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^)(q\<5)i^^^^/q\6):q^^^g^

"THE ABRAHAllC SACRIFICE

IN CONNECTION WITH

PILATE S QUESTION

"WHAT IS TRUTH"?

DISCUSSED BV

AN ORTHODOX OLD JUDGE

AND

A SCEPTICAL YOUNG LAWYER.

HALIFAX, N. S.:

WILLIAM MACNAB, PRINTER, No. lo PRINCE STREET,

1883.

E ^'^^)(Q^/*Qy^Q)(gij^^^Q)(Qj^

'>.

^li

^J.'Sfi^Nfi'tj '• !.,,9^'^i^^f.7>t-;--^mtfSS!^^mT

'TH

nm^i

THE ABRAHAilC SACRIFICE,

IN CONNECTION WITH

PILAT£S question:

WHAT IS TRUTH"?

DISCUSSFD BY

AN ORTHODOX OLD JUDGE %

AND

SCEPTICAL YOUNG LAWYER.

HALIFAX, N. S.:

IVILLIAM MACNAB, PRIN TER, No. lo PRINCE STREET,

1883.

The ]
ing a s
polis, \v
Fuiidy.
buslij, ti

I calmly
propelle
I proceed;
remains
from th(
already
especiall
duced ai
lightly a
debarlcec
order to
retired t*
by an ag
painted j
xcavatei
he whoi
eing dir
inewy h
n interei
rom tlioi

WHAT IS TRUTH ?

" Look you, «ho comes here ?
A young man and an old in solemn talk."

— Shakesptare,

The residence of an old judge, with whom I have heen mak-
ing a short sejour, is situate near the beautiful basin of Anna-
polis, which is connected l>y a narrow strait with the Bay of
Fundy. As the jud^e and I sauntei'ed by the shore of the
basin, the waters of which sparkled in the sun's rays, sleeping
calmly between the full and the ebb of the tide, we observed,
propelled by noiseless pa<ldles, a little scpiadron of baik canoes,
proceeding, in line, to a buiying-ground, there to deposit the
remains of one of the Micmacs whose unit had been subtracted
from the number of that degraded, but not uninteresting tribe,
j already much reduced V the influences of civilization, and.
[especially, by the use o. ,rdent spirits which the wdiites intro-
duced among them. In a few minutes the canoes stranded so
lightly as scarcely to displace a pebble on the beach, and by the
Idebarked Indians were drawn up and left on the shore. In
[order to witness unobtrusively the appi-oaehing ceremony, we
Iretired to a grove at han<l. The funeral train was marshalled
jy an aged Micmac with order and decency. The coffin, of un-
)ainted pine, not rudely niade, was borne to a grave silently
jxcavated, and the body, placed in it, was covered with mould,
^he whole party then knelt around the grave, their movements
being directed by the chief, whose long, flowing locks, thin,
sinewy hands, uplifted and expanded, and closed eyes, formed
m interesting spectacle. Then arose with untauglit harmony
from their deep, guttural voices, in a dialect unknown to us, a

solunin chant, wliich was follov^ed by a prayer, the siuceiit}'
and devotion of which could not l)C doubted. Tlie ceremony
ended, the Indians reimbarked, and paihHed away as silently as
they canu5.

After they were y^one, we came forth from our retn^at, and
loitered at the spot of interment. " This turf covers," said the
judge, " our red brother, who there rests from his labors." I
remarked, " He wjis, I suppose, ' a light unto himself ;' but how
far, think you, will his responsibility, if such awaits him, be
artected by ' his w^orks that follow him,' which wxmc inHuenced
by no highei' principle than the instinct of the bear or the deer
that he slew for food f "As to the purpose," replied my friend,
" which in the moral economy of the world the life and works
of the poor savage were designed to sul)serve, I could probably
gather no infoiination from rea.son, or from revelation ; so that
I shall k'ave your ([uestion to the hereaftei-, which will, no
douljt, answer it, and some others of far greater importance that
perplex us now. I have leai'ued ' not to exercise myself in
great matters, or in things too high for me.' Nevei'theless, as
your (juery seems to implj' a doubt in your mind as to what
lies beyond, in ' the undiscovered country,' I shall inflict on
you a homily over this grave which may help j'ou to resolve it
if it exists. I have been lonjx anchored in the creed which my
good old mother taught me by her knee, from our ('hurch cate-
chism. To travel out of that involves a dangei- of hv.'mg 'puffed
up,' as St. Paul calls it. There w^ere such inflations in his days
as there are in ours. If you, young man, are looking to youi'
own intellect alone for an answer to the great (juestion of your
future, you will die with it unanswered ; and you may find,
when the veil is lifted, that you have been ' stumbling on tin-
dark mountains,' when it would have been better for you U\
have accepted the piolftji'ed 'light of the world.' He wdio stood
before the Roman Governor, when the latter, in the very noon-
da}' blaze of the human intellect, anxiously, or despondingly
or derisively, asked of the former, ' Wind is truth? was, Him-

self, t
(piesti

"N(
the ni
He de

"It
for liii
his acr
shin ins

"De

can be,
revel at
Eviden
<|uirino

" It i

gard a.<
revelati
logic of

llCdft.

which, *
which I:
establisi
as a prii

" Lov,
l)y the o
ceivino-
er love
for his f
the Fath
ill fathf

"He SI
[of the (li
He that
him and

incerity
reinony
eiitly as

■at, aijtl
niu\ the
)rs. 1
hut how
him, he
irtu»'nc»'<l

the (leer
y friend,
id works
prohahly
; so that
will, no
ance that
nyself in
lu'less, as
to what
liutiict on
resolve it
vhich my
arch eate-
^o■ 'puffed
1 his days
<•• to your
m of your
may tind,
\<>- on the
r you to'
who stood i
cry noon-
iondingly
«,vas, Him-

self, the only reliahle answer that has ever been given to that
question.

" Not to speak of the profound wisdom of His doctrine, or of
the marvellous ehxiuence of His life, we may rememher, that
He declared Himself to he ' the Liirht of the world.'

" It is of infinite moment to you and to me to determine each
for himself, whether he is truly enlightened by that li<^ht as
his accepted <ruide of life, or whethc)' it is to him but ' a H«jjht
shining in darkness that comprehendeth it not.'

"Demonstration of the truth of Chiistianity there never
can be, from what must neces.sarily be the nature of a divine
revelation, and from what we know uo be the nature of man.
Evidence of scjiiie other kind, therefore, must satisfy a mind in-
<juiring on that [)oint, or it must I'emnin unsatisfied.

" It is c](^ai'ly the teaching of the Hook which Christians re-
gard as divine, that effectual conviction of the origin of the
i-evelation which it contains must be produced, if at all, not by
logic of the head, but by what I venture to call logic of the
lii'di't. Moreover, such appears to me to be the only means by
which, as man is constituted, the ti'ufi of a I'evelation of that
which lies beyond the reach of sense and experience can be so
established in man's apprehension, as no influence and regulate,
as a principle, his conduct.

" Love, or gratitude — a thing puj'ely of the heart — is declared
i by the great Teacher to be the condition necessary for .so re-
ceiving Him as to obtain redemption ly Him. He said, 'Great-
er love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends.' 'If yelovc me, keep my connnandments.' ' As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loued you.' ' He tiiat lov-
\etk father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me.'

" He .speaks of that .same affection, also, as related to evidence

[of the divine authority of his doctrine. These are his words ;

He that luveth me .shall be loved of my Father, and I will love

Idm and manifest myself to him.' Aftei- he had said ' My doc-

trine is not mine, but his that sent nie,' he added, ' If any man
will do [i.e., as tlie Greek is, dcHireth to do] his will, he shall
know of the doetriiH' whether it be of God.'

" The con<liti<)ix on whieh that knowleili^re is thus deelared to
depend, is not an intelleetual one. It is the existence of a sin-
cere desire to do the will of God, ai'isintjf from the love of God
— an affection of tin; heart! With the source of that principle
— perfectly clear from Scripture — we are not, at pr«\sent, con-
cerned.

