mise of Isaac's birth was deferred, till the prediction should have nothing to support it, but the power and veracity of God. A Son might have been granted at the natural time of life, and have answered all the purposes of the promise but a child from a man as good as dead, and from a woman who had always been barren, and was now ninety years of age, would better answer the purpose of God with respect to Abraham himself. This is the word of promise, saith the Apostle, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a sona: at a time, when the blessing could not be expected in the common course of nature; and when that wisdom, which partaketh more of earth than of heaven, would have rejected the expectation of it as groundless and irrational. But Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. What though a child from such parents was like life from death? as a lily or rose springing out of frost and snow? It was therefore both a proper and a probable gift from that God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. *, Rom. ix. 9. K 4 See Rom. iv. 17, &c. XII. The first object of our enquiry, was the design with which God commanded Abraham to offer up his Son: and this, I think, may now be inferred from what we have already seen for all the other trials of the Patriarch were but preparatory to this. The design which was there begun, is here brought to its crisis and completion. On this occasion only, God is said to have tempted him, that is, to have tried and proved him to the uttermost because this occasion differs from the other, as the fire of the Refiner differs from the Touchstone: and unless the metal is first made to discover its royal nature by some slighter experiments, no good can be expected from casting it into the furnace. XIII. The matter of this Temptation divides itself into two parts: 1. The act of offering Isaac; and, 2. The loss of the promises, which seemed to be the necessary consequence. In the act itself there was a concurrence of every circumstance that could add to the weight of it. For in the first place, the birth of Isaac at a season so unexpected would engage the affection as much as it exercised the faith of his parents. I speak not of that partiality which is natural in parents towards the children of their later years; because that con consideration was superseded by another of much higher importance: for Isaac was more properly a child of grace than of nature; to whom those words of Eve might well be applied-I have gotten a man from the Lord. But he was likewise an only son—take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Abraham had no other to be the companion of his age. We see Jacob afterwards in the deepest affliction with the apprehension of losing Benjamin, though he had many other sons. When his brethren required him to go with them to Egypt, My son, said he, shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Every tender reader, especially if he is a parent, suffers with Jacob, and feels the weight of his fears and sorrows. What searchings of heart then must Abraham have experienced, when this act of obedience was first proposed to him! Natural affection, where an only child is the object of it, is a principle which sometimes operates so powerfully as to get the better of every other: and that it operated in Abraham, as in other men, is clear enough from the words of the scripture-take now thy son, son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. He was probably grown up to that state, when a son is not only an amusement to a father, but a comfort and support, a friend and companion. Some of the Jewish Doctors suppose him to have been at this time thirteen years of age; but Josephus, perhaps with better authority, five and twenty. Such a son, arrived at years of discretion, must have endeared himself by many acts of duty and affection. His submission on this occa-1 sion, and the piety of his riper years, give us reason enough to conclude, that his life had been a course of unreserved obedience. This is the son which Abraham was called upon to resign: and how? not in the common way of nature, but by a violent death, as the Lamb is carried to the slaughter: and, lest any circumstance of sorrow should be wanting, the Father himself was the priest appointed to offer this victim. For three days, that is, during his journey to the place appointed, his mind was agitated with the Joseph. Lib. II. c. xxii. It is no objection to this that Isaac is called a lad; for Ishmael is so called at sixteen years or upwards, and Benjamin after he was married. Compare Gen. xliv. 30, and xlvi. 21. force force of the divine precept on one side, and natural affection on the other. The temptation seems to have been purposely protracted by the length of the way, and the ascent of an high mountain, that there might be space enough for faith and affection, the fear of God and the love of the world, the expectation of things future, and the desire of things present; for all the passions of grace and nature to exert their utmost efforts. XIV. If it should here be asked, how we can reconcile this command with the nature of God? I must confess I know not, unless we take the nature of man also into the question. By the act of man's disobedience, the whole world fell into a state of forfeiture; or, as the Apostle hath expressed it, death passed upon all: and though the goodness of God, having provided a ransom, did on that consideration release the world from the extreme effects of his justice; yet an acknowledgment of this universal condemnation was required from the time that sacrifices were instituted. The law of Moses was declaratory of a right which had subsisted from the beginning, when Abel brought off the firstlings of his flock. For the first born of men, a pecuniary re a Gen. iv. 4. demption |