Thus, in Abraham"s case, he might lower himself in the view of Abimelech, king of Gerar; and Abimelech might have to rebuke him, yet, when G.o.d comes to deal with the case, he says to Abimelech, "Behold, thou art but a dead man;" and of Abraham he says, "He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee." Yes, with all "the integrity of his heart, and the innocency of his hands," the king of Gerar was "but a dead man;"
and, moreover, he must be a debtor to the prayers of the erring and inconsistent stranger for the restoration of the health of his household. Such is the manner of G.o.d: he may have many a secret controversy with his child on the ground of his practical ways; but directly the enemy enters a suit against him, Jehovah ever pleads his servant"s cause. "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
"He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." "It is G.o.d that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" No dart of the enemy can penetrate the shield, behind which the Lord has hidden the very feeblest lamb of his blood-bought flock. He hides his people in his pavilion, sets their feet upon the Rock of ages, lifts their head above their enemies round about, and fills their hearts with the everlasting joy of his salvation.
His name be praised for evermore!
CHAPTER XXI.
"And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken." Here we have accomplished promise,--the blessed fruit of patient waiting upon G.o.d. None ever waited in vain.
The soul that takes hold of G.o.d"s promise by faith has gotten a stable reality which will never fail him. Thus was it with Abraham; thus was it with all the faithful from age to age; and thus will it be with all those who are enabled, in any measure, to trust in the living G.o.d. Oh, it is a wonderful blessing to have G.o.d himself as our portion and resting-place, amid the unsatisfying shadows of this scene through which we are pa.s.sing; to have our anchor cast within the veil; to have the word and oath of G.o.d, the two immutable things, to lean upon, for the comfort and tranquillity of our souls.
When G.o.d"s promise stood before the soul of Abraham, as an accomplished fact, he might well have learnt the futility of his own effort to reach that accomplishment. Ishmael was of no use whatever, so far as G.o.d"s promise was concerned. He might, and did, afford something for nature"s affections to entwine themselves around, thus furnishing a more difficult task for Abraham to perform afterwards; but he was in no wise conducive to the development of the purpose of G.o.d, or to the establishment of Abraham"s faith,--quite the reverse. Nature can never do aught for G.o.d. The Lord must "visit," and the Lord must "do," and faith must wait, and nature must be still; yea, must be entirely set aside as a dead, worthless thing, and then the divine glory can shine out, and faith find in that outshining all its rich and sweet reward.
"Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, _at the set time_ of which G.o.d had spoken to him." There is such a thing as G.o.d"s "set time," his "due season," and for this the faithful must be content to wait. The time may seem long, and hope deferred may make the heart sick; but the spiritual mind will ever find its relief in the a.s.surance that all is for the ultimate display of G.o.d"s glory. "For the vision is for an appointed time, but _at the end_ it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry ... but the just shall live by his faith." (Hab. ii. 3, 4.) This wondrous faith! It brings into our present all the power of G.o.d"s future, and feeds upon G.o.d"s promise as a present reality. By its power the soul is kept hanging upon G.o.d, when every outward thing seems to be against it; and, "at the set time," the mouth is filled with laughter.
"Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him." Thus nature had nothing to glory in. "Man"s extremity was G.o.d"s opportunity;" and Sarah said, "_G.o.d_ hath made me to laugh." All is triumph when G.o.d is allowed to show himself.
Now, while the birth of Isaac filled Sarah"s mouth with laughter, it introduced an entirely new element into Abraham"s house. The son of the free-woman very speedily developed the true character of the son of the bond-woman. Indeed, Isaac proved in principle to be to the household of Abraham what the implantation of the new nature is in the soul of a sinner. It was not _Ishmael changed_, but it was _Isaac born_. The son of the bond-woman could never be any thing else but that. He might become a great nation; he might dwell in the wilderness and become an archer; he might become the father of twelve princes;--but he was the son of the bond-woman all the while. On the contrary, no matter how weak and despised Isaac might be, he was the son of the free-woman. His position and character, his standing and prospects, were all from the Lord. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Regeneration is not a change of the old nature, but the introduction of a new: it is the implantation of the nature or life of the second Adam, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, founded upon the accomplished redemption of Christ, and in full keeping with the sovereign will or counsel of G.o.d. The moment a sinner believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus, he becomes the possessor of a new life, and that life is Christ. He is born of G.o.d, is a child of G.o.d, is a son of the free-woman. (See Rom. x. 9; Col. iii. 4; 1 John iii. 1, 2; Gal.
iii. 26; iv. 31.)
