deep waters of affliction flow over us; and like him we shall receive the guidance and encouragement we need. - But even in this emergency, when every human feeling must have been striving within him, urging instant action, we find him in meekness and humility enquiring of the Lord. And to him God vouchsafed reply, and bade him pursue, "for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all."

To enter into the detail of this chivalrous expedition we have not space, as it relates more to David than to his wife, whose history we are recording. Our readers will find the whole, far more emphatically told than could be by an uninspired pen, in the xxxth chapter of the First Book of Samuel. Suffice it here to state, "that David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away; and he rescued his two wives, and there was nothing lacking to him, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, nor any thing that they had taken to them; David recovered all."

The whole of this stirring tale reminds us of those narratives of the middle ages, on which the youthful lovers of chivalry delight to linger; why should they not then feel equal pleasure in the inspired story of their immediate ancestors? We have quite enough of Abigail's character and sentiments revealed, to give us all sufficient for a just conception of what not only her feelings but her conduct must have been, when she saw the city of her husband burnt and sacked, and herself and all her female companions, with their helpless children, carried off by their lawless foes-exposed to every horror which the mind could frame or the heart could dread. The wild attack; the hurried flight; the agony

of those days of capture which could have no hopeful future, for David and his men were with Achish, and the time of their return to Ziklag so uncertain, that traces of the Amalekite spoilers might be lost ere their capture was even known; and then the wild rekindling of hope at the sudden descent of David and his men; the awful strife lasting from even unto even; the glorious conquest; and the re-union of husbands and wives, children and fathers; are so completely all the elements of romance, that we need little of imagination to give it life and breath, or turn to the records of fiction for events to stir the very heart's blood with the recital of chivalric deeds.

But not to record it merely in its romantic bearings, have we brought this portion of Scripture forward. It is to remark how truly and beautifully both the grief and the exertions of David and his men demonstrate the extent of love, conjugal and parental, which reigned in the Hebrew households. It is a beautiful illustration of the spirit of those Mosaic laws, which, penetrating the very homes of the first-born of the Lord, guided and sanctified the conduct of husbands and wives, children and parents. LOVE was the watchword of Israel, alike in their relations to their Father in heaven and to each other. That the law was severe in its justice, is no contradiction to this assertion. Its perfection of justice was far purer, deeper, more influencing Love, than the modern codes which are pronounced so much more merciful.

The social and domestic position of the wife of Nabal must have been as perfectly free, independent, and influencing, as that of any woman of the present day, be the laws which guide her what they may. We perceive

the counsel and wisdom of their mistress, sought and followed by the servants of Nabal without the smallest regard to their master. Compare this liberty of will and action, this exercise of judgment displayed in the history of Abigail, with the position and the characters of the Eastern females of the present day, under the laws of Mahomet, and then let truth pronounce which are the degraded? Again, we are expressly told, that Abigail was not merely a beautiful woman, but of good understanding, which her whole story proves; and yet more, every word of her address to David evinces an almost remarkable knowledge of the ways and the words of the Lord. She is even called by the Ancient Fathers a prophetess. “There were seven women of Israel," they say, "who were prophetesses-Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther." We know not on what authority our venerable sages have honoured by the term prophetess, those whom the Bible does not so distinguish; but it is a forcible proof of the deep learning and profound knowledge of the Word of God which must have been possessed by Abigail, and which she could not have acquired without study. The study of religion, then, was evidently not prohibited to the women of Israel; and therefore we know not by what authority such blessed study can be denied

to us now.

Nor is it only religious knowledge which Abigail's character developes. It is a perfect acquaintance with human nature, else she had not so soon turned aside the wrath of David. Judgment, intellect, and talent all breathe in her eloquent appeal, and evince an elevation of intelligence impossible to be obtained were the social

position of woman confined to household work. The more we study the story of Abigail, the more deeply we must feel how valuable it is to us as women of Israel; how impressively it marks out our privileges in every relation of life, and how unanswerably it proves, that Jewish women need no other creed to give them either spiritual or temporal advantages.

As women, the character of Abigail equally concerns us. We have frequently insisted that the narratives, as well as the precepts, of the Bible are written for our guidance; and therefore are we so anxious to bring forward all that can aid our young sisters in making their Bibles their daily guide. Many would do so, but they know not how, from the sad scarcity of religious books amongst us, in modern tongues. The more we daily study the Bible, the more easy in truth shall we find it; but then we must not confine our readings to the five books of Moses. One chapter every morning, one every night, and three on the Sabbath, complete the whole Bible-Pentateuch, Hagiography, and Prophets-all, with the sole exception of the Psalms, in the three hundred and sixty-five days forming the Nazarene year; and this formed into a habit, not done one year and laid aside, but persevered in for a life, would, in process of time, and without either labour or weariness, give the comfort and the knowledge that we seek. Nor need we fear that we shall grow weary of the task: each year it would become lighter and more blessed, each year we should discover something we knew not before, and in the valley of the shadow of death feel, to our heart's core, that the word of our God is in truth "the

rod and the staff, they comfort me," of which the Monarch-Psalmist spake.

We have already noticed the little power which Nabal's churlish temper, and all the discomforts thence ensuing, had over the pious and energetic character of Abigail. From her wise forbearance towards him, both in acting without his knowledge in seeking David, and in not mentioning the effect of that interview till he was in a state to hear it, we can quite infer, that she not only bore with a churlish temper, but well knew how to manage it a task not a little difficult, and which none but an unselfish and well-controlled temper ever can attempt. Many women, instead of acting on such an emergency, would have lost all the proper time of action in vain lamentations, and in bitter reproaches of the churlish folly which had caused it; or, if they acted as Abigail did, many would have displayed triumph, would have vaunted of their own skill in turning wrath aside, and taunted Nabal with what might have befallen him. But Abigail, with true womanly dignity, did neither. That she had been permitted to save her household from an imminent danger was enough for her—and if the kind providence of the Eternal had not ordained it otherwise, she would have returned to all her usual quiet duties and silent endurance, never dreaming that her conduct had evinced any thing worthy of reward.

Let us then, as women, not only admire, but imitate the piety, the forbearance, and the energy of our gentle ancestress, assured that such virtues are acceptable to our God. Many and many a one have a Nabal in their households in one or other relation of life. Temper,