THE OFFERING OF ISAAC.

"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell of.

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."-GEN. xxii. 1-14.

P. Let us now imagine that twenty years have passed away, since Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the desert. During all this time there had been changes in Abraham's house.

W. Yes, Isaac must have changed very much.

P. He had changed very much. He was not a little baby now— crying because he was to be weaned. In the first few years he had grown a little, and having learned to talk, and to take notice, he had made friends with some of his father's sheep and cattle, and had begun to know some of the men-servants, and the women-servants; he had then grown more still, taller and stouter, a great boy full of courage, and had learned perhaps to drive the great bulls and cows, and knew how to take care of the sheep and their little lambs. How delighted his mother Sarah must have been when she watched him and saw him play about! And his father, too, would be very much pleased; he would talk to his mother about him, and would say to her, "What a great boy he growshow stout and healthy he looks! See how he runs, when he plays in the green fields! And, when he came home and sat down in the evening, they would like to look in his pleasant face, and play with his long

curly hair. Abraham and Sarah were old people now, with tottering limbs, and eyes that were dim; but with the cheerful looks and bright smiles of Isaac, their dull, weary old faces would be lighted up; and his pleasant hopeful talk would refresh their souls, and would bring them back again to the merry days of their youth. "Do we not love him?” Abraham would say; 66 this is the child we waited for, whom God had promised so long. He is our heir-our own dear child-our comfort and joy-the child of our old age."

L. And did they ever teach him, papa?

P. I should say-to be sure they did! Do you think they would only watch to see his body grow, and not care for his mind? And oh, what a fine teacher his father Abraham would be! What a number of stories he would know, that he could tell to Isaac! He could tell him about Haram, and his grandfather's house. He could tell him of his grandfather, and the people of Chaldea!

L. He could tell him too of his leaving Haran, and of all the places he went to.

W. And he could tell him about the famine, and Bethel, and Egypt. Ion. And he could tell him all about Lot, and Sodom; and a great many things.

P. But, ah! when Abraham began to tell Isaac about God! There was not any one else in the whole world who could teach him half so much about God. Abraham would tell him of great gifts from God's Spirit of love, and faith, and patience, and obedience, and would make him feel what real and good gifts they were.

Ion. How did he teach him, papa?

P. In many ways, no doubt. When the bright summer days were, and the fields, and cattle, and trees, and birds, and all living things, were very full of life, rejoicing in the light, then, Abraham could show him that God was in that light, and that God made it. Again, when the dark winter nights came, and Isaac would think of the darkness all round the house,—when he heard the wind blowing and battering the house, when he began to tremble at what the wind might do,—then Abraham would tell him that the Great Spirit was outside the house, and in every other place, and that He ruled the winds, and lived in the dark also. And when the bright nights came, and all was calm, then Abraham, who was a learned man, and knew many of the stars by heart, would talk of their wonders to Isaac,-he would say that the Great Spirit who ruled up there-the Spirit who made them all-even that Spirit was God, who lived in the sky also! Thus, when Isaac knew that God lived in the heavens, and earth, and air, and had made everything he could see, no doubt he loved his Father in heaven, and his father and mother on earth.

So, while Isaac was being thus taught, his spirit grew; and, as years rolled on, his body and spirit grew together, until he became a man, a help to his father and mother, and a servant of God.

W. There! I said that Isaac had changed very much-he had

become a man, instead of a baby.

L. Do you think that Abraham loved him as much now that he was a man, papa?

Ion. Yes, of course, especially when he thought, "I helped to make a man of him"-I helped his spirit to grow.

P. True. But there had been other changes besides the change in Isaac. Abraham's riches had changed-he had become richer, and richer, and richer still; but no riches were so pleasant to think about as his son Isaac. Isaac was his glory-his great delight-and his thoughts and affections, by day and night, were given to his only son Isaac. If you had met him one day in the fields, and had said to him, Abraham, what a rich man you are! Which would you rather give up-all your camels-all your thousands of camels-or Isaac ?"

Ion. He would have said, "Camels."

P. And then if you had said, “Abraham, which would you rather give up-all your sheep-your ten thousands of sheep-along with every one of your camels, or Isaac ?"

Ion. He would have said, "Camels and sheep."

P. And if you had said again, "Which would you rather give upall your camels, all your sheep, and all your thousands of cattle and calves, your he goats and she goats, or Isaac ?"

Ion. He would have said, "Camels, and sheep, and cattle, and calves." P. And if you had begun again, "Which would you ?" he would have said, "Do not ask me any more! I would sooner give up my camels, my immense flocks of sheep, my large herds of cattle, my broad fields and plains,-my corn-fields and granaries, my own house,—all my men-servants and maid-servants, my wife Sarah-ay, my own life, —all that I have in this world, rather than my son, my only son, ISAAC!" How he must have loved Isaac! and yet,-listen! When nobody was near, and Abraham was thinking of his very dear son, again there came the voice of the Lord, "Abraham!"

"And he said, Behold, here am I!”

Then said the voice, "Take now thy son, thine only son ISAAC, whom thou lovest; and OFFER HIM FOR A BURNT OFFERING upon one of the mountains which I shall tell thee."

