mh_parser/vol_split/58 - Hebrews/Chapter 11.xml

<div2 id="Heb.xii" n="xii" next="Heb.xiii" prev="Heb.xi" progress="79.15%" title="Chapter XI">
<h2 id="Heb.xii-p0.1">H E B R E W S.</h2>
<h3 id="Heb.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Heb.xii-p1">The apostle having, in the close of the foregoing
chapter, recommended the grace of faith and a life of faith as the
best preservative against apostasy, he how enlarges upon the nature
and fruits of this excellent grace. I. The nature of it, and the
honour it reflects upon all who live in the exercise of it,
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.1-Heb.11.3" parsed="|Heb|11|1|11|3" passage="Heb 11:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The great
examples we have in the Old Testament of those who lived by faith,
and died and suffered extraordinary things by the strength of his
grace, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.4-Heb.11.38" parsed="|Heb|11|4|11|38" passage="Heb 11:4-38">ver. 4-38</scripRef>. And,
III. The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of
this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old
Testament, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.39-Heb.11.40" parsed="|Heb|11|39|11|40" passage="Heb 11:39,40">ver. 39,
40</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Heb.xii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11" parsed="|Heb|11|0|0|0" passage="Heb 11" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Heb.xii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.1-Heb.11.3" parsed="|Heb|11|1|11|3" passage="Heb 11:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.11.1-Heb.11.3">
<h4 id="Heb.xii-p1.6">The Nature of Faith. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.xii-p1.7">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.xii-p2">1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.   2 For by it the elders
obtained a good report.   3 Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p3">Here we have, I. A definition or
description of the grace of faith in two parts. 1. It <i>is the
substance of things hoped for.</i> Faith and hope go together; and
the same things that are the object of our hope are the object of
our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will
perform all that he has promised to us in Christ; and this
persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession
and present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in
the soul, by the first-fruits and foretastes of them: so that
believers in the exercise of faith <i>are filled with joy
unspeakable and full of glory.</i> Christ dwells in the soul by
faith, and the soul is filled with the fullness of God, as far as
his present measure will admit; he experiences a substantial
reality in the objects of faith. 2. It is <i>the evidence of things
not seen.</i> Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality
of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body.
Faith is the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation and
every part of it, and sets to its seal that God is true. It is a
full approbation of all that God has revealed as holy, just, and
good; it helps the soul to make application of all to itself with
suitable affections and endeavours; and so it is designed to serve
the believer instead of sight, and to be to the soul all that the
senses are to the body. That faith is but opinion or fancy which
does not realize invisible things to the soul, and excite the soul
to act agreeably to the nature and importance of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p4">II. An account of the honour it reflects
upon all those who have lived in the exercise of it (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.2" parsed="|Heb|11|2|0|0" passage="Heb 11:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>By it the elders
obtained a good report</i>—the ancient believers, who lived in the
first ages of the world. Observe, 1. True faith is an old grace,
and has the best plea to antiquity: it is not a new invention, a
modern fancy; it is a grace that has been planted in the soul of
man ever since the covenant of grace was published in the world;
and it has been practiced from the beginning of the revelation; the
eldest and best men that ever were in the world were believers. 2.
Their faith was their honour; it reflected honour upon them. They
were an honour to their faith, and their faith was an honour to
them. It put them upon doing <i>the things that were of good
report,</i> and God has taken care that a record shall be kept and
report made of the excellent things they did in the strength of
this grace. The genuine actings of faith will bear to be reported,
deserve to be reported, and will, when reported, redound to the
honour of true believers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p5">III. We have here one of the first acts and
articles of faith, which has a great influence on all the rest, and
which is common to all believers in every age and part of the
world, namely, the creation of the <i>worlds by the word of
God,</i> not out of pre-existent matter, but out of nothing,
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.3" parsed="|Heb|11|3|0|0" passage="Heb 11:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. The grace of
faith has a retrospect as well as prospect; it looks not only
forward to the end of the world, but back to the beginning of the
world. By faith we understand much more of the formation of the
world than ever could be understood by the naked eye of natural
reason. Faith is not a force upon the understanding, but a friend
and a help to it. Now what does faith give us to understand
concerning <i>the worlds,</i> that is, the upper, middle, and lower
regions of the universe? 1. <i>That these worlds were</i> not
eternal, nor did they produce themselves, but they were made by
another. 2. That the maker of the worlds is god; he is the maker of
all things; and whoever is so must be God. 3. That he made the
world with great exactness; it was a <i>framed</i> work, in every
thing duly adapted and disposed to answer its end, and to express
the perfections of the Creator. 4. That God made the world by his
word, that is, by his essential wisdom and eternal Son, and by his
active will, saying, <i>Let it be done, and it was done,</i>
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.9" parsed="|Ps|33|9|0|0" passage="Ps 33:9">Ps. xxxiii. 9</scripRef>. 5. That the
world was thus framed out of nothing, out of no pre-existent
matter, contrary to the received maxim, that "out of nothing
nothing can be made," which, though true of created power, can have
no place with God, who can call <i>things that are not as if they
were,</i> and command them into being. These things we understand
by faith. The Bible gives us the truest and most exact account of
the origin of all things, and we are to believe it, and not to
wrest or run down the scripture-account of the creation, because it
does not suit with some fantastic hypotheses of our own, which has
been in some learned but conceited men the first remarkable step
towards infidelity, and has led them into many more.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Heb.xii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.4-Heb.11.31" parsed="|Heb|11|4|11|31" passage="Heb 11:4-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.11.4-Heb.11.31">
<h4 id="Heb.xii-p5.4">Exemplars of Faith. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.xii-p5.5">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.xii-p6">4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he
was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead
yet speaketh.   5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him:
for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased
God.   6 But without faith <i>it is</i> impossible to please
<i>him:</i> for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and
<i>that</i> he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
  7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.   8 By faith Abraham, when he
was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for
an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he
went.   9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as
<i>in</i> a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and
Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:   10 For he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
<i>is</i> God.   11 Through faith also Sara herself received
strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she
was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
  12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as
dead, <i>so many</i> as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as
the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.   13 These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of <i>them,</i> and embraced
<i>them,</i> and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth.   14 For they that say such things declare plainly
that they seek a country.   15 And truly, if they had been
mindful of that <i>country</i> from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned.   16 But now they
desire a better <i>country,</i> that is, an heavenly: wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for
them a city.   17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten <i>son,</i>   18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac
shall thy seed be called:   19 Accounting that God <i>was</i>
able to raise <i>him</i> up, even from the dead; from whence also
he received him in a figure.   20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come.   21 By faith Jacob, when
he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped,
<i>leaning</i> upon the top of his staff.   22 By faith
Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children
of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.   23 By
faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,
because they saw <i>he was</i> a proper child; and they were not
afraid of the king's commandment.   24 By faith Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter;   25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
  26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the
reward.   27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.  
28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood,
lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.   29
By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry <i>land:</i>
which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.   30 By faith
the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about
seven days.   31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not, when she had received the spies with
peace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p7">The apostle, having given us a more general
account of the grace of faith, now proceeds to set before us some
illustrious examples of it in the Old-Testament times, and these
may be divided into two classes:—1. Those whose names are
mentioned, and the particular exercise and actings of whose faith
are specified. 2. Those whose names are barely mentioned, and an
account given in general of the exploits of their faith, which it
is left to the reader to accommodate, and apply to the particular
persons from what he gathers up in the sacred story. We have here
those whose names are not only mentioned, but the particular trials
and actings of their faith are subjoined.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p8">I. The leading instance and example of
faith here recorded is that of Abel. It is observable that the
Spirit of God has not thought fit to say any thing here of the
faith of our first parents; and yet the church of God has
generally, by a pious charity, taken it for granted that God gave
them repentance and faith in the promised seed, that he instructed
them in the mystery of sacrificing, that they instructed their
children in it, and that they found mercy with God, after they had
ruined themselves and all their posterity. But God has left the
matter still under some doubt, as a warning to all who have great
talents given to them, and a great trust reposed in them, that they
do not prove unfaithful, since God would not enroll our first
parents among the number of believers in this blessed calendar. It
begins with Abel, one of the first saints, and the first martyr for
religion, of all the sons of Adam, one who lived by faith, and died
for it, and therefore a fit pattern for the Hebrews to imitate.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p9">1. What Abel did by faith: <i>He offered up
a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain,</i> a more full and perfect
sacrifice, <b><i>pleiona thysian.</i></b> Hence learn, (1.) That,
after the fall, God opened a new way for the children of men to
return to him in religious worship. This is one of the first
instances that is upon record of fallen men going in to worship
God; and it was a wonder of mercy that all intercourse between God
and man was not cut off by the fall. (2.) After the fall, God must
be worshipped by sacrifices, a way of worship which carries in it a
confession of sin, and of the desert of sin, and a profession of
faith in a Redeemer, who was to be a ransom for the souls of men.
(3.) That, from the beginning, there has been a remarkable
difference between the worshippers. Here were two persons,
brethren, both of whom went in to worship God, and yet there was a
vast difference. Cain was the elder brother, but Abel has the
preference. It is not seniority of birth, but grace, that makes men
truly honourable. The difference is observable in their persons:
Abel was an upright person, a righteous man, a true believer; Cain
was a formalist, had not a principle of special grace. It is
observable in their principles: Abel acted under the power of
faith; Cain only from the force of education, or natural
conscience. There was also a very observable difference in their
offerings: Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, <i>brought of the
firstlings of the flock,</i> acknowledging himself to be a sinner
who deserved to die, and only hoping for mercy through <i>the great
sacrifice;</i> Cain brought only a sacrifice of acknowledgment, a
mere thank-offering, <i>the fruit of the ground,</i> which might,
and perhaps must, have been offered in innocency; here was no
confession of sin, no regard to the ransom; this was an essential
defect in Cain's offering. There will always be a difference
between those who worship the true God; some will compass him about
with lies, others will be faithful with the saints; some, like the
Pharisee, will lean to their own righteousness; others, like the
publican, will confess their sin, and cast themselves upon the
mercy of God in Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p10">2. What Abel gained by his faith: the
original record is in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.4" parsed="|Gen|4|4|0|0" passage="Ge 4:4">Gen. iv.
