ith his fellow, the weak enduring the strong, and so on, as enjoined
in the four chapters.

8. How many great and noble men may have been among the six hundred
thousand, men to whom we would have been unworthy to hand a cup of
water! They included the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, one of
whom, Nahshon, Matthew (ch. 1, 4) numbers in the holy lineage of
Christ. There were also the seventy elders who shared in the spirit of
Moses, Eldad and Medad in particular (Num 11, 27), and all the other
great men aside from the faction of Korah. All these, mark you, strove
in the race. They did and suffered much. They witnessed many miracles
of God. They aided in erecting a grand tabernacle and in instituting
divine worship. They were full of good works. Yet they failed, and
died in the wilderness. Who is so daring and haughty he will not be
restrained and humbled by so remarkable an example of divine judgment?
Well may it be said, "Let him that ... standeth take heed lest he
fall."

9. Well, the example of Israel is one readily understood. God grant we
may heed it! Let us examine the apostle's text yet further--his
mention of baptism and spiritual food, using Christian terms and
placing the fathers upon the same plane with us Christians, as if they
also had had Baptism and the Holy Supper.

He would have us know, first, the oft-repeated fact that God from the
beginning led, redeemed and saved his saints by two
instrumentalities--by his own word and external signs. Adam was saved
by the word of promise (Gen 3, 15): The seed of the woman shall bruise
the serpent's head; that is, Christ shall come to conquer sin, death
and Satan for us. To this promise God added the sign of sacrifice,
sacrifice kindled with fire from heaven, as in Abel's case (Gen 4, 4),
and in other cases mentioned in the Scriptures. The word of promise
was Adam's Gospel until the time of Noah and of Abraham. In this
promise all the saints down to Abraham believed, and were redeemed; as
we are redeemed by the word of the Gospel which we believe. The fire
from heaven served them as a sign, as baptism does us, which is added
to the word of God.

10. Such signs were repeated again and again at various times, the
last sign being given by Christ in his own person--the Gospel with
baptism, granted to all nations. For instance, God gave Noah the
promise that he should survive the flood, and granted him a sign in
the ship, or ark, he built. And by faith in the prom