Jesus will condescend to reward earnest work done for him,
though after all only the fruit of his own grace. But if we women are
to have our share in these heavenly rewards, our hearts cannot be
engrossed in the pursuit of earthly intellectual prizes. Oh! We cannot
think and speak too earnestly on such a subject as this; can we, dear
brother?"

"No, indeed," said the vicar, "when we remember that the Lord is coming
again, and then shall he reward every one according to his works."

No one spoke for a while, and then Mrs Prosser asked, "What do you
think, dear Miss Maltby, of these female guilds, and societies, and
clubs?"

"I think very ill of them," was the reply; "for they substitute, or are
in danger of substituting, self-imposed rules and motives for the simple
rules and constraining motives set before us in God's Word."

"I don't quite understand you," said the other.

"I mean thus," continued Miss Maltby. "Let us take an example. I have
some young lady friends who have joined an `early-rising club.' They
are to get up and be downstairs by a certain hour every morning, or pay
a forfeit, and are to keep a strict account of their regularities or
irregularities, as the case may be."

"And what harm do you see in this?" asked Dr Prosser.

"Just this," replied the other: "it seems to me that this banding
together to accomplish an object, in itself no doubt desirable, gives a
sort of semi-publicity to it, and thereby robs it of its simplicity, and
in a measure deprives God of his glory in it, as though the constraining
love of Christ were not sufficient to induce us to acquire habits of
self-denial and usefulness. How much better for one who desires to live
in the daily habit of unostentatious self-discipline modestly to
practise this regularity of early-rising as an act of Christian self-
denial, to be known and marked by Him who will accept and graciously
bless it, if done to please him and in his strength. In a word, dear
friends, I cannot but think that our female character is likely to
suffer by the adoption of these new and, in my view, unscriptural
theories and systems, and that the less of excitement and publicity
there is in woman's work, and the more of the quiet home work and home
influence in her doings, the holier, the healthier, the happier, and the
more truly useful will she be."

"I quite agree with my sister in this matter," observed the vicar. "I
believe that there is a subtle element