greatest heroes have not infrequently been the world's greatest sufferers. 2. That virtue uncrowned is better than vice crowned. This may do in theory, but will not be accepted in practice by the vast majority. In our eagerness to catch or to preserve the perishable crowns of earth we let our principles go to the winds. Still wrong-doers even applaud right doing. And however that may be, an approving conscience will sustain, though time-serving courtiers and angry monarchs oppress, and pass their stringent measures of banishment, of confiscation, and even of death. Virtue is nobler in a miserable hut than vice in a splendid palace. Lazarus was more royal in his rags than Dives in his purple and fine linen. A true-hearted Vashti is richer in her very degradation than the enthroned and worshipped Ahasuerus. Behind the outward glitter was the inward gnawing of a reproachful memory. But behind the cloud of Vashti's shame might be the cheering light of conscious integrity. And in this sense the good man may make the best of both worlds. Earthly crowns may be taken away, but the crown of Divine approval cannot be removed by any external force. 3. That the path of duty is the way to lasting glory. If Vashti had possessed a prudential regard to her own safety, her name might not have been heard of outside the palace. But now multitudes have heard her name, and wherever this book travels a memorial will be raised to tell of her womanly modesty and her heroic dignity. And no deed done in a right spirit shall perish; for nothing is lost in the material universe, and much less can there be loss in the moral universe. Those who fight in Virtue's cause may fall on the battle-field, but they conquer by their seeming defeats, and their wounds, by Divine grace, through the atoning merits of the Saviour, will be productive of immortal honours. We cannot follow Vashti in her journeyings and watch her entering the palace beautiful. But this is certain--those who love and serve the better King, Jesus Christ; those who come to him in true penitence and childlike faith, will never be cast out because they have done wrong even, if the wrong-doing was unintentional; and his followers will not do wrong designedly and with the full consent of their renewed natures. The Divine Bridegroom asks not that the bride be perfect in knowledge, not that she be free from error in judgment, but that she be perfect in love.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON VERSES 21, 22.

Ver. 21. We do not wonder that the king was pleased with a proposal that gratified his pride and anger. The princes, too, were pleased with a law which flattered their vanity and sanctioned their domestic tyranny.

And the saying pleased the king. Pity but itching ears should have clawing counsellors. Memucan was a fit helve for such a hatchet, and his advice fit lettuce for such lips. What marvel that such a counsellor pleased the king, when as he had before given place to two such bad counsellors wine and anger? How rare a jewel in a prince's ear is a faithful counsellor, that will deliver himself fully, not to please but to profit.-Trapp.

Ver. 22. The king not only divorces his queen, but publishes a decree through all his dominions, that every

man should bear rule in his own house. This is the law of God.

The safety and honour of a prince is in virtue, not unrighteous laws.

Whether it was the passion or the policy of the king that was served by this edict, God's providence served its own purpose by it, which was to make way for Esther the queen.-Matthew Henry.

The king and the princes approve this heavy judgment of Memucan's. No doubt many messages passed ere the rigour of this execution. That great heart knows not to relent, but will rather break than yield to an humble deprecation. When the stone and the steel meet fire is stricken: it is a soft answer that appeaseth wrath. Vashti is cast off.-Bishop Hall.

It was unanimously resolved, with a

the other princes of the land to expect in their own families from the example if this high crime were not condignly punished? But one is amazed at the infantine simplicity of these famous sages in recommending the issue of a royal decree in all the languages of this great empire-"that every man should bear rule in his own house." This is, undoubtedly, one of the most amusing things in all history. One cannot but imagine the inextinguishable burst of shrill merriment which rung through every one of the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the Persian empire when this sage decree was promulgated.—Dr. Kitto.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

This book presents us with impressive views of man with and without grace; of the great instability of human affairs; of the sovereign power, justice, and faithfulness of the Supreme Being. We now call your attention to the first chapter.

I. The king of Persia at this time was Ahasuerus. Commentators differ about him. He was a heathen a stranger to God-possessing extensive dominions. His was the second of the four great empires. These empires have come to nought; but, brethren, there is a kingdom which passeth not away. Its King will remain in heaven for ever. Let us be numbered among its subjects.

