Note, This was called the ABRAHAMICAL DISPENSATION, but it was confined to the family of Abraham, in the literal sense of it; with those temporal precepts and promises of Circumcision and the Inheritance of Canaan. Though in the spiritual sense of it, it reaches to every good man; and thus Abraham is their father, Rom. iv. 16, 17.

51 Q. How did Abraham further and most eminently show his obedience to God?

A. In his readiness to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice at God's command, Gen. xxii. 12.

52 Q. And did he offer him in sacrifice?

A. No, God withheld his hand, and sent a ram to be sacrificed in his stead, Gen. xxii. 13.

53 Q. What further favours did Abraham receive from God?

A. God visited him, and conversed with him as a friend, several times, in a visible manner, and changed his name from Abram to Abraham, Gen. xv. xvii. and xviii. James ii. 23.

54 Q. What is written concerning Sarah, Abraham's wife?

A. She believed God's promise, and had a son at ninety years old, and her name was also changed from Sarai to Sarah, Gen. xvii. 15, 17. Heb. xi. 11.

Note, Some learned men have supposed, that the addition of the Hebrew letter h to the names Abraham and Sarah, signifies a new relation of God, whose name is Jah; others think it to be a part of the word Hamon, which signifies a multitude; because God promised many nations to spring from them when he changed their names, Gen. xvii. 5, 16.

55 Q. What is recorded concerning Isaac their son? A. He feared the God of his father Abraham, he had frequent visions of God, and went out into the fields to meditate or pray, and offered sacrifices to God, Gen. xxiv. 63. and xxvi. 2, 24, 25.

56 Q. Who was Isaac's wife?

A. His father Abraham sent afar, and took a wife for him, even Rebecca, out of his own family, in Mesopotamia, because he was unwilling he should marry among the wicked Canaanites, whom God had doomed to destruction, Gen. xxiv. 3, 4, 51, &c.

57 Q What children had Isaac?

A. Two sons, Esau and Jacob, Gen. xxv. 25, 26. SECTION III.

Of Esau and Jacob, and their posterity.

58 Q. WHAT was Esau ?

A. He was Isaac's eldest son, bred up to hunting rather than husbandry, who sold his birthright to his brother for a mess of pottage when he was faint with hunting, Gen. xxv. 31, 33.

59 Q. What was Jacob?

A. The youngest son of Isaac, who by his mother's contrivance obtained his father's blessing, though not in a right way, Gen. xxvii. 27.

60 Q. By what treachery did he obtain the blessing? A. When his father Isaac was old, and his eves dim, by order of his mother, he put on Esau's clothes, and told his father he was Esau his eldest son, Gen. xxvii. 61 Q. How did Esau take this?

A. Esau threatened to kill him, and therefore he left his father's house, Gen. xxvii. 41, 43. 62 Q.Whither did Jacob go?

A. To Laban the Syrian, who was his mother's brother, Gen. xxviii. 2, 5.

63 Q. What did he meet with in going thither?

A. He lay down to sleep on a stone at Bethel, and had a holy dream of God, and of angels there ascending and descending between heaven and earth, Gen. xxviii. 12-14.

64 Q. What did he do in Laban's house?

A. He kept his uncle Laban's cattle, and he married his two daughters Rachael and Leah, Gen. xxix. 15, &c. 65 Q. How long did he live there?

A. Twenty years, till he had got a large family of children and servants, much cattle and great riches, Gen. xxx. and xxxi. 41.

66 Q. What did Jacob meet with in his return to Canaan?

A. He had a vision of God as of a man wrestling with him, Gen. xxxii. 24, &c.

67 Q. Why was Jacob called Israel?

A. Because he prayed and prevailed with God for a blessing, while he wrestled with him in the form of a man, Gen. xxxii. 28. Hos. xii. 4.

68 Q. How did his brother Esau meet him?

A. God turned Esau's heart, so that he met him with great civility, though he came out with four hundred men (as Jacob feared) to destroy him, Gen. xxxii. 69 Q. What posterity had Esau ?

