Hearken and Look

Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her — desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksving, and the voice of melody.’’ — Isaiah li. 2, 3.

THE second verse contains my actual text. It is the argument by which — faith is led to look for the blessings promised in the third verse. It is habitual with some persons to spy out the dark side of every question or fact: they -fix their eyes upon the “waste places,” and they study them till they know every ruin, and are familiar with the dragons and the owls. They sigh most dolorously that the former times were better than these, and that we have fallen upon most degenerate days. They speak of “shooting Niagara,” and of all sorts of frightful things. am afraid that a measure of this tendency to write bitter things dwellr ‘in almost all of us at this. present season, for certain discouraging facts which cannot be ignored are pressing heavily upon men’s spirits. ‘The habit of looking continually towards the wildernesses is injurious ‘because it greatly discourages; and anything that discourages an earnest worker is a serious leakage for his strength. Perhaps a worse esult than honest discouragement comes of depressing views, for they often afford an apology for indifference and inaction. The smallest peg uffices to hang an excuse upon when we are anxious to escape from he stern service of faith. “L pray thee have me excused,” isa request hich was supported in the parable by the flimsiest of pretences, and ‘iscouragement makes one of the same sort. The sluggard’s argument 18 on this wise, — *“I will not attempt the work, for it is far too heavy or my poor strength. I fear the times are ill adapted to any special ffort; indeed, I am not quite certain that success will ever attend the eneral work.” It is therefore a dreadful thing when the Christian church begins to be discouraged, and means must be used to stay the evil Such means we onid ‘use this day, we lift t

divine promise. “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,”
a silver trumpet in the front of the host. Be encouraged
eee soli there are no more difficulties now than there 7

Eas in waiting upon the Lord 3 renew. your strength.» Remember, - ye that are cast down, that there are other voices be ides those of the bittern and owl from the “waste places.” My text has “near to it twice, nay, three times, “Harken To ME.” You hay listened long enough to dreary suggestions from within, to gloo prophecies from desponding friends, to the taunts of foes, and t horrible whisperings of Satan: now hearken to him who promises to make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of th Lord. O ye whose eyes are quick to discover evil, there are other sights

the world besides waste places and deserts, and hence my text hath near -to it twice over the exhortation, “Loox” — ‘ Look unto the rock whence

ye.are hewn”; “Look unto Abraham your father.” Why should yo” eyes for ever ache over desolations? Probably you have seen as in the wilderness as you are ever likely to see there. It does not long to discover all the treasures and comforts of the burning san have probably discovered them all by now. As for the discomfor wants of the desert, you are perhaps as well acquainted with the you need to be. Gaze no longer at the thirsty land and the bur sky; turn your eye where the finger of the Lord points by his word. we enquire what it is,that the Lord would have us observe, he an

“ook unto Abrahany. your father, and unto Sarah that bare you for there we may find.comfort, O for the presence of the Holy Spir

‘that the word may be full of the dew of heaven to refresh our sou I. We shall first look towards Abraham that we may see in him ORIGINAL OF GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE, the foundation stone, as of the dis spensation by which God blessed the nets ae ages. Ih

nehence Israel and J udah were hewn. 2 We observe, first, that the founder of God’s first people was cal sd of a heathen family. “Your fathers,” says Joshua, “dwelt on the o ‘side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, they served other gods.” Abraham, the founder of the great syster which God was pleased to reveal himself for so long a time, and whose seed the oracles of God were committed, was a dweller i in Ur the Chaldees, the city of the moon-god. We cannot tell to wha as tent he was actually engrossed in the superstition of his fathers, but is certain that the family was years afterwards tainted with idolatry for in Jacob’s day the teraph was still venerated, and Rachel stole father’s images. Abraham, therefore, was called out from the place of birth, and from the household to which he belonged, that in a sep condition, as a worshipper of the one God, he “might keep the t alive in the world. Recollect, then, that the first man from whom that wondrous nation which God hath not even yet..vasb awa

ee Vos AMARKEN AND /LOOK, ie. tae ek EE i ee i; Att inally himself an idolater, and had to be called out of his sinful e by elfectnal grace. Why, then, might not the Lord, if the cause truth were this day reduced to its utmost extremity, again raiseupa hurch out of one man? If an almost universal apostasy should hide the vine light, could he not kindle a torch among the heathen, and by its light illuminate the earth again? He could call out another Abraham, and bless him and increase him, and achieve the whole of his eternal purposes if all of us should sleep in the dust, and the visibly organized church of to-day should pass away as the snow of winter at the advent of spring. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is he not able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham? As to anything like discouragement, it ought to vanish at the thought that not only out of your Sunday-schools, your colleges, and your pulpits can God raise up leaders for his church, but he can find them in the very centre of heathenism. Where Satan’s seat is, even there can the Lord raise up advocates for his cause. The thick darkness of superstition shall nob prevent the chosen one from seeing the light, neither shall the bondage an of sin hold back the captive from finding freedom and proclaiming it: to ‘others.: “Ah,” you say, “but men are not called now, as Abraham was, by raculous calls from heaven.” I reply, — The statement may be true; — but God’s visible means of calling men are now so many that there can seldom be need of miracle. The Lord can by his Spirit make one of he millions of Bibles scattered over the world to be as powerfula = — s- — means of call as though he had sent an angel from heaven; yea, a ‘solitary leaf of a printed tract, if wafted by the wind, or carried by the vave, may be borne where God shall bless it to the calling forth of a champion ordained of old to do great exploits. Where ordinary means - are so plentiful wisdom resorts not to signs and wonders. Miracles

