The words of the text however had an application yet more special, to the feelings of those to whom they were addressed. The Hebrews were disappointed, as is plain from other parts of this epistle, that their Lord delayed so long to come and receive them to himself. Hope deferred had at last made the heart sick; they had become impatient, and were tempted to murmur against God. It was not therefore, as I conceive, without an important reason, that the Apostle, reminded them, that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, “all died in faith, not having received the promises." It was in effect saying, if it is God's will that you die as your fathers have done, and that Christ come not in your day, be content with the Divine appointment, and die in faith. These promises may be yet comparatively far off, but they are much nearer now than in the days of these illustrious saints. Well then, he would say, may you follow their example, being persuaded of these promises and embracing them. And though you may have passed from this earthly scene before their accomplishment, well does it become you, for the sake of the joy which they minister, to bear all earthly suffering and to sacrifice all earthly joy. Let us now consider the application of this subject to ourselves. It is impossible to refrain from repeating the remark of the last lecture, viz. that the faith of these saints is our reproof. How very different were their circumstances from ours! There was in their days no written revelation; no evidence from accomplished promise and prophecy, of the faithfulness of God; no miraculous witness to the true religion; no visible proof of the reality of redeeming love. Theirs therefore was faith in its purest form; God had spoken, and they believed him. It is very different with us. have God's written revelation, handed down to us as such, by the concurrent testimony of believing generations; we have evidence the most ample, from accomplished promise and prophecy, that all its declarations are true; we have miraculous witness that Jesus is the Saviour; we have his bitter cross as the visible demonstration of the love of God to man. That love was in their days, mere promise; in We ours it is glorious accomplishment: it was then a distant, twinkling star; it is now a meridian sun, filling the heavens with its light, and cheering us with the warmth of its gracious beams. It is astonishing that in their day, such faith as they possessed was found in a human heart; it is equally astonishing that in our day, any unbelief is found. The one circumstance proves that Divine grace can triumph over the greatest disadvantages; the other proves that human depravity can render nugatory the greatest advantages. With all our spiritual privileges, Abraham the Chaldean idolater is our pattern of faith; and the most honourable place which we can hope to occupy is that of his disciples and his children.' Let us be his disciples, let us be his children! Jesus who died for us has now gone to prepare for his people, that new Jerusalem for which Abraham looked, and soon will come again to receive them to himself." Let us then, believing in His love, be persuaded of His promises of glory, now hastening to their accomplishment, and embrace them with our whole hearts as our hope and daily consolation. And I must repeat another remark of the last lecture, viz. that their conduct is our example. The world has not changed its character since the days of these early disciples; and confession that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth is therefore to this day, the result of faith in God. The mass of mankind are utterly forgetful of God; their maxims, principles, and motives of action are not taken from his word: their cares and interests, their joys and sorrows, have nothing to do with him or with his service. But faith "worketh by love;" and the believer therefore cannot be forgetful of God. His maxims and principles are taken from the word of truth: his ruling motive is that the love of Christ constrains him: the continual care of his life is to please God and to win his approbation; and all his joys, sorrows, and interests partake of the same holy character. He cannot therefore be otherwise than a stranger on the earth; the world does not understand him, and he 66 66 66 1 does not understand the world. Unbelief makes us strangers to God, and enables us to understand the world; and faith brings us near to God, and makes us strangers to the world. Ye walked in time past" says St. Paul to the Ephesians, according to the course of this world,...being strangers from the covenants of promise...and without God." But ye are now, he continues, "made nigh by the blood of Christ;...ye are no more strangers...but of the household of God." The world as a necessary consequence, ceased to understand them. 'They think it strange," says St. Peter, "that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.' And so long as God and the world preserve their respective characters, this must be the result of faith. And the same faith which makes us strangers, will teach us also to be pilgrims on the earth. The characters indeed are one; the pilgrim's habit and language are both strange; he is passing through a strange country to the land in which he seeks a home. The unbeliever therefore is not a pilgrim; the earth is his home and resting-place, and he looks for nothing beyond it. And for the same reason the believer is a pilgrim; he looks with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for the new Jerusalem, as his final and blessed abode. He follows, in doing so, higher example than theirs. "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." The Father's bosom was the resting-place to which that blessed pilgrim looked; "Holy Father" were his words, "I come to thee." And Christ's bosom is, after his example, the resting-place to which his believing people look; they are "his own," "not of the world," even as he was "not of the world;" and they judge with his servant, that to be with him, "is far better." He that is not of this mind, has never seen Christ's glory, or set his heart on his eternal promises. If we are of this mind, we shall still further follow the example of these sainted patriarchs, by shewing it in our lives. The word "confessed," signifies made 1 Ephesians ii. 2, 12, 13, 19. 2 I Peter iv. 4. 3 John xiii. 1. open profession; and with this, the record of their lives agrees. Let us be emboldened then to make the same profession. Let us shew by our life in the family, by the way in which we order our houses, by our dealings in business, and by all our conversation among men, that we have faith in Christ, and are indeed the people of God. Profession indeed ought never to go beyond reality, but it ought to be an index of reality, an index so plain that those who run may read. And being "followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises," we shall at last obtain their blessing; for "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Which may God of his infinite mercy grant to us! 1 I John ii. 17. ”! LECTURE XI. Hebrews xi. 14-16. "For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." 66 WE have just been told concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they were persuaded of God's promises and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. It was this hearty persuasion which strengthened them to make such a confession; "for they that say such things," the Apostle continues in the words before us, i. e. they that surrender their part and portion in the world that now is, declare plainly that they seek ” another. "And truly," he goes on to say, had these patriarchs "been mindful of the country," Ur of the Chaldees, "from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned." But they did not return. And this was not because they preferred Canaan; for Canaan was not their country, it was the land wherein they were strangers. They sought a better country, even an heavenly;" and therefore their lives were those of men who acted for God's approbation, and had respect to the recompense of his reward. And the Apostle gives us to understand that they have obtained what they sought. For in recompense of their faith and self-denying obedience, and because 66 |