in the Infallible Decision that instead of submitting to the Holy Decree it flies to Arms and Smites through the Loins of Truth it self whose Innocency God is oblig'd to clear up and defend The Fountains are broken up and the Waters appear already which in time shall swell into a mighty Deluge to overwhelm the whole Posterity of the Murderer The miserable Parents are drowned in a Flood of Tears which are hardly dried up on the discovery of that happy Spot of Earth which God substitutes to fill up the Vacancy of the Holy Martyr So easily can he baffle the Plots of Hell in polishing up a new Pillar of Righteousness to support his tottering Church 'T was the brave Seth that started into Life with the very Lineaments of his Brothers Piety and Goodness upon him and which afterwards Survive and Illustriously Shine in the incomparable Enoch the very Glory and Flower of the Old World whose Records though drawn with a sparing Hand and very hasty Pencil yet shall the Memory of this Saints mighty Namâ— and Excellencies be surely Immortaliz'd foâ— though others did Vertuously yet he exceeded them all And the Blessed Pen-man could noâ— justly pass from Him whose History would haâ— furnished a Volume when yet he Posts froâ— others with the short Dash of a long Life and a late Death only as if Eight or Nine hundred years were too little time to ripen them up to any Memorable Perfection but here he stops to transmit the Memoirs of the Great Enoch's unparallell'd Life and miraculous Translation to all Posterities for evermore For if the Treasure of a Pious Education into the Knowledge and Faith of the Messias If the mighty Effluxes of the Blessed Spirit Hallowing that Knowledge into an unreserved Dedication of his Heart and Life unto God If an irradiated Mind a resigned Will and right ordered Affections If Hatred and Abhorrency of Sin a valiant Opposition of others Impiety aâ—d a blessed Walking and Communion with the Holy Trinity be Furniture enough to Adorn and Dress up a Saint surely all these unitedly met and concentred in Him. No wonder then that some whose Eyes are dazled in the Brightness of his Holiness mistake him for an Angel Incarnate but others more modestly the Friend and Familiar of God. View him enriched with a Prophetical Spirit and the Eye of his Soul divinely illuminated to foresee at the many Thousand years distance the Glorious Procession of the blessed Jesus with the Myriads of his Holy Ones passing down from Heaven to keep the Great Assizes of the General Judgment and to execute Vengeance upon all the Vngodly of both Worlds whose Blasphemous and Vngodly Speeches whose Profanenesses and Vngodly Practices his Chast Soul so heartily abominated and so passionately lamented and against which the flaming Zeal of his Heart issued forth in so constant Menaces of the Wrath and Judgment that That Fearful Day would bring upon them That his Prophetick Soul foresaw the Deluge is not to be questioned since his very Son was a Pillar on whose Name that Judgment was very legibly Inscribed And in Truth an easier Augury might Prophesie the Overflowing of Wrath as but the Natural Effect of the Inundation of Sin which in His days by the unhappy Commixture of the Two Families had spread its contagious Streams over all the World. History tells us that it was his Custom to Congregate the People in order to the deprecating so direful an Execution And to assure them that the World was of no longer Duration than the Life of his Son and that whensoever he died the Bloody Blow will come upon them which answerably happened for though some say that the Flood came not till six years after Methuselah's Death yet others averr more truly in the very same year and others again but seven days God it seems giving in that Week also to the hundred years allowed for Repentance but not a day longer when now after the Decease of this Good Patriarch they might according to his Fathers Prediction expect the Judgment to fall upon them every hour Doubtless the Holiness of Enoch as the very shining of the Sun is a Torment to Sore Eyes had contracted upon him the General Odium of the Wicked but while he laboured under this Burden and the Danger of their Persecutions the Almighty God mounts him up into the Securities of his own Bosom 'T was not fit indeed that the Phoenix of the whole Creation should be liable to the Gun-shot of its Malice To prevent which and lest they should offer Indignity to his Sacred Dust after Death the very Qualities of his Body by a sudden and admirable Change are rendred connatural with those of his Soul He is all Spiritual and made a fit Inhabitant for the Celestial Kingdom whose Translation hath caused a World of different Opinions many voting him to be still Alive but cannot agree where to find or where to fix him whether on Earth or Air in Adam's Paradise or Gods. They tell us he feeds on Angels Food and his very Cloaths are preserv'd from wearing as theirs in the Wilderness leading a Life of perpetual Contemplation and Joy in God and is reserv'd with Elias to the Service of the Confusion of Antichrist in the last times But enough of this While the Eye of the Soul is Watchful to keep it self fixt and Intent on the Beauty of Holiness that is Ten thousand times enough to compleat up a perfect Happiness to Angels and Men Inferior Suitors may despair to Lure away the Affections that are infinitely delighted in that Ravishing Object yet no sooner is it averted from the Fountain of Complacencies but an Army of Temptations break in upon it and offer their several Contributions to patch up a Satisfaction that is only to be found in God. Thus the Unconstant Family of Seth Blessed and secure in their Virgin Love while they persevered in Fidelity to their first Amours Now alas grown weary and tir'd with a Spiritual Husband employ their Traiterous Senses to cater a-new after fresh Provisions which must fill up the Vacuities of their Squeamish Appetites when lean Kids are dress'd up into Venison and serve well enough to delude the undiscerning Stomach Thus their First Father exchang'd a God for a Wife of Dust and mistook an Apple for a Deity And these degenerous Sons of God unworthy of that high Relation while they gaze on the Beauty of the Daughters of Men are bewitch'd to write the Bill of their own Divorce from their Chaster Nuptials to Marry themselves to everlasting Ruine The Ties of Friendship that long Acquaintance and Familiarity have contracted between Men have been often so Sacred and Strong that the Violation of them have occasioned great Commotion of Heart and can we think that these Gentlemen could so chearfully pass from the purer Flames of Divine Love into the Embraces of Vanity without some Check and Allay to the Fury of their hot Desires There is something within that is ever
in all our wandrings from it We shall find little reward at the Evening of Life for sitting all the day Idle in the Market-place of the World. 'T is a sad and unanswerable End of our Lives to Eat and Drink and rise up to Play. The Epilogue of that Comedy will be spoken in Hell. Idleness is but One of Hagars crimes Folly marches after and Misery brings up the Rear of both Camest thou from Abraham's Family the happiest in all the Earth and made only unfortunate by thee Canst thou forsake the Houshold of Faith and be safe Art thou Stealing away with the Fruit of thy Masters Loins to give it a Birth in Egyptian Aire and Robbing thine own Child of all the Blessings that an Heir of Abraham may hope to Inherit And whether wilt thou go to those again that sold thee out for a Slave Canst thou expect to render thy condition any where better than there from whence thou camest The stubbornness of thy Heart was the cause of the bitterness of thy Life 'T was thine own Pride that justly incensed thy Mistress Nor canst thou look down on thy swelling Womb without blushing at thine own Ingratitude Return therefore and pay her the Honour her Merits and thine own Duty requires from thee All the World will be but Bush and Brake to thee a very barren Wilderness to the Comforts of thy Masters House Hagar as once that Woman of Samaria by a discovery of her private Concerns discerning the Blessed Angel to be more than Man doth not Impiously pin her own Guilt on her Mistresses Sleeve nor dares to Impeach her in the least shew as too conscious of her own Crimes to conceal them from him that she saw very well knew them already This Modesty and the tacite Confession of her own Imprudence fits her for Mercy and sets her free from further Rebukes But this glorious Messenger had another Errand He came not from Heaven only to return her back to her Mistress however to Encourage her to it he will be so favourable to give her a Light into the dark Cells of her Womb and discover to her what lay concealed there And as Abraham had a Vision into all the Contingencies of his Family so shall his Concubine be blessed above Women in the Knowledge of the Sex Nature Condition and Fortunes of her yet unborn Child The Angel is Godfather indeed and gives him a Name A name that shall live and flourish in the Mouths and Memories of a numerous and durable Posterity whose condition and manner of Life he Prophesies shall be strange and different from all the World. A generation of Men that shall delight to Rove as a wild Ass in the Wilderness to keep a-part by themselves in the Desarts of the Earth Fierce Cruel and Warlike such are the Saracens and Arabians and such is their Quality and kind of Life to this day Hagar devoutly returns the Glory of his grace unto God who had beyond all Expectation regarded her in Affliction by so glorious a Legate The Beams of whose Majesty were so kind to her to leave her the Light of her Eyes which she admires was not lost by so dazling an Object and Baptizes the very Well with its own Water giving it an everlasting Name that still bears the Memoire of the Mercy of being Able to live after she had seen the Lord. With a glad Heart and full resolutions of better Conformity she returns back to her Lady and doultless very humbly submits her self to her Grace who receives her in obedience to the order of Heaven which seldom sends ill Members to the Church after the Convictions of Conscience upon them We are never good in our Callings till God meet and directs us Onesimus was All Hands for Philemon when God had changed his Heart Grace qualifieth us for universal service to God and Men. Abraham to whom doubless the transaction with the Angel in the Wilderness was very accurately repeated by Hagar provides like himself for the Birth of his Child and hath great hopes of the Son that an Angel had already given Name to Who when he came into the World finds a Father that had already passed Eighty Six years on the Earth CHAP. VII The Covenant of Grace renewed and confirmed to Abraham and the