he kindred
of his master, there to receive a bride for the son of the patriarch. We
gain a delightful impression both of the piety and intelligence of the
household of Abraham from the account of the messenger to whom this
important transaction was intrusted. The faith of the patriarch animated
the other members of his household, and a strong chain of love encircled
all. After a long journey, the train reached the plains of Mesopotamia,
and then the tents of Nahor appeared in view; and then, in the prospect
of the immediate discharge of his commission, the messenger of the
patriarch sought explicit direction from the God of Abraham.

While the description of the interview at the fountain, "without the
gate of the city," gives a most beautiful view of the manners of the age
and the people, and an unsurpassed picture of the freshness and
simplicity of pastoral life, it proves at once the piety and the clear
discrimination of the agent employed. The beauty of the youthful Rebekah
caught his eye, while the test he devised afforded a safe criterion of
the character of the woman. Weary with the labours of the sultry day,
after tending her own flocks, had she been indolent or inactive, selfish
or sullen, she had turned from his request, and suffered his attendants
to administer to his wants. But as she looked upon them--dusty, weary,
parched by thirst, worn down by long travel--the sympathies of a kind
nature were awakened, as the servant ran to meet her, saying, "Let me, I
pray thee, drink a little water from thy pitcher." She said, "Drink, my
lord," and she let down the pitcher upon her hand and gave him to drink;
and when he had done drinking, she said, "I will draw water for thy
camels also, until they have done drinking." Thus did the maiden clearly
prove that she possessed some of the qualities most necessary for a
wife--that ready self-forgetfulness, that kindness, cheerfulness, and
desire to promote the happiness of others, that sunshine of the heart
which sheds its brightening beams over all the clouds that darken
domestic life. Through all the ages of the world, in all the
circumstances in which mankind are placed, the wife has ever need of
them, and wisely may the suitor look for them. But the servant of the
patriarch, "still wondering, held his peace." Not until assured that she
was of the race of the true worshippers of the God of Abraham, that she
had been trained in the fear of the Lord, did he feel assured that