Ver. 3.-Faith beginning where science ends. In the first verse of the chapter things not seen are spoken of. Faith is the evidence or these things not seen. There can be no other evidence, for things not seen are eternal ; they are beyond the ken of our senses; if we cannot be certified of them by spiritual intuitions, we cannot be certified of them at all (2 Cor. iv. 18). But the things that are seen have also to be dealt with ; we want to know the connection of the seen with the unseen; and the origin of the seen we also want to know. Faith has something to say concerning the 011 1311.,1r&µ.,11a.; what has it to say in respect to the /311.e1r&µ.,11a.? The answer is that as faith gives our only resource for being sure of the i·eality of unseen things, so faith gives our only resource for being sure of the origin of seen things. 'l'he seen things, at least as to the surface of them and certain manifestations or them, lie before us. Especially there are before us those seen things which have life in them. We see them spring into being, have their time of growth, maturity, decay; and then they pass out of any life thllt we cl\11 see. They are not only seen things, but also <1>,1.1110µ.lva., things that appear. Yester- day they had not appeared; to-day they appear; to-morrow they will disappear. And yet in disappearing they leave behind them that out of which will come a succession of phenomena like themselves. Thus generation is mysteriously linked to generation,1and the world goes on. Suppose we have before us a field of grain. A little time ago that stretch of waving stalks was not; nothing but an extent of broken soil. We look for an antecedent; and the first antecedent we find is the seed that has been sown. W ~ do know that if grain-seed is sown in the earth the result will be a crop of grain, but to say this does not satisfy us. The heart cannot believe that natural observation has the last word to say on the matter. Scientific inquiry goes as far as it can into the seen, and then faith spreads its wings for a flight into the unseen, and declares that if genera- tion so regularly succeeds generation, and age so regularly succeeds a~e,_it mu_st be because God is joining them all together-framing the ages, as in this ve~se 1t 1s subl_1mely expressed. 'l'he verse must be taken as referring, not only to the original creat10n_ of the world and a.II that is therein, but also to the continua.nee and reproduction of life. 'l'he first ori 0 in of life is not more mysterious than the continuance of it. .\nd faith says that the wo;d of an unseen God has to do with these mysteries, and the word " God" carries all the rest that hns to be said. To say that God speaks the life-giving wor<l. is to su.y that all is spoken in love, in wisdom, and in all-comprehending power.-Y. Ver. 4.-Thefailh of AM. I. In his action there was NO nELATION uc:Asur.ADLE n 3H 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, [ou. xr. 1-40.
HUMAN REA~ON BE'l'WF.EN MEANS AND lrNDS, ,vhere something is dono perceptible to the senses, and the result is also perceptible to the senses, then reason can see that there is_ a relntion between means and ends. Dut here, while the something done is perceptible to the senses, the result is in no way perceptible to any natural faculty of n?an. To the pure rationalist, the killing of a beast in sacrifice must ever seem an aimless, resultless act, always a mere superstition, always a waste. It is rational to kill a beast in self-defence, and plausible reasons may be urged why beasts should be killed for food; but there is no reason, save that of a deep, inward, authoritative impression, why a beast should be killed in sacrifice. Abel certainly could give no other reason. And yet, looked at in the light of the subsequent death of Christ, certain great prin- ciplP..s of sacrificial action are seen in this first recorded sacrifice, and all the numberless eimilar ones which followed. There is the acknowlcdgmeut of human fault as well as of Divine goodness. There is the acknowle<lgment of Divine goodness in givin11: back to God what God first of all had given. But this might have been done by an offering like that of Cain. There has to be something more, and it is reached when a life is taken. The innocent suffers for the guilty. Granted that Abel's state of mind is one inconceivable to us, one which we cannot imagine being produced in us, yet it may have been appropriate enough to that stage in human history. If we had been in Abel's place we should have done right in following Abel's example. II. THE FAITH THAT IS REQUIRED FOR THE TAKING AWAY OF ANY LIFE. Life is taken away recklessly, thoughtlessly, upon very slight occasion-even human life. And yet, as a child is reported once to have snid, it ought to require great faith to put a man to death-a very clear conviction that the thing is right and necessary. Liberty, if wrongly taken, can be restored. Life, however taken, is gone for ever. And there should be consideration, surely, in taking the life of even a brute beast. Hence, when- ever there was real obedience in such a sacrifice, there must have been a very deep faith. Faith that what looked like waste was really using a brute life to the very best purpose. The natural life was yielded up, and there came back an accession of spiritual life. The brute was for the time of greater service as a sin offering than in any other way. III. THE EXTENT OF ABEL'S FAITH. It cost him his life. He died through it. The first example of faith that the writer finds is one where the believer loses his life through his faith. Moreover, he loses his life through faith that had Divine testimony borne to it. God makes it plain that he accepts tbe true obedience, but he does not pre.serve the natural life of him whom he thus accepts. The path of faithful obedience may be the path to natural death. IV. CAIN's mTJIELIEF. By the results of that unbelief Cain still speaks. He did not believe that a sin offering was needed. Then came the results of the unbelief. 1. Non-acceptance of what he did offer. 2. Consequent envy and malice of his brother, who had been witnessed to as righteous. 3. Malice leads to actual murder. 4. Cain, filled with remorse, looses the links that bind him to his fellow-men. Abel's fait.h has to be looked at, not only in its results to him, but in contrast with the results of Cain'• UD belief.-Y.