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Of this model woman it is said, "The law of kindness is in her mouth." Not merely kindness, but the law of kindness. With her, kindness is not fitful and uncertain, but the fixed and undeviating rule It is not occasionally that words of kindness fall from her lips, but all her words are kind. Her tongue is not a fountain which sends forth sweet waters and bitter, but one whose streams are ever sweet and refreshing. Envy and malice, evil-speaking and all uncharitableness are strangers to her lips. When she reproves, it is in love; her rebukes have no sting in them, they do not wound or corrode. They manifest her affection rather than her anger; they are corrections, not upbraidings, they make us love her more, not less.

To one and all her speech is the same. It is not kind to her children and unkind to her servants; not sweet in company and sour in the household. "The law of kindness is in her tongue," and all that proceeds therefrom is regulated by that blessed law.

"She

Her kindness is seen in deeds as well as words. stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." Her industry and prudence provide, not only for her own household, but for others besides. She has "enough and to spare." She delights to have it in her power to minister to others; she "visits the widow and the fatherless in their affliction," she reaches forth her hands to them, and they are not empty, but full of succour. She shares their sorrow by causing them to share her substance. They lean upon her arm, and it does not fail them. She realizes the beautiful picture drawn in sacred Scripture: "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave

witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy."

Religion is the last characteristic mentioned.

Last, but not least. It is the secret spring of this beauteous life, that which has moulded her character into such distinct and beautiful proportions.

She is "a woman that feareth the Lord."

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In this fact we have the key to her great excellence. fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." "By the fear of the Lord are riches, honour, and life." "Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." By "the fear of the Lord " in these passages is comprehended all that we are accustomed to understand by the term "religion."

It

Religion enters into the soul and renews the nature. touches all the springs of the character and life. Its province is to correct what is wrong, and to direct into all that is good. It opens before the view heights of moral elevation and loveliness such as were never conceived before. It awakens aspirations after their attainment, and prompts to effort for their realization. It brings the thought of God into all the concerns of life, and invests them with untold solemnity and grandeur. It links the soul to the Source of Divine strength and love and blessedness, and secures an unfailing supply of help and comfort and joy. It keeps the soul in peace amidst every vicissitude, and hallows and intensifies its every delight. It fits for life, prepares for death, and meetens for heaven.

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Call to mind for a moment the fairest, noblest specimens of womanhood you have known or read of. Remember the best women it has been your privilege to love, and you will find that by the influence of religion their characters have been formed and their graces matured. Ask them concerning their character, and whilst in true humility they deprecate your estimate of them as exaggerated, they will tell you whatever good there is in them they owe entirely to the grace of God; that His blessed word has furnished the rules of their life; that by prayer they have secured daily strength for daily need; that in Jesus they have found their example and teacher, as well as Saviour and friend; and that without God and Christ, and the hope of heaven, their life would have been shorn of its strength and beauty, and been a comparatively aimless and useless existence. Ask them, and they will tell you all this; and, as you never heard a falsehood on their lips, you are bound to believe them. The testimony is true,—a woman destitute of religion is without the aims and aspirations and motives which are essential to the attainment of highest, fairest womanhood.

Such is the portraiture drawn by the inspired writer. If not complete, it embodies the leading features of a model woman, and it is worthy of the devout study of every feminine mind.

And what is the opinion formed by others of such a character as is here portrayed? What is the estimate in which she is held by those who know her best? "Her husband praiseth her, and saith, Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." To his mind, familiar with her excellencies, there seems no one equal to her. What words of heartfelt appreciation and thankful joy he breathes into her ear in private, none may hear.

Such expressions are sacred, they are the happiness of both their hearts. But there are occasions when the real sentiments find utterance. The husband writes a book, it is the treasured offspring of his brain; he fondly hopes it will do much good and increase his fame; and to no one does he feel he can so justly dedicate it as to his dear wife, his constant companion, his faithful counsellor, the good angel of his home and life. Or it may be that some, mindful of his worth and usefulness, present him with a testimonial of their esteem and gratitude. Accepting it in moments when the heart is full, and utters forth its deepest convictions, he acknowledges that but for his wife's care of his home and of him, but for her self-sacrificing love and labour, he could never have achieved his work; that to her as much as to himself, whatever tribute it is in their heart to pay, is due. "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

Never, they Her love has

"Her children rise up and call her blessed." think, was there a mother like their mother. never been weary, her care has never ceased, her sacrifice for their welfare has known no stint. To her example and precepts they are indebted for the habits and principles which have secured their success in life.

"She told them that shame would never betide,

With truth for their creed, and God for their guide;

She taught them to lisp their earliest prayer

As they knelt down beside her old arm chair."

To her, under God, they owe whatever hopes of heaven they are enabled to cherish. When they left the family roof to make their way in the wide world, their heart was sore

because they left her blessed presence; and that which has lured them again and again thousands of miles to the old home, has been her welcome and her smile. The receipt of her picture, years after she had passed into the skies, woke the poet's sweetest verse; and her face seemed to beam upon him from heaven in the hours of his deepest gloom.

To those who gather round her grave it is as if the light of home were quenched, as if the sky had lost its brightness, the world its wealth, life its charm. Their grief is too deep for tears, or if happily they can weep, their tears are such scalding drops as hearts alone can shed. A stone may tell her restingplace, but it is not her memorial. That is in the life of many who honour woman everywhere, because their mother was a woman; and who feel they must seek heaven, because, amongst other reasons, their mother is there.

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