beautiful sentiment on the subject of Christian Union. He says: "Truth
may be compared to the light of the sun. The light comes from heaven
colorless and ever the same; and yet it takes different hues on earth,
varying according to the objects on which it falls. Thus different
formularies may sometimes express the same Christian truth, viewed under
different aspects. How dull would be this visible creation if all its
boundless variety of shape and color were to give place to one unbroken
uniformity? How melancholy would be its aspects, if all created beings
did but compose a solitary and vast unity? The unity which comes from
heaven, doubtless has its place; but the diversity of human nature has
its proper place also. In religion we must neither leave out God nor
man. Without _unity_ your religion cannot be of God; without _diversity_
it cannot be the religion of man, and it ought to be of both."
* * * * *
Original.
THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
ZIPPORAH.
In the mountainous and wild region which lies around Horeb and Sinai,
were found, in the days of that Pharaoh, whose court was the home of
Israel's law-giver, many descendants of Abraham, children of one of the
sons which Keturah bore him in his old age. We know little of them, but
here and there on the sacred page they are mentioned, and we gain brief
glimpses of their character and of the estimation in which they were
held by Jehovah. Like all the other nations, they were mostly idolaters,
against whom He threatened vengeance for their inventions and
abominations. But among them were found some families who evidently
retained a knowledge of Abraham's God, and who, although they did not
offer him a pure worship, "seem, nevertheless, to have been imbued with
sentiments of piety, and intended to serve Him so far as they were
acquainted with his character and requirements." For these, from time to
time, a consecrated priest stood before the altar, offering sacrifices
which were doubtless accepted in Heaven, since sincerity prompted, and
the spirit of true obedience animated, the worshipers.
In the family of this priest, who was also a prince among his people, a
stranger was at one time found, who had suddenly appeared in Midian, and
for a slight kindness shown to certain members of the household, had
been invited to sojourn with them and make one of the domestic circle.
He was an object of daily increasing interest to all around him. Whence
had he come? Why was he thus apparently friendless and alone? Wherefore
was his countenance sad and thoughtful; and his heart evidently so far
away from present scenes? Seven sisters dwell beneath the paternal roof,
and we can readily imagine the eagerness with which they discussed
these questions and watched the many interviews between him and their
father, which seemed of a most important character. The result was not
long kept from them. Moses was henceforth to perform what had been their
daily task, and as his reward, was to sustain the relation of son,
husband, and brother in the little circle. Zipporah, whether willingly
or reluctantly we are not told, became the wife of the silent man, nor
has he, in the record which he has left, given us any account of those
forty years of quiet domestic life, watching his flocks amid the
mountain solitudes, and in intercourse with the "priest of Midian," and
taught of that God who chose him before all other men. As a familiar
friend, he was daily learning lessons of mighty wisdom, and gaining that
surpassing excellence of character which has made his name immortal. Was
the wife whom he had chosen the worthy daughter of her father, and a fit
companion for such a husband? Did they take sweet counsel together, and
could she share his noble thoughts? Did she listen with tearful eyes to
his account of the woes of his people, and rejoice with him in view of
the glorious scenes of deliverance which he anticipated? Did she
appreciate the sublime beauties which so captivated and enthralled his
soul as he pored over the pages of that wonderful poem which portrays
the afflictions of the man of Uz? Did she worship and love the God of
their common father with the same humility and faith? We cannot answer
one of the many questions which arise in our minds. All we know is, that
Zipporah was Moses's wife, and the mother of Moses's sons, and we feel
that hers was a favorite lot, and involuntarily yield her the respect
which her station would demand.
