land; but that, if they entered Egypt, he would utterly destroy them. The leaders first pledged themselves to obey the word of the Lord; but they soon lost courage, and basely accused the prophet of announcing falsehood in the name of God; and persuaded the people, and even forced Jeremiah and all who believed his word, to follow them into Egypt. The prophetic warning was speedily verified. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the king of Egypt, slew multitudes, and carried still more into captivity. Among the latter, Josephus particularly mentions the Jews who sojourned in that country. Thus were fulfilled the many predictions of the captivity of the kingdom of Judah, and the complete desolation of the Holy Land. Seventy years it remained almost wholly uncultivated; and nearly as long it was traversed at pleasure by the Arabs, or occupied by the enemies of its native population.

While, however, Jehovah executed justice on his chosen. people, and made them drink the cup full of his holy jealousy and fierce indignation, he showed great mercy to those of them who continued to fear his great and glorious name. These are usually denominated by the prophets, "the rem nant;" and are described as consisting chiefly of those who were carried captive at the times of the first invasions of Judah by the Babylonians, previously to the destruction of the city and temple. To this remnant all the Divine pro mises are addressed. While some of them were illustrious by their rank, or respected for their knowledge and wisdom, they all appear to have excelled in moral excellence and enlightened devotion; and the names of some of them stand high in the register of the most eminent men who ever adorned their own nation, and these are, confessedly, the first in the world in relation to true religion. Such were Ezekiel, Daniel, and his companions. During the captivity, others, admired for every excellence, were raised up to invigorate the faith, confirm the hope, and cherish the devotion of their feeble-minded brethren. These were the associates or genuine successors of "the remnant," beloved by the God of their fathers. Though nominally slaves, yet their influence was almost boundless over those who considered themselves their masters and proprietors. This is obvious to all who have attentively perused their history. But who can conceive the power which they must have had over the opinions and conduct of their own brethren, who were less esteemed, and many of them, doubtless, exceedingly oppressed by tyran

nical masters or rulers? To this may most probably be ascribed, in a great degree, the marvellous change on the Jews, from the time of their exile, in respect of idolatry. The zeal for the worship of the True God, and abhorrence of idol and image-worship, exemplified by the Jews, who were honoured in the Babylonian and Persian courts, became universal and most prominent traits in the character of all the Jews.

In every place of their exile, they publicly turned from idols to serve the Living and True God. That the Babylonians were struck with the pathos and fervour of their devotion, seems plain from their urgent request to be entertained by their songs. But it is not probable that, enthusiastic votaries as they were to their idols, they did not often persecute the Jews on account of their religion. But it is possible that the Jews were permitted to worship God according to their own laws after the exaltation of Daniel, and the miracles wrought for his deliverance, and that of his faithful associates. Indeed it would seem that the first exiles were not treated as slaves, but rather as colonists, subjected in general to the laws of the empire, but allowed to retain the forms and customs of social life, which characterised their nation. This opinion is countenanced by the notice of Ezekiel assembling around him the elders of the colony settled on the banks of the Chebar. Other communities of the Jews may have been so favoured, through the influence of their honoured brethren in the metropolis, that they may have exhibited in the land of their exile their religion, and the mode of social life to which they had been accustomed from age to age. That, however, they were exposed occasionally, in some places, to the most cruel and insulting treatment, no one can doubt, who regards the book of "the Lamentations of Jeremiah" as an inspired record. Divine mercy sustained them, and, at the proper time, heard their groans and prayers, and sent them an unexpected, long desired, and great deliverance, by the agency of Cyrus, according to the word proclaimed by Isaiah, many generations before the birth of the conqueror.

CHAPTER III.

STATE OF THE JEWS IN THE REIGN OF ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS.

No events in the history of the true religion, from the times of David, king of Israel, to the final dispersion of that people, were of more importance than their captivity in Babylon and their restoration to their own land. The former was the darkest night that had ever descended on the true worshippers of God, and threatened to extinguish their brightest hopes for time and eternity; the latter threw an effulgence of light on all the great and precious promises of salvation to all nations, and exposed to their full view the solid and stable foundations of their faith and hope in Him whom they fervently loved and earnestly expected. And hence may be discerned the Divine propriety in the conspicuous and extensive place given in the prophecies to the captivity and restoration of Israel. These events were repeatedly predicted by Moses and all the prophets. When the impenitence and unbelief of the chosen people rendered their exile inevitable, and hastened on that awful calamity, God showed his wisdom and rich mercy to his faithful ones by announcing to them the precise duration of their sufferings, and imparting to them numerous promises of deliverance. Jeremiah was commissioned to declare that the captivity would terminate at the expiry of "seventy years;" and to express strongly his belief in the truth of the prophetic word, he obeyed the Divine command to purchase a portion of the land which was to be immediately seized by strangers. By comparing his predictions with the registers of the Persian court, Daniel, in answer to prayer, was enabled to ascertain that his people were assuredly to be restored about the time of Darius the Mede; and the accuracy of his knowledge was speedily confirmed; for in less than two years Cyrus granted to all Israel liberty to return to the Holy Land, and to build Jerusalem and the temple. By consequence the beginning of the captivity must have been about

