their hearts wils consciences to the Will and Pleasure of Jehovah the mighty God the great Creatour the high Possessour and glorious Commander both of Heaven and Earth Secondly His Prudence he laide no unnecessary burthen upon them his Commands were not a Cabala of his owne Invention God did first catechise Abraham and then Abraham was the Doctor of his family and catechised his houshold there is no doubt but he did advise his houshold in Prudentials but he did command them in Points of Faith and Worship to walke in the way of Jehovah It is the most imprudent thing in the world not to distinguish betweene Prudentials and Articles of Religion Articles of Faith Thirdly His Love to the pretious soules of his children servants slaves O happy thrice happy slaves who by the Care and Instruction of a godly Master were brought home to God and made the free-men of the great Jehovah Fourthly His Diligence It was no easie matter to instruct children and bond-slaves with line upon line and precept upon precept Fifthly His Faithfulnesse For all his Commands were Regular Abraham kept close to the rule and therefore neither sonne nor servant could pretend Liberty of Conscience to depart from that Rule which Jehovah who gives Lawes to the Conscience had commanded them to set up for a Rule in their very Conscience No man can grant a licence or give liberty to depart from the Rule for that were to grant an Irregular Liberty an Vnconscionable Liberty Liberty is a Priviledge Irregularity a Sin and no man hath a Priveledge to sinne Observe the Command in the text it is To keepe the way of Jehovah to dâ—e Justice and Judgement It is the Scripture phrase to expresse Religion under the Notion of a way to teach men to make a constant progresse in Religion By way is meant the way of Faith Worship and Obedience Acts 18. 25 26. Luke 1. 6. Nay the way of inward worship as well as the parts of outward worship Deut. 10. 12. Enoch and Noah walked with God Gen. 5. 22. 24. Gen. 6. 9. It is not meant of obedience onely but of Faith I must not be a Selfe-mover I must not be my owne Rule my owne way or my owne righteousnesse Christ is Jehovah my way and as I have received Christ so I must walke in him and by the grace of Christ I must walke in those good workes which God hath prepared that I might walke in not in the way of the old world the way of Cain the way of Balam any wicked way Divers learned men conceive that Abraham did catechise his houshold in these weighty points Concerning God Creation Providence Concerning the innocency and happinesse of man in his first estate Concerning the Fall Sinne and misery of man Our losse and corruption by the Fall Our danger if we continue in that corrupt estate I change the persons that I may speake to you and my selfe Others there are that adde many more necessary points concerning the Law of nature the Immortality of the soule but the Mortality of the body the Day of Judgement Eternall life and Eternall death And O that we would consider that our soules must certainely have an everlalasting Being either in glory or in torments That we may in this our day consider those things which belong to our everlasting Peace least hereafter they be hid from our eyes But it is out of question that Abraham did communicate many other pretious and saving truths to his beloved family Concerning the rich mercy and free grace of God Concerning salvation by faith in the promised seede Concerning Prayer Vowes Sacrifices the Covenant of Grace and Circumcision the Seale of the Covenant Moreover the Commands of Abraham were not onely Regular but Practicall Commands he did not onely command them to know the way of Jehovah but to walke in it nor were they onely to talke of Judgement and Justice but to dâ—e it Judgement and Justice are here taken in a strict and practicall notion the 22. Chapter of Jeremiah from the thirteenth to the twentieth verse is an excellent Comment upon my text Jehoiakim the sonne of Josiah and King of Judah was buried with the buriall of an Asse because he did not learne of his Father to doe Judgement and Justice ver. 15. and to judge the cause of the poore and needy ver. 16. If the greatest of men remaine unjust they will have no blessing upon them all their life no honour at their death I shall not so much as examine whether those precepts which some say were delivered to the sonnes of Noah were not onely pressed upon Abrahams family but upon all those that were thought worthy of humane society by this little that hath beene saide it is cleare and evident that Abraham did not goe about to set up himselfe but to set up God in his family by a kinde of Theocracy the best of Goverments But the Jesuites tell us that Abraham had no written Catechisme to communicate to his Posterity and therefore they conceive that they may vent their unwritten lyes upon the Credit of some doating Pope Our answer is briefe The Scriptures have beene necessary * ever since it pleased God to expresse his minde in writing and will be so even to the end of the world We must not expect such unwritten Revelations as were vouchsafed to Abraham because the whole Counsell of God his Royall Will and Pleasure doe now stand upon record as his perfect Law full Testimony Compleate and Supreme Testament nothing is