shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty: for he is thy Lord God: and worship thou Him^." Our Lord's declaration to his followers is plainer still : " If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple''." The kingdom of heaven is a pearl, for which faith will part with all in order to possess it.]
3. Of unreserved obedience —
[Every direction that was given her she readily complied with; and in no instance departed from the terms on which alone she was encouraged to expect mercy. Nor will any one who truly believes that he shall be an object of sparing mercy, account " any of God's commandments grievous." His deter- mination through grace will be to be found in God's appointed way, fulfilling all righteousness, and " walking in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord blameless." One parti- cular commandment given to her I will here notice as of more than ordinary importance, namely, that of binding the scarlet line in her window, as the memorial of her faith, and the means of her preservation. Had this been neglected, she had perished with the rest of her countrymen: but by this her safety was secured. There is a corresponding command given to every one that desires to obtain mercy, which above all he will be anxious to obey, namely, that of believing in Christ', and " abiding in him," as the branch abides in the vine''. Faith will teach him, that, if he be not found in Christ, the sword of divine vengeance will surely cut him off, as that of the destroying angel did the first-born, whose doors were not sprinkled with the blood of the paschal lamb. In a word, as soon as true faith is formed in the soul, the one inquiry will be, "Lord, what will thou have me to do'?" and from that time the believer's desire will be to " stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."]
In the account given of her faith, we see,
III. What it obtained —
1. A dehverance from that destruction which came on all her unbelieving neighbours —
[In Jericho nothing that breathed was left alive, with the exception of Rahab and her family : but to them the promised mercy was vouchsafed. And who that believes in Christ shall
B Ps. xlv. 10, 11. ^ Luke xiv. 26. ' 1 John iii. 23.
^ John XV. 4 — 7. The injunction to abide in him is repeated /ow times.
• Acts ix. 6.
2330.] RAHAB CONCEALING THE SPIES. 4o.'>
perish ? Against the unbeHeving world the deluge of God's wrath will prevail, and sink them all without exception into everlasting perdition : but to those who are in Christ, no evil shall accrue. They are in the true ark, against which the winds and waves shall beat in vain. In the great day of tiie Lord, there will be a separation made between the sheep and the goats ; nor shall one of either flock be found through any mistake confounded with those whose nature so widely differs from his own : not a lamb shall be found amongst the goats ; nor a kid amongst the sheep : but each will have the portion assigned him by the Judge of all, — the unbelievers in the lake of fire and brimstone ; the believers in the regions of eternal bliss. Amongst " the chaff that shall then be burnt up with unquenchable fire," not the smallest grain of wheat shall be found "i.]
2. A portion among the chosen people of the Lord —
[This is particularly noticed in the subsequent history of Rahab : she was incorporated with Israel, and made a partaker of all their privileges". So, though we have been aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, we shall be made nigh by the blood of Christ, as soon as we believe in him; and from being " strangers and foreigners shall become fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God°." Look through the Holy Scriptures, and see all that belongs to the saints, either in this world or the next, and you will read only the catalogue of your own possessions : for " all things are yours, when ye are Christ's''."]