were of admirable use while they were necessary; but now that hey are no longer required the prudence of God forbids an ex- — travagant display of the supernatural. Now that the word of God is cattered “thick as leaves in Valambrosa” everywhere by willing and ready hands, what need can there be of voices of the day or visions of the night? The same Spirit who called Abraham by a supernatural voice can call others by the word of truth. Instead of regarding it as a prodigy that a man should be unexpectedly called out from among the heathen I look for it, and shall not be surprised to hear that in the remoter provinces of China, or in the centre of Thibet, or in the recesses f Africa men have been raised up to found churches for our Lord esus. God can through the printed page or by hints and rumours passed from hand to hand convey enough instruction to call out ‘more Abrahams and bless them, and increase his kingdom by them. “QOmnipotence hath servants everywhere.” Let us never dream that he God of Abraham is short of means for calling out chosen men to i uild up his church. Surely Christian people should never doubt the power of God to raise up lights in dark places when we remember that the greatest preacher of the gospel, namely, the apostle Paul, was drafted into the army of Christ from the ranks of his direst foes. ‘The proud Pharisee, a fanatic of the fanatics, embittered against Christ, and perse- -cuting his people, became the earnest advocate of Christ Jesus, Aforetime his rene was aiteskentae and slameltbr; yet on the road to he was conquered and transformed. As a lion roareth over - did Paul rejoice that the saints in Damascus were now in his but the Lord struck him down, and turned the lion to a lam henceforth where sin abounded grace did much more abound. in the ranks of Christian heroes stands the man who called himse chief of sinners because he persecuted the church of God. My brethrei as Luther came from among the monks, so out of Rome, yea, from the — Vatican itself, can God, if he wills, call another Luther. The darness of the times cannot forbid it, for God is light. The weakness the church cannot hinder it, for all power belongeth unto God. T - may not be among us to-day one whom God will so greatly honou to make him a spiritual father of nations; but there may be su one in the courts of Whitechapel or in the rookeries of St. The Christ, who was himself called the Galilean, despises no place or people. Our king is not particular as to the mine from whick digs his gold. The great seeker of precious souls full often finds ‘purest pearls i in the deepest and the blackest waters. Take this, th for encouragement, ye who tremble for the ark of God: he can up,a spiritual house for himself out of dark quarries, and find. ceda for his temple in forests wntraversed by the feet of missionaries “Ah,” say you, “but Abraham was naturally a man of monies: mo Where do you find such a princely spirit as his?” I answer, Who made him? He that made him can make another like him. There i is a grace. of God which goes before what we are accustomed to call saving gr t mean a grace of God which, in the creating of the pn makes

and Sh auiee, eine adorned, even as & an man, with much t j excellent in its own order. How often do you see among certain men of the world a generosity, honesty, open-heartedness, and nobility disposition which are not grace, but which mark men out as fit leaders in all that is good when grace calls them into the divine ser The Lord can just as soon make a man after the type of Abraham as after any other type; and doubtless he has such in store even now, to whom his call wili yet come. We may expect to see men of stron convictions converted into believers who “stagger not at the proi through unbelief.” From among priests and pagans we may hope that the Lord will raise up pillars for his church. Is not this hope encouraged in your breasts as you “Look unto Abraham your father, and — unto Sarah that bare you”’? 4 Look again and observe that Abraham was but one man. Do not startled at the sound which seems to have such terrors for certai brethren. J have heard the cant of those who object to a “oneministry,” a ministry to which all the while they usually submit in the own meetings; but to my ear there is music, and not terror, in the ter “a one-man ministry.” I bless God that all my hope ‘of saly hangs upon the divine ministry of the One Man. Is not Christ, a servant of God, the very pattern of all ministries which are of Working out the Father’s eternal purpose by a life which was neces unique 1h many points, he trod the wine-press alone; in this, howe

he causes many of his people to have fellowship with him, even as in he case of Paul, who says, ‘ At my first answer no man stood with me, ut all men forsook me.” I am bold also to say that the Lord has as a ‘ule wrought more nobly by one man than by bands and corporations of men. He in whose seed all nations are blessed was but one. “I called him,” saith he, “alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” Nor is this a solitary instance. When the earth was utterly corrupt’ God conserved the race by a solitary preacher of righteousness, who prepared an ark for the saving of his house. See how one Joseph saved whole nations from famine, and one Moses brought out a race from bondage. Who was there to keep Israel right when Moses fell on sleep but the one man Joshua? What-were the prosperous times in the era of the Judges but days when one man was to the front as a leader? When all the rest hid away in dens and caves, some Barak or Gideon, or Jephthah, or Samson came boldly forward and delivered Israel. One man, standing like a figure at the head of many ciphers, soon headed. victorious thousands, through faith in God. What was there but one man in the days of David? The Philistines had still triumphed over the land if the one lad had not brought back Goliath’s head, and if the: - one man had not again and again smitten the uncircumcised in the: - name of the Lord. Beloved, if we should ever be reduced, as we shall. not be, to one man, yet by one man will God preserve his church, and. work out his great purposes. I hope we shall never go into our cham-. ber, and shut-to the door, and cry with Hlias, “I only am left, and they’ seek my life!” No, my brother, there are more faithful men in this. world than you. The Lord has yet reserved to himself his thousands. - that have not bowed the knee to Baal. We are this day, not one man, - but many, and we all desire to live for the glory of God, and for the spread of his gospel; but if our hosts were so diminished that we could be numbered by a little child upon his fingas* still there would be no excuse for dismay, for the Ged of Abraham ill liveth, even he who. created a people to his praise by one man, of whom he says, “I called - him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.”

