the ink and paper that he fears might otherwise take the form of a halfpenny tract. A lurking willingness to "receive honour one of another" often ensnares an individual whom God may have made publicly useful, whether by the pulpit, the press, or otherwise, into cultivating correspondence which, if severely tested by the right touchstone, would be found deeply leavened on both sides with a vanity far removed from the spirit of Christ. May He, the Lord, enable us so to watch the motions of our hearts, so to detect the devices of the enemy, that whatsoever we do, we may "do all things to the glory of God."

CHRIST'S religion consists not in feelings, and sentiments, and raptures,—there is nothing mystical in it. It is not a religion of feelings, any more than it is a religion of doctrines, taken alone; though the feelings are as essential as the doctrines in their proper place. Rev. F. Goode.

FEMALE BIOGRAPHY OF SCRIPTURE.

ABIGAIL.

No. V.

WHEN the first terrible impressions which the view of sickness, decay, and death produce, especially when they succeed each other in rapid succession, had passed from the mind of Abigail, she must have regarded the severance of the tie which bound her to Nabal, rather as a relief than as a bereavement; and though she had even hazarded her own safety to save her husband's life, yet there was much to reconcile her to the stroke when "the Lord smote him;" and if, as there is some reason to hope, her "chaste conversation, coupled with fear," had won him at last to forsake his evil way, and his unrighteous thought, and to "turn unto the Lord that he might have mercy on him, and to his God, that he might abundantly pardon him," there would be nothing of the bitterness of grief in those "natural tears" which fell on the bier of Nabal. Such is the mysterious power which death has, in softening antipathies, and in obliterating what was harsh and repulsive in the character, that it is seldom we can behold without emotion the removal of any of those whose faces were familiar to us in our daily paths, although they may have been

little beloved or honoured while living. This emotion does not, however, (as is the case when the objects of our fond affection and regard are torn from us) produce that palsy of the mind, which deadens for a time all its energies, and makes the discharge of the ordinary duties of life the mere machinery of habit, and no longer the voluntary occupations of the will: on the contrary, we engage as usual in the pursuits of time, and if it be with a more sober feeling, it is with no less relish than before. The sequel of this history proves that it was in such a state of feeling that the message of David found Abigail, when, "after the days of mourning were ended," he solicited her to become his wife. We are not informed at what period it was that David made these overtures of marriage, but among a people so punctilious in all that respected the duration and manner of performing their funeral obsequies, we may be sure that a decent and becoming interval elapsed, between the incident of Nabal's death, and the time when Abigail bade adieu to her native land, accompanied only by five of her faithful attendants, to become the companion of the expatriated David. When tidings were brought to him in Idumea of the unexpected event which had happened in Judah, his first impression appears to have been, a devout recognition of the hand of God in this remarkable visitation (ver. 39,) and a renewed sense of gratitude for having been kept from perpetrating with his own hand that vengeance which belongeth to God only. This unlookedfor intelligence would, however, recall Abigail strongly to his mind, and though under other circumstances she might have passed from his memory like a bright vision "seen no more below," yet, when the

image of her beauty, wisdom, and piety was connected with her state of widowhood; it seems but natural that David should desire to attach to his own fortunes so much of virtue and of goodness.

But what a proposition to make to her who had been living in prosperity! That she should abandon her peaceful home in Judah to accompany a wanderer, who, whether he sought a resting-place in the fastnesses of his native mountains, or craved a precarious shelter from the hospitality of heathen princes around, was everywhere environed with snares and dangers, and driven from one refuge to another according as the caprice of his entertainers, or the vigilant search of Saul, rendered his abode no longer practicable! It must have been no ordinary motive which induced Abigail to embark on a course so full of difficulty and peril, and happily we are not left in doubt as to that which determined her choice, for it is sufficiently implied in the answer she returned to David-" Let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord." In that very expressive imagery, which, in oriental life sets forth so touchingly those deeper feelings of the soul, that for the most part lie hidden beneath the colder language of colder climes, we can still discern the same springs of action everywhere at work in the hearts of the children of God, enabling them to recognize His overruling hand in all that relates to their earthly allotment, and causing them to shrink from no duty to which the leadings of His Providence appear to summon them. We have seen what an important place Abigail occupied in the household of Nabal; the high estimation in which she was held by those who served him; the vast influence which she had

acquired over them, and the wise and prudent manner in which she discharged the duties of her responsible office. She saw that the path which was opening before her was the sphere of usefulness, and one which was well suited to her peculiar talents. Of how much service she had been in the family of the irreligious Nabal, so much the more might she reasonably hope to convey to that of the pious David: and in devoting herself to the furtherance of his interests, she was ranging herself under the banners of a cause, which, however opposed by the mighty and powerful in the land, was avowedly one that the God of Israel had espoused and consecrated, and to the final success of which his word stood pledged. The same generosity of character which led her to give largely of her substance to that cause, while living in the enjoyment of affluence, induced her to renounce a life of ease and luxury, when, by the endurance of personal hardship and exertion, she could still further aid it: and as she called to mind who it was for whom she should do this-" the anointed of God," "the sweet singer of Israel," he to whom it was given to complete the conquest of the promised land, “to execute vengeance upon the heathen," "to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron"-as his present low estate and future lofty calling passed before her, her active, energizing mind desired to link herself in with so glorious a destiny, and in her self-devotion she deemed no sacrifices too great, no services too mean, by which she could promote the welfare of David, or of those who espoused his interests. "Let thine handmaid be a servant, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord."