the sacrifice of her last and only son, because in the heat of angry contention he had slain his brother. With all the pathos of feeling, with all the eloquence of poetry, this woman pleaded before one who was both a poet and a father, exemption in her own case, from the rigour of this law; and obtained from him a hasty acquiescence in her petition. The cunning pleader, would not however be satisfied, until the king had confirmed by oath, what he had before promised on his royal word: and then, emboldened by her success, she at once disclosed the true nature of her mission, and in her own name, and in that of the people, craved a like mitigation of the Mosaic penal code in favor of the prince his son; enforcing her appeal with glances at the divine clemency, and enhancing her arguments by metaphors whose aptness and brilliancy must have served to dazzle, if not to convince, her willing auditor.

The king's 'penetration soon enabled him to discover that this plot for constraining him to issue the decree for Absalom's recal, could not have originated with the woman herself; and his knowledge of Joab's wishes on this head, led him to fix on him as the instigator of it. To David's inquiry, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?" the woman confessed, "Thy servant Joab he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:" and then, with an adroitness, which showed that the reputation she had acquired for wisdom (or subtilty) was well earned; she turned even this admission to her advantage, as she had before those feelings of strong interest with which David had listened to the narrative of her fictitious sorrows.

We may easily believe that to one so fond as David, it was no matter of regret to find himself bound by the obligation of an oath, to do that, which, had the law permitted, he would long since have done, viz., given permission for Absalom's return to Jerusalem. "The king said unto Joab, behold, now, I have done this thing: go, therefore, bring the young man Absalom again:" limiting this act of grace, only by the restrictions of protracted banishment from the royal palace and table.

If we pause to inquire, was it well done in the wise woman of Tekoah, to lend herself a willing tool to the instances of Joab on this occasion? we shall not find much difficulty in ascertaining that it was not well done. Were it safe to judge of an action by its consequences, (which it is not) then was the chain of evil, so mysteriously linked to this one partial act of Israel's sovereign, conclusive proof against it. Absalom's return was followed by irritation on his part against his father, consequent upon his exclusion from the royal presence; and this cause of discontent was no sooner removed, than he made use of his privilege of access to the palace, to turn its porch of judgment into a hall of conspiracy against the throne of which he was a subject, and against the life from whence he derived his own. Had Absalom remained in perpetual exile at Gerai ; then had the tribes been spared their first great lesson in rebellion; and then perhaps, had Joab himself, and Ahithophel, and Shimei, and Amasa, gone down to the grave in peace; and then, too, had twenty thousand men of Israel escaped a bloody death at the hands of their brethren and fellow-countrymen. But to the law and to the testimony, as to

the only standard by which human deeds must be measured; what was the bearing of the law of God upon this matter?

The divinely-attested law of Israel, was express against affording any sanctuary to a murderer. Not only was he prohibited from seeking protection within those walls where the manslayer might hope to dwell in safety; but the very sanctity of the tabernacle itself was insufficient to afford him the least hope of refuge: "thou shalt take him from my altar, that he may die." Whatever, then, might have been the wishes of the people; who doubtless regarded Absalom as a deeply injured party, and therefore in some degree excusable for the dark revenge he had taken on his brother; still, the law of God, both in the spirit and in the letter, forbad altogether that species of amnesty of which the wise woman of Tekoah was the advocate. Besides, the return of Absalom, was in the eyes of the people, only a precursory step ensuring to him the reversion of the crown at David's death: and this also, was in direct opposition to the divine choice, which had, by the hand of a prophet, nominated Solomon as successor to the throne. In neither case, therefore, does it seem to have entered into the consideration of the wise woman of Tekoah, whether the matter she was selected to negociate, was in accordance with the divine word and will. There was much indeed to recommend it on the surface the king's grief for his son's banishment, in which every loyal heart in the land would sympathize (more especially the wise woman herself whose very influence over the minds of her contemporaries, proves her to have been highly susceptible of that tenderness of feeling which enables its possessor to

comprehend instinctively all the touching and delicate points of another's sorrow): the pride of Israel in their accomplished young prince, and their natural desire, that he should sit on the throne of his fathers: the reconcilement of an offended parent to a supposed penitent child ; and the restoration of a banished Israelite to the inheritance of God: all this would have weight with her who was appointed to be the mouthpiece of the nation: all must have served to blind the skilful tactician to the true nature of the mission he had undertaken; which, whatever might be its show of reason and virtue; was, in fact, none other than a perversion of the rules of eternal justice in favor of an ennobled transgressor; and in opposition to the enactments of the law; which said, ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons."

66

It is notorious, that to this day, on every occasion of local or state polity, the influence of women is eagerly sought after and turned to account by the very persons, who on other occasions would be foremost in forbidding its lawful exercise; and in affecting to doubt its efficiency. And perhaps there is no greater snare to a Christian woman, than to find herself in a position which ensures to her on the one hand, courtly solicitations of superiors; and on the other, calls into a kind of display those influential talents, which, in order to be safely and beneficially exercised; should be cautiously veiled in their action from the subjects of their sway. They, who are by

nature endowed with qualities which give them a reputation above their sex, are not always those whose judgment and prudence are proof against any incitement of vanity and display. They are, not seldom, those, whose fervor of feeling, and vivacity of imagination, win for them the hearts of friends and strangers, and a tribute of golden opinions from the community in which they dwell. Such women are peculiarly liable to be led away by appeals to their natural feelings; by schemes which have a show of benevolence and virtue on their surface, although perhaps, in their consequences, subversive of law and religion; and bold designing men, know well, that if they can enlist such in their cause, the issue will not be doubtful. And thus it comes to pass, that evil ends are accomplished by means of those, who, with eloquence and persuasion on their lips, and the image of virtue in their hearts, are but tools in the hands of others to loosen the bands of justice and equity; instruments, used to inflict wounds upon the commonwealth which they fondly think they serve and please, while, in fact, they are but giving indulgence to kindly feelings unchastened by righteous subjection to the law of God; or exposing to public notice, their possession of a power, which, in order to be really beneficent, should work like the operations of nature, silently and imperceptibly; and not be shown up, like the juggleries of the magician, to the gaze of ignorant wonder.

Before we can use a talent well, we must be conscious of possessing it. If we know not that we have it, we shall be in danger of wasting or neglecting it or we shall be liable to be defrauded of its