Sarah. Abraham was born A. M. 2009, and he is now seventy-five years old. This, then, was the year of the world 2084.

Olympas. What do you mean, James, by A. M: and A. D.?

James. A. stands for Anno and M. for Mundi: Anno Mundi, in English, in the year of the world; and A. for Anno and D. for Domini, in the year of our Lord.

Olympas. Eliza, does Paul make this promise a date of any importance?

Eliza. He dates the promulgation of the Law with a special reference to this date. The Law, he says, was four hundred and thirty years after this transaction.

Olympas. Where is this found?

Eliza. In Galatians iii. 17. It reads,

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And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed of God in Christ, the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of non-effect."

Olympas. But how do you know that this promise in Genesis xii. is the covenant confirmed of God in Christ?

Eliza. Paul says the seed, in the promise "in thy seed," was Christ. And therefore this covenant concerned Christ.

Olympas. But it is said the covenant was confirmed in Christ.-What does that mean? Eliza. I cannot tell.

Olympas. Explain it, Thomas.

Thomas. The word you said that is translated in is not en, but eis in Greek, which means into, and concerning or in order to, which sufficiently explains the passage. The covenant of God con

cerning Christ, or in reference to, or in order to Christ. The covenant or promise, (for all God's promises are covenants, to which, when we agree, we are in covenant with God,) of the blessing of Abraham, was in relation to his seed-" He says not to seeds, as of many; but to thy seed, which is Christ."

Olympas. You have made one excellent remark, to which I call the attention of the whole family. All God's promises are covenants, and he that embraces them is in covenant with God. Well, if man does not fail in holding fast the promise, God cannot fail, and the thing is secure. The covenant or promise concerning Christ it is said was four hundred and thirty years before the Law. How do you make that out, William ?

William. Abraham was seventy-five years old when this promise was made; Isaac was born twenty-five years after; Isaac was sixty when Jacob was born, and Jacob was one hundred and thirty when he went down into Egypt; and the Jews were in Egypt two hundred and fifteen years before the exodus was complete. Now these seve

ral sums make exactly four hundred and thirty years. Well, the Law was given three months after they left Egypt, which places the Law four hundred and thirty years from the covenant or promise confirmed by God concerning the seed, Christ.

Olympas. In what year of the world then, Eliza, was the Law given?

Eliza. We have only to add four hundred and thirty years to the year 2084, when Abraham was seventy-five years old, when he became a pilgrim. That places the giving of the Law of Ten Com

mands A. M. 2515, or in that year. The Law, then, is three hundred and fifty-nine years after the flood, and four hundred and thirty after the covenant concerning Christ, confirmed by God to and with Abraham.

Olympas. I will often call you to this most prominent subject; but in the meantime we shall proceed to some other points. Tell me, James, who accompanied Abraham on his tour?

James. Lot his brother's son, Sarah his wife, and all their substance, and the souls they had gotten in Haran.

Olympas. What substance, and what souls were there, William ?

William. In the thirteenth chapter we learn that Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold; and we also learn that he had many servants; and these were the souls that he had gotten in Haran.

Olympas. True, William. Abraham's servants and Abraham's cattle were different sorts of property; for his servants had souls, and his cattle had not. After they had returned from Egypt, where he had so much trouble in saving his wife, which way did he direct his journey, Sarah?

Sarah. He returned to Bethel, the place of the altar, and there again he called upon the name of the Lord. And Lot was with him still.

Olympas. Was Lot rich, James?

James. Yes; he had flocks, and herds, and tents, and the land was too small for their flocks and herds; for their substance was so great that they could not dwell neighbours. And a strife arose between their servants.

Olympas. James, explain the words substance, flocks, and herds.

James. Substance means wealth; flocks mean sheep, and herds cattle.

Olympas. Very just.

And how was the controversy among their servants adjusted?

William. Abraham gave Lot his choice of the country, and they separated from each other.

Olympas. Observe that there is not so much sociability and neighbourhood among the rich as among the poor. The rich have large possessions, and that separates them. The more wealth and honour in all countries and in all ages, the less neighbourhood, the less social intercourse. The grandees of the world have neither friendship, nor society. They have wealth and honour; but the poor have society, friendship, and love. I mean not the abject poor, but those comparatively poor. Abraham and Lot, though strangers in a foreign land, though standing in the position of uncle and nephew, were separated by their wealth, and a strife arose among their servants about pasturage.

But you must farther observe that if Kings and Queens have no society, and if the very great and opulent have little or no friendship, still a good and a great man is a generous man. Hence the noble and generous magnanimity of Abraham in anticipating Lot by making him a tender of the first choice of the whole country, and in taking to himself that which his nephew refused. The sequel will show that Abraham's course was not only the most noble and the most approved by Heaven; but it turned out, as it generally does in such cases, the wiser and the better policy.

CONVERSATION XV.

GENESIS XIV.

Olympas. This is the oldest battle on record; and were it not that it embraced some part of the history of Abraham and Lot, it never would have been preserved till now. Who were the belligerents, William ?

William. They were Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal, on the one part; and the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar, on the other-five kings against four.

Olympas. What was the cause of this ancient battle?

William. Tyranny on the one part, and rebellion on the other. These five kings had served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and had rebelled in the thirteenth; and in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and his allies attempted to reduce the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar, to submission..

Olympas. How did they succeed, Reuben?

Reuben. In the first place Chedorlaomer and his allies smote the Rephaims, the Zuzims, the Emims, the Horites, the Amalekites, and the Amorites,—men, as you have taught us, of gigantic stature. After these conquests the five kings went out to meet the conqueror. they fared no better at his hand.

Olympas. Where was this battle fought?

But