his enemies, and desires to be remembered by him when it would be well with him.

I have considered the song of Hannah, who suffered so long, on the account of her barrenness, under Peninnah, who is said to be her adversary, who "provoked her sore for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb; and as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat," 1 Sam. i. 6, 7. Nor did the conduct of Eli, who charged her with drunkenness, divest her of that modesty and candour that becomes women professing godliness; she never mentions a word against her husband Elkanah, who I think dealt very unkindly and untenderly with her; she only acknowledged that by strength no man could prevail over the womb or any thing else. Nor does she bring one slander against the priest, who had innocently brought a false charge against her, who was one of the best of women; which must be very provoking to one of a broken heart, influenced by the Holy Ghost, smashed and shattered by the repeated insults of an hypocrite, who had been her rival in the bed as well as her adversary in religion; for it is said she made her fret, because the Lord's hand had gone out against her in shutting her womb. But Hannah brings no charge in a twopenny pamphlet against either the priest or the husband; she speaks of the providence of God, of the salvation of the saints, and of the destruction of hypocrites: "He will keep

the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them."

I have considered all the good prophetesses of the old and new testament, together with all them that are called faithful or honourable women in Paul's days, who had lodged strangers; brought up children; washed the saints feet; laboured with Paul and helped him; who carried his messages or epistles; who served the churches; who were to be received, relieved, and brought on their ways by the members of the same, or to be conducted safe over the difficult or dangerous parts of their road, so that nothing was to be lacking to them; but not one of all these women, who were called faithful or honourable, ever wrote a word against a penitent sinner or a believer, much less against a minister of Christ Jesus.

I have considered the false prophetesses against whom Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy, Ezek. xiii. 17; who were to be rebuked, and against whom God pronounces his wo: "Wo to the women that sow pillows to all arm-holes, and make kerchiefs upon the head." These were accused of polluting God's name among his people for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread, rather than work; wherefore, saith God, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye hunt souls to make them flee from the truth. I will tear them from your

arms, and will let the souls go; your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand; because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the bands of the wicked. But I cannot find that one of these ever wrote against a servant or prophet of the Lord.

Even the witch of Endor, though she was a pimp for the devil in private, yet had modesty enough to conceal her friend, and her private converse with him, until the king of Israel disguised himself, and went to her with a petition, and an oath of God in his mouth, swearing unto her, " as the Lord liveth there shall no punishment happen unto thee for this thing." This woman's wickedness was exceeding great; she is said to hold converse with a familiar spirit; to correspond with the devil, be a bawd to him, and stand pimp for him, is the quintessence of spiritual wickedness; yet to give this daughter of the devil her due, it must be granted that she was not without some modesty, for she never reproaches the king for what he had done, only says to his messenger, "Behold thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" 1 Sam. xxviii. 9. Yet even this woman, who had lost so many brothers and sisters in profession, did not write to ridicule the king, though he had destroyed so many of her own synagogue, that

belonged to the same fraternity, or was familiar with the same father; nor does she inveigh against any of the children of Israel whom Saul employed to cut off the wizards and witches; and so far is she from writing twopenny volumes against the Lord's servants, that she is frightened at the appearance of her own father, when he had swaddled himself up in the likeness of Samuel's mantle. "And when the woman saw Samuel she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid, for what sawest thou? and the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth,-for an old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle." This woman is so far from opposing the prophets of God, that she could not stand before the devil when he was disguised in a prophet's mantle, until the king encouraged her, and told her not to be afraid.

Among all the women that are called mothers in Israel; among all the women that are called blessed; among all that are called faithful; among all that are called prophetesses of the Lord; among all that are called honourable women; among all that are said to minister to the Saviour, or help his servants; nay, not one among the false prophetesses, not Herodias herself; not one among Paul's tattling women, who waxed wanton, learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house; not one of the old wives that dealt in fables; not

one of the witches that held familiarity with the devil himself, had ever courage or insolence enough to write against the servants of the Lord, but Jezebel; who, among all the females that ever were born of women, was the most infamous for spiritual wickedness and murder; and her end was as dreadful as her life was vile. "She wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders, and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth." This woman was not afraid to send her address from house to house; she desired to shew her abilities; she was not ashamed of the cause she espoused. "She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast;" this woman was not without religion, she enforced fasting, "and set Naboth on high among the people;" that is, she pretended to exalt him as one of God's servants, but conceals her villanous intention; and when you have done this, then set the children of the devil at him; "and set two men, sons of Belial," or the devil, "before him, to bear witness against him," charging him with antinomianism and disloyalty, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king; and then carry him out, and stone him that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles," who are no great friends to religion, "did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them; they proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people." I suppose they