their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

VI.

Your Name.

E often hear a good deal in the present

W

day about people who have "a bee in

their bonnet," or "a craze," or a

mania," or "a hobby." And by such words is meant that certain persons get possessed of one idea above all other ideas, and are more enthusiastic on one point than on all other points put together. For instance, some people believe that all earthly ills arise from eating flesh; others, from eating salt; others, from breathing bad air; and others, again, from impure water. And each class, knowing how much ground they have for their opinions, strive to disseminate the know

ledge they have gained, and their own especial views respecting it, with a good deal of zeal.

Now it is well to be zealously affected in a good thing, and if it would stir up your zeal in the matter, I should like to see every one of you with a craze also. Yes, "a craze," respecting the position which is your heritage and my heritage -our position as women.

We may occupy very different positions in other respects-and we may be engaged in very diverse occupations- but as women we incur the same responsibility, for we share alike the same talents, and are endowed with the same power.

I remember reading once that the definition of woman was double-you O man (W. O. man). It is not, however, because I believe our wisdom or goodness or nobleness to be the greatest that I so value the name.

And I remember reading still later that the word woman was the abbreviated form of "work

ing man

-wo. man.

And though in these days

it does seem that women are found in the front

and thickest of the fight, it is not for this either that I value it most myself, or wish to impress you also with all it implies.

"Women!" The name given to that half of human nature which, while it is said to be the weakest, is also said to be the best. The name which is common to all of us alike, no matter how humble or how exalted the station we occupy. The name by which we are recognised in the Word of God-not all queens, or prophetesses, or judges—but all women. Those who followed the dear Master, grieving at His suffering, and weeping at His death, and watching at His tomb, were most likely of different social positions, and yet their memory is handed down to us by no grander words than these-" certain women."

Doubtless you have heard and pondered, as in days gone by I had heard and pondered this statement "There was never a deed done

especially noble or great or glorious; or an evil committed especially wicked or vile or devilish, but a woman was the chief agent in it.”

Alas! alas! the good and the evil!

Doubtless, again, you have heard, as I have heard, "If a woman is good, she is far better than a man; and if a woman is bad, she is far worse than a man."

Let us, then, in closing these thoughts, give a little attention to that position which belongs to all of us alike, because we are women.

Our authorised version of the Word of God consists of two parts, the Old and the New Testaments. Both these parts open with the story of a woman.

Eve, in company with the fallen archangel Lucifer, the son of the morning, who became the medium of cursing and evil to the whole human race, and Mary, in company with the angel Gabriel, sent from God, who was to be the medium of blessing and good. Each of these