THE RIGHT FAITH

A SERMON

Preached on Sunday Morning August 13th, 1865

Volume 7 Number 349

Preached on Sunday Morning August 13th, 1865

By Mister JAMES WELLS

At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road

Volume 7 Number 349

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believes on me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46

UNHAPPILY this light ever has, and does now, and always will, shine in that darkness that comprehends it not; and hence, unless the Lord is pleased to command this light to shine personally into the hearts of one and another, then the dear Savior's mission would have been in vain. But we desire to bless his holy name that he has undertaken all the departments of the infinitely important matter of the eternal salvation of the soul. Hence, that which stands in the letter shall be carried into effect in the spirit, namely, “Arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” So that we are to be hereby encouraged, that as the dear Savior is the end of the cause of our darkness, sin is our darkness; that is the cause of our darkness in every sense of the word, he has “come,” as the end of sin, “a light into the world, that whosoever believes on me should not abide in darkness.” There are three things I will notice in our text: First, what it is savingly to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; secondly, the world-wide nature of the proclamation, “that whosoever believes on me;” thirdly and lastly, the light into which they shall be brought that thus believe on him.

First, then, what it is savingly to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now to believe on Jesus Christ by the letter of the word leaves such a believer unacquainted with his real condition as a sinner, and leaves him unacquainted with the preciousness of Jesus Christ and the counsels of God. To believe by human persuasion, also, is sure to leave the sinner short of that which is essential to his salvation. All believing, therefore, on Jesus Christ must be tested by the word of God. And I shall give this morning a fourfold view of this believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is both experimental and practical; it will produce those effects which are recorded in the word of God. I will therefore, first notice this believing in its vital character; secondly, in its achievements; thirdly, in its endurance; and fourthly, in the ultimate destiny of such believers. First, I notice this faith, then, in its practical vitality. What will it do? There is one thing, of which one thing I will give several proofs from the word of God, there is one thing it is sure to do, and that is, to identify us with the atonement of Jesus Christ, and bring us near to God; for “we have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holy, of holies.” While, therefore, as sinners we are far off from God, this faith will bring us near to him. And I shall make rather a large use this morning of the 11th of the Hebrews. Now Abel brought a more excellent offering, and “by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaks” or being dead, is spoken of by it. Now, then, this sacrifice which Abel brought, and of which the Lord testified, is, as you all know, a type of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is said that God testified of his gifts; so that we are by such a sentence carried forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, then Jesus Christ gave up himself to an obedient life; he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And during that obedient life the Father appeared to him, and testified of him: first, when he entered upon his public department, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Sometime after this, when in the northern part of Canaan, the Lord again testified, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you him.” And three days before his death there came a voice from heaven again, “This is my beloved Son.” Then, when the Savior came to the sacrificial department, see how God, by throwing a funeral pall over the sun and by shaking the rocks, and opening the graves, and rending the veil of the temple from top to bottom, all these testified of Christ's sacrifice. And then, when Christ was raised from the dead, what a testimony this also was of the acceptance of his sacrifice; for he was brought again from the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant. Then, when he ascended to heaven, and sat at the right hand of God, what a testimony that also was of the excellence and acceptability of his sacrifice! and then, when the Holy Spirit descend on the day of Pentecost, what a testimony that was also of the acceptance of this sacrifice! Now, then, God testified of Abel's gifts; and God testified of Christ's gifts; testified in his life, testified in his death, testified of him afterwards. Let us stop here for one moment; it is your happy lot. Most of you I believe to be as clear upon this almost as you will be when you are in heaven; as the Lord said of Jesus Christ as the wav, the wayfaring man, though a fool, fool in his own eyes, and may be accounted so by others, shall not err therein. First, then, we feel as satisfied as we do of our existence that Jesus Christ was in his obedient life accepted on behalf of unrighteous sinners, in order that by the imputation of that righteous life to them they might be made righteous. I ask, believe you this? If you believed this, and you are willing to receive this, then you are not far from the kingdom of God. In the next place, we feel as satisfied as we do of our existence of the entire approbation by the blessed God of the sacrificial excellence and perfection of the dear Savior; that that sacrifice embodied all our sins, and all the curse of the law, and all the demerits of sin, and all the threatening of the Bible, that would justly cut us off. We feel satisfied that Jesus Christ was not cut off for himself, but for us; that he died not for his own sins for he had none, but for the sins of others. Now Abel, then, stood identified, that is the idea I want to get at, with a sacrifice which God testified his approbation of; so, this sacrifice of Abel's was a type of Jesus Christ, and Abel represents the believer.

