Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-10-25

ana quickly uhlooSens Isaac IRON the altar
puts the ram on his place. sets the lamp IN
der the brushWood Of the altar, and as th'
dense smoke % the sacrifice begins 20 RS,
the blood rolls down the sides Of the ALTA
and drops Kissing into the fire, and | hear
the words, behold the Lamb % God who
takes away the sins Of the worid!"
Well. what are you going 10 get out 81
this? There Is an aged minister OF the ros.
pei. BE says: Il should get out Of il that
when God tells you 90 do a thing, whether IL
seems reasonable TO you or not, 60 ahead
and do it. Here Abraham couldn't have
been mistaken. God didn't speak so indistinet.
ly that IL was not certain whether he called
Sarah or Abimelech or somebody else. but
with divine articulation. divine information.
divine emphasis, he said 'Abrahamr Abra-
ham rushed blindly ahead 20 do his duty,
knowing that things would come out right.
! Likewise do so yourselves. There Is a mys-
terry of your life. There is some burden YOU
have to carry. You don't know why God
! has put il on you. There is some persecu-
/ ton, some trial. ard YOU don't know why
God allows it, There is a work for you 20
do, and You have not enough grace, you
/ think, TO do it. Do as Abraham did. Ad-
vance and do your whole duty. Be willing
| 20 give up Isaac, and perhaps you will not
have to give up anything Jehovah-jireh'
the Lord will provide" A capital lesson
| this old minister gives us.
| Out yonder in this house is an aged
| woman, the light OF heaven in her face. She
. Is half way through the door. She has her
| hand on the pearl Of the gate. Mother. what
would you get out OF this subiect2 "Oh,"
| she says. 81 would learn that il is in the last
| pinch that God comes to the relief. You see
| the altar was ready, and Isaac was fastened
| on IL, and the knife was lifted. and Just at
the last moment God broke in and stopped
| proceedings. So it has been in nv life Of
seventy years. Why. sir. there was a time
when the -four was all out Of the house. and
set the table at noon and had nothing to
| put on II, but five minutes OF O'Clock loaf
OF bread came. The Lord will provide. My
son was very sick, and l said: Dear Lord,
you don't mean to take him away from
me. do you? Please, Lord don't take
him away. Why, there are neighbors
who have three and four sons. This is nv
only son. This is my Isaac Lord. Won
, won't take him away from me. will You?'
! But saw he was getting worse and worse
all the time, and | turned round and prayed.
until after awhile l felt submissive. and |
could say THY will, o Lord. be done! The
doctors gave him up, and We all gave him
up And. rs was the custom in those times,
we had made the grave clothes, and we were
whispering about the last exercises, when |
looked and saw some perspiration on his
brow. showing that the fever had broken,
and he spoke to us so naturally that | knew
he was going to get well. He did get WELL
and my son Isaac, whom | thought was go
ing to be slain and consumed Of disease, was
loosened from that altar. And, bless your
souls, that's been so for seventy years and
II my voice were not so weak, and il could
see better, l could preach n you younger
people sermon, for though Ican't see much
l can see this-whenever you get into a
tough place and your heart is breaking, IL
you will look little farther into the woods,
you will see, caught in the branches. sub
stitute and Il deliverance. My son. God will
provide Himself a'lamb. "
Thank you, mother, for that short sermon
l could preach back to you for minute or
two and say. never do you fear! / wish had
half as good hope of heaven as YOU have
Do not fear, mother. Whatever happens, no
harm will ever happen to you. / was going
up long fight of stairs and saw an aged
woman, very decrepit and with a cane,
creeping on up. She made but very little
progress, and l felt very exuberant, ard /
said to her, why, mother. that is no way to
go upstairs" and threw my arms around
her and carried her up and put her down
on the landing at the top Of the stairs. She
said: THANK you, thank you. | am very
thankful" o mother, when you get through
this LIES work and you want to 60 upstairs
and rest in the good place that God has pro-
NidVu AOI gOuy SbU Will uOl LtNe 10 ClltllD up,
you will not have TO crawl up painfully. The
two arms that were stretched ON the cross
will be flung around you, and you will be
hoisted with glorious lift beyond all weari-
ness and all struggle. May the God OF Abra-
ham and Isaac be with you until you see the
Lamb on the hilltops.
Now, that aged minister has made a sug-
gestion, and this aged woman has made a
suggestion. will make a suggestion: Isaac
going up the hill makes me think OF the
great sacrifice. Isaac, the only son of Abra-
ham. Jesus, the only son of God. On those
two "onlys" build a fearful emphasis.
lsaaci o Jesus! But this last sacrifice was
a more tremendous one When the knife
was lifted over Calvary there was no voice
that cried stop" and no hand arrested it,
Sharp. keen aud tremendous it cut down
through nerve and artery until the blood
sprayed the faces Of the executioners, and
the midday sun dropped veil of cloud over
its face because il could not endure the
spectacle, Isaac of Mount Moriah! o
Jesus Of Mount Calvary! Better could God
have thrown away into annihilation thou
sand worlds than to have sacrificed Hts only
Son. 1t was not one of the ten sons; il was
His only Son. If He had not given up Him,
you and l would have perished "God SO
loved the world that He gave His only" |
stop there, not because l have forgotten the
quotation, but because | want to think
"God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotton Son that whatsoever beIievcth
in Him should not perish, but have everast-
ing life" Great God. break my heart at the
thought OF that sacrifice. Isaac the only,
typical of Jesus the only.
You see Isaac going upt the hill and carry
Ing the wood. 0 Abraham. WHY not take
the load off the boy? If he is going to die so
soon. why not make his last hours easy?
Abraham knew that in carrying that wood
up Mount Moriah Isaac was to be n symbol
Of Christ carrying his own cross up Calvary.
do not know how heavy that cross was
whether it was made of oak or acacia or Le-
banon cedar Supposed may have weighed
100 or 200 or 800 pounds. That was the light
est part of the burden. All the sins and sor-
rows of the world were wound around that
cross. The heft of one, the heft of two
worlds-earth and hell were on His Shout
ders. o Isaac, carrying the wood of sacrifice
up Mount Moriah' o Jesus. carrying the
wood of sacrifice up Mount Calvary, the
agonies of earth and he'll wrapped around
that cross! shall never see the heavy load
on Isaac's back that l shall not think of the
crushing load on Christ's back. For whom
that load? For you. For you. For me.
For me. Would that all the tears that we
have ever wept over our sorrows had been
saved until this morning. and that we might
now pour them out on the lacerated back
and feet and heart of the Son of God.
You say: '1f this young man was twenty
or thirty years of age. why did not he resist?
Why was it not Isaac binding Abraham, in
stead of Abraham binding Isaac? The mus
Gle in Isaac's arm was stronger than the
muscle in Abraham's withered arm. No
young man twenty-five years of age would
submit to have his father fasten him to II
pile of wood with intention of burning"
Isaac was willing sacrifice and so a type
of Christ who willingly came to save the
world. If all the armies of heaven had re-
solved to force Christ out from the gate
they could not have done it Christ was
equal with God. If all the battalions of
glory had armed themselves and resolved TO
put Christ forth and make Him come out