Think, my brethren, of the power for good or evil which may be enshrined in a single human life. What mischievous results may come of one man! One. sinner destroyeth much good, and if there were but one person left who had knowledge of the ways of vice and the words of blasphemy that one man would suffice to infect the race with his - abominations. If evil be so mighty, is not good with God in it quite as

powerful? We may rightly measure quantities in reference to many things, but with others it is absurd. It would be ridiculous to measure the power of fire by the quantity which burns on your hearth. Give us fit materials and a single match, and you shall see what fire can do. If ordinary fire, that may so readily be extinguished, is thus powerful, who - ghall venture to measure the power of the fire from heaven, which neither men nor devils can quench, the fire which fell at Pentecost, and burns among us still. Ye carry fire, ye servants of God; ye work with a heaven-sent force of boundless energy. Why, therefore, should you despair? If all the lights in the world were put out except a solitary lamp, there is enough fire in one wick to kindle all the lamps in the universe. What inch of ground remains for despair to stand upon?

the - i man. Te Ta ot aa Bardo the Beis of ‘God, ay he help him. “TI called himalone.” True, he was attended vy. miserable lot he was, costing his noble ‘uncle more trouble t! brought him profit. How little did he maintain or adorn the “ness ‘which, nevertheless, had saved him: true type of many i ‘ professor i in these days. “Abraham was not backed by any soci e crossed the Euphrates and afterwards traversed the desert to s in Canaan as a pilgrim and a stranger. If ever man was fairl cu adrift and cast upon the Lord it was the great father. of the faith - He certainly found no patronage in his onward course save .the al sufficient patronage of the Lord his God. When he came near to k igs it was a source of trouble to him; it led to contention, and onc; -war; or else he felt bound to refuse their offers of gifts, and say as he did to the king of Sodom, “I will not take from a thread even to as latchet, and I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest hare be have made Abram rich.” That same boastful sentence might uttered by the State concerning some churches that I know of, but not - concerning us: may God preserve us, my brethren, from every ‘desire tO come under obligations to earthly sovereignties, lest, becoming indebted to them, we should be bound to render suit and service at their bidding, ae such service being already due to “another king, one Jesus.” es. Abraham had no prestige of parentage, rank, or title. If you h looked at the stately patriarch when he trod the plains of Mamre would have seen about him a presence, a calm dignity, a traly r manner; but that came to him solely through his faith in God an communion with heaven. Abraham was disting uished from other r only by the grace of God. What grander difference can there be t that which is established by the existence of faith in the heart? Thi hus - Abraham was in the fullest sense a lone man, unsupported by any. those outward distinctions which enable some men to do more t 4 miiers.: The fulfilment of his calling rested on his loneliness; for he must get away from his kindred, and wander up and down with his flocks, en as the church of God now does, dwelling in a strange land, and feet her flock apart. When he was ‘alone God blessed Abraham, — * Tx him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” The blessing di come to him i in Charran while he still had some connection with the o stock; he was not yet become thoroughly nonconformist, but held - some small degree to the old house at home, and till the last link w. snapped the blessing could not come. And now, my brother, if in

i, town or district where you live you seem to lose all your helpers

ye they die one by one, and it seems as if nobody would be left to y

i if even the prayer-meeting fails for want of earnest, pleading men persevere, for it is the lone man that God will bless. “He settet

Solitary in families.” In your present forlorn condition you are lear ’ympathy with that lone man in Gethsemane, with that lone man up the cross, who there vanquished all your foes. Remember that yo enemies are thus beaten before you encounter them, and therefore may readily overcome through the blood of the Lamb. Oh, afraid. Thus saith the Lord — *I called him alone, and biesse id ased him.” Grasp that, ye that dwell remote from human

pathy. Oh that our missionaries abroad may feel the rich ifort of this fact; for they full often, like lone sentinels, keep watch h eyes that long to see a friend. They are separated from intercourse. ‘with brethren, they miss the friendships which tend to comfort and confirm, but it is God that calls them alone, and he will bless them and

do, because they dare not make unholy alliances with any, — standing alone, I say, in simple trust in the living Lord — ought not to be afraid with any amazement, but attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.

