"Assur came from the mountains of the north, He came with ten thousands of armies. The multitudes thereof stopped the torrents. Their horsemen covered the hills. He bragged that he would burn up my border, That he would kill my young men with the sword, That he would dash the sucking children against the ground, And make the children a prey and the virgins a spoil; But the Almighty Lord hath disappointed him by the hand of a woman! The mighty one did not fall by young men, Neither did the sons of Titans set upon him, Nor did high giants set upon him; But Judith, the daughter of Merari, weakened him with her beauty. For the exaltation of the oppressed in Israel She put off her garments of widowhood, She anointed herself with ointment, She bound her hair with a fillet, She took a linen garment to deceive him; Her sandals ravished his eyes, Her beauty took his mind prisoner, So the fauchion passed through his neck. I will sing unto my God a new song: O Lord, thou art great and glorious, Wonderful in strength and invincible. Let all creatures praise thee, For thou speakest and they were made, Thou sentest thy spirit and created them. There is none can resist thy voice; The mountains shall be moved from their foundations, The rocks shall melt like wax at thy presence, Yet art thou merciful to them that fear thee, For all sacrifice is too little for a sweet savor unto thee, All the fat is not enough for burnt-offerings; But he that feareth the Lord is great at all times." How magnificent is the conception of the woman here given! Lowly, devout, given up to loving memories of family life, yet capable in the hour of danger of rising to the highest inspirations of power. Poetess, prophetess, inspirer, leader, by the strength of that power by which the helpless hold the hand of Almighty God and triumph in his strength, she becomes the deliverer of her people. WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA. [Illustration: THE SISTINE MADONNA] MARY THE MYTHICAL MADONNA.