Spiritual Heirs of his Faith for an Everlasting Testament that neither Sin nor Death shall ever be able to dissolve â—TWas in that Chilly and Withered Age when now Time had snowed upon him and he was ready to stumble upon the dark Mountains and the Grave waited for him and his Hopes of Sarah's Body were as desperate and cold as his own Blood and Spirits that the Lord made his Fifth Visit and Appearance to his beloved Abraham He is so far from casting him off in his Old Age or for saking him when his strength faileth that behold he cometh with such Cordials in his Hand as shall brisk up and invigorate his fainty Soul and renew his strength as an Eagle He shall have new Eyes that shall pierce deeper into the Mystery of the Godhead and enable him to see more clearly He shall have new Feet to Walk on before his God more firmly one would have thought he had come already at this Age to the end of his Course but now he must walk on still He shall have new Ears to hear Himself and his Lady called by other Names He shall have new and better Promises for his Faith and Hopes to build on more strongly A new Sacrament to establish and confirm those hopes more Infallibly A Wife who shall no more be called Barren A new Heir that shall make him the Father of Kings A Family that shall bare a new Mark and Impress And all these in the very despair and evening of his Days to let all the World see the Almighty Power of Him who from the beginning hath wrought all things out of Nothing and can make things to start up and be which do not yet Appear to give Life to our Hopes and Souls God thinks it but a small thing that he had already confirmed to Abraham and his Children all the Kingdoms of Canaan for a Possession by his Oath And tho' he foresaw well enough that there would be but too many of them whose Affections would be incorporate into those fruitful Fields and Pastors and all their utmost desires centred in the exuberant Productions of them yet had he given ample Testimony of his kindness to Abraham in making so rich and noble Provision for the worst of his Family whose Ingratitude to himself and Apostacy from their Great Fathers Faith and Principles might perhaps in time raise the Stomack of that very Land against them which had gotten a custom of Vomiting out her Inhabitants Those whom she saw making so ill use of her Bounty as so surfeit on her Dainties and abuse them to the dishonour of her great Lord for whom therefore having made Portions so perfectly connatural to themselves
apparent their Fall preceded the Creation of Man. Aquinas St. Austin and the whole Current of Writers close with the Holy Ghost in affixing the Guilt upon Pride and methinks she is plainly enough too guilty of this Murther 1 Tim. 3.6 Nay the very Care and necessary Caution of every Good Father of the Church in not laying too hasty Hands on light and frothy Persons nor exalting them into the weighty Ministrations of the Altar since such may be tempted to swell into too high Conceits of themselves from the Dignity of their excellent Office and so become Poysoned by the Devil's Draught whom Pride had so strangely stupified into a forgetfulness of themselves and puffed them into a Rebellion against their great Maker who had assign'd to them their proper Functions and to the Prince of them so glorious one had they had but Grace to have kept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Noble State and Principality and not left their Station or Habitation as Jude saith v. 6. I say their Care and Vigilancy must evidence for me that Pride is not slandered in the least by the Charge and I shall stand the Tryal if she sue me upon the Scandal for we cannot â—â—e ignorant neither how some eminent Fathers have expounded that of Isaiah 14.12 How art thou fallen O Lucifer son of the Morning c. I will exalt my Throne above the Starrs I will be like the most High to represent the Sin and Fall of the Proud King of Babylon by the Pride and Destruction of Lucifer E're we pass further let us make a few Turns in the Chamber of Contemplation and take a survey of the lamentable Ruine of an Angel of thousands of them that this execrable Sin hath so traiterously dragged into irrecoverable Misery and Woe The Angelical Nature was doubtless the very Cream and Flower of the beautiful Creation of God These Spirits are the glittering Courtiers of the King of Glory clad in the very Livery of their Maker the Garnish and Ornament of his Palace Heaven it self but bare Walls as it were and unfurnished without them cloathed with all such inexpressible Excellencies and Power that surely they want no strength to shake the very Foundations of the Earth and to make the Pillars thereof to tremble 'T was but One of them that in a Night sent an hundred fourscore and five thousand of such Worms as we with pleasure into Dust and their first Nothing And another with a Breath only will blow up more Myriads out of it again And yet no sooner had Sin that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that scum and Excrement of filth the very Elixir of all Poisons cast its envenoming Shadows upon the fair Faces of these Glorious Suns but they presently unloose from their several Orbs dying into an Eternal Eclypse and drop down into Darkness and Horrour stript for ever from their Native Eminences and Holiness the loveliness that once beautified their Natures Metamorphosed into the most affrightful Image of all the most abstracted Deformity and Vileness expressible deprived for ever of those Eternal Felicities to which they were Created and are now become the very Sources and Fountains of all imaginable Lewdness and Mischief which they are increasing still by pouring out the whole Flood of their killing Streams to engulph us also in an everlasting Ruine God in great Kindness to us hath discovered their now destructive Properties and shewn us the danger we are in while an whole Host of spiritual Wickednesses are round about us as so many roaring Lyons ready to devour us and are our avowed Adversaries Accusers Murderers and Destroyers incessantly tempting us into the Rebellion with them which they very well know will in the end lay us in the same Dungeon of Darkness with all the Chains of divine Indignation upon us that themselves are so dreadfully gall'd with All which is no idle Fiction fram'd on the Forge of a Melancholly fanciful or Romantick Brain but a Verity as Infallibly Sealed by the Spirit of Truth to us as any other the Holy Oracles have with the clearest Perspicuity conveyed to our Knowledge And though too slightly regarded yet witnessed to be as Just on themselves so fatal to us if we keep not the strictest Guard and Invest our selves with the whole Armour of God by One of their own Original Order and Degree Now for ever secured from the like Dangers of confederating Treasons and Established into an Estate of entire and sinless Perfection from the profound Sence and grave consideration that himself had of it While therefore he proclaims from Heaven the deplorable Woes to us the poor Inhabitants of the Earth and Sea from the ruinating Consequences of their Power and Presence here below Revel 12.12 And 't is matter of Astonishment to consider how few are awakened by the Trump of that Angel unto any the least Reflection on the Mischiefs and Miseries effected in all Ages by the bloody Contrivances of these Apostate Spirits who have prevailed to the overturning not of Mighty Empires and Kingdoms only but of once the most flourishing Churches in the World now overwhelmed with the black Cloud of Pagan and Mahometan Darkness and Death where Divine Light and Truth sent forth then alas their sparkling Beams and Splendour pouring in their mortal Dregs both of Atheism and Errour which deface the whole Beauty and enervate the whole Strength of Original Piety and Religion which they know well enough will dissolve the Covenant of Heaven and give up to the Judgment not of a Desertion only but Divorce Who but these foment Divisions and Schisms and Animosities between Men by pussing up some and those of the meanest Capacity into boundless and immodest Conceits of their own greater Wisdom and Parts and hatefull disdain and Contempt of others more worthy than themselves Who so Industriously blow up the Coals of all Dissension and Discord between the most seemingly happy and united Fraternities and invent the Aspersions of Ignominy and Reproach that are six'd on each other who but these whisper into the Ears and Hearts of Princes those needless Jealousies and Fears that cool them in their Kindness to their best Subjects whom they look on as the secret underminers of the Peace and Government the very Plagues and Pests of the Age they live in who are yet the very Pillars of the Throne as if there were no consistency between God's Empire and their own Who but these stir up Kings to ruine themselves by unnecessary Wars and their poor Subjects by unnecessary Sins Who but these beat up the Drums of Sedition and Rebellion against the best Princes the very gracious Fathers of their People Who petrifies the Hearts of Tyrants against their poor Subjects into the bloodiest Executions of their Wrath and Cruelty not only grinding their Faces by cruel Oppression and Impoverishment but sheathing the Sword of Persecution in the very bowels of Innocency on no other account but this that they refuse to attend them into