Once more, I cannot help asking your attention to the fact that Abraham was not only a man called from heathendom, one man, and a lone man; but he was a man who had to be stripped yet further, The blessing was — * Surely blessing I will bless, thee, and — multiplying I will multiply thee,’ but the manifest fulfilment of it was not by-and-by.. As we have already seen, he must come away from his kindred and his father’s house, and he must dwell in Palestine till the promised seed was born. But how long he waited for the expected heir! Twenty, yes, almost thirty years rolled away, and the man Abraham was ninety years old and nine. He is very old: and yet he is to be blessed with a son. He must number the full - tale of a hundred years before Isaac can be born. This promised child was to be according to promise, and therefore it could not be born till nature was recognized as spent. As for Sarah — it was not possible - that she should become a mother at her advanced age, and yet it must - be so, for God had said it. he believing pair had waited on till in an evil hour Sarah suggested a desperate attempt to fulfil the promise, in which she still firmly - believed. That artifice broke down; it was.a part of the divine plan that it should do so. The covenant promise was not to the seed after: the flesh. When that scheme had been set aside, the Lord in his ‘own

time fulfilled his word.. Joy! joy! in the house of Abraham and Sarah. What a feast there was that Isaac was born, filling the house with laughter. But he must die! “Get thee up,” said God, “and take thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’ The grand old man will do it. He will get up early in the morning, and the father and the son will journey together silently; for the aged heart is too full to talk. He believes God, and is sure that even if he should actually slay his son at - God’s command the promise would somehow be kept. Abraham could not tell how, but it was no business of his to tell how;’he was fully per- - suaded that what God had promised he was able to perform. God had - gaid to him “In Isaac shall thy seed be called,” and he believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead, or in some other way achieve the q ‘promise. Thus he grasped the resurrection. He laid hold on a truth a which was deeper than he knew of: by his faith he realized resurrection for Isaac though as yet the Lord Jesus had not shown the way by his own rising from the dead. What a stripping Abraham had endured! Who can describe what would have been the wretchedness

increase them. The purer churches of to-day, standing alone as they in the fulness of time spared not his own Son, but freely delivered h

for thee.”.

deg igre Se i we
yo =e, 1 aS

of that aged parent if it had not been for his faith! Men i love the children of their old age. See how a grandchild is by his grandsire, and thus must Isaac have been loved of Ab -and yet he must die by his father’s own hand. Oh, most misera’ among the miserable must he have been who stood there on M Moriah, called to such a duty, his heart breaking while his soul obey Such, doubtless, would have been the case had not faith been his si Look, then, to Abraham your father, and say is he not the greatest of mel the grandest human representative of the great Father God himself, v

upforus all? Likest to God among mortal men art thou Abraham, therefore well mightest thou be his friend! In thy trial brought such a stripping we may yet envy thee as we hear the Lord sa “Now know I that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld th son, thine only son from me.” Now, if in all these trials Abraham yet blessed, and God’s purposes were accomplished in him, can we no believe that the same God can work by us also, despite our downcasting and humiliations? When we are utterly broken and crushed may the Lord’s strength be made perfect in our weakness? Let u question the promise because of our personal deadness and inability, br - believe God without wavering, for he hath said, “My grace is sutticie

Now, brothers and sisters, here is the sum and substance of this head of my discourse: in looking to the rock whence we are he’ we have to see the Lord working the greatest results from apparen inadequate causes. This teaches us to cease from calculating me possibilities, and probabilities, for we have to deal with God, with whon ‘all things are possible. Almighty God can assuredly do whatever hi says he will do. Whois to hinder him? Let the voice ring out ov all the earth, and let it be heard in hell itself — who shall stay the

‘of God when he wills to achieve a thing? He fears no opposition and he needs no help. Of what did he make the world? With whom took he counsel? Who instructed him? And, if all the thi that are have been spoken into existence by God alone, by his mer word, can he not yet build up his church, even if on her earthly side there should seem to be no material with which to raise her walls? Consider creation and remark what God hath wrought. See how all the tnillions of mankind have sprung from a single pair, because God blessed them in the beginning. But I must not multiply illustrations from nat or from history, for they rise spontaneously before your own min Refresh your faith by a reference to our own island history. If you would — firmly believe in the conversion of the heathen remember what your fathers were when bloody rites were performed in the oak woods or am the huge monoliths of Stonehenge. ‘The Druidic system was as cruel a degrading as any that now curses a savage people; but the heralds Jesus conquered. Where are the gods of the Druids now? Who — -verences the golden sickle and the sacred oak? The thing is gon though it never had been. Why, then, should not other evil idola pass away? Look again at the triumph of Protestantism in country. What was it at first? A thing utterly despised and hu down. The stakes of Smithfield cannot be forgotten by those who ee (s

