Lot now becomes the occasion of trial to Abraham (chap. 13), as the famine in the land had lately been. But the lesson gotten through his going down into Egypt has borne its precious fruit, and Abraham's faith triumphs, I may say, to admiration. The very style in which he gives this trial its answer seems to say, that he will return fourfold to the life of faith for that which nature had so lately taken away from it. The herdsmen of these two brothers, the elder and the younger, cannot feed their flocks together. They must separate. This was the occasion of a new trial. But "Let Lot choose," is Abraham's language. In a fine sense, he will act on the divine ways of Genesis, "The elder shall serve the younger." Lot may choose, and leave Abraham what portion he please. The well-watered plains may be Lot's; Abraham can trust the Lord of the earth in losing them. He may have to dig wells instead of finding them; but it is better to dig for them in the strength of God, than to find them in the way of covetous-ness; better to wait for them in Canaan, than to go after them again down to Egypt.

This is beautiful recovery. And in this way will faith, at times, exercise judgment on unbelief, and clear itself. And now the Lord visits him, as He had not, as He could not have, done in Egypt. The God of glory, who had called Abraham into Canaan, could not go with him into Egypt:but to the man who was surrendering the best of the land to a younger brother, in the joy of restored confidence in God, He will delight to show Himself.

Where are we, beloved? I ask:Where is our spirit ? On which road with Abraham are we at this moment traveling ? Are we knowing Egypt in the bitterness of self-reproach, or a regained Canaan in the joy of God's countenance ? Is it a walk with God we are taking every day ? The life of faith knows the difference between the checks of the worldly mind and the enlargements of the believing mind.

But there is more than this. In this variety of action in the life of faith, we notice its intelligence in" the mind of Christ, or the spiritual sense which discerns things that differ, which has capacity to know times and seasons according to God. This fine endowment of the saint we find in Abraham, in the next passage of his history-in the battle of the kings, in chap. 14.

Whilst that was a mere contest between kings, Abraham has nothing to say to it. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds. But as soon as he hears that his kinsman Lot is involved in that struggle, he stirs himself.

Everything is beautiful in its season. There is a time to build, 'and a time to pull down. There was a time for Abraham to be still, and a time for Abraham to be active; and he understood the time. Lot was taken prisoner; and the kinsman's part was now Abraham's duty. The battle-field in the vale of Siddim shall be his now, as the tent had been his till now in the plains of Mamre.

Excellent and beautiful indeed in a saint is this intelligence of the mind of Christ, and beautiful is everything in its season. Out of season the very same action is defiled and disfigured. For the success of an action is not enough to determine its character; it must be seasonable likewise. Elijah, from his elevation, may call down fire from heaven on the captains and their fifties, but it will not do for the companions of the lowly, rejected Jesus to act thus on the Samaritan villages. It is only in its season that anything is really right. How was the garden of Gethsemane (made sacred as it was by the sorrows of the Lord Jesus) disfigured by the blood which Peter's sword drew there! What a stain on that soil, though the power of Christ was present to remove it ! When vengeance is demanded, when the trumpet of the sanctuary sounds an alarm for war, vengeance will be as perfect as grace and suffering. It is for God to determine the dispensational way, and to make known the dispensational truth. That being known, the life of faith is just that which is according to it. " The duties and services of faith flow from truths entrusted. If the truths be neglected, the duties or services cannot be fulfilled." And the good pleasure of God, or His revealed wisdom, varies in changing and advancing ages.

This is much to be observed ; for the distinguishing of things that differ, and the rightly dividing of the word of truth, is expected, among other virtues, in the life of faith. Abraham was endowed with this fine faculty. He knew the voice of the silver trumpet; when to gather to the tabernacle, as it were, and when to go forth to the battle.

Two victories distinguish our patriarch at this time-one over the armies of the kings, and one over the offers of the king of Sodom.

The first of these Abraham gained because he struck the blow exactly in God's time. He went out to the battle neither sooner nor later than God would have had him. He waited, as it were, till " he heard the going in the mulberry trees." Victory was therefore sure; for the battle was the Lord's, not his. His arm was braced by the Lord; and this victory was as that of later ones-of a sling and stone, or the jaw-bone of an ass, or of a Jonathan and his armor-bearer against a Philistine host; for Abraham's was but a band of trained servants against the armies of four confederated kings.

The second, still brighter than the first, was achieved in virtue of fellowship with the very springs of divine strength. The spirit of the patriarch was in victory here, as his arm had been before. He had so drunk in the communication of the King of Salem-had so fed on the bread and wine of that royal, priestly stranger-that the king of Sodom spread out his feast in vain, for the soul of Abraham was in the fellowship of Heaven.

Happy soul, indeed! Oh, for something more than to trace the image of it in the Book! Zacchaeus, in his day, was a son of Abraham according to this life and power. Zacchaeus so drank in the joy and strength of the presence of Christ, that the world became a dead thing to him. He had sat at table with the true Melchizedek. Jesus had spread a feast for His host at Jericho as He had in other days for Abraham in the valley of Shaveh; and, strengthened and refreshed, this son of Abraham, like his father of old, was able to surrender the world. "Behold, Lord, "says he, "the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wronged any man of anything by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. " He could give Abraham's answer to the king of Sodom, for he had Abraham's refreshment from the King of Salem.

Surely, beloved, this is the way of victory in all the saints. The springs of strength and joy are found in Jesus. May you and I be able to look at Him and say, "All my fresh springs are in Thee." "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." J. G. Bellett