{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69085/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69085","id":"gutenberg_69085","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69085","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Gender & Sexuality Studies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity","Women in the Bible"],"text":"WOMEN IN WHITE RAIMENT,\n\n  BY\n\n  JOHN LEMLEY,\n\n  EDITOR OF\n\n  THE ZION\u2019S WATCHMAN,\n\n  AND AUTHOR OF\n\n  \u201cTHE CHRIST LIFTED UP,\u201d \u201cLAND OF SACRED STORY,\u201d\n  \u201cWONDERS OF GRACE,\u201d \u201cPERSONAL\n  RECOLLECTIONS,\u201d ETC.\n\n  \u201cThey shall walk with me in white; for they shall be worthy, ... and\n  shall be clothed in white raiment.\u201d--REV. iii: 4, 5.\n\n  THE FIRST EDITION.\n\n  ALBANY, NEW YORK,\n  1899.\n\n\n\n\n  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1898, by\n  JOHN LEMLEY,\n  in the office of the Librarian at Washington.\n\n  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.\n\n\n  CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS,\n  Printers, Electrotypers and Binders,\n  ALBANY, N. Y.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  INTRODUCTORY.\n\n  WOMEN OWE THEIR ELEVATION TO THE BIBLE--THE CONDITION OF\n    WOMEN IN HEATHEN LANDS CONTRASTED WITH THE CONDITION OF\n    WOMEN IN BIBLE LANDS--GOD\u2019S THOUGHT OF WOMAN IN THE\n    CREATION--HER RIGHTS UNDER THE HEBREW ECONOMY--CHRIST\u2019S\n    TENDERNESS TOWARDS WOMANHOOD--BLESSING OTHERS.                  7-19\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n  The Paradise Home in Eden.\n\n  MAN\u2019S FIRST HOME A GARDEN--EVE THE ISHA--THE SCENE OF THE\n    TEMPTATION--HIDING FROM GOD--REFUSING TO CONFESS, JUDGMENT\n    IS PRONOUNCED--THE SAD RESULTS OF SIN--EVE BELIEVED\n    THE PROMISE.                                                   21-35\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  Womanhood in the Patriarchal Age.\n\n  SARAH THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS--HER FAITH TESTED--THE MISTAKE\n    OF HER LIFE--HER LOVELY CHARACTER--REBEKAH--AN ORIENTAL\n    WOOING--ELIEZER\u2019S PRAYER--THE BRIDE\u2019S ANSWER--MEETING\n    ISAAC--A MOTHER\u2019S LOVE FOR HER SON--JACOB\u2019S\n    FLIGHT--REBEKAH, THE BEAUTIFUL SHEPHERDESS--SEVEN YEARS\u2019\n    SERVICE FOR HER--LABAN\u2019S DECEPTION--LEAH, THE\n    TENDER-EYED--HUMAN FAVORITES--DIVINELY HONORED--RACHEL\u2019S\n    TOMB THE FIRST MONUMENT TO HUMAN LOVE.                         36-70\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  Womanhood During the Egyptian Bondage and in\n    the Desert of Sinai.\n\n  JOCHEBED--HER REMARKABLE COURAGE--THONORIS--HER\n    COMPASSION--HEROIC LABORS SEEMINGLY UNREWARDED--ZIPPORAH, THE\n    MIDIANITE SHEPHERDESS--GLORIFYING DAILY LABOR--AT A WAYSIDE\n    INN--MIRIAM--HER SONG OF TRIUMPH AT THE RED SEA--HER\n    AFFLICTION AT HAZEROTH--AN EVENTFUL LIFE.                      71-89\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  Womanhood During the Conquest and the Theocracy,\n    or Rule of the Judges.\n\n  RAHAB--GREAT GRACE FOR GREAT SINNERS--THE FALL OF JERICHO--THE\n    COVENANT REMEMBERED--DEBORAH--HER REMARKABLE\n    COURAGE--SISERA\u2019S IRON CHARIOTS BROKEN--THE DAUGHTER OF\n    JEPHTHAH--HER LOVING DEVOTION AND SACRIFICE--THE STORY\n    OF NAOMI--ORPAH\u2019S KISS--THE LOVING RUTH--GLEANING\n    AMONG THE REAPERS--HER RICH REWARD--HANNAH--HER\n    CONSECRATION--YEARLY VISITS TO SHILOH--STITCHING BEAUTIFUL\n    THOUGHTS INTO SAMUEL\u2019S COAT--HER BEAUTIFUL LIFE.              90-117\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  Womanhood During the Reign of the Kings.\n\n  ABIGAIL--CHURLISH NABAL--CHIVALROUS APPRECIATION--DAVID\u2019S\n    MESSENGERS--SAUL\u2019S DAUGHTERS--HIS TREACHERY--MICHAL\u2019S\n    STRATAGEM--RIZPAH--HER HEROIC ENDURANCE AND LOVING\n    FIDELITY--THE QUEEN OF SHEBA--HER VISIT TO JERUSALEM--THE\n    GLORY AND WISDOM OF SOLOMON--THE HALF NOT TOLD--THE\n    QUEEN\u2019S ROYAL GIFTS.                                         118-137\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  Womanhood in the Time of the Prophets and During\n    the Captivity.\n\n  THE WICKED JEZEBEL--THE WIDOW OF SAREPTA--THE TISHBITE AT\n    THE CITY GATE--HIS STRANGE REQUEST--THE WIDOW\u2019S UNFALTERING\n    OBEDIENCE--AN APPEAL TO ELISHA--A POT OF OIL--THE\n    WIDOW\u2019S WONDERFUL FAITH--THE RICH WOMAN OF SHUNEM--HER\n    MODEST LIFE--BARLEY HARVEST--A RIDE TO CARMEL IN\n    THE GLARE OF THE SUN--ESTHER--HER BEAUTIFUL TRAITS OF\n    CHARACTER--CROWNED AS QUEEN--PLEADING FOR THE LIFE OF\n    HER PEOPLE--FOUND FAVOR WITH THE KING.                       138-161\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  Womanhood in the Time of the Saviour\u2019s Nativity.\n\n  AN ANGEL BY THE ALTAR OF INCENSE--HIS MESSAGE--AN ISRAELITISH\n    HOME--IN THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH--THE DESERT TEACHER--THE\n    ANNUNCIATION--THE VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH--MARY\u2019S\n    MAGNIFICAT--JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM--THE NATIVITY--HOME\n    LIFE IN NAZARETH--AFTER SCENES IN MARY\u2019S LIFE--HER\n    RESIDENCE AND DEATH AT EPHESUS--THE PROPHETESS\n    ANNA--HER WAITING FOR REDEMPTION IN JERUSALEM--THE\n    LESSON OF HER PURE AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE.                       162-189\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  Womanhood During our Lord\u2019s Galilean Ministry.\n\n  CHRIST AND WOMANHOOD--NOONTIDE AT JACOB\u2019S WELL--THE LORD\u2019S\n    WONDERFUL TACT--FIELDS WHITE TO THE HARVEST--AN UNINVITED\n    GUEST AT SIMON\u2019S FEAST--COLD HOSPITALITY--A CONCISE\n    PARABLE--FORGIVING SIN--A STREET SCENE--HUMBLE\n    CONFESSION--MOST GRACIOUS WORDS--COAST OF TYRE AND\n    SIDON--SYRO-PH\u0152NICIAN WOMAN--STRANGELY TESTED--HER\n    HUMILITY--WENT AWAY BLESSED.                                 190-222\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  Womanhood During Our Lord\u2019s Judean Ministry.\n\n  THE SISTERS OF BETHANY--THEIR CHARACTERISTICS--NOT GOOD, BUT\n    BEST GIFTS--THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF LOVE--SALOME\u2019S STRANGE\n    REQUEST--HER FIDELITY--JOANNA--THE POOR WIDOW\u2019S GIFT--HOW\n    ESTIMATED--THE SAVIOUR\u2019S WORDS OF PEACE.                     223-244\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  Womanhood During the Apostolic Ministry.\n\n  TABITHA--GLORIFIED HER NEEDLE--THE RESULTS OF LITTLE\n    ACTS--LYDIA--HER HUMILITY--PHILIP\u2019S FOUR DAUGHTERS--\n    PH\u0152BE--PRISCILLA--EUNICE--LOIS--EUDIA--SYNTYCHE--HULDA--\n    THE HEBREW MAID--TAMAR--MOTHERS OF GREAT MEN--THE AUTHOR\n    OF THE BIBLE WOMAN\u2019S BEST FRIEND.                            245-266\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                              PAGE.\n\n  THE ACCEPTED OFFERING                          31\n\n  JACOB\u2019S STRUGGLE AT THE JABBOK                 67\n\n  THE ISRAELITES IN BONDAGE                      73\n\n  MOSES RESCUED FROM THE NILE                    75\n\n  MIRIAM\u2019S SONG OF TRIUMPH                       84\n\n  THE FALL OF JERICHO                            95\n\n  RUTH, THE FAITHFUL FRIEND                     108\n\n  THE BEAUTIFUL ABIGAIL MEETING DAVID           121\n\n  SOLOMON\u2019S MERCHANT SHIPS                      130\n\n  THE QUEEN OF SHEBA                            133\n\n  HADASSAH IN THE PERSIAN COURT                 153\n\n  ESTHER PLEADING FOR HER PEOPLE                157\n\n  THE ANGEL\u2019S MESSAGE                           164\n\n  THE MINISTRY AT EPHESUS                       181\n\n  ANNA, THE PROPHETESS                          185\n\n  CHRIST AND WOMANHOOD                          193\n\n  THE NOONTIDE HOUR AT JACOB\u2019S WELL             198\n\n  THE UNINVITED GUEST                           208\n\n  SEEKING THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD             237\n\n  THE CITY BY THE ANGHISTA                      253\n\n  CORINTH, THE GATE OF THE PELOPONNESUS         260\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY.\n\n\nIt has long been in our mind to write this book, in which we seek\nto set forth the beautiful lives of representative women of the\nBible. There has been much written about prophets, kings and priests,\nabout our Lord and His Apostles, about scenes, of different types of\ncharacter, customs and manners of Oriental life, but so far as we know,\nnothing has been written about the womanhood of the Bible. We believe\na study of these lovely Princesses of God will be both profitable and\ninstructive.\n\nThat we may have a suitable background for our pen pictures of these\nDaughters in Israel, and also, by way of contrast, show what the Bible\nhas done for womanhood, let us briefly take a glance into countries\nwhere the Bible has been a sealed book, for the position of women among\nthe Hebrews has always afforded a pleasing contrast with that of their\nheathen sisters. The position of Jewish women is just what we would\nexpect among a people who were indebted for their laws to the Creator.\n\nIt has always been Satan\u2019s shrewdest trick to degrade motherhood, and\nto cause her to be treated with contempt, knowing that she it is who\nstands at the fountain head of the race, and her hand always shapes\nthe life and forms the civilization, hence the universal oppression of\nwomanhood in all heathen lands.\n\nThe effect of religion (for all nations worship something) upon the\npeople affords overwhelming evidence of its origin. In all heathen\nlands the people are exceedingly religious. In India alone they worship\n360,000,000 gods, but they know nothing about morality. Their religion\noffers no light in life and no hope in death. The condition of women\nin India is indescribable. If a man speaks of his wife he never says\n\u201cwife,\u201d but \u201cfamily\u201d; and if away, he never speaks of going home, but\nhe is going to his house. There is no home life, as we look upon it, in\nall that heathen land. Women are considered by the Hindus as a thing\nthat exists solely for their use. She is given away like a lifeless\nthing to the man who is to be her husband, but who does not consider\nher his equal. He is commanded by his religion to \u201cenjoy her without\nattachment,\u201d and never to love her or put his confidence in her. Some\nwomen are set apart religiously for the use of the men of all classes\nand castes. They are consecrated and \u201cmarried\u201d to the idols in the\ntemples, and are brought up from their girlhood to live as prostitutes.\nHindoo sacred law reaches its climax of cruelty and degradation in the\nrules it lays down for the control of a woman after her husband has\ndied. She may be young and beautiful, she may belong to a wealthy and\npowerful family; it matters not; custom is as relentless as death in\nits weight of woe to crush her completely down.\n\nOne of the Hindoo sacred books says: \u201cIt is unlawful for any man to\ntake a jewelless woman,\u201d whose eyes are like the weeping cavi-flower;\nbeing deprived of her beloved husband, she is like a body deprived of\nthe spirit. She may have only been a betrothed infant or a child of a\nfew years. It makes no difference. The Shasters teach that if a widow\nburns herself alive on the funeral pile of her husband, even though\nhe had killed a Brahmin, that most heinous of deeds, she expiates the\ncrime. For long centuries widows have been a literal burnt offering for\nthe redemption of husbands.\n\nAnother law is laid down after the following fashion: \u201cOn the death of\ntheir attached husbands, women must eat but once a day, must eschew\nbetel and a spread mattress, must sleep on the ground, and continue\nto practice rigid mortification. Women who have put off glittering\njewels of gold must discharge with alacrity the duties of devotion, and\nneglecting their persons, must feed on herbs and roots, so as barely to\nsustain life within the body. Let not a widow ever pronounce the name\nof another man.\u201d\n\nThere are, in India, twenty-three millions of widows, of these fourteen\nthousand are baby widows under four years of age, and sixty thousand\ngirl widows between five and nine years of age. Nearly one-fourth of\nthe whole number of widows are young. Besides, there are many millions\nof deserted wives, whose condition is as bad, and in some cases worse,\nthan that of the widows. The lives of many millions of these poor women\nare made so miserable that they prefer death to life, and thousands\ncommit suicide yearly.\n\nAnd all these helpless women have never heard the message of salvation\nfrom God\u2019s Holy Word.\n\nIt so happens in these days of missionary work among the heathen that\nnow and then the light of the Gospel finds its way into these benighted\nhearts. Such was the case of a Brahmin widow, who had lived in the home\nof her uncle, but, for a fancied offence, was beaten and turned into\nthe street naked. She was a woman of commanding manner and appearance,\nsuch as few suffering widows possess. She was tall, elegant of bearing,\nand attractive. Her story, in short, is this: \u201cI was married when only\nfive years of age. I soon became a widow, and then my father and mother\ntook care of me, though I was kept secure in their home. My father and\nmother died, and since I was fifteen years of age I have been with\ntheir relatives, who let me work in the fields and earn an honorable\nliving. Then my mother\u2019s own brother came along, and persuaded me to\ncome to his house. I hoped for kindness, but I have been their slave\nfrom that day.\u201d\n\nWhen asked whether she had been led astray, she replied, \u201cI might\nhave been, and sat with jewels on my neck and arms, with a frontlet\non my brow, and gems would have bedecked my ears had I yielded to the\nmachinations of my uncle and the desires of his friends to betray me\ninto a life of glittering slavery! Because I would not, I am in rags,\nand now turned homeless into the streets.\u201d\n\nSuch is the suffering of women in India. And the saddest of all is, the\nonly heaven they look for after this world, is a place where they can\nbe their husband\u2019s servants. Sad and terrible is their state!\n\nThe condition of womanhood in China is but little better. In fact she\nis unwelcome at her birth. If she is suffered to live, she is subjected\nto inhuman foot-binding. The feet are supposed to merit the poetical\nname of \u201cgolden lilies.\u201d But how sad it is to discover that such a\nresult is produced by indescribable torture, and that the part of the\nfoot that is not seen is nothing but a mass of distorted or broken\nbones!\n\nThis binding process commences when the girl is about six years old.\nThere is a Chinese proverb that says, \u201cFor every pair of bound feet has\nbeen shed a _kong_ full of tears.\u201d And yet, the most important part of\na Chinese girl\u2019s dress is her tiny shoe of colored silk or satin, most\ntastefully embroidered, with bright painted heels just peeping beneath\nthe neat pantalets. Missionary ladies tell us how they themselves have\nseen three strong women holding a little girl by force to compel her to\nsubmit to this awful torture. It is not an uncommon thing for a mother\nto get up in the night and beat a poor child of seven or eight for\nkeeping her awake by her stifled sobs from the terrible pain produced\nby the bandages. Through the weary summer days, instead of romping and\nenjoying the fresh air and sports with brothers, the poor little girl\nwill lie, restless with fever, upon her little couch, and when the cold\nnights of winter come, she is afraid to wrap her limbs in any covering,\nelse they grow warm and the suffering becomes more intense.\n\nAt last the much desired smallness is obtained, the feet are deformed\nfor life and she is greatly admired by all her friends. If she is not\nbetrothed until she is ten or more years of age, one of the first\nquestions is, \u201cWhat is the length of her feet?\u201d Three inches is the\ncorrect length of the fashionable shoe, but some are only two.\n\nBut this has respect only to those girl-babies who are suffered to\nlive. The horrors of heathenism permits the new-born girl baby to\nbe disposed of. There is outside the city walls of Fuchan, China, a\nstructure of stone without doors, but with two window-like openings.\nThis well-known and frequently visited building is the baby tower--not\na day nursery for the care of the infants of the poor, not an orphanage\nwhere the little waifs are clothed and fed and educated, but a place\nwhere girl-babies can be thrown and left to die. In larger cities,\nsuch as Pekin, carts pass through the streets at an early hour of the\nday and gather up the babies abandoned to the streets by their inhuman\nparents.\n\nWomen in the common walks of life are the slaves of their husbands.\nThe wife rises early in the morning, does the housework for the day,\nand prepares the morning meal for her husband, who always eats it by\nhimself while she serves. Having finished her own meal, after her\nhusband has eaten his, she cleans up the dishes, and then hastens to\nthe fields to toil all day under a burning sun. The husband, meanwhile,\nspends the day in sleeping, or gambling, or when opportunity occurs,\nin thieving or marauding. Sometimes, frequently indeed, the women are\ncarried off by other tribes while out in the fields, and are only\nreleased at a price, varying with the excellencies of the woman in\nquestion. And yet, if any one were to offer to relieve these women of\ntheir work, their offer would be rejected, for this life of toil is\nwhat they have been brought up to and trained in, and they know of\nnothing better. They especially like to be in the fields by themselves,\nfor then they are alone, and are free from the hated presence of man\n(curiously enough they are said to hate their men), and surely no one\nwould grudge them their liberty.\n\nIn dark Africa, where lives one-sixth of the heathen population of the\nglobe, human sacrifice is something awful. And the saddest of all is,\nthe victims are mostly from the ranks of women. Of the languages and\ndialects, five hundred have never been reduced to writing. What scenes\nof horrors are locked up in oblivion among these wild tribes of that\ndark land. Almost daily, the numerous wives of the rulers, as they\ndie, are buried alive in their graves, being compelled to hold the\ndead bodies of their husbands on their laps, until they themselves\nare relieved by death. The witch doctors annually slay thousands of\ninnocent women. Among the Masai, a woman has a market value equal to\nfive glass beads, while a cow is worth ten of the same.\n\nWoman\u2019s life in the harem of the Mohammedan is but little better. The\ncode of morals is a very loose one, and the degradation of women beyond\nour pen to describe. The women of the harems are divided into three\nclasses: The Rhadines, or legitimate wives. The Ikbals, or favorites,\nout of whose ranks the Rhadines are chosen, and Ghienzdes or \u201cwomen\nwho are pleasing to the eye of their lord,\u201d and who have the chance\nto advance to the rank of Ikbals. If the wife of a Turkoman asks his\npermission to go, and he says, \u201cgo,\u201d without adding, \u201ccome back,\u201d they\nare divorced. If he becomes dissatisfied with the most trifling acts of\nhis wife, and tears the veil from her face, that constitutes a divorce.\nIn the streets, if a husband meets one of his numerous wives, he never\nrecognizes her, or ever introduces her to a male friend. A Mohammedan\nnever inquires after the female portion of the household of his friend.\nThe system is full of cruelty and despotism. In Mohammedan countries\nwomen suffer from the low opinion held of them by men. The prophet\nsaid: \u201cI stood at the gates of hell, and lo! most of its inhabitants\nwere women!\u201d And yet, strange to say, while the religion of Islam\ndenies that woman has a soul, it teaches a sensual paradise.\n\nIn fact, in all nations where the Bible is unknown, woman is the slave\nof man\u2019s lust. She is a drudge or a toy, whose reign is as short-lived\nas her personal charms. She may not be trusted out of sight of her\nguardians, though the masculine members of the family are anything but\nchoice in their associations. Indeed, in some countries a woman can\nnot visit even her own mother without being carried in a palanquin or\nguarded by slaves.\n\nOne of the strangest, saddest sights we ever saw was at Mersina,\nin the Levant. Passing a field one day there were six native women\n(noble in form and of beautiful olive complexion) hoeing what looked\nto be cucumbers, while a step or two in their rear stood a negro, a\nfull-blooded Nubian, with a long stick, like an ox-goad, in his hand,\nevidently their master.\n\nIn Ceylon, when it was proposed by a missionary to teach women to read,\none native said to another, \u201cWhat do you think that man is talking\nabout? He wants to teach the women to read! He\u2019ll be wanting to teach\nthe cows next!\u201d\n\nSuch is the disrespect in which women are held by heathen people. Five\nwords describe the biography of women in all lands where the Bible is\nnot known: Unwelcomed at birth; untaught in childhood; uncherished in\nwidowhood; unprotected in old age; unlamented when dead.\n\nSuch, in brief, is the treatment of womanhood in lands where the Bible\nis a sealed book, and truly, in comparison with their heathen sisters,\nwomen living under the blessed teachings of Christianity are \u201cclothed\nin white raiment.\u201d\n\nBut, perhaps, we ought not to think it so very strange that men who\ndishonor God, and who want Him blotted out of their thoughts, should\nabuse God\u2019s best gift to man. This much we know, that God created man\nin His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female\ncreated He _them_. And God blessed _them_, and God said unto them,\n\u201cHave dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.\u201d\nWhen the Pharisees, in their malignity, framed the question, \u201cIs it\nlawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?\u201d--a problem\nbeset with many difficulties, our Lord very promptly asked a counter\nquestion, \u201cWhat did Moses command you?\u201d Instead of entering into their\nvexed question, He appeals at once to the law and the testimony, and\nrequires them to recite the provision made by Moses for such cases;\nnot as settling the difficulties, but as presenting the true _status\nquaestionis_, which was not what the Scribes taught or the Pharisees\npracticed, but what Moses meant and God permitted. They said, \u201cMoses\nsuffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.\u201d Quickly\nJesus replied, \u201cFor the hardness of your heart he wrote you this\nprecept.\u201d The substance of our Saviour\u2019s answer was, Moses gave you\nno positive command in the case; he would not make a law directly\nopposite to the law of God; but Moses saw the wantonness and wickedness\nof your hearts, that you would turn away your wives without any just\nand warrantable cause; and to restrain your extravagancies of cruelty\nto your wives, or disorderly turning of them off upon any occasion,\nhe made a law that none should put away his wife but upon a legal\ncognizance of the cause and giving her a bill of divorce. \u201cFrom the\nbeginning,\u201d that is, in the very act of creation, God embodied the idea\nof equality. Capricious divorce is a violation of natural law.\n\nWhat a beautiful picture Solomon gives us of womanhood. \u201cHer price,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cis far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust\nin her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good\nand not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and\nworketh willingly with her hands.\u201d After the grace of God in the soul,\na good wife, one planned on the Divine model, is the Lord\u2019s best gift.\nTo the husband who has such a woman to stand at the head of his home,\nnothing can measure her value. His heart rests safely in her integrity.\nHe has no need to add to his wealth by spoils, for she will do him good\nand not evil all the days of his life. She is industrious. She not only\nworks into comfort the wool and flax that are at hand; she seeks to\nadd to her store from the outside world. She does not ask to be kept\nin idleness. She worketh willingly with her hands. Not content to be a\nconsumer, she becomes a producer. Not satisfied with home production,\nshe brings suitable comforts and luxuries from afar into her home. She\nis careful in the use of her time. She is not feebly self-indulgent.\nShe riseth while it is yet night to look after her domestic affairs.\nShe is a business woman, knowing the laws that underlie the rise and\nfall of real estate. She considereth a field, and buyeth it. Then with\nher hands she planteth a vineyard.\n\nShe does not produce inferior goods, neither is she cheated in a\nbargain. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. She loves to\nshare her husband\u2019s business burdens, that he may share her society;\nand they twain are one in service and one in recreation. Like our\nLord, she delights not to be ministered unto, but to minister. She is\nbenevolent. Being a recognized producer, she has the luxury of giving\nof her own means to the poor. She provides well for her household,\nkeeping her dependents in comfort, and even in luxury. As the Revised\nVersion puts it, \u201cShe maketh herself carpets of tapestry.\u201d Her own\nclothing is of the best.\n\nThe husband of such a wife has the gentle manners that belong with such\na home, and he can but succeed in life. He is known and honored among\nthe best in the land. As her business grows, her products become finer\nand more expensive; and as she puts them upon the market, her profits\nincrease. This woman is clothed with strength and honor. She has no\nanxiety about the future. She knows that though her beauty may fade,\nand her social charms become a thing of the past, her strength and\nhonor will become richer and more glorious as the years go by. \u201cIn her\ntongue is the law of kindness.\u201d She is too busy with her own affairs to\nlook after those of her neighbors. In heathen countries it is a great\ndisgrace for a woman\u2019s voice to be heard in the presence of men. Where\nwomen are held back from the real interests that concern them and for\nwhich they have so often proved themselves fully qualified, what else\ncould take up their active minds but the pettiness of gossip?\n\nSuch are the beautiful tributes paid to women by Solomon, the wisest\nof men. Nor are the prophets behind in acknowledging the worth and\nquality of women. Eight hundred years before the Christian era, the\nprophet Joel wrote, \u201cAnd it shall come to pass in the last days, saith\nGod, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and\nyour daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,\nand your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my\nhandmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall\nprophesy.\u201d In the Christian dispensation, the daughters as well as the\nsons were to be filled with the Spirit of God, and the Spirit would use\ntheir lips in the declaration of His truth as certainly as the lips of\nmen, and Paul defined prophecy to be speaking \u201cunto men to edification,\nand exhortation, and comfort.\u201d It has been one of the devices of the\nevil one to padlock the lips of that half of the race who are most\nloyal to God and who have the most helpful knowledge of human nature.\n\nAside from all these high social and spiritual relations of the Hebrew\nwomen, they had a legal status. The rights of the Jewish wife were\ncarefully guarded. Her husband was not allowed to go to war for a\nyear after they were married; and though the eastern institution of\npolygamy was not utterly prohibited, yet it was so restricted that it\nmust not in any way invade the rights and privileges of the wife. If a\nhusband became jealous of his wife\u2019s fidelity, the legal presumptions\nwere all in her favor. The husband was not allowed to inflict summary\npunishment; but she was subjected to an ordeal which could by no\npossibility work injury to her, unless through the guilt of her own\nconscience or the interposition of divine Providence.\n\nAs a mother, the Jewish woman must be honored by her children. As a\ndaughter, she had rights and an inheritance. If the wife or daughter\nuttered rash and foolish vows, the husband or father had a right\nto disannul them, provided he did it from the day it came to his\nknowledge. Even the Gentile woman taken captive by a young Israelite\nwarrior must have been surprised to receive treatment so strangely\ndifferent from that received by captives in her own country, or even\namong modern nations who profess to be civilized. Her captor could\nnot offer her an insult; she must be taken, not to a prison, but to\nhis home, where she must neither be abused nor outraged, but treated\nwith patient consideration; and she could not be taken, even as a\nwife, until a full month had elapsed, during which he might secure her\naffections or reconsider his determination. And if after her marriage\nshe was discontented and made herself disagreeable, she could never\nagain be held as a servant, but must be allowed to go free. Widows, who\nin heathen lands have been degraded and sometimes murdered or burned,\nwere to be treated with the utmost tenderness. They shared in the\ntithes, and were admitted to the public festivities. They had a right\nto glean in the fields and gather up the forgotten sheaves, to gather\nwhich the owner was not allowed to go back. Injustice against widows\nwas treated with fearful punishment. \u201cThou shalt not take the widow\u2019s\nraiment to pledge\u201d (Deut. xxiv, 17), was a benevolent law which can not\nbe paralleled in any modern code. The command to lend to an Israelite\nin his poverty was imperative, but no pledge of raiment could be\nexacted from a widow.\n\nThus in a variety of ways was the Lord pleased to manifest his kindness\nand compassion for the fatherless and the widow, and in consequence\nwomanhood was honored and honorable in the Jewish nation, beyond\nanything known in the heathen world. From the vile and degrading orgies\nof heathenism the women of Israel were exempt. They feared the Lord,\nand at his hand received blessings and mercies without number.\n\nThus it is seen that Hebrew women had rare privileges. They tower like\ndesert palms above the women in pagan lands. In her home she is honored\nand respected. In India a woman eats her first and last meal with her\nhusband on her wedding day. In the Hebrew home her children are like\n\u201colive plants\u201d round her table. In China they may kill their little\ndaughters by the thousands. She has legal rights in her Hebrew home. In\nall Mohammedan lands a man has the same power over the life of his wife\nthat he has over the life of his horse.\n\nWhat makes this difference? We answer, It is God\u2019s thought of\nwomanhood, for there was nothing in the Hebrew men to bring about such\nthoughtful consideration. There were periods in the history of the\nHebrew nation when they departed from God, and sank into the vices of\nthe heathens around them. It was during these periods that womanhood\nwas degraded to that of their pagan sisters. There were times when the\nHebrews had taken on heathen manners to such an extent as to regard\nit a disgrace for a rabbi to recognize his wife if he met her on the\nstreet. It was commonly said that he was a fool who attempted the\nreligious instruction of a woman, and the words of the law had better\nbe burned than given to a woman.\n\nSo it was not Hebrew manhood that saved the daughters of Israel from\nthe suicidal injustice practiced among the heathens, but the sure Word\nof God. Under its wise provisions and recognized equality they became\nprophetesses, leaders of armies, and judges. And they taught a pure\nmorality, trained their children according to principles of justice and\nrighteousness, and lived in expectation and hope of the coming of the\nMessiah in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.\n\nAnd above all, Christ was the true Friend of womanhood. No teacher\nin any age of the world or in any land ever taught woman as He did,\nwhen He came that glorious morning to Jacob\u2019s well, or in the house\nof Simon the Pharisee, when the sin-stained woman of the street, who\nhad unobserved entered the banquet hall, and taken up her position at\nthe feet of Jesus, and there poured out the great sorrow of her heart\nin a paroxysm of humble and grateful love, and bathed His feet with\nher tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, anointing them\nalso with ointment, when He personally addressed her and said, \u201cThy\nsins are forgiven.\u201d How beautiful is all this, and how grandly these\nwomen showed their gratitude and appreciation by following Him and\nministering unto \u201cHim of their substance.\u201d They were last at the cross\nand first at the tomb, and first to publish the Saviour\u2019s resurrection.\n\nFrom that day to this, women owe their spiritual elevation and their\nopportunities of usefulness to the recognition Christ gave them in\nHis ministry. In all places untouched by Christian light they are not\nsure that they have souls. Where the light shines clearly they have\nequal rights with the men by whose side they are privileged to labor\nfor God\u2019s glory. This being so, how ought they to love God, and in\nevery way possible, spread the light of Christianity through all the\nearth. We would say to every woman who loves her Lord, the field is\nwide enough, and opportunities present themselves in every passing\nhour, therefore, if you have a message which will help and bless some\nstruggling soul heavenward, tell it.\n\nWith these brief, introductory words, we come to our subject proper.\nAnd should you, dear woman, whom we seek to glorify in the following\npages, be blessed and comforted in the unfolding of God\u2019s love towards\nwomanhood, and your own faith take a firmer hold upon the Father\u2019s\nthought of you, do not, after reading this book, put it away in your\nbook-case, but place it in the hands of some tempted, discouraged,\nstruggling soul, and thereby let others become sharers of the same\nhelpful words, and, possibly, in so doing, you may not only save\nprecious souls, but add many stars to your own crown of life.\n\n                                    As ever, respectfully,\n\n                                                             THE AUTHOR.\n\n  ALBANY, N. Y.\n\n\n\n\nWOMEN IN WHITE RAIMENT.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nThe Paradise Home in Eden.\n\n  MAN\u2019S FIRST HOME A GARDEN--EVE THE ISHA--THE SCENE OF THE\n    TEMPTATION--HIDING FROM GOD--REFUSING TO CONFESS, JUDGMENT IS\n    PRONOUNCED--THE SAD RESULTS OF SIN--EVE BELIEVED THE PROMISE.\n\n\nPerhaps there never lived a woman who has been \u201ctalked about\u201d so much\nas this first woman in White Raiment, for who has not said, If Eve had\nnot been beguiled into a violation of the one commandment by partaking\nof the fruit of the forbidden tree, we would all be as happy and\nsinless as was she and her husband before that act of disobedience. But\nwe shall miss the great lesson Eve\u2019s experience intended to convey if\nwe fail to recognize that God put humanity on probation, and the fact\nof the first temptation is the symbol of every temptation; the fact of\nthe first fall is the symbol of every transgression; the great mistake\nthat lay in the first sin is the symbol of every effect of sin.\n\nAfter the Lord God had formed man, we read that He \u201cplanted a garden\neastward in Eden; and there He put the man.\u201d What pen could describe\nthe garden of the Lord\u2019s planting? There were splashing fountains.\nThere were woodbine, and honeysuckles, and morning-glories climbing\nover the wall, and daisies, and buttercups, and strawberries in the\ngrass. There were paths with mountain mosses, bordered with pearls\nand diamonds. Here and there cooling streams sparkled in the sunlight\nor made sweet music as they fell over ledges and rippled away under\nthe overstretching shadows of palm trees or fig orchards, and their\nthreads of silver finally lost amid the fruitage of orange groves.\nTrees and shrubs of infinite variety added their beauty to the\nmany picturesque scenes everywhere spread out. In the midst of the\noverhanging foliage were all the bright birds of heaven, and they\nstirred the air with infinite chirp and carol. Never since have such\nskies looked down through such leaves into such waters. Never has\nriver wave had such curve and sheen and bank as adorned the Pison, the\nHavilah, the Gihon and the Hiddekel, even the pebbles being bdellium\nand onyx stone. What fruits, with no curculio to sting the rind! What\nflowers, with no slug to gnaw the root! What atmosphere, with no frost\nto chill and with no heat to consume! Bright colors tangled in the\ngrass. Perfume filled the air. Music thrilled the sky. Great scenes of\ngladness and love and joy spread out in every direction.\n\nWe know not how long, perhaps ever since this man had been created in\nthe \u201cimage\u201d of his God, he had wandered through this Eden home, had\nwatched the brilliant pageantry of wings and scales and clouds, and may\nhave noticed that the robins fly the air in twos, and that the fish\nswim the waters in twos, and that the lions walk the fields in twos,\nand as he saw the merry, abounding life of his subject creatures, every\none perfectly fitted to its environment, and each mated with another of\nthe same instincts and methods of living, he felt the isolation of his\nown self-involved being, and, possibly, a shadow of loneliness may have\ncrept into his face, and God saw it. And so He said, \u201cIt is not good\nthat the man should be alone.\u201d So \u201cHe caused a deep sleep to fall upon\nAdam,\u201d as if by allegory to teach all ages that the greatest of earthly\nblessings is sound sleep.\n\nWhen he awoke, a most beautiful being, the crowning glory of creation,\nstood beside him, looking at him with heaven in her eyes, her exquisite\nform draped with perfect feminine grace and strength. As Adam looked\ninto the face of this immaculate daughter of God, this Woman in White\nRaiment, he said, \u201cThis is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my\nflesh. She shall be called Woman\u201d (Hebrew Isha), because God had\nclothed in separate flesh the gentler and more conscientious part of\nAdam\u2019s nature, that it might share the work and bliss of Paradise.\n\nHow long that first married pair lived in Paradise we are not informed.\nThe story of their disastrous disobedience is given in as few words as\npossible. Eve may have sauntered out one beautiful morning and as she\nlooked up at the fruit of the various trees of the garden must have\nrecognized \u201cthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil,\u201d and doubtless\nshe had heard Adam say that this was the forbidden tree, and possibly\nmay have cautioned her, \u201cFor,\u201d said he, the Lord had said, \u201cin the day\nthat thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.\u201d As she looked up at\nthe tree and saw the beautiful fruit hanging on the branches, she may\nhave admired its bright, fresh color without any thought of evil in\nher heart. It is the characteristic of woman to admire the beautiful.\nIndeed her finer feelings can better appreciate than man, the blendings\nof color and shadings that combine to give expression to the beautiful.\n\nBut it was Satan\u2019s moment. We do not know how long he had been in\nhiding among the recesses of the garden waiting for just such an\nopportunity. Quickly he entered a serpent, which, it is declared, \u201cwas\nmore subtle than any beast of the field,\u201d and came up to Eve as she\nadmired the tree and its fruit, and in most questioning surprise said,\n\u201cYea hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?\u201d The\nquery is very cautiously made, expressing great surprise: Yea, truly,\ncan it be possible? The query, with its questioning surprise, had in it\nnow a yes, and now a no, according to the connection. This is the first\nstriking feature in the beginning of the temptation. The temptation\nof Christ, in the wilderness, was very similar to this. Satan twice\nchallenged our Lord on the point of his divine Sonship: \u201cIf thou be\nthe Son of God.\u201d As if he had said, \u201cYou claim to be the Son of God, I\ndoubt it, and challenge the claim. If you are, prove it by doing what\nI suggest.\u201d This was also a blow at the confession of God Himself,\n\u201cThis is My beloved Son.\u201d So here, Satan, in the most cautious manner,\nwould excite doubt in the mind of Eve. Then the expression also aims to\nawaken mistrust at the goodness and wisdom of God, and so weaken the\nforce of the temptation. As if he had said, \u201cWhat, not eat of every\ntree of the garden? I doubt it. Such a prohibition seems unreasonable.\u201d\n\nHere Eve would assure the tempter that she was not mistaken in regard\nto the prohibition. \u201cWe may eat of the fruit of the trees of the\ngarden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the\ngarden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, _neither shall ye\ntouch it, lest ye die_.\u201d Notice the Italic words are added by Eve to\nthe command of God concerning the tree. No doubt, as she stood there\nadmiring the tree, the monitor of her heart kept saying, \u201cDon\u2019t touch\nit, don\u2019t touch it,\u201d and, in her guileless simplicity, she adds the\nwords to the prohibition. And yet by this very addition does her first\nwavering disguise itself under the form of an overdoing obedience. The\nfirst failure is her not observing the point of the temptation, and\nallowing herself to be drawn into an argument with the tempter; the\nsecond, that she makes the prohibition stronger than it really is,\nand thus lets it appear that to her, too, the prohibition seems too\nstrict; the third that she weakens the prohibition by reducing it to\nthe lesser caution. God had said, \u201cThou shalt surely die.\u201d She reduces\nit to \u201c_lest ye die_,\u201d thus making the motive of obedience to be\npredominantly the fear of death.\n\nHer tempter, who could quote Scripture to our Lord in his second\ntemptation, after he had failed in the first, was quick to take up\nthe woman\u2019s rendering of the prohibition, and makes answer, \u201cYe shall\nnot surely die!\u201d What an advance over the first suggestion, \u201cYea,\nhath God said.\u201d No doubt he had noted her wavering, and, instead\nof turning promptly away from the author of her wavering, saw her\ndisposed to inform him of what God had said concerning this \u201ctree of\nthe knowledge of good and evil,\u201d and he promptly steps out from the\narea of cautious craft into that of a reckless denial of the truth of\nGod\u2019s prohibition, and a malicious suspicion of its object. Eve had\nnot repeated the words of the prohibition, and of the penalty, in its\ndouble or intensive form, but Satan repeats it, in blasphemous mockery,\nas though he had heard it in some other way, and stoutly denies the\ntruth of the threatening, that is, the doubt becomes unbelief.\n\nThe way, however, is not prepared for the unbelief without first\narousing a feeling of distrust in respect to God\u2019s love, His\nrighteousness, and even His power. So the tempter denies all evil\nconsequences as arising from the forbidden enjoyment, whilst, on the\ncontrary, he promises the best and most glorious results from the\nsame. \u201cInstead of your eyes closing in death,\u201d he said, \u201cthey shall\nbe opened.\u201d The tempter would have the woman believe that, in eating\nof the fruit, she would become wonderfully enlightened, and, at the\nsame time, raised to a divine glory--\u201cshall be as gods, knowing good\nand evil.\u201d And so, in like manner, is every sin a false and senseless\nbelief in the salutary effects of sin.\n\nWe tremble for Eve at this point of her interview with her tempter. It\nis an awful moment, a moment in which her own happiness and that of her\nhusband\u2019s and all the generations of earth are in the balances.\n\n\u201cAnd when the woman saw.\u201d She was now looking at the tree and its fruit\nfrom a far different standpoint from that in the morning. She beheld\nit now with a look made false by the distorted application of God\u2019s\nprohibition by her tempter. In fact, she had become enchanted by the\ndistorted construction put upon God\u2019s plain commandment. The satanic\npromises seemed to have driven the threatening of that prohibition out\nof her thought. Now she beholds the tree with other eyes. Three times,\nit is said, how charming the tree appeared to her.\n\nBut where has Adam been all this time? Doubtless he was busy with\nhis duties, for God had set him \u201cto dress and to keep\u201d the garden in\nwhich he had been placed. He may have seen Eve passing down one of the\nbeautiful paths of the garden in her morning walk, beguiled by the\nsplash of the fountains, the song of the birds, and the beauty of the\nflowers at her feet. He may have observed her stay longer than usual,\nand so turned aside from his duties to see what had become of her, and\nfollowing down the path over which he had last seen her disappear among\nthe trees and shrubbery of the garden, soon came to the place where\n\u201cthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil\u201d stood, and then, from\nthe lips of his own pure, sweet wife, learned what had taken place.\nPossibly she was holding the very fruit of which she had said, \u201cneither\nshall ye touch it,\u201d in her hands, admiring its beauty and wondering how\nit tasted. And, while examining the fruit, she told her husband what\nhad passed between her and her tempter, and as she finished her story\nshe said, \u201cI do not think there can be any harm in my just breaking the\nrind of it, to see how it looks inside.\u201d Prompted by womanly curiosity,\nshe broke open the fruit, and, before she was really conscious, she\n\u201cdid eat!\u201d \u201cWhy, how nice!\u201d she exclaimed, at the same time handing the\nother half to her husband. As a good gardener, he would naturally share\nthe curiosity of his wife to taste this fruit, \u201cand he did eat!\u201d\n\nThe next statement we have, \u201cAnd the eyes of them both were opened.\u201d\nBut how were they opened? Each of them had two good eyes before eating\nthe fruit; in fact, Eve had been admiring the fruit as it hung among\nthe branches of the tree, and as she had turned it over in her hands.\nBefore they tasted they saw with their natural eyes. Now they see with\na higher knowledge of sense--there is added a con-sense--a conscience\nor self-consciousness. In the relation between the antecedent here\nand what followed there evidently lies a terrible irony. The promise\nof the tempter becomes half fulfilled, though, indeed, in a sadly\ndifferent sense from what they had supposed. They had attained, in\nconsequence, to a moral insight. Self-consciousness was awakened with\ntheir knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil. It belongs to the\nvery beginning of moral cognition and development.\n\nHow strange it all is. Eden full of trees, fruits of every kind,\nluscious and satisfying, but, excited by false and wicked statements in\nrespect to the prohibition of the fruit of one tree, she straightway\ndesires to taste for herself, and that curiosity blasted her and\nblasted all nations. And thousands in every generation, inspired by\nunhealthful inquisitiveness, have tried to look through the keyhole of\nGod\u2019s mysteries--mysteries that were barred and bolted from all human\ninspection--and they have wrenched their whole moral nature out of\njoint by trying to pluck fruit from branches beyond their reach.\n\nWe may also learn that fruits which are sweet to the taste may\nafterward produce great agony. Forbidden fruit for Eve was so pleasant\nshe invited her husband also to take of it; but her banishment from\nparadise and years of sorrow and wretchedness and woe paid for that\nluxury.\n\nSometimes people plead for just one indulgence in sin. There can be no\nharm to go to this or that forbidden place just once. Doubtless that\none Edenic transgression did not seem to be much, but it struck a blow\nwhich to this day makes the earth stagger. To find out the consequences\nof that one sin you would have to compel the world to throw open all\nits prison doors and display the crime, throw open all its hospitals\nand display the disease, throw open all the insane asylums and show\nthe wretchedness, open all the sepulchres and show the dead, open\nall the doors of the lost world and show the damned. That one Edenic\ntransgression stretched chords of misery across the heart of the world\nand struck them with dolorous wailing, and it has seated the plagues\nupon the air and the shipwrecks upon the tempest, and fastened, like\na leech, famine to the heart of the sick and dying nations. Beautiful\nat the start, horrible at the last. Oh, how many have experienced it!\nBeware of entertaining temptations to first sins! Turn away and flee\nfor thy life to the sure and only Refuge--Christ Jesus.\n\nIn the cool of the day, as the evening hours drew on, Adam and Eve\n\u201cheard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.\u201d They were\nused to hearing that voice walking in the garden in the cool of the\nday. Eden had become a dear spot to the heart of their Father, and\ndoubtless He often came down to converse with them. So now He seeks\ncompanionship with the majestic human masterpieces of His creation. And\nwhy should he not?\n\nBut, passing strange! instead of running to Him out of their Eden\nhome, as doubtless they had been wont to do, \u201cAdam and his wife hid\nthemselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the\ngarden.\u201d This act, no doubt, was prompted by self-consciousness and the\nshame and guilt which it brought. So we clearly see that sin separates\nfrom God. They had pronounced judgment upon their transgression by\ntheir very conduct. Instead of meeting God as they had been doing, a\nfeeling of distrust and servile fear entered their hearts, and a sense\nof the loss of their spiritual purity, together with the false notion\nthat they can hide themselves from God. And so it has come to pass\nthat ever since the first transgression men have been hiding from God,\nrunning away from his presence.\n\n\u201cAnd the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art\nthou?\u201d The Lord is the first to break the silence; the first to seek\nerring humanity. Not for His own sake does God direct this inquiry,\nfor He knew where Adam was, but that Adam might take courage and open\nhis mouth in confession--it was an invitation to tell the whole sad\nstory. But, instead, he multiplies the difficulties by his answer,\n\u201cI was afraid, because I was naked.\u201d That is to say, Adam, instead\nof confessing the sin, sought to hide behind its consequences, and\nhis disobedience behind his feeling of shame. His answer to the\ninterrogation is far from the real cause of the change that had\ncome over his conduct, which was sin, and made his consciousness of\nnakedness to be the reason. To still make Adam see the true reason for\nhis hiding, God farther asked, \u201cHast thou eaten of the tree whereof I\ncommanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?\u201d Observe this question is\nso framed as to contain in it the eating and the tree from which he\nate, and could have been answered with, \u201cYes!\u201d How easy God made it for\nAdam to confess. But, alas! How far from it. He answered, \u201cThe woman\nwhom thou gavest unto me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.\u201d How\ndeep the root of sin had taken hold upon Adam\u2019s heart. What does he say\nin this answer? Why this, he acknowledged the guilt, but indirectly\ncharges God as the author of the calamity. Eve is referred to as \u201cthe\nwoman\u201d who is the author of his sin, and, since she was given to him\nby the hand of the Lord, therefore it is the Lord\u2019s fault, for if He\nhad not given her to Adam, he would not have partaken of the forbidden\ntree! How passing strange is all this. And yet that is just what men\nare doing after six thousand years of experience with sin. Instead of\nbreaking away from it, they say, God put it before them, and they could\nnot resist the temptation to sin. The loss of love that comes out in\nthis interposing of the wife is, moreover, particularly observable in\nthis, that he grudges to call her Eve (Isha--married) or my wife.\n\nFailing to return unto God by way of confession, the Lord next deals\nwith Adam in judgment. \u201cCursed is the ground for thy sake ... thorns\nalso and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.\u201d The very soil he had\nbeen sent to cultivate, and to carry forward in a normal unfolding,\nto imperishable life and spiritual glory, is now cursed for his sake,\nand therewith changed to that of hostility to him. Referring to the\ncurse upon mankind, in consequence of the fall, Hugh MacMillan has\ncalled attention to the remarkable fact that weeds, the curse of the\ncultivator, accompany civilization. \u201cThere is one peculiarity about\nweeds which is very remarkable,\u201d says this writer, \u201cnamely, that they\nonly appear on ground which either by cultivation or for some other\npurpose, has been disturbed by man. They are never found truly wild, in\nwoods or hills, or uncultivated wastes far away from human dwellings.\nThey never grow on virgin soil, where human beings have never been. No\nweeds exist in those parts of the earth that are uninhabited, or where\nman is only a passing visitant.\u201d And what is true of mother earth is in\na sense true of the human heart. The youthful mind no sooner awakes to\nthought and reason, than it gives evidence of abundance of weeds. In\nsurprise the mother asks where the little one has learned disobedience\nand questions how so young a mind can assert such strong opposition to\nwholesome discipline.\n\nAnd now, lest a worse calamity should fall on Adam and his wife, by\nstretching forth their hands \u201cand take also of the tree of life, and\neat, and live forever,\u201d God \u201cdrove out the man\u201d from Eden, and placed\n\u201ccherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the\nway of the tree of life.\u201d The act of driving Adam and Eve out of Eden\nhas always been looked upon as a harsh measure. If, however, we stop\nto reflect what awful consequences would have followed the rash act of\neating of the tree of life, we shall see that it was an act of mercy.\nFor, after placing himself under the law of sin, what endless sorrow\nwould have come upon the race, if men could not be removed by death.\nThink of such human monsters as history has time and again produced.\nMen and women degraded by thousands of years in sin would indeed be\ndangerous characters. So God cut off this possibility by guarding the\ntree of life.\n\nBut there came a great change over all life. Beasts that before were\nharmless and full of play put forth claw and sting and tooth and tusk.\nBirds whet their beak for prey, clouds troop in the sky, sharp thorns\nshoot up through the soft grass, blastings are on the leaves. All the\nchords of that great harmony are snapped. Upon the brightest home this\nworld ever saw our first parents turned their back and led forth on a\npath of sorrow the broken-hearted myriads of a ruined race.\n\n[Illustration: THE ACCEPTED OFFERING.]\n\nWhen Eve looked into the face of her first-born, she remembered the\nwords of the Lord, in His judgment upon Satan, \u201cI will put enmity\nbetween thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shalt\nbruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel,\u201d and, misunderstanding\nthe meaning of the promise, she called him Cain, meaning, \u201cI have\ngotten a man from the Lord,\u201d mistaking him for the Redeemer. But\nhow bitter must have been her disappointment as she saw the child\ngrow up, saw his characteristics manifest themselves in acts of\nhatefulness and revenge. However, but little is said of Cain and his\nyounger brother Abel, until they bring their offerings to the Lord.\nWe read that Abel was a \u201ckeeper of sheep,\u201d and Cain was a \u201ctiller of\nthe ground.\u201d While it is not stated, we must believe these brothers\nknew what was, and what was not, an acceptable offering to the Lord,\nthat Cain could easily have exchanged his fruits of the soil for a\nlamb of Abel\u2019s flock. Evidently Cain was lacking in that fine moral\ninsight which would lead him to have respect as to the nature of the\nsacrifice necessary to atone for sin. There must be the shed blood of\nthe victim, for, \u201cwithout shedding of blood,\u201d there is no remission.\nEither Cain did not regard himself a sinner, or, if he did, he thought\none sacrifice as good as another, and so he brings \u201cof the fruit of\nthe ground an offering unto the Lord.\u201d God could not accept this act\nof disobedience. Because his offering was rejected, and seeing Abel\u2019s\noffering accepted, Cain rose up and slew his brother. He failed to shed\nthe blood of a lamb for his sin, but was quick to shed the blood of his\nbrother, and thereby add to his sin. But what a crushing blow was this\nto the hopes of the mother heart who had supposed that her first-born\nwas the promised \u201cseed.\u201d How she must have broken down under her\nsorrow, as she saw the blood dripping from Cain\u2019s fingers, and that,\ntoo, the blood of his own brother. And sadder still as she looked upon\nthe face of death for the first time. However she might have understood\nthe lying words of her tempter, \u201cYe shall not surely die,\u201d she now sees\nin the lifeless body of her second child, the awful reality of death.\nAnd when the first grave was made, how she must have daily wept over\nthe precious mound, not only over this her first experience in bitter\nbereavement, but also over the circumstances under which it was brought\nabout, and as she plants the flowers on the tomb, she fancies she hears\nthe blood of the innocent victim continually crying unto heaven to be\navenged. Oh, the bitter, bitter fruits of disobedience, who can know to\nwhat misery they bring us?\n\nAnd then also observe Cain\u2019s conduct in this awful crime. God\u2019s\narraignment of this fratricide was analogous to that of Adam and\nEve. But Cain evades every acknowledgment of it. He not only tells\na barefaced falsehood, but in a most impudent manner asks, \u201cAm I my\nbrother\u2019s keeper?\u201d What a fearful advance on the timid explanations of\nAdam\u2019s transgression as he spoke to the Lord out of his hiding place.\nHow men should tremble at the very thought of sin.\n\nBut the sorrowing Eve took heart once more in the birth of Seth, \u201cfor,\u201d\nsaid she, \u201cGod hath appointed another seed instead of Abel.\u201d So hope\nin the heart, like the perpetual altar fires in the sacrifices of the\ntemple, seemed to sing a sweet song of comfort, and every child born\nseemed to outweigh the bitter disappointments in the realization of the\npromised Redeemer.\n\nWith this hope in the heart of Eve, and this beautiful language upon\nher lips, the Scripture account closes. How long she lived after the\nbirth of Seth we are not informed, but of this we are assured, she\nbelieved God in His promise of the Messiah. That she misunderstood when\nthat promise was to be realized, is quite evident, but there is every\nreason to believe she died in the faith of its ultimate realization,\nfor she judged God to be righteous in the promise.\n\nWhat is the lesson the loss of Paradise has for us? Plainly this: The\nperverted use of things good in themselves. Eve saw that the tree was\npleasant to the eyes. From that day to this there have been women\nwho would throw their health, their home happiness, their chance of\ntraining their children for God, their life, their honor, their hope\nof heaven, into a cauldron out of which might be brought something\npleasant to the eyes. Eyes are good, useful and necessary, but we need\nto make a covenant with them not to see more than is good for our souls.\n\nAfter she saw, she \u201cdesired.\u201d This would seem to imply that the real\nsource of all sin is in the spirit of our own desires. The last of the\nTen Commandments strikes down to the very tap-root of all evil, \u201cThou\nshalt not covet.\u201d All sin commences with the kindling of desire. The\napostle James gives us the pedigree, \u201cEvery man is tempted when he is\nturned away of his own lust and enticed; then, when lust and desire\nhath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished,\nbringeth forth death.\u201d The secret of victory, therefore, is not to\nallow the mind and heart to dwell for a moment upon any forbidden\nthing. The whole modern life is terribly fitted to stimulate unholy\ndesire. The little child is taught from infancy to covet the vain and\nglittering attractions of the world--dress, equipage, pleasure, praise,\nfashion, display and a thousand worldly allurements. The city bill\nboards are covered with nude harlots. There are no less than 200,000\nhouses for these social outcasts in our fair land. These open gateways\nto immorality, where the virtue of the nation is ground out, are not\nonly guarded by police force, but young girls by the 100,000 a year\nare stolen from country homes by the paid agents, and sold into these\nopen dens of vice and crime, where these poor girls die in a short\ntime, the average length of this life of sin being only five years. And\nstill the people have not a word to say for the suppression of these\ncrime-breeding dens of vice, but legalize and protect them by law to\nthe ruin of our homes. These are the things that are eating out the\nspiritual life of the nation, and for that reason many do not want to\nretain the thought of God in their hearts. Hence the responsibilities\nof life are pressing upon us. As you have seen the child trundling its\nlittle hoop by touching it on both sides alternately to keep it from\neither extreme, so God teaches us both with warning and with promise,\nas our spiritual condition requires. Sometimes it is warning we need,\nand He shouts in our ear the solemn admonition, as a mother would cry\nto her babe in wild alarm if in danger of falling over the precipice.\nBut, again, when we are in danger of being too much depressed, He\nspeaks to us with notes of encouragement and promise, and tells us\nthere is no real danger of our failing utterly, and that He will never\nsuffer us to be tempted above what we are able. And so we hear Him\nsaying on one hand, \u201cLet him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest\nhe fall;\u201d but immediately after adding on the other side, \u201cGod is\nfaithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able,\nbut will, with the temptation, make a way of escape that ye may be\nable to bear it.\u201d\n\n  \u201cFear not! When temptations try thee\n    Trust the Saviour\u2019s loving care;\n  No temptation will come nigh thee\n    More than thou has strength to bear.\n\n  \u201cFail not! In the hour of testing,\n    Christ is pledged to bring thee through\n  In His arms securely resting\n    There thou shalt thy strength renew.\u201d\n\nWe are also impressed with the influence woman has for good or evil.\nWhat we need as a nation is consecrated womanhood. When at last we come\nto calculate the forces that decide the destiny of nations, it will\nbe found that the mightiest and grandest influence came from home,\nwhere the wife cheered up despondency and fatigue and sorrow by her\nown sympathy, and the mother trained her child for heaven, starting\nthe little feet on the path to the celestial city, and the sisters,\nby their gentleness, refined the manners of the brother, and the\ndaughters were diligent in their kindness to the aged, throwing wreaths\nof blessing on the road that led father and mother down the steep of\nyears. God bless our homes. And may the home on earth be the vestibule\nof our home in heaven.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nWomanhood in the Patriarchal Age.\n\n  SARAH THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS--HER FAITH TESTED--THE MISTAKE OF HER\n    LIFE--HER LOVELY CHARACTER--REBEKAH--AN ORIENTAL WOOING--ELIEZER\u2019S\n    PRAYER--THE BRIDE\u2019S ANSWER--MEETING ISAAC--A MOTHER\u2019S LOVE FOR HER\n    SON--JACOB\u2019S FLIGHT--REBEKAH, THE BEAUTIFUL SHEPHERDESS--SEVEN\n    YEARS\u2019 SERVICE FOR HER--LABAN\u2019S DECEPTION--LEAH, THE\n    TENDER-EYED--HUMAN FAVORITES--DIVINELY HONORED--RACHEL\u2019S TOMB THE\n    FIRST MONUMENT TO HUMAN LOVE.