his mother Hagar But this howsoever it was a grief to Abraham yet it inflamed his affection the more towards Isaac For as when Eliah was taken away his spirit was doubled upon Elisha 2 Kings 2.9 10. so Jshmael being gone now Isaac is his Fathers only darling and now Abrahams affection is doubled upon him But when God sees this his deep-setled love he strikes him as it were with a thunder bolt from Heaven and commands him to kill this his onely Son A Commandement more cruell then the Lawes of Draco which were written in blood wherein every word stabs Abraham to the heart Take saith he thy Son thine onely Son even Isaac thine onely beloved Son Was it not enough O Lord saith Origen that thou dost command him to kill his Sonne but thou must adde for this further vexation his onely Sonne or was not this enough but thou must put him in mind how dearly he loves him and was not this yet enough but the more to kindle and inflame â—is affection thou must likewise name him The parting with a Sonne will move a Father very much His Sonne so great is a Fathers affection unto his Sonne when Jacob heard that his Sonne Joseph was dead he mourn'd and Iamented Gen. 37.34.35 he put on Sackcloth and would not be comforted yet Jacob ye know had many more Sonnes In Rama saith the Prophet there was a voice heard weeping mourning and great lamentation Jerem. 31.15 Rachell weeping for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not Yet Rachell was young and might have more Children 2 Sam. 18.33 when David heard that his Sonne Absolon was slain he wept and lamented very bitterly for him nay he wished that himself had died in his roome O Absolon Absolon my Sonne my Sonne I would to God saith he that I had died for thee my Sonne Absolon Yet Absolon was a graceless and rebellious Sonne one that rose up in Armes against his own Father and sought to deprive him both of life and Kingdom and yet because he was his Sonne David could not but love him so great is a Fathers affection unto his Sonne which no man indeed can sufficiently conceive but he that is a Father and hath a Sonne We read in the Ecclesiasticall Histories Sozomen lib. 7. cap. 24. That a certain Merchant in Theodosious time hearing that two of his Sonnes were taken prisoners at the day appointed that they should be executed he came in all haste to Thessalonica where his Sonnes were hearing the matter why his Sonnes were to suffer he first offered a great summe of money for his Sonnes Ransome and when that would not be taken he offered his own life and made sute that he himself might die in their roome They who had the charge of the Prisoners committed unto them made him this answer that his death could not possibly excuse them both because a set number were appointed to suffer but offered withall that if he would die for any one of them his death should be taken The Father presently accepted their offer and mourning and lamenting over both his Sonnes he would willingly have died for either of them but he knew not whether so great was this Fathers affection unto his Sonnes that though it were equally divided between them both yet he was willing to have saved either of their lives even with the losse of his own His onely Sonne But now if a Father have but one Sonne then all his care all his love all his affection is wholly set upon him and then it is the greatest grief in the world to lose him And therefore the Prophet Jeremy in the sixt of his Prophesie speaking of the great mourning which the Jewes should make when their most cruel enemies the Chaldeans and Assyrians should come to destroy them Jerem. 6.26 he knew not how to express the greatness of their sorrow but by the sorrow of a Father who having but one Sonne is to part with him make saith he lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely Son shewing thereby that there is no sorrow like the sorrow of a Father who having but one Son is to be deprived of him And therefore our Saviour John 3. to set forth Gods infinite love towards us John 3.16 he saith That God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son If a Father have many Sonnes Plutaâ—ch de multitud Amicorum his affection is divided among them all and therefore the lesse towards any one like a River which being cut into many Channels his current ye know must needes be the weaker If a Father have many Sons the losse of one cannot be so grievous unto him because he finds comfort in those which are left him but having but one if he loose him especially when he is old as Abraham was this must needes be an extraordiraly grief unto him And yet Abrahams case is far more grievous His beloved Sonne Many a Father though he have but one Son yet his grief is the lesse when he is taken away because while he lived he was a grief unto him But Abraham must loose not his Son onely and his onely Son but Isaac his onely joy and comfort Isaac his onely beloved Son And indeed there was never any Father that had the like cause to love his Sonne Parents do commonly love their Children either because they are their own flesh and blood or because they continue their name after them for so long as their Children and Posterity continue they seeme in a manner to live in them But besides these Abraham had many other causes and far more forcible to love his Sonne Abraham as we heard before out of the 15 of Gen. even longed as it were to have a Sonne