ALL ABOUT ABRAHAM'S SARAH

Written and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

I have gathered together the studies of others, along with my own, on this

woman,wife and mother who, with Abraham, became the father and mother of the

great religions of history.

CONTENTS

1. BIBLE TEXTS ABOUT SARAH

2. SARAH BY GUSTAV GOTTHEIL.

3. SARAH By THOMAS E. MILLER, M.A.

4. SARAH By ALEXANDER WHYTE

5. SARAH THE PRINCESS By H. A. THOMPSON

6. SARAH THE STEADFAST BY George Matheson

7. SARAH:MOTHER OF NATIONS By GlennPease

8. SARAH AND REBEKAH BY Lyman Abbott

9. SARAH AND HAGAR by ASHTON

10. SARAH BY FRANCIS COX

11. THE ALLEGORIES OF SARAH AND HAGAR BY SPURGEON

12. SARAH. BY Frances Manwaring Caulkins

13. THE WIFE-SARAH. AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.

14. SARAH BY Phineas Camp Headley

15. SARAH BY Rev. Monsignor BERNARD O REILLY, D.D., L.D.

16. SARAH THE PRINCESS, BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

17. SARAH, OBEDIENT WIFE BY W. MACKINTOSH MACKAY

1. BIBLE TEXTS ABOUT SARAH

GEN 11:29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai,

and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the

father of both Milcah and Iscah.

30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his

daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from

Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled

there.

12:5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had

accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the

land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live

there for a while because the famine was severe.

11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a

beautiful woman you are.

12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then

they will kill me but will let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and

my life will be spared because of you."

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very

beautiful woman.

15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she

was taken into his palace.

16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and

cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because

of Abram's wife Sarai.

18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why

didn't you tell me she was your wife?

19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife?

Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"

20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his

way, with his wife and everything he had.

16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an

Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;

2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep

with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to

what Sarai said.

3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her

Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she

began to despise her mistress.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am

suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is

pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."

6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think

best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

17:15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call

her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.

16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless

her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come

from her."

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to

a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your

blessing!"

19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call

him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an

everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will

make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the

father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to

you by this time next year."

18:9 "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said.

10 Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next

year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the

entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah

was past the age of childbearing.

12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my

master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really

have a child, now that I am old?'

14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the

appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said,

"Yes, you did laugh."

20:1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived

between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar,

2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then

Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as

good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."

4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an

innocent nation?

5 Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He

is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."

6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a

clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is

why I did not let you touch her.

7 Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you

will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will

die."

8 Early the next morning Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told

them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How

have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my

kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done."

10 And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"

11 Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place,

and they will kill me because of my wife.'

12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not

of my mother; and she became my wife.

13 And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This

is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my

brother."'"

14 Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave

them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him.

15 And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."

16 To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of

silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with

you; you are completely vindicated."

21:1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for

Sarah what he had promised.

2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very

time God had promised him.

3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this

will laugh with me."

7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse

children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham

held a great feast.

9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham

was mocking,

10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that

slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.

12 But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your

maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through

Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.

13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he

is your offspring."

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave

them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy.

She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old.

2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and

Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of

Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

25:10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried

with his wife Sarah.

HEB 11:11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was

barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who

had made the promise.

1PE 3:5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God

used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands,

2. SARAH BY GUSTAV GOTTHEIL

AS it is written " Sarah means princess.

If that name was given the First-

mother of the Hebrews in childhood

for her temperament, it was veritable prophecy.

All we know of her shows her a woman of

a strong, determined, and self - asserting will.

Originally the name was not spelled that way,

but Sarai. The change did not happen acci-

dentally, or from a whim of the bearer, but at

the bidding of God Himself, and for the pur-

pose of being a sign —

" That God will bless her and give Abraham a son of

her . . . that she shall be a mother of many nations,

kings of the peoples shall be of her."

In what manner the substitution of the one

letter for the other could become, as it were, a

seal of the covenant — this is still one of the

problems of the commentators. There exists

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WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

among the Jews a sort of cabalistic tradition

that the Hebrew letter yod signifies the creative

power of God in nature, while the letter hay

symbolizes the might of God in the state of

grace — ^that state into which Sarah had entered

after receiving the covenanted promises. For

corroboration of this view its propounders point

to the fact that the name of Sarah's husband

underwent a similar modification by the addi-

tion of the identical letter, with a like signifi-

cance. Abram became Abraham because God

had said to him,

** A father of many nations have I made thee, and I

will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make

nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." —

Geti,^ xvii.

However this may be, the change of form in

no wise aflFects its root meaning, which is, to

rule. It fits the personality of the bearer so

well that those antiquarians who look upon the

ancient tales ^ relics merely and fragments of

defunct Semitic mythologies rely upon the co-

incidence of name and character as to one of

the supports of their hypothesis. They deny the

SARAH

historical character of the patriotic stories. But

even on their showing, the ancient^ or, if I may

use the term, the aboriginal, Hebrews show, in

this process transformation^ thb opposite ten-

dency to all the surrounding tribeSi The latter

invariably elevated their ancestors to the rank

of deities, seated them among the gods, and

instituted special rites of Worship to every one

of them. But if the mythologists are right, the

Hebrews dethroned their idols, called them by

human names, and told of their doings and their

mifedoings, their favor and their disfavor in the

eyes of Jehovah, with a coolness that proves that

the narrator, at all events, thought of no other

beings than ancestors of flesh and blood.

This is evidenced so clearly by their astonish**

ing power of characterization and individual-

i2ation. Why, right here before us we have a

picture which could not be drawn more distinct*-

ly by the hand of an accomplished artist of to-

day. By the side of Sarah, with her domineer-

ing, unsparing, and unyielding ways— ^Abraham,

a pattern of gentleness, kindness, forbtarancri, a

man possessed of that quality which the Germans

>3

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

call Menschenfreundlichkeit This character is

so uniformly shown by the patriarch that one is

forced to the conclusion that the long peace in

the matrimonial tent was much more due to the

male than the female side, unless, indeed, we be-

lieve in Shiller's statement :

"Denn wo das Strenge mit dem Weichen

Sich vereint zum guten Zeichen,

Da giebt es einen guten Klang."

But, to be just, let us not forget that Sarah

wielded a sceptre by the magic of which she

could lord it over men's hearts after her own

will, even bring kings to her feet. If she came

into the world with a will of her own as her

dowry, nature further assisted her in developing

it by the great beauty of her face and the grace

of her stature. By these gifts she made her wish

a command and disarmed opposition. The

Scripture repeatedly calls her beautiful — so

beautiful, indeed, that she sometimes imperilled

the life of her husband. Hebrew folk-lore,

echoes of which reach our ear in the rabbinical

glosses to the sacred text, have kept alive some

SARAH

of the stories that were told of Sarah's beauty in

the tents of her descendants. Her rank, it was

said, was, in that respect, second only to Eve,

" the mother of all living," The latter, being the

direct creation of God, needs must be the high-

est ideal of female perfection (so the people's

mind reasoned), and therefore the special object

of hatred of Satan. With her at her post and

unshaken in her obedience, his chances of ruin-

ing the first home on earth, his chances of mis-

chief-making, would be poor ; but he also knew

that the only allurement that could tempt Eve

would be the vision of a higher degree of exist-

ence, and he laid his plan accordingly. "Ye

shall be like unto God, knowing good and evil."

The tempter succeeded only too well with Eve ;

Adam's fall followed as a matter of course — how

can it be otherwise with any man whose home

has been broken up f Too well, I said, but not

quite as he intended. For the wise men of to-

day assure us that, in a Paradise of God's own

planting, sinners can only " fall upwards." It is

a pretty long time since mankind has been fall-

ing in that direction — are we any nearer the goal

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

of •* knowing good and evil " ? Who is right,

England or the Boers ? The answer will not be

rendered until the last shot in this war has been

fired, and ten thousand graves filled that did not

rightfully belong to death, and ten thousand

homes devasted where, but for that discussion,

happiness and peace might still reign! And

what a solution it will be^^Das sich Gott

erbarm I

But this is aside from our purpose— we were

speaking of what the Palestinian legend told of

Sarah '4 beauty. It was of that nature over which

time has no power— nay, that grows more attract

tive with accumulating years. Of the things that

are unfavorable to the preservation of beauty, the

Orientals count travel as one that is most bane-

ful, even fatal to it Yet when Sarah arrived,

after a long journey through dusty deserts and

under a scorching sun, at the frontiers of Egypt,

she was more beautiful than ever, and this ex^

plains the curious speech of Abraham to his wife

at that juncture : *< Now I know that thou art a

woman beautiful to look at." Did he not know

that before ? Not so convincingly, explain the

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SARAH

rabbles, as after he had seen that even travel

had left no trace on her countenance. But that

which under different conditions would have

filled his heart with joy now made him tremble

for' his own safety. Aliens had no rights what-

ever in those days. The Egyptians, he feared,

on seeing Sarah, would make short^work of him;

they would kill the husband and appropriate his

wife. In his anxiety he fell upon a curious de*

vice (so the legend tells). He made a box of

common wood, and placed Sarah in it Arrived

at the city gate, the tax-gatherer demanded the

king's impost.

** I am willing to pay it," said Abraham.

" Then tell me what thou carriest in the box ;

is it lamb-skins dyed violet ?"

*• I will pay for lamb-skins."

" Perhaps it is silken garments ?"

•* I will pay for silken garments."

" Perhaps it is pearls thou hidest there ?"

" I will pay for pearls."

" If thou dost not tell, we must open the box ";

and as they did so, a ray of light flashed over the

city, which excited the curiosity of the courtiers.

37

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

Thus it was that the news of the arrival of the

world-renowned woman reached the king's ears.

Forthwith he commanded that she be brought

before him. Once seen, he would not let her de-

part again, and it needed Divine intervention to

restore her to her husband.

The legend reads, better than the Bible story,

so far as the characters of the dramatis personce

are concerned. In the Bible we find Abraham

resorting to a falsehood to save his life, Sarah

consenting willingly. He said to her :

" It shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see

thee, that they shall say. This is his wife : and they

will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray

thee, thou art my sister : that it may be w.ell with me

for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee."

Considering that a question of life and death

is as severe a test as a man's conscience can be

subjecte<5 to, it is not fair to condemn him out-

right if he seeks to save himself by a subter-

fuge ; for the pretence was not a lie outright, a

half-truth only, since Sarah was his half-sister;

they were children of the same father, but not of

the same mother ; moreover, it was not fear for

23

SARAH

his own life alone by which he was actuated —

but anxiety for Sarah*s fate also. For what

would become of her if she remained unpro-

tected in the hands of her captor ? She would

be cast out again as she was brought in, or be-

come one of the handmaidens of the royal

household.

And so we see Sarah play her proud part

even unto the end, and hear not a word in miti-

gation of her conduct. Yet this might have

been easily done. For that queenly woman,

that held her surroundings in undisputed sub-

jection, was not a happy woman ; far from it ;

nay, carried death in her heart. The one recog-

nized token of heavenly favor was denied her —

she bore no children. In motherhood these an-

cient Hebrews saw the crown of womanhood.

For its absence earth had no compensation, as

the stories of Rachel and Hannah show. No

doubt Sarah was made to feel her inferiority to

the poorest woman that came to her tent asking

for food and shelter with a babe in her arms.

How deeply Abraham shared this humiliation

we learn from the answer he made to God

29

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

when, as it were, the Almighty Himself tried to

comfort him by His gracious promise :

" Fear not, Abram, I am with thee ; I am thy shield ;

thy reward shall be very great. And Abram said : Lord

God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and

the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus ?"

To the latter, or his son, it seems, belonged

the right of succession, according to the law of

the time. In her despair, Sarah resorted to a

step which must have filled her cup of bitter-

ness to the brim. She gave Abram her own

handmaid Hagar for his secondary wife, making

her a rival in the love^ of her husband. Who

was that Hagar ? Legend knows her pedigree.

She was a daughter of Pharaoh, the king of

Egypt, the same who coveted the possession of

Sarah in vain. Such was the attachment of the

Egyptian princess to the Canaanite woman that

she declared to her royal father her determina-

tion to accompany the stranger when the latter

was returned to her husband. What! cried the

king; thou wilt be no more than a handmaid to

her ! Better to be a handmaid in the tents of

Abraham than a princess in this palace. And

30

SARAH

the reason for this heroic resolve ? Why, the

Jewish theologians knew that as well. Sarah

was an active missionary of the new faith

among women, as Abraham was among men.

Hagar would not stay behind and join again the

idolatrous rites of her home. But — and here

we take up the thread of the biblical narrative

again — human nature remains human nature,

even in converts. No sooner did the hope of

motherhood spring up in her heart than " her mis-

tress was despised in her eyes." Sarah laid the

blame for this upon her husband, because in her

complaint to him she cried, '* The Lord judge

between me and thee." The kind-hearted soul,

as he was, what could he do but let Sarah dis-

cipline her maid as she found proper? "And

when Sarah dealt hardly with Hagar," she fled

from her face. But whither was she to go?

Her good angel convinced her erelong that she

must " return to her mistress and submit herself

under her hands." For the child must be born

in the house of Abraham, if his rights of succes-

sion wete to be recognized at all. This hap-

pened, and, for a time, peace was restored;

31

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

which, however, was not a long time. For that

which neither Sarah nor •'the Father of the

Faithful " dared to hope, in the face of repeated

promises of God, did occur — Sarah bore a son,

to whom the name of Isaac was given ; a name

which lends itself to various applications, be-

cause its root meaning is, to laugh ; and tlie

mother interpreted it in this wise: God has

made me a laughing-stock. She said this on

account of Hagar, who sneered at her mistress

for her vain hope to rob Ishmael of his rights as

the first-born of Abraham. The crisis was not

long in coming. Once upon a day Sarah over-

heard Ishmael taunting Isaac with his lower

rank in the household. This was more than

she could tolerate. Living together had become

impossible, and who should give way for the

other was not questionable to her. She de-

manded the sending away of the rival mother

with her son. But « the thing was grievous in

the sight of Abraham," and he flatly refused to

consent to so ruthless a measure ; we infer this

from the fact that it needed the reassuring

direction of God to make him yield :

32

SARAH

" And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be g^evous

in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy

bondwoman ; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee,

hearken unto her voice : for in Isaac shall thy progeny

be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will

I make a nation, because he is of thy progeny."

The pathetic story of Hagar's wanderings in

the desert has been carried to the ends of the

earth by both Bible and Koran, and still appeals

to the hearts of men, while Sarah's triumph is

accounted a disgrace to her. It is the last act

of her life which is told in Scripture; of her

death we hear no more than that it occurred at

Hebron at the age of one hundred and twenty,

and that Abraham came "to mourn for Sarah

and to weep for her." The expression he came

affords the clue to a legend which casts a tragic

light over her death-bed. It tells that Abraham

had left his home to go to Moriah secretly, as

he was afraid to let the mother know the terrible

purpose of that journey. But when she learned

that he had. taken Isaac with him, and likewise

wood and fire and a knife, the horrible suspicion

dawned on her that her son might be the sacri-

fice the father would offer, and the thought so

c 33

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

terrified her that she died from the shock ! So

that Abraham came home only to " mourn and

to weep for Sarah," although her son was by his

side unharmed. Had she been alive she might

have received him back from the hands of God,

and heard with delight of the angel's voice that

restrained the hand of the over-devout father.

" Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do

thou anything unto him : for now I know that

thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld

thy son, thine only son, from me." But eye and

ear of the mother were closed forever to earthly

things, and the heart stilled forever beyond the

reach of the terrors to which human flesh, and es-

pecially mothers' hearts, are heir. Legends are

often of deeper significance than we see in them ;

they reflect thoughts and feelings which darkly

move the popular mind, but which it has not the

gift to clothe in words. Stories must serve as

mediums of expression. There ^Vas nothing in

the life of Sarah that appealed to the sympathy

of the people. She always carried her will with

a high hand, and no deed was recorded of her

that revealed tenderness of heart and self-renun-

34

SARAH

ciation. Even as a wife and a mother she did not

show the qualities that answer to the people's

intuitions. She was only venerated, but not

loved ; and this want a poet supplied by the in-

vention of a tale which showed that that prince-

ly woman, that proud mother, that spoiled child

of fortune, died of a broken heart !

Sarah was neither saint nor heroine. She

was not high-minded or sympathetic, and her

love of truth was not deep nor overmastering.

For all that, she must have been a great woman,

else she could not have played the part she did,

nor held the affection and veneration of her con-

sort to the end as she did. This is evidenced

by the care he took to secure a burial-place for

her ashes worthy of her station in life. He ac-

quired of the children of Cheth "the cave

(Machpelah) with all the trees that were in the

field, that were ii? all the borders round about."

He purchased it at their own price. Altogether

the transaction as described in the Bible speaks

well for the politeness of both contracting par-

ties. It is not at all unlikely that the Chethites

were moved by the sight of the grief which the

35

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

aged husband evinced at the loss of his wife.

Little, however, could they foresee the sacred

importance the transfer of the cave would as.

sume in the course of centuries ; that they were

surrendering a spot that would some day be

counted among the most famous on earth, and

be guarded from profanation with a sleepless

jealousy against the intrusion even of the eye of

the unbeliever! And by whom is this guard

kept? By those who recognize in the outcast

son of the handmaid, Ishmael, the God-chosen

son of Abraham, " the friend of God," while the

progeny of Sarah and Isaac are not allowed

even to approach the last resting-place of their

first parents I So little do we men know the

consequences of our actions, and whither they

shall lead after they have been caught up in

the currents of cause and effect — the same

which Emerson calls Fate.

3. SARAH By THOMAS E. MILLER, M.A.

" And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call

her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be." GE ESIS, xvii. 15.

IT is well to remember that our character-sketch belongs to a period

some 4000 years before the birth of Christ ; and while human nature has

changed but little, there is considerable change in the manners and

customs as between those Old World Eastern people and ourselves. Then

we have another interesting fact regarding this period. Many in our day

have been asking the question, " Can we rely upon this as history ? Is it

genuine biography that we are dealing with in these early chapters of the

Bible ? " Strangely enough witnesses are coming to light in our own day

to attest its accuracy, and we are finding Abraham s name and incidents

in his life confirmed on the cuneiform inscriptions that are being

unearthed to-day in the work of Egyptian exploration. Then, too, their

burying-place the sepulchre of Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac

and their daughter-in-law Rebekah is still with us, the interesting

historic spot near Hebron jealously guarded by the Mussulman. There is

a wall built round it fifty-eight feet high, and no Christian is permitted to

enter. It was only by

Sarah 2 1 special permission that our late King, in the year 1862, when

Prince of Wales, was allowed to enter and ascend the stair and look upon

this interesting grave. ow, of course, in our minds, and in the Scrip ture

narrative itself, it is Abraham who fills the largest space in these

chapters. Sarah is hardly visible in the shadow of her distinguished

husband.

It is something akin to the relation between the Forth and Tay Bridges.

Visitors to this country make a pilgrimage to the Forth Bridge and gaze

upon the wonderful structure, and will tell you how many tons of steel

went to the building of it and the number of bolts there are holding it

together, but they do not go to see the Tay Bridge. They have never seen

it, and they have no great desire to make the pilgrimage. And yet the Tay

Bridge is as useful, in its way, as the Forth Bridge, and spans a wider

estuary than the estuary of the Forth. And we may say this much about

Sarah, and surely it is no small tribute, that she was a true helpmeet to

her great and gifted husband. Well, then, who was Sarah ? We know

nothing about her beyond the fact that she was a native of the same place

and belonged to the same family as her husband. In the twentieth

chapter Abraham declares, in his own defence, that she was his half-

sister, that they were the children of the same father but not the same

mother. According to Josephus (and this was the Jewish tradition),

Sarah was the sister of Lot and there-

22 Women of the Bible fore Abraham s niece. These facts remind us that

we are dealing with a time to which our modern standards do not apply.

But we are on more solid and certain ground when we come to the

personality and character of Sarah. If we merely study the individual

features the results are not so pleasing ; there are episodes where Sarah

does not show to ad vantage ; but that is not how we judge a portrait or a

character : we piece it together, we look at it as a whole, and when we do

so in this case the character of Sarah is not only interesting, it is noble

and good. The first thing we note about Sarah is that she was beautiful :

she had the dower of physical beauty. Was this one of the things that

attracted

young Abraham to this maiden-relative of his ? It shows how human he

was, and we do not think any the less or worse of him for it. Beauty is

one of God s good gifts, and its possession one of the desires He has

planted deep down in every maiden s heart. It is not everything, but it is

something, and no doubt it played its part in casting its spell over the

heart of young Abraham. And yet it is often a perilous gift ; it proved so

in Sarah s case. So fair was she to look upon that whenever they went

into another state it might be down into Egypt or the neighbouring

country of Gerar they were exposed to danger, and Abraham had

recourse to subterfuge to save himself from what jealous princes might

do to him on account of Sarah s beauty. The meanest

Sarah 23 things that Abraham did in his long life were those attempts to

shield himself from what might happen through the exceptional beauty

of Sarah. One has also to say this, that while it is an enviable possession

this dower of beauty it has its risks and temptations. Dante speaks of the

fatal dower of Constantine, when he bestowed on the Christian Church

his patronage and gifts of gold; and in the light of history, from fair

Helen of Troy to Mary Queen of Scots, we may speak of the fatal dower

of physical beauty. But we may speak of Sarah not only as the Beautiful

but as the Devoted. It was brave on her part, and showed where her

heart lay when she agreed to share her lot with this dreamer of dreams

and seer of visions. One feels sure that Abraham was no ordinary lad

even in those early days ; and while Romance and Poetry and Visions are

all very fine, they are not much good for paying household expenses and

keeping the house going. Genius, like beauty, is an enviable gift, but like

beauty it has its dangers, especially for those who happen to be the wives

of great men, of men of genius. " Oor Tarn is gie ill to live wi " that was

the verdict of

Carlyle s mother, and many a great man s bio graphy confirms it. Let us

bear in mind that when the duty was laid upon Abraham to go out from

kith and kin and country, it meant that Sarah had to go forth also, and

just because she was differently con stituted, it needed greater courage

on her part

24 Women of the Bible to leave home and kindred. In these matters

women are more conservative than men, they cling more to the past, they

would rather " bear those ills they have than fly to others that they know

not of " ; and one has the feeling that vSarah was opposed to this new

venture just because of its uncertainty and indefiniteness, but her wifely

devotion came in and she said, " Where thou goest I will go." It looked

as if Sarah was to be the true prophet, for when they got to Canaan they

found themselves face to face with famine : instead of a land of plenty it

was a land of want ; and Abraham had to think of again removing his

tent, as there were others besides himself to care for his wife, his nephew

Lot and his servants and he cast his eyes and his thoughts towards

Egypt, the land of plenty, the fertile country where corn abounded even

when other places were stricken with famine. And so they went down to

Egypt, and it was in approaching this land that Abraham suggested, with

a view to saving himself, that he and his wife should pass as brother and

sister, and it is a rare tribute to the devotion of Sarah that she consented

to this deception. o thanks to her husband that she came through the

ordeal scatheless. One thing connected with this sojourn in Egypt has to

be noted, because of its bearing on the home life of the patriarch and his

wife. Sarah brought back with her an Egyptian slave-girl, by name

Hagar. Brooding over things when they

Sarah 25 had finally settled in what was really their per manent home by

the Oaks of Mamre, near Hebron, his heroic wife wondered how the

promise made to her husband was to be fulfilled. God had said to him, "

I will make of thee a great nation." Ten years had passed and no child

was born. Abraham was rich and increased with goods : things had gone

well with them from a worldly point of view since their return from

Egypt ; Abraham was a great man, but then the promise was, " I will

make of thee a great nation," and of this there was no sign ; and

brooding over these things Sarah came to the sorrowful conclusion that

the promise was to be fulfilled not through her but through another. And

the Hagar incident was her scheme, her suggestion : that the slave should

become Abraham s second wife, and, because of her position, secondary,

so that a child born of this union would belong to Sarah more than to

Hagar. Are we ready to condemn Sarah for this line of conduct ? To say

all manner of harsh things about her ? That it betrays a want of faith in

God, an attempt to play the part of Providence herself ? Let us withhold

our criticism as we certainly would if we knew what she herself suffered,

what it cost her, in agony of soul, to make this sacrifice. The narrative

says that she " thought to be builded " by Hagar, but she had reckoned

without her host ; she was fashioning a sword that would pierce her own

heart ; it certainly brought discord into the home, for the slave-girl, as

the wife of her master and the mother

26 Women of the Bible of his heir, turned upon her mistress with

provoca tion and scorn. " Her mistress," we read, " was despised in her

eyes." It was more than Sarah could bear, and it was so like a jealous

wife to turn upon her husband and blame him for it all, and then in the

succeeding days to make poor Hagar s life a constant misery until the

maid ran away from the face of her mistress and sought shelter

in the wilderness. It is all so true to life. Perhaps Sarah is seen at her

worst in this domestic quarrel, not only in her jealousy but in the way in

which it finds expression, first towards her- husband and then towards

Hagar ; and yet we would not have it otherwise ; she is a true pioneer of

woman s right in the right place. She will be mistress in her own home

and reign there without a rival. It is a scriptural condemnation of

polygamy in any form. But we must not forget that Sarah had been

instrumental in bringing the trouble into the home, and God sent Hagar

back to be under Sarah s care ; and it was like a princess (for that is the

meaning of Sarah) to receive her back and to make the best of the

situation. And so years pass and we know next to nothing of the

happenings in the home, when a strange thing takes place. Abraham is

seated in the door of his tent, seeking a place of shade from the heat of

the midday sun, when three strangers approach. Perhaps it was only the

instinct of hospitality, or something in the bearing of the visitors, that led

Abraham to invite the strangers

Sarah 27 to share in the shelter of his tent and to set food and drink

before them. Then follows the story so exquisitely told in that eighteenth

chapter of Genesis. The announcement that Sarah herself would be the

mother of the Child of Promise ; and Sarah heard it, for though in the

inner part of the tent, we may be quite sure her ear was close to the

canvas (for she was a woman) , and she heard it and she laughed not a

mocking laugh altogether but the laugh of incredulity ; yet before the

interview was ended the laugh was turned into a strange fear, and, like

her husband, Sarah believed God, and it was counted unto her for

righteousness. That chapter is a great turning-point not only in Sarah s

life-history but in her own character. And the Child of Promise is born,

and he is

called Isaac, i.e. laughter, for, said the proud mother, every one that

heareth will laugh with me : she forgot in her joy that there might be

those who would laugh at her. And this is what actually happened. o

doubt he was a puny child, but not the less dear to the mother on that

account : a striking contrast to the strong, lusty Ishmael, the child of

Hagar. And so it happened on little Isaac s feast-day, the day when he

was weaned, and his father made a great feast, that the son of Hagar was

discovered by the quick eye of Sarah making a mock of her child. It

wakened the tiger within her, and she stood up in her majesty before her

husband princess-like and said with an emphasis that

28 Women of the Bible could not be mistaken, " Cast out this bond

woman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir

with my son, even with Isaac." And every right thinking wife and

mother will take the side of Sarah. Scripture itself does ; God does ; for

although the matter was grievous to Abraham on account of his son, God

said, " In all that Sarah saith unto thee hearken unto her voice ; for in

Isaac shall thy seed be called." Sarah the Beautiful, Sarah the Devoted,

Sarah the Jealous, Sarah, finally, as Queen of the Heart and Home. We

speak, and we think, of the trial of Abraham in the offering up of Isaac,

when the command seemed to be laid upon him by God to lay this son of

his, the Child of Promise, the hope for the future, upon the Altar of

Sacrifice. And we have journeyed with him in thought to Mount Moriah

and climbed its ascent, and felt how terrible the ordeal must have been ;

but how many of us have thought of what it meant to the Mother-heart

by the Oaks of Mamre, near Hebron ? Abraham s sacrifice ! Was it not

in a yet greater degree Sarah s sacrifice ? For who was Isaac ? The child

of her old age, the apple of her eye, the joy of her heart, the light of her

home : Isaac the clinging, affectionate, stay-at-home, for he

was never a robust child. But all this added to the greatness of the

wrench and of the sacrifice ; and there may be truth in the Jewish

tradition, although Scripture does not confirm it, that when father and

son returned from Mount Moriah,

Sarah 29 the faithful wife and loving mother had already passed within

the veil. The suspense of the thing, the strain of it, had been too great for

her. She was lovingly laid to rest in the cave of the field of Machpelah,

before Mamre, in the land of Canaan ; and Abraham does not withhold

his tribute to her sterling worth, her steadfastness, her devotion, her high

conception of wifely duty. We think of her as a " woman nobly planned,

to warn, to comfort, and command." " A creature not too good for

human nature s daily food." With her faults and failings and frailties for

she was a true woman ; yet with it all worthy of the name of princess not

Sarai, which means strife, vanity, but Sarah, Princess, Queen of the

Heart and Home. There is just one other ray of light upon her character

worthy of mention. We read at the end of chapter xxiv. that Isaac

brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah s tent, and she became his wife

and lie loved her " and Isaac was com forted after his mother s death." It

is that last sentence that is significant significant of the relation between

mother and son of the love of the mother for the son, of the son for the

mother. It suggests that, up till now, Isaac refused to be comforted. And

here, too, Sarah comes before us as the first of that great and noble

company of mothers whose love has been and is one of the great

redeeming forces of the world. Strong men may not care to reveal it or to

speak about it, but it is there, an abiding influence, restraining from evil,

constraining to good. The American Evangelists, Messrs Torrey and

Alexander, declared that the Hymn, " Tell mother I ll be there," had

been instrumental in breaking down thousands of careless men. There is

not

very much poetry in the Hymn and not much music in the tune, but it

touched this chord, it awakened memories, it put its finger on the

tenderest part that beats in the heart of every man. And to-day we lay

our tribute on the grave at Machpelah in memory of a devoted wife and

mother.

4. SARAH By ALEXANDER WHYTE

BUT SARAH WAS BARREN , SHE HAD NO CHILD

WHICH things are an allegory,' says the Apostle when he brings in

Sarah and Hagar her handmaid into the fourth chapter of his Epistle to

the Galatians. And no doubt, his first readers must have understood the

Apostle'^s mystical argument and must have got the good they needed in

their day out of his spiritual exposition. But if Paul had only been led to

take up our text of to-night, and to treat Sarah and her childlessness as

an allegory, what an evangelical argument, and what a fruitful and far-

reaching application both the Galatian Church and all the churches ever

after would have got! For, out of this little, parenthetical, Mdden-away

verse the whole of the succeeding eleven epoch-making chapters of

Genesis immediately spring. Chaldea, and Canaan, and Egypt ; Hagar

and Ishmael ; the promise of Isaac, and then the birth, the circumcision,

the sacrifice, and the deliverance of Isaac; all the trials and all the

triumphs of his father's and his mother'^s faith; all their falls; all their

victories ; all God's promises, and all His wonderful and adorable

providences in their so exercised lives ; all their attainments in truth and

in obedience; and then, to crown all, the complete fulfilment of Grod's so

long delayed promise — all that, and much more that has not been told

— it all arose out of this, that Sarah had no diild. * It is an allegory,' says

Bengel, ^ when anything is said and another thing more excellent is

signified.' And I cannot get it out of my heart that my text to-ni^t,

biographical reality, real historicity, and all, is somehow an allegory also.

It will persist in my heart that Abraham is my faith in God's promise to

me of the fruit of the Spirit in me ; while childless Sarah, Abraham's

married wife, is my still unfruitful heart. For I have some faith, but I

have no love. I have not enough faith to make my love fruitful. My heart

is as much without a spiritual seed as was Sarah's silent tent. I laugh at

the idea, like Sarah behind her tent door. I say to myself, half in faith,

half in fear, half in mockery at myself. Shall I ever have pleasure ? Shall

Christ ever be formed in me ? Till I am sometimes, like poor Sarah in

her sterile tent, driven desperate. Driven desperate, and reckless, and

wild. like Sarah, I fall into sore temptations between the Divine promise

on the one hand, and my own evil heart on the other hand. Like her,

also, I am driven to dangerous, and, sometimes, I fear, to positively sinful

expedients, in my desolation and desperation. And, like Sarah, I involve

and f&tally injure other people also in my desperation. But still the great

promise holds on its course, and is repeated, and enlarged, and enriched,

and sealed; and still it is with me as it has been firom the beginning. TiU,

as I believe, and am determined to go on believing — Gk)d help my

unbelief! — God's promise to me also shall, in Grod'^s way and at God's

time, be all fulfilled. And my heart also, like Abraham and Sarah, shall

see of her travail and shall be satisfied. Yes. Had Paul, or even Fhilo ;

had Behmen, or Bunyan but taken up this text, and said, ^ Which things

are an allegory,' we would have had doctrine, and depth, and beauty,

and assurance, and comfort to our heart's content. But to come back to

solid ground, and to speak no more about parables. As time went on, and

as the hope of any possibility of her ever becoming a mother died out of

Sarah's heart, she became absolutely desperate. Had meekness, and

humility, and

resignation, and the blotting-out of herself, but grown apace with her

disappointment, that would have hid Sarah from all her temptations,

and it would at the same time have hastened the lifting oi^ of her cross.

But her terrible cross had but inflamed and intensified her pride ; it had

but determined her to find some wild and wilful way for herself out of

Grod's way and God's wilL It was intolerable to Sarah to live on any

longer such an embarrassment to her husband, such an evident obstacle

to the prosperity of his house, and such an eye-sore and jest, to all the

camp and to all the coimtiy around. And in the wildness of her pride

Sarah determined to as good as slay herself, and to make it impossible

for Abraham in his heart of hearts any longer to despise her. And thus it

was that what looked like a perfect miracle of humility in Sarah, was

really an act of exasperated pride. Sarah sacrificed herself on the

cruellest altar on which any woman ever laid herself down ; but the

cords of the sacrifice were all the time the cords of a suicidal pride ; till

the sacrifice was both a great sin in the sight of Grod, a fatal uijury to

herself, to her husband, and to innocent generations yet unborn. What

looks to all men'^s eyes like a martyr^s devotion may all the time be but

impatience, and petulance, and pride, and revenge. The outward act may

sound heroic, while all the time cowardice and selfishness and

exasperated pride may be at the bottom of it. To sacrifice yourself,

therefore, is not enough. Your mind, your motive, your spirit, and your

temper in making the sacrifice, that is everything. Sarab sacrificed

herself to the last drop of a woman^s blood ; but all the time her heart

was as high as heaven and as hot as hell both against Grod and against

her husband also. ^ Behold, now, the Lord hath restrained me ; but

there is my maid ! ^ You are a truly humble man when you are truly

despised in your own eyes. But your humility

has not stood its very last test till you are despised in our eyes also every

day. The truest humility is attained; the truest humility is ascertained,

and certified, and sealed only by humiliations being heaped upon it from

without; from above, from

beneath, and from all around. And, had Sarah^s humility been a true

and a genuine humility ; had her ostentatious sacrifice of herself not had

its secret roots in a deep and a cruel pride ; she would have opened her

heart to all Hagar's contempt. Hagar^s scorn would have been an

excellent oil to Sarah'^s head, and she would thus have seciu^ and

hastened her own fruitfulness and motherhood. But Sarah of herself had

run herself into a temptation too terrible for her to bear. Her

humiliating diildlessness was honour, and rest, and peace, and love

compared with her uttermost and incessant misery now. ^ My wrong be

upon thee,^ she assailed her husband, ^ for I am despised in the eyes of

my own maid ! ' My brethren, you must make up your mind to bear with

what has sprung upon you out of your own past misdeeds. It is the least

you can do to hold your peace, and to bear with meekness the hand of

God. Your life all your days may henceforth be made bitter to you

because of your past. But what would you have? Would you have a

peaceful, a free, an untrammelled, and a happy after-life out of a past life

like yours? You cannot have it. Life is not built on that plan. Grod does

not live in heaven and rule on earth on that principle. Or, if He does, the

worse it will be for you in the long-run. Put it in words and look at it.

Would you run yourself and other people into sin and guilt as suits you,

and then would you wipe your mouth and walk off as a guileless and an

innocent man? You cannot do it. And you need not try. Kiss the rod

rather. Kiss the rod, and the hand that holds it. Say,

It is the Lord. Say that though He should slay you, yet you will not

complain. Say this; say it with Micah when he was in some such distress,

say, ^I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned

against Him, until He plead my cause and execute judgment for me.^

Cast out the bondwoman and her son I o, Sarah, you cannot do it. You

may tiy to do it, but the angel of the Lord will bring Hagar and Ishmael

back again upon you. You surely know Hagar, Sarah ! She is your own

handmaiden. But for you, you must remember, Hagar would have still

been a pure, modest, obedient child. And if she and her unlawful son are

thorns in your eyes, they are both thorns of your own planting. You

bought Hagar in Egypt. You bribed her to leave her mother^s house.