\n\n\nFrom the prominence given to Eve in connection with the temptation and\nthe overwhelming disasters which followed the loss of the Eden home in\nParadise, we are surprised the Sacred historian passes over a period\nof about two thousand years without giving us any record of women. The\nnames of good men are mentioned. Enoch walked before God for over three\nhundred years, and the walk was such a perfect one, and it pleased God\nso well, that He translated Enoch. Noah also \u201cfound grace in the eyes\nof the Lord,\u201d and he was \u201ca just man and perfect in his generations,\u201d\nand \u201cwalked with God,\u201d doubtless as Enoch had done. No doubt there were\nothers who lived clean, pure lives. Of this number was Lamech, the\nfather of Noah, for he was comforted in the birth of his son, saying,\nhe \u201cshall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because\nof the ground which the Lord hath cursed.\u201d Surely such men must have\nhad good mothers to train them, and good wives for companions. But\nnothing is said about these women that walked in White Raiment in that\ndark and sinful age, when \u201call flesh had corrupted his way upon the\nearth,\u201d until Sarah, the fair wife of Abraham, is reached.\n\nWe find this beautiful princess willing to leave her home and her\npeople in the land of Ur of the Chaldees and journey for more than a\nthousand miles to the land of Canaan. However, this journey was not\na continuous one, for a long stop was made at Haran, in Mesopotamia,\nperhaps half way between Ur and Palestine.\n\nOf her birth and parentage we have no certain account in Scripture.\nIn Gen. xx, 12, Abraham speaks of her as \u201chis sister, the daughter of\nthe same father, but not the daughter of the same mother.\u201d The Hebrew\ntradition is that Sarai is the same as Iscah, the daughter of Haran.\nThis tradition is not improbable in itself, and certainly supplies the\naccount of the descent of the mother of the chosen race.\n\nThe change of her name from Sarai to Sarah was made on the\nestablishment of the covenant of circumcision between Abraham and God,\nand signifies \u201cprincess,\u201d for she was to be the royal ancestress of\n\u201call families of the earth.\u201d\n\nThe beautiful fidelity of this noble woman is shown in her willingness\nto accompany her husband in all the wanderings of his life. Her home\nin Mesopotamia was gladly and willingly exchanged for a tent, and that\ntent was often taken down and set up during the nomadic life which\nformed the basis of the patriarchal age. God intended to set forth in\nAbraham not only the thought that here man has no continuing city, but\nalso the life of faith. And this faith of Abraham is distinguished from\nthe faith of the pious ancestors in this, that he obtained and held the\npromises of salvation, not only for himself, but for his family; and\nfrom the Mosaic system, by the fact that it expressly held the promised\nblessing in the seed of Abraham, as a blessing for all people. But this\nfaith had not only to be developed, but also tested. It is beautiful to\nread that Abraham believed God, but his faith when he went down into\nEgypt was far from that when he went \u201cinto the land of Moriah\u201d to offer\nup Isaac. Nothing is plainer in the Bible than that a man\u2019s faith is\nnot a matter of indifference. He can not be disobedient to God\u2019s calls,\nand yet go to heaven when he dies. This is not an arbitrary decision.\nThere is and must be an adequate ground for it. The rejection of God\u2019s\ndealings with us is as clear a proof of moral depravity, as inability\nto see the light of the sun at noon is a proof of blindness.\n\nNow let us look at a few of these testings or trials of faith that came\ninto the life of this woman in White Raiment, this princess in Israel.\nShe was asked to give up her native land. How dear the fatherland is\nto the heart, only those who have passed through the experience can\nrealize. This was not all. She was asked to give up her kindred. To\nmove away from all the associations of childhood and youth, requires a\nbrave heart. But she was also asked to give up her home, and what is\ndearer to a woman\u2019s heart than her home? We have no doubt Sarah\u2019s home\nby the beautiful streams that flow down from the high table-lands of\nArmenia into the rich valleys of Mesopotamia, was a lovely one, and to\nexchange it for tent-life was a brave sacrifice. Her love to God must\nhave been deep and constant.\n\nAfter a long, weary journey through the desert sands, the land\nof promise is finally reached, only to find it afflicted with a\nfamine. How often Sarah must have longed for one look out over the\nfig orchards, the olive yards and waving grain fields ripening in\nthe summer\u2019s sun of her native Mesopotamia, as she looked out over\nthe barren hills, burned-up fields, and dried-up water courses of\nPalestine. Night after night, Abraham\u2019s tent is pitched, only to be\ntaken down in the morning, in quest of pasturage for their herds and\nflocks, until the wilderness in the southern extremity of Canaan is\nreached. How all this must have tested their faith. Had they not\nmistaken the call of God? Is it possible that this parched land is the\nland of promise? How disappointments and failures test our faith, and\nthe heart of poor Sarah must have been sorely tried.\n\nBut there was yet another test, and a humiliating one at that, and\nit seems to look as if their united faith was wavering. She was a\nbeautiful woman, and they were now upon the very borders of Egypt,\nand there was no other alternative but to perish with famine or\nto go down into the land of the Pharaohs. Both Abraham and Sarah\nseemed to realize the hazard they were running, for, possibly, the\nbloom and beauty of Sarah\u2019s face might cost Abraham\u2019s life. So they\nagreed between them that Sarah should say that she was his sister,\nlest he should be killed. The declaration was not false. She was his\nhalf-sister, but it was not the whole truth, and it would seem, from\ntheir present conduct, that their faith, tested by the famine, was now\nwavering, for, why not appeal their cause to God, instead of taking it\ninto their own hands? The reason for resorting to this deception was,\nif she was regarded as his wife, an Egyptian could only obtain her,\nwhen he had first murdered her husband. But if she was his sister,\nthen there was a hope that she might be won from her brother by loving\nattentions and costly gifts, or, if her beauty came to the notice of\nPharaoh she would be taken to his harem by arbitrary methods. They had\nnot reasoned in vain. The princes of the land saw her, \u201cand commended\nher before Pharaoh,\u201d and \u201cSarah was taken into Pharaoh\u2019s house.\u201d\n\nIt is hard for us to understand what a trial of her faith this harem\nlife must have been to the pure-minded Sarah. How often her mind must\nhave gone out over the stretches of desert wastes to her own land\nabounding with streams and fertility. And to be conscious that the\ncharms of her person were the centre of attraction in the court of\nEgypt.\n\nBut all this time God\u2019s eye was a witness to all that was passing. When\nwe get to the end of self, He always comes to our rescue--our extremity\nis His opportunity. In her resided the religious disposition in the\nhighest measure, and just at a time when the nations appeared about\nto sink into heathenism, hence her faith must be saved to the race,\nso \u201cthe Lord plagued Pharaoh with great plagues,\u201d that is to say, God\nadministered \u201cblow on blow,\u201d and these were of such a nature as to\nguard Sarah from injury. At length the ruler of the land, whose heart\ndoes not seem to be hardened like the later kings, concludes that his\npunishment is for the sake of Sarah, and restores her to Abraham.\n\nAfter Abraham had separated from Lot, the Lord again appeared unto him,\nat which time Abraham complained for the want of an heir. So the Lord\nleads Abraham out of his tent, under the heavens as seen by night, and\nin that land of blue skies, the night heavens are beautiful indeed. God\nhad promised at first one natural heir, but now the countless stars\nwhich he sees, should both represent the innumerable seed which should\nspring from this one heir, and at the same time be a warrant for his\nfaith.\n\nAt this point the human element again seeks to aid in bringing about\nthe realization of the divine promise. The childless state of Abraham\u2019s\nhouse was its great sorrow, and the more so, since it was in perpetual\nopposition to the calling, destination, and faith of Abraham, and was a\nconstant trial of his faith. Sarah herself, doubtless, came gradually\nmore and more, on account of her barrenness, to appear as a hindrance\nto the fulfillment of the divine promise, and as Abraham had already\nfixed his eye upon his head servant, Eliezer of Damascus, so now Sarah\nfixes her eye upon her head maid, Hagar the Egyptian. It must be this\nmaid not only had mental gifts which qualified her for the prominent\nplace she occupied in the household, but also inward participation\nin the faith of her mistress. So Hagar is substituted, for, in the\nsubstitution, Sarah hopes to carry forward the divine purpose of the\nfamily. In this she certainly practiced an act of heroic self-denial,\nbut still, in her womanly excitement, anticipated her destiny as Eve\nhad done, and carried even Abraham away with her alluring hope. Though\nshe greatly erred in this effort to assist God in bringing in the\nrealization of the promise, and thereby revealed a lack of faith in\nthe divine appointments, yet we have here a beautiful exhibition of\nher heroic self-denial even in her error. Perhaps, viewed from the\nhuman standpoint, we should here bring into our narrative also, the\nfact, that they had been already ten years in Canaan, and Sarah was now\nseventy-five years of age, waiting in vain for the heir, through whom\nthe great blessing was to come to all the families of the earth.\n\nHowever, in all this, Sarah, the noble generous hearted, had not\ncounted upon the conduct Hagar would assume in her new relation. As\nan Egyptian, Hagar seemed to have regarded herself as second wife,\ninstead of recognizing her subordination to her mistress. This\nsubordination seems to have been assumed by Abraham, and hence the\napparent indifference probably was the source of Sarah\u2019s sense of\ninjury, when she exclaimed, \u201cMy wrong be upon thee.\u201d She felt that\nAbraham ought to have redressed her wrong--ought to have seen and\nrebuked the insolence of the maid. Beyond a doubt, looking at the\npride and insolence of Hagar, from Sarah\u2019s standpoint, it was very\ntrying. The Hebrews regarded barrenness as a great evil and a divine\npunishment, while fruitfulness was held as a great good and a divine\nblessing. The unfruitful Hannah received the like treatment with Sarah,\nfrom the second wife of Elkanah. It is still thus, to-day, in eastern\nlands. With almost the tenderness of Elkanah to the sorrowing Hannah,\nAbraham says, \u201cBehold the maid is in thy hand.\u201d He regards Hagar still\nas the servant, and the one who fulfills the part of Sarah. But now the\noverbent bow flies back with violence. This is the back stroke of her\nown eager, overstrained course. Sarah now turns and deals harshly with\nHagar. How precisely, we are not told. Doubtless, through the harsh\nthrusting her back into the mere position and service of a slave. But\nHagar, it appears, would not submit to such treatment. She, perhaps,\nbelieved that she had grown above such a position, and fled from the\npresence of Sarah.\n\nWhat need was there for Sarah to learn the lesson of the patience of\nfaith. God had promised her great honors and blessings. There was in\nher nature much that needed toning up by the grace of patience, and\nGod would take his own best time in developing her life. Her haste to\nanticipate the blessing promised, not only delayed its realization, but\nbrought sorrow to her own heart, and untold trouble to her posterity,\nfor Ishmael\u2019s hand has been \u201cagainst every man, and every man\u2019s hand\nagainst him.\u201d The Ishmaelites, it is said, \u201cdwelt from Havilah unto\nShur,\u201d and it is certain that they stretched in very early times across\nthe desert to the Persian Gulf, peopled the north and west of the\nArabian peninsula, and eventually formed the chief element of the Arab\nnation, which has proved to be a living fountain of humanity whose\nstreams for thousands of years have poured themselves far and wide. Its\ntribes are found in all the borders of Asia, in the East Indies, in all\nNorthern Africa, along the whole Indian Ocean down to Molucca, they are\nspread along the coast to Mozambique, and their caravans cross India\nto China. These wandering hordes of the desert have always and still\nlead a robber life. They justify themselves in it, upon the ground of\nthe hard treatment of Ishmael, their father, who, driven out of his\npaternal inheritance, received the desert for his possession, with the\npermission to take whatever he could find. Mohammed is in the line\nof Ishmael, and the followers of Islam, in their pride and delusion,\nclaim that the rights of primogeniture belong to Ishmael instead of\nIsaac, and assert their right to lands and goods, so far as it pleases\nthem. Vengeance for blood rules in them, and the innocent have often\nfallen victims to their horrible massacres. So that the disaster which\novertook the race in this premature anticipation of divine Providence\nis second only to the disaster that overtook Eve in the temptation\nand the loss of Paradise. Could Sarah have foreseen all the sad\nconsequences of her unseemly haste to pluck the unripened promise God\nmeant to give her, she certainly would have cultivated the patience of\nfaith.\n\nBut the years passed on--fifteen of them nearly--since the child\nIshmael had been in the home of the patriarch, and the visit of the\nangels under the Oaks in the plain of Mamre. During this time God\nhad once more renewed his promise to Abraham, and also the rite of\ncircumcision had been established, and, doubtless, the symbolical\npurification of Abraham and his house, opened the way for the friendly\nappearance of Jehovah in the persons of the angels, or men, as the\npatriarch at first thought them to be, as he looked up, while seated\nin his tent door through the heat of the noontide hours.\n\nWhen he saw the angels, \u201che ran to meet them,\u201d and, it seems, instantly\nrecognized among the three the one whom he addressed as the Lord, and\nwho afterwards was clearly distinguished from the two accompanying\nangels. \u201cIf now,\u201d Abraham asks, \u201cI have found favor in Thy sight, pass\nnot away.\u201d This cordial invitation, while it has in it the marked\nhospitality of Orientals, to the inner consciousness of Abraham it had\na deeper meaning, the covenant relation between himself and Jehovah,\nthat is, he hopes this relation is still continued. His humble and\npressing invitation, his zealous preparations, his modest description\nof the meal, his standing by to serve those who were eating, are\npicturesque traits of the life of faith as it here reveals itself, in\nan exemplary hospitality. This is the custom still in Eastern lands,\nand is referred to by our Lord in that passage where He speaks of His\nsecond coming, and shall find His people watching, for He will \u201cmake\nthem to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them\u201d (Luke\nxii, 37), and seems to be one of the countless instances where, in the\nweb of the Holy Scriptures, the golden threads of the Old Testament\nare interwoven with those of the New, and form, as it were, one whole.\nAnd the fact that this beautiful custom of hospitality is still\nobserved among the Bedouins, as we can speak from personal knowledge,\nis remarkable, and impresses us with the thought that the covenant\nblessings, like some sweet, heavenly fruitage, refuses to be lost out\nof the lives of that ancient people.\n\nThe meal having been served in this beautiful Oriental manner, the\nLord asks, \u201cWhere is Sarah?\u201d Abraham made answer, \u201cBehold, in the\ntent.\u201d Then the Angel of the Lord, not only renews the promise, but\nthat it should be fully realized in the birth of Isaac within a year.\nSarah, behind the tent door, hears this unqualified assurance, but,\nviewing it from nature\u2019s standpoint, rendered doubly improbable from\nher life-long barrenness, \u201claughed within herself.\u201d We can not regard\nthis as a laugh of unbelief, or the scoff of doubt, as some do, but as\na laugh falling short in her conception of God. The thing which was\nimpossible according to the established laws of nature, her faith had\nnot yet grasped as being possible with God. But the Lord, nevertheless,\nobserved Sarah\u2019s laugh, and this divine hearing on the part of the\nAngel of the Lord, startled her, and had its part in the strengthening\nof her faith. It prepared the way for the question, \u201cIs anything\ntoo hard for the Lord?\u201d To her own mind one thing, namely, that she\nshould be a mother at ninety years of age, seemed too hard. And so\nthe question had to do with this very thought, and must be settled on\nthe side of her faith. And she grandly and heroically asserted her\nbelief that nothing, not even the seeming insurmountable obstacle which\nnature interposed, was too great for God to overcome, and her faith was\nstrengthened, for we read, \u201cthrough _faith_ Sarah received strength\nto conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age,\nbecause she _judged_ Him faithful who had promised\u201d (Heb. xi, 11). The\ntrial of her patience of faith was a long struggle. It took twenty-five\nyears to bring her up to the point where her faith could grasp the\ntruth that nothing was too hard for the Lord to perform. But this\nblessed woman at length stood in right relation to God, for, without\nfaith, be it observed, it is impossible to please God, or to receive\nanything at His hands.\n\nIn due time Isaac was born. It was the great event in Sarah\u2019s life. As\nthe mother looked down into the face of the son of her bosom she breaks\nforth in an exultant song of thankfulness, not unlike that of Mary,\nthe blessed virgin. The little song of Sarah, it has beautifully been\nsaid, is the first cradle hymn. Our Lord reveals the profoundest source\nof this joy, when, in addressing the Pharisees, who held Abraham to\nbe their father, said, \u201cYour father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.\u201d\nSarah, in the birth of Isaac, is the ancestress of Christ. Spiritually\nviewed, the birthday of Isaac becomes the door or entrance of the day\nof Christ, and the day of Christ the background of the birthday of\nIsaac.\n\nAnother beautiful incident in connection with the childhood of Isaac\nis, that Sarah, his mother, even at her advanced age and exalted\nstation in life, did not deem it a burden to nurse him. Calvin has\nwell said, \u201cWhom God counts worthy of the honor of being a mother He\nat the same time makes a nurse; and those who feel themselves burdened\nthrough the nursing of their children, rend, as far as in them lies,\nthe sacred bond of nature, unless weakness, or some infirmities, form\ntheir excuse.\u201d\n\nBut along with the growing child is the mocking Ishmael. He was\nfourteen years of age at the birth of Isaac, and therefore in the first\nyears of Isaac, appears as a playful lad, and true to his nature,\ndoubtless developed a characteristic trait of jealousy which would not\nescape the ever watchful eye of Sarah, as she observed his dancing and\nleaping, and now and then making hateful faces at the mother\u2019s darling,\nmocking his childish fears and appeals to the mother for protection.\nThis seems to have been endured by Sarah until the great feast day,\nheld to celebrate the weaning of Isaac. Seeing special attention paid\nto Isaac by all the invited guests, his jealousy suddenly developed\ninto envy, and this, in turn, found expression in mockery. Sarah\ncould endure these mockings no longer, for to her sensitive nature,\nIshmael\u2019s mocking the child of promise was but the outward expression\nof his unbelief in the faith of his parents, and therefore the word\nand purpose of God. His conduct revealed his unbelief, and hence was\nunworthy and incapable of sharing in the blessing, which then, as now,\nwas secured only by faith, and which had already cost her so much.\nHence she said to Abraham, \u201cCast out this bondwoman and her son.\u201d The\ntreatment may seem harsh, but there could be no peace or happiness in\nthat household until the mocking Ishmael was out of it. This mother,\nwhose spiritual faith had been quickened in a marvelous manner, was\nclear-sighted enough to see that the purposes of God in reference to\nIsaac could only become actual through this separation. The fact that\nthe prompt, sharp determination that \u201cthe son of this bondwoman shall\nnot be heir\u201d with Isaac, \u201cwas very grievous in Abraham\u2019s sight,\u201d shows\nthat his prejudice in favor of the rights of the natural first-born\nneeded correction. And God confirmed the judgment of Sarah. For the\nexclusion of Ishmael was requisite not only to the prosperity of Isaac\nand the line of the promise, but to the welfare of Ishmael himself. And\nthe man of faith, who should later offer up Isaac, must now be able to\noffer up Ishmael also.\n\nAfter the sending away of Hagar and her son Ishmael, there is but one\nincident recorded in the life of Abraham, namely the treaty or covenant\nof peace with Abimelech, King of Gerar, though probably several years\npassed away between the departure of Hagar and the last great test or\ntrial of Abraham in the offering up of Isaac on Mt. Moriah.\n\nThe son of promise had grown to be a lad of sixteen or seventeen years\nof age, when the voice of the Lord called unto Abraham, saying, \u201cTake\nnow thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into\nthe land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon\none of the mountains which I will tell thee of.\u201d It would seem that\nthis message came to Abraham while asleep--in a dream as we would\nsay--and therefore all the more trying as such a revelation, under such\ncircumstances might well be questioned. Upon waking out of his sleep he\nmight reasonably question the import of such a dream, especially since\nIsaac was his only child, and the son of promise. But it appears that\nAbraham did not stop to explain away this command, and we must believe\nthat he did not even inform Sarah of this heart-crushing revelation,\nfor neither she nor Isaac knew at the time the special object of the\njourney. Promptly Abraham made the necessary preparations, and set\nout on the three days\u2019 journey. His obedience is absolute. There is\nnot even a question raised as to his correctly understanding the duty\nrequired of him. To suppose that Abraham did not have the bleeding\nheart of a father in this great trial, would be to destroy the force\nof this testing of his faith. And the fact that he had three days\u2019 time\nin which he could change his purpose, made the conflict within him all\nthe harder.\n\nThe lad and the mother could easily see from the wood, and the fire,\nand the knife, that he went not merely to worship, but to sacrifice.\nThe testing was still more heart-breaking when, at the end of the\njourney, at the foot of Moriah, while Abraham is in the act of laying\nthe wood upon the obedient Isaac, the heir of promise said, \u201cMy father,\nbehold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt\noffering?\u201d How the bleeding heart of the father must have been touched\nafresh as he looked upon Isaac as \u201cthe lamb,\u201d yet, as if the hour for\nthe fuller revelation had not yet come, made answer, \u201cMy son, God will\nprovide Himself a lamb.\u201d\n\nAnd so the two, the father and the son, slowly climb the rugged sides\nof Moriah to its very summit, and Abraham built an altar, as he so\noften had done before, for, wherever Abraham had a tent, God had an\naltar, and in the building of this altar we may well believe the\nloving, obedient Isaac assisted. Then the wood was laid upon it. All\nwas ready for \u201cthe lamb!\u201d But God had not yet provided the victim.\n\nWhat passed between father and son the Sacred record has not revealed.\nHowever, we must believe it was the Gethsemane struggle with Isaac,\nand that in the end he said to Abraham, as Christ, under similar\ncircumstances, said to His heavenly Father, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d And,\nperhaps, this loving self-surrender of Isaac made it all the harder\nfor the father\u2019s heart. But, somehow, we can not understand it, only\nin the light of complete self-surrender to the will of God, he \u201cbound\nIsaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood,\u201d and, nerving\nhimself for the last great act, he \u201cstretched forth his hand, and took\nthe knife to slay his son.\u201d\n\nBut God, during this scene on Mount Moriah, was an interested\nspectator. He saw that the obedience of faith--the complete\nself-surrender of Abraham\u2019s will--was perfect. \u201cAnd the angel of the\nLord called unto him out of heaven, and said, \u2018Lay not thine hand upon\nthe lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou\nfearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,\nfrom me.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt is worthy of observation that, while the command to offer up Isaac\ncame in a dream, and therefore open to misgiving, the command to stay\nhis hand is spoken by the angel of Jehovah out of heaven. Abraham was\nperfect in his faith, and how far it reached into the great love for\nGod and self-surrender to His will, we shall never know. Paul, speaking\nof this wonderful victory over self, said that Abraham accounted that\nGod was able to raise up Isaac, \u201ceven from the dead; from whence also\nhe received him in a figure.\u201d Though all his hope, humanly speaking,\nperished out of his heart when he took up the sacrificial knife on\nMoriah, yet his faith overleaped human limitations into the infinite\nability of God to raise up Isaac out of the ashes upon his altar.\n\nSuch faith was possible for Abraham, for God asks no impossibilities\nat the hands of men, and what was possible for this man of faith is\npossible for any of us, if we are willing to pay the price. Let no one\nthink, however, that such fruits of righteousness drop into the lap of\nthe faithless.\n\nBut through this severe testing, Sarah nowhere appears on the scene. It\nmay be, infinite love would spare the mother\u2019s heart. It may be, also,\nthe last great trial of her faith took place in the tent, stretched\nunder the oaks, in the plain of Mamre. There is a Jewish tradition that\nwhen Sarah fully learned the nature of the journey to Moriah, and the\nscene which there took place, the shock of it killed her, and Abraham\nfound her dead on his return home. This may do as a tradition, but not\nas the _finale_ of God\u2019s dealing with His people. The potter, as he\nfashions the vessel upon the wheel, does not seek to break it. So God\ndoes not test us beyond our capacity to endure. Then, also, if Isaac\nwas born when Sarah was ninety years of age, and she died at the age\nof one hundred and twenty-seven, and the scene on Moriah took place\nwhen Isaac was a lad of sixteen or seventeen, she lived for twenty\nyears after that event, to be a comfort and a blessing in her home.\n\nAt length this princess in Israel, tested and tried, and found true,\ndied at Hebron at the good age of one hundred and twenty-seven years,\nand Abraham wept over her, and well he might, for she had shared his\ntrials and was a good and faithful wife, and she was a mother, even\nmore than a wife.\n\nAbraham purchased the cave of Machpelah of Ephron, the Hittite, and\ntenderly laid the remains of this lovely woman to rest in one of the\nchambers of the cave. It is the first burial mentioned in the Sacred\nrecords. And the tomb remains unto this day, hallowed in the eyes of\nJews, Christians and Mohammedans alike, and was visited by the writer.\n\nThe lesson which God would teach us in the life of this woman in White\nRaiment is that testings are necessary to the development of faith,\nand that these testings come to us in the most ordinary events of our\ndaily lives. All Christians surely know by experience that events which\nseemed all darkness at first have ultimately brought them nearer to the\nlight. The much-dreaded cloud has proved to be only a veil under which\nGod hides His mighty power. His gracious query, \u201cIs anything too hard\nfor the Lord?\u201d has comforted us, and has turned what we thought to be\na curse into a blessing. O, can we not trust Him in the darkness as\nwell as in the light, knowing that He can bring calm out of storm, and\nthat he often chooses the darkness and the cloud as a special medium by\nwhich to reveal himself? Could we climb to heaven by some other way,\nand escape the shadows and the storms of life, how much should we miss\nof the blessed manifestations of God\u2019s revelations of His power.\n\nGod speaks to listening ears and waiting hearts as truly to-day as He\ndid before the tent door under the oaks in the plain of Mamre. He may\nspeak to us through his providence, through the voice of a friend,\nthrough a book or a sermon; but perhaps He does so most frequently in\nthe little details of everyday life, in which we can not fail to see\nHis dealings with us if our hearts are turned expectantly toward him.\nOnly let us be admonished by Sarah\u2019s sad mistake. That she made it,\nproves that she was human. But let us be afraid of sin. The door once\nopen, none of us can tell into what endless labyrinths of sorrow it\nwill lead us. God wants a tried people, not only for their own sake but\nthat they may be a blessing to others.\n\nAnd now we come to a most beautiful scene in Sacred History. While, as\na whole, the Bible gives the drama of human sin and divine redemption,\nyet it pauses in its wonderful revelations to let us look into the\nhomes of the people who lived ages ago. It somehow touches human life\non all its sides. Other books which are held sacred by eastern nations,\ngive woman only contemptuous mention. This one recognizes the dignity\nand beauty of her life and work. It tells in seven verses the story\nof Enoch, who walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years and\nwho was holy enough to escape death, while it gives sixty-six verses\nto the wooing and wedding of Rebekah and Isaac. In the pictures which\nthe Sacred Record opens to us of the domestic life of the patriarchal\nage, perhaps this is the most perfectly characteristic and beautiful\nidyl of a marriage, and how it was brought about. In its sweetness and\nsacred simplicity, it is a marvelous contrast to the wedding of our\nmodern fashionable life. And surely, since God\u2019s Book gives so much\ntime and space to the domestic life of women, the daughters of modern\nChristianity ought to regard themselves and their affairs of the utmost\nimportance. For the sake of Him who gave them such prominence and\nrecognition, they ought to love Him.\n\nAbraham, the friend of God, understood fully that it would never do\nto have the heir of promise fall into the hands of a heathen wife. He\ncould not bear the thought of taking one of the corrupt Canaanites into\nhis family, with the chance of her leading Isaac into the abominable\nworship of her gods.\n\nParents often frustrate the grace of God and mar His plans irreparably\nby being careless of the worldly associations and affinities of their\nchildren.\n\nSarah, the beautiful and beloved, had been tenderly laid away in the\ncave of Machpelah, and Isaac is now forty years of age. Forty years,\nhowever, in those good old times, is yet young, when the thread of\nmortal life ran out to a hundred and seventy-five or eighty years. As\nAbraham has nearly reached that far period, his sun of life is dipping\ndownwards toward the evening horizon. He has but one care remaining--to\nsettle his son Isaac in life before he is gathered to his fathers.\n\nThe scene where Abraham discusses the subject with his head servant\nsheds a peculiar light on the domestic and family relations of those\ndays.\n\nCalling Eliezer, his most trusty servant, he discloses to him his\npurpose, and makes him take an oath that he will faithfully carry out\nhis wishes. But Abraham\u2019s steward saw the difficulties of such a proxy\nwooing, and expressed a fear that the young woman would object to so\nhazardous a journey to share the home of a man whom she had never seen\nand of whom she had possibly never before heard. So, to make matters\nsure, he asks if it would not be better to take Isaac with him? To this\nrequest the patriarch replied, \u201cBeware thou that thou bring not my son\nthither again.\u201d Abraham saw that there was too much risk in allowing\nIsaac to go back to the old home. He might have to be scourged out of\nit as was Jacob, the next in the line, a few years later. He must do\nright and trust God. So he told his steward, \u201cThe Lord, before whom I\nwalk, will send his angel before thee and prosper thy way, and thou\nshalt take a wife for my son of my kindred and of my father\u2019s house.\u201d\nThen, as he saw the ever-present contingency with which human free\nagency may frustrate even Divine Providence, he added, \u201cAnd if the\nwoman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear\nfrom this thine oath; only bring not my son thither again.\u201d\n\nThe picture of the preparations made for this embassy denotes a\nprincely station and great wealth. \u201cAnd the servant took ten camels of\nthe camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master\nwere in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city\nof Nahor.\u201d\n\nNow comes a quaint and beautiful picture of the manners of those\npastoral days. He made his camels to kneel down without the city by\na well of water, at the time of the evening when the women go out to\ndraw water. With the kneeling camels around the well, the aged Eliezer\nuncovers his head in the evening twilight, and with closed eyes and\nface raised towards heaven, he talks to God in this simple and yet\neloquent way, \u201cO, Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me\ngood speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold!\nI stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the\ncity come out to draw water: And let it come to pass that the damsel to\nwhom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink;\nand she shall say, Drink and I will give thy camels drink also: let\nthat same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and\nthereby shall I know that Thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.\u201d\nIt is to be observed that this aged servant talked to God with all the\nsimplicity and directness of a child with its mother. He told the Lord\nwhere he stood, and it was in the most likely place about an Oriental\ncity at evening time, for all the damsels come out to the well at that\nhour of the day to draw water. He did not doubt that there was a bride\nfor Isaac in the town; and he wanted to find the right one immediately.\nThe care of Abraham\u2019s affairs pressed him, and he wanted to get through\nthe matter with as little waste of time and sentiment as possible.\nThat he might not make any mistake in his delicate mission, he tells\nthe Lord of a little test he thought of using. He needed a sign from\nGod to select the bride from among the women who should come to the\nwell. He used his own judgment as far as it went; but it stopped short\nof a decision. He specified that the chosen one should be industrious,\nhospitable, deft, courteous. She should be qualified to stand at the\nhead of a princely establishment.\n\nHis prayer was speedily granted, for thus the story goes on, \u201cAnd\nit came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold Rebekah\ncame out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor,\nAbraham\u2019s brother.\u201d\n\nIt is noticeable, how strong is the sensibility to womanly beauty in\nthis narrative. This young Rebekah is thus announced: \u201cAnd the damsel\nwas very fair to look upon, and a virgin, and she went down to the\nwell, and filled her pitcher, and came up.\u201d Drawn by the bright eyes,\nand fair face, the old servant hastens to apply the test, doubtless\nhoping that this lovely creature is the appointed one for his young\nmaster.\n\n\u201cAnd the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink\na little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my Lord; and she\nhastened, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.\u201d\n\nShe gave with a will, with a grace and readiness that outflowed the\nrequest, and then it is added: \u201cAnd when she had done giving him drink,\nshe said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done\ndrinking. And she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and\nran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.\u201d\nLet us fancy ten camels, all on their knees, in a row, at the trough,\nwith their long necks, and patient, care-worn faces, while the pretty\nyoung damsel, with cheerful alacrity, is dashing down the water from\nher pitcher, filling and emptying in quick succession, apparently\nmaking nothing of the toil; the gray-haired old servant, looking on in\ndevout recognition of the answer to his prayer, for the story says:\n\u201cAnd the man, wondering at her, held his peace, to wit (know) whether\nthe Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.\u201d\n\nThere was wise penetration into life and the essentials of wedded\nhappiness in this prayer of the old servant. What he asked for his\nyoung master was not beauty, or talent, but a ready and unfailing\noutflow of sympathy and kindness. He asked not merely for a gentle\nnature, a kind heart, but he asked for a heart so rich in kindness that\nit should run even beyond what was asked, and be ready to anticipate\nthe request with new devices of helpfulness; the lively, lighthearted\nkindness that could not be content with waiting on the thirsty old man,\nbut with cheerful alacrity took upon herself the care of all the ten\ncamels. This was a gift beyond that of beauty, yet when it came in the\nperson of a maiden exceedingly fair to look upon, no marvel that the\nold man wondered joyously at his success.\n\nInstantly, as the camels had done drinking, he produced from his\ntreasury golden earrings and bracelets with which he adorned the\nmaiden. We can easily imagine the maidenly delight with which she ran\nto exhibit the gifts of jewelry that thus unexpectedly descended upon\nher.\n\nNor does Eliezer fail to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for divine\nguidance. In this he set a worthy example to all who seek direction\nfrom God. He said, \u201cI, being in the way, the Lord led me.\u201d A free\ntranslation would be, \u201cI used my own judgment as far as it would go,\nwhich was a long distance from a safe conclusion, and the Lord led me\nthe rest of the way.\u201d\n\nBethuel, when he saw the gifts and heard the words of Rebekah, hastened\nto the well and said to Eliezer, \u201cCome in, thou blessed of the Lord;\nwherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and\nroom for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded\nthe camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to\nwash his feet, and the men\u2019s feet that were with him. And there was set\nmeat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, till I have told\nmy errand. And he said, Speak on.\u201d\n\nHe then related the purport of his journey, of the prayer that he had\nuttered at the well, and of its fulfillment in a generous-minded and\nbeautiful young maiden, and thus he ends his story: \u201cAnd now, if ye\nwill deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell\nme; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.\u201d\n\nBethuel answered, \u201cBehold, Rebekah is before thee; take her, and go,\nand let her be thy master\u2019s son\u2019s wife, as the Lord hath spoken.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd it came to pass, that when Abraham\u2019s servant heard their words, he\nworshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.\u201d\n\nAnd now comes a scene most captivating to female curiosity. \u201cThe\nservant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and\nraiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he gave also to her brother and\nto her mother precious things.\u201d The scene of examining jewelry and\ngarments and rich stuffs in the family party would have made no mean\nsubject for a painter. No wonder such a suitor sending such gifts found\nwelcome entertainment. So the story goes on: \u201cAnd they did eat and\ndrink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and\nthey rose up in the morning and he said, Send me away unto my master.\nAnd her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few\ndays, at the least ten, and after that she shall go.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered\nmy way; send me away, that I may go to my master. And they said, We\nwill call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah,\nand said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will\ngo.\u201d Her prompt reply to this important question was an index to her\ncharacter. The Divine approval of her ready obedience gave her a grand\nprophetic Messianic promise that thousands of millions should be\ngathered into His Kingdom from the conquest \u201cof those which hate them.\u201d\nThis extra Hebrew prophecy was a flash of God\u2019s light on the fact that\nour Lord should be the Saviour, not only of the Jews, but of the entire\nworld.\n\nThus far this wooing seems to have been conceived and conducted in that\nsimple religious spirit recognized in the words of the old prayer,\n\u201cGrant that all our work may be begun, continued and ended in thee.\u201d\nThe Father of nations has been a never-failing presence in every turn.\n\n\u201cAnd Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and\nfollowed the man; and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.\u201d\n\nIt was a long way from the city of Nahor, in Mesopotamia to Hebron\nin the southern borders of Palestine, and between the Euphrates and\nthe land of promise stretched leagues of hot desert sands, through\nwhich the camels slowly and patiently toiled day after day with their\nprecious burden. But at length Damascus with its refreshing streams,\nand Mt. Hermon with its dome lifted among the clouds, were passed, and,\ntowards evening of the last day, just as they reached the head of the\nvalley of Eschol, from the summit of which opens a magnificent view\nthrough the whole length of the valley, \u201cRebekah lifted up her eyes,\nand when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto\nthe servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And\nthe servant had said, It is my master; therefore she took a veil and\ncovered herself.\u201d\n\nDoubtless for days Isaac had walked the mile and a half from his\nmother\u2019s tent to where the valley of Eschol forms a junction with the\nplain of Mamre, from whence he could look up the narrow valley and\nview the approaching caravan at a considerable distance. The expectant\nbridegroom, brought up with the strictest notions of filial submission,\nwaits to receive his wife dutifully from his father\u2019s hand, and yet, we\nfancy, day after day he goes out to meet her, and now the long-expected\ncaravan, with Eliezer, his father\u2019s most trusted servant, at its head,\nis approaching at eventide, and he quickens his step to meet his bride.\n\nFrom what we have already seen of Rebekah, she is lively, lighthearted,\nkind, possessed of an alert readiness, prompt to see and do what is\nto be done at the moment. No dreamer is she, but a wideawake young\nwoman who knows her own mind exactly, and has the fit word and fit\naction ready for each short turn in life. She was quick, cheerful\nand energetic in hospitality. She was prompt and unhesitating in her\nresolve; and yet, at the moment of meeting, she knew the value and\npropriety of the veil. She covered herself that she might not unsought\nbe won.\n\n\u201cAnd Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah\u2019s tent.\u201d Tent life in\nthe days of Abraham, in our estimation, must have been not only\ndesirable, but grand and glorious. Living, as they did, so closely in\ncontact with nature, as God made it, fresh, pure air, babbling brooks,\nrippling streams, and blue skies, theirs was a happy life. They were\nnot confined in crowded cities, surrounded by dismal walls, but on the\nhillsides, the open valleys and the unbounded plains. Their tent was\npitched in a clump of oaks, near a living stream, and overlooked the\nplain of Mamre--a beautiful picture of freedom, ease and comfort. To\nsuch a place he took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved\nher; and Isaac was comforted after his mother\u2019s death. So ends this\nmost charming story of domestic life in the patriarchal age. For\nbeauty, simplicity and directness it has no equal. We also see, in\nthe closing words, one of those delicate and tender natures that find\nrepose first in the love of a mother, and when that stay is withdrawn,\nlean upon a beloved wife.\n\nSo ideally pure, and sweet, and tenderly religious has been the whole\ninception and carrying on and termination of this wedding, that Isaac\nand Rebekah have been remembered in the wedding ritual of Christian\nchurches as models of a holy marriage according to the divine will.\n\nThough for nineteen years Rebekah was childless, yet retained she her\nhusband\u2019s love. This may have been a trial to Isaac, since the line of\nthe blessing was to pass through him. That he thought much about it is\nevident, for, at length, he \u201centreated the Lord for his wife,\u201d and his\nintercession was based upon a divine foundation in Jehovah\u2019s promise.\nAnd, possibly, even Isaac had to be educated up to this point, namely,\nthat the seed of promise must be sought from God, so that it should be\nregarded, not as the fruit of nature, but as the gift of divine grace.\n\nIn due time Esau and Jacob were born, and they were twins, but with\nnatures and characteristics marked more for their contrasts than\nsimilarity. Beyond the bare statement, \u201cAnd the boys grew,\u201d nothing is\nsaid of their childhood and youth--the formative periods of their lives.\n\nWhen they had grown to manhood\u2019s estate, we are informed that \u201cEsau\nwas a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man,\ndwelling in tents.\u201d The free and easy life in the chase developed in\nEsau a robust appearance, and for that reason, and also \u201cbecause he\ndid eat of his venison,\u201d Isaac loved Esau. Jacob is represented to\nus as of a more delicate make-up and naturally appealed more to the\nmother heart. \u201cRebekah loved Jacob.\u201d From merely a parental standpoint,\nboth were wrong. Even though the characteristics of these boys were\nwide apart, the parents should have been united in their love, and\nimpartially discharged their duties, and let God, in his own good\ntime, make His selection. But here, as in the lives of Abraham and\nSarah, Isaac and Rebekah delayed the blessing God designed they should\nhave, and brought sorrow into their own lives. It is evident that\nthe ardent Rebekah, by her animated, energetic declarations, formed\na very significant complement to Isaac, confiding more in the divine\ndeclarations as to her boys than Isaac did, and therefore better able\nto appreciate the deeper nature of Jacob. But when Isaac shows his\npreference for Esau to be the heir, the courageous woman forgets her\nvocation, and with artifice counsels Jacob to steal the blessing from\nIsaac--a transgression for which she had to atone in not seeing her\nfavorite son after she sent him away, out of reach of his brother\u2019s\nanger. She had only Esau left, and he must have made her feel that it\nwas her partiality that had robbed him of what he prized most highly.\nHis heathen wives had been a \u201cgrief of mind\u201d to her. She said, in her\ndiplomatic effort to get Jacob off to a place of safety, \u201cI am weary of\nmy life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife from the\ndaughters of Heth, such as these which are the daughters of the land,\nwhat good shall my life do me?\u201d Probably Esau did not mend matters by\nadding to his family the Ishmaeltish woman.\n\nRebekah\u2019s habit of managing affairs may be more common than we\nthink. It is the fault of energetic souls. She loved Jacob with the\npassionate, tropical strength of her fervid heart. She would not trust\nGod to give him what she believed he ought to receive. It is very hard\nfor such as she to wait patiently for the Lord when His delays are\ndeveloping faith.\n\nHowever, viewed from a human standpoint, her faith in the divine\npurposes was much more clear-sighted than that of Isaac. Consenting\nto be laid on the altar as a sacrifice to God, Isaac had the stamp\nof submission early and deeply impressed on his soul. Hence, in the\nspiritual aspect of his character, he was the man of patience, of\nacquiescence, of susceptibility, of obedience. Rebekah, on the other\nhand, was energetic, intensely active, self-confident, a most excellent\nmanager, even tricky, but nevertheless capable and efficient. She had\nthe faults which usually go with such traits of character. Taking\nthings into her own hands, she even meddled with Providence.\n\nBut was she not provoked to this act by Isaac himself? Isaac\u2019s willful\nact does not consist alone in his arbitrary determination to present\nEsau with the blessing of the theocratic birthright, although Rebekah\nreceived that divine sentence respecting her children before their\nbirth, and which, no doubt, she had mentioned to him, but the manner in\nwhich he intends to bless Esau. He arranges to bless him in unbecoming\nsecrecy, without the knowledge of Rebekah and Jacob. The preparation\nof the venison, in its main point of view, is an excuse to gain\ntime and place for the secret act. In this point of view, the act of\nRebekah appears in a different light. His well-calculated prudence was\nskillfully caught in the net of Rebekah\u2019s shrewdness.\n\nA want of divine confidence may be recognized through all his actions.\nRebekah, however, has so far the advantage of him that she in her\ndeception has the divine assurance that Jacob was the heir, while Isaac\nhas only his human reason without any inward spiritual certainty.\nRebekah\u2019s error consists in thinking that she must direct divine\nProvidence by means of human deception. The divine promise would have\nbeen fulfilled without her assistance. Of course, when compared with\nIsaac\u2019s fatal error, she was right. Though she deceived him greatly,\nmisled her favorite son, and alienated Esau from her, there was yet\nsomething saving in her action according to her intentions. For to Esau\nthe most comprehensive blessing might have become only a curse. He was\nnot fitted for it.\n\nViewed from Rebekah\u2019s point of view, the lesson for us is, we are not\nto do evil, that good may come. The sinful element in her act was the\nwrong application of her assurance of faith, for which she suffered,\nperhaps, many long years of melancholy solitude.\n\nHad this noble woman in White Raiment not erred she would not have been\nhuman. As a whole, she has a beautiful character--beautiful in its\ngenerous helpfulness, in its prudence, in its magnanimity, and in her\ntheocratic zeal of faith.\n\nHere Rebekah obviously disappears from the stage of life. It has\nbeen conjectured that she died during Jacob\u2019s sojourn in Padan-aram,\nwhither she had sent him to escape the tragic consequences of her hasty\nconduct, for she is not mentioned when Jacob returned to his father,\nnor do we hear of her burial till it is incidentally mentioned by Jacob\non his deathbed. She was buried in the cave of Machpelah, by the side\nof Sarah.\n\nAfter Jacob had obtained the theocratic birthright he fled from his\nfather\u2019s home in Beer-sheba to Padan-aram, or the city of Haran, in\nMesopotamia. Haran was situated about four hundred and fifty miles\nnorth-east from Beer-sheba. If the young man walked thirty miles a day,\nfor he performed this long journey over the mountains and through the\ndesert on foot, it took him fifteen days. No doubt, as he drew near the\nwell, before the city, he was footsore, dust-covered, homesick, and\ngreatly depressed in mind, for the occasion of his sudden departure and\nthe anger of his brother Esau were still fresh in memory.\n\nBut what a quaint, picturesque scene of Oriental life is presented to\nour view. It is yet early evening. The shepherds, with their flocks,\nare moving from various points over the plain to one common centre.\nThree of the shepherds had already arrived, and Jacob salutes them,\nand asks, \u201cMy brethren, whence be ye?\u201d And they answered, \u201cOf Haran.\u201d\nThen he inquired, \u201cKnow ye Laban?\u201d They made reply, \u201cWe know him,\u201d\nthen, pointing to a shepherdess slowly leading her flock over the plain\ntowards the well, said, \u201cBehold Rachel, his daughter, cometh with the\nsheep.\u201d While he was yet talking with the shepherds, Rachel drew near\n\u201cwith her father\u2019s sheep.\u201d Jacob saw his opportunity, for the great\nstone over the mouth of the well had not been removed, and, though it\nwas the work of three men to remove the stone, he hastens to perform\nthis task for the beautiful shepherdess alone, and does for her what\nhis mother had done for Eliezer\u2019s camels, watered her flock. Clearly,\nit was love at first sight. Rachel must have deeply impressed him. And\nwhat could have been her thoughts as she stood by her flock and saw\nthis youth pour bucketfull after bucketfull into the stone troughs for\nher sheep? It was certainly an impressive introduction.\n\nThe sheep watered, and before he made himself known, he stepped up\nto the bewitching shepherdess, and kissed her. This story of Rachel,\nthe pretty shepherdess of the plains of Mesopotamia, who took with a\nglance the heart of the loving, homesick Jacob, and held it to the end\nof her days, has always had a peculiar interest, for there is that in\nit which appeals to some of the deepest feelings of the human heart.\nThe beauty of Rachel, the deep love with which she was loved by Jacob\nfrom their first meeting by the well of Haran, when he showed to her\nthe simple courtesies of the desert life, and kissed her and told\nher he was Rebekah\u2019s son; the long servitude with which he patiently\nserved for her, in which the seven years \u201cseemed to him but a few days,\nfor the love he had to her;\u201d their marriage at last, after the cruel\ndisappointment through the fraud which substituted the elder sister\nin the place of the younger; and the death of Rachel \u201cin the way to\nEphrath, which is Bethlehem,\u201d when she had given birth to Benjamin,\nand had become still more endeared to her husband; his deep grief and\never-living regrets for her loss--these things make up a touching tale\nof personal and domestic history which has kept alive the memory of\nRachel through all the long centuries down to the present time. Her\nuntimely death has been likened to a \u201cbunch of violets pulled up by\nthe roots, with the soil clinging to them--their exquisite perfume\nreminding one of the leafy nook in which they grew.\u201d\n\nWhat a mystery is love! We can not define it. It can only be unlocked\nby the key of experience. Love is not a product of the reason. It is\nthe free play of the spiritual sensibilities in the possession of its\nobject. And if human love is inexplicable, divine love is an ocean too\ndeep for the plummet of man, and by far too broad to be bounded by the\nthought of the loftiest intelligence in the universe.\n\nChaste human love is a beautiful thing, by which conjugal love is\nafterwards more and more strengthened and confirmed. And, in this scene\nat the well, we have emphasized the fact that virtuous maidens do not\nneed to attend large, exciting assemblies or popular resorts, to get\nhusbands. If they are true to themselves, they can safely trust God,\nwho is able to give them pious, honorable and upright husbands.\n\nAs soon as Rachel learned that Jacob was her father\u2019s nephew, and that\nhe was Rebekah\u2019s son, \u201cshe ran and told her father.\u201d When Laban heard\nRachel\u2019s story, he hastened to meet Jacob, and brought him to his house.\n\nAfter a short stay as the guest of the family, it seemed best to Laban\nthat wages should be given to Jacob for his services, but instead of\nwages he desires Rachel, and, instead of service for an indefinite\ntime, he promises a service of seven years. Jacob\u2019s service, it is\nthought by some writers, represents the price which was usually paid\nfor the wife. Doubtless, Rachel was worth to Jacob the years of service\nhe paid, but doubtless then, as now, prices varied according to age and\nbeauty, and in some Eastern countries the prices are higher than in\nothers. The custom still exists. A man without means serves from three\nto seven years for his bride. To Jacob, these years of service seemed\nbut a few days. His love for Rachel made his long service a delight to\nhim. He was cheerful and joyful in hope.\n\nAt the end of the years of service Laban made a great nuptial feast.\nThese Oriental weddings last seven days. Doubtless Laban arranged this\nfeast, the better to facilitate Jacob\u2019s deception by the coming and\ngoing of guests, and the general bustle and noise characteristic of\nsuch occasions. The deception was also possible through the custom,\nnamely, the bride was led veiled to the bridegroom and the bridal\nchamber. Laban probably believed, as to the base deception, that he\nwould be excused, because he had already in view the concession of the\nsecond daughter, so Leah, the elder daughter, was substituted. The\nmotive for this is not stated. Perhaps Laban recognized a skillful and\nuseful shepherd in Jacob. He may also have acted from regard to his\nown interest, especially since he knew that Jacob possessed a great\ninheritance at home.\n\nThe substitution of Leah for Rachel is the first retribution Jacob\nexperienced for the deceitful practices of his former days. He had,\nthrough fraud and cunning, secured the place and blessing of Esau--he,\nthe younger, in place of the elder. Now, by the same deceit, the elder\nis put upon him in the place of the younger. God has somehow so\narranged the affairs of men, that what a man sows, that shall he also\nreap. Sin is often punished with sin.\n\nWhen Laban was asked for an explanation of his conduct, he replied that\nit was not the custom in his country to give the younger into marriage\nbefore the first-born, a bit of information he should have given Jacob\nwhen he first made suit for Rachel. His excuse does not justify in the\nleast his deception, but there was, however, a sting for Jacob in his\nreply, namely, in the emphasis of the right of the first-born.\n\nThere was, therefore, nothing left for Jacob but to give another seven\nyears\u2019 service for Rachel. So, at the end of the marriage week or\nfeast of Leah, the second wedding followed, and the years of service\nwere rendered afterwards. We do not know why Rachel was affectionately\nloved, while Leah held but an indifferent place in Jacob\u2019s heart. But\nthen there is no accounting for, or explaining, love. Leah, it is\nsaid, was \u201ctender-eyed,\u201d that is to say, weak-eyed. This, however,\ndoes not necessarily mean she was sore-eyed or blear-eyed, but simply\nthey were not full, clear, and sparkling, not in keeping with the\nOriental idea of beauty, though otherwise she might have been comely.\nBut to an Oriental, black eyes, clear, lustrous, full of life and fire,\nespecially, when in addition to all these, the eye is expressive,\nare considered the principal part of female beauty. Rachel was the\nfortunate possessor of all these charming qualities of Eastern beauty,\nand so must have charmed, captivated, and held Jacob in spite of all\nother obstacles.\n\nThat Leah tried to win his affections is evident from what she says in\nconnection with the birth of Reuben, her first born. \u201cNow therefore,\u201d\nshe says, \u201cmy husband will love me.\u201d No doubt, during the seven years\nthat Jacob was in the home of Laban, her love for him became deep\nand strong, which had, no doubt, induced her to consent to Laban\u2019s\ndeception. So, after the birth of the first son, she hoped to win,\nthrough her child, Jacob\u2019s love in the strictest sense. After the\nbirth of the second, she hoped to be put on a footing of equality\nwith Rachel, and to be delivered from her disregard. After the third\none, she hoped at least for a constant affection. At the birth of the\nfourth, she looked entirely away from her surroundings to Jehovah by\ncalling him Judah--praised be Jehovah.\n\nIf Rachel obtained Jacob\u2019s affections because of her beauty and\nloveliness, and he refused to bestow upon Leah that affectionate\nconsideration for which she was grieving her life away, it may be a\ncomfort to those who suffer as Leah did, to know that God does not look\nfor beauty from man\u2019s standpoint, and that the sweet graces of mind and\nheart go farther than personal charms, for He certainly conferred more\nhonor upon her than He did upon Rachel. He gave her more children than\nto Rachel. She was also, through her posterity, the mother of Moses,\nDavid, John the Baptist, and the greatest honor of all, was the mother\nof our precious Lord Jesus Christ. Leah was not an idolator, so far as\nwe know, while the beautiful Rachel was tainted with this abomination,\nand it seems to have clung to her posterity, for it was the tribe of\nEphraim that led Israel in the sin of idol worship. So that while Leah\nmay not have been as beautiful as her fair sister, she was more loyal\nto God, and doubtless was, on that account, so greatly honored of Him.\n\nBut the fair, clear-eyed, beautiful Rachel, like the lovely Sarah\nand sprightly Rebekah, was barren and childless, and because of this\nbecame very much dejected, and exclaimed, \u201cGive me children or else I\ndie!\u201d From this expression we are to understand, she would die from\ndejection. Doubtless this dejection led to the substitution of her maid\nBilhah. Her jealous love for Jacob is overbalanced by her envy of her\nsister. The favored Rachel desired children as her own, at any cost,\nlest she should stand beside her sister childless. The ambition to be\namong the progenitors of the Messiah made Hebrew women eager to have\nchildren. Rachel was not willing to leave the founding of the people\nof God to her sister only, but wished also to become an ancestress, as\nwell as Leah, but in very deed, not until Joseph\u2019s birth, her very own,\ncould she say, \u201cNow God has taken away my reproach.\u201d\n\nAt length, after a service of twenty years or more, God called Jacob\nto return to his own people. Laban had been a hard master, not only to\nJacob, but to his own daughters. \u201cAre we not counted of him strangers?\u201d\nsaid they in their conference with Jacob concerning the return. He\nhad sold them as strangers, more as slaves, for the service of their\nhusband. Hence they had nothing more to hope for from him, for this\nvery price, that is, the blessing resulting from Jacob\u2019s service, he\nhad entirely consumed. The daughters had received no share of it. Hence\nit is evident that they speak with an inward alienation from their\nfather, and are quite willing to go with Jacob to the land of promise.\n\nThe time set for the departure was the feast of sheep-shearing.\nEither Laban had not invited Jacob to this feast, or Jacob took the\nopportunity of leaving, in order to visit his own flocks. As the\nsheep-shearing lasted several days, the opportunity was very favorable\nfor his flight.\n\n\u201cBut Rachel had stolen the images,\u201d the Penates or household gods,\nwhich were honored as guardians, and as oracles. From this incident we\nmay infer that she was not altogether free from the superstitions and\nidolatry which prevailed in the land whence Abraham had been called,\nand which still, to some degree, infected even those families among\nwhom the true God was known. It is thought she was actuated to steal\nthem with the superstitious idea that her father, being prevented from\nconsulting them as oracles, would not be able to pursue Jacob. This\nact, however, as also the well-planned and ready dexterity and presence\nof mind with which she concealed her theft, and prompt denial to her\nfather, reveals a cunning which is far more befitting the daughter of\nLaban than the wife of the prudent patriarch.