A deep and solemn silence followed, while these devoted servants of the Lord prepared themselves by prayer, the one, for death; the other, for the most dreadful trial which faith was ever called to execute. But oh! what mortal pen could venture to portray the feelings which, in that awful interval, passed within souls struggling under every conflict the human heart can know? Vain were the attempt to realise such scenes as these! The fond and tender father taking his last farewell - and such a farewell - of his darling child, in and through whom Abraham had been taught to expect the wondrous blessings of a new and everlasting covenant; a covenant of peace betwixt Jehovah and his own seed for ever! How could he endure the weight of such complicated suffering, while called upon to sever, with his own hand, the dearest tie which nature loves to cherish; - not only to see him die, but with his own sword to shed the blood of his only and well-beloved son; and how could he bind those hands - hands which had so often been stretched forth to embrace him, or been unweariedly employed in acts of filial love and tenderness? It was, indeed, no ordinary trust which enabled Abraham to meet all this and not be overcome. Yet was his faith unmoved, and God did not forsake him!

Abraham now bound the hands of his child, and Isaac resisted not such fetters, knowing that the sacrifice must be bound. This done, the gentle youth looking up, said, "My Father, wilt thou also bind mine eyes, - that I may not see thy hand uplifted against me?-Then shalt thou lay me on the altar, and soon shall my happy spirit be as a newborn soul, dwelling for ever in the very presence of our Lord Jehovah! And yet, my Father, think not, because my flesh is weak, and nature pleads for this indulgence, think not that I shall resist thy blow, or fear to die beneath a tender parent's sword. Oh no! I would not have thee shrink from the bitter task; then, fare thee well! brief will our parting be, and when we meet again, it will be in everlasting glory!"

Now when "Abraham had bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood, he stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' and he said, Here am I. And the Angel said unto him, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."

Oh, who shall dare essay to paint the joy that filled the Patriarch's breast, on receiving his dear and only son once more from the hand of the Lord Jehovah? Far greater was the delight and gratitude that filled his paternal bosom than, when a tender infant, Isaac was presented to his arms by his beloved wife, yet triumphing in the fulfilment of the divine promise. Oh no! it is not feeble imagination that can embody a scene so passing man's conception. Angels only witnessed it; and sympathy alone must realise what language never can express.

His darling thus delivered by the Angel of the Lord, "Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By myself have I sworn,' saith the Lord, 'for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."

C. A.

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