36

ISAAC.

XII.

JSAac.

born. Ishmael, the son
of Hagar, was now al-
most grown up, and he
behaved very unkindly to his little
brother Isaac, mocking him in his

 

hear us; and if we have done wrong,
like Hagar and Ishmael, we must
pray for pardon, and ask to be made
humble, and gentle, and holy. All
our hearts are full of anger, and
disobedience, and pride; but God
will give us the Holy Spirit, if we

play. This was very wrong, and it | ask him, to make us gentle, and
grieved and displeased Abraham | obedient, and humble.

and Sarah; and Sarah said, “Cast |
| gone away, God called to Abraham,

out the bond-woman and her gon.”

And God commanded Abraham to
do this; so he rose in the morning,
and called Hagar, and gave her a
bottle of water, and bread, and her
son Ishmael, and sent them both
away: they went into the wilder-
ness of Beersheba. The water in
the bottle was soon spent; it was
very hot, and Ishmael fainted, and
his mother cast him under a bush,
and she sat by herself, and wept.
But God heard Ishmael cry, and an
angel called to Hagar from heaven,
and said, “Hagar, fear not; God
hath heard the voice of the lad
where he is. Arise, lift up the lad,
and hold him in thy hand.” Then
God showed Hagar “a well of wa-
ter; and she went, and filled her
bottle with water, and gave the lad
drink.” And God was with Ish-
mael, and made him well, and he
grew up, and lived in the wilderness.
Afterwards, he had many children,
and they became a great people, as
the angel had foretold.

God can take care of us wherever
we are; He can keep us when we
are ill, and make us well and strong
again. When we are in sorrow, we
should pray to God, and He will

 

After Hagar and Ishmael were

and said, “'Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, and offer him for a
burnt-offering, upon a mountain
which I will show thee” Did God
wish to make Abraham unhappy,
and to kill his son? No, God only
wished to try Abraham’s faith; to
see if Abraham would be obedient,
and if he loved God more than his
dear child. Abraham obeyed 4i-
rectly; for he knew God’s command
must be right, and he believed that
God had power even to raise Isaac
to life again after he was dead. All
God does is good and right. When
He sends us pain, or sickness, or
sorrow, He does it wisely, for good,
not for evil; we cannot know why,
but God knows; let us ask Him to
make us as obedient to His will as
Abraham was.

Abraham arose in the morning,
and saddled his ass, and took two
servants with him, and Isaac, and
wood for the burnt-offering, and
went to the place God showed
him. As they walked along, and
Abraham thought what he was to
do to his dear son, his good, obe-
dient child, he must have felt very
sad; but Abraham loved God more