\n\nJacob continued his journey without interruption until the fords of\nthe Jabbok were reached. While at Mahanaim he sent messengers to\nEsau, with a view of bringing about a reconciliation with his grieved\nbrother. When he reached the Jabbok the messengers returned and brought\nthe alarming intelligence that Esau was coming to meet him, and four\nhundred men were with him. This greatly distressed Jacob, and led him\nto divide his family and his flocks, and to send them in bands before\nhim. Once more, in a critical time, when he expected an attack from\nEsau, his discriminate regard for Rachel is again shown by placing Leah\nand her children in the place of danger, in advance of Rachel and her\nchild.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB\u2019S STRUGGLE AT THE JABBOK.]\n\nHaving thus disposed of his family and his flocks, Jacob remains behind\nto pray. It was the great struggle of his life. And the burden of\nthat midnight cry was, \u201cDeliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my\nbrother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and\nsmite me, and the mother with the children.\u201d At length the angel of the\nLord said, \u201cLet me go, for the day breaketh!\u201d But Jacob, as if his life\nhung on the issue, which it doubtless did, replied, \u201cI will not let\nThee go, except Thou bless me!\u201d\n\nGod heard his prayer and delivered him out of the hands of his brother,\nEsau.\n\nAs Jacob passed over the Jabbok \u201cthe sun rose upon him,\u201d and he set\nforward on his journey a changed man.\n\nIn due time Jacob reached the Jordan at Succoth, thence to Shechem, and\nthen to Bethel. At each of these places he halted.\n\nIt seems that for a considerable time after the return to Palestine,\nthe images, or household Penates, which Rachel had stolen from her\nfather, remained in the family, perhaps connived at by Jacob, till,\non being reminded by the Lord of the vow which he had made at Bethel\nwhen he fled from the face of Esau, and being bidden of Him to erect\nan altar to the God who appeared to him there, Jacob felt the glaring\nimpiety of thus solemnly appearing before God with the taint of\nidolatry cleaving to his beloved Rachel, said, \u201cPut away the strange\ngods from among you.\u201d After thus casting out the polluting things from\nhis house, Jacob, at Bethel, amidst its sacred associations, received\nfrom God an emphatic promise and blessing.\n\nAfter his spirit had been purified and strengthened by communion\nwith God, by the assurance of the divine love and favor, by the\nconsciousness of evil put away and duties performed, it was, as he\njourneyed away from Bethel, that the chastening blow fell and Rachel\ndied. Doubtless the blessings that came as a result of the cleansing\nand purging from idolatry at Bethel had their effect in bringing Rachel\nto a higher sense of her relation to that Jehovah in whom her husband,\nwith all his faults of character, so firmly believed.\n\nFive miles south of Jerusalem, and a mile and a half from Bethlehem,\nin the way to Hebron, is a beautiful chapel, sacred to the memory of\nRachel. This is the place where beautiful Rachel surrendered her own\nlife for the life of her second son, whom she named Ben-oni (son of my\npain). The wish she had uttered at Joseph\u2019s birth, that God would give\nher another son, now, after a long period, perhaps sixteen or seventeen\nyears, is at last realized.\n\nRachel held Jacob\u2019s love to the last, and even down to his old age he\nmourned her loss. The stone pillar which he set up at her grave is the\nfirst recorded instance of the setting up of a sepulchral monument;\ncaves having been up to this time spoken of as the usual places of\nburial. The tomb of Rachel is one of the shrines which Mohammedans,\nJews and Christians unite in honoring, and concerning which their\ntraditions are identical. At the time of our visit, it happened to be\nthe time of new moon, when the chapel was open and all lighted up with\nolive oil lamps, and the chapel and crypt filled with weeping women.\nThe lamentations were real and sincere, and, had we remained very\nlong, we should have wept out of very sympathy for the grief-stricken\nmourners of this princess of Israel. The thought that here this lovely\nwoman in White Raiment sacrificed her own life for another was in\nitself depressing. This first mortuary monument, sacred to the memory\nof a great love and a great sorrow, has come down to us through more\nthan three thousand years. One may see it \u201cbut a little to come to\nEphrath.\u201d\n\n      \u201cTell me, ye winged winds,\n        That round my pathway roar,\n      Do ye not know some spot\n        Where mortals weep no more?\n      Some lone and pleasant dell,\n        Some valley in the west,\n      Where, free from toil and pain,\n        The weary soul may rest?\n  The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low,\n  And sighed for pity as it answered, \u2018No!\u2019\u201d\n\nLeah probably lived for some years after Jacob reached Hebron. Whether\nshe ever found grace in his sight is not stated. However, in Jacob\u2019s\ndifferences with Laban both Leah and Rachel appeared to be attached to\nhim with equal fidelity, while later, in the critical moment, when he\nexpected an attack from Esau, his discriminate regard for the several\nmembers of his family was again shown by his placing Rachel and her\nchild hindermost, in the least exposed situation, Leah and her children\nnext, and the two hand-maids, with their children, in front. Of her\ndeath nothing is said. From the expression, \u201cThere I buried Leah,\u201d\n(Gen. xlix, 31), we are led to believe that she died at Hebron before\nJacob went down into Egypt. She was buried in the family sepulchre,\n\u201cin the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre.\u201d Since Hebron is\nonly twenty-five miles from Rachel\u2019s tomb, near Bethlehem, it is quite\nstrange that Jacob did not bury his beloved Rachel in the family\nsepulchre, along with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah,\nand where he was himself finally buried.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nWomanhood During the Egyptian Bondage and in the Desert of Sinai.\n\n  JOCHEBED--HER REMARKABLE COURAGE--THONORIS--HER COMPASSION--HEROIC\n    LABORS SEEMINGLY UNREWARDED--ZIPPORAH, THE MIDIANITE\n    SHEPHERDESS--GLORIFYING DAILY LABOR--AT A WAYSIDE INN--MIRIAM--HER\n    SONG OF TRIUMPH AT THE RED SEA--HER AFFLICTION AT HAZEROTH--AN\n    EVENTFUL LIFE.\n\n\nThe history of the human race runs on from the tomb of Rachel for\nover four hundred years without bringing to our notice any woman in\nWhite Raiment until Jochebed, the mother of Moses, is reached. In the\nmeantime, the dreams of Joseph are told, his wandering in the fields\nof Shechem, and the finding of his brethren in Dothan, the heartless\ntransaction with the Midianites, who, in turn, sold Joseph into Egypt,\nhis prison life followed by his elevation next to the throne and a\nseven years\u2019 famine, when Jacob and his sons, as Abraham had done\nbefore them, went down into Egypt, the years of favor in the house of\nPharaoh, and the bondage, bitter and hard, all are told. But, in spite\nof all, the suffering Israelites, because blessed of God, prospered and\n\u201cincreased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty;\nand the land was filled with them.\u201d\n\nThe reigning Pharaoh became alarmed at this state of affairs, and, to\nrepress the Israelites, \u201cmade their lives bitter with hard bondage,\nin mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.\u201d\nBut, as a stream in a spring freshet bursts through every obstruction,\nso the Israelites overleaped every barrier thrown in their way by the\nEgyptian taskmasters. At length a decree was issued that every son born\nto the Israelites should be cast into the Nile.\n\nBut there was at least one woman in the house of bondage who feared\nthe Lord more than she feared Pharaoh. Her name was Jochebed, which\nmeans, whose glory is Jehovah. If ever a name had attached with it the\ncharacteristic of the person bearing it, it was Jochebed, the wife of\nAmram, and daughter of Levi. That the glory of this woman in White\nRaiment was Jehovah, is evident from the fact the hard circumstances in\nwhich she was placed by the command of Pharaoh could not make her lose\nfaith in God. Others might obey the unwarranted and heartless, as well\nas wicked decree, she would not, for she believed it was better to obey\nGod rather than man, and to this belief her faith was anchored, and\nheld steady amid the awful wail of bereaved motherhood as it ascended\ninto the ear of God from the fields of Goshen.\n\nJochebed was already the mother of Miriam and Aaron, and, since Aaron\nwas three years older than Moses, the decree that all Hebrew male\nchildren should be cast into the Nile could not have been in force at\nAaron\u2019s birth, or at least had not reached its dangerous climax. As a\nmember of the house of Levi, Jochebed shows the daring and energetic\nboldness for which her tribe had become distinguished, and indicated\nthe qualities needful for the future priesthood. That the child was\nso fair, she recognized in it as a good omen. Josephus traces this\nintuition of faith, which harmonized with the maternal feeling of\ncomplacency and desire to preserve his life, to a special revelation.\nThe means of preservation chosen by Jochebed is especially attributed\nto her genius and courage. It was all the more daring, since in the use\nof it she seemed to have, from the outset, the daughter of Pharaoh in\nmind.\n\nPrompted by an heroic faith, this poor Hebrew slave woman, in the house\nof a cruel and heartless bondage, dared to disobey the royal decree,\ntrusting in God to carry her through the perilous enterprise of saving\nthe life of her well-favored child. The chrism of hot tears which\nfell on the babe\u2019s forehead, set him apart to the tremendous task of\nleading up to nationhood a race of degraded slaves whose hands were\nhorny with unpaid toil, whose faces had grown scowling and knotted\nunder the overseer\u2019s lash.\n\n[Illustration: THE ISRAELITES IN BONDAGE.]\n\nJochebed held the boy hard against her heart when she found she could\nno longer hide him, and said, more to herself and God than to any human\nhelper, \u201cMy baby shall not die.\u201d The resolution once formed in the\nmother\u2019s heart, the next task was to carry it into effect. Then came\nthe gathering of the papyrus leaves, the getting of the bitumen, the\nbuilding of the little ark, and the finding of the best place for it\namong the flags of the Nile.\n\nAt length the little craft, with many a scalding tear mingled with the\nbitumen, was found waterworthy. Then, with many a prayer and heartache,\nand no small faith in the righteousness of her act, the dear child of\npromise, with many a passionate kiss, such as mothers only can give,\nwas laid asleep in as soft a nest as the loving hands of mother could\ndevise. Then the little craft, baby and all, was carried to the great\nriver of Egypt, \u201cand she laid it in the flags by the river\u2019s brink.\u201d\nQuickly the mother walked away, though her heart was crushed and\nbleeding, for how could she look upon her child if any disaster should\novertake his small boat on the bosom of the mighty Nile? But her faith\nin God was sure. Her good sense had done its best. Her courage made her\nequal to facing the anger of the king; and she would leave the care of\nher little darling to the God of her fathers.\n\nBut the mother-love could not wholly abandon the little craft to its\nfate, without at least knowing how it fared with the child. So, back\na little from the river, where the tall flags formed a gracious shade\nover the little brother, and her body concealed in the rank grass, the\nlarge, bright eyes of Miriam were fixed on the babe\u2019s hiding-place,\nand the swift feet of the sister were ready to run to tell the mother\nwhatever might happen.\n\nPretty soon the watchful eyes of Miriam saw a royal retinue issue from\nthe palace gate, and as it drew near the river\u2019s brink she discerned\nthat it was Thonoris, the daughter of Pharaoh, and her maidens, come\ndown to the Nile to bathe in the open stream, as was the custom of\nancient Egyptians. As the princess and her maidens walked along the\nriver\u2019s side, she saw the little ark among the flags, and sent one of\nthe maids to fetch it. And when she saw the child she had compassion on\nit, and said, \u201cThis is one of the Hebrew\u2019s children.\u201d But the eyes of\nMiriam, the faithful sister, closely watched the scene, and when the\nlittle ark was safely drawn to shore by the maids of Thonoris, she ran\nup to the Egyptian princess and said, \u201cShall I go and call to thee a\nnurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And\nPharaoh\u2019s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the\nchild\u2019s mother.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: MOSES RESCUED FROM THE NILE.]\n\nThe compassion of the princess towards the beautiful child led her to\nadopt him; and when she did so, making him, therefore, prospectively\nan Egyptian, she did not need, we may well believe, to educate him\nsecretly. The taking of the child into the royal household, doubtless\nrendered the cruel edict less severe, if not wholly inoperative.\n\nAll this reads like a fairy tale, but there is no end of the wonders\nwrought by our God on behalf of those who trust His love and power.\n\n\u201cAnd the child grew.\u201d Of course it would under the watchful care of\nsuch a nurse. One can easily see how during those years in which\nJochebed was nursing her boy as the adopted son of the Egyptian\nprincess, she made the most of her opportunity. In a tongue not\nunderstood in the palace she taught the child of Him who should redeem\nthe race. She held him loyal to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\nHer instruction had been careful, thorough, and direct from her father,\nLevi, the son of Jacob; and she was true to her faith from her very\nheart\u2019s core. So that, with the very life of his mother, the growing\nboy had drank in the Hebrew spirit.\n\nAt first it must have been a surprise to the young heir to the Egyptian\nthrone when his Hebrew nurse unfolded to him the secret of his descent.\nThat while legally and formally he was the son of the Princess\nThonoris, inwardly he was the son of another mother, and belonged to\nanother race, not of the dominant, but of the servile, race; not a\nworldly, but a spiritual prince. Probably he had the usual struggle\nwith self. It was no easy matter to lay aside the flattering prospect\nof one day sitting on the throne of Egypt, to forever renounce the\nglory and glitter of an earthly court, and to identify himself with the\nslave people whose lives were made bitter in all manner of service.\nSurely, Jochebed must not only have been a loving mother, but a wise\nspiritual teacher to thus gain the surrender of all that was dear to\nher child of the earthly life, that he might gain the heavenly. He must\nhave been completely regenerated when he refused to be called the son\nof Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, but chose to suffer affliction with the people\nof God. Only a personal knowledge of the Redeemer could have brought\nhim to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures\nof Egypt.\n\nNo better compliment could have been paid Jochebed than the fact that\nin that corrupt, magnificent, heathen court she was able to do her work\nso well. Her son\u2019s flawless choice of the Divine will made him the\ngreatest man, the Son of God excepted, ever veiled in human flesh. That\nwas the best possible sign and seal of her capability and faithfulness.\n\nWhen her child had passed beyond the years of childhood, and, as a\nnurse, could no longer retain him, \u201cshe brought him unto Pharaoh\u2019s\ndaughter,\u201d and Thonoris, with almost infinite care, completed the\nboy\u2019s education by instructing him in all the wisdom of Egypt; hence\nMoses was prepared both negatively and positively for his life work.\nPositively by his great-hearted mother, Jochebed; negatively by the\nEgyptian princess Thonoris, thereby, by her own hand, brought up the\ndeliverer and avenger of the oppressed Israelites.\n\nAt this point Jochebed is lost to view. She drops out of history, and\nnothing more is known of her. Hers emphatically was a work of faith,\nfor in all probability she died while Moses was under discipline in the\nland of Midian. Her people, for whom she had wrought so heroically,\nwere still serving \u201cwith rigor\u201d in building for Pharaoh the \u201ctreasure\ncities Pithom and Raamses.\u201d The son from whom she had hoped so much\nas the crown prince of the land was in exile in the back side of the\ndesert; yet her faith held steady as she said with her parting breath,\n\u201cGod will deliver His people. He saved Moses from the wrath of Pharaoh\nand from the reptiles of the Nile; He will yet bring him back to lead\nIsrael out of this cruel bondage.\u201d\n\nHow many a mother has gone down to her grave in sorrow without\nrealizing the fruit of her toil, perhaps broken-hearted, as Jochebed\nmay have done, when she saw her son hastening into the desert to escape\nthe vengeance which would surely have overtaken him for smiting the\nEgyptian. Doubtless she never again saw his face, and may have wondered\nto what purpose was all her labor. It is difficult to conceive of a\ngrander purpose in motherhood than that of sending out into the world\nyoung men spiritually, morally and physically healthy, with correct\nprinciples and holy purposes; and it is one of the saddest spectacles\nin life when these preparations are cast aside by ungrateful or wayward\nacts. All human help is vain, her sorrow and her anguish are too deep\nto be reached by sympathy. God alone is her refuge. She is often at\nthe throne of grace with strong cries and tears, and with a faith that\nwill not shrink. Doubtless such were the last days of the brave, the\ncourageous, the heroic Jochebed, as she saw the form of her beloved\nMoses disappear in the desert of Midian. But God honored her faith as\nno woman\u2019s faith had ever been honored in the life and works of Moses,\nthe great law-giver, and leader of Israel\u2019s hosts out of the land of\nbondage.\n\n  \u201cFaithful, O Lord, Thy mercies are,\n    A rock that can not move:\n  A thousand promises declare\n    Thy constancy of love.\u201d\n\nBut though Moses had fled from the face of Pharaoh because, in his\neffort to defend a Hebrew who was being smitten by an Egyptian, slew\nthe oppressor, he had not gone into the land of Midian so far but His\neye followed the young refugee.\n\nAway in the south-eastern part of Arabia, toward the close of what\nwe may well believe to have been a long day\u2019s travel through the\nburning sand of that arid country, the young refugee sat down under\nthe grateful shade of a cluster of palm trees that flourished by the\nside of a well. As he sat there resting, possibly quite homesick, the\ndaughters of Jethro, a Midianite sheik and priest, came with their\nfather\u2019s flock to the well to water them. The fact that it took seven\nof these daughters to lead the flock to the well, shows that the\nMidianite was wealthy. These maidens lowered their buckets into the\nwell and then drew them up brimming full of water, and poured it out\ninto the stone troughs. They did this again and again, while Moses was\na silent observer. It does not appear that he in any way interrupted\nthe work.\n\nBut scarcely had the panting nostrils of the flocks begun to cool\na little in the brimming troughs than some rough Bedouin shepherds\ncame with their flocks and drove the maidens and their flock from the\nwell. This was too much for Moses. His face began to color up, and\nhis eyes flash with indignation, and all the gallantry of his nature\nwas aroused. He naturally had a quick temper, as he demonstrated in\nthe case of the Egyptian oppressing an Israelite, and as he showed\nafterward when he broke all the Ten Commandments at once by shattering\nthe two granite slabs on which the law was written. Hence the harsh\ntreatment of the girls sets him on fire. The injustice of these Bedouin\nshepherds was more than he could bear, and he came to the rescue of the\nmaidens of the Midianite sheik. Driving the shepherds away, he told\nthe daughters of Jethro to gather their flock once more and bring them\nagain to the watering troughs. Here the beautiful character of Moses\ncomes out, and shows that the careful training of his faithful mother\nhad not been in vain. Though brought up as a prince in the court of\nEgypt, he takes hold of the water buckets and draws water from the\nwell, and waters the immense flock which had taken seven maidens to\ndrive to the well! What a sight it must have been to these daughters\nof the priest of Midian as they stood by and saw this brave, unselfish\nact. What wonder that Zipporah fell in love with such a young man?\n\nHard as the task must have been, it was quickly finished and the flock\nearly sheltered in the fold. So much so that Jethro asked of his\ndaughters, \u201cHow is it that ye are come so soon to-day?\u201d They answered,\n\u201cAn Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also\ndrew water enough for us, and watered the flock.\u201d Jethro further\ninquired, \u201cWhere is he? Why is it that ye have left the man?\u201d\n\nWe confess it was a somewhat ungrateful act on the part of these girls\nnot to invite the young man to their father\u2019s home, but it only shows\nthat they were so modest as to be too bashful to make such an advance.\n\nSo Moses was invited to the home of the Midianite sheik, and in due\ntime Zipporah was given to him in marriage, and she became the mother\nof his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.\n\nThe Bible does not record much of Zipporah\u2019s life, but, evidently\nfrom the fact that she was a shepherdess, she was industrious,\nnotwithstanding the great wealth and influence of her father. What\nwas the use of Zipporah\u2019s bemeaning herself with work when she might\nhave reclined on the hillside near her father\u2019s tent, and plucked\nbuttercups, and dreamed out romances, and sighed idly to the winds, and\nwept over imaginary songs to the brooks. But no. She knew that work\nwas honorable, and that every girl ought to have something to do, and\nso she led her father\u2019s flock to the fields, to the watering troughs,\nand to the safe shelter of the fold. In how many households are there\nyoung women without practical and useful employments? Many of them\nare waiting for fortunate and prosperous matrimonial alliance, but\nsome lounger like themselves will come along, and after counting the\nlarge number of father Jethro\u2019s sheep and camels will make proposal\nthat will be accepted; and neither of them having done anything more\npractical than to chew chocolate caramels, the two nothings will start\non the road of life together, every step more and more a failure.\nNot so with the daughter of the Midianite sheik. Moses found her at\nthe well drawing water. And Zipporah soon learned that Moses could\nalso draw water. Ye daughters of idleness, imitate Zipporah. Do\nsomething helpful. The reason that so many men now condemn themselves\nto unaffianced and solitary life is because they can not support the\nmodern young woman--a thousand of them not worth one Zipporah. There\nneeds to be a radical revolution among most of the prosperous homes\nof America, by which the elegant do-nothings may be transformed into\npractical do-somethings. Let useless women go to work and gather the\nflocks. The stranger at the well may prove to be as good a man as was\nMoses to Zipporah.\n\nStill further, watch this spectacle of genuine courage. No wonder when\nMoses scattered the rude shepherds he won Zipporah\u2019s heart. Sense of\njustice fired his courage; and the world wants more of the spirit that\nwill dare almost anything to see others righted. There are many wells\nwhere outrages are practiced, the wrong herd getting the first water.\nThose who have the previous right come in last, if they come it at all.\nThank God we have here and there a strong man to set things right!\n\nThis child of the desert, full of industry and energy, very naturally\nhad a quick temper, and, for once at least, it came out in her life.\nMoses was on his way to Egypt, as the deliverer of Israel. Zipporah\nand sons set off to accompany him, and went part of the way. While\nstopping for the night at a wayside inn the Lord suddenly withstood\nMoses. It appears, for some reason, possibly because Zipporah opposed\nit, their sons, Gershom and Eliezer, had not been circumcised. And,\nsince the neglect of this rite would cut them off from God\u2019s covenanted\npeople, the Lord suddenly afflicted Moses so that his life must have\nbeen despaired of by the wife and mother. In her distress, to save the\nlife of her husband, she herself performs this rite. The expression,\n\u201ctook a sharp stone,\u201d means a sharp stone-knife (more sacred than a\nmetallic knife, on account of the tradition). Under the trying ordeal,\nand notwithstanding the life of her husband was still in the balance\nbetween life and death, she was unable to conceal her ill-humor, and\ncharged him with being \u201ca bloody husband.\u201d Which may mean that the rite\nof his people was distasteful to her, and doubly so since she had to\nperform it with her own hand to save the life of Moses.\n\nIt appears, probably on account of the performance of this rite upon\ntheir two sons, she had to return to her father\u2019s house, as the\nchildren would not be in a condition to continue the journey into\nEgypt, and Moses had to perform the remainder of the way alone.\n\nThe only other incident recorded in Zipporah\u2019s life is the bringing\nof herself and her two sons to Moses by her father, when the host of\nIsrael had reached the Peninsula of Sinai, after they had departed out\nof the land of Egypt.\n\nIt has been suggested that Zipporah was the Cushite (A. V. Ethiopian)\nwife who furnished Miriam and Aaron with the pretext for their attack\non Moses. (Num. xii, 1). The death of Zipporah is not mentioned, but\nundoubtedly it occurred before Moses took the Cushite to be his wife.\n\nIt has also been thought that Jethro and his house, before his\nacquaintance with Moses, was not a worshipper of the true God. Traces\nof this appear in the delay which Moses had suffered to take place in\nrespect to the circumcision of his sons. But the fact that Zipporah\nstarted from her home in Midian to accompany her husband upon his\nmission in Egypt, and of her joining him when he had reached the\nwilderness, upon his return, shows that she was in sympathy with his\nwork, and, doubtless, if up to the time the Lord suddenly withstood\nMoses at the wayside inn, she was not fully in accord with him in her\nfaith, that this incident fully established her in the true faith.\nThere is a legend which, if not true, is characteristic of the priest\nof Midian. This Midrash tale relates that Jethro was a counselor of\nPharaoh, who tried to dissuade him from slaughtering the Israelitish\nchildren, and consequently, on account of his clemency, was forced to\nflee into Midian, but was rewarded by becoming the father-in-law of\nMoses.\n\nThe wife of so excellent and remarkable a man as Moses, and one who\npossessed so many womanly qualities as did this shepherdess whom Moses\nfound by the well in Arabia, in the faithful discharge of her duties,\ndeserves a place in the galaxy of Women in White Raiment.\n\nThe hospitality, freehearted and unsought which Jethro at once extended\nto the unknown, homeless wanderer, on the relation of his daughters\nthat he had watered their flock, is a picture of Eastern manners no\nless true than lovely, and gives us a fine view of the quaint habits\nand honest simplicity of the Oriental people.\n\nWe now pass to the daughter of Jochebed, namely, Miriam. She first came\nto our notice when the little ark of Moses was placed among the flags\nof the Nile. Her mother set her to watch the little craft as it floated\non the bosom of the great river. When the princess Thonoris, Pharaoh\u2019s\ndaughter, discovered the child and sent her maid to rescue him from\nhis perilous surroundings, Miriam, then probably a young girl, appeared\nbefore the Egyptian princess, and asked if she should call a nurse for\nthe child. In reply to this question, Thonoris said to her she might\nfind for her a nurse. And Miriam hastened to the home of her parents,\n\u201cand called the child\u2019s mother.\u201d\n\nThis act shows that Miriam was not only quick-witted, but had the\ncourage to carry her convictions into effect. Though very human, as\nfully demonstrated in after years, she was faithful to her mother when\nshe watched the boat woven of river plants and made water-tight with\nasphaltum, carrying its one passenger. And was she not very courageous\nand did she not put all the ages of time and of a coming eternity under\nobligation when she defended her helpless brother from the perils of\nthe Nile? She it was that brought that wonderful babe and its mother\ntogether, so that he was reared to be the deliverer of his nation. What\na garland for faithful sisterhood!\n\nWhat part Miriam took in the care of her illustrious brother while in\nthe arms of his mother-nurse, we are not told, but we may well believe\nher sisterly love was strong and unwavering during the years while the\nprecious charge was in the care of the mother.\n\nBut there was a long period of eighty years between the infancy of\nMoses and his return from the desert of Midian, so that the clear-eyed\nand sprightly girl had grown away from the buoyancy of youth during the\nyears of his exile, and must have been nearly, if not quite, a hundred\nyears old, when God\u2019s chosen people were led out of the iron furnace\nof bondage, a fact we must not lose sight of in the brief narrative\nof this noble woman in White Raiment. Her age may, in part at least,\naccount for the high position given her. \u201cThe sister of Aaron,\u201d is her\nbiblical distinction which she never lost. In Numbers xii, 1, she is\nplaced before Aaron, and in Micah vi, 4, reckoned as one of the three\ndeliverers of God\u2019s chosen people, \u201cI sent before thee Moses and Aaron\nand Miriam.\u201d Hence it is quite evident that she had no small part in\nthe redemption of the house of Israel from the land of oppression.\nWhether or not the prejudices of that day gave her full honor, the Lord\nadmitted her to the triumvirate of deliverance, the three children of\nthe brave, faithful Jochebed.\n\nShe was also the first person in her father\u2019s house, and the first\nwoman in the history of God\u2019s people to whom the prophetic gifts\nare directly ascribed. \u201cMiriam the prophetess,\u201d is her acknowledged\ntitle in Exodus xv, 20. She stood, as the leader of Hebrew women,\nappropriately by the side of the future conductor of the religious\nservice.\n\n[Illustration: MIRIAM\u2019S SONG OF TRIUMPH.]\n\nIn the song of triumph which the children of Israel sang after their\npassage of the Red Sea, Miriam, with cymbal in hand, led the women in\ntheir part of the glad song of deliverance. It does not appear how far\nthe Hebrew women joined in the song, that is, the part led by Moses,\nbut in the antiphony, Miriam repeats the opening words, in the form\nof a command to the women, saying, \u201cSing ye to Jehovah, for he hath\ntriumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the\nsea.\u201d\n\n  \u201cSound the loud timbrel o\u2019er Egypt\u2019s dark sea!\n  Jehovah has triumphed, His people are free!\n  Sing, for the pride of the tyrant is broken;\n    His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave;\n  How vain was their boasting! the Lord hath but spoken,\n    And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.\n\n  \u201cSound the loud timbrel o\u2019er Egypt\u2019s dark sea!\n  Jehovah has triumphed, His people are free!\n  Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord!\n  His word was our arrow, His breath was our sword.\n  Who shall return to tell Egypt the story\n    Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride?\n  For the Lord hath looked out from His pillar of glory,\n    And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.\n  Sound the loud timbrel o\u2019er Egypt\u2019s dark sea!\n  Jehovah has triumphed, His people are free!\u201d\n\nMiriam must have been exempt from the infirmities of age to a\nremarkable degree, to be able at her advanced years to lead the host of\nHebrew women and maidens in the music and songs of triumph and general\nrejoicings over the mighty deliverance out of the hand of Pharaoh on\nthe farther shores of the Red Sea. The victory, however, was such a\nmarked one, and the deliverance so great as to cause old age, for the\ntime being, to be swallowed up in the youth of praise and thanksgiving.\n\nTaking up their line of march from the shores of the Red Sea, we do not\nlearn anything farther concerning Miriam until Hazeroth is reached.\nHere she seems to have been the instigator of an insurrection against\nMoses. In some respects it must have been grievous to him, all the more\nso, from the fact that Aaron had also suffered himself to be carried\naway by his sister\u2019s fanaticism. By virtue of their office as prophet\nand prophetess, in the minds of the people, they held almost equal rank\nwith Moses.\n\nThe occasion of this insurrection was a marriage which Miriam regarded\nas objectionable, though, notwithstanding, she had the example of\nJoseph, who married an Egyptian woman, before her, and which marriage\ndid not prove to be antitheocratic. Moses had married a Cushite. It is\ntrue the prohibition to marry with the daughters of other than their\nown people had special reasons of religious self-preservation, and for\nthat reason the High Priest was allowed to marry only a Hebrew virgin,\nbut that was a limitation belonging to his symbolic position. The\nprophetic class, on the other hand, had the task of illustrating the\ngreatest possible letting down of legal restraint. The union of Moses\nwith this Cushite may have symbolized the future calling of the Gentile\nnations, a sort of first fruit, as Rahab and Ruth later on proved to\nbe, and it offers a remarkable parallel that the next greatest man of\nthe law, Elijah, lived for a considerable time as the table companion\nof a heathen widow of Zarephath.\n\nIt is manifest that Moses endured in silence the domestic obliquity\nwhich his sister drew down upon him, patiently committing his\njustification to God, until her would-be pious zeal assumed a more\nalarming aspect. Since Aaron had made common cause with Miriam, Aaron,\nwho wore the breast-plate, Urim and Thummim, and Miriam, who, as a\nprophetess, had already led the chorus of the women of Israel, must\nhave held high places in the minds of the people; hence, when they\nraised the question, \u201cHath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath\nhe not spoken also by us?\u201d there is no telling where this sedition of\nMiriam and Aaron might have ended, had not the Lord Himself taken it\npromptly in hand.\n\nBut the Lord heard that complaint, which implied that the prophetic\ngift was exercised by them also, that they were prophets, vested with\nauthority, and if they even suffered Moses, since his objectionable\nmarriage, to remain in the prophetic college, they could at least\noutvote him. So Moses, Aaron and Miriam were suddenly cited to the\ntabernacle of the congregation. When the three presented themselves at\nthe place appointed, the Lord came down in a cloud at the door of the\ntabernacle, and \u201ccalled Aaron and Miriam\u201d apart from Moses, and there,\nat the door of the tabernacle, administered a stern rebuke to both of\nthem. They had lived with Moses so long, and yet knew so little of his\nexalted position. As a brother he stood too near to them, and they\nthemselves, with their self-consciousness, stood too much in their own\nlight.\n\n\u201cAnd the cloud departed from off the tabernacle.\u201d As Aaron saw the\ncloud lifting up and moving off, he must have been inwardly crushed\nat this punishment. The fires on his altar went out, the pillar of\nsmoke no longer mounted up as a token of grace, the divine presence\nwas withdrawn, and it was as if an interdict of Jehovah lay on the\nservices of the Sanctuary. But this was not all. \u201cMiriam became\nleprous, white as snow.\u201d There seems to be a singular connection\nbetween the punishment of Aaron as the representative of the Church,\nand Miriam, who had thought herself and Aaron above Moses, snow-white\nin righteousness, while she looked down on him as unclean. She would\ndominate the Church, for she dominated Aaron, and now, as a leper, she\nmust be excluded from the Church.\n\nWhen Aaron looked upon his afflicted sister, though High Priest,\nthe Lord having withdrawn the symbol of his favor from the altar of\nsacrifice, was as helpless as Miriam, and he now implores Moses, as his\nsuperior, to intercede. Here only the spiritual high priesthood of a\ndivine compassion can deliver the helpless High Priest himself and his\nunfortunate associate in the prophetic office. In his appeal, Aaron\nalmost speaks as if Moses could heal the leprosy. Moses, however,\nunderstood it as an indirect request to intercede for Miriam.\n\n\u201cAnd Moses cried unto the Lord, saying: Heal her now, O God, I beseech\nthee.\u201d The Lord granted the request, accompanied with a sharp reproof,\n\u201cIf her father had but spit in her face, should she not be unclean\nseven days?\u201d The figurative expression compares her, who desired to be\nthe prophetic regent of the nation, to a dependent maiden in whose face\nher father had spit on account of unseemly behavior. Such a one must\nconceal herself seven days on account of her shame. The same treatment\nwas dictated for Miriam, and she was \u201cshut out from the camp seven\ndays.\u201d The silent grief of the nation must have been profound, for the\npeople remained encamped at Hazeroth during the seclusion of Miriam,\nand not until she was pronounced clean, and the prescribed sacrifices\nrequired on her reception back again, were made, did the Lord\u2019s host\ndepart from their encampment. All these are proofs of the high place\nshe held in the affections of the people.\n\nThis sad stroke, and its most gracious removal, is the last public\nevent of Miriam\u2019s life. She died toward the close of the wilderness\nwanderings at Kadesh, and was buried there. According to Jewish\ntradition, the burial took place with great pomp on a mountain in the\nedge of the wilderness of Zin, and the mourning of the whole camp of\nIsrael lasted for thirty days, Jerome tells us that her tomb was shown\nnear Petra.\n\nAccording to Josephus she was the wife of Hur and the grandmother of\nBezaleel, the inspired artisan of the Tabernacle. According to the\nTargum, the miraculous supply of water at Rephidim was given in her\nhonor. It failed when she died at Kadesh, and was restored only at the\nsecond stroke of Moses\u2019 rod, and later, by the digging of the princes\nwith their staves of office, while the people sang a hymn of praise and\nfaith.\n\nThese traditions are of but little value except to show in what high\nesteem she was held.\n\nA long, beautiful, eventful, inspired life--one of patient waiting,\nintense activity, deep enthusiasm and triumphant faith--transformed\nthe brave little slave girl into the mighty princess and leader of the\nLord\u2019s hosts. But for the one assumption of unwarranted authority at\nHazeroth, her record would have come down to us untarnished.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nWomanhood During the Conquest and the Theocracy, or Rule of the Judges.\n\n  RAHAB--GREAT GRACE FOR GREAT SINNERS--THE FALL OF JERICHO--THE\n    COVENANT REMEMBERED--DEBORAH--HER REMARKABLE COURAGE--SISERA\u2019S IRON\n    CHARIOTS BROKEN--THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH--HER LOVING DEVOTION\n    AND SACRIFICE--THE STORY OF NAOMI--ORPAH\u2019S KISS--THE LOVING\n    RUTH--GLEANING AMONG THE REAPERS--HER RICH REWARD--HANNAH--HER\n    CONSECRATION--YEARLY VISITS TO SHILOH--STITCHING BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS\n    INTO SAMUEL\u2019S COAT--HER BEAUTIFUL LIFE.\n\n\nAfter the death of Miriam at Kadesh, on the borders of Zin, and the\ndeath of Aaron on Mount Hor, and of Moses on lofty Pisgah, Joshua \u201csent\nout of Shittem two men to spy secretly, saying, Go, view the land, even\nJericho. And they went, and came into an harlot\u2019s house, named Rahab,\nand lodged there.\u201d\n\nThe occupation of this woman has called out much comment, and many\nattempts have been made to clear her character of the stains of vice\nby affirming that she was only an inn-keeper, and not a harlot. No\ndoubt there is much truth in this statement, for we can not entertain\nthe thought that two pure-minded young men sent out by a leader like\nJoshua would pass by an inn and purposely seek an house of ill repute.\nIt is also possible that to a woman of the age in which she lived,\nsuch a calling may have implied a far less deviation from the standard\nof morality than it does with us, with nearly two thousand years of\nChristian teaching. We must not forget that Rahab was a heathen; and\nthe heathen knew very little of the simplest principles of truth and\npurity. In the first chapter of Paul\u2019s Epistle to the Romans he gives a\nlife picture of pagan morals. Even among the polished Greeks, loyalty\nto their religion made personal purity impossible. The Canaanites were\nso vile that, in the emphatic language of Scripture, the land vomited\nthem out. The glimpse we catch of Lot\u2019s neighbors may show in what a\ncesspool of vice Rahab was brought up. But even if we judge this woman\nby our modern standards, and admit that she was all that is implied in\nthe opprobrious term, the fact that she is listed among God\u2019s elect\nwomen shows the wondrous power of divine grace. God can save a great\nsinner just as easy as a small one. Notwithstanding she carried the\ndouble disability, that of being a heathen and a great sinner, her\nstory is told in full. She has honorable mention by the Apostle James\nas an illustration of the works that show strong faith; and by the\nspirit of inspiration in the Epistle to the Hebrews, giving her a\nplace among the mighty heroes and heroines who wrought marvels through\nconfidence in God.\n\nAt the time when the Israelites were encamped in Shittem, ready to\ncross the Jordan and enter the land of promise, Jericho was the\nstrongest fortified city in Canaan, and, as the key to Western\nPalestine, commanded the two mountain passes which led into the land\nthat was to be possessed. It was to be taken; but how? Joshua sent two\nof his most trusted men to spy out the land, remembering, no doubt with\nmuch trepidation, the failure of forty years before, which made them go\nback and die in the desert.\n\nThe life of the spies, the success of the enterprise, and the courage\ntheir report would give the Israelites, all turned on the faith and\nskill of Rahab. She saved to God\u2019s people the battle they had lost\nforty years before. No wonder that Hebrew writers have thrown the\nglamor of romance over her story.\n\nHer house was situated on the wall, probably near the city gate, so as\nto be convenient for persons coming in and going out of Jericho. She\nseems not only to have kept an inn for wayfaring men, but also to have\nbeen engaged in the manufacture of linen and the art of dyeing, for\nwhich the Ph\u0153nicians were early famous, since we find the flat roof of\nher house covered with stalks of flax, put there to dry, and a stock\nof scarlet or crimson line in her house, a circumstance which, coupled\nwith the mention of Babylonish garments as among the spoils of Jericho,\nindicates the existence of a trade in such articles between Ph\u0153nicia\nand Mesopotamia. It also appears she had a father and mother, brothers\nand sisters, who, if they were not living in the same house with her,\nwere dwelling in Jericho.\n\nTraders coming from Mesopotamia, or Egypt to Ph\u0153nicia, would frequently\npass through Jericho, situated as it was near the fords of the Jordan,\nand, according to the customs of the times, these travelers would seek\na public inn.\n\nThese men, coming and going, would naturally enough carry the news of\ncurrent events with them. Rahab therefore had opportunity to be well\ninformed with regard to the events of the Exodus. As we learn from her\nown story, she had heard of the passage through the Red Sea, of the\nutter destruction of Sihon and Og, and of the irresistible progress\nof the Israelitish host. The effect upon her mind had been what one\nwould not have expected in a person of her way of life. It led her to\na firm faith in Jehovah as the true God, and to the conviction that He\npurposed to give Canaan to the Israelites. She may have thought long\nand deeply on these strange events, and, possibly, her better nature\nmay have loathed the vices of her people, in which she herself had\nbecome involved, and longed for the pure worship of the wonder-working\nGod of whom she had heard.\n\nWhen, therefore, the two spies sent out by Joshua, who must have been\nmen of moral character and worthy of so important a commission, came to\nJericho, no doubt they were divinely directed to her house, who alone,\nof the whole population, was friendly to their cause. Her heart, at all\nevents, was prepared to receive the message with which they intrusted\nher, and she gave them the information they sought. And such faith had\nshe in the purposes of God to give the land to the hosts of Joshua that\nshe made a covenant with these representatives of his army, to save her\nand her family when the city fell into their hands.\n\nThe coming of these spies, it seems, was quickly known, and the king of\nJericho, having received information of it while at supper, according\nto Josephus, sent that very evening to require her to deliver them up.\nIt is very likely that, her house being a public one, some one who\nresorted there may have seen and recognized the spies, and at once\nreported the matter to the authorities. But not without awakening\nRahab\u2019s suspicions, and she was courageous enough to hide them under\nthe flax on the roof, and throw the officers off their suspicion, while\nshe let the Hebrews down over the wall and hurried them away to the\nmountains, to stay till the hunt was given up and the guards had come\nback from the fords of the Jordan, thus allowing them to escape across\nthe river to their camp.\n\nFor her kindness to them she had asked that when the city should be\ntaken, her life and the lives of all that belonged to her should be\nspared, and it was agreed that she should hang out her scarlet line at\nthe window from which the spies had escaped.\n\nThe event proved the wisdom of her precautions. The pursuers returned\nto Jericho after a fruitless search, and the spies reached the\nencampment of Israel in safety. The news they brought of the terror of\nthe king and citizens of Jericho doubtless inspired the Israelitish\nhost with fresh courage, and, within three days of their return, the\npassage of the Jordan was effected.\n\nNo one could have been more interested than Rahab during those eventful\ndays. Perhaps, from the window of her dwelling on the city wall, she\nsaw the waters of the Jordan piled on each other, and stretching back\nover the plain as far as the eye could see--a sight she had never\nseen, and equal to the dividing of the Red Sea. Toward evening she saw\nthe advance guards of Joshua\u2019s host, and then the white-robed priests\nbearing the ark, followed by the army and people, and encamping at\nGilgal, within two miles of Jericho, and in full view of the city.\n\nAfter having carefully reviewed her household to assure herself that\nher father and mother, brothers and sisters, were all there--for this\nwas the covenant she had made with the spies--she probably seated\nherself at the window from which hung the scarlet cord, to watch the\nstrange procession that marched around the city seven days. Each\nmorning it came filing up from Gilgal in solemn silence, except as the\nwhite-robed priests blew their trumpet-blasts.\n\nNo one can tell what risk Rahab took, or what indignities she suffered\nin convincing her relatives that they must be in the covenanted place\nwhen the city fell. On her part it was a beautiful faith. Perhaps she\nrecounted to them the ten awful plagues that fell on the Egyptians,\nthe deliverance of His people from the house of bondage, the disaster\nto Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea, the opening of streams in the\ndesert, the nightly dewfall of food, the lofty column of cloud that\nshaded and led by day, and the pillar of fire that kept them safe from\nnight enemies, human and bestial. All this she told to the assembled\nhousehold as the ground of her faith, with which she would inspire\nthem. No doubt this woman of Jericho, sick at heart on account of her\nown past life, and the wickedness of her city, thirsted for a fuller\nknowledge of the true and holy God whose name she hardly dared to take\non her sin-polluted lips, and yet, strange as it may seem, she had the\nstrength and honesty to succeed in the preaching of righteousness to\nher friends.\n\nDay after day she watched the strange procession marching around the\nclosely shut and guarded city. Joshua and the soldiers were at its\nhead; then came the priests with their trumpets, and after them the Ark\nof the Covenant, hid from view with coverings, and carried reverently\non men\u2019s shoulders, while soldiers guarded it from real dangers.\n\nJericho breathed a little more freely when it saw that the strange\ndesert people marched around the city day after day without striking a\nblow; but Rahab\u2019s faith held steady, and the scarlet cord swung from\nher window. That cord may have meant to her the blood of the Redeemer\ncleansing from sin. No doubt, like Moses, she knew the meaning of the\n\u201creproach of Christ.\u201d\n\nThe seventh day she was found early at her window, with a sense of\ncompleteness in her obedience and faith. Again the Hebrews filed forth\nfrom their camp and marched around the city; but this time they kept\non till they had gone around the wall six times. The seventh round,\nthe voice of the old captain at the head of the host rang along the\nline--\u201cShout! for Jehovah hath given you the city.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE FALL OF JERICHO.]\n\nBefore Rahab fully realized the meaning of this strange command, her\nears were filled with the crash of falling walls. In the dust and din,\nthe cries, the shrieks, the terror, but little could be distinctly\nremembered, only that the desert soldiers who were taking the town were\nleading her and her kindred forth to a place of safety.\n\nThe narrator adds, \u201cand she dwelleth in Israel unto this day,\u201d meaning,\nthe family of which she was reckoned the head, continued to dwell among\nthe Lord\u2019s people. May not the three hundred and forty-five \u201cchildren\nof Jericho,\u201d mentioned in Ezra ii, 34, and \u201cthe men of Jericho\u201d who\nassisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, have been the\ndescendants of her kindred?\n\nAs regards Rahab herself, we learn from Matt, i, 5, that she became\nthe wife of Salmon the son of Naasson, and the mother of Boaz, the\ngrandfather of Jesse. It has been conjectured that Salmon may have\nbeen one of the spies whose life she saved, and that gratitude for so\ngreat a benefit led to their marriage. But, however this may be, it\nis certain that Rahab became the mother of the line from which sprang\nDavid, and eventually Christ.\n\nDistasteful as it may be to goody-good people, the fact remains that\nRahab believed God, and when He delivered her out of her heathen\nsurroundings, she entered upon a pure life. Whom God pardons, He\njustifies. Whom he justifies, He brings to that relation with Himself\nthat would have been held if the sin had never been committed. He does\nnot doom man or woman to life-long penance for sins that have been\nwashed away by the blood of the Lamb.\n\nIt is not accidental that Matthew traces the Saviour\u2019s genealogy\nthrough four women, namely Thamar, Rachab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, who\nwere not of the Israelitish stock, three of whom were of doubtful\nmorals, and one, Rachab, who carried a double disability. Christ came\nto save humanity, and that He might be an all-sufficient Saviour, He\nabased Himself--took us at our worst--that no human soul, however sunk\nin sin, might despair. And Rahab the harlot was transformed into Rahab\nthe saint, cleansed and purified, and clothed in White Raiment.\n\nFrom the thrilling incidents just related, the history of God\u2019s chosen\npeople runs on for a hundred years or more before Deborah comes to view\non the stage of life. In the meantime Joshua had led the Israelitish\nhosts to victory, had subdued the several kings, and divided the\nland among the tribes. Then came years of rest and prosperity, and,\nstrange to say, a turning away from the Author of all their blessings.\nThese departures from their national faith brought down upon them the\njudgments of God.\n\nThe Israelites were now ruled by judges, and at the time Deborah comes\nto our notice, Barak seems to have been the executive head of the\nnation.\n\nDeborah was probably a woman of the tribe of Ephraim. Her tent was\nspread under the palm-tree between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim,\nand she was a prophetess, in whom was combined both poetry and\nprophecy. Deborah stands before us in strong contrast with the customs\nand prejudices of her time. God\u2019s people were being oppressed by the\nCanaanites. In the midst of this great national crisis she was called\nto stand at the head both of statesmanship and the terrible exigencies\nof war.\n\nSisera, the general of Jabin\u2019s army, with nine hundred iron war\nchariots, and a multitude had assembled in the western extremity of\nthe great plain of Jezreel, near the brook Kishon that flows along the\nnorthern base of Mount Carmel. Barak, the executive head, was either so\ntimid or apprehensive that the campaign would fail, and thus fasten the\ntyrant\u2019s chain yet more strongly, that the people looked to Deborah for\njudgment. She tried to arouse Barak\u2019s courage. She even appealed to the\nprejudices that were strong in those times, namely, that the victory\nwould be given to a woman if he refused to go. But in vain. He would\nnot move without her. She knew, far better than he, that the battle was\nnot theirs, but God\u2019s. The Lord alone could give victory. Faith was\neasier to her than to Barak, for she had the spiritual insight that\nknows the utter nothingness of human help.\n\nFor twenty years God\u2019s people had been oppressed by their enemies.\nAt last they had repented of the sins that made necessary their\ncaptivity, and the Lord had inspired Deborah to rally them to resist\ntheir oppressors. Perhaps Barak hesitated, because, viewed from a human\nstandpoint, he may have felt the utter inadequacy of the Hebrew army\nto cope with the Syrians and their nine hundred iron war chariots. But\njust there lies the secret of all success. Only when we are weak, are\nwe strong. This is the victory, even our faith. We have not that faith\ntill we get to the end of our own resources and trusts.\n\nBut while Deborah put Barak at the head of the army, she bravely stood\nby him with her counsels, her prayers, her faith, and her wholesome\nreproof, for Deborah was a practical and sensible woman. Her name\nsignifies \u201cthe bee,\u201d and she was well provided with the sting as well\nas the honey, and knew how to stir up Barak by wholesome severity as\nwell as encourage him by holy inspiration. He is a very foolish man who\nrefuses to be helped by the shrewd intuitive wisdom of a true woman,\nfor while her head may not be so large, its quality is generally of\nthe best; and her conclusions, though not reasoned out so elaborately,\ngenerally reach the right end by intuitions which are seldom wrong.\nWoman\u2019s place is to counsel, to encourage, to pray, to believe, and\npre-eminently to help. This was what Deborah did.\n\nBarak, however, was not always weak. As soon as he had recovered\nhimself from the surprise of the unexpected call to lead the little\narmy of ten thousand against the myriads of Sisera, he consented on\ncondition that the courageous Deborah go with him. By this timidity he\nlost not a little of the honor that he might have won, and his sharp\nand penetrating leader plainly told him that the victory should not be\nwholly to his credit, for God should deliver Sisera into the hands of a\nwoman; and so there were really two women in this struggle for liberty,\nand Barak was sandwiched in between them. With Deborah in front, and\nJael in the rear, and Barak in the midst, even poor, weak Barak became\none of the heroes of faith who shine in the constellation of eternal\nstars, upon which the Holy Spirit has turned the telescope of the\neleventh chapter of Hebrews.\n\nHow the inspiring faith of Deborah must have nerved Barak for heroic\naction. Her message to him is all alive with the very spirit and\ninnermost essence of the faith that counts the things that are not\nas though they were. \u201cUp,\u201d she cries, as she rouses him by a trumpet\ncall from his timorous inactivity; \u201cfor this is the day,\u201d she adds,\nas she shakes him out of his procrastination, \u201cin which the Lord hath\ndelivered Sisera into thine hand.\u201d She goes on to say, as she reckons\nupon the victory as already won, \u201cIs not the Lord gone out before\nthee?\u201d She concludes, as she commits the whole matter into Jehovah\u2019s\nhands, and bids him simply follow on and take the victory that is\nalready given.\n\nIs it possible for faith to speak in plainer terms, or language to\nexpress with stronger emphasis the imperative mood or the present tense\nof that victorious faith, for which nothing is impossible?\n\nAgain, we have here the lesson of mutual service. This victory was\nnot all won by any single individual, but God linked together as He\nloves always to do, many co-operating instruments and agents in the\naccomplishment of His will. There was Deborah representing the spirit\nof faith and of prophecy. There was Barak representing obedience\nand executive energy. There were the people that willingly offered\nthemselves; the volunteers of faith. There were the yet nobler hosts\nof Zebulun, and Naphtali, that jeoparded their lives unto the death,\nthe martyrs who are the crowning glory of every great enterprise. And\nthere was Jael, the poor heathen woman away out on the frontiers of\nIsrael, who gave the finishing touch, and struck the last blow through\nthe temples of the proud Sisera, while high above all were the forces\nof nature, and the unseen armies of God\u2019s providence; for the stars in\ntheir courses fought against Sisera, and the flood of the Kishon rolled\ndown in mountain torrents and swept the astonished foe away.\n\nSisera\u2019s iron chariots were broken and scattered; but his will and\nprowess would soon have another army in the field, more terrible than\nthe first. To answer fully the faith that took hold of God\u2019s strength,\nthe Canaanitish general must die. But not by the hand of Barak. His\nwavering faith had forfeited that honor. That last act which should\nbring victory to the army of Israel would be performed through the\ncourage of a woman. The woman who was to complete the deliverance was\nthe wife of an Arab sheik, of a family descended from Jethro, Moses\u2019\nfather-in-law.\n\nThe tribe of Jael and of her husband, Heber, was encamped under the\n\u201cOak of the Wanderers.\u201d These Arabs were on good terms with both\nHebrews and Syrians; but Jael must have had the spiritual sense to\nsee that the Lord had taken in hand the freeing of Israel, and she\nmust use the opportunity to further His plans. So when Sisera left his\nunmanageable chariot and escaped from the battle on foot, he came to\nher tent worn out with the fatigue of the fight and flight, and she\ngave him the hospitality for which he begged; but while he was in the\ndeep sleep of exhaustion, she drove a tent pin into his temple. His\ndeath made impossible the rallying of the host against God\u2019s people.\nBetter far that one man should die, than that thousands of both Hebrews\nand Syrians should fall on the battlefields of prolonged warfare.\n\nJael has honorable mention in Deborah\u2019s superb song of triumph. Stanley\nsays of that p\u00e6an of victory: \u201cIn the song of Deborah we have the only\nprophetic utterance that breaks the silence between Moses and Samuel.\nHers is the one voice of inspiration (in the full sense of the word)\nthat breaks out in the Book of Judges.\u201d\n\nJael is the only woman mentioned in the Bible who ever took a human\nlife. We confess that the exploit seems unwomanly, but we must not\nforget there is no sex in right or wrong-doing, though it may be long\nbefore we can rid ourselves of the habit of requiring a higher morality\nin a woman than in a man.\n\nIn this heroic effort on the part of Deborah to throw off the yoke of\na cruel oppressor, we see the curse of neutrality, and the pitiful\nspectacle, which seems always to be present, of the unfaithful,\nignoble and indifferent ones who quietly looked on while all this\nwas happening, and not only missed their reward, but justly received\nthe curse of God\u2019s displeasure and judgment. And so, in the Song of\nDeborah, we hear of Reuben\u2019s enthusiastic purposes, but does nothing.\nWe see her fiery scorn for those who strayed among the bleatings of\nthe sheepfolds, rather than the trumpet of the battle. We see her\nsarcasm strike the selfish men of Gilead who abode beyond Jordan; the\ncareless Danites who remained in their ships, and men of Asher who,\nsecure in their naval defences, stayed away up yonder on the seashore,\nand took refuge in their ports and inland rivers, while, above all the\nechoes of her denunciations, rings out the last awful curse against the\ninhabitants of Meroz, a little obscure city that probably had taken\nrefuge in its insignificance, because its inhabitants had refused to\ncome up to the help of the Lord against the mighty.\n\nFinally, this scene is a pattern page from God\u2019s book of remembrance.\nSome day we shall read the other pages and find our names recorded\neither with the inhabitants of Meroz and Reuben, or with the victors of\nfaith who stood with Deborah, and Barak, and Jehovah, in the battles of\nthe Lord. Oh, shall we shine now like stars in the night, and then like\nthe sun in the kingdom of our Father?\n\nPassing on in our narrative from the brave deeds of Deborah, we next\ncome to one of the most heroic daughters in Israel, and her great act\nof utter abnegation to save a father\u2019s vow is so beautiful that, like\nthe good Samaritan in our Lord\u2019s touching parable, uttered in answer to\nthe question, Who is my neighbor? the name is lost in the fragrance of\nthe deed. She is simply Jephthah\u2019s daughter.\n\nIt was during that stormy period in the history of Israel, when again\nand again they had fallen into the idolatrous practices of their\nheathen neighbors around them. These unlawful acts had often called\ndown the judgments of God upon them. In the time of Jephthah, the\nIsraelites were smarting under the oppression of an Ammonitish king.\nThe unsettled character of the age was such that the elders of the\npeople sought in vain for a suitable leader, who could command the\nconfidence of his countrymen.\n\nThere was one man, however, a native of Gilead, who was a brave and\nsuccessful leader. This was none other than Jephthah, but, because he\nhad been born a child of misfortune, his brethren disowned him, and\nhad cast him out. In most persons such treatment develops a spirit of\nmisanthropy and bitterness which often find expression in revenge.\n\nBut Jephthah seemed to have possessed a much sweeter disposition than\nhis brethren. His faith seems to have been anchored to God, and, as is\nusually the case, when all else forsook him then the Lord took him up,\nand, trusting in Jehovah, he lived to have a glorious revenge upon his\nunkind people by bringing them a blessing instead of the curse that\nthey had given him.