4</scripRef>, <i>God had respect to Abel, and to his offering;</i>
first to his person as gracious, then to his offering as proceeding
from grace, especially from the grace of faith. In this place we
are told that he obtained by his faith some special advantages; as,
(1.) <i>Witness that he was righteous,</i> a justified, sanctified,
and accepted person; this, very probably, was attested by fire from
heaven, kindling and consuming his sacrifice. (2.) God gave witness
to the righteousness of his person, by testifying his acceptance of
his gifts. When the fire, an emblem of God's justice, consumed the
offering, it was a sign that the mercy of God accepted the offerer
for the sake of the great sacrifice. (3.) <i>By it he, being dead,
yet speaketh.</i> He had the honour to leave behind him an
instructive speaking case; and what does it speak to us? What
should we learn from it? [1.] That fallen man has leave to go in to
worship God, with hope of acceptance. [2.] That, if our persons and
offerings be accepted, it must be through faith in the Messiah.
[3.] That acceptance with God is a peculiar and distinguishing
favour. [4.] That those who obtain this favour from God must expect
the envy and malice of the world. [5.] That God will not suffer the
injuries done to his people to remain unpunished, nor their
sufferings unrewarded. These are very good and useful instructions,
and yet <i>the blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than that
of Abel.</i> [6.] That God would not suffer Abel's faith to die
with him, but would raise up others, who should obtain like
precious faith; and so he did in a little time; for in the next
verse we read,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p11">II. Of the faith of Enoch, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.5" parsed="|Heb|11|5|0|0" passage="Heb 11:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. He is the second of
those elders that through faith have a good report. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p12">1. What is here reported of him. In this
place (and in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.22" parsed="|Gen|5|22|0|0" passage="Ge 5:22">Gen. v. 22</scripRef>,
&amp;c.) we read, (1.) <i>That he walked with God,</i> that is,
that he was really, eminently, actively, progressively, and
perseveringly religious in his conformity to God, communion with
God, and complacency in God. (2.) <i>That he was translated, that
he should not see death,</i> nor any part of him be found upon
earth; for God took him, soul and body, into heaven, as he will do
those of the saints who shall be found alive at his second coming.
(3.) <i>That before his translation he had this testimony, that he
pleased God.</i> He had the evidence of it in his own conscience,
and the Spirit of God witnessed with his spirit. Those who by faith
walk with God in a sinful world are pleasing to him, and he will
give them marks of his favour, and put honour upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p13">2. What is here said of his faith,
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.6" parsed="|Heb|11|6|0|0" passage="Heb 11:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It is said
that <i>without</i> this <i>faith it is impossible to please
God,</i> without such a faith as helps us to walk with God, an
active faith, and that we cannot come to God unless we <i>believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek
him.</i> (1.) He must believe that God is, and that he is what he
is, what he has revealed himself to be in the scripture, a Being of
infinite perfections, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. Observe, The practical belief of the existence of God,
as revealed in the word, would be a powerful awe-band upon our
souls, a bridle of restraint to keep us from sin, and a spur of
constraint to put us upon all manner of gospel obedience. (2.)
<i>That he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.</i>
Here observe, [1.] By the fall we have lost God; we have lost the
divine light, life, love, likeness, and communion. [2.] God is
again to be found of us through Christ, the second Adam. [3.] God
has prescribed means and ways wherein he may be found; to with, a
strict attention to his oracles, attendance on his ordinances, and
ministers duly discharging their office and associating with his
people, observing his providential guidance, and in all things
humbly waiting his gracious presence. [4.] Those who would find God
in these ways of his must <i>seek him diligently;</i> they must
seek early, earnestly, and perseveringly. <i>Then shall they seek
him, and find him, if they seek him with all their heart;</i> and
when once they have found him, as their reconciled God, they will
never repent the pains they have spent in seeking after him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p14">III. The faith of Noah, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.7" parsed="|Heb|11|7|0|0" passage="Heb 11:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p15">1. The ground of Noah's faith—a warning he
had received from God of things as yet not seen. He had a divine
revelation, whether by voice or vision does not appear; but it was
such as carried in it its own evidence; he was <i>forewarned of
things not seen as yet,</i> that is, of a great and severe
judgment, such as the world had never yet seen, and of which, in
the course of second causes, there was not yet the least sign. This
secret warning he was to communicate to the world, who would be
sure to despise both him and his message. God usually warns sinners
before he strikes; and, where his warnings are slighted, the blow
will fall the heavier.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p16">2. The actings of Noah's faith, and the
influence it had both upon his mind and practice. (1.) Upon his
mind; it impressed his soul with a fear of God's judgment: he was
<i>moved with fear.</i> Faith first influences our affections, then
our actions; and faith works upon those affections that are
suitable to the matter revealed. If it be some good thing, faith
stirs up love and desire; if some evil thing, faith stirs up fear.
(2.) His faith influenced his practice. His fear, thus excited by
believing God's threatening, moved him to prepare an ark, in which,
no doubt, he met with the scorns and reproaches of a wicked
generation. He did not dispute with God why he should make an ark,
nor how it could be capable of containing what was to be lodged in
it, nor how such a vessel could possibly weather out so great a
storm. His faith silenced all objections, and set him to work in
earnest.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p17">3. The blessed fruits and rewards of Noah's
faith. (1.) Hereby himself and his house were saved, when a whole
world of sinners were perishing about them. God saved his family
for his sake; it was well for them that they were Noah's sons and
daughters; it was well for those women that they married into
Noah's family; perhaps they might have married to great estates in
other families, but then they would have been drowned. We often
say, "It is good to be akin to an estate;" but surely it is good to
be akin to the covenant. (2.) Hereby he judged and condemned the
world; his holy fear condemned their security and vain confidence;
his faith condemned their unbelief; his obedience condemned their
contempt and rebellion. Good examples will either convert sinners
or condemn them. There is something very convincing in a life of
strict holiness and regard to God; it commends itself to every
man's conscience in the sight of God, and they are judged by it.
This is the best way the people of God can take to condemn the
wicked; not by harsh and censorious language, but by a holy
exemplary conversation. (3.) Hereby <i>he became an heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.</i> [1.] He was possessed of a
true justifying righteousness; he was <i>heir to it:</i> and, [2.]
This his right of inheritance was through faith in Christ, as <i>a
member of Christ, a child of God,</i> and, if a child, then an
heir. His righteousness was relative, resulting from his adoption,
through faith in the promised seed. As ever we expect to be
justified and saved <i>in the great and terrible day of the
Lord,</i> let us now prepare an ark, secure an interest in Christ,
and in the ark of the covenant, and do it speedily, before the door
be shut, for there is not salvation in any other.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p18">IV. The faith of Abraham, the friend of
God, and father of the faithful, in whom the Hebrews boasted, and
from whom they derived their pedigree and privileges; and therefore
the apostle, that he might both please and profit them, enlarges
more upon the heroic achievements of Abraham's faith than of that
of any other of the patriarchs; and in the midst of his account of
the faith of Abraham he inserts the story of Sarah's faith, whose
daughters those women are that continue to do well. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p19">1. The ground of Abraham's faith, the call
and promise of God, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.8" parsed="|Heb|11|8|0|0" passage="Heb 11:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. (1.) This call, though it was a very trying call, was
the call of God, and therefore a sufficient ground for faith and
rule of obedience. The manner in which he was called Stephen
relates in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.2-Acts.7.3" parsed="|Acts|7|2|7|3" passage="Ac 7:2,3">Acts vii. 2, 3</scripRef>,
<i>The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia—And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show
thee.</i> This was an effectual call, by which he was converted
from the idolatry of his father's house, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1" parsed="|Gen|12|1|0|0" passage="Ge 12:1">Gen. xii. 1</scripRef>. This call was renewed after his
father's death in Charran. Observe, [1.] The grace of God is
absolutely free, in taking some of the worst of men, and making
them the best. [2.] God must come to us before we come to him. [3.]
