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LECTURE VI.

ESTHER'S NOBLE RESOLVE.

THE earnest argument of Mordecai was not lost upon Esther. If previously she had any wavering of purpose, as she feared for her acceptance before her husband, and despaired of being able to succour her people; she now no longer has any hesitation, either with reference to the path in which her duty urged her; or in reference to her own immediate obedience to the promptings of duty. She has made her mind. She could not know how she would be received; she had the same reasons to fear as when she first replied to Mordecai; she could not put down the apprehension that the issue might be her own destruction. She resolved to go before Ahasuerus-and she resolved wisely. Every wise decision is made in view of both sides of the question. Before the mind of Esther rose all the difficulties she could not overlook; but before her rose also the urgent necessities she could not but feel. And the balance was turned by the promptings of faith in the covenant of her God. It seemed like madly rushing upon death to venture unbidden before the

king; it seemed like tempting the providence of God to her sure destruction, if she neglected the favourable juncture of duty; and faith urged that the opportunity now offered to secure an important blessing. And it is plain to us now, that Esther made a reasonable choice. She might perish, but with a clear conscience, if she made the venture; she would certainly perish, so Mordecai urged, if she neglected this effort. And it seems strange indeed that men generally do not more fully and frequently recognize the truth, that there is less responsibility in doing our duty, than there is in evading it; that daring as Esther's resolution may justly be thought, she would have been more wickedly daring, if she had resisted her duty and turned from the expostulations of Mordecai. Now she exposes her mortal life to the possible anger of Ahasuerus; but had she made no effort to relieve her people, she would have exposed her soul to the certain anger of a greater King-the Ruler and Protector of Israel!

But it is not the tendency of piety, or of its principles, to set us free from the wise restraints of prudence, nor to encourage the careless performance of any duty. Genuine faith differs widely from a presumptuous confidence, not only as founded upon better evidences, but as exerting a different and more salutary influence upon ourselves. Presumption is bold, even to insolence; and venturesome, because fearless. True faith, on the contrary, is

keen-sighted to discern the real difficulties before us and around us; it is therefore cautious; and while not undervaluing difficulties, exhibits its true strength by meeting and overcoming fears and obstacles. Faith prompts the most careful and judicious measures to secure the end we seek; and walks on the line between the extremes of despondency, that deems all exertion useless, and presumption, that deems exertion needless. And here is the truthfulness of this narrative to human experience. Had many a human writer penned this history, we would have read of Esther's boldness to secure the desired relief; rising up immediately at the suggestion of Mordecai, and proceeding at once to the unbidden presence of the king. But it is far otherwise here; and the lesson here taught is more faithful to nature.

Two matters here exhibit the queen's prudence:

First, As becomes a pious woman, Esther uses means to secure the special favour and blessing of God upon her momentous enterprise. No pious mind should be willing to engage in any duty upon which first the blessing of God is not sought; much less will such a mind engage in any responsible and important enterprise in a thoughtless manner. You remember we noticed that the name of God does not occur in this book. But it must be acknowledged, that a solemn service of this kind is a plain recognition of the Divine existence and of the Divine rule. Esther teaches us here, that engage

ments of peculiar importance demand special exercises of devotion. Fasting is an extraordinary means of grace. It is to be made use of-never in the light of a penance, the Bible nowhere enjoins penance; much as it says of penitence-in token of our humiliation before God; when we anticipate a threatening evil, or mourn under chastisement, or lament our deep unfaithfulness, or undertake a duty which calls for special Divine strengthening. The distress and peril of the Jews through the success of their foe, Haman, have called Esther to this perilous duty; her hope is to avert the calamity; and to fast is the appropriate symbol of her humiliation before the Lord. The fastings spoken of in Scripture do not always imply a rigorous abstinence from all food. The prophet Daniel fasted three full weeks: he ate no pleasant bread, neither did flesh nor wine come into his mouth. Dan. x. 2, 3. Though brief fastings might imply an entire abstinence from food, longer seasons were not so kept. Daniel ate for the support of nature; but refrained from the delights of the table. Thus we suppose the fast of Esther was kept for three days. The luxurious viands spread for the queen of Persia lie untasted before her; her earnest anxieties are awakened for her people; and her soul is humbled before her God. Her maidens were associated with her in this solemn duty. The pious Esther had perhaps gathered about her as maids of honour to the queen, a band of the daughters of Israel; or

perhaps her quiet but earnest zeal for the faith of her fathers and for the glory of her covenant God, had led her to teach those immediately under her control the name of Israel's Lord. Perhaps among no other heathen nation could Esther have kept secret her nation and her religion, so well as among the Persians. For they were like the Jews of the dispersion in this, that they worshipped without either temples or images; and therefore the external difference between the Jew and the Persian was less striking. Yet if Esther had thus gathered about her a band of Jewish damsels, we can easily see that her faith was not an entire secret in the palace, so that the danger which Mordecai pointed out was greater: "Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house." One Jewess, and she the queen, might possibly escape the execution of the edict; but a band of females adoring Jehovah in the very palace, could scarcely expect exemption though the queen stood among them. But it sets the piety of Esther before us in a favourable light, that she was surrounded by maidens who were ready to join with her in her devotions. Circumstances may throw even a good man into bad company, and his duty may detain him there; but the man who has it in his power to choose his company, and is then found with the idle, the frivolous, or the wicked, may justly be judged, as to his own character, by the company he keeps.