ood, and pyx, and image were broken in contempt. Let the days of she Puritans, the palmy days when God was known in England, tell how thoroughly Bible truth won the victory. Why not again? Why not everywhere? If you desire another illustration, look at our yn body of Christians? History has hitherto been written by our emies, who never would have kept a single fact about us upon the ecord if they could have helped it, and yet it leaks out every now and then that certain poor people called Anabaptists were brought up for ndemnation. From the days of Henry II. to those of Elizabeth hear of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all men for he truth’s sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women, ith their garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the cold, and anon of others who were burnt at Newington for the ime of Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known of, these horrible Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.” .No sooner did the visible church begin to depart from the gospel than these en arose to keep fast by the good old way. The priests and monks shed for peace and slumber, but there was always a Baptist or a - Lollard tickling men’s ears with holy Scripture, and calling. their attention to the errors of the times. They were a poor, persecuted tribe. The halter was thought to be too good for them. At times ill-written istory would have us think that they died out, so well had the wolf done his work on the sheep. Yet here we are, blessed and multiplied; and Newington sees other scenes from Sabbath to Sabbath. As I think - of your numbers and efforts, I can only say in wonder — What a growth! AsI think of the multitudes of our brethren in America, I may well ay, What hath God wrought? Our history forbids discouragement, Never cause more hopeless once; none more hopeful to-day! It matters little what may yet happen, the cause is safe. “What if all our Baptist organizations expire! What if but one man should be left

Lord shall reign for ever and ever. This is the lesson which, I pray, we may all of us learn, and then, by faith, go forth to act upon it..

II. With great brevity, I shall dwell for a moment upon the second - point, namely — — THE MAIN CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS CHOSEN. MAN. The text says, “Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you,” and it must mean, — consider him and see what he was, that you may learn from him. You perceive at once that his grand characteristic was his faith. In this faith many other most brillant qualities are comprehended, but his faith lay at the bottom of all. Here is his epitaph : — “Abraham believed God.” That was a mainspring of all his acts, the glory of his life, “Abraham believed God.” ‘The men that God will work by, whatever else they have not, must have faith in God. “Though it is to be desired that the believer should have every mental and moral qualification, yet it is astounding how, if there be real faith, a multitude of imperfections are swallowed up, and the man is still a power. I would mention Samson as an extreme case. He was the. teeblest of men, and the least fitted to be a judge in Israel; but oh,

ear the spot. Yet, despite all, the gospel of God triumphed, and

aithful to. the old banner, our Captain would yet triumph gloriously, or he saveth not by many nor by few. Though all else faileth, the

; He is like a child in his belief that God is. with him

uy what faith! oy ki tase iden e aehievent:

salculates at all; it is all the same to him whether there are a xrone. He flings himself. upon the host, and has slain’ them b an realize the deadly odds. A. sword; no, he has no sword: - 3awbone of an ass is quite enough for an arm which God stren: “See how he smites them, hip and thigh, till they lie in heaps him. I do not suppose that it would have signified to Samson if -* had been a million Philistines: with a thousand to one, a man i. thoroughly outnumbered that numbers cease to count. “Here Wi impossibility before him, and what could be worse. Brethren, when do get off your feet, and must swim, you may as well have fifty fath REO. water beneath you as not, for you can but drown. In the case of fe drowning is out of the question, and swimming is good in deep 1 for there is no fear of striking against a rock, Faith ‘elories i in dithicu and infirmities, because the power of God doth rest upon her. If the wo: is barely possible to her strength faith hardly likes it; but she gets i her sphere when in trials far. beyond human strength she laugh impossibility, and cries, “It shall be done.” - Abraham’s faith was such that it led him to obedience. Hes Ww called to go out, and he went, not knowing whither he went. His fait through grace led him to perseverance; ‘for once in God’s way he d not leave it, but still abode a sojourner with God. His faith led him expectancy; he looked for the promised seed, and not only for an. ig but for the Messiah. So clear was the vision of his expectancy th before his eyes Christ was set forth, visibly. Did not the Savi oun knew all things, say, “Abraham saw my day; he saw it, and was g The like faith also dwelt in the breast of. Sarah; and, as we ar in the text to look to’Sarah as well as Abraham, let us not fail to do s The faith of Sarah was not little when she left home with her husba: forsaking her kith and kin from love to God, and to him wkom called “lord.” She acted as if she had said to the great patriarc “* Where thou goest I will go; where thou dwellest I will dwell, f God is my God.” Nor did the trial of her faith end with the movir whe had to take up with tent-life and all its inconveniences. It is woman that knows the discomfort of domestic life under such cire stances. We never hear that she complained for a moment, tho the cold of winter and the heat of summer are neither of them wai off by a tent. How readily she entertained her husband’s gu Though they might drop in at most unseasonable hours, or call he bake bread in the heat of the day, she was glad to welcome strange: for like her husband she was given to hospitality, I saw yous dear friends, when [ mentioned domestic matters; but to me it is solemnity of ‘faith that men and women can not only pray and sing, ean put up with household discomforts out of obedience to God. Cer people look upon faith as a fine, airy, sentimental thing with which t roam among the stars, anticipate millenniums, and enjoy ‘yourself i in loft contemplation. I believe far more in a faith which, whether it. eats. drinks, does all to the glory of God; faith which like Sarah dwells the tent and works there faith w hich is cheerful over a scant and drives away the fear of want; faith which can come down in lift ‘HEARKEN AND TOOK. es an

