WOM3EN OF THE BIBLE. I~~~~~~ -~-w-:'000:N;00 ~ ~::<::::i:s::i:i't' 0 A 4 iD;;fi: e f ff''' t' S S;~:: ------ -- --- -- 0 ff -- -- --- - -- -- -~- -- --,iii:::.ii I::-: ~ ~~~~~;~:~~:~.li~~ii~~ ji............... - ------- fE:E~t:| 00000-:; - w S i f;;' i: —::::::::r: |:ij~-:~::s 0:0::::0000:0: Ef:SE:0007:00f0f:::::0000:Eg:::::0 g000::0:tf:0::00:::7:0000 i|000007:00E0E~000::. -...........,.:.: <....................::-':i:::'::::f~~~~~~~~~l:'-:-:::::.............................:::i..............i:::~i.:::::~i ~~~~i-i-ii-i~~~~~~~~~~..... Capitalized~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~: IA I~~~~~~~~j SEVENTH THOUSAND. vbrirau ath ffrni Eitinttu e OF THE WOMEN OF THE BIBLE FROM EVE OF THE OLD TO THE MARYS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BY P. C. HEADLEY. AUBURN: DERBY, MILLER, AND COMPANY. 1851. Entered according to' Act of Congress, in the year 1850, BY DERBY, MILLER, AND CO. In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. tIIOMAS B. S~MITH, STEREO'rYPER, 216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. TO MY ONLY AND BELOVED SISTER, THIS VOLUME 3 Mtrtinnatt j *uIcrn hA. IT was not the design of adding essentially to Biblical Literature, neither the cacoethe& scri. bendi, that induced the Author to increase the number of similar works which have appeared. It was the suggestion of another, enforced by the consideration, that while there are elegant Gift Books of Female Scripture Biography, there is no volume of the kind for more general reading. The Bible is a book of facts, developing all the great principles of moral obligation which concern man. In these sketches it has been the steady aim to preserve those principles inviolate, and where imagination has aided in completing the narrative, as constantly to observe the known V111 PREFACE. laws of human action, and their peculiar modification in the Hebrew commonwealth. The sketch of "The Queen of Sheba," is from the pen of the REV. H. W. PARKER; and by permission a few extracts are taken from a recent work entitled, "Sacred Scenes and Characters." The Frontispiece and tasteful illustrations are from Original Design, by the promising young Artist, C. L. DERBY. The biographies are in chronological order, and will make an outline of Scripture History, including nearly all the heroic and distinguished women of the Sacred Annals. The circumstances under which they were written will unavoidably leave traces of haste; but the volume is committed to the tide of popular favor, and will fulfil its mission if it breathe encouragement to the maternal heart, and infuse te spirit of their high destiny to any extent, nto the minds of the women of America-a land, which in its moral, no less than its civil aspect, is the world's modern Palestine. I. EVE. Adam alone in Paradise.-His first Interview with Eve.-Her Temptation and Fall.-Birth of Abel. —Eis Death. —The old Age and Last Hours of Eve........ 13 II.-SARAII. Sarah's Youth and Marriage.-Life in Palestine.-Abram's Visit to the Court of Pharaoh.-She entertains Angels.-Hagar's Exile.Birth of Isaac.-Hagar banished the second time.-Sacriflce of Isaac. -Sarah's Death and Burial.27 III.-REBEKAH. The Embassy of Isaac to Haran.-Rebekah at the Well.-The Scene in the Domestic Circle.-Departure for Canaan.-Isaac walking in the Fields sees the Servant coming, and goes forth to meet his Bride. -Rebekah's Death.-Her Character................. 45 IV.-RACHEL. Jacob's Journey to Haran.-Resting by the Well, Rachel comes with her Flock.-Makes himself known.-Serves Seven Years for her.The Fraud of Laban compels him to take Leah, and render another Seven Years' Service for Rachel.-The Flight.-Her Death........ 65 1 C CONTENTS. V.-MIRIAM. Miriam by the Nile. —Passage of the Red Sea, and her Song. —Her Fall. -Death and Burial.-Power of Faith........................... 75 VI. DEBORAH. Deborah beneath the Palm-tree at Bethel.-Her Interviewwiith Barak. -The Summoning' to Battle.-The Conflict and Victory. —Song of Deborah and Barak.-Her Character.91 VII-JEPTIIA'S DAUGHTER Jeptha in Exile.-Called to the Generalship of the Army.-His Vow. -The Victory and Return.-Met by his Daughter.-Her Lamentation and Sacrifice................................................ 105 VIII.-DELILAII. Life's Contrasts.-Samson's'Love and Fall. —Scene from SamsonAgonistes. —The Temple of Dagon overthrown.-Delilah Comparedwith the Hebrew Women................................. 115 IX.-RUTEI. The Design of her History.-The Trial in Moab. —Ruth and Naiomi" return to Bethlehem.-Ruth Gleaning in the Field of Boaz.-Hs Generosity.-Falls in Love with the beautiful Moabitess,'and Marries her.-Her Character.................. 17 X. —IANNAI. Her Trial and Faith.-The Annual Pilgrimage to Shiloh.-Her Prayer and the Answer.-Birth and Consecration of Samuel.-Maternal Influence....................................................... 141 XT.-QUEEN OF SHEBA. Description of Arabia, the Queen's Realm.-Her Character. —Journeyto Solomon's Court.-The Royal Interview. —Her Return.-Woman's Sphere....................................................... 140 CONTENTS. xi XII.-JEZEBEL. Jezebel's Marriage and Influence over the King.-Her Persecution of the Prophets.-She is unmoved by the Miracle on Mount Carmel. — The Murder of Naboth. —The Queen's Tragical Death.-Comparative Seclusion a Blessing to Woman.............................. 173 XIII. -ATALIA H. The Family of Ahab.-Athaliah Marries Prince Jehoram, and enters on her Career of Crime. —Massacre of the "Seed Royal," and Preservation of Joash.-The Revolution.-Athaliah Slain.-Origin of'Monarchy................................................. -..... 187 XIV.- TEE SHUNAMITE. _nternal Evidence of Inspiration of the Bible.-Shunem. —The Woman entertains Elisha.-Promise of a Son.-The Boy goes to the Harvest Fields, is smitten with Disease, borne to his Mother, and Dies at Noon.-The Shunamite hastens to the Mountain Home of Elisha.He restores to her the Sleeper........................... 195 XV.-ESTHER. Vast Consequences from Small Events.-The Festival of Ahasuerus. — He commands the Queen to grace the Banquet with her Presence.The Refusal and Divorce.-Esther's Appearance with the Beautiful Maidens in the King's Palace.-Haman's Plot, and Esther's Petition. -Her Success andNoble Character.............................. 209 XVI.-ELIZABETH. The Promise of a Messiah.-Zacharias in the Temple.-Family Scenes.-Birth of John.-Maternal Influence upon the Baptist's Character................................................. 229 XVII. -THE VIRGIN MARY. Her Interview with the Angel.-Visit to Elizabeth.-Joseph's Trial.The Sojourn at Bethlehem.-The Family keep the Passover at Jerusalem.-Their Residence in Nazareth.-The Marriage in Cana.Scene at the Door of the Synagogue in Capernaum.-Mary at the Cross.-In the "Upper Room" at Jerusalem, after Christ's' Ascension, with the Praying Disciples........................... 29 ~Xi CONTENTS. XVIII. —THE SISTERS, MARTHA AND MARY. PAGE The Sisters, Martha and Mary.-Contrast between the Old and the New Dispensation.-The Family of Bethany.-Lazarus' Sickness and Death.-His Resurrection.-The Distinguishing Traits in the Characters of Martha and Mary.-The Saviour's Last Supper and Interview with them................................. 261 XIX.-TABITIIA, OR DORCAS. Joppa.-Tabitha's Residence there, her Character, and Death.-She is Raised from the Dead by Peter.-Woman's Influence as a Maiden, Wife, and Mother............................................ 