spot. Unbelief led her to this dreadful end. She did not believe what God by his angels had declared that the danger was so imminent, destruction so sure.

Is it so perilous to look back when our faces are Zion-ward? Then let us forget the things that are behind, and "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." PHIL. 3:14.

"As it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.

"But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed.”

"Remember Lot's wife." LUKE 17:28-32.

"Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew." DEUT. 29: 23.

Those cities fell: God laid them low;
His righteous anger dealt the blow.
From heaven came down a fiery rain,
A thundering tempest swept the plain;

The sulphurous lightnings darting round,
With loosened floods, tore up the ground,
Destroyed the valley far and wide,
And towns and turrets swept aside.
Man, art, and nature, passed away—
In heaps the blasted ruins lay;
With salt and sulphur crusted o'er,
Along the salt sea's dismal shore.

ABRAHAM'S TRIAL.

What was the severest trial of Abraham's faith?

Had he, at this time, any son but Isaac?

Who gave the command?

Did he assign any reason for requiring this astonishing sacrifice?

Where was it to be accomplished?

How far did Abraham proceed in obedience to this command?

How was his purpose arrested?

What offering was substituted in the place of Isaac ?

This wonderful trial was not designed solely to illustrate the faith of Abraham. It was the purpose of God to furnish the patriarch and his descendants with a lively representation of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. the world," etc. JOHN 3:16.

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God so loved

SONS OF ABRAHAM.

1. Isaac, the child of promise, whose mother was Sarah.

A hundred years had Abraham walked the earth,
And Sarah nine times ten, at Isaac's birth.
Rejoicing then, they wondered at the prize,
The promised child that blest their aged eyes.

2. Ishmael, the Arab, or wild man, whose mother was Hagar the bondwoman.

An archer bold in heart and hand,
By fighting he possessed the land.
His wife was an Egyptian dame:
Twelve princes from the union came.

3. Six sons, whose mother was Keturah. Know ye the names of the sons of Keturah? Zimran and Jokshan, Ishbak and Shuah, Madan and Midian-all chiefs in their stations, The lords of the desert, and fathers of nations.

CAVE OF MACHPELAH.

Abraham, though he owned no land in Canaan, was regarded as a great and honorable man, a ruler, and a prince. He had three hundred and eighteen men-servants fit to bear arms; and these with their families, and his numerous flocks and herds,

formed a large en

campment. He dwelt many years on the plain of Mamre, at Hebron, and this appears to have been his favorite place of abode. It is supposed that his tent was placed within the shadow of a large and noted tree, of the turpentine species; for the word Mamre, Gen. 13:8, signifies the terebinth, or turpentine-tree..

When Sarah died, Abraham bought the field of Machpelah, which was near his encampment at Hebron, for a burial place. In this field was a cave, or sepulchre, hewn in the rock, in which Sarah was buried.

Sarah is the only woman whose age is mentioned in Scripture.

How old was she, and where did she die?

What six persons were, in the course of time, laid in the sepulchre of Machpelah ?

GEN. 49:31 and 50: 13.

JOURNEY OF ABRAHAM'S SERVANT.

The wife of Isaac must be a woman of his own kindred, and not a daughter of Canaan. The Canaanites were all idolaters.

Abraham therefore sends forth the oldest servant of his house with costly presents, and a