brews, which he had before at large proposed unto them, and insisted on, ch. vi. 11—16, the exposition of which place may be consulted to give light to this context. This is Abraham, on whose example, by reason of the eminency of his person, the relation of the Hebrews unto him, from whom they derived all their privileges, temporal and spiritual, the efficacy of his faith, with the various successful exercises of it, he declares and urgeth at large from hence unto the end of the eighteenth

verse.

VER. 8.Πιστει καλούμενος Αβρααμ ὑπήκουσεν εξελθειν εις τον τόπ πον όν ημελλε λαμβανειν εις κληρονομίαν. Και εξήλθε, μη επισταμενος που έρχεται.

Kaλovuevos Aẞoaau, Vulg. Lat. qui vocatur Abraham; Rhem. 'he who is called Abraham;' which can no way be reconciled unto the text. Those who will adhere unto that translation, do suppose that the change of his name is here intimated, when from Abram he was called Abraham. But that is not vocatus, but cognominatus; not кaλovμevoç, but προσαγορευθεις. And if καλουμενος were ever used in such a sense, as it is not, it should have been ὁς εκληθη, and not καλουμενος, without any article. Besides, as the apostle had no reason to speak of Abraham in that manner, 'he who is called Abraham,' as if he were a person but little known to them; so this interpretation takes away the whole foundation of the faith of Abraham, and of all the effects of it, and so of the whole argument of the apostle, which was his divine call, which he refers unto. Wherefore, all other translations avoid this mistake. Syr. s T, when he was called.' Evocatus, 'called forth.'

'Yπnkovσεv εŠελ0εv, obedivit exire, obeyed to go forth.' Syr. Dicto audiens fuit, auscultavit ut exiret, ut abiret, ut emigraret, 'hearkened, obeyed to go forth, to wander away.' Some supply Deo to auscultavit, which may be better supplied to called; called of God.' Our English translation makes a transposition of the words: instead of 'he obeyed to go forth' unto the place, it refers ɛɛɛw, 'to go forth,' unto Kaλovμɛvoç, 'being called to go out' unto a place; and so refers obeyed afterwards, not only to the call of Abraham, but also unto what he did in compliance therewithal. 'YTKOVσEV, auscultavit, dicto audivit, 'a word proper to answer;' kaλovμevoç, 'being called,' he so heard as to yield obedience; so to hearken or hear, is frequently used in the Scrip

ture.

VER. 8. By faith Abraham being called (of God) obeyed to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

In Abraham there was a foundation laid of a new state of the church after the flood, more excellent than that which preceded. He was the first also after the flood, unto whom testimony was given in particular, that he pleased God. He was the progenitor of the Hebrews, from whom they derived all their privileges, in whose person they were initiated into the covenant, with a right unto the promises. He was

also by promise the 'father of all that believe ;' and therefore it was the great concern of those Hebrews then, and is so now of us, to consider aright the example of his faith and obedience.

Designing to give many illustrious instances of the power and efficacy of the faith of Abraham, the apostle begins with that which was the beginning and foundation of them all, namely, the call of God, and his compliance therewith. And the nature, life, and power of faith, is represented in three words in this instance: πιστει, καλούμενος, ὑπη It respects the call of God which it rests upon, and which it is resolved into; and it acts itself in obedience to all the commands of God. This alone is that faith which the apostle celebrates, and whereunto he ascribes the great effect of our pleasing God.

κουσε.

6

Go

In the words of the verse there is proposed unto us, 1. The foundation of the faith and obedience of Abraham, which was his being 'called' of God. 2. What he was called unto, which was a journey or pilgrimage, described, First. By the term from whence he went, out.' And, Secondly. From the term whither he went, unto a place,' &c. 3. The exercise of his faith, and the effects of it, he obeyed." 4. The commendation of his faith, from the difficulty wherewith his obedience was accompanied, with respect unto what he was called unto, 'not knowing,' &c.

First. He was 'called,' kaλovμevoç, that is, of God, by an immediate word of command from him.

1. He did it not without a command. He did not leave all his present satisfactions, he did not put himself on innumerable hazards for the future, merely of his own accord. Had he not had a divine call, there had been no work for faith. Where there is no call from God, there can be no faith or trust in God. Where the call is general, as in our ordinary occasions, so is our faith in God, resigning all circumstances unto his disposal; but this special call of Abraham required a special faith.

