Sarah's Tent what hath the joyful Father to expect more than an happy Translation to Heaven But to hear of a Marriage-Bed instead of a Grave and six flourishing Branches to spring out from the Dead Stock of his Body this is a little strange and surprizing Let not my Reader profane himself by imputing Levity much less Lasciviousness to Him that for so long a time had conversed with Angels and God Himself on Earth For as Jesus could not Bow his Sacred Head nor give up the Ghost before each Syllable that was Prophesied of Him was perfectly fulfilled even to the bitter Draught of Vinegar and Gall in his last Moments so neither could Abraham suffer a Demise e'er the Promises made to Him were as perfectly Accomplished And by the Power of a Divine Revelation I will make thee a Father of many Nations he is Invigorated with Prolifick Vertue for blessing six Countries more with Princes from his own Body Nor shall this Numerous Brood of Keturah be injurious to the Great Heir the very Offal of the Estate shall suffice for Portions to Them while Isaac's Dishes stand never the Thinner on his Table Let the Men of this World run away with the poor Legacies of general Providence Heaven is enough and enough for the true Heirs of God. Lord however hardly thou deal with me here in the World Reserve a Portion for me with thy Self and it shall suffice The Glorious Sun is now upon Setting and my Pencil must prepare to draw the Shadows of the Night which are Doubled by the shutting up the Eyes of the Great Abraham in Death Since Eternity was Retail'd into Parcels of Time and Dayes never was there a Century better pass'd in Universal Obedience to the Glory of the God of Life whose Divine Wisdom thinks it but just to send him a Writ of Ease from all his Travels under the Sun and having finished the Work he had given him to do to call for him Home and to fix him in his Lodgings with Himself in the Unmoveable Kingdom Abraham is dead and the Prophets They have chalked out to us the Path of Life and then retired to Heaven With what Impudence can any Church tell me That if I follow the Steps of the Great Abraham believe and Live as He yet shall I never Arrive to his Bosom unless I seal to the Articles of their own devising and believe what Abrahams Holy Heart would have Risen at and Abhorr'd to consent to Should God send again this holy Saint from Heaven to walk a while among his Children on Earth retaining still but his own Principles and teaching them to others as what were sufficient to bring them to Happiness in a Zealous Rejection of all the vain Inventions of Men imposed now on the Christian World under the Anathema's of Death confident I am even Abraham would very hardly escape the Censures of the Cursed Inquisition which Wracks the Faith of every Soul within its Clutches into larger Extensions of impossible things to be Credited than the Tortured Joynts are drawn out to under the cruel Twitches of the Tyrannical Engine If Revelation of Divine Truth imprinted on the Heart fitted and softned to receive the Impression upon it and gaining upon the Affections to embrace and delight in it working off the Life from unsuitable Practices to reduce it into a Natural and pleasing Conformity to the Holy Rule be not enough to secure me from the Dangers of Error and Delusion wherewith the Superstitious World so uncharitably charges every Dissenter from its Follies so unreasonably imposed let me contentedly dye and put it to the Tryal before the Tribunal of the Great Judge who I am sure cannot deny his own Work in Attempering an Heart to his Holy Knowledge and Obedience that naturally is so Averse and Rebellious against both And for Appendices to Religion Policies of Government and offensive Ceremonies c. I can easily distinguish in the Light of Truth how far I am obliged to conform to them for the sake of Peace and Honour of the Church and in the same Light to differ from them where they dissent from the Truth and grate too much upon Conscience and yet still 't is my Duty to pay Respect so far as I can to the Persons of Men Thô I know it mine Interest in no wise to bend to their Principles or close in with them in Cringing to a false God and this I learn from Abraham whose Demeanour towards the Children of Heth was full of Condescention and Civil Respect while he would have chosen to Dye rather than given them the Honour of his Presence in their Idolatrous Temples Civility and an Endearing Carriage hath its huge Advantages in the World where Crabbedness and a Morose look is not only ungenteel but affrighting If Abraham had been a Person of a Rugged Supercilious Deportment amongst Men how dimly had his Light shined in the Diversity of Nations where God directed him to go how little had his Profession profited towards an embracing