" Aoain, whtui our Lord sai<l, 'of such' [litth; children] 'is the
kin;f(lom of heaven,' it was as if He hud said, ' If ye wouhl
attain to that kinj^^dom, the process by which you may expect
to be convinced that I am ' the way' that conducts to it, is not
an exercise of vour reasoninjx faculty, but it is the swayim; of
your hearts towar<l me from simple, trustinij^ love, as little chil-
dren, incapable of the lo^dc of the mind, are <liawn by theii-
loving instincts toward their earthly })arents.' The divine
source of the doctrine in «|uestion is thu> pronounced to be
provable by hedrt logic, which is Init another form of words to
express ' the law written on the heart !'

" In the texts of the New Scriptures just quoted, wo have, in
effect, divine love appealing to human hearts. Observe how
human hearts have responded, and are responding, to that ap-
peal. The Psalmist, in prophetic anticipation, most likely, of
what I have noticed, exclaimed, ' Whom have I in heaven but
thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my
hcitrt, and my poi'tion for ever.'

" It is, undeniably, true, that that same )-esponse has, in every ? of inte
hour since the great act was enacted on Calvary, been made by scarce
human hearts, so convinced of what they regarded as the ' ines which
timable gift,' as neither to demand, nor to need' a mere intellec- tion t(
tual assurance of the reality of it. Of that response the heart- j; his obe
felt sincerity and the earnestness have been proved in everyaso vie\\
case by the self-denying devotion of a life, and by a faith ii in its

the li
chanj

mani

xach I

but C(

was t

Hshes

influe

the St

some

produ

Hei

the tn
regard
where
kind ;
the po

"In

that dt

" W(

in wl
: tion
% sive,
;' unde
■! on ear
,r of a ti
? with a

any luaii
he shall

'clarctl to
: of a sin-
'e of God
principle ^
sent, con-

m] 'is thf
yo would
lay expect
) it, is not
wavinLC of
little chil-
1 by their
'he divine
need to be
f words to

ve have, in 1
serve how '•
to that ap-
t likely, of ^
heaven but |
aesiile thee
iXih of myj

as, in every)
an ina<le by
„s the ' ines-
•e intelleo-
the heart
(1 in ever}
a faith ii

the hour of death stron^^er than death — in a word, 1>y a nature
chantre*! from selfishnes.s to love.

"An enli'ditened mind, ri«ddlv scrutinizini; the outward
manifestations of such a if^fenerated nature, and seeing that
Hucli (in effect cannot he ascribed to mere human causes, cannot
but consider as threat a inirach! to have been thus operated, as
was the feedintf of the five thousand by the few loaves and
fishes. It were as rational to ref(!r the last as the first to human
intluences. Is it consistent with sound reasoning, then, when
the sultject discussed is the evidence of Revelation, to ignore, as
some do, a heart-lo^^ic which claims so h'gh an original, and has
produced such results ?"

Here, interrupting my venerable friend, I said, " Adndtting
the truth of what you have urged, I feel, nevertheless, that, in
regard to the subject of your remarks, a cultivated intellect,
where the heart is untouched, denumds evidence of another
kind ; I am, therefore, curious to hear what you have to say on
the point of mental conviction, or of evidence strictly such."

" In my opinion," he replied, "an honest mind will not nuike
that demand in vain."

" We have," he continued to say, " in the Hebrew Scriptures,
in which (it may be observed by the way) God's communica-
tion of His nature and attributes would appear to be progres-
sive, beginning with a declaration of eternal self-existence, and,
under the Gospel dispensation, ending in a Being, who taught,
on earth, as a human impersonation of the Godhead, a narrative
of a transaction, in which Jehovah is represented as an actor
with a then living man. It expressly points to something future
of interest to the whole human race. It is unsatisfactory —
scarcely intelligible — where it appears in the history with
which it is connected, if it l>e viewed as having a mere r(da-
tion to the human subject, or as a mere trial of his faith or of
his obedience. Many commentators have acknowledged that,
so viewed, they fail to understand it. The narrative appeared
in its present connection ages before an event took place to

which it may he, and to which alone of all future recorded
events it can he, referred,

" If man, with his finite mind, would .solve a question of
the source of a revelation purporting to be divine, there are but
two grounds of investigation open to him, of which the result
can iii strictness be called evidence.

" Of one of them — a spiritual communication from without —
I have already spoken as ' Logic of tlu; Heart.' To him
who.se conduct is con.sciously regulated by its influence, it is, a^
once, a convincing proof of the Gospel, and an assured pledge of
his future life and happiness. The second ground is that on
which I mainly rely to satisfy your appeal on behalf of the
intellect. It formed a subject of our Lord's teaching to the two
di.sciples on the way to Ennuau.s. Of that I purpose to speak
presently.

" I do not .shut wxy eyes to some difficulties that with more
or less force, according to the degree of faith or the acuteness
of intellect, perplex many minds ; but I maintain that in the
narrative and the event to which I refer it there is evidence of
a kind and of a cogency that ought to satisfy the most highly
trained mind, that the gospel story is of supernatural origin as
regards the great central figure of it, and the main incidents of
the Greek biographies. Bear in mind that, if that narrative,
viewed as I view it. is evidence for the purpose indicated, it is
hut a selected portion of a large class of evidence of a kindred
nature that conduces to the sairie result.

"The 'Chvi.stu.s' of whom Tacitus wrote as crucified under
Pilate, is identical with the Christ of the Gospels.

" Let any man of intelligence .seek for evidence derived from
the old Scriptures read with the Greek documents, that the
Jesus of these last was what he is therein represented to have
l)een, and that he sufiered as represented. If, considering that
his faculties are limited, and that he is conducting in([uiry in a
subject which treats of the unseen and the unknown, that in-
(piirer finds, that a Hebrew prophet or patriarch did, in any

way, 1
marka
him, tl
person
not in
eral ti-
that pj

"I V

to the
life coi
of thes
Jesus c
after tl
I science
;■ things
•i suggest

" I ol
; low, be:

" We
of his o
ribly sc
Jehovul
will coi
they sh
ment, t
has spo
"We
^said, ' s
reason
great ix
Jn him
that the
thing tl]
pli.shme
Bon. W

•ecor

ded

stion of
} are but
i\e result I

itliout —
To him
I, it is, at'
pledge of
s that on
If of the
3 the two
to speak

ith more

aeuteness
at iti the
idence of
'st highly
origin as
2idents of
narrative,
ited, it is
kindled

od under

ived from
that the
d to have
i'in<f that
uiry in a
I, that in-
d, in any

way, in that vvliicli was a j-emote future to liim, point to a re-
markal>le person, and to romarkahle incidents connected with
him, that are related in the Greek Scripturos, and to none other
person and incidents that are the sul)jects of history — he can-
not in such conditions reasonably refuse his assent to the gen-
eral truth of those Scriptures, so far as they profess to refer to
that particular person.

" I will suppose that inciuirer to have dii-ected his attention
to th(i Abrahamic sacrifice, and to the incidents of Abraham's
life connected therewith, as recorded in Genesis. The narrative
I of these was where it is now found a<i:es ])eforti the birth of
I Jesus of Nazareth. It could not, therefore, have been forged
?; after the event to which I suppose it to refer — no hunum pre-
"i science could have fcreseen that event — no state of mun<lane
things co-existtid with the date of the narrative that could have
suggested the event as a possible result.

" I offer these preliminary observations, and thos(' that fol-
low, ])efore proceeding to examine the narrative.

" We find fi'om the previous history of Al)raham that a trial
of his obedience, considered merely as such, — especially a ter-
ribly severe one — would not seem to have been necessary, for
Jehovah is recorded to have said of him, ' I know him that he
will command his children and his household after him, and
they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judg-
ment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he
^has spoken of him.'

" We read that Jehovah, Ijefore the destruction of Sodom,
►said, ' shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do ?' The
reason follows: — ' Seeing that Abraham shall swcly become a
great nation, and all the nations of the earth shall he blessed
in him.' Surely, in view of this, it is far from improbable
that the Lord would not altoizether hide from Abraham ' the
thing that he did' — i. e., designed to do — in order to the accom-
pli.shment of that very promise which is indicated in the rea-
son. We have the more <»;round for thinkiny; that Jehovah did

' TIk

not hide from the patriarch that thing, if wo refjard the fact,
that, in the sequel of tlie virtual sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham, as
his last act in the drama, named the place 'Jehovah Jireh'—
' the Lord will see or provide."

