And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land.' And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And passing on from thence to a mountain that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; he built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon His name.

Idolatry prevailed to a great extent in the land of Canaan when Abram came into it, and on this account he was not permitted by God either to have any fixed abode in it, or to have any communication with the people of the country, or to own any part of the soil. He was required to live as became a prophet of God, in the midst of people who were falling away to the practice of wicked superstitions and vices and to the worship of dumb idols. His generosity in obeying every command of God has earned for him the title of 'FAITHFUL ABRAHAM' and 'FATHER of the FaithfuL' from all generations, to whom his example is a pattern of perfect obedience and trust in God, and of a life of thorough selfdenial and sacrifice.

Abram and Lot had now become so rich in flocks and herds, that the land was no longer able to bear them, that they might dwell together. Whereupon, as they were dwelling near to Hebron after their return from Egypt, there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. At that time the Canaanite and the Pherezite dwelt in that country. Abram therefore said to Lot: 'Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen for we are brethren. Behold, the whole land is before thee: depart from me, I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will

pire, at Alexander's death, fell into four kingdoms, with one of which the Israelites fought many severe battles, under the leadership of the Macchabees, suffering great persecutions and great sacrileges to their Sanctuary from it.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE.-Lastly, the imperial power passed into the hands of the Romans, under whom the Hebrew nation became subject to the rule of a stranger as king, viz. Herod the Idumean, made King of Judea by the Romans. It was Pontius Pilate, the Governor appointed over Judea by the Roman Empire, who, at the demand of the Jews, gave judgment that Jesus Christ should be cruci fied, and the sentence of Pontius Pilate for His crucifixion was carried into execution by the soldiers of this empire. This Roman Empire was the most wonderful of all the four. It never belonged to any nation or people, but it held its seat in the single city of Rome. By its armed legions the city of Rome gradually conquered all the known world, and gave to the different conquered people the benefit of the laws and government of the Roman Empire. Rome admitted, without distinction, persons out of every nation, who were worthy, to the honours of its citizenship; and thus from the first beginning the city of Rome had the glory of being the mother and mistress of nations, improving them by its laws, and ennobling them with the honours of its citizenship; but Rome was never itself the city of any one tribe or nation. It was thus from the first beginning that Rome was marked out as the fitting seat of the supreme Government, which it has pleased Jesus Christ to intrust to the Successors of St. Peter, over all the Christian people and nations of the whole earth, past, present and to come, who enter into the fold of the Catholic Church.

take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.' And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout before the Lord destroyed Sodom and

Gomorrha as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east and they were separated one brother from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan; and Lot abode in the towns that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord beyond measure.

After Lot had departed from Abram, God appeared to him, and renewed all His promises once more. And it was told to Abram, that there had been war, and that Lot had been carried away prisoner; upon which he gathered together all his servants and the shepherds that were his neighbours, and pursued after the invaders. They came up with them at Dan, and rushed in upon them and defeated them. Thus Lot was rescued, and the invaders were pursued to Hoba, on the way to Damascus. On their return, the king of Sodom came out to meet Abram ; and Melchisedech the king of Salem bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the Priest of the most high God, blessed him, and said: 'Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, by whose protection thine enemies are in thy hands.' And Abram gave to Melchisedech tithes of all that they had taken. And the king of Sodom said to Abram: 'Give me the persons, and

the rest take to thyself.' And he answered him: 'I lift up my hand to the Lord God the Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth,—that from the very woof-thread unto the shoe-latchet, I will not take of anything that is thine, lest thou say, I have enriched Abram; except such things as the young men have eaten, and the shares of the men that came with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre, these shall take their shares.' Abram remembered that the men of Sodom were extremely wicked, and therefore, unlike Lot, would have nothing to do with them.

The Sacrifice of Melchisedech is a figure of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which Jesus Christ offers Himself under the species of Bread and Wine. Also Jesus Christ is a High Priest for ever, not after the order of Priesthood established by Moses, but after the order of Melchisedech (Ps. cix. 5).

