HOMILETICS. Vers. 6-10.-The promised land. I. WANDERINGS. Entering Canaan from the north, the Chaldman emigrant directs his progress steadily towards the south, re- rno,ing from station to station till he reaches the furthest limit of the land. This wandering life to the patriarch must have been (1) unexpected. Leaving Ur at the Di-vine command, and journeying many hundreds of miles, he must have eagerly anticipated rest in Canaan; but instead he finds that he must journey still. So is life to God's people always full of disappointments. Yet was it also (2) in.ei,-itable. The land was in possession of the Canaanites, and, even though it had been free and untenanted, it was famine-stricken, both of which circumstances necessitated frequent removal. .And for causes not dissimilar must the saints ever wander, the world for the most part belonging to their enemies, and the produce of earth being insufficient to meet their souls' needs. Then to the patriarch himself it was meant to be (3) prophetic. The promised land being designed not so much for a possession in itself as for an emblem of the better country towards which his spirit with its new-found faith was travelling, it was not intended that life in Canaan for the father of the faithful should be one of absolute repose, but rather one of wander- ing and unrest ; and of that he had a foretaste, or earnest, immediately he stepped across tLe borders of the land. And still further was it purposed to be (4) emblematic. In the fortunes of .Abram it was contemplated that God's believing people in every age should behold, in main characteristic at least, an outline or shadow of their own . .AI3 to him the land of Canaan was not the better country, but only its anticipation, so to them is it not so ruucb a type of heaven as of the visible Church, and the patri- archal wanderings an emblem not of the beatific life of the redeemed in glory, but of the experiences of the saints on earth. II. TmALS. Along with ceaseless peregrinations, more or less exacting in their nature, trials of another and severer sort entered into the texture of the patriarch's experience -in the promised land. The peculiar circumstances in which he found himself were such as to make a vehement assault upon his faith. 1. Hi,; cliildless e:ondition seemed to render all but impossible belief in the mighty nation of which Jehovah talked. And so are saints sometimes tempted to indulge a suspidon of the Divine goodness and veracity, because of the absence of certain creature comforts which they see G0d bestowing upon others. 2. The occupation of the land appeared to negative the idea of its ever becoming bis; and not unfrequently because a saint cannot discern how a promise is to be fulfilled, he begins to challenge the Divine resources, and ends by impeaching the Divine faithfulness. 3. The prevalence of famine was calculated to excite doubts in his mind as to whether after all the land was worth either having or desiring; and in this life the saints are not unacquainted with temptations, arising from the pressure~ outward circumstances, such as extreme THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 185
poverty or long-continued affliction, to admit the apprehension that after all the blessings of religion cmd the glories of the future life may not be worth the sacrifices made to secure them. III. CoNSOLA'l'IONS, If a field of wanderings and a scene of trials, the promised land was likewise a place of consolation. Abram enjoyed-I. The comfort of the JJivine presence. Though unseen, the companionship of Jehovah was understood by the patriarch to be a grand reality on which he might depend; and so says Christ to his believing people, 11 Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." 2. The joy of lJivine manifestations. As'Jehovah appeared to Abram, probably in t!HJ form of a man, so already has God appeared to his Church in the person of the man Christ Jesus; and so does Christ promise still to appear spiritually to his people, and to disclose to them the treasures of hi8 grace and love (John xiv. 21). 3. The consolation of lJivine worship. Wher'lver Abram wandered he built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord who had appeared unto him; and without any altar may the saint at any moment enter into closest communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, who in the fulness of the times was manifested to take away our sins, and who is ever ready, through the medium of his Holy Spirit, to interpose for his people's aid. Learn-1. That a saint's wanderings are o.f God's appointing. 2. That a saint's trials are of God's permitting. 3. That a saint's consolations are of God's sending.
HOMILIES BY VA.RIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 6-9.-Revelations. We here enter upon the more specie.I history of Divine appearances. Hitherto the word is described simply as a word-" The Lord said;" now we connect with the word distinct appearances. The plain of Moreb will be ever memorable as the first scene of such revelations. The altar which Abram .erected was to the Lord who appeared unto him, i. e. in commemoration of the vision. Thus the long line of theophanies commences. 1'b.e great lesson of this record is the worship of man proceeding from the gracious revelation of God. True religion is not a spontaneous prod)lct of man's nature, but rather a response to God's grace. He appears; the believer to whom the vision is vouchsafed raises an altar not "to the unknown God," but to the God who has appeared to him. .Another point in the record is the connection of the promise with the revelation. The Lord appeared, and when be appeared he gave his word of promise: "Unto thy seed will I give this land." .Are we not reminded thus early in the history of religion that for its maintenance there is required not only a revelation to the mind and heart by the Spirit, but also a seat of its institutions and community? Religion without a people of God dwelling in the land of privilege, and bound together by the sacred bonds of a Divine fellowship, is no true religion at all. .Abrum builds altars at the various stages of his pilgrimage, still going south. .Although we are not told of a distinct vouchsafement of God in connection with every altar, we may well suppose, especially as the II mountain" is specified, that the altars marked out not mere resting-places, but the scenes of specie.I comnnnion with Jehovah.-Il.