And these all, having obtained, &c.— "All these pious heroes, in different ages, were supported under their respective trials, severe and extreme as they were, by the exercise of a firm and lively faith in the fidelity of God, and the invisible rewards and glories of a future state: and it was by this, under divine grace, that, having obtained a good report, they persevered to the end: but they did not receive the full accomplishment of the promise made to their fathers; God having, according to the counsels of his infinite wisdom, provided something still better for us in the gospel revelation; that sothe beauty of his conduct and administration might be the more apparent, and that they without us might not be made perfect, but that all might end with the greatest dignity and propriety to the glory of God in Christ Jesus." See Acts 13:32-33.
Inferences.—Let the many glorious examples of faith which are here set 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 O, may what we call our faith be not merely a speculative and ineffectual assent to the truth, even of the most weighty propositions; but a firm persuasion of their certainty, and a deep conviction of their importance and of our interest in them, that we also may obtain a good report.
May we believe in God as the Former and Upholder of universal nature, as most assuredly existing, and as most bountifully rewarding 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 then be animated to walk with God, and favoured with divine intercourse and communications; and, like Noah, find our safety in the midst of a dissolving world, and, while sinners are condemned, be found the heirs of righteousness.
While we wait for this happiness, let us endeavour to approve ourselves the genuine children of Abraham, the father of the faithful. 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 faithful children. It is indeed a city that hath foundations, in comparison of which all the most magnificent and established buildings of the children of men are but mean and moveable tents.
God glories 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 his faithful people, he answers all which that high and 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 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.
2nd, Let these glorious instances of faith be preserved in our memory, and have their due influence upon our hearts. When God calls us to resign our greatest comforts, let us think of that heroic act of faith by which Abraham offered up Isaac, and seemed in him to sacrifice all the promises as well as his son. Yet he therein acted a part the most strictly rational; as rightly concluding, that God could with infinite ease call him back to life again, and make a person, who had poured forth all his blood on the altar, and been reduced to ashes there, the father of many nations. Let dying parents commit their children to the care of the ever-living God, like Jacob; and worship him who hath fed them all their lives long, and who will never forsake those that put their trust in him. Let those who are called to glorify God by opposing the unjust commands of great and powerful men, remember the parents of Moses, and remember their illustrious child. Does he now repent that wonderful choice which he made at an adult age? does he now wish that he had been called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, rather than the servant of God, faithful in all his house? does he wish that he had secured the treasures of Egypt, and the temporary pleasures of sin, and declined that reproach of Christ, which has ended in eternal glory? Our hearts, our consciences will soon answer; let us then, like him, have respect unto the recompence of reward. Let us endeavour more frequently to direct our regards to God, and live as seeing him who is invisible.
And while our faith is thus viewing him, let us look with pleasure to the Blood of sprinkling, which places us under his protection; which introduces us to his favour; which secures us from the destroying angel. He will lead us on safely to his heavenly Canaan, if we fall not by unbelief. He will open our passage through seas of difficulty; he will send down upon us every suitable supply, and would much sooner command the skies to rain down bread, or the flinty rock to melt into streams of water, than desert his faithful people in the wilderness. Let all his wonders of power, and of love to Israel of old, animate our faith; and let them all quicken our obedience; and under a sense of our own weakness, and the importance of this leading, this princely grace, let us daily pray, Lord, increase our faith.
