to fulfil the scriptures, that thus it must be, Jesus was 66 brought as a lamb to the slaughter:" although he might have prayed the Father, and presently have received from him "more than twelve legions of angels." The sacrifice of a ram was appointed and accepted by God, instead of that of Isaac. The long train of levitical sacrifices was established, on the same Divine authority, to prefigure for a time the sacrifice of Christ, and to occupy the same part in the Jewish dispensation, which the death of Christ occupies in the Christian. But the offering of Isaac prefigured the resurrection of Christ after three days, as well as his death. The words of scripture, on this point, are most clear. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure," or in a parable. And this offering was made "on the third day" after Abraham had set forth, and counted his son as one dead.

66

To interpret these words as containing an assertion, that Abraham received Isaac from

the dead, in a dramatical representation,' may be to force the language of scripture to an unwarrantable extent. But the authority of the apostle expressly declares, at least, a remarkable point of resemblance between the history of Isaac and that of Christ; that when the arm of the patriarch was arrested by the angel of God, who called unto him out of heaven, and forbade him to slay his son, he received Isaac, figuratively, from the dead; as we know that Christ, having been retained in the grave during the same period, really arose from the dead, on the third day, being made the first-fruits of them that slept.

The offering, then, of Isaac appears to be that part of the sacred history, in which Abraham may, with peculiar propriety, be said to have earnestly desired to see Christ's day, and having seen it, to have been glad. In all the promises which were successively made, in all the bright prospects which they were calculated to open, he might anticipate the blessings which should be bestowed personally upon himself; he might discern, with the eye of faith, his descendants becoming as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore, innumerable: he might foresee their possession of a land flowing with milk and honey; their peculiar privileges f See Faber, Hora Mosaicæ. Book II. Sect. 3 ch. iii. §. 5.

C c

(

as the people of God; and the general blessing which should come upon all the families and nations of the earth, by Abraham and his seed. But, at the time when he offered his son, he was favoured with a more express communication of the Divine will. This was the last trial of his faith; the concluding period in the series of revelations, which he received from above. No clearer insight into futurity appears to have been granted to the patriarch: and no higher degree of certainty respecting the Divine promise could have been obtained, than that which was ratified by the sanction of an oath.

We may not be able to ascertain the precise degree of knowledge, which Abraham possessed respecting the things typified in the offering up of Isaac. But he might understand, that the redemption, which he expected, should be obtained only by some sacrifice, analogous to that which he was commanded to offer, that of an only-begotten son: he might know, that some of the circumstances of time and place, attending that sacrifice, should correspond with the action which he had been commissioned to perform; and that a real resurrection from the dead should authenticate the Saviour of the world, as he received Isaac from the dead in a figure. That some knowledge of "Christ's day" was afforded him, the assertion of our

Lord fully proves. That this knowledge extended to some correct information respecting the event which was foreshadowed, appears from the name which he affixed to the place. Adopting the words, which he had uttered in faith, as he ascended the mountain, "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering ;"g Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-jireh,—The Lord will provide. And we have the authority of Moses for declaring, that the event and the place were kept in remembrance, in after ages, by a proverbial expression respecting the mount. We read no more of Henceforth he con

the trials of Abraham.

tinued to live satisfied in the faith: and in that faith he died; "not having received the promises, but" yet "having seen them afar off.""

h

There exists, besides, a very remarkable piece of history, which appears to shew how the sacrifice of Isaac was understood in the patriarchal ages. A knowledge of so remarkable a transaction would, very probably, have beeen preserved in the family of Esau, and diffused through his posterity among the nations of the east. And such a tradition, however distorted by ignorance or superstition, might still retain sufficient indications of its origin; and, even by its exaggerations, serve to shew

the kind of interpretation which was originally put upon the facts. Such a tradition, seems to have been transmitted in the singular mystical sacrifice of the Phoenicians.*

k

Human sacrifices were common among that deluded people. Sometimes the victims were taken indiscriminately: sometimes they gave even their first-born for their transgression; the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul. And in times of peculiar danger and distress, the king of the country, or the chief man of any city, offered the most dearly beloved of their children, as a victim to appease the anger of heaven. And this sacrifice, it is said, was performed mystically. The sacrifice is reported to have arisen from that made by a former prince of the land, who decorated his only-begotten son in royal apparel, and offered him as a burnt-offering upon an altar.

There can be little doubt, that this tradition originated in the sacrifice of Isaac, although perverted by the addition of fictitious circumstances, and made subservient to gross superstition. Independently of the similarity of the events, the very names, given to the son who was offered up, and to his mother, bear such evident reference to those of the sacred his

See note (A) at the end of the Lecture.

* Micah vi. 7.