to be added to it or taken from it To say the Scriptures are not perfect is not to dispute but blaspheme and if the Scriptures were not perfect it is for certaine that they could never be perfected by humane traditions which are so full of imperfection A Synod is a solemne Ordinance of Jesus Christ and I looke upon that Counsell Acts 15. not onely as a Precedent but as a Warrant for the Examination of matters of Fact as well as Doctrines of Faith And such a determination of both as doth not onely direct but oblige severall Congregations to doe their duty by vertue of that Ministeriall Authority which is stamped upon such a Synod or Counsell by an Ordinance of Jesus Christ And yet unlesse it were in that Counsell Acts 15. the Church did for about three hundred yeares together convince and condemne Heretiques by scripture before any generall Councels were gathered or the Popes throne erected I have beene at paines to remove a great deale of rubbish that lay in my way but now I shall beginne to build 1. Governours of families are Gods Deputies they must command for God and give an account to him all the power that any man can challenge in his family as an Husband Father Master is a subordinate and limited power not an Independent or Absolute power for we must testifie our dependance upon God and
love and free grace by a Covenant of grace sealed with the Bloud of Jesus Christ Guilt cannot looke on Majesty and Majesty is most terrible in an Enemy and a Judge but when Christ enterposes God is a reconciled God and tender Father in Jesus Christ In Christ Gods nature is lovely to us and our persons lovely to God God doth beseech you and Christ intreates you to be reconciled God shewes mercy to them that deserve no mercy There is an Heart-breaking and yet an Encouraging Secret a Gospell Secret these Secrets are usually the first ground of faith and hope Now faith and hope doe kindle in us a love to God and love doth most sweetely breake the heart and humble the soule My froward soule is now willing to abase it selfe before so good a God a God so willing to shew mercy to such a wretch as I am who deserve no mercy I see nothing in my selfe to encourage me to goe to God but I see enough in my selfe to drive me to him and I see enough in God for to encourage me to runne unto him I see mercy enough in God merit enough in Christ holinesse enough in the Spirit of holinesse to perswade me to runne to God for grace as well as mercy for faith and repentance as well as any other graces for pardon of sinne and power against it Come then be convinced of thine owne naughtinesse in spirituall respects humbly and yet chearefully cast thy selfe upon Gods free grace for pardon depend upon Christs obedience alone for righteousnesse upon his holy Spirit the Comforter for holinesse and comfort and say as Bradford did I am Hell but God is Heaven I am sinne but Christ is righteousnesse Blesse God for providing thee a Surety a Saviour who is able to pay all thy debts and to supply all thy wants I hope by this time thou art encouraged to trust Christ stedfastly and love him heartily and if thou findest thy heart overcome by the love of God in Christ then thou mayest goe to Christ not out of pure neede but pure love and Christ will give thee such liberall entertainement and hearty welcome that thou wilt prize and love Christ for himselfe and for his holinesse and all his excellencies as well as benefits and the more thou dost prize him the faster will thy devoute soule by a lively faith cleave unto him and the more thou dost cleave to him by faith the faster wilt thou adhere to him by love and the more thou dost love Christ the more wilt thou hate sin abhorre thy self for â—inne and deny thy selfe for Christ And the more thou art convinced of thy sinfulnesse and abased for thy sinne the more wilt thou prize Christ and love him and runne to him for grace and mercy and draw new vertue and fresh supplies from him that thou mayest every way expresse thy love unto him And beleeve it there will be no love lost between thee and Christ thou shalt be delighted with his presence satisfied with his love and acquainted with those other Secrets which God imparts to men after they are made Saints and freinds Not onely the wisedome of God hid in a Mystery of faith and godlinesse but the deepe things of God the Secrets of the Spirit of Adoption those Love-Secrets which Christ imparts to us when he comes in to suppe with us even Miracles of love and Treasures of glory And when Christ doth thus feast you with his love you will theâ— demonstrate your Spouse-like love to Jesus Christ you will be able to say that you love Christ for 〈…〉 for what you have from him or by him but you 〈…〉 in your love to him though you lose all you have for him When God doth bestow these loveâ—tokens and impart these Love-Secrets to his elect by a Spirit of Revelation Regeneration Adoption and hath taugh◠〈…〉 to know him love him and crie Abba Father to him the◠〈◊〉 ownes them for his sonnes and daughters and saith of them as he 〈◊〉 here of Abraham I know them I love them approve them because I chose them from all eternity Ob. But you will say the Secret imparted to Abraham seemes to be a Secular-Secret rather then a Religious-Secret Sol. I answer this Secret was imparted at least in Ordine ad Spiritualia for religious purposes and there are many edifying Secrets contained in it Abraham was not to repeate it as a story but as a Sermon to his Posterity that they might behold the Majesty of Jehovah in this great example of Divine vengeance and be perswaded to walke in the way of Jehovah as it is in my text This Secret was communicated before hand that the burning of Sodom might not be imputed to chance fortune or a violent tempest raised by the common course of nature but to the immediate hand of God That the sin-revenging Justice of God might be magnified and Posterity deterred from the sinnes of Sodom Pride fulnesse of bread abundance of Idlenesse unnaturall lust and base fornication Ezek. 16. 