Ver. 12.-Imitaeion of those who inherit the promise~. I. THOSE WHO ARE TO DE IMITATED. "Followers" they are called in our version, but they are followers in that particular respect which is known as imitation. And if we are to imitate, we must have some distinct and sufficient view of those whom we imitatP.. Abraham is sin"'.1~,l out here, and truly there could be no better example of the firm believer in God's promises. ,ve have him receiving those promises, acting upon them as real mes,ages coming from a veracious Being; excluding from his life any natural purposes of his own, and becomin~ the willing and docile agent of the purposes of God. But, after all, he is only one. Wherever we see any one who has grasped a promise of God, feeling all that there is of authority and supreme importance i11 it, there we look for t.he habit of faith, there we shall find a. long-suffering endurance of the consequent trials. When a man ~oes forth under some deep conviction, we must trace that conviction to its practical result, and see what comes of it; for only so shall we know that he was not believing a. lie. In other words, we must see the man believing, the man long- suffering, the man inheriting the promises. II. WHY WE ARE TO IMITATE. Because promises are made to us also. 'l'his was what so grieved and alarmed the writer of the Epistle, that he saw his friends indifferent to the promises made to them. It is worth our while to search the New Testament through and see how it abounds in promises. Now, these promises must have stood very conspicuously before these apostles-these men who in the fir~t days of the gospel had such peculiar authority to proclaim and enforce the essential elements of the Divine message. Hence the uncompromising, searching way in which the ,~riter here pressP.s a duty homo. It is the same God who in ChrisL Jesus makes vrom1ses to us, who made promities so solemnly to Abraham of old. We have much nc~J to study the 182 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [on. vx. 1-20,
course of such men ns Abraham and Moses; for one d1Ly wo shall bo asked as to our treatment of the promises made to us in common with all who have come to know the New Testament Scriptures. Moreover, it will be asked why we so neglected to consider the inheritors of tbe promises. I_II. How WE ARE To IMITA'l'E. By showing in our lives the mme qualities as those wh1cl! brought the inheritors of the promises to their inheritance. God keeps his promises to those who can believe and wait. God said after the Flood, "Whilo the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest shall not cease." Dut this very promise implied that men would have faith to sow the seed and patie11ce to wait for the harvest. Here we are shown what God meens by irnifation. It is not copying outward appearance, l1ut taking into the heart inward principles, which, if we only encourage them to take root and get fast hold, will show the.mselves more and more, keeping to the fulfilment of the promises. God's truth stands before us, exhibited in manifold ways, solemnly, lovingly, repeatedly. The first question is-Can we believe it? and the second-Can we wait God's time for him to make bis righteousness clear as the light? God is true; the corresponding attitude on our part is to believe ever more deeply. God is loving and gracious; the corresponding attitude on our part is to wait as serenely and hopefully as we can.-Y. Vers. 17-20.-The anchor of the sool. I. MAN'S PERIL AND NEED. Thie is set before us in the striking words, " fleeing for refuge." '!'here is one sort of escape by getting simply out of bondage; there is another by reaching a place of perfect security. Many a bird bas escaped from a cage only to become the prey of some wild bird or beast. It has not been able to attain a refuge. The need is further sugge&j;ed by the word "anchor" (see Acts :x..xvii. 29). The shipmen fear lest the ship will fall on the rocks, and so they flee to the anchors, of which they cast out four. There is the need of security; need of solid holding-ground for the anchor; need of an anchor which itself will not give way. Vain is the anchor without the anchorage; vain the anchorage without the anchor. Anchor itself, and cable, and connection with the ground, and connection with the ship,-all these must be seen to. Moreover, there is needed a calm sense ef being in the right way; a composing assurance that when the anchor is throwu into the water and disappears it will find a hold. We need the strong 1rap&ic11.11u1s. We need to have a Divine power pressing on our hearts the right thing to do; to take from us all uncertainty, vacillation, trimming, yielding to plausible criticism from others. We need a calm, intelligent, apt use of the saving instruments which God puts into our hands. When sailors are out in mid-ocean they do not fling over the anchor; and when they are close to the rocks they do not behave as they would in mid-ocean. II. Gon's SUPPLY FOB THE NEED. Look first at the anchorage. We must not push the metaphor too far. The one great point in it is that it gives us such a clear illus- tration of what it is to find security in the invisible. 'l'he anchorage-ground is some- thing unseen, and yet it gives a safety which is not to be found in anything that is seen. Indeed, the seen thiags are full of danger. '!'here are the rocks; and the water in which the ship rests will not resist its progress towards them. And so our great hold and safety is to be in the invisible. We are to make suro of the reality of God'e. plan ; that he has a plan, that it is a plan immutable; that it is indeed. a plan of God, not subject to the collapses which come through human caprice, infirmity, and short.- sightedness. Hence God announces and exhibits his plan through two immutable things. What are thei:e? Surely one of them is the oath of God. We know that a man, always veracious and deliberate of speech, wants to be taken in an unusually serious way when be adds to what he has to s!l.y a solemn adjuration. And of course, when God speaks, his word is always serious; but he bas bis own way of calling ma.n's attention to it• seriousness. Then the other immutable thing is surely the priestl:ood, the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus, Behind the veil constituted by the visible world there is a God who has sworn the solemn oath with respect to that inheritance which all inherit who by their faith aro children of Abraham; and there also is the great High Priest, Jesus Christ," the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." The anchorage thus beiog given, there is the anchor also to be considered. And here we are to consider tl,e anchor, not so much as 11omething which we fling into the CII, VII, 1-28.] 'l'lIE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 183