in all our wandrings from it We shall find little reward at the Evening of Life for sitting all the day Idle in the Market-place of the World. 'T is a sad and unanswerable End of our Lives to Eat and Drink and rise up to Play. The Epilogue of that Comedy will be spoken in Hell. Idleness is but One of Hagars crimes Folly marches after and Misery brings up the Rear of both Camest thou from Abraham's Family the happiest in all the Earth and made only unfortunate by thee Canst thou forsake the Houshold of Faith and be safe Art thou Stealing away with the Fruit of thy Masters Loins to give it a Birth in Egyptian Aire and Robbing thine own Child of all the Blessings that an Heir of Abraham may hope to Inherit And whether wilt thou go to those again that sold thee out for a Slave Canst thou expect to render thy condition any where better than there from whence thou camest The stubbornness of thy Heart was the cause of the bitterness of thy Life 'T was thine own Pride that justly incensed thy Mistress Nor canst thou look down on thy swelling Womb without blushing at thine own Ingratitude Return therefore and pay her the Honour her Merits and thine own Duty requires from thee All the World will be but Bush and Brake to thee a very barren Wilderness to the Comforts of thy Masters House Hagar as once that Woman of Samaria by a discovery of her private Concerns discerning the Blessed Angel to be more than Man doth not Impiously pin her own Guilt on her Mistresses Sleeve nor dares to Impeach her in the least shew as too conscious of her own Crimes to conceal them from him that she saw very well knew them already This Modesty and the tacite Confession of her own Imprudence fits her for Mercy and sets her free from further Rebukes But this glorious Messenger had another Errand He came not from Heaven only to return her back to her Mistress however to Encourage her to it he will be so favourable to give her a Light into the dark Cells of her Womb and discover to her what lay concealed there And as Abraham had a Vision into all the Contingencies of his Family so shall his Concubine be blessed above Women in the Knowledge of the Sex Nature Condition and Fortunes of her yet unborn Child The Angel is Godfather indeed and gives him a Name A name that shall live and flourish in the Mouths and Memories of a numerous and durable Posterity whose condition and manner of Life he Prophesies shall be strange and different from all the World. A generation of Men that shall delight to Rove as a wild Ass in the Wilderness to keep a-part by themselves in the Desarts of the Earth Fierce Cruel and Warlike such are the Saracens and Arabians and such is their Quality and kind of Life to this day Hagar devoutly returns the Glory of his grace unto God who had beyond all Expectation regarded her in Affliction by so glorious a Legate The Beams of whose Majesty were so kind to her to leave her the Light of her Eyes which she admires was not lost by so dazling an Object and Baptizes the very Well with its own Water giving it an everlasting Name that still bears the Memoire of the Mercy of being Able to live after she had seen the Lord. With a glad Heart and full resolutions of better Conformity she returns back to her Lady and doultless very humbly submits her self to her Grace who receives her in obedience to the order of Heaven which seldom sends ill Members to the Church after the Convictions of Conscience upon them We are never good in our Callings till God meet and directs us Onesimus was All Hands for Philemon when God had changed his Heart Grace qualifieth us for universal service to God and Men. Abraham to whom doubless the transaction with the Angel in the Wilderness was very accurately repeated by Hagar provides like himself for the Birth of his Child and hath great hopes of the Son that an Angel had already given Name to Who when he came into the World finds a Father that had already passed Eighty Six years on the Earth CHAP. VII The Covenant of Grace renewed and confirmed to Abraham and the Spiritual Heirs of his Faith for an Everlasting Testament that neither Sin nor Death shall ever be able to dissolve â—TWas in that Chilly and Withered Age when now Time had snowed upon him and he was ready to stumble upon the dark Mountains and the Grave waited for him and his Hopes of Sarah's Body were as desperate and cold as his own Blood and Spirits that the Lord made his Fifth Visit and Appearance to his beloved Abraham He is so far from casting him off in his Old Age or for saking him when his strength faileth that behold he cometh with such Cordials in his Hand as shall brisk up and invigorate his fainty Soul and renew his strength as an Eagle He shall have new Eyes that shall pierce deeper into the Mystery of the Godhead and enable him to see more clearly He shall have new Feet to Walk on before his God more firmly one would have thought he had come already at this Age to the end of his Course but now he must walk on still He shall have new Ears to hear Himself and his Lady called by other Names He shall have new and better Promises for his Faith and Hopes to build on more strongly A new Sacrament to establish and confirm those hopes more Infallibly A Wife who shall no more be called Barren A new Heir that shall make him the Father of Kings A Family that shall bare a new Mark and Impress And all these in the very despair and evening of his Days to let all the World see the Almighty Power of Him who from the beginning hath wrought all things out of Nothing and can make things to start up and be which do not yet Appear to give Life to our Hopes and Souls God thinks it but a small thing that he had already confirmed to Abraham and his Children all the Kingdoms of Canaan for a Possession by his Oath And tho' he foresaw well enough that there would be but too many of them whose Affections would be incorporate into those fruitful Fields and Pastors and all their utmost desires centred in the exuberant Productions of them yet had he given ample Testimony of his kindness to Abraham in making so rich and noble Provision for the worst of his Family whose Ingratitude to himself and Apostacy from their Great Fathers Faith and Principles might perhaps in time raise the Stomack of that very Land against them which had gotten a custom of Vomiting out her Inhabitants Those whom she saw making so ill use of her Bounty as so surfeit on her Dainties and abuse them to the dishonour of her great Lord for whom therefore having made Portions so perfectly connatural to themselves
Peace and Joy While holy Paul triumphed in the Testimony of his Conscience that gave him the Assurance of his Truth and Sincerity how little did he value the censure of those that impudently branded him for a Reprobate 2 Cor. ult Let God himself draw up the Certificate of Jobs Integrity That there was none like him in all the Earth Yet will the very Devil undertake to disprove him in it and his Three Friends are all drawn in to close with him and by many Arguments labour to asperse him with the foul Imputation of Hypocrisie till that mistaken Counterfeit is accepted only to pray away the guilt of that Ignorance and then they look on him with the Eyes of God. 