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God’s purposes concerning earth have always unfolded themselves by election and selection,—of men, of places, of nations. Church-history is the record and manifestation of the electing and selecting will of a Sovereign God. There are elect nations and countries as well as elect souls. Israel was God’s elect nation of old, Canaan his elect land, Jerusalem his elect city, and Zion his elect hill. This national election began with individual election,—Abraham. From the day of his being chosen, God’s purpose centred in a nation,—the nation that was to spring from him. The Jew was chosen to be the first of nations,—to rise above the civilised Greek and the mighty Roman. The Jew was to be the centre of God’s workings and teachings. The Jew was to be the race with which Godhead was to be connected. Messiah was to be son of Abraham,—son of the great believer. And it was so; the seed of Abraham was that portion of the seed of the woman from which Messiah came. Jesus was a Jew; a son of Abraham; a scion of that race to whom God had committed his oracles and his covenant; in connection with whom the true history of our race is connected: ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham.’

Verse 1

Father of Love, our Guide and Friend,
O lead us gently on,
Until life’s trial-time shall end,
And heavenly peace be won.

Verse 2

We know not what the path may be
As yet by us untrod;
But we can trust our all to Thee,
Our Father and our God.

Verse 3

If called, like Abraham’s child, to climb
The hill of sacrifice,
Some angel may be there in time;
Deliverance shall arise:

Verse 4

Or, if some darker lot be good,
O teach us to endure
The sorrow, pain, or solitude,
That make the spirit pure.

Verse 5

Christ by no flowery pathway came;
And we, His followers here,
Must do Thy will and praise Thy Name,
In hope, and love, and fear.

Verse 6

And, till in heaven we sinless bow,
And faultless anthems raise,
O Father, Son, and Spirit, now
Accept our feeble praise.