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We shall be one step nearer to the comprehension of the matter, if we read all the two verses of David, of which the Apostle has quoted but a part:

"Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven,

And whose sin is covered;

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin,

And in whose spirit there is no guile."

If there be "guile " in the spirit of the man, if he be conscious of insincerity in his dealings with God, he lacks one quality in the character of him whom David declareth "blessed" because " forgiven."

And this is the test of sincerity :-He who has Abraham's faith will walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham ;-or, as our blessed Saviour puts the same thing, if Abraham be our father, we

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shall do the works of Abraham."

39).

(St. John viii,

SERMON XI.

ROM. iv, 13.-" The promise, that he should be THE HEIR OF THE WORLD."

THE apostle, having shown out of the book of Genesis and out of the Psalms that Abraham was not righteous before God by virtue of his circumcision, or by any work of obedience to any law, but that his faith was such that it was, of God's grace, reckoned unto him for righteousness, proceeds in the 9th and following verses of this chapter, to deduce from this case of Abraham another consequence, equally opposed to the Jewish belief of that age; viz., that the heathens were included among the countless children promised to Abraham. He shows first, that circumcision, and 2ndly, that submission to the law, were both unnecessary before admission to the blessings promised through the Seed of Abraham.

He who was peculiarly the apostle of the Gentiles has advocated their equal right of admission into the

fold of Christ so often, and with such variety of reasoning, that the subject cannot but be familiar to us. Its interest, therefore, will be the less on that account, as well as because (it may seem to some) it is altogether a matter of the remote past,-belonging to the region of theological antiquities,—but having no concern among the words and works of living men. It cannot be necessary now (some may say) to demonstrate to us, uncircumcised Gentiles, who are in the kingdom of Christ, that we are there according to God's eternal purpose. It is a fact undisputed let us take it for granted, and pass on to something of actual, living interest.

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It is not, however, a matter altogether belonging to the remote past. The promise, "to Abraham or to his seed," "that he should be the heir of the world," is not yet fulfilled. There are two thirds of Abraham's inheritance upon which he, or his Seed (which is Christ) hath not yet entered. The present occupant, -that usurper who once boasted to the Rightful Heir," All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, they are delivered unto me;" (St. Luke iv, 5, 6), holds his sceptre still over two-thirds of human kind; and the Seed of Abraham, Heir-designate of the world,-doth not yet avail Himself of the Father's Promise,—

"Desire of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen

for Thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession." (Psalm ii, 8.)

As long as the kingdom of God's Anointed is matter to us of present, living interest, so long will passages such as this retain their hold on the minds of the faithful. Moreover, it falls in our way in the course of the epistle which we are studying, and we cannot pass over a line, however little be the interest which it is possible to add to its exposition.

Blessed is the man, saith David, "whose sins are forgiven;" a phrase expressed by St. Paul thus, in verse 6: Blessed is the man "unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works." He whose sins are forgiven (absolutely blotted out) is reckoned before God as though he had never sinned; that is, he is reckoned righteous. This was Abraham's case. God graciously accepted his faith; and thereupon forgave all his sins, or (what is the same thing) reckoned him righteous, or justified him.

Blessed is such a man, saith David. But this blessedness (verses 9 and 10) was Abraham's, when he was still in uncircumcision. And the apostle teaches us (verses 11 and 12) that this was so ordered in the Divine counsels, in order that Abraham might be "the father" of all the faithful, whether circum⚫cised or uncircumcised, whether his children according to the flesh, or not. As for his circumcision, it was

subsequent to his justification. He received it as "a sign" for the future, "a seal" of the past: a sign or "token of the covenant" betwixt God and Abraham; and "a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised." Here "the faith which he had" before his circumcision is spoken of, and not any one particular manifestation of that faith. Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised. Of the faith in God which he had, and of the manner in which he manifested it, being yet uncircumcised, during the first ninety-nine years of his life, we have not a very minute account in the Scriptures. During his father's life time, until he was seventy-five years old, his faith in God seems to have been shown in keeping himself pure from the idolatry which had corrupted even his father's house. (Joshua xxiv, 2.) St. Stephen informs us (Acts vii), that he was favoured with a Divine Revelation "when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran," during his father's life-time, in consequence of which the whole family emigrated westward. Complete obedience to the Divine command, however, was not paid until Abraham, by Terah's death, had the power, and therefore incurred the responsibility, of obedience. Then the Scripture begins to take notice of his faith.

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