The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1848-05-17

frials af Ahrzaam's abeflaenee mfnilnned
IN lllis. AMI M lasi letter. wfEe only iesls
70 ascertain his character IN Eeierence 20
ihe siagle. and may say sbSirsci. point
&c nbediener. Here Ne hare ! prerions
CLEAN Of Light. disclosing what Ihr nature
&C ihis wiil af Gods VAS. lhal he should
command his children and his hausehold
siisr him hi wIirh the parental anlhnF-
iiy % inshnsi and dirert his descendants
in The way &c he l.nrd Was given him ~
an authority. and enjoined upon him a.
tsnly and the lessons WHICH he was
Ihen empowered and required TO teach his
poslrriiy we're. 40 DO justice and juslg-
menI." Thus obedirnee 70 The viii &C
God is The first and m eomprehensive viz.
Tue Taught in ihe Bible; 30 the second is
jusiire and judgment toward mankind. and
this 10 exhihilrd rs the result naturally
following from The other. f..
Ia lbe same chapter is relaled the inter-
cessisn of Abraham with God Tor The pre-
servalion nj Seldom from destruction ; tie
City was destroyed Tor lis crimes, bu, the
InId promised Abraham il should be spar.
ed If only ten righteous should be found
in IL: the principle OF mercy was there.
fore sanctioned in immediate connection
with that of justice. Abraham had seve-
raj children but The grea, promise Of God
was 10 he performed through Isaac alone.
and Of the two sons Of Isaac, Iacoh-lhe
youngesi-was selected for the foundation
Of the second family and nation: il was
from Jacob that the multiplication Of the
family hogan. and his twelve sons we're
all included il the geneaology Of the tribes
which afierwarh constituted the Jewish
people. Ishmael. the childrcn Of Keiu-
rah. and Esau, the eldest son of Isaac.
were all The parents nf considerable fami.
lies, which aftcrward spread into nations;
hut iicy formed no part Of The chosen peo-
pie. and their history, with that of The
neighhoring nations, is only incidentally
noticed in The Bible. so FAR a. they had
relations Of intercourse or hostility with
the people Of God. ~
The history OF Abraham and his do.
scendanis 10 the close nf the book of Ge.
ness is biography of individuals; the
incidents related Of them are all Of the
class belonging 10 domestic lie. Joseph
indeed became highly distinguished pub
lie character in the land Of Egypt, and It
WINS tlsv0-gi, h;ss ah-s -i,;sr Eaihar- anal--&li
his brothers were finally settled there
which was necessary 10 prepare Tor the
existence Of their posieiiiy as nation.
and 10 fulfil tho purpose which God had
announced 10 Abraham, that they should
be four hundred years dwelleis in a strange
land. In the lives Of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph, many miraculous e.
vents are recorded; but all those which
are spoken of as happening in The ordina.
~ course Of human affairs, have an air Of
reality about them which no invention
could initiate. ..t .sas... ....
In some Of the transactions related, the
conduct of the pa,riarchs is highly blame-
able; circumstances of deep deprayiiy are
particularly told Of Reuben, Simeon. Levi
and Judah. upon which il is necessary to
remark that their actions are never spoken
OF with approhation. but always with
strong marks of ceRsure, and generally
with minute accoun, Of the punishment
which followed upon their iransgrcssion.
The vices and crimes Of the pa,riarchs are
sometimes alleged as objections against
the belief that persons guilty Of them
should ever have been especially favored
of God but vicious as they were, there
is every reason TO he convinced that they
were less SO than their contemporaries ;
their vices appear to us at This day, gross,
disgusting and airocious; hut the written
law was not then given, the boundaries be-
tween right and wrong were moi defined
with the same precision as in the tables
given afierward To Moses; the law Of ma
ture was the only rule Of morality by
which they could be governed. and the
sins Of intemperance, of every kind. re-
corded in Holy Writ, were at that period
less aggravated than they have been in al
ter ages, because they were in great mea-
sure sins of ignorance.
From the time when the sens Of Jacob
were settled in Egypt until the compile
ton Of the four hundred years, during which
God had fore,old to Abraham that his ia.
mily should dwell there, there is chasm
in the sacred history. We are expressly
told that all the house Of Jacob which
came into Egypt were three-score and ten;
it is said then that Joseph died, as did all
that generation; after which nothing far
Their is related Of their posterity than that
"they were fruitful and multiplied abun.
dainty, and waxed exceeding mighty, and
the land was filled with. them, until there
arose new king who knew not Joseph"
On his first arrival in Egypt, Jacob had
obtained grant from Pharoah of The land
of Goshen, place particularly suited To
the pasturage Of focks; Jacob and his IA
mily were shepherds, and this circnm-
stance was, in the first instance, the occa-
sion upon which that separate spot was