sake of David.

raised him

up as

Did Baasha fear God, who had "the rod of his anger?"

MARY. Oh! no. He did just the same as Jeroboam, Mama. I wonder, when God wanted to cut off wicked kings, why he did not choose good ones to do it, instead of others as bad, or worse than themselves.

MARY. Your question, my dear, though not an unnatural one, may almost be its own answer. Good men, or such as we are in the habit of calling so, would be quite unfit for the work of extermination, unless God were to change and overrule their natural characters; whereas the passions of wicked men serve his inscrutable purposes, by being merely left to their own unchecked operation. I will give you an instance. David (who, imperfect as we have seen his goodness to be, was yet, on the whole, an upright and amiable man), though aware, for twenty years, that God had anointed him to be king in place of Saul, never once dreamt of hastening the time by taking that wicked monarch's life; but, on the contrary, when it was in his power, repeatedly spared it, and seemed almost ashamed of defending his own against him. Now, suppose God, instead of meaning to try David all this long time, and punish Saul, in this life, by the terrors of an evil conscience, had intended to

eut off the latter suddenly, with all his house, (including the amiable and innocent Jonathan), it is plain he would have chosen a very different servant from David to perform it,-one like the Baashas and Zimris, and others we read of in this melancholy chapter,-the last I hope we shall have, full of murders and conspiracies, There is no part of either Scripture or modern history more wonderful, than the use Providence makes of wicked men, or the marvellous manner in which, when their purpose is served, they are "broken without hand,” like a rod that is done with; though, but for the plain manner in which this is exemplified in the Bible, we might never have understood what passes daily under our own eyes. We must never for a moment suppose, however, that their being unconscious doers of God's "strange work" at all lightens the sin of traitors and murderers. What does it say was one reason of God's righteous punishment of Baasha, besides his being "like unto Nadab, the son of Jeroboam?

MARY. Mama, "Because he killed him."

MAMA. Very well. Remember we are "not to do evil that good may come," and that God has said "Vengeance is mine, I will repay;" even while letting bad men be his guilty executioners. Sometimes, Mary, he makes the sins of those he means to punish, the chief agents in their destruc

tion. See if you can tell me whose case this was among the kings slain in this chapter.

MARY. (After looking it over.) Mama, I suppose you mean Elah, the son of Baasha, who was killed when he was " drinking himself drunk" in

the house of his steward.

MAMA. Very right. This was disgraceful conduct in any one, and still more in a king, who is bound to set a good example. Did Zimri, who took advantage of it, long enjoy the fruits of his treachery?

MARY. No, Mama, he only reigned seven days, when some one else conspired against him.

MAMA. Ah! you see already that the prosperity of the wicked is as short-lived as it is deceitful! What dreadful end did Zimri come to?

MARY. He shut himself up in the king's house, and set fire to it.

MAMA. How hard pressed he must have been to choose so cruel a death! Fear and conscience must have been terribly at work here! What remarkable thing is mentioned as done by Omri his successor?

MARY. He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer, for two talents of silver, and built a city on it, called after its owner, Samaria.

*

MAMA. Do you know, Mary, how much a tálent of silver is?

MARY. No.

MAMA. It is about £350. For how many pieces of silver did Judas sell his master? I think you know that.

MARY. Thirty, Mama.

¿ MAMA. Yes, Mary, or about £3, 10s. 6d. of our money; does not this shock you when you think of it? Did I ever explain to you any thing else that seemed puzzling about the money of the Jews? (A pause.) Who did you once think very shabby, for only leaving twopence be→ hind him?

MARY. Oh! the good Samaritan;—but you told me a Roman penny was more than sevenpence, and that two such pence then, would be worth many shillings now.

MAMA. What other parable did this explanation make clearer ?

MARY. The labourers in the vineyard, Mama. Working all day for a penny seemed very hard, till you told me how much it was.

MAMA. Very right, Mary! It would not be amiss if this were cleared up in all our Bibles, as it is apt to puzzle ignorant people, and give rise to profane scoffing. Before leaving the subject,

what miracle connected with money did our Lord once perform? the only one, remember, he ever did for his own benefit, and even then he shared it with another as poor as himself.

MARY. I don't know.

MAMA. Think; did our Lord say it was right to pay taxes?

MARY. Oh! yes, Mama; he said, "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's.

MAMA. And was he always able to do this; he who, though Lord of all," had not where to lay his head?"

MARY. No Mama, I remember now, he made Peter catch a fish, and told him there would be a penny in its mouth, to pay for them both.

MAMA. A wonderful miracle, truly, Mary! and one requiring as great a combination of divine power, as feeding 5000 men with two fishes! But, to return to Samaria; do you know what it became ?

MARY. No.

MAMA. The capital city of the kingdom of Israel, as long as that lasted. But we read of it again in our Lord's time, when there was no kingdom of Israel, the Ten Tribes having been long dispersed. Who lived there then?

MARY. I don't know.

MAMA. A mongrel sort of people, half Jews,