of friendliness, however equivocal, that might fall from him towards their master in his helplessness and misery, and brought Benhadad before the king of Israel, upon the poor encouragement" He is my brother;" why should any one, conscious of his need, and yearning for deliverance from the peril wherein he is placed, hesitate to close with all the offers of mercy, poured upon him, so to speak, for the very purpose of overwhelming all unbelief: as the waters of the deluge descended from the opened windows of heaven, and the broken up fountains of the great deep, to destroy the guilty world? While the trumpet of that liberty wherewith Christ alone makes free from the thraldom of sin, utters its breath of mercy, so long and loudly, why should the poor bondslave hesitate to rise up and claim the gracious freedom whereto he is thus called? When the gates of the city of refuge are thrown widely open upon the hinges of infinite and everlasting love, and there is a voice from the walls encouraging the manslayer to draw nigh, why should he hesitate without, and await the coming moment, when the avenger of blood shall overtake him? While mercy is so ready to receive all comers, surely they who, trusting to it with

the greatest confidence, flee towards it with the readiest speed of their hearts' motion, shall have the fullest and the dearest welcome; for they most truly honour God in the salvation of his own appointment. While the minister of the Church prays you in Christ's stead, "Be ye reconciled to God;" as though Christ Himself did beseech you, rest on that double line of fortification to your hope, which ready love, and this amazing condescension unite to form; and be strong in faith, giving glory to God, in closing, heart and soul, with the message of his mercy.

It may be long before you enter into all the power and sweetness of the promises, in the full assurance of faith: for the Canaanite of unbelief may be put forth before you, only by little and little. But if it be thus, you must learn, with Abraham, to glorify the truth and power of God, in the twilight, or even in the darkness of expectancy: his truth, like Abraham, in the set time, which He hath reserved in the secrecies of his own appointment; and his power, like the patriarch also, in overlooking the age and deadness of himself and his wife. He has given you his Son already, as the hostage of his truth: and in the faith which He will

bestow upon you He will give you the hostage of his Spirit, for the full accomplishment of that salvation, whereunto the youngest and feeblest among the children of God is called, according to his Father's purpose and grace.

A little while before the day arrived when the father of the faithful was to be blessed with the child of promise, that promise, with all the magnificent prospect of blessing included in him, was more decidedly revealed, and the appointed season declared. And as they who believe the engagements of God are blessed, because there shall be an accomplishment of those things which were spoken, so will it often happen in the experience of such faithful ones, that new and more vivid communications of divine love, new and plainer sealings of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts-new and dearer earnests of the purchased possession shall be brought to them by the hand of the Spirit, to tell them not only of the plenty, but of the nearness of the promised land, and to uphold them during the few remaining marches that may yet lie between them, and the new wine, and the new corn of the Canaan that lies beyond the wilderness and the river.

Thus upheld, Abraham's faith triumphed

over all the opposing and embarrassing suggestions of sight and sense. "He staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." And therefore, not only was his faith counted unto him for righteousness, in the forgiveness of sins, through the promised Saviour, but, with reference to the promised seed, it was at once exchanged for vision. Jehovah, who cannot lie, visited Sarah as He said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son, at the set time, of which God had spoken to him.

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It is not uncommon in Christian experience, that believers against hope, believing in hope, look for the promises of mercy towards them, with the fretfulness of Sisera's mother, rather than the repose of Abraham, saying, Why is his chariot so long in coming, and why tarry the wheels of his chariot ?" I would affectionately beseech such characters, feeble, though sincere in faith, to go forward in the way of passive acquiescence, and holy duty; for the Lord their God will, ere long, make their darkness to be light. Yet a little while, and

Rom. vi. 20.

He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry, and when He shall appear with Almighty power to accomplish all his undertakings, those tried and tempted ones, shall reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in them. "Hold out," said a saint of God to the graces of his heart, which had been long in exercise, as the Almightiness of the Holy Ghost maintained their constancy, while greatly exercised,-" Hold out, faith and patience, a little longer, and then I shall need you no more for ever."

It must however be remembered, that Sarah is the church's mother, no less than Abraham the father of all them that believe: and the happy issue which I have endeavoured to illustrate, was granted to her belief, not less than to that of her husband, stronger and more unswerving as it was. "Through faith also, Sarah 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." Therefore, (that is of Sarah's, not less than Abraham's holy confidence,) sprang

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Heb. xi. 11.