though not children of the same father and mother. Taking advantage of this custom, Abraham imagined he might with impunity defend himself by a mental reservation.

Catherine. But in his case it was a duty to tell the whole truth, because his concealment of a part not only exposed him to the danger of losing his wife, but entangled the king, who it appears was an upright man.

Mother. The vicious state of public morals had not permitted Abraham to hope that he should again find such disinterested virtue, united with power, as he had seen in Pharaoh. But the king of Gerar was equally just, and yet more liberal: for together with Sarah, he sent large presents to Abraham, of cattle and servants and silver; and nobly offered him the choice of his whole domain to settle wheresoever he pleased. Thus by his piety and munificence he obtained the prayers of Abraham, and the blessing of heaven.

You may perhaps think, my children, that I speak with lenity of the errors of this distinguished patriarch in the two instances I have related. It is not for me to soften or disguise the characters I present to you. The scriptures have not done it. They show us that the best of men were fallible. I have told you the facts, and the reasoning by which Abraham excused himself— but he was not innocent. No deviation from the truth can be justified. The little artifices by which we think to advance our own interests, often recoil upon ourselves. What must have been the remorse of Abraham when he found himself surpassed in uprightness by two heathen kings!

The following year the promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah, was verified in the birth of Isaac; the father was in the hundredth year of his age, and his wife in her ninetieth, at this period.

The patriarch had now dwelt at Gerar some years in such high prosperity that the Philistines, ascribing it properly to the particular favour of Heaven, were anxious to secure his friendship. To obtain this favour the prince himself, attended by his general, made a visit to their illustrious guest; and courteously reminding him of the kindness he had received, entreated, that he would engage

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not to use his power to the injury of the people who had so hospitably entertained him. A treaty of friendship was accordingly made, and Abraham made use of the opportunity to inform the king that he had been violently deprived of a well near the place of their present meeting by the herdsmen of Abimelech. The right was acknow ledged at once, and the well ever afterwards called BeerSheba, or the well of the oath, because it was the place where a covenant was ratified by an oath.

At Beer-Sheba, the family of Abraham continued at least till the twenty-fifth year of Isaac's age; for there we find them when the latter became the subject of a most affecting story.

Charles. Do not omit the stories, my dear mother; I love to listen to them.

Mother. All that I have said to you, my dear, or shall say, is one connected story, though episodes, particularly affecting, are sometimes interposed, and it is no wonder you should hear them with delight. You cannot study them too much, for they are accurate pictures of the human heart, and related with exquisite skill. The most accomplished writers of fiction have taken hints from many of them for their finest compositions; but as the face of nature is always more interesting than a copy, so the real incidents of life are infinitely more affecting than the best imitations. The wisdom and goodness which dictated the scriptures for our instruction, are evinced in giving us lessons in a form so engaging, that pleasure and profit go hand in hand. That which I am about to relate of Abraham, would be incredible, if it were not stamped with the unquestionable impress of veracity.

To put the faith and obedience of this eminent patriarch, who is emphatically called "the father of the faithful," to the most rigid trial, God commanded him to take Isaac his son into the land of Moriah, and offer him on one of the mountains for a burnt offering. Isaac, his only son, whom he loved-Isaac, whose children were to be multiplied as the stars of heaven-and in whom, "all the fami. lies of the earth were to be blessed!"-How can all this come to pass if he is to be put to death before he has one child from whom a race might descend? Without being a

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father; the father of an only child-and one too from whom great and peculiar blessings were to be derived, it is impossible to appreciate the extreme hardship of this sin gular experiment.

Fanny. I often recollect a very affecting answer of a lady which I have somewhere read, who, in excessive grief for the loss of a child, was exhorted by her confessor to imitate the resignation of Abraham. "Ah! father," cried she, "God would never have required such a sacri. fice at the hand of a mother."

Charles. But how could Abraham be made to believe that so cruel a sacrifice was required at his hand?

