V. The Character of Abraham (I v-13) 1st verse XXIV. And Abraham was old and well stricken, in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. I have read these verses, in order to make some observations on the history, characterm and religion of Abraham, as an illustration of the faith and obedience, of which he sets us so striking an example. Now I should premise that although we often consider religion generally, as a creed of outward institutions, and although it is fitting so to do, yet it is also nocessary, that we should consider it, as embodied in some of the principal characters which are held forth, for our imitation, in the holy scriptures. For religion, as drwan by the pen of inspiration, is entirely perfect, both in its injuctions, and in its ordinances, but as it appears in character, it is imperfect sometimes distorted, its injunctions are forgotten, and its ordinances are not observed, which is entirely caused by the imperfection of man, not of religion. Yet, it will be profitable for us to observe how far, and how perfectly, religion can be embodied, in the character of any human creature and thus, and thus only we shall be able to feel, and to lament the greatness of our own coming short. Without therefore, yeilding one title, of the influence, and perfect excellency of religion, we wish to see how far that influence extends itself, over the life, the actions, and the character, of this, great patriatch. Now, the history of (I r-14) Abraham, is not that, of a young and inexperienced convert, it is not of the first enthusiasm, and budding of religion, but of the steady and undeviating piety of an aged, and venerable man, of one who has been much tried. and whose trials having been passed through with glory, and with honour, have only caused him to come forth like refined gold from the furnace. he was old, and stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed him in all things. We shall now proceed to consider the various points of the history of the patriarch and the example, which they present us with. The conduct of Abraham through out the whole of his life, is, in the first place, a most striking illustration of faith and this faith was realized in his every action. and indeed, in the very first action of which any mention is made. He was told to leave his house, his family, his country, but for what compensation? He is not told where is his residence to be. He is not told. What is the use of the sacrifice. He is not told. The place in which he had been brought up, where his affections must have been centred, and with which recollections most dear to him must have associated, must be left in order to go to an unknown land, of which nothing whatever is told him. Now, had Abraham, in stead of exercising faith required evidence farther evidence than the voice of God, it is possible, that on account of this hesitation, he might have been disinherited, The only evidence which he had, or which he asked for, was, the certainty that God had spoken, and all, except this, was entirely unsatisfactiory. Oh, that we could be contented to do thus, to believe the promises of Scripture, without prying into the future and to recieve the word of God, as sufficient testimony. But, it may be asked, if we recieve the testimony of God in any other way than that, in which it was accepted by Abraham, and before I answer this question, I would, observe how exceedingly different are the circumstances in which we are placed, from those in which we have found Abraham exercising his faith so in such an unqualified, and unhesitating manner. We have (I v-14) seen these promises fulfilled, which had only been made to Abraham, we have seen the birth of that redeemer, on whom it was faith only which enabled Abraham to believe, and during a lengthened series of ages, we have seen the Christian church passing through severe and numberless trials and passing through them with victory, and triumph, We stand on ground infinitely superior to that on which Abraham stood, and under these circumstances, - I, would answer, that I very much doubt, if we atall accept the word, in the manner in which it was accepted by Abraham, If the word of God were, indeed, thus received, should we not be inclined to enquire more closely and more constantly in the Scriptures, in that which is the ver yground of our faith. I think, that ift we did reveive the word thus unqualifiedly, without [dis(?)] endeavoring to understand those parts which the Almighty hath placed above our comprehension, there would be more unity of action, and practical effect, in the whole of the Christian system, I consider, that the petty, and indubitably occasioned by that spirit of unbelief, or at least of receiving the bible only with commutations and reservations, to bring down its inscrutable, mysteries to the level<[?]> of our feeble comprehensions, instead of accepting the testimony at ___ once, of risking all when the Lord hath spoken, and the Almighty hath commanded us, It was no light thing nor one that in any other case would have been entered upon without long & mature consideration, that Abraham should leave his family and his friends, his home and his country to go into a strange, and unknown land, whose inhabitants. if it had other inhabitants than the wild beast[s(?)] of the field, knew nothing of the God whom he worshipped and obeyed, It had been long, ere Abraham in such a circumstance as this, had followed the advice of the wisest of the holiest of mortals, and it had then been after much doubt and deep deliberation. But when he heard the voice (I r-15) of the Lord, he complied at once, and his compliance was unhesitating and unqualified. <[l(?)]