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and kept the law of Moses, so they lived on amicable terms with the children of Israel. However, in this war with the king of Hazor the Kenites were neutral. Knowing this, Sisera thought he might be secure with them. He fled to their tents; for when I told you that all the host of the Canaanites fell by the sword, I meant all except Sisera himself. He escaped to the tent of Heber, the chief of the Kenites. They were a pastoral people living in tents, whose riches consisted of flocks and herds. Jael, the wife of Heber, went out to meet the defeated general. She welcomed him with seeming kindness, and offered him shelter in her tent. gladly accepted her offer, and asked for a little water to quench his thirst. The best drink she possessed was milk, which she gave to him, the richest she had, and in her finest dish. Then Sisera, thinking that his only chance for safety was in concealment, told Jael that if those passing by were to ask if any one were within, she must deny the fact. The wife of Heber made no reply to this; but no sooner did she see that the enemy of Israel was sound asleep, than she took a long nail, one of those used for fastening the tents, and with a hammer she drove the nail through the temples of Sisera, and fastened his head to the ground.

Marianne. Oh! that would kill him, grandfather. How cruel; that surely was not right.

Grandfather. I cannot defend the conduct of Jael;to invite a man into her house,-to proffer him hospitality; and then, when he trusted in her, to put him to

death, was false and treacherous.

Though Deborah, in

speaking of this action, says,-" Blessed above women shall be Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite;" still we need not understand that as intimating that the action itself was right, but rather that those who had suffered from the oppression of Sisera would load with approbation the woman who had taken his life. It is not always those actions that are best in themselves that are most praised by the world; it bestows its lcudest approval on those which are most fortunate in their results. Marianne. I think Jael was very wicked, the worst woman I ever heard of.

Grandfather. We must not judge too severely of her, Marianne; when we think the conduct of any one deserving of blame, we ought always to take into view those circumstances which may make the blame appear less. There is little doubt that Jael was an Israelite at heart, looking on them as the peculiar people of the God whom she worshipped. She thought what was done for them was right; what was done against them was wrong. She wished that Sisera might be conquered; but when she saw that proud general of the Canaanites a miserable fugitive, it may have been pity alone that impelled her to offer him protection, for if she did not take him in, his death was certain. She took him in and treated him kindly; but when he asked her to tell a falsehood, she may have thought it no longer necessary to keep faith with him. In this she was wrong, for the sins of others can never excuse our own.

If we learn this lesson from Jael it will be good for us to have heard of her. It has been observed by some that the wife of Heber is a type of worldly pleasure, which promises only to betray; and Sisera may be considered as a type of those who trust for happiness in the things of this world.

George. But though Sisera was dead, he was only the general; the king of Hazor might raise another army and come against the Israelites.

Grandfather. He could not; his power was completely broken; for we are told that "God subdued on that day Jabin, the King of Canaan, before the children of Israel." They prospered against him until he was utterly destroyed, and never was that people able to oppose them again.

Marianne. The Israelites would not surely worship false gods again.

Grandfather. For forty years the land had rest; and the people, keeping in remembrance their mercies and deliverances, worshipped the Lord; but, gradually, they forgot their Deliverer, and again worshipped the images in the groves. Trouble again came upon them, to bring them to a recollection of their duty. The Midianites oppressed them grievously, so grievously that the children of Israel were obliged to live in dens and in caves. They sowed their corn; but at harvest time their enemies came and carried off the whole produce of the soil that they could lay their hands on, besides the sheep and the cattle, so that the Israelites were in a

miserable state of starvation. Still the infatuated people clung to their idols till the Lord raised up another judge, of whom I shall tell you to-morrow evening, if God will. Johnnie. Did the people live in dens in Shamgar's time? I like him best.

Grandfather. They confined themselves to the fortified cities. The villages and scattered farm-houses were uninhabited, and they did not dare to cultivate their fields for the roving bands of Philistines; nor did they dare to walk on the highways for fear of their enemies,—the travellers went in bye-ways and unfrequented paths. Such was the state of things when the brave Shamgar rose and freed his people from the yoke of the Philistines.

When the Israelites were prosperous they worshipped Baal; when in trouble, they prayed to God,-What do we learn from this?

Othniel first reformed Israel, then went out to war,What does this teach us?

Barak marched to battle not less willingly though he knew he was to gain no honour by it,-What does this teach us?

By faith Barak hesitated not to quit the strong position he had taken,-What example does he set us here? 'Sisera asked Jael to tell a falsehood,-Did this justify her in breaking faith with him? and why?

Of what is Jael a type?

Of whose fate may the fate of Sisera be considered as a type?

THE Sabbaths we spent at our grandfather's were particularly happy days. I never knew any one who seemed so thoroughly to enjoy the Sabbath as grandfather. Every day he was cheerful and kindly, but on the day of rest he seemed to have a special foretaste of the happiness of the Eternal Sabbath, of which he liked so well to speak. It was not exactly a day of rest to him, for the longest walk he ever took was to church; yet, whether