Silently the appointed years sped. The great historian found in them no
event bearing upon the interests of the kingdom of God, worthy of note,
and our gleanings are small. At their close he was again found in close
consultation with Jethro, and with his consent, and in obedience to the
divine mandate, the exile once more turned his steps toward the land of
his birth. Zipporah and their sons, with asses and attendants,
accompanied him, and their journey was apparently prosperous until near
its close, when a strange and startling providence arrested them.[B] An
alarming disease seized upon Gershom, the eldest son, and at the same
time intimations not to be mistaken convinced his parents that it was
sent in token of divine displeasure for long-neglected duty. God's eye
is ever on his children, and though He is forbearing, He will not
forever spare the chastening rod, if they live on in disobedience to his
commands. Both Moses and Zipporah knew what was the appointed seal of
God's covenant with Abraham, and we cannot understand why they so long
deferred including their children in that covenant. We do not know how
many times conscience may have rebuked them, nor what privileges they
forfeited, but we are sure they were not blessed as faithful servants
are. Now there was no delaying longer. The proof of God's disapprobation
was not to be mistaken, and they could not hesitate if they would
preserve the life of their child. "There is doubtless something
abhorrent to our ideas of propriety in a mother's performing this rite
upon an adult son," for Gershom was at this time probably more than
thirty years of age, but we must ever bear in mind that she was
complying with "a divine requisition," and among a people, and in a
state of society whose sentiments and usages were very different from
ours. Her duty performed, she solemnly admonished Gershom that he was
now espoused to the Lord by this significant rite, and that this bloody
seal should ever remind him of the sacred relation. The very moment
neglected obligations are cheerfully assumed, that moment does God smile
upon his child. He accepts and upbraids not. The frown which but now
threatened precious life has fled, and children rejoice in new found
peace, and in that peculiar outflowing of tenderness, humility, and love
which ever follows upon repentance, reparation and forgiveness.
For some reason, to us wholly inexplicable, Moses seems to have sent his
family back to the home which they had just left, before reaching Egypt,
and they resided with Jethro until the tribes, having passed through
all the tribulations which had been prophesied for them, made their
triumphant exodus from the land of bondage and encamped at the foot of
Sinai. Jethro, who seems to have taken a deep interest in the mission of
Moses, immediately on hearing of their arrival, took his daughter and
her sons to rejoin the husband and father from whom they had been long
separated. Touching and delightful was the re-union, and we love to
linger over the few days which Zipporah's father spent with her in this
their last interview on earth. The aged man listened with wonder and joy
to the recital of all that Jehovah had wrought. He found his faith
confirmed and his soul strengthened, and doubtless felt it a great
privilege to leave his child among those who were so evidently under the
protection of the Almighty, and before whom he constantly walked in the
pillar of fire and cloud. With a father's care and love, he gave such
counsel as he saw his son-in-law needed, and after uniting with the
elders in solemn sacrifice and worship, in which he assumed his priestly
office, he departed to his own land. We seem to see Zipporah, as with
tearful eyes she watched his retreating footsteps, and felt that she
should see her father's face no more on earth. Not without fearful
struggles are the ties which bind a daughter to her parents sundered,
though as a wife she cleaves to her husband, and strives for his sake to
repress her tears and hide the anguish she cannot subdue. One comfort,
however, remained to Zipporah. Soothingly fell on her ear the invitation
of her husband to her brother, the companion of her childhood, "We are
journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you:
Come thou with us and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken
good concerning Israel." Deprecatingly she doubtless looked upon him, as
he answered, "I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to
my kindred;" and united in the urgent entreaty, "Leave us not, I pray
thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness,
and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." With her husband and brother
near, on whom to lean, she must have been cheered, and the bitterness
of her final separation from home alleviated.
Feelings of personal joy or grief were soon, however, banished from her
mind by the mighty wonders which were displayed in the desert, and by
the absorbing scenes which transpired while Israel received the law, and
were prepared to pursue their way to Canaan. Of her after history we
gather little, and the time of her death is not mentioned. One
affliction, not uncommon in this evil world, fell to her lot. Her
husband's family were unfriendly and unkind to her, and she was the
occasion of their reproach and ridicule. But she was happy in being the
wife of one meek above all the men upon the earth, and she was
vindicated by God himself. What were her hopes in prospect of seeing the
promised land, in common with all the nation, or whether she lived to
hear the terrible command of God to Moses, "Avenge Israel of the
Midianites," we do not know. The slaughter of her people may have caused
her many a pang, and she probably went to her rest long before the weary
forty years were ended. She has a name and a place on the sacred
page,--she was a wife and mother,--and though hers is a brief memorial,
yet, if we have been led to study the word of God more earnestly,
because we would fain learn more concerning her, that memorial is not
useless.
