Olympas. Upon the whole, then, we see pictured out in this scene the two covenants-the two churches, the Jewish and the Christian-and the peculiar fortunes and inheritance of each. It is worthy of note, too, that as the Sinai covenant gendered to bondage, and was represented by Hagar and her son, that these transactions should have occurred in Arabia Petrea, and in the wilderness of Paran, not far from the very mount whence was promulged the law, even the national covenant made with Isaac by Moses the Moderator. In the wilderness of Paran, Ishmael became an expert archer, and his mother it seems went down into Egypt to her own people and took a wife for him. Thus commenced the Ishmaelitish nation; and thus early were pictured out the peculiar genius of the two institutions, and the character and fortunes of those who walk after the flesh, and of those who walk after the Spirit.

We have next an interesting incident indicative of the simple manners and customs of those primitive times, and of the pains which good men, like Abimelech and Abraham, took to preserve peace and a good understanding among their friends and servants. The celebrated well which gave to the whole region the name of Beersheba, or The Well of the Oath, was made famous from the covenant of amity confirmed by an oath, entered into between these two princes. A controversy about a well on the part of Abimelech's servants on some recent occasion, called forth from Abraham at this time an arrangement to prevent similar occurrences. He obliged Abimelech to accept of a pledge of seven lambs, and thereby to establish a witness that the well of Beershe

belonged to Abraham, having been dug by his servants. Wells, in those dry and parched lands, were, to those great herdsmen and shepherds, matters of great importance; and, therefore, we need not wonder at the frequent allusions to them in these ancient records.

What other incident occurs in this chapter, Susan?

Susan. The planting of a grove at Beersheba by Abraham.

Olympas. Whether a grove or an oak, has been long debated by some of the learned. The presumption is in favour of an oak, if we suppose that the sacred oaks among the Greeks and Romans originated from the patriarchal custom. Oaks and groves were anciently celebrated places of resort for the pious. The silence and shade of groves are favourable to devotion; and hence we are told that Abraham called, or was wont to call there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

Good and great men, my dear children, always love communion with God, and therefore they seek for favourable places-closets, mountain tops, deep vales, the margin of streams and rivers, are the favoured spots, the retreats and the proseuches, or places of prayer, where the good and pious delight to pour out their hearts to God. Our Saviour himself spent nights in these sequestered spots, and sometimes retired for days into solitary places for the sake of a fast of the body and a feast of the soul in delightful communion with God. For any great and eminent undertaking there is no preparation like this.

Would you, then, desire to have power with God and to enjoy the delights of an intimate

communion with him? You must early cultivate this habit. You must acquire the art of meditation and abstraction, and learn to reflect much upon the works and ways of God to man, as displayed in nature, in his providence, and especially in the greatest of all his works-the redemption of men from sin, and death, and ruin.

CONVERSATION XXII.

GENESIS XXII.

ABRAHAM'S TEMPTATION.

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Olympas. THE Lord tempted Abraham; yet, saith James, God tempteth no man to evil." How then, Thomas, did God tempt Abraham ? Thomas. He tempted him by trying him-by trying how far he would obey God.

Olympas. God uses strong arguments, and therefore strong temptations. To what points in Abraham's character was the temptation addressed? Reuben. To his parental affection. Abraham

loved Isaac, and he loved God: and God seems to have designed to test which of the two he loved most.

Olympas. True; Abraham had great parental affection for Isaac, and much filial affection for God. Now the question was, Which of the two were the stronger-his parental or his filial affection? But was there nothing more in it than this, William?

William. Abraham was a great man, and his example would be influential, and the Lord took this way of making it so.

Olympas. We had better take up the incidents in order. Let us have the commandment of God to Abraham in this case.

William.

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And God said, Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a

burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

Olympas. Now observe how strong the trial is made by the very words of the precept―“Take thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest."

Olympas. How old was this only son at this time, Eliza?

Eliza. According to the margin he must have been about twenty-four years old. This happened in the year of the world 2132, one hundred and twenty-four years after Abraham's birth. Now as Isaac was born in the hundredth year of his age, Isaac must have been in his twenty-fourth.

Olympas. This, then, shows how long children were subject to their parents in the Abrahamic family and in the East in those ancient times. Was he his only son, Reuben?

Reuben. He was his only son by Sarah his proper wife; and, since the exile of Hagar and Ishmael, he was his only son and heir at home. Olympas. To what place was he sent, James, to offer this burnt-offering?

James. To Mount Moriah in the East.

Reuben. Did not Abraham live in the East? What means 'the East" in this place?

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Thomas. Abraham's home at this time was Beersheba, which was West of the land of Moriah some fifty miles.

Olympas. Describe this land of Moriah, Thomas. Thomas. It is in the Septuagint called "the High Lands"-the high lands of Canaan. In Judea it must have been because the high lands East of Beersheba were there. It is also called the Land of Vision" in my Latin Vulgate, and that farther indicates its height; for persons