\n\nWe have a little touch of his character in the name he gave his new\nhome. He called it the land of Tob. Tob means \u201cgood,\u201d and this is but a\nlittle straw to tell how the wind blew in Jephthah\u2019s life.\n\nAnd so the day came when Jephthah\u2019s brothers were glad to send\nfor him to be their deliverer, and Jephthah had the high honor of\nreturning good for evil, and saving the people that once despised\nhim. He consented to become their leader on the condition, which was\nsolemnly ratified before the Lord in Mizpah, that in the event of his\nsuccess against the Ammonitish king he should still remain as their\nacknowledged head. This is the way that God loves to vindicate us, to\nmake us a blessing to those that hated us and wronged us. His promise\nis, \u201cI will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know\nthat I have loved thee.\u201d\n\nWhen Jephthah responded to their appeal, and came for their help, we\nsee in his very words and acts the spirit of godliness and a lofty\nfaith. We are told explicitly that all his words to his own people\nwere \u201cbefore the Lord.\u201d He spoke as in Jehovah\u2019s presence. He also went\nagainst his adversaries in the name of Jehovah God. The battle was not\nhis, but the Lord\u2019s, and such faith never can be confounded. It was\nnot long before Jephthah returned in triumph from the slaughter of his\nenemies. His country was delivered, his claims vindicated, and his\nenemies were destroyed.\n\nBut now we come to the great trial in Jephthah\u2019s life, which shows\nnot only the loftiest faith, but the sublimest faithfulness. In the\nhour of peril he had vowed a vow unto Jehovah, pledging that when he\nreturned in victory the first object that he met should be dedicated to\nthe Lord, an offering to Him. As he came back amid the acclamations of\nuniversal triumph, the first who met him when he approached his home\nwas his beautiful daughter, and as he realized all that his vow had\nmeant, he was overwhelmed for a moment with the deepest emotion. But\nnot for an instant did he hesitate in his firm and high purpose, nor\nonce did that dear child shrink back from the sacrifice imposed upon\nher, but stood nobly with her father, demanding that he should fulfill\nhis vow to the utmost.\n\nThe scene is very graphically described: When \u201cJephthah came to Mizpah\nunto his house, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels\nand with dances; and she was his only child; beside her he had neither\nson nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent\nhis clothes and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low,\nand thou art one of them that trouble me, for I have opened my mouth\nunto the Lord, and I can not go back.\u201d\n\nThis noble child of faith certainly was equal to her father\u2019s trial,\nand lovingly replied, \u201cMy father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto\nthe Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy\nmouth.\u201d\n\nThere has been much discussion as to the real meaning of Jephthah\u2019s\nvow, and the real fate of his lovely, obedient daughter. That the\ndaughter of Jephthah was really offered up to God in sacrifice, slain\nby the hand of her father and then burned, is a horrible conclusion,\nand contrary to all we know of his life, upon which we have dwelt at\nsome length in order to bring out its characteristics. With such a\nsweet trust and confidence in God as is manifest in his every act, we\ncan not believe that either Jephthah meant to make a human sacrifice,\nor that his daughter so understood it. There are several passages and\nconstructions which can leave no doubt in the mind of the candid reader\nthat such was not the literal intention, and that this fair child\nof faith and obedience was not to be slain upon the altar like the\nchildren of Ammon before their god of fire, but that her fresh life was\ngiven in all its purity as a living sacrifice of separation and life of\nservice to Jehovah.\n\nIn the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy we find the most solemn\nwarnings given to Israel against imitating in the least degree the\ncruel and wicked rites of the Ammonites, especially in offering human\nsacrifices. Now these Ammonites were the very people against whom\nJephthah had gone forth to war, and as godly follower of Jehovah\nhe must have been familiar with the commandments of the book of\nDeuteronomy. For him, therefore, to directly disobey these solemn\ninjunctions would have been to prove false to all his character and all\nthe meaning of his victory in the name of Jehovah.\n\nAgain, in the twelfth chapter of Exodus, it is clearly taught that\nthe first-born of Israel were all to be recognized as the Lord\u2019s, and\nliable, therefore, to death, like the Egyptian first-born. But, instead\nof their lives being literally required, they were redeemed by the\nblood of a lamb, and the Paschal lamb was offered instead of the life\nof the Hebrew, and that life was still regarded as wholly the Lord\u2019s,\ngiven to Him in living consecration, of which the whole tribe of Levi\nwas regarded as the type, and therefore it was separated unto the\nservice of the Lord as a substitute for the lives of the first-born.\n\nIn all this was clearly taught the lesson that what God required\nfrom His people was not a dead body, but a \u201cliving sacrifice.\u201d It is\nmuch harder to live for God than to die for God. It takes much less\nspiritual and moral power to leap into the conflict and fling a life\naway in the excitement of the battle than it does to live through\nfifty years of misunderstanding, pain and temptation. It would have\nbeen easier for Jephthah\u2019s daughter to have lain down amid the flowers\nof spring, the chants and songs of a religious ceremonial, the tears\nand songs of the people who loved her, and know that her name would\nbe forever enshrined, than to go out from the bright circle of human\nsociety and all the charms of youth and beauty and domestic and social\ndelight, and live as a recluse for God alone, giving up the dearest\nhope of every Hebrew woman, not only to be a mother, but to be the\nmother of the promised Christ; giving up also, along with her father,\nthe fond desire of a son to share his honor and his sceptre, to prolong\nhis name. All this it meant. This was the sacrifice she made. And so we\nread that she did not go aside to bewail her approaching death, but she\nwent aside for two months to bewail her \u201cvirginity,\u201d the loneliness of\nher own life, then gladly gave her life a living sacrifice to God.\n\nThere are several other considerations that might be added if necessary\nto establish this construction of the passage. It is enough to briefly\nrefer to the fact that the phrase in the eleventh chapter of Judges,\nverse thirty-nine, is in the future tense, and refers to her future\nvirginity and not her past, and also that the translation of the\nfortieth verse in one of our versions, is that the daughters of Israel\nwent yearly \u201cto talk\u201d with the daughter of Jephthah four times in a\nyear. It is not necessary to pursue the argument further. Enough for\nour present purpose that we catch the inspired lesson. That lesson is\nsupreme, unqualified, unquestioning fidelity to God.\n\nHow tender and beautiful the lesson which this passage gives to the\nyoung as well as the old! Just as Isaac stands out in the older story\nin a light as glorious as Abraham in yonder sacrifice on Mount Moriah,\nso Jephthah\u2019s daughter\u2019s sacrifice must not be forgotten in the honor\nwe pay her father. Sweet child of single-hearted consecration! God help\nher sisters and her followers to be as true. Oh, beloved, do not wait\nuntil desire shall fail and age chill the pulses of ardent youth, and\nthe world fall away from you itself. But when the flowers are blooming,\nand the cup is brimming, and the heart beats high with earthly love\nand joy and hope, then it is so sweet, it is so wise, it is so rare,\nto pour all at His blessed feet, as Mary poured her ointment on His\nhead, and some day to receive it back amid the bloom and peals of\nyonder land, where they that have forsaken friends and treasures, fond\naffections and brightest prospects for His dear sake, shall receive a\nhundredfold, and shall have the still richer joy of knowing that they\nhave learned His spirit and understood His love.\n\nFollowing the story of Jephthah\u2019s daughter and her heroic\nself-sacrifice, we next come to the touching scenes and incidents\nrelated in the life of Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi. This is,\nconfessedly, one of the sweetest idyls ever written. As a singular\nexample of virtue and piety in a rude age and among an idolatrous\npeople; as one of the first fruits of the Gentile harvest gathered\ninto the Church; as the heroine of a story of exquisite beauty and\nsimplicity; as illustrating in her history the workings of Divine\nProvidence, and the truth of the saying, \u201cthe eyes of the Lord are\nover the righteous;\u201d for the many interesting revelations of ancient\ndomestic and social customs which are associated with her story, Ruth\nhas always held a foremost place among the Women in White Raiment.\n\nThe story begins at Bethlehem, so dear to the Christian heart. A famine\nhad occurred, and even the fertile plains of Bethlehem Ephratah (the\nfruitful) failed to give sufficient food to its inhabitants. On this\naccount Elimelech, an Ephrathite, left his home with his wife and\ntwo sons and went to sojourn in the land of Moab, the hilly region\nsouth-east of the Dead Sea, where the descendants of Lot dwelt. Here\nElimelech died, and Naomi, his wife, was left a widow with her two\nsons, Mahlon and Chilin.\n\nThe young men, when grown, took them wives of the women of Moab.\nProbably this was another severe trial to Naomi, for she had doubtless\nwarned them that it was contrary to God\u2019s law that they should marry\ndaughters of the heathen. Other strokes came quickly upon her, for her\ntwo sons died also. Naomi, notwithstanding her nationality, had won the\nrespect and warmest attachment of her sons\u2019 wives; and now, when death\nhad desolated their homes and laid in the dust the strong men to whom\nthey had clung, they only drew the closer to each other.\n\nAt the end of ten years, and having heard that there was plenty again\nin Judah, Naomi resolved to return to Bethlehem. Orpah and Ruth also\npurposed to accompany her. We can imagine the sad farewell visit to the\ngraves of the beloved dead, and then together set out on foot for the\nland which the Lord had blessed.\n\nAfter they had gone on their way for some distance, Naomi, with\nheartfelt acknowledgment of their fidelity to her, endeavored to\npersuade them to return to their own kindred. But they both declared\nthat they would cleave to her. And so they trudged on until probably\nthe borders of Moab were reached, when Naomi once more urged them to\nreturn to their people. Orpah this time yielded to Naomi\u2019s urgent\nrequest, and giving her a kiss of farewell, returned to her people.\nRuth, however, still clave to Naomi, with self-sacrificing love.\nPointing to the form of Orpah, Naomi entreated Ruth to follow her\nsister\u2019s example.\n\nThis was the crisis in Ruth\u2019s life, on which her future destiny was to\nturn. But the clinging nature of Ruth refused to be separated from the\nwarm heart of Naomi, and no one can fail to be moved by the pathos of\nher reply, \u201cEntreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following\nafter thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest, I\nwill lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God; where\nthou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to\nme, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.\u201d This tender\nloyalty and undying love must have touched the strong, brave heart of\nNaomi, for Ruth\u2019s noble plea covered every possible condition in life\nthrough which they might be called to pass, and refused to be separated\neven in death.\n\n[Illustration: RUTH THE FAITHFUL FRIEND.]\n\nThe decision was so firmly, so solemnly stated that there was nothing\nmore to be said, and Naomi, doubtless glad in her loneliness to retain\nthe treasure of such a true and loving heart, made no further effort\nto alter her purpose, and so the two journeyed on together towards\nBethlehem.\n\nThere were two things in conflict, one with the other, at this stage in\nthe experience of these women. 1. Ruth had learned to know and to love\nthe true God, and we must believe she loved him with the intensity of\nher nature. The opportunity was offered, and she determined to forsake\nher heathen idols, and to unite herself with the people of Jehovah, and\nto rest within the shadow of the wings of the God of Israel, regardless\nof trials or poverty that might await her in the future. 2. On the\nother hand, Naomi was brave to take Ruth with her, for she knew the law\nthat excluded the Moabite, and it is marvelous that Ruth was received\ninto the Hebrew nation, for her people were specially interdicted, and\ndoubtless this was the reason why Naomi sought and urged Orpah and Ruth\nto turn back.\n\nAt length, after days of travel, the two lone women, weary and\nfootsore, arrived at Bethlehem, and all the city was moved about the\nevent, and as they looked into the face of the elder woman and saw the\ndeep lines of sorrow, they said, \u201cIs not this Naomi?\u201d Yes, it was Naomi\n(which means delightsome), in her youth, before her life became blasted\nwith sorrow and want. In her destitution her name seems to her to be\na mockery, and she exclaims, \u201cCall me Mara!\u201d that is, bitterness. She\nwent out with her husband and sons full of hope, now she has returned\nwith only the bitter recollection of three graves in the land of Moab,\nand herself in abject poverty.\n\nNo one seemed to have helped Naomi in her sorrow and distress. But\nRuth, true to her declaration, clung to Naomi, and bravely took it upon\nherself to provide for both. It was the time of the barley harvest, and\nthe brave girl went out into the fields to glean after the reapers, a\nprivilege that the law of Moses allowed to the poor of the land.\n\n\u201cHer hap\u201d was to enter the field of Boaz. It was a \u201chap\u201d so far as\nRuth was concerned, but back of it was the ordering of Him who is the\nhusband of the widow and the Father of the fatherless. Boaz came into\nthe field, and after the good manners of those times, exchanged pious\nand kindly salutations with his reapers. Now Boaz was a near kinsman of\nRuth\u2019s deceased husband, and a man of wealth and consideration, but of\ncourse knew nothing about this Moabitess. However, having learned that\nshe was the companion of Naomi, he generously permitted her to glean\namong the sheaves, and instructed his reapers to let drop a handful now\nand then on purpose for her.\n\nAnd so this loving heart gleaned through the hot hours of the day until\nevening, and then she beat the barley from the straw, and the result\nproved she had \u201cabout an ephah\u201d (over a bushel) of barley.\n\nWith the result of her day\u2019s labor under her arm, she hastened home,\nand when Naomi saw it, she asked, \u201cWhere hast thou gleaned to-day?\u201d\n\nRuth replied that the name of the man in whose field she had gleaned\nwas Boaz.\n\nNaomi loved her beautiful, widowed daughter-in-law; and she was eager\nfor her to have a happy home, claiming in Israel the inheritance of the\ndeparted, and so she told Ruth of the relation in which Boaz stood to\nher, and instructed her to claim at the hands of Boaz that he should\nperform the part of her husband\u2019s near kinsman, by purchasing the\ninheritance of Elimelech, and taking her to be his wife. But there\nwas a nearer kinsman than Boaz, and it was necessary that he should\nhave the option of redeeming the inheritance for himself. He, however,\ndeclined, fearing to mar his own inheritance. Upon which, with all due\nsolemnity, Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, amidst the blessings and\ncongratulations of their neighbors.\n\nThe most sweetly primitive and poetic touch of all this story is the\nblessing of the women upon Naomi, when the babe that had been given\nRuth after her marriage to Boaz was laid in the mother-in-law\u2019s bosom:\n\u201cBlessed be the Lord, which had not left thee this day without a\nkinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto\nthee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy\ndaughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven\nsons, hath borne him.\u201d\n\nRuth, by birth, was a heathen. As such, she was excluded from God\u2019s\ncovenanted people. But, in her case, love was mightier than law. In the\nfullness of time it was shown to be the fulfillment of law. Though her\npeople were specially interdicted, she was admitted to the first rank\nand led by Providence into the line of the world\u2019s nobility. Her life\nshows how God values beautiful, loving character even more than great\ndeeds. As her name indicates, she was a \u201cfaithful friend.\u201d It was what\nshe was, rather than what she did, that brought her the high honor\nof being the mother of Obed, and the ancestress, not only of David\nand Solomon, the greatest Jewish kings, but of Christ Himself. To a\nbelieving people like the Hebrews, who lived for the future, that was\nthe climax of Divine approval.\n\nWhat amazing results have been accomplished by women of faith. It will\nbe well for us to study and emulate the sweet, obedient faith of this\nbeautiful Moabitess. We must remember that it is not the quantity,\nbut quality, of our service that pleases most our heavenly Father;\nnot what we do, but what we are. We may never do great things, but,\nthrough grace, we can all be faithful. We may pass from the stage of\naction, but the splendid deeds wrought in faith will remain, shedding\ntheir influence across the bosom of a sinful world, like so many beacon\nlights guiding a guilty race back to a Father\u2019s love, and the world\u2019s\nfinal redemption.\n\nWe now come to Hannah, the last woman in White Raiment under the\nTheocracy. The mother of the great and good Samuel will ever stand in\nhistory as among the purest of women. It often happens that the mother\nis lost sight of in the fame of her son. This is quite true in the life\nof Samuel. He stands out the great Reformer of his time, lifting his\npeople out of the Dark Ages of the Old Testament and leading them into\nthe Golden Age of David\u2019s kingdom and Israel\u2019s pre-eminence among the\nnations.\n\nBut while Samuel ranks with Joseph, and Joshua, and Daniel, in the\nblamelessness of his life, let us not forget that back of that great\nlife was a woman\u2019s broken heart, a woman\u2019s tears, a woman\u2019s life made\nbitter by disappointment and humiliation, made so by a polygamous\nsystem whose fruit must ever be jealousy and sorrow--ever a sign of a\nlow condition of social morality.\n\nPoor, heart-broken Hannah was one of the two wives of Elkanah, an\nEphrathite. However, the record does not show that she was unloved by\nher husband. Indeed, it appears that he tried to comfort her, gallantly\nasking her if he were not more to her than ten sons. But her sorrow\nthat she had no children made her countenance sad, and took away her\nappetite for food. At length, however, out of her crushed heart came\nthe believing prayer that brought her victory and consolation.\n\nIt was the fixed habit of Elkanah to go with his family \u201cyearly to\nworship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh.\u201d On one of\nthese yearly visits, Hannah poured out her prayer in great sobs and\ntears. She was very definite in her petition. She asked for a son,\nnot that she might know the joy of motherhood, but that God might be\nglorified. She promised that she would \u201cgive him unto the Lord all the\ndays of his life.\u201d And so earnest was she in pressing her suit, that\nEli the priest thought her drunk, and reproved her for her conduct.\nBut she bravely told him her story. She said she was a \u201cwoman of a\nsorrowful spirit.\u201d She had drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but had\npoured out her soul before the Lord.\n\nThe spirit of prophecy came upon the good old man, and though he knew\nnothing of the nature of her prayer, he promised its fulfillment. \u201cGo\nin peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast\nasked of Him.\u201d Hannah believed, and she \u201cwent her way, and did eat, and\nher countenance was no more sad.\u201d\n\nAfter her beautiful boy was born, and began to show his charming baby\nways, she trembled under his dainty caresses, and the kisses of his\npure, sweet mouth, for she remembered her vow; but she was true and\nfaithful.\n\nIt is a brave, strong, submissive mother who can give up without a\nmurmur the child that God takes to Himself; but to know that he is\nalive somewhere, and at that very hour may be grieving for lack of the\nlove and care that only a mother can give, O how that ordeal must rend\nthe heart! Just that was the test of Hannah\u2019s loyalty. In just that\nsevere balance of obedience and trust was she weighed, and she was not\nfound wanting.\n\nWhen her child was old enough to be left without a mother\u2019s watchful\ncare she took him to the Tabernacle and gave him to Eli, to be brought\nup as a child of the sanctuary. \u201cI have lent him to the Lord,\u201d she\nsaid, \u201cand as long as he lives he shall be lent unto the Lord.\u201d Not for\na few days or weeks did she give him up, but she gave him wholly and\nwith a sacrifice that only a mother could understand, she consented\nthat the little feet for whose pattering she had longed should be heard\nno more in her cottage, that the prattle for whose music her lonely\nheart had waited a lifetime should sound no more in her ears, but that\nshe should live on till the end alone, glad to know that he was all the\nLord\u2019s, and was giving back to God the blessing which he had brought\nto her. This is love and this is the difference between the love of\nearth and the love of heaven. Earthly love loves for the pleasure it\ncan find in loving. Heavenly love loves for the blessing it can give to\nthe loved one. Hannah knew that her sacrifice was best for Samuel, and\nthat in giving him to God she was getting more for him than a mother\u2019s\nselfish fondness could ever have bestowed.\n\nAnd yet there was still the sweet thought behind it all that he was\nhers. She was not losing him but lending him, and God counted her\nsacrifice a real service, and some day would restore the loan with\ninfinite and eternal additions.\n\nWhen Hannah had triumphed over her own heart, and her boy was safely\nunder the care and instruction of Eli, to be used to the utmost in\nthe Lord\u2019s service, she sung her song of thanksgiving for the birth\nof her son. Her hymn is in the highest order of prophetic poetry.\nIts resemblance to that of the Virgin Mary has been noticed by\nBible students, and is specially remarkable as containing the first\ndesignation of the Messiah under that name. Though written in the days\nof scant literary attainment, the song of Hannah is an exquisite piece\nof composition. It is full of keen insight and superb power. Besides\nwhat was written by Moses, men wrote but little poetry in that early\ntime. The hymns of Miriam, Deborah and Hannah have rare beauty. It was\nthe daughters rather than the sons who prophesied in song.\n\nBut while the child Samuel, \u201cgirded with a linen ephod,\u201d \u201cministered\nbefore the Lord,\u201d in the Tabernacle, in Shiloh, the loving mother\nheart, in her home, was stitching her beautiful thoughts year after\nyear into the little coat which she annually brought to him, \u201cwhen\nshe came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.\u201d And we\nmay well believe that Hannah\u2019s loyalty and good sense made plain,\nserviceable garments, so that the mind of the young Samuel was not\ndiverted from his Tabernacle duties to gay and bright colors in his\ntunics, and so his young heart was kept from the blight of pride. This\nwas the lad\u2019s high privilege. He was always a holy child. He never\nknew the defiling breath of wickedness. This may be the privilege of\nyour child, Christian mother. God help you to protect your innocent\nbabe from the foul breath of sin\u2019s contamination and always to shelter\nthat trusting life under the protecting wings of God. This may be your\nprivilege, happy Christian child, who perchance may read these lines\nto-day. Oh, let God have your earliest years and may you never know the\nmystery of iniquity and the memories of sin and shame which, though\nthey may be forgiven, yet come back to defile and distress the heart.\n\nBut Samuel was not holy and good by natural birth or disposition. It\nwas not because that he was good anyhow by temperament. The keynote of\nhis life was, \u201cSpeak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.\u201d At first even he\nmade some mistakes and misunderstood the voice that spake to him so\ngently in his little chamber. Three times it called to him in vain, and\nhe thought it was the old priest\u2019s message, but even when he understood\nnot he still responded and sprang to his feet, ready instantly to obey.\n\nThe very peculiarities of Samuel\u2019s call lingered in his later life in\nhis messages to Saul, \u201cBehold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and\nto hearken than the fat of rams.\u201d All his blessings had come to him\nby hearkening and obeying, and all Saul\u2019s calamities had come to him\nbecause he willfully took his own way and refused to listen to God.\n\nFrom Hannah\u2019s consecration of her child we may learn two excellent\nlessons, embodying the greatest principles that underlie the human side\nof the redemption of the race: First, the mother\u2019s power; and second,\nthe child\u2019s ability to know God. She had so thoroughly lent Samuel to\nthe Lord that he held true to God in the degeneracy of Eli\u2019s judgeship\nand the slackness of the priesthood, as illustrated in the family of\nEli. The social condition of the age was a shocking exhibition of low\nsensuality, licentiousness and cupidity that would disgrace even the\ngrossest heathenism. Eli himself, while a just and holy man in his own\nprivate character, was weak and inefficient as a judge and a priest,\nand utterly failed to restrain his ungodly family or exercise any just\nadministration of public affairs. The whole nation was, therefore, in\na most pitiable condition, at the mercy of its foreign oppressors and\nso enfeebled that a few years later we find there was not a sword in\nIsrael, and they had even to go to the grindstones of the Philistines\nin order to grind their plough coulters for the ordinary operations of\nhusbandry. It was at such a time as this that God called Samuel to be\nat once the pattern and deliverer of his country.\n\nIn the very outset, the Lord had some very unpleasant work for Samuel\nto do, which must have tested his obedience. While yet quite young he\nhad a hard, sad message to deliver to his old friend and instructor,\nand it was no easy task to go to Eli and tell him all that God had\nspoken against his house. It was the hard test which often came again\nin his later ministry as the messenger of God to sinful man. Again and\nagain did he have to go to those he loved and say to them the thing\nwhich nearly broke his heart.\n\nWhen this child of promise finally passed from under the watchful care\nof the devoted Hannah, we are told, \u201cthe Lord was with Samuel,\u201d and he\n\u201clet none of his words fall to the ground, and all Israel knew that\nSamuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.\u201d\n\nThe life of Samuel marks a transition period in the history of Israel\nfrom the time of the Judges to the kingdom of Saul and David. His was\nan epoch life like Abraham\u2019s, Joshua\u2019s and John the Baptist\u2019s.\n\nHe also enjoyed the distinguished honor of being the founder of the\nschool of the prophets and the first in that glorious succession of\nholy men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and who formed\nthe only unbroken line of truth and righteousness in the history of\nGod\u2019s ancient people. From the days of Samuel the prophets formed a\ndistinct class, and had a regular school of training, corresponding\nsomewhat to our theological seminaries and training institutes, and\nSamuel had the pre-eminence of being the founder of these prophetic\nschools. Later in his life he went about the country as a pastor and\noverseer, visiting the towns and villages, holding conventions, from\nplace to place and instructing the people in the law of God and the\nschools of the prophets in the principles of the kingdom.\n\nBut, above all his public ministries and even his national influence,\nSamuel was himself a beautiful and spotless character. In an age of\nalmost universal corruption he lived a life of blameless piety, and at\na later period, when bidding farewell to the nation as their judge, he\ncould truly call upon them to witness to his uprightness and integrity.\n\u201cBehold,\u201d he said, \u201cI am old and gray-headed, and I have walked before\nyou from my childhood unto this day. Behold, here I am; witness against\nme before the Lord and before His anointed. Whose ox have I taken?\nor whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I\noppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine\neyes therewith? and I will restore it to you.\u201d And they said, \u201cThou\nhast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught\nof any man\u2019s hand.\u201d\n\nSamuel stands forth as one of the blameless lives of sacred history;\nhuman no doubt in his infirmities, but no fault has been recorded\nagainst him, and his personal character is the most eloquent testimony\nof all his history.\n\nWe have been permitted to trace this beautiful life to its source. Some\ncharacters, like Elijah\u2019s suddenly burst upon our vision and we only\nknow them in the public and closing chapters of their history. Some,\nhowever, are like a beautiful river that you can trace to its crystal\nfountain and follow all through its winding channel until, like our own\nHudson, it pours its volume into the sea. Thus we have been permitted\nto stand by Samuel\u2019s cradle and even to know something of his prophetic\nfuture before his very birth. We enter into the joys and sorrows and\nthe believing prayers of Hannah, the devoted mother, who was the real\nfountain, not only of his natural life, but also of his piety and holy\npower. And we walk side by side with him through his childhood and\nhis youth until, at last, we meet him in the busy activities of his\nmanhood and follow him until he lays down his ministry and passes to\nhis honored rest.\n\nWhat a touching story is the life of Hannah of motherly consecration of\nherself and her Samuel. If all who wear the crown of motherhood were as\nnoble, as loyal, as self-giving and trustful as Hannah was, and brought\nup their children to know and obey the voice of the Lord, what a world\nthis would be. O that our land were filled with Hannahs, then would we\nhave more Samuels.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nWomanhood During the Reign of the Kings.\n\n  ABIGAIL--CHURLISH NABAL--CHIVALROUS APPRECIATION--DAVID\u2019S\n    MESSENGERS--SAUL\u2019S DAUGHTERS--HIS TREACHERY--MICHAL\u2019S\n    STRATAGEM--RIZPAH--HER HEROIC ENDURANCE AND LOVING FIDELITY--THE\n    QUEEN OF SHEBA--HER VISIT TO JERUSALEM--THE GLORY AND WISDOM OF\n    SOLOMON--THE HALF NOT TOLD--THE QUEEN\u2019S ROYAL GIFTS.\n\n\nPassing out from under the Theocracy, or rule of the Judges, the first\nwoman in White Raiment that appears on the page of the Sacred Record\nis Abigail. She was the wife of Nabal, a wealthy owner of goats and\nsheep in Carmel, not the Mount Carmel of Central Palestine, between\nthe maritime plain of Sharon on the south, and the great inland\nexpanse known as the plain of Esdraelon on the north, but a town in\nthe mountainous country of Judah, to the west of the lower end of the\nDead Sea. She was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful\ncountenance--a fit combination.\n\nHer character had written its legend on her face. The two things do not\nalways go together. There are many beautiful women wholly destitute\nof good understanding, just as birds of rarest plumage are commonly\ndeficient in the power of song. But a good understanding, which is\nmoral rather than intellectual, casts a glow of beauty over the\nplainest features.\n\nBut Abigail\u2019s husband was a churl. The great establishment over which\nshe presided would be called, in our modern times, a sheep ranch, and,\nunder the management of such a man as Nabal, the servants doubtless\noften echoed the ill-temper of their master, and her wits would be\noften sharpened to the utmost to keep all within the limits of safety\nand comfort.\n\nEvidently, at her birth, Abigail had been a welcomed child in a happy\nhome, amid plenty and even luxury, such as the times in that rude age\nof the world could give. Her parents named her \u201cSource of joy.\u201d She\nhad grown up in a glad, breezy confidence that made her equal to any\nemergency. Since God has floods of glory for the gloomiest souls, why\nwill not parents keep their children in the clear, warm sunshine of\njoyful love? Many drudge early and late to provide culture and comfort;\nbut they withhold a better, richer gift. They becloud hopelessly the\ndear young lives with their own disappointments, and foredoom them to\ndespondency.\n\nThis sprightly, happy, beautiful Abigail at length married the selfish,\nchurlish Nabal. When we look over society to-day, it is remarkable how\nmany Abigails get married to Nabals. God-fearing women, tender and\ngentle in their sensibilities, high-minded and noble in their ideals,\nbecome tied in an indissoluble union with men for whom they can have no\ntrue affinity, even if they have not an unconquerable repugnance. In\nAbigail\u2019s case this relationship was, in all probability, not of her\nchoosing, but the product of the Oriental custom which compelled a girl\nto take her father\u2019s choice in the matter of marriage. As a mere child\nshe may have come into Nabal\u2019s home, and become bound to him by an\napparently inevitable fate. In other ways which involve equally little\npersonal choice, compelled by the pressure of inexorable circumstances,\nmisled by the deceitful tongue of flattery, her instinctive hesitancy\novercome by the urgency of friends, a woman may still find herself in\nAbigail\u2019s pitiful plight. To such a one there is but one advice--you\nmust stay where you are. The dissimilarity in taste and temperament\ndoes not constitute a sufficient reason for leaving your husband to\ndrift. You must believe that God has permitted you to enter on this\nawful heritage, partly because this fiery ordeal was required by your\ncharacter, and partly that you might act as a counteractive influence.\nIt may be that some day your opportunity will come, as it came to\nAbigail. In the meantime do not allow your purer nature to be bespotted\nor besmeared. You can always keep the soul clean and pure. Bide your\ntime; and, amid the weltering waste of inky water, be like a pure\nfountain rising from the ocean depths.\n\nBut if any young girl of good sense and earnest aspirations, who reads\nthese lines, secretly knows that, if she had the chance, she would wed\na carriage and pair, a good position, or broad acres, irrespective of\ncharacter, let her remember that to enter the marriage bond with a man,\ndeliberately and advisedly, for such a purpose, is a profanation of the\nDivine ideal, and can end only in one way. She will not raise him to\nher level, but she will sink to his.\n\nThere came a time when Nabal had an opportunity to show kindness, to\npay back, in part at least, his appreciation for the protection David\nand his men had given Nabal\u2019s shepherds from Bedouin and other desert\nrobbers. It was sheep-shearing time, a season of gladness and of\nfeasting. David and his men were shut up in the wilderness of Engedi,\ndriven thither by the persecutions of Saul. Doubtless they were in need\nof food, and David thought that the owner of three thousand sheep, and\na thousand goats, in the very midst of the sheep-shearing festivities,\ncould send him a token of remembrance in his hunger and need. So David\nsent ten of his young men with salutations of peace and prosperity, and\na request for any favor he felt disposed to give. But Nabal answered\nthe young men saying, \u201cWho is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there\nbe many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.\nShall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have\nkilled for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence\nthey be?\u201d\n\nThe young men returned to David with the message of Nabal, and,\nnaturally enough, David felt insulted and outraged. Taking a band of\nfour hundred men, he resolved to impress upon Nabal who the \u201cson of\nJesse\u201d was, and to make him pay dearly for his foolhardy conduct.\n\nBut, in the meantime, one of Nabal\u2019s servants told Abigail how David\u2019s\nyoung men had been treated. Evidently this thoughtful and prudent\nservant knew the excellency of his mistress, and could trust her to\nact wisely in the emergency which was upon them. So he told her all.\nTold how David and his men had been \u201ca wall\u201d unto the shepherds \u201cboth\nby night and by day,\u201d and for all this kindness Nabal, his master, had\n\u201crailed\u201d upon David\u2019s messengers.\n\n[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL ABIGAIL MEETING DAVID.]\n\nAbigail immediately grasped the situation and at once despatched a\nsmall procession of provision-bearers along the way David would come.\nIn this she did not even take Nabal into her counsel, and she prepared\nto pay bountifully for the conduct of her foolhardy husband.\n\nThe band had scarcely started when she followed after, and, as she\nexpected, met the avenging warriors by the covert of the mountain, and\nthe interview was as creditable to her woman\u2019s wit as to her grace\nof heart. The lowly obeisance of the beautiful woman at the young\nsoldier\u2019s feet; the frank confession of the wrong that had been done;\nthe expression of thankfulness that so far he had been kept from\nblood-guiltiness and from avenging his own wrongs; the depreciation\nof the generous present she brought as only fit for his servants; the\nchivalrous appreciation of his desire to fight only the battles of\nthe Lord and to keep an unblemished name; the sure anticipation of\nthe time when his fortunes would be secured and his enemies silenced;\nthe suggestion that in those coming days he would be glad to have no\nshadow on the sunlit hills of his life, no haunting memory--all this\nwas as beautiful and wise and womanly as it could be, and brought David\nback to his better self. Frank and noble as he always was, he did not\nhesitate to acknowledge his deep indebtedness to this lovely woman, and\nto see in her intercession the gracious arrest of God. \u201cAnd David said\nto Abigail, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, which sent thee\nthis day to meet me; and blessed be thy wisdom, and blessed be thou,\nwhich has kept me this day from blood-guiltiness, and from avenging\nmyself with my own hand.\u201d\n\nWhat a revelation this is of the ministries with which God seeks\nto avert us from our evil ways! They are sometimes very subtle and\nslender, very small and still; sometimes a gentle woman\u2019s hand laid on\nour wrist, the mother reminding us of her maternity, the wife of early\nvows, the child with its pitiful, beseeching look; sometimes a thought,\nholy, pleading, remonstrating. Ah, many a time we have been saved from\nactions which would have caused lasting regret. And above all these\nvoices and influences there has been the gracious arresting influence\nof the Holy Spirit, striving with passion and selfishness, calling\nus to a nobler, better life. Blessed Spirit, come down more often by\nthe covert of the hill, and stay us in our mad career, and let us not\npress past thee to take our own wild way, and we shall have reason for\nceaseless gratitude.\n\nOnly ten days after Abigail\u2019s womanly intercession Nabal died by the\njudgments of God.\n\nWhen David heard of Nabal\u2019s death, he was very grateful indeed that\nhe had been restrained by the prudent words of Abigail, and sent\nmessengers to her at Carmel, asking her hand in marriage. And this is\nthe touching reply she sent back to David, \u201cBehold, let thine handmaid\nbe a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels\nof hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of\nDavid, and became his wife.\u201d After her marriage, she accompanied David\nin all his fortunes; and no doubt her shrewd business sense was of\ngreat service to her husband. The words she told David while he was\nsinking under discouragement from Nabal\u2019s ingratitude, that he would be\n\u201cbound in the bundle of life with the Lord his God,\u201d became prophetic\nof her own after life. She proved that--\n\n  \u201cThey who get the best are those\n  Who leave the choice to Him.\u201d\n\nWe next come to Michal. As Abigail had saved the life of Nabal, so\nMichal had saved the life of David. She was the younger of the two\ndaughters of Saul, the first king in Israel. David had been very\nsuccessful in the slaughter of the Philistines, and on his return\nthe women came out singing songs of welcome, in which they chanted,\n\u201cSaul hath slain thousands, and David ten thousands.\u201d Saul was highly\ndispleased with this popular welcome to David and said, \u201cWhat can he\nhave more but the kingdom?\u201d\n\nBut, with a view of exposing the life of David, Saul promised his elder\ndaughter, Merab, in marriage, if he would fight his battles. However,\nin this Saul had missed his calculations, for the Philistines were not\nable to take the life of David. So, no doubt, in order that he might\nhave one more opportunity of exposing David to the dangers of war,\nhe gave Merab to Adriel, the Mehoathite, to wife. It was a treachery\nsuch as Saul frequently practiced upon David. So he offered Michal,\nthe second daughter, in marriage, fixing the price for her hand at no\nless than the slaughter of a hundred Philistines. David, by a brilliant\nfeat, doubled the tale of his victims, and Michal became his wife.\n\nMichal was not averse to the good luck of David, for she had so\nappreciated him that she had fallen violently in love with the young\nhero. It was not long, however, before the strength of her affections\nwas put to the proof. After one of Saul\u2019s attacks of frenzy, in which\nDavid had barely escaped being transfixed by the king\u2019s spear, Michal\nlearned that the house was being watched by Saul\u2019s soldiers, and that\nit was intended on the next morning to attack her husband as he left\nhis door. Michal seemed to have known too well the vacillating and\nferocious disposition of her father when in these demoniacal moods, so,\nlike a true soldier\u2019s wife, she met stratagem by stratagem. She first\nprovided for David\u2019s safety by lowering him out of the window by means\nof a rope. To gain time for him to reach the residence of Samuel at\nRamah, she dressed up the bed as if still occupied by him, by placing\na teraphim in it, its head enveloped, like that of a sleeper, in the\nusual net used for protection from gnats--a sore pest in Palestine.\n\nIt happened as Michal feared. Her father sent officers to take David.\nMichal made answer that her husband was ill and could not be disturbed.\nAt last Saul would not be longer put off, and ordered his messengers\nto force their way into David\u2019s apartment, when they discovered the\ndeception which had been played so successfully, Saul\u2019s rage knew no\nbounds, and his fury was such that Michal was obliged to resort to\nanother deception by pretending that David attempted to kill her.\n\nWhen Michal let David down by a rope through a window on that memorable\nnight in which she saved his life, it was the last time she saw her\nhusband for many years. When the rupture between Saul and David became\nopen, Saul gave Michal in marriage to Phaltiel, of Gallim, a village\nnot far from the royal residence at Gibeah.\n\nAfter the death of Saul, Michal and her new husband moved with the\nroyal family to the east of Jordan.\n\nIt was at least fourteen years since she had watched David\u2019s\ndisappearance down the rope into the darkness of the night and had\nimperilled her own life to save his. During all these years, it would\nseem, his love for his absent wife had undergone no change, for he\nwas eager to reclaim her when the first opportunity presented itself.\nThat opportunity came when Abner revolted from Ishbosheth. Important\nas it was to him to make an alliance with the court of Ishbosheth,\nestablished at Mahanaim, and much as he respected Abner, he would\nnot listen for a moment to any overtures till his wife was restored.\nAnd David sent messengers to Ishbosheth saying, \u201cDeliver me my wife\nMichal.\u201d There seemed to be no alternative, and Michal was taken from\nPhaltiel. That she had equally won the love of Phaltiel is manifest\nfrom the sad scene when she was taken from him, and now under the joint\nescort of David\u2019s messengers and Abner\u2019s twenty men, _en route_ from\nMahanaim to Hebron, he followed behind, bewailing the wife thus torn\nfrom him, and would not turn back until commanded to do so by Abner.\n\nBut when Michal was received into the royal home, then at Hebron, she\nwas not the affectionate companion of David\u2019s youth. And, doubtless,\nhe was no longer to her what he was before she had bestowed her love\nupon another. They were no longer what they had been to each other.\nThe alienation was probably mutual. On her side must have been the\nrecollection of the long contest which had taken place in the interval\nbetween her father and David; the strong feeling in the palace at\nHebron against the house of Saul, where every word she heard must\nhave contained some distasteful allusion, and where at every turn\nshe must have encountered men like Abiather the priest, or Ismaiah\nthe Gibeonite, who had lost the whole or the greater part of their\nrelatives in some sudden burst of her father\u2019s fury. And more than\nall, perhaps, the inevitable difference between the husband of her\nrecollections and the matured and occupied warrior who now received\nher. The whole must have come upon her as a strong contrast to the\naffectionate Phaltiel, whose tears had followed her along the road over\nOlivet until commanded to return home.\n\nIt also seems she did not enter into David\u2019s religious sympathies.\nWhen he brought the Ark of Jehovah into Jerusalem, after the seat of\ngovernment was transferred from Hebron to that city, Michal watched\nthe procession approach from the window of the royal palace, and when\nshe saw David in the triumphal march, \u201cshe despised him in her heart.\u201d\nIt would have been well if her contempt had rested there; but it was\nnot in her nature to conceal it, and when the last burnt offering had\nbeen made, and the king entered his house to bless his family, he was\nreceived by his wife not with the congratulations which he had a right\nto expect and which would have been so grateful to him, but with a\nbitter taunt which showed how incapable she was of appreciating either\nher husband\u2019s devotions, or the importance of the service in which he\nhad been engaged. David\u2019s answer showed that they were as wide apart\nreligiously as he and her father had been politically. He said, \u201cIt was\nbefore the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his\nhouse, to appoint me ruler over the people.\u201d This reproof gathered up\nall the differences between them which made sympathy no longer possible.\n\nWe must think of Michal what she was to David in her youth, and what\nshe might have been had she not been given to another, perhaps against\nher own will. Thus David lost her womanly affection, which he so much\nneeded, and Michal lost his brave, heroic but devout spirit, which\nwould greatly have helped her to a correct knowledge of God, for, from\nthe fact that she had a teraphim in her house, would indicate she was\nnot wholly free from idolatry, and this doubtless accounts for her\nlack of sympathy with David in his religious nature, for his devotions\nto God were unquestioned. Her surroundings from childhood were bad\nevery way, and her want of religious sympathy was not so much the want\nof faith as the lack of opportunity to know God. We give her a place\nhere for what she was in her youth, in saving the life of David, and\nwhat she would have been could she have grown up under the religious\ninfluences of David.\n\nUpon the death of Saul, the first king in Israel, Rizpah, a secondary\nwife, and mother of his two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, appears on\nthe stage of action. After Saul was defeated and met with death on\nMount Gilboa and the Philistines occupied the country west of the\nJordan, the seat of government was transferred from Gibeah to Mahanaim\nfor greater protection, and Rizpah accompanied the inmates of the royal\nhousehold to their new residence.\n\nIshbosheth, the youngest of Saul\u2019s four legitimate sons, and his\nrightful heir to the throne, had been proclaimed king in place of his\nfather. Abner, Saul\u2019s uncle, however, had command of the army, and had\nmuch to do in administering the affairs of the kingdom; and, because\nof this relation, and for reasons not stated, he seemed to have had\nfrequent consultations with Rizpah, and this excited Ishbosheth\u2019s\njealousy. Among those primitive people, to take the widow of a deceased\nking was to aspire to the throne. Ishbosheth accused Abner of that\nambitious design, and the captain, in his resentment, replied, \u201cAm I\na dog\u2019s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the\nhouse of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and\nhave not delivered thee into the hands of David, that thou chargest me\nto-day with a fault concerning this woman?\u201d Abner was so wroth that\nhe left Ishbosheth and went over to David--a piece of spite which led\nfirst to Abner\u2019s death through Joab\u2019s treachery, and ultimately to the\nmurder of Ishbosheth himself.\n\nWe hear nothing more of Rizpah till the three years\u2019 famine made it\nnecessary to settle an old score against the house of Saul for that\nking\u2019s wicked dealings with the Gibeonites. According to the crude,\nrough justice of the times, they demanded the death of seven of Saul\u2019s\ndescendants. The two sons of Rizpah and five of Saul\u2019s grandsons were\nhanded over to them for crucifixion.\n\nHere Rizpah\u2019s love, and endurance is brought to our notice. The seven\ncrosses to which her two sons and her five relatives were fastened,\nwere planted in the rock on the top of the sacred hill of Gibeah. The\nvictims were sacrificed at the beginning of barley harvest--the sacred\nand festal time of the Passover--and in the full blaze of the summer\nsun they hung till the fall of the periodical rain in October. During\nthe whole of that time Rizpah remained at the foot of the crosses on\nwhich the bodies of her sons were exposed. She had no tent to shelter\nher all those months from the scorching sun which beats on that open\nspot all day, or from the drenching dews of night, but she spread on\nthe rock summit the thick mourning garment of black sackcloth, which,\nas a widow, she wore, and, crouching there, she kept off bird and beast\ntill their bodies could have honorable burial.\n\nAt length the heroic actions of Rizpah were brought to the notice of\nDavid, who, with his usual kindness, had the bodies of Saul and his\nfriend Jonathan brought from Jabesh-Gilead, and the bodies taken from\nthe crosses and sepulchred in the family tomb of Kish.\n\nRizpah, by birth was a Hivite, and probably had not the sustaining\ngrace which God alone can give. She had trained her sons for the\nsplendors of a court. They were cut off in their prime, and her\ndesolate heart had only its pride to sustain her during her superhuman\nanguish and endurance. Her loving, passionate nature was a bright light\nin a rude, dark age. With such a beautiful example before us, we need\nnever say the circumstances of our life forbid the possibilities of\nliving for God. The blacker the cloud the brighter may be the rainbow.\nThe harder our situation the more can our life become a protest against\nit. The lighthouse needs the midnight darkness and the storm-beaten\nshore to bring out its value and its purpose, and there is no situation\nso trying and difficult but God can sustain us in it, and when we have\nlearned our lesson enable us to triumph over it.\n\nRizpah\u2019s loving fidelity has placed her in the front ranks of Bible\nwomen whose holy ministries have made them famous. She may very justly\nbe characterized as the _Mater Dolorosa_ of the old dispensation. Her\nfidelity to the memory of departed loved ones has no equal in the\nhistory of the world. And all this without the sustaining grace of\nGod, for it must be remembered poor Rizpah was but a heathen woman, in\na rude, dark age of the world. How glad we should be, that in a world\nwhere there is so much to sadden and depress, we have a Saviour to go\nto who knows all about our sorrow, and is touched with the feeling of\nour infirmities, and have blessed communion with Him in whom is the one\ntrue source and fountain of all true gladness and abiding joy! In a\nworld where so much is ever seeking to unhallow our spirits, to render\nthem common, how high the privilege of entering into the secret of His\npavilion, and there, by consecration and prayer, receive strength for\ndays to come. Such was not Rizpah\u2019s privilege, hence her devotion is\nall the more remarkable.\n\nThe history runs on. David had established his throne, and the visit of\nthe Queen of Sheba marks the climax of the greatness of that kingdom,\nand the glory and wisdom of Solomon. It is a remarkable proof of the\nnew spirit that had come upon the nation. Hitherto the people of Israel\nhad been wholly agricultural. The great peculiarity of their country\nwas its isolation, situated in the very midst of the nations of the\nearth, yet it was curiously shut in and shut out. A seaboard without\na single navigable river, with a vast desert on the south, a lofty\nmountain range on the north, and that strange descent of the Jordan\nvalley in the east going down more than a thousand feet below the\nlevel of the sea. But Solomon changed all that. His enterprise did\nnot exhaust itself in building the Temple and palace of Jerusalem. He\nactually crossed the great desert to the south and at the head of the\ngulf that runs up to the east of the Arabian peninsula he made a harbor\nand himself superintended the building of a fleet of ships, and sent\nthem to traffic in the east, and brought home the sandalwood and many\nof the treasures of the Indies, with which he enriched the palace and\nthe garden.\n\n[Illustration: SOLOMON\u2019S MERCHANT SHIPS.]\n\nThus his merchants went away to strange lands, carrying with them\nwherever they went the tidings of their great king, of the Temple that\nhe had built to Jehovah, the God of Israel; of the palace splendors; of\nhis throne of state in the cedar Judgment Hall, a throne of ivory with\ngolden lions on each step, and a footstool of gold.\n\nNow of the countries that they visited one was famous for its gold\nand frankincense and precious stones. It was the land of Sheba to the\nsouth. Thither came the captains and crews of Solomon\u2019s ships, and the\nqueen heard of the strangers who had come to trade with them in their\nvessels from afar, men of a strange language. She sent for them to the\ncourt to hear from their own lips the wonderful things they had to tell\nof their great king, and of their God, and of Jerusalem.\n\nThe mere pageantry of the visit to Jerusalem has hidden from us the\ntrue queenliness and spirit of this woman. It was no idle curiosity\nthat prompted a journey involving so much risk and difficulty. Her very\nthrone itself was imperilled by her departure and long absence. It\nis a proof of how firmly she was set in the affections of her people\nthat she could venture to leave the land; a proof of her courage that\nshe should dare set out on such a journey. Hearing of the wisdom of\nSolomon, hearing of the great things he had done for his people,\nhearing above all that he had brought such prosperity to the land that\nevery man could sit safely under his own vine and fig-tree, she formed\nher purpose to go. If she could learn to do so much for her own people\nit were worth everything.\n\nWhen the merchants had gone we can see her turn to her statesmen, every\ninch a queen, and full already of her lofty purpose, address them\nthus, \u201cIf I could but secure such well-being for this nation of mine,\nI should count it cheaply earned if I went to the ends of the earth to\nget it.\u201d\n\nIt is also worthy of observation that this queen of the south was not\ncontent with hearing about Solomon. She did not listen to the tale\nthese merchants told, and straightway forgot it all, as if it were of\nno further concern. She made up her mind, there and then, that if such\na one lived she would go to him and ask such questions as he, and only\nhe, could answer, that would give her peace and be a blessing to her\npeople.\n\nSo important was this matter that she did not send an ambassador to the\nking. To her they were so real and sacred she must go herself, and go\nshe did.\n\nOh, the misery of it is that such hosts among us are content with\nhearing about these blessings of God. Alas, there are thousands of\npeople who think all this is only to be preached about, never to be\nsought after; only to be heard about, never really found.\n\nShe had a long way to go. We read, she came from the uttermost parts of\nthe earth. Distances were immense in those days. It was a journey for\ncamels, by no means a comfortable method of traveling. Soldiers must\nguard her, for there were many robbers; servants must go to wait upon\nher, for her state must be in keeping with the greatness of the foreign\ncourt. She must take with her a load of the most splendid gifts. Then\nthere were long stretches of hot, wind-swept deserts to be crossed, in\nwhich many had perished in the sand storms. But she was not daunted,\nshe was not to be turned aside. She had made up her mind, and bravely\nfaced all the dangers.\n\nAnd then, also, we must not overlook the fact she had no invitation.\nShe did not know how he might receive her. These great kings were\njealous of strangers. Upon some pretence that she came to spy out the\nland, he might have her seized as a prisoner, and held her and her\nservants to be ransomed at some enormous cost of money. Such things\nwere common enough; and, if he received her, was it not likely that\nhe would look with contempt upon her? Even civilized people like the\nGreeks were accustomed to regard those as barbarians whose language and\nways were foreign to themselves. But this brave woman will risk it all,\nand with a splendid courage, the courage of a woman, she comes.\n\nSo the Queen of Sheba came to see King Solomon, and the scene of her\ncoming was one of the utmost splendor. It was a tribute indeed to the\nfar-reaching fame of Israel, which king and people alike may well have\nsought to turn to the fullest account.\n\n[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.]\n\nAt the city gate Solomon came forth to meet the queen in all his\nglory, with flashing crown of pure gold, and royal robes of costliest\nmagnificence. About him are the great officers of state in their\ngorgeous apparel, the old wise counselors, the chief captains of his\narmy. Everywhere are the vast crowds of citizens, thronging every\nhouse roof and city wall, and clustering on every point of vantage.\nThe music of his singing men and singing women fills the air with glad\nwelcome.\n\nAnd now, seated at his side, in the chariot of cedar with its\ntapestried curtains, and drawn by the horses of Egypt all richly\ncaparisoned, they go on their way. Solomon points out to her the Temple\nwhich he was seven years in building, and which Josephus likened to\na \u201cmountain of snow, covered with plates of gold, whose brightness\nmade those that looked upon it turn away their eyes.\u201d He told her\nthere were used \u201ctalents\u201d of gold, of silver, and of brass in its\nconstruction valued at the enormous sum of $34,399,110,000. The worth\nof the jewels placed at figures equally as high. The vessels of gold,\naccording to Josephus, were valued at 140,000 talents, which reduced to\nmoney, was equal to $2,821,481,015. The vessels of silver were still\nmore valuable, being set down at $3,231,720,000. Priests\u2019 vestments,\nand robes of singers, at $10,050,000. He told her ten thousand men\nhewed cedars, seventy thousand bore burdens, and eighty thousand hewed\nstones, and it required three thousand three hundred overseers. Surely\nit was the wonder of the world. Then he pointed out to her the Judgment\nHall, the house of the forest of Lebanon, and many other stately\nedifices.\n\nAnd now they reach the palace, with its luxurious gardens filled with\ntreasures from all lands. And, seated at the great banquet which the\nking had spread in her honor, she sees his wealth, the vastness of his\npossessions, the hosts of his servants, the cupbearers at his side,\nthe banqueting hall, itself a marvel of splendor, the \u201cascent by which\nhe went up unto the house of the Lord.\u201d As she saw all this, we read,\n\u201cthere was no more spirit in her.\u201d She was overwhelmed by the sight of\nsuch boundless wealth and the vision of such glory.\n\nThe Queen of the South communed with Solomon, we are told, of all that\nwas in her heart. Simply and earnestly she told of her longings for her\npeople and of the difficulties that beset her. She communed with him of\nthe mystery of life, how to reach the highest and best. She asked him\nof many a matter that perplexed her. Graciously the king listened, and\nwisely he answered her. We can easily imagine the words which showed\nhis skill in answering her questions. There may have been and doubtless\nwas the keen wit, the brilliant saying, the flashes of wisdom, the\nglow of poetry, the genius like that which settled the dispute between\nthe two mothers. Never did she dream of wisdom like that, and she\nexclaimed, \u201cBehold, the half was not told me!\u201d What she saw and heard\nexcited her wonder to such a degree that it seemed to her directly\nimparted by the God of Solomon, whom he adored, and for whom she became\nfilled with reverence. The light of heaven seemed to break on her soul\nwhen she exclaimed, \u201cBlessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in\nthee, to set thee on the throne of Israel.\u201d\n\nShe gladly acknowledged the truth of all that she had heard. \u201cIt was a\ntrue report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.\u201d\nIt was not mere learning, the answering of hard questions, the solution\nof metaphysical problems, but his works, appointments, the sitting of\nhis servants, and the attendance of his ministers, the civil officers\nwho sat at the royal table, convinced the queen of his great wisdom, in\nwhich she recognized the working of a peculiar power and grace imparted\nby God. It was also a practical or life-wisdom, such as Solomon himself\ndescribes, \u201ca tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, length of\ndays is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor.\u201d\nSuch wisdom, which rests upon the foundation of the knowledge and love\nof God, \u201cis more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst\ndesire are not to be compared unto her.\u201d\n\nBut the queen was not content with the words of praise and thanks. She\nmakes proof of her gratitude by means of great and royal gifts. \u201cShe\ngave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices\nvery great store, and precious stones.\u201d The presents which she made\nconsisted of those articles in which her land most abounded, and for\nwhich it was most famous. The spices were principally the celebrated\nArabian balm, which was largely exported, and the shrub of which is\nsaid to have been introduced into Palestine by the Queen of Sheba.\n\nHow high the significance which has always been attached to this\nvisit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon is shown by the fact that\nthe remembrance of it has been preserved outside of Palestine for\nthousands of years, and that two ancient peoples, the Arabians and\nAbyssinians, regard her as the mother of their line of kings. And when\nthe Lord, from out the treasure of the Old Testament history, chooses\nthis narrative, and presents it for the shaming of the Pharisees and\nScribes, this presupposes that it was known to and specially esteemed\nby all other nations. Sheba was reckoned to be the richest, most\nhighly favored and glorious land in the ancient world, and therefore\nwas given the unique name of \u201cThe Happy.\u201d Now when the queen came with\na splendid retinue to visit this distant land, and from no political\ndesign, but merely to see and hear the famous king; and when she, the\nsovereign of the most fortunate country in the world, declared that\nwhat she had seen and heard exceeded all her expectations; this surely\nwas the greatest homage Solomon could have obtained. The visit of the\nQueen of Sheba marks, therefore, the splendor and climax of the Old\nTestament Kingdom, and marks an essential moment in the history of the\ncovenant as well as of Solomon, and when our Lord said, \u201cThe Queen of\nthe South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall\ncondemn it; for she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear\nthe wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here,\u201d He\nrecognized the prophetical and typical meaning of our narrative. It\nis said in the prophetical descriptions of the peaceful Kingdom of\nMessiah, \u201cThe Kings of Sheba and Seba (Meroe) shall offer gifts; yea,\nall kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.\u201d The\nQueen of Sheba, who came from afar, is a type of the kings who, with\ntheir people, shall come from afar to the everlasting Prince of Peace,\nthe King of kings, and shall do Him homage. Her visit is an historical\nprophecy of the true and eternal Kingdom of peace.\n\nThe Queen of Sheba had everything that pertains to temporal prosperity,\nhigh rank, honor and wealth. But all these satisfied not her soul.\nShe spared no expense or hardships, in order to satisfy the longing\nof her heart for the Word of Life. She said not, \u201cI am rich, and have\nan abundance, and need nothing,\u201d but she felt she still needed the\nhighest and the best. How superior is this heathen woman to so many in\nChristian lands, who hunger and thirst after all possible things, but\nnever after a knowledge of truth and wisdom, after the Word of Life.\nAnd then we do not need to journey on camels through burning deserts to\nJerusalem to find Him who is greater than Solomon, for He has promised,\n\u201cI am with you forever, until the end of the world,\u201d and can be found\nby \u201cwhosoever\u201d will seek after Him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nWomanhood in the Time of the Prophets and During the Captivity.\n\n  THE WICKED JEZEBEL--THE WIDOW OF SAREPTA--THE TISHBITE AT THE CITY\n    GATE--HIS STRANGE REQUEST--THE WIDOW\u2019S UNFALTERING OBEDIENCE--AN\n    APPEAL TO ELISHA--A POT OF OIL--THE WIDOW\u2019S WONDERFUL FAITH--THE\n    RICH WOMAN OF SHUNEM--HER MODEST LIFE--BARLEY HARVEST--A RIDE\n    TO CARMEL IN THE GLARE OF THE SUN--ESTHER--HER BEAUTIFUL TRAITS\n    OF CHARACTER--CROWNED AS QUEEN--PLEADING FOR THE LIFE OF HER\n    PEOPLE--FOUND FAVOR WITH THE KING.\n\n\nThe glory of the united kingdom of Israel, described in the last\nchapter, in a few years departed as a dream of the night. It was rent\nin twain, and Ahab, the wicked king, was on the throne of the northern\nkingdom, with the seat of government in Samaria. He had married\nJezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon, and she had introduced\ninto the kingdom of Israel the heathen abominations of the Sidonians.\nShe had even torn down God\u2019s altars, and persecuted his prophets to the\ndeath. And it seems that too many of the Israelites raised little or\nno protests against these wicked acts of Jezebel. Indeed, one of the\nreasons why the kingdom, after the death of Solomon, was wrenched from\nRehoboam, his son, was the people worshipped Ashtoreth, the goddess of\nthe Sidonians.\n\nSo grievous had these abominations of the Sidonians become, that\nGod was about to visit the nation with judgment. But, as He always\nsends warnings, and gives a season to repent, so he sent Elijah, the\nTishbite, from the hill country of Gilead down to Ahab in Samaria, with\nthis message, \u201cAs the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand,\nthere shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my\nword.\u201d And James tells us, \u201cit rained not upon the earth for the space\nof three years and six months.\u201d\n\nDuring these years of famine, the Lord directed Elijah to a widow in\nSarepta, after the waters of the brook of Cherith had dried up. Sarepta\n(or Zarephath) was a city of Ph\u0153nicia. But the distress of the famine\nin Israel was felt even here, for Israel was the great grain field\nfor Ph\u0153nicia. And this explains why Elijah, when he came to the city\ngate of Sarepta, found a poor woman, a widow, gathering a few sticks,\nthat she might bake the last morsel of bread and share it with her\nchild, after which there was nothing more to hope for. The famine was\ndoing its awful work among the cities of the coast. The hills back of\nSarepta were scorched, and the beautiful valleys on either side of\nthe city were cracked in great fissures. In her distress this widow,\nin her person had wasted to a skeleton, faltering, trembling, as she\nstaggered out to gather a few sticks to bake her last cake for self and\nchild, and then to die. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes hollow, and\nher nerves seem never to have known what rest meant. As she walked she\nstaggered; when she stood she reeled. She was leaning against her gate,\nthe sticks in her arms when the Tishbite saluted her with the request,\n\u201cFetch me, I pray thee, a drink of water.\u201d\n\nIn a moment she was going toward her water pot. \u201cBring me, I pray thee,\na morsel of bread in thy hand,\u201d the prophet called after her while on\nthe way to get the water.\n\n\u201cBread!\u201d Distressed and sorely tried, the poor woman breaks down, and\ndiscloses the sad condition of her home in the ever-memorable words,\n\u201cAs the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal\nin a barrel and a little oil in a cruse, and behold, I am gathering two\nsticks that I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it\nand die.\u201d\n\nShe may or she may not have been an Israelite. She may have been one of\nthe seven thousand who had not bowed unto Baal, and possibly knew who\nit was who addressed her. At all events she must have heard of this\n\u201clighted fire-brand, fallen out of the clouds, and hurled by the hand\nof Jehovah\u201d at the wicked Ahab. She may even have heard that in the\nmidst of the drought Ahab had divided the country between himself and\nObadiah, to seek if possible, amidst its former fountains and brooks\na little \u201cgrass to save his horses and mules alive,\u201d though it did\nnot matter to this hardened wretch of a king if his subjects died by\nthe thousands. So this demand of Elijah must have been a real trial\nto her faith. Nor did her distressed condition change the demand of\nthe Tishbite. \u201cDo as thou hast said,\u201d he commanded, \u201cbut bake me a\nlittle cake first!\u201d What, serve this stranger from Gilead before her\nstarving child? Surely how could she, with her mother heart, obey such\nan order? But, noble woman, staggering under the request, she placed\nthe gathered sticks on the fire, went to the barrel and took out the\nlast handful of meal, and poured the last drop of oil from the cruse,\nand baked for God\u2019s prophet the cake, and served him _first_! Was\nthere ever such unselfish self-surrender? But for her poverty and her\nappearance, she might have passed for an angel who had strayed away\nfrom heaven, got caught in the famine and could not find her way back.\nIf God had not been behind this exorbitant demand of the prophet it\nhad been simply heartless. But, along with the demand were the words,\n\u201cfor the Lord God of Israel hath said it.\u201d If God said it, that was\nthe end of all questionings, this angel in human form, reduced in her\npoverty, staggered off to meet the demand. There may have been no\nsmall stir in heaven when it became known that she had gone to bake\nher last cake for the man of God, and then to die without tasting it\nherself. If the jasper walls had that moment let down around her, and\nall the glorified had gathered about that oven, she would have felt\nperfectly at home without a change of raiment. But that \u201clast cake\u201d\nwas never baked. As the trembling widow stood by the heated oven, in\nsublime obedience to God\u2019s requirement, even as Abraham once stood by\nhis altar fires on Moriah, with the bound Isaac upon it, there came\nthe gracious \u201c_Fear not!_\u201d She had gone to a point in her faith where\nGod always breaks down. He saw it all, and out of divine compassion He\nanswered, \u201cThe barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse\nof oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.\u201d\nAnd the record goes on to say that she, and the prophet, and her house,\nhad enough through the years of the famine. There was so much meal and\noil that even the widow\u2019s poor and starving relations came to partake\nthereof. That is the way God blesses--it always overflows upon others.\n\nHow this incident at Sarepta glorifies God, whom the Scripture teaches\nus to know in His unapproachable greatness and in His affable mercy\nand condescension! As we sat by the little brook in Sarepta, amid\nthe noontide glow of an Oriental sun, and read afresh this charming\nstory, and then raised our eyes to look on the little chapel which\nthe crusaders had erected on the reputed site of the widow\u2019s home,\nthe thought of such a God flooded us with His precious nearness, for,\nin our human needs, we love to feel His comforting presence in our\nhearts. The Jehovah, the Almighty God, the maker of worlds, the ruler\nof systems beyond human vision, whose perfect will is done in heaven\nby angels, who holdeth the dew of heaven, the rain in the clouds, the\nwaters of the oceans in His hands, who gives and withholds the needed\nbread and water, He is our Father, and exercises a father\u2019s care, so\nthat the individual is not forgotten of Him. He holds not only the\nwhole, but the single parts; He looks not only into the palace of\nkings, but into the cottages of poverty. The need and misery of a poor\nwidow are not too insignificant for Him; He observes her sighs and\ntears, and her silent, desolate cottage is for Him a place worthy of\nthe revelation of His glory and goodness.\n\nMatchless widow of Sarepta! As long as the name of Elijah lives, with\nits imperishable renown, so long shall thine be found side by side with\nit in the unfading annals of the church of God!\n\nBut our story runs on. The wicked Ahab had died, and Jehoram, his son,\nreigned in his stead. The great hero, prophet of the kingdom of the\nten tribes, had also passed over the Jordan, and somewhere among the\nvalleys, overshadowed by the lofty dome of Nebo, the \u201cchariot of fire\nand horses of fire\u201d came down and translated the first and greatest\nof the prophets. His mantle, however, fell upon Elisha, the son of\nShaphat. Elisha had scarcely returned from the land of Moab, whither\nhe had gone to relieve the armies of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, out\nof the horrors of a water famine, when there met him a certain widow\nof the wives of the sons of the prophets, and cried unto him in her\ndistress. Of what particular prophet she was the widow the record does\nnot state, nor is her name given. Josephus and the rabbis will have\nit that she was the widow of Obadiah, who, they think, had exhausted\nhis fortune in the provision for the persecuted prophets in the time\nof the drought, in the reign of Ahab, when, faithful to God, amidst\nthe splendors of Ahab\u2019s corrupt court, he hid such of the prophets as\nescaped out of the hands of Jezebel, the wicked queen, hid them in\ncaves, feeding them on bread and water through the sore distress of the\nthree years\u2019 famine, and so had fallen into debt, basing their claim\nupon the woman\u2019s statement that her husband \u201cfeared the Lord,\u201d which\nis also stated in respect to Obadiah. But whether she was the widow of\nObadiah or not, she was greatly in need, and, in her distress, appealed\nto Elisha, who was the acknowledged head of the prophetic school.\n\nBut what a calamity had come into her widowhood! Her husband had not\nonly been taken from her by death, but now, after bravely struggling\nto provide for her family, the creditors had come to take her two sons\nto be bondsmen. If that will not touch a mother\u2019s heart we do not know\nwhat will. And so she hastens away to relieve her burdened heart in the\nears of the sympathizing prophet. He listened to her story, and then\nasked, \u201cWhat hast thou in the house?\u201d\n\nWhat a question to ask a mother whose sons were about to be sold into\nslavery for debts! What could she have of value she would not gladly\ndispose of to save her children?\n\nShe answered, \u201cThine handmaid hath not anything in the house!\u201d Not\nanything? Oh yes, there is \u201ca pot of oil.\u201d She was in a more deplorable\ncondition than the widow of Sarepta, for she, aside from the cruse of\noil, had a \u201chandful of meal.\u201d But this one was entirely destitute, even\nof the oil so essential in the preparation of food--she had only a\nlittle pot for anointing purposes. But even this was enough for God and\nfaith to work on.\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d said Elisha, \u201cborrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors,\neven empty vessels; borrow not a few.\u201d Comforted in her heart, she\nwent home and told her anxious sons what the prophet had said. \u201cIt is\nvessels you want, is it mother?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d she answered, the prophet said,\n\u201cborrow not a few!\u201d\n\nSo all that morning, and far into the afternoon, the widow\u2019s sons were\ncalling on their neighbors for empty vessels, crocks, great waterpots,\ncasks, firkins, in short, anything that would hold oil. As the boys\nwere going empty-handed down the streets and returning loaded with\nvessels, the people began to wonder what that poor widow of the prophet\nshould want of so many vessels, especially as it was known that she\nhad nothing in her house. But the boys kept at their work until every\nneighbor was borrowed empty, and her house looked more like a depot for\nfreight, than a poor woman\u2019s cottage. All the rooms were filled, the\nopen court was filled, and all the approaches were filled. The widow\u2019s\nsons, if their industry in borrowing and carrying home vessels would\nsave them from being sold into slavery, they certainly would escape\nout of the hands of their mother\u2019s creditor, for was there ever such a\nsight of empty vessels! And not until there were no more to be borrowed\ndid they cease from their work.\n\nAnd now the supreme moment came. The prophet had told her, after the\nvessels were all in, she should shut the door upon herself and upon her\nsons. Only her boys should be witnesses to the mighty deliverances\nof God. The locking of the door had no other object than to keep\naloof every interruption from without. The action in question was not\nan ordinary, simply external, operation, but an act which was to be\nperformed by the command of the man of God, and with the heart directed\ntowards God, that is, in faith, so that it was to be completed, not\nin the noise and distraction of everyday life, but in quietness and\nsolitude. And we may also well believe she first asked God\u2019s blessing\nupon her undertaking, so far carried on in faith, for though her house\nwas full of vessels, they were all as yet empty.\n\nThe prayer ended, she took down her ointment jar--and Oh, it was such\na very little pot! Holding it in her hand, she told her oldest son to\nbring one of the smallest jars, for how could the little vessel in her\nhand fill even the smallest of the borrowed utensils? As she tipped the\nlittle pot, the golden stream began to flow, and it kept on flowing\nuntil the vessel was filled to the brim, to the utter astonishment\nof herself and sons. This one filled, another was quickly brought.\nAnd as the oil flowed, the poor woman\u2019s faith grew, and the sweat was\nnow rolling down the faces of her sons as they brought up the empty\nvessels, and removed the full ones. Her face fairly shone as she filled\nthe last vessel, and in her excitement cried out, \u201cBring me yet a\nvessel!\u201d \u201cWhy, mother,\u201d both the sons speaking at once, \u201cthere is not a\nvessel more!\u201d So when the last was filled to the brim, \u201cthe oil stayed.\u201d\n\nAs she looked over the sea of vessels all filled to the brim with\ngolden oil, out of the gladness of her heart she hastened to tell\nElisha what had happened at her house. She had oil in her vessels and\nthanksgiving in her heart, and she must tell it out, and who was better\nprepared to share her joy than the prophet who had listened to the\nstory of her distress.\n\nAnd he said, \u201cGo, sell the oil, and pay thy debt.\u201d The religion that\ncomes from heaven looks well after its creditors. The debt was paid,\nher sons were spared to her, and a surplus was left for them to live\nupon.\n\nWhat a beautiful lesson of faith! We suppose if any of her neighbors\nhad known that all these empty borrowed vessels were for the purpose\nof experimenting with a little pot of anointing oil, it would have\ncreated a sensation. Some, doubtless, would have said, the creditor,\nin threatening to take her sons, has driven that poor widow out of her\nmind. Why, such a thing as filling these pots, and firkins, and great\ncasks of ten and fifteen gallon capacity, with a little pot of oil has\nnever been heard of in Israel, and we can\u2019t understand who could have\nput such an absurd idea into the poor woman\u2019s head. Indeed, there was\ngood reason for shutting the world out, for, if they had seen her take\ndown the little pot of oil and attempted to pour into the vessels, they\nwould have laughed her to scorn. But then, we Christian people should\nknow that the things which are impossible with men, are perfectly\npossible with God. Yea, He loves to multiply the impossibilities of\nmen, that no flesh may glory in His presence.\n\nThen also the number of vessels borrowed speak well for the faith of\nthis woman. Our Lord tells us, over and over, according to our faith\nshall it be done unto us. If her faith had been small, and she had been\ncontent with a few vessels, the oil would have ceased to flow when the\nlast vessel was filled. If our heavenly Father is ever pleased with the\naction of His earthly children, it must be over the audacious faith of\na poor woman who, in her poverty and distress, borrows of her neighbors\nempty vessels for Him to fill out of His gracious benevolence.\n\nBut not all women, in the time of the prophets, were widows and poor,\nbut even the rich needed the consolations God only can give in times\nof trouble. And so our story runs on from the widow of Sarepta and the\nwidow who, in her extremity, appealed to Elisha, to the rich woman of\nShunem.\n\nOver against Jezreel, under the base of _Jebel Duhy_ (the so-called\n\u201cLittle Hermon\u201d) amid luxuriant gardens of lemon, orange and fig trees,\nwhich cast their refreshing shades over the hot and sultry bridle-path,\nis the village of _Sulem_, in which we recognize the ancient Shunem,\nrendered so dear to every lover of the Bible by the beautiful, sweet\nstory of the rich Shunammite woman who prepared a prophet\u2019s chamber in\nher house, where Elisha often found a shelter from the oppressive heat\nof the noontide sun as he passed that way.\n\nThe little city, in the division of the land, under Joshua, was\nallotted to the tribe of Issachar, and is three miles north of Jezreel,\nfive miles from Mount Gilboa, about four miles from Nain, where our\nLord raised the widow\u2019s son, and is in full view of the sacred spot\non Mount Carmel. In the southern section of the village, at the base\nof the hill Moreh, flows out a transparent stream of sparkling water,\nwhich renders the fields green and beautiful, said to be the finest in\nthe world.\n\nAmid these enchanting and picturesque scenes lived the Shunammite. The\nBible gives her no name. She needs none. She is simply \u201ca great woman.\u201d\nStanding in her doorway, in three directions, she could look out over\nthe fields of grain, and see the slow movements of the heavily loaded\ncamels drudge up from the seaport of Acre, or down through the great\nplain of Esdraelon from the mountains of Naphtali or the hill country\nof Gilead, beyond the Jordan. If Elisha came from Carmel, he would\napproach Shunem by the Acre road. Accompanied by Gehazi, one of the\nsons of the prophets, she could see them trudging along the dusty camel\npath at a great distance, and she said to her husband, \u201cBehold now, I\nperceive that this is an holy man of God.\u201d So much for the personal\nappearance of Elisha. He carried a good face, which commended itself\neven to this discerning woman. Prompted by the manly bearing of the\nprophet, he had scarcely reached the gate when she stood before him,\nand pointing to her home, \u201cshe constrained him to eat bread.\u201d\n\nIt appears that Elisha passed frequently through Shunem. No doubt\nCarmel, which lay in the middle of the northern part of the kingdom,\nwas the place where the faithful worshippers of Jehovah, who lived in\nthe north, came together from time to time, and were strengthened in\ntheir faith, and instructed by the prophet. This would call Elisha to\npass up from Carmel to Shunem and the north. \u201cAnd so it was, that\nas oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.\u201d Happy\nhousehold! Most gracious hospitality! That sweet home, amid the olive\ngroves of Shunem, ever afterwards became the resting place of the good\nElisha.\n\nThe pious, but keen-sighted woman, who at the first recognized in\nElisha \u201can holy man of God,\u201d was not deceived or disappointed when she\nbecame more fully acquainted with him in his frequent stops. Indeed,\nshe must have been very favorably impressed with his bearing, for she\nproposed to enlarge her hospitality. She said to her husband, \u201cLet us\nmake a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall,\u201d that is, upon the\nflat roof of the house, with walls which would be a protection against\nstorms, \u201cand let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool\nand a candlestick.\u201d Beautiful and thoughtful provision. In such a room\nElisha would be protected from every interruption, such as it was\nhardly possible to avoid entirely in the house, and there he might pass\nhis time in quietness.\n\nElisha wished to make some return to his hostess, who had received and\nentertained him so liberally and so often, but he did not know what\nwould be acceptable to her a woman of wealth. In order to learn this,\nhe does not address himself directly to her, but directs his servant\nto ask the necessary questions, that she may express herself with\nless embarrassment and less reserve. He asks, \u201cWhat is to be done for\nthee? Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of\nthe host?\u201d This question presupposes that Elisha at that time stood\nin favor and respect at court. The king, in this instance may have\nreferred to Jehu, whom Elisha caused to be anointed. The commander of\nthe army is named in connection with the king as the most powerful and\nmost influential man at court.\n\nThis excellent woman sent a most beautiful reply to the prophet. \u201cAnd\nshe answered, I dwell among my own people.\u201d She asks no recompense\nfor the good she had done. She wishes to have nothing to do with the\ncourt of the king, and the great ones of the world. She had no favors\nto ask, and desired no political honors. Hers was a contented life.\nPerhaps, in this reply, she wished to show, at the same time, that she\nhad not entertained the prophet for the sake of any return, but for\nhis own sake, and for the sake of God. She had received him in the\nname of a prophet, and not for the sake of a reward, or any temporal\ngain. She loved God, and therefore loved His servant, and she showed\nhim kindness, because this was the law God had written upon her heart.\nAlthough she lacked that which was essential to the honor and happiness\nof an Israelitish wife, namely, a son, yet she was contented, and no\nword of complaint passed her lips--a sign of great humility and modesty.\n\nBut the noble-hearted Elisha could not endure the thought of receiving\nall these favors without making some return, and he felt all the\nmore bound to do something for her. To be barren, in those days, was\nregarded as a disgrace, so the prophet summoned her into his presence.\nBut out of modesty and respect she only came to the door. Elisha\nannounced to her that her home is to be blessed in the birth of a\nson. There were the disabilities of nature, and the woman regarded\nthe announcement as improbable of realization, and, in true Oriental\nlanguage, replied, \u201cNay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto\nthine handmaid,\u201d that is, do not deceive me, by exciting vain hopes in\nme. The Lord, however, according to His grace and truth, remembers even\nthe desires which we cherish in silence, as no doubt this woman had\ndone, but did not express, and He often gives to those who yield to His\nholy will without murmurs or complaints just that which they no longer\ndared to hope for. It makes a great difference whether we doubt of the\ndivine promises from unbelief, or from humility or want of confidence\nin ourselves, because we consider the promises too great and glorious,\nand ourselves unworthy of them.\n\nBut God remembered this noble woman of Shunem, who had shown such\nkindness to His servant, and, according to the promise, a son was\nborn into the great woman\u2019s home. A ray of sunshine had indeed broken\nthrough the parted clouds and entered that home--sunshine such as had\nnever been there before, and such as outshone all her estates.\n\nBelow the village, stretching away towards the south and east, were the\nwheatfields, and the child, as children sometimes will, slipped out\nfrom under the mothers watchful care, into the field where the reapers\nwere at work. Absorbed in the work of the reapers, neither the father\nnor the son realized the intense heat pouring down out of a clear sky\nupon the field at the hottest season of the year. Presently, this child\nof promise, which had gladdened the hearts of his parents and brought\nsuch joy and sunshine to their home, came up to his father and said,\n\u201cMy head, my head.\u201d\n\nIt was scarcely barley harvest when we crossed this plain with the\nglare of the sun out of a clear sky shining in our face, and with blood\nheated and thirsty withal, and the danger of a sun-stroke, we thought\nof the words of the child, and ever since they have had a new meaning.\nAt once the father directed a lad to carry the child \u201cto his mother,\u201d\nand when the lad had brought him \u201che sat on her knees till noon, and\nthen died.\u201d All the mother\u2019s hope turned to ashes, and her joy into\ngrief, made all the more bitter because it was her only child. As she\nsat in her house with the dead child folded to her bosom, her soul\ncried out: \u201cWhat is life?\u201d Though passing fair, it is but as\n\n  A flower just opened in the sun,\n  And wilted, withered, ere the day is done;\n\n  A vapor swiftly floating in the sky,\n  That vanished as it caught our eye;\n  A fragrant perfume borne upon the gale,\n  That\u2019s gone before we could its sweets inhale.\n\n  A bright pinioned warbler but just flitting by\n  Is lost, while we gaze in the depths of the sky;\n  A bud just bursting when the cruel frost\n  Steals all its beauty and its fragrance is lost.\n\n  Strains of sweet music floating on the air,\n  Soon turned to moans and wailings of despair;\n  A glowing smile while flashing o\u2019er the face,\n  Suddenly to glistening tears give place.\n\nThe grief-smitten mother carried the body of her precious child into\nthe upper chamber and tenderly laid it on the \u201cbed of the man of God,\nand shut the door upon it.\u201d Doubtless, for the present, she intended to\nkeep the death of the child from the husband and father. Evidently she\ncherished the secret hope that the prophet, who had promised her a son\nin the name of Jehovah, and had not deceived her, could help to restore\nhim. At all events she acted promptly. She called her husband to send a\nyoung man out of the field to make ready with all haste to go to Mount\nCarmel, and when ready she said to the servant, \u201cDrive, and go forward;\nslack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.\u201d\n\nElisha, from his outlook on mount Carmel, saw a cloud of dust in the\nplain of Esdraelon, and he called the attention of Gehazi to the flying\nfigures at the head of it. On swept the riders over the plain. Elisha\nonce more put his hand up to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun,\nand said, \u201cBehold, it is the Shunammite; run now,\u201d and ask, \u201cIs it well\nwith thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?\u201d By\nsending his servant to meet her, Elisha showed how highly he esteemed\nthis woman. However, to the salutation of Gehazi, she returned only\nthe short, indefinite answer, \u201cIt is well,\u201d in order, doubtless, not\nto be detained by further explanations. She would at once hasten to\nthe prophet himself. When she came near him, overcome by grief, which\nshe had repressed until then, she threw herself at his feet, in the\nmanner of Orientals, and sobbed out her great sorrow, at the same time\nimploring his assistance. Gehazi could not understand it. He thought\nher conduct in clasping his master\u2019s feet an offence against his\ndignity, and \u201ccame near to thrust her away.\u201d But Elisha said, \u201cLet her\nalone.\u201d Give the poor grief-stricken woman a chance to compose herself\nand to tell her trouble.\n\nPresently, the stricken mother called the prophet\u2019s attention to\nhis own promise, meaning to say thereby, I did not complain of\nmy childlessness, and did not demand a son; now, however, I am\ngrief-smitten, for it is better never to have a child than to have one\nand lose it.\n\nThe grief and the lamentation of the woman moved the compassionate\nheart of the prophet so much that he desired to bring her relief as\nsoon as possible. He therefore said to Gehazi, \u201cGird up thy loins,\nand take my staff in thine hand and go thy way; if thou meet any man,\nsalute him not.\u201d This shows that he was to go as quickly as possible.\nHe was even to refrain from saluting any one. It is well known that\nsalutations are far more ceremonious in the Orient than with us, and\ninferiors always remain standing until persons of higher rank pass by,\nand thus annoying delay was often occasioned. This command to hasten\nwould draw off the attention of the mother from her excessive grief,\nand, possibly, Elisha may have hoped that life had not yet entirely\nleft the child, and that utter decease might yet be prevented by swift\ninterference. But the importunity of the woman, that Elisha himself\nshould come, proceeded from the conviction that the child was already\ncompletely dead, and that now not Gehazi, but only the prophet himself,\nwho had promised her the son, could help. To this deep confidence he\npromptly responded.\n\nGehazi carried out his commission by hastening on to Shunem, and\nplacing the prophet\u2019s staff upon the face of the child, and, by means\nof the divine power, of which the staff was the symbol, he was to\nexecute a prophetical act in awakening the child out of the death-sleep.\n\nBefore Elisha, with the sorrowing mother, arrived at Shunem, Gehazi had\ndischarged his commission, although in vain, and was on his way back\nagain, when he met the prophet, and said, \u201cThe child is not awaked.\u201d\nThough he had the external symbol of the prophet\u2019s power, yet it lacked\nthe spirit of Jehovah, which was the special gift of God, and which\neven Elisha might not delegate, according to his own will and pleasure,\nto his servant.\n\nThe want of success of Gehazi\u2019s commission spurred on the prophet all\nthe more to do what he could in order to restore the child to life.\nHaving reached the house of sorrow, and the little chamber where the\nloving hands of the mother had laid the body of her child, Elisha shut\nthe door, and \u201cprayed unto the Lord.\u201d In that awful hour of a mother\u2019s\nheart-crushing suspense, God heard His servant\u2019s cry, and gave back the\nprecious child to life again.\n\nThe closing scene is very beautiful indeed. The mother having been\ncalled, when she reached the chamber, Elisha said, \u201cTake up thy son!\u201d\nWe are not told whether the mother heart first leaped to embrace the\nchild, or, out of modest gratitude, she first fell at the prophet\u2019s\nfeet in a flood of grateful thanksgiving. The bread of kindness she\nhad been casting upon the waters, in honoring God\u2019s servant, now all\nreturned to her. She certainly was reaping with tears of joy, and, had\nshe lived in this gospel age, she could have heard the Lord of life\nsaying, \u201cInasmuch as ye did it to one of these My servants, ye did it\nunto Me.\u201d Marvels of marvels, that prophets\u2019 homes do not dot our land\nin this day of gospel light.\n\n  As Elisha broke asunder\n    Death\u2019s cold hands and said, \u201cArise,\u201d\n  Give the child back to his mother--\n    So Thy power doth still suffice.\n\nImmortal woman of Shunem! Home-builder for the prophets of the Lord;\nthe saints in glory salute thee to-day, and the saints on earth are\nthrilled with thy worthy example. There is scarcely a story in the Old\nTestament which is more beautiful than the one related of this \u201cgreat\nwoman\u201d in White Raiment, who built a prophet\u2019s chamber in her own house\nat Shunem, where the servant of the Lord might turn in out of the glare\nof the noontide sun and find rest.\n\nFrom the incidents connected with the beautiful life of the rich woman\nof Shunem, to the time of Queen Esther, there is a period of about four\nhundred years, and they are years of turbulance on the part of the\npeople and admonitions on the part of God, until finally He suffered\nthem to be led away into captivity.\n\nThe scene of our next woman in White Raiment is in the reign of\nAhasuerus, son of Xerxes, who lived B. C. 462. After several severe\nconflicts he was settled in peaceable possession of the Persian Empire,\nand, in honor of his victory, appointed a feast in the city of Shushan,\nwhich continued for one hundred and eighty days, after which he gave a\ngreat feast to all the princes and people who were in Shushan for seven\ndays.\n\n[Illustration: HADASSAH IN THE PERSIAN COURT.]\n\nQueen Vashti, at the same time, made a like feast, in her apartment for\nthe women.\n\nOn the seventh day of the feast, Ahasuerus commanded the seven\nchamberlains to bring Queen Vashti before him, with the crown royal on\nher head, that he might show to the princes and people her beauty.\n\nThis she refused, for the act would be contrary to the usage of Persia,\nvery indecent and unbecoming a lady, as well as the dignity of her\nstation. Whereupon the king was incensed, and fearing the influence\namong the people of the realm in encouraging women to disobey their\nhusbands, called a council of seven, to determine what should be done.\nThe council advised putting away the queen, and she was removed from\nher high position as queen, and a collection of virgins was ordered\nthroughout the realm for the selection of a successor.\n\nThere lived at this time in Shushan a Jew named Mordecai, a descendant\nof Babylonish captives and who was a porter at the royal palace.\nMordecai, not having children, brought up Hadassah, his uncle\u2019s\ndaughter. Her life opened like a cactus flower on the thorny stem of\nthe captivity, but nevertheless is an exquisite jewel with a royally\nsuperb setting, and gleams and sparkles in Hebrew history.\n\nHer mother named her Hadassah, for the myrtle tree, which was not only\nbeautiful, with its glossy, dark-green leaves and luxuriant clusters of\nwhite bloom, but was useful for perfumery and spice. It was the emblem\nof justice, and bearing it may have added strength to her character.\nHer Persian name was Esther, for the planet Venus. Orientals held the\nmyrtle sacred to the goddess of Love.\n\nEsther, being fair and beautiful, was made choice of among other\nmaidens in this collection of virgins which had been ordered, and was\ncarried to the king\u2019s palace and there committed to the care of Hegai,\nand was assigned to the best apartments.\n\nThis captive young woman was discreet. Those who have great beauty do\nnot always have discretion. Depending upon the power of their personal\ncharms, they neglect to cultivate the mind and soul. Physical beauty,\nlike fruit, begins to decline as soon as it reaches its best. Mental\nand spiritual beauty grow with the years as long as the hygienic laws\nof grace are obeyed. But she was not only discreet, but also amiable.\nAmiability costs only self-control and unselfish love, and it is the\nbest possible investment. Genuine amiability is God\u2019s gift to those who\ntrust Him to cleanse them from all that is contrary to love.\n\nThen also this Hebrew maiden must have known severe discipline. She\nshowed its effect in the gentle deportment that won the favor of the\nofficers that guarded the king\u2019s harem. She submitted her taste in\ndress and ornament to the one who had the responsibility of preparing\nher for the royal presence, and in the docility with which she heeded\nthe advice of Mordecai.\n\nThese graces of mind and heart commended her to the king\u2019s favor and\nshe was advanced to higher honor, and subsequently, when Queen Vashti\nwas deposed, Esther was crowned in her stead. Thus she was raised at\nonce to the highest place that the world could give a woman at that\nday--as the queen and favorite of the mightiest monarch of his time.\n\nThis event was celebrated by a great feast which the king made to all\nhis princes, called Esther\u2019s feast, and which was attended with high\nhonor, and by the presentation of gifts, \u201caccording to the state of the\nking.\u201d\n\nAbout this time Haman, the chief minister or vizier of King Ahasuerus,\nwas promoted, so that his seat was \u201cabove all the princes.\u201d The Targum\nand Josephus interpret the description of Haman, the Agagite, as\nsignifying that he was of Amalekitish descent, the sworn enemies of\nthe Israelites in their march through the desert, and the sparing of\nwhom cost Saul, the first king of Israel, his crown. This Haman was the\nking\u2019s favorite, and all the under officers and servants were required\nto pay reverence unto him.\n\nBut there was one man who would not bow. This was Mordecai, the\nporter at the royal palace. He would not salute Haman, the idolatrous\ndescendent of the old enemies of his people. This greatly displeased\nHaman, but he scorned to lay hands on Mordecai, and knowing him to\nbe a Jew, resolved to destroy him and his people. He took council and\ndetermined by lot on the day for the accomplishment of his purpose.\n\nTo do this successfully he must deceive the king and entrap him to\ndo a wicked act. So he said to Ahasuerus, \u201cThere is a certain people\nscattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces\nof thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither\nkeep they the king\u2019s laws; therefore it is not for the king\u2019s profit\nto suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they\nbe destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the\nhands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into\nthe king\u2019s treasuries.\u201d And so this hateful Amalekite, by offering\nto pay into the king\u2019s treasury more than $10,000,000, obtained the\nroyal decree to put all the Israelites in the hundred and twenty-seven\nprovinces of Ahasuerus, extending from India to Ethiopia, to death.\n\nWhen Mordecai heard of the decree, he and the Hebrews made great\nlamentation, and he made Queen Esther acquainted with the plot to\ndestroy her people, and entreated her to go in unto the king and make\nsupplication for their rescue. At first she excused herself, but being\nled to understand that she, too, was included in the decree, she put\nher life on the hazard for the safety of her countrymen. It was no\nlight matter for the beautiful young queen to risk her life to save\nher people. Surrounded as she was by the luxury and elegance of that\nmagnificent Persian court, keenly alive to the charm of all lovely\nthings, it meant much for her to go down to the grave in the brilliant\nmorning of her youth.\n\nBut when Mordecai turned to her for help, he reminded her that she\nhad come to the kingdom for such a time as that. His faith asserted\nthat God would deliver His people; and, if she failed to do her part,\nshe and her father\u2019s house would perish. She said she would make the\nattempt. \u201cIf I perish, I perish,\u201d was her wail of submission.\n\nHowever, in her great undertaking, she displayed a humble dependence\nupon the God of Israel; she also showed great prudence and wisdom. She\nasked her people to fast and pray three days; and all her maidens--who\nwere selected, no doubt, on account of their sympathy with her\nfaith--would also fast and pray. When the books are opened it may\nappear that the Hebrews were led, through the deliverance that she\nwrought for them, to the penitence that made it possible for God to\ntake them back to the fatherland.\n\n[Illustration: ESTHER PLEADING FOR HER PEOPLE.]\n\nAt the end of the fast she put on her royal apparel and went unto the\nking while he was seated upon his throne. The first gleam of hope\nlighted up her distressed heart when Ahasuerus held out his golden\nsceptre.\n\nIt has been said that men\u2019s hearts are reached through their stomachs.\nWhether this was true of Ahasuerus, or whether Esther knew of this\navenue or not, she certainly showed great tact when she desired to\nmake a banquet for the king and his favorite prince, Haman, which the\nbeautiful queen would prepare, where he could then hear her request.\n\nIt would have been a most natural thing to do, after Esther had risked\nher life by going uncalled into the presence of the king, and when\nshe found him graciously disposed to partake of her feast, to throw\nherself at once upon his mercy, and beg for her life and the lives of\nher people. But no. She must have great power over him to get him to\nundertake the difficult task of setting aside one of his own decrees.\nProbably her faith in God was not yet strong enough for her to make a\nsure move. She saw that she was not yet sure of her ground, nor firm\nin her faith; so, when he made the great offer even of dividing his\nkingdom with her, she simply asked that he and Haman should honor her\nwith their presence at another banquet.\n\nDoubtless, as she sat at the second banquet with the perfect\nself-control that they have who rely only on God, having used every\ndevice to fortify her position in the good graces of the capricious\ndespot, her keen Hebrew insight weighed every light expression from his\nlips, although she knew a sword of doom hung over her jewel-crowned\nhead, and yet she was calm and self-contained, as if she had no thought\nbut to please him. Thus she led the king on until her power over him\nwas at its height, and when he again offered her half the kingdom, she\nasked only for her life and the lives of her people.\n\nIt must be that, although Haman was present at this banquet, he did\nnot hear the request of Queen Esther, for he went forth from the feast\n\u201cthat day joyful and with a glad heart.\u201d But when he saw Mordecai, in\nthe king\u2019s gate, and that he still refused to bow to him, \u201che was full\nof indignation.\u201d\n\nSo when he reached his own residence, he called his friends, and took\ncounsel with them, and they advised him to cause a gallows to be built,\neighty feet high, and to ask the next morning to have the king order\nMordecai to be hanged thereon.\n\nBut matters had taken a different turn at the palace. The king could\nnot sleep that night. To pass the long, wakeful hours, he called for\nthe reading of the records of the kingdom. As they were reading before\nthe king, it was found written in the chronicles of the conspiracy of\nBigthan and Terish, and that Mordecai had discovered the plot, and that\nnothing had been done for him as a reward.\n\nIn the meantime the morning drew on, and Haman had entered the court of\nthe palace to confer with the king about the hanging of Mordecai. We\ncan well believe the mind of Ahasuerus was in a bad frame to talk about\nhanging the man who had saved his life by discovering the plot of the\nking\u2019s chamberlains. But the king did not know what dark deeds were in\nthe heart of Haman as he ordered him to be called. When Haman came into\nthe presence of Ahasuerus, the king asked what should be done with the\nman whom he wanted to honor.\n\nThe king\u2019s favorite, who had just shared two private banquets with\nthe king, was so inflated with himself that he did not think there\nwas another man in the Persian empire in whom Ahasuerus would be so\ndelighted to honor as himself, so he advised that the royal apparel be\nbrought forth and the king\u2019s horse and his crown, and given to one of\nthe noble princes to array the man whom the king delighted to honor,\nand take him through the city on horseback with a proclamation, \u201cThis\nis the man whom the king delighteth to honor.\u201d\n\nThe command was given to Haman to thus honor Mordecai, which he did,\nwith not very good grace, for, when he had finished his task, he\n\u201chasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered,\u201d and\nrelated his mortification to his wife and friends.\n\nAfter all, for the moment at least, it must have seemed to Haman and\nhis friends as a strange act on the part of the king, for while they\nwere yet talking over the humiliation, the king\u2019s chamberlains came,\nrequesting Haman to hasten and come to the banquet Esther had prepared.\nIt must have seemed to Haman that Esther had really gone into the\nbanqueting business, so frequently had he been honored of late.\n\nWhen the king and Haman sat down to the banquet the king again asked\nEsther what was her petition. Whereupon she humbly prayed the king\nthat her life might be given her and her people, for a design was laid\nfor the destruction of her and her kindred. At which the king asked\nwith much anger who it was that durst do this thing. She told him that\nHaman, then present, was the author of the wicked plot, and she laid\nthe whole scheme open to the king. Who can tell how much her own chance\nof salvation depended on her courage, self-control and tact? A look,\neven the droop of an eye-lid, might have betrayed her into the hands\nof the most cringing and unscrupulous of royal favorites, and sent her\nand her whole race to their death. But God held her steady in nerve and\ngrowing in faith, as He does all who put their whole trust in Him.\n\nThe king rose up with much wrath from the banquet and walked out into\nthe garden.\n\nHaman saw his opportunity. Quickly he stood up to plead for his life.\nPerceiving that there was evil determined against him by the king, he\nprostrated himself before the queen upon the couch on which she was\nsitting to supplicate for his life; in which position the king found\nhim on his return.\n\nThe motive for Haman\u2019s unhappy attitude before the queen was\nmisunderstood by the king, and he spoke in great passion, \u201cWhat, will\nhe force the queen before me in the house!\u201d\n\nAt which words the servants present immediately covered Haman\u2019s face,\nas was the usage to condemned persons, and the chamberlain, who had\ncalled Haman to the banquet, acquainted the king with the gallows he\nsaw in his house there prepared for Mordecai, who had saved the king\u2019s\nlife.\n\nThe king ordered Haman should be forthwith hanged thereon, which was\naccordingly done. A feast was then consecrated in commemoration of the\ndeliverance of the Jews, called the feast of Purim.\n\nThis story of Esther, which has in it the real romance of life, has\nalso a consummate blending of works and faith. Preparing a banquet of\nevery luxury that could please a dangerous tyrant, and at the same time\nfasting and praying in heart-humbling agony for Divine deliverance.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nWomanhood in the Time of the Saviour\u2019s Nativity.\n\n  AN ANGEL BY THE ALTAR OF INCENSE--HIS MESSAGE--AN ISRAELITISH\n    HOME--IN THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH--THE DESERT TEACHER--THE\n    ANNUNCIATION--THE VISIT OF MARY TO ELIZABETH--MARY\u2019S\n    MAGNIFICAT--JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM--THE NATIVITY--HOME LIFE IN\n    NAZARETH--AFTER SCENES IN MARY\u2019S LIFE--HER RESIDENCE AND DEATH\n    AT EPHESUS--THE PROPHETESS ANNA--HER WAITING FOR REDEMPTION IN\n    JERUSALEM--THE LESSON OF HER PURE AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE.\n\n\nIsaiah, looking adown the ages to the coming of Christ\u2019s Kingdom,\nlikened it to waters breaking out in the wilderness and streams in\nthe desert. For centuries there was no voice of prophet in Israel\nor revelation from God to His chosen people, when suddenly the long\nsilence was broken. It was in the days of Herod the Great, when sin and\nmisery had reached their climax, and when the yearning for Messiah\u2019s\nappearance was more intensely felt than ever. The Temple, so often\nthe scene of the manifestation of the glory of God, became again the\ncentre, whence the first rays of light secretly break through the\ndarkness.\n\nOne of the priests, named Zacharias, while performing his duty in\nthe service of the sanctuary, burning incense before the Lord, had a\nvision, in which he was assured that his prayer was heard, and great\ndistinction conferred upon him in a twofold answer: First, the Messiah\nshall indeed appear in his days; and, secondly, that he shall himself\nbe the father of the forerunner, who is to prepare His way--an honor\nhe could not have ventured to anticipate. What human tongue could have\nforetold it to him, or how could he have ventured to hearken to the\nvoice of his own heart, without direct revelation? Zacharias sought\nfirst the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all other things\nwere added to him.\n\nIn the service of the sanctuary the burning of incense before the\nLord was considered exceedingly important and honorable. The people\nwere accustomed to unite in the outer court in silent supplication,\nwhile the priest in the sanctuary offered the incense, which was ever\nregarded as the symbol of acceptable prayer.\n\nRemaining longer in the sanctuary than was strictly necessary, the\npeople, who were waiting in the outer court of the Temple, feared\nthat some misfortune, or sign of the divine displeasure, had befallen\nhim, for they \u201cmarveled that he tarried so long.\u201d And when he finally\nappeared \u201che could not speak.\u201d While standing before the altar,\nawaiting the signal to sift the precious incense, a heavenly messenger\nappeared unto him. When Zacharias saw the angel he was troubled, and\nfear fell upon him. The heavenly messenger quickly answered, \u201cFear not,\nZacharias, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear\nthee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.\u201d\n\nBoth Zacharias and Elizabeth were of the priestly race, and he himself\nwas a priest of the course of Abia, and she was of the daughters of\nAaron. Both, too, were devout persons, walking in the commandments of\nGod, and waiting for the fulfillment of His promise to Israel. But in\nthe midst of the glorious revelations the angel had made, strange to\nsay, Zacharias had asked for some sign or confirmation of the glad\ntidings. The angel answered, \u201cI am Gabriel\u201d (the Might of God) \u201cand,\nbehold, thou shalt be dumb.\u201d As faith is to be the chief condition\nof the new covenant, it was needful that the first manifestation of\nunbelief should be emphatically punished, but the wound inflicted\nbecomes a healing medicine to the soul. The aged priest was constrained\nto much silent reflection, and, according to the counsel of God, the\nsecret was still kept for a time.\n\nThere is here a remarkable coincidence between Zacharias and Abraham on\nthe one side, and Elizabeth and Sarah on the other; not only in the\nfact of their lack of an heir during so many years, but also in the\nframe of mind in which they at length received the heavenly message.\nIn these parallel histories, the man of the olden times is strong in\nthe faith, the woman weak; while under the new covenant it is the man\nwhose faith falters. On the very threshold of the new dispensation\nwoman, in the person of Elizabeth, takes her place in the foreground\nby the heroism of a living faith. It is also quite in keeping with\nDivine wisdom that in this case unbelief in view of the rising sun of\nthe gospel salvation is much more severely punished than under the old\ndispensation.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANGEL\u2019S MESSAGE.]\n\nThe sight of Zacharias struck dumb awakened among the people an\nexpectation of some great and heavenly event; soon will \u201cthe things\u201d\ndone in the priest\u2019s house be \u201cnoised abroad throughout all the hill\ncountry of Judea,\u201d and the voice of \u201chim that crieth\u201d shall soon\nresound over hill and valley.\n\nThe sacred duties performed, retirement was next in order. As a priest,\nin the \u201ccourse of Abia,\u201d the twenty-four courses in the services of the\ntemple relieved each other weekly, each course ministering during a\nwhole week. So Zacharias and Elizabeth leave Jerusalem for their home\namong the picturesque hills of Judea, south-west of Bethlehem. How\nbeautiful are the pictures of these Israelitish homes into which the\nBible bids us so often to look. The familiar vine and fig-tree; the\nflower-planted courts; the waterpots filled for quenching thirst; the\nbasin and towel and servant to bathe the heated, often dust-covered,\nfeet; the domestic scene morning and evening in the grinding of the\nfood in the familiar hand-mill, the work always performed by the women;\nthe delightful views from the housetops in the cool of the evening;\nthe maidens busy in filling the waterpots; the halting of visitors\nin the outer court, waiting for some damsel to open the door; the\nthousand little touches of real life which are always so charming to\nthe observer. In addition to these outward signs, the good manners and\npropriety, the atmosphere of true courtesy; the youth rising up before\nthe hoary head; the child learning at his mother\u2019s knee, or inquiring\nof father or elder; a joyousness, such as a mind at peace with God only\ncan exert, are all manifest in these Bible pictures which ages can not\ndim. Yet most striking are the proofs that in every household children\nwere desired, and gladly welcomed.\n\nNotwithstanding a barren wife in an Israelitish home was often a cause\nfor divorce, Zacharias was pre-eminently a man of hope. As a pious\nhusband and lover, he had faithfully and tenderly clung to his beloved\nElizabeth through the long years of youth and middle age, and even\nafter hope had died out of their longing hearts. Both had learned \u201cthe\npatience of unanswered prayer\u201d--a lesson not easily mastered by the\nbravest of us. But now the hope was to be realized, the \u201creproach among\nmen\u201d was to be taken away. In that home among the hills of Judea was to\nbe a child in the arms of its mother. The name of the child, and he a\nson, was to be John (Jehovah shows grace). Many homes would rejoice in\nhis birth, and he would be God\u2019s man, eating nothing to inflame carnal\npassions, and filled with the Holy Spirit, he would become prophet\nand reformer. The grossly literal hope of the people for Elijah\u2019s\nappearance in the flesh would be spiritually fulfilled, for Elizabeth\u2019s\nson was to have the spirit and the power of the Tishbite; and thus\ngifted of the Almighty, was to be the forerunner of the Christ. All\nthat was spoken of the Messiah\u2019s messenger by Isaiah, as \u201cthe voice of\none crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His\npaths straight,\u201d and by Malachi, \u201cBehold, I will send my messenger, and\nhe shall prepare the way before me,\u201d were fulfilled in this son of many\nprayers.\n\nIn due time he was born, and on the eighth day, in conformity with the\nlaw of Moses, was brought to the priest for circumcision, and, as the\nperformance of this rite was the accustomed time for naming a child,\nthe friends of the family proposed to call him Zacharias after the\nname of his father. The mother, however, required that he should be\ncalled John--a decision which Zacharias, still speechless, confirmed\nby writing on a tablet, \u201chis name is John.\u201d The judgment on his want\nof faith was then withdrawn, and the first use which he made of his\nrecovered speech, was to praise Jehovah for his faithfulness and mercy,\na proof that the cure had taken place in his soul also.\n\nA single verse contains all that we know of Elizabeth\u2019s child of\npromise for the space of thirty years--the whole period which elapsed\nbetween his birth and the commencement of his public ministry. The\nrecord is, \u201cThe child grew and waxed strong in the spirit, and was in\nthe desert till the day of his showing unto Israel.\u201d But we must not\nforget that through his childhood and youth he was under the care of a\nwise, loving mother. Elizabeth\u2019s unfaltering faith and prudent counsel,\nwe must believe, exerted a lasting influence over this child of the\ndesert.\n\nThe child thus supernaturally born, was surely a sign that God was\nagain visiting His people. His providence, so long hidden, seemed once\nmore about to manifest itself in the person of Elizabeth\u2019s son, who,\ndoubtless must be commissioned to perform some important part in the\nhistory of the chosen people. Could it be the Messiah? Could it be\nElijah? Was the era of their old prophets about to be restored? With\nsuch grave thoughts were the minds of the people occupied, as they\nmused on the events which had been passing under their eyes, and said\none to another, \u201cWhat manner of child shall this be?\u201d\n\nSo when John passed out from under the wise training of Elizabeth, his\nreputation for extraordinary sanctity, and the generally prevailing\nexpectation that some great one was about to appear, were sufficient\nto attract to him a great multitude from \u201cevery quarter.\u201d Brief and\nstartling was his first exhortation to them, \u201cRepent ye, for the\nkingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d His preaching of repentance, however,\nmeant more than a mere legal ablution or expiation, it meant a change\nof heart and life. While such was his solemn admonition to the\nmultitude at large, he adopted towards the leading sects of the Jews a\nseverer tone, denouncing Pharisees and Sadducees alike as \u201ca generation\nof vipers,\u201d and warning them of the folly of trusting to external\nprivileges as descendants of Abraham. He plainly told them, \u201cthe axe\nwas laid to the root of the tree,\u201d that formal righteousness would be\nno longer tolerated. Such alarming declarations produced their effect,\nand many of every class pressed forward to confess their sins and to\naccept John\u2019s ministry.\n\nThis son of Elizabeth is one of the most striking characters in the\nBible. Destined from before his birth to be a prophet, his life was\nworthy of his high office. Pure, unsullied, earnest, fearless, humble,\nhe much resembled his great predecessor, Elijah. Like him, he was an\nascetic, and like him, he had his time of fearless outspeaking and\nof reproval of kings, and hypocrites; and like him, also, a time of\ndepression, as when he sent to Christ to ask, \u201cArt thou He that should\ncome, or shall we look for another?\u201d\n\nA noble example of the fearless manner in which he proclaimed the truth\nis illustrated in the denunciation of the unlawful marriage of Herod\nAntipas, the Tetrarch. He had married a daughter of Aretas, King of\nPetra, but seeing Herodias, the wife of his half brother, Philip, he\nbecame infatuated with her, divorced his own wife and married Herodias,\nwho abandoned Philip to marry him. Herodias was a grand-daughter of\nHerod the Great. This unprincipled woman wrought the ruin of Herod\nAntipas. Aretas, angry at the treatment of his daughter, made war upon\nHerod. John reproved Herod for all this, and he evidently had not\nminced words. Neither had he spoken in such low whispers that he might\nseem to others to disapprove the crime, but still escape the notice of\nthe king. He thundered out his denunciations in a way to make even the\nroyal couple alarmed, and caused them to shut John up in prison, lest\nhis growing popularity should undermine the security of Herod\u2019s throne.\nAnd then Herodias secured the execution of John, which angered the\nJews, for they counted John as a prophet and held the subsequent defeat\nof Herod by Aretas as a judgment upon him for this wicked deed.\n\nSuch, in brief was the son of the most highly and signally honored\nWoman in White Raiment in sacred history, Mary, the mother of Jesus,\nonly excepted. The strong faith of the pious Elizabeth, as developed\nin her noble son, has been a blessing to the whole race of man. The\nclear shining faith to grasp the promises of God are most beautifully\nexemplified in the pure, self-sacrificing, and devoted life of\nElizabeth.\n\nClosely related to the events in the life of Elizabeth, as just\nnarrated, is the birth of our blessed Lord.\n\nThere is no person in sacred or in profane literature around whom so\nmany legends have been grouped as around the Virgin Mary, and there\nare few whose authentic history is more concise. Doubtless the very\nsimplicity of the sacred narrative has been one cause of the abundance\nof the legendary matter of which she forms the central figure.\nAccording to the genealogy given by Luke, which is that of Mary, her\nfather\u2019s name was Heli. She was, like Joseph, her husband, of the tribe\nof Judah, and of the house and lineage of David. We are informed that\nat the time of the angel\u2019s visitation she was betrothed to Joseph and\nwas therefore regarded by the Jewish law and custom as his wife, though\nhe had not yet a husband\u2019s rights over her.\n\nThe angel Gabriel, who had appeared to Zacharias in the Temple,\nappeared to her and announced that she was to be the mother of the\nlong-expected Messiah; that in Him the prophecies relative to David\u2019s\nthrone and kingdom should be accomplished; and that his name was to be\ncalled Jesus. He further informed her, perhaps as a sign by which she\nmight convince herself that his prediction with regard to herself would\ncome true, that her relative Elizabeth was about to be blessed in the\nbirth of a child.\n\nIt appears that Mary at once set off to visit Elizabeth in her home\nin the hill country of Judea. When she had reached her destination,\nand immediately on her entrance into the house, she was saluted by\nElizabeth as the mother of our Lord, and had evidence of the truth\nof the angel\u2019s saying with regard to her cousin Elizabeth, Mary then\nembodied her feelings of exultation and thankfulness in the hymn known\nunder the name of the _Magnificat_. The hymn is founded on Hannah\u2019s\nsong of thankfulness (1 Sam. ii, 1-10), and exhibits an intimate\nknowledge of the Psalms, prophetical writings and books of Moses, from\nwhich sources almost every expression in it is drawn.\n\nIn approaching this exquisite bit of Hebrew poetry uttered by Mary we\nmay profitably consider, first, its beauty of expression; and second,\nits nobility and grandeur of sentiment. The hymn consists of four\nstanzas of four lines each, and its literary character is best brought\nout by a translation which so arranges it. The first stanza reads:\n\n  My soul doth magnify the Lord,\n  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,\n  Because He hath looked upon the humility of His bondmaiden;\n  For behold, from henceforth all generations shall pronounce me\n    blessed.