that is, those who took care of their animals, quarrelled. Then Abraham said to Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." And Lot chose the plain of

Jordan.

How few quarrels there would be in this world if such behaviour as Abraham's was more common ! How often do people say "I am not going to give up my rights;" "I won't let those who are younger than I am get the better of me!" How mean and poor does such talk seem, after hearing of Abraham's generosity to his nephew! How much more noble it is really "to be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another!

One evening Abraham was sitting in his tent, in the plains of Mamre, and he saw three men coming towards him. There were no inns in that country, and travellers depended upon the hospitality of the owners of the flocks and herds that they met during their journey. Hospitality means readiness to give food, or shelter, or whatever they want, to those who come in our way. The poor are often as hospitable as the rich, indeed they are often more so, when their means are considered. When a poor woman is ill, and a neighbour takes one of her children off her hands till she is better; when

she lets a servant out of place, lodge with her for a time without pay-all these are acts of hospitality.

Now Abraham was very kind to these travellers. He offered to have their feet washed, the greatest comfort that could be bestowed in that hot, sandy country; for they wore only sandals-that is, soles of leather tied to the feet with leathern strings. He asked them to rest themselves under the tree, and to take a "morsel of bread." They accepted his offer, and he went into the tent to Sarah his wife, and told her to "make cakes on the hearth." Then he ran unto the herd and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it." This, with butter and milk, made, according to the manners of those times, a great feast, during which Abraham waited upon them.

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He seems to have perceived that they were no common travellers; and when they were parting they promised him that he was to have a son, whose name was to be Isaac. When we are told in the Hebrews that we are to be "not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares," probably Abraham is referred to. It must have been hard for him to believe that he was to be the father of a great nation, when as yet he had no child; but God's promises are always sure, and Isaac was born to him in due time.

When Isaac was grown up, we are told that God tried the faith of His servant Abraham, by telling him to offer up Isaac for a burnt offering. "And he that had received the promises offered up his

only-begotten son, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even. from the dead." Isaac's faith in God must have been as great as that of his father; for he seems to have made no resistance.

But just as the sacrifice was going to take place the angel of the Lord said to Abraham, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." So, instead of his son, he took for a burnt offering a ram which was caught in the thicket, and then God again promised that his seed-that is, his children should be as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore," meaning by these expressions, an immense multitude.

Our faith-that is, our belief in God's promisesis never likely to be tried as Abraham's was; yet every day that passes over our heads, we are probably called upon to sacrifice-—that is, to give up -something we should like to do. If we did not believe all that God has told us in the Bible about another world, we should grow selfish and worldly, we should live only for our own pleasure, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die "—let us indulge ourselves in everything we long for, till death comes, which will end it all. But Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That city is heaven, to which we also look, when the troubles of this world are over, if like Abraham we have lived by faith, and not by sight; if we try to act as if we

believed in God, and not as if the things that we see and long for in the world around us, were all that is worth having.

ISAAC AND REBEKAH.

SARAH, Abraham's wife, had died, and he was growing very old, and thought he should like his son Isaac to be married. Marriages in those times were generally settled by the parents. The future husband and wife had sometimes not seen each other. In Egypt this custom exists now. Abraham wished Isaac's wife to be chosen from his own country; he did not approve of the Canaanite girls, and being too aged himself, he desired the chief of his servants to go to Mesopotamia, a country that you will see in the map lies between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. He wished this servant to find out his relations, and to bring one of them back to be a wife for Isaac. This seems to us a strange plan; but it was not thought so then. Eliezer, the servant, must have been a good man, who believed in the God of his master Abraham; for, on arriving at his destination with ten camels in his train, while they rested near a well of water, he prayed that the right wife for Isaac might appear. Before his prayer was over, Rebekah came. She was "very fair," we are told, "to look upon ;" and, as Abraham had wished, she proved to be one of his relations, being his great-niece.

The wells were generally very deep, so Rebekah went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up, and Eliezer asked her to let him drink some of the water. She not only did so, but offered to draw some for his camels also, and then assured him that he would find room in her father's house, and that they also would give straw and food to his camels. The servant then went to her home, and told his errand to her brother Laban, and to her father Bethuel, and they gave their consent. He then presented the jewels of silver and the jewels of gold, and raiment, and "he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things," and Rebekah said she would go back with Eliezer, taking her nurse with her. On their return they met Isaac. She got off her camel, and let down her veil, and met him. She then became his wife, and we are told that "he loved her and was comforted after his mother's death."

One likes to think of the good old servant who was so trusted by his master, and who prayed so earnestly for direction. And what an interesting and pleasant picture we have of Rebekah! She was so ready to help the aged traveller, and even to serve his camels. Scenes of this sort are to be witnessed at the present day by those who visit Eastern countries.