THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL TEMPTED  
As was more concisely showed August 31. 1674, At a SOLEMN FUNERAL in the CHURCH, AT WOTTON under EDGE in the County of Gloucester.  S. Aug. Tota vita humana est tentatio. 
By GILES OLDISWORTH. A. M. and Rector of Burton on the Hill in the same County.  
OXFORD. Printed by HENRY HALL.. 1676.   

Imprimatur,  
HEN: CLERKE Vice Cancel. OXON. Jan. 30. 1676.   

To the Lady Crofts, the virtuous Consort of my very good Lord, Herbert, by Divine Providence, Lord Bishop of Hereford.  

Anno Regni 1 Edw. 16. Anno Domini 1288 SIR Lancelot Oldisworth of Halifax in Yorkshire, Kt. took to wife Bridget, daughter of William Ramsey of the same County, Esq. Their son was Maurice.  
Anno Regni 2 Edw. 13. Anno Domini 1320 Maurice Oldisworth, Husband of Winifred daughter to Steven, the brother of Walter Stapleton, L. Bp. of Excester, had issue Lancelot.  
Anno Regni 3 Edw. 18. Anno Domini 1344 Lancelot Oldisworth married Alice, daughter of Thomas Fry of Devon-shire, Gent. he begat Maurice.  
Anno Regni 2 Rich: 1. Anno Domini 1377 Maurice Oldisworth took to wife Jennet, daughter of john Philpot L. Mayor of London. His son was Lancelot.  
Anno Regni 4 Hen. 3. Anno Domini 1402 Lancelot Oldisworth was Husband to Margaret, daughter of Andrew Ford of Cornwall, Esq. He begat William.  
Anno Regni 4 Edw. 4. Anno Domini 1464 William Oldisworth married the daughter of Nicholas Read of Devon-shire, Esq. By whom he had Maurice.  
Anno Regni 3 Rich. 1. Anno Domini 1483 Maurice Oldisworth his wife was jane, daughter and Heiress unto john Sydenham of  Esq. Their son was Thomas.  
Anno Regni 8 Hen. 22. Anno Domini 1531 Thomas Oldisworth married a daughter of Morgan of Pennicoyd Castle in Monmouth-shire, by whom he was Father of Nicholas.  
Nicholas Oldisworth having married Marjorie, daughter of Davis of the city of Glouc. had by her Edward.  
Edward Oldisworth was in Q. Mary's days a Colonel in Flanders: In Q. Elizabeth's days he married Tace, daughter to Arthur Porter of Newark in the County of Glouc. Esq Their son was Arnold.  
Arnold Oldisworth, Clerk of the Hanniper, married Lucy, daughter and Co-heiress of Francis Baxtu, Treasurer to Mary Quen of Scotland. By Lucy he had Edward.  
Edward Oldisworth of Bradley in the Parish of Wotten under Edge in the County of Glouc. Esq married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of George Masters of Ciren-Cester in the County afore said, Esquire. Their only son was Robert:  
Robert Oldisworth of the said Bradley in the said Parish of Wotton under Edge, Esq took to wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Clotterbook of Kingsstanely in the County of Glouc. Gent. and had issue William.  
William Oldisworth (the only child that ever the said Robert Oldisworth, or Elizabeth his wife, had) was buried Aug. 31. 1674 both before he was married, and before he was full 21 years old.   

Good Madam,  
The more inferior this slender Stem is unto the generous Croft of Crofts Castle; the more numerous those weeping eyes were, which I then beheld when the last Branch of this Stock was untimely cut off; And (above all this) the more narrowly I search into the multitude of sorrows which I am apt to imagine Abraham, the Friend of God, wrestled with; The greater Impression abideth engraven upon my heart, while (with true joy and much pleasure) I frequently ruminate how tender a mercy the Preserver of men daily vouchsafeth both unto my Lord Bishop of Hereford, and unto your Ladyship, in continuing the Life, and in prospering the days of Sr Herbert Crofts, your Isaac. To bury that Heir which is an only Son, to mourn for such an only Son, as is an only child, is (I see) A two-edged Woe! Nevertheless, by Faith the Father of the Faithful duelled, the Father of the Faithful vanquished, even this Trial.  
Madam, If either my conjectures concerning Abraham his temptations, or any Descant of mine upon his exemplary faith, can assist your Ladyship's growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST; I shall willingly sacrifice this Sermon to censure; yea, I shall bless God for granting the request of  
Your Good Ladyships humbly devoted GILES OLDISWORTH.   

To the Virtuous Mrs. BRDGET THORP, Widow.  
BRing her forth that she may be burnt: When What paper I now expose, 
Gen. 38.24.  I two years since rashly condemned unto the Press, such another unjust Judge, sa Judah was, was I. Dear Cousin, I will not say that a Gift in your Bosom did corrupt my Judgement, 
Sept. 2. 1674.  for then your Purse would pay for it.  
The truth is, to have me at that time pass that sentence, you were not; to have me now execute that sentence, you are, the importunate widow  
Let me cease to honour such as are Widows indeed, if I do not from my heart reverence and highly esteem you, for You glorify God: Whom I should dishonour, should I conceal that it is for His sake, and only for His sake, that you require this Sermon from  
Your most obliged Servant, and ever thankful Kinsman GILES OLDISWORTH.    

Gen. XXII.  
(a) 1. ANd it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: And he said, Behold here I am.  
(b) 2 And he said, Take now thy Son, thine only Son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a  offering upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of.  
(c) 3 And Abraham risen up early in the Morning, and saddled his Ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his Son; and clavae the wood for the  offering, and risen up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.  
(d) 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.  
(e) 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide you here with the Ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.  
(f) 6 And Abraham took the wood of the  offering, and laid it upon Isaac his Son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a Knife; and they went both of them together.  
(g) 7 And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my Son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering.  
(h) 8 And Abraham said, My Son, God will provide himself a lamb for a  offering: So they went both of them together.  
(i) 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his Son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.  
(k) 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the Knife to slay his Son.  
(l) 11 And the Angel of the Lord called unto him, out of Heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, And he said, Here am I  
(m) 12 And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son, from me.  
(n) 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a Ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went, and took the Ram, and offered him up for a  offering, in the stead of his Son.  
(o) 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireth: as it is said to this day, In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen.   

THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL TEMPTED.  
Hebr. XI. XVII. 
By faith Abraham, when he was tempted, offered up Isaac.  
AT what time this Epistle was written unto these Hebrew Converts, these Hebrew Converts did (as at this instant many of us do) endure 
(p) Hebr 10.32.  a great fight of afflictions? So great a Fight of afflictions they now endured, that, as all of us, so most of them had confessedly 
(q) 36:  need of patience: Such need of patience they now had, that the Author of this Epistle, whosoever he was, opportunely 
(r) 35.  presseth them in the same words where with I beseech you " Cast not away your Confidence. And, that cast away their confidence they might not, with the cords of a man, even with a threefold cord, he endeavoureth to wind up their hearts unto a steadfastness of Faith. For.  
First, from Habak. 2.4. he bringeth to their remembrance, how (they were not now to learn) that 
(s) 38.  the just should live by faith.  
Next he defineth what faith is: saith he 
(t) 17.1.  Faith is the substance (the confident expectation) of things hoped For: The things which are not seen are eternal, and Faith is the evidence (the conviction) of things not seen.  
Thirdly, to declare what faith can do, he in this XI. CAP. repeateth what faith hath done. Saith he.  
V 4. By faith Abel offered a more costly Sacrifice than cain's was.  
V 5. By faith Enoch so pleased God, that God took him from Earth to Heaven.  
V 7. Then when the whole world despised the fore-warnings of God, By faith Noah was so moved with fear of the Flood to come, that (for himself, and for his family) he prepared an Ark of refuge.  
It was through a Faith in the truth of God's promises, that Abraham, when he was thereunto called, v. 8. forsook his own Country, v. 9 sojourned in a strange Land; and here v. 17. offered up Isaac.  Hebr. 11.17. 
By faith Abraham, when he was tempted, offered up Isaac.  
THis useful Observation immediately releiveth us with three seasonable comforts,  


The one, Abraham was tempted.  
The other, When Abraham was tempted he offered up Isaac.  
A third, When Abraham offered up Isaac, he offered up Isaac by Faith.    

Of the last of these first.  
BY faith— By the use and benefit which he made of his faith; By the good fight of faith which He fought.  
Abraham fight every affliction which did assault him, and overcoming every affliction which he fought.  
Offered up Isaac— had (although with much conflict) the patience and the power to offer up Isaac (1) upon the Altar.  
Dub: Since it is said (m) Now Know I that thou feared God, It should seem Abraham did offer up Isaac, not by faith, but through fear.  
Solut: You find no repugnance between the fear there applauded, and the faith here extolled: For example, 
(u) Heb. 11.7.  By faith Noah moved with fear— As a prudent fear was the effect of that, so a filial fear was the fruit of this Patriarches faith. 
(x) 17.  By a faith moving him to fear Abraham offered up Isaac.   

Abraham offered up Isaac.  
DUB: Since (n) the life of a Ram was Sacrificed. and (m) the life of Isaac was preserved, Can it hold true that Abraham offered up Isaac?  
Answ: It holdeth true in every respect.  
1 Solut: Beyond the scope of this Text  
Abraham offered up Isaac representatively: (ye Know) as in Sacraments so in Sacrifices the sign signifying betokeneth the matter signified. When in the stead of his Son Isaac he slew that Ram, Abraham did representatively offer up the life of Isaac in the life of that Ram.  
2 Salut: Within this Text.  
1. These words he [offered up Isaac,] are not so much an express affirmation, as a Select expression: To show how uncouth a Duty this Patriarch now underwent, it is here specified that what Duty he now underwent [was to offer up Isaac.]  
2. In our Authors his large acceptation Abraham did offer him up. Our Author here prosecuteth, not the Death of Isaac, but the life of Faith: Now, as in round numbers, so in running styles, it abundantly sufficeth, if what is cursorily affirmed be true in the main.  
3. Our ready writer forgetteth not unto whom he Dedicateth this Epistle. Unto these Hebrews Moses was read every Sabbath-day: Tell these Hebrews, out of the Book of Moses, that Isaac was offered up; and, out of the Book of Moses these Hebrews will tell you your own limited sense and meaning. With 2 Sam. 21.19. compare 1 Chron. 20.5.  
3. Solut: Moses shows how Abraham offered up Isaac.  
1. Inceptively: For instance: Gen: 22. He v. 3. arose and went unto the place of which God had told him; And yet v. 4. two days after he saw that place afar off: How this? Answ: He was v 3. beginning to go to that place. Gen. 37. Reuben v. 21. delivered Joseph out of his brethren's hands; nevertheless, v. 24. his brethren did cast him into a pit, and did v. 28. sell him into Egypt. Quest. How then was Joseph delivered? Answ: Reuben v. 21. began to deliver, and although the person of Joseph was not, the life of Joseph was, through Reubens care delivered. Thus Abraham, he arose to offer up Isaac: Whereupon although the life of Isaac was not, the person of Isaac was offered up upon the altar. And that too.  
2. Actually: The offering up of Isaac was, not a three hours, but a three day's business: in all which space, the Obedience of this Patriarch ceased not, until his Duty first ceased: For he slew his Son.—  
3. Intentionally: As when this Son was first promised, Abraham had a purpose, a full purpose of heart, to give this his Son his Name at his birth, and to circumcise him at eight days old: so now that the same Son is demanded, his true intention is to sacrifice him (d) at the third day. And he did so.  
4. Interpretatively: When Jephthah caused his dear child Judg. 11. to v. 39 vow the vow of a Nazarite (he did v. 31. compared with v. 36, 37.) he did interpretatively offer up that daughter of his for a burnt-offering unto the Lord: So here, Abraham his oblation receiveth a value, not from the execution of his hands, for (m) his hands were tied up, but from the resolution of his mind, for (k) his mind was sincere; even so much that the searcher of hearts made this construction of his sincerity (m) Thou hast not withheld thy Son from me.  
It followeth, If withhold him the Patriarch did not, some temptations or other lay upon the Patriareh to withhold him. And what sort of temptations this might be cometh next to be dis-cussed.   

