were all pronounced in the name of the same God, and obeyed by Abraham as proceeding from the same authority. After such various and repeated intercourse with this mysterious personage, and after having heard his words upon so many different occasions, his must have beena treacherous memory indeed, if it could not recollect the sound of the voice which had so often directed his actions, and controlled his thoughts; and his must have been a weak and unsound judgement indeed if it could not distinguish between the signs of a real and a pretended communication from this frequent counsellor. But not only was Abraham, by the constant recurrence of these interviews with this awful Being, enabled to recognise his features, and perceive his footsteps; but he was also in a capacity to conclude without hesitation and doubt, that they were the footsteps and features of the all-powerful, all-merciful, and allrighteous Jehovah himself. For the son which this Lord had declared that Sarah should conceive, his power had enabled her to bring forth in her old age. The judgement which he had pronounced upon the lustful cities of the plain, his righteousness had executed before the morning's dawn; and the support and kindness which he had promised to the hated Hagar, his mercy had fulfilled, even in the wilderness, and without delay. All his words had been accomplished, all his

predictions verified, as far as the time and opportunity would permit; and amidst so many wise. and wonderful works, it would have been most strange had Abraham imagined the Being with whom he conversed to be any other than that mighty King, whose vengeance is upon the wings

of the wind, and who maketh his ministers a flaming fire; who turneth the standing water into a wilderness, and calleth for water-springs out of a dry ground; who maketh also the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Where testimonies like these had been given, it is clear that he could be doubtful neither with regard to the identity, nor the nature of him, who had demanded the sacrifice of his son, so far at least as the external evidences were concerned. Had the command therefore been merely of an ordinary kind, it is clear that no one would, for a moment, have imagined that Abraham was deceived in supposing that it was God himself who had spoken. He had sufficient proof both of the person and power of the speaker, to preclude every probability of error. Whether that probability of error was in any degree affected by the extraordinary nature of what he was required to perform; whether the internal unfitness and impropriety of the command to sacrifice his son, were not sufficient to counterbalance every external argument in

favour of its divine origin, is what we are called in the second place, to investigate.

upon,

II. Now it must necessarily be allowed, that wherever a command is absolutely immoral, and altogether unworthy of being either enjoined or performed, there is no degree of external evidence which can outweigh the internal presumption against its divinity, or give us any reasonable satisfaction that it came from God. But before we venture to pronounce upon the immorality of a command, it may become us not only to consider well the relation in which it stands to each connected being and event, but also to examine with the utmost diligence whether we are acquainted with the whole circumstances of the case, and whether there be not reason to suspect that the Deity may have been influenced by motives unknown, or incomprehensible to our limited understandings. In every instance this is our duty as dependent and created beings, and the diffidence with which we pronounce our judgement ought always to be proportioned to the weight of the external evidence. It were most unnatural to suppose, that God would ever allow the positive proofs of any revelation to amount to so high a degree of assurance as to be incapable of being rationally rejected, were that revelation itself essentially repugnant to his will. Wherever,

therefore, the external evidence of a divine revelation or command is found, to be of such an irresistible nature that, when taken alone, it would bear down every prejudice of unbelief, there we may fairly presume that the command did most probably proceed from God, and in consequence of that probability, we ought to be particularly jealous in the prosecution of our reasonings into its internal credibility. We ought to make every admissible allowance, and try every possible supposition by which it may be reconciled to our pre-established opinions. Since then we have already found how strong and irresistible must have appeared to Abraham the external marks of the divine origin of the command to offer up his son, it is evident, that in estimating its moral propriety, we are bound to be peculiarly diffident in our conclusions, and authorised to give its full weight to every consideration which he might adopt to justify his obedience.

1. The first difficulty, then, which the Patriarch would feel would be this, that the command required a sacrifice of blood and the first consideration which might tend to remove this difficulty, would be the reflection, that sacrifices of blood had already been approved by the Deity in some of the most memorable instances, and

some of the most holy individuals whom the world had ever seen. In a sacrifice of blood had Abel been accepted, and through a sacrifice of blood had Noah obtained a renewal of the blessings and covenant of God. To Abraham himself also had a sacrifice of blood been already appointed as a means of assuring him of the fulfilment of the promises which he had received. "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit this land," said Abraham unto the Lord Goda. And the Lord God "said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these. And it came to pass, that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. And in the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Thus had God enjoined upon him the privation of animal life, as a religious service, and thus had his obedience been rewarded by the miraculous acceptance of his sacrifice and a solemn repetition of the temporal blessings he desired, and an additional confirmation of the covenant of the Almighty with his seed. Why

a Gen. xv. S.