22. This whore is now the exercise and probation of the spiritual cogitations or senses in the Christian mind; but this whore does not hurt the children of Christ; indeed it has a false lust, and is a very wedded harlot, which shall not see the kingdom of God; but it must yet serve for good to the children of God; for by it the cross of Christ is laid upon the precious mind, so that the mind must continue in humility, and not say, I am righteous, I am holy. No! no! the holiness is not this child's own; but it is God's mercy, who has heard the crying of the lad, viz. of the poor forsaken mind. Thus the noble holy mind, viz. the new man, born in Christ's spirit, must be wedded with this Egyptian, evil, malicious, idolatrous, whorish, ungodly woman, which is neither able to do, will, nor think any good, and bear with it the foul shame and reproach, so long till the unclean idolatrous whore dies. And then this lad is led of the angel into Isaac's tent, viz. into Christ's flesh and blood.
23. And this is the very real figure of the spirit in Moses, wherefore he has so punctually and emphatically deciphered this figure; for the spirit in Moses aims so directly and fully at the mortifying of man's selfhood; and plainly speaks, that the self-will must be cast out from God; and where Christ is born, there the same is brought to pass; as here, when Isaac, the type of Christ, was born of the free woman, then the son of the bond- woman must be cast out. For in Isaac the seed which should inherit the kingdom of God was to be called; it should not proceed out of the self-full nature, of the flesh and will of man, but out of God's will; out of the mortified will of our nature, which dies to its selfhood, and despairs of itself, a Christian must be born. That is, Ishmael, viz. the poor sinner (when he becomes an enemy to sin, repents of it, and wills it no more) shall be born in God's mercy; indeed nature must and shall be there, even with its evil earthly flesh, but Christ is brought forth from thence, as a fair blossom out of the wild earth, as a [pleasant] fruit out of the kernel.
24. A very excellent figure the spirit in Moses does present unto us, in Abraham and Sarah, when Sarah would cast out the son of the bond- woman from the inheritance; so that the son of the bond-woman should not be heir with the free. The same seemed unjust to Abraham, seeing the lad was of his seed, and his own son. But God said to him, Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the lad, and because of the bond-woman; in all that Sarah has said unto you, hearken to her voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called.
The inward precious figure of this is thus:
25. When a man is born again in Christ's spirit, as it was here with Abraham, then he thinks sometimes that he is wholly new, and knows not himself yet aright; and that he has the whorish Egyptian bondwoman, with her scoffing son of vanity, in his arms. And now, when it happens that of ten times the mocker, viz. Ishmael, the son of the bond-woman, does break forth out of him, yea, even wholly without his will and purpose, that Sarah (that is, honest minds, to whom God does make it known) do reprove him; nay, and is of ten times reproved of the evil, so that it is plainly declared to him that this mocker should be cast out, this, Abraham, viz. the man, will by no means brook. He will be uncontrolled; and yet he does not know, that he in this time of his earthly life stands in the judgement of God; that his words and works must be daily proved and judged. He will often go in a way of justification, and maintain his own cause, and will be praised; and in the mean time forgets the Egyptian bond- woman in his arms, and her scoffing son, who sometimes peeps forth in his words with evil interpretations, wrong meanings, and evil surmises, and covers itself finely under a glozing mantle of glistering hypocrisy. This now the free woman casts out, that is, the spirit of Christ casts it out by other people's mouths; and yet this seems to be unrighteous to the man; seeing the word is born of his body, and arisen out of his very mind.
22. This whore is now the exercise and probation of the spiritual cogitations or senses in the Christian mind; but this whore does not hurt the children of Christ; indeed it has a false lust, and is a very wedded harlot, which shall not see the kingdom of God; but it must yet serve for good to the children of God; for by it the cross of Christ is laid upon the precious mind, so that the mind must continue in humility, and not say, I am righteous, I am holy. No! no! the holiness is not this child's own; but it is God's mercy, who has heard the crying of the lad, viz. of the poor forsaken mind. Thus the noble holy mind, viz. the new man, born in Christ's spirit, must be wedded with this Egyptian, evil, malicious, idolatrous, whorish, ungodly woman, which is neither able to do, will, nor think any good, and bear with it the foul shame and reproach, so long till the unclean idolatrous whore dies. And then this lad is led of the angel into Isaac's tent, viz. into Christ's flesh and blood.
23. And this is the very real figure of the spirit in Moses, wherefore he has so punctually and emphatically deciphered this figure; for the spirit in Moses aims so directly and fully at the mortifying of man's selfhood; and plainly speaks, that the self-will must be cast out from God; and where Christ is born, there the same is brought to pass; as here, when Isaac, the type of Christ, was born of the free woman, then the son of the bond- woman must be cast out. For in Isaac the seed which should inherit the kingdom of God was to be called; it should not proceed out of the self-full nature, of the flesh and will of man, but out of God's will; out of the mortified will of our nature, which dies to its selfhood, and despairs of itself, a Christian must be born. That is, Ishmael, viz. the poor sinner (when he becomes an enemy to sin, repents of it, and wills it no more) shall be born in God's mercy; indeed nature must and shall be there, even with its evil earthly flesh, but Christ is brought forth from thence, as a fair blossom out of the wild earth, as a [pleasant] fruit out of the kernel.
24. A very excellent figure the spirit in Moses does present unto us, in Abraham and Sarah, when Sarah would cast out the son of the bond- woman from the inheritance; so that the son of the bond-woman should not be heir with the free. The same seemed unjust to Abraham, seeing the lad was of his seed, and his own son. But God said to him, Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the lad, and because of the bond-woman; in all that Sarah has said unto you, hearken to her voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called.
The inward precious figure of this is thus:
25. When a man is born again in Christ's spirit, as it was here with Abraham, then he thinks sometimes that he is wholly new, and knows not himself yet aright; and that he has the whorish Egyptian bondwoman, with her scoffing son of vanity, in his arms. And now, when it happens that of ten times the mocker, viz. Ishmael, the son of the bond-woman, does break forth out of him, yea, even wholly without his will and purpose, that Sarah (that is, honest minds, to whom God does make it known) do reprove him; nay, and is of ten times reproved of the evil, so that it is plainly declared to him that this mocker should be cast out, this, Abraham, viz. the man, will by no means brook. He will be uncontrolled; and yet he does not know, that he in this time of his earthly life stands in the judgement of God; that his words and works must be daily proved and judged. He will often go in a way of justification, and maintain his own cause, and will be praised; and in the mean time forgets the Egyptian bond- woman in his arms, and her scoffing son, who sometimes peeps forth in his words with evil interpretations, wrong meanings, and evil surmises, and covers itself finely under a glozing mantle of glistering hypocrisy. This now the free woman casts out, that is, the spirit of Christ casts it out by other people's mouths; and yet this seems to be unrighteous to the man; seeing the word is born of his body, and arisen out of his very mind.
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