Abraham was tempted.  
AMong the Heathens classical Poets have from hence raised fictions treading close upon the heels of truth itself; Among the Jews noted Rabbis have upon this stage introduced the tempter, Satan; and Him too in a visible shape; among us Christians this one History hath tasked, if not overtasked, the elegant quills, the curious fancies, the working imaginations, yea and the profoundest Judgements too, not only of humane writers, but even of professed Divines; Among the inspired penmen of sacred Wit, S. James expostulateth" When he offered Isaac his Son upon the altar was not Abraham justified by works? Answ: Verily he was, and by such as equalled his first works and more! To forsake his native soil, his own Kindred and his Father's house that he might wander hither and thither whither he himself neither did nor might foreknow, these were great self denials (these!) Yet of these the phrase is 
* Heb. 11.8.  when he was called, so 
† Gen. 1●. 1.  The Lord had said unto him, But now that he is to slay his Son, the word in my Text is (not When he was called but) When he was tried, so (a) not God did say to Abraham, but God did tempt Abraham.  
Wherefore, of these remarkes, of these asterisms, which so many sorts of writers have hereunto affixed, of those Annotations which the Holy Ghost himself hath so graciously contributed, let every one of us reap some profit, some seasonable advantage, some Spiritual benefit, for our present consolation. If Moses 
* Exod. 3.3.  turned aside to see that burning bush, let us with Him (a) contemplate (the greater miracle of the two) this (c) thicket of thorns, this fierce law (b) which (e) troubling the Patriarch on (h) every side, within (i) his bowels, within (i) his heart (k) kindleth, though not a consuming, yet a melting fire. For.    

In GEN. XXII.  Abraham was Tempted. 
Verse 1. By all circumstances, v. 2. In very deed, And in truth from v. 2. unto v. eleventh.  
In the manner v. 1. recorded, In the matter v. 2. joined, In the Duty from v. 2 unto v. 11 performed.  
In such points as v. 1. sharpened his trial, In a trial v. 2 made up of afflictions, From v. 2. to v. 11. in afflictions big with temptation.  
Oh, my brethren, Why say we that our wound is incurable, and that never was sorrow like unto our sorrow? Whereas  

In v. 1. of Gen. 22. Abraham was tempted.  
1▪ After these things. Cue; After what things?  
1. Answ: After he was aged almost an hundred and thirty years: Alas, he hath more need to keep his bed, than (c) to rise before the day dawn: His shrivelled Limbs require secure, rest and retiredness, rather than terror, toil and travail: O forsake him not in his old Age: Spare him a little before he goeth hence.  
2. Answ: After fresh prosperities: What he had heard in Vr of the Chaldees, that he had found true in Canaan: Unto Him the land of promise was a land of performances: For his sake God had reproved Kings, had put to flight the Army of aliens, had preserved Lot, and blessed Isaac: He was rich in cattle and in men; And (what sweetened his wealth) he abounded in honour, for he was, and was esteemed, a Prince; a mighty Prince: and (that which sweetened both was) he enjoyed both his wealth and his honour in quietness and in assurance. The Philistines, in whose borders he now quartered, had sought and ratified a confederacy with Him and His: What Well they had violently taken away was (upon his first complaint) restored: Out of it now sprang not waters of stife, but the issues of peace: In all that he did, in all that he had, he was blessed; so blessed, that for the public worship of his God, he had planted a Grove, In this Grove his God Alsufficient he now adored as his Everlasting God: And, as if this God of his praise had therefore lifted him up that he might cast him down, it (a) came to pass, suddenly as a whirl wind it came to pass, that (a) after these things God did tempt, God did try, God did afflict Abraham: He looked for good, but behold evil!  
3. Answ: After new hopes: It was not now, Lord God, What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? Neither was it O that Ishmael might live before thee? God had said Sarah shall bear a Son, A Son she bore him at the set time of which God had spoken; A Son she bore unto him in his old Age! God had said Thou shalt call his name Isaac: Out of duty, rather out of pure joy, Isaac he is called: that God may delight to bless the babe, the babe is upon the eight day circumcised. The child groweth, the child is weaned; Abraham maketh a feast, a great feast. By the care of his Mother, by the wisdom of his Father, yea by authority had from God himself, the Youth, before he is of full age, is made and declared heir, Sole heir. And now upon whom are the eyes of the whole household of faith, but upon Isaac? In whom shall all Nations be blessed? In whom shall be the seed of Abraham be called, but in Isaac? Above twenty five years had the life of this Patriarch been bound up in the life of this lad. And it came to pass after these things— What? Answ: Abraham ruth the day of the year, and the hour of the day wherein Isaac was born. To conclude.  
4. Answ: After that he was known of God: He that inhabiteth the highest heavens had wonderfully condescended to an acquaintance with this Patriarch: He had entered into a covenant, into a familiarity, into a friendship with this Father of the Faithful. Bow the Heavens, O Lord, and come down, Of late the Lord did not stay for any such invitation from his friend Abraham: It was at Abraham his Dwellings that the Lord God did marsquerade in the likeness of men, made himself no stranger, washed his feet, rested in the cool of the arbour, eat well, and drank well: Abraham was the only favourite whom the Lord God in his way toward sodom had made his companion: So very a friend was Abraham, that from Abraham God would not hid the thing which he was there doing: And after these things for a gracious Lord and Master to try conclusions upon his poor Servant— this is harsh! Love unfaind, filial fear and cordial friendship would be, not tried; but trusted: Peter will be grieved, if Jesus shall a third time ask Lovest thou me? To question the obedience of this Patriarch is, not to try, but to break, his heart.  
2. Abraham was tempted in the revelation (a) made, made unto Him, unto Him in the night, in the night by God, by God speaking, by God saying Abraham.  
1. Be it that the death of Isaac is predestinated, the more will the mercy (that I may not say the glory) of the most high God show itself in, not manifesting, but concealing, this future evil.  
2. If, contrary unto the accustomed mercies of the wise God toward the inquisitive sons of un-advised man, God's predestination concerning Isaac be revealed, Tell it not in Beersheba, for (should the Patriarch know) it would bring down his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.  
3. If to the unhappy ears of the surprised old Father it must come (Prepare him a little:) Give him his full sleep, a full meal, and due store of wine: Place in a readiness about him Lovers and Friends, if not to share and divide, yet to bewail and bemoan his Woe. Then (but not until then) give unto him some easy hint, some wary fore notice of what will seem sad news at the best.  
4. If this be, not to tempt, but to indulge; if no company, nor Comforters, may be admitted; Solitary and forlorn as he is, let him (by himself alone) receive the intelligence. but let him receive it with a still voice, let him not receive it over hastily: To bolt upon one over suddenly, startleth even then when one bringeth a blessing, how much more when one cometh not to befriend, but to afflict.  
5. If suddenly and unexspectedly the news must affright, if in an hour that he is not ware of the aged and trembling parent must hear the tidings of his dear-sons fate, Mention it unto him in the day time, there is in Day light some light of comfort; Mention it not in the night season, in all Darkness there is Dread. If heretofore there fell upon this faithful Patriarch such a horror at the going down of the Sun, a greater horror will seize him now in the night, in the dark night, in the dead time of the dark night.  
6. If, to add to the discomfort, there must be a dreadful horror upon his mind then when he heareth his Isaac's doom, send, I pray thee, by the man whom thou wilt send; by some Cushi, or by some Amalekite, for How dismal are the Feet of him that bringeth bad errands? If Ahimaaz be a good man, King David will from Ahimaaz expect good tidings: Such is their Clemency, It is by their inferior Judges that Princes condemn; their own lips speak not, except pardons. If therefore any Enemies Abraham hath, let one of them be unto him the black messenger of his Isaac's death; but let not the Lord speak unto his servant, lest he die.  
In the last place, As the Destiny of Isaac was brought unto Abraham in the horror of Darkness, and, that too, not by some Enemy or stranger, neither by some neighbour or friend, no not by some Man of God, no nor yet by some Angel of the Lord, but by the dreadful JEHOVAH himself: So  
1. God who at Sundry times spoke in divers manners, spoke in this third age of the World neither by Vrim, nor by Thummim; but either in Dreams, or in Visions: Oh, not in a Dream, lest that fear, not in a Vision, lest that terrify, the Patriarch: such a Dream, such a Vision as this, will make his whole head sick, and his whole heart faint.  
2. Let not the good old man espy an estranged look from his hitherto benign Lord, rather let him not see the face of God at all; for Who can see the face of God, and live?  
3. Suppose that the Lord do indeed unclothe himself of his majesty and terror, Suppose he speak face to face with Abraham, as a man speaketh with his friend; Nevertheless, as the case now standeth, he in so doing, Will not (as his manner was) confirm and comfort this Holy Father, but he will (as his manner is not) deter and dismay Him, For  
4. Call thy Daughter Jo-ruhamah, and thy Son Lo-ammi: Call Na-ommi, not Naomi, but Marah: If a signet on the Lords right hand Jeconiah may not be, deal squarely with him, name him, not Jeconiah, but Coniah: And if (a) God come, not to bless, but to tempt, if he come to un-Abraham the Patriarch, say (a) not Abraham, but Abram.  
5. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. The favouritie, as ever, awaketh, starteth up, and with joy, answereth unto his name, but (b) Hope disappointed maketh his heart sick. For.   