275 EVE has a brief biography in the Sacred Record. Without childhood or youth, she came from the moulding hand of her Creator, in the full maturity of her powers, and in the perfection of human beauty. To Adam as he awakened from repose, she came like a morning vision-the bright presence of a celestial. How long he had been. alone in Paradise, we do not know. But he had held communion with God and 14 EVE. the angels; and given names to the varieties of animal creation, which passed before him in obedient homage to their solitary king. He had looked with rapture upon the high arch of his wide domain, with its wandering clouds and nightly stars-upon the flashing rivers, and waving foliage with its golden fruit. The world of thought within, was pure and beautiful as the world without. Reason was unshaken in its majesty and clear in its judgment tone, conscience perpetually peaceful, and the heart tuned to the harmonies of Heaven. "He was great y5mtI disconsolate" in his garden of manifold delights. He heard sometimes the voice of Jehovah, but it came to his listening ear with the authority of a Sovereign. The Seraphim walked with him in the groves of Eden, but they were of a higher and more etherial nature. Besides, they left EVE. 15 him to many hours of solitude, in which no language of sympathy broke on his contemplations. Around him, in all the myriads of submissive creatures, he found in none the light of thought and the dignity of moral character. It is not strange with a human soul, if a shadow of mysterious loneliness at times passed over his ample brow. He longed for a being who could enter into the sphere of meditation and feeling peculiar to man. This, his olly want, was gratified by the Deity, when he brought the first maiden and wife, in " unadorned beauty," to his beating heart. He received with joyful welcome his fair companion, and recognized the object of his social affections. They flowed freely from their unsullied fountain, and were reciprocated with the confiding love of woman. She was his equal in origin and immortality; and they went forth from the marriage rite, which 16 EVE. fell from the lips of God, to contemplate his works, and lift an anthem of praise-the first epithalamium of earth. To Adam, Paradise must have put on new glory, and the very trees seemed to toss their green crowns in gladness above his path. He told Eve what God had done in fitting up their abode, and gave her the names of animals sporting by her side. When he paused before the mystic "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," near which were the spreading and luxuriant branches of the "tree of life," he repeated the awful sanctions of eternal Law, which invested that single tree with fearful interest. It pointed like an index-finger to the skies, and reminded them of the holiness and authority of the Infinite Lawgiver. It was there, though one among thousands, in solitary and solemn sublimity, at once a memorial of love, a test of loyalty, and a EVE. 17 beacon of warning, bidding them beware how they dashed madly down the precipice of moral ruin. They contemplated that forbidden object silently, until they bowed and prayed for strength to walk in obedience, erecting beneath its shade a family altar to the Lord. Beautiful scene! Heaven bent lovingly over it, and - " Aside the Devil turned, For envy." So time passed on, with no chronometer but the joy of holy affection-with no dial but the shadows of evening that brought no gloom, and the dawn of morning that revealed more of the glorious Giver, and added new notes of praise to their hymns of worship. But one day Eve wandered alone amid the bowers of the garden, and the fallen Archangel watched her'goings and plotted 18 EVE. her ruin. He understood the subtle power of influence wielded with the magic of genius, and approached her with a question touching the possibility that Jehovah could with propriety prohibit any pleasurable indulgence. The purity of Eve's mind was stained by indecision; she did not repel the insinuation and affirm the justness of the interdiction..The tempter became more positive, and assured her that she might partake of the fruit without apprehension of the threatened death, and would besides, attain a glorious pre-eminence in knowledge. She listened, and cast a glance of desire upon the pendent boughs, whose fragrant harvest seemed to invite her touch. Fatal pause! the first act in a moral revolution, extending over the ages of time and the cycles of eternity. " Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate." Could she then have looked down the EVE. 19 stream of history, and read all the tragedies that moment of pleasure was preparing for the souls of her offspring, how would her heart have burst with agony, and tears of blood have stained that cheek, flushed with the excitement of the conflict with conscience, and the enjoyment of her unconscious fall. Pleased with the achievement, and meeting not immediately the mysterious doom' she had feared, Eve sought the bower of Adam, and urged him to eat of the pleasant fruit; for it was truly as the serpent had said. He, too, fell before the temptation presented in two-fold strength, and the victory of "the powers of darkness" was complete. A long and exultant shout went through the arches of hell, and methinks every harp in Heaven was silent, while a convulsive throb was felt in every angel's bosom, and a shadow of disappointment, wonder, and 20 EVE. grief, passed over the features of the celestial host. Eve soon appears in a new character With him her influence had ruined-she had gone forth an exile, with the curse of God. pursuing her-and became a mother. In some lonely valley, or on a mountain side of the world's vast wilderness, with no cheering accents but the voice of Adam, she brought forth her first-born. Never was there a more desolate mother. She had not even a manger, and the angels who fled affrighted when she sinned, came no more to cheer her solitude with their song of thanksgiving. She could pillow her aching head on the breast of Adam, but it brought only bitter recollections of brighter days. With maternal interest she might rejoice over the unconscious heir of frailty and suffering; but " what will be hi destiny now we are fallen?" was a question that could EVE. 21 not fail to oppress her loving heart. It would seem that Abel was a twin brother. Whether this were so or not, his name indicates that he was a weaker child and less tenderly loved. Eve centered her hopes in regard to the Redeemer and the honor of her family in Cain. How much this fact affected his character and cherished the haughty spirit which at length made him a fratricide, we cannot tell. He may have apprehended something significant in the sacrifices, pointing to his own death as a type of the Great Sufferer. A dark thought had taken possession of his mind, and in sullen mood he set aside the authority of parental example in his offering to the Lord. Jehovah frowned upon him, while the smoke of his oblation ascended; but flooded with the smile of his approval the altar and the brow of Abel. In the conversation which followed, Cain 22 EVE. became enraged, and smote his unoffending brother. When he saw the warm blood flowing from the wounds of his dying victim, and met the reproach of his fading eye, conscience with its terrors was let loose upon him, and branded by the wrath of God he fled a fugitive from the face of his kindred. Adam in his customary walks, or led forth by the long absence of his sons into the fields, came suddenly upon the bloody corpse of Abel. He beheld the marks of violence, but the companion of the slain was gone; and while he knew that death had entered his family, it was mudrcde too -the fearful harvest sown by parental transgression. It opened the ravages of crime, which were to make the green earth one wide field of battle. When the shock was over, and he recovered from his delirium of anguish, he bore the tidings to Eve. EVE. 23'Whether she was partially prepared for the bolt by his despairing face and incoherent expressions, or he rushed in the excess of his grief into her presence, with the shriek, "Abel is dead!" is left to conjecture. When the terrible fact wvas known, her heart sunk beneath the blow; for to the depth of a mother's sorrow was added the bitterness of elf-reproach. And that first funeral was a gloomy one -the uncoffined form was carried without a knell to its burial, and the shadow of a grave darkened a ruined world. Nor since has there been a sadder home or wilder lamentation, than that of the bereaved patriarch and his bewailing wife. The years melted away, and Eve was again a mother. To her, evidently, was conceded the right of naming her offspring. This third son she called Seth, or the appointed, because God had given her another 24 EVE. to fill the place of the departed. How beautifully this incident shows the maternal affection and trusting spirit of Eve! Her weary heart had a new object upon which to pour its wealth 6f love, and she recognized the hand of her injured Father in the bestowment of a blessing, which was to link her destiny with the advent of the promised Christ. She lived to be the centre of a large domestic circle, and to behold the multiplying hundreds of a sinful and a suffering race. Bowed with the weight of years, and an experience full of the most varied and stirring events, she reached the limit of life. Oh! with what emotion she contemplated the past, while looking down into the gulf of dissolution. Around her lay the wreck of a planet which filled the universe with melody, when it rolled from the forming hand of God, and which in its moral destiny, EVE 25 had there been no interposition of grace, would have drifted forever from its orbit around His Throne. Her children and friends gathered about her dying couch, to hear her last accents and receive her blessing. Adam, leaning upon his staff, stood by her pillow and bedewed her pale forehead with his tears, breathing in her ear comforting words concerning the mercy of the Lord. In the struggles of that hour, Eve could lean alone upon the promise of a Messiah to come-the only ray penetrating the dark valley was that dim revelation of a Saviour who would be the "resurrection and the life." She cast a mournful glance upon those she had loved and ruined, murmured a farewell, looked upward with a smile of victory, and the conflict was over-the mother of mankind waes no more. The tidings spread, and from the scattered dwellings of her descendants was 2 26 EVE. heard the voice of weeping-for Eve had been loved for her affectionate fidelity to Adam, and her tender solicitude for the happiness of all. Beside she retained traces of her primeval beauty,- and subdued by penitence, she lived amonlg them a model of matronly dignity, meekness and piety. Her solemn counsels and many prayers were remembered, and her frailty in the ruinous experiment of disobedience, was well nigh forgotten in the grief of an oqpqham Grace. In silence, except the sobs of unaffected mourning, she was borne to her glrave beside that of the martyred Abel. Though no epitaph was written, as often as the eye of the passer-by fell upon that moundl, or the foliage waving over it, he read the language of those words written in burning capitals over the gateway of despair-" In the clay that thou eatest thereof, THOU SHALT SURELY DIE." SArPAI was a Hebrew maiden of remarkable beauty. IIer childhood and youth wvere passed anmong the.. mountains of Armenia, whose fine climate and sublime scenery dceveloped her form and gave stre:ngth to her intellectual powers. Her nob}e, figure, dark eye luminous with expression, and the graceful dignity of heIr miimner, made her the admiration of the C[Maldean shepherds and the pride of her kindIred. 28 SARAH. Among the wealthy nomads of the fruitful valleys who sought her hand in marriage, was Abram, a kinsman. A worshipper of the infinite One, he loved her for her elevated piety, no less than for her personal beauty. And doubtless they often walked forth together beneath the nightly sky, whose transparent air in that latitude made the stars impressively"The burning blazonry of God!' Upon the hill-tops around, were the observatories and altars of Chaldean philosophy, whose disciples worshipped the host of Heaven. In the serenity of such an hour, with the white tents reposing in the distance, and the "'soul-like sound" of the rustling forest alone breaking the stillness, it would not be strange' as they gazed on flaming Orion and the Pleiades if they had bowed with the devotee of Light, while SARAH. 29 "Beneath his blue and beaming sky, He worshipped at their lofty shrine, And deemed he saw with gifted eye, The Godhead in his works divine." But a purer illumination than streamed from that radiant dome, brought near in his ineffable majesty the Eternal, and like the holy worshippers of Eden, they adored with subdued and reverent hearts, their infinite Father. To a reflective mind, there is great sublimity and impressiveness in the purity and growth of religious principle, in circumstances so adverse to its manifestation. The temptations resisted-the earnest communion with each other-the glorious aspirations and soarings of imagination, when morning broke upon the girdling summits, and when evening came down with its stars, and its rising moon, flooding with glory nature in her repose; these and a thousand lovely and touching scenes of 30 SARAH. that pastoral life are all unrecorded. The great events in history, and bold points in character, are seized by the inspired penman as sufficient to sweep the grand outline of God's providential and moral government over the world, and his care of his people. Just when it would best accomplish his designs, which are ever marching like destiny to their fulfilnent, Jehovah called to Abram, and bade him go to a distant land which he would show him. With his father-in-law and with Lot, his flocks and herds, he journeyed toward Palestine.When he arrived at Haran, in Mesopotamia, pleased with the country, and probably influenced by the declining health of the aged Terah, he took up his residence there. Here he remained till the venerable patriarch, Sarai's father, died. The circle of relatives bore him to the grave, and kept SARAH. 31 the days of mourning. But the dutiful daughter wept in the solitary grief of an orphan's heart. A few years I cfore, she had lost a brother, and now the father to whom she was the last flower that bloomed on the desert of age, and who lavished his love upon her, was buried among strangers. Then the command to move forward to his promised inheritance came again to Abram. Sarai shed upon that lonely grave the baptism of her tears, and turned away in the sad beauty of mourning to fold her tent and enter the shadows of an untravelled wilderness. They journeyed on among the hills, encamping at night beside a mountain spring, and beneath the unclouded heavens arching their path, changeless and watchful as the love of God-exiles by the power of their simple faith in him. Soon as they reached Palestine, Abram consecrated its very soil by erecting a family altar, first in 32 SARAH. the plain of Moreh, and again on the summits that catch the smile of morning near the hamlet of Bethel. Months stepped away rapidly as silently, old associations wore off, and Abram was a wealthy and happy man in the luxuriant vales of Canaan. His flocks dotted the plains, and his cattle sent down their lowing from encircling hills. But more than these to him was the affection of his beautiful wife. Her eye watched his f )rm along the winding way, when with the ascending sun he went out on the dewy slopes; and kindled with a serene welcome when at night-fall he returned for repose amid the sacred joys of home. At length there came on a fearful famine. The rain was withholden, and the dew shed its benediction no more upon the earth. He was compelled to seek bread at the court of Pharaoh, or perish. Knowing the SARAH. 33 power of female beauty, and the want of principle among the Egyptian princes, he feared assassination and the captivity of Sarai which would follow. Haunted with this apprehension, he told her to affirm upon inquiry that she was his sisterwhich was not a direct falsehood, but only so by imnplication. According to the Jewish mode of reckoning she might be called a sister, and Abram stooped to this prevarication under that terrible excitement Qf fear, which, in the case of Peter, drove a true disciple of Christ to the brink of apostasy and despair. But his deception involved him in the very difficulty he designed to escape. The king's courtiers saw the handsome Hebrew, and extolled her beauty before him. He summoned her to the apartments of the palace, and captivated by her loveliness, determined to make her his bride. I)uring 2* 34 SARAH. the agonizing suspense of Abram, and the concealed ang'uish of Sarai in her conscious degradation, the hours wore heavily away, until the judgments of God upon the royal household brou+tght deliverance. Pharaoh, though an idolater, knew by this supernatural infiiction, that there was guilt in the transaction, and called Abram to an account. Hle had nothing to say in self-acquittal, and with a strange magnanimnity, was sent away with his wif'e and his property quietly; followned only by the reproaches of Pharaoh, and his own wakeful conscience. Abram returned to Palestine, became a victor in fierce battles with a vastly outnumbering foe, and was in possession of a splendid fortune. Yet Sarai was unhappy because she was childless. She had the Lord's promise that a son should beguile the hours of declining life, but the years fled, and there was no token of fulfilment. SARAH. 35 In her disappointment and impatience she told her husband it was folly to hope on, and pointed to Hagar, a servant, as the mother of the expected heir. By following his suggestion in Egypt she went to the verge of ruin, and now in turn is the tempter, involving her family in guilt and discord that almost broke the heart of Abram. WVhen the slave was likely to bear a son, her vanity was excited, and she treated Sarai with scorn that roused her indignation. Hagar was banished and became a friendless fugitive in the wilderness-where the angel of God found her weary and fainting, led her to a gushing spring, and there bade her go back submissively to her mistress. Soon after Jehovah appeared to Abram in a glorious vision, talking with him as friend to friend. He fell on his face in the dust, as did the exile of Patmos ages after, 36 SARAH. while a voice of affection and hope, came from the bending sky.