probate inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities of the plain; "because the cry of them" was "great, and their sin" was very grievous." Then the two attendant angels "turned their faces from thence, and went towards Sodom;" but the superior Angel, who was Himself Jehovah, continued to converse with Abraham, and to permit him to intercede for the devoted city; which Jehovah graciously declared He would spare, if only ten righteous could be found. within it. "And Jehovah went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place." Then, as the sacred narrative proceeds, we have striking evidence that the righteous "Judge of all the earth" will not destroy those who fear His name, for He "delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation. of the wicked;" and His special regard to His faithful servant, is indicated by the record, that "It came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow."

CHAP. XVIII.—And Sarah bare Abraham a son, and Abraham called his name Isaac, according as the Lord had commanded him. And when the child was grown, it pleased God to try the faith of Abraham, by commanding him to offer up his son Isaac, as a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord. Abraham obeyed this command; and he took his darling son, with two of his young men who conveyed the wood and the fire for the sacrifice, and went, as he was directed by God, to a mountain in the land of Moriah; and there he "built an altar, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son" upon the altar; but, as he was about to slay his son, "the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." And Abraham beheld a ram that was

caught in a thicket by his horns”—and Abraham offered up the ram instead of his son-and he " called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh; (i. e., The Lord will provide).

Thus "by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he had received him in a figure." And when Abraham had become advanced in age he commanded the eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, to go to the land of his nativity and to his kindred, to take a wife unto his son Isaac: and the servant went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor, Abraham's brother. The descendants of their father, Terah, were worshippers of the everlasting Jehovah; whilst the Canaanites, amongst whom Abraham dwelt, had apostatized from Him, and were of the nations who were to be cast out before the posterity of Abraham, according to the promise of the Lord. And the servant being divinely guided, went to the family of Bethuel, Abraham's nephew, and took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, to be the wife of his master Isaac, who met her on the way, by the well La-hai-roi, as he walked in the field to meditate at eventide.

Shortly before this event Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, which was afterwards called Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Isaac and Rebecca inhabited Sarah's tent. And Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom he had six sons, who each became heads of tribes ; and “Abraham gave gifts to them,” and "sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward unto the east country; and from them, and from the children of Ishmael, we trace different nations and kingdoms in Arabia and the adjoining countries. Several of them became the enemies and oppressors of the children of Israel, both before and after their settlement in the promised land.

CHAP. XIX.-After the death of Abraham, Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Esau and Jacob. "And the Lord appeared unto" Isaac, and said unto him, "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee and to thy seed will I give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven." This promise had reference to

the future increase and prosperity of the people who should descend from him, and who, in the lines of both his sons, became possessed of the territories eastward of the Jordan, extending far into Arabia, and westward to the Mediterranean, or "Great Sea," and to Egypt-from the Euphrates on the north, to the Red Sea southward. But the words of the Most High God, which follow this promise of external greatness, have clearly a far more important significance; being a renewal of that assurance, which had been vouchsafed to Abraham, of the Redeemer who was to come: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

And Isaac dwelt at Gerar in the land of the Philistines; but the men of Gerar stopped up the wells which Abraham had digged; therefore Isaac removed thence into the valley of Gerar, and digged other wells; but the herdmen of the Philistines strove with Isaac's herdmen for these wells also. Then Isaac removed again, and digged another well; and the king of the Philistines made with him a league, which was confirmed by oath; therefore Isaac called the place Beer