the bleeding Wound and heal The Vlcers of the general Weal That all thy Demoniacks may Put on their Cloaths and pass away THE TRAGEDY OF THE Old World With the Prostration due from a little Shrub of the Vallies to the stately Cedars of Lebanon that flourish on the Mountains of Honour do I humbly bow with this Tragedy in my Hand leaving it at their Feet and would they vouchsafe to advance it to their Eye they shall soon discern that Men of their own high Rank and Order promoted and hastened the Ruine of the First World. So influential are the Examples of great Ones that they dragg the whole Universe after them May your Honourable Coronets never dash against the Bald Pates of the Vile and Ignoble on the Waters of Ruine Nor your Bodies be Interr'd in the common Grave of a general Desolation which will be easily prevented by your furnishing those Temples with the Ornaments of Immortality This will give you the Glory of being the Saviours of the present World and the mighty Shields that protect it from the Attaques of Justice and Wrath. 2 PET. II. 5. If God spared not the Old World c. SIN having thus triumph'd in the Ruine of the Angels and torn off the Crowns from the Heads of the first Princes of the World leaving that Infection in their Blood that corrupts the whole Progeny had little else to do but to hang up the Trophies of its Chivalry while the whole Creation lyes shackled under the Mournful Bonds of its Tyranny The unhappy Captives chain'd to its Chariot Wheels are dragg'd into Slavery and Death Alas they never tasted the sweets of their Parents Freedom and Innocency and are now content to Guild their Fetters and mistake their Rattling for Musick The Tyrant takes care to make them easie and wide they shall have Liberty enough to frolick and sport themselves with Leviathan in the large Ocean of its bewitching Empire and as Prisoners at large may run the Rounds of all unrestrained Pleasure and Ease fetching with Satan their large Circuits too and fro through the whole Paradise of Complacencies and Delights By such killing Methods as these the Bondage is confirm'd and the Prince of the Air is so fortunate to find all his easie Laws very naturally obey'd while the poor Subjects grow fond of the Polity and abjuring the Rights of the invisible Kingdom they swear Allegiance as the hearty Vassals of the present Power and protest against all Pretence of Homage demanded by another Lord they grow Hot for the usurped Title and will venture Life and Blood for the present Interest they will perish rather than return and vote themselves to perpetual Exile from true Happiness And 't is strange to find with what Zeal and Passion they labour to give the most cordial Demonstration of their Voluntary Subjection and Loyalty With Caesar's Souldier they kill themselves to bleed out the Mortal Evidences of their Love. In short all its Interests are so strongly riveted into their very Constitutions and Nature that Obedience runs with their Blood through every Vein of their Hearts Thus are they perâ—ectly miserable and themselves love to have it so they wear out a Life in paying the constant Tributes of a Devoted Affection to the Tyrant that destroys them and were it possible would spend an Eternity in the same Service and are sorry only that Death puts too hasty a Period to their dutiful Resolutions They could be proud to yield Immortal Necks to the pleasing Yoke and with an equal submission Kiss the Box that brings the fatal Warrant for their own Execution and as readily give their Throats to the strangling Cord whenever the good pleasure of their Sovereign shall do them the Honour to command them to dye Thus hath the subtle Serpent too successfully laid the Foundation of an Universal Monarchy and projects to extend its Empire with Jesus himself from Sea to Seâ— and from the River to the ends of the Earth and which is yet more deplorable of this Kingdom there is like to be no End the Dominton endureth throughout all generations and will vigorously flourish 'till Time shall be no more And no wonder when his Throne is establish'd in the very Bosoms of his Slaves who reverently bow to the Idol and yield an unquestionable Conformity to all his Mandates Now David look to thine own House the whole World is departed and are listed under the Banner of thine Enemy who swells under the proud Title not of a Prince only but a God. In vain does Heaven menace Revenge against those that fancy themselves in security and are harden'd to the same Opposition against all the Proffers of Grace and Dreads of Power The Difference is blown to the height of a perfect Enmity and a loathing and Omnipotence must set it self to work again either a New Creation or a total Destruction The Apostacy growing thus Daring and General yet to shew that Mercy can triumph against Judgment Divine Grace breaks into the Territories of Hell and powerfully rescues a small Colony of the seduced Traytors to a reluctant sense of their envassalled Estate and impatient sighing after their lost Liberty Grace can dissolve the strongest Enchantments that bewitch the Heart and unfetter the Affections from the woful Chains of Sin and Death These rear up Altars to God and with their Sacrifices send up strong Cryes to Heaven for Pardon and Mercy the rest betake themselves to Lust and Libertinism and are enflamed with the Idols of their own Hearts Yet no sooner did the first Penitent presume to decline the defection and publickly to make an Offering of his Heart with his Oblation to his true Lord but his own Brother becomes his Executioner he himself is sent a second Sacrifice to Heaven for his happy desertion of the Cursed Interest If all the Obligations of Nature and the nearest Relation if sweetness of Humour and endearing Disposition if Fear of a God and dread of Vengeance could have had the least Influence on the Conscience of that bloody Fratricide we had not been startled with the amazing News of so early a Martyrdom But if God shall own him from Heaven by the Flames of Acceptation he may not escape on Earth from the stroaks of Persecution Poor Abel falls the Victim of God's Love his own Piety the Divel's Malice and his Brother's Cruelty This unnaâ—ural Murther was a sure Prognostick of the Old World's Tragedy since if Sin commence to so high a pitch in its Infancy and swadling-cloaths what Exploits may we think will it Atchieve in â—ts riper Years when grown into Gyant There is nothing hath occasion'd more fatal Events to the World than Quarrels of Religion while every one pretends to the Truth and none will confess his Error but in the case of these different Worshippers God himself had taken the Chair and signalized the True from the False by clear Demonstration from Heaven yet is Error so far from Conforming it self and Acquiescing
next World â—e valued not the casting in of Six-score years and â—ore which was little to him with whom a Thousand are but as one day To live for Sin is little Comfort yet to live or Punishment is surely less the giving this Term â—as a Mercy from God but the abuse of it was 〈◊〉 Misery to themselves he that lives and must â—ffer at last were better die soon and suffer the â—ss God indeed lent it for Repentance but they imâ—roved it for Sin and repented of nothing but â—at they had so short a time to Sin in when â—od knew they had a long one to suffer in Come Watchman What of the Night What of the Night Why the Fair and long Summers day of the Old Worlds Goodness and Pleasures too is come to an End 't is perfect Midnight with them Night all Night ever Night such a Night as shall never see Morning more Themselves Dark all Dark ever Dark therefore Darkness above is hurl'd into Darkness below Sin to Sin here Hell to Hell there Carnal Wickednesses to Spiritual Wickednesses to Eternal Wickednesses What should Light do with Darkness all Light with all Darkness ever Light with ever Darkness O see the fuel of the devouring Flames Rottenness all Rottenness ever Rottenness irrecoverable Rottenness no sound part in them Stubble dry Stubble fully dry ready for Burning Vessels of Wrath vessells endured with much Patience with Long-suffering with much Long-suffering and now fitted to Destruction What could Mercy do more then wait till of Good they became Evil of partly Good perfectly Evil and eternally Evil resolved to be so and yet after this to wait on still to wait for Six-score years to wait upon a Wilderness till it become a Garden upon dead Sticks till they Blossom and Bear upon degenerate Plants till they should bring forth good Fruit is to little purpose or end This Evil was from Themselves Wherefore should the Lord wait any longer Art thou gotten into the Ark Reader are all things ready Is the door fast shut down See Darkness is over all the Earth the Darkness of Sin and Darkness has covered the Heavens the Darkness of Judgment The Firmament hath put on her Mourning Suit and with Tamerlain erected the Black Flag of despair Clouds and Darkness and thick Darkness and an horrible Tempest is round about the End the End is come upon thee O ungodly World behold it is come upon thee see it hastening from the Four corners of Heaven Now will God Judge thee according to thy ways and will recompence upon thee all thine Abominations his Eye will not spare thee neither will he have pity Death Ruine Judgment Hell and Confusion to all Eternity Ah I will ease me of mine Adversarâ—es Mercy is gone clean gone gone for ever Compassion fails for evermore Now look to your selves Profaneness and Atheism if you have any Courage shew it now keep up your huffing Spiâ—it Snort against Heaven and Goodness bear up â—riskly like your selves don't degenerate from your â—onted Bravery Lord Gentlemen Why do â—e tremble What do you mean to turn Colour Why so ghastly in the Countenance Why such 〈◊〉 shivering and Ague in the Joynts Why so down 〈◊〉 the Mouth Why not a word now Ladies What are you so startled at Why so undress'd â—o day Why your Hair so dishevil'd Where â—re the Enchanting Curles that Captiv'd so many â—oor Lovers in them Where the stately Brow â—nd the sparkling Eye that struck your Admirers â—ead Go get ye to your Glasses and view your â—omplexions now Come come clear up there 's 〈◊〉 such Fear be not so Affrighted 't is but a hunder shower 't will over again go get Ready â—h no! what Noise what Bustle what Roarâ—g what Shreeking what Yelling what Faintâ—g what Bleating what Bellowing is here â—en Women Children Sheep Oxen Wolves Dogs all howling together in an hideous Outcry and the Waters out-roaring them all Oh oh oh oh the Worlds at an End Our Wickedness has overtaken us and Judgment is come upon us it is come undone undone undone foâ— ever You are in the very right of it Gallants you are in the very right it is come indeed never were you in the right before Now cry to your Gods to save you if they can Did not thâ— Old Man forewarn you of this many a time Why did ye not take warning and build Boaâ— too Is he such a Fool for securing himself How often hath he told you of your Villanies and Whorâ—doms your Ranting and Tearing your Haughâ—ness and Hussing and to what a fearful end 〈◊〉 would bring you See how he rides securely yoâ—der against all the dreads of Death that are comâ— upon You now your sport is at an end fareweâ— Gyants and Ladies Adieu for Evermore Now here Alas I am at a Loss Caâ— any one Rationally expect that Invention anâ— the Issues of one Mans Brain can be Wittâ— enough to delineate the Face of an Universâ— Confusion I have seen indeed some Fanciâ—â— Sculptures pretending to satisfie the Eye in thâ— dreadful Prospect of some Climbing up to thâ— Tops of the Tallest Trees while others are hasteâ—ing to the loftiest Mountains and some moâ— Brutishly Mounting on Beasts to outride tâ— Destruction that makes but an easie Gulp of tâ— Horse and his Rider every Family yelling in tâ— uppermost Rooms of their more Dwarfish Housâ— not one but who betakes himself to groundlâ— and impossible Refuges Let me present 〈◊〉 Reader with a Table of the General Security that Fetter'd up the Drowsie World into Fatal Slumbers not the least Fear or Dream of an Approaching Tragedy but what had been laugh'd out of Life by the Atheists of the Age that admir'd the Frenzy of the Fanatick Ark Each City County Town Village and Hamlet as Secure and Thoughtless as our Selves at this day Every Family busily driving on the daily Trade of Rebellion against Heaven and thinking as little of any Change as those that are past it in the Grave The Ruling Part not content to impose the Iron Mace of Authority on the Shoulders of the Subjects to make them Cringe by a gentle Touch but fiercely lift it up to fetch a more killing stroak on the tender Head with design to break and make it Bleed while the poor helpless Patients have no Appeal but to their own Passions which vent themselves in bitter Curses under all the Smart and Sores of that fearless Tyranny The Gentry terminating their Delights in a perishing Portion and Marrying their Souls to the Clod as if God himself were pleas'd with the Match are exalted above the Cares of Life that Oppress the Hearts of the Needy and the Fears of Want that afflict them They Club together with those of their Order where they talk of nothing but Hoisting their Rents and Grinding the Faces of their miserable Tenants unless for exchange of Discourse they Sally out into Stories of their own Debauchery and ever and anon Jibing at the Melancholy Noah whose Head they