-" I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect." The solemn covenant involving the greatness and splendor of the people and commonwealth that should spring from the solitary pair, was renewed; and as an outward seal, he was named Abraham, 7The father of a grea~t multitade-and his wife Sarah, The princess. Still he laughed at the absurdity that Sarah would ever be a mother, and invoked a blessing on Ishmael, but evidently said nothing to her upon a subject dismissed as incredible from his thoughts. For when the celestial messengers were in the tent on their way to warn Lot, she listened tc their earnest conversation, concealed by the curtains, and hearing that repeated promise based on the immutability of God, also laughed with bitter mirth, at her hopeless prospect in regard to the marvellous pre SARAH. 37 diction. And when one of the Angels, who was Jehovah veiled in human form, as afterwards " manifest in the flesh," charged her with this unbelief and levity, the discovery roused her fears, and approaching him, without hesitation, she denied the fact. He knew perfectly her sudden apprehension, and only repeated the accusation, enforced doubtless by a glance of omniscience, like that which pierced the heart of Peter. The group separated, and two of those bright beings went on to Sodom. The next morning Abraham walked out upon the plain, and looked towards the home of Lot. He saw the smoke as of a great furnace going up to the calm azure, from the scathed and blackened plains where life. was so busy and joyous a few hours before! With a heavy heart he returned to his tent, and brought Sarah forth to behold the scene. She clung with trembling to his side. while 38 SARAH. she listened to the narration of the terrible overthrow of those gorgeous cities, and the rescue of her brother's lhousehold, and beheld in the distance the seething and silent grave of millions, sending up a swaying column of ebon, cloud-like incense to God's burning indcignation aainst sin. They left the vale of Miamre, and journeyed to Gera, where, with a marvellous forgetfulness of the past, the beauty of Sarah again led them into deception and falsehood, and with the same result as before. Abimelech, the king, would have taken her for his wife as Abraham's sister, had not God appeared in a dream threatening immediate deatlh. Upon pleading his innocence he was spared, and expostulating with his guest, generously offered him a choice of residence in the land; but rebuked Sarah with merited severity. Prophecy and covenant now hastened to SARAn. 39 their fulfilment. Sarah gave birth to a son, and with the name of God on her lips, she gave utterance to holy rapture. With all her faults, she was a pious and noble woman. She meant to train him for the Lord, and therefore when she saw young Ishmael mocking at the festival of his weaning, she besought her husband to send away the irreverent son, whose influence might ruin the consecrated Isaac. Hagar, with a generous provision for her wants, was once more a fugitive; and the Most High approved the solicitude of a mother for an only child, around whose destiny was gathered the interest of ages, and the hopes of a world. And now, with the solemn shadows of life's evenino hours falling around her, and a heart subdued by the discipline of Providence, in the fullness of love which had been rising so long within the barriers o9 40 SARAH. hope deferred, she bent prayerfully over the very slumbers of that fair boy, and taught him the precious name of God, with the first prattle of his infant lips. How proudly she watched the unfolding of this bud of promise. When in the pastimes of childhood, he played before the tent-door, or with a shout of gladness ran to meet Abraham returning from the folds, her calm and glowing eye marked his footsteps, and her grateful aspirations for a blessing on the'lad went up to the Heaven of heavens. At length he stood before her in the manliness and beauty of youth unscarred by the rage of passions, and with a brow open and laughing as the radiant sky of his own lovely Palestine. It was a morning which flooded the dewy plains with glory, and filled the groves witl music, when Abraham came in from hki wonted communion with God, and callaA SARAH. 41 for Isaac, and told him to prepare for a three days' journey into the wilderness. How tenderly was Sarah regarded in this scene of trial. Evidently no information of the awful command to sacrifice the son of her old age, was made to her. She might have read something fearful in the lines of anxious thought and the workings of deep emotion in the face of Abraham. But he evaded all inquiries on the subject, " clave the wood," and accompanied by two of his young men, turned from his dwelling with a blessing from that wondering mother, and was soon lost from her straining vision among the distant hills. Upon the third day he saw the top of Mount Moriah kindling in the rising sun, and taking Isaac alone, ascended to the summit, whereon was to be reared an altar, which awakened more intense solicitude in heaven, than any offering before or since, except on Calvary, 42 SARAH. where God's'only-begotten and well-beloved son" was slain. There is no higher moral sublimity, than the uniwavering trust and cheerful obedience of this patriarch, when the very oath of the Almighty seemed perjured, and the bow of promise blotted from the firmament of faitlh! But he believed Jehovahl and would have clung to his assurance, though the earth had reeled in her orbit, and every star drifted from its moorings. He prayed for strength, with his hand on the forehead of his submissive son. "He rose up and laid The wood upon the altar. All was done, Ite stood a moment-and a deep, quick flush Passed o'er his countenance; and then he nerved His spirit with a bitter strenlth, and spoke"Isaac! my only son "-'The boy looked up, And Abraham turned hlis face away and wept. "Where is the lanmb, my father?"'-O, the tones, The sweet, the thrilling music of a child! How it doth agonize at such an hour! It was the last, deep struggle-Abraham held His loved, his beautiful, his only son, SARAH. 43 And lifted up his arm, and called on GodAnd lo! God's Angel staid him —and he fell Upon his face and wept." When on his return he told Sarah of his strange mission, and how the Lord stayed his uplifted hand when the struggle had passed, with deeper yearnings of the maternal heart she clasped Isaac to her bosom, and mingled with his own, her tears of joy. She did not long survive this last test of fidelity, itself the crowning evidence that she was the mrother whose posterity would out-number the stars. At Kirjath-arba, in the vale of gHebron, during the absence of Abraham, Sarah died. When he heard of her death, he hastened to her burial, "to mourn and to weep for her." There is no more aSfectinc funeral scene in history. Bending over the corpse of his beautiful and devoted wife, he looked upon the strangers about him, and while his hoary 44 SARAH, locks shook with the excitement of grief he sobbed aloud,' I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give ume a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." He bought the field of M3aehpelah, and in a cave, which seemed to have been formed for a sepulchre, beneath the shade of forest trees, he laid the form he loved when a beauteous maiden, the noblest of wives, and a faithful, praying mother. With Isaac weeping at his side, he turned a-way to enforce on his tender spirit her holy counsels, and wait further upon the providence of God toward the youth; upon whom must fall the patriarchal mantle, and who was to guard and transmit the knowledge and worship of Jehovah. IT was sunset on the plains of Mesopotamia. Around them stood the mountains, with their brows bathed in the glow of an oriental day, as it dropped gloriously behind them. Far down their darkening sides, the flocks were g'athering to their folds, and with a softened murmur the echoes went up from the distant city in the vale of Haran, towards whose gates from the interlocking hills of the south, wound slowly a 46 REBEKAH. strange cavalcade. The camels were laden richly, and walked wearily, for they had travelled from Palestine, which was more than four hundred miles frolm Haran. They were led by ani aoged man of patriarchal air, vhose calm face revealed both a thouh fu1l mind, and the dignity of goodness; while his flowhing beard fell upon his breast White as a wreath of snow. Ile was the faithful stewardcl of Abraham, and with an oath of fidelity in his mission, journeyed to the land of Nahor to choose a bride for Isaac, worthy of the honor, and educated in the religion of his father. The shadows of twilight were deepening upon the landscape, when he passed beside a well in the suburbs of the city, and gazed upon its walls with the intense emotion which agitates the heart, when the conflict between hope and fear is drawing to a final issue. And besides his contemplations of the Invis REBEKAH. 