In v. 2. of Gen. 22. Abraham was tempted.  
1. IN the (b) Surprise of which he (a) never dreamt. He (a) thought to hear not the dire will, but the good pleasure, of his bountiful Lord; He (a) expecteth not a burden, but a blessing; not a strict charge but enlarged promises; not a billing command, but loving kindnesses better than life. Me thinks I see, me thinketh I hear, the overjoyed heart of this surprised Favourite (b) interrupting his God.  
Take now— O blessed possessor of heaven and of earth, Thou art always like thyself, Thou art always giving!  
Take now thy son— Which of the two sons whom the Lord hath graciously given unto me? Him by the Bondwoman? or Him by the Freewoman?  
Thine only Isaac— The apple of mine eye, and of thine eye also, O my God.  
Whom thou lovest— And, O most high God, whom Thou lovest.  
And get thee unto the land of Moriah— For there the Lord will command his blessings.  
And there for a  offering offer— Most probably hitherto this Favourite fed his hopes. But when it (b) added— for a  offering offer Him— then was Abraham tempted!  
1 What had He sinned? that among all the inhabitants of God's earth He alone should be singled out for such a prodigy as this? Had he trespassed against a Neighbour's Wife, reason good then that he should give his first born for his transgression, the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul: But (blessed be his God) He had wrought no such folly (he!) Admit he had, Here after the son of David's adultery shall die a natural death; and shall the Son of Abraham's integrity be haled, like a beast unto the slaughter?  
2. Offer him up there— To whom? Satan? He was a murderer from the beginning: As for the God of all flesh His Delight is, not to destroy, but to preserve, the work of his own hands.  
3. Of man shall man's blood be required: Doth God trapan Abraham? If when He show his brother a mark was set upon Cain, should Abraham slay his son, would his God hold him guiltless?  
4. Take now thy Son— For what, for a  offering?  
1. Behold for a  offering some Lamb or Kid is proper: such a firstling the righteous Abel offered up, and with that sacrifice the Lord was then well pleased: Doth he now forget to be gracious? And hath he shut up the bowels of his compassions? The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel; Are the tender mercies of JEHOVAH so too? Lo, the blood of bullocks or of he goats, of Lambs, or of Kids, he doth not now require; the blood of which the preserver of men is now pleased to drink, is man's blood!  
2. As man's blood, so not the blood of some murderer, rebel, or oppressor, not the blood of some Cain, Lamech, or Nimrod; but of one harmless and blameless, of one innocent and just. It was but in v. 32. of Gen. 18. that the Lord inclined to spare a wicked City for righteous persons sakes. Is he now for spareing the ungodly, and for condemning the righteous?  
3. Power out thy wrath upon the Heathen which have not known thee: as for Isaac, he is no idolatrous Chaldean, no profane Canaanite, no un-circumcised sinner of the Gentiles; but a person circumcised and religious, One who anon asketh (g) Where is the lamb for a  offering?  
4. He was, as of the same holy profession with this Father of the Faithful, so no stranger, foriener, or proselyte, but a native, and this native a domestic, and this domestic a favourite: Hereafter David may spare Mehpibosheth, but no such liberty may Abraham now use.  
5. The person demanded for a sacrifice is, as a domestic favourite, so no kindred afar off, no nor yet some one or other of Lot's incestuous offspring, no nor any Daughter, or Son of any concubine (for as yet concubine Abraham had none) neither yet the Son of his hand-maiden Hagur, but the Son of Sarah his Wife.  
6. If the better Jonathan deserveth, the more hatred he findeth, Thou shalt surely die will Saul say to Jonathan: But unto His Father, Isaac was a Son as dear, as deserving.  
Again, Absolom, he was a Son dearly beloved of his Father yet was not he the heir of his Father's throne, the heir of David was Solomon. but, unto Abraham, Isaac, is, as a dear Son, so an only heir; and this only heir is born unto his parents in their old Age, given beyond hopes, given by promise, by the promise of the same Jehovah who now saith (b) offer him up for a  offering: What was, if this was not, to tempt Abraham?  
2. Abraham was tempted as in a commandment thus grievous, so in the manner how his God wordeth his Commandment. Ye know, bitter pills would be guilded to the eye, and loathsome potions would be sugared to the taste: Burdensome taxes are levied by acceptable Names, and severe Edicts need a gratifying language. Is it not a little one? said Lot of Zoar; and, of what he would have the seller part with " It is naught, it is naught, will the buyer say. That pain is almost past which is not fore thought of; therefore to him that is afflicted this pity should be showed, that where every word woundeth there few words would be used: words not aggravating but extenuating, miseries: Whereas that form of speech which God (b) useth unto his Patriarch is (if ye review it) unto his head a maul, in his side arrows, and in his Heart a Sword.  
Take now— No leisure to deliberate? No time to prepare?  
Take now thy Son— Ever the nearer the relation, the more cutting the severity.  
Thine only Son— Oh stabbing! For pure pity that word only would have been omitted.  
Thine only Isaac— What, by Name too?  
Thine only Isaac whom thou Lovest— No more (except ye would break Abraham's heart) no more. If ye would not enrage do not awaken, his greedy sorrows. Do not first draw out the bowels of his affections unto a full length, and afterward twist and torture them. The father's memory is fresh enough of itself, do not vex it as a thing that is raw.  
Offer up thy Son— thine only Isaac— thine only Isaac whom thou lovest?— Certainly, if fainting did not, astonishment did, render the Patriarch quite speechless: and as certainly, the same vehemency of anguish which un-tongue-tied the Son of Croesus when (dumb as he was) he found words to preserve his condemned Father, might make this Patriarch, while he now seemeth speechless, argue the cause of his demanded Isaac. 1. Did I not say unto thee Do not thou deceive me? Was not my request, O that Ishmael might live in thy presence? 2. Hath God said, and shall not He do it? Hath He spoken, and will not He make it good? Is he a man that his purpose should change? Or the Son of Man that he should lie? 3. Hath He sworn and would he repent? Where is the truth of his free and frequent promises? of his voluntary and solemn covenant? In whom shall all Nations be blessed, if Isaac must die? 4. Account that God is able to raise him up from the Dead, yet what profit is there in his blood? Shall the Dust praise thee, O Lord? Shall it declare thy truth? 5. If the Lord will have sacrifice rather than mercy, shall not the judge of all the Earth do right? He who forbeareth the guilty, will He slay the innocent? 6. All Souls are thine: even the Souls of the righteous as well as the Souls of the unrighteous: yet, lo, Can the blood of Isaac speak better things than the blood of Abel did? As Abel was, shall Isaac likewise be, a type, a figure, of good things to come? Or. 7. If the Lord (for the Lord is a God that weigheth actions) if the Lord (according unto the Counsel of his good pleasure) be indeed working some great mystery of godliness, Since Samson will not refuse to interpret His riddle to his Delilah, yea since the Lord concealed not what flames of vengeance he was bringing upon Sodom, will he now hid from Abraham the thing which he is now doing? Answ: He (a) will: and because he (m) will,  
3. Answ. Abraham was tempted, as (b) in the manner how, so (b) in the place where this burden was laid upon him. For Quest: whence did he (c) arise, but from thence where he rested all the last night? Where did he lodge all the last night, but in Beersheba at his own home? Within his own home Where, except in the tent of Sarah his Wife? Answ: If there, Trouble him not, the door is now shut, and the wife of his bosom is with him in bed. True, were he now (while this agony is upon him) as far absent from His dwelling place, as David and David's cavalires will then be distanced from their un-concerned families, when they shall (hereafter) lament over Ziklag; Were He now (as they will be) left alone in fields wide and open, he might now (like them) by himself alone securely lift up his voice in weeping until he hath no more power to weep. But being now surprised within his own doors, even in the tent, that I may not say in the bosom, of his Wife, Sarah; Start out of his sleep he (a) doth: but should one sigh, one sob, one groan, escape his strangled thoughts, Imagine ye the result. His Wife, she would cling about his elbow" A bloody Husband unto Me thou art; Isaac would hid himself among the stuff; Domestic Servants would mutiny" Shall Isaac die who is the Heir of promise? Isaac shall not die. In short, His own trained bands would arise in arms against Abraham, as against a Fanatic! To conclude, either his Obedience toward his God he must frustrate (and frustrate his Obedience toward his God, he will not:) else, being in bitterness for his only Son, for his only Son he dareth not weep; no not for his only Isaac. Upon Benjamins' neck Joseph shall please himself in weeping; the bowels of Abraham yern, upon Isaac's neck he may not weep.  
4. Abraham was tempted in the No time (b) given. The daughter of Jephthah, so God will order it, shall go childless among Women; a joyful mother of children, a happy mother in Israel, she shall not be: nevertheless, this indulgence her tender father may grant, he may safely give unto her f●ll two months' space, and therein to bewail and celebrate her Virgin life, before she be finally consecrated a Nun, a Vestal, a Votary to her God. But, as for the Father of Isaac, He must seize, he must apprehend, he must take his Isaac not two months hence but presently. Where it is said unto him (b) Take thy son, there it is said unto him (b) Take thy son now.  
5. Whither must he take Him?  
1. Answ: Not unto the tent of his abode, for there he might have rushed upon, have gulped down, and irrevocably have executed the unnatural Duty, ere ever his more considerate heart had given place unto the recoilings of his fatherly compassions, Lovingkindnesses, and affections.  
2. Answ. Neither might (that) neighbouring grove be the shadow of his son's death: for there he might have called in aid. But:  
3. Answ. He was to take his son unto a place (d) afar off, which place, mount Moriah by name, was above forty miles distant from Beersheba, which forty miles were; in this winterly season, unto the feeble Knees, and languishing Spirits, of heavy hearted Abraham, little less (d) then three day's journey: During a great part of which three days, to speak, was to betray his grief; to be silent, was to breed suspicion; to stand still, was disobedience; to return back, was rebellion; and to go forward, was death!  
4 Answ: Get thee into the land of Moriah unto one of the mountains which (b) I will tell thee of; How shall he get thither? The same Vision which (a) disturbed his first night's rest, will these next two nights hold his eyes waking; or if slumber he doth, his very shunting will affright him; How can a dejected, crazy, aged, person travail, if he wanteth both sleep and sustenance? He can eat no food, except bread of affliction; and he more hearty feedeth upon his griefs, then upon that. I dare not say he mingleth his drink with tears, for these he suppresseth; In the stead of weeping openly, he bleedeth inwardly▪ and not marvel, seeing every step between Beer-sheba and mount Moriah presseth so heavily upon his drooping Spirits Father said the (g) secure lad, Where is a Lamb for the  offering? Nigh at hand (thought the Father) but he durst not say so. He was glad to pluck up his Spirits, when with a sorrowful heart (I wisse) he happily replied (h) God will provide himself a lamb, my son. Hungry and thirsty his soul fainting in him, upon naked mountains in bleak weather slowly and mournfully he laggeth on, glad if he might be privileged to sprinkle the ground with tears, and his head with Ashes, but he may not thus mitigate his afflictions: When, after many, and many a wearisome step, he long at the last (d) saw the place afar off, much more when he (i) came quite to it, then, more than ever, he fixed his farewell eye upon his now short-lived Isaac; And the more he now fixed his eye upon his Isaac, the more did his eye now affect his heart: But more (by many degrees more) was his sad and mournful heart pitifully grieved then when he (k) stretched forth his hand, and took the Knife! For  
6 Abraham was tempted as in the place appropriated to this sacrifice, so in the sacrifice to be offered up. The sacrifice to be offered up was (b) a  offering: and this (ye know) required (f) as well fire, as a Knife. This  offering was (k) first to be slain, and then (i) to be consumed with fire. I say again.  
Isaac was (1) as first to be bound, and then to be laid over the altar upon the wood, so first to be slain with a Knife, and then to be burnt. A cruelty it will be to cut the throat of Isaac; but the inhumanity ceaseth not here: for, when his throat is cut, then must his body, his whole body, be burned, wholly burned, to ashes, Sirs, if this be that death which Isaac is to suffer, say I, Let me not see the death of the Lad. But (to make the catastrophe yet, more tragical!) His Father must see it: And yet is this sigh, this prodigious Sight but the least of his trials. For  
7. Abraham was tempted as in the sacrifice (b) assigned, so in the sacrificer (b) ordained. Isaac the Son, He is to be the sacrifice; Abraham the father, He is to be the sacrificer! 1. If Isaac must indeed be offered up for a  offering, let some un-concerned stranger, or other, be hired to be the sacrificing Priest. 2. If by a strange hand the Son of Abraham may not die, Order some mean out Servant to give the death's wound. 3. If no inferior Servant may, let Eleazar the Steward, undergo this servitude. 4. If Eleazar may not, O let Ishmael be forced upon the Duty. 5, Let any hand whatsoever, rather then the hand of Abraham himself, bind and slay the Son of Abraham. But  
Who may say unto God, What dost thou? Abraham must (b) apprehend, Abraham must (c) conduct, Abraham must (f) burden, Abraham must (i) bind, Abraham can not (k) refuse to slay, Abraham can not, refuse to burn to ashes, his Son, his only Son, his only Isaac, his only Isaac whom he loveth! Even so much that   

