And

“And Ahab said to his chariot-man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. the battle increased that day; howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the sunsetting he died.' Their queens also died in a resembling spirit; one, having painted her face and tired her head,' is killed with scoffing on her lips; the other expires without one compunctious visiting which might prove that remembrance at last awoke remorse."

The marriage of the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to Ahab's daughter was productive of the most disastrous consequences to that kingdom. The alliance not only brought the king of Judah into peril, but his family to almost total ruin, and led his successor to "walk in the way of the kings of Israel," working that which was evil, and causing his people to sin. The influence of Athaliah, who proved herself to possess a portion of the spirit of her mother Jezebel, wrought in like manner upon her son Ahaziah; "he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly." When this mother heard of the murder of her son, she resolved to reign in Judah having probably been left in authority during the absence of Ahaziah, she now seized the crown for herself. To destroy every rival who could dispute her claims to the sovereignty, she barbarously put to death all she could find of the kingly stock, and the royal palace of Jerusalem flowed with innocent blood. For six years did her oppressive usurpation continue, during which time the land was defiled with the worship of Baal, and the temple plundered of its sacred treasures. She dreamed not that any of the line of David remained to sit on the throne; but the Lord had not forgotten his covenant. Secreted in one of the chambers of the temple, a child who had been saved by his father's sister from the sanguinary search of Athaliah, was living under the care of the high-priest. When the time was ripe for revolt, this rightful heir of the throne was exhibited by Jehoiada to the

rulers and captains, previously bound by an oath to his cause; the conspiracy was organized, and Joash anointed and proclaimed king. Hearing the noise of the acclamations the queen-mother came into the temple, saw in the appointed place of royalty the youthful monarch, crowned, and surrounded by the princes and trumpeters, and heard the joyful shouts and the martial music that hailed his accession. She rent her clothes and cried "Treason! treason!" but no guards appeared to defend her pretensions. She showed the spirit of her haughty mother in venturing alone into the midst of the military force, as if expecting that the majesty of her presence could put down rebellion; she shared her fate, also, and doubtless met her death with the same indomitable resolution, the offspring of pride: "The wicked have no bands in their death."

The exhibition of wickedness in high places, as viewed in the family of this king of Israel, with the punishment which overtook its perpetrators, forms one of the most instructive lessons in history. We may see here how the absence of all religious principle made room for the introduction of selfish avarice and ambition, which became more and more insatiate of dominion. Idolatrous worship paved the way for the other evils under which the land lay ruined, till a bloody deliverance was wrought. Jezebel, the stronger spirit, had the mastery, and led her husband into crimes he was too infirm of purpose to shun; their children were worthy descendants of so evil a stock, and were involved in the catastrophe which overtook them. There are many examples like this, but few in which the relations of cause and effect may be so clearly and impressively traced.

XVI.

THE WIDOW OF SAREPTA.

BY REV. WILLIAM MARTIN.

HOSPITALITY, So positively enjoined upon us in the New Testament, is also by very striking examples set before us for imitation in the Old. It seems, indeed, to have been one of the primitive virtues of an age when morals were defective, because Christianity, with its refining, elevating principles, had not been sufficiently developed to make "the man of God perfect in every good work." This beautiful Christian obligation of hospitality seems from the first to have been perfectly appreciated and acted upon. In no instance have we it more impressively and thrillingly illustrated than in the heart-stirring narrative of the widow of Sarepta.

How strangely and yet how beautifully is the Gospel in its provisions contrasted with the narrow-mindedness of selfish man! The Jews believed salvation confined to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, and, consequently, that the covenanted mercies of God could extend to none else; but Jesus, with a happy reference to their own accredited Scriptures, shows at once the fallacy of such a notion: "But I tell you, of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." Sarepta was one of the cities belonging to Sidon, and hence the widow in question was a Sidonian, and