The Trial of Abraham was by an Extraordinary Command. There is no Injustice in it, that the Supreme Law giver of the World, whose Will is the highest Rule o• what is Right, should give new Laws to m•n as he pleases; and that he should alter and repeal any former Laws that he hath given to them. Abraham understood well, That the Law giver who does require that we do no Murder, has the prerogative to Declare also What is Murder. He understood, That the Sovereign Arbiter of Life and Death, may order who among the Children of men shall Die, and when and how, as it pleases Him. […] man ask, How Abraham […] ⟨p. 5⟩know, there was no Delusion in this Injunction. I answer, he infallibly knew it; and suppose I should say, there is a way infallibly to know it, but that no tongue is able to express it! Until I can hear a man so describe what Light is & what Fire it, as to make a Blind man apprehend it, I can't imagine that a man should in significant and sufficient words distinguish Communion with the Invisible World: And there is a way plain to the Sense of those that have it. But, I think, I may give yet a little clearer Account of it, than so. There is a certain Bright Cloud of Heaven, of quite another consistence than that which drops our ordinary Rain upon us. That Cloud was filled with the Light and Fire, where in the Son of God, chose to Lodge as His Covering from the Beginning, that so He might therein Exhibit Himself with an agreeable Majesty unto His People. 'Tis the same that was called, the SHECHINAH; those flaming Angels of the Lord, which are called, The Angels of His Presence, attended it; and it was of old seen by the People of God, on […] great Occasions. That Shechinah now […] unto Abraham, as it had formerly […] ⟨p. 6⟩And such was the Glory of the Lord in the Appearance, that it was impossible to be counterfeited. But why must Abraham thus be tried? One well expresses it. Non ut ipse Hominem invent•at, sed ut Homo se inveniat; It was not that God might know what was in Abraham, No, but that Abraham should know what was in himself; and that all the Children of Abraham also might know, for their future Instruction.
The Tryal of Abraham was by an Extraordinary Command. There is no Injustice in it, that the Supream Law giver of the World, whose Will is the highest Rule o• what is Right, should give new Laws to m•n as he pleases; and that he should alter and repeal any former Laws that he hath given to them. Abraham understood well, That the Law giver who does require that we do no Murder, has the prerogative to Declare also What is Murder. He understood, That the Soveraign Arbited of Life and Death, may order who among the Children of men shall Dy, and when and how, as it pleases Him. 〈…〉 man ask, How Abraham 〈…〉 ⟨p. 5⟩know, there was no Delusion in this Injunction. I answer, he infallibly knew it; and suppose I should say, there is a way infallibly to know it, but that no tongue is able to express it! Until I can hear a man so describe what Light is & what Fire it, as to make a Blind man apprehend it, I can't imagine that a man should in significant and sufficient words distinguish Communion with the Invisible World: And there is a way plain to the Sense of those that have it. But, I think, I may give yet a little clearer Account of it, than so. There is a certain Bright Cloud of Heaven, of quite another consistence than that which drops our ordinary Rain upon us. That Cloud was filled with the Light and Fire, where in the Son of God, chose to Lodge as His Covering from the Beginning, that so He might therein Exhibit Himself with an agreeable Majesty unto His People. 'Tis the same that was called, the SHECHINAH; those flaming Angels of the Lord, which are called, The Angels of His Presence, attended it; and it was of old seen by the People of God, on 〈…〉 great Occasions. That Shechinah now 〈…〉 unto Abraham, as it had formerly 〈…〉 ⟨p. 6⟩And such was the Glory of the Lord in the Appearance, that it was impossible to be counterfeited. But why must Abraham thus be tryed? One well expresses it. Non ut ipse Hominem invent•at, sed ut Homo se inveniat; It was not that God might know what was in Abraham, No, but that Abraham should know what was in himself; and that all the Children of Abraham also might know, for their future Instruction.
