THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFULL TEMPTED As was more concisely shewed August 31. 1674 At a SOLEMNE FUNERAL in the CHVRCH AT WOTTON under EDGE in the Countie of Gloucester S. Aug. Tota vita humana est tentatio By GILES OLDISWORTH A. M. and Rector of Burton on the Hill in the same Countie OXFORD Printed by HENRY HALL 1676. Imprimatur HEN CLERKE Vice Cancel OXON Jan. 30. 1676. To the Lady Crofts the vertuous Consort of my very good Lord Herbert by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Hereford Anno Regni 1 Edw. 16. Anno Domini 1288 SR Lancelot Oldisworth of Halifax in York-shire Kt. took to wife Bridget daughter of VVilliam Ramsey of the same Countie Esq Their son was Maurice Anno Regni 2 Edw. 13. Anno Domini 1320 Maurice Oldisworth Husband of VVinifred daughter to Steven the brother of VValter Stapleton L. Bp. of Excester had issue Lancelot Anno Regni 3 Edw. 18. Anno Domini 1344 Lancelot Oldisworth married Alice daughter of Thomas Frie of Devon-shire Gent. he begat Maurice Anno Regni 2 Rich 1. Anno Domini 1377 Maurice Oldisworth took to wife Gennet daughter of Iohn Philpot L. Mayor of London His son was Lancelot Anno Regni 4 Hen. 3. Anno Domini 1402 Lancelot Oldisworth was Husband to Margaret daughter of Andrew Foord of Cornwall Esq He begat VVilliam Anno Regni 4 Edw. 4. Anno Domini 1464 VVilliam Oldisworth married the daughter of Nicholas Read of Devon-shire Esq By whom he had Maurice Anno Regni 3 Rich. 1. Anno Domini 1483 Maurice Oldisworth his wife was Iane daughter and Heiress unto Iohn Sydenham of Somerset-shire Esq Their son was Thomas Anno Regni 8 Hen. 22. Anno Domini 1531 Thomas Oldisworth married a daughter of Morgan of Pennicoyd Castle in Monmouth-shire by whom he was Father of Nicholas Nicholas Oldisworth having married Marjorie daughter of Davis of the city of Glouc. had by her Edward Edward Oldisworth was in Q. Maries daies a Colonel in Flanders In Q. Elizabeths daies he married Tace daughter to Arthur Porter of Newark in the County of Glouc. Esq Their son was Arnold Arnold Oldisworth Clerk of the Hanniper married Lucie daughter and Co-heiress of Francis Baxtu Treasurer to Mary Quen of Scotland By Lucie he had Edward Edward Oldisworth of Bradley in the Parish of Wotten under Edge in the County of Glouc. Esq married Elizabeth the eldest daughter of George Masters of Ciren-Cester in the County afore said Esquire Their only son was Robert Robert Oldisworth of the said Bradley in the said Parish of VVotton under Edge Esq took to wife Elizabeth daughter of William Clotterbook of Kingsstanely in the County of Glouc. Gent. and had issue VVilliam William Oldisworth the only child that ever the said Robert Oldisworth or Elizabeth his wife had was buried Aug. 31. 1674 both before he was married and before he was full 21 yeares old Good Madam The more inferiour this slender Stemm is unto the generous Croft of Crofts Castle the more numerous those weeping eyes were which I then beheld when the last Branch of this Stock was untimely cutt off And above all this the more narrowly I search into the multitude of sorrows which I am apt to imagine Abraham the Friend of God wrestled with The greater Impression abideth engraven upon my heart while with true joy and much pleasure I frequently ruminate how tender a mercy the Preserver of men dayly vouchsafeth both unto my Lord Bishop of Hereford and unto your Ladiship in continuing the Life and in prospering the daies of Sr Herbert Crofts your Isaac To bury that Heir which is an only Son to mourn for such an only Son as is an only child is I see A two-edged Woe Nevertheless by Faith the Father of the Faithful duelled the Father of the Faithfull vanquished even this Triall Madam If either my conjectures concerning Abraham his temptations or any Descant of mine upon his exemplarie faith can assist your Ladiships growing in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST I shall willingly sacrifice this Sermon to censure yea I shall bless God for granting the request of Your Good Ladiships humbly devoted GILES OLDISWORTH To the Vertuous Mrs. BRDGET THORP VVidow BRing her forth that she may be burnt When What paper I now expose Gen. 38.24 I two years since rashly condemned unto the Presse such another unjust Judge sa Judah was was I. Dear Cousin I will not say that a Gift in your Bosom did corrupt my Judgment Sept. 2. 1674. for then your Purse would pay for it The truth is to have me at that time passe that sentence you were not to have me now execute that sentence you are the importunate widow Let me cease to honour such as are Widows indeede if I do not from my heart reverence and highly esteeme you for You glorifie God Whom I should dishonour should I conceal that it is for His sake and onely for His sake that you require this Sermon from Your most obliged Servant and ever thankful Kins-man GILES OLDISWORTH Gen. XXII a 1. ANd it came to passe after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham And he said Behold here I am b 2 And he said Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of c 3 And Abraham rose up early in the Morning and sadled his Asse and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his Son and clave the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him d 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afarr off e 5 And Abraham said unto his young men Abide you here with the Asse and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you f 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his Son and he took the fire in his hand and a Knife and they went both of them together g 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said My father and he said Here am I my Son And he said Behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering h 8 And Abraham said My Son God will provide himselfe a lamb for a burnt offering So they went both of them together i 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his Son and laid him on the altar upon the wood k 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the Knife to slay his Son l 11 And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of Heaven and said Abraham Abraham And he said Here am I. m 12 And he said Lay not thy hand
not manifesting but concealing this future evill 2. If contrary unto the accustomed mercies of the wise God toward the inquisitive sons of un-advised man Gods predestination concerning Isaac be revealed Tell it not in Beersheba for should the Patriarch know it would bring down his gray haires with sorrow to the grave 3. If to the unhappy ears of the surprised old Father it must come Prepare him a little Give him his full sleep a full meal and due store of wine Place in a readiness about him Lovers and Friends if not to share and divide yet to bewail and bemoan his Woe Then but not untill then give unto him some easy hint some warie fore notice of what will seem sad news at the best 4. If this be not to tempt but to indulge if no company nor Comforters may be admitted Solitary and forlorn as he is let him by himselfe alone recieve the intelligence but let him receive it with a still voice let him not receive it over hastily To bolt upon one over sodainly startleth even then when one bringeth a blessing how much more when one cometh not to befriend but to afflict 5. If sodainly and unexspectedly the newes must affright if in an hour that he is not aware of the aged and trembling parent must hear the tidings of his dear-sons fate Mention it unto him in the day time there is in Day light some light of comfort Mention it not in the night season in all Darkness there is Dread If heretofore there fell upon this faithful Patriarch such a horrour at the going down of the Sun a greater horrour will seise him now in the night in the dark night in the dead time of the dark night 6. If to add to the discomfort there must be a dreadfull horrour upon his mind then when he heareth his Isaac's doom send I pray thee by the man whom thou wilt send by some Cushi or by some Amalekite for How dismall are the Feete of him that bringeth bad errands If Ahimaaz be a good man King David will from Ahimaaz exspect good tidings Such is their Clemency It is by their inferiour Judges that Princes condemn their own lips speake not except pardons If therefore any Enemies Abraham hath let one of them be unto him the black messenger of his Isaac's death but let not the Lord speake unto his servant lest he dye In the last place As the Destinie of Isaac was brought unto Abraham in the horrour of Darknesse and that too not by some Enemie or stranger neither by some neighbour or friend no not by some Man of God no nor yet by some Angel of the Lord but by the dreadfull JEHOVAH himselfe So 1. God who at Sundrie times spake in diverse manners spake in this third age of the World neither by Vrim nor by Thummim but either in Dreames or in Visions Oh not in a Dreame lest that feare not in a Vision lest that terrifie the Patriarch such a Dreame such a Vision as this will make his whole head sick and his whole heart faint 2. Let not the good old man espie an estranged looke from his hitherto benigne Lord rather let him not see the face of God at all for Who can see the face of God and live 3. Suppose that the Lord do indeede un-cloth himselfe of his majestie and terrour Suppose he speak face to face with Abraham as a man speaketh with his friend Neverthelesse as the case now standeth he in so doing Will not as his manner was confirm and comfort this Holy Father but he will as his manner is not deterre and dismay Him For 4. Call thy Daughter Jo-ruhamah and thy Son Lo-ammi Call Na-ommi not Naomi but Marah If a signet on the Lords right hand Jeconiah may not be deal squarely with him name him not Jeconiah but Coniah And if a God come not to blesse but to tempt if he come to un-Abraham the Patriarch say a not Abraham but Abram 5. I have called thee by thy name thou art mine The favouritie as ever awaketh starteth up and with joy answereth unto his name but b Hope disappointed maketh his heart sick For. In v. 2. of Gen. 22. Abraham was tempted 1. IN the b Surprize of which he a never dreamed He a thought to heare not the dire will but the good pleasure of his bountifull Lord He a expecteth not a burden but a blessing not a strict charge but enlarged promises not a billing command but loving kindnesses better then life Me thinks I see me thinketh I hear the overjoyed heart of this surprised Favourite b interrupting his God Take now O blessed possessour of heaven and of earth Thou art alwaies like thy self Thou art alwaies giving Take now thy son Which of the two sons whom the Lord hath graciously given unto mee Him by the Bond-woman or Him by the Free-woman Thine only Isaac The apple of mine eye and of thine eye also O my God Whom thou lovest And O most high God whom Thou lovest And get thee unto the land of Moriah For there the Lord will command his blessings And there for a burnt offering offer Most probably hitherto this Favourite fed his hopes But when it b added for a burnt offering offer Him then was Abraham tempted 1 What had He sinned that among all the inhabitants of Gods earth He alone should be singled out for such a prodigie as this Had he trespassed against a Neighbours Wife reason good then that he should give his first born for his transgression the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul But blessed be his God He had wrought no such follie hee Admit he had Here after the son of Davids adulterie shall dye a natural death and shall the Son of Abrahams integritie be haled like a beast unto the slaughter 2. Offer him up there To whom Satan He was a murderer from the beginning As for the God of all flesh His Delight is not to destroy but to preserve the work of his own hands 3. Of man shall mans blood be required Doth God trapan Abraham If when He shew his brother a mark was set upon Cain should Abraham slay his son would his God hold him guiltless 4. Take now thy Son For what for a burnt offering 1. Behold for a burnt offering some Lamb or Kid is proper such a firstling the righteous Abel offered up and with that sacrifice the Lord was then well pleased Doth he now forget to be gracious And hath he shut up the bowels of his compassions The tender mercies of the wicked are cruell Are the tender mercies of JEHOVAH so too Loe the blood of bullocks or of he goates of Lambs or of Kids he doth not now require the blood of which the preserver of men is now pleased to drink is mans blood 2. As mans blood so not the blood of some murderer rebel or oppressor not the blood of some Cain Lamech or Nimrod but of one harmless and blameless of one
upon the lad neither do thou any thing unto him for now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine onely Son from me n 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a Ram caught in a thicket by his horns And Abraham went and took the Ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his Son o 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireth as it is said to this day In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFULL TEMPTED Hebr. XI XVII By faith Abraham when he was tempted offered up Isaac AT what time this Epistle was written unto these Hebrew Converts these Hebrew Converts did as at this instant many of us do endure (p) Hebr 10.32 a great fight of afflictions So great a Fight of afflictions they now endured that as all of us so most of them had confessedly (q) 36 need of patience Such need of patience they now had that the Author of this Epistle whosoever he was opportunely (r) 35. presseth them in the same words where with I beseech you Cast not away your Confidence And that cast away their confidence they might not with the cords of a man even with a three-fold cord he endeavoureth to wind up their hearts unto a stedfastnesse of Faith For. First from Habak 2.4 he bringeth to their remembrance how they were not now to learn that (s) 38. the just should live by faith Next he defineth what faith is saith he (t) 17.1 Faith is the substance the confident expectation of things hoped For The things which are not seen are eternall and Faith is the evidence the conviction of things not seen Thirdly to declare what faith can do he in this XI CAP. repeateth what faith hath done Saith he V. 4. By faith Abel offered a more costly Sacrifice then Cains was V. 5. By faith Enoch so pleased God that God took him from Earth to Heaven V. 7. Then when the whole world despised the fore-warnings of God By faith Noah was so moved with fear of the Flood to come that for himselfe and for his familie he prepared an Ark of refuge It was through a Faith in the truth of Gods promises that Abraham when he was thereunto called v. 8. forsook his own Countrie v. 9. sojourned in a strange Land and here v. 17. offered up Isaac Hebr. 11.17 By faith Abraham when he was tempted offered up Isaac THis useful Observation immediately releiveth us with three seasonable comforts The one Abraham was tempted The other When Abraham was tempted he offered up Isaac A third When Abraham offered up Isaac he offered up Isaac by Faith Of the last of these first BY faith By the use and benefit which he made of his faith By the good fight of faith which He fought Abraham fighting every affliction which did assault him and overcoming every affliction which he fought Offered up Isaac had although with much conflict the patience and the power to offer up Isaac 1 upon the Altar Dub Since it is said m Now Know I that thou feared God It should seeme Abraham did offer up Isaac not by faith but through feare Solut You find no repugnance between the feare there applauded and the faith here extolled For example (u) Heb. 11.7 By faith Noah moved with feare As a prudent fear was the effect of that so a filial feare was the fruit of this Patriarks faith (x) 17. By a faith moving him to feare Abraham offered up Isaac Abraham offered up Isaac DUB Since n the life of a Ram was Sacrificed and m the life of Isaac was preserved Can it hold true that Abraham offered up Isaac Answ It holdeth true in every respect 1 Solut Beyond the scope of this Text Abraham offered up Isaac representatively ye Know as in Sacraments so in Sacrifices the sign signifying betokeneth the matter signified When in the stead of his Son Isaac he slew that Ram Abraham did representatively offer up the life of Isaac in the life of that Ram. 2 Sâ—lut Within this Text. 1. These words he offered up Isaac are not so much an expresse affirmation as a Select expression To shew how uncouth a Duty this Patriarch now underwent it is here specified that what Duty he now underwent was to offer up Isaac 2. In our Authors his large acceptation Abraham did offer him up Our Author here prosecuteth not the Death of Isaac but the life of Faith Now as in round numbers so in running styles it abundantly sufficeth if what is cursorily affirmed be true in the main 3. Our ready writer forgetteth not unto whom he Dedicateth this Epistle Unto these Hebrews Moses was read every Sabbath-day Tell these Hebrews out of the Book of Moses that Isaac was offered up and out of the Book of Moses these Hebrews will tell you your own limited sense and meaning With 2 Sam. 21.19 compare 1 Chron. 20.5 3. Solut Moses shews how Abraham offered up Isaac 1. Inceptively For instance Gen 22. He v. 3. arose and went unto the place of which God had told him And yet v. 4. two daies after he saw that place afarr off How this Answ He was v 3. beginning to go to that place Gen. 37. Reuben v. 21. delivered Joseph out of his brethrens hands neverthelesse v. 24. his brethren did cast him into a pitt and did v. 28. sell him into Aegypt Quest How then was Joseph delivered Answ Reuben v. 21. began to deliver and although the person of Joseph was not the life of Joseph was through Reubens care delivered Thus Abraham he arose to offer up Isaac Whereupon although the life of Isaac was not the person of Isaac was offered up upon the altar And that too 2. Actually The offering up of Isaac was not a three houres but a three daies businesse in all which space the Obedience of this Patriarch ceased not untill his Duty first ceased For he slew his Son 3. Intentionally As when this Son was first promised Abraham had a purpose a full purpose of heart to give this his Son his Name at his birth and to circumcise him at eight daies old so now that the same Son is demanded his true intention is to sacrifice him d at the third day And he did so 4. Interpretatively When Jephthah caused his deare child Judg. 11. to v. 39. vow the vow of a Nazarite he did v. 31. compared with v. 36 37. he did interpretatively offer up that daughter of his for a burnt-offering unto the Lord So here Abraham his oblation receiveth a value not from the execution of his hands for m his hands were tied up but from the resolution of his mind for k his mind was sincere even so much that the searcher of hearts made this construction of his sincerity m Thou hast not with-held thy Son from me It followeth If with-hold him the Patriarch did not some