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unto the heirs of salvation. What a glorious household assembled in the third heavens-the eternal home of the redeeming God, the Great Redeemer, and the redeemed family. Thither you are going, if a true believer. All the dispensations of Providence, and all the means of grace are preparing you for that station. All things are working together for your good. Your present situation, with all its disquiet and discomfort, may be among the means which are preparing you for that state. You are away from home here, that you may be at home there. Let this cheer and comfort you. When distressed by looking back upon the home you have left, comfort yourself by looking on to that to which you are going. Heaven, glory, eternity, are before you. You are educating for your father's house-preparing to go in and dwell forever in his presence. Half a century hence at most, and in perhaps a much shorter time than that, it will be of no consequence to you how you passed through life. The only thing about which you should be supremely anxious is, not to be shut out from the heavenly home; not to be excluded by sin, impenitence, and unbelief, from the mansions which Christ has gone to prepare. the blessed hope of reaching that state, though they were ten times greater than they are, you might endure not only with fortitude, but with comfort, all the trials of A YOUNG WOMAN AWAY FROM HOME.

In

Character of Rebekah.

And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also So I drank, and she made the camels drink also. GENESIS xxiv. 45, 46.

EVERY one must be struck, we should think, with the construction of the narratives in the Book of Genesis, and their adaptation to the then existing state of the society to which they relate. Their verisimilitude guarantees their truthfulness, and explains their peculiarity. We find all that charming simplicity which the social condition of the heroes and heroines of the tale supposes, together with all their defects in conduct which their partial instruction might be expected to bring with it. Another kind of narrative, more in conformity with the modern advances and artificial refinement of society, would excite suspicion of the truthfulness of the story: its simplicity and its difference, from all we know of subsequent ages, are its verification.

Where shall we find, in all the range of fiction, any thing so exquisite as the history of Joseph, or even as the beautiful story contained in the chapter which furnishes the example to be contemplated in this discourse. We invite criticism and taste to the investigation of this precious portion of Holy Writ. True, it relates rather to the history of a family than of a nation. Yes, and it is worthy of remark, that the careful preservation in the museum of inspired chronicles, of this little gem of historic narrative, was by the Spirit of God thought to be of more importance than all that was going on at that time among the great nations of antiquity, not excepting Egypt, the birth-place and cradle of science. The secular historian delights to emblazon his page with the conflicts of empires, the exploits of heroes, and the prowess of armies; but what is the influence of such narrations upon the moral habits, social happiness, and individual character of mankind, compared with that of the record of the holy courtship of Isaac and Rebekah !

Sarah, the beloved and faithful wife of Abraham, had died, and had been laid in the cave of Machpelah. Sadness and desolation now reign in the patriarch's household. His tent is empty; and the grief of Isaac, who loved his mother most tenderly, is unsoothed, upon whom the heart of the venerable widower was now turned with more concentrated affection. Isaac, the miraculous child of promise, though forty years of age, was unmarried. The holy patriarch, amid much domestic disquiet, the

consequence of polygamy, had known the happiness of possessing a faithful and devoted wife, and he now became naturally anxious to see his beloved son well settled with a companion in life before he himself should go the way of all flesh. His solicitude, however, was not merely that Isaac should be married, but well married; which, in his view, meant not wealthily, but religiously. He was a worshiper of Jehovah, and abhorred idolatry, with the votaries and practices of which he was on every hand surrounded; and it pierced his heart with anguish to think of the child of promise contracting a marriage with one of these. He knew that character, as well as happiness, depends upon a suitable connection. And more than this, it was not only a private matter of personal and family arrangement, involving Isaac's happiness and the comfort of his father, but also a public concern intimately affecting the covenant of which Abraham was the earthly head, and the countless millions who were to be blessed in his seed. Isaac sustained a sacred character; he was the child of promise, and inherited, and was also to transmit, the promises concerning the Messiah. As he had relations in the land of Mesopotamia, who worshiped the living God, he determined to send his confidential servant to this family to engage a wife for Isaac. We must suppose, of course, that all this was under the cognizance of Isaac, and met with his cordial support. Parental authority was then more extensive, and filial submission to it more exemplary, than it now

is. Parents, according to the custom of those times, chose wives for their sons, and husbands for their daughters; and often were regulated in their choice more by regard to wealth and rank, than by the adaptation and affection of the parties to be thus united. We do not wish this custom to be revived; it is unnatural, and reduces marriage to a matter of bargain and sale. But we do wish parental counsel, consent, and approbation to be always sought in a matter of so much importance to all parties, whether directly or more remotely concerned.

The trusty servant selected by Abraham proceeded on his delicate, difficult, and, to both the father and son, momentous mission. Not, however, till religious solemnities had been observed, and Eliezer had been commended by the patriarch to God by prayer. If we wanted the character of a faithful servant, delineated to the life, where could we find a picture so perfect as this man? I shall not follow him through his long and wearisome journey of nearly five hundred miles, nor will I dwell upon the anxious ruminations of his mind during the weeks it occupied. Yet we can not but imagine how constantly that mind was lifted up to God for protection, direction, and success. He at length arrived at the city of his destination. It was a summer evening, and espying a well outside the walls, he stopped to give his camels drink before he passed through the gates. Aware that it was the custom for the young women to come and draw

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