And that Law stands still, my friends, doubt it not.  Thanks to the wisdom and justice of our forefathers who built the laws of England on those old Ten Commandments, which hang for a sign thereof in every church to this day.  Thanks to them, I say, and to God, the root of the law of England is, equal justice between man and man, be he high or low; and it is a thing to bless God for every day of our lives, that here the poor man’s little is as safe as the rich man’s wealth:  but there is many a sin of oppression, many a sin of covetousness, my friends, which no law of man can touch.  Make laws as artfully as you will, bad men can always slip through them, and escape the spirit of them, while they obey the letter:  and I suppose it will be so to the world’s end; and that, let the laws be as perfect as they may, if any man wishes to cheat or oppress his neighbour, he will surely be able to work his wicked will in some way or other.  Well then, my friends, if man’s law is weak, God’s is not;—­if man’s law has flaws and gaps in it, through which covetousness can creep, God’s has none;—­even if (which God forbid) man’s law died out, and sinners were left to sin without fear of punishment, still God’s Law stands sure, and the eye of the living God slumbers not, and the hand of the living God never grows weary, and out of the everlasting heaven His voice is saying, day and night, for ever, ’I endure for ever.  I sit on the throne judging right; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of My kingdom.  I judge the world in justice, and minister true judgment unto the people.  I also will be a refuge for the oppressed, even a refuge in due time of trouble.’

O hear those words, my friends! hear and obey, if you love life, and wish to see good days; and never, never say a thing is right, simply because the law cannot punish you for it.  Never say in your hearts when you are tempted to be hard, cruel, covetous, over-reaching, ‘What harm?  I break no law by it.’  There is a law, whether you see it or not; you break a law, whether you confess it or not; a law which is as a wall of iron clothed with thunder, though man’s law be but a flimsy net of thread; and that law, and not any Acts of Parliament, shall judge you in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, and every man shall receive the due reward of the deeds done in the body, not according as they were allowed or not by the Statute Book, but according as they were good or evil.

Another lesson we may learn from this story:  that if we give way to our passions, we give way to the Devil also.  Ahab gave way to his passion; he knew that he was wrong; for when Naboth refused to sell him the vineyard, he did not dare openly to rob him of it; he went to his house heavy of heart, and fretted, like a spoilt child, because he could not get what he wanted.  It was but a little thing, and he might have been content to go without it.  He was king of all Israel, and what was one small