From v. 2. unto v. 11. of Gen. 22. Abraham was tempted.  
IN the multitude of thoughts within Him, 1. While he 1. ariseth so early 2. Sadleth the Ass, 3. cleaveth the Wood, 4. calleth aside two and but two young men, and 5. with them draweth his Isaac out of doors. 2. While he (c) consulteth haste and privacy; for why else did he himself both Saddle the Ass, and cleave the Wood? 3. While indisposed and enfeebled as he was) he (c) began and continued his Winterly (that I may not say his fatal) journey. 4. When by some undoubted signal, I mean, by some cloud testifying God's presence, or rather by some pillar of fire; or rather by some new appearing Star he was (c) told of, and therefore (d) saw, the place afar off. 5. While for reasons but too two well know unto himself, he left his two young men (e) behind him, 6. All the while that his Son was (f) carrying the Wood, and that he himself was (f) carrying the Fire and the Knife. 7. While he (i) 1. built the altar, 2. upon it laid the Wood in order, 3. bond his Son, 4 laid his Son over the altar upon the Wood, 5. When he took the Knife; and 6. Sretched forth his hand, his trembling hand, to slay his Isaac, his only Isaac: In all which transactions, unto the unwillingly-willing Father of Isaac, every new occurrence could be no less than a new conflict!  
2. Abraham was tempted as well in Deed as in Thought: He was afflicted, if it were possible, more in the evils which ominously attended these Occurrences, then in these Occurrences which confusedly perplexed his Obedience.  
1. Abraham was (comparatively) a feeble person, a person aged an hundred twenty five years, Isaac was a sturdy lad, a lad aged about twenty five years. Isaac was (f) better able to carry all the Wood requisite for a  offering, than his Father was to bring with him the Fire and the Knife. How therefore could the Patriarch singly by himself alone over power, bind, and slay the robustious youth Isaac? Should the boy find his own strength, should he deem his case desperate, turn again, snatch the Knife out of his Parent's hand, and (of the two evils) choose rather to Kill, then to be Killed, Which way could the heartless, wearish old man be enabled to help himself? Alas, alas, for his young and strong Son Isaac, Abraham (the aged) is no match; (no match at all!)  
2. On the other side, Grant that Isaac will not resist unto blood; Let him beyond all expectation most humbly suffer both his hands and his feet to be tied and bound; Imagine him so made up of selfe-denials, that he becometh obedient even unto the death. If what life the Father, the weak Father, can not take from the Son; that life the son, the obedient son, most cheerfully layeth down, Surely, Sirs, the Scene is now changed, the unexpected submissiveness of the child charmeth and toeth up the hands and intention of the Father: Had the boy been stout hearted, he might by resisting and struggling have warmed a constancy in the resolution of the parent; but, seeing the meek child doth more quietly than any Lamb give up his throat unto his Father's Knife, Slay him that can for Abraham: If cause so requireth, Abraham can die in the stead of his child, but slay him he cannot. How shall I give thee up, Isaac? How shall I offer thee up, my Son? My bowels are turned within me, and my repentings are Kindled together. O that I might die for thee, my son, my son.  
3. Let Father and Son too religiously determine that Jehovah shall fulfil his whole pleasure upon them both. Let the  offering by God required be both by the sacrificer and by the sacrificed a freewill offering: Let Isaac be slain, and, being slain, let him be burnt to ashes. An Hour hence, when the beat of zeal is insensibly cooled, and when Fatherly affections do as insensibly Kindle, View then the Patriarch weeping for his only Isaac, because he is not.  
4. Let him wipe all tears from his eyes, and let him wipe them all away by Faith; the blood upon his hands he cannot so soon wash off: Lo, a little distance hence two young men (e) wait as well the Sons as the Father's return. Let Abraham see to it; Should their blood arise at bloodguiltiness, Should they in a fury avenge upon their old Master the death of their young Master, the aged father, I wisse, is but one against two; Escape for his life he cannot.  
5. Suppose that these two young men will keep counsel, if they can; yet will not Sarah be so said: As for Ishmael, he will suspect His turn to be the next Hardly will any Subject deem himself safe within the jurisdiction of such a Prince, as hath by virtue of his arbitrary power, in a merciless frenzy, sacrificed even his own child.  
6. Give Abraham his life for a prey: yet, if the foundations be cast down, what can the righteous do? In Abraham his seed, which seed is Christ, shall all the world be blessed; Although Isaac remaineth childless, in Isaac shall Abraham his seed be called: Sacrifice Him, and out of whose loins shall come the appointed Saviour of all mankind? Verily the Faith of Abraham, the hope of Gods elect, the Expectation of the Gentiles, are all three of them in vain, if for a  offering Isaac be offered up childless.  
7. Account that God is able to raise him from the dead. Let this Father of the Faithful believe, hope, and rest assured that, out of the dead ashes of his Son, not another, but the self same Isaac whom he offered up, shall be raised unto life upon earth; Grant all this, and more; Nevertheless, except his own family, and with them his other relations, believe the certainty of this as truly as He himself believeth it, Into what a straight is Abraham now brought? yea.  
8. Let sound believers, and with them all other wellwishers make the best interpretation which they rationally can make of this Patriarch his Obedience; yet for an un-provoked Father (under a pretence of Religion!) to imbrue his own hands in the blood of his own child, is a Fact so inhuman, so barbarous, and (in this age of the world) so unheard of, that the bruit of it will spread far and near; It will unavoidably open the mouths of evil surmisers to speak all manner of Falsehoods against Him both at home and abroad.  
1. It will hence forward be charged against Him how. 1. It was for no goodness that of old he fled his Country, and hath ever since been shifting places from one people to another Kingdom like a mere fugitive and vagabond. Neither 2. had he (as fifty years since he did) so carelessly forsaken his own kindred and his Father's house, if he had not then been, as he now is, devoid even of natural affections: 3. Hagar had a taste of his kindness when he turned her packing out of doors: 4 It did not over much consist with a conjugal love, while his wife Sarah continued alive to take Hagar into his bed: and 5. there was in him as little honesty as good nature, when (to humour his morose wife) He, contrary to the law of nations, disinherited his first born son, Ishmael. In brief, the Wisdom, the sobriety, the gravity, the integrity etc. of Abraham his whole life past will (by this one dead fly in his Ointment) be for ever hereafter utterly discredited, to say no Worse. He who most justly valued his good name above spoils by him taken in war, must now live to be a scorn, and a derision, and a monster amongst Men. Wherefore, if Jonah will rather fly from the presence of the Lord then adventure to be reputed a false Prophet, Consider (I pray you) how un-supportable a temptation will then crush this reverend and venerable Patriarch when He (hitherto a mighty Prince) shall be had in no reputation, rather when he shall be an abject and offscouring among men, even the gazing stock and Spectacle of the World. Might Abraham be suffered to cut as well his own throat, as the throat of Isaac, might he give his body to be burnt upon his sons, and with his sons ashes intermix his own, this would not be unto him so great a death, as that Contempt will be which the death of his Isaac will every where bring upon Him: That mark which was set upon Cain will not equal the brand which shall be fixed upon Abraham.  
2. Great was this trial, but greater is that which attendeth it; seeing what reproaches soever asperse Him, sully the undefiled worship of his God: Look how much you disavow Him, and so much you disesteem his exemplary godliness; Blemish his good name, and ye blast his holy profession. Every slander against himself doth, through His side, wound that Religion which He defendeth. For example, His former zeal will be, by the blood of his Son, discouloured, as if it had been dissimulation, hypocrisy, or what not? By the ashes of his Isaac his late Devotions will seem pale-faced, they will appear like so much singularity, humour, or affectation. Yea the purity of that true Religion which He countenanceth, will now be censured a worship of his own invention! Alas, that every altar by Him erected in a thankful remembrance of that God whom He serveth, should henceforward be looked upon, not as the perpetual monuments of the only true God, but as certain arguments of this Patriarch his ostentation and madness. Woe will it be with the Household of faith, when the life of this parent and the Death of this Child, shall be taken up for a scoff, a taunt, for a reproach, and byword, for a ridicule and a proverb, amongst all the insulting adversaries of Godliness.  
Review a little how powerfully this last trial tempteth Abraham to desist from offering up his Isaac. viz. To sacrifice his just and most deserved Dignity and Esteem in the fate of his Son, to let his own Name perish with his child's Life, by this one stroke to make himself of no reputation, the Patriarch (in duty toward his God) refuseth not; could it stand with the reputation of Divine Worship: But, so it is that, if the one suffereth, the other suffereth also. The pure, the Holy, the unspotted Worship of the most High God Will (by this one sacrifice once offered up) be even unto persons honest, sober, and quiet an offence and scandal. The scandal that will be given, the Prejudice that will be taken against the Holy Worship of the glorious Lord God, this (this) is that which casteth down the heart of this Patriarch, while in the hand of this Patriarch the slaughter-Knife is lifted up.  
There yet remaineth one trial unspoken of, the which in humane probability will bring upon the Father of the Faithful a greater temptation unto disobedience, than this and some former circumstances could do, were all of them blended together into one complicated evil The remaining trial is this.  
The obloquys of them who will revile Him, and his religion, will fall not so maliciously upon Himself, as upon the God whom He serveth. It is against His will that his Isaac is slain, and therefore the world will cease to asperse Him as if He delighted in cruelties; neither is it of his own head that he beginneth this sacrifice, so that he shall not long be branded with an act of will worship: The burnt-offering which he bringeth he offereth up, not of choice, but in Duty: and the truth hereof will in due time come to light. But herein (as I conceive) herein is the consternation of Abraham his Spirit: So long as the commandment of his God might abide concealed, so long there was not given unto the enemies of the Lord so great an occasion to Blaspheme. On the other side, to the deep anguish of his Soul, the Patriarch calleth to mind that so soon as ever it shall be understood that the Lord had said unto him Offer up thy Son, forthwith all people will open their mouths against that Jehovah who laid upon the Father of Isaac a command so unmerciful, so ungodly, so pernicious.  
Behold, all other conflicts are now over: and all things are now ready: The altar is built, the Wood is orderly laid upon the altar; By his own Father, Isaac is bound; and is (for the ease of his Father) by his own self placed over the altar upon the Wood: At the Father's feet, and in the Father's bosom, the fire kindleth: His Arm is stretched forth, and in his hand, the Knife; but the suspense is— If unto the God of Abraham the Son of Abraham must be offered up, What will the God of Abraham do unto his great Name? Answ: Who so (will atheists say.)  
Who so would be bound by covenant— to Live and Die a stranger amongst his Enemies, Who so, in Obedience unto his God, would shift in tents from region to region not having upon earth any City, or dwelling place to abide in: He who would be ever separated from all his Kinsfolk and Relations; He who would Worship a strange God, a God whom the eye of man never yet beheld, a God invisible, a God of the Hebrews (if any such a handful of people there be;) a newfound God, a God unknown unto the most prosperous Kingdoms, and unto the most spreading Dominions of the World: Such a one as would ridiculously and obscenely mangle, and curtail the foreskin of his flesh; He that can call it a point of high devotion to be the prodigious executiner of his dearest child; Let him forsake the Gods of the Philistines and of the Egyptians, let him renounce the Gods of the Chaldeans and of the Canaanites, and let him cleave unto the God of Abraham.    

So then: If unto his offering up his Isaac unto his Jehovah, we add his not withholding his Jehovah from the contempt of blasphemers; If unto the self-denials on which of necessity he was to force His whole man, we annex the evil consequences which his self denials most ominously presaged; It is as clear as His obedience: that, when Abraham offered up his Isaac, Abraham was tempted.  

OBJECTION.  
Better it had been, had neither God tempted Abraham, nor Abraham obeyed his God; for hereby an Entrance was afterwards ministered first unto the Heathens, next unto the Kingdom of Israel, and then unto the Kingdom of Judah; to offer up both Sons and Daughters first unto Devils, next unto insensible Creatures, and soon after (to make the affront complete) unto God Himself.   

REPLY.  
It is yet to be proved, that if God had never thus tempted Abraham, than folk would never have offered up their Sons, and their Daughters in Sacrifice: Or suppose they would not etc. O man who art thou that disputest against God? Seeing, as the Extent of God's Commandments is exceeding broad, so the Designs of them are exceeding deep. From the beginning of the world was, is, and will be foreknown unto God what success so ever did, doth, or will, attend every man's obedience unto every of His precepts. By ways unto us unsearchable he is ever fulfilling his hidden pleasure, ever fetching about his hidden Glory; as for us, Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or Who hath been His Counsellor? Leave unto the infinitely wise God things secret; Our concern is in things revealed.  
1. It may be the Lord hath said unto Shimei, curse David: It may be the just God had said unto Satan, Let the brats of Adam see what a Sottish, Apish, and Idolatrous, heart they cherish in their graceless bosoms. For Satan, that wicked one, ceaseth not to work evil out of good: but then (our refuge is) God most Holy worketh our good out of his evil: the poison of this subtle old Serpent is made treacle for the medicinal benefit of Gods elect. Wherefore.  
2. Bless thou that God who hath not given thee over unto such abominable practices, unto such hellish delusions; As God hath not sorted thy days unto the time of that ignorance, so he hath in this Gospel-age called thee into his marvellous light. He hath showed thee O man what is good.  
3. Let the Idolatries objected convince Magistrates how fearful a Judgement it is unto a Kingdom, when the rulers thereof bear the Sword in vain. We see, Leave a people unto the suggestions of Satan, that is, Leave a people unto what is good in their own Eyes, and they will commit wickednesses destructive unto the very being and existing of mankind: Yea they will think that they do God good Service, when they are a smoke in his nostrils.  
4 It was but once only that Abraham was tempted to offer up his Isaac upon the Altar: if it be true, that one single pattern had so Malignant an influence upon several nations and ages; then let every one of us abstain from all appearance of evil. A little Leaven Leaveneth the whole Lump; and evil examples, as well as evil words, corrupt good manners.  
5. Let the trial wherewith Abraham was tempted, stop the mouth (if the mouth can be stopped) of all those seditious Separatists among us, who (at this day) cruelly, disdainfully, and despitefully speak against the righteous; more especially if (at this day) they submit themselves unto every ordinance of Man for the Lords sake. Some Protestants, and among them some Conformists, and among them some Gospel-Ministers, be the endeavour of their hearts and lives never so sincere, yet if evil befall, Against them forthwith the tongues and quills of these Sectaries are their own! Who is Lord over them? Forsooth they deem it a fair advantage unto their Sect and Party, if they can Libellously and scoffingly report of Abraham that he spared no pains to have butchered his Isaac: Whereas it is not unknown unto all the Churches that this present Text, yea and a great part of this present Chapter inspireth not the diminution, but the praise of Abraham for conforming His private will unto the revealed will of God most Holy.   