Ne a te omfortable home at Ur to his gipsy wanderings in Palestine the change

‘Sarah, for men can rough it and live out of doors, but the housewife ws all about it, and great was her faith that she never raised a quesabout the propriety of her husband’s course of life: and though she laughed when she was told that she should bear a son, yet remember at in the eleventh of Hebrews it is written — — “‘ Through faith also Sarah herself received strength.’ She was the mother of Isaac, not in the ower of the flesh, but through the energy of faith, therefore look at her as the text bids you. Ca. Christian men and Christian women, mark well this fact — that the aracteristic of the person whom God will bless is that he believes and upon his belief. Without faith it is impossible to please God; the man of faith is God’s man... And why is this? I answer, beuse faith is the only faculty of our spirit which can grasp God’s ideal.

e ideas of God are as high above us as the heavens are above the

t of God’s thought whispers to herself{ — ‘‘ I cannot understand this eat thing, nor need I wish to do so. What is my understanding? rhaps I trust to it too much already. I am called to do what God bids m by bowing before his sovereign will.” There is a capacity about aith for grasping divine promises and purposes, a width, a breadth, a ight, a depth, which can hold the infinite truth as no other power can. Love alone can rival it, for it embraces the infinite God himself, ith the far-reaching pians and promises of God faith alone is fit to al; carnal reason is altogether out of the lists.

Faith, too, has a great power of reception, and therein lies much of her daptation to the divine purpose. Self-confidence, courage, resolution, 901 reasoning, whatever else they are good at, are bad at humbly eiving. ‘Those vessels which are full already are of no use as eivers; but faith presents her emptiness to God, and opens her mouth at God miay fill it. Mercy needs not a jewel, but a casket into which put her gems, and faith is exactly what she wants. Then, again, faith always uses the strength that God gives her, Pride uld vapour with it, and doubt would evaporate it; but faith is pracal, and economically uses the talent entrusted to her. Faith has already spent all her own strength, and she so yearns to achieve her purposes that she uses all the power that God willlend her. Faith eats her manna and leaves not a morsel for worms to breed in.

Faith, too, can wait the Lord’s time and place. When faith is weak n are in a dreadful hurry, but strong faith does not judge the Lord o be slack concerning his promise., As God achieves his purpose with infinite leisure, he loves a faith that is patient and looks not for its reward this day or the next. “He that believeth shall not make haste Ae hat is to say, he shall not be ashamed or confounded by present trials as to rush upon unbelieving actions, Faith leaves times and seasons h God to whom they belong.

the cottage, if providence so decrees. From Abraham’s

ust have been great, but Abraham may not have felt it onc half as much

le greatest man, without faith, cannot tread in the divine footsteps.

h: and therefore it is not by any fancied vastness of our feeble. minds that we can ever rise into fellowship with God. Faith in the”

, Without knowing why, and I am glad it is so, for now I can worship corner in every chamber to find it, but they found it not.

Teast of all do you believe if you pride yourself in your faith, for fai

’ become discouraged and discourage others; I beg you go home an

Wie. The me betienor Peril nb anes a hee or een a on his hands. “Where is boasting then:?” was a question one in the house of faith, and the searchers examined every n

they said to faith, “Where is boasting?” ‘She answered, “I him out.” “It is excluded,” shut-out, and the door fastened face. You do not believe God if you boast of what you are doing: —

is not mistrustful of her God but of herself. Faith looks to God 1 keep her alive as well ‘as to fulfil the promise that he has made to he This then is the kind of faith which was characteristic of Abraham, ani the question is, have we got it? Have we so much of it that God can largely bless us? The comfort is that, if we have it not, the author faith can give it to us, and if we have it in scant measure he ca increase our faith. a

Is not this a solid reason why you and I should take hear You who do not believe that missions will succeed; you who rea

seek more faith. We cannot go down to the battle with such sold as‘you.; you do but encumber the host. ‘The men that lapped are only ones that Gideon will take to war. Send the fearful ones to the rear and let them take care of the baggage, so that when the battle is ‘. won they may have a sharé of the spoil, according to David’s 1 For actual service and warfare we must have men of faith. Cromwel found that when his men came dressed in all sorts of suits a colours they were apt to injure one another in the melee, and so h them all in uniform. The uniform of the Prince Immanuel is thes no man may call himself a soldier of the cross who hath it not. the victory which overcometh the world, even your faith. ministers, let us take heed lest we be found qualified for our ministr all respects except this one. You have learning, eloquence, indus honesty, but do you so believe in God as to expect his word to 2 divinely on men’s hearts. Do you preach believingly? Do you 5 believingly? I leave the question with you. Br III. Ihave shown you, dear friends, that God effected his purpos and raised up a chosen nation out of one man, whose chief characte: istic was his faith: and now I want you to notice OUR RELATIONSH TO THAT ONE MAN. I dwelt upon that while reading the chapter (Rom iv.) There is a relation between us and Abraham even as Paul ass us in the epistle to the Galatians, ‘‘ Know ye therefore that they whi are of faith, the same are the ‘children of Abraham.” Someth surely, is expected of the children of such a man as Abraham. OQ, shame, thou unbelieving one! Is Abraham thy father? Art thou of the faithful seed? Great mountains are often succeeded by lo valleys. Perhaps that is the case with you; but it should not b The natural seed were cut off because they had no faith, let not who are grafted i in, think to.do without it. It is by faith that you son at all... You disprove your pedigree if you tolerate unbelief, let nobody find fault with Abraham through you, and surely they do so if they find you staggering. That “staggering” is a shoe

