Scripture portraits; or, Sketches of Bible characters. Especially designed for the family circle

Contents

Page-

I. ADAM, 9

II. EVE, 17

II. Eve

As we visit the groves of Paradise and the streams of Eden, admire the beauties of its flowers, breathe their fragrance, and partake of its fruits, we behold an individual there, superior to all other created objects, in that he alone possesses intelligence and immortality. It is the first man, Adam, whom God had formed in His own likeness, and made capable of beholding, with adoring wonder, the wisdom, goodness, and power which his works exhibited. Something however was needed to make this individual consummately happy, and that was a person of kindred nature and powers with himself; who could be his companion, share his happiness, and praise with him the Author of their joint felicity. "It is not good for man to be alone," said Jehovah ; " I will make him a help meet for him."

18 EVE.

Hence the creation of Eve. It was to supply a want ; — to furnish a companion possessed of those mental and moral endowments which would qualify her to be society for the man made in God's own image, heighten his joys, aid his growth in goodness, and commune with him in close and beatified intercourse with the great Lord of all ; — in a word, to complete the perfection of Paradise. "And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." With what delight must Adam have looked upon this new proof of the Creator's skill and benevolence ! A part of himself — a portion of his very substance — breathing and graceful before him, and smiling upon him ! As Matthew Henry quaintly remarks : " The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam ; — not out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved." This shows

KYK. 19

what God intended woman to be, and in this she may learn her earthly mission.

This lovely creature, as a piece of Adam's self, was to be regarded as on a level with himself, and as equally though differently endowed. He was to guide, protect, and cherish her, and she was to be in all things a help meet for him — infusing into his rougher nature her own gentleness, and suitably influencing him as a spiritual being. And when woman does this, then is she truly a " help meet," and answers the high purpose of her creation. Too often, however, is this important fact lost sight of, and woman is found considering herself formed rather to minister to man's gratification, as a return for which, she is to be waited upon and caressed, than formed to blend her energies with his in mutually developing their intellectual and moral powers, and promoting a more perfect state of society. May our fair readers remember why it was not "good for man to be alone,'' and aim to fulfil for him that office of affection and assistance which he imperiously needs to make him what he should be,

20 E V E .

and for the performance of which office, they were divinely created and commissioned.

" For contemplation he, and valor formed, For softness she, and sweet attractive grace."

Milton.

A mournful revolution soon occurred in Eve's character and circumstances, caused by disobedience. Two trees, differing from all others in the garden — " the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" — she and her partner, as a test of their affection and loyalty to Jehovah, were forbidden to touch. The test was a simple and easy one, but they could not bear it, and so lost their virtue. Seduced by the arch apostate in the form of a serpent, who charmed her by his fascinations, she listened to his siren voice, looked at the forbidden tree of knowledge, with its rich foliage, exquisite fragrance, and tempting fruit, and in an evil hour plucked and ate. Adam. overcome by her persuasions and her fond tones, as she had been overcome by the voice of the tempter, presumptuously partook also, and became a sharer in her guilt.

EVE. 21

" Earth felt the wound ; and nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of wo That all was lost." Milton.

Innocence was exchanged for criminality, loyalty for rebellion, confidence for fear, happiness for misery, and glory for shame : and when the Lord God, from whom they had thrown off allegiance, and by that act voluntarily rejected his favor and incurred his displeasure, came to see and converse with them as he was wont to do, they fled to the shrubbery of the garden, to screen themselves from his eyes. But who can elude the discovery of Omniscience ! He found them, and his former accents and language of love were exchanged for those of denunciation and wo. Both were expelled from Eden ;— cherubium and flaming sword barred to both all access to the tree of life ; — irregular passions and unholy desires took possession of their breasts ;* — man was doomed to till the earth, of which thorns and thistles were the spontaneous product, and woman was loaded with those ills under which she now labors.

Was Eve impelled by the principle of curiosi- 2*

22 EVE.

ty to partake of what was forbidden ? Let her daughters set a watch here, lest they be moved by this same principle to do likewise. Did Eve, by her blandishments, involve Adam in her sin ? Taken originally from his side, a near and tender part of himself, did she beguile him by the magic power of love to do as she had done ? Let her daughters, while they learn here the extent of their influence over the other sex, see that this influence becomes not a snare to man ; see that man's fond attachment to them is not appropriated and perverted by them to man's injury. Did Eve, delirious with Satan's enchantments, and with an overweening trust in her own ability, neglect to lift up her heart for guidance and support to the Infinite God ; and therefore, left by him to battle with the wily serpent, alone, was conquered and fell? Let her daughters learn from this, in the hour of temptation not to be independent of Him who made them ; but, on the swift wing of faith, send a prayer upwards for sustaining strength. And in all the manifold trials of this present life to which woman is subjected, let her remember, under the

EVE. 23

pressure of these sorrows, their original cause ;- — for "the curse causeless doth not come;" — and so be patient and resigned to her lot. Eve's disobedience was the commencement of her troubles. These troubles were peculiar, and they are woman's.

Eve soon became a mother ; the mother of a son whom she called Cain ; a name signifying a possession or acquisition; saying, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." It has been thought that as God in mercy promised Eve an illustrious descendant, by whom the old serpent who deceived her should be vanquished, she supposed that Cain was that one ; for the words may be translated — " I have gotten the man, even Jehovah ;" and that hence, in the exuberance of her joy, she believed the promised seed, the predicted Messiah, to have been born. Had Cain been Christ, he would have been indeed an acquisition, a valuable gift ; but it was not so ; and the first mother was sadly mistaken in her first offspring — what he was, and what he would become. And so with mothers since, who have exulted at the birth of a child ; forgetting their

24 R V B .

anguish in what they regard as a great blessing, too frequently have they been disappointed ; u for who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool," a Christian or an unbeliever, a comfort or a curse to his parents!

" When the wife, Blest into mother, in the innocent look, Or even the piping cry, of lips that brook No pain and small suspense, a joy perceives Man knows not, — when from out its cradled nook She sees her little bud put forth its leaves, What may the fruit be yet ?— I know not ; Cain was Eve's."

Byron.

In him his parents beheld the fruits of their guilt ; their sin working in him, for his passions were violent and his will headstrong. Perhaps, exulting in affections unknown, unfelt before, they, in their fondness for the first - born, neglected to govern him. If so, they received that recompense of their erring indulgence which was meet; for f'a child left to himself, bringeth his mother to shame."

Adam had by his wife a second son, whom she called Abel, which word, signifying vanity, reveals the severity of her disappointment in the

EVE. 25

case of Cain, and a feeling of sadness at the prostration of her hopes and wishes. But this boy proved better than his mother's fears, and grew in wisdom as he grew in stature ; developing traits of character amiable and pleasing in the sight of his Creator. May be the mother, reproved of negligence in the discipline and education of Cain, was not at fault in this respect touching Abel, but " trained him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." If so, her "labor was not in vain in the Lord," and she had the unspeakable satisfaction — that maternal joy which refreshes the soul, from the sight of a son "walking in the paths of truth and of righteousness."

But there was still another trial for Eve, another pang to teach her the bitterness of sin. This child of promise and of piety was slain by his elder brother ! Here was death ; death by a brother's hand ! She had heard of death before, in the words, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return;" but here it was — the death of the helpless and innocent by the strong hand of the guilty ; the death of her loving Abel, as he

26 EVE.

was ripening into a holy manhood ! How must Eve have looked upon his life-blood dyeing the green sward ! What tides of sorrow flooded her soul, as she stood over his mangled corpse ! Perhaps this was Eve's last grief ere she herself descended to the tomb. She had another son given to supply the loss of Abel, and daughters also ; and it is to be hoped, through access to Him whom the tree of life prefigured, and to whose embrace no cherubim or flaming sword presents a barrier, she passed at her decease into a more glorious Paradise than she had lost.

in.

ENOCH.

If, while travelling, we stop in a town, enter a grave-yard belonging to it, (for every town has its grave-yard,) and read on a marble slab — 11 Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him;" — if we shonld read this inscription, and knew no more relative to the departed one than this, that his mortal remains were not lying there, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," though his memory was thus preserved by the monumental stone ;— we should suppose him to have been a singular and interesting character. If, then, we farther read in a book, where a true record was kept : M By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God ;" — we should be still more interested in the man ; and yet if this was all the intelligence we could glean concerning him, our information would be very limited.

Now such is nearly the fact relative to Enoch. We know but little concerning him. The inspired account of him is brief. And yet, as the seen wing of an angel but awakens a more keen desire in the beholder to view the concealed angelic form entire; — so the short prominence given in scripture narrative to this man of God, but kindles an ardent curiosity to know more about liim.

