O the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther,

What is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request: for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. Then the king answered and said unto Esther, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold the gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the

king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.'-ESTHER Vii.

N that day did the King Ahasuerus give the house

ON

of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Esther the

queen and Mordecai came before the king. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. And Esther spake

yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. Then the king held out the golden sceptre towards Esther. So Esther arose, and stood

JOB'S CALAMITIES.

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before the king, and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces: for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? Then the King Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name. And the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day.'-ESTHER Viii..

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(HE Book of Job contains the history of a man equally distinguished for purity, uprightness of character, and for honours, wealth, and domestic felicity; but whom God permitted, for the trial of his faith, to be

servants.

suddenly deprived of all his numerous blessings, and to be at once plunged into the deepest afflictions and distress. In the first chapter, we have an account of the previous prosperity of Job; of the permission given Satan to tempt and almost to overwhelm him with calamity. Messenger after messenger arrived with tidings of devastation and ruin to his property, and the destruction of his family and It was on a day of festivity and mirth that the tale of his multiplied misfortunes first reached him. It was when his woes were summed up by the account of the house falling upon his sons and destroying them, that 'Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' And, it is added, ‘In all this Job sinned not, neither charged God foolishly.' -JOB i.

JOB AND HIS THREE FRIENDS.

(HE calamities of Job were greatly embittered by the

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impious temper of his wife, who, instead of soothing

his wounded spirit, and seeking to strengthen his faith in God, now in the time of his need and dire adversity counselled him at once to deny all religion to curse God and die. 'Dost thou still retain thine integrity?' was the taunting speech of this wretched woman. Nor did his three celebrated friends, the patterns of so many cold, cruel, and mocking sympathisers, at all alleviate his sufferings. Nothing could be more cutting than almost the first sentences of the speech of Eliphaz. 'Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands, and the feeble knees. now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Call now, if there be any

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But