You engaged to be a mother to her. You took her, and made her your

tool ; you debauched her, and then you would cast her out. And you did,

and would do all this, in spite both of God and man. And now you would

like to get back to where you were before your terrible trespass. You

would fain have Hagar and her fatherless boy back in Egypt, and your

tent in Canaan the abode of peace and love and honour it was at the

beginning. o, Sarah, mother of so much mischief, you cannot have it. It

cannot be. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? Hagar had not

come fix»m Ur of the Chaldees with the immigration, neither had she

been bought by Abraham in Canaan. Hagar, originally, was an Egyptian

child. When Sarah was down in Egypt witli her husband Abraham,

young Hagar had been recommended to Sarah for a lady'^s maid. And

Sarah had made trial of the girl in the place, and had been glad to find

that she had all the talent and all the character she had been certificated

to have. And though it looked a wild proposal that Hagar should leave

her mother^s house, and all the religion and civilisation of Egypt, to go

to the

savage land of the Philistines, yet, what a princess like Sarah had once

set her heart upon, poor people like Hagar's parents could not oppose.

Sarah was rich, and she had the imperious temper of riches. And,

besides, Sarah, the sister of Abraham, was a favourite in Fharaoh'^s

palace. Hagar^s expatriation and banishment so far from home made

her all the better a maid to Sarah. Hagar had no choice. She must please

her mistress. She had no temptation or opportunity to do anything else.

She was so far from home now that Sarah became both mistress and

mother to the poor Egyptian girl. All went well, only too well, indeed,

with Sarah and Hagar till Sarah^s sin began to find her out. And when

Sarah dealt hardly with Hagar she fled from the face of her mistress.

Poor Hagar ! Mother of so many miserable women in all lands and in all

ages ever since. Hundreds of miles, weeks of wilderness, and of tears, and

of bleeding feet, and of a bleeding heart from her mother's door. Afraid

to face her mother. Terrified at the thought of her father. Spat upon and

cast out of doors by her sisters and their husbands. Shall she kill her

child? Shall she kill herself? Oh, why was I bom? Oh, why did I ever

come to this cursed land? Why did I ever take the wages of that wicked

woman? Let the night perish on which she took me and led me up into

her bed ! Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it ; let a cloud

dwell upon it ; let the gross darkness terrify it ! Till she awakened and

found herself with a well of water close beside her. * Return to thy

mistress. Submit thyself to thy mistress. ot only to the good and gentle,

but also to the firoward,^ said the angel at the well. And as she drank of

the well she said, Beer-lahai-roi. Thou God seest me ! Behold, that well

still springs up in the wilderness of Shur ; it is to be found on the road

between Eadesh and Bered. Beeb-lahai-roi. Thou God seest me ! Hagar,

by reason of the extremity of her sorrow ; by reason of the utter

desolateness and brokenness of her heart ;

and by reason of the sovereign grace and abounding mercy of God —

Hagar, I say, stands out before us in the very foremost rank of faith, and

trust, and experience, and assurance. Hagar, to me, stands out among

God's very electest saints. Hagar has only one or two who can stand

beside her in her discovery of God, in her nearness to God, in her faceto-

face fellowship with God, in the instructiveness, in the comfort, and in

the hopefulness of her so close communion with God. ot Adam before his

fall ; not Enoch, who so pleased God ; not Abraham at his call, or after

offering his son ; not Jacob at Bethel, nor Israel at the Jabbok ; not

Moses on the mount and in the cleft rock; not Isaiah in the temple, and

not John in the spirit — ^not the best and the most blessed of them all

was more blessed or better blessed than was Hagar the polluted outcast

on her weeping way to Shur. The pure in heart shall see God. And, what

impurity Hagar had contracted of Sarah and Abraham she had washed

away, her head waters and her eyes a fountain of tears, all the way firom

Abraham^s tent door to that well in the wilderness. She had washed her

polluted body and her scornful and revengeful heart with her penitential

tears, till, by the time she came to the well, she was counted clean enough

to see God. And she saw God at that wilderness-well with a deamess, and

with an assurance, and with a rapture, and with a submission, and with

an immediate obedience that all combine to lift up Hagar and to set

Hagar beside, and even before, both her master and her mistress in the

favour and in the fellowship of God. For, firom that day on the way to

Shur, all the days of Hagar'^s pilgrimage on earth, we still see Sarah and

Abraham entreating Hagar with hardness till she drinks again and again

of the well of Grod, and again and again has Almighty God given to her

and to him as the heavenly Father of her fatherless son. In Thee, O God,

the fatherless have always found mercy.

ow, in Grod's mercy, is there any Hagar here ? Is there any outcast

here? Is there any soul of man or woman ready to perish here ? Who can

tell who is here? Where would such be found if not here? Is not this the

house of God? Does this house not stand on the wayside to Shur ? Has

this house not been Beer-lahai*ioi to many who were in far greater

straits, and under fax greater guilt, than ever Hagar wasp Many have

said of this house, Thou God seest me ! Many have come up to this house

with a secret burden. Many have gone home from this house to take up

their cast-off cross, and to endure to the end. Is there a motherless

woman-child here P Is there a deceived, injured, cast-out sinner here P

My sister, thy God is here. Thou hast been led of His angel in coming

here. His well is here. He has dug that well for thee. Spring up, O well !

And that is He Himself, His true and very Self, Who is now laying His

hand on thy dishonoured and downcast houL That is His Holy Spirit

who is now bringing these tears to thine eyes. That is His voice in thy

heart, saying * Hagar, Sarah^s maid, whence comest thou, and whither

wilt thou go ? ^ Stoop down, Hagar, and drink and be refireshed and

revived. Fall down and weep. Lift up thy heart and pray. Behold, Hagar,

He is lifting thee up. He is washing thy feet. He is washing thy hands. He

is washing with water and with blood thy heart. Think, Hagar, think.

Believe, Hagar, believe. Admire, Hagar, and praise. For He is the same

wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful Gk)d who met the first Hagar on

her way back to her mother^s disgraced and angry door. Wonderful is

His name. He was in Egypt, He was in Canaan, He was in Mamre, and

He appeared at Shur. He was there when thou wert bom in thy mother^s

house in Scotland also. He swaddled thee. He girded thee. He called thee

by thy name. The foolishness of thy youth was not hid from Him. He

bore with thee, and still bore with thee. And

when thy lovers had hold of thy deceived heart, He pitied thee, and had

thoughts of love toward thee. And when thy lovers wearied of thee, and

had served themselves of thee, then His time of love began with thee.

When thou didst fall His hand held thee up. When thou hadst destroyed

thyself He redeemed thee. He made thy sin bitter to thee. He made thy

life a wilderness around thee. He made thy heart a wilderness within

thee. He made this whole world flint to thy feet, and dust to thy mouth,

and a very hell to thy cast-off heart. And when He had humbled thee,

and tried thee, and utterly broken and silenced thee. He came near at the

well of Shur to thee, and these, to His everlasting praise, were His words

to thee, 'Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded. For thy Maker is thy

husband. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and

grieved in spirit. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with

everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord, thy

Redeemer. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted ; no

weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that

shall rise in judgment against thee shalt thou condemn. This is the

heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me,

saith the Lord.' 'Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be

ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our

Father, our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting.'

5. SARAH THE PRINCESS By H. A. THOMPSON

SARAH was the wife of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation.

Abraham speaks of her as his sister, the daughter of the same father, but

not the daughter of the same mother. A [any suppose this simply means

that Ilaran, her father, was her half-brother, for in accordance with the

use of language among the Hebrews, he could call a niece a sister and a

granddaughter a daughter. Her history is in. part the history of

Abraham. God determines to lift Abraham out of the idolatry which is

all about him in Ur of the Chaldees, and through him build up a great

nation. In obedience to a divine call, this man and his childless wife set

out on a strange journey. They were seeking a land which was to be

shown them, but where it was they knew not. They carried with them all

they had, piled upon the camels backs, and a few servants probably to

care for their cattle. An orphan nephew was the only one of their family

who had the courage to ally himself with them. "As we dimly picture

them setting forth in the pale dawn of history, we seem to see the laden

camels pacing slowly, towering above the slow-footed sheep. \Ye hear the

drivers cries and the bleating of the sheep, broken by the wail of parting

women." It would not be strange if Sarah at that supreme hour bent

over her camel s neck with a bursting heart and with a longing to remain

with her own kindred. \Ye are not sure that she had any call from God,

and while Abraham is going forth in obedience to the voice of God,

which he ever afterward followed, she was going because loyal to her

husband. They came by way of Damascus, where, no doubt, they tarried

for a time. His first halt in the land of promise is at Shechem. about in

the center of Canaan. Here he reared his first altar to Jehovah. How

much or how little he knew of God at this time we do not know. God s

selection of men for important places never excludes some natural

phases in the person chosen. A writer says of him: "When he turned his

face to the dreaded desert which stretched wide and inhospitable

between him and the

24 Women of the Bible nearest seats of men, he gave his first evidence of

that trust in the unseen Eternal One, leading to unquestioning, heroic

obedience which even then had formed the basis of his character and of

which his later life was to furnish so many illustrious examples. By faith,

Abraham, when he w r as called to go out into a place

which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he

went out not know-ing whither he went/ is the comment of the

Scripture." After a time there is a famine in the land of promise, which

would be a trial of the man s faith. In the fertile plains of Chaldea no

doubt he had had an abundance, but now he is made to suffer hunger as

do others. So far as known to us, this new emigrant does not seem to ask

divine counsel, but on his own discretion starts southward in search of

food for himself and cattle and finally lands in F.gypt. The religion of

this people was a superstitious worship of nature. He knew the weakness

of human nature in a lax state of society. He may have known something

of the character of the people which we do not know and which tended to

intensify his fears. In a sense the people were respectful to women, and

yet they were sensual. lie insinu ates plainly that they were even less

scrupulous about murder than adultery, and they would be willing to kill

him for the sake of securing possession of his handsome wife. The

Rabbinic traditions are valuable as showing how deep an impression this

man and his wife have made upon mankind. According to them,

Abraham rested some days by the River ile. He saw his wife s form

reflected there as they walked by the river, and he was afraid he would

be slain for her sake. He had her placed in a chest so he could cross the

river, and when the custom house officers should ask him, he would pay

whatever they asked if they would pass it then. Does it contain silks? ask

the officers. I wtll pay the tenth, as of silk/ he replied. Does it contain

silver ? they inquired. * I will pay for it as silver/ answered Abraham. "

ay, then it must contain gold/ *T will pay for it as gold/ 1 Maybe it

contains most costly jewels/ I will pay for it as jewels/ he persi^ed.

Sarah the Princess 25 "In the struggle the box was broken open and in it

was seated

a beautiful woman whose countenance allured all Egypt. The news

reached the ears of Pharaoh and he sent and took her." To call Sarah his

sister was a half truth, but it was intended to deceive. His conduct

showed distrust in the protection of God and fear for his own safety. "It

did a cruel wrong to his wife, for it exposed her to the most serious of all

hazards. Xo defense can be offered for a man who, merely through dread

of danger to himself, tells a lie, risks his wife s chastity, puts temptation

in the way of his neighbor, and betrays the charge to which the divine

favor has summoned him. Xot even the excuse can be offered of a sudden

impulse, for the scheme was prearranged between hus band and wife

before they entered Egypt. . . . Deceit in order to gain a point or avert a

disaster is to this day an inveterate habit with most Orientalists; in the

best times of Israel, many others of lofty character arc found

succumbing to this dastardly vice. The tendency evidently lay deep in the

race from its first appearance." The arrival of so large a company would

attract attention. All who see the princess are struck with her beauty.

This may in part have been due to the race from which she sprang, or

the skies under which she lived. "To-day the beautiful Circassian girls of

the adjacent mountain region are sold in Constantinople, and it is said

there are no cheeks so soft and creamy, no eyes so deep and lustrous, as

theirs, no form so sylph-like and willowy. Of all the nations of the earth,

none has ever equaled that from which Sarah sprang." These princes are

courteous, and, desiring to stand well with the king, they make haste to

tell him of the remarkable woman who has just arrived. The purpose of

all this would be to supplant some other favored one and thus work their

way into court favor and secure court honors. Just what Abraham

expected to do to avert trouble, we are not quite sure. If, attracted by her

beauty and desirous of marry ing her, some one should make a

proposition, as her brother, he might delay matters by differing as to

dower or such things, until the famine would be over. lie most likely did

not dream of any interest CHI the part of the king. The king would not

have dared to take the wife of a distinguished visitor, but a sister he

might take and no one could object. He takes steps to add her to his

26 Women of the Bible household as a new wife. He adds many tokens of

respect and confers many favors upon Abraham. Before his plans were

fully consummated, "the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house," and he

learns that he has been deceived and that Sarah was a wife and not a

sister. "The king took back none of the rich presents which he had made

to the presumed brother, probably as the purchase money for a wife, nor

did he offer to strip the shepherd chief of the increased wealth which had

accrued to him in the fertile graz ing grounds of Goshen, where hi?

descendants in the third genera tion were to be quartered. Still less,

though the sheik was wholly in the monarch s power, did he show him

the slightest violence. With nothing worse than a reproach, which is

severe just because it is so gently expressed, he bade him take back his

wife and begone." How many of us have speculated as to what would be

the result from this or that course of action, and how often have we been

disappointed ! We may have plans, but God also has plans. If ours agree

with his, he may bless them ; but if not, he may over rule them so as to

promote his own, or may blast them for our good. "The evil which

Abraham apprehended with respect to Sarah did indeed happen, but it

was brought about by the very measure he had taken to avert it ; and

there is every reason to sup pose that, had he from the first boldly

declared that she was his wife, relying on the protection of God, nothing

of the kind would have taken place ; as it was, this very desire of passing

her off for his sister, which was designed to secure his safe sojourn amid

the plenty of Egypt, became the very instrument of compelling his return

to the land of Canaan. How long Abraham and his wife remained in

Egypt we do not know ; but when sent away, they returned to the old

camping ground near Bethel. In Egypt he laid the foundation of the

family wealth, which must afterward have become enormous. Owing to

trouble among the herdsmen, he found it necessary for him and Lot to

separate. Lot chose Sodom because well watered and fertile. Soon after

this he moved to Mamre, near Hebron, where he dwelt for some time.

Before he came hence the Lord again cheered him by a repetition of the

promise that he should po^ess Canaan by a numerous posterity.

Sarah the Princess 27 Abraham had now been ten years in the land of

promise, and, although growing oM, was not impatient for the

fulfillment of the promise. He was to have a child and through him a

numerous posterity, but it had not been declared who the mother should

be. Sarah, concerned for her husband s glory and happiness, and seeing

but little hope at her advanced age that she should give birth to a child,

concluded that the promise, if fulfilled, must be

through the person of another ; so she offered to Abraham for a

secondary wife Hngar, her maid, a servant who had probably been given

to her in Egypt. There was nothing in this arrangement which seemed

wrong to Abraham at the time, although it carries an unpleasant look to

us. It would have seemed better for him to have waited by faith for the

fulfillment of the promise. "For a misti ess to seek by means of a female

slave and favorite attend ant what Providence had denied to herself, was

regarded as neither immoral nor revolting. It was not even held to be

any real departure from the law of monogamy or any infraction of

conjugal fidelity." What might have been expected as a natural result

now hap pens. When the young mistress saw that she was about to give

birth to a child, she is elated with the honor, and no doubt becomes a

little vain if not insolent. The vast possessions of Abraham will now be

entailed upon her posterity. It would be entirely natural for Sarah to

have some feelings of jealousy also when she saw that this woman, her

slave, would soon enjoy the advantage thus far denied her of becoming

the happy mother of a child. She now blames her husband for that which

she herself had planned and suggested. When she is now reaping the

fruits of her own suggestions, she begins to repent of her rashness.

Instead, how ever, of confession and condemning her own conduct, she

turns against her husband and could not have used more severe

language if he had purposely planned to injure her. Her conduct is that

of a peevish, disappointed woman, who had made a serious blunder, and

yet she appeals to God in a case where she was clearly in the wrong.

Hitherto the woman was Sarah s slave and she had the exclusive right to

control her ; but now, having in a sense become the wife of Abraham, it

is not likely she can be disposed of with out the consent of Abraham. He

does not seem to know much of the ill feeling that is going on in the

woman s tent until he is

28 Women of the Bible informed of it by Sarah. lie is a gentleman, with

no taste for domestic quarrels, and without upbraiding Sarah for what

had been done he simply resigns all control and tells her, "Behold, thy

maid is in thy hand." The record tells us that Sarah "dealt harshly with

her." This may mean by verbal reproaches, but more likely by some

personal mistreatment. The treatment was so severe that Hagar flees

from her home, but she cannot flee from the face of God. She is the

mother of Abraham s child, and has an interest in the protec tion of the

Almighty. An angel finds her and inquires whither

she is going and sends her back again with instruction to "submit thyself

under her hands." For her encouragement he tells her that her child

shall be the father of a great nation. The whole transaction shows Sarah

in a not very enviable light. She is the eager, impulsive, hot-headed

woman who is accustomed to be indulged, who is impatient in her

troubles, and who is positive that she is in the right. She is amazed and

angry because her husband does not bring this slave woman to terms. If

she again gets possession of her, she will teach her a lesson how to

conduct herself toward her superiors. "A more magnanimous woman

might have spared the sister whom she had herself thrown into a

position of difficulty ; but this Chaldean princess was not above showing

unhandsome spite when her woman s pride had been touched to the

quick. She made the girl s life so bitter that at the last Hagar fairly ran

away from her master s encampment and fled toward her native land of

Egypt." From his birth, Hagar s son, Ishmael, was regarded by his

father as his promised heir, in whom the nations of the earth should be

blessed. For thirteen years he was the hope and joy of his parents and

the master of that household. When Abraham was ninety and nine years

old, the silence from heaven was once more broken, the covenant is

renewed with him, and the rite of circumcision is established. At the

same time he tells him that, old as his wife is, yet she shall bear a son and

"kings of the people shall be of her." This was confirmed some time

later. As he sat at his tent door, in accordance with the etiquette of the

times to receive any guests who might come, three strangers approach. "

otice the beautiful hospitality of the reception. The emir rushes himself

to his herd to choose the fattest calf and com-

Sarah the Princess 29 mands the princess to make ready the meal and

knead the cakes. Then comes the report. The account of the promised

blessing at which Sarah laughs in incredulous surprise, the grave rebuke

of the angels, and Sarah s white lie. with the angel s steady answer, are

all so many characteristic points of the story. Sarah in all these incidents

is, with a few touches, made as real flesh and blood as any woman in the

pages of Shakespeare; not a saint, but an average mortal with all the

follies, weaknesses, and variabilities that pertain to womanhood, and to

womanhood in an early age of imperfectly developed morals."

Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. At the age of

three years, as was the custom with Jewish women, her child was

weaned. Great preparations were made for this festive occasion. In the

gladness of her motherly heart she ex claims, "God hath made me to

laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. \Yho would have said

unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have

born him a son in his old age." Up to this age, we find the son of the

bondwoman nur tured along with her son, Isaac, under the same roof.

Xo doubt when Ilagar returned she was reconciled t &gt; her, and their

relations were fairly pleasant. Possibly she treated kindly the mother and

petted the boy until he began to be too unpleasant to be endured. The

story further tells us that Ishmael, who was now coming into manhood

and should have had more self control, jeered at the little child who was

so soon to displace him. This mocking started once again the hot blood of

Sarah. A wise woman would have excused him because of his youth, and

the hot blood of his mother, and trusted to the after years to secure his

acquiescence in the divine plans; but Sarah was no more thoughtful than

she had been years before, and could not brook any insult to him who

was to be the heir of the promise. It may be she had not forgotten their

previous encounter, and the memory of this only intensified the present.

She peremptorily insists that the bondwoman and her son shall be cast

out, and that Ishmael shall not be an heir with Isaac. Abraham demurs

to this arrangement. Sarah s mind is fixed exclusively on Isaac, but

Abraham, as the father of both children, has an affection for each and he

cannot well be indifferent to Hagar with whom he lived as his wife. The

voice of the Lord, however, comes to his help and assures him that,

severe as the

30 Women of the Bible demand of Sarah may be, it was in keeping with

the divine plan and would be best in the end for both of them. Had they

remained and grown up together, no doubt much strife and danger

would have arisen between the children, if not indeed between their

mothers. As soon as he learned it was the divine will, he need no longer

hesitate. He arose in the morning, provided them with such things as

they would need on the journey, and sent them away. As to the

particular nature of the offense in the case of Ishmael, we have no

account, but a prominent writer makes a con jecture after this fashion:

-"In the common events of life all that is incomprehensible, is either

ridiculed, disbelieved, or made a

matter of scandal, and therefore in a case so uncommon as this, it is

more than probable reports very discreditable both to Sarah and

Abraham were propagated all around them. Hagar indeed and Ishmael

must have known differently, that it was the hand of God which worked

and therefore all things were possible; but it was to Ishmael s interest to

dispute or deny the legitimacy of Isaac, and therefore it was not in

human nature to neglect the opportunity. o other offense would have so

grated on Sarah. We are apt to think more poetically than justly of this

part of the Bible. In a mere superficial reading we acknowledge Sarah

does appear in rather an unfavorable light ; that this, however, is a

wrong judgment, is proved by the fact that the Eternal himself desires

Abraham to hearken to the voice of Sarah." The years following this

were in all human probability among the happiest of Abraham s life. ITe

is on friendly terms with his neighbors and therefore dwells at peace

among his flocks. The country about him is pleasant and his wealth is

abundant. The years pass quietly by and bring with them never-failing

plenty for his whole encampment. More than all else, his earthly home

has been blessed with the child of promise. "His \veary waitings

throughout a quarter of a century had been at last rewarded by a son of

his lawful wife, the gift of his covenant with God, to be in due time the

heir of his possessions and, better far, the heir also of that mysterious

blessing which in his seed was one day to bless all nations. And yet, after

many years of unbroken rest and satisfied desires, there burst on

Abraham, like a bolt out of a clear sky, the supreme crisis of his

discipline/

Sarah the Princess 31 There comes to Abraham the command to take

this son of his, this heir of the promise, and to offer him to the Lord as a

burnt offering. The loss of a beloved child at any time would be a great

affliction ; but in the present case, to sacrifice this child would in effect

extinguish the hope of the world. There is but one thing for him to do. He

has been schooled too well and too long not to know that the Lord s ways

are the best ways. He might have said many things, but with his heart

almost breaking he yet said nothing, tie obeys the command. He makes

careful preparation, so that nothing shall be wanted for the sacrifice.

And thus "early in the morning," he rises and saddles his ass for the

journey; and with this boy, now possibly nearly twenty years of age, and

attended by two servants, he starts on his sad journey. We hear nothing

of Sarah in all this transaction. Did she know of this remarkable call

which Abraham had heard, that her

child, the child of her old age, the progenitor of nations, was to be

carried away and put to death ? And was her confidence in God so

strong that she agreed with her husband that he who gave had also the

right to take away? Was she up early on that eventful morning to help

prepare this son for the great trial before him? As she went about the

work of the early morning preparing pro visions for this journey, did not

her heart almost break, and did not the big tears course down her cheeks

? Did not her motherly affection put her arms about his neck and with

breaking heart imprint the last kiss on his much loved cheek ? Or did

Abraham slip away that morning, taking that mother s boy away

without her knowledge, believing that if she knew of his purpose, her

motherlove would be so strong that he would have difficulty in obeying

the command? Did he not feel that that mother s faith was not as strong

as his own, and that her rebellious heart would surely say nay to his

further proceeding? Alas, we know not and can only conjecture. Surely,

that father could not, would not, take away that mother s darling

without at least a fond farewell. Says one, "That which he must do, he

will do ; he that hath learned not to regard the life of his son, hath

learned not to regard the sorrow of his wife." Another puts it after this

fashion : "The trial of faith in the sacrifice of his son was given to the

fatlier; but the mother was spared the consuming agony which must

have been her portion,

32 JVonien of the Bible even had her faith continued strong. God had

compassion on the feebler, weaker nature of his female servant. He

demanded not from her that which he knows the mother could not bear.

He spared her, in his immeasurable love, the suffering which it pained

him to inflict on the father the suffering and temptation not to satisfy the

Lord, for his omnipotence knew that his faithful servant would not fail,

but to prove to future ages the mighty power of spiritual faith and love,

even while in mortal clay." If Sarah knew for what purpose Isaac had

been taken from home, and had even in her tears consented that

Abraham should carry out the Lord s will as he understood it, how

rejoiced she is when he returned again, having been miraculously saved,

and thus the Lord has been obeyed and her child preserved to her. If she

did not know of it until it was all passed, how her brain would throb as

she listened to the great danger and the more wonderful deliverance.

Isaac had never been so precious had he not been recovered from death,

if he had not been as marvelously restored as given. The only way to find

comfort in an earthly thing is to

surrender it in a believing carelessness into the hands of God." After

that eventful scene at Moriah, there is no voice from heaven to break the

silence of his uneventful years. There may be no occasion, for his relation

to God is well assured. He goes back to Beersheba and he lives on, a

period of twenty-four years of which we have no mention. With our

rapid lives, living and enjoying in one year more than these people did in

five, with a multitude of things to engage our attention and divide our

inter ests, we can hardly realize how the members of such a family as

Abraham s would grow to need each other and how much one should be

missed. Through long periods they were constantly together and each

would seem necessary to the other. "Of society, except that of their own

slaves, there was little or none. The round of easy occupations which

made up their shepherd life left ample leisure for domestic converse. It

was inevitable that their lives should grow together as if kneaded into

one. Husband and wife, parent and child, must have molded one another

s character to an extent hardly possible in other states of society. From

such a clo^e circle of relations the disappearance of one loved and

familiar face would leave a blank never to be filled and scarcely ever to

be forgotten."

Sarah the Princess 33 It was a sad event in this family when death made

the first breach, and, at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years,

Sarah, the princess, the wife and mother, fell asleep. It made a sad,

desolate life for Abraham. She was the only one who linked him to the

memories of the past and brought back the incidents of his youth. Of

those who had started out on that strange pilgrimage sixty-two years

before, she was the only one left. She was ten years his junior and her

removal reminded him that there was another journey before him, and it

was not far distant, which was even more venturous than the one he had

already taken. What their convictions of th other life were, we cannot

now tell. The departed were believed to have some kind of conscious exis

tence, but the land whither they went was still a dumb land a land full of

questions without answers. There is no doubt but that the dim light

which Abraham brought with him from his childhood was confirmed

and maybe made more definite as he meditated on what God had

revealed to him. The wife of his early years, the one who had been with

him in all his wanderings, who had shared his trials, and whom he loved

to the last, now leaves him. The account of the sacred writer is tender

and touching: "And Sarah was an hundred and

seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And

Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan :

and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her/ The noisy

wailing, which custom requires should be arranged for the funeral of a

princess, was no doubt going on outside ; but Abraham sits alone, most

likely in Sarah s tent beside his dead, his heart almost benumbed and

scarcely able to think at all, and if thinking, full of sad. bitter thoughts.

Old man as he is, and having led an eventful life, the experiences of

thirty years have not extinguished in his heart emotions which such an

event should awaken. Mourning for the dead is a tribute to the memory

of their living worth. There is nothing opposed to true wisdom or the

manly virtues in a proper lamentation for our departed friends. But he

cannot delay long. The climate is too warm and he must bury his dead

out of his sight. Although heir of the promise, he has no sepulcher in

which to place his dead. He has been here for possibly sixty years, and

yet has not a foot of soil he can call

34 Women of the Bible his own. His home has been his shifting tent, and

his domain the wide desert. He must have some place for his dead which

will be a pledge to his posterity of his faith in God s promise. When he

chose his burial place in Canaan, he removed all connection with the

past. He probably was familiar with caves for burial in the land of Ur

(Mugheir), from which he came. When he comes to the children of Heth

to secure a burial place he tells them, "I am a stranger and a sojourner

with you." ever does the impression of this great truth come upon us

with such force, never do we feel the ties that bind us to the earth so

loosened, so nearly rent asunder, as when we stand by the grave of those

we love. Would that we could carry this abiding conviction along with us

in the daily business of life. How little influence would its trials and

disappointments have over us." In accordance with the customs of the

times, he buys the cave of Machpelah and pays for it with silver. He

obtained not only the cave itself but "the field and all the trees that were

in the field and that were in the borders round about." He not only

secured a burial place, but by this transaction he helped to keep alive

among his descendants the expectation of sometime possessing this land.

Without some such reminder they might, during their Egyptian

bondage, forget their future destiny. It had the de signed effect. Here

were buried Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and

Leah, although Jacob died in Egypt. And

Joseph gave commandment that he also should be carried back with

them and buried in the land of promise. Here in this cave near Hebron

he buried Sarah. "The piety of some unknown age, probably Jewish,

erected round the spot massive walls of noble masonry which still exist.

Inside these walls the devotion of early Christians consecrated a church,

and over the church the devotion of the Mussulmans, a mosque. The

gates of that mosque, the famous Haran of Hebron, had been closed

against Western unbelievers for six centuries, when with extreme

difficulty access to it was procured for the Prince of Wales in 1862.

Railed off, each one within its separate chapel, there lie the coffin-like,

shrines to which are attached the venerable names of Sarah and

Abraham, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Leah and Jacob. These, however,

are only empty monuments. The real tombs, if they exist at all, must be

sought beneath the

Sarah the Princess 35 floor of the building in the rocky cavern

underground. To this vault a trapdoor in the pavement promises to give

access ; but as yet its darkness remains unvisited and unviolated. So far

as could be ascertained through such a brief and partial inspection of the

mosque, it is clear that the contents of that sacred place answer exactly

to the requirements of the Scriptural narrative. Unfortunately more than

this cannot be said. It is reserved for some explorer more fortunate than

even the Prince of Wales to disclose the well-kept secret of the tombs of

the patriarchs." While Sarah is human, with human frailties and human

am bitions, her character is in the main a very commendable one. Peter

(I. Peter 3:1, 6) commends her for her loyalty to her husband. "Likewise

ye wives, be in subjection to your own hus bands ; that, if any obey not

the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of

the wives ; . . even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord : whose

daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any

amazement." She retained the love of her husband to the very last. She

was his faithful helpmeet going with him, sharing his good or bad for

tunes, caring for his interests, and exhibiting toward him the most loving

respect. So far as we know, she never deceived him. When she wanted

Hagar sent away, she may have shown a little temper, but she was open

and frank in her plans. Then she is to be commended for her care of her

son and her anxiety that he should be surrounded with proper

influences. This was her only child, the child of her old age, and for this

reason very dear to her. But in addition to this she knew he was to be the

heir of the promises, and through him the nations of the earth should be

blessed. She saw Ishmael, "mocking/ He was thirteen years older than

Isaac and a wild and rude bo\ She had reason to believe that this reckless

boy would corrupt hei own and therefore she sought their separation. It

seemed a little severe to send this mother and child away, but it met the

divine approval. It was better that Isaac should grow up under different

influences, and the mother s foresight saw such a result, and her strong

mother-love went to work at any cost to preserve her boy. How much her

son, Isaac, was influenced by her home train ing we do not know. He

does not have the vigor of his father. Says a writer : "He makes no stir in

the world, no noise, he excites

no emotion. Ye only catch a glimpse of him now and then, suf ficient to

enable us to recognize him as a dutiful son to his father, a loving son to

his mother, an affectionate, uxorious husband, a partial father, and a

pious but weak old man. He seldom speaks. Me wants force of character;

and soon subsides into an instru ment in the hands of others, who use

him for their own purposes. So we never meet with Isaac in positive and

decisive action, but commonly find him. in some instrumental position or

other."

6. SARAH THE STEADFAST BY George Matheson

I AM told in the Book of Genesis that before God said, *'Let there be

Hght," ''Let there be a firmament," "Let there be dry land," He

"created the heavens and the earth;" in other words, He began, not with

the parts, but with the whole. I believe that in the study of any subject

the order of thought must follow God's order of creation; it must begin

with the whole. In the study of a moral portrait our starting point should

be the general impression — not the isolated features. That is the only

fair and legitimate means of stamping a picture with its distinctive and

representative quality. Begin with the completed view, and work

downwards. Begin, not with the analysis of eye or ear or hand, but with

the survey of that combined effect where the details are lost in the

consummation and the eccentricities of feature are overshadowed in a

common harmony.

I have found the truth of this in a study of the portrait of Sarah. If I had

taken special days of her existence I should have been perplexed what

epithet to give her. In the light of one day I might have called her "Sarah

the Imperious," in the light of another "Sarah the Sceptical," in the light

of a third "Sarah the Cruel." But all these are accidental days; they are

but the variations in a single air, and that air is the tune of a whole life. It

would be unfair to judge the tune by its variations. We must look at the

deep

sea beneath the waves. And what is this sea? What is that quality in the

mind of Sarah which lies below all other qualities, and which subsists

when others change? (It may be expressed in one word — steadfastness.

The abiding secret of this woman's greatness is the fact of her own

abidingness. J Others are great by their brilliancy, by their talent, by

their beauty. Sarah has all the qualities; but none of them is made her

crown. She has the sparkle which wins love; but not on that rests her

epitaph. She has the physical lovehness which commands admiration;

but not on that reposes her glory. She has the mental

SARAH THE STEADFAST 53 power which sways masses; but not on

that does her empire stand to-day. /The one quality by which she lives in

our memory is the steadfastness of her conjugal devotion, j From morn

to eve, in storm and in calm, in shadow and in sunshine, in the flush of

youth and amid the faUing leaves of autumn, she is ever by her husband

Abraham's side. Prosperity does not divorce them; adversity does not

divide them; time only deepens the intensity of their union. There is one

point in this which in relation to the Bible Gallery is to my mind highly

significant. It is the fact that the Bible's first dehneation of female

steadfastness is in the sphere of the conjugal. We should have expected it

to be in the sphere of the lover. When a modern novelist wishes to

illustrate this quahty he generally depicts it before marriage. He takes

for granted that the reader will appreciate most a steadfast devotion

between two Hves which have not yet been joined by the wedding ring.

The Bible places in the front ground a post-nuptial steadfastness. And I

must say that in this I agree

with the act of the Hebrew Galleiy. I think the

54 SARAH THE STEADFAST continued devotion of married lives is

more to be emphasized than that of lovers. Pre-nuptial love is an age of

romance, and romance courts the opposition of fortune. What amorous

youth does not figure in his soul a thousand adventures of danger in

which he will be the hero; what amorous maiden does not picture in her

heart a thousand trials of fortitude in which she will prove her loyalty!

But nuptial love grows practical. It settles down. It seeks no posts of

danger. It is not, like its predecessor, tempted to manifest its devotion by

casting itself from the pinnacle of the temple. Its prayer is rather that of

the psalmist, ''Lead me in a plain path because of my enemies." Dangers

are barriers. Difficulties are hindrances. Obstacles are' impediments to

the wings. The result is that married love, where it persists, is the highest

test of steadfastness. It may not require to submit to more sacrifices than

romantic love; but it feels the real pain of the sacrifices it is submitting

to. Romantic love sees Hfe's battle from a hill; the wearer of the nuptial

ring beholds it from the plain. Let me illustrate what I mean from the

picture.

SARAH THE STEADFAST 55 Here is a young man — Abraham. He is

living in Ur of the Chaldees — a seat of ancient civiHzation. He is

himself a youth of high poetic instincts and not without a dash of that

dreaminess which belongs to these instincts. He has had long waking

dreams under the stars. There has risen within him an impulse which

now would

be called missionary, which then would be held visionary. He will go out

from his country and from his kindred and from his father's house to

seek a new country and build a new house. He will go forth to plant a

colony in some region as yet to him unknown. He will go where God

leads him. He will make no preUminary plan; he will map out no

geographical course; he will be led by the Divine hand blindfold. To his

contemporaries, to his fellow-countrymen, it seems a wild delusion, the

insanity of genius. But that is not the worst. He is not asking his

countrymen to join him; he can afford to discard their opinion. But there

remains to be dealt with something of a far more serious

naturesomething which disputes the message of the stars and

complicates the spirit of his dream.