2. Concerning this call of Abraham, there are many difficulties arising from the record of it, Gen. xii. 1, 2, with its repetition by Stephen, Acts vii. 2-4. For, Gen. xii. this call is reported as made after the death of Terah, his father, in Haran, ch. xi. 31, 32. By Stephen, it is assigned unto his being in Mesopotamia, before he left the land of the Chaldees. Besides, Haran, or Charan, was in Mesopotamia, where, in the relation of Stephen, he is said to dwell, after he left Mesopotamia. Wherefore some say he was twice called, once in the land of the Chaldees, and again in Haran. Others say his call was but one; but then some say it was at Ur of the Chaldees, before he first went thence with his father; others at Haran, after his father's death.

It will not consist with my design, nor the nature of an exposition, to insist at large on these things. Some few observations will clear the whole difficulty, so far as is necessary unto our purpose. As,

First. Mesopotamia is, in good authors, sometimes taken largely for all that part of Asia which is separated from Syria by the river Euphrates, comprehending both Assyria and Chaldea; and sometimes strictly and properly for the country between the two rivers of Euphrates and Tygris, whence it hath its denomination. Hence, when

Stephen affirms that the God of glory appeared unto Abraham in Mesopotamia, he takes it in the largest sense, comprehending Chaldea, wherein Ur was, as is plain, ver. 2, 4. And Abraham coming thence unto Haran, came into a city of Mesopotamia, properly so called, and that near to Euphrates, which he was to pass over into Syria.

Secondly. By assigning the appearance of God unto Abraham before he left the land of the Chaldees, Stephen directly affirms his call to have been whilst he was there, before he departed with his father and came to Haran. And this is evident from the story in Moses, when it is said that he and his father went forth from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, ch. xi. 31. For they could have no design to leave their native country, with all their possessions and relations, to go into so remote and unknown a country, without some special call and direction from God.

Thirdly. Wherefore those words of Moses,

T, Gen.

xii. 1, are well rendered by our translators, 'Now the Lord had said unto Abram; that is, he had said while he was in Ur of the Chaldees, before he and his father departed thence to go into the land of Canaan, ch. xi. 31. And because this call had no respect unto Terah, but unto Abraham only, Moses first records his journey with his father toward Canaan, and then, on the death of his father, takes up again, and particularly expresseth his call, ch. xii. 1. The pursuit whereof from thence he distinctly declares.

Fourthly. And this is evident from the call itself, 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,' ver. 2; for Abraham had all these in Ur of the Chaldees, and not in Haran.

Wherefore this call of Abraham was but one, and given at once; namely, whilst he was in Ur of the Chaldees, before his going out from thence with his father, and the death of his father thereon, which place Stephen reckons to be Mesopotamia, in the large notation of it. And this one call is particularly recorded, ch. xii. 1-3, after the death of Terah, when he only remained who was alone concerned therein. But the reader may see these things fully discoursed, with a just reconciliation of Moses with Stephen, in our Exercitations, Exer. 19.

Of this call of Abraham there were two parts: 1. A command, Gen. xii. 2, 'Get thee out of thy country,' &c. 2. A promise, ver. 2, 3, 'And I will make of thee,' &c. Of this promise there were two parts: First, a temporal blessing, in the multiplication of his seed, ver. 2. Secondly, a spiritual blessing, in confining the promised blessing, Seed, unto him and his family, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. And it is a thing most absurd, and contrary to the whole design of the Scripture, and the dispensation of the covenant, to confine the faith of Abraham unto the land of Canaan, and the glory of his posterity therein. For the life of the promise made unto him on his call, whereby his faith was animated, was in the blessing of all the families of the earth in him, which was in Christ alone the promised Seed, as all but infidels must confess.

The apostle takes notice only of the first part of the call, namely, the command. And therein two things are considerable. 1st. From what he was to go and depart. 2dly. What he was to go unto.

1.

He was 'to go out,' Kaλovμevoç EASELV. He was called to go out ;' so our translation disposeth the words: or being called, vπNKOVσEV EXO,' he obeyed to go out,' or 'in going out, as they lie in the original. They are both to the same purpose. In the latter way, obeyed' is immediately referred to faith; in the former, 'going out' is so, his faith wrought by obedience in his going out.

