every law relating to her so spiritually bestows. Not to widows only, but to all who are in affliction, the Divine spirit infusing every law must bring comfort, by evincing how closely, how consolingly, she is drawn to God.

Can the widow and the fatherless in Israel recall this truth, yet not bless God that the record of His law is still our own, granted that in times of dispersion and banishment we might not despair, even though the form of the law must be, till our restoration, at an end? O let the afflicted take comfort. She has but to believe and obey, and the deep compassion of her God will perfect both, and render them acceptable. Let her but think on the magnitude of that love which has provided for her both as widow and mother. That by name she is singled out as especially the object of Divine solicitude, and, therefore, that the Eternal knew, and knows, the heaviness of her trial, the extent of her deep sorrow, the pressure of her cares. Let her recall every law given for the widow and the fatherless, and remember that He who gave them knows not the shadow of a change, and, therefore, feels for her now as tenderly as He did for her ancestors of old. What is time to Him? We look back with our finite gaze, and think there is such a wide distinction between past and present, that the laws given for the one can in no way concern the other. Customs, manners, all of earth may change, but not the nature of the immortal soul, nor of the human heart. From the beginning of the world, until the end, these were, are, and will be the same. And so is HE from whom they spring, and who guides and cares for them now as when He first grafted them into man. What, then, is time to Him? Can frail finite humanity believe

that time has changed His tenderness towards His afflicted children? O who would throw such scorn, such disrespect on that word which repeats and enforces in every manner of expression, "I, even I, am He, that changeth not; therefore ye sons of Israel are not consumed "? Let the widows of Israel take to their hearts every law which manifests His love towards them as widows. They are as much theirs now as at the moment they were given. Let them not believe, for a single moment, that the superior holiness of their ancestors gave them greater favour in the sight of their God. He saith, He saith, "Not for your own sakes will I do this, O Israel, for ye are a perverse and rebellious generation, but for the sake of the covenant I swore unto your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And again in strong confirmation, "For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be polluted: and I will not give my glory to another" (Isaiah xlviii). With such words how may we hesitate? Come unto Him, ye widows of Israel, for ye are His. Clasp to your hearts His love. Think not ye can weary it, for "God is not man, that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He should repent." Let no thought of unworthiness keep us back, for not in our own righteousness, but in His must we trust. And O believe in Him-trust in Him; and, as the widows of old, in our very affliction we shall be comforted, and to the Gentiles show forth His glory.

Our next section, the Daughters of Israel, while it principally relates to the duties of our younger sisters as inferred from the laws concerning them, also brings

much important matter to light, regarding the equality of women.

In every command and ordinance relative to obedience to parents, to the eating of holy things (Levit. xi. 14; Deut. xii. and xvi.), to appearing and rejoicing at the various festivals (Deut. xvi.), daughters, equally with the sons, are so emphatically specified, that it is impossible to believe that the religious as well as the moral duties of the law are not equally incumbent on woman as well as man. It is useless to transcribe the verses which point this out, as they will be found, in their own simple force of expression, in the chapters of the Lord's own Word quoted above. Were the maidens of Israel to keep aloof from all religious observances, to be bound to household duties and frivolous employments, become authorised to leave all the concerns of an immortal soul and of eternity to the care of fathers, husbands, or brothers, we should find no mention of such a class of beings. Nay, had the Eternal even intended that their fitness or unfitness for His service should depend on the judgment of man, we should still find only the sons mentioned. But to remove this entirely, the attendance of the maidens of Israel at every rejoicing, etc., becomes an absolute command from God, and its disobedience, neglect, or change, was sin against Himself. Such laws as those of Mezuzzot or Tephilim were given in an indeterminate manner, requiring the aid of the priest to decide who should wear the latter, and how use the former; but the obedience of the daughters of Israel, with their brothers, unto every ordinance, is so clearly and simply put, that the mind must indeed be perverted who

would seek to deprive them of such blessed privileges, and insist that religion is too deep a thing for woman.

God bade woman as well as man love Him with heart, and soul, and might; knowing that to all who did so, the comprehension of His will, His attributes, was comparatively easy, and obedience to His every statute a labour of rejoicing and love. To learn and to feel this in youth, woman, equally with man, must be taught to know and love the Lord, not left to the mere practice of forms; must be taught, that to appear at His festivals, to keep His ordinances, to obey His commandments, are privileges of joy, granted to them in the fulness of God's love, and mark the distinction between His rule and that of every other. They would be led to compare their station and their privileges as maidens of Israel, with those of the women of Greece and Rome, and every contemporary nation, and, in more modern times, with the women of many a Gentile land. Civilisation, and a study and practice of the moral laws of the Bible, are doing their work, and pervading the customs and feelings of the Nazarene world; but their guiding law breathes not the Eternal's especial care for woman, in her every relation of life, more forcibly than ours does.

That the daughters of Israel must have had the power to obtain influence over their fathers, even to persuade them to evil, is proved by their being specially named in the law already quoted, regarding the punishment of all those, be they brother, son, DAUGHTER, wife, or friend, who enticed to idolatry.

Again, we are told in Deut. vii. 2, 4, alluding to the care needed to preserve the Israelites a holy people, and prevent all communion with the idolatrous nations

around: "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy DAUGHTER thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following ME, that they may serve other Gods, etc. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth."

"Son," in the sentence "for they will turn away thy son," etc., evidently signifies both son and daughter, as both are specifically named in the preceding verse, and the Hebrew word 2, though always translated son, is equivalent to the English noun child, for which there is no distinct Hebrew term. "Children of Israel," is written in Hebrew exactly as if it were translated, "sons of Israel" (3), but it evidently and unanswerably includes both sexes, by the words already quoted: "Gather the people together, men, women, and children," and other verses of similar import. As Israel had been already warned against giving his daughter in marriage to a son of Canaan, she is, of course, included in the danger thence ensuing, although only "son" is mentioned; the plural meaning of that "son" being evident from the pronoun following it being they instead of he. "For they will turn aside thy child from following ME, that THEY may serve other gods."

Now if nothing depended on women in Israel to uphold and make manifest the glory of their God, in obedience to His law and in serving Him, what necessity was there for this law? If her soul was of less moment than that of man, why should it have been so carefully