Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1895-10-19


through his sons hair he said to him
self: GLOW shall / give him up? What
will his mother say when / come back
without my boy9 / thought ne would
have been the comfort Of my declining
days. I thought he would have been the
hope of ages to come. Beautiful and
loving, and yet to die under my own
hand. O God, is there not 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 I tell you all?" His son said:
eyes, father; thought you had some
thing on your mind. Tell it. The
father said, "My son, Isaac, thou art
the lambr' "Oh," you say, "why
didn't that young man, if he was 30 or
30 years of age, smite into the dust his
infrm father? Ho could have done it. :"
All, Isaac knew by this time that the
scene was typical of 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 sonl"
The answer, "Aly father, my father !"
The Lnrob FOUND.
Do not compare this, as some people
have, to Agamemron willing to offer
up his daughter, Iphigenia, to please the
gods. There is nothing comparable to
this wonderful obedience to the trne
God. You know that victims for sacri-
fee were 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, fer my flesh may
struggle nightly" So Isaac's arms are
fastened, his feet are tied. The old man,
rallyins ali his strength, lifts him on TO
pile of wood. Fastening thong CD
one side of the altar, he makes it span
the body Of Isaac, and fastens the thong
at the other side the altar, and another
thong. and another thong. There is the
lamp Pickering in the wind ready to be
put under the bruslwood Of the altar.
There is the knife, sharp and keen.
Notwithstanding with his mortal
feelings on the one side and the COM
mands Of God on the other-talles that
knife, rubs the fiat of it on the palm Of
his hand, cries to God for help, comes
up to the side CT the altar, puts part
ing kiss OIL 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
muscles knitting fer the work-the hand
begins to descend. 1t falls! Not on the
heart of Isaac, bat on 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 harm y
What is this sound back in the woods?
It is cracking as of tree branches, g
hleating and a struggle. Go, Abraham,
md see what ct is. Oh, it was ram
that, going through the. woods, has its
crook horns fastened and, entangled in
a sss.shsseaa md cor ldnot get loose,
and Abraham SEXES 1t gladly and quicE-
" unloosens Isaac from the altar, puts
the ram on in his place, sets the lamp
under the brusnwood Of the altar, and
as the dense smoke Of the sacrifice be-
gins to rise tho blood rolls down tho
sides Of the altar and drops kissing into
the fire, aud / hear the words, behold
the Lamb of Gcd who takes away the
sins of the world!"
Well, what arc you going to get out
of this? There is an aged minister of
the gospel. Ee says: ~ should get out
of it that when God tells you to do a
thing, whether it seems reasonable to
you or not, go ahead aud do it. Hero
Abraham couldn't have been mistaken.
God didn't speak so indistinctly that 1t
was lot certain whether he called Sarah
Or Abimelech Or somebody else, but
with divine articulation, divine intona-
ton, diviro emphasis, he said, 'Abra-
ham p Abraham rushed blindly ahead to
DO his duty, knowing that things would
come out right. Likewise do so your-
selves. There is IA mystery of your life.
There is so;:e burden you have to carry.
you don't know why God has pat 1t Oh
Won. There is some persecution, some
trial, and you don't know why God al
lows it. There is work for you to do,
and you have not enough grace, you
think, to do it. Do us Abraham did
Advance and do your whole duty. Be
willing to give up Isaac, ard perhaps
you will not have 10 give up anything.
jehovah jireh' = the Lord will pro
vide a capital lesson this old minis
ter gives us.
Out yonder III this house is an aged
woman, the light Of heaven in her face.
She is half way through the door. She
has her hand Gil tie pearl of the gate.
Mother, what would you get out of this
subject. ooh, she says, II would
learn that it is in the last pinch that
God comes to the relief. You see, the
altar was ready, and Isaac was fastened
on it, and the knife was lifted, and just
at the last moment God broke i'll ard
stopped proceedings. So it has been in
my life of 10 years Why, sir, there
was time when the flour was all out
Of the house, aid set the table at noon
and bad nothing 10 put on it, but FIVE
minutes Of o'clock loaf of bread
came. The Lord will provide. My SUI
was very sick, and 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
my only son. This is my Isaac. Lord
you won't take him away from me,
will your But I saw he was getting
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