\
 
 5<S8. 
 
 ,^^. <a-i^. \t</i .
 
 THE 
 
 MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. S. G. ASHTON. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. A. L. STONE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. 
 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
 JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN. 
 1855.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
 
 JOHN P. JEWETT & Co., 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 C A M I) R I D E : 
 ALLEN ASD 1 AJUN1IAM, PKI.MEK3. 
 
 Stereotyped by 
 New EngUnd Tjpe and Stereotype
 
 ffo 
 MY MOTHER, 
 
 AS A 
 
 SLIGHT TOKEN OF THE ESTIMATION IN WHICH I HOLD HER 
 UNFORdETTINQ LOVE, 
 
 5TJMS Volumt 
 
 IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. 
 
 2051016
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY REV. A. L. STONE. 
 
 Two immediate objects seem to have influenced the author 
 of the following pages, in preparing them for the press : one, 
 to prompt her readers to a diligent and careful study of the 
 Bible ; the other, to quicken, in those who sustain the mater- 
 nal relation, a sense of their responsibility, and to inspire 
 them with a more prayerful devotion to their solemn trust. 
 The book itself is the offspring of this double parentage, 
 the habit of the daily study of the Scriptures, and the 
 pressure of a mother's duty. The richest recompense it can 
 bring to the writer will be the knowledge that it has led 
 other minds, trembling and fainting under that pressure, to 
 seek light and guidance, strength and hope, in the teachings 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The wealth of the Scripture fulness in respect to any com- 
 manding interest of life is, except to the earnest and laborious 
 student, a mine of unknown riches. The careless reader, in 
 lightly skimming the surface, may catch the sheen of here 
 and there a gem, the glimmer of golden dust ; but the rarer 
 jewels of truth, the deep-chambered veining of the precious 
 ore, are to such eyes hidden treasures. The thoughts of God, 
 by which he would make us, the pupils of his tuition, wise 
 unto salvation, are not in their clear but profound depths so 
 easily fathomed. Shutting up all this lore of spiritual things 
 in one volume, our divine Teacher has meant us to search and 
 master that one book with a patience and thoroughness of 
 A*
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 acquisition beyond those of all other scholarship. If this 
 book were a systematic treatise upon the topics comprehended 
 within its broad horizon, like a volume of theological essays, 
 the demand for this steady and keen-eyed investigation were 
 possibly not so urgent. But the truths it contains are scat- 
 tered along its pages, in seeming disorder and disconnection. 
 Here stands a sublime doctrine ; next comes an impassioned 
 song ; next, a prophet's vision of the far future ; then a page 
 of history, or a chapter of biography, and then some earnest 
 exhortation. The sweet voices of the bards, the seer's mystic 
 utterances, the confused shouts of the warriors, fall upon our 
 ear in the same wave of sound. The Saviour himself taught 
 no body of divinity in philosophic form. He spake and 
 wrought as occasion prompted. The scenes of his wander- 
 ings, the insulting question of some haughty scribe, the peti- 
 tion of some poor sufferer for healing, or the death of one he 
 loved, were the texts upon which his lips distilled wisdom. 
 So we look for one doctrine in Galilee, for another at the 
 well of Sychar, and for another in the desert. Out of the 
 utterances of four thousand years we have to gather up the 
 sublime whole of revelation. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that we are commanded, by 
 that word of intense significance, to SEARCH the Scriptures. 
 This is, not to sit carelessly down, in the hurrying morning, 
 and fling open a leaf anywhere, and glance the eye at speed 
 along the lines of a short chapter, or the half of a long one. 
 It is not to hang at late evening, with heavy eyelids, over a 
 brief Psalm, satisfied that we have thus honored the word 
 of God. 
 
 " SEARCH," as the gold-hunter for the glittering scales he 
 covets ; as the shepherd of the fold for a lamb straying in 
 the wilderness ; as the woman of the parable for her lost 
 piece of silver. We are to STUDY the Scriptures, portion by
 
 INTRODUCTION. VII 
 
 portion, patiently,^ intently, with commentaries and Bible 
 dictionaries, and cyclopedias, and whatsoever helps we can 
 command ; and, first of all, and most of all, with wrestling 
 prayer for divine illumination, as scholars of the Spirit. 
 
 It will be one of the happiest influences of these sketches, 
 as it has been their chief inspiration, if they awaken in any 
 soul a new relish for the Book of books, and a fresh purpose 
 to commune more intimately with its celestial voices. 
 
 And for none were such an influence more precious and 
 blessed, than for one sustaining the tender relation, and 
 charged with the solemn responsibility, of A MOTHER. As the 
 joy of maternity is hers ; as she bears and nurtures the new 
 life waking to a deathless being ; as its first pulses of vitality 
 and consciousness beat next to her heart, and beneath her eye ; 
 as none can come, in the tenderness and closeness of this nat- 
 ural tie, between her and her child ; so the earliest, nearest, 
 and most determinate forces that mould the character of that 
 young aspirant for immortality, are those she wields. They 
 are shed silently as dews of night. Their author may be 
 altogether unconscious, and purposeless in their administration. 
 But none the less are they potent and controlling. The first 
 sights those wondering eyes open upon, the, first sounds that 
 fall upon the ear, all the surroundings of the cradle and the 
 nursery, leave images of themselves on that young brain never 
 to be effaced, and shaping the first rudimental elements of 
 character. 
 
 How many unwritten histories, one day to be published, 
 keep within their hidden volumes the memorial of these infi- 
 nitesimal and subtle influences that have the first access to the 
 heart, and inweave themselves with its earliest sentiments and 
 passions ! 
 
 How needful that a relation, so linked with human destinies 
 here and hereafter, should be instructed and furnished out of 
 1
 
 VIII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Divine Manual! that all which is warning and all which 
 is consoling in the historic examples which it records of such 
 a relation, should press with its hopes and fears the maternal 
 heart ! What other light shines so clear to guide ? what 
 other wisdom can give safe responses when this momentous 
 question exercises that heart ? " For what end, and by what 
 principles and methods, shall I train my child ? " 
 
 To awaken this question with unthinking spirits ; to enter 
 with quick and large sympathies into the solicitudes of every 
 Christian mother ; to gather into one picture gallery, from the 
 wide ranges and scattered sketches of inspiration, the portrait- 
 ures of those in the elder ages who wrought blessing or curs- 
 ing in this one relation ; to lead all, who may gaze with inter- 
 est upon the faint copies, to seek for themselves the presence 
 of the originals, and so to help the sanetification of the homes 
 of our land, is the mission on which this little volume is sent 
 forth. 
 
 With what simple beauty and pathos, with what careful 
 fidelity to sacred history, and with what diligence of investi- 
 gation, the author has accomplished her task, we may confi- 
 dently leave her readers to testify. 
 
 " HILLSIDE," ROXBURY, ) 
 OCTOBER, 1854. j
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE BIBLE, 5 
 
 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE, 8 
 
 EVE, 11 
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS, 22 
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR, 31 
 
 THE WIFE OF LOT, 60 
 
 REBEKAH, 65 
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL 90 
 
 JOCHEBEU, 102 
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 110 
 
 ZIPPORAH, 120 
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB, 129 
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB 137 
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH, 146 
 
 HAX.N-AII, 156 
 
 ICHABOD'S MOTHER 169 
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON, 177 
 
 RIZPAH 188 
 
 BATIISHEBA, 200 
 
 ABIGAIL 211
 
 X CONTENTS. \ 
 
 THE MOTHER OF REHOBOAM 221 
 
 TIIE MOTHER OF ABIJAH, 233 
 
 JEZEBEL, > 240 
 
 ATHALIAH 248 
 
 TUB WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH, 261 
 
 THE SIIUXAMITE, 269 
 
 THE MOTHER OF JOB'S CHILDREN, 283 
 
 ELIZABETH, 290 
 
 MART, 296 
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN, 311 
 
 THE SYROPIIEXICIAN MOTHER, 321 
 
 THE GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF TIMOTHY, 328
 
 THE 
 
 MOTHEES OF THE BIBLE, 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 MY Bible ! my precious, blessed Bible ! what 
 were life without thee ? Guide of my otherwise 
 wandering feet, solace of all my cares ! Only 
 competent instructor of my ignorance truest, 
 safest counsellor in difficulty most cheerful 
 companion in hours of darkness ! Rich treasure- 
 house, in which are stored the thoughts of my 
 God, his purposes of mercy toward a ruined 
 world ! Inexhaustible fountain of pure and sweet 
 waters, from which I daily drink and am re- 
 freshed ! 
 
 " With thee conversing I forget all time." 
 My dull, earthly spirit, quickened by the spirit 
 divine which illumines thy pages, rises invigor- 
 ated and gladdened from every fresh communion. 
 1*
 
 6 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 With thee, I witness, delighted, creating wonders. 
 I see earth, robed in beauty, spring from chaos at 
 the Almighty mandate, and listen to the song of 
 the morning stars. I converse with the first 
 parents of our race amid their Eden joys, and 
 shed tears of pity over the bitter and dark reverse. 
 With Noah and his liberated family I rejoice, as 
 the long-absent sun lights the mountain- top, and 
 from the sacred altar goes up the incense of grat- 
 itude to the God of winds and waves. I listen 
 and admire while Abraham pleads, and Moses 
 talks with God as a man talketh with his friend. 
 For me the sweet psalmist of Israel pours forth 
 rich strains of heavenly melody, and the prophet 
 thunders the threatenings of Jehovah upon his 
 backsliding people. I follow down the long track 
 of ages with eager step, beholding on every side 
 the wonders God hath wrought, and singing ever, 
 as I go, " Praise ye the Lord ! Praise him for 
 his mighty acts ! Happy is he that hath the 
 God of Jacob for his help!" Folded and laid 
 aside as a garment by his powerful hand, I see 
 the fading glories of the old dispensation give 
 place to simpler, but more delightful and signifi-
 
 THE BIBLE. 7 
 
 cant ceremonies. Touched by his finger, I see 
 Judea's pride, the joy of the whole earth, the 
 city of her God, crumbling to dust ; and on its 
 ruins, built by Almighty power, there rises an 
 edifice in comparison of which the former shall 
 not be mentioned nor come into mind. 
 
 But, 0, most precious of all the joys thou hast 
 in store for those that love thee is the record of 
 His life and death who is the believer's portion, 
 whom having not seen he loves, his refuge and 
 hiding-place, the source of joy unspeakable to 
 his soul. Here, indeed, I am fed with living 
 bread. Again and again, with new wonder and 
 love, I study the history of my Redeemer's 
 earthly sojourn. With intense and absorbing 
 interest I ponder on his mysterious birth, his 
 wonderful childhood, the cares and labors of his 
 most sorrowful life, and the mighty agonies of 
 his atoning death. 
 
 There is no theme interesting to man of which 
 thou canst not speak. Blest book of God ! Vain 
 is it that I strive to show thy worth to me !
 
 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 WE propose, in the pages of this volume, to 
 record the results of an earnest and diligent study 
 of the Bible with reference to this particular 
 topic, and to gather together, in as interesting a 
 manner as we may, such instruction and encour- 
 agement as it will afford mothers in their import- 
 ant work. 
 
 Of all the mothers who have lived in our world, 
 those who are mentioned in the Bible are the only 
 ones of whom God has ever spoken. To millions 
 upon millions he has given the care of children, 
 and capabilities for their proper nurture. Many 
 of them, doubtless, have been faithful mothers, 
 whom he has blessed, whose prayers he hsis 
 heard, whose children he has numbered among 
 his jewels. But whether he has approved or 
 censured we know not from his own mouth, and 
 shall not know till the final day. Some have 
 passed from earth ; and some still live, but their 
 record is not here. In the Bible, however, there
 
 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 are the names of those concerning whom God has 
 spoken. We do not know, until we give ourselves 
 to the study, how many there are, nor how much is 
 said of them. But, be it more or less, it will be 
 deeply interesting and important. It will, per- 
 haps, enable us to understand better how the 
 heart of our heavenly Father is affected toward 
 the mothers of the earth with what feelings he 
 regards them, as they toil on amid their cares and 
 anxieties. It will bind us to him in new bonds. 
 It will elevate our views. It will refine and 
 purify our affections. It will make the relations 
 we sustain appear more sacred and solemn in our 
 eyes, as we shall see them taking hold on eternity. 
 It will lead us to more earnest prayer to more 
 cheerful, hopeful efforts for the best .welfare of 
 our precious ones. It will endear to us the holy 
 Scriptures, the invaluable communications of sov- 
 ereign wisdom and love to us who are ignorant 
 and erring. Let us cast aside the indifference 
 which even Christians are prone to feel to this 
 book of God, and come to the study of it as to a 
 fresh fountain, and in the spirit of those who look 
 eagerly for instruction to a wise and loved teacher.
 
 10 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 To breathe thus a while, from time to time, the 
 pure atmosphere of God's presence, will give us 
 new spiritual health and vigor. To become 
 acquainted with his thoughts and opinions will 
 greatly enrich our minds and hearts, and furnish 
 us a more correct standard than we can possibly 
 gain from the world, by which to measure all 
 relations, and duties, and promised gain. 
 
 We offer our earnest prayer, that he who 
 inspired and dictated this volume will enable us 
 to gain from it all the instruction which he 
 intended it should convey.
 
 EVE. 
 
 PERHAPS no character of earthly history, if we 
 except only our Lord Jesus Christ, gathers about 
 itself so much of interest, calls forth such deep 
 and varying emotions, or affords such important 
 instruction, as does that of our first mother ; 
 certainly in no other do we find such marked 
 contrasts, such strange vicissitudes Hers was 
 indeed a checkered life. It could hardly be 
 compared, like ours, to an " April day ; " the 
 clouds were too black and portentous, the sun- 
 shine too brilliant. Not on her path shone "a 
 little sun," nor dropped "a little rain." The 
 effulgence of heaven and the driving tempest 
 were fitter types. To her lips was presented a 
 draught of pure, unalloyed, and perfect happi- 
 ness. For a few brief days she tasted bliss com- 
 plete. But the cup from which she drank through 
 lingering centuries contained dregs of bitterest 
 woe. She listened, delighted, to the thrilling 
 tones of nature's harp, touched by Almighty skill,
 
 12 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 and tuned to nicest harmony ; and on her ear 
 grated the harsh and fearful discord, when the 
 curious strings were shattered by her own dis- 
 obedient hand. To her it was given to look upon 
 life in its perfection, when the earth yielded her 
 luxuriant fruits spontaneously ; when flowers of 
 every hue and thornless roses blossomed about 
 her path ; when animals of various names, obe- 
 dient to man, and gentle in disposition, gambolled 
 and frisked at her side, and there was none to 
 molest or make afraid. And she gazed also, in 
 sorrowful amaze, at the bitter contrast, when the 
 ground, cursed for man's sake, brought forth 
 thorns and thistles, and universal war raged 
 among the tribes of the forest. She alone, of 
 all her daughters, enjoyed in its completeness, 
 unmarred and entire, true conjugal bliss. Fairest 
 of them all in person, and most excellent in char- 
 acter, she was most worthy of the love which she 
 received from her husband, such love as no son 
 of Adam has since been able to bestow. But 
 even on this domestic happiness she saw the 
 blighting mildew fall, and her path of life thence- 
 forth, even when trodden by her husband's side,
 
 EVE. 13 
 
 led often through dark, and wretched, and jarring 
 scenes. Our mother Eve ! How has her name 
 ever summoned the most conflicting emotions and 
 thoughts, approval and censure, admiration 
 and contempt, blessing and cursing'! Around 
 her poetry has thrown all its enchantments, por- 
 traying her beautiful and lovely beyond compare ; 
 and on her devoted head have the maledictions of 
 a race been showered, as on the most sinful of 
 God's creation. The stern and truth-telling 
 oracles of God, neither charmed by poetry nor 
 swayed by prejudice, present her to us, in one 
 hour exalted, dignified, and holy, the fit com- 
 panion of man in his best estate, worthy the 
 society of angels, and even of God himself; in 
 the next, fallen, weak and sinful, the victim 
 of Satan's artful wiles, an object of pity to all 
 holy beings, and the wretched subject of divine 
 displeasure. 
 
 EVE AS A MOTHER. 
 
 We might follow the contrasts presented in 
 Eve's history to any extent, or dwell upon the 
 absorbing topics afforded by her state of primeval 
 
 2
 
 14 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 innocence in Eden ; for it is there we best love to 
 contemplate her. But our design leads us else- 
 where. We wish to study her character as a 
 mother ; to look upon her in relation to her own 
 immediate family, and gather such lessons as we 
 may from the " brief memorial" which the sacred 
 writer has left on record concerning her. The 
 picture is not a bright one. Guilt and fear have 
 drawn the outline, and a violated law has hung 
 the heavens with dark and threatening glooin. 
 Yet it is not all dark. Despair has not been per- 
 mitted to touch it with her death-dyed pencil. 
 Hope shows here and there an opening in the 
 clouds ; and Faith, best messenger from God to 
 sinful men, has hung it where celestial rays stream 
 brightly upon it, and insensibly draw the gazer's 
 thoughts upward to their source to Him who 
 in the midst of judgment still remembers mercy, 
 and who would thus point erring creatures to a 
 dwelling in his own abode of eternal light. 
 
 It is no longer Paradise, but an earthly home, 
 upon which we look. It was, without doubt, a 
 rude and simple habitation which Adam and Eve 
 first tenanted. Perhaps it was provided, as was
 
 EVE. 15 
 
 their first clothing, by the immediate care of God. 
 However this may be, it served for shelter and 
 repose, and was to them a home. From this spot 
 Adam went daily forth to earn by the sweat of 
 his brow their needed subsistence, leaving Eve to 
 her lighter but not less necessary toil. Here, day 
 after day, she pursued her avocations, and com- 
 muned with her own thoughts. Already had the 
 dreaded curse commenced its work. Often sad 
 and. dispirited, weary, weak and suffering, filled 
 with forebodings of the future, pressed by sore 
 regret for the past, alarmed by unwonted distress 
 in all her frame, she began to understand the 
 meaning of those fearful words, " I will greatly 
 multiply the sorrow of thy conception." Added 
 to this, with her, doubtless, ever abode a deep 
 feeling of sinfulness, a consciousness of innocence 
 departed, a bitter remembrance of what she had 
 been, and a humiliating sense of her altered 
 character. The serenity of mind, the integrity 
 of purpose, the purity of soul, Avere gone forever; 
 and, worse than all, she knew, she felt, that her 
 children would inherit, not her glory, but her 
 sin and shame. Our deepest sympathies are
 
 16 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 called forth as we behold her thus. But even 
 then all was not darkness in her soul. The same 
 voice that pronounced the curse had also prom- 
 ised deliverance from it, and that deliverance was 
 to come to her as a mother. Expecting this, 
 Eve probably looked forward to the birth of the 
 first human child with such emotions as no mother 
 has since experienced. 
 
 At length the day came. " She brought forth 
 her first-born son." We can imagine something 
 of the joy and gratitude which followed her 
 anguish, as with her husband she gazed upon the 
 helpless being. A mother's instincts taught her, 
 all inexperienced and unaided as she was, to care 
 for its wants and support its feebleness. How 
 many exclamations of surprise and admiration 
 and affection were bestowed on this first infant, 
 we do not know. The theme of many an earnest 
 conversation, an object of ever-increasing interest, 
 we feel that his coming brought new happiness to 
 the sad hearts of his parents, and was to them a 
 proof that God, though justly displeased, was still 
 their friend, even as in their sinless days. Only 
 one expression from his mother's lips is recorded,
 
 EVE. 17 
 
 but that reveals a hidden world of thought : "I 
 have gotten a man from the Lord." Poor Eve ! 
 how many experiences of hope deferred were yet 
 to be her portion ! How bitter was to be her dis- 
 appointment now ! The Lord had promised that 
 her seed should bruise the serpent's head, and she 
 verily thought this had been he. 
 
 Time passed on, and she was the mother of 
 another son ; and we infer from the sacred narra- 
 tive, though no direct mention is made of them, 
 that daughters also graced this first human home. 
 Here we wish for more light. We long for some 
 account of that family circle. We can hardly 
 rest satisfied to know so little on a subject which 
 interests us so deeply. We can, indeed, imagine 
 them a bright and happy group, and picture to 
 ourselves their probable circumstances. But we 
 have a thousand questions to ask, and especially 
 concerning their mother's daily instructions and 
 care. Exhaustless themes we know she had on 
 which to dwell, and we are persuaded that she 
 lost no opportunity of impressing the lessons 
 which she had learned by bitter experience. We 
 seem to see their animated looks as she described 
 2*
 
 18 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 the beauty and glory of her Eden home ; and the 
 awe which would steal over their young faces, as 
 with sorrowing heart she told them of the sin of 
 their parents, and of Jehovah's displeasure, which 
 banished them thence. We can deem that they 
 were never weary of listening to the oft-told but 
 ever-wonderful tale. We can understand, too, 
 that Adam and Eve both regarded with intense 
 anxiety the unfolding minds and hearts of their 
 children. To any true mother the development 
 of character in her child is a source of deepest 
 solicitude. But how earnestly must Eve have 
 watched from day to day the working of that 
 deadly poison which her own folly had infused ! 
 What joy must have been hers when she saw 
 a disposition to love and obey their Maker in 
 any of her little flock ! and we can well believe 
 that, as she marked evil tempers and rebellious 
 passions, 
 
 " Her smitten conscience felt as sharp a pain 
 As if she fell from innocence again." 
 
 Over these scenes of daily life over her 
 hopes and fears, her cares and sorrows the veil
 
 EVE. 19 
 
 of oblivion has fallen. We ask in vain concern- 
 ing them all. We shall never know, until we 
 meet our first mother in heaven, what we would 
 most wish to learn. Through long, long cen- 
 turies her life was lengthened out. She saw her 
 loved and gentle Abel all ghastly in death, mur- 
 dered by him who at his birth was to her the 
 promised of the Lord. She saw many sons and 
 daughters around her, and their descendants for 
 nearly a thousand years. She saw the earth filled 
 with violence and wickedness, and beheld her own 
 children debased by idolatry, and wilfully ignorant 
 of the God whose presence she and her husband 
 had so often welcomed as their chiefest joy, the 
 crowning delight of Paradise. Bitter proofs of 
 Satan's malignant influence she saw on every 
 side ; but it was not permitted her to hail the 
 Deliverer, for whom she still, without doubt, con- 
 tinued to look until her eyes were dim, and her 
 form was bowed with age. 
 
 But the evening came to her, which sooner or 
 later comes to all. The shadows of death fell 
 upon her, and in some spot of earth she has a 
 grave. When, or where, or how she died, we are
 
 20 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 not told, nor whether she departed in peace. But 
 we receive the impression, we scarcely know how, 
 perhaps from her exclamation at the birth of 
 Cain, that she died in the faith of a Redeemer. 
 We feel, as we have said, that he was her life- 
 long hope, and we expect to meet her in that 
 higher and more delightful Paradise, whose joys 
 have long since compensated her for the sorrows 
 of earth. 
 
 We have but briefly and faintly shadowed forth 
 some of the thoughts which suggest themselves 
 as we study the history of Eve. One lesson we 
 would gather, and our labor shall not then be 
 vain. We would learn from her to estimate the 
 true value of the favor of God. That favor she 
 once enjoyed. In the eyes of the infinite Jeho- 
 vah she was sinless and pure, and beneath his 
 smile her days were passed. Bright days they 
 were, of unmingled bliss. How wretched and 
 heart-sick must she have been when the smile 
 was withdrawn, and her disobedience had brought 
 in its stead a frown of displeasure ! We who have 
 lived from our infancy in the cold atmosphere of 
 a revolted world, amid griefs, and pains, and
 
 EVE. 21 
 
 death, and who ever look upon second causes, 
 can understand little of the connection which 
 Eve saw between transgression and its conse- 
 quences. To her, the approbation of God was 
 only another name for all her joy in Eden, and 
 his displeasure was the immediate source of every 
 sorrow she endured. Let us endeavor ourselves 
 to appreciate this truth more fully than we have 
 ever done, and teach it in all its extent to our 
 children. " His favor is life ; his loving-kind- 
 ness is better than life."
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS. 
 
 IT may be deemed irrelevant to our subject, 
 and perhaps useless, to dwell even for a moment 
 on the antediluvian history of the world, or upon 
 the period between the flood and the call of Abra- 
 ham, since during that long period there is nc 
 history of the life of any mother, and scarcely is 
 the name of one mentioned. Yet we know that 
 the human race multiplied fast ; that there were 
 thousands of mothers then living ; and we may 
 possibly gather something of interest concerning 
 them, if we study closely. Be this as it may, it 
 is necessary that we gain some distinct and accu- 
 rate knowledge of the condition and habits of 
 men at that remote era, in order that we may 
 more fully comprehend the character and mission 
 of those mothers who will occupy our future 
 attention. 
 
 The first mother mentioned after Eve is the 
 wife of Cain. Little, indeed, is said of her ; we
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS. 23 
 
 do not even know her name; but we learn enough 
 to enlist for her our sympathies, and induce our 
 esteem. She was the daughter of Adam and 
 Eve, the sister of Cain and Abel. Many years 
 of her life were probably passed in the pleasant 
 companionship of parents and brothers and sis- 
 ters, and in comparative happiness. But a dark 
 and bitter day came a wretched day. Abel, 
 the gentle and beloved, is murdered ; and Cain, 
 the son, the husband, the brother, the most im- 
 portant member of the little circle, is guilty of 
 his blood, and henceforth a fugitive and wanderer, 
 cursed of God, and feared by all who once loved 
 him. He goes forth from home and friends, but 
 he goes not alone. By his side is found the wife 
 of his youth, self-exiled for his sake. A happy 
 wife she is not that were impossible ; but a 
 faithful wife and true, since she leaves all that 
 she holds dear besides, and clings to him. To 
 the east of Eden they take their way, and com- 
 mence their life anew in the land of Nod. But 
 even upon Cain, the outcast and the murderer, 
 there are shed the blessings and bounty of Heav- 
 en. In those far-distant days it could be said,
 
 24 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 as now, "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil 
 and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the 
 just and on the unjust." They were not long 
 alone ; an infant is born, to cheer and hallow, 
 with its helplessness and seeming innocence, 
 their humble dwelling ; and the name they give 
 it Enoch, the consecrated seems to indicate 
 some repentance in the lather's heart, some desire 
 to return to the worship and love of God. 
 Whether this be true or not, we learn from his 
 name, and from the fact that a city was built in 
 his honor, that he was a beloved child ; we 
 catch some glimpse of the mother's joy and the 
 father's pride ; we learn enough to link us, by 
 the bond of human sympathy and kindred feel- 
 ing, to that second of earth's mothers. We pity 
 her sorrows ; we honor her for her faithful devotion 
 to her husband ; we rejoice with her in the birth 
 of her child. Two lines in the sacred volume 
 contain all that is recorded of her, but they were 
 not written in vain. 
 
 After the birth of Enoch, the sacred history 
 proceeds rapidly. The descendants of Cain be- 
 come numerous, and build cities, or hamlets, as
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS. 25 
 
 they might more properly be called ; they invent 
 useful arts ; they cultivate the soil, and the 
 blessings and evils incident to the communities 
 of earth are found among them. After several 
 generations, Adah and Zillah, wives of Lamech, 
 are mentioned, and we are led to contemplate 
 them as representatives of a class of which we, 
 in these better days, know little. We cannot 
 think of them pleasantly. We do not understand 
 how they could share that most sacred of all treas- 
 ures to a woman, her place in her husband's 
 heart. We think they could not have been hap- 
 py ; we are sure they must have had fearful 
 temptations. In their family circle imagination 
 almost fears to linger ; we look for scenes of 
 discord, and we are sure that polygamy, though 
 permitted, was never a part of the divine plan. 
 And yet Adah and Zillah were mothers, and they 
 had sons who were distinguished in their gene- 
 ration, and are remembered still as the inventors 
 of useful and delightful arts ; and we can im- 
 agine the deep interest with which the efforts of 
 industry and ingenuity were watched from day 
 to day, and the approbation and joy which 
 3
 
 26 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 crowned their success. There music first sent 
 forth her harmonies ; there the first tent was 
 spread ; there first instruments of brass and iron 
 were used ; there, according to the ancient Rab- 
 bins, the wheel first hummed its monotonous tune 
 under woman's busy hands ; and, as if to crown 
 these family honors, the first recorded poetry 
 falls from the lips of Lamech himself. They 
 were no ordinary family. Would that the hallow- 
 ing influence of the worship of God had^ com- 
 pleted the picture ! 
 
 Time rolled on, and with it brought such 
 developments of human character and tendencies 
 as caused even the Creator himself, in the strong 
 language of inspiration, to repent that he had 
 made man. For years the community which were 
 gathered about Adam and Seth kept themselves 
 distinct from Cain's posterity, and retained in its 
 purity the worship of the true God. But at 
 length they commingled, and gradually almost 
 every trace even of the knowledge of Jehovah 
 vanished from the earth. Universal atheism 
 or idolatry prevailed ; universal sensuality de- 
 based the race. " All flesh corrupted his way."
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS. 27 
 
 In the full belief that existence terminated at 
 death, the sacredness of human life was disre- 
 garded, and murder stalked forth unmasked and 
 fearless. " The earth was filled with violence." 
 A few exceptions there were. A few patri- 
 archal saints lived many years to mourn over and 
 rebuke the wickedness of their descendants, and 
 to testify to them of the existence and goodness 
 of the Creator. To these, from time to time, he 
 revealed himself, and gave them instruction and 
 encouragement. But, one after another, these 
 monitors, hoary, not with years, but with the 
 weight of centuries, sank to their graves, and 
 with their departing spirits fled the last hope for 
 the wretched race of man. In vain had Adam 
 for nearly a thousand years remained as a witness 
 for the truth relating to the mighty wonders of 
 creating wisdom. In vain had Enoch walked 
 with God, and been borne up before their eyes, 
 untouched by death, to convince them of a high- 
 er and holier existence. In vain had the Al- 
 mighty so ordered the length of man's life that 
 the long chain of evidence from Adam to Noah 
 had but one connecting link, Methuselah having
 
 28 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 many years conversed with both. In vain did 
 Noah go daily forth one hundred and twenty 
 years to his work upon the ark, manifesting his 
 faith in God's commands, and warning them 
 against the coming evil day. They were com- 
 pletely hardened. " They ate and drank, they 
 were marrying and giving in marriage, until the 
 day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood 
 came and destroyed them all." 
 
 The morning on which Noah uncovered the 
 ark, and looked abroad upon nature rejoicing in 
 the recovered sunlight, saw no vestige of the 
 multitudes who had once inhabited the earth. 
 One experiment had been tried. The race is 
 now to commence again. Noah was an obedient 
 servant of God, and had instructed his children 
 to follow his steps. The first act of the liberated 
 family was to gather about the altar of sacrifice. 
 Will the spirit of piety keep pace with the mul- 
 tiplying thousands of men ? Alas ! alas ! how 
 quickly is it proved that there is no inherent ex- 
 cellence in human nature ! How surely is it of 
 the "earth, earthy," and all its tendencies down- 
 ward ! How true is it, also, that, thus degraded
 
 OTHER ANTEDILUVIAN MOTHERS. 29 
 
 and debased, it has no power of self- elevation or 
 purification ! A few short years sufficed to show 
 this in the case of Noah's descendants. They 
 scattered abroad ; they built mighty cities ; they 
 cultivated the arts, and increased in knowledge 
 wonderfully ; but in moral excellence they sunk 
 with rapid fall to the lowest point. Probably we 
 have no conception of the extent and utter folly 
 of the idolatry which prevailed immediately be- 
 fore the birth of Abraham. Lords many and 
 gods innumerable had dominion over the tribes of 
 men, the hosts of heaven, the beasts of 
 forest and field, the fowls of the air, reptiles, 
 inanimate things, and graven images, to all of 
 whom were ascribed a character wholly polluted 
 and immeasurably vile. The existence of the 
 true and living God was wholly unknown, save 
 to a few scattered individuals. The idea of a 
 pure and holy being was not only lost, but all 
 power of appreciating such a character had also 
 been destroyed, by the habitual indwelling of cor- 
 rupting thoughts, and the constant expression and 
 manifestation of sensual emotions. Already was 
 the earth prepared for another flood. But God 
 3*
 
 30 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 had determined not thus again to destroy the 
 work of his hands. Another plan will be devised ; 
 these sunken creatures he will elevate ; this 
 ruined race he will redeem. 
 
 Our future study will unfold this plan of 
 mighty grace, as we see what part in its execu- 
 tion was allotted to the mothers whose names are 
 mentioned in the progress of its accomplishment.
 
 SARAH AND IIAGAR. 
 
 IN pursuance of the plan which he had devised 
 for the redemption of the. race of man, God 
 appeared to Abraham, the son of Terah, in a 
 city called Ur, in Chaldea, and directed him to 
 leave his country, and dwell in the land of 
 Canaan. Among the nations, perhaps the Chal- 
 deans had departed less from the simplicity of a 
 true faith and worship than many others ; but 
 they were still idolaters, and Ur, as appears from 
 recent discoveries, was their sacred city. It is 
 not necessary that we should dwell upon the 
 familiar details of Abraham's separation from his 
 country and kindred. Suffice it, that the object 
 of his being thus separated by God was, that 
 through his faith and obedience, through his in- 
 structions to his family, and through the seed after- 
 ward promised, the knowledge and worship of the 
 only true God should be gradually disseminated. 
 
 Abraham obeyed the command of Jehovah, and 
 was accompanied in his wanderings by the wife
 
 32 'TOE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 of his youth ; henceforth the partner of his exile, 
 and a helpmeet in his cares. They had spent 
 hardly a year in Canaan, when a famine compelled 
 them to repair to Egypt, where they remained 
 three months. Sarah was a very beautiful woman, 
 and Abraham knew that she would be peculiarly 
 attractive to the Egyptians, because so much 
 more fair than their swarthy countrywomen ; and 
 the account of his deception in calling her his 
 sister, with the consequent trouble, stands on the 
 sacred page, a beacon against the folly of distrust- 
 ing God, and resorting to prevarication. The 
 beauty of the fair Chaldean was soon in every 
 mouth, and Sarah was taken from her supposed 
 brother to the king's household, to go through the 
 preliminary ceremonies and purifications which 
 were requisite to her becoming his wife, and which 
 usually occupied about a month. What Abraham 
 suffered during this interval, and what were her 
 own trials, we can only imagine. Nothing is said 
 of the prayers which the patriarch must have 
 offered to God ; nothing re-corded of the anguish 
 and tears of the wife, who had taken, as she 
 believed, a final leave of her husband, and was
 
 SARAH AND ITAOAR. 33 
 
 destined to the honor of being a favorite of 
 Egypt's monarch. The trial was severe. God, 
 however, interposed to save them from their fears. 
 His judgments caused Pharaoh to inquire into the 
 truth, and to restore Sarah before the month of 
 preparation was ended. He dismissed them from 
 his dominions without injury, but not without 
 severe rebuke, and they returned to Canaan. 
 
 Ten years passed away, during which time 
 Sarah's name is not mentioned. They had no 
 children, but it must not be inferred that, because 
 she had not a mother's cares, she was therefore 
 unoccupied. It is recorded that at one time 
 Abraham went out to fight against the Assyrian 
 king with more than three hundred trained ser- 
 vants. These were all born in his house, the 
 sacred writer informs us, and were capable of 
 bearing arms. If we add to these those who must 
 have remained in charge of the flocks and herds, 
 and the women and children, we may, perhaps, 
 form some idea of the family over which Sarah 
 presided as mistress. The phrase " trained ser- 
 vants" signifies catechised, or instructed. We 
 know that wherever Abraham pitched his tent, as
 
 34 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 he removed from place to place, he erected an 
 altar, and in the midst of his assembled family 
 offered sacrifices to God. "I know him," said 
 the Lord, "that he will command his children 
 and his household after him, and they shall keep 
 the way of the Lord." That Sarah was a faith- 
 ful wife, a prudent and discreet housekeeper, and 
 willing to aid her husband in this important work 
 of training his household to serve God, we have 
 no reason to doubt. That she " labored, working 
 with her own hands," or strictly superintended 
 the labor of her servants, we infer from the fact 
 that when strangers were to be entertained Abra- 
 ham calls upon her to prepare the needed food. 
 We think of her as the energetic, active head of 
 a large and well-ordered family, and God doubt- 
 less aided and qualified her for the station she 
 occupied. 
 
 Soon after their return from Egypt, God had 
 appeared again to Abraham, and renewed his 
 covenant with him, assuring him that the land of 
 Canaan should be given to his posterity, who 
 should be as the sands of the sea-shore, innumer- 
 able. But the years rolled by, and there was no
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 35 
 
 sign of the fulfilment of this promise. Sarah, 
 who seems not to have possessed the unshaken 
 faith which characterized her husband, despairing 
 of herself becoming a mother, resorted at length 
 to an expedient which is revolting to us, and 
 which proved disastrous to the peace of all con- 
 cerned in it. The laws and customs of the land 
 countenanced polygamy, and Abraham, in com- 
 pliance with Sarah's wishes, took Hagar, her 
 bond-woman, for a secondary wife, in hope of 
 gaining the long-desired blessing. Hagar was 
 an Egyptian, and had probably become one of 
 their family during their sojourn in her native 
 land. She seems to have been a favorite servant, 
 and was certainly honored in being selected as 
 the object of her master's regards. The desired 
 end was obtained. Hagar soon had the prospect 
 of becoming a mother. But the happiness which 
 Sarah anticipated did not follow. As might have 
 been foreseen, her own jealous feelings were 
 roused, and Hagar soon manifested the vanity 
 and insolence which her situation, now so supe- 
 rior to that of her mistress, naturally called forth. 
 She manifested her contempt in a manner so
 
 36 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 marked that Sarah's indignation cuuld not be 
 controlled ; but, instead of blaming only herself, 
 she reproached her husband. She insinuated that 
 Hagar stood too high in his estimation, and called 
 upon God to witness that she was wronged. The 
 most serious unhappiness now reigned in this 
 hitherto quiet family. Abraham might have re- 
 monstrated with Sarah, or reproached her in turn ; 
 he might have claimed the right to protect Hagar 
 as his wife ; but the dignity and excellence of 
 his character appear in his answer : " Thy maid 
 is in thine hand ; do to her as it pleaseth thee." 
 "Sarah afflicted her." Whether it is intended 
 that she inflicted personal chastisement upon her, 
 as some commentators affirm, or whether the 
 affliction consisted of bitter words, which to a 
 sensitive spirit are worse than blows, we cannot 
 decide. Whatever was done was sufficient to 
 drive Hagar, in desperation, from her presence. 
 She fled hastily to go to Egypt, her native land, 
 but sunk exhausted, friendless, and ready to 
 perish, by a fountain in the wilderness of Shur. 
 Most beautiful is the description which follows 
 the account of her flight, and wonderfully does it
 
 SARAH AND HAGAK. 37 
 
 show the tender mercy of God toward those who 
 are in trouble. An angel of the Lord seeks her 
 in- her woe. He, without whose notice the spar- 
 row cannot fall, is not unmindful of helpless, suf- 
 fering woman. " And he said, Hagar, Sarai's 
 maid, whence earnest thou ? and whither wilt 
 thou go?" He does not call her Abraham's 
 ivife. It is not his part to increase her pride, 
 and aggravate her discontent. He reminds her 
 of her true condition, and calls up entirely differ- 
 ent thoughts from those which she has been 
 indulging. Those simple questions startle her 
 from the tumultuous emotions of rebellion and 
 presumption. Whence had she come 1 From a 
 happy, loving home, where she had been the 
 favorite of an indulgent and gentle mistress ; a 
 home which would speedily be yet dearer to her 
 as the birth-place of her child, that child who 
 was to be the supposed heir to her master and all 
 his sainted privileges ; from friends, from com- 
 panions, all whom she loved ; and she had left 
 them ! and whither was she going ? How might 
 she answer, when she knew not? Plow idle 
 and impotent now seemed her previous feelings ! 
 4
 
 38 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Those questions had flashed light on her darkened 
 heart, and humbled her at once ; and simply and 
 truthfully she answered, " I flee from the pres- 
 ence of my mistress Sarai." 
 
 The angel, who was no other than the glorious 
 Messenger of the Covenant, directed her to return 
 and submit herself to her mistress, and then, to 
 comfort her, and enable her to bear her lot, 
 unfolded the future. He told her she would bear 
 a son, and bade her call him Ishmael. This 
 is the first name given by God to any man before 
 his birth. It signifies, " The Lord hath heard, 
 or will hear/' and would always remind her of 
 his interposition in her behalf. " Because," said 
 he, "the Lord hath heard thy affliction." He 
 does not say, hath heard thy prayer, nor does it 
 appear that she offered any. Has the affliction of 
 his creatures such a voice that it thus reaches the 
 Almighty ear 1 Do the woes of the humblest, 
 the poor bond-woman, call to her aid the Angel- 
 Jehovah unsought? 0, what a view into the 
 heart of infinite love do these few words afford ' 
 He then utters that remarkable, prophetic descrip- 
 tion of the descendants of Ishmael, concerning
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 39 
 
 which Dr. Adam Clarke says, " It furnishes an 
 absolute demonstrative argument of the divine 
 origin of the Pentateuch. To attempt its refuta- 
 tion, in the sight of reason and common sense, 
 would convict of most ridiculous presumption and 
 excessive folly." " He shall be a wild man ; his 
 hand will be against every man, and every man's 
 hand shall be against him ; and he shall dwell in 
 the presence of all his brethren." " We have only 
 to turn to the page of history to see how appo- 
 site this character has been in all ages to the Arab 
 race, the descendants of Ishmael. They have 
 occupied the same country, and followed the same 
 mode of life, from the days of their great ances- 
 tor down to the present time ; and range the wide 
 extent of burning sands which separate them from 
 all surrounding nations, as rude, as savage, and as 
 untractable, as the wild ass himself." " Behold, 
 as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their 
 work betimes for a prey : the wilderness yieldeth 
 food for them and for their children." We have 
 not time to dwell upon all the beauties of this 
 wonderful prophecy, but beg our readers not to be 
 satisfied by merely reading it in their Bibles. If
 
 40 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 they will study it thoroughly in the light which 
 its fulfilment during four thousand years affords, 
 they will be amply repaid for the labor. 
 