47 ible, he had but one thought during all his days of lonely travel, and his nights of wakefulness beneath the beaminog sky above his roofless head: "Where shall I find the maiden umy master will approve, and his only son receive to his horme, as the secozcld2rincess in their illustrious line? It was the time of even ing when the womevn came out to draw water, and he determined to make the occasion decisive, under the direction of God. He made the ca-miels kneel (about him, and bowing himrself in prayer, he besought the Lord A"to give him speed" in thile matter for Abraham, his servant's sake. It was no formal prai-yer he breathed upon the quiet air, which scarcely lifted the hoary locks from his anxious brow. It was no wavering faith that cast all the care of his troubled spirit on Jehovah, desiring the sign of his approval in a simple expression 48 REBEKAH. of Eastern hospitality. And while he was communing with God, Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, came out bearing her pitcher; and, "the damsel was v'ery fair to look upon." Her singular beauty arrested the eye of Eliezer. He watched her while she ran to the fountain, so airily, "The light spring-flower would scarcely bow Beneath her step,"and stooped to the waters, like a white swan bending to the glassy wave. Then lifting the pitcher to her shoulder, upon which the raven ringlets -fell wavingly froom her fair forehead, she stood before him in the fading light, the impersonation of virgin loveliness. She did not see the charmed Eliezer, and hastened nymph-like along her star-lit path, towards the city gate. Starting as from a dream, he ran forward to meet her, and asked-permission to drink of the water. She immediately dropped the pitch REBEKAIt 49 er upon her hand and said, " Drink, my lord." Just then she observed the panting camelsi and with the same disinterested kindness, and a voice which was the very music of love, offered to draw water " for them also, until they had done drinking." He was so absorbed by a solemn interest of which she knew nothing, that "he held his peace," without even rendering aid to Rebekah; but mutely admiring her faultless person, and generous deed, he wondered if that beautiful being wa8s the object of his toilsome pilgrimage. She had given the sign unconsciously, of his own choosing, andC the fact gradually spread hopeful tranquillity over his bewildered thought. He gave hei an ear-ring of pure gold, and a pair of cost ly bracelets, inquiring after her father's house, and if he could have entertainments there for the night. The maiden modestly told her lineage, assuring him both of a kim3 50 REBEKAH. reception and abundant provision for his animals. When he knew it was the family of Nahor, the pious and shrewd old man doubted no more, but recognized the hand of the Lord. He bowed in grateful adoration on the dewy earth, amid the stillness of nature reposing upon the bosom of God, and poured forth from a full heart his thanksgiving. Rebekah ran to her mother, told her what had happened, and the mysterious words the man had spoken. This simple incident is a sweet glimpse at the amiable and filial character of Milcah's daughter. While they were talking over the marvellous occurrence, Laban, a brother, went out to see who the wealthy stranger might be, and learn his design'in visiting their beautiful city. Doubtless he was more interested in the shekels of gold than the devotional expressions his sister repeated. REBEKAH. 51 But when he found him at the well, in the apparent disinterestedness of a true patriarch, with a benediction, he bade him come to his dwelling, for every preparation was made for his accommodation. Soon the girdle and sandals were removed, and he was invited to partake of the evening repast. And now appears the tact, eloquence, and religious principle of this servant, which were evidently the ground of Abraham's confidence in his management, in the discourse and special pleading before the household of his entertainer. With solemnity becoming his responsibility, he refused to eat till he had made known his errand. He then introduces himself as the servant of Abraham, who by the blessing of God, he adds, "is become great." After describing the magnitude of his vast possessions, he makes a graceful transition to Isaac, the sole heir of this fame 562 TrlSEE and splendid inheritance. He gives the reason for his long journey in search of a bride, the irreligious character of the Canaanites, narrating the conversation with his master, and the hesitation he felt in entering upon the delicate undertaking. The entire scene at the well is minutely delineated, to convince them that the Almighty had sanctioned the transaction, and bestowed unequivocal signs of his approbation of the choice. Without doubt, he marked the impression his address made on the listening group, and was not afraid to throw; the entire matter upon their decision. He had completely won the father and brother, to his purpose, and they referred the whole question to Rebekah. There was a struggle in the mother's bosom, and Rebekak hung upon her neck in tears. Eliezer evidently regarded the matter as settled, and distributed with princely liberalityhis mAg REDBFAI 63 nificent presents among the members of the family. At a late hour they retired for repose, but how little slumber in that dwelling! The successful servant may have fallen into pleasant dreams, Bethuel and Laban, proud of the prospective alliance, may have slept, thronged with golden visions; but the heart of the maiden never beat so wildly before, and life assumed a strange reality, to her musing and restless spirit. The mother -was sorrowful and prayerful, for an only daughter was the sacrifice demanded, and sending her to Canaan, was like burying her from sight forever. In the morning came the final trialwhen God's eternal puposes were borne onward by the unostentatious incidents of a touching domestic scene. And who can tell the, influence, though unseen, of the history of any family upon the destiies of a 64 REBEKAH. succeeding generation! Eliezer signified the necessity of his immediate departure. Milcah and Labaah besought him to tarry a few days, for they could not part thus suddenly with the damsel. But there were mightier interests than those of time at stake, and he was firm in his purpose. Rebekah was called, and asked if she were willing to go immediately with the man. She was prepared by a higher communion than that with kindred, and the heroism of cheerful piety, to answer unhesitatingly, "Iwill go." When the circumstances are considered, there is here a moral sublimity, pure and impressive, as that which hung around the first female who abandoned the land of her birth and the friendships of home, for the wide ocean, and a grave on plains overshadowed by the temples of idol-worship. With blessings upon her head, and tear. ful adieus, in her queenly womanhood, the REBEKAH. 55 more beautiful for her sadness, she mounted the kneeling camel, and accompanied by the nurse of her infancy, and the retinue that came to escort her, moved silently from the city of her fathers. And how often with swimming eye, she turned to gaze on the receding valley, upon whose peaceful breast, like a white speck, lay the beloved city. But a new world soon spread around the fair traveller. Sometimes wild summits cast their shadows upon her way; then from a hill-top she looked off upon luxuriant plains, with their isles of foliage dallying with the passing wind, and a horizon of mountains pencilled on the haze of the dreamy sky. And there were hours when her thoughts wandered from all these, and brooded with painful intensity upon her unfolding destiny. It was eventide of such a day as dawns on Palestine, when Rebekah saw in the 06 REBEKAH. distanc, a man in meditative mood, walking in the fields. With that presentiment which seemed often almost prophetic when near an expected event, and probably aided by the indication of devotional spirit, she suspected him to be Isaac, and alighted from Der camel. Eliezer confirmed her suspiGions, and veiling herself, she modestly awaited his approach. He was a stranger,:gd might not fall in with her guide's admiration-or there might be something in him repulsive to her own taste. Wehile these conflicting emotions were passing, Eliezer had informed Isaac of his travels, the interview with Rebelkah at the well, the. objections he overruled in obtaining consent of her relatives, and the sad farewdlls that still haunted his memory. Isaac felt that the Almighty, whose voice he heard when on the altar of Moriah, had brought him a wife, he could love for her REBEKAH. 