means of augmenting his happiness and glory® Thus
shall faith operate in you: it shall " work by love:" it shall " purify the heart;" it shall " overcome the world ^." Only " live by faith :" and if at any time you be ready to stagger through unbelief, remember that " he is faithful who hath promised;" and " be strong in faith, giving glory to God." For of this you may be perfectly assured, that the more lively your faith is, the more abundant will be its fruits ; and that in evei-y hour of trial " according to your faith it will be done unto you."]
d Numb, xiv, 9. e 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, 13—18. ^ 1 John v. 4.
Abel's offering instructive to us.
Heb. xi. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained^ witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts : and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
IN reading the history of the saints under the Old Testament dispensation, we are constrained to admire their conduct on many occasions, and to regard them as excellent patterns for our imitation. But we should not readily have traced all their diversified excellencies to one principle, and still less to the principle oi faith, if it had not been done for us by an inspired writer. But, now that it is done, we see the
truth, and the importance too, of the suggestion ; and are stirred up to cultivate the same principle in order to the attainment of their virtues.
The Apostle, in adducing instances of the power of faith from the beginning of the world to the close of the Jewish records, omits all mention of Adam, who, we doubt not, both lived and died in faith. But his aim in this part of his epistle is to encourage the believing Hebrews to persevere in their holy pro- fession, notwithstanding all the trials to which they might be subjected on account of it : and, as nothing particular is recorded concerning Adam's faith, and Abel was a martyr for the faith, it was more to his purpose to commence his catalogue of worthies with the name of Abel; of whose offering we are now more particularly called to speak. To illustrate what the Apostle says concerning it, I shall shew,
I. In what consisted the peculiar excellence of Abel's offering as contrasted with that of Cain —
By referring to the account given us in the book of Genesis, we find,
1. That Abel's offering differed widely from that
of Cain —
[Cain brought only " of the fruits of the grounds" Now this lie might have done even in Paradise ; since it was only a tribute of gratitude towards his heavenly Benefactor, and an acknowledgment of depend e7ice on him for a continuance of his favours. But Abel brought " of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat''" by which he acknowledged himself a sinner de- serving of death, and his hope of mercy only through the intervention of a vicarious sacrifice. By this act, he professed his faith in that Saviour who was in due time to die for the sins of the whole world, and whom the sacrificial ordinances already instituted were intended to prefigure. That sacrifices had been ordained of God, is evident, from its being said that Abel offered his sacrifice " hy faith:" for had Abel oflfered this sacrifice of his own mind, there could have been no scope for the exercise of faith ; since faith necessarily has respect to some divine declaration ; and in this instance must have had respect to a command from God to present such an offering, and a promise from God to accept it. When the command
a Gen. iv. 3. '' Gen. iv. 4.
2318.] Abel's offering instructive to us. 373
was first given, we are not certainly informed : but I conceive it to have been immediately after the Fall, when, as we are told, " the Lord God made coats of skins, to clothe" our first parents •=. It is evident that living creatures were then slain ; and slain by God's command : and, if we suppose those living creatures then offered in sacrifice, we have the most complete exhibition of the way of salvation that is contained in all the sacred records : since, as the sin of our first parents was atoned for by the blood of those sacrifices, and the shame of their nakedness was covered by their skins, so are our sins expiated by the blood of our great Sacrifice, and our souls are clothed in the robe of his unspotted righteousness. At all events the fact is clear, that such an institution had been formed by God ; else Abel's faith could not have had respect to it : and no other period for the commencement of it seems so proper as that to which we have referred, because it is the only period mentioned in the inspired history, and because, if not instituted till the time of Abel, our first parents must have been left many years without that instruction and consolation which such an ordinance was calculated to convey.