tion was so likely to be afforded. The obvious preparation for the disclosure, in his being directed to go to the very neighbourhood where our Lord suffered, seems to point to this conclusion; while there are reasons not difficult to assign, why the sacred historian may not have been authorized to make known the precise nature of the communication which made the heart of Abraham glad.

The prevalence of child-sacrifice in the ancient pagan world is known to the reader. It is indeed frequently indicated in Scripture, and it certainly existed in Canaan and the neighbouring countries in the time of Moses.1 Hence arises the question, whether or not it was known before the time of Abraham. Some think that it was; and that hence the demand did not strike him with the astonishment which it would have produced, had the offering up of a son been previously un heard of. He would then also have felt that it became not him to withhold from the Lord the costly offering which the idolaters offered to their gods, in the earnestness of their zeal to yield up that which they valued most. But, on the other hand, it is urged by some, that all the sacrifices of this sort among the heathen had their origin in mistaken inferences from this act of Abraham. It is difficult to decide this question; nor is it of much importance to do so. But even supposing that child-sacrifice did not previously exist, it is difficult to imagine that it could originate in the interrupted sacrifice of Isaac. A sacrifice so silently resolved upon, so unostentatiously prepared for, and the execution of which was so solemnly and so strikingly prevented, was but little calculated to induce other nations, even neighbouring nations, to imitate it and adopt it into their rites. It seems to have been far better suited to discourage such sacrifices than to originate or encourage them.

Many parallels from ancient history and poetry to this remarkable transaction have been produced. The most striking is that of Agamemnon in offering, or rather in consenting to offer, his daughter Iphigenia at the demand of the oracle. But 1 Lev. xx. 2-5.

this transaction altogether lacks the simple virtue and 'heroic faith' of Abraham's behaviour. Agamemnon was a 'king of men,' and a mighty warrior; but in true heroic force of character he is not to be named with Abraham. Agamemnon is quite unmanned by grief and distraction, whereas Abraham is perfectly composed and equable; he is not only fixed and resolved in his obedience, but prompt and ready in all the needful preparations. Agamemnon, sorely against his will, complying with the demand of the oracle, hides his face with his mantle, that he may not see the last moments of his daughter; but Abraham, in obedience to the demand upon his faith and duty, wields with his own hand the weapon which is to take his child's life away. Again, the Grecian king seems to have been moved to compliance by the fear of provoking or discouraging his subjects and soldiers, and by that means of incurring failure or disgrace in all the objects of glory, ambition, or revenge, involved in the war in which he was embarked. But Abraham had no country to win or lose, no objects of human ambition to fulfil. His one object was to obey God, regardless of men's opinions. The only human opinion in which he had concern was that of his own house, which would probably have condemned him, and made his entire life bitter, had the deed been consummated. Further, the sacrifice of Iphigenia was public; in the presence of a host of armed men ; of generous-hearted soldiers, from whose compassion the father might have hoped a rescue when things came to the worst: for he must have often seen that other interests, views, and passions are overruled and brought to nought by some sudden gush of human pity. But Abraham's proceedings were altogether private. Not even the servants were allowed to behold the deed, nor was even Isaac himself acquainted with the purpose till he came to the very place where he was to die. Besides, Agamemnon probably had other children; Abraham essentially but this one. Agamemnon's wife was not barren, and probably not old; Abraham's was both. Neither this one, nor any other of the hero's children, were sent to him as earnests or pledges of extraordinary pro

mises or blessings, much less of such high and glorious privileges as appeared to be bound up in the life of the son thus doomed to die. Thus the comparison fails at every point, except that of human tenderness, and not perhaps in that; for Abraham loved Isaac very dearly, and never did he love him more than in that moment when his hand was lifted up to smite him down.