§ 12. The Birth of Ismael (B.c. 2096) and the Covenant of Circumcision. Sara receives the Promise of a Son. Destruction of Sodom and

Gomorrha.

God now continued to bless Abram; and Sara, growing impatient that the promises which God had made, that a son should be born, were still unfulfilled, gave her Egyptian handmaid Agar to be Abram's second wife. When Agar found herself likely to become, as she thought, the mother of the promised heir, she despised her mistress; and when she was punished for this by Sara, she ran away into the wilderness. An angel, however, appeared to her, and told her to return to her mistress, and to submit. Soon after her return, Ismael her son was born. God also appeared again to Abram, and made with him the Covenant of Circumcision, which became the mark by which God was pleased to keep His chosen people, from among whom the Messias was to be born, separate from the other nations. From this time Abram received the name of 'Abraham,' or 'Father of many nations.'

Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day in the vale of Mambre; and as he lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near him; and as soon as he saw them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and bowed down to the ground.

And he said: 'Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant: I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree. And I will set a morsel of bread; and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on; for therefore are you come aside to your servant.' And they said: 'Do as thou hast spoken.' Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her: 'Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth.' And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste and boiled it. He took also butter and milk and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them; but he stood by them under the tree. And when they had eaten, they said to him: 'Where is Sara thy wife?' He answered: 'She is in the tent.' And he said to him: 'I

will return and come to thee at this time, and Sara thy wife shall have a son.' Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent. And the Lord said to Abraham: 'Why did Sara laugh? Is there anything hard to God? According to appointment I will return to thee at this time, and Sara shall have a son.' Sara denied, saying: 'I did not laugh;' for she was afraid. But the Lord said: 'Nay, but thou didst laugh.'

And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes towards Sodom; and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way. And the Lord said: 'Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do; seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed?' God then made known to Abraham that He was about to destroy the city of Sodom.

Toward evening the two angels came to Sodom, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. When he saw them, he rose up to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground before them, and said: 'I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant and lodge there, wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go your way.'

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When they had entered in, they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine, son-in-law, or sons, or daughters? all that are thine bring them out of this city. For we will destroy this place, because their cry has grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.' Lot upon this went out to speak to his sons-in-law that were to have married his daughters, and said: 'Arise, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.' But he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

And when it was morning the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife and the two daughters which thou hast, lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.' And as he lingered, they took his hand and the hand of his wife and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him. And they brought him forth and set him without the city, and there they spoke to him, saying: 'Save thy life; look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about, but save thyself to the mountain, lest thou also be consumed.'

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Segor. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire out of heaven; and He destroyed these cities, and all the country round about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all the things that spring up from the earth. And Lot's wife, looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. And Abraham rose up early in the morning; and from the place where he had stood before with the Lord he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha is a figure of the final judgments of God upon the impenitent evil-doers at the last day. Woe unto those who despise the warnings of the Gospel! Our Lord says of those who despised His words: 'It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for you.'

§ 13. The Faith of Abraham is tried. Isaac is offered in Sacrifice.

When Isaac, the promised son and heir, had been born, it pleased God to put the faith of his father Abraham to a great trial. He called him, and said: 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he answered: 'Here I am.' He said to him: Take thy only-begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision (Moria), and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee.' So Abraham, rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men and Isaac his son; and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off, and said to his young men : Stay you here with the ass, and I and the boy

will go up yonder with speed; and after we have worshipped we will return to you.' And he took the wood for the holocaust and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they went on together, Isaac said to his father: 'My father! And he answered: 'What wilt thou, my son? Behold,' said Isaac, 'fire and wood; but where is the victim for the holocaust? And Abraham said: 'God will provide Himself a victim for an holocaust, my

son.' So they went on together. And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him upon the altar upon the pile of wood. And he put forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son. And behold an angel of the Lord called to him, saying: