being the mother of the promised seed, and one who could well
fulfil the duties which must devolve upon her as the head of his large
household. The people around him would have courted his alliance, and as
yet no command from God forbade his forming family ties with the
inhabitants of the land. But Abraham too well knew the influence of the
wife and the mother, to choose a wife for the child of promise from a
race apostate from the religion of Jehovah. He knew the ensnaring
influence which would there be brought to bear upon his family, and he
resolved to seek a wife for Isaac among his far-distant kindred--those
who yet retained the knowledge and clung to the worship of the God of
Shem, of Noah, and of Adam. Though far separated from his brethren, yet
communications seem to have passed, and Abraham had been told of the
enlargement of the family of his brother; and he resolved, not only to
seek a wife for his son from among his own kindred, but, while making
arrangements for such a marriage, he solemnly guarded against the return
of his descendants to the land from whence he had been called.

Trying as might be the long journey, and uncertain as seemed the issue,
no inferior motives were allowed to be put in competition with the
perpetuity of the worship and knowledge of God. A connection with any of
the families of the Canaanites would have been at once ensnaring to the
household of Abraham and injurious in its influence upon the heart of
Isaac. Had Isaac married the daughter of an idolater, irreligion and
immorality would soon have pervaded the family of the patriarch, and
the knowledge of the true God have departed from the earth. Thus the
beacon light of nations had been extinguished, and the last altar
erected to Jehovah had been broken down: for the other descendants of
Shem were fast departing from the God of their fathers,--and if the
children of Keturah and Ishmael for a period retained the faith of
Abraham, the torch which kindled the fire on their altars was lighted at
that which was kept burning on those of Isaac and Jacob, and the example
of their families preserved alive the remembrance and the acts of the
living God in the nations around them.

With a train which became the suitor of a prince, with costly presents
of gold and ornaments according to the custom of both ancient and modern
days, but more particularly conforming to Eastern usage, the
confidential servant of Abraham was sent on his embassy to t