lives dear unto themselves, that they might cry in the ears of the benighted heathen of Western Africa, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,"-had they, I ask, no blessed anticipations, that by thus taking possession of their early and obscure sepulchres in that that dreadful dreadful cemetery of European life, they had not also gained seizin of these lands for Christ, as Abraham claimed Canaan for God's heritage, by laying Sarah's bones, and his own dust in the cave of Mamre ? I doubt not that so it hath been; and that time will shew, that in this respect they neither run in vain, nor laboured in vain, nor died in vain. On their tombs will other men like minded stand; from their resting places will other lips proclaim the glad tidings of a Saviour's love; until the Lord, from amidst these realms of present darkness, adds daily to his Church such as shall be saved. Hasten it, O God, in thy time, and let all who love and believe in Jesus say, Amen.

1 John i. 29.

SERMON XXXVI.

ABRAHAM'S PURCHASE OF A BURYING PLACE FROM THE SONS OF HETH.

GENESIS XXIII. 20.

AND THE FIELD, AND THE CAVE THAT IS THEREIN, WERE

MADE SURE UNTO ABRAHAM FOR A

POSSESSION OF A BURY

ING PLACE BY THE SONS OF HETH.

THE ingenuity of men in the department of analytical science, has enabled them to discover certain general formularies and expressions, which can be so applied, as to solve and explain all the particular cases that come within their limits; and thus many difficulties are avoided, that could not otherwise have been overcome, at least without excessive expense of time and labour. The infinite wisdom of God has done the same for the immeasurably higher concerns of man, in his moral and spiritual state and relations. Instead of giving a particular rule for every imaginable variety of human duty

and human circumstances, which, although the unfathomable depths of the divine mind could easily have furnished, the poor and weak creature could never have remembered, in his time of need and temptation, the Most High has laid down some broad and beaming principle, in the revelation of his grace, applicable to every condition wherein men can be placed, and directing them in every duty they have to perform. Had no other beacon been lighted up for guiding us aright in our course of mutual obligations, than that incontestibly divine direction of the Son of God, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."1 it would have amply sufficed for its purpose; because it would have served at once, to point out the unreasonableness of selfish expectation, and the duty which a sense of our own wishes or necessities required us to pay towards the wishes and necessities of others. Still however, the most precious, the most powerful, and indeed the most simple of all these leading principles, wherewith the word of God hath provided us, are those which most immediately connect us with Himself. Such are the faith

Matt. vii. 12.

that realizes and rests upon his word, the love that works through faith, a sense and experience of redeeming mercy, brought home upon our hearts, which presents the Saviour to them, as the great and only worthy object of all their affections. These sink the world, and all that it can offer beneath our feet, when it attempts to compete with Him for empire over us; and so constrain us by the love of Jesus, that "whatsoever we do, whether in word or deed, we should do all to the glory of God.” 1

Under this high and heavenly principle of faith did Abraham act, and found it applicable to all the positions of his varied and eventful life. We have seen how it sustained and comforted him, under his great bereavement by the death of Sarah. We have considered its power over him, with reference to that event, as a Husband, and a Believer, called to mourn over the removal of one who was most dear, and yet to look through his tears upon the glories of that resurrection of the body, and that life everlasting, wherein the ransomed, sanctified, glorified heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, shall" reckon that the sufferings of this present

1 1 Cor. x. 31.

1

time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in them."1

We are now to behold the same hallowed principle of faith, and its consequent heavenly mindedness, guiding the patriarch in an ordinary civil transaction, in one of those everyday duties, the sum of which composes the business and substance of relative life and its obligations. I allude to the purchase of a sepulchre, wherein the body of Sarah might be laid to await the resurrection of the just, when the flesh that hath rested in hope shall be re-united to the soul, and both shall be for ever with the Lord. Allow me then to exhibit,

I. THE GENERAL DEALING OF ABRAHAM WITH THE HITTITES.

God who often draws to Himself some of his largest revenues of praise and glory from the deepest trials and afflictions of his children, overruled Abraham's cause of sorrow in his heavy loss, not only to the gratification of a most lawful and amiable desire, but also to the honour of his own name, in the patriarch's holy consistency of conduct. And thus, be it remembered, for every believer's consolation, He will

1 Rom. viii. 18.