substance, and went toward Canaan, neither knowing the country, nor the way whither he went, Gen. xi. 26, -32. and xii. 1,—5. Deut. xxvi. 5. Josh. xxiv. 2, 3. Isa. xli. 2, Acts vii. 2,-4. Heb. xi. 8. his brother Haran's son, and all their | thanksgiving for his safe return. Contentions between his herdmen and those of his nephew Lot, obliged them to separate. Abram made the peaceful proposal, and gave his nephew the choice what place he would turn to. Lot had scarce departed for the plain of Sodom, when God re-assured Abram that his seed should possess the whole country in view. Abram removed southward from the environs of Bethel, and pitched his tent in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. There he erected an altar to God; and contracted a friendship with Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, the chief men of that place. Before he had long enjoyed, this agreeable situation, news were brought him, that Chedorlaomer and his allies had ravaged the country of Sodom and Gomorrahı, and carried Lot prisoner. Abram armed 318 of his own servants; and with these, and a few allies headed by his friends, Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, he pursued the conquering potentates; surprised them by night at the springs of Jordan; routed and pursued them as far as HOBAH, northward of Damascus; recovered Lot, with all his family and substance, with the rest of the captives, and the plunder of Sodom, In his return, MELCHIZEDEK met him at Salem, entertained him with provi sions, blessed him, and received from his hand the tithes of his spoil. The young king of Sodom generously offered him all that he had recovered, except the men and women: Abram more generously refused the least share of it, Gen. xiii, and xiv, Graciously to reward Abram's generosity and dependence on God, the Lord immediately after assured him that he was his shield, and his exceeding great reward; and repeated to him the promise of a numerous seed, and of Canaan for their inheritance. By an horrible darkness, and by a fiery meteor passing be A. M. 2083, he entered Canaan, crossing the Jordan, south of the Galilean sea he pitched his tent at Shechem, and there erected an altar to the Lord. Here God again appeared to him, confirmed his former promises, and assured him that Canaan should one day be the property of his seed. He had scarce received this promise, when a famine obliged him to leave the country: without consulting his Maker, he went southward to Egypt. Sarai was now sixty-five years of age, but retained beauty enough to endanger the man's life, who passed for her husband, especially in Egypt, where the women were none of the loveEest. Abram therefore and Sarai agreed, that both should pretend she was his sister, wherever they should come. They had not been long here, when her beauty charmed the Egyptians, and at last captivated Pharaoh himself, Abram received vast numbers of sheep, oxen, camels, asses, men-servants, and maid-servants, besides gold, silver, and other precious things, in compliment, for the sake of his pretended sister and Sarai was in imminent danger of being taken into Pharaoh's bed. To prevent this, God inflicted on him and his family such plagues as clearly manifested the cause. Pharaoh sent for Abram; sharply rebuked him for his dangerous imposition; returned him his wife undefiled, and gave orders for their safe departure from his dominions, Gen. II. Psal. cv. 14, 15. The famine in Canaan being ceased, Abram returned thither, and on the altar which he had built near Bethel and Hai, offered a sacrifice of tween the pieces of the heifer, the she goat, the ram, turtle, and pigeon, he confirmed the covenant, prefigured their affliction, and hint ed, that at last their salvation should go forth as a lamp that burneth. At the same time he assured him his seed should sojourn four hundred years in a land not their own, and part of that time be terribly oppressed and that in the fourth generation, they should be brought with great wealth from the land of their bondage, and take possession of Canaan from the Euphrates on the north-east, to the border of Egypt on the south-west, Gen. xv. Hearing that a child of Abram's own body should be heir of Canaan, Sarai imagining it impossible for one of her age and circumftances to be the joyful mother, advised her husband to make Hagar her maid his concubine, and procure children by her. Without consulting his God, Abram too rashly complied. Hagar no sooner found herself pregnant, than she behaved to her mistress in a haughty and surly manner. This occasioned bitter but unjust reproaches to Abram from his wife, as if he had encouraged his maid in her pride. Hard treatment from her mistress provoked Hagar to flee the family; but being advised by God, she returned and submitted herself. She brought forth a son, whose name was ISHMAEL. For thirteen years after his folly with Hagar, God appears to have denied Abram the more roted tokens of his favour and presence. A. M. 2107, he repeated the promise of a numerous seed, and of the land of Canaan for their possession. To confirm this covenant, to separate Abram and his family from the rest of the world, and seal to them the blessings of grace, he ordered himself, and