"Can we reach the import of these words ? I think we can,
by a fair and natural construction. Isaac had said, ' Behold
the lire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a ))urnt offer-
ing ?' and Abraham had answered, * My son, God ^u^ll provide
himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.' After this, God had pio-
vided for virtual sacrifice Isaac, and foi- an actual substituted
one a ram. Abi-aham, in view of what lutdthus ptissed, — after
God had provided the ram — proceeds to name the place, and
call it — (what ? not by words impoi-ting that ' there God had
provided,' but) ' God ivill provide' — i. e., will provide a tlwn
future sacrifice — a theit future lamb for a burnt-offering. This
is not an unreasonable interpretation of the words. I hope to
show it to be the true one.

" We, in reading the story, distinguish between the condition
of the patriarch's feelings as we try to enter into them, when
he received and acted on the comnuind, on the one hand, and
what we can conceive to have been in the Divine mind when
the connnand was given, on the other. In this view there is
nothing in the nature of the command that is revolting to
human sentiment. There existed not from the first a divine
purpose that Abraham should slay his son. It is not., therefore,
, necessary to import into the case for an explanation of the nar-
rative any considerations derived from Abraham's probable
fandliarity with human sacrifices before he became a monothe-
ist. There is nothing, therefore, in the narrative that could
be supposed to give a sanction to human sacrifices.

■' It is obvious to a Christian why Abraham should be made
to feel the intensity of a father's suffei'ings under the circum-
.stances, and why he should have some intimation given him
that there existed a tremendous necessity for some such a sac-
rifice, vliieli

* Jolin

the fact,

abam, as

Jireb' —

I we can,

' Behold
rut oti'er-
l provide

had pvo-
ibstituted
<>d, — after
)laee, and

God had
de a th<"ii
inn;. This

I hope to

> condition
lieni, when
band, and
^lind when
\v there is

volting to
st a divine
therefore,

of the nar-
probabk'

a uionothe-

that couUl

lid be made

he circum-

o;iven iiini

such a sac-

" Let us now notice the features of the narrative in order to
see if this portion of tht; ()ld Scrij)tuies concerns the Jesus
Christ of tlie Gieek Scriptures. I use tlie word ' virtual' but
once. Where it is to be su[)pHed afterwards will be apparent.
When t lie feat a re 8 referred, to a<e iiaUcated, it will be anneox'
sary for me to notice the Greek paraUeh. Tho.se features may
be presented thus : — Jehovah — the Heavenly Father — appoints
the sacrifice. A human father virtually sacrifices his .son, bi-ought
into life preternatural ly, — a son, being 'the see<l of a woman,'
in a peculiar sense — his only s(m, the son he loved. He — the
human father — consents to, and takes part in the .sacrifice.
' The father took the fire in his hand, and tin; knife.' The son
dies, and lives after his death. ' And Abraham stretched forth
his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.' Thnn the non
died. ' And Abiaham took the ram and offered him up for a
burnt-oHeriny in the stead of his son.' Tha-s the son that was
sacrificed loas released from the bonds of death, and lived,
again. ' Even from the dead his father received him in a fig-
ure.' The son dies bv violence, and on the wood — on wood that
he is nuide to bear to the place of sacrifice. 'And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering, and, laid it on Isaac, his
son.' *' And Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, upon the wood,
and hound Isaac his son.' *The son consents to be the victim.
After the father ha<l replied to the son, ' My son, God will pro-
vide b' vself a lamb,' the son, physieally able effectually to re-
Isist, submissively consents to becom ■ that land), and to be
bound and laid upon the wood. Observe, too, as showing the
perfect agreement between the father and the son, it is said —
[not nu'relv once, but it is rei)eati'd — 'and thev went botl» of
Ithem together.' They go l>oth together, and they alone, to the
)lace of sacrifice. ' Of the peoplr there were none with me.'

"The son, thus sacrificed, was tlif previously ajipointed typi;
md ehannel 'of blessings t'oi' all tlie nations of the earth.'

"The .sacrifice was completed on the third day from that on

hich the father leads out the son for the sacrifice. Such is

* John .wiii. 12 ; xix. 17.

^€ t IV. -^ of^-eiw^ .

the effect of the words of the narrative. Durintj the inteival
and up to the moment wlien tlie .son is unbound, he reinnins
under the sentence of death. On the third (hiy the son is re-
leased. The place was not 'so far off' (Gen. xxii. 4, 5) that the
ass being left, the la<l was unnecessarily compelled to carry the
wood to any considerable distance, on ' the third day.'

" We may not, perhaps, necessarily infer from the na 1 1 ative
that the .sacrifice was thus .shown to be of an atoninf) charac-
ter. Abraham, howevei-, if he then * .saw Chri.st's day,' must
have viewed it in that lioht. We may note, also, that the .sac-
rifice Is represented as a ' burnt offering.' Such is mentioned
six times in the thiiteen verses of the narrative, and it is men-
tioned only in two or three other places in Genesi.s. if Abra-
ham understood that kind of .sacrifice in the .sense made
to attach to it in Leviticus, he must have known that
his son in the transaction was made by divine appointment an
expiating victim. ' And he ' (the offerer) ' shall put his hand
\i\)o\\i\\{^. \\iifn\ oi the hii>nt offering ; and it shall be accepted
for him to make atonement for him.'

" And now, let me put to you this ([uestion : — Looking to his-
tory developed .since Abraham's day, has any human being,
s<ive one, appeared on the theatre of this world, whose charac-
ter and career were such as can be said to have even conduced
to ' ble.sH all the nations upon earth '?

" In the whole hi.story of man, not incJ tiding the Greek
Scriptures, there is no other instance beside that in the Hebrew
narrative recorded, so far as I know, of an innocent man con-
senting to become a saoifcial victim, upon an altar rait^ed hyl
his father, upon a mere intinudion received from, that father
that a God required or approved his submission to the sacri-
Jice, and unthout the object of the sacrifice being communicatedl
to the intended victim. If this be true, it is inferential as toj
a connecti(m between the Abrahamic sacrifice and that oii|
Calvary.

"It appears to me Itut one ex})lanation can be given of all this.l

" Supposing the narrative not to point to .something which i.J

inteival
remains

m is r^-
that th«-
arry the

la native

charac-
ay, must
t, the sac-
lentioned
it is nien-

J Abra-
nse made
^wn that
itment an

his hand
' accepted

in<>' to his-
I an being,
)se charac-
i conduced

the Greek
le Hebrew
mail con-
riuHed hy\

fhdt father

the nacri-
imunicated\

utial as toj
a that oii|

1 of all this.1
iiv'- which isl

not on the surface of it, how is it to be explained ? I assert
that, on that supposition, no reasonable explanation of it can
be jjiven.

" I nmke this assertion advisedly. The promise declared in
the narrative after the act in obedience was not a result or a
reward of that act. This is shown by the fact that the narra-
tive but repeats the very promise that had been declared be-
fore the act. The only new feature is an intimated relation of
Isaac to the promise. It had before been filled by Abraham.*

"But, bearing in mind the jn-imal prophecy of the seed of the
woman, and the negative relation in which Isaac, in regard to
physical generation, stood l>oth to Abraham and to Sarah,f if
we consider the purpose to liave been a preintimation of the
mode in ivhich the promise tvould he performed, then, the trial
so severe, in view of the already proved obedience of the tried
one, — the .solemnity of the transaction, mai'ked, as it is, by the
feature of concurrent action of a father and his son — the par-
ticular circumstances, including a special designation of the
place of sacrifice, and its remoteness, — the submission of the
Son — the eventual provision of the burnt ofi'ering — the particu-
lar groun<l assigne<l for tlu^ promised blessing ' in Isaac,' and
that \ ith the em])hasis of an oath— -the naming of the place, at
the close of the events — the character of the name — the <lura-
tion of the whole action — all l)ecome, when viewed with the
Gi'eek documi^nts, most significant; while the reverse is true, if
the sole purpose had relation to the obedience or to the faith of
an individual man.

" At verse 18 the transaction ends, Jehovah announcing, in
effect, for the fir.st time (verse 16-18), that because of the fath-
er's consent to the sacrifce of his son (eh. xxi. 12 ; xxii. 18) in
Isaac should all the nations be bles.sed. This eventual limita-
tion of the blessing to the sou shows that that Jew — not tlu'
Jews — was the type -intimated. 'Tlie I'HV'ct of the whole (xxii.
1-18) as we reganl it in the light of the Gospels— is that the

* Conip.iro ch. xii. 3; xviii. iS ; with ch. xxii. 18; and ch. xxi. 12. l\o»»v . \7C- % i .
+ Cf. den. xvi. 2 ; xvii. 17 ; xviii. 11 ; Rom. iv. 19; with Luke i. 34, 35.

