History of Abram.

LECTURE X.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee....GEN. xii. 1.

T would yield neither amusement nor instruction, to lay before you in detail, the genealogical succession of the sons of Noab, from the flood to the calling of Abram. Scripture presents us with a very general view of that period. It shews us mankind engaged in pursuits common to men in every age. It exhibits the usual and natural operations, and the effects of pride, and ambition, and avarice: plans of empire formed; imperial cities founded; new discoveries made, and settlements established. For a considerable time, the recent horrors of the deluge must have laid fast hold of the minds of men, as the awful monuments of it were every where before their eyes. This would naturally, for a while, confine them to the mountainous regions. of Armenia, where the ark first rested. But as their fears diminished, and their numbers increased, we find them, allured by the beauty and fertility of the plains, which were washed by the Tygres and the Euphrates, descending gradually from the heights, and spreading. along the vast and fruitful valleys of Shinar or Chaldea. And he who had seen the whole human race cut off for their wickedness, his own family consisting of eight persons excepted, lived to see the descendants of that family, almost as numerous and as profligate as the genera tion of men which had been destroyed by the flood. He had the mortification, in particular, of seeing his poste

rity engaged in an enterprise equally absurd, vain, and impious: that of building "a city and a tower whose top should reach unto heaven," to transmit their names with renown to posterity, to be the great seat of empire, and thereby the means of preserving them in one grand system of political union, and of securing them from discord and dispersion.

The sacred volume informs us, that the very means which they had vainly devised to keep themselves together, in the wisdom of God, separated and scattered them. But the history of that event falls not within the design of these exercises. Leaving Nimrod and his vain-glorious companions to erect the monument of their folly, and to feel the consequences of their impiety, let us attend the sacred historian in tracing, not the rise and progress of empire, but the formation, the unfolding, and the execution of the plan of redemption. Dropping the mighty founders of Nineveh and Babylon in that oblivion wherein providence has plunged them never to emerge, let us accompany the father of the faithful from Ur of the Chaldees to the place of his destination, and observe the increasing splendor of the day of grace, and adore the wisdom, truth, and faithfulness of Him who promised, and who " hath done as he had said."

It may be proper to observe, in the entrance of the history of this great patriarch, that one life, that of Noah, almost connects Adam with Abram. For Noah was born only one hundred and twenty-six years after the death of Adam, and lived till within two years of Abram's birth. In one sense, therefore, the father and founder of the Jewish nation is very little more than the third from the first man. So readily, immediately, and uninterruptedly, might the knowledge of important truth, particularly the promises of salvation, be communicated through so long a tract of time. It is farther observable, that as from Adam to Noah there are ten generations, so likewise from Noah to Abram

there are ten generations; but the latter succeeded each other much faster than the former. The first ten occupy a period of one thousand six hundred and fiftysix years; the last is shrunk down to three hundred and fifty-seven. We are henceforward, therefore, to be conversant with lives reduced nearer to our own standard. While extreme longevity was necessary to carry on the designs of Providence, men lived to the age of many centuries. When God saw it was meet to substitute a written and permanent revelation, in the place of oral tradition from father to son, the life of man was shortened.

The history of Abram's life commences at a period of it, long before which, that of most men is concluded namely, at the seventy-fifth year of his age. It is never either too early or too late to serve and follow God. But the folly and presumption of youth is but too apt to defer matters of the greatest moment to the last hour; and this fatal waste of the seed-time of life, is the sure foundation of dishonor, remorse, and despair, in old age. But though our patriarch had arrived at a period of life so advanced, before the sacred ani

ces him upon the stage, the obscurity which lies upon his earlier years is amply compensated by the rich, instructive, and entertaining materials furnished from the divine stores, for the history of the latter part of his life.

There is something singularly affecting, in the idea of an old man giving up the scenes of his youthful days; scenes endeared to the mind by the fond recollection of past joys; foregoing his kindred and friends and becoming an exile and a wanderer, at a period when nature seeks repose, and when the heart cleaves to those objects to which it has been long accustomed. But that man goes on cheerfully, who knows he is following God; he can never remove far from home, who has made the Most High his habitation," he who falls asleep in the bosom of a father, knows that he shall awake in perfect peace and safety. Accordingly,

"Abram, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went," Heb. xi. 8.

Abram being held forth in scripture as the pattern of a cheerful, prompt, and active faith in God, as we proceed, we shall mark the appearances and the effects of that faith in the successive trials to which it was exposed. The very first act of his obedience to the will of Heaven, proves the existence and the prevalency of this powerful principle. When called to leave his country and his father's house, " he went out, not knowing," not caring, whither he went." What could have

induced him to make such a surrender, but a sense of his duty to God, an entire acquiescence in the wisdom and goodness of Providence, and a full assurance that his Heavenly Father both could and would indemnify him, for every sacrifice which he was called to make! A sacrifice similar to this every real christian virtually offers up, when he renounces the pomp and pleasure of this vain world, to the hope of "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Ur of the Chaldees was become a land of idolatry. Abram's nearest relations had lost the knowledge, and deviated from the true worship of the God of their fathers. To have continued there, would have been to prefer a situation dangerous to religion and virtue. Why may we not suppose the call given him to depart, to be the impulse of an honest and enlightened mind, stirred at the sight of so many idols, and the impure rights of their worshippers; and prompted to flee, at whatever expense, from scenes of so much impiety and pollution. When men are to receive immediately their indemnification or equivalent, the merit of a surrender is small; but it requires the faith and trust of an Abram, to take a general promise of God as full security. But his faithhad to struggle, in the very setting out, with difficulties seemingly unsurmountable. The promises made to him

were not only conveyed in very general terms, and the accomplishment removed to a great distance; but natural impossibilities also barred the way. What a slender prospect must a man entertain of a numerous offspring, when both nature and religion prevent the possibility of his having children? The Spirit of God therefore bestows a just tribute of praise on this part of his conduct, he "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, because that against hope, he believed in hope, But when we come to examine the promise more particularly, we shall find that it contained every thing which can rouse and fire a noble and generous mind: personal honor and felicity; "I will bless thee and make thy name great" a numerous and a thriving progeny, who to latest ages should acknowledge him as their founder, and glory in their relation to him; "I will make of thee a great nation, and thou shalt be a blessing:" universal benefit accruing to the human race from him; in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Behold then the illustrious exile turning his back on home, attended only by his aged parent sinking into the grave under the weight of years and infirmity; his beloved Sarai; and Lot his nephew, who it would seem, was determined to share the fortunes of his pious uncle, and with him to sacrifice every wordly consideration to religion. With Providence for their protector and guide, and the word of God for their encouragement and consolation, they set out in confidence, and arrive at their destined habitation in safety.. But God, who had provided for Abram a country, would nevertheless have him carry away from Chaldea, all his honestly acquired property; for true faith makes light of none of God's benefits: and worldly prosperity, honorably acquired, moderately and thankfully enjoyed, is an undoubted mark of God's favor.

Being arrived in Canaan, God appears to Abram again, and informs him that this was the land which he