'T is no matter how thick these stones of Persecution â—lie upon us while with the Protomartyr the Heavens open to us and our Eyes are blessed with the glory of Jesus How little would Abraham have felt the smart of Reproaches from scandalous Mouths whose Ears had heard that blessed Encomium from God himself Now I know that thou fearest me Not but that God knew it before but Abraham must know it too that he might rejoycingly walk in the pleasant light of Gods Love and his own Integrity together He that hath not passed Abraham's tryal and given the same proof of Fidelity cannot reasonably expect to feel the same reward of Joy. Let no Man think himself free from a Temptation of the same Magnitude since under the Gospel not Isaac thy Son but thou thy Self art called on to be Sacrificed on the same Mount And he is accounted unworthy to be a Disciple that hates not his Own Life for the sake of his Master The great Saviour hath abounded in Votaries proud of the Honour of writing their Love in the Blood of their Hearts and have been reduced into Ashes with as burning Affections to his Glory and hath every where Those that hold their All at the only pleasure of his Will and who can at all times pass not only into Poverty and loss of Estate but also of Life for his Truth They loved not their lives to the Death and should they never be called to climbe the Mount and suffer the fatal stroke yet since the Sacrifice is ready and the Hand list up God doth accept the ready mind and Isaac is Sacrific'd tho' yet alive He is dead for Christ on God's account who is willing to die 't is the Heart and not the Blood that he requires If Isaac the Fruit of the Body be refused shall the Ram in the Thicket be taken Will the Lord be pleased with Rams with thousands of them Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings thou wouldest not but God himself will provide the Sacrifice and prepare the Body of another Son of Abraham yet behind he is the only Lamb of God that must take away the sins of the World him will God accept tho' Isaac be not taken In the despair of Abrahams Age must Isaac be called into Life in the despair of his Hopes must he be saved from Death When the Knife is at the throat of the whole Church and Posts are every where flying with orders to give the Blow then shall Salvation break out God is seen in the Mount still When all means of deliverance fail below and his people brought into the extreamest streights then doth enlargement come from himself that all the World may know that He is God alone and besides him there is no Saviour CHAP. XI Sarah's Death Abraham's Purchase of a Grave for Her. ABraham's Affections were not so strongly rooted as the Trees of his pleasant Grove into the Soil of Gerar but he can easily pluck them up to be transplanted from Beersheba into his Canaan again The Heart that is fixed unto God doth ever hang loose from the Earth It is he that makes all places a-like delightful to us by the Gracious Shine of his Presence Fear not Jacob to go down into Egypt for I will go with thee Abraham who not long since enjoyed God in the Mount and had the Life of a Son given him must now as contentedly pass down into the Valley of Tears and suffer the Death of a Wife Six and thirty years enjoyment had God given her of the delight of her Heart she that so long had patiently waited for him should not too hastily be hurried from him but now must she pass from her Abraham and Isaac together to the God of both The great Sarah dies Twice already had she been sent for and taken from her Husband by Kings but now never to return more she is once for all sent for to the King of Heaven who provides her a place in his Own till Abraham comes to lay her again in his Bosome The Angels she had entertained in her Tent give her welcome into Glory and furnish her Lodgings suitable to the Quality of the Great Mother of all the Faithful and Wife to the Friend of God. That all Generations may know what respect God himself bore unto Sarah she alone of all her Sex hath the peculiar Honour to have her Age registred in the Rolls of Heaven who notwithstanding all her Labour and Travel ever moving from one Nation to another from one Kingdom to another People kept up an unwearied Courage and Faith till God in Pity put an end to all her Toils and sent her a Writ of Ease in the Hundred twenty and Seventh year of her Life Holy David hath well observed that our whole Life is but as a Tale that is told and God knows the Lives of too many make up a very Inconsiderable and sad one This great Lady the very Mirrour of Women and Wives for her incomparable Piety unspotted Purity unparallel'd Patience exemplary Subjection and incessant Persâ—verance in all makes up an History and when all the Memories of the great Princesses of the World are devoured by Time and buried in Oblivion the smallest Circumstances of Her Life must survive them all and Her story exactly Chroniâ—led in the everlasting Volums Sarah may not laugh but all the World must know it she may not pay her dutiful Respect to her Husband by giving him his Title of Lord but that Obedience must be recommended to the imitation of all her Daughters above Two thousand years after with a gracious design to keep up her Honour and Memory for ever Abráham receives the tydings of her Death with lamentable Resentment and passes in a grave and solemn Procession into her Tent as the House of Mourning to pay her the just Tribute due to the merits of so incomparable a Consort There instead of a Wife he finds a Corps whose cold Cheâ—ks and wan Lips he bedews with his warmer Tears which yet give some little ease to his heavy Heart from the oppression of that Grief that is ready to break it Here the remembrance of all her Goodness and Vertues crowd in upon his Mind and Memory which while he reflects on together with his own loss of them
at his Feet His Humility hath gotten him this Honour Jeconâ—ah's Wickedness shav'd him into the despicable Cut of plain Coniah as one unworthy to fill up the Leaves of the Sacred Records with the full Syllables of his Name But Abraham's Devotion must swell the Volume and all Lips shall be Taxt to pay a greater Tribute of Breath to his Title 'T is Critically observed that the Hebrew Letter He that God interposed within Abraham's Name is the Principal of those Holy Letters which make up the Tetragrammaton and is twice made use of in the Ineffable Name of God which was to mind him that in this Covenant he did not as formerly convey away his Blessings only but now should his Abraham communicate of his very Divinity Startle not Reader 't is no more than what St. Peter investeth the whole Posterity and Church with who are Partakers of the Divine Nature of God. Now because the best Women are a little Ambitious and God knew how ill Sarah would take it should she not Participate in the same Dignity with her Lord Abraham with his own Hand shall deliver the Patent for a Ladiship that from the little Verge of her own Court shall extend it self and Invest Her with a Right of Precedency above all the Ladies of the World. As the Great Grandmother of a Double Race of Kings whose Sacred Diadems shall out-glitter all the Crowns upon Earth Let those of her Order remember that Sarah was a LADY of Gods Immediate Creation who though She be now Advanced to far greater Glory than that yet may they not forget the First of their Order and ever think it their Duty to give her Place in their Hearts To no more purpose do we bear the Sacred Name of God our Saviour upon us if the Holy Nature of Jesus be not found within us then did the Jews the Carnal Seed of the Spiritual Abraham who by vertue of the Covenant were named the People of God and called by his Name by whose dishonourable Actions that Holy Name of God was Blasphemed by the very Gentiles and for which cause they that bore his Name now bear his Wrath and are cut off from all the Prerogatives of that Holy Calling Take heed therefore Christian and Let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord Jesus depart from Iniquity And though the Priviledges annexed to this Holy Name and Divine Nature will not be acknowledged to the Rightful Heirs of Abraham in this Forreign World where they are as Princes Incognito in a strange Country their King himself being but This Fellow in every impious Mouth and they knew not whence he was yet hath God given them the High Title of Sons and Daughters to Himself and they shall be so saith the Lord Almighty Nay a Name better than that the Mighty Heirs of God and Joynt-Heirs with Christ of the everlasting Kingdom where they shall be glorified together with Him who is even Gods Fellow and shall wear the immarcessible Crown being every one of them Kings and Priests unto God they need little envy the swelling Titles of Exalted Ashes whose petty Honours will all in a Moment lye in the Dust and be interr'd with Themselves in the Dark Vault of an eternal Oblivion when these are Enrolled in the Registries of Everlastingness and their blessed Names written by God himself in the Book of Life And how impossible is it for others that inherit the Royalties of Abraham and Sarah who Care not to derive them from the Great Fountain of the true and ever-living