> I should question the wisdom of man, if it led me into trouble or perplexity, but if the commands of the Almightly appeared to bring me into either, yet I feel myself entirely safe, under his guidance, and am willing to sacrifice any thing, and every thing if the Lord commands me so to do. Again, Abraham was promised by God that he should have a son, and that in him should his seed be called, and thus, all the promises which God ever made to Abraham, that he should be made a great nation, that his name should be made great &[c(?)], are entirely centred upon Issac. And yet, in apparent contradiction to the whole of this, another commandment is given to Abraham, to sacrifice Isaac. to take away that life on which the fulfilment of all the promises depended. and besides all this, it was, apparently in contradiction to the formmer commands of God, for human sacrifice had been expressly forbidden. Now undr these circumstances and in our way of receiving the word of God, these opposing points would have, very likely destroyed our faith we should have doubted, and reasoned, & deliberated and hesitated and most likely rejected, But, we see that Abraham does not reason atall upon the circumstance, he knows not, and he does not endeavour to ascertain, how his expectations justly founded on the promises, were to be realized but he knows that he is a creature with his creator, and his motto which he kept continually in view was, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right, he does not take upon him to reconcile opposing circumstances, he does not suffer his affections, or aught else to interfere with his obedience, and <[(?)]> we find him about to sacrifice Isaac. But the trial of his faith is sufficient. he is arrested by an angel, and a ram, provided as a more acceptable sacrifice to the Almighty, is offered up in the stead of Isaac. But it may again be objected, why was his faith thus tried, was it merely to increase that faith, was it only to improve his character, Certainly not. It was to afford (I v-15) a farther example and illustration, of fait to the descendants of the patriarch, who was to be the father of the faithful. Let us now again direct the attention of those wh[o(?)] are wanting in faith to Abraham. and ask them if they yet think, that their acceptation of the word of God is equally free, and unlimited, with that of the patriarch I should, next consider the circumstances of the life of Abraham, as a most remarkable illustration of the power of Prayer. 2, and 22 to 33 verse XVIII We here find Abraham and God, in immediate and visible contact. Three men appeared unto Abraham in the plain of Mamre, as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day - # One of these was God him<[s(?)]>self, the other two were angels, We may ask how God was present to Abraham, & - I would answer, in the same manner as he appeared to Moses in the fiery bush or to the Israelites, in the pillar of cloud That is, he chose some body, in this instance he appeared in the form of him who he created in his own image, to indicate, or signify his especial presence; although this body, whether it were cloud or fire, or flesh, could not, strictly speaking be called God, Now, after the Lord had made himself known unto Abraham we find that he entered into conversation with him, the creature was thus placed in intimate communion with the Creator, and I do not know anything throughout the whole range of sacred writings that is so strikingly illustrative of the power of prayer, as the result of this conversation. We see Abraham in perfect self possession, yet remembering that he is but dust and ashes, calmly offering up, in the spirit of benevolence his prayers for Sodom, and presenting his reasons to the Almighty for interrupting his purpose, & every one of these supplications, we find to be answered in the affirmative. Here then, we have an example of the feelings with which we constantly and invariably should pray. This prayer rests upon faith, and, we may be sure that prayers which are not so grounded, will not be accepted. Volume II (I r-1) And, in our own case, if we can believe, the Redeemer has died, and has obtained for us salvation, we may then with all boldness appear before God, yet with diffidence, knowing our own depravity yet assured that our prayers will be granted. For God looks not for certain forms of worship or for certain turns of expression, but for the feeling the faith, the love, the faith, which should instigate the prayer, the love, which should direct the prayer, the feeling, which should animate the prayer, and be assured, that the prayer of the patriarch, was entirely in keeping with all these. Abraham premises, that he is but dust and ashes, here was his humility, he asked nothing for himself, he entirely forgot his own case in his anxiety for the preservation of even the wickedest of the men of Sodom, for he was not so anxious for the safety of the few righteous men who might exist in Sodom, as that their presence might preserbe the unrighteous from destruction, he reduces the supposed number of these men to - the very lowest limit which even his benevolence could suggest, or permit and yet the mercy of the Lord is unlimited. here was Abrahams love and benevolence toward his fellow creatures, and his also says. "That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee ! - Shall not the judge of all the earth do right,? - Here was his accordance in and certainty of, the divine justice, and being gro[un(?)]ded and supported by this justice, his prayer was accepted. In the 3rd, and last place, I would wish to consider the circumstances, attendant upon the life of Abraham as an illustration of the <[p(?)]