after that God had promised him a Sonne many a year past before he had him In the mean time God to make him as it were amends for his long expectation had given him many comfortable promises concerning this Sonne as that his seed should be called in Isaac Gen. 17.19 that he would multiply his seed like the starres of Heaven that he would establish his Covenant with Isaac for an everlasting Covenant and with his seed after him And hath not Abraham then an extraordinary cause to love his Sonne But besides this Abraham was fully a hundred years old before he had him Sarah had been barren for a long time and if she had not been so yet by reason of her age she was past bearing so that God had wrought a double miracle in giving him a Sonne all which did more inflame his affection towards him and yet now all upon the suddain as if God had repented him of his former kindness he commands him to sacrifice this his onely Sonne what now might Abraham think with himself he might now suppose that God had but deluded him in all his promises and that God had given him many
therfore our Saviour excused his Disciples for not fasting by an argument drawn from the time Can the children of the Bride-chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them Mat. 9.15 as long as they have the Bridegroom with them they cannot fast Giving of almes is another duty which is much commended in the Scripture unto us yet giving of almes hath a limitation of persons for all are not injoyn'd to give almes but onely such as are of ability and they that are of ability are not injoyned to give almes unto all but onely to such as are in want and necessity but as every one is injoyn'd to pray so to pray for all men I exhort saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.1 that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men So that if we put all these together That every one is injoyn'd to pray to pray for all persons to pray at all times to pray in all places and to pray with all manner of supplications and prayers This must needs be a very necessary duty because it is so generally and absolutely injoyn'd us And indeed there is great reason why prayer should have no limitation because every man may easily performe the same If God had commanded us to offer goats and bullocks unto him the poore and the needy might have excused themselves for want of ubility if God had commanded us to go a pilgrimage into faâ—re Countries and there do him service the blinde and the lame might have excused themselves by reason of their impotencie But no man can pretend any just excuse why he should not pray because every man may easily performe this duty And thus much briefly for the necessity of prayer The Object of prayer Object of prayer ye see is God Every one that is godly shall pray unto thee He doth not say shall pray to Saints or Angels or the Virgine but unto thee For this is the Title which David gives unto God That he is the hearer of prayer Psal 65.25 O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come For prayer is a part of Gods service and worship and so to be given to no other but God Therefore God commands us to pray unto him Call upon me faith God in the fifty Psalm Christ teacheth us to pray unto God Our Father which art in heaven c. The Spirit teacheth us to pray unto God For God saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba Father So that if we would be instructed to whom we must pray can we have better instructers then these the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghest who teach us to pray unto God onely Therefore if we search all over the Scripture from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation among all the prayers which are registred therein among all the Psalmes one hundred and fifty whereof two parts at the least are prayers yet we finde not one prayer among them all which was ever made to Cherubin or Seraphim to Raphael Gabriel or any of the Angebs to Abraham or Isaac or any of the Patriarchs to Moses or Samuel or any of the Prophets to Peter or Paul or any of the Apostles to the blessed Virgine or any of the Saints but onely to God Thus if we would have presidents of prayer can we have better presidents then these which the Scripture records and which have been made by the faithfull in all Ages And the reason is plain because they had no warrant out of Gods word to pray to any other but God and they knew besides that God and no other hears our prayers and sees our wants Indeed the Papists who pray to Saints and Angels hold that they cannot but see our wants and hear our prayers For How say they should not they see all things who sea the face of him that seeth all things as if by seeing God they must see all things that God sees which if it were true their knowledg ye know must needs be infinite as God is And besides this is plainly confuted by Christ for Christ who tells us Math. 18. Mat. 18.10 Mar. 13.32 That the Angells do alwayes behold the face of his Father in Heaven He likewise tells us Marke 13. That the Angells are ignorant of the day of Judgement And for the Saints departed the Scripture tells us That they know no more what is done upon the earth and have no understanding of the affaires of the living So Solomon tells us Eccles 9. That the dead know not any thing neither have they any more a portion for ever Eceles 9.6 in any thing that is done