The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-10-23
LESSON OF A RESCUE.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches ON
THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM.

He SACRlFICE Or ABRAHAM.
The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the
Sins of the World"--A Remarkably Pow
Isaac.
NEW YORK, Oct. Is In his sermon
for today Rev. DR.. Talmage chose for
his subject Abraham's supreme trial of
faith and the angelic rescue of Isaac
from peing offered by his father as a
sacrifice. The text was Genesis xxi,
6, Behold the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb:''
Here are Abraham and Isaac, the
one kind. old, gracious, affectionate
father, the other a brave, obedient.
religious son. From his bronzed ap-
pearance you can tell that this son has
been much in the fields, and from his
shaggy dress you know that he has
been watching the herds. The noun
tain air has painted his cheek rubi
cund. He is 90 or p, or, as some sup
pose, 33 years of age, nevertheless
boy, considering the length of life to
which people lived in those times and
the fact that a son is never anything
but a bow to father l remember
that my father used to come into the
house when the children were home
on some festal occasion and say,
"where are the boys?' although the
bows" were 25 and 80 and 35 years of
age. So this Isaac is onl ly a boy to
Abraham, and this fathers heart is in
him. 1t is Isaac here and Isaac there.
If there is any festivity around the
fathers tent, Isaac must enjoy it. 1t
is Isaac's walk and Isaac's apparel and
Isaac's manners and Isaac's prospects
and Isaacs prosperity. The fathers
heartstrings are all wrapped around
that boy, and wrapped again, until
nine-tenths of the old mans life is in
Isaac. I can just imagine how loving
ly and proudly he looked at bis only
sen
Well. the dear old man had borne a
great deal of trouble, and it had left
its mark upon him In hieroglyphics
of wrinkle the story was written from
forehead to chin. But now his trouble
seems all gone, and we are glad that
he is very soon to rest forever. If the
old man shall get decrepit, Isaac is
strong enough to wait on him. If the
father gets dim of eyesight, Isaac will
lead him by the hand. If the father
become destitute, Isaac will earn him
bread. How glad we are that the
ship that has been in such stormy sea
is coming at last into the harbor Are
you not reioiced that glorious old
Abraham is through with his troubles?
No, no. A thunderbolt! From that
clear eastern sky there drops into that
fathers tent a voice with an announce
ment enough to turn black h ir white
and to stun the patriarch into instant
annihilation. God said, "Abraham!"
The old man answered, Here I am !"
God said to him. Take thy son, thy
only son Isaac, whom thou lowest, and
get thee into the land of Joriah and
offer him there as burnt offering. "
In other words, slay him, cut his body
into fragments, put the fragments on
the wood, set fire to the wood and let
Isaac's body be consumed to ashes.
"Cannibalism! Murder says
some one. 'Not so, said Abraham.
hear him soliloquize: Here is the
boy on whom I have depended. On,
how loved him, He was given in
answer to prayer, and now must | sur
render him? 0 Isaac, my son, Isaac,
how shall I part with you? But, then
it is always Safer to do as God asks me
to. l have been in dark places before,
and God got me out. Twill implicitly
do as God has told me, although it is
very clark. I can't see my way, but l
know God makes no mistakes, and to
him I commit myself and my darling
son."
Early in the morning there is a stir
around Abraham's tent. 4 beast OF
burden is fed and saddled. Abraham
makes no disclosure of the awful Sc
cret. At the break of day he says:
Come, come, Isaac, get up. Ws<are
going off on two orthree days .Sour,
ney." I hear the ak hewing. and
splitting amid the wood unta Ae
sticks are made the right length and
the right thickness, and then they are
fastened on the beast of burden. They
pass on-there are four Of them
Abraham, the father; Isaac, the son,
and two servants. Going along the
road, SEE Isaac looking up into his
fathers face and saying: Father,
what is the matter2 Are you not well?
Has anything happened? Are you
tired2 Lean on my arm" Then, turn
ing around to the servants, the son
says, "Ab, father is getting old, and
he has had trouble enough in other
days to kill him."
The third day has come, and it is
the day of the tragedy. The two SER
vaDts are left with the beast of burden,
while Abraham and his son Isaac, as
was the custom of good people in those
times, went up on the hill to sacrifice
to the Lord The wood is taken off
the beasts back and put on Isaac's
back. Abraham has in one hand a
pan of Goals or a lamp, and in the 9TH
er a sharp, keen knife. Here are all
the appliances for sacrifice, you say.
No, there is one thing wanting-there
is no victim-no pigeon, or heifer or
lamb. Isaac, not knowing that he IS
to be the victim, looks up into his
fathers face and asks a question which
must have cut the old man to the
bone-"My father" The father said,
MY son Isaac, here I am" The son
said, Behold the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb?' The fathers
lip quivered, and his heart tainted,
and his knees knocked together, and
his entire body, mind and soul shiver
in sickening anguish as he struggles
to gain equipoise, for he does not want
to break down. And then he looks
into his sons face, with thousand
rushing tendernesses, and says, My
son, God will provide himself a
lamb"
The twain are now at the foot OF the
,rliob ic n ha cap,p11S