Ruins bin Tremble ye mighty Gods of Earth Here God's as Great as you want Breath O for an Ark of Safety now Come in come in and Lowly Bow. The Impiety of Cham. THE proud Waters that had received their Commission from the King of Heaven to Fight his Battel and revenge his Quarrel against the universal Apostacy with more Faithfulness than Saul who in pity spared the delicate Agag and the best of the Cattel for Sacrifice undertaking the General Massacre without Mercy Proud of an opportunity to Muster up all their strength and by this Execution to Chronicle the Eternal Victory over all their oposite Elements pour'd out all their Forces with such a Torrent of Fury and Rage that soon did the poor baffled Flames Sacrifice themselves for fear and lie all Martyr'd in their own Ashes Not a Spark left in the whole World but what must be fetcht from Heaven to warm Noah's Altar The Air guilty of the Treason too for yielding Breath to such a Rebellious crew is all smother'd to Death within the Concaves of the Spiring World. But the poor Earth for the Guilt of bearing this unhappy Burden and Feasting them with all her Luxurious Prodigalities with Caesar muffles her Face in her Mantle and patiently receives the Wounds of her own folly while the insulting Enemy not content to ride upon her Back only tramples her under his Feet and is trod into Mire and Dirt. Whose cruel Tyrannies when the All-gracious God perceived and now that these insolent Waves help'd forward the Affliction of his poor little Church in the Ark crowded among Brutes and very uneasie commands them to go back It is enough stay now your hand But while they hardly retire and with too slow a pace a mighty Wind is sent forth to sound the Retreat and enforce them to a speedier conformity that so the Creator might conferr a New World on those his favourites who had alone been so Loyal and Faithful to him in the Old. The Commission is Executed and the good Prophet hopes that this Wind has blown him some good while the obedient Surges post so fast away to their Quarters and that neither Wind nor Water had done him hitherto the least prejudice in their several Marches How submissively doth he wait till he receives the glad Tydings of the Recession of the Enemy which is confirmed to him by his winged Ambassadour under seal with the Signature of an Olive Branch And that Patience might have its perfect work he still attends and dares not set a Foot on the Earth without receiving orders from Heaven But now behold this poor despised Preacher of the Old World comes ashore from his dark Cabbin and lands the great Monarch of the Vniverse a Type of the greater Saviour the Prophet Priest and King over all the Earth whos 's first work is to build an Altar whereon he Sacrifices his very Soul in Praises and Thanksgivings to God the Perfume of which was so sweet in his Nostrils that it brought down a blessing not on Himself only but on all the Earth to all Generations for while Seed-time and Harvest Summer and Winter Day and Night continue unto us we cannot be unmindful of holy Noah's Sacrifice which was so pleasing to God that to him was sealed the Confirmation of them all to us Yet could not all the Floods of Wrath extinguish the rage of that Venom which his Impious Son C ham translated from the Old World into the New and had lodged in his Heart all this while like a close Traytor in the very Bosome of the Church A Contagion which will spread it self to that Latitude as in a few years shall over-run the Earth again This was the cursed Stock out of which shall sprout those venomous Branches which shall dilate themselves into a prodigious Plantation for the increase of Wickedness He was a fellow of so vile a Spirit that you might have found all the Rudenesses of the past World concentred in him And while he wants other opportunities to manifest the Villanies of his Heart he blushes not to act them against his own Father so devoyd was he of that common Grace and reverend Respect which every Pagan Conscience payes to the Maintenance of the Honour of Soveraignty so insensible was he of that Duty which as a Natural Tribute is due to so great a Prince and so good a Parent that he is not afraid of the Vengeance of Heaven while he belches out the Crudities of his rotten Lungs upon his venerable Face by open Derision and prophane Contempt of that glorious Person now a Prisoner in the surprizing Snares of his own Vines whose uncivil Twiggs had caught him by the Heels and ruffled off his Mantle from him in the fall Unhappy Prince to give so vile a Miscreant occasion of so Rebellious an Affront to thy Majesty But most worthily Accursed Wretch that wer 't so far from casting the Veil of Duty and Charity over that naked Bosom wherein lodged an Heart so lately by the Righteous Judge of Heaven pronounc'd to be the very Best and most Sincere in all the World That here I find thee taking up the perfect Postures of a Mad-man extending thy widened Throat into loud Exclamations of Laughter and Derision to the insufferable dishonour of that mournful Object Nor canst thou be satisfied in ridiculing thine own Father in the presence of the All-seeing God and his Angels but must maliciously summon all the World to do it too how righteously therefore wer 't thou and thy whole Posterity bound up in the strong Chains of an Eternal Curse The Infirmities of our Fathers either Civil or Natural should be so far from causing us to draw a wry Mouth that they must be ever the subject of our aking Hearts Since the Fathers eating sowre Grapes do but cause the Childrens Teeth to be set on Edge And who is Ignorant that Noah's Wine did but exhilerate his Spirit into a more chearful pronouncing the dreadful Imprecation upon that Son whom the doom of Heaven had before decreed to be blasted Sure I am those Israelites had forfeited their own Heads before ever God gave way to Satan to Tempt David to Poll them and Absalom's hot Brain did but naturally generate those long Locks which Divine Justice twisted into an Halter to hang him with for the short Cutt of his Curtail'd Obedience to so good a Father 'T is but Turkish Impiety to reck our Revenges against the Plagues of Heaven that Sin hath procured upon the very Bodies of our Kings 'T is remarkable that most of the Rebellions which Sacred Writ hath acquainted us with were raised against the best Princes and the very Intimates of God whose Interest for divine Assistance was so apparent that 't was a Miracle Passion should so besott men into the fatal Effects that pursued them all Since Corah's Grave was so affrightfull as might well allay the rage of that Spirit to this day Tho Zimri slew his Master that
was but a Sott yet a Jezabel could observe that he suffered the Plagues of a Regicide and the Pleasure of a Weeks Reign was soon expired in the Flames of his expeditious Ruine when despair of Safety from the Prosecutors of that Treason reduc'd him to that wofull Exigency of Offering up himself a most unacceptable Holocaust in the Fire of his own Kindling 'T is the Kindness of God to all Subjects in acquainting them that the Hearts of Kings are in his own hand directing them by that discovery into the safest Methods of Redress against any the wildest Exorbitances of Tyranny Since 't is but their Addressing unto himself who is able to turn them as the Water-streams to flow into as great Currents of Favour and Kindness towards us as ever they have ebb'd in the diminution of any Rights or Liberties from us If their own Prayers can redress their Conditions 't were but Madness to fly upon the Faces of Princes whose Wrath is as the roaring of Lyons when speedier succour may be drawn by humbling themselves into the Arms of a gracious God Who for the Oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the Needy will surely arise to set them in safety from every one that puffeth at them Be it ever remembred That God hath secured the Prerogative of Honour to all our Superiours with the same Care as he hath provided for the Lives of other Men to shew us That 't is as dangerous to withdraw our Allegiance from them as to act Murder upon others And that their Sovereignty is as safely guarded as our own Beings And Oh! that the Brightness of those Eyes that sparkle Terrour into the Hearts of the Wicked and scatters them as the Clouds before the Sun may reflect so great a Light into all the Paths of Princes that their Royal Feet may never slip into Noah's Noose nor any of those more vulgar Weaknesses which give Opportunity for Chamish Impiety to set light by that Majesty which God hath made the very Image of his Own. And let Undutiful Children take care that the Stones of Absalom's Heap which Travellers say are still increased by very Jews and Turks passing by it in detestation of that unnatural Act be not brought hence by Divine Justice to beat out the Brains of those whom the Horrour of so notorious an Example can little affright into better Obedience the Punishment of this Crime being so seldom Prorogued to the General Assize as Vengeance hardly takes a Nap before Execution be done to the full When a wretched Son was once laying violent Hands on his Aged Father and kicking him out of doors Now hold thy Hands said the Old Man for 't was but hitherto that I served thy Grandfather in the very same Manner And 't is observable that the Curse is entail'd expressely upon Canaan for the Sin that was committed by his Father to let us see how so great a Profaneness is seldom expiated but by the Blood of Generations And God's withholding his Grace only from Children is Slip enough to strangle them with the same Halter their Fathers hung