in you childish, and to us uninteresting; if not an object of contempt. But a worthy woman, shrinking from manifest hazard, or threatened violence, we are always forward and proud to protect; while, on the other hand, an intrepid female seems to renounce our aid, and in some respect to invade our province. We turn away, and leave her to herself.

Let it be likewise observed, that in your sex: manly exercises are never graceful; that in them a tone and figure, as well as an air and deportment, of the masculine kind, are always forbidding; and that men of sensibility desire in every woman soft: features, and a flowing voice, a form not robust, and a demeanour delicate and gentle. These are considered as alike requisite and natural; I mean where there is any taste for elegance. I am inclined even to believe that, supposing other circumstances equal, the coarsest clown would be better pleased with them than with their opposites..

Yet farther, the aptitude observable in all the better kind of women, to commiserate and comfort, to melt into tears at the sight or hearing of distress,. to take the care of children, to play and prattle with those pretty innocents, to mingle in all the mild sympathies and tender charities of life; the wonderful dexterity with which they disarm fierceness, and appease wrath; the powerful eloquence they display in assuaging the cares, and calming the sor-rows, of those men with whom they are connected ;; their strong propensity to a union of hearts, and their unutterable fondness where it takes place ;-these lovely peculiarities in their temperament, these finer tunings of their mind, seem additional proofs, that softness is your proper attribuțe. Womanish Softness, as it is styled, has never been imputed

to any man by way of reproach, without a tacit acknowledgment of this truth in your favour. In the male composition, it is certainly a blemish wherever found; in the female, a beauty.

From these remarks, I think it appears, that the basis of the virtue we now recommend is laid in the original make, or specific character of the sex. The superstructure which Christianity raises upon it, or, in other words, the improvements it receives from religious principles, shall be our next consi

deration.

The gospel is, in truth, the religion of human nature; building charity and all virtue on whatever is kind, ingenuous, or praiseworthy in that; correcting its disorders, mitigating its distresses, supporting its weaknesses, and from each educing good, by turning them into matter of humility and circumspection, of faith and resignation, of docility and meekness. These are all connected together; but the first and last are nearly allied. They are twin-sisters. Humility is ever disposed to serve; and she affords the other singular assistance.

They that have a just sense of their own infirmities and failings, will be naturally of an unpretending, a forbearing, and a forgiving temper. The reverse of this is the genuine offspring of pride. A proud character was never a meek one; whereas there is no act of kindness, no instance of condescension, which the self-diffident are not ready to perform. They enter thoroughly into the spirit of those precepts that require christians to "be cour"teous, to condescend to men of low estate, and in "honour to prefer one another."

Picture in your own minds a young lady, lively, agreeable, caressed; as yet unacquainted with her Maker, with herself, and with the claims which

society has on every reasonable being that is sent into life. The magic power of fancy, set to work by vanity, ambition, and hope, creates a kind of world within, to which she fondly refers that without, as always subordinate, and chiefly subservient. In this little empire" she sits as queen, and saith "in her heart, I shall see no sorrow," and dreams of conquest and triumph, of splendid houses and shining equipages, of passionate lovers and disappointed rivals, with nameless enchanting visions more, which may never be realized, but which she regards as the most certain realities; so certain, that he who should attempt to undeceive her would run the risk of being hated as her greatest enemy. This world of phantoms, it is true, is always fluctuating; the gay and the gloomy succeed by turns. But in each our conceited fair one is still the principal figure; and the value of every thing is measured, according as it contributes to her importance and elevation. Hence innumerable illusions, and ungoverned passions; the swelling of self-suf ficiency, and the stateliness of disdain; violent resentment, or sullen discontent, if not treated with the respect she supposes to be her due; in fine, a total inattention to the expectations of others, and absolute insensibility to whatever is beautiful in an unassuming, or noble in a disinterested behaviour. Now what is it that can dispel this visionary scene and disabuse the much deluded sorceress? Nothing so effectual as christianity.

If it should please the Almighty to impress upon her heart its sacred doctrines, they will show her, in the most affecting lights, her own littleness, the degeneracy and misery of corrupted nature, the emptiness of temporal and the reality of eternal things, the duty she owes to her Maker, her Re

deemer, and her fellow-creatures; with the ne cessity of securing the divine favour, by a life of faith, contrition, and charity. By such views, the fantastic structures of pride will be presently brought down; and on their ruins the plain and modest, but pleasing and graceful fabric of meekness, will be easily raised. To speak without a metaphor: She will be delivered from the chief causes of ill humour ; such, for instance, as the obstinacy of self-will, the exorbitance of self-love, a passion for those gratifications that at once disappoint and enervate, and, finally, the expectation of too much homage, and too many compliances. The salvation of her soul, and the spirit of her Saviour, will become her principal objects: every virtue connected with these, will be her habitual study; and among the rest "peace, long suffering, "gentleness, goodness, meekness." With such a temper she will not be apt to think herself affronted; that revengeful disposition, of which your sex have been accused even to a proverb, will be her abhorrence; she will not dare, for a moment, to withhold from others that forgiveness, which she is conscious of wanting from the great God to herself; and as for her behaviour in general to those about her, it will breathe that winning mildness, which seems to me the most distinguishing lineament in the image of Jesus.

He, my sisters, was the perfect model of kindness and courtesy. The Friend of man was his characteristic. He conversed with those whom the world despised; he stood still to hear the cries, and relieve the miseries, of the wretched; he even stooped (astonishing goodness!) to wash the feet of his own disciples; "the son of man came not to

"be ministered unto, but to minister." The greatness of humility, and the beauty of compassion, he exemplified on all occasions. He showed by his own practice, that there is nothing more becoming than the tear of generous sorrow, nothing so soothing as the language of a benevolent heart. Jesus weeping over the grave of Lazarus, consoling his mournful sisters, and instructing the solemn circle in the ideas of immortality, with the means of attaining it, is surely an object by infinite degrees more interesting and glorious, than all the conquerors of the earth crowned with laurels, and riding on the car of triumph, with numberless captives in their

train.

His institution is of a piece with his character. It includes the grand principles of universal humanity. Every wall of partition between the nations it throws down; abolishing the narrow distinction of Jews and Gentiles, and exploding the illiberal opposition of Greeks to Barbarians. The spirit of conquest for the sake of power it discourages, while it proclaims, enforces, and inspires "peace on earth, "and good-will toward men;" whom it teaches to consider and love as brethren, forming one great family under one common parent, held together by charity as the bond of perfection, and of such account with the Supreme, that he gave his only begotten Son to save them.

Need I labour to prove how sweetly such discoveries as these coincide with the dispositions to modesty, sympathy, generosity, the desire of pleasing, the dread of violence, the horror of barbarity, the promptness to cherish tender sentiments, and form endearing connexions, which are so natural to the worthiest part of your sex?