3. From the issue of his trial, the benefit of ap- proving ourselves faitliful to our God —
[" By this act of his he was justified." As a sinner, indeed, he had been accepted of God forty years before, as soon as ever he believed in that promised " Seed who was to descend from him, and in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed:" and in that sense he was justified by faith only™. But St. James says truly, that " he was justified by works also, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar";" for by that act he was justified in his own conscience, and justified before the whole world. A tree may be good : but how shall it be known to be good but by its fruit? It is then only perfect when it is laden with fruit, and thus demonstrated to be good. And Abraham, though previously pardoned and accepted by his God, was then proved and evidenced to be a righteous character, and in a state of acceptance with God, when by this astonishing act of obedience he displayed the reality and efficacy of his faith. From that time he was honoured with that glorious appellation, " The friend of God :" and, for his farther encouragement, God confirmed all his promises to him with an oath"; that by these two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, he might have the stronger consolation. Nay more, his Isaac, whom, in his mind and purpose, he had sacrificed, was now restored to him : and O ! to what unspeakable advantage ! What delight would he henceforth feel in a son so given, and so restored to him as from the dead !
And shall we find it in vain to sacrifice any thing to the Lord? Shall we not, in proportion to the greatness of our sacrifices, and the willingness with which they have been
'" Rom. iv. 3—5, 9—11, 20—22. " Jam. ii. 21—23.
° Gen. xxii. IG.