John Trapp on Matthew 3:9

Verse 9. And thinke not to say within your selves.] Hypocrites are never without their starting-holes, out of [illegible: 1 word] they must be ferretted. There are infinite turnings and windings in the heart of man, studious of deceiving it self by some paralogisme. Therefore the Apostle so oft premiseth, Be not deceived, when he reckons up [non-Latin text not transcribed]. reprobates, 1 Cor 6 9. Eph. 5. 6 &c. We have Abraham to our father] What of that? so had Ishmael [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. an [illegible: 1 word], Esau a castaway, &c. Externall priviledges profit not, where nothing better can be pleaded. [illegible: 1 word] the fool was of the line of faithfull Caleb, Qui [illegible: 1 word] post me, Followed me fully, [illegible: 1 word] God, Numb. 14. 24. Vertue is not, as lands, inheritable. Why should these men brag they had Abraham to their father, when they might have observed, that God had raised up of this stone, a son to Caleb? God is able] His power is, 1. Absolute, whereby he can doe more then he doth. 2. Actuall, whereby he doth that only that he willeth. Some things he can doe, but will not, as here, and [illegible: 1 word] 26. 53. Rom. 9. 18. Some things he neither will nor can, [illegible: 2 words] lie, to die, to deny himself. 2 Tim. 2. 13. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 3. Heb. 6. 17. for these things contradict his [illegible: 1 word], and imply impotency. But whatsoever he [illegible: 1 word], without impediment he [illegible: 1 word], Isa. 46. o Psal. 115. 3. Of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.] This he could doe, though he will not. And yet he doth as much as this, when he takes the stone out of the heart: when of carnall he makes us a people created again, Psal. 102. 18. when cut of a hollow person (one as empty and void of heart, as the hollow of a tree is of [illegible: 1 word]) is fetcht out heart of oak, and of a wilde asse-colt-born,Job 11. 12. is made a man: See both these similitudes, Job 11. 12. It was aexpounded. strange change that Satan mention'd and motion'd to our Saviour of turning stones into bread. But nothing so strange as turning stony hearts into hearts of flesh. This is a work of Gods Almighty power, the same that he put forth in raising Christ from the dead, Ephes. 1. 19. (where the Apostle, the better to set forth the matter, [illegible: 1 word] a six-fold gradation in the Originall) and in creating the world, [illegible: 1 word]. 51. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 17. The Prophet Isaiah [illegible: 1 word]. 51. 16. tels us, That he plants the heavens, and laies the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion, Thou art my people. And althoughIsa 42. 5, 6. mans heart be an emptinesse, as in the Creation, as herbs in Winter, or as a breathlesse clod of earth, yet that hinders not, [illegible: 1 word] the Prophet.