Serm. II. The ExcellencyofAbraham's FaithandObedience. i 1 whether it be Good, or whether it be Evil. Nothing is now,covered, which 'hall not then be revealed, nor hid which(hall not then be known. Let us then be now what we would be glad to be found in that, Day, when all Pretences fhall be examined, and the clofeft Hypocrifie ofMen fhall be laid o- pen and dafht out of Countenance ; when the Secrets ofall Hearts fhall be difclo- fed, and all the hidden Works ofDarknefs shall be revealed, and all our Thoughts, Words, andAdions !hall be brought to a.ftrift and fevere Tryal, andbe cenfured by that impartial and infallible Judgment of God, which is according to Truth ; In the day when God fhall judge the f crets ofMen, by refus Chr , To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghofi, be Glory now and fir ever. Amen. SERMON II. The Excellency of Abraham's Faith and Obedience. ttreaí$`d ` gt WhiKe- H.11 tó$6: before thé Printef Ann. H E B. Xl 1 7, _ 18, 1 9, iy Faith Abrahamwhen he was, tryed offered up Ifaac : and he Mai had received the Promifes offered up his only begotten Son : of whom it was laid, That in Ifaac [ball thy feed be called: accountä ing that God was able to raife him up , even from the Dead; frorü Whence alfo hé received him in a Figure. THE defign of this EpiftIeto the Hebrews is to recommend to them the Chriftian Religion, to . which they were but newly converted, and to encourage them to conftancy in the Profeflionof it, notwithftanding the Sufferings which attended it. He fets before them in this Chapter feveral Ex- amples in the Old Teftament of thofe, who, tho' they were under a much more impededdifpenfation, yet by a ftedfaft belief in God and.his Promifesi had per- formed fuch wonderful Ads of Obedience and Self deuyal. He begins with the Patriarchs before the Flood ; but infifts chiefly upon the Examples of two eminent Perfons of their own Nation, as neareft to them, and molt likely to prevail upon them, the Examples of Abraham and Mofes, the one the Father of their Nation, the other their great Law-giver, and bothof them the greateft Patterns of Faith and Obedience, and Self -deuyal, that the Hiftory of all former Ages, -froto the beginning of the World, had afforded, I !hall at this time, byGod's aflìftance, treat of the firft of thefe,.the Ex- ample of Abraham, the Conftancyy of whofe Faith , and the Chearfulnefs of whofe Obedience, even in the difficulteft Cafes, is fo remarkable above all the other Examples mentioned in this Chapter. For at the Command ofGod, he left his'Kindred and his Country, not knowing whither hefhoúldgo, by which emi- nent Ad ofObedience, hedeclared himfelf to be wholly at God's Difpofal, and- ready to follow him :.But this was no Tryal in comparifonof that here inmy, Text, when God commanded him to offer up his only Son : But fuch was the immutable ltedfaftnefs of his Faith, and the perfeft fubmiffion of his Obedi- ence that it does not appear that he made the leaft check at it i but out of per-, felt Reverence and Obedience to the Authority of the Divine Command, he C 2 teeth
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=