most pitiful; and that they who have the law of kindness on the tongue are the very women who are most likely also to open the mouth with wisdom, and to live in the consistent practice of every feminine duty.

But in

And the sarcastic reply, too, how frequently does it wound! If others sin, we are not to let that sin pass unnoticed. "Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin upon him." what way is reproof to be administered? We are told to rebuke with all long-suffering and gentleness. Sin is a deep evil; it is not to be spoken of lightly, nor to be the subject of a bitter jest. It is to engage our earnest expostulation. The apostle spoke, even weeping, of those who were enemies to the cross of Christ; and with a conviction of our sinful nature, and our dependence on the grace of God for safety, we are to reprove others. casm should never be on the lip of a Christian woman, for she, indeed, should ever be found with the law of kindness on her tongue. If bitterness is in the word of reproof, the reprover is not sinless; and her rebuke does not originate from the love of God, and the hatred of sin, but from the indulgence of a sinful nature. Pride must not be met by

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pride pride in others is never cured by being mortified and insulted, but is rather increased into hatred and revenge. Wherefore, putting away all wrath and malice, and evil speaking, "be kindly affectioned one to another."

The law of kindness is often broken, also, by haughty words spoken to inferiors, when, forgetful that the dependant is one of God's large family, he is addressed as a stranger and an alien. The haughty look and the proud heart are an abomination unto the Lord. Pride ever proceeds, too, from an ignorance of ourselves, as Wordsworth has said :

"He who feels contempt for any living thing

Has faculties within his soul which he has never used;
And thought with him is in its infancy."

Who has not marked the mild and blessed influence of her on whose tongue is the law of kindness? It is to such a woman that the little child comes for direction. It is to such that the sufferer tells his tale of sorrow, in full certainty of that ready sympathy which can do so much to lessen it; and whether the tale be that of bodily pain, or of the deeper woe of mental emotion; whether it be of the convinced spirit struggling with a sense of sin,

and with only a vague idea of the possibility of pardon, or perhaps with no idea at all; or whether it be some temporary cause of depression, some worldly loss, or some unexpected unkindness,—yet all may be soothed by the gentle accents of compassion and tenderness. How many quarrels are averted by the mediation and counsel of such a woman! how many beginnings of strife stopped in their progress by a word of gentle remonstrance! and how many little domestic troubles prevented or met by her kindly warning or encouragement ! And let no woman say that she cannot acquire a sweet temper; that she cannot always have on her lips the law of kindness. She may be naturally irritable, and, worse still, her natural irritability may never have been checked by the restraining power of early education; but there is a deeper and fuller restraining influence than even that,― namely, the principle of love to God; and the cultivation of this love in the heart will lead to a prayer for holiness of heart and lip, which never goes up to Heaven unanswered, and to a constant and earnest striving with a besetting sin, which God's Holy Spirit will aid and bless.

SECTION XVIII.

SHE LOOKETH WELL TO THE WAYS OF HER HOUSEHOLD, AND EATETH NOT THE BREAD OF IDLENESS.

nowing, as we do, the great influence which family training has on the world at large, we cannot wonder that he who divided mankind into families should so commend the woman who looked well to the ways

of those who compose the circle which she superintends. The constant recognition of family duties, the express injunctions that women should be keepers at home, and love their husbands and their children, all lead us to the remembrance that God is not only the God of individuals, but that he is indeed the God of families. It was the praise given of the patriarch, by Jehovah, "I know Abraham, that he will command - his household after him." Moses reminded the ancient Hebrew that the statutes of God were not. for himself only, but that "they were for his son's son, all the days of his life;" and added to his