under the Sunne If any of the dead should have any knowledge of the state of the living then questionlesse Princes of the state of their Subjects and Fathers of their children But that Princes after they are departed have not any knowledge of their Subjects we see by Josias where God gratiously promises to take him away 2 King 22.20 that he might not see the evill which he would bring upon the Jewes And that Fathers have no knowledge after their departure of the state of their children Job plainly tells us in his 14. Chapter the 20. verse speaking of a Father that is dead and leaves children behind him His Sonnes saith he come to honour and he knows it not and they are brought low and he perceives it not Nay Abraham the Father of the faithfull to whom God promised that he would multiply his seed as the Starres of Heaven yet he had no knowledge after his departure what became of them And therefore the Israelites Esay 63.16 ver acknowledge that Abraham and Jacob that were dead had no knowledge of their miseries Doubtlesse say they thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Jacob know us not yet thou O Lord art our Father and Redeemer thy name is for ever Si tanti Patriarche c. If saith St. Augustine so great Patriarchs were ignorant what became of the people that came from their loines How shall the dead have ought to do in the knowledge or aide of the affaires and actions of their dearest survivers But suppose they did know our affaires and actions yet our hearts they cannot know for this is proper to God onely who is the searcher of the heart Now our hearts ye know are the seate of our prayers the lips do but vent them to the eares of men And therefore Solomon in the 1 of the Kings the 8. Chapter useth this as an argument why we are to pray to no other but God because God and no other can hear our prayers because he onely knows our hearts Hear thou saith he 1 King 8.39 in Heaven thy dwelling place and do and give to every man according to his wayes whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men So that he
ignorant of Gods will his vvill is sufficiently revealed in his vvord but we cannot discerne it to be his word till God by his spirit do inlighten our understanding And therefore St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 2. vve have received the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.13 that we might know the things that are given us of God and presently after in the same Chapter but the natural man saith he perceives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Now least we should imagine that because we are assured of the truth of Gods vvord onely by the testimony of Gods spirit that therefore till his spirit do work faith in our hearts the testimony of the Church and the hearing of the word is but vaâ—n and needless we are to understand that Gods spirit doth ordinarily beget faith in the godly by these outward meanes For first the Testimony of the Church concerning the vvord invites us to come with the rest to hear it and while we are diligent and attentive in hearing it Gods spirit doth ordinarily beget faith in our hearts whereby we believe it and when faith hath once taken root in our hearts then we are so fully resolved of the truth of the Scriptures that all those arguments whereof before we made but light account are now like infallible demonstrations unto us For then we see plainly how necessary it was that God should reveal his vvill unto us and that if he have not revealed it in the Scripture he hath revealed it no where But that it is his will which he hath revealed in his vvord these Reasons will confirm us First In that the majesty of Gods spirit doth appear in every part of the Scripture wherein there is nothing that savours of humane wisdom but every thing therein is heavenly and divine for if we consider the matter thereof it far exceeds all humane invention For who could tell us of the Creation of the vvorld and the fall of Angels of the corruption of the whole nature of man through the transgression and disobedience of our first Parents of the redemption of the vvorld by the coming of the Messias of the rewards of the faithfull in the life to come and the punishment of sinners These things and many other which the Scripture reveals do so far go beyond the capacity of man that had not God revealed them in his word they could never have been known Secondly If we consider who penned the Scripture we shall find them for the most part to be simple men and therefore of themselves not capable of those heavenly mysteries which they have revealed in their vvritings Hos 11.1 Zach. 11.12.13 Psal 22.16.18 They were not learned and yet they foresaw things to come as if they were present and foretold many things which many hundred years after did come to passe They were not eloquent and yet more powerfull in moving the affections then Tullie Demosthenes and all the Rhetoricians in the vvorld besides They lived not together but in divers ages and several places and yet they agree so perfectly without the least contradiction as if they had had but one mind among them In a word Deut. 32.51 Jonah 1.3.6 Jonah 4.9 they were not as other men given over to sin but lived more uprightly then the most in their times and yet they have registred their own sins and infirmities to remain as it were upon the file unto all Posterities which had