Hearken and Look; or, Encouragement for Believers

Delivered on Wednesday, April 27th, 1881, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At Exeter Hall.

(The Annual Sermon on behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society)

Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him For the Lord shall
comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make
her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of
melody.''Isaiah 51:2-3.

THE second verse contains my actual text. It is the argument by which
faith is led to look for the blessings promised in the third verse.

It is habitual with some persons to spy out the dark side of every
question or fact: they fix their eyes upon the waste places,' and they
study them till they know every ruin, and are familiar with the dragons
and the owls. They sigh most dolorously that the former times were
better than these, and that we have fallen upon most degenerate days.
They speak of shooting Niagara,' and of all sorts of frightful things.
I am afraid that a measure of this tendency to write bitter things
dwells in almost all of us at this present season, for certain
discouraging facts which cannot be ignored are pressing heavily upon
men's spirits. The habit of looking continually towards the
wildernesses is injurious because it greatly discourages; and anything
that discourages an earnest worker is a serious leakage for his
strength. Perhaps a worse result than honest discouragement comes of
depressing views, for they often afford an apology for indifference and
inaction. The smallest peg suffices to hang an excuse upon when we are
anxious to escape from the stern service of faith. I pray thee have me
excused,' is a request which was supported in the parable by the
flimsiest of pretences, and discouragement makes one of the same sort.
The sluggard's argument is on this wise,''I will not attempt the work,
for it is far too heavy for my poor strength. I fear the times are ill
adapted to any special effort; indeed, I am not quite certain that
success will ever attend the general work.' It is therefore a dreadful
thing when the Christian church begins to be discouraged, and means
must be used to stay the evil. Such means we would use this day. Lo, we
lift the standard of the divine promise. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my
people,' sounds out like a silver trumpet in the front of the host. Be
encouraged, O ye of the faint heart; there are no more difficulties now
than there were of old. The cause is no more in jeopardy than it was a
thousand years ago. The result, the end, the consummation of all things
is absolutely certain: it is in his hand who cannot fail, therefore be
of good courage, and in waiting upon the Lord renew your strength.

Remember, ye that are cast down, that there are other voices besides
those of the bittern and owl from the waste places.' My text has near
to it twice, nay, three times, HEARKEN TO ME.' You have listened long
enough to dreary suggestions from within, to gloomy prophecies from
desponding friends, to the taunts of foes, and to the horrible
whisperings of Satan: now hearken to him who promises to make the
wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord.

O ye whose eyes are quick to discover evil, there are other sights in
the world besides waste places and deserts, and hence my text hath near
to it twice over the exhortation, LOOK'''Look unto the rock whence ye
are hewn'; Look unto Abraham your father.' Why should your eyes for
ever ache over desolations? Probably you have seen as much in the
wilderness as you are ever likely to see there. It does not take long
to discover all the treasures and comforts of the burning sand; you
have probably discovered them all by now. As for the discomforts and
wants of the desert, you are perhaps as well acquainted with them as
you need to be. Gaze no longer at the thirsty land and the burning sky;
turn your eye where the finger of the Lord points by his word. If we
enquire what it is that the Lord would have us observe, he answers,
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you'; for there
we may find comfort. O for the presence of the Holy Spirit, that the
word may be full of the dew of heaven to refresh our souls.

I. We shall first look towards Abraham that we may see in him THE
ORIGINAL OF GOD'S ANCIENT PEOPLE, the foundation stone, as it were, of
the dispensation by which God blessed the former ages. In Judah was God
known, his name was great in Israel: let us look to the rock whence
Israel and Judah were hewn.

We observe, first, that the founder of God's first people was called
out of a heathen family. Your fathers,' says Joshua, dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and
they served other gods.' Abraham, the founder of the great system in
which God was pleased to reveal himself for so long a time, and to
whose seed the oracles of God were committed, was a dweller in Ur of
the Chaldees, the city of the moon-god. We cannot tell to what extent
he was actually engrossed in the superstition of his fathers, but it is
certain that the family was years afterwards tainted with idolatry; for
in Jacob's day the teraph was still venerated, and Rachel stole her
father's images. Abraham, therefore, was called out from the place of
his birth, and from the household to which he belonged, that in a
separated condition, as a worshipper of the one God, he might keep the
truth alive in the world. Recollect, then, that the first man from whom
sprang that wondrous nation which God hath not even yet cast away was
originally himself an idolater, and had to be called out of his sinful
state by effectual grace. Why, then, might not the Lord, if the cause
of truth were this day reduced to its utmost extremity, again raise up
a church out of one man? If an almost universal apostasy should hide
the divine light, could he not kindle a torch among the heathen, and by
its light illuminate the earth again? He could call out another
Abraham, and bless him and increase him, and achieve the whole of his
eternal purposes if all of us should sleep in the dust, and the visibly
organised church of to-day should pass away as the snow of winter at
the advent of spring. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is he not able
of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham? As to anything like
discouragement, it ought to vanish at the thought that not only out of
your Sunday-schools, your colleges, and your pulpits can God raise up
leaders for his church, but he can find them in the very centre of
heathenism. Where Satan's seat is, even there can the Lord raise up
advocates for his cause. The thick darkness of superstition shall not
prevent the chosen one from seeing the light, neither shall the bondage
of sin hold back the captive from finding freedom and proclaiming it to
others.