By a touch of the pencil dipped in heaven, he is presented to us — " walking icitk God." We have met with those to whom these three words conveyed the idea of retirement and seclusion, and whose imagination portrayed Enoch in the garb and character of a monk. They suppose him to have lived apart from his contemporaries, having nothing to do with the ordinary concerns of life, but occupying himself exclusively with things divine. In their conception of him, he might have sat for the portrait of ParneH's hermit.

ENOC II . 29

' : Far in the wild, unknown to public view, From youth to age a reverend hermit grew ; The moss his bed — the cave his humble cell, His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well j Remote from man, with God he passed his days, Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise."

But in our view, they have a mistaken idea of Enoch. He was no hermit. In no such " serene repose" did his days glide away. He was in the busy world while his affections were above ; — was " diligent in business, while fervent in spirit ;" — was endeavoring to win mankind to virtue, while virtuous himself. "We learn that he was a preacher, and have a specimen of his preaching ; — saying to that profligate generation — " Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all ;" and are told by Jewish Eabbis, that it was when he was upon the point of being murdered for his protestations against sin, and his honest, vigorous, and unselfish devotion to the good of individuals, and of society, that Jehovah interposed, and extending a divine arm down from the skies, lifted him from the reach of his enemies. No, Enoch was not a recluse ; — nor do the words, " walked with God," convey to our minds any such idea. The idea they do convey, is rather that of an individnal, distinguished, by being reconciled to God, from an evil and perverse generation who walked contrary to God, and God to them ; of an individual who "set the Lord always before him," soliciting the divine guidance, and living in conformity thereto ; of an individual who was in fellowship with God through, the medium of his works, providence, arid Spirit; keeping bright the flame of piety on the altar of his own heart, and kindling np and cherishing it in the bosoms of others. This, as we understand it, is the way in which Enoch " walked with God."

Contemporary with Adam three hundred and eight years, and the first who sustained the sacred office, with faith in the promised Seed, he offered sacrifices, listened to Jehovah's voire in those various ways in which the Most High expressed His will, cultivated a holy intimacy and communion with God, and, in the spheres in which he moved, as a man, a minister, and a lather — for he was the father of Methuselah " and begat sons and daughters" — developed the possession of religion as a vital, habitual, and abiding principle. This worthy, " God took," or, as Paul explains it, " translated, that he saw not death." How this was done, or what cheering intimations were given him of his departure — who shall say ? Did a car of fire come for him, as, centuries after, the wheels of God's chariot made music on the air for Elijah ? Did angels, those spirits pure and bright, who "minister unto the heirs of salvation," and who had ministered unto him in his earthly pilgrimage ; — were they commissioned to visit him, and folding him in their soft embrace, take him to his and their heavenly home ? Or in some other mysterious manner was he transferred from the troubles of earth, to the bliss of the celestial paradise ? We cannot answer these questions. We only know that " God took him," so that he saw not death. No " pains or groans or dying strife" were his ; and to M the deep, damp grave, the darkness, and the worms," he was a total stranger. Probably " in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he was changed," as saints will be at their Lord's second coming ; — for " flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ;" — and with a seraphic escort was "received up into glor}^."

What a change from the clayey vestments of mortality, to that " body likened unto Christ's glorious body ;" — from the disgusting depravity of this lower world, to the holiness of that upper world ; — from the revilings of men of corrupt minds, to the anthems of the blessed ; — from the society which he left, to the congenial company of the redeemed ; — from the tainted atmosphere of earth, to the vivifying atmosphere of heaven ! Valuable purposes were subserved by this passage of Enoch to the skies. If, as is quite probable, the wicked of his day denied the soul's immortality ; here was a sensible, impressive, and convincing proof it. If, as is quite probable, they turned a deaf ear to his preaching, and denied the truth of the testimony which hfi bore against their unrighteousness : God showed that his servant was right and faithful, by bridging for him the valley of shadows, and charioting him to glory. By this flight of his through the golden gates of the New Jerusalem without looking upon the face of the king of terrors, we learn too, what, but for sin, had been the happy lot of all mortals ; for had our first parents persisted in their obedience, their descendants, like Enoch, would have reached the heavenly mansions, without the dissolution of their mortal tabernacles by the icy touch of death ; nor would the dust of the ch arch-yard have pressed upon their cold and pulseless bosoms.

