Abdiel

“ It was known that Saulus had been in consultation with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, his kindred, and that plans for stirring events had been made, the particulars of which were to be made known to them. The venerable Rabbi Abdiel was present, as the special and honored guest of Saulus. It was an unwonted occasion when any from without were admitted to a gathering of the Inner Circle; but the desire of Saulus was sufficient, and besides, the Rabbi was already known to many, not only as faithful, but as intensely zealous for their contention. ”

“ The streams which should flow out in pure volume to refresh and confirm the children of the Dispersion are becoming poisoned at the fountain-head.”
“It is even as thou sayest, O venerable Abdiel!” replied Almon. “We may almost perceive heresy and false doctrine in the very air about us! It cometh mainly from [pg 150] the followers of an impostor named Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified not long ago between two thieves. His disciples have waxed yet more bold in their teachings ”

“ So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found Among the faithless, faithful only he; ”

“ None will walk the celestial pavement of heaven but those washed in the blood. The first man that went up from this earth was probably Abel. You can see Abel putting his little lamb upon the altar, thus placing blood between him and his sin. Abel sang a song the angels could not join in. There must have been one solo song of redemption in heaven, because Abel had no one to join him. But there is a great chorus now, for the redeemed have been going up for six thousand years, and they sing of Him who is worthy to receive honour because He died to save us from condemnation. ”

“ Hope, I say, go up stairs!”
“I only thought, Sir—” began Abel.
“Now, in Heaven’s name, don’t make me angry, Sir!” burst in the old gentleman, almost foaming at the mouth. “Why should you think, Sir? What business have you to think, Sir? You’re a boy, Sir—a school-boy, Sir! Are you going to dispute with me in my own house? I take back my permission. Go, both of you! and never let me see your faces again!”
The old man stood pointing with his cane toward the door.
“Go, both of you!” repeated he, fiercely. It was impossible to resist; and Abel and Gabriel moved slowly toward the door. ”

“ Abel said. "Fairish I must be with your sisters."
"Why for you cavil like that, father? The money of mam came to Deinol. Am I not her son?"
Though his daughters, murmured—"We wake at the caw of the crows," they said, "and weary in the young of the day"—Abel obeyed his son, who thereupon departed and came to Thornton East to the house of Catherine Jenkins, a widow woman, with whom he took the appearance of a burning lover. ”

“ And concerning this God said unto Adam and Eve when they were in the Garden, “Ye shall not eat of this tree, for in the day wherein ye eat thereof ye shall surely die” (Gen. ii, 17) ; and these words referred to Abel before [he was born] . And God said unto Cain, “Where is thy brother Abel?” And Cain said unto Him, “Am I my brother Abel’s keeper?” And God said unto him, “The blood of thy brother hath come to Me. Cursed shall the earth be because she hath opened her mouth to drink the blood of thy brother; and do thou tremble, and be terrified all the days of thy life.” ”

“ The morning shall come, and it shall be seen where Abel is, and where Cain. So all men who are after Cain, and so all who are after Abel, even unto the end of the world. “He shall enter even unto the generations of his fathers: even to eternity he shall not see light.” Because even when he was here, he was in darkness, taking pleasure in false goods, and not loving real goods: even so he shall go hence into hell: from the darkness of his dreams the darkness of torments shall receive him. ”

“ In the afternoon, Abdool walked into the native town. Met with the chief land-owner in the place [Pg 210] and neighbourhood; a man of wealth and of great good nature, and much esteemed among his own people, as a holy man. After some conversation, he invited Abdool to his house, where about a hundred people were assembled, before whom much discussion took place about religion. The above person showed more disposition to attend than any of them; and begged to have two copies of St. Matthew, and two of Persian, and that all the translations should be sent him from time to time. ”

“ Even an enemy might have pitied her; but the king, who loved her, answered nothing. All day long Abeille stayed there, watching the light fade, and the sky grow pale. By-and-by the stars came out, but the girl never moved from her place. Suddenly a hand touched her. She looked round with a start, and there was King Loc, covered from head to foot in a dark mantle, holding another over his arm. ‘Put on this and follow me,’ was all he said. But Abeille somehow knew that she was going to see her mother. ”

