whither he went. And Sarai was delivered of a child when past age. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 165 xvi. receive for an inherit that he should afterwards receive for an inherit- SECT. ance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing ance, obeyed without disputing or murmuring, and went out, though he knew not at all whither Heb. he was going, or to which part of the world be XI. 8. was to steer his course, humbly resigning himself to Divine Providence to mark out his journey and his abode. By faith, he sojourned all 9 the remainder of his days in the land of promise, when he knew it to be so, as [in] a strange country, without having any property there, unless it was that of a sepulchre towards the close of his life; dwelling in tents, easily moved from one place to another, some part of the time with Isaac and Jacob'; who, in their succession, were heirs with him of the same promise, and depositaries of it, yet led the same kind of wandering life. But he passed from place to place 10 with cheerfulness; for he expected at length to be led on to a city, and that not such an one as he had left his native land, or such as he saw in Canaan, or even in Egypt, grand and populous as some of their buildings were; the object of his joyful and confident expectation, was that city, which alone hath firm and immoveable foundations, in comparison with which they were but like a frail tabernacle; a city, of which God [is] the builder and former, who drew and executed the grand plan, and laid out upon it all the richest ornaments, which might raise it to a magnificence, worthy of his own abode, and the inheritance of his beloved children. 10 For he looked for a city which hath builder and maker is foundations, whose God. 11 Through faith al so Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, be cause she judged him faithful who had pro mised. By faith, Sarai herself, notwithstanding some 11 mixture of suspicion, at length, as the worthy consort of such an husband, and worthy mother of such an offspring, received strength for the conception of seed, and brought forth a child beyond the due time of age for such a purpose, when she was ninety years old, and in the course of nature absolutely incapable of being a mother; because she accounted him who had promised, to be the faithful and Almighty God, who could with infinite ease accomplish an event, which then seemed to be, and indeed was unpa12 Therefore sprang ralleled. Therefore by this mighty principle of 12 there even of one, and faith in her, and in Abraham, there sprang even from him 1 With Isaac and Jacob.] It is plain from the account of the lives of these patriarchs, that Jacob was born fifteen years before Abraham died; and the oracle X 2 given to Isaac before the birth of his chil- m In 166 Heb. These all desired a better country, that is, an heavenly. re numerable. braced them, and con on the earth. SECT. from one father, and he in this respect, as it were, him as good as dead, xvi. dead, [a posterity] in multitude as the stars of the sky in multitude, so many as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore and as the sand which XI. 12. innumerable", according to that Divine pro- is by the sea-shore inmise, which carried its efficacy into so many moter ages, and retains it even to this day. 13 Now all these worthy and excellent persons, 13 These all died in of whom I have here been speaking, died in faith, faith, not having received the promises, not having received the blessings exhibited in the but having seen them promises; but having seen them afar off, and hav- afar off, and were pering been fully persuaded [ of them,] and embraced suaded of them, and em[them] with the most cordial affection, and fessed that they were greatest ardour of mind, and having, through the strangers and pilgrims whole course of their lives, confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on earth; as we know that these holy patriarchs, and some of their most eminent descendents did. (Gen. xxiii. 4; xlvii. 9; 1 Chron. xxix. 15; Psal. xxxix. 12; 14 cxix. 19. 54.) For they who say such things as these, and speak of themselves as strangers and pilgrims, plainly express that they seek a country", different from that in which they 15 dwell, when they use such language. And 15 And truly if they as for these excellent men, if indeed they had had been mindful of been mindful of that country from which they whence they came out, come out, they might sure have had an opportuni- they might have had ty of returning to it; for they were a consider- opportunity to have able body, and they might have marched back without the probability of meeting with any resistance, and might have expected a subsistence among the relations of their family, who were themselves in a prosperous state, and often expressed on proper occasions, their regard to these 16 their illustrious kinsmen. Now therefore it appears, that they were desirous of a better, that desire a better country, is, an heavenly [country o;] for there was no earthly country, which they seem to have been pursuing. And indeed this is the great excellence of their character, to be governed by such m In multitude as the stars of heaven, &c.] Mr. Hallet observes here a great propriety in the apostle's saying, that they should be in multitude as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea-shore innumerable: there being an impossibility of numbering the latter, whereas the former, since they have been reduced into constellations, have been numbered with a considerable degree of exactness. See Hullet in loc. where be endeavours to account, consistently with this observation, for Psal. cxlvii. 4, He telleth the number of the stars, views 14 For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country. that country from returned: 16 But now they that is, an heavenly: where. and calleth them all by their names, as if this were the peculiar prerogative of God. n Seek a country: walida.] The original word is very emphatical; 'it signifies, as it were, a native country, or a country in which their father dwelt, and is opposed to that in which they were strangers and pilgrims. o Better country, that is, an heavenly.] The argument, according to the turn I have given it, is much the same with that which our Lord urges, Mat. xxii. 32. Reflections on the foregoing instances of faith. ashamed to be called their God: for he bath prepared for them a city. 167 xvi. Heb. wherefore God is not views; therefore God determined to bestow this SECT. happy land upon them, and he is not ashamed to be called their God, in such a peculiar manner, as he has assumed the title, because he hath pre- Xi. 16. pared them such a city as they sought; whereas if he had done nothing more for them than he did here upon earth, it would have been beneath his dignity to have professed that relation; as the title naturally imports something great and excellent, far beyond what these patriarchs received, and indeed what any can possibly receive in this mortal and transitory life. IMPROVEMENT. LET the many glorious examples of faith, which are here set Ver. before us, animate our souls to imitation, and excite in us a generous desire of acting upon that noble and sublime principle, without which it is impossible to please God. And 0), may what 6 we call our faith be not merely a speculative and ineffectual assent 1 to the truth, even of the most weighty propositions; but a firm 2 persuasion of their certainty, and a deep conviction of their importance, that we also may obtain a good report. May we believe in God, as the former and support of universal 3 nature, as most assuredly existing, and as most bountifully reward. 