Let it not escape our notice, that Isaac himself was a willing victim. There can be no question, that in the last awful moments, Abraham communicated the truth to his son, and that he consented to yield obedience to the command of God and the authority of his father. This is implied in the fact of his consenting to be bound: for he was grown to strength and manhood; and if he had but thought fit to struggle for his life, we cannot doubt that he might easily, without violence, have escaped from his father's hands and fled away. Much may be allowed for the absolute authority of a parent in those ages, even to life and death, over his own son; but still, to the young, life is very sweet; and but for the high sense of duty to God, which such a son was likely to acquire from such a father, Isaac would not have been so passive in this transaction.

Ninth Weck-Fourth Day.

THE SEPULCHRE.- -GENESIS XXIII.

THE twenty-third chapter of Genesis is one of the shortest in the book; yet it is so full of circumstances illustrative of primitive customs and ideas, that every verse in it might form a sufficient theme for one of our Daily Illustrations. We must, however, be content to point out the general tendency and result of these circumstances.

The chapter relates the death of Sarah, and the negotiations of Abraham with the people of the land for a burial-place. Sarah died at the encampment at Mamre, near Hebron, at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. It is remarkable,

that Sarah is the only woman whose complete age, death, and burial are mentioned in Scripture. This was done, no doubt, to confer special honour on the mother of the Hebrew race; but it was also necessary, not only to form a proper introduction to the ensuing relation of the purchase of a hereditary burial-place, but to inform us that it was vouchsafed to her to live thirty-seven years after having brought forth Isaac at the age of ninety, and to see him grown up to man's estate.

We first see Abraham mourning for his dead. He leaves his own tent, and goes to that of Sarah, and sits upon the ground before the corpse, mourning, and not only mourning, but weeping for her. Some here interpose the remark, that the Hebrew mourning was for seven days, implying that Abraham sat for so many days before the corpse. This is absurd. However long the mourning, the burial of the dead has always taken place very soon in the East, seldom later than the day after dissolution. It was therefore with the freshness of his grief still upon him, that Abraham had to consider how his dead should be buried out of his sight. This is a question which is seldom in the East left to be considered in these awful moments. But Abraham was a stranger in Canaan, and had not acquired the possession of so much as a sepulchre in the land destined to be his heritage. This possession he had now, in this trying hour, to seek; for both propriety and feeling required that the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac should not be placed in any but a separate and appropriated family sepulchre, well secured from future application to any other use.

There was in a field near Hebron, a cave, which, from its name of Machpelah, appears to have been double; and on this Abraham had set his mind. It belonged to a person of wealth and distinction among the Hethites (or Hittites), who then occupied Hebron. The most obvious course would, according to our own usages, have been to go to this person and ask him to sell his cave. But our ability to do this with safety, arises from the perfection of the legal securities which may pass privately between man and man. In ancient times no security

was felt, especially in matters connected with the sale and transfer of land, but in publicity and the presence of witnesses. Hence we see, throughout the Scripture, that all transactions of this nature are conducted in public, and usually in the gate of the city.

In the absence of buildings devoted to public business, and perhaps at first in the want of such paramount authority in any one magistrate or elder, as justified him in expecting the attendance of the others at his own house, the town. gate was the most natural and obvious place of concourse. Here a sufficiency of witnesses to every transaction could be obtained; here the men whose evidence was required could attend with the least hindrance, as they passed morning and evening to and from their fields and their labour; and here, at such times, the parties whose presence was especially needed could be called, as they passed by, without any need of an apparitor. We see an instance of this in the book of Ruth. Boaz goes

to the gate; and when the person whom he requires passes by, he calls to him, 'Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here.' Ruth iv. I.

So now, having this object in view, Abraham proceeds to the gate of the town, at the time when he knew the elders of the place would be there assembled. He was received with attention and respect; and on stating his wish to obtain possession of a burying-place, the answer was : 'Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead.' They did not seem to understand that he wanted to have a sepulchre appropriated to his exclusive use, and supposed that they met his wishes by thus offering him permission to deposit the body of Sarah in any of their own tombs. But this, although a very handsome offer, according to the notions of the East, did not meet the views of Abraham. He, however, courteously acknowledged their civility, by rising from his seat and bowing to the people of the land.

He wanted the cave of Machpelah, and he saw the owner present; but, being apparently doubtful whether a person in