tial plan in the first ages, we see its course clear. We have the map, with the great features traced upon it, to the exclusion of all the minor prominences. We have the form, undisguised by the various changes and involutions of the robe. Yet this but the more distinctly vindicates the inspiration of the Pentateuch. What human dexterity could thus anticipate the fates, and thus administer to, the wisdom, of the future?

THE SECOND CYCLE.

BOOK II.

CHAPTER XXIII.

have

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

THE Commencement of the Second Era of Revelation was distinguished by one of those acts of Providence which illustrate the great principle, that "He will have mercy on whom He will mercy." The chosen line, the sons of Shem, had fallen into the common idolatry of Chaldæa'. And as God chose Paul out of the multitude of the Jewish persecutors, He chose Abraham out of the multitude of the Babylonish Apostates. His first summons was a general command to leave the place of his birth, "Ur of the Chaldees." He migrated to Charran, in the west of Mesopotamia3.

Joshua xxiv. 2.

2 Acts vii. 3.

3 Charran is supposed to have been the Carrhæ, near which Crassus was defeated. It was about 120 miles west of Ur.

In fourteen years after, on the death of Terah, his father, he received a second command to go forth; and, in the spirit of sacred submission, obeyed, "not knowing whither he went." On his advance into Palestine; at Sichem, the more distinct declaration was given, that the land was to be the possession of his family, that his family should enlarge into a great nation, and that from him should be descended the Messiah'. Why Abraham should have been sent into Palestine so many ages before its actual possession, is perhaps to be accounted for only on the principle that Providence never wastes power. Abraham could not have continued the depositary of religion, yet continued safe in his native place, without a miracle. He was thus removed from the land of the idolator, into a remote country; where, however the purity of the first revelation might have been gradually tarnished, its chief features survived. Abimelech, king of Gerar, though a man of violence, evidently acknow

Jewish tradition, reluctant to admit the possible error of the national ancestor, held that Abraham had first openly declared his hostility to idols; and, thus rendering himself the object of persecution, was at once led from Chaldæa by the Divine voice, and driven by the popular resentment.-Judith v. 6.

2

There has been some idle scoffing at the modern improbability of the seizure of Sarah, at the ages of 66 and 90, by the Kings of Egypt and Gerar. But the only improbability arises from overlooking the difference in the duration of human life. In Abraham's time, it was nearly twice the average of life in

"Lord,

ledged the true Deity, by his prayer, wilt thou slay a righteous nation?" Melchizedec, the king of Salem, was an actual priest of God; and admitted Abraham as a known fellow worshipper: "Blessed be Abraham, servant of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth." Even among the wild habits of the Arabs, there was a redeeming tincture of revelation; and the language of Job is full of a more profound religious impression, than that of any uninspired Jew. Another peculiarity of the land was, that it was divided into extremely small sovereignties thus Abraham's household, which must

ours. He died at 175. On this scale Sarah, when in Egypt, would have arrived at scarcely more than a third of the common duration, equivalent to about 30 years now. Even at ninety, she would have reached little more than half the length of human life; or, on our scale, about 45 or 50. But there is an evident distinction in the narratives. In the former instance, Abraham speaks of Sarah's beauty as rendering her situation perilous; and this beauty is praised by "the princes of Egypt." In the latter, nothing is said of her beauty, which had probably been impaired by the natural result of years; though a rapacious and profligate prince might include her in the number of his slaves.

It has been unnecessarily presumed, that the transaction with Abimelech is merely a confused repetition of the story of the seizure by Pharaoh. But the two narratives are given, with separate circumstances, on the part of the kings; with separate penalties for their transgression; and, as has just been observed, with a striking omission in the latter narrative, suitable to the interval of time.

have been crushed by a collision with the Chaldæans, became a formidable force among the little principalities of Palestine'. Both causes must have greatly lightened the difficulty of preserving his family and his religion.

His gradual separation from his brother's house, and even from Lot, may have been for the purpose of preserving his immediate descendants free from the taint of those original Chaldæan habits, which must have long had their influence. It is evident that idols were worshipped among the relatives of Abraham in Mesopotamia so late as the time of Jacob's marriage, nearly two hundred years after.

After the blessing of Melchizedec, a new declaration of the Divine blessing was made to Abraham. The promise, that his children should inherit the land, was repeated still more distinctly; and, on his asking some testimony of the grant, he was commanded to prepare the ceremonial of a covenant, as was usual between man and man. A heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, each three years old, were cut asunder, and the parts laid opposite to each other; a turtle-dove and a young pigeon were also presented, but not di

1 The sons of Heth, in this sense, pronounce Abraham a mighty prince;" and his recovery of the spoil taken from the kings of the cities of the plain, shows how effectively his power must have been felt among those minute principalities.