and ran out to meet the man, saying, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; why standest thou without? I have prepared the house, and room for the camels."

Eliezer then followed with his camels; and, after seeing that they had straw and provender, he and his men washed their feet, which, you know, was one of the first ceremonies with a stranger in hot countries. W. Yes; because the travellers there wear sandals; and as their feet are not covered, they must often be hot and sticky.

Ion. And dusty.

P. True. Eliezer was next asked to eat, but this he would not do. He said, "I will not eat until I have told mine errand." He then began to relate very exactly who Abraham was, and how he was an important man, whom the Lord had blessed greatly with flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and so on. He also told them about his master's son, and the oath which he himself had made not to take a wife for him from the land of Canaan. He explained how he had journeyed from Beersheba with the camels; how he had prayed to the Almighty while he was waiting at the well; and, further, how the young woman had, by her kindness, given him the very sign which he had asked God that she might give.

When Laban and Bethuel had heard all these things, they perceived that it would be good for Rebekah to be Isaac's wife, and they answered Eliezer, "The thing proceedeth from the Lord: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good." And without asking Rebekah, they added, "Take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken."

The faithful old servant was now truly overjoyed, and he once more bowed himself to the earth to thank the Lord. Then he unpacked his treasures, and drew forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, which he gave to Rebekah. He also gave to her mother and brother many precious things.

After eating and drinking, and tarrying all night, Eliezer rose up in the morning and said, "Send me away to my master." Rebekah's brother and mother begged of him not to be in so great a hurry, saying, "Tarry a few days, at least ten;" but the old man, with the same determination of spirit, said that he could not stop. When, therefore, it was found that Rebekah was willing to go with him at once, they sent her away with her nurse; and, on bidding her good-bye, they gave her this singular blessing, "Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."

About a day or two after, when the sun was red, and the evening time had come, Isaac went out to meditate in the fields. He seems to have been a singularly quiet and thoughtful man. I dare say, too, that he was a very devout man, often thinking of God, and often speaking to Him. We do not read much of Isaac in the Bible; it is said, that "of all the patriarchs, none lived either so privately or innocently; none made so little noise in the world." He was not making any noise on that evening, I dare say, but was meditating perhaps-" What sort of a wife will God send me by Eliezer ?" when, looking up, behold, in

the distance, there were camels advancing! He soon saw that they were Eliezer's. In his turn, he was also seen by Rebekah, who said to the servant, "What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?" and the servant said, "It is my master;" and she lighted off her camel, and took a vail and covered herself. When the camels reached home, Eliezer told Isaac all that he had done; then Isaac took her and placed her in the tent of his mother Sarah, for she was to occupy Sarah's place, and to be the chief woman of the tribe. Isaac soon found that he could love her, and she became his wife. Thus was Isaac comforted after his mother's death; he now had some one to love in her stead. L. And where was Abraham all this time, papa? what did he say to Rebekah, I wonder?

Ion. Did he like her?

P. I dare say he did, but the Bible does not tell us. We only hear that, after Sarah's death, Abraham took another wife, named Keturah; and this wife brought him many sons, so that Abraham thus became the father of many nations. He lived on for about thirty years, until it was his turn to leave this world, and go to a better one. When he saw that the time was coming, to prevent disputes after his death, he made arrangements that all his property should belong to Isaac, his heir; and his new sons he sent away to the East country.

And the time at last came when Abraham was "of a good old age, and full of years "-when he had lived one hundred and seventy-five years; then he gave up the ghost, and was gathered to his people. His body was placed beside that of Sarah, in the cave which he had purchased of Ephron.

His burial must have been an interesting one; for his two sonsIsaac the son of Rebekah, and Ishmael the son of Hagar, met over his grave; it was, perhaps, the first time they had seen each other. We do not read more of Ishmael in the Bible, except that he became the father of twelve sons, founders of Arabian tribes. We will now finish our lesson without some thoughts on the two old men-Eliezer, and his master Abraham.

L. I think, papa, that we may learn the same lesson from Eliezer as we learned before from Abraham; we may learn to be faithful and trustworthy.

P. Yes, and I have told you before that such qualities are very valuable. Suppose that you had said to Abraham, "Are you sure that Eliezer will seek for Isaac's wife as well as you would yourself?" If you had said that, he would have smiled at you; and, shaking his head, perhaps he would have answered, "Oh yes, I know him! I know all his qualities, for I have known him a long while. All the time that he is gone, he will be thinking, not 'How shall I please myself?' but, 'How can I best do the duties my master has given me?' Yes, I know his qualities; I am sure that he will try to do right. Yes, I can trust him.”

W. Well-and he did try very much. You see, he couldn't even eat anything in Laban's house, until he had delivered his message. But then, he was an old man,-a steady old man; and that made him more careful.

P. And don't you know, Willie, that young men can be carefulvery young men-even boys and girls who are not older than yourself! None are too young to be faithful.

Ion. Ah, but we can't "show off" so well as Eliezer could, because -we are not servants.

P. Indeed, Ion, you can; for you are all servants, all the young people in the world, as well as the old people. And you have a Master who is kinder than Abraham-better than Abraham-and One whom you may serve with all your heart.

L. Is that master GOD, papa?

P. Yes. And now I'll show you that you have the same chance of being faithful, as Eliezer had. God has sent you, His servants, from His dwelling place, into this far country-the world. And he has given you an errand which is, ah! far more interesting than Eliezer's; and it is a more solemn one too, and more important.

