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tlint which is said, ver. 18, ' He believed in hope against hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.'
Secondly, The excellency of his faith, in four expressions — I. ' He believed in hope against hope.' Abraham was still childless, and so remained for some yeais after this assurance from God, and in the course of nature he had little reason to expect a child ; but he hoped in the word of God, when according to the order of nature all hope of issue was cut off. We learn, then, that spiritual hope can take place when natural hope faileth ; as Abraham had a strong iiope in God when all appearances seemed to forbid hope. Most mens faith is borne up by outward likelihoods and probabilities, and when they fail, their faith faileth ; they can trust God no further than they can see him ; but true faith dependeth upon him when his way is in the dark, and there is little appearance of the things we wait for ; as Paul could assure them not a man should be lost, when all hope that any should be saved was taken away. Acts xxvii. 20-22. I prove this —
1. From the genius and nature of faith. There must be some difficulty in the thing to be believed, or else it is not an object of faith : Eom. viii. 24, ' But hope that is seen is not hope ; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? ' The nature of faith and hope is so that it is not of things presently enjoyed ; for vision and posses- sion exclude hope, and what is easy and next at hand, it is as if it were already enjoyed ; therefore it is no trial of your faith to wait for probable things, and such as are within the view of sense or reason ; but to hope against hope, when God disappointeth our confidence, and seemeth to beat us off from believing, yet to adhere to him, this is the disposition of faith.
2. From the warrant of faith, which is the word of God. Now we must believe God upon his bare word, though we know not what time or way he will take, or by what means the things promised may be accomplished. In things future and invisible, we believe against sense. To say with Thomas, ' Except I see, I will not believe,' John XX. 25, this maketh way for atheism. In things incredible we believe against reason : Heb. xi. 1, ' Faith is eXeyx^f '^(^v fiy fSXeirofMevcov, the evidence of things not seen ; ' provided they be revealed by God. We must not be false prophets to ourselves, and make promises which God never made ; that is to interest his glory in our vain conceits : Jer. iv. 10, 'Ah, Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace ; ' meaning the false prophets using his name. And it is a snare to ourselves ; we dream of deliver- ance when God intendeth a further trial: 1 Thes. v. 3, 'For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon ihem, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.' Butwhen the promise is clear, then we must believe in hope against hope. Sense, nature, and human reason must not be heard against faith : Ps. xxvii. 3. ' Though war should rise against me, in this I will be con- fident ; ' whatever the danger was, for he had a particular promise of coming to the throne. It must not be, saith sense : It cannot be, saitli natural reason : It both can and will be, saith faith. Though what God had promised to do, do far exceed the power of natme, his word is enough to faith.
182 SERMON UPON ROMANS IV. lS-21.
But if we have no express promise, may we not believe in hope against hope ?
Ans. If believing be meant only of a confidence in God's power, not determining the certainty of the event. Many times we are cast upon God's providence, all human refuge and help faileth, thei'e is no pos- sibility of escape ; yet God forbiddeth despair, and thus driveth us to himself : 2 Coi'. i. 9, * But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead.' He means, when the furious multitude at Ephesus was let loose upon him for his adherence to his way : Ps. xliv. 19, 20, ' Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covei-ed us with the shadow of death, we have not forgotten the name of our God.' We have sometimes that which is equivalent to a promise, even the usual practice of God : Deut. xxxii. 36, ' For the Lord will judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left ; ' Gen. xxii. 14, ' In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.'