Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-10-14


helped to build it. With his father he
has discussed whether the top of the
table is even and whether the wood is
properly prepared. Then there is q
pause. The son looks around to see if
there is not some living animal that can
be caught and butchered for the offer
ing. Abraham tries to choke down his
fatherly feelings and suppress his grief
in order that he may break to his son
the terrific news that he is to be the
victim.
All, Isaac never looked more beauti-
full than on that day to his father. AS
the old man ran his emSeiated fingers
through MS sons hair he said to him
self: How shall give him up? What
will his mother say when I come back
without my boy? I thought he would
have been the comfort Of my declining
days. I thought he would have been the
hope of ages to come. IB1utiful and
loving, and yet to die under my own
hand. o God, is there MT some other
sacrifice that will do? Take my life and
spare his Pour out my blood and save
Isaac for his mother and the world -
But this was an inward struggle The
father controls his feelings and looks
into his sons face and says, Isaac,
must [ tell you all?' His son said:
Eyes, father; I thought you had some
thing Oh your mind. Tell it. - The
father said, MY son, Isaac, thou art
the Iamb!" ooh" you say, "why
didn that young man, if he was 20 OF
80 years Of age, smite into the dust his
infrm father? He could have done it. -
All, Isaac knew by this time that the
scene was typical Of a Messiah who was
to come, and so he made no struggle.
They fell on each others necks and
walled out the parting. Awful and
matchless scene of the wilderness! The
rocks echo back the breaking of their
hearts. The cry, my son, my son!"
The answer, My father, my fathern'
The Lamb Found.
Do not compare this, as some people
have, to Agamemn0n willing to offer
up his daughter, Iphigenia. to please the
gods. There is nothing comparable to
this wonderful obedience to the true
God. You know that victims for sacri-
fee We're always bound, so that they
might not struggle away. Rawlings,
the martyr, when he was dying for
Christ's sake, said to the blacksmith
who held the manacles, "Fasten those
chains tight now, fOr my flesh may
struggle nightly" So Isaac s arms are
fastened, his feet are tied. The old man,
rallying all his strength, lifts him on to
pile Of wood. Fastening a thong on
one side of the altar, he makes it span
the body Of Isaac, and fastens the thong
o. L1,O g.; +I,O
thong, and another thong There is the
lamp Pickering in the wind ready to be
put under the brushwood of the altar.
There is the knife, sharp and keen.
Abraham-struggling with his mortal
feelings on the one side and the COM
mands of God on the Other-tal1es that
knife, rubs the fiat of it on the palm Of
his hand, cries to God for help, comes
up to the side Of the altar, puts q part
ing kiss on the brow of his boy, takes &
message from him for mother and home,
and then lifting the glittering weapon
for the plunge Of the death strOke-his
knitting for the work-the hand
begins to descend. It falls! Not on the
heart Of Isaac, but Oh the arm Of God,
who arrests the stroke, making the vii
derness quake with the cry, Abraham,
Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the
lad, nor do him any ha-an -
What is this sound back in the woods?
It is cracking as Of tree branches, q
bleating and struggle. Go, Abraham,
ard see what it is. Oh, it was ram
that, going through the woods, has its
crooked horns fastened and entanCled in
the brushwOOd and could not get loose,
A ,ia1r
" unlOOsens Isaac from the altar, puts
the ram on i'll his place, sets the lamp
under the brushwOod Of the altar, and
as the dense smoke Of the sacrifice be-
gins to rise the blood rolls down the
sides Of the altar and drops kissing into
the fire, and I hear the words, "Behold
the Lamb Of God who takes away the
sins Of the world -
Well, what are you going to get out /
of this? There is an aged minister Of
the gospel He says: 81 should get out
of it that when God tells you to do a
thing whether it seems reasonable to /
you or not, go ahead and do it. Here
Abraham couldn't have been mistaken.
God didn't speak SO indistinctly that it
was not certain whether he called Sarah
or Abimelech or somebody else, but
with divine articulation, divine intona-
ton, divine emphasis, he said, 'Abra-
ham,! Abraham rushed blindly ahead TO
do his duty, knowing that things would
come out right. Likewise do so your
selves. There is a mystery Of your life.
There is some burden you have to carry.
You don't know why God has put it or
you. There is some persecution, some |
trial, and you don't know why God al
lows it. There is a work for you to do.
and you have not enough grace, you
think, to do it. Do as Abraham did. |
and do your whole duty. Be |
willing to give up Isaac, and perhaps