For he that submits to God with the least disputing when the tryal is great doth it with the least pain but it will be accepted by God if we prevail at last and do the thing that God expects in quitting all to secure an Interest in him although not with the same readiness that Abraham did though not without complaint and some disputing for God will pardon our Infirmities if there be a prevailing sincerity at the bottom that overcomes the reluctance of Flesh and Blood. But we should labour to come up to the perfection of Abraham's example and consider well with our selves that it is our constant profession and pretence as well as it was Abraham's to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to hold nothing too dear for him and withal that there is nothing which God can require us to quit voluntarily but he has an absolute Right to dispose of it and has absolute Power to deprive us of it whether we will or not When therefore God requires that we should freely resign that to him which he can take away if he pleases it is evident that he requires this not for his own good but for ours If he had needed Isaac and it had been beneficial to himself that Isaac should be killed what need of Abraham to do it And surely it is a mighty reason without delay to put God's Will and Command in execution when we know beforehand that all is meant for our good not that God is the better for that which we quit but because we are the better for doing it freely and voluntarily 2. The other remarkable is That God required of Abraham to offer up that his only Son in whom his seed should be called through whom all those great Promises were to be fulfilled which he had made to him before and herein consisted the nobleness of Abraham's Faith that though God seemed to require that which would destroy all the hope he had by those Promises which hitherto he had firmly believed yet he believed still and submitted to do that which in all appearance was utterly inconsistent with the truth of those Promises that had been made to him so that he against hope believed in hope And this is that which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews lays an Emphasis upon chap. 11. By faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son his only Son through whom those Promises were to be fulfilled Now though he could in obedience to God get over the difficulty that Natural Affection laid in his way yet here was the hard point how he should get over that temptation to unbelief which struck at the very Root of his Faith God had promised before that in Isaac his seed should be called If he believed him now how did it not appear that he was deceived before If he was not deceived before in trusting to that Promise how could he be obliged to do that which would take away all reason to believe that Promise any longer But yet without any of this disputing and contending he went speedily about the matter he rose up early in the morning and takes his Son along with him to that place where he was to offer him up Now if you ask how it was possible for him to believe in God notwithstanding this Command mark what the Apostle says By faith he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure That is to say he so fully believed all God's Promises made to him before that his Faith was not staggered with the seeming inconsistancy of this Command of God with his former Promises but concluded if there was no other way God would raise up Isaac from the dead for he accounted that is he was fully perswaded that God was able to raise him from the dead as in a sort he did by stopping his hand when he was about to slay him And now if upon the former consideration Abraham's sincerity deserved so high a testimony much more upon this for it is the highest praise of Faith to trust that God will make good all his Promises even when the way he takes so to do seems to be utterly inconsistent with them Well therefore might God upon this high act of Obedience renew his Covenant with Abraham in saying By my self have I sworn that because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me that in blessing I will bless thee and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed And observe here I beseech you how highly God was pleased with this Noble Act of Faith and how fitly the Promise wherewith God immediately rewarded him agreed to what Abraham had done By my self have I sworn that because thou hast done this thing in blessing I will bless thee Words cannot express a greater delight than these do One would think that Abraham had done some singular kindness to his God and if God were to be judged of as we judge of Man that God had received an extraordinary favour and benefit from him But such is the infinite and pure Charity of God that when we do what is good for our selves it is no less pleasing to him than if it were beneficial to himself But because Abraham had conquered the greatest Temptation of all to Disobedience viz. That the thing commanded seemed to destroy all the Promises he had made of a Blessed Posterity that should descend from him by Isaac God now rewarded his Faith with repeated Assurances By my self have I sworn that in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed And so well might the Jews in their Peace-offerings when they thankfully acknowledged the goodness of God in giving them the possession of so good a Land call to mind the offering of Isaac as the Great Foundation of all those Temporal Blessings which they as the Seed of Abraham enjoyed And after such a demonstration as this well may we trust God in all Conditions if we resolve to do as Abraham did if we count none of his Commandments grievous if we do not repine at his Providences if we go on to serve him and to depend upon him though when we must hope against hope for then God will not fail to shew that we have wisely trusted in him and cast our selves upon him he will shew himself as much pleased with our Faith as he was with Abraham's and will reward it as effectually To sum up all The Testimony of God to Abraham's Faith was not given merely for his own sake but for the instruction and encouragement of all true Believers to the World's end who when they deny themselves and do the hardest Duties and are
