be "blessed above women-blessed above women in the tent." And that in a song which, as the thanksgiving of a prophetess, is probably as much an inspired composition as any book of the prophets.

Matthew Henry, in his admirable commentary says here, Deborah concludes this triumphant song with the praises of Jael, her sister hero, whose valiant act had completed and crowned the victory.'

I do not, however, intend to hold up Jael as a pattern to the Christian Ladies' who read this Magazine, nor yet Deborah herself, literally taken. I do not wish to see them going forth with our armies, advising our Wellingtons, nor nailing to the floor the head of Mehemet Ali nor of the Grand Signor. No: and for this valid reason, that they are not divinely inspired nor divinely commissioned; they are not prophetesses, like Deborah, nor indeed can such peculiar inspirations be expected in these days of “open vision" and gospel light.

If days similar to those of Jael and Deborah could return, I doubt not that the female sex would again furnish its share of inspired seers and commissioned leaders. I was going to say they would deserve to do so; and certainly, as far as anything human can be said to deserve favour from heaven, that sex would now have the first claim to such distinction; for I presume no one will deny that, although the talents and attainments of women are (from the defects of their education and habits) inferior to those of men, yet their virtue and piety are of a higher aggregate amount. The domestic and quiet life led by women in general, however unfavourable to the growth and display of the more energetic and more intellectual qualities, is far more ad

vantageous to religion and high morals than the turmoil and temptation amid which men so usually live. Women are, justly, and as part of the punishment by subjection inflicted on our first mother, cut off from the employments of public life, generally speaking; and I must crave their pardon for saying that, with their present education and pursuits, it is well that they are so.

I should indeed be sorry to see a female parliament, composed of ladies such as those with whom we generally meet. Timid, wayward, genteellyeducated,' frivolous, fancy-work, dancing dames and damsels would make poor legislators truly; our own court has lately shewn us that they make miserable state-counsellors. A parliament composed of Miraims, Deborahs, Jaels, Huldahs, and Judiths, and presided over by a Queen Esther, would be another

matter.

But there are many occasions in private life, where women with the spirit of Deborah might produce a different state of things from that which we now see. It is a pity that woman will not learn that although her sex is (and ought to be) subject, it need not be abject, that though she should be gentle, she need not be frivolous,-though soft, not timorous,-though kind, not weak,—though submissive, not despicable. Man, proud and assuming, has so long taught her that she is, by nature, his inferior, that she at length believes it, and contentedly sits down to amuse herself with those trifles and light accomplishments which he leaves for her as beneath his own dignity; or else she toils through the domestic occupations which Providence allots her, as the drudgery fit for an inferior creature, perhaps even as the sole end of her

being. How many females have not a thought nor a wish beyond their own kitchen-establishment, or their own furniture, or the next rout they intend to give; or, it may be, their own musical proficiency, or perhaps that very handsome wool-work carpet now in progress of completion. Such women are no honour to the sex, nor to human nature in general; they deserve only to be classed with the sportsman, who adores his horses, or with the miser, who surveys his gold with the eye and the heart of an idolator.

And yet I cannot find in my heart to blame these women much. They have been brought up with the notion that mental culture is not their province, 'What have women to do with learning?'—that the welfare of their country is nothing to them, 'What have women to do with politics?'-that, in short, the handsome appearance of their houses, or the excellence of their tables, or the improvement of their persons, or the attraction of admiration by the display of fashionable accomplishments, that some one or more of these things, all good enough in their way, is the chief end of a woman's being; and let us do them justice by saying, that they act out the principles they have received with a zeal and perseverance which would do honour to a better cause, and serve to convince an impartial bystander that these slaves of fashion, or of householdry, are by nature capable of better things.

Let us refresh our eyes with a glance at Deborah ; we shall see some striking points in her character and history. The first three things recorded of her (Judges iv. 4,) are that she was a prophetess, a wife, and a judge. Judgment given by a woman sounds strange

to our ears, and more especially if she were a married woman. Some supporters of female inferiority' would doubtless be very willing to put Deborah back into her proper retirement,' and to give the prophesying and the judgment to Lapidoth, her husband. But God's 'thoughts are not our thoughts,' and He saw fit to inspire a woman with His Spirit, both for prophecy and for judgment.

To her all the children of Israel came for judgment; that is, for advice in their disputes, and for instruction as to the Mosaic law, and other religious matters. How strange, say some, that such an honour should be put on a woman! True; and under the Christian dispensation, women are appointed to keep silence' in public, and to ask' for information at home;' yet Deborah and other prophetesses are proofs that there is nothing in the nature of woman to render her incapable of the highest and noblest public duties. It is part of the original denunciation upon her, that she must be in subjection; nevertheless, God has often been pleased to vindicate the character and powers of those whom man too frequently chooses to view as an inferior class of beings, and he has vouchsafed that deliverance by the hands of woman which He has denied to those who call themselves 'the superior sex.'

Barak was wiser than such modern men. He refused to go to the appointed camp without the prophetess, feeling his own inferiority to her, both in wisdom and in inspiration. The captains, princes, and leaders of Israel were of the same mind; for in her song (chap. v. 13,) she says, "The Lord made me to have dominion over the mighty." They recognized the hand of Jehovah in her leadership, and

did not refuse to obey a woman, if such were His will.

"The princes of Issachar were with Deborah," (chap. v. 15,) awaiting with Barak, her instructions, until the time that she said to him, "Up; for this is the day which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand; is not the Lord gone out before thee?" Thus we see that the direction of the whole enterprise was entrusted to this female seer; and she was the sole means of communication between the God of Israel and his chosen champion, Barak.

But let us remark some other particulars of this heroine's history. We do not read that she went down to the field of battle; her conduct affords no sanction to those of her sex who would place themselves in unseemly situations, to which they are not called. Many women, had they been so far distinguished by Divine favour as to foretel and arrange the war, would probably have intruded themselves into the very scene of action, and thus have not only hazarded their own safety where they were not required, but have hindered rather than helped the army. Let all females take example by this part of Deborah's conduct; if this "mother in Israel" be an example in her wisdom and bravery, let her be an example also in her prudence and propriety.

Again, after she had performed her part in the victory, by leading the praises of her people, and giving them a song inspired to embody and preserve their grateful thanksgivings, we read no more of her. She does not seem to have taken honour to herself, nor to have presumed upon the great public services she had been privileged to render, but doubtless returned to her former occupation, of judging disputes and in