of the Truths he followed I think it may be truly Remarqued That the Generous and obliging Spirits of some Gentlemen in the Romish Communion have done more to allure the Minds of our unstable Neighbours to harbour good Thoughts of their ill Religion than all the designing Attempts of their Priests whose Cloystâ—â— naturally breed them to a sort of Carriage that never fails to create Jealousies and Fears upon the Minds of Men that occurr them and bespeak them rather to stand upon their Guard against them than to receive them in open Arms of Love And while very few of that Fraternity can give a rational Account of at least Two parts in Three of their Faith which they ever devolve upon the Church who takes care too that a prying Inspection be ever discouraged and Brow beaten it shall suffice me to walk in the lustre of Abraham's Religion from whom the Reformed Churches have received the Pattern and care not to follow any other And for my Self had I a thousand Souls to Answer for I would adventure them all upon the pure and unspotted Profession of Him who had all his Knowledge from God sanctified into an Excellent Life which fitted him in the End for a Glorious Death and a blessed Eternity FINIS Books lately Printed for John Dunton at the Black Raven in the Poultrey over against the Compter 1 A Continuation of Morning Exercise Questions and Cases of Conscience practically Resolved by 31 Reverend and Learned Divines in the City of London in October 1682. Printed in a very large Quarto Price bound 10 s. 2 A compleat History of the Lives Tryals Sufferings Deaths and Characters of all those Excellent persons who fell in the West of England and elsewhere from the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfry to this present time with the Pictures of several of the chief of them in Copper plates To which is added The Life Death and Character of George Lord Jefferies Written by a Person of great Learning and Piety 3 Reformed Religion or Right Christianity describ'd in its Excellency and Vsefulness in the whole Life of Man Wherein is given an Impartial Character of a Right Christian in General of a right Christian Minister of a right Christian Magistrate of a right Christian Subject of a right Christian Worship of a right Christian Parliament and of a right Christian Souldier Written by M. Barker Minister of the Gospel in London Price bound 1 s. 4 Mr. Howes Sermon at the Funeral of that Faithful and laborious Servant of Christ Mr. Richard Fairclough price 6 d. 5 The Joy of Faith or a Treatise opening the true Nature of Faith its lowest Stature and distinction from Assurance with a preliminary Tract evidencing the Divinity of the Sacred Scriptures By Samuel Lee M. A. sometime Fellow of Wadham Colledge Oxon. price bound 1 s. 6 d. 6 Early Piety Exemplified in the Life and Death of Mr. Nathanael Mather who at the Age of 19 dyed an Instance of more than common Learning and Vertue The second Edition with a Prefatory Epistle by Mr. Matthew Mead price bound 1 s. 7 Mr. Slater's Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Oaks price 6 d. 8 His Sermon preached to Young Men at their desire Dec. 25. 1688. price 6 d. 9 Mr. Shower's Sermon upon the Death of a young Gentlewoman Mrs. Ann Barnardiston Daughter of Nathanael Barnardiston Esq late of Hackney with her Exemplary Life and Death 10 Mr. Roger's Sermon preached upon the Death of a Young Gentleman with an Account of the young Gentlemans Life and Death 11 A Sermon occasioned by the Execution of a man found guilty of Murther preach'd at Boston March 11. 1686. By Increase Mather Rector of Harvard Colledge in New-Engl price bound 1 s. 12 Mr. Baxter's Directions to a sound Conversion The Fourth Edition price bound 2 s. 13 Mr. Doolittel on the Sufferings of Christ from the Garden to the Grave price bound 2 s. 14 A necessary Companion for a serious Christian directing him aright through the whole course of his Life price bound 6 d.
themselves are the only Beasts that would do it and Joseph is too truly torn in pieces by the Divisions and Animosities of their fomenting But let not Himself conspire in the Treason nor break the Heart of his Father by sealing the Articles of his own Slavery He will find a Lady in Egypt that will strip him again and rent not his Coat only but very Flesh off her Irons will enter into his Soul if he consent not to her lewd Fornications Egyptian Flesh was ever fatal to the Israel that doated on it And 't is impossible that Dinah should consent to the Rape that yields her no pleasure at all and thô afterwards compounded into a Contract even that will add still to her Torments when anon it is written in the Blood of the Ravisher and instead of an Husband she Wed a Corps Should they deal with our Sister as with an Harlot Nothing