they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And 'Abraham 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 he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, 'neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And 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 C Isaid to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of hea'ven 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 Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba, And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; Huz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram. And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. And his concubine, whose ' name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.'

We have in this chapter what I call an incredible story. Į call it incredible, because I cannot imagine, that Isaac who was a lad grown, would tacitly allow his father to bind him, lay him on the wood, and prepare to murder him without resistance. I am sensible that the sacrifice of infants was a very common practice in Carthage, and other countries in its vicinity; but who can believe the story of a God ordering Abraham to take a journey of three days until he should

reach a certain mount, and that a ram should drop down from the clouds into a thicket just time enough to save Isaac? The Christians have laid hold of this fable as a type of the crucifixion of their god-man or man-god, and have endeavoured to argue, that the mountain or spot to which Abraham arrived, was the same as that on which Jesus, the carpenter's son, was crucified. They have also been sufficiently presumptuous to assert, that God made known to Abraham the coming and death of this Jesus; but their whole religion is founded on such old wives' tales, that no human being can be made a convert to the Christian religion, until he has made a sacrifice of his reason to the Christian Gods. This chapter has been also called a prophecy of the coming of Jesus, because the angel again promised Abraham, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. We can only meet the assertion of this promise by saying, that it has never yet been the case: for admitting the Jews to be the seed of Abraham, their rigid superstition has rendered them a pest wherever they have held any authority: in fact, the whole history of the Jews, according to the Bible account, gives the lie to the promise: they have been the most unhappy and the most miserable sect of men that ever existed. They still labour under the delusive hope that the Messiah is to come agreeable to the promise in this chapter, and in consequence of this delusion, they still keep themselves distinct from all other sects and societies. The Christians, on the other hand, are subscribing money to convert all the Jews: they may as well attempt to wash the negro white.

I now proceed with the twenty-third chapter.-- And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah, And Sarah 'died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the 'choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall 'withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up, and bowed him'self to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth, And he communed with them, saying, if it be your mind

that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the ' end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a burying place amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead, And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, but if thou wilt give it, I pray. thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And Ephron ' answered Abraham, saying unto him. My lord, hearken ❝ unto me, the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed. to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the 'field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron ❝ in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.'

We have but two things worthy of notice in this chapter: the first is another objection to Moses as the author of the book of Genesis, at least of this chapter. We find here a mention of Hebron, a city in Canaan. Dr. Geddes, on theauthority of the Hebrew Bible, starts the objection to Moses having made any mention of Hebron, as it was not known by that name until the time of Joshua, who is said to have conquered it, and to have slain its king, as one of the five kings of the Amorites who hid themselves in a cave, on that memorable day when the potent warrior bid the sun and moon be motionless until he had ceased to slaughter his enemies!!!

More of this anon. The second circumstance I would notice, is the manner in which the children of Heth are said to address Abraham, "Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty "prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy "dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, "but that thou mayest bury thy dead." This is a proof of my former assertion: that admitting the existence of such a person as Abraham, he must have been a celebrated and warlike chieftain of some band of robbers, who were the terror of the surrounding country. Such has been the origin of all governments, particularly in Asia, where the country now abounds with bands of robbers, similar to that which Abraham must have headed. Some of those robbers perform the double character of herdsmen, and have large possessions of flocks which migrate with them in the very same manner as we are here told of Abraham, I have no doubt in my mind, but that if ever such a man as Abraham existed, he was what I have here described. As Abraham and his followers were no doubt superior in strength to the children of Heth, he thought it prudent to make a purchase of a spot of land to bury his dead wife, lest the inhabitants should subsequently molest her body, if he had taken a cave forcibly.

I shall pass over the twenty-fourth chapter as it is very long, containing sixty seven-verses, and on which I can scarcly find room for comment, as it is a much better nar rated tale than any we have met with yet, and with the exception of the interference of God, appears all very probable, only that I think Rebecca must have tugged very hard at the well with the pitcher to supply ten camels with water, and that Abraham's servant could not be a very gallant fellow to allow it whilst he had servants with him standing idle, But then says the Jew and Christian this was to be his sign agreeable to his prayer. I answer the will of the girl would have been sufficient without making a drudge of her.

I now proceed with the twenty-fifth chapter. Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah, 'And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan, And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Le'ummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, ' and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the 'children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had 'unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away

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'from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. And these are the days of the years of "Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and "fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was 'gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron 'the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; The 'field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. And it came to ( pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi, Now. these · are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom C Hagar the Egyption, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abra<ham. And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by 'their names, according to their generations: the first-born ' of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and MibAnd Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa; Hadar, and. Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: These are the sons ' of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and 'died; and was gathered unto his people. And they dwelt 'from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac: and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? Ard < she went to enquire of the Lord, And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of peo'ple shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were <fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the <first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was - called Jacob; and Isaac was threescore years old when she