THE tranquil life which Isaac had led from the age of three to, probably, that of about twenty, was suddenly broken in upon by a strange and terrible trial. Early one spring morning he was summoned to sally forth with his father from the patriarchal tent, still pitched at Beersheba, on a journey of which the object was at first wholly unknown to him....
Moriah was at length reached, and all further concealment on the part of Abraham was necessarily laid aside. Abraham collected stones, and built an altar, and arranged the wood upon it, as was proper for a burnt offering, and then proceeded to "bind Isaac his son." Now Isaac's trial reached its culminating point.... He could have quitted the Mount, and thrown himself into the desert, as Ishmael had done before him, or he could have returned to Beersheba, and have appealed to the tribe to judge between him and his father. But he did not take either of these courses. On the contrary, he submitted himself unreservedly....
Thus was Isaac tried on this great occasion, and thus he bore the trial. Attention has been so much concentrated on Abraham's part in the tremendous scene, that Isaac's has scarcely attracted any great share of men's thought or consideration. But, if the attitude of the father is grand, that of the son is not less so. Endurance is always more difficult than action. The father's faith, and enthusiasm, and zeal nerved him to an almost superhuman deed of devotion. But the son was set a harder task. He had to "suffer and be still." ...
