w By the ſame excellent Faith Abraham alone, and by himſelf contidered, being trved by God, in a rare way, to give proof of the Truth of his Faith in, and love to him above all, was to take his only Son, his Darling, and to offer him for a whole Burnt-Of- ferins on Mount JMfriah, to himſelf, Gen. Which Com- mand of God was not unjuſt, he having abfolute Soveraignty and Pominion over ail Perſons and their Lives, having Power to kill, and to make alive, Devt. 32.25. This Son of his x he offered up as God Commanded ; for 1n his Heart he hae fully parted with him to God, and proceeded ſo far in Executfon, as if God had not diſpenſed with it, it had been aftually done, he wou!d have killed him and burnt him to Aſhes on the Altar, Gen, 6, 7, tO 13. This mighty Faith inabled him to do this, though he was h13 on- Iv begotten Son by promiſe, and in the Churches Line, concerning whom he had received fo many Promifes, and in whom only they were to be fulilled, as that a numerous Seed ſhould deſcend from him, who ſhould inherit Can”, and through whom Chriſt was to deſcend into the World, in whom himfelt and all Nations were to be blefled. Yet Faith filenceth Reaſon, and natural Affection, aſ- fureth him, God could tulfill his Promiſes by him, though he ſhould offer him : As he raiſed him from a dead Body and Womb at firſt, and gave him to him: So he oveyeth God's Word, and offereth him.
1S || Of whom it was ſaid y, * Thatin Iſaac ſhall thy ſeed he called :
y This did greaten Abraham's Tryal, that unto him it was promi-
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4 as <2 20
22, d]
fed by God himſelt, That in this only begotten Son Tſaac, the emi-
nently bletied, and bleffing Seed, with all his myſtical Body ſhould be called; that is, put in being, propagated and made known as by
' Name in 1/zac, Gal. 4. 28. This God revealed to Abraham, Gen. 17,
19, 21. and hereby was his Faith put to it to reconcile Contradidi- ons, as to believe this ſpecial Promiſe, and yet execute this ſpecial Command to ſacrifice 1/aac, yet to believe 1n him his Seed ſhould be called, :
19 Accounting = that God was able to araiſe hi: up. even from the dead : From whence alſo b he re- ceived him ina hgure.
2 Faith puts this into 46-aham's Thoughts in his Reaſonings about this Trval between the Temptation and God's Power, and intlu- enced him to conclude and determine under it, That ſince God could raiſe him from the dead to perform his Promiſes, he would Sacrifice him to obey God's Command. This Faith grew from what God had done, in giving . him Tſaac from his own dead Body, and Sarah's dead Womb, Rom. 4.17, to 22, a God's Almighty Power to raiſe trom the dead, anſwered all the Difticultics in the Tryal. If God command it, who can raiſe trom the dead, this can be no Murder : For he can neither prevent or recover. Promiſes ſhould not fail, though 7/.:ac was ſacrificed ; for God would raiſe them up and ac- compliſh them. As to Arguments from natural Affection ; ſhall a Child be dearer to me than a God, who quickens me. and can raiſe
hs Www.
him trom the Dead ? Since God can do this, what Difticy'ties can he |
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'S IN 4147, FY not oyercome?henceis this Principle fo often revea'ed and repeated * be a fure Prop to a Chriſtian's kaith throughout the Goſpci, + Generation was a kind of ReturreGtion trom the Dead, and fv. Reſtitution to Abraham ;, for in Abraham s account he was Boad 1-, Hand being lifted up to kill him, when the Angel ſtops the Exe, .- on, Gen. 22. 11,12. From the Altar he carricth him back as a 7... pity and Reward of the Vidory of his Faith, in fuch a manner, 2+ Frag riſen from the Dead, and an eminent Signal of his Vidory over = Temptation , Abraham had a Figure of the Reſurrection in j;;- Son , and an Earneſt ot a far more glorious Relurrettion Chriſt.
20 By c faith Iſaac bleſſed Jacob and Eſiu concery. ing things to Come.
c Tizac 1s the next Example inſtanced in of the ſame Djivire #11 deſcribed, vere 1, only here exerciſed on the ſpecial Revelatin of (; & ; kim concerning his Seed, By this Faith he did not only wifh and Pra; Bleffings, but prophetically applied them to his two Sons, to *.;.}; and Jjrae! his Seed, the Covenant-Bletſings ; and to Fiz and tt: Edmites his Seed, the Temporary Bleſſings God deſigned thei, ©. 27. 27, 39. Both theſe, were things to come, and to be cominyn; cated to their Seeds hundreds of years after. As the thinss tr
concerned ach, to come, which were not ſeen, but h« ped ror from Gud's Revelation of them, were Plenty, Dominion over 5re. thren, BletTings above the Poiver of a Curtc, even the tpirituz] 2ng covenanted ones of Abraham and Tiauc with him, Gen. 25, 22, 25, The things to come concerning F/au and his Sced, were only cart! temporal Bleffings, eſcape out of Servitude in time, common £-04 tings at the higheſt, Gen. 27. 39, 49. By Faith Tac torcfhy, 4 theſe tuture Events, toretold them, and fapplied their fever! Porri. ons to them from the Mouth of God, and they were to a tittle 4. filled, 2 S.m, 8.14. and2 Kings 8. 20. asto the Fdomites, as in the whole Old Teſtament unto 7.c5h, and to his Seed literal and tpir;- tual.
21 Þy faith d Jacob when he was a dring. blefic! both of the tons of Joſeph,and ce worthipped, /ea17 upon the top ot his {taft.
d Facob did not degenerate from his Progenitors, but by the [ln excellent Faith (being Heir to the Birth-right and P!lctTing, by Goe', Appointment, and his Father's Confirmation, as Gen. 28. 1, ,...\ doth, as a Grand-father and a Prophet near expiring, weak in Body but ſtrong in Faith, b/e/$ 7oſeph, and each of his Sons, Gen. 48, 15 to 21. prefering Ephraim the younger before Manaſſeth the elder by laying his Rizht-Hand on his Head, and his Left on the others, and ſo adopts them to be his Children, gives them the Bleifing of t! « Covenant, as to their Perſons, and the Inheritance of twg Tribcs 4- mongſt his Sons, as belonging to Fo/eph, as his Birth-right; Gen. 4,
to 27. Theſe by Faith he forctold, and applyed particularly ty