 Whether Hagar had imbibed the faith of Abra- 
 ham and Sarah in the true God, or whether her 
 heart still clung to the idols of her early home, 
 we do not know. When she cast herself, trem- 
 bling and fainting, upon the ground by the well- 
 side in the wilderness, she probably thought not 
 of turning to either for aid. Weary and sick in 
 body, and tempest-tost on a sea of conflicting 
 passions, she thought only of her wretchedness, 
 and scarcely hoped for deliverance. Now how 
 changed ! Refreshed, comforted, blessed, she 
 rises with humility and joy in her heart, and 
 expressions of devout gratitude on her lips, and 
 prepares to retrace her steps. She could no 
 longer doubt the existence and infinite kindness 
 of Abraham's God. When she had thought her- 
 self alone, he was near, a witness to all her grief. 
 When her master, whom she so much loved, the 
 father of her child, had with seeming indifference 
 given her up to her mistress, and that mistress 
 had dealt hardly with her, and she felt she had
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 41 
 
 not a friend on earth, he had befriended her, had 
 spoken words of kindness, and promised her great 
 and wonderful blessings. She had seen him, she 
 had heard his voice. Awe-struck, and wondering 
 that she still lived after having seen Jehovah, she 
 turned from the spot, which from that day was 
 called " The well of the angel of life, who 
 appeared there." 
 
 Hagar returned to her home, as she had been 
 directed, but whether she went to peace 'or fur- 
 ther affliction is not disclosed. "We infer, how- 
 ever, that her own altered deportment, and the 
 birth of her child, which occurred soon after, put 
 an end for the time to the bitter troubles caused 
 by Sarah's unhappy expedient. Abraham was 
 extremely fond of his son, and Sarah regarded 
 him as her own ; and doubtless the mother's heart 
 rejoiced in seeing the boy an object of such care. 
 He was exalted far above herself in station ; but 
 she was his mother, and permitted to perform 
 toward him a mother's part, and to feel all a 
 mother's happiness in his unfolding powers. 
 
 Nearly thirteen years passed quietly on, 
 bringing with them no events of sufficient import- 
 4*
 
 42 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ance to be noticed by the inspired penman. No 
 further revelation from God disturbed the delu- 
 sion under which Abram and Sarah labored, 
 that Ishmael was the promised seed, the heir of 
 the covenant ; and he was doubtless trained up in 
 his father's house in a manner suitable to his fu- 
 ture expectations. The time, however, at length 
 came when Jehovah would more fully unfold his 
 plans. Abram had nearly reached the age of 
 a hundred years, and Sarah was almost ninety, 
 when he once more appeared, and said, "I am 
 God all-sufficient ; walk before me, and be thou 
 perfect." This language seems to convey a 
 reproof for their want of faith in his promises, and 
 resorting to expedients of their own devising, 
 and bids them henceforth act with more sim- 
 plicity, and leave God to bring about his designs 
 in his own way. He then entered into a solemn 
 covenant with Abram, in which he included 
 all his posterity to the latest generation. He 
 also changed their names. Abram, which sig- 
 nifies " an eminent father," he called Abraham, 
 " an eminent father of a multitude ; " and Sarai, 
 " iny princess," or, as we more familiarly say,
 
 SARAH AND IIAGAR. 43 
 
 queen of her own household, he called Sarah, 
 " princess of a multitude ; " and then for the first 
 time announced that the promised seed should 
 descend from her : "I will give thee a son also 
 of her ; " " she shall be a mother of nations." 
 
 Not long after this, the Lord again reiterates 
 his promise, in an interview which is beautifully 
 described in the sacred volume. 
 
 In the delightful oak-grove of Mamre, in the 
 midst of a sultry summer day, the patriarch sat 
 at the door of his tent, enjoying the slight breeze, 
 and resting from toil, which the intense heat of 
 the Eastern climate forbids during certain hours. 
 All around, at short distances, were the tents of his 
 numerous dependants, their occupants reposing 
 like himself, or scattered abroad with the flocks 
 and herds. All was quiet and peaceful, until the 
 sound of coming footsteps disturbed his medita- 
 tions, and warned him of the approach of 
 strangers. Abraham, obeying the quick impulse 
 of hospitality, hastened to greet them, and invite 
 them to repose under the grateful shade, and 
 offer them the refreshments they needed. He 
 provided water for their feet, and, entering the
 
 44 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 tent, directed Sarah to prepare food and set be- 
 fore them ; which being done, he served them 
 himself, according to the custom of his time. 
 While they sat eating, the chief of them sud- 
 denly asked him, " Where is Sarah, thy wife ? " 
 It was an extraordinary question. The women 
 of the East live in the closest seclusion, having 
 no intercourse with strangers, nor with any of the 
 opposite sex, save their husbands, and with them 
 they are never permitted to sit at the same table. 
 A traveller remarks that one who should ask 
 another^ of the health of his wife and family 
 would be considered as offering him a downright 
 insult. The question must, therefore, have 
 greatly surprised Abraham. He answered, briefly, 
 that Sarah was in the tent. " I will certainly 
 return unto thee," continued his mysterious,' 
 though now no longer unknown visitor, " and, lo, 
 Sarah thy wife shall have a son." Their table 
 was spread at no great distance from the tent- 
 door, and Sarah, in her private apartment, was an 
 astonished listener to this strange conversation. 
 We have before said that she did not partake of 
 her husband's implicit faith. When she heard the
 
 SARAH AND HAGAB. 45 
 
 announcement that she should bear a son, it was 
 to her only ridiculous. The infinite power of 
 him who promised she wholly overlooked, and 
 remembered only that she had long passed the 
 age when maternity w r as possible, in the ordinary 
 course of events. She laughed incredulously 
 at what she heard. Omniscience pierces any 
 barrier. "Wherefore did Sarah laugh ? " said he. 
 " Is anything too hard for the Lord ? " Terrified 
 at being detected, Sarah now came forth from the 
 tent, and, in her fear and confusion, " denied, say- 
 ing, I laughed not." One penetrating look, and 
 the quiet, firm reply, " Nay, but thou didst 
 laugh," were sufficient to send her back to her re- 
 tirement in penitence, a wiser and a better woman. 
 From this time her character seems to have un- 
 dergone a change. Her distrust of God was 
 gone, and Paul, in days long after, numbers her 
 among those who were illustrious for their faith, 
 attributing the birth of Isaac to her implicit reli- 
 ance on the word of the Almighty : " She judged 
 him faithful who had promised, and received 
 strength." 
 
 Not long after this, Abraham removed from
 
 46 TUB MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Mamre, -where he had long resided, and went to 
 dwell in Gerah, the capital of the Philistines. 
 Here was re enacted the same folly which had 
 formerly cost them so much in Egypt, and which 
 it is most marvellous to us should have ever been 
 forgotten. Sarah was again taken by a heathen 
 king, and only restored to her husband by the 
 intervention of Jehovah. She was at this time 
 ninety years of age, yet so remarkable was her 
 beauty that she was as much an object of attrac- 
 tion as in her youthful days, and Abimelech, 
 after reproving Abraham for his deception, hinted 
 to her, that it would be becoming in her to wear, 
 when among strangers, a closely-covering veil, 
 such as was universally customary among females 
 resident in towns, in order to avoid the dangers 
 to which her beauty exposed her. So far as we 
 can gather from the sacred volume, Sarah was 
 at this very time pregnant by the miraculous 
 power of Jehovah, which renders the whole scene 
 still more remarkable. 
 
 Whether they remained long in Gerah, we are 
 not informed, nor where Isaac was born. But the 
 joyful day came at length. " After a childless
 
 SARAH AND IIAGAR. 47 
 
 union of more than sixty years," Abraham and 
 Sarah welcomed with delight the heir of the prom- 
 ises, the covenanted gift of Jehovah. They 
 called him Isaac. " There shall be laughter; " 
 " All that hear will laugh with me," said Sarah; 
 and, indeed, Tew events, if any, recorded on the 
 sacred page, were welcomed with so much rejoic- 
 ing. Nearly three years, according to the custom 
 of her nation, Sarah nourished her infant at her 
 own breast ; and only a mother can imagine her 
 heartfelt happiness and gratitude during that de- 
 lightful time. "And the child grew and was 
 weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same 
 day that Isaac was weaned." It was a bright, 
 joyous day ; friends were congregated, tables of 
 abundance were spread, congratulations were 
 poured forth ; while the unconscious object of all, 
 the pride and joy of fond parents, the hope of 
 generations to come, pursued his childish sports, 
 and expressed his childish wonder at the scene. 
 But, like many sunny mornings of earth, it was 
 to be overhung with clouds, its joy to be damp- 
 ened by deep sorrow. 
 
 Two hearts were there which no gladness
 
 48 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 visited, and in which no good feelings -were 
 cherished. Ishmael and his mother were envious 
 and discontented witnesses of all that occurred. 
 The happiness of others was their sorrow, the 
 fulfilment of hope to Abraham and Sarah was 
 their bitter disappointment ; and they manifested 
 their dissatisfaction, Hagar, probably, by pouring 
 out her thoughts to her son, and he by ridiculing 
 and speaking contemptuously of Isaac. Sarah 
 saw and heard, and all that was to come in the 
 future the discord and wrangling, the endless 
 disputes and heart-burnings, the evil and per- 
 haps malicious influence over her precious child 
 flashed instantly upon her mind, and, urged by an 
 impulse too strong to be resisted, she sought her 
 husband, and demanded that Hagar should be 
 divorced, and Ishmael disinherited. It was a 
 grievous request to Abraham. Ishmael was his 
 own son, his first-born and first-beloved; and 
 toward Hagar he felt the tenderness of a father 
 for the mother of his child. He appeal's to have 
 appealed to God, who bade him do as Sarah had 
 said, for Isaac was to be his only heir; but, at the 
 same time, soothed his grief, and allayed his anx-
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 49 
 
 ieties, by promising that Ishmael, for his sake, 
 should be abundantly prospered and blessed. 
 
 Early on the morning which followed the 
 weaning feast, Abraham arose to execute his sor- 
 rowful task. Calling Hagar, he gave her the 
 necessary directions for her future course, placed 
 on her shoulder a leathern bottle of water, and 
 bread sufficient for their present wants, and then, 
 putting Ishmael' s hand in hers, he bade them a 
 final farewell, and sent them on their way. Won- 
 derful, indeed, was the faith and obedience of 
 Abraham ! 
 
 The wanderers bent their steps toward the un- 
 inhabited region beyond Beersheba, Hagar prob- 
 ably intending, as before, to go to Egypt. She 
 was unhappy then, but more miserable now, and 
 yet deeper trouble awaited her. The water was 
 soon gone, and Ishmael, overcome with fatigue 
 and thirst, was unable to proceed ; and when she 
 saw him lying helpless, and apparently about to 
 die, in her anguish she left him, that she might 
 not witness the closing of eyes so dear, forever. 
 Did she now call to mind her former deliverance ? 
 Did the name of her son recall the scene at the
 
 50 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 " well of the angel of life," and induce her 
 again to seek his aid ? We do not know. But 
 whether she called or not, that blessed angel was 
 near her now, as before. Once more his heavenly 
 voice addressed her : " What aileth thee, Hagar? 
 Fear not ; for God hath heard the voice of the 
 lad where he is." 
 
 ***** 
 
 She was relieved and her child restored. 
 Blessed and comforted by the promises of God, 
 she went on her way. Ishmael was at this time 
 sixteen years of age ; and though, as we read 
 the account, we feel that it was cruel to send 
 him forth from the luxuries and privileges of his 
 father's house, to provide for himself, it was not 
 so in fact. The younger sons of a family were 
 generally thus sent to seek their fortunes. He 
 chose for his home a spot uninhabited and wild, 
 the resort of many animals proper for food, and 
 by the use of his bow he was able amply to sup- 
 ply his own and his mother's wants, and was 
 soon, as had been promised, a prosperous man. 
 
 Hagar, we are told, took him a wife from her 
 native land, and from him descended a race not
 
 SARAH AND IIAGAR. 51 
 
 less remarkable than the Israelites themselves. 
 The faithfulness of Abraham has had its reward 
 not alone in the blessings bestowed on the chosen 
 seed. 
 
 After the departure of Hagar and Ishmael little 
 is recorded concerning the family of Abraham. 
 They dwelt at Beersheba, and, so far as we know, 
 their life passed quietly. Of Sarah's character 
 as a mother we earnestly wish to know more than 
 we are told. Not a word is said of her instruc- 
 tions to her cherished son, and we can only gather 
 the proof of her faithfulness from the excellent 
 character of Isaac. We know that daily lessons 
 of obedience to his parents were instilled into his 
 young mind, for he hesitated not to follow his 
 father, unquestioned, to the Mount of Moriah, 
 and to do his bidding to the utmost. And in later 
 years, he with the same spirit acceded to his 
 father's wishes in respect to the most important 
 interests of his life, receiving even his wife from 
 his hands, apparently without the slightest dispo- 
 sition to select for himself the partner of his life, 
 after his father had desired to do it for him. We 
 know that the most unwavering confidence in God
 
 52 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 had been wrought into his whole life, for he sub- 
 mitted without shrinking to be bound and laid 
 upon the altar of sacrifice at the divine command, 
 manifesting a faith scarcely inferior to that of 
 Abraham himself. We know that a mother's 
 untiring, devoted love, had been his daily bless- 
 ing, and had linked his heart to hers in ties which 
 might not be sundered without deepest anguish, 
 for he knew no comfort after her death, till three 
 years had fled, and Rebecca was given to cheer 
 his solitude. We are certain that a holy exam- 
 ple, the sacred influence of daily prayer, the 
 habitual prominence given to sacred and divine 
 realities, and frequent instructions concerning his 
 obligations to honor his father's God, trained this 
 child of the covenant to fill the place assigned 
 him in the mighty plan of grace. 
 
 Many years he enjoyed his mother's care and 
 counsels ; he seems to have been her constant 
 companion, and from that companionship he 
 gained a gentleness and loveliness of character, 
 very remarkable in a man. 
 
 The strongest earthly ties are frail when death 
 appears. Sarah's death and the circumstances
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 53 
 
 of her burial are touchingly described in the 
 sacred volume, and it is worthy of notice, that 
 she is the only woman to whom such honor is 
 given. Abraham was a stranger and sojourner in 
 the land of Canaan, and had hitherto owned not 
 a foot of the land promised to his descendants, 
 nor had he needed such possession. Cared for 
 by God, and surrounded by those he loved, every 
 place was home. But now, death had removed 
 the light of his eyes, the fond companion of his 
 days. Sixty-two years had she shared his every 
 joy and sorrow, and cheered his pilgrim lot. But 
 now she would no longer gladden his tent, nor 
 accompany him in his wanderings. She had 
 daily bowed with him, through those long years, 
 in sincere and humble worship of the living 
 God, and their united faith had drawn from him 
 wonderful, even miraculous blessings. But now 
 her familiar form would appear no more at the 
 sacred altar, nor her confidence in the Almighty 
 strengthen his own. He had loved her in their 
 early days, when she was the pride and joy of his 
 Chaldean home, but she was far dearer to him 
 when he looked upon her, after nearly a century 
 5*
 
 54 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 had passed over her head, with beauty unim- 
 paired, her youth renewed by the kindness of 
 God, folding to her mother's breast the long- 
 desired and most precious son of promise. "A 
 babe in a house is not merely a well-spring of 
 pleasure," and " a messenger of peace and love," 
 but infancy and childhood ever bring with them 
 freshening and revivifying influences. Abraham 
 had felt their influences himself, and seen their 
 effect on Sarah, and we can well believe that their 
 evening-time had been brighter than the morning. 
 
 But she was gone, and the question came, 
 " where should he lay, for their last repose, the 
 remains of his beloved and faithful wife ? " Xot 
 in the burying-places of the idolaters ! He could 
 not endure the thought. He purchased the cave 
 of Machpelah, and, with weeping and mourning, 
 buried his dead out of his sight. 
 
 Around that grave of Sarah how many sacred 
 associations linger. There, when years had 
 passed, Isaac and Ishmael met, for the first time, 
 perhaps, since the weaning feast, to lay their 
 honored father by her side. " There they buried 
 Isaac and Rebecca his wife ; there Jacob buried
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 55 
 
 Leah," and thither went up from Egypt the 
 " chariots and horsemen, a very great company," 
 who, with Joseph, bore the body of Jacob also to 
 the same quiet resting-place. Upon the hills of 
 that beautiful region the mighty Anakims dwelt, 
 and from thence, more than four hundred years 
 after, when the descendants of Abraham were 
 returning from bondage, the spies sent by Moses 
 brought back the evil report which resulted in the 
 many wanderings of the wilderness. On that spot 
 stood one of the most ancient cities of the world 
 the possession of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, 
 where the tribes received their inheritance, and 
 later, a city of refuge, and assigned to the Levites. 
 There David held his court seven years, and there 
 Absalom raised the standard of revolt. And when 
 centuries had rolled away, when the long-ex- 
 pected Messiah was at hand, to that sacred " city 
 in the hill-country of Judah, went, in haste," the 
 most highly favored among women, the virgin 
 mother of Jesus, to exchange congratulations 
 with her only less favored cousin, and to pour 
 forth her song of exultation and triumph. The 
 spot on which Abraham and Sarah dwelt so long,
 
 56 THE MOTHERS OF* THE BIBLE. 
 
 and where their bones reposed, where the Al- 
 mighty had reiterated his solemn promises, 
 thousands of years after, witnessed Mary's joy, 
 and echoed her song of gratitude to him whose 
 word abideth forever, for the fulfilment of those 
 very assurances. "My soul doth magnify the 
 Lord ; he hath holpen his servant Israel in remem- 
 brance of his mercy ; as he spake to our fathers, to 
 Abraham and his seed forever." 
 
 A multitude of reflections crowd upon us as we 
 draw to a close our account of Sarah and Hagar, 
 to which we can do no justice. Indeed, we feel 
 that we have given a meagre transcript of our 
 own thoughts while studying this deeply interest- 
 ing history. We earnestly request those who 
 have read these pages, not to rest for a moment 
 satisfied, but to take the sacred book, and, asking 
 light from above, give themselves to the work of 
 gaining all the instruction it affords upon this 
 theme. We assure them that encouragement, 
 strength, and blessing will be their reward. 
 Especially, they shall gain delightful views of 
 the character of Jehovah, and be able to sing 
 as never before, " Exalt the Lord our God."
 
 SARAH AND IIAGAR. 57 
 
 * 'Praise ye the Lord, for his mercy endureth for- 
 ever." 
 
 Sarah, notwithstanding her dignified station, 
 her wonderful beauty and noble character, was 
 still an imperfect woman ; yet how kindly was 
 she dealt with ; what honor has God put upon 
 her. She consented to prevarication and deceit 
 with her husband, but the evil consequences 
 which they deserved were once and again pre- 
 vented by divine interposition. She laughed 
 incredulously at his gracious words of promise, 
 and then denied her fault. Yet, in consideration 
 of her " fear and amazement," she was not 
 severely reproved, the blessing was not withheld, 
 nor was her fault noticed to the exclusion of what 
 was otherwise good in her conduct, for, by the 
 mouth of Peter, God afterward commends her 
 reverence for her husband, manifested at that 
 very time. She was faithless, and jealous, and 
 angry in her dealings with Hagar, yet the Al- 
 mighty did not take his favor from her, while he 
 suffered her to reap the bitter fruit of her folly. 
 As a mother, how remarkable is his kindness to 
 her. " She was ninety years of age when Isaac
 
 58 THE MOTHERS OP THE BIBLE. 
 
 was born. In the course of nature ten or twelve 
 years would have closed her mortal career, or 
 rendered it, from the infirmities of age, a burden 
 to herself and all around her. There was appar- 
 ently no need of her preservation to forward the 
 decrees of the Lord. In giving birth to the child 
 of promise, her part was fulfilled, and at the age 
 of ten or twelve the boy might have done without 
 her. But God is LOVE, and the affections of his 
 children are, in their strength and purity, pecu- 
 liarly acceptable to him. He never bestoweth 
 happiness to withdraw it ; and therefore, to per- 
 fect the felicity of Sarah and her child, his ten- 
 derness preserved her in life and vigor seven and 
 thirty years after she had given him birth. The 
 trial of faith, also, in the sacrifice of his son, 
 was given to the father. He demanded not 
 from her what he knew the mother could not 
 bear." 
 
 Strikingly, too, is the loving-kindness of God 
 manifested in Hagar's history. She was not of 
 the chosen race ; she was but a humble bond- 
 woman, and very faulty in character, yet he took 
 cognizance of her woes, and twice came in his
 
 SARAH AND HAGAR. 59 
 
 own glorious person to her aid, and bestowed 
 upon her rich and abundant blessings. 
 
 Would that, amid our many cares, anxieties, 
 and sorrows, we could ever bear in mind the love 
 of him who wove the ties by which our hearts are 
 bound to our children, whose tenderness and 
 sympathy are never-failing, who says to every 
 one of his redeemed children, " Can a mother 
 forget her child ? Yea, they may, yet will I not 
 forget thee."
 
 THE WIFE OF LOT. 
 
 " Remember Lot's wife." 
 
 THIS was our Saviour's injunction, and in obe- 
 dience to it we here take occasion to address 
 some, who, though not generally interested in the 
 study of the Bible, nor in such volumes as this, 
 may nevertheless glance over its pages, either 
 accidentally or at the suggestion of a friend. 
 
 Do not be offended that we charge you with 
 the same faults as she possessed, who was made a 
 perpetual monument of folly, and whom you have 
 ever been accustomed to regard with dislike, and 
 whom you think you do not in any particular 
 resemble. 
 
 Have you ever seriously considered the nature 
 of the sin which Lot's wife committed ? Are you 
 quite sure that you are not chargeable with like 
 foolishness ? Lot and his family dwelt in Sodom, 
 a place where not a single righteous man or wor- 
 shipper of the true God could be found, save him- 
 self. The cry of the wickedness of that wicked
 
 THE WIFE OF LOT. 61 
 
 city rose up to heaven, and God determined to 
 destroy it. He sent an angel, who warned Lot to 
 flee, with all his household, to the mountains, and 
 to go in such haste as not to cast a single glance 
 behind, lest the scorching heat of the fearful 
 flame should devour them before they reached a 
 place of safety. They went ; but the wife and 
 mother, not believing the message of the angel, 
 and grieved at leaving her home and worldly pos- 
 sessions, turned a lingering, longing look back 
 on the doomed city, and was instantly destroyed. 
 Her sin was unbelief, its fruit was disobedience 
 to the direct command of God. 
 
 You, dear friends, live in a world in which like 
 sentence has gone forth. " The earth, and the 
 works that are therein, shall be burned up." Do 
 you believe this word of God ? Perhaps you will 
 answer that it is of little consequence whether 
 you do believe or not, as the day is far distant, 
 and will affect you little. But there is another 
 word of God which is addressed to you. " It is 
 appointed unto men once to die." Do you believe 
 this ? You will say it is preposterous to ask such 
 a question. We know that we shall die ; we 
 6
 
 62 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 must believe that. But do you act as if you 
 believed it ? Are you prepared for it ? Are you 
 so training your children that they shall be pre- 
 pared for it ? When the summons comes, will it 
 find you willing to leave this world, and all its 
 pleasures, and enter at God's command on untried 
 scenes ? There is yet another message which 
 God is even now speaking in your ears : " Flee 
 from the wrath to come." " He that belie veth 
 on the Son hath everlasting life ; he that believeth 
 not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of 
 God abideth on him." Is this message any more 
 acceptable to you than was that of the angel to 
 Lot's wife ? Do you credit it at all ? Are you 
 taking any means to avoid the wrath or gain the 
 faith of which it speaks ? Are you daily instruct- 
 ing your children, those who are so precious to 
 you that you would shield them with your life 
 from harm, to flee from this fearful wrath ? 
 When you lie down at night and when you wake, 
 do you earnestly pray for mercy for them and 
 yourself? Do you lead their young affections to 
 the Saviour, as the one most worthy of their 
 love ? Do you teach them to bend the knee and
 
 THE WIFE OF LOT. 63 
 
 fold the little hands in prayer ? Is there anything 
 in your daily life to convince them that you fully 
 believe this truth of God's word ? Do you not 
 rather so live as to prove yourselves participators 
 in the very sins of Lot's wife, unbelief and 
 disobedience ? 
 
 We beg you, by your peace of mind, by your 
 own eternal welfare, by your love for the immortal 
 beings committed to your care, by the death and 
 atoning sacrifice of your Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, to " think on these things." 
 
 Perhaps you are devising plans and cher- 
 ishing expectations for your loved ones, which 
 such views as these would disturb and destroy. 
 In this, also, your circumstances are not unlike 
 those of the mother of Lot's children. She had 
 two daughters who were affianced to two men 
 of that gay but devoted city. Doubtless she 
 rejoiced in what she considered their good fortune 
 and excellent prospects. Have you ever inquired 
 after the fate of those daughters, and the result 
 of their early training ? Seek the history in the 
 book of God, and do not turn away with disgust 
 because we have directed you to it, and with
 
 C4 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 entire assurance that your daughters will walk 
 the path of life clear of all such dangers. The 
 worldly-minded, ungodly mother has no security for 
 the upright conduct of her children, even according 
 to the low standard of the icorld's morality. The 
 only security for ourselves, and those to whom we 
 have given being, is a firm faith in the words of 
 God, and an obedient spirit to his commands. 
 Failing of these, we may any of us be as lasting 
 monuments of his displeasure as Lot's wife ; and 
 our children may sink to a degradation even 
 worse than that of hers.
 
 REBEKAH. 
 
 THREE striking and instructive pictures present 
 themselves to us as we commence the study of 
 Rebekah's life, which we cannot do better than 
 contemplate with earnest interest and attention. 
 
 ABRAHAM AND ELIEZER. 
 
 Three years have circled their lonely round 
 since Sarah went to her rest. They have done 
 the work of a longer time upon Abraham, and he 
 now appears before us an old man, stricken in 
 years, upon whom a hundred and forty winters 
 have shed their snows, and who has few remaining 
 duties to perform this side the grave. With him 
 is Eliezer, the tried and faithful steward of his 
 household, and, like himself, the obedient servant 
 of God. The time has come when, in accordance 
 with the habit of his nation, the father must select 
 a wife for his son. Apparently the subject has 
 cost him much anxious thought. Upon Isaac's 
 marriage great results depend. He cannot see 
 6*
 
 66 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 him wedded to one of the idolatrous daughters of 
 Canaan. That were to frustrate the purposes of 
 God, and thus surely defeat his own happiness. 
 The land of Canaan has been promised to his 
 descendants indeed, but not through any such 
 connection with its present occupants will the 
 promise be accomplished. They are a guilty 
 race, fast filling up their measure of iniquity, and 
 devoted to merited destruction by the righteous 
 judgment of Heaven. To be united with them 
 were to share their doom. Abraham in this 
 emergency had, doubtless, asked counsel of his 
 covenant God, and he has summoned Eliezer to 
 aid him in prosecuting his present design of 
 bringing a wife for Isaac from among his own 
 kindred. He requires from him a solemn oath 
 that he will faithfully execute the mission. Elie- 
 zer, wishing fully to understand his master's 
 wishes, and unwilling to bind himself to what he 
 may not be able to perform, replies, " Peradven- 
 ture the woman will not be willing to follow me 
 to this land, must I needs bring thy son again 
 unto the land from whence thou earnest ? " The 
 answer is instant and decided, "Beware that thou
 
 REBEKAII. 67 
 
 bring not my son thither again." He, indeed, 
 desires him to have a wife from Mesopotamia, but 
 nothing in Abraham's eyes was ever so important 
 as the exact fulfilment of all the commands of 
 God. He would not, for any reason, have Isaac 
 leave the country in which, by Jehovah's express 
 will, they sojourned. In the spirit of obedience, 
 and of the faith which never forsook him, he 
 assures Eliezer that he will be guided and pros- 
 pered, and will succeed in his endeavor. " The 
 Lord God of heaven, which took me from my 
 father's house, and from the land of my kindred, 
 and which spake unto me, and sware unto me, 
 saying, Unto thy seed will I give this ' land : he 
 shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt 
 take a wife for my son from thence." 
 
 Eliezer took the required oath, and "arose and 
 went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor." 
 
 ELIEZER AND REBEKAH. 
 
 It is the close of day, the time when the 
 women of the East go forth to draw water, as is 
 their universal custom. Dressed in their best 
 attire, the young maidens gather about the well,
 
 G8 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 to relate the news of the day, and refresh them- 
 selves, even in the midst of their weary task, by 
 pleasant intercourse. As they come one by one 
 to the usual place of meeting, their attention is 
 attracted by a group of strangers stationed at the 
 well-side : men of foreign garb, and camels 
 kneeling to rest, all evidently from a journey 
 through the desert. We are drawn ourselves to 
 scan this group more closely. One man appears 
 to be chief among them, and his conduct fixes 
 our attention. He seems like one who has some 
 important business in hand, and upon whom some 
 weight of responsibility rests. As we look, he 
 employs Himself with caring for his camels and 
 attendants, and when this is done assumes the air 
 and attitude of solemn devotion. But he bows to 
 no idol. He prefers an earnest suit, but to none 
 of the gods of the land. He addresses Jehovah, 
 the God of Abraham. His prayer is most remark- 
 able. It breathes a faith which to common mor- 
 tals appears like presumption. Yet it is not 
 unacceptable to God. Such confidence in his 
 overruling providence, and his willingness to 
 guide those who are in perplexity, exalts the King
 
 REBEKAII. 69 
 
 of kings. He will surely make a plain path for 
 all who thus pray. There is in the heart which 
 is truly devoted to God a noting of circumstances, 
 a watching unto prayer, a disposition to see him, 
 and ascertain his will, in all events, which cannot 
 fail of its reward. 
 
 "And he said, Lord God of my master 
 Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this 
 day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. 
 Behold, I stand here by the well of water ; 
 and the daughters of the men of the city come 
 out to draw water ; and let it come to pass that 
 the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy 
 pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink ; and she 
 shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink 
 also : let the same be she that thou hast appointed 
 for thy servant Isaac ; and thereby shall I know 
 that thou hast showed kindness unto my master." 
 
 As he closes his petition, a beautiful girl comes 
 from the way of the city, and, without stopping 
 to gossip with her young companions, or appear- 
 ing to heed the presence of strangers, descends 
 the steps to the well, and is soon seen laboring 
 up the ascent, with her pitcher filled upon her
 
 70 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 shoulder. Eliezer for it is he watches her 
 closely. Her beauty and grace attract and please 
 him, and, impelled by an irresistible impulse, he 
 hastens to meet her, and begs her to give him 
 water from her pitcher. With ready kindness 
 she answers, " Drink, my lord, and I will draw 
 water for thy camels also," and immediately 
 hastens to fill the empty trough, ascending and 
 descending many times the weary way to the well. 
 We feel indignant as we gaze at the indolent men 
 who stand by and offer no assistance. They seem 
 to us unmanly, and she engaged in work for which 
 she is hardly equal. But it is the custom of her 
 country, and she deems it no hardship. She is 
 also evidently more than ordinarily amiable and 
 courteous. Eliezer looks on, while she is thus 
 engaged, with admiration and hope, and when 
 her task is accomplished, asks her, with trembling 
 eagerness, " Whose daughter art thou ? tell me, 
 I pray thee." Little suspecting the deep import 
 of the question, or what life-long interests are to 
 hang upon her words, she answers, with prompt 
 and beautiful simplicity, "I am the daughter of 
 Bethuel, the son of Milcah."
 
 KEBEKAH. 71 
 
 Astonishment is depicted on the faces of the 
 wondering damsels at the deportment of the 
 stranger on this announcement. He seems beside 
 himself with joy. He puts upon Rebekah's arms 
 bracelets of richest workmanship, and gives her 
 other ornaments of value, and then again, unmind- 
 ful of all about him, bows and worships as before. 
 
 Many are the prayers for aid which go up in 
 the time of need from the children of men, but 
 very few, in comparison, are the thank-offerings 
 which acknowledge the gift when received. Often 
 only one in ten is found who gives glory to God 
 for his prompt bestowal of desired good. Elie- 
 zer was in heart and soul the true servant of 
 Jehovah, as his outpouring of gratitude at 
 Rebekah's answer proves. 
 
 Meanwhile, Rebekah herself, bewildered and 
 surprised, hastens to tell her mother what had 
 befallen her, and to send her brother to invite the 
 stranger home. He comes, and relates his story 
 to the eagerly listening family. Well did they 
 know the history of Abraham's departure from 
 country and kindred at the command of an 
 unknown God, and tidings had from time to time
 
 72 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 reached them of his obedience and faithfulness, 
 and of the prosperity which had attended him. 
 They could not but admire his noble character, 
 and they had learned, to reverence the God whom 
 he served, though still themselves adhering to 
 their idols. And now, when the errand of Elie- 
 zer is made known, they receive it as an intima- 
 tion of the will of Jehovah, and without hesita- 
 tion assent to his proposals. 
 
 Again Eliezer worships and gives thanks ; 
 costly jewels of gold and silver are brought forth, 
 and rich raiment ; goodly gifts are bestowed ; a 
 table is spread, and joy and gladness prevail. 
 ***** 
 
 The morning has come such a morning as 
 Rebekah never saw before. Yestereven she went 
 forth free, and careless, and light-hearted, to meet 
 her young companions at the well ; to-day she 
 rises the betrothed bride of her unknown cousin 
 the destined wife of him who is the vowed 
 follower of that strange God, whose very name 
 fills her spirit with awe. Henceforth, in obedi- 
 ence to his high commands, and for the love of 
 one whom she has never seen, she must be an
 
 REBEKAH. 73 
 
 exile from home and friends, and share a destiny 
 widely different from any which had ever before 
 filled her youthful imagination or inspired her 
 hopes. Can she go ? It is needless to ask. The 
 question has been decided without consulting her 
 wishes, and she dreams not of any objection to 
 that decision. But twelve hours have changed 
 her greatly. She has laid aside the gayety and 
 freedom of girlhood. A burden of thoughtful- 
 ness rests upon her, and the calm dignity of the 
 woman appears in word and action, as she pre- 
 pares, at the urgent request of Eliezer, to depart 
 immediately on the journey to Beersheba. 
 
 The necessary arrangements are soon completed, 
 the parting embrace is given and received, the 
 blessings of full hearts are bestowed, the long 
 caravan is directed to move she is gone. The 
 hand of the Lord is in it. 
 
 REBEKAH AND ISAAC. 
 
 The time has arrived when Eliezer may be 
 
 expected to return from Mesopotamia, and Isaac 
 
 comes from the south country, where he has been 
 
 for a time residing, to the house of his father, to 
 
 7
 
 74 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 learn the result of his mission. He has gone 
 forth in the beautiful and quiet evening to medi- 
 tate in the fields and commune with God. Serene 
 and happy from that communion, he is now seen 
 walking to meet the caravan, which at this 
 moment appears in sight, slowly winding along 
 the road to Beersheba. As he approaches, the 
 riders alight from their camels and advance to 
 meet him. Few words are spoken as they pro- 
 ceed on foot to the encampment of Abraham. 
 Isaac conducts his youthful bride, completely 
 veiled, and wholly unknown, to his mother's tent, 
 and bids her call it henceforth her home. Amid 
 the hallowed associations of that sacred spot, he 
 receives to his heart the gentle and confiding 
 being who, leaving forever the home of her child- 
 hood, and all loved scenes, has dared the dangers 
 of the desert, to walk the journey of life with 
 one of whose character she has known little, and 
 on whose face she till now has never looked. 
 
 She stands before him in youthful beauty and 
 modest grace, his loving and beloved wife, and 
 Isaac is comforted for the first time since his 
 mother's parting kiss had left him alone and sad.
 
 REBEKAH. 75 
 
 Can such a marriage be happy ? I hear my 
 young readers ask. Not for worlds would we be 
 wedded thus. We would not have our parents 
 choose for us the partners of our life. We would 
 not give ourselves to one of whom we knew noth- 
 ing, and who had never expressed a preference for 
 us. We could not be happy it is impossible. 
 
 Be not too hasty, my young friends. Happi- 
 ness is the gift of God, not the result of for- 
 tunate circumstances, and pleasant coincidences, 
 and nice adaptations of character. His blessing 
 can render any union bright, and without that 
 blessing the fairest prospects shall prove false and 
 fleeting. 
 
 Can this blessing be certainly secured ? Yes. 
 Consider the character and conduct of those en- 
 gaged in the transactions of which we have read. 
 Abraham seeks a wife for Isaac. What is his 
 ruling desire ? The approbation of God. Her 
 person, her situation in life, her fortunes, these 
 are nothing to him ; but she must be one whom 
 he knows God will approve. Isaac is a man of 
 prayer and faith. In perfect simplicity and con- 
 fidence he leaves this important interest of his life
 
 76 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 wholly to God's direction ; even the very servant 
 who goes on the mission is a man of rare piety, 
 to whom prayer is a necessity, and who regards 
 every event as an intimation of the will of Jeho- 
 vah. Every step is taken, everything is done, 
 with direct reference to his approbation, and will 
 he fail to bless and prosper ? No, verily. He 
 never yet said to any such, " Seek ye my face in 
 vain." He will watch over Isaac and his youth- 
 ful wife for good. Long years shall they walk 
 hand in hand, and theirs shall be a union such as 
 we read of seldom on the sacred page, unbroken 
 to the end of life, which no jealousy shall mar, 
 and not even the wide-spread practice of poly- 
 gamy, that curse of domestic peace, shall ever 
 be permitted to invade. Rebekah is, indeed, 
 now a worshipper of idols, but she has already 
 learned to fear His mighty name, and he will by 
 his grace, and because his glory has been sought, 
 render her worthy to be the wife of Isaac and 
 mother of the promised seed an important link 
 in that mighty chain of events which will at 
 length usher upon the world the reign of Him in 
 whom all the nations shall be blessed.
 
 REBEKAH. 77 
 
 " Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the 
 muscles of Omnipotence." 
 
 Wouldst thou have a path of usefulness and 
 peace pointed out to thee by him who directeth 
 all events, and ordereth the lot of man, pray sin- 
 cerely and earnestly for it, young adventurer 
 over the rugged ways of earth, and thy prayer 
 shall move the Almighty hand ; that hand which 
 alone can make the crooked straight, and the 
 
 rough places plain. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Beside the well Lahairoi, not far from Beershe- 
 ba, are pitched the spreading and far-reaching 
 tents of Isaac, the faithful and prospered servant 
 of Jehovah. Blessings from above have waited 
 on his steps ; his goings out and comings in have 
 been beneath the smile of the Lord his Maker. 
 Serene and peaceful has been his life, passed in 
 quiet pursuits, in the society of his gentle wife, 
 and in frequent intercourse with his honored fa- 
 ther. It would seem that perfect content should 
 be the portion of those so favored. But we find 
 it not thus. In the retirement of their tent, at 
 the close of the day, twenty years from their 
 7*
 
 78 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 bridal, Isaac and Rebekah sit conversing, long, 
 earnestly and anxiously ; and at last, as if by 
 mutual impulse, they kneel together in prayer, 
 and Isaac pours forth their joint supplications for 
 a crowning blessing, without which all others 
 prove incapable of rendering them truly satisfied 
 and happy. Listen, while the meek and trusting 
 servant pleads with his covenant-keeping God. 
 He recalls the day when Jehovah summoned his 
 father from his native land, and recounts the 
 promises of divine love made to him and his seed 
 after him. Can those reiterated promises fail ? 
 Is God a man that he should lie, or the son of 
 man that he should repent ? "In Isaac shall 
 thy seed be called." " If thou be able to num- 
 ber the stars, so shall thy seed be." These words 
 surely were not lightly spoken. They were 
 uttered by him who is mighty in working, as wise 
 in counsel. Isaac believes, and therefore prays, 
 and they rise refreshed, and at ease, doubting 
 nothing, and resorting to no crooked policy to 
 secure their earnest wishes. 
 
 Beautiful is the faith of those who thus simply 
 and confidingly make known their desires to
 
 REBEKAH. 79 
 
 Jehovah, and glorious is the condescension and 
 grace of their Omnipotent Friend, who bends a 
 listening ear to hear, and reaches forth a willing 
 hand to fulfil their requests. Far too seldom and 
 too briefly do we dwell on the thought of that 
 wonderful love, which is so ready, not merely to 
 save our souls and give us heavenly bliss, but also 
 to secure our present happiness. 
 
 Twenty years have rolled since their marriage- 
 day, and Isaac and Rebekah are childless. They 
 cannot be happy thus. They tell their disap- 
 pointment to him who has the control of all 
 events, and humbly ask his interposition, and 
 obtain the desired blessing. There is no event 
 interesting to us which attracts not the notice of 
 our heavenly Father, and which we may not sub- 
 mit to him, as a sympathizing friend. No earth- 
 ly friend can possibly appreciate our sorrows, or 
 understand our necessities, as he does, and no 
 human heart owns a love so pure, so unselfish, so 
 strong, as he feels for every child he has on earth. 
 
 If we are childless, we may ask him to pity 
 our loneliness. Many of his devoted children 
 have thus appealed to him, and been heard. If
 
 80 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 we have children who are sources of deep anx- 
 iety, we may always cast our care upon him. 
 Even he once said, "I have nourished and 
 brought up children, and they have rebelled 
 against me." 
 
 ****** 
 
 The mother is distressed. With what delight- 
 ful consciousness that a new life is springing from 
 her own, has come also an intuitive sense that all 
 is not right, and again she seeks God. If, in love 
 and mercy, he has answered her prayer, and 
 the wish of her life is to be gratified, why this 
 unwonted suffering ? She asks at his mouth, 
 and receives a reply which foretells the cares and 
 anxieties of her future life, and lays a foun- 
 dation for the only departure from strict rectitude 
 which is recorded in her history. She shall bear 
 two sons, who, from the very commencement, are 
 to be antagonistic to each other, and the elder 
 shall not be the heir of Abraham's promised 
 blessings. Did Rebekati comprehend the full 
 import of these words ? Did she gain from 
 them a glimpse of the troubled life she was to 
 lead ? We do not know. Her boys were wel-
 
 REBEKAH. 81 
 
 corned with all a mother's tenderness, and proba- 
 bly shared equally, for a time, her care and love, 
 though it may be that her eye sometimes fastened 
 on Jacob with deeper interest, as she recalled the 
 words of the Lord, and remembered that he was 
 the chosen seed. A happy family now gathered 
 nightly in Isaac's tent, and the joy was complete 
 when Abraham, the aged and infirm, but deeply 
 respected and loved grandfather, joined the circle, 
 and dandled on his knees the grandsons whom his 
 dim eyes were so gladdened to behold. Fifteen 
 years he watched their growth, and rejoiced in 
 their unfolding faculties, and then departed from 
 earth, and they saw him laid in the grave of Mach- 
 pclah, by her side who had been to their father 
 the fondest and most faithful of mothers, and 
 whose name they had been taught to revere and 
 love. 
 