56 SARAH THE STEADFAST He has formed an attachment to a

maiden of extreme beauty — a native of his own land and connected

with himself by blood. She is called Sarah, and her name denotes

elevated rank. Will this damsel join her fate to his in an enterprise so

hazardous? Will she leave father and mother, sister and brother, the

friends and comrades of her youth, to follow the fortunes of a visionary

young man who has not a possession in the world and who has no

prospect but his dreams? Will she go out like himself without knowing

whither she is bound, and trusting merely to what men would call the

chances of life? That is what Abraham asks himself, that is what impedes

the current of his great missionary resolve. Doubtless he would have left

Ur of the Chaldees years before but for the haunting dread of parting

with Sarah. At last, one day — of which indeed there is no

record — he takes his courage in his hands and opens out his soul to

Sarah. I feel sure he makes a clean breast of it. I know he never would

ask her to be his wife without telling her of the precipice along which

their united lives were to lie—

SARAH THE STEADFAST 57 without inquiring, in the spirit of an old

Scottish song, '' Canst thou forget the courtly scene where thou wert

fairest of the fair!" And we all know what in Abraham's case the answer

was — Yes. This beautiful woman makes a great surrender. She gives up

home, friends, country, for the love of one man. She gives up certainty

for uncertainty, possession for chance, acquaintances for strangers,

civilization for unculturedness, the amenities of the city for the hardships

of the desert. One is disposed to say, ''The steadfastness of love can go no

farther than this." But that is not my opinion, and it is not the opinion of

the artist. Sarah is yet only in the romantic stage, and it is her romance

that makes the choice. It is a choice perfectly sincere, but it is hardly

sacrificial. It is exactly the kind of thing which romance longs for, craves

for. In its first young dream love cries out for manifestation, and it

courts manifestation in what the world would call a path of sacrifice. Its

watchword is self-abandonment and the revelation of selfabandonment.

Sarah accepted the sacrificial robe as her most becoming dress. It is for

ro-

58 SARAH THE STEADFAST mance ever the most becoming dress. But

just on that account it is not the test of love's tenacity.

The test of love's tenacity is the power to accept an w^ibecoming dress

— a dress whose soiledness may threaten to mar the beauty, and whose

many rents and tears are more suggestive of friction than of freedom.

That is the test which is the culminating evidence of the steadfastness of

a woman's love; and it came to Sarah, not in the romantic choice of her

youthful years, but in the weighted struggles incidental to the marriage

ring. The glory of these struggles is that Sarah's love surmounted them

all, although they were all of an unromantic cast and all threatened to

assail the citadel of her heart. I wish to follow Sarah through the

struggles and the victory of her married Hfe; we shall see that it is there

she has left her abiding monument. When the scene first opens on the

married hfe of Abraham and Sarah, they are having an experience

which their romance had not bargained for — the poverty of the land.

They have passed from Ur into Haran and from Haran into Canaan. In

Canaan there has arisen a great famine. Per-

SARAH THE STEADFAST 59 sonal poverty may create a stimulus to

work; but the poverty of the land kills all stimulus. For a married pair I

can imagine no duller experience than poverty of the land. It means a

famine of everything. ational scarcity involves a national stagnation — a

stagnation of public amusements, a stagnation of private festivities, a

stagnation even of social intercourse; it is the last set of circumstances

one would choose for a honeymoon. We should have thought this was the

time for the missionary zeal of Abraham — the time when the world

looked dark, and there was no temptation to Hfe's vanities. We should

have expected that he would have made this the day

and hour for the inauguration of his great scheme of human

amelioration — that like his descendant Joseph he would have bestirred

himself for the relief of humanity. On the contrary, his only feeling seems

to have been a chafing under personal discomfort and a desire to get

away. Before his eyes there swims the glory of the land of Egypt — a

land of riches, a land of plenty, a land where man can forget his cares.

One asks with surprise, almost with dismay, "Is this the Abra-

6o SARAH THE STEADFAST ham who on the plains of Chaldea had

devoted himself to a life for God!" But you forget, the man Abraham is

not yet complete — he is only in the making. Do you think the father of

the faithful could have been created in a day! o; he was at first the child

of a holy imagination, of a lofty poetry. When imagination comes into

contact with cold reality there is always a shock and sometimes a fall. I

think this must have been Sarah's first real sorrow — not the famine in

the land but the famine in Abraham's soul. She sees her ideal husband in

a new Hght. She had seen himin Ur of the Chaldees flaming with the

poetic impulse to abandon himself for the sake of humanity. She beholds

him in the land of Canaan with his fire cooled down, with his poetry

extinguished under the heel of prosaic fact. Remember, poetic natures

are far more apt to be thus unmanned than cold, phlegmatic natures; it

is they alone who experience the collision between the spirit and the

flesh. Sarah remembers it. She has her first sorrow; but it breaks not the

chord of her first love. The man whom she sees is still

SARAH THE STEADFAST 6i the man of Ur— the man of her girUsh

dreams, the man of bold and buoyant confidence. True, he is under a

cloud and the cloud distresses her; but her eye looks beyond the cloud to

the normal shining of her husband's soul. She says in her heart, "The

sun will rise to-morrow." She has need of all her hope; for meantime the

gloom deepens. The complaint which has come to Abraham is one which

seems occasionally to beset high-strung natures— a reaction of the

nerves producing extreme timidity. It came more than once to Elijah; it

came often to Simon Peter; it came now to Abraham. There has broken

upon him a timidity approaching to abject fear; in obedience to its

impulse he is flying from the famine into Eg^pt. But as he nears Egypt

his terror increases; it passes from abject fear into cowardly selfishness.

He says to Sarah: "We are going into a country where I shall suffer by

your beauty. Men will envy me the possession of you; they will lament

that you are wedded, bound; they will seek to kill me that you may be

free. You can save me if you will. Pretend that you are already free.

Conceal the

62 SARAH THE STEADFAST fact of our nuptial bond. Represent your

relation to me as something which does not involve inalienable

possession — something which will not interfere with the passions of

other men. Affect a less stringent tie; say you are my sister." It would be

difficult to imagine a deeper sinking of a lofty soul. Let us understand

where it lies. It is not in the eclipse of faith — sad as that un-

doubtedly was. It is not in the stooping to a falsehood — pitiful as was

the moral descent. It is not even in the attempt to make his wife partaker

in the lie — dark as the deed must seem. There is something more

lowering and more distressing than any of these; it is the eclipse in

Abraham's heart of the wifely relation itself. His request is nothing less

than that Sarah should take upon herself an infinitely greater peril in

order to save him from the danger of losing Hfe. A more terrible strain

upon a woman's conjugal love is not to be conceived. Yet this noble

woman stood the strain. She surrendered herself to the solacing of her

husband's despair. To bring him peace of mind she acceded to his desire.

She consented to a deception; but it

SARAH THE STEADFAST 63 was a deception that led right down into

a deep vault of self-sacrifice. She put her trust in God and threw herself

into the breach of danger. Her whole aim was that the weapon should

miss her husband's breast. If it came to the worst she could die — die by

her own hand; but he would Uve on and his life would yet be glorious.

For, never mistake what it was that kept alive this woman's love. It was

the certainty that the present Abraham was not the real Abraham. She

saw the man of the past; she saw the man of the future. The man of the

present was only under a cloud. That cloud was, after all, the shadow of

God — a temporary inaction imposed by the Almighty. It would pass by

and by, and the day would dawn and the birds would sing. I do not think

this woman Sarah has ever got justice. She is one of the finest specimens

of tenacious married love whom it has been my

privilege to meet. Her trials are all unromantic — things that bring no

stimulus with them. Hitherto she has encountered commonplace famine,

the ecHpse of a husband's energy, and the

64 SARAH THE STEADFAST seeming decline of a husband's care; yet

she has remained undaunted in her first devotion. But to her, as to Job,

new trials are coming. Let us follow her down the stream. By and by the

cloud clears from Canaan, and Abraham and Sarah return. But before

leaving Egypt Sarah makes a purchase which transforms an accidental

visit into a turning-point of life; she buys a beautiful Egyptian slave

named Hagar and carries her into Canaan. Years pass, and for

Abraham prosperity dawns. His energy revives; his zeal comes back; his

flocks multiply; his riches grow. But side by side with the prosperity,

beat for beat with the pulse of Abraham's joy, there throbs in Sarah's

heart a pulse of pain. It is a purely impersonal pain. There is not a trace

of selfishness about it; it is all for her husband, and it grows with her

husband's good fortune. There is as yet no heir. Has he given her his love

only that she may wreck his prospects — nay, wreck God's mission for

his life! What need to build a kingdom when he has no inheritor; what

use to plant a colony when his name must die! He has asked her to share

his fortunes, and

SARAH THE STEADFAST 65 she has spoiled them; he has asked her to

share his ambition, and she has marred it. In the secret of her soul Sarah

wrings her hands in sadness. Outwardly she is gay; she is dispensing

hospitality; she is entertaining her husband's guests. But the world

knows not, he himself knows not, the unselfish bitterness of the heroic

spirit by his side. owhere to me is this woman so grand as in the festive

hour with the heavy heart. Suddenly, a thought comes to Sarah. It is her

own suggestion — not Abraham's. She is the real sufferer, and it is all

for him. She says to her husband, "Take my slave Hagar as a second

wife." Why does she propose her slave? Because she says to herself, "If

an heir should come through Hagar he will still be my son, not hers;

Hagar has no personality apart from me; she is a bit of myself; she will

be my slave even after maternity; the motherhood will all be mine." She

does not want her husband to be really a bigamist; she loves him too

much for that. She offers him one too lowly to be a rival. I understand

her, I sympathize with her, I shake hands

66 SARAH THE STEADFAST with her across the years. I can read the

line of subtle thought which made her act as she did, and I appreciate

both her and the artist. But Sarah has miscalculated something. She has

said that even maternity will not make Hagar less her slave. In body

perhaps not; but in spirit it will break her bonds. It proves so. Ishmael's

Hfe begins to dawn, and in an instant Hagar feels free. Sarah is more

eager than ever to emphasize the slavery; we always emphasize what we

are not quite sure about. The commands are more imperative; the

burdens are more heavy; the work is more arduous. Friction arises in

the home. Abraham looks on easily ; lions in the path are often lambs in

the house-

hold. For the first time in the records of this family there is a domestic

explosion. Sarah upbraids Abraham, not on the ground of infidelity —

for there is none, but on the ground of supineness — of tamely standing

by while her household authority is being ignored by a menial. It is the

earliest assertion in the world of the rights of woman, and, whether you

place it on canvas or in history, it is a thought before its time.

SARAH THE STEADFAST 67 There she stands — this champion of the

woman at home! There she stands with blazing cheek and flaming eye,

proclaiming to her house and to all houses that she is mistress of her own

abode, that by her fireside she will have no competitor! It is essential to

her peace that Hagar should be, not a person, but a thing. She will not

recognize her as Abraham's helpmeet. She will have no polygamy in her

dwelling. Her husband will be hers alone — hers even in Hagar' s

maternity. Hagar shall be her instrument, but not her rival; in her own

domain Sarah will be despotic queen. Even so, brave Sarah, fight on !

You are fighting our battle — civilization's battle, the battle of

womanhood! We recognize you as our pioneer; we admire and honour

you ! The combat ends in favour of Sarah. One day, Hagar is missing;

she has fled into the desert. The next, or the next but one, she is back

again; the angel of prudence has advised her to return. She comes back

in humility, and her generous mistress receives her on the old terms.

There is another lapse of time; and then the unexpected happens. When

nearly all hope had been aban-

68 SARAH THE STEADFAST doned, a real heir is born to Sarah. His

advent is greeted with jubilation. He is the child of laughter; there is

merriment at hearth and board. But the laughter is not all joy; the jeer

of scorn mingles with it. Hagar is there and her boy Ishmael; they sneer

at the puny child Isaac. I have always felt he must have been a dehcate

child; the events of his after-life indicate it. We can imagine the sore

heart of Hagar contrasting the fragile look of Isaac with the magnificent

physique of her son Ishmael, and we can hear the laugh of derision with

which she would say, "And this is Abraham's heir!" It is too much for

Sarah. Woman can stand much; but when you touch her in her

motherhood the tiger wakes within her. Sarah has at last reached her

Umit of endurance. o longer can she suffer beneath her roof the presence

of this Egyptian and her boy. They must go out from her; they must find

their way to their own kith and kin. Short and summary is the warning.

Mother and son are sent out into the desert to breast the bleak world,

alone. Ye who think Sarah was harsh in her method, remember that

even her act of dismission was an

SARAH THE STEADFAST 69 act of concession: it set the Egyptian free.

She had no need any more to run away. Imperial Sarah cries, " I make

you a present of your Hberty ; leave my house for evermore!" For my

part I say Amen. I admire and honour the deed of this woman. She has

purified her home. She has washed clean her household hearth. She has

relighted her nuptial fire. She has swept her rooms of the least taint of

polygamy. She has obtained over her husband a drastic and final

dominion in the sphere of the dwelling-

place. There we shall leave her — empress and dictator of the home! She

has bound her husband with a cord of love which will not be loosed even

when he lays her down in the Cave of Machpelah. For us she rests, not in

Machpelah, but in the secret of her own tent. There we shall ever see her

— the champion of the rights of woman, the advocate of female liberty!

There we shall ever hear her — proclaiming the sanctity of the hearth

and the inviolable clasp of the marriage bond! The influence of many

empires may be forgotten ; but the portrait of Sarah in the Old Bible

Gallery should be to the

70 SARAH THE STEADFAST latest civilizations a thing of beauty and a

joy for ever ! I bless Thee for this portrait, O my God. I am glad that at

the opening of the Gallery Thou hast placed a picture of fair womanhood

wearing no bonds. I am grateful for the primitive vision of a mistress of

the home. May the world never outgrow this picture; may it be the

guiding-star for all time! May the hearth of Sarah ever be brightened by

her own hand! May the nuptial torch be trimmed by herself alone! Keep

unsulHed her marriage ring! Let no Hagar break the unity of her family

circle; may her husband's love be steadfast to the end ! May her own

love be steadfast — steadfast in the most trying things, the commonplace

things! When the romantic has given place to the practical, may love not

be killed thereby! May it not be damped by the rain, scorched by the

heat, exhausted by the burdens of the day. If Abraham sometimes seems

to lose his glow, may Sarah not lose hers! May she remember that man

has more toil than woman and is subject

to more weariness of the soul! Let her make allowance for the clouds in

the masculine sky I Let her beheve that her first impression was the true

one! Let her hold fast to the ideal of her youth! May her devotion be

undimmed by the desert! May her fondness not faint in the famine! May

her care not corrode in the conflict! Cherish her by chastity; protect her

by purity; defend her by fidelity; keep her by constancy of heart! Then

shall her evening and her morning be one cloudless day!

7. SARAH:MOTHER OF NATIONS By GlennPease

Based on Gen. 17:15-22

An Indian chief's daughter by the name of Shell Flowers came to appreciate the

ways of the white man. She learned English, and then took for herself the Christian

name of Sarah. She was fortunate to come under the influence of General Howard,

the commanding officer of Fort Lynn, for he loved minorities and fought for their

rights. He was a hero of the Civil War who had fought for the rights of blacks, and

now he was trying to be a peacemaker between the Indians and the whites. When

the Indians of Idaho went on the warpath, Sarah risked her own life by finding

their camp and rescuing 75 of her own people. Then she rode on horseback for 223

miles in three days to get General Howard. He was able, because of her

information, to put down the uprising and prevent widespread blood shed. General

Howard wrote a book titled Famous Indian Chiefs I have known. In this book he

wrote this of Sarah Winnemucca: "If I could tell you but a tenth part of all she

willingly did to help the white settlers and her own people to live peaceably

together, you would think as I do that the name of Sarah should have a place beside

the name of Pocahontas in the history of our country." Most people are not aware

of this Sarah who played a major role in part of our countries history, nor are they

aware of the thousands of Sarah's all over the world who have made this an

honorable name by their achievements. We have such women as Sarah Caldwell,

the only woman who has ever conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Many are the famous and ordinary people who proudly wear the name Sarah. It

has been a popular name all through history because of the first woman to ever

wear that name, which was Sarah the wife of Abraham. She is the only woman I

am aware of who had her name changed by God, like many of the famous men in

the Bible. The name Sarah means princess, and it was given to her directly by God.

Sarah could not imagine that her name would become so famous for all the rest of

human history. After all, she was 89 years old and barren, so the future looked very

bleak as far as posterity goes, and any chance of making her name of any

significance in history. Yet, out of these extremely limiting circumstances Sarah

became one of the most famous mothers in all of history. It is hard to find anyone

who can come close to matching Sarah in the fame she achieved in a world

notorious for putting women down. As Abraham is the father of Judaism, so Sarah

is the mother of Judaism. These two were Gentiles who married each other in the

pagan culture of Ur of the Chaldees, and they became the first two Jews in history.

What a paradox that Judaism started with Ma and Pa Gentile. No wonder God

says of Sarah in verse 16, "I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;

kings of peoples will come from her." No other mother in history has been so

honored by so many nations.

The Jewish nation, the Christian nations, the Mohammedan nations, all trace the

origin of their faith to father Abraham and mother Sarah. They are the only couple

in the Bible who are both referred to in the great faith chapter of Heb. 11. They are

the only parents in the Old Testament who are promised by God that their seed

would be a blessing to every family on earth. They are the only couple in biblical

history whose tomb is still a place of honor in the world today. The only burial of a

woman recorded in the Bible is that of Sarah. She is the only woman in the Bible

whose age at the time of death is recorded. She was 127 years old. She and

Abraham had over a 100 years of married life together, and she had 37 years of

being a mother in spite of her late start at age 90. Sarah is the first woman in the

Bible to have the journey of her life recorded. More is recorded about Abraham

and Sarah than all of the human race up to their time. Certainly God intended us

to learn something about motherhood from this most unique of all mothers. The

first thing the record compels us to examine isI. HER MISSED MOTHERHOOD.

There are few people who know both sides of the story like Sarah. She knew by

experience the full impact of non-motherhood. It seemed strange, but the most

famous mother in history is also the leading authority of what it is like not to be

able to be a mother. Many have gone years before they could conceive a child, and

many have never been able to conceive, but there is no record of anyone ever living

90 years with near 70 of them in trying to conceive. This most successful mother of

nations holds the record for failure to become a mother. Most of the non-mothers

of history have not lived motherless as long as Sarah did. She knew what it was like

to spend her entire youthful state of life listening to other mothers talk about

babies, and not have one of her own to talk about. She experienced all of the social

and culture agony of having no fruit of the womb. She could have written the book

on the misery of denied motherhood. Even though she finally conceived, the fact is,

she lived the entire period of her child bearing years barren and childless. She is

the only mother we know of who experienced so completely the life of missed

motherhood. This is not without great significance, for it reveals that Sarah could

live a life pleasing to God as a good wife and godly person without motherhood. If

she had not been a good wife to Abraham, and a woman faithful to God through all

of those years of barrenness, God never would have chosen her to be the mother of

nations. But if God had never chosen her, her life would still have been one

pleasing to Him. The point is, her life as a non-mother was a beautiful life and

worthy of honor. Motherhood is not what made Sarah a beautiful person. She was

beautiful as a nonmother, and is thus, a great example to the non-mothers of

history. She was a faithful loving wife for near 70 years before she bore Abraham a

son. She proved you can have a satisfying and fulfilling married life even without a

child.

Most of the Bible couples were parents, and their lives revolved around their

children, but Abraham and Sarah were husband and wife, and their lives revolved

around each other. They developed a high esteem for each other as mates. Sarah

was so deeply loved by Abraham that had she never bore him a child there is not

the slightest hint that he would have left her for a woman who could. We need to

remember that Hagar was Sarah's idea and not Abraham's. She was more to him

than a baby maker. Sarah was first of all a good wife, and that is the primary

responsibility who wants to be a good mother. Next we seeII. HER MIRACULOUS

MOTHERHOOD. Her story puts the typical change of life baby story into the

shadows by comparison. I have known women who have conceived in their 50's,

but to give birth at age 90 is beyond anyone's experience. This is like having a

delivery room at the nursing home. It is obvious that by this miraculous conception

God is calling attention to the fact that He is doing a special work in history

through this mother. There is no history at all without mothers. Had Eve not

become a mother history would have ended with the first couple. Motherhood is

God's means of making any history at all. But God's plan is for a history within

history that fulfills His purpose, and it is to be carried out by means of miraculous

motherhood. The final fulfillment of this plan was the virgin birth of Jesus Christ,

but the start of this chain of events was the miraculous motherhood of Sarah. Her

womb was dead, but out of that dead womb God brought forth life, and Sarah

became the first biblical illustration of the resurrection and God's power to bring

life out of death. She produced history's first miracle baby. Next we want to

considerIII. HER MINI MOTHERHOOD. Sarah did not raise a number of

children, but only one. Isaac was her only child, and that would certainly be

enough for a woman her age. The point is, you do not have to have a large family to

be a great mother. Sarah became a mother of nations, and her single experience of

giving birth was all it took for her to start the chain of events that changed all of

history, and led to the Messiah, who changed all of eternity as well. Never put down

or minimize an only child, for that is how God started the most important family

that ever lived, for by means of it every family on earth has been blest. With God

one is always adequate to achieve His purpose for all. He only has one Son Himself,

and He was adequate to redeem the world. Being a good mother to one child is in

God's eye's a marvelous achievement, and no one has ever been more honored for

doing it than Sarah. She was a good wife to one man, and a good mother to one

child. Her only son Isaac was not one of the most exciting characters of the Bible,

but he is one of the best. He had his flaws, but there is no major sin in his life that is

recorded. The record reveals that he was just a good and godly man. Men like

Isaac often trace their goodness back to the influence of their mother. Edward

Everett Hail, the distinguished Boston pastor and author of The Man Without A

Country, tells of bringing his report card home from school. It should he was 9th in

a class of 15. He was depressed about it and felt ashamed. His mother could see

this, and so with tenderness and understanding she said, "Never mind, Edward, I

notice that in your report you are first in good behavior, and son, that means more

to me than to have you the head of the class and not behave well." Hail wrote in his

dairy: "That was one of the most stirring and heartening experiences of my life.

My mother's understanding and sympathy, making me see that behavior was more

important than high grades, gave me a courage such as nothing else on earth ever

gave me. I might never become a great scholar, but I could always be a good boy

and a good man. That was within the reach of my abilities, and I thereupon

resolved that, what ever else I might become, I would always see to it that my

behavior record was high." He was good and godly because of his mother's

influence. A mini-mother gets only one chance with only one child, but that is all

they need for success. Sarah became the greatest mother in history as a mini-

mother with one good and godly child. God works from quality to quantity, and

from this one good child all the families of the earth were blest, and Sarah by her

mini-motherhood became the mother of nations. Next we look atIV. HER

MEMORABLE MOTHERHOOD. There is not a great deal said about this mother

of nations as far as her mothering goes, but the little hints we have tell us she was a

marvelous mother who left behind precious memories. Abraham so loved Sarah

that the entire 23rd chapter of Genesis is devoted to her loving concern for her

burial, and his purchase of a cave from the Hittites in which to bury her. There is

only verse that refers to Isaac's response to his mother's death. In Gen. 24:67 it

says that Isaac brought his new wife Rebekah into his mother's tent, and it closes

with-"and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." A husband and son

deeply moved by the loss of this memorable mother. She did, of course, have this

advantage-she died before she became a mother-inlaw. Otherwise she may have left

other than pleasant memories. She did not have to past this test. Other Sarahs have

been so tested and failed. Sarah Delano, for example, the mother of Franklin

Delano Roosevelt, the man who spent more years as president of the United States

than other man. She was a very dominant mother, and Franklin was never out of

her sight for more than hour for the first 14 years of his life. Even when he was

asked to run for public office he said he would have to ask his mother first. She

postponed his wedding with Elenor for a year, and after they got married it was a

constant battle for who was to be in control. These two women could not be

in the same room for half an hour without an argument. Elenor forbid her children

to drive, and so grandma Sarah bought them each a car for their birthdays. She

left behind her many memories that her loved ones would wish to forget. Certainly

one of the goals of mothering is to leave your family with memories of good times in

sharing love and fun, and not times of tension and frustration. These come to all,

and are an inevitable part of life, but these will all fade from the memory if

mother's dominant characteristics are positive. Millions have stories like Dr.

Samuele Bacchiocchi, a professor of church history and theology at Andrews

University in Michigan. He is convinced that mothers are better equipped to instill

self confidence and self worth in children than are their fathers. He remembers

when he failed an exam in 5th grade in Italy. His father was ready to take him out

of academic studies and put him into vocational school. But his mother knew he

could make it, and she encouraged him, and she got him special help so that he did

make it. He writes, "Truly I would have never become a minister and a teacher

were it not for my mother's vision that saw in me what others failed to see and

instilled in me a sense of self worth and of mission." His memories of his mother

were a precious heritage. Rosemary Ruether is another contemporary professor of

history and theology at Garrett Evangelical Seminary in Chicago. She says that she

is what she is because of her mother who gave her a strong sense of self-esteem. She

taught her to care about her own rights as well as the rights of others. As she got

older and discovered that the God of the Bible was also concerned about the rights

of others, and that He was for the oppressed and against the oppressor, she wanted

to be a theologian and fight injustice with the Word of God. Her memory of her

mother is a precious heritage. There are many other testimonies that confirm the

picture of the ideal mother in Prov. 31 where verse 28 says, "Her children arise and

call her blessed." Such was the lot of Sarah, and such should be the goal of every

mother. The child may fail to follow the way a mother teaches, but that is not the

failure of her motherhood. The test is, does even a failing child look back and say,

my mother should me a better way? Some of the worse children had great mothers,

and they gave testimony to this fact by expressing the same positives as successful

children. Tom Bell robbed the first stagecoach in American history on August 11,

1856. A posse went after him, but he escaped. They went to the home of his girl

friend and waited for three days, and finally he came and was caught. He was

marched to a tree, and there at age 26 he was hanged. He was allowed to write a

letter to his mother first. This is what he wrote: "Dear Mother; I am about to make

my exist to another country. I take this opportunity to write you a few lines.

Probably you may never hear from me again. If not, I hope we may meet where

parting is no more. In my prodigal career in this country I have always recollected

your fond admonitions and, if I had lived up to them probably I would not be in my

present condition: But dear mother, though my fate has been a cruel one, yet I have

no one to blame but myself. Give my respects to all of old and youthful friends. Tell

them to beware of

bad associations and never to enter into any gambling saloon, for that has been my

ruin. I bit you farewell forever. Your only boy, Tom." His mother did not fail him.

She was a success, for she gave him an alternative, and he was free to choose it, but

did not. God did not fail Israel because she went astray. He gave them the wise

alternative, but they would not submit. A memorable mother is one which makes

children look back from their success or folly and say, mother pointed me in the

right direction. She gave me choices that were good, and whether I took them or

not they bare witness that she was a good mother. Sarah was such a mother, and

her son Isaac was a good and godly man who looked back at his mother's life with

precious memories. One of the memories everybody had of Sarah was of her

laughter. Abraham and Sarah are the only couple in the Bible who are both in

great chapter of faith of Heb. 11, and they are the only couple who are both

portrayed as laughing. It was a joke to both of them that they would have a child in

their old age, and they laughed at the very idea. It was so funny that their laughter

became a lasting memory, for they named their miracle baby Isaac, which means

laughter. Children are richer forever who have memories of a mother who could

laugh and enjoy the humorous side of life. Norman Vincent Peale loves to recall his

mother's sense of humor and laughter. He remembers once when he sat with her at

a funeral, and something the preacher said set her off. She was fighting desperately

to hold it back. She took his hand and whispered, "For heaven's sake, stop me from

laughing." Peale say, "I gave her a stern look which slowed her down somewhat

but I could still feel her shaking." He says he remembered that incident at her own

funeral, and the memory greatly comforted him. Her laughter made her memory

very positive. Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, and mother of his children, is

remembered for her sense of humor. She was going to meet Billy once in a

Southern town that she told him was full of hill billys. She pulled down her long

dark hair and blocked out a tooth, and she took off her shoes and walked barefoot

to meet him. She had disguised herself so good that Billy went right past her and

didn't even notice it was her. She once felt the family did not give prayer attention

to the importance of Thanksgiving, and so she put shaving cream instead of

whipped cream on the pumpkin pie. She got their attention, and after that they

became more aware of the need to be grateful. She once served tadpole soup with

the tadpoles swimming around to a man who was forever boasting of himself and

bragging of his achievements. When he looked at the strange contents of his bowl

he remained silent the rest of the evening. She had a very unique way of using

humor to change situations, and she will be remembered for this sense of humor. It

is a good question for a mother to ask herself often-what will my children

remember? Is my motherhood memorable, or will they prefer to forget? Phyllis C.

Michael put it in poetry: What will my boys remember When they've grown old

and gray? The pants knees oft were full of holes? Or the trout we caught that day?

Just what will they remember most? Two little beds unmade? Or the fun they had

at hide-and-seek The days that Mother played? What matter if my ironing waits

While I smooth out their troubles Take time to kiss those briar-scratched hands,

And start them blowing bubbles? Will they remember mud-tracked floors When

they've grown old and gray? What care they if each room is dusted, If I'm too tired

to play? God chose only one mother to be the mother of nations, but every mother

is called to so live with and love their children that they will want to love Jesus and

know God's will for their life. This is a memory that none will forget, and so on

Mother's Day let us commit ourselves anew to be memorable mothers for the glory

of God.

8. SARAH AND REBEKAH BY Lyman Abbott

It is written " Sarah means princess. If that name was given the Firstmother of the

Hebrews in childhood for her temperament, it was veritable prophecy. All we know

of her shows her a woman of a strong, determined, and self - asserting will.

Originally the name was not spelled that way, but Sarai. The change did not

happen accidentally, or from a whim of the bearer, but at the bidding of God

Himself, and for the purpose of being a sign — " That God will bless her and give

Abraham a son of her . . . that she shall be a mother of many nations, kings of the

peoples shall be of her." In what manner the substitution of the one letter for the

other could become, as it were, a seal of the covenant — this is still one of the

problems of the commentators. There exists 21

WOME OF THE BIBLE among the Jews a sort of cabalistic tradition

that the Hebrew letter yod signifies the creative power of God in nature, while the

letter hay symbolizes the might of God in the state of grace — ^that state into

which Sarah had entered after receiving the covenanted promises. For

corroboration of this view its propounders point to the fact that the name of

Sarah's husband underwent a similar modification by the addition of the identical

letter, with a like significance. Abram became Abraham because God had said to

him, ** A father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make thee exceeding

fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." —

Geti,^ xvii. However this may be, the change of form in no wise aflFects its root

meaning, which is, to rule. It fits the personality of the bearer so well that those

antiquarians who look upon the ancient tales ^ relics merely and fragments of

defunct Semitic mythologies rely upon the coincidence of name and character as to

one of the supports of their hypothesis. They deny the

SARAH historical character of the patriotic stories. But even on their showing, the

ancient^ or, if I may use the term, the aboriginal, Hebrews show, in this process

transformation^ thb opposite tendency to all the surrounding tribeSi The latter

invariably elevated their ancestors to the rank of deities, seated them among the

gods, and instituted special rites of Worship to every one of them. But if the

mythologists are right, the Hebrews dethroned their idols, called them by human

names, and told of their doings and their mifedoings, their favor and their disfavor

in the eyes of Jehovah, with a coolness that proves that the narrator, at all events,

thought of no other beings than ancestors of flesh and blood. This is evidenced so

clearly by their astonish** ing power of characterization and individuali2ation.

Why, right here before us we have a picture which could not be drawn more

distinct*ly by the hand of an accomplished artist of today. By the side of Sarah,

with her domineering, unsparing, and unyielding ways— ^Abraham, a pattern of

gentleness, kindness, forbtarancri, a man possessed of that quality which the

Germans >3

WOME OF THE BIBLE call Menschenfreundlichkeit This character is so

uniformly shown by the patriarch that one is forced to the conclusion that the long

peace in the matrimonial tent was much more due to the male than the female side,

unless, indeed, we believe in Shiller's statement :

"Denn wo das Strenge mit dem Weichen Sich vereint zum guten Zeichen, Da giebt

es einen guten Klang." But, to be just, let us not forget that Sarah wielded a sceptre

by the magic of which she could lord it over men's hearts after her own will, even

bring kings to her feet. If she came into the world with a will of her own as her

dowry, nature further assisted her in developing it by the great beauty of her face

and the grace of her stature. By these gifts she made her wish a command and

disarmed opposition. The Scripture repeatedly calls her beautiful — so beautiful,

indeed, that she sometimes imperilled the life of her husband. Hebrew folk-lore,

echoes of which reach our ear in the rabbinical glosses to the sacred text, have kept

alive some

SARAH of the stories that were told ofy a pagan woman from the Canaanites,

among whom the patriarch has his home. Race and religious feeling combine to

make such a marriage abhorrent to him. So he calls to him his faithful servant

Eliezer and bids him go back to the land from which Abraham has migrated, and

there from Abraham's country find a wife for his son. Eliezer starts with

unmistakable misgivings on this delicate mission of vicarious 41

WOME OF THE BIBLE courtship, taking with him presents to serve both as a

pledge of his good faith and as a means of invitation to the maiden whom he may

select. As he draws near to the city of ahor, where his errand is to be consummated,

his perplexity increases. He hits upon an ingenious expedient to serve as a test of

woman's character. In the Orient it was the function of women to come out from

the city to the well, draw the water for domestic purposes, and bear it back to the

city upon their heads. Eliezer resolves that as these maidens come out in the

evening from the city to perform this service he will ask for a drink of water. Any

maiden would readily grant such a request. But if any maiden does more, and of

her own free will draws for his camels also, she shall be his choice. The camel is a

great drinker. To draw for ten is no easy task. She who would undertake it must

needs have good health as well as boundless good-nature. He submits this test to the

God of Abraham in a very simple prayer. " Let it come to pass," he says, " that the

damsel to whom I shall say. Let down thy pitcher, I pray 42

REBEKAH thee, that I may drink ; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy

camels drink also: let the same be her that thou hast appointed for thy servant

Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master."

Even while he is offering his prayer Rebekah comes out, goes down the hewn steps

to the well or cistern, fills her pitcher, and comes up again. She is fair to look upon,

and Eliezer goes forward and prefers his request for a drink of water. She answers

in almost the very terms of his petition. " Drink," she said, " and I will draw water

for thy camels also, until they have done drinking." How he followed the clew thus

put into his hands, asked for the hospitality of her home, was welconied to it, came

under her father's roof, but refused even to eat a meal until he had disclosed his

errand, narrated the test which he had framed in his own mind, and the manner in

which Rebekah had met it, and fulfilled his commission by offering the hand of his

master's son in marriage, need not be narrated here in greater detail. To the father

and mother the whole matter 43

WOME OF THE BIBLE seems clearly to have proceeded from Jehovah.

They give their consent, but they will not determine the issue of this maiden's life

for herself. " We cannot," they say, " speak unto thee bad or good. Behold,

Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as

Jehovah hath spoken." He brings out the jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and the

bridal raiment, to plead for him and for his master's son. His mission is so

successful that Rebekah, overruling the urgency of the parents that she wait at least

ten days before she leaves her home forever, declares her decision to go at once,

and starts immediately upon her homeward journey. Her meeting with the

husband who has thus been chosen for her cannot be so well told as in the simple

narrative of Scripture : ** And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the

eventide : and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.

And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.