49. 2 Pet. 2. 6. Secondly This Secret was imparted to Abraham by way of Prolepsis for the preventing of an Objection which might have staggered his faith for God had given that Land to Abraham Lot had made choise of Sodom and Abrahams Portion bordered upon Lots and therefore Abraham would have beene exceedingly staggered at the Overthrow of Sodom if God had not acquainted him with this Secret before hand And therefore I have so freely discoursed of Encouraging Secrets that I might remove those blocks at which our faith is most apt to stumble Thirdly By the imparting of this Secret Lots policy is confuted and Abrahams selfe-denying faith commended Lot chooses the richer soyle but the fouler seate because of worldly accommodations but on a sudden the wickednesse of the place calls for a devouring fire which licks up all the wealth and buries all the glory of Sodom in dust andashes this Secret is not secular which takes off the heart from all secular accommodations and teaches men to choose their seate or dwelling not for secular advantages but for Spirituall Accommodations Fourthly It was requisite to shew you when a man is in an approved condition and how a man may be brought to lay hold upon the Covenant because when God speaking of Abraham saith I know him the meaning is I approve him as a man in Covenant with me he is a sincere upright man and will be true to me in the most declining times God takes notice of his Saints and Servants with a Knowledge of Approbation a sweete loving knowledge which implyes a deare and tender respect but God takes notice of every particular person with a Knowledge of Observation for God observes all our dispositions habits and inclinations all our thoughts plots designes all our desires intentions resolutions words and actions and will call us to an account for all in the presence of Saints and Angels before the Tribunall of Christ when Hypocrites and
Apostates scandalous and impenitent persons who lived and died in sinne appeare at that terrible day of accounts Christ will protest unto them that he never knew them that is He never approved them Math. 7. 23. Nay for the present Christ doth usually set a brand upon all false-hearted men though they are highly conceited of themselves and cried up by others for prudence and piety yet Christ saith I know such and such but I will never trust them because I know them and I will lay them open to my people that they may know them for they will deceive all that trust them Some mens sinnes goe afore to judgement and some mens follow after for they that are otherwise cannot be hid 1 Tim. 5. 24 25. When Christ wrought miracles many beleeved in his name but Christ did not trust them for he knew what was in man in every man for he knew all men John 2. 23 24 25. Christ workes miracles in our dayes and there are many that seeme to beleeve in his name but if they be not sincere Christ will lay them open for it is impossible to deceive the Searcher of hearts and Judge of Secrets our Omniscient and Impartiall God Lastly We may learne from hence That what ever God doth approve in man hee doth worke in man for this knowledge is not a Notionall but a Practicall effectuall knowledge * whatsoever God knowes to be future he doth will if it be evill he doth willingly permitte it or else he would certainely hinder it For even sinne which is against his will cannot come to passe without his will but if that which is to come to passe be good then God doth not onely know or permit it but worke it also for God is the Author of every thing that is good and therefore God foresees no good in the best of men but such as he from all eternity decrees and in time doth according to his decree worke in them Socinus makes quick worke in this point for rather then he will deny the liberty of mans will he like an Atheist denyes the foreknowledge of God I shall not here launch into the deepe and discourse of Scientia simplicis intelligentiae scientia visionis nor trouble you with the confutation of that Jesuiticall nay Arian Semipelagian invention of Scientia Media nor will I wrangle with Pererius about Abrahams foreseene merits which in his conceite moved God to make nay to decree to make Abraham so great and glorious I can with one light touch crush these Apples of Sodom and make them vanish into smoake or fall into ashes * God knowes all things that are possible because he knowes his owne Power God knowes all things future because he knowes his owne Will for nothing can passe out of the ranke of things meerely possible into the ranke and order of things Future before some Act or Decree of Gods Will hath passed for its Futurition A thing must be Future before God can know it to be future and therefore the futurition of a thing is not knowable no not in Signo Rationis before God hath passed a decree for its futurition If God should foresee any good habit or action proceeding from mans will before he hath decreed to worke both in man and for him Mans will would be the first and Independent cause of something which is good We must speake Scripture reason God sets his love upon us because he loves us Deut. 7. 