possibilities beyond it excite apprehension. Faith has the power of imparting to each of us something like the sublime composure of the apostle and the prophet, -"Now am I ready to be offered;" "though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for THOU ART WITH ME."

SERMON VIII.

THE SECOND TRIAL OF ABRAHAM.

HEB. XI. 9, 10, 13—16.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise : For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ..... 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. 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 country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

IN our discourse last sabbath, it was observed, that the whole life of Abraham was a life of

faith, but that there were four occasions on which was required from him signal evidence of its firmness and vigour. The first of these occupied our attention at that time; namely, the call he received to depart from the land of his fathers, which, with unhesitating promptitude, he obeyed," he went out, not knowing whither he went." Animated by a desire of universal obedience to the Supreme will; sustained by unlimited confidence in the Supreme protection and exercising a faith in the Supreme assurances, which the sensibilities of the heart and the prospects of suffering could neither diminish nor distract; we saw this distinguished patriarch abandon the community among which he had resided for seventy-five years, and become a houseless wanderer on the earth.

We are now to follow him into the country which he had been promised as an inheritance, and to observe the permanent operation of that same principle by which he was led to seek it at first. Not only did Abraham, when he was called, "by faith," go out from Chaldea to Canaan; but, when he was actually there,actually in the land, which it was repeatedly promised he should possess, he did not possess it,— -but, "by faith," he sojourned even in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling

in tabernacles or tents, without a fixed habitation, anticipating something superior to all temporal property, looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Passing over the eleventh and twelfth verses, which will come to be considered under the third proof of Abraham's faith, we connect with the ninth and tenth, the thirteenth to the sixteenth, inclusive. In these, the apostle represents Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob, as having all been distinguished for the same manifestation of faith, as that which we are about to illustrate as the second display of the principle in Abraham. They all confessed themselves, even in the promised land, to be but strangers and pilgrims on the earth;-to be looking for something afar off; of which, faith gave them the assurance; for the attainment of which, it supplied the energy; but the enjoyment of which this world was not to witness. They desired a better country, even an heavenly." And their desire was neither irrational nor vain, "for God had prepared for them a city."

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In discoursing from these passages, we shall attempt, in the first place, to explain their import in relation to the patriarchs; and then, to exhibit some of those sentiments, which, as strangers and pilgrims we ought to cherish,

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being virtually placed in a situation similar to theirs, and "being heirs with them of the same promises."

When Abraham departed from his native country, it was under the promise of being "shown" another, which he was to possess, and his seed after him. The same promise was frequently repeated. Sometimes it was couched in terms referring only to his descendants, and explicitly predicting their previous bondage. But, at others, the Divine voice accosted the patriarch in language like this; "Arise, and look around thee, eastward and westward, and northward and southward, for to thee, and to thy seed after thee, will I give this land, for an everlasting possession." The same declarations were made, and nearly in the same words, both to Isaac and Jacob successively; so that they were heirs with Abraham of the same promise, not only by being his descendants, and thus virtually included in him at first; but, by having, in their own persons, actually received a repetition and confirmation of the promises to themselves.

That Abraham, however, did not obtain any actual possessions in the land; that his faith was tried by frequent removals from place to place; that he dwelt in tabernacles or tents, like one only resting for a season; that he thus appeared