But these latter Replies anticipate mine intended method; in as much as, the three Useful observations explained from the last to the first, I would orderly apply from the first to the last. For  

if Abraham was tempted,  
1. LET the innumerable afflictions which this faithful Patriarch suffered, for ever hereafter un deceive those ignorant worldlings who think hardly of all such professors as endure tribulation. When Christ's Disciples saw a man blind from his birth they quickly asked" Who sinned, this man, or his Father? When, by clinging upon St. Paul's hand, a viper seemed to threaten Death unto that Apostle, the Barbarians at Melita rashly concluded" This man was some murderer. Usually the like opinion possesseth the men of this world: If they see one fallen into infamy, poverty, or some other distress, they begin to conceive hard thoughts against such a Christian. But a believers comfort is that God's thoughts are not as Man's thoughts; With the most, he that is low in this world is low in man's eye; but in God's Eye he is not. Abraham had the honour (the peculiar honour) to be styled the Friend of God, yet do ye find him tossed from place to place, a long while childless thwarted by the Wife of his bosom; and through her means deprived of the first body that had made him a Father, to wit, of Hagar; and of the first Son that ever he delighted in, to wit, of Ishmael; as for Isaac, in Him he was to sacrifice at once the dearest love, the greatest joy, and the chiefest hopes, which the whole world could yield him: Wherefore if this Friend of God was thus humbled let no worldling surmise evil of God's favourites for any miseries which befalls them in this life, much less for any miseries which in this life they draw upon themselves by persevering in their Duties. Behold we account them happy that endure.  
2. O consider this ye that forget God. Are any of you so prosperous that pride encompasseth you as a chain, and setteth your mouth against the Heavens? You who speak thus boldly, and are thus corrupt this Hictorie, and other Histories like this, read ye. The righteous Abel was murdered by his own brothers; the righteous Lott lost all his wealth; upright Job, who more miserable? you beheld the Innocent Isaac narrowly escaping a most untimely Death; And your ears have heard, and the ears of this assembly have heard with what reiterated conflicts the faithful Abraham was tempted; If here upon earth the troubles of the righteous are so many and so searching, can you here upon earth hope to escape God's judgements? (Be not merciful, O Lord, unto them that sin of malicious wickedness▪) I appeal unto that Flood which in the days of Noah drowned a whole world of transgressors, I appeal unto that fire from Heaven, which in the days of this Patriarch Abraham, made Sodom and Gomorrah the pictures of Hell; (Within our own age & Island) I appeal unto late civil Wars, unto latter pestilences, and unto devouring fires hardly yet quenched: (Within your own bosoms,) I appeal unto your self-condemning consciences, that if the Righteous are scarcely preserved in this Word, in this world it shall go ill with the wicked. If favourites are thus afflicted here, shall Enemies continue here unpunished? God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a One as goeth on still in his trespasses.  
3. Let Abraham his temptations speak peace unto many Sons of Abraham, who (as if they were neither Sanctified, nor Adopted, nor Elected) are prone, alas, to disquiet their Souls in the day of trial. Some Christians, although they believe that sufficient for the day is every day's trouble, although they grant, that man born in Sin is born to see sorrowful days; although they read that God doth not willingly afflict, yea although they foreknow that whom the Lord Loveth, them he chasten th'; yet, when the fiery trial tempteth, they think that strange.  
1 I beseech such dejected Spirits to ponder well that he is the Penman of this Epistle, who was (p) in bonds; and that these Hebrews were then sincere converts, when they were 
† H br. 10 34.  spoiled of their goods, and were, by reproach, 
* 33.  made a gazingstock! In this cap. XI. It was not before, but after, that they believed, that they v. 38. wandered into deserts, Mountains, dens, and caves. Or that they▪ v. 37. were destitute, afflicted, tormented, stoned, tempted, slain with the sword, and (some of them) sawn asunder; that they v. 36. had a greater trial than any of these, even the trial of cruel mockings, of scoffs which fetched blood like a Sword in the bones! Within my Text, Isaac (a type of the suffering Jesus) saw Death, although he felt it not. And Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, was more tempted, than Isaac himself was! Unto you I apply this, O ye of little faith: If, as unto these Saints (whose Names are here written in this book of Martyrs) it was, so, unto you it is, 
(r) Phil. 1.29.  given to believe; Is it a marvel unto You, if, as it likewise was unto them, so it is unto You, given to suffer? It is your comfort, that ye are Sons and not Bastards? And would ye be treated like Bastards, and not like Sons? If ye would,  
2. Since (at this instant) your chastisement seemeth, not joyous, but grievous; Bless ye your God, for that your afflictions equal not abraham's. They 
(s) Zech. 12.10.  shall mourn as for an only Son, To part with a child, and He a child growing tall, as well in expectation, as in stature: One who might hereafter have been the staff of our old age, and was, for the present, the Desire of our eyes: to lose the enjoyment of a Son and Heir, then when that only Son began to rejoice only in the Lord; this is (indeed) no ordinary trial: Yet (Give God the Glory) as smart as our present chastisement is, it is not so grievous as the temptation of Abraham was. Who have been unto God the truer friends, We or the Patriarch? Whose temptations have been the greater, the Patriarches, or Ours? Weigh we, in the same balance, the burden, the number, the sharpness, of Abraham his trials with our own; we shall then feel our own to be, as the Apostle justly esteemeth them, light afflictions.  
3. Since he was a Friend of God who was thus tempted, Bless thou thy God so often as he bestoweth upon thee the favour of a correction: They who were forty years humbled in the wilderness, were not Moabites, or Amonites, but the chosen people of God: and, when upon their back the plowers ploughed long furrows, it was that out of that heart which was once fallow ground, they might bring forth a plentiful harvect. It is not the chaff, but the wheat, which men take pains to winnow, and the better the wheat, the more throughly it is sifted. We give no such diligence to melt lead or tinn, as is used in refining, either Silver or Gold; and, of Gold the larger the Wedge or ingott, the more fiery the trial. It is the Vine branch that beareth Fruit, which the Husbandman pruneth; and, the choicer the grape, the more industrious is the Hus-bandman. When the Lord maketh up his jewels, he first fileth, and then polisheth, them; and, the dearer his children are unto Him, the stricter is their education: Cast Daniel into a furnace of fire, and you make him the companion of an Angel; While God giveth unto you a privilege to endure temptations, he giveth unto you a fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. But then  
4. See that ye lose not the benefit of your temptations. (If thou wilt thank thy God for giving thee warning:) while the warning is hit, let not the season of grace cool. Thy bitter herbs are physical, use them afore they be withered: God intendeth our spiritual health, as ever we would receive no hurt by this physic, let our endeavours second His intentions. There are Psalms of Degrees, yea and crosses of Degrees too; if we be not wanting unto ourselves, we may by these, as upon the rounds of jacob's ladder climb the Heavens: It was, by a whirlwind, that Elijah was taken up. If thou art smitten to the ground and astonished, as He (Act. IX.) was; tremble as He did, and with Him, say, Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? That our Sorrow may be turned into Joy, let the temptation wherein we are fallen have its perfect work. God tried graceless Saul, and God tempted Faithful Abraham; when Saul was tried, Saul spared Agag: but when Abraham was tempted,   

