‘Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying,    God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones    from hence.’–GENESIS l. 25.This is the one act of Joseph’s life which the author of the Epistle tothe Hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith. ‘By faithJoseph, when he died, made…

    ‘And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it    Jehovah Nissi [that is, the Lord is my Banner].’    –EXODUS xvii. 15.We are all familiar with that picturesque incident of the conflictbetween Israel and Amalek, which ended in victory and the erection ofthis memorial trophy. Moses, as you remember, went up on the mountwhilst Joshua and…

    ‘And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh;    (that is, The Lord will provide).’-GENESIS xxii. 14.As these two, Abraham and Isaac, were travelling up the hill, the sonbearing the wood, and the father with the sad burden of the fire andthe knife, the boy said: ‘Where is the lamb?’ and Abraham, thrustingdown his emotion and…

We have seen that the fruit of Abraham’s faith was God’s entrance intoclose covenant relations with him; or, as James puts it, ‘It wasreckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend ofGod.’ This incident shows us the intercourse of the divine and humanfriends in its familiarity, mutual confidence, and power. It is…

    ‘And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and    all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And    Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.    And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el,    unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning,    between Beth-el…

          ‘But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at          length ye have revived your thought for me;          wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked          opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want:          for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,          therein to be content. I know how to be abased,          and I know also how to…

          ‘Be careful for nothing; but in everything by          prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let          your requests be made known unto God.’–PHIL. iv.          6.It is easy for prosperous people, who have nothing to trouble them, togive good advices to suffering hearts; and these are generally as futileas they are easy. But who was he who here said to the…

    ‘Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the    field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the    woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree    of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We    may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of    the…

          Having therefore these promises . . . let us cleanse          ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and          spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of          God.’–2 COR. vii. 1.It is often made a charge against professing Christians that theirreligion has very little to do with common morality. The taunt hassharpened multitudes of gibes and been echoed in all…

    ‘And Moses said unto Hobab … Come thou with us, and    we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good    concerning Israel.’–NUM. x. 29.There is some doubt with regard to the identity of this Hobab. Probablyhe was a man of about the same age as Moses, his brother-in-law, and ason of Jethro, a wily Kenite,…