view shall serve to introduce the history of the other lives, which the sacred volume in succession, presents to our observation, and has sketched for our information and improvement. In Adam, we behold at once our natural first father, and our federal head: from whom, as men, our existence is derived, and by whose conduct our character has been deeply affected, and our state in some respects determined. "Our father Adam, where is he?" He fulfilled his day, he accomplished the purposes of the eternal mind, he then fell asleep, and is now seen no more. But, however remote the date of his formation, and of his death; however distant from us the region in which he lived, however apparently unconnected with us in interest, in fame, or fortune, we are, we know, we feel ourselves deeply involved in what he was, in what he did. In Adam we all died; we all forfeited a natural, and lost a spiritual and divine life: and, in Adam, we received the promises which have since been fulfilled, and to him first were opened prospects, which the course of Providence has realized, even the restoration of our fallen nature, by one "greater man," who has regained for us seats more blissful than those from which by transgression he fell; namely, the "seed of the woman, who has bruised the serpent's head." Our first father, where is he? Lost indeed to us, but not to God. All traces of him, excepting those only which perpetuate the memory of his guilt and its woful consequences, are effaced and forgotten; but his station before God remains unchanged, his importance undiminished. Dead to us, he lives to Him, with whom "a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years." Can we meditate upon the first man who was created upon the earth, without rising in our thoughts to Him who created him out of the dust of the ground, and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life? And who has of one blood formed all nations of men to inhabit upon the face of the whole earth." Can we think of our father after the flesh; and not connect with him the idea of our Father who is in heaven? Is not the painful recollection of him in whom all died, happily relieved and done away by reflecting on the glorious second Adam, in whom an elect world is made alive? And O, how is the loss of an earthly paradise compensated by the promise of "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" that paradise of God, in the midst of which grows the tree of life, always blossoming, always bearing fruit, and exempted from the dangerous neighbourhood of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Our brother Abel, where is he? Cut off in the bloom of life; fallen, fallen by the| 66 hand of a brother; but immortal by his faith and piety, qualities not liable to the stroke of death. By faith he offered to God" an excellent and an acceptable sacrifice. In presenting the firstlings of his flock, he had a respect to the great Lamb of atonement, and thereby, "being dead, he yet speaketh." Prematurely taken away, but not for a crime; "a victim to malice and envy, he typified Messiah, the Prince, cut off, but not for himself," crucified and slain in the prime of life, by the impious hands of his nearest kindred. And, living under the influence of the same principle, we too shall become immortal, shall "endure as seeing him, who is invisible, and present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service." In the life, and more particularly in the exit of the patriarch Enoch, life and immortality were more clearly brought to light. Hitherto, men had terminated their earthly course by descending into the grave and seeing corruption. But, when we come to inquire concerning Enoch, "where is he?" The scriptures reply, "By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God."+ "He was not, for God took him." Our thoughts here settle, not on the gloomy mansions of the dead, "the house appointed for all living,” but on the regions of eternal day, irradiated with the glory, and beautified with the presence of God. We rise in faith and hope to that bright world from which Christ descended, and to which, having finished his work, and achieved his victory, he afterwards reascended, leading captivity captive. And all who are partakers of the same precious faith, contemplate with joy that same mansion of everlasting rest, "prepared for them from the foundation of the world," and "ready to be revealed in the last time," when the body shall be redeemed from the power of the grave, and the Saviour, lifted up on high, shall "draw all men unto him." In Enoch, "walking with God," and passing immediately, soul and body, from earth to heaven, the world that then was, saw, in a figure, Him that was to come, whose meat and drink it was to do the will of his heavenly Father, and who has opened a passage, through the very gates of death, into the heavenly world, and that not for himself only, but for all who believe on his name, and who love his appearing. Enoch, our father, where is he? There, O my soul! there, O my christian friend, where, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, we have everlasting consolation, in the good hope of arriving also. “O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory! Thanks be to God, who † Heb. xi. 5. Rom. xii. 1. giveth us the victory, through Jesus Christ | ten. Let him who is rearing a mansion of our Lord."* one thousand feet by five hundred, meditate on one of six by two, and learn to die. type, are immortal. That magnificent vessel, not the contrivance of man, but the appointment of God; constructed according to the pattern, formed and prescribed by infinite wisdom; preserved in the wild uproar of conflicting elements, by the almighty power of God;-resting at length on solid ground, and unloading its precious treasure without the loss of a single life-are so many successive, distinct, pleasing, and instructive views of the plan formed, followed, and, in due time, perfected, of man's deliverance from sin, and death, and hell, by the Lord Jesus Christ; who thus speaks of his redeemed, and of himself, in his last solemn address to his Heavenly Father, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost;"* and in another place, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."+ Advancing to the times of Noah, we behold the world first deluged with an over- The ark which Noah prepared for the flowing flood of sin, and then with an inun- saving of his house, where is it? It fulfilled dation of waters. The measure of human ini- its destination, it escaped the wreck of worlds, quity full, and the vials of divine wrath filled, it preserved, and rendered up, its precious in order to punish it, up to the brim, and poured deposit, then fell into decay. It exists but out upon an impious generation, to its utter in description, it has no form but what fancy extinction and ruin. Nevertheless, a rem-has bestowed upon it in a picture, or upon a nant is saved, and mercy rejoices in the midst coin. But its fame, its use, its end, its antiof judgment. Animated by the same principle which inspired his venerable ancestors, that principle which gave value to Abel's sacrifice, which strengthened Enoch to walk with God, and through which he was translated without tasting of death, Noah "prepared an ark for the saving of his house." The history and method of redemption, by the Lord Jesus Christ, are so clearly prefigured in every part of this wonderful event, that he who runs may read them. Noah, "a just man, and perfect in his generations;" Noah, who "walked with God," and was "a preacher of righteousness;" Noah, who, "warned of God of things not seen as yet, and moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house," is evidently in all these characters and actions, a type of the Holy and Just One, whom the world despised and rejected; a type of "the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and hath declared him" unto men; a type of the great "teacher sent from God," to warn a guilty devoted race to flee from the wrath to come, and to conduct them to a place of safety: a The emblems of the raven, the dove, the type of him, who, chosen of God, and moved rainbow, the altar, the sacrifice, and others by pity and affection, prepared a present re- which enter into the history of this patriarch, fuge, and an everlasting habitation, for pe-are beautiful and significant illustrations of rishing sinners. Of Noah, his pious pro- the same interesting, all-important subject. phetic father, when he imposed his name, And the whole taken together, satisfyingly exultingly exclaimed, "This same shall com- demonstrate, that if "death reigned from fort us concerning our work and toil of our Adam to Noah," and the "offence abounded," hands, because of the ground which the Lord yet "grace did much more abound ;” and that hath cursed :"+ and, in the blessed Redeem-out of the ruins of human apostacy, guilt er of mankind, all his pious, believing children, enjoy the prospect of a period, and a world, wherein "there shall be no more curse;" and on whom the eternal Father by the tongue of an angel, imposed the name of Jesus, because he should "save his people from their sins." Noah, our father, where is he? where is the man who was Enoch's contemporary, who conversed with the sages of the old world, who saw the globe one vast ocean, whom all the waters of a deluge could not drown, who received a grant of the whole renewed earth for an inheritance? All these successive changes led but to the grave, and we see him no more. "All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died." Let the possessor of a continent think of this, and check his pride. Let florid, vigorous youth, think of three score years and † Gen. v. 29, L 1 Cor. xv. 55. 