed Name and words, I humbly conclude them. Our Father which, etc.   
In the next place I desire you to consider the awfulness, solemnity, and strictness of your Christian Vows made in your Baptism, and renewed a fresh (if you have indeed lived as a Christian) at the Holy Table of our Lord. It is not a light matter to make a Promise to the Almighty Sovereign of the World; but to make Solemn Vows to him before chosen Witnesses, and in the face of a Christian Congregation, and to seal this in the Blood of Christ, that blood which is of infinite worth, and which shows the greatest Love and Pity to us that ever was seen in the World, which has a virtue to wash away Sin, and to open the Kingdom of Heaven to such as are purified thereby: How Sacred, how strict, how tremendous are such Vows! And how sorely will our Righteous God avenge every wilful Violation and slight of them? This is called a trampling on Christ's blood, and the sorest punishment is threatened to such transgressions: especially to such as turn Renegadoes and deny this Faith into which they were Baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; because they count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing; they count the Lord Jesus Christ an Impostor and a wicked cheat, and consequently his blood vile and base, and a Covenant with him a despicable and hateful thing to be renounced and abandoned. And they do despite to the spirit of Grace; they treat that Holy, gracious and Eternal Spirit with Scorn and Hatred; tho' it be that Spirit which alone can prepare us for Eternal Salvation. So that this is the most wretched and desperate Case that we can imagine, for it follows, Vengeance is mine I will repay, saith the Lord. They shall feel the inutterable wrath of an Almighty God in its most horrible Execution upon them for ever, except they deeply Repent. You have all this, Hebr. 10. 28, 29, 30. Where it is also added in the next verse. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So dreadful indeed, that the wise and good Men of all Ages have chosen rather to be Sawn a sunder, or Torn with wild Beasts, or give their Bodies to be broiled and exposed to all the Miseries that men could invent or inflict, than to deny their Faith, and thereby fall under the Vengeance of Almighty God to all Eternity. And the least grain of Faith must needs constrain us all to do the like, through the grace of God; for what proportion is there betwixt the Anger of a frail man like ourselves who can but hurt our bodies and that but for a little while; and the displeasure of an Eternal and Omnipotent God, who can punish us not only with all bodily tortures, but with such horror and desolation of Soul as far exceeds them, and that not only for Millions of Millions of Ages, but time without End.  
Consider therefore, my Brother, that you have devoted yourself entirely to God thro' our Lord Jesus Christ, to your Life's end. And that to do otherwise will be the blackest Perjury, Sacrilege, and Apostasy: So that your Eternal Hope leans on your upright discharge of this contract, made with God your Saviour in this solemn transaction of the Baptismal Covenant. And be you well assured, That there is Salvation in no other Person but in that of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And that you may cleave steadfastly to him with all your Soul in Profession and in Practice, let me desire you to consider these few things,  
1. That our Blessed Saviour proposes nothing to us in order to our Salvation but what is Excellent, Admirable, and Advantageous in itself. To love God above all, to believe and trust in him who came to lead us from Sin and Destruction, to love our Brothers as ourselves, to Pity and Pray for our Enemies, and to live soberly and honestly in the course of our Lives: how sweet and lovely are these things, which are set to keep us from brutal Lusts, and infernal passions, to lift up our Souls to the likeness of God, and the dignity of holy Angels.  
2. Consider, that our Blessed Lord and Saviour will be ready to assist you by his holy Spirit in all the work that he requires at your hands. He will help you to subdue your corruptions, to conquer temptations to bear afflictions, and in short, to pass undefiled through this present World, and to attain the blessedness of the other. He has assured us, that he will as readily give his holy Spirit for those ends to such as dnely seek him, as ever Parent gave a bit of Bread to his own Child crying to him for hunger. Luke. 11. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. See also Ezek. 36. from the 25 verse to the end of the Chapter.  
3. Consider that the term of our present Life is very uncertain, and at the utmost very short. Whether we live well or ill, we shall soon finish our Course. The mirth of wicked People is but short at the best: and the Labours and sufferings of good People are but short at the worst. We shall soon have done with this probational Life, for our days upon Earth are but as a shadow (1 Chron. 29. 15.) And there is this vast difference in the present course of things between good and bad people. That the wicked Man's pleasures die in the enjoyment, and inward darkness and regret springs up in their room, if he has any sense left: But the good man's Difficulties are lessened every moment, and there is an eternal foundation of comfort laid hereby. The wicked person has a little Sunshine in the morning, as Sodom had; and like it, is suddenly overwhelmed by a shower of Fire, and Brimstone. And the faithful Christian, has a little bad Wether perhaps in the morning, but he is riding out of it into perfect serenity and Bliss. The one says with Jonathan, I have tasted a little Honey, and I must die for it. The other says, with St. Paul, I have fought a good Fight, I have finished my Course, I have kept the Faith; henceforth there's laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnss. (2 Tim. 4, 7.) And this leads me to another considerration, which I beseech you to keep up always in its Vigour in your breast; which is.  
