ABRAHAM OFFERING ISAAC.

THE point of time denoted in this illustration is when the voice from Heaven is heard arresting Abraham's arm, which was already lifted up to slay his son. The knife drops from his hand at the divine interposition, and he stands devoutly attentive to the heavenly messenger. "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."* Isaac's hands and feet are bound, and he is laid " on the altar upon the wood," as an innocent victim voluntarily submitting to the Almighty will; in which respect he appears as a type of that more eminent victim, who, being without sin, took upon himself the awful responsibility of human guilt, and "offered himself without spot to God" as a full and sufficient expiation. The countenance of the venerable father is lighted up with a blended expression of solemn devotion and meek resignation. His eyes, as well as those of the boy, are raised towards Heaven, when the welcome voice of interdiction is heard, proclaiming the glad tidings of deliverance to the one, and of joyful absolution to the other. Abraham has just cast the knife from him as the merciful mandate of prohibition is pronounced. At the foot of the altar stands a vessel containing fire, with which the holocaust was to have been kindled. The artist has represented Isaac about thirteen years old: there are, however, different opinions as to his age, from one year to thirty-seven years. According to the concurrent judgments of divines, when God's command was communicated to him, he submitted to be bound and laid on the altar a voluntary sacrifice. Behind Abraham appears the vicarial lamb, "caught in a thicket by his horns," which he offered up "in the stead of his son."