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| Subtitle | Or, A small monument of great mercy |
| First Written | 1675 |
| Genre | Travel |
| Origin | UK |
| Publisher | Nat Ponder at the Peacock |
| My Copy | digital copy |
| First Read | December 19, 2023 |
Eben-Ezer
I came across this because of a fascinating In Our Time episode about the Barbary Corsairs, and so I went looking for some primary source material. Turns out William Oakley here was captured by these pirates from Algiers, and then returned home to write a book about it!
Noted on December 19, 2023
OK, first of all, it's important to understand that the full title of this book does not fit within my little app here. What we are actually discussing today is called:
Eben-ezer, Or, A small monument of great mercy appearing in the Miraculous Deliverance of William Okeley, Williams Adams [brace] John Anthony, John Jephs, John ----, Carpenter, from the Miserable Slavery of ALGIERS, with the wonderful Means of their Escape in a Boat of Canvas; the great Distress and utmost Extremities which they endured at Sea for Six Days and Nights; their safe Arrival at Mayork: With Several matters of Remarque during their long Captivity, and the following Providences of God which brought them safe to England.
Noted on December 19, 2023
Liberty is a good word; but a Man cannot buy a Meals meat with a word.
Quoted on December 21, 2023
John Randal had a Wife, and Child and these were too dear pledges to be left behind, and yet too tender things to undergo our Difficulties: Robert Lake was an Ancient Person, and neither able passively to be carried in, nor actively to carry on a Design that required much hardness of Body and Mind to endure, and much strength to go through with it.
Quoted on December 21, 2023
You shall have the Seller commend his Goods to the Sky, and the Buyer on the other hand, as much undervalue them, and the true Market-price commonly lies just between them; but so it is all the World over.
Quoted on December 20, 2023
Art thou surprized with wonder, that we were kept a few Days, when there was not half an inch between us and Death? Consider, God has kept thee many Days, and many Years,, and every minute of those many Days and Years, when there was but a hairs breadth between thee and Death: Dost thou then admire God preserved us alive in a Vessel of Cloth? Admire that God that holdeth thy Soul in Life, and that in a more frail Vessel, a Vessel of Clay: Dost thou still wonder we were not blown over with every breath of Wind? Admire also that the Lamp of thy Life which thou carriest in a Paper-Lanthorn, is not blown out by every blast of Sickness: But if thou wilt still wonder how such a Boat should carry us? Then wonder also how thy Food nourishes thee, how thy Cloaths keep thee warm, how thy sleep refreshes thee: There's not a moment in our Lives but is filled with real Miracle and Wonder.
Quoted on December 19, 2023
[re: the heavens] Can we be so Bruitish, as once to imagine, that the wise God, who creates nothing little, nor for a little end, should create such great, and glorious Bodies only to be the Objects of Ignorant, and Blind Amazement? Surely no; but that by the contemplation of them, we might be led into the Admiration of Him.
Quoted on December 19, 2023
It is very true, that every Narrator is under a strong Temptation to Season his Disā£course to the Gusto of the Time, not imposing Page [unnumbered] a severe Law upon himself, to Report what is true, but accommodating his Story to the Liquorish Appetite of others:
Quoted on December 19, 2023
Let him who scorns to Read, or Reads to Scorn,
And thinks this Story might have been forborn;
First, buy the Book, then give Security
To do the like; The Book-Seller and I
Will give him Bond, when he Returns to Land,
To pay a Thousand pounds into his Hand.
Quoted on December 19, 2023