One of these traditionary fictions relates the surprise of Abram on seeing one of the images broken by an accidental fall, and the reasoning in his own heart, by which he became convinced that a deity incapable of saving itself from humiliation and injury, could not be a proper object of worship. Another, related in the History of the Jews, represents him walking by night over the spacious plain of Chaldea, gazing upon the stars of heaven, the adoration of which was a primitive form of idolatry, and observing the wonderful beauty of the planet Venus. "Behold,' said he, within himself, the God and Lord of the Universe!' but the star set, and disappeared; and Abram felt that the Lord of the universe could not thus be liable to change. Shortly after, he beheld the moon at the full :- Lo,' he cried-'the Divine Creator-the manifest deity!' but the moon sank below the horizon; and Abram made the same reflection as at the setting of the evening star. All the rest of the night he passed in profound rumination; at sunrise he stood before the gates of Babylon, and saw the whole people prostrate in adoration. Wondrous orb!' he exclaimed, ' thou surely art the Creator and Ruler of all nature!—but thou, too, hastest like the rest to thy setting!-neither then art thou my Creator, my Lord, nor my God!""

Although we know not in what manner the idea of the one Supreme Creator was first acquired by the patriarch, it is pleasing to contemplate him, at this period of his life, alone among those around him, as a worshipper of the revealed God. All the descendants of the sons of Noah, it is probable, had preserved some notion of His nature and power, though darkened and corrupted in their traditions, and mingled with their veneration for those works of His hands, the aspect of which most forcibly impressed their senses. It is not likely that they had any worthy conception of the moral attributes of the Deity. They worshipped, therefore, whatever, to their perverted imagination, might .seem to represent this unknown and incomprehensible Being.

The time came when Abram, the destined father of a family and tribe chosen from among the families of earth, was to separate himself from his country, and his kindred, and his father's house. The mysterious command was laid upon him, and the promise given, of which then there appeared little prospect of fulfilment, for Sarai had no children. The promise-"I will make of thee a great nation, and will bless thee, and make thy name great "was one that comprehended every desire of a pastoral chieftain of that age. How great must have been the faith, which, looking beyond the most discouraging improbabilities, relied absolutely and implicitly on the Divine word! Abram doubted not, ques

tioned not; his obedience was immediate. Collecting those who constituted his household-his servants, and all the substance he had gathered, and accompanied by Lot, his brother's son-he passed across the Euphrates into the land of Canaan. Their first settlement was at Shechem, upon the plain of Moriah, between the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, where he was again favoured with a vision of his Heavenly Protector, and the promise that the land before him should belong to his seed; and where he performed the fundamental duty of the chief of a clan, by building an altar unto the Lord. Moving onward, probably as the native pastures were exhausted, the tribe pitched their tents by a mountain eastward of Bethel; in every halting-place an altar being erected, and solemn worship offered to the God in whom Abram trusted, and who was the invisible guide of his wanderings. It is worthy of notice, that through all his removals, this was his first act on forming a new settlement. The blessing of the Almighty was sought, as the beginning and crowning of every enterprize, the safeguard and light of his dwelling. When he returned from Egypt, whither a famine had driven him, and journeyed to the place of his former encampment, near the site where Bethel afterwards stood, he took possession by going to the height where he

had at first built an altar, and offering solemn sacrifice thereon, calling upon the name of the Lord.

