Nobies and to the Elders; that is to say, to the Nobles and the Magistrates, which Magistrates were also the Judges. In these letters she desired the persons to whom they were written to proclaim a fast; or religious festival; for, we always find that when injustice and cruelty of the most atrocious and horrible description are about to be committed, the pretence of extreme piety, and the most glaring outward show of religion, are put in the fore-ground. " Proclaim a fast ;" said this wicked woman, "And set NABOTH on high, 46 amongst the people; then set two men, sons of Be"lial" (that is to say, men of desperate wickedness) "before him, to bear witness against him, saying, "thou didst blaspheme God and the King; and then "" carry him out and stone him, that he may die."

Horrible as was the import of this message, the base Nobles and the baser Judges, did as JEZEBEL had sent unto them. They proclaimed the solen fast; they hoisted the religious banners; they, like the Spanish Inquisitors, invoked the assistance of the Almighty; they set NABOTH on high among the people; they brought the two false witnesses to swear against him; and then, followed by the deluded crowd, they carried him forth out of the City, and he was "stoned "with stones, that he died"!

Were it not for the information which history has afforded us, we shou'd be led to believe, that this was an imaginary case, or parable, intended to illustrate

the workings of the most deadly hypocrisy, and to show, in the sequel, the consequences to the principal actors in the cruel and bloody scene. For, what do we behold here? We behold Nobles and Judges engaged coolly and deliberately in the work of finding out and hiring false witnesses to take away the life of an innocent man. We behold them resorting to the shameless act of employing the most infamous of man

kind for this purpose. We behold them sitting in a

mockery of judgment on this innocent man; and we behold them, with unmoved countenances, seeing him stoned to death, in execution of their judgment, found. ed upon the evidence of wretches whom they had themselves hired to swear falsely against him. And, which is the finishing stroke to the picture, we behold them doing these things under the mask of religion; on the day of a solemn festival; and for the pre tended purpose of punishing blasphemy!

The Bible does not tell us what were the feelings with which these base Nobles and these unjust Judges retired to their homes and laid their heads upon their pmows They had succeeded in accomplishing their bloody work; and we are left to suppose that they finally received their reward in that chastisement which God has reserved for the unjust and bloody minded.

But, with regard to the instigators to this crying sin, the Bible has taken care not to leave us to conjecture

or inference. It has given us a full account of the consequences, to them, of this work of hypocrisy and cruelty. The King, who had not, indeed, been an actor in the matter, but who had sanctioned the proceedings of his wife, by making no remonstrance against her conduct, and, still more explicitly, by going in person and taking possession of the vineyard of the murdered NABOTH; the King, warned by the Prophet, began to humble himself; he tasted of evil all his days; he was killed by his enemies in battle; and according to the sentence passed upon him, the dogs licked up his blood, as they had licked up the blood of NABOTH. The fore-fathers of NABOTH, were not allowed to have weight with him. His truly pious sentiments with respect to ancestry and posterity were not listened to. The Lord, therefore, cut off the posterity of AHAB. JEHU slew his son, in the very vineyard which had belonged to NABOTH. "Surely I have seen yesterday "the blood of NABOTH, and the blood of his sons," saith the Lord; " and I will requite thee in this plat "of ground."

Having slain the son and successor of AHAB, JEHU proceeded to the rest of his work, and slew all the children of the destroyer of NABOTH and his children. JEZEBEL was punished in a most signal manner. was looking out of a window; and JEHU said, “throw "her down. So they threw her down: and some of

She

"her blood was sprinkled on the wall; and on the "horses; and he trod her under foot. And when he

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was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see

now this cursed woman, and bury her for she is a "king's daughter: and they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the scull, and the "feet, and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the "word of the Lord which he spake by his servant "ELIJAH the Tishbite, saying, in the portion of JEZREEL shall dogs eat the flesh of JEZEBEL, And the

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carcase of JEZEBEL shall be as dung upon the face "of the field in the portion of JEZREEL; So that they "shall not say, this is JEZEBEL." 2 Kings. Chap. IX.

Thus we have the whole history: the object; the means of accomplishment; the manner of the accomplishment; the success of the contemplated crime; and finally the signal and awful punishment of the criminals. At first sight we are striken with horror at the punishment inflicted upon JEZEBEL. But, looking back at her offence; viewing the coolness of her cruelty towards NABOTH; seeing her instigating Magistrates and Judges themselves to suborn wretches to swear away the life of an innocent man; and, above all things, seeing her effect this bloody purpose with all the insignia of religious ceremony drawn forth, and under a pretence of uncommon reverence for God,

and an uncommonly anxious desire to prevent his name from being blasphemed; when we consider these things, can we say that her punishment was too severe ? can we say that her carcase ought not to have been "as dung upon the face of the field”?

Let us now look back; let us re-consider the whole of this history. Here we see that to get at the property of others is the object of hypocrisy. JEZEBEL would not have brought the charge of blasphemy against NABOTH, if NABOTH had had nothing of which she wished to obtain possession. This was the grand object. This it was that excited her pretended zeal in the cause of religion. The unfortunate JEZREELITE was in possession of a thing which she wanted to possess. Ile, very naturally desired to keep his Own. She had no means of taking it from him by law, or under any colour of law; and, therefore, she resorted to the false accusation of blasphemy.

It is material to observe, that the crime of blasphemy was selected, in preference to any other crime, for reasons which are obvious enough. In the first place, this crime consists in the utterance of words merely. If the crime, falsely imputed, had been that of robbery, or murder, it would have been more difficult to satisfy the minds of the people on the score of proof. The positive evidence must have been corroborated by facts and circumstances. There must have