BESIDES the blessing which Christianity is to us as a motive for our moral improvement, it is also most valuable as a rule of conduct. We are not left merely to the influence of its principles on the heart; the effect which they ought to have is specified, and we are thus furnished with a test, by which we may judge how far we are really affected by them, and also with directions to assist us in their practical result.

These directions, no less than the doctrines with which they are so nearly allied, have the divine sanction; and attest, like them, the wisdom and goodness of their Author. They are given in a way the best calculated to interest and influence, and are of as universal an application as the principles from which they spring.

The manner in which woman is noticed in the practical parts of Scripture accords with the place she is allowed to hold in the Christian economy. The precepts which are to regulate female conduct are equally precise with those which apply to the other sex, and the examples equally instructive.

We cannot, indeed, but be peculiarly struck with

the natural and appropriate, as well as beautiful, delineation of female character in Scripture. No point is overcharged, no virtue exaggerated. The portrait is the more affecting because it is so like. It is the gentle, tender, and feeling woman whom we meet with in real life; and though the sublime situations in which she is placed, as well as the language and imagery of Scripture, invest the heroine of the Bible with a peculiar charm, she is not so highly raised above ordinary circumstances as not to provoke our sympathy and invite our imitation.

On this account the illustrations of the sacred volume are of the highest value. The female Christian who is familiar with them needs few other models. Besides the chasteness and simplicity which characterize these examples, there is a detail about them which is not only graphically true, but practically instructive. It is not merely by their prophetic visions, or inspired songs, that we are made acquainted with the female worthies of the ancient church; we converse with them in their homes; we see them in the discharge of family and social functions; and we find, in general, that those who were the most highly honored by divine favor were the most blameless and amiable, according to our ideas of female excellence.

The Bible might, therefore, be recommended, were it only for its moral illustrations; and those who think lightly of its mysteries are often not without appreciation of its value in this point of view.

But mutilation, whilst it robs the Christian system of its beauty, spoils its effect. There is no part independent of another; take it in its perfect gradation, the harmony is complete; but the abstraction of a single principle cannot be without prejudice to the whole.

On the contrary, those who receive the truths of Scripture on the sanction of their Author, and, therefore, give due weight to every part, are enabled to admire their aggregate completeness, as well as their individual perfection. The female believer, for instance, whilst she acknowledges with gratitude the interest she has in the doctrines of the Gospel, is no less affected by the regard paid to her sex in the Scripture development of their character. With regard to the latter, especially, she cannot but feel it to be a peculiar mark of condescension that there should be such minute and instructive notices; and that, by the setting forth of examples in various circumstances, and in the different ranks of life, she should be left at no loss as to the application of the divine precepts.

Nor can she help remarking the impartiality and the truth of scriptural illustrations. Woman is described with the virtues and the faults peculiar to her sex; and whilst we admire her enthusiasm, her tenderness, and her devotion, whilst we see of how much she is capable, how greatly she has been honored, and for what she has been destined, we are not allowed to be blind to her weaknesses.

It is thus that so much may be learnt from the study of the Scriptures. Not only is the Bible in this way infinitely superior to all fictitious narrative, but few histories contain such accurate and impartial delineations. The Bible tells us what woman has been, what she may be, and what she is. And if she would be guided in the path of duty, if she would know her dangers, her temptations, and her foibles, if she would be made acquainted with her own heart, she will read and meditate upon the inspired volume, and will study there what is so accurately described; either as encouragement or as warning.

The earliest example recorded is eminently illustrative of female character. The mother of mankind was truly the representative of her sex. She fell because she was over-confident in herself, and because she was prevailed on to desire what was prohibited. And if this conveys a salutary cau tion to her female descendants, and a caution of which they stand too frequently in need, how sweet a lesson may they learn from her lowly penitence, her humble yet rejoicing hope. She fell; but in the depth of her abasement she caught the brightness of the promise, and saw, in the east, the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness rising on her benighted children with healing in his wings. Long and patiently did she wait his coming; and, though her first-born hopes ended in worse than disappointment, though it was her lot to experience the bitterest of

maternal griefs, and to lose two children through the crime of one, still she persevered in believing; and when called again to the solicitudes and duties of a mother, recognised in her offspring a pledge of the divine truth. She died in hope, and her expectation was inherited by her descendants. It was the pecu. liar privilege of the daughters of the chosen seed; it inspired the song of the prophetess, and nerved the arm of the female warrior, and gave to the peaceful mother of Israel higher thoughts and nobler anticipations than could have been enjoyed by any less privileged matron. And it continued to cheer the female believers of the ancient church, until faith was lost in fulfilment, and the salutation of the angel announced the completion of the promise, as he greeted the virgin of the house of David the mother of Emanuel.

A hope so heavenly and so pure is peculiarly appropriate to woman. Nothing is more delightful in her than a disposition to anticipate good. Women have their share in the trials of life, and they have, perhaps, less strength than the other sex to encounter them; but to hope is their privilege and their distinction; and often does this bear them up, and help them even to bear up others, when minds of greater firmness, but less buoyancy, fail. The captive daughter of Judah felt her fetters lightened when she thought of Him who was to be her deliverer, and whose glory it should be to lead captivity captive. And Christian hope is the same sentiment