57. and misery, the hand of Heaven was gradually rearing that glorious fabric of salvation, which, when completed, an enraptured universe shall contemplate with astonishment and delight. "This is the day which the Lord hath made: this is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." The sight of the world restored, renewed, and blessed to Noah, the second father of the human race, leads us forward, borne on the wings of promise, to the still more magnificent prospect of the restitution of all things;" to the day when he who sitteth upon the throne shall say, "Behold I make all things new;" when, according to his word, a new, more splendid, and more durable system of the universe shall arise under the plastic hand of the great Author and Finisher of the Christian faith, from the wreck of worlds consumed by fire; John xvil. 12. ↑ John x 28, 20. when Jesus shall bring all his ransomed ones to Zion, with "songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; when sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Sailing down the current of sacred history, the plains of Mesopotamia and Ur of the Chaldees appear in sight; and we behold an illustrious exile and his family, on their way from their country, kindred, and father's house, like the first pair expelled from Eden, All the world before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. in his bosom," resting from all his own troubles; and cherishing the poor, the outcast, the afflicted, the tormented; enjoying "the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul," and waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body; "beholding him face to face, whom once he beheld afar off, and as in a glass darkly." Who is this that breaks in upon us at once in meridian glory? What bright day dazzles the wondering eye, preceded by no dawn, succeeded by no evening? It is Melchizedec, that "king of righteousness and peace," We behold Abram, at God's command, that priest of the most high God, whose going out, "not knowing whither he went;" generation none can declare, whose nature Abram, the respected father of all them that and person none is able to describe. Is he believe, raised up of Providence, in the same but as one of the prophets, or is he the Lord important view, to carry on the same grand of the prophets himself, pronouncing the design. In the declarations which were blessing which he alone can confer; celemade to him, we behold the plan of redemp-brating in an early age, that eucharist, which tion assuming a clearer and more distinct form; unfolding its nature, and arranging its several parts. The glorious person who was promised to Adam, immediately upon the fall, under the more obscure description of the "seed of the woman," who should "bruise the head of the serpent," was now announced to the world, as the "seed of Abram," in whom "all the families of the earth should be blessed." And henceforward we have prediction upon prediction, ordinance upon ordinance, promise upon promise, event upon event, leading to, rising above, improving, enlarging upon one another, like the light of the ascending sun, gradually increasing from the early dawn to the perfect day. We observe types, shadows, ceremonies, sacrifices, disappearing by little and little; patriarchs, priests, prophets, lawgivers, and kings, retiring one after another, and giving place to "the Lord, our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King, to save us:" as the twinkling fires of the night hide their diminished heads, and the vapours disperse before the glorious orb of day. But, Abraham our father, whither is he also gone? Even the faith which surrendered an Isaac at God's command, and which has forever preserved his name from death, could not rescue his body from the power of the grave. It sleeps and is dissolved in the cave which was purchased from Ephron the Hittite. He had not a principle of life in himself, nor the power of communicating it, to either his natural or spiritual posterity. But the "words and the statutes, which God commanded him and his other servants the prophets, took hold of them," and continue to lay hold of us. In the midst of all this mortality and change, one thing is immutable and eternal, the word, the purpose, the decree of the Most High. "Heaven and earth may pass away, but it shall not pass away." Our father Abraham, where is he? Behold him in yonder world of bliss, with "Lazarus should be the memorial of his office and glorious achievement, till time expire? In him, whatever he were, a type, or the son of God revealed; a shadow, or the substance; in him we behold the great leading object of Providence disclosed to our view; that priesthood which is unchangeable, that kingdom which shall never be destroyed, that Prince of peace, who has reconciled guilty men unto God, that righteousness through which we have access with humble confidence to the throne of grace. "Abraham rejoiced to see that day.' It strengthened him to wait patiently for the promised seed; it cheered his wanderings from place to place; it fortified his heart to the sacrifice of his Isaac; it laid his hoary head with hope in the dust. Having from this eminence surveyed the ground through which we have travelled; a delightful landscape, terminating in the distant hills of Eden, and watered by the fair river of PROMISE, meandering through its whole vast extent-we look forward, in hope and desire, to the happy plains where Isaac pitched his tent, and Jacob fed his flocks; to the nations which Joseph saved by his wisdom, and ruled by his power. And, in our intended progress, Eternal Spirit of Wisdom! vouchsafe thou to be our instructer and our guide: point out to us the objects which deserve our notice: enlighten thou our eyes, guard our hearts, direct the paths of our feet. What we know not, that do thou teach us, what we do know, help us