57 own sake, and he took her joyfully to his tent. It was the very place where Sarah died, and he had mourned deeply for his sainted mother. Rebekah came to his solitude, like an angel of consolation, and his pensive home was lighted with a smile of returning hope. Time passed on, and with all his riches, there were hours of sadness in that home, because no children were given him. He prayed earnestly for the covenant blessing, and Rebekah bore him twins, who were named Esau and Jacobthe beginning of sorrows to her, and of suffering to them all, till they slept in death. The sons grew to manhood —Esau, the inheritor of the birthright, was a sportsman, and a passionate man, but the favorite of Isaac because he gratified his father's fondness for venison; Jacob, a quiet shepherd, became the idol of his mother;-a parental partiality, which resulted at length 3* 68 LREBEEH. in the overthrow of Esau, while his brother rose upon his ruin. Driven by famine like Abraham before him, to seek bread at a foreign court, the patriarch went to Gerar. Apprehensive of assassination on account of Rebekah's beauty, he also was guilty of the cowardly act of dissembling, in which she was accessory. She told the admiring princes that Isaac was a brother. Abimelech the king discovered the deception accidentally, and bitterly reproved the stranger. It is somewhat remarkable, that the grand trio of primal patriarchs, married handsome women; who, notwithstanding their exalted character and fidelity, cost two of them days of gloomy fear, and crime that left ever after burning on the conscience, the living coals of remorse. Isaac now reached his dotage; feeble and blind, he knew death was near. He etlad REBEAH. 9 Esau, and told him as he might die suddenly, to get him venison and prepare for the solemn occasion of receiving his parting blessing, which should secure the privileges and pre-eminence of the first-born. The hunter went into the fields; and Rebekah, recollecting thatJacob had purchased the birthright of his brother for a mess of pottage, one day when he came in from the chase faint with hunger and exhaustion, determined by a stroke of management to seal with the patriarchal benediction, that transfer of the unappreciated distinction by Esau, who was disinclined manifestly, to a religious life. She sent him to the flocks after two kids, which were prepared with the savory delicacy his father loved, and assuming the responsibility of any anathema that might follow, she dressed him up in Esau's apparel, covering his hands and neck to imi 60 REBEIKAH. tate the hairiness of the rightful heir, and sent him to the bedside of the dying Isaac. When the patriarch inquired who he was, he replied, "I am Esau, thy first-born." This was passing belief, because even the skilful hunter, could scarcely without a miracle so soon bring in the game, and dress it for his table. Jacob was called to his side, and he felt of his hands; the disguise completed the delusion, although his voice had the milder tone of the young shepherd, to that father's ear. He repeated the interrogation concerning his name, then embracing him, pronounced in a strain of true poetry, the perpetual blessing of Jehovah's favor upon his undertakings, and his -posterity. The stratagem had succeeded, and Jacob hastened to inform his mother of the victory, just as Esau returned. When Isaac discovered the mistake, he trembled with excitement, while his son cried in an REBEKAH. 61 guish, " Bless even me also, O my father!" That cry pierced the breaking heart of the aged man, but it was a fruitless lament. He was inflexible, and Esau wept aloud over his blasted hopes; plotting at the same time, in his awakened enmity, the murder of Jacob. Rebekah was alarmed at his fury, and sent "the supplanter," to her kindred in Haran of Mesopotamia. Her tent was now a spot of deepening gloom; there were hours of mournful meditation in the apartment of approaching dissolution, and of weeping in the solitude of the noble yet erring mother. Though strangely fallen from her youthful purity, she exhibited decided religious principle in her grief when Esau to obtain revenge for her neglect of his boyhood, married an idolater. Accumulating troubles, made her weary of life, but where or when she died, the sacred historian has not given the slight 62 -REBiEKAH. est intimation. There is something significant in the fact, which justifies the inference, that her departure was a dreary one-cheered only by penitential trust in the Lord. It may be that she was glad to leave a pathway on which the morning of her existence shed a heavenly radiance, but which, strewed with the sere leaves of blighted innocence and hope, met the grave o'erclouded with sorrow, and wet with tears. As a maiden, Rebekah was a model, an acknowledged beauty, and amiable in all the relations of life. She was a devoted wife, and only when corrupted by favoritism towards Jacob, and the example of Isaac in falsehood, did her character as a mother pass under eclipse. The crowning act of her guilty fondness and ambition, was presumnption. Because God had made known his purpose to reverse the rule of primogeniture in her fanmily, she determined REBEKAH. 63 in her own way to carry out the design. This one object took possession of her mind, until like a kind of madness, it urged her onward to crimes that made existence a burden, and which invested with a painful uncertainty her abode in the world to come. A CENTURY after the matrimonial embassy from Palestine halted at nightfall before the city of Nahor, a solitary fugitive soon after noon of a sultry day, dusty and worn with travel, joined a group of shepherds, who waited with their flocks beside a well in the same valley of Haran. He fled from an angry brother, and had wandered for weeks among the hills, cheered at night while reposing on the ground, with the 66 RACHEL. glories of Heaven whose gates were thrown wide open above him. The angels upon a stair-way of light, came in throngs from the celestial plains, fanning his throbbing brow with their wings, and chasing from his spirit sad thoughts with the ravishing melody of their sinless abode. On a throne such as was never piled for human sovereignty, he beheld the Almighty enrobed xtth splendors that put out the stars, and heard the accents of sympathy and promise from his lips. Thus sustained in his banishment, and bound by an oath made at the bedside of his dying father, to marry among his kindred of Mesopotamia, Jacob rested, a friendless exile, by the fountain where the camels of the servant Eliezer knelt laden with precious gifts. It was a strange contrast in life, especially when equal honor was the inheritance. The lesson taught RACHEL. 67 then, as now, was the unerring providence of God amid the mutations of time, and the folly of desponding when a cloud blackens on the horizon of the future. The traveller inquired after the health of Laban. The Chaldeans answered his in quiries, and pointing to a beautiful shepherdess coming with her flock, told him there was Rachel his daughter. With that courtesy which springs from magnanimity of spirit and needs only the culture of opportunity to develop itself, Jacob hastened to the well, rolled away the stone, and watered her sheep. The intelligence he had received, stirred the depths of his spirit, as the storm moves the sea, for in all his wanderings he met with no familiar face, nor heard one accent of affection. Saluting his fair cousin with a kiss, he lifted up his voice and wept. The recollections of home, the present joyful surprise, and visions of 68 RACHEL' the future, swept like a rushing tide over his sad heart. When the agitation subsided and he could command utterance, he disclosed his relationship, by tenderly alluding to his mother, Laban's only sister, with whom he parted while the bloom of girlhood was yet upon her cheek. Breathless with excitement and delight, she flew to her father with the tidings. He welcomed the young man to his dwelling, and invited him to become a resident in Haran, offering as an inducement to pay him his-own price for labor. Jacob was smitten with Rachel's beauty, and the sweetness of her temper, and imme, diately consented on condition that he might marry her as the reward of seven years, toil. The days went by on rainbow wing, and the time of service vanished like a