Ah,' you say, but men are not called now, as Abraham was, by miraculous
calls from heaven.' I reply,'The statement may be true; but God's
visible means of calling men are now so many that there can seldom be
need of miracle. The Lord can by his Spirit make one of the millions of
Bibles scattered over the world to be as powerful a means of call as
though he had sent an angel from heaven; yea, a solitary leaf of a
printed tract, if wafted by the wind, or carried by the wave, may be
borne where God shall bless it to the calling forth of a champion
ordained of old to do great exploits. Where ordinary means are so
plentiful wisdom resorts not to signs and wonders. Miracles were of
admirable use while they were necessary; but now that they are no
longer required the prudence of God forbids an extravagant display of
the supernatural. Now that the word of God is scattered thick as leaves
in Valambrosa' everywhere by willing and ready hands, what need can
there be of voices of the day or visions of the night? The same Spirit
who called Abraham by a supernatural voice can call others by the word
of truth. Instead of regarding it as a prodigy that a man should be
unexpectedly called out from among the heathen I look for it, and shall
not be surprised to hear that in the remoter provinces of China, or in
the centre of Thibet, or in the recesses of Africa men have been raised
up to found churches for our Lord Jesus. God can through the printed
page or by hints and rumours passed from hand to hand convey enough
instruction to call out more Abrahams and bless them, and increase his
kingdom by them. Omnipotence hath servants everywhere.' Let us never
dream that the God of Abraham is short of means for calling out chosen
men to build up his church. Surely Christian people should never doubt
the power of God to raise up lights in dark places when we remember
that the greatest preacher of the gospel, namely, the apostle Paul, was
drafted into the army of Christ from the ranks of his direst foes. The
proud Pharisee, a fanatic of the fanatics, embittered against Christ,
and persecuting his people, became the earnest advocate of Christ
Jesus. Aforetime his breath was threatening and slaughter, yet on the
road to Damascus he was conquered and transformed. As a lion roareth
over his prey, so did Paul rejoice that the saints in Damascus were now
in his power; but the Lord struck him down, and turned the lion to a
lamb, and henceforth where sin abounded grace did much more abound.
First in the ranks of Christian heroes stands the man who called
himself the chief of sinners because he persecuted the church of God.
My brethren, as Luther came from among the monks, so out of Rome, yea,
from the Vatican itself, can God, if he wills, call another Luther. The
darkness of the times cannot forbid it, for God is Light. The weakness
of the church cannot hinder it, for all power belongeth unto God. There
may not be among us to-day one whom God will so greatly honour as to
make him a spiritual father of nations; but there may be such a one in
the courts of Whitechapel or in the rookeries of St. Giles. The Christ,
who was himself called the Galilean, despises no place or people. Our
king is not particular as to the mine from which he digs his gold. The
great seeker of precious souls full often finds his purest pearls in
the deepest and the blackest waters. Take this, then, for
encouragement, ye who tremble for the ark of God: he can build up a
spiritual house for himself out of dark quarries, and find cedars for
his temple in forests untraversed by the feet of missionaries.

Ah,' say you, but Abraham was naturally a man of noble mould. Where do
you find such a princely spirit as his?' I answer, Who made him? He
that made him can make another like him. There is a grace of God which
goes before what we are accustomed to call saving grace: I mean a grace
of God which, in the creating of the nature, makes it a fit instrument
for the grace which is after to be bestowed. By such sovereign favour
one man is from his birth endowed with a superior mind and character,
being adorned, even as a natural man, with much that is excellent in
its own order. How often do you see among certain men of the world a
generosity, honesty, open-heartedness, and nobility of disposition
which are not grace, but which mark men out as fit to be leaders in all
that is good when grace calls them into the divine service? The Lord
can just as soon make a man after the type of Abraham as after any
other type; and doubtless he has such in store even now, to whom his
call will yet come. We may expect to see men of strong convictions
converted into believers who stagger not at the promise through
unbelief.' From among priests and pagans we may hope that the Lord will
raise up pillars for his church. Is not this hope encouraged in your
breasts as you Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare
you'?

Look again and observe that Abraham was but one man. Do not be startled
at the sound which seems to have such terrors for certain brethren. I
have heard the cant of those who object to a one-man ministry,' a
ministry to which all the while they usually submit in their own
meetings; but to my ear there is music, and not terror, in the term a
one-man ministry.' I bless God that all my hope of salvation hangs upon
the divine ministry of the One Man. Is not Christ, as the servant of
God, the very pattern of all ministries which are of God? Working out
the Father's eternal purpose by a life which was necessarily unique in
many points, he trod the wine-press alone; in this, however, he causes
many of his people to have fellowship with him, even as in the case of
Paul, who says, At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men
forsook me.' I am bold also to say that the Lord has as a rule wrought
more nobly by one man than by bands and corporations of men. He in
whose seed all nations are blessed was but one. I called him,' saith
he, alone, and blessed him, and increased him.' Nor is this a solitary
instance. When the earth was utterly corrupt God conserved the race by
a solitary preacher of righteousness, who prepared an ark for the
saving of his house. See how one Joseph saved whole nations from
famine, and one Moses brought out a race from bondage. Who was there to
keep Israel right when Moses fell on sleep but the one man Joshua? What
were the prosperous times in the era of the Judges but days when one
man was to the front as a leader? When all the rest hid away in dens
and caves, some Barak or Gideon, or Jephthah, or Samson came boldly
forward and delivered Israel. One man, standing like a figure at the
head of many ciphers, soon headed victorious thousands, through faith
in God. What was there but one man in the days of David? The
Philistines had still triumphed over the land if the one lad had not
brought back Goliath's head, and if the one man had not again and again
smitten the uncircumcised in the name of the Lord. Beloved, if we
should ever be reduced, as we shall not be, to one man, yet by one man
will God preserve his church, and work out his great purposes. I hope
we shall never go into our chamber, and shut to the door, and cry with
Elias, I only am left, and they seek my life!' No, my brother, there
are more faithful men in this world than you. The Lord has yet reserved
to himself his thousands that have not bowed the knee to Baal. We are
this day, not one man, but many, and we all desire to live for the
glory of God, and for the spread of his gospel; but if our hosts were
so diminished that we could be numbered by a little child upon his
fingers, still there would be no excuse for dismay, for the God of
Abraham still liveth, even he who created a people to his praise by one
man, of whom he says, I called him alone, and blessed him, and
increased him.'