wisely to improve. Following thee, "the crooked shall become straight before us, and the rough places plain. The sun shall not smite us by day, nor the moon by night. We shall go from strength to strength," after them who "inherit the promises, till every one of us also, in Zion, appeareth before God." Have you ground of pride and joy, my friends, in the acknowledgment or recollection of your forefathers? Were they wise and good; blessed in themselves, and a bless ing to the world? Take care that ye degenerate not from their virtues, that ye dishonour not their name, that ye swerve not from "the good old way" of piety, in which they trode. Is there in the line of your ancestry, any circumstance humiliating and painful? Efface it, annihilate it, sink it, in a new existence, derived from a celestial stock. Change the tainted, corrupted current of an earthly pedigree, for the adopted honours, the gratuitous inheritance, the ennobled spirit of your Heavenly Father's love. Strive to be the first of your race; and leave to your heirs a possession infinitely better than the demesnes of princes, even the savour of a good name, a pattern worthy of imitation, the remembrance of qualities which are not subject to the stroke of death. You see, Christians, what is the leading, the commanding object, in the eye of eternal Providence. The salvation of a lost world by Jesus Christ. Adopt the same object, cleave unto it, keep it continually in view. All things else are vain and worthless; for they are passing quickly away. Our interest in, our hold of the world is diminishing every hour. Our consequence, as candidates for immortal bliss, as the heirs of glory, is rising in proportion. When we cease from importance, as the citizens of this world, our real importance begins to be felt nd understood. I recommend not sullen distance from your fellow-creatures, nor peevish discontent. Live in the world, associate with mankind, enjoy your portion which God allotteth you. But "use the world so as not to abuse it;" and while you are cumbered about many things, never forget that one thing is needful; and make choice of that "good part which shall not be taken away from you." While we speak and hear, we change; and the hand of the executing angel hastens to number us with the dead. We are going to join the venerable men whose memory we revere, whose faith we profess to follow, whose virtues we are bound to copy. Yet a little while, and time shall be no more; and we shall be contemporary with our fathers who have preceded, and with our children who are to follow us, until the dissolution of this system. We look back to Adam, the father of us all, and we look forward to his youngest son. We look up, and "see heaven opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." We look around and behold "the nations of men that are saved" bending before the throne. We hear the Saviour's voice, "Here am I, and the children thou hast given me." We hear the word of the ETERNAL FATHER proclaiming aloud; and the myriads of an assembled universe, angels and men, joyfully echo it back, “All is good, yea, very good." Amen. Hallelujah! HISTORY OF ISAAC. LECTURE XX. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac: And Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.-GENESIS xxv. 11. THOSE Scenes in human life which make | the repose of others; the history of one, who, the greatest figure in history, are far from by the example of his piety and virtues, did being the most beneficial to mankind; nei- more to instruct and to bless mankind, than ther were the persons, whose names have been transmitted to us with the most renown, and whose actions have dazzled posterity with their lustre, either the happiest in themselves, or the greatest blessings to the age in which they lived. To make one man a hero, how many garments must have been dyed in blood? And what are the acclamations of a triumph, but the miserable echo of the cries of the wounded, and the groans of the dying? a We are this night to trace the history of man of peace: the history of one, who was not indeed exempted from his share of the ills which flesh is heir to, but whose afflictions, being private and domestic, were patiently borne by himself, and disturbed not all the conquerors which ever existed, from Nimrod of Assyria, down to Frederic of Prussia. The life of Isaac, for seventy-five years of it, is blended with that of his illustrious father. For though, upon the face of the narration, the birth of Esau and Jacob does not appear till considerably after the death of Abraham, yet, by comparing dates, we find, that the lads must have been fifteen years old when their grandfather died. And we may justly consider it as no slight trial of the faith both of the father and son, that Isaac the heir of the promise, should' live twenty years childless, from his marriage with Rebekah. But their patience of hope, their importunity of prayer, and their confi dence of faith, are at length rewarded by two | casion, applied to both, equally and in the sons at once. I mean not to recapitulate the extraordinary circumstances of Isaac's conception and birth, as they have already been considered in the history of Abraham. We shall