For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to

meet us ? And the servant had said, It is my master : therefore she took a vail and

covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. And

Isaac 44

REBEKAH brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she

became his wife; and he loved her:

and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." In this first scene the best

qualities of Rebekah show themselves. She is full of eager life; glad to render

service to an utter stranger; joyously goes beyond his request in a serviqe which

involves no inconsiderable toil ; welcome;5 him with pleasurable hospitality,

though she is wholly ignorant of his purpose; is captivated by the frank, simple,

and sincere spirit of her unknown lover's representative, not less than by the

generous gifts which in that lover's name he bestows upon her; is led with that

trusting disposition, which is one of the most captivating characteristics of the true

woman, to put her future destiny in the keeping of one of whom she knows nothing

save what his ambassador has told her; and when the time of meeting with her

future husband comes, modestly veils her beauty from his gaze until she has come

into the tent of his mother — become as it were a part of the new household, and so

may decorously unveil herself. This life is full of promise; 45

WOME OF THE BIBLE and if the appeal to her ambition, made by the bracelets

and the ear-rings, the jewels of silver and the jewels of gold, is not without its

influence, yet it would be unjust to affirm that in this incident there is anything

derogatory to the

simplicity and the beauty of her character. The next incident in her married life is

the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob, thirty years after the courtship and

marriage. But during those thirty years, anxious as was the patriarch of olden time

not to die childless, accustomed as he was to think that the childless wife was under

some curse of the Almighty, Isaac's love for his wife and his confidence in her never

seem to have lessened. In an age of almost universal polygamy, he took no second

wife; and if this speaks much for him, it certainly also speaks much for her. Little

as there is told of Isaac's domestic life, there is enough to indicate that husband and

wife lived bound together by the bonds of a mutual affection, which did not lessen

with advancing years. Happy the husband and wife who know how to grow old

together with a love which is immortally young! 46

J

REBEKAH The Scripture phrase "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob " is

more significant than the casual reader is apt to think it. Jehovah was the God of

Abraham, the mystic man of

visions, who left his country and his kinsfolk to find freedom to worship an

unknown God in some purer and better form than any known in the land of his

nativity. He was the God of Isaac, the commonplace man, who never had a vision,

who fought no great battles, who wrought no great achievements, the whole history

of whose life is that he was an honest farmer, living in friendly and peaceable

relations with neighbors with whom to live peaceably was a difficult art, and

faithful to one wife in an age when a moderate harem was the wellnigh universal

rule. And he was the God of Jacob, who began his life by a hard bargain with his

brother, followed it up by cheating his blind old father, made his first prayer a

contract with Jehovah to serve him for good wages, and only through the discipline

of great sorrow — sorrow through children that were unfaithful to him, sorrow

through poverty, which was very hard for such 47

WOME OF THE BIBLE a one as he to bear, and sorrow through exile from his

native land — came to sainthood. The third scene in Rebekah's life is the one which

indicates the defect in her character. By

the custom of the patriarchal age the elder comes into the rights and prerogatives

of the father. He is the priest and the king of the little household empire. But this

birthright is not absolute nor inalienable; for good reason the father may transfer

it to a younger son. When the twins were born it was intimated to Rebekah that

Jacob, the younger born, should become the head of the household. Perhaps his

quieter and less stormy character, perhaps this presage of his destiny, attached her

more strongly to Jacob than to Esau. Perhaps Esau's marriage to daughters who

wearied her life may have operated, as similar marriages have often operated, to

alienate her ajffections from him. It is certain that she was a partial mother. When

the impulsive Esau sold his birthright

because he was too impatient in his hunger to wait the little time necessary to

prepare a meal, we may well believe that the mother applauded 48

REBEKAH the bargaining shrewdness of her favorite son in seizing the

opportunity afforded to him, and winning the consent of the careless Esau that the

father should take from him the headship of the family and give it to Jacob. either,

however, the prophecy of Jehovah nor the bargaining of Jacob satisfied her eager

ambition. She resolved to help Providence to accomplish his purpose. But if Jacob

was Rebekah's favorite son, it is not difficult to read between the lines the fact that

Esau was Isaac's favorite son. Isaac has grown old, feeble, and blind. He calls Esau,

and intimates that the time has come to give to him, officially, that blessing which

carries with it the recognition of his headship, the ratification of his birthright. In

the Orient a meal taken together is a common symbol of a sacred pledge. Isaac bids

Esau take his bow and arrow, go out into the fields, hunt for game, bring in the

result of his hunting, and make a savory meal. Of this the two will partake

together,

and in this hour of sacred fellowship the father will bestow upon the son his rank

and place. D 49

WOME OF THE BIBLE The mother overhears. Jacob's bargain, then, is to be set

aside ; Jehovah's pledge is not to be fulfilled; her hopes are to be dashed to the

ground ; her favorite son is to be displaced ; and this impetuous hunter, not fitted

to be the head of the household, is to be made so despite the prophecy by what she

regards as her husband's wilful favoritism. She will thwart her husband's purpose

by her cunning. While Esau goes out to hunt, she bids Jacob go to the neighboring

flock, fetch two kids, which she will so dress that they will pass with her husband

for venison. Then he, not Esau, shall share with the father in this pledge-giving

meal ; he, not Esau, shall receive the blessing and the birthright. Jacob has no

conscience against the deception, but he is cautious ; he lets " I dare not " wait

upon " I would." My father, he says, may be suspicious ; my brother is a hairy

man, and I a smooth one ; if he feels my hands and discovers the deception he will

curse me, not bless me. The mother will, take the risk of that ; her plans are all

prepared ; and the willing, but not strong, son follows the counsels of the braver 50

REBEKAH but treacherous mother. He brings in the kids, puts on enough of the

skin upon his hands and upon his neck to serve the purposes of deception, succeeds

in the device, and before Esau has gotten back from his hunt has shared in the

pledge-giving meal with his father, and received from his father the blessing which

serves in lieu of a will and makes him head of the household. It is not necessary

here to trace the results of this treachery — how it exiled Jacob from his home, and

how the penalty of the folly came in later life in the deceit, treachery, and cruelty of

his own sons. Suffice it here to point out the fact that if Rebekah hoped by this

device to secure for herself any advantage in making her favorite son head of the

household while she lived, she was wholly disappointed in her expectations.

Alarmed at the not unnatural threats of the angry Esau, and directed by both his

parents to seek a wife from their kindred, Jacob had hardly received his father's

blessing before he left his home, and apparently the mother never saw him again.

And here the fragmentary story of Rebekah 's life ends. Of 51

WOME OF THE BIBLE

her subsequent history, and even of her death, we know nothing; only from Jacob's

farewell address to his sons upon his death-bed we know that his mother was

buried in what I may call the family burying-ground, with Abraham and Sarah,

the father and mother in law, and with Isaac, her husband. I cannot but believe

that this last honor was paid to the too partial mother by the repentant son. " That

as Isaac and Rebekah lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely

perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them," These words from the

marriage service of the Book of Common Prayer are Rebekah's noblest

monuments- Despite her defects of character, despite her unjustifiable, yet not

wholly inexplicable, favoritism, and her treacherous, yet not wholly inexplicable,

intervention for her favorite son, this woman, so little heroine, has remained for

thirty -five centuries honored wherever the Bible is known, not for great

prophecies, great statesmanship, great military achievements, or great public

service of any kind; not because she was a saint, too high for temptation to attack

52

REBEKAH or too strong to succumb to it; but because in an age when the home, as

we understand it, was scarcely known she was a faithful wife, and, at least this we

may believe, in the main a faithful mother. By the side of Deborah the warrior,

Huldah the prophetess, Vashti the queen, is included in Hebrew literature the name

of Rebekah the wife.

9. SARAH AND HAGAR by ASHTON

In pursuance of the plan which he had devised for the redemption of the race of

man, God appeared to Abraham, the son of Terah, in a city called TJr, in Chaldea,

and directed him to leave his country, and dwell in the land of Canaan. Among the

nations, perhaps the Chaldeans had departed less from the simplicity of a true faith

and worship than many others ; but they were still idolaters, and Ur, as appears

from recent discoveries, was their sacred city. It is not necessary that we should

dwell upon the familiar details of Abraham's separation from his country and

kindred. Suf&ce it, that the object of his being thus separated by God was, that

through his faith and obedience, through his instructions to his family, and through

the seed afterward promised, the knowledge and worship of the only true God

should be gradually disseminated. Abraham obeyed the command of Jehovah, and

was accompanied in his wanderings by the wife

32 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE of his youth ; henceforth the partner of his

exile^ and a helpmeet in his cares. They had spent hardly a year in Canaan, when a

famine compelled them to repair to Egypt, where they remained three months.

Sarah was a very beautiful woman, and Abraham knew that she would be

peculiarly attractive to the Egyptians, because so much more fair than their

swarthy countrywomen ; and the account of his deception in calling her his sister,

with the consequent trouble, stands on the sacred page, a beacon against the folly of

distrust-

ing God, and resorting to prevarication. The beauty of the fair Chaldean was soon

in every mouth, and Sarah was taken from her supposed brother to the king's

household, to go through the preliminary ceremonies and purifications which were

requisite to her becoming his wife, and which usually occupied about a month.

What Abraham suffered during this interval, and what were her own trials, we can

only imagine. of\\ing is said of the prayers which the patriarch must have offered to

God ; nothing recorded of the anguish and tears of the wife, who had taken, as she

believed, a final leave of her hursband, and was

SARAH A D HAGAR. 33 destined to the honor of being a favorite of Egypt's

monarch. The trial was severe. God, however, interposed to save them from their

fears. His judgments caused Pharaoh to inquire into the truth, and to restore Sarah

before the month of preparation was ended. He dismissed them from his dominions

without injury, but not without severe rebuke, and they returned to Canaan. Ten

years passed away, during which time Sarah's name is not mentioned. They had no

chikh^en, but it must not be inferred that, because she had not a mother's cares,

she was therefore unoccupied. It is recorded that at one time Abraham went out to

fight against the Assyrian king with more than three hundred trained servants.

These were all born in his house, the sacred v>^riter informs us, and were capable

of bearing arms. If we add to these those who must have remained in charge of the

flocks and herds, and the women and children, we may, perhaps, form some idea of

the family over which Sarah

presided as mistress. The phrase '' trained servants" signifies catechised, or

mstructed. We know that wherever Abraham pitched his tent, as

M THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. he removed from place to place, lie erected

an altar, and in the midst of his assembled family offered sacrifices to God. "I

know him," said the Lord, "that he will command his children and his household

after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." That Sarah was a faithful wife,

a prudent and discreet housekeeper, and willing to aid her husband in this

important work of training his household to serve God, we have no reason to

doubt. That she " labored, working with her own hands," or strictly superintended

the labor of her servants, we infer from the fact that when strangers were to be

entertained Abraham calls upon her to prepare the needed food. We think of her as

the energetic, active head of a large and well-ordered family, and God doubtless

aided and qualified her for the station she occupied. Soon after their return from

Egypt, God had appeared again to Abraham, and renewed his covenant with him,

assuring him that the land of Canaan should be given to his posterity, who should

be as the sands of the sea-shore, innumerable. But the years rolled by, and there

was no

SARAH A D HAGAR. 3o sign of the fulfilment of this promise. Sarah, who seems

not to have possessed the unshaken

faith which characterized her husband, despairing of herself becoming a mother,

resorted at length to an expedient which is revolting to us, and which proved

disastrous to the peace of all concerned in it. The laws and customs of the land

countenanced polygamy, and Abraham, in compliance with Sarah's wishes, took

Hagar, her bond- woman, 'for a secondary wife, in hope of gaining the long-desired

blessing. Hagar was an Egyptian, and had probably become one of their family

during their sojourn in her native land. She seems to have been a favorite servant,

and was certainly honored in being selected as the object of her master's regards.

The desired end was obtained. Hagar soon had the prospect of becoming a mother.

But the happiness which Sarah anticipated did not follow. As might have been

foreseen, her own jealous feelings were roused, and Hagar soon manifested the

vanity and insolence which her situation, now so superior to that of her mistress,.

naturally called forth. She manifested her contempt in a manner so

36 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. marked that Sarah's indignation could not

be controlled ; but, instead of blaming only herself, she reproached her husband.

She insinuated that liagar stood too high in his estimation, and called upon God to

witness that she was wronged. The most serious unhappiness now reigned in this

hitherto quiet family. Abraham might have re monstrated with Sarah, or

reproached her in turn , he might have claimed the right to protect Hagar as his

wife ; but the dignity and 'excellence of his character appear in his answer : " Thy

maid is in thine hand ; do to her as it pleaseth thee." '* Sarah affhcted her."

Whether it is intended

that she inflicted personal chastisement upon her, as some commentators affirm, or

whether the affliction consisted of bitter wordSj which to a sensitive spirit are

worse than blows, w^e cannot decide. Whatever was done was sufficient to drive

Hagar, in desperation, from her presence. She fled hastily to go to Egypt, her native

land, but sunk exhausted, friendless, and ready to perish, by a fountain in the

wilderness of Shur. Most beautifal is the description which follows the account of

her flight, and wonderfully does it

BARAII A D HAGAR. 37 show the tender mercy of God toward those who are in

trouble. An angel of the Lord seeks her in her woe. He, without whose notice the

sparrow cannot fall, is not unmindful of helpless, suffering woman. "And he said,

Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou ? and wdiither wilt thou go?" He does

not call her Abraham's wife. It is not his part to increase her pride, and aggravate

her discontent. He reminds her of her true condition, and calls up entirely different

thoughts from those which she has been indulging. Those simple questions startle

her from the tumultuous emotions of rebellion and presumption. Whence had she

come ? From a happy, loving home, where she had been the f\ivorite of an

indulgent and gentle mistress ; a home wdiich would speedily be yet dearer to her

as the birth-place of her child, — that child who was to be the {^upposed heir to

her master and all his sainted privileges ; from friends, from companions, all whom

she loved ; and she had left them ! and wdiither ^vas she going ? How might she

answer, when she knew not ? How idle and impotent now seemed her previous

feelings !

4

38 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. Those questions had flashed light on her

darkened heart, and humbled her at once ; and simply and truthfully she

answered, *'I flee from the presence of my mistress Sarai." The angel, who was no

other than the glorious Messenger of the Covenant, directed her to return and

submit herself to her mistress, and then, to comfort her, and enable her to bear her

lot, unfolded the future. He told her she would bear a son, and bade her call him

Ishmael. This is the first name given by God to any man before his birth. It

signifies, " The Lord hath heard, or will hear," and would always remind her of his

interposition in her behalf. " Because," said he, " the Lord hath heard thy

affliction." He does not say, hath heard thy prayer, nor does it appear that she

offered any. Has the ajjlidion of his creatures such a voice that it thus reaches the

Almighty ear ? Do the woes of the humblest, the poor bond-woman, call to her aid

the AngelJehovah unsought? 0, what a view into the heart of infinite love do these

few words afford ' He then utters that remarkable, prophetic description of the

descendants of Ishmael, concerning

SARAH A D PI A GAR. 39 which Dr. Adam Clarke says, ''It furnishes an absolute

demonstrative argument of the divine origin of the Pentateuch. To attempt its

refutation, in the sight of reason and common sense,

would convict of most ridiculous presumption and excessive folly." " He shall be a

wild man ; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand shall be

against him ; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." " We have only

to turn to the page of history to see how apposite this character has been in all ages

to the Arab race, the descendants of Ishmael. They have occupied the same

country, and followed the same mode of life, from the days of their great ancestor

down to the present time ; and range the wide extent of burning sands which

separate them from all surrounding nations, as rude, as savage, and as untractable,

as the wild ass himself." " Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their

work betimes for a prey : the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their

children." We have not time to dwell upon all the beauties of this wonderful

prophecy, but beg our readers not to bo satisfied by merely reading it in their

Bibles. If

40 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. they will study it thoroughly in the light

which its fulfilment during four thousand years affords, they will be amply repaid

for the labor. Whether Hagar had imbibed the faith of Abraham and Sarah in the

true God, or whether her heart still clung to the idols of her early home, we do not

know. When she cast herself, trembling and fainting, upon the ground by the

wellside in the wilderness, she probably thought not of turning to either for aid.

Weary and sick in body, and tempest-tost on a sea of conflicting passions, she

thought only of her wretchedness, and scarcely hoped for deliverance. ow how

changed ! Refreshed, comforted, blessed, she

rises Avith humility and joy in her heart, and expressions of devout gratitude on

her lips, and prepares to retrace her steps. She could no longer doubt the existence

and infinite kindness of Abraham's God. When she had thought herself alone, he

was near, a witness to all her grief. When her master, whom she so much loved, the

father of her child, had with seeming indiiference given her up to her mistress, and

that misfcress had dealt hardly with her, and she felt she had

SARAH A D HAGAR. 41 not a friend on earth, he had befriended her, had spoken

words of kindness, and promised her great and wonderful blessings. She had seen

him, she had heard his voice. Awe-struck, and wondering that she still liv^d after

having seen Jehovah, she turned from the spot, which from that day was called "

The well of the angel of life, who appeared there." Hagar returned to her home, as

she had been directed, but whether she Avent to peace or further affliction is not

disclosed. We infer, however, that her own altered deportment, and the birth of her

child, which occurred soon after, put an end for the time to the bitter troubles

caused by Sarah's unhappy expedient. Abraham was extremely fond of his son, and

Sarah regarded him as her own ; and doubtless the mother's heart rejoiced in

seeing the boy an object of such care. He was exalted far above herself in station ;

but she was his mother, and permitted to perform toward him a mother's part, and

to feel all a mother's happiness in his unfolding powers. early thirteen years passed

quietly on,

bringing with them no events of sufficient import A* z

42 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. ance to be noticed by the inspired penman. o

further revelation from God disturbed the delusion under which Abram and Sarah

labored, that Ishmael was the promised seed, the heir of the covenant; and he was

doubtless trained up in his father's house in a manner suitable to his future

expectations. The time, however, a,t length came when Jehovah would more fully

unfold his plans. Abram had nearly reached the age of a hundred years, and Sarah

was almost ninety, when he once more appeared, and said, " I am Grod all-

suificient ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." This language seems to convey a

reproof for their want of faith in his promises, nnd resorting to expedients of their

own devising, and bids them henceforth act with more simplicity, and leave God to

bring about his designs in his own way. He then entered into a solemn covenant

with Abram, in which he included all his posterity to the latest generation. He also

changed their names. Abram, which signifies " an eminent father," he called

Abraham, '' an eminent father of a multitude ; " and Sarai, '* my princess," or, as

we more familiarly say.

SARAH A D HA GAR. 43 queen of her own household, he called Sarah,

" princess of a multitude ; " and then for the first time announced that the

promised seed should descend from her : ''I will give thee a son also of her ; " " she

shall he a mother of nations." ot long after this, the Lord again reiterates his

promise, in an interview which is beautifully described in the sacred volume. In the

delightful oak-grove of Mamre, in the midst of a sultry summer day, the patriarch

sat at the door of his tent, enjoying the slight breeze, and resting from toil, which

the intense heat of the Eastern climate forbids during certain hours. All around, at

short distances, were the tents of his numerous dependants, their occupants

reposing like himself, or scattered abroad with the flocks and herds. All was quiet

and peaceful, until the sound of coming footsteps disturbed his meditations, and

warned him of the approach of strangers. Abraham, obeying the quick impulse of

hospitality, hastened to greet them, and invite them to repose under the grateful

shade, and offer them the refreshments they needed. He provided water for their

feet, and, entering the

44 THE MOTHERS OP THE BIBLE. tent, directed Sarah to prepare food and set

before thein ; wliicli being done, he served them himself, according to the custom of

his time. Yfhile they sat eating, the chief of them suddenly asked him, " Where is

Sarah, thy wife ? '* It was an extraordinary question. The women of the East live in

the closest seclusion, having no intercourse with strangers, nor with any of the

opposite sex, save their husbands, and with them they are never permitted to sit at

the same table.

A traveller remarks that one who should ask another of the health of his wife and

family would be considered as offering him a downright insult. The question must,

therefore, have greatly surprised Abraham. He answered, briefly, that Sarah was

in the tent. *' I will certainly return unto thee," continued his mysterious, though

now no longer unknown visitor, '' and, lo, Sarah thy w^ife shall have a son." Their

table was spread at no great distance from the tentdoor, and Sarah, in her private

apartment, was an astonished listener to this strange conversation. We have before

said that she did not partake of her husband's implicit faith. When she heard the

SARAH A D HAGAR. 45 announcement that she should bear a sol^ it was to her

only ridiculous. The infinite power of hini who promised she wholly overlooked,

and remembered only that she had long passed the age when maternity was

possible, in the ordinary course of events. She laughed incredulously at what she

heard. Omniscience pierces any barrier. '* Wherefore did Sarah laugh ? " said he.

'' Is anything too hard for the Lord ? " Terrified at being detected, Sarah now

came forth from the tent, and, in her fear and confusion, '* denied, saying, I

laughed not." One penetrating look, and the quiet, firm reply, '' ay, but thou didst

laugh," were sufficient to send her back to her retirement in penitence, a wiser and

a better woman. From this time her character seems to have undergone a change.

Her distrust of God was gone, and Paul, in days long after, numbers her among

those who were illustrious for their faith, attributing the birth of Isaac to her

implicit reliance on the word of the Almighty : " She judged

him faithful who had promised, and received strength." ot long after this,

Abraham removed from

46 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. Mamre, where he had long resided, and

went to dwell in Gemh, the capital of the Philistines. Here was reenacted the same

folly which had formerly cost them so much in Egypt, and which it is most

marvellous to us should have ever been forgotten. Sarah was again taken by a

heathen king, and only restored to her husband by the intervention of Jehovah. She

was at this time ninety years of age, yet so remarkable was her beauty that she was

as much an object of attraction as in her youthful days, and Abimelech, after

reproving Abraham for his deception, hinted to her, that it would be becoming in

her to wear, wdien among strangers, a closely-covering veil, such as was universally

customary among females resident in towns, in order to avoid the dangers to which

her beauty exposed her. So far as we can gather from the sacred volume, Sarah was

at this very time pregnant, by the miraculous power of Jehovah, which renders the

whole scene still more remarkable. Whether they remained long in Gerah, we ave

not informed, nor where Isaac was born. But the joyful d>V came at length. *'

After a childless

SARAH A D HAGAR. 47 nnion of more than sixty years," Abraliam and

Sarah welcomed with delight the heir of the promises, the covenanted gift of

Jehovah. They called him Isaac. " There shall be laughter; " " All that hear will

laugh with me," said Sarah; and, indeed, few events, if any, recorded on the sacred

page, were welcomed with so much rejoicing. early three years, according to the

custom of her nation, Sarah nourished her infant at her own breast ; and only a

mother can imagine her heartfelt happiness and gratitude during that delightful

time. "And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the

same day that Isaac was weaned." It was a bright, joyous day ; friends were

congregated, tables of abundance were spread, congratulations were poured forth ;

while the unconsciou'S object of all, the pride and joy of fond parents, the hope of

generations to come, pursued his childish sports, and expressed his childish wonder

at the scene. But, like many sunny mornings of earth, it was to be overhung with

clouds, its joy to be dampened by deep sorrow. Two hearts were there which no

gladness

48 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. visited, and in which no good feelings were

cherished. Ishmael and his mother were envious and discontented witnesses of all

that occurred. The happiness of others was their sorrow, the fulfilment of hope to

Abraham and Sarah was their bitter disappointment ; and they manifested their

dissatisfaction. Hagar, probably, by pouring out her thoughts to her son, and he by

ridiculing and speaking contemptuously of Isaac. Sarah saw and heard, and all that

was to come in the future — the discord and wrangling, the endless

disputes and heart-burnings, the evil and perhaps malicious influence over her

precious child — ¦ flashed instantly upon her mind, and, urged by an impulse too

strong to be resisted, she sought her husband, and demanded that Hagar should be

divorced, and Ishmael disinherited. It was a grievous request to Abraham. Ishmael

was his own son, his first-born and first-beloved ; and toward Hagar he felt the

tenderness of a father for the mother of his child. He appears to have appealed to

God, who bade him do as Sarah had said, for Isaac was to be his only heir ; but, at

the f?an.e time, soothed his grief, and allayed his anx-

SARAH A D HAGAR. 49 iefcies, by promising tliat Isbmael, for his sake, should be

abundantly prospered and blessed. Early on the morning which followed the

weaning feast, Abraham arose to execute his sorrowful task. Calling Hagar, he

gave her the necessary directions for her future course, placed on her shoulder a

leathern bottle of water, and bread sufficient for their present wants, and then,

putting Ishmael's hand in hers, he bade them a final farewell, and sent them on

their way. Wonderful, indeed, was the faith and obedience Qf Abraham ! The

wanderers bent their steps toward the uninhabited region beyond Beersheba,

Hagar probably intending, as before, to go to Egypt. She was unhappy then, but

more miserable now, and yet deeper trouble awaited her. The water was soon gone,

and Ishmael, overcome with fatigue and thirst, was unable to proceed ; and when

she saw him lying helpless, and apparently about to

die, in her anguish she left him, that she might not witness the closing of eyes so

dear, forever. Did she now call to mind her former deliverance ? Did the name of

her son recall the scene at tha

60 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. *'well of the angel of life," and induce her

again to seek his aid ? We do not know. But whether she called or not, that blessed

angel was near her now, as before. Once more his heavenly voice addressed her : ''

What aileth thee, Ilagar? Fear not ; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where

he is." JX* -U* -U* •itf •91* •ft* "TV* 'fP "TT "TP She was relieved and her child

restored. Blessed and comforted by the promises of God, sh^ went on her way.

Ishmael was at this time sixteen years of age ; and though, as we read the account,

we feel that it was cruel to send him forth from the luxuries and privileges of his

father's house, to provide for himself, it was not so in fact. The younger sons of a

family were generally thus sent to seek their fortunes. lie chose for his home a spot

uninhabited and wild, the resort of many animals proper for food, and by the use

of his bow he was able amply to supply his own and his mother's wants, and was

soon, as had been promised, a prosperous man. Hagar, we are told, took him a wife

from her native land, and fr^m him descended a race not

SARAH A D HAGAil. 51 less remarkable than the Israelites themselves. The

faithfalness of Abraham has had its reward not alone in the blessings bestowed on

the chosen seed. After the departure of Hagar and Ishmael little is recorded

concerning the family of Abraham. They dwelt at Beersheba, and, so far as we

know, their life passed quietly. Of Sarah's character as a mother we earnestly wish

to know more than we are told. ot a word is said of her instructions to her

cherished son, and we can only gather the proof of her faithfulness from the

excellent character of Isaac. We know that daily lessons of obedience to his parents

were instilled into his young mind, for he hesitated not to follow his father,

unquestioned, to the Mount of Moriah, and to do his bidding to the utmost. And in

later years, he with the same spirit acceded to his father's wishes in respect to the

most important interests of his life, receiving even his wife from his hands,

apparently without the slightest disposition to select for himself the partner of his

life, after his father had desired to do it for him. We know that the most

unwavering confidence in God

52 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. had been wrought into his whole life, for he

submitted without shrinking to be bound and laid upon the altar of sacrifice at the

divine command, manifesting a faith sc:ircely inferior to that of Abraham himself.

We know that a mother's untiring, devoted love, had been his daily blessing, and

had linked his heart to hers in ties which

might not be sundered without deepest anguish, for he knew no comfort after her

death, till three years had fled, and Rebecca w^as given to cheer his solitude. We

are certain that a holy example, the sacred influence of daily prayer, the habitual

prominence given to sacred and divine realities, and frequent instructions

concerning his obligations to honor his father's God, trained this child of the

covenant to fill the place assigned him in the mighty plan of grace. Many years he

enjoyed his mother's care and counsels ; he seems to have been her constant

companion, and from that companionship he gained a gentleness and loveliness of

character, very remarkable in a man. The strongest earthly ties are frail when

death appears. Sarah's death and the circumstances

SARAH A D HAGAR. 53 of her burial are touchingly desciibed in the sacred

volume, and it is worthy of notice, that she is the only woman to whom such honor

is given. Abraham was a stranger and sojourner in the land of Canaan, and had

hitherto owned not a foot of the land promised to his descendants, nor had he

needed such possession. Cared for by God, and surrounded by those he loved,

every place was home. But now, death had removed the light of his eyes, the fond

companion of his days. early a century had she shared his every joy and sorrow,

and cheered his pilgrim lot. But now she would no longer gladden his tent, nor

accompany him in his wanderings. She had daily bowed with him, through those

long years, in sincere and humble worship of the living

God, and their united faith had drawn from him wonderful, even miraculous

blessings. But now her familiar form would appear no more at the sacred altar, nor

her confidence in the Almighty strengthen his own. He had loved her in their early

days, when she was the pride and joy of his Chaldean home, but she was far dearer

to him When he looked upon her, after nearly a century 5*

54 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. had passed over her head, with beauty

unimpanned, her youth renewed by the kindness of God, folding to her mother's

breast the longdesired and most precious son of promise. "A babe in a house is not

merely a well-spring of pleasure," and " a messenger of peace and love," but

infancy and childhood ever bring with them freshening and revivifying influences.

Abraliam had felt their influences himself, and seen their effect on Sarah, and we

can well believe that their evening-time had been brighter than the mornmg. But

she was gone, and the question came, '* where should he lay, for their last repose,

the remains of his beloved and faithful wife ?" ot in the burying-places of the

idolaters ! He could not endure the thought. lie purchased the cave of Machpelah,

and, with weeping and mourning, buried his dead out of his sight. Around that

grave of Sarah how many sacred associations linger. There, when years had passed,

Isaac and Ishmael met, for the flrst time, perhaps, since the weaning feast, to lay

their honored father by her side. *' There they buried Isaac and Kebec^va his wife;

there Jacob buried

SAKAH A D HAGAR. 65 Leali," and thither went up from Egypt the *' chariots

and horsemen, a very great company," v;ho, with Joseph, bore the body of Jacob

also to the same quiet resting-place. Upon the hills of that beautiful region the

mighty -Anakims dwelt, and from thence, more than four hundred jewcv after,

when the descendants of Abraham were returning from bondage, the spies sent by

Moses brought back the evil report which resulted in the many wanderings of the

wilderness. On that spot stood one of the most ancient cities of the world — the

possession of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, where the tribes received their

inheritance, and later, a city of refuge, and assigned to the Levites. There David

held his court seven years, and there Absalom raised the standard of revolt. And

when centuries had rolled away, when the long-expected Messiah was at hand, to

that sacred " city in the hill-country of Judah, went, in haste, '^ the most highly

favored among women, the virgin mother of Jesus, to exchange congratulations

with her only less favored cousin, and to pour forth her song of exultation and

triumph. The spot on which Abraham and Sarah dwelt so lone^,

56 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. and where their bones reposed, where the

Almighty had reiterated his solemn promises, — ¦ thousands of years after,

witnessed Mary's joy, and echoed her song of gratitude to him whose word abidtth

forever, for the fulfihnent of those very assurances. " My soul doth magnify the

Lord ; he hath holpen his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy ; as he spake

to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.'' A multitude of reflections crowd

upon us as we draw to a close our account of Sarah and Hagar, to which we can do

no justice. Indeed, we feel that we have given a meagre transcript of our own

thoughts while studying this deeply interesting history. We earnestly request those

who have read these pages, not to rest for a moment satisfied, but to take the sacred

book, and, asking light from above, give themselves to the work of gaining all the

instruction it affords upon this theme. We assure them that encouragement,

strength, and blessing will be their reward. Especially, they shall gain delightful

views of the character of Jehovah, and be able to sing as never before, ^' Exalt the

Lord our God."

SARAH A D HAGAR. 57 *'Praise ye the Lord, for his mercy endure th forever."

Sarah, notwithstanding her dignified station, her wonderful beauty and noble

character, was still an imperfect woman ; yet how kindly was she dealt with ; what

honor has God put upon her. She consented to prevarication and deceit with her

husband, but the evil consequences which they deserved were once and again

prevented by divine interposition. She laughed incredulously at his gracious words

of promise, and then denied her fault. Yet, in consideration of her '' fear and

amazement," she was not severely reproved, the blessing was not withheld, nor was

her fault noticed to the exclusion of what

was otherwise good in her conduct, for, by the mouth of Peter, God afterward

commends hei reverence for her husband, manifested at that very time. She was

faithless, and jealous, and angry in her dealings with Hagar, yet the Almighty did

not take his favor from her, while he suffered her to reap the bitter fruit of her

folly. As a mother, how remarkable is his kindness to her. " She was ninety years of

age when IsaMO

58 THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE. was born. In the course of nature ten or

twelve years would have closed her mortal caieer, or rendered it, from the

infirmities of age, a burden to herself and all around her. There was apparently no

need of her preservation to forward the decrees of the Lord. In giving birth to the

child of promise, her part was fulfilled, and at the age of ten or twelve the boy

might have done without her. But God is love, and the affections of his children are,

in their strength and purity, peculiarly acceptable to him. He never bestoweth

happiness to withdraw it ; and therefore, to perfect the felicity of Sarah and her

child, his tenderness preserved her in life and vigor seven and thirty years after she

had given him birth. The trial of faith, also, in the sacrifice of his son, was given to

the father. He demanded not from her what he knew the mother could not bear."

Strikingly, too, is the loving-kindness of God manifested in Hagar's history. She

was not of the chosen race ; she was but a humble bondwoman, and very faulty in

character, yet he took cognizance of her woes, and twice came in his own glorious

person to her aid, and bestowed upon her rich and abundant blessings. Would that,

amid our many cares, anxieties, and sorrows, we could ever bear in mind the love

of him who wove the ties by which our hearts are bound to our children, whose

tenderness and sympathy are never-failing, who says to every one of his redeemed

children, '' Can a mother forget her child ? Yea, they may, yet will I not forget

thee."

10. SARAH BY FRANCIS COX

At a very advanced period of life, and in obedience to a divine injunction, Abraham

went out from his country and his father's house, "not knowing whither he went."

By this cheerful, prompt, and pious submission to the mysterious will of Heaven, he

has acquired a high distinction in the sacred records, and presents a noble example

for the imitation of all future ages. Here was no debate between a sense of duty and

an inclination to sin--no disposition to question the wisdom or the goodness of the

command--no effort to devise expedients for the purpose of procuring delay--and

no unholy apprehensions respecting the possible or probable consequences of such

a proceeding.

In this removal from Chaldea, the illustrious exile took with him his wife, his

nephew, "and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they

had gotten in Haran." Upon their arrival in Canaan, the divine declaration

respecting his future possession of the country was renewed, and he erected an

altar to the Lord in the plain of Moreh. The same act of devotion was performed at

the next stage of his journey, on a mountain to the east of Bethel; for no change of

place could obliterate his sense of religious obligation.

This land of promise was soon afflicted with a grievous famine, in consequence of

which, he was necessitated to provide for the subsistence of his family by removing

into Egypt. This was a new trial to his faith; for by what possible means could a

land at present so impoverished, become a place of plentiful subsistence to his

posterity, when multiplied as the sands upon the sea-shore? Driven even from this

promised inheritance, he did not, however, manifest a spirit of discontent or

unbelief, but hastened to seek a temporary asylum, convinced that he to whose

guidance he had committed himself and his beloved family, could, by the

outstretched arm of his power, not only overcome every obstacle which to human

ignorance might seem insurmountable; but by his concurrent wisdom render

difficulties themselves subservient to the accomplishment of his purposes.

Alas! on his entering Egypt he is seized with apprehension. The faith which had

hitherto been so conspicuous is mingled with distrust, and he engages his beloved

SARAH, who is now introduced to our notice, in an act of most unwarrantable

duplicity. The whole of this transaction is detailed with that perfect impartiality

which characterizes the histories of the Scriptures, and which furnishes one very

decisive evidence of their inspiration.

Sarah is represented as very beautiful. Her husband was aware that this

circumstance would attract the notice of the Egyptians, not only because of the

contrast her person would exhibit to the swarthy complexions of their women, but

on account of their licentious character. He dreaded their illicit attachment, and

the probable consequence that they might assassinate him in order to obtain his

wife. This idea of Egyptian morals was no doubt correct, but how deplorable! They

would not commit adultery; but for the sake of gratifying a guilty passion, were

ready to perpetrate the abominable sin of murder! And thus, under the strange

pretence of reverence for the matrimonial law, they would have violated at once the

dictates of humanity, the principles of reason, and the constitutions of heaven. So

common is it for transgressors to "strain at a knat and swallow a camel;" and so

uniform the course of guilt, which never walks alone, but draws with it a train of

complicated iniquities!

The preliminaries being settled, Abraham and his family entered Egypt. She was to

say, when any inquiries were made, that she was his sister, hoping by this artifice to

escape danger. This, it must be observed, was not a direct falsehood: it was such

only by implication. It was true that, according to the Jewish mode of reckoning,

Sarah was the sister of Abraham; but their intention in circulating this statement

was, to conceal the whole truth of her being his wife. Notwithstanding the ingenuity

which some learned men have displayed in attempting to vindicate this conduct, we

must without hesitation pronounce it base, mean, and prevaricating. The purpose

was to deceive, and it was the more censurable for being so deliberately

premeditated and so perseveringly practised. There are cases in which persons

have been overtaken in a fault, impelled by some momentary passion, excited by

some brilliant temptation, or betrayed by some unexpected coincidence of

circumstances, and of which they have deeply and almost immediately repented--a

situation which cannot but excite our pity, as well as our disapprobation; but this

was a transaction which it is impossible either to extenuate or justify. Let it be

improved as a motive for self-examination, and a beacon to warn us from similar

misconduct. "O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed, for I put my

trust in thee. Let INTEGRITY and UPRIGHTNESS preserve me, for I wait on

thee."