3rdly, Is it possible that we should read this animated chapter without feeling our hearts glow with a sacred ambition of acting as becomes those who have heard such tidings and beheld such examples? If the triumphs of faith in Rahab, and Gideon, and Barak, and Sampson, and Jephtha, cannot move us, nor even those of David and of Samuel; if we are insensible of the martial prowess which they exerted in firm dependance on the Lord God of hosts; let us behold other combats, in which they who seemed weaker, became yet more gloriously victorious. Let us remember, not only the mouths of lions stopped, but the violence of fire quenched, when the faithful servants of God were thrown into it. Yea, let us behold those who endured its unquenched violence, and turned all those painful and terrible sensations, into an heroic occasion of expressing the superior ardour of their love to God, and the steadfastness of their faith in him. Let us remember those women, and youths, and children, among the rest of these worthies, indeed among the worthiest of them, who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
In vain were all the terrors of persecuting rage and cruelty opposed to these triumphs. They submitted to imprisonment, and banishment, how dear soever their liberty and their native country might be; they quitted their commodious habitations for rocks and caves, and their comfortable apparel for sheep-skins and goat-skins. And when desarts and dens could no longer shelter their wretchedness, but they were seized by their blood-thirsty enemies, they beheld, and endured, undismayed, the most horrid instruments of death. When the piercing sword entered their vitals, when overwhelming stones dashed them in pieces, when the torturing saw was tearing out their very entrails, there was a principle within superior to all these, which nothing could pierce, which nothing could rend away, which nothing could overwhelm. God hath done an honour to our nature in raising up such illustrious persons, of whom the world was not worthy, and whose distinguished worth could never have been manifested in the eyes of their fellow-creatures, had it not been called out to such rigorous trials. Well might they rejoice on any terms in their dismission from a state of existence so far beneath the elevation of their views. And though their names may be perished from among men, and the distinct history of each lost in the crowds of countless multitudes, yet are they all in remembrance before God; and the death of each of his saints, in such circumstances, peculiarly precious in his sight. They are now bathing in those rivers of delight, which flow through the celestial paradise, and waiting the full consummation of their hope in that better resurrection, in the views of which they suffered so bravely.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have,
1. An account of the nature and effects of divine faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, giving such a realizing view of the promises, and such a subsistence of them to the mind, as if they were actually in our possession; and the evidence of things not seen, demonstrating the certainty of the invisible things revealed in the divine word, with such a full persuasion, as to act upon the mind, in a great measure, as if they were present.
2. All the saints, from the beginning, have lived under its blessed influence: For by it the elders obtained a good report, and were enabled so to walk as to obtain God's approbation of their conduct, this from the first being the divine principle on which alone any work acceptable to God could ever be performed.
3. One of the first articles of faith is this, That the worlds were framed by the word of God, who spake them into being, when nothing existed before; so that the things which are seen, even all the visible objects of creation, were not made of things which do appear, but from that chaotic mass, which was originally brought into being at the word of the Almighty.
2nd, The apostle begins to instance the power of divine faith in many of the eminent servants of God, and he begins with the antediluvian worthies.
1. Abel. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, who only brought of the fruit of the ground, but offered no atoning sacrifice in acknowledgment of his sins; whilst Abel to his mincha, or meat-offering, added the blood of the firstlings of his flock, the type of the great atonement whereon his faith relied; by which he obtained witness of God that he was righteous, either by some visible token, as fire from heaven on his sacrifice, or by the witness of the Spirit in his heart, God testifying of his works, that they were accepted through the righteousness of faith; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh; the record of it in the scripture instructs us, that, since the fall of man, the only way of access to God is through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus; and also that vengeance awaits the murderer and persecutor, against whom the blood of innocence and the cries of oppression call for judgment. Note; (1.) The only access to God for sinners, from the beginning, was through the blood of Jesus. (2.) There is a great difference between those who worship God in formality, and those who worship him in faith. It is not the act, but the way and the spirit in which we present our prayers, which makes the acceptable offering. (3.) They who are righteous by faith, and have obtained witness from God, may expect the world's enmity. The first most eminent saint recorded in scripture, was a martyr for religion.
2. Enoch. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, caught up to the paradise of God in body and soul, instantly undergoing the change that fitted him for an eternal mansion in glory; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation to the realms of bliss, he had this testimony, that he pleased God, in a course of humble and holy walking under the influence of divine faith in the expected seed of the woman; see Jude 1:14-15. But without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God, in any act of religious worship, must believe that he is such as he hath revealed himself to the sons of men; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, in the use of all the ordinances which he hath appointed. Note; (1.) No service can please God, but what springs from faith as its origin. (2.) God is the portion and exceeding great reward of all his faithful people. (3.) There are appointed means, in which God hath told us, they who wait upon him shall assuredly obtain his blessing; and in the use of them we cannot be too diligent.
