the Martyr shewed them, they could find no precedent for such an attachment in the calling and conduct of their father Abraham; that even the consummation of the promise to his posterity, so far as it related to this present world, did never signify a state of possession and enjoyment, but only an opportunity of serving God with freedom and security, in a land remote from their enemies and oppressors; that after all the excellent things spoken of Canaan, it was but a strange land to the heirs of Abraham's faith. What Egypt was with respect to Canaan, a land of servitude and exile, such was Canaan itself compared with the heavenly country they had in view.

X. In the intermediate ages, the patriarchal example was adopted by the Rechabites*, a family in Israel, which distinguished itself by a conformity to the life of Abraham. To the circumstances of dwelling in tents, and having neither vineyards, fields, nor possessions of any kind, they added a religious abstinence from wine; aspiring to the holiness of the Nazarites, and to that purity which afterwards appeared in the abstracted character of John the Baptist. To those who have renounced this world, nothing remains but the world to come: whence it may be inferred that they who were so like to the holy Patriarch in their practice, and had this example to direct them, could not be unlike him in their principle: but from this principle the modern Jews had departed so far, that they had even lost the sight of it.

XI. In the succeeding intercourse of God with Abraham, the same method is still observed, of proving his fidelity by some experiment upon his Faith,

Jerem. xxxv. 6, 7.

Therefore the promise of Isaac's birth was deferred, till the prediction should have nothing to support it, but the power and veracity of God. A Son might have been granted at the natural time of life, and have answered all the purposes of the promise: but a child from a man as good as dead, and from a woman who had always been barren, and was now ninety years of age, would better answer the purpose of God with respect to Abraham himself. This is the word of promise, saith the Apostle, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son*: at a time, when the blessing could not be expected in the common course of nature; and when that wisdom, which partaketh more of earth than of heaven, would have rejected the expectation of it as groundless and irrational, But Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. What though a child from such parents was like life from death? as a lily or rose springing out of frost and snow? It was therefore both a proper and a probable gift from that God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were†.

XII. The first object of our enquiry, was the design with which God commanded Abraham to offer up his Son and this, I think, may now be inferred from what we have already seen: for all the other trials of the Patriarch were but preparatory to this. The design which was there begun, is here brought to its crisis and completion. On this occasion only, God is said to have tempted him, that is, to have tried and proved him to the uttermost: because this occasion differs from the other, as the fire of the Refiner differs from the Touchstone: and unless the

Rom. ix. 9.

See Rom. iv. 17, &c.

metal is first made to discover its royal nature by some slighter experiments, no good can be expected from casting it into the furnace.

XIII. The matter of this Temptation divides itself into two parts: 1. The act of offering Isaac; and, 2. The loss of the promises, which seemed to be the necessary consequence. In the act itself there was a concurrence of every circumstance that could add to the weight of it. For in the first place, the birth of Isaac at a season so unexpected would engage the affection as much as it exercised the. faith of his pa rents. I speak not of that partiality which is natural in parents towards the children of their later years; because that consideration was superseded by another of much higher importance: for Isaac was more properly a child of grace than of nature; to whom those words of Eve might well be applied-I have gotten a man from the Lord.

1

But he was likewise an only son-take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Abraham had no other to be the companion of his age. We see Jacob afterwards in the deepest affliction with the apprehension of losing Benjamin, though he had many other sons. When his brethren required him to go with them to Egypt, My son, said he, shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Every tender reader, especially if he is a parent, suffers with Jacob, and feels the weight of his fears and sorrows. What searchings of heart then must Abraham have experienced, when this act of obedience was first proposed to him! Natural affection, where an only child is the object of it, is a principle which sometimes operates so powerfully as to get the better of every

other: and that it operated in Abraham as in other men, is clear enough from the words of the scripture -take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. He was probably grown up to that state, when a son is not only an amusement to a father, but a comfort and support, a friend and companion. Some of the Jewish Doctors suppose him to have been at this time thirteen years of age; but Josephus*, perhaps with better authority, five and twenty. Such a son, arrived at years of discretion, must have endeared himself by many acts of duty and affection. His submission on this occasion, and the piety of his riper years, give us reason enough to conclude, that his life had been a course of unreserved obedience. This is the son which Abraham was called upon to resign: and how? not in the common way of nature, but by a violent death, as the Lamb is carried to the slaughter: and, lest any circumstance of sorrow should be wanting, the Father himself was the priest appointed to offer this victim. For three days, that is, during his journey to the place appointed, his mind was agitated with the force of the divine precept on one side, and natural affection on the other. The temptation seems to have been purposely protracted by the length of the way, and the ascent of an high mountain, that there might be space enough for faith and affection, the fear of God and the love of the world, the expectation of things future, and the desire of things present; for all the passions of grace and nature to exert their utmost efforts.

XIV. If it should here be asked, how we can re

Joseph. Lib. II. c. xxii. It is no objection to this that Isaac is called a lad; for Ishmael is so called at sixteen years or upwards, and Benjamin after he was married. Compare Gen. xliv. 30, and xlvi. 21.

concile this command with the nature of God? I must confess I know not, unless we take the nature of man also into the question. Ey the act of man's disobedience, the whole world fell into a state of forfeiture; or, as the Apostle hath expressed it, death passed upon all: and though the goodness of God, having provided a ransom, did on that consideration release the world from the extreme effects of his justice; yet an acknowledgment of this universal condemnation was required from the time that sacrifices were instituted. The law of Moses was declaratory of a right which had subsisted from the beginning, when Abel brought off the firstlings of his flock*. For the first born of men, a pecuniary redemption of five shekels was accepted: the first born of clean beasts were to be offered by fire, and their blood sprinkled upon the altar: the first born of the unclean were to be redeemed by a price, as being unfit for consecration. The first born of Egypt were taken in kind; their redemption being precluded by their unbelief.

Therefore if every first born was the Lord's by right, Isaac was so: and if a commutation was an indulgence, the rigour of the law might be observed without any breach of Justice; especially by Him, who, for the salvation of the world, permitted this institution to take place against his beloved and only begotten Son; who having superseded the oblation of the first born of beasts, and offered a price more valuable than Silver and Gold, to redeem the first-born of men, is himself become the first-born of every creature: he hath redeemed all, and taken the place of all, by a substitution of himself. This is what occurs, when we consider the nature of God, and the

Gen. iv. 4

VOL. II.