wife of Shallum, the son of the keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college), and they communed with her."-Now, if the women of Israel were confined entirely to their household duties, it is strange that Huldah could have obtained admission within the college, which was probably an establishment devoted to the study of the law. Her being a prophetess does not make an exception in her favor, or render her dwelling in the college a necessary consequence. We have seen, in the cases of Elijah and Elisha, that the prophets had no appointed residence; but were, generally, wanderers and mere sojourners in the various cities of Judea. Deborah judged and prophesied under her own palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel. Huldah, on the contrary, dwelt in the college; and from the officers of Josiah seeking her without any hesitation, as the only one of whom they could inquire of the Lord, we are justified in inferring that her wisdom and piety had long been known and acknowledged in Jerusalem.

The prophetic power was never intrusted to the undeserving, man or woman; it was always some superior piety and virtue, which originally attracted towards them the loving mercy of the Lord, and rendered them worthy to become His messengers. No effort after righteousness and virtue, however lowly, passes unnoticed in His sight; and His love will ever increase the desire after good, and the power to accomplish it. But virtue and righteousness were not the only requisites for a prophet; they needed intellect, a profound knowledge of the law and of man, and a strong perception of the ways and works of the Eternal. Huldah's dwelling in the college supposes a mind anxious and inquiring after the study of the law, and a heart yearning to obey every statute therein commanded, while her very selection as a prophetess, proves that her spiritual privileges and intellectual powers were on a perfect equality with those of

man.

Yet from the very circumstance of her only being mentioned once in the sacred record, we may be convinced that her solemn office interfered not at all with her domestic and conjugal duties, and that in no one instance she came unduly forward. Woman's natural sphere is to influence, not to command; to entreat, not to threaten; to lead far more by example than by precept; and every woman, conscious of her own weakness, will rejoice that such is the kind of duties assigned her. In the awful condition

of Judea, a mind like Huldah's must have shrunk from coming forward. The state of restraint, and subsequent depression, which must attend the intercourse of pious and believing hearts, with those to whom all of piety and spirituality are utter strangers, was probably the original cause of Huldah's religious retirement; seeking to conquer the suffering which the public and private condition of her country occasioned, by quietly following the daily routine of domestic duty, and spending every leisure hour in learning to know that merciful and gracious God, whom Judea seemed to have forgotten.

Possessed, as she was, of unusual spiritual gifts, her mind must have been of no ordinary cast, to allow her remaining contented in a retired sphere, without the restless desire to become of public service; her very consciousness of responsibility would urge this, without any failing of woman's native modesty. But Huldah waits for the Lord. He who had reposed in her a gift so precious would vouchsafe her some sign when to use it, and meanwhile her duty was to pray, and meditate, and beseech the Eternal to have mercy on His people. And this we can all do, though we are not prophetesses; and we have His whole word to prove how much intercessory prayer availeth. The sign for which the prophetess awaited, came. The highest officers of the state suddenly approached her, and with humility and deference reported the sovereign's message, inquiring through her the mandate of the Lord. There is neither pause nor doubt, as there must have been had she been a mere pretender in the prophetic art: the rushing spirit of prophecy was poured within her by Him whose instrument she was, and with fearless dignity she answered, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Tell the man that sent you to me, thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil on this place and on the inhabitants thereof; even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; because they have forsaken me, and burnt incense to other gods, that they might provoke ine to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath shal! kindle against this place, and shall not be quenched." Then, softening into the tenderest compassion, still inspired by Him who ever tempereth justice with mercy, she continued, "But te the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the news which thou hast heard; Because thy heart

was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation. and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord; behold, therefore, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place; and they brought the king word again."

Although this prophecy does not properly belong to a history of the women of Israel, we have transcribed the whole, that our readers may better judge the full extent of prophetic power vouchsafed to Huldah; and the bold disregard of all, except of her mission, which it evinced. "Tell ye the man who sent ye," she says; yet she has no disrespect for the Lord's anointed, she was simply uttering the words of the Eternal. The persecution of Elijah and Elisha marked the prophetic office one of danger, but Huldah felt nothing but the spirit which inspired her; feared nothing but to fail in the calm and dignified boldness required of her as the prophetess of the Lord. The high regard in which her words were held, is proved by the messengers of Josiah "bringing the king word again," and by his continuing his endeavors to render himself worthy of the promised forbearance of the Eternal, though the threatened evil to his country and his people he knew could not be averted.

