A supplement to The Morning-exercise at Cripple-Gate, or, Several more cases of conscience practically…

II. Exemplary Means. And here I shall give you as short a touch as may be, of Men, Angels, and Christ himself. We are much drawn by Examples Examples they are not only Arguments but Wings. They give us a demonstration, that Precepts are practicable.

1. Men. Why should not we love God as well as ever Abraham did? God gives the word^(k), Abraham, take now thy Son, thy only Son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt-offering. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, &c. Had he not loved God, so far as the Creature can love God, infinitely, every word would have been as a dagger to his heart. q. d. Abraham] I gave thee that Name, from thy being a Father of many People, but now be thou the death of that seed which I intended to multiply (God seemed to change his Name to Abraham, as Solomon named his Son Rehoboam, an Enlarger of the People, who enlarged them from twelve tribes to two.) Take now] no time to demur upon it. Thy Son] so many years prayed for, and waited for. Thine only Son] all the rest of thy children are not worth thy owning. Isaac] the Son of thy Laughter, now the Son of thy Sorrow. Whom thou lovest] more than ever Father loved a child, and that upon several justifiable accounts. And get thee into the land of Moriah] though no time to deliberate before thou resolvest, yet time enough for repentance before thou executest thy resolutions. And offer him there for a burnt-offering] 'tis not enough to give him up to be sacrificed by another, but thou thy self must be the Priest to kill thy lovely child, and then to burn him to ashes. And Abraham rose up early, &c.] he quarrels not with God, What doth God mean to give me such a command, as never to any one else in this world? He consults not his Wife, Oh what will Sarah say? He sticks not at what might expose Religion, What will the Heathen say? You may well suppose great strugglings between Nature and Grace, but God seemed to press upon him with this Question; Whether dost thou love me or thy child most? Abraham doth as it were answer, Nay Lord, if that be the question, it shall soon be decided, how, and where thou pleasest. Another instance we have in Moses