the apostle sent cordial Christian salutations, were members of the Church at Rome. That Church was formed, in the first instance, of those who had heard the gospel preached in other places, had embraced the truth, and had afterwards, from various causes, gone to reside at Rome. This was the case with Priscilla and her husband Aquila. They heard the gospel at Corinth, and when they removed to Rome, continued in the consistent profession of it. On one occasion, we know not what, they risked their own lives to save that of the great apostle of the Gentiles. Amongst many other acts of piety, they gave this crowning proof of their attachment to Christ and to His apostle, by which they had laid all the Churches of the Gentiles under great and lasting obligation.

The other women mentioned, viz., Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and the beloved Persis, are unknown, except by this record of their piety and zeal.

Religion has embalmed the names of many who, apart from it, would have been unheard of after they had descended to the grave. The piety of these holy women has caused them to be remembered and honoured, whilst many more illustrious in the world are wholly forgotten. Their service for Christ, like that of another Mary, has gained for them a world-wide fame. What Jesus said of her who anointed His body for the burial, is true of these holy and devoted women: "Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman has done, be told for a memorial of her."

The Churches of Christ in every age have been largely composed of women. Whether the feminine mind is more sus

ceptible of spiritual impression and influence than the masculine; whether the sphere of home is more favourable to the nurture and growth of piety than the outside world, where the battle of life daily rages; whether women find fewer difficulties in the way of making and maintaining a consistent profession of religion; whatever be the cause, the fact is indisputable, that the Churches of Christ generally, of all denominations, are very largely composed of women. Observation and general testimony alike assure us that the number of good women is greater than the number of good men. Nor are they the least holy or devoted amongst Christ's disciples. What Salome, Elisabeth, Joanna, Mary and Martha the sisters of Bethany, and the three Marys, were amongst the immediate disciples of our Lord; what Dorcas, Lydia, Eunice, Lois, "the elect lady," Phebe, Priscilla, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis were in the time of the apostles; that many are in the Churches of Christ in the days in which we live. The piety of women in these later days is, in many instances, not one whit inferior to that of which we read in the sacred Scriptures. There are mothers who have dedicated their children to God, with all the pious fervour of the mothers of Samuel and James and John. There are women who have made as costly and as acceptable offerings of affection to the Saviour, as the alabaster box of precious spikenard. The good works and alms-deeds of Dorcas are happily imitated and repeated on a much larger scale than at Joppa. The zeal of the holy women who laboured with the apostles in the gospel, is emulated by the labours of many Christian ladies in the courts and alleys of our large towns, in the most dangerous districts of Paris, amongst

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the Copts in Egypt, in the zenanas of India, and amongst the widows and children of China.

Women generally take a less prominent part than men in the work of the Churches as in the life of the world, but not therefore a less important or useful one. Their activity finds its exercise in the quieter walks and more obscure scenes of life, but these are not less deserving of care and culture. Prophets like Samuel, apostles like John, theologians like Augustine, ministers like the Wesleys, missionaries like Knibb, have owed their piety and their spiritual greatness mainly to the home nurture and influence of their pious mothers. Many wives like Priscilla have shared in all the dangers and toil of their devoted husbands, whose fainting courage and flagging zeal they have sometimes restored. Pastors, after the example of the apostles, have to speak of some of the female members of their Church in the highest terms of commendation and affection for their work's sake. The pleasing picture presented by these devoted women in the Church at Rome, to whom the apostle sent his affectionate salutations, has its counterpart in Christian Churches of the present day.

Speaking more particularly of the piety of woman, I ob

serve

Women need to possess piety.

By piety we understand the possession of right affections and relations towards the Divine being. A pious woman is a godly woman; one who fears, loves, and serves God. It is manifest this character does not belong to all. Women are sometimes called angels; but if this title pertains to them, there are bad as well as good angels amongst them. The Old Testament, which

speaks of many holy women, tells also of Potiphar's wife, of Delilah, and of Jezebel. The New Testament, whilst containing the names of many female saints, speaks of Herodias and other bitter opponents of truth and goodness. All history repeats the representation. It records the lives of queens and courtesans as licentious and cruel as any whom Scripture chronicles; and records that the very lowest and most degraded of society have been from the female ranks. Deep as men may sink in pollution and vice, women can sink deeper; and fearful as is the rancour of a wicked man, it is exceeded by that of a wicked woman.

Where there has been no approach to a life of immorality and outward ungodliness, the heart of woman, like that of man, is by nature alienated from her Maker. From early life she grows up to love herself more than her God, to care for worldly rather than spiritual things, and to do her own will instead of the will of Heaven. It is acknowledged that women generally are more amiable, kind, and benevolent, than men; but they are not less estranged from God. Pride and vanity, selfishness and envy, have had a place in their hearts; anger, malice, and bitterness, are not strangers to their tongues; imperfection and sin have marked their lives. They need to exercise "repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Through Christ alone can women be saved. Through faith in Christ alone can they be conscious of salvation. living to Christ alone can they attain to their proper spiritual rank. Without Christ, whatever amiable traits of character they may possess, they lack true holiness; and however charming they may be in the sight of men, they cannot be

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pleasing in the sight of God. Woman's first and greatest need is piety. Religion gives the sweetest pleasure and kindles the brightest hopes; it gives strength and beauty to every position and relationship of life; it imparts peace in the anticipation and the event of death. To be a pious woman is to possess more sterling worth and real charms than to be beautiful and accomplished. To be a true Christian is a more honourable distinction than any which wealth or rank or fashion can confer. To enjoy the favour of God is immeasurably more than to win the admiration and praise of men. Whatever else a woman

may or may not be, if she is truly pious she will be happy, useful, and honourable.

Woman's piety will be most fully seen at home.

True piety will always manifest itself; it will mould the entire character, and regulate the whole conduct. There is not a motive or affection of the soul, nor an experience or circumstance of the life, which it will not greatly influence. Right affections and relations towards God will lead to right affections and relations to all mankind.

It is at home we appear in our true character. Whatever restraint there is upon us in the world, it is loosened or laid aside when we cross the threshold of home; there we express most fully our thoughts and feelings on every subject; there we are seen in joy and sorrow, in leisure and haste, in disappointment and surprise, in excitement, and in the calm course of ordinary things. Home is as a glass hive, where the true life of each inmate is seen. If we are truly pious, our piety will be manifest there.

This is true of every member of a family, but it is especially