Prevarication of every kind partakes of the very essence of lying, being not only

subversive of social happiness, by preventing all confidential intercourse amongst

mankind, but diametrically opposed to the commands of God. Every species of

wilful deceit, as the use of ambiguities in language for the purpose of misleading;

the adoption of expressions which we know to be understood by another in a

different sense from what we really mean; mental reservations; a studied

suppression of part of the truth, as in the present example, is unworthy the

character of any person who professes to be an honest man, much more of one who

sustains the dignified character of a Christian. "Wherefore, putting away lying,

speak every man truth with his neighbour."

In theory, it seems an easy thing to adhere to truth; but it is too frequently found

difficult in practice. When motives of interest are balanced against motives of duty,

it is well if the former do not sometimes preponderate. Are we always careful to

state facts exactly as they exist; to avoid all false colouring; to swear even to our

own hurt? If so, we need not fear investigation, because nothing can be detected but

an honourable, undissembled mind.

When Adam disobeyed the divine commandment, and in consequence forfeited the

bliss of primeval paradise, he was seduced by his fair partner, who had already

listened to the wily suggestions of the serpent; but Abraham, so far from being

tempted by his wife, appears to have been the sole contriver of this disingenuous

artifice, and employed all his influence to induce her to transgress. In following him

from his original residence into Canaan, and subsequently to Egypt, she obeyed the

dictates of affection and of religion; but when she suffered herself to be persuaded

into a deceitful action, she sacrificed the purity of her conscience. It became her,

however painful the conflict, to resist the temptation; and, when the claims of

heaven were opposed to those of affection or human authority, to obey God rather

than man. It appears that we are not only in danger of being misled by those who

are our avowed enemies, or by the pernicious example of the multitude who do evil,

but the nearest and dearest relatives may become snares to our feet; and even

those, in whose piety and wisdom we should naturally confide, may, under the

influence of temporary delusion, incite us to do wrong. Our affections must not be

implicitly trusted. There is a point where submission to man becomes treason

against heaven. It were better to incur the displeasure even of the dearest friend

and tenderest relative, than of Him who possesses supreme authority over

conscience.

At the same time, let a woman, who thus ventures to disobey her husband, do it

with that caution which results solely from a conviction of paramount duty, and

from a well founded assurance that she is not mistaken. It is no trifling occasion

that will justify opposition to the will of him whom she is commanded to obey; and

if it be done in a proper spirit, it will be done with a degree of reluctance, and

under an overwhelming sense of necessity. Let the spirit of meekness be prevalent.

Nothing in the manner, in which unwelcome opposition is maintained, must

indicate a proud resistance, or an air of triumph. It must not be litigious, petulant,

unconciliating; but the importance of those principles which occasion the

difference, must be apparent in the temper of mind they produce. Thus, it will be

possible to maintain the rights of conscience, and not to violate the claims of duty:

the integrity of the heart will be indicated, not by words only, but by actions.--It is

natural to feel indignant against a conduct which we suspect to proceed from

improper motives, and a hostile spirit; but we extenuate even the mistakes of those

who differ most widely from ourselves, provided we have sufficient evidence that

their scruples result from conscientious feelings. While, therefore, in our

differences from others, we are careful not to be actuated by mere frivolous

pretences, we must be equally solicitous not to be deterred from showing a firm

consistence of conduct, lest we should incur the charge of an affected singularity.

The fact was such as Abraham had anticipated. Sarah was the object of universal

admiration. She attracted the attention even of Pharaoh's courtiers, who, with the

view of pleasing their master, recommended her to the king. Supposing she had

been the stranger's sister, she was taken into his house. Alas! what availed all this

timid policy! The very means which had been devised for the preservation of Sarah

from Egyptian licentiousness, nearly exposed her to all its dreaded consequences;

and Abraham was duped by his own craftiness. His wife was endangered, his

artifice detected, and the household of Pharaoh visited with divine chastisements on

her account. And, in addition to the pain which both he and his beloved partner

must have felt, from the consciousness of having acted wrong, they were dismissed

from the country. "And Pharaoh called Abraham, and said, What is this that thou

hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst

thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to me to wife: now, therefore,

behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men

concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had."

The beauty of Sarah was obviously the occasion of her committing, in concert with

her husband, the sin of equivocation, and of the misfortunes which attended their

Egyptian journey. If she had not been distinguished for a fair exterior, she would

have escaped the admiration of these strangers, and the difficulties which she and

Abraham afterwards encountered. Solomon pronounces beauty to be vain; and the

history of the world will show, that, in innumerable instances, as well as that of

Sarah, it has betrayed its fair possessor into many snares. Experience, however, in

this respect, does not seem to teach wisdom; for the wish to acquire the attraction

which beauty confers, seems to be no less prevalent in the present age, than it was

at the earliest period of the world. How many hours of the day, and how many days

of the wasted year, do some females devote to the improvement of their persons!

Impossible as it has ever been, and ever will be found, to make one hair black or

white, to add one cubit to the stature, to bend one untractable feature into the

admired curve to which common consent attributes grace and loveliness; the

impossible transformation is nevertheless attempted. The treasures of opulence are

exhausted; the more valuable possession of health is often sacrificed at the shrine of

vanity: and while the noble distinctions of cultivated intellect and solid piety are

neglected, the ostentatious decoration of exterior polish is sought with useless and

guilty avidity.

The most effectual means of correcting this error, is in early life to commence the

important business of moral discipline by a solid education. If a greater degree of

attention be paid to showy, than to substantial acquirements; if young ladies be

systematically prepared to shine and attract, instead of being assiduously formed to

be useful in the stations to which Providence has assigned them; it may be expected

that they should become solicitous of courting admiration, rather than of winning

esteem. They will necessarily be unfitted for domestic management, and

disqualified for the sober realities of life. If the matrimonial connexion be founded

upon no better pretensions, and no superior reasons for attachment, it is incapable

of securing solid happiness. It is, in fact, at the mercy of every breeze. The wind of

adversity may blow upon the fair flower, wither its exterior charms, and leave

nothing but prickles and thorns. A consciousness of insignificance on the one hand,

and a perception of it on the other, will produce disappointment, and generate

dissatisfaction; and it will be found, too late perhaps, that the mind, instead of the

face, ought to have been principally regarded.

There is a species of parental vanity against which we would loudly appeal. Some

persons are extremely anxious that their daughters should possess all the

attractions of beauty; and from their earliest infancy, a concern for appearances is

instilled into them, as of the first importance. If young persons, so unhappily

circumstanced, should receive a wrong bias, we cannot feel surprised; and it will

require a long course of salutary discipline, combined with the inculcation of

religious principles, effectually to teach them that to see, and to be seen, are not the

great purposes of human existence; that they must live for nobler ends, and secure

the approbation of the wise and good by other accomplishments than a taste for the

arrangement of a ribbon, or the harmony of a tune. Unless they should be

unfortunate enough to meet with none but flippant and vacant admirers, to whose

flattering nothings they are induced to listen, they will find, that persons of real

worth are not to be attracted by tinsel decorations, nor a butterfly exterior, but

that

"Man has a relish more refined;"

and will rather breathe the following sentiments, as the appropriate language of a

noble enthusiasm, connected with rationality and religion;

"Souls are for social bliss designed--

Give me a blessing fit to match my mind;

A kindred soul to double and to share my joys."

That which constitutes the source of attraction to well regulated minds, does not

depend upon the disposition of the features, nor the colour of the skin. It is possible

to every kind of exterior form. "This beauty," it has been well observed, "does not

always consist in smiles, but varies as expressions of meekness and kindness vary

with their objects: it is extremely forcible in the silent complaint of patient

sufferance, the tender solicitude of friendship, and the glow of filial obedience; and

in tears, whether of joy, of pity, or of grief, it is almost irresistible.

"This is the charm which captivates without the aid of nature, and without which

her utmost bounty is ineffectual. But it cannot be assumed as a mask to conceal

insensibility or malevolence: it must be the effect of corresponding sentiments, or it

will impress upon the countenance a new and more disgusting deformity--

AFFECTATION. Looks, which do not correspond with the heart, cannot be

assumed without labour, nor continued without pain: the motive to relinquish them

must, therefore, soon preponderate, and the aspect and apparel of the visit will be

laid by together: the smiles and the languishments of art will vanish, and the

fierceness of rage, or the gloom of discontent, will either obscure or destroy all the

elegance of symmetry and complexion.

"The artificial aspect is, indeed, as wretched a substitute for the expression of

sentiment, as the smear of paint for the blushes of health: it is not only equally

transient, and equally liable to detection; but, as paint leaves the countenance yet

more withered and ghastly, the passions burst out with more violence after

restraint, the features become more distorted, and excite more determined

aversion.

"Beauty, therefore, depends principally upon the mind, and consequently may be

influenced by education. It has been remarked, that the predominent passion may

generally be discovered in the countenance; because the muscles by which it is

expressed, being almost perpetually contracted, lose their tone, and never totally

relax; so that the expression remains when the passion is suspended: thus, an

angry, a disdainful, a subtle, and a suspicious temper, is displayed in characters

that are almost universally understood. It is equally true of the pleasing and the

softer passions, that they leave their signatures upon the countenance when they

cease to act. The prevalence of these passions, therefore, produces a mechanical

effect upon the aspect, and gives a turn and cast to the features, which make a more

favourable and forcible impression upon the mind of others, than any charm

produced by mere external causes.

"Neither does the beauty which depends upon temper and sentiment, equally

endanger the possessor: it is, to use an eastern metaphor, 'like the towers of a city--

not only an ornament, but a defence:' if it excite desire, it at once controls and

refines it; it represses with awe, it softens with delicacy, and it wins to imitation.

The love of reason and of virtue is mingled with the love of beauty; because this

beauty is little more than the emanation of intellectual excellence, which is not an

object of corporeal appetite. As it excites a purer passion, it also more forcibly

engages to fidelity: every man finds himself more powerfully restrained from

giving pain to goodness than to beauty; and every look of a countenance in which

they are blended, in which beauty is the expression of goodness, is a silent reproach

to the first irregular wish; and the purpose immediately appears to be disingenuous

and cruel, by which the tender hope of ineffable affection would be disappointed,

the placid confidence of unsuspecting simplicity abused, and the peace even of

virtue endangered, by the most sordid infidelity, and the breach of the strongest

obligations.

"But the hope of the hypocrite must perish.--When the factitious beauty has laid by

her smiles; when the lustre of her eyes, and the bloom of her cheeks, have lost their

influence with their novelty; what remains, but a tyrant divested of power, who will

never be seen without a mixture of indignation and disdain? The only desire which

this object could gratify, will be transferred to another, not only without

reluctance, but with triumph.

"Let it, therefore, be remembered, that none can be disciples of the GRACES, but

in the school of VIRTUE; and that those who wish to be LOVELY, must learn

early to be GOOD."

In the next transaction, Sarah appears in a still more unfavourable light than in the

former part of her history. In whatever degree the circumstances in which she was

placed may seem to extenuate the guilt of her conduct in Egypt, they can no longer

be pleaded on her behalf. She is not now overawed by the authority of her husband,

or seduced by an affection, which would, at all hazards, endeavour to save his

valuable life; but becomes the voluntary tempter to a violation of divine

institutions, by which she not only manifested her unbelief, but sacrifices to

unworthy motives her domestic peace.

Notwithstanding the divine assurance, that the posterity of Abraham should

become a great nation, and possess the land of Canaan, Sarah begins to think that

there is no probability of her becoming a mother. Ten years had elapsed, and no

child was born. Reflecting on her advanced period of life, and incapable of an

implicit reliance upon the power of God, she requested Abraham to take Hagar,

her Egyptian handmaid, in order that she might obtain children by her. It is

scarcely possible to imagine a proposal more calculated to subvert the comfort of

her family, or more illustrative of an unbelieving spirit. She could not rely upon the

slow but certain operations of a superintending Providence to fulfil those promises

which had been given; although a humble faith would have cherished confidence in

his word. He who has filled the volume of inspiration with "exceeding great and

precious promises," will assuredly accomplish them, notwithstanding every

apparent impediment. Omnipotence marches forward with a steady, undeviating

step, to its predestined purpose; and that infinite wisdom which originally planned

the future, can never be frustrated or confused by any contingencies or

vicissitudes; for no possible event can occur which was not fully anticipated at the

moment when the promise was given.

Sarah was not only under the influence of distrust, but of inordinate desire. She

was impatient for one of those prime domestic comforts which it was seen fit at

present to deny her; and because the time which had elapsed, exceeded her

calculations of probability, she took upon herself to devise a plan to hasten the

accomplishment of her wishes. Let us beware of an undue eagerness after the

possession of any temporal enjoyment. It will not only produce distrust, but,

probably, precipitate us into irregular means of gratifying our wishes. "Inordinate

desires commonly produce irregular endeavours. If our wishes be not kept in

submission to God's providence, our pursuits will scarcely be kept under the

restraints of his precepts."

It is truly surprising, that the father of the faithful should listen to this insinuating

request. Possibly he thought that, as Sarah was not distinctly mentioned in the

promise, Hagar might become the parent of the promised seed; and by this

specious pretence, being anxious for a son, he was induced to comply. We are easily

persuaded, when our own inclinations already concur with a proposal; and even

good men are very liable to misinterpret the intimations of Providence, whenever

they consult their own feelings rather than the word of God.

It is remarked, that "Abraham hearkened to the voice of SARAH." This was his

error. There was another voice he should have heard. If he had any doubts upon

his mind, or any suspicion that his present wife was not the predestined mother of

the numerous posterity that were to people Canaan, he should at least have betook

himself to prayer. In a day of such remarkable revelations, and in an affair of so

much consequence, he might reasonably have expected an express direction from

heaven; and he who had been already so privileged, ought to have unbosomed his

thoughts and explained his desires to the Lord. Let such as sustain the closest

connexion, beware of becoming snares instead of helps to each other! Previous to a

compliance with any important request that may lead to considerable

consequences, Let us, from whatever quarter it proceed, or however justifiable it

may appear, promptly avail ourselves of that gracious throne, which is always

accessible to the humble petitioner. We are liable to so many misconceptions,

exposed to the influence of so many prejudices, and subject to the attacks of such a

variety of temptations, that our only security is in the exercise of a devotional spirit,

our only help is in the Lord our God. If any man lack wisdom, let him repair to the

fountain of intelligence, and solicit those supplies from heaven which are not only

freely dispensed, but fully adequate to our diversified necessities.

The consequence of this unsanctioned proceeding, was precisely what might have

been expected. Elated with the honour of her situation, Sarah is despised by her

Egyptian handmaid. She treats her with contempt and impertinence, as if she were

the peculiar favourite of Heaven, and hoping no doubt, that the ample promises of

God were to be fulfilled by her means. Knowing what human nature is, we cannot

wonder at this disposition, culpable as it was. Nothing is more common than for

persons, when raised above the meanness of their birth, and the inferiority of their

former circumstances, to be guilty of assuming airs of importance, and to forget

their most obvious duties: and we would caution servants especially against such

unwarrantable conduct. If divine favours should be conferred upon them; if by the

grace of God they should be made partakers of that spiritual dignity which genuine

religion confers, and be thus placed upon a level with their masters or mistresses in

the Christian church, let them remember that they are not exempted from a civil

subserviency. They are by no means elevated above their natural situation as

servants, because they become Christians; but all the peculiar claims of domestic

duty remain. An aspiring, or a haughty spirit, is unbecoming their newly acquired

character, and shows that they have very imperfectly learned of him who was

"meek and lowly of heart." Every person is respectable in his station, exactly in

proportion as it is properly occupied; and real religion, instead of disqualifying for

subordinate situations, is adapted to produce contentment, and to dictate an

exemplary and uniform correctness of conduct in whatever condition we may be

placed by Providence. "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters,

according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto

Christ: not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing

the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not

to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he

receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." "Let as many servants as are

under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of

God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let

them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service,

because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit."

If Hagar behaved with impertinence and vanity, Sarah manifested a very

censurable degree of resentment. Irritated by her handmaid's arrogance, she

appealed to Abraham, protesting that she could not endure such insolence, and

charging him with a secret connivance, if not an encouragement of her provoking

behaviour. Thus we perceive a specimen of what will generally prove the case in

family dissensions--both were in the wrong. Hagar was aspiring and rude; Sarah

passionate and severe. If the former should have recollected her obligations, the

latter ought not to have forgotten her own foolishness in raising her above her

natural level, and placing her in circumstances of powerful temptation. The one

should have known her place; the other have kept her temper. Let the modern

mistress and servant take a lesson from this unhappy difference. How many

intestine commotions might be prevented, if inferiors would not overstep the

proper limits of their sphere; and if superiors in station would be conciliating in

spirit; "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water; therefore leave off

contention before it be meddled with."

Abraham wisely avoided all interference in this affair; and though his beloved

Sarah had appealed to him in very intemperate terms, he gave a soft answer.

"Behold thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee." He refrained from

all self-vindication, to which he seemed called by the violent appeal of his wife; but

if he thought proper either to defend himself, or to remonstrate with her, he chose

another occasion. When the passions are inflamed, the judgment is seldom

sufficiently unbiassed to listen to reason or to consult propriety. It has been

questioned, however, whether in this instance he was not too submissive. The

Egyptian maid seemed entitled to protection; and, instead of yielding to the rage of

Sarah, he should have interposed his meditation, and if necessary, his authority, to

restore peace.

Incapable of resisting the combined assaults of jealousy, rage, and revenge, the

poor foreigner is driven from the roof of Abraham. She fled into the wilderness

with the view of returning to her native country, but was suddenly arrested in her

flight by an angelic messenger, who admonished her to return to her mistress, and

pacify her by ready and unconditional submission. He also predicted the character

and habits of her future offspring, mentioning the name by which he was to be

called, and consoling her in this season of tribulation by an assurance that "the

Lord had heard her affliction." She instantly retracted her steps; and, as no

intimation is given to the contrary, we may infer that the fugitive was restored to

her situation in the family. She was humble, and Sarah conciliated: and as we hear

nothing of her for some years, they probably lived in tolerable harmony. It was a

merciful interposition to send her back to the family of Abraham; for a connexion

with the people of God, whatever may be their faults, is far more desirable than the

richest inheritance, or the noblest alliance, where religion is discarded or unknown.

[Sidenote: Years before Christ 1898]

As the birth of the Egyptian's son was attended by no divine congratulations,

Abraham is still permitted to pass thirteen years more in a state of suspense

respecting the promised child; when at the age of ninety-nine, the covenant is

renewed by another revelation. On this remarkable occasion his wife received the

name by which we have uniformly called her, Abraham being distinctly assured of

her predestined privilege as the mother of the promised seed. A similar change of

name was conferred upon the patriarch. Hitherto he had been called Abram, a

"high," or "eminent father;" now he is to be Abraham, "the father of a great

multitude." His beloved wife, who had been called Sarai, "my princess," was in

future to be distinguished by the name of Sarah, "a princess," denoting a more

extensive honour. If he were to become the Father, she was to be the Mother, of

"many nations."

Having already witnessed the misconduct of Abraham's wife on two memorable

occasions, it would be highly gratifying to hear, in the next circumstance of her

history, that she acted worthy of her connexion with so illustrious a husband, But

alas! we are still necessitated to derive instruction rather from a record of her

faults than of her excellencies. We must expect to witness a variety of these in every

human character, combined only with comparatively a small number of shining

graces. Indeed we find, in general, but one very distinguishing good quality

associated with those of a different complexion; and if the plant of grace spring up

and grow in the human character, it is usually in a thicket of inferior principles and

unholy propensities. While, therefore, engaged in the cultivation of our hearts, in

"keeping them with all diligence," as the wise king of Israel expresses it; one very

important duty we owe to ourselves is to watch the appearance of these

irregularities, and aim, by unremitting attention, united with fervent prayer, to

eradicate them from the moral soil. In Sarah we see as great a luxuriance of evil as

can be imagined to blend with real piety, without essentially deteriorating it.

Sitting one day at the door of his tent to enjoy the refreshing shade, [8] Abraham

observed three strangers approaching, whom he hastened to meet, that he might

offer them any temporary accommodation in his power. This act of hospitality was

conformable to the usage of the country; but the peculiar generosity of Abraham

seems indicated in his running to meet them. The invitation is immediately

accepted; and the good old man, with the most obliging readiness, offered water to

wash their feet, and bread to satisfy their hunger. He hastened to Sarah, directing

her to make some cakes of fine meal, and bake them on the hearth; and then went

himself to the herd to choose a tender calf, which he immediately proceeded to

dress. Butter and milk, the produce of their own pasture, were of course supplied.

The venerable patriarch then took his respectful standing under the branches of a

neighbouring tree, which afforded a pleasant screen from the sultry sun. What

exquisite simplicity is discernible here! what a subject for the painter! what a

theme for the poet! what an example for the good! Three heavenly messengers at

the humble table of one of the greatest men that ever inhabited this world--a

patriarch--a prince--the father of the faithful--the friend of God--venerable for

age--distinguished by his hospitality--still more eminent for faith!--their canopy the

overarching sky--their shelter, the wide-spreading tree--flocks and herds grazing

around, the indications of an industry which Providence had blessed with

remarkable success--and the plain of Mamre spreading its luxuriance before their

eyes!--

But we must hasten to the remarkable subject of their conversation. At present the

patriarch did not suspect the real character of his visiters; who introduced their

intended communication by asking, "Where is Sarah thy wife?" This must have

excited great surprise; for how could strangers know the affairs of his family, and

the particular name of his wife, which had been so recently changed? He informed

them, however, that she was in the tent, where, according to the prevailing custom

of the times, she had her separate table. One of the angels, immediately personating

Jehovah himself, if he were not, as appears probable, the very "Angel of the

Covenant," gave this solemn assurance: "I will certainly return unto thee

according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son!" Sarah,

whom curiosity had brought to the door of the tent to listen to what passed,

overhearing this assurance, and looking upon it as an impossible occurrence at her

time of life, laughed in derision. She had long come to the conclusion that she

should produce no son to Abraham, and, therefore, that all such expectations were

chimerical and ridiculous. This excessive incredulity--excessive, because a distinct

assurance of the fact had been already given to Abraham upon the occasion of their

change of names--was highly culpable; but while we denounce it with merited

severity, let us examine our own hearts. Have we never acted in a similar manner?

Have we never distrusted the providence of God or his promises? Who can plead

exemption from a spirit of unbelief? What surmises have agitated our bosoms,

when the events of life contradicted our expectations? What despondency have we

shown, and what distrust, when the movements Omniscience were

incomprehensible to our reason, and opposed to our apparent interest? If but one

part only of the divine proceedings seemed incongruous, we have dared to arraign

"the whole stupendous plan;" if but "a momentary cloud" arose upon our

prospect, we have begun to fancy that order was at an end, that the sun had for

ever disappeared, that God had "forgotten to be gracious, and in anger shut up his

tender mercies." Let us then aim to correct these irregularities of feeling, and to

dismiss these misinterpretations of providence.

Sarah imagined that her contemptuous incredulity was only known to herself: but

the heavenly visiter instantly detected it, and appealed to Abraham on its

impropriety. Possibly the reason of addressing Abraham, rather than calling the

culprit herself to an account, was to inflict the severer reproof. Ah! how vainly do

we strive to conceal the secret thoughts of the mind from the knowledge of God!

His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, penetrate through every disguise,

and perfectly discern every inward motion as well as every outward action. We live

every moment--in the darkest midnight as well as at the brightest noon--in the full

blaze of Omniscience. "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me: thou

knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thoughts afar

off."

Incapable of enduring this exposure, the criminal now rushes from her

concealment, and boldly calls out, "I laughed not." This was a direct falsehood,

dictated by apprehension; and it was confronted by the instant retort of him who

knew her heart: "Nay, but thou didst laugh." It is possible that Sarah had some

mental reservation, when she so flatly denied the assertion of the angel: she might

persuade herself that she did not absolutely laugh, but only smiled, or felt

contempt; but whatever mode she might have adopted to explain away her

conscious guilt, it was unavailable, as every such unworthy subterfuge must always

prove.

We cannot help remarking the danger of the least deviation from the path of

rectitude. One sin prepares the way for the commission of another; one step over

the edge and boundary of uprightness may lead us down a precipice, and plunge us

into a fatal series of crimes. We have already seen an exemplification of this

remark; and it is more strikingly illustrated in the present transaction. Curiosity

brought her to the door, where she was soon betrayed into unbelief: detection soon

produced a fear of censure; this dread produced a ridiculous attempt at

concealment and self-justification; and the pride of her heart issued in exciting her

to a deliberate falsehood. Notwithstanding her incredulity, however, Sarah shall

bear a son, to be the spring of innumerable blessings to her posterity. Thus infinite

goodness overrules the perverseness of his people, as well as the wrath of sinners,

ultimately to promote his own designs.

If, on this occasion, the daring transgressor had been smitten to the earth by an

instantaneous judgment, it must have been regarded as a proper expression of the

divine displeasure. Her repeated provocations merited the severest chastisement,

and would undoubtedly have justified such a proceeding. The thoughts of Jehovah,

however, are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. There is nothing

vindictive in the character of the blessed God; and if he have on certain occasions

launched the thunderbolt upon the guilty heads of sinners, the circumstances have

shown that the atrocity of their iniquities has required a signal visitation. How far

punishment of this nature may be necessary in any particular case, it is not for

beings limited in their views as we are to decide, but simply to rely on the wisdom

of him, who, with a due intermixture of severity and mercy, justice and grace,

conducts the affairs of the universe.

Overawed by the angelic presence, and mortified by an inward consciousness of

her folly and sin, Sarah uttered not another word. She could neither vindicate her

incredulity, nor extenuate her false assertion; and though she proceeded to great

lengths, we are happy to find that she sufficiently restrained her intemperate

passions to retire in silence.

From this moment we trust she assumed another character. Reflection restored her

to her right mind. She dismissed her criminal doubts, and resigned herself to the

divine disposal. As the predestined period of her giving birth to the child of

promise was approaching, her faith produced the liveliest sensations of joy; and

both she and Abraham exulted in the prospect of a son. That this was the state of

her mind, we are assured from indisputable authority: "Through faith Sarah

herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she

was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."

Perhaps we may be disposed to say, it was time she did believe. After such

remarkable manifestations, and such reiterated promises to Abraham, it would

have been passing strange had she continued incredulous. Surely there was enough

to convince her, that, whatever difficulties nature might present, grace had

determined to overcome them, and that every reasonable and every possible

evidence of the intended miracle had been given. But is it so unusual for mankind

to resist the most convincing arguments, and to disbelieve even the most obvious

truth, that the case of Sarah ought to be regarded as so extraordinary? Have we

not daily proof of a similar obstinacy and perverseness? If it be observed that

Sarah possessed great advantages, being connected with so excellent a man, and so

great a favourite of Heaven as Abraham, and being visited by angelic messengers,

and instructed by celestial visions; this may be admitted. But do not those who

reject the truth of Christianity, or disobey its precepts, act a more criminal as well

as unreasonable part, inasmuch as they enjoy all the instruction and all the

experience of past ages? And is it not a more outrageous defiance of Heaven to

oppose the reality of its manifestations, after successive centuries have

demonstrated the truth of predictions once mysterious, evinced the nature of facts

once misunderstood, dispersed the typical shadow which once enveloped the

sublimest discoveries of infinite wisdom, and poured upon a benighted world the

full blaze of evangelical revelations?--Sarah doubted the possibility of an

occurrence which was attended with striking difficulties, and evidently miraculous;

but what censure do not they deserve who shut their eyes against the clearest light,

perplex with sophisms the most intelligible statements, and endeavour, by every

exertion of a slanderous tongue and a malignant pen, to subvert the basis of our

religious hopes, and to undermine a fabric which has stood the test of ages, giving

repose and refreshment to millions of heaven-bound pilgrims on their journey!

To draw the circle of reflection closer.--If our inconsistencies were written in a

book--if the instances of our unbelief amidst evidences, of our failures in temper

and spirit, of our misimprovement of the peculiar advantages of our situation, were

recorded for the warning of others--is there any probability that we should acquire

much honour by a comparison with the wife of Abraham? We do not indeed justify

her faults, but let us not overlook our own. We have better means, and brighter

discoveries. In these last days God hath spoken unto us by his Son. We are, through

faith, become the children of Abraham, interested in the new covenant, introduced

into the family, and admitted to the friendship of God. We have seen the visions of

patriarchal days, the promises and blessings of the ancient dispensation, the

memorable and terrific descent of Jehovah on Sinai, the prefigurations of the

Mosaic economy, the personal glories, the incarnate love, the agonizing death, the

triumphant ascension of the Son of God: we enjoy means of instruction which no

other age did or could possess. And wherein consists our superiority to former

saints, even those whose imperfections are the most conspicuous? Surely, the

observation may be retorted upon many hearers and professors of the gospel, in

reference to their too frequent instances of inconsistency--it is time you did believe!

[Sidenote: Years before Christ, 1897.]

The birth of Isaac, the promised seed was attended with great rejoicings. His very

name, signifying laughter, was expressive of the happy occasion; and Sarah, in the

ecstacy of her mind, exclaimed, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear

me will laugh with me." The birth of a child is naturally the subject of joy and

congratulation; but the introduction of Isaac into the world, who had been so long

and repeatedly promised, demanded and excited unusual satisfaction. Sarah, who

introduced him with a mother's joy, nursed him herself with a mother's care. She

was ignorant of the cruel absurdity which modern refinement has invented, of

separating the tender offspring from its proper guardian and provider, and thus

not only exposing it to many inconveniences and hardships, but nullifying the wise

and kind arrangements of Providence. Alas! nature, reason, and religion, must all

be violated in compliance with fashion! Need we feel surprised that barbarity

should produce alienation, and that she who refuses to show tenderness, should fail

of receiving attachment? Is it at all astonishing, that habits and sentiments foreign

to domestic comfort should be acquired; and that, when proper discipline and

personal superintendence are neglected, the young plant should shoot into

unsightly irregularities of spirit and character?

How soon may the brightest day be overcast with a cloud! How liable are our best

enjoyments to interruption! The weaning of Isaac was celebrated with great

festivities; upon which occasion this favourite child was recognized as Abraham's

heir. This excited the displeasure of Ishmael; which the jealous eye of Sarah

observing, she insisted upon the instantaneous expulsion of mother and son from

the family. We are sorry to witness any revival of the old spirit; but, in this world,

unholy passions cannot be totally eradicated. We should hope, however, there was

more reason, as well as religion, in her displeasure on this than on a former

occasion. The young man was, probably, ridiculing the whole ceremony, and

deriding the parents, the child, and the promise; for passion and prejudice are

never very discriminating in their censures. Ishmael was, in fact, of a wild,

ungovernable temper; but we have no evidence that the provocation was sufficient

to justify the proceeding of Sarah, in peremptorily demanding the expulsion of the

mother and her child. Thus did Abraham's concubinage continue to imbitter his

domestic peace; and the good old patriarch was again placed in a most difficult and

perplexing situation.

Whatever feelings may be supposed to have dictated the resolution of Sarah, it was

coincident with the designs of God; and Abraham, who had certainly sought divine

direction, was commanded to comply. This would, no doubt, quiet the feverish

anxiety of his mind; for a consciousness of doing the will of God, however contrary

it may be to our natural inclinations, is sufficient to smooth the roughest path of

duty, and to lighten the heaviest burden we may be called to sustain. Abraham, in

this, as well as in various other instances, displayed exemplary faith. The bitter

draught, however, was somewhat sweetened. It was difficult to parental feelings to

concur in so severe a measure; but some gleam of futurity was afforded to

enlighten the darksome but appointed path. "And God said unto Abraham, Let it

not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond-woman: in

all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy

seed be called. And also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation, because

he is thy seed."

Notwithstanding the faults to which we have found it necessary to advert, Sarah

was unquestionably a great character. She not only stands recorded in the New

Testament amongst those who were illustrious in ancient times for their faith, but is

exhibited as a pattern of domestic conduct. Her defects were but occasionally

visible, being commonly concealed amidst the brightness of her numerous

excellencies. Her obedience to Abraham is specified by the apostle as a laudable

singularity, which, in connexion with other virtues, he thus recommends:

"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not

the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.--Whose adorning let

it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of

putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not

corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of

God of great price. For after this manner, in the old time, the holy women also, who

trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands,

even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose daughters ye are, as long

as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement."

[Sidenote: Years before Christ, 1859.]

Seven and thirty years after the birth of Isaac and when Sarah had attained the age

of one hundred and twenty-seven, we come to the conclusion of her "mortal story."

Her death, and the respect paid to her memory, are related with a circumstantial

minuteness which is truly honourable to her character. This affecting event

occurred at Kirjah-Arba, or Hebron, in the plain of Mamre, where Abraham came

to bemoan his loss. Venerable man! thine was no common mourning! Thou didst

not merely sit upon the ground, assuming the customary attitude of grief; but thine

were genuine sorrows! What big tears of undissembled pain poured down thine

aged cheeks! How did affection recal the days, and months, and years of delightful

union, which time had strengthened, but death had now dissolved! And yet, while

nature demanded this tribute of fond remembrance, religion had taught thee to

moderate thy distress, and to elevate thy hopes to a brighter world, where holy

friendship, begun on earth, shall be purified and perpetuated through everlasting

ages!

The longevity of ancient times, and especially of the antediluvians, naturally excites

surprise; but what a dream is human life, even at its most protracted period! How

soon do even centuries elapse! How solemn the consideration, that the flood of ages,

which has swept from the surface of this globe so many millions of our

predecessors, however firm may have been their health, or numerous their years,

or eminent their characters, is daily impelling us forward to the "house appointed

for all living." Their pilgrimage terminated, and so must ours: their earthly

relations were dissolved, and their places in society were vacated; and soon the

place which we occupy, shall "know us no more." The stream flows on, and we

cannot arrest its course. Happy for us, if it should appear that we are going to join

the society of the blessed; if, possessing the faith of Abraham, we have reason to

indulge the hope of being eventually transported to his bosom!

Sitting in imagination at the grave of Sarah, and blending our sympathizing tears

with those of her honoured husband, what a lesson may we learn respecting the

vanity of human life! The flower whose exquisite beauty and attractive sweetness

once excited so much desire, is faded, and mingled with common dust! There lies a

form, which was so lovely and so beloved, to furnish a repast for creeping worms!

How bereft of that spirit which once animated it! How altered and defaced by the

putrifying touch of mortality! Here the race of life terminates; and to this

loathsome dwelling, the proudest, the fairest, the wealthiest, the most celebrated,

and the most elevated of our race, must sooner or later descend! "Prepare to meet

thy God!"

We may take a momentary glance at another consideration. In order to answer the

great end of their being, in order to be furnished with adequate means for the

employment of their immortal faculties, and for possessing that plenitude of felicity

of which their sanctified natures are capable, the saints of God must be removed

out of the present world. Often do they exclaim, "I loath it; I would not live

alway:"--"O that I had wings like a dove; for then would I flee away and be at

rest!"

This prevailing wish accords with the purpose of Heaven. Infinite benevolence

cannot allow a spiritual and sanctified character always to be imprisoned within

the narrow confines of flesh and blood. It could never be satisfied to assign the

objects of its affection so mean a portion as the pleasures and the possessions of this

inferior state of existence. They must die to be perfectly blest. This earth will not do

for a Christian in the maturity of his character. It is too vile, and too transitory. Its

gold is but dust--its applause, a puff of noisy air--its sparkling pleasures, but

polluted cisterns--its richest gifts, but bubbles, which, if they reflect the fairest

colours of the rainbow, break when they are grasped, or dissolve as we approach

them, into mist and nothingness! "Set your affection on things above:--the things

which are seen are TEMPORAL; the things which are not seen are ETERNAL!"

11. THE ALLEGORIES OF SARAH AND HAGAR

By Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"These are the two covenants."—Galatians 4:24.

HERE cannot be a greater difference in the world between two things than there is

between law and grace. And yet, strange to say, while the things are diametrically

opposed and essentially different from each other, the human mind is so depraved,

and the intellect, even when blessed by the Spirit, has become so turned aside from

right judgment, that one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate

properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference, and always

recollects it—the essential difference between law and grace—has grasped the

marrow of divinity. He is not far from understanding the gospel theme in all its

ramifications, its outlets, and its branches, who can properly tell the difference

between law and grace. There is always in a science some part which is very simple

and easy when we have learned it, but which, in the commencement, stands like a

high threshold before the porch. Now, the first difficulty in striving to learn the

gospel is this. Between law and grace there is a difference plain enough to every

Christian, and especially to every enlightened and instructed one; but still, when

most enlightened and instructed, there is always a tendency in us to confound the

two things. They are as opposite as light and darkness, and can no more agree than

fire and water; yet man will be perpetually striving to make a compound of them—

often ignorantly, and sometimes wilfully. They seek to blend the two, when God has

positively put them asunder.

