enjoined upon him; and that of a peculiar kind. The directions given to the Patriarch, which appear in fact to have preceded the promise, were, not merely that he should keep judgment, and do justice, and shew compassion, wand refrain from offending the Divine Majesty, after the manner of all well ordered men, nor merely that he should in these respects excel the best of those around him; but he received a special commandment to leave his kindred and his father's house, and to go out, not knowing whither, unto a land, said God, which I will shew thee.. The Lord Jehovah required him to quit his native home, and country, and friends, and to follow implicitly His guidance towards another.

Hardly could one in the habit of consulting chiefly with flesh and blood have consented to this. A man of a selfish or a worldly mind, situated like Abraham, would surely have remonstrated against the Divine injunction. Such a man would long and strenuously have declined to quit his comfortable possession, and settled residence, and all which was naturally dear to him, for another unknown region, and a remote prospect of magnificence to his seed. Instead of instantly departing, he would have required some additional information concerning the promised land; nor would he easily

have been moved by a hope of the great name and blessing, which were to result in the days to come from his obedience. After his carnal heart he would have been apt to plead, "I "have already a land to dwell in, good enough "for my reasonable wants and desires; and as "to becoming celebrated, and an object of ve "neration throughout the world, what is the profit which will thence accrue to me, while "I am lying in the dust of death, that I should "become for it a wanderer and an exile? let me "alone, to abide, and die, where I am." In such, or other like terms, a man, not having the spirit of faith, would probably have rejected the Divine calling.

66

But Abraham was more obediently disposed. His mind was not for expostulating or gainsaying, when once the purpose and will of God had been disclosed to him. No sooner had he been called to "go out into the place "which he should after receive for an inherit

66

ance," than he went out, yielding himself without hesitation to the Divine guidance. Respecting the promises, although a performance of them seemed contrary to nature, Abraham staggered not" at them through unbelief. On the contrary, having by faith seen them afar off, "he was persuaded of them, and em"braced them, and confessed himself a stranger

66

"and a pilgrim" for their sake, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who sprang from him. These eminently faithful three were successively convinced of the truth of all which had been promised, even as if they had been put actually in the possession of it. Also, they accepted it, as worthy to be desired. Their spirits within them sincerely loved, and laid hold upon, and clung fast to the future blessing. At a period of general corruption and idolatry, it seemed to them not a small matter, that their posterity should receive to inhabit a good land and a large, as a holy nation before the Lord, and that themselves should be had in everlasting remembrance, and transmit the Divine blessing to all the various tribes of the earth. This appeared not unimportant in their eyes, although they must depart hence many ages previous to its accomplishment. Rather than let it slip, or pass by them to another family, they consented without a murmur to become, for their own part, strangers and sojourners, or to be frequently moving to and fro throughout their lives, as men without a settled habitation. Such being the counsel of God, to prevent them from learning the works of the heathen, they went up and down in a manner alone amongst them, avoiding to mingle, or form connexions, with any. Thus did the "elders,"

whom we are contemplating, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "walk by faith," not actually receiving, nor expecting to receive, the promised benefit, within the period of their mortal lives. Their main anxiety was, so to pass the time of their sojourning here, as that they might hand down the hope of it unimpaired to their children after them. And, when they had accordingly finished their pilgrimage, they died, as they had lived, in faith; they experienced, in their last hours, a full conviction, that God would infallibly perform His gracious covenant to their descendants, throughout all generations; and thereupon piously committed their souls into His hands, to deal with them after his loving-kindness. It is true, that life and immortality had not then been brought to light by the Gospel. Yet the Patriarchs must surely have been able to suppose, that God had goodness laid up with Himself, for so many as would put their trust in Him, besides the temporal and earthly gifts which He had sworn specially to confer on their seed. In fact, the Apostle in this very chapter remarks, that they adopted, and so steadily pursued, the above course, "looking for a city which "hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker " is God :" likewise again, having noticed their confession, that they were "strangers and pil

they

grims on the earth," he observes, " "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 bet"ter country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore "God is not ashamed to be called their God: "for He hath prepared for them a city."

As to the truth of the Apostle's statement, that God, whose name is Jehovah, is not ashamed to be called their God, the following Scriptures will be sufficient to prove it: "The "word of the Lord came unto Abraham, saying, "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great re"ward." "I will bless them that bless thee, "and curse him that curseth thee;" and “I "will establish my covenant between me and

66

thee, and thy seed after thee in their gene"rations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a "God unto thee, and thy seed after thee,” (Genesis xv. 1. xii. 3. xvii. 7.) Also, on a subsequent occasion, God commissioned Moses to say unto the children of Israel, “The Lord God "of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the "God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath ❝sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, "and this is my memorial unto all generations." (Exodus iii. 15.) And St. Peter, preaching the