Think, my brethren, of the power for good or evil which may be
enshrined in a single human life. What mischievous results may come of
one man! One sinner destroyeth much good, and if there were but one
person left who had knowledge of the ways of vice and the words of
blasphemy that one man would suffice to infect the race with his
abominations. If evil be so mighty, is not good with God in it quite as
powerful? We may rightly measure quantities in reference to many
things, but with others it is absurd. It would be ridiculous to measure
the power of fire by the quantity which burns on pour hearth. Give us
fit materials and a single match, and you shall see what fire can do.
If ordinary fire, that may so readily be extinguished, is thus
powerful, who shall venture to measure the power of the fire from
heaven, which neither men nor devils can quench, the fire which fell at
Pentecost, and burns among us still. Ye carry fire, ye servants of God;
ye work with a heaven-sent force of boundless energy. Why, therefore,
should you despair? If all the lights in the world were put out except
a solitary lamp, there is enough fire in one wick to kindle all the
lamps in the universe. What inch of ground remains for despair to stand
upon?

Furthermore, we are bound to notice that this one man was a lone man.
He had not only to do the work of God, but he had nobody to help him. I
called him alone.' True, he was attended by Lot'a poor miserable lot he
was, costing his noble uncle more trouble than he ever brought him
profit. How little did he maintain or adorn the righteousness which,
nevertheless, had saved him; true type of many a feeble professor in
these days. Abraham was not backed by any society when he crossed the
Euphrates and afterwards traversed the desert to sojourn in Canaan as a
pilgrim and a stranger. If ever man was fairly cut adrift and cast upon
the Lord it was the great father of the faithful. He certainly found no
patronage in his onward course save the all-sufficient patronage of the
Lord his God. When he came near to kings it was a source of trouble to
him; it led to contention, and once to war; or else he felt bound to
refuse their offers of gifts, and say as he did to the king of Sodom, I
will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and I will not take
anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram
rich. That same boastful sentence might be uttered by the State
concerning some churches that I know of, but not concerning us: may God
preserve us, my brethren, from every desire to come under obligations
to earthly sovereignties, lest, becoming indebted to them, we should be
bound to render suit and service at their bidding, such service being
already due to another king, one Jesus.'

Abraham had no prestige of parentage, rank, or title. If you had looked
at the stately patriarch when he trod the plains of Mamre you would
have seen about him a presence, a calm dignity, a truly regal manner;
but that came to him solely through his faith in God and his communion
with heaven. Abraham was distinguished from other men only by the grace
of God. What grander difference can there be than that which is
established by the existence of faith in the heart? Thus Abraham was in
the fullest sense a lone man, unsupported by any of those outward
distinctions which enable some men to do more than others.

The fulfilment of his calling rested on his loneliness; for he must get
away from his kindred, and wander up and down with his flocks, even as
the church of God now does, dwelling in a strange land, and feeding her
flock apart. When he was alone God blessed Abraham,''I called him
alone, and blessed him, and increased him.' The blessing did not come
to him in Charran while he still had some connection with the old
stock; he was not yet become thoroughly nonconformist, but held in some
small degree to the old house at home, and till the last link was
snapped the blessing could not come. And now, my brother, if in the
town or district where you live you seem to lose all your helpers; if
they die one by one, and it seems as if nobody would be left to you; if
even the prayer-meeting fails for want of earnest, pleading men, still
persevere, for it is the lone man that God will bless. He setteth the
solitary in families.' In your present forlorn condition you are
learning sympathy with that lone man in Gethsemane, with that lone man
upon the cross, who there vanquished all your foes. Remember that your
enemies are thus beaten before you encounter them, and therefore you
may readily overcome through the blood of the Lamb. Oh, be not afraid.
Thus saith the Lord''I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased
him.' Grasp that, ye that dwell remote from human sympathy. Oh that our
missionaries abroad may feel the rich comfort of this fact; for they
full often, like lone sentinels, keep watch with eyes that long to see
a friend. They are separated from intercourse with brethren, they miss
the friendships which tend to comfort and confirm, but it is God that
calls them alone, and he will bless them and increase them. The purer
churches of to-day, standing alone as they do, because they dare not
make unholy alliances with any,'standing alone, I say, in simple trust
in the living Lord'ought not to be afraid with any amazement, but
attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.

