fore the sword was "never to depart from his house."

MAMA. Very well indeed! And how was Ahab's disobedience punished?

MARY. His life and his people's were to pay for it.

MAMA. So you see, my dear, God made little external difference between them; but how did these judgments severally affect them? MARY. I believe, Mama, David repented. MAMA. That he did, my dear! It was in his agony of penitence at this time that he composed the 51st Psalm; the bitterest effusion that ever issued from a broken and contrite spirit! Was Ahab also penitent?

MARY. I am not sure. It only says, went to his house heavy and displeased."

"he

MAMA. Mere worldly grief, Mary, and impenitent displeasure; not the "godly sorrow that worketh repentance;" and, therefore, while David has come down to our days, a bright example of genuine and accepted contrition, Ahab is numbered with the dark multitude of those to whom "God" still "imputeth sin," and "whose iniquity is" not "covered!" Let us learn from the lesson of to-day, to draw from the obscurest events of Old Testament times, Christian inferences both as to God's severity and mercy. Though God

does not now require at our hands the life of his or our enemies, (except in the case of kings and governors, the best of whom are obliged, by their duty, to condemn, for the good of others, those whom they would far rather spare,) he still requires, Mary, implicit submission to his will, and the sacrifice of all those fancied improvements of our own upon it, which pride and Satan are always suggesting to human nature. God knows best what it is fit for us, under every circumstance, to do: and, when acting by his express commandment, we cannot be wrong. Ahab, by indiscreetly sparing Benhadad, brought on Israel, for generations to come, much temporal misery, and perpetual invasions. This God foreknew, and had intended to prevent.

But the more delightful reflection suggested by the chapter of to-day, is the certainty that the God of mercy, who sent a prophet to wicked Ahab, and delivered (for his own glory) idolatrous Israel, is readier far, in Gospel times, to "stretch forth his hands all day to a rebellious and gainsaying people," and to "rise up early and send messengers" of peace and conversion into many an unthinking and unthankful heart.

Should such knock at the door of yours, Mary,— and knock they will, my dear child, on a thousand errands of unwearied love,-oh! never let them

find it shut against them! but let your answer be, like infant Samuel's, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth !"

80

MORNING TENTH.

LESSON.-1 Kings, Chapter xxi.

MAMA. We have here, my dear Mary, a most shocking instance of the tyranny and oppression which, in ruder and darker times, wicked kings had it in their power to practise on their innocent people. Does it ever occur to you, among your daily causes of thankfulness, to bless God that you live in an age and a land where, if you fear God, and honour the king, and discharge honestly the duties of your station, none, not even he that sits on the throne, can "make you afraid," or deprive you of one tittle of your just rights and lawful possessions? It was not always so, even in England, my dear child. There have been

days, and not very distant ones, when honouring a king, even the lawful one, led to the scaffold; and fearing God, according to the religion of the Bible, to the stake. But, praised be the Lord! we have not fallen on such "evil times;" but enjoy all the safety which a good church, a good king, and good laws, can insure. Let us not lose

sight of this, any more than the thousand other daily mercies, which, because they are daily and common, we are so apt to undervalue. To bring the matter home at once to your capacity and feelings, when you plant your flowers and sow your seeds so busily and confidently in the garden you call your own, think of poor Naboth and his vineyard. What is a vineyard, my dear?

MARY. A large garden, Mama, where grapes are grown for wine.

MAMA. Yes; and a very precious possession in Judea, whose fertile yet rocky soil was peculiarly favourable for the cultivation of the vine. Indeed the whole nation, from that very circumstance, is frequently in Scripture represented under the figure of a vineyard. Can you remember any passage of the New Testament where it is thus spoken of?

MAMA. What! Not the beautiful parable of One who planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, after building in it a tower and a wine-press; thus testifying alike his care for the safety of the cultivators, and the utility of the fruit? Who did I tell you, Mary, was this considerate landlord?

MARY. Oh! I remember now-you said the