SERMON. 



'•'■and by it he being dead yet spcakelh." — Heb. xi, 1. 



This is said of righteous Abel. Though cut off by 

 murderous hands, he yet lived and spoke, in the faith, 

 the remembrance of which remained. By faith, while 

 lie lived, he obtained witness that he was righteous, 

 God testifying of his gifts; and by it, being dead, he 

 spoke to survivors, who remembered him ; and through 

 the Scriptures he speaks to us, also, and to all men, 

 wherever the record comes, testifying to the excellence 

 of his faith in the sight of God, its overcoming power as 

 a principle of obedience, and its efficacy to justify and 

 save the soul. 



In the same manner, other good men, by their remem- 

 bered or recorded examples speak, when their lips are 

 silent in death. The long list of worthies whose works 

 of faith are recorded tor our imitation in the Old Testa 

 ment, are spoken of by the apostle Paul as a great cloud 

 of witnesses compassing us about. They speak to us 

 through the Scriptures, testifying to the faithfulness of 

 God, and exhorting us, believing in his word, to lay 