all the males of his family and seed, to have their foreskin cut off. He changed his name to ABRAHAM, which signifies the father of a multitude. Sarai's he changed to SARAH, which signifies the lady or mistress. He assured him that Ishmael should live, and have a numerous issue; and Sarah, now ninety years of age, should bear a son, in whose seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Immediately after this vision, Abraham and all his males were circumcised, Gen. xvi. and xvii. Not long after, the Son of God, attended by two angels in human shape, passed by Abraham's tent in their way to destroy Sodom and the cities adjacent. Upon Abraham's kind entreaty they entered his tent, and were entertained by him as travellers. The Angel JEпOVAH asking for Sarah, assured her and her husband, that after nine months she should bring forth a son, called ISAAC. Abraham accompanied his guests part of their way toward Sodom. To reward him for his religious education of his family, the Lord disclosed to him their intention to destroy these wicked cities. Moved with compassion, chiefly to Lot, Abraham interceded for their preservation. God granted him whatever he asked. He offered to save them, if fifty, if forty, if twenty, or even ten gracious persons should be found therein; but as there was none save Lot, only he and his daughters were preserved, Gen. xviii. and xix. Scarce had Sarah conceived, when her own and her husband's dissimulation at Gerar issued in her being forced from him by ABIMELECH the king. She was, however, quickly restored, without receiving any stain of disloyalty to her marriage-bed, Gen. xx. In A. M. 2108, Isaac was born, to the no small joy of Abraham and Sarah. The first circumcised, and the other suckled him. When Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a spleedid feast for his household. On that occasion, Ishmael marked his contempt of Isaac. Sarah observing it begged her husband to expel Hagar and her son from the family, as the would never allow him to inherit Canaan along with Isaac. This request was extremely disagreeable to Abraham; but, being admonished by God, he readily complied therewith. Abraham now dwelt at Beersheba: thither Abimelech king of Gerar came to make a covenant of friendship with him, moved, perhaps, with the report of the promise of Canaan to his seed. Abraham reproved the king concerning a well which his servants had taken by force; that being restored, a covenant was made between them, and ratified by oath. Abraham too built an altar here to the Lord, Gen. xxi. of his son, and called the place JEHOVAH-JIREHI; importing, that God chiefly manifested his favours in perplexing straits, and would provide for his people whatever they needed. After God had renewed his promises, and confirmed them by oath, he rejoined his servants, and returned home to Beersheba ; and was there informed that his brother Nahor had a numerous issue, Gen. xxii. Abraham's next work was the bu rial of his beloved Sarah. She died at Hebron, where her husband, it seems, then dwelt. He requested of the Hittites of that place to sell him a burying-place: they offered him room in any of their sepulchres: he desired the cave of Macpelah : Ephron the proprietor begged he would take it in compliment; but Abraham insisted to give the full value, and paid for it 400 shekels, which amounted to 46 pounds 5 shil Isaac was now twenty-five, or perhaps thirty-three, years of age, when God ordered his father to of-lings, or, according to Prideaux, fer him a burnt sacrifice on a distant bill. All obedient, he rose early next morning, set off with Isaac and some servants, and a knife, fire and wood for the offering. After travelling three days he came to Moriah, the destined mount. The servants and asses being left behind, Isaac bore the wood; and his father the knife and fire. By the way, Isaac asked where the sacrifice was? Abraham replied, God would provide it. They came to the appointed spot: an altar was reared: Isaac was bound and stretched thereon. Abraham had just stretched his hand with the knife, to plunge it into the throat of his son; the Lord himself stopt the blow, and told Abraham he had now sufficiently discovered his fixed faith in his promise, and regard to his precepts: meanwhile, the patriarch looking behind him, observed a ram caught by the horns in a thick bush: bum he caught, and offered instead to 60 pounds Sterling; and there he lived at a small distance one from another, buried him in the cave of Macpelah, beside Sarah his wife, Gen. xxiii, xxiv, xxv. Abraham is famous in the stories of the ancient Heathens, and, of the Mahometans, Indians, and Jews, as a king of Damascus; as a teacher of arithmetic and astronomy to the Egyptians, &c. It is probable human sacrifices took their rise among the Canaanites, from his intended oblation of Isaac. Severus the Roman emperor, reckoned him one of his deities along with Jesus Christ. The sacred volumes represent him as the friend of God; as the father and pattern of the faithful; as one who, with joy unspeakable, foresaw the coming of the promised Messiah; as a noted possessor of the heavenly glory; and hence a share of it is represented as a lying in his bofom, Rom. iv. Heb. xi. John viii. 