in This is that Canaan whose Name gave Denomination to the Fruitful-land and whose Sin made it yet but a Wilderness to his whole Posterity since the Blessing of Exuberance is but a Curse to those to whom common Mercy is but a constant Judgment and God did but send them before-hand as a Company of Slaves to build those Houses and plant those Vineyards which should chear the Hearts of the more obedient Children of Shem to whose use God sealed the Lease of their Ejectment and delivered it to Abraham so weary was he of such Tenants four hundred Years before it was Executed while in the mean time a People should be born that should serve the Lord and Pay him the Quit-Rent of Praise for so pleasant Habitation And what Is not this another Tragedy when the Sword of God strikes inwardly and executes its Massacres upon all the invisible Faculties kills them spiritually and spares the poor Corps to the Curse of Slavery not to Men only but Lusts and Hell leaving them so perfectly Dead from performing the Functions of the true Life that they are absolutely senceless of any other end than that of Luxury wherefore they are continued in the World 'till running up and down for a while like Swine with the fatal Knife sticking in their Throats they faint away and bleed themselves into Eternal Death as Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction Canaan Adieu the unhappy Son of so prophane a Father who hath entail'd upon thee and thine so direful Execration that I see some of thy Cursed Off-spring hypocritically crouching with their mouldy Bread and clouted Shooes to begg a miserable Life from the flourishing Family of thy more dutiful Vnkle and none other is granted them but such as is worse thaâ— Death it self when rather than perish they are content to become the contemptible Skullion of their Kitchen the Prophesied Judgment iâ— actually verified Cursed be Canaan a servant oâ— servants shall he be Babel's Tragedy To the City of God if any on Earth be the Incomparable London Instructed and Edified on Everlasting Foundations into all the Dimensions of Saving Knowledge Faith Love Truth and holy Experience by the Care Skill and Industry of Her Spiritual Builders do I humbly Dedicate this Tragedy Beseeching God that neither the Clattering of Tongues nor the Division of Hearts may ever procure Her the Baffle of Babel But that she may be a City at Unity in it Self her Affections as uniform and Compact as her Habitations ever remembring that she is not Secure till God himself lay her Topstone in Heaven and Finish her up to Perfection GEN. XI 4. Go to let us Build c. BUT come Reader Let us pass from Golgotha the Charnel-house of Dead Bones and Skulls while we divert our selves a The Tragedy of SODOM c. Grand Paw she mightily dislikes their whining Minims she must have them Note it to the Ela of c. And as their Speech so their very Looks do please her as little they know not how to charge their Countenances to dart a Terrour nor how to Swell and look bigg nor with one Frown shot from the furious Brow send away the Impudent Creditor that dares take the boldness to Dunn for his own In all these Reformations she promises her utmost skill to assist them Now for the manner of their Eating this above all hath given her the greatest Affliction As if God had still left them under the Curse of Temperance and given them nothing but Herbs and Sallads to feed on She verily thinks their Fields and Meadows did not present their Liberal Issues to a more silly and dull-brain'd People in the World. What had they not learned the sacred Science of Eating Well Unskilful yet in the Lectures of Cookery and Sauces Nor how to Exercise the Trained-Bands of Dishes and Platters She hates to see them gnawing upon
those tougher Bits which tormented them into the Fret of a tedious Digestion Had their Women no Alimbecks to bless them into the Felicities of the Quintessence Had they never dissolv'd an Oxe into a Mess of Jelly And what were so many Flocks given them but to Elixirate all into Broth whose subtile vertue they should find frolicking in their capering Veins And as to Drinks she fears the Vicinity of their Streams had but bewitched them into the Judgment of too frequent Draughts from them Or if they were arriv'd at the knack of improving them a little by a small Infusion of the Spirits of their Acres with them this she believes is their extreamest Happiness when now she was come to acquaint them That the Jolly Grape was proud to shed his Blood in their Service and offers himself to be press'd to Death to give them a greater Pleasure in Life Why was the Experienc'd Noah so careful to prune up his Vines but that he might leave behind him the Honour of bequeathing so great a Blessing to the World But if hitherto that Nectar had been enviously detain'd from them by the Policy or Power of their Princes and made a Monopoly to their own Palats she will take care to break the Damm and make it run down into every Corner of their Streets But then they must promise her to enjoy that Happiness in the proper Season which would double its Pleasures to them and that is by Night they would never arrive to any great Proficiency in the Noble Practice of Drinking Al-a-mode till they muffled up day in their Curtains and Lighted up Night with their Tapers 'T was a Glorious Adventure to baffle the Orders of Nature and to begin to Chime up their Consorts of Musick and Dancing when the drowsie World lay fetter'd in the Charms of a breathing Death and themselves alone Alive unto Jollity and Mirth They could never think to mount the high Flight of Pleasure indeed till they had tamed Nature by Watching as Hawks are fitted for the Game she fears they will slight her Advice as to this since she never observ'd a People more chain'd to their Beds taking care with the Sibarites to kill their Cocks in order to secure their Naps in the Morning There are many other things she would gladly see redressed but she is willing for the present to dismiss them on condition they will evidence a fair Respect to her Counsels for the future 'T is true there was one thing more she would be glad to whisper in their Ears faining here a Politick backwardness to discover it yet such as she knew would but whet their desires into longing expectation to know it which they fancy too above all the rest would help to compleat up their happiness but she desires to be excused for the present till she see to what Measure of Obedience they would pass in a dutiful Conformity to her Dictates given out at this Meeting And besides she fears the disobliging of their Wives whose company she expected too and who might equally need her Instruction since what she had further to impart might be expounded at least Misprision of Treason against the Female Interest and whenever she reveals it it must be under the sacred Seal of Secresie They depart with all the Expressions of Joy and Satisfaction in her admired Condescention and obliging Nature and assure her that nothing shall be wanting on their part to Honour her Directions by a ready Obsequiousness and Respect and all in an Extasie of Ravishing Delight they lowly take their leave and pass away Memory that is ever a faithful Treasurer to lock up every thing that casts but the least shadow of a promising Happiness fail'd not these Citizens to make a very punctual Repetition of all the Branches of this goodly Oration to the greedy Ears of their attentive Wives whom they soon raise into equal Raptures with themselves in the Imagination of the prescribed Felicity till anon unfortunately One of them more Vxorious than the rest and who wanting the prudence of Retention would make but an ill Privy Counsellor chanced to blurt out that last clause so imperfectly delivered and broken off Abruptly which seem'd to grate upon them a little too nearly This takes Fire and from a little Spark in the Bosom of One too hot to hold there long spreads into a Flame over all the City A Convention of the Sex is holden to debate of the matter each one vents her private Conceptions which blow up the rest into a greater Fire The fury of Jealousie incenses them and they cast about how to prevent an Evil that seemed to bear so ill a Face and Omen towards them They universally Vote a Conspiracy hatching and resolve to stand off and bid defiance to their Enemy What knew they but she might bring up some new Laws of Divorce and endeavour to preferr her own Drabbs of Honour into their Beds For their parts their Spirits were as high as her Own and they scorn to crouch for Advice or Directions from her They needed none of her Imperious Impositions and were Bred sufficiently already into all the Decorums of State. What can she add more to them than what they enjoyed already Could she teach them other Fashions than what themselves had invented They had not studied the Arts of Dressing so long to be corrected now by a Stranger The World was mistaken in them if they were not Notorious already They thought she had come to Town to have improved her self rather by them and added to her happiness in their Company than thus mischievously to Plot against them Besides 't was rudely done of her not to give them the Priority of the Invitation They like not she should be so great with their Husbands The Empress was of too sensible a Spirit to pass by the Affront without the just Revenge payable to it She will make them know that she hath not so low a Soul to put up such an Affront to her Honour so tamely as they imagin And is very glad that themselves give the first Occasion of the Breach they shall quickly feel the effects of their stubborn Folly and Rebellion If the Spirit of Purity hath drawn a Curtain over that Obscene Advice that once was whisper'd by the Cursed Sorcerer into Balak's Ears and hath modestly hinted the time only when the wicked Counsel was given which prov'd so fatal to the poor Children of Abraham Marvel not Reader if my Pen blush to describe the unnatural Revenge which the Sorceress dictated to the Men of Sodom whose hot pursuit of her pernicious Orders was the Torch that lighted the Flames of their Ruine and stamped upon them the black Character of Exceedingly Wicked 'T is enough if thou know that God gave them up to the most villanous Exorbitancies and the fury of unnatural and unaccountable Lusts to Charge an Incubus and Ravish Pluto while Nature it self recoils at the Horrour of so Infernal a Courtship Pride
