and mode of life spoken of, by the angel of God, previously to the birth of their progenitor.

Meanwhile Abimelech, who had long perceived that Abraham's affairs were attended with a peculiar blessing, proposed an oath to that patriarch, by which he should bind his posterity to live in amify with the royal family of Philistia, and to act with the same candor and fidelity toward them which he (Abimelech) had on all occasions shown to Abraham. The pious son of Terah readily acceded to this proposal; but first desired that a dispute might be decided respecting a well which the Philistines had forcibly taken from him. Abimelech avowed his total ignorance of this outrage, and reminded the patriarch that no complaint had been preferred on the occasion till the present moment. Hereupon the dispute was amicably settled, and, a present of seven ewe lambs being accepted by the king as a testimony of Abraham's right and property, the well was called Beersheba, or "the well of the oath," because of the covenant to which they had there mutually sworn. The pleasantness of the country and the friendship of the prince induced Abraham: to establish his residence among the Philistines. Here, also, he planted a stately grove, and erected an altar unto the Lord.

B. C.

On this spot, Abraham appears to have ex1871. perienced the most lively pleasure, in contemplating the goodness and celebrating the worship of that Adorable Being, who had brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, given him favor among the people with whom he now sojourned, augmented his wealth exceedingly, and rejoiced his aged heart with the birth of a son every way deserving of paternal affection. But his faith and obedience were now to be tried in the most severe

manner; and that very son, who was the staff of his declining years, the promised head of a numerous race, and the fountain of many inestimable blessings, was commanded to be led to a certain mountain, and there offered up, as a burnt sacrifice, by the hand of his own father. "Take now thy son," said God, "thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." A command so strange in itself, so inconsistent with the mercy of a God, and apparently so inimical to the accomplishment of the Divine promises, might have been reasonably expected to stagger the patriarch's faith, or at least to induce him. to expostulate on the severity of the injunction. Abraham, however, made no hesitation to obey; but, leaving, to God the completion of his own predictions, set out, the very next morning, and on the third day came within view of Mount Moriah, the place appointed for the dreadful sacrifice. He now left his servants at some distance, and calmly ascended the eminence, accompanied by his son, who was laden with wood and other materials for a burnt offering, and who, perceiving nothing of a victim, could not forbear questioning his father respecting it. "My father," said the ingenuous youth," behold the fire. and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" If Abraham's situation could possibly be rendered more acutely distressing, it must certainly have been at this moment, when the child of his fondest affections, and the sole comfort of his aged wife, presented to his contemp. lation the instruments of destruction, and propounded so affecting a question respecting the victim. But even this. was unable to shake the patriarch's faith or resolution, who, accordingly replied that God would provide for the occa

sion; and, having erected the altar and laid the wood in order, bound his son, and stretched out his hand to fulfil the Divine injunction. At this awful crisis, however, the voice of God issued from the clouds, saying "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing to him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." Hereupon the joyful patriarch offered a ram, which was caught by its horns in a thicket, in stead of his son, and called the scene of his trial Jehovah-jire, or "the Lord will provide," which we may safely consider, not only as an allusion to the answer he had given Isaac, but as a prediction of that great sacrifice which Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, should offer, in his own person, for the redemption of mankind. Abraham," says the adorable Saviour," rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad*»

B. C. 1860.

Abraham seems to have enjoyed the most perfect happiness with his son and his beloved consort till his tranquillity was interrupted by the death of the latter, which happened, at the city of Hebron, in the hundred and twenty-seventh year of her age. The patriarch went thither to mourn for her, and to procure ker an honourable sepulture; and, accordingly, requested the inhabitants to sell him a burying place. The citizens> unanimously offered him the choice of the best sepulchre in their possession, and Ephron the Hittite made a voluntary offer of the cave of Machpelah which Abraham had expressed a wish for; but, the patriarch insisting on paying the full value for it, an agreement was made for

* See Gospel of St. John, viii. 56.

four hundred shekels* of silver,which were immediately paid down in full weight, and Abraham, being now the lawful owner of the cave, and field belonging to it, deposited in this place the remains of his aged wife.

About three years after this transaction, the venerable patriarch, being extremely anxious to see Isaac happily married, called one of his most faithful servants, and, having made him solemnly swear to procure his son a wife out of his own kindred, gave him necessary instructions and authority to conclude the marriage. The servant accordingly departed, with ten camels laden with presents, and proceeded with all possible speed to Haran in Mesopotamia, where Nahor,. Abraham's brother, resided.

On his arrival in the vicinage of Haran, he made his camels kneel down by a well of water, and addressed. himself in prayer to the Almighty, earnestly imploring that he would vouchsafe to bless his undertaking, and show, by a sign, who should become the wife of Isaac. "Behold," said he, " I stand by the well, and the "I daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. Let it, therefore, come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher I pray thee that I may drink, and she shall say, drink and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be the person whom thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master." To this humble request God vouchsafed an immediate and satisfactory answer; for the servant had scarcely ended speaking, when Rebecca, the beautiful

As the Hebrew shekel, according to the best estimations, is equivalent to three of our shillings, the price which Abraham paid for this burying place amounted to about sixty pounds sterling.

daughter of Bethuel approached, with a pitcher upon her shoulder, and accomplished the token by cheerfully. drawing water for the stranger and his camels. Here-upon Abraham's messenger presented her with an ear-ring, and a pair of bracelets of pure gold; and was, soon after, invited into Bethuel's house, where, partly by his magnificent presents, and partly by his relation of God's gracious dealing with his master, he obtained the damsel for Isaac, and devoted the rest of the day to mirth and festivity.

Next morning this faithful agent expressed a wish of returning to his master, and, with some difficulty, pre-vailed on the relatives of Rebecca to permit his departure, after they had bestowed their warmest benedic tions on the amiable object of their affection. On ap-proaching the habitation of Abraham, Rebecca perceived. a man taking a solitary walk in the fields, and, on understanding that it was Isaac, she alighted from her camel and covered herself with a veil, according to the custom of the country, in order to receive his first salutation. The servant then gave a faithful narration of his journey and success; and Isaac took the lovely stranger to his mother's tent, where she became his wife.

Abraham may be reasonably supposed to have rejoiced in the felicity of his son upon this occasion; but he deemed it advisable, though now in the hundred-andforty-first year of his age; to console himself for the loss of his beloved Sarah, by marrying Keturah, who bore him six sons, each of whom he portioned and sent into the east*, that they might not interfere with Isaac's inherit

* These sons of Abraham appear to have settled in Arabia Petræa and Arabia Deserta, where some traces of their names may be still perceived.