II. This mighty potentate, Ahasuerus, wished to make a display of hi greatness: made a feast-the power of Media and Persia present-he exhibited his riches, and honour, and glory. Notice his pride. Beware of pride. Pray that you may habitually remember what you are-poor, fallen sinners.

"And

III. At this feast, though a heathen one, moderation was observed. the drinking was according to law: none did compel." Intemperance is an abomination and a degradation; hence we should flee from it.

IV. But though the feast of Ahasuerus was free from the disgrace of compelling the guests to proceed to drunkenness, yet did very evil consequences result from it. It is but seldom that such meetings are free from such consequences. We read of Belshazzar's feast; we read of Herod's feast. In such entertainments God is liable to be forgotten. Solomon, who with extraordinary diligence, and unparalleled success, had examined and tried the sources of all earthly gratification, tells us, in language which ought never to be out of remembrance, that "it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting."

V. Let us consider the evil which was occasioned by the feast.—The king ordered the queen to be brought. She refused to come. The wrath of the king was kindled. The result was a council, then the divorcement of the queen. Quarrels, animosities, and heart-burnings are so contrary to that religion of love which a received gospel generates, that we ought to strive to the utmost for the preservation of the opposite virtues. Christ is the Prince of Peace; let us not only trust in his death for salvation, but imitate his meekness and lowliness of heart.

Two short remarks shall close this discourse:-1. It behoveth us to lead excellent lives, and the higher we are placed in the community the more ought this to be the object of our ambition. Let our lives be continual sermons to those among whom we live. 2. It behoveth us to regard the duties which appertain to the relations of life in which we are placed. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God."-Hughes.

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I. The vast extent of the Persian empire. It comprehended all the countries from the river Indus on the east to the Mediterranean on the west; and from the Black Sea and Caspian in the north to the extreme south of Arabia, then called Ethiopia. This gigantic dominion was divided into 127 provinces or governments, each of which was placed under a satrap, or, in modern language, a pasha, who managed its affairs, and annually transmitted a certain sum as revenue to the king. The seat of government was variable, according to the season of the year, the summer months being spent by the court at Ecbatana, and the winter months at Susa, or, as it is called in this chapter, Shushan, the palace. The form of government in the East has from the earliest times been despotic, one man swaying the destinies of millions, and having under him a crowd of smaller despots, each in his more limited sphere oppressing the people subjected to his rule. 1. Despotism has its occasional fits of generosity and kindness. It is as kind-hearted that Ahasuerus is brought before you in the early part of this chapter. He was spending the winter months at Susa. The retinue of the monarch was vast, and the fountains and gardens were on a scale of grandeur which we cannot well conceive. There, then, the king, but little concerned about the welfare of his subjects, was spending his time, chiefly in selfish ease and unbounded revelry. To him it was of no moment how his people were oppressed by those whom he set over them; his sole concern was to enjoy his pleasures. 2. With all the luxury and temptation to self-indulgence, there was no compulsion employed to draw any one beyond the bounds of temperance. The law was good, but the king himself had too largely used the liberty, and hence his loss of self-control and all sense of propriety. When heated with wine he sent for Vashti, &c. Lessons suggested are―(1) Extravagancies and follies into which men are betrayed by intemperance. (2) That which dethrones reason and destroys intellect should surely be avoided. (3) Áll the consequences which affect the man individually, and others also, rest upon the head of the transgressor. (4) Intemperance (a) blots out distinction between right and wrong; (b) foments all the evil passions of the natural heart; (c) destroys the proper exercise of the power of the will; (d) and often inflicts grievous wounds upon the innocent, as the case of Vashti here already demonstrates. (5) The necessity of guarding against these evils.

