Nor was he in this respect disappointed of his hope : for, in the moment his hand was lifted up to slay his son, God arrested his arm, and forbad the execution of his purpose, accepting the will for the deed, and accounting that as actually done which in an instant of time would have been irrevocably done, if the same authority that enjoined it had not interj)osed to prevent it : so that Abraham is always spoken of as having actually offered up his son ; and as having, " in a figure, re- ceived him again from the dead."]
Now, as in this transaction there are several dif- ferent points to be attended to, so will there be a corresponding diversity in,
II. The instruction to be derived from it —
We may learn,
1. From Ms trial, the use and intent of trials — [God is said to have " tempted Abraham." But we are not to understand from this that he did any thing with a view to lead Abraham to the commission of evil : in that sense " God never tempts any man : and if any man be drawn to the commission of sin, it is only through the influence of his own in-dwelling corruptions "=." But God gave him this com- mand, in order that it might be seen, both by Abraham him- self and by the world at large, whether he had grace to execute it. God, in all his dispensations towards the Jews in the wilderness, had the same object in view, as Moses informed them at the commencement of their journeying in the wilder- ness*^, and afterwards reminded them just previous to their entrance into Canaan^. He warned them also that at all future periods they must be on their guard not to be drawn aside from Jehovah by persons pretending to a divine autho- rity, even though they should work miracles in confirmation of their word, or utter prophecies that should eventually come to pass ; for that God would suffer such impostors to arise, in order to put their fidelity to the test, and to give them an op- portunity of evincing what was in their hearts ^ God himself indeed needed not for his own information such events ; for he knew what was in man, whether it was brought forth into act, or not : but they themselves could know it only by seeing the actual operation of their own principles : and therefore, for the comfort of some, and the humiliation of others, he suffered their principles to be brought to the test, and afforded by his own dispensations an occasion for their internal graces or
<= Jam. i. 13, 14. <^ Exod. xvi. 4.
e Deut. viii. 2. f Deut. xiii. 1—3.