vi. The _Character of the Patriarchs_ is never represented as perfect, their faults are freely exposed, theirs is no ideal history. If we compare the four most eminent amongst them, we seem to trace in (i) _Abraham_, “the faith that can remove mountains” in its power and in its fulness, revealing itself in unfaltering trust and unquestioning obedience under the most trying circumstances conceivable; in (ii) _Isaac_, the faith that can possess itself in patience, and discharge the ordinary duties of life in quietness and waiting; in (iii) _Jacob_, the violent contest of faith with the flesh, the higher with the lower nature, till by hard discipline the latter is purified, and the “Supplanter” becomes the “Prince,” the “Prevailer with God;” in (iv) _Joseph_, the fidelity and perseverance of faith, revealed not only in the patient endurance of the most grievous trials, but in energetic action, and at length crowned with victory. “He unites in himself the noble trust and resolution of Abraham, with the quiet perseverance of Isaac, and the careful prudence of Jacob.” He is moreover an eminent historic type of Christ, in (1) his persecution and sale by his brethren, (2) his resisting temptation, (3) his humiliation and exaltation, (4) his dispensing to a famine-stricken people the bread of life, (5) in the fulness of his forgiving love[50]. BOOK III. FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. Illustration: A MAP OF CANAAN, EGYPT & SINAI to illustrate the PATRIARCHAL HISTORY and THE EXODUS. Stanford’s Geographical Establishment London: Macmillan & Co. CHAPTER I. _THE BIRTH AND CALLING OF MOSES._ EXOD. I.–VI. B.C. 1706–1491.