Men little think it they do but swallow their own Damnation 'till their Eyes discern the Lord's Body in his own light those that have Eat and Drunk in his Presence shall be turned off at the last Day with a doleful Discedite Depart from me for I know you not Prayer it self unless selvidg'd by Resolution ravels out into nothing so little trust is there to the best of external Priviledges where they are not accompanied with the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power He is not a Jew which is one outwardly Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of Men but God. Though the Ordinances in themselves are ineffectual without God yet being of Divine Institution they bind us to a constant and faithful waiting upon him in the Use of them for who knows when or how soon he may work by them The pretence of their invalidity give us no License to depart from them or to lay them by since here we see utter Excision menaced against every Child of Abraham that should not bleed by the Circumcising Knife There are some benefits which the most wicked Men enjoy together with the Holy in the outward Communion of the Church for which they shall pay their Homage and yield a subjection such as it is though hypocritical and involuntary they shall sit before him as his People do and make some shews at least of a real Conformity and Union with Him though their Hearts run after Covetousness and they are as Traiterous as Judas who yet had his Sop dipt in the same Dish with Jesus God who had hitherto feasted his Abraham with a Banquet of Promises which only his Faith is to feed on all his Life long and must depart the World in Assurance of their Truth when his Eyes should be shut up in Death will yet present him with one Dish which himself shall see and all his Senses ravished with the very taste of Sweet Meats are kept for the last Course and help to digest all the rest the better Judge Reader with what Ears Abraham receives the Tydings of an Heir from the Body of his dearest Sarah who at once is made a Lady and a Lady Mother She shall have a Son that shall own and double that Honour together 'T is Astonishing News and Abraham's Feet can hold him no longer he embraces the Mercy of a Saviour and a Son with a lowly Prostration Blessings multiply upon him as Duties are multiplyed by him No Man shall ever lose by a munificent God. Adam parts with a Rib and behold a Wife Abraham with a superfluous Skin and behold a Son. The Heart of Man cannot bear the Kisses of Divine Love without dissolving into Joy and Abraham's Soul is so full of it now that it forces a vent at his Mouth He laughs out the excess of that Comfort which seems so pleasingly to oppress him And God himself is so delighted to see his Abraham thus humbly and innocently Merry at the Thoughts of Sarah's Breeding that while the Name of Isaak liveth it shall never be forgotten that Abraham laughed thus reverently in Faith and as sometimes one who finds that he hath gratified his Company by telling a Story which hath proved so acceptable and affecting beyond expectation will repeat it again in Assurance of that Virtue in the repetition that will still keep up the Humour so God disdains not to make a Rehearsal of what he saw sounded so sweetly in the Ears of his dearest Friend Sarah thy Wife shall bear thee a Son Indeed she shall v. 19. Tho thine Age of an Hundred and hers of Ninety Years may make it seem impossible to Nature yet I have revealed to thee mine Almighty Power to give it an Evidence in this Grace God is already teaching Abraham the exercise of his Faith in his Alsufficiency and he is no dull Schollar but presently takes out the Lesson and is dandling Isaak in the Arms of his Faith before he is Conceived in the Womb of his Mother Could we Believe with Abraham's Faith we should Rejoyce with Abraham's Joy. There is no true Pleasure but what is Spiritual all the Worlds Huzzah's but as the Noise of Thorns which Crackle themselves into Nothing Solomon commits the Vanity to Bedlam the proper place for the Franticks that distractedly Laugh while they are little sensible what Tears they shall Weep in Hell Eccl. 2.2 Canst thou be Merry Canst thou Play Silly Soul who Sinn'd to Day In Heaven where there is no Sin there is Fulness of Joy In Hell where there is nothing but Sin there is nothing but Sorrow but on Earth Men Sin and rejoyce in it too yet feel no Sorrow and no wonder when they feel no Sin as the Distemper'd are sensible of no Madness These are pack'd away by Abraham's Great Heir into their own Place to see if they can be as Jolly there too Woe unto you c. The Merry Frolick of a short day dying into an Everlasting Night of Horror and Torment But for a greater Increase of Abraham's Joy he receives not the News of a Son only but an Heir of the Covenant He shall inherit the Blessings of Grace and Glory God intends Isaac for Heaven e'er ever he had Life or Conception Where are those that quarrel at the comfortable Doctrine of Election which God himself Preaches to Abraham Well might he Laugh again for so good a Son maketh a glad Father 'T is well when Parents and Children go not two ways in the dreadful Day Isaac is sure of a place in his Fathers Bosom in the everlasting Kingdom When the Seed of Free Grace is Sown into a good Field it never fails of a Crop but where it falls in Barren Ground expect nothing but Weeds Too many want the Ingenuity to make Grateful Returns for Spiritual Mercies Men are not only Evil because God is Good but that very Goodness makes them Worse they tire his Patience and adventure to make trial to what length the Dimensions of his Long-suffering may be extended But the brave Abraham under the fore-knowledge of Gods Decree is so far from slackening his Duty in the careful Education of Isaac into Piety that looking on him as an Heir of Heaven he was ever dressing him up in such Robes as he knew would be worn and could be never out of Fashion there He endeavours to make him a greater Proficient if possible than himself And methinks Isaac's whole Life was nothing else but a lively Comment on the distinguishing Mercy of God towards him True Grace hath that excellent Property to inlarge the Heart into an Universal Concern for General Good and wisheth Epidemical Happiness to all Some quarrel at that charitable Supplication of the Church in the Litany That it might please thee to have Mercy upon all Men Never remembring that God would have All Men to be saved and hath Sworn That he hath no pleasure in the death of a Sinner
Abraham shall know that his God can be as Just as Good and that few partak'd of the special Priviledges that himself was bless'd in 'T is no small Obligation that lyes upon the Faithful from the Knowledge of their differing in Condition from the worst of Men only by distinguishing Mercy What are we that thou shouldst manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World. Faith grows up to a perfect Stature by the Knowledge of every dispensation of God. The Prophets enforce their Doctrines from the Examples of the fiercest Executions of Vengeance Pass ye unto Calneh and see c. Abraham who hereafter should read Lectures upon Sodoms Flames to affright his Children and Family from Sodom's Lusts shall first hear with his Ear and afterwards see with his Eye the pernicious and dreadful Desolation that Sin had made upon them that with greater sence of those Calamities he might terrifie others against the Sins that procur'd them God knowing how powerfull Application so Experienc'd a Preacher as Abraham would surely make from such a Text. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do c. For I know him that he will Command his Children and his Houshould after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord c. Behold the great Ordinance of Family-Instruction establish'd by Divine Institution Abraham must execute both Offices of King and Priest In vain is Obedience exacted from such as know not their Duty But in order to the means of that Knowledge Obedience is justly required and Jurisdiction given by God Himself to enforce it I know Abraham that he will Command his Children and Servants c. If the Sword or the Word be too precarious look for Confusion and Ignorance to prevail over all Abraham is invested with a perfect Power to subject them to the Discipline of God He was Soveraign over his Family and God is so far from Clipping his Authority that he gives him the Broad Seal of Heaven to confirm his Commission He had Power of Life and Death within his own House they were not worthy to live should they not learn the saving Knowledge of the holy Commandments to little purpose were they Circumcised in the Flesh if they be not enlightned into the Knowledge of that Sacrament nor how far it oblig'd them to Obedience and Duty But I know Abraham that he will teach them c. Even this Great Prince will not think it beneath him to Catechise the meanest Herdsman in his Family 'T is the Work of God an Abraham hath an Heart to it 't is a Glorious work the Saving of Souls and Abraham shall be rewarded for it 'T is transmitting Piety to Posterity and the Child unborn will praise God for Abraham 'T is the advancing the Interest and Glory of God upon Earth which never faileth to bring to Glory in Heaven See the decay of Religion and weep tears of Blood Where lives the Son of Abraham that improves his Authority in his Family for God and the Souls he hath made unless in a cold and perfunctory manner If an Impious casting off the Thoughts and mention of God unless in cursed Oaths and fearful Imprecations if an utter banishing his Holy Worship and Service as an unfashionable disparaging thing If the Training up Children into the low and base Opinion of the strict Wayes and Methods of Godliness such as their Parents have sucked in before them If Servants must think it ill Manners to serve their Maker better than their profane Masters and must wear the Livery of their Relation and Vices together If instead of Praying Catechising and Holy Instruction and Excellent Example which ever flourished in the Great Family of this mighty Prince there be nothing but Prophaneness Atheism and all the Trades of Confusion driven and carried on with a perfect Industry from day to day surely we must sadly conclude that the Good Abraham hath but few Heirs to follow him in the same holy Path. God knew this faithful Servant to be constant to his Glory and Interest and all the World shall one day know that such as these are very Traytors both to Him and their Own Happiness for ever 'T was because of this Fidelity that the Great Abraham was admitted into the Secrets of his Judgment against Sodom The clamour of whose Provocations would suffer divine Justice to forbear them no longer God could not be in Quiet for them in Heaven either they must cease to be thus wicked or to have any further Being in the World He will ease himself of these Adversaries they shall no longer oppress his Patience or abuse his Goodness His Long-suffering had run out to the utmost Extremity He is now ready for vengeance they ripe for destruction When the whole World shall be white unto the great Harvest Then shall the Sickle of Ruine cut it down Yet shall not Execution be done