In calling and converting sinners, God appears as a God of glory,
and works a glorious work in the soul. [4.] This calls us not only
to leave sin, but sinful company, and whatever is inconsistent with
our devotedness to him. [5.] We need to be called, not only to set
out well, but to go on well. [6.] He will not have his people take
up that rest any where short of the heavenly Canaan. (2.) The
promise of God. God promised Abraham that the place he was called
to he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, after awhile he
should have the heavenly Canaan for his inheritance, and in process
of time his posterity should inherit the earthly Canaan. Observe
here, [1.] God calls his people to an inheritance: by his effectual
call he makes them children, and so heirs. [2.] This inheritance is
not immediately possessed by them; they must wait some time for it:
but the promise is sure, and shall have its seasonable
accomplishment. [3.] The faith of parents often procures blessings
for their posterity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p20">2. The exercise of Abraham's faith: he
yielded an implicit regard to the call of God. (1.) <i>He went out,
not knowing whither he went.</i> He put himself into the hand of
God, to send him whithersoever he pleased. He subscribed to God's
wisdom, as fittest to direct; and submitted to his will, as fittest
to determine every thing that concerned him. Implicit faith and
obedience are due to God, and to him only. All that are effectually
called resign up their own will and wisdom to the will and wisdom
of God, and it is their wisdom to do so; though they know not
always their way, yet they know their guide, and this satisfies
them. (2.) <i>He sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange
country.</i> This was an exercise of his faith. Observe, [1.] How
Canaan is called the land of promise, because yet only promised,
not possessed. [2.] How Abraham lived in Canaan, not as heir and
proprietor, but as a sojourner only. He did not serve an ejectment,
or raise a war against the old inhabitants, to dispossess them, but
contented himself to live as a stranger, to bear their unkindnesses
patiently, to receive any favours from them thankfully, and to keep
his heart fixed upon his home, the heavenly Canaan. [3.] He dwelt
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same
promise. He lived there in an ambulatory moving condition, living
in a daily readiness for his removal: and thus should we all live
in this world. He had good company with him, and they were a great
comfort to him in his sojourning state. Abraham lived till Isaac
was seventy-five years old, and Jacob fifteen. Isaac and Jacob were
heirs of the same promise; for the promise was renewed to Isaac
(<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.3" parsed="|Gen|26|3|0|0" passage="Ge 26:3">Gen. xxvi. 3</scripRef>), and to
Jacob, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.13" parsed="|Gen|28|13|0|0" passage="Ge 28:13">Gen. xxviii. 13</scripRef>. All
the saints are heirs of the same promise. The promise is made to
believers and their children, and to as many as the Lord our God
shall call. And it is pleasant to see parents and children
sojourning together in this world as heirs of the heavenly
inheritance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p21">3. The supports of Abraham's faith
(<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.10" parsed="|Heb|11|10|0|0" passage="Heb 11:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>He
looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is
God.</i> Observe here, (1.) The description given of heaven: it is
a city, a regular society, well established, well defended, and
well supplied: it is a city that hath foundations, even the
immutable purposes and almighty power of God, the infinite merits
and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promises of an
everlasting covenant, its own purity, and the perfection of its
inhabitants: and it is a city whose builder and maker is God. He
contrived the model; he accordingly made it, and he has laid open a
new and living way into it, and prepared it for his people; he puts
them into possession of it, prefers them in it, and is himself the
substance and felicity of it. (2.) Observe the due regard that
Abraham had to this heavenly city: he looked for it; he believed
there was such a state; he waited for it, and in the mean time he
conversed in it by faith; he had exalted and rejoicing hopes, that
in God's time and way he should be brought safely to it. (3.) The
influence this had upon his present conversation: it was a support
to him under all the trials of his sojourning state, helped him
patiently to bear all the inconveniences of it, and actively to
discharge all the duties of it, persevering therein unto the
end.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p22">V. In the midst of the story of Abraham,
the apostle inserts an account of the faith of Sarah. Here
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p23">1. The difficulties of Sarah's faith, which
were very great. As, (1.) The prevalency of unbelief for a time:
she laughed at the promise, as impossible to be made good. (2.) She
had gone out of the way of her duty through unbelief, in putting
Abraham upon taking Hagar to his bed, that he might have a
posterity. Now this sin of hers would make it more difficult for
her to act by faith afterwards. (3.) The great improbability of the
thing promised, that she should be the mother of a child, when she
was of sterile constitution naturally, and now past the prolific
age.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p24">2. The actings of her faith. Her unbelief
is pardoned and forgotten, but her faith prevailed and is recorded:
<i>She judged him faithful, who had promised,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.11" parsed="|Heb|11|11|0|0" passage="Heb 11:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. She received the
promise as the promise of God; and, being convinced of that, she
truly judged he both could and would perform it, how impossible
soever it might seem to reason; for the faithfulness of God will
not suffer him to deceive his people.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p25">3. The fruits and rewards of her faith.
(1.) <i>She received strength to conceive seed.</i> The strength of
nature, as well as grace, is from God: he can make the barren soul
fruitful, as well as the barren womb. (2.) <i>She was delivered of
a child,</i> a man-child, a child of the promise, and comfort of
his parents' advanced years, and the hope of future ages. (3.) From
them, by this son, sprang a numerous progeny of illustrious
persons, <i>as the stars of the sky</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.12" parsed="|Heb|11|12|0|0" passage="Heb 11:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>)—a great, powerful, and
renowned nation, above all the rest in the world; and a nation of
saints, the peculiar church and people of God; and, which was the
highest honour and reward of all, <i>of these, according to the
flesh, the Messiah came, who is over all, God blessed for
evermore.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p26">VI. The apostle proceeds to make mention of
the faith of the other patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and the rest of
this happy family, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" passage="Heb 11:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. Here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p27">1. The trial of their faith in the
imperfection of their present state. They had not received the
promises, that is, they had not received the things promised, they
had not yet been put into possession of Canaan, they had not yet
seen their numerous issue, they had not seen Christ in the flesh.
Observe, (1.) Many that are interested in the promises do not
presently receive the things promised. (2.) One imperfection of the
present state of the saints on earth is that their happiness lies
more in promise and reversion than in actual enjoyment and
possession. The gospel state is more perfect than the patriarchal,
because more of the promises are now fulfilled. The heavenly state
will be most perfect of all; for there all the promises will have
their full accomplishment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p28">2. The actings of their faith during this
imperfect state of things. Though they had not received the
promises, yet,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p29">(1.) They saw them afar off. Faith has a
clear and a strong eye, and can see promised mercies at a great
distance. Abraham saw Christ's day, when it was afar off, and
rejoiced, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" passage="Joh 8:56">John viii.
56</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p30">(2.) They were persuaded of them, that they
were true and should be fulfilled. Faith sets to its seal that God
is true, and thereby settles and satisfies the soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p31">(3.) They embraced them. Their faith was a
faith of consent. Faith has a long arm, and can lay hold of
blessings at a great distance, can make them present, can love
them, and rejoice in them; and thus antedate the enjoyment of
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p32">(4.) They <i>confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on earth.</i> Observe, [1.] Their condition:
<i>Strangers and pilgrims.</i> They are strangers as saints, whose
home is heaven; they are pilgrims as they are travelling towards
their home, though often meanly and slowly. [2.] Their
acknowledgment of this their condition: they were not ashamed to
own it; both their lips and their lives confessed their present
condition. They expected little from the world. They cared not to
engage much in it. They endeavoured to lay aside every weight, to
gird up the loins of their minds to mind their way, to keep company
and pace with their fellow-travellers, looking for difficulties,
and bearing them, and longing to get home.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p33">(5.) Hereby they declared plainly that they
sought another country (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.14" parsed="|Heb|11|14|0|0" passage="Heb 11:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>), heaven, their own country. For their spiritual
birth is thence, there are their best relations, and there is their
inheritance. This country they seek: their designs are for it;
their desires are after it; their discourse is about it; they
diligently endeavour to clear up their title to it, to have their
temper suited to it, to have their conversation in it, and to come
to the enjoyment of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p34">(6.) They gave full proof of their
sincerity in making such a confession. For, [1.] They were not
mindful of that country whence they came, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.15" parsed="|Heb|11|15|0|0" passage="Heb 11:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. They did not hanker after the
plenty and pleasures of it, nor regret and repent that they had
left it; they had no desire to return to it. Note, Those that are
once effectually and savingly called out of a sinful state have no
mind to return into it again; they now know better things. [2.]
They did not take the opportunity that offered itself for their
return. They might have had such an opportunity. They had time
enough to return. They had natural strength to return. They knew
the way. Those with whom they sojourned would have been willing
enough to part with them. Their old friends would have been glad to
receive them. They had sufficient to bear the charges of their
journey; and flesh and blood, a corrupt counsellor, would be
sometimes suggesting to them a return. But they stedfastly adhered
to God and duty under all discouragements and against all
temptations to revolt from him. So should we all do. We shall not
want opportunities to revolt from God; but we must show the truth
of our faith and profession by a steady adherence to him to the end
of our days. Their sincerity appeared not only in not returning to
their former country, but in desiring a better country, that is, a
heavenly. Observe, <i>First,</i> The heavenly country is better
than any upon earth; it is better situated, better stored with
every thing that is good, better secured from every thing that is
evil; the employments, the enjoyments, the society, and every thing
in it, are better than the best in this world. <i>Secondly,</i> All
true believers desire this better country. True faith draws forth
sincere and fervent desires; and the stronger faith is the more
fervent those desires will be.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p35">(7.) They died in the faith of those
promises; not only lived by the faith of them, but died in the full
persuasion that all the promises would be fulfilled to them and
theirs, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" passage="Heb 11:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. That
faith held out to the last. By faith, when they were dying, they
received the atonement; they acquiesced in the will of God; they
quenched all the fiery darts of the devil; they overcame the
terrors of death, disarmed it of its sting, and bade a cheerful
farewell to this world and to all the comforts and crosses of it.
These were the actings of their faith. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p36">3. The gracious and great reward of their
faith: <i>God is not ashamed to be their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" passage="Heb 11:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>. Note, (1.) God is the God of all true believers;
faith gives them an interest in God, and in all his fullness. (2.)
He is called their God. He calls himself so: <i>I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;</i> he gives
them leave to call him so; and he gives them the spirit of
adoption, to enable them to cry, <i>Abba, Father.</i> (3.)
