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 of Abraham’s was that of an earlier sling and stone, or of the jaw-bone of an ass, or of a Jonathan and his armour-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. The soul of Abraham _had been in heaven_, and he could not return to the world. That was his blessed experience in the valley of Shaveh. Happy soul indeed! Oh for something more than to trace the image of it in the book! Zaccheus, in his day, was a son of Abraham in this generation, or according to this life and power. Zaccheus so drank in the joy and strength that are to be known in the presence of Christ, that the world became a dead thing to him. He had sat at table with the true Melchizedek, and had eaten of His bread and drunk of His wine. 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 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." And what are all conquests in God’s account but such?-- "’Tis within The fervent spirit labours. There he gains Fresh conquests o’er himself, compared with which The laurels that a Cæsar wears are weeds." Such, then, are the victories of faith. But we have more still; and in the next scene, in chapter xv. we see faith’s _boldness_. And let me ask, for our common comfort, what more precious with God Himself than this? The intelligence of faith is bright, and its victories glorious; but in the accounting of the God of all grace, its boldness surpasses all.