Now, then, you are identified with that righteousness God has accepted; you are identified and made one in your belief, your hopes, your affection and your sympathies, with that sacrifice which God has accepted. Now what is this? Why, this is believing on Jesus Christ; for faith does identify the soul with what it believes; that is, when it is divine faith, because divine faith always works by love. Now what do we say this morning to this? Why, some of us can truly, truly say that other hope, other foundation, other righteousness, other sacrifice, other plea, other name, we have none; other refuge have we none. Now, then whosoever thus believes will obtain what Abel obtained. Just notice the words; “He obtained witness that he was righteous.” Now, if he could be righteous by his own doings, he would not have needed this testimony that he was righteous; his own conscience would have afforded him this testimony that he had fulfilled the law, that he was a righteous man. But Abel's conscience bare him testimony of the reverse, that he was a sinner, and he was righteous by the work of the corning Messiah, by the life that should be lived and the sacrifice that should be made by the promised seed. So that he obtained witness that he was righteous. And wherein lay the witness? It lay in the sacrifice being accepted. Have you by faith got hold of the perfection of Jesus Christ, and that as a sinner feeling your need of it? Then I tell you that such a faith is in your favor, an evidence of things not seen; it is the evidence that you are a righteous person. You may not, perhaps, have enjoyed the sweet consequences that will flow; but there it is. So that the evidence of his being righteous was in the sacrifice being accepted. Suppose we use another word, use the word right, for the sake of explanation; “And he obtained witness that he was right,” right in his sacrifice. And so, I think that Jesus Christ has obtained a sufficiency of witness that he was right. God testified he was right. The world testified that he was wrong, and Satan testified that he was wrong, and professors testified that he was wrong; but God testified that he was right. And I suppose you will admit that every man is a liar; let God be true, and every man a liar; therefore, every testimony against Christ must recoil upon the head of the liar; while the testimony from God that Christ was always right, always perfect, and always all that God approved, that testimony shall stand for ever. So, I say, Jesus Christ, then, I think, obtained a sufficiency of witness that he was right. “And to as many as received him,” this Son of God, this blessed Person, received him into their confidence, their affections, and their souls, and received him as having that unrivalled name that outshines, as Watts says, the wonders of the skies; those who thus receive him, “to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name:” and the doctrinal secret of that is that they were born of God, as their laying hold of Christ was an evidence thereof. Now, then, Jesus Christ obtained plenty of witness that he was righteous; and if you receive him, your receiving of him is the evidence that you are righteous; if he were right, and you receive him, you are right as he was right, you are righteous as he was righteous, perfect as he was perfect, victorious as he was victorious, loved as he was loved, chosen never to be refused again, as he was chosen, and chosen for ever, an heir of God, joint-heir with Christ. As he was heir of all things, and never forfeited anything, therefore never lost anything, and it was not the will of the Father he should, if you do receive him you are entitled just the same as he is; because he is entitled by his own worth, and you are entitled to eternal glory not by any worth of yours, but by his worth; joint-heirs with him. Thus, “your people shall be all righteous;” the consequence is, “they shall inherit the land forever.” And it is said of Abel that “by it he being dead yet speaks.” Jesus Christ died, and by his death he yet speaks. Here I feel, as I often do upon these blessed things, utterly at a loss to unfold the grandeur of that clause, that “by it he being dead yet speaks.” Jesus Christ died, and by the sacrifice he offered in his death he yet speaks. Oh, what life he speaks! what light! Oh, what peace, what mercy, what grace, what pardon, what liberty, what heavenliness, what joy, what triumph, what victories, what treasures, what wonders unfathomable, what glories that shall to eternity shine! The dear Savior still speaks to sinners by the groans of Calvary's cross; he still speaks by his streaming blood; he still speaks by the wondrous testimony, “It is finished.” “Whosoever believes shall not abide in darkness.” Now this is true faith. See how near it brings us to God. Linger a moment longer. “By it he being dead yet speaks.” Oh, what a difference between speaking to us from Sinai, where all is wrath, and speaking to us from Calvary, with, “Father, forgive them, tor they know not what they do!” Guilty me, and, if you will not be offended, guilty you, that love his name, were included in that prayer; for none of us while in a state of nature knew what we did when we spoke against God and godliness, and when we expressed an antipathy to anything pertaining to these things; we were included in that prayer at Calvary's cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Believe you this, that God loved you when you hated him; that God thought of you when he was not in all your thoughts; that God pursued you when you were running away from him all you could; and that God was caring for you when you cared nothing for him; and that God was seeking your good while you were seeking your own damnation, until he stopped you, and put the great question to you, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” and your answer would be, “Lord, who is he, that I might believe on him?” and now you know who he is, and now you know that by that death he now speaks. But if you take the marginal reading it is equally delightful; “By it he is yet spoken of.” Both the textual and the marginal reading will stand good, that “by it being dead he is yet spoken of.” So, Jesus Christ; why, I make no hesitation in saying that Jesus Christ will be spoken of to all eternity by the sacrificial excellency of his death. The very song of heaven will be, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood;” there is the endearment, his own sacrificial blood; “and has made us kings and priests to God; and we shall reign with him.” Believing, then, brings us