Notwithstanding their meanness by nature, their vileness by sin,
and the poverty of their outward condition, God is not ashamed to
be called <i>their God:</i> such is his condescension, such is his
love to them; therefore let them never be ashamed of being called
his people, nor of any of those that are truly so, how much soever
despised in the world. Above all, let them take care that they be
not a shame and reproach to their God, and so provoke him to be
ashamed of them; but let them act so as to be to him for a name,
and for a praise, and for a glory. (4.) As the proof of this, God
has prepared for them a city, a happiness suitable to the relation
into which he has taken them. For there is nothing in this world
commensurate to the love of God in being the God of his people;
and, if God neither could nor would give his people anything better
than this world affords, he would be ashamed to be called their
God. If he takes them into such a relation to himself, he will
provide for them accordingly. If he takes them into such a relation
to himself, he will provide for them accordingly. If he takes to
himself the title of their God, he will fully answer it, and act up
to it; and he has prepared that for them in heaven which will fully
answer this character and relation, so that it shall never be said,
to the reproach and dishonour of God, that he has adopted a people
to be his own children and then taken no care to make a suitable
provision for them. The consideration of this should inflame the
affections, enlarge the desires, and excite the diligent
endeavours, of the people of God after this city that he has
prepared for them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p37">VII. Now after the apostle has given this
account of the faith of others, with Abraham, he returns to him
again, and gives us an instance of the greatest trial and act of
faith that stands upon record, either in the story of the father of
the faithful or of any of his spiritual seed; and this was his
offering up Isaac: <i>By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his
only-begotten son,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.17" parsed="|Heb|11|17|0|0" passage="Heb 11:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. In this great example observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p38">1. The trial and exercise of Abraham's
faith; he was tried indeed. It is said (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.1" parsed="|Gen|22|1|0|0" passage="Ge 22:1">Gen. xxii. 1</scripRef>), <i>God in this tempted
Abraham;</i> not to sin, for so God tempteth no man, but only tried
his faith and obedience to purpose. God had before this tempted or
tried the faith of Abraham, when he called him away from his
country and father's house,—when by a famine he was forced out of
Canaan into Egypt,—when he was obliged to fight with five kings to
rescue Lot,—when Sarah was taken from him by Abimelech, and in
many other instances. But this trial was greater than all; he was
commanded to offer up his son Isaac. Read the account of it,
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p38.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.2" parsed="|Gen|22|2|0|0" passage="Ge 22:2">Gen. xxii. 2</scripRef>. There you will
find every word was a trial: "<i>Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and
offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of.</i> Take thy son, not one of thy beasts
or slaves, thy only son by Sarah, Isaac thy laughter, the child of
thy joy and delight, whom thou lovest as thine own soul; take him
away to a distant place, three days' journey, the land of Moriah;
do not only leave him there, but offer him for a burnt offering." A
greater trial was never put upon any creature. The apostle here
mentions some things that very much added to the greatness of this
trial. (1.) He was put upon it after he had received the promises,
that this Isaac should build up his family, that in him his seed
should be called (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p38.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.18" parsed="|Heb|11|18|0|0" passage="Heb 11:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>), and that he should be one of the progenitors of the
Messiah, and all nations blessed in him; so that, in being called
to offer up his Isaac, he seemed to be called to destroy and cut
off his own family, to cancel the promises of God, to prevent the
coming of Christ, to destroy the whole world, to sacrifice his own
soul and his hopes of salvation, and to cut off the church of God
at one blow: a most terrible trial! (2.) That this Isaac was his
only-begotten son by his wife Sarah, the only one he was to have by
her, and the only one that was to be the child and heir of the
promise. Ishmael was to be put off with earthly greatness. The
promise of a posterity, and of the Messiah, must either be
fulfilled by means of this son or not at all; so that, besides his
most tender affection to this his son, all his expectations were
bound up in him, and, if he perished, must perish with him. If
Abraham had ever so many sons, this was the only son who could
convey to all nations the promised blessing. A son for whom he
waited so long, whom he received in so extraordinary a manner, upon
whom his heart was set—to have this son offered up as a sacrifice,
and that by his own hand; it was a trial that would have overset
the firmest and the strongest mind that ever informed a human
body.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p39">2. The actings of Abraham's faith in so
great a trial: he obeyed; he offered up Isaac; he intentionally
gave him up by his submissive soul to God, and was ready to have
done it actually, according to the command of God; he went as far
in it as to the very critical moment, and would have gone through
with it if God had not prevented him. Nothing could be more tender
and moving than those words of Isaac: <i>My father, here is the
wood, here is the fire; but where is the lamb for the
burnt-offering?</i> little thinking that he was to be the lamb; but
Abraham knew it, and yet he went on with the great design.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p40">3. The supports of his faith. They must be
very great, suitable to the greatness of the trial: <i>He accounted
that God was able to raise him from the dead,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.19" parsed="|Heb|11|19|0|0" passage="Heb 11:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. His faith was
supported by the sense he had of the mighty power of God, who was
able to raise the dead; he reasoned thus with himself, and so he
resolved all his doubts. It does not appear that he had any
expectation of being countermanded, and prevented from offering up
his son; such an expectation would have spoiled the trial, and
consequently the triumph, of his faith; but he knew that God was
able to raise him from the dead, and he believed that God would do
so, since such great things depended upon his son, which must have
failed if Isaac had not a further life. Observe, (1.) God is able
to raise the dead, to raise dead bodies, and to raise dead souls.
(2.) The belief of this will carry us through the greatest
difficulties and trials that we can meet with. (3.) It is our duty
to be reasoning down our doubts and fears, by the consideration of
the almighty power of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p41">4. The reward of his faith in this great
trial (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.19" parsed="|Heb|11|19|0|0" passage="Heb 11:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): he
received his son from the dead in a figure, in a parable. (1.) He
received his son. He had parted with him to God, and God gave him
back again. The best way to enjoy our comforts with comfort is to
resign them up to God; he will then return them, if not in kind,
yet in kindness. (2.) He received him from the dead, for he gave
him up for dead; he was as a dead child to him, and the return was
to him no less than a resurrection. (3.) This was a figure or
parable of something further. It was a figure of the sacrifice and
resurrection of Christ, of whom Isaac was a type. It was a figure
and earnest of the glorious resurrection of all true believers,
whose life is not lost, but hid with Christ in God. We come now to
the faith of other Old-Testament saints, mentioned by name, and by
the particular trials and actings of their faith.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p42">VIII. Of the faith of Isaac, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p42.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.20" parsed="|Heb|11|20|0|0" passage="Heb 11:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Something of him we
had before interwoven with the story of Abraham; here we have
something of a distinct nature—that by faith he blessed his two
sons, Jacob and Esau, <i>concerning things to come.</i> Here
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p43">1. The actings of his faith: He <i>blessed
Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.</i> He blessed them; that
is, he resigned them up to God in covenant; he recommended God and
religion to them; he prayed for them, and prophesied concerning
them, what would be the condition, and the condition of their
descendants: we have the account of this in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p43.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.1-Gen.27.46" parsed="|Gen|27|1|27|46" passage="Ge 27:1-46">Gen. xxvii</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) Both Jacob and
Esau were blessed as Isaac's children, at least as to temporal good
things. It is a great privilege to be the offspring of good
parents, and often the wicked children of good parents fare the
better in this world for their parents' sake, for things present
are in the covenant; but they are not the best things, and no man
knoweth love or hatred by having or wanting such things. (2.) Jacob
had the precedency and the principal blessing, which shows that it
is grace and the new birth that exalt persons above their fellows
and qualify them for the best blessings, and that it is owing to
the sovereign free grace of God that in the same family one is
taken and another left, one loved and the other hated, since all
the race of Adam are by nature hateful to God—that if one has his
portion in this world, and the other in the better world, it is God
who makes the difference; for even the comforts of this life are
more and better than any of the children of men deserve.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p44">2. The difficulties Isaac's faith struggled
with. (1.) He seemed to have forgotten how God had determined the
matter at the birth of these his sons, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p44.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.23" parsed="|Gen|25|23|0|0" passage="Ge 25:23">Gen. xxv. 23</scripRef>. This should have been a rule to
him all along, but he was rather swayed by natural affection, and
by general custom, which gives the double portion of honour,
affection, and advantage, to the first-born. (2.) He acted in this
matter with some reluctance. When he came to pronounce the
blessing, <i>he trembled very exceedingly</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p44.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.33" parsed="|Gen|27|33|0|0" passage="Ge 27:33">Gen. xxvii. 33</scripRef>); and he charged Jacob that he
had subtly taken away Esau's blessing, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p44.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.33 Bible:Gen.27.35" parsed="|Gen|27|33|0|0;|Gen|27|35|0|0" passage="Ge 27:33,35"><i>v.</i> 33, 35</scripRef>. But, notwithstanding all
this, Isaac's faith recovered itself, and he ratified the blessing:
<i>I have blessed him yea, and he shall be blessed.</i> Rebecca and
Jacob are not to be justified in the indirect means they used to
obtain this blessing, but God will be justified in overruling even
the sins of men to serve the purposes of his glory. Now, the faith
of Isaac thus prevailing over his unbelief, it has pleased the God
of Isaac to pass by the weakness of his faith, to commend the
sincerity of it, and record him among the elders, <i>who through
faith have obtained a good report.</i> We now go on to,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p45">IX. The faith of Jacob (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p45.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.21" parsed="|Heb|11|21|0|0" passage="Heb 11:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), who, <i>when he was dying,
blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the
top of his staff.</i> There were a great many instances of the
faith of Jacob; his life was a life of faith, and his faith met
with great exercise. But it has pleased God to single two instances
out of many of the faith of this patriarch, besides what has been
already mentioned in the account of Abraham. Here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p46">1. The actings of his faith here mentioned,
and they are two:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p47">(1.) <i>He blessed both the sons of
Joseph,</i> Ephraim and Manasseh; he adopted them into the number
of his own sons, and so into the congregation of Israel, though
they were born in Egypt. It is doubtless a great blessing to be
joined to the visible church of God in profession and privilege,
but more to be so in spirit and truth. [1.] He made them both heads
of different tribes, as if they had been his own immediate sons.
[2.] He prayed for them, that they might both be blessed of God.
