of nations, and attaches itself to individuals. It discovers to us the Deity commanding "light "to shine out of darkness;" and presents a short, yet comprehensive, account of things the most sublime and difficult: it relates the destruction, and the renovation, of the world; it gives us a clue by which we are enabled to trace the origin of nations: and after having thus opened a boundless scene before us, it relieves the mind, bewildered and wearied in it's researches, by fixing the attention upon one quiet object. We find ourselves transported into the bosom of a family; and are encompassed, before we are aware, with the beauties and the pleasures of domestic life. We unite in their devotions: glow with their ardour: weep with their sorrows; and rejoice in their prosperity. The fluctuations of empires, the revolutions of states, the atchievements of ambition, distract and tire our attention: but in entering into the concerns of a family, every man feels himself at home-in pursuing the hopes and fears, the labours and disappointments, of an individual, every man traces the image of his own anxieties and pleasures.

When we turn over the pages of profane writers, what different scenery is presented! We justly admire the beauties of Homer: as a poet truly sublime; possessing a genius which

soared high above the common standard of human intellect. In energy of composition, in loftiness of language, in richness of imagery, he stands unrivalled-he ranks next to the saered writers. But in his works, from first to last, we are dragged through fields of slaughter: or trace the mortifying windings of human cor, ruption or are surrounded with scenes, over which humanity drops tears of unavailing regret. We hear, in strains the most harmonious, a hero sung, returning from the battle, covered with human blood. The martial music that announces his approach, is drowned in the shrieks of orphans. The laurel of which he proudly boasts, was nourished in the empurpled plains of carnage, and snatched from the field of death.

Hail, peaceful retreats! Ye calm, sequestered, tranquil tents, that stretched your quiet shadow over the head of the venerable patriarch, and shielded him from the heat of the daywelcome to the mind's eye! Far be the scene of desolation! Approach, ye gentle shadows that once lived in this valley of tears; and even now that ye are borne away to heaven, return to our imagination, and revisit us in the sacred pages! Let the maddening world seek" the

battle of the warrior with confused noise" we love to observe the pleasing bonds of friend

ship, and to admire the domestic felicity of a pious family. To the hero, who delights in garments rolled in blood," we consign the pages that describe, in colours, alas! too natural, the horrors of war. Be it our's, to listen to the music of the grove; to trace the windings of the rivulet; to read the name of God in the starry heavens; and to follow the good man through his chequered life, to a "city of habi"tation." While others burn with the ardour of the warrior, let us glow with the exalted piety shining through the character of those good men, who borrowed all their lustre from friendship with God!

After the memorable event, which formed the subject of discussion in the last Lecture, we are introduced, rather suddenly, to the great progenitor of the Jewish nation: in whose "seed," it is promised, "all nations of the "earth shall be blessed." Terah, the father of Abraham, descended in a direct line from Seth. Idolatry had already commenced, and was widely diffused, when "Terah took Abram "his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's "son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son "Abram's wife; and they went forth with "them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the "land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, " and dwelt there. And the days of Terah

"were two hundred and five years: and Terah "died in Haran.". Idolatry was probably the cause of this removal. The city in which they dwelt was the centre of superstition: it was called Ur, which signifies fire, or light; a name which was probably given it, like Heliopolis, because it was devoted particularly to the worship of fire, and consecrated to the sun. It appears that God had expressly testified his will, that Abraham should proceed to Canaan; and, obeying the call of heaven, “he went out,

not knowing whither he went." At an advanced age, this patriarch left his home, and his connections: for he was "seventy-five years "old, when he departed out of Haran." Lot, his brother's son, accompanied him. Possibly, as he was childless, it was Abram's intention to adopt him but a better, and a stronger, reason, for his attachment to his uncle, was that the hand of heaven had touched his heart; and that he acted in obedience to the same divine mandate, which had led Abram into a strange land, even when the pressure of years was bending his steps towards the valley of the shadow of death.

Oh, the triumphs of faith! It overlooks in

See note 1, at the end of this Lecture.

tervening years, and regards the promised bless ing as already in possession! It removes every difficulty; answers every objection; and never rests till it's end is obtained! Exercised by delays, it patiently endures: corrected by trials, prepares it's possessor for the good to which it is pressing forward; and crowned with ultimate success, it throws over him a glory, undiminished by the revolution of years, and untarnished by the hand of age!

it

To manifest how large a portion of this grace this truly great man possessed, he was named, "the father of the faithful," and so pleasing in the eyes of Deity were the traits of his character, that God conferred upon him a title more dignified, more glorious, and more enviable, than the greatest monarch, and the proudest conqueror, ever enjoyed--he was called, "the Friend of God."

Yet was he but a man! His exalted character-and his holy life-were sometimes tarnished with human weakness. Oh! where was his faith in the protecting hand of heaven, when unguardedly, yet deliberately, he sought refuge in prevarication, to save himself from violence in Egypt, on account of his wife? "Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister!" It was not indeed an absolute falsehood in point of fact; but it was a wilful intent to deceive, which enters di