upon Sodom before all the Formalities of Judgment precede Process and Enquiry shall be made into the Merits of their Cause The Judge of all the Earth will do right None shall perish but from the plain Evidence and Conviction of their own Guilt Righteous art thou O Lord and just are thy Judgments Two Angels are sent in Commission to make the Inquisition we shall anon hear what the Issue of that Tryal will be Now is Abraham left with the Lord alone and 't is remarkable that himself who had vouchsafed to Honour the Tabernacle of this holy Man with his gracious Presence disdains to bless the Infamous City with the same favour God is far from the ungodly but he waiteth here still to hearken to the Prayer of the Righteous Abraham receives not the News of Sodom's destruction with any pleasure at all Gods Children as himself delight not in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn and live 'T is Fury and not Zeal that on every affront calls for Fire from Heaven to destroy There is a City will know this one day that hath made so many Massacres and kindled so many Flames upon the Bodies of the Saints Abraham prepares to Plead as Fiercely as he had Fought for Sodom before How serviceable are the Favourites to the Enemies of God who yet hate and persecute them Down he falls and on the bare Knees of his very Soul Beggs That God would maintain the Honour of his own Justice and that the Righteous might not taste of the bitter Cup of the Wicked And further If it would please him that the Wicked might live for the Righteous sake and the Righteous for their own Tho' the Wicked will not suffer the Righteous to live for whose sake themselves live and with the Jews kill their Saviours yet are the Righteous of another Spirit and would give their lives that all Men were as themselves the innocent and blameless Sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation 'T is wonderful to find how Abraham by the bare Breath of his Prayers makes the
Comforts on Earth God had made with him an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure This is all his desire and all his Salvation although he should not make his House to grow Who can see Him rising early to whet the Sacrificing knife that must cut the Throat of his beloved Isaac and giving orders for the cleaving the Wood that must afterwards Burn his dearest Body into Ashes and hastening his Son and Servants to the Journey The Lord hath a Sacrifice to be Offered on the Mount of Moriah how is This Righteous Soul straitned untill it be fullfiled Who can see him thus busie in the Annihilation of his own Flesh without believing that his Affections were all ravished away into Heaven and that Divine Grace had absorp'd him to that degree that he seems to have little of Man or Father appearing in him As Levi he knows not his own Children but packs away the one into Banishment at the Command of God and the other into Death So wholly eaten up by divine Zeal that for three whole days together Travelling towards the fatal Mount he hath both his Eyes so intentively sixt on the holy Commandment that he doth not so much as glance on his Isaac whoâ— he Devotes unto Good and looks on him as nothing but Ashes already The Law of his God that by this Command had dispensed with the very Law of Nature was so strong upon his Heart that he becomes obediently Vnnatural and Cruel not in the least repining as Jacob against God Me hast â—hou bereaved of my Children Ishmael is not and â—ilt thou take Isaac also all these things are against me Not so much as pouring out one Prayer to revoke the dreadful Injunction Father if it be possible let this Cup pass away But totally resigning Himself with his Blessed Heir Let thy will and not mine be done O Holy Abraham how Illustriously do the Graces of Him shine forth upon thee that would be Nothing else than what he was unto God! Thou art that Righteous Man of the East that hath learned to fall down and lye thus Submissively at the Foot of God Whither shall we go in Pilgrimage to find out the least Track of thine Obedient Steps there is scarce a little Line of thy Miraculous Devotion left upon the Face of the Earth Though St. Austin and some few more are pleased to give Sarah the Honour of consenting to the Death of her Son at the Will of God yet others more generally deny it and that Abraham afraid that her Faith might be drown'd in the Flood of her Passion very prudently conceal'd the Divine Mandate from her till after the Execution and that possibly he might bring her back a Son preternaturally raised out of his own Ashes for his God was Almighty In vain should he occasion a Precipitation of her Sorrows the woful Tidings would fall too soon as a Talent of Lead to crush and break her miserable Heart 'T is Abraham alone hath that Masculine Spirit to bear up under so sinking an Affliction as this Nor doth the Appearance of the fiery Mountain upon which his Son must be Offered dismay him David piteously lamenting the Fall but of a Friend bitterly execrated the Gilboâ— that had suckt in the Blood of his Jonathan devoting it to the Curse of Heaven for ever But Abraham can view the place where the Fire must consume his dearest Child and yet with Aaron hold his peace And now what his Faith assures him will be acceptable to God his Fear tells him may not be so very Grateful to Men. He prudently dismisses the Servants whose Eyes and Hearts he thinks would not serve them to view what his own unhappy Hands must Act He desires no Witnesses of so Tragical a Sacrifice 'T is enough that he who had set him on the Work and could not but See him should Sign the Certificate of his Faithful Obedience and Service While he Approves himself to God he values not the Testimony of Men He cries not as Jehu to Jonadab Come see my zeal for the Lord. Some fancy that he left them behind least when they should see him doing what he must do they might think that he had left his Wits behind him and so might hinder him of his Duty as once the Good Meaning Friends of Jesus did him on pretence of Distraction and Want of Senses It was not improbable but these young Men might have obstructed his Offering from as Ardent Zeal to their young Master as those afterwards who rescued Jonathan Sworn to Death from the Hands and Oath of his Violent Father But Abraham will not be interrupted by Men in a Duty which is commanded him by God. If he himself will cut the Cords of the Sacrifice and his Isaac's Redemption be wrought by the same Authority from Heaven that his Death was imposed most happy should he think himself but no other Hand shall take him from the Altar than the Divine one that laid him on Whence then is His Authority who pretends a Power to Dispense against the Positive and Absolute Commands of God The Servants and Beasts are disburthened while the whole Load is laid upon Isaac the Son is oppressed and the very Slaves go free yet he Murmurs not Who Sees not here those Innocent Shoulders that once bore our Griefs and carried our Sorrows The Iniquity of us all was laid upon him yet he opened not his Mouth Can we view Isaac bowing under the Wood that is design'd to devour him and not behold our dearest Saviour Fainting under the weight of his own Cross both ascending by weary Steps the very same Mount Abraham and Isaac the Holy and the Spiritual these tug with difficulties and attain to Mount Sion the City of God while the Carnal and the Brutish lag below and perish in the Valley of Darkness and Death where no Sacrifice is offered by them none is accepted for them their Iniquity is not purged by any offering for ever Nor is there any true Son of Abraham but who in this Life divides Himself the Brutish Part is left behind here below while the Aspiring Soul climbs the Hill to meet with God and doth so effectually prevail with him there that hereafter the poor Dust shall be called up too and participate of those Divine Qualities that will fit it for so Glorious a Communion The Ascent to the Mount was the most difficult part of the whole Journey and strong is the Body that bears up it Self against its Proclivity and Steepness Yet must not Isaac be pitied but instead of ease hath an heavy Burthen heaped upon him by a Father that tenderly loves him with design it may be to make him weary of the World and more willing to dye and pass out of it while the Slaves and Brutes are at ease and free from All below If the Cares of Life that are common to all are sound too light to humble the dearest Children of God and keep them low behold God
Peace and Joy While holy Paul triumphed in the Testimony of his Conscience that gave him the Assurance of his Truth and Sincerity how little did he value the censure of those that impudently branded him for a Reprobate 2 Cor. ult Let God himself draw up the Certificate of Jobs Integrity That there was none like him in all the Earth Yet will the very Devil undertake to disprove him in it and his Three Friends are all drawn in to close with him and by many Arguments labour to asperse him with the foul Imputation of Hypocrisie till that mistaken Counterfeit is accepted only to pray away the guilt of that Ignorance and then they look on him with the Eyes of God. 'T is no matter how thick these stones of Persecution â—lie upon us while with the Protomartyr the Heavens open to us and our Eyes are blessed with the glory of Jesus How little would Abraham have felt the smart of Reproaches from scandalous Mouths whose Ears had heard that blessed Encomium from God himself Now I know that thou fearest me Not but that God knew it before but Abraham must know it too that he might rejoycingly walk in the pleasant light of Gods Love and his own Integrity together He that hath not passed Abraham's tryal and given the same proof of Fidelity cannot reasonably expect to feel the same reward of Joy. Let no Man think himself free from a Temptation of the same Magnitude since under the Gospel not Isaac thy Son but thou thy Self art called on to be Sacrificed on the same Mount And he is accounted unworthy to be a Disciple that hates not his Own Life for the sake of his Master The great Saviour hath abounded in Votaries proud of the Honour of writing their Love in the Blood of their Hearts and have been reduced into Ashes with as burning Affections to his Glory and hath every where Those that hold their All at the only pleasure of his Will and who can at all times pass not only into Poverty and loss of Estate but also of Life for his Truth They loved not their lives to the Death and should they never be called to climbe the Mount and suffer the fatal stroke yet since the Sacrifice is ready and the Hand list up God doth accept the ready mind and Isaac is Sacrific'd tho' yet alive He is dead for Christ on God's account who is willing to die 't is the Heart and not the Blood that he requires If Isaac