When God said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee," we read that "Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him," and when the promise came to him that all the land of Canaan should be given to his descendants, he believed, and there he "builded an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord." Following his history, we see that when he was prospered, and his nephew, Lot, was also prospered, a strife arose between their herdmen. Then Abram manifested that peaceable and wise spirit, which should make him an example for all, and generously gave Lot the choice of all the territory, and begged that there should be no strife between them, "for," said he, "we be brethren." (Is not this suggestive to Christian Scientists?) Even after this, when Lot was taken captive, Abram went and rescued him from his enemies, but refused to accept any of the goods he had brought back with Lot, showing how he shut out the thought of greed, or self.
After this the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Thus it was that Abram began his acts of faithfulness to the voice of Truth as it came to him, which were the preparation for his future faith in God, and when his great trial came (fifty years afterward), and he was told to offer up Isaac, his "only son," whom he loved, as a burnt offering to the Lord, he was disciplined to obedience, and did not hesitate to go; obeying even to taking the knife and stretching forth his hand "to slay his son." It was then that the "message of Truth and Love" (or Angel) called to him, saying, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, . . . for now I know that thou fearest God;" and in a second message the promise was given, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." From that time Abraham has been known through all the generations as the "Father of the faithful."
When Jacob was bidden by his father and mother to go into the land of Padan-Aram, he promptly obeyed, and on this journey he saw the vision of the ladder with the angels descending and ascending upon it, and there raised the pillar of Bethel and made the vow to give to the Lord a tenth of all his possessions with which God should bless him, thus instituting the Jewish practice of giving tithes, which we learn in Science and Health, page 587, is a type of homage—gratitude. After this we see him faithfully serving his fourteen years for his two wives, learning obedience and faithfulness. Again obeying the voice of God when bidden to return to the land of his fathers and his kindred, he made that memorable journey, when he sent his company ahead and he wrestled alone with the angel till daybreak, and his name was then changed from Jacob to Israel, for "as a Prince had he power with God and with man, and had prevailed."