4. The exalted Degree and Eternal Duration both of the Rewards and Punishments of the world to come. The wicked shall go away into Everlasting Punishment. But the Righteous, into Life Eternal. Math. 25. 46. Consider, my Brother, you cannot hold your hand in the fire which burns on your Hearth for one hour, without such Anguish as you reckon intolerable: How can you then dwell with everlasting Burn! And this in utter Darkness! in company with other howling desperadoes, and mocking Devils! Where is our sense, and our self-love, when we do not strive to escape this place of Torment? For it is the amazing aggravation of these miseries, that they never end. How doleful a thought is it that after all the time we can think of is spent, there will still be as much torture to come to the damned as at the First moment in which they entered into it! Let not such a thought as this pass off hastily my Brother, but give your mind leisure to consider it till it kills the very thought and desire of sinful enjoyments which are but for a moment. Suppose therefore, that a nimble Writer did set himself for one whole day to advance the bigest sum in Numeration that he was able: How vast would the number of Years be that he would set down before Night! every single figure that he made towards the close of his Labour would contain an inconceivable term of time, and the whole sum would utterly astonish us.  
Now, I would ask any one who believes a Life to come, whether of these two conditions is to be chosen, either to live threescore and ten years (the common Age of man) in the love and service of God, and then to enjoy all desirable Blessings for all those Millions of years which would be contained in that sum before mentioned? Or, on the other hand, To live according to our foolish and extravagant Will for the space of Seventy years and then to lie in flames and exquisite tortures for such a vast and astonishing term of Years, as the aforesaid Arithmetician had set down? In this case: every one would speedily determine for the service of God, and the blessed Hope that attends it. And yet, this is nothing of a parallel case to Eternity. For tho', not only that one man, but every person in the World, added sum to sum throughout their whole Life, and if all the Angels, good and bad, threw in all the Numbers that they were able, to swell the prodigious Account to the utmost Advance they could and after this double and triple the whole to the utmost that your mind can imagine: Yet still there is more in this one word Eternity than all this. And we may hence learn, what wonders a lively Faith in the Gospel of our Lord would be able to do, were it duly improved and excited! It would not only remove Mountains, but the whole World, when ever it stood in our way to Heaven: and we should with great scorn and indignation say, what should I be advantaged, if I gained the whole World, and lost my immortal Soul by the bargain?  
Fix your mind seriously on these things, my Brother; till you find your heart affected with the meditation, and then direct your Soul with fervour to the Throne of Grace, and say.  

O Blessed God who art the Light and Life and Bliss of all thy Creatures, vouchsafe I beseech thee, to pity and pardon me a vile Creature that have long lived in darkness and folly and Unbelief. How little have I considered the weighty things of thy Law, and the dismal consequences of transgressing it. I have been blinded, and hardened by unbelief and inconsideration, and the love of this World, and have not duly denied my sinful Lusts and Passions, nor faithfully employed thy Talents. O Lord vouchsafe to pardon all my past enormities through the Blood of atonement shed by our Lord Jesus Christ, whom it pleased thee to appoint as a propitiation for our Sins and a mediator for Sinners. And be pleased of thy goodness to determine my Soul unalterably for thy Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof, in opposition to all the allurements of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. And grant that through the gracious conduct of thy Blessed Spirit I may daily advance in all grace; and may overcome all the temptations of things seen, by a firm Belief of things invisible. O Lord, vouchsafe to settle and envigorate my faith in the Eternity of those rewards and Punishments which thou hast been pleased to annex to our good or Evil deeds: and make me with earnestness and constancy to do good and eschew Evil: that I may so live to thee whilst I live, that I may die to thee when I die; and may be thine to all Eternity through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with thee O Father! and the eternal Spirit, be all Blessing, Honour, Glory, and Power ascribed by Angels and Men for evermore, Amen.   
Supposing therefore, my Brother, (as in charity I must) that you will rather choose to live or die in the most painful and wretched outward circumstances, than to renounce your God and Saviour, and part with your Religion and the hope of Eternal Life through it. Your next care must be to walk worthy of that Holy and Venerable name that you bear, that is, of a Christian. That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ be not blasphemed by the Heathen by reason of our evil deeds; but that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. You are reputed to have been brought up in the School of Christ: and unbeleivers will be prying into your actions to see what there is in Christianity above other Religions, and will judge of it according to what they observe in you, be it good or bad. O what a motive is this to the strictest Virtue and Piety! Since your Lord and Master will be accounted a Divine and Blessed Saviour, or a base cheat and Impostor, according to your good or bad behaviour. Yea, and some of those Infidels who might have been brought over to your Religion by your singular Piety, will assuredly be hardened against it by your looseness and debauchery. So that here are two of the most constraining considerations to induce you to holiness of Life, besides those other which have been already laid before you: which ought to constrain you to shun all appearance of Evil: and to make you careful to show before an unbeleiving People what Purity, meekness, Sobriety, Patience, Charity, and integrity our holy Religion teaches and produces, Oh! dare not swear, lie, curse, or cheat; or to be drunk, passionate, clamororous, or abusive: But in meekness and patience possess ye your Souls, as having your conversation in Heaven, and your hearts set on things above. And then, God will in his time, either remove you to your own Land, or what's better, to his: heavenly Kingdom. In the contemplation of which, you may humbly address your s●lf to your Heavenly Sovereign and say.  