only take up those particulars of his story which are more personal and peculiar; in which Isaac himself was either an agent or a sufferer. And, we find him at an early period indeed, feeling distress and suffering persecution. The day he was weaned, how was the festivity of that joyful occasion embittered to his childish, innocent heart, by the cruel taunts and mockings of his brother Ishmael! It is remarkable that almost all, at least the severest trials which this patriarch endured, arose from his nearest and dearest relations. Hated and scorned from the womb, by his brother; devoted in sacrifice of his father; called early to mourn the loss of his affectionate mother; afflicted for twenty years with the barrenness of his only and beloved wife; vexed from their very conception, with the strife of his jealous sons, struggling for superiority; mortified and grieved to the heart, with the inconsiderate, unwise, idolatrous marriages of his favourite Esau; practised upon, and deceived in old age and blindness by the address and cunning of his wife, and younger son; involved in quarrel upon quarrel with his powerful neighbours, through the rashness and contentiousness of his servants: never faulty, yet throughout unfortunate. Indeed a man's liableness to distress and disappointment is in exact proportion to the number and quality of the good things which he possesses. Do we enjoy peculiar delights? We are on the brink of danger. same manner. The next important event of Isaac's life, upon the sacred record, is his marriage. Swallowed up of sorrow for the loss of his mother, or absorbed in devout meditation, he leaves all concern about his future fortunes, and establishment in the world, to the care and wisdom of his father. And he thereby reproves the forwardness and self-sufficiency of our young men, who presume to think for themselves in every thing before they have learned to think at all; who attempt the works of men with the knowledge and the strength of children. In the various particulars of this transaction, we have a beautiful and interesting picture of the simplicity of ancient manners and customs. Is it not a custom rather ancient and obsolete, to see all parties piously acknowledging God, upon such an occasion as this? Is it not rather uncommon to see a prudent father, anxious to match his only son with virtue and religion, not with rank and affluence, to the endangering of his moral and religious principles? With us, the most valuable accomplishments, whether bodily or mental, go for nothing, unless set off with gold; but Rebekah, without a dowry, was with jewels and gold courted to the arms of Isaac. Has the female heart alone in all ages been the same; perpetually accessible to the allurements of finery, presents, and praise? Where shall we now look for servants such as Abraham's, at once affectionate to his master, faithful to his trust, and filled with reverence to his God. This part of the history is an excellent commentary upon that injunction of the wise man, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."* Abraham's servant has hardly finished his address to heaven, when lo, Providence which works unseen, unknown, unobserved by us, has brought the subject of his prayer already to his eye. At the partiality of Sarah to such a son as Isaac, we need not be at all surprised. It is pleasant to observe, however, that this partiality neither corrupted his understanding nor his heart. Neither the indulgence which And in what place, in what employment he met with, nor the prospects to which he is the destined bride of Isaac found? Indowas born and brought up, seem to have ren-lently reclined under a canopy of state, or dered him, on any occasion, insolent or as-issuing forth to breathe the evening air, acsuming. And maternal fondness met with companied by a numerous and splendid retiits dearest, best reward, in filial duty and tenderness. Sarah lived respected, and died lamented, by her only and beloved son. nue of domestics? No, my fair hearers, look at Rebekah, beautiful, and young, and high born, bearing her pitcher on her shoulder to In reviewing the sacrifice of Isaac, that I the well, to draw the evening's water for the may not encroach on your time, I shall only family-and learn, that the humble, yet usemake this remark-that this memorable trans-ful employments of domestic life, are a viraction was not less a proof of the faith of Isaac, than of Abraham himself. As the obedience of the father was prompt and cheerful, so was that of the son. If the resignation of Abraham merits praise, the submission of Isaac claims no less; for his consent must undoubtedly have been obtained. In both it was "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, and a reasonable service;" and the blessing pronounced from heaven on that oc tuous woman's most honourable station; that whether in virginity, wedlock, or widowhood, God and nature have destined you to occupations, not perhaps highly honourable in the eyes of unfeeling wealth, or giddy dissipation, but highly consequential to the happiness of others, and therefore essential to your own. Look yet again to Rebekah, and learn affability, and kindness, and condescen Prov, iii. 6. |