Nor does the introduction of this new nature alter, in the slightest degree, the true, essential character of the old. This latter continues what it was, and is made in no respect better; yea, rather, there is the full display of its evil character in opposition to the new element. "The flesh l.u.s.teth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." There they are in all their distinctness, and the one is only thrown into relief by the other.
I believe this doctrine of the two natures in the believer is not generally understood; and yet, so long as there is ignorance of it, the mind must be utterly at sea, in reference to the true standing and privileges of the child of G.o.d. Some there are, who think that regeneration is a certain change which the old nature undergoes; and, moreover, that this change is gradual in its operation, until at length the whole man becomes transformed. That this idea is unsound can be proved by various quotations from the New Testament. For example, "the carnal mind is enmity against G.o.d." How can that which is thus spoken of ever undergo any improvement? The apostle goes on to say, "it is not subject to the law of G.o.d, _neither indeed can be_." If it _cannot be_ subject to the law of G.o.d, how can it be improved? How can it undergo any change? Again, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh." Do what you will with flesh, and it is flesh all the while. As Solomon says, "Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." (Prov. xxvii.
22.) There is no use in seeking to make foolishness wise: you must introduce heavenly wisdom into the heart that has been heretofore only governed by folly. Again, "ye have put off the old man." (Col. iii. 9.) He does not say, Ye have improved or are seeking to improve "the old man;" but, Ye have put it off. This gives us a totally different idea.
There is a very great difference between seeking to mend an old garment, and casting it aside altogether, and putting on a new one.
This is the idea of the last-quoted pa.s.sage. It is a putting off the old and a putting on of the new. Nothing can be more distinct or simple.
Pa.s.sages might easily be multiplied to prove the unsoundness of the theory, with respect to the gradual improvement of the old nature,--to prove that the old nature is dead in sins, and utterly unrenewable and unimproveable; and, moreover, that the only thing we can do with it is, to keep it under our feet in the power of that new life which we have in union with our risen Head in the heavens.
The birth of Isaac did not improve Ishmael, but only brought out his real opposition to the child of promise. He might have gone on very quietly and orderly till Isaac made his appearance; but then he showed what he was by persecuting and mocking at the child of resurrection.
What, then, was the remedy? To make Ishmael better? By no means; but, "cast out this bond-woman and her son; for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." (8-10.) Here was the only remedy. "That which is crooked cannot be made straight;" therefore you have only to get rid of the crooked thing altogether, and occupy yourself with that which is divinely straight. It is labor lost to seek to make a crooked thing straight. Hence all efforts after the improvement of nature are utterly futile, so far as G.o.d is concerned.
It may be all very well for men to cultivate and improve that which is of use to themselves; but G.o.d has given his children something infinitely better to do, even to cultivate that which is his own creation, the fruits of which, while they in no wise serve to exalt nature, are entirely to his praise and glory.
Now, the error into which the Galatian churches fell, was the introduction of that which addressed itself to nature. "Except ye be circ.u.mcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." Here salvation was made to depend upon something that man could be, or man could do, or man could keep. This was upsetting the whole glorious fabric of redemption, which, as the believer knows, rests exclusively upon what Christ is, and what he has done. To make salvation dependent in the most remote manner upon any thing in, or done by, man, is to set it entirely aside. In other words, Ishmael must be entirely cast out, and all Abraham"s hopes be made to depend upon what G.o.d had done and given in the person of Isaac. This, it is needless to say, leaves man nothing to glory in. If present or future blessedness were made to depend upon even a divine change wrought in nature, flesh might glory.
Though my nature were improved, it would be something of _me_, and thus G.o.d would not have _all_ the glory. But when I am introduced into a new creation, I find it is all of G.o.d, designed, matured, developed by himself alone. G.o.d is the actor, and I am a worshipper; he is the blesser, and I am the blessed; he is "the better," and I am "the less;"
(Heb. vii. 7;) he is the giver, and I am the receiver. This is what makes Christianity what it is; and, moreover, distinguishes it from every system of human religion under the sun, whether it be Romanism, Puseyism, or any other _ism_ whatsoever. Human religion gives the creature a place more or less; it keeps the bond-woman and her son in the house; it gives man something to glory in. On the contrary, Christianity excludes the creature from all interference in the work of salvation; casts out the bond-woman and her son, and gives _all_ the glory to him to whom alone it is due.