First, God invites you to be His servants; and He says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

He then says to you, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

W. Yes, or else it would not be worth while to be God's servants. P. God then tells you to serve him; saying, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature." There, Willie, is your errand; and you may begin at once.

W. Are we to be preachers, papa-and the girls too?

P. Yes. When you have heard any good news, would you not like to tell it to others? Tell all the good things you know about your Heavenly Father. I think I once told you that every one must teach others by example.

But, how glorious a thing it is for you to feel that you may be God's servants to know that you are pursuing His errand faithfully. Go often, dear children, to Him, the everlasting fountain of goodness, and ask Him to make you trustworthy. You may say to Him, "Grant that we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord." Be very earnest to spread abroad his truth, and pray again with all your heart, "Thy kingdom come."

Ion. And, when other people see that God trusts us, they will trust

us too.

P. Yes. When you are a man, and others see that you look happy, they will say of you, as Abraham said of his servant, "I can always trust that man,-I know his qualities."

L. And what will God say?

P. Our Lord will wait till your errand is finished, and then will He say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord;" or perhaps, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Who would not copy Eliezer, and be a faithful servant!

ESAU AND JACOB.

"And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

"And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright."-GEN. XXV. 27-34.

We have now to speak of Isaac as the father of the family, or patriarch. Abraham had gone to his rest, and Isaac had the charge of all the tents, servants, and cattle. At the time when Abraham died, Isaac had two sons who had grown up to be great boys, and were nearly fifteen years of age.

Let us talk of these two sons. If you had seen them, you might have noticed that one was a rough-looking fellow, and very hairy:very strong and active, too, you would have thought him. The other was not so tall, perhaps; his face would be rather smooth; and you would think that he was altogether a quieter sort of man than his brother. If you had asked the taller one, "What is your name?" he would have said, "My name is Esau, and my brother is called Jacob;" and if you had asked again, "Which of you is the elder?" Esau would have told you that he was rather older than Jacob, but only a few minutes, for they were both born on the same day.

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W. Then they both had their birthday together!

P. True. You would have liked to notice these two lads, and to see how they were employed every day. Esau could not find much pleasure in the duties of a shepherd. If you had asked him to take care of the sheep, or see after the camels, he would have told youOh, I do not see any fun in that! What is the use of always stopping at home?" He would say, "That is tiresome and tame work; I like to go far abroad-beyond those hills, and through the woods into the open country; there I enjoy myself, for I take with me my bow and arrows and watch the deer. I can run very fast and very far after the wild gazelles; and, as they can't keep up their speed as long as I can, I often shoot them down. Other wild animals, too, I hunt; and when I've killed them, I take them home, and have them cooked, and take to my father to eat. That's what I call 'good fun!" "

L. What a strange, wild fellow, he must have been!

P. Yes. I dare say that you would have been afraid of him. You

would have said, "He's too rough to play with me." But Jacob was a very different lad-he liked to feel the silence that reigned at home. When his noisy brother was out, and the men-servants were all at work, then he liked to sit down quietly, or go "gadding about" the house with his mother, or in the quiet fields where the sheep fed. There, where the sheep cropped the grass, and the birds sang, and the sun was the only one at work, just shedding a comfortable glow over all, then Jacob would lie lazily and watch, perhaps; and, in the course of time, would know something of the duties of a shepherd and a husbandman.

Both Isaac and Rebekah would of course notice the different characters of their sons. Which do you suppose Isaac would love best? Ion. Perhaps he would love Jacob best, for Isaac was a thoughtful man himself-only, he would think that Esau was very attentive to bring him so much nice meat.

P. True; and in the half-civilized times in which Isaac lived, people thought much more of eating and drinking than they do now. We read therefore that "Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison." Besides, as a father, Isaac would feel a pride in the boldness and daring of his son's character.

L. Then I should think that Rebekah would like Jacob, because he was so quiet and steady.

P. We find in the Bible that it was so. Rebekah loved Jacob very much; but when she looked at him as he sat at home, there was one thing about him that troubled her. She often thought, "I wish that he might be his father's heir. I should like, when his father dies, that Jacob should be the father of the family; he is so much more careful than his brother, he is more fit to be a patriarch;" but then came the troublesome thought, "He cannot be, for he is younger than Esau. There was only one thing which comforted her-she remembered that before her sons were born, God had told her that the younger should be stronger than the elder, and should rule his brother; and then she would take heart again, saying, "He shall have the birthright, if I can get it for him; he shall have his father's blessing-then he will be honoured as a patriarch."

And here I have to tell you an unpleasant truth. Rebekah was, perhaps, a clever woman, but when she wanted to have her own way she was not quite particular enongh as to how she gained it. I do not suppose that, when she thought about Esau and Jacob, she cared much whether it would be right for Jacob to have the birthright-perhaps she never asked herself, "How will Esau like to have his birthright taken from him?" It is a sad thing, also, that Jacob, in his disposition, was much like his mother; he showed much craftiness of character; he appears to have grown up a much less "respectable" man than either his father Isaac, or his grandfather Abraham. According to his mother's advice, he tried very often to persuade Esau to give up his birthright he would say to him, perhaps, "But you are not so much older than I am, only a few minutes;" and would tease him to let him be the heir.

An opportunity for gaining his point was, however, found by