Honour will not present their Patents to Heaven to be Confirmed there but satisfie themselves with the bare Ecchoing each others Titles and bandying them from Lip to Lip with such Ridiculous Circumstances of Complement as harden them against God himself and makes all the real Dignities of the great Abraham very despicable in their Eyes which the Blessed Jesus perceived well enough when he pronounced the Incapacity of such Men to participate of the True Honour which cometh from God only when they satisfie themselves with receiving Honour one from Another Would God that all the Pagan Princes of the Earth would once remember to Dip their Robes in the Blood of the Immaculate Lamb and lay down their Crowns at the Sacred Feet of the Holy Jesus who would keep them no longer than till he had taken Measure by them how to fit their Royal Heads with Others more transparently Glorious against the time they shall come to wear them in his own Kingdom And that all the Inferior Shields of the Earth would Joyn themselves to the People of the God of Abraham who praise him for ever for all the Glories he hath by this Covenant secured to them in the endless Life And what else was the end of God in this Nobilitating Abraham and Sarah by drawing out their Titles into a more sweet and excellent Euphony than only to usher in and make way for the future Honours of a nearer Relation to Himself As Princes ordinarily clap Coronets on the Heads of those celebrated Beauties whom they design to Advance and bring within their Curtains So here the most high God in the drawing up the Covenants of Marriage between Himself and these Holy Persons is not unmindful to include the Article of an Honour proportionable to the Dignity of the Match and e'er he Solemnize the Nuptials will affix a Majesty to their Names which shall drown all the commemoration of their Native Meanness and mind them of the Royal Endowments they enjoy from the Great Joynture which Enriches them with an unlimited Dowry both of Heaven and Earth No wonder then that Abraham shrouds his Face with Shame and Blushing in the humble consciousness of his own Vileness as thinking himself most unworthy the Grace of being thus Promoted to the Glory of a Conjugal Vnion with an Almighty Jehovah and had his Posterity been as humble and sensible as himself was of that exceeding Honour they had never so treacherously run Whoring from so great an Husband after Stocks and Stones when Himself was ever so Faithful and Constant to the Bonds of his Covenant as it went against his very Heart to write them a Bill of Divorce How shall I give thee up Ephraim but was ever sending Messengers and Letters after them to invite and perswade them to remember themselves and him to whom they were so strongly Allyed and Vnited beseeching them to return again to their first Husband And though this was not the common Custom of Men to receive again those Wives that had so often run Away to play the Harlot with other Lovers yet would Himself pardon all and entertain them again in Love and Peace For I am married unto you saith the Lord Jer. 3.1 12. Will you take a View of the Marriage Covenants and observe That though they be drawn up by God himself yet to what Mighty Advantage they Run on the Part of Abraham and his Heirs for ever First I am
God And whatsoever I am in my Self that will I be to thee I will be a God to thee Secondly As I am God I am Almighty and Alsufficient both for my self and all my Creatures that shall close with me I will make over the Fulness and Alsufficiency of my Godhead to thee There is nothing in it communicable to the Creature but what shall be secured to and imployed for Thee and Thine on all occasions Thirdly The very same Priviledge shall be secure to all the Children of thy Faith for evermore I will be their God and I do hereby firmly and unalterably Covenant with thee to be a God unto Thee and Them. To do and be whatsoever a God can do and be to his People in Covenant with him Fourthly I will confirm my part of these Covenants to thee and thy spiritual Seed by mine Oath which shall never be broken And they shall be one day further Ensured and Sealed in the Blood of my Son. Now on the other side what I require of thee Abraham and all thy Seed that shall enter into this Covenant after thee is no more than what every Woman engageth to her Husband to be faithful and Loyal I will be wholly to thee and thou shalt be wholly to me I am the Lord thy God thou shalt have no other Gods but me This is my Covenant therefore thou shalt Walk before me in Vprightness with a Perfect Heart and a willing Mind Thine Eye and Heart shall be ever upon me to admire thine own Happiness in all my Perfections Thou needest not hunt after Creatures with expectation of other Good than what is secured to thee in my Self Didst thou know what a Portion thou hast in a God thou wouldst disdain to turn aside after Idols Thou hast mine Alsufficiency made over to thee out of which as from an inexhaustible Fountain thou mayst draw out all thy Supplies What need they run to Streams that have a Command of the Spring-head Let thy Children be but Faithful and Constant to me and give themselves up by an adequate measure of Trust and Confidence in my Truth and Covenant relying wholly on my Wisdom and Goodness in providing for them and casting all their cares upon Me they shall ever reap the sweet Effects of that Recumbency while they give me the Glory of their Faith I will never leave them I will never forsake them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not no by no means I will not While they keep up entire Affections towards me I will delight to do them good with all my Heart and with all my Soul But if they run Whoring from me for I am a Jealous God I shall soon discover the least Aberration of their unfaithful Hearts and have Wayes enough tho' Sharp and Thorny to Hedge up their wandring Steps and reduce them again to their First Husband But Integrity of Soul will be their greatest Glory and the higher their Affections shall arise by perfect Dependance upon me the more sweetly will all the streams of my Love and Goodness flow out upon them I will fill their Souls wit◠Joy and Peace in Believing They shall taste Angels food and feast themselves with the Bread of Heaven The very Marrow and Fatness of my Bounty shall be their daily Repast They shall not envy the Prosperities of the Wicked that are feeding themselves to an Eternal Slaughter When the ravishing sence of my Love alone shining in upon them shall furnish out all Varieties of ineffable Pleasures to them they shall pity those that are walking in the Shadows of Death and See with none other but Brutish Eyes when the Beams of my Presence shall Gild all the Chambers of their Souls and make a continual Goshen there When the World shall reproach and reject them because of their Fidelity to my Covenant and they complain how much they suffer for me I will extend the Arms of my tender Mercies to receive them into mine own Embraces and safety And should some of them as my Witnesses be delivered up to the Malice of their Enemies and they Mercilesly kill them all the day long and lead them as Sheep to the slaughter yet shall Death be so far from separating them from my Love that themselves shall be more than Conquerours over all while all the surviving of them may prepare their Eyes to see the Vengeance and their feet to be washed in the Blood of their Enemies Is not this laid up with me and sealed among my Treasures Treasures of Wrath which shortly shall be poured on them and fall down in whole Cataclismes of Judgment on their Guilty Heads and Souls who have eaten up my People as Bread. The dread of Death must not tempt them to recede one Inch from their Sincerity since they have a God who is a Fountain of Life and that little little of it they breath out in the World is not a Drop compared to the River of Life they shall Swim in to Eternity But that little how little soever it be when Offered to my Glory is so pleasing a Sacrifice as cannot fail to draw from mine Exchequer the singular Retributions of my Favour on those happy Souls who so valorously surrender up their All to my Truth and Honour in assured Confidence of an