near to God. I suppose I must pass by Enoch, or else that is another illustration of what it is savingly to believe in the Lord. Oh, my hearer, ever be aware of the distinction between the faith of God's elect, that vital faith that thus brings you to God in the way I have poorly and feebly described, and that mere moral faith, mere intellectual faith, duty-faith, or free-will faith, that will leave you to stop short of a right understanding of God's eternal truth; beware, let no man deceive you by any means; for many shall seek to enter in, but shall not be able, because they are not identified with that sacrificial perfection that can bring them out of every prison, and bring them into the palace of the great king of eternity. Noah is another illustration of this believing, “By faith Noah, being warned of God” mind, he was not warned of God by faith, no, the warning came first, “By faith Noah, being warned Of God.” Notice this, it was God that made Noah see and feel that the flood should come. Whether there were any philosophers that reasoned against it, and said, “Noah, you believe that the flood will engulf the whole world?” “Yes, God has said so;” very likely there were such. Perhaps they set their arithmetic to to work; for aught we know learning had arrived at a very high pitch at that time; some men lived nearly a thousand years, you know, and perhaps some more than that; Methuselah was nearly a thousand; it does not follow that some of the rest might not have lived longer than that; and if some of the exceedingly learned and scientific men we now have, in all departments, if they were to retain their physical and mental powers for five hundred or a thousand years longer, what they would do I do not know. But be that as it may, they might have set their wits to work to prove there was not water enough in the sea to drown the earth; yes, people have done that in modern times, and others, mechanically clever, might have contrived some building better suited to withstand the flood, or more adapted as a way of escape; a thousand things. But Noah well knew there was but one way of escape. Now then, this was impressed upon his mind; he was warned of God. When the revelation comes from God you cannot get away from it, you feel so impressed. You may try to drown it, but you cannot do it; you may go to your old haunts, your theatres, or your pleasuretakings, but this dreadful sound will go with you, hell will go with you, eternity will go with you, solemnity of feeling will go with you, and so spoil you that you can stay no longer. Therefore, it is said he “moved,” moved from where he was; “moved with fear,” or, as it means, with great caution, forethought, and prudence. So, the sinner thus convinced, where faith is real, he moves, with fear towards God, in solemn prayer to God; moves in fear towards Jesus Christ, toward the gospel, toward the means of grace, and says, How shall I escape? Now this was saving faith, as we see in the end. And I need not remind you, which I may just do here, that the ark was a beautiful type of Jesus Christ; only do not misunderstand me, I do not mean that the ark was a type of the person of Jesus Christ. I am not going to compare the ark with the person of Jesus Christ, but with the character of Jesus Christ as a Savior. I am thus particular, least while I am trying to honor the Lord, I should so speak as in a way to cast the slightest dishonor upon that dear name, that every one that knows anything of can but love and adore. Now the ark is a strong and a manifold type of the Savior as a Savior considered. First, there was no other ark but that one; so, there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. Secondly, that human wisdom had nothing whatever to do in contriving the plan of that ark; it was entirely of the Lord, all was of himself. Just so the work of Christ; man had no hand in it, God contrived it, Christ worked it out, and of the people in that sense there was none with him, but his own arm brought salvation unto him. Thirdly, that the ark was complete, and the Lord shut Noah in, and all that were with him. So, the work of Christ is complete. Fourthly, all that were saved were in the ark before the flood came; and so, all that shall be saved shall be in the faith of Christ before death shall come. Death is a flood that will very soon overwhelm every one of you before the greater flood of the general judgment of the wrath of Almighty God shall come; yet those that the Lord designs to save shall be in the faith in Christ before the flood comes; and then, while some that are without are saying, “Open unto us,” the answer will be, “Depart from me, I know you not;” the answer will be, “The master has risen and shut to the door,” the door of mercy forever, forever closed. Oh, happy those, then, that are brought to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he is near, and to rejoice in this world wide proclamation, “That whosoever believes on him shall not abide in darkness.” Then, again, the ark carried Noah and everything in it safely through. Is not that a striking feature? There was no what you call an accident happened to it. All great human undertakings are liable of course, as we every day see, to what we call accidents and drawbacks. But with this ark not so, not so. It was immersed, and in an ocean without a shore; yet it survived, not one that was in it died; and a remarkable thing too, just the same number were all alive at the end. And so it is that Jesus Christ, he has a variety in the faith, as seen in Peter's vision, and as all in Peter's vision were taken up again in safety to heaven, so all those who were in the ark got safe through the flood, lived to see the rainbow, the token of peace, and rejoice in the renewed manifestation of a covenant beautifully typical of that covenant that is ordered in all things and sure. Now, then, Noah, thus by siding with God, thus believing in God, escaped the judgment, as you will do; “by the which he condemned the world,” as you will do; that is, testimonially. The whole world by the fall of Adam is under condemnation; you will side with God in that testimony, and thus you will condemn the world, not executively, that is God's work, but testimonially; nor will you condemn the world persecuting, for that is Satan's work; you will not join in that, but will condemn the world testimonially. “And became heir of;” the best thing he could become heir of, “the righteousness which is by faith,” that is, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe this? But I must go no farther, I suppose, with this part.