Once more, I cannot help asking your attention to the fact that Abraham
was not only a man called from heathendom, one man, and a lone man; but
he was a man who had to be stripped yet further. The blessing
was''Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply
thee,' but the manifest fulfilment of it was not by-and-by. As we have
already seen, he must come away from his kindred and his father's
house, and he must dwell in Palestine till the promised seed was born.
But how long he waited for the expected heir! Twenty, yes, almost
thirty years rolled away, and the man Abraham was ninety years old and
nine. He is very old; and yet he is to be blessed with a son. He must
number the full tale of a hundred years before Isaac can be born. This
promised child was to be according to promise, and therefore it could
not be born till nature was recognised as spent. As for Sarah'it was
not possible that she should become a mother at her advanced age, and
yet it must be so, for God had said it.

The believing pair had waited on till in an evil hour Sarah suggested a
desperate attempt to fulfil the promise, in which she still firmly
believed. That artifice broke down; it was a part of the divine plan
that it should do so. The covenant promise was not to the seed after
the flesh. When that scheme had been set aside, the Lord in his own
time fulfilled his word.

Joy! joy! in the house of Abraham and Sarah. What a feast there was
that Isaac was born, filling the house with laughter. But he must die!
Get thee up,' said God, and take thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom
thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.' The grand old man will do it. He
will get up early in the morning, and the father and the son will
journey together silently; for the aged heart is too full to talk. He
believes God, and is sure that even if he should actually slay his son
at God's command the promise would somehow be kept. Abraham could not
tell how, but it was no business of his to tell how; he was fully
persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform. God had
said to him In Isaac shall thy seed be called,' and he believed that
God could raise Isaac from the dead, or in some other way achieve the
promise. Thus he grasped the resurrection. He laid hold on a truth
which was deeper than he knew of: by his faith he realised resurrection
for Isaac though as yet the Lord Jesus had not shown the way by his own
rising from the dead. What a stripping Abraham had endured! Who can
describe what would have been the wretchedness of that aged parent if
it had not been for his faith! Men intensely love the children of their
old age. See how a grandchild is fondled by his grandsire, and thus
must Isaac have been loved of Abraham and yet he must die by his
father's own hand. Oh, most miserable among the miserable must he have
been who stood there on Mount Moriah, called to such a duty, his heart
breaking while his soul obeyed. Such, doubtless, would have been the
case had not faith been his stay. Look, then, to Abraham your father,
and say is he not the greatest of men, the grandest human
representative of the great Father God himself, who in the fullness of
time spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all?
Likest to God among mortal men art thou Abraham, and therefore well
mightest thou be his friend! In thy trial brought to such a stripping
we may yet envy thee as we hear the Lord saying, Now know I that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from
me.' Now, if in all these trials Abraham was yet blessed, and God's
purposes were accomplished in him, can we not believe that the same God
can work by us also, despite our downcastings and humiliations? When we
are utterly broken and crushed may not the Lord's strength be made
perfect in our weakness? Let us not question the promise because of our
personal deadness and inability, but believe God without wavering, for
he hath said, My grace is sufficient for thee.'

Now, brothers and sisters, here is the sum and substance of this first
head of my discourse: in looking to the rock whence we are hewn, we
have to see the Lord working the greatest results from apparently
inadequate causes. This teaches us to cease from calculating means,
possibilities, and probabilities, for we have to deal with God, with
whom all things are possible. Almighty God can assuredly do whatever he
says he will do. Who is to hinder him? Let the voice ring out over all
the earth, and let it be heard in hell itself'who shall stay the arm of
God when he wills to achieve a thing? He fears no opposition, and he
needs no help. Of what did he make the world? With whom took he
counsel? Who instructed him? And, if all the things that are have been
spoken into existence by God alone, by his mere word, can he not yet
build up his church, even if on her earthly side there should seem to
be no material with which to raise her walls? Consider creation and
remark what God hath wrought. See how all the millions of mankind have
sprung from a single pair, because God blessed them in the beginning.
But I must not multiply illustrations from nature or from history, for
they rise spontaneously before your own minds. Refresh your faith by a
reference to our own island history. If you would firmly believe in the
conversion of the heathen remember what your fathers were when bloody
rites were performed in the oak woods or amid the huge monoliths of
Stonehenge. The Druidic system was as cruel and degrading as any that
now curses a savage people; but the heralds of Jesus conquered. Where
are the gods of the Druids now? Who reverences the golden sickle and
the sacred oak? The thing is gone, as though it never had been. Why,
then, should not other evil idolatries pass away? Look again at the
triumph of Protestantism in this country. What was it at first? A thing
utterly despised and hunted down. The stakes of Smithfield cannot be
forgotten by those who dwell so near the spot. Yet, despite all, the
gospel of God triumphed, and rood, and pyx, and image were broken in
contempt. Let the days of the Puritans, the palmy days when God was
known in England, tell how thoroughly Bible truth won the victory. Why
not again? Why not everywhere? If you desire another illustration, look
at our own body of Christians? History has hitherto been written by our
enemies, who never would have kept a single fact about us upon the
record if they could have helped it, and yet it leaks out every now and
then that certain poor people called Anabaptists were brought up for
condemnation. From the days of Henry II. to those of Elizabeth we hear
of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all men for the truth's
sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women, with their
garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the cold,
and anon of others who were burnt at Newington for the crime of
Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known of, these horrible
Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the one
Lord, one faith, and one baptism.' No sooner did the visible church
begin to depart from the gospel than these men arose to keep fast by
the good old way. The priests and monks wished for peace and slumber,
but there was always a Baptist or a Lollard tickling men's ears with
holy Scripture, and calling their attention to the errors of the times.
They were a poor, persecuted tribe. The halter was thought to be too
good for them. At times ill-written history would have us think that
they died out, so well had the wolf done his work on the sheep. Yet
here we are, blessed and multiplied; and Newington sees other scenes
from Sabbath to Sabbath. As I think of your numbers and efforts, I can
only say in wonder'What a growth! As I think of the multitudes of our
brethren in America, I may well say, What hath God wrought? Our history
forbids discouragement. Never cause more hopeless once; none more
hopeful to-day! It matters little what may yet happen, the cause is
safe. What if all our Baptist organisations expire! What if but one man
should be left faithful to the old banner, our Captain would yet
triumph gloriously, for he saveth not by many nor by few. Though all
else faileth, the Lord shall reign for ever and ever. This is the
lesson which, I pray, we may all of us learn, and then, by faith, go
forth to act upon it.

II. With great brevity, I shall dwell for a moment upon the second
point, namely'THE MAIN CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS CHOSEN MAN. The text
says, Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you,' and
it must mean,'consider him and see what he was, that you may learn from
him. You perceive at once that his grand characteristic was his faith.
In this faith many other most brilliant qualities are comprehended, but
his faith lay at the bottom of all. Here is his epitaph:''Abraham
believed God.' That was a mainspring of all his acts, the glory of his
life, Abraham believed God.' The men that God will work by, whatever
else they have not, must have faith in God. Though it is to be desired
that the believer should have every mental and moral qualification, yet
it is astounding how, if there be real faith, a multitude of
imperfections are swallowed up, and the man is still a power. I would
mention Samson as an extreme case. He was the feeblest of men, and the
least fitted to be a judge in Israel; but oh, what faith! And what
wonders it achieved! A thousand men! He is like a child in his belief
that God is with him. He never calculates at all; it is all the same to
him whether there are a thousand or one. He flings himself upon the
host, and has slain them before we can realise the deadly odds. A
sword; no, he has no sword: an old jawbone of an ass is quite enough
for an arm which God strengthens. See how he smites them, hip and
thigh, till they lie in heaps before him. I do not suppose that it
would have signified to Samson if there had been a million Philistines:
with a thousand to one, a man is so thoroughly outnumbered that numbers
cease to count. Here was an impossibility before him, and what could be
worse. Brethren, when you do get off your feet, and must swim, you may
as well have fifty fathoms of water beneath you as not, for you can but
drown. In the case of faith, drowning is out of the question, and
swimming is good in deep water, for there is no fear of striking
against a rock. Faith glories in difficulties and infirmities, because
the power of God doth rest upon her. If the work is barely possible to
her strength faith hardly likes it; but she gets into her sphere when
in trials far beyond human strength she laughs at impossibility, and
cries, It shall be done.'

Abraham's faith was such that it led him to obedience. He was called to
go out, and he went, not knowing whither he went. His faith through
grace led him to perseverance; for once in God's way he did not leave
it, but still abode a sojourner with God. His faith led him to
expectancy; he looked for the promised seed, and not only for an Isaac
but for the Messiah. So clear was the vision of his expectancy that
before his eyes Christ was set forth, visibly. Did not the Saviour, who
knew all things, say, Abraham saw my day; he saw it, and was glad'?

The like faith also dwelt in the breast of Sarah; and, as we are told
in the text to look to Sarah as well as Abraham, let us not fail to do
so. The faith of Sarah was not little when she left home with her
husband; forsaking her kith and kin from love to God, and to him whom
she called lord.' She acted as if she had said to the great patriarch,
Where thou goest I will go; where thou dwellest I will dwell, for thy
God is my God.' Nor did the trial of her faith end with the moving, she
had to take up with tent-life and all its inconveniences. It is the
woman that knows the discomfort of domestic life under such
circumstances. We never hear that she complained for a moment, though
the cold of winter and the heat of summer are neither of them warded
off by a tent. How readily she entertained her husband's guests. Though
they might drop in at most unseasonable hours, or call her to bake
bread in the heat of the day, she was glad to welcome strangers, for
like her husband she was given to hospitality. I saw you smile, dear
friends, when I mentioned domestic matters; but to me it is the
solemnity of faith that men and women can not only pray and sing, but
can put up with household discomforts out of obedience to God. Certain
people look upon faith as a fine, airy, sentimental thing with which to
roam among the stars, anticipate millenniums, and enjoy yourself in
lofty contemplation. I believe far more in a faith which, whether it
eats or drinks, does all to the glory of God; faith which like Sarah
dwells in the tent and works there; faith which is cheerful over a
scanty meal and drives away the fear of want; faith which can come down
in life from the mansion to the cottage, if providence so decrees. From
Abraham's comfortable home at Ur to his gipsy wanderings in Palestine
the change must have been great, but Abraham may not have felt it one
half as much as Sarah, for men can rough it and live out of doors, but
the housewife knows all about it, and great was her Faith that she
never raised a question about the propriety of her husband's course of
life: and though she laughed when she was told that she should bear a
son, yet remember that in the eleventh of Hebrews it is
written''Through faith also Sarah herself received strength.' She was
the mother of Isaac, not in the power of the flesh, but through the
energy of faith, therefore look at her as the text bids you.

