there were others, and particularly one, who preferred affliction and oppression, with the worship of God, to rank and fortune, place and preferment in the courts of idolatrous Pharaoh.. The Catholics of Ireland talk long, and very loudly about the services their ancestors did for Britain, in years that are past; and, although, they are neither compelled to "make brick," nor obliged to remair in any particular spot against their inclinations, yet they pour out their hard speeches against the British Governinent, and are filled with indignation against it, because they are not admitted to posts of honor and profit in the courts of England, whose heresy is as abominable in their estimation, as the worship and manners of Jacob, were abominable in the sight of the Egyptians.-It is a little singular that men who consider the Church of Rome, as Justinan and Pope John did, the only true Church, should wish to intermix with heretics, and expose their "only true faith" to the infection of heresy and themselves to the danger of offending him, "who sits in his temple" at Rome "as God", from whence he can hurl his unerring thunderbolts of vengeance, and consign them at one blow,to all the wretchedness and misery of excommunication "How can "these things be?"-Israel in Egypt sought for no posts of honor under Pharaoh :-neither did Christ, as he could not approve the corruptions of it, ever covet a seat in the Sanhedrim;nor, did a murmur ever escape the lips of his

disciples, because they were excluded from possessing seats in the great council of their nation, on account of their religious opinions and ge neral conduct, which were very different from those of the elders and rulers of the People.(6)--AHAB RUINED HIS FAMILY.-

An apprehension that the interest of his kingdom might be affected by the annual attendance of his subjects at Jerusalem in honor of God, occasioned Jeroboam to have recourse to an idolatrous ceremony, to preserve him from an imaginary evil, and to introduce a grievous sin amongst his people-He set up a golden calf at Bethel, and another at Dan :—and both the images rested on a foundation, that would soon give way, and involve himself and the affairs of his kingdom in ruin :-for, that foundation was a composition of ignorance, fear, and falsehood, mixed with "the untempered "mortar" of distrust in God; and therefore, a stormy wind would quickly rend it, and an "overflowing shower" would wash it away."It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice; behold your Gods, O Israelites, "who brought you out of the land of Egypt", said the King to the assembled People:-and immediately, "places of worship were erected "on hills, and Priests from the lowest and most ignorant of his people were made for the purpose of attending and officiating in them ; "whomsoever would, he consecrated him, and

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"be became one of the priests of the high places.”—And, what was the result of this wickedness of the king, who introduced golden calves to his people, not because he approved the worship that was offered them, but because he thought it politically expedient; what was the consequence of his hypocrisy, and his disregard of the laws of him, to whom he was indebted for his crown, and power, and dominion? In his own person he first received a mark of the divine displeasure, by a heavy bodily calamity, which suddenly fell upon him, whilst he was standing before one of his altars to burn incense, and afterwards, his "whole "house was cut off, and destroyed from off the "face of the earth."-The danger therefore of introducing idolatrous worship amongst people, who acknowledge one God, who alone ought to receive their adoration and homage, is well described in the account of the misfortunes and ruin which Jeroboam's conduct brought upon his house and country, but not perhaps, so forcibly, as in the more extended history of the calamities that followed the impious conduct of the son of Omri, when seated on the throne of Israel.- The sacred historian introduces him with these remarks:-" Ahab did evil "in the sight of the Lord, above all his predecessors; for, as if it had been a light thing for "him to imitate the sins of Jeroboam, the son Nebat, he took to wife Jezebel the daughter "of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and wen

"and served Baal, and worshipped him :—to "Baal also he erected an altar in the temple of 66 Baal, which he had built in Samaria ;—he "also made a grove." To the sins of Jeroboam, which originated in timidity; distrust, and mistaken policy, and ended in ruin, he added the great offence of intermarrying with a gross idolater, and defied the threatenings of omnipotence denounced against such an abominable act; hence, the persecutions and murder of the prophets; hence, the cold blooded order for the stoning to death of Naboth;—hence, the arrow that pierced his heart at Ramoth-gilead, and made the dogs lick his blood on the very spot, where they had previously licked the blood of the man, who possessed the vineyard in Jezreel, unfortunately too near the royal palace, and hence the slaughter of seventy of his sons in one day, in the city of Samaria.-How offensive to God must that sin be, which could entail such an awful visitation, upon the idolater's children, and lead to the extermination of his whole family!-But, alas! the voice of history, whether sacred or prophane, is listened to with very little attention:-the narrative of splendid achievements, produces a momentary admiration; the record of disastrous and melancholy events, excites an affected sympathy which lasts a fleeting minute, and occasions a short remark or two of a sorrowful cast, which are uttered without any corresponding internal feeling.If Ahab had transcribed a copy of the law for

his own use, according to the direction of the Jewish lawgiver, he would not have been ignorant of the line of conduct required of him by the deity, which had the promise of security to his crown, and of a blessing to his people;nor could he have been unacquainted with the character of the son of David, and the great events of his reign, which was not very far removed from his own.-He must have known, how highly Solomon was favoured with prosperity and riches, whilst he conformed to the law of God; and he could not have been a stranger to the fatal consequences, that followed his associating with the worshippers of Ashtaroth, Chemosh, and Moloch.-He must have known that his idolatry, rent bis kingdom asunder, of which sad event, the golden calves at Bethel and at Dan, must continually have reminded him.—And in addition to this, amongst his subjects was one of the greatest prophets that ever lived, whom he might always have consulted; and whose counsels would always have been full of wisdom, for God was with him.-Ahab, therefore was inexcusable-A Herod to gratify the malignant passions of his vindictive queen, might murder a righteous man;-and make his crime still more shocking, and himself more detestable, by ordering the bleeding head to "be "brought in a charger" into his ball room full of courtiers; an act, which must have made the coarsest feelings of human nature, turn from the dreadful spectacle, with revolting disgust