I will now notice the achievements of faith. “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions.” Say some, the ancients did that; why should not I? They wrought wonderful righteousness; why should not I? They obtained the promises; why should not I? They stopped the mouths of lions; why should not I? Very true; but mind this, if your faith has not divine authority, then your faith is false. You recollect the circumstance John Bunyan gives us; he thought he would put his faith to the test whether it was real; and he thought he would say to a puddle, “Be dry;” but it did not dry, any more than the waves went back at the presence of Canute by the seaside. Now if the Lord had said to John Bunyan, “John, say to that puddle “Be dry;” or say to the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Mediterranean any other ocean or sea, “Be dry;” if the Lord had desired him to say so, and had set in with him in the almightiness of his power, then John could have carried his faith out. Now, then, the ancients subdued kingdoms. Who were they that subdued kingdoms? Take Othniel; he subdued the kingdom of Chusan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; but then God set Othniel about it: he had God's authority, God's presence, and God's power; that is the way he did it. Ehud subdued the kingdom of Moab; but then he had the Lord's authority, presence, and power. Our good mother, namely Deborah, she subdued Jabin, the king of Canaan, with his iron chariots; but then she had divine authority, she had the presence of the Lord, and his power. So, you see, before you set out to do a thing, you must get faith first, the disciples said, “Oh, we can cast out these devils out of this man.” Do you believe you can? You had better get the Lord's authority; if you can get his authority, then you will have faith. But they did not stop for that; they thought they could do it; and a pretty do it was; there they stood, and looked like, you know what, until the Master came. So, Deborah had divine authority, presence, and power. So, with Gideon, he subdued the kingdom of the Midianites; but then he had divine authority, presence, and power. So, with Samson; so, with Jephthah; so, with all the others; they subdued kingdoms, by faith. But then faith is God's gift: if I have faith, I must have it by divine authority; and whatever I have not his authority then it is not faith. These same men “wrought righteousness.” The word “righteousness” there means reformation; that is, they cast out all the false gods, and re-established the true worship of the true God: that is called working righteousness; as Luther and Calvin, John Knox, and others of the Reformers, and as every minister does, indeed, goes on casting out false gods, false gospels, false doctrines, and establishing the dear Savior's name in its proper place, as the great center of all attraction. And they “obtained promises.” Abraham obtained the promise that the Lord would be his shield and exceeding great reward; he believed in God. Now let me stop here a moment, if I can get you to understand it. Abraham obtained the promise that the Lord would be his shield, and exceeding great reward; now how did he obtain that? First, he was a believer in God; and God's plan is this. You believe in me? Yes, Lord. You believe in my servant, my dear Son? Yes, Lord. And you honor me? Yes, Lord. You love me? Yes, Lord, I do, with all my heart and all my soul. Very well, then; if you should come into circumstances to need a little more promise brought into your soul, or another promise brought, whatever you need you shall have. Now, Abraham, you have gained this victory, and delivered your brother Lot; you are afraid of the people round, are you not? Yes, Lord; they are gathered together, and determined they will kill that Abraham. Oh, no, they will not; you need a promise. Yes. Fear not; I will be your shield, and exceeding great reward. Oh, if you are a believer in Jesus, there are many sweet promises in the Bible that have never been made a comfort to you yet, that have never been opened up and revealed to you yet; but it shall be when you come into the need; and when you come there you will find that your extremity will be God's opportunity. Jacob was a believer in God. Now, Jacob, you will fly off by-and-bye to Padan-aram, you will be in a very solitary state; and as you are a believer in me, I will give you some promises. But that was not Jacob's conversion when the Lord appeared to him in the ladder from earth to heaven. Jacob was upwards of seventy years old then; he was seventy-six when he was married. And as he now came into solitude, and needed a promise, the Lord appeared to him, and gave him these promises which were his guide and support, and his life. “They obtained promises.” Moses, are you afraid to go to Egypt? Moses mustered up a great many excuses, and none of them were true, not really so; there was one Moses did not mention. You know we have to sidle about a bit before we tell everything; hardly know whether it would do or not; and Moses did not tell everything at the last. The real secret of his fear was that they were not dead that sought his life. He had killed an Egyptian, and he did not like to bring up that old grievance; if I tell the Lord I am afraid to go because I killed the Egyptian. I do not know what the Lord will say to me. Of course, he knows it, and I do not like to mention it; it will spoil the conversation. And so, he did not bring it up. But the Lord gave him a great many promises that he would be with him. Then he went back to his father-in-law to ask if he might go; as much as to say “I hope he will say no.” but in instead of that he said “Yes” “I wish he had said no, then I should have been able to go to the Lord and tell him that my father-in-law would not let me go. So, the Lord said, “they are dead that sought your life” “Oh, then I am off directly.” Ah, when the real cause of the fear is removed, what, a difference it makes! the heart is happy, the conscience easy, the soul expanded, Christ precious, God glorified; you can then lift up your feet, move on in a decided way, laugh at all the attempts of your foes, and rejoice that the Lord of hosts is with you, and the God of Jacob is your refuge. But “they stopped,” also, “the mouths of lions as Samson did when he killed the lion; and as David did when he slew the lion; and as Daniel did in the lion's den. Ah, say you, we can do none of these now. Well, come, let us see if we cannot apply some of this to ourselves. Are not your sins like a den of lions, and would not everyone of your sins roar against you to eternity like a lion? But by faith in Jesus these lion-like sins lose their lives; you stop their mouths they cannot hurt you. The Lord has sent his angel, the messenger of the covenant; he has stopped their mouths; Jesus has stopped the mouths of these lions; not one can roar against us now; they have lost their force and lost then power; the law is the strength of sin; Christ is the end of the law, that has lost its strength; the believer gains his power, and thus stops the mouths of lions. Circumstances may roar against you sometimes; well, you must look to the Lord, and say, “Lord, arise for my help,” and the Lord will arise, and turn the lion-like trouble into a lamb, stop its mouth. Enemies will be against you, slandering you, reviling you, or threatening you, but faith in Jesus will stop their mouths; that is, the Lord will stop their months in some way or another; I do not know in what way, I cannot say. Why, here are a hundred and fourscore thousand men. Lion like men, all roaring against poor little Jerusalem. Hezekiah did not know what to do; he spread the matter before the Lord, and by faith he stopped the mouths of all these lions; they all became dead; the Lord stopped their mouths by stopping their breath. Stopped the mouths of lions! What will not faith do, when the Lord is with us? and he is with them that believe, all things are possible to him that believes. “And they quenched the violence of fire.” But they knew they could not do it themselves; they knew they could quench the violence of fire if the Lord was pleased to order it. Therefore, when they were cast into the furnace, they did not know how matters would go with them; it was because the Lord was there, there was a divine Person there, and Nebuchadnezzar said, “The fourth is like the Son of God.” No; “The fourth is like the Son of a God.” The is the way it out to be rendered, something superhuman; it was a divine Person, who, in the fulness of time, was, in the first of John, made flesh. Now, then, here is the Lord's presence and the Lord's power; it was that which enabled them to quench the violence of fire. “Waxed valiant in fight,” the few against the many, as David; “escaped the edge of the sword; out of weakness were made strong,” as Samson was. They thought they had got him; his locks began to grow. I think he had a roughish path of it. “Lord,” he said, “let me do something before I die. I should like to be a minister of judgment at the last, and just show what you can do for your servants.” So, Samson was very happy; he died very happy. Why, say you, he killed himself. Well, he had the Lord's authority for it; he did not pull the building down by his physical strength; it was by the strength of the Lord that the pillars gave way, and the three thousand were slain. “Out of weakness;” just now grinding in a prison; poor weak thing; see how weak he was. Let us bring him forth, and make sport of him. How mistaken they were! In that poor, weak, blind prisoner there was the hiding of almighty power. Beware, you enemies, how you trifle with the Christian, play with him, mock and despise him; let him be ever so insignificant, let him be ever so afflicted, let him be in ever such great degradation, that man is precious, a child of the most high God; the great God is on his side, notwithstanding all; and what is done to such a one is done to God. God will requite it, manifest his vengeance to the one and his mercy to the other. See, then, faith, how it brings us near to God; see its achievements.

