The Best Entail, Title page – Dedication
THE Beſt Entail.
OR, Dying Parents Living Hopes for their ſurviving Children, grounded upon the Covenant of Gods Grace, with Believers and their Seed.
BEING A ſhort Diſcourſe upon 2 Sam. 23.5.
WHEREIN Is a Collection of ſeveral Covenant-Promiſes to ſupport the Faith, and ſome Pleas to direct and quicken the Prayers of Gods Covenanted People for their ſurviving Poſterity.
By O. H. Miniſter of the Goſpel.
Pſal. 90.16.
Let thy Work appear unto thy Servants, and thy Glory unto their Children.
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapſide. 1693.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To the Right Honourable Philip Lord Wharton.
My Lord,
THe concernedneſs your Lordſhip, hath for the worthy Branches of your Noble Family, is demonſtrated to all whom you eſteem Friends, by the conſtant ſubſcription with your own hand [Remember me and my Family in your Prayers,] by which your Lordſhip at once teſtifies your natural Affection and true Piety: Your earneſt deſire of the beſt good, and the means by which that muſt come from God, even duon the wings of a believing Prayer. Your Lordſhips requeſt hath the force of a command; the obligations laid upon many hundreds of both Miniſters and People, extort from us, in point of Gratitude, both many thankſgivings to God, and renewed ſupplications for your Lordſhip, that the bleſſing of Abraham, may ſucceſſively continue in your Noble Family, to be bleſſed, and be a bleſſing. Oh happy Family! where the precious Pearl of Covenant grace Enamels the Gold-ring of worldly honour! 'Tis true, the Divine Oracles ſay, Not many Mighty, not many Noble are called. A good Lady added, Bleſſed be God, that it ſaith not [not any.] Once at laſt God will have an Emperour [a Conſtantine] ſaved. Auguſtine ſaith wittily, a poor Lazarus is laid in rich Abrahams boſom. Sacred Writ records a Noble Theophilus, and an Elect Lady: And Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory furniſheth us with a large Catalogue of Illuſtrious Branches of Noble Families, planted in the Houſe of the Lord, and, like fixed Stars of the firſt Magnitude, have ſhined bright in their proper Orb, and conveyed great Influence to their Inferiours. In which rank God hath placed your Honour; whoſe Morning Star of early Piety continues ſtill ſhining bright to a good old Age, and hath caſt many reſplendent Beams of favour upon Indigent Perſons, to ſpread the favour of Divine Knowledg amongſt ignorant ſouls in the Country; for which the loyns of the Poor, and ſouls of the Inſtructed will bleſs you in this, and the other world. I doubt not, my Lord, but your gracious ſpirit Eccho's to the dying ſpeech of holy David, to whom a ſucceſſion of Piety in his ſeed was more Eligible than of Royalty and large Revenues. What can be compared to this one comprehenſive promiſe, [I will be a God unto thee, and to thy ſeed after thee:] Yet this is the rich priviledg of Gods Covenanted Servants: Mines of Gold, Mountains of Pearl, can bear no proportion to this one word [My God:] This is light in darkneſs, life in death, an heaven in the midſt of hell. The ſenſe of this is the only Cordial to the fainting Spirits of Gods afflicted Children. Yea, ſaith one, if but one little drop of Divine Love, ſhould fall into a Damned Soul in Hell, it would ſweeten or ſwallow up thoſe bitter Torments. And next to the priviledg of Gods being our God; His being our Childrens God claims the Preeminence: For Parents anxious thoughts run out for their Childrens well-doing in this and the other world. If God help us to own him, he will not forſake us or ours. It's true Grace comes not by ſucceſſion, yet oft in ſucceſſion. The Line of Covenant-love reacheth to many Generations; and the more numerous pious Predeceſſours are, the greater is the ſhower of Bleſſings. So a Learned man reads that paternal benediction of Jacob to Joſeph, Gen. 49.26.The bleſſings of thy Fathers are ſtrong with the bleſſings of my Progenitours: As the more waters run into one Channel, the deeper it grows. Your Lordſhip then may hope for multiplied, accumulative bleſſings on your Noble Progeny. If that be found Divin…ty, which was a Maxime amongſt the Jewiſh Rabbies, That the Divine Glory reſts on Noble Stemms; however beams of love reflect with greateſt luſtre when deſcending on honourable Perſonages. Therefore ſhould we pray, moſt ardently, for thoſe of higheſt rank, as in the greateſt capacity of doing moſt good; and a godly man, or Miniſter, muſt not only, with David, ſerve his own generation by the will of God, Acts 13.36.but with the bleſſed Apoſtle Peter, 2 Pet. 1.15.Endeavour that poſterity may be able after their deceaſe to have Divine Truths always in remembrance. This, my Lord, hath been the great care of your Honour; and as natural motions are quickeſt towards the end, ſo the nearer your Lordſhip approacheth to your center, and Haven, the more ſedulous and active are you to lay a foundation of Religion in future Generations; thereby alſo laying up in ſtore for your ſelf a good foundation for time to come,2 Tim. 4.19. ſo laying hold on Eternal Life, for the accompliſhing of this great End. A poor inconſiderable worm caſts his Mite into my Lords Treaſury and proſtrates himſelf at your Lordſhips Feet, in this Dedication, in teſtimony of my real gratitude for your unparallel'd kindneſs and condeſcention to ſo ignoble a perſon. Withal recommending this ſmall Treatiſe to your Lordſhip, to encourage your heart, and ſtrengthen your hands in God, under the ſmarting breaches in your Noble Family; venturing it into a critical world under your Lordſhips auſpicious Name: not doubting a pardon of this boldneſs, and a candid acceptance following it, with my poor Prayers, that it may obtain its deſired ſucceſs upon the riſing Generation, and provoking Parents to improve this bleſſed Covenant; hoping that when your Lordſhip hath filled up your days with Grace, and tranplanted your Soul into the Coeleſtial Paradiſe; ſome of your Seed ſhall riſe up in your room as Plants of Renown, to bear your Image and Name, and follow your gracious Example while Sun and Moon endure: Which is the daily Prayer of
My Lord, Your humble and devoted Servant, Oliver Heywood.