\n\nIn this stanza three points of parallelism appear in the first two\nlines. In the first occurs the word \u201csoul,\u201d and in the second the\nword \u201cspirit,\u201d which we understand to be but different designations\nof the same elements of our natures. Whatever difference in the use\nof these terms in other places it is evident that here according to\nthe ordinary requirements of Hebrew poetry, the two words are chosen\nbecause of their similarity in meaning. The other synonymous terms are\nthe words \u201cmagnify\u201d and \u201crejoice;\u201d \u201cthe Lord\u201d and \u201cGod my Saviour.\u201d\nThus is introduced the so-called Magnificat. The characteristic of\nHebrew poetry is not that it is arranged in rhyme and measured feet,\nbut in the grander rhythm belonging to parallelisms of thought. Such\na rhythm has far more freedom and force than that which consists of\nmere similarity of measure and sound. Hence it is that the poetry of\nthe Bible is so readily translated into other languages, and loses so\nlittle of its force in the process; whereas poetry which depends upon\nthe peculiarities of any given language is incapable of translation.\nThe essential thing in Hebrew poetry is sublimity of thought and\ndiction, accompanied by a substantial repetition of the sentiment in\nterms that are nearly synonymous. The thoughts are thus held before the\nmind till it can fully see their grandeur and beauty, and receive those\nshades of impression which come from repeated efforts at statement.\n\nIn the second couplet of the above stanza Mary gives the reason for\nher rejoicing. She was of humble origin, and, before her neighbors and\nfriends, was to be humbled still further. But, as is so often the case,\nwhat was Mary\u2019s extremity was God\u2019s opportunity, and He was to glorify\nHimself by making the weak things of the earth confound the mighty. As\nHe brought Moses from the wilderness and David from the sheepfold, so\nwas He to bring Mary from the seclusion of Nazareth and the humiliation\nin the stable at Bethlehem to a position of honor attained by no other\nwoman, and all generations were henceforth to call her blessed.\n\nThe second stanza reads:\n\n  For the Mighty One hath done great things for me;\n  And Holy is His name.\n  And His mercy is unto generations and generations\n  Of them that fear Him.\n\nHere the great things spoken of as done to Mary (in the first line)\ncorrespond, or rather constitute, the mercy (of the third line) which\nflows forth from the gospel from age to age; and the holiness of His\nname mentioned in the second is that characteristic of God which evokes\nthe fear mentioned in the fourth line.\n\nThe third stanza may be literally rendered as follows:\n\n  He hath exercised the strength which is in His arm;\n  He hath scattered abroad those who were proud by reason of the\n    thoughts of their hearts;\n  He hath cast princes down from their thrones, and exalted the lowly,\n  The hungry hath He filled with good things, and the rich hath He sent\n    empty away.\n\nIn this, as all through the hymn, we have the flavor of Hebraistic\nforms of speech. In their poetical conceptions they did not think of\nGod as an abstract being, but as having a mighty arm with which He\nswayed the nations and dashed their foolish plans in pieces, as one\nmight break a potter\u2019s vessel with a rod of iron. How little do men\nknow the flimsiness of the schemes which they organize against the Lord\nand His anointed! The third and fourth lines of this stanza contain a\ndouble parallelism and a twofold antithesis. He casts down the kings\nand lifts up the lowly people; He fills to fullness the hungry, and\nsends the rich away empty.\n\nIn the fourth stanza we read:\n\n  He hath taken hold to help with Israel His servant,\n  In order that He might call to mind the mercy characteristic of His\n    nature\n  (According as He hath spoken unto our fathers)\n  To Abraham and his seed for ever.\n\nWhat a glorious conception this is of Israel, the hero of God, and\nwho was not a servant, but a son, for that is the true meaning of the\nword rendered \u201cservant.\u201d The word is also one of endearment. And so we\nare reminded, in the second line, of His tender mercy. The only mercy\nof which He could have spoken to our fathers was His own, expressing\nitself in the whole scheme of salvation as revealed in the Bible. It\nwas a peculiar plan of mercy revealed to Abraham and his spiritual\ndescendants.\n\nSuch, in brief, are the noble conceptions and the lofty figures of\nspeech of this exquisite hymn of Mary. And we ask involuntarily,\nWhence comes it that so humble a maiden should thus in the beauty of\nher diction and the sublimity of her conceptions have rivaled, if not\neclipsed, all the poets both of ancient and modern times?\n\nIt might seem a short answer to this question to say that Mary was\ninspired. But such an answer does not satisfy the reasoning mind. God\nin His wisdom does not ordinarily see fit to disregard the secondary\ncauses which He has created. We are led to look, therefore, to the\ncharacter and condition of Mary herself as a partial explanation of\nthe character of this piece of literature. And, upon examining the\nhymn, we find that it is largely composed of sentences from the Old\nTestament, embodying the Messianic expectations of the Jewish people.\nIt sounds like an echo, not only of David\u2019s and Hannah\u2019s, but also of\nMiriam\u2019s, and of Deborah\u2019s harps; yet independently reproduced in the\nmind of a woman, who had laid up and kept in her heart what she had\nread in Holy Scripture. Out from the large body of sacred literature\nwhich was the rare heritage of her people, she had extracted that\nwhich was best and noblest and most appropriate. We do not, however,\ndeny the direct inspiration of this hymn; but we would emphasize the\nbroader conceptions of Providence, how the Holy Spirit can use a mind\nwell stored with the deep things of God, as evidently was the mind of\nMary, for, from beginning to end, this hymn assumes a sympathizing\nacquaintance with the history of the Jewish people, and of all the\nnoble conceptions of the Deity with which the history of that people\nhas made the world familiar.\n\nThe unity of God is assumed without question. It is the Lord Jehovah\nthat her soul magnifies. It is the only true God her Saviour in which\nher spirit rejoices. Nor is it a God of mere power, but a God of love\nand tenderness, whom she adores. It is one who has regard not for men\nalone and the great ones of the earth, but for the humble woman who\noccupies the most contracted sphere that falls to the lot of any. And\nin this the power of the God she adores appears pre-eminent, for he is\nable to make great things out of small. It was He who took Israel as a\nlittle vine and made him a great nation. It was He that multiplied the\nwidow\u2019s cruse of oil and handful of meal till she had a superabundance.\nIt was He who lifted Rahab out of her wicked and heathen surroundings\nand placed her in the line of royal women in whom all the families of\nearth were to be blessed. It is He that notes the sparrow\u2019s fall, that\nnumbers the hairs of our heads, that hears the prayers we offer in\nsecret when the door is shut, and that rewards us openly. It is He that\ncan exalt the humblest life and make it gleam with the sunshine of His\nown glory. \u201cNot many mighty, not many noble, are called ... but ... God\nhath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which\nare mighty ... yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the\nthings that are.\u201d\n\nOnly such a God could lift on high so humble a maiden, and turn upon\nher the gaze of all the nations of the earth. But the God of Israel\nwell might do it, for He is the Mighty One, and able to do great\nthings, and His mercy is upon them that fear Him from generation\nto generation. In Israel\u2019s deliverance from Egypt and in all their\nsubsequent history, He had shown the strength of His arm. The wrecks of\nthe nations that opposed Him strew the whole pathway of history. And as\nHe raised Joseph from prison and exalted Daniel from the lion\u2019s den,\nso should He ever lift up the meek, and help His servant Israel, and\nremember His promises to Abraham and His seed forever. Only one who is\nfamiliar with such a history could write such a hymn. Surely it is a\ngreat thing to be educated into such thoughts as these. To breathe in\nsuch sentiments in the very atmosphere of one\u2019s home and in the social\ncircles in which one daily moves is the highest of earthly privileges.\nIt is only in such a hymn as this of Mary that we get a proper\nconception of the grandeur and nobleness of the thoughts underlying\nHebrew history. In her Magnificat, Mary breathed the thoughts of those\nthat surrounded her. From the days of pious Hannah down to those of\nElizabeth, the women of Israel had been moved by such longings and\nanimated by such hopes as have never been possible to any other people.\nThey had the promise made in Eden that the seed of the woman should\nbruise the head of the serpent who led the world astray. And now to\nher, to this humble virgin of Israel, had the fulfillment of this\npromise come, and truly blessed was she among women. For here was the\nperformance of those things which had been told her from the Lord. The\ngreat crisis of the world\u2019s history had arrived, and she was the chosen\nchannel through which the hope of the nations was come.\n\nO, blessed Woman in White Raiment, may thy hymn of praise, divinely\ninspired, be often upon our lips, and the sweetness of its precious\ntruths continually in our hearts!\n\nThe words of the angel in respect to Elizabeth having been confirmed by\nthis personal visit of Mary to her home in the hill country of Judea,\nshe returned to Nazareth.\n\nSoon after this the decree of Augustus, the Roman emperor, that all the\nworld should be taxed, was promulgated, and Joseph and Mary traveled to\nBethlehem to have their names enrolled in the registers of their tribe.\nIt would seem that the Israelites still clung to their genealogies and\ntribal relations, and, though the undertaking was a severe strain upon\nMary, and notwithstanding, according to the Roman custom, her name\ncould have been enrolled without her personal presence, this woman,\nwho was to be the most blessed of women, greatly preferred to accompany\nher husband on this journey of over seventy miles, much of the way up\nand down steep, rocky hills. Traveling in the East, under its most\nfavorable conditions, is a slow, tiresome affair, especially for women.\nBut Mary drudged along the mountain path, in company with her husband,\nall the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her love for the city of David\nseems to have overcome all difficulties. Possibly a contemplative mind\nlike hers may have perceived that this decree of C\u00e6sar Augustus was but\nan instrument, in the hand of Providence, to fulfill ancient prophecy\nwith respect to the birthplace of the Messiah, for Micah had declared\nthat out of Bethlehem Ephratah, though little among the thousands of\nJudah, \u201cyet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler\nin Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.\u201d\nSo, while it would seem that an arbitrary decree decided where Christ\nis to be born, God had manifested His wisdom in the choice of the\ntime, place and circumstances, and was faithful in the fulfillment of\nthe word of prophecy, ever carrying out His plans through the free\nacts of men. In this instance the great Roman C\u00e6sar, even without his\nknowledge, became an official agent in the kingdom of God.\n\nSo it came to pass, in the fullness of time, and in the beloved city of\nDavid, Bethlehem Ephratah, Mary brought forth the Saviour of the world,\nand humbly laid Him in a manger. Here, amid these humble surroundings,\nin the stall of an inn, among the beasts, was the advent of the Son of\nGod, the Saviour of the world. And, behold, the Life which was to lift\n\u201cempires off their hinges\u201d and turn the \u201cstream of centuries out of\nits course\u201d--a life which was to revolutionize the world and transform\nhumanity--had begun.\n\nThe place where the inn stood is now occupied by an enormous pile of\nbuildings, known as the \u201cChurch of the Nativity.\u201d Down in the crypt of\nthis church, reached by fifteen stone steps, and in the eastern wall\nof it, is a silver star, around which are the words: \u201c_Hic de Virgine\nMaria Jesus Christus natus est_\u201d--\u201cHere Jesus Christ was born of the\nVirgin Mary.\u201d One can not with indifference behold such a spot as this.\nTo us it was a sacred and hallowed place, and we felt subdued and\nreverent while beholding the place where began the greatest life earth\nhas ever contained. To the Christian, Bethlehem stands first among\nthe holiest places on the face of the globe, and we were hushed into\nreverence by its sacred associations and charmed by its natural beauty.\n\nThe \u201cinn,\u201d the scene of the nativity, stood on the crest of a hill that\nrapidly falls away to a valley seven hundred feet below. At its base\nis the \u201cwell\u201d for the waters of which David so greatly longed. On the\nopposite side is a hill still more precipitous than the one on which\nBethlehem stands. The little valley between the hills gradually opens\nout eastward, where once stood the wheatfields of Boaz, in which Ruth\ngleaned after the reapers. Just beyond this, scarcely a mile from the\n\u201ccity of David,\u201d is the field where the shepherds were \u201ckeeping watch\nover their flock by night, when lo, the angel of the Lord came upon\nthem,\u201d with this glad proclamation, \u201cBehold, I bring you good tidings\nof great joy, which shall be to all people.\u201d Then suddenly night\nwas turned into day by the radiant brightness of a multitude of the\nheavenly host, filling earth and sky with their song:\n\n  \u201cGlory to God in the highest,\n  Peace on earth, good-will to men.\u201d\n\nThe visit of the shepherds to the inn, the circumcision and\npresentation in the Temple, the visit and adoration of the wise men who\nsaw His star in far off Persia, the cruel massacre of the children of\nBethlehem by Herod, and the flight into Egypt, are rather scenes in the\nlife of Christ than that of his mother, and are fully described in \u201cTHE\nCHRIST LIFTED UP.\u201d\n\nHowever, in passing, it may be well to pause long enough to observe\nhow the presentation in the Temple brings the limited circumstances of\nJoseph and Mary to our notice. The custom of ceremonial purification\nby a Jewish mother in the sanctuary with a sacrifice is fully stated\nin Lev. xii. Two offerings were required, a burnt and a sin offering.\nWhen Mary presented herself with her babe in the court of the women,\nin the Temple, the proper offering was a lamb for a burnt offering,\nand a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin offering; but with that\nbeautiful tenderness which is so marked a characteristic of the Mosaic\nlaw, those who were too poor for so comparatively costly an offering\nwere allowed to bring instead two turtle-doves or two young pigeons.\nMary, instead of the lamb and dove, brought the offering of the\npoor--two doves. With this offering in her hand, she presented herself\nto the priest.\n\nOne incident more occurs in the presentation in the Temple. At the\nmoment when Mary had completed her consecration, an old man came\ntottering through the throng. It was the aged Simeon, \u201cjust and devout,\nwaiting for the consolation of Israel.\u201d Taking from Mary\u2019s arms her\nprecious infant, and, as with face aglow and eyes kindled with heavenly\nfire, in speaking his holy rapture, one passage is specially directed\nto her, \u201cYea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.\u201d This\n\u201csword,\u201d we must believe, entered her heart as later she saw her Son on\nthe cross.\n\nIn the return from Egypt after the death of Herod the Great, it appears\nto have been the intention of Joseph to have settled at Bethlehem at\nthis time, as his home at Nazareth had now been broken up for a year or\nmore, intending there to rear the infant King, at his own royal city,\nuntil the time should come when he would sit upon David\u2019s throne and\nrestore the fallen kingdom to its ancient splendor. But \u201cwhen he heard\nthat Archelaus did reign in Judea,\u201d he turned aside into Nazareth, as\nwell he might, if he knew the life and character of the new prince,\nthinking, no doubt, the child\u2019s life would be safer in the tetrarchy of\nAntipas than in that of Archelaus.\n\nHenceforward, until the beginning of our Lord\u2019s ministry, so far as is\nknown, Mary lived in Nazareth, in a humble sphere of life, the wife\nof Joseph the carpenter, pondering over the sayings of the angels,\nof the shepherds, of Simeon, and those of her Son, as the latter\n\u201cincreased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.\u201d Two\ncircumstances alone, so far as we know, broke in on the otherwise even\nflow of her life. One of these was the loss of Jesus out of the company\nof the homeward journey, when he remained behind at Jerusalem upon the\noccasion of His first visit to the Temple. His mother is the first to\nspeak. \u201cSon,\u201d she said, \u201cwhy hast thou thus dealt with us?\u201d His reply\ngave the keynote of His life, \u201cWist ye not that I must be about my\nFathers business?\u201d The other was the death of Joseph. The exact date\nof this last event we can not determine. But it was probably not long\nafter the other.\n\nFrom this time on Mary is withdrawn almost wholly from sight. Four\ntimes only is the veil removed, which is thrown over her, and surely\nnot without reason.\n\n1. The first is at the marriage of Cana. It is thought from the\ninterest Mary took in it that the bride or bridegroom, were friends, if\nnot relatives of the family. \u201cAnd Jesus was called, and His disciples.\u201d\nThe disciples were invited out of respect for their Lord. This\nunexpected addition to the company may have been the cause of Mary\u2019s\nevident embarrassment, and she appeals to her Son by saying, \u201cThey have\nno wine.\u201d It is impossible to know all that was in her heart. Possibly\nfrom the Jordan had come wonderful news concerning her Son which had\ninspired her with the hope that now at least, after so long waiting,\nthe time of His manifestation was at hand. What if He should use the\npresent opportunity to show His power! Might she not at least mention\nit to Him? But, mark His answer, \u201cWoman, what have I to do with thee?\u201d\nWhile His reply, in the original, does not have in it the severity it\nhas in the plain English, yet He would have her understand that in\nHis divine character He could not acknowledge her, nor be influenced\nby her suggestions. Henceforth there must be room between her and Him\nfor His Father. And so He told her with all the tenderness that words\nand looks could convey that the matter she hinted at was a matter\nbetween Him and His Father. Mary quickly acceded to this. By woman\u2019s\nenlightened intuition she perceived His meaning, and so she said to\nthe servants, \u201cWhatsoever He saith unto you do it.\u201d In confident\nexpectation, she believed He would supply the need. Her beautiful faith\nin Him was unshaken.\n\n2. The second time Mary comes to view is in the attempt which she and\nothers made to speak with Jesus in the midst of His conflict with the\nScribes and Pharisees at Capernaum, when they sought to destroy His\ngood name and influence by applying that most horrible and loathsome\nepithet, \u201cHe had Beelzebub.\u201d We can hardly realize what satanic forces\nwere massed against Jesus at that time. And Mary, who probably, with\nsome friends, stood on the outside of the crowd, became alarmed, and\nwould rescue Him from the malice of His enemies. So she sent a message,\nwhich probably was handed on from one person to another, begging Him\nto allow His friends to speak to Him. Again He refuses to admit any\nprivilege on account of their relationship. \u201cWho is my mother, and who\nare my brethren?\u201d He loved His mother, but infinite wisdom saw best\nthat she must in no way influence His divine work, which He could not\nshare with another and be the Saviour of the world. He must tread the\nwinepress of men\u2019s malice alone.\n\n3. The third time Mary comes to our notice is at the foot of the\ncross. She was standing there with Mary Magdalene, Salome, and other\nwomen, having no doubt followed her Son as she was able throughout\nthat terrible morning of our Lord\u2019s several trials. It was now three\no\u2019clock in the afternoon, and He was about to expire. Standing near the\ncompany of the women was John, and, with almost His last words, Christ\ncommended His mother to the care of this disciple. And from that hour,\nJohn assures us, he took her to his home. If, by \u201cthat hour,\u201d John\nmeans immediately after the words were spoken, Mary was not present at\nthe last scene of all. The sword had sufficiently pierced her soul,\nand she was spared the hearing of the last loud cries and the sight of\nthe bowed head. However we might have understood His relation to Mary,\nwhile the great scheme of human redemption was being wrought out, He\nnow turns in beautiful and touching tenderness to her, who tenderly\nloved Him, even when she could not fully understand His work.\n\n4. The fourth and last time Mary is brought to our view is in the\ncompany of the one hundred and twenty believers, assembled at\nJerusalem, waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit. This is the\nlast view we have of her. The Word of God leaves her engaged in prayer\nin the \u201cupper room,\u201d with the women, and with His brethren. From this\npoint forward we know nothing of her. It is very probable the rest of\nher life was spent in the home of John, cherished with the tenderness\nwhich her sensitive soul would have specially needed, and which she\nundoubtedly found in him who had borne the distinction of \u201cthat\ndisciple whom Jesus loved.\u201d\n\nWhen the disciples \u201cwere scattered abroad\u201d after the martyrdom of\nStephen, and the apostles assumed the charge of important centres, we\nread of John being minister of the church at Ephesus. No doubt Mary\nremoved with John to Ephesus, where, tradition says, she died, and\nwhere she was buried. Probably she died before John was banished to\nPatmos. While at Ephesus, we visited her sepulchre. It is on the north\nside of Mt. Prion, half way up the mountain side. The tomb is cut out\nof the solid rock, and in full view of the church, which doubtless she\nloved so well.\n\nWe have already dwelt at considerable length upon the beautiful\ncharacter of Mary in connection with her song of rejoicing in the house\nof Elizabeth and known as the Magnificat. So far as Mary is portrayed\nto us in the Scripture, she is, as we should have expected, the most\ntender, the most faithful, humble, patient and loving of women, but a\nwoman still, and how she herself regarded her relation to her divine\nSon is best expressed in her own words:\n\n  \u201cMy soul doth magnify the Lord,\n  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE MINISTRY AT EPHESUS.]\n\nNo doubt she was a comfort in the home of John. The dark shadows of the\ncross were dissipated when she saw Jesus alive after His resurrection,\nand communed with Him, and, doubtless, saw Him ascend to heaven in a\ncloud, and had heard the angels assure His disciples, as they had seen\nHim depart, in like manner He would come again. She was comforted in\nthe wonderful scene at Pentecost, when three thousand acknowledged\nJesus as their Saviour as well as her Saviour. She lived to see the\nGospel spread through Judea and Samaria, and the great centres in Asia\nMinor. She had nobly done her work at Jerusalem and at Ephesus--had\ntold, as none could tell it, the sweet story of the infant Jesus and\nher glorified Saviour. On account of her presence there was a strange\ninterest about the services of the great church at Ephesus, because the\nmother of Jesus was among the worshippers. Even the life and ministry\nof the beloved John was made richer because of her helpful presence.\n\nBut now she is growing old. Her earthly mission is drawing to a close.\nShe can not stay longer to bless the people who had learned to love\nher. Indeed, her affections had already stolen away and preceded her\nupward. The glad day has come for her to go. Her weary feet will\nsoon stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. The low murmur of voices\nand the subdued sobbing of loved ones around her she heeds not, as\na strange light breaks upon her, and she hears celestial symphonies\nfrom the glory shore. White-winged messengers--jasper walls--pearly\ngates--golden streets--life\u2019s river--and she is with Him in the land\nwhere swords can never enter stricken hearts!\n\nWe can not close this chapter without making mention of Anna the\nProphetess. It would seem that at the coming of the Saviour into the\nworld, earth and sky clapped their hands for joy, and the mountains\nand hills broke forth into singing. Not only did Zacharias prophesy,\nsaying \u201cBlessed be the Lord the God of Israel;\u201d and Mary sing her hymn\nof praise, in which she exclaimed, \u201cMy soul doth magnify the Lord;\u201d\nand the angels who sang, \u201cGlory to God in the highest;\u201d and the aged\nSimeon, who, coming into the Temple, and taking the child in his arms,\nburst forth in doxology, \u201cLord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in\npeace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,\u201d\nbut also Anna the Prophetess. Scarcely had the sweet strains of the\naged Simeon ceased, when the prophetess, coming into the court of the\nwomen, in the Temple, and seeing Mary presenting herself with her babe,\ncaught the meaning of the scene and added her voice of praise, \u201cand\nspake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nIt was very fitting that women should have such a prominent part in\nthese human and angelic songs over the nativity of Him who, in after\nyears, proved women\u2019s best friend. Who alone, of all earth\u2019s great\nteachers, wept with and over woman\u2019s broken heart; who alone pitied\nwoman taken in sin; who alone stood up in defence of woman against\ncruel criticism; who alone placed in contrast a poor penitent woman\nover against a well-washed, and we had almost said, \u201cwhite-washed,\u201d\nPharisee; who, on the way to the cross, had words of comfort for\nwomanhood, in the ever-memorable exclamation, \u201cDaughters of Jerusalem,\nweep not for Me!\u201d And why should not these daughters weep for one who\nhad elevated them to their true position? Surely, they might well weep,\nfor they had never had such a friend.\n\nAnna was a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, and of very\ngreat age--eighty-four years. Her age is specially mentioned, to show\nthat, though she had passed but few years in the married state, she had\nreached this advanced age as a widow; a fact redounding to her honor\nin a moral sense, and ranking her among the comparatively small number\nof \u201cwidows indeed,\u201d whom Paul especially commends. It is somewhat\nremarkable that the name of Anna\u2019s father should be mentioned, and not\nthat of her husband. Perhaps her father survived her husband, and may\nalso have been known as one who waited for the consolation of Israel.\nThe pious words Anna uttered in the presence of Mary and her child in\nthe court of the women can not be the only reason of her being called a\nprophetess. Such an appellation must have been caused by some earlier\nand frequent utterances, dictated by the Spirit of prophecy, by reason\nof which she ranked among the list of holy women who, both in earlier\nand later times, were chosen instruments of the Holy Spirit. If the\nspirit of prophecy had departed from Israel since the time of Malachi,\naccording to the opinion of the Jews, the return of this Spirit might\nbe looked upon as one of the tokens of Messiah\u2019s advent.\n\nIn Simeon and Anna we see incarnate types of the expectation of\nsalvation under the Old Testament, as in the child Jesus the salvation\nitself is manifested. At the extreme limits of life, they stand in\nstriking contrast to the infant Saviour, exemplifying the Old Covenant\ndecaying and waxing old before the New, which is to grow and remain.\nOld age grows youthful, both in Simeon and Anna, at the sight of the\nSaviour; while the youthful Mary grows inwardly older and riper, as\nSimeon lifts up before her eyes the veil hanging upon the future.\nJoseph and Mary marveled at the revelations, not because they learned\nfrom Simeon\u2019s prophecy anything they had not heard before, but they\nwere struck and charmed by the new aspect under which this salvation\nwas presented.\n\nThere is something very beautiful in this aged Anna, the prophetess,\nwho \u201cdeparted not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and\nprayers night and day.\u201d And the reason given for this consecrated\ndevotion is, she \u201clooked for redemption in Jerusalem.\u201d This aged saint,\ninto whose obscure but loyal keeping the spirit of true religion has\nalways retired in times of a degenerate and formal faith, under the\nDivine Spirit, refused to depart from the courts of the sanctuary day\nnor night. Many a long and weary year she had waited for redemption\nin Jerusalem, and had watched with eager eyes the long procession of\nfathers and mothers as they presented, according to custom, their\nfirst-born at the altar steps. But the Child for whose coming she had\nwaited with such spiritual patience had not come.\n\nAt length the supreme day of her life had dawned, and with an unusual\nexpectancy she goes early to her accustomed vigil. As the humble Joseph\nand Mary draw near, unheralded of men and with no sign of lineage or\nworth beyond the rank and file of common people, the clear vision of\nthe aged prophetess discovers the King, and with a joy that blossomed\ninto song, she unites with the devout Simeon, who like herself,\nwas also \u201cwaiting for the consolation of Israel,\u201d the praises that\nredemption had at last come to Jerusalem. There was providential\ncoincidence in her coming in just at \u201cthat instant,\u201d when Simeon\nwas prophesying and when the babe was in the Temple, for a divine\npropriety, so to speak, seemed to require that the new-born Saviour\nshould first receive the homage of the elect of Israel.\n\n[Illustration: ANNA, THE PROPHETESS.]\n\nWith this temple scene, the aged Anna comes into and goes out of\nhistory, but in its light certain great facts are made luminous\nforever, namely, that Jesus the Christ comes into our common humanity\nalong no royal road, but through the great common gateway of common\npeople. Jesus touches life at its majority points, meeting our needs\nand our weakened nature with a brotherhood that loves us and lifts us\nup. Christ\u2019s first welcome into the world was not through Herod, nor\nthe famous Council of the Seventy, nor through the wise Scribes, or\ngreat Pharisees, but through the trembling arms of an aged man and\nwoman.\n\nTo pause upon the romantic fitness of this temple scene were easy, when\nthe heart of the old and the new, the beginning and the end of life\nthrob together, but rather we turn to the mission of Christ to old age\nas embodied in this incident of Simeon and Anna. Age is to a well-spent\nlife what the fruit is to the vine, the garnered and best part of it.\nThat ripeness of experience, of mind, of judgment, which comes alone\nfrom long and patient drudging on until the mile-posts are many, that\ncalm which comes at the sunset--these are the crowns that come to the\nsoul as it stands on the delectable mountains with the Celestial City\nin full view. Youth is clear-visioned and hopeful, early life is busied\nwith palpable ambitions, and later on is occupied with the harvesting\nof ventures and the fruitage of success. But age has nothing but a\nmemory and a hunger, therefore it was a fitness and a providence that\nSimeon and Anna should reach out their trembling hands in initial\nwelcome to the Son of God.\n\nAgain, Anna stands as the type of the spiritually-minded, to whom\nin old age are vouchsafed the revelations of God. Her attitude was\nvery significant. She \u201cdeparted not from the Temple,\u201d that is, she\nwas watchful. She served God \u201cwith fastings and prayers,\u201d peculiarly\nexpressive of Old Testament piety, with its minute attention to\nprecept and ceremony. That to this woman it was permitted, under the\nSpirit\u2019s guidance, that morning to come into the court of the women\nat the \u201cinstant,\u201d indicates a perpetual spiritual condition, rather\nthan a sudden impulse or illumination--the habit of one who walked and\ntalked with God \u201cnight and day.\u201d These reveal the spiritual qualities\nof the prophetess of Jehovah, where an obedient will and loving heart\nare linked to far-sighted spiritual vision in the discernment of the\nprovidence and truth of God. To such elect souls revelations are always\ncoming, because of spiritual affinities and the unerring insights of\nlove. Therefore it was no accident, this coming into the courts of the\nTemple at the \u201cinstant,\u201d but in accord with a world-wide and unbroken\nlaw of spiritual discernment, for spiritual truths are spiritually\ndiscerned.\n\nShe that desires this spiritual sense must do as Anna did, wait upon\nGod in prayer. She \u201cserved God.\u201d She was spiritually-minded. An intense\ndesire always precedes possession. Our Lord said, \u201cBlessed are they\nwhich do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be\nfilled.\u201d Do we hunger after righteousness, with a hunger that joins\na great longing with a strong will? Then shall we possess it, for\nthese powers of the mind and heart wait with sure benediction upon\nthe prayers of earnest souls. This desire lies at the threshold of\nspiritual-mindedness. It is synonymous with love. Do I love God? Is my\neye single and my heart pure? If so, I shall see Him. If not in the\ncourt of the women, as Anna did, in the inner courts of an unending\neternity.\n\nThe other factor that enters into this spiritual life is abiding.\nAnna \u201cdeparted not from the Temple.\u201d She waited patiently. Go back\nto that night in Shiloh, ere the lamps of God had gone out, and note\nhow Samuel the child became Samuel the prophet by waiting on God in a\nlistening attitude and prompt obedience. Follow Paul from the vision on\nAnti-Lebanon to the prisons of Nero, and the roadway of his Christian\nlife is literally paved with waiting and prompt obedience, and both\nthe seer and the apostle give us the rule of spiritual expansion, and\nset the step for all the regiments of the heavenly-minded. An eminent\ndivine has said, \u201cEvery duty we omit obscures some truth we should\nhave known,\u201d and a greater than this divine has said, \u201cHe that doeth\ntruth cometh to the light.\u201d The secret of all soul degeneracy, of a\nseared conscience and a blunted moral sense, alas! we all know too\nwell, is disobedience to the heavenly visions. Like Eli, our eyes are\ngrown dim, and like Paul\u2019s fellow-travelers to Damascus, we hear a\nsound, but no articulate voice of call. \u201cTo obey,\u201d said the great and\ngood Samuel to the disobedient Saul, \u201cis better than sacrifice.\u201d It is\nbecause of disobedience to the clear visions of duty there is so much\nof moral \u201cnear-sightedness\u201d in the modern Christian life. The options\nof spiritual life or death are always with us, to see or not to see, to\nknow or not to know. Here is the power and the peril of the Church our\nSaviour purchased at the price of His own blood; here is her strength\nand her weakness; for the dominant danger in the Church of our time,\nwith its wealth, its average moralities and its social compromises,\nis unspirituality, when the lines of division between a refined\nworldliness and a perfunctory Christianity are so vague that both seem\nso near alike to many professed followers of Jesus as not to know where\nworldliness ends and the Christian rule commences. An unspiritual life\nis the real apostacy which clogs the chariot wheels of God and dims the\neye to the King in His excellent glory.\n\nDo you wonder at the high honor heaven conferred upon this aged\nprophetess, who \u201cdeparted not night nor day from the Temple,\u201d lest she\nshould miss the opportunity of a lifetime, of making her the first\nwoman to witness for Christ? It was in perfect keeping with God\u2019s\neternal plan of exalting the humble of this world who have loyal\nhearts. Rebekah, with cheerful alacrity, watered the ten camels of\nEliezer, the servant of Abraham, when he called her to be the bride of\nIsaac; Rachel was driving her father\u2019s sheep to the well in Haran when\nshe won the heart of Jacob, the heir of promise; Miriam watched the\nlittle craft among the rushes of the Nile, before she led the women in\ntriumphal song at the Red Sea; Ruth gleaned in the fields of Bethlehem\nto relieve her own and Naomi\u2019s necessities, when she attracted the\nattention of Boaz; Esther lived a modest, retired life in the house\nof Mordecai, the porter at the royal palace, when she was called to\nbe queen over the Persians. Poverty and homely toil are no hindrance\nto holy zeal in Christian service; nor are they hindrance to high\ncommunion with the Eternal.\n\nThese are truths attested by revelation and by history. We are\nsometimes tempted to question humility as a stepping-stone to\nexaltation, and to complain of our lot; tempted to think ourselves\nhemmed in and circumscribed, thus to lack all opportunity for large\nservice or large vision, or large attainments of any kind. Nothing\nis more common among those whose life is crowded with what is termed\ncoarse and common toil, who are loaded down with many cares, and\nconfined in what seem to them narrow bounds, to count others vastly\nmore highly favored than themselves, and to regard themselves as out of\nrange of all spiritual visions or special divine communications! Let\nher who is left to think such thoughts, or to place such estimate on\nher lot in life, remember that no eye of Scribe or Pharisee, of priest\nor king, saw or recognized the Son of God that day when Mary presented\nJesus in the Temple. Such vision was reserved for the aged prophetess,\nwho was looking for redemption in Jerusalem.\n\nWhat is the lesson? This, that the waiting and the morally qualified\nare the chosen channels of divine communication; that to such the\nrevelations of God unfold wonderful visions. Heaven and earth meet\nwhere the truly devout are found watching \u201cnight and day\u201d by the altars\nof prayer. If doxologies of the soul are to be rendered in the ear of\nmortals, they shall hear them whose hearts are open towards the throne\nof grace, and whose longings are for \u201credemption in Jerusalem!\u201d and who\nare \u201cwaiting for the consolation of Israel.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nWomanhood During our Lord\u2019s Galilean Ministry.\n\n  CHRIST AND WOMANHOOD--NOONTIDE AT JACOB\u2019S WELL--THE LORD\u2019S WONDERFUL\n    TACT--FIELDS WHITE TO THE HARVEST--AN UNINVITED GUEST AT SIMON\u2019S\n    FEAST--COLD HOSPITALITY--A CONCISE PARABLE--FORGIVING SIN--A STREET\n    SCENE--HUMBLE CONFESSION--MOST GRACIOUS WORDS--COAST OF TYRE AND\n    SIDON--SYRO-PH\u0152NICIAN WOMAN--STRANGELY TESTED--HER HUMILITY--WENT\n    AWAY BLESSED.\n\n\nWe now come to the beautiful ministries of womanhood during our Lord\u2019s\nearthly mission. No teacher had ever lived who sought to elevate women\nas did the Saviour. The most casual reader of our Lord\u2019s acts of mercy\nas He moved among the people, must have noticed how often He wrought\nsome of His most wondrous works among women. He talked with a woman\nof questionable character by the wayside, He stretched out his hands\nover one whose very touch was considered unclean, and tenderly said,\n\u201cThy sins are forgiven!\u201d He called another, whose shrinking fear, after\nshe was healed, caused her to sob out her confession, \u201cDaughter, be of\ngood comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.\u201d What a sweet picture\nthat is of the mothers who bring their little children to Him that \u201cHe\nshould touch them,\u201d and their faith was rewarded not by a mere \u201ctouch,\u201d\nbut He took the mothers\u2019 darlings in His arms and blessed them. With\na yearning of divine pity He brings back to life three persons that\nmotherhood and sisterhood might be comforted. Surely womanhood must\nhave been precious in His sight, and there is a peculiar force in the\nword _precious_ as of God\u2019s own choosing. When He speaks of precious\nthings, or permits in His inspired servants such ardent language, we\nmay be assured there is a deep meaning in the expression, and that\nwhatever is spoken of, is of great value, costly and rare. \u201cI know the\nthoughts that I think toward you,\u201d says the dear Lord, \u201cthoughts of\npeace and not of evil.\u201d And they are so continuous! \u201cHow great is the\nsum of them? If I should count them they are more in number than the\nsand!\u201d We have walked the wide beach, as it stretches on for miles and\nmiles in one unbroken line of white sand. Could we count a single rod\nof it? Yet these thoughts of our Lord outnumber the sand on the shore\nof the sea. And how precious they are, because begotten of pure love;\nand royal with kindness; and tender with compassion; and fragrant with\nblessings; exquisite with sweetness; infinite, incessant, immeasurable.\n\nIn our love, we mainly dwell upon the thought of what God is to us,\nand so are apt to forget what we are to Him. \u201cHe has chosen Israel for\nHis peculiar treasure.\u201d \u201cThe Lord\u2019s portion is His people.\u201d Does He so\nesteem us? Does He hold us close to His heart, and say, I love thee\n\u201csince thou wast precious in My sight!\u201d The mother thinks of her child,\nthe wife of her husband, the lover of his beloved. And how sweet are\nthese thoughts of our dear ones. Unbidden they crowd upon the soul;\ncomforting, tenderly cherished and precious are the thoughts of the\nabsent for one another! Memories of form and feature, look and smile,\nword and deed, affection and purpose, are ever present. Does God, the\nInfinite, thus think of us! Oh, wondrous alchemy of grace that can turn\nsuch poor unworthy souls into gems so beautiful, so priceless, so dear\nto the Infinite heart of God; so highly esteemed that if even the least\nwere lost, it would be a loss to Him. Then, also, the trial of our\nfaith is \u201cmuch more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be\ntried with fire.\u201d If we bear this in mind, we shall better understand\nthe Saviour\u2019s acts as we read the story of His love for womanhood. Oh,\nye tired, troubled ones, put into God\u2019s crucible, did you ever feel\nthat you were forgotten, overlooked, too long or too severely tested?\nGod is watching with an eye that never slumbers. The trial going on is\nprecious to Him. He tempers the heat when too strong, and adds fuel\nwhen too light. He creates the smith to blow the coals; and here, be\nsure, He makes no mistake. You would not have chosen as He has; and\nyet the process must go on, for it is a precious one; so much so that\nour Beloved can not trust it to other hands than His own. He will not\nlet you be harmed. \u201cMany shall be purified and made white and tried.\u201d\nAre you not glad He has chosen you among these? The trial is painful to\nyou, but precious to Him, and \u201cwill be found unto praise and honor, and\nglory,\u201d walking with Him in White Raiment, as those who \u201care worthy.\u201d\n\nThrough human personality is God best made known. There is a revelation\nin nature; the movements of planets, the return of seasons, the\nregularity and uniformity of natural laws, reveal a fixed order in\nthe universe; the balanced relationship, the correspondences and\nadaptations in nature reveal mind as the centre of activities; wisdom\nspeaks out in the organizations, kingdoms and beneficent purposes of\nnature, while beauty shines from the splendor of the world. All this\nis very good, but it is not conclusive. It is written of the Son of\nGod, that He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. He\nrecognized the sore need of humanity, and the Father\u2019s plan to meet\nthat need, and gave Himself a willing offering. Christ is the living\nmanifestation of God\u2019s love. To be \u201cable to save to the uttermost all\nwho come unto God by Him,\u201d was the joy set before Him for which He\nendured the cross and now ever liveth to make intercession for us.\nSurely His thoughts of us must have been most precious, and, in view\nof the great price He paid for our redemption, let us never minify our\nlives however humble our lot:\n\n  \u201cA commonplace life,\u201d we say and we sigh,\n      But why should we sigh as we say?\n  The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky\n      Makes up the commonplace day.\n  The moon and the stars are commonplace things,\n  And the flower that blooms, and the bird that sings.\n  But dark were the world, and sad our lot,\n  If the flowers should fail and the sun shine not--\n  And God, who studies each separate soul,\n  Out of the commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.\n\nIf we partake of the Divine nature, we will want to share in His work\nof saving, and thus enter into the joy of our Lord. To be able to touch\nlife hopefully, and to see it expand and grow day by day into the\nsimilitude of the All-perfect, is to experience a joy not of earth.\nWomanhood has come into her kingdom in the sense of having reached a\nplace of large opportunity, in the use of her God-given power. Our\nSaviour has honored woman by giving her a place in his heart and work,\nand most loyally does she \u201clay her hands to the distaff and with her\nhands hold the spindle\u201d in the making of the great fabric of human\ndestiny.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND WOMANHOOD.]\n\nHow womanhood, in the days of the Saviour\u2019s incarnation, manifested\nher appreciation, will be amplified in this and the next chapter, and\nher loving ministry does credit to her head and heart, for we read, as\nHe journeyed with his disciples from place to place, \u201cCertain women,\nwhich had been healed of infirmities, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna,\nand many others, ministered unto Him of their substance.\u201d How beautiful\nis all this. Women actually following Jesus, as disciples, and out of\ntheir means ministering to His physical necessities. Heathenism has no\nplace, socially for women, as we have shown in our introductory. Christ\nsought to bless and elevate womanhood.\n\nThe skill of our Lord\u2019s wayside teaching is beautifully brought out in\nthe scene at Jacob\u2019s well. In one of His tours through Samaria our Lord\nreached Jacob\u2019s well, in the neighborhood of Sychar, about noon, and\nbeing weary, sat down upon the stone seat in the little alcove erected\nover the well. It offered a shelter from the glare of the noontide\nsun. John, in his gospel, tells us that Jesus, \u201cbeing wearied with His\njourney, sat thus on the well.\u201d The words in the original imply that\nHe was quite tired out with His journey, and doubtless overcome with\nthe extreme heat. In His exhaustion, He seems to be quite anxious, if\npossible, to obtain a little rest, while the disciples had left Him, to\nprocure in the nearby city, the necessary bread.\n\nThe disciples had scarcely departed, when a lone woman, with face\nveiled, and on her head a great stone waterpot, came to the well to\ndraw water. It was an unseasonable hour, for morning and evening only\nwould the well be thronged by women, whose duty it is to carry the\nwater for household use. For some reason, possibly because she was\nin no good repute, this woman avoided the throng at the well in the\nmorning or evening hours, and availed herself of this unseasonable time\nto come for water.\n\nThe scene before us is pathetically picturesque. The Son of God resting\nin the refreshing shade of the little alcove, and a woman of doubtful\ncharacter coming in out of the noontide glare and heat of the sun to\ndraw water. We almost wonder if our Lord, in His exhausted and fevered\ncondition, had not been casting around in His mind how He might obtain\na cup of refreshing water from the depth of the well. And now is His\nopportunity. With the nicest tact and politeness He asks, \u201cGive me\nto drink!\u201d To ask for a drink of water in the East is a proffer of\ngood-will. Under no circumstances would an Oriental ask or receive\nwater or bread of one with whom he was unwilling to be on good terms.\nSo when Jesus said to the woman, \u201cGive me to drink,\u201d it was as if He\nhad said, \u201cI wish you well; I feel kindly towards you and yours.\u201d\n\nWe are somewhat surprised at the conduct of the woman after such kindly\nsalutation. Instead of quickly offering Him a drink, she proceeds to\nask, \u201cHow is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me, which am a\nwoman of Samaria?\u201d She would recognize the nationality of Jesus by\nHis dress. The color of the fringes on the Jewish garments was white,\nwhile those of the Samaritans were blue. Possibly His appearance and\naccent in His speech would also identify Him. However, in explanation\nof her conduct, she goes on to say, \u201cthe Jews have no dealings with\nSamaritans.\u201d So that while this non-intercourse between the two\npeople was not absolute, a request of such a nature might surprise\na Samaritan. And yet we must confess she is more ready to conduct a\nreligious discussion with the Son of God Himself than to offer cups of\ncold water.\n\nBut with what wonderful tact Jesus drew the mind of this woman away\nfrom the religious differences between Jews and Samaritans. He was not\nto be drawn off from the main point at issue. He had asked for water,\nfor He was really thirsty. She had come to the well for water, for it\nsupplied a need. When she came to the well her aspirations reached\nno farther than a pitcher of water. So, with water for a text, Jesus\nproceeds to tell this Samaritan that good as the well was, and great as\nJacob was, all who drank of that water would thirst again. The best the\nworld had to offer could never satisfy her thirst. She could not help\nbut see the truth of these words. They were but the echo of her daily\nexperience.\n\nNow the divine Teacher proceeds to uncover another well to this woman.\n\u201cWhosoever,\u201d Jesus proceeded to say, and the whosoever included all\nSamaritans and the world as well, \u201cdrinketh of the water that I shall\ngive him, shall never thirst; for the Holy Spirit that I shall put in\nhim shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life--it\nshall satisfy his thirst and he shall be continually refreshed.\u201d\n\nHow deftly Jesus turned this conversation into a spiritual channel! It\nwas done so easily that the woman was not conscious of the change. She\nthought he was talking about literal water, though the seriousness in\nhis tones had awakened her utmost attention. She knew what it was to\nthirst, and the labor of coming to the well to carry away pitchers full\non her head, only to repeat the labor with each returning day. He had\nawakened in her a desire, though that desire was no higher than water,\nand she said, \u201cSir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come\nhither to draw.\u201d Though the woman did not understand His words, she was\nreally, in her mind, struggling with the great problem of not thirsting\nany more, and of doing away with the necessity of daily coming to\nJacob\u2019s well. How the Lord delights to lead inquiring minds to the\nhigher things of life! He saw, doubtless, by supernatural intuition,\nthe sinful blemishes in her life, as well as the deeper aspirations\nof her soul which His words had awakened. How shall He get at the\nplague-spot which corrupted the fountain of her life?\n\nIn a tender, pathetic tone he said to the woman, \u201cGo, call thy\nhusband!\u201d It was a painful request to make of this poor woman, but He\ncould not trifle. He must be faithful. The request had its desired\neffect. It drew off the woman\u2019s attention from her desire for fountains\nof water, to see the wretched condition of her life.\n\nYet, with a frankness that showed an honest soul, she replied, \u201cI have\nno husband!\u201d\n\nAh! that was the point this wisest of Teachers was bringing her to. He\ndid not want to see her husband, but He wanted her to see herself. His\nwords probed to the plague-spot in her soul. She admitted her guilt,\nbut could not quite bring her will to give up her manner of life.\n\nWhen Jesus told her that she was living with the fifth man, and he not\nher husband, she perceived that He was a prophet, and was ready with\nanother batch of theological questions. \u201cI know I am not what I ought\nto be,\u201d she said in effect, \u201cbut then there are some things I don\u2019t\nunderstand, and now, since you are a prophet, perhaps you can inform\nme. We Samaritans claim that our way is right, and you Jews claim that\nyour way is right. Both can\u2019t be right; tell us what we are to do?\u201d\nReferring to her Samaritan ancestors, she continued, \u201cOur fathers\nworshipped in this mountain,\u201d pointing to Mt. Gerizim, under the shadow\nof which they almost stood, and which had a special sacredness as the\nmount of blessing. It was also claimed by the Samaritans that their\nworship was earlier, and, therefore, older than that at Jerusalem.\nHowever, it is not clear that she meant to urge this as one of the\nreasons in favor of Mt. Gerizim, on the summit of which the Samaritan\nTemple stood. In the Scriptures which the Samaritans possessed (the\nPentateuch) the name of Gerizim had been inserted in the place of\nthe holy city of the Jews. On the other hand, the claim of the Jews\nwas exclusive. Men must worship in Jerusalem. If the woman regarded\nthe supremacy of Gerizim or Jerusalem an open question, it showed\nher candor and a willingness to accept the revelation of the truth,\nwhatever it might be.\n\nBut see how our Lord sweeps the idol of locality from this inquirer\u2019s\nmind, \u201cBelieve me,\u201d he said, \u201cthe hour cometh when ye shall neither\nin this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.\u201d Men have\never looked upon their places of worship as sacred. Islamism has its\nMecca, the heathenism of India its Baneras and Ganges, the idolaters of\nChina their sacred mountains, the apostates of modern times their holy\nshrines. Jesus abolishes local limitations, and announces that what one\nworships is of more importance than where; that God is a Spirit, and\nthat true worship is unlimited by time, place or form.\n\n[Illustration: THE NOONTIDE HOUR AT JACOB\u2019S WELL.]\n\nSuch wonderful words had never fallen upon the ears or entered the\nheart of this woman. No priest or scribe had ever uttered such sublime\nconceptions of our relations to God. She had thought him a \u201cprophet,\u201d\nbut such utterances are almost divine. She thinks of the Messiah, and\nanswers, \u201cI know that when Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when\nHe is come, He will tell us all things.\u201d This was in accordance with\nthe Samaritan view of Christ. While showing a desire for a fuller\nknowledge she thinks of a higher authority of the expected Messiah. In\nthis He did not rebuke her. He lets her question, yet is never turned\nfrom His purpose. Step by step His love lifted this inquiring mind,\nuntil at last she was ready for such an avowal of His nature and office\nas He had never given to Scribe or Pharisee or disciple, \u201cI that speak\nunto thee am He!\u201d\n\nWonderful news! Filled with surprise and joy, she \u201cleft her waterpot\u201d\non the well, and ran into the city, forgetting all about her own need,\nas well as the request of the Saviour for a drink of water. Her haste\nshows how absorbed she had become in the wonderful words from the lips\nof Him who declared Himself the long-expected Son of God. And He, the\nblessed Lord, was so intent on saving a soul that He had forgotten all\nabout His thirst and His weariness.\n\nJust as she had left the well, the disciples came, having made the\nnecessary purchase of food, and \u201cmarveled that He talked with the\nwoman,\u201d yet were mysteriously restrained from asking Him why He did\nso. Presently they spread their noonday meal, but observing that Jesus\ndid not share with them their meal, they urged Him, saying, \u201cMaster,\neat.\u201d But great was their surprise when He answered, \u201cI have meat to\neat that ye know not of.\u201d They could not understand that the chance to\nhelp an inquiring soul was more to Him than food or drink, and said to\none another, \u201cHath any man brought Him ought to eat?\u201d He astonished His\ninquiring disciples yet more, when knowing the thoughts uppermost in\ntheir minds, said, \u201cMy meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me,\u201d and\nto carry out the mission for which I am in the world.\n\nIn the meantime the flying feet of the woman had reached the city, and\nshe hastened from street to street delivering her message, \u201cCome, see a\nMan who told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?\u201d\n\nThe theological questions over which Jews and Samaritans contended,\nwhether Jerusalem or Gerizim was the place where \u201cmen ought to\nworship,\u201d had dropped entirely out of her mind. But she proved an\nexcellent evangelist, for presently the people came flocking out of the\ncity in the direction of Jacob\u2019s well, pouring out of every gate, and\nled over the fruitful plain by the woman.\n\nIt must have been a grand sight, and showed that Jesus was not mistaken\nwhen, looking into the face of the woman, He saw a pearl of great\nbeauty and worth beneath the rough exterior of this semi-heathenish,\nyet quick-witted, sprightly and susceptible Samaritan.\n\nAs the Saviour lifted up His eyes over the plain and saw the\napproaching multitude, He was evidently well satisfied in withgoing His\nweariness and thirst while talking to this Samaritan Magdalene as she\ncame with her water-pitcher to the well, and not only was He satisfied\nwith the results of His labors, but He seems also to have been pleased,\nfor, as the host filled the plain, He called the attention of his\ndisciples to the beautiful sight, and exclaimed, \u201cSay not ye, there\nare yet four months, and then cometh harvest!\u201d Doubtless this was true\nin the physical world, but spiritual conditions do not have to depend\nupon the slow processes of the natural world, and the well-sown seed\namid the glare of the noontide, was already ripening unto the harvest.\nBehold the thronging people! said our Lord. \u201cLift up your eyes, and\nlook on the fields; for they are white already to the harvest.\u201d\n\n  \u201cLaborers wanted!\u201d The ripened grain\n    Waits to welcome the reaper\u2019s cry;\n  The Lord of the harvest calls again;\n    Who among us shall first reply,\n    \u201cWho is wanted, Lord? Is it I?\u201d\n\n  The Master calls, but the servants wait;\n    Fields gleam white \u2019neath a cloudless sky.\n  Will none seize the sickle before too late,\n    Ere the winter\u2019s winds come sweeping by?\n    Who is delaying? Is it I?\n\nAs the people thronged the well to hear and see the Man who had\nrevealed the hidden life of the woman, He must have taught this people\nwith wise, loving words, for they forgot all about their prejudices\nand hate and begged Him, though of a race with whom the Samaritans had\nno dealings, to stay among them. And He graciously complied with their\nrequest, and it took Him two whole days to harvest that whitened field.\nAnd the record is, \u201cMany of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him\nfor the saying of the woman.\u201d\n\nBut what a testimony is all this to that Samaritan woman. What, if her\nprevious life had not been of good repute? What though she was a social\noutcast? One thing she discovered that noonday, as she came out to draw\nwater from Jacob\u2019s ancient well, that the Man who laid open her inner\nlife in such modest words and patient forbearance, was none other than\nthe long-expected Messiah, and she was altogether too generous-minded\nto lock up the glad tidings in her heart, but at once, without\ncommission or priestly authority, witnessed for Christ, published the\nglad tidings of salvation through the streets of Sychar, and brought\nher whole city to a knowledge of her Saviour. And so this woman became\nthe first gospel preacher in Samaria. That was before church councils\nhad decided women may not speak for Jesus.\n\nJacob\u2019s well is no longer used, and the grain fields, which \u201cStood\ndressed in living green\u201d before the Saviour\u2019s eyes, have long been\ntrodden under foot of Islam\u2019s hordes, yet the living spring of water\nwhich our Lord opened there to the poor, sinful, yet penitent woman,\nis as deep and fresh as ever, and has flowed on and out over the earth\nto remotest nations, and will quench the thirst of souls to the end of\ntime.\n\nWe see also in this beautiful scene at Jacob\u2019s well that Christ\u2019s\nintercourse with women was marked by freedom from Oriental contempt of\nwomanhood, and a marvelous union of purity and frankness, dignity and\ntenderness. He approached this woman as a friend who wished her well,\nand yet as her Lord and Saviour. And, to the good sense of womanhood\nbe it said, when the light of truth broke over her inquiring mind, she\nbelieved! And behold how she loved Him! Forgetting her errand to the\nwell, yea, even leaving her pitcher, she hastened to publish the glad\nnews. Surely the Saviour \u201cmust needs go through Samaria,\u201d on His way\nfrom Judea to Galilee, and His resting in the little alcove of Jacob\u2019s\nwell, for the moment sheltered from the glare of an Oriental midday\nsun, was more than a geographical \u201c_must_.\u201d It was the necessity of\nlove laid upon His heart to meet and to help that woman who came with\nan empty stone pitcher to the well at the same hour of the day, but\nwent away with a heart filled with \u201cliving water ... springing up into\neverlasting life.\u201d\n\nSome time after this, on one of those days while Jesus was teaching in\nlower Galilee, a Pharisee, by the very common name of Simon, invited\nour Lord to a feast. Why he invited Him is not stated. Possibly he\nmay have been impressed with the character and teaching of Christ,\nand disposed, in a social way, and at his own table, to give Him a\nfurther hearing, thinking, perhaps, by coming in personal contact with\nour Lord, aside from the throngs which attended upon His ministry, he\ncould the better satisfy himself as to the merits of this new Teacher\nin Israel, and so invited Jesus to dine with him. Our Lord had not\nyet broken with the Pharisees, and was still anxious, if possible, to\nconciliate them, if by any means He might win them, and withal, willing\nto show his good-will, accepted the invitation.\n\nHowever gracious the invitation may have been given, it is quite clear\nthat the hospitality was meant to be qualified. These Pharisees who\nloved the uppermost seats at feasts, knew how to entertain. But in\nthis feast, all the ordinary attentions which were usually paid to\nhonored guests were strangely omitted. There was no servant with basin\nof water and towel for the weary and dust-covered feet, no anointing\nof the head, no kiss of welcome upon the cheek, nothing but a somewhat\nungracious admission to a vacant place at the table, and the most\ndistant courtesies of ordinary intercourse, so managed that this Guest\nfrom among the common people might feel that he was receiving honors\nin the house of a rich and influential Pharisee. Many a poor man\u2019s head\nhas been turned by such feigned and mock courtesies. It would have been\na thousand times better to the head and heart of Simon if he had never\ninvited the Lord, than to assume in His presence what he was not at\nheart.