We have no further mention of Huldah, nor do we need more for the confirmation of our assertion, that the women of Israel enjoyed higher and nobler privileges, in the sight alike of God and man, than any other women in the world. Every former argument which we advanced in our notice of Deborah, is still more strongly applicable to Huldah. One great difference there was, which, however, only marks the national elevation of women still more forcibly. Deborah lived, and exercised her prophetic power, at a time when Israel was under the direct quidance of the Lord; Huldah flourished, not thirty years. before the first captivity, and some centuries after the nation had, by their sins, thrown a dark cloud between them and their God. The laws and customs, which, according to our opponents, have crept in and sullied, if not entirely altered, the pure Judaism inculcated by Moses, must have been ascendant during the period of which we are writing. And in conseque: ce, if

they degraded women, it follows that the domestic and social position of the women of Israel must, during the monarchy, have given positive evidence of such degradation; and we certainly should not find a woman dwelling in the college, which is synonymous with devoting herself to the study of the law, and also as the only one, in the whole nation of Judah, who was intrusted with the prophetic power.

To such a height in spiritual privileges, the women of Israel cannot now hope to attain; but the example of Huldah is sufficient for them to rest content that the study of the law, and all religious observances, as well as the piety of the heart, are now equally incumbent on them as on men, and equally acceptable before God and that Israel is the only nation in the whc'e world in which women sufficiently gifted to perform the offices of Prophetess and Judge have been found.

These truths ought to be enough for us; and the very names of Deborah and Huldah serve as shields to guard us against all arguments tempting us from the Rock of Ages. We have said this often, but we cannot too often or too forcibly impress it on the female Hebrew heart. It depends on woman, not alone to feel, but to prove its truth; to shake off all of stagnating apathy, all of cold indifference: not to rest satisfied with a due performance of their duties as women-even as pious women,but to feel and glory in being women of Israel, and infuse the same national spirit within the hearts and minds of their children.

Prophetesses, in our present captive state, we cannot have, nor do we need them, till the spirit of our God rests upon us in our own fair land once more; but we need the same bold una mpromising spirit, the same religious zeal and pious fervor which actuated Huldah. Did every woman in Israel determine to elevate her faith, and to glorify her God in her own proper person, apathy, and that fearful want of nationality too often discoverable amongst us, would vanish altogether. We should not be content with mere amalgamation with the Gentiles in society; but, without relinquishing the social position which an age of superior civilization and refinement has assigned us, we hould still retain our nationality, still, before man and before God, remain Israelites indeed; and thus compel respect towards our faith, and remove not only the prejudices excited by igno rance, but check the zealous efforts of conversionists by convinc

ing them that our constancy, as our religion, must be indeed of God, and therefore no effort of man can turn us from it.

Nor was it to an unmarried, and therefore more independent woman, the prophetic power was granted. We are expressly told that Huldah was the wife of Shallum, the keeper of the robes; and we must therefore feel convinced that the marriage state in Israel was far from being one of slavery or dependence. How she contrived to unite her domestic duties with her divine office, holy writ does not inform us; but there is no doubt that both were fully accomplished; for the chosen messengers of the Eternal were ever those actuated by the tenderest human emotions, and the earnest desire to serve all the human family. We read Huldah's feminine nature in the fact of her being sought in her own dwelling. The condition of Judea must have £lled her with the deepest suffering, but she left it in the hands of her God; content to perform his mission, when called upon so to do, but never forgetting, even in the furtherance of His service, the modest and retiring dignity of the woman.

And this is the union we should so strenuously endeavor to obtain. More than the females of every other nation, are the women of Israel called upon to cultivate their intellect, that they may be enabled to comprehend the religion of their fathers; that reason and conviction, as well as love and long associations, should bind it on their hearts. Yet that intellect must never be obtruded; never tempt them to quit their own holy and beautiful sphere. Woman may have opportunities for the study-aye, and the practice of religion, which man has not; such study will never be in vain; opportunities of useful. ness, of influence, will come to her: she need never seek them by the sacrifice of feminine gentleness and retirement; and man will thankfully seek that comfort and even guidance from her, which, had they been obtruded on him, he would condemn and scorn.

Oh! that the history of the past would influence the present; that the women of Israel would feel to their hearts' core, that they are still the same, in the sight of their God, as their ancestors of old; that they have it in their power, individually, to hasten that day when "the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Piety must come from the mind as well as the heart; and the more the intellect is cultivated, the better will it enter into the