Christian men and Christian women, mark well this fact'that the
characteristic of the person whom God will bless is that he believes
and acts upon his belief. Without faith it is impossible to please God;
but the man of faith is God's man. And why is this? I answer, because
faith is the only faculty of our spirit which can grasp God's ideal.
The greatest man, without faith, cannot tread in the divine footsteps.
The ideas of God are as high above us as the heavens are above the
earth: and therefore it is not by any fancied vastness of our feeble
minds that we can ever rise into fellowship with God. Faith in the
sight of God's thought whispers to herself''I cannot understand this
great thing, nor need I wish to do so. What is my understanding?
Perhaps I trust to it too much already. I am called to do what God bids
me, without knowing why, and I am glad it is so, for now I can worship
him by bowing before his sovereign will.' There is a capacity about
faith for grasping divine promises and purposes, a width, a breadth, a
height, a depth, which can hold the infinite truth as no other power
can do. Love alone can rival it, for it embraces the infinite God
himself. With the far-reaching plans and promises of God faith alone is
fit to deal; carnal reason is altogether out of the lists.

Faith, too, has a great power of reception, and therein lies much of
her adaptation to the divine purpose. Self-confidence, courage,
resolution, cool reasoning, whatever else they are good at, are bad at
humbly receiving. Those vessels which are full already are of no use as
receivers; but faith presents her emptiness to God, and opens her mouth
that God may fill it. Mercy needs not a jewel, but a casket into which
to put her gems, and faith is exactly what she wants.

Then, again, faith always uses the strength that God gives her. Pride
would vapour with it, and doubt would evaporate it; but faith is
practical, and economically uses the talent entrusted to her. Faith has
already spent all her own strength, and she so yearns to achieve her
purposes that she uses all the power that God will lend her. Faith eats
her manna and leaves not a morsel for worms to breed in.

Faith, too, can wait the Lord's time and place. When faith is weak men
are in a dreadful hurry, but strong faith does not judge the Lord to be
slack concerning his promise. As God achieves his purpose with infinite
leisure, he loves a faith that is patient and looks not for its reward
this day or the next. He that believeth shall not make haste': that is
to say, he shall not be ashamed or confounded by present trials so as
to rush upon unbelieving actions. Faith leaves times and seasons with
God to whom they belong.

God loveth faith and blesseth it too, because it giveth him all the
glory. The true believer will not allow a trace of self-glory to linger
on his hands. Where is boasting then?' was a question once asked in the
house of faith, and the searchers examined every nook and corner in
every chamber to find it, but they found it not. Then they said to
faith, Where is boasting?' She answered, I shut him out.' It is
excluded,' shut out, and the door fastened in its face. You do not
believe God if you boast of what you are doing: least of all do you
believe if you pride yourself in your faith, for faith is not
mistrustful of her God but of herself. Faith looks to God to keep her
alive as well as to fulfil the promise that he has made to her. This
then is the kind of faith which was characteristic of Abraham, and the
question is, have we got it? Have we so much of it that God can largely
bless us? The comfort is that, if we have it not, the author of faith
can give it to us, and if we have it in scant measure he can increase
our faith.

Is not this a solid reason why you and I should take heart? You who do
not believe that missions will succeed; you who readily become
discouraged and discourage others; I beg you go home and seek more
faith. We cannot go down to the battle with such soldiers as you; you
do but encumber the host. The men that lapped are the only ones that
Gideon will take to war. Send the fearful ones to the rear and let them
take care of the baggage, so that when the battle is won they may have
a share of the spoil, according to David's law. For actual service and
warfare we must have men of faith. Cromwell found that when his men
came dressed in all sorts of suits and colours they were apt to injure
one another in the melee, and so he put them all in uniform. The
uniform of the Prince Immanuel is faith: no man may call himself a
soldier of the cross who hath it not. This is the victory which
overcometh the world, even your faith. Brother ministers, let us take
heed lest we be found qualified for our ministry in all respects except
this one. You have learning, eloquence, industry, honesty, but do you
so believe in God as to expect his word to act divinely on men's
hearts. Do you preach believingly? Do you pray believingly? I leave the
question with you.

III. I have shown you, dear friends, that God effected his purpose, and
raised up a chosen nation out of one man, whose chief characteristic
was his faith: and now I want you to notice OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THAT
ONE MAN. I dwelt upon that while reading the chapter (Romans 4.) There
is a relation between us and Abraham even as Paul assures us in the
epistle to the Galatians, Know ye therefore that they which are of
faith, the same are the children of Abraham.' Something, surely, is
expected of the children of such a man as Abraham. O, for shame, thou
unbelieving one! Is Abraham thy father? Art thou one of the faithful
seed? Great mountains are often succeeded by low valleys. Perhaps that
is the case with you; but it should not be so. The natural seed were
cut off because they had no faith, let not those who are grafted in,
think to do without it. It is by faith that you are a son at all. You
disprove your pedigree if you tolerate unbelief. Oh! let nobody find
fault with Abraham through you, and surely they may do so if they find
you staggering. That staggering is a shocking business: staggering at
God's promises is terrible. Abraham staggered not at the promise
through unbelief. May we never dishonour the right noble grace of
faith, but so believe that all men may know Abraham's God to be our
God. O for abounding spiritual life, for the God of Abraham is not the
God of the dead but of the living; and we can only live unto God by
faith.