We shall attempt this morning to teach you something of the allegories of Sarah

and Hagar, that you may thereby better understand the essential difference

between the covenants of law and of grace. We shall not go fully into the subject,

but shall only give such illustrations of it as the text may furnish us. First, I shall

want you to notice the two women, whom Paul uses as types—Hagar and Sarah;

then I shall notice the two sons—Ishmael and Isaac; in the third place, I shall notice

Ishmael's conduct to Isaac; and I shall conclude by noticing the the different fates

of the two.

I. First, we invite you to notice THE TWO WOMEN—Hagar and Sarah. It is said

that they are the types of the two covenants; and before we start we must not forget

to tell you what the covenants are. The first covenant for which Hagar stands, is the

covenant of works, which is this: "There is my law, O man; if thou on thy side wilt

engage to keep it, I on my side will engage that thou shalt live by keeping it. If thou

wilt promise to obey my commands perfectly, wholly, fully, without a single flaw, I

will carry thee to heaven. But mark me, if thou violatest one command, if thou dost

rebel against a single ordinance, I will destroy thee for ever." That is the Hagar

covenant—the covenant propounded on Sinai, amidst tempests, fire and smoke—or

rather, propounded, first of all, in the garden of Eden, where God said to Adam,

"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." As long as he did not eat

of the tree, but remained spotless and sinless, he was most assuredly to live. That is

the covenant of the law, the Hagar covenant. The Sarah covenant is the covenant of

grace, not made with God and man, but made with God and Christ Jesus, which

covenant is this: "Christ Jesus on his part engages to bear the penalty of all his

people's sins, to die, to pay their debts, to take their iniquities upon his shoulders;

and the Father promises on his part that all for whom the Son doth die shall most

assuredly be saved; that seeing they have evil hearts, he will put his law in their

hearts, that they shall not depart from it, and that seeing they have sins, he will

pass them by and not remember them any more for ever." The covenant of works

was, "Do this and live, O man!" but the covenant of grace is, "Do this, O Christ,

and thou shalt live, O man!" The difference of covenants rests here. The one was

made with man, the other with Christ; the one was a conditional covenant,

conditional on Adam's standing, the other is a conditional covenant with Christ,

but as perfectly unconditional with us. There are no conditions whatever in the

covenant of grace, or if there be conditions, the covenant gives them. The covenant

gives faith, gives repentance, gives good works, gives salvation, as a purely

gratuitous unconditional act; nor does our continuance in that covenant depend in

the least degree on ourselves. The covenant was made by God with Christ, signed,

sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.

Now come and look at the allegory. First, I would have you notice, that Sarah who

is the type of the new covenant of grace, was the original wife of Abraham. Before

he knew anything about Hagar, Sarah was his wife. The covenant of grace was the

original covenant after all. There be some bad theologians who teach that God

made man upright, and made a covenant with him; that man sinned, and that as a

kind of afterthought God made a new covenant with Christ for the salvation of his

people. Now, that is a complete mistake. The covenant of grace was made before

the covenant of works; for Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world, did

stand as its head and representative; and we are said to be elect according to the

foreknowledge of God the Father, through the obedience and sprinkling of the

blood of Jesus. We, long ere we fell, were loved of God; he did not love us out of

pity to us, but he loved his people, considered purely as creatures. He loved them

when they became sinners; but when he started with them he considered them as

creatures. He allowed them to fall into sin, to show forth the riches of his grace,

which existed before their sin. He did not love them and choose them from among

the rest, after their fall, but he loved them beyond their sin, and before their sin. He

made the covenant of grace before we fell by the covenant of works. If you could go

back to eternity, and ask which is the oldest born, you would hear that grace was

born before law—that it came into the world long before the law was promulgated.

Older even than the fundamental principles which guide our morals is that great

fundamental rock of grace, in covenant made of old, long ere seers preached the

law, and long ere Sinai smoked. Long before Adam stood in the garden God had

ordained his people to eternal life, that they might be saved through Jesus.

Notice next: though Sarah was the elder wife, yet Hagar bare the first son. So the

first man Adam was the son of Hagar; though he was born perfectly pure and

spotless, he was not the son of Sarah when he was in the garden. Hagar had the

first son. She bore Adam, who lived for a time under the covenant of works. Adam

lived in the garden on this principle. Sins of commission were to be his fall; and if

he omitted to do the sin, then he was to stand for ever. Adam had it entirely in his

own power whether he would obey God or not: his salvation, then, rested simply on

this basis, "If thou touchest that fruit thou diest; if thou obeyest my command, and

dost not touch it, thou shalt live." And Adam, perfect as he was, was but an

Ishmael, and not an Isaac, till after his fall. Apparently, at any rate, he was a

Hagarene, though secretly, in the covenant of grace, he may have been a child of

promise. Blessed be God, we are not under Hagar now; we are not under the law

since Adam fell. Now Sarah hath brought forth children. The new covenant is,

"The mother of us all."

But notice again, Hagar was not intended to be a wife; she never ought to have

been anything but a hand-maid to Sarah. The law was never intended to save men:

it was only designed to be a hand-maid to the covenant of grace. When God

delivered the law on Sinai, it was apart from his ideas that any man would ever be

saved by it; he never conceived that man would attain perfection thereby. But you

know that the law is a wondrous handmaid to grace. Who brought us to the

Saviour? Was it not the law thundering in our ears? We should never have come to

Christ if the law had not driven us there; we should never have known sin if the

law had not revealed it. The law is Sarah's handmaid to sweep our hearts, and

make the dust fly so that we may cry for blood to be sprinkled that the dust may be

laid. The law is, so to speak, Jesus Christ's dog, to go after his sheep, and bring

them to the shepherd; the law is the thunderbolt which affrighteth ungodly men,

and maketh them turn from the error of their ways, and seek after God. Ah! if we

know rightly how to use the law, if we understand how to put her in her proper

place, and make her obedient to her mistress, then all will be well. But this Hagar

will always be wishing to be mistress, as well as Sarah; and Sarah will never allow

that, but will be sure to treat her harshly, and drive her out. We must do the same;

and let none murmur at us, if we treat the Hagarenes harshly in these days—if we

sometimes speak hard things against those who are trusting in the works of the law.

We will quote Sarah as an example. She treated Hagar harshly, and so will we. We

mean to make Hagar flee into the wilderness: we wish to have nothing to do with

her. Yet it is very remarkable, that coarse and ill-featured as Hagar is, men have

always a greater love for her than they have for Sarah; and they are prone

continually to be crying, "Hagar, thou shalt be my mistress," instead of saying,

"Nay, Sarah, I will be thy son, and Hagar shall be bondmaid." What is God's law

now? It is not above a Christian—it is under a Christian. Some men hold God's law

like a rod, in terrorem, over Christians, and say, "If you sin you will be punished

with it." It is not so. The law is under a Christian; it is for him to walk on, to be his

guide, his rule, his pattern. "We are not under the law, but under grace." Law is

the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us, nor the spirit which actuates

us. The law is good and excellent, if it keeps its place. Nobody finds fault with the

handmaid, because she is not the wife; and no one shall despise Hagar because she

is not Sarah. If she had but remembered her office, it had been all well, and her

mistress had never driven her out. We do not wish to drive the law out of chapels,

as long as it is kept in its right position; but when it is set up as mistress, away with

her; we will have nought to do with legality.

Again: Hagar never was a free woman, and Sarah never was a slave. So, beloved,

the covenant of works never was free, and none of her children ever were. All those

who trust in works never are free, and never can be, even could they be perfect in

good works. Even if they have no sin, still they are bond-slaves, for when we have

done all that we ought to have done, God is not our debtor, we are debtors still to

him, and still remain as bond-slaves. If I could keep all God's law, I should have no

right to favour, for I should have done no more than was my duty, and be a bond-

slave still. The law is the most rigorous master in the world, no wise man would

love its service; for after all you have done, the law never gives you a "Thank you,"

for it, but says, "Go on, sir, go on!" The poor sinner trying to be saved by law is

like a blind horse going round and round a mill, and never getting a step further,

but only being whipped continually; yea, the faster he goes, the more work he does,

the more he is tired, so much the worse for him. The better legalist a man is, the

more sure he is of being damned; the more holy a man is, if he trust to his works,

the more he may rest assured of his own final rejection and eternal portion with

Pharisees. Hagar was a slave; Ishmael, moral and good as he was, was nothing but

a slave, and never could be more. Not all the works he ever rendered to his father

could make him a free-born son. Sarah never was a slave. She might be sometimes

taken prisoner by Pharoah, but she was not a slave then; her husband might

sometimes deny her, but she was his wife still; she was soon owned by her husband,

and Pharoah was soon obliged to send her back. So the covenant of grace might

seem once in jeopardy, and the representative of it might cry, "My Father, if it be

possible, let this cup pass from me;" but it never was in real hazard. And

sometimes the people under the covenant of grace may seem to be captives and

bond-slaves; but still they are free. Oh! that we knew how to "stand fast in the

liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free."

One thought more. Hagar was cast out, as well as her son; but Sarah never was. So

the covenant of works has ceased to be a covenant. Not only have the people been

cast away who trusted in it, not simply was Ishmael cast out, but Ishmael's mother

too. SO the legalist may not only know himself to be damned, but the law as a

covenant has ceased to be, for mother and son are both driven out by the gospel,

and those who trust in law are sent away by God. You ask to-day who is

Abraham's wife? Why Sarah; does she not sleep side by side with her husband in

the Machpelah's cave at this instant? There she lies, and if she lie there for a

thousand years to come, she will still be Abraham's wife, while Hagar never can be.

Oh, how sweet to think, that the covenant made of old was in all things ordered

well, and never, never shall be removed. "Although my house be not so with God,

yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure."

Ah! ye legalists, I do not wonder that ye teach the doctrine of falling away, because

that is consistent with your theology. Of course, Hagar has to be driven out, and

Ishmael too. But we who preach the covenant of free and full salvation know, that

Isaac never shall be driven out, and that Sarah never shall cease to be the friend

and wife of Abraham. Ye Hagarenes! ye ceremonialists! ye hypocrites! ye

formalists! of what avail will it be, when at last ye shall say, "Where is my mother?

Where is my mother, the law?" Oh! she is driven out, and thou mayest go with her

into eternal oblivion. But where is my mother? the Christian can say at last; and it

will be said, "There is the mother of the faithful, Jerusalem above, the mother of us

all; and we shall enter in, and dwell with our Father and our God."

II. Now we are going to review the TWO SONS. While the two women were types

of the two covenants, the two sons were types of those who live under each

covenant. Isaac is a type of the man who walks by faith, and not by sight, and who

hopes to be saved by grace; Ishmael of the man who lives by works, and hopes to be

saved by his own good deeds. Let us look at these two.

First, Ishmael is the elder. So, beloved, the legalist is a great deal older than the

Christian. If I were a legalist to-day, I should be some fifteen or sixteen years older

than I am as a Christian, for we are all born legalists. Speaking of Arminians,

Whitfield said, "We are all born Arminians." It is grace that turns us into

Calvinists, grace that makes Christians of us, grace that makes us free, and makes

us know our standing in Christ Jesus. The legalist must be expected, then, to have

more might of argument than Isaac; and when the two boys are wrestling, of

course Isaac generally gets a fall, for Ishmael is the biggest fellow. And you must

expect to hear Ishmael making the most noise, for he is to be a wild man, his hand

against every man, and every man's hand against him; whereas Isaac is a peaceful

lad. He always stands up for his mother, and when he is mocked, he can go and tell

his mother that Ishmael mocked him, but that is all that he can do; he has not

much strength. So you notice now-a-days. The Ishmaelites are generally the

strongest, and they can give us desperate falls when we get into argument with

them. In fact, it is their boast and glory that the Isaacs have not much power of

reasoning—not much logic. No, Isaac does not want it, for he is an heir according

to promise, and promise and logic do not much consist together. His logic is his

faith; his rhetoric is his earnestness. Never expect the gospel to be victorious when

you are disputing after the manner of men; more usually look to be beaten. If you

are discoursing with a legalist, and he conquers you, say, "Ah! I expected that; it

shows I am an Isaac, for Ishmael will be sure to give Isaac a thrashing, and I am

not at all sorry for it. Your father and mother were in the prime of life, and were

strong; and it was natural that you should overcome me, for my father and mother

were quite old people.

But where was the difference between the two lads in their outward appearance?

There was no difference between them as to ordinances, for both of them were

circumcised. There was no distinction with regard to outward and visible signs. So,

my dearly beloved, there is often no difference between Ishmael and Isaac, between

the legalist and the Christian, in matters of outward ceremonies. The legalist takes

the sacrament and is baptized; he would be afraid to die if he did not. And I do not

believe there was much difference as to character. Ishmael was nearly as good and

honorable a man as Isaac; there is nothing said against him in Scripture; indeed, I

am led to believe that he was an especially good lad, from the fact that when God

gave a blessing, he said, "With Isaac shall the blessing be." Abraham, said, "O that

Ishmael might live before thee." He cried to God for Ishmael, because he loved the

lad, doubtless, for his disposition. God said, yes, I will give Ishmael such-and-such a

blessing; he shall be the father of princes, he shall have temporal blessings; but

God would not turn aside, even for Abraham's prayer. And when Sarah was rather

fierce, as she must have been that day when she turned Hagar out of the house, it is

said, "It grieved Abraham because of his son;" and I do not suspect that

Abraham's attachment was a foolish one. There is one trait in Ishmael's character

that you love very much. When Abraham died, he did not leave Ishmael a single

stick or stone, for he had previously given him his portion and sent him away; yet

he came to his father's funeral, for it is said that his sons Ishmael and Isaac buried

him in Machpelah. There seems then to have been but little difference in the

characters of the two. So, dearly beloved, there is little difference between the

legalist and the Christian as to the outward walk. They are both the visible sons of

Abraham. It is not a distinction of life; for God allowed Ishmael to be as good as

Isaac, in order to show that it was not the goodness of man that made any

distinction, but that he "will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom

he will be hardeneth."

Then what was the distinction? Paul has told us that the first was born after the

flesh, and the second after the Spirit. The first was a natural son, the other a

spiritual one. Ask the legalist, "You do good works; you have repented, you say:

you are keeping the law, and you have no need to repent. Now, where did you get

your strength from?" Perhaps he says, "Grace;" but if you ask him what he means,

he says that he used it; he had grace, but he used it. Then the difference is, you used

your grace, and others did not. Yes. Well, then, it is your own doing. You may call

it grace, or you may call it mustard; it was no grace after all, for it was your using,

you say, that made the difference. But ask poor Isaac how he has kept the law, and

what does he say? Very badly, indeed. Are you a sinner, Isaac? "Oh! yes, an

exceedingly great one; I have rebelled against my father times without number; I

have often gone astray from him." Then you do not think yourself quite as good as

Ishmael, do you? "No." But yet there is a difference between you and him after all.

What has made the difference? "Why, grace has made me to differ." Why is not

Ishmael an Isaac? Could Ishmael have been an Isaac? "No," says Isaac, "it was

God who made me to differ, from the first to the last; he made me a child of

promise before I was born, and he must keep me so."

"Grace all the work shall crown

Through everlasting days;

It lays in heaven the topmost stone,

And well deserves the praise."

Isaac has more really good works; he does not stand second to Ishmael. When he is

converted, he labours, if it be possible, to serve his father far more than the legalist

does his master; but still doubtless, if you were to hear both their tales, you would

hear Isaac say that he was a poor miserable sinner, while Ishmael would make

himself out a very honorable Pharisaic gentleman. The difference is not in works,

however, but in motives; not in the life, but in the means of sustaining life—not in

what they do, so much as in how they do it. Here, then, is the difference between

some of you. Not that you legalists are worse than Christians; you may be often

better in your lives, and yet you may be lost. Do you complain of that as unjust?

Not in the least. God says men must be saved by faith, and if you say, "No, I will be

saved by works," you may try it, but you will be lost for ever. It is as if you had a

servant, and you should say, "John, go and do such-and-such a thing in the stable;"

but he goes away and does the reverse, and then says, "Sir, I have done it very

nicely." "Yes," you say, "but that is not what I told you to do." So God has not told

you to work out your salvation by good works; but he has said, "Work out your

own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you to will and

to do of his good pleasure." So that when you come before God with your good

works he will say, "I never told you to do that. I said, believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ and be baptized, and thou shalt be saved." "Ah!" you say, "I thought the

other was a great deal better way." Sir, you will be lost for your thoughts. "Why is

it that the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, have attained unto

righteousness," when Israel, who followed after righteousness, hath not attained it?

It is this: "Because they sought it not by faith, but by the works of the law."

III. Now I will briefly say a word or two concerning ISHMAEL'S CONDUCT TO

ISAAC. It says that Ishmael mocked Isaac. Have not some of you, dear sons of

Hagar, felt exceedingly irritated when you heard this doctrine? You have said, "It

is dreadful, it is horrible, it is quite unjust, that I may be as good as I like, but if I

am not a son of the promise, I cannot be saved; it is really awful, it is an immoral

doctrine; it does a deal of damage, and ought to be stopped." Of course! That

shows that you are an Ishmael. Of course Ishmael will mock at Isaac; and we need

no further explanation. Where the pure sovereignty of God is preached, where it is

held that the child of the promise, and not the child of the flesh, is the heir, the

child of the flesh always makes a hubbub about it. What said Ishmael to Isaac?

"What business have you here? Am I not my father's eldest son? I should have had

all the property, if it had not been for you. Are you above me?" That is how the

legalist talks. "Is not God the father of everybody? Are we not all his children? He

ought not to make any difference." Said Ishmael: "Am not I as good as you? Do I

not serve my father as well? As for you, you know you are your mother's favourite,

but my mother is as good as yours." And so he teased and mocked at Isaac. That is

just how you Arminians do with free salvation. The legalist says, "I don't see it, I

cannot have it, and I won't; if we are both equal in character, it cannot be fair that

one should be lost, and the other saved." And thus he mocks at free grace. You may

get on very easily, if you do not preach free grace too fully, but if you dare to speak

such things, though they are obnoxious to the crowd, what will people say? They

call them "baits for popularity." (See the so-called FREEMAN Newspaper.) Few

fishes, however, bite at those baits. Most men say, "I hate him, I cannot bear him;

he is so uncharitable." You say we preach this to gain popularity! Why, it is, upon

the surface of it, a bare-faced lie; for the doctrine of God's sovereignty will always

be unpopular; men will always hate it, and grind their teeth, just as they did when

Jesus taught it. Many widows he said, were in Israel, but to none of them was the

prophet sent, save unto a widow of Sarepta. And many lepers were in Israel, but

none of them were healed, except one who came far away from Syria. A fine

popularity our Saviour got from that sermon. The people ground their teeth at

him; and all the popularity he had, would have been to be pushed down the hill,

from which, it is said, they would have cast him headlong, but he made his way out

of them and escaped. What! popular to humble a man's pride, to abolish man's

standing, and make him cringe before God as a poor sinner? No; it will never be

popular till men be born angels, and all men love the Lord, and that will not be just

yet, I ween.

IV. But we have to enquire WHAT BECAME OF THE TWO SONS.

First, Isaac had all the inheritance, and Ishmael none. Not that Ishmael came off

poorly, for he had many presents, and became very rich and great in this world;

but he had no spiritual inheritance. So the legalist will get many blessings, as a

reward for his legality; he will be respected and honored. "Verily," said Christ,

"the Pharisees have their reward." God does not rob any man of his reward.

Whatever a man angles for, he catches. God pays men all he owes, and a great deal

over; and those who keep his law, even in this world, will receive great favours. By

obeying God's command they will not injure their bodies as much as the vicious,

and they will preserve their reputation better-obedience does good in this way. But

then Ishmael had none of the inheritance. So, thou poor legalist, if thou art

depending on thy works, or on anything, except the free sovereign grace of God, for

thy deliverance from death, thou wilt not have so much as a foot of the inheritance

of Canaan, but in that great day when God shall allot the portions of all the sons of

Jacob, there will be not a scrap for thee. But if thou art a poor Isaac, a poor guilty

trembling sinner—and if thou sayest, "Ishmael has his hands full,

But nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling."

If thou art saying this morning—

I am nothing at all,

But Jesus Christ is my all in all."

If thou renouncest all the works of the flesh, and dost confess, "I the chief of

sinners am, but I am the child of the promise; and Jesus died for me," thou shalt

have an inheritance, and thou shalt not be robbed of it by all the mocking Ishmaels

in the world; nor shall it be diminished by the sons of Hagar. Thou mayest

sometimes be sold, and carried down to Egypt, but God will bring his Josephs and

his Isaacs back again, and thou shalt yet be exalted to glory, and sit on Christ's

right hand. Ah! I have often thought what consternation there will be in hell when

outwardly good men go there. "Lord," saith one as he goes in, "am I to go into that

loathsome dungeon? Did not I keep the Sabbath? Was not I a strict Sabbatarian? I

never cursed or swore in all my life. Am I to go there? I paid tithes of all that I

possessed, and am I to be locked up there? I was baptized; I took the Lord's

supper; I was everything that ever a man could be, that was good. It is true, I did

not believe in Christ; but I did not think I needed Christ, for I thought I was too

good and too honorable; and am I to be locked up there?" Yes, sir! and amongst

the damned thou shalt have this pre-eminence, that thou didst scorn Christ most of

all. They never set up an anti-Christ. They followed sin, and so didst thou in thy

measure, but thou didst add to thy sin this most damnable of sins: that thou didst

set up thyself as an anti-Christ, and bowed down and worshipped thine own

fancied goodness. Then God will proceed to tell the legalist, "On such a day I heard

thee rail at my sovereignty; I heard thee say it was unfair of me to save my people,

and distribute my favors after the counsel of my own will; thou didst impugn thy

Creator's justice, and justice thou shalt have in all its power." The man had

thought he had a great balance on his side, but he finds it is only some little grain of

duty; but then God holds up the immense roll of his sins, with this at the bottom:

"Without God, without hope, a stranger from the common wealth of Israel!" The

poor man then sees that his little treasure is not half a mite, while God's great bill is

ten thousand million talents; and so with an awful howl, and a desperate shriek, he

runs away with all his little notes of merit that he had hoped would have saved him;

crying, "I am lost! I am lost with all my good works! I find my good works were

sands, but my sins were mountains; and because I had not faith, all my

righteousness was but white-washed hypocrisy."

Now, once more, Ishmael was sent away, and Isaac was kept in the house. So there

you are some of you, when the searching day shall come to try God's church,

though you have been living in the church as well as others, though you have got

the mask of profession on you, you will find that it will not avail. You have been

like the elder son; whenever a poor prodigal has come into the church, you have

said, "As soon as thy son is come which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou

hast killed for him the fatted calf." Ah! envious legalist, thou wilt be banished at

last from the house. I tell you legalist, and formalist, that you have no more to do

with Christ than the heathens have, and thou you have been baptized with

Christian baptism, though you sit at a Christian table, though you hear a Christian

sermon, you have neither part nor lot in the matter, any more than a Catholic or a

Mahomedan, unless you are trusting simply in the grace of God, and are an heir

according to the promise. Whosoever doth trust to his works, though it be ever so

little, will find that that little trust will ruin his soul. All that nature spins must be

unravelled. That ship which works have builded must have her keel cut in halves.

A soul must trust simply and wholly to the covenant of God, or else that soul is lost.

Legalist, thou hopest to be saved by works. Come, now, I will treat thee

respectfully. I will not charge thee with having been a drunkard, or a swearer; but

I want to ask thee, Art thou aware, that in order to be saved by thy works, it is

requisite that thou shouldst be entirely perfect? God demands the keeping of the

whole law. If you have a vessel with the smallest crack in it, it is not a whole one.

Have you never committed sin in all your life? Have you never thought an evil

thought, never had an evil imagination? Come, sire, I would not suppose that you

have stained those white kid gloves with anything like lust, or carnality, or that

your fine mouth which uses such chaste language ever condescended to an oath, or

anything like lasciviousness; I will not imagine that you have ever sung lascivious

son; I will leave that out of the question—but hast thou never sinned? "Yes," sayest

thou. Then, mark this: "the soul that sinneth, it shall die;" and that is all I have to

say to thee. But if thou wilt deny that thou hast ever sinner, dost thou know that if

in future thou commit but one sin—though thou shouldst live for seventy years a

perfect life, and at the end of that seventy years thou shouldst commit one sin, all

thy obedience would go for nothing; for "He that offends in one point is guilty of

all." "Sir," you say, "you are going on a wrong supposition, for though I believe I

ought to do some good works, I believe Jesus Christ is very merciful, and though I

am not exactly perfect, I am sincere, and I think sincere obedience will be accepted

instead of perfect obedience." You do, indeed! and pray what is sincere obedience?

I have known a man get drunk once a week; he was very sincere, and he did not

think he was doing wrong so long as he was sober on a Sunday. Many people have

what they call a sincere obedience, but it is one which always leaves a little margin

for iniquity. But then you say, "I do not take too much margin, it is only a little sin

I allow." My dear sir, you are quite in error as to your sincere obedience, for if this

be what God requires, then hundreds of the vilest characters are as sincere as you

are. But I do not believe you are sincere. If you were sincere, you would obey what

God says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It strikes

me thy sincere obedience is a sincere delusion, and such thou wilt find it. "Oh,"

sayest thou, "I believe that after all we have done, we must go to Jesus Christ, and

we must say, "Lord, there is a great deficiency here, wilt thou make it up?" I have

heard of weighing witches against the parish Bible, and if they were found heavier

they were declared to be innocent; but to put the witch and the Bible in the same

scale is a new idea. Why, Christ will not get in the scale with such a conceited fool

as thou art. You wish Christ to be a make-weight. He is much obliged to you for the

compliment, but he will accept no such menial service. "Oh," sayest thou, "he shall

assist me in the matter of salvation." Yes, I know that would please you; but Christ

is a very different kind of Saviour; he has a propensity when he does a thing to do it

all. You may think it strange, but he never likes any assistance. When he made the

world, he did not ask the angel Gabriel so much as to cool the molten matter with

his wing, but he did it entirely himself. So it is in salvation: he says, "My glory I

will not give to another." And I beg to remind thee, as thou professest to go to

Christ, and yet to have a little share in the business thyself, that there is a passage

in the Scriptures which is apropos to thee, and which thou mayest masticate at thy

leisure, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more

grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more

work." For if you mix the two together, you spoil them both. Go home, sir, and

make yourself a stirabout with fire and water, endeavour to keep in your house a

lion and a lamb, and when you have succeeded in doing these, tell me that you have

made works and grace agree, and I will tell you, you have told me a lie even then,

for the two things are so essentially opposite, that it cannot be done. Whosoever

amongst you will cast all his good works away, and will come to Jesus, with this

"Nothing, nothing, NOTHING,

Nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling,

Christ will give you good works enough, his Spirit will work in you to will and to do

of his good pleasure, and will make you holy and perfect; but if you have

endeavoured to get holiness before Christ, you have begun at the wrong end, you

have sought the flower before you have the root, and are foolish for your pains.

Ishmaels, tremble before him now! If others of you be Isaacs, may you ever

remember that you are children of the promise. Stand fast. Be not entangled by the

yoke of bondage, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

12. SARAH. BY Frances Manwaring Caulkins

"She was very fair. I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of

nations; kings of people shall be of her." Gen. 12:14; 17:16.

From ages of sepulchral gloom

In old Machpelah's honored tomb ;

From records of the Hebrew sage

Inscribed upon the fivefold page f

From eastern skies, from earth's young hours,

When patriarchs lived in tents and bowers,

Eobed in thine oriental guise,

Eise, Sarah, Abraham's consort, rise !

A lovely and majestic form

Appears, with life's bright lustre warm ;

Chaldean in her stately air,

Symmetric, and surpassing fair.

* Pentateuch, the five books.

16 EVE AND HER DAUGHTERS.

Fair, but not faultless ; see her life

Marked by evasion, rashness, strife :

A " princess of celestial mien,

But oft in paths of error seen.

Twice did the timid patriarch seek,

By pretexts plausible but weak,

From pagan chiefs, in scenes untried,

To screen from harm his beauteous bride.*

His the rash thought — from danger's train,

By bold deceit, escape to gain ;

But hers the apt concurrence shown,

Consent that made the guilt her own.

How oft hath beauty proved a snare,

Peace, health, and conscience to impair ;

How oft a face, like Dian's bright,

Emits through clouds a fitful light.

Is beauty thine? Oh seek to show

A sweeter charm, a brighter glow —

A heart devout, a cheerful mind,

A conquered will to heaven resigned.

* Gen. 12:13; 20:2.

True grace is that which reigns within ;

Immortal beauty seek to win,

And prize the amaranth sublime

Above the fading rose of time.

That face is fair, wherein we trace

The seal of God's sustaining grace ;

And they are brilliant, who are bright

With sacred truth's unerring light.

It chanced before the tent one day,

Reposing from the noon-tide ray,

The patriarch sat: he raised his eye,

And lo, three strangers drawing nigh.

With hospitable speed, he ran,

Lowly he bowed, and thus began:

"My lord, turn not in haste aside.

But in my tent's calm shade abide.

"Cool water for your dusted feet,

Refreshing food, attendance meet

Accept, and in these shades benign

Rest till the fervid hours decline."

The strangers paused with grave assent,

Eeposing near the friendly tent ;

While swift the household train prepare

The viands for their guests to share.

By Sarah's hands the cakes were made ;

By Abraham's, from the herd conveyed

The fatted calf: each hand, each heart

Was quick its service to impart.

Such courtesy in tents was shown,

When time was young, and pomp unknown.

Behold the pleasing picture! See

The strangers and overarching tree.

The meat and cake in order placed,

With salt, milk, butter, duly graced ;

Abraham stands by with service kind,

And Sarah in the door behind.

They talked ; their thrilling words proclaim

The heaven from whence the strangers came ;

That face, in such divine repose,

The Angel of the covenant shows.

Then was the prophecy unrolled

That Sarah's arms a son should hold :

She heard announced the promise bright,

But laughed incredulous and light.

Inly she laughed, and then denied :

"I did not laugh, she quickly cried.

Vain, thoughtless impulse! foolish art!

The Eye was there that reads the heart.

Yet o'er our thwarting, low designs,

Divine compassion calmly shines :

Believe or disbelieve ; yet still

God will his promised word fulfil.

Of all earth's daughters, two alone

That deep peculiar bliss have known,

As mothers, on an aged breast,

To fold a new-born son to rest.

To Sarah came that boon divine,

As part of Mercy's vast design :

Maternal love her bosom thrilled ;

The void of years was sweetly filled.

Yet discord still with fierce annoy

Troubled the fountain of her joy :

One drop that fountain could defile ;

If Ishmael mocked, could Sarah smile?

The princess shows resentment high,

A fretful lip, a flashing eye ;

Her lifted hand th' Egyptian maid

Drives outcast to the desert glade.

The mistress fierce, the maiden vain,

Each looked on each with proud disdain ;

And yet, would each a trifle yield,

A word, a look the strife had healed.

With meek forbearance, words discreet,

The patient mind, the temper sweet,

A point to yield, a fault to own,

How brightly then had Sarah shone.

Fair, faulty woman : yet this phrase

Not all her varied path portrays ;

True, fond, submissive to her lord,

She shared his toils, obeyed his word.

By grace her temper was refined ;

The faithless made a trusting mind :

'Mid the blest heirs of faith,* her name

Shines with a bright enduring fame.

May every daughter of our land

In faith's high scroll like Sarah stand ;

Like her, in earnest, duteous love,

A fair domestic model prove.

Yet, daughter, seek a lowlier charm,

A temper more divinely calm ;

Be thou thy dwelling's constant light,

A star with inward lustre bright.

And while in Sarah's life you trace,

Like threads of gold, her faith and grace,

Observe how oft she went astray,

Nor take to heaven her devious way,

* Heb. 11:11.

13. THE WIFE-SARAH. AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.

WITHIN a few centu-

ries after the flood,

while some who had

witnessed the sin and

the destruction of the

ante d i 1 u v i a n worl d

were still living, Je-

hovah saw fit, in accordance with his de-

signs of eternal wisdom, to separate Abra-

ham from his brethren, calling upon him to

leave the land of his birth and go out into a

8 THE WIFE — SARAH

strange land, to dwell in a far country. He

was to pass the rest of his days as a sojourner

in a land which should be thereafter given to a

people yet unborn, — to a nation which was to

descend from him.

Abraham was a lineal descendant of Shem,

who was doubtless still living while " the father

of Abraham yet abode with his kindred in

the land of the Chaldees ;" and from the lips

of his venerable progenitor, Abraham himself

may have first received the knowledge of the

true God, and have learned lessons of wisdom

and obedience, as he sat at his feet. Shem

may have conversed with Methuselah ; and

Methuselah must have known Adam ; and

from Adam, Methuselah may have heard that

history of the creation and fall, which he nar-

rated to Shem, and which Shem may have trans-

mitted to Abraham ; and the history of the world

would be thus remembered as the traditional

THE WIFE — SARAH. tf

recollections of a family, and repeated as the

familiar remembrances of a single household.

Tales of the loveliness of Eden, — of the glo-

ries of the creation, — of the blessedness of the

primeval state, — of the days before the fall ; re-

membrances of the "mother of all living" in

the days of her holiness, when she was as beauti-

ful as the world created for her home, in all the

dewy sweetness of the morning of its existence,

— of the wisdom of man before he yielded to the

voice of temptation, when authority was en-

throned upon his brow, and all the tribes of

the lower creation did him homage ; — of the

good spirits who watched over to minister unto

and bless them ; — of those dark, unholy and ac-

cursed ones, who came to tempt, betray and de-

stroy them, — were recounted as events of which

those who described them had been the wit-

nesses. And from the remembrances thus

preserved and transmitted by tradition, each

10 THE WIFE — SARAH.

generation obscuring or exaggerating them,

have descended what we call fables of antiquity,

— great facts, now dimly remembered and darkly

presented, as shadowed over by the mists of

long ages.

How must the hearts of the descendants

of Shem have thrilled as they heard from him

the history of by-gone times — of a world which

had passed away ! How much had the great

patriarch of his race, himself, beheld ? He

had seen the glory and the beauty of the world

before the flood. It was cursed for the sin

of man, in the day of his fall — but slowly, as

we measure time, do the woes denounced by

God often take effect, and, though excluded from

Eden, the first pair may have seen little change

pass over the face of the earth. The consum-

mation of this curse may have been the deluge ;

and those who dwelt on the earth, before this

calamity swept it with its destroying wing, may

THE WIFE — SARAH. 11

have seen it in much of its original beauty;

while those who outlived that event witnessed

a wonderful change.

From that frail fabric, the ark, which proved

the second cradle of the race, Shem had be-

held a world submerged, — a race swept off by

the floods of Almighty wrath. He had heard

the shrieks of the drowning, the vain prayer

of those who had scoffed the threatened ven-

geance, the fruitless appeal of those who had

long rejected mercy. As the waves bore up

his frail vessel, he had seen the black and

sullen waters settle over temples, cities and

palaces ; and he had gazed until he could behold

but one dark expanse of water, in whose turbid

depths were buried all the families of the

earth — save one.

Those he had loved and honoured, and much

which, perhaps, he had envied and coveted —

the pride, the glory, the beauty of earth — all

12 THE WIFE — SARAH.

had passed away. And after the waters sub-

sided, and the ark had found a resting-place,

what a deep and sad solemnity must have

mingled with the joy for their preservation.

How strange the aspect the world present-

ed ! How must the survivors have recalled

past scenes and faces, to be seen no more !

How much they must have longed to recog-

nise old familiar places, — the Eden of Adam

and Eve, — the graves in which they had been

laid ! For doubtless Seth and his descendants

still remained with their first parents, while Cain

went out from their presence and built a city

in some place remote. The earth which Noah

and his descendants repeopled was one vast

grave ; and what wonder that those who built

above a race entombed, should mingle fancy

with tradition, and imagine that the buried

cities and habitations were yet inhabited by the

accursed and unholy. Such have been the

THE WIFE — SARAH. 13

fancies of those who darkly remembered the

flood ; and as the wind swept through the ca-

verns of the earth, the superstitious might still

imagine that they heard the voices or the

shrieks of the spirits imprisoned within.

