THE ADVANTAGES ENJOYED UNDER THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION.
Heb. xi. 39, 40. These all, having obtaitied a good report through faith, received not the j)romise : God having jyro- vided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
WHEN we hear or read of the saints of old, we excuse our want of resemblance to them, from the idea that they were more highly favoured than we ; and that it would be unreasonable to expect from us of these later days, such high attciinments as they made by reason of their peculiar and more exalted dispensation. But this excuse is altogether founded on a mistake : for the disparity between their dispen- sation and ours is altogether in our favour, as we are expressly told in the passage before us ; which will naturally lead me to shew,
I. What good things God vouchsafed to his people of old- God has been gracious to his people in every age :
1. He gave them exceeding great and precious promises —
[The promise given to Adam in Paradise was gradually unfolded by successive revelations, till there was such a body of prophecy as exhibited the Saviour with the utmost possible precision. His person, work, and offices were all set forth so minutely; that, if the detached prophecies were collected and arranged, there would be found in the Old Testament as just a representation of him as in the Gospel itself. These formed a ground of hope to the Lord's people, who were thus instructed to look to their Messiah as " their Prophet, like unto Moses," to instruct them ; their Priest, after the order of Melchizedec, to make atonement for them ; and their King, who, sitting as on David's throne, should reign over them, and in them, for evermore.
2. He enabled them to live by faith upon these promises —
[Faith, in whomsoever it is found, is the gift of God: and it was richly bestowed on many, as appears from the chapter before us. We are even astonished at the strength with which it was exercised in many instances, and at the realizing views which it gave of invisible things to those in whom it was found. The instances recorded of it are still the brightest patterns for the imitation of the Christian Church^ ]
3. He testified his acceptance of their faith so ex- ercised—
[This is noticed in the beginning of this chapter, and again repeated at the close of it^. God testified his accept- ance of their faith by invariably accomplishing those objects which he had encouraged them to expect, so that in no single instance was any one believer ever disappointed of his hope. However hopeless or even impossible the events might appear according to the judgment of man, every difficulty vanished, and every expectation was fulfilled, as soon as ever the faith of his people had been sufficiently tried, and the time for God's interposition was arrived. He further testified his acceptance of it by the witness of his Spirit in their souls. There can be no doubt but that they enjoyed in their souls a peace flowing from their affiance in God, and a sense of his love shed abroad in their hearts, together with an assurance of his approbation in the day of judgment. This appears from their '* looking for a city which hath foundations, and a heavenly country," as " the recompence of their reward ;" and from their refusing deliverance from present trials in full expectation of
» Reference may here be made to tvs^o or three of those contained in the preceding context.
t" ver2. with the text. See the Greek.