[3.] He prophesied that they should be blessed; but, as Isaac did
before, so now Jacob prefers the younger, Ephraim; and though
Joseph had placed them so, that the right hand of his father should
be laid on Manasseh, the elder, Jacob wittingly laid it on Ephraim,
and this by divine direction, for he could not see, to show that
the Gentile church, the younger, should have a more abundant
blessing than the Jewish church, the elder.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p48">(2.) <i>He worshipped, leaning on his
staff;</i> that is, he praised God for what he had done for him,
and for the prospect he had of approaching blessedness; and he
prayed for those he was leaving behind him, that religion might
live in his family when he was gone. He did this <i>leaning on the
top of his staff;</i> not as the papists dream, that he worshipped
some image of God engraven on the head of his staff, but intimating
to us his great natural weakness, that he was not able to support
himself so far as to sit up in his bed without a staff, and yet
that he would not make this an excuse for neglecting the
worshipping of God; he would do it as well as he could with his
body, as well as with his spirit, though he could not do it as well
as he would. He showed thereby his dependence upon God, and
testified his condition here as a pilgrim with his staff, and his
weariness of the world, and willingness to be at rest.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p49">2. The time and season when Jacob thus
acted his faith: when he was dying. He lived by faith, and he died
by faith and in faith. Observe, Though the grace of faith is of
universal use throughout our whole lives, yet it is especially so
when we come to die. Faith has its greatest work to do at last, to
help believers to finish well, to die to the Lord, so as to honour
him, by patience, hope, and joy—so as to leave a witness behind
them of the truth of God's word and the excellency of his ways, for
the conviction and establishment of all who attend them in their
dying moments. The best way in which parents can finish their
course is blessing their families and worshipping their God. We
have now come to,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p50">X. The faith of Joseph, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p50.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.22" parsed="|Heb|11|22|0|0" passage="Heb 11:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. And here also we consider,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p51">1. What he did by his faith: <i>He made
mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave
commandment concerning his bones.</i> The passage is out of
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p51.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.24-Gen.50.25" parsed="|Gen|50|24|50|25" passage="Ge 50:24,25">Gen. l. 24, 25</scripRef>. Joseph
was eminent for his faith, though he had not enjoyed the helps for
it which the rest of his brethren had. He was sold into Egypt. He
was tried by temptations, by sin, by persecution, for retaining his
integrity. He was tried by preferment and power in the court of
Pharaoh, and yet his faith held out and carried him through to the
last. (1.) He made mention by faith of the departing of the
children of Israel, that the time should come when they should be
delivered out of Egypt; and he did this both that he might caution
them against the thoughts of settling in Egypt, which was now a
place of plenty and ease to them; and also that he might keep them
from sinking under the calamities and distresses which he foresaw
were coming upon them there; and he does it to comfort himself,
that though he should not live to see their deliverance, yet he
could die in the faith of it. (2.) He gave commandment concerning
his bones, that they should preserve them unburied in Egypt, till
God should deliver them out of that house of bondage, and that then
they should carry his bones along with them into Canaan and deposit
them there. Though believers are chiefly concerned for their souls,
yet they cannot wholly neglect their bodies, as being members of
Christ and parts of themselves, which shall at length be raised up,
and be the happy companions of their glorified souls to all
eternity. Now Joseph gave this order, not that he thought his being
buried in Egypt would either prejudice his soul or prevent the
resurrection of his body (as some of the rabbis fancied that all
the Jews who were buried out of Canaan must be conveyed underground
to Canaan before they could rise again), but to testify, [1.] That
though he had lived and died in Egypt, yet he did not live and die
an Egyptian, but an Israelite. [2.] That he preferred a significant
burial in Canaan before a magnificent one in Egypt. [3.] That he
would go as far with his people as he could, though he could not go
as far as he would. [4.] That he believed the resurrection of the
body, and the communion that his soul should presently have with
departed saints, as his body had with their dead bodies. [5.] To
assure them that God would be with them in Egypt, and deliver them
out of it in his own time and way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p52">2. When it was that the faith of Joseph
acted after this manner; namely, as in the case of Jacob, when he
was dying. God often gives his people living comforts in dying
moments; and when he does it is their duty, as they can, to
communicate them to those about them, for the glory of God, for the
honour of religion, and for the good of their brethren and friends.
We go on now to,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p53">XI. The faith of the parents of Moses,
which is cited from <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p53.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.3" parsed="|Exod|2|3|0|0" passage="Ex 2:3">Exod. ii.
3</scripRef>, &amp;c. Here observe, 1. The acting of their faith:
they hid this their son three months. Though only the mother of
Moses is mentioned in the history, yet, by what is here said, it
seems his father not only consented to it, but consulted about it.
It is a happy thing where yoke-fellows draw together in the yoke of
faith, as heirs of the grace of God; and when they do this in a
religious concern for the good of their children, to preserve them
not only from those who would destroy their lives, but from those
who would corrupt their minds. Observe, Moses was persecuted
betimes, and forced to be concealed; in this he was a type of
Christ, who was persecuted almost as soon as he was born, and his
parents were obliged to flee with him into Egypt for his
preservation. It is a great mercy to be free from wicked laws and
edicts; but, when we are not, we must use all lawful means for our
security. In this faith of Moses's parents there was a mixture of
unbelief, but God was pleased to overlook it. 2. The reasons of
their thus acting. No doubt, natural affection could not but move
them; but there was something further. They <i>saw he was a proper
child, a goodly child</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p53.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.2" parsed="|Exod|2|2|0|0" passage="Ex 2:2">Exod. ii.
2</scripRef>), <i>exceedingly fair,</i> as in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p53.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.20" parsed="|Acts|7|20|0|0" passage="Ac 7:20">Acts vii. 20</scripRef>, <b><i>asteios to
Theo</i></b>—<i>venustus Deo</i>—<i>fair to God.</i> There
appeared in him something uncommon; the beauty of the Lord sat upon
him, as a presage that he was born to great things, and that by
conversing with God his face should shine (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p53.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29" parsed="|Exod|34|29|0|0" passage="Ex 34:29">Exod. xxxiv. 29</scripRef>), what bright and illustrious
actions he should do for the deliverance of Israel, and how his
name should shine in the sacred records. Sometimes, not always, the
countenance is the index of the mind. 3. The prevalency of their
faith over their fear. They were not afraid of the king's
commandment, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p53.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.22" parsed="|Exod|1|22|0|0" passage="Ex 1:22">Exod. i. 22</scripRef>.
That was a wicked and a cruel edict, that all the males of the
Israelites should be destroyed in their infancy, and so the name of
Israel must be destroyed out of the earth. But they did not so fear
as presently to give up their child; they considered that, if none
of the males were preserved, there would be an end and utter ruin
of the church of God and the true religion, and that though in
their present state of servitude and oppression one would praise
the dead rather than the living, yet they believed that God would
preserve his people, and that the time was coming when it would be
worth while for an Israelite to live. Some must hazard their own
lives to preserve their children, and they were resolved to do it;
they knew the king's commandment was evil in itself, contrary to
the laws of God and nature, and therefore of no authority nor
obligation. Faith is a great preservative against the sinful
slavish fear of men, as it sets God before the soul, and shows the
vanity of the creature and its subordination to the will and power
of God. The apostle next proceeds to,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p54">XII. The faith of Moses himself (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p54.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24-Heb.11.25" parsed="|Heb|11|24|11|25" passage="Heb 11:24,25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>, &amp;c.), here
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p55">1. An instance of his faith in conquering
the world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p56">(1.) He <i>refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter,</i> whose foundling he was, and her fondling
too; she had adopted him for his son, and he refused it. Observe,
[1.] How great a temptation Moses was under. Pharaoh's daughter is
said to have been his only child, and was herself childless; and
having found Moses, and saved him as she did, she resolved to take
him and bring him up as her son; and so he stood fair to be in time
king of Egypt, and he might thereby have been serviceable to
Israel. He owed his life to this princess; and to refuse such
kindness from her would look not only like ingratitude to her, but
a neglect of Providence, that seemed to intend his advancement and
his brethren's advantage. [2.] How glorious was the triumph of his
faith in so great a trial. He <i>refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter</i> lest he should undervalue the truer honour
of being a son of Abraham, the father of the faithful; <i>he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter</i> lest it
should look like renouncing his religion as well as his relation to
Israel; and no doubt both these he must have done if he had
accepted this honour; he therefore nobly refused it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p57">(2.) He chose <i>rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p57.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.25" parsed="|Heb|11|25|0|0" passage="Heb 11:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>. He was willing to take his lot with the people of
God here, though it was a suffering lot, that he might have his
portion with them hereafter, rather than to enjoy all the sensual
sinful pleasures of Pharaoh's court, which would be but for a
season, and would then be punished with everlasting misery. Herein
he acted rationally as well as religiously, and conquered the
temptation to worldly pleasure as he had done before to worldly
preferment. Here observe, [1.] The pleasures of sin are and will be
but short; they must end in speedy repentance or in speedy ruin.
[2.] The pleasures of this world, and especially those of a court,
are too often the pleasures of sin; and they are always so when we
cannot enjoy them without deserting God and his people. A true
believer will despise them when they are offered upon such terms.
[3.] Suffering is to be chosen rather than sin, there being more
evil in the least sin than there can be in the greatest suffering.
[4.] It greatly alleviates the evil of suffering when we suffer
with the people of God, embarked in the same interest and animated
by the same Spirit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p58">(3.) He accounted <i>the reproaches of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p58.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.26" parsed="|Heb|11|26|0|0" passage="Heb 11:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. See how Moses weighed
matters: in one scale he put the worst of religion—<i>the
reproaches of Christ,</i> in the other scale the best of the
world—<i>the treasures of Egypt;</i> and in his judgment, directed
by faith, the worst of religion weighed down the best of the world.