How attractive is the picture given of the pastoral life of the first patriarchs, passing from one pleasant locality to another, pitching their tents by some grove or fountain, and acquiring increase of wealth wherever they went, under the abiding influence of the blessing borne with them! They were rich in flocks and herds, sheep and oxen, and camels and asses, and tents, and menservants and maid-servants; the simple possessions naturally exchanged and accumulated in a primitive state of society. Besides these, Abram had silver and gold; he was prosperous, for his substance had increased greatly during his visit in Egypt; but it does not appear that wealth made him arrogant, or rendered him less disposed to respect the claims of others. When it became evident by reason of the increase of Lot's riches also, that they could no longer dwell together without the continuance of strife between their herdsmen, and that "the land was not able to bear them, for their substance was great," Abram sought not to encroach on the pastures to which the stock of cattle belonging to Lot had an equal right with himself, but proposed a division of the land, and an amicable separation. He gave the choice to his brother's son, though he might have claimed it on the score of seniority, and the grant of the Creator. It was generous, therefore, as well as expressive of his desire to do justly, to ask no advantage for himself. He bids Lot select the portion he would inhabit: "If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." The fertile and well-watered valley of the Jordan, blooming as the garden of the Lord, attracted the eyes of Lot, and he took his departure eastward, to establish his independent settlement among the cities of the plain. Abram remained in Canaan. After the departure of Lot, the Divine grant of the land was

renewed to him and to his seed. He was commanded to survey the country from north to south, and from its eastern to its western boundaries: to walk through the length and breadth of the land, and to regard it as the heritage of his posterity, which should be countless as the dust of the earth.

The chief was not indifferent, in his own prosperity, to the dangers that beset his kinsman. When informed by a fugitive of the capture of Lot by invaders of the country, he made haste, with three hundred and eighteen of his trained servants, to pursue the enemy; and falling on them by night, rescued Lot and the other captives, and wrested from them the booty they had taken. The conqueror, returning, from his excursion, was met by the grateful monarch whose enemies he had routed, and received the blessing of Melchisedek, who presented him and his troops with the refreshment of bread and wine. The magnanimity of Abram, and his jealous regard for the honour of God, are strikingly shown in his answer to the generous proposal of the king of Sodom, that he should take all the spoil, of which he had given a tenth-part to the royal priest. He refuses to retain any part, "from a thread even to a shoe-latchet," consenting only that the young men, not of his household, who had joined his expedition, should receive their portion. He would not have it supposed that he had been influenced by a wish to gain booty for himself; nor would he permit one of the native chiefs to boast that his gifts had contributed to his wealth. He was the vassal only of the Most High, and would acknowledge obligation to no other benefactor.

Notwithstanding the strength of his faith, the mind of the patriarch was disturbed by the apparent prospect, owing to his want of an heir, that his name and dignity would pass into another line. What were his possessions worth in view of the near extinction of his immediate family, and the failure of his hopes of a long line of descendants. The condescending assurance given in the Divine vision, and the affecting appeal of Abram, show the

discontent and apprehension he had cherished. The natural feeling is not reproved; but he is comforted, and his faith sustained, by a formal ratification of the covenant, according to the usage of primitive nations. At the setting of the sun, in a deep sleep, and amidst "a horror of great darkness," the patriarch heard the mysterious voice announce the destiny of his posterity, and saw the symbol of Deity, the smoke and fire, pass between the divided victims, over which he had kept watch: the covenant being thus solemnly ratified, as between man and man.

But little is said in the Scriptures by which we may learn the character of Sarai. She appears to have been wanting in the faith so eminent in her husband, and which "was counted unto him for righteousness." Despairing of the fulfilment of the promise so often and so solemnly repeated, she ventures to propose means for bringing about the desired accomplishment. Perhaps the annoyances she afterwards suffered from the insolent behaviour of her maid, the natural consequence of her folly, were intended as a reproof for her want of trust, and irreverent patience. She seems to have been of a haughty and imperious temper, and felt bitterly the arrogant insults of the servant whom she had elevated to the dignity of a wife. She complains to her husband of the humiliating treatment she has received, and lays to his charge the responsibility. "The Lord judge," she says, "between me and thee." The appeal was answered by Abram with permission to his wife to do with her maid as she pleased. He exhibits none of the feeling shown on a subsequent occasion, when the dissensions in his family rendered it necessary for him to part with his son Ishmael; for it is evident he had not wronged Sarai by any transfer of his affections.

The jealous pride of the mistress, roused by the presumptuous conduct of Hagar, prompts her to treatment so harsh, that the slave flies from the oppression, and wanders in the wilderness. Careless of her own fate, or that of her unborn child, she desires