II. The evils which arose from the peculiar family arrangements of those countries. We take occasion here to observe two great evils:-1. The condition of the female sex was that of degradation. The married woman was not really what the Divine institution intended her to be, the true companion and friend of her husband. She was kept in a state of seclusion, real freedom she knew not; she was, in truth, only a slave, having power to command some other slaves. She was without education, and generally unintelligent, frivolous, and heartless. She was guarded with zealous care, as if she had been very precious, but at the same time she was wholly dependent upon the caprices of her lord. 2. Yet, strangely enough, in the second place, it is to be noticed that, as if to afford evidence that the law of nature cannot be trampled upon with impunity, it very frequently happened that the female influence was felt by the despotic husband, so as to make him in reality the slave. Not conscious of it, but imagining that he held the place of absolute authority, he was himself governed; yet not through the power of real affection, but through the imbecile doting which constituted all that he knew of real affection. Common history

abounds with illustrations of this fact, and in the sacred history we have examples of the same kind; David, Solomon, and Ahab are instances. There is never a violation of God's righteous appointments, but it is followed by some penalty. From this Book of Esther, it appears very obviously that Ahasuerus, with all his caprices and his stern, imperious self-will, was at first completely under the influence of Vashti, as he afterwards came to be under that of Esther. The whole domestic system being unnaturally constructed, there was, of necessity, derangements in the conducting of it. The despot might be one day all tenderness and submission, and the next day he might, to gratify his humour, exact from his slaves what, a short time afterwards, he would have counted it absolutely wrong in himself to command, and punishable in them to do.

III. The degradation of Vashti. We have to look at the circumstances which are brought before us in the narrative. At a season when sound counsel could scarcely have been expected, and when he who sought it was not in a fit condition to profit by it, the serious question was proposed by the king, “What shall be done to Vashti ?" &c. To defer the consideration of so grave a subject to a more fitting season would have been so clearly the path which a wise counsellor would have recommended, that we feel astonished that it was not at once suggested. But the wrath of the king was so strongly exhibited that his compliant advisers did not venture to contradict him. "Memucan answered," &c. Now, with respect to this opinion of the chief counsellor, it may be observed that it was based upon a principle which in itself is unquestionably right, although there was a wrong application made of it. Rank and station, while they command a certain measure of respect, involve very deep responsibility. Fashions and maxims usually go downward from one class of society to another. Customs, adopted by the higher orders as their rule, gradually make their way until at length they pervade all ranks. Thus far Memucan spoke wisely, when he pointed to the example of the queen as that which would certainly have an influence, wherever it came to be known, throughout the empire. But the principle, in the present instance, was wrongly applied when it was made the ground of condemning the conduct of Vashti. The design was to make her appear guilty of an act of insubordination, which it was necessary for the king to punish, if he would promote the good of his subjects, whereas, in reality, she had upon her side all the authority of law and custom, and was to be made the victim both of the ungovernable wrath of the king, who was beside himself with wine, and also of flatterers who, to gratify him, would do wrong to the innocent. See here the danger of flattery.

Let us extract some practical lessons from our subject. 1. The inadequacy of all earthly good to make man truly happy. Surveying the whole scene portrayed in the early verses of this chapter, we might imagine that the sovereign who ruled over this empire, upon whose nod the interests of so many millions depended, and for whose pleasure the product of so many various climes could be gathered together, had surely all the elements of enjoyment at his command. . . . And yet we must say that the mightiest sovereign of his time, with 127 provinces subject to him, with princes serving him, and slaves kissing the dust at his feet, was not half so happy as the humblest individual here, who knows what is meant by the comforts of home, where he is in the midst of those who love him. 2. A few remarks may be offered upon the domestic question here settled by the king and his counsellors, as to the supremacy of man in his own house. How could they pronounce a sound judgment upon a question which their customs prevented them from rightly knowing? 3. We have in the text a law spoken of which changeth not. And, my friends, there is such a law, but it is not the law of the Medes and Persians, it is the law of the Eternal. Jehovah's law changeth not. And what does it say? "This do and live." “Cursed is every one that continueth

not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." That seals us all up under wrath. But we turn the page, and we read and see that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness." And is not this our conclusion, then—“ I will flee from the curse of the immutable law, and shelter myself under the righteousness of Christ, which is also perfect and immutable, that through him and from him I may have mercy and eternal life"?-Dr. Davidson.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER I.