have at one period or another been liable to be led by evil ministers.* Whoever the monarch, thus much is certain, the horrible decree went forth over the vast domains of Ahasuerus, and consternation and mourning took possession of the hapless people, who, men, women, and little children, the old and the young, were condemned to be destroyed on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and all their possessions to become the spoil of their destroyers. Can we imagine a situation more appalling? To know the fate impending-each day, each month to draw it nearer-and yet to have no power either to resist or fly; to feel themselves hemmed in by destined murderers-men whom, perchance, they were in the habit of meeting in terms of kindly fellowship, turned into ruthless destroyers, simply from a monarch's word? Yet such was once the awful condition of the Hebrew people; and it was the Eternal's will, that by a woman's instrumentality they should be saved. : "When Mordecai perceived all that was done, he rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry; and came even before the king's gate for none might enter clothed in sackcloth. And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes." * We need but instance Isabella of Spain, who, one of the most noble, most magnanimous, ay, and most humane, alike as a sovereign and a woman, was yet persuaded into the expulsion of six hundred thousand of her innocent subjects, as an act, not of policy, for that was against it, but of religion. Then was the time, had Mordecai been other than we assert he was, for him to have concealed his religion, not by his public mourning to proclaim that he, too, was one of the doomed. But such was not his conduct. When all was peace amongst his people, he was content to remain in seclusion, to practise and to love his faith, without obtruding it by outward appearance of sanctity and holiness. Many of his brethren might, perhaps, in secret, have condemned him as lukewarm to the interest. of his nation, or he would long before have made use of Esther's influence for their peculiar benefit. They might, and probably did accuse him of scarcely belonging to them; but, in the hour of their affliction and danger, they learned differently. He was in very truth among, and of them; and the eyes of all turned to him alone for help and guidance. Esther, meanwhile, had continued in the retirement of the king's palace, still his best beloved wife; yet retaining all the affection for her adopted father which had characterised her youth. That Mordecai was very closely connected with her must have been generally suspected, else we should not find her maids and her chamberlains coming hastily to inform her of his strange proceeding; but so ignorant were they of its cause, as to excite in us the supposition that his religion, and that of Esther, was still not publicly known. They merely mentioned that Mordecai was clothed in sackcloth and ashes, as in deep affliction, but made no allusion to the decree. "Esther was exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him but he received it not." Yet still he spoke not the cause of his grief; and Esther, unable to follow the dictates of her own heart, to go to him herself, sent Hatach again to him, with her royal command, to know what it was, and why it was; thus blending the dignity of the queen with the affection of the child, and compelling his reply. His silence at first might have proceeded from the momentary hesitation, as to whether or not he should involve Esther in the danger of her people. Her race and faith were still unknown; why should he betray them at a time when their betrayal threatened death? The affection of a father might have struggled with the feelings of the patriot: but ere Hatach returned, his decision was made; and, imparting the designs of Haman, and the decree which had thence proceeded, sent a copy of the writing to Esther; charging her to go in unto the king, and supplicate him for her people. For her people-the fatal words were said, and her race revealed; he could not withdraw them, and the decree from that moment equally extended unto her, as to the humblest of her brethren. How fearful must this intelligence have been to the young queen; and yet more fearful, if possible, the alternative proposed. We see at once, that her feeling towards her husband was fear, not love; by her shrinking from his presence, unless expressly called. The favour with which she had been regarded from the first, would, had she been a woman of a bold, intriguing spirit, have given her such influence, as to obtain access to her husband whenever she willed it, regardless of all laws to the contrary: but even the impending and wide-spreading danger could not conquer Esther's natural terror. It seemed easier to let the decree proceed, and share the fate of her people, than call down the monarch's wrath by intrusion into his presence: and the very fear endears her to us, proving that it was no unnaturally endowed heroine, but a very woman of whom we read. 66 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai: All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out his golden sceptre, that he may live : but I have not been called into the king's presence these thirty days:" probably an unusual lapse of time, which, supposing a decrease of the royal favour, naturally increased Esther's shrinking repugnance from the task proposed. But Mordecai's plan was already fixed; and this answer was instantly returned: "Think not to thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether hold thy peace at this time, then shall enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: for who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" These last words give us the solution of Mordecai's confidence, alike in the influence of Esther, and the eventual deliverance of the Jews. His heart, ever faithful to his father's God-ever watchful to trace the superintending Providence which guarded his people as the shepherd his flock, had solved, as by a flash of light, the mystery before surrounding him. He knew now why, in preference to every other maiden, his precious child had been called to that high estate which he had mourned, as uniting her with heathens, and dividing her seemingly for ever from her people and her faith. The Eternal, in His wisdom and His mercy, had placed her there, that she might be the chosen instrument, in His hand, for the preservation of His people. Convinced of this, despondency and doubt passed from the heart of Mordecai. He felt almost with a prophet's certainty, that deliverance would come for his people; and, therefore, in words that sounded almost stern, in their total disregard of woman's feelings, he called upon her to perform the part for which she had been raised to the kingdom-to listen, not to the voice of fear, but to arise and speak, else would she herself be destroyed, ay, and her father's house (which included Mordecai himself), and deliverance arise for her people from another place. It is evident that his confidence extended not to her, though with meek submissiveness she made no further resistance to her guardian's will. There is a deep and mournful meaning, breathing through her gentle answer -a hopelessness, yet self-devotion, which must twine her round our hearts, as one peculiarly unfitted for the terrible ordeal. "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law and if I perish, I perish.” No undertaking, of whatever nature it might be, was ever commenced by the Hebrew nation without earnest prayer and fasting-not by the act of fasting to obtain |