""^p

blessing was to be accomplished because of, as well as by means
of, the sacrifice by a father of an only son, especially beloved
— a son supernaturally engendered in the womb of a woman
by the Spirit of the Father of all — a son who, by command of
his father, and with his own consent, was to be immolateoTAll
this may have been, and, in view* of John viii. 56, all of it that
is necessarily implied in the seeing Ghrisfs day was under-
stood then and there by the Patriarch, and that eighteen centu-
ries before the great sacrifice recorded in the Greek biographies.
'All this — even if not foreknown by Abraham — was then pre-
indicated for us.'

" No man, in face of what the biographies show, could reason-
ably assert that Jesus did, from enthusiasm, procure himself to be
a sufferer in view of the narrative, or that the author of either
of those documents designed to present him otherwise than by
implication, as an antitype of Isaac. Moreover, the negative
testimony of the Gospels would refute the assertion first sup-
posed. Neither our Lord, nor any of his followers, during his
life on earth, ever expressly adverted to the Abrahamic sacri-
fice. Not even when He declared Himself, in His reference to
the brazen serpent, to be the fulfilment of prophecy ; nor when
He spoke of Abraham having seen his day ; nor when speaking
of Himself as the Son of God.

" St. John did not write of the binding of Christ, nor of the
imposition on Him of the wood of the cross, until after the
ascension. When John Baptist, seeing Jesus coming to him,
exclaimed, ' Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sin of the world, he did not add, 'and in him will be fulfilled
what Abraham saw.' So that there can be no pretence for as-
serting that the author of either of the biographies narrated as
genuine incidents of Christ's history what he borrowed, in the
respects just noticed from the Hebrew Scriptures.

" Here, let me ask, — Was He of whom John so spoke, one of
the seed of Abraham ? Is taking away the sin of the world a
blessing to all the nations of the earth ? Is any other event
registered on the page of history that can be so characterized ?

bee

quest
ordai

lone of
rorld a
event
prized ?

" It is not necessary to notice the various views that have
been taken by cuiniiientators of the purpose of the narrative in
question. Some have considered, as I do, that Jehovah had
imWwMiA that hjf means of the ti'ansacfion related in thenar-
ratlve that then future sacrifice should he in some degree re-
veided, or adumbrated to the mind of Abraham* Whether
the revelation was made by real facts or by dream or vision,
does not affect my aroujuont.

" It is easy to conceive wliy that representative Hebrew,
shouhJ have been the selected oni! of a selected race, so to re-
ceive a pre-intimation of the greatest event that history records.

" A result of all this is to my mind evidence that the patri-
arch in the paiticular transaction ' saw Christ's day' through
tlu^ vi«ta of the centuries interposed between it and the Great
Saciifiee. If he did, it was by the opeiation of a miracle as
real and as j^reat as any related in the Greek documents !

" Do vou assent to this ?"

WheriMipon I ventured to say to my venerable friend, " I do
not see that the words used by Aluaham in naming tlie place
will bear the weight of an independunt prophecy of ' the Lamb
of God.' Moreover, the coincidences .supposed are few, and
may be fortuitous or imaginary."

To which the old judge replied as follows : " I am not merely
arguing back from a proved event to what I take to be a pro-
phecy of it; but I am also endeavoring to present to your mind,
as an exceptional case, a special revelation made to a represen-
tative man, of a future luhich concerned him and the iuhole
human race! As to the words used by Abraham in designa-
tion of the place, I never supposed that they (done would sus-
tain the weight of a prophecy.

" This, like many other matters connected with a dim and
distant past, which ai"e subjects of inquiry now, depends foj-
solution on a balance of reasonable conjectures; but I think it
will be shown tliat my explanation of the words in que.^tion is

* See Warburton. Div. Leg. B. 6, sec. 5.

the true one, as viewed in the connection in which they will be
presented.

"It has been generally assumed that the place was named in
reference to the words addressed by Abraham to Isaac in an-
swer to the enquiry of the latter. And with reason, if the
words had stood alone, unconnected with circumstances extra-
neous to the narrative and with subsequent events, in the light
of which the designation must be interpreted. It is because
the words do not stand alone, but aie a pait of a significant
whole — being as such, in effect, a prophetic declaration made
by Abraham, based on a pre-intiniation to him of a remarkable
future, — that the received interpretation must be rejected. My
argument as it affects the desi<j:nation, is founded on this view :
and you must keep it in mind while considering what I am
about to otfei-.

" Let us try to enter into the s<;ntiments of the patriarch
when he so addressed his son. The latter says to the foimer :
' Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a
burnt offeiing V The former answers : ' My son, God will pro-
vide Himself a lamb for a burnt offerin<4.' The father's senti-
ments at that moment may be interpreted thus : His language
was, ' My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.' His thought
— too deep for utterance, was, 'Alas! I know too well what
that provision will be. My faith in Jehovah alone sustains me
under an awful sense of it.'

"Observe — if the patriarch, when he addressed the words to
his son, then foresaw the substituted ram, there was no trial at
all. Up to the moment when the hand about to use the knife
was arrested, the patriarch could not have consciously used the
words, in a sense prophetic of the Lamb of God. He must,
therefore, have spoken them, although with resignation and
submission to the will of Jehovah, with an agonized heart, even
if he believed in the res-'toration to life of his son after the im-
uiolation, for a father's heart was throbbing in his bosom, while
he knew that by his own hand Isaac was to be slain ! It may
jwssibly he that up to that moment, the designed disclosure was

not
not
mi''i
fice
phic
"I
spect
then,

will be

lined ill
c in an-
, if the
s extra-
he light
because
;niticant
n made
larkable
ed. My
is view :
lat I am

)atnaich

former :

lib for a

will pro-

I's senti-

anguag(?

thought

ill what

bains me

vords to
trial at

he knife

lised the
le must,
ion and
,rt, even

(the im-
\\, while
Jt may
lire was

not completely made to Abraham, because until then he would
not be as fully taught as a human father could be, what it
might cost a Heavenly Father to consent to an analogous sacri-
lice ! Before rejecting this as an unreasonable, anthropomor-
phic hypothesis, read Acts xx. 28 ; Rom. v. 8 ; viii. 32,

" At the ciisis when the ram was sacrificed, the words, as re-
spects their surface meaning, were completely' spent. Why,
then, should it be thought that they — words of future forun —
were adopted, otherwise than as made to speak prophetically in
the name ? That that form of words which had just expressed
his soul's agony when he believed that a terrible woe was im-
})endirig, was selected for designation by Abraham when over-
whelmed with joy un<ler a giateful sense of the divine interpo-
sition, without any reference made by him in the name to the
experienced mercy, seems to me very improbable.

" But, observe, the author of the narrative embodied in it a
tradition respecting the name, existing when he wrote, as it is
said, this doy, in the mount of the Lord, it shall be seen ! That
tradition, tlu'iefore, interpreted the name, and showed that,
even at that time, long subsequent to the saciifice, it was gen-
erally legarded a.s having a future sense, and a scope then un-
accomplished, — a scope that had some relation to the mount of
the Loid — prol:)ably to that very mount about which sacred
associations cluster.

" The words of the Vulgate (v. 14), literally translated, are :
' And he called the name of that place ' the Lord sees ;' whence
it is said, even to this day, on the Mount, the Lord will see.'
The same verse is, in the Bible pul)lished by the pastors and
piofessois of the Church of Geneva, A. D., 1588, rendered in
French, of which the following is an exact version : * And
Abraham called the name of that place 1h<' eternal tvill there
provide.' Of which it is said, ' This day, in the Mount of the
Eternal, it sh.(d.l be provided,'

"I conclude, then, that the words in question, which had,
perhaps, expressed an unconscious prediction of the Lamb of
God, when they w'ere addressed by Abtaham to his son, before

the sacrifice of the burnt oflering, were, after tliat event, coti-
sciously used by him in the designation, with the same pro-
phetic import, and tiiat, after the future of tht; great saci iHce
liad been pre-intimated by means of the occurrences on Mount
Moriah. (7

" A very injperfect view Aould be taken of tlu' Abrahamic
narrative as a prophecy, if we were to leave unnotici-d a re-
markable utterance of Cinist. B»'fort! considering it, however,
1 offer these necessary introductory observations: —

" We learn from St. Luke's Gospel that Christ directed the
minds of the two disciples whom he joined on the way to Em-
maus, perplexed, as they weie, aV)out recent occurrences at
Jerusalem, to what had been written by ' Moses antl the proph-
ets' 'concerning himself.' I am inviting }ou now, on this his
express authoiity, to compare facts and events furnished by the
Greek Scriptures, and expressly referring to him with that
ancient record selected by me, which, as I suppose, had such
designed prophetic aspect ; and 1 do so in order that you may
determine, by the applied use of your reasoning acuities.
whether a result of the comparison is not evidence of there hav-
ing been a pre-deterunned connection between what the old
history presents and that which is told i!i the new.