Brethren, because we are the seed of Abraham, the apostle declares that
the blessing of Abraham has come upon us also. I pray that all the
friends and labourers in our Missionary Society may grasp the blessing
of Abraham. What is it? It is a covenant favour that belongs to all who
are the servants of God by faith. Here is the substance of it: Surely
blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee.'
That is the grand old covenant promise and it belongs to the church.
Note that the blessing is attended with multiplying. Some friends are
afraid of statistics which represent the increase of the churches; I am
far more afraid of those statistics which will show that we do not
increase as we could wish. The blessing of the church is the increase
of the church. The two go together: Blessing, I will bless thee, and in
multiplying, I will multiply thee.' How much are Christians to be
multiplied in the world? At the present moment we do not seem to be
increasing as fast as the population. I am afraid that the number of
converted persons relatively to the population is scarcely as great as
it was thirty years ago; we long to be multiplied at a very different
rate from this'and we shall be if we have faith in our God. Hear ye the
covenant word: Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' These are
lines from the covenant, which is sure to all the seed and can never be
broken. We have been called and blessed, and it is of necessity that we
increase also. We are bound to increase; we are destined to overrun the
nations; the Hittites, the Hivites, the Amorites, of Popery,
Mahometanism, and Idolatry are in the land, but their false systems are
utterly to perish. Jesus at the head of his people shall drive them
out'I mean not the men, but their evil beliefs. They may take notice to
quit, for he is coming before whom all men must bow. O that ere he
himself shall appear his spiritual presence in the midst of his church
might suffice for victory, that all mankind might call him blessed. We
are bound to increase, till the wilderness and the solitary place shall
be glad for us, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
Upon the church in her vigour shall yet descend the blessings of the
tribes of Joseph. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and
his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the
people together to the ends of the earth.' The success of truth is the
battle of the Lord, and the increase of his church is according to his
own promise, therefore in quietness we may possess our souls.

IV. Last of all consider for a minute OUR POSITION BEFORE ABRAHAM'S
GOD. Do not let anything that I have said about Abraham for a moment
take your mind off from the Lord himself, because the pith of it all
lies here,'I called him alone.' Look to Abraham, but only as to the
rock from which the Lord quarried his people:' your main thought must
be Jehovah himself. I, I called him alone, and blessed him.' I the Lord
do all these things.' Look unto the everlasting God who doeth great
wonders, and stay yourselves upon him.

Let us joyfully recollect that the Lord our God has not changed, nay,
not in one jot or tittle. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever.' There is so far a change in the revelation of him, that it is
brighter now in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than
it could have been through seer and vision; but that should be a motive
for increased faith. His arm is not shortened that he cannot save,
neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear.' This God of Abraham is
still almighty, and still in the midst of the covenanted ones. If the
ages that have passed over his awful brow could wrinkle it and his
strength could decay, then might we also decline in our confidence; but
it is not so. He fainteth not, neither is weary. Our behaviour towards
him, therefore, should resemble that of Abraham; and especially,
representing, as we do many of us, the churches of Jesus Christ as
ministers or deacons, we must never dishonour the Lord by unbelief.
Doubt everything but God. Let God be true and every man a liar. This
the everlasting decree which none can change,'Christ must reign; he
shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied; the kings
of the earth must bow before him. Do not doubt it, for God hath sworn
by his own life that all flesh shall see his glory. Here is the grand
argument for strong faith.

Notice next that the covenant of God has not changed. God hath not
recalled his words, nor taken a pen and struck out his promises from
the record. Read the covenant words, and write them upon the doorposts
of your mission-house, In blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as
the sand which is upon the sea shore; and in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed.' This is the covenant with the one
spiritual seed of Abraham, that is the marrow of it, and it has never
been revoked. As I have said before, we read it now in clearer light,
and understand better the fullness of its provisions, but the covenant
is not disannulled. Let us go to God with any one promise of it, and we
can say to him, This is thy promise in Christ Jesus; and thou hast not
spoken in secret in a dark place and withdrawn thy word and said to the
seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain.' Such pleading will prevail. He
will never run back from his word. Has he said, and will he not do it?
Therefore let us cry, Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which
thou hast caused me to hope.'

But there is this also to be added, that this work which we desire the
Lord to do is in some respects even less than that which he has done
with Abraham. What ask we? Not that he should begin with one man to
build up a nation, or create a church? No, but that Zion being builded,
he should comfort her, and cause her waste places to rejoice. The field
is the world, and the seed is ready for the sowing. The gospel is in
the hands of those who have the best means of spreading it. Everything
is ready for its ultimate triumph. The train is laid; we only need the
heavenly fire to touch it, and the deed is accomplished. O that the
work of the Lord may be speedily done; that the Lord may carry on his
work of righteousness and make a short work in the earth. I say that if
God has done this greater thing, if he has excavated a nation from the
quarry of Abraham, we may well expect the self-same God to keep his
covenant, to multiply his church, and build her up after the similitude
of a palace. The time to favour Zion, even the set time, has come.
Beside that; we have been already visited by God as Abraham had not
been when first he was called. Abraham had not known the Lord till he
called him, but our Sion is familiar with God, for she is the city of
the great king. He dwelleth in our midst by his Holy Spirit, and holy
hymn and prayer rise every day from the multitudes that fear him. The
Lord hath redeemed, and justified, and saved his people, and surely we
may look to him to refresh and revive his heritage.

