thefe words is, Whosoever bath, to him fhall be given, and be fhall have more abundance; but whosoever bath not, from him shall be taken away even that be bath. Matt. xiii. 12. Sometimes my Mafter withheld my daily penny from me, in order to teach my faith to call things that are not as though they were ; as fometimes God fpeaks of things as paft which are yet to come; fo faith calls things her own which fhe is not in poffeffion of; and thus faith becomes the fubftance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not feen. Heb. xi. 1. But my friends may object to this my Will, and fay, a Teftament is of no force while the teftator liveth. Though this in fome cafes is true, yet not in all. We enjoy the legacy of the New Testament; and yet it is witnessed that the teftator ever liveth; and many enjoyed the legacy before Chrift's death, while the fword of justice flept. In the course of my miniftry I have had feveral perfons come to confult me about making their wills; and their anxiety feemed to be most about pitching upon fome ftable arm of flesh for an executor, and an honeft lawyer to make the will. I thought they would have no better fuccefs in their fearch for an honeft lawyer than Solomon had in his fearch after an honest woman. Eccl. viii. 28. I obferved that none of thofe teftators said any thing about Jefus Chrift having to do with the fettlement of their matters; the Wonderful Counsellor was left quite out of the question; they took counsel, but not of him. However, Abraham goes goes another way to work; he pitches on Eleazar, his steward, (who was a faithful, God-fearing man) to be his executor. He first fwears him by God, and then puts his goods into his hands, and tells him how to act; and fends him in faith to fetch a wife for his fon and heir; and fhe is to be one chofen by the Angel of the everlasting Covenant; and if the Angel did not perform what Abraham's faith had engaged him in, the executor was to be cleared from the teftator's oath. Abraham, having thus made his will, and by faith engaged his God and Saviour, (who is heir of all things, rich in bleffings, juft in all his ways, and able to execute whatever faith entrusts him with) dies, and leaves his fon with Chrift in faith. Ifaac reaps the benefit of his father's confidence, First, he gets a valuable wife (Gen. xxiv. 67.), and one who was prevalent with God in prayer: a loving, believing, praying wife, is a help-meet indeed. Gen. XXV. 22. Secondly, fhe is made fruitful, in answer to Ifaac's prayer; Ifaac fows his ground, and reaps that year an hundred fold; and the Lord bleffed bim, and the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great. Gen. xxvi. 13, 14. This is fettling matters agreeable to the command of God-Leave thy fatherless children; I will preferve them alive; and let thy widows truft in me. Jer. xlix. 11. Faith feemed to have the greatest fhare in Amram's will, both in faving the life of Mofes, and in preferving preferving him. Faith faw that he was a proper child, and this weakened the fear of the king's com-. mandment. Faith builds the floating cradle, and for three months hides him; the prayer of faith engages God's protecting care over him, the flags cover him, and no crocodile durft approach him. Poor Mofes was condemned as soon as formed; for the fentence fell on the gender, not on the crime: Ye shall kill the males. Thus was he dead by the law of a tyrant as foon as formed, and was to enter the valley of death's fhadow as soon as brought forth. But, notwithstanding this, faith leaves the little one with God, who withholds the wicked from performing his enterprife. The lawgiver must bring up the child at his own expence; and he that figned the death warrant becomes the grandfather of the adopted child. Mofes muft live at his own father's houfe, under the protection of the princess, while the faith of the parents received a double reward: firft their fon lives; and, fecondly, they are paid from the court for nurfing their own child. Faith at laft appears as an hereditary portion in Mofes he difdains his adoption, eyes the reward promised to faith, chufes the cross of Chrift, and fees him who is invifible-becomes a prophet, a mediator, and at laft is made king in Jeshurun. These are fome of the bleffed effects of making God the guardian of our offspring. Ifaac and Jacob do the fame by their children; firft, they bless them in the name of God; leave them, and what they have, with him in faith-and then implore his grace and providence in their behalf. To make a will, and leave one's offspring in the hands of a rich worldling, without prayer to God or faith in him, is the only way to have our children toffed about by the devil from the cradle. Mark ix. 22. However, none but thofe who believe in Christ have this privilege of leaving their property with God, and who leave what is really their own. An eftate gotten by dishonesty will foon be scattered by God's curfe: but, if gotten honestly in the fear of God, in answer to the prayer of faith, it is fanctified and fweetened to us with a fense of his everlasting love in Chrift Jefus. Thus it is that the bleffing of God, and that only, maketh rich, and be addeth no forrow with it. Prov. x. 22. Oh! it is fweet to look back, and fee every temporal and fpiritual bleffing appear as fo many answers to prayer, and as fo many precious promifes fulfilled to us! Answers to prayer prove us to be fons of God by faith (1 John v. 14, 15.); and spiritual bleffings prove us to be the heirs of promise. Gal. iv. 28. Oh blessed fraternity! Oh bleffed inheritance! I have taken thy precepts to be my heritage for ever, faid the fweet Pfalmift of Ifrael. Pfal. cxix. 111. Reader, whatever will and teftament thou art obliged to make before men, in order to fecure thy property to pofterity, be fure to let thy faith make another before God. This laft will be the best 6 fecurity. |