3. Noah. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, which reason could never have suggested, nor mortal known but by divine revelation, moved with fear and religious awe at the apprehension of the approaching judgments, prepared an ark according to God's direction, in defiance of the scoffs of the men of that generation, to the saving of his house from the approaching deluge; by the which he condemned the world; his preaching and labours in building the ark witnessed against that unbelieving world who paid no regard to his works or word during the space of a hundred and twenty years, and thus he left them without excuse; while he himself became hereby heir of the righteousness which is by faith, entitled to the salvation which the infinite merit of that Redeemer in the fulness of time should purchase, whom the ark represented and he by faith apprehended. Note; (1.) God sends his warnings before his judgments: the latter come not till the former have been despised. (2.) Faith begets holy fears, silences all objections, and sets us to work for God in defiance of all opposition. (3.) They who will ever be saved from the deluge of wrath, must by faith take shelter in Christ their ark, for out of him there is no hope.
3rdly, From the antediluvian patriarchs the apostle passes on to consider the case of the great father of the faithful, an example that should have peculiar weight with those who valued themselves on being his descendants.
1. He mentions Abraham's call. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out from the land of his nativity into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed without hesitation, fully persuaded of the truth, power, and grace of God to fulfil his promises: and he went out, under divine guidance, and trusting on divine direction; not knowing whither he went, neither the country itself, nor the way which led to it. Note; (1.) Implicit faith is due to God's word; and though we know not how, yet we may be assured, however improbable it may appear to sense and reason, it shall be fulfilled in the appointed season. (2.) They who would go to the heavenly Canaan, must, at God's call, come forth out of a world that lieth in wickedness.
2. His sojourning in Canaan. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, though proprietor of it by the divine grant, yet not holding the least part in possession; dwelling in tabernacles, without any settled abode, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, Jacob being fifteen years old at Abraham's death. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, even the state of eternal glory above, which is represented as a city, (Revelation 22:14.) whose builder and maker is God, he having prepared the heavenly mansions for all his faithful saints. Note; (1.) The saints of God are here resident in tabernacles of clay, but mansions of glory await them in a better world. (2.) Faith, which realizes our hopes above, necessarily draws forth our affections and desires after that blest world to which we are tending. (3.) All the trials of this mortal state will be regarded by us as light and transient, when we abidingly keep in view the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
3. The faith of Sarah is observed as closely connected with that of her husband Abraham. Through faith also Sarah herself, though naturally barren, and now past the time of child-bearing, received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, being ninety years old; because notwithstanding she at first hesitated and laughed, as if the thing was impossible or improbable, yet her faith soon got the better of her unbelief; for she judged him faithful who had promised, and that he was able to perform what he had said. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead through old age, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable. Note; Nothing is impossible with God: when he promises, we may trust, and not be afraid.
4. These all, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob, died in faith, not having received the promises, neither possessing the land of Canaan, nor having seen the Messiah incarnate; but they rested in the fullest assurance that what God had spoken, was as good as done, and sure in the event, having seen them afar off, looking forward to the distant ages when the time of their accomplishment should arrive; and were as fully persuaded of them as if they had lived to see them fulfilled, and embraced them with confidence and holy joy; and, under the influence of them, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, regarding themselves as such, looking for their heavenly home, and living above the world on the glorious hopes which God through Christ had given to them. For they that say such things, and professedly and practically die to the world, declare plainly that they seek a country, and took to a better world as their native land. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned to Ur of the Chaldees again; but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly, even that inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which God in Christ, as their covenant God, had revealed unto them, and which they by faith embraced. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, in a peculiar and most endeared relation: for he hath prepared for them a city, a glorious abode with himself, eternal in the heavens. Note; (1.) In this world we live by faith, not by sight; and yet the certain approach of the promised inheritance can even here, as if possessed, fill us with joy and peace in believing. (2.) True faith has ever this effect, to make us overcome the world, and live as strangers and pilgrims on the earth; we place not our affections upon it, but pass through it as a foreign land, with a holy indifference about its gains, honours, or interests; contentedly put up with any accommodations which we meet with, hasten on with diligence towards our native home, consort with our own countrymen who are travelling the same road and speak the same language, and are happy the nearer we arrive to that land where our affections are placed, and whither our footsteps bend. (3.) The heavenly country may well be the object of the believer's desires, when every thing there is so infinitely preferable to what can ever be found in this miserable world. (4.) They who perseveringly live in faith, will die in faith; that which carries them victorious through the conflicts of life, will make them triumphant over the terrors of death. (5.) If God be our God, therein is comprehended all possible blessedness: more the heart cannot desire, nor imagination conceive.
