to her own true position in society, she must work, and that, too, cheerfully, hopefully, usefully, and as far as possible, skillfully.

This is not only the dictate of nature, but the express command of God, as we have seen. How abhorrent the idea, that, instead of ministering to the true good of her race, woman should ever consent to be a consumer of the bounties of heaven, while refusing that labor which is needed to supply her own wants, and those of her house. The bees well know how to dispose of such characters. When they find their drones incorrigible, they slaughter them. So God has given a law which would as effectually cut off all individuals who refuse to labor, in some way, for their support. If they will not labor, neither shall they eat. He takes the strength they refuse to use, and forbids that his bounty shall be consumed by them.

There is another consideration, which, though implied in what has been said, we feel bound to notice more fully, lest some minds should make the wrong deduction. Though moral and physical energies are not, in all instances, necessarily connected, yet, where bodily strength has been sought, through a spirit of obedience to the Divine will, it is hardly possible that it should not be attended with a high spiritual courage, that will be enabled to set aside, or to triumph over, all obstacles in the way of duty.

A soul that can subdue its own selfishness, control the indolence of the body, and bring it into conformity to the highest physical law, has already exhibited a moral courage adequate to triumph over every external foe. "He that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.". It is truly a great thing to obtain

this victory. But when gained, what powers does it not give? even greater than the strength of the conqueror.

Uninspired wisdom was able to discern that this strength and courage were nearly allied; and, among the most wise of the ancients, it became a prominent feature, in the education of their children, to teach them, by despising pain and hardships, and enduring toil and privations, the first elements of manly fortitude. Among the ancient Spartans, the first object of education seems to have been to mature characters that would be strong and self-sustained under all circumstances. They taught that a parent had no right to bring up a child to burden the state with its vices and weaknesses. They must be strong and provident men, who were worthy of the care taken of them by their friends in youth, and of the protection of the state. They, in some instances, carried this to an extreme, bordering on barbarity, but still there is much of wisdom in many of their primary suggestions.

So far from suffering parents to disgrace the nation, by bringing up unworthy children, their laws provided that as soon as an infant was born, he should be presented to the assembly of the most aged persons of the tribe to which his family belonged. If they did not judge it expedient, either for himself, or the republic that he should enjoy a long life, he was cast out to perish. If he appeared healthy and well formed, he was chosen, in the name of his country, to be thereafter one of its defenders.

If the father refused to have him educated according to the laws, he himself was deprived of the rights of a citizen. The regulations to which their youth were subjected, became from time to time, more rigid. They were accustomed to the most hardy enterprises, and to the utmost denial of their appetites and passions, that, if called upon to defend their country, they might be both strong and courageous.

Shall Christian communities be less mindful of their duties than Pagan? Shall they suffer their children to grow up in indolence and ease, forgetting the first laws of their being, and the high obligations they owe to their country, to the world, and to God? What parents have a right to bring up sons or daughters to be a disgrace to themselves, a curse to their land, a reproach to the world, and rebels against God? None. The customs of society can neither justify, nor exculpate them. They are wrong, and must be opposed by precept and example. Were they right, your warfare would be ended. The world would have submitted to its lawful sovereign.

We trust no one will pass by this subject, without fully considering it in all its bearings, physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual. Think how God is robbed of the just services of multitudes who might now be laboring in his vineyard, had they been bred to toil, to patient enduranee of hardships, and consequently, to that physical capacity and moral courage, which would have made them victorious over every obstacle to the progress of truth, and the performance of duty.

Think, too, of a community, governed by no higher motives than patriotism, setting an example of higher consistency than those who have, for generations, been forming national character, under the influence of a religion, which enjoins the highest obedience to divine law, sanctioned by the holiest motives, and guarded by most severe penalties.

These things ought not so to be. The doctrines of truth should be better understood, and more faithfully obeyed. Woman must no longer think that a frail sickly body is a glory to her, and utter ignorance of the important arts of life her highest ornament. Again, we say, let her gird her loins with strength, and strengthen her arms for the faithful performance of all the duties of her terrestrial existence.

Blessed, thrice blessed, will the world become, when woman throughout Christendom is ready thus to toil, thus to deny herself, that she may take her place, as a companion of man. The nations will no longer be doomed to darkness and moral desolation, but the glad tidings of a crucified and ascended Saviour will be carried to every land. The weary missionary will find all his labors lightened by her prudent care; his success more than doubled through her wise counsel. Those works which a few rare women, like Mrs. Judson, Mrs. Newell, and the devoted missionaries of the western islands, have commenced, will then become common; and instead of complaining that their daughters have not the strength necessary for the work, the holy women of the Church will say, Here are our daughters, inured to labor, instructed in every useful art and science, self-denying, and obedient to their Creator; we yield them up, a cheerful offering on the altar of duty, and feel that it is our highest joy to consecrate them to the good of the world.

"She perceiveth that her merchandize is good, her candle goeth not out by night," ver. 18.

This can hardly imply that she kept late hours, for we have seen that she arose while it was yet night, to prepare for the wants of her household. It would rather seem parallel to the parable of the wise virgins, who left their lamps trimmed and burning. Her merchandize was good; she could dispose of the fruit of her labor as she chose, and want and inconvenience found no place in her house. Her home was not the abode of darkness and poverty; she labored in hope, as did all her household, and it was meet that her candle should not go out by night. Like those on whom the favor of God shone, in former times, though darkness surrounded and enveloped the abodes of his enemies, still was there light in hers. Like Job, in the days of his prosperity, the light of the Lord was continually

her guide. Though the wings of the darkest night should brood over such a one, still the light within is not extinguished. A heavenly radiance illumes her path, and she can say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

"She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff," ver. 19.

In ancient times, spinning was accounted one of the most honorable employments in which women could engage. "And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom, spun goat's hair."-Ex. 35: 25, 26.

Among the Athenians, it constituted a material part of their education, that they should learn to spin. Among the Romans, the occupation was deemed honorable, even for the Empress and her daughters. Augustus is said to have seldom worn anything, except the manufacture of his wife, his daughter, sister, and nieces; at least for his domestic robes. At a marriage ceremony, when the hymeneal procession led the bride to the home of her husband, she was followed by maid-servants with a distaff, a spindle, and wool, intimating that she was to spin, as the Roman matrons did of old, and as some of the most illustrious have done in later times.

A newly married woman was called "Caia," from Caia Coecilia, or Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, who is said to have been an excellent spinster and housewife. Her spindle and distaff were kept in the temple of Largus or Hercules. They were looked upon as sacred relics of feminine greatness, even after Rome became luxurious and degenerate.

It is believed that a knowledge of the arts of spinning