W. What did that mean, papa? It could not mean "kill him."

P. Yes; he was to kill his son-not merely to give him up-but to kill him with his own hands. God, who had given him his son, now required him to give him back again. As God looked down upon him from heaven, perhaps God thought, "He loves Isaac better than all his wealth; does he love Isaac better than Me? If he will give up all he has in this world, rather than Isaac, will he give up his faith in me? I will try if he will obey me;" and then God told him to kill his dear son.

W. I don't think that he would do it,—at least, I think he wouldn't have courage enough,-or perhaps he would ask God not to say so to him.

P. No, he would not venture to ask any questions; he would say to himself, "The Almighty God hath spoken;" and he would think again, "What can I do? I dare not say anything to God. No! I must kill my son !"

Ion. He might have said to God, "May I wait a little while?" There would have been no harm in that.

P. He did not think so. We read that he arose early the next morning, as he had done when he received God's command to dismiss Hagar. No doubt he had much trouble to resolve to do it so soon. As on the evening before he sat at home thinking about it, there must have been a terrible struggle in his mind. His feelings would say to him, "Oh, dreadful deed! to kill your only son!" but his conscience would say, "God wills it ;" and his feelings would say to him again, “Oh, but you are not strong enough to do it!" then his conscience would whisper, "But you are not strong enough to disobey God!" Then his feelings, which would be in a state of agony, would say to him, "Ah, think how much you love Isaac-you cannot bear to kill him!" but his conscience would have the last word—it would come again and whisper, “Abraham, hear the truth! if you love God, you cannot disobey him. Do you not love God more than Isaac ?" Just then Sarah would turn round to him, perhaps, and say, "Abraham, how dull you look,—what makes you so quiet?" but he would have courage, and say nothing to Sarah about it. Brave old Abraham! His feelings within him would try and force the tears into his eyes, but he would keep them down, and would turn away his head; he would only make a long sigh.

Abraham, as I told you, rose early the next morning; perhaps he went himself to Isaac's tent and awoke him, saying, "Get up, my son, and come with me; we are going a long journey to make a sacrifice." He then called two of his young men, who made ready to go with him, and cleaved the wood for the burnt offering. The ass on which Abraham rode was saddled; and when all was ready, they started on their journey -Abraham, Isaac, and the two young men. On the third day, they saw in the distance the mountain which God had appointed as the place for this awful deed. It proved to be mount Moriah-on which spot in after ages the great place of sacrifice, the temple of God, was built by Solomon. When at the border of the mountain, thinking perhaps that it would not be well for the two young men to see him kill his son, or that they might perhaps try to prevent him, Abraham alighted from his ass, and said to the young men, "Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again unto you." He then took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; he himself carried the fire in a vessel, and a knife, and "they went both of them together." As they were walking towards the place, there came a very natural thought into Isaac's mind, and he put to his father this rather puzzling question :-"My father!"

And Abraham said, "Here am I, my son."

"Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

To this Abraham only replied, "God, my son, will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering; so they went on both together."

If Isaac could then have looked into his father's heart, how terrible a struggle he would have seen! No doubt he trembled, and his face was turned away from his only son, when he answered that questionbut, in spite of his inward feelings, the truth must be told, and as they approached the top of the hill, the patriarch must have explained God's message to his son-telling him that he was to be the victim.

W. What would Isaac say? he would not like being killed.

P. But he was a good obedient son. He had always been pious and dutiful, and he would say to Abraham, "Thou art my father, and God is our Father! I will submit to the will of my father, and of God." How truly obedient he must have been! he could have resisted his father had he pleased, for he was now a strong and healthy young man. But, instead of doing this, he no doubt helped him to gather the stones and build the altar. The father and son would then pray together to God for the last time-and Abraham, in sorrow, would lay the wood upon the altar. With increased fear and trembling he would make ready the dreadful fire, and bring forth the knife; and then, with most unsteady hands, he would place his son on the wood, he would bind his hands and feet, and cover his eyes, whilst the pious son would place himself in the best position to be killed. The weak old man would once more look up to heaven to gain courage, and with a hand shaking more than ever, he would uplift the gleaning knife, when—

W. What, papa?

P. Just as it was ready to fall and slay his son, there came the voice again-ABRAHAM!

And he said, "Here am I!"

And the angel of the Lord who had called to him out of heaven said, "Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." The trial of Abraham was complete. In that solemn moment God had proved that Abraham was a faithful man. Although he loved Isaac more than all his cattle and sheep, and all his riches, he would have slain him to show his greater love to God.

And now, as he unbound his son, his intense feelings were turned into joy; as he looked, he saw near at hand a ram which had been caught in a thicket by its horns. This animal he took, and joyfully placed it on the altar as a sacrifice instead of Isaac. Never was sacrifice offered with such delightful feelings. With the greatest relief of mind, and with a heart lightened and made glad, the patriarch must have stood by the altar with his son, while they prayed together again. With what confidence must they have looked up to their Father! They would ask that they might be freed from all sin, and evermore might be His faithful and holy servants.

Noble pair! As they stood before that altar they were a pattern to the world. Both were teachers to the world of true piety and obedience-Isaac, with such love for his father, that he would give up his life rather than disobey him; Abraham, with such love for his Father in heaven, that he would give up his son, dearer than his own life, rather than be faithless or disobedient.

May all of you, dear children, learn, even when you grow up to be men, that there is always One whom you can love and obey; and learn, again, that there is the greatest honour and nobleness of mind in obedience.

L. Did Abraham return home then, papa?

P. Yes; but before leaving the place he remembered how his answer