“ But our hard master, though he likes good looks, May find thee quite a youth; He says that thou hast spirit; and he means for thy behoof. Then do what gives thee pleasure, Without vain-glory, Abel; and spend thy precious leisure In writing or in working—each is a labour worthy, Either with pen or hammer—they are the tools most lofty; Labour in mind or body, they do fatigue us ever— But then, Abel my son, I hope that never One blush upon you e'er will gather To shame the honour of your father." Abel's blue eyes were bright with bliss and joy— Father rejoiced—four times embraced the boy ”

“ Abdool said, ‘There is no such custom among Christians; but I can tell you one sentence, which, if you remember and believe, may be of service to you; and that is, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth from all sin!’ He requested Abdool would write to him, from time to time, on such subjects.
“Feb. 13th.—Saturday, arrived at Cawnpore. On Sunday, Abdool’s brother, and his nephew, came from Lukhnow to meet him. They received him with great affection, and wished to eat with [Pg 218] him, and to be one with him in all things. ”

“ Abel hesitated. What, leave Edith? She guessed the thought.
"Go, Abel. I feel that it is the only way to save me. Do as our friend suggests. Get the settlers or Lightfoot on the trail, and all will yet be well."
"I will go! God forgive me if any ill happens to you!" and he disappeared in the darkness.
The savages, led by the renegade, were soon up with the old man and his charge, and came down on them with the fierceness of tigers. Their leader, however, interposed to save the fugitives from slaughter; he had other designs upon them than to permit the old hermit an easy death. ”

“ The savages yelled madly from their cover, but not one ventured to show himself. The hermit laughed loudly, then turned to Abel, who, pale and staring, was gazing over the platform:
"How do you like my style of working? But go and get some more of our jolly flint bullets—you'll find them yonder, in the cave behind you."
Awe-stricken, Dare rose to his feet to obey, but then paused as though transfixed. Then a joyous look overspread his face, as he sprung forward, crying:
"Edith, my darling! alive—thank God!" ”

“ So he turns back to his own family, more excited, but not worse than before; and finding in the family circle everything as he has left it, the urgency of Abel, who wishes to make him offer a sacrifice, becomes altogether insupportable. More say we not, excepting that the motivation of the scene in which Abel perishes is of the rarest excellence, and what follows is equally great and priceless. There now lies Abel! That now is Death—there was so much talk about it, and man knows about it as little as he did before. ”

“ An accident must have happened; but of what nature? Lord Aberfeldie was beginning to think grimly, vaguely, and painfully of the future. If aught fatal had happened to Allan—his only son—an idea from which his soul shrunk—his cherished title and the grand old house of Dundargue would pass to a remote cousin, one who, by long residence in England, by inter-marriage there, by training, breeding, and habit of thought, cared no more for Scotland and her interests, or for the traditions of the Grahams of Aberfeldie, than for those of Timbuctoo. ”

“ For he hates this house. Here died the lady Sarah, his wife. Here lived and died his son, the leper, hidden from the world.
“And”—here the beggar’s face again touched hotly the face of Obil—“didst thou know Obil, the Desert-lover, and Keeper of Camels for Abdul’s Caravan? His wife Miriam was niece to the great rabbi. It was the son of Obil and Miriam they took with deceit and hid away deep, deep in the inner courts of the palace here, to be companion of their son, the leper.
“Art thou Obil? Go, go! Let them tell thee these things in Hebron! ”

“ Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy face, O Lord.” For he remembered how he had seen that fierce Wheel suddenly snuffed out before the rushing winds, and he knew by this what must be the angry breath of Jehovah upon the wicked; still Obil feared nothing in those old days, neither the tempests of the desert nor the fires of the wilderness nor the avenging hand of God, for his heart was good then, his hands pure. ”