Abraham offered up Isaac.  
BE afraid therefore ye sinners who trample under foot the Blood of Jesus, and be ye horribly afraid ye Atheists who crucify unto yourselves the Lord of Glory. I 
* p. 45. line. 24.  was saying, If Faithful Abraham was tempted and afflicted, persons that are ungodly could not in this life expect to continue un-afflicted long: Let me now, add.  
1. If the iniquity of your heels do not overtake you, and compass you about before ye Die; If there be no Death in your hands; If you come not into troubles like other men; it is, that your prosperity may destroy you: If the patience of the allseeing God suffer you to fill up the measure of your offences, it is, that ye may not be able to abide the day of his coming. If He that cometh to judge terribly the earth, letteth you alone to feed the evil imaginations of your heart in quiet; it is, that (like the Deer in your Parks of pleasure, and like the Oxon in your pasture-ground) ye may be fatted against the day of slaughter. One especial reason why whole  offerings were at the first instituted, was, to signify unto us, that 
(t) Hebr. 12.29.  our God is a consuming fire. viz. every man that is not seasoned with the Salt of grace, shall 
(u) Mark. 9.49.  be salted with the fire of Tophet. Such as are sanctified by the fire of the Holy Ghost, shall (like Isaac) be unto God 
(x) Rom. 15.16.  an acceptable  offering; Such as do not by faith purify their heart and their whole man, from dead works, to serve the living God, shall be not like Isaac, but like that Ram which (in the stead of Isaac) Abraham offered up, they shall be 
(y) Psal 37.20.  as the fat of Lambs, they shall everlastingly consume; into smoke shall they consume away for ever Nevertheless,  
2. How desperately wicked soever thou hast been in times past, for the time to come here is opened unto thee a door of hope: for 1. He who spared Isaac, and accepted the Ram, testifieth even unto thee that His Delight is, not in sacrifices, but in mercies 2. When this only son was offered upon the Altar, he was then a type of that son of God who is made a Propitiation for thy Sins: 3. Although Isaac was bound, His God released him; and, although thou art tied and bound in the cords of thy Sins, the same God would release even thee. 4. After Isaac was released, the Lord blessed Isaac; wouldst thou rise and walk, God hath for thee, store of blessings; O taste and see that the LORD is good. But 5. What sort of Darling is this Dalilah which thou preferrest before the possessiour of heaven and of earth? Answ. A seeming, and but a seeming, pleasure of Sin; In this age, there is in some Sins no sort of Delight, except they be infamous as well as Wicked: There is no pleasure in dicing, except the Patrimony be staked, as well as the Guiney: Apples of Sodom are no rarity at most Banquets: The apparel of some men were not in fashion, were it not of more value than a years révenue will pay for: Neither are they welcome at a feast, except they be so drunk that they need a withdrawing room. The covetousness of some Misers is so idolatrous, that they set their hearts more upon their riches, then upon that God which giveth them a Power to get wealth: and such is the Luxury of others, as if riches could not make unto themselves wings, were there no Feathers to be found in their caps. Tell me now, in cool blood: Head-aching drunkenness, unclean lusts, (Lusts which make thy bones rotten, as well as thy communication;) unthrifty riots, wearisome idleness, wide-mouthed Oaths, ungodly jestings, unblessed vanities, (Vanities linked together by that Prince of Darkness who with them chaineth thee unto his bottomless Pitt:) Are these the isaac's which thou art fond of? wouldst thou rather eternally Sacrifice thyself a  offering in hell torments, than Sacrificce these needless evils? For shame mortify thou those follies which, if thou diest not unto them, will be unto thee death eternal. wouldst thou break off that yoke, cleave that wood, which hath hitherto prepared fuel for hell fire, wouldst thou make Jesus Christ thine altar, and upon that altar sacrifice thine Isaac, even thy whole man; wouldst thou Crucify thy lusts, study self denial, and place thine endeavours upon exercising thyself unto Godliness, thy Delights upon the pleasantness of new obedience, and thine affections upon things Spiritual and heavenly; He that can abundantly pardon, and is mighty to save, would say unto thy soul, as he said unto Abraham, now Know I that thou fearest God.  
2. Whereas it is feared that this people of England hath a revolting and a rebellious heart, our backslidings will quickly cease, if we take out that pattern which is here given unto us by this Father of many nations. Blessed be our God, we have a gracious King; we have excellent Laws; we have Judges which do, at every Assize, give a charge that these Laws be duly executed; unto these Judges, we have subordinate Magistrates; subordinate unto these, Magistrates, we have sworn Officers; subordinate unto these, House Keepers; and unto these, their Children and Servants. It was, when Eli hon … his Sons more than God, that matters went amiss with Him and His people: but, when Phinehas stood up and executed Judgement, than was the Plague stayed. If Parents and Masters offer up their isaac's, their Children and Servants, to be duly Catechised; so duly Catechised, that the fear of the Lord is unto them their treasure; this will lay so good a foundation of a prosperous government, that Wisdom and Knowledge will be the Stability of our times. Parents and Masters will constrain their Families to submit unto their own happiness, that is, to learn Catechisms, to frequent the public worship of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to sanctify God in their hearts; when, at every Session and Visitation, sworn officers offer up their Isaac, as well as their presentments; that is, when they so deny themselves that they present all such as will not deny ungodliness; and when they suffer not Congregations to crumble into Meetings, or rather, into no Meetings, And this Sworn Officers will be glad to do, when they are made to fear an Oath. And, an Oath they will fear, when at, Sessions and at Visitations, our Rulers rule with diligence, and offer up their isaac's. And this they will do, when (making Religion their business) they prefer the favour of God, before the favour of man. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest any of you being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own Steadfastness Who knoweth whether he is not born in this Kingdom for such a time 〈◊〉? God will do so to him and more also, who when he is there unto called, doth not offer up his Isaac.  
3. Let the self denials of Abraham shame every one among us into a greater Watchfulness etc. He, at the (b) first intimation, arose (c) early, went on diligently, persevered (d) constantly to observe, against his own will, the will of his God; choosing rather to be an unnatural parent, than an undutiful servant: Whereas some of us have delayed, from year to year, before we would yield to take up our daily cross: precept upon precept, line upon line we have received, but what answer have we returned unto him that hath written unto us the honourable things of His law, Statutes, which if a man would do, he might even live in them? Thou who conformest thyself unto the licentiousness of an evil world, Did this Patriarch, at one private Item, surrender his only Son, and will not all the public Commandments which thy God hath in lovingkindnes, laid upon thee, prevail with thy lips, to by't in a vain oath, with thine appetite, to forbear an un healthy sin, with thy memory to treasure up Heavenly Knowledge, or, with thine understanding, to perform Duties profitable, comely and of good report? The more easy that yoke is which Christ layeth upon us, the more careful should we be to follow the example of this Father of Isaac; otherwise, the  offering which he withheld not, will, at the last day, be offered in judgement against us. Be not deceived, God is not mocked: as a man sacrificeth, so is he accepted.  
4 Since Abraham offered up his Isaac, learn thou of him to hold every blessing which thou receivest from God, with a mind prepared to resign it to God. Jehovah, he is the Lord possessor as of Heaven, so of Earth; and whatsoever mercy thou receivest from him, that thou receivest but during his will and pleasure: What thou obtainest by prayer is but borrowed, and to grudge when thou art to pay what was but borrowed, is flat dishonesty: What thou enjoyest from God is neither deserved, nor purchased, but by the providence, and goodness, and loving kindness of thy liberal Master, it is entrusted with thee for thy comfort and conveniences, but for His uses, service, and honour; It is favour enough for thee, that God hath owned and entertained thee as His steward, Wherefore (when at any time thy God calleth from thee some child, or some other comfort) of his own thou givest him, murmur not, repine not, be not, in any wise, be not thou discontented Profess thou a Good is the word of the Lord; Assent thou, the will of the Lord be done; Say thou, He is the Lord, whatsoever he pleaseth, that let Him do; As well when he taketh, as when he giveth, bless thou the Name of the Lord. It is very observable that (twenty six years since) when there was but one night between Sodom and destruction, the Father of Isaac then used earnest prayers and arguments to save, if it were possible, that wicked City from perishing: for the Men of Sodom he mediated seven times in a breath, for his blameless and dearest Son, he intercedeth not: Queen Why this? Answ: Holy Abraham loved one righteous Isaac more than all the sinners of Sodom, but (so it was) God had revealed concerning Sodom only a conditional pleasure, saying" I will go down and see; Concerning Isaac he had revealed his absolute pleasure, saying, Take now: Wherefore so absolute is the Patriarch his resignation, that notwithstanding his God had yielded unto him seven times together in all that he had spoken in the behalf of Sodom; he doth not at all open his lips unto God in behalf of his Isaac, Go thou, and do likewise: When God saith Offer up, withhold not thou. Being called unto self-denials, Let Duty teach thee not to argue, but to submit; not to dispute but to obey; not to request, but to resign. Let thy meek, thine humble, thy modest, thought be" I am dumb; I open not my mouth, because thou dost it. Nay  
5. Since thou owest not only whatsoever is in thy custody but even thyself also unto Him that is Lord of all, Araunah like, meet thou thy King in His Desires. Make friends of unrighteous Mammon: What thou mayest not detain, that give, and give cheerfully, unto Him who loveth a cheerful Giver What thy God calleth for, that present, dedicate and consecrate, first love thy Relations as dearly as Abraham loved Isaac, and then esteem Father, Mother, Wife, Children, and (with them) whatsoever else is precious, esteem all of them together, too small, too mean, a present, to testify the readiness of thy devotion or the sincerity of thy gratitude, unto the Father and Giver of thy Lord Jesus Christ: especially seeing so many as he loveth, them he chasteneth, and so many as he chasteneth them he chasteneth for the spiritual and eternal good of themselves, or of others, or of both: whether  
1. For the benefit of others. Account upon it that wherein the God of all comfort doth comfort us in all our tribulation, therein he prepareth and bespeaketh us to comfort them who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Are the consolations of God small with thee? (I hope not) Or  
2. By casting down thine old and outward man, thy God preventeth thy new, thine inward, man from falling. Jesurum, when he waxed fat, Kicked; and Solomon, when he was full, denied God: So is it with thee, and with other Saints: Alas, the more holy men's lives are, the more advantage Satan seeketh to get over them; that old Serpent well knowing, (by his own woeful experience,) that there is no pride like unto Spiritual pride: Wherefore that even the Fall of his children may bruise this Serpent's head, when the right hand of God exalteth them, most usually his left hand doth humble them; It is indeed unto their humiliation (but it is, so unto their humiliation, that it conduceth unto their honour) that God doth so often place them in the forlorn hope: When no man upon earth was so upright as Job, than was the roaring Lion let lose against him; After Hezekiah had pleaded sincerity, God gave him a taste of his unprosperous vain gloriousness; David was confessedly a man after Gods own heart, and as confessedly Adultery, Murder, and Pride itself, brought him very Low. Jacob prevailed when he wrestled with God, but God sent him halting away: Who more stout hearted than Peter, and who more cowheartedly denied his Jesus? Satan had not been permitted to buffet Paul, had not Paul been exalted by abundant Revelations. Moses was a meek man, but he spoke so unadvisedly with his lips, that there was for him no Entrance into Canaan: Abraham so excelled in Faith that he was exemplarily and eminently the Father of the Faithful, but where was the Faith of Abraham, when (more than once) he dissembled that Sarah was only his Sister? And as (that he who thinketh he standeth may take heed lest he fall) the wisest of men was made a mere fool by the Vilest of Women; so (that we may not be ignorant of the devices of Satan) Christ himself when he was first baptised, next endued with the Spirit, and then declared, mightily declared, to be the Son of God, was afterwards led into the Wilderness; and, in the Wilderness, forty days together, tempted of the Devil.  
3. To rouse a Soul from drowsiness, to pursue some unrepented Crime, to dislodge some bosom Sin, etc. It was when Saul failed of his expectation, that Jonathan was questioned for eating honey: and when Israel was repelled, then was the Sacrilege of Acham discovered. Before he was troubled, David himself went wrong; and, until he was cast into a troubled Sea, Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord. Many times there is in our calamities a Spirit of discerning; while, like that Angel which met Baalam, they give us to understand our present misadventures. Search me, O Lord, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, See if there be in me any way of pain: A daily prayer (this) and this prayer almost every day, before we call God answereth.  
4. To satisfy ourselves, or others, of the truth, or groweth of our Graces; it is the furnace that as well approveth as trieth Silver; The same trial which inviteth worldlings to esteem Preachers no better then earthen Pitchers; the self same trial occasioneth every one that appeareth before God, to look upon those Preachers, as upon the precious Sons of Zion, and to value those precious Sons of Zion comparable unto fine gold: the which the more it is tried, the better it is refined; and the more it is refined, the brighter it shineth: The sufferings, which all these holy Martyrs in this whole context endured, were, not only the trials, but the vindications; not only the vindications, but the approbations; not only the approbations, but the publications, and recommendations of their Faith: Such was their Faith, that, to their praise be it spoken, their names are Registered by the Holy Ghost himself. That poor widow was made rich by the applauses of Christ Jesus, when he vouchsafed to attribute a greater munificence unto her small mite, then unto the largest gifts that were cast unto the Treasury. The like was the success of that true hearted Mary, unto whom the same blessed Jesus gave this felicity, that where soever His Holy Gospel shall be preached, there her Name shall be as ointment poured forth: In every deed neither the deare-heartedness of that penitent, nor the plain dealing of Jeremiah, nor the meekness of Moses, nor the Spirit of Elijah, had ever been one half so famous as they now are, had not malicious tongues given occasion to have the excellency of their graces brought to the test. Said that envious Eliab unto his brother David, I know the pride and the naughtiness of thy heart; but where was David his pride, when he refused the costly armour of King Saul, and contented himself, with a sling and a stone? Or, where was the naughtiness of his heart, when in love toward his nation, and in Zeal toward his God, he staked his own life against the life of Goliath? Again, as trials are often times inflicted to show what some chosen Saints can bear, so  
5. Afflictions abide most of us, because most of us, remain hitherto un-able to bear an un-afflicted life; Except we hear the rod, & Him who hath appointed it, many of us will not be ruled: Even so much that the Heir, so long as he is a child, is under Tutors and Governors. Let Absolom return unto his private house, for at Court he will ruin himself, and that, without remedy. Should we Britain's forget what we have seen and felt here in England, they at Munster will tell us that a sword is un-safe in Anabaptists hands. Some in this Parish who now receive Alms, would attempt insolent practices, were they Lords of the Manor. A Novice is so apt to be puffed up with pride, that he is no fit person to be a Bishop; neither is honour seemly for a fool. Even the Israel of God, before he could (with a due moderation, and with a requisite sobriety) be prepared to inherit the promised rest, was forty years long humbled in the Wilderness. But I hope better things of you (my brethren:) I trust that the God of all grace, after ye have suffered a little while, will make you meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light.  
6. Many times (whilst we seem distressed) Out of our distresses (as out of the Sepulchre of Lazarous) God is fetching about some honour unto Himself: In which case What he doth, that thou knowest not now, but hereafter thou shalt know. Verily those waters wherewith Christ washeth the unclean feet of our vile affections, are (like water at Infant-baptism) no less future, then present, healings. The Lord made Naaman leprous that he might wash in Jordan, and that (by washing in Jordan) he might cleanse, rather his Soul, than his body. Into that river the axe head fell, but, lo, iron shall swimm. If the poor beggar was born blind, it was that the Son of a God might work a miracle upon his eyes. Jonah was not cast away, 
John 9.3.  when into the Sea he was cast; for him the Lord provided a Whale, and in (the Whale) a Noah's ark▪ joseph's brethren thought evil against him, but God meant it for good: He was a lost man, that he might save much people alive; Into Egypt he was sold, that of Egypt he might dispose. Let his mother hid Moses in the flags, and the King's daughter shall give him a Princely education: Give him a Princely education, he will be learned in all the learning of the Egyptians; so learned, that he will overmatch Pharaoh, and shall (with a high hand) bring Gods first born out of bondage. The captivity of Daniel, how did it conduce both unto his own advancement, and unto the glory of his God?  
To conclude this point: With his only son the father of Isaac must part; but What shall be seen in the mount of the Lord, Who can tell? Who knoweth whether there may not out of the Dust of this Grave arise, as well matter of rejoicing, as causes of sorrow; as well the life of grace, as dry bones? With God it is not impossible, but that (while I preach and you hear) the Obsequies now celebrated may be, unto some souls among us, life from the dead. Said I not unto thee 
r John 11.40.  that thou shouldest see the glory of God, if thou wouldst believe? Sure I am, as seeing is 
s 44.21.6. 1 John 3.2.  the present, the 
t John 7.17.12.46. Phil: 3.15. 1 John 5.13, 20.  future, the 
u 3.2. 1 Cor: 2 9 Hebr. 11.1.  eternal, recompense of believing; so believing is 
x Prov: 1 23. ●sa: 55.3.  the reward of hearing. 
y Rom. 10.17. Gal. 3.2.  By hearing cometh Faith: And (take this for the main, the chief, and the last, Consolation in my Text) wheresoever this grace of faith cometh, there it overcometh. This was the victory which overcame this Patriarches trials, even, his Faith,   

