The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-02-21
Gods Covenant With Abram.


pilgrim fathers has a fascination
peculiar to itself. Before the eye
of imagination his caravan seems
to pass. There goes the venerable
sheik, clad in his crimson robe,
wearing his silken turban with its
fllet of rope. His princess, in
all her Oriental 6nery, rides beside
- him. There are the armed scouts
on fleet horses; the noisy herds
men, urging on the flocks and
droves; the women and children, a
thousand souls and more; and the
long train of beasts of burden, car
rying the impedimenta of great
camp.
They pass by Damascus, the SUI
perb, and leave the snowy heights
of Hermon and Lebanon to their
right, and the Sea of Chinereth to
the left, and pause at the oaks grove
of Moreh in Shechem, while Ebal
Gerizim look down at them. On
they move through the lovely
plains of Esdrelon, strewn with its
roses of Sharon in patterns more
beautiful than any Brussels, down
into the rich Jordan Valley, under
the beetling crags OF Gilgal, up
Salems sleeps, on to holy Hebron
and Adullam's weird cave,
through the whole land, from Dan
to Beersheba, they wander as fancy
takes them, or the necessities of
their focks and herds require.
But the sacred character Of the
pilgrims and the pilgrimage is
never lost sight of. Abram is
priest as we'll as king of his tribe.
The caravan never halts without
an altar being upreared. The
idol .worshiping Canaanites look on
curiously as the smoke curls up
before an invisible God. Abrams
whole retinue understands and
shares his high hope and purpose.
The morning and evening sacrifice
keeps them constantly in mind of
it.
Abrams noble generosity has
marked exemplifcation in his deal
ing with Lot. His tact and prowess
shine in his pursuit of the four
kings and rescue of his nephew,
his magnanirnity in his refusal to
take a thread or shoe-latchet from
the spoil. There are two blots on
the escutcheon of this high minded
patriarchal prince, His timorous
duplicity in Egypt concerning his
wife; again, his over-haste and use
of human expedients to fulfill
Gods promise in the taking of
Hagar to wife. But these are
mere specks upon an effulgent disk.
Abram was twenty centuries be-
You'd his day in character and in
manner of life.
God disciplined His servant for
these lapses, in the first instance,
by rebuke from the lips of
heather monarch; in the second, by
withholding from him for thirteen
years any visible manifestation of
Himself. But at length this long
period of correction ended with
the sudden outbursting of the glory
of the shekinah upon his dreary
path.
There is a significant change OF
name ordered in the case of each
party concerned in the covenant
The Deity Himself condescends to
follow the custom of man and at
this juncture give Himself new
and significant name; namely, FL
Shaddai-the All-sufficient God.
Abrams name is changed from Ex-
allied Father to Abraham, Father
of Nations. Sarai, my princess, to
Sarah universal. This change of
name was a devise of the eldest
times, when means of intercom-
munication and record were scarce,
to arrest attention and fix in mem
DRY important events and changes
of circumstance. By this means
it was advertised to Abrams mot
ley clan, and the surrounding
tribes as we'll, that this aged sheik