Naomi

by Mrs. J. B. Webb

Her feelings were highly excited, and unconsciously she repeated this solemn adjuration in an audible whisper, as her father terminated the evening's devotions, and no other voice prevented her soul-felt prayer from being heard. In an instant she was aware of the inadvertency; and rising from her knees, she turned and saw the keen eye of Zadok fixed upon her with an expression of anxious inquiry, mingled with astonishment. She had intended to defer the important avowal of her faith until the following day, and to request an audience with Zadok, with no one present except her uncle; but now she saw that her long-cherished secret was already divulged. She approached her father with faltering steps, and sinking on her knees at his feet, she caught the hem of his embroidered robe, and exclaimed, "Yes, my father, I have betrayed myself sooner than I had intended; I have called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and oh—spurn me not from you when I declare myself to be his most unworthy disciple!"

Words could not paint the feelings that chased each other across the expressive but stern countenance of the priest, as this open avowal of her apostasy fell from the quivering lips of his daughter. Horror and amazement held him motionless for a few moments, and strong affection for his suppliant child restrained him from any violent expression of anger; but all the prejudices of his nation and all the pride of his sect repressed his rising pity. He looked on Naomi with an expression of bitter disappointment and contempt; and unable to command the grief that wrung his heart, he drew his garment from her convulsive grasp, and would have retired from the apartment had not Amaziah detained him.

"Zadok, my brother," he said, "leave us not thus in anger; but hear your innocent, your most devoted daughter, towards whom I know your spirit yearns, though deep-rooted prejudice would prompt you to cast her from you. Hear me also, for I must encounter your wrath and your scorn. I must confess that the faith which now animates Naomi's soul has for many years been established in my own heart and that of my wife, and that we have been in part God's instruments in strengthening the same belief in your daughter's mind. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ was imparted to her many months ago by one of hie most enlightened and most favoured disciples; and when we found that she believed in him as the Messiah, the Son of the Most High God, we joyfully encouraged her, and instructed her in the truth."

"Oh, fool that I was," exclaimed Zadok, "to suffer my treasure to be so long removed from my own care and my own watchful guardianship! But how could I look for such a return from a brother's hands, for all the love that I have ever borne towards him? Speak not to me, Amaziah. Had you plunged a dagger to Naomi's heart you would have less deeply injured me, than by thus instilling into her guileless breast the doctrines of the impostor of Nazareth. Oh! I have watched her from her infancy with feelings of anxiety and affection which none but a father can tell. I have exulted in her abilities, her graces, and still more, in her piety and zeal, and knowledge in our holy religion; and in her dutiful affection and gratitude I hoped to receive a rich reward for all my care and solicitude. But now what has she become? A curse and a shame to her parents—an apostate from the only true faith—a believer in a blasphemous creed, worse even than idolatry, founded on impostures, invented by a malefactor, who was unable to save himself or his followers from the punishment which they drew on themselves by their false pretensions. O God of Israel! avenge thy great name, and suffer not these deluded Nazarenes to draw away thy lambs from thy fold. Restore my child to her religion and her parents, and let her not be an outcast from thy people, a disgrace to the tribe of Aaron!"

Zadok spoke with all the passionate vehemence so characteristic of his Hebrew blood. His hands were clasped energetically, his eyes flashed fire, and his whole form seemed animated with powerful emotion. Salome gazed alternately on him and on her stricken child, whose head was bowed to the ground in humiliation and sorrow, while her long black hair fell in profusion over her neck and face, and concealed the tears which she strove ineffectually to repress. Her mother could not feel the indignation that filled the breast of Zadok; she could not forget that Naomi, however erring, was still her only, her most beloved daughter, and she stooped to raise her from the floor, and to whisper words of comfort. But Naomi refused to rise. "Oh, my mother," she murmured, "has not my father cursed me? Let me lie in dust and ashes, until once more I hear his voice recall those dreadful words, and bless his child."

SALOME INTERCEDING FOR NAOMI.

"He cursed thee not, my Naomi; he only spoke in sorrow and in anger of the sad change that has been wrought in you. But tell him that you will listen again to his instructions—tell him that you will strive to shake off and forget the errors into which you have so unhappily been led, and he will bless you again, and joy will yet return to our house. I will kneel with you, my child. Zadok never yet denied me what I asked. I will plead for you, and promise for you that you will return to the holy religion of your ancestors."

Salome's tears fell fast as she uttered these words, and she knelt by her daughter's side before the dignified form of her husband. He could not see her thus abase herself before him unmoved, nor behold the tears that flowed down her gentle countenance without emotion. He approached, and raised her from the ground, while he replied in a softened tone, "For thy dear sake, Salome, I will pardon the child for whom you plead so well. But I only restore her to my favour, and acknowledge her as my daughter, on the terms which you yourself have named. She shall promise no more to use the name of the God of the Nazarenes, and she shall attend to all the forms and customs of our religion, and again receive instruction from our most holy rabbis and from myself, on the points concerning which her faith has been shaken. Naomi, promise me this, and then come back to my arms and my heart, as my own lovely and beloved child."