5. The apostle returns to mention another and the most eminent instance of Abraham's faith. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, as never mortal was before, to prove the strength and truth of his faith and obedience, offered up Isaac, took every step which evidenced his intention fully to comply with the divine command (see Genesis 22.): and he that had received the promises, offered up his only-begotten son, in whom alone these promises were to have been fulfilled; of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called; amidst innumerable objections, which sense, reason, nature, even religion, might seem to suggest, he staggered not: looking to the uplifted knife, we still shudder with horror and distress; and what must he then feel that stands ready to plunge it in that dear sacrifice, thy son, thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest! We start from the scene; but Abraham dares obey; his faith triumphed over every suggestion, accounting, (λογισαμενος,) reasoning and concluding from the most substantial grounds of evidence, that God, by whose command he knew with the most infallible assurance that he now acted, was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure; he knew that God could as easily re-animate Isaac on the altar, as produce him from the bodies of his parents, that were, in this respect, as good as dead; and he rested in the fullest confidence that the divine promise should somehow or other receive its accomplishment. Note; (1.) God knows the purposes that are in the hearts of his people; and what they design in obedience to his will, he regards as acts really performed. (2.) Where God commands, we must stop our ears to all the reasoning of unbelief, fear and selfishness. Duty is ours; events are in his disposal. (3.) Isaac was the figure and type of the death and resurrection of Christ. (4.) We marvel at Abraham's obedience to God's command, though his son is spared; with what astonishment and wonder then should we contemplate the love of God, who spared NOT his own son, but even for us sinners gave him up to death, even the death of the cross?
4thly, The apostle proceeds to other eminent instances of faith.
1. Isaac. He had been mentioned before; another instance of his faith is given, when, in the confidence of the promise, he left his parting benediction with his children, and by divine determination, though undesignedly, being blind, conveyed the principal blessing to his younger son. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come; to Esau he gave the fatness of the earth, but to Jacob the unspeakable honour of being a progenitor of the Messiah.
2. Jacob. By faith in the promises of God to Abraham, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, by a prophetic spirit foretelling the superior greatness of Ephraim, crossing his hands designedly that his right hand might rest on the head of the youngest; and worshipped God, leaning upon the top of his staff. Note; (1.) The worship of God will be the faithful believer's exercise to the last: when old age and weakness will not permit him to bend his knees, he will still bow upon his bed, or lean upon his staff, and pour out his humble prayer. (2.) Patents cannot more properly finish their course than by leaving with their children, that surround their dying beds, the profession of their faith, and their final benediction.
3. Joseph. By faith Joseph, when he died, firmly persuaded of that inheritance in Canaan which was assigned to Abraham and his seed, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and gave commandment concerning his bones, solemnly charging them, under the sanction of an oath, that, when in the expected future day they departed to possess the promised land, his bones might be carried thither. The dust of Canaan was more eligible in his eyes than the noblest sepulchres of Egypt. Note; The testimony of dying saints to the truth of God's promises, is a happy means to confirm the faith of their surviving brethren.
4. The parents of Moses. By faith Moses, when he was born, ordained to be the great lawgiver and deliverer of Israel, and a most eminent type of Jesus their spiritual Redeemer, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child, or fair to God, eminently beautiful, and probably some divine tokens appeared of his future greatness; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment, though, if discovered, their lives had paid for their disobedience to his bloody edict. They were persuaded that by a Hebrew, God would work their deliverance; and probably by some divine intimation perceived that this child should be the person. Note; (1.) When parents are eminent for their faith, there is a happy prospect that their children will rise up heirs of the same grace. (2.) In days of suffering we may lawfully use every prudent means for our preservation. (3.) An ingenuous countenance often bespeaks the ingenuous mind.
5. Moses. Much is spoken of him; for he is famous among the worthies, and has his name in the first rank. Four eminent instances of his faith are here recorded.