can betray us to Her Sorrows but Sin nothing secure us but Obedience and keeping close under the Wings of a Father We shall find by the dreadful Examples what rueful Effects Extravagancy and a wandring from God into Vanity and Folly hath brought upon the World even from its Creation Sin ever hath been ever will be the great Apollyon of our Peace and Safety whose Tragedies I have adventured by too rude a draught to expose to thy View with the same design as once Anthony held forth the bloody Gown of the brave Caesar all mangled and full of holes by the Daggers of his Murderers on purpose to provoke the People to Revenge In which undertaking if Defects too many be discovered by the severe and censorious Reader he will be more courteous sure than to wound me too while he kindly remembers the shaking of my Hand with the very Fear and Apprehension of so bold an Attempt But come Reader let us lay aside Words and be wise Religion with Joash is left alone in the Temple and none pitieth that solitary Princess sure 't will be our Advantage to unite to her Coronation and unanimously Guard her while the Crown is putting on and we see her re-invested in all her Regalities Let Profaneness and Superstition with Athalia rend their Cloaths and Throats too crying Treason Treason the Treason is all against Hell and let no Englishman be startled at the Plot Nay let every one come under the Guilt of it not one Non-conformist to the Dominion of Grace but should any stand off let us leave them to the Tyranny of their own Athalia while we ever cry with all Judah triumphing with Joy for the Restauration of the true Worship God Save the King God Save the King. THE Angels Tragedy To my Reverend Brethren the Messengers of Christ to the Churches Metaphorical Angels and spiritual Men do I humbly offer this Tragedy May not one of them make the Defection or suffer the Eclypse of these unhappy Apostates but ever shining in the lustre of their own Graces may emit those Beams of Divine Light and Life as will irradiate and quicken the dead and benighted Souls of Men that when God shall remove them from the lower Firmament to fix them above they may altogether make up a glorious Constellation in Heaven and shine there as Starrs for ever and ever 2 PET. 2.4 If God spared not the Angels c. 'T IS by slow and trembling Steps that I pass towards the Territories of the Miserable thence to take a distant Prospect of the tremendous Executions made by Divine Justice upon so great a Part of the once glorious Spirits now hanging up alive in the Chains of fierce Wrath and reserved unto the further Judgment of the great Day Methinks it is Pity that Sin hath so fair a Pretence to the glory of High Birth We cannot deny it the Honour of a Noble Extraction when we see it unluckily Issuing from the Heart of an Angel For neither were those Sons of God at their first Creation bless'd in such an absolute Degree of Stability and Perfection as should ever secure them from all possibility of falling into the Sorrows of so unnatural a Production But if already my Plough make a Baulk in this Tragick Field and my Pen blunders to decipher this Serpent's Root from whence sprung up the Monster my Reader may well remit it to me when the great St. Austin throws it off with a Non Deus sunt They were not God but Created in a Mutable and not Impeccable Estate He charges his Angels with Folly But if Folly hath a Lodging in the Bosoms of those who each Minute Behold the face of mine heavenly Father wonder not if at this distance it be graduated into perfect Distraction and the Atheistical Fools of the Earth say in their Hearts There is no God because they see none when they are not vouchsafed the dreadful Kindness of Diabolical Conviction but are sentenc'd to the ruinous effects of an impudent Obduration without the Mercy of a scrupulous Conscience which in time might Torment them into a prudent Recantation How the Holy Court was Alarm'd at the breaking out of this Viper as of some Flying Dragon that would have stung them all to Death and what dreadful havock was wrought in a Moment and how very many Thousands perished by its Venomous Sting e're the most expeditious Orders could be issued out for the clearing the sound from the infected And what Decree passed forth for their everlasting Exile thence into the lowest Abyss of Darkness and Confusion is so far from being News now adayes that Heaven and Earth rings with the Tragedy And happy had it been for the Younger Sons of God that this degenerous Brood had been ever closely confin'd within the limits of their own sooty Walls and not permitted by their ranging about to have had the Liberty of making their pernicious How d'ye's into the Paradise of Joy where the Kindness of their Maker had so blessedly plac'd