PRESUMPTION REBUKED. "I love thy Church, O God! Her walls before Thee stand, "For her my tears shall fall; For her my prayers ascend; 273 In replying, the king reminds the queen that he had shown the greatest readiness to comply with previous requests, and that he was now desirous of equal promptness for arresting Haman's decree, as far as it could be done consistent with the unchangeable laws ot the empire. "For the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man— not even the king himself-reverse." What, then, can be done? The case is an urgent one. The queen is importunate a whole race of people are in danger -the whole empire is to be bathed in blood-the king had legal authority to do his will upon Haman, but he cannot revoke the cruel decree of Haman against the Jews. This fundamental law of the Medes and Persians, that their laws could not be changed or repealed, was unwise and preposterous. It was, in fact, blasphemous--the assuming of infallibility. They had no right to put such a law into their "Magna Carta," or such a clause into their "Bill of Rights." The proverb is true which says, that " a wise man changes his opinions, a fool never." As it is human to err, so it is wise to reform. But so thought not Herod. He sinned in keeping an oath which he sinned in making, whereas such an oath was not binding, and should have been disregarded, A man is not bound to keep an unlawful or sinful oath. But Ahasuerus thinks it better to run the risk of deluging his kingdom with blood, by issuing a counterdecree, rather than to violate the laws of the empire by revoking the former one. It may have been that such was the temper of the times—so numerous and desperate the partisans of Haman-that this counterdecree was, under the circumstances, the best course for the king to take. It was not, certainly, his desire to have his subjects slay each other. He must have hoped that the second decree would nullify the first, and be tantamount to its revocation. Accordingly, the second decree is equal, in every respect, to the first. It is as broad, and as long, and as terrible, and as irrevocable. The powers granted to destroy the Jews are not recalled-they cannot be-but it is made lawful for the Jews to stand and defend themselves. read Esther viii: 7, 12, inclusive. Here But the empire is vast. Is it possible to send this counter-decree through all the provinces? Yes, for there is yet nine months to come before the day appointed for the massacre. There is then time enough. to reach the most distant provinces. But, to make sure of conveying this new decree to the Jews everywhere, from India to Ethiopia-that is, from Hindustan to the heart of Africa, more care and speed were used than in sending the former one. It was sent by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries. It is interesting to observe how historical researches corroborate the facts, and even the correctness of the HINDUSTAN DERIVED. 275 The name India, for ex The proper names of the Bible. ample, which we find in this history, and which designates a portion of the globe that is much talked of in our day, and is, no doubt, to be the scene of great events in the church of the future, is from the Hebrew, Hoddo, in Syriac, Hendoo, and, in Arabic, Hind, from which, doubtless, Hindustan. In all the versions, I believe, the Hebrew is rendered as in our text, India. And the country thus designated in the days of Ahasuerus was, probably, all that part of Asia that was east of the Indus; but, subsequently, it came to mean that portion that lies between the Indus on the west, Birmah and Thibet on the east, and between Caucasus on the north, and the Indian Ocean on the south. means and modes of traveling in Persia are very different from what we are generally accustomed to. Not much change has taken place there since the days of the great king Ahasuerus. There are erected, at convenient intervals, along the routes of travel, khans, or post houses, for the purpose of defense against the Bedouins, and of affording provision for caravans of traveling merchants, or of pilgrims. A khan is usually a square building of stone or unburnt brick, resembling, as seen at a distance, a fortress. It is surrounded with a lofty wall, and flanked by round towers. A main gateway conducts into an open court, around which are stalls for goods and animals. In the centre of the area is a platform used for prayer and sleeping. Some of the better class of khans have an arcade, terrace, and towers. They are generally ankle deep in chopped straw and filth. The fleas, and such like insects, may be measured by the bushel. The well, or tank of water, usually smells very strong of leather. The pilgrim caravans often carry felt covered coffins, which contain dead bodies to be interred in the sacred cemeteries. And when the pilgrims, their coffins and animals, in great crowds, are shut up in one of these khans in hot weather, for several days, the whole atmosphere becomes charged with noxious gases, that produce sickness and death. "It is estimated," says Mr. Loftus, in his Susiana and Chaldea, "that, in healthy seasons, a fifth of the travelers, overcome with fever and other diseases, find their graves in the desert; while, in times of cholera and epidemics, the average is much larger of those who fail to return to their distant homes." The same author states that, in 1831, out of a population of 70,000 in the city of Bagdad, 12,000 died of fever. (pp. 8 and 14.) Though there may be some difficulty, as we observe in the writings of learned men on the subject, in defining the meaning of the names given to the animals mentioned in the text as having been used for carrying the royal decree, it is very certain that the swiftest and the hardiest, or most enduring the empire could furnish, were employed. Horses were in use before the Trojan war, and mules, and camels, and dromedaries belong to a very ancient period of Asiatic history. The camel is common to the whole East, from Africa to China. This animal can live on a little paste, or a few beans and dry sticks, and can do, comfortably, seven or eight, or even ten or twelve days without water, and when made to trot and gallop, will go a great distance in a day. Authors vary in their statements on this point, from one hundred and fifty, to four hundred ANCIENT COURIERS. 277 miles in twenty-four hours. The couriers of the Incas and of the ancient Mexicans, like the couriers and runners of South America at the present day, performed wonderful feats in conveying news great distances in short time. Such official messengers as were employed by Mordecai and Esther, have been in use from very early times. In the days of Job, certainly prior to the time of Esther, the swiftness of the post was well known. In the book of Job, the rapidity with which the life of man passes away, is compared to the post, the swift ship, and the eagle hastening to his prey, (ix Job. ) The administration of the post can hardly be said, however, to have been regularly established before the reign of Cyrus the Great. Couriers mounted on swift dromedaries, had been often employed to convey news, and carry expresses between distant places, but a regular system of post, by relays of horses, and other animals, is believed to have been first established by Cyrus, in Persia. Cyrus ascertained, by experiment, how far a horse could travel with ease, and there caused stables to be built, and thus established lines of posts in many directions throughout his dominions. He appointed a postmaster, and kept horses and camels, and dromedaries, and men at each of their stations. The posts traveled day and night, without intermission, fresh riders and animals being supplied at the stations. And Xenophon declares that these posts of Cyrus, thus traveling, day and night, went "faster than the cranes can fly." The same system is established in Persia at the present day, and substantially the same in Turkey and throughout all Western and Central Asia, except that it is usual for the same rider |