[1.] By faith in the promises made to his ancestors, and in the blessings of a better world, Moses, when he was come to years, arrived at maturity, highly honoured, and eminent for wisdom and learning, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, with all the dignities and advantages thence arising, perhaps even of succeeding to the throne of Egypt; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, as a despised Hebrew, than to enjoy all the glories of the highest human grandeur, and the pleasures of sin, however alluring, which are but for a season, and must in their issue plunge both body and soul into eternal misery; esteeming the reproach of Christ, and all the contempt, scorn, and persecutions, which for the sake of their fidelity to his worship, and faith in his promises, Israel endured, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, and what in the issue would prove unspeakably his gain in the eternal world; for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward, and looked off from the tempting objects of a flattering but deceitful world, to the substantial portion which he expected in the enjoyment of God for ever and ever. Note; (1.) Faith appears then most gloriously triumphant over the world, when, in the midst of greatness and grandeur, the soul can look down on these trifles, and be ready to part with all for the sake of Christ and his cause. (2.) The pleasures of sin, of the sweetest sin, are momentary; but the punishment of them is eternal. They judge therefore as wisely as religiously, who live in holy self-denial. (3.) As the greatest advantages cannot pay us for the least sin, so are the greatest sufferings to be chosen rather than to offend God; and we shall never see cause to regret what we forego or endure for our fidelity to him. (4.) The reproach of Christ is our truest honour: far from being ashamed of it, we should glory therein as our greatest riches. (5.) There is a recompence of reward, the prospect of which should ever animate our souls, and teach us to count every thing else comparatively as dung and dross, so that we may but gain the glorious prize.
[2.] By faith he forsook Egypt, carrying up with him the children of Israel, confident of the Lord's protection, and not fearing the wrath of the enraged king, nor the mighty hosts with which he pursued them in their way; for he endured undismayed and unshaken, as seeing him who is invisible, higher than the kings of the earth, and able to save to the uttermost. Note; (1.) They who will be faithful to God, must expect troubles, and be fearless of the wrath of man. (2.) A believing view of the invisible God will strengthen us, amidst all present difficulties, steadily to persevere.
[3.] Through faith in God's deliverance of his people from Egypt, and of the greater redemption which should be obtained for Israel by the Lamb of God, the great Messiah, he kept the passover, and observed the peculiar rite then enjoined of the sprinkling of the blood on the door-posts of their houses; lest he that destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, should touch them, if the blood prevented not his entrance. Note; (1.) Christ is our passover. (2.) His blood upon our consciences is our only protection from the wrath of God.
[4.] By faith in the power and promise of God, Moses stretched forth his rod, and the divided waters opened a passage for the discouraged hosts of Israel; and under his guidance, while he led the way, they passed through the Red-Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians daringly assaying to do, were drowned, the waters closing upon them, and every man of that terrible host perished. Note; They who persecute God's Israel, only rush upon their own ruin.
6. By faith, which Joshua, Caleb, and others exercised in God's power and veracity, the walls of Jericho fell down of their own accord, when they blew and shouted, after they were compassed about seven days, according to the divine command. Note; (l.) When God is for us, all opposition must fall before us. (2.) The weakest means in his hands are sufficient to bring about the greatest events.
7. Rahab, a woman, a Canaanite, brings up the rear of these faithful worthies: By faith in the promise that God would assuredly give the land of Canaan to the Israelites, the harlot Rahab, now turned unto God, whose grace abounds toward the chief of sinners who return to him, perished not with them that believed not, of the Canaanites; but with her whole family was preserved, when she had given that real proof of her faith, in that she received, concealed, and dismissed the spies of Israel in peace. Note; (1.) The ruin of sinners is their unbelief. (2.) They who cleave to God's people, and faithfully determine to share their weal and woe, will never have reason to repent their choice.
5thly, Unable to enter particularly into the case of every eminent believer recorded in the Old Testament, the apostle recites a cluster of distinguished names, and of the mighty effects which their faith produced.