“ The three skirted the flower beds and came out on the level sweep of turf before the house that was no house in the darkness, save that they remembered how it looked: a square, smoked thing, with a beard of dead creepers and white shades lidded over its never-lighted windows—a fit home for this man least-liked of the three hundred neighbours who made Old Trail Town. He touched the elbows of the other two men as they walked in the dark, but he rarely touched any human being. And now Abel Ames suddenly put his hand down on that of Ebenezer, where it lay in the crook of Abel's elbow. ”

“ The blood of Abel speaks not of Abel calmly yielding up his breath, while his head lies peacefully on his mother’s lap. It calls us to no softened couch over which fond parents bend in agony, and catch the placid smile which lingers on the countenance, and gather up the few rays of hope which beam in the dying eye, and which seem to whisper that death may, after all, be not so formidable a thing. ”

“ Abel's ear the words,--
"I say, sir."
He turned his head quickly enough then, and stopping the pony, cried with some trepidation, "God bless me! what is this?"
"Don't be frightened, sir," replied the still panting messenger. "Oh, I've run such a way after you!"
"What do you want with me?" said Mr. Abel. "How did you come here?"
"I got in behind," replied the Marchioness. "Oh, please drive on, sir--don't stop--and go towards the City, will you? and oh--do please make haste, because it is of consequence. There's somebody wants to see you there. ”

“ Abel implored; “and, O Gearge! let I tell mother about the word. Maybe she’ve heard tell of it. Let I show her the letter, Gearge. She’ll read it for ’ee. She’s a scholard, is mother.”
There was no mistaking now the wrath in George’s face. The fury that is fed by fear blazes pretty strongly at all times.
“Look ’ee, Abel, my boy,” said he, pinching Abel’s shoulder till he turned red and white with pain. “If thee ever speaks of that letter and that word to any mortal soul, I’ll tell Master Lake thee plays moocher, and I’ll half kill thee myself. Thee shall rue the day ever thee was born!” ”

“ But when Adam heard this, he said, "It is contrary to the precept that thou shouldst marry thy twin sister.'
"Now Cain was a tiller of the ground, but Abel was a pastor of sheep. Adam said to them, 'Take of the fruits of the earth, and of the young of the sheep, and ascend the top of this holy mountain, and offer there the best and choicest to God." Abel offered of the best and fattest of the first-born of the flock. Now as they were ascending the summit of the mountain, Satan put it into the head of Cain to kill his brother, so as to get Azrun. ”

“ Of the twenty brethren who were driven out by the Danes eleven years ago, only twelve yet live, and eight brethren from Abingdon supply the place of the others. God be praised that Father Adhelm yet lives! He has been my right hand in so many perils and trials.
It is so delightful to be at home once more. Surely never were monks happier. My heart swells when each morning we sing the three last joyful psalms at lauds. ”

“ Abel, who knew this coast, had written guide-books, about it—misleading guide-books, indeed, to me in my killing search—and who was aware that the place, the actual caché of the treasure, still survived—or why should he have sought to hide the truth from me, and have fled in the night, himself like a thief? Abel, the cursed shadow that I follow, and cannot run to earth!”
“O, Dick, tell him!” cried Harry once more.
“Mr. Pilbrow!” I broke out, trembling with excitement. “I believe you have hunted counter; I believe we can show you where your shadow lies. ”

“ But when both parents saw their son Abel, a youth as beautiful as a star, gentle as a lamb, and devout as an angel, stretched stark dead upon the ground, wounded and weltering in his blood, a ghastly spectacle to behold ”

“ The preacher of Capel Dissenters in Morfa saluted him on the tramping road and in shop, and brought him down from the gallery to the Big Seat. Even if Abel had land, money, and honor, his vessel of contentment was not filled until his wife went into her deathbed and gave him a son.
"Indeed me," he cried, "Benshamin his [p 35] name shall be. The Large Maker gives and a One He is for taking away."
He composed a prayer of thankfulness and of sorrow; and this prayer he recited to the congregation which gathered at the graveside of the woman from Drefach. ”