shall be encountred with some or other prophetick passages concerning Christ All which was designed of God for the confirmation of our Faith that when he should come in whom not only the plainest and most unquestionable Prophecies but all other Types and the more obscure prefigurations of the Messias would be fulfilled we might without the least doubt believe and follow him 2. This word of Prophecy is said to be a light shining in a dark place the reason of which Expression is plain enough if we consider that the Prophecies were nothing so easie to be understood by themselves as they were afterwards made by the Events which they foretold and therefore till the Events made all plain the World was very much in the dark about the meaning of them as to most particulars but yet some of them were so express and full that they had raised an Expectation not only in the Jews but amongst the Gentiles also of that extraordinary Person whom God would send into the World for their relief And therefore they might very well be compared to a light shining in a dark place For such a Light though it doth not make a particular discovery of those things that lie round about it is yet apt to draw the Eyes of all towards it that are within distance and the Predictions concerning Christ were so remarkable that they awakened the Gentiles themselves to take notice of them and were therefore a light shining in a dark place to Jews and Gentiles not indeed clearly revealing the Truth to them at present but preparing them to receive it when it should be clearly revealed in the accomplishment of all that had been foretold And whereas this light was said to shine till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their hearts The plain meaning seems to be that from the beginning of the World to the appearance of Christ the Prophecies concerning him grew still more express clear and particular as the time drew on that they were to be accomplished The whole word of Prophecy was a light shining in a dark place but the latter Prophecies such as in Isaiah Daniel and Malachi were like the dawning of the day before the Sun of Righteousness himself appeared By such degrees did God prepare mankind for the belief of the Gospel every Age contributing something before-hand to undermine the Prejudices of the Natural Man against it That God should send his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin was a Mystery so far above the reach of worldly Wisdom and natural Reason that considering our weakness it would hardly have born being revealed all at once and therefore God chose to let mankind into the knowledge of it by degrees and by the growing Light of Types and Prophecies to prepare them for that stronger Light of the plain and clear Truth which in due time was to be revealed And by this way God also provided a sure foundation for their Faith who should afterwards believe only we must do what St. Peter commends the Christians of his time for doing we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must give heed unto and bend our Minds to consider the word of Prophecy and we must attend to it as to a light shineing in a dark place till the day dawns that is we must not content our selves to try any one single Prediction only to compare it with the History of Jesus and then if that doth not give full satisfaction to try no more But as God by every new Prediction added more Light to the word of Prophecy so we should consider what Evidence is given to the Gospel by the Prophecies of the Old Testament taken altogether from the first to the last And this was the Method which our Saviour took to instruct the two Disciples going to Emmaus They were not unacquainted with the Prophecies of the Old Testament and yet they were mightily staggered at the shameful Death of their Master We trusted say they that this had been he which should have redeem'd Israel but now they know not what to think of it Then said Jesus unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his Glory But what course did he take to convince them did he take some one notable Prediction by itself and lay all the stress upon that No but beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself It was this that made the day-star arise in their hearts it was this that cleared all their doubts and enlightned their understandings so perfectly that they afterwards said one to another Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures Luke 24. 3. The word of Prophecy is said to be sure that is 't is a plain Testimony of God to make us sure that Jesus is the Christ For 1. It is absurd to ascribe the Prediction of these events to any cause less than Divine Omniscience or as St. Peter saith Prophecy came not by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private interpretation i. e. Not as some would make us believe no Prophecy of Scripture is to be meditated upon and read by private men but the Prophets did not utter their Predictions by the private Spirit but by the Spirit of God therefore if at vast distances of time from the event it was foretold in several Ages that one in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed would come into the world of such a Nation of such a Family at such a Time and Place with several publick and notorious Characters by which he should be known Then certainly he in whom all these Predictions have been fulfilled is by the Testimony of God's Omniscience declared to be that great Prophet who was to come into the World. Or shall we say that these things were the effects of Policy or Combination or Chance Could the most politick Statesmen foresee the rise of Empires not yet begun how much less could they fix their periods as the Prophets did in their Predictions concerning Christ and his Kingdom And can we think that they could at the distance of many Ages with their utmost skill foresee so many particular events as were foretold by the Prophets and accomplished in Christ Jesus Or shall we say that there was a confederacy between Moses and Jesus between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck
that we our selves are such Members of that One Body as we ought to be and as all others ought to be likewise The Eleventh Sermon Gen. XV. 16. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full ABRAHAM was now in the Land of Canaan and this was the third time God had appeared to him and promised him That his Seed should possess that Land. In which repetition of the Promise there is this remarkable Circumstance That God told him how long it would be before they should possess it and likewise mentioned one reason why they should possess it no sooner it should be Four hundred years before his Seed should come hither and not sooner because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full This was the case That the Seed of Abraham could not possess the Land of Canaan otherwise than by dispossessing the Canaanites So that the Bounty of God to the Israelites was likely to prove a terrible Judgment upon the Canaanites But these were not grown to that height of Ungodliness and Vice which God usually punishes by Destruction in this world but God foreseeing that in Four Hundred Years more their sins would be ripe for vengeance determined to reprieve them so long and in the mean time to dispose of the Seed of Abraham otherwise That which I intend to discourse upon is the long sufferance of God in bearing with Mankind till their Wickedness grows intolerable of which this is a most remarkable Instance That altho he might justly have destroyed the Amorites Four hundred Years before they were destroyed yet he gave them so long time and bore with them all the while Before I proceed to this I shall Premise Two Enquiries 1. What the Iniquity of the Amorits was 2. Whether the only Reason why God would not yet put them out of Possession was That their iniquity was not yet full 1. What was the Iniquity of the Amorites I answer That they were guilty of Idolatry of Violence and Abominable Uncleanness for they were for these Sins cut off by the Children of Israel when they were grown to that height to which they came in Four hundred Years time And it is not improbable that the Amorites were at that time when God appeared to Abram the worst of all the Canaanites in all these respects and therefore that God mentioned them rather than any of the rest as they were afterwards one of the first Nations that were destroyed as we read in Numb 21. and that with this particular Remark That their spirits were hardned and their heart obstinate as you may find Deut. 2.30 2. We must not say That the only Reason why God deferred the Punishment of the Amorites Four hundred years was because their iniquity was not yet full and that because there were other Ends of Providence to be brought about in the time some of which are mentioned in this place viz. That the Seed of Abraham might in the mean while be proved and tryed by many hardships they were to undergo and thereby instructed in their Duty and prepared for the Land of Promise For thus we find God said to Abraham v. 13. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years i. e. before the Four hundred Years are expired and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judg and afterwards they shall come out with great substance and in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full Where you see there are more ends than one for which God would not put the Seed of Abraham into a present Possession of the Promised Land nor do it in haste neither partly because God would still bear with the Canaanites partly because the Israelites yet to be born were to be instructed by the variety of Conditions through which they were to go and be prepared by the discipline of Divine Providence for the obtaining of that Promise which was made to Abraham and his Seed And this is the admirable way of God's Providence in governing and disposing all things that by the same means he brings about several ends fitting and accommodating things to one another in that manner that every event seemed to be his particular and only care while all the rest were as particularly aimed at and the means directed to it as certainly as to any one of them These things seemed needful to be premised for the better understanding of this place And now I proceed to the main points of Instruction which are suggested in the Text and they are these two 1. The Patience of God in bearing so long as he doth with the Provocations of his Justice from wicked men And 2. His untaxable Justice in bringing upon them that Punishment at last which their Incurable Obstinacy deserves For both these Observations are clearly suggested by the Text The seed of Abraham should not come Four hundred Years because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full but then they should come the former being as I said a great Demonstration 1. Of the Patience of God for the Amorites were already faln into the sins for which they were at last cut off only they were not come to that intolerable height of wickedness to which they were grown in process of time now all the while they were Examples of God's Patience because he might justly have appeared against them to destroy them even at that very time when he determined to give them yet Four hundred Years to repent and escape No sooner is Sin committed but Punishment is presently due and therefore it is Goodness to forbear the inflicting of it the very next moment but to forbear so long a time is properly Patience and Long-sufferance and it is such Patience as is proper only to him who is God and not Man For the Illustration of which I have two Things to commend to your Consideration which will I doubt not be useful to assist us in framing worthy and honourable Apprehensions of God with respect to this matter The First is 1. That God never wants Power and Means and Opportunities to be avenged of wicked men 2. That he hath always the same displeasure against and hatred of sin for these things put together do clearly shew That the Patience of God is indeed a Divine Perfection and infinitely to be praised above all that we can imagine of the like quality amongst men For 1. God never wants Power and Means to punish his Enemies and therefore it is in him always Goodness to reprieve and his deferring the Punishment is properly the Patience which is worthy of Praise When men forbear revenging the Affronts and Injuries that they have received it is very often because they wait for an opportunity which yet they want they are forced to be content