ture, and in authentic histories, of the judgments which have fallen on the workers of iniquity. "The righteous have rejoiced when they saw the vengeance, and men have said, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.' It is a striking fact, that almost none of the actors in those scenes of blood which characterized the stormy periods of the French Revolution, died a natural death. They almost all perished on the same scaffold on which they sacrificed their opponents, abhorred and execrated as they had been. It is most deserving of our remembrance, that in a country, and at a season when atheism had been most daringly avowed, so many evidences should have been given of the righteous judgment of God. The very men who endeavoured to persuade the world, that the moral government of God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, were only the fancies of superstition, whose violence covered them as a garment, and who set their mouth against the Heavens, furnished in their end the most awful intimation, that "when the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever." Never should we forget such solemn warnings against the counsel of the ungodly, nor how the in

sulted majesty of religion was avenged in their fall.

It is seldom that one who has been guilty of a flagrant breach of the laws of God or man, escapes in this life with total impunity; and if they should, there is a day coming when God will render indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish to every soul of man that doth evil. "They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." It ought also to be stated, that though the desire to amass wealth may not lead men to any positive violation of human laws, yet, when it reigns in the heart, it is incompatible with the love of God, and that covetousness is idolatry, and shall be punished hereafter as such; and "what is a man profited, though he should gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul? and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?".

These are some of the lessons which we are taught by the story of Naboth's vineyard, and if they have their proper influence on us, our conversation will be without covetousness, and we will be content with such things as we have. Happy is the man who shall be able to say at the close of life, in the language of Paul in his parting address to the elders of the church at

Ephesus, "I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel,"-no man's place or possessions. "He that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days; and godliness with contentment is great gain." It was one of our Lord's injunctions, and it shews his knowledge of our danger, and his regard to the justice and charity, the peace and the happiness of his followers, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness."

I conclude these remarks, by setting before my readers a beautiful contrast to the conduct of Ahab, from the history of the Moorish kings of Spain. One of these kings wished to build a pavilion on a field near his garden, and offered to purchase it of the woman to whom it belonged, but she could not consent to part with the inheritance of her fathers. The field was seized, and the building was erected. The poor woman complained to a cadi, who promised to do all that was in his power to serve her.

One

day, while the king was in the field, the cadi came with an empty sack, and asked permission to fill it with the earth on which he was treading. He obtained leave, and when the sack was filled, he requested the king to complete his kindness by assisting him to load his ass with it. The monarch laughed, and tried to lift it, but soon let it fall, complaining of its enormous

weight. "It is, however," said the cadi, "only a small part of the ground which thou hast wrested from one of thy subjects; how then wilt thou bear the weight of the whole field when thou shalt appear before the Great Judge, laden with this iniquity?" The king thanked him for his reproof, and not only restored the field to its owner, but gave her the building which he had erected, and all the wealth which it contained.

THE folly and malignity of irritated pride were never more apparent than in the behaviour of Jonah. He had denounced the judgments of God in a very solemn manner against Nineveh. Its inhabitants, struck by the terrors of the Lord, fasted and prayed, and turned from their evil ways; and God, full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. There is joy in Heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that repents, but the penitence and safety of the thousands of Nineveh filled Jonah with wrath. He imagined that he would now be ridiculed and despised as a false prophet, and

that this would be his only reward for the fulfilment of a mission in which he had most reluctantly engaged. He thought that Nineveh should have found no place for repentance, and that his veracity should have been sealed in the ashes of that city, and in the blood of its children. So strong was his displeasure, and so completely had it darkened his mind, that he imputes to the Almighty as a fault, that mercy which is the glory of his character and administration; and so much was he disgusted with the world, that he wishes death to take him immediately from a scene where he could expect nothing but scorn. To language so insolent and foolish, the long suffering of God made no reply but this, Dost thou well to be angry?" It is probable that, from this reply, Jonah conceived that God had only delayed the execution of his threatening, and that the behaviour of the Ninevites in turning again to folly, would soon provoke him to cast them down to destruction; for he went out of the city, and made a booth, and sat under it, till he might see what would become of the city. There the Lord caused a wild plant to spring up with long and broad leaves, to shadow him from the heat, and to wither while he was rejoicing in it, that, from its destruction, he might convince him of the unreasonableness of his