But let us inquire who this bond-woman and her son really are, and what they shadow forth. Galatians iv. furnishes ample teaching as to these two points. In a word then the bond-woman represents the covenant of the law; and her son represents all who are "of works of law," or on that principle ([Greek: ex ergon nomou]). This is very plain. The bond-woman only genders to bondage, and can never bring forth a free man. How can she? The law never could give liberty, for so long as a man was alive it ruled him. (Rom. vii. 1.) I can never be free so long as I am under the dominion of any one. But while I live, the law rules me; and nothing but death can give me deliverance from its dominion.
This is the blessed doctrine of Romans vii. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto G.o.d." This is freedom; for, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John viii. 36.) "So, then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free." (Gal. iv. 31.)
Now, it is in the power of this freedom that we are enabled to obey the command, "Cast out this bond-woman and her son." If I am not consciously free, I shall be seeking to attain liberty in the strangest way possible, even by keeping the bond-woman in the house; in other words, I shall be seeking to get life by keeping the law; I shall be establishing any own righteousness. No doubt, it will involve a struggle to cast out this element of bondage, for legalism is natural to our hearts. "The thing was very grievous in Abraham"s sight, because of his son." Still, however grievous it may be, it is according to the divine mind that we should abidingly "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. v. 1.) May we, beloved reader, so fully and experimentally enter into the blessedness of G.o.d"s provision for us in Christ that we may be done with all thoughts about the flesh, and all that it can be, do, or produce. There is a fulness in Christ which renders all appeal to nature utterly superfluous and vain.
CHAPTER XXII.
Abraham is now in a fit moral position to have his heart put to a most severe test. The long-cherished reserve being put forth from his heart, in Chap. xx.--the bond-woman and her son being put forth from his house, as in Chap. xxi., he now stands forth in the most honored position in which any soul can be placed, and that is a position of trial from the hand of G.o.d himself. There are various kinds of trial: trial from the hand of Satan; trial from surrounding circ.u.mstances; but the highest character of trial is that which comes directly from the hand of G.o.d, when he puts his dear child into the furnace for the purpose of testing the reality of his faith. G.o.d will do this: he must have reality. It will not do to say, "Lord, Lord," or, "I go, sir." The heart must be probed to the very bottom, in order that no element of hypocrisy or false profession may be allowed to lodge there. "My son, give me _thine heart_." He does not say, "Give me thine head, or thine intellect, or thy talents, or thy tongue, or thy money;" but "Give me thine heart:" and in order to prove the sincerity of our response to this gracious command, he will lay his hand upon something very near our hearts. Thus he says to Abraham, "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." This was coming very close to Abraham"s heart. It was pa.s.sing him through a searching crucible indeed. G.o.d "requires truth in the inward parts." There may be much truth on the lips, and much in the intellect, but G.o.d looks for it in the heart. It is no ordinary proof that will satisfy G.o.d, as to the love of our hearts. He himself did not rest satisfied with giving an ordinary proof. He gave his Son, and we should aim at giving very striking proofs of our love to him who so loved us, even when we were dead in trespa.s.ses and sins.
However, it is well to see that G.o.d confers a signal honor upon us when he thus tests our hearts. We never read that "the Lord did tempt Lot."
No; Sodom tempted Lot. He never reached a sufficiently high elevation to warrant his being tried by the hand of Jehovah. It was too plainly manifest that there was plenty between his heart and the Lord, and it did not, therefore, require the furnace to bring that out. Sodom would have held out no temptation whatever to Abraham. This was made manifest in his interview with Sodom"s king, in Chapter xiv. G.o.d knew well that Abraham loved him far better than Sodom; but he would make it manifest that he loved him better than any one or any thing, by laying his hand upon the nearest and dearest object. "Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac." Yes, Isaac, the child of promise; Isaac, the object of long-deferred hope, the object of parental love, and the one in whom all the kindreds of the earth were to be blessed. This Isaac must be offered as a burnt-offering. This, surely, was putting faith to the test, in order that, being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, it might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory. Had Abraham"s whole soul not been stayed simply on the Lord, he never could have yielded unhesitating obedience to such a searching command. But G.o.d himself was the living and abiding support of his heart, and therefore he was prepared to give up all for him.
The soul that has found _all_ its springs in G.o.d, can, without any demur, retire from _all_ creature streams. We can give up the creature, just in proportion as we have found out, or become experimentally acquainted with the Creator, and no further. To attempt to give up the visible things in any other way, save in the energy of that faith which lays hold of the invisible, is the most fruitless labor possible. It cannot be done. I will hold fast my Isaac until I have found my all in G.o.d. It is when we are enabled by faith, to say "G.o.d is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," that we can also add, "therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." (Ps. xlvi. 1, 2.)