" When Christ so interpreted the Hebiew page, He — as the
two were aware — had died by crucifixion ; and his dead body,
which had been laid in a toaib, had been, after- an inteival of
three days, no longer found therein, nor had it afti'rwaids, as
such, been seen by human eyes.

" He taught the disciples to infer that ' the crucified one' was
then alive, from evidence pointtid out to them, derived from
Moses and the prophets. You, in effect, are being now so taught
by Him relativel}' to the subject of our tliscussion ; while you
may be sure that he did not leave unnoticed ' in all the Scrip-
tures' as ' concerning; himself the narrative under review. I
now invite your attention to the utterance of our Lonl to which
I have adverted.

'' The original of John viii. 5G, will not bear the sense of a

pret
spot

the!
had!

GUI

his
bee I

a. Dr. Pusey thus wrote to the old Judge : " 'Jehovah Jireh' must signify ' The
Lord will provide,' but it is not marked in the context whether Abraham so called
ihe place as a memorial of the provision which God had made, or whether he so
called it in reference to one yet to come. 1 have no doubt myself, that it was then
that our Lord's words were fulfilled 'Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was
glad.' So that I believe that the words i/o refer to that provision yet to come.
But I do not see that it lies so clearly in the words that CJod would provide
another lamb, that they will bear the weight of being alleged as an independent
:y."' With every good wish.

prophecy.

Christ Church.

Yours very faithfully,

E. B. PUSEY.

it, cov-
ic pro-
ne rifice
Mount

alminic
(I a re-
owt'ver,

ted the
to Ejh-
^nces at
J propb-
this his
il by thf
ith that
ad such
'ou may
"acuities,
lere hav-
the old

\ — as the
id body,

It'i val of
aids, a.s

Ine' was
Id from
taught
ile you
Scrip-
lew. I
which

se of a

present seeing, &c., relatively to the time when the words were
spokeyi. They necessarily import, that the patriarch, l)efore
then, had rejoiced that he should see Christ's day, and that he
had, before then, seen it, and was glad. It is certain that, if
our Lord had designed to intimate a * seeing' by Abraham in
his disembodied state, a different form of language would have
been used.

" The verse speaks of two successive conditions of Abraham's
mind relatively to rejoicing, viz: anticipation of joy, and joy
realized. Both are asserted to have been experienced by hira.
That could only have been when he was in the flesh. *

" The patriarch, who stood to Jehovah in the intimate rela-
tions in which history presents the 'father of the faithful' — the
' friend of God' — could not have refrained from earnest suppli-
cations for a disclosure of the mode in which the great promises
made to him were to be accomplished ; whilst, even irrespective
of our Lord's declaration, the fact of the extent to which the
secrets of divine counsels are related to have been revealed to
Abraham, presents strong ground for inference that his sup-
posed supplications would not be made in vain.

"It is a necessary rule of interpretation that in a case of veiy
ancient occurrence, in which direct proof cannot be expected^
reasonable conjecture, unopposed by conflicting conjecture as
reasonable, must be received as sufficient evidence of a matter
in question. Of that rule this case is an illustration. The day
may have been seen by Abraham on the occasion supposed,
while no other occasion is presented by history, nor can be rea-
sonably conjectured, on w^hich it could have been seen in any
sense implied by the words of Christ !

"The following further considerations are involved in the
general subject of our inquiry : first, though his faith and obe-
dience were tried on the particular occasion, the mode of trial
may, nevertheless, have been also used to enable the friend of

* Bengel's note is, " Abraham's exultation preceded his seeing, and again joy
accompanied his seeing, etc. ^ This great commentator, therefore, understood — as
the judge did — that the patriarch, when oi earth had desired to ' see, and on earth
had seen' 'Christ's day.' <3f ttve-'c'^-ay' fx^S-nVj

1 1.

§6

God to foresee Christ's day ; second, assuming the supposed
prevision, it was necessary that the disclosure should be so
guarde<l as not to affect progreasive revelation to the hutuan
race ; third, on that assumption, and in view of that necessity,
it is not possible to conceive of a mode of preintimation more
suitablt' than that which the narrative presents.

" For reasons already stated, Christ's declaration, then, may
be adduced, in connection with the virtual sacrifice, Abraham's
history and the Greek Scriptures, as an unexceptionable element
in an ai'gument to prove from prophecy fulfilled after a lapse
of ages, the divine origin of the principal features of the bio-
graphies of Christ.

" And now, young man, I assert, as my too protracted homily
draws to its close, — having regard to Abraham's prevision of
' Christ's day,' and to the harmonies that have been under con-
sideration — harmonies that cannot reasonably be accounted for
except on the hypothesis of prescience and design, — that a
sound mind, comparing the Hebrew narrative M'ith the Greek
Scriptures, cannot fail to see in those combined subjects of review
a supernatural foreknowledge of that great event which history
records as having happened afte<- a lapse of eighteen centuries ;
and consequently to infer a divine source of what is related in
the Neiv Testament respecting the stupendous sacrifice which is
a subject of it. ^

" To my mind it is not less a conviction that Abraham saw
' Christ's' day when and as 1 have supposed, than is the evi-
dence possessed at this moment by my optical sense, that I be-
hold the sun's last rays irradiating the fresh turf upon the
Micmac's grave that suggested these observations.

" If what I have offered for vour consideration does not, in
your judgment, constitute evidence such as you demanded of
me, my failure to redeem the pledge I gave, must be ascribed,
not to a bad case, but to a defective manner of presenting a
good one. Bear in mind, however, that it is evidence that I
promised to you, not demonstration."

Here again T interposed, and said " I cannot accept your

AIJ

* Warburton wrote thus : — " 'That Abraham then rejoiced to see Christ's day
and saw it and was j^lad,' is not only most certain, i)ul of the hijjhest importance
to be rightly understot)(i. And that I may not be suspected of prevarication on
this head, I shall illustrate Clod's truth t>y the noblest instatue that was ever given,
of the harmony hctiveen the Old and Neiv 'I'cstatnent T

Div. l.eg. V,. vi. s. 5. p. 591. • ;

ipposed
I bo so
luiiuan
icessity,
)n more

eu, may
raham's
element
a lapse
the bio-

l homily
'ision of
(ler coll-
ie ferf for
— that a
ic Greek
^f review
h history
ntariea ;
lated in
which is

mm saw
I the evi-
mt I be-
[pon the

not, in

Intled of

Lscribed,

mting a

\e that I

)t your

It's (lay

lortance

Ition on

given.

alleged authority for the words reported in John viii. 56, see-
ing I question the genuineness of that gospel. I regard as a
myth the narrative in Genesis, while I think the authorship of
it cannot be referred to Moses. Moreover, such a disclosure to
Abraham of the mode of fulfilment of ' the promise in Isaac'
as you suppose, would not have comported with that plan of
progressive development of the plan of redemption which the
Hebrew Scriptures present."

Whereupon the Judge thus rejoined : " Your last objection
I have anticipated, and answered by .showing that 'Christ's day*
was in fact, revealed to Abraham. My argument so far as it
rests on the supposed harmony, is not affected by your hypo-
thesis of a myth, nor by a question of authorship of Genesis.
I do not apprehend your grounds of objection to the fourth
Gospel, as you have not stated them.

" As, however, you challenge the fact of the utterance, I
must enquire, ' Does the verse referred to truly report the
words on which I rely ?' If it does, my argument, so far as it
rests on those words, stands for what it is worth. If the re-
port be not true, the gospel is spurious. On that point I would
observe, that document is the work of one who, from internal
evidence, was acquainted with the Hebrew Scriptures, which
contain the narrative reviewed. It has a prospective reference
to Christ's day so probable, that no reflecting man can read it
with the gospels, without perceiving that there may be an in-
terrelation between the.e two things.