7 8. And out of free grace and undeserved love decrees to make us holy and so foresees and approves our holinesse The Knowledge then in the text being a Knowledge of Approbation supposes the free grace undeserved love Immutable and Effectuall Decree of God which is the fountaine of grace and glory In bad actions we can hardly take enough to our selves for the divell cannot make me sinne unlesse he aske me leave and gaine my consent but in good actions I can never ascribe too much to God who saves me out of free grace without any contributions of helpe or attributions of worth seene or foreseene in my fraile and sinfull selfe True it is God doth bestow his saving benefits in a certaine Order so that one of his Favours doth make way for another But his second favours cannot be deserved by his first because his first favours make way for his second and both proceede from his free grace The Decree of God is a sure foundation the Fore-knowledge of God is a certaine Seale The Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seale The Lord knoweth them that are his There is the Privy-Seale the Broade-Seale is stamped upon them In the next words And let every one that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Lord doth bring all that are his not onely to name the Name of Christ to professe his Name call upon his Name and beleeve in his Name but to depart from iniquity live holily and persevere in faith and holinesse Faith by fetching strength from Christ doth strengthen all patience beares all love sweetens all and perseverance crownes all thus then in a word I know him saith God that is I love him and cannot but approve him because I have chosen him for mine owne and am resolved to stand to my choise I have bestowed effectuall grace upon him which hath moved him to choose me for his God as I have chosen him for my friend and my grace shall be further effectuall to make him stand to his choise and therefore I know both what he is and what he will be he is right for the present and I know he will be upright for the future because I know him thence it will come to passe that hee will command his children faith an acute and learned Expositour upon the place Doct. It is our duty to endeavour to bring all that are under our command to be at Gods Command Abraham did not leave his children and servants to their owne Genius their owne counsels their owne lusts though it is certaine that divers of them would have thanked him for such a liberty for they had beene nursed up in superstition and Idolatry as Abraham was and might have pretended that they were not satisfied in point of conscience but Abraham knew how to distinguish betweene Phantasy and Conscience betweene Liberty of Conscience and Liberty of Lust and therefore would not allow them such a Liberty as would have enticed them into the worst kinde of Bondage Abraham did command I know saith God that he will command he will make his children know that he is their Father and his servants know that he is their Master Abraham shewed his Authority Prudence Love Diligence and Faithfulnesse by laying a strict and speciall Command upon his Houshold for the eternall welfare of their pretious soules First His Authority he was a King a Priest a Prophet in his owne Family and therefore did command them to subject
and governe our families untill we have learned how to rule our selves we are not fit to command till we have put our spirits under an higher and better spirit then our owne He that rules his owne spirit is a better man then he that takes or rules a City Prov. 16. 32. If I my selfe doe not walke in the way of Jehovah I shall never get my family into it or keepe them in it Personall holinesse doth fit us for Houshold godlinesse Zacheus did not endeavour to bring his family into the way of faithfull Abraham till he himselfe became a Sonne of Abraham Luke 19. 9. Salvation comes to our hearts before we are seriously Instrumentall to bring it into our houses Christ said to Zacheus upon the day of his conversion This day is salvation come to this house for so much as he also is the Sonne of Abraham if you will be members of Christ you must be sonnes of Abraham Doe not say that I perswade you to be men of an Old Testament spirit sure the Old Testament and the New were written by the selfe same spirit and the selfe same Covenant of grace is propounded in both though under very different administrations Abraham was a man of an Evangelicall Spirit under the Old Testament nothing could satisfie his raised spirit and enlarged heart but Jesus Christ God made him a gracious promise Gen. 15. 