6 ing all that seek him with sincerity and diligence. So shall our sacrifices be acceptable to him, as those of Abel were, while with him we look to that great sacrifice and atonement, of which his victim was the appointed representation. Like Enoch we shall 5 then be animated to walk with God, and favoured with Divine intercourse and communications. And though we cannot expect a translation like his, which should exempt us from the common lot of mortality, we shall be secure of admission into the paradise of God above, and in due time shall ascend to it in our complete perWe shall then, like Noah, find our safety in the midst of a 7 dissolving world, and while sinners are condemned, be found the heirs of righteousness. sons. While we wait for this happiness, let us endeavour to approve ourselves the genuine children of Abraham, the father of the faith-8 ful. Ever attentive to the Divine call, may we in obedience to it, be willing to go forth, though we do not particularly know whither; and with an intrepidity like his, may we even be ready to exchange worlds, at the command of God, ignorant as we are of what lies beyond the grave; thinking it enough, that we know it is a land which God hath promised as the inheritance of his children. It 10 is indeed a city that hath foundations, in comparison of which all the 168 By faith Abraham offered up Isaac: SECT. the most magnificent and established buildings of the children of men are but mean and moveable tents. xvi. Ver. God boasts in the title of its builder and maker, having formed and fashioned it for the highest displays of his glory and his love; and in reference to it, he is not ashamed to be called our God; for by bestowing it upon us, he answers all which that high and 16 glorious title might import. May we ever desire this as our better country, and live as its citizens ought; confessing ourselves, in reference to it, to be pilgrims and strangers upon the earth. And though we here receive not the accomplishment of the promises, may we keep our eyes on the objects they exhibit, how distant soever they may seem; and being persuaded of them, may we embrace them; embrace them even with our dying arms, and breathe out our prepared and willing spirits, in full assurance that we are going to receive and possess them. SECT. xvii. Heb. SECT. XVII. The Apostle further dilates upon examples and instances of faith in HEBREWS XI. 17. HEBREWS XI. 17. when he was tried, up his only-begotten son; I HAVE already mentioned some glorious in- BY faith Abraham stances of the faith of Abraham, our illus- offered up Isaac: and trious progenitor; but I should be far from he that had received XI. 17. doing justice to my subject, if I were not to add the promises, offered another, the most celebrated of all. You will remember therefore, that it was by faith that Abraham was supported, when he was tried, in that most severe instance, and at the Divine command offered his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved; yea, he who had received the promises, which terminated not only in his seed, but in Isaac by name, offered his only-begotten [son,] in whom they so centred, that they must necessarily have failed if he had perished without any offspring. So that nothing seemed more difficult, on principles of common reason, than the reconciliation of the promise with the com18 mand. Even when he was destined to the altar, concerning whom it was said, In Isaac said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called, (Gen. xxi. 12,) yet his led: triumphant faith surmounted even such an obstacle, and it was as wise and rational as it was 19 pious and heroic: Reasoning within himself as he did, that God was able even to raise [him] from 18 Of whom it was shall thy seed be cal 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him also he received him in a figure. And Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. 169 him up even from the from the dead; and consequently that he could SECT. dead; from whence have brought Isaac to life again, if he had really xvii. expired under the sacrifical knife, and been re- Heb. duced to ashes: from whence he received him XI. 19. even in a figure. For as his production was a miracle, raising him, as it were, from the dead bodies of those who in a course of nature had no hope of children; so he was in another sense raised from the dead, when God gave him back to Abraham in the mount, in that awful transaction, in which was so significant a representation of Christ's day, (John viii. 56,) and of the method which God took for our redemption, in the sacrifice of his only-begotten Son. By faith, in a revelation which he then re- 20 ceived from God, under that superior direction, Isaac when advanced in age blessed his two chil dren, Jacob and Esau, and uttered some remarkable oracles concerning things long to come, and of such a nature, that no human foresight could possibly reach them. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of 21 the sons of Joseph, in full dependence on the Divine promise of an inheritance in Canaan; appointing these his grand-children, tribes in Israel: foretelling the superiority of Ephraim the younger, to Manasseth the elder; and in thankful acknowledgment of that Divine goodness, which he had so long experienced, at the same time worshipped, bowing down upon the top of his staff, with which he supported himself as he sat on the side of his bed. a Reasoning that God was able even to raise him.] Archbishop Tillotson justly observes, that his faith was in this respect the more admirable, as, so far as we can learn, there never had been one single instance of a resurrection from the dead, in, or before, the days of Abraham. In a figure: gabon.] Some think this implies, that his birth was a kind of resurrection from the dead. But the learned Dr. Warburton contends earnestly for it, that wagaboan intimates, that the whole transaction was parabolical or typical of the method God would take for the salvation of men. The learned Wolfius is of the same opinion, (Cura Philolog. Vol. IV. p. 762.) and observes in support of it, that the Greek word wagaboan answers to the Hebrew, and is so used by the Secenty; and that the Hebrews are wont to say up, in or by a parable or figure, Again, when they would express a typical repre- c Blessed Jacob.] He was persuaded d Worshipped.] He thought it so great a privilege to be buried in the land of Canaan, that he bowed his head, in token of thankfulness for it; which was another demonstration of faith in God's promise. Gen. xlvii. 30, 31. e On the top of his staff, as he sat on the side of his bed.] In the passage referred to Gen. xlvii. 31. it is said according to our English version, Israel bowed himself upon |