while the flesh was in feething, with a flesh-book of three teeth in his hand: and he ftruck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot: all that the flesh-hook brought up, the priest took for himself: fo they did in Shiloh, unto all the Ifraclites that came thither. Alfo before they burned the fat, the pricft's fervant came, and faid to the man that facrificed, Give flesh to roaft for the priest: for he will not have fodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man faid unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat prefently: and then take as much as thy foul defireth, then he would anfwer him, Nay, but thou fhalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the fin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his fons did unto all Ifrael. And he faid unto them, Why do ye fuch things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my fons for it is no good report that I hear; ye make the Lord's people to tranf grefs. : 262 History of Hannah. 1 Sam. ii. 26. And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord and also with men. SACRED SACRED BIOGRAPHY. LECTURE I GENESIS ii. 18. And the Lord God faid, It is not good that the man fhould be alone, I will make him an help meet for him. THE holy fcriptures always exhibit the most fim treat. ple and the justeft view of every fubject which they And what fubje&t of importance to man do they not treat? The God who made us what we are, formed man after a model, destined him for a special fituation, and to fulfil a specific purpose. His facul ties, his relations, his duties, his demands, his delights, were all, from the beginning, prefent to the eye of his Creator; and a correfponding arrangement and provifion were made by Him, who feeth the end from the commencement, and who exactly adjusts all, according to number, weight and measure. The perfection of the works of God, is a beautiful and gradual progrefs toward perfection: from inanimate to vegetative, from vegetative to animal, from animal to rational nature; each approaching to, bordering upon each, but every one circumfcribed by a boundary which it cannot pass, to disturb and conVOL. VI. B found 39 The fcale of being, found the province of another." as to this globe, was complete when God had "created man in his own image. But focial existence was not perfect till it pleafed God to draw man out of folitude, by making him " an help meet for him." This fimply, yet clearly, unfolds woman's nature, ftation, duty, ufe and end. This raifes her to her proper rank and importance, and inftructs her how most effectually to fupport them; this forbids her to afpire after rule, for her Maker defigned her as "an helper;" this fecures for her affection and refpect, for how is it poffible to hate or defpife what God and nature have rendered effential to our happiness. If the intention of the Creator, therefore, is attended to, the refpective claims and duties of the fexes are fettled in a moment, and an end is put to all unprofitable difcuffion of fuperiority and inferiority, of authority and fubjection, in those whofe destination, and whofe duty it is, to be mutually helpful, attentive and affectionate. The female character and conduct have frequently prefented themselves in the course of the hiftory of the Patriarchs. And indeed how can the life of man be separated from that of woman? Their amiable qualities and praife-worthy actions have been occafionally pointed out, and unrefervedly, though without adulation, commended: their faults and follies have been, with equal freedom, expofed and cenfured. But in the inftances referred to, female conduct has undergone only an accidental and tranfient review, in detached fragments, and as fupplementary to, or producing influence on, the conduct of man. The pen cil of infpiration, however, having introduced perfons of the gentler fex into its inimitable compofitions ; and thefe not always thrown into the back-ground or placed in the fhade, But fometimes fpringing forward into the light, and glowing in all the brilliancy of colouring, I have been induced, with trembling fteps, to follow the heavenly guide; and to follow up the fainter fketches of a Sarah, a Rebekah, a Rachel, a A Miriam, them. Miriam, with the more finished portraits "of Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth," "Ruth the Moabitefs," and "Hannah," the mother of Samuel the prophet. In order to introduce thefe with greater advantage, I mean to employ the prefent Lecture, in giving a general delineation of the female character, as it is reprefented in the paffage now read, and as being the purpose and act of the great Lord of nature, "an help meet for man." Every creature was intended to yield help to man the flower, with its beauty and fragrance; the tree, with its nutricious fruit; the animal tribes, with all their powers of miniftring fatisfaction to the fenfes or to the mind. Adam furveyed them all with delight, faw their feveral characters in their feveral forms, gave them names, obferved and glorified his Creator's perfections displayed in himself, and in But ftill he was alone amidst all this multitude; the understanding was employed, but the heart wanted its object: the tongue could name all that the eye beheld, but there was no tender, fympathetic ear, to which it could fay, "how fair, how lovely, how glorious is all this that we behold!" "For Adam there was not found an help meet for him." The want of nature is no fooner perceived by the great Parent of man, than it is fupplied; the wifh of reafon is no fooner expreffed than gratified. Paternal care and tenderness even outrun and prevent the calls of filial neceffity. Adam has felt no void, uttered no complaint, but "the Lord God faid, It is not good that the man fhould be alone: I will make him an help meet for him." And with God, execution tertainly and inftantaneously follows defign. "And the Lord God caused a deep fleep to fall upon Adam, and he flept and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam faid, This is now bone of my bones, and flefh of my flefn: fhe fhall be called Woman, because fhe was taken out of man. Therefore fhall a man leave his father and his mother, and fhall cleave unto his wife and they fhall be one flesh."* How completely fuitable an helper God provided for man in a state of finless perfection. tranfcends imagination, much more description; all that is lovely in form, all that is graceful in manner, all that is exalted in mind, all that is pure in thought, all that is delicate in fentiment, all that is enchanting in converfation. This felicity was made fubject to alteration; this harmony was not to continue perfect; but the original intention of the Creator was not to be defeated, no, but even in a state of degradation, difficulty and diftrefs, as in a state of purity and peace, it was ftill the deftination of Providence, that woman fhould be "an help meet" for man. In what important refpects we are now to inquire. The first and most obvious is, as his counsellor and coadjutor in bringing up their common offspring. Education, on the part of the mother, commences from the moment she has the prospect of being a mother; and the care of her own health is, thenceforth, the first duty which he owes to her child.t From that moment too fhe becomes in a peculiar fenfe "an help meet" for man, as being the depofitary and guardian of their most precious joint concern. How greatly is her value now enhanced! Her existence is multiplied, * Verfe 21-24. her of Manoah, and mother of "Now therefore beware, I The inftructions given to the wife Sampfon the Nazarite, (Jud. xiii. 4) pray thee, and drink not wine, nor ftrong drink, and eat not any unclean thing," are not merely arbitrary, injunctions, adapted to a particular branch of political economy, and intended to ferve local and temporary purposes; no, they are conftitutions of nature, reason, and experience, which unite in recommending, to thofe who have the profpect of being mothers, a ftrict attention to diet, to exercife, to temper, to every thing which, affecting the frame of their own body or mind, may communicate an important, a lafting, perhaps indelible impreffion to the body or mind of their offspring. A proper regimen for themfelves is, therefore, the firft ftage of education for their children. The neglect of it is frequently found productive of effects which no future culture is able to alter or rectify. |