But, lastly, I see I shall not get through, not half through, the first part of my text, and I need not apologize for this, for that little word, faith, I venture to say I would stand and preach, if I had bodily strength, for ten hours upon that one word; wake me up in the night if you like, any time. It is a word worth empire upon empire; a word of incalculable value. There is not a doctrine, there is not a circumstance, there is not a prayer, there is not a grace of the Spirit, a character the Savior bears, there is not anything that faith has not to do with. Faith is that which ranges over the empire of Immanuel; faith is that which pries into eternity, soars high, ranges wide, is ever courageous and determined, nothing can daunt it; when God gives faith, what can daunt it? No, says one, “though ten thousand set themselves against me, my heart shall not fear;” that is, when he has the full assurance of divine authority, divine power, that he shall not be hurt. But just a word or two now in conclusion, that will make you all ashamed of yourselves. I have been pining over my troubles, and you have been pining over yours; I dare say some of you this morning have been enumerating some of your troubles, and think yourselves very badly off, and very tried. So then let us, in conclusion, just glance for a moment at the endurance of faith in the ancients. They were “tortured.” You have never experienced that: we have never undergone that. “Not accepting deliverance.” There they were, tortured; when idolatrous men ruled and gained the mastery, the poor people of God went to wreck then; tortured with all the infernal machines that men could devise, but they would not accept deliverance. “That they might obtain a better resurrection.” They knew that that better resurrection was by the resurrection of the coming Messiah, and because he lived, they should live also, so they abode firmly by it. “They were stoned; they were sawn in sunder.” Look at the jagged edge of the saw, and think to yourself to be sawn in sunder, either longitudinally or horizontally; see the saw just beginning at your head, to saw you right down, at your side, to cut you in two. Easy for us to talk about it; but that is what the dear people of God underwent in that age. What are all our troubles in comparison of it? We ought to be ashamed, I was going to say, at murmuring for a moment. “Cruel mocking's and scourging's; moreover, of bonds and imprisonment” everything that men could inflect upon them.