Shem seems to have far exceeded his bro-

thers in true piety, and the knowledge of Jeho-

vah was for many generations preserved among

his descendants, while few or none of them ever

sank into those deep superstitions which de-

based the children of Ham. And it is beautiful

to remark, that the filial piety which so pre-

eminently marked him has ever been a promi-

nent trait among all nations descended from

him. Thus receiving his impressions of the

power, the truth, the awful justice of Jehovah,

from one well fitted to convey them, — and taught

the certain fulfilment of promises and of threats,

— Abraham was early inspired with that deep

reverential and yet filial love, that entire con-

14 THE WIFE — SARAH.

fidence, which led to the trusting obedience

which distinguished his character.

Yet, from his very piety, sad must it have

been when the command came to leave the plains

of Mesopotamia, and go out a stranger and a

pilgrim into distant lands, to become a dweller

among those who were fast apostatizing from

the true faith. "But by faith he obeyed," and

by his obedience he has given us an example and

illustration of faith, which has been held forth

through all succeeding ages. To be the child

of Abraham, to walk as he walked, is, after

the lapse of thousands of years, the character-

istic of the true worshipper of God.

Guided by an Omniscient hand, trusting in

an Almighty power, cheered by that mysterious

promise, which, as a star of hope shining in the

hour of deepest darkness, still rose to higher

brightness as it guided the long line of pa-

triarchs, kings, and prophets, until it settled

THE WIFE — SARAH. 15

over the manger of Bethlehem, and was lost

in the full glory of the Sun of righteousness,

— Abraham girded his loins and prepared for a

departure to far distant lands.

At first, attended by his father and brother,

he sojourned with them in Haran; and the fa-

mily pitched their tents in that spot which was

to become in future ages the battle-ground

of nations, when the proud eagle of imperial

Rome was trailed in the dust, and her warriors

and her nobles fell before their fiercer foes.

Long ages have intervened since the tents of

this Syrian family were pitched by the side of

the waters of Charan; and midway between

their days and ours, were these waters disco-

loured with the blood of those who fell in the

battle of Charae, so disastrous to Rome, ever

haughty, and then exulting in the height of her

prosperity. A few wandering shepherds now

lead their flocks in the plain in which Sarah

16 THE WIFE — SARAH.

and Abraham dwelt, and where Cassius and his

legions fell. But a short sojourn was per-

mitted Abraham here. "Arise and depart, for

this is not your rest" — and again he listened to

the command from above, and gathered his

flocks and servants, and girded his loins, and

set his face towards the land promised to him,

and to his seed after him. And now he left

his father and his brethren, and went with his

own family, the head of his house, the future

patriarch of his race.

Yet he was not alone. The wife of his

youth was by his side. In all his wanderings,

in all his cares, there was one with him to

participate in his joys and to alleviate his

sorrows. With him and for him, his wife

forsook home, kindred and country. We doubt

not that she too shared the faith of Abra-

ham ; that she too trusted and loved and wor-

shipped the God of Abraham, and of Shem,

THE WIFE — SARAH. 17

and of Noah. Like Abraham, a descendant of

Shem, — like him too, she had been trained in

the worship of Jehovah. Yet to the faith of

the true believer, there was added the strong

affection of the wife ; and while Abraham went

out obeying God, Sarah followed, trusting God

indeed, but leaning still upon her husband. In

all her future life, she is presented to us the

wife ; devoted, affectionate, submissive ; loving

her husband with a true affection, and honour-

ing him by a due deference.

"With a beauty that fascinated kings, preserv-

ing the charms of youth to the advanced period

of her life, she still lived but for her husband ;

and when even the faith of Abraham failed, and

he withdrew from the wife the protection of the

husband, and said, " She is my sister," Sarah ap-

pears to have acquiesced in a deceit so unworthy

of her husband and of herself, merely to insure

his safety among the lawless tribes around them.

18 THE WIFE — SARAH.

As we read the story of Abraham's wife, we

catch glimpses of ages and nations that were

hoar with antiquity, and had passed away when

our ancient historians began the record of the

past. Nation after nation had perished and

been forgotten before the profane historian be-

gan his annals. Yet childless, still trusting

in the promise of Jehovah, Abraham wandered

for many years through the land which was to

be given to him, and his seed after him. Now

pitching his tent in Moreh ; then building his

altar at Bethel ; then driven by famine into

Egypt ; then returning to his altar at Bethel, —

and there separating from his nephew Lot, be-

cause " the land could not bear" both, he fixes his

abode in Hebron.

No pictures of pastoral life are more beau-

tiful than those presented in Genesis ; and while

we contemplate the character of Abraham, we

catch occasional glimpses of his household,

THE WIFE — SARAH. 19

and of the manners of his age. We see him

exercising forbearance and relinquishing the

rights of a superior, that there might be no

strife between him and his too worldly rela-

tive. We see him leading out his own band

as a prince, to rescue that same relative, —

who, tempted by the promise of large wealth,

had chosen a location full of dangers, — and, in

the hour of victory, refusing all spoil and showing

all honour to the priest of the most high God.

Again he is before us, sitting in his tent

in the heat of the day, and hastening to receive

strangers, — " thus entertaining angels una-

wares," — and then interceding for that city

doomed to destruction for the wickedness of the

dwellers therein.

And again he appears as the prince, the

patriarch, the head of his own family, and

high in honour with those around him, ever

observing all the decorum and proprieties of

20 THE WIFE — SARAH.

oriental life. We see him, too, as one who

walked with God ; as the priest of his house-

hold, presenting the morning and the evening

sacrifice ; as holding high communion with God

in the hours of darkness; entering into that

covenant which is still pleaded by those who

claim the promise, " I will be a God to thee,

and to thy seed after thee."

This promise of a seed, from which was to

spring a great nation, " like to the stars of

heaven in number," was frequently repeated,

yet still deferred. Youth, manhood, middle

age, all had passed, and still no child blest the

tents of Sarah ; and while Abraham still be-

lieved, and it " was accounted to him for right-

eousness," Sarah seems to have felt that not

upon her was to be conferred the distinction of

becoming the mother of the promised seed.

"With the warm impulse of the woman, she sa-

crificed the feelings of the wife and the instincts

THE WIFE — SARAH. 21

of the heart, to promote what she doubtless

believed to be the plan of God and the happi-

ness of Abraham. There is a deficiency of

faith as much to be manifested in the forestall-

ing the plans of Providence as in the denial

of the promises of God : and while Abraham

still trusted and waited the fulfilment of the

promise, Sarah sought, by her own device, to

accomplish prophecy and insure the blessing.

In accordance with the usages of those around

her, she gave her handmaid to her husband to

be his wife, " that their children might bless

her age." She doubtless felt herself strong

enough in love to Abraham and to Hagar to

believe that her affection would embrace their

children. But when the trial came, and all

the instincts of the heart, all the feelings of

the wife revolted, she proved that this violation

of a heaven-appointed institution brings only

sorrow and strife. Yet there was no alien-

22 THE WIFE — SARAH.

ation between Sarah and Abraham. The wife

of his youth was ever dearer to him than the

mother of his child.

At length, however, the promise was fulfilled.

Sarah became a mother. Many years had

passed since she had left the home of her

fathers. The days of man were now much

abridged, and she was fast approaching the

ordinary limit of human life ; but we may sup-

pose her cheek was still fair and her brow

smooth, and that she still retained much of the

beauty of youth.

With a wondering joy, Sarah gazed upon

the child so long desired — the child in whose

seed " all the nations of the earth" were to

be "blessed." And she said, " God hath made

me to laugh, so that all who hear shall laugh ;"

and while those that heard that Sarah " had

borne Abraham a son in his old age," won-

dered at an event so strange, Abraham must

THE WIFE — SARAH. 23

have pondered the prophecy which had revealed

to him the destiny of his race, — perhaps fore-

seeing that Star which was to rise in a still

distant age, and apprehending, however dimly

and faintly, something of the mysterious con-

nection between the birth of the child and the

promise given in the hour of the curse — the

blending of the fate of his race with the eter-

nal plan of mercy and redemption.

There is an instinct in our natures which

leads us to rejoice at a birth ; but, could Sarah

have foreseen the destiny of her race, tears

would have mingled with her smiles. Won-

derful has been the past history of that people,

strange their present condition, while the fu-

ture may develop mysteries still more incom-

prehensible.

In the hour of rejoicing over the new-born

babe, past transgression brought forth its legiti-

mate fruits. Sullenness and strife were brood-

24 THE WIFE — SARAH.

ing in the bosoms of the Egyptian bond-woman

and her son ; and the quiet eye of the mother

saw all the danger arising from the jealous

hate and rivalry of the first-born of Abraham.

If the decision was stern, it was needful.

" Cast out the bond-woman and her child, for

her son shall not be heir with my son, even with

Isaac." Harsh words, — but it is better to dwell

peacefully asunder, than together in strife and

bitterness. The malignant passions which led

Ishmael to mock, might soon be stimulated by

the mother to murder, — chafed and irritated as

she was by the constant presence of the child

who had supplanted her own. From the time

of the departure of Hagar from the household

of Abraham, peace seems to have rested upon

it. Prosperity attended him. He no longer

wandered from place to place. He remained in

Hebron, sojourning with Sarah and her child.

Many years passed, — years of peaceful quiet

, THE WIFE — SARAH. 25

and happiness seldom allotted to such an age, —

while they trained their child in the nurture

of the true God, and were honoured by the

princes around him, who sought to enter into

league with him, for they saw that " God

blessed him in all that he did."

Once again God saw fit to test the faith of

Abraham by calling upon him to offer his son

— his only son Isaac, whom he loved — as a

sacrifice ; and Abraham obeyed the divine

command, and thus doing, uttered that pro-

phecy which has thrilled so many souls, " God

will himself provide a sacrifice." In this triaL

Sarah seems not to have been called to parti-

cipate. The mother was spared the agony of

feeling that her only child was to be offered as

a sacrifice — that the hope of her life was to

perish.

" Sarah was an hundred and twenty years

old, and she died." The dark shadow of death

26 THE WIFE — SARAH.

is, sooner or later, to fall upon each household.

Abraham seems to have been at a distance — per-

haps in the charge of some of his numerous

flocks — when he was recalled to Hebron by news

of Sarah's death. And he came to mourn over

her. The remembrance of her maiden beauty

and modesty, the grateful recollection of all her

conjugal devotedness, filled his soul. If light

and immortality were brought to light in the

gospel, still the divine rays were faintly reflected

in the former dispensation, and the eye of faith

even then penetrated the thick darkness of the

grave.

And now, after these long years of pro-

mise and waiting, Abraham takes possession

of the land which God had given to him and

to his seed. He asks, however, but a small

portion, — a tomb, a place for his dead, — and a

more beautiful description of a scene of mutual

deference, of regard for rights and respect for

THE WIFE — SARAH. 27

character and position, was never penned than

that which records the negotiation between the

bereaved patriarch and the children of Heth.

With the touch of magic, the whole scene is

before us. The bereaved patriarch, courteous

in grief, bowing in the presence of the sons of

Heth, — the deep respect, the kindly sympathy,

manifested by those who, strangers to his reli-

gion, felt the claims of his character, — mingled

with that deep awe which the visitation of

death ever inspires.

The last scene was now over, and Sarah has

first taken possession of that home to which she

was to be followed by her husband and their

descendants. One by one they take their places

by her side, — unwelcomed, unquestioned, —

"Where none have saluted and none have replied," —

and yet where all are gathered at last. We see

her not as a sister or a daughter. She is not

28 THE WIFE — SARAH.

known to us in the house of her father. Sarah

is only presented to us as the wife of Abraham.

And as a wife the apostle has held her up to her

own sex as a model and example. " Even as

Sarah obeyed her husband, calling him lord,"

— exclaims the apostle, exhorting the wife to due

deference. The deep, fervent affection of the

heart led to that outward manifestation of

honour so beautiful and becoming ; and as the

only love which can be enduring is that which

is founded on respect, so it is the highest hap-

piness of the wife to be able truly to honour

him whom she is bound to love and obey.

When the heads of a household are thus

united in warm affection and mutual respect,

the influence will pervade the whole circle, and

the family of Abraham presented a beautiful

picture of such a household. The numerous

members composing a large family were go-

verned by one who provided for their suste-

THE WIFE — SARAH. 29

nance, led them forth for the defence of rights.

or the redress of injuries, or the rescue of the

captive ; and who officiated as the priest as

well as ruler of his household. In such a com-

munity, the character of the head would be

impressed upon the whole people ; and it was

with obvious meaning that Jehovah exclaimed,

" I know him that he will command his house-

hold after him." It was by example that ad-

monition was made availing. And the wife

was ever ready, with her ardent and trusting

love, to aid and co-operate. Hastening, when

he welcomed the stranger, to prepare the feast,

she was ever ready to receive his guests and

add her efforts to his hospitality.

Hatred, strife, and mutual alienation so often

cloud over the unison of wedded life, and cause

its sun to set in darkness, that few spectacles

can be presented more beautiful or more de-

lightful than the old age of wedded life, soothed

30 THE WIFE — SARAH.

by true affection and mutual kindness. It is

more touching than the glow of youthful passion.

It proclaims the presence of high moral worth.

It is never found in the habitations of the un-

holy. The love which thus survives the glow

of youth, which bears the storms and the trials

of life, must be founded on truth, on unimpas-

sioned esteem, on approved integrity ; and

those alone who love God supremely, love each

other unselfishly.

While Sarah honoured her husband, she too

was treated with proper deference. Her coun-

sels were ever heeded, her voice had its due

influence, and he still deferred to her wishes.

It is beautiful to note the increasing esti-

mation in which she is held. Sarai, "the

mistress," betokened her station as the head

of a household ; and as years brought honours,

and an enlarged sphere of duty, and a more

elevated position among the people around

THE WIFE — SARAH. 31

them, Sarai was changed into Sarah — my lady.

Her husband, in addressing the former Sarai

as Sarah, "my lady," gracefully returned the

honour she bestowed when she called him "lord."

By such manifestation of mutual respect and

love, the chain of family affection is kept bright.

As the household of Abraham was the house-

hold of faith, ordained as the model for all ages,

it is well to analyze the elements which com-

posed it, and to trace their combined influence.

There was the conjugal union of the true wor-

shippers of Jehovah, animated by the same hopes,

governed by the same principles, whose hearts

were united in the strong bonds of natural

affection. There was the confiding, unfailing

affection, the deep, reverential respect, and due

obedience of the wife. There was the tender

love, protecting care, the unwavering faith, the

honourable deference of the husband. The reli-

gion of this household was the religion of faith

32 THE WIFE — SARAH.

and of obedience, — a religion winch led them

to forsake all at the command of God, which

taught them to rely upon his promises, to fear

his threatenings, to plead his grace, to trust his

mercy, while it was a religion which led to a

due observance of all the relative duties of life,

which taught the exercise of that impartial jus-

tice, careful benevolence, disinterested kindness,

and ready hospitality to those without the

family; and of steady love, of affectionate

kindness, of sympathetic forbearance to the

members of the household within. The family

of faith, where faith is pure, will ever be a

family of love; and as true piety is the best

security for family happiness, so family love is

the best nurse for family piety.

There are many families among us who aim

at being families of faith, who profess to walk

in the steps of Abraham, to imitate his exam-

ple. Let such not confine themselves to the

THE WIFE — SARAH. 33

manifestation of his peculiar faith, to his trust

and dependence alone. Let them walk as he

walked before his household, in the fear of God

and the love of man, in the careful fulfilment

of every relative and social duty, in the daily

exemplification of a tender and loving spirit,

carefully avoiding or removing all sources of

division. Let that piety which unites them to

God, be a bond, encircling all and drawing

them near to each other.

By the cultivation of the simple domestic

virtues, by the daily, quiet, self-denying trials,

by the observance of the thousand decencies,

the unaffected proprieties, the unostentatious

efforts to bless and comfort, — by the elevating

influence of personal example, — by the breath-

ing atmosphere of a holy spirit, — the family is

to be made the household of faith, the nursery

of the church.

Direct instruction and formal efforts and

stated observances are neither to be forgotten

nor to be remitted ; but these can only be made

effectual by the living exemplification of a

spirit of love, a life of holiness. It will ever

be found true that he who prays most loves

most.

14. SARAH BY Phineas Camp Headley

Sarah was a Hebrew maiden of remirk-

able beauty. Her clildhood and youth

were passed among tJio mountains of Ar-

menia, whose fine climate and sublime sce-

nery developed her form and gave strer^^h

to her itttellectnal powera. Her nob)'* fig-

ure, dark eye luminous with expression,

and the graceful dignity of her ro inner,

made her the admiration of the Chaldean

shepherds and the pride of her kindred.

Hosiecb, Google

Among the wealthy nomads of the fruits

ful valleys who sought her hand m marriage,

was Abram, a kinsman. A worshipper of

the infinite One, lie loved her foi- her ele-

vated piety, no less than for her personal

beauty. And doubtl^* they often walked

forth together beneath the nightly sky,

whtse transparent air in that latitude made

the stara impressively — ■

" The burning blaionry of God !'

Upon the hill-tops around, were the ob-

servatories and altars of Chaldean philoso-

phy, whose disciples woi-shipped the host

of Heaven. In the serenity of such an hour,

with the white tents reposing in the dis-

tance, and the "soul-like sound" of the

rustling forest alone breaking the stillness,

it would not be strange- as they gazed on

flaming Orion and the Pleiades if they had

bowed with the devotee of Light, while

Hosiecb, Google

He worsiiipped at tbeir lofty shrine,

And deemed he Eaw nilli gifted eye.

The Gudbead la im works divine."

But a purer illuiiilnatioii tliau stre;

from that radiant dome, brought near in

his ineffable majeaty the Eternal, and hke

the holy woi^hippers of Eden, they adored

with subdued and reverent heaiis, their in-

finite Father.

To a reflective mind, there is great sub-

limity and impressiveness in the purity

and growth of religious principle, in cir-

cumstance so adverse to its manifesta-

tion. The temptations resisted — ^the ear-

nest communion with each other — the glo-

rious aspirations and soarings of imagina-

tion, when morning hrote upon the girdling

summits, and when evening came down

with its stars, and its i-ising moon, flooding

with glory nature in her repose ; these and

a thousand lovely and touching scenes of

Hosiecb, Google

tliat pastoral life are all unrecorded. The

great events in history, and bold points in

character, are seized by tlie inspired pen-

man as sufficient to sweep the gi'and out-

lin e of Grod's providential and moral gov-

ernment over the world^ and his cave of hia

people.

Just when it wonld best accomplish his

designs, which are ever marching like des-

tiny to their fidfthnent, Jehovah called to

Abram, and bade hira go to a distant land

which he would show him. With his

father-in-law and with Lot, his flocks and

herds, he journeyed toward Palestine. —

When he arrived at Haran, in Mesopota-

mia, pleased with the country, and probably

influenced by the declining health of the

aged Terah, he took up his residence there.

Here he remained till the venerable patri-

arch, Sarai's father, died. The circle of

relatives bore him to the grave, and kept

Hosiecb, Google

SARAK 31

the daya of mourning. But the dutiful

daughter wept in the solitaiy grief of an or-

phan's heart. A few years licfore, she had

lost a brother, and now the father to whom

she was the last flower that bloomed on

the desert of age, and who lavished his love

upon her, was buried among strangers.

Then the command to move forward to

]iis promised inheritance came again to

Abram. Sarai shed upon that lonely grave

the baptism of hei' tears, and turned away

in the sad beauty of mourning to fold her

tent and enter the shadows of an untravelled

wilderness. They journeyed on among the

hills, encamping at night beside a mountain

spring, and beneath the unclouded heavens

arching their path, changeless and watchful

as the love of God— exiles by the power of

their simple faith in him. Soon as they

reached Palestine, Abram consecrated its

very soil by erecting a family altar, first in

Hosiecb, Google

tlie plain of Moreh, and again on tlie sum-

mits ttat catcli the smUe of morning near

tlie lianalet of Bethel.

Months stepped away rapidly as silently,

old associations wore off, and Abram wa&

a wealthy and happy man in the luxuriant

vales of Canaan. His flocks dotted the

plains, and his cattle sent down their low-

ing from encircling hUls. But more than

these to Mm was the affection of his beau-

tiful wife. Her eye watched his f )nn along

the winding way, when with the ascending

sun he went out on the dewy slopes ; and

kindled with a serene welcome when at

night-fall he returned for repose amid the

sacred joys of home.

At length there came on a fearful famine.

The rain was withholden, and the dew

shed its benediction no more upon the earth.

He was compelled to seek bread at the

court of Pharaoh, or perish. Knowing the

Hosiecb, Google

power of female beauty, and the want of

principle among the Egyptian piinces, lie

feared assassination and the captivity of

Sarai which would follow. Haunted with

this appi'ehension, he told her to affirm

tipon inquiry that she was his sister —

which was not a direct falsehood, but only

so by irnplicaiion. According to the Jew-

ish mode of reckoning she might be called

a sister, and Abram stooped to this pre-

varication under that terrible excitement

of fear, which, in the case of Peter, drove

a true disciple of Christ to the brink of

apostasy and despaif.

Bnt his deception involved him in the

rery difficulty he designed to escape. The

king's courtiers saw the handsome Hebrew,

and extolled her beauty before him. He

smnmoned her to the apartments of the

palace, and captivated by her loveliness,

determiaed to make her his bride. During

Hosiecb, Google

the agonizing suspense of Abrain, and the

concealed angoish of Sariu in her conscious

degradation, tlie hours wore hea\'ily away,

until the judgQienta of God upon the royal

household brought deliverance. Pharaoh,

though an idolater, knew by this supemat-

aral infliction, that thei'e was guUt in the

transaction, and called Abram to an ac-

count. He had nothing to say in self-acquit-

tal, and with a strange magnanimity, was

sent away with his wife and his property

qnietly ; followed only by the reproaches of

Pharaoh, and liis own wakeful conscience.

Abram returned to Palestine, became a

victor in fierce battles with a vastly out-

numbering foe, and was in possession of a

splendid fortune. Yet Sarai was unhappy

because she was childless. She had the

Lord's promise that a son should beguile

the hours of declining life, but the years

fled, and there was no token of fulfilment.

Hosiecb, Google

SARAH, 35

In lier disappointment and impatience slie

told Her husband it. was folly to hope on,

and pointed to Hagai", a servant, as the mo-

ther of the expected heir. By following

his suggestion in Egypt she went to the

verge of ruin, and now in turn is the temp-

ter, involving her family in guilt and dis-

cord that almost broke the heart of Abrara.

"When the slave was likely to bear a son,

her vanity was excited, and she treated

Sarai with scorn that roused her indigna-

tion. Hagar was banished and became a

friendless fugitive in the wilderness — where

the angel of God found her weary and faint-

ing, led her to a gushing spring, and there

bade her go bacl^ submissively to her mis-

tress.

Soon after Jehovah appeared to Abram,

in a glorious vision, talking with liim as

ftiend to friend. He fell on his face in the

dust, as did the exile of Patmos ages after,

Hosiecb, Google

while a voice of affection and hope, came

from the bending sky — " I am the Almighty

God ; walk before me and be thou perfect."

The solemn covenant involving the great-

ness and splendor of the people and com-

monwealth that should spring from the soli-

tary pair, was renewed ; and as an outward

seal, he was named Abraham, Thefathsr of

a great midiUude— and liis wife Sarah, The

princess. Still he laughed at the absurdity

that Sarah would ever be a mother, and iu-

Toked a blessing on Ishmael, but evidently

saidnothingto her upon a subject dismi^ed

as incredible from his thoughts. For when

the celestial messengers were in the tent

on their way to warn Lot, she listened tc

their earnest conversation, concealed by the

curtains, and hearing that repeated prom-

ise based on the immutability of God, also

laughed with bitter mirth, at her hopeless

prospect in regard to the marvellous pre-

Hosiecb, Google

diction. And when one of the Angels, who

was Jehovah veiled in human form, as af-

terwards "manifest in the flesh," charged

her with this unbelief and levity, the dis-

covery roused her fears, and approaching

him, without hesitation, she denied the fact.

He knew peif^sctly her sudden apprehen-

sion, and only repeated the accusation, en-

forced doubtless by a glance of omniscience,

like that which pierced the heart of Peter,

The group separated, and two of those

bright beings went on to Sodom. The

next morning Abraham walked out upon

the plain, and looked towards the home of

Lot. He saw the smoke as of a great fur-

nace going up to the calui azure, from the

scathed and blackened plains where life was

so busy and joyous a few hours before 1

With a heavy heart he returned to his tent,

and brought Sarah forth to behold the scene.

She clung with trembhno- to his side, while

Hosiecb, Google

slie listened to tlie naiTation of tHe terrible

overtlirow of tliose gorgeons cities, and. the

rescue of Her brother's houseliold, and "be-

held in the distance the seething and silent

grave of millions, sending up a swaying col-

umn of ebon, cloiid-Iike incense to God's

burning indignation against sin.

They left the vale of Mamre, and jour-

neyed to Gera, where, with a marvellous

forgetfulness of the past, the beauty of Sa-

rah again led them into deception and false-

hood, and with the same result as before.

Abimelech, the king, would have taken her

for his wife as Abraham's sister, had not

God appeared in a dream thi-eatening im-

mediate death. Upon pleading his inno-

cence he wag spared, and expostulating

with his guest, generously oifered him a

choice of residence in the land ; but rebuked

Sarah with merited severity.

Prophecy and covenant now hastened to

Hosiecb, Google

their fulfilment. Sarah gave bii'tli to a son,

and witli tlie name of GiDd on lier lips, she

gave utterance to .lioly rapture. Witli all

her faults, slie was a pious and noble wo-

man. She meant to train him for the Lord.

and therefore when she saw young Ishmael

mocking at the festival of his weaning, she

besought her husband to send away the

irreverent son, whose influence might ruin

the consecrated Isaac. Hagar, with a gen-

erous provision for her wants, was once

more a fugitive; and the Most High ap-

proved the solicitude of a mother for an

only child, around whose destiny was gath-

ered the interest of ages, and the hopes of

a world.

And now, with the solemn shadows of

life's evening hom-s falling around her, and

a heart subdued by the discipline of Provi-

dence, in the fullness of love which had

been rising so long within the barriers o*"

Hosiecb, Google

liope defen'ed, slie bent prayerfully over the

very slumbers of that fair boy, and taught

hhn the precious name of God, with the

first prattle of bis infant lips. How proud-

ly she watched the unfolding of thi^ bud of

promise. When in the pastimes of child-

hood, he played before the tent-door, or with

a shout of gladness ran to meet Abraham

returning from the folds, her calm and glow-

ing eye marked his footsteps, and her grate-

ful aspirations for a l^lessing on the lad

went up to the Heaven of heavens. Al

length he stood before her in the manhness

and beauty of youth unsearred by the ragt

of passions, and with a brow open and

laughing as the radiant sky of his own

lovely Palestine.

It was a morning which flooded the dewy

plains with glory, and filled the groves with

music, when Abraham came in from hi;

wonted communion with God, and cd^^'^<^

Hosiecb, Google

for Isaac, and told him to prepare for a

three days' journey into tlie wilderness.

How tenderly was Sarali regarded in tliia

scene of trial. Evidently no information

of the awful command to sacrifice the son

of her old age, was made to her. She

might have read something fearful in the

lines of anxious thought and the workings

of deep emotion in the face of Abraham.

But he evaded all inquiries on the subject,

" clave the wood^" and accompanied by two

of his young men, turned from Ids dwelling

with a blessing from that wondering mother,

and was soon lost from her straining vision

among the distant hills. Upon the third

day he saw the top of Mount Moriah kind-

ling in the rismg sun, and taking Isaac

alone, ascended to the summit, whei-eon

was to be reared an altar, which awakened

more intense solicitude in heaven, than any

y before or since, except on Calvai-y,

Hosiecb, Google

where God's " only-begotteu aud well-be-

loved son" was slain. There is no higher

moral subliniityj than the unwavermg trust

and cheeiful obedience of this patiiarch,

when the very oath of the Almighty seemed

peijured, and the bow of promise blotted

from the firmament of fa,ith ! But he be-

lieved Jehovah, and would have clung to

his assurance, though the earth had reeled

in her orbit, and every staa- drifted fi-om

its mooring^. He prayed for strength, with

his hand on the forehead of his submissive

" He rose up and laid

The wood upon the nliar. All vsa done,

He. siood a moment — and a deep, quick flush

Passed o'ei' his countenance ; nnd then lie nerved

TTi a Bpirit with a bittior strength, tm J Epoko —

" Isanc 1 mj only sun "— Tliu boy looksd up,

And Abraham tumad liis fooe away and wept.

"Where ia the hmib, my Either?' — 0, the tones.

The sweet, llie thrilling musie of a cliild 1

How it doth agonize at such an liour I

It was ilia last, deep struggle — Abraham hchi

Hia loved, his beautiful, hia only son,

Hosiecb, Google

And lifted up ha sivni, and called on God —

And lo ! Gkid's Angel stnid him— and lie fell

Upon his fa™ and wept."

When on his return lie told Sarali of his

strange mission, and how the Lord stayed

his uplifted hand when the struggle had

passed, with deeper yearnings of the ma-

ternal heart she clasped Isaac to her hosom,

and mingled with his own, her tears of joy.

She did not long survive this last test of

fidehty, itself the crowning e\'idence that

she was the mother whose posterity would

out-number the stars. At Kirjath-arba, in

the vale of Hebron, during the absence of

Abraham, Sarah died. When he heard of

her death, he hastened to her burial, " to

mourn and to weep for her." There is no

more affecting funeral scene in history.

Bending over the corpse of his beautiful

and devoted wife, he looked upon the

strangers about him, and while his hoary

locks shook with the excitement of grief

he sobbed aloud, " I am a stranger and a

sojourner with you; give me a possession

of a buiTing julace with you, that I may

bury my dead out of my sight."

He bought the field of Machpelah, and in

a cave, which seemed to have been formed

for a sepulchre, beneath the shade of forest

trees, he laid the form he loved when a

beauteous maiden, the noblest of wives,

and a faithful, praying mother. With Isaac

weeping at his side, he turned away to en-

force on his tender spirit her holy counsels,

and w^t further upon the providence of

God toward the youth ; upon whom must

fall the patriarchal mantle, and who was to

guard and transmit the knowledge and wor-

ship of Jehovah.

15. SARAH BY Rev. Monsignor BERNARD O REILLY, D.D., L.D.

There is one providential miracle witnessed daily by every man, woman, and child

in every Christian land, and to which mothers would do well to point the attention

of their dear ones. It is the survival of the Hebrew race in our midst, as distinct and

well defined to the mind s eye among sur rounding nations and races, as the

towering crests of the western mountains stand out at sunset clearly cut, and

illumined with golden splendors, against the darkening sky of evening.

Only think of it! Since the day when men contemporary with

the mighty hunter " Nimrod stamped on tablets of Assyrian

brick the story of the flood so unexpectedly brought to light,

and just interpreted to us by the ripest science of Christendom,

- only think how revolution after revolution, more destructive

than flood or flame, has swept over these Mesopotamian plains,

and over every spot of earth where the wandering children of

Abraham and Sara have planted their tents, blotting out utterly

from the face of the earth the conquering races of Assyria,

Babylon, Egypt, and Rome, and leaving one ever-living, ever-

present monument behind, on which the whole earth must gaze

with an awe mixed with veneration and pity, the Hebrew

race.

It is with such memories that we approach the history of Sara,

the mother of God s chosen people, chosen herself, together

with her husband, for sacrifices and sufferings well calculated to

try the temper of the most heroic souls.

She was called at first Sarai (the Contentious), and was the

sixth in descent from Heber, the great-grandson of Noe. Abram,

however, and his wife, when they had passed, at God s call, from

their native Chaldaea to the west of the Euphrates, were desig

nated Ibrim, or immigrants from u beyond" (eber) "the great

river."

According to some chronologists, Noe lived for sixty-two years

after the birth of Abraham, and fifty-two after that of his niece,

or half-sister, Sarai. If Noe s wife (Noria, as she is called in some

traditions, or Noema in others) lived as long as her husband, it

might, in this case, have been the privilege of both these ances

tors of Israel to have dwelt for half a century with the venerable

pair from whose loins sprung the renewed human family. Thus

SARA THE PRINCESS. 21

we may, without violating historical probability, contemplate

Noria (or Noema) as holding on her knees the child Sarai, and

pouring into her ear in girlhood and early womanhood the story

of her own long existence, of gigantic crimes against Heaven

which she had seen visited with such overwhelming retribution,

and of the solitary example of godlike piety in her own com

panion, rewarded by the divine friendship, and the experience of

so merciful a Providence. The Almighty hand, so terrible in

destroying the guilty and unrepentant, had been all fatherly ten

derness and protection to them and theirs. And with this tale

of a world destroyed to punish sin would be told that other no

less truthful one of the first creation, coming directly from our

first parents through Mathusala, who had lived hundreds of years

with these on the one hand, and then with Noe and his wife on

the other. With the still nearer example of the unteachable

pride exhibited at Babel, and of the chastisement that overtook

the builders, Sara must have been made familiar from the cradle,

by every person and object around her. Babel, or Bab-Ilu, "the

gate of the god Ilu," was very near to, if not identical with, Bor-

sippa, " the tower of tongues," or " the tower of the dispersion

of tribes," as one cuneiform inscription terms it ; while another

inscription designates Babylon as " the town of the root of

languages."

Both Abram and Sarai dwelt in Chaldaea, in the very district

bearing the name of their ancestor Arphaxad, in that city of Ur,

whose name in the cuneiform languages is " the dwelling of

Ouannes," or of the fish-god, and is identified with the modern

Um-Mugheir.

The Lower Euphrates was the seat of an empire in which idol

atry prevailed to an extent that to us seems unaccountable,

particularly when we recollect that all who were then living in

ripe manhood and womanhood were the descendants of one man,

deceased but a few years before, and the devoted worshiper of

the one true God. Indeed, we are now putting together from

the mounds of Babylon and Nineveh the historical records of

that same empire and that idol worship. Thare (Terah), Sarai s

father, was himself an idolater (Josue xxiv. 2). From out the

22 SARA THE PRINCESS.

whole mass of erring humanity, she and her husband would alone

appear to have remained true to God, and to be therefore chosen

by him to preserve in their blessed seed the knowledge and love

of the Holy Name, and the cherished faith in the promised

Redeemer and Restorer.

One mighty trial is hinted in Scripture as put upon her

womanly heart before the divine voice summoned Abram forth

from the land and the people. In 2 Esdras (Nehemiah) ix. 7, it

is said that God brought Abram u forth out of the fire of the

Chaldees." Josephus affirms that Abram was superior to his

fellow-countrymen in learning, eloquence, and virtue, and that he

determined to spread among them and all mankind a knowledge

of the true God and his worship. The worship of light and fire

formed the central part of the Chaldaean idolatry ; and Abram

" ventured to publish his opinion " in opposition to the popular

belief. " If," said he, " the sun and moon, and all the heavenly

bodies, had power of their own, they would certainly take care

of their own regular motion. Since they do not take care of

their own regularity, they make it plain, that, in so far as they

co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abili

ties, but as they are subservient to Him who commands them,

and to whom alone we ought justly to offer our homage and

thanksgiving." With the irregularity here complained of, mod

ern astronomers may not agree, nor may they value much the

consequence drawn from such premises ; but we are not putting

forth an argument. On the nature of the Chaldsean worship a

singular light is thrown by the recent discoveries. They reveal

the fact that the Mesopotamian populations did not confine them

selves to a bloodless sun and star worship, but that they united

with the idolatry akin to the monstrous systems of India and

China the mythology and demon-worship afterward prevalent

throughout Western Asia, Egypt, and Europe. The homage paid

to the supreme god Ilu was comparatively pure ; not so, how

ever, the worship of the double triads of gods and goddesses

whom they adored as emanating from his substance. We know

from 4 Kings xvii. 31, that in Sippar, near Babylon, both to

Ouannes or Anu Malik, the ocean god, and to Adar Malik, the

8AEA THE PRINCESS. 23

Chaldaean Saturn, were immolated human victims. Thus in

the days of Abram, as well as in those of the exiled Israelites,

the Babylonian cities " burnt their children in fire " to propitiate

their demon-gods. And it was the altars of this same Anu Malik

of the Assyrian discoverers that Abram may have sought to over

throw in the city of Ur, of which Anu was the tutelar deity. At

any rate, Josephus goes on to say that " the Chaldseans and other

people of Mesopotamia raised a tumult against him " (Abram) ;

and "he thought it prudent to leave the country."

