circumstances; the reader will be familiar with them: but we may remark that they clearly show the just views which were then entertained of an immediate Providence, and the extent to which they were practically operative.

Isaac was forty years old when he was married, and he lived with his wife twenty years before they had children. This circumstance was a sore trial to the patriarch, and he "entreated the Lord" on this account, and the Lord heard him. Some time previous to her becoming a mother, Rebekah was greatly distressed; and we are told, "she went to inquire of the Lord." Gen. xxv, 22. How this was done, we cannot tell. Commentators have given many conjectures, most of them sufficiently absurd. Probably we are to understand, that she made it the subject of special and earnest prayer to God, and that he graciously revealed the reply, either in a dream or vision, or by an audible voice. Whatever was the mode of communication, it was efficient: it gave Rebekah the important information that she would give birth to twins, who should be the progenitors of two separate and independent nations; and that the descendants of the younger should be the most powerful, and should finally subdue the descendants of the other. For, as Bishop Newton observes, (in his Dissertation on the Prophecies, p. 35,) we have, in the prophecies delivered respecting the sons of Isaac, ample proof, "that these prophecies were not meant so much of single persons as of whole nations descended from them; for what was predicted concerning Esau and Jacob was not verified in themselves, but in their posterity." The children were born, "and the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents." Verse 27. Their manners, dispositions, and characters, were unlike.

About this time a famine, which prevailed in Palestine, induced Isaac to go into the land of the Philistines. Here he was exposed to danger, as his father had been, on account of the beauty of his wife. The gracious providence of God interposed, and preserved and delivered him. It is evident from the narrative, that the continued and increasing prosperity of Isaac made him an object of envy to the surrounding chiefs: "The man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: for he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants and the Philistines envied him." Gen. xxvi, 13, 14. But while this exposed him to inconvenience and danger, he was

the subject of very special divine blessing; for the Lord appeared unto him, and confirmed to him, in his own person, the promises which had been previously made to Abraham on his behalf. Indeed, so powerfully were his neighbors affected by his prosperity, and the manifest blessing which rested upon him, that Abimelech, with his friends, and the chief captain of his army, went to meet Isaac at Gerar, for the purpose of making a covenant with him, candidly saying, "We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, and let us make a covenant with thee: that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee." Verses 28, 29.

In these circumstances Isaac gradually attained a good old age: his tranquillity was scarcely ever ruffled, except by the contrast exhibited in the dispositions of his sons, and the means taken by Jacob to possess himself of the privileges to which his elder brother seemed justly entitled. This object was at length consummated in a manner which was most unexpected and distressing to the aged patriarch, he himself being the unconscious instrument of its completion.

Isaac was old, his sight had failed him, and he purposed to transmit the blessing of Abraham to his eldest son Esau. By the artifice of Rebekah, and the skill of Jacob, Isaac was circumvented, and pronounced the blessing upon his younger son, believing him to be the elder. That this was done under special divine influence, appears to be indubitable; for, when undeceived, although greatly disappointed and distressed, he does not revoke the benediction, but, on the contrary, although he "trembled very exceedingly," he exclaimed, “Yea, and he shall be blessed." Gen. xxvii, 33.

On this subject Dr. Hales remarks: "In this transaction all parties were to be blamed: Isaac for endeavoring to set aside. the oracle (the express declaration of Jehovah) in favor of his younger son, to which he pointedly alluded in the second clause of his blessing, and especially in the invidious expression, 'thy mother's sons;' the last clause contained the first blessing of Abraham, Gen. xii, 3; Esau, for wishing to deprive his brother of the blessing which he had himself relinquished; and Rebekah and Jacob, for wishing to secure it by fraudulent means, not trusting wholly in the Lord.

"That their principal object, however, was the spiritual blessing, and not the temporal, was shown by the event. For Jacob

afterward reverenced Esau as his elder brother, and insisted on Esau's accepting a present from his hand, in token of submission. Gen. xxxiii, 3-15. Esau also appears to have possessed himself of his father's property during Jacob's long exile."-Hales's Chronology, vol. ii, p. 133.