By faith Abraham offered up Isaac.  
AND By faith we find 
z Rom. 15.13. Act. 16.34.  a joy in believing: that therefore (in this Bethanie) in this House of mourning, Our mourning may be turned into joy, the Lord vouchsafe unto us an effectual, a practical, a sanctified, remembrance of these five Considerations. 1. The like Duties which Abraham was to perform, we are, 2. If we would perform them aright, we must follow His example. 3. We may follow his example, if, as He did, we can believe: 4. To obtain alike precious faith with Him, we have greater Helps than ever he had. 5. Having obtained like precious faith with him; as he did, so we may, of this divine grace make heavenly Uses.  
First I appeal unto that pride of life which rendereth our costly garments so full of levity, our buildings so full of ostentation, our tables so full of excess, and our purses so empty of coin: I appeal unto that liberty (which no man giveth, but every of us taketh) to do what is good in our own eyes; that we have the like prosperity to struggle with, as had this Patriarch: Neither is our adversity much un-like, or behind, his: witness the dead body of this Isaac whom we are now offering up. Beside, I have told you at large, that our frail life is a continual warfare: We are (ye know) opposed by a world of Wickedness. Through the lusts that are within us, the whole world becometh cometh a snare unto our flesh, Our flesh warreth against our soul, and both against God's Spirit. Add to these the malice, the devices, the powers, the un-weariness, of evil Spirits innumerable, and invisible: How to endure these temptations, how to fulfil those Duties, which so much resemble the trials, the Duties, of Abraham; it is high time that we learn, & learn from Abraham. For  
2. Return unto Gen. XXII. when his Isaac is demanded, how doth the good old Father demean himself? Doth he counterfeit a slumber? Doth he pretend that, if called he was, he knew it not; that if to his name he (a) answered, he only spoke in his sleep? Doth he impute the Dream of his head unto some melancholy blood depressing his heart? Doth he construe that vision of the night to be either some flashie imagination, or else one of Satan's delusions? Noe. The voice was Jehovahs' voice, and (for the voice of Jehovah) he owneth it: Subterfuges he seeketh none; Stagger he doth not; His God would have no pleasure in him, should he draw back; He remembreth Lot's wife. Hoping to bow the Lords will (as an unbeliever wresteth the Scriptures) unto his own bent, Balaam consulted the Lord a third and fourth time, but in God's first revelation this Holy Father acquiesceth: as cheerfully staying himself upon the Lord while his Son is now demanded, as upon the Lord he then Stayed himself, when the same Son was first promised. Did he consult flesh and blood; unseen to others, he could let fall half a word which would soon make Servants interpose, Sarah contradict and Isaac slip aside; but to prevaricate he abhorreth, as he abhorreth hypocrisy, Such is the sincerity of his Obedience, that, until the hour of Sacrifice, none are of his counsel; Such his prudence, that at the hour of Sacrifice (if we may believe Josephus) he persuadeth even Isaac himself to be of his confederacy: He was armed against every temptation with self denial, against every exigency with wisdom, and against every natural inclination with grace; Without any reluctancy, repining, or remissness, he (c) ariseth, and ariseth early; Hundred of Servants he hath, yet (c) waiteth not for the attendance of any; but doth probably with his own hands get the fire and the Knife in a readiness; neither disdaineth he (c) to Saddle the ass, yea or to be (c) his own wood cleaver. Had this Knife, this fire, this Wood, been provided for some solemn Festival; Were his Heir now newly anointed with oil, and anon, like 
† Judg. 5.10. Zech. 9.9. John 12.15.  after-Princes, to ride that Saddled ass in State; Were he himself now to set a crown of pure gold upon his Isaac's head, and (that done) to espouse unto this Son some Atossa, some Quen of Shebah, yea or Rebekah herself; what could he have done more? nay 
* Gen. 26.67.  he had not done so much: This pattern may every one of us take out, this example may we imitate. With humility, self denial, and submission; with patience, preudnce and steadfastness with a preparedness, readiness, and cheerfulness of mind may we offer up our isaac's, if, with Abraham, we Sacrifice them unto the Lord, and Sacrifice them unto the Lord both in Faith and by Faith.  
3 Take heed therefore, brethren, lest there be in any of you 
† Hebr. 3.12.  an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God: For 1. although when we should offer up our isaac's by Faith, we have a God to draw near unto, although this God be a living God; yet man's heart naturally revolteth from this living God: and is therefore a heart 
a Pro: 10.20.  little worth, an 
b Gen. 6.5.  evil heart, a heart 
c Jerem. 17.9.  desperately wicked. 2. Unbelief is an idleness of mind as neglected, as hereditary; a lethargy contracted 
d Psal. 51.5.  from our mother's womb, a 
e Deut 32.20. Esa: 48.8. Pro: 22.15.  frowardness which our Nurses cherish in our childhood, a Defect which in our minority few tutor's eye, an evil which in our full age no magistrates punish; a guilt, an oversight, a 
f Ephes. 5.8. 1 John 5.6. John 12.35.  darkness, which man 
g 1.5.3.19, 20. Gen. 3.8.  loveth! Of worldly wants, we are (all of us) very sensible; but of a want of Faith few (very few) complain: and yet (mercy, mercy, O our God)  
1. Except ye believe 
h Esa. 7.9. Col. 2.7. Hebr. 13.9. James 1.8.  surely ye shall not be established. For 2. although the wages of every sin is death, whatsoever is not of Faith, is Sin. 3. If God be against us, who can be for us? but so long as unbelief hardeneth our heart against God, God is against us. 4. Upon him that believeth not the wrath of God abideth, & (should he cast upon us the fierceness of his wrath) who can stand before everlasting burn? 5. For that wretch who forgetteth so blessed a Creator, for that servant who controlleth so wise a Lord, for that Subject who provoketh so gracious a Sovereign, for that person who believeth not a God so infinitely true etc. No Tophet is hell enough, no Hell hath torments enough, no torments are too durable, too everlasting, too eternal. Wherefore 6. We must even with fear and trembling workout our Salvation, but (without Faith no Salvation is hoped for) by Faith ye are saved. 7. Whereas to glorify Him of whom, by whom, and for whom, are all things, is the whole Duty of man; without Faith there is no right understanding of this Duty. So that 8. Whereas 
† Luk. 21.34, 36. Matt: 24.42, 44 25.13. 2 Tim. 4.5. 1 Pet. 4.7. Revel. 3.3.  peculiar unto every hour of our lives, is the Duty of that hour; without Faith we order not our Conversation aright, no not for the space of one moment; At this instant the truth now uttered profiteth not, if it be not mixed and received with Faith. Add 9 Whereas it is the whole happiness of man to find favour in the sight of the Lord (always to find favour in the sight of the Lord;) without Faith it is impossible to please God.  
Lastly, Let the dead bury their dead. No marvel if without Faith no favour is obtained from the Lord; since without Faith we seek not, nay we desire not, to please Him, if 
a Psal▪ 10.4.14.2 Rom. 3 11.  please him we could. Alas, there is in us (I tremble to speak it) there is in us an 
b 8.7.5.10. Coloss. 1.21.  enmity against the great and terrible God The mind and Conscience of every unbeliever is 
c Tit. 1.15. Psalm. 51.1, 2, 3, 4.  defiled; his heart is (like himself) corrupt and abominable. How can it be otherwise, seeing he is 
d Judas. 11.  twice dead; dead in sin; dead in guilt? Alive unto sin, he is, but dead unto righteousness! All his works are 
e Hebr. 6.1.9 14.  dead works; therefore dead works, because he himself continueth 
f Tit. 1.16.  unto every good work reprobate.  
For as in Heaven unbelief did put Lucifer quite out of the right use of his knowledge, love, joy, etc. then when (unto himself and his combining angels) he 
g Esa. 14.14.  said I will be like unto the most High: and as in Paradise unbelief did put Adam quite beside the right use of his 
h Hebr 5.14. Eccles. 9.3. Deut: 28.28.  senses, etc. Then when he also 
i Gen 3.5.  said unto himself I will be as God: So unto the World's end the folly and madness of unbelief doth and will 
k 1 Cor. 2.14. John 3 6. Gal: 5.17.  distract every unbeliever (so long and so far as he abideth in unbelief) from the right and Spiritual use both of his Soul and of his body: Without Faith man is unto things heavenly, just as a mad man is unto things earthly and sensual: rash, fearless, fool hardy. He saith as well in his actions as in his heart 
l Psal. 14 1.  There is no God, for he doth not 
m Phil. 2.21.  what God pleaseth, but what he 
n 1 Pet. 4 1.  lusteth: He saith of God 
o Psal. 50.21.  that he is such a one as himself, one that regardeth 
p 73.11.94.7, 8.  not iniquity, one that doth 
q Esa. 41.23.  neither good (to reward); nor evil (to avenge:) He will be 
r Psal. 10.3.  his own chooser, and consequently) 
s Rom. 14.7.8, 9  his own God: Saith he 
t Pro 30.9. Exod. 5.2.  who is the Lord that I should obey him and deliver up mine Isaac? If I cannot draw near unto God, unless I offer up my son, that I may not part with my Son, I will departed from my God.  
Sirs, to give sight to this blind man by expelling this darkness from his unbelieving bosom; to force him to stand in awe, by tying him up from any more hardening his heart; to 
* Matt. 12.29. 2 Cor. 13.3. Ephes: 1.19.  overrule so 
† 1 Cor: 2.14.3 18, 19  foolish and so 
a Esa. 1.3, 18. Jerem. 8.6.17.9. Esa. 32.4. Act. 19 36.  rash an 
b Job. 9.4. Prov: 8.36.  enemy of 
c Jerem. 5.2. Psal. 14.1.  God; to 
d 2 Cor. 10.5.  disarm him of those 
e Act. 26.18. Jerem. 4.14. John 5.44. Act. 5.3. Rom. 1.21, 24, 26.28. 2 Cor: 4.4. 1 John 3.8.  fiery darts wherewith he 
f Prov: 12.26. and 13.15. Eccle. 9.18. Phil: 3.18, 19  mischeiveth 
g Prov: 13.5. Jerem. 7.19. Rom. 1.18. Judas 15.  himself and 
h Matt. 16.6, 12. John 15.19. 1 Cor. 5.6. and 15.33. 2 Tim 3.13. 1 Pet 4.4. 1 John 3.12, 13. J●shu: 22.20.  others; to 
i Luk. 14. from v. ●6. unto v. 34. Exod. 4.21. with 8.15. and 9.35. and 11.9. and 14.17, 18. Deut. 2 30. and 29.4. Joshu. 11.30. 1 Sam. 2.25, 30. 1 King 12.15. 2 Chron. 25.16. Matt. 13.15. John 8.47. and 12.40.  convince him that there is 
k 2 Chron 25.18, 19 Esa. ●7. 4. and 36.8. Luk. 14.31. Act. 9 5. Psal. 68.21.  no fight against the Lord of hosts; to 
l Hos: 13.9. E●a. 1.16, 17, 18.  reduce him unto a 
m Esa 2.11. Je●em. 8 6. Luk. 1.74, 79.  right use of 
n Hebr. 5.24. Psal 50.23.  his Senses and of 
o Rom. 14.7, 8, 9 2 Cor. 1.10. Gal. 2.20.  Himself; to 
p Prov. 1 23. Jerem. 13 27. John 8.43, 47.  persuade him to 
q James 4.7, 8.  Submit 
r Psal. 73.28. Esa. 66.2.  draw near and 
s 2 Cor. 5.18, 19, 20.  reconcile his 
t 1 Chron. 28.9.  heart unto his 
u Jerem. 10.7.  God: to 
x Exod. 23.21. Eccles. 6.10. Deut. 28.40. and 29.19, 20. Esa. 1.24. and 63.4. Hebr. 12.29.  win him to 
y Mark 10.30.31.  not withhold but to 
z Psal. 25.1. Rom. 12.1.  offer up 
† Psal. 84.11.  unto the Lord his 
* 116.13, 16.  Isaac 
a 110.3.  willingly 
b 2 Cor. 8.10. 1 Chron. 29.17.  cheerfully and 
c Rom. 12.1. 1 Tim. 2.3. Hebr. 12.28.  acceptably: to 
d Psal 51.10. Gal. 6.15. Ephes. 2.10. Deut. 29.4. with 30.6.  work so 
e Jerem. 30.21.  great, so 
f Matt. 3.3. Rom. 12.2. Phil. 2.13.  heavenly a change of mind as this, One thing is 
g 2 Cor. 5.17, 18.  necessary; viz the 
h Luk. 10.42. Hebr. 10.38. Tit. 1.1.  Faith of Gods elect. For as 
i Rom. 9.16, 17, 18, 20, 21. and 11.7, 22.  reprobation presupposeth an 
k 11.5, 6, 28.  election, and as 
l 1 John 4.1.  truth precedeth error, so (if rightly considered) there was a 
m Eccles. 7.29. Judas 6. Rom. 1.28.  belief before there was 
n 2 Thess. 2.10.11.  unbelief: Wherefore prove your own selves 
o 2 Cor. 13.5.  examine yourselves whether ye be in the Faith, or whether ye be 
p 2 Tim. 3.8.  concerning the Faith reprobates. Know 
x Hos. 2.14. Mal. 3.10. and 4.6. Act. 13.38.   
4. Or ever he ordained any worlds, the one, the true, the good, JEHOVAH, (seeing he inhabiteth both etrnitie and immensity!) was the same divine existence, self-existence, self-subsisting exstence, that now is. He could before all predestination, as well as now say I AM: I (ever 
* Num. 23.9.  alone) am peace; I (a Father ever begetting, a Son ever begotten, a Holy Ghost ever proceeding) am (not confusion but) Order: I am life, light, purity, holiness etc. 2 As he could ever say I AM, he could also ever say I AM WHAT I AM; when Pilate would not alter his writing, said he, WHAT I have written, I have written; So (before all Worlds) could God say I am, and am well pleased in What I am: As I do not, so I would not, cease to be life, light, purity, holiness etc. 3 End-less is that delight which I take in what by nature I ever was, ever shall he, and now am. My blessedness, my glory, my rejoicing is neither of, nor from, others, but from and in Myself; I am full and abound: No flesh, no Saints, no Worlds do I need, for I, the three divine persons, am unto Ourselves a THEATRE. So that 4 It is in mine election whether I will, or will not, determine to be a Creator; if to be a Creator I do determine, Good I am, and all my works shall call me good. Good I do, and good I will do unto all such as abide in my goodness.  