happier Being in my Self 'T is the Triumph of my Justice to render unto every Man according to his Work As to their Executioners the hotter Fires of my Wrath and double Portions of my Plagues so more resplendant Crowns for the Loyal Heads of those who failed not to write the Evidences of their Integrity and Love in the dearest Blood of their Hearts How preeious then in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Whose Souls are so securely bound up in the Bundle of Life with the Lord their God that all their Enemies on Earth that all the Devils in Hell cannot slacken the Knots of that Vnion by which they are fastened to Himself Life is Theirs to fit them for and Death is Theirs to bring them to his Glory and blessed Fruition of his Endless Love. And in nothing could God have manifested a greater Love to his Abraham than by prescribing a Duty so perfectly agreeable to his own Holy Nature which is Pure Simple and Unmixt He is what He is and cannot be any thing else than what he discovers Himself to be the only True and Faithful God keeping Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commands And 't is Sincerity alone Truth in the inward Parts the Service of a real and perfect Heart that he requires He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee more than to do justly as Himself will to love mercy as Himself doth and to walk humbly before him To be holy as he is holy perfect as he is perfect looking towards Him with the simgle Eye of Fidelity and Love and directing all thy Devotions to him with
of his holy Government transacted in the Court of Conscience where Himself sitteth Judge or the blessed Spirit his Vicar over every Thought of the Heart and Action of the Life Not a vain Imagination but is brought down and humbled not an idle thought but what is captivated to the obedience of Christ 'T is he that strikes the stony Rock and the Waters gush out such a Rock was Peter whom he smote but with a glance of his Eye the Sun dissolving the Ice melted him all into Water He went out and wept bitterly He sheddeth his Love into the Soul and cold Mary is all in a Flame He pours in his Spirit of Joy and Paul and Silas sing in the Stocks He opens the Prison doors and the Shackles of Sin and Death flie off from the whole World lying in spiritual Captivity He Prophesies over the dry Bones and they come together take Life rise up and follow him as well thro' all Tribulations Sorrows Sufferings from Men Temptations Buffetings Persecutions raised by the Devil Fears Disquietments Dejections of their own Hearts Infirmities Weaknesses and Imperfections of their Duties As Comforts Encouragements Spiritual strength present Sence of his Love and secret Testimonies of his Spirit which is ever present with them to Illuminate Strengthen Comfort Establish and Direct them and therefore whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of His. This holy King rules not immediately only by his blessed Vicar above but mediately also by his Subordinate Officers here below Whether 1. Civil whom His Subjects Obey for his Sake and for Conscience Sake from a right Principle and not Brutishly in all their Lawful Impositions agreeable to his Glory they are ever Praying and Praising God for them yea tho' they be Persecuted by some of them Or 2. Ecclesiastick whom they Receive Honour Love and Obey as his Ambassadours and such as are sent by Him to break to them the Bread of Life whom they therefore follow and yield themselves up to their Lord by a gracious Conformity to the holy Doctrine brought them by his Ministers and Adorning that Doctrine by a suitable conversation in all things Abounding in every good word and work and approving themselves the faithful Servants of God in all the duties of both Tables having an equal Respect to all the Commandments of their Lord and approving themselves to Men by every Act of moral Righteousness and Daty They shall be at the last day approved by him to be no Hypocrites vain Pretenders proud and empty Professors self-seeking Designers or troublesome dividers of his Church and People but the True Hearty Sincere Rooted Living and Fruitful Members of his Mystical Body passing here the time of their Sojourning in filial fear and love and persevering in all Fidelity and Constancy of Obedience to all the revealed Laws of their great King as their Fore-father Abraham did they at last receive the end of their Faith and everlasting Salvation in Heaven where with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Heirs of their Covenant they are blessed and happy in and with God and the Lord Jesus for evermore Come Reader hast thou no Heart to accompany the blessed Communion of Saints to this glorious Home Why dost thou then bear about thee the Seal of the same Covenant and art Crossed for the Holy Land and hast received the sacred Name of Christ upon thee and thou pretendest to be a Candidate for Heaven and wilt rage against any that will dare to sweep away the Cobweb of thine Hopes when alas it hangs by a slender Thread and the lightest hand breaks every Cord of it away and down it falls and thy self with it into utter despair and Ruine See whether thine Anchor have better hold than theirs whose Dooms the great Heir himself pronounced The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out Matt. 8.12 So little will it avail thee to walk for a while alas for a Moment on the Borders of the blessed Land if thine own Infidelity and thy treacherous Heart shut thee out at last Either Rend off the Title and wipe away the drops of that holy Water issuing from the Wounds of the Crucified Saviour wherewith thou wert once Baptized into that sacred Name and renounce the hopes of that glorious Profession Or else be Faithful to thine Articles and give thy self wholly to him who hath given himself to thee Nothing less than the Hearty devotion of thy whole Soul and Life unto God can baer any reasonable Proportion with his Royal Bounty or give any convincing Demonstration of thy Real Gratitude less than this God will not Take less than this thou canst not Offer Every Imperfection and falling short of this must be lamented with bitter Tears wherein the poor Heart swims back again to better Duty and stricter Watchfulness and the broken Bones are jointed in to greater strength and Establishment made fit to walk with a more direct and even Progress in the holy Path rejoycing in their own Integrity But if instead of this thou be found wandring in the Wilderness of Error and Vanity walking after the imagination of thine evil Heart according to the course of the ungodly World and not after God know that thy Covenant is Sealed with melting Wax and thou thy self art holding it to the Flame in the light whereof thou mayst read thy despairs and find thy self in no better condition than those Sons of Abraham whose Unbelief and Obduration hath cancel'd the whole Effects of it and walking up and down in the Earth as the Deplorable Monuments of divine Indignation with Antipathies as great as ever against the blessed Person and Doctrine of the mighty Redeemer Thou maist indeed as some of them have a goodly Portion and Heritage here below Consolations suitable to thine own poor carnal Heart and God will not break the first Articles of a plentiful Canaan in the World thy Belly shall be filled with hidden Treasures But remember then that thy Tenure is but for Life and an uncertain Lease which may expire e're to Morrow comes and the Morning Sun may find thee a Carkase the Fearful case of him in the Gospel who went to Bed well but awaked in Hell. God hath reserved no second Portion in the next World but that of Fire and Brimstone The Heavens shall reveal thine Iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against thee the Increase of thine House shall depart and thy Goods shall flow away in the day of his Wrath There is the portion of a wicked Man from God and the Heritage appointed him by God. Away vain Man to thy Closet with David and consider the deplorable condition of These Make hast to the Sanctuary and there understand their latter end It may be when thou seest the Slipperiness of their Steps and how soon they are brought to a fearful end thou wilt pour out at least a sigh for a better Portion and to enjoy a more lasting Inheritance in God. Remember me O Lord with