We, now fallen, sinful creatures, cannot expect to be translated as was Enoch. And yet to the genuine believer, to him who has Enoch's faith, and walks like him with God, death is, though painful, but a translation ; for he has underneath him the everlasting arms ; to him death and hell are despoiled of their dominion, and the crumbling of the prison walls of his soul encircles him with the glories of the Lamb.

IV. Noah

The extreme corruption of mankind before the general deluge, may be accounted for, not only from the loss of the pristine innocence of our first parents, and the depravity which they contracted and transmitted to their descendants, but also from the intermarriages between the " seed of the righteous and the seed of the wicked."' The good are more easily injured by the bad, than the bad are reformed by the good ; and when the family of Seth, who had espoused the true religion, and were denominated "the sons of God," became united by marriage to the family of Cain, who partook of his impiety,' then the sacred stock by such affinity degenerated — " the salt of the earth" lost its purity, and corruption mightily prevailed. Such unequal alliances it were better to avoid. If they are not positively forbidden by the Apos-

NOAH. 35

tie, where lie says : " Be ye not unequally yoked with, unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath Christ with Belial ? or what communion hath light with darkness ? or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ?," — if this language is not to be interpreted as prohibiting marriage between Christians and those who make no pretensions to the possession of piety, yet such marriages are too frequently a fruitful source of evil. As it is difficult for a bird to soar aloft with one wing crippled, so it is difficult for a person to advance in piety who has for an intimate associate one who is not pious. Extremely difficult is it too, for a family of children to be trained up in the ways of the Lord, when their parents differ in sentiment and feeling on the momentous subject of religion. The father and the mother, governed by different principles and tending to a different destiny, will be divided in the counsels which they give to their offspring, and in the examples which they set before them; and the influence of such division can hardly fail to be unhappy upon their offspring for time and for eternity. There is no sympathy or unison between truth and falsehood, holiness and sin. Had those who descended from Seth, and among whom was the true Church, refused affinity with the carnal, irreligious descendants of Cain, evil would not have so abounded ; and if, in selecting a partner for life, the question by the pious one should invariably be raised, " Is he or she a Christian?" and marriage be contracted with such a person alone, most beneficial would be the result upon the spiritual welfare of the parties, the spiritual welfare of their children, and the interests of the communhy.

From these specified causes, the antediluvians were sunk to the lowest ebb of sin. Not only was their wickedness universal, but it was extreme. The words which the Spirit of God employs with reference to it are : " The earth was corrupt before the Lord, and the earth was filled with violence. And the Lord looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." In the midst, however, of this profligacy, vice, and rapine, there was one who partook not of it, but was

NOAH. 37

distinguished for his righteousness. This was Noah, the son of the second Lamech, the grandson of Methuselah, and the tenth in descent from Adam. It would seem, from the name given to this personage by his parents, that they had a presentiment of his future signal services, for the word Noah signifies rest or comfort ; and he was a comforter of many, and a type of that Messiah who is the true centre and rest of the soul. Like

" the seraph Abdiel, faithful found

Among the faithless, faithful only he ;

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal,

Nor number nor example with him wrought

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,

Though single." Milton.

Thus Noah resisted the contagion of evil influences, opposed the maxims and practices of the times, stemmed the current of corrupt public sentiment, despised the sneers of the profane, and braved the threats of the ungodly. " Noah was a good man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." To him the Lord revealed his intention of covering the whole compass of the habitable globe with a flood of waters, 3

38 NOAH.

and commanded him to construct an ark for his own preservation, and the preservation of his family. Noah acted in obedience to the voice of God. He proceeded openly to his work, which employed him for one hundred and twenty years. During this period he told those around him that he was acting by divine command, and solemnly warned them, by forsaking their sins, to escape the impending destruction. We know not that one was found, (with the exception of his family,) who received his warnings ; but doubtless many laughed at his folly and credulity. The ark or large vessel being completed, " the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thine house into it." ISTo sooner had he and his family entered, and the Lord had shut them in, than divine mercy withdrew, and the Holy Spirit ceased longer to strive with rebellious man. " The fountains of the great deep," says the sacred historian, " were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." The vast reservoirs of water, which Jehovah had hitherto restrained, " that they might not pass over to cover the earth," burst forth in tremendous floods; the barriers also,

