that he ought not to presume to question its propriety, nor to hesitate in complying with the requisition, afflicting as it was. He reasoned with himself that notwithstanding the apparent incongruity of the command with the promise, God, who could not enjoin that to be done which would render what he had spoken impossible, would find out some way of reconciling them; and the suggestion that arose in his mind was, that, as God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead, he might exert his power to that end, and restoring him to life still cause him to be the child of promise, and establish his everlasting covenant with him and with his seed after him.

Urged and upheld by his faith, and feeling the necessity of obeying the command of the Lord, Abraham hastened with his son Isaac to the appointed spot. He bound his unresisting child—he laid him upon the altar on the wood -in all the bitterness and severity of parental anguish he "stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son." "'* His resolution was fixed-the sacrifice was prepared-and in a moment the precious blood of his only son, the child of promise, would have been shed upon the altar.

* Genesis, xxii. 10.

But he had stood the test - his faith was victorious-his obedience manifested - and God suddenly arrested his hand, and prevented the execution of his purpose. "The angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham; and he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went, and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son."*

THIS COMMAND AND ACT ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE COUNSEL OF

GOD IN CHRIST.

This act of Abraham preparing to offer his son Isaac in obedience to the command of God, has always been considered by the Christian church as a typical representation of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross in compliance with the will of his Father, who sent him into the world to die for its salvation. And that our particular church so understands it is evident from her

* Genesis, xxii. 11–13.

having appointed the chapter, in which the circumstance is related, to be read on Good Friday.

From Isaac bearing the wood of the burntoffering we are carried in thought to Christ bearing his cross 1900 years after near the same spot. And when we behold the ram, which the Lord had provided, bleeding on the altar, and accepted instead of Isaac, our view is instantly turned to Christ, the Lamb of God, being sacrificed on the cross in the stead and for the preservation of the world. "This ram," says Bishop Patrick," was a notable type of Christ, who was a sacrifice provided by God, not by man, as the ram was brought by Divine Providence, and not by Abraham."

Now let us see what we have gained for our purpose. From the promise to Adam we learned that a particular seed of the woman would arise who, for the sake of the seduced, should conquer the seducer, though to a certain degree to his own hurt. From the promise to Abraham we discerned that this seed of the woman, this suffering conqueror for others, was to descend from him, to be born in the land of Canaan, and to be a blessing to all nations. And from the incident just related we draw this very important intelligence, namely, that the victorious seed was to

be an offering prepared for the sacrifice, not by man, but by the Almighty; and that he was to suffer death in the stead and for the sake of that which was previously devoted to destruction. This representation of a vicarious death to be undergone by the victorious seed is in perfect harmony with the preceding promises; for the first promise said that his heel should be bruised by the serpent; and the second, that his coming should be a blessing to all nations; both which facts were verified in Christ, the one in his enduring the agonies of the cross, and the other in his bearing the sins of many, and reconciling them to God.

THE PROPHECY OF JACOB.

To Adam and Abraham God had spoken with his own voice; and thus laid the foundation of the hope and faith of his creatures in his own direct and immediate authority. He next inspired his faithful servant Jacob to foretell other circumstances relative to the great event of redemption.

That holy patriarch being arrived at a period when he was to be gathered to his fathers, and to be taken to his reward, called his sons to him that he might bless them, and tell them that which should befall them in the last days, that

is, in future times. Judah, the spirit waxed strong within him, and he prophetically exclaimed; "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."*

When he came to bless

From this prophecy it appears that the posterity of Judah were to be a people of a warlike and valiant disposition; that they were to obtain the ascendency over their brethren; that they were to be a terror to their enemies in the days of their greatest prosperity; and that they were to possess a sceptre and a lawgiver, that is, to have rulers and legislators of their own, till Shiloh or the Messiah came; when their power and authority as a body politic were to cease, and the Gentiles to be gathered unto him.