The reproaches of the church of God are <i>the reproaches of
Christ,</i> who is, and has ever been, the head of the church. Now
here Moses conquered the riches of the world, as before he had
conquered its honours and pleasures. God's people are, and always
have been, a reproached people. Christ accounts himself reproached
in their reproaches; and, while he thus interests himself in their
reproaches, they become riches, and greater riches than the
treasures of the richest empire in the world; for Christ will
reward them with a crown of glory that fades not away. Faith
discerns this, and determines and acts accordingly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p59">2. The circumstance of time is taken notice
of, when Moses by his faith gained this victory over the world, in
all its honours, pleasures, and treasures: <i>When he had come to
years</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p59.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24" parsed="|Heb|11|24|0|0" passage="Heb 11:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>);
not only to years of discretion, but of experience, to the age of
forty years—when he was great, or had come to maturity. Some would
take this as detracting from his victory, that he gained it so
late, that he did not make this choice sooner; but it is rather an
enhancement of the honour of his self-denial and victory over the
world that he made this choice when he had grown ripe for judgment
and enjoyment, able to know what he did and why he did it. It was
not the act of a child, that prefers counters to gold, but it
proceeded from mature deliberation. It is an excellent thing for
persons to be seriously religious when in the midst of worldly
business and enjoyments, to despise the world when they are most
capable of relishing and enjoying it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p60">3. What it was that supported and
strengthened the faith of Moses to such a degree as to enable him
to gain such a victory over the world: <i>He had respect unto the
recompense of reward,</i> that is, say some, the deliverance out of
Egypt; but doubtless it means much more—the glorious reward of
faith and fidelity in the other world. Observe here, (1.) Heaven is
a great reward, surpassing not only all our deservings, but all our
conceptions. It is a reward suitable to the price paid for it—the
blood of Christ; suitable to the perfections of God, and fully
answering to all his promises. It is a recompense of reward,
because given by a righteous Judge for the righteousness of Christ
to righteous persons, according to the righteous rule of the
covenant of grace. (2.) Believers may and ought to have respect to
this recompense of reward; they should acquaint themselves with it,
approve of it, and live in the daily and delightful expectation of
it. Thus it will prove a land-mark to direct their course, a
load-stone to draw their hearts, a sword to conquer their enemies,
a spur to quicken them to duty, and a cordial to refresh them under
all the difficulties of doing and suffering work.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p61">4. We have another instance of the faith of
Moses, namely, in forsaking Egypt: <i>By faith he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p61.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.27" parsed="|Heb|11|27|0|0" passage="Heb 11:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) The product
of his faith: <i>He forsook Egypt,</i> and all its power and
pleasures, and undertook the conduct of Israel out of it. Twice
Moses forsook Egypt: [1.] As a supposed criminal, when the king's
wrath was incensed against him for killing the Egyptian (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p61.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.14-Exod.2.15" parsed="|Exod|2|14|2|15" passage="Ex 2:14,15">Exod. ii. 14, 15</scripRef>), where it is said
he feared, not with a fear of despondency, but of discretion, to
save his life. [2.] As a commander and ruler in Jeshurun, after God
had employed him to humble Pharaoh and make him willing to let
Israel go. (2.) The prevalency of his faith. It raised him above
the fear of the king's wrath. Though he knew that it was great, and
levelled at him in particular, and that it marched at the head of a
numerous host to pursue him, yet he was not dismayed, and he said
to Israel, <i>Fear not,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p61.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.13" parsed="|Exod|14|13|0|0" passage="Ex 14:13">Exod. xiv.
13</scripRef>. Those who forsook Egypt must expect the wrath of
men; but they need not fear it, for they are under the conduct of
that God who is able to make the wrath of man to praise him, and
restrain the remainder of it. (3.) The principle upon which his
faith acted in these his motions: <i>He endured, as seeing him that
was invisible.</i> He bore up with invincible courage under all
danger, and endured all the fatigue of his employment, which was
very great; and this by seeing the invisible God. Observe, [1.] The
God with whom we have to do is an invisible God: he is so to our
senses, to the eye of the body; and this shows the folly of those
who pretend to make images of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can
see. [2.] By faith we may see this invisible God. We may be fully
assured of his existence, of his providence, and of his gracious
and powerful presence with us. [3.] Such a sight of God will enable
believers to endure to the end whatever they may meet with in the
way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p62">5. We have yet another instance of the
faith of Moses, in keeping <i>the passover and sprinkling of
blood,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p62.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.28" parsed="|Heb|11|28|0|0" passage="Heb 11:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>.
The account of this we have in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p62.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.13-Exod.12.23" parsed="|Exod|12|13|12|23" passage="Ex 12:13-23">Exod. xii. 13-23</scripRef>. Though all Israel kept
this passover, yet it was by Moses that God delivered the
institution of it; and, though it was a great mystery, Moses by
faith both delivered it to the people and kept it that night in the
house where he lodged. The passover was one of the most solemn
institutions of the Old Testament, and a very significant type of
Christ. The occasion of its first observance was extraordinary: it
was in the same night that God slew the first-born of the
Egyptians; but, though the Israelites lived among them, the
destroying angel passed over their houses, and spared them and
theirs. Now, to entitle them to this distinguishing favour, and to
mark them out for it, a lamb must be slain; the blood of it must be
sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop upon the lintel of the door, and
on the two side-posts; the flesh of the lamb must be roasted with
fire; and it must be all of it eaten that very night with bitter
herbs, in a travelling posture, their loins girt, their shoes on
their feet, and their staff in their hand. This was accordingly
done, and the destroying angel passed over them, and slew the
first-born of the Egyptians. This opened a way for the return of
Abraham's posterity into the land of promise. The accommodation of
this type is not difficult. (1.) Christ is that Lamb, he is our
Passover, he was sacrificed for us. (2.) His blood must be
sprinkled; it must be applied to those who have the saving benefit
of it. (3.) It is applied effectually only to the Israelites, the
chosen people of God. (4.) It is not owing to our inherent
righteousness or best performances that we are saved from the wrath
of God, but to the blood of Christ and his imputed righteousness.
If any of the families of Israel had neglected the sprinkling of
this blood upon their doors, though they should have spent all the
night in prayer, the destroying angel would have broken in upon
them, and slain their first-born. (5.) Wherever this blood is
applied, the soul receives a whole Christ by faith, and lives upon
him. (6.) This true faith makes sin bitter to the soul, even while
it receives the pardon and atonement. (7.) All our spiritual
privileges on earth should quicken us to set out early, and get
forward, in our way to heaven. (8.) Those who have been marked out
must ever remember and acknowledge free and distinguishing
grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p63">XIII. The next instance of faith is that of
the Israelites passing through the Red Sea under the conduct of
Moses their leader, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p63.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.29" parsed="|Heb|11|29|0|0" passage="Heb 11:29"><i>v.</i>
29</scripRef>. The story we have in Exodus, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p63.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.1-Exod.14.31" parsed="|Exod|14|1|14|31" passage="Ex 14:1-31"><i>ch.</i> xiv</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p64">1. The preservation and safe passage of the
Israelites through the Red Sea, when there was no other way to
escape from Pharaoh and his host, who were closely pursuing them.
Here we may observe, (1.) Israel's danger was very great; an
enraged enemy with chariots and horsemen behind them; steep rocks
and mountains on either hand, and the Red Sea before them. (2.)
Their deliverance was very glorious. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as on dry land; the grace of faith will help us through
all the dangers we meet with in our way to heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p65">2. The destruction of the Egyptians. They,
presumptuously attempting to follow Israel through the Red Sea,
being thus blinded and hardened to their ruin, were all drowned.
Their rashness was great, and their ruin was grievous. When God
judges, he will overcome; and it is plain that the destruction of
sinners is of themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p66">XIV. The next instance of faith is that of
the Israelites, under Joshua their leader, before the walls of
Jericho. The story we have <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p66.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.6.5" parsed="|Josh|6|5|0|0" passage="Jos 6:5">Josh. vi.
5</scripRef>, &amp;c. Here observe, 1. The means prescribed to God
to bring down the walls of Jericho. It was ordered that they should
compass the walls about once a day for seven days together and
seven times the last day, that the priests should carry the ark
when they compassed the walls about, and should blow with trumpets
made of rams' horns, and sound a longer blast than before, and then
all the people should shout, and the walls of Jericho should fall
before them. Here was a great trial of their faith. The method
prescribed seemed very improbable to answer such an end, and would
doubtless expose them to the daily contempt of their enemies; the
ark of God would seem to be in danger. But this was the way God
commanded them to take, and he loves to do great things by small
and contemptible means, that his own arm may be made bare. 2. The
powerful success of the prescribed means. The walls of Jericho fell
before them. This was a frontier town in the land of Canaan, the
first that stood out against the Israelites. God was pleased in
this extraordinary manner to slight and dismantle it, in order to
magnify himself, to terrify the Canaanites, to strengthen the faith
of the Israelites, and to exclude all boasting. God can and will in
his own time and way cause all the powerful opposition that is made
to his interest and glory to fall down, and the grace of faith is
mighty through God for the pulling down of strong-holds; he will
make Babylon fall before the faith of his people, and, when he has
some great thing to do for them, he raises up great and strong
faith in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p67">XV. The next instance is the faith of
Rahab, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p67.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.31" parsed="|Heb|11|31|0|0" passage="Heb 11:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. Among
the noble army of believing worthies, bravely marshalled by the
apostle, Rahab comes in the rear, to show <i>that God is no
respecter of persons.</i> Here consider,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p68">1. Who this Rahab was. (1.) She was a
Canaanite, a <i>stranger to the commonwealth of Israel,</i> and had
but little help for faith, and yet she was a believer; the power of
divine grace greatly appears when it works without the usual means
of grace. (2.) She was a harlot, and lived in a way of sin; she was
not only a keeper of a public house, but a common woman of the
town, and yet she believed that the greatness of sin, if truly
repented of, shall be no bar to the pardoning mercy of God. Christ
has saved the chief of sinners. <i>Where sin has abounded, grace
has superabounded.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p69">2. What she did by her faith: <i>She
received the spies in peace,</i> the men that Joshua had sent to
spy out Jericho, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p69.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.2.6-Josh.2.7" parsed="|Josh|2|6|2|7" passage="Jos 2:6,7">Josh. ii. 6,
7</scripRef>. She not only bade them welcome, but she concealed
them from their enemies who sought to cut them off, and she made a
noble confession of her faith, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p69.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.2.9-Josh.2.11" parsed="|Josh|2|9|2|11" passage="Jos 2:9-11"><i>v.</i> 9-11</scripRef>. She engaged them to
covenant with her to show favour to her and hers, when God should
show kindness to them, and that they would give her a sign, which
they did, a line of scarlet, which she was to hang forth out of the
window; she sent them away with prudent and friendly advice. Learn
here, (1.) True faith will show itself in good works, especially
towards the people of God. (2.) Faith will venture all hazards in
the cause of God and his people; a true believer will sooner expose
his own person than God's interest and people. (3.) A true believer
is desirous, not only to be in covenant with God, but in communion
with the people of God, and is willing to cast in his lot with
them, and to fare as they fare.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Heb.xii-p69.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.32-Heb.11.40" parsed="|Heb|11|32|11|40" passage="Heb 11:32-40" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.11.32-Heb.11.40">
<h4 id="Heb.xii-p69.4">Exemplars of Faith. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.xii-p69.5">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.xii-p70">32 And what shall I more say? for the time would
fail me to tell of Gedeon, and <i>of</i> Barak, and <i>of</i>
Samson, and <i>of</i> Jephthae; <i>of</i> David also, and Samuel,
and <i>of</i> the prophets:   33 Who through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions,   34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.  