O Lord, the Creator and Judge of all, who art of infinite holiness and perfection, and hast determined that without holiness no man shall see thy reconciled Face, Be pleased, I humbly beseech thee, to save me from my Sins through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and by thine holy Spirit to sanctify me in Soul and Body, that I may glorify▪ thy name on Earth and do the work which thou hast given me to do. Vouchsafe, good God, to work in me that purity of heart, to which thou hast promised an infinitely blessed vision. And make me to glorify thine holy name amongst these strangers to the commonwealth of Israel amongst w●om I sojourn: And be pleased to take from them all hardness of Heart, all unbeleif, and disobedience to thy holy will, that they also may at last be saved amongst thy true and faithful People. That we may all with one heart and mouth glorify thee, and rejoice in thy Salvation through Jesus Christ, sour only mediator and Redeemer. Amen.   
And now, my Brother, having shown you the never failing way to true Contentment here, and to eternal happiness hereafter; Let not the bitterness of any temporal sufferings leaven your Soul: nor run you into sullenness, frowardness, or the withdrawing of your heart from God. Be you assured, that God hath brought many a person whom he hath greatly loved into worse sorrows and straits than you are burdened with all. The beloved Disciple, St, Jobn, was banished and confined to Patmos, a desolate and uncomfortable Island: and we read of some excellent men of whom the World was not worthy, who wandered about in Sheepskins, and Goats-skins, in deserts, and Dens, and Caves of the Earth, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; and yet they would not accept deliverance upon sinful terms, because they fixed their hearts on the hope of Heavenly enjoyments. Heb. (11. 37. 38.) It ought therefore to be your care to acquit yourself, as they did, in every point of Christian duty, with all good conscience; that you, with them, may partake of that Rest which remaineth to the People of God.  
And upon the whole, as you would perform any of the foregoing Duties in an acceptable manner, or enjoy any of these great Blessings relating to this or the other world, you must be much in Prayer and earnest devotion to God, the giver of all Grace, who will be found of such as truly seek his face, through his beloved Son Jesus Christ our only mediator and Redeemer.  
And if it shall please his infinite goodness to restore you to your former Liberty and Enjoyments; be sure to live in perpetual thankfulness for such a singular mercy, duly answering the ends of it by a serious and truly Christian Life. For, if your temporal Liberty when obtained, should become an occasion of your sinking under the slavery of sinful Lusts and Passions; it were infinitely better that you remained all your days under the most bitter and disconsolate Thraldom in this world: because no chains on Earth can sit so heavy as those of eternal Darkness wherewith the Devil is bound, and wherewithal he seeks to load us. Labour therefore, my Brother, to obtain such firmness in the ways of God as no Prosperity nor Adversity may ever shock, And then, if it please God to set you free, lift up▪ your devout Soul to God with great fervency and say.  

UNto thee, O most gracious and merciful God who hearest Prayer, unto thee shall all Flesh come: thee will I praise with all the Faculties and Powers of my thankful Soul, for that thou hast heard me in my Distress, and hast by thy good Providence delivered me from mine Oppressors. When thou wast pleased to rebuke me for my Sin and folly and to bind me with affliction and Iron: Yet I was not utterly forsaken of thy mercy, but I found thy gracious Supports under my Trouble, and at last, blessed be thy Name, thou hast broken my Yoke, and set me at Liberty. O Suffer not this desirable enjoyment to be an occasion to the Flesh: keep me, I beseech thee by thy grace, that I fall not under that worse slavery of sinful Lusts and Passions: but make me partaker of that Redemption from Sin and Hell which is purchased for us by the blood of thy beloved Son, and is offered to sinners in thy blessed Gospel: to the privileges of which as thy good providence has now mercifully restored me, so let thine holy Spirit lead me in those ways of perfect Liberty which thou hast therein ordained for us that living to thy praise I may die in thy peace, and be for ever thine through Jesus Christ our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Amen.   
FINIS.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
THere are some other little useful Books, proper to be had and read by all Mariners and Sea-faring-People; such as The Religious-Seaman, The Pastoral-Letter, from a Minister to his Parishioners, The Christians Daily-Devotion, The Christian Monitor, and the Familiar Guide to the Lord's-Supper. All which may be had for about 18 d. and much Cheaper in Quantities.