Mother. The Creator of the human mind, my son, must know how to impress it infallibly; and we may be sure that he would leave no doubt of the source of a command so truly distressing. We may be sure the patriarch had none, because he obeyed. He obeyed too, because he knew that the sovereign had a right to require the life he had given. He arose early in the morning, and took Isaac his beloved child, and two of his young men, and after cutting the wood for the fire, went three days' journey into the land of Moriah. When they came near to the appointed place, Abraham directed the servants, who might have interposed to prevent the execution of his purpose, to remain there, while he and the lad should go and worship. Then laying the wood on the shoulders of his son, and taking the fire and the knife in his own hand, they proceeded to prepare the altar. Unapprised of the severe duty imposed on his father, Isaac very naturally inquired" Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" "My son," said the pious Abraham, "God will provide himself a lamb." And so indeed he did; for at that moment when, having bound his son, and laid him on the altar-his uplifted arm with still unshaken confidence, prepared to strike the fatal blow-the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, "Lay not thine hand on the lad-for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." Looking up, the patriarch be held a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. This he took, and offered instead of his son. This act of faith,

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more honourable to Abraham than wealth and military triumphs, God was pleased to reward with renewed assurances of protection and favour. (B. C. 1871)

Charles. Such an uncommon act of submission certainly deserved a reward.

Mother. No act of man can deserve a reward from the Deity to whom all his services are due. But virtue and piety are sometimes graciously distinguished even in this life, and for our encouragement we know, they will certainly be rewarded hereafter.

A very eminent advocate for the divine legation of Moses, whose learning and ingenuity entitle his opinions to great respect, takes another view of this remarkable event in the life of Abraham, which, although not inconsistent with, is somewhat different from that which I have just presented to you. Action being a common mode of communication in the East, he considers this whole exhibition as designed to develop completely the promise to Abraham (hitherto opened by degrees and but partially understood,) by a lively representation* of the sacrifice of an only son, which should one day be offered on this same Mount of Moriah. Thus the seemingly harsh command became really the brilliant reward of his singular piety.

Catherine. Why then did Moses in his relation, conceal this most interesting truth, and speak of the command as the trial of Abraham's faith?

Mother. It was truly, though incidentally, a trial of his faith; while, according to this writer, it had, primarily, a more important reference; which, his people being then under a preparatory dispensation, Moses was not permitted to declare otherwise, than in his figurative institutions.

Catherine. Why is Isaac denominated the only son of Abraham, when Ishmael was also his son?

Mother. Because the spiritual promise bestowed upon Abraham was to be transmitted through Isaac to his posterity, and finally from them to all mankind. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, a wife less honourable than Sarah, who, being the first, was considered the superior.

* Bishop Warburton considers this the true interpretation of that declaration of Christ," Abraham rejoiced to see my day."

In those days it was the practice even of good men, to have several wives. Sarah seems, at first, to have adopted Ishmael, supposing him to be the promised heir of Abraham. But when Isaac was afterwards given to her, she instigates her husband (not however without provocation from the unbecoming conduct of both mother and son,) to banish both from his house, declaring that he should not inherit with her son. This unreasonable desire was very disagreeable to the venerable patriarch, but his unerring Counsellor commanded him to listen to his wife, and comforted him with an assurance, that of Ishmael also," he would make a great nation." Thus encouraged, he sent away the unhappy Hagar and her son, furnishing them, however, with such provisions as she could carry. When these were spent, as they wandered in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba, despairing of any further supply, she laid her son down under some bushes, and that she might not see him die (B. C. 1892,) she sat down to weep at a distance ! From this overwhelming anguish she was aroused by a voice of consolation, directing her to "take up the lad, and give him drink from a well," which she now perceived to be at hand; for "he should live and be come a great nation.”

Before his birth, when Hagar had fled into the same wilderness from the unkind treatment of her mistress, "The Angel of the Lord" had appeared unto her, and told her, "that her posterity should not be numbered for multitude, that her son should be a wild man, that his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him, yet he should dwell in the presence of all his brethren." And now that the prophecy might be fulfilled, the hand of providence conducted him to the desert, where he grew up and "became an archer" or a wild man. His children, the Arabs, are a savage race. To this day they live by violence and rapine, their hand being against every man, and all men are their enemies. Yet they preserve their independence, and are a very numerous people

Catherine. Their country, perhaps, is not worth the expense of a conquest. We hear much of the deserts of Arabia.

Mother. It is indeed generally sandy and barren, but