We meet with nothing of a remarkable character in the latter part of Isaac's life. Jacob journeyed into Mesopotamia, married, and returned with his family and property. Esau had settled in Mount Seir; when the aged patriarch died, sixteen years after the return of Jacob, and when five years older than his father Abraham was at the time of his decease, and, like him, was buried by the joint devotedness of his two sons.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RELIGION OF THE POSTDILUVIAN PATRIARCHS. Revelations made to Noah-Influence of the dispersion on the religion of menThe Book of Job-Divine omnipotence-Omniscience and omnipresence—Goodness-Scheme of redemption-Resurrection of the dead-Faith of Abraham-The visible Jehovah of the Old Testament the Son of God-Immortality of the soul and future judgment-Existence and ministry of angels-The Satan of the Book of Job.

IN discussing the religion of this age, our means of information are so limited, that we shall endeavor to collect the best evidence on the subject from the religious authorities of this time; although at the hazard of repeating in part what has been previously said of the religion of the antediluvian period.

This course will enable us to furnish the most ample account of an important period of religious history, which has hitherto been very imperfectly investigated.

There can exist no reasonable doubt that Noah's knowledge and practice of religion precisely accorded with the faith of Adam, Abel, and Enoch: his was, in fact, the religion of the antediluvian age; and with respect to his successors, what we shall have to advance, can only be expected to differ from the account which has been given of the religion of the preceding period in two particulars: First, because we have more details and particulars supplied in the postdiluvian records, and consequently are enabled to give a picture instead of an outline; and, secondly, because special revelations were made to some individuals during this age, by which they apprehended the divine purpose in the plan of redemption more clearly than had been previously done.

We know that special revelations were made by God to Noah, although it is not so clear that these announced any new religious doctrine, or enjoined any duty or practice not previously required. It will, however, be necessary to consider these divine communications. They are given, Genesis viii, 20-22; ix, 1-17. The first feature in these passages relates to the efficacy of sacrifice: 'And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor: and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake." Gen. viii, 20, 21. These words clearly imply

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that God was well pleased with the presentation of this sacrifice; and therefore, that it was offered in accordance with divine appointment, and through faith in the promised Saviour. Singular as the language, "a sweet-smelling savor," appears, it affords a curious illustration of this point. Precisely similar language is used by St. Paul in reference to the offering of the Redeemer: "Christ hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Eph. v, 2. It is remarkable that the words used by the apostle in the original of this passage are precisely those found in the Septuagint rendering of the text now under consideration.

The following words of this communication assured Noah and his family, that, to the end of time, this terrible visitation should not be repeated, but that the earth should continue in its course, and seed-time and harvest return, in regular succession, until the end.

"And God blessed Noah and his sons," and established his covenant with them in terms very nearly the same as those addressed to Adam, with the addition of those assurances which were necessary to guard against any apprehension of another flood.

There is one part of this charter of privileges worthy of special consideration: it gave man liberty to eat animal food, a privilege not included in the communication to Adam. We do not remark on this, considered as a mere temporal license; but because there are reasons for believing that it was intended to possess a spiritual import and application. We have already shown that, in our earliest information respecting animal sacrifice, the blood was to be sacredly devoted to God: this was now also generally required: "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Gen. ix, 4. We have also given our reasons for believing that, from the beginning, a part of the animal slain in sacrifice was eaten by the person presenting the oblation; which, as we have endeavored to show, was done in order to attest, by the nourishment of the body with this food, the efficacy resulting to the soul from the offering of that great Antitype of all sacrifices, the promised Saviour. It does not therefore appear unreasonable to conclude, that this enlarged provision for the sustenance of the body was intended throughout all time to illustrate the great truth, that man is to obtain immortal life through the death of the promised Redeemer.

We have no further light cast on the religious condition of the