body of her father. Jezebel put to death, without any remorse, the prophets and priests of the Lord, · and carried on her designs with the most untiring perseverance and the most relentless cruelty.

This is as correct an account of Jezebel as I can gather from a careful observation of the sacred history. But in order to have the subject still more fully before you, it will be necessary to give you some brief traits of her character as gathered from the history. You recollect that remarkable controversy which Elijah the prophet had with the priests of Baal, in which God so signally interposed. Four hundred prophets of Baal perished under the judgment of God. When Jezebel came to hear what was done, it seemed to rouse her spirit to such a pitch of frenzy, that she sent a message to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make thy life as the life of one of these by to-morrow at this time;" that is, if I do not destroy thy life, Elijah, by this time to-morrow, may

my life be the forfeit. She was disappointed of her vengeance, however, as in consequence of her threat Elijah fled and hid himself. Now take one more specimen of her atrocious wickedness. In the city of Jezreel, where Ahab had a royal palace, there was a man called Naboth, who had a fine and luxuriant vineyard, inherited from his fathers. This vineyard bordered on the pleasure grounds of Ahab's palace. Ahab coveted this vineyard and he offered to buy it, but as it was an inheritance from his fathers, Naboth refused to sell, and Ahab, though sorely displeased, does not appear to have meditated any violence to gain possession. It was reserved by the supereminent wickedness of Jezebel to devise a

plan, whose diabolical character scarcely has its parallel. She counterfeited Ahab's seal, and wrote letters as by his authority, and proclaimed a fast as if some terrible calamity had overwhelmed the nation. She then induced false witnesses to accuse Naboth and testify against him, that they had heard him blaspheme God and the king. This iniquitous transaction succeeded to the utmost of her wishes. Naboth was accused and condemned, and stoned to death as a traitor, and by this means Jezebel secured to the king the coveted vineyard.

These are sufficient to give a clear opinion of the character of Jezebel, and have been introduced in order to enable you to form some conception of the character of the woman who made so much confusion, and wrought so much and such complicated evil in the Church of Thyatira. A distinguished, powerful, influential, overbearing, cruel, persecuting woman, who, in spiritual things, was as much an idolater as Jezebel, and who, like her, sought to draw away the people into those sinful compliances hateful to God and ruinous to the souls of men.

Now all this I infer simply from the fact of her being called Jezebel, and this opinion is strengthened and confirmed by the declaration of God in the verse-" And I gave her space to repent and she repented not." Now let us turn our attention again to the history, and we will observe how it elucidates this subject. After that most horrible transaction, the murder of Naboth, under the colour of both law and religion, God gave both Ahab and Jezebel time to repent; and while he appears to have profited, she continued in her wickedness; for when God sent the prophet Elijah to denounce the curse of heaven

upon the bloody tragedy they had performed, Ahab showed some signs of contrition, for he rent his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted and went softly. And in consequence of this humiliation, God declares that he would defer these threatened judgments till after the death of Ahab. Now here was a warning again by the prophet at God's immediate instance, and here was this threatened judgment deferred for a time, and consequently, during this whole period, which I believe was three years, Jezebel had space to repent; but instead of this, her wickedness increased, and she seems to have been completely given over to a reprobate mind, as a tree twice dead, plucked up by the very roots. Now, in the application of this part of the subject to the woman in the Church of Thyatira, the text appears to intimate that God had given her some previous warning, but that like Jezebel, her prototype, she listened not. This warning being ineffectual, God at last issues his threat of terrible desolation and distress, and this threat still further confirms the correctness of the allusion to the history of Jezebel. "Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." I need hardly say to you, that in Scripture language, a bed is often used as emblematic of pain, of sickness, and of distress. I presume from the fact, that in cases of affliction, whether of a mental or corporeal description, it is on the bed that repose and comfort is sought. To cast into the bed, then, is a mere figure, to imply, I will bring her into some signal sorrow. And it is a literal fact, that Ahijah, the son and successor of Ahab, was long cast upon the bed of afflic

tion and pain, in consequence of a fall through the lattice of his upper chamber in Samaria, and this happened very soon after the death of Ahab, so that Jezebel, in losing her husband, slain in battle, and having her son, on whose prowess she had calculated, confined to his bed by a painful and lingering disease, produced by his accidental fall, was actually brought into affliction and tribulation of the severest description. Now as Jezebel was, so God declared this woman should be, cast into the bed of affliction; punished by the severest visitations of his heavy displeasure. And not only should she suffer, but those who, by her instrumentality, were seduced into a defection from the faith, should share her punishment, as they chose to share her crime. This is the import of the terms which follow-"And them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation." The term adultery is frequently used in Scripture in a figurative sense. Any one who is at all acquainted with the Jewish history must know, without the necessity of offensive citations, that adultery is an ordinary figure of speech to express the idolatry of the people of Israel. There are thousands of instances in which the term is so used, and consequently when in the text there is an allusion to those who committed adultery with this troubler of the Church of Thyatira, it simply means those, who by her seductions were drawn from their fidelity to God. This consideration I believe essential to the consistent interpretation of the passage, for no where in the sacred history is Jezebel, and neither is this woman, charged with this literal crime. Every individual who loves this present world more than he loves God;

every one who serves an idol in his heart, whether it be wealth, or honour, or pleasure; every one who entertains an undue attachment to any thing which is worldly and perishing in its nature, and thus has the affections of the soul withdrawn from God, is, to all the intents and purposes of a spiritual application, an adulterer in the sight of God, because unfaithful to that God. Now with this explanation, the meaning of that portion of the text now under consideration is, that as God did actually visit Jezebel, and those who by her influence were drawn away from him, with the severest afflictions, so would he do to this woman in the Church of Thyatira, and those who by her influence were either persuaded, or terrified into a departure from the faith and the practice of holiness. Then to this follows the concluding portions of the threat-" And I will kill her children with death, and all the Churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the heart, and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."

Now this concluding portion of the threat leads our attention directly back again to the fruitful history of Jezebel. Immediately after that horrible transaction in relation to the vineyard of Naboth, God sent Elijah to pronounce against Ahab and his whole family, one of the most terrific judgments which stands on record, and this judgment tends to elucidate the portion now under consideration. "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, say