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spiritual Babylon it is said, "Her sins have reached unto heaven;" "Babylon is fallen, that great city," "in one hour is she made desolate"." In the history of the first Babel, then, was prefigured the fate of the second Babel or Babylon; and what befell Babylon, in a literal sense, shall, in a figurative sense, befall the spiritual Babylon*.-See PART III.

* Rev. xviii. 5.

y Rev. xiv. 8; xviii. 2.

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z Rev. xviii. 19.

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"The whole earth was of one language and of one speech;" but the attempt of the people to erect for themselves a tower of strength, led to confusion of language1. The language of Holy Writ is one language, it is " a pure language 3." They who adopt any other language than that of Scripture, are of a strange speech and of a hard language 4." The Lord is the only "tower of salvation 5," our fortress and high tower","" a fortress and refuge in the day of affliction 7." "Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come," "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD," eyen "the city of the living GOD, the heavenly Jerusalem 10," to which "city" Christ is "the way "," and "he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded 12." If we endeavour to build upon any other foundation than this "sure foundation 13;" if we try to erect for ourselves a tower by which we may ascend to heaven; if

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1 Gen. xi. 1.
2 Gen. xi. 9.
3 Zephan. iii. 9.

4 Ezek. iii. 5.

5 2 Sam. xxii. 51.

Ixi. 3.

Psalm cxliv. 2; xviii. 2;

7 Jere. xvi. 19.
8 Hebr. xiii. 14.

9 Hebr. xi. 10, 16.

10 Hebr. xii. 22.

II John, xiv. 6.

12 1 Peter, ii. 6.

13 Isaiah, xxviii. 16.

The history of Abraham is then recorded: "Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I shall show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." "By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should hereafter receive as an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went." The Lord told Abram, that his seed should be innumerable as " the dust of the earth," and as " the stars 4;" and Abram "believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness * ;" and the Lord dignified him

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we seek to establish any name but that of Christ 14; we shall, like the builders of Babel, be confounded; we shall hear "the voice of strangers 15;" and our presumptuous structure shall, like the Babylon of Shinar," come to nought," and be "made desolate." "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ 16. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it 17.".

14 Acts, iv. 12. Eph. i. 21. Rev. ii. 13; iii. 8.

15 John, x. 4, 5.

a Gen. xii. 1-3.

b Hebr. xi, 8.

. Gen. xiii. 16.

16 1 Cor. iii. 11. Eph. ii. 20-22. Matt. vii. 24, 25. 17 Psalm cxxvii. 1.

d Gen. xv. 5.

e Gen. xv. 6. Rom. iv. 3,

18. Gal. iii. 6. James, ii. 23.

with the appellation of "Abraham my friend,” in reward of his faith. "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made; he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ 5." So that when the promise was made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," "the Gospel" was, as St. Paul remarks, "preached" unto him; for salvation through Christ was "the promise made of GOD unto the fathers;" we "inherit the promises" made unto them; "the promise which was made unto the fathers, GOD hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus againTM. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise";" "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham "." The blessing of all nations was the promised Redeemer; this was "the seed" "to whom the promise was made P." Christ "took on him the seed of Abraham¶.” "Abraham," said Jesus, "saw my day and was glad"."

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By faith, Abraham sojourned in the land of

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promise as in a strange country ;-for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD." He died in faith, and having seen the promises afar off, he was persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that he was "a stranger and a sojourner" upon earth. Abraham, then, understood the promise which was made respecting his seed, as referring to Christ; he looked unto Him as the Redeemer of mankind; he had faith in the promise, and he accepted it; he regarded his own existence upon earth but as a pilgrimage which was to lead to that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"." The land which he regarded as "the land of promise," was "that' better country, that is, an heavenly"." "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac ; and he that had received the promises, offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that GOD was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." As Abraham had believed GOD when he received the promise, that in Isaac should his seed be called ; and, as he had im-

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plicit faith in the truth and power of God, he felt assured, that if he sacrificed Isaac in obe-dience to God's command, GoD would raise him from the dead, and would afterward accomplish in him all that He had PROMISED. Thus did Abraham, by his readiness in offering his son, the heir of promise, upon an altar, manifest his belief in a resurrection from the dead.

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As Abraham "sat in the tent-door in the heat of the day, he lifted up his eyes, and looked, and lo, three men stood by him2;" and Abraham dressed food and "set it before them," " and they did eat ";" this took place when "the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre"." One of these "three men" is styled "the Lord," throughout the narrative*, and is addressed by Abraham as "the Judge of all the earth." the companions of this "Lord" it is said, " The men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord;" and these two appear to be those of whom it is said, shortly afterward, “There came two angels to Sodom at eve." Now, as no man hath seen GoD at any time f," "nor can. see," the Lord," who appeared unto

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c Gen. xviii. 25,

d Gen. xviii. 22.

e Gen. xix. 1.

f John, i. 18. 1 John, iv. 12.

81 Tim. vi. 16.

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