Ohs. We are never tried to pm-pose till we are tried in our Isaac.
This was Abraham's trial — ' Offer now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest,' Gen. xxii. 2 ; so we are tried in our Isaac. What is that? in things that are nearest and dearest to us. It was an easy matter that Solomon offered so many thousand beasts — ' Twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep/ 1 Kings viii. 62 ; but here was a greater otiering. But when are we put to such a trial, to ofier up our Isaac ?
Ans. In three cases — In case of submission ; in case of self-denial ; incase of mortification.
1. In the case of submission to the strokes of providence, when near relations are taken away from us — a husband, a wife, a beloved and an only child. God knows how to strike us in the right vein ; there will be the greatest trial where our love is set, when God deprives us of those tilings which we most affect. As, suppose the providence of God is not past, and God is ready to take them trom you, and you are afi-aid ; here your trial is in a willing lesignation ; give up your Isaac to the will of the Lord, as Abraham did when God called him. There cannot be such a concurrence of so many endearing circumstances in any rela- tion of yours as there was in Abraham's Isaac, a son of his love, a son of his old age, a son that was conceived by virtue of the promise, a son in whom the promise was pitched. To take away Isaac was to take away Christ and eternal life, that was included in Isaac ; for Christ was to come of Isaac. I will but use this argument to press you to resign up your comforts into the hands of God. W^hen you are willing and ready to part with your comforts at God's call, it is the only way to keep them. Abraham offered his Isaac, and was no loser by it; he kept him. This is the w;iy, and the only way to preserve them, to re- sign th<m to the will of the Lord. But if the providence be already past, the .str(jke of God hath lighted upon your relations and your tamilv, and xowv comforts are taken fronj you. then vom- trial is in a
VeBS. 17-19.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 363
patient submission, as before in a willing resignation : if you submit to the will of God, this is to offer up j'our Isaac. And here you have an advantage of Abraham too. Your relations do not fall under the weight of your arm, and by your own hands, as Isaac was to be offered by his own father ; for Abraham knew nothing to the contrary, but that he was to be his executioner, and yet he submitted. In all such cases remember it is a trial, and men upon trial are wont to do their best. When God comes to pierce and broach you, will you discover nothing but murmuring, worldly sorrow, vile affections, impatience, unsubjec- tion to the will of God ? When God had tried Abraham, he said, Gen. xxii. 12, ' Xow I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not witiiheld thy son, thy only sou, from me.' What ! shall the Lord say I tried Abraham and fouud him faithful ; but now I know your stub- bornness, disobedience, taxing my providence, quarrelling at my justice ? God comes to make a sensible proof of us.
2. In case of self-denial, forsaking our choicest interests for a good conscience. To this purpose doth the apostle bring this instance, to persuade them to martyrdom, to take the spoiling of their goods cheer- fully, without murmuring and repining. Can anything be nearer and dearer to us than Isaac was to Abraham ? Life and all must go if God call for it. If anything be nearer and dearer to us than other, God must have it : Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man come to me, and hate not father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life,' &c. Either you must hate God, or hate the creature ; there is no medium. Whatever we are unwilling to quit for God's sake, we love it more than God and Christ. There he num- bers up all relations — father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children. Why ? because at all times christians are not called to lay down their lives ; but we must venture the displeasure of near relations, father, mother, &c., upon conscience of our duty to God, and when reasons of religion call us thereto. God came now to prove whom Abraham loved most, whether he loved his God or his Isaac best. Abraham loved Isaac well, but God better. So many times God puts us to a sensible trial, — which we love best, whether our worldly interests or the Lord himself. When a servant followeth two men that walk together, you cannot tell to whom he belongeth ; but when they part, then you see whose servant he is. God stands on the one side, interest on the other; either you must turn to your interests, or turn to God. The Lord may put us to such a trial, as usually he doth his children one time or other. Now consider in such cases Abraham's self-denial. Here was the slay- ing of an innocent person, and this his son — son on whom the promises were pitched, for they were to be fulfilled in him. The more difficult any piece of obedience is, the more excellent ; and the more self-denial, the more difficult ; and the more we are to deny leason itself, as well as our natural affection, the more self-denial. All these circumstances concurred here : Abraham was t(^ overcome his natural aftection. What was dearer to him than Isaac ? And therefore we must not only part with mean things, but such as we prize above anything in the world. When God requireth we should forsake father, and mother, and all our dearest relations, we must not grudge at it. Nay, our lives should not be dear to us : Acts xx. 24, ' Neither count I mv life dear