bear his cross *, John xix. 17. And it seems a remarkable coincidence, that, as it is well known that Christ was nailed to the cross, by his hands and feet, so the Jewish traditions affirm that Isaac was bound in the same manner upon the altar †. Sixthly, It was on the third day of his journey, that Abraham arrived at the place appointed for the sacrifice. Three days the unhappy Father bore his sorrows in silence, and three days the innocent victim, accompanied him in ignorance, and at the end of them, rose from off the Altar, as it were from the dead, and received a new life. So also did Christ rise again on the third day, after having been for three days, in what is called in our Liturgy Hell, * This is perfectly consonant with the passages in the other Gospels which relate that Simon the Cyrenean bore his Cross; for it seems clear that Christ bore his own Cross, till he fainted under the weight, from his preceding sufferings, and then the Jews made Simon carry it, who is thought to have been one of his disciples. + Lightfoot Vol. I. P. 268. They affirm also that Abel, who is likewise supposed to be a type of Christ, was wounded by Cain in the same places. which was probably not the place of punishment generally known by that name, but the place appointed for departed souls, till the last day. This coincidence in point of time is remarkable. Some commentators indeed, suppose that the feelings of the Father, made the journey slow; but this opinion is injurious to the faith and zcal of Abraham, for on the contrary we are expressly told, that he rose up early in the morning to begin his journey. The fact is, that a days journey in the East, is now, and probably was then, reckoned at about twelve miles for travellers on foot; and it does not appear from the text that either Isaac or the servants were mounted, though the aged Patriarch himself rode on an Ass. Now from Beersheba where Abraham then was, to Mount Moriah the appointed place, is only about thirty miles, that is a journey of two days and a half, which leaves the latter half of the third day for the events which took place on the mountain; accordingly we find that on the third day, probably at day break, he saw the the place afar off, that is, at six miles distance. But the last and most extraordinary circumstance attending this event, is the place appointed by God, for this typical sacrifice. This was a mountain in the land of Moriah, or as it is more correctly expressed in the Septuagint *, "a hill in the mountainous country," which God would point out to him; and the Jews have a tradition that this notification was made by a flame of fire, which rose out of the ground, to mark the spot where the Altar was to be built. It is also a received opinion among the Jews from the earliest times, that on this same spot Adam made his first offering, and that his head was buried there, by Shem the son of Noah ; that this was the place also, where Cain and Abel first offered their fruits and sacrifice, and where Noah built his Altar when he went out of the Ark. Whatever truth *For it was not called Moriah, which is supposed to be a corruption of Jireh, (Jehovah jireh, God will pro vide, or see) till after this event. there there may be in these uncertain traditions, and there is sufficient reason to suppose, that they cannot all be well founded, it seems very certain, that this Mount Moriah was afterwards enclosed within the precincts of Jerusalem; that David built his Altar there, on the ceasing of the pestilence, in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite; that Solomon on the same. spot erected his Temple; and that on one of the elevations of this celebrated mountain, (then called Golgotha in the Hebrew, and Calvary in Latin, i. e. the place of a skull, because executions were usually performed there,) was sacrificed the antitype of Isaac, Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world*. These similarities receive also additional force, by considering the circumstances, which attended the birth of Isaac, and that of our Lord. They were both the children of promise; that is, produced by the power of God, working a miracle, * Fuller's "Pisgah," Lightfoot &c. See also Basnage, B. xi. Ch. 1. according not in the Isaac was according to his promise, and natural manner of generation. born, when his Father was 100 years of age, and his Mother 90, and become naturally incapable of bearing a child *; and therefore she laughed at the promise of his birth, knowing that it could not be accomplished by human means. So was Christ also born by promise, and not by natural means; and though the humble piety of the Virgin Mary, prevented her from laughing, like Sarah, when the notification was made to her by the Angel; yet she also, knowing the natural impossibility of such an event, exclaimed, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? If all these circumstances be considered together, there seems to be no room to doubt, that Isaac was meant in reality as a type of Christ. For though some of them separately may not carry conviction with them, yet taken together the analogy is very striking: and the coincidences in two events, so remarkable and extraordi * Gen. xviii. 11. + Rom. iv. 19. nary, |