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning." There is ready obedience.
"I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments." Faith never stops to look at circ.u.mstances, or ponder results; it only looks at G.o.d; it expresses itself thus: "But when it pleased G.o.d, who separated me from my mother"s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." (Gal. i. 15, 16.) The moment we confer with flesh and blood, our testimony and service are marred, for flesh and blood can never obey. We must rise early, and carry out, through grace, the divine command. Thus we are blessed, and G.o.d is glorified. Having G.o.d"s own word as the basis of our acting will ever impart strength and stability to our acting. If we merely act from impulse, when the impulse subsides, the acting will subside also.
There are two things needful to a course of steady and consistent action, viz., the Holy Ghost, as the power of action, and the word to give proper direction. To use a familiar ill.u.s.tration: on a railway, we should find steam of little use without the iron rails firmly laid down; the former is the power by which we move; and the latter, the direction. It is needless to add that the rails would be of little use without the steam. Now, Abraham was blessed with both. He had the power of action conferred by G.o.d; and the command to act given by G.o.d also.
His devotedness was of a most definite character; and this is deeply important. We frequently find much that looks like devotedness, but which, in reality, is but the desultory activity of a will not brought under the powerful action of the word of G.o.d. All such apparent devotedness is worthless, and the spirit from which it proceeds will very speedily evaporate. We may lay down the following principle, viz., whenever devotedness pa.s.ses beyond divinely appointed bounds it is suspicious. If it comes not up to these bounds it is defective; if it flows without them it is erratic. I quite admit that there are extraordinary operations and ways of the Spirit of G.o.d, in which he a.s.serts his own sovereignty, and rises above ordinary bounds; but, in such cases, the evidence of divine activity will be sufficiently strong to carry home conviction to every spiritual mind; nor will they, in the slightest degree, interfere with the truth of the principle that true devotedness will ever be founded upon and governed by divine principle.
To sacrifice a son might seem to be an act of most extraordinary devotedness; but, be it remembered, that what gave that act all its value, in G.o.d"s sight, was the simple fact of its being based upon G.o.d"s command.
Then, we have another thing connected with true devotedness, and that is a spirit of worship. "I and the lad will go yonder and _worship_."
The really devoted servant will keep his eye, not on his service, be it ever so great, but on the Master, and this will produce a spirit of worship. If I love my master, according to the flesh, I shall not mind whether I am cleaning his shoes or driving his carriage; but if I am thinking more of myself than of him, I shall rather be a coachman than a s...o...b..ack. So it is precisely in the service of the heavenly Master: if I am thinking only of him, planting churches and making tents will be both alike to me. We may see the same thine in angelic ministry. It matters not to an angel whether he be sent to destroy an army, or to protect the person of some heir of salvation. It is the Master who entirely fills his vision. As some one has remarked, "if two angels were sent from heaven, one to rule an empire, and the other to sweep the streets, they would not dispute about their respective work." This is most true, and so should it be with us. The servant should ever be combined with the worshipper, and the works of our hands perfumed with the ardent breathings of our spirits. In other words we should go forth to our work in the spirit of those memorable words, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship." This would effectually preserve us from that merely mechanical service into which we are so p.r.o.ne to drop,--doing things for doing"s sake, and being more occupied with our work than with our Master. All must flow from simple faith in G.o.d, and obedience to his word.
"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises, offered up his only-begotten." (Heb. xi. 17.) It is only as we are walking by faith that we can begin, continue, and end our works in G.o.d. Abraham not merely set out to offer his son, but he went on, and reached the spot which G.o.d had appointed. "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife: and they went both of them together." And further on we read, "And Abraham built an altar there; and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son." This was real work, "a work of faith and labor of love," in the highest sense. It was no mere mockery--no drawing near with the lips, while the heart was far off--no saying, "I go, sir, and went not." It was all deep reality, just such as faith ever delights to produce, and which G.o.d delights to accept. It is easy to make a show of devotedness when there is no demand for it.
It is easy to say, "though all shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended ... though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee;" but the point is to stand the trial. When Peter was put to the test, he entirely broke down. Faith never talks of what it will do, but does what it can in the strength of the Lord. Nothing can be more thoroughly worthless than a spirit of empty pretension. It is just as worthless as the basis on which it rests. But faith acts "when it is tried;" and till then it is content to be unseen and silent.