at All should now have Nothing surely he that was so well treated in Pharaoh's Court was not so ungrateful to a poor Handmaid of his Country to send her forth to starve Others affix it to their own Insolence who were grown too rude and turbulent in the House of Abraham The most probable conjecture that best agrees with all Circumstances is that what was now given them was to serve only for present necessity and Abraham directing them whither to go promis'd to take care to supply them further as their Necessities required which also he did 'Till Isaac's Birth the Bondwoman and her Son had quiet entertainment in Abraham's Family Now the Heir is born they agree not together but Hagar trudges out with her Bottle and Bag to wander in the Wilderness Who sees not the Old Law marching after her with all its Ceremonies in the same Bag at the bringing in of the New by Jesus Christ the true Heir of Righteousness and Salvation For ever are they departed now to return no more into the Church of God And how peaceable possession Sin doth enjoy in the Natural Heart where it rules all the Rost hath an absolute Dominion and beats down all before it till anon God in pity to the miserable Soul gives it Grace to conceive the true Heir which once Formed and growing up to some Strength takes Arms and with the Assistance of Heaven maintains the War which is happily Crown'd with thorough Conquest of all Opposition and receives its Palms in the Everlasting Kingdom Hagar and Ishmael are gone whose wandrings and sufferings in the Wilderness are but a farther Allegory of the present Sorrows of the miserable Posterity of Abraham who when the true Heir appeared in the World were then in possession of their Fathers House But for mocking and Persecution of the Great promised Son are dealt with as Ishmael cast out of the blessed Inheritance of both Canaans and are wandring in the Desart of damnable Error with the Wallet of an insupportable Burden on their Shoulders feeding still on the musty Bread and drinking out of the Old Bottles the stale Puddle Water of the Law in contempt of the pure Springs of the Living Water so freely offer'd them and the New Wine of the everlasting Gospel They lye with Ishmael under a Shrub not so sensible of their Penury as he forlorn and dejected with the Curse of the Blood of Jesus upon them They perish in the midst of Abundance and have no Eyes to see the Well of Life out of which the whole Church is so sweetly refreshed in Vivacity and Power O that same Good Angel would come with a Message of Comfort and Mercy to them as he did unto Hagar and taking away the Veyl that is upon their Hearts to this day they may clearly perceive the things that belong to their Eternal Peace Even so come Lord Jesus Come quickly Holiness is that Great Luminary darting its Beams so conspicuously round about the World where it shines that draws every Eye to admire it rendring its Subjects so Amiable that those who cannot shine in the same Light desire yet to sit under and enjoy its Blessed Influences Abraham scattered the Divine Rayes of his Piety and Goodness so illustriously over all the Kingdom of Gerar for which God had sent him thither that the very Court is Clarified by his Brightness and cannot think its self happy without a nearer Conjunction with this Great Planet Sarah's Beauty had Fetter'd the Affections of this King already now is his Understanding Captivated perfectly to the divine Presence of Abraham's Piety What a Glory was it to this Great Saint to see Abimelech himself with Phicol his Lord-General and all their Princely Retinue come bowing to him and making earnest Suit that he would become their Allie The King had found by experience that God had blessed his Kingdom for Abraham's sake and now Abraham must bless Abimelech for his own sake He had certainly learn'd how great things God had done by and for Abraham and therefore thought it a part of true Policy to confederate himself with so great a Favourite and to ensure the Friendship of him that was the Friend of God He grounds his Request upon Abraham's Interest and nearness to God. God is with thee in every thing that thou dost A very Glorious Testimony out of the Mouth of a King and doubtless no whit ungrateful unto Abraham himself who loved to hear the Kindnesses of his God to him acknowledged by very Heathens This gave Abraham the Honour and Abimelech the Benefit of the League If God were with Abraham how much should Abimelech advantage himself by his Friendship And the King knew well enough how far he strengthned himself by being in Covenant with him that was in Covenant with God That God who had sworn to him to be a Friend to his Friends and an Enemy to his Enemies Hence he is so zealous to perpetuate the Agreement that he moves for the durable Extension of it to his Heirs and Successors His Son and his Sons Son and will have it confirmed by the highest Obligation of a Sacred Oath which binds the Conscience under the dreadfullest penalties Well did Abimelech know that Abraham having once sworn would suffer even Death it self rather than to be false to his Covenant or incurr the Anger of his God. Piety hath a place in the Consciences thô not in the Affections of Strangers to God. Abraham would be stedfast enough when once he had fastened him with the Nail of the Sanctuary And himself should dye with greater satisfaction when he had confirm'd his Successors by linking in their Interests with his He cunningly makes him the very Guardian of the Prince whose Crown would never totter on his Head while he had so formidable a Person as Abraham to keep it on who had made Four Kings to flie before him Therefore by this Oath is Abimelech and his Heirs secured both against Abraham himself whose growing Greatness he might justly fear so against all others by his means Thus had God caused the Dread of Abraham to fall on the whole Court and Kingdom of Gerar Kings and Generals fall low before him and Devote themselves to him while he the more humbly bows to his God and under all the Courtships of Crowned Heads Remembers that his own must stoop to the Dust Abraham who had before strucken a League with Heaven was not pufft up with a vain Elation of being a Confederate with a King who ambitiously sought that Honour from him The highest Promotion on Earth cannot swell the mind that is closely united with God. All the benefit he draws from it shall advantage the Kingdom whom he blesses with his Presence and Five and twenty years Residence in it He had pitched his Tent at Beresheba where he planted a Grove and needs must the Trees thrive well that are set by so good an hand Jonathan tells us 't was an Orchard of pleasant Fruits wherein he
made his Oratory and took many a delightful walk with his God by Contemplation and Prayer here also he used to entertain his Guests that visited him making themselves more happy by his Company than his Cheer which yet was ever such as spoke the great Heart of a generous Abraham from whom they never departed without Invitation to take share with him of a greater Felicity in Heaven always plying them with such prevailing Arguments from his endearing Lips as made many of them hunch away their unprofitable Idols to make room for the Worship of the True God. Mark Reader what a busie Trade is the great Abraham dâ—â—ving on for the glorious Eternity does he live to himself in the Affluence and abundance of all his Riches and Honours Are his Aims or the Ends of his Life any other than such as tend to the glory of his God and the good of Souls Even Pagans and Infidels flock in to him to embrace his Kindness and Counsells together they are Courted and Feasted into his Religion his very courtesies Convert them they cannot but be convinced that Abraham's God must be the only True one who had polished him up into all the perfections of a sweet Nature and such ravishing Grace that dragg'd all the World after it and envassal'd all his Admirers and should they not be perswaded by him neither would they should one come to them from the Dead CHAP. X. Isaac 's Immolation WHile Abraham is thus passing away his Days in a constant