tions, whose builder and maker is God." That which is to be particularly noticed here, is, that Abraham's faith did not suffer him to go before God, in taking possession of any part of the land of promise. In patience he possessed his soul; and until God should be pleased to give as well as to promise him an inheritance therein, he was content to be a stranger though in it. He did not build himself a city, nor anything of the nature of a settled habitation; but dwelt in tabernacles. Nor was this a passing effort of faith, much less was it a mere excitement of the energy of the flesh which passed away with the novelty of his position: it was an enduring confidence in the word of Him that had promised; and therefore it is said, not only that he dwelt in tabernacles, but that he did so with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promises. A hundred years did he thus wait upon God, WAITING indeed for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. "A city which hath foundations" is here in contrast with tabernacles which have none, being movable; and its builder and maker being God, is in contrast with anything he might have built for himself. There is not a syllable in these verses to make it necessary to assume that the city the patriarch waited for was to be in heaven, or anywhere in fact but in Canaan. It was moreover to be Abraham's habitation, whereas the Holy City, the new Jerusalem to which this passage is said to refer, is not the habitation of the risen saints, but the risen saints themselves the habitation of God.

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Verses 11 and 12 may be looked upon in connection with the present subject as parenthetical.

Verse 13. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." It seems to me that to attribute to these worthies a hope IN heaven as distinct from a heavenly order and condition of earthly things in Canaan with God for their God, nulli

In the new translation this expression is rendered waited for, which certainly is in stricter keeping with the view here presented, than looked for.

fies entirely the special and peculiar excellence of their faith, as set forth in these verses, and robs the passage of its proper force and beauty as an illustration and example to us.

Had heaven been the object of their hopes, there would have been nothing so particularly remarkable in their DYING in faith; death would have been to them, in that case, a step in the direction of their hopes, as it is with us; it would have brought them so much nearer the consummation of their desires: but if, instead of this, death were according to the nature of things the cutting of them off from the very place which God had promised to give them for an inheritance; if it were the natural severance of them from the place of the fulfilment of the promises, it was marvellous faith that could enable them thus to die out of the scene and yet to believe that God would give it to them. This is, I take it, what gives its especial value to their faith; it was faith in the living God that raiseth the dead. The expression on the earth," at the close of this verse, very naturally suggests the idea of a contrast between earth and heaven; it is, however, the same word in the original as that rendered in verse 9, "the land of promise.". It was in "the land" that they confessed themselves to be strangers and pilgrims.

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Verses 14, 15. "For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned: but now they desire a better, that is a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city."

These verses show conclusively that in God's view the question that might possibly have exercised the minds of these worthies (Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah), would not have been between the relative attractiveness of heaven and earth, but of CANAAN and MESOPOTAMIA. Had heaven been the place of their hopes as contrasted with the earth, the land from whence they came out would have had no more attractions for them than Canaan, and the Holy Ghost's argument would have been of little

force. The better country which they desired was not heaven as better than earth, but Canaan as better than Mesopotamia. A heavenly country indeed, that chosen land will be, that is, ordered and arranged in a heavenly and divine way, and in it there shall be nothing contrary to God; the heavens ruling and the days of heaven' realised upon earth. One thing is certain, viz., that a heavenly country is not heaven.

Furthermore, the declaration that God was not ashamed to be called their God, is, I take it, another proof of the earthly character of the hope that actuated these worthies: for on reference to Gen. xvii. 8, it will be seen that it was in direct connection with the promise to give Abram and his seed this very land, Canaan, wherein he was then a stranger, that God said He would be their God. By faith they looked forward to the possession of that land, and God owned their faith by calling Himself their God. The words of Gen. xvii. 8, are, "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

If anything further be needed to satisfy any one of the essential difference between the blessing promised to the saints in the past dispensations from Abram downwards, and the proper hope and calling of the Church in this, it is found, I think, in the last verse of the chapter before us (Heb. xi.), where it is declared that they have not yet received the fulfilment of their hopes, because it is the good pleasure of God to have provided some BETTER THING for US; and that they should not enter upon the fulfilment of theirs until we, believers in this dispensation, shall enter upon the consummation of OURS." And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Compare Rom. viii. 19-23, where the whole creation is said to groan, waiting for the same. thing, viz., our perfection in redeemed risen bodies, before it can be delivered into the glorious liberty that awaits it. The fulfilment of earthly blessing in connection with even church blessing is seen in the fact that the

twelve apostles are to possess earthly glory as well as heavenly, for they are to sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

N. VI.

G. O.

THOUGHTS ON FAITH.

"It is the gift of God."-Eph. ii. 8.

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”—Heb. xi. 6. It is generally admitted that at the present time, reasoning and credulity are making rapid strides, and are dividing between them the great masses in Christendom.

It is not then out of season, to consider what is the nature of that faith which God gives, by which the sinner is justified, and without which it is impossible for the saint to please Him.

It is a solemn fact, and the world cannot get rid of it, and of the consequent responsibility, that the word of God has been given, and that it is before the eyes, and even in the hands of men. In Christendom God's word is acknowledged, more or less, as the basis of every form of religious belief; but as man by nature and in the flesh cannot be subject to God, and to His word, he does with it (as with everything else with which God has entrusted him) that which seemeth good in his own eyes, and wrests the expressions and words of Scripture to his own meaning. Thus, for instance, such words as "Faith," "Religion," "Church," "Regeneration," "Eternal Life or Death," etc., are taken up and interpreted according to the peculiar views of schools or of individuals, and are made to mean just what each one pleases.

It is written that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," but experience shows us that the natural man is exceedingly ready to take up the letter of God's word, and this is very markedly the case in our time.

Men will not let God and His revelation alone. Reli

gion is the order of the day. There is a sort of itching after religiousness. Men do not and dare not believe nothing. They must have what they call "a faith" of some sort. Natural conscience appears to be aroused, and men of every degree, and character of mind, the most worldly, and the most intellectual, make time and opportunity for religious profession, and many even seek to flavour their very worldliness by their religiousness.

And Satan is busy in the midst of this scene presenting this and that error to men's minds for them to rest on. Every shade of superstition and infidelity may be traced within a very limited sphere in Christendom, and the assent given to each of these is called by men their "faith. Thus that which man calls faith, is his assent to, and belief in such doctrine, creed, or system as he has received either on the evidence of his own reason or senses, or on such external authority as he may please to submit his mind to:-and under these two heads may be ranged every form of rationalism wherein man by searching thinks to find out God; and of superstition, in which he rests his soul for its eternal salvation on the traditions and doctrines of men.

Now in such a world, such a scene of unbounded confusion, how important for the soul to examine itself, whether it be in the faith, and prove the reality and virtue of that which it possesses; and it need not go astray, for the faith which is of God has its own characteristics, in which it differs from all that reason, sense, or flesh in its best and fairest forms can show.

Divine faith is, in a special sense, "the gift of God." It is imparted by Him, the work of His own Spirit. It is something in addition to nature, and it is not one of what men call "nature's gifts." Its possession is evidenced in crediting God rather than man. The natural mind credits natural facts, but by divine faith the mind of man credits God. Whenever the word of man, or the judgment of sight and sense come into collision with the word and revelation of God, divine faith sides with God, and says, "Let GOD be true" (Rom. iii. 4).

"All men have not faith." Faith is not the mere