VI. THE GENERAL JAIL DELIVERY.

THERE was in a certain country a great king, who was also a judge. He was very merciful, but he was also very just, for he used to say that justice was the foundation of all goodness, and that indiscriminate and misapplied mercy was, in fact, injustice. His subjects were apt enough, in a general way, to extol his merciful temper, and especially those subjects who were always committing crimes which made them particularly liable to be punished by his justice. This last quality they constantly kept out of sight, till they had cheated themselves into a notion that he was too good to punish at all.

Now it had happened a long time before, that this whole people had broken their allegiance, and had forfeited the king's favor, and had also fallen from a very prosperous state in which he had originally placed them, having one and all become bankrupts. But when they were over head and ears in debt, and had nothing to pay, the king's son most generously took the whole burden of their debts on himself, and, in short, it was proposed that all their affairs should be settled, and their very crimes forgiven, for they were criminals as well as debtors, provided only they would show themselves sincerely sorry for what they had done themselves, and be thankful for what had been done for them. A book was also given them, in which a true and faithful account of their own rebellion was written, and of the manner of obtaining the king's pardon, together with a variety of directions

for their conduct in time to come, and in this book it was particularly mentioned, that after having lived a certain number of years in a remote part of the same king's country, yet still under his eye and jurisdiction, there should be a grand assizes, when every one was to be publicly tried for his past behavior; and after this trial was over, certain heavy punishments were to be inflicted on those who should have still persisted in their rebellion, and certain high premiums were to be bestowed as a gracious reward upon the penitent and obedient.

This king's court differed in some respect from our courts of justice, being a sort of court of appeal, to which questions were carried after they had been imperfectly decided in the common courts! And not

merely outward sins, but sins of the heart also were brought to light and reserved for this great day. Among these were pride, and oppression, and envy, and malice, and revenge, and covetousness, and secret vanity of mind, and evil thoughts of all sorts, and all sinful wishes and desires. The sins of the heart were by far the most numerous sort of sins which were to come before this great tribunal, and these were to be judged by this great king in person, and by none but himself, because he alone possessed a certain power of getting at all secrets.

Now you may be ready to think, perhaps, that these people were worse off than any others, because they were to be examined so closely, and judged so strictly. Far from it; the king gave them a book of directions; and because they were naturally shortsighted he supplied them with a glass for reading it, and thus the most dim-sighted might see, if they did not willingly shut their eyes; but though the king invited them to open their eyes he did not compel them. Many remained stone blind all their lives with the book in their hand, because they would not use the glass, nor take the proper means for reading and understanding all that was written for them. The

humble and sincere learned in time to see even that part of the book which was least plainly written, and it was observed that the ability to understand it depended more on the heart than the head; an evil disposition blinded the sight, while humility operated like an eye-salve.

Now it happened that those who had been so lucky as to escape the punishment of the lower courts, took it into their heads that they were all very good sort of people, and of course very safe from any danger at this great assize. This grand intended trial, indeed, had been talked of so much, and put off so long, for it had seemed long at least to these short-sighted people, that many persuaded themselves it would never take place at all; and far the greater part were living away, therefore, without ever thinking about it; they went on just as if nothing at all had been done for their benefit, and as if they had no king to please, no king's son to be thankful to, no book to guide themselves by, and as if the assizes were never to come about. But with this king a thousand years were as a day, for he was not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness. So, at length, the solemn period approached. The day came, and every man found that he was to be judged for himself; that all his secrets were brought out, and that there was now no escape, not even a short reprieve; and some of the worst of the criminals were got together, debating in an outer court of the grand hall; and there they passed their time, not in compunction and tears, not in comparing their lives with what was required in that book which had been given them, but they derived a fallacious hope by comparing themselves with such as had been more notorious offenders. One who had grown wealthy by rapine and oppression, but had contrived to keep within the letter of the law, insulted a poor fellow as a thief, because he had stollen a loaf of bread. "You are far wickeder than I was," said a citizen to his apprentice, "for you drank

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and swore at the ale-house every Sunday night." Yes," said the poor fellow, "but it was your fault that I did so, for you took no care of my soul, but spent all your sabbaths in jaunting abroad or in rioting at home; I might have learnt, but there was no one to teach me; I might have followed a good example, but I saw only bad ones. I sinned against less light than you did,"

I can not describe the awful pomp of the court, and shall only notice a few who claimed a right to be rewarded by the king, and even deceived themselves so far as to think that his own book of laws would be their justification. A thoughtless spendthrift advanced without any contrition, and said that he had lived handsomely, and had hated the covetous, whom God abhorreth; that he trusted in that passage of the book which said, that covetousness was idolatry, and that he therefore hoped for a favorable sentence. Now this man had left his wife and children in want through his excessive prodigality. The judge therefore immediately pointed to that place in the book where it is written, He that provideth not for his household is worse than an infidel. He that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth. "Thou," said he, "in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and now thou must be tormented." Then a miser, whom hunger and hoarding had worn to skin and bone, crept forward, and praised the sentence passed on this extravagant youth, "and surely," said he, "since he is condemned, I am a man that may make some plea to favor. I have been so self-denying that I am certainly a saint; I have loved neither father nor mother, nor wife nor children, to excess. In all this I have obeyed the book of the law." Then the judge said, "But where are thy works of mercy and thy labors of love; see that family which perished in thy sight last hard winter, while thy barns were overflowing; that poor family were my representatives; yet they were hungry, and thou gavest them no meat.

Go to,

now, thou rich man, weep and howl for the miseries that are come upon you."

Then came up one with a most self-sufficient air. He walked up boldly, having in one hand the plan of an hospital which he had built, and in the other the drawing of a statue, which was erecting for him in the country that he had just left, and on his forehead appeared, in gold letters, the list of all the public charities to which he had subscribed. He seemed to take great pleasure in the condemnation of the miser, and said, "Lord, when saw I thee hungry and fed thee not, or in prison and visited thee not? I have visited the fatherless and widow in their affliction." Here the judge cut him short, by saying, "True, thou didst visit the fatherless, but didst thou fulfil equally that other part of my command, to keep thyself unspotted from the world.' Thou wast conformed to the world in many of its sinful customs; thou didst follow a multitude to do evil; thou didst love the world and the things of the world; and the motive to all thy charities was not a regard to me but to thy own credit with thy fellow-men. Thou hast done everything for the sake of reputation, and now thou art vainly trusting in thy deceitful works, instead of putting all thy trust in my Son, who has offered himself to be a surety for thee. Where has been that humility and gratitude to him which was required of thee. Thou wouldst be thine own surety; thou hast trusted in thyself; thou hast made thy boast of thine own goodness; thou hast sought after and thou hast enjoyed the praise of men, and verily I say unto thee, thou hast had thy reward.'

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A poor diseased blind cripple, who came from the very hospital which this great man had built, then fell prostrate on his face, crying out, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!" on which the judge, to the surprise of all, said, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The poor man replied, "Lord, I have done nothing." "But thou hast suffered well,'" said the judge;