صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

the ashes of one who, as appeared from the inscription on the tablet, had belonged to Cæsar's household, and to the memory of whose virtues as a faithful, honest and devoted servant, the emperor himself had ordered that marble to be raised. When wandering among the tombstones of a quiet churchyard, nothing has pleased me more than to light on one raised by a family over the grave of some old faithful nurse or aged retainer of their house; and near by this "gray metropolis" of Scotland there lies a cemetery where the traveler who goes to meditate among the tombs will find a monumental stone erected by Britannia's good sovereign to the memory of a faithful servant. Such honors are rare too rare, too seldom bestowed. Let servants see to it that they are not too seldom deserved, and that, "doing all as to the Lord and not to men," they earn, besides their wages, such a character as his master might have engraven on Eliezer's tombstone-"NOT SLOTHFUL IN BUSINESS, FERVENT IN SPIRIT, SERVING THE LORD."

V.

ISAAC.

BRAHAM and Sarah were for many years childless, and long did they have to wait for the son whom God had so repeatedly promised to give them. But at length their faith was rewarded, and Isaac was born to them.

in their old age.

Of Isaac's childhood we know scarcely anything. When eight days old, he was circumcised, and thus was made a member of the Jewish Church, and no doubt he was brought up as a servant of God from his very infancy. His pious parents watched over him with no common care, and taught him early to walk in the paths of holiness.

Scripture tells us that when a boy he suffered greatly from the contempt of his half-brother Ishmael-so much so that Abraham was forced to drive out Ishmael and expel him from his home.

And now picture to yourself Isaac grown up to manhood. Abraham was at this time considerably more than a hundred years old, and Sarah was not much less. Not only did they look on their son as the joy and support of their declining years, but they regarded him as a precious gift from the Lord, for which they never ceased to be thankful. They were constantly reminded, too, that through this very son God was going to bestow the most glorious blessings on the world.

Oh, what a damper, then, to their hopes and expectations must it have been when God commanded that this Isaac-this child

[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[graphic][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« السابقةمتابعة »