Course of Pleasant and Profitable Duty God is contriving to imploy him in a Service that shall render the Honour of his Obedience more Eximious and Renowned than all he had hitherto done to keep on and trace the High way of vulgar and ordinary Duty is the work of every common Professour But Abraham shall do that at the command of God which none but an Abraham could do besides and what all the World shall admire him for till Time it self shall be no more By Nine Tryals already had God experimented the Integrity of his Loyal Heart yet as if all these were nothing a Tenth shall follow the Bitterest of them all If Abraham's Faith hold out in this Heaven and Earth shall know how worthy he is of the Favour and Goodness of God and how entirely he had observed the Conditions of the Covenant that obliged him to pay an universal Respect to all his Commandments how Severe and Difficult soever let us see with what Gallantry of Spirit he will acquit himself in this last and greatest Encounter 'T was but a little while since he had parted from a Son at the Command of God yet that loss tho' very grievous was made up to him by another which was dearer to him at Home But now comes a Second Summons for This also who must pass not out of his House only but Life and which was yet more afflicting by his own Hands Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee to the Land of Moriah and Offer him there for a Burnt-offering upon one of the Mountains that I will tell thee of Behold all the many Promises of God and all the many hopes and comforts of Abraham's Life perfectly cut off and destroyed at one Blow Strong were the Heart-strings of Abraham that could hold out from Cracking at the breaking out of the First syllables of this Killing Command but could he live so long as to hear out the whole Sentence The Rabbins fancy that God himself doubted it and therefore have feigned that God to give him a breathing time brake it in pieces by many Abruptions framing it into a Dialogue Wherein God is made to begin Abraham take thy Son To which Abraham Answers I am ready Lord well hoping it might have been Ishmael But which of my Sons doest thou call for for I have two Abraham yet little daunted God replies to him Thine only Son To whom Abraham again not willing to understand it of Isaac Each one of them is the only Son of his Mother Nay but saith God The Son whom thou lovest This touches close To whom therefore pantingly Lord thou knowest that I love them both God to end the dispute is fain to discriminate 'T is Isaac thine only Son whom thou lovest thou must take him But whither Lord must I carry him To the Land of Moriah And what to do with him there Offer him up for a Burnt-offering Is the old Man alive If so let him live for ever May we carry on the Dialogue a little without offence to the Glory of Abraham's Obedience who never so much as opened his Mouth in the least to dispute the will of God Lord How long have thine Altars thirsted for humane Blood I have Offered up many a Sacrifice before which have pleased thee well Will nothing satisfie thee now but the Blood of my Child Take I say thy Son Each Infidel can offer up the Blood of Beasts to their Deities but thou must exceed them all in the Sacrifice of thine own Child to thy God. But Lord if nothing less than humane Blood will suffice may not Isaac be exchanged for a Slave or as many of them as thou shalt please to call for No the Blood of Slaves is a slender Offering to that of thine own Son 't is Isaac himself must Bleed and be the Victim If then mine Isaac must die will no hand content thee to Offer him but mine own with what Heart shall I be able to Sacrifice mine own Child Nor will I favour thee in this 't is thine own hand must give the fatal stroak Behold I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord What will become of thy Great Name when the very Heathen shall hear that Abraham's God requires so unnatural a Sacrifice as this Fear not for mine Honour is not subjected to the censures of Men who can raise up a Glory to my self by the Sacrifice of them all to my Justice O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak but this once by whom shall Jacob arise if Isaac be cut off and what shall become of thy Truth and Covenant to thy poor Servant Shall thy Faithfulness and Promises fail for evermore 'T is I that visited Sarah and gave her a Son when she laughed in despair and once thou believedst against Hope Is mine hand shortned that it cannot save May I not raise up another Isaac unto thee or do means fail me to accomplish all my Promises are they confin'd all to the life of this Son Arise therefore and Take him c. Let the base World blush and be confounded that hath learned to Quarrel and wrangle with every trivial Precept of God that crosses their Ease and Interest or seems but a little to break in upon their Carnal Hopes and Confidences When they see the Great Abraham paying an humble and undisputed Obedience to such an Injunction as le ts out the life Blood of all his Joyes and
Comforts on Earth God had made with him an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure This is all his desire and all his Salvation although he should not make his House to grow Who can see Him rising early to whet the Sacrificing knife that must cut the Throat of his beloved Isaac and giving orders for the cleaving the Wood that must afterwards Burn his dearest Body into Ashes and hastening his Son and Servants to the Journey The Lord hath a Sacrifice to be Offered on the Mount of Moriah how is This Righteous Soul straitned untill it be fullfiled Who can see him thus busie in the Annihilation of his own Flesh without believing that his Affections were all ravished away into Heaven and that Divine Grace had absorp'd him to that degree that he seems to have little of Man or Father appearing in him As Levi he knows not his own Children but packs away the one into Banishment at the Command of God and the other into Death So wholly eaten up by divine Zeal that for three whole days together Travelling towards the fatal Mount he hath both his Eyes so intentively sixt on the holy Commandment that he doth not so much as glance on his Isaac whoâ— he Devotes unto Good and looks on him as nothing but Ashes already The Law of his God that by this Command had dispensed with the very Law of Nature was so strong upon his Heart that he becomes obediently Vnnatural and Cruel not in the least repining as Jacob against God Me hast â—hou bereaved of my Children Ishmael is not and â—ilt thou take Isaac also all these things are against me Not so much as pouring out one Prayer to revoke the dreadful Injunction Father if it be possible let this Cup pass away But totally resigning Himself with his Blessed Heir Let thy will and not mine be done O Holy Abraham how Illustriously do the Graces of Him shine forth upon thee that would be Nothing else than what he was unto God! Thou art that Righteous Man of the East that hath learned to fall down and lye thus Submissively at the Foot of God Whither shall we go in Pilgrimage to find out the least Track of thine Obedient Steps there is scarce a little Line of thy Miraculous Devotion left upon the Face of the Earth Though St. Austin and some few more are pleased to give Sarah the Honour of consenting to the Death of her Son at the Will of God yet others more generally deny it and that Abraham afraid that her Faith might be drown'd in the Flood of her Passion very prudently conceal'd the Divine Mandate from her till after the Execution and that possibly he might bring her back a Son preternaturally raised out of his own Ashes for his God was Almighty In vain should he occasion a Precipitation of her Sorrows the woful Tidings would fall too soon as a Talent of Lead to crush and break her miserable Heart 'T is Abraham alone hath that Masculine Spirit to bear up under so sinking an Affliction as this Nor doth the Appearance of the fiery Mountain upon which his Son must be Offered dismay him David piteously lamenting the Fall but of a Friend bitterly execrated the Gilboâ— that had suckt in the Blood of his Jonathan devoting it to the Curse of Heaven for ever But Abraham can view the place where the Fire