they been led by humane wisdom they would never have done All which shewes that howsoever the Scriptures were written here by men yet they were indicted by God in Heaven Thirdly If we consider the perfection of the Law which is called the Decalogue we shall see that none but God could be the Authour of it For there is not any good either outward or inward which we are bound to perform to God or man but it is there commanded nor any evil from which we are to abstain but it is there prohibited all which to be comprized in so few words farre exceeds the invention of men or Angels Mens Lawes howsoever they fill many large Volums yet they are still imperfect and daily want something to be added unto them which when they were made was not thought upon Sometimes again they must have something detracted that being thought convenient for the time when the Law was made which afterwards is found to be inconvenient in regard that mens conditions do so often change So that as it is in the fable when the Moon upon a time begged a new Coat of her mother her Mother replied that it was impossible to make her a Coat which would be fit for her by reason that her shape did so often alter as being now in the full now in the wane one while in one form and strait in another So it is impossible for men or Angels to make Lawes which without adding or detracting should serve for all persons and all ages because their manners and conditions do so often change But this Law which we find recorded in the Scripture is so absolute and perfect that it serves for all persons in all places and all ages and yet needes nothing to be added or detracted All other Lawes extend no further then to mens sayings or doings their words and their actions and take hold of them onely if they be not answerable to the Law but for the thoughts of mens hearts they do not inflict any penalty upon them but do leave them free The Civilians say Cogitationis paenam in foro nostro nemo luat let no man be punisht in our Court for a thought But this Law doth search into the secrets of the heart not only restraining our actual sins but our sinfull thoughts even our very first motions and inclinations to sin though we do not yield our consent thereunto to put the same in execution Rom. 7.7 St. Paul saith Rom. 7. that he had not known concupiscence to be a sinne if the Law had not said Thou shalt not covet For like as the Sunshine doth make us to see the least atomes or moaths which if it were not for the bright light of the Sunne we could not discerne So this bright light of the Law discovers the least and most secret sins which without this Law we could not have known All other Lawes because they cannot judge of the heart do require no more then outward obedience and judge well of him that lives according to the Law for his outward Carriage But this Law which as the Apostle saith Heb. 4. is a discerner of the thoughts and intents Heb. 4 1â— requires both outward and inward obedience and judgeth not him to be a good man who frames himself outwardly to the observing of the Law but not inwardly For as a man is not to be counted well and in good health though his hands and feete and
would prophane the Name of God by swearing as they would have had him by the fortune of Casar So hainous a sinne was it thought by this Martyr to swear by the creatures If it be objected That the Scripture maketh mention of some holy men that have sworn by the creatures as that Joseph swore by the life of Pharaoh Gen. 42.16 2 King 2.4 Gen. 42.16 and that Etisha swore by the soule of Eliah 2 King 2.4 The answer is That either they are not oaths but onely vehement obtestations as some Divines do hold or if they be oaths yet because they are contrary to the Word of God that we are not to imitate their examples but we may say of them as St. Angustine said in another case Haec quidem in Scripturis santis legimus non ideò tamen quia facta credimus facienda creáamus ne duns passins sectamur exempla violemus pracepta We read saith he indeed of such examples in the Scriptures not that because we believe they vvere done we should therefore believe they may lawfully be done left so we violate the commandement of God vvhile that vve seek to imitate the examples of men But thus much likevvise for the object of an oath I come novv to the conditions Thou shalt swear in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first condition vvhich is required in an oath is that we swear in truth God to inflame us the more vvith the love of Truth is called in the Scripture Deut. 32.4 John 14.6 John 15.26.1 Tim. 3.15 the God of Truth Our Saviour calls himselfe the truth the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of truth Gods Word is called the Scripture of truth and his Church is called the pillar of truth To note unto us That they who are Members of his Church they who are instructed in his holy Word they who are led by his holy Spirit they who are redeemed by his Son and adopted by God to be his children they of all others are to stand for the truth to imbrance it in their hearts to testisie it in their words and when occasion requires to confirme it in their oaths And to this end God hath given us his sacred Name as a Seal to ratifie and confirme the truth that in matters of importance the truth vvhereof cannot otherwise be known but by taking an oath vve might use Gods Name and call God as a vvitnesse to the truth of our speech Whensoever therefore vve take an oath vve must be sure that the matter be true vvhich vve swear otherwise vve commit a most bainous sin in calling God as a vvitnesse to that vvhich is false And vvhereas an oath is of two sorts either assertory of things that vve affirme or promissory of things vvhich vve promise to performe vve must be sure that in them both we do swear the truth For if either vve doubt of the truth of the matter or have not a full purpose to performe our promise in taking such an oath vve for-swear our selves There are some that vvill make conscience of an assertory oath and vvill be sure they sweare nothing but that vvhich they know to be the truth yet for keeping their promise they make no great reckoning though they have bound themselves by oath for the performance thereof But every single promise if the thing be lawfull vvhich a man hath promised doth bind a man conscience to the performance of it and when an Oath is added there is a double bond And therefore it is said Heb. 6.17 That God widing more abundantly to shew the stablenesse of his counsell to the heirs of promise bound himself by an Oath that so saith he by two immutable things namely the promise which he had made and the Oath which he had taken we might have strong consolation So that taking of an Oath doth bind a man doubly to the performance of his promise Nay if that a man have once taken an Oath though he were induced thereunto by fraud and deceit yet the thing being lawfull he is bound to performe it And this we may see by the example of that Oath which was made to the Gibeonites Josh 9.19 for vvhen the Gibiâ—nites came craftily to the Jewes as though they had been men of a far country and had brought them to swear that they would not hurt them and the Iewes knew afterwards who they were and therefore were offended that they should be spared yet Ioshua and the Princes dia save their lives in regard of the oath which they had made unto them And because Saul afterwards brake this oath by destroying the Gibeonits there was a famine in the land for the space of three years and till seven of Sauls Sonnes were bang'd for this fact God was not appeased So grievous a sinne is the breach of an Oath in the sight of God And therefore whensoever we take an Oath we must alwayes have an eye to this first condition that we swear in truth Now there are two things contrary to the truth of an Oath First fraudulent and deceitfull swearing when we take an Oath with an intent to deceive them unto whom we sweare pretending one thing and intending another Such an Oath was that which Cleomenes took who having made a truce with his enemies for certaine dayes in the meane time set upon them perfideously in the night pretending that the truce was made onely for the dayes Such an Oath was that which we read of in Theodoret. A woman with child was hired by some to Father her child upon Eustathius the Bishop of Antioch The woman being examined and put to her Oath swore that Eustathius of Antioch was the Father of it whereupon the Bishop was deposed and banisht She afterwards falling into grievous sicknes confessed that she had wrongfully accused the Bishop and yet denied that she was forsworn because howsoever she pretended the Bishop yet she meant it not of him but of another in the City of the same name And such an Oath was that which was taken by Lasus vvhen he had stolne a fish out of a Fish-mongers shop as we see in Atheneus For Lasus having stoln it another received it both denyied it being both brought before the Magistrate put to their oath Athen. deipnos Lasus swore thus that he neither had it nor knew any other that stole it the other swore thus that he neither stole it nor knew any other that had it because he himself had it and Lasus stole it These are fraudulent and deceitful Oaths Secondly Contrary to swearing in truth is false swearing or perjurie when a man takes an Oath and yet knows that that which he swears is false And this hath been alwayes accounted both before God and man a most horrible odious and damnable sin Lying of it self is a heinous sinne and therefore called Prov. 12.22 an abomination to the Lord because that God who is the God of truth cannot but hate and abhorre
ever brought forth we have here the worthiest without all comparison his wonderfull Faith and Obedience to God in offering his Sonne For this Chapter containes that admirable History of Abrahams offering his Sonne Jsaac unto God wherein three things are especially set down First The cause which moved Abraham to offer his Sonne namely the commandement of God in this second verse Secondly Abrahams obedience to Gods commandement to the 11. verse And thirdly Gods approbation and acceptance of Abrahams obedience in the 12 and 13. verses For the first which is the cause that moved Abraham to offer his Sonne namely the Commandement of God it was the most grievous Commandement that ever was given and it was given as appears in the â—ver for the tryall of Abraham A strange tryall of so holy a man Lippoman in Cate. in Gen. which as Zeno the Bishop of Verâ—na said Ant eâ—â—m sacrilegum faceret si contemneret Deum aâ—t crudelem si occideret filium would make him either guilty of sacriledge if he contemned God or of great cruelty if he killed his Sonne So that Abraham is here brought into wonderfull straits for