without, the mind breaks through and soars above prevailing evil-converting adversity itself into a field for more glorious achievement there we may well bestow our admiration and our praise. This is true GREATNESS, though there may still be remaining deficiencies; this is true GOODNESS, though there may still be occasional faults and surviving imperfections. Bearing this thought in mind, as we proceed in tracing the life of Sarah, let us revert to the circumstances of her early days and to the scenes by which, in her childhood and youth, and even in her riper years, she was surrounded. It was now only the tenth generation from that of Noah,when in fearful judgment the Almighty had caused the desolating flood to sweep from the world its impious inhabitants. The marks of the deluge were still fresh in the earth; and its appalling terrors must have been distinctly preserved by tradition. And yet, long before this, the true knowledge and worship of God appear almost to have vanished from the world. With Noah, and probably with his posterity for two or three generations, some knowledge of the true God was still preserved. He was recognised as the Creator- the Preserver and Governor of the world- the form at least of Divine worship was continued - the Sabbath was regarded as sacred sin was prohibited—and in the offering of sacrifice a coming Saviour was shadowed forth. During this period every father was the Patriarch-the Priest of his own household, and, gathering them around the family altar, he offered sacrifices and prayers to God in their behalf. It was not long, however, before it was demonstrated by actual experiment, that without a written or supernatural revelation, no mere traditions, no mere forms of worship, were sufficient to pre serve in the minds of men a knowledge of Divine truth, or to Keep up the spirit of piety in the human heart. Alienated from God by a carnal nature, and blinded to the perception of the spiritually bright, and pure, and holy, there was a mighty and universal propensity to depart from a simple faith in things not seen - and from a spiritual religion, and yet to seek a substitute for these in that which was visible and sensual. As the gathering shadows of the night triumph over the retiring day, till all is encircled in darkness, so did these propensities in the depraved heart of man triumph over the light of truth, which tradition had feebly preserved, and over those lingering emotions of piety which had been cherished towards a God not seen. At first, perhaps, he merely sought some visible object by the aid of which he absurdly imagined that he could bring God, who is a spirit, more distinctly before his mind. He sought amid the grandeur and magnitude of his works, to assign to the Omnipresent a local habitation; and as no object within the range of his search was so grand and glorious as the Sun, he therefore began to regard that as the throne of the Almighty. His thoughts ascended to it, and his prayers were directed towards it as the peculiar dwelling-place of Deity. In process of time, wholly losing the great idea of God's spiritual nature, and becoming more and more darkened in mind, and enslaved by sense, men began to worship the Sun as itself God. Beholding the various benefits which through his influence were diffused throughout the world, and gazing upon what they supposed to be his stately steppings along his lofty. and luminous path, they vainly imagined that, possessing vast intelligence and power in himself, he was the source of all intelligence and power in the universe. The moon and the stars, however, as apparently possessing the same nature, and, to a certain extent, bestowing similar benefits, were also - regarded and worshipped as Gods, though of an inferior order. Hence, to draw near to their deities, they ascended hills, or dizzy mountain-tops, and there prostrated themselves in adoration and prayer. At length they also reared pillars and lofty buildings, that thus they might approach their gods. In fact, it seems most probable, as two of the Targums intimate, that this was their main design in erecting the Tower of Babel; and certain it is, that when it was afterwards rebuilt and adorned by Nebuchadnezzar, it was called the Temple of Bel- or the Sun. God here, however, interposed and confounded their wicked purpose, for with this idolatrous worship were connected the most obscene and impious rites. But though, by this interposition of the Almighty, their object was defeated and they were scattered abroad, the spirit of idolatry still prevailed with wide-spread and unmitigated power. The sun, the moon, and the stars, and, as their emblems or emanations, light and fire, were objects of universal reverence, and were worshipped as gods. Temples were dedicated to themprayers and praises were addressed to them-unholy rites. were performed in their honour-day and night did chosen priests minister unto them and before them did the blinded multitudes bow down in senseless and debasing worship. Such was the state of the world during the earlier years of Sarah, and such the scenes of a false and superstitious religion. by which she was surrounded. We have reason to suppose that the place of her birth was the very seat and centre of these gross idolatries. For "Uz," the name of the city in which she was born, and where she passed many years of her life, signifies fire, and probably derived its name, either from the temples which had there been dedicated to the worship of the Sun and of Fire-or from its being the residence of many devotees to these wild and dark superstitions-or from the common and extreme prevalence of this worship among its citizens. Though its precise situation cannot now be deter mined, yet as it was "Uz, of the Chaldees," it was probably in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Here, then, in a country where the wisdom and goodness of God were so strikingly displayed - where the earth was so richly covered with its luxuriant produce-where the flocks and the herds, and the soft and gentle air were all so eloquent in His praise; here, beneath these genial skies and over these verdant and smiling plains, here did man, both in mind and in heart a wanderer from his God, instead of adoring the Great First Cause and bountiful Giver of all, in the depth of his ignorance and debasement adore the creatures of the Divine power as themselves divine. Here, too, the young and beautiful Sarah doubtless mingled with the fire-worshippers, and bowed down in devout homage before the hosts of heaven or the elements of nature. We may suppose, however, from the name she had received, Sarai, or a princess, that even in all the ignorance and superstition in the midst of which her life had opened and thus far been pursued, there was something, either in the grace and beauty of her person, the elevation and majesty of her spirit, or the high and commanding virtues of her heart, which greatly distinguished her from the crowd, and made her an object of special admiration. From her subsequent history it is evident, exceedingly rare as such cases are, that she combined in herself all these excellencies, and they probably began in early life to develope their attractions. This 'supposition is rendered the more reasonable from what follows. At the same time, and in the same city, there was a man D distinguished above all his sex for his singularly clear and dis criminating mind- his great courage and energy of character and the virtues and purity of his life. If Socrates has been for ages the boast of Greece and the wonder of the world, for naving brought out into a clearer light the knowledge of truth and the love of virtue when all around him was appalling darkness - much more may we be filled with admiration as we trace the early history of Abraham, "the friend of God," the founder of the Jewish nation-God's ancient people — and "the father of the faithful," or head and pattern of the true Israel of God, who imitate his faith, and partake with him in its blessings. At a time when the whole world was buried in ignorance and superstition-when the grossest and most debasing idolatry everywhere prevailed and when to question the truth of the prevailing belief, or to refuse a participation in their idolatrous worship, was represented as incurring the wrath of the gods, and was sure to excite the hostility and bitter persecution of men-even then do we behold Abram, like some effulgent light bursting forth from impenetrable gloom, rising above the universal superstition and impiety of the age- daring to question and to deny the truth of those degrading doctrines which were enshrined as sacred in the hearts of all refusing to participate in their vain and sensual worship—and, by precept and example, unfolding the lessons of truth and of virtue in the midst of error and of vice. For Berosus tells us, that while he was yet in Chaldea, Abram had gained the honourable distinction of being "a righteous man, and skilful in the celestial science." And Josephus says, that "he was a person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things, and for persuading his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to have higher notions |