" Now, the object of what Christ is asserted to have uttered
was, to convince the Jews that the Patriarch, whose seed
they boasted themselves to be, had exulted in having seen his
day, and yet the pseudo — John does not make Christ say 'your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it in what
is written !' The writer thus exceptionally dealt with his sub-
ject relatively to the Old Scriptures, as you will perceive if you
refer to the texts of which I shall hand you a minute. *

* John ii. 14, 16, 17 ; iii. 14, 15 ; v. 45, 46 ; vi. 44, 45 ; xii. 12-16 ; xii. 37-41.
xix. 23-25.

" This exceptional negative treatment of the narrative, if the
writer was John, would be in harmony with the consciousness
of that Apostle, because he knew that for Christ, at the time of
the supposed utterance to have referred, in addressing perverse
Jews, to a particular prophecy that pointed to his future
sacrifice, would have tended to mar the plan of making inter-
relation between prediction and event evidence after, hut not
before fulfilment.

" The exceptional circumstance, indeed, furnishes an argu-
ment for the genuineness of the particular gospel. ' Ar.s — celai-e
artem' is not shown here, if the verse was written to deceive by
relating a fiction. An impostor would not have failed to add
an express reference to a narrative so apposite and so obvious.

" Your objection while questioning the words, disputes, in
effect, the genuineness of the whole dialogue between Christ
and the Jews ; and yet that dialogue is natural and truth-like,
and not in any respect out of harmony with the synoptic
gospels. I conclude then first, that the words were uttered ;
second, that they declared what was believed to be true, inas-
much as there was an absence of any conceivable bias that
could have influenced the utterer to state what was not true ;
(you oblige me thus to speak, as if I was dealing with a ques-
tion of mere human testimony) third, that the words re-
ferred to the occasion reported in Genesis, which alone can give
effect to them."

Here I observed, "You must prove Christ's resurrection
before I can accept your reasoning, founded on what He is re-
ported by Luke to have said, after his death, to the two dis-
ciples." To which the judge replied thus : " Have you ever
considered the nature and the amount of evidence on which
man is often constrained to act in the ordinary affairs of life ?
It is far below demonstration ; but it is in kind and degree
that by which we might, before experience, have expected a
divine revelation to be supported, if we consider that as man is
constitided, this last could not he to him a subject of demon-
stration.

Chi

the!

had

fuli

I ail

cer

clan

wer^

purpost

times, c

"Wh

what H

Revelat

epistle <

"The

race. \

faith by

this moi

future a

, if the
msness
:ime of
i3rverse
future
r inter-
}ut nof

1 argu-
— celare
eive by
to add
)bvious.

utes, in
Christ
ith-like,
synoptic
ittered ;
lie, inas-
ias that
ot true ;
a ques-
trds re-
•an give

rectiou
e is re-
vvo dis-
>u ever

which
of life ?

degree

ected a
tnan is

ienion-

" There is a philosophical truth involved in these words of
Christ, ' If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.' This is as if he
had said : ' If man, as God has made him, is not convinced of a
fulfilment by what he sees me to be, and hears me declare that
I am, of that ivhich Moses and the prophets have written con-
ceiving me, he would not be persuaded that I am what I de-
clare myself to ibe, by manifested supernatural agency, if that
were exercised to convince him.'

" We may be sure that no kind of evidence would be by his
Creator proposed to man, affecting his moral responsibility,
except that which is adapted to his nature. We may well
ask, What evidence of a revelation assumed to be divine could
humanity demand that it does not possess ? The evidence afford-
ed could only be genuine prophecy of a future state of things
which could not have been foreseen, but has become a fact in
history. Every other conceivable kind of evidence of a divine
revelation must consist of facts — not evidence in themselves, —
from which certain inferences may or may not be drawn ;
whereas, from two indisputable facts, viz : distinct prediction
of a supernatural future, and a future occurrence of a state of
circumstt^iices exactly harmonizing with the subject of the pre-
diction, certain inferences, and those only, can be drawn by a
sound and unprejudiced human mind. This may be predicated
of the Hebrew Scriptures in relation to what we read in the
Greek Scriptures. Miracles, after they have served their first
purpose, would, if continuing to be performed in all future
times, cease to be miracles in human apprehension.

" When Christ declared fulfilled prophecy to be evidence of
what He was and what He taught. He implicitly declared that
Revelation, in the light of His life, proves itself. The first
epistle of Peter conveys the same truth.

" The providence of God has given written records to our
race. Without the means of establishinj; the irround of our
faith by the new Scriptures, read with the old, man would, at
this moment, be destitute of all reliable information as to his
future after death. All with him would then be mere specula-

tion concerning the insoluble, as it is in fact, now, with those
who, — declining to accept Christ as God's voice speaking by
human lips, and contented with a system of ethics, constructed
by themselves, which has no certain — if any — aspect beyond
the life that now is ; or with scientific researches into the
nature of physical man, — do not choose to avail themselves of
the means of evidence of a future state which the Scriptures
proffer. Those men live objects of worship in respect of their
intellects by their fellow men, and die without giving any sign
as to posthumous expectations. But they, happily, are not
doomed necessarily to deal with the insoluble, in a matter of
such deep interest.

"Christ, who 'brought immortality f to light' — progressively
developed as the end and the sum of all prophecy — may be
read on almost every page of the Hebrew Scriptures, which
cover the whole period of the history of man that preceded the
dawn, when 'the day spring from on high visited us.'

" Take an illustration of this, connected with the particular
subject of our discussion, applying what I have already observed
in rela,tion to it.

" There is in the oath of Jehovah at the close of the occur-
rences on the Mount (Gen. xxii. 16-18), and in the subsequent
Scriptural references to it, tht^o which indicates, unmistakably,
that what we read in the narrative cannot be confined in refer-
ence to Abraham and Isaac, nor to them in connection with the
Jews, nor to the land of promise. It shows that what is re-
lated has a manifest prophetic aspect of a person, in whose
advent the whole race of man would be interested.
. " The oath, after having been referred to subsequently in Gen-
«^sis. Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, is noticed, with an
implied reference to Christ, in Micah, and culminates with an
express reference in Luke to our Lord, as the object to which it
and the promise sanctioned by it pointed. *

* The Judge, on request, furnished this note of the references: Gen. xxiv. 7;
xxvi. 3 ; 1. 24 ; Exod. vi. 8 ; xxxiii. I ; Nunih. xxxii. Ii ; Deut. 1,8 ; vi. lo ; xxx.
20 ; Mic. vii. 18-20 ; Luke i, 68, 75. .See also Jer. xxxiii. 16. This last identities
the land of the oath with \.\\q person of it, — 'The Lord our Righteousness.'

t Gr., * Incorruption.'

j lil

I ser

' M(

I Gh\

con

fort
«

ResJ
assul
of cc

who.<
yoTu-

to CO

and i

estab

basis.

acqua

baptis

son ; J

a filial

his dy:

proteci

as you

extract

The

my ass

John ai

your ii

my inti

princip]

spects e

" Pro

Revelat

1 those
ing by
tructed \

beyond f
ito the f
jlves of {
L-iptures
of their
-ny sign
are not
atter of

•essively
-may be
ss, which
eded the

articular
observed

le occur-
ibsequent
itakably,
in refer-
with the
i&t is re-
in whose

in Gen-
Iwith an
Iwith an
{which it

|n, XXIV. 7 ;

10 ; XXX.

It identities

" We find, indeed, in the oath and the references, a series of
links forming a continuity, at the extremes of which are pre-
sented Isaac and his great Antitype; the virtual sacrifice on
Moriah and the real sucrijice on Calvary ; Abraham's day and
Christ's day.

" Surely this, extending over a long period of time, and re-
corded by the pens of different writers, cannot be regarded as a
fortuitous combination of historical atoms !

" When you object want of evidence in relation to the
Resurrection, you question Christianity which depends on that
assumed fact. Of the testimony necessary to prove it, I can,
of course, speak in brief and general terms only.

