Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-10-18

full than on that day to his father. AS
the old man ran his emaciated fingers
through his sons hair he said to him
telf: "How shall 1 give him up? What
will his mother say when | come back
without my boy? l thought he would
have been the comfort Of my declining
days. l 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 net some other
sacrifice that will do? Take my life and
spare his Pour out my blood and save
Isaac for his mother and the worldP'
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. " The
father said, my son, Isaac, thou art
the lambp "Oh," you say, "why
didn't that young man, if he was 20 or
30 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 ont 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 father"
The Lamb Found.
Do not compare this, as some people
have, to Agamemnon 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-
flee 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, 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
a pile Of wood. Fastening a thong on
one side of the altar, he makes 1t 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 flickering in the wind ready to be
put under the brushwood Of the altar.
There is the knife, sharp and keen.
misunderstanding with his mortal
feelings on the one side and the COM
mands Of God on the Other-takes 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 part
ing kiss on the brow Of his boy, takes a
message from him for mother and home,
and then lifting the glittering weapon
for the plunge Of the death stroke-his
muscles knitting for the work-the hand
begins to descend. 1t falls Not on the
heart Of Isaac, but on the arm Of God,
who arrests the stroke, making the viii
derness quake with the cry, Abraham,
Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the
lad, nor do him any harm -
What is this sound back in the woods?
It is a cracking as Of tree branches, a
bleating and a struggle. Go, Abraham,
and see what it is. Oh, it was ram
that, going through the woods, has It's
crooked horns fastened and entangled IN
the brushwood and could not get loose,
and Abraham seizes II gladly and quick
" unloosens Isaac from the altar, puts
the ram on in 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 | hear the words, Behold
the Lamb Of God who takes away the
sins Of the world"
Well, what are you going to get ont
Of this? There is an aged minister OF
the gospel. He says: Il should get out
of it that when God tells you to do
thing. whether it seems reasonable to
you or not, 90 ahead and do it. Here
Abraham couldn't have been mistaken.
God didn't speak so indistinctly that II
was not certain whether be called Sarah
or Abimelech or somebody else, but
with divine articulation, divine intona-
tion. divine emphasis, he said, Abra-
hamr 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 1t on
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.
Advance and do your whole duty. BE
willing to give up Isaac, and perhaps
Won will not have to give up anything.
Jehovah -jireh - the Lord will pro-
vide. " A capital lesson this old minis
ter gives us.
Out wonder 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
subject? "Oh," she says, Il 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 il. and the knife was lifted, and just
at the last moment God broke in and
stopped proceedings. So it has been in
my life of 70 years. Why, sir, there
was a time when the flour was all out
of the house, and | set the table at noon
and had nothing to put on it, but five
minutes Of O'Clock a loaf Of bread
came. The Lord will provide. My son
was very sick, and l said Dear Lord,
Won 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
Won won't take him away from me-
will your But l saw be was getting
worse and worse all the time, and
turned round and prayed, until after
awhile felt submissive, and fould
say, Thy will, o Lord, be done! The
doctors gave him up, and we all gave
him up. And, as was the custom IL
! +hoso t;p,oe ve had made the grave