1. He recites some of their distinguished names. And what shall I more say, when the field is so vast? For the time would fail me, if I enlarged on every individual,—to tell of Gideon and his noble exploits, recorded (Judges vi, vii, 8:;) and of Barak, who before him was eminent for his faith and victory, (Judges 4.) and of Sampson, in life and death so signally remarkable, (Judges 14:19; Judges 16:27-30.) and of Jephthae, before whose faith the routed Ammonites fell, (Judges 11:23-33.) and of David also, so famous in sacred history for dependance on God, (2 Samuel 23 l-5.) and Samuel, and of the prophets, who acted and suffered so nobly in the cause of God and truth, under the mighty influence of divine faith.
2. He mentions many of the glorious acts of faith, which these and other worthies like them, shewed; and any one conversant in the book of God may apply them to several there recorded: Who (1.) through faith subdued kingdoms, as Joshua, David, &c. (2.) Wrought righteousness in their private and public capacities, governing with equity; and in their conversation were examples of every thing good and gracious: (3.) Obtained promises, God remarkably appearing for them, as he had assured them he would in the hour of trial: (4.) Stopped the mouths of lions, as David, Sampson, Daniel; and still the same faith will produce the same effects, in stopping the mouth of the old lion, that he cannot devour: (5.) Quenched the violence of fire, so as to remain unhurt in the midst of the flames, (Daniel 3:13-27.) (6.) Escaped the edge of the sword, when in the most imminent danger of their lives: (7.) Out of weakness were made strong, their national affairs restored from the nearest prospect of ruin; their bodily health recovered, when their disease seemed desperate, (2 Kings 20:1-7.) and though, in comparison with their foes, weak as infancy, yet, in divine strength, they became more than conquerors: (8.) Waxed valiant in fight, and, trusting in the Lord, marvellously overcame in the day of battle: (9.) Turned to flight the armies of the aliens, though more, and, to human view, incomparably mightier than they: (10.) Women received their dead raised to life again, as in the cases of the widow of Zarephath and the Shunamite: and with respect to the power of faith, as evident in the most acute sufferings, we read that, (11.) Others were tortured, willingly submitting to the most dreadful torments, not accepting deliverance, when only to be obtained at the price of their conscience and some base compliances, rather welcoming death itself than deny the faith, that they might obtain a better resurrection, the prospect of eternal glory raising them superior to all the pangs of nature, and all the terrors of death: (12.) And others had trial of cruel mockings, ridiculed, treated as despicable, and loaded with every opprobrious name; and withal smarted under severe scourgings, yea, moreover, endured the pain and shame of bonds and imprisonment: such has been the portion of saints, more or less, in every age: (13.) They were murdered in a variety of ways: They were some of them stoned; they were sawn asunder, as the Jewish traditions affirm Isaiah was, at the command of the cruel Manasseh; they were tempted to deny their profession and save their lives, by complying with the commands of their persecutors; they were slain with the sword of tyrants and blood-thirsty men; and, where some escaped the fury of their foes by flight, their life was embittered as far as man could embitter it, and made scarcely preferable to death itself: for, (14.) They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, having no better covering to protect them from the inclemency of the skies, being destitute of any abode, of clothes, and necessary food, afflicted with various miseries, and tormented with endless insults and abuses, (of whom indeed the world was not worthy,) nor deserved so great a blessing as their examples, prayers, and admonitions; and by the wicked they were treated as unfit for human society, and driven out from among men to dreary solitudes; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, seeking refuge among wild beasts, more hospitable than their savage persecutors; and in the midst of all their sufferings, faith enabled them to persevere, and brought them at last to their eternal rest. For,
3. Their faith was at last crowned with the enjoyment of that Redeemer in whom they trusted. These all having obtained a good report through faith, enrolled in the sacred records as names held up for imitation to the latest ages, received not the promise, saw not that Messiah incarnate in whom their faith centered; God having provided some better thing for us, the manifestation of his Son in the flesh, to whom they had constantly respect, that they without us should not be made perfect; since not by the legal sacrifices, but by the offering of the body of Jesus, both their sins and ours were expiated; and by the same grace revealed in us by his Spirit, we may be saved under our higher dispensation with a greater and more complete salvation. According therefore to the peculiar advantages which we enjoy under the gospel, a peculiar obligation is laid upon us, that our faith should be suitably operative, engaging us to all cheerful obedience, and making us willing sufferers for our Redeemer's sake.