We have now come to a very important character in our present period, with little to concern us as women generally, but much to encourage us as women of Israel; and sufficient in itself to give a direct denial to the accusation, that the Jewish religion utterly prohibits all spiritual and intellectual privileges; and that for a woman to attempt the study of, or instruction in, religion, is little less than folly. We have already seen a female judge and prophetess in the person of Deborah; but still, if she were the only female so mentioned, we might incline to the idea that women were thus sanctified only in the very first selection of Israel. Such, however, is not the fact; several hundred years had passed away—the kingdom of Israel was sinking deeper into the abyss of sin. Had there been any single portion of the law derogatory to woman, or confining her to a mere household sphere, with neither liberty nor inclination to employ her intellect and influence, now would have been the very time for such laws to obtain ascendancy; the state of society must effectually have prevented her rising against it. If, however, we refer to 2 Kings xxii. 11-20, also to 2 Chron. xxiv. 20-29, we shall find a very different picture of woman in Israel. The wicked kings Manasseh and Amon had been succeeded by the youthful Josiah, at the early age of eight years. His mother's name, we are expressly told, was Jedidah, and her influence it probably was which so guided and instructed his youthful years as to make him .very different from his predecessors. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right nor to the left." In the eighteenth year of his reign, he gave orders for the repairing and beautifying of the house of the Lord; and it was when obeying this order that Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law, which he gave to Shaphan the scribe, who, after reading it, brought it unto the king. What an awful picture do these verses present of the national apostasy; that the very high priest should have been ignorant of the existence of the book of the law in the house of God, and its enactments, and prohibitions, of course, never read, as was so imperatively commanded, before the people-men, women, and children! The mere formula of high priests, scribes, and other officers of the temple, appeared still filled; but what a fearful mockery must it have been before the Lord: the mere empty shell, whence all of obedience, and love, and spirituality, had departed. That the ordinances of the law were utterly disregarded, is evident from the effect which the hearing of the law produced upon Josiah. He rent his clothes (always a sign of intense affliction), and sent instantly the priest, and other superior officers, to "enquire of the Lord for me, and for all Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.” And to whom did these high officers go? to a mighty man of wisdom? to a holy man of God, whose sanctity and influence gave him courage to threaten and to warn,. to risk personal danger from the anger of the populace, whom his denunciations might enrage? No; it was to a WOMAN that they came-a woman and a WIFE in Israel-and yet an inspired prophetess of the Eternal, the chosen medium between him and his people, the bold denouncer of his wrath, and the truthful reporter of his love. "And Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of the keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college), and they communed with her."-Now, if the women of Israel were confined entirely to their household duties, it is strange that Huldah could have obtained admission within the college, which was probably an establishment devoted to the study of the law. Her being a prophetess, does not make an exception in her favour, or render her dwelling in the college a necessary consequence. We have seen, in the cases of Elijah and Elisha, that the prophets had no appointed residence ; but were, generally, wanderers and mere sojourners in the various cities of Judea. Deborah judged and prophesied under her own palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel. Huldah, on the contrary, dwelt in the college; and from the officers of Josiah seeking her without any hesitation, as the only one of whom they could enquire of the Lord, we are justified in inferring that her wisdom and piety had long been known and acknowledged in Jerusalem. The prophetic power was never entrusted to the undeserving, man or woman; it was always some superior piety and virtue, which originally attracted towards them the loving mercy of the Lord, and rendered them worthy to become His messengers. No effort after righteousness and virtue, however lowly, passes unnoticed in His sight; and His love will ever increase the desire after good, and the power to accomplish it. But virtue and righteousness were not the only requisites for a prophet; they needed intellect, a profound knowledge of the law and of man, and a strong perception of the ways and works of the Eternal. Huldah's dwelling in the college supposes a mind anxious and enquiring after the study of the law, and a heart yearning to obey every statute therein commanded, while her very selection as a prophetess, proves that her spiritual privileges and intellectual powers, were on a perfect equality with those of man. Yet from the very circumstance of her only being mentioned once in the sacred record, we may be convinced that her solemn office interfered not at all with her domestic and conjugal duties, or that in any one instance she came unduly forward. Woman's natural sphere is to influence, not to command; to entreat, not to threaten; to lead far more by example than by precept; and every woman, conscious of her own weakness, will rejoice that such are the kind of duties assigned her. In the awful condition of Judea, a mind like Huldah's must have shrunk from coming forward. The state of restraint, and subsequent depression, which must attend the intercourse of pious and believing hearts, with those to whom all of piety and spirituality are utter strangers, was probably the original cause of Huldah's religious retirement. Seeking to conquer the suffering which the public and private condition of her country occasioned, by quietly following the daily routine of domestic duty, and spending every leisure hour in learning to know that merciful and gracious God, whom Judea seemed to have forgotten. Possessed, as she was, of unusual spriritual gifts, her mind must have been of no ordinary cast, to allow her remaining contented in a retired sphere, without the restless desire to become of public service; her very consciousness of responsibility would urge this, without any failing of woman's native modesty. But Huldah waits for the Lord. He who had reposed in her a gift so precious would vouchsafe her some sign when to use it, and meanwhile her duty was to pray, and meditate and beseech the Eternal to have mercy on His people. And this we can all do, though we are not prophetesses; and we have His whole word to prove how much intercessory prayer availeth. The sign for which the prophetess awaited, came. The highest officers of the state suddenly approached her, and with humility and deference reported the sovereign's message, enquiring through her the mandate of the Lord. There is neither pause nor doubt, as there must have been had she been a mere pretender in the prophetic art: the rushing spirit of prophecy was poured within her by Him whose instrument she was, and with fearless dignity she answered, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me, thus saith the Lord, Behold I will bring evil on this place and on the inhabitants thereof; even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; because they have forsaken me, and burnt incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath shall kindle against this place, and shall not be quenched." Then, softening into the tenderest compassion, still inspired by Him who ever tempereth justice with mercy, |