death of NABOTH the Jezreelite. For, in this history we have a true and complete picture of the character of hypocrisy; of it's great and almost invariable object; and of the horrible means which it employs, when driven to it's last resort.

AHAB, the King of Samaria, had taken a fancy to the Vineyard of NABOTH, which lay hard by his Palace. He made a proposition to NABOTH for the purchase of the Vineyard. NABOTH, not out of any wilfullness or obstinacy; but out of a natural and laudable desire to preserve in his family that which had descended to him from his ancestors, refused, saying, "the Lord forbid it me, that I should give unto thee the inhe"ritance of my fathers."

What could be more reasonable; what more praiseworthy than the ground of this refusal? Here was disinterestedness; for there can be no doubt that NABOTH might have received double the real worth of his Vineyard. But gain had no weight with him when put in the scale against reverence for the memory of his fore-fathers. A refusal, proceeding from such a sentiment, ought, not only to have been sufficient to obviate the giving of offence to Ahab; but it ought to have given great pleasure to the King, who ought to have felt proud to think that he was the Sovereign of subjects, of the high sentiments of whom he here had so striking a specimen.

Very different, however, were the consequences with regard to poor NABOTH. The King, who was a weak and childish sort of being, became miserable on ac

count of this refusal; appeared greatly dejected; was plunged into melancholy, and would neither eat nor drink. The Queen, JEZEBEL, however, was of a different character. She, who seems to have carried hypocrisy to it's state of deadly perfection, was not long in falling upon the means of gratifying the wishes of her husband, without consulting NABOTH, and without giving any thing for the Vineyard either in money or in kind. "Let thine heart be merry," said she, "for "I will give thee the Vineyard of NABOTH the Jezreelite.'

And now, we are going to see how hypocrisy goes to work in order to effect it's object; which object, be it never forgotten, always is to preserve, or to obtain possession of, that which of right and injustice does not belong to the hypocrite. JEZEBEL saw clearly that it was useless to endeavour to prevail upon NABOTH by temptations of lucre; because, his refusal was founded upon principle. She, therefore, coneeived the truly diabolical project of bringing against him a false accusation; and that the accusation might be such as to insure his destruction, and, at the same time,,deprive him of the compassion of his fellow subjects, she caused him to be accused of blasphemy; a very horrid crime in the eyes of all good men; and, therefore, the best calculated for the effecting of her nefarious purpose. But, now, mark well the dreadful means that she resorted to. She wrote letters in her husband's name to the

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, ""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 solemn fast; they hoisted the religious banners; they, like the Spanish Inquisitors, invoked the assistance of the Almighty; they set NABOT 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 should 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 mankind 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, founded 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 piows 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

She

"her down. So they threw her down: and some of