Female Scripture Biography, Volume ICox, F. A. (Francis Augustus)
Religion
Female Scripture Biography, Volume I
Cox, F. A. (Francis Augustus)
Bible -- Biography; Women -- Religious life; Women in the Bible
As soon as Manoah was informed by his wife of the visit she had received,
and the delightful promises she had heard, he entreated God to permit the
return of the messenger, whom he supposed to have been a prophet. "When,"
says Bishop Hall, "I see the strength of Manoah's faith, I marvel not that
he had a Samson to his son: he saw not the messenger, he beard not the
errand, he examined not the circumstances; yet now he takes thought, not
whether he should have a son, but how he shall order the son which he must
have; and sues to God, not for the son which as yet he had not, but for
the direction of governing him, when he should be. Zachary had the same
message, and craving a sign, lost that voice wherewith he craved it.
Manoah seeks no sign for the promise, but counsel for himself; and yet
that angel spake to Zachary himself, this only to the wife of Manoah; that
in the temple like a glorious spirit, this in the house or field, like
some prophet or traveller; that to a priest, this to a woman. All good men
have not equal measures of faith; the bodies of men have not more
differences of stature, than their graces. Credulity to men is faulty and
dangerous, but, in the matters of God, is the greatest virtue of a
Christian. Happy are they that have not seen, yet believed. True faith
takes all for granted, yea, for performed, which is once promised.
"He that before sent his angel unasked, will much more send him again upon
entreaty; those heavenly messengers are ready, both to obey their Maker,
and to relieve his children. Never any man prayed for direction in his
duties to God and was repulsed; rather will God send an angel from heaven
to instruct us, than our good desires shall be frustrated."
Upon his reappearance, the angel did not present himself to Manoah, though
he came in answer to his supplications; but to his wife as she sat alone
in the field. She immediately hastened to her husband, who gladly returned
with her to the spot; and hearing from her own lips, that it was the same
remarkable visitor she had so recently seen, he expressed his faith in the
promise, and his solicitude for the child. His wife concurred in every
desire; and his inquiry was, in fact, equally her own. "How shall we order
the child, and how shall we do unto him?" The angel repeated his former
injunctions, which this pious female was ready to observe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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