endeavours to drive away the fowls, and in the preternatural sleep and horror that came upon him. This lapse of time, I say, intimated the delay that should take place before the promise should be fulfilled, or his wishes receive their final completion. If in deciphering these emblems we seem to have gone be- yond the line of sober interpretation, let us turn to the expla- nation which God himself gives us of them, and we shall see all these particulars distinctly enumerated ; — the opposition they should encounter, the troubles they should endure, and the delay they should experience, even four hundred years™. And so far from exceeding the limits of sobriety, we are by no means certain that much more is not intended under these emblems, even to designate the trials and conflicts which the children of Abraham shall experience in their way to the promised land.]
2. With demonstrative attestations —
[After the parts of the sacrifice were properly disposed, it was customary for the parties who covenanted with each other, to pass between them"; intimating, if not expressing, their willingness to be cut asunder in like manner, if they should ever violate their engagements. God therefore, assuming the appearance of a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, passed visibly between the pieces that were placed opposite to each other ; and thereby ratified the covenant on his part, as Abram, in all probability, did on his part. Why God assumed these diversified appearances, we cannot absolutely determine. But at all times, if he did not assume the human or angelic shape, he revealed himself in the likeness of fire. It was in a burning bush that he was seen by Moses ° ; and in a burning mountain by Israel p; and in a pillar of smoke and fire that he went before his people in the wilderness q: from whence we are disposed to think that, though the appearances were diverse, the intent was one ; namely, to represent himself to Abram, as he did to his descendants, as " the Glory and Defence " of all his people r. Under this character he shewed himself to Abram, and, passing between the pieces of the sacrifice, pledged him- self for the accomplishment of all that he had promised.]
Let us learn from hence,
1. To make a similar inquiry relative to the inhe- ritance which we seek —
[We profess to be looking for heaven and eternal glory. Ought we not then, every one of us, to ask, " Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it ? " Surely the inquiry is as
m ver. 13. n Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19. ° Exod. iii. 2.
P Exod. xix. 18. with Heb. xii. 18.
i Exod. xiv. 19, 20. and xxiv. 17. r Isai. iv. 5.