Abraham followeth the steps of Abraham, then here you may clearly
perceive who it is that hath saving faith indeed, who they be that are
true saints and the sons of Abraham. By the light of this truth, by
the rule of this doctrine, if you would square your courses, and look
into your conversations, you can not but discern whether you have
faith or no. That man whose faith showeth itself and putteth itself
forth in its several conditions, agreeably to, the faith of Abraham,
that man that followeth the footsteps of the faith of Abraham, let him
be esteemed a faithful man, let him be reckoned for a true believer.

You that are gentlemen and tradesmen, I appeal to your souls whether
the Lord and His cause is not the loser this way? Doth not prayer pay
for it? Doth not the Word pay for it? Are not the ordinances always
losers when anything of your own cometh in competition? Is it not
evident, then, that you are not under the command of the Word? How do
you tremble at the wrath and threatenings of a mortal man? and yet,
when you hear the Lord thunder judgments out of His Word, who is
humbled? When He calls for fasting, and weeping, and mourning, who
regards it? Abraham, my brethren, did not thus: these were none of his
steps; no, no: he went a hundred miles off this course. The Lord no
sooner said to him, "Forsake thy country and thy kindred, and thy
father's house," but he forsook all, neither friend nor father
prevailed to detain him from obedience, but he stooped willingly to
God's command.

There are a sort that come short of being the sons of Abraham, and
they are the close-hearted hypocrites. These are a generation that are
of a more refined kind than the last, but howsoever they carry the
matter very covertly, yea, and are exceeding cunning; yet the truth
will make them known. Many a hypocrite may come thus far, to be