(Continued from p. 136.)

VII.

In Isaac shall thy seed be called." (Gen. 21:12.) Such are the words of the covenant renewed the seventh time. According to the meaning of the number, perfection is reached-the promised son is upon the scene, and has been weaned, and a great feast is made. It is the joy of Christianity-the liberty with which Christ makes free.

But Abraham is not at once weaned :like the Galatians (chap. 4:30), he cleaves to the bondwoman and her son. Ishmael mocking is Israel according to the flesh-the hostile Jew in Paul's time, making light of Christianity and of grace. Abraham's slowness, clearly the Galatian legalism so common among Christians, while Sarah's voice is the glad and entire liberty of grace which will have nothing to do with legal bondage, and will submit to no compromise and no mingling of grace and law either for acceptance of the repentant sinner or for the after-rule of life of the saint (Rom. 3:28; 6:13, 14).

" And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking." " Hagar the Egyptian"-the " under law" condition, with all its pretension, is of the world (Col. 2:20, 23; Gal. 4:3). "Wherefore she said unto Abraham, 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.' And the thing was-very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, ' 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 ; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.'"

Let us compare this word of God to Abraham to lift him up out of his bondage with the reasoning of the epistle to the Galatians to deliver Christians who had put themselves under law. Let us compare them for our profit, that we may be instructed, and also impressed with the exact harmony of every scripture.

"Tell me," Paul says to the Galatians (chap. 4:21), "ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law ? for it is written that Abraham had two sons-the one by a bondmaid, tho other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants,-the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children; but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, ' Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not …..' Now we, brethren, as Isaac are the children of promise. But as then he that was, was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture? 'Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman." So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

This is very bold language, Paul, and grievous to many a saint, as Sarah's was to Abraham. It is very bold, and offensive to much that is devoutly religious and zealous for the law. Hagar the Egyptian-Mount Sinai-Jerusalem and her children-bondage,-all in line. What a pedigree ! And yet so it is. Bondage, the activity of the flesh, mocking, pride, fear of man, are the things that go with putting one's self under law (Gal. 4:21-25, 29! v-18, 19; 6:12). But with grace go gladness, liberty, love, the self-denial of the cross, and peace. "Isaac" means "laughter." And so Sarah said, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." Blessed for all who can laugh in accord with this God-given joy! It is the joy of the song of the Red Sea, the joy of the feast in the presence of the angels over the prodigal's return, shared in by us. " Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not." It is not in us, but in Him-" Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice." "All that hear will laugh with me." Have we heard? Let there be no dullness of ear. Let us say, "The Lord my righteousness ! " and rejoice constantly.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Gal. 5:22.)

The epistle to the Galatians shows that those who " desired to be under the law " were heaping burdens on one another (chap. 5:15,16), and were desirous of vain glory; but by grace we can bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (chap. 6:2). May grace be manifest in us.

"The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." Grace is the perfect thing, and to this we are brought in this seventh renewal of the covenant to Abraham.

" Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14.) By grace only and wholly can we have our "fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." (Rom. 6:22.) Established, comforted, and strengthened by grace-the grace that is in Christ Jesus, let us rejoice with trembling, and diligently " follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. 12:14.) We know whom we have believed. He has said, " My sheep shall never perish." His grace is sufficient for us.

VIII. 'And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham." (Gen. 22:1:) And Abraham is called upon to offer up his only son. "After these things:" this marks a new beginning; clearly it is resurrection,- like the eighth day, or the first day of the week (after the seven) on which the Lord rose from the dead. We are thus remarkably prepared for a resurrection-scene, and we get it. Isaac is offered up, and is received in a figure (Heb. 11:19) from the dead; And now the covenant is renewed for the eighth and last time. " And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 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, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice.'" (Gen. 22:15.)

" Out of heaven " the Lord speaks, and the seed are. to be multiplied as the stars of heaven, as well as like the sand by the sea-shore. This tells of heavenly blessing as well as earthly, for the millennial time, when Christ will have been known as risen from the dead, and on that new ground the national hope restored.
But what is the individual application or teaching in the line we have been pursuing? Is it not this-the lesson the believer has to learn :all hope in self closed in upon by death-by the cross of Christ; and now Christ risen from the dead our object and our strength ? This doctrine also we get in Galatians (Gal. 2:19)-"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

In the previous covenant, we are not under law, but under grace. That is what we are taught:we are children of the promise, and Sarah's voice prevails; and Sarah is the type of grace-the free woman, as we have seen. But here nothing is said of Sarah :Abraham figures alone, and he speaks to us of faith-he was the one who believed. (Rom. 4:) What is brought before us prominently is not the condition in which we stand,-that is; grace,-but faith, by which an object is presented to our minds. "I live by the faith of the Son of God "-the One with whom I have died by the cross :"I am crucified with Christ."

Thus Sarah figures prominently in the one case and Abraham in the other; so exact is the teaching of the types, and so exact the occurrence of events that thus served as types, under the hand of God, in history. Thus the Old-Testament history is luminous with instruction and interest. Things were done and words were uttered here and there by this one and by that one as if by chance, because in the untrammeled freedom of the actors, and yet all being parts in a complete whole, which is at last unrolled to view. By this we are also taught, as Pilate was, that God's hand is upon us in each event of our lives. This solemnizes, comforts, and delights the true heart:our lives have new importance.

Abraham, then, offering up his son, and receiving him as it were from the dead, represents to us the giving up Of. self, and having Christ risen from the dead our object our joy." Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed pinto .sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:); again, "We are the circumcision who worship God the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no evidence in the flesh." As the death of the cross closed in upon the national hope of Israel according to the flesh, so it closes in upon any hope of any thing in me. And this I have to learn in Christian experience, that I may be deeply and fully persuaded that it remains true to the end of the course down here, that in me,-that is, in my flesh, there is no good thing; and more than this, that even as born of God I have no strength in myself. I am only brought, with a perfect nature, into a condition where, just because I am born again, I now for the first time realize the truth of perfect weakness, and the joy of dependence upon God,-in short, the walk of faith. As the flower opens to the sun and air, the Christian's heart rejoices in the Lord, and lives in constant dependence upon the Word and grace of Christ. Not our feelings, desires, and purposes must govern us now moment by moment; all these we are to deny-good and bad-as such, as merely our own thoughts or will. Now it is Christ living in us; we abide in Him-live by Him-as the diver in the diving-bell lives wholly by communication with the upper air. The fish may thrive in this lower element; but the diver, surrounded by an element of death, must get what sustains his life from a higher sphere. May we habitually refer all things to the Lord, in faith and love,-that is, abide in Him, and then we shall be filled with the Spirit. Let us not forget to abide in Christ, and to rejoice in Him, and all we think and say and do will be with power and effect for blessing. Let us glory in the Lord. Atonement has been made both for what we have done and for what we are naturally; thus perfect is our salvation. Let us use His grace to deny ourselves, and yield ourselves to Him. May there be no reserve by us, as Isaac was not withheld by Abraham; we shall then find our God to be to us, in all places and circumstances, " Jehovah-Jireh" (Gen. 22:14)- "the Lord will provide." E.S.L.