if he do not that which God Commands him God will condemn him of great impiety and yet if he do it 5. Difficulties in this Commandement all the world will condemn him of extreame cruelty Now the difficulty and grievousnesse of this Commandement appears especially in these five things which are all comprized and couched together in this second verse First In regard of the sacrifice it self which is to be offered and that is Isaac not Abrahams Servant but his Sonne not one out of many but his onely Sonne not one that he cares not for but his beloved Sonne Take now thine onely Sonne Jsaac whom thou lovest Secondly I regard of the party that must offer this sacrifice and that is Abraham Abraham a Father must sacrifice his Sonne he must do it himself and no other for him Take now thine onely Sonne and do thou effer him Thirdly In regard of the manner how he must sacrifice his Son He must offer him to God in holocaustums for a burnt-offring So that first he must kill him then hew him in pieces and when that is done he must lay him upon the fire and he must burne him to ashes for all this is required in a burnt-offring Fourthly In regard of the place where he must sacrifice his Son and that is set down two waies 1. More generally in the Land of Moriath a place as appears in the fourth verse that was distant from him three daies journy that all the while he is travelling thither with his Sonne his affection might have time to work within him 2. More specially upon one of the Mountaines saith God that I will tell thee of Though it be a most unnaturall and monstrous act which he is to persome yet he may not do it in secret but he must do it upon a Mountaine where he may the lesâ—e conceale it And fifthly In regard of the time when he must sacrifice his Son he must not stand to deliberate it but he must go presently about it Take now thine onely Sonne Nay now when he is old and his wife past bearing and therefore hopelesse of having any other children now he must take this his onely Sonne he must post into the land of Moriah and there upon one of the Mountaines he himself must offer him and that for a burnt-offring Difficulty 1 And thus we see the difficulty and grievousnesse of this Commandement I will now come to handle the particulars in the same order as I have propounded them And first of the first difficulty in regard of the sacrifice it self which is to be offered that is Isaac the Sonne and onely Sonne of Abraham God as appears in the former chapters had many wayes made tryall of Abrahams obedience Get thee saith God unto Abraham in the 12. chapter 1. verse Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred and from thy Fathers House unto the land that I will shew thee This was a hard Commandement Abraham was then almost fourscore years old and he must begin to travell and which might grieve him the more he must travell into a farre Country but he knowes not whither Gen. 12.5 yet Abraham did it and so he came into the land of Canaan as God had appointed him But it may be when he came thither this was a place to seate himself in and better it may be then in his own Country He was no sooner come thither Gen. 12.10 but he was welcom'd into the Land with an extreame famine insomuch that he was fain to shift for himself and to fly into Egypt and his wife with him yet Abraham was contented and never murmured against God But it may be when he came thither his entertainment was better He was no sooner come thither Gen. 12.15 but Sarah his wife was taken from him and for no other cause but because she was so beautifull to look upon Still Abraham persisted without any murmuring But it may be that God had extraordinarily blessed him in all other matters It is true indeed that God had greatly blest him but yet so as that that which of all wordly things he chiefly desired he still wanted Gen. 15.2 the comfort of having a Sonne to succeed him And therefore in the 15. chap. 1. verse when God had promised Abraham to be his exceeding reward Abraham takes the opportunity and presently puts up a Petition to God Lord saith he What wilt thou give me seeing I go childlesse and the Steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus Behold thou hast given no seed unto me and therefore my servant must be my heir This was that which so troubled Abraham God had given him great wealth and riches but what should he do with them he himself was old and might well suppose that he could not long enjoy them he was in a Country where he had no Kindred and he must leave them to a stranger that must succeed him Gen. 16.15 God promised him issue and first he gave him Jshmael by Hagar the bond-woman but this was not he that should be his Heir but another which Sarah his wife should bear him To be short Sarah conceived and brought forth Isaac Gen. 17.19 Isaac God himself had given him his name before he was borne a name which signified joy and laughter because Isaac should be a comfort and joy to his Father And now old Abrahams soule is revived when he seeth his Sonne Isaac presently he thinks he hath lived long enough now he hath a Sonne to succeed him but presently again he checks his thoughts and wishes to live longer that he may the longer injoy him But Abrahams joy may not long continue God hath another crosse for him in store and that is this Abraham must take Jshmael his first begotten and cast him out of dores with