adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Rom. viii. 2. 15.) The same Apostle also calls the ordinances of the law a "yoke of bondage" (Gal. v. 1) but under the Christian dispensation our scriptural liturgy addresses the Triune God as a Lord "whose service is perfect freedom," thus signifying that a true and living faith in the Son of God, "by whom we have now received the atonement," (Rom. v. 11) frees us from every bitter penalty which by the transgression of the law we had incurred. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." (Rom. iii. 23, 24.)

Q. Verses 11-13.-What may we learn from these verses?

A. That God's over-ruling wisdom and love can, at any time, bring good out of evil, and make our lightest words and actions subservient to his own gracious purposes towards us, in the same manner that He overruled the mocking of Ishmael and the harshness of Sarah to the fulfilment of his foreordained purposes towards Ishmael.

Q. Verse 19.-What is the especial comfort and encouragement which the true Christian may derive from a consideration of this record?

A. It is twofold, temporal and spiritual; for in this twofold sense it establishes the fact, that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." In temporal extremity the true Christian may hence be led to believe that the opportunities of God's providence encompass him, as closely and as savingly as they encompassed Hagar in the wilderness; and this belief his own observation and experience will tend to confirm. There are few who cannot remember, either in their own case or in the case of others among their immediate acquaintance, many instances of what are emphatically termed hair-breadth escapes from accident, wonderful restorations to health, providential interpositions of friendship in times of sorrow or of need, and still

more providential preventions of sin; and none of us should remember such instances without being ready to exclaim with the Psalmist, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." (Ps. cxxi. 1, 2.)

In spiritual extremity, also, the true Christian may be led to recognize the opportunity of God in the consolations of the Gospel, which Isaiah typifies under a figure most beautifully accordant with the manner of Hagar's relief: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." (Isa. xli. 17, 18.) Our blessed Lord seems to have referred to this and similar prophecies when He proclaimed to the Jews, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink;" (John vii. 37) and again, when He closed the Book of Revelation with his gracious invitation, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. xxii. 17.) But while it is certain that "The Lord is at hand" at all times, and his opportunities are illimitable in every extremity to which we may be reduced, whether of sickness, of poverty, of grief, or of temptation, we must not forget that his presence and his consolations can be only spiritually discerned. It is written of Hagar, that "God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." It is the acknowledgment of the Psalmist, "With thee is the fountain of life;" and he emphatically adds, "In thy light shall we see light." (Ps. xxxvi. 9.)

D

CHAPTER XXII.

Q. Verse 1.-What meaning are we to attach to the word tempt as it is here used?

A. St. Paul tells us that "By faith, Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac." (Heb. xi. 17.) This shows us that the Lord intended to try the faith of Abraham, not to tempt him to sin when He commanded him to offer up Isaac, and the words of St. James fully tend to confirm this view of the subject: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." (James i. 12. 13.)

Q. Verse 12.-How does this verse instruct us in the true nature of that reverent and godly fear, without which we cannot serve God acceptably?

A. God Himself, in this verse, declares to Abraham "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me;" and this declaration may assure us that we do serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear," (Heb. xii. 28) when we withhold from Him any sacrifice which He requires of us.

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Abraham was to leave to all generations a pattern of obedient faith; and therefore his trials were far beyond any which we can ever be called to meet: "He that had 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." (Heb. xi. 17-19.)

The principle of faith, which here so wonderfully influenced and sustained the obedience of Abraham, must also be the directing and sustaining principle

of our daily walk with God. It is the declaration of the Lord Jesus, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matt. x. 37, 38.) Upon our practical application of these words depends the evidence of our rightly loving and fearing God. We may be called upon to resign the dearest friends and the choicest gifts that he ever bestowed upon us. Can we then say with Job-" The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord ?” (Job i. 21.) Can we say with the psalmist-" Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee?" (Ps. lxxiii. 25.) Can we, under worldly losses and crosses, cheerfully resign ourselves into the hands of God, giving thanks to Him that He thus "dealeth with us as with sons," (Heb. xii. 7, and context) and being assured that He will Himself be "the portion of our inheritance?" (Ps. xvi. 5.) Above all, is it our prayerful endeavour, daily and hourly, to bring "into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ?" (2 Cor. x. 5.) If in this spirit we serve the Lord, our service, however poor and imperfect it may be in itself, will be graciously accepted for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whose righteousness alone we can, at the last day, be found to "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." (Col. iv. 12.)

Q. Point out those particular circumstances of Isaac's life in which he may be regarded as a type of

the Messiah.

A. We have no direct authority in the Scriptures for declaring that Isaac was a type of Christ; but, that he was a type of the Christian Church may be proved by the words of St. Paul, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise;" (Gal. iv. -28) we are therefore justified in considering, typically,

some striking analogies in his life and the life of our Saviour.

Isaac was the child of promise; our Lord was promised from the beginning of time. Isaac was born out of the usual course of nature; our Lord was born of a pure virgin. Abraham was ready, at the Lord's command, to offer up his only son as a burnt offering, and Isaac was ready to be so offered, as is proved by his suffering himself to be bound, and laid on the altar. But here the analogy varies considerably, inasmuch as the Lord Jesus was not only "led as a lamb to the slaughter," but really was offered up as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world; and "God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." (Rom. viii. 32.)

In considering this subject the late Rev. B. E. Nicholls has remarked, "In both cases we see a good and kind Father causing his beloved, only, and innocent Son to suffer death. Isaac was heir to the promises of the temporal Canaan; through Christ we claim the inheritance of the heavenly. Isaac carried the wood, on which he was afterwards bound in order to be offered up; Christ carried the cross, on which he was afterwards nailed and put to death. The place where God appointed the former should die, and the place where the latter actually died, were both in the land of Moriah, (that is, of God manifested) on one of the mountains of which the temple stood; on another our Saviour's cross. The term of three days, too, is remarkably specified in each history. The lamb which Abraham said the Lord would provide, naturally turns our thoughts to Him whom the Baptist calls the Lamb of God;' and the ram substituted for Isaac, to the temple sacrifices of animals-types of the atonement of Christ. Then, lastly, the mountain, where provision was made for Abraham's distress, deserved its name of Jehovah-Jireh infinitely better, on account of God's providing there for the redemption of mankind." (Nicholls's Help, p. 88.)