Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A53304
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The father of the faithfull tempted as was more concisely shewed August 31, 1674, at a solemne funeral in the church at Wotton under Edge in the countie of Gloucester / by Giles Oldisworth ...
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Oldisworth, Giles, 1619-1678.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing O251; ESTC R15932
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41,531
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84
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temptations or other lay upon the Patriareh to with-hold 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 heeles of truth it selfe Among the Jewes noted Rabbies have upon this stage introduced the tempter Satan and Him too in a visible shape among us Christians this one Historie hath tasked if not over-tasked the elegant quills the curious fancies the working imaginations yea and the profoundest Judgments too not only of humane writers but even of professed Divines Among the inspired pen-men of sacred Witt 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 Fathers 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 asterismes 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 turn'd 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 bowells 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. joyned In the Duty from v. 2 unto v. 11 performed In such points as v. 1. sharpned 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 Qu After what things 1. Answ After he was aged almost an hundred and thirty yeares Alas he hath more need to keep his bed then c to rise before the day dawn His shriveled Limbs require succour rest and retirednesse rather then terrour toyle and travaile 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 Armie of aliens had preserved Lot and blessed Isaac He was rich in cattle and in men And what sweetned his wealth he abounded in honour for he was and was esteemed a Prince a mighty Prince and that which sweetned both was he enjoyed both his wealth and his honour in quietnesse and in assurance The Philistines in whose borders he now quartered had sought and ratified a confederacie 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 publick 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 passe sodainly as a whirle wind it came to passe that a after these things God did tempt God did trie 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 childlesse Neither was it O that Ismael might live before thee God had said Sarah shall beare a Son A Son she bare him at the set time of which God had spoken A Son she bare unto him in his old Age God had said Thou shalt call his name Isaac Out of dutie rather out of pure joy Isaac he is called that God may delight to blesse the babe the babe is upon the eight day circumcised The childe groweth the childe is weaned Abraham maketh a feast a great feast By the care of his Mother by the wisdome of his Father yea by authoritie had from God himselfe 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 hous-hold 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 twentie five yeeres had the life of this Patriarch bin bound up in the life of this lad And it came to passe after these things What Answ Abraham rueth 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 entred into a covenant into a familiaritie into a friendship with this Father of the Faithfull 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 likenesse of men made himselfe no stranger washed his feete rested in the cool of the arbour eat well and drank well Abraham was the onely 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 hide the thing which he was there doing And after these things for a gracious Lord and Master to trie conclusions upon his poor Servant this is harsh Love unfaind filial feare and cordiall friendship would be not tried but trusted Peter will be greived if Jesus shall a third time aske Lovest thou me To question the obedience of this Patriarch is not to trie 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 shew it self in
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 thorough 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 bin dissimulation hypocrisie or what not By the ashes of his Isaac his late Devotions will seeme pale-faced they will appeare like so much singularitie humour or affectation Yea the puritie 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 onely true God but as certain arguments of this Patriarch his ostentation and madnesse Woe will it be with the Hous-hold of faith when the life of this parent and the Death of this Child shall be taken up for a scoffe a taunt for a reproach and by-word for a ridicule and a proverb amongst all the insulting adversaries of Godlinesse 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 Dignitie and Esteem in the fate of his Son to let his own Name perish with his childes Life by this one stroke to make himselfe 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 scandall 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 triall unspoken of the which in humane probabilitie will bring upon the Father of the Faithfull a greater temptation unto disobedience then this and some former circumstances could doe were all of them blended together into one complicated evil The remaining triall is this The obloquies of them who will revile Him and his religion will fall not so maliciously upon Himselfe 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 commandement 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 deepe 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 readie The alter 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 selfe placed over the altar upon the Wood At the Fathers feete and in the Fathers bosome the fire kindleth His Arm is stretched forth and in his hand the Knife but the suspence 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 Citie or dwelling place to abide in He who would be ever separated from all his Kins-folke 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 handfull of people there be a new-found God a God unknown unto the most prosperous Kingdomes 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 childe 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 with-holding his Jehovah from the contempt of blasphemers If unto the self-denials on which of necessity he was to force His whole man we annexe 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 bin had neither God tempted Abraham nor Abraham obeyed his God for hereby an Entrance was afterwards ministred 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 then folk would never have offered up their Sons and their Daughters in Sacrifice Or suppose they would not c. O man who art thou that disputest against God Seeing as the Extent of Gods Commandements 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 mans 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 bin His Counseller 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