the Fruit of the Body be refused shall the Ram in the Thicket be taken Will the Lord be pleased with Rams with thousands of them Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings thou wouldest not but God himself will provide the Sacrifice and prepare the Body of another Son of Abraham yet behind he is the only Lamb of God that must take away the sins of the World him will God accept tho' Isaac be not taken In the despair of Abrahams Age must Isaac be called into Life in the despair of his Hopes must he be saved from Death When the Knife is at the throat of the whole Church and Posts are every where flying with orders to give the Blow then shall Salvation break out God is seen in the Mount still When all means of deliverance fail below and his people brought into the extreamest streights then doth enlargement come from himself that all the World may know that He is God alone and besides him there is no Saviour CHAP. XI Sarah's Death Abraham's Purchase of a Grave for Her. ABraham's Affections were not so strongly rooted as the Trees of his pleasant Grove into the Soil of Gerar but he can easily pluck them up to be transplanted from Beersheba into his Canaan again The Heart that is fixed unto God doth ever hang loose from the Earth It is he that makes all places a-like delightful to us by the Gracious Shine of his Presence Fear not Jacob to go down into Egypt for I will go with thee Abraham who not long since enjoyed God in the Mount and had the Life of a Son given him must now as contentedly pass down into the Valley of Tears and suffer the Death of a Wife Six and thirty years enjoyment had God given her of the delight of her Heart she that so long had patiently waited for him should not too hastily be hurried from him but now must she pass from her Abraham and Isaac together to the God of both The great Sarah dies Twice already had she been sent for and taken from her Husband by Kings but now never to return more she is once for all sent for to the King of Heaven who provides her a place in his Own till Abraham comes to lay her again in his Bosome The Angels she had entertained in her Tent give her welcome into Glory and furnish her Lodgings suitable to the Quality of the Great Mother of all the Faithful and Wife to the Friend of God. That all Generations may know what respect God himself bore unto Sarah she alone of all her Sex hath the peculiar Honour to have her Age registred in the Rolls of Heaven who notwithstanding all her Labour and Travel ever moving from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People kept up an unwearied Courage and Faith till God in Pity put an end to all her Toils and sent her a Writ of Ease in the Hundred twenty and Seventh year of her Life Holy David hath well observed that our whole Life is but as a Tale that is told and God knows the Lives of too many make up a very Inconsiderable and sad one This great Lady the very Mirrour of Women and Wives for her incomparable Piety unspotted Purity unparallel'd Patience exemplary Subjection and incessant Persâ—verance in all makes up an History and when all the Memories of the great Princesses of the World are devoured by Time and buried in Oblivion the smallest Circumstances of Her Life must survive them all and Her story exactly Chroniâ—led in the everlasting Volums Sarah may not laugh but all the World must know it she may not pay her dutiful Respect to her Husband by giving him his Title of Lord but that Obedience must be recommended to the imitation of all her Daughters above Two thousand years after with a gracious design to keep up her Honour and Memory for ever Abráham receives the tydings of her Death with lamentable Resentment and passes in a grave and solemn Procession into her Tent as the House of Mourning to pay her the just Tribute due to the merits of so incomparable a Consort There instead of a Wife he finds a Corps whose cold Cheâ—ks and wan Lips he bedews with his warmer Tears which yet give some little ease to his heavy Heart from the oppression of that Grief that is ready to break it Here the remembrance of all her Goodness and Vertues crowd in upon his Mind and Memory which while he reflects on together with his own loss of them
all his Spirits are broken the loss of his Friends and Country cost him not a Sigh he hardened himself against the Fate of Isaac but his dear Sarah's Death melts him into Water The joyful sence of divine Grace doth not so perfectly banish away natural grief but that the best of Saints even Abraham and Jesus himself under the Tyrannies of Fate shall find themselves subject to those Passions as loudly speak them to be but Men. Behold the great Sarah lying Dead and the mighty Prince her Husband acknowledged to be such by all the Chieftains of the Country where he dwells not Proprietor of so much Earth as shall suffice to Ground her Monument nor is this so great a Wonder when afterwards we find his Heir the Lord of all the Creation in the same condition and obliged to a Friend to lend him a Grave Who can date an Happiness to himself from his Interest in the Turf and Clod when Jesus and Abraham have not so much Glebe in the World of their own as to set a Foot on How unlike to their Father were those degenerous Children of Abraham who joyned House to House and lay Field to Field till there was no place for others that they alone might be plac'd in the Earth Isa 5.8 Doth it teach us nothing that Abraham so exceedingly Rich as he was should never mind to purchase Land of Inheritance but only for a Burying-place here in the Earth He Sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise Why did he this but because he looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God If we had Abraham's Faith we should have Abraham's Spirit as free and disengaged from the World as He When God knows our Affections are so deeply Riveted into the Creature and pleasures of Life that we have as little Will to mind the purchase of a Sepulchre as he to buy an Inheritance amongst Men. Indeed the whole Kingdom was his own in Reversion and surely secur'd to his Children while his own Faith was Estate enough with the Promise of God for Himself to live on While we was Travelling on keeping Heaven in his Eye he had no leisure to think of a poor settlement in the Earth 'T was not for Pilgrims to wait on Building whose affections were no deeper stak'd to the World than the slender Pillars of their movable Tabernacles which they lightly pluck up with ease and hast to follow the conduct of that gracious Providence that ever so faithfully led them they little minded Palaces who were themselves nothing else but the goodly Habitations of God upon Earth to whom he therefore retired so often with the sweetest Assurances of their Interest in a City of his own Raising where he attended their Company with him and came down so frequently but to see whether they were ready for it Indeed it was not the design of God that Abraham should fix any where long whom he intended to make a publick Blessing every where and therefore being always ordered to remove upon every Call of God it was requisite that his Estate should have Wings too and be ready to Fly with Himself into every Countrey where God had Business for him to do Nor was this the least Diminution to him but rather an Increase of his Grandeur since all Motions of Princes bear the greater Majesty from the splendid Appearance that attends them you might have seen his Royal Pavilion grac'd with the Flagg of Honour waving in the Air sorrounded by Those of his Sons and Servants at an awful distance The Waggons of his Ammunition guarding those of his Treasure while the numerous Flocks of his Cattel and Herds feed round about him securely and the Trained Bands of his Houshould standing by turns as Sentinels over all Not to mention the invisible Troops who as Tutelars gave their constant Attendance upon him and ever adjoyn'd him as his Guard. The Kings of the Earth knew well enough that God was with him as a sure Refuge In this Glorious Estate was Abraham when his Lady left it All to be translated into better She passes from one Heaven below to another Above from the Courts of Princes to the Palace of a God Her Earthly Part was the care of Abraham to provide for He will not meanly dispose of the Cabinet wherein so precious a Jewel for so many years hath had its Lodging An Honourable Interment is equally Abraham's Duty and Sarah's due There was a Cave in the Field of Machpelah now in the possession of Ephron the Hittite which pleased him well he had cast his Eye upon it not as Ahab covetously Sick for Naboth's Vineyard but as a convenient Purchase if the Good-will of the Right Owner shall please to favour his Innocent desires of Appropriating it to himself by his Money And now that he had present need of it he is forced to make use of those honest means that with greatest Probability may succeed to his Wishes and want He Convocates the Neighbouring Heads of the Countrey Ephron being one whom with a Gravity mixt with Majesty he Addresses to this Effect I freely acknowledge it the Natural Right of the Lords of the Covntrey to Grant Liberty to Strangers to make Purchases in their Land. I am a Stranger among you and must declare my thankful Resentments of that Kindness which hath permitted me so free and peaceable Cohabitation with you It hath pleased God to Call away my Wife from the World for whose Sepulture I must make some Provision and it will not be long e're I my self shall follow Her. This is only my Request to you that I may have Liberty to purchase a Burying-place with you where we may rest in Death with the same Quiet and Peace as we have continued amongst you in Life To the Reproach and Confusion of our more Ill-Natur'd and Paganish Christians let us take notice with what Civility and Condescention these Heathens fram'd their courteous Replication to him Hear us my Lord Thou art a mighty Prince among us and we know that God is with thee We have no Power or Will to deny thy desires Make thine own Election in the choicest of our Sepulchres bury thy Dead None of us shall withhold his Sepulcher from thee but that thou mayst bury thy Dead While Real Piety in all its Services aims only to bring Glory to God He in a gracious Compensation of so good Intention makes that Honour to beat back on it self God is honoured by Abraham and Abraham is honoured by God There is no Man that gives his Heart unto him but who shall find it again in the Hearts of others The surest way to secure the Affections of Men is first to devote our own unto God. Prince Abraham will not receive this Complement without giving Demonstration to them That he is not more High in Estate than Humble in Spirit He
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. 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