quoted as an extinct town. At present it lies mostly in ruins, though some towers are left, and is still visited by pious pilgrims, as a spot hallowed by its connection with the patriarch Abraham. From the situation of Haran above described, the general position of Ur of the Chaldees cannot be doubtful.

It appears that Ur is rather the name of a province than a town; and that Haran also belonged to it. For when Abraham was living in this town, God said to him: "Go out of thy country and the place of thy birth....to the land which I shall show thee" (xii. 1).— The reason why Terah resolved to leave his home, is not stated; we may, however, suppose that the increasing population, and, perhaps, the growing numbers of his flocks and herds, induced him to seek richer pasturage and a less occupied soil; he began his journey in the direction towards Canaan, but found already in the important town of Haran the object of his migration realised; here he settled, and stayed for a considerable time; for here his family acquired wealth and numerous servants (xii. 5). The distance from the original dwelling-place of Terah to Haran might, therefore, not have been very great; and this determines sufficiently the position of the district of Ur.

Terah the idolator intended, of his own accord, to leave Mesopotamia, and to settle in Canaan. His son, Abraham, received

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from God only the same command; and yet his obedience was regarded as the first great proof of his faith (Hebr. xi. 8). But the great difference is this, that whilst Terah's emigration was only the consequence of an external necessity or desire, that of Abraham had a spiritual or religious motive; so far from suffering want in Haran, Abraham had there risen to a state of flourishing prosperity; that country had, therefore, become to him endeared by all human ties; and God Himself seems with emphasis to have pointed to this happy abode, in addressing him: go from thy country, and from the place of thy birth, and from thy father's house"; --but Abraham brought the sacrifice without murmuring or reluctance; he felt that the formation of a pure religious centre required the perfect separation from the pagan country, where the bonds of relationship or of patriotism might retard or check the progress of the new doctrines; and he, therefore, disregarded his worldly advantages, and conquered his prepossessions to secure the higher privileges of religion. Terah's wish for emigration was a matter of expediency, and he changed his plans at the first place which promised him the desired benefits; he stayed and died at Haran; but the unaltered end of Abraham's journey was Canaan (xii. 5); and he proceeded thither even during his father's life-time.

Although the usual period of man's life

The historian has reached the end of the first chief portion of his narrative; he has completed the introductory section of his grand composition; he has shown the origin of the world through the omnipotence of God, and the descent of the nations of the earth from one common ancestor; he has, by a universal pedigree, disclosed the beautiful hope that, however dispersed and inimical to each other the nations may be, they will, in a happier future, be reunited in brotherhood; - but before the human family reaches this aim, it has to pass through a long and wearisome career: during unnumbered ages the various tribes will continue in hostility and warfare; for unmeasured periods the omnipotent Creator will be forgotten, and darkness will shroud the earth. In one tribe alone the spark of truth will be preserved, and through that tribe "all the families of the earth will be blessed" (xii. 3). In Abraham's race lives the hope of the world. This is the Hebrew writer's avowed principle; and henceforth he devotes his narrative exclusively to the destinies of that race. Abraham's descendants begin to form the centre from which the history of all nations is viewed; they are the heart from which life issues in every direction, and to which life and strength stream back; they are the only cultivated spot in the vast dreariness of mankind; their love is indeed ready to pour forth the waters of life, which convert the wilderness into a garden; they cast the seeds, and teach, and advise; but they remain long alone and solitary, despised and misunderstood, and but too often in a desperate warfare against their own levity and inconstancy. They have to educate themselves before they are capable and worthy of commencing their great mission; if the branches shall flourish,

the root and the stem must be strengthened beyond the power of the tempests. The law of Moses shows the self-instructing tendency of Israel; whilst the prophets begin the work of universal education, to be continued till all unite in the knowledge of God, and to be completed in "the latter days" (comp. Gal. iii. 8; Acts iii. 25; Rom. iv. 13, 16).

Up to this point our narrative has shown very numerous similarities with the introductory history of most of the ancient nations, though the resemblance of the form is almost everywhere accompanied by a fundamental difference in the spirit; we have hitherto trod on universal ground, though the peculiar impress of the Hebrew writer can nowhere be mistaken; every trace of heathen elements is effaced: though almost all nations possess traditions concerning the Creation, a Paradise, and the origin of sin; concerning a deluge, a dispersion, and confusion of languages; the Hebrews alone purified and ennobled them; they used them as appropriate vehicles for important truths and lessons. But here their national history begins; every material resemblance, even in the form, ceases, and the Abrahamites pursue their own path; we shall but seldom be able to point out parallels with other nations, from which they are henceforth separated; but we shall the more highly admire their own special development; in faithfully following the progress of our narrative, we shall find that it nowhere deviates from the aim which it proposed to itself, and to which we have alluded; and we shall be led to acknowledge the same comprehensiveness and skill in the history of a family growing into a nation, as were displayed in delineating the advance from the birth of one couple to the population of the earth.

