family, every man feels himself at home-in pursuing the hopes and fears, the labors 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 sacred writers. But in his works, from first to last, we are dragged through fields of slaughter: or trace the mortifying windings of human corruption: or are surrounded with scenes, over which humanity drops tears of universal 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, suquestered, tranquil tents, that stretched your quiet shadow over the head of the venerable patriarch, and shielded him from the heat of the day-welcome 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 friendship, 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 colors, alas! too natural, the horrors of war. Be it ours, 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 habitation." While others burn with the ardor 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 blesssed." 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 Abram should proceed to Canaan; and, obeying the call of heaven, "he went out, not

*

See note 1, of this Lecture, at the end of the volume.

knowing whither he went." At an advanced age, this patriarch left his home, and his connexions: 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 intervening years, and regards the promised blessing as already in possession! It removes every difficulty; answers every objection; and never rests till its end is obtained! Exercised by delays, it patiently endures: corrected by trials, it prepares its 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.

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 directly into the nature, and forms all the character, of lying. The compassion of God to human infirmity, was manifest, in casting a mantle of forgiveness over this sinful pusillanimity. The hand of Deity was still stretched out in his defence; and his unchangeable Friend was better to him than his fears. But as he used unlawful means to secure his safety, his sin was made his punishment. Pharaoh, justly exasperated at the deception practised upon him; and fearing the anger of God, who had afflicted his house with great plagues; restored his wife, but banished him from his dominions. Thus, simply, in the use of the means, to rely upon God, in the hour of peril, will always defend us from danger, and deliver us from evil: but to distrust the Deity, and to shelter ourselves under our own unlawful, or sinful, devices, exposes us to incalculable difficulties, and will involve us in trouble, in the very midst of deliverance.

As Abram journeyed in the road by which he had descended into Egypt, he came again to an altar, which he had before set up, in his way thither. Sweet are the recollections of kindnesses received; and pleasant the memorials of mercies departed! If we were to accustom ourselves to rear tokens of remembrance for every assistance which we derive from God; and to erect an altar where we receive a mercy; how many evidences for good would be presented in the retrospection of our lives; and the review of the past, would create confidence for the future. The moss might grow over the pillar, and the fire of the altar would

go out: but the inscription would be fresh on the tablet of memory, and gratitude would kindle the purer flame of affection in the heart. Thus Abram reared an altar in his way to Egypt; and found it again on his return. Thus Jacob elevated a pillar, at Bethel, after his vision of God; and with what feelings did he revisit it, when he was delivered from his fears, and increased in his blessings! Thus "Samuel" took a stone, "and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying Hitherto hath the Lord helped us!'" It is not necessary that we should erect these outward memorials: but let the pillar be raised in our bosoms, and the inscription read in our lives!

Multiplied in goods, at length it became necessary that Abram and Lot should separate. There are few blessings of life unalloyed-few trials unmixed. The good that we pant after, has some unseen evil annexed to it, which will arise to cloud it in the very moment of possession; and the evil that we deprecate produces some happy effect, which does not always cease when its immediate cause is withdrawn. Adversity often unites the various branches of a family-prosperity as frequently separates then. The one teaches them that they ought to have a common concern-the other has an unhappy tendency to persuade them that they have a separate interest and in many instances the latter is but too successful! Prosperity divided Abram and Lot. The place was too strait for their flocks; and the herdmen, on either side, had augmented the difficulty by contention. Oh! who will not admire the spirit of Abram? "And Abram said unto Lot, 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me-between thy herdmen and my herdmen-for we