possession-no trusting in a temporary promise, that constituted the faith of the patriarch. He, to whom the land was given, but had not as yet so much as to set his foot on, desires a piece wherein he may lay his departed wife. He purchases it for four hundred pence. Why four hundred ? This simple fact is pregnant with meaning. For four hundred years, according to scripture language, the patriarch and his seed were in bondage. They as yet possessed not the inheritance which would outwardly attest redemption. Abraham, however, attests it, as indispensable, in order to possess and enjoy the blessing. The paying the four hundred pence, and the burying the dead out of sight, was the way to enter into the possession of the inheritance.

There is a mournful testimony in this number 400, be it of pence or years-that this bondage is the condition of all flesh. The multiple is the same as the radical. Four signifies all flesh. Forty is used to express the whole life or generation. The children of Israel were four hundred years in bondage, forty in the wilderness; redeemed, but failing to make their redemption effective, being without faith, they entered not upon the inheritance. Moses, as we have already said, was forty years in bondage, forty in redemption, and forty with God. So, when we bury the dead out of sight, part with the four hundred pence, or come to the end of four hundred years, we attest redemption. Thus Abraham, in giving this money, was not only prophetic of what would be the experience of his posterity, and of all men to the day of Christ, but testified to his own inward experience of the faithfulness of God. The sons of Heth, in self-denial, showed how truly they also enjoyed the blessing of a common Father. It would, indeed, be some gain to society if, even in a worldly point of view, there was such a mutual confidence in

buying and selling as here exhibited. Men might thereby witness to the eternal principles of the covenant; "but if we be not faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to our trust the true?" The love of money, the growing greed, not only enslaves, but leads men to the most questionable acts; and when the golden ball of prosperity has begun to roll, not only do men forget how it was set agoing, but are content to be hoodwinked by a flattering world, and, self-deceived, pass into eternity.

The whole of the eventful life of the patriarch is allegorical of the covenant.

We now look, and not in vain, for another truth-the correlative, so to speak, of burying the dead out of sight, which another event brings before us. This is the married union. Abraham, in his representative character, confirms the covenant with an oath—namely, That a wife unto his son shall not be taken of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he dwelt. As the descendants of Ham, they dishonour the Father; they know not redemption. Such cannot be the bride-sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. If we would be one with the Son, as He and the Father are one, we must not be Canaanites; for it is written, "We are dead by the body of Christ, that we should be married to another: even Him who is raised from the dead, that we bring forth fruit unto God;" else, our fruit will be unto sin.

The servant is to go to the father's own country and kindred, to those who honour him, and thence take a wife for the son. Here there is no choosing of particular persons, but a condition—a putting away of the enmity-the Canaanitish nature in Christ; and so are we meet for the Bridegroom. He says, "Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me into the land; must I needs bring thy son into the land

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whence thou comest out?" The wife must come to the son, and not the son to the wife. She must come, because that which is hostile is dead and buried out of sight. She is, therefore, under the power of his attractive love, leaving kindred and father's house. Not to do this is the inversion of redemption's law. It is, moreover, said, "If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath." What a guarantee has man for eternal blessings! He has the covenant and the oath. Both now stand. This oath becomes a nullity in respect of any man only in his refusing to be the bride of the true Son, in his not coming according to the will of the Father.

He took ten camels. Why ten? It is the sign of totality. Then what does it signify at this point of the narrative? The servant answers, “Because all the goods of my master are in my hands." In inviting the bride, saying, "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget, also, thine own people and thy father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for He is thy Lord" (Ps. xlv. 11), he would also testify, as every minister should, "How that, having spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things" (Rom. viii. 32)? He made presents with ornaments, which also have their symbolical import, as the words of Jehovah testify: "Now, when I passed by thee, and covered thy nakedness, yea, I sware unto thee, saith Jehovah Elohim, and thou becamest mine; then washed I thee with water-yea, I thoroughly washed away thy abominations, and anointed thee with oil" of which the ornaments, bracelets, and earrings were the outward testimony and pledge (Ezek. xvi. 11, &c.).

But the servant asks for the sign whereby he should know who is the wife? It is she that shall draw water from the

well. When we know what it is to drink of the well opened by Christ, we shall then find, in the Son, how that it springs up into everlasting life. And when he found that his journey was prosperous, he blessed Jehovah Elohim of his master, for He had not left him destitute of His mercy and truth. He is now received into the house; he washes his feet, and partakes of the feast set before him. He is himself partaker of the true washing and blessing; and, as the faithful servant, he would bring the bride to the son. Then, in the father's family, these blessings are mutual. So they strengthen each other's faith. Laban and Bethuel testified how all proceedeth from Jehovah, as they said, "Behold, Rebecca is before thee; take her, and go, and let her be thy master's wife." The Apostle, speaking of her, says that she, even as Sarah, conceived by one-that is, by our father Isaac; and that of the twins born, the elder should, according to the covenant, serve the younger the carnal nature the spiritual, which is election, the purpose of the Father. And so it is the seed of Isaac, the only son. She hearkened and considered; she inclined her ear. The message was pleasant to her; she willingly accompanies the man, and, as she departed and followed with her damsels, they blessed her, saying, "Be thou mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of them which hate thee."

She, as she became the wife, and brought forth her children, represented the covenant a reality within, as the elder nature served the younger. Even as she brought forth twins, in whom was a nature hateful to the Father, and must be put away, while that which he loves is to be manifested.

May we all know how to interpret the Word, not giving to isolated parts what is the property of the whole. Some say, "We would be exceeding fearful of imposing any sense upon

the Holy Scriptures which God has not plainly sanctioned." The Bible is a revelation, and given in a form best adapted to the nature of things and the constitution of all men. Who will, then, say there is no sanction for the interpretation of the Word? Let them only see that its sense is attested by the unchanging laws of nature and the fixed relations of life, they will be no longer contented to abide in ignorance, but rise to the apprehension of the substance, which is attested by the shadows that make up the warp and woof of life. But they say, "We will not take upon ourselves absolutely to affirm that the marriage of Isaac was allegorical," and conclude, "It was certainly the marriage of God's only dear Son to His bride, the Church."

Abraham is now married and blessed with a large posterity. The blessing of his God is upon him, according to the covenant. He then departs out of this life, and enters upon the glorious consummation of all his hopes, and so is for ever delivered from all evil.