It is said he was called to go out.' From whence, and from what, we are referred unto the story, Gen. xii. 1. Get thee (75-75, vade tibi) out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house; that is, leave and forsake all things that are pleasant, useful, desirable unto thee. For these three things, country, kindred, and father's house, comprise them all. And they fall under two considerations: 1. As man is naturally inclined to the love of them, to adhere unto them, to value them, and delight in them. These are the things which, by all sorts of circumstances, do from their nativity insinuate themselves into the minds and affections of men, so as that they cannot be separated from them without the greatest convulsions of nature. And we have the testimony of mankind hereunto, with sundry instances of such as have preferred these things before their own lives. 2. They may be considered as useful and beneficial unto life, and the comforts of it. Whatever is so, is contained in these things. Whereas therefore natural affection and sense of usefulness unto all the advantages and comforts of life, are the two cords that bind us unto any thing whatever, the forsaking of all things that fall under both of them, must needs proceed from some great cause and efficacious impulse.

This therefore commends the faith of Abraham in the first place, and evinceth the powerful efficacy of faith in general; that under its conduct, in obedience to the call of God, he could, and did, relinquish all these things, cast out their insinuations into his affections, and break the cords of delight and interest, which they cast upon him. And we may see herein that,

Obs. I. It becomes the infinite greatness, and all-satisfactory goodness of God, at the very first revelation of himself unto any of his creatures, to require of them a renunciation of all other things, and of their interest in them, in compliance with his commands.-Get thee away' from country, friends, relations, and enjoyments, is a command becoming the greatness of God. I am the Lord thy God,' is his first word unto us; and the next is, 'Thou shalt have no other gods but me,' with me, before me, besides me: nothing to be in my place in comparison of me, in competition with me, forsake all and be mine only. Unless we have a sense of that greatness of God which makes such commands to become him alone, we yield no obedience unto him in a due manner.

Obs. II. The power of sovereign grace, in calling men to God, and the mighty efficacy of faith complying therewith. Whilst Abraham lived with his father on the other side of the river, they served other gods, Josh. xxiv. 2, or were engaged in the superstition and idolatry then prevalent in the world. And the minds of men being once thoroughly infected with these, as having received them by tradition. from their fathers, are very hardly recovered from their snares.

In

this state, he had all worldly accommodations that his own country, kindred, and inheritance, could afford him. Yet such was the powerful efficacy of sovereign grace, in his call by God, that it enabled him by faith to relinquish and renounce them all, and to betake himself at once to a new state and condition, both as unto things temporal and eternal. It is well if all of us who make profession of the same faith, have an experience of the same grace.

Obs. III. It is the call of God alone that makes a distinction amongst mankind, as unto faith and obedience, with all the effects of them.-Abraham thus believed and obeyed God, because he was called. And he was called, not because he was better, or wiser than others, but because it pleased God to call him and not others, 1 Cor. i. 26-31.

Obs. IV. The church of believers consists of those that are called out of the world.-The call of Abraham is a pattern of the call of the church, Ps. xlv. 10; 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.

Obs. V. Self-denial in fact or resolution, is the foundation of all sincere profession.-Abraham began his profession in the practice of this, and proceeded unto the height of it in the greatest instances imaginable. And the instruction that our Saviour gives herein, Matt. x. 37, 38, xvi. 24, 25, amounts but unto this, If you intend to have the faith of Abraham, with the fruits and blessings attending it, you must lay the foundation of it in self-denial, and in the relinquishment of all things, if called thereunto, as he did. Wherefore the faith of Abraham being every-where in the Scripture set up as the measure and standard of the faith of believers in all ages, and the apostle in this place giving us an account of the beginning and progress of it for our example, there is nothing that belongs more directly unto the exposition of the place, than a due observation of its nature, actings, and effects, for our instruction, without which, the mind of the Holy Ghost in the context is not understood, though expositors take very little notice of these things. Now the foundation of the whole is laid herein, that the first act of saving faith consists in the discovery and sight of the infinite greatness, goodness, and other excellencies of the nature of God, so as to judge it our duty upon his call, his command and promise, to deny ourselves, to relinquish all things, and to do so accordingly.

Secondly. We have seen what Abraham was called from; the next thing in the words is, what he was called unto; namely, 'a place which he should after receive for an inheritance.' He was not called merely to forsake the place where he was, and then left to rove and wander up and down uncertainly; but he was called unto, TOV TоTOV, 'a certain place.' For it so falls out many times, that men, wearied by one means or another, (as convictions or afflictions,) of their present spiritual state and condition, so as to have a mind to relinquish it, yet having no discovery of another, of a better state, with rest in Christ by the gospel, they rove up and down in their minds and affections for a season, and then return to the state or place from which they came out, which the patriarchs refused to do, ver. 15, or else perish in their wanderings.

This place whereunto he went, is described by his future relation unto it, and interest in it: he was afterwards to receive it for an in