them together in Pleasure and Peace Very vainly does prying Curiosity make enquiry after the Quality of the Sin that wrought this Ruine since perhaps Holy Writ is so obscure and reserv'd with design to dictate a more prudent Caution against all since whatsoever it were that slew an Angel the very least of all may crush a Worm Yet to gratifie a little the Inquisitive Humour know that the very Learned are divided and strangely differ in their Opinions about it Some â—aying the Ruine to the Charge of Envy from their foreknowledge of God's determination in Promoting the Humane Nature into the ineffable Honour of Vnion with the Godhead in neglect of their own so Zanchy and others Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian and Chrysostome think it to be Luxury from Gen. 6.1 But surely Spirits need no Mistresses Others alleadge the Breach of a Positive Command and Law imposed upon them and the Rabbins will have it of some Service to Man which the proud Angel refusing was therefore cast down an Opinion a little hard to be entertain'd 't is
think is troubled with the Vapours while he Builds himself into perfect Poverty Let him go on say they Experience at last may make him Wise when we shall have time enough to Ridicule his unparallel'd Folly. The Merchants and Traffacking Companies distracting themselves in the Croud of their Forreign Concerns are in earnest Expectation of those happy Returns that they think cannot fail to Enrich them The Poor Mechanicks Sweating as hotly in the hasty Pursuit of their meaner Accrewments and promising themselves a Brisker Trade in the ensuing Years The Laborious Villagers Manuring their Acres in the confident Hopes of Perpetual Harvests which alas they will never Reap and all without the least Eye or dependance on the Blessing of Heaven to Ripen them Imaginations forg'd in every Brain of an endless Prosperity which they take care to make sure to those Heirs which are never likely to Inherit it Courtships are made with as Flagrant Pretences of Love to Young Ladies as now in hopes of Establishing the Families into future Successions of Honour and Estate when alas they are rouzed from the Bed of Fondness and Delight when nothing remains but the Poor Complacency of Dying in each others Arms. Projects are contriv'd to Assign Children to this and that Employ that in greatest Probability may make them Happy The Toiling Hirelings are flattering themselves with the hopes of deliverance into better Services from the wearisome Tasks they at present Groan under The very Beasts are fattening up to the Yoke and Shambles when alas they shall never approach to either For the Women the Sources of this Plague their Provocations were so many and Great that my Pen in despair to number them up takes the wisest course to let them alone while their Minds are wholly Immers'd in Vanity they make up too great a Part of the Tragedy and I leave them to Skreak together at the approach of their Ruines O learn hence what the destructive end of Sin is that hath brought so Tremendous a Perdition on all the World And if such were the Havock by the Inundation of Water what will the Streams of Brimstone in Hell do and what the Flames of the last Conflagration How terrible is God in his Executions upon Sinners how Scorching his Justice and Vengeance Upon the Wicked He shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest This shall be the portion of their Cup Put them in fear O Lord that the Nations may know themselves to be but Men They are gone Reader and as of all things else that are past there is nothing remains of so Tragical a Story but the bare remembrance of it that hath so weak an Influence upon the Spirits of Men at so remote a distance of time that it hath lost its operating Virtue and Power and retains not the least Efficacy to deterr us from the Sin for which they perished If when the Earth opening her mouth to swallow up Corah and all his Confederating Rebels the surviving Thousands of Israel gave a Screek only and returned the very next day to the same Murmurs for which They died Nay if the very Children of Noah had so little sense of it that while himself lived his own Eyes were so unhappy to see them so early revolting into the very Provocations and Idolatries that brought the Flood first upon the World How should we hope that our Selves upon whom the Ends of the present One are come and which is grown Old in Wickedness and Ripe for a second Destruction should be affrighted out of our long riveted Lusts from any Reflection of our Minds on so Antiquated a Tragedy Yet hath God Enrolled the Execution in the perpetual Records and sent down his Son to take out a Copy of it and commanded him to Post it into his own Journal to give it a new and a fresher Life not without hope