" You pa.ss among men for the son of my late revered friend,
whose name you bear, — of him who" is reputed to have been
your father ; but my intellect, if it is to be exercised, in order
to conviction in that matter which rests entirely on reputation
and inference, demands, as you remind me, strict evidence to
establish that which, though highly probable, has no certain
basis." I rejoined, " My father and mother were your intimate
acquaintances ; you were present at their nuptials and at my
baptism ; you know that I was always treated by them as their
son ; you wrote my father's will, whereby he devised to me, by
a filial designation, the estate which I enjoy ; you stood beside
his dying bed, and heard him commend me, as his son, to your
protection. These circumstances are, it is true, inferential, but
as you do not adduce any opposing facts, the evidence of my
extraction which the facts furnish is practically conclusive."

The old judge replied, ' I marvel that you should challenge
my assumed matter of testimony, derived from the Gospels of
John and Luke, and yet argue, as you have done, in support of
your immediate ancestral descent. Your argument removes
my intimated doubts respecting your filial relation, while it, in
principle, supports my views on the main question, as it re-
spects evidence for Christianity.

" Prophecy fulfilled, as a principle of evidence relatively to
Revelation, is the essential ground of my argument addressed

to you. I regard Genesis xxii. as a prophecy, and John viii.
56, as in efi'ect showing it to be such. The mode and circum-
stances of the fulfihiient of it are the subject of our Greek
Scriptures.

"Of a divine source of those there exists inferential evidence
abundantly sufficient to establish it, until it be proved, as it
never has been, either that the facts which Christians believe
to support the inferences are false, or that the inferences are
not warranted by the facts.

" The character of Christ, as presented in the fourth Gospel,
while not inconsistent with anything we read of Him in the
Synoptics, is in respect of purity, simplicity, sublimity and
self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of humanity, entirely real.
It is not an ideal conception, but a genuine representation.
The document throughout bears the stamp of an honest con-
viction in the mind of its author, — of the truth of what he
wrote.

" Christ's last discourse to his disciples could have been writ-
ten by no one save by him who had entered into the very heart
of Christ. >

" The reception, as authentic, of the document by the whole
Christian world, before the close of the second century, pre-
cludes a possibility of a forgery being accomplished, at any
time in that century, without detection and exposure.

"The following proof of the authorship of it, which is pre-
sented on its surface, is not, I think, subject to any reasonable
objection. Verses 30 and 31 of chapter xx, complete what was
first written ; the author, in those verses, declaring in effect
that what he had professed in the proem to show respecting
' the Word,' had been accomplished by ' the signs of Jesus, done
in the presence of the disciples,' which the writer had related.
The language of those verses plainly indicates that the writer
knew, when he wrote them, that there were other signs, &c.,
which he had not then told, a7id had not at that time designed
to tell. Verse 23 of the last chapter .shows, as clearly, what it
was that, as an after thought, suggested the narrative of that

\y\ c 01 1 1 i-t

\Voj^<^ Sftf /lu vf "o f

K/eyS'i 7-y I S

Tr^f y^c

i\c^W^ »(

n:^'(i

C^-yvr

•/ < o/lu

OtI
d

ve
ca

rclt
Ti

John viii.
nd circum-
our Greek

il evidence
oved, as it
ms believe
rences are

th Gospel,
lim in the
niity and
iroly real,
sentation.
mest con-
what he

•een writ-
ery heart

ihe whole
ury, pre-
, at any

ti is pre-
iasonable
hat was
in effect
ispecting
ms, done
I related.
le writer
gns, &c.,
iesigned
what it
! of that

( —

<!ed"u„t^t:f J:j::---->'Jeet »f «- cape., ...p.,,,,

Afte.- the Church had po^^esso^ m ,
"«» 31 of chapter XX. the aulw " ''T'"™' ™''"'f-' "t

ea^o avvare Hhat a ru„.or ,r,t rSh'" '° '? •''""~^-
that that ap,«tle wa, to live unli fV ^ """*'' ""■' ^'-ethren'
coi-reet this dangerous erro,- » •, "'^'""^ "^ Christ. To
«P'e/n„ttoa„,L„„:p: r;*:'^':''" :?• ■"- '^-oved dl!
'->■'*" a ■■•■•-nder.standi'g, derived ?"'' '"" '" '^^'' "»'™'«^d,
«: at-on of Christ-, words' r^U'T ^"^ ""'■'■™' "'•«'
T'berws, John wrote, „r nos, 1:^ , ,"^''' "' ""^ •'«» of
™ e, .lietated to .selected p' ^n "^th '", f '"*"'' f""^"' '»
'■oa. m chapter xxi, up to "^ ■! T':'"'™^ "'' "''-t -e
^ ft was, of course, necessa, v f ^''•, !"*"«« »/ ««< <-«■««.
t e narrative; and ho . Ic" : 't ex'"','' '" """" "'" -1»«' "f
"' » eireun,.stantial staten n f LP:''™' '" <•» - "^y ".cans

Tl>..s constitutes now an appen.lK „ , ,, / " ™' *''« ^•'H""!-
""'".ally connnit to the pel" " ;'" ' """ "- writer would
ypeared in what ,«„, ^.^Z " L '■";" *'"'• «» '* '""^ »»<

■f- That the attestation'- 1 t^u:™"'" ^ ''^'^■"" '» «"-'
tl.e «ew expressed, since they «, "X^r T'";'?'^'^''^"' -'"'
-;;-.tho„t subscription, but vvitl theb 1 , 'T*"'''^ P"''''»'^«'
-t^e whole docun,ent as we ha -c it ''""''''"'S" "»' *1><> Church
of the last chapter. "' «»«Pting the last verse

be'ri:;-:!:,!' " 'rir eS::^™f- r --. -^ .shou,d

otherwi.se than with its preset n .-""^ '""'™ manuscript

" That a for.rer_even , ««"n<^et,ons. P'

»<• that, as sue h:Zu r:"| ,"" '" '"™ "^"^ » «"-«e,

.''- 'f -t«I the author to be 1 Z TT'^ '" '"'■^""^ ''-

fans of the tin.e, in fact or by inZ • . ?™ ''^' "" «'"-

the hypothesi,,, he declar d wha he .n^T,'™''''' '"■'^"-- ""
O" publication, be pronounc,ri , ''"'''' "^"""-n »-oui,I

^r^^TT^TTirTr—r^^^^^i^ii::^^ 'o be ■ the

7^/.MX//.ytr~y

occurrences at the sea.' This is, as I tliink, prohable, as ' the
disciple' had been specially mentioned before only in connection
with the explanation respecting the rumor, and because the ori-
ginal document required no such sanction, it having been al-
ready accredited by the Church. If the facts were as supposed,
' th(Mliscipl(; whom Jesus loved,' l)y necessary implication, is
identified with the authoi- of the Gospel, as fully as if the
^^^* things' of verse H^ meant the original document together
with the appendix. The style of the attestation, reminding of
: ■ Joh n IS, — used perhaps tis an exemplar — is not opposed to
uiy hypothesis of interpretation. As to who wrote the last
verse of the last ehaptei', that is, as it seems to me a question
of no importance, as the 30th verse of chap, xx had previously
expressed, in substance, all that the redundant verse in question
contains.

" The harmonious completeness that the whole document,
apart from the supplement, presents, in respect of the intro-
duction conq)ared with the close, would strongly sway my
mind to a belief of the Johannean authorship.

" The assumeil author — John, and he alone of all the evan-
/ gelists — wrote of Christ, in this Gospel, first, that he ivas hound
C'^N'Sk.'V''^'^^ 1 before he whi brought to >»! w>- rf»- ; second, that he was made to
hear his cross, on the way to the place of crucifixion ; and hoth,
without reference to any antece<tents. Read with this that part
of our nai'rative which is found in Gen. xxii. 6, 9 ; asking, if
the harmony — unnoticed by the wiiter — which is presented by
a comparison of the old Scripture with the Gospel in question,
suggests fo>'(}et'y, or genuineness, in relation to the latter.