A. A large posterity, who chiefly inhabited mount Seir, and were called Edomites from their father's other name Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 8, 9.

70 Q. How many sons had Jacob?

A. Twelve, and they were called the twelve Patriarchs, because they were the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, Gen. xxxv. 22. Acts vii. 8. Numb. i. 71 Q. What are their names?

A. Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of his wife Leah; Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of his wife Rachel; Dan and Naphthali, the sons of Bilhah his concubine; and Gad and Asher, the sons of Zilpah his concubine, Gen. xxxv. 23-26.

72 Q. Who were the most famous of all these in sacred history?

A. Levi, Judah, and Joseph.

73 Q. What is there remarkable concerning Levi? A. The priesthood, and other things relating to the worship of God, were committed to Levi's family in following times, Deut. xvii. 9. and xxxiii. 8, 10.

74 Q. But did not Levi do a very wicked thing in killing the Shechemites!

A. Yes; he and his brother Simeon dealt very treacherously and cruelly with them, in slaying them after they had made a covenant of peace with them, Gen. xxxiv.

75 Q. How did Jacob bear this!

A. He severely reproved them for it, and upon his death-bed, by the spirit of prophecy, pronounced a curse upon them, that they should be scattered abroad through all the land of Israel, Gen. xxxiv. 30. and xlix. 5.

76 Q. Was this curse executed?

A. Yes, in some measure, for the Simeonites as well as Levites had their possessions scattered among all the tribes of Israel; but the curse of the Levites was lightened by their having the priesthood given them, Joshua xxi.

77 Q. What is there remarkable relating to Judah? A. He dealt very basely with his daughter-in-law Tamar, and committed shameful wickedness, Gen. xxxviii.

78 Q. Did God forgive this sin?

A. Yes, God forgave it so far as not to punish his posterity for it for the kingdom and government in future ages was promised chiefly to his family, Gen. xlix. 10.

79 Q. What is there remarkable said of Joseph ?

A. His brethren sold him for a slave into Egypt, where he became the ruler of the land, Gen. xxxvii. 27. and xlii. 6. Acts vii. 9, 10.

80 Q. Why did they sell him?

A. For envy, because his father loved him, and made him a coat of many colours, and because he dreamed that they should bow down to him, Gen. xxxvii. 3, 4.

81 Q. What was his first station in the land of Egypt? A. He was servant in the house of Potiphar, a captain of the guard, and by a false accusation of his master's wife he was cast into prison, though he was entirely innocent, Gen. xxxix.

82 Q. What was the occasion of his advancement? A. He interpreted the dreams of some of his fellow prisoners, and when the interpretation proved true, then he was sent for to court to interpret the king's dream, Gen. xli.

83 Q. And did this raise Joseph to be the ruler of Egypt?

A. Yes; he was thus advanced, because he foretold the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, which Pharaoh the king dreamed of under two different emblems of good and bad ears of corn, and of seven fat kine and seven lean ones, Gen. xli. 39.

84 Q. How did Joseph carry himself towards his brethren in his advancement?

A. In the famine they came down to buy corn in Egypt, and bowed down to him, according to his dreams; but he treated them roughly at first as a great lord and a stranger, till their consciences smote them for their former cruelty to him, Gen. xlii. 7, 19, 21.

85 Q. Did he revenge himself upon them?

A. No, but he made himself known to them with much affection and tenderness, Gen. xlv.

86 Q. How did he manifest his forgiveness of them? A. He sent for his father, and bade his brethren bring all their families into Egypt, and he maintained them all during the famine, Gen. xlv. 4—7.

87 Q. Did Jacob die in Egypt?

A. Yes; but according to his desire his body was carried up to the land of Canaan, and was buried there in faith of the promise, that his seed should possess the land, Gen. xlix. 29. and l. 13.

88 Q. What became of the families of Israel after Joseph's death?

A. They were made slaves in Egypt, and a new king, who knew not Joseph, sorely oppressed them, and endeavoured to destroy them, Exod. i. 13, 14, 16, 22.

89 Q. Did Joseph, as well as his father, profess