A36315:369
Captives bound in chains made free
Captives bound in chains made free by Christ their surety, or, The misery of graceless sinners and their recovery by Christ their saviour by T. Doolittle.
London: printed by A.H. for Tho. Parkhurst, 1674
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Oh that thou wouldst please to pity them in their Bondage, and for the ransom of thy Son let them be redeemed, and by the powerful workings of thy spirit have their wills subdued, and inclined to accept of the only Redeemer; him thou didst send to proclaim liberty to Captives, Oh that by thy grace thou wouldst cause them to come in, and lay hold upon the mercy granted in the proclamation of the Gospel, that they might not perish in their Bonds.
3. Let Masters that are made free and set at liberty have compassion on their servants that are ⟨p. 104⟩fettered in their Chains of sin. They are not only bound to you (to be so bound is in order to their good and their freedom) but are also bound in the Cords of their iniquity, which is their present slavery, and tendeth to their eternal misery; doth it not pity you, to see your servants, to be servants of the Devil, and in bondage to their lusts? doth not your hearts work within you to consider that any under your Roof, should be drudges unto Satan? or do you see this, and have you nothing to say unto them all the week long, to make them apprehensive of their danger, and sensible of their misery? is it enough for you to teach them the skill and art of your trade, and at the expiration of seven years to make them free, while you do neglect to help them (as instruments under God) out of the thraldom of Satan and of sin? or can it satisfy you that they have at the end of their Service to you, the freedom of the City or Corporation where you and they do dwell, while they are not brought into the liberty of the Sons of God? or can you have peace in the neglect of your duty, to think they came into your family Bond-slaves to sin, and after seven years time, they go out as they came in? or should you not endeavour that they may be spiritually free, while they continue servants unto you? Oh how would they have cause to bless God for you, and that ever they came within your doors, ⟨p. 105⟩and dwelt within your walls, if they may say, when I first became a Servant to my Master, I was a servant to my lusts also, but by his instructions, admonitions, and example, I became a servant of God, before I ceased to be a servant unto him? if it should be otherwise, let it not be through your neglect; for as it will not be without sin and misery to your servants, so neither will it be without guilt on you.