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a
better resurrection:   36 And others had trial of <i>cruel</i>
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
  37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;   38 (Of
whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and
<i>in</i> mountains, and <i>in</i> dens and caves of the earth.
  39 And these all, having obtained a good report through
faith, received not the promise:   40 God having provided some
better thing for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p71">The apostle having given us a classis of
many eminent believers, whose names are mentioned and the
particular trials and actings of their faith recorded, now
concludes his narrative with a more summary account of another set
of believers, where the particular acts are not ascribed to
particular persons by name, but left to be applied by those who are
well acquainted with the sacred story; and, like a divine orator,
he prefaces his part of the narrative with an elegant
expostulation: <i>What shall I say more? Time would fail me;</i> as
if he had said, "It is in vain to attempt to exhaust this subject;
should I not restrain my pen, it would soon run beyond the bounds
of an epistle; and therefore I shall but just mention a few more,
and leave you to enlarge upon them." Observe, 1. After all our
researches into the scripture, there is still more to be learned
from them. 2. We must well consider in divine matters what we
should say, and suit it as well as we can to the time. 3. We should
be pleased to think how great the number of believers was under the
Old Testament, and how strong their faith, though the objects
thereof were not then so fully revealed. And, 4. We should lament
it, that now, in gospel times, when the rule of faith is more clear
and perfect, the number of believers should be so small and their
faith so weak.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p72">I. In this summary account the apostle
mentions,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p73">1. Gideon, whose story we have in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p73.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.11" parsed="|Judg|6|11|0|0" passage="Jdg 6:11">Judges vi. 11</scripRef>, &amp;c. He was an
eminent instrument raised up of God to deliver his people from the
oppression of the Midianites; he was a person of mean tribe and
family, called from a mean employment (threshing wheat), and
saluted by an angel of God in this surprising manner, <i>The Lord
is with thee, thou mighty man of war.</i> Gideon could not at first
receive such honours, but humbly expostulates with the angel about
their low and distressed state. The angel of the Lord delivers him
his commission, and assures him of success, confirming the
assurance by fire out of the rock. Gideon is directed to offer
sacrifice, and, instructed in his duty, goes forth against the
Midianites, when his army is reduced from thirty-two thousand to
three hundred; yet by these, with their lamps and pitchers, God put
the whole army of the Midianites to confusion and ruin: and the
same faith that gave Gideon so much courage and honour enabled him
to act with great meekness and modesty towards his brethren
afterwards. It is the excellency of the grace of faith that, while
it helps men to do great things, it keeps them from having high and
great thoughts of themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p74">2. Barak, another instrument raised up to
deliver Israel out of the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p74.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.4" parsed="|Judg|4|0|0|0" passage="Judges 4">Judges 4</scripRef>,
where we read, (1.) Though he was a soldier, yet he received his
commission and instructions from Deborah, a <i>prophetess of the
Lord;</i> and he insisted upon having this divine oracle with him
in his expedition. (2.) He obtained a great victory by his faith
over all the host of Sisera. (3.) His faith taught him to return
all the praise and glory to God: this is the nature of faith; it
has recourse unto God in all dangers and difficulties, and then
makes grateful returns to God for all mercies and deliverances.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p75">3. Samson, another instrument that God
raised up to deliver Israel from the Philistines: his story we have
in <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p75.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.1-Judg.16.31" parsed="|Judg|13|1|16|31" passage="Jdg 13:1-16:31">Judges xiii., xiv., xv., and
xvi.</scripRef>, and from it we learn that the grace of faith is
the strength of the soul for great service. If Samson had not had a
strong faith as well as a strong arm, he had never performed such
exploits. Observe, (1.) By faith the servants of God shall overcome
even the roaring lion. (2.) True faith is acknowledged and
accepted, even when mingled with many failings. (3.) The believer's
faith endures to the end, and, in dying, gives him victory over
death and all his deadly enemies; his greatest conquest he gains by
dying.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p76">4. Jephthah, whose story we have, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p76.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.1-Judg.11.40" parsed="|Judg|11|1|11|40" passage="Jdg 11:1-40">Judg. xi.</scripRef>, before that of Samson.
He was raised up to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. As various
and new enemies rise up against the people of God, various and new
deliverers are raised up for them. In the story of Jephthah
observe, (1.) The grace of God often finds out, and fastens upon,
the most undeserving and ill-deserving persons, to do great things
for them and by them. Jephthah was the son of a harlot. (2.) The
grace of faith, wherever it is, will put men upon acknowledging God
in all their ways (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p76.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.11" parsed="|Judg|11|11|0|0" passage="Jdg 11:11"><i>ch.</i> xi.
11</scripRef>): <i>Jephthah rehearsed all his words before the Lord
in Mizpeh.</i> (3.) The grace of faith will make men bold and
venturous in a good cause. (4.) Faith will not only put men upon
making their vows to God, but paying their vows after the mercy
received; yea, though they have vowed to their own great grief,
hurt, and loss, as in the case of Jephthah and his daughter.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p77">5. David, that great man after God's own
heart. Few ever met with greater trials, and few ever discovered a
more lively faith. His first appearance on the stage of the world
was a great evidence of his faith. Having, when young, slain <i>the
lion and the bear,</i> his faith in God encouraged him to encounter
the great Goliath, and helped him to triumph over him. The same
faith enabled him to bear patiently the ungrateful malice of Saul
and his favourites, and to wait till God should put him into
possession of the promised power and dignity. The same faith made
him a very successful and victorious prince, and, after a long life
of virtue and honour (though not without some foul stains of sin),
he died in faith, relying upon the everlasting covenant that God
had made with him and his, ordered in all things and sure; and he
has left behind him such excellent memoirs of the trials and acts
of faith in the book of Psalms as will ever be of great esteem and
use, among the people of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p78">6. Samuel, raised up to be a most eminent
prophet of the Lord to Israel, as well as a ruler over them. God
revealed himself to Samuel when he was but a child, and continued
to do so till his death. In his story observe, (1.) Those are
likely to grow up to some eminency in faith who begin betimes in
the exercise of it. (2.) Those whose business it is to reveal the
mind and will of God to others had need to be well established in
the belief of it themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p79">7. To Samuel he adds, <i>and of the
prophets,</i> who were extraordinary ministers of the Old-Testament
church, employed of God sometimes to denounce judgment, sometimes
to promise mercy, always to reprove sin; sometimes to foretell
remarkable events, known only to God; and chiefly to give notice of
the Messiah, his coming, person, and offices; for in him the
prophets as well as the law center. Now a true and strong faith was
very requisite for the right discharge of such an office as
this.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p80">II. Having done naming particular persons,
he proceeds to tell us what things were done by their faith. He
mentions some things that easily apply themselves to one or other
of the persons named; but he mentions other things that are not so
easy to be accommodated to any here named, but must be left to
general conjecture or accommodation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p81">1. <i>By faith they subdued kingdoms,</i>
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p81.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.33" parsed="|Heb|11|33|0|0" passage="Heb 11:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Thus did
David, Joshua, and many of the judges. Learn hence, (1.) The
interests and powers of kings and kingdoms are often set up in
opposition to God and his people. (2.) God can easily subdue all
those kings and kingdoms that set themselves to oppose him. (3.)
