SERMON XXIII.

ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC.

GENESIS xxii. 10.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

THE appointment of this chapter, containing the history of the command to the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, to be read as one of the lessons for this day, is an evidence that our church considers this event as typical of that which she now commemorates-the offering up, by the Almighty Father, of his only Son, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world,

The whole subject is suitable for our contemplations on this day.

Let us then state the history;

Vindicate it from objections; and

Urge the ends answered by it.

After the lamentable degeneracy of our first parents, mankind, following the impulse of their wicked imaginations, formed gods unto themselves, and nearly extinguished the knowledge of the Lord, the only living and true God. These wicked and idolatrous nations the Almighty Ruler of the world swept away by a deluge, preserving only Noah and his family. Their descendants soon forgot this mark of the divine indignation, and, like their forefathers before the flood, departed from VOL. III.

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the service of the Maker of heaven and of earth. But it pleased God, in the exercise of infinite compassion, not again to punish the idolatrous world. He revealed his name and his perfections to Abraham his servant, whose posterity he designed to make his peculiar people, the depositaries of his word and service, and the centre from which the beams of divine truth might afterwards irradiate the nations. "The Lord said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee."*

In obedience to this command, the pious patriarch leaves the land of his nativity, encounters the difficulties of a long and toilsome journey, and, under the divine protection, at last dwells securely in the land of Canaan. To him was given the glorious promise, that "in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed :" and though the blessing of the promised son was long delayed, Abraham continued "strong in faith," being fully persuaded, that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. Isaac, the son of promise, was at length given to his ardent prayers: but severe was the trial, in regard to this son of his affection, to which, in infinite wisdom, he was subjected.

God did "tempt" (that is, try) “Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And God said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burntoffering, upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Every circumstance which rendered † Gen. xxii. 1, 2.

* Gen. xii. 1.

Isaac peculiarly dear to Abraham his father, is here forcibly presented. Isaac, the only, the beloved son, the destined comfort of his father's old age, the son in whom was wrapped up the gracious promise of future blessings to the world, was to be sacrificed by the fond father. Exalted the faith which repelled every murmur, and bowed him submissive to the severe command!

"Rising up early in the morning," Abraham prepares for his journey. Its purpose, in tenderness to the mother of Isaac, the patriarch did not communicate to her; accordingly the preparations which were made indicated only an intention to engage in an act of worship by the burnt-offering of a lamb. Accompanied by Isaac, and two young men bearing wood for the sacrifice, Abraham set out on his journey, On the third day, the place of sacrifice appears afar off: thither Abraham advances with Isaac only, on whom was laid the wood. Supposing that the object of their journey was to worship God by a burnt-offering, and therefore surprised that his father had not prepared a lamb for the purpose, he calls to him, "My father," and receives the tender reply, "Here am I, my son." Directing to his father his eager countenance, beaming with innocence, affection, and piety, Isaac solicitously asks, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?" Heart-rending question to the fond father! he could not then summon resolution to announce to Isaac-Thou, my son, art the victim he piously directs the faith and trust of Isaac to God-" My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering."

They pursue their journey-they come to the place of sacrifice: the altar is built-the wood is

laid in order-Isaac permits his father to bind him, and to lay him on the wood. What an example of holy submission to the will of God! In obedience to that will, a son consents to lay down his life-a father prepares to be his son's executioner. Behold Abraham by the altar on which was laid, bound, the innocent victim. Isaac looks to heaven for resignation, and then to his father, expecting the fatal stroke. Abraham stretches forth his arm to plunge the knife into the bosom of his son. Unsearchable often thy dispensations, Almighty God, yet ever full of mercy!-delighting not in human victims, thou didst arrest the blow. "The angel of the Lord called unto Abraham 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." What gratitude and joy must have cheered the breast of the patriarch! "He lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a ram caught in a thicket by its horns: and he went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering instead of his son."

It is now our business to vindicate this history from objections.

It is asserted that God, who is most merciful, just, and holy, could not approve, much less require, the unnatural act of a parent sacrificing his child. But though, for wise and good purposes, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe required this act in the case of Abraham, he did not permit it to be consummated: he restored Isaac, the destined victim, to the embrace of his afflicted father, with

his virtue more exalted, and therefore more worthy of parental love, by the noble fortitude and resignation which he had displayed. God restored him, too, with renewed and gracious blessings. "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore-and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

But if God had required from Abraham the actual sacrifice of his son, who will presume to arraign the sovereign authority of the Creator over the creatures of his hand? We hold our life as a free gift from him, and he may take it away in whatever mode and at whatever time he pleases. He who gave to Abraham the promised blessing-a son, in his old age-might have required that, for infinitely wise and good purposes, he should be offered up by his father, a holy sacrifice to the God that made him. Nor would this act have authorized the barbarous custom of the Heathen in immolating their children on the altars of their false gods. Theirs was a superstitious, unauthorized homage to imaginary deities, whom their corrupt fancy clothed with every detestable vice and passion. The sacrifice of Isaac was an exalted act of holy obedience to the living God, the ever-blessed Jehovah, who, by his visible presence, convinced Abraham of the reality of the command. But let it be remembered that Isaac was not sacrificed, and that the goodness of God shines with the brightest lustre in the glorious blessings with which he rewarded the faith