the serpent's head, and shed the blood of him who had shed man's blood, who brought in and propagated death among men, as promised to Noah, is now renewed to Abraham, under the notion of a seed, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed.

Having thus briefly opened the particulars of the text, I proceed to make some general observations on them; and will also aim to include and connect with it the principal outlines of what is recorded concerning this great patriarch and father of the faithful.

Observation 1. It is plain, from attending to Abram's descent, that he belonged to the high and holy line of election; and effectual calling is the fruit of it. Being called by divine grace, he obeys it; and, like a true penitent, leaves his idolatry, father's house and family, and country. Just so all who are born again, forsake their former evil courses, walk in new ways, forsake their sinful companions, turn their backs on the world, and follow Christ in the regeneration. Abram sets out from Haran, where his brother Nahor remained. Abram was called, and had the promise of Christ in the scripture before us, in the year of the world, according to Lightfoot, 2083.

Observation 2. When the Lord called Abram, he so suited his revelation and promise of Christ

to him, as most effectually suited his case, and comforted his heart. He was to go into the land of Canaan. All God's promises concerning Christ, and the numerous personal and various blessings which were to be conferred on him, and his, were to be fulfilled in that land. This was to be the grand scene where Jehovah was to act his wonders, and display his grace. The Messiah was here to dwell in the tents of Shem, and manifest forth his glory. The temple was to be a memorial of him, and a pledge of his incar nation. Abram, with Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all belonging to them, went forth from Ur, and Haran, in Mesopotamia, to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they all came. As Abram entered it in faith, so being in it he expressed his faith. He builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him, probably in a visible human form, as a pledge of the incarnation of the essential Word, and said unto him, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." Jehovah speaks in the stile of a sovereign proprietor. This must greatly confirm the faith of Abram, the Canaanite being then in the land. Doubtless, the patriarch's heart must have been greatly refreshed with this appearance of Christ, and his fresh promise. And he removed to Bethel, as it was afterwards called, and built an altar unto the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord,

It is worthy our remembrance, that the first thing recorded of Abram, upon his entrance into the land of promise is, his building an altar unto Jehovah. The altar was to offer sacrifice on. This was the way in which Christ from the beginning, on his being revealed and proclaimed as the seed of the woman, the Almighty Conqueror of sin, satan, death, and hell, and the Savior of his church and people, had been exhibited in an ordinance way to the faithful. And in their observance of this mode of instituted worship, prescribed by the Lord, they expressed their faith in the persou, covenant engagements, and future incarnation, sacrifice, and salvation of Immanuel. It must be remembered, and ought ever to be kept on the mind, that although Jesus was, on his being thus revealed to Abram, his all in all, yet this was not a new revelation of Jesus Christ; no. He was revealed first, immediately upon the fall; he was, by the same revelation, known to all the elect antediluvian patriarchs, and was worshipped by Shem and Eber, both postdiluvian patriarchs, and now he was revealed to Abram in a further and also a fuller manner, as to some particulars relating to him; as that he was to be the seed of Abram, who was to proceed from him and his descendants. Abram is the first man in the world of whom it is recorded that the Lord appeared to him; this was astonishing grace! Stephen says, "The God of glory

appeared unto our father Abram when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan, called in the old testament Haran. The cherubim, the substitute of the God of Israel, is called by the apostle the cherubim of glory. Heb. ix. And Stephen calls Jehovah, who appeared to Abram, "The God of glory." From hence I conceive the appearance of the Lord to Abram in Haran, and also at his entrance into the land of Canaan, was something like the appearance and manifestation made of himself in the cherubic emblems, which he inhabited at the east of the garden of Eden. Or, rather I conceive that the second person in the self-existing essence, who was pointed out in the cherubic figure, as the substitute and sacrifice of his church, and who at this time was pleased to assume a human form, as a pledge of his future incarnation, and shone forth with majesty, lustre, and glory, in the view of Abram; so as that he knew him to be Jehovah Jesus, and worshipped him as such. He built altars again and again as he removed from one place to another, and called upon the name of the Lord. He was led through divine. light, and supernatural teaching, to worship Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; as co-equal and co-eternal in one incomprehensible Godhead, through the one Mediator Christ Jesus: and that according to the divine rule of instituted worship, which was by sacrifices, as solemn and expressive

memorials of Immanuel's most precious and efficacious blood-shedding and death.

Observation 3. In this call and revelation of Jesus Christ, made to Abram, the whole of Christ is contained, and all which follows upon it, both promises and appearances, manifestations and deliverances, is but an opening and unfolding what was hid and contained in the words before us; so that in this call of Abram we have the foundation of the Jewish nation, and a right view and understanding of it would cast great light upon a great part of the holy scripture. Many great and pregnant proofs are given in both the old and new testament proving Abram to be the father of all them that believe, and that they who believe are blessed with faithful Abram. The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, proves that Abraham was justified by faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and was pronounced by the Lord a justified person upon footing of Christ's righteousness imputed unto him. In his epistle to the Galatians, he points out the faith of Abraham as that which evidenced his interest in the promised blessing, and sug gests the early and original publication of the gospel to him, which he makes to consist in this, that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in his seed; and that none might imagine, that any nation, or people, descending from him, was to be such a general blessing, he observes, that

the