We would not lead the thoughts of the afflicted backward, amid graves and tombstones. We would not have them live over again the partings and the sobbings which have made the past so sorrowful, but with the hand of Christian faith we would point forward. Whoever goeth backward, saileth on a sea of terrors, while wrecks are all around.

"What saith the past to thee? Weep!
Truth is departed;

Beauty hath died like the dream of a sleep;
Love is departed;

Trifles of sense, the profoundly unreal,
Scare from our spirits God's holy ideal;
So, as a funeral bell, slow and deep,
So tolls the past to thee. Weep!"

But there is a morning that rises over the tomb; there is a morrow for those that weep; there is a gathering of the parted, and to that we would point ȧll you that mourn.

"What doth the future say? Hope!

Turn thy face sunward;

Look where light fringes the far rising slope;

Day cometh onward.

Watch! Though so long be the twilight delaying,
Let the first sunbeam arise on thee praying;

Fear not, for greater is God by thy side

Than armies of evil against thee allied."

CHAPTER III.

THE GOOD MOTHER.

REBEKAH.

God keeps a niche

In heaven to hold our idols; and albeit
He break them to our faces, and deny
That our close kisses should impair their white,
I know we shall behold them raised, complete,
The dust shook from their beauty, glorified,
New Memnons in the great God-light.

AND ISAAC BROUGHT HER UNTO
AND TOOK REBEKAH, AND SHE
LOVED HER AND ISAAC WAS
ER'S DEATH. Gen. 24: 67.

HER MOTHER SARAH'S TENT,
BECAME HIS WIFE AND HE

COMFORTED AFTER HIS

MOTH

AFTER the death of Sarah, his mother, Isaac began to feel that lonesomeness which comes from an absence of the one whose voice has been accustomed to cheer, and whose hand has ever been ready, day and night, for a kind act. To supply the place of his mother, Abraham advised his son to take a wife. The young man was pleased with the suggestion, as most young men are, and he

began to look about him for some suitable companion. But his father was unwilling that he should wed any of the daughters of the Canaanites. They were idolaters, and profaned the name of the true God. He advised the young man to go to Nahor, in the country of Mesopotamia, and find some one there among the worshippers of God, on whom to set his affections. In giving this advice, Abraham exhibited true religious purpose. Some parents seem to be willing that their daughters should marry any body that has means to support them. The object to be secured is a home filled with comforts and luxuries, and many do not look at all beyond this. If a man is in good business, if his income is large, if he has a well-filled purse, he is deemed an acceptable suitor for a daughter's hand. Often the young bride is sacrificed - wedded to a man with whom she can have no religious or social affinitiesmerely because the husband is rich. It is said that an Athenian, who was hesitating whether to give his daughter in marriage to a man of worth, with a small fortune, or to a rich man, who had no other recommendation, went to consult Themistocles on the subject. "I would bestow my daughter," said Themistocles, " upon a man without money, rather than upon money without a man." Many parents take the opposite view, and

are willing to marry a daughter to a fine home, or a well-filled purse, or to an easy, comfortable condition in life, rather than to a man with a heart, without these creature comforts.

There are cases where husbands and wives, though of differing religious views, agree, and live happily together. It often happens that one party or the other is converted to new views or new duties after marriage, and by mutual forbearance and kindly sympathy, live as happily as if they thought more nearly alike. But while this is true of individual cases, it is also true that a similarity of religious experience and opinions is a great bond between husband and wife. In the selection of a companion for life, this should not be overlooked; for where two persons are conscientiously opposed to each other in religious views, there is a breach, a chasm, over which, ofttimes, affection casts but a slender bridge. Abraham was a wise man when he directed his son to Nahor for a wife. He knew the influence of a religious woman upon the life of his son, and was well aware how much her piety would quicken his faith while waiting for the promise of God.

The manner in which men selected wives in those days was quite unlike the way pursued now, and I have sometimes thought more sensible. Our marriages are often mere matters of caprice,

founded on no just views of the mutual adaptation of the parties entering into the contract. The partial acquaintance of the ball room, the show house, or the street, ripens into a marriage which is often productive of unhappiness. The way Isaac was betrothed was this: his father Abraham called his elder servant, and bade him take ten camels, well laden with gifts, and go to Nahor, and search out some one who would be a suitable person for his son. It might be well for young people now, if they would oftener leave these matters to the decision of older and more experienced persons. This servant went to Nahor, and stood by a well which was a great place of resort, and to which females were accustomed to come for water. As he stood there, he prayed that God would send some one to him. The crowd came to the well, the aged and the young among the rest, a young maiden came tripping along, singing a sweet song, and her countenance full of smiles. The eye of the trusty servant was at once fixed upon her. She was of the proper age for Isaac, and was a person of great beauty. As she stood filling her pitcher at the well, the servant ran to her, and prayed to be allowed to drink. With the greatest good nature she allowed him, and when she saw he had no pitcher, she drew for his camels also. Her