dream. When he came in at evening, her beaming eye wma upon.him —and often till 1" the noon of night? the hours were passed in con, panionship unsullied by suspicion. -whilo they talked of their love, the strange vicis,'situdes of their kindred, and the bright displays of Jehovah's regard. Jacob was a true-hearted and godly man. He once yielded to temptation presented by a mother, and, was guilty of duplicity that cost him his self-respect, and made him despise her; but, ever after exhibited a lofty integrity both as a, citizen and a devout patriarch. At length he claimed his bride. Th&6 marriage festival was magnificent, and the exile of Canaan the central object of its gay assemblage. The evening waned, the: lampsburned dimly, and music died away as, with very weariness, when the parting salutations. were exchanged around the wedded twain. But by an act of basest deception, Laban: compelled Jacob to take Leah, an older daughter, for- him wife because customary tol ~70 RACHEL. give the eldest first in marriage. So strong was his affection for Rachel, he suppressed his indignation and engaged to work another seven years for her. In condemning this unnatural polygamy, two things are to -be considered; the fraud of the father in withholding the first choice, and the absence of any established principles of civil or religious polity. There is a tendency in the mind to bring those ancient worthies for judgment, from the twilight of their dispensation to the foot of Sinai, and even to the Cross of Messiah, where we sit in the blaze of the gospel's noontide, and learn the precepts of immaculate widom. Rachel, though evidently less amiable than Leah, reigned in the affections of Jacob. When her envy and impatience because her sister bare sons and she was childless, found expression in reproach of her husband, and a wish to die if longer RACHEL. 71 unblest, his anger called forth but a mild rebuke. Twenty years passed by, and Jacob, a wealthy patriarch, departed from IHaran as he came, a fugitive from kindred. And as before in his flight, nightly repose brought visions of paradise, and the voice of God. Hie was overtaken by his pursuers, and accused among other things of stealing Laban's teraphim. From some unknown motive, -Rachel had carried away these household gods, and dissembled, to conceal the fact. But the blemishes on her character, when the attention and flattery her beauty received are taken into the account, are faint and few. She was a splendid woman, beloved in all the relations of domestic and social life. At the ford of Jabbok, when Jacob was about to encounter the embittered Esau with his host, he placed in the rear of his 72 RAOHEL. own caravan, Rachel and the stripling Jo seph, her youngest boy, to have them the least exposed if an attack were made.HIow remote the thought, when she led the lad to the margin of the stream, that his infant hand would in after years, hold the key of a monarch's treasury, wanting only a sceptre to be Sovereign of the proudest realm on earth, rescuing from famine Israel and his household, to prevent the failure of a single promise concerning the chosen of the Lord. Not far from Bethel, Rachel gave birth to another son-and her own life was the price of this last-born. Having escaped the rage' of enemies, and the perils of a wearisome march, just entering into the very bosom of Canaan, Rachel must be laid in the grave. She was conscious of her hastening dissolution, and murmured Benoni-the son of zmy s9orow. Then with a blessing, she badoe RACHEL 73 Jacob and her noble sons farewell, looked up trustingly to the sky bending brightly above her, and "fell asleep." Her last gaze was towards the hills around Bethlehem, which were flooded with the light of the star in the East, and echoed back to the " Mount of God" the chorus of angels, when "He who should redeem Israel" was cradled in a manger! They buried her there, and Jacob erected a memorial of stone, which survived the lapse of centuries, and was cherished as the monument of beauty and worth by his descendants, till it crumbled to dust. We need no further illustration of her elevated character than those testimonials, or of her intellectual force and piety than the faultless and kingly Joseph-the full-length portrait of a pure and brilliant man, which in the distance and dimness of antiquity, is 4 74 RACHEL. yet distinct and beautiful, beneath the ra. diance that falls from the Eternal city of the better Canaan, into which he entered. DESTINY, in the history of an individual and a nation, often turns on apparently an unimportant event. We have in Revelation impressive illustrations of this truth; as if God, by poising his own stupendous plans on the common occurrences of life, would teach man his particular providence, and the solemnity of action on the stage of probation, where the very echo of his footsteps will be heard forever. 76 MIRIAML The fulfilment of prophecy, and the greatness and glory of the Hebrew nation, were all involved in the preservation of a single man-child among thousands with whom it was doomed to a violent death. For three months parental love had eluded the edict of the tyrant who "knew not Joseph," till concealment was no longer an experiment of hope. The beautiful child was enclosed in a bark of rushes, and committed to the bosom of the Nile. Miriam, an only sister, was sent to watch the frail vessel, while it floated down the lazy current, the plaything of every ripple, "And every breath of air that chanced to blow." It was to avoid suspicion that Jochebed remained at home, to indulge a mother's grief, and lift to Israel's God a mother's prayer. And Miriam, a summer day rambler among the flags by the river's margin, or fragrant MIRIAM. 77 wild flowers beneath the branching palm, would not arrest the eye of the passing Egyptian. How strangely the bloom of girlhood upon her cheek contrasted with the tear-drops trembling on the long lashes, which almost veiled the glance following ever the boat of that young dreamer. An oriental sky bends brightly above her, and the waters sparkle as if in very gladness, around the boy" The whispering reeds are all he hears, The Nile's sott weltering nigh Sings him to sleep;"but her heart beats audibly, and dark thoughts of man and of life are chasing away a thousand glowing visions of the future. The day wore on, the sun bathed his burning forehead in the Mediterranean sea, and threw the glory of his farewell upon the hills that border on the fruitful valley, whose soil was wet:with the blood of her 78 NMIRIAM. countrymen. She heard the murmur of voices, and the sound of coming footsteps startling her from a mournful reverie. Pale with fear, she stood like the hunted fawn in his glade, panting before his pursuers. The little Levite, perhaps, was slumbering his last, and would be an evening sacrifice at the hand of the hastening executioner. When she saw the form of the king's daughter followed by her maidens, hope stilled her fluttering heart. The princess mnigit take her bath without obserTing the barge of bulrushes-if she did make the discovery, woman's heart was moved by an infant's smile, and touched by its cry. The tiny ark waC seen, and brought to the bank. The babe opened his blue eye on the wondering women and wept, for among them all no maternal arms were extended in welcome, nor familiar voice fell on the ear of the Hebrew's son. MIRIAM. 79 But he had won the royal sympathy; Miriam knew he was safe, and asked permission to find a nurse. With joy that spoke in every lineament of her face, and the fleetness of her arrow-like step, she returned to the dwelling she left in sorrow, and Jochebed soon clasped the child to her heaving breast, naming him Moses-drawn fromn the water. Pharaoh's daughter bade her train him for her father's palace, and bring him there when he reached his boyhood. Miriam rose to womanhood with a tone of masculine beauty, and Moses, a manly youth, took an honorable position in the court of Pharaoh. The influences of home were inwrought with all his sympathies, and he looked with deepest scorn upon a despot's favor and a splendid career, while the groans of his oppressed people were filling the heavens. Possessing the traits 80 MIRIAMl of a hero in the highest degree, Jehovah by a visible manifestation appointed him chieftain, to strike for the deliverance of his nation. He stood with Aaron before the haughty monarch, cheered doubtless by the remembered words of Miriam who had felt the bitterness of oppression, and a mother's blessing, and boldly. announced the command of God to let Israel go. Pharaoh poured contempt on the message and Him who sent it. Moses lifted up his rod, and the Nile on which he floated in helpless infancy, with every streamlet and pool, was turned into blood! But the king was unmoved. when his fears were gone. Fire and hail descended in a tempest, and ran in torrents upon the blackening plains. Darkness deeper than broods on mornless chaos blotted out the stars, and quenched the flame of his brightest lamps —but not MIRIAM. 