seventy years earlier than that period. And this number of years, according to the computation of the most learned chronologists, exactly corresponds with the interval which elapsed. from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when all the Jews, who were eminent for rank, talents, or usefulness, were carried away to Babylon, until the first year of Cyrus. By some writers, however, the "seventy years" are calculated from the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the dedication of the second temple, finished by Nehemiah; the interval between which comprised neither more nor less than the number of years fixed by prophecy. Those who can appreciate a narrative of the trials and difficulties, encouragements and final success of Israel, in their labours to re-organize and establish their nation, will find it in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah. Their records, equally inimitable for their simplicity and truth, never fail to produce a delightful, salutary, and lasting impression on every enlightened and candid mind. It would be foreign to our object to insert them entire; a particular enumeration of the facts which they contain would, most probably, impart little pleasure to the reader of this work. We shall merely advert to the state of the Jews in the time of Nehemiah.

Malachi, the last inspired writer of the Old Testament, wrote after the restoration of the temple, for he distinctly refers to its service. While he ministered, the Jews had a governor, and consequently he must have been contemporary with Nehemiah, the last governor of the city, and the chief instrument in restoring the original constitution of Moses. He was governor many years, and most zealously and disinterestedly promoted the welfare of the people. He imposed on them no tribute, at least for his own support; and, from the liberal grants of Artaxerxes Longimanus, the then king of Persia, to him, and Ezra his predecessor in office, for the restoration of the city and temple, and its service, the tribute, if any was required by Persia, must have been trifling. This monarch was distinguished, during his long reign of more than forty years, by his patronage of the Jews in their own land, and in every part of the empire; a remarkable circum stance, which some ascribe to the influence of Esther the Jewess, whom they suppose to have been his wife. It is, however, more certain that he authorised Nehemiah to re establish the entire laws of Moses, and to call in the power of the Persian governors of all the districts west of the Euphrates,

to protect and assist him in the important work which he was appointed to perform.

Under Nehemiah's government the daily services of the temple and the great festivals were observed according to the law; the Aaronic priesthood and several orders of the Levites and Nethinims were established, and the separation of the people from all unholy alliances was effected. Some have indeed supposed that, in declaring the marriage of Israelites with idolaters invalid, Nehemiah and Ezra carried their national reformation beyond the constitution of Moses, and in support of their opinion, they appeal to the conduct of Joseph, Samson, Solomon and Esther it is, however, far more probable that their examples were contrary to the spirit of the law than that Nehemiah and Ezra misinterpreted that law. They were supernaturally guided in their ministerial labours, and their whole conduct demonstrated their accurate knowledge and supreme reverence for the law. How fully persuaded they were that God had prohibited his people from marrying not only the descendants of Canaan, but also the Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians, is plain from Ezra ix. 1; Neh. xiii. 23. And the reasons which these venerable instructors urged to induce Israel to put away the wives whom they had taken from these people, lest they should tempt them to idolatry, will apply with equal force to every idolatrous nation. If we believe that Israel were chosen out of the nations to witness for God, we can scarcely doubt that it was unlawful for them to intermarry with any idolatrous nation. It will be perhaps difficult to conceive them placing themselves under stronger temptations to worship idols, than by choosing wives indiscriminately from among the heathen nations, those only excepted whom they were commanded to extirpate. Indeed, had they not been exceedingly prone to form conjugal as well as political alliances with idolaters, a new law on this subject was scarcely necessary, after what was written, Gen. vi. 2, 3, for it is obvious from this passage that the first great degeneracy from the true religion originated in the worshippers of God uniting by marriage with idolatrous families. With such an awful example before his eyes, no man living in the fear of God, and desirous to keep himself from idols, would have ventured to choose an idolater for his wife; for he must have seen that by such conduct he would expose himself to the strongest temptation to depart from the living and true God. But the law delivered. Exod. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii. 3. was sufficient to