ng in the court of the house of the Lord.[318] Isaiah is
said to have been sawn asunder in extreme old age by the order of
Manasseh. Others were burnt[319] by Antiochus Epiphanes. Elijah had no
settled abode, but went from place to place clad in a garment of hair,
the skin of sheep or goat. It ought not to be a matter of surprise that
these men of God had no dwelling-place, but were, like the Apostles
after them, buffeted, persecuted, defamed, and made as the filth of the
world, the offscouring of all things. For the world was not worthy of
them. The world crucified their Lord, and they would be ashamed of
accepting better treatment than He received. By the world is meant the
life of those who know not Christ. The men of faith were driven out of
the cities into the desert, out of homes into prisons. But their faith
was an assurance of things hoped for and, therefore, a solvent of fear.
Their proving of things not seen rendered the prison, as Tertullian
says,[320] a place of retirement, and the desert a welcome escape from
the abominations that met their eyes wherever the world had set up its
vanity fair.

All these sturdy men of faith have had witness borne to them in
Scripture. This honour they won from time to time, as the Spirit of
Christ, which was in the prophets, saw fit to encourage the people of
God on earth by their example. Are we forbidden to suppose that this
witness to their faith gladdened their own glorified spirits, and calmed
their eager expectation of the day when the promise would be fulfilled?
For, after all, their reward was not the testimony of Scripture, but
their own perfection. Now this perfection is described through out the
Epistle as a priestly consecration. It expresses fitness for entering
into immediate communion with God. This was the final fulfilment of the
promise. This was the blessing which the saints under the old covenant
had not obtained. The way of the holiest had not yet been opened.[321]
Consequently their faith consisted essentially in endurance. "None of
these received the promise," but patiently waited. This is inferred
concerning them from the testimony of Scripture that they believed.
Their faith must have manifested itself in this form,--endurance. To us,
at length, the promise has been fulfilled. God has spoken unto us in
His Son. We have a great High-priest, Who has passed through the
heavens. The Son, as High-priest, has been perfected for evermore; that
is, He is endow