\n\nOur Lord must have keenly felt these omissions. But, since he had been\ninvited, He made the best of this empty show at hospitality, only we\nmay be quite sure He was clothed in His usual gentleness and modest\ndignity. We may well believe our Lord showed no signs of being piqued\nat the slights put upon Him, nor embarrassed in the presence of His\nhost and the distinguished guests present. While Jesus cared little for\nshow or etiquette, yet it was but natural that He should have keenly\nfelt these omissions so gracefully shown to the others at this feast.\n\nBut before us rises another scene. \u201cBehold, a woman in the city, which\nwas a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee\u2019s\nhouse, brought an alabaster box of ointment.\u201d How thoughtful these\nwomen are! This one was not satisfied with merely following the throng,\nbut she takes with her the most costly gift at her command. What a\ncontrast between her and Simon, who haughtily thought within himself\nthat anything was good enough for this lowly Prophet of Nazareth.\n\nWhen this woman, whose character seemed to have been well known, too\nwell indeed for her own comfort, reached Simon\u2019s house, she found the\ndoor thronged by a crowd of people who had doubtless followed Jesus,\nand now stood, and looked, and listened--for privacy seems a thing\nimpossible in the free and easy life of Orientals. For a moment she\nlingered amidst the throng. While there, men, as they passed in to the\nfeast, gathered their robes as they passed her, lest by a passing touch\nshe should defile them. As she sees the scanty preparations, the cold\nreception, her woman\u2019s heart is made indignant. \u201cWould that I were\nworthy to ask Him beneath my roof, or would that I could bid Him come\nand sit at meat with me; all that I have were His to minister in any\nway to His comfort. But I, alas, am so far down and He so holy--there\nis no chance for me.\u201d So she thinks.\n\nThen lo, that face is lifted, the eyes meet hers. He, all pitiful,\nreading her heart looks an invitation that she can not resist. And then\nin the presence of the Pharisees, as they start with horror, every man\nshrinking from this infamous intruder, every face filled with scorn,\nshe hurries across to the side of the Lord Jesus and falls at His feet.\nShe pours forth her penitence in a flood of tears; then, startled that\nshe should thus have bathed His feet, she loosens her hair and wipes\nthem with reverent hands, and tenderly kissing His feet, she draws from\nthe folds of her dress a pot of unguent, and pours its fragrance upon\nthem.\n\nWho she was or how she had come to know Jesus, or when she had been\nmoved by his preaching and converted by the grace of His words we do\nnot know. It is quite likely, having been attracted like others to be\none of His auditors somewhere, she had heard His gracious words of love\nand pity, and had gladly on her part accepted their healing influences.\n\nBut when the Pharisee saw the marked attention of this woman of the\nstreet to his Guest, he commenced talking to himself in his heart,\n\u201cThis man, if He were a prophet,\u201d he muttered to himself, \u201cwould know\nwho and what manner of woman this is that is thus lavishing her love\nupon His feet, for she is a sinner, whose very touch is pollution.\u201d\nNo doubt Simon was shocked beyond measure, especially when he saw\nJesus allowed it, and was glad at that moment that his cold caution\nat the commencement of the feast had prevented him from giving Jesus\ntoo cordial a welcome. \u201cI am glad now I did not compromise my honor or\nforfeit the good opinion of those of my set; that I wasted none of my\nperfume upon His head; that I gave Him no kiss of welcome; yea, even\nthat I did not bid a servant wash His feet. Such acts of hospitality\nwould, in a measure at least, have committed me, in the eyes of the\npeople, to Him as a friend, and would have exposed me to the criticisms\nof my brethren. I fear I have already gone too far, but will get out of\nit as quickly as possible, and when I extend another invitation He\u2019ll\nknow it. In my opinion, He is not only no prophet, but is altogether\ntoo free with the common people to make Him desirable among my fellow\nPharisees.\u201d\n\nTo be sure, Simon did not utter these thoughts aloud, but his frigid\ndemeanor, and the contemptuous expression of countenance, which he\ndid not take the trouble to disguise, showed all that was passing in\nhis heart. He little realized that Jesus had read his thoughts as\nunerringly as if he had written them upon the walls of his dining-room,\nand at once proceeded to lay open the heart of His host to himself\nin a manner he had never thought it possible, and He did it by first\nrelating a little parable, and thus addressed the Pharisee:\n\n\u201cSimon, I have somewhat to say to thee!\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster, say on,\u201d was the somewhat constrained reply.\n\n\u201cThere was a certain creditor who had two debtors. The one owed five\nhundred pence, and the other fifty; and when they had nothing to pay he\nfreely forgave both. Tell me, then, which of them will love him most?\u201d\n\nThe construction of this parable is marvelous for its conciseness,\nnaturalness and simplicity. In its application Jesus makes Simon\ncondemn himself for his uncharitable judgment. He is compelled to admit\nthe whole force of the great scheme of salvation by pardoning grace.\nIt doubtless never entered Simon\u2019s poor, proud, but sinful heart that\nhe, too, was a debtor and needed to be as freely forgiven as the woman\nwhose touch he considered pollution, and yet this is one of the lessons\ntaught by the comparison here drawn between the abandoned woman and\nthe proud Pharisee. It is pitiable to see the bitterness of the world\ntowards a lost woman. And yet why should not her companion in sin\nsuffer as much as she? But he never does. Let us be fair. Cast her out,\nif you feel called on to be her judge, but at least do the same by him.\n\nThe fact remains that this poor woman knew she was an outcast. No\none would forgive her. Never could she regain her social standing.\nBut Simon? Ah! Simon was really quite a model man. As the world\njudges worth, she stood at one extreme and he at the other. Simon was\neminently respectable. As a Pharisee he belonged to one of the first\nfamilies; he was recognized in Church and State; he had social position\nwhich introduced him to the refined and educated. If he met a public\nspeaker of eminence, or a man of reputation, he honored him by inviting\nhim to dinner. Let us not too severely pass upon the conduct of Simon.\nHe was undoubtedly a worthy man. Christ\u2019s reference to him in the\nparable implies that his outward life was not that of a hypocrite or a\nmere formalist. But this parable makes him a bankrupt debtor. He can\nno more pay his fifty pence than the woman her five hundred pence. So\nboth were sinners, and both needed to be forgiven. Here there was no\ndifference. Both had broken the law of God, and both were in need of a\nSaviour.\n\nWe see again that penitence breaks down the wall that separated from\nGod. This poor woman saw her dreadful sin and turned from it in an\nagony of repentance. She sought the Lord. He was the only friend to\nwhom she could turn in her need. She was sure of His sympathy and help.\nShe desired forgiveness and found it. She had been alienated from God,\nbut through her penitence had reached a comprehension of Christ\u2019s\ncharacter impossible to the self-satisfied Pharisee. She was far more\nat one with God, as He was revealed in Christ, than was the dignified\ngentleman, indignant at her presence in his house.\n\nThis woman felt a great need. She was sin-burdened, and needed a divine\ndeliverer, and the Saviour proved to be an all-sufficient helper.\nHow was it with Simon? Why, he relied on himself. He felt no need\nof Christ\u2019s help. He was self-satisfied--a very good man in his own\nopinion. The woman had expressed her gratitude in many touching ways,\nbut Simon had no sense of gratitude. He had given no kiss of welcome,\nhad provided no water for the feet, had failed to anoint the Saviour\u2019s\nhead.\n\nBeyond a doubt there are a great many excellent people to-day of\nSimon\u2019s stamp. They are quite courteous, if their social position is\nnot compromised thereby. They will spread a feast, and invite the\nLord to dinner. And yet, they feel no need of Christ. The whole show\nof hospitality is a cold, heartless formality, with no tenderness\nof emotion towards Him. They feel no longing to make sacrifices for\nHis sake as expressive of their love. And so, while treating Christ\nrespectfully, they do not treat Him lovingly. They think too well of\nthemselves. They need to recognize more fully their position of danger\nand their dependence upon Christ.\n\nThere is also a wonderful picture in this narrative of Christ\u2019s\nlove for us. How considerate His treatment of this penitent and\nbroken-hearted woman! He was not supercilious. He had no feeling of\npride that resented her touch. It was not necessary that He avoid her\nin order to vindicate His own purity.\n\nHitherto Jesus had said nothing to the woman, though it must have\nthrilled her soul when she heard what had been said to Simon in the\napplication of the parable. She was first indirectly assured of the\ngrace of God in respect to herself, and of the principle on which her\nforgiveness was vouchsafed. She knew that He was not ashamed of her,\nand, finally, she heard Him say in so many words, \u201cHer sins which are\nmany are forgiven her.\u201d\n\nHaving said so much to Simon concerning her, Jesus now turned to the\nwoman herself, laid His hand tenderly upon the bowed head, for He would\nnot break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, He would not\nby bitterness drive her from Him, but as her Defence and Deliverer,\npersonally addressed her, and said, \u201cThy sins are forgiven!\u201d There now\nremained not a doubt in her mind. She had His word personally addressed\nto her, and this was the ground of her assurance.\n\n[Illustration: THE UNINVITED GUEST.]\n\nNow see what followed. \u201cThey that sat at meat with Him began to say,\nwithin themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?\u201d Simon and his\nfriends were offended because there was no sympathy in their hearts\nfor Christ and His works of mercy. They did not desire the salvation\nof this woman who had come in to their feast. It did not once occur\nto them that Christ could know the character of the woman and yet be\nwilling to let her approach Him that He might forgive her sin. They saw\nonly a man, and said, \u201cWho is this that forgiveth sins also?\u201d Only God\ncould do that. But she saw a Saviour before her, and our Lord fearing\nthe cavil of the Pharisees might distress the woman, He said to her,\n\u201cThy faith hath saved thee; go in peace!\u201d He would get her away from\nthe doubting Pharisees as quickly as possible.\n\nIt is worthy of observation that, notwithstanding the beautiful\nexhibition this woman gave of her love and affection, it was her\n\u201cfaith,\u201d not her love, that saved her.\n\nTradition identifies this woman as Mary Magdalene, a native, it is\nthought of Magdol, the modern _Mejdel_, a town on the west shore of\nthe Sea of Galilee, and south of the plain of Gennesaret. The present\nvillage lies close to the water\u2019s edge, and, Tiberias excepted, is the\nonly place on the western coast of Galilee which survives the wreck of\ntime.\n\nMuch is said by the Talmudists of her wealth, her extreme beauty, her\nbraided hair, but all we know of her from Scriptures is her enthusiasm\nof devotion and gratitude which, henceforth, attached her, heart and\nsoul, to her Saviour\u2019s service. For we read, \u201cAnd it came to pass\nafterward,\u201d after this feast in the house of Simon the Pharisee, that\nJesus \u201cwent through\u201d the cities and villages of Galilee \u201cpreaching and\nshowing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God,\u201d and \u201ccertain women,\nwhich had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary Magdalene,\nout of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod\u2019s\nsteward, and Susanna, and many others,\u201d \u201cministered unto Him of their\nsubstance.\u201d Thus we find this woman, with others, ministering to the\ntemporal necessities of our Lord.\n\nIn the last journey of Christ to Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene accompanied\nthe women who were in the company. She was also among the women on the\nday of crucifixion who \u201cstood afar off, beholding these things\u201d during\nthe closing hours of the agony on the cross, and remained till all was\nover, waited till the body was taken down, and wrapped in the linen\ncloth and placed in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea. Thus, this\nloving, faithful woman, true to her nature, clung to her Lord to the\nvery last.\n\nOn the morning of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene was among the women\nwho found the tomb of our Lord empty. Instantly she hastened to inform\nthe disciples. While she was gone, the remaining women saw the angels,\nwho asked, \u201cWhy seek ye the living among the dead?\u201d And instructed\nthem to tell his disciples. So when Mary returned to the sepulchre,\nshe was alone. She was also ignorant of what the angels had said to\nthe other women, and the poor woman\u2019s heart could no longer retain her\npent-up grief, and stood at the open sepulchre weeping. Presently she\nsaw a man, and supposing him to be the gardener, said, \u201cSir, if thou\nhast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take\nHim away.\u201d\n\nWhile she is speaking to the supposed gardener, Jesus addressed her\nby her given name, \u201cMary!\u201d Behold, it was her Lord, and she exclaims,\n\u201c_Rabboni!_\u201d It was the strongest word of reverence which a woman of\nIsrael could use, and, in her joy, would have fallen on His neck, had\nHe not restrained her. But what honor the Lord conferred upon her. She\nwas the first human messenger to the world of a risen Saviour!\n\nSuch was the beautiful pearl our Lord saw in the woman who poured out\nher penitence in a flood of tears at His feet in the house of Simon\nthe Pharisee. While it was her faith that saved her, surely it can\ntruthfully be said of her, \u201cShe loved much.\u201d\n\nIt was after Jesus had begun His new method of teaching by parables,\nthe keynote of which was, \u201cTake heed how ye hear,\u201d and had, at the\nclose of a hard day\u2019s labor, sailed over the Sea of Galilee, and spent\nthe night in the region of Decapolis, in the hope of getting away from\nthe multitudes to obtain a little rest, that, on the following morning\nas he returned to Capernaum, the people, from the hillsides were\nwatching for His return, and as soon as they recognized the sail of the\nlittle vessel, and long before he reached land, great throngs had lined\nthe shore to welcome His return.\n\nNotwithstanding the prejudices of the Scribes and Pharisees had already\nbeen aroused against Christ, there was, on the shore, nervously moving\namong the people, a very prominent citizen of Capernaum, by the name\nof Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. From the deep lines of anxiety\nvisible on his face, he was evidently in great mental distress. And\nwell he might be, for his beautiful twelve year old daughter had been\ngiven up by the physicians and was dying. As a last resort, he hastened\nto find Jesus, who already had performed many cures in his city, and\nso when he learned that our Lord had passed over the Sea of Galilee,\nhe could do no better than wait His coming. No sooner had the little\nvessel touched the landing than Jairus pushed his way through the\ncrowd, and when he got near enough fell at Jesus\u2019 feet, and in great\nagony of heart besought Him, saying, \u201cMy little daughter lieth at the\npoint of death; I pray Thee come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may\nbe healed.\u201d There was no calmness in this appeal. On the other hand,\nit was full of agitation and fear, mingled with fancies that the Lord\nmust first lay His hands upon his dying child. There is a striking\nsimilarity between this appeal of Jairus, and that of the nobleman who\ncame to Jesus in the early part of His ministry, and cried out, \u201cCome\ndown ere my child die.\u201d Then the Lord told the nobleman to go his way,\nhis child should live, but here His divine compassion went out to the\ndistressed father. Doubtless Jesus saw the weakness of his faith, but\nHe also saw his sincerity, and so He \u201cwent with him.\u201d\n\nBut the daughter of Jairus was not the only sufferer in that city. We\nread, there was \u201ca certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve\nyears, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent\nall that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.\u201d\nSurely she was in a sorrowful condition, had suffered many things,\nbesides the disease which was wasting her life away, for medicine\nin that age was but imperfectly understood, and diseases were often\nexorcised by charms, and, doubtless her \u201cmany physicians\u201d practiced all\nsorts of charms and resorted to every kind of omen, until her money\nwas gone, and she was not only poverty-stricken, but daily growing\nworse under her affliction. One almost wonders, since Jesus had now\nbeen for a year and a half a resident of Capernaum, that she had not\nsooner appealed to Him for help. Perhaps his work had been in another\npart of the city, or she may have been deterred from asking His help\nbecause of the nature of her malady, or she may have thought within\nherself that she could do in the throng what she had not the courage to\ndo openly, for she said, \u201cIf I may but touch His garment, I shall be\nwhole.\u201d And now was her opportunity, for \u201cmuch people followed Him, and\nthronged Him.\u201d Besides, on this occasion, Jesus may have passed through\nthe street on which she lived, since He has such a way of passing by\nthe door of helpless, suffering humanity, for He is \u201ctouched with the\nfeeling of our infirmities.\u201d\n\nThis woman at first does not impress us as having a very exalted idea\nof the Saviour or faith in His ability to heal. Doubtless she shared\nthe superstition of her people, and imagined that Christ healed by a\nsort of magic or magnetism, for, as she mingled in the throng, she said\nto herself, if I come \u201cin the press,\u201d if I can only get near enough to\n\u201ctouch the hem of His garment,\u201d I will be healed. These seem to be the\nthoughts passing through her mind as she ventured out on her errand of\nbeing healed. It is important, however, though difficult, to realize\nher situation, for she had become impoverished, diseased, and almost\nhelpless. Once she was possessed of health, and some means at least,\nand, no doubt moved in respectable society. Her changed relations\nto her former surroundings made it all the harder to be publicly\nrecognized, and so she timidly permits herself to be absorbed by the\nmultitude as they pressed their way through the crowded street that\nmorning. There may be another reason of which she was fully conscious,\nnamely, according to the Mosaic law, such a sufferer was unclean, and\nwas required, after the cure was wrought, to bring an offering for\npurification. Orientals had a perfect abhorrence of such a person, for\nher very touch would render them unclean. Perhaps could we know all the\ncircumstances which shaped her actions, the wonder would be, that she\ncame at all, and that her courage was greater than her faith.\n\nAt length, and as unobtrusively as possible, she came up, in the press\nof the people, behind Jesus, and stretched out her trembling hand, and\nin such a modest way touched the hem of His garment that no one saw\nit, not even His disciples, who were nearest the Saviour. Since no one\nsaw her act, she thought no one needed to know it. Perhaps she was so\ncareful that she even thought Jesus was not conscious of it. But to our\nLord there was a difference between the touch of faith and the touch of\nthe crowd. She was all too deeply conscious of her great need. She was\ncarried along with the multitude, because she believed if she could get\nnear enough to Jesus to touch Him, she would receive that which all her\nphysicians were unable to bestow, namely, restoration to health. She\nwas there for a blessing. The crowd was there through idle curiosity.\nThey wanted nothing, only to see. They pushed through the thronged\nhighway together, and as they did so talked about the simplicity of the\ngreat Man in their midst, were interested in Him because of His fame,\ndiscussed His origin, wondered at the growing opposition of the Scribes\nand Pharisees, but hoped some good would come of Him to the nation. The\nwoman believed she would personally receive new life from Him. In this\nshe was not disappointed, for \u201cstraightway the fountain of her blood\nwas dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that\nplague.\u201d To her there was an inward consciousness, which could not be\nmistaken, of the staunching of a wound through which her life, for long\nyears, had been slowly and yet surely ebbing, and she felt the rising\ntide of new existence and a return to wholeness.\n\nBut now the scene changes. The great throng came to a halt. What has\nhappened? one inquired of another. See! Jesus has turned around \u201cin the\npress\u201d and is sharply looking into the faces of those nearest Him, and\ndemanding, \u201cWho touched my clothes?\u201d\n\nTo the disciples this seemed a strange inquiry, and they could not\nunderstand its meaning, and replied, \u201cThou seest the multitude\nthronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?\u201d To appreciate\nthe astonishment of the disciples one must see an Oriental throng\npushing its way through a narrow street of an Eastern city. There is\nno resisting its onward rush. Like some mighty river which, fed by a\nthousand spring freshets, irresistibly bears everything before it, so\nis an Eastern crowd, and the wonder is that Jesus could stay at all.\nBut He immediately knew in \u201cHimself that virtue had gone out of Him.\u201d\nHe was conscious that He had put forth power for the woman\u2019s healing.\nHe would there and at once correct any superstition that there was any\nhealing virtue in His clothes. Not in the touch of the garment, for the\npeople pressed Him on all sides, and experienced nothing of His healing\npower, even though one or another might have had a concealed disease,\nsimply because this conscious need of help was lacking in them, and so\nit was her own faith had saved her, even though in the beginning it was\nnot wholly free from superstition.\n\nBut what a trial this stop must have been to the woman, especially\nwhen there was such urgent haste, and this seeming leisurely way of\ncalling out all the circumstances of the case, even after all disavowed\ntouching Him, and His looking \u201cround about to see her that had done\nthis thing.\u201d She must have thought to herself, \u201cI will surely be\ndiscovered.\u201d And timidly shrank back in the crowd, her face burning\nwith confusion, for doubtless she was not only alarmed at the delay,\nbut also mortified and afraid on account of the nature of her malady,\ndisturbed by the consciousness of impropriety, as having, while\nLevitically unclean, dared to mingle with the people, and even touch\nthe great Teacher Himself. We wonder, in the sweep of the Saviour\u2019s eye\nover the multitude \u201cto see her,\u201d as she caught sight of His beneficent\nface, possibly for the first time, she did not see something in it\nthat calmed her fears and inspired hope? It would seem so, for even\nwhile yet \u201cfearing and trembling\u201d she came promptly out from among the\nthrong, \u201cfell down before Him,\u201d and, hard as it must have been for\nher to tell her shame in the ears of the multitude, woman-like, she\nbravely \u201ctold Him all the truth!\u201d Confessed the whole sad story of her\nlife, and twelve long years of suffering. Oh, the touch of loyalty to\ntruth and honor in this woman, prostrate at the feet of Jesus, pleading\nfor mercy and forgiveness! How His own heart must have been touched by\nit. He would not break the bruised reed, even in this necessity for\nthe good of her faith, to have her openly confess the great blessing\nshe had received. Doubtless the Lord constrained her to make this\nconfession, partly to seal her faith and to strengthen her recovery,\nand partly to present her to the world as healed and cleansed.\n\nBut while she is sobbing out her confession at the Saviour\u2019s feet, He\ngraciously addresses her, \u201cDaughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath\nmade thee whole; go in peace!\u201d Had ever such endearing words fallen\nupon human ears! To the woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, He\nhad said, \u201cThy faith hath saved thee!\u201d To this one He says, \u201cDaughter,\nbe of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole!\u201d That endearing\nappellation, \u201cdaughter,\u201d must have sounded as a lost note out of heaven\nin the ear of this woman. Could it be possible that she, who, under\nthe Levitical law, had been held by her people as unclean, is called\n\u201cdaughter\u201d by the pure, sinless Son of God? Did ever heaven come down\nto earth in such graciousness, and rescue from the mire of uncleanness\nand elevate womanhood to be a princess of the sky? Surely these were\ndays of heaven upon earth, and we may well believe that \u201cdaughter\u201d\narose from her prostrate attitude at the feet of the Lord of life and\nglory, \u201ca new creature\u201d in Christ.\n\nEarly ecclesiastical legends have garlanded this woman with many\nbeautiful fancies. Her birthplace, according to tradition, was Paneas\n(the modern Banias), located at the sources of the Jordan. Here, in\nthe front of her residence, she caused a monument to be erected to her\nDeliverer. She must also have been in the company of women who followed\nJesus to Jerusalem at the last Passover, for, at the several trials of\nour Lord she is made to appear under the name of Veronica, and is said,\nin the presence of Pilate, to have proclaimed, in a clear, loud voice,\nthe innocence of our Lord, and after he was condemned to be crucified,\non the way to Calvary, wiped His face with her own handkerchief.\n\nWhatever value or genuineness there may be attached to these\ntraditions, they certainly show in what reverence she was held in\nChristian antiquity, and how highly the faith and the hope of this\nsufferer were esteemed.\n\nBut, above all these traditionary legends, we behold the glory and\nmajesty of our Lord in that, in the midst of the multitude, He\ndisplayed no traces of excitement, but that in calm consciousness He\nwas ready to receive any impression from without. Of this there is\nthe clearest evidence, when, in the midst of the excited crowd, He\nperceived that one timid, shrinking woman, in the agony of her faith\ntouched the fringe of His garment; and when He stopped to comfort and\nconfirm the trembling believer, whom His power and grace had restored,\nHe had recognized, even in a throng, that faith which was unperceived\nby men, and only found expression in the inmost desires of the one who\nwas not even known to the crowd. He alone could develop and strengthen\nthis unobtrusive and shrinking \u201cdaughter\u201d until she breaks forth in\nopen and public profession.\n\nThere are also reasons why Christ ascribes to faith the deliverance\nwhich He alone works: 1. Faith alone can receive the needed\ndeliverance. 2. Shrinking modesty, and even a feeling of unworthiness,\nneed no longer be kept back by any sense of uncleanness, from the full\nexercise of that faith. 3. God\u2019s gifts are not alone for the rich and\nthose high in the ranks of social life, for even this ruler of the\nsynagogue had to give place to this timid woman, therefore faith may\nbe exercised by those in the humblest walks of life. 4. Jesus would\nconvert the act of faith into a life of faith. This woman was not hid\nfrom the searching glance of Christ, but His gracious act of healing\nwas concealed from the world until He brought her before Him in her\npublic confession.\n\nIf there is anything that can grieve the heart of Christ it must be\nthe person who absorbs like a sponge all the gifts of grace, but never\ngives any of them out to others. If every one acted thus, Christianity\nwould be blotted from the face of the earth in a single generation.\nHence the wisdom and justice in requiring believers to be witnesses and\nconfessors. If you have received any good, tell it out, that others may\nbe blessed and God glorified.\n\nIt was now becoming manifest that the opposition of the Pharisees was\ndeepening, and, because they were bitterly offended at the Saviour\u2019s\nwork, shortly after the healing of the woman with a bloody issue,\nJesus withdrew from Capernaum to the \u201cborders of Tyre and Sidon.\u201d Only\na little before this so many were coming and going that our Lord and\nHis disciples \u201chad no leisure so much as to eat,\u201d and because of these\nthrongs upon His public ministry, He had said to the apostles, \u201cCome\nye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile.\u201d So they\nsailed for the farther shore, to find a safe retreat in the sheltered\nuplands in the dominion of Herod Philip. But the people, who seemed to\nbe always on the watch, when they saw the little vessel sailing out\nfrom Capernaum, and knew, by the direction it was taking, they quickly\nspread the news of His departure, and thronged out of Capernaum,\nBethsaida, Chorazin and other cities, and hastened on foot around the\nshores of the sea, and outran the vessel and reached His contemplated\nplace of retirement in advance of the little craft, and there was no\nrest, but a great multitude to be instructed, and healed, and fed,\nfor it was on this occasion that He spread a table in the desert, and\nfive thousand, besides women and children, sat down to eat. And so\nthere was nothing but a hard day\u2019s work, and a night on the desolate\nmountain in prayer. So obviously His journey to the \u201cborders of Tyre\nand Sidon,\u201d was to find seclusion and rest, which He had sought, but in\nvain, in the \u201cdesert place.\u201d But even here, down by the coast of the\nMediterranean, \u201cHe could not be hid,\u201d although, when He had reached the\n\u201cborders\u201d of the land, He \u201centered into a house and would have no man\nknow it.\u201d\n\nTo our mind this is one of the most remarkable incidents in our Lord\u2019s\nministry. In the house of some sheltering friend, on the remote\nfrontier of Galilee, He hoped to escape popular attention and to be\nrelieved from the demands of the crowds, who had even deprived Him\nof the needed time to eat, but \u201cHe could not be hid.\u201d A woman, a\nSyro-Ph\u0153nician, that is to say, one of the mixed race, in whom the\nblood of the Syrians and Ph\u0153nicians mingled, and for that reason doubly\ndespised by the Jews, this woman had observed His presence, and was\nsoon \u201cat His feet.\u201d From the fact that she was a Gentile, and of a\nmixed race at that, made her coming to Jesus an act of heroic faith.\nShe came not only without invitation, or a single promise to warrant\nher coming, but in the face of heart-breaking discouragements. We\nhave been trained to believe, from the clear teaching of Scripture,\nthat when we come to Christ with our burdens of sorrow, be they ever\nso heavy, and ask for help, our prayers must always be subject to His\nwill. And indeed He set us a beautiful object-lesson in His own great\nagony in Gethsemane. But here it would seem as if the process had been\nreversed, and as if this poor Syro-Ph\u0153nician woman had succeeded in\nimposing her will on the Son of God. Did He not say, \u201cBe it unto thee\neven as thou wilt?\u201d And is there not in this the appearance, at least,\nof the monarch abdicating in favor of the subject? Strange, indeed,\nthat any one should get their own way and will with the Sovereign\nof all, for the sin that is in us so dyes the color of our will and\ndeflects it, that we can seldom think of it as being other than a\ncrooked piece of bent or twisted iron. It is very wonderful that this\nwoman\u2019s faith was able to get deliverance for her daughter possessed\nof an \u201cunclean spirit.\u201d Somehow she believed beforehand in His love\nto her, a poor Gentile mother, and this was great faith indeed. All\nthe miracles of Christ were wrought in response to faith, either in\nthe sufferers who besought His aid, or in their friends. There must\nbe faith by which, as over a bridge, the divine help might pass into\nthe nature of man. Faith is the unfurled petal, the opened door, the\nunshuttered lattice. And so, in this case, it was through the mother\u2019s\nfaith that God\u2019s delivering help passed to the child.\n\nUpon a careful study of the secret of this woman\u2019s faith, we shall\ndiscover that her faith was severely tested. Christ gave her four\ntests, each of which was necessary to complete her education; and by\neach, with agile foot, she climbed the difficult stairway, which some\nwould say was of upward ascent, but which in point of fact was one of\ndownward climbing, until she got low enough to catch the waters which\nissue from the threshold of the door of heaven\u2019s mercy.\n\nThe first test was that of silence. \u201cShe cried unto Him, saying, Have\nmercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed\nwith a devil.\u201d The effects of these unclean spirits are described in\nthe instance where the distressed father brought his demoniac boy to be\nhealed. And while the father is bringing him, the poor child is seized\nwith paroxysms of his malady, having fallen to the ground at the feet\nof Jesus, foaming at the lips under the violent convulsions. When the\nfather was asked how long the boy had thus been possessed, he answered,\n\u201cOf a child, and ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the\nwater to destroy him;\u201d and whenever the spirit \u201ctaketh him, he teareth\nhim, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away.\u201d\nSuch was the demon this poor mother\u2019s daughter was possessed with,\nand grievously tormented. But to her appeal for help, Jesus \u201canswered\nher not a word.\u201d He alone had the power to help, but the agonizing\nmother awakened no response. And yet, His very silence is a testing of\nher faith. Often it has happened that God\u2019s answer which has best met\nour need was the silence which has not been a refusal, but has given\ntime for us to reach a condition of lowliness and helplessness before\nGod. He always lets the fruit upon His trees ripen before He plucks\nit. Through the silence of the winter the sap is touching again its\nmother earth, and becoming reinforced by her energy for its work in\nthe blossoms of May and the fruit of September. The mind reaches its\nclearest, strongest conclusion by processes carried on in its depths\nduring hours of silence and repose. It is in the long, silent hours,\nwhen the heart waits at the door, listening for the footstep down the\ncorridor in vain, that processes are at work that shall make it more\nable to hold the blessedness which shall be poured out from the chalice\nof a Father\u2019s pity.\n\nAgain. She was sorely tested in the conduct of the disciples. They\nwere eager to rid themselves of the worry of this woman\u2019s crying, and,\nas the quickest solution--a solution which we are all ready enough\nto imitate--advised Christ to give her what she wanted and send her\noff. They thought a miracle to Christ was not more than a penny to a\nmillionaire. They did not see that Christ\u2019s hands were tied until the\nconditions of blessing were fulfilled in the suppliant. He loves us too\nwell to give His choicest boons to those who have not complied with the\nlofty spiritual conditions which are part of the standing orders of the\nkingdom of heaven. Much of our charity is sheer selfishness. We would\nrather grant the request any day than have an unsightly beggar intrude\ninto our bowers of selfish repose. \u201cShe crieth after us,\u201d the disciples\nsaid; \u201cher misery is unpleasant; heal it.\u201d\n\nBut Christ was tied by the terms of His commission. She had appealed\nto Him as Son of David, and He said that He had been sent to the\nlost sheep of the house of Israel. She belonged to one of the alien\nraces. She was not even a \u201csheep\u201d of the house of Israel, much less a\n\u201clost\u201d one. The question was, \u201cCould He, even for once, transcend His\ncommission, and grant the request of this weary soul which had traveled\nso far to find the Christ?\u201d As Messiah, she had no claim on Him, for,\nin that capacity, He had been commissioned to the house of Israel only.\n\nOnce again. Her faith was tested in His farther refusal to her\npleadings, when He said, \u201cIt is not meet to take the children\u2019s bread,\nand cast it to the dogs.\u201d Somehow her quick woman\u2019s instinct perceived\na way up what had seemed to be the unscalable path of Christ\u2019s refusal.\nIf she had no claim on Him as Messiah, was He not something more? Was\nHe not Lord and Master? Did not deity blend with humanity in that\nnature, which, whilst His voice repelled her, yet fascinated and\nattracted her? It would almost seem as if the Holy Spirit whispered,\n\u201cAccost Him as Lord;\u201d \u201cTouch Him on the side of His universal power;\u201d\n\u201cSpeak to Him as Son of Man.\u201d So she acted upon His suggestion, and,\nthrowing herself at His feet, said, \u201cLord, help me.\u201d To this appeal\nChrist gave answer that seemed churlish enough. But the bitter rind\nencased luscious fruit. The nut had only to be cracked to disclose\nthe milk, sweeter than that of the cocoanut in the desert waste. He\ncompared the Jews to children, Himself to bread, and this woman to a\ndog. But for the word \u201cdog\u201d he used the tender diminutive, which was\nnot applicable to the wolfish, starving animals that prowl and snarl\nthrough the streets of Eastern towns, but was used for the little dogs\nbrought up with the children in the home. Now, hope once again sprang\nup in her heart. Jesus had talked about dogs, and little house dogs,\nthe playthings of the children. He said it was not proper to cast the\nchildren\u2019s bread to dogs. If by children he meant the \u201csheep of the\nhouse of Israel,\u201d then she must belong to the household after all.\n\nShe was quick to see her opportunity. \u201cTruth, Lord!\u201d she exclaimed,\n\u201cYet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters\u2019 table!\u201d\nWhen she said that, her lesson was learnt. In her former reply she\nhad given the Lord His right place; in this she took her own as a\nlittle dog. You are not a child of Abraham\u2019s stock! Truth, Lord. You\nare a Syro-Ph\u0153nician, and, for that reason, doubly unfit to be called\na child! Truth, Lord. All I do for you must be of grace, and not of\nmerit! Truth, Lord. She admitted all and accepted His most discouraging\nstatements concerning herself. But, after the worst that can be said\nabout dogs, they \u201ceat of the crumbs.\u201d All these seeming objections are\nin favor of her request. She only wants a little crumb of His mercy,\nwhich will take nothing from others.\n\nJesus could stand such pleadings no longer, and he answered and said,\n\u201cO, woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.\u201d\nShe had come for crumbs, but the Lord handed to her the key of the\nstorehouse, and said, \u201cHave your way, go in and help yourself to all\nits stores.\u201d She would have been content with the crumbs that fell\nbeneath the table on the floor, but she finds herself seated at the\ntable itself, and feasting like a daughter of the king on its rich and\nbountiful provision. No longer a dog, she proves herself to be one of\nthose other sheep which shamed the lost sheep of the house of Israel by\ndocility and purity and grace.\n\nThis woman had many graces. She had wisdom, humility, meekness,\npatience, perseverance in prayer; but all these were the fruits\nof her faith; therefore, of all graces, Christ honors faith most.\nThe perseverance of this woman may well be considered as every way\ncalculated to teach us the power and efficacy of faith, and the\ngreatness of her faith consisted in this, that in spite of all\ndiscouragements she continued her plea. Many a blessing has been lost\nout of our lives just because we lacked these graces of the soul.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nWomanhood During Our Lord\u2019s Judean Ministry.\n\n  THE SISTERS OF BETHANY--THEIR CHARACTERISTICS--NOT GOOD, BUT BEST\n    GIFTS--THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF LOVE--SALOME\u2019S STRANGE REQUEST--HER\n    FIDELITY--JOANNA--THE POOR WIDOW\u2019S GIFT--HOW ESTIMATED--THE\n    SAVIOUR\u2019S WORDS OF PEACE.\n\n\nThe sisters of Bethany, Martha and Mary, come to our view three times\nduring our Lord\u2019s Judean ministry. The first view we have of them is\nrecorded in Luke x, 38-42, where these sisters entertain our Lord after\na long, weary day\u2019s teaching. The second is recorded in John xi, 1-46,\nand relates to the sickness and raising from the dead their brother\nLazarus. The third is the anointing of Jesus by Mary, the account of\nwhich is found in Matt. xxvi, 6-13; also in Mark xiv, 3-9, and John\nxii, 1-8. Though these three events are each distinct, yet a careful\nstudy will discover a close connection between the deep, underlying\ntruths in each, the attitude taken by Jesus, and the results in the\ncircumstances of everyday life.\n\nA great deal has been said and written about these sisters of Bethany,\nsome regarding Martha at fault, while others think Mary did not do the\nright thing to leave her sister do all the work. It is related of three\ntheologians that they were talking together about these two women, and\nat last made their discussions concrete by questioning each other as\nto which of the women they would like to have married. The first said\nhe would rather take Martha, to have his home looked well after; the\nsecond said he would much prefer to have married Mary, the tender and\nthe loving; and the third, who had been silent up to this point, said,\n\u201cI should like Martha before dinner and Mary after.\u201d We think there is\na great deal in this statement. There are excellencies in each, and\nit is impossible for us to do without our busy Marthas in our homes\nand churches, but we must remember at the same time that our Lord\u2019s\nestimate is that Mary had chosen the better part which was not to be\ntaken from her.\n\nThe location of Bethany is most picturesque and charming. It is\nscarcely two miles from Jerusalem, yet, by its situation on the\nsouth-eastern side of a lateral spur of Olivet, is completely hid from\nview. Here, amid the olive yards and fig orchards, lived this happy\nfamily in comfortable circumstances, and, we think, were possessed of\nconsiderable property, and ranked well among the learned and affluent.\nJesus had been slowly journeying from Galilee down the east borders of\nSamaria to Jerusalem. Those who are familiar with that journey will\nremember how replete it was with incidents, wayside sermons, parables\nand miracles. At length, late in the afternoon, we may well believe, He\narrived at Bethany weary with the long journey, exhausted by the labors\nwhich attended it, and glad to get away from the multitudes which\nthronged Him. That there should be some stir in the pious household at\nthe coming of such a guest is perfectly natural, and that Martha, the\nbusy, eager-hearted, and no less affectionate hostess, should hurry\nto and fro with somewhat excited energy to prepare for His proper\nentertainment, is not to be wondered at, for, in all probability,\nshe had had no information of His coming, and along with Him twelve\ndisciples to be provided for. The wonder is she was as self-contained\nas she was.\n\nThere can be no doubt but Martha was a good housekeeper. She kept\neverything straight, clean and neat. And when Jesus came, it upset her\nsomewhat, and she ran out into the kitchen, at the back of the house\nto get the supper; not a single thing must be left undone, everything\nmust be there. She is so eager about it, coming in and out of the\nlittle guest-chamber where the Master is sitting, hurrying here and\nthere with this one thought in her heart, that the Lord must have\nher best, nothing must be left unturned to give Him comfort. And,\nof course, there is a good deal of excitement and possible anxiety.\nThe disarranged furniture is hastily put to rights, the table had\nto be freshly laid with clean white cloths, and the dining-room made\npresentable, for it must be remembered Christ did not come alone.\nHe had a group of twelve disciples with Him, and such an influx\nof visitors would throw any village home into perturbation. Then,\nno doubt, the day\u2019s labor had been a good appetizer. The kitchen\ndepartment that day was a very important department, and probably\nMartha had no sooner greeted her guests than she fled to that room. No\ndoubt she was a good cook. Mary had full confidence that her sister\ncould get up the best dinner of any woman in Bethany, for Martha was\nnot only a hard-working and painstaking woman, but also a good manager,\never inventive of some new pastry, or discovering something in the art\nof cookery and housekeeping.\n\nOn the other hand, Mary had no worriment about household affairs. She\nseemed to say, \u201cNow, let us have a division of labor. Martha, you\ncook, and I\u2019ll sit down and be good.\u201d So you have often seen a great\ndifference between two sisters. Mary is so fond of conversation she has\nno time to attend to the household welfare. So by this self-appointed\narrangement, Mary is in the parlor with Christ, and Martha is in the\nkitchen. It would have been better if they had divided the work, and\nthen they could have divided the opportunity of listening to Jesus;\nbut Mary monopolizes Christ while Martha swelters at the fire. It was\na very important thing that they should have a good dinner that day.\nChrist was hungry, and He did not often have a luxurious entertainment.\nAlas! if the duty had devolved upon Mary, what a repast that would have\nbeen! But something went wrong in the kitchen. Perhaps the fire would\nnot burn, or the bread would not bake, or Martha scalded her hand, or\nsomething was burned black that ought only to have been made brown;\nand Martha lost her patience, and forgetting the proprieties of the\noccasion, with besweated brow, and, perhaps with pitcher in one hand\nand tongs in the other, she rushes out of the kitchen into the presence\nof Christ, saying, \u201cLord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left\nme to serve alone?\u201d\n\nNow look at Martha, but while you look, do not get out of patience\nwith her. She is cumbered and growing fretful. Her service is getting\ntoo much for her, she can not get things done as well as she would\nlike. And being fretful and tired she goes wrong herself. First she is\ncumbered; the next thing she feels cross with Mary; \u201cMary is sitting\nthere at the feet of Jesus, and I am so busy getting the supper. What\nright has she down there when I am so busy?\u201d The third thing she gets\ncross with Jesus, and she says, \u201cDost not Thou care that my sister\nhath left me to serve?\u201d Cumbered in her own spirit, angry with her\nsister, reflecting upon her Master, and putting the blame on him of\nher weariness. Dear soul, how she loved and wanted that supper to be\nall that it ought to be, but she had forgotten that service only was\nacceptable which was filled up with communion with the Lord.\n\nHow tenderly the Lord deals with Martha! There was nothing acrid in\nHis words. He knew that she had almost worked herself to death to get\nHim something to eat, and so He throws a world of tenderness into His\nintonation as He seems to say, \u201cMy dear woman, do not worry, let the\ndinner go; sit down on this ottoman beside Mary, your younger sister.\nMartha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but\none thing is needful.\u201d Is there not a volume of love and sympathy\nexpressed in these words? And may not the Marthas of to-day learn\nwisdom from them and seek in Jesus that Friend who can be touched with\nthe feelings of our infirmities, \u201cthat good part which shall not be\ntaken away?\u201d The Saviour looked with love and pity upon the troubled\nMartha, for He realized that she was not only cumbered with many\ncares, but she was also anxious for His personal comfort. He was her\nGuest. Though the Lord of Glory, He was also man, having human wants.\nHe hungered and thirsted as other men, and it was the duty of these\nsisters to provide for Him the necessary food. If at the last day it\nwill be a matter of condemnation to any one that he has seen one of\nChrist\u2019s disciples an hungered or athirst and did not minister unto\nhim, how much more guilty would they be who would suffer Christ Himself\nto go without food when He was hungry, and that too in their own house!\n\nMartha was right, therefore, in seeing that a suitable meal was\nprepared for her guests. Her mistake was that she set an undue\nimportance upon the matter. She represents that large class of Marthas\nwhich emphasizes fidelity to temporal cares and subordinates the\ndevotional and spiritual. Mary represents that side which magnifies\nthe devotional and spiritual, and which subordinates the temporal and\nphysical things, making them subserve the other. The one is serving\nChrist in our own way and according to our own zeal; the other is\nhumbly waiting at His feet for direction. Martha must needs get up a\ngreat entertainment. She must have a needless variety of dishes, show\nthereby the skill and resources of her art as a housekeeper. Instead of\nthinking mainly of what her distinguished Guest might do for her, of\nthe infinite store of blessing that hung upon His lips, she was wholly\nintent upon what she might do for Him. While thus absorbed and fretted\nwith cares of how she might give her table a more comely appearance,\nshe was losing the heavenly manna which Jesus came to dispense, and\nwhich she so much needed for her soul. Not only did she throw away this\npriceless opportunity of hearing the words of eternal life directly\nfrom her Lord, but she was unreasonably vexed at Mary for not being as\nfoolish as herself.\n\nThe thoughts and purpose of her heart were as open to Him as were those\nof the gentle, loving Mary; and while one revealed care and anxiety for\nthe perishing things of this life the other told of perfect love and\ntrust in her adored Lord; of earnest longing for the knowledge of the\ntruth, of deep humility, of self-forgetting devotion, of that quiet\ncourage which fears neither ridicule nor opposition.\n\nThere may have been some truth in Martha\u2019s complaint against her\nsister. Very possibly Mary may have been so absorbed with the \u201cgood\npart\u201d which she had chosen, as to be really negligent of her household\nduties, and to throw upon Martha burdens which should have been shared\nequally by the sisters. Had Mary, sitting at the Master\u2019s feet and\ndrinking in the precious doctrine that fell from His lips, been puffed\nup thereby, and said to Jesus, \u201cSpeak to my sister Martha, that she\nstop her household cares, and come and sit with me in this devout\nframe of mind,\u201d very likely the rebuke would have fallen in the other\ndirection.\n\nObserve, Jesus did not meet Martha\u2019s words against her sister with\na denial, or with an apology. He simply vindicated Mary\u2019s religious\nintegrity, by testifying that she had \u201cchosen the good part.\u201d She\nwas a faithful, humble, loving disciple, and delighted to sit at His\nfeet and receive instruction. That which Jesus calls \u201cthat good part\u201d\nmust be of priceless value, a treasure well worth obtaining in this\nchanging, perishing world; for it is to be enduring, \u201cit shall not be\ntaken away.\u201d Like the favored Mary, we may not literally sit at the\nMaster\u2019s feet, yet He is speaking to every humble child of God, in and\nby His Word. We may choose the world with all its vanities which perish\nwith the using, or we may choose Christ as our portion, both for time\nand eternity. O! how many troubled Marthas there are in these modern\ntimes that need to choose the \u201cgood part,\u201d that need to sit humbly at\nthe dear Saviour\u2019s feet, to be nourished by His love, cheered by His\ncouncil, and approved by the divine \u201cwell done!\u201d The lowly life of\nhumble sacrifice is the only life worth living.\n\nThe next view we have of this beautiful Bethany home the scene is all\nchanged. The sunshine is all gone out and great clouds of sorrow and\ndistress have rolled into the sky of its happiness. Prosperity has\ngiven place to the bitterest adversity, the brightness and gladness are\nbanished, and the sisters are right down under the deepest, darkest\nshadow of sorrow that ever settled on their home. The well-beloved\nbrother, Lazarus, is ill unto death, and Jesus is far away, and in\nthe very midst of His Per\u00e6an ministry. In their distress, the first\nthought of these sisters was of Jesus. \u201cIf He only knew our brother was\nsick,\u201d they doubtless said one to the other, He would sympathize with\nus, and at once restore him to health. And so they sent him the simple\nmessage, \u201cHe whom Thou lovest is sick.\u201d\n\nOur first thought is when the messengers, bearing the sad intelligence,\nhad informed the Lord, He would have at once promptly responded to this\ncry of help coming from the home where he had been so heartily welcomed\nand so bountifully entertained. But how different was His reception of\nthe message from what we naturally expected. So far as is known, He did\nnot even return an answer. Could they have been mistaken? Did not Jesus\nlove Martha and her sister, and was not the very message couched in the\nwords, \u201cHe whom thou lovest?\u201d Would He dishonor the confidence they had\nreposed in Him?\n\nFor two whole days He continued His Par\u00e6an ministry \u201cin the same place\nwhere He was.\u201d To us this conduct is most surprising. O, how often the\nLord does so with us, even when we cry after Him in our sorrow He does\nnot come. But always right in front of the statement, that He does not\ncome, we have \u201cJesus loved.\u201d How it added to their sorrow. Lazarus\ndying, Christ not coming, and at last Lazarus is dead and in the tomb,\nand yet the Master has not come. Surely the dense gloom of bereavement\nhas settled down over the home, but a little while ago so full of\nsunshine and beauty.\n\nHeartbroken, the sisters keep their vigil by the sepulchre, but among\nthe friends coming and going to tender their sympathy, the Friend does\nnot appear. He came not to save; He comes not to weep. The fact must\nhave added poignancy to their grief. But wait in your judgment. Right\nthrough these dark hours Jesus loved these sisters. Do not lose sight\nof this fact. It may comfort you some day. He refrained from bestowing\na small favor only that He might have an opportunity to bestow a\ngreater. If he had healed Lazarus by a word, Martha and Mary would\nhave been grateful and satisfied, but by waiting He could give them a\ngreater blessing, and one which might be shared by sorrowing ones in\nall ages to come.\n\nBut Jesus is coming. Lazarus is dead, but Jesus is come at last, and is\nhalting on the brow of the hill, just outside of the village. The news\nof His arrival reach the stricken sisters. How does the intelligence\nof His presence affect them? \u201cThen Martha,\u201d the dear woman, \u201cas soon\nas she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him; but Mary sat\nstill in the house.\u201d What a contrast. Martha hastens along the village\nroad to the brow of the hill where the Saviour had halted, doubtless\nthat He might meet the sisters apart from the crowd, which had come in\naccordance with Jewish custom, to mourn with them, and as she comes\nrunning to meet Him, she exclaims, \u201cLord, if Thou hadst been here my\nbrother had not died.\u201d He certainly understood that. But in her blind\ngrief she could not understand how, if He loved her and her sister, He\ncould delay His coming until it was too late. In her words there was\nalmost the accent of rebuke and reproach, \u201cIf _Thou_ hadst been here my\nbrother had not died.\u201d But how graciously He deals with her. He comes\nto her in her argumentative state and with words the most comforting\nsaid, \u201cThy brother shall rise again.\u201d\n\nMartha could hardly believe her ears, as she certainly did not\ncomprehend the meaning of these words with her heart, and replied, \u201cI\nknow that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.\u201d She\nbelieved in the life everlasting, but she was going to put off being\ncomforted until \u201cthe last day.\u201d In that Martha has many sisters.\n\nBut how patiently our Lord recalls the mind of Martha from the\nresurrection of the last day to Himself. He said, \u201cI am the\nresurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were\ndead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall\nnever die!\u201d He is master of the thing that fills her heart with dread,\nand patiently He deals with her. Was not that beautiful?\n\nComforted in her heart, Martha hastened back to her home, and called\nMary her sister secretly, saying, \u201cThe Master is come, and calleth for\nthee.\u201d He wanted to meet Mary apart from the public mourners, as He had\nmet Martha. The custom was for the comforters to do as the mourners. If\nthey were silent, to remain so; if they wailed, to wail with them. The\nshrieks of Oriental mourners are often ear-piercing. Our Lord wanted\nto avoid this, and so no doubt, although it is not chronicled, He had\ncommissioned Martha to bear the tidings of His arrival, and she went\nand quietly and said, \u201cThe Master wants you, Mary.\u201d\n\nMary \u201crose quickly, and came unto Him.\u201d But mark her coming. Unlike her\nsister, \u201cwhen Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she _fell\ndown at His feet_, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my\nbrother had not died.\u201d That\u2019s what Martha said. Yes, but what effect\ndid it produce upon Him when Mary said it? \u201cWhen Jesus therefore saw\nher weeping,\u201d and the company of mourners who had followed her soon\nafter she left the house, \u201calso weeping\u201d with her, \u201cHe groaned in the\nspirit and was troubled,\u201d no doubt, at the empty platitude on the\npart of those miserable comforters. But at the sepulchre, where lay\nthe mortal remains of the loved Lazarus, He wept. The Son of God in\ntears! His great heart sharing another\u2019s sorrow. This scene is the most\nprecious and comforting in the record of the Saviour\u2019s life so far as\nthe revelation of His heart is concerned.\n\nMartha gets His teaching, Mary gets His tears. Martha said exactly what\nMary said. When Mary said it, what a difference! Which do you think\nwas the better thing, to run after Him and get His teaching, or wait\ntill sent for and get His tears? The reasoning mind will receive the\nMaster\u2019s teaching; the broken, weeping heart, His tears. Bright and\nluminous as were His words with resurrection glory, Mary got to deeper\ndepths in the heart of God when she came than Martha, because she drew\nHis tears of deepest sympathy with her sorrow.\n\nWhy did Jesus weep? Because Lazarus died? No, He is going to call Him\nback for a definite purpose. He knows that bereavement has broken the\nhearts of these two sisters, and though He is going to heal sorrow\u2019s\nwound, He sympathized with their grief, and His heart went out in\ntheir distress. Every wounded heart that belongs to a child of God,\nthe Master is going to heal by and by; yet He suffers with you in the\nwounding, and enters by tears with you into the sacrament of your\nsorrow. And so He wept when these women wept. There are times in our\nlives when the tears of sympathy speak greater comfort than the most\neloquent words. Beloved, when you go to your friend sitting in the\nshadow of her deepest sorrow, spare your words, but freely mingle your\ntears with hers. Job\u2019s comforters sat in silence for seven days before\nthey spoke. But if you are not delivered out of your bereavement, may\nthis scene in the life of our Lord comfort you with the thought that\nHe has something better for you. The best thing came to these sisters,\nright after the bitter weeping.\n\nIn the third and last view we have of this blessed Bethany home, we\nsee some of the scenes of the first view coming up to us. It is the\nsame home, only, because of better accommodations, the feast is held in\nthe house of Simon, but the same people are in it. But what a change\nthere is here! Let us get the humanness as well as the divinity out of\nit. Look at those people, what are they doing? Sitting at the table.\nA lovely place for us men to sit. _But Martha served._ Do not miss\nthat. She is doing what she did before,--getting supper ready. She is\nbustling about in her earnestness, but she has lost her grumbling. She\ngets through the entertainment with smiles from first to last. She is\nno less busy, but she is at rest in her mind. She is cumbered, but is\nnot angry with Mary, and is not reflecting on Jesus Christ. She had\nlearned something in the day of sorrow and darkness. It has not altered\nher power to serve, but the matter and the manner of her service.\n\nWhat about Mary? If you have carefully studied the last few days of\nour Lord\u2019s life upon the earth you have noticed that He was a lonely\nman, and that even His disciples failed to enter into sympathy with His\nsuffering as it overshadowed His life. Take the story of those last six\ndays and our Lord\u2019s journey to Jerusalem, and you will find that it is\nan awful picture. He has the shadow of the cross upon Him, and He keeps\ncalling these men to Him saying, \u201cI am going to Jerusalem to suffer,\nto be delivered into the hands of men, and they will crucify Me.\u201d His\ndisciples broke in upon that awful revelation by asking, \u201cMaster, who\nis the greatest among us?\u201d\n\nBut there was one soul that saw the cross--Mary. Never forget it, you\nmen; it was a woman that saw the cross and went into the shadow of it\nwith Christ, as it was a woman who became the first human preacher of\nthe resurrection when He came back again. So while He \u201csat at meat,\u201d\nin the house of Simon the leper, with the man whom He had cured of\nthe most terrible of diseases upon one side, and the man whom He\nhad raised from the dead on the other, and the disciples on either\nside of these, Mary looks into the faces of the guests, and they\nall were happy, as men usually are with a feast spread before them,\nand even Christ, though fully conscious of his approaching death,\nand all the humiliation accompanying it, did not abandon Himself to\nmelancholy feelings or looks, yet with that deep intuition that is\nonly born of the highest and the holiest love, she sees what no one\nelse sees, that on His heart is the shadow of a great sorrow. And she\nis thinking, \u201cWhat can I do? Can I do anything that will let Him see\nI know something of His pain? Can I go into the darkness with Him\nand share in that sorrow?\u201d And when love does this kind of thinking\nit is always extravagant. She slipped away from her sister\u2019s side in\nserving, hastened to her room, where the precious treasure was kept,\nand seizing the alabaster box of spikenard, for which she had paid more\nthan 300 pence, she hastened back to the feast, saying to herself, \u201cI\nwill give Him this; it is the choicest thing I can get hold of, and\nI want to pour it out upon Him, for He knows I can see His sorrow and\npain.\u201d So speaking, she fell at His feet and poured the perfume on His\nhead and feet. It was a lavish waste of love--nearly $1,000 expressed\nin our money now. But nothing is wasted that is done in love for our\nLord. Some murmured, others \u201chad indignation,\u201d and Judas spoke right\nout, \u201cWhy this waste?\u201d Poor Mary, she had never thought of there being\nany waste to her act of love. \u201cThree hundred pence!\u201d Judas had quickly\nciphered out the contents of the broken alabaster box, and just now, at\nthe expense of Mary, was very benevolent. The unbroken box of ointment\nmight have been sold, and the money \u201cgiven to the poor.\u201d\n\nBut, in a moment they were hushed. \u201cLet her alone,\u201d said Jesus. How\nfortunate for Mary that she had a more righteous Judge to pass sentence\nupon her action. \u201cAgainst the day of My burying hath she kept this.