Notable Women of Olden Time | Page 2

outlived that event
witnessed a wonderful change.
From that frail fabric, the ark, which proved the second cradle of the
race, Shem had beheld 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 vengeance, 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 had
passed away. And after the waters subsided, 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 presented! How must the survivors
have recalled past scenes and faces, to be seen no more! How much
they must have longed to recognise 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 fancies of those who darkly remembered the flood; and
as the wind swept through the caverns 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 brothers in true piety, and the
knowledge of Jehovah was for many generations preserved among his
descendants, while few or none of them ever sank into those deep
superstitions which debased the children of Ham. And it is beautiful to
remark, that the filial piety which so pre-eminently marked him has
ever been a prominent 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 confidence,
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 characteristic 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 patriarchs, kings, and prophets, until it settled 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 family 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
discoloured 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 and Abraham dwelt, and where Cassius and his
legions fell. But a short sojourn was permitted 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