must consume his dearest Child and yet with Aaron hold his peace And now what his Faith assures him will be acceptable to God his Fear tells him may not be so very Grateful to Men. He prudently dismisses the Servants whose Eyes and Hearts he thinks would not serve them to view what his own unhappy Hands must Act He desires no Witnesses of so Tragical a Sacrifice 'T is enough that he who had set him on the Work and could not but See him should Sign the Certificate of his Faithful Obedience and Service While he Approves himself to God he values not the Testimony of Men He cries not as Jehu to Jonadab Come see my zeal for the Lord. Some fancy that he left them behind least when they should see him doing what he must do they might think that he had left his Wits behind him and so might hinder him of his Duty as once the Good Meaning Friends of Jesus did him on pretence of Distraction and Want of Senses It was not improbable but these young Men might have obstructed his Offering from as Ardent Zeal to their young Master as those afterwards who rescued Jonathan Sworn to Death from the Hands and Oath of his Violent Father But Abraham will not be interrupted by Men in a Duty which is commanded him by God. If he himself will cut the Cords of the Sacrifice and his Isaac's Redemption be wrought by the same Authority from Heaven that his Death was imposed most happy should he think himself but no other Hand shall take him from the Altar than the Divine one that laid him on Whence then is His Authority who pretends a Power to Dispense against the Positive and Absolute Commands of God The Servants and Beasts are disburthened while the whole Load is laid upon Isaac the Son is oppressed and the very Slaves go free yet he Murmurs not Who Sees not here those Innocent Shoulders that once bore our Griefs and carried our Sorrows The Iniquity of us all was laid upon him yet he opened not his Mouth Can we view Isaac bowing under the Wood that is design'd to devour him and not behold our dearest Saviour Fainting under the weight of his own Cross both ascending by weary Steps the very same Mount Abraham and Isaac the Holy and the Spiritual these tug with difficulties and attain to Mount Sion the City of God while the Carnal and the Brutish lag below and perish in the Valley of Darkness and Death where no Sacrifice is offered by them none is accepted for them their Iniquity is not purged by any offering for ever Nor is there any true Son of Abraham but who in this Life divides Himself the Brutish Part is left behind here below while the Aspiring Soul climbs the Hill to meet with God and doth so effectually prevail with him there that hereafter the poor Dust shall be called up too and participate of those Divine Qualities that will fit it for so Glorious a Communion The Ascent to the Mount was the most difficult part of the whole Journey and strong is the Body that bears up it Self against its Proclivity and Steepness Yet must not Isaac be pitied but instead of ease hath an heavy Burthen heaped upon him by a Father that tenderly loves him with design it may be to make him weary of the World and more willing to dye and pass out of it while the Slaves and Brutes are at ease and free from All below If the Cares of Life that are common to all are sound too light to humble the dearest Children of God and keep them low behold God
all his Spirits are broken the loss of his Friends and Country cost him not a Sigh he hardened himself against the Fate of Isaac but his dear Sarah's Death melts him into Water The joyful sence of divine Grace doth not so perfectly banish away natural grief but that the best of Saints even Abraham and Jesus himself under the Tyrannies of Fate shall find themselves subject to those Passions as loudly speak them to be but Men. Behold the great Sarah lying Dead and the mighty Prince her Husband acknowledged to be such by all the Chieftains of the Country where he dwells not Proprietor of so much Earth as shall suffice to Ground her Monument nor is this so great a Wonder when afterwards we find his Heir the Lord of all the Creation in the same condition and obliged to a Friend to lend him a Grave Who can date an Happiness to himself from his Interest in the Turf and Clod when Jesus and Abraham have not so much Glebe in the World of their own as to set a Foot on How unlike to their Father were those degenerous Children of Abraham who joyned House to House and lay Field to Field till there was no place for others that they alone might be plac'd in the Earth Isa 5.8 Doth it teach us nothing that Abraham so exceedingly Rich as he was should never mind to purchase Land of Inheritance but only for a Burying-place here in the Earth He Sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise Why did he this but because he looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God If we had Abraham's Faith we should have Abraham's Spirit as free and disengaged from the World as He When God knows our Affections are so deeply Riveted into the Creature and pleasures of Life that we have as little Will to mind the purchase of a Sepulchre as he to buy an Inheritance amongst Men. Indeed the whole Kingdom was his own in Reversion and surely secur'd to his Children while his own Faith was Estate enough with the Promise of God for Himself to live on While we was Travelling on keeping Heaven in his Eye he had no leisure to think of a poor settlement in the Earth 'T was not for Pilgrims to wait on Building whose affections were no deeper stak'd to the World than the slender Pillars of their movable Tabernacles which they lightly pluck up with ease and hast to follow the conduct of that gracious Providence that ever so faithfully led them they little minded Palaces who were themselves nothing else but the goodly Habitations of God upon Earth to whom he therefore retired so often with the sweetest Assurances of their Interest in a City of his own Raising where he attended their Company with him and came down so frequently but to see whether they were ready for it Indeed it was not the design of God that Abraham should fix any where long whom he intended to make a publick Blessing every where and therefore being always ordered to remove upon every Call of God it was requisite that his Estate should have Wings too and be ready to Fly with Himself into every Countrey where God had Business for him to do Nor was this the least Diminution to him but rather an Increase of his Grandeur since all Motions of Princes bear the greater Majesty from the splendid Appearance that attends them you might have seen his Royal Pavilion grac'd with the Flagg of Honour waving in the Air sorrounded by Those of his Sons and Servants at an awful distance The Waggons of his Ammunition guarding those of his Treasure while the numerous Flocks of his Cattel and Herds feed round about him securely and the Trained Bands of his Houshould standing by turns as Sentinels over all Not to mention the invisible Troops who as Tutelars gave their constant Attendance upon him and ever adjoyn'd him as his Guard. The Kings of the Earth knew well enough that God was with him as a sure Refuge In this Glorious Estate was Abraham when his Lady left it All to be translated into better She passes from one Heaven below to another Above from the Courts of Princes to the Palace of a God Her Earthly Part was the care of Abraham to provide for He will not meanly dispose of the Cabinet wherein so precious a Jewel for so many years hath had its Lodging An Honourable Interment is equally Abraham's Duty and Sarah's due There was a Cave in the Field of Machpelah now in the possession of Ephron the Hittite which pleased him well he had cast his Eye upon it not as Ahab covetously Sick for Naboth's Vineyard but as a convenient Purchase if the Good-will of the Right Owner shall please to favour his Innocent desires of Appropriating it to himself by his Money And now that he had present need of it he is forced to make use of those honest means that with greatest Probability may succeed to his Wishes and want He Convocates the Neighbouring Heads of the Countrey Ephron being one whom with a Gravity mixt with Majesty he Addresses to this Effect I freely acknowledge