 Years rolled on, many years, bringing with 
 them to Rebeknh the cares and anxieties of a 
 mother's life, and also a mother's rich compen- 
 sations. She was no longer lonely or listless. 
 Every day brought new joys and new employ- 
 ments, and more imperative necessity for discre-
 
 82 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 tion and wisdom in the management of her charge. 
 Every day unfolded the opposite characters of her 
 children. Esau, ever impulsive, ardent, and over- 
 bearing, yet overflowing with affection, required 
 an entirely different discipline from his unassum- 
 ing and quiet brother, whose winning traits and 
 obedient spirit, in contrast with Esau's turbulence, 
 at length caused her to swerve so widely from the 
 path of maternal rectitude. Yet there was much 
 in Esau's manly activity to call forj;h admiration, 
 and she, doubtless, often felt a mother's pride 
 when she saw him return from the field, glowing 
 with health, and flushed with the exhilaration of 
 successful sport, to lay his trophies at the feet of 
 his aged and fond father, and prepare the venison 
 that he loved. But her heart turned in its ten- 
 derness to him who was considerate of her slight- 
 est wish, and with whom, moreover, she knew the 
 blessing of Jehovah rested. 
 
 But notwithstanding the difference in the two 
 boys, and notwithstanding the evil partiality of 
 both parents, no serious unhappiness followed, 
 until, at the age of forty years, Esau suddenly 
 withdrew from the little circle, and established a
 
 REBEKAH. 83 
 
 family of his own, by taking two wives from among 
 the idolaters around them. Heeding not the 
 known will of Jehovah, and little regarding the 
 wishes of his parents, or the grief he might cause 
 them, he, from this time, manifested such an indif- 
 ference to holy things, such a contempt even for 
 the blessings covenanted to his family, such a 
 thoroughly selfish disposition, as to prove himself 
 wholly unworthy of his birthright privileges, and 
 increase his mother's fondness for her younger 
 son. The bitter evil to which that overweening 
 fondness at length led, we are all familiar with. 
 She allowed herself to dwell too often on the 
 faults of one child and the virtues of the other, 
 until she came at length to deceive her husband, 
 to stain, by her own example and counsel, the soul 
 of her loved one with falsehood and fraud, to em- 
 bitter and madden the heart of her eldest-born, 
 and bring upon her own and her husband's declin- 
 ing years sorrow and desolation. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Alone and sorrowful, bearing the marks of age 
 and care, and wrapped in absorbing meditations, 
 Rebekah sits in her tent, at the close of a day
 
 84 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 which has been to her one of sadness and gloom. 
 We will suppose it the anniversary of the birth 
 of her children, three years subsequent to the 
 bestowal of the paternal benediction upon Jacob. 
 She is reviewing her life. She wanders back in 
 imagination more than a hundred years, to her 
 bridal day, and recalls the happiness and peace- 
 fulness of the period when she was her husband's 
 dearest companion, and when no oppressing care 
 weighed upon her spirit. She remembers how, as 
 the months sped, their desire for the fulfilment 
 of the divine promise led them at last to plead 
 earnestly for the blessing of a child. It is now 
 eighty years since that prayer was fulfilled. How 
 vividly do the scenes present themselves before 
 her. Her joy at the prospect of becoming a 
 mother, and then her anxiety caused by the un- 
 usual suffering she experienced. She remembers 
 the answer given by the Almighty to her inquiry, 
 " Why am I thus ? " and a groan escapes her lips. 
 Then commenced the sorrows of her life. Not 
 because new cares then began ; not because the 
 quiet of her days was then changed for the 
 excitements which children ever bring. These
 
 REBEKAH. 85 
 
 might have been only sources of new pleasure. 
 But, then commenced her sin. 0, what misery 
 had it caused her, and what self-reproach did she 
 now feel ! Had she been a faithful and just 
 mother ; had she bestowed equal affection upon 
 her children, the life-long conflict between them 
 might have been spared. How plainly her early 
 mistakes appear before her now ; how clear in 
 memory's glass is pictured every evil conse- 
 quence ! The childish quarrels, the more bitter 
 differences of riper years, and, worse than all, 
 the serious defects of character which both exhib- 
 ited. Had she always regarded Esau with a 
 mother's tender love, Jacob, in all probability, 
 would not have taken advantage of his brother's 
 extremity to defraud him of his birthright. Had 
 she not overvalued Jacob on account of his being 
 heir of the covenant, Esau might not have come 
 to despise its privileges. She follows down the 
 track of years, dwelling long and earnestly on all 
 the joys and sorrows they had brought. But 
 most painfully present to her mind is the day of 
 her severest trial and her worst sin. Again, in 
 imagination, she hears Isaac's command to Esau 
 8
 
 86 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 to bring him venison from the field, and receive 
 his blessing, and feels anew the tumult of thought 
 which those words occasioned, and the distress 
 lest Jacob should after all be set aside. Her 
 sudden resolve, and hasty efforts to prevent such 
 a calamity, rise before her. Again she prepares 
 the kid, and disguises her fair son with its deli- 
 cate skin, and quiets his remonstrances and fears 
 by assuming herself all the risk, even the curse 
 which might descend. She takes from their 
 sacred resting-place the sacerdotal garments kept 
 for this important occasion, and with them arrays 
 her favorite, and, when all is prepared, listens in 
 breathless anxiety to all that passes in that fear- 
 ful interview. How dreadful in her ears are the 
 reiterated falsehoods of the son whom, up to that 
 hour, she had ever taught to revere the truth. 
 How she shudders as she recalls his impious 
 appeal to the aid of the Almighty. Even Isaac's 
 solemn blessing thrills her heart with fear. And 
 then that exceeding great and bitter cry of her 
 first-born, her long slighted, deeply injured son, 
 how it echoes through the chambers of her soul, 
 and seems by some mysterious power to enlighten
 
 REBEKAH. 87 
 
 the darkness, and reveal to her the secret work- 
 ings of that blind partiality which had so indu- 
 rated her moral perceptions, that until now she 
 had been ignorant of its extent and guiltiness. 
 She scarcely wonders, when she dwells on all the 
 past, at Esau's burning and murderous anger, 
 though sudden fear again overtakes her at the 
 remembrance of his threatening words ; words 
 which have banished Jacob from his home, and 
 rendered her the desolate being she is. 
 
 In the retrospect of her long life, there are 
 some things to rejoice in, many for which to be 
 thankful. As a maiden, she had been fair, lovely, 
 and virtuous, the joy and pride of fond parents 
 and brothers. As a wife, she had been faithful, 
 and very happy, and able ever to retain a firm 
 hold upon the conjugal affection which had glad- 
 dened her youth. But as a mother, how had she 
 failed ! Yet was not the providence and prophecy 
 of God the cause of her folly ? She could not so 
 excuse herself. Had he, the Almighty One, any 
 need of the sins and infirmities of his creatures, 
 in order to accomplish his purposes ? Could he 
 not have caused Jacob to inherit Abraham's priv-
 
 88 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ileges without her crooked and unjust course ? 
 Humbled and heart-stricken, she bows in deep 
 repentance, and accepts at his hands the bitter 
 consequences. Henceforth, she must walk her 
 path of earth alone. Her sons, who, in their 
 infancy, had so gladdened her home, will cheer 
 that home no more. Her husband, blind, imbe- 
 cile, and helpless, can no longer share her joys, 
 nor bear with her the burdens of life. 
 
 But duty is still hers. With meekness and 
 love she will minister to the many wants of him 
 who has loved her so long, and by her patience 
 strive to expiate the only deceit of which she was 
 ever guilty toward him ; and, to cheer her soli- 
 tary days and nights, she will hide in her inmost 
 heart the blessed consolation, that even as the 
 Eternal needs not the faults of men to forward 
 his designs, neither shall those faults be able to 
 frustrate his gracious plans. Her shortcomings 
 will not prevent her son from inheriting the cov- 
 enant blessings, nor for a moment turn aside the 
 current of divine love which is to flow through 
 him to a guilty world, 
 
 We have drawn a picture from imagination of
 
 REBEKAH. 89 
 
 the last scenes of Rebekah's life, in order more 
 fully to learn the lesson it teaches. If we would 
 often strive to bring before us the probable 
 thoughts and feelings of Bible characters, and 
 place ourselves in their circumstances, we should 
 gain far clearer views of their excellences and 
 
 faults. 
 
 8*
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 
 
 Two sisters, dwelling under one roof, loving 
 and beloved, careless of the future, which in its 
 beauty and freshness, like an unclouded morning 
 just opening upon them, gives no hint of the 
 darkness which may gather, or the tempests 
 which may lower before the day is done ; enter- 
 ing a path which seems to lead through smiling 
 and flowery fields on to some land of perfect 
 peace ; but which will, ere long, find the weary 
 and heart-stricken traveller harassed with unfore- 
 seen obstacles, entangled in inextricable thickets, 
 or plunged all unawares in some miry slough of 
 Despond, such are Leah and Rachel, when on 
 the sacred page they are first presented to our 
 view. We regard them with deep and growing 
 interest as we study the peculiarities of their dif- 
 fering characters, and glean from the slight 
 mementoes which are left us, some connected his- 
 tory of their more widely differing destinies. 
 
 Rachel comes ever first to our thoughts, in her
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 91 
 
 witching beauty, the pet and darling of her self- 
 ish father the life of the house the spoiled 
 child the blithesome, light-hearted young shep- 
 herdess, who could so charm and entrance her 
 staid and quiet cousin, that the seven years through 
 which he toiled to win her, consumed by heat and 
 chilled by frost, seemed to him but a few days, 
 for the love he had to her ; and who, although 
 eighty years had passed over his head before he 
 claimed her for his bride, and youthful impulse 
 and enthusiasm had long since fled, and romance 
 had expired, still cherished for her through life 
 an affection such as we find not in any page of 
 fiction. But, notwithstanding her beauty and 
 attractiveness, Rachel was, as we have said, a 
 spoiled child, and she took this character into her 
 married life, to her own sorrow, and the evident 
 unhappiness of those around her. Wayward, 
 and accustomed to be petted, she could ill endure 
 to be crossed even by Providence. Envious of 
 her sister, and impatient under any delay in the 
 fulfilment of her wishes, she manifested a spirit 
 which brought severe rebuke even from the lips 
 of her devoted husband. Months and years were
 
 92 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 spent by her in a tumult of discordant feelings, 
 and in resorting to unnatural and crooked policy 
 in order to accomplish her end. Far from prov- 
 ing amiable and lovely as a wife, she seems to 
 have been to Jacob often a severe trial ; yet, he 
 ever loved her, even as in the first days of fond- 
 ness. But at length the disciplinary process 
 which she needed seems to have had its designed 
 effect, for the time came when he who sits as the 
 refiner saw fit to visit her, and bestow the long- 
 sought blessing. Happy beyond measure in the 
 birth of a son, she offers her tribute of gratitude, 
 and we must believe, though little further light 
 shines on her character, that the fresh fountain of 
 a mother's love, newly opened in her heart, 
 flowed to the purifying of all selfishness and 
 jealousy, and to the harmonizing of all discordant 
 elements in the hitherto distracted family. Would 
 not her heart feel a new tie to her husband, the 
 father of her child ? Would she not turn again, 
 with self-reproach and reviving love, to her long- 
 neglected and abused sister, the once-cherished 
 companion of her childhood, now that she could 
 understand and sympathize in her maternal joys
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 93 
 
 and cares ? Would not her affection be called 
 forth as never before toward each childish member 
 of the household, invested with an interest hitherto 
 unknown, and doubly dear, because as truly the 
 children of her husband as her own cherished 
 nursling ? That she was a happier and better 
 woman after Joseph's birth, we cannot doubt, and 
 we feel sure that a peace never before experienced 
 by them settled on Jacob's family. 
 
 But complete happiness abides not long a ten- 
 ant in any circle on earth. That which had been 
 to Rachel the strongest desire of life, became, at 
 length, in its fulfilment, the occasion of her death. 
 She who had felt that the birth of a son could 
 bring only joy, who had said " Give me children 
 or else I die," saw a day, when, with feeble, ex- 
 piring breath, she named her second born 
 " Benoni the son of my sorrow," and departed 
 from earth, leaving her two helpless ones to want 
 a mother's care and love, and perhaps wishing as 
 fervently as before that they had never been born, 
 or that she might take them with her to the unseen 
 world. 
 
 She was taken from evil to come. The fear-
 
 94 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ful trial which threatened to bring Jacob's gray 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave, she was spared. 
 Her memory was most fondly cherished. Her 
 children how tenderly were they regarded 
 because they were hers, and what can exceed in 
 pathos and beauty her husband's last uttered 
 remembrance of his early love, when bestowing 
 on Joseph's sons the forfeited birthright of Reu- 
 ben, and, wishing to bind their hearts to the land 
 of Canaan, he reminds them that it was the place 
 of her death, and that her bones reposed beneath 
 its soil. 
 
 One question ever comes to us as we read of 
 Rachel's death. Did Leah's sorrowing heart find 
 repose at length in the assurance of her husband's 
 love ? When Jacob was left alone, and comfort- 
 less, did he turn to her for consolation, who had 
 so long endured alone for his sake ? We do not 
 know. From her childhood, Leah appears to have 
 borne the yoke. Although she was the eldest in 
 her father's house, yet Rachel's superior beauty 
 and vivacity had cast her into the shade, and 
 doubtless rendered her, as in all such cases, 
 reserved and silent, and less attractive than she
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 95 
 
 would otherwise have been. Yet, there beamed 
 ever from her eyes a loving tenderness, which 
 betrayed an unusually affectionate heart, and lent 
 a charm to her whole deportment which mere 
 regularity of features cannot give. Oh ! how 
 cruelly was that affectionate, clinging heart 
 doomed to suffer ! How bitter was her lot ! 
 Forced to act a deceitful and most revolting part, 
 her feelings of delicacy and maidenly propri- 
 ety outraged by an unfeeling father, she became 
 clandestinely the wife of one who sought her not, 
 whom she knew to be wholly absorbed in love to 
 another and fairer, but to whom she had unwit- 
 tingly given the wealth of her own rich affections. 
 From her bridal day, she was a neglected, 
 unloved wife. How must the sounds of joy have 
 jarred on her spirit and mocked her heart during 
 the week of festivity which in the East celebrates 
 a marriage. And yearning' to be loved as she 
 loved herself, what anguish must she have felt 
 when another week gave to her husband's arms 
 one who she knew must entirely supplant her, and 
 blot out every hope of winning, even by the 
 utmost devotion, the heart which would now, more
 
 96 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 than ever, turn from her ! He might be kind to 
 her, as he doubtless was. Many tokens of regard 
 he would bestow upon her, and treat her with the 
 respect due the oldest and first wedded wife ; but 
 love her, he could not ; she knew he could not. 
 The cares, the toils, the suffering which marriage 
 brings, shall be hers, but the rich compensation, 
 the pure, overflowing, confiding love, which cheers 
 and lightens care, and which woman will be a 
 living martyr to win this she will never know. 
 But Leah, thus seemingly desolate and wretched, 
 was not forsaken. The Eye that pondereth all 
 hearts was a witness to her conflicts, and Almighty 
 love came to her relief. A mother's joys were 
 soon in store for her, and with the prospect came 
 delightful thoughts of gratitude to God, and fond 
 anticipations of brighter days. " Surely the 
 Lord hath looked upon my affliction ; now, there- 
 fore, my husband will love me." Alas! poor 
 Leah ! She knew the important blessing prom- 
 ised in Abraham's covenant was a numerous seed, 
 and she thought surely the birth of her son, so 
 desirable an event, would win her a place in her 
 husband's heart. This hope cheered every hour
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 97 
 
 of weariness and suffering, and sustained her in 
 her agony, and when that was past, and tidings 
 were borne to Jacob that he was a father, how 
 eagerly she listened for his approaching footsteps 
 with what intense earnestness she scanned the 
 face so dear, to learn that she had not suffered in 
 vain ! Her babe was not a daughter, so lightly 
 esteemed in Eastern countries. God, the God of 
 his father, had bestowed the blessing, and it was 
 a son she had to give. He could not turn coldly 
 from her he must love her now. 
 
 She was doomed to disappointment. A new 
 grief weighed on her heart, and when her second 
 son was given to her arms there was no hope in 
 her words, but only a meek, subdued expression 
 of love to Him who knew her sorrows, and had 
 again appeared for her comfort. Again and again, 
 sometimes hoping, sometimes desponding, but 
 always in the spirit of earnest piety and a beau- 
 tiful trust in God, she welcomed her children into 
 the world. Years rolled on. She was still a 
 neglected wife, but she was no longer unhappy 
 nor lonely. A song of praise to the Lord was 
 ever on her lips. Around her clustered smiling 
 9
 
 98 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 little faces soft hands smoothed her care-worn 
 brow, and cooing, dove-like voices cheered her 
 solitude, and called her "mother." Six fair 
 sons and a daughter grew up around her, and she 
 had the consolation of knowing that distinguished 
 honor was put upon her by Him who thus made 
 her an instrument of fulfilling his covenant with 
 her husband. So far as we know Leah's char- 
 acter, it was extremely lovely. No repining or 
 discontented words, no rebellious or wilful ex- 
 pressions, fell from her lips, no murmuring 
 appears to have been in her heart. Once only 
 the hidden conflict appears, when her sister asks 
 a favor. "Is it a small matter that thou hast 
 taken away my husband ? And wouldst thou 
 take away my son's mandrakes also ? " It was 
 a revealing of deep sorrows, and it melted even 
 Rachel's heart. 
 
 Again the question returns : Did Jacob ever 
 love her as she deserved to be loved ? and again 
 we must answer, we do not know. She lived 
 many years, fulfilling the duties of a wife and 
 mother, and reposed at last in the cave of Mach- 
 pelah, beside Sarah and Rebekah, with whom she
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 99 
 
 has doubtless been thousands of years rejoicing in 
 the perfect blessedness of that world where unre- 
 quited love is unknown where the soul, with 
 its increasing capacities for affection, is ever 
 abundantly filled and satisfied, because its portion 
 is infinite. " God only knows the love of God," 
 but they who have come up from earth, out of 
 much tribulation, and have washed their robes and 
 been made meet for heavenly fellowship, shall 
 understand the blissful mystery of that union 
 which alone is dearer and more intimate than the 
 hallowed unions of earth. They who are bound 
 in marriage ties here " are of twain made one 
 flesh; " but "he that is joined to the Lord is 
 one spirit." 
 
 How gracious and condescending to human in- 
 firmities is God our heavenly Father ! How ready 
 to gratify every reasonable desire ! If any who 
 read these pages- are conscious of earnest and un- 
 satisfied wishes, let them, not in Rachel's fretful 
 and rebellious spirit, but in meek and patient 
 trust, with thanksgiving, make their request 
 known unto him. He has written, " The desire 
 of the righteous shall be granted."
 
 100 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 If any neglected, lonely wife reads with tear- 
 ful eyes the story of Leah's sorrow, let her turn 
 to Leah's Almighty Friend for comfort, and learn 
 to say, though again and again disappointed, 
 " Still will I praise the Lord." Let her, with 
 childlike submission, receive her cup at his hands, 
 and in the faithful discharge of duty wait her 
 appointed time and lot. She shall not labor and 
 wait in vain. If her heart finds no place of re- 
 pose in his who should cherish and love her, she 
 shall surely understand at length what is that 
 perfect peace in which they are kept whose 
 minds are stayed on the infinite God. If he has 
 bestowed on her the inestimable blessing of chil- 
 dren, the richest solace earth affords is already 
 hers ; let her not indulge gloomy and repining 
 thoughts, but let her bend all her energies to the 
 task of training immortal minds, who, if she is 
 faithful, shall rise up and call her blessed, and 
 praise God for her care and instructions. 
 
 In Jacob's family were two other mothers of 
 whom we have not spoken. They were servants ; 
 little is said of them ; yet they were cared for by 
 Jehovah, and their children were sons who were
 
 LEAH AND RACHEL. 101 
 
 at length heads of four tribes in Israel. Every 
 mother, however humble her position in earthly 
 society, is the immediate care of God, and is 
 doing his work. She knows not what mighty 
 results depend on her fidelity in performing her 
 allotted task. Let her train every child as if she 
 heard a voice from heaven saying, Take this child 
 and nurse it for me. She shall not lose her re- 
 ward. 
 
 9*
 
 JOCHEBED. 
 
 THE hours of day are fast numbering in a hum- 
 ble home in Goshen, a house which has gathered 
 members enough to render it ever cheerful, and 
 garnered sacred ties and rich affections sufficient 
 to insure the greatest earthly bliss, but over which 
 the hand of tyranny has cast shadows deeper 
 and more dense than the gloom of night descend- 
 ing around. The father, with aching limbs and 
 a heavy heart, has returned from his toil under 
 the cruel task-master, whom he, like his com- 
 panions, has vainly striven to satisfy, and with 
 slow, desponding tread enters the dwelling, lays 
 aside his outer garments, and seats himself 
 moodily in the nearest corner. Two bright faces, 
 however, come to welcome him, and their child- 
 ish prattle and words of affection soon bring com- 
 fort to his heart, and drive the look of discontent 
 from his brow, and he joins in their merry glee, 
 until suddenly he is attracted by the pale coun- 
 tenance of his wife, as with languid, and evi-
 
 JOCHEBED. 103 
 
 dcntly painful step, she performs the slight labors 
 necessary for the preparation of the evening 
 meal. One glance is sufficient to assure him that 
 sterner trials than any yet endured await them, 
 and the time draws nigh. Gently he puts his 
 children from him, and rises to give her such 
 assistance as he may. No words are spoken, the 
 meal is soon taken, the little ones go to their 
 quiet rest, needed aid is stealthily summoned, 
 the wife and mother bows herself to her anguish. 
 No sound escapes her lips ; a fear more terrible 
 than any throes she can experience shuts her 
 mouth and stifles every groan. Even the feeble 
 cry which announces the birth of her son brings 
 no joy, no relief, only a greater dread. 0, hush 
 him ! do not let him cry ; father, friends, if ye 
 have any pity, let not his voice be heard. Be- 
 fore another setting sun, the little delicate form 
 which is so precious, so dear, may furnish food 
 for the cruel crocodile. Place him by her side, 
 let her soothe him ; she best understands the art. 
 Alas, what terrors now daily thicken about that 
 mother's path ! How fails her heart at every 
 approaching tread. How earnestly she portrays
 
 104 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 to the sorrowing Miriam the danger of betray- 
 ing the carefully-kept secret. How constantly 
 she watches lest the little Aaron should with lisp- 
 ing tongue tell how he loves his baby brother. 
 How wildly she hastens at the first sound of that 
 baby voice, when he awakes from sleep ; how 
 agonized she is until she succeeds in soothing and 
 quieting her charge. All around she hears 
 shrieks and struggles and despairing groans from 
 her sisters in affliction, and misses one and an- 
 other fair infant form from the homes they had 
 blessed, and she folds her loved one closer to her 
 aching breast, and wonders if she could endure 
 to have him thus torn from her. She suffers, and 
 yet there is in her heart a confidence that all will 
 in the end be well. Not an unfounded hope, not 
 a vague, undefined persuasion, but a faith in an 
 Almighty Friend. Her husband has from time 
 to time spoken words of cheer, and encouraged, 
 by reminding her of Abraham's God, and his 
 promises made in days long past and handed 
 down to them. They know that a great and 
 illustrious person is to be born of Abraham's 
 seed, and may not their son be one of those
 
 JOCHEBED. 105 
 
 through whom he shall descend 1 Jochebed 
 looks upon the wondrous beauty of her babe, 
 his strangely noble mien, and, sent by Him who 
 knows all the avenues to the human heart, come 
 comfort and strength, and she gives herself to 
 new efforts for the preservation of the child. 
 
 Three weary, leaden-footed months have 
 passed. Her boy has gained in strength and 
 comeliness, and the mother's heart clings to him 
 with an intensity of love proportioned to the 
 anxiety she has felt, and the high hopes she sus- 
 tains for him. But the time has come when she 
 can conceal him no longer. The vigilance of 
 their ruthless enemies is becoming too keen, and 
 their strict search will soon inevitably discover 
 her treasure. Who can imagine her distress, as 
 the conviction forces itself upon her ? In her 
 extremity she again betakes herself to the prom- 
 ises and love of Jehovah, and reassures her 
 fainting heart. Suddenly, in the hour of medi- 
 tation and of deep darkness, a peradventure is 
 suggested to her mind. 
 
 Behold her now busily engaged in what is evi- 
 dently a most absorbing work. From the banks
 
 106 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 of the Nile she has procured the " thirsty papy- 
 rus," and the necessary pitch is at hand. "With 
 skilful art she constructs a basket-like cradle. 
 Watch the variations of her countenance as with 
 the greatest care she secures every chink and 
 seam, and again and again examines, to be sure 
 that it is perfectly impervious to water, and suffi- 
 ciently strong for its purpose. Anxiety, sadness, 
 desperation are there, and then the lighting up 
 of some stern resolve, and then a gleam of hope, 
 a faint courage; then, again, the workings of 
 almost unendurable grief and torturing fear. 
 Anon, the brow is calmed, and the compressed 
 lips relax, and holy, sublime faith gains the 
 mastery over all the conflicting feelings called 
 forth by her strange employment. Her task is 
 ended ! all that maternal tenderness could dic- 
 tate is done to render the frail vessel com- 
 fortable ; and, taking her babe fondly in her 
 arms, with one hasty caress she lays him, in his 
 rosy sleep, within the little ark. Upon her emo- 
 tions, as she carries him from her home, and 
 takes her last look on his cherub face, and leaves 
 him among the weeds at the water's edge, we
 
 JOCHEBED. 107 
 
 cannot dwell. A confidence in God so noble as 
 to be remembered and recorded centuries after, 
 by an inspired apostle, and to place her, in the 
 estimate of him who dictated the sacred page, 
 among those " of whom the world was not 
 worthy," sustained her in that fearful hour. 
 She has used all the means within her reach to 
 save him, and leaving the little Miriam to watch 
 his fate at a distance, she returns to her desolate 
 
 home. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 That night found Jochebed no longer sorrow- 
 ing and fearful, but a blessed and happy mother, 
 far happier than she had ever before been. No 
 harrowing anxieties now, no trembling lest the 
 cry of pain or crowing laugh of joy should be- 
 tray her child. No caution, no fear. Let who 
 will step hastily by her dwelling, her cheek need 
 not blanch. She is doing the bidding of a prin- 
 cess, and receiving wages at her hand for nurs- 
 ing that fair boy. Well may the stern-featured, 
 stony-hearted men who delight in deeds of blood, 
 stand awed and subdued before the rare beauty 
 of that baby face, and wonder at the intelligence
 
 108 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 and dignity which are stamped on that childish 
 brow. Not in vain is he thus endowed by his 
 Maker. They harm him not. The mother need 
 not tremble. A peace unknown before descends 
 on the little household. Oppression still grinds. 
 The father still toils. All around is suffering and 
 war ; but under that humble roof Jehovah is 
 praised with a gladness which must be felt to be 
 expressed. 
 
 No words of praise has Moses bestowed on his 
 mother, nor does a single line inform us of the 
 nature of her instructions to him in the days 
 when he was once more all her own, before " she 
 brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter and he be- 
 came her son." But every trait of that noble 
 character which fitted him for the station he 
 afterwards filled ; the meekness which made him 
 the friend of God, with whom he spoke face to 
 face, as he has never to any other being of mor- 
 tal birth ; the faith which refused the wealth and 
 honors and titles of Egypt, and preferred afflic- 
 tion and contempt with the people of God ; the 
 self-renunciation, and devotion to the glory of 
 Jehovah, which led him to plead for the stiff-
 
 JOCHEBED. 109 
 
 necked children of Israel when he would destroy 
 them and make of his faithful servant a great 
 nation ; the dauntless courage, the unwavering 
 rectitude, all bear witness to the instructions 
 of his early years, which "the learning of the 
 Egyptians," and the fascinations of a court, had 
 no power to obliterate. The mother of Israel's 
 great law-giver needs no more enduring monu- 
 ment than the lofty virtues of her son. 
 
 Faith ! my dear friends, such faith as they ex- 
 ercised whose history the Bible records, that 
 it might animate us ! We are not called to lay 
 our children on the altar of sacrifice, nor leave 
 them to be whelmed in the waters of the Nile ; 
 but every mother has trials to pass through, and 
 duties to perform, which require the "same faith 
 that Abraham and Jochebed possessed, if she 
 wishes to see her children standing at last fault- 
 less before the throne. The more we study and 
 come to understand the wonders God has wrought 
 for those who have trusted in him, the more 
 earnestly our prayer ascends, " Lord, increase 
 our faith." 
 
 10
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is 
 passed, and as a watch in the night." 
 
 IT often appears to us, as we study the sacred 
 page, and as we contemplate the movements of 
 the kingdom of grace, in these latter days, that 
 the work of God in the salvation of the race of 
 man makes slow and difficult progress, and we 
 wonder at the tardiness and seeming want of 
 success of any project which has God for its 
 author and executor. But we forget that, 
 although he is God all-sufficient, and can with- 
 out doubt perform the whole good pleasure of 
 his will though all events are under his con- 
 trol, it nevertheless pleases him to work by means 
 and instrumentalities. Seldom does he " speak 
 and it is done," as when the light first shone on 
 earth. Ordinarily, if he will accomplish any- 
 thing in the material world, he brings it about in 
 the order of its natural development. If his 
 dealings are with men as moral beings, he works
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. Ill 
 
 according to the laws of mind which himself 
 ordained. 
 
 It was now more than four hundred years since 
 God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, 
 and made the covenant that through him and his 
 descendants all the nations of the earth should be 
 blessed, and since he first revealed his purpose of 
 acquainting the world with his own glorious char- 
 acter and will. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
 had long slept in the cave of Machpelah. Where 
 were their descendants, and in what circum- 
 stances ? Had the covenant been in any partic- 
 ular fulfilled ? Was the gracious purpose fast 
 being accomplished ? Not to human view. The 
 children of the patriarchs, far from dwelling in 
 the land of Canaan, the blessed and favored peo- 
 ple of Jehovah, were a nation of slaves, debased 
 by the most abject and cruel bondage, ignorant 
 of even the name of their father's God ; though 
 remembering him as the God of Abraham, yet 
 comprehending nothing concerning him save the 
 bare fact of his existence among many other 
 deities ; and having a vague, uncertain belief in 
 the traditionary promise of his appearance in
 
 112 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 their behalf, and their ultimate inheritance of the 
 country of Canaan. Some, indeed, among them 
 seem to have had clearer ideas and a more intel- 
 ligent faith, but the mass of the people were 
 buried in the depths of ignorance and misery. 
 Around them the Egyptians, and all the other 
 dwellers upon earth, were given up to the gross- 
 est idolatry. What foothold had the kingdom of 
 grace as yet gained in the world ? What had 
 the Almighty been doing to advance it during 
 these rolling centuries ? 
 
 If we ask reverently, we ask well, and perhaps 
 a satisfactory answer may be given. In com- 
 mencing and carrying forward the scheme of 
 man's redemption, a mighty work had first to be 
 done, which we seldom think of, and little appre- 
 ciate, a work preliminary to the first revelation 
 of himself among the nations. It was not merely 
 with man's ignorance of the only living, and true, 
 and holy God, which grace had to contend, but 
 with a state of mind and heart so utterly debased 
 as to be incapable of receiving or comprehending 
 for a moment any idea of such a Being. A dense 
 and almost impenetrable darkness brooded over
 
 THE MOTEIERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 113 
 
 the earth. But this was not all ; the visual 
 organs, long accustomed only to darkness, were 
 weakened and destroyed. Before light could 
 benefit, the blind must be healed. Before God 
 could reveal himself to men, their sunken, sen- 
 sual souls must be elevated and purified, and 
 made capable of understanding the revelation. 
 This was a slow and tedious process. For its 
 furtherance he must first train and educate, from 
 the commencement of their existence, a people, 
 who, being themselves thus elevated and enabled 
 to receive the truths he would communicate, 
 should hold them up, from generation to gener- 
 ation, before their benighted fellow-men, and 
 win all at length to know and obey. 
 
 This, then, was the work which Jehovah 
 accomplished during the long years which seem 
 so fruitless to us. He had been training and 
 preparing this peculiar people. Understanding 
 well man's entire nature, and what means to use 
 wherewith to meet his ends, he had been steadily 
 employing those means, until the destined result 
 was at last attained. In the Hebrew people, a 
 race singularly differing from all the other inhab- 
 10*
 
 114 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 itants of earth, whom he had bound to each other 
 by a common descent and common sufferings, and 
 whom he would bind to himself by ties of the 
 most ardent gratitude and love ; who had never 
 worshipped idols, and who, though entirely igno- 
 rant of his true nature, were yet in a state to 
 receive and reverence the God who would deliver 
 them from their bitter afflictions; in this race, 
 which he had thus brought down from his ser- 
 vant Abraham, and prepared for his purpose by 
 " the process slow of years," he had the instru- 
 mentality which he needed, and without which 
 he could not carry forward his gracious work. 
 
 But some will ask, "What has all this to do 
 with the Mothers of Israel?" Much. Among 
 the instruments which he employs, God never 
 forgets nor undervalues those who usher into 
 being, and to whom are committed, by his own 
 ordination, the most susceptible years of all the 
 men who live. It was through these mothers 
 that the keenest pangs of the terrible discipline, 
 through which the nation passed, was felt. Fa- 
 thers, and husbands, and brothers, were not so 
 deeply outraged, so heart-stricken, by any toil
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 1]5 
 
 or hardship imposed on themselves, as by the 
 cruel mandate which so crushed their daughters, 
 wives, and sisters. Among their draughts of 
 gall and wormwood none were so bitter as that 
 which brought groans of anguish from every wife 
 who had the prospect of becoming a mother, 
 turned into a curse what they had ever esteemed 
 the richest of blessings, and made the feeble cry 
 of infancy always before a note of joy the 
 most distressing sound that could fall on parental 
 ears. 
 
 And when the day of deliverance came, whose 
 joy so great, whose gratitude to God so intense, 
 whose obligations so binding, as those of the 
 mothers of the nation ? What instruments could 
 be found so effective as they would prove in the 
 work of making known the glory of their De- 
 liverer ? In what strange scenes had they learned 
 his might and goodness ! One by one they had 
 seen the idols of Egypt overwhelmed in ruin and 
 shown to be worthless* and their awe and admi- 
 ration were constantly increased. But when the 
 hour of retribution came, when Almighty ven- 
 geance repaid into the bosom of every Egyptian
 
 116 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 family the thrilling anguish which his people had 
 suffered, when he stood forth to shield them, and 
 destroy their foes, their awe and admiration 
 turned to love and high devotion. In permit- 
 ting them to be so afflicted, in avenging their 
 wrongs, and in the gratitude he thus called forth, 
 the far-seeing, all- wise Jehovah laid a foundation 
 for the character of every Hebrew child, and of 
 the whole Hebrew nation, through all coming 
 ages ; a character most marked and peculiar, 
 and retaining its distinctive features under all 
 circumstances and in every clime. From that 
 day to this, every Israelitish mother, in commem- 
 oration of those scenes in Egypt, consecrates her 
 first-born child to the God of their deliverance, 
 and through all their generations the command 
 to rehearse in the ears of their family his 
 mighty deeds, has been obeyed, and has accom- 
 plished what he designed. Among his first 
 broken sentences the Hebrew child utters the 
 solemn truth, first fully understood in Egypt, 
 "Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," 
 and from his tender infancy he hears constantly 
 repeated, "By strength of hand the Lord
 
 THE MOTHERS OP ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 117 
 
 brought us out from Egypt, from the house of 
 bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh 
 would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all 
 the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the 
 first-born of man and the first-born of beasts ; 
 therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth 
 the matrix." 
 
 Thus have the griefs of those mothers whose 
 children were given to the devouring crocodile, 
 and the groans of their oppressors, echoed upon 
 all the shores of time, even to these distant days, 
 ever bringing with them to the ear solemn and 
 awful revelations of the power and avenging jus- 
 tice of Israel's God. The unfolding ages have 
 shown him to us, as we have been by degrees 
 prepared to receive him, not merely manifested 
 in these sublime attributes, but in the person of 
 Jesus Christ, our redeeming Saviour, our Advo- 
 cate and Friend, rejoicing to own the title which 
 the pious soul delights to give him, and which 
 looks back through the long vista of rites and 
 ceremonies to that awful night when the hope of 
 Egypt fell, and the chosen people were spared 
 " The first-born among many brethren."
 
 118 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Nor shall these reverberations cease. Through 
 coming years, and amid the crash of earth's dis- 
 solution, shall be heard from the eternal hills the 
 immortal song of the church of the first-born 
 which are written in heaven, chanting of deliv- 
 erance from a worse than Egyptian bondage, and 
 of a more glorious Passover than any celebrated 
 by Jewish service. 
 
 The mothers of this favored land may learn a 
 deeply interesting lesson from this page of the 
 divine word, and especially from that command 
 of God with regard to the instruction of every 
 Hebrew child. Kehearse in the ears of your 
 child, Christian mother, the story of His mighty 
 deeds. From day to day store the young mind 
 with fresh knowledge of the wonders God hath 
 wrought. Call forth his childish admiration ; 
 teach him to bow with reverence before the great 
 name of his Maker. But, more than all, tell him 
 the story of redeeming love. Let the life of the 
 infant Saviour, the story of the boy of twelve 
 years in the temple, the love of the man Christ 
 Jesus, be repeated in his ears, until they are 
 familiar as household words. Remember the Jew-
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 119 
 
 ish mothers, and the result of their unwearied 
 teachings. With them, nothing is second to this 
 command of their God, and their children never 
 lose the impress of maternal instructions. Their 
 strangely uniform character is a powerful com- 
 ment on the wisdom of Jehovah in directing them 
 to be thus taught.
 
 ZIPPORAH. 
 
 IN the mountainous and wild region which lies 
 around Horeb and Sinai, were found, in the days 
 of that Pharaoh whose court was the home of 
 Israel's law-giver, many descendants of Abraham, 
 children of one of the sons which Keturah bore 
 him in his old age. We know little of them ; 
 but here and there on the sacred page they are 
 mentioned, and we gain brief glimpses of their 
 character and of the estimation in which they 
 were held by Jehovah. Like all the other na- 
 tions of the time, they were mostly idolaters, 
 against whom he threatened vengeance for their 
 inventions and abominations. But among them 
 were found some families who evidently retained 
 a knowledge of Abraham's God, and who, al- 
 though they did not offer him a pure worship, 
 "seem, nevertheless, to have been imbued with 
 sentiments of piety, and intended to serve him 
 so far as they were acquainted with his character 
 and requirements." For these, from time to
 
 ZIPPORAH. 121 
 
 time, a consecrated priest stood before the altar, 
 offering sacrifices which were, doubtless, accepted 
 in heaven, since sincerity prompted and the 
 spirit of true obedience animated the worshippers. 
 In the family of this priest, who was also a 
 prince among his people, a stranger was at one 
 time found, who had suddenly appeared in Mid- 
 ian, and, for a slight kindness shown to certain 
 members of the household, had been invited to 
 sojourn with them, and make one of the domestic 
 circle. He was an object of daily increasing 
 interest to all around him. Whence had he 
 come ? Why was he thus apparently friendless 
 and alone ? Wherefore was his countenance sad 
 and thoughtful, and his heart evidently so far 
 away from present scenes ? Seven sisters dwelt 
 beneath the paternal roof, and we can readily 
 imagine the eagerness with which they discussed 
 these questions and watched the many interviews 
 between him and their father, which seemed of a 
 most important character. The result was not 
 long kept from them. Moses was henceforth to 
 perform what had been their daily task, and, as 
 his reward, was to sustain the relation of son, 
 11
 
 122 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 husband, and brother, in the little circle. Zip- 
 porah, whether willingly or reluctantly we are 
 not told, became the wife of the silent man ; nor 
 has he, in the record which he has left, given us 
 any account of those forty years of quiet domes- 
 tic life, which he spent watching his flocks amid 
 the mountain solitudes, and in intercourse with 
 the " priest of Midian," and during which, 
 taught of that God who chose him before all 
 other men, as a familiar friend, he was daily 
 learning lessons of mighty wisdom, and gaining 
 that surpassing excellence of character which has 
 made his name immortal. Was the wife whom 
 he had chosen, the worthy daughter of her father 
 and a fit companion for such a husband 1 Did 
 they take sweet counsel together, and could she 
 share his noble thoughts ? Did she listen with 
 tearful eyes to his account of the woes of his peo- 
 ple, and rejoice with him in view of the glorious 
 scenes of deliverance which he anticipated ? Did 
 she appreciate the sublime beauties which so 
 captivated and enthralled his soul as he pored 
 over the pages of that wonderful poem which 
 portrays the afflictions of the man of Uz ? Did
 
 ZIPPORAH. 123 
 
 she worship and love the God of their common 
 father with the same humility and faith ? We 
 cannot answer one of the many questions which 
 arise in our minds. All we know is, that Zippo- 
 rah was Moses' wife, and the mother of Moses' 
 sons, and we feel that hers was a favored lot, and 
 involuntarily yield her the respect which her sta- 
 tion would demand. 
 
 Silently the appointed years sped. The great 
 historian found in them no event, bearing upon 
 the interests of the kingdom of God, worthy of 
 note, and our gleanings are small. At their close 
 he was again found in close consultation with 
 Jethro, and with his consent, and in obedience 
 to the divine mandate, the exile once more 
 turned his steps toward the land of his birth. 
 Zipporah and their sons, with asses and attend- 
 ants, accompanied him, and their journey was 
 apparently prosperous until near its close, when 
 a strange and startling providence arrested them.* 
 An alarming disease seized upon Gershom, the 
 eldest son, and at the same time intimations not 
 
 * The construction put upon this passage is taken from Bush's 
 Commentary on Exodus, which see.
 