What marvellous things hath God done on the face of the earth since
Abraham's days!'the stupendous marvel of incarnation, the height and
depth of which none of us can measure; the wondrous work of redemption,
the highest, grandest, divinest achievement of the Deity'all this is
done; what may we not expect after this? You know more of God than
Abraham could know; I beseech you then, trust him, at least up to the
level of the patriarch. How shall we forge an excuse if we do not? What
can excuse us if we distrust so glorious a God.

Brethren, it remains for me only to add this practical word. Let us
throw ourselves more and more upon our God. If you have any work
appointed you of the Lord, and it is within the compass of your
strength, shame upon you if you do not perform it at once; but if it be
beyond you, herein will God be glorified if you do it by his power. If
there remaineth no might, wit, or wisdom in you, if you are deeply
conscious of your weakness you are by this experience made the more fit
to be used of the Lord, for when we are weak then are we strong. If you
have confidence in God all things are possible to him that believeth.
Oh, when will the church cast herself upon her God as men throw
themselves into the stream when they mean to swim? They seek no longer
for foothold, their foot leaves the spot whereon it rested, and they
throw themselves trustfully upon the wave. The everlasting ocean of
love and power is ready to upbear us: we shall swim gallantly to shore
if we will but trust this blessed sea of love.

Let us begin to believe God and then let us act in daily life as if we
believed him. The just shall live by faith. Some people have a faith
which is for show, a Sunday faith, faith that cannot bear the wear and
tear of every day life; varnished and gilded, but with no pure metal in
it. The faith of Abraham could lead strings of camels and flocks of
sheep away from Haran to Canaan. His was the faith which could drive
the tent-pin into a foreign soil, or roll up the canvas and seek
another unknown halting place. The faith of Abraham is a faith that
saith to wayfaring men, Turn in, and I will get you a little water and
wash your feet.' It is a practical, active, living, week-day, everyday
faith. I will speak very broadly and plainly, and say we need a
bread-and-cheese faith, that is to say, a faith which believes that God
who feeds the ravens will send us our daily bread; a faith which
believes that the heavenly Father who clothes the lilies will much more
clothe his children; the faith that can believe God about the things
that are actually around it, and that does not live in the region of
fiction. See how God blessed Abraham with flocks and herds, and
everything temporal as well as spiritual, because he walked in
reference to these things along the line of faith; gave Lot his choice
of pasturage, refused the offer of the king of Sodom, and resolutely
paid the children of Heth the full price for the cave and the field. If
we walk by faith in business life God may not in every case bless us
with abundance of temporal mercies, but assuredly we shall be blessed.
He may send us adversity, and poverty, but in these things faith is
more than conqueror, glorying in tribulations also.

In the Lord's work of evangelising the world you must have a downright,
practical faith; not a faith that will sing when the organ begins to
play, and then be so busy fumbling the hymn paper as to forget the
collection: not the faith of those who boast of Carey, and Marshman,
and Knibb, but whose own names never appear in the subscription list
for a single shilling: not a faith which sings'

Fly abroad thou mighty Gospel.'

but never lends a bit of down to make a feather for its wings.

Let us hear the scripture, as it says, Hearken! If you have faith as a
grain of mustard seed, Hearken!' for you may hear the Sabbath bells
ringing in the everlasting peace, and angel songs welcoming the reign
of grace over all nations. Let the ears of deaf unbelief be unstopped,
for the whole earth echoes with the praises of the Lord. Say not that
the day is distant. Hearken! Let faith be the listener, and she will
hear across the ages which divide us from the gladsome period. Then
shall you listen all day and all night long for many a year, but never
hear the roll of drum or roar of cannon. Hearken! Ye shall hear from
the islands of the sea, and from the once benighted continents, psalms
and hymns, and holy songs, ascending unto the one Jehovah and to his
Christ. Hearken! for ears were never gladdened with sweeter music.

Then look! till you see the temples of false gods crumbling into dust.
See how the shrines are tottering, and the idols breaking as though
smitten with a rod of iron. Mohammed's crescent wanes, never to wax
again; and she, of the Seven Hills, is hated of the kings, and they
burn her with fire. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what
desolations he hath made in the earth! Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. They fall! They fall! They are as the
slain. The day breaketh, and the shadows flee away. O ye watchers that
look for the dawning, fall not asleep through sorrowful weariness. The
morning cometh. It shall not tarry. Do you doubt it? Know ye not that
the Lord reigneth? Is he not the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.'
If you doubt it, dissolve your Missionary Society, and do not pretend
to do a work in which you have no faith; but if you believe in the
triumph of God's work, and that you are called to it, behave worthily
to so divine an enterprise. God do so to you as you deal with him in
this matter. Amen.
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The Priest Ordained by the Oath of God