2 He spoke, It was: Brethren, (well may we believe in God) Jehovah, to confirm his promise to this Patriarch by an oath, because he could swear by no greater, swore by Himself: So to create a world of blessings, because a better pattern he could not take, he took a pattern from Himself: God is one, such is the Universe: God is perfect, immense, eternal; The World is round, wide, lasting. In God is peace and order. From the least atom to the highest Angel is found order and harmony. God self subsisteth; even in senseless elements is implanted a principle of self preservation: God is blessed, In every creature having life is imprinted a desire not only of being, but of well-being God changeth not; The well-being of all his works is placed in a not changing that Law of nature whereunto they were ordained. Which law giveth unto every flesh it's own seed: unto every seed it's own body; unto every body, it's own Soul; unto every Soul it's own felicity. God is a free agent; As sensible creatures have a free choice to like, or dislike, what unto their senses seemeth pleasing, or displeasing: so reasonable creatures should also have a free will to choose, or refuse whatsoever to their best understanding seemeth truly good, or truly evil. In attracting sustenance, or in propagating their kind, to confine brutes to be as insensible as trees are, or men to be as irrational as brutes are, were to reject the wisdom of God. Even so to limit man to be sensual, but not virtuous; to be virtuous but not holy; to mind things Earthly, but not things Heavenly; to stay himself upon the creature, but not upon the Creator; to love the World, but not the Lord God; were to require him to be, concerning the faith of Gods elect, reprobate. For the Law whereunto God elected men and Angels was, He that lifteth up his Soul is not upright: (and if not upright, a lost Angel, a dead man:) but the just shall live by faith.  
3. To you who bewail your unbelief I speak it. Until God appeared unto him in Mesopotamia, Abraham (that father of the faithful!) never had those prepared helps, those effective means, of obtaining this precious grace, this faith of Gods elect, which the veriest reprobate of you all at this time possesseth. He was bred up among aliens and strangers to grace, The Knowledge of the Lord covereth our Island as the waters cover the Sea: He was, ye were not, the unclean Children of unbelieving Parents; He could not say Thou hast loosed my bands, for I am the Son of thy handmaid; but Ye were by prayer and by baptism consecrated to your God in your infancy; and were from your infancy nurtured up in good knowledge. 2. He was (like S. Paul) in journeyings often; Abiding city he had none; but was ever unsettled: As for you, ye in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places have retiredness and leisure to devote yourselves to prayer, meditation etc. 3. Eight or nine times did Jehovah converse with Him, with you he converseth eighty times nine times. Twice or thrice was the Gospel preached unto Him (and that too) very darkly; To you it shineth as clearly, and, in a sort, as frequently, as daylight. What a small pittance of saving knowledge could he glean from the traditions of his forefathers in comparison of what may be learned by you; by you who may all know the Lord from the least to the greatest, by you who are in God's Scriptures all taught of God? 4. Christ is the vision, the visage, of the father of mercies; the Gospel is the image, the face, of Christ; Of this Gospel, of this face of Christ, more is manifested unto you, than ever was revealed unto Abraham.  
4. As zeal without knowledge is the mother of persecution, idolatry, superstition, enthusiasm, schism, heresy, sedition, rebellion, etc. So knowledge without zeal begetteth atheism, profaneness, hypocrisy, pride. etc. But that which maketh man's knowledge of God to be man's salvation, is the spirit of faith sanctifying unto him what he knoweth For. 1. By faith we understand— one office of faith is to enlighten the understanding. 2. By faith Moses refused, choosing rather— viz As faith discerneth what is good so faith embraceth, what good it discerneth. 3. A third effect of faith is to purify the heart. 4. By faith they subdued and obtained— When faith hath so instructed the heart, that it no longer believeth a lie; and hath so corrected the mind, that it holdeth not the truth in unrighteousness; When a Knowledge of the truth, of the whole truth, (yea and of nothing but the truth) freeth the head from error; and when a love of that truth freeth the heart from disobedience; when we like to retain God in our Knowledge; then do we apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus: When ye seek not your own wills, but your Gods will; when ye with meekeness, and with earnestness, search, & wait, and watch, and try, whether by his word of life God will make your heart, as abraham's was, faithful; than ye sow to the spirit; And as what was born of your flesh, was flesh; so what is born of God's spirit, is spirit: For such as wait upon God in His ways, them God meeteth; and whom God meeteth, in them, by his spirit of adoption, he formeth the quickening spirit of Christ Jesus. Brethren, Hereby may ye know whether ye have, with faithful Abraham, believed unto righteousness: If unto righteousness ye have believed, then have ye passed from the death of unbelief wherein ye were born, to the Life of faith whereunto ye were baptised.  
5. To whom God giveth a power, to them he also vouchsafeth a habit, of believing: Having therefore obtained like precious faith with Him, imitate ye the Patriarch in my Text. of this good and perfect gift which cometh down from above May ye (ever make ye) seasonable, and sanctified, Uses.  
1. That in you the righteousness of God may be revealed from faith to faith, add to your faith Knowledge. For this end, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and in all wisdom: There can not in Heaven be a higher object of Knowledge than the God of Heaven, neither, can there be upon earth any Knowledge of the God of Heaven equal to what we learn in Holy writ. No truth is worthy to be compared unto Scripture truths; neither is any Scripture-truth comparable to Gospel revelations: Gospel revelations are mysteries, great mysteries! Mysteries which immediately concern a reconciliation between God provoked, and man offending! Lay up therefore in your heart, as Manna in a golden pot; store up in your memory, as Oracles in the Ark of God; the Gospel-treasures of spiritual truth, and wisdom: The best object of man's best understanding is that truth which is in Jesus.  
2. That that spirit of truth which is the spirit of Christ may free you as well from the error of your way, as from erring thoughts; that ye may be renewed, as well in practice, as in Knowledge; that ye may be, as well un-corrupted in your mind, as un-deceived in your judgement; Receive, with every truth, a love of that truth; that a love of every revealed truth ye may receive, purify ye your heart by faith; that by faith ye may purify your heart, seeing there is no example, threat, promise, or rhetoric, like unto Scripture examples, threats, promises, and rhetoric, Let these, let all these, have a due force and a full power over your sincerest affections: so consult Holy writ as who are therein consulting even God Himself; So obey Holy Writ, as the Word of a God, as the word of a God speaking to you; as the voice of the gracious Jehovah so speaking with you, as he some times spoke with his friend Abraham, even face to face: Oh Sirs, as the best object of your best understanding, so the most delightful object of your purest affections, is the good nature of Emannuel, Jehovah, Jesus. Therefore.  
3. Whereas, from Abraham's self denials, I pressed a self-denial upon all such masters, parents, concerned officers, and Magistrates as may, and should befriend Souls under their tuition; (Old things are passed away:) I now urge the example, not of Abraham representing, but of the true father of many nations by Abraham represented: The father of all men, when there was no Arm to help, spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all! And shall worldly favour, or neighbourly kindness prevent you from imitating the merciful example, of a compassionate God? If the Love of God, if the example of God, findeth faith in your hearts, O ye Rulers, neither let Souls stupidly ignorant escape untaught and unchatechised; neither tolerate ye those unlawful meetings which wrist Holy Scriptures to the hazard of themselves, and of this Kingdom. 1. (Witness our late civil Wars,) As evil words corrupt good manners, so a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump: A cancer in the mouth is a pernicious disease: even so much that Christ hateth that we should suffer among us the doctrine either of the Pharises, or of the Nicolitans. 2. When the Son of man took a far journey, he gave authority to his Servants: If Lawgivers, Laws, and Judges protect men's cattle, lands, and limbs, from violence; much more let them guard men's memories, affections, understandings and consciences from the subtlety and power of seducers, and of Satan. 3. Seditious conventicles rebel against man, profane atheists rebel against God, but the Holy conformist rebelleth against neither; yea he is therefore loyal to his Sovereign, because he is obedient to his God. 4. Is not the body more than raiment? and is not the Soul more than the Body? What shall his dread Majesties native Subjects give in exchange for their Souls? 5. It is the people laden with iniquity that is the people of God's wrath, but a righteous people is a prosperous people: then shall his Majesty's Subjects flourish, when their Souls prosper. 6. While upon Lords days and other days set a part for religious assemblies and duties, some gadd about to change their way, and others sit idle at home, God loseth the glory of his full and public congregations, worship, and Ordinances. During the tyranny of Oliver the Rebel, orthodox Ministers were sequestered from their parochial congregations, Under the Clemency of King Charles the Second let not parochial congregations be sequestered from their orthodox Ministers. In short, so many as despise him shall be lightly esteemed, but such as honour God, them God will honour.  
4. Whereas I convinced you, that the burden, sharpness, & number, of our trials; are light afflictions in comparison of the temptations of Abraham; behold a greater than Abraham is here. Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners, Consider Jesus by Isaac tipified, and you will learn of him to possess your Souls in patience: Faith instructeth us how to take pleasure in afflictions, and to taste a joy even in tribulations, Remove your eyes from the dead body of our departed friend unto the body of Christ crucified, you will then, in lieu of mourning for an only Son, even aspire a fellowship in Christ's sufferings.  
5. Behold I show you a mystery. The same faith which teacheth us to seek righteousness not by works, but by grace; doth also stir us up to live just toward our neighbour, our selves, and our God. When by faith Abraham offered up his Isaac, he lived just to his Son, true to himself, upright toward his God. 1. Upright toward Jehovah, for Jehovah had a greater right in Isaac, than the Father of Isaac ever, either had, or could have▪ 2. True to Himself, for had he lifted up his Soul, he had ceased to be upright. 3. Just to his Son, for it was the Duty of Isaac not only to live, but to die, unto the Lord; Blessed is that man which endureth temptation; Would ye endure to the end? Would ye have present victory over your present conflict? Fight the good fight of faith: Who so would be justified, must be justified not by works, but by faith; and he that would order his conversation aright, must use his knowledge aright; he must make the best use which he can, not only of his reason, but of his faith.  
6. Faith fixeth one eye upon the Duty set before us, and the other eye upon the promise annexed to that Duty; Faith verily believeth that there is a reward for the righteous: In the mount of the Lord was Jehovah seen. By laying that Body, which his father could not lift, over the altar upon the Wood, Isaac his mouth was filled with laughter: 1. He saw & heard an Angel sent from Heaven to find a way for his escape; 2. He did not die, but live; 3. He lived, and lived a type, a figure, a pledge of Christ's and in Christ, of our resurrection & Life: By not withholding his Son, Abraham received praise from his God, yea and, with praises, blessings; Abraham saw Christ's day and was glad: From the faith both of Abraham & of Isaac Jehovah Himself received present yea and in all ages future Glory; They who know His name will trust in it And yet show I unto you more excellent things than these. For  
7. The same faith which enureth us to be ever at once just to our neighbour, our selves, and our God, worketh upon our good nature; it worketh in us a disposition to be (like Christ) harmless and blameless: 2. An emulation to put on the Lord ' Jesus: To them that believe it is meat & drink to study Christ, to learn Christ, and to live Christ: yea 3. Faith heightneth us to imitate (with Jesus Christ,) the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ; it cherisheth in us a filial delight of being followers of his Father, and of our Father, as dear Children: Abba Father, thou art long-suffering, patiented, good, merciful, righteous, liberal, pure, holy, loving etc. Oh make us, make us (like thyself,) long-suffering. etc. 4. By faith we rest assured that our forerunner hath, in Heaven, prepared mansions and princely Lodgings for us who believe in Him.  
To conclude, by faith we reckon ourselves therefore coheires with Christ, because, as he is by Nature, so we are by a spirit of adoption, privileged to be the Sons of God; all things are ours, because we are Christ's, and Christ, is Gods; Gods in whom God is well pleased, God is the Lord not of the dead, but of the living; and therefore the Dust shall give up her dead: True, the Soul of our dear friend is separated from his body; nevertheless, by faith we eye our Mediator as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh: Faith giveth us to understand; that, since Christ and we are one body, together with his dead body shall our dead bodies arise; and shall therefore arise as his dead body did arise, partly because they that are joined unto the Lord, are one spirit; and partly because (witness Enoch, Elias, & the blessed Jesus) there is one flesh of man, another flesh of beasts. The flesh of beasts, like their mortal Souls, perisheth for ever; The flesh of man, the dead body of our dear friend, like leaf, Gold, naturally ascendeth unto the same fingers, unto the same Creator, who curiously wrought it upon earth, that he might exalt it unto glory in Heaven: To which Heaven and glory he bring us by his spirit, and by his Son; To whom, with Himself, the Father of all things, be dominion and salvation ever ascribed, Amen.     
FINIS.  Psal. 116.10. I believed, therefore have I spoken.