that it might Rouze us a little from our fatal Slumbers while the Noise and Horrour of the mighty Waters should sound in our Ears Yet doubted it still while he Prophesies that Himself should find us at his Second Coming plung'd into as deep Perpetrations as They and lock'd up under as perfect Insensibility of our Approaching Ruine from which nothing could awaken us but the surprizing Trumpet of an Arch-angel alarming us to Judgment and the Everlasting Doom For as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man They did eaâ— they drank they married Wives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all But what is become of Prides Kingdom now When with the Great Darius she is slown and hath left all the Rich Plunder of her stately and Golden Tents to the Spoil of the Conquerour Alas she has no pity for so many slaughtered Carkasses thrown over into the Ocean of Ruine Nor is it so much her Care to Protect as to Betray her unhappy Subjects She delights not so much in their Safety as Destruction she Dresses them up only for Sacrifice and they have the Pleasure to dye in their Holiday Cloaths She Combs their Heads and Shaves their Beards and Smooths up their rivelled Cheeks to expire with Octavius and lays them asleep on gentle Pillows She Courts them with Jael to come in to her and hides them from the Danger of others but then the Nail and the Hammer is in her own Hand which Pins them fast to the Earth With Alexander she hunts out more Worlds for them to Conquer and with the desperate Pharaoh leads them into the very Bowels of the Sea See how she drives them into Corners first out of Heaven then out of Paradise and now out of the World She is the Devils Spirit employ'd to furnish Inhabitants for the lower Region to an eternal Slavery Behold where she Perks on the Prow of Noah's Ship where she Splits her very sides with Laughter at the Glorious Present she has made to Lucifer What a World of Furniture hath she boarded away at once for his Spacious Palace How will his stately Rooms be hung with the Tapistries of Prides Tragedies What Horrid Stories will they represent of her Cruel Tyrannies And here she waits to drop her Cockatrices Eggs which she knows will Hatch themselves within the very Ark into another Brood for her She thinks not her Case so desperate yet as not to hope she has a Friend in the very Council of Eight One that has Courage enough to own her Principles and doubts not in a little time to grow up into Power and Strength enough advantageously to declare for her Interest Men of Renown Dash'd out of Breath Gigantick Huffs yet Pump'd to Death O Baffling Heaven Mighty Mountains Tumbled into swelling Fountains Lye sprawling there Trophies of strength Divine whose Massy Weight and Length Makes Justice smile A Righteous God Reducing all to Dust and Clod Chaos and Carcasses O Sin How Dismal have thy
at All should now have Nothing surely he that was so well treated in Pharaoh's Court was not so ungrateful to a poor Handmaid of his Country to send her forth to starve Others affix it to their own Insolence who were grown too rude and turbulent in the House of Abraham The most probable conjecture that best agrees with all Circumstances is that what was now given them was to serve only for present necessity and Abraham directing them whither to go promis'd to take care to supply them further as their Necessities required which also he did 'Till Isaac's Birth the Bondwoman and her Son had quiet entertainment in Abraham's Family Now the Heir is born they agree not together but Hagar trudges out with her Bottle and Bag to wander in the Wilderness Who sees not the Old Law marching after her with all its Ceremonies in the same Bag at the bringing in of the New by Jesus Christ the true Heir of Righteousness and Salvation For ever are they departed now to return no more into the Church of God And how peaceable possession Sin doth enjoy in the Natural Heart where it rules all the Rost hath an absolute Dominion and beats down all before it till anon God in pity to the miserable Soul gives it Grace to conceive the true Heir which once Formed and growing up to some Strength takes Arms and with the Assistance of Heaven maintains the War which is happily Crown'd with thorough Conquest of all Opposition and receives its Palms in the Everlasting Kingdom Hagar and Ishmael are gone whose wandrings and sufferings in the Wilderness are but a farther Allegory of the present Sorrows of the miserable Posterity of Abraham who when the true Heir appeared in the World were then in possession of their Fathers House But for mocking and Persecution of the Great promised Son are dealt with as Ishmael cast out of the blessed Inheritance of both Canaans and are wandring in the Desart of damnable Error with the