|. HEARKEN AND LOOK. Se Ae ae: ies 3 A allan usiness: ‘staggering at God’s promises is terrible. Abraham. stag. gered not at the promise through unbelief. May we never dishonour the right noble grace of faith, but so believe that all men may know Abraham’s God to be our God. O for abounding spiritual life, for the God of Abraham is not the God of the dead but of the living; and we can only live unto God by faith. ‘ - Brethren, because we are the seed of Abraham, the apostle declares that the blessing of Abraham has come upon us also. I pray that all the friends and labourers in our Missionary Society may grasp the lessing of Abraham. What is it? It is a covenant favour that elongs to all who are the servants of God by faith. Here is the ubstance of it: “Surely blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee.” That is the grand old covenant promise and it belongs to the church. Note that the blessing is attended with utiplying. Some friends are afraid of statistics which represent the srease of the churches; I am far more afraid of those statistics hich will show that we do not increase as we could wish. The blessing f the church is the increase of the church. The two go together: Blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee.”’ ow much are Christians to be multiplied in the world? At the present moment we do not seem to be increasing as fast as the population. I am afraid that the number of converted persons relatively to the population is scarcely as great as it was thirty years ago; we long be multiplied at a very different rate from this — and we shall be if we have faith in our God. Hear ye the covenant word: “Look now toward heaven, ‘and tell the stars, if thou be able to.number them: and — he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And in thy seed shall all the - nations of the earth be blessed.’ These are lines from the covenant, which is sure to all the seed and can never be broken. We have been called and blessed, and it is of necessity that we increase also. We are bound to increase; we are destined to overrun the nations; the Hittites, the Hivites, the Amorites, of Popery, Mahometanism, and Idolatry are in the land, but their false systems are utterly.to perish. Jesus at the head of his people shall drive them out — I mean not the men, but their evil beliefs. They may take notice to quit, for he is coming before. whom all men must bow. O that ere he himself shall appear his» spiritual presence in the midst of his church might suffice for victory, that all mankind might call him blessed. We are bound to increase, till the wilderness and the solitary place shall he.glad for us, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Upon the church in her vigour shall yet descend the blessings of the tribes of Joseph. “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth.” The success of truth is the battle of the Lord, and: the increase of his church is according to his own promise, therefore in quietness we may possess our souls, TV. Last of all consider for a minute OUR POSITION BEFORE Apranaw’s God. Do not let anything that I have said about Abraham for a moment take your mind off from the Lord himself, because the pith of it all lies here — — ‘J/ called him alone.” Look to 4 Abraham, but only as to the rock from which the Lord quarried his “people:” iaecae main thought renuit be him alone, and blessed him.” “JZ the ‘Lped: do all thes unto the everlasting God who doeth great wonders, and es! upon him. Let us joyfully recollect that the Lord our God has not cha not in one jot or tittle. He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ey There i is

so far a change in the revelation of him, that it is brighter l in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than it cou - been through seer and vision; but that should be a motive for i se hey faith, “His arm is not shortened that he cannot save, neit ear heavy that he cannot hear.’ This God of Abraham is still almighty, and still in the midst of the covenanted ones. If the ages that h passed over his awful brow could wrinkle it and his strength co decay, then might we also decline in our confidence; but it ‘ys not He fainteth not, neither is weary. Our behaviour towards him, ther fore, should resemble that of Abraham; and an a

God. Let God be true and every man a liar. This the suerte decree which none can change, — Christ must reign; he shall see of th travail of his soul and shall be satisfied; the kings of the earth m bow before him. Do not doubt it, for God hath sworn by his onal

. that all flesh shall see his glory. Here is the grand argument for stro

faith. Py Notice next that the covenant of God has not changed. God hat recalled his words, nor taken a pen and struck ont his promises the record. Read the covenant words, and write them upon the posts of your mission-house, In blessing I will bless thee, ar. oa aie! I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,

one ota seed of Abraham, this is the marrow of it, and 1 has never been revoked. As I have said before, we read ib an)

the covenant is not: disannulled, Let us go. to God with an. promise of it, and we can say to him, “This is thy promise in Chr Jesus; and thou hast not spoken in secret in a dark place and withd thy word and said so the seed of J acob, Seek ye my face. in vain.’ pleading will prevail. He will never run back from his word. H - gaid, and will he not do it? ‘Therefore let us cry, “Remembe word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” But there is this also to be added, that this work which we desire t ie Lord to do is in some respects even less than that which he has don Bs with Abraham. What ask we? Not that he should begin wit on aa man to build up a nation, or create a church? No, but that Zio builded, he should comfort her, and cause her waste places to ae. «DS field is the world, and the seed is ready for the sowing. 0 es), (18) inithe ‘hands. of thoge who have the best means of spread a Everything is ready for its ultimate triumph. The train is laid; ae only need the heavenly fire to touch it, and the deed is accomplish O that the work of the Lord may be speedily done; that the Lord n

Ea ys HEARKEN AND LOOK.
Rees ec ae Rent noe ee ae Saas ot bt

y his work of righteousness and make a short work in the

ay that if God has done this greater thing, if he has excavated

om the quarry of Abraham, we may well expect the sclf-same

the similitude of a palace. The time to favour Zion, even the set time, has come. Beside that; we have been already visited by God as braham had not been when first he was called. Abraham’ had not known the Lord till he called him, but our Sion is familiar with God, for she is the city of the great king. He dwelleth in our midst by his Holy Spirit, and holy hymn and prayer rise every day from the ultitudes that fear him. ‘The Lord hath redeemed, and justified, and ved his people, and surely we may look to him to refresh and revive is heritage.; What marvellous things hath God done on the face of the earth since

and depth of which none of us can measure; the wondvous work of edemption, the highest, grandest, divinest achievement of the Deity — 1 this is done; what may we not expect after this? You know

him, at least up to the level of the patriarch. How shall we forge an use if we do not? What can excuse us if we distrust so glorious ‘od. Hs srethren, it remains for me only to add this practical word. Let us ow ourselves more and more upon our God. If you have any work dinted you of the Lord, and it is within the compass of your ngth, shame upon you if you do not perform it at once; but t be beyond you, herein will God be glorified if you do it by his power. If there remaineth no might, wit, or wisdom in you, if you are deeply conscious of your weakness you are by this ex- — ience made the more fit to be used of the Lord, for when we are eak then are we strong. If you have confidence in God all things are possible to him that believeth. Oh, when will the church cast herself pon her God as men throw themselves into the stream when they mean yswim? ‘They seek no longer for foothold, their foot leaves the spot hereon it rested, and they throw themselves trustfully upon the wave. he everlasting ocean of love and power is ready to upbear us: we all swim gallantly to shore if we will but trust this blessed.sea of love. Let us begin to believe God and then let us act in daily life as if e believed him. The just shall live by faith. Some people have faith which is for show, a Sunday faith, faith that cannot bear the ear and tear of every-day life; varnished and gilded, but with no pure etal in it. The faith of Abraham could lead strings of camels and flocks of sheep away from Haran to Canaan. His was the faith which ould drive the tent-pin into a foreign soil, or roll up the canvas and ek another unknown halting place. The faith of Abraham is a faith at saith to wayfaring men, “‘l’urn in, and I will get you a little water nd wash your feet.” It is a practical, active, living, week-day, every-day faith. I will speak very broadly and plainly, and say we need a read-and-cheese faith, that is to say, a faith which believes that God ho feeds the ravens will send us our daily bread 5 a faith which believes hat the heavenly Father who clothes the lilies will much more clothe

keep his covenant, to multiply his church, and build her up eo

aham’s days ! — the stupendous marvel of incarnation, the height

more of God than Abraham could know; I beseech you then, trust Ke

as a grain of mustard seed, “Hearken!” for you may hear the Sabb

iy Sota it, and that ae not live i in “alte region of how God blessed Abraham with flocks and herds, and ever poral as well as spiritual, because he walked in reference to these th along the line of faith; gave Lot his choice of pasturage, refuse offer of the king of Sodom, and resolutely paid the children of the full price for the cave and the field. If we walk by faith in bus

life God may not in every case bless us with abundance of tempora mercies, but assuredly we shall be blessed. He may send us adver and poverty, but in these things faith is more than conqueror, gle,

in tribulations also.

In the Lord’s work of evangelizing the world you must have a dow right, practical faith; aot a faith that will sing when the organ begins: to ) play, and then be so busy fumbling the hymn paper as to forget t the collection: not the faith of” those who boast of Carey, and Marshman, and Knibb, but whose own names never appear in the subscript list for a single shilling: not a faith which sings — ’

“Fly abroad thou mighty Gospel.”

but never lends a bit of down to make a feather for its wings. Let us hear the scripture, as it says, “Hearken!” If you have fi

bells 1 ringing in the everlasting peace, and angel songs welcoming reign of grace over all nations. Let the ears of deaf unbelief ue stopped, for the whole earth echoes with the praises of the Lord. not that the day is distant. Hearken! Let faith be the listener, a she will hear across the ages which divide us from the gladsome perio Then shall you listen all “day and all night long for many a year, b never hear the roll,of drum or roar of cannon. Hearken! shall hear from the islands of the sea, and from the once benig! continents, psalms and hymns, and holy songs, ascending unto the Jehovah and to his Christ. Hearken! for ears were never gladden with sweeter music. Then look! till you see the temples of false gods crumbling into du See how the shrines are tottering, and the idols breaking as thou smitten with a rod of iron. Mohammed’s crescent wanes, never to again; and she, of the Seven Hills, is hated of the kings, and they her with fire. “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolat he hath made in the earth!” Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashe pieces the enemy. ‘hey fall! They tf fall! They are as the slain. T day breaketh, and the shadows flee away. O ye watchers that look for the dawning, fall not asleep through sorrowful weariness. The mor cometh. It shall not tarry. Do you doubt it? Know ye not that Lord reigneth?. Is he not the Lord strong and mighty, the L mighty in battle. ‘The glory of the Lord shall be rev ealed, an flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. If you doubt it, dissolve your Missionary Society, and do not pretet to do a work in which you have no faith; but if you believe in triumph of God’s work, and that you are called to it, behave wor to so divine an enterprise. God do so to you as you deal with Bee y this matter. Amen.