 124 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 to be mistaken convinced his parents that it was 
 sent in token of divine displeasure for long-neg- 
 lected duty. God's eye is ever on his children, 
 and though he is forbearing, he will not forever 
 spare the chastening rod, if they live on in diso- 
 bedience to his commands. Both Moses and Zip- 
 porah knew what was the appointed seal of God's 
 covenant with Abraham, and we cannot under- 
 stand why they so long deferred including their 
 children in that covenant. We do not know how 
 many times conscience may have rebuked them, 
 nor what privileges they forfeited, but we are 
 sure they were not blessed as faithful servants 
 are. Now there was no delaying longer. The 
 proof of God's disapprobation was not to be mis- 
 taken, and they could not hesitate if they would 
 preserve the life of their child. " There is, 
 doubtless, something abhorrent to our ideas of 
 propriety in a mother's performing this rite upon 
 an adult son," for Gershom was at this time, 
 probably, more than thirty years of age ; but we 
 must ever bear in mind that she was complying 
 with " a divine requisition," and among a people, 
 and in a state of society, whose sentiments and
 
 ZIPPORAII. 125 
 
 usages were very different from ours. Her duty 
 performed, she solemnly admonished Gershom 
 that he was now espoused to the Lord by this 
 significant rite, and that this bloody seal should 
 ever remind him of the sacred relation. The 
 very moment neglected obligations are cheerfully 
 assumed, that moment does God smile upon his 
 child. He accepts, and upbraids not. The frown 
 which but now threatened precious life has fled, 
 and his children rejoice in new found peace, and 
 in that peculiar outflowing of tenderness, humil- 
 ity and love, which ever follows upon repentance, 
 reparation and forgiveness. 
 
 For some reason, to us wholly inexplicable, 
 Moses seems to have sent his family back to the 
 home which they had just left, before reaching 
 Egypt, and they resided with Jethro until the 
 tribes, having passed through all the tribulations 
 which had been prophesied for them, made their 
 triumphant exodus from the land of bondage and 
 encamped at the foot of Sinai. Jethro, who 
 seems to have taken a deep interest in the mis- 
 sion of Moses, immediately on hearing of their 
 arrival, took his daughter and her sons to rejoin 
 11*
 
 126 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 the husband and father from whom they had 
 been long separated. Touching and delightful 
 was the reunion, and we love to linger over the 
 few days which Zipporah's father spent with her, 
 in this their last interview on earth. The aged 
 man listened with wonder and joy to the recital 
 of all that Jehovah had wrought. He found his 
 faith confirmed and his soul strengthened, and 
 doubtless felt it a great privilege to leave his 
 child among those who were so evidently under 
 the protection of the Almighty, and before whom 
 he constantly walked in the pillar of fire and 
 cloud. With a father's care and love, he gave 
 such counsel as he saw his son-in-law needed, 
 and after uniting with the elders in solemn sacri- 
 fice and worship, in which he assumed his priestly 
 office, he departed to his own land. We seem 
 to see Zipporah, as with tearful eyes she watched 
 his retreating footsteps, and felt that she should 
 see her father's face no more on earth. Not 
 without fearful struggles are the ties which bind 
 a daughter to her parents sundered, though as a 
 wife she cleaves to her husband, and strives, for 
 his sake, to repress her tears and hide the an-
 
 ZIPPORAH. 127 
 
 guish she cannot subdue. One comfort, how- 
 ever, remained to Zipporah. Soothingly fell on 
 her ear the invitation of her husband to her 
 brother, the companion of her childhood : " We 
 are journeying unto the place of which the Lord 
 said, I will give it you : come thou with us and 
 we will do thee good ; for the Lord hath spoken 
 good concerning Israel." Deprecatingly she 
 doubtless looked upon him, as he answered, " I 
 will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, 
 and to my kindred;" and united in the urgent 
 entreaty, " Leave us not, I pray thee ; foras- 
 much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in 
 the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead 
 of eyes." Heartfelt joy shone in her counte- 
 nance as he acquiesced and made preparation to 
 accompany them ; and we are glad for her, and 
 feel that with her husband and brother near, on 
 whom to lean, she must have been cheered, and 
 the bitterness of her final separation from home 
 alleviated. 
 
 Feelings of personal joy or grief were soon, 
 however, banished from her mind by the mighty 
 wonders which were displayed in the desert, and
 
 128 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 by the absorbing scenes which transpired while 
 Israel received the law, and were prepared to 
 pursue their way to Canaan. Of her after his- 
 tory we gather little, and the time of her death 
 is not mentioned. One affliction, not uncommon 
 in this evil world, fell to her lot. Her husband's 
 family were unfriendly and unkind to her, and 
 she was the occasion of their reproach and ridi- 
 cule. But she was happy in being the wife of 
 one meek above all the men upon the earth, and 
 she was vindicated by God himself. What were 
 her hopes in prospect of seeing the promised 
 land, in common with all the nation, or whether 
 she lived to hear the terrible command of God to 
 Moses, " Avenge Israel of the Midianites," we 
 do not know. The slaughter of her people may 
 have caused her many a pang, and she probably 
 went to her rest long before the weary forty 
 years were ended. She has a name and a place 
 on the sacred page, she was a wife and mother, 
 and, though hers is a brief memorial, yet, if 
 we have been led to study the word of God more 
 earnestly, because we would fain learn more con- 
 cerning her, that memorial is not useless.
 
 'THE MOTHERS OP ISRAEL AT HOREB. 
 
 WE beg those of our readers who have had the 
 patience to follow us thus far in our study, now 
 to open their Bibles, unsatisfied with the meagre 
 thoughts which we are able to furnish, and, earn- 
 estly invoking the aid of that Spirit who indited 
 the sacred pages, bend diligently to the work of 
 ascertaining the real interest which we and all 
 the mothers of earth have in the scenes which 
 transpired at the foot of Horeb's holy mount. To 
 the instructions there uttered, the mighty ones of 
 every age, the founders of empires, statesmen, 
 lawgivers, philanthropists, patriots, and wise men, 
 have sought for their noblest conceptions, and 
 their most beneficent regulations, and it would be 
 impossible to estimate the influence of those 
 instructions upon all the after history of the 
 world. But if the Almighty there revealed him- 
 self as the God of kingdoms, the all-wise and 
 infinitely good Ruler of men in a national capac- 
 ity, not less did he make himself known as the
 
 130 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 God of the family ; and his will there made 
 known, regulating the mutual relations of parents 
 and children, has been at once the foundation 
 and bulwark of all that has been excellent or 
 trustworthy in family government from that day 
 to this. 
 
 It is impossible, in the brief space allotted to 
 us, that we should begin to give any adequate 
 view of the subject which here opens before us, or 
 follow out fully ci single one of the many trains 
 of thought to which it gives rise. 
 
 At Horeb, Jehovah, amid fire and smoke, and 
 in that voice which so filled with terror all that 
 heard, first inculcated the duty of filial piety on 
 all the future generations of men. Filial piety ! 
 how much it implies. It stands at the head of 
 the duties enjoined from man to man. It comes 
 next in order to those which man owes to his 
 Maker. It inculcates on the part of children 
 toward their parents feelings akin to those which 
 he has required toward himself, and far surpassing 
 any which he demands toward any other human 
 being. It speaks of reverence, of a love supe- 
 rior to ordinary affection, of unqualified submis-
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB. 131 
 
 sion and obedience. " Honor thy father and thy 
 mother" is the solemn command, and the com- 
 ments which/ infinite wisdom has made on it, 
 scattered up and down on the pages of inspira- 
 tion, throw light on its length and breadth, and 
 on the heinous nature of the sin which is com- 
 mitted in its infringement. " Ye shall fear every 
 man his mother and his father, and keep my 
 Sabbaths ; I am the Lord." In the Jewish law, 
 a man who smote his neighbor must be smitten 
 in return ; but " he that smiteth father or mother 
 shall be surely put to death." " He that curseth," 
 or, as it more exactly reads, " he that disparages 
 or speaks lightly of his parents, or uses contempt- 
 uous language to them, shall surely be put to 
 death." " If a man have a stubborn and rebellious 
 son, which will not obey the voice of his father or 
 the voice of his mother, and who, when the/have 
 chastised him, will not hearken unto them, then 
 shall his father and his mother lay hold of him and 
 bring him to the elders of the city, and unto the 
 gate of his place. And they shall say unto the 
 elders of the city, This our son is stubborn and re- 
 bellious ; he will not obey our voice. And all the
 
 132 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 men of the city shall stone him with stones that 
 he die ; so shalt thou put away evil from among 
 you, that all Israel shall hear and fear." 
 * Still more fearful is the practical commentary 
 upon this solemn command, given in Ezekiel 22 : 
 7, when Jehovah, in enumerating the crying sins 
 which demanded his vengeance on the people, 
 and brought upon them the terrible calamities of 
 long captivity, says, "In thee have they set light 
 by father and mother." 
 
 But some one will say, You profess to be speak- 
 ing to parents, and this command is given to chil- 
 dren. True, friend, but the duty required of 
 children implies a corresponding duty on the part 
 of parents. Who shall teach children to rever- 
 ence that father and mother in whose character 
 there is nothing to call forth such a sentiment 1 
 " Though children are not absolved from the obli- 
 gation of this commandment by the misconduct 
 of their parents, yet, in the nature of things, it is 
 impossible that they should yield the same hearty 
 respect and veneration to the unworthy as to the 
 worthy, nor does God require a child to pay an 
 irrational honor to his parents. If his parents
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT IIOREB. 133 
 
 are atheists, he cannot honor them as Christians. 
 If they are prayerless and profane, he cannot 
 honor them as religious. If they are worldly, 
 avaricious, overreaching, unscrupulous as to vera- 
 city and honest dealing, he cannot honor them as 
 exemplary, upright, conscientious and spiritually- 
 minded." 
 
 If parents only say, like Eli, in feeble accents, 
 " Nay, my sons ; for it is no good report that I 
 hear. Why do ye such things?" they will not 
 only have disobedient and irreverent children, but 
 often, if not always, they will be made to under- 
 stand that their sin is grievous in the sight of 
 God, and he will say of each of them also, "I 
 will judge his house forever for the iniquity which 
 he knoweth, because his sons made themselves 
 vile and he restrained them not." "And therefore 
 have I sworn unto the house of Eli, that the 
 iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with 
 sacrifice nor offering forever." 
 
 Unto parents God has committed the child, in 
 utter helplessness, weakness, and ignorance, 
 an unformed being. The power and the knowl- 
 edge are theirs, and on their side is He, the al- 
 12
 
 134 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 mighty and infinitely wise, with his Spirit and his 
 laws and his promises. If they are faithful ; if 
 from the first they realize their responsibility, and 
 the advantages of their position, can the result 
 be doubtful ? But they will not be faithful ; 
 imperfection is stamped on all earthly character, 
 and they will fail in this as in all other duties. 
 What then ? Blessed be God, the Gospel has a 
 provision for erring parents. If Sinai thunders, 
 Calvary whispers peace. For men, as sinners, 
 the righteousness of Christ prevails, and for sin- 
 ners, as parents, not less shall it be found suf- 
 ficient. Line and plummet can soon measure the 
 extent of human perfection, but they cannot 
 fathom the merit of that righteousness, which, 
 when laid side by side with the most holy law, 
 shows no deficiency. If, then, we find ourselves 
 daily coming short of the terms of that covenant 
 which God has made with us as parents, we 
 need not despair of his fulfilling his part, for 
 we can plead our Surety's work, and that is ever 
 acceptable in his eyes, and answers all his de- 
 mands. 
 
 Let not, however, the negligent and wilfully-
 
 THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB. 135 
 
 ignorant parent conclude that the spotless robe 
 of the perfect Saviour will be thrown as a shield 
 over his deficiencies and deformity. Let not 
 those who have blindly and carelessly entered on 
 parental duties, without endeavoring to ascertain 
 the will of God and the requirements of his law, 
 expect that the blessing of obedient and sanc- 
 tified children will crown their days. Let not 
 those who suffer their children to grow up around 
 them like weeds, without religious culture or 
 pruning, who demand no obedience, who com- 
 mand no reverence, who offer no earnest, cease- 
 less prayer, let them not suppose that the blessing 
 of the God who spoke from Horeb will come upon 
 their families. " He is in one mind, and who can 
 turn him ? " Not an iota has he abated from his 
 law since that fearful day. Not less sinful in his 
 eyes is disobedience to parents now, than when 
 he commanded the rebellious son to be "stoned 
 with stones until he died." Yet, how far below 
 his standard are the ideas even of many Christian 
 parents! "How different," says Wilberforce, 
 " nay, in many respects, how contradictory, 
 would be the two systems of mere morals, of
 
 136 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 "which the one should be formed from the com- 
 monly-received maxims of the Christian world, 
 and the other from the study of the holy Scrip- 
 tures ; " and we are never more forcibly impressed 
 with this difference than when we see it exem- 
 plified in this solemn subject. 
 
 The parents who stood at Horeb learned that 
 God required them to train their children to im- 
 plicit and uncompromising obedience, and he who 
 closely studies the word of God can find no other 
 or lighter requisition. How will the received 
 opinions and customs of this age compare with 
 the demand. 
 
 We ask our young friends, who may perchance 
 glance over these pages, to pause a moment and 
 consider : If capital punishment should now be 
 inflicted on every disobedient child, how many 
 roods of earth would be planted with the instru- 
 ments of death ? If every city were doomed to 
 destruction in which the majority of sons and 
 daughters " set light by father and mother," how 
 many would remain ? To every child living comes 
 a voice, "Know thou that for all these things God 
 will bring thee into judgment."
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT 
 HOREB. 
 
 THERE is no path of duty appointed for man to 
 tread, concerning which the Almighty has not 
 expressed his will in terms so plain that the sin- 
 cere inquirer may always hear a voice behind 
 him saying, " This is the way, walk ye in it ;" 
 nor are there any relations of life, nor any hu- 
 man affections, which he has not constituted and 
 bestowed, nor any disappointment of those affec- 
 tions for which he has not manifested a sympathy 
 so sincere, that the desolate and heart-stricken 
 may always say, " Earth has no sorrow that 
 heaven cannot heal." 
 
 Yet it is something difficult for us to realize, in 
 our hours of darkness and despondency, that to- 
 ward us personally and individually the great 
 heart of Infinite Love yearns with tenderness and 
 pity. Even if we can say, "Though clouds and 
 darkness are round about him, justice and judg- 
 ment are the habitation of his throne," and can 
 12*
 
 138 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 acquiesce meekly in all his dispensations, and 
 believe sincerely that they will work for our good, 
 yet we often fail of the blessedness which might 
 be ours, if we could be equally assured that, 
 "As a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord 
 pity them that fear him." This assurance only 
 the faithful student of the Bible can feel, as the 
 great truth gleams forth upon him from time to 
 time, illuming " dark affliction's midnight gloom" 
 with rays celestial, and furnishing balm for every 
 wound, the balm of sympathy and love. 
 
 We often hear it said by those who even pro- 
 fess themselves Christians, and devout lovers of 
 the sacred oracles, " How can you read the book 
 of Leviticus ? What can you find in the dry de- 
 tails of the ceremonial law to detain you months 
 in its study, and call forth such expressions of 
 interest ? " Such will probably pass by this ar- 
 ticle when they find themselves invited again to 
 Horeb. Turn back, friends. You are not the 
 only ones who have excused themselves from a 
 feast. And we, we will extend our invitation to 
 others. On the by-ways and lanes they can be 
 found ; in every corner of this wide-spread earth
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS AT HOREB. 139 
 
 are some for whom our table is prepared. We 
 leave the prosperous, the gay, the happy, and 
 speak to the desolate, the widowed. 
 
 Dearly beloved, you who can look back to a 
 day in your history over which no cloud lowered, 
 when you wore the bridal wreath, and stood at 
 the sacred altar, and laid your hand in a hand 
 faithful and true, and pledged vows of love, and 
 when hope smiled on all your future path ; but 
 who have lived to see all you then deemed most 
 precious, laid beneath the clods of the valley, 
 and have exchanged buds of orange for the most 
 intensely sable of earthly weeds ; you who once 
 walked on your earthly journey in sweet compan- 
 ionship which brightened your days ; who were 
 wont to lay your weary head every night on the 
 faithful, " pillowing breast," and there forget 
 your woes and cares, but who are now alone ; 
 you who trusted in manly counsel and guidance 
 for your little ones, but who now shed bitter, un- 
 availing tears in every emergency which reminds 
 you that they are fatherless ; and, worse than all, 
 you who had all your wants supplied by the lov- 
 ing, toiling husband and father, but have now to
 
 140 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 contend single-handed with poverty ; come, sor- 
 rowing, widowed hearts, visit with us Horeb's 
 holy mount. It is, indeed, a barren spot ; nev- 
 ertheless it has blossoms of loveliness for you. 
 Come in faith, and perchance the prophet's vision 
 shall be yours; peradventure, the "still small 
 voice," which bade to rest the turmoil of his soul, 
 shall soothe your griefs also. The words which 
 are heard from its summit, as Jehovah gives to 
 Moses his directions, have indeed to do with 
 " meats and drinks and divers washings," yet, if 
 you listen intently, you will now and then hear 
 those, which, as the expression of your heavenly 
 Father's heart, will amply repay the toil of the 
 ascent. Draw near and hearken : 
 
 " Ye shall not afflict any widow nor fatherless 
 child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they 
 cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry, 
 and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you 
 with the sword ; and your wives shall be widows, 
 your children fatherless." 
 
 Will you not now be comforted ? " The Eter- 
 nal makes your sorrows his own," and himself 
 stands forth as your protector against every ill.
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS AT HOREB. 141 
 
 He speaks in your behalf to all around you. How 
 fearfully stern the tones in which he bids them 
 beware how they injure you ! How secure a 
 refuge he affords you from every form of human 
 aggression on your rights or happiness ! Would 
 any wrest from you by fraud or violence your little 
 store of earthly goods; appeal to him. Does the 
 tongue of slander seek to take from you your 
 good name ; tell him your grief, as you would 
 have told it to the husband whose honor was con- 
 cerned to defend you. In whatever way your 
 fellow-creatures distress you, or try your patience, 
 or disturb your peace, his ear is ever open to 
 hear your complaint, his word is pledged to re- 
 dress the wrong. 
 
 Listen again ! 
 
 " When thou cuttest down thy harvest in thy 
 field, and hast forgotten thy sheaf in the field, 
 thou shalt not go again to fetch it, but it shall be 
 for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the 
 widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in 
 all the works of thy hands." 
 
 Not only has Jehovah undertaken to secure 
 you against evils which might be inflicted by
 
 142 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 human means, but he also designs to guard you 
 against pinching want and poverty. If his will is 
 done you will not suffer. He does not indeed 
 command ravens to feed you, but he does lay his 
 injunctions on every one of his children to pro- 
 vide for you, if you are in need. Those who 
 obey him, and wish to please him, will be always 
 ready to aid you for his sake. He bids every 
 Israelite bring a certain portion of his possessions 
 to furnish the table of the Lord, and assuring 
 you that he considers you his own, and will per- 
 form the part of husband and father for you, at 
 that table, and in his own house, he provides for 
 you ever a place. In the tithes of wine, corn 
 and oil, the firstlings of the herds and flocks, in all 
 that is to be devoted to the service of the Lord, 
 you have your share. 
 
 " At the end of three years thou shalt bring 
 forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year 
 and lay it up within the gates. And the Levite, 
 because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, 
 and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the 
 widow, which are within thy gates, shall come 
 and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS AT IIOREB. 143 
 
 may bless thee in all the work of thine hand 
 which thou doest." 
 
 Do you sorrowfully say that no such table is 
 now spread ? But lie who thus provided, still 
 lives, and is the same as then. The silver and 
 the gold are his, and the cattle upon a thousand 
 hills, and he ruleth all things by the word of his 
 power. They that trust in him shall never be 
 confounded. 
 
 " Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the 
 stranger, nor of the fatherless, nor take the 
 widow's raiment to pledge." Why ? Because 
 they have no earthly friend to redeem the latter, or 
 plead for the former. Weak and unguarded, they 
 are exposed to all these evils, but He, the Eter- 
 nal, takes them under his own especial care ; 
 and instead of compelling them to depend an the 
 insecure tenure of man's compassion, or even 
 justice, institutes laws for their benefit, the dis- 
 obedience of which is sin against himself." 
 
 Scattered through all the sacred volume are 
 words which, equally with those we have quoted, 
 speak forth Jehovah's interest in the helpless. 
 " Leave thy fatherless children to me," he said,
 
 144 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 by his prophet Jeremiah, at a time when misery, 
 desolation, and destruction, were falling on Judea 
 and her sons for their awful impiety. "Leave 
 thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive ; 
 and let thy widows trust in me." "A father of 
 the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God 
 in his holy habitation." 
 
 0, do we receive the full import of these soul- 
 cheering words ? Lone, solitary one ! who hidest 
 in thy heart a grief which, untasted, cannot be 
 understood ; there is a Being, sitting on the circle 
 of the heavens, who knows every pang thou en- 
 durest. He formed thee susceptible of the love 
 which thou hast felt and enjoyed ; himself or- 
 dained the tie which bound thee. He, better 
 than any other, comprehends thy loss. Dost thou 
 doubt. Study faithfully his word ; obey his voice ; 
 yield thy heart to him, and trust him implicitly. 
 He will prove himself able to bless thee in thine 
 inmost soul. The avenues to that soul are all 
 open to him, and he can cause such gentle, 
 soothing influences to flow in upon thee as shall 
 make thee "sing even as in the days of thy 
 youth."
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHERS AT IIOREB. 145 
 
 Fatherless child ! whose heart fails thee when 
 thou dost miss from every familiar place the guide 
 of thy youth ; faint not nor be discouraged, 
 though the way is rough, and the voice that 
 ever spoke tenderly to thee is silent. Thou hast 
 a Father in heaven ; and he who calls himself 
 such, understands better than thou what is im- 
 plied in that sacred name. Tell him thy woes 
 and wants. 
 
 " Thou art as much his care, as if beside 
 Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth." 
 
 13
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH. 
 
 IT would be only presumption in us to attempt 
 giving, in any other than the beautifully simple 
 words of Scripture, the story of Ruth and her 
 mother-in-law. The narration is inimitable, and 
 needs nothing to make it stand out like a picture 
 before the mind. Suffice it, then, that now we 
 attend only to the lessons which may be gathered 
 from it, and endeavor to profit by them through 
 all our coming lives. Nor let any think the les- 
 sons afforded by these four short chapters few or 
 easily acted upon, though they may be soon com- 
 prehended. They will amply repay earnest study 
 and persevering practice. 
 
 The first thing which wins our admiration is 
 Ruth's faith. She had been educated in the 
 degrading worship of Chemosh, the supreme 
 deity of Moab. Probably no conception of the 
 one living God had been formed in her mind 
 until her acquaintance with the Jewish youth, 
 the son of Elimelech and Naomi. How long she
 
 T^AOMI AND RUTH. 147 
 
 had the happiness of a wife we are not informed. 
 We know it was only a few years. But during 
 that period she had learned to put such confi- 
 dence in Jehovah, that she was willing to forsake 
 country and friends, even the home of her child- 
 hood and beloved parents, and go forth with her 
 mother-in-law to strange scenes, and willing to 
 brave penury and vicissitude, that she might be 
 numbered among his people. Firmly she ad- 
 hered to her resolution. The entreaties of 
 Naomi the thought of her mother the pros- 
 pects which might await her in her own land 
 even the retreating form of Orphan nothing had 
 power to prevail over her desire to see Canaan 
 and unite in the worship of her husband's God. 
 " The Lord recompense thy work," said Boaz 
 to her, " and a full reward be given thee of the 
 Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art 
 come to trust." He is not unfaithful, and that 
 reward was made sure. " Of the life that now 
 is " the promise speaks, and it was fulfilled to 
 her. Of an undying, honorable name it says 
 nothing, but that is also awarded her. " Upon 
 a monument which has already outlasted thrones
 
 148 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 and empires, and which shall endure until there 
 be a new heaven and a new earth upon the 
 front page of the New Testament is inscribed the 
 name of RUTH. Of her came David of her 
 came a long line of illustrious and good men 
 of her came Christ." 
 
 Why will we not learn, why will we not 
 daily and constantly act upon the truth that im- 
 plicit faith is pleasing to God ? " None of them 
 that trust in him shall be desolate." 
 
 There is a fund of instruction, also, in the few 
 glimpses which we gain of the intercourse of 
 Naomi and Ruth, as they journey on, and after 
 their arrival in Canaan. How does the law of 
 love dictate and pervade every word and action ! 
 Naomi had once been an honored wife and 
 mother in Judah, and far above the reach of 
 want. But in " the days when the judges 
 ruled," those days during which " every man did 
 that which was right in his own eyes," her husband 
 had deserted his people ; and now on her return 
 she was probably penniless, her inheritance sold 
 until the year of jubilee, and she in her old age, 
 unable by her own efforts to gain a subsistence.
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH. 149 
 
 The poor in Israel were not forlorn, but it re- 
 quired genuine humility on Ruth's part, and a 
 sincere love for her mother-in-law, to induce her 
 to avail herself of the means provided. She hesi- 
 tated not. It was " in the beginning of the 
 barley harvest " that they came to Bethlehem, 
 and as soon as they were settled, apparently in a 
 small and humble tenement, she went forth to 
 glean in some field after the reapers, not know- 
 ing how it would fare with her, but evidently 
 feeling that all depended on her labors. The 
 meeting of the mother and daughter at the close 
 of that important day is touching indeed. The 
 joy with which the aged Naomi greets her only 
 solace, and the kind and motherly care with 
 which she brings the remains of her own scanty 
 meal, which she had laid aside ; her eager ques- 
 tions, and Ruth's cheerful replies as she lays 
 down her burden and relates the pleasant events 
 of the day what gratitude to God, what 
 dawning hopes, what a delightful spirit of love, 
 appear through all ! And, as days pass, how ten- 
 derly does Naomi watch over the interests of her 
 child, and how remarkable is the deference to
 
 150 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 her wishes which ever animates Ruth ! Even in 
 the matter of her marriage, a subject on which 
 young people generally feel competent to judge 
 for themselves, she is governed entirely by her 
 mother's directions. " All that thou sayest unto 
 me I will do." Said a young lady in our hear- 
 ing, not long since, " When I am married I shall 
 desire that my husband may have no father or 
 mother." This is not an unusual wish, nor is it 
 uttered in all cases lightly and without reason. 
 We know of a mother who would never consent 
 that her only son should bring his wife to dwell 
 under her roof, although she was entirely satis- 
 fied with his choice, and was constantly doing 
 all in her power to promote their happiness. 
 What were her reasons ? She was a conscien- 
 tious Christian and fond mother, but she would 
 not risk their mutual happiness. She felt herself 
 unable to bear the test, and she was unwilling to 
 subject her children to it. Often do we hear 
 expressions of pity bestowed on the young wife 
 who is so "unfortunate" as to be compelled to 
 live with her mother-in-law, and many are the 
 sighs, and nods, and winks of gossip among the
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH. 151 
 
 mothers-in-law themselves over the trials which 
 some of their number endure from their sons' 
 wives. Why is all this ? The supreme selfish- 
 ness of our human nature must answer. Having 
 a common love for one object, the mother for her 
 son, the wife for her husband, they should be 
 bound by strong ties, and their mutual interests 
 should produce mutual kindness and sympathy ; 
 and this would always be the case if each were 
 governed by the spirit of the Gospel. But, alas! 
 love of self, rather than the pure love inculcated 
 by Jesus Christ, most often rules. Brought to- 
 gether from different paths, unlike, it may be, in 
 natural temperament, perhaps differing in opin- 
 ion, the mother wishing to retain her wonted 
 control over her son, the wife feeling hers the 
 superior claim, there springs up a contest which 
 is the fruitful source of unhappiness, and which 
 mars many an otherwise fine character. Before 
 us in memory's glass, as we write, sits one of a 
 most fair and beautiful countenance, but over 
 which hang dark clouds of care, and from the 
 eyes drop slowly, bitter tears. She is what all 
 around her would call a happy wife and mother.
 
 152 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Fortune smiles upon her, and the blessing of God 
 abides by the hearth-stone. Her husband is a 
 professing Christian, as is also his yet youthful- 
 looking mother, and the wife herself. Beautiful 
 children gambol around her, and look wonder- 
 ingly in her face as they see those tears. What 
 is the secret of her unhappiness ? She deems 
 hers a very hard lot, and yet, if we rightly judge, 
 could her sorrow be resolved to its elements, it 
 would be found that the turmoil of her spirit is 
 occasioned solely by the fact that she finds it 
 hard to maintain her fancied rights, her desired 
 superiority over her husband and servants, be- 
 cause of the presence of her calm, firm, dignified 
 mother-in-law, whose very lips seem chiselled to 
 indicate that they speak only to be obeyed. What 
 would be the result if the tender, considerate 
 love of Naomi, and the yielding spirit of Euth 
 were introduced to the bosom of each ? 
 
 We cannot leave this record of Holy Writ 
 without commenting, also, on the remarkable 
 state of society which existed in Bethlehem in 
 those far distant days. When Naomi returned 
 after an absence of ten years, an absence
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH. 153 
 
 which to many might have seemed very culpable, 
 with what enthusiastic greetings was she re- 
 ceived. " The whole city was moved." It made 
 no difference that she " went out full, but had 
 returned empty ;" nor did they stop to consider 
 that " the Lord had testified against her." The 
 truest sympathy was manifested for her, and for 
 the stranger who had loved her and clung to her. 
 In her sorrow they clustered around to comfort 
 her, and when the bright reverse gave her again 
 an honored name and " a restorer of her life " in 
 her young grandson, they were eager to testify 
 their joy. The apostolic injunction, " Rejoice 
 with them that do rejoice, and weep with them 
 that weep," seems to have been strictly obeyed 
 in Bethlehem. The distinctions of society, al- 
 though as marked apparently as in our own time, 
 seem not to have caused either unhappiness or 
 the slightest approach to unkind or unchristian 
 feeling. Witness the greeting between Boaz and 
 the reapers on his harvest field. " And behold 
 Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the 
 reapers, The Lord be with you. And they 
 answered him, The Lord bless thee." Boaz was
 
 154 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 "a mighty man of wealth;" he had his hired 
 workmen around him, and in the same field was 
 found the poor " Moabitish damsel," gleaning 
 here and there the scattered ears, her only de- 
 pendence. Yet we find them all sitting together 
 in the hut which was erected for shelter, and 
 eating together the parched grain which was 
 provided for the noon's refreshment, while Boaz 
 enters into a conversation with Ruth which indi- 
 cates his truly noble and generous character, and 
 speaks words which are like balm to the sorrow- 
 ing spirit. " Thou hast comforted me and spoken 
 to the heart of thy handmaid," she said as she 
 rose to leave the tent, and felt herself no longer 
 a stranger, since one so excellent and so exalted 
 in station appreciated and sympathized with her. 
 We see little in these Gospel days and in this 
 favored land which will compare with the genu- 
 ine kindliness which breathes in every word and 
 act recorded in the book of Ruth. 
 
 But the most surprising revelation is made in 
 the account which follows the scene in the tent. 
 What exalted principle, what respect for wo- 
 man, what noble virtue must have characterized
 
 NAOMI AND RUTH. 155 
 
 those among whom a mother could send her 
 daughter at night to perform the part assigned to 
 Ruth, apparently without a fear of evil, and 
 receive her again, not only unharmed, but under- 
 stood, honored, and wedded, by the man to whom 
 she was sent, and that notwithstanding her foreign 
 birth and dependent situation, and fettered with 
 the condition that her first-born son must bear 
 the name, and be considered the child of a dead 
 man ! 
 
 We have friends who w r ill fasten their faith on 
 the New Testament only, and can see nothing in 
 the Old akin to it in precept or spirit. We com- 
 mend to them the Book of Ruth.
 
 HANNAH. 
 
 IMAGINATION can picture no more animating 
 scenes than those which were presented to the 
 beholder at the seasons of the year when Judea 
 poured forth her inhabitants in crowds to attend 
 the solemn festivals appointed by Jehovah, and 
 observed with punctilious exactness by the people. 
 Our present study leads us to contemplate one of 
 these scenes. 
 
 From some remote town on the borders of 
 Gentile territory the onward movement commences. 
 A few families having finished all their prepara- 
 tions, close the door of their simple home, and 
 with glowing faces and hopeful steps begin their 
 march. They are soon joined by others, and 
 again by new reinforcements. Every town, as 
 they pass, replenishes their ranks, until, as they 
 approach Shiloh, they are increased to a mighty 
 multitude. It is a time of joy. Songs and 
 shouts rend the air, and unwonted gladness reigns. 
 All ages and conditions are here, and every varie-
 
 HANNAH. 157 
 
 ty of human form and face. Let us draw near to 
 one family group. There is something more than 
 ordinarily interesting in their appearance. The 
 father has a noble mien as he walks on, convers- 
 ing cheerfully with his children, answering their 
 eager questions, and pointing out the objects of 
 deepest import to a Jew as they draw near the 
 Tabernacle. The children are light-hearted and 
 gay, but the mother's countenance does not please 
 us. We feel instinctively that she is not worthy 
 of her husband ; and especially is there an 
 expression wholly incongruous with this hour of 
 harmony and rejoicing. While we look, she lin- 
 gers behind her family, and speaks to one, who, 
 with slow step and downcast looks, walks meekly 
 on, and seems as if she pondered some deep grief. 
 Will she whisper a word of comfort in the ear of 
 the sorrowful ? Ah, no ! A mocking smile is on 
 her lips, which utter taunting words, and she 
 glances maliciously round, winking to her neigh- 
 bors to notice how she can humble the spirit of one 
 who is less favored than herself. * ' What would you 
 give now to see a son of yours holding the father's 
 hand, or a daughter tripping gladly along by his 
 14
 
 158 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 side ? Where are your children, Hannah ? You 
 surely could not have left them behind to miss 
 all this pleasure ? Perhaps they have strayed 
 among the company ? Would it not be well to 
 summon them, that they may hear the father's 
 instructions, and join in the song which we shall 
 all sing as we draw near to Shiloh?" Cruel 
 words ! and they do their work. Like barbed 
 arrows, they stick fast in the sore heart of this 
 injured one. Her head sinks, but she utters no 
 reply. She only draws nearer to her husband, 
 
 and walks more closely in his footsteps. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The night has passed, and a cloudless sun 
 looks down on the assembled thousands of Israel. 
 Elkanah has presented his offering at the Taber- 
 nacle, and has now gathered his family to the 
 feast in the tent. As is his wont, he gives to 
 each a portion, and hilarity presides at the board. 
 The animated scene around them the white 
 tents stretching as far as the eye can reach 
 the sound of innumerable voices the meeting 
 with friends all conspire to make every heart 
 overflow, and the well-spread table invites to new
 
 HANNAH. 159 
 
 expressions of satisfaction and delight. But 
 here, also, as on the journey, one heart is sad. 
 At Elkanah's right hand sits Hannah, her plate 
 filled by the hand of love with " a worthy por- 
 tion;" but it stands untasted before her. Her 
 husband is troubled. He has watched her strug- 
 gles for self-control, and seen her vain endeavors 
 to eat and be happy like those around her ; and, 
 divining in part the cause of her sorrow, he ten- 
 derly strives to comfort her. " Hannah, why 
 wee pest thou ? and why eatest thou not ? and 
 why is thy heart grieved ? Am I not better to 
 thec than ten sons?" That voice of sympathy 
 and compassion is too much. She rises and 
 leaves the tent to calm in solitude, as best she 
 may, her bosom's strife. Why must she be thus 
 afflicted ? Severe, indeed, and bitter are the 
 elements which are mingled in her cup. Jeho- 
 vah has judged her. She has been taught to 
 believe that those who are childless are so 
 because of his just displeasure. Her fellow- 
 creatures also despise her ; her neighbors look 
 suspiciously upon her. Wherefore should it be 
 thus ? She wanders slowly, and with breaking
 
 1GO THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 heart, towards the Tabernacle. The aged Eli 
 sits by one of the posts of the door as she enters 
 the sacred inclosure, but she heeds him not. She 
 withdraws to a quiet spot, and finds, at last, a 
 refuge. She kneels, and the long pent-up sor- 
 row has now its way ; she " pours out her soul 
 before the Lord." Happy, though sorrowful, 
 Hannah ! She has learned one lesson of which 
 the prosperous know nothing ; she has learned 
 to confide in her Maker, as she could in no other 
 friend. It were useless to go to her husband 
 with the oft-told trouble. He is ever fond and 
 kind ; but, though she is childless, he is not, 
 and he cannot appreciate the extent of her grief. 
 All that human sympathy can do, he will do, but 
 human sympathy cannot be perfect. It were 
 worse than useless to tell him of Peninnah's 
 taunts and reproaches. It would be wicked, and 
 bring upon her Heaven's just wrath, if she did 
 aught to mar the peace of a happy family. No ; 
 there is no earthly ear into which she can "pour 
 out her soul." But here her tears may flow un- 
 restrained, and she need leave nothing unsaid. 
 Thou, who hidest the sorrowing soul under
 
 HANNAH. 1G1 
 
 the shadow of thy wings who art witness to 
 the tears which must be hidden from all other 
 eyes who dost listen patiently to the sighs and 
 groans which can be breathed in no other pres- 
 ence to whom are freely told the griefs which 
 the dearest earthly friend cannot comprehend, 
 Thou, who upbraidest not who understandest 
 and dost appreciate perfectly the woes under 
 which the stricken soul sways like a reed in the 
 tempest, and whose infinite love and sympa- 
 thy reach to the deepest recesses of the heart 
 unto whom none ever appealed in vain God 
 of all grace and consolation, blessed are they 
 who put their trust in thee. 
 
 Long and earnest is Hannah's communion with 
 her God ; and, as she pleads her cause with 
 humility, and penitence, and love, she feels her 
 burdened heart grow lighter. Hope springs up 
 where was only despair, and a new life spreads 
 itself before her ; even the hard thoughts which 
 she had harbored towards Peninnah had melted 
 as she knelt in that holy presence. The love of 
 the eternal has bathed her spirit in its blessed 
 flood ; and grief, and selfishness, and envy, have 
 
 14*
 
 162 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 alike been washed away. Strengthened with 
 might by the spirit of the Lord, she puts forth a 
 vigorous faith ; and, taking hold on the covenant 
 faithfulness of Jehovah, she makes a solemn 
 vow. The turmoil within is hushed. She rises 
 and goes forth like one who is prepared for any 
 trial, who is endued with strength by a mighty 
 though unseen power, and sustained by a love 
 which has none of the imperfect and unsatisfying 
 elements that must always mingle with the purest 
 earthly affection. Meek, confiding, and gentle as 
 ever, she is yet not the same. She meets re- 
 proach even from the high priest himself with 
 calmness. She returns to her husband and his 
 family, no longer shrinking and bowed down ; 
 " she eats, and her countenance is no more sad." 
 Another morning dawns. Hannah has ob- 
 tained her husband's sanction to the vow which 
 she made in her anguish. Elkanah and his 
 household rise early and worship before the Lord, 
 and return to their house in Ramah. 
 
 * . * * # * 
 
 A year passes, another and another, but Han- 
 nah is not found among the multitude going up
 
 HAXNAH. 1G3 
 
 to Shiloh. Has she, the pious and devoted one, 
 become indifferent to the service of Jehovah, or, 
 have the reproaches and taunts of Peninnah be- 
 come too intolerable in the presence of her neigh- 
 bors, so that she remains at home for peace ? 
 No. Reproach will harm her no longer. As the 
 company departs, she stands with smiling coun- 
 tenance looking upon their preparations, and in 
 her arms a fair son ; and her parting words to 
 her husband are, "I will not go up until the 
 child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that 
 he may appear before the Lord, and there abide 
 
 forever." 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Will she really leave him ? Will she consent 
 to part from her treasure and joy her only one ? 
 What a blessing he has been to her ! Seven 
 years of peace and overflowing happiness has 
 that little one purchased for her burdened and 
 distracted spirit. Can she return to Ramah 
 without him, to solitude and loneliness, un- 
 cheered by his winning ways and childish prat- 
 tle ? Surely this is a sorrow which will wring 
 her heart as never before. Not so. There she
 
 1G4 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 stands again on the spot where she once knelt, 
 and wept, and vowed, but no tears fall now from 
 her eyes, no grief is in her tones. She has 
 come to fulfil her vow, " to lend her son to the 
 Lord as long as he liveth." Again she prays as 
 she is about parting from him. What a prayer ! 
 a song of exultation rather. Listen to its sub- 
 lime import. " My heart rejoiceth in the Lord ; 
 mine horn is exalted in the Lord." How did we 
 wrong thee, Hannah ! We said thy son had 
 purchased peace and joy for thee. Our low, 
 selfish, doting hearts had not soared to the 
 heights of thy lofty devotion. We deemed thee 
 such an one as ourselves. In the gift, truly thou 
 hast found comfort ; but the giver is he in whom 
 thou hast delighted, and therefore thou canst so 
 readily restore what he lent thee, on the condi- 
 tions of thy vow. The Lord thy God has been, 
 and is still to be, thy portion, and thou fearest 
 not to leave thy precious one in his house. We 
 thought to hear a wail from thee, but we were 
 among the foolish. Thy soul is filled with the 
 beauty and glory of the Lord, and thou hast not 
 a word of sadness now. Thou leavest thy lamb
 
 HANNAH. 165 
 
 among wolves thy consecrated one with the 
 " sons of Belial " yet thou tremblest not. 
 Who shall guide his childish feet in wisdom's 
 ways when thou art far away ? What hinders 
 that he shall look on vice till it become familiar, 
 and he be even like those around him ? The old 
 man is no fit protector for him. Does not thy 
 heart fear ? "0, woman, great is thy faith ! " 
 
 Come hither, ye who would learn a lesson of 
 wisdom ; ponder this record of the sacred word. 
 Hannah returned to Ramah. She became the 
 mother of sons and daughters ; and yearly, as she 
 went with her husband to Shiloh, she carried to 
 her first-born, a coat wrought by maternal love, 
 and rejoiced to see him growing before the Lord. 
 How long she did this we are not told. We 
 have searched in vain for a word or hint that she 
 lived to see the excellence and greatness of the 
 son whom she "asked of God." The only clue 
 which we can find is, that Samuel's house was in 
 Ramah, the home of his parents ; and we wish 
 to think he lived there to be with them ; and we 
 hope his mother's eyes looked on the altar which 
 he built there unto the Lord, and that her heart
 
 166 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 was gladdened by witnessing the proofs of his 
 wisdom and grace, and the favor with which the 
 Almighty regarded him. 
 