it the Natural Right of the Lords of the Covntrey to Grant Liberty to Strangers to make Purchases in their Land. I am a Stranger among you and must declare my thankful Resentments of that Kindness which hath permitted me so free and peaceable Cohabitation with you It hath pleased God to Call away my Wife from the World for whose Sepulture I must make some Provision and it will not be long e're I my self shall follow Her. This is only my Request to you that I may have Liberty to purchase a Burying-place with you where we may rest in Death with the same Quiet and Peace as we have continued amongst you in Life To the Reproach and Confusion of our more Ill-Natur'd and Paganish Christians let us take notice with what Civility and Condescention these Heathens fram'd their courteous Replication to him Hear us my Lord Thou art a mighty Prince among us and we know that God is with thee We have no Power or Will to deny thy desires Make thine own Election in the choicest of our Sepulchres bury thy Dead None of us shall withhold his Sepulcher from thee but that thou mayst bury thy Dead While Real Piety in all its Services aims only to bring Glory to God He in a gracious Compensation of so good Intention makes that Honour to beat back on it self God is honoured by Abraham and Abraham is honoured by God There is no Man that gives his Heart unto him but who shall find it again in the Hearts of others The surest way to secure the Affections of Men is first to devote our own unto God. Prince Abraham will not receive this Complement without giving Demonstration to them That he is not more High in Estate than Humble in Spirit He
laid them before him to make his own Choice and to take them all to himself Is this price in his hand to be happy for ever and hath the Fool no heart to it Is the Everlasting Charter fairly Copied out and sent him down from above to peruse and read over wherein he finds all the Priviledges of Heaven and Earth made over and secured to him and all this not worthy reflecting on And the Book lying as fast clasped up as his own Heart See how grievously God takes this Affront to his Goodness I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing A matter not concerning them at all The Feast is prepared and all things ready themselves Invited but they make light of it they have other Pleasures to follow O Judicial Blindness O cursed Insensibleness Israel would none of me so I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts to walk in their own Councels He that hath no Heart for God may jealously fear that God hath no Heart for him Pray not for this People for my mind cannot be towards them Why Their Heart is turned away from me Yet is this but the first Seething of the deadly Poyson see it boiling up into the heighth of a mutual Abhorrency and Loathing Their Soul abhorred me and my Soul loathed them Tremble to think on the fatal Effects of thy Hearts aversion from God 'T is a perfect Predamnation the very Devils arrive at no greater height of Impiety And thou that wilt not meditate Love mayst shortly meditate Terror and become a Magor Missabib a very Fiend to thine own Self Go miserable Creature sit in the Dust lye on the Ground cloath thee with Ashes put on Sackcloath let bitter Tears be thy drink Abhorr thy Self Thy Soul is departed from God and God as from Saul is departed from thee and what wilt thou do in the end thereof On what will thy miserable Thoughts feed on to Eternity 'T were a Judgment to pass one day without Meditation on God! but how wilt thou spend an endless Life without him which yet thou canst not do while all thy Faculties will be enlarg'd to take in nought but Plagues and Torments which here fed on nothing but Vanity and Leasing There thou wilt do nothing else but think on His Wrath on thy Self and Others who here hadst no leisure or Heart to think on his Love and Goodness to thy Self and Others Bethink thy self a little while thou art in the World summon up thy Considerative Faculties set them all at work to ruminate on the unchangeable Estate wherein thou wilt either Praise or Blaspheme the Name of God for ever Hast thou a Soul given thee for no other Work but to compleat thine own Misery And doth God wait upon thee but until thou fittest thy Self for destruction whiles thou art little thinking how soon it will come upon thee And then all the vain Thoughts that lodge within thee will take their flight from thee and perish for ever with thee Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider thy wayes And remember 't is the proper work of the Rational Soul and of no other Creature but Angels to reflect on it self and wisely to project for its future Happiness When God hath laid before thee all the Contrivances of his everlasting Councels and Love towards thee in Jesus Christ and set Him forth to be a Propitiation thrô Faith in his Blood that thine Eyes and Heart may be astonished with Admiration of such Mercy That this White Flag should hang up so long and none consider the Black One of Judgment may appear in its stead when all hopes of Life are gone and departed for ever This is an Evidence of a fatal Obduration and a mighty Contempt of Divine Grace See Sinner Mercy is yet offer'd Proposals of Peace are laid before thee Consider thy Life and Soul are in hazard if thou art drawing lines with Archimedes in the Dust while the City is stormed and the Enemy entred the next News will be the Sword in thy Bowels and an everlasting Adieu to thy presumptuous Hopes But while Isaac's holy Heart was better exercised and he was sweetly walking with his God in the Fields his Eyes discover the Camels Coming In the doing thy Commandments there is great Reward Mercy overtakes him in the midst of Duty In the very Moment that he is enjoying God God gives him the Enjoyment of his Rebekah to whom for the Honour that she doth him in lighting off her Camēl and Veyling her self at the first Meeting he pays so entire Affection and constant Love that in all his Life he never leaves her to depart into another Bed And having now gotten so good a Wife he endeavours to forget the loss of a Mother and to remember his Sorrow no more I question not but the Readers Observation hath already prevented me in the Noting of the clearest Allegory of the Proceedings of God in the raising a Seed to his Son illustrated by the Care of Abraham in this Transactions of Isaac's Nuptials 'T is the Project and the Councel of his Will to propose him as the Spiritual Husband to his Church He makes the first Motion by his Servants that are sent forth to Woe and Beseech They are sworn to Fidelity under the dreadful penalties of destruction to themselves if they be found Careless or Unfaithful in so great a Trust Their Blood will I require at thy Hand The Arguments they use are the Promises of an Everlasting Inheritance durable Riches and Honour in the heavenly Canaan There is nothing required but bare Consent and an hearty willingness to the Match What doth the Lord require of thee c. My Son give me thine Heart onely The Holy Spirit cooperates with the Messengers and helps to convince and perswade Our Gospel came not in Word only but in Power and in the Holy Ghost He enlightneth the mind to see what are the Hopes of his Calliing and how great the Riches of the Inheritance He works the Heart to a free Consent Thy People shall be willing c. When Faith is wrought and Consent gotten the Jewels are produced Gifts and Graces After ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit Dispatch is urged Be ye ready the Faithful Soul called to depart Hearken O Daughter and consider incline thine Ear forget thine own People and thy Fathers House While she is traveling on the Road of Life the Bridegroom meets her I will manifest my self unto her she receives him covered with a Veyl and blushing at the Thoughts of her unworthiness But he likes her the better and greatly delights in her Beauty while the Worships him as her Lord and passes in with him into the everlasting Pavilion where she alone enjoys his Love and entire Person for ever We shall be ever with the Lord Wherefore comfort one another with these words The Nuptials of Isaac thus happily Celebrated and Rebekah in Possession of