The Last Will and Testamentof William Huntington(1745-1813)Small LegaciesThirteenthly, That most blessed book of God, the Holy Bible, together with an excellent treatise on the Sovereignty of God, written by that eminent servant of Christ ELISA COLE, the learned Boston's View of the Covenant of Grace, and that golden phoenix in its cage, called the Pilgrim's Progress, written by the Reverend John Bunyan, Doctor of Divinity, and Master of Allegorical Arts; I do will and desire to leave the above-mentioned invaluable books, unsullied, uncorrupted, unaltered, and void of all notes, comments, annotations, or paraphrases whatsoever, to every heir of promise in the Christian world, as a rich spiritual treasure by Divine donation, to have, to hold, and to enjoy till death; and then to descend as an hereditary portion to their heirs and successors, or whosoever shall appear in this world to be of the covenant line, if they can prove their genealogy by the soundness of their principles, the purity of their spirit, and the uprightness of their practice; to be enjoyed by them till time it no more. And may the Lord, who teacheth man to profit, enable them in every age to see eye to eye, until they are enabled with all saints to know what is that height, depth, length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; which God of his infinite mercy grant to his own honour, their present safety, and eternal comfort. Amen and Amen. That ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations: that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory, Isa. lxvi. 11. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, 1 Cor. iii. 2. The Holy Bible, Luther's Comment on the Galatians, Mr. Bunyan's Discourse on the Jerusalem Sinner saved, together with his Come and welcome to Jesus Christ, with Mr. Romaine's Life and Walk of Faith, and part of Mr. Marshall's Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, I do will and desire to leave, as a choice breast of consolation to all the infant progeny of Zion, our most tender, affectionate, and ever-revered Mother, of ever-blessed and ever-lasting memory; to have and to hold, till they are established in faith, and then to descend to their infant race from age to age, as a rich supply, under God, of spiritual pocket-money; to be given to them quite sterling, as they are at present, without any adulteration, deduction, or dimunition whatsoever. And may the Lord bless the legacy to all his little ones, who are too weak to walk by faith, too scrupulous to trust a hiding God, and too much attached to self-confidence to launch forth upon sovereign mercy, through Christ, revealed in an unconditional promise. May the Lord of all lords indulge them with the sensible breasts of comforts, and not wean them until they are able to live absent from the body, and present with the Lord! Amen and Amen. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God, Job, xx. 29. Fourteenthly, The following books, entitled Mr. Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, Mr. Joseph Allen's Alarm, Thomas a'Kempis the whole works of the Rev. Mr. Goodwin, together with all the thunder-bolts of popery, I do leave and bequeath to the numerous bastard-race of gospel-mockers, the whole family of that insolent strumpet Hagar, to be distributed among them within two hour's after my death, or as many months before as the Pope of Rome shall think proper: this I leave as a lash of scorpions to all eye-servants, who cannot work without the whip, to those who halt between the service of God and mammon, and to every one who rejects the easy yoke of Christ, for the yoke of bondage, and cleave to the strong hold of Satan, rather than accept of gospel liberty, upon the easy conditions of self-denial, and the heart-felt humility of an insolvent debtor freely cleared by a Surety. And may the God of all comfort make the heirs of such legal trumpery as sick at heart of it as he has made my poor soul, and effectually teach them to beware of the doctrines of the Pharisees, which are hypocrisy, and no better than binding grievous burdens on men's shoulders, which they never touched with one of their own fingers. Fifteenthly, The following books, entitled Seneca's Morals, the old and New Whole Duty of Man, and all those productions of ignorance entitled the Week's Preparations, that friend to Moses called the Practice of Piety, that highly esteemed composition of carnal invention entitled the Christian Monitor, the Crumbs of Comfort, Sherlock upon Death, the Annotations of Fleetwood, Stackhouse, and Southwell, together with that blasphemous piece of deception called. the Turkish Alkoran, with all the Apocryphal books, except the book of Wisdom; I desire to will and leave every one of them to be equally distributed among all those Pharisees in the kingdom of Great Britain, who reject the sovereign grace of God, and deny the blessed inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, as a proper nurse to their present pride, and a certain prelude to their everlasting confusion; but to be enjoyed by them no longer than while they remain in a state of ignorance and unbelief. If at any time any one of the aforesaid legatees be converted to the Christian faith, they shall immediately forfeit all their right and title to the above-mentioned legacies, and shall by no means enjoy any part thereof any longer than while they live and remain in legal blindness of mind, and hardness of heart. Lastly, The comments and other works of that immortal and most miserable Doctor, Samuel Clarke; as also the books written by Mr. Elliot, and Mr. Lindsey, if they are found in my study at the time of my death, I will and desire that the same may be burnt at Tyburn, within two hours after my interment, by the hands of the common hangman; for which act no more shall he be given than thirteen-pence halfpenny. Having waded through the settlement of these my various effects, I do now, in my present decline of life, in presence of these witnesses undermentioned, vow and declare, that all the aforesaid articles are bequeathed and settled exactly agreeable to my mind and will; and which I never intend to disannul, make void, cancel, or revoke; and as a proof hereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this Tenth Day of March, in the year of our Lord one Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-four. WILLIAM HUNTINGTON.Witnessed by Mr, HATRED-TO-BONDAGE, AND Mr. LOVE-TO-LIBERTY. |