Wallet of an insupportable Burden on their Shoulders feeding still on the musty Bread and drinking out of the Old Bottles the stale Puddle Water of the Law in contempt of the pure Springs of the Living Water so freely offer'd them and the New Wine of the everlasting Gospel They lye with Ishmael under a Shrub not so sensible of their Penury as he forlorn and dejected with the Curse of the Blood of Jesus upon them They perish in the midst of Abundance and have no Eyes to see the Well of Life out of which the whole Church is so sweetly refreshed in Vivacity and Power O that same Good Angel would come with a Message of Comfort and Mercy to them as he did unto Hagar and taking away the Veyl that is upon their Hearts to this day they may clearly perceive the things that belong to their Eternal Peace Even so come Lord Jesus Come quickly Holiness is that Great Luminary darting its Beams so conspicuously round about the World where it shines that draws every Eye to admire it rendring its Subjects so Amiable that those who cannot shine in the same Light desire yet to sit under and enjoy its Blessed Influences Abraham scattered the Divine Rayes of his Piety and Goodness so illustriously over all the Kingdom of Gerar for which God had sent him thither that the very Court is Clarified by his Brightness and cannot think its self happy without a nearer Conjunction with this Great Planet Sarah's Beauty had Fetter'd the Affections of this King already now is his Understanding Captivated perfectly to the divine Presence of Abraham's Piety What a Glory was it to this Great Saint to see Abimelech himself with Phicol his Lord-General and all their Princely Retinue come bowing to him and making earnest Suit that he would become their Allie The King had found by experience that God had blessed his Kingdom for Abraham's sake and now Abraham must bless Abimelech for his own sake He had certainly learn'd how great things God had done by and for Abraham and therefore thought it a part of true Policy to confederate himself with so great a Favourite and to ensure the Friendship of him that was the Friend of God He grounds his Request upon Abraham's Interest and nearness to God. God is with thee in every thing that thou dost A very Glorious Testimony out of the Mouth of a King and doubtless no whit ungrateful unto Abraham himself who loved to hear the Kindnesses of his God to him acknowledged by very Heathens This gave Abraham the Honour and Abimelech the Benefit of the League If God were with Abraham how much should Abimelech advantage himself by his Friendship And the King knew well enough how far he strengthned himself by being in Covenant with him that was in Covenant with God That God who had sworn to him to be a Friend to his Friends and an Enemy to his Enemies Hence he is so zealous to perpetuate the Agreement that he moves for the durable Extension of it to his Heirs and Successors His Son and his Sons Son and will have it confirmed by the highest Obligation of a Sacred Oath which binds the Conscience under the dreadfullest penalties Well did Abimelech know that Abraham having once sworn would suffer even Death it self rather than to be false to his Covenant or incurr the Anger of his God. Piety hath a place in the Consciences thô not in the Affections of Strangers to God. Abraham would be stedfast enough when once he had fastened him with the Nail of the Sanctuary And himself should dye with greater satisfaction when he had confirm'd his Successors by linking in their Interests with his He cunningly makes him the very Guardian of the Prince whose Crown would never totter on his Head while he had so formidable a Person as Abraham to keep it on who had made Four Kings to flie before him Therefore by this Oath is Abimelech and his Heirs secured both against Abraham himself whose growing Greatness he might justly fear so against all others by his means Thus had God caused the Dread of Abraham to fall on the whole Court and Kingdom of Gerar Kings and Generals fall low before him and Devote themselves to him while he the more humbly bows to his God and under all the Courtships of Crowned Heads Remembers that his own must stoop to the Dust Abraham who had before strucken a League with Heaven was not pufft up with a vain Elation of being a Confederate with a King who ambitiously sought that Honour from him The highest Promotion on Earth cannot swell the mind that is closely united with God. All the benefit he draws from it shall advantage the Kingdom whom he blesses with his Presence and Five and twenty years Residence in it He had pitched his Tent at Beresheba where he planted a Grove and needs must the Trees thrive well that are set by so good an hand Jonathan tells us 't was an Orchard of pleasant Fruits wherein he