1. but Lord God saith he what wilt thou give me since I goe childlesse ver. 2. as if he had said how shall I have thee for my God and Father reward and Saviour if the promised Seed who is to breake the head of the Serpent all the power and policy of the divell doe not spring from my loynes It is cleare and evident that Abrahams heart was not set upon any common seed but that promised seed in which all the Nations of the earth were to be blâ—ssed For the Apostle shewes that the promise Gen. 13. 15. is meant of Christ To thy Seed which is Christ Gal. 3. 16. Abraham was not justified by beleeving that he should have a numerous of spring but by beleeving in Christ he saw the day of Christ by faith reioyced in hope and beleeved against hope and if we will be his sonnes the Apostle shewes what we must beleeve in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and the three last verses That by the way but if you will fully prove your selves to be sonnes of Abraham you must have the same minde and heart the same faith that Abraham had and walke in the same way and steps that Abraham did as farre as Evangelicall administrations will permit for you must observe that difference be pleased then sadly to consider these few Observations First Abraham was a man much given to Heavenly meditation a fundamentall duty of Religion which layes the ground-worke and contrives the Plat-forme of Houshold-godlinesse Abraham had his minde fixed and his heart warmed with meditation that he might be raised and enlarged for the highest strains of spirituall devotion when God gave him a promise that Sarah should have a son Abraham meditates upon the promise till his heart was even enravished with love and ioy The good man is pleased in his minde and laughes in his heart and breaketh forth into Soliloquies upon this occasion and when his heart is by these contemplations and solitary discourses put into a praying frame put into tune as it were O then he prayes Gen. 17. 17 18. Prayer is not the childe of wit and phantasie it is the rapture of an elevated spirit the heavenly dew of a broken heart I meane a spirit elevated by a spirit of faith and a heart broken with the spirit of love Would you be sons of Abraham learne this divine Logique this sacred Eloquence Let meditation fit you for Soliloquies and Soliloquies for Prayer Meditation helpes the memory purges the conscience purifies the heart reformes the life It makes all our knowledge to become practicall because it affects the heart with those truthes which we beleeve it kindles love inflames zeale and when our love burnes and our zeale flames we shall warme others by speaking from our owne hearts to the hearts of our family the convincing and quickning truth of God Secondly Abraham was an humble and mortified man When he received a gracious message from God in pretious promises he falls downe upon his face not out of a superstitious phantasie but out of a sweet selfe-abhorrency in adoration of Gods Maiesty and thankefulnesse for his mercy You may read of this Son-like reverence twice in one chapter Gen. 17. 3. 17. O let us consider Gods Maiesty and our basenesse Gods purity and our sinfulnesse Gods free-grace and our unworthynesse Gods rich bounty and our unthankfulnesse that we may learne to abase our selves and exalt our God Abraham his thoughts did assuredly dwell upon humbling and mortifying considerations he laid out his money upon a buryiâ—g place as if it had beene the most necessary purchase and when he was at prayer O saith he I am but dust and ashes Gen 18. 27. as if he had said what am I that I should approach into the presence of so great a Majesty Alas I am but dust and ashes and yet I take upon me to speake to Jehovah the God of glory Our blessed Saviour did more then once at the feast breake out into a discourse of his buriall once at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper Math. 26. 6. and another time in the city at the house of a Pharisee Luke 7. 36 37. Our deare Lord would teach us to be of such a composed spirit that the dainties of a feast or the fragrant smell of costly Oyntments may not tempt us to take off our thoughts from humbling and mortifying considerations Whilest we are feasting we may be dying Jobs children were strucke dead whilest they were feasting and drinking wine Consider it all you that sit in the Congregation of the mighty though you sit there as Gods you must dye like men Thirdly Abraham was a selfe-denying man at the Command of God he left his father forsook his country renounced his idols circumcised himselfe and his houshold though it was painefull to the flesh and seemed immodest nay ridiculous to carnall men and cost him his bloud he turned Hagar and Ismael out of doors and was ready to sacrifice his dearest Isaack though the Command seemed contrary to nature and religion to Gods promise and his owne salvation You may suppose him disputing with himselfe much after this manner What shall I sacrifice my sonne Isaack the sonne of my age and love my heart my bowels tell me that it is unnaturall what will my Sarah my servants the Heathens say who will ever live within my walls or be of my religion when I have cut the throat of my dearest sonne Lord where is my blessing where is thy promise nay where is my faith How shall the promised Seed spring from my loynes