> general. weakness of human nature,. Religion, as we before observed, is perfect, and spotless in itself, but we never find it so in the history of man, because the evil of his nature is constantly resisting the operation of religion (I v-1) Now had Abraham been entirely perfect, it might be said that we had found religion embodied purely embodied in his characterm in contradiction to all other experience. But. he was not perfect, he de<[?]>viated from the path of religion in many circumstances and those not unimportant ones, When he went into Egypt, he denied that Sarah was his wife. in order to avoid an imaginary injury, it might be said he told the truth when he said she was his sister, but not the whole truth the deception was as great as if it had been a positive falsehood, and the wickedness in him, was, therefore also equal. When we consider, that this was the same man who would unhesitatingly have sacrificed his son at the command of God, is it not a wonderful illustration of the words of st Paul "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now it may be asked, why the failings of Abraham are told us, and there are two reasons, First, it was to bring evidence, of the truth of the narrative, For had Abraham been held up to us, as perfect religion embodied, as faultless, had the history of this faith his love his justice, alson been given to us, this handle would be at once have been seized upon by infidelity, and the accuracy of the whole narrative would have been questioned, if not its truth as being in entire contradiction to the maxims. inculcated by the Scriptures and confirmed by experience. And secondly, that the conduct of Abraham might be contantly held up to all posterity, as an example, which not only ought to imitated, but which in some degree, might be so. For we again repeat, that if we had not been informed of the failings of the patriarch, and he had been held up to us entirely perfect, we should have affirmed that the model was beyond our imitation, and that either the. [man(?)] who attained to such a high degree of perfection. must have been gifted with powers much superior to ours, - or (I R-2) else, must have been placed in totally different situations, and which were <[(?)]> much more favourable. Thus, having no hope of succfess, we should have been deterred from making the effort, and the whole benefit of the example presented to us by Abraham, would have been entirely lost, But when we see how great the failings were, even of Abraham, we can consider him, as going before us in a path, in which by the grace of God, whom we are able to imitate, inasmuch as even he, was not perfect. Still these failings, it must be remarked, were only incidental, they were not of frequent occurrence, and his habit his general habit, was to rise above them, And, although he was a man of like passions with ourselves, yet there may have. been other causes, which can also account for his so utterly forgetting himself. There is, there can be, no doubt. that Abraham had one, general rule, by which to guide himself in all difficulties, this was, to ask. if God had spoken, if so, instantly to obey, without even so much as reasoning upon the subject, and it was only when he forgot himself, and deviated from this general rule, or line of conduct, that he was drawn into. into any failing like that which we have been considering. It is neither said that Abraham was commanded to go into Egypt. not that he asked God whether it were fitting so to do, No, we are told that he feared for his flocks, and for his herds, because of the famine that prevailed, through the land, it was entirely a selfish consideration, which induced him to go down into Egypt, and therefore, not being under the protection of God he was first encompassed by danger, & then induced to commit crime, in order, to escape. We may learn from this, that it is necessary constantly to adhere to our fundamental<> principles, if we deviate from those but a very little, we are gone (I V-2) There is another remarkable failing of Abraham, which remains to be noticed his taking Hagar to be his wife, It is true that Ishmael, the son of Hagar, was under divine protection but it was not by him that the promises were to be fulfilled. The Lord had expressly said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, and it was not by his command, that Abraham took Hagar. and the after circumstances as might have been expected, ended evilly Sarah believed imperfectly, that is, she believed that the promises would be fulfilled, but she could not trust the manner of it to the Almighty, and as this manner was above her comprehension, she endeavoured to fulfill, them, in her own way, and it was the part of Abraham to have resisted her. But we see, that here again he forgot himself and yielded, therefore, let us henceforward look up to him, as a man of like passions with ourselves, let us compare our history and our circumstances with his, and let us endeavour, if it be possible, to follow in the path in which he has preceded us, but, with stronger faith, purer love, and holier devotion.