25. In another instance the Scripture
reveals through Abraham that it was God Who spoke. He receives
the further promise of a son, Isaac. Afterwards there appear to
him three men. Abraham, though he sees three, worships One, and
acknowledges Him as Lord. Three were standing before him,
Scripture says, but he knew well Which it was that he must worship and
confess. There was nothing in outward appearance to distinguish
them, but by the eye of faith, the vision of the soul, he knew his
Lord. Then the Scripture goes on, And He said unto him, I
will certainly return
unto thee at this time hereafter, and Sarah thy wife shall have a
son Gen. xviii. 10.; and afterwards the Lord said to Him,
I will not conceal from Abraham My servant the things that I will
do Ib.
17.; and again, Moreover the Lord said, The
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is filled up, and their sins are exceeding
great Ib.
20.. Then after
long discourse, which for the sake of brevity shall be omitted,
Abraham, distressed at the destruction which awaited the innocent as
well as the guilty, said, In no wise wilt Thou, Who judgest the
earth, execute this judgment. And the Lord said, If I find in
Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place
for their sakes
Ib. 25,
26.. Afterwards,
when the warning to Lot, Abraham’s brother, was ended, the
Scripture says, And the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven Ib. xix.
24.; and, after a while, And the Lord visited
Sarah as He had said, and did unto Sarah as He had spoken, and Sarah
conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of
which God had spoken to him Ib.
xxi. 1, 2.. And
afterwards, when the handmaid with her son had been driven from
Abraham’s house, and was dreading lest her child should die in
the wilderness for want of water, the same Scripture says And the
Lord God heard the voice of the lad, where he was, and the Angel of God
called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What is it,
Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad from the
place where he is. Arise, and take the lad and hold his hand, for
I will make him a great nation Ib.
17, 18..