* * * * *
Original.
BROTHERLY LOVE.
BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
"Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
honor preferring one another."
(Continued from page 92.)
I remarked that this precept was important in the heads of families, in
regulating their intercourse with each other, as well as that between
themselves and their children. I take it for granted that there is in
truth no want of real affection and regard between husband and wife, and
yet there may be, in their treatment of each other, frequent violations
of the duty of kindly affection. The merely outward manner is indeed
never as important as the real feeling, but it always will be regarded
more or less as the indication of the real feeling, and parents should
never forget, that in their children they have most observant and
reflecting minds; and you may rest assured that the parental cords are
loosed most sadly when the child is led to remark that his parents do
not cordially harmonize. Nay, more, if those parents be Christians, such
conduct throws a shade of doubt over their Christian character. There
were both force and sincerity in the remark of the man who, when the
reality of his religion was questioned, replied: "If you doubt whether I
am a changed man, go and ask my wife." I fear that many a professing
Christian could not stand this test; he could appeal with confidence to
the testimony of his church, and receive the most favorable answer, but
could he appeal with the same confidence to the testimony of his home,
of one who knows him best? Is his intercourse with them whom he truly
loves best, always regulated by the law of that kindly affection which
religion imperatively demands, nay, which good sense and common humanity
require? Many a man will speak at times to his wife in a most unkind and
even uncourteous manner, in a manner in which he would not dare to speak
to any one else; I know he may not mean unkindness, but is it not a
wrong? I say nothing of its unchristianness; is it not a wrong done to
her who loves him more than she does all the world, to treat her far
more uncourteously than the world would do?
Is it not shameful that she who has borne all the pain, and care, and
anxiety, and burden of his children, should ever have an unkind word or
look from him? Nay, is it not a meanness, an entirely unchristian
meanness, that a husband should presume upon the very loveliness of his
wife, upon the very affections of her pure heart, to treat her thus
rudely? And is it not as cowardly as it is mean, thus to act towards
one whose only defense is in himself? I say cowardly, for were many a
husband to speak, and to act towards another woman as he allows himself
to do and to speak towards his own wife, he would not always escape the
punishment due his ungentlemanly conduct. Let us, who are husbands and
wives, endeavor all of us to be on the watch in this thing; and let it
be our rule to treat no one in the world more kindly or more politely
than we do our own wives and our own husbands. Not long since, at the
bedside of a dying wife, I heard a husband, with quivering lip and
tearful eye, say, "Beloved wife, forgive me, if I have ever treated you
unkindly." If you would be saved from the anguish of ever feeling that
you needed forgiveness from the dying lips of your dearest earthly ones,
be kindly affectioned, therefore, one to another.
Let us, in the next place, seek to apply this direction to the
intercourse of brothers and sisters. No association of beings on earth
can be more interesting than that of the family; there are found the
tenderest sympathies and the most endearing relations. There the painter
seeks for the sweetest scenes by which to exhibit his art, and the poet
finds the inspiration which gives melody to his song. The highest praise
which we can give to any other association of men, whether in church or
state, is to say that they dwell together as a family; and cold and hard
indeed must be that heart which does not sympathize and rejoice in
family ties. In nothing short of the developments made in the cross of
Jesus do the wisdom and love of God towards our race shine more
conspicuously than they do in this grouping us in families. The result
has been, that society has been preserved, even though the authority of
God has been condemned; and even the annals of heathenism afford us very
many displays of those kindly feelings, which adorn and beautify human
nature. These would not have existed, had not the heart been cultivated
in the family; and where religious principle is added as the guiding
influence of the circle, the family becomes the nursery of all that is
great and good in our nature, it becomes the very type and antepast of
heaven. Now, the great development of this religious principle would
chiefly show itself in obedience to the apostolic injunction in the
precept, "Be kindly affectioned, one to another, with brotherly love; in
honor preferring one another." I do not, however, so much seek just now
to urge upon the members of the family the existence of kind feelings,
for I take it for granted that in obedience to the call of nature, and
the ties of blood, these feelings are already in existence; but what I
desire to present is the duty of always making these feelings apparent
