Notable Women of Olden Time | Page 6

the honourable deference of the husband. The religion of this
household was the religion of faith and of obedience,--a religion which
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

justice, 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 example.
Let such not confine themselves to the 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
breathing 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.
[Illustration]

HAGAR--THE WIFE UNLOVED.
The Hebrew patriarch led his flocks and herds, surrounded by his large
household, from Haran to the land of the Canaanites; from thence to
that of the Philistines, down into Egypt; wherever so numerous a family

and such large flocks could find sustenance--water and herbage. And as
he thus sojourned, many of the poor of these lands flocked to him for
employment and support; and while he bought the services of the
parents, the children born in his house became members of his family,
were trained as his servants, and were subject to his authority as the
master of the household, the prince among his people, the patriarch of
his tribe.
And among these was Hagar, the Egyptian. We are not told whether
she was born in the house of Abraham, or rescued from those who may
have stolen her from her home, or given by her parents to the wealthy
and childless Sarai. She was Sarah's handmaid--a relation, according to
the customs of the East (almost immutable) nearly as dear as that of a
child. She was the personal attendant, the constant companion of her
mistress; and by her was doubtless instructed in the principles of the
true religion, while she was thus accustomed to the accomplishments
and occupations of the age. The tasks of the favourite handmaids of
Eastern families are still light. To sit at the feet of her mistress with her
embroidery; to cheer her with the simple music of the shepherd's tent;
to aid her in those domestic duties to which Sarah gave her own
superintendence; to assist in preparing the wool of the flocks for the
garments of the family; to watch her tent as she reposed by day, and
keep by her side as the camels slowly wandered through the valleys in
search of pure streams or more abundant herbage, were probably the
occupations and duties of Hagar.
Years thus passed on--and the dark-browed and dark-eyed Egyptian
maiden had grown into womanhood, and the freshness of youth, the
joyousness of health and early life were her's, while her mistress was
passing into age. Sarah no longer hoped to become a mother, and,
believing that the promise was not intended for her, she urged Abraham
to take another wife, offering for his acceptance her own handmaid, the
Egyptian Hagar.
The authority of the mistress of the East over her own establishment is
so absolute, the husband so interdicted from all interference, that,
although Hagar had passed her youth with Sarah, she may have been

hardly noticed by Abraham until Sarah proffered her. According to the
usage of the east, Sarah had