ser Spiritual union between the soul and
God; that the blood covenant was a covenant of friendship and love among
all primitive peoples.]

The inquiry might here arise, whether in our times anything would
justify a man in committing a homicide on an innocent person. Would he
not be called a fanatic? If so, we may infer that morality--the proper
conduct of men as regards one another in social relations--is better
understood among us than it was among the patriarchs four thousand years
ago; and hence, that as nations advance in civilization they have a more
enlightened sense of duty, and practically a higher morality. Men in
patriarchal times may have committed what we regard as crimes, while
their ordinary lives were more virtuous than ours. And if so, should we
not be lenient to immoralities and crimes committed in darker ages, if
the ordinary current of men's lives was lofty and religious? On this
principle we should be slow to denounce Christian people who formerly
held slaves without remorse, when this sin did not shock the age in
which they lived, and was not discrepant with prevailing ideas as to
right and wrong. It is clear that in patriarchal times men had,
according to universally accepted ideas, the power of life and death
over their families, which it would be absurd and wicked to claim in our
day, with our increased light as to moral distinctions. Hence, on the
command of God to slay his son, Abraham had no scruples on the ground of
morality; that is, he did not feel that it was wrong to take his son's
life if God commanded him to do so, any more than it would be wrong, if
required, to slay a slave or an animal, since both were alike his
property. Had he entertained more enlightened views as to the sacredness
of life, he might have felt differently. With his views, God's command
did not clash with his conscience.

Still, the sacrifice of Isaac was a terrible shock to Abraham's paternal
affection. The anguish of his soul was none the less, whether he had the
right of life and death or not. He was required to part with the dearest
thing he had on earth, in whom was bound up his earthly happiness. What
had he to live for, but Isaac? He doubtless loved this child of his old
age with exceeding tenderness, devotion, and intensity; and what was
perhaps still more weighty, in that day of polygamous households, than
mere paternal affection, with Isaac were identified all the hopes and
promises which had been held out