1-9. For Abraham is the type of the Israelites as a nation. In his character and his destinies, their future history is faithfully mirrored. Abraham descended from an idolatrous family, and was born in a land of heathens; and Israel grew into a nation, in a country abounding in all the abominations of superstition. Abraham left a domicile which yielded him every material prosperity, and was dear to him by many social ties; and the Israelites, laden with treasures, quitted a land in which they had long found a hospitable reception, where their external necessities were so well provided for that they frequently remembered it with longing, and where they had formed the most intimate social connections. Abraham followed, by faith, the guidance of God into an unknown land which He would show him; and Israel went, with reliance and devotion, "after God into a desert which is not sown," into a wilderness of sterility and horror. A covenant was concluded with Abraham as with Israel, and both covenants were ratified by a sign; both had the power of blessing or curse over others; their friends should prosper, their enemies perish; both received the promise of a numerous progeny, through which the nations of the earth should be blessed, but both saw all earthly probability of a fulfilment disappear; for Abraham was denied a son from his lawful wife, and the Israelites were not only in Egypt diminished by the cruelty of her rulers, but in the desert by famine, war, and pestilence: but at this point the character of Abraham diverges from that of Israel; henceforth the former shines as the model which the latter were unable to imitate; and the history of Abraham becomes the instructor of Israel. For whilst the former exhibited an unshaken courage and faith through all the severest trials, the latter wavered in temptations, and despaired in difficulties; the former believed in a dis

tant promise, the latter did not believe the visible messenger of God, sent to effect their immediate rescue, and even that messenger himself succumbed in moments of despondency: the former entered Canaan, where he could not claim one foot of land, for it was in the hands of hostile tribes, whose valour he saw, and whose cities he visited; but he placed his trust in the love and omnipotence of God, and built an altar at the place where the promise was made to him; the latter trembled at the mere report of the power of Canaan's tribes, gave up all hope of possession, and pusillanimously lamented the credulity which had induced them to rely on extravagant assurances. When famine compelled Abraham to seek shelter in foreign countries, he emigrated with a heart full of confidence, certain that God would lead him back, in due season, for the realization of His promises; whereas a trifling defeat or national misfortune was sufficient to cause Israel meanly to apprehend, that God had abandoned and forgotten them. The life of Abraham was one of piety and religious contemplation; this was the model after which the Israelites had to strive, and which is delineated in their laws, and in their prophecies; Abraham, the peaceful, benevolent, ever-contented emir, is the direct contrast to the conquering, ambitious, and warlike Nimrod. So was the people of Israel intended to distinguish itself from the other nations by its purer life, and its nobler aims. But, as Abraham could exchange the nomad's staff for the hero's sword where right and justice demanded, so should Israel be ready to fight the battles of God, trusting in His invisible aid against the chariots and the horsemen of the oppressing heathens. OBEDIENCE was the innermost centre of Abraham's character; it culminated in his readiness to sacrifice that son through whom alone the future glories could be fulfilled; thus should Israel,

with an unlimited submission, rely on the Divine promises, even if kings and nations appeared to scheme their inevitable destruction. We shall not here pursue the parallel further; but it is a general historical truth, that the character and pursuits of the nations are reflected in those of their patriarchs and heroes; from this principle, the history of Abraham gains a wider scope and a higher interest; and we are justified in interpreting it from that enlarged point of view. We shall see, in the prophet Abraham, the germ of the future nation of priests; in the constructor of altars, the builders of the Tabernacle and the Temple; in the worshipper of the Creator of heaven and earth, the future preachers of the universal God of all nations. The struggle of Israel for reaching their ideal, was intense and protracted; it was often necessary to remind them of the "rock from which they were hewn," and to elevate them by the example of their "father Abraham, who was once called out to be blessed and increased"; but the goal was fixed; leaders were not wanting to guide their wandering steps; and the happiness proposed as their reward, encouraged and stimulated.

With the emigration of Abraham from Haran begins also, in the system of the Old Testament, a new epoch in the relation between God and mankind. By the sin in Paradise, man forfeited God's immediate and paternal intercourse; and God, retiring to immeasurable distance above the human perversities, dictated, as a severe judge, the awful curse deemed an equivalent punishment for the enormous transgression. Ten generations lived and toiled under the influence of that fatal judgment; but human nature proved too weak for such rigid standard; sin and crime multiplied on the earth; seduction increased the natural wickedness; and the justice of God required a total destruction of the human race. But, as the Creator

cannot annihilate, He preserved one family for the renewal of mankind; and as the Framer of man cannot change his nature, He altered the character of His own government. Since man is apt to sin from his youth, God concluded with him, for all eternity, the covenant of mercy, and sealed it with a heavenly sign; thenceforth, no more the austere measure of justice, but the indulgence of grace should preside over human actions. However, few generations only passed before it became evident, that the obstinacy of the human mind despises even that gentle guidance of God; that it boastingly exults in its own strength, and believes it to be selfsufficient for its existence and glory: it was, therefore, necessary to leave the refractory spirits to their own heedless forgetfulness; they were not rejected or destroyed-because the mercy of God had promised to be eternal,-but they were severed from the alliance which united them with the Father, no more acknowledged by them. But twenty generations could not have lived in vain; nor could the designs which God had formed with regard to the creatures of His own image, be annulled. He selected, therefore, one family on which He lavished all His love,and with which He entered into a connection, stronger and closer even than that which had bound him to the first human pair; for the alliance between Abraham's family and God was a reciprocal covenant, based on self-conscious duties; it was an alliance not concluded with beings of slumbering intellects, but of awakened minds, matured by the vicissitudes of life, and the reflections enforced by varied experience. While the curse against Adam and the promise of Noah were pronounced to the whole human race; from the time of Abraham, promises and communications were addressed and restricted to one family or one people:- but, as God could not cease to love all His children, He in