to Abraham after another manner, to confirm him in the truth of what He had told him. For as he sat one day in his tent door, he saw three angels coming towards him. Rising from his seat, he ran to meet them, and saluted them by bowing his head towards the ground. He then entreated

BOWING TOWARDS THE GROUND.

them to stay and wash their feet, and take some refreshment before they pursued their journey; to which they consented. While they were partaking of the repast which had been hastily provided, one of them asked Abraham where his wife was. Abraham replied that she was in the tent; upon which he said, "I will cer

tainly return to thee according to the time of life; and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son." Abraham was assured by this, that his visitors were from heaven. Sarah overheard this conversation; and considering her own and her husband's great age, she could not believe what was said, but laughed at the improbability of the matter. For this she was reproved; and though she knew she was guilty, she denied that she laughed, for she was afraid. But the Lord, for it was He who had been speaking, fixed the charge upon her, saying, "Nay; but thou didst laugh."

9. The conversation then ceased; and the guests, rising up to take their departure, turned to go in the direction of Sodom, Abraham accompanying them to bring them on their way. As they walked on, the Lord was pleased to acquaint Abraham with His purpose concerning Sodom; this gracious act being founded on the assurance He had, that Abraham would command not only his children but his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and equity. He then told him His determination to destroy Sodom, if He found that its inhabitants had done according to the cry of the city which had come before Him; their wickedness being very grievous. While they were

speaking, the two angels left them and went towards Sodom; but Abraham remained communing with the Lord, and interceding for the wicked city. He began by expressing his assurance that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked; for that the Judge of all the earth must do right. He then interceded that the city might be spared if there should be fifty found in it who were righteous: and the Lord gave him an assurance that it should be so. Abraham then reduced the number to forty-five rightthen to forty; then to thirty; then to twenty; and last of all he pleaded that the city might be spared if only ten righteous people were found in it. To all these entreaties, God graciously assured Abraham that He would grant his petition, and so left him to return to his house.

eous;

10. The two angels who left Abraham communing with the Lord, arrived in Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. When he saw them, he went to meet them, and having saluted them, invited them to his house, that they might refresh themselves and stay till morning. At first they refused, saying, that they would abide in the street all night: but at his earnest entreaty they at length accepted his invitation, and went into his house.

When they had partaken of the feast which Lot provided for them, before they retired to rest, the men of Sodom, both old and young, came in a crowd round the house and riotously commanded Lot to bring out his guests. Lot being desirous to quell the tumult and pacify them, went out, and shutting the door after him entreated them not to offer any affront to his guests. But the wicked Sodomites refused to listen to him, as he was only a stranger amongst them; and threatening to deal worse with him than they would with his guests, pressed hard upon him, and tried to force open the door. The heavenly guests, to rescue Lot from their violence, pulled him into the house, and smote the men with blindness, so that they could not find the door. They then enquired of Lot what family he had; and telling him that the destruction of the city was now determined, and that God had sent them to destroy it, bid him take all his family and relations, and all he had in the place, and bring them out. So Lot went and told his sons-in-law what God was about to do, and advised them to go with him: but they looked upon all he said as a jest and mockery.

11. By this time the night was far spent; and as soon as the day began to dawn, the angels hastened Lot to

be gone, saying, "Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, lest ye be destroyed in the iniquity of the city." Seeing that he still lingered, they at last took hold of his hand, and the hand of his wife and daughters, and brought them out of the city, bidding them hasten for their lives, and charging them not to look behind them, nor make any stay in the plain, lest they should be consumed. But Lot, saying that he could not escape to the mountain to which they were directed, fearing some evil should befall him, entreated for permission to go to a little city which was near, named Zoar, pleading the mercy which God had already shewn in saving his life. His request was granted, and he was commanded to hasten thither, the angel telling him that he could do nothing towards the destruction of Sodom till he had arrived there.

12. The command given to Lot, his wife, and daughters, upon their escape, was, that they should not look behind them, nor tarry in the plain, but hasten to the mountain. Yet before they reached the little city Zoar, Lot's wife, either forgetting what the angel had said, or desiring to return to Sodom, looked back, and became a pillar of salt; a lasting monument of the fearful consequences of disobedience to the command of God.

