est GOD, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me."

What a joyful transition was this; and how transporting must have been the feelings both of the father and son at the gracious interposition of heaven! How eagerly does Abraham unbind his dutiful child, and with what rapture do they embrace each other in this more than resurrection from the dead! The patriarch prophesied truly, when he said that God would provide a sacrifice; for just behind him appeared a ram caught in a thicket, which Abraham took, and offered up for a burnt offering instead of his son. This, indeed, was a joyful sacrifice of thanksgiving, at which the devout feelings of the worshippers were exalted to the highest pitch of gratitude.

Is it possible to contemplate this extraordinary narrative without seeing, in all its parts, a striking representation of the redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ? at that period, indeed, all was dark and awfully mysterious even to angels; but he who does nothing in vain, and who gives no command without a gracious promise, ordered this marvellous incident as a type of that sacrifice which in an after age should be offered up for the sins of the world. Abraham was ready to yield up his Isaac, the child of promise, at the Divine command; but "GOD himself so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice to the summit of the mountain, and Jesus bore his cross to the top of Calvary, where he poured out his blood as an atonement for guilt which was not his own. Isaac submitted without murmuring to the will of his father and of heaven, and Jesus came of his own voluntary motion to execute what his Father directed, saying, Lo! I come to do thy will, O my God. Psalm xl, 8; Hebrews x. 9.

Let us, then, view the type and the antitype

E

Isaac and Jesus, with admiration, and gratitude to that God, who hath wrought out salvation for us. This should incite in us an abhorrence of every thing which tends to oppose the Divine will. From the readiness of Abraham to sacrifice his beloved child, we are taught to resign ourselves, and all we have to the disposal and direction of heaven: above all, it calls us to cut off every beloved sin, and darling rust. Whatever is contrary to the law of God musTM. be sacrificed, even though it be as dear as Isaac was to his father, or as tender as the apple of the eye, we would be spiritually" Abraham's children," and "inheritors of the promises of God."

A few years after this event Sarah died, at the ad vanced age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. The loss was affecting, especially to such a tender partner as Abraham: but though he sorrowed, it was not as one without hope.

Religion supported his mind in every trial; and Abraham knew that this was not his resting-place, for he looked for "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD." Thither he trusted his beloved Sarah was gone before him, and he knew that it would not be many years before he should follow her.

With this view he took occasion to provide a burying-place for the dead in the country where he then dwelt; and the manner in which he procured it, is an additional testimony of the disinterestedness of his mind.

Having called the heads of the country together, Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto them, saying, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you, give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord; thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee

his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.” Genesis xxiii. 3, &c.

From hence it appears, that Abraham was highly respected by the chiefs of that country, though he was but a stranger and a sojourner among them.

The power and retinue of the patriarch were calculated to excite jealousy and apprehension; but his integrity and courtesy conciliated their esteem, and produced an interest in his favour. The obliging answer which he received to his request, led the patriarch to solicit the cave of Machpelah, in a field belonging to Ephron, one of the principal men of the country. No sooner did he intimate his desire of that spot, than the owner, with an eager liberality, exclaimed, "Nay, my lord, hear me; the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein I give it thee, in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead." The politeness of Ephron rises far superior to the most delicate urbanity of modern times; nor is the independent spirit of Abraham entitled to less admiration. Though grateful to Ephron for his generous offer, he would not possess a burialplace among strangers without having a fair and lasting claim to it; therefore, after returning his acknowledgments to the owner, he insisted upon paying him for the field. Ephron finding him immovable on this point, said, "the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver: what is that between me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed unto Ephron the silver which he had named in the presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant."

This is the first instance of a purchase being made with money; for it is evident from the passage, that the silver was not common silver, but coin. This shekel (according to Josephus) contained four Athenian drachms, or about half an ounce; so that these four hundred shekels seem to be somewhat more

than fifty pounds of our money, a sum very considerable in that period of the world.

We not only learn from hence the antiquity of money, but also that of making inclosures for the dead. The inhabitants of the country had their burying-places, and Abraham was desirous of having a cemetry for himself and his family. It is a becoming and a laudable practice, well suited to keep up a tender remembrance of our departed friends, a sense of our own mortality, and a lively hope of that solemn time when corruption shall put on incorruption, and when the grave shall yield up, at the command of Omnipotence, its sleeping inhabitants.

The pious Abraham, with a tender care for the welfare of his son, now thought it expedient to procure for him a suitable wife, especially as the death of Sarah began to render a female necessary at the head of his household. Fearful lest Isaac might indiscreetly form a connexion among the families of Canaan, he gave a charge to his steward Eliezer, to go into Mesopotamia, and seek a wife for his son among his own relations. The faithful domestic accomplished this desirable purpose, and returned to his master after a perilous journey, with Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. Having thus succeeded in uniting Isaac to his wish, Abraham himself took a wife, named Keturah, by whom he obtained six children, who were the heads of populous tribes.

Finding that the infirmities of age were gaining fast upon him, and that his dissolution could not be far off, he settled his worldly affairs, giving a portion to each of his other sons, and leaving the principal estate to Isaac, as heir of the promise. Having thus provided, as every man should do, for the future peace of his family, Abraham, no doubt, prepared for his great change in a manner becoming his pious character. That solemn event at last arrived; and he gave up the ghost, an old man, and full of years, at the age of one hundred threescore

and fifteen. The remains of the venerable patriarch were, with the greatest solemnity, deposited by the side of his beloved Sarah, in the field of Machpelah, by his sons Isaac and Ishmael.

The picture is touching and instructive. Death, the great dissolver of all human relations, ought at least to be the means of reconciling those who remain behind. Why should brothers be disunited, when the time is hastening in which one will be consigned to the silent grave; and the surviving party will feel, if not lost to humanity, a sense of regret that any unbrotherly affection arose in his breast? Isaac and Ishmael, though once discordant, united in sympathetic sorrow over the grave of Abraham. Let the lesson they afford be improved by all who bear the fraternal character, and induce them to go and do likewise.

The character of Abraham is best seen by the actions recorded of him. An unshaken confidence in GOD, who called him out of his native land, distinguished him through his pilgrimage. "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD."

To that heavenly Canaan, or land of immortal rest, he attained, after a long and honourable course here below. To be placed in his bosom, is an expression made use of in the New Testament by the Redeemer himself; and it implies the consummation of felicity after a life of trial and of faith.

2

May we so pass through things temporal, as to obtain that glorious portion; and having finished the work given us to do, be admitted "to sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of God!"