\u201d\nNobody else understood it. The motive determines the act. \u201cNothing\ncan be wasted that love pours upon Me, because love enters into My\nsuffering and sorrow, and that is what it meant.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe hath done what she could.\u201d O, what a precious revelation! Jesus\nis fully satisfied with the limit of our ability to serve Him. And\nthe sequel showed that she met her Lord\u2019s future as no other of His\ndisciples had been able; anointed His brow for the thorns, and his feet\nfor the nails, that both thorns and nails may draw blood in the perfume\nof at least one woman\u2019s love.\n\nIn this act of love done for Jesus she has erected to herself a\nmonument as lasting as the Gospel, for the Master declared, \u201cVerily,\nverily, I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in\nthe whole world, there shall this also, that this woman hath done, be\ntold for a memorial of her.\u201d Mary had loved wiser than she knew, but\nthen it is just like Jesus to pay back into our hands a hundredfold\nmore than the most liberal of us ever bestowed upon Him. The sweet\nstory of that beautiful act of the breaking of the alabaster box\nwill be told as long as there is a Gospel to be preached or a soul\nto be saved. The wonder of wonders is, that in this world of sin and\nsuffering there are not more Marys to break alabaster boxes over the\nworld\u2019s burdened laborers.\n\nWe now pass to notice another beautiful womanly character in White\nRaiment, namely, Salome. Her name means \u201cpeaceful,\u201d and, though she\ndeveloped considerable womanly ambition, her name quite describes her\ncharacter. She was the wife of Zebedee, a well-to-do fisherman on the\nSea of Galilee, and the mother of James and John, two of our Lord\u2019s\nbest loved disciples; two who, with Simon Peter, one of their business\npartners, constituted the inner apostolic circle. She had not only\ngiven two sons to the ministry, but she herself accompanied Jesus in\nHis Galilean ministry, and, with others, ministered of her substance\nin meeting the expenses of His journeys. She must, therefore, not only\nhave been a woman of means, but liberal in her use of it. No doubt\nshe was a quiet, home-loving body; but she liked so well to listen to\nthose sayings of our Lord that she was glad to leave her pleasant,\ncomfortable Bethsaida house beside the beautiful \u201cblue sea of the\nhills,\u201d to go about hither and thither with her sons and drink in the\nwonderful words of Christ.\n\nSalome is best remembered as coming to our Lord, on His last memorable\njourney to Jerusalem, with the strange request that her two sons might\nsit, the one on the right hand of Jesus and the other on the left, in\nHis kingdom. Just as in the Sanhedrin, on each side of the high priest\nthere sat the next highest dignitaries, so here she requested the two\nhighest places for James and John. However, perhaps, this was not a\nselfish ambition, since the request is made for others. Some one has\nsaid, \u201cPlan great things for God, and expect great things from God,\u201d\nand an apostle has said, \u201cCovet earnestly the best gifts.\u201d O, these\nmothers, when there are seats of honor to be given out can not only\n\u201ccovet,\u201d but \u201cearnestly\u201d ask for great things for their sons.\n\nThese two disciples had already been favored. They were with Jesus\nwhen He raised Jairus\u2019 daughter from the dead; they were with our\nLord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and, later on, in the Garden\nof Gethsemane, and witnessed His agony. Though of the inner circle,\nyet they possessed characteristics of their own. They were more eager\nfor extreme measures for pushing their Master\u2019s cause than was even\nthe tempestuous Peter. Their self-poised love of the truth made them\nzealous. It was they who rebuked the one who cast out demons in Jesus\u2019\nname, because he did not follow them. They requested Christ to call\ndown fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritan village that refused to\nreceive them on account of an old prejudice against the Jews. If these\ndisciples could have had their own way, that village, with all its\ninhabitants, innocent and guilty, would have speedily been reduced to\nashes. How little they understood their Lord, or even themselves. They\ndid not get the idea from their Lord, for He came to save men\u2019s lives,\nand not to destroy them.\n\nPossibly Salome may have thought her sons had some claim to these\nhonors. The family had some business standing. They had partners and\nservants. John had some acquaintance with the High Priest, the great\nhead of the Hebrew Church. They had left all to follow Jesus, giving\nup not only their business prospects, but their friendship with\necclesiastical aristocrats, and now she was looking out for a good\nplace in His kingdom for her sons.\n\nProbably the two brethren had directed this request through their\nmother, because they remembered the rebuke which had followed their\nformer contention about precedence. She asked simply, directly, humbly,\nnothing for herself, but what she thought was her due. He gave her no\nrebuke, as He would have been sure to do if she had asked through any\nselfish motive. Turning to James and John He questioned them about\ntheir fitness for such promotion. Could they drink of His cup and be\nbaptized with His baptism? They thought they were able. They knew\nbetter what He meant when Herod beheaded James, and John was banished\nto Patmos.\n\nSalome remained true to her Lord. When the terrible death-hour came she\nstood beside the cross, held there by her faith and love through the\njeers of the mocking crowd, the dying agony of her Saviour, and the\ndarkness which veiled His terrible suffering.\n\n[Illustration: SEEKING THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD.]\n\nAfter the body was taken down from the cross, Salome, with others,\n\u201cbeheld where He was laid.\u201d O, this loving, faithful woman, true to her\nnature, how she clung to her Lord to the very last. And on the morning\nof the resurrection, \u201cas it began to dawn,\u201d we find Salome among the\ncompany of women hastening to the sepulchre to complete the anointing\nof the body of our Lord which had been so hurriedly buried on the\nevening of the crucifixion. But, upon reaching the garden, these women\nwere amazed to find the tomb open and empty. These women--Salome, Mary\nMagdalene, Joanna, and others with them--came seeking a dead body, but,\ninstead, they found a living angel, who asked, \u201cWhy seek ye the living\namong the dead?\u201d \u201cHe is risen; He is not here; behold the place where\nthey laid Him!\u201d\n\nWhat these women, in company with Salome, had seen was enough to fill\nthem with astonishment, and what they had heard from the lips of the\nangel was enough to fill their hearts with joy. Wonderful that He whom\nthey had mourned as dead was indeed alive again, though they could\nhardly believe it.\n\nBut Salome\u2019s prayer for her sons had sure answer. To James was given\nthe high honor of being the first apostolic martyr. John had the\ndistinction of caring for the Virgin Mary during her last years, and,\non Patmos, the little rocky isle of his banishment, where he could hear\nonly the sea-bird\u2019s cry and the melancholy wash of waves, he listened\nto apocalyptic thunderings that were enough to tear any common soul to\ntatters. He was permitted to put the capstone on the magnificent column\nof Holy Scripture, a column that had been forty centuries in building.\n\nSalome, the peaceful and brave, at the last went gladly away to her\nreward; for she was sure that her sons, having drank of His cup, and\nbeen baptized with His baptism, were now seated with Him in the throne\nof His glory.\n\nIn connection with our Lord\u2019s Galilean ministry, we find the name of\nJoanna mentioned. She was the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod\nAntipas. No doubt she followed Jesus, and ministered to Him out of her\nsubstance, out of gratitude for having restored her child to health.\nHer husband was the nobleman who went all the way from Capernaum to\nCana, and besought our Lord that He \u201cwould come down and heal His son,\nfor he was at the point of death.\u201d Joanna was both at the crucifixion,\nand is mentioned by name as being one of those who brought spices\nand ointments to embalm the body of our Lord on the morning of the\nresurrection.\n\nThese women must have possessed means, as well as a spirit of\nliberality. All this is very beautiful indeed.\n\nThe last woman in White Raiment during the ministry of our Lord, is\nthe widow with two mites. Her act of benevolence has associated with\nit many tender and pathetic touches. The circumstances, so far as they\nrelate to the ministry of our Lord, are inexpressibly sad. He had come\ndown to the last day of His public teaching, and the last hour of that\nministry. Indeed the time of His departure from the Temple was at hand.\nHe had taught in their streets, by the wayside, in desert places, in\nthe Temple. He had wept over Jerusalem that had seen so many of His\nmighty works, and as in mental vision He saw the coming doom, He sobbed\nout, \u201cOh if thou hadst known ... the things which belong to thy peace!\u201d\nBut they refused to know, and had finally rejected Him as they had\nrejected His teaching. The very tears of the suffering Saviour broke\nout in great sobs of grief in the words, \u201c_Ye would not!_\u201d So, in the\nvery last act, all efforts having failed, He exclaims, \u201cBehold your\nhouse,\u201d it was no longer God\u2019s house, \u201cis left unto you desolate!\u201d As\nJesus on that last day, and at the close of the last hour of the day,\nclosed the door of mercy, how that word, \u201cDESOLATE\u201d must have sounded\nthrough its God-forsaken courts.\n\nAt a time when such a burden of unrequited toil and sorrow was resting\nupon the grieved heart of Jesus, the touching incident of this poor\nwidow comes to our view. Jesus had left the inner court of the Temple,\nand, on His way through the court of the women, paused over against\nthe treasury to point out one more beautiful lesson to His disciples.\nThe people were casting their offerings into the thirteen great chests\nset to receive their gifts. These offerings were gifts of the people,\nand had no reference to \u201ctithes.\u201d These Jews, though they had utterly\nfailed to comprehend the \u201cday of their visitation,\u201d were, nevertheless,\nliberal givers. They did not content themselves with giving a tenth of\ntheir income. So it was the \u201cfreewill offering,\u201d the love gifts, that\nJesus was watching. Twice in Exodus, once in Deuteronomy and once in\nLeviticus had God commanded, \u201cAnd none shall appear before Me empty.\u201d\nThree times a year was every Jew required to come before the Lord, and\nnot one time empty-handed. Never was there an exception for rich or\nfor poor, for great or for small. Not a pauper from Dan to Beer-sheba,\nwould have dared to come without his offerings. In these modern times\na sickly sentimentality has well-nigh made void the commandment of\nGod. He made no discrimination in favor of the poor. He that had\nlittle, gave little. He that had much, gave much. A lamb or a kid was\nan offering acceptable. If any were too poor to furnish either, \u201ca\npair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons\u201d might be brought. If this\nwas too much, a few \u201ctablespoonfuls of fine flour\u201d was enough, and\nany neighbor would furnish them these. The money value of gifts might\nbe brought, but the law was inexorable, \u201cNone shall appear before Me\nempty-handed\u201d--none at these great feasts. At all other times they\nmight be brought, at these they must.\n\nSo while the people brought their offerings, \u201cJesus sat over against\nthe treasury.\u201d He noted carefully each person, and the ability of\neach one, as the long line of contributors moved forward toward the\ntreasury. No one escaped His notice. The rich, from their mansions of\nluxury, rulers of the people, clad in costly robes, stately Pharisees,\nnobles, grand and lordly, jingling with ornaments of their social\nstanding, swept over the tessellated floor to the treasury as if by\nspecial training for that particular occasion; and there, from soft\nwhite hands whose fingers were decked in gold, cast into the treasure\nchests such offering as their liberality prompted. Among the throng\ncame a \u201ccertain poor widow.\u201d No one knew who she was, or where she came\nfrom. Gliding so softly that no ear heard her footfall, and shying so\ntimidly that no eyes but His saw her, until her hand was over the\ntrumpet-shaped mouths through which the money was cast into the chests.\nShe deliberately of her \u201cpenury cast in all her living that she had.\u201d\nHow much was that? Mark tells us her offering consisted of \u201ctwo mites,\nwhich make a farthing.\u201d They were the smallest copper coin, and the\ntwo were equivalent to two-fifths of a cent of our money. As these two\nmites slid down the narrow tube of the trumpet-shaped aperture into the\nchest below, they did not ring as did the gold and silver pieces of the\nrich, but they rang to the echo in our Lord\u2019s ears.\n\nShe was a \u201cpoor widow\u201d before this contribution, but now she is an\nutter bankrupt. If she ever had any financial standing, this rash act\nof giving swept it all away. She would have to go without her supper,\nfor there was no opportunity, at the Passover time, to earn money. On\nthe contrary, it was a time for spending it. These great conventions\nabsorbed the small earnings of poor people. But such sacrifices\nnever go unrewarded, and that poor widow had her supper through some\nGod-appointed channel.\n\nJesus was so well pleased with her gift, and the faith which prompted\nit, that He called the attention of His disciples to this act of\nbenevolence, and said, \u201cThis poor widow had cast in more than all\nthey.\u201d Not more money. Two mites can not be more than the \u201cabundance\u201d\nof the rich. How more, then? All gifts have double value--their\ncommercial and their representative value. They represent the\nself-denial, the faith and the love of the giver. In the markets of the\nworld the two mites would hardly have been looked at, but in the eyes\nof the King they represented more than all.\n\n  \u201cAh! He knew of want and hunger,\n    Grief and care, and sorrow too;\n  And the widow\u2019s paltry farthing\n    Cost a sacrifice He knew.\n  So all fruits of self-denial\n    Are the gifts He loves the best;\n  Not the richest or most costly\n    Are the offerings most blest!\u201d\n\nIf ever there was an exception, or if ever one could be exempt, surely\nthis widow would have been. She was in the weeds of widowhood; in the\ndepths of poverty; in the extreme of want; with only \u201ctwo mites\u201d in the\nworld and no bread for the morrow. Her own weary fingers her only means\nof living; with her earthly all in her hands she freely cast it into\nthe treasury. Jesus was sitting where He saw it all. He who--\n\n  \u201cSearched and tried the hearts\u201d of men,\n    Saw what prompted every offering,\n  With His wondrous, God-like ken.\n\nDid He stop her? He came to preach the gospel to the poor; did He tell\nher she was too poor to do as she had done? He brought all His apostles\nto witness the sight; did He say, \u201cIt shall not be so among you?\u201d He\nwas giving laws for His Kingdom for all generations; did He say, as He\ndid in other cases where He intended any modification, \u201cYe have heard\nthat it was said by them of olden times that \u2018none should come before\nMe empty,\u2019 but I say unto you, that whosoever is poor and needy shall\nbring no gift into mine house?\u201d Did He say it, or anything like it? Can\nthere ever be another occasion half so thrilling on which to say it?\n\nThe contrast between the rich and noble, the grand and lordly, who\noffered tithes of all their stores, and this shy and shrinking woman,\nin her garb of widowhood, is very striking. There is not a word of\nreflection on the gifts or the motives of the rich. \u201cThe rich and the\npoor meet together--the Lord is the maker of them all.\u201d \u201cNo respecter\nof persons\u201d is He. All honor to the rich who bring their treasures\ninto the storehouse of God. All honor to the poor who make \u201ctheir deep\npoverty abound unto the riches of their liberality.\u201d May we not from\nthis lesson draw illustrations of consecration?\n\nGod requires of every Christian a complete consecration of soul, body,\ntime, talent, means, and everything else. Consecration means giving to\nGod. When a thing is given away, ownership is transferred in the act of\ngiving, or presenting from the giver to the receiver. In consecration\nthe Christian gives himself literally to the Lord, and is henceforth\nnot his own, but the Lord\u2019s. This transaction must be as real as any in\nlife, and divine ownership of all given to God must be recognized.\n\nIf we wholly consecrate our souls, our bodies, our time, our several\nabilities, then God can use us. The Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul\nwill dictate to the eyes where to look, and what to look upon, that\nthe soul may be enriched by seeing. He will direct the feet in paths\nof safety and usefulness. He will teach the hands to labor skillfully,\nlaying up treasures in heaven. He will give the lips messages of love,\ncomfort and sympathy to speak. He will direct us how to use our time,\nthat the best possible results may be achieved for both God and man,\nand also for heaven and earth. When such consecration is made, and we\nrecognize fully God\u2019s supreme ownership, then we are in a condition to\n\u201cbear much fruit.\u201d\n\nFew men would banish God from the universe. Too many worlds are\nwheeling in their orbits, and their orbits cross and recross each\nother too often to be left without a guiding hand. Moreover, the one\nwe inhabit is the home of the earthquake and the volcano; hurricanes\nand tornadoes are born and bred on every continent and island; plague\nand pestilence ride on every breeze; death and destruction waste at\nnoonday. In the presence of such dangers it is a comfort to know \u201cthe\nLord reigneth.\u201d But, alas! how many would banish God from their hearts!\nThe clouds are the commissary trains of the nations; who would have\nthem without their driver? Men want God on the throne, but not in their\nhearts. They would have Him watch the worlds, the clouds, the seasons,\nbut not their actions. As if God was not a discerner of the very\nthoughts and intents of the heart.\n\nAnd then this poor widow loved much. And in God\u2019s sight no offering\nof love is too small. Love is sometimes a babbling brook, leaping,\nlaughing, sparkling, splashing. It is beautiful then. It is sometimes a\nmighty river--deep, broad, swift and strong, shouldering the burdens\nof a continent and bearing them without a murmur. It is glorious then.\nBut it is sometimes the boundless ocean--feeding all the brooks and\nrivers, bearing the commerce of the world, and yet never losing one\nnote in its everlasting lullaby. It rolls against all its shore lines\nand moans, \u201cIf there were no bounds, I\u2019d bring your ships to all your\ndoors.\u201d Love is sublime then. The widow\u2019s love was like the ocean; it\nrolled against its farthest shore and longed to go farther. \u201cShe of her\npenury\u201d had cast into the treasury all that she had, and therefore had\ngiven \u201cmore than all they,\u201d for, not what is given, but what is left,\nmarks the grade of self-denial. There may be trust for bread when the\nstorehouse is full, but the faith that empties the storehouse and then\ntrusts for bread, is a purer and diviner faith. This poor widow was a\nheroine of faith.\n\nThis apparently trifling event in the life of our Lord is of\ninestimable importance. It shows, after He had ended His oppressive\nday\u2019s labor in the Temple, how he would still pause, in retiring from\nit, to bless the loving act of a poor widow, rendered unto the Lord\nin faith, and to adorn even so lowly a head with the crown of honor.\nWe need no other proof for the celestially pure temper in which He\nleft the inner courts of the Temple after He had pronounced His great\ndenunciations against the hypocritical professions of Scribes and\nPharisees. It is as if He could not so part, as if at least His last\nword must be a word of blessing and of peace.\n\nThis incident of the poor widow with the two mites is also a new proof\nof the power of little things, and of the gracious favor with which\nthe Lord looks upon the least offering which only bears the stamp of\nlove and faith. The last object on which our Lord\u2019s eyes rested as He\ndeparted from the Temple was the widow\u2019s two mites.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nWomanhood During the Apostolic Ministry.\n\n  TABITHA--GLORIFIED HER NEEDLE--THE RESULTS OF\n    LITTLE ACTS--LYDIA--HER HUMILITY--PHILIP\u2019S FOUR\n    DAUGHTERS--PH\u0152BE--PRISCILLA--EUNICE--LOIS--EUDIA--SYNTYCHE--HULDA--\n    THE HEBREW MAID--TAMAR--MOTHERS OF GREAT MEN--THE AUTHOR OF THE\n    BIBLE WOMAN\u2019S BEST FRIEND.\n\n\nWe now come to the blessed ministry of women during the Apostolic age.\nAnd the first of these is Tabitha. Her residence was at Joppa. She was\na \u201cdisciple,\u201d and Luke renders her name, Tabitha, out of the Aramaic\ninto the Greek as Dorcas. We further read that she was \u201cfull of good\nworks,\u201d among which that of making clothes for the poor is specifically\nmentioned. Tabitha had, without doubt, served Christ with her needle\nfor many years, and exercised her faith by performing works of love.\nBut there came a day when the fingers refused longer to ply the\nneedle, and the heart grew faint, and in weariness she laid aside the\nunfinished garment, just to take a little rest, and when the neighbors\nand \u201cwidows\u201d came in, they quickly saw the flushed cheek, and her\ncritical condition aroused their anxious solicitude to relieve and care\nfor and comfort her. The fear of losing her excited and agonized them.\nThe apprehension of their great loss, in case she should be removed\nfrom them, almost drove the little church at Joppa to distraction.\n\nBut, notwithstanding the tender ministry of loving hands and aching\nhearts, Tabitha daily grew worse, and finally yielded up her spirit.\n\n  \u201cThe calm moon looked down while she was dying,\n    The earth still held her way;\n  Flowers breathed their perfume, and the wind kept sighing;\n    Nought seemed to pause or stay.\u201d\n\nClasp the hands meekly over the still breast, they have no more work\nto do; close the weary eyes, they have no more tears to shed; part\nthe damp tresses, they have no more pain to bear. Closed is the ear to\nlove\u2019s kind and gentle voice. No anxious care gathers on the marble\nbrow as you gaze. No throb of pleasure pulsates from the dear, loving\nbosom, nor mantling flush mounts the blue-veined temple. Can this be\ndeath? Oh, if beyond death\u2019s swelling flood there was no eternal shore!\nIf for the struggling bark there were no port of peace! If athwart that\nlowering cloud sprang no bright bow of promise! Alas for love if this\nwere all, and naught beyond the parting at earth\u2019s portals.\n\nThe remains of Tabitha were carefully laid in a retired upper chamber.\nAnd now there was hurry and bustle in preparation for the final rites.\nFriends were sent for, neighbors were present, the funeral arrangements\nwere discussed, the mourning procured, the hospitalities of the house\nprovided for. All was excitement--the loss was not then perceived in\nall its greatness. But after the preparations were all made, after the\nbustle had subsided, and the watchers had come for the night, then it\nwas that the friends of Tabitha began to realize what had befallen\nthem. Now the house seemed so still and sepulchral, though in the heart\nof the city, and though its threshold was still trodden by friendly\nfeet, it seemed so empty. The apartments--how deserted! especially\nthe room where she struggled and surrendered in the last conflict.\nThere are the clothes, the garments and unfinished coat, there was the\nvacant chair and idle work-basket. During her sickness they had not\nso much noticed these things, for they were ever hopeful that these\nthings might be used or occupied again. But now it can not be, and they\nperceive the dreadful vacancy everywhere.\n\nOh, how dark and cheerless the shadows came down over that home! No\nmoon or stars have ever shown so dimly--no darkness ever seemed so\nutterly dark. The ticking of the clock resounds like bell-strokes all\nover the house. Such deep silence! No footsteps now on the stairs, or\nin the sick-chamber; no nurse to come and say, \u201cshe is not so well,\u201d\nand come and ask for you. No, indeed, only the silent watchers move\nabout with muffled step, and \u201cyou may sleep on now and take your rest,\u201d\nif you can. Ah, poor bereaved hearts! It will be long ere the sweet\nrest you once knew will visit your couch. Slumber will bring again the\nscenes through which you have just passed, and you will start from it\nbut to find them all too real. God pity the mourners after the body of\nthe loved one lies unburied \u201cin an upper chamber.\u201d\n\nAll the members of the Christian congregation of Joppa appear to have\nbeen deeply moved by the loss which they had sustained, and to have\nentertained the wish in their hearts, although they did not venture to\nexpress it, that, if it were possible, Tabitha might be recalled to\nlife, and yet, in sending for Peter, who at this time was at Lydda,\nten miles away, they scarcely expected a miracle, and only desired\nthat he would address words of consolation to them. Much is already\ngained, when they who abide in the house of mourning sincerely desire\nthe consolations of God\u2019s word spoken through human lips. It was only\nafter her death that it became known what a treasure she had been to\nthe church. It is one of the beautiful charms of the Christian life,\nthat in nearly every congregation there is a Tabitha to be found who\nconstitutes, as it were, the central point around which the love that\nexists in the society, collects. Every love is guided by her hand, and\neven when she utters no words, she successfully admonishes others.\n\nSuch a woman could not well be spared out of the Joppa church, and so,\nwith the sunrising, the little congregation despatched two men, who\nhastened over the plain of Sharon to Lydda, with a message to Peter,\nsaying, \u201cDelay not to come to us!\u201d There was haste in the matter. The\nbody of Tabitha, in accordance with Oriental usage, could not be long\nheld \u201cin the upper chamber.\u201d Peter seemed to have recognized this, for\nhe at once \u201carose and went with them.\u201d\n\nAs soon as the Apostle, who had made no delay, had arrived at Joppa,\nthe elders of the congregation conducted him to the late home, and\nto the upper chamber in which the corpse lay. As Peter entered he\nsaw the widows, on whom the deceased had conferred such benefits,\nstanding around the bier of Tabitha, weeping, and \u201cshewing the coats\nand garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.\u201d These acts of\nbenevolence which survived their author, were indeed noble testimonials\nof the deceased woman\u2019s love and charity.\n\nAfter these weeping widows had told out their sorrow and their\ngratitude, Peter directed them all to withdraw. Doubtless he made\nthis request that he could more fully engage in prayer when alone. He\nmay also have perceived that some were governed by an idle curiosity.\nAt all events, he did not yet know whether it was the Lord\u2019s will to\nrestore the deceased woman to life. Hence he desired to be alone with\nthe Lord, in order to make known to Him the requests of the disciples.\n\nAfter having poured out his soul in fervent prayer on his knees, Peter\nturned toward the body and called to Tabitha, saying, \u201cArise.\u201d Luke\ngives us a graphic description of the scene: at first she opened her\neyes, then, on seeing Peter, rose and sat up, and, at length, when\nPeter had given her his hand, stood up.\n\nThe Lord having restored Tabitha to life through the prayers of Peter,\nthe Apostle called to the saints and widows, and presented to them the\nwoman, who had been raised up by the power of God.\n\nThis great miracle, we are further told, produced an extraordinary\neffect in Joppa, and was the occasion of many conversions. \u201cMany,\u201d Luke\nsays, \u201cbelieved in the Lord.\u201d\n\nDoubtless, Tabitha, when she realized what the Lord had done for her,\nfor the remainder of her life, said:\n\n  \u201cI shall go softly,\u201d since I\u2019ve found\n  The mighty arm that girds me round\n  Is gentle, as it\u2019s sure and strong;\n  \u201cI shall go softly\u201d through the throng\n  And with compulsion calm and sweet\n  Lead sinners to the Saviour\u2019s feet.\n\nTabitha, in her good works and alms-deeds, and in her garments that she\nmade, is not a fashion-plate, but a model for every Christian woman. We\nmay learn, in her life, the glorification of little things. She was not\nrich, at least we are not told that she was, and yet how she glorified\nher needle, until a whole city is moved to bitter weeping at her death.\nHer needle brought her unsought fame. Little acts are the elements of\nall true greatness. They test our disinterestedness. The heart comes\nall out in them. It matters not so much what we have, as to what use we\nput that which we have. A man who had made an immense fortune out of a\nfactory in which its builder had sunk $75,000 and failed, said, \u201cI am\nalways here to watch the little things, to pick up a bunch of cotton,\nto tighten a screw, to turn on a nut, to regulate a machine, to mend a\nband, to oil a dry place, and so prevent breakages and stopping of the\nwork. These little wastes of material and machinery in time will eat up\nthe profits of any business. These little things I attend to myself. I\ncan hire men to attend the large things.\u201d\n\nThis is the secret of success in every department of business and\nwalk of life. The principle is equally applicable to women\u2019s work.\nPerhaps no class of people ought to look after little things more than\nthe house-wife. Certainly every woman ought to know that careless\nextravagance, and the little wastes in many ways, destroy the profits.\nThere are a thousand ways in which opportunities for good may be\nwasted. Never wait for the evil to increase. \u201cA stitch in time saves\nnine,\u201d saves a rent, and, under the well-trained eye of Tabitha, saved\na garment. Heavy doors turn on small hinges. Fortunes turn on pivots.\nLook out for small things. They are the atoms, the trifles, that make\nup the large things. A stitch is a small thing, but led by the needle\nof Dorcas, the garments and coats multiplied.\n\nSo of Christian usefulness. The needle in Tabitha\u2019s hand was a very\nsmall instrument, but the deeds it wrought, clothed the widows and\nblessed a church. The two mites of the poor widow were a little\nsum, but measured by their motive, they were perhaps the largest\ncontribution ever made to Christian charity. It is said that a tract,\nfrom the hands of a servant girl, led to the conversion of no less than\nRichard Baxter. He awoke to a world of usefulness. Among the library\nof books he wrote was the \u201cCall to the Unconverted.\u201d It fell into the\nhands of Philip Doddridge. It led him to Christ. Doddridge, too, awoke\nto a world of usefulness. His \u201cRise and Progress\u201d was the means of the\nawakening of William Wilberforce. A book of his writing led to the\nsalvation of Leigh Richmond. He wrote the \u201cDairyman\u2019s Daughter,\u201d that\nfell upon the world like a leaf from heaven--all the fruitage of a\nsingle tract from the hand of a maid.\n\n\u201cWhat is that in thine hand?\u201d the Almighty asked Moses while he kept\nJethro\u2019s flock in the back side of the desert, and Moses said, \u201cA rod,\u201d\na shepherd\u2019s staff, cut out of the thicket near by, with which he\nguided his sheep. Any day he might throw it away and cut a better one,\nbut God said, \u201cWith this rod thou shalt save Israel.\u201d\n\nWhat is that in thine hand, Sarah? Three measures of meal with which I\nprepare my dinner. Hasten, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth,\nand angels shall sit at thy table to-day. What is that in thine hand,\nRebekah? A pitcher with which I carry water. Use it in watering the\nthirsty camels of Eliezer, and thou shalt be an heir in the house of\nAbraham? What is that in thine hand, Miriam? Only a timbrel. Use it\nin leading the women of Israel in the song of triumph over Pharaoh\u2019s\nhosts. What is that in thine hand, Rahab? Only a scarlet thread. Bind\nit in the window, and thou shalt save thyself and household. What is\nthat in thine hand, poor widow? Only two mites. Give them to God,\nand behold, the fame of your riches fills the world. What hast thou,\nweeping woman? An alabaster box of ointment. Give it to God. Break it,\nand pour it on thy Saviour\u2019s head, and its sweet perfume is a fragrance\nin the church till now. What is that in thine hand? A broom. Use it for\nGod. A broom in the hand of a Christian woman may be as truly used for\nHis glory, as was the sceptre of David. What is that in thine hand? A\npen. Use it for God. Oh, matchless instrument! Write words of comfort\nand sympathy that shall echo around the globe. Oh, can you not find\nsome poor soul to-day who does not know Jesus? Can you not tell some\nwanderer about the Christ? What is in thine hand? Wealth. Consecrate\nit now to God. What is in thy mouth? A tongue of eloquence. Use it for\nGod. The tongue is the mightiest instrument that God ever made. What\nis in thine hand? A kindly grasp? Give that to some sad, desponding\nsoul. We need grit and grace to use the common things in the ordinary\nway in the daily occupations of life. Consecrate the pen, the needle,\nthe tongue, the hands, the feet, and the heart to Jesus. Our Lord gave\ndignity to labor; the sweat-beads of honest toil stood on His brow.\n\nThis is God\u2019s way of working. He chooses to use the least things--even\nthings that amount to nothing--to accomplish His work in the salvation\nof the race. Use your leisure. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit\nthe sick, comfort the wretched, spread the gospel far and wide. If you\nhave nothing else, use your needle, and the garments will multiply,\nand the destitutes will be clothed. A poor girl who had nothing but\na sewing machine, used it to aid a feeble church; all her earnings\nabove her needs were given towards building a house of worship, and\nin a year she paid more than a hundred others richer than she. So you\ncan do if you will. If you but knew it, you have Tabitha\u2019s needle in\nyour hand--the simple instrumentality with which to do good. When\nthe pierced hand of our Lord is laid on consecrated needles, on the\nordinary means within our reach, on wealth, on learning, on beauty, on\nculture, on every gift and grace in every relation in life, then the\nsplendor of the millennial dawn will color the eastern sky with its\ncrimson and gold.\n\nFrom the beautiful home of Tabitha, in Joppa, the Sacred history runs\non until Lydia, in the city of Philippi, is reached.\n\nWhile at Troas, Paul had a remarkable vision in the night, of a\nman of Macedonia, standing before him and praying, \u201cCome over into\nMacedonia, and help us.\u201d How Paul knew this man to be a Macedonian is\nnot stated. Perhaps he may have frequently seen Macedonian seamen in\nTarsus, his birthplace, which was a flourishing commercial city on the\nMediterranean, or he may have recognized him by his speech or national\ndress. This man entreated him, in the vision, to cross over the sea\nfrom Asia into Europe, and come to the aid of the inhabitants of\nMacedonia. Paul had never been in Europe, and had no thought of going\nthere. On the other hand, he had been delivering the decrees issued by\nthe church council at Jerusalem, through the maritime cities of Asia\nMinor, and \u201cassayed to go into Bithynia,\u201d but was restrained by the\nSpirit of God. Being thus convinced, he embarked at Troas, taking with\nhim as fellow-laborers, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.\n\nAfter a rapid and successful voyage over the peaceful waters of the\n\u00c6gean Sea, in a direct course to the north-west, they reached the\nisland of Samothrace. The next day they proceeded to Neapolis, situated\non the Strymonic Gulf, and a seaport of Thrace. From this point they\ncontinued their journey, probably, on foot. Following the ancient\nwell-paved road up the steep Symbolum hills, until they reached the\nsolitary pass through the mountains, at an elevation of 1,600 feet\nabove the sea. Once through this lonely pass and a magnificent view\nis obtained of the plain in which Philippi is located, and of the\nPang\u00e6us and H\u00e6mus ranges, which close in the plain to the south-west\nand north-east. At one point on the summit of Symbolum one can look\ndown into Neapolis on the sea, and into Philippi in the plain. From\nthis point the Apostles descended to the plain below by a yet steeper\nroad than the ascent out of Neapolis. At length, at the end of a twelve\nmiles\u2019 jaunt on foot, finds them in \u201cthe chief city of that part of\nMacedonia,\u201d and they were quite prepared for a good meal and a night\u2019s\nrest.\n\nThe next morning, being the Sabbath day, the Apostles began to look\nabout the city for a synagogue. But there was no synagogue in Philippi,\nonly one of those light, temporary structures, called proseuch\u00e6, which\nwas merely an enclosure without a roof, and was located on the banks\nof the swiftly-rushing Anghista (not the Strymon, as some writers have\nit), and so the Apostles hastened \u201cout of the city\u201d to the \u201criver\nside,\u201d to the proseuch\u00e6, \u201cwhere prayer was wont to be made.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE CITY BY THE ANGHISTA.]\n\nThis place without the city wall was not a solitary locality, secluded\nand retired from the endless confusion of city streets, but, on the\ncontrary, it was a market place, especially set apart for the mountain\nclans of the Pang\u00e6us and H\u00e6mus ranges, who came down with their pack\nanimals to trade. No doubt this stream had its fountains high up among\nthe H\u00e6mus hills, and with great force came rushing down the mountain,\nand spreading out in the plain, gave a plentiful supply to man and\nbeast. It flowed down through the market place; it was within reach of\nevery child\u2019s pitcher; it was enough for every empty vessel. The small\nbirds came down thither to drink; the sheep and lambs had trodden down\na little path to its brink. The thirsty beasts of burden, along the\ndusty road, knew the way to the stream, with its soft, sweet murmur of\nfullness and freedom. The clear, sparkling river must have reminded the\nApostles of the waters of life and salvation, which they were bringing\nto these Philippians. This stream sometimes may cease to flow, and\nevery other may be dry in the days of drought and adversity, but the\nheavenly stream whose spring was in Jesus Christ, they well knew, would\nnever cease to flow. And they also well knew that whosoever drank from\nthe river issuing from under the threshold of divine grace, should\nnever thirst.\n\nAmid these surroundings, Paul and his companions sat down in the\nproseuch\u00e6, \u201cand spake unto the women\u201d who had already assembled in\nthe place of prayer. It would seem that there were no Hebrew men in\nPhilippi, and possibly, for the reason this city was a military, and\nnot a mercantile centre. Even the women may have been few in number, so\nthat the speaker could not deliver a formal address, but only engage in\nfamiliar conversation, which could be easier done in a sitting posture,\nand in a comparatively free and conversational intercourse, thus\nassuming at once the attitude of teachers.\n\nThe gracious words which fell from the lips of Paul in this first\nattempt to introduce the gospel into Macedonia, are not reported by\nLuke, but he tells us that the Lord opened the heart of a woman named\nLydia. There is something very beautiful in this incident, that God\nshould honor woman with being the first convert in Europe! It was a\nman who stood before Paul in his vision, praying, \u201cCome over into\nMacedonia and help us,\u201d but it is a woman who is first willing to be\nhelped. There was, that Sabbath morning, in the proseuch\u00e6, by the\nrippling waters of the Anghista, one solitary woman who was in a\nspecial degree, open to the influence of the truth, and who listened\nwith earnest attention to all that Paul said.\n\nLuke tells us that Lydia was a dealer in purple, and a citizen of\nThyatira, Asia Minor, and, as Thyatira was a Macedonian colony, we\nmay the more readily understand that circumstances connected with\nher trade brought her at this time to Philippi, and was probably\nonly a temporary resident. Thyatira was celebrated, at a very early\nperiod, for its purple dyes and purple fabrics. The purple color, so\nextravagantly valued by the ancients, and even by the Orientals at the\npresent day, included many shades or tints, from rose-red to sea-green\nor blue. Philippi being the military centre of Macedonia, the military\ntrappings, with all their tinsel and show, made a brisk market for the\npurple cloth of Lydia, and, no doubt, she was a woman who prospered in\nher business, and was in good circumstances, and, possibly, possessed\nof considerable wealth, as she generously offered her home and\nhospitality to Paul and his companions.\n\nBut now see how the words and acts of this noble woman demonstrates the\ngenuineness of her faith. She at once, with her household, presents\nherself for baptism. While it is quite probable that the baptism was\nnot performed on the spot, it took place, no doubt, at the first\nopportunity. Having become a member of the household of faith, she\naddresses the Apostles saying, \u201cIf ye have judged me to be faithful,\u201d\nthat is, judged that I am one that believeth in the Lord, \u201ccome into my\nhouse, and abide there.\u201d What gentleness in her language, \u201cIf ye have\njudged me faithful,\u201d humbly submitting to the experienced judgment of\nher religious benefactors, yet urgently inviting the Apostle and all\nhis companions to enter her house, and remain there as her guests. This\nproffered hospitality furnished direct evidence of her love to her\nRedeemer, which proceeded from faith, and which manifested itself by\ndisinterested and kind attentions to His messengers. She supported her\nplea by appealing to the judgment which they had themselves pronounced\nin her case, and without which they would unquestionably have declined\nto baptize her.\n\nThat these messengers of the gospel acceded to the request of Lydia,\nand entered her house as guests, may be confidently assumed. We also\nsee with what beautiful fidelity she remained true to Paul and Silas\nwhen they were persecuted.\n\nIt is also interesting to notice that through Lydia, indirectly, the\ngospel may have been introduced into that very section (Bithynia),\nwhere Paul had been forbidden directly to preach it. Whether she was\none of \u201cthose women\u201d who labored with Paul in the gospel at Philippi,\nas mentioned afterwards in the Epistle to that place (Phil. iv, 3)\nit is impossible to say, but from what we know of her history, it\nwould be just like her, for, surely such a royal entertainer in true\nhospitality, would make a heroic laborer in any gospel field.\n\nWe may learn from Lydia\u2019s life that the human heart is closed and\nbarred by sin, so that divine truth can not enter to enlighten the\nmind, direct the will, or renew the spiritual life forces until divine\ngrace, through operations of the Holy Spirit, opens the heart. When\nthe Lord opens the heart, conversion is possible, but it is actually\neffected only when the heart, like the prepared field, with willingness\nreceives the seed of divine truth. God calls, and if but few are\nchosen, it is simply because men choose not to obey the call. The\nLord opens only the hearts of those for His spiritual kingdom who are\nwilling to and do accept His conditions.\n\nIn the conversion of Lydia we see the Kingdom of Christ in its\nincipient state strikingly illustrated. In the parable of the grain of\nmustard-seed, Jesus told his disciples that the gospel in its beginning\nwould be just like that smallest of seeds, but would grow and spread,\nand finally succeed. Lydia is only one convert, a lone woman in a\ngreat military camp of a heathen city, and women, socially, in those\ndays, did not count for much. Humanly speaking, this first European\nconvert appeared about as insignificant as a grain of mustard-seed. And\nyet this apparently insignificant seed produced a rich and precious\nharvest in the flourishing congregation of Philippi, in the spread of\nthe gospel over all Europe, and it will soon cover the whole world.\n\nFrom Lydia\u2019s candid reception of the gospel, her urgent hospitality,\nher unfaltering and continued friendship to the Apostles, her modest\nbearing in being accounted worthy of the confidence of her benefactors,\nwe are led to form a high estimate of her character. Though possessed\nof considerable wealth, and, possibly, of social rank, she had\nthe grace of humility. Her deep humility in the presence of God\u2019s\nmessengers was a clear and sufficient proof of her humility before God,\nand that it was real; that humility, if not already a resident in her\nheart, had, with the incoming of divine grace, taken up its abode in\nher, and become her very nature; that she actually, like Christ, made\nherself of no reputation, especially when persecution came to Paul and\nSilas.\n\nWhen, in the presence of God, lowliness of heart has become, not a\nposture we assume for a time, but the very spirit of our life, it will\nmanifest itself, as it did in Lydia, in all our bearing towards others.\nThe lesson is one of deep import. The only humility really ours is not\nthat which we assume in our devotions to God, but that which we carry\nwith us in our ordinary conduct. The insignificances of the daily\nlife are the importances of eternity, because they prove what spirit\nreally possesses us. It is in our most unguarded moments we really show\nwhat we are. To know the humble woman, to know how the humble woman\nbehaves, you must accept her hospitality as the Apostles accepted the\nhospitality of Lydia, and follow her to her home, and into the common\ncourse of daily life.\n\nHumility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men.\nIt was when the disciples disputed who should be greatest that Jesus\ntaught the lesson of humility by washing their feet. And this heavenly\ngrace runs all through the epistles of Paul, the spiritual father of\nLydia. To the Romans he writes, \u201cIn honor preferring one another.\u201d\n\u201cSet not your mind on high things, but condescend to those that are\nlowly.\u201d \u201cBe not wise in your own conceit.\u201d To the Corinthians he said,\n\u201cLove vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is\nnot provoked.\u201d These are all the gracious fruits of humility, for\nthere is no love without humility at its roots. To the Galatians the\nApostle writes, \u201cThrough love be servants one of another. Let us not be\ndesirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.\u201d\nTo the Ephesians, immediately after the three wonderful chapters on\nthe heavenly life, he writes, \u201cTherefore, walk with all lowliness\nand meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love;\u201d\n\u201cGiving thanks always, subjecting yourselves one to another in the\nfear of Christ.\u201d To the Philippians, \u201cDoing nothing through faction\nor vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, each counting others better\nthan himself. Have the mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who\nemptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself.\u201d\nAnd to the Colossians, \u201cPut on a heart of compassion, kindness,\nhumility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and\nforgiving each other, even as the Lord forgave you.\u201d\n\nIt is in our relation to one another, that the true lowliness of mind\nand the heart of humility are to be seen. Our humility before God has\nno value but as it prepares us to reveal the humility of Jesus to our\nfellow-men. Let us cultivate this beautiful gem of divine grace, which\nwas developed in such a marked degree in the life of Lydia, the first\nEuropean Christian.\n\nBut we hasten on in our narrative, and gather up in a group, as one\nwould gather a handful of flowers, those Women in White Raiment so\nbriefly mentioned in the Sacred records as not to give us enough of\ntheir history to write upon.\n\nAmong these are the unnamed four daughters of Philip the evangelist,\nwho lived at C\u00e6sarea. These daughters ranked high in the early church.\nThey possessed the gift of prophetic utterance, and who apparently\ngave themselves to the work of teaching. Though no record is left us\nof their work, we may well believe their distinguished accomplishments\nbrought them into contact with many people of that busy seaport city on\nthe Mediterranean, where people of all nations came and went.\n\nPh\u0153be of Cenchrea, one of the ports of Corinth. She must have been a\nwoman of influence, and worthy of confidence and respect. She is not\nonly commended by Paul, but was also a deaconess in the church at\nCenchrea. On her was conferred the honor of carrying the letter of Paul\nfrom Corinth to Rome. Whatever her errand to Rome may have been, the\nindependent manner of her going there seems to imply (especially when\nwe consider the secluded habits of Greek women) that she was a woman of\nmature age, and was acting in an official capacity. She was not only a\nwoman of great energy, but possessed of wealth. She evidently was of\ngreat service to Paul, and he had confidence in her integrity, for he\nwrites in the very letter of which she was the bearer to the Romans,\n\u201cI commend you unto Ph\u0153be our sister, which is a servant of the church\nwhich is at Cenchrea.\u201d\n\nPriscilla, the wife of Aquila, who had fled from Rome, in consequence\nof an order of Claudius commanding all Jews to leave Rome. She, with\nher husband, came to Corinth. In the days of the Apostle, Corinth was\na place of great mental activity, as well as of commercial enterprise.\nIts wealth and magnificence were so celebrated as to be proverbial;\nso were the vices and profligacy of its inhabitants. But it was just\nthe kind of city Paul delighted in carrying the gospel to. Where vice\nabounded he would have grace much more abound. Here Priscilla became\nacquainted with Paul, and they abode together, and wrought at their\ncommon trade of making the Cilician tent. This woman, while taking\nstitches in the haircloth out of which the tents were made, could also\nconduct a theological school with no less apt a student than that of\nApollos, already noted for his eloquence, and who was \u201cmighty in the\nScriptures.\u201d But Priscilla, as she heard this eloquent young man, at\nonce discovered there was something wanting in his ministry. It seemed\nto her that Apollos knew only the baptism of John. She knew of a more\nexcellent way, and so while she was setting stitches, she \u201cexpounded\nunto him the way of God more perfectly.\u201d O, for more Priscillas, versed\nin heavenly lore and skilled to impart it! Priscilla is certainly a\nnoble example of what a woman in the ordinary walks of life may do for\nthe church.\n\n[Illustration: CORINTH, THE GATE OF THE PELOPONNESUS.]\n\nEunice, the mother, and Lois, the grandmother of Timothy, are beautiful\nexamples of women in the home. These women had such unfeigned faith\nin the gospel, and so ably instructed Timothy in the Scriptures,\nthat this home scene made a deep and lasting impression upon Paul,\nand later on, in one of his epistles to Timothy, he writes, \u201cWhen I\ncall to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt\nfirst in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, ... I put thee\nin remembrance (of this excellent home-training, and by reason of its\nsuperior advantage) that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in\nthee.\u201d\n\nEuodias (or rather Eudia) and Syntyche, deaconesses in the church at\nPhilippi. These women afforded Paul active co-operation under difficult\ncircumstance, and in them, as well as other women of the same class,\nis an illustration of what the gospel, in the Apostolic times, did for\nwomen, and also what the women did for the gospel, for the Apostle\nexpressly states that these women labored with him in the gospel,\nbesides many other elect women, the detailed mention of whom fills\nnearly all of the last chapter of the epistle to the Romans, whose\nhistory, if known, would doubtless be as interesting as the history of\nthose whose names and acts have been preserved to us for our study and\ncomfort.\n\nAnd then there are a host of women whose names are not mentioned,\nbut who, we have every reason to believe, were numbered with the\nPrincesses of God, women whose faith and patience in labor clothed them\nin White Raiment. Of such we note a few: Noah\u2019s wife and her three\ndaughters-in-law, who must have exercised the same faith as their\nhusbands, and who must have been in full sympathy with their labors;\nthe host of Israelitish women led by Miriam in their song of triumph\nover the Lord\u2019s deliverance from Pharaoh\u2019s army; the wife of Manoah,\nthe mother of Samson, who was twice visited by the angel of the Lord;\nHulda, the prophetess, who lived in the time of King Josiah, to whom\nHilkiah, the high priest, had recourse, when the book of the law was\nfound, to procure an authoritative opinion, for, doubtless, in her\ntime she was the most distinguished person for prophetic gifts in\nJerusalem; the captive Hebrew maid in the house of Naaman, the Syrian\ngeneral, who knew all about the prophet in Samaria, and had faith to\nbelieve that Elisha would heal him of his leprosy, even though captive\nas she was, and in a strange land; in the days of Saul and David, when\nreturning from the conquests, \u201cthe women\u201d who \u201ccame out of all the\ncities of Israel\u201d to welcome, with tabrets and song, the deliverers of\nGod\u2019s people.\n\nPerhaps we should not fail to briefly mention Tamar, the daughter of\nDavid, for she was not only a chaste virgin, but was also remarkable\nfor her extraordinary beauty. Her high sense of honor must ever stand\nas a memorial of her virtue, especially when we take into account the\nlow standard of morality which prevailed in her time.\n\nAdded to her beauty, she had domestic accomplishments. It would almost\nseem that Tamar was supposed, at least by her perfidious brother Amnon,\nto have a peculiar art in baking palatable cakes.\n\nWith no suspicion of any wicked design, this beautiful princess, at\nher father\u2019s request, goes to the house of her supposed sick brother\nto prepare the food she was assured he would relish. So she took the\ndough and kneaded it, and then in his presence (for this was a part of\nhis fancy, as though there was something exquisite in the manner of\nperforming the work), kneaded it a second time into the form of cakes.\n\nAfter the cakes were baked, she took them, fresh and crisp, to Amnon\nto eat. When she fully realized his wicked designs, she touchingly\nremonstrated, and held up to him the infamy of such a crime \u201cin\nIsrael,\u201d and appealed to his sense of honor, saying, \u201cAs for thee, thou\nshalt be as one of the fools in Israel.\u201d Her indignation after his\nunnatural designs were accomplished, and she had been thrust out, was\neven more heroic than her protests. In her agony she snatched a handful\nof ashes and threw them on her beautiful hair, then tore her royal\ngown, and, clasping her hands upon her head, rushed to and fro through\nthe streets crying.\n\nWhile this is one of the most pathetically sad scenes recorded in Bible\nhistory, yet it brings out in a remarkable manner, the virtue and high\nhonor of womanhood in those rude ages of the world.\n\nBut over against this dark background of Amnon\u2019s conduct the careful\nhome-training of Timothy, under the moulding influence of his mother\nEunice, and his grandmother Lois, shines with a brightness that\nreflects great credit. And if such careful home-training was so\nfar-reaching in its results as to cause Paul, in later years, to remind\nTimothy of this training as an inspiration to stir up the gift of God\nin him, what shall be said of motherhood and wifehood of the many noble\ncharacters found in the Sacred record? It is a fact that women have\ngreat influence in shaping the lives of men. Who can tell how greatly\nwomanhood influenced the lives of such men as Enoch, who walked with\nGod; Noah, whose faith led him to the building of the ark; Abraham,\nwhose wonderful life of trust has made him the father of the faithful\nin all generations of men; Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of\nthe most high God; Job, whom adversity could not shake, and who, in\nthe midst of his calamities, exclaimed, \u201cThough He slay me, yet will\nI trust in Him;\u201d Caleb and Joshua, whose confidence in God\u2019s ability\nto lead the host of Israel into the promised land, was unwavering\nunder most trying circumstances; Elijah and Elisha, who stood as the\ndefences of God\u2019s people amid idolatrous times; the good King Hezekiah,\nand his ever faithful counselor, Isaiah, who went up into the Temple\nand spread out the insulting letter of Sennacherib, and \u201cprayed and\ncried to heaven;\u201d Daniel and his companions, who walked through the\nfire and the den of lions, and thus proved their fidelity to truth\nand righteousness; Nehemiah, who, by moonlight, viewed the ruins of\nthe city of his fathers, and then, with wonderful courage, repaired\nits broken-down walls and set up its gates that had been burned with\nfire; and the great host of women mentioned by Paul, who, through\nfaith, \u201creceived their dead raised to life again,\u201d and others who \u201cwere\ntortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better\nresurrection.\u201d Surely such mothers and wives would raise up heroic\nmen. The Spartan mother told her son, when he started for the war, \u201cto\nreturn with his shield, or upon it.\u201d But the Hebrew women led armies,\nsubdued kingdoms, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.\n\nSuch is the womanhood of the Bible, and while with her companion,\nman, she inherited the infirmities brought upon the race in the\ntransgression, yet she is infinitely in advance of the women living\nin lands where the Bible is unknown. Indeed, the condition of Hebrew\nwomen has always presented a marked contrast with heathen women, and\nfor the reason, while the Bible seeks to elevate them, heathendom has\nsought to degrade them. Heathen oppression of womanhood rests upon the\nnations where the Bible is not known, like the mountain upon Typho\u2019s\nheart. Buddhism presents no personal god. He is \u201ceyeless, handless,\nnever sad and never glad.\u201d For sinning man there is no pity, for of\nall his hundreds of names there is no \u201cFather.\u201d Confucianism, with its\nbackward gaze, teaches no sin, no Saviour, and only China for heaven.\nMohammedanism has its creeds, prayers, alms, fastings and pilgrimages.\nBut its creeds were partly written on human bones, its pilgrimages\nare corrupt and its formal prayers are to \u201cAllah,\u201d who bears little\nresemblance to the Christian\u2019s God. Not censure, but pity, hovers over\nthese classic religions and the millions who are under the pall of\npaganism.\n\n  Hark! From far distances voices are calling;\n    Hushed be earth\u2019s clamor, be silent and hear;\n  Thrilling the heart with sad cadences falling,\n    Comes the appeals in their syllables clear,\n  Knowing no song but the breath of a sigh,\n  Send o\u2019er the ocean their heart-breaking cry.\n\n  Lips that are muffled yet utter their story,\n    O the sad plea of their multiplied wrongs;\n  Grim superstition grown ancient and hoary,\n    Shuts in dim prisons these languishing throngs,\n  Heathen womanhood, with piteous pleading,\n  Call to us blindly, their woes interceding.\n\nThe non-Christian religions offer no light in life and no hope in\ndeath. The bitter cry of the Hindoo widow\u2019s prayer is, \u201cO God, let no\nmore women be born in this land.\u201d The horrors of heathenism are unknown\nin Christian lands. What makes the difference? We have clearly shown\nin these pages that it is the teaching of the Bible, and this one fact\nalone stamps the book as divine. It has God for its Author, and, from\nGenesis to Revelation, it blesses and elevates women.\n\nWhy does paganism oppress womanhood? Because these monstrous systems\nare dominated by Satan, and knowing as he must, that woman stands at\nthe fountain of the race, he poisons and corrupts the very sources of\nlife. For the truth of this one needs only to compare Christian with\nheathen lands. Compare America with its happy Christian homes, with\nIndia in whose cloistered zenanas are millions of widows, many of them\nunder ten years of age, and doomed to a living death--must sleep on\nthe ground, feed on herbs, and practice rigid mortification. Before\nChristianity entered that land, the horrors of the suttee (the burning\nalive of the widow with her dead husband), the sacrificing of infants\nto the River Ganges, the slaying of young men and women in Hindu\ntemples to appease Kali, the god of the soil, the \u201cCar of Juggernaut,\u201d\nrolling over hundreds of beings annually, and crushing them to death,\nthe burning alive of lepers, the hastening of the death of a parent\nby the children in carrying the former to the River Ganges and there,\non the banks, filling the afflicted one\u2019s mouth with sand and water\nare left to die, the public exhibition of voluntary starvation on the\npart of Hindu devotees,--all these terrible practices, once so popular\nin India, have passed away since the missionary has planted his foot\nupon the soil. To-day none of these things can be found, and India\u2019s\nvoice, as well as the voice of all Christendom, can go up to God in\npraise that these things no longer exist there. And what has taken\nplace in India, is also fast taking place in China and Africa. Surely,\nthe Christian woman needs to press her Bible to her heart, and love\nit as she loves her God, for, were it not for this blessed book, her\ncondition would be no better than is the condition of woman in the\nlands where Buddhism, Confucianism and Mohammedanism have crushed out\nof her all that is worth having, and even denies that she has a soul.\nIt must be seen that such systems are incapable of elevating womanhood.\n\nThe thought uppermost in our mind, when we set out to write these pages\nwas, to show that God created man and woman as equals, that Christ came\nto save our whole humanity, and that Christianity is the true friend\nof woman. How beautiful is all this in contrast with the cruelties of\nheathenism. See how patiently Jesus talks with a lone woman by Jacob\u2019s\nwell, how tenderly he speaks to the woman who sobbed out her sorrow\nfor her sins at His feet, how compassionately He says to the woman for\nwhose blood her accusers had clamored, after He had silenced them,\n\u201cGo, and sin no more.\u201d And, to the credit of head and heart, be it\nsaid, woman has appreciated her Saviour, and in many ways shown her\ngratitude. Perhaps there is no more beautiful and touching incident\nin the life of our Lord than that recorded by Luke, where women\n\u201cministered unto Him of their substance.\u201d\n\nFinally, if any have been helped to a better understanding and\nappreciation of the Bible by the perusal of these pages, and have been\nlifted nearer to the heart of God, we shall feel that our labors have\nnot been in vain.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\nItalicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\nObvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\nInconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.\n\nArchaic or variant spelling has been retained.\n\nThe cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is\nentered into the public domain.","title":"Women in white raiment","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":89634}