The wife of this good man entertained no such fears. With a faith which penetrated the divine intentions, at least in part, and which elevated her not only above the prejudices of the age, but gave her a decided superiority over her trembling partner, she suggested a far different conclusion, and intimated the reason on which it was founded. Her conclusions, the very opposite to his--so different are the _degrees_ of grace in different characters--were deduced from three considerations. Each of these, in her view, was a decisive evidence against his suggestion, and a consoling reflection in this extraordinary and ambiguous moment. The first was, _the acceptance of their sacrifices_. "If," said she, "the Lord be pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands." The law which prescribed the presentation of sacrifices, expressly represented them as "a _sweet savour_ unto the Lord;" which implied not only an approbation of the offering, which was indeed of divine appointment, and could not therefore be rejected, but complacency in the worshipper. The _person_ could not be disowned, while the _presentation_ was acknowledged. If this sentiment needed any corroboration, the history of Cain and Abel would have furnished it. The acceptance and rejection of each was evinced by the divine treatment of their respective offerings. "The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect." When God entered into a solemn covenant with Abram, "a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the divided pieces of the sacrifice, and consumed them." At the dedication of the tabernacle, when "the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people, there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their. faces." The dedication of the temple was signalized by a similar manifestation. "Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house!" The same principle is fully-recognized by David, in the following supplications: "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee: Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion: Remember all thy burnt-offerings, and accept thy burnt-sacrifice." The argument, therefore, of Manoah's wife was pious, legitimate, and conclusive: "if _we_ were to be destroyed, our _services_ could not be approved."