Faith is a suitable and excellent qualification of those who fight
in the ways of the Lord; it makes them just, bold, and wise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p82">2. They <i>wrought righteousness,</i> both
in their public and personal capacities; they turned many from
idolatry to the ways of righteousness; they believed God, and it
was imputed to them for righteousness; they walked and acted
righteously towards God and man. It is a greater honour and
happiness to work righteousness than to work miracles; faith is an
active principle of universal righteousness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p83">3. They <i>obtained promises,</i> both
general and special. It is faith that gives us an interest in the
promises; it is by faith that we have the comfort of the promises;
and it is by faith that we are prepared to wait for the promises,
and in due time to receive them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p84">4. They <i>stopped the mouths of lions;</i>
so did Samson, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p84.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.14.5-Judg.14.6" parsed="|Judg|14|5|14|6" passage="Jdg 14:5,6">Judg. xiv. 5,
6</scripRef>, and David, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p84.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.17.34-1Sam.17.35" parsed="|1Sam|17|34|17|35" passage="1Sa 17:34,35">1 Sam.
xvii. 34, 35</scripRef>, and Daniel, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p84.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.6.22" parsed="|Dan|6|22|0|0" passage="Da 6:22">6:22</scripRef>. Here learn, (1.) The power of God is
above the power of the creature. (2.) Faith engages the power of
God for his people, whenever it shall be for his glory, to overcome
brute beasts and brutish men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p85">5. They <i>quenched the violence of the
fire,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p85.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.34" parsed="|Heb|11|34|0|0" passage="Heb 11:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. So
Moses, by the prayer of faith, quenched the fire of God's wrath
that was kindled against the people of Israel, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p85.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.11.2" parsed="|Num|11|1|11|2" passage="Nu 11:1,2">Num. xi. 1, 2</scripRef>. So did the three children, or
rather mighty champions, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p85.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.17-Dan.3.27" parsed="|Dan|3|17|3|27" passage="Da 3:17-27">Dan. iii.
17-27</scripRef>. Their faith in God, refusing to worship the
golden image, exposed them to the fiery furnace which
Nebuchadnezzar had prepared for them, and their faith engaged for
them that power and presence of God in the furnace which quenched
the violence of the fire, so that not so much as the smell thereof
passed on them. Never was the grace of faith more severely tried,
never more nobly exerted, nor ever more gloriously rewarded, than
theirs was.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p86">6. They <i>escaped the edge of the
sword.</i> Thus David escaped the sword of Goliath and of Saul; and
Mordecai and the Jews escaped the sword of Haman. The swords of men
are held in the hand of God, and he can blunt the edge of the
sword, and turn it away from his people against their enemies when
he pleases. Faith takes hold of that hand of God which has hold of
the swords of men; and God has often suffered himself to be
prevailed upon by the faith of his people.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p87">7. <i>Out of weakness they were made
strong.</i> From national weakness, into which the Jews often fell
by their unbelief; upon the revival of their faith, all their
interest and affairs revived and flourished. From bodily weakness;
thus Hezekiah, believing the word of God, recovered out of a mortal
distemper, and he ascribed his recovery to the promise and power of
God (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p87.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.15-Isa.38.16" parsed="|Isa|38|15|38|16" passage="Isa 38:15,16">Isa. xxxviii. 15,
16</scripRef>), <i>What shall I say? He hath spoken it, and he hath
also done it. Lord by these things men live, and in these is the
life of my spirit.</i> And it is the same grace of faith that from
spiritual weakness helps men to recover and renew their
strength.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p88">8. They <i>grew valiant in fight.</i> So
did Joshua, the judges, and David. True faith gives truest courage
and patience, as it discerns the strength of God, and thereby the
weakness of all his enemies. And they were not only valiant, but
successful. God, as a reward and encouragement of their faith,
<i>put to flight the armies of the aliens,</i> of those who were
aliens to their commonwealth, and enemies to their religion; God
made them flee and fall before his faithful servants. Believing and
praying commanders, at the head of believing and praying armies,
have been so owned and honoured of God that nothing could stand
before them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p89">9. <i>Women received their dead raised to
life again,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p89.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.35" parsed="|Heb|11|35|0|0" passage="Heb 11:35"><i>v.</i>
35</scripRef>. So did the widow of Zarepath (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p89.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.17.23" parsed="|1Kgs|17|23|0|0" passage="1Ki 17:23">1 Kings xvii. 23</scripRef>), and the Shunamite,
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p89.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.4.36" parsed="|2Kgs|4|36|0|0" passage="2Ki 4:36">2 Kings iv. 36</scripRef>. (1.) <i>In
Christ there is neither male nor female;</i> many of the weaker sex
have been strong in faith. (2.) Though the covenant of grace takes
in the children of believers, yet it leaves them subject to natural
death. (3.) Poor mothers are loth to resign up their interest in
their children, though death has taken them away. (4.) God has
sometimes yielded so far to the tender affections of sorrowful
women as to restore their dead children to life again. Thus Christ
had compassion on the widow of Nain, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p89.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.7.12" parsed="|Luke|7|12|0|0" passage="Lu 7:12">Luke vii. 12</scripRef>, &amp;c. (5.) This should confirm
our faith in the general resurrection.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p90">III. The apostle tells us what these
believers endured by faith. 1. They <i>were tortured, not accepting
deliverance,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.35" parsed="|Heb|11|35|0|0" passage="Heb 11:35"><i>v.</i>
35</scripRef>. They were put upon the rack, to make them renounce
their God, their Saviour, and their religion. They bore the
torture, and would not accept of deliverance upon such vile terms;
and that which animated them thus to suffer was the hope they had
of <i>obtaining a better resurrection,</i> and deliverance upon
more honourable terms. This is thought to refer to that memorable
story, <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.2">2 Macc. <i>ch.</i> vii.</scripRef>, &amp;c. 2. They endured
<i>trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, and bonds and
imprisonment,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.36" parsed="|Heb|11|36|0|0" passage="Heb 11:36"><i>v.</i>
36</scripRef>. They were persecuted in their reputation by
<i>mockings,</i> which are cruel to an ingenuous mind; in their
persons by <i>scourging,</i> the punishment of slaves; in their
liberty by <i>bonds and imprisonment.</i> Observe how inveterate is
the malice that wicked men have towards the righteous, how far it
will go, and what a variety of cruelties it will invent and
exercise upon those against whom they have no cause of quarrel,
except in the matters of their God. 3. They were put to death in
the most cruel manner; some <i>were stoned,</i> as Zechariah
(<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.24.21" parsed="|2Chr|24|21|0|0" passage="2Ch 24:21">2 Chron. xxiv. 21</scripRef>),
<i>sawn asunder,</i> as Isaiah by Manasseh. <i>They were
tempted;</i> some read it, <i>burnt,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.5" osisRef="Bible:2Macc.7.5" parsed="|2Macc|7|5|0|0" passage="2 Macc. vii. 5">2 Macc. vii. 5</scripRef>.
<i>They were slain with the sword.</i> All sorts of deaths were
prepared for them; their enemies clothed death in all the array of
cruelty and terror, and yet they boldly met it and endured it. 4.
Those who escaped death were used so ill that death might seem more
eligible than such a life. Their enemies spared them, only to
prolong their misery, and wear out all their patience; for they
were forced to <i>wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being
destitute, afflicted,</i> and <i>tormented; they wandered about in
deserts, and on mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,</i>
<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p90.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.37-Heb.11.38" parsed="|Heb|11|37|11|38" passage="Heb 11:37,38"><i>v.</i> 37, 38</scripRef>. They
were stripped of the conveniences of life, and turned out of house
and harbour. They had not raiment to put on, but were forced to
cover themselves with the skins of slain beasts. They were driven
out of all human society, and forced to converse with the beasts of
the field, to hide themselves in dens and caves, and make their
complaint to rocks and rivers, not more obdurate than their
enemies. Such sufferings as these they endured then for their
faith; and such they endured through the power of the grace of
faith: and which shall we most admire, the wickedness of human
nature, that is capable of perpetrating such cruelties on fellow
creatures, or the excellency of divine grace, that is able to bear
up the faithful under such cruelties, and to carry them safely
through all?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.xii-p91">IV. What they obtained by their faith. 1. A
most honourable character and commendation from God, the true Judge
and fountain of honour—that <i>the world was not worthy</i> of
such men; the world did not deserve such blessings; they did not
know how to value them, nor how to use them. Wicked men! The
righteous are not worthy to live in the world, and God declares the
world is not worthy of them; and, though they widely differ in
their judgment, they agree in this, that it is not fit that good
men should have their rest in this world; and therefore God
receives them out of it, to that world that is suitable to them,
and yet far beyond the merit of all their services and sufferings.
2. They <i>obtained a good report</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p91.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.39" parsed="|Heb|11|39|0|0" passage="Heb 11:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>) of all good men, and of the
truth itself, and have the honour to be enrolled in this sacred
calendar of the Old-Testament worthies, God's witnesses; yea, they
had a witness for them in the consciences of their enemies, who,
while they thus abused them, were condemned by their own
consciences, as persecuting those who were more righteous than
themselves. 3. They obtained an interest in the promises, though
not the full possession of them. They had a title to the promises,
though they received not the great things promised. This is not
meant of the felicity of the heavenly state, for this they did
receive, when they died, in the measure of a part, in one
constituent part of their persons, and the much better part; but it
is meant of the felicity of the gospel-state: they had types, but
not the antitype; they had shadows, but had not seen the substance;
and yet, under this imperfect dispensation, they discovered this
precious faith. This the apostle insists upon to render the faith
more illustrious, and to provoke Christians to a holy jealousy and
emulation; that they should not suffer themselves to be outdone in
the exercise of faith by those who came so short of them in all the
helps and advantages for believing. He tells the Hebrews that God
had <i>provided some better things for</i> them (<scripRef id="Heb.xii-p91.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.40" parsed="|Heb|11|40|0|0" passage="Heb 11:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>), and therefore they might be
assured that he expected at least as good things from them; and
that since the gospel is the end and perfection of the Old
Testament, which had no excellency but in its reference to Christ
and the gospel, it was expected that their faith should be as much
more perfect than the faith of the Old-Testament saints; for their
state and dispensation were more perfect than the former, and were
indeed the perfection and completion of the former, for without the
gospel-church the Jewish church must have remained in an incomplete
and imperfect state. This reasoning is strong, and should be
effectually prevalent with us all.</p>
</div></div2>