in common intercourse, for just in proportion to the neglect of this, is
the family influence on the happiness of its members affected. If you
would combine the greatest possible elements of unhappiness you could
not imagine any which would surpass that of a family of brothers and
sisters, hating each other, yet compelled to live together as a family,
where no word of kindness passes from one to the other, where no act of
kindness draws out the affections, where the success of one only excites
the envy of the others; no smile lights up the countenance; no gladness
found in each other's society, the aim of each to thwart and annoy the
other. In such dwellings there would be no light, no peace, no joy, no
pleasant sounds. Indeed such a picture does not belong to even our
fallen world, it is the description of the misery of the lost. A
picture, perhaps, of a family in hell. The further, therefore, from
this, my friends, that you can remove your own family, the greater will
be your own happiness and comfort, and you must remember that the
responsibility of this rests upon each one of you individually. Let your
brother or sister never receive an unkind, unbrotherly or unsisterly
act, never perceive an unaffectionate look, nor experience an
uncourteous neglect, and you will do very much towards making your
family the abode of as perfect peace as can be enjoyed upon earth, and
cause it to present the loveliest and most attractive scene this side of
heaven. Now, I will freely acknowledge that in urging this duty upon
brothers and sisters, I am setting you upon no easy work; I know that it
will require often much self-denial, much restraint in word and deed,
but the gain will far more than repay the struggle.
* * * * *
Original.
THE FAMILY PROMISE.
BY JOSEPH McCARRELL, D.D.
The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. From the beginning of
the creation God has dealt with man as a social being. He made them a
male and a female, and the first institution in innocence and in Eden,
was marriage. In his dealings with Adam, God deals with the race. He
made with them his covenant when he made it with Him. Hence, by the
disobedience of one, many were made sinners; in Adam all die. With Noah
he made a covenant never to drown the world again by the waters of a
flood. This promise belongs to the children of Noah, the human race.
To Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Almighty God said, "I will
establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee
and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17:7.) In token of this covenant,
Abraham was circumcised, and his family, and his posterity, at eight
days old. This principle of the ecclesiastical unity of the many, this
family, is continued under the new dispensation of the covenant, and
distinctly announced in the memorable sermon of Peter, on the day of
Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the
promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:38, 39.)
Accordingly, when Lydia believed she was baptized, and her household;
and when the jailor believed he was baptized, he and his, straightway.
(Acts 16.) And so clearly was this principle established, that it
extends to the children of parents of whom one only is in the covenant;
"for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children
unclean, but now are they holy." (1 Cor. 7:14.) The first mother derived
her personal name from this great principle. Under the covenant of works
her name is simply the feminine form of the man, [Hebrew: ISHA] the woman,
from [Hebrew: ISH] the man. But when, in the awful darkness which
followed the fall, the first light broke upon the ruined race, in the
grand comprehensive promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel," it was promised that she should be the
mother of a Savior who should destroy the grand adversary of man, though
he himself should suffer in his inferior nature in the eventful
conflict. In view of this great honor, that she should be the mother,
according to the flesh, of the living Savior, and all that should live
by his mediation and grace, Adam called his wife's name Eve, [Hebrew:
KHAVA], because she was the mother of all living, [Hebrew: HAY]. (Gen.
3:20.) The family identity, established at the beginning of the
dispensation of grace, and continued to the end of divine revelation
without the least shadow of change, gives to Christian parents their
grand encouragement and constraining motive to seek the salvation of the
children whom God hath given them. His former respects, first,
themselves, and then their children, as part of themselves. As it is
necessary that they should believe the promise to themselves, in order
that they may enjoy it; so they must believe the promise respecting
their children, in order that the children may enjoy the blessing. And
as they must prove the reality of their faith in the promise which
respects themselves by their works, so they must prove the reality of
their faith in the promise which respects their children by the faithful
discharge of the duties which they owe to God in their behalf. Fathers,
provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. Train up a child in the way he should go, and
when he is old he will not depart from it.