It would be putting a ridiculous limit to the nature of the blessing, to suppose it had its fulfilment in the knowledge and enlightenment which Abraham and his descendants shed around them, for pagan Rome, perhaps, did as much for the civilization of the world as Abraham or the Jews ever yet effected: while what both together have done, falls greatly short of the glorious and extensive promise, that all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Seeing, then, that the design of God under the patriarchal age, and under Judaism, was the same as under the Christian dispensation and is not yet completed, let us turn to what has an important bearing on our subject, and view the measures (as far as relate to our present subject) which were adopted by God to forward this design, viz. the means taken to bless Abraham and make him and his seed a blessing.

If there is one event more striking than another in the call and selection of Abraham, it was the command to separate from his brethren, his kinsmen, and his country, "Now the Lord said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee."-Gen. xii. Į.

To the advocate of speculative actions, to the enthusiast who thirsts for proselytism, to the political Christian who thinks that no great object can be effected without some sweeping measure of human legislation, this call of Abraham from his kindred and country must appear a strange mode of blessing him and making him a blessing.

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The course they would have taken would doubtless have been a directly contrary one; judging from the mode of argument pursued in the present day, they would have urged the exercise of his mind and talents for the enlightenment of his own country, and in stopping the idolatry that was widely spreading in his native land; but

such were not the means which an all-wise God saw consonant with the great and direct object of Divine Revelation, but those which he adopted, if briefly viewed, will afford marked evidence of their suitability, and tend to confirm the view we take of the mode in which the great promise is to be fulfilled.

Had the great object of God been to make all mankind in this state of existence wise, virtuous, and happy, it might then have appeared the more reasonable mode of effecting that object by Abraham's remaining among his countrymen to instruct them by his precepts and example. But believing, as I do, that the design of Revelation this side the grave is exclusive in its nature, that it was and is to separate a peculiar people, to fit moral instruments here, which are to accomplish the happiness of every family of the earth hereafter, the course pursued towards Abraham appears best calculated to effect that end.

There can be no question that Abraham might have effected much good among his countrymen, had he continued with them, and thus have been in some degree "a blessing." There can be no question but he might have retained some of the purity of his character, though surrounded with the vices of a wicked and idolatrous world; but the question is, was it the mode in which the Divine Being intended to effect the blessing, and would it have been the mode best calculated to form that high and exalted character, which the instruments in the future purpose are called upon to form? The facts of the case and reason pronounce it would not. The promise is unbounded: "In thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed;" and the call on his moral improvement is, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." How beautiful and consistent are the dealings of God with his creatures, the means with the end proposed! How deformed and inconsistent are the unguided actions

of men! How widely different are the moral qualities which Heaven requires and approves from those which call forth the admiration and applause of the world!

Had Abraham come forward in his own country with self-concerted measures of improvement and enlightenment, he might have called forth the well-intentioned praise of man; but it was by one private act of obedience the great patriarch won the approbation of his God. "For the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven, and said: By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee,' &c., "because thou hast obeyed my voice." Gen. xxii. 15-19.

Absolute obedience is the only test of moral excellence. Judging from the nature of man; judging from that separation which God required; judging from my own experience, and what I see of others, I think it reasonable to say that, had Abraham remained the companion of his countrymen; had he continued surrounded with their enticements; and, had his time and his attentions been employed in local and political measures of improvement, he never would, even with the best intentions, have arrived at that high state of moral character evinced under the above difficult and trying circumstances, and which placed him as the father of the future age. No! God required of him perfection, and, as the first means, enjoined on him Separation.

High religious and moral excellence is not proved by an even course of moral seeming; neither can it be attained to by the maxims and pursuits of the world, even in an enlightened age.

It can be obtained only by a close and constant study of the Divine will, by a delight in his laws, by a frequent communion with his spirit, by a vigilant watchfulness over ourselves, our actions, our motives, dispositions and

affections, by a lively consciousness of the various circumstances which surround us, and of our duties therein, according to the laws of God; and that such character is not to be formed in the midst of worldly associations and engagements, we not only see confirmed in the world, (and which we may more largely dwell upon in a future page); but what is more direct to our present point is, that it was not the course sanctioned by the Divine Being in his mode of preparing and perfecting his servant Abraham.

I dwell on the case of Abraham, because, to him were the designs of God towards his creatures first made known. To him were the promises originally made, for God preached, before the Gospel, unto Abraham. He is declared to be the father of us all, "not merely to those who were under the law, but to those who are of faith;" and, secondly, because the dealings of God with him were so plain and striking, that they serve (as, doubtless, they were intended to do) to manifest the nature and design of the Divine dealings towards his creatures, and to open the mind to the better understanding of after-communications and after-measures.

In perfect agreement with the principle of selection for the purpose of effecting the future and universal blessedness of all mankind, was the choice of Isaac as the progenitor of this peculiar seed.

Had the promise of blessedness given to Abraham had reference, and been limited to present and to temporal blessings, Ishmael would have been, and was as much the heir to the promise as was Isaac, for God blessed him and said, "for I will make him a great nation," Genesis xxi. 18; but it is evident that the selection of Isaac, like that of his father Abraham, was the selection of him as an instrument who was to become morally fit, and from whom were to descend others that should also be made morally fit to effect hereafter the great promise of making happy all the

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families of the earth that ever did, or ever will exist, and that temporal prosperity was only a part of the promise.

With Isaac, then, were all the promises renewed that had before been given to his father; but no one instance, that I am aware of, can be found in which he endeavoured to effect the then happiness or blessedness of any one family of the earth—much less of every family. No! such was not his duty. Not even Ishmael, his brother, claimed his exertions either for his prosperity or enlightenment: not one command from his Maker to set about the reformation of the world or any part thereof; his course, like the course of his father, was to be one of obedience, not of will-worship, not one of unauthorized and uncertain exertions to do good, but a course of submission to the commands of his God.

The same remarks will apply to the life and history of Jacob but these are the men in whose lives we are to

read the purposes of God; these the men whose company hereafter is held out as a stimulus to obedience and virtue by the promise that the faithful "shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God."

We will refrain from enlarging much more on the subject as elucidated by the Mosaic dispensation, because we feel anxious to proceed to more direct arguments as immediately deducible from the dispensation of Jesus; but we cannot entirely pass over the selection of the Israelites as a people, and I would ask at the onset, is there any thing in the nature of Divine Revelation as developed in the history of that people, that authorizes the children of Abraham, through faith, voluntarily to aid, abet, and support, the governments of this world, or to become amalgamated therewith?

Can it be found in the covenant itself, the choice of them as a separate and peculiar people? Can it be found in the sign of the covenant, the rite which was to distin