56. Matth. viii. 11. Luke xvi. 20. Was Jesus Christ typified by this venerable patriarch? How astonishing was his meekness, his love and kindness to men; his intimacy with, fear of, obedience to, and trust in his God! He is the chosen favourite of Heaven; the Father and covenant-head of innumerable millions of saved men. To him were all the promises relative to the evangelic and eternal state of his church originally made. All obedient, he, at his Father's call, in a manner, left the native abodes of bliss, and became a stranger and sojourner on earth, not having where to lay his head. At his Father's call, he offered himself an acceptable sacrifice to God. By all prevalent intercession and supernatural influence, he delivers his, ah! too ungrateful friends from the hands of their foes. After long patience he obtains a numerous seed in the Jewish and gospel church. In his visible family are many professors, children of the bond-woman, the covenant of works; who, in the issue, are like the mo dern Jews, rejected and cast out into a state of wickedness and misery: others are children of the free-woman; like Isaac, are, by the powerful influence of the promise, begotten again unto God. ABSALOM, the third son of king David: his mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, He was one of the most comely men that ever breathed: every year he cut the hair of his head, and it weighed 200 shekels, or about six pounds English weight; or perhaps, rather, was valued at the rate of 200 shekels of silver; which at least is about 23, or, according to Prideaux, 30 pounds Sterling. He had three sons, who all died in their childhood, and a beautiful daughter called TAMAR, 2 Sam. iii, 3, and xiv. 25,—27. and xviii. 18. When Tamar his sister was ravished by Amnon, she complained to him of the injury done her. Absalom resolved on a thorough revenge. Bent to execute it, he entirely concealed his resentment. After two years he invited his brethren to a shearing-feast at Baalhazor. When Amnon had drunk hard, Absalom ordered his servants to kill him; and then fled to his grandfather at Geshur in Syria. He had continued three years in exile when Joab, observing David's fondness of a reconciliation, prompted an artful widow of Tekoah, by a feigned speech concerning the danger of her son, who, she pretended, had in a passion killed his brother, to solicit it. Absalom was recalled; but lived two years at Jerusalem without entering his father's presence. Stung with grief and indignation, he sent for Joab, with a view to engage him to be his advocate with the king. Joab at first refused to go; but Absalom, by burning of his corns, obliged him to it. On coming, Joab understood his intent, and went di- | so dispirit the whole party before it rectly to king David and procured his admission to court. Scarce was this reconciliation effected, when Absalom prepared to usurp his father's throne. He got himself a number of horses and chariots, and fifty men to run before him. By kind usage of those who came to his father for judgment, by indirect hints that their causes were good, but his father neglected to do them justice, and by wishes that it were in his power to do them right, he won the hearts of the people. About Whitsuntide, A. M. 2980, in the 40th year after David's unction by Samuel, and the 4th after Absalom's return from Syria, he, under pretence of fulfilling a vow, solicited his father's permission to repair to Hebron, a city southward of Jerusalem. Two hundred persons of note attended him thither, without suspecting his designs. He immediately opened his mind to them; and caused it to be proclaimed in all the cities of Israel that he reign. ed in Hebron. Ahithophel, David's principal counsellor, upon invitation revolted to him with the first the body of the Israelites followed his example. David, with a handful of such friends as he could depend on, fled from Jerusalem. Ahithophel, after making him publicly defile ten of his father's concubines, advised Absalom without delay, to give him the command of 12,000 chosen troops, and he would directly pursue his father, and apprehend him before he had time to recover from his fright. This advice was extremely proper to answer his end. But Hushai was also consulted: he pretended Ahithophel's counsel was not seasonable, as David and his friends were brave and desperate fellows, and would readily spring forth from pits, or like hiding-places, and all of a sudden cut off some of Absalom's forces; and : was firmly established. To flatter Absalom's vanity, and give David time to put himself in a posture of defence, he advised to assemble every man of Israel capable to bear arms, and that Absalom should command them in person; he pretended, that with this huge host they should, without fail, ruin David and his party, whether they found him in city or field. :: Hushai's advice was approven and His ABSENT, out of one's sight or presence, Gen. xxxi. 49. Col. ii. 5. The saints on earth are absent from the Lord; they enjoy not the immediate vision and fellowship of Jesus Christ, and of God in him, as these in heaven do, 2 Cor. v. 6. ABSTAIN, to forbear using. ABSTINENCE is strictly a forbearing of the use of food, Acts xxvii. 22. During their sacred ministra |