Other Jewish traditions say that the noble-hearted teacher of

an unpopular creed was cast publicly into the fire, God deliver

ing him therefrom miraculously ; that this deliverance wrought

the conversion of his father Thare, and his other kinsfolk ; and

that thus purified, like gold in the fire, God chose Abram as a

most precious vessel in which to preserve for all future time the

deposit of revealed truth.

But even if Sarai was not doomed to witness this crucial test

of her husband s fidelity to God, and of God s truth toward his

servant, there was, in the daily and hourly persecutions which

popular fanaticism can silently inflict on the object of its hatred,

an ordeal for both their souls, more to be feared than the tortures

of the furnace or the blazing pile. That ordeal they both had

certainly to undergo until the day dawned when their Master

found them fit for his purposes.

u And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth out of thy country,

and from thy kindred, and out of thy father s house, and come

into the land which I shall show thee. And I will make of thee

a great nation ; and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and

thou shalt be blessed. I will bless them that bless thee, and

curse them that curse thee ; and in thee shall all the kindred of

the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii.). Then it was, in obedience to

this call, that u Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of

Aran, his son s son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, and brought

them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan;

and they came as far as Haran (Charran), and dwelt there."

Sarai was now in her sixty-fifth year ; and her surpassing

beauty does not seem to have suffered blight or decrease. But in

24 SAEA THE PRINCESS.

tearing herself away for ever from country, kinsfolk, friends, and

all the dear associations that bind us so closely to our native soil,

she was not even consoled by having child of her own on whom

to bestow the affection that is ever welling up and overflowing

in the exile s heart. God had promised Abram to make them

the parents of an entire nation ; but as they turned their backs

on Chaldsea, and their faces westward to those lands where wave

after wave of emigrants had preceded them, the realization of

the divine promise receded farther into the dark future ; and

Sarai s long-cherished hopes resembled the mirage on the parched

plains over which they traveled, daily mocking the thirsty and

footsore pilgrims with bright visions that vanished as they drew

near.

At Charran, in the lovely region around the modern Chabour,

the wayfarers tarried some space, and there closed the eyes of

their parent Thare, taught by his children, ere earth disappeared

for ever from his sight, to look up for mercy to Jehovah. And

then began the long march toward the setting sun, leaving part

of their relatives behind them in Charran, amid fertility and

affluence, taking with them their nephew Lot whom they had

adopted, and directing their course "they knew not whither,"

and cared not, so long as they followed the will of Him who

was to be thenceforward their sole light and stay and hope.

The whole Mediterranean seaboard, from Tarsus in the north to

the mouth of the Nile, and westward along the African shore,

was in the possession of the same Chamitic race who had planted

the empire of violence and idolatry along the Euphrates and the

Tigris. The sensual Chanaanites occupied the beautiful and

teeming valleys that radiate around the mountain-chains of

Libanus and Carmel, and were building up at Tarsus, Tyre,

Aradus, and Sidon centers of commercial activity and of political

and religious power, whose influence should be soon felt far and

wide. This same land of Chanaan, then truly flowing with milk

and honey, was the goal of Abram s journey, and the destined

inheritance of his posterity. Did any prophetic vision float before

Sarai s mind, or any secret presentiment fill her heart with the

sweet assurance, as she and her husband crossed t&gt; 3 Jordan near

SARA THE PRINCESS. 25

the Sea of Galilee, that One sprung from her, and in whom all

nations should be blessed, would one day press these same shores

with his feet, and waken with his words of power the echoes of

yonder dark blue waters ?

Through rich pastures, and hills planted with the vine and the

olive, to " the noble vale " of Sichein (Shechem) between its

flowering Alps, opening up a vista as of the garden of God, and

worthy of being the abode of paradisiacal man, the peaceful

caravan wended its way. There, while the wanderers rested in

their first blissful sleep beneath the sky of Palestine, the Lord

appeared to Abram, and said to him, " To thy seed will I give

this land." We can imagine the patriarch awakening his cou

rageous wife to communicate to her the purport of this new

promise ; or it may be that he who honored in her the ancestress

of the future God-man made her now the sharer, with her bus-

band, of these glad tidings, and shed on her eyes the glory of

his presence.

At any rate, they built an altar there, on the hillside, near the

site of the future city of Bethel, and poured out their hearts in

grateful sacrifice to their Guide and Benefactor. Farther on to

the south, whither the divine instinct now led them, another altar

was built, apparently with greater solemnity ; and, as a protesta

tion against the idolatry that defiled the land as well as to take

formal possession thereof in the name of the living God, Abram

u called upon his name."

Southward still the pilgrims sped, planting their tents, now in

one place, and now in another, as though surveying in advance

the scenes of Christ s labors, and planting their footprints on

every spot to be one day consecrated by his blessed feet. To

Bethlehem, it may be, and to Jerusalem, they journeyed, every

where " calling on His name " in whom they believed and trusted

with a loving faith that no delays could weaken, and no dis

appointments shake.

They were bound to go to Egypt too, marking out a pathway

for the Babe afterwards divinely preserved from Herod s pitiless

sword. And here occurs for Sarai a danger more to be feared

than the flames of the Chaldsean furnace. Famine visited this

26 SAEA THE PRINCESS.

land of Chanaan, naturally so fertile ; and the strangers, whose

herds and followers could not find subsistence there, sought a

temporary relief in Egypt, ever blessed with plenty. Josephus

gives an additional motive to Abram s journey thither : he was

desirous of thoroughly learning their philosophic and religious

systems, and of spreading among them the knowledge of Jehovah.

But, being aware of the licentious and despotic temper of the

Egyptian rulers, he gave way to a fear lest the beauty of Sarai

should cost him his life. Being childless, they agreed to pass for

brother and sister, and to Conceal their relation of husband and

wife. It would appear to be an unworthy subterfuge ; and the

Scriptures, in relating it, with their wonted candor relate, also,

the terrible consequences to which the deception well-nigh led.

The princely rank of the strangers, and, still more, the marvel

ous beauty of the Chaldaean lady, were noised abroad through

the land ; and the Pharaoh who ruled in Lower Egypt hastened

to secure the possession of the latter.

To Christian eyes illuminated by faith, the signal deliverance

wrought by the divine intervention, when all human aid seemed

powerless to avert dishonor, will not appear extraordinary. Sarai

represented both the church of the old law and that of the new,

who is called " Christ s spouse undefiled." God owed it to him

self, to Abram, who bore the figure of Christ, and to Sarai, who

typified his church, to save her from every stain.

Man s extremity is also God s opportunity. When the agony of

the two hearts was at its height, the Almighty hand was stretched

forth : its touch warned Pharaoh of the wrong he was about to

commit. Besides, he believed Sarai to be still unwedded, and

deemed he was honoring her brother by the contemplated con

nection. Abram was rebuked for his subterfuge; and his wife

was restored with every demonstration of honor, and every mark

of liberality, that could repair an evil partly unintentional. It is

said that Abram then carried out his design of visiting the most

famous seats of Egyptian learning, and of imparting, in return for

the instruction derived therefrom, a knowledge of astronomy and

arithmetic. But of this there is no mention in the Bible.

Thus was verified of Abram and Sarai the saying of the

SABA THE PRINCESS. 27

Psalmist : " They passed from nation to nation, and from one king

dom to another people. He suffered no man to hurt them ; and

he reproved kings for their sakes. Touch ye not My anointed ;

and do no evil to My prophets" (Ps. civ. 14, &c.).

With increased gratitude and trustfulness toward God, and

clinging more tenderly to each other, they now returned to the

oaken groves and rich pastures of Bethel. The valley at that

period, and before the dreadful fate that soon overwhelmed Sodom

and its kindred cities, opened into the magnificent sweep of low

lands extending from the Sea of Galilee downwards, and embra

cing the whole territory of the Dead Sea.

Here Lot departed from his adopted father and chief: we know

from the tragic story of Sodom s guilt and punishment, how

dearly the selfish nephew paid for his imprudence and love of

false independence. New blessings came to Abram with each

succeeding year, new power, fresh honor in the eyes of the Cha-

naanites, and even the halo of success in war. Melchisedech, the

priest-king of Jerusalem, blessed him in the name of the Most

High. The covenant between himself and his Master, and its

accompanying promise of a countless posterity, were reiterated

with increased solemnity. Still no child gladdened his hearth

stone ; and Sarai s brow, as age and its infirmities came on apace,

was not encircled with the crown of maternity. In her unselfish

love for her husband, and her anxious desire to see the divine

promises fulfilled even in children that were not her own, she

persuaded him to follow the custom, too common in their native

land, and universal among the heathen of Palestine and Egypt,

and take from her own hand a concubine in the person of her

Egyptian servant Agar.

Whatever may be the excuses alleged in favor of this mitigated

form of polygamy at this early stage of the history of mankind,

there is no need to offer any here.

In every instance where the Scriptures set before us God s

privileged servants electing to do what is a moral imperfection,

or even choosing what is least perfect, instead of what is most, we

are made to witness in the event disappointment, bitterness of

soul, and, not unfrequently, calamities. We have just seen how

28 SARA THE PRINCESS.

Abram s subterfuge in Egypt was followed by perils from the

thought of which a chaste soul recoils with dread. Further on

(Gen. xx.), the very same pusillanimous course brings on pre

cisely similar dangers that are averted by another act of divine

interposition.

Making every allowance for the age, the country, and other

extenuating circumstances, we are bound to judge Sarai s offer

and Abram s acceptance in the light of Christ s teaching, and in

that of the eternal fitness of things consecrated by the primitive

institution of matrimony. God, the Author alike of the natural

and the supernatural order, would have perfect and eternal unity

in the love from which the family springs. Two mothers, in the

home that Nature approves and God would bless, must never

divide the affections of the father s heart, nor divide either the

filial veneration of his children, or the obedience of his servants.

One undivided love, ever deepening and widening with successive

years, growing purer and holier with time, such is the love

intended by the Creator, and commanded by the law of the

gospel.

No sooner is Agar a mother than she despises her childless

mistress. No sooner does Isaac, the child of the promise, appear

in the great patriarch s home by the side of Ishmael than there

is strife between the mothers, cruel affliction in the father s soul ;

and peace can come only at the price of unnatural separa

tion.

But we are anticipating. The end of the trial put upon

Sarai s lively faith and yearning trust in her God was about to be

rewarded, but not till time had, in its seemingly interminable

course, brought her to her ninetieth year, and Abram had begun

his hundredth. Well may such heroic reliance on the word of

Him who is very truth remain for all future ages as a solitary and

shining lesson. Then a new covenant is made : Abram (the

Exalted Father) is changed to Abraham (Father of a Multitude) ;

and Sarai (the Contentious) becomes Sara or Sarah (Princess or

Lady). Three angels are also deputed to Sara to reward her

long-waiting by a direct and solemn promise that her hope is

soon to be fulfilled.

SABA THE PRINCESS. 29

From the home honored by such a presence, and in reward of

such virtues, the angelic visitors speed to pour the divine ven

geance on the wicked cities of the valley. When they return the

next year, Isaac is laid, like a treasure beyond all price, and a

delight beyond the reach of thought, on that motherly heart.

Hope, like the century-plant, had survived the winters of ninety

years, and blossomed, and borne its solitary fruit, filling the whole

valley with fragrance and joy.

How tenderly, how carefully, this child was reared amid scenes

hallowed by God s visible and habitual intercourse with his

parents, need not be told. Sara watched him, with all the pent-

up love of a long lifetime, growing up to early manhood, when a

supreme test was demanded of that father s oft-tried faith and

generosity. He was asked to sacrifice with his own hand the son

on whose head rested the destinies of his race ; and this sacrifice

he was required to make absolutely and unquestioningly, leav

ing it to God to send him, in his own good time, another child to

fill the place of Isaac.

Was this dread requisition communicated to Sara when the

aged patriarch and his boy left their home to go to that same

mountain-top near which another Father, in after-years, was also

to immolate his only-begotten Son ? We are not told by Scrip

ture. If Sara s heart was searched to its inmost depths of gen

erosity by the intimation of the divine Will, then, indeed, no

mother that ever lived on earth was tried like her, save that

Mother of the Only-Begotten, to whom no pang was spared. But

we believe that God, who associated the Mother of Sorrows in

suffering with the second Isaac, because she represented Eve, was

pleased to spare Sara the unutterable agony of that consent and

that parting. Abraham s sublime generosity was the lively image

of the charity of that Father, who, for our sakes, gave up his

only Son to death.

Was it on that mountain-top, when Isaac was unbound from

the altar, and restored to the paternal embrace, that the veil of

ages was torn asunder, and Abraham was permitted to gaze on

the divine reality typified by the sacrifice thus left unaccom

plished? We know that Christ said of him, "Abraham . .

3Q SARA THE PRINCESS.

rejoiced that he might see my day : he saw it, and was glad "

(John viii. 56). Did Sara share in the ineffable consolations of

that vision of the Redeemer s triumph in suffering, humiliation,

and death? We may rest assured, at least, that Abraham delayed

not to make known to her on what glories he had been given to

look from afar. And oh ! what reward was there in that one

hour of blissful contemplation of the mystery hidden from the

beginning of the world, for all the wanderings of half a century,

for all the untold bitterness of exile and isolation in strange lands,

and amid peoples hostile to x the faith and hopes nearest to the

wanderers 1 hearts!

Restored to his fond parents as from the gates of death, Isaac

grew up to ripe manhood before the treasure of that mother s

love was taken from him. That she labored through these years

of unalloyed happiness to store the mind and heart of her wor

shiped boy with the faith in Jehovah that had been the guiding-

star of her own existence, and with all the wisdom and manly

virtues needful to the appointed ancestor of God s people, there

is every reason to believe. How her own soul must have glowed

with love for the Divine Majesty as the end drew nigh, and the

sweet communion with himself and his angels, so often vouchsafed

to cheer her exile, and raise her drooping hopes, became more

intimate, and more uninterrupted, as the dawn of eternal day

grew brighter in the east!

Abraham had long come to be looked upon as "a mighty

prince " among the great ones of the land ; and his princess was

as much revered for her goodness as she had been admired for

her incomparable graces of person. She died with the hands of

Abraham and Isaac clasped in her own, looking serenely up to

Him who had promised to be their "exceeding great reward; "

for God alone, in the full communication of his life, glory, and

happiness, can be the fitting reward of "the children of God"

The princes of Palestine hastened to offer to the bereaved

patriarch a choice among their most splendid sepulchers, in which

to deposit all that was mortal of a woman tried and blessed as

never woman had been. But Abraham would have for the

resting-place of that heart so singularly all his own a tomb which

no heathen rites might defile. He purchased the Cave of Mach-

pelah, and laid her there. No spot of earth, save one, the

sepulcher of her descendant, the Holy One of Israel, is looked

upon with such veneration, and guarded with such jealous care.

16. SARAH THE PRINCESS, BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

ONE woman in the Christian dispensation has received

a special crown of honor. Sarah, the wife of Abraham,

mother of the Jewish nation, is to this day an object

of traditional respect and homage in the Christian

Church. Her name occurs in the marriage service as an ex-

ample for the Christian wife, who is exhorted to meekness and

obedience by St. Peter, "Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, call-

ing him lord ; whose daughters ye are, so long as ye do well,

and are not subject to a slavish fear."

In turning to the narrative of the Old Testament, however, we

are led to feel that in setting Sarah before wives as a model of

conjugal behavior, no very alarming amount of subjection or sub-

mission is implied.

The name Sarah means "princess"; and from the Bible story

we infer that, crowned with the power of eminent beauty, and

fully understanding the sovereignty it gave her over man, Sarah

was virtually empress and mistress of the man she called "lord."

She was a woman who understood herself and him, and was too

wise to dispute the title when she possessed the reality of sway ;

and while she called Abraham " lord," it is quite apparent from

certain little dramatic incidents that she expected him to use his

authority in the line of her wishes.

In going back to these Old Testament stories, one feels a cease-

less admiration of the artless simplicity of the primitive period

of wliich they are the only memorial. The dew of earth's early

morning lies on it, sparkling and undried; and the men and

women speak out their hearts with the simplicity of little chil-

dren.

In Abraham we see the man whom God designed to be the

WOIIAJ!^ JJSr SAC BED HIS TOBY.

father of a great sacerdotal nation ; through whom, in the full-

ness of time, should come the most perfect revelation of himself

to man, by Jesus Christ. In choosing the man to found such

a nation, the Divine Being rejected the stormy and forcible

characters which command the admiration of rude men in early

ages, and chose one of gentler elements.

Abraham was distinguished for a loving heart, a tender domes-

tic nature, great reverence, patience, and fidelity, a childlike

simplicity of faith, and a dignified self-possession. Yet he was

not deficient in energy or courage when the event called for them.

When the warring tribes of the neighborhood had swept his kins-

man. Lot, into captivity, Abraham came promptly to the rescue,

and, with his three hundred trained servants, pursued, vanquished,

and rescued. Though he loved not battle, when roused for a

good cause he fought to some purpose.

Over the heart of such a man, a beautiful, queenly woman

held despotic sway. Traveling with her into the dominions

of foreign princes, he is possessed by one harassing fear. The

beauty of this woman, — will it not draw the admiration of

marauding powers % And shall I not be murdered, or have her

torn from me % And so, twice, Abraham resorts to the stratagem

of concealing their real relation, and speaking of her as his sister.

The Rabbinic traditions elaborate this story with much splendor

of imagery. According to them, Abraham being obliged by

famine to sojourn in Egypt, rested some days by the river

Nile ; and as he and Sarah walked by the banks of the river,

and he beheld her wonderful beauty reflected in the water, he

was overwhelmed with fear lest she should be taken from liim,

or that he should be slain for her sake. So he persuaded her

to pass as his sister; for, as he says, "she was the daughter

of my father, but not of my mother." The legend goes on to

say, that, as a further precaution, he had her placed in a chest

to cross the frontier; and when the custom-house officers met

them, he offered to pay for the box whatever they might ask, to

pass it free.

" Does it contain silks f " asked the officers.

" I will pay the tenth as of silk," he replied.

SARAH THE PRINCESS.

" Does it contain silver? " they inquired,

"I will pay for it as silver," answered Abraham.

"Nay, then, it must contain gold."

" I will pay for it as gold."

" May be it contains most costly gems."

" I will pay for it as gems," he persisted.

In the struggle the box was broken open, and in it was seated

a beautiful woman whose countenance illumined all Egypt. The

news reached the ears of Pharaoh, and he sent and took her.

In comparing these Rabinnic traditions with the Bible, one is

immediately struck with the difference in quality, — the dignified

simplicity of the sacred narrative contrasts forcibly with the fan-

tastic elaborations of tradition.

The Rabbinic and Alcoranic stories are valuable, however, as

showing how profound an impression the personality of these

characters had left on mankind. The great characters of the

Biblical story, though in themselves simple, seemed, like the sun,

to raise around them many-colored and vaporous clouds of myth

and story. The warmth of their humanity kept them enwreathed

in a changing mist of human sympathies.

The falsehoods which Abraham tells are to be estimated not by

the modern, but by the ancient standard. In the earlier days of

the world, when physical force ruled, when the earth was covered

with warring tribes, skill in deception was counted as one of the

forms of wisdom. " The crafty Ulysses " is spoken of with honor

through the " Odyssey " for his skill in dissembling ; and the Lace-

demonian youth were punished, not for stealing or lying, but for

performing these necessary operations in a bungling, unskillful

manner.

In a day when it was rather a matter of course for a prince to

help himself to a handsome woman wherever he could find her,

and kill her husband if he made any objections, a weaker party

entering the dominions of a powerful prince was under the laws

of war.

In our nineteenth century we have not yet grown to such

maturity as not to consider false statements and stratagem as

legitimate war policy in dealing with an enemy. Abraham's ruse

WOMAJV IN SACRED HISTORY.

is not, therefore, so very far behind even the practice of modern

Christians. That he should have employed the same fruitless

stratagem twice, seems to show that species of infatuation on the

one subject of a beloved woman, which has been the " last infirm-

ity " of some otherwise strong and noble men, — wise everywhere

else, but weak there.

The Rabbinic legends represent Sarah as being an object of

ardent admiration to Pharaoh, who pressed his suit with such

vehemence that she cried to God for deliverance, and told the

king that she was a married woman. Then — according to this

representation — he sent her away with gifts, and even extended

his complacency so far as to present her with his daughter Hagar

as a handmaid, — a legend savoring more of national pride than

of probability.

In the few incidents related of Sarah she does not impress us

as anything more than the beautiful princess of a nomadic tribe,

with many virtues and the failings that usually attend beauty

and power.

With all her advantages of person and station, Sarah still wanted

what every woman of antiquity considered the crowning glory of

womanhood. She was childless. By an expedient common in

those early days, she gives her slave as second wife to her hus-

band, whose child shall be her own. The Rabbinic tradition says

that up to this time Hagar had been tenderly beloved by Sarah.

The prospect, however, of being mother to the heir of the family

seems to have turned the head of the handmaid, and broken the

bonds of friendshij) between them.

In its usual naive way, the Bible narrative represents Sarah as

scolding her patient husband for the results which came from fol-

lowing her own advice. Thus she complains, in view of Hagar's

insolence: "My wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid

unto thy bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was

despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between thee and me."

We see here the eager, impulsive, hot-hearted woman, accus-

tomed to indulgence, impatient of trouble, and perfectly certain

that she is in the right, and that the Lord himself must think so.

Abraham, as a well-bred husband, answers pacifically : " Behold,

SABAH THE PIUNCESS.

thy maid is in thy hand, to do as pleaseth tliee." And so it

pleased Sarah to deal so hardly with her maid that she fled to the

wilderness.

Finally, the domestic broil adjusts itself. The Divine Father,

who watches alike over all his creatures, sends back the im-

petuous slave from the wilderness, exhorted to patience, and com-

forted with a promise of a future for her son.

Then comes the beautiful idyl of the three angels, who an-

nounce the future birth of the long-desired heir. We could

wish all our readers, who may have fallen out of the way of

reading the Old Testament, to turn again to the eighteenth chap-

ter of Genesis, and see the simple picture of those olden days.

Notice the beautiful hospitality of reception. The Emir rushes

himself to his herd to choose the fatted calf, and commands the

princess to make ready the meal, and knead the cakes. Then

comes the repast. The announcement of the promised blessing,

at which Sarah laughs in incredulous surprise ; the grave rebuke

of the angels, and Sarah's white lie, with the angel's steady an-

swer, — are all so many characteristic points of the story. Sarah,

in all these incidents, is, with a few touches, made as real flesh

and blood as any woman in the pages of Shakespeare, — not a

saint, but an average mortal, with all the foibles, weaknesses, and

variabilities that pertain to womanhood, and to womanhood in an

early age of imperfectly developed morals.

We infer from the general drift of the story, that Sarah, like most

warm-hearted and passionate women, was, in the main, a kindly,

motherly creature, and that, when her maid returned and submit-

ted, she was reconciled to her. At all events, we find that the son

of the bondwoman was born and nurtured under her roof, along

with her own son Isaac. It is in keeping with our conception of

Sarah, that she should at times have overwlielmed Hagar with

kindness, and helped her through the trials of motherhood, and

petted the little Ishmael till he grew too saucy to be endured.

The Jewish mother nursed her child three years. The wean-

ing was made a great /e^e, and Sarah's maternal exultation at this

crisis of her life, displayed itself in festal preparations. We hear

her saying: '^ God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear

WOMAIi IN' SACRED HISTORY.

will laug-li witli me. Who would liave said unto Abraham that

Sarah should have given children suck % for I have borne him a

son in his old age."

In the height of this triumph, she saw the son of the Egyptian

woman mocking, and all the hot blood of the woman, mother, and

princess flushed up, and she said to her husband: " Cast out this

bondwoman and her son ; for the son of this bondwoman shall

not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."

We are told "the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight

because of his son." But a higher power confirms the hasty,

instinctive impulse of the mother. The God of nations saw in

each of these infant boys the seed-forms of a race with a history

and destiny apart from each other, and Abraham is comforted

Avitli the thought that a fatherly watch will be kept over both.

Last of all we come to the simple and touching announcement

of the death of this woman, so truly loved to the last. '' And

Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old : these were

the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba ;

the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan ; and Abraham came to

mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." It is a significant token of

the magnificent physical vigor with which that early age was en-

dowed, that now, for the first time, the stroke of death has fallen

on the family of Abraham, and he is forced to seek a burial-place.

Sarah, the beautiful princess, the crowned mother of a gieat

nation, the beloved wife, is dead ; and Abraham, constant lover

in age as youth, lays her away with tears. To him she is ever

young ; for love confers on its object eternal youth.

A beautiful and peculiar passage in the history describes the

particulars of the purchase of this burial-place. All that love can

give to the fairest, most beautiful, and dearest is a tomb ; and

Abraham refuses to take as a gift from the nobles of the land

so sacred a spot. It must be wholly his own, bought with his

own money. The sepulchre of Machpelah, from the hour it was

consecrated by the last sleep of the mother of the tribe, became

the calm and sacred resting-place to which the eyes of children's

children turned. So Jacob, her grandson, in his dying hour,

remembered it : —

'' Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field

of Ephron the Hittite. There they buried Abraham and Sarah

his wife ; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and

there I buried Leah."

Two powerful and peculiar nations still regard this sepulchre

with veneration, and cherish with reverence the memory of Sarah

the Princess.

17. SARAH: OBEDIENT WIFE BY W. MACKINTOSH MACKAY

Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands . . . even as

Sara obeyed Abraham^ calling him lord.* 1 PETER iii. 1 and 6.

ALTHOUGH I have taken up many a type of

Bible Woman, this is the first time I have

spoken on 6 the obedient wife.' Perhaps the

reason is that the type is not very common !

Luther declared that if he wanted an obedient

wife, he would have to carve her out of a

stone. However that may be, the Bible is

pretty strong on the obedience of wives, and

in the words of our text, St. Peter sets forth

Sarah, the mother of the nation, as his Bible

type of her.

At first sight, indeed, the identification does

not seem to be very apt ; for the passage in

which she calls Abraham her c lord * is one

that is more remarkable for incredulity than

for the obedience of faith. * Then Sarah

laughed within herself, saying, After I am

waxed old, shall I have such a pleasure, my

lord being old also ? * (Gen. xviii. 12).

But when we look deeper, we see that Peter

2 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

is right. All through the chequered life of

Sarah with its waywardness and its wan-

derings, there runs the golden thread of a

beautiful submission to a husband's inter-

ests, in which she has been such a pattern

to the multitudes of 4 holy women ' who have

in this respect followed her. For, joking

apart, I do believe this wifely submission of

Sarah is not such an uncommon phenomenon

as we are apt to think. What has often

struck me rather is the noble way in which

many women ' forget their own house and

their father's kindred * in order to further

the interests of the man they love.

But to return to Sarah, There are four

places in which she comes into the limelight

in the Bible, and in each of these she displays

this self-denying quality of wifely submission.

I. We see her as the emigrant's tvife>

leaving Haran with Abraham to go out into

a strange land. This must have been no

small trial ; to leave her settled home and

become a dweller in tents* Yet we read

of no word of complaint from her, and the

fact that God changed her name from Sarai

to Sarah, the Mother of Nations, proves, 1

THE OBEDIENT WIFE 3

think, that she must have played her part as

a Pilgrim Mother and been sympathetic with

Abraham in his obedience to the call of faith.

And, as I have said, Sarah has in truth been

a mother of nations in that respect. How

many a girl has to follow up her marriage

vow 4 till death us do part ' by standing on

the deck of some emigrant ship and watching

the land fade away beneath a blue horizon

the land of home and kindred. I was read-

ing over again the other day the story of

Chalmers of New Guinea. He was a true

Abraham, a pioneer of faith. But what

about his wife ? As I read of his restless

wanderings from one mission station to

another, I could sympathise with the com-

plaint of his poor wife, 4 Tamate is so restless. 5

Yes, she, like him, was a martyr too. She fell

not by the spear of an Indian savage, but by

an arrow of love shot by her husband's noble

faith.

II. Once again we see Sarah's wifely sub-

mission in her willingness to disguise herself as

Abraham's sister when famine drove them both

into the land of Egypt.

The proposal Abraham made to her at this

4 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

time was base in the extreme. One wonders

that Sarah's love for him did not fall dead

when it was made. It was nothing less

than that she should allow herself to submit

to dishonour in order that he might escape

the assassin's dagger. It was a vile sugges-

tion, and we can only wonder that such a man

as Abraham afterwards became should have

yielded to it for one moment. But fear of

death had unmanned him, and perhaps he

hoped that Sarah would escape out of the

Egyptian harem ere the worst came.

It must have been with a sore heart, we

say, that Sarah listened to her husband's

abject proposal at this time. But love is a

blind god, and she not only did not despise

him forit, but willingly yielded to his proposal

The life of her dear husband was too precious

to her to make her think of the shame she

might incur by it. Besides, there was always

a way of escape the way of Lucretia*

'Even here she sheathed in her harmless breast

A harmful knife, that thence her soul unsheathed ;

That blow did bail it from the deep unrest

Of that polluted prison where it breathed :

Her contrite sighs unto the clouds bequeathed

Her winged sprite, and through her wounds cloth fly

Life's lasting date from cancelPd destiny."*

THE OBEDIENT WIFE 5

Whatever her motive, or her ultimate in-

tention in the plot, she was wrong utterly,

hopelessly wrong in yielding to her husband

on this occasion. And this incident well illus-

trates how far wifely submission should go

in yielding to a husband's desires and where

it must find a limit beyond which it can

never pass. That limit is set by the word

& Conscience. 9 6 God alone is Lord of the

conscience and hath left it free from the

commandments of men 5 even be that man

the dearest and his life in forfeit.

Yet how often still do we see women too

submissive in the matter of conscience.

There is no place in which a wife has a more

difficult battle to fight than in standing up

to her husband in the matter of conscience.

Many give way, as we can see from the reports

of collusion in crime in the daily press. But

do not you, my sister, if you wish to be a

true friend to your husband. No woman

ever did her husband a nobler service than

when she was not afraid to tell him he was

doing wrong. Faithful are the wounds of

a friend. Sarah would have been a nobler

woman had she been able to say to Abraham

at this time, * How can I do this great

6 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

wickedness and sin against God ? 9 And yet

you see how it all came out of her submissive-

ness. She called her husband 4 lord/ even

lord of her conscience.

III. Once again we see Sarah's submissive-

ness in the next great mistake she made 9 the

giving of her maid to Abraham as a subsidiary

wife, in order to carry on her husband? s Jieredi-

tary line.

It could not have been with anything but

pain that Sarah would make this suggestion

to her husband. Though it was done all

round her, Abraham and she had been ever

so closely knit together, that such a thought

had never entered their heads. But as the

years pass on and the promised seed shows

no sign of making its appearance,, and as

Sarah watches the disappointment deepen on

the brow of her husband and reads in his eye

the unspoken question Has it been ail in

vain then, ? This emigration and visions

sacrifices is nothing going to come of it ? I

say as she reads this in his face, the desperate

device takes form in her soul. Abraham

shall not suffer ! Though it means death to

her, he shall have a son. Take Hagar then and

let not the promises of God fail through me !

THE OBEDIENT WIFE 7

Ah ! it was all a blunder a blunder due

to her own lack of faith, a blunder that was

to cause her many sorrows and stain her

name with an indelible blot at the last the

stain of cruelty to poor Hagar. But this is

what we too often do. As one has said, 4 Have

you not sometimes used a means of effecting

your purpose, which you would shrink from

using habitually a Hagar brought in for a

season, to serve a purpose ; not a Sarah

accepted from God and cherished as an

eternal helpmeet. It is against this we are

here warned. From a Hagar can at best

spring only an Ishmael; while in order to

obtain the blessing God intends, we must

betake ourselves to God's barren-looking

means.'

Yet sin as it was, it was a defect of Sarah's

qualities. It sprang from submission to her

beloved's interests, as she conceived them.

IV. Last of all, do we not see Sarah's

wifely submission to her husband in Abraham's

Sacrifice of Isaac*! We are told nothing

about this in Scripture. The silences of Scrip-

ture are sometimes more impressive than

their speech. But that such a sacrifice was

* Dr. Mawms Dods* Mapositor't Bibk Genesis, p. 160.

8 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

hers I have little doubt. Sarah was not

a woman to be easily deceived, even had

Abraham been the man to deceive her. Their

hearts had been too long united for a secret

like that to get between them ; without,

at least, a dreadful suspicion filling Sarah's

mind with a pain beyond words to imagine.

We must remember human sacrifices were

going on all around Abraham's tents at this

time. Knowing Abraham's devotedness to

God, Sarah could feel little wonder that he

should sacrifice the very dearest thing he had

if his conscience told him to do so* When,

therefore, she discerns him on that gray

morning, leaving the tent with Isaac con-

vulsively gripped by his hand, and a servant

or two carrying wood for a sacrifice, but no

lamb oh, if he did not tell her before, the

dreadful truth must have now dawned

upon her mind! "He is going to take my

boy, my darling boy, the one and only child

of my old age and give him to Jehovah!*

What an agony of soul must have pierced

through her soul! She was in that hour,

in truth, the Mary of the Old Testament*

The sword was passing through her heart* as

she saw them both fade away in the distance,

THE OBEDIENT WIFE 9

going toward that solemn height of Mount

Moriah.

Yet there is no word of complaint. She

does not follow them along the way screaming

in agony. She does not attempt to outwit

her lord as Rebekah might have done. No,

6 she calls him lord * even in that sad hour.

There is an old Jewish tradition that she died

after it ; that when Abraham and Isaac came

back on the third day, they found her either

dying or dead of a broken heart. Yes, we

speak of Abraham's faith in the sacrifice of

Isaac as a noble one ; but what of Sarah's ?

Was there no sacrifice there ? Was not her

faith in her husband even in this terrible trial

almost as beautiful in its way as Abraham's

faith in God ? With all her faults, and I

freely admit them, is there not something

fine in the character of this much misunder-

stood heroine of the Old Testament ? Is she

not a pattern, as St. Peter says, for wives in

all ages in her sacrificial submission ?

Of course, Sarah is a true Eastern, Western

women cannot copy her to the letter. In

this matter

6 East is East and West is West,

And never the twain shall meet'

10 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

Yet in spite of longitudinal distinctions, I am

old-fashioned enough to believe that in this

matter Sarah has an eternal lesson to teach

us.

As one has well said* the New Testament

conception of marriage is 4 two lives fused

into one. 5 4 Where this unity of life is

absent, there are two individualities set over

against each other in every home, and where

that takes place, there is self-assertion and

the strain which self-assertion involves. A

merely legal bond is a fetter the bond

which is made by the unity of interest ; but

affection is a silken chain, to draw husband

and wife within the circle of a higher life

and a fuller joy.* l

There is thus something eternally true

in the Apostle's injunction* 'Wives, submit

yourselves unto your own husbands/ A

good wife has to throw herself into her hus-

band's life and do all she can to further his

aims else she is no true helpmeet. But is site

on that account his slave ? Far from it.

She is her husband's queen. Love crowns

her with a royalty she could never have won

by fear or force*

1 Dr. 0. M. Ross, Ckritt antf th* Mom*.

THE OBEDIENT WIFE n

I never use the word 6 obey ' In my marriage

service, because it is a word which is un-

known in the vocabulary of love. When

c maisterie J comes, as Chaucer says, c sweet

love takes wings and flies away ' ; but I

always read the wise words of St. Paul and

bid wives and husbands to live in that

atmosphere.

Critics of St. Paul often forget the con-

dition on which his injunction of wifely

obedience is given 6 even as the Church is

subject unto Christ.' He couples the sub-

mission of the wife with a service on the part

of the husband like that of the Church to

Christ a service kindled by the self-sacrifice

and love of her Lord. Whoever, therefore,

he be who Is entitled to claim the submission

of a wife, he is certainly not a tyrannical

husband. When the first vow is broken, the

second Is abrogated. He who said to wives

c Submit/ said to husbands, c Love your wives

even as Christ loved the Church and gave

Himself for her.'

We cannot do better than close with the

fine words of Jeremy Taylor, who in his

Marriage Ring sums it up in a nutshell.

* Christ/ he says, c Is the president of mar-

12 THE OBEDIENT WIFE

riage. He joins the hearts. Therefore let the

Banns of your wedding be first proclaimed

before Him in the Court of Heaven/

Where there is such a union, there will be

no difficulty in a true wife saying Amen to

the words of our text :

c Likewise, ye wives, submit yourselves

unto your own husbands, even as Sara

obeyed Abraham, calling him lord/ As

Longfellow says truly :

* As unto the bow, the string is.

So to the woman is the man.

Though she bend him, she obeys him,

Useless each without the other*'

.

.

\