81 until the first-born of every Egyptian household in his realm lay a stiffened corpse, as a fearful atonement for the innocents he had slain, did he consent to the departure of his God-protected slaves. They reached the sea, which spread its waste of billows between them and Canaan. Again the mysterious rod was raised over the waters, and they rolled up like mighty scrolls on-each hand, and stood in walls of crystal beside their paved and ample path. The grand procession, with flying banners and silent march, wound like a vast Hydra through that parted deep. Just as Moses went up the opposing bank, Pharaoh's pursuing host, with exultant shouts and the noise of numberless chariot wheels, poured into the gorge of uplifted waves. He stretched out the rod once more towards his foes, and with the crash of a thousand besieged and falling towers, the 4* 82 bMIRIAM. billowy mountains fell on that rushing army. Banner and plume-the horse and his rider-weapons of war and shivered chariots, were mingled in a common wreck, and the requiem was the shrieks and curses of dying men, and the roar of foam-wreathed surges. The trembling multitudes of Israel from their peaceful shore looked mutely on, till that mournful cadence rose faintly on the troubled air. " Then sang Moses and the children of Israel unto the Lord" an anthem of unequalled sublimity-and Miriam, inspired with prophetic fire, "took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances." She threw in a chorus worthy the theme and the occasion; the wilderness sent up echoes which never before stirred its solitude, and the notes of rapture floated in a tide of melody over the solemn sea, which was MIRIM. 83 now the grave of an imperial army. That song and response were composed six hundred years before the immortal Grecian swept his wondrous harp in his blindness, and yet in grandeur that towers to the Throne of God, and power that thrills like a trumpet-blast, it leaves the wandering bard in the low grounds of mortal conflict, or on the sunny mount of contending gods. It is sad to turn from that jubilant procession led on by the fair prophetess, to the scene of her fall. The Israelites reached the wilderness of Zin, and encamped on its extended plain. On each side stood the sertinel mountains, whose helmets of rock rer t the folds of the summer cloud as it paased; the standards were unfurled, and the Tabernacle set up. Miriam had seen Moses robed in lightning on the smoking top of Sinai, and listened to the message from his lips when his brow shone like an 84W MIRIAM. angel's-she had loved him as a part of her own being since her lonely vigil by the river's side-but now ambition stalked through the chambers of her soul like a sceptered king, made the affections its vassals, and was environed by the train of riotous passions. Under the new arrangement adopted by Moses at the suggestion of Jethro, his father-in-law, the power was divided among captains, and her authority weakened. Besides, she had marked with jealousy the presence of Zipporah the Ethiopian in the camp, receiving the attention of the great leader, and the admiration of the multitude. She went to Aaron, and "spoke against Moses." He listened to the complaint, which was an appeal to his own wounded honor, and a conspiracy was matured. The Lawgiver was meek in his majesty, and unsullied by human praise or earthly dis. MIRIAM. 85 tinction. He met the frown of the conspirators with unshadowed benignity, nor did their reproaches disturb the tranquillity of his spirit. One morning, a voice from the opening heavens commanded Moses, Aaron and MIiriam, to go up to the tabernacle of the congregation. Then amid strange spreadings of light, a cloud descended and hung over that sanctuary of the Shekinah which was glowing with purple and blue and embroidered with gold. Silence hung upon the vast assembly, while the three passed in wondering stillness to the open court. Pausing there, Moses stood in the calmness of innocence, his noble figure enveloped in a simple mantle. Aaron was arrayed in his sacerdotal robes flashing with jewels and fringed with golden bells. Between them was the ambitious Miriam, richly apparelled, and sullen in her pride and awakened fears. 86 MIRIAM. That radiant column of cloud filled the door of the tabernacle, and the Almighty spoke from its form reflecting the glory that mantles His Throne. He called Aaron and Miriam into its mysterious folds, and alluding to the evidences of the celestial commission of their brother, and assuring them that with none other did he talk as friend with friend, inquired if they were not afraid to reproach his servant. Whether with a thunder peal or a blaze of Omniscience he displayed his anger, we know not. But he manifested his kindled indignation, and departed. The cloud rose and vanished from the sight of the gazing tribes, and Miriam was a leper, " white as snow." Aaron beheld her, and fell at the feet of Moses, beseeching him to intercede with God. Miriam was mute, for she was a fallen woman -a loathsome monument of the wrath of Him whose vivid lightning MIRIAM. 87 is a passing shadow compared to his glance when once he is angry. She trembled and wept, while the Lawgiver prayed for mercy. The Lord refused to hear till the judgment had impressed the offender, and the entire multitude with its fearful lesson. For seven days she was an exile from the camp; and in their yet unshaken regard, the host waited uncomplainingly for her return. What days of meditation and repentance to the erring Miriam! Genius had been to her as beauty to the wives of the patriarchs, a dangerous gift-and on the dizzy eminence of Power, she forgot her frailty, and the homage due to Jehovah. In the desert of Zin, Miriam died. The people in all their tents sent up the notes of wailing for the dead, till the dark defiles of girdling summits were filled with the sol emn echoes, and Canaan itself seemed to have vanished forever from the horizon of 88 MIRIAM. hope. The maiden-prophetess was dear to her wandering and weary nation. They had heard the story of her watching with breaking heart in her girlhood by the flowing Nile-they had seen her by the Red Sea, beneath the rolling mist of returning billows, stand like a rejoicing angel, and strike her timbrel to the Lord, pouring her chorus of victory upon the ear of solitude, and over the deep grave of the on-rushing foe! They buried her at the base of a lonely height, whose tower of granite, is a fit memorial of her lofty genius, and singular pre-eminence as the first female ruler and prophet mentioned in the sacred record. The shadow it flings upon her grave, might remind the beholder of the blemish that darkens her memory, and its gilded top pointing Heavenward when evening has shrouded the plain, indicate the character and destiny of the illustrious sleeper! MIRIAM. 89 Paul refers to the history of Moses as illustrating the power of faith. It was confidence in the promise of God, that in spite of perils which made the effort to save his infant life like waiting at the sepulchre's mouth, committed him to Miriam and the Nile. It was the same trust, breathed in Jochebed's counsels and prayer, that cheered the sweet maiden while she loitered among the reeds, and started at the plunge of the crocodile from his banquet of babes. It was faith that made her worthy to stand with the brotherhood in the Red Sea's wave, and look calmly on its up-rolling waters. It was faith, womnan's faith triumphant, that shouted victory amid the desert's gloom and the thunder of the boiling deep, till the sound reached the very top of Heaven. And finally, faith was by her side with a convoy of angels and chariot of fire, when the last struggle came on in the vale 90 MIRIAM. of Patran-and she turned her fading eye in love on the white tents of Israel, while the recollection of her sin, which like a dartrk cloud had spent its wrath upon her shrinking form and retired, rushed upon her spirit fro~m the luminous past. So is woman's destiny identified with that of the church of the Living, God. More than once the ark of his covenant has rested upon her shoulder, and she has folded to her bosom the whole interests of Zion in peril; leaning as the very " Bride of Christ," when all others had fallen, meekly yet heroically upon the arm of her Beloved. .derin.g