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Sermon
1.
Of the
N
AT 1
v
1
T
1
E.
1·
~
;meth the
r(almijis
queftion;
Nrmquidin vanum;&crW/Jat hailthou made
.tl
mmfor n0t1ght!
p(,_a
7•41
.Thlt cannot be: Sogre;zt
wi{-dome
cannot doe fdgreat a worke,
mvAme.
But
tn
vame
lt
had
beene,if
God
had nor/hewed mercy; And, therefore was mans cafe rather; ofthe twame,
atterof commiferanon. (This 1s
Leo.)
,m And rhus havnhey travelled, and thefe have
th~y
found, why He did
a_pprihend
us,
ra~
3
h
than them.
It may be, nor amilfc. Bur, we will conrenrour felves, for
ourundenobu
ho~r?
when.:c commet:h this to us, with the anfwer ofthe Scriptures
:\V
hence, _but from
L"<.qt.
h
t
ndfY
mercies ofour God, whereby_thtS day /;ath vijitedm? zelus Domtm
(fa1th
Ef•y,) The
EL•y
9 . 1 •
t
~e
of
the LerdofHojls )hallbring
it
topa(Je: propter nimiam charitatem
(faith the Apofile)
Eph.q ;
;:,
~cu;
dtlexit
(faith He, He Himfdfe;) And we (taught by Him)fay,Evcn
fo Lord;fJr, [o
~:
•.
!~~~;
it was thy good pleafure thus to doe.
·
. All thiswhilearcwc abouttakingthe
Sud:
theSwlingencrall.
But
now, why
Abra-
Ill;
h411's Seed?
Since it is
<Angels,
[n thdir(l: parr,why nor
Men
m
the fecond, but
Seed?
Or;1f
The
S(ed,
to
exprelfe
ournatrm;
why notthe
Seed of the woman,
but
thd~ed
of .Abraham_?
It Choice.
mzy
be thought, becaufe he wrote to the
Hcbrerves,
he rather ufed this terme of
AbrahamJ ;;;;;.:,–
feea,becaufe,[othey
were, and fo loved ro bdhlcd, and he would pleafe them.
Bur,
I find,
s"d.
the ancient
F
•thm
goe further; and, out of1t, ra1fe matter, both ot
comfort,and
of
dtrec1son:
and that, for us too.
r.
Of
COttifort,
firf't; with reference to our
S4viour,who
taking on Him
<.Abrahamsfad,
!
muf'twithall take on Him
thejignattm of Abrahams Sctd,
and
be,
as He was,
circrw;ci(ed.
F'"{."'
1hereis agreat matterdependeth evrn on that. For,
beirlgcircumcifed,
He
became a debtor,
o7t.~'.'i.
to keepe the whole law
of
God:
which bond
we
had broken, and forfeited, andincurred rh.e
eurfe
annexed,and were ready to be
apprehended,
and
comm~tted
for it. That fo,
H~,keeping
the Law, might recoverbackc the
chzrographtem
c~ntra
nos,
the
hand.wntmgthatrv.u a:
Cota.t 4 ,
gllinftm
;and fo,fet us free ofthe debt. TillS Bondd1dnot relate,
to
the
Seedofthe Woman;
it pertained (properly) to
thefeed ofAbraham
:therefore, that terme fir1_eth us better.W1th·
out faile, two difiinct benefits they are:
'Fa[/us homo,
and
>
Faelus freb lege
;and, fo doth
Saint
P-<~,ul
recount them.
<.Made man;
that is, the
S~ed
ofthe Woman:
and,
made underthe
G•l.ti· ,
Law;
rhatJs the
SeedofAbraham.
To lmle purpote, He fi1ould have taken the one, 1f He
.had not alfo undertaken the other, and, as the
Seed ofAbraham,
emred bond for us, and t:!-
our
debt
upon Him. This firfr.
2.
And, belides this, there is yet another; referring it to the Nation, or Peopl<.>, whom
He
tookeupon
Him.
It is fure, thev were, ofall other people, the
mo(bmtorvard;
both, of
the
hardeft hearts,
and of the
f!iffofl
neckes; and(asthcHeathen
mannoteththem)ofthc
worfrmmres. Go
n
Himfelfetdleththemfo; it was, fornovertueoftheirs, or for any
pure naturals in them, that He rooke them to Him, forthey were,that way, the worfr ofrhc
Deur. 9.f.
wholeearth. And fo then, the taking
of...Abrahams feed
amounreth roas much, as that of
Saint
Pare!,
(nolelfetme, than
worthy ofall men tu be received;)
tlilar He
came into the world, to,
Tim.•.•S
fave
jilmers;
and that,
chiefeJinners,
as (itis cerraine) they were; even the
Seed ofAbrdham,
ofallthe
Seedofv1dam.
'
But, not for comfort ondy, but for
dire[/i6n
too, doth He ufe
v1brahams
name here.
2
Even, to cntailc the benefit comming by it,
to
hisS
eed;
that is, to fuch as he
was.
For, for
For ?ur
Ji–
hi<fake,were all 'l{•tions blejfed.
And Chrijl,though He
rook
the
feed ofthe WOman,
yet doth
Z~~~:~
..
~
notb~nefit
any,bm
thefeedofv1braham;
even thofethatfollow the fieps of-His
faith.
For,
by
bth,Abraham
tooke
~o)d
ofH1m,by whom,He was in mercy taken holq of:
Et
ttt
mitte
G:n.'"''
fritm
&
tent~ijlz_(fatth
Samt
Augreftme..)
That faith ofhis, to Him, was
acco4ntedfor righte-
Rom. 4 . 3
.
..f,e(!e.
To him was, and to us fi1all be (fmh the
Apojlle,)
ifwe be inlike{orr
appY'hen(ive
hfH,m.
Either, as
A~raham;
or, as the true
SeedofAbraham (Iacob)
was, that
took~fuch
holdonHtm, as he fatd plamdy,
Non dcmittam te, niji bcmdixeris mihi.
wirhour a blefling
G•·n.p.•~
llwouldnotlet Him goe. Surely,nottheHebrewes alone. nay
north~
Hebtenies
at all fo;
Rom.~.t.
a
their carnal! propagation: they ondy are
Abrahams
fe~d,
that lay hold ofthe wo;d of
f::~~e.
And,
theGalatians [o
do[ng, though they were meere
heathen men,
(as
we
be;) yet
G>!. 3
.d.
Be eththem, they are
Abrahamsfeed,
and fhall be blelfcd togctherw[th him.
:
ur,thatls not all; there goeth more to
the
making us
Abrahamsfeed;(
as
ChrijlHim[elfe;
B 4
the
r
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