"Your father Abram rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad."

But there is another most remarkable circumstance attending this offering. The heifer, the she-goat, and the ram were "divided in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not." The two last, as we have seen, had their own peculiar signification. What then was intended by the division of the animals? We learn from the xxxivth chapter of Jeremiah, that by the Jewish customs, when a slave was liberated, the covenant of separation between the bondsman and his master, was confirmed by the sacrifice of a calf, which " was cut in twain ;" and the master passed between the divided parts; thus confirming as it were, by a personal act, the symbol of a complete independence between himself and the slave, whom he had manumitted.

When Abram had arranged the whole offering in the way described, "a deep sleep fell upon him." And now, what was the vision which he beheld? In the first place, God announced to him a most important calamity, to which his posterity was destined for a long period of time. He had looked for their triumphant and undisturbed possession of the land, in which he was. But God now said unto him, "Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." He

afterwards consoles him with a knowledge of their ultimate deliverance and prosperity. "In the fourth generation they shall come hither again." Nevertheless, the knowledge of the intended captivity of his race was a deep affliction to Abram, "a horror of great darkness fell upon him." Possibly, the prophetic vision, with which God had inspired him, revealed, not only the actual temporal bondage of his descendants, but that spiritual bondage, of which their captivity in Egypt was a type. Perhaps, he perceived the full meaning-the spiritual, as well as the temporal, condition to which his nation was destined. Perhaps, he beheld, not only the bondage in Egypt, but the bondage of the law. Perhaps he clearly understood, that the imputed righteousness of Faith, which worketh by love, of which blessing he had been the first fruits, as it were, and the great example, was not to be the righteousness which his children would seek after. Perhaps, he mourned that the example which he had set, would not be the rule of faith to the people, which were to issue from his loins. He saw, perhaps, the stumbling-stone, on which they would fall-that they would rest on the righteousness which is by works of the law; and thus, that they would be a people fallen from grace, "grace," the value of which he had so fully par taken. At such a prospect, it may well be understood, why "a horror of great darkness" fell upon

him.

There was, however, yet another scene in this sacrificial vision. "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. A smoking furnace, and a burning lamp passed between the divided pieces. Here was the very covenant of separation, as recorded in Jeremiah! It was the ceremony of emancipation; the peculiar Jewish form, by which liberty was conferred on bondage. It was the covenant of enfranchisement, to which there must be two parties, the former master, and the new freed-man. How were these two parties indicated in the vision? Who can doubt that the visionary smoke of the furnace, which Abram saw passing between the divided "heifer" (or "calf,") and the she-goat, and ram, was afterwards actually seen by a sensible demonstration on mount Sinai, which gendereth unto bondage? Who can fail to see the antitype of the "smoking furnace" foreshewn to Abram, when "the Lord descended upon the mountain in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace." (Ex. xix. 18.) The thunderings and the sound of the trumpet which were then heard, announced the bondage of the law, and introduced the "school-master," who, after a long probationary period of discipline and pupillage, was at last, to bring Jew and Gentile into that glorious liberty, with which Christ, "the light of the world," has "made us free." The emblem of this liberty, of

this perfect emancipation, appeared also, passing between the divided sacrifice of Abram. There was

also "a burning lamp, that passed between those pieces." This was that burning lamp, of which Isaiah speaks (lxii. 1.) "The righteousness thereof (shall) go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." This lamp of righteousness and salvation was then fully displayed, when Jesus spake, saying, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John viii. 12.) And again-" I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." (John xii. 46.)

SECTION XXXIII.

The test of Abraham's faith continued. Hagar, a type of the covenant of Sinai: Sarah, of the covenant of grace. Circumcision, a token of the covenant of promise, not of the law.

Hitherto, the promised seed had not been distinctly assigned to any offspring from Sarai. It was to proceed from Abram, but the Mother had not been named. "He, that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." This was all that had been hitherto announced. Sarai herself considered her sterility as hopeless; and recommended to Abram the adoption of her hand-maid, Hagar the Egyptian. That this event was by permission of God, is evident. He sent his angel, to encourage and console Hagar, when she was driven away by Sarai, and rested "by a fountain in the wilderness, in the way to Shur." (Gen. xvi. 7.)

The Angel promised that Agar's seed should be "multiplied exceedingly, that it should not be num