Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/345

Rh came in with the false view of the Sacraments as signs and seals only. Undoubtedly the pious men under the old dispensation were sanctified; and in these days of ordinary attainment, how must we look back with shame and dejection upon the worthies of the elder Covenant, upon "those three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job," or upon Abraham the "father of the faithful," and the "friend of ." Greatly were they sanctified: the of  dwelt in their hearts, and wrought therein the incorruption amid a corrupted world, the self-denial, the patience, the unhesitating, unwearied faith, for which we yet venerate them. The of, which at last withdrew from every other human heart, hallowed, and, like His emblem the dove, abode in the Ark; He purified the breast of the "preacher of righteousness," and kindled the filial piety of his two sons. Yet was not Noah therefore regenerate. "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." They were the faithful servants, but not as yet the sons, of. had not died: our nature was not yet placed at right hand: the ever-blessed  of  had not yet become man, that we, whom "He is not ashamed to call brethren," might be sons of, as being in and of Him. One must speak tremblingly of such a mystery: but one dare not lower the greatness of our new creation, nor conceal the immensity of our Birthright, although our feeble brain may turn dizzy, and our faint hearts sink at the exceeding weight of such glory. We dare not shrink from avowing it, although we too may have turned "our glory into shame." and if children, then heirs, heirs of and  when He shall appear, we shall be  We speak not of the heavenly blessedness of the holy Patriarchs, nor how they are to become, or have become parts of the mystical Body of our and their, or how they shall be endued with that perfectness, which , for