13. Lot still proceeded with his daughters in their flight to Zoar, where they arrived in safety, at the rising of the sun. Being now out of danger, God's judgment quickly fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other sinful cities of the plain. For an overwhelming torrent of fire and brimstone was rained down from heaven, which instantly destroyed them all. This dreadful sight was seen by Abraham, who rose up early in the morning and went to the place where he had communed with the angel the day before. When he arrived," he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."

14. Lot, seeing that other cities as well as Sodom were destroyed, and fearing to remain in Zoar, went up into the mountain to which he had been directed by the angel to go, before he turned aside to go to Zoar, and dwelt there in a cave with his two daughters. His daughter who was his first-born, afterwards had a son whom she named Moab, and who was the father of the Moabites; and his younger daughter also had a son, whom she named Ben-ammi, and who was the father of the Ammonites.

CHAPTER IV.

1. Abraham removes from Mamre to Gerar. 2. The king takes Abraham's wife; but restores her. 3. The birth of Isaac. 4. Ishmael mocks him. 5. Hagar and Ishmael are sent into the wilderness. 6. God commands Abraham to offer Isaac for a burnt offering. 7. Abraham obeys. 8. The angel restrains him, and he offers a ram. 9. Returns to Beersheba. 10. Sarah dies, and is buried. 11. Abraham directs Eliezer to take a wife for Isaac. 12. Eliezer arrives at the well of Haran. 13. Rebekah comes to the well. Eliezer is invited to her father's house. 15. Tells them his errand. 16. Rebekah consents to become Isaac's wife. 17. Sets out on her journey. 18. Meets Isaac, who takes her for his wife.

14.

OON after the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham removed from Mamre and journeyed towards the south, till he arrived at Gerar, where he stayed. Here he had the same apprehension that he should lose his wife, as he had when he went into Egypt; so they agreed to call each other brother and sister.

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2. Abimelech, the king of Gerar, supposing that Sarah was no other than Abraham's sister, sent for her, intending to take her as his wife. But God came to him in a dream by night, and told him that he was but as a dead man, on account of the woman he had taken; for that she had a husband. Abimelech pleaded, in excuse for what he had done, that Abraham and Sarah had both declared that they were brother and sister and in the morning, calling for Abraham, he said to him, "What hast thou done unto us? and in what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?" Abraham replied, “ Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet, indeed, she is my sister: she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is thy kindness that thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother."" On hearing this, Abimelech restored to Abraham his wife; and presented him with sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants; giving him also full permission to dwell in

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any part of the land he liked best.

3. The appointed time being now come for God to manifest His miraculous power in blessing Abraham with an heir-whose birth was wonderful, considering the great age of his parents-Sarah brought forth a son, whom his father named Isaac, according to the direction which God had given him; and circumcised him when he was eight days old. Who can express the joy that now filled the hearts of this ancient pair? And who will distrust God's promises, with this example before them? Sarah might well laugh now with joy, and not in distrust as she did before.

4. The birth of Isaac caused great disappointment to Hagar, who had expected that her own son Ishmael would be Abraham's heir. And it was not long in shewing itself in the conduct of her son, who was most probably encouraged in it by his mother. After Isaac had been weaned, and had grown a little, his watchful mother saw Ishmael mocking him. As she could not bear to see her son so treated by the son of her Egyptian bondwoman, she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." This request grieved Abraham exceedingly, for he loved

his son Ishmael. But while he considered the matter, not knowing what steps to take, God said to him, "Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice." He then confirmed what Sarah had said to Abraham, that Isaac was his heir; and assured him also, that because Ishmael was his son, He would make him famous in the world.

5. So Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took some bread, and a bottle of water, and gave them to Hagar, and sent her away with Ishmael.

Hagar departed with her son, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba till her provisions were spent; when she laid the child, fainting with thirst, under a shrub, and went and sat down at a little distance from him, that she might not see him die. She then, in the bitterness of her grief, lifted up her voice and wept. But the angel of God called to her and said, "What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad. Arise, lift him up; for I will make of him a great nation." Hagar, seeing a well of water near, filled her bottle and gave some to the child to drink, which revived him. God afterwards provided for him, and he grew up, and became an expert