procession and of the sacrifices, but were singled out by the king as receivers, alike of his blessing and his bounty. This is but a trifling circumstance in itself: yet every verse in the Word of God tending to make manifest the equality of the Hebrew females, their peculiar and glorious privileges as women of Israel, is of no small importance. According even to the ultra orthodox, the law and its traditionary explanation must have been in force, both in theory and practice, during the monarchy of Israel; and if we can find no evidence there of the slavery and ignorance of women, it is clear that the laws which are said to command these things have no foundation in Judaism.

We come now to a character which proves the dignity and elevation of the Israelitish woman most completely. There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. His name was Nabal, of the house of Caleb, churlish in his disposition, and evil in his doings. He had a wife named Abigail, of whom we are expressly told by the Sacred Historian, that "she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance." How such a superior person could ever have become the wife of the churlish Nabal, we might be at a loss to discover, did we not feel with a quaint old chronicler, that love of wealth was as likely to be found in ancient Israel as in other nations, and that Nabal's wealth had in consequence been a greater attraction in the eyes of Abigail's father than the domestic happiness of his child, which happiness an evil temper must inevitably have destroyed; the beauty and the very gifts of Abigail were likely to have

won Nabal's love; for affection and even kindness may be found in churlish dispositions, though neither can be pleasantly demonstrated. Perfect freedom and equality Abigail evidently enjoyed in her husband's house; but the want of companionship for her superior understanding, the constant annoyances which Nabal's temper must have occasioned her, even if not shown to herself, displayed broadly in her household and to all who sought favors or even common courtesy at his hand, must have painfully embittered her domestic life. Still we do not find that either her energy or happy temper sunk under it, as would have been the case with any but a very superior mind. Nothing is so infectious as an evil temper. The strongest control, the most enduring and everacting piety, the most determined resolution to bear and forbear, to love and to forgive, however often pained or annoyed; all these must be experienced and practised by a wife, if the evil temper of her husband really fails to sour hers. Some meek gentle dispositions and unwavering sweetness of temper, may indeed stand the torrent of churlishness uninjured; but in these, though the temper does not fail, health and energy both succumb, and the most lasting misery is the consequence. Abigail evidently did not belong to this latter class, or she could not have acted in an emergency of terror as we find she did.

The confusion and misery reigning in Judea, from the Lord's rejection of Saul, until his death, do not appear to have penetrated as far as Carmel, so as to interfere with the usual rural employments of the Israelites. Rumours of the contest between Saul and David, of the cruelties of the former and troubles of the latter,

had no doubt spread far and near, and had enlisted the popular feelings in favor of the noble and persecuted David. It was sheep-shearing time, and all Nabal's flocks were gathered together; while feasting and merrymaking diversified the pleasant labour in the household, and displayed the plenteousness of Nabal's stores. Feeling his safety still less secure since the recent death of Samuel, David, with his men, had retreated into the wilderness of Paran, in the vicinity of Carmel, where Nabal's flocks were fed. Scorning to appropriate to himself the smallest portion of the wealth of another, however sorely pressed by hunger and privation, David waited till the sheep-shearing, a time when most men's hearts were open towards their poorer brethren, and sent messengers to Nabal, bidding them greet him in his (David's) name, and with a winning courtesy which spoke well for the gentle and lowly character of the Lord's anointed, ask the food and drink he so imperatively needed. "Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David."

Could any address have been more gentle and respectful, or more calculated to have found an equally conciliating reply? Instead of which, we find Nabal, true to his churlish character, peremptorily refusing, and scorn

fully demanding, "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh, that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?"

He might easily have known, by an inquiry of his own young men, to whom David, as a warrant of his truth, had so unhesitatingly referred him; but to do so would have inferred a softening spirit; and their information, perhaps, might have compelled him to comply with David's request; therefore he listened only to the dictates of his own ill-temper, caring not for the consequences, or indeed thinking of any thing but the peculiar pleasure it was to be disobliging and ungrateful; for from the after-words of David, it would seem that he had not only restrained his needy followers from taking any part of Nabal's property, but absolutely protected them from the bands of marauders which, from the fearful state of the kingdom, prowled about Judea.

The indignation of the young warrior was roused by this surly refusal, perhaps to somewhat too great an extent; but David, though so truly holy and pious, and perfect in his heart towards God, as to be spiritually favoured by Him above all his fellows, is never pourtrayed in Holy Writ as any thing but a mortal, with all the infirmities and feelings of humanity. He was roused not only by this ill return for his courtesy, but by the requital of evil for good; and in a moment of anger, he commanded all his young men to gird on their swords, and with a troop of four hundred equally indignant as himself, marched from the wilderness in the

direction of Nabal's dwelling, resolved utterly to exterminate all that belonged to him; and no doubt he would have done so, had not his wrath been turned aside, and his better spirit recalled, by the energy and judgment of a beautiful and noble-minded woman.

The high opinion which the superior understanding, and unwavering temper of Abigail, had won her in the minds and hearts of her household, is clearly evident from all which followed her husband's speech. One of the young men to whom David had referred as witnesses of his truth, hastened to his mistress, and informed her of all that had occurred. "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them [a forcible description, in a few words, of the request and the reply]. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them in the fields: they were a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a man of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him."

From these words, we are led to suppose that the young man who spoke had seen enough of David, when in the wilderness together, to feel well assured that such ungraciousness would be severely punished. To attempt to speak to his master he knew was impossible, for his words would either have been wholly disregarded, or not even allowed to be spoken. We see, too, that he was ready and willing to bear witness to David's truth, but his master was such a man of Belial, that he dared not