obligations of the whole Christian world to Abraham are manifest to an unknown extent, inasmuch as every individual among them is indebted to him, for that covenant, which is the fountain and foundation of all their hopes.
To Isaac and Jacob also are we very greatly in- debted : for they, in conjunction with Abraham, have shewn to us, in a way that has never been surpassed, the nature and operation of saving faith. God pro- mised to Abraham a Seed in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. According to all human appearances, the accomplishment of that promise was impossible : but Abraham " hoped against hope," and " staggered not at the promise through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." " Go out from thy house and kindred," says God to him, " and sojourn in a land which I will give thee." He went instantly, in dependence upon God's word, " not knowing whither he went." Go " take thy son Isaac, the promised seed whom I have given thee, and offer him up for a burnt-offering on a mount that I will tell thee of." He instantly goes to execute the divine command, not doubting but that God will restore his son to life again, even after he should have been offered on the altar, and reduced to ashes. In like manner Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, sojourned in the land of Canaan, in full expectation, that it should be inherited by their posterity, though as yet they had not a foot of ground in it. They had opportunities enough to return to their own country, if they had chosen it ; but they determined rather to be as strangers and pilgrims on the earth all their days ; thereby " de- claring plainly, that they sought a better country, that is, an heavenly one, and looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is Godd."
Now here we see what faith is : it is such a prac- tical dependence upon the word of God, as leads us to trust in it without doubting, and to obey it without
d Compare Rom. iv. 19—21. with Heb. xi. 8—10, 13—19.
oo2
56i ROMANS, XV. 26, 27. [1924.
reserve. It is true, we are not required to go forth from our native country, and to live in a foreign land, as they did ; but the same mind must be in us as was in them : like them we must consider ourselves alto- gether " as pilgrims and sojourners" here, having our hearts fixed entirely on things above, and our lives conformed to the precepts and injunctions of our God. If we had not such bright patterns of holi- ness before our eyes, we should be ready to think, that lower attainments would suffice ; and that some limit might be assigned to the exercise of faith, or to the efforts of obedience : but here we see in men of like passions with ourselves, what a life of faith really is, and what is required of all those who pro- fess themselves the people of the Lord. What an advantage is it to have such patterns before our eyes, and to behold before us the footsteps which will infallibly lead us to everlasting happiness and glory!
From the patriarchs we will proceed to notice the prophets, and our obligations to them. Of these, the first whom we will mention is Moses, that great pro- phet, like unto whom the Saviour himself was to arise6. To him we owe the moral law, even that law which discovers to us the extent of God's require- ments, and consequently the depth of our depravity, and the impossibility of ever being saved by any obedience of our own. It is the knowledge of this law that alone can convince the soul of its lost and undone state without Christ; and it is intended by God as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith. Now we all consider ourselves indebted to those who have instructed us in our youth, especially if they have taught us important things which none other was able to communicate. I low then are we all indebted to Moses for this infinitely important knowledge, which we never could have derived from any other source, and without which even the gift of God's only dear Son to die for us would never have been effectual for its desired ends ! Besides, from this law every believer is in-