gently" by prayer his heavenly grace, by holy meditation in his word the knowledge of his will, by humble obedience to his laws his gracious approbation; and may he ever be with us to hold up our goings in his paths, that our footsteps slip not!

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his

house; by the which he

condemned the world,

and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. ver. 7.

In Noah we see faith exhibited by obedience to the warning of God, in opposition to the example of the whole world. They perished for want of faith, waiting for the evidence of their senses: he, convinced, upon the divine authority, of the approach of a deluge, which he did not see till a century more had elapsed, was filled with holy fear and circumspection, and prepared the ark, in which both he and his family were eventually saved :-thus condemning the world by his example, and receiving for his own blessed portion, that high privilege of being esteemed righteous in the sight of God, which the faithful, and they alone, are appointed to inherit. "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation'." Would we attain to the same inheritance? would we be accounted righteous before God, and be so declared at the final separation of the just from the unjust? Then let us remember, that a life of faith is indispensable to our justification with God; and let no taunts, no sophistry, no evil example of the world, turn us aside from this only way of

righteousness and salvation. According to all that the Lord reveals or commands, so let us believe and do, and we are safe: any other course, how numerous soever its advocates, must end in ruin.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obey ed; and he went out,

We come next to that eminent example of faith— the patriarch Abraham. We behold him, in whose steps we must follow if we hope to inherit the promises of the Gospel, acting continually by faith in all his varied trials. What, for instance, enabled him to leave his country at the divine bidding, and to follow implicitly into a land of which he was utterly ignorant? Or what, when he reached that land, made him live in it patiently as a sojourner,

not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of

promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and

Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations,

whose builder and maker is God. ver. 8-10.

dwelling with his family (the heirs with him of the same promise) in tents, without so much of the land in actual possession "as to set his foot on'?" Surely it was faith, which taught him to look so confidently to the ultimate fulfilment of the divine promise, and to raise his expectations beyond things present and visible, beyond Canaan and its towns, to the eternal city planned and built by God, that sacred community, that spiritual heritage among the nations, to be begun upon earth but consummated in heaven, of which he was constituted heir.

2

To the example of Abraham is joined that of Sarah, who by faith became in her old Through faith also Sara herself received age the mother of the "child of

promise," and, through him, of that numerous elect nation amongst whom Christ was to arise.

promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, by the sea shore innumerable. ver. 11, 12.

strengthto conceive seed,

and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had and him as good as dead, and as the sand which is

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced

them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that

a

better

they came out,they might
have had opportunity to
have returned. But now
they desire
country, that is, an hea-
is not ashamed to be
venly: wherefore God

All these distinguished saints of God closed in faith their earthly career; leaving us an example that we should follow their steps;—an example, which will appear the more forcible, if we reflect that they had not actually received the promises, as we have received them distinctly announced to us in the Gospel. They beheld them only at a distance, in the dim futurity; yet on these indistinct country from whence and remote intimations of future blessings did they choose rather to fix their affections, than on the present mercies which they enjoyed, and which they were willing to regard only as foretastes, as pledges, as types, of something better to come. Yea, obscure as were the revelations made to them of the heavenly inheritance, they were persuaded of them, and gladly embraced them, and confessed themselves to be upon earth but as strangers and pilgrims, journeying on to another and a better home. For such was the language of Abraham to the children of Heth, as also of Jacob to the King of Egypt; and by it they plainly declared, that they sought still some other country beyond the land of Canaan ;-a country distinct also from that which they had left, and to which they

K

called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. ver. 13–16.

might, if they had chosen, have returned. But it was a "better" home on which their hopes were fixed, a spiritual, a "heavenly" one. This from the first has been the great hope of the faithful. And hence it is, that we find them ready, as Abel was, to die in maintaining the true worship of God; as Enoch, to depart and be with God; as Noah, to separate himself, when necessary, from all the world; or, as Abraham and his family, to be but sojourners in the land promised to their children.

Such are the worshippers, whom God seeketh;— such the believers, in whom he delights. He is not ashamed to be called their God, and, as such, to bestow upon them exceeding great rewards. A merely carnal faith it were below the spiritual Majesty of God to receive; and none but earthly blessings it were alike unworthy of him to bestow: but those who are willing to look beyond such things, and to renounce all worldly enjoyments in the hope of something higher, He is not ashamed to call his people; nor will He fail to reward them with that eternal blessedness, which faith hath led them to aspire after. For "He hath prepared for them a city," in which they shall be for ever happy, with no more trials to endanger their faith, nor any further delays in the fulfilment of his promises.

Here we must pause for the present, and briefly consider, in conclusion, the force of the appeal to these holy examples in regard to the Hebrew Churches, and its application to ourselves.

The object of the Apostle being to animate the Hebrews to perseverance in the faith, notwithstanding the many afflictions in which it might involve them, what could be more apposite than to show, from their

own Scriptures, that true piety had always been content in this life to meet with trials, and to look beyond it for rewards. Abel's reward was in another world; in this he was murdered for his piety: so also was Enoch's, who, whilst on earth, seems to have been exposed to violent opposition from "ungodly sinners," and to have been ultimately taken away, perhaps, that they might not find him, to wreak upon him their unholy vengeance. Noah had, doubtless, much to endure from a wicked generation during the time that he preached to them; but he persevered, and obtained the crown of righteousness. Abraham and his family never arrived upon earth at their promised home.

But as to the Hebrew Christians, so to ourselves also are such examples full at once of admonition and encouragement, that we too may observe and remember, that the great object of true religion has ever been to raise men above this world, and to prepare them for another; to lead them through affliction to eternal glory; by teaching them to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal," intended only to answer an ulterior "but the things purpose; which are not seen are eternal."