Now, it needs hardly to be remarked that G.o.d is glorified in those holy activities of faith. He is the immediate object of them, as he is the spring from whence they emanate. There was not a scene in Abraham"s entire history in which G.o.d was so much glorified as the scene on Mount Moriah. There it was that he was enabled to bear testimony to the fact that he had found all his fresh springs in G.o.d,--found them not merely previous to, but after, Isaac"s birth. This is a most touching point.
It is one thing to rest in G.o.d"s blessings, and another thing to rest in himself. It is one thing to trust G.o.d when I have before my eyes the channel through which the blessing is to flow; and quite another thing to trust him when that channel is entirely stopped up. This was what proved the excellency of Abraham"s faith. He showed that he could not merely trust G.o.d for an innumerable seed while Isaac stood before him in health and vigor; but just as fully if he were a smoking victim on the altar. This was a high order of confidence in G.o.d; it was unalloyed confidence; it was not a confidence propped up in part by the Creator and in part by the creature. No; it rested on one solid pedestal, viz., G.o.d himself. "He accounted that G.o.d was able." He never accounted that Isaac was able. Isaac without G.o.d was nothing; G.o.d without Isaac was every thing. This is a principle of the very last importance, and one eminently calculated to test the heart most keenly. Does it make any difference to me to see the apparent channel of all my blessings dried up? Am I dwelling sufficiently near the fountain-head to be able, with a worshipping spirit, to behold all the creature streams dried up? This I do feel to be a searching question. Have I such a simple view of G.o.d"s sufficiency as to be able as it were to "stretch forth my hand and take the knife to slay my son." Abraham was enabled to do this, because his eye rested on the G.o.d of resurrection. "He accounted that G.o.d was able to raise him up even from the dead."
In a word, it was with G.o.d he had to do, and that was quite enough. He was not suffered to strike the blow. He had gone to the very utmost bounds; he had come up to the line beyond which G.o.d could not suffer him to go. The Blessed One spared the father"s heart the pang which he did not spare his own heart, even that of smiting his Son. He, blessed be his name, pa.s.sed beyond the utmost bounds, for "he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief." There was no voice from heaven when, on Calvary, the Father offered up his only-begotten Son. No, it was a perfectly accomplished sacrifice; and in its accomplishment our everlasting peace is sealed.
However, Abraham"s devotedness was fully proved and fully accepted.
"For now I know that thou fearest G.o.d, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." Mark, it is "_now_ I know." It had never been proved before. It was there, no doubt; and, if there, G.o.d knew it; but the valuable point here is, that G.o.d founds his knowledge of it upon the palpable evidence afforded at the altar upon Mount Moriah. Faith is always proved by action, and the fear of G.o.d by the fruits which flow from it. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?" (James ii. 21.) Who could think of calling his faith in question? Take away faith, and Abraham appears on Moriah as a murderer and a madman. Take faith into account, and he appears as a devoted worshipper,--a G.o.d-fearing, justified man. But faith must be proved. "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man _say_ he hath faith, and have not works?" (James ii. 14.) Will either G.o.d or man be satisfied with a powerless and profitless profession? Surely not. G.o.d looks for reality, and honors it where he sees it; and as for man, he can understand naught save the living and intelligible utterance of a faith that shows itself in acts.
We are surrounded by the profession of religion; the phraseology of faith is on every lip; but faith itself is as rare a gem as ever,--that faith which will enable a man to push out from the sh.o.r.e of present circ.u.mstances, and meet the waves and the winds, and not only meet them, but endure them, even though the Master should seem to be asleep on the pillow.
And here I would remark the beautiful harmony between St. James and St.
Paul on the subject of justification. The intelligent and spiritual reader, who bows to the important truth of the plenary inspiration of holy scripture, knows full well that on this question it is not with Paul or James we have to do, but with the Holy Ghost, who graciously used each of those honored men as the pen to write his thoughts, just as I might take up a quill-pen or a steel-pen to write my thoughts, in which case it would be quite preposterous to speak of a discrepancy between the two pens, inasmuch as the writer is one. Hence it is just as impossible that two divinely-inspired penmen could clash, as that two heavenly bodies, while moving in their divinely-appointed orbits, could come into collision.
But, in reality, as might be expected, there is the fullest and most perfect harmony between those two apostles; indeed, on the subject of justification, the one is the counterpart or exponent of the other. St Paul gives us the inward principle, St. James the outward development of that principle; the former presents the hidden life, the latter the manifested life; the former looks at man in relation to G.o.d, the latter looks at him in his relation to man. Now we want both: the inward would not do without the outward; and the outward would be valueless and powerless without the inward. "Abraham was justified" when "he believed G.o.d;" and "Abraham was justified" when "he offered Isaac his son." In the former case we have his secret standing; in the latter, his public acknowledgment by heaven and earth. It is well to understand this distinction. There was no voice from heaven when "Abraham believed G.o.d," though in G.o.d"s view he was there, then, and thus "counted righteous;" but "when he had offered his son upon the altar," G.o.d could say, "now I know;" and all the world had a powerful and unanswerable proof of the fact that Abraham was a justified man. Thus will it ever be. Where there is the inward principle, there will be the outward acting; but all the value of the latter springs from its connection with the former. Disconnect, for one moment, Abraham"s acting, as set forth by St. James, from Abraham"s faith, as set forth by St. Paul, and what justifying virtue did it possess? None whatever. All its value, all its efficacy, all its virtue, springs from the fact that it was the outward manifestation of that faith, by virtue of which he had been already counted righteous before G.o.d. Thus much as to the admirable harmony between St. Paul and St. James: or rather as to the unity of the voice of the Holy Ghost, whether that voice be uttered by St. Paul or St. James.
We now return to our chapter. It is deeply interesting to mark here how Abraham"s soul is led into a fresh discovery of G.o.d"s character by the trial of his faith. When we are enabled to bear the testings of G.o.d"s own hand, it is sure to lead us into some new experience with respect to his character, which makes us to know how valuable the testing is.
If Abraham had not stretched out his hand to slay his son, he never would have known the rich and exquisite depths of that t.i.tle which he here bestows upon G.o.d, viz., "Jehovah Jireh." It is only when we are really put to the test that we discover what G.o.d is. Without trial we can be but theorists, and G.o.d would not have us such: he would have us entering into the living depths that are in himself,--the divine realities of personal communion with him. With what different feelings and convictions must Abraham have retraced his steps from Moriah to Beersheba! from the mount of the Lord to the well of the oath! What very different thoughts of G.o.d! What different thoughts of Isaac! What different thoughts of every thing! Truly we may say, "Happy is the man that endureth trial." It is an honor put upon one by the Lord himself, and the deep blessedness of the experience to which it leads cannot easily be estimated. It is when men are brought, to use the language of the 107th Psalm, "to their wits" end," that they discover what G.o.d is.
Oh, for grace to endure trial, that G.o.d"s workmanship may appear, and his name be glorified in us!
There is one point, which, before closing my remarks on this chapter, I shall notice, and that is, the gracious way in which G.o.d gives Abraham credit for having done the act which he had showed himself so fully prepared to do. "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because _thou hast done this thing_, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-sh.o.r.e; and thy seed shall possess the gate of _his enemies_; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: because thou hast obeyed my voice." This beautifully corresponds with the Spirit"s notice of Abraham"s acting, as put before us in Heb. xi. and also in James ii., in both of which scriptures he is looked upon as having offered Isaac his son upon the altar. The grand principle conveyed in the whole matter is this: Abraham proved that he was prepared to have the scene entirely cleared of _all_ but G.o.d; and, moreover, it was this same principle which both _const.i.tuted_ and _proved_ him a justified man. Faith can do without every one and every thing but G.o.d. It has the full sense of his sufficiency, and can, therefore, let go all beside. Hence Abraham could rightly estimate the words, "_by myself_ have I sworn." Yes, this wondrous word, "myself,"
was every thing to the man of faith. "For when G.o.d made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself....
For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein G.o.d, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath." The word and oath of the living G.o.d should put an end to all the strivings and workings of the human will, and form the immovable anchor of the soul amid all the tossing and tumult of this stormy world.
Now, we must condemn ourselves constantly, because of the little power which the promise of G.o.d has in our hearts. There it is, and we profess to believe it; but ah! it is not that deep, abiding, influential reality which it ought ever to be; we do not draw from it that "strong consolation" which it is calculated to afford. How little prepared are we, in the power of faith, in the promise of G.o.d, to slay our Isaac! We need to cry to G.o.d that he would be graciously pleased to endow us with a deeper insight into the blessed reality of a life of faith in himself, that so we may understand better the import of that word of St. John: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith." We can only overcome the world by faith. Unbelief puts us under the power of present things; in other words, it gives the world the victory over us. A soul that has entered by the teaching of the Holy Ghost into the sense of G.o.d"s sufficiency, is entirely independent of things here. Beloved reader, may we know this, for our peace and joy in G.o.d and his glory in us.