" If you, pursuing a course of reasoning .suggested by your-
self, will gathei' and weigh all that history, contemporary and
future, sacred and profane, tells us, bearing on what is related
in the Christian documents concerning ' the resurrection of our
Lord,' including the report of what Christ's followers did and
suffered on the faith of the doctrine ; and will consider, also,
the historical fact of the influence which the name of Christ
has exercised, and is exerc ising, on the opinions, conduct and

\/^r^a 'Z./4. C-av- 0-e..

til
inl
tol

an I

evi

ble, as ' the
connection
ise the ori-
g been al-
i supposed,
lication, is
as if the
i together
iiindinif of
)ppose(l to
e the last
1 question
^reviously
1 (}uestion

locunient,
he intro-
iway my

the evan-
as hound
made to
and. both,
that part
sking, if
lented hj
question,
;er.

by your-
ary and
5 related
n of our
did and
er, also,
I Christ
uct and

■n the to,„b, W.S neve.. p,.„,, :';; .^''j-' f -' it wa., p,„eed
to death ., .,„ffieienti/proved 'i Z t"- "•''° '"' ""»

Of 16, as of the Gospel, th„t i , ^'''■" *'2-(i6.)

and .strong evi.lenee.-lTej': **^'- '•'• "^"•'' '« -'''^ce,
<'™'™ee- ""' ""'"t ,t to be conclusive

" '^° sceptical intellectimli\t • .i,
to eo,„.„e„„ the„,.se,ve: "t "o nlV'r ",'"• ^'^''^i-- ^a"
able, and whose love fo. hi" raei? "'"* '"■*"'' '"'"P'-oaeh-
who ,,vo..ce„ Ch,.istia„it,. ,v th „ "T r'',>'™"-°"'- '"'t
close alliance, in descnhin.. as h . * '"= '""' f"""«l a
"ate ability, the powe . Indtt! f f^' '"''' ""'' "•"'> "'n™."-
-ntative ,„an, spoke thnto ! l.^'Tr "*' « «-at n-pre-
The Hebrew „,„«e which tl.ht the' l' f""'^'' "•■''■™'-
to men, had the same excess ot" 1 ? °' "»''' »"'' "-'-onK

the nations. SwedenWrini o""™''/™' ''"" " '"^'^ had fo^
■ng themselves to the Ch Itia f:'',"? ""' ''^'"'' ''>' ""-h-
sentnnent which carries innnn erab ' "'f''"' "' '" ""= '"o™!
d'vnities in its Uson,.' 7"^,;^"""^'''^^' hun.anities,
on our knees to any an<-el who c" u"™ '"*"'"'■"'•' ^^ added,
feenery an,, the circun.st'at:' oVt, '1 T '" ''""'™ ^"^ 'he
>« certain it ,„„st not be intWo" i l^-'f*'^ ■^o"' ■ ""-t it

works of the artist who .sculp u e 'tU , 1' "'7'"'"'^- ><-»■"
and writes the moral law.' H ^e we f '" f ">« «""""™t
tually great nmn-for such he is . ''':™."''"" ""» '"tellec-
he crisis of life, he wouldt up I;"? ' '1 ''™ "*' »''""' -
hands of an angel connni.,slnrto -t ■" '° "■"'--' «' 'he

The great arti.st who sculnt,., \, '
".entand write.s the n,omltw ■ i '''l'''"""' °f the «r,na-
whelm with sudden des lt1o^ T"-^:'""" P'""^^"'' to over-
3ands of human beingsty ^ "t'e^rib,:" T"' "'"">■' «>""-
tho.se the most helpless a„7Lr ^''■"P''"' ""'' a».o„g

p.-c.sent.s no argument Iga" Go " ? / ' '° " ^'"■'■^«""'
family, because Revelation It ,'7VT "" "*°'« '"""»"
'ove; but if he who does no a cep C In r '°'"''^' ""'' ""'*

accept Christianity, could gravely

■Pi

^mr*

propose for consolation to a suffbrint,' victim of a calamity so
fi'arful, 'the moral sentiment wliich carries Christianities, etc.,
in its hosom,' — his must, indeed, be an exceptional and ahnor-
nial constitution of hmnanity ! The suticrer so appealed to
would surely feel the appeal to be a heartless mockery of his
suftei'ino;s !

" Miserable comforters then are those who see a God of love
in nature only !

" At ' the inevitable hour,' ' the moral sentiment,' so heard in
natm-e, may be more comfortable to a philosopher who relies
upon it, than evidence a forded hy the Hebrew mase — with her
' love' eidiijhteved and applied In/ Him of whom the distin-
gidshed Amfierican speakx with faint praise as ' the good Jesus'
— but I will humbly trust, at that hour, to be inspired to rest
my faith upon the latter.

" The Abrahamic narrative, with its adjuncts, and in the
connection in which I have presented it, for all humanity — in-
tellectual and untutored — is, as the moral sentiment in nature
is not, in its natui-e and according to man's n&tuvG, evideiice for
the conscious spirit of man to rely on as to its state and con-
dition when it is separated from its earthy tabernacle — inas-
much as it "presents to the human mind with precise pointed"
ness a' harmony even to minute particulars, — a harmony whose
source must he diviiie — between what is related in the 22nd
chapter of Genesis, and the consuniination of the scheme of
redemption, by the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth related in the
Greek Scriptures.

" Regarded in connection with that large class of Hebrew
Scriptural testimony of a kindred nature, which conduces to
the same result, it is evidence of irresistible force.

" Christ declared, before he suffered, ' that when He should
be lifted up He would draw all men unto Him.' A partial
performance of that promise — and in a large and increasing
measure — is a patent fact. An infidel writer of considerable
ability asks, flippantly, ' If the Christian's God is to be mea-
sured by the miraculous cure, or by the suffering millions ?' I

e
ill

S(l

tos

iiity so
en, etc.,
almor-
'uled to
' of his

of love

leaifl in
lO relies
[uith her
distin-
d Jesus'
[ to rest

1 in the
lity — in-
n nature

dence for
and eon-
;le — inas-

pointetl"
my ivhose
Ithe 22nd

■heme of
(I in the

[Hebrew
I luces to

should
partial
fcreasing
tderable
1)0 mea-
ls?' I

can, in view of what has been promised, and what has been
performed, patiently await the assured result of a perfect ful-
filment of our Lonl's promise.

" While learned men in our day are sedulously and worthily
enfj^ajj^ed in studying the dark characters of slabs and cylinders,
in the hope of extracting secrets of ancient days, that may
serve to illustrate the sacred Scriptures, they do not, pci'haps,
apprehend — and, it maj' be, because it lies so near to the sur-
face — that confirmation of a Christian's faith that may be read
on the page of the old Hebrew story that has been the subject
of our discussion. :'

" I am persuaded that the conclusion to which that subject,
with its connections, rightly apprehended, necessarily leads,
presents, to the most highly cultivated mind of man, when
tossed on a troubled sea of speculation, as to the whit, the
ivkerefove, the whence and the tvhither of the humanity which
is identified with its consciousness, an anchorage in the harboi-
of the Christian Revelation, at which it may ride in confidence
and security."

Here the old judge and I — setting a good example to all theo-
logical controversialists — exchange cordial valedictions, and,

"As fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,"

retire from the Micmac's grave and seek our respective homes.

ADOLESCENS.
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada.

*The "Old Judge" might have unexceptionably summed up thus:— " Abraham
'exulted that he should see Christ's day." What it was that he saw, and greatly re-
joiced to see in it, is as certain as if it had been expressly revealed to us. It could only
have been preinformation ' ■»< »Mid >i |>»iWi»M » -» lW *i«i <»^ 'i * iy tf respecting the mode in
which t/ie promise that affcctid the iia/ioiis would be accomplished. Now, this fea-
ture is plainly impressed on the transaction related in Cenesis xxii.— read with John
viii. 56— viz : a preintimalion to Al)raham that he by whom the promise would he
performed, 7c>as to i>e 'the only son' of his father— ' the son whom the father loved;'
that he, in compliance with the will of his father, and -with his own consent, was to be
the innocent victim of a sacrifice', and that he was to be, after the sacrifice, released
from the bonds of death. We shall look in vain for the occasion to which John viii.
56 refers, outside of the Hebrew narrative ; whilst to search for it there Christ has in-
structed us! See Luke xxiv. 25-27. W^e find it therein, and we have thus before us
evidence that the Great Sacrifice which purchased our Redemption was predetermined,
and preintimated to one of our race more than seventeen centuries before it was an
event in history. The case presents, not merely a type or a prophecy of that Sacri-
fice, wliich the human mind may or may not accept, but a revelation of it made long
before it took place, to the consciousness of a representative man, which, logically,
must be accepted as such, in view of the n.arrative and the Scriptures referred to.

J^xto vVv^f» pi* ''•^« »*X