NOAH. 39

which prevented the " waters above the firmament" from mingling with the " waters nnder the firmament," were taken away, and the rain descended in solid sheets. The warnings of the pious patriarch were then remembered, but remembered as the warnings of gospel ministers are remembered by the wretched victims of the pit. The same power which shut Noah m, shut them out, and safety was nowhere else to be found. The guilty beings fled in vain to the mountains, and thence to the topmost branches of the trees which crowned their summits. The hand of the Almighty was upon them. The waters reached them even there, and buried them beneath the angry billows. " Fifteen cubits upward did they prevail." Excepting Noah, and they that were with him in the ark, every living creature perished. They alone, lifted up on the bosom of the rising flood, and riding on the back of the swelling surges, were secure ; and the higher the flood arose, the nearer they were borne to their own heaven.

A whole family in the ark ! What a delightful thought ! A whole family in heaven ! A

40 NOAH.

still more delightful thought ! And as that family in the ark were introduced there through the faith of one man — the faith of Noah — so, by the blessing of God upon a father's faith, a Christian father's faithful counsels, affectionate solicitude, and fervent prayers, a whole family may stand together at Christ's right hand. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," said the Apostle Paul to the Eoman jailer, 11 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house." Not thou only, but thy house. Father of a family, think of this. Think of the connection between you and yours — you and the partner of your bosom — you and the offspring of your loins, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh ; consider that God has constituted you a minister of his grace in your own house, and connected the salvation of your own household with your faith and fidelity ; and since God has provided an ark in the person of his Son, come thou and all thy house into it, for there is room for thine as well as for thee, and together may you be wafted to the haven of eternal rest.

The tempest having spent itself, serenity returned and the waters assuaged ; Noah removed

NOAH. 41

the covering of the ark, and beholding that the ground was dry, came out of the ark, he and they that were with him, after it had been their asylum for little more than a year. With a soul overflowing with gratitude to his divine Preserver, his first act was that of worship. Erecting an altar and assembling his family around it, he laid upon it their united sacrifice of thanksgiving to him who "holdeth the winds in his fist, and the waters in the hollow of his hand," and who had kindly watched over them and guarded them from danger amidst the convulsions of the earth. This sacrifice was accepted, and a covenant established with the patriarch that the globe should not again be inundated — of which covenant the rainbow was made by Jehovah the seal and the pledge. "Look," says the writer of Ecclesiasticus : " Look upon the rainbow, and praise Him that made it ; very beautiful it is in the brightness thereof; it compasseth the heavens about with a glorious circle, and the hands of the Most High have bended it."

We pursue not the story of Noah further. Suffice it to say that this second father of the

42 NOAH.

human race engaged in the labors of husbandry, the training of his family, and the service of the Lord, and " came to the grave as a shock of corn cometh in its season," having survived the deluge three hundred and fifty years. "And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died."

V. Abraham

Among the many personages brought to view in the Old Testament, whom the mind delights to contemplate, and around whom the affections gather, no one holds a more decided prominence than Abraham.

Concerning the early part of this patriarch's life, we know nothing. Not haying been made a matter of record, it can only be a matter of conjecture. He is first introduced to us at the seventy -fifth year of his age, when he was called from Ur of the Chaldees, to " go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance."

This call to leave his country and his father's house, to turn his back upon the place of his birth, the scenes of his childhood and youth, and the graves of his kindred, and start off through a pathless waste to a distant and unknown land, he, from a sense of duty to God and acquiescence in tlie Divine will as good and wise, cheerfully obeyed, and went four hundred miles across a part of Arabia Deserta, to Palestine, or the land of Canaan. This surrender of present feeling and interest in obedience to the voice of Jehovah, from a conviction that his commands are right, and that those who obey them will be indemnified against loss, is worthy of all imitation ; and he who has Abraham's temper and faith, will, when called to leave the scenes of impiety, the pomps and vanities of a vain world, and set his face towards heaven, promptly and actively address himself to this duty. Soon after the arrival of Abraham in the land of promise, there was a severe famine there, on account of which he was forced to go down into Egypt. The famine having ceased, he returned to Canaan again; when the promise of God to him, ere yet he had left Ui of the Chaldees, that he should be blessed with a numerous and thriving progeny, that his name should be illustrious, and that "in him all the families of the earth should be blessed," was renewed and confirmed. In all his movements, as we track him from spot to Bpot — now at