gait, her haughty aspect, and all the workings of pride and craft and
ambition expressed in her faded but still striking features. With what
utter contempt would she look upon the husband who sank into despondency
because he had not the skill to devise, or the will to perpetrate, the
iniquity which would insure the attainment of his desires!

"Dost thou govern Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be
merry. _I_ will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

And a darker plot, or one more artfully devised, has seldom been
unravelled among all the iniquitous intrigues of courts and statesmen.
Naboth was doubtless a true worshipper; and for once Jezebel professed
all honour to the laws of Jehovah. He was arraigned and tried by the
laws of Moses--long trampled upon and disused. And all the solemnities
of religion were resorted to, to aid her plans and advance her purpose.

Falsely arraigned, accused, and condemned, Naboth was executed, and his
sons perished with him. The hands of his brethren were imbrued in their
blood. She who managed the plot found other agents to execute her
designs. With impious hypocrisy, she insulted heaven by ordaining a
solemn fast, for God and the king had been blasphemed. These
transactions display the deep depravity of the Queen of Israel, while
they show the influence of her character and example upon her people.
The very ministers of justice were made the abettors of her guilt; and
law, with all its formalities and solemnities, was made to sanction
crime. How many sins were committed to gratify one idle, covetous
desire! God was insulted and defied and blasphemed; justice was
corrupted; and falsehood, perjury, and murder were all used to
accomplish the wicked will of Jezebel. And how many victims have been
thus arraigned, and perished thus, in later days! This deed awoke the