 But though we know little of Hannah, she, 
 being many thousand years *' dead, yet speak - 
 eth." Come hither, ye who are tempest-tossed 
 on a sea of vexations. Learn from her how to 
 gain the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 
 Come, ye who feel that God hath judged you, and 
 that you suffer affliction from his displeasure. 
 Learn that you should draw nearer to him, in- 
 stead of departing from him. Come with Han- 
 nah to his very courts. " Pour out your soul" 
 before him ; keep back none of your griefs ; 
 confess your sins ; offer your vows ; multiply 
 your prayers ; rise not till you, also, can go forth 
 with a countenance no more sad. . He is " the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Come 
 hither, ye who long to know how your children 
 may assuredly be the Lord's. Strive to enter 
 into the spirit of Hannah's vow, remembering, 
 meantime, all it implied as she afterwards ful- 
 filled it. Appreciate, if you can, her love and 
 devotion to her God ; and when you can so
 
 HANNAH. 1G7 
 
 entirely consecrate your all to him, be assured 
 he will care for what is his own, and none shall 
 be able to pluck it out of his hand. Come 
 hither, ye who are called to part with your treas- 
 ures ; listen to Hannah's song, as she gives up 
 her only son, to call him hers no more ; listen, 
 till you feel your heart joining also in the lofty 
 anthem, and you forget all selfish grief, as she 
 did, in the contemplation of his glories who is 
 the portion of the soul. " My heart rejoiceth in 
 the Lord." Alas! alas! how does even the 
 Christian heart, which has professed to be satis- 
 fied with God, and content with his holy will, 
 often depart from him, and " provoke him to 
 jealousy " with many idols! Inordinate affection 
 for some earthly object absorbs the soul which 
 vowed to love him supremely. In its undis- 
 guised excess, it says to the beloved object, 
 " Give me your heart ; Jehovah must be your 
 salvation, but let me be your happiness. A por- 
 tion of your time, your attention, your service, 
 he must have ; but your daily, hourly thoughts, 
 your dreams, your feelings, let them all be of 
 me of mine." for such a love as she pos-
 
 1G8 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 sessed ! We should not then love our children 
 less, but more, far more than now, and with a 
 better, happier love ; a love from which all 
 needless anxiety would flee ; a perfect love, 
 casting out fear. 
 
 Ye who feel that death to your loved ones 
 would not so distress you as the fear of leaving 
 them among baleful influences ; who tremble in 
 view of the evil that is in the world ; remember 
 where Hannah left, apparently without a mis- 
 giving, her gentle child. With Eli who could 
 not even train his own sons in the fear of the 
 Lord with those sons who made themselves vile, 
 and caused Israel to transgress, she left him 
 ivith the Lord. "Go ye and do likewise," and 
 remember, also, he is the God of the whole earth.
 
 ICHABOD'S MOTHER. 
 
 " Strength is born 
 
 In the deep silence of long-suffering hearts, 
 Not amidst joy." 
 
 THE noblest characters the world knows are 
 those who have been trained in the school of 
 affliction. They only who walk in the fiery fur- 
 nace are counted worthy the companionship of 
 the Son of God. The modes of their discipline 
 are various, as are their circumstances and pecu- 
 liar traits, but in one form or other stern trials 
 have proved them all. They partake of the 
 holiness of the Lord, because they have first 
 endured the chastening of his love. They are 
 filled with righteousness, because they have 
 known the pangs of spiritual hunger and the 
 extremity of thirst. They abound, because they 
 have been empty. They are heavenly-minded, 
 because they have first learned, in the bitterness 
 of their spirits, how unsatisfying is earth. They 
 are firmly anchored by faith, because frequent 
 tempests and threatened shipwreck have taught 
 15
 
 170 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 them their need. The Master himself was made 
 perfect through suffering, and \vith his baptism 
 must they who would follow him closely, be bap- 
 tized. 
 
 While Hannah was undergoing at Ramah the 
 discipline which wrought in her such noble qual- 
 ities, there dwelt in Shiloh one of kindred spirit, 
 who was called to endure even severer tests, 
 inasmuch as that which should have constituted 
 her happiness was evermore the bitterest ingredi- 
 ent in her cup ; what might have been her purest 
 joys became her greatest griefs. She was a wife, 
 but only in name. Of the serenity and bliss 
 which attend on true wedded love she was de- 
 prived. Her bridal pillow was early planted 
 with thorns, which henceforth forbade all peace. 
 She was a mother, but her children were to be 
 partakers of their father's shame, disgraced, and 
 doomed to early death or lives of wickedness and 
 woe. She seemingly enjoyed abundant privi- 
 leges; but her trials as a child of God were deep- 
 er than all others. She dwelt on sacred ground ; 
 but, alas ! herein lay the secret of her sorrow. 
 Had her home been among the thousands in the
 
 ICIIABOD'S MOTHER. 171 
 
 outer camps, it had not been so sadly desecrated. 
 Her husband was the High Priest's son, and daily 
 performed the priest's duty among holy things. 
 Had he been a humble member of Dan or Naph- 
 tali, his crimes had not been so heinous. She 
 lived under the shadow of the tabernacle ; had 
 her abode been farther from the sacred enclosure, 
 she had not been daily witness to the Heaven- 
 daring deeds which made men abhor the offering 
 of the Lord, and called for vengeance on her 
 nearest and dearest. Her food was constantly 
 supplied from the sacred offerings ; had it been 
 procured in ordinary ways, she had not been a 
 partaker with those who committed sacrilege. 
 
 No trifling vexations, no light sorrows were 
 hers ; and, as might be expected, her virtues 
 bore their proportion to the purifying process to 
 which she was subjected. Disappointed in her 
 earthly hopes, she clung to her God, and fastened 
 her expectations on him. Humiliated in her 
 human relations, she aspired to nothing hence- 
 forth but his honor and glory. Wounded in 
 heart, her wealth of love despised, lonely, de- 
 serted, she sought in him the portion of her soul,
 
 172 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 and her lacerated affections found repose and sat- 
 isfaction, without the fear of change, in his un- 
 changing love. 
 
 It is often so ordered, in the providence of 
 God, that those who have borne the yoke in their 
 youth, live to see days of comparative quietude 
 -and exemption from trouble. Hannah, after the 
 birth of Samuel, appears to have passed the 
 remainder of her life in peace and prosperity. 
 But the nameless woman whose memorial we 
 record had no respite. Her life was a life of 
 endurance, and she was cut off in the midst of 
 her days by a most fearful and agonizing stroke. 
 
 Israel was as usual at war with the Philistines. 
 The army had pitched beside Ebenezer, "And 
 the Philistines put themselves in array against 
 Israel ; and when they joined battle, Israel was 
 smitten before the Philistines." Alarmed and 
 distressed by this defeat, the Israelites, vainly 
 imagining that wherever the ark of God was, 
 there he would be, also, with his favoring pres- 
 ence, sent up to Shiloh to bring from thence the 
 sacred symbol. With great pomp and solemnity 
 it was borne by the Priests and Levites, and
 
 ICHABOD'S MOTHER. 173 
 
 tumultuous was the rejoicing as it entered the 
 camp ; but no account is given of the feelings of 
 those who remained near the deserted tabernacle. 
 Did the aged Eli forebode that the awful event 
 which should signal the fulfilment of prophetic 
 woe against his family was about to befall ? Did 
 the abused wife dream that she should behold no 
 more her husband's face ? We know not what 
 of personal apprehension mingled with their 
 trouble; but we do know that with trembling 
 hearts these faithful servants of God awaited 
 tidings of the ark of his covenant. How por- 
 tentous soever might be the cloud which hung 
 over their own happiness, they deemed it of 
 small importance in comparison with the honor 
 of Jehovah. The messenger came, but who 
 shall portray the scene when he rendered his 
 
 tidings ! 
 
 ******* 
 
 In a darkened chamber, whither death, clothed 
 in unwonted horrors, has suddenly come for the 
 fourth victim of that doomed family, lies the sub- 
 ject of our meditations, panting under his iron 
 grasp. The afflictions of her life are now con- 
 15*
 
 174 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 summated. The husband of her youth his fol- 
 lies and faults against her now all forgotten in 
 the bitter thought that he is dead has gone un-~ 
 repentant to the bar of God, to give account of his 
 priesthood ; her venerable father-in-law alone, 
 with no friend to cheer his dying agonies, has 
 also departed from earth ; her people are defeat- 
 ed in battle, and, worse than all, the ark of God 
 is fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised 
 Philistines, who doubtless glory as if Dagon had 
 conquered the invincible Jehovah. What to her 
 are the pangs and throes under which her tor- 
 tured body labors ? She heeds them not. Pity- 
 ing friends endeavor to rouse her from her dying 
 lethargy, by the most glad tidings a Hebrew 
 woman could learn: "Fear not; for thou hast 
 borne a son ! " But she answers not. Shorter 
 and shorter grows her breath, nearer and nearer 
 she approaches the eternal shore. But she is a 
 mother; and, though every other tie is sundered, 
 and she is dying of the wounds which the cruel 
 breaking of those heart-strings has caused, she 
 feels one cord drawing her to her new-born 
 child, and asks that he may be brought. It is
 
 ICHABOD'S MOTHER. 175 
 
 too much ! Why was he born ? No cheering 
 thought comes with his presence. Nor joy nor 
 honor are in store for him. "Call him Ichabod" 
 (without glory), she gasps in feeble accents ; 
 " for the glory is departed from Israel: for the 
 ark of God is taken." A moment more, and 
 her freed spirit is in His open presence, who she 
 
 deemed was forever departed from her people. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Christian friend, you who are walking through 
 desert places, and perhaps fainting under the 
 heavy hand of God, let not your heart fail you. 
 Shrink not back from the path, though it seem 
 beset with thorns. Some good is in store for 
 you. Affliction, indeed, is not for the present 
 joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, afterward it 
 yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness. 
 If, like the mother of Ichabod, you learn to for- 
 sake the turbid waters of earth for the Fountain 
 of eternal love, if you make the Lord your 
 portion, you will not in the end be the loser, 
 though wave on wave roll over you and strip you 
 of every other joy. No, not even if, at length, 
 your sun shall set in clouds impenetrable to mortal
 
 176 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 vision. A glorious, cloudless morning lies be- 
 yond, and you shall be forever satisfied with Him 
 who has chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 
 
 *' Then rouse thee from desponding sleep, 
 
 Nor by the wayside lingering weep, 
 Nor fear to seek Him farther in the wild, 
 
 Whose love can turn earth's worst and least 
 
 Into a conqueror's royal feast : 
 Thou wilt not be untrue, thou shalt not be beguiled."
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON. 
 
 IN the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges 
 is recorded the short but suggestive story which 
 is our present Bible lesson. Horeb is long since 
 left behind. The evil generation, who forty 
 years tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen 
 in the wilderness, and their successors are now 
 in possession of the promised land. Moses, and 
 Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and 
 Israel, bereft of their counsel, follow wise or evil 
 advices, as a wayward fancy may dictate, and 
 receive a corresponding recompense at the hands 
 of their God. The children proved in no respect 
 wiser or more obedient than their fathers. Again 
 and again " they forsook the Lord, and served the 
 idols of the Canaanites, and in wrath he gave 
 them up to their enemies." Often, in pity, he 
 raised up for them deliverers, who would lead 
 them for a time in better paths ; " but when the 
 judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted 
 themselves more than their fathers, in following
 
 178 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto 
 them : they ceased not from their own doings, 
 nor from their stubborn way ;" and therefore were 
 they often, for long, tedious years, in bondage to 
 the various nations which God had left in the 
 land, "to prove them whether they would walk 
 in his ways." It was during one of these sea- 
 sons of trouble that the subject of our study is 
 mentioned. She was the wife of Manoah, a 
 citizen of Zorah, of the tribe of Dan. Of her 
 previous history, and the events of her after life, 
 we know nothing. He who beholdeth all things 
 that are done under the sun, and readeth all 
 hearts, had marked her out as the instrument 
 wherewith he would work to get glory to him- 
 self; and, however little known to others, he 
 deemed her worthy of this distinguished honor, 
 worthy to receive a direct communication from 
 himself. Of her character nothing is said ; but 
 we gather that she was a self-denying, obedient 
 child of God. 
 
 It is not necessary that we should detail every 
 incident of those interviews with the angel Jeho- 
 vah, which the mother of Samson was permitted
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON. 179 
 
 to enjoy. Take your Bible, friend, and read for 
 yourself, in words more befitting than we can 
 use ; and, as you rise from the perusal, if the true 
 spirit of a Christian reigns in your heart, you 
 will perhaps exclaim, " 0, that the Lord would 
 come to me also, and tell me how I shall order 
 my children, that so they may be the subjects of 
 his grace, and instruments of his will ! " If you 
 meditate deeply while you read, perhaps you will 
 conclude that, in his directions to this mother, our 
 heavenly Father has revealed to us wonderful 
 and important things, which may answer us 
 instead of direct communications from himself, 
 and which, if heeded and obeyed, will secure to 
 us great peace and satisfaction. Bear in mind 
 that he who speaks is our Creator, that all the 
 wonders of the human frame are perfectly fa- 
 miliar to him, and that he knows far more than 
 earthly skill and science have ever been able to 
 ascertain, or even hint at, concerning the rela- 
 tions which himself ordained. He comes to 
 Manoah's wife with these words : " Now, 
 therefore, beware, and drink not wine nor strong 
 drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, lo !
 
 180 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 thou shall conceive and bear a son ; and no razor 
 shall come on his head : for the child shall be a 
 Nazarite unto God from the womb." Can you 
 discern in this only an allusion to Jewish customs 
 and ceremonies, long since obsolete, and in no 
 way interesting to us, except as a matter of his- 
 tory ? Can you not rather see gleaming out a 
 golden rule which all would be blessed in follow- 
 ing ? To us, in this history, Jehovah says, 
 " Mother, whatever you wish your child to be, 
 that must you also in all respects be yourself." 
 Samson is to be consecrated to God by the most 
 solemn of vows all the days of his life, and the 
 conditions of that vow his mother is commanded 
 to fulfil, from the moment that she is conscious 
 of his existence, until he is weaned, a period of 
 four years at least, according to the custom of 
 her time. 
 
 These thoughts introduce to us a theme on 
 which volumes have been written and spoken. 
 Men of deep research and profound judgment 
 have been ready to say to all the parents of earth, 
 "Whatever ye are, such will also your children 
 prove always, and in every particular, to be ; "
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON. 181 
 
 and there are not wanting multitudes of facts to 
 strengthen and confirm the position. In certain 
 aspects of it, it is assuredly true, since the princi- 
 pal characteristics of the race remain from age 
 to age the same. Nor is it disproved by what 
 seem at first adverse facts ; for although children 
 seem in physical and intellectual constitution 
 often the direct opposite of their parents, yet a 
 close study into the history of families may only 
 prove, that if unlike those parents in general 
 character, they have nevertheless inherited that 
 particular phase, which governed the period from 
 which they date their existence. No person 
 bears through life precisely the same dispositions, 
 or is at all times equally under the same influ- 
 ences, or governed by the same motives. The 
 gentle and amiable by nature, may come into cir- 
 cumstances which shall induce unwonted irrita- 
 bility and ill-humor ; the irascible and passionate, 
 surrounded, in some favored time, by all that 
 heart can wish, may seem as lovely as though no 
 evil tempers had ever deformed them ; and the 
 children who shall be the offspring of these epi- 
 sodes in life, may bear indeed a character differ- 
 16
 
 182 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ing wholly from the usual character of their 
 parents, but altogether corresponding to the brief 
 and unusual state which ruled their hour of be- 
 ginning life. So is it also in physical constitu- 
 tion. The feeble and sickly have sometimes 
 intervals of health, and the robust see months of 
 languor and disease. Hence, perhaps, the dif- 
 ferences which are observable many times in the 
 children of the same family with regard to health 
 and natural vigor. 
 
 We cannot enter into the subject. It is wide 
 and extended as human nature itself. It is also, 
 apart from the gospel of God's grace, a very dis- 
 couraging subject to the parent who contemplates 
 it with seriousness, and with an earnest desire to 
 ascertain the path of duty. " How useless," we 
 may be tempted to exclaim, " any attempt to 
 gain an end which is so uncertain as the securing 
 any given constitution, either of body or mind, 
 for my children! To-day I am in health, full of 
 cheerfulness and hope ; a year hence I may be 
 broken and infirm, a prey to depressing thoughts 
 and melancholy forebodings. My mind is now 
 vigorous and active ; who knows how soon the
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON. 183 
 
 material shall subject the intellectual, and clog 
 every nobler faculty ? What will it suffice 
 that to-day I feel myself controlled by good mo- 
 tives, and swayed by just principles, and pos- 
 sessed of a well-balanced character, since, in 
 some evil hour, influences wholly unexpected 
 may gain the ascendency, and I be so unlike my 
 present self that pitying friends can only wonder 
 and whisper, How changed ! and enemies shall 
 glory in my fall ? No. It is vain to strive after 
 certainty in this world of change and vicissitude, 
 since none of us can tell what himself shall be on 
 the morrow. Do what I will, moreover, my 
 child can only inherit a sinful nature." In the 
 midst of gloomy thoughts like these, we turn to 
 the story of Samson's mother, and hear Jehovah 
 directing her to walk before him in the spirit of 
 consecration, which is to be the life-long spirit of 
 her son. He surely intimates that the child's 
 character begins with, and depends upon, that of 
 the mother. A ray of light and encouragement 
 dawns upon us. True, we are fickle and change- 
 able, and subject to vicissitude ; but he, our God, 
 is far above all these shifting scenes, and all the
 
 184 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 varying circumstances of this mortal life are un- 
 der his control, he can turn the hearts of men as 
 he will ; his counsel shall stand. True, we are 
 transgressors like our first father, partakers of his 
 fallen nature, and inheritors ef the curse ; but 
 " where sin abounds grace does much more 
 abound," and " Christ hath redeemed us from the 
 curse of the law, being made a curse for us." For 
 all the evils under which we groan, the Gospel 
 has a remedy, and we have faith that in spite of 
 all obstacles and difficulties, our Saviour will yet 
 present us, as individuals, faultless before the 
 throne. Why may not our faith take a still 
 higher flight ? There are given to us exceeding 
 great and precious promises. The Holy Spirit, 
 first of all, shall be given to all who ask. They 
 who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be 
 filled. He has never said to the seed of Jacob, 
 seek ye me in vain. There are, on almost every 
 page of the sacred word, these precious promises. 
 By them you are encouraged daily in your 
 onward struggle, Christian friend. What shall 
 hinder you now from taking them to your heart 
 as a mother with the same faith ? If God is able
 
 THE MOTHER OF SAMSON. 185 
 
 to secure your soul against all evil influences, 
 yes, even against the arch enemy himself, and if 
 he has made the character of your child to depend 
 upon your own in any degree, why may you not 
 plead the promises of his word with double 
 power, when your prayers ascend not merely for 
 yourself, but for another immortal being whom he 
 has so intimately associated with you ? You are 
 accustomed daily to seek from him holy influ- 
 ences ; you pray that you may grow in grace and 
 knowledge, and be kept from the evil that is in 
 the world, and from dishonoring your Saviour. 
 Can you not offer these same petitions as a 
 mother, and beg all these blessings on behalf of 
 your child, who is to take character from you ? 
 Can you not consecrate yourself in a peculiarly 
 solemn manner to the Lord, and, viewing the 
 thousand influences which may affect you, pray 
 to be kept from all which would be adverse to 
 the best good of the precious soul to be intrusted 
 to you ; and believe, by all you know of your 
 heavenly Father, and of his plan of grace, that 
 you will be accepted and your petitions answered 1 
 And then can you not act upon that faith ? De- 
 16*
 
 186 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 siring your child to be a man of prayer, will you 
 not, during the years in which you are acting 
 directly on him, give yourself much to prayer ? 
 Hoping that he may not be slothful, but an active 
 and diligent servant of his Lord, will you not 
 give your earnest soul and busy hands to the 
 work which you find to do ? Wishing him to be 
 gentle and lovely, will you not strive to clothe 
 yourself with meekness ? In short, will you not 
 cultivate every characteristic that is desirable for 
 the devoted Christian, in order, that, at least, 
 your child may enter on life with every possible 
 advantage which you can give him ? And since 
 a sane mind, and rightly-moving heart, are 
 greatly dependent on a sound body, will you not 
 study to be yourself, by temperance and modera- 
 tion, and self-denial and activity, in the most 
 perfect health which you can by any effort gain ? 
 
 Who does not believe that if all Christian 
 mothers would thus believe and act, most blessed 
 results would be secured ? The subject appeals 
 to fathers also, and equal responsibility rests 
 upon them. 
 
 Some will doubtless be ready to say, "This
 
 THE MOTHER OP SAMSON. 187 
 
 would require us to live in the spirit a Nazarite's 
 vow all the time. You have drawn for us a plan 
 of life which is difficult to follow, and demands 
 all our vigilance, constant striving, and unwearied 
 labors." True, friends ; but the end to be gained 
 is worth the cost, and you have " God all-suffi- 
 cient" for your helper.
 
 RIZPAH. 
 
 IN order fully to understand the subject of our 
 present study, we must return upon the track, to 
 the days of Joshua, before Israel had wholly 
 entered upon the possession of the promised land. 
 The tribes were encamped at Gilgal to keep the 
 passover, and from thence, by the direction of 
 Jehovah, they made incursions upon the surround- 
 ing inhabitants. Jericho and Ai had been taken, 
 and the fear of these formidable Hebrews, and 
 their mighty God, had fallen upon the hearts of 
 the nations and stricken them almost to hopeless- 
 ness. Feeling that a last effort to save them- 
 selves and their homes must be made, they banded 
 together, and resolved to defend their rights, and 
 to put to proof the combined power of their 
 deities. One clan, however, despairing of suc- 
 cess by any such means, having heard that the 
 utter extirpation of the Canaanites was determined 
 upon, resorted to stratagem, and thus secured 
 their safety in the midst of the general ruin.
 
 RIZPAH. 180 
 
 " They did work wilily," says the sacred record, 
 " and made as if they had been ambassadors, and 
 took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles 
 old, and rent, and bound up ; and old shoes and 
 clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon 
 them ; and all the bread of their provision was 
 dry and mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto 
 the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the 
 men of Israel, We be come from a far country, 
 now therefore make ye a league with us." At 
 first the Israelites seem to have suspected trick- 
 ery ; but when the supposed ambassadors produced 
 their mouldy bread, and declared that it was 
 taken hot from the oven on the morning of their 
 departure from their own country ; and that their 
 wine bottles were new, now so shrunk and torn ; 
 and pointed to their shoes and garments, quite 
 worn out by the length of the journey ; and told 
 their pitiful story ; and in their humility stooped 
 to any terms if they might only be permitted to 
 make a covenant ; Joshua and his elders were 
 completely deceived, and, without stopping to ask 
 counsel of the Lord, " they made peace with them, 
 and made a league with them to let them live."
 
 190 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 The Lord abhors treachery, and although his 
 people had greatly erred in this act, and although 
 these Hivites were among the nations whom he 
 had commanded them to destroy, yet, since a cov- 
 enant had been made with them, it must be kept 
 on peril of his stern displeasure and severe judg- 
 ments. Only three days elapsed before the Israel- 
 ites discovered that the crafty ambassadors were 
 their near neighbors, and were called upon to 
 come to their defence against the other inhabitants 
 of the land, who, having heard of the transaction 
 at Gilgal, had gathered together to smite their 
 principal city, Gibeon, and destroy them because 
 they had made peace with Joshua. Before the 
 walls of that mighty city, and in behalf of these 
 idolaters, because Jehovah would have his people 
 keep faith with those to whom they had vowed, 
 was fought that memorable battle, the like of 
 which was never known before or since, when, to 
 aid the cause, the laws of Nature were suspended 
 upon human intercession when Joshua said, 
 " Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, 
 moon, in the valley of Ajalon." " So the sun
 
 RIZPAH. 191 
 
 stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not 
 to go down about a whole day." 
 
 The tribes gained their inheritance, and their 
 enemies were mostly driven out of the land, but 
 in their midst ever dwelt the Gibeonites, safe from 
 molestation, though the menial services of the 
 tabernacle were performed by them, because of 
 the deceit by which they purchased their lives, 
 and they were contented to be thus reduced to 
 perpetual bondage, so they might escape the doom 
 of their neighbors. 
 
 Years passed on, and vicissitudes came to the 
 Israelites of one kind and another. Sometimes 
 they were victorious in their battles and peaceful 
 among themselves ; and, again, they fled before 
 enemies or were embroiled in civil dissensions. 
 Ever, above, caring for them, and bringing them 
 safely on through all, instructing, guiding, and 
 disciplining, sat on his throne, their mighty invis- 
 ible King. They demanded an earthly monarch, 
 and in judgment he granted their desire. In 
 judgment, and miserable in many ways, were the 
 results of his reign. f Among his other evil acts 
 not recorded, but alluded to in the history, was
 
 192 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 one of cruel treachery to the Gibeonites. " It 
 would seem that Saul viewed their possessions 
 with a covetous eye, as affording him the means 
 of rewarding his adherents, and of enriching his 
 family, and hence, on some pretence or other, or 
 without any pretence, he slew large numbers of 
 them, and doubtless seized their possessions." In 
 this wicked deed we gather that many of the 
 Israelites, and the members of Saul's family in 
 particular, had an active share, and were benefited 
 by the spoils. The Almighty beheld and took 
 cognizance, but no immediate retribution followed. 
 Towards the close of David's reign, however, 
 for some unknown reason, the whole land was 
 visited with a famine. Month after month it 
 stalked abroad, and year after year, until three 
 years of want had afflicted the chosen people. 
 At the end of that time, David, having resorted 
 to all possible means of providing food in vain, 
 began to reflect that there was meaning in the 
 visitation, and " sought the face of the Lord," to 
 inquire why he was displeased with his people. 
 The answer was explicit an(J terrible. " It is for 
 Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the
 
 RIZPAH. 193 
 
 Gibeonites." Though men forget, the Lord does 
 not. He will plead the cause of the oppressed 
 sooner or later, and though his vengeance sleep 
 long, yet will he reward, to those that deal treach- 
 ery, seven-fold sorrow. 
 
 Driven by famine, and by the expressed will of 
 Jehovah, David sent to ask of the injured people 
 what should be done to satisfy their sense of 
 justice. "And the Gibeonites said unto him, 
 We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of 
 his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man 
 in Israel. The man that consumed us, and that 
 devised against us that we should be destroyed 
 from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, 
 let seven men of his sons be delivered unto 
 us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in 
 Gibeah of Saul. Arid the king said, I will give 
 them." 
 
 Dreadful days of blood ! Fearful fiat ! which 
 though needful and just, yet invaded the sanctu- 
 ary of home so gloomily. Sad world ! in which 
 the innocent so often bear the sins of the guilty, 
 when will thy groans, ever ascending into the 
 ears of Almighty love, be heard, and bring release ? 
 17
 
 194 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 The sentence was executed. Two sons of Saul 
 by Rizpah, his inferior wife, and five of Merab 
 his eldest daughter, were delivered up and hung 
 by the Gibeonites. 
 
 Who can imagine, much less portray, the 
 mother's anguish when her noble sons were torn 
 from her for such a doom ! We do not know 
 whether Merab was living to see that day of hor- 
 ror, but Rizpah felt the full force of the blow 
 which blasted all her hopes. Her husband, the 
 father of her sons, had gone forth to battle, and 
 returned no more ; her days of happiness and 
 security had departed with his life, and now, all 
 that remained of comfort, her precious children, 
 must be put to a cruel death to satisfy the ven- 
 geance due to crimes not hers nor theirs. Wretched 
 mother ! a bitter lot indeed was thine. But the 
 Lord had spoken, and there was no reprieve. To 
 the very town where they had all dwelt under 
 their father's roof, were these hapless ones dragged, 
 and their bodies ignoiniuiously exposed upon the 
 wall until they should waste away ; a custom 
 utterly abhorrent to all humanity, and especially 
 to the Hebrews, whose strongest desire might be
 
 RIZPAH. 195 
 
 expressed in the words of the aged Barzillai, 
 " Let me die in mine own city, and be buried by 
 the grave of my father and mother." 
 
 Behold now that lone and heart-broken mother, 
 on the spot where day and night, week after week, 
 and month after month, she may be found. 
 Neither heat nor cold, distressing days nor fear- 
 ful nights, the entreaties of friends, nor the 
 weariness of watching, nor the horrifying exhibi- 
 tion of decaying humanity, could drive her from 
 her post. Upon the sackcloth, which she had 
 spread for herself upon the rock, she remained 
 " from the beginning of the harvest until the rain 
 dropped upon them out of heaven," and suffered 
 neither the birds of the air by day, nor the beasts 
 of the field by night, to molest those precious 
 remains. 0, mother's heart ! of what heroism 
 art thou capable ! Before a scene like this, the 
 bravest exploits of earth's proudest heroes fade 
 into dim insignificance. At this picture we can 
 only gaze. Words wholly fail when we would 
 comment on it. Of the agonies it reveals we can- 
 not speak. There are lessons to be learned from 
 it, and upon them we can ponder
 
 196 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE 
 
 The value which the Lord our God sets upon 
 truth is here displayed. He will have no swerv- 
 ing from the straight path of perfect fidelity to all 
 engagements and covenants. Severe and awful 
 appears his character as thus presented to us, and 
 yet it is upon this very attribute that all our hopes 
 rely. " He is not a man that he should lie, nor 
 the son of man that he should repent." If he 
 thus defends those who love him not, how safe 
 and happy may his children rest ! 
 
 The days in which Rizpah lived were dark and 
 gloomy days. The words of Samuel to Agag 
 may stand as their memorial : * ' As thy sword hath 
 made women childless, so shall thy mother be 
 childless among women." Let us be thankful 
 that we see no such direful scenes, and let us act 
 worthy of our higher lot. Let us remember, also, 
 that there is a destruction of life more terrible 
 even than that which Rizpah witnessed the de- 
 struction of the soul. If the mother's love within 
 us prompts us to half the care of the spiritual 
 life of our children, which she bestowed on the 
 decaying forms of her loved ones, He who
 
 RIZPAH. 197 
 
 rewards faithfulness will not suffer us to labor 
 in vain. 
 
 HEAR what the desolate Rizpah said, 
 As on Gibeah's rocks she watehed the dead. 
 The eons of Michal before her lay, 
 And her own fair children, dearer than they : 
 By a death of shame they all had died, 
 And were stretched on the bare rock, side by side. 
 And Rizpah, once the loveliest of all 
 That bloomed and smiled in the court of Saul, 
 All wasted with watching and famine now, 
 And scorched by the sun her haggard brow, 
 Sat mournfully guarding their corpses there, 
 And murmured a strange and solemn air ; 
 The low, heart-broken, and wailing strain 
 Of a mother that mourns her children slain : 
 
 " I have made the crags my home, and spread 
 On their desert backs my sackcloth bed ; 
 I have eaten the bitter herb of the rocks, 
 And drunk the midnight dew in my locks ; 
 I have wept till I could not weep, and the pain 
 Of my burning eye-balls went to my brain. 
 Seven blackened corpses before me lie, 
 In the blaze of the sun and the winds of the sky. 
 I have watched them through the burning day, 
 And driven the vulture and raven away ; 
 And the cormorant wheeled in circles round, 
 Yet feared to alight on the guarded ground. 
 
 17*
 
 198 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 And when the shadows of twilight came, 
 I have seen the hyena's eyes of flame, 
 And heard at my side his stealthy tread, 
 But aye at my shout the savage fled : 
 And I threw the lighted brand to fright 
 The jackal and wolf that yelled in the night. 
 
 " Ye were foully murdered, my hapless sons, 
 By the hands of wicked and cruel ones ; 
 Ye fell, in your fresh and blooming prime, 
 All innocent, for your father's crime. 
 He sinned but he paid the price of his guilt 
 When his blood by a nameless hand was spilt ; 
 When he strove with the heathen host in vain, 
 And fell with the flower of hia people slain, 
 And the sceptre his children's hands should sway 
 From his injured lineage passed away. 
 
 " But I hoped that the cottage roof would be 
 A safe retreat for my sons and me ; 
 And that while they ripened to manhood fast, 
 They should wean my thoughts from the woes of tlie past. 
 And my bosom swelled with a mother's pride, 
 As they stood in their beauty and strength by my side, 
 Tall like their sire, with the princely grace 
 Of his stately form, and the bloom of his face. 
 
 "0, what an hour for a mother's heart, 
 When the pitiless ruffians tore us apart ! 
 When I clasped their knees and wept and prayed 
 And struggled and shrieked to Heaven for aid,
 
 RIZPAH. 199 
 
 And clung to my eons with desperate strength, 
 Till the murderers loosed my hold at length, 
 And bore me breathless and faint aside, 
 In their iron arms, while my children died. 
 They died and the mother that gave them birth 
 Is forbid to cover their bones with earth. 
 
 " The barley-harvest was nodding white, 
 When my children died on the rocky height, 
 And the reapers were singing on hill and plain, 
 When I came to my task of sorrow and pain. 
 But now the season of rain is nigh, 
 The sun is dim in the thickening sky, 
 And the clouds in sullen darkness rest 
 Where he hides his light at the doors of the west. 
 I hear the howl of the wind that brings 
 The long drear storm on its heavy wings ; 
 But the howling wind and the driving rain 
 Will beat on my houseless head in vain : 
 I shall stay, from my murdered sons to scare 
 The beasts of the desert, and fowls of air." 
 
 BRYANT.
 
 BATHSHEBA. 
 
 A SUMMONS from the king ! What can it 
 mean ? What can he know of her ? She is, 
 indeed, the wife of one of his "mighty men;" 
 but though he highly esteems her husband, he 
 can have no interest in her. She meditates. 
 Her cheek pales. Can he have heard evil tid- 
 ings from the distant city of the Ammonites, and 
 would he break kindly to her news of her hus- 
 band's death ? It cannot be. Why should he 
 do this for her more than for hundreds of others 
 in like trouble ? Again she ponders, and now a 
 crimson hue mounts to her temples her fatal 
 beauty ! Away with the thought ! it is shame 
 to dwell upon it : would she wrong by so foul 
 a suspicion the Lord's anointed ? She wearies 
 herself with surmises, and all in vain. But 
 there is the command, and she must be gone. 
 The king's will is absolute. Whatever that 
 summons imports, "dumb acquiescence" is her
 
 BATHSHEBA. 201 
 
 only part. She goes forth in her youth, beauty, 
 
 and happiness. She returns 
 
 ***** 
 
 Weeks pass, and behold another message ; but 
 this time it is the king who receives, and Bath- 
 sheba who sends. What is signified in those 
 few words from a woman's hand, that can so 
 unnerve him who "has his ten thousands slain" ? 
 It is now his turn to tremble and look pate. Yet 
 a little while, and he, the man after God's own 
 heart, the chosen ruler of his people, the idol 
 of the nation, shall be proclaimed guilty of 
 a heinous and abominable crime, and shall, 
 according to the laws of the land, be subject- 
 ed to an ignominous death. He ponders now. 
 Would he had thought of all this before ! but it 
 is too late. The consequences of his ungoverned 
 passion stare him in the face and well-nigh over- 
 whelm him. Something must be done, and that 
 speedily. Pie cannot have it thus. He has 
 begun to fall, and the enemy of souls is, as ever, 
 at hand to suggest the second false and ruinous 
 step.
 
 202 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Another summons. A messenger from the 
 king to Joab. " Send me Uriah the Hittite." 
 It is peremptory ; no reasons are given, and Joab 
 does as he is bidden. Unsuspecting as loyal, 
 Uriah hastens on his way, mindful only of duty, 
 and is soon in the presence of his royal master, 
 who, always kind, is now remarkably attentive 
 to his wants and thoughtful of his interests. He 
 inquires for the commander of his forces, and of 
 the war, and how the people fare, and it would 
 almost seem had recalled him only to speak kind- 
 ly to him, and manifest his regard for the army, 
 though he had not himself led them to battle. 
 
 But, though unsuspecting and deceived, the 
 high-minded and faithful soldier cannot even un- 
 wittingly be made to answer the end for which 
 he has been summoned, and after two days he 
 returns to Joab, bearing a letter, of whose terri- 
 ble contents he little dreams, and is happy in his 
 ignorance. 
 
 Meantime Bathsheba has heard of his arrival 
 in Jerusalem, and is momentarily expecting his 
 appearance. Alas, that she ' should dread his 
 coming ! Alas, that she should shudder at every
 
 BATHSHEBA. 203 
 
 sound of approaching footsteps ! How fearful is 
 the change which has come over her since last 
 she looked on his loved face ! He is her husband 
 still, and she she is his lawful, loving wife. 
 Never was he so dear to her as now Never did 
 his noble character so win her admiration, as she 
 contemplates all the scenes of her wedded life, 
 and reviews the evidences of it in the past. 
 How happy they have been ! What bliss has 
 been hers in the enjoyment of his esteem and 
 affection ! She is even now to him, in his ab- 
 sence, the one object of tender regard and con- 
 stant thought. She knows how fondly he dwells 
 on her love, and how precious to him is the 
 beauty which first won him to her side. She is 
 the " ewe lamb which he has nourished, which 
 has drank from his own cup and lain in his 
 bosom;" she is his all. He has been long 
 away ; the dangers of the battle-field have sur- 
 rounded him, and now he is returned, alive, well; 
 her heart bounds ; she cannot wait till she shall 
 see him ; yet how can she meet him ? Ah ! 
 fatal remembrance, how bitterly it has recalled 
 her from her vision of delight ! It is not true !
 
 204 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 It cannot be true ! it is but a horrible dream ! 
 Her heart is true. She would at any moment 
 have died for him. The entire devotion of her 
 warm nature is his. She had no willing part in 
 that revolting crime. ! must she suffer as if 
 she had been an unfaithful wife ? Must she en- 
 dure the anguish of seeing him turn coldly 
 from her in some future day ? Must she now 
 meet him, and have all her joy marred by that 
 hateful secret ? Must she take part in deceiving 
 him, in imposing upon him, him, her noble, 
 magnanimous, pure-minded husband ? 0, wretch- 
 ed one ! was ever sorrow like hers ? 
 
 The day passes, and the night, and he comes 
 not. Can he have suspected the truth ? Slowly 
 the tedious hours go by, while she endures the 
 racking tortures of suspense. The third day 
 dawns, and with it come tidings that he has 
 returned to Rabbah, and his words of whole- 
 souled devotion to his duty and his God are 
 repeated in her ears. Faint not yet, strong 
 
 heart ; a far more bitter cup is in store for thee. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Bathsheba is again a wife, the wife of a king,
 
 J 
 
 BATHSIIEBA. 205 
 
 and in her arms lies her first-born son. Terrible 
 was the tempest which burst over her head, and 
 her heart will never again know aught of the 
 serene, untroubled happiness which once she 
 knew. The storm has indeed lulled, but she 
 sees the clouds gathering new blackness, and her 
 stricken spirit shrinks and faints with foreboding 
 fears. The little, innocent being which she holds 
 fondly to her bosom, which seemed sent from 
 Heaven to heal her wounds, lies panting in the 
 grasp of fierce disease. She has sent for the 
 king, and together they look upon the suffering 
 one. Full well he knows, that miserable man, 
 what mean those moans and piteous signs of dis- 
 tress, and what they betoken. He gazes on the 
 wan, anguished features of his wife, as she bends 
 over her child ; his thoughts revert hurriedly to 
 her surpassing beauty when first he saw her ; a 
 vision of the murdered Uriah flits before him ; 
 the three victims of his guilt, and the message 
 of Nathan, which he has just received the stern 
 words, " Thou art the man," bring a full and 
 realizing sense of the depth to which he has 
 fallen ; and, overwhelmed with remorse and 
 18
 
 206 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 wretchedness, he leaves the chamber to give vent 
 to his grief, to fast, and weep, and pray, in the 
 vain hope of averting the threatened judgment. 
 
 Seven days of alternate hope and fear, of 
 watching and care, have fled, and Bathsheba is 
 childless. Another wave has rolled over her. 
 God grant it be the last ! Surely she has drained 
 the cup of sorrow. She sits solitary and sad, 
 bowed down with her weight of woes, her 
 thoughts following ever the same weary track ; 
 direful images present to her imagination ; her 
 frame racked and trembling ; the heavens clothed 
 in sackcloth, and life forever divested of happi- 
 ness and delight. The king enters, and seats 
 himself beside her. And if Bathsheba is 
 changed, David is also from henceforth an 
 altered man. " Broken in spirit by the con- 
 sciousness of his deep sinfulness humbled ; in the 
 eyes of his subjects, and his influence with them 
 weakened by their knowledge of his crimes ; even 
 his authority in his own household, and his claim 
 to the reverence of his sons, relaxed by his loss 
 of character ;" filled also with fearful anticipa- 
 tions of the future, which is shadowed by the
 
 BATIISHEBA. 207 
 
 dark prophecy of Nathan ; he is from this time 
 wholly unlike what he has been in former days. 
 " The balance of his character is broken. Still 
 he is pious ; but even his piety takes an altered 
 aspect. Alas for him ! The bird which once 
 rose to heights unattained before by mortal pin- 
 ion, filling the air with its joyful songs, now lies 
 with maimed wing upon the ground, pouring 
 forth its doleful cries to God." He has scarcely 
 begun to descend the declivity of life, yet he 
 appears infirm and old. He is as one who goes 
 down to the grave mourning. Thus does he 
 seem to Bathsheba as he sits before her. But 
 there is more in David, thus humble, contrite, 
 and smitten, to win her sympathy, and even love, 
 than there was in David the absolute, and, so far 
 as she was concerned, tyrannical monarch, though 
 surrounded with splendors, the favorite of God 
 and man. A few days since, had he essayed the 
 part of comforter, she would have felt her heart 
 revolt ; but now, repentant and forgiven, though 
 not unpunished by Jehovah, she can listen with- 
 out bitterness while he speaks of the mercy of 
 the Lord which has suffered them both to live,
 
 208 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 though the law could have required their death, 
 
 and which sustains even while it chastises. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Another message by the hand of the prophet 
 to David and Bathsheba a message of peace 
 and tender consideration, a name for their new- 
 born child, the gift to them from his own hand. 
 " Call him Jedediah beloved of the Lord." 
 
 " the depth of the riches both of the wis- 
 dom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable 
 are his judgments and his ways past rinding out ! " 
 In his dealings with his sinful children, how far 
 are his ways above the ways of men ! "As the 
 heaven is high above the earth, so great is his 
 mercy towards them that fear him." He deal- 
 eth not with them after their sins ; he rewardeth 
 them not according to their iniquities ; but, know- 
 ing their frame, remembering that they are dust, 
 that a breath of temptation will carry them away, 
 pitying them with a most tender compassion, he 
 deals with them according to the everlasting, and 
 abounding, and long-suffering love of his own 
 mighty heart. Whenever those who have known 
 him best, to whom he has manifested his grace
 
 BATIISIIEBA. 209 
 
 most richly, whom he has blessed with most 
 abundant privileges, fall, in some evil hour, and 
 without reason, upo.n the slightest cause, bring 
 dishonor on his name, and give occasion to his 
 enemies to blaspheme, and incur his just judg- 
 ment, behold how he treats them. Upon the 
 first sign of contrition, the first acknowledgment 
 " I have sinned," how prompt, how free, how 
 full is the response, " The Lord also hath put 
 away thy sin ; thou shalt not die ! " No linger- 
 ing resentment, no selfish reminding of his 
 wounded honor, no thoughts but of love, warm, 
 tender, self-forgetting love and pity for his 
 sorrowing child. Even when he must resort to 
 chastisement, "his strange work," when he 
 must, for his great name's sake, raise up for 
 David evil out of his own house ; when he must, 
 before the sun, and before all Israel, show his 
 displeasure at sin ; with one hand he applies the 
 rod, and with the other pours into the bleeding 
 heart the balm of consolation, so pure, so free, 
 that his children almost feel that they could never 
 have understood his goodness but for the need of 
 his severity. When, notwithstanding the earnest 
 18*
 
 210 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 prayer of the father, he smites the child of his 
 shame, how soon does he return with a better 
 gift, a son of peace, who shall remind him 
 only of days of contrition and the favor of God, 
 a Jedediah, who shall ever be a daily witness 
 to his forgiving love ! 
 
 And to those who suffer innocently from the 
 crimes of others, how tender are the compassions 
 of our heavenly Father ! To the injured, afflict- 
 ed Bathsheba is given the honor of being the 
 mother of Israel's wisest, most mighty, and re- 
 nowned king; and she is by father and son, by 
 the prophet of the Lord, by the aspirant to the 
 throne, and by all around her ever approached 
 with that deference and confidence which her 
 truly dignified character and gentle virtues, not 
 less than her high station, demand. And while 
 not a word of reproach is permitted to be left on 
 record against her on that monument of which 
 we have before spoken, among mighty and 
 worthy names, destined to stand when many 
 of earth's wisest and greatest are forgotten, 
 with the progenitors of our Lord and Saviour, 
 is inscribed hers " who was the wife of Urias."
 
 ABIGAIL. 
 
 " PROVIDENCE is the light of history and the 
 soul of the world." All times, all nations, all 
 events are illumined by this light, and animated 
 by this soul. Ceaselessly employed, forming 
 fresh combinations, presenting new views, bring- 
 ing about perpetually changing relations, all for the 
 highest and noblest ends, Providence furnishes, 
 even in its apparently trivial operations, a study 
 most delightful and profound. When the ever- 
 shifting drama descends, from the arena on 
 which nations are the actors, to the humble 
 sphere of private life, and presents only individ- 
 ual history, the every-day incidents of mortality, 
 the conflicts, the hopes and fears, and discipline, 
 through which one immortal soul may pass in its 
 upward journey, still it is often of intense inter- 
 est, and brings forth in its progress mighty and 
 stirring issues. It links together in strange bonds 
 the destinies of prince and peasant, of noble and 
 unrefined, and unites the present to the future by
 
 212 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 subtle and almost undistinguishable threads of in- 
 terest and connection. Providence, in this world 
 of sinners, works hand in hand with grace to re- 
 store fallen man to the lost image of his Maker, 
 and, in accomplishing the mighty task, lays hold 
 on all available things, and puts to its utmost use 
 every circumstance and incident of life. "NVith 
 all-pervading energy it is found presiding over 
 the passions, and prejudices, and affections of hu- 
 manity, and pressing into its service the natural 
 affinities and instincts of our nature, causing all 
 to work more or less harmoniously toward the one 
 glorious result. " Matches are made in heaven," 
 says an old adage ; and the holy word assures us 
 that " a prudent wife is from the Lord ;" and he 
 who opens his eye to this truth as he studies his- 
 tory, or observes passing life, shall have his labor 
 amply repaid. 
 
 " There dwelt a man in Maon, whose posses- 
 sions were in Carmel ; " and those possessions 
 consisted chiefly in flocks and herds, which his 
 numerous servants cared for, at a distance, and 
 exposed to danger from the hordes of predatory 
 robbers which infested the country round Judea.
 
 ABIGAIL. 213 
 
 At the same time David, the son-in-law of the 
 king and his anointed successor, was hiding him- 
 self from Saul, and with his armed men com- 
 passed and protected the shepherds and their 
 charge, while they remained in their vicinity. It 
 seemed but natural that it should be so. David 
 did but follow the kindly impulse of a kind heart, 
 or the dictate of a manly and fearless nature, and 
 looked for no further result of the apparently 
 accidental relation which for the time existed be- 
 tween him and those he protected. Yet it was not 
 chance, but design, that threw them thus together. 
 The time of shearing came, and Nabal, as was 
 customary, made a great feast. He, however, 
 wholly neglected the injunctions which made it 
 binding on him to remember the destitute in his 
 hour of prosperity. David was now near by, 
 and suffering with his army from actual want. 
 Hearing of the festivities at Carmel, and feeling 
 a two-fold claim on the man whom he had served, 
 he sent messengers, begging him, in the most re- 
 spectful terms, to supply their necessities. He 
 did not know that Nabal was a churl, and was 
 consequently not prepared for the impatient and
 
 214 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 unkind message which was sent him in return. 
 His anger was roused. " Gird ye on every man 
 his sword," was his immediate and stern com- 
 mand to his followers. They obeyed, " and Da- 
 vid also girded on his sword," and, with thoughts 
 of vengeance in his heart, departed with four 
 hundred men for the place of the sheep-shearing. 
 " A man's heart devise th his way, but the 
 Lord directeth his steps." While David and his 
 men are thus preparing to return evil for evil, 
 the ever-watchful Providence is bringing about 
 far other issues. Scarcely had the ill-natured 
 Nabal uttered his bitter words before one of his 
 young men, justly fearing the consequences, 
 hastened to tell his mistress the exact state of 
 affairs, and urge her, as he well knew he might, 
 to take measures for preventing the evil which he 
 was sure would come out of such conduct. Na- 
 bal was a man of Belial, but his wife " was a 
 woman of good understanding, and of a beauti- 
 ful countenance." Be not surprised at the con- 
 trast in these two, kind reader. We have said 
 that Providence works to restore sinful man to 
 holiness, and for this end, not for mere earthly
 
 ABIGAIL. 215 
 
 happiness, binds together human hearts and lives, 
 and it often happens that the discipline which 
 works most effectually for this result, is secured 
 in what the world would call ill-assorted unions. 
 We think we can perceive that Abigail's charac- 
 ter was strengthened by the very unpleasant cir- 
 cumstances in which she was placed. The faults 
 of her husband called forth her excellences, and 
 the unhappiness W 7 hich must of necessity have 
 attended her marriage, doubtless led her to find 
 comfort in piety. As soon as she had heard the 
 story of the young man, with ready mind she 
 quickly devised her plan, and as promptly pre- 
 pared to put it in execution. Little dreamed 
 David of any obstacle in the way of his evil 
 design, much less of the fair vision which sud- 
 denly greeted his eyes, as he turned from the 
 "covert of the hill," and met the beautiful 
 Abigail. It is not probable that they had ever 
 met until now, but she knew in an instant who 
 stood before her, and " dismounting from her ass, 
 she hastened to pay him the reverential homage 
 due to him, alike as the anointed of the Lord and 
 the destined king of Israel ; and kneeling at
 
 216 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 his feet, addressed him in a strain so fraught 
 with the spirit of wisdom and piety, so truly 
 deferential, rising, as she proceeded, almost into 
 prophecy, that we can but wonder and admire." 
 "Not only does she with prudence and ready 
 wit deprecate the anger of David by taking 
 the trespass against him on herself, and asking 
 his forgiveness, as if it was she who had offended ; 
 but she contrives to lessen the oifence of Xabal 
 by attributing it not to malice or determined 
 enmity, but only to folly, which prevented his be- 
 ing answerable for his own actions, and therefore 
 not worthy of David's further regard." 
 
 She then appeals, in the most beautiful and 
 effective manner, to the principle of piety which 
 she knew reigned in David's heart, and with wo- 
 manly tact evinces interest and sympathy in his 
 hopes, and fears, and trials, while at the same 
 time she administers a reproof so delicate, yet so 
 just, that we have thought it may have given 
 occasion for David's recorded wish: " Let the 
 righteous smite me ; it shall be a kindness : let 
 him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent oil, 
 which shall not break my head."
 
 ABIGAIL. 217 
 
 Surprised, touched, and effectually brought to 
 his senses, David exclaims with fervor, " Blessed 
 be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this 
 day to meet me : and blessed be thy advice, and 
 blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from 
 coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself 
 with my own hand. For in very deed, as the 
 Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me 
 back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted 
 and come to meet me, surely by the morning 
 light there had not been one left to Nabal." 
 
 David turned back, a wiser man, and Abigail 
 went to her cheerless home and her brutish hus- 
 band. Her trials were severe, but they were 
 speeding to their termination. It was useless to 
 say anything to Nabal that night, overcome as he 
 was with feasting and drunkenness, but in the 
 morning she told him, as she. felt it her duty, all 
 she had done. His days and his crimes were 
 numbered. " These crimes came not indeed un- 
 der the head of great delinquencies ; they were 
 those petty sins of stingy selfishness, and an ag- 
 gravating, disobliging temper, which grow upon 
 us unconsciously, and we scarcely know their 
 19
 
 218 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 influence till some awful stroke of judgment 
 awakens us to what we might have been, and to 
 what we are. His wife's narrative was this 
 awakening stroke toNabal." When he heard it, 
 "his heart died within him, and he became as a 
 stone." Ten days after, he was a dead man, and 
 David once more exclaimed, " Blessed be the 
 Lord." 
 
 The tie which binds souls together who have 
 aided each other in their Christian course, is one 
 of the strongest known on earth. We never for- 
 get those who have turned our feet from the 
 paths of sin, and David remembered with grati- 
 tude his sudden and strange interview with 
 Abigail in the " rocky defile of Carmel." His 
 heart turned toward her when he heard of Nabal's 
 death, and he sent messengers to her, and she 
 became his wife, and was the mother of his son 
 Daniel. There was, indeed, another to share her 
 husband's love, but doubtless she saw days of such 
 happiness as she had never before experienced, 
 " though in worldly state and earthly possessions 
 David could not compare with her former hus- 
 band." She became the companion of his wan-
 
 ABIGAIL. 219 
 
 tiering and dangerous life, and was among those 
 who were taken captive by the Amalekites, when 
 they pillaged Ziklag in the absence of the men 
 of war. The account is deeply affecting. Sent 
 back by Achish, David and his men returned to the 
 city, "and, behold, it was burned with fire; and 
 their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, 
 were taken captives. ; Then David and the people 
 that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, 
 until they had no more power to weep." How 
 fared it with their sorrowing wives ? How did 
 Abigail bear up in that sad flight from her home, 
 her husband afar, no hope of return, everything 
 to terrify and afflict, only slavery and anguish 
 and dishonor before her ? Was she able to put 
 her usual confidence in Israel's God ? His prov- 
 idence, which had hitherto watched over her, 
 was working still. Was it not he who caused the 
 Philistines to distrust their Hebrew allies, and sent 
 them in that critical moment to the rescue ? Was 
 it not he AV!IO so ordered it that the poor Egyp- 
 tian should faint and sicken, and be left by the 
 way, that he might guide them to the camp of 
 their foes ? " And David recovered all that the
 
 220 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Amalekites had carried away ; and David rescued 
 his two wives. And there was nothing lacking 
 to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor 
 daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they 
 had taken to them. David recovered all." 
 
 We are not told how long Abigail lived, nor 
 can we glean anything of interest concerning her 
 son. As she had shared David's wanderings and 
 sorrows, she also had part in his triumph. When 
 he took up his abode, at the command of God, in 
 Hebron, and was anointed king, she was with 
 him, and we cannot doubt that she was ever to 
 him a faithful and wise counsellor, as well as a 
 loving wife. 
 
 Her history is instructive and interesting. Tier 
 " beautiful countenance " may have won David's 
 admiration, but her "good understanding" se- 
 cured his esteem, and her piety drew on her his 
 fervent blessing. The care of our heavenly Father 
 for his creatures, and his hand in the smallest 
 events, are strikingly displayed in their union, and 
 in the circumstances which brought it to pass. 
 Would we might learn in all things to commit 
 our way unto him !
 
 THE MOTHER OF REHOBOAM. 
 
 IN our brief account of Bathsheba, we men- 
 tioned that Solomon, her second son, was, by a 
 message from God himself, to be named " Jede- 
 diah beloved of the Lord." Toward this child, 
 so given, and so named, we might reasonably sup- 
 pose the hearts of both David and Bathsheba 
 would turn with peculiar interest and affection ; 
 and we are not surprised at the many proofs that 
 this was the fact, and that his education was of 
 the greatest importance in their eyes. " I was 
 my father's son," says he, in the latter years of 
 his life, " tender and only beloved in the sight of 
 my mother ; " and goes on to repeat the instruc- 
 tions lavished upon him. We are, however, par- 
 ticularly interested in his testimony to his mother's 
 faithful counsels, recorded in the last chapter of 
 the Proverbs, in which he gives us " the words of 
 king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught 
 him." We cannot here repeat those wise in- 
 structions, but we beg our readers to open the 
 19*
 
 222 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 book and scan them closely, and see if they do 
 not discern in them a mother's instinctive persua- 
 sion of her son's besetting weakness, even in early 
 life betraying itself, and a mother's yearning de- 
 sire to save him from a course which she feared, 
 and justly, would ultimately prove his ruin. 
 How earnestly, and in what glowing terms, does 
 she descant on the excellences of a virtuous wife 
 and the delights of true domestic bliss ! Contrast 
 for a moment the caustic and bitter, descriptions 
 which he himself gives of those in whom he 
 chose to place his trust, despite his mother's 
 warnings, and whose fascinations he found "more 
 bitter than death," with this most beautiful set- 
 ting forth of true womanly attractions and worth. 
 Alas for him ! King Solomon, with his surpass- 
 ing wisdom, proved himself, in one most impor- 
 tant particular, the fool he so often describes as 
 despising instruction and hating reproof. He 
 followed his own devices, and gathered about him 
 a thousand wives, among whom, he tells us, he 
 found not one true woman, and when he would 
 describe such an one, unable to do it from his own 
 experience, he is forced to recall his mother's
 
 THE MOTHER OF REHOBOAM. 223 
 
 words, spoken to him in the days of his youth, 
 thereby exalting one whom he always delighted 
 to honor, though at his own expense. " Doubt- 
 less there were, among those he called by the 
 sacred name of wife, many, who, if he had chosen 
 one of them alone, and bound his heart to hers 
 in true marriage, would have blessed him with 
 woman's devoted and faithful love. But no 
 woman could give her whole heart for the thou- 
 sandth part of a man's. And no man who 
 divides his affections among a thousand can know 
 the blessedness of loving only one." 
 
 Solomon, so far as we can learn, had only one 
 son, and it appears to us a judgment of Heaven 
 that it should have been so, especially as that son 
 was such an one as to cause him to exclaim, in 
 bitterness of spirit, as he contemplated the glory 
 of his kingdom, and remembered who should 
 inherit it, "I hated all my labor which I had 
 taken under the sun, because I should leave it 
 unto the man that shall be after me. And who 
 knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool ? 
 Yet he shall have rule over all my labor wherein 
 I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself
 
 224 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 wise under the sun." Read faithfully the account 
 given of the imbecile and evil-minded Rehoboam, 
 and you will not wonder at the mournful forebod- 
 ings of the father's heart. Through forty years 
 he had counselled and instructed and warned him 
 in vain. How earnestly he entreats him to " seek 
 wisdom," to " cry after knowledge," to search 
 for understanding, and how fruitless his exhorta- 
 tions ! Well was it for him that his eyes closed 
 to earthly scenes before the folly and crimes of 
 this only son dismembered his fair kingdom, dis- 
 persed his people, and scattered his vast treasures 
 to the winds. 
 
 " Why was it thus ? " is often asked. " Why 
 should so wise a father have had so foolish a son ? " 
 As well ask why example is ever a more effective 
 teacher than precept. As well inquire why the 
 education of our children is advancing more surely 
 and constantly under the influences we are uncon- 
 sciously exerting upon them, than under those we 
 bring designedly to bear. How could the son of 
 the man, who, though he uttered three thousand 
 proverbs, and sung songs a thousand and five ; 
 who wrote on all known species of plants, "from
 
 THE MOTHER OF REHOBOAM. 225 
 
 the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth 
 out of the wall of beasts, of fowls, of creeping 
 things and of fishes ; " whose wisdom the queen of 
 Sheba came to hear, was yet so weak as to have 
 his heart turned from the living God by strange 
 women, be otherwise than foolish ? But if this 
 be not reason enough, we can look further. " We 
 hear," it is said, " of foolish sons having wise 
 fathers, and of foolish fathers having wise sons, 
 but rarely of a wise son having had a foolish 
 mother." 
 
 Who, then, was Rehoboam's mother ? The 
 simple record of Scripture is, " Naamah, an Am- 
 monitess." Brief, but emphatic. Her history, 
 as we glean by diligent searching, is this : Solo- 
 mon, as early as in his eighteenth year, before the 
 death of his father and mother (and the fact is 
 significant, taken in connection with their counsel 
 to him, and evident fears concerning him), mar- 
 ried a daughter of the hated and hating Ammon- 
 ites, and before he was twenty was a father his 
 only son called her mother. She was a descend- 
 ant of those who refused needed assistance to the 
 Israelites on their weary march from Egypt ; and
 
 22G THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 not only so, but hired Balaam, the son of Peor, 
 to curse them as they passed, for which unkind- 
 ness Jehovah commanded, "An Ammonite shall 
 not enter into the congregation of the Lord." 
 " Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their pros- 
 perity all their days forever." It was the Am- 
 monites against whom Jephthah fought, and for 
 victory over whom he sacrificed his daughter. It 
 was the Ammonites who abused David's messen- 
 gers, whose royal city, Kabbah, Joab besieged so 
 long, and the inhabitants of whose towns David 
 put to torture. The malignant, and bitter, and 
 scoffing enemies of Israel, ever on the watch to 
 afflict and terrify the chosen people, they were 
 found, at all times during their history, ready to 
 mock and taunt and hinder their peace, and 
 brought down upon themselves at last the most 
 fearful imprecations of Jehovah. " Behold, the 
 days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an 
 alarm of war to be heard in Kabbah of the Am- 
 monites, and it shall be a desolate heap, and her 
 daughters shall be burned with fire." " Son of 
 man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and 
 prophesy against them : Hear the word of the
 
 THE MOTHER OF REUOBOAM. 227 
 
 Lord God : thus saith the Lord God ; Because 
 thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary when it 
 was profaned ; and against the land of Israel 
 when it was desolate ; and against the house of 
 Judah when they went into captivity ; behold, 
 therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the 
 east for a possession. And I will make Kabbah 
 a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couch- 
 ing place for flocks ; and ye shall know that I am 
 the Lord." 
 
 So abhorrent to Jehovah were the people from 
 whom Solomon chose his wife, the mother of his 
 son. And to that wife he gave heed more than 
 to the law of his God. He did, indeed, build a 
 magnificent temple to the worship of the Eternal, 
 and offered at its dedication one of the most sub- 
 lime prayers ever poured forth from mortal lips ; 
 but then, weakest, most inconsistent of men that 
 he was, he erected on "the hill which was before 
 Jerusalem" a high place for Moloch, the abomi- 
 nation of Ammon, that his idolatrous wife might 
 offer sacrifices and burn incense to her god. Is it 
 at all surprising that Rehoboam " prepared not 
 his heart to seek the Lord ? " that he forsook the
 
 228 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 wise counsel of his father's friends, and adhered 
 to that of vain, ignorant persons, like himself? 
 Is it strange that he only served Jehovah from 
 fear, and forsook him when he felt himself secure ? 
 Is it at all to be wondered at, that, in his days, 
 " Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and 
 provoked him to jealousy with their sins, and built 
 them high places, and images, and groves, on 
 every high hill and under every green tree " ? 
 
 It would be interesting to inquire, had we time, 
 what was the nature of that worship which Reho- 
 boam's mother offered to this idol, known under 
 three names, Moloch, Melcom, and Milcom, and 
 there are many points which we would like to 
 touch upon, but cannot. We once more entreat 
 our readers not to be satisfied for a moment with 
 these meagre sketches, but to "search the Scrip- 
 tures " for themselves. They will not lose their 
 reward. 
 
 There are lessons of deep interest to take 
 home to our hearts from the lives of those we 
 have been considering. The first is to " wait for 
 the Lord." How dark, and long, and tedious, 
 must have seemed the years of Solomon's reign to
 
 THE MOTHER OF REHOBOAM. 229 
 
 the truly spiritual souls among the Israelites ! 
 Notwithstanding the outward glory and magnifi- 
 cence, they knew that rottenness and corruption 
 worked within. No good could come to Israel, 
 when those who were his bitter enemies had more 
 influence at court than any others. How strange 
 it still appears to many that the Almighty should 
 have borne, through forty years, the disobedience 
 and follies and crimes of one whom he had so 
 richly gifted, and from whom he had withheld no 
 earthly good. He sees not as man sees. Even 
 for this end was Solomon raised up, that he might 
 present to all coming ages the spectacle of the 
 most elevated, most powerful, wisest, richest of 
 men, searching for happiness in the things beneath 
 the sun ; trying, and having the ability, and the 
 means to try, to his heart's content, every source 
 of earthly gratification, and forced to write on all 
 "vanity, and vexation of spirit," and to come 
 humbly and penitently, through a most bitter ex- 
 perience, to the conviction, at last, that " to fear 
 God and keep his commandments " is the only 
 way of safety and peace to man. Ye who have 
 sons and daughters who are not satisfied with your 
 20
 
 230 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 assurance that you have tried the way of the world, 
 and found it vanity, but who wish to prove it 
 themselves ; who, in their small way, are bent on 
 working out anew King Solomon's problem, " wait 
 on the Lord and be of good courage." The end 
 is not yet. " Great and singular is the honor 
 which God has set upon patient waiting for him. 
 Man, seeing not as God sees, sets higher value 
 upon his fellows' active works the bright deeds 
 of days and hours. God values these also ; but he 
 does not assign them the same preeminence as man 
 does ; he does not allow them any preeminence 
 over that constant and long-enduring struggle with 
 the risings of the natural mind, which is evinced 
 in long and steady waiting, under all discourage- 
 ments, for him, in the assured conviction that he 
 will come at last for deliverance and protection, 
 although his chariot wheels tarry long." His 
 plans are far-reaching ; and although you long for 
 the immediate conversion and present usefulness 
 of your children, he may see that, as in Solomon's 
 case, the long, and tardy, and difficult process, 
 and the final reluctant confession and return, shall
 
 THE MOTHER OF REIIOBOAM. 231 
 
 work in more and better ways for the good of his 
 kingdom. Therefore learn " to labor and to 
 wait." 
 
 But there is yet another lesson to the young, 
 who are starting forth upon the paths of life, and 
 are unwilling to profit by the experience, or 
 accept the counsels, of their parents and friends. 
 Although you may have the satisfaction of follow- 
 ing your own chosen way through many years, 
 and by the grace of God at last be saved, so as 
 by fire, you cannot repair the wrong which such 
 a course will do to those dependent on you. Sol- 
 omon might have learned the lesson of fearing 
 God from his father, and might have been per- 
 suaded by his mother's affectionate entreaties to 
 choose a virtuous wife. Then, instead of the dis- 
 appointment and anguish he suffered from seeing 
 his son foolish and impious, and having the judg- 
 ments of God denounced upon him ; dying in dis- 
 grace, and dishonor, and disappointment ; he 
 might have been blessed with woman's true love, 
 obedient children, and a long-continued posterity 
 upon the throne of his father. No late repentance
 
 232 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 could possibly accomplish for others what an 
 upright and consistent life would have done. 
 Therefore the wicked Rehoboam lived and died 
 the monument of his father's sin, and of his 
 mother's hatred to the God of the Israelites.
 
 THE MOTHER OF ABIJAH. 
 
 THE following beautiful account is from Dr. 
 Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations, which we copy 
 as being far before anything we could say, and 
 which covers all the ground. And we take occa- 
 sion here to urge our readers to make themselves 
 familiar with the writings of this noble scholar, 
 and benefactor of all Bible students. 
 
 " This quiet place apart, among the enclosing 
 hills, is Shiloh. It was once the seat of the 
 Lord's tabernacle, his altar, and his ark, and was 
 then replete with holy activities and solemn 
 sounds. But, since these departed, it has been 
 well-nigh forsaken, and has relapsed into a silent 
 village, or small rural town. Yet still holy 
 things are here holy men, who have found here 
 a sort of refuge from the wickedness of the time 
 a quiet retreat, favorable to sacred memories, 
 and to the nourishment of holy thoughts. Among 
 them is Abijah, that old prophet who rent the 
 20*
 
 234 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 new cloak of Jeroboam, and promised him the 
 largest share of the divided kingdom. He is 
 now blind. Upon the outer world, made foul by 
 man's abominations, he has closed his eyes, and 
 sees and lives by the light that shines within. 
 
 " Now observe that woman stealing down the 
 street, and seeking the old prophet's house. By 
 her guise she is of the peasantry, and she bears 
 a basket. Yet her gait scarcely befits her garb ; 
 and the quick, furtive glance she casts around 
 her, her coarse hood-veil, betray some conscious 
 concealment, some fear of recognition, some pur- 
 pose she would not wish to have known. 
 
 " This woman, mean as she seems, is the lady 
 of the land ; and, although her basket contains 
 but a few cakes and biscuit, and a little honey, 
 she might, if she pleased, have filled it with 
 precious and costly things. She is the wife of 
 Jeroboam as far as we know, his only wife 
 the mother of his heir; and, therefore, if he had 
 a score of wives, the chief of them all. That 
 heir, by name Abijah, is alarmingly ill ; and, at 
 the instance of Jeroboam, and impelled by moth- 
 erly love, that royal lady has come all the way
 
 THE MOTHER OF ABIJAH. 235 
 
 from Tirzah, in this disguise, that she may learn 
 from the prophet what is to become of her son ; 
 and the things in her basket are gifts for the man 
 of God, suited to the condition she had assumed. 
 The disguise was thought necessary to conceal 
 this visit from the people, and partly in the idle 
 hope of obtaining, in the semblance of another, 
 the desired answer, unmixed with the reproof 
 and denunciation which Jeroboam knew that his 
 conduct had been calculated to draw down from 
 the prophet who had foretold his exaltation. He 
 thus foolishly thought to coerce the Lord, through 
 his prophet, out of an answer of peace, and 
 slyly to evade the judgment he feared might be 
 connected with it ; and he idly calculated that 
 the prophet, whose view could extend into the 
 future, hid in the counsels of God, could not see 
 through a present matter wrapped up only in the 
 thin cover of a woman's hood. 
 
 " All this fine contrivance was blown to pieces 
 the moment the wife of Jeroboam crossed Abi- 
 jah's threshold ; for then she heard the voice of 
 the blind prophet 'Come in, thou wife of 
 Jeroboam ; why feignest thou thyself to be an-
 
 236 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 other ? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.' 
 He then broke forth in a strong tide of denuncia- 
 tion against Jeroboam, because he had sinned, and 
 made Israel to sin ; and the voice which had pro- 
 claimed his rise from a low estate to royal power, 
 now, with still stronger tone, proclaimed the down- 
 fall and ruin of his house quenched in blood 
 its members to find tombs only in the bowels of 
 beasts and birds. There was one exception 
 only one. The youth of whom she came to in- 
 quire, he only should come to his grave in peace, 
 by dying of his present disease, because in him 
 only was * found some good thing towards the 
 Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.' 
 
 " Woful tidings these for a mother's heart ; 
 and scarcely, perhaps, intelligible to her stunned 
 intellect. Here was a beginning of judgment 
 upon Jeroboam, and upon her, because she was 
 his. Judgment in taking away the only well- 
 conditioned and worthy son ; and judgment stored 
 up in and for the ill-conditioned ones who were 
 suffered to remain. God, when it suits the pur- 
 pose of his wisdom and his justice, can afflict no 
 less by what he spares than by what he takes.
 
 THE MOTHER OF ABIJAII. 237 
 
 "Yet there was mercy in his judgment; 
 mercy, strange as it seems to say, to him on 
 whom the sentence of death was passed. It is 
 so stated ; and it is more intelligible than it 
 seems. It was because there was some good 
 thing found in him that he should die. Death 
 was to be for him a reward, a blessing, a deliver- 
 ance, lie should die peaceably upon his bed ; 
 for him all Israel should mourn ; for him many 
 tears be shed, and he should be brought with 
 honor to his tomb. More than all, he would be 
 taken from his part in the evil that hung over 
 his house, and the Lord's vindicatory justice 
 would thus be spared the seeming harshness of 
 bringing ruin upon a righteous king for his 
 father's crimes. Alas ! how little do we know 
 the real objects of the various incidents of life 
 and death of mercy, of punishment, and of 
 trial ! In this case the motives are disclosed ; 
 and we are suffered to glance upon some of the 
 great secrets of death, which form the trying 
 mysteries of life. Having the instance, we can 
 find the parallels of lives, full of hope and prom- 
 ise, prematurely taken, and that in mercy, we
 
 238 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 can judge, to those who depart. The heavenly 
 Husbandman often gathers for his garner the 
 fruit that early ripens, without suffering it to 
 hang needlessly long, beaten by storms, upon the 
 tree. 0, how often, as many a grieved heart 
 can tell, do the Lord's best beloved die betimes, 
 taken from the evil to come, while the unripe, the 
 evil, the injurious, live long for mischief to them- 
 selves and others ! Roses and lilies wither far 
 sooner than thorns and thistles. 
 
 "Doleful were the tidings which the disguised 
 princess had to bear back to the beautiful town 
 of Tirzah. All remoter griefs were, probably, 
 to her swallowed up in this, which rung contin- 
 ually in her ears in all her homeward way: 
 ' When thy feet enter into the city the child 
 shall die.' It is heavy tidings to a mother that 
 she must lose her well-beloved son ; but it is a 
 grievous aggravation of her trouble that she 
 might not see him before he died. They who 
 were about him knew not that he was to die 
 to-day, and, therefore, could not estimate the 
 preciousness of his last hours, and the privilege 
 of being there near him, and of receiving his
 
 THE MOTHER OF ABIJAII. 239 
 
 embrace. She knew ; and she might not be 
 near, nor pour out upon her dying son the ful- 
 ness of a mother's heart. Knowing that her son 
 lay on his death-bed, her first impulse must have 
 been to fly home to receive his dying kiss, but 
 her second, to linger by the way, as if to pro- 
 tract that dear life which must close the moment 
 she entered the city. Never, surely, before or 
 since, was a distressed mother so wofully torn 
 between the contrary impulses of her affection ! 
 
 "At last her weary steps reached the city, 
 and as she entered its gates her son died, and 
 she was only just in time to press to her arms the 
 heart still warm, although it had ceased to beat."
 
 JEZEBEL. 
 
 ALAS, that a name which has descended to 
 us so covered with reproach, which has become a 
 proverb, an epithet most odious, must be num- 
 bered and enrolled in our list of mothers ! Alas, 
 that to one so evil should have been permitted 
 sacred maternal ties ! Alas, that sweet, ductile 
 infancy and childhood should ever have been in- 
 trusted to hands so profane ! 
 
 We shrink from the task imposed upon us, of 
 portraying a character which becomes more re- 
 volting the deeper we study into it, which amazes 
 us by its utter deformity, and seems to have no 
 redeeming traits. 
 
 It has been said that Jezebel sat for the pic- 
 ture which Shakspeare has drawn of Lady Mac- 
 beth ; but, if it be so, Nature's unrivalled por- 
 trait-painter, for once, fell far short of his 
 original. He does, indeed, make his heroine, 
 "burning with unquenchable desire to bear the 
 name of queen," cherish horrible imaginings un-
 
 JEZEBEL. 241 
 
 til she fancies she can dare and do. But Jezebel's 
 cold, cruel nature needs no such working up. 
 The daughter and wife of a king, and mother of 
 kings and queens, no such bauble as a crown 
 attracts her ; but, if it did, she would find a way 
 to gain it, nor scruple at the means. The lady 
 of the drama invokes with brave words, 
 
 " Come, you spirits 
 
 That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
 And fill me, from crown to the toe, top full 
 Of direst cruelty " 
 
 yet shrinks appalled from the resemblance to her 
 father in the sleeping Duncan, and faints when 
 she finds her husband has added the murder of 
 the chamberlains to that of the king. In Jeze- 
 bel we vainly look for one womanly relenting, 
 one gentle weakness to soften the hard lines of 
 more than masculine firmness. To accomplish 
 her fell purposes she can deliberately attempt the 
 extirpation from Israel of every prophet of Jeho- 
 vah, nor shrink one moment from its execution. 
 She can look calmly on while famine stalks gaunt 
 and fearful through her husband's fair kingdom, 
 destroying every green thing, and turning to a 
 21
 
 242 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 barren waste the rich and fertile fields, and bring- 
 ing unutterable distress on all his subjects. One 
 word of sincere repentance from her might stay 
 the desolation ; but in her judgment it would be 
 better that the whole nation perish with hunger 
 and drought than that her designs should be frus- 
 trated. She can coolly summon the innocent to 
 a mockery of judgment, and as coolly exult that 
 he is not alive, but stoned and dead. She can 
 threaten the Lord's messenger with an oath more 
 becoming a pirate's than a woman's mouth ; and 
 who for one moment doubts that she will fulfil 
 the horrible intent, if she has opportunity, or 
 supposes that any feminine delicacy, any "milk 
 of human kindness," will prevent her "playing 
 false," or "catching the nearest way" to her 
 expected end ? 
 
 The wife of the thane of Glamis urges her 
 husband on to his deed, and reproaches him with 
 his timidity. 
 
 " From this time 
 
 Such I account thy love. Art thou at'eared 
 To be the same in thine own act and valor 
 As thou art in desire ? Wouldst thou have that 
 Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
 
 JEZEBEL. 243 
 
 And live a coward in thine own esteem, 
 Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I would ' ? " 
 
 Forcible words, but yet a woman's argument. 
 Hear with what a concentration of contempt and 
 self-sufficiency, which scorns all sense of need, 
 much more, dependence on another's act, the 
 haughty queen of Israel addresses her baby hus- 
 band, whining for his neighbor's land : 
 
 " Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Is- 
 rael ? Arise and eat bread, and let thy heart 
 be merry ; I will give thee the field of Naboth 
 the Jezreelite." 
 
 When the guilty deed is done to which Mac- 
 beth and his wife have wrought themselves, and 
 conscience fills him with terrors, and he com- 
 plains pitifully of the two men who spoke to his 
 affrighted ear, in their sleep, 
 
 " One cried, ' God bless us,' and ' Amen ' the other, 
 As they had seen these hangman's hands. 
 Listening their fear, I could not say amen, 
 When they did say, ' God bless us.' 
 
 Wherefore could I not pronounce amen ? 
 I had most need of blessing, and amen 
 Stuck in my throat."
 
 244 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 She strives to answer with quiet unconcern 
 and indifference, but betrays her own inward 
 trembling : 
 
 " Consider it not so deeply, 
 These deeds must not be thought 
 After these vrays ; so it will make us mad." 
 
 And working "deeply," the thought did make 
 her mad, and rendered her nights restless, and 
 her days wretched, and finally raised her stained 
 " little hand " to the last act of self-destruction. 
 
 Would we could find one trace of conscience 
 or of introspection in the subject of our study. 
 But no such signs of better nature appear. Un- 
 awed, unmoved, she passes on alike through 
 miracles of judgment and of mercy. "Ahab can- 
 not entirely divest himself of every national 
 characteristic, or the remembrances and associa- 
 tions of his faith and his people. There still 
 cling to him some remains of the fear of the 
 'Lord God of his fathers,' some feelings of rev- 
 erence and awe for the name and worship of 
 Jehovah. No such compunctions trouble Jeze- 
 bel. When Elijah visits Ahab, the impious mon-
 
 JEZEBEL. 245 
 
 arch quails before him, and trembles at the 
 denunciations of divine wrath. Jezebel answers 
 his reproof by scorn and threats, and her men- 
 aces drive the prophet from the altar where he 
 has triumphed." Famine, blood, the fire 
 from heaven which attests Jehovah's Godhead, 
 and puts to confusion her idolatrous priests, 
 prophetic warnings, the fearful death of her 
 husband and sons, the certainty and awfulness 
 of her own doom, the remembrance of direful 
 crimes ; nothing, nothing has power for one 
 moment to awe her spirit or subdue her indomit- 
 able will. She is Jezebel to the last moment, 
 when, with painted face and tired head, and 
 scornful, taunting words, she mocks the con- 
 queror, under whose chariot wheels she is the 
 next instant crushed. 
 
 If Shakspeare attempted to delineate such a 
 character, who can blame him that he came not 
 up to that which no mortal might dare, and hope 
 to retain the reputation of being true to nature ? 
 None but he who sees not as man sees who 
 looks upon the heart, might expect to be believed 
 when testifying of one so " desperately wicked." 
 21*
 
 246 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of 
 Tyre and Sidon. The natural pride of her heart 
 was nursed from youth in that queenly city, 
 " which sat enthroned on ivory, covered with 
 blue and purple;" the merchant city, whose 
 merchants were princes, whose traffickers were 
 the honorable of the earth, whose wares, em- 
 eralds, purple and broidered work, and fine linen, 
 and coral and agate, were the desire of all 
 nations, whose king had supplied Solomon 
 with men and materials for the temple at Jerusa- 
 lem. A rival temple rose under Jezebel's in- 
 fluence at Samaria, dedicated to Baal, whose 
 worship she determined should be extended 
 throughout her husband's kingdom, whatever the 
 means which must be used to accomplish it. 
 Too well did she succeed. Ahab sold himself, 
 under her arts, to work such wickedness as was 
 never before known in Israel, and the number of 
 those who bowed not the knee to Baal was re- 
 duced, by her indefatigable efforts, to seven 
 thousand, among the millions of Israel, and these 
 so scattered and fearful, that Elijah knew not of 
 their existence.
 
 JEZEBEL. 247 
 
 As a mother, we shall have occasion to speak 
 of Jezebel hereafter. We beg our readers to 
 acquaint themselves thoroughly with this most 
 interesting period of Hebrew history, and espe- 
 cially to search out the remarkable prophecies 
 fulminated against Tyre, while then in the very 
 summit of her glory, and their more remarkable 
 fulfilment. To stimulate their curiosity, we will 
 speak of one instance. " Ships from Tyre, out 
 on a three years' voyage, returned to find the 
 city razed to the ground, which they had left, 
 and looked to find once more in the perfection 
 of beauty, giving a significance to the prophecy 
 of Isaiah not at first obvious, " Howl, ye ships 
 of Tarshish ; for it is laid waste, so that there is 
 no house, no entering in. Howl, ye ships of 
 Tarshish ; for your strength is laid waste." 
 
 0, that we could persuade the young to study 
 the Bible with diligence and interest! They 
 would soon find that it surpasses all other books, 
 and say with another, while contemplating the 
 loftiest flights of human genius, 
 
 " Great God ! when once compared with thine, 
 How mean their writings look ! "
 
 ATHALIAH. 
 
 IT is a time of almost universal rejoicing in 
 Samaria. One theme burdens every tongue, and 
 absorbs all thoughts. In the palace, sounds of 
 revelry and mirth are heard, and gorgeous sights 
 are seen. The magnificent apartments are rivalled 
 only by Tyrian splendor the ends of the earth 
 have contributed to the sumptuous entertainments 
 nor wealth nor labor have been spared to make 
 the wedding feast of the royal daughter of Israel 
 and the royal son of Judah eclipse all similar 
 feasts and scenes. 
 
 There is rejoicing in the palace. Ahab, 
 roused from his indolence and easy indifference, 
 feels unwonted satisfaction as he bestows his 
 child on the heir of Judah's crown, and hopes the 
 union will give him useful allies in the place of 
 dreaded foes, and perhaps bring the hitherto con- 
 tending tribes again under one dominion. Jeze- 
 bel rejoices. Athaliah is her only daughter, but 
 she is a child after her mother's own heart.
 
 ATHALIAH. 249 
 
 With far-seeing eye, and deep knowledge of 
 human nature, she looks into the future, and her 
 heart shrinks not from its own prophesyings. She 
 fears not, though her child is to be removed from 
 her influence and surrounded with the worship- 
 pers of Jehovah. She has sown her seed faith- 
 fully ; she has watched and watered the springing 
 shoots ; by example and precept she has trained 
 this object of her care, and she has no doubts of 
 the harvest. Her gratification is without alloy as 
 she sees her wedded to Jehoram, and hails her, 
 in anticipation, queen of Judah. 
 
 There is rejoicing in the city. Long and 
 dreary has been the separation between those 
 who were once brethren. But though bitter 
 thoughts and feelings have often been cherished, 
 the old love was not extinct, and now it is ready 
 to revive and flourish, and its fruit is joy. Now 
 all are full of hope. No more envying and strife ; 
 no more shedding of kindred blood ; union and 
 peace shall again prevail. Some, whose hearts 
 have not wholly gone after idols, are glad in the 
 hope of visiting once more the holy city, and 
 the temple of their God, and dream of returning
 
 250 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 days of gladness, such as were in the olden time, 
 and ere they are aware, find themselves singing 
 the sweet songs of Zion, and feel an exhilaration 
 of spirit to which they have long been strangers. 
 It is not so, indeed, with all. A few there are 
 whose hearts are not so sanguine who wonder if 
 direction has been asked of the Lord in this mat- 
 ter who wonder where Elijah is, and what he 
 says who have great confidence in Jehoram's 
 father, but yet dread the mingling of the two 
 courts, and the influence of Athaliah over the 
 young prince. They are few, however ; the 
 majority are filled with the most delightful hopes. 
 There is rejoicing in the groves, and high 
 places, and in the temples of Baal and Ashtaroth ; 
 wild, fearful rejoicing, and the bridal is there 
 celebrated with rites so profane, and orgies so im- 
 pious, that we attempt not their description. The 
 priests which sit at Jezebel's table enter into the 
 anticipations of their mistress. They, too, are 
 glad in the hope of a union between Israel and 
 Judah, but it is a union not for good, but for evil, 
 which they desire. They look to see Baal yet 
 enshrined in Jerusalem. They are glad in ex-
 
 ATHALIAH. 251 
 
 pectation of the overthrow of that mighty power 
 which so confounded them at Garmel. They 
 hope yet to triumph over the mocking prophet 
 who derided them in the day of their confusion. 
 They shout with new exultation as they predict 
 that the priests of Jehovah will soon share the 
 fate of their friends who perished so ingloriously 
 at Kishon. 
 
 Jehoram takes his bride to her new home. Her 
 youth, and already queenly beauty and dignity, 
 become her station well. She is welcomed and 
 prospered, and all things smile on the noble pair. 
 
 It is meet there should be rejoicing and gladness. 
 
 ****** 
 
 It is a time of woe in Jerusalem ! Mourners 
 go about the streets, and sadness sits on all coun- 
 tenances. The good Jehoshaphat is gathered to 
 his fathers. Twenty-five years he has reigned, 
 " doing that which was right in the sight of the 
 Lord," and receiving on himself and his king- 
 dom the blessing of those who serve him. He is 
 gone, and who will now stand in his place ? 
 Many times has he travelled through the land, 
 from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, to
 
 252 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 strengthen his people in the faith, and to bring 
 back many to Jehovah, the God of their fathers. 
 Who will again prove so good a shepherd to this 
 wandering flock ? Who, in the hour of peril, 
 will offer sublime and effectual prayer ? Who 
 will manifest animating and encouraging faith in 
 Jehovah, as he did, even appointing singers to go 
 before his army to keep their hearts from faint- 
 ness by praising the enduring mercy of their 
 God ? Who will now see that justice is done in 
 every fenced city and every hamlet, and enforce 
 the law of the Lord ? 
 
 Jehoshaphat is dead. Reason enough for sor- 
 row ; but this is not the sole cause of the gloom 
 which pervades the land of Judah. In untimely 
 graves, slain by a brother's hand, lie his six 
 noble sons, with many of their companions, ' ' the 
 princes of Israel; " and many homes are desolate, 
 many hearts suddenly widowed, many children 
 are fatherless, and fear falls on all. Why was 
 this deed done 1 These were inoffensive men, 
 enjoying quietly and contentedly the privileges 
 granted them by their father. Jehoram has the 
 throne. Can he not sit securely there except
 
 ATHALIAH. 253 
 
 these are put out of life ? Who instigated this 
 needless cruelty ? Alas ! Jehoram has the 
 daughter of Ahab and Jezebel for his wife, and 
 the same evil policy which has so long governed 
 in Israel now bears sway in Judah. Darkness 
 begins to gather even over the holy city and the 
 temple of Jehovah. 
 
 Years bring no changes for the better. Am- 
 bition and selfishness are the ruling principles of 
 the court. The pure worship of the living God 
 is fast being superseded by the idolatrous services 
 to Baal. Groves and high places are frequented, 
 and there is none to recall with gentle voice, and 
 kindly admonition, these straying sheep. The 
 king is their adviser to evil, and even obliges 
 them to do honor to idols. The children follow 
 the steps of their parent. " The sons of Atha- 
 liah, that wicked woman" says the sacred record, 
 "broke up the house of God, and also all the ded- 
 icated things of the house of the Lord did they 
 bestow upon Baalim." Retribution at length 
 begins. Tributary nations revolt ; but as God is 
 not sought unto against them, no divine blessing, 
 as of old, accompanies the armies, and the king 
 22
 
 254 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 fails to subdue them. Philistines, Arabians, 
 Ethiopians, combine and ravish the country, and 
 carry away even the treasures of Jehoram's house 
 and drag his children to captivity and death. 
 The hand of the Lord, whom he has forsaken, is 
 in all these calamities, and is at length laid heav- 
 ily on his own person. A loathsome and incur- 
 able disease brings him to the grave, and he 
 departs from life regretted by none, not even by 
 the wife of his youth, to whose favor and influ- 
 ence he has sacrificed his own welfare and that 
 of his kingdom ; who has been to him in the 
 place of his father's God, and whose selfish, 
 cruel nature has overborne every kindly impulse, 
 every generous and good principle, which might 
 have governed him in his younger days, when his 
 father chose to leave him successor to his throne. 
 Athaliah, unhumbled by the afflictions which 
 have befallen her, unsoftened by the sufferings of 
 her husband and children, having acted the part 
 of an evil wife, now assumes one still more re- 
 volting. Her only remaining son ascends the 
 throne of his father. He is not a boy. Forty- 
 two years have afforded him much experience and
 
 ATHALIAH. 255 
 
 instruction. The greater part of his life has been 
 spent under the benign and gracious influences 
 of his grandfather's reign, and he has seen in his 
 father's course the bitter consequences of depart- 
 ing from the Lord. Perhaps he may choose the 
 better path. Perchance, trembling at the awful 
 denunciations of divine wrath, he may be induced 
 to walk cautiously, and save himself and his peo- 
 ple. There is hope yet for Judah. Vain expec- 
 tation ! " Ahaziah walked in the ways of the 
 house of Ahab : for his mother was his counsellor 
 to do wickedly." 
 
 How great the change which has passed over 
 the chosen people since the day of that joyous 
 bridal, which was to so many the harbinger of all 
 good things ! Jehovah is forsaken. Baal is for 
 the time triumphant. In place of Zion's songs 
 are the profane shouts of idolaters, or the secret 
 groans and tears of those who mourn over the 
 desolations of the sanctuary as for the loss of a 
 first-born ! How great the change from the 
 youthful bride, to Athaliah, the wife and mother, 
 whose very name is an execration !
 
 256 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 It is a time of unmitigated horror in the land 
 of Judea. Words fail to describe it. Imagina- 
 tion shrinks, appalled, on the threshold of the 
 scene. A most bitter cup is wrung out for hun- 
 dreds of agonized hearts. In days long gone, in 
 the field of the murdered Naboth, the stern prophet 
 of the Lord had foretold to Ahab an awful scene 
 of destruction which should come upon his family 
 for his sins, and that himself should be the first 
 victim of divine vengeance. Ahab died as was 
 predicted ; but years have rolled since then, and 
 no sign of any further fulfilment of those prophet- 
 ic words has yet appeared, and those most con- 
 cerned pursue their evil way, wholly regardless 
 of them, and apparently without fear. Elijah has 
 left the earth, and can harm them no more, at 
 least, so they thought, until, mysteriously, six 
 years after his ascension, there came from his 
 hand the fearful " writing " to Jehoram, which 
 warned him of the trouble that awaited him, and 
 which was so exactly accomplished. Perhaps 
 they sometimes tremble lest they should again 
 see his hated form, or hear his terrible words. 
 Perhaps they now and then remember Elijah's
 
 ATHALIAII. 257 
 
 God, and for a moment quail. But if such 
 thoughts do visit them, they have no restraining 
 or heneficial effect. Jezebel still rules over her 
 son and his people in Israel, and Athaliah follows 
 her footsteps in Jerusalem, little dreaming of the 
 storm so soon to burst upon them. 
 
 The time has now come ! Blood flows in the 
 streets of Jezreel, and blood flows in Samaria ! 
 
 at the shearing-house in the way ; in the 
 house of Baal ; in Jerusalem ! Human life has 
 no value. Human affections are a thing of 
 naught. Nobles and princes fall by a bloody 
 executioner, and not a hand is lifted in then- 
 defence. She who was yesterday the reigning 
 queen of Israel the haughty daughter of Tyre, 
 at whose word men trembled to-day, nothing 
 can be found of her but the palms of her hands 
 and the soles of her feet ! 
 
 But of all the horrors of this awful time, those 
 enacted in Jerusalem exceed the rest. A 
 woman's hand will outdo even the blood-thirsty, 
 cold-hearted Jehu. The sudden appearance of 
 men bearing the body of her just murdered son 
 
 the destruction of all her kindred the dread- 
 
 22*
 
 258 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ful death of her mother nothing can for a mo- 
 ment turn Athaliah from her thoughts of self- 
 aggrandizement, from accomplishing her own 
 ambitious designs. She will imbrue her hands 
 in blood. She will not take the life of men, but 
 of children infants the offspring of her only 
 son those whose first lispings called her grand- 
 mother ! 
 
 We can follow her no further. We sicken at 
 the sight of such a monster sitting on the throne 
 of David. We said there appeared no redeem- 
 ing traits in Jezebel's character ; but, when com- 
 pared with her daughter, she is to be praised. 
 " Some of the feelings of the woman, the ten- 
 derness of the wife, the fondness of the mother, 
 still seem to have lingered in her proud heart. 
 Unprincipled as she was, she did not abandon 
 herself to utter selfishness. In her most atrocious 
 acts she seems to have had some regard to the 
 aggrandizement of her family, and to the gratifi- 
 cation of her husband. Athaliah is utterly selfish, 
 devoid even of the instinct of natural affection. 
 Although the depravity of Jezebel led her to 
 adopt a corrupt religion, to reject a pure and
 
 ATHALIAH. 259 
 
 holy worship, and cling to the dark and cruel 
 rites of heathenism, the voice of conscience was 
 not silenced, the light of the soul was not entire- 
 ly extinguished. She felt the need of some faith : 
 she clung to the altars of her gods. But Athaliah 
 seerns to have sunk into the brutishness of those 
 who own * no God.' She seems to have tram- 
 pled on all faith, as she violated all obligation. 
 She had high mental endowments ; she had a 
 powerful will and strong passions, but she had no 
 affections. There have been many Jezebels, but 
 few Athaliahs." 
 
 The children of both these mothers were such 
 as we should expect, save only one, Jehosheba, 
 the daughter of Athaliah, and wife of Jehoidah 
 the high priest. She, in the day of her mother's 
 insane cruelty, saved alive her brother's infant 
 son, and in the sacred recesses of the temple 
 acted toward him a mother's part, and, with her 
 excellent husband, trained him up in the fear of 
 the Lord. It is refreshing to turn the thoughts 
 to her and her charge during these gloomy years. 
 Her trials must have been severe. Her pure 
 spirit must have been sorely afflicted, and we
 
 260 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 think she must have been relieved when the 
 gloomy tragedy ended in the death of her moth- 
 er, violent though it was, as she knew it must 
 be. Of the days in which Jezebel and AthaHah 
 lived we have yet more to say.
 
 THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH. 
 
 BAAL has almost triumphed in Israel. Ahab 
 is yet alive and unreformed ; Jezebel, his impi- 
 ous consort, is still mad upon her idols ; the 
 prophets are prophesying lies ; the priests are 
 bearing rule by their means, and the people love 
 to have it so. Desolating drouth and famine 
 from Jehovah afflict the tribes who have wan- 
 dered so grievously, and extend into all the sur- 
 rounding country. Distress and death are in 
 many households, and even ignorant idolaters 
 begin to tremble at the displeasure of the He- 
 brew God, though neither they nor Israel are 
 prepared to propitiate him by repentance and 
 
 obedience. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Twilight is beginning to gather over the inhab- 
 itants of a small town in the borders of Sidon, 
 and with the twilight a deeper gloom than any 
 night could bring. Gaunt figures move languid- 
 ly about ; despairing tones fall sadly on the ear ;
 
 262 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 animation, vigor, joy, seem to have fled from 
 every countenance ; even childhood has lost its 
 " birthright of gladness," and moans take the 
 place of songs. Nature around sympathizes with 
 this universal dreariness. Not a green thing is 
 to be seen. The parched, baked earth gives a 
 sound under every footstep ; the rain of the 
 land is powder and dust. No placid lake, no 
 sparkling rill, refreshes the eye ; no murmur of 
 flowing waters is heard. Men have ceased to 
 look upward with hopeful glances, and the ques- 
 tion has not been put for a long time, "Are there 
 any signs of rain ? " Every morning the sun 
 lifts his undiinmed eye as if to gaze in mocking 
 joy upon the scene, and sends his scorching rays 
 pitilessly down through the long hours, not once 
 halting in his course, nor seeking for a moment 
 his pavilion of clouds ; and his parting look, as 
 he sinks to his rest at night, red with his fiery 
 march, but promises another morrow like this 
 day, only more terrible. From the hill-sides is 
 heard the sound of lowing herds and bleating 
 sheep, and groups of men come slowly and sadly 
 from a vain search for greener pastures and water
 
 THE WIDOW OF ZAREPI1ATII. 263 
 
 wherewith to stay the thirst of their suffering 
 cattle. Lord God Almighty, who can stand be- 
 fore thy judgments ! 
 
 As the twilight deepens, a female form is seen, 
 with wan countenance and languid steps, emerging 
 from a small cottage. She wanders slowly on, 
 gathering dried sticks in her hand, when she is 
 suddenly accosted by a stranger with the earnest 
 request, " Bring me, I pray thee, a little water 
 in a vessel, that I may drink." The tone is one 
 of distress, and she looks up to see from whom 
 it comes. A man of dark, stern aspect, clothed 
 in skins, with a staff in his hand, stands before 
 her, evidently worn and weary with long travel, 
 and suffering from want. A glance is sufficient 
 to inform her whence he comes, though she has 
 never before seen him. None in all that region 
 can be ignorant of the minutest particulars of 
 the appearance of Elijah, the terrible prophet of 
 Jehovah, for whom Ahab has searched every 
 kingdom and country, that he might destroy him. 
 Why is he here, so far from his friends, and in 
 the land of his deadliest foes ? Comes he peace- 
 ably, or with further denunciations of vengeance
 
 264 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 against the followers of Baal ? She knows not 
 asks not. Moved by his need and by an un- 
 seen influence, she returns at his request to bring 
 him a portion of the precious beverage which 
 still remains to her. As she is about to enter 
 the house, he again addresses her. " Bring me, 
 I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand." 
 This is beyond her power. She now speaks, and 
 the whole story of her own woes finds utterance 
 in few but expressive words. " As the Lord 
 thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful 
 of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse ; 
 and, behold, I am gathering two sticks that I 
 may go in and dress it for me and my son, that 
 we may eat it and die." Despair is in her tones 
 and her countenance. She seems to expect no 
 deliverance ; but Elijah has now for her words 
 of cheer. " Fear not : go and do as thou hast 
 said ; but make me a little cake first, and bring 
 it unto me, and after make for thee and thy sou. 
 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel 
 of meal shalt not waste, neither shall the cruse 
 of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth 
 rain upon the earth."
 
 THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH. 265 
 
 The drouth still continues, and men's hearts 
 fail them, and human beings and beasts perish ; 
 but, in the dwelling of the widow, comfort from 
 this time reigns. Morning, noon, and night, she 
 finds the handful of meal in the barrel and the 
 little oil in the cruse. It does not increase. No 
 quantity at any time assures her of a supply for 
 days to come, or raises her above the need of 
 faith. Neither does it waste, nor fail. She 
 takes what she needs, and there is always a little 
 still remaining. 
 
 " So, perhaps, thou, Christian, wilt not receive 
 any superabundance of believing joyfulness, so 
 as to be enabled to shout for joy in the furnace 
 of affliction ; but rest assured of the faithfulness 
 of thy God, that he will uphold thy faith. This 
 thy compassionate High Priest has implored for 
 thee, as well as for his apostle Peter ; and he 
 will daily supply thee with so much patience, by 
 daily renewing it, that although thou mayest 
 occasionally doubt and droop, thou shalt never 
 despair or perish." 
 
 Two years pass, and Elijah resides with the 
 widow of Zarephath in peaceful seclusion. She 
 23
 
 266 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 attends to his temporal wants, and he instructs 
 her in the word of the Lord. For the first time 
 she now learns the truth that there is one only 
 living and true God, and understands how just is 
 his displeasure towards those who worship images 
 their own hands have made, or the sun and the 
 moon, which are his creatures. Conscience is 
 awakened in her breast. She is taught his claims 
 upon herself; and her own individual responsibil- 
 ity, as one whom he has created and sustains, is 
 brought to bear upon her. She is enlightened 
 day by day ; and when, at last, her only son 
 sickens and dies, the work of conviction is com- 
 plete. She draws immediately her own conclu- 
 sions, and bitter indeed to her soul they are. 
 Israel departs from the Lord, and dreadful famine 
 is sent in punishment. She, on whom he has 
 bestowed all the blessings of life, has never 
 known or worshipped him ; and, though in- 
 structed by his prophet, she has been slow to 
 believe, and now her punishment has come. She 
 has seen her child, her only and most precious 
 one, die before her eyes. She is alone in the 
 world, and to her own ingratitude and sinfuliiess
 
 THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH. 2G7 
 
 she must lay her sorrow. Her whole life rises 
 up before her, and seems to her still ignorant 
 mind to have been just recalled to the mind of 
 Jehovah. She trembles. She wishes Elijah had 
 never come under her roof. She might then 
 have lived on unremembered. By a most com- 
 mon development of human nature, her goaded 
 feelings find expression in reproaches against 
 another, though the turmoil is within herself. 
 
 Elijah pities from his inmost heart this friend 
 who has shown so much kindness to him in his 
 need, and, taking her dead child from her, goes 
 to his chamber; and there transpires the scene 
 which is familiar to all Bible readers, and is most 
 sublime, even incomprehensible to our weak faith, 
 the result of which restored to the afflicted widow 
 her child and sealed her an heir of the Covenant, 
 and so accomplished one end which was intended 
 in his sojourn in the land of idolaters. 
 
 The widow of Zarephath is one of six or more 
 mothers mentioned in the Bible, in whose behalf 
 miracles were performed, and, in every instance, 
 to save the life of their children. How much 
 more will our heavenly Father be willing to give
 
 268 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 us the eternal salvation of the dear ones for whom 
 we pray ! 
 
 There are volumes of instruction in this short 
 narrative. The situation of Israel during those 
 years the trial of Elijah's faith the career 
 of Ahab and his family the results of God's 
 dealings with this humble woman, all draw 
 forth our meditations, and are deeply interesting. 
 We advise our readers to study Dr. Krummacher's 
 "Elijah the Tishbite," and promise them, in so 
 doing, as refreshing a draught as was the cup of 
 cold water the prophet received at the widow's 
 hand when he stopped at her door after his long 
 walk from Cherith.
 
 THE SHUNAMITE. 
 
 JEIIORAM, the son of Ahab, reigns in Israel. 
 Elijah has gone from his earthly trials, and en- 
 tered on the heavenly rest not dying alone 
 under the juniper tree, as he once begged he 
 might, but borne triumphantly upward his 
 equipage a royal one his convoy, angelic 
 bands. His mantle has fallen on Elisha, who 
 now goes up and down, strengthening weak 
 hands, comforting sad hearts, instructing the 
 ignorant, warning the perverse, and prophesy- 
 ing, in the name of the Lord, of the things 
 which are to come. Like one who, in the days 
 of his flesh, " went about doing good," "hiding 
 his power," Elisha's mission was one of mercy. 
 He dealt more in loving-kindness than in re- 
 bukes, and, unlike his stern predecessor, was 
 more loved than feared. Jn his journeyings to 
 and from the various schools of the prophets, he 
 passes often through the town of Shunem, and 
 forms there a pleasant and refreshing acquaint- 
 23*
 
 270 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ance with one of the few families who still wor- 
 ship and reverence the God of their fathers, and 
 have not bowed the knee to Baal. The mistress 
 of the family first invites him to make her house 
 his resting-place, and at last, with the consent of 
 her husband, has a separate apartment built for 
 his use alone, and thus provides him a home 
 under her roof, and secures his frequent pres- 
 ence, and therewith the blessing of Jehovah. 
 What can I do for her ? is Elisha's first thought, 
 as he takes possession of the comfortable " cham- 
 ber," and sees its appliances, and appreciates the 
 considerate kindness which prompted to this good 
 deed. He sends his servant to call her, and asks 
 her if he shall speak for her to the king. He 
 has an interest at court. But a short time since 
 he saved the lives of three kings, under God ; and 
 if she has any request to make, his name will 
 secure its fulfilment. But she is a contented 
 woman. She desires nothing that royalty can 
 bestow, so she retires, leaving Elisha still in her 
 debt. He appeals to his servant. What, then, 
 is to be done for her, Gehazi ? Gehazi has not 
 failed to notice a great lack in the otherwise de-
 
 THE SHUNAMITE. 271 
 
 lightful home of this good woman. She has a 
 husband on whom she leans friends in whom 
 she trusts an abundance of this world's goods ; 
 but she is, nevertheless, a lone woman ; she has 
 no child. No smiling babe has ever lain in her 
 bosom ; no tiny hand has ever been placed con- 
 fidingly in hers ; no tottering footsteps follow her 
 as she pursues her household avocations ; 110 
 sweet, lisping voice calls her mother ; no bird- 
 like notes make perpetual music by her hearth- 
 stone. There is a want in her house and in her 
 heart. 
 
 " A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger 
 
 of peaco and love ; 
 
 A resting-place for innocence on earth ; a link between angels" 
 and men." 
 
 And how sad a house is that where no such 
 well-spring sends forth its sweet waters, purify- 
 ing from selfish loves, and pouring out its tide of 
 generous and holy joys ! How lonely the home 
 to which the Creator sends no such messenger to 
 whisper from himself a loving rebuke to hardened 
 hearts, and to call forth all gentle, peace-breath-
 
 272 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ing thoughts and aspirations ! How weary the 
 home which has no such resting-place ; where 
 dwell only those who have been long conversant 
 with sins and follies, and have forgotten their 
 guileless days ! How far from heaven, alas ! is 
 that home which has no sweet link between men 
 and angels where no cradled cherub communes 
 in its smiling sleep with sister spirits, and lifts 
 the heart of fond parental love involuntarily to 
 the pure and blessed abode of those who day and 
 night sing praises to their eternal King ! 
 
 0, sordid, selfish, earthly heart, which shrink- 
 est from the care, and toil, and self-sacrifice, that 
 infancy and childhood impose, and would fain go 
 on thy way without such cumbrance ! how foolish 
 and ignorant thou provest thyself ! how misera- 
 bly dost thou mistake in the matter of thy hap- 
 piness ! Thou wast not made to dwell at ease, 
 nor canst thou. Some care and labor, God will 
 surely lay on thee. How much better than all 
 other, that which will reward thee sevenfold 
 which will elevate and refine, and emancipate 
 thy grovelling soul ! Thou wast not made to 
 live alone, and if thou wilt not have the com-
 
 THE SIIUNAN1TE. 273 
 
 pamonship which God made thy nature to crave, 
 thou shalt pine in discontent and weariness. Life 
 shall often seem to thee a wilderness, though 
 thou art surrounded with a thousand blessings 
 and have scores of friends. Deep in thy secret 
 heart ennui and distaste of all pleasures shall be 
 a frequent guest ; thou shalt be in want, and 
 know not what thou desirest. The blessing of 
 God in its fulness shall not rest on thee, because 
 thou art not willing to do his work and fulfil his 
 commands. 
 
 Thou sad heart, which art by Providence de- 
 nied the boon for which, like Hannah, thou hast 
 often prayed, yield meekly to his decrees, who 
 has assured thee that all things shall work for 
 thy good. He hath some richer gift for thee. If 
 thou walk the path of privation humbly, he will 
 give thee "a name better than of sons and 
 daughters." Himself hath spoken it. 
 
 " What shall we do for this Shunamite ?" says 
 Elisha. "Verily she hath no child," answers 
 Gehazi, " and her husband is old." " Call her," 
 says Elisha; and she stands in the door. "A 
 few months hence thou shalt embrace a son," is
 
 274 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 the astounding intelligence to which she listens, 
 and for which she has no credence. "0, man 
 of God, do not lie unto me! Too many years 
 have I longed in vain for such a blessing, and 
 now it cannot be. I hope no more. Do not 
 wake again fond dreams in iny foolish heart. 
 Leave me to the forced content which has so long 
 been my portion, and to the employments which 
 
 are the solace of niy lonely life." 
 
 * # . # * # 
 
 It was no lie which the man of God uttered. 
 Years have passed since he said to his kind host- 
 ess, " Thou shalt embrace a son ;" and now see 
 wherever about the house, or in the court, her 
 labors require her, a little boy, with busy feet 
 and prattling tongue, follows on, and none but a 
 mother's heart can guess what showers of unut- 
 tered blessings attend his every step. She stops 
 to caress him, she arrays him in fitting garments, 
 ties his hat under his dimpled chin, kisses him 
 again and again, and "bids a servant take him to 
 his father in the field. With animated step and 
 happy looks she pursues her work, preparing the
 
 THE SHUNAMITE. 275 
 
 meal which the laborers in that weary field, under 
 the burning sun, will soon need. 
 
 Suddenly she is summoned. The little boy is 
 ill, and one has brought him back to her. She 
 takes him on her lap, wipes his face where the 
 moisture stands, folds him tenderly in her arms, 
 and looks anxiously upon him. He utters no 
 cry, but moans, "My head! my head !" She 
 bathes his fair brow, and soothes him with a 
 cradle-song ; but he grows no better. He suffers, 
 and anguish rends her heart. He gasps and 
 shudders, and his little arms relax their hold of 
 her neck. Can it be ? His life has fled ! Once 
 more " she has no child." She gazes for a mo- 
 ment vacantly upon the lifeless form, and then, 
 roused by a sudden impulse, rises and bears him 
 to that consecrated chamber where she first re- 
 ceived the promise of his life. Cannot the power 
 which gave him to her recall him now ? She 
 lays him on the prophet's bed, and with one 
 longing, lingering look, she calmly closes the 
 door, and leaves him there. As calmly she calls 
 to her husband, and begs him to send her a ser- 
 vant and an ass, saying she wishes to go to
 
 276 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Elisha, and will soon return ; and when he ques- 
 tions of the reason for this sudden determination, 
 she simply answers, "It shall be well." He has 
 forgotten that his boy was ill, so slight seemed 
 his trouble, and she does not tell him that he is 
 childless. No faltering of voice, no tears, appeal 
 to him for sympathy. A faith stronger than 
 death has taken possession of her soul, and she 
 will try its efficacy before she so grievously 
 afflicts the father's heart. 
 
 She comes to Mount Carmel, and, as she draws 
 near, Gehazi meets her, and asks, by Elisha's 
 direction, if all is well with her and her family. 
 "It is well," she answers. She has no errand 
 to Gehazi no words to waste. 
 
 She presses on, and, hastily descending from 
 the ass, throws herself upon the ground, and 
 clasps Elisha's feet, but speaks not. The man 
 of God is perplexed. The friend who has been 
 ever considerate and kind to him, in such trouble, 
 and the cause hidden from him ! At last her 
 overcharged heart utters forth its bitterness. 
 "Did I desire a son of my lord ? Did I not 
 say, Do not deceive me ? " He understands it
 
 THE SHUNAMITE. 277 
 
 now. " Gird up thy loins, Gehazi," he says 
 quickly, " and take my staff in thy hand, and go 
 thy way : if thou meet any man, salute him not ; 
 and if any salute thee, answer him not again : 
 and lay my staff upon the face of the child." 
 Does Elisha think the mother will be satisfied ? 
 No; her faith does not follow Gehazi. She 
 still clings to him whose words first awakened in 
 her heart a mother's hopes. He must himself go 
 with her. And he will. Silently they pursue 
 their way, till Gehazi meets them with the words, 
 " The child is not awaked." They come to the 
 house and enter. Death has hushed all that was 
 joyous there. Elisha goes to his own room 
 the mother we know not whither. And while 
 that sublime scene is transpiring, in which the 
 human soul, already passed within the veil, is 
 recalled to its earthly tabernacle, by the power 
 of a mortal's prayer, how is she employed ? We 
 are not told, but something whispers in our hearts 
 that perchance the mother's faith and mother's 
 supplications took hold on the everlasting and 
 Almighty arm, as truly as did those of the 
 prophet. 
 
 24
 
 278 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 We cannot fathom the counsels of the Al- 
 mighty, nor give a reason why this mother, after 
 enduring the pangs of separation from her child, 
 should have been permitted the joy of embracing 
 him again, and seeing him live on to manhood. 
 "He doeth all things well," as well when he 
 takes finally, as when he restores. His plans are 
 far-reaching. He would have every one of his 
 children " partake of his holiness," and one 
 method secures this result in some, which would 
 not avail with others. The widow of Zarephath 
 and the Shunamite " received their dead raised 
 to life again," and the prophet's widow had a 
 miracle worked in her behalf, to save her sons 
 from being sold as bondmen, while multitudes 
 around them endured the common lot. The only 
 way of peace for the reflecting mind is to study 
 the character of our God, as he is revealed in 
 Jesus Christ, and then meekly to say, 
 
 " Lord my God, do thou thy holy will." 
 
 THE SHUNAMITE. 
 It was a sultry day of summer time. 
 The sun poured down upon the ripened grain 
 With quivering heat, and the suspended leaves
 
 THE SHUNAMLTE. 279 
 
 Hung motionless. The cattle on the hills 
 Stood still, and the divided flock were all 
 Laying their nostrils to the cooling roots, 
 And the sky looked like silver, and it seemed 
 As if the air had fainted, and the pulse 
 Of nature had run down, and ceased to beat. 
 
 Haste thee, my child ! " the Syrian mother said, 
 
 " Thy father is athirst " and, from the depths 
 
 Of the cool well under the leaning tree, 
 
 She drew refreshing water, and with thoughts 
 
 Of God's sweet goodness stirring at her heart, 
 
 She blessed her beautiful boy, and to his way 
 
 Committed him. And he went lightly on, 
 
 With his soft hands pressed closely to the cool 
 
 Stone vessel, and his little naked feet 
 
 Lifted with watchful care ; and o'er the hills, 
 
 And through the light green hollows where the lambs 
 
 Go for the tender grass, he kept his way, 
 
 Wiling its distance with his simple thoughts, 
 
 Till, in the wilderness of sheaves, with brows 
 
 Throbbing with heat, he set his burden down. 
 
 Childhood is restless ever, and the boy 
 Stayed not within the shadow of the tree, 
 But with a joyous industry went forth 
 Into the reapers' places, and bound up 
 His tiny sheaves, and plaited cunningly 
 The pliant withs out of the -shining straw 
 Cheering their labor on. till they forgot 
 The heat and weariness of their stooping toil
 
 280 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 In the beguiling of his playful mirth. 
 
 Presently he was silent, and his eye 
 
 Closed as with dizzy pain, and with his hand 
 
 Pressed hard upon his forehead, and his breast 
 
 Heaving with the suppression of a cry, 
 
 He uttered a faint murmur, and fell back 
 
 Upon the loosened sheaf, insensible. 
 
 They bore him to his mother, and he lay 
 Upon her knees till noon and then he died ! 
 She had watched every breath, and kept her hand 
 Soft on his forehead, and gazed in upon 
 The dreamy languor of his listless eye, 
 And she had laid back all his sunny curls, 
 And kissed his delicate lip, and lifted him 
 Into her bosom, till her heart grew strong 
 His beauty was so unlike death ! She leaned 
 Over him now, that she might catch the low 
 Sweet music- of his breath, that she had learned 
 To love when he was slumbering at her side 
 In his unconscious infancy 
 
 _ So still ! 
 
 'Tis a soft sleep ! How beautiful he lies, 
 "With his fair forehead, and the rosy veins 
 Playing so freshly in his sunny cheek ! 
 How could they say that he would die ? God ! 
 I could not lose him ! I have treasured all 
 His childhood in my heart, and even now, 
 As he has slept, my memory has been there, 
 Counting like treasures all his winning ways 
 His unforgotten sweetness :
 
 THE SIIUNAMITE. 281 
 
 _ Yet so still ! 
 
 How like this breathless slumber is to death ! 
 I could believe that in that bosom now 
 There were no pulse it beats so languidly 
 I cannot see it stir ; but his red lip ! 
 Death would not be so very beautiful ! 
 And that half smile would death have left that there? 
 
 And should I not have felt that he would die ? 
 And have I not wept over him ? and prayed 
 Morning and night for him ? And could he die ? 
 
 No God will keep him ! He will be my pride 
 Many long years to come, and his fair hair 
 
 "Will darken like his father's, and his eye 
 Be of a deeper blue when he is grown ; 
 And he will be so tall, and I shall look 
 With such a pride upon him ! He to die ! " 
 And the fond mother lifted his soft curls, 
 And smiled, as if 't were mockery to think 
 That such fair things could perish 
 Suddenly 
 
 Her hand shrunk from him, and the color fled 
 From her fixed lip, and her supporting knees 
 Were shook beneath her child. Her hand had touched 
 His forehead, as she dallied with his hair 
 And it was cold like clay ! Slow, very slow, 
 Came the misgiving that her child was dead. 
 She sat a moment, and her eyes were closed 
 In a dumb prayer for strength, and then she took 
 His little hand and pressed it earnestly 
 And put her lip to his and looked again 
 Fearfully on him and, then bending low, 
 
 24*
 
 282 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 She whispered in his ear, " My son ! my son ! " 
 And as the echo died, and not a sound 
 Broke on the stillness, and he lay there still 
 Motionless on her knee the truth would come ! 
 And with a sharp, quick cry, as if her heart 
 Were crushed, she lifted him and held him close 
 Into her bosom with a mother's thought 
 As if Death had no power to touch him there ! 
 ****** 
 
 The man of God came forth, and led the child 
 
 Unto his mother, and went on his way 
 
 And he was there her beautiful her own 
 
 Living and smiling on her with his arms 
 
 Folded upon her neck, and his warm breath 
 
 Breathing upon her lips, and in her ear 
 
 The music of his gentle voice once more !
 
 THE MOTHER OF JOB'S CHILDREN. 
 
 THE view of a prospered and happy family 
 first presents itself to us, as we open the book of 
 Job. A noble father an upright man, who 
 "fears God and eschews evil." One who is re- 
 vered and honored by all who know him ; before 
 whom aged and young alike rise up ; in defer- 
 ence to whose wisdom princes refrain from talk- 
 ing, and nobles hold their peace ; whom no one 
 sees without bestowing just words of praise ; 
 whose voice none hear without uttering a bless- 
 ing on the speaker. One who befriends the 
 friendless, and is a father to the poor ; who is 
 eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame ; who 
 causes the widow's heart to sing for joy, and is 
 a defender of the injured and forlorn. One whose 
 smile gladdens a whole community, and who sits 
 chief among them, the comforter of all that 
 mourn. 
 
 A mother and ten sons and daughters grace 
 the home of this noble patriarch, and are to him
 
 284 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 as the light of his eyes. The abundant blessing 
 of Heaven rests upon them. The candle of the 
 Lord lightens their every darkened hour, and the 
 secret of God is in their dwellings. They wash 
 their steps in butter, and the rock pours them 
 out rivers of oil. Wealth, and station, and fair 
 character among men, they have ; the approba- 
 tion of the Almighty is theirs, and a pure faith 
 sanctifies and hallows all their days. 
 
 They live in the most delightful harmony. 
 The father and mother and sisters seem to oc- 
 cupy one home, and the brothers, with wives and 
 families of their own, are settled all around, 
 forming the most charming of all earthly social 
 circles. We feel our hearts glow as we imagine 
 their many sources of joy. The welcome and 
 heartfelt satisfaction of the father and mother, as 
 they come in, one after another, of an evening, 
 each with an incident to contribute to the gen- 
 eral conversation their interests all identified 
 their hopes and fears, and perplexities and 
 comforts, mutual ; the animation of the sisters, 
 as they prepare, from time to time, for the birth- 
 day feasts which the brothers give in their sev-
 
 THE MOTHER OF JOB'S CHILDREN. 285 
 
 eral houses, and which they enjoy so much, 
 spending in each family seven days of uninter- 
 rupted hilarity ; and the closing gathering, under 
 the paternal roof, when the father and priest 
 sanctifies them all, and pours out his fervent 
 prayers for the pardon of their sins remember- 
 ing even the possible transgression of their 
 thoughts and then sends them forth again with 
 his blessing and love. It would be difficult to 
 picture a more complete scene of earthly hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Earthly happiness ! There is insecurity and 
 instability in the very name ! Draw out, and em- 
 bellish, and complete the most perfect ideal of 
 joy, and write under it " earthly," it is marred 
 and defaced. This is the alloy which destroys 
 the value of our most precious things. This is 
 the drop which embitters our purest draughts. 
 Heaven were no longer heaven could one thought 
 of change be admitted into it. 
 
 " 0, ye blest scenes of permanent delight ! 
 Full above measure ! lasting beyond bound ! 
 A perpetuity of bliss is bliss. 
 Could you, so rich in rapture, fear an end,
 
 286 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 That ghastly thought -would drink up all your joy, 
 And quite unparadise the realms of light." 
 
 The fearful wreck of happiness which came 
 upon Job and his wife has become a proverb. In 
 the morning they sat at their table, surrounded 
 with every comfort. No thought of want or care 
 oppressed them. The luxuries of wealth were 
 theirs. Before night they were stripped of all, 
 and unmitigated poverty laid its hand upon them. 
 With the rising sun started up their numerous ser- 
 vants, ready to fulfil with alacrity their slightest 
 command. At nightfall they were forced to per- 
 form unwonted services with their own hands, 
 and, though they called, there were none to do 
 their bidding. Ten loving sons and daughters 
 surrounded them when they woke, full of life 
 and joy their pride and blessing ; before the 
 hour of rest returned they were " written child- 
 less." They had many friends; at least, so they 
 thought when it was summer with them. Win- 
 ter, desolate, dreary winter, had suddenly arrived, 
 and these seeming friends had sought a kindlier 
 clime. Was this all ? Surely it was enough. 
 But no ; a more terrible trial awaits them. Ilith-
 
 THE MOTHER OF JOB'S CHILDREN. 287 
 
 erfco they have stood together, and in mutual 
 sorrow have been mutual helpers. Now com- 
 mences a process which shall drain their last 
 drop of peace a weaning, an estranging pro- 
 cess. Foul disease fastens on the father's body, 
 and a more distressing ailment possesses itself of 
 the mother's spirit. Faith and patience fail her, 
 and where was love before, seems now to be only 
 gall and wormwood. 
 
 There have been those who have utterly con- 
 demned this mother, and she has been a by-word 
 and her name a scandal. Some have concluded, 
 because so little is said of her, that she was 
 wholly abandoned and wicked, and had been 
 always such. They even shut her out from 
 repentance, and seem not to dream of the possi- 
 bility of reform. They consign her to death, 
 and consider it no additional calamity, and thus 
 allow her no share in her husband's returning 
 prosperity. For all this we find no warrant. 
 That she had been a good woman, and a help- 
 meet and friend to her husband, we feel sure, 
 from his surprise at her evil advice in the hour 
 of their calamity. " Thou art not like thyself."
 
 288 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Thou speakest as one of the foolish women 
 speaketh." 
 
 Job is called the most patient of men. Yet 
 Job forgot himself, and spoke foolishly, and re- 
 proached the Almighty. Shall his wife, who 
 had a part in all his griefs, and on whom the 
 stroke fell more heavily, since she had a mother's 
 heart shall she be wholly condemned ? If Job 
 endured with a fortitude so remarkable as to be 
 considered its embodiment through all time, shall 
 his wife's name be cast out as vile, because she 
 is only like common mortals ? 
 
 It seems to us far more rational, and in accord- 
 ance with truth, to look upon her as one whose 
 reason and faith were almost annihilated by the 
 awful blow which so suddenly bereaved her ; and 
 who manifested the impatience and rebellion 
 against the dealings of providence, which, if we 
 judge rightly, are very common among men, and 
 not such an anomaly as to distinguish her among 
 millions. And, since the holy record does not 
 hint that Job, with his new possessions, took also 
 a new wife, we love to hope that this afflicted 
 mother, repentant, subdued and chastened, came
 
 THE MOTHER OF JOB'S CHILDREN. 289 
 
 forth from the furnace, as did her noble husband, 
 refined and pure, and fitted to enjoy prosperity 
 with a thankful heart, which retained not a ves- 
 tige of those feelings that once prompted evil 
 and impious words. 
 
 Wealth returned ; friends flocked to congratu- 
 late ; brothers and sisters, long cold and unkind, 
 were once more loving and true. But the long 
 night did not seem surely dissipated till a daughter 
 came to waken parental joys anew in the hearts 
 long silent and desolate, and to unite and cement 
 in fresh bonds of affection those whom wretch- 
 edness had estranged and sundered. They called 
 her Jemima day ! 
 
 All that they had been, they again became, 
 and more. Seven sons again clustered round 
 them, " and in all the land were none found so 
 fair" as the three daughters who called them 
 father and mother. 
 
 Do any still think hardly of Job's wife, let them 
 place themselves in her lot, and judge if they could 
 endure her trials without a murmuring word or 
 a hard thought ; then lay their hands upon their 
 mouths, and pray earnestly to be spared the test. 
 25
 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 WITHIN our hearing, as we commence to write 
 this sketch, are the tones of a fond mother's 
 voice, conversing at the close of the day with 
 her two young sons, of serious and weighty mat- 
 ters. They have retired for the night, and she, 
 choosing the hour when good impressions are 
 easiest made, sits with a hand on each, reminding 
 them of their faults, commending their good be- 
 havior, and exerting the influence which tender 
 affection gives to lead them in paths of virtue 
 and uprightness. The blessing of the Eternal be 
 upon her in her holy work. 
 
 What wonderful power has God committed to 
 a mother's hands ! How exalted are her privi- 
 leges ! who can for a moment set a true estimate 
 upon the worth of her gentle counsels to her 
 boys, who are soon to enter upon life's tempta- 
 tions and duties ? Who can calculate the results 
 of her daily intercourse with her girls, who are
 
 , ELIZABETH. 291 
 
 so soon to mould in their turn the plastic and im- 
 mortal mind ? 
 
 There have been some mothers of earth pecu- 
 liarly favored and blest. It was a privilege to be 
 the mother of Moses, of Elijah, of Samuel. It is a 
 privilege to bring into the world, and train up into 
 life, the intelligent, and industrious, and useful 
 members of society ; but she is most favored to 
 whose arms is given one of those whom Jeho- 
 vah uses to advance most rapidly his kingdom 
 among men. " Let my child be an instrument 
 of good to souls, let him live a life of prayer and 
 communion with God, and be devoted to the Re- 
 deemer's cause, and I will ask nothing more," 
 says the truly Christian mother. " I will not 
 seek for him earthly honor, nor wealth, nor pleas- 
 ures. I will not even ask health, nor comfort, 
 nor ease, nor exemption from severe trials. I 
 will not shrink from the knowledge of sufferings 
 which he may be called to endure. If so be my 
 prayer for his sanctification be heard, I will be 
 silent in every other matter, or only say, ' Thy 
 will be done.' ' 
 
 The subject of our present study was a mother
 
 292 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 thus favored, and she was so blessed as to know, 
 even before his birth, that her child would be 
 only a comfort to her, never a source of sorrow. 
 His character and commission were announced 
 with the tidings of his coming into the world, and 
 as she dwelt in thought upon the strange com- 
 munication, how must her heart have glowed and 
 exulted at the privilege conferred upon her ! 
 Four hundred years before, the last of the 
 prophets had foretold the coming of her son. In 
 the councils of Eternity he holds a most exalted 
 place. He is the day-star which heralds the sun. 
 She is the wife of a priest, and versed in the 
 hopes, and expectations, and prophesyings of her 
 people. In the days of her youth, in common 
 with many of her country-women, she had hoped 
 that possibly she might give birth to this prom- 
 ised child, or at least to his mother. But years 
 passed on, and her hopes had long since faded. She 
 was old, and her husband well stricken in years. 
 Even the wish for sons and daughters had almost 
 died, until brought back to sudden life by the 
 strange words of the angel to Zacharias. Now 
 she begins to feel a mother's yearning toward the
 
 ELIZABETH. 293 
 
 life which she unconsciously nourishes, and a 
 hitherto unknown gladness fills all her soul. Her 
 silent husband pursues his avocations, seeming to 
 her as if he ever pondered on the mysterious 
 visitation in the temple, and felt still the awe 
 with which the presence of Gabriel had first 
 inspired him. They have been always followers 
 of that which is good, walking in all the com- 
 mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, 
 and now a rich reward is ministered to them from 
 his hand. 
 
 The story of John's birth, of the gathering of 
 friends, of the restoration of Zacharias, is one 
 of the most touching and beautiful in the sacred 
 record. But from that time nothing more is said 
 respecting his mother. Whether she lived be- 
 yond his childhood we do not know, nor what 
 part she took in the formation of the character 
 which was so excellent as to draw from Jesus the 
 testimony, " Verily, I say unto you, Among them 
 that were born of women, there hath not arisen a 
 greater than John the Baptist." We always, 
 though perhaps sometimes involuntarily, gather 
 our ideas of the character of the mother from 
 25*
 
 294 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 what we know of her children ; nor are we often 
 mistaken. We think that the firm, uncompro- 
 mising integrity of John's character, his fidelity, 
 his humility, stood in most intimate relation to 
 his mother's blameless life. We admire his noble 
 course, and feel sure that were his mother living, it 
 afforded her the satisfaction of a longed-for bless- 
 ing, toward the attainment of which she had given 
 her earnest efforts. We behold him in prison, 
 regardless of his own privations, not once appeal- 
 ing to the one mightier than himself for succor, 
 but anxious only that the bridegroom should be 
 recognized and honored, while he stands in the 
 shade ; and instinctively we recognize a retiring, 
 humble woman's influence working among the 
 elements of his character. We dwell painfully 
 on his lonely and sudden death, and wonder why 
 he was permitted thus to leave the world without 
 one word of encouragement or sympathy from 
 him whom he so nobly honored ; but we seem to 
 meet Elizabeth's calm reproving eye, and are 
 convinced that he had been early taught to follow 
 his Lord even unto death, and to count life itself
 
 ELIZABETH. 295 
 
 worthless for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 Christ. 
 
 She has gone to her reward, and John worships 
 with her the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
 the world. We hope to meet him yet on the 
 heights of Zion, and to know more than we pos- 
 sibly can now of the life they led on earth. How 
 much we have to learn! Eternity itself is not 
 more far-reaching than are the sources of knowl- 
 edge which it will lay open to us, and from 
 which we thirst, even now, sorely thirst, to be 
 drinking. The dealings of infinite wisdom and 
 grace with each child brought home to glory, 
 how intensely interesting to every other ! Would 
 we might so fill every relation of life as to bring 
 only honor to our Redeemer in that day when he 
 shall come to be admired in his saints, and glori- 
 fied in all them that believe.
 
 MARY. 
 
 was the early history of the mother of 
 Jesus ? Who were her parents ? Where was 
 her childhood passed, and under what influences ? 
 What was her character ? Did anything foretell 
 that she would be chosen from all the maidens 
 among her people for the high honor which was 
 afterward conferred upon her ? Was she pecu- 
 liarly amiable or lovely, or devoutly pious and 
 scrupulously exact in her observance of the Jew- 
 ish ritual ? Question after question arises thus 
 in our minds, as we contemplate this most interest- 
 ing of all the mothers of the earth ; but to none 
 can we give a satisfactory reply. For reasons 
 known only to Infinite Wisdom, the veil of 
 obscurity is closely drawn over all that part of 
 her life which is not immediately connected with 
 the life of our Lord. We do not even know her 
 age when she was suddenly visited by the mes- 
 senger from the upper temple announcing her 
 wonderful destiny. " Hail, thou that art highly
 
 MARY. 297 
 
 favored ! the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou 
 among women." Blessed and favored indeed ! 
 From the time that Eve exulted, " I have gotten 
 a man from the Lord," how many hearts had 
 longed and hoped for the high privilege ; and even 
 now, while she sits pondering upon the strange 
 tidings, how many high-born mothers of her 
 nation are looking on their young daughters with 
 earnest desire and hope ; and how many consci- 
 entious hearts, looking for the consolation of Israel, 
 are daily studying the prophecies, if possible, to 
 encourage themselves in. the expectation for the 
 loved ones whom they have trained with unwonted 
 care for this very end ! 
 
 Mary sits as if entranced. Has she been 
 dreaming ? No. Gabriel, who stands in the 
 presence of Jehovah, has truly been with her, 
 and spoken to her, and his mysterious words yet 
 linger in her ears. Rapidly her thoughts recall 
 the promises which she has heard from her child- 
 hood. She knows that one bora of woman is yet 
 to do away the curse which the serpent brought 
 upon the race. The Scriptures have been taught 
 her, and a light now shines upon them unseen
 
 298 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 before. She recalls and dwells on every word 
 the angel spoke. In her heart she again mur- 
 murs, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be 
 it unto me according to thy word." Day after 
 day multitudes of thoughts come crowding upon 
 her. She feels in herself already the fulfilment 
 of the promise. At last, unable any longer to 
 keep pent up in her own heart the joy-inspiring 
 secret, she arises in haste and seeks the only 
 friend who she feels can fully sympathize with her. 
 What a meeting was that ! Elizabeth utters her 
 congratulations, and Mary's long-restrained glad- 
 ness finds utterance in words most exalted and 
 sublime. 
 
 "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my 
 spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." 
 
 Well may she speak His praise in lofty tones, 
 who has taken her into more intimate relationship 
 with himself than any other of mortal race. Well 
 may she rejoice in Him, the infinite Jehovah, who 
 has thus condescended to distinguish her above 
 all who have ever lived, or shall live after. 
 
 " For he hath regarded the low estate of his
 
 MARY. 299 
 
 handmaiden : for, behold, from henceforth all 
 generations shall call me blessed." 
 
 Eighteen hundred years have rolled by, and 
 yet are the words being fulfilled. Mary, most 
 happy of mothers, most blessed of thy race ! 
 Exultation becomes thee well. The Magnificat is 
 suited to thy lips. Meet it is that thy triumph 
 song should sound over all the mingling and deaf- 
 ening voices of centuries, and reach even our 
 ears who dwell in these ends of the earth. 
 
 " For he that is mighty hath done to me great 
 things ; and holy is his name." 
 
 Great has ever been the mystery of that incar- 
 nation. Even she, who had the witness within 
 herself, that, contrary to all ordinary laws of 
 nature, a new life was springing from her own, 
 could only speak thus in awe and reverence of 
 what she knew was truth, but which she could not 
 for a moment understand. 
 
 " He hath scattered the proud in the imagina- 
 tion of their hearts. He hath put down the 
 mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low 
 degree. He hath filled the hungry with good 
 things, and the rich he hath sent empty away."
 
 300 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Royalty coveted this boon, and presumed upon 
 it. Surely the heir of David's throne should come 
 in the nobler branches of David's house. Disap- 
 pointment waits on many an exalted family. He 
 looked from his heavenly throne upon all grades 
 and classes of men, and chose to make his earthly 
 home with the humble and poor, the uneducated, 
 the inferior. No wonder he was despised and 
 rejected of men. They had not for one moment 
 imagined him other than noble and aristocratic ; 
 one born to rule over the lower classes, not to 
 mingle among them as if he were of them. No 
 marvel that "he came unto his own, and his own 
 received him not." How could they recognize in 
 the carpenter's son the Messiah of their hopes 
 the Prince who was to sit on David's throne ? 
 No wonder they looked with contempt on one 
 who thus " exalted those of low degree." 
 
 " He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remem- 
 brance of his mercy : as he spake to our fathers, 
 to Abraham, and to his seed forever." 
 
 Sitting in Hebron, where lie the bones of the 
 patriarchs, Mary sings of the fulfilment of prom- 
 ises made two thousand years before. In that
 
 MARY. 301 
 
 cave of Machpelah, Abraham had been sleeping 
 centuries. He believed, and received a son in 
 his old age, the type of Him who should come 
 after. Mary sits near that cave, and her faith 
 has made her mother of Him whose day Abraham 
 rejoiced and was glad to behold by faith. Though 
 He tarry long, though years by thousands roll by 
 between his promises and their fulfilment, Jeho- 
 vah suffers not a jot or a tittle of his word to fall 
 to the ground. He remembers his covenant, and 
 will surely help his people. 
 
 Three months of delightful intercourse have 
 passed since Mary first entered Elizabeth's house, 
 and she now returns to her own. Alas ! what a 
 world is this, in which sorrow treads quickly on 
 the heels of joy, and clouds obscure the brightest 
 sunbeams. Mary is to be mother of the only 
 Son of God ; but she is herself a mortal, and 
 subject to the woes and trials which wait on our 
 mortal state. She is one of a sinful race, and 
 the pains and penalties and vexations which sin 
 has entailed she cannot escape. She has lived 
 on the mount of joy and rapture she must now 
 descend into the vale of humiliation. She has 
 26
 
 302 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 been honored by the Almighty she must now 
 be dishonored by man. A cup of pure joy and 
 triumph has been given to her lips it must be 
 dashed away, and wormwood must supply its 
 place. 
 
 She returns to her home, and pursues her usual 
 avocations with cheerful heart. But soon suspi- 
 cious glances are cast upon her, and malignant 
 whisperings are heard, and the friends who once 
 were kind avoid her, and a chill begins to creep 
 over her guileless heart. For the first time she 
 realizes how questionable is her position now 
 among her companions. She sees with trembling 
 spirit the storm which threatens her. She looks 
 anxiously upon the face of the one who is more 
 to her than all others, as if to read his heart, and 
 see if he also distrusts her. Why should he not ? 
 Is there not cause ? Now also her spirit faints, 
 remembering the fearful ordeal to which she may 
 be subjected. What sustained thee in that hour, 
 sad heart ? Even He who had brought the fierce 
 trial upon thee. It was not long. There came 
 a day when the eyes most dear, and which had 
 been dimmed by grief and doubt, again met thine
 
 MARY. 303 
 
 with clear and sympathizing gaze, and arms of 
 love and protection were folded about thee, and 
 the sacred name of wife bestowed upon thee, and 
 in the sanctuary of a husband's home, cherished 
 and revered, thou didst look up once more, and 
 await the future, calm, trustful and happy. 
 
 The eventful night arrived which made Mary 
 the mother of the Son of God. Here, again, how 
 many questions a reverent curiosity would ask. 
 Did the curse rest with full force on her who bore 
 that spotless one ? Was he ushered into life with 
 the same agonies which accompany the degenerate 
 children of Adam's race ? We doubt it not. 
 Even for this he assumed our humanity, that he 
 might be made in all respects like his brethren. 
 An infant's woes and weaknesses, childhood's 
 vexations, youth's temptations, manhood's trials. 
 lie omitted none. 
 
 That birth-night ! One of our own poets has 
 celebrated it in words we cannot forbear to quote 
 at length :
 
 304 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 LONGFELLOW'S CHKISTMAS HYMN. 
 
 It was the calm and silent night ! 
 
 Seven hundred years and fifty-three 
 Had Rome been growing up to might, 
 
 And now was queen of land and sea ! 
 No sound was heard of clashing wars ; 
 
 Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain ; 
 Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars, 
 
 Held undisturbed their ancient reign, 
 
 In the solemn midnight, 
 Centuries ago ! 
 
 'T was in the calm and silent night ! 
 
 The Senator of haughty Rome 
 Impatient urged his chariot's flight, 
 
 From lordly revel rolling home ; 
 Triumphant arches, gleaming, swell 
 
 His breast with thoughts of boundless sway ; 
 What recked the Roman what befell 
 
 A paltry province far away, 
 
 In the solemn midnight, 
 Centuries ago ! 
 
 Within that province far away, 
 
 Went plodding home a weary boor ; 
 A streak of light before him lay, 
 
 Fallen through a half-shut stable door, 
 Across his path. He paused, for naught 
 
 Told what was going on within ; 
 How keen the stars ! his only thought ; 
 
 The air how calm, and cold, and thin,
 
 MARY. 305 
 
 In the solemn midnight, 
 Centuries ago ! 
 
 0, strange indifference ! low and high 
 
 Drowsed over common joys and cares ; 
 The earth was still, but knew not why ; 
 
 The world was listening unawares ! 
 How calm a moment may precede 
 
 One that shall thrill the world forever ! 
 To that still moment none would heed, 
 
 Man's doom was linked no more to sever, 
 In the solemn midnight, 
 Centuries ago ! 
 
 It is the calm and solemn night ! 
 
 A thousand bells ring out and throw 
 Their joyous peals abroad, and smite 
 
 The darkness charmed and holy now ! 
 That night that erst no shame had worn, 
 
 To it a happy name is given ; 
 For in that stable lay, new-born, 
 
 The peaceful prince of earth and heaven, 
 In the solemn midnight, 
 Centuries ago ! 
 
 What were Mary's emotions on that solemn 
 night, when prince and peasant pursued their ac- 
 customed way, and the mysterious infant form 
 which she had nourished beneath her heart was 
 placed in her arms ? How did she feel when the 
 26*
 
 306 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 wonder-stricken shepherds demanded to see her 
 child, and she found her secret had been revealed 
 from above ? And when strange foreign men 
 bent the knee in homage to the babe, and poured 
 into her lap their rich gifts, was it more joy or 
 wonder that thrilled her heart ? 
 
 ##:#### 
 
 We know little, far too little, of the theme 
 which so entrances us ; but there is ever one 
 delightful certainty on which we can dwell. Mary 
 was the only mother of a sinless child our earth 
 has ever seen. Think of it, friends. From the 
 hour of his birth to that in which he was slain, 
 no folly, or wilfulness, or disobedience of his 
 ever caused her a pang, or brought a tear to 
 her eye. He lay in his cradle, not merely an 
 image of innocence, but its embodiment. As she 
 folded him to her breast, no dread of the future, 
 no fear of the effect of evil example, or natural 
 corruption, disturbed her peace. No cry of im- 
 patience was ever heard from that baby-mouth ; 
 no burst of passion ever disfigured that sweet 
 childish face. The shuddering which the first 
 deliberate untruth from hitherto unsoiled lips
 
 MART. 307 
 
 causes, she never felt. She trusted him implic- 
 itly. He sat by her side, he followed her steps, 
 he grew silently up, all that a mother's heart 
 could wish. He received her instructions, and 
 obeyed her commands, in the spirit of love and 
 filial piety. She saw him tried by poverty and 
 reproaches. She knew his high origin, and looked 
 often wonderingly on him as in his meekness he 
 received taunts in silence. 
 
 Never once had she occasion to reprove him ; 
 and the bitterness which the parental heart feels 
 when needed chastisement must be inflicted on its 
 precious ones, she knew it not. 0, what a love 
 was that which grew day by day for thirty years 
 between that mother and son, before his work 
 claimed him, and he left her side to buffet the 
 world's scorn, and be baptized with the baptism 
 for which he came ! Whatever may have been 
 her experience with her other children, her satis- 
 faction in her first-born son was unalloyed. 
 
 Mary ! Hail ! Thou that art highly favored ! 
 
 Blessed indeed art thou ! 
 
 ****** 
 
 Mary was present when Jesus first manifested
 
 308 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 his miraculous power in Cana, and again, at 
 Capernaum ; while he was preaching earnestly to 
 the people, she sought admittance to his pres- 
 ence. How much she saw of him during his 
 three years' ministry we do not know ; but she 
 was with him when he went his last journey to 
 Jerusalem, and was among those who stood by 
 the cross during his agony. Where was Joseph ? 
 Where were her other sons ? It would seem that, 
 as he hung on that cross, he felt that he was his 
 mother's sole dependence, since the only words 
 recorded, which relate to aught but himself, were 
 those touching ones which gave her to the care 
 of his most trusted disciple and friend. What a 
 remembrance to carry in her heart, while she en- 
 dured the keen inflictions of the sword which 
 Simeon had prophesied for her, were those last 
 words ! With the weight of a world's sins upon 
 his soul, and amid the pangs of tortured nature, 
 he was yet true to the love which had been her 
 solace so many years. To the last he was faith- 
 ful, and there was no disappointment in his char- 
 acter, whatever there might be in his circum- 
 stances. Did she see him again after that long,
 
 MARY. 309 
 
 lingering look, at the place " where his body was 
 laid" 1 It is not said ; but she was among those 
 who companied together after his ascension, and 
 we cannot doubt, was present when his " Peace 
 be with you ! " sent a thrill of joy to so many 
 hearts. 
 
 They are both, now, the mysterious Son and 
 his favored mother, in that world where the re- 
 lations of time are dissolved ; where naught is 
 valued of earth, save that which aided in bring- 
 ing the ransomed soul to its eternal home. We 
 cannot possibly know in what light Mary is there 
 regarded, nor what is the nature of the bond which 
 unites her to Jesus. He was her Saviour, as he 
 is ours, and she rejoices in the redemption he 
 wrought out, as we all shall when we too see 
 him face to face, and come into his presence to 
 go no more out forever. 
 
 Mothers, let us ever bear in mind, as among 
 our most effective instruments, the example of 
 Mary's child. Little ears are never more atten- 
 tive, little eyes are never more wondering, than 
 when they hear of him who never grieved his 
 mother who was never disobedient, never angry,
 
 310 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 never untruthful. No motive appeals so power- 
 fully as the desire to be like him. " Jesus would 
 not have done so." "Then, mother, I will not 
 do it again ; I want to be like Jesus," is, in 
 some houses, an almost daily reproof and answer. 
 To be like Jesus ! It is the fervent aspiration of 
 the advanced Christian. How sweet to hear its 
 expression from infant lips, and how earnest the 
 hope that it may come to be the habitual desire 
 of the soul !
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 
 
 " WHO went about doing good." How little 
 do we comprehend the meaning of the words as 
 applied to him, before whose coming footsteps 
 pain and suffering, and every form of earthly 
 woe, vanished, and who left evermore behind him 
 health, and vigor, and joy! Some vague impres- 
 sion we gather as we read of his " wonderful 
 works," but we do not comprehend the full im- 
 port. We do not understand that it was as if a 
 being from the upper sanctuary should visit our 
 own town, and all the sick and suffering the 
 lame, the blind, the feeble of our own acquaint- 
 ance should suddenly, by his all-powerful word, 
 be "healed of their infirmities," and we should 
 see them going forth among living, acting men, 
 as unconscious of sorrow as if they had never 
 known its withering touch. There rose a morn- 
 ing on some of the villages of Palestine, which 
 saw only the healthy and the glad within their 
 walls, for he had "healed their sick." How
 
 312 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 great the change should to-morrow's sun behold 
 such a sight in our town ! 
 
 Methinks I see it thus : from yonder house 
 comes daily past my door, led by gentle hands, a 
 blind father. In the midst of his days an inscru- 
 table providence has shut from his view all beau- 
 tiful and gladsome things. On the fair forms of 
 wife and daughters he has been unable to gaze 
 these many years ; and one prattling boy often 
 follows his footsteps, on whose loving, wondering, 
 up-turned face he has never looked. Yesterday 
 I saw him, with uncertain step, following in the 
 train of that stranger whose name is on every 
 lip. Can words describe the change which has 
 passed on him since ? He is not at all this 
 morning what he was then. With firm, manly, 
 joyous tread, he crosses the threshold of his 
 home, arid meets the glad group who have 
 watched and cared for him so long. He is no 
 longer blind, dependent, helpless. Once more 
 he can bear his part in maintaining his family, 
 once more he is a man among men. What a 
 weary weight of woe is suddenly lifted from the 
 heart of that loving wife and mother ! She has
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 313 
 
 not murmured under it. Cheerfully has she 
 borne up nobly has she performed her part, 
 and far above price has her love proved itself in 
 this deep trial ; but now, what joy beyond ex- 
 pression is hers ! what blessings has the power 
 of the Healer sent under that roof! 
 
 In the opposite house lives a little girl, crip- 
 pled from her infancy. The heart of fond parents 
 is wrung daily as her halting step is heard about 
 the house, and forebodingly they look into the 
 future, and dread the sorrows it may bring to their 
 gentle one. She has met Jesus in the way, this 
 morning, and his compassionate eye and voice 
 have, in a moment, set her free ; and now, behold! 
 was ever exultation like hers as she skips and 
 jumps, and runs to tell her mother what has been 
 done for her ? Imagine, also, if you can, the 
 joy of that mother's heart the gratitude of 
 that rejoicing family ! 
 
 In another home dwells one of pale, sorrowful 
 countenance, on which consumption has stamped 
 his terrible lineaments. Young, happy, sur- 
 rounded with friends, but about to leave them 
 all fading from her husband's sight, day by 
 27
 
 314 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 day, as silently, but surely, as the snow-wreath 
 before the sun leaving, with such anguish in 
 her heart as dying mothers alone can know, her 
 precious, only child to breast, unaided, the world's 
 cold waves. A short time since I saw her thus, 
 and wept that earth should furnish such a sight. 
 But the Deliverer has been under her roof the 
 bloom has suddenly returned to her cheek, and 
 the disappointed destroyer has unloosed his grasp. 
 She steps lightly and joyously about her house- 
 hold work she smiles on her glad husband, 
 strains, with fervent joy, her little one to her 
 heart, and tears of gratitude fall from her eyes 
 as she thinks of him who has restored her to life 
 and hope once more. 
 ****** 
 
 Our Lord healed, probably, every kind of dis 
 ease known in Palestine. He had raised the 
 dying from the beds they had not hoped to leave 
 again. But he had not yet raised the dead. 
 This, alone, was wanting to complete the evi- 
 dences of divine power which his miracles offered. 
 He walks, with his disciples, from Capernaum 
 towards Nain, and as they approach the town
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 315 
 
 they meet a funeral procession. No spectacle of 
 sorrow presented itself to his view and was dis- 
 regarded. He sees in a moment what deep 
 grief is here ; a young man is borne to his 
 burial, and by his side walks his lonely, widowed 
 mother. The lamp of hope and joy is for her 
 extinct. She had fondly hoped this one would 
 have sustained her age, and there he lies in 
 death. How can she live without him ? He 
 was her only cradle joy, there is none left to 
 call her mother. She cannot, cannot spare him ! 
 Yet death is inexorable. None can burst his 
 iron bands. She has closed his young eyes for- 
 ever ; she must return to her home without him. 
 Not so, poor mourner. He, who reads the 
 heart and knows all thy distress, has a balm for 
 thee of which thou little dreamest. He, the 
 Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief, pos- 
 sesses one source of joy unknown to common 
 mortals the power to cure the woes of others. 
 He, who is said to have never smiled, makes it 
 his daily business to call smiles to the woe-begone 
 faces that follow his steps. He, who bears the 
 burden of a world's cares and sins, is found con-
 
 316 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 stantly lightening the cares and forgiving the 
 sins of the forlorn and guilty. "What peace 
 what serene satisfaction must be his, as he wit- 
 nesses the sudden reversion of feeling in that 
 widowed breast ! for HE can look upon the heart 
 and see unveiled those emotions which are all too 
 mighty for outward expression. What a balm to 
 his own woes must -he have in this blessed power 
 to heal the manifold woes of those around him ! 
 
 The young man sat up and began to speak, 
 and they delivered him to his mother. Jesus and 
 his disciples went on their way. His own trial- 
 hour followed shortly ; but, though still possessing 
 the power which had raised the dead though 
 able to refuse the cup which he had voluntarily 
 taken though able at any moment to cut short 
 the agonies of crucifixion, and come down from 
 the cross, he endured unto the end ; endured for 
 our sakes, that he might win the power to heal 
 not merely physical, but spiritual maladies ; that 
 he might gain the right to raise from eternal 
 death, and bestow on sinners immortal life. 0, 
 would we had power to convey, by any means, 
 to the mothers who will read these pages, our
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 317 
 
 own deep sense of his presence with his tempest- 
 tost children now, as truly as in the days of his 
 flesh, and of his benignant, almighty love ! It is 
 easy to say, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
 to-day and forever." It is easy to quote all that 
 has been written conveying the same idea; but to 
 realize, and practically believe, and constantly 
 to act upon, and be daily consoled by this truth, 
 is not so often attained unto. Yet, if we will 
 cherish this faith, it will increase, until our peace 
 shall be like a river, and our consolation as the 
 waves of the sea. 
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 
 
 The Roman sentinel stood helmed and tall 
 Beside the gate of Nain. The busy tread 
 Of comers to the city mart was done, 
 For it was almost noon, and a dead heat 
 Quivered upon the fine and sleeping dust, 
 And the cold snake crept panting from the wall, 
 And basked his scaly circles in the sun. 
 Upon his spear the soldier leaned, and kept 
 His idle watch, and, as his drowsy dream 
 Was broken by the solitary foot 
 Of some poor mendicant, he raised his head 
 To curse him for a tributary Jew, 
 And slumberously dozed on. 
 
 27*
 
 318 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 'T was now high noon. 
 The dull, low murmur of a funeral 
 Went through the city the sad sound of feet 
 Unmixed with voices and the sentinel 
 Shook off his slumber, and gazed earnestly 
 Up the wide streets, along whose paved way 
 The silent throng crept slowly. They came on, 
 Bearing a body heavily on its bier, 
 And by the crowd that in the burning sun 
 "Walked with forgetful sadness, 'twas of one 
 Mourned with uncommon sorrow. The broad gate 
 Swung on its hinges, and the Roman bent 
 His spear-point down wards as the bearers passed, 
 Bending beneath their burden. There was one 
 Only one mourner. Close behind the bier, 
 Crumpling the pall up in her withered hands, 
 Followed an aged woman. Her short steps 
 Faltered with weakness, and a broken moan 
 Fell from her lips, thickened convulsively 
 As her heart bled afresh. The pitying crowd 
 Followed apart, but no one spoke to her. 
 She had no kinsmen. She had lived alone 
 A widow with one son. He was her all 
 The only tie she had in the wide world 
 And lie was dead. They could not comfort her. 
 
 Jesus drew near to Xain as from the gate 
 The funeral came forth. His lips were pale 
 With the noon's sultry heat. The beaded sweat 
 Stood thickly on his brow, and on the worn 
 And simple latchets of his sandals lay,
 
 THE WIDOW OF NAIN. 319 
 
 Thick, the white dust of travel. lie had come 
 Since sunrise from Capernaum, staying not 
 To wet his lips by green Bethsaida's pool, 
 Nor wash his feet in Kishon's silver springs, 
 Nor turn him southward upon Tabor's side 
 To catch Gilboa's light and spicy breeze. 
 Genesareth stood cool upon the east, 
 Fast by the sea of Galilee, and there 
 The weary traveller might bide till eve ; 
 And on the alders of Bethulia's plains 
 The grapes of Palestine hung ripe and wild ; 
 Yet turned he not aside, but, gazing on, 
 From every swelling mount, he saw afar, 
 Amid the hills, the humble spires of Nain, 
 The place of his next errand ; and the path 
 Touched not Bethulia, and a league away 
 Upon the east lay pleasant Galilee. 
 
 Forth from the city-gate the pitying crowd 
 
 Followed the stricken mourner. They came near 
 
 The place of burial, and, with straining hands, 
 
 Closer upon her breast she clasped the pall, 
 
 And with a gasping sob, quick as a child's, 
 
 And an inquiring wildness flashing through 
 
 The thin gray lashes of her fevered eyes, 
 
 She came where Jesus stood beside the way. 
 
 He looked upon her and his heart was moved. 
 
 " Weep not ! " he said ; and as they stayed the bier, 
 
 And at his bidding laid it at his feet, 
 
 He gently drew the pall from out her grasp, 
 
 And laid it back in silence from the dead.
 
 320 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 With troubled wonder the mute throng drew near, 
 And gazed on his calm looks. A minute's space 
 He stood and prayed. Then, taking the cold hand, 
 He said, " Arise ! " And instantly the breast 
 Heaved in its cerements, and a sudden flush 
 Ran through the lines of the divided lips, 
 And with a murmur of his mother's name, 
 He trembled and sat upright in his shroud. 
 And, while the mourner hung upon his neck, 
 Jesus went calmly on his way to Nain.
 
 THE SYROPHENICIAN MOTHER. 
 
 THE time for the third passover since our Lord 
 commenced his ministry had arrived. He was 
 expected in Jerusalem ; but he went not up. He 
 knew what was in store for him. " The ruling 
 Jewish authorities there had definitely concluded 
 to take advantage of his expected visit at this 
 passover, to accomplish his destruction ; and, as 
 Jesus saw that absence presented the only natu- 
 ral means of prolonging his ministry to its due 
 period, he postponed the lesser to the greater 
 obligation." 
 
 Nor did he even feel safe in Galilee ; for the 
 fate of John might follow too earnest a scrutiny 
 of his proceedings on the part of Herod and his 
 evil-minded partner, who saw in him one risen 
 from the dead an object of "remorseless hate 
 and secret dread." He avoided observation, 
 therefore ; and finally retired entirely, from 
 Herod's, dominions, to those of his brother, " the 
 lawful husband of Herodias, who is universally
 
 322 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 described as a mild, well- meaning and righteous 
 prince." 
 
 We find him wandering as far as Tyre and 
 Sidon, taking up his abode there, in the hope of 
 escaping observation. How many thoughts 
 sad thoughts must have crowded on his mind 
 as he gazed on the ruins everywhere presented to 
 his eye ! This was that Tyre which once sat a 
 queen among cities ; which, in her pride, had 
 said, "I am of perfect beauty ;" whose merchants 
 dealt in " emeralds, and purple, and broidered 
 work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate, and 
 pearls;" of which "the ships of Tarshish did 
 sing in the market ; " which was " glorious in 
 the midst of the seas." How fallen now! The 
 noise of her songs hushed forever ! the sound of 
 her harps heard no more ! Her walls broken 
 down ! her pleasant houses destroyed ! her 
 stones, and timber, and dust, carried into the 
 midst of the waters ! No vestige of her former 
 magnificence remained. A miserable collection 
 of huts was her representative. Among these 
 ruins Jesus walked, wishing, for a time, to be 
 hidden and unknown.
 
 THE SYROPIIENICIAN MOTHER 323 
 
 But this could not be. ' Multitudes from this 
 region had attended on his preaching, had heard 
 his sermon on the mount, and been witnesses of 
 his mighty works. He was recognized ; and it 
 was soon whispered round that he, to whose 
 gracious words they had listened with delight, 
 was come among them. The tidings reached the 
 ears of an afflicted mother, who had seen some 
 of his healing miracles, or heard of them through 
 her friends. She waited not for counsel, nor 
 stopped to consider what obstacles might prevent 
 the fulfilment of her wishes. She sought the 
 house where he abode. She hesitated not ; but 
 instantly, and without invitation, presented her- 
 self before him. His disciples, burning with the 
 hatred which every Jew cherished toward the 
 Gentiles, were indignant that she should dare 
 come to him, and regarded her with undisguised 
 malignity. She heeded them not. Their angry 
 countenances could not deter her. Casting her- 
 self upon the ground before him, in the deepest 
 humility, with agonizing earnestness she cries, 
 " Have mercy on me, Lord, thou son of 
 David ! My daughter is grievously vexed with a
 
 324 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 devil." It was the cry of suffering to him whose 
 mercies fail not ; but it seemed to fall on deaf 
 ears. "He answered her not a word." How 
 strange ! How unlike him who went about doing 
 good, who seemed always to delight in dispens- 
 ing the blessings of healing and strength to all 
 that came to him ! For the first time, he is re- 
 gardless of the cry of distressed humanity. 
 
 The disciples are gratified to see this heathen 
 woman so slighted ; but they are not satisfied. 
 "Send her away!" they beg. They wish to 
 have her rebuked as well as slighted ; and Jesus 
 seems to approve their spirit, for he replies to her 
 renewed entreaties, "I am not sent, but unto 
 the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Can it be 
 true ? Have her hopes been raised in vain ? Is 
 he, who has seemed so benevolent, so far above 
 human prejudices, so sympathizing and tender- 
 hearted, is he indeed governed by the narrow 
 views of those who deem themselves the only 
 favorites of Heaven, and cast out all others as 
 unclean 1 It cannot be. She cannot believe it. 
 She draws still nearer, and prostrates herself still 
 lower, and, in accents which mingle the most
 
 THE SYROPHENICIAN MOTHER. 325 
 
 earnest faith with deepest distress, entreats, 
 " Lord, help me." Coldly and sternly, appar- 
 ently all unmoved, he answers, " It is not meet 
 to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs." 
 The disciples are now happy. She has heard 
 the truth for once ; she will go now, and they 
 will be troubled no more by these Sidonians ; 
 and they exult as if a great victory had been 
 gained. How does she feel, that afflicted 
 mother ? We look to see her rise suddenly, 
 with flushed face and haughty mien, and, walk- 
 ing quickly away, wounded pride and anger 
 overcoming all thought of the errand on which 
 she came. Will she be called a dog ? Will she 
 endure to be told that the Creator regards her so 
 far beneath those who walk the same earth and 
 breathe the same air as herself? This same 
 Jesus has not hesitated, before this, to lay his 
 hand on the loathsome leper, and to heal the 
 most degraded among his own people, will she 
 bear to be told that her precious child is beneath 
 his notice, and must perish like a beast, and be 
 regarded as such ? Will she take meekly the 
 sneering triumph of those hard-hearted men ? 
 28
 
 326 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 No ; she has trusted, and prayed, and been dis- 
 regarded. Worse than this ; she has been 
 taunted, and her best affections trampled on. 
 She will return to her daughter, and in silence 
 and despair endure as best she may. 
 
 Thus we judge. Thus we think we should do. 
 But she possesses a faith and a humility far be- 
 yond our conception. We are wholly wrong. 
 No resentment kindles in her eye. No anger 
 flushes her cheek. No sharpness is in her tone. 
 Accepting instantly the place assigned her, and 
 laying no claim to any privileges beyond, she 
 even gathers hope from what seems to us so irri- 
 tating and harsh, and instantly answers, meekly 
 and trustingly, "Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat 
 of the crumbs which fall from their master's 
 table." | 
 
 His end is answered. He had read her heart, 
 and knew what love and faith were there, and he 
 has brought them forth. His assumed sternness 
 is laid aside, and from the depths of his loving 
 heart he answers, " woman, great is thy faith ! 
 be it unto thee even as thou wilt." 
 
 Study this scene, ye faithless parents ! Pon-
 
 THE SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN. 327 
 
 der it deeply, until you imbibe its spirit, until 
 you feel its power. Jesus is evermore the same ; 
 such humility, such faith will always prevail with 
 him. 
 
 Dwell upon this narrative, also, ye bigoted fol- 
 lowers of him who was meek and lowly, and 
 behold how he distinguishes the character of his 
 own children under every guise, and learn to 
 judge cautiously. He may love with an infinite 
 love, those whom ye scorn.
 
 THE GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF 
 TIMOTHY. 
 
 THE types and shadows have passed away. 
 The Antitype has appeared and accomplished his 
 earthly work, and ascended his mediatorial throne. 
 The old dispensation has given place to the sim- 
 pler rites of the new. Faith is substituted for 
 the deeds of the law, and, in place of peculiar 
 privileges granted to a few, universal love and 
 good- will are proclaimed to all mankind. " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
 every creature," was the last command of their 
 Lord, and his disciples are already working zeal- 
 ously for its fulfilment. They are to publish the 
 good tidings first to the Jews in every place, 
 and then to the Gentiles, for he will have all men 
 come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul and 
 Barnabas have set out on their first missionary 
 tour, and the promised Spirit accompanies and 
 crowns their labors.
 
 GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF TIMOTHY". 329 
 
 In the small town of Lystra, not far from Ico- 
 nium, dwelt, in the days of the apostles, a 
 family in whom we find ourselves extremely in- 
 terested. The father was a Greek ; the mother 
 a Jewess. They had one son ; a boy, not of 
 robust health and strong constitution, but subject 
 to many infirmities ; yet of so amiable a dispo- 
 sition, and such excellence of character, as to 
 win the esteem and love of all who knew him. 
 
 So far as we can 'ascertain, there was no syna- 
 gogue in Lystra, most of the inhabitants being 
 worshippers of Jupiter. This family was, con- 
 sequently, deprived of the privilege of public 
 worship, and the boy grew up, not only without 
 the hallowing influences of the sanctuary, but in 
 an atmosphere quite adverse to the spirit of true 
 godliness, and surrounded with degrading and 
 debasing examples. But he was not left without 
 religious culture. His grandmother who also 
 lived with them and his mother, were his in- 
 structors in the sacred lore of their people. Al- 
 though far from their native land, and deprived 
 of sympathy and companionship, and surrounded 
 by idolaters, these devoted women never forgot 
 28*
 
 330 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 their God, nor departed from their faith. Nor 
 did they neglect the duty enjoined on all Jewish 
 parents by the express command of Jehovah. 
 
 " And these words which I command thee this 
 day shall be in thine heart : 
 
 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto 
 thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou 
 sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by 
 the way, and when thou liest down, and when 
 thou risest up." 
 
 Whether they had in their possession a copy 
 of the books of Moses, and of the prophets, and 
 of the psalms, or whether they spoke only from 
 remembrance of what had been taught them in 
 their childhood, we do not know ; but it is cer- 
 tain that this child of their love was thoroughly 
 instructed in all these scriptures. From the story 
 of the creation on through all the scenes of Jew- 
 ish history, nothing was omitted which could 
 interest or benefit their pupil. The sublime 
 prophesyings of Isaiah the mournful lament of 
 Jeremiah the example of Daniel and his com- 
 panions the sweet strains of the psalmist all 
 were familiar to him from his earliest years. But
 
 GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF TIMOTHY. 331 
 
 especially was he instructed with regard to His 
 coming who was to redeem Israel. The great 
 prophet of whom Moses spoke who was shad- 
 owed forth in every mysterious rite and sacrifice 
 of their religion who was the theme of poet 
 and sage ; and the object of faith to every son 
 and daughter of Abraham. 
 
 Thus was young Timothy, by his knowledge 
 of holy truth, kept from contamination, and pre- 
 served in uprightness, and prepared to become a 
 laborious and faithful preacher of righteousness, 
 and an example to youth, for all coming time. 
 ***** 
 
 In their journeyings, Paul and Barnabas have 
 reached Lystra. They find, as we have said, no 
 synagogue there, and, consequently, are com- 
 pelled to deliver their message wherever they 
 can find a suitable place, and the inhabitants at 
 large flock to hear them. Walking one day 
 through the streets, followed, it may be, by a 
 crowd, Paul sees, sitting by the way-side, a crip- 
 ple, impotent from his mother's womb, who has 
 never walked. Filled with the sympathy which 
 his Master felt before him, and seeing the man
 
 332 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 interested, he speaks with a loud voice, and says, 
 " Stand upright on thy feet." Receiving in- 
 stantly strength from above, the poor sufferer 
 joyfully obeys, and is seen leaping and walking 
 in the delight of new-found faculties. The mul- 
 titudes look on with astonishment, and soon the 
 cry is heard, " The gods are come down to us in 
 the likeness of men." Barnabas they call Jupi- 
 ter, and Paul, Mercurius ; and immediately prep- 
 arations are made to do them homage. This is 
 soon prevented by Paul, who tells them of the 
 only living and true God, and persuades them to 
 desist. Soon after this, certain evil-minded Jews 
 appear from Antioch and Iconium, who work 
 upon the fickle people of Lystra, until they drag 
 him whom they would have worshipped out of 
 the city, and stone him, and leave him, as they 
 suppose, dead. Around his braised body stand 
 many who have heard the Gospel from his lips, 
 and among them young Timothy. On his heart, 
 so well prepared, the story of Jesus has had its 
 full effect. For the first time the Scriptures, in 
 which he is so well versed, appear perfectly clear 
 to his mind. A new light shines upon them,
 
 GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF TIMOTHY. 333 
 
 He embraces the crucified Messiah in unfeigned 
 faith, and becomes a most useful helper to Paul 
 who, as we know, revived, and returned to his 
 work and his dearly beloved son in the Gospel 
 
 A recent missionary traveller thus speaks of 
 his feelings on approaching what he supposed to 
 be the site of Lystra. 
 
 ' ' Full of the impression that we were now 
 near the birth-place of Timothy, we bent our 
 course more westerly, through a narrow, but fer- 
 tile and most lovely ravine. The pebbly brook, 
 which gave fertility to the vale, was overhung 
 by trees of a larger growth walnut, poplar, and 
 so on than we had been accustomed to see on 
 our journey. Vineyards, gardens, and small 
 orchards of fruit-trees were planted in conve- 
 nient nooks by the way. A rich fragrance was 
 exhaled from the wild flowers that besprinkled 
 the ground, and only the murmuring of the brook 
 and the music of here and there a feathered 
 songster interrupted the stillness which pre- 
 vailed. Along these quiet paths, I said within 
 myself, oft trod that beloved youthful disciple, 
 Timothy! Beneath such shades he repeated,
 
 334 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 perhaps, the songs of Israel, before he learned 
 from the apostle Paul of the name of Jesus. 
 Perhaps he was inured to hardship by labor in 
 these very fields ; or, more probably, he may 
 have passed to and from Iconium with burdens 
 of wood and returns of merchandise, as those 
 who dwell here now do. Precious saint ! thy 
 memory breathes a richer perfume than the 
 flowers of thy native vales. Through the long 
 tract of ages, thy early knowledge of the holy 
 scriptures, thy rigid temperance, thy early wis- 
 dom, thy youthful piety, thy useful labors, thy 
 name of good report, thy apostolic ministry, 
 have come down, with refreshing and stimulating 
 influence, to the youth of our own and of all 
 coming times. And, ye excellent and revered 
 ' mother Eunice and grandmother Lois,' So hon- 
 orably mentioned by an apostle, your example 
 shall live while the sun and moon endure, as an 
 encouragement to timely and faithful parental 
 instruction." 
 
 It seems fitting that we should close our work 
 with this delightful illustration of the results of
 
 GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER OF TIMOTHY. 335 
 
 maternal faithfulness, in early imbuing the heart 
 of childhood with the truths of the Bible. Sow 
 thickly the good seed of the word, and water it 
 abundantly. It shall surely bring forth fruit in 
 which you will rejoice. It is God himself who 
 has commanded it, and he is all-wise and knows 
 the best means to any sought-for